Monday, September 17, 2018

Kavanaugh and the Whitewater Groper

There's a very important distinction between the allegations surrounding Judge Kavanaugh and Pete Hill, currently the husband of the Chancellor of UW-Whitewater.

The difference?  Pattern of practice.

The Whitewater Groper, Hill, has had three complaints filed.  His denials are pure crap; he did it, and probably did a lot more over the years which went un-recorded because the girls did not come forward to complain.  There was a pattern here:  the victims were students or student-workers or young, female,  non-student campus workers.  They were all groped while at some campus function.  (Hill's wife, the Chancellor, was usually present, too.)  And the behavior was repetitive.

With Kavanaugh, there is no "pattern of practice."  The reported event is a one-off, and no other woman who knows him now (or knew him in high school) reports any similar behavior at all.  More than four dozen women have signed affidavits testifying to Kavanaugh's propriety and courtesy.

Anything is possible, of course.  But the legal standard in any harassment case is "pattern of practice," which was obvious in, say, the Weinstein, Charlie Rose, Lauer, and Moonves cases.

The opposition party would prefer--as usual--that 'the gravity of the charges' overcome the notable lack of evidence.  We'll see how that plays; Republicans are noteworthy for lack of spine.

Pattern............ 


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