Never Give Up, Never Surrender

If you're in any of these states -- phone scripts for calling senators who might be particularly susceptible to pressure:

https://dathen.tumblr.com/post/629740158323916800/alaska-utah-maine-iowa-south-carolina-call

Note: Murkowski (Alaska) has already said she won't support efforts to confirm a new Supreme Court justice before the election. Collins (Maine) has sort of said the same but more equivocally (and obviously don't trust Collins ...).

You can call anyway, to say how pleased you are they're doing the right thing and to politely make it clear you're going to hold them to it.

GoFundMe: Honor Dr. Blasey as an Educator

On September 27th, 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford (who uses “Blasey” professionally) carried on her career as a scholar and educator, by providing lessons in civic responsibility, courage, and using one’s knowledge to speak truth to power. Since 1995, at least, when she published her dissertation, Dr. Blasey has been engaged in research and teaching.

To honor her, particularly in her professional capacity, this is a campaign to raise funds to endow an academic chair (professorship) and/or scholarships, to be named so as to recognize Dr. Blasey.

It's being run by HeidiLiFeldman, a Georgetown law professor who ran the now-capped fund to cover Dr Blasey's security costs, so seems (as far as I can verify) as legit as possible.

She says: I know there are many requests for support for all sorts of efforts right now. I will keep at this project over time. But I don’t want our country or Dr. Blasey to go months, or years,without at least one formal, apt memorial to her guts, professionalism.

Note: this is a thing non-US people can donate to as well.

TPM: Heitkamp Will Vote ‘No’ On Kavanaugh

Her website's promptly crashed from all the traffic, presumably from people wanting to donate.

The direct ActBlue link is: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hh4nd

She's in a very very tight race (some say doomed, some say a toss-up). And she's not everyone's favourite Democrat because of a tendency to vote with the Republicans some of the time. Nonetheless, on this one she seems prepared to take the hit.

From the NYT:

Officials said the F.B.I.’s “limited” supplemental background check of Judge Kavanaugh could be finished by Monday morning.

To recap, the "FBI investigation" turns out to mean interviewing four specific people (who were selected either by Republican Senators or Don McGahn, it's unclear, and who don't seem to include either Kavanaugh or Dr Blasey Ford).

See also: The New Yorker: The Confusion Surrounding the F.B.I.’s Renewed Investigation of Brett Kavanaugh

If your Senator is not already committed to voting "no", please phone the fuckers if you can.

Two possible talking points:

a) will they agree that if Brett Kavanaugh lied to the Senate, he shouldn't be confirmed? (how is this even up for debate how how how)

b) will they demand an unrestricted investigation (as promised by the alleged President on his Twitter account, Tweets from which are deemed official statements) not limited by GOP/White House?

From a former Dem aide:

https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/1044560721755983872

The fate of Kavanaugh may well be decided in the next 48-72 hrs. As of now multiple GOP senators are undecided but they're getting A LOT of pressure from the WH and leadership to fall in line. Your pressure can make the difference. Pls call your senators 202-224-3121

Trump is publicly doubling down (and has pissed off some of the GOP senators with his Tweets, which they feel are "unhelpful" to the cause of getting Kavanaugh confirmed while also pretending they give a shit about sexual assault) but there are also rumours that he's "somewhat fatalistic" in private.

On the one hand, there's his deep identification with other abusive men; on the other, his willingness to throw people to the wolves whenever they become inconvenient to him.

Current Republican plan is to demand that Dr Blasey turn up and testify at a hearing on Monday, where the only other person testifying will be Kavanaugh.

They're refusing to call any other witnesses (including Mark Judge, who she's named as accomplice/witness, and who really REALLY doesn't want to be called to testify, I wonder why) or let the FBI open an investigation, which she is asking for.

( Cut for general triggeriness and awfulness of the topic, no details included but I know people may need to protect themselves, please call your senators if you can )

Now Christine Blasey Ford (note: her professional name is Dr Blasey, afaik) has come forward to put her name behind the accusations against Kavanaugh:

Washington Post: California professor, writer of confidential Brett Kavanaugh letter, speaks out about her allegation of sexual assault (content note: detailed descriptions of attempted rape, please look after yourselves)

“These are all the ills that I was trying to avoid,” she said, explaining her decision to come forward. “Now I feel like my civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation.”

There appears to be some wobble among key Senators:

TPM: Flake And Corker Support Delay Of Kavanaugh Vote To Vet Allegations
TPM: Johnson Joins Collins And Manchin In Calling For Ford, Kavanaugh To Testify
TPM: Roy Blunt Calls For Delay Of Kavanaugh Vote Over ‘Serious’ Allegations

Though the White House is reportedly determined to double down on their support for Kavanaugh and attack Dr Blasey's credibility, because as we already know, Trump feels a deep sense of kinship with men accused of sexual assault, rape, and intimate partner violence.

And those of us who are old enough to remember Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearings already know how this game plan goes. As Dr Blasey clearly does.

What they're going to try to do to her is beyond vile, and it's designed to make women keep silent because they know what's going to happen if they go public.

So. If you've got a Republican senator, or a Dem senator who's considered a possible "yes" vote for Kavanaugh, please phone them if you can, and if you can't then contact them via whatever means are possible for you. Let them know what you think. Demand they stop or at least pause the confirmation process.

And if you've got a Dem senator who's already a solid "no" vote on Kavanaugh, then it may still be worth contacting them, to ask them to stand up for Dr Blasey and have her back during this.

Maybe you'd like to phone them and tell them about how BRETT KAVANAUGH SUPPORTS FORCED ABORTIONS.

This is a script of genius:

https://beatrice-otter.tumblr.com/post/177933347882/kavanaugh-thinks-its-okay-to-perform-elective

Now, in the interests of strict accuracy, I will note that the ruling Kavanaugh wrote isn't specifically about abortion (though two of the cases involved are about abortions performed without consent); it covers doing any sort of medical procedure on the "mentally incompetent" without consent.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kavanaugh-disabilities-elective-surgeries/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doe_ex._rel._Tarlow_v._District_of_Columbia

So to me personally, the issue would be the GLARING ABLEISM rather than the abortion issue per se.

However, it is true that Brett Kavanaugh did, in fact, support the right of doctors to perform abortions on patients without consent.

Since they're not deterred by his multiple perjuries, maybe hearing a bit about how Brett Kavanaugh supports forced abortions might give a few GOP senators pause for thought.

(I'm sure some of them still secretly believe in Buck v. Bell, but I suspect they may not be willing to say publicly "We are always pro-life except for how we don't want the disableds to breed.")

Note: as a disabled person, I think that making medical decisions regarding people who genuinely aren't able to understand the consequences of not having a procedure and make an informed decision can be a complex moral and political issue.

However, since Kavanaugh's ruling is "nah, you don't even need to try to find out their wishes or what capacity they have, as long as you think it's in their best interests it's cool", I feel comfortable saying that he can go to hell.