Hello, Friends. How was your week? Are you angry? I’m angry. I’m so angry. At the end of the hearing yesterday, as I heard GOP senators apologizing to Kavanaugh, I concluded he will be appointed to the Supreme Court. A lifelong position. I concluded there was nothing Dr. Ford could have said yesterday that would have changed their minds. They were going to vote for him no matter what.
There was nothing Kavanaugh could have said that would have changed their minds either. He could have said, “Sure I got girls drunk, and my friends and I would take turns raping them all through high school and college. So what? It’s just a thing guys do.” And the entire body of Republican Senators would respond, “See? He’s so honest! I was already planning to vote for him, and now I’m even more convinced he’s the man for the job.”
I’m furious. I hate him. I hate him so much. I hate every entitled man who thinks he “deserves” a spot on the Supreme Court; that he “earned” it because he got into Yale Law School. I’m sick to my stomach when I hear women defending him. It’s so, so gross.
This is a job interview not a trial. If you are hiring someone, and you call a bunch of references, and several say the applicant sexually attacked or harassed them, then you would never hire him. Period. Even if lots of other people said he was great. As a boss you would consider him way too big of a risk. You would simply find another candidate who doesn’t come with that kind of baggage. Especially in a case like this where there are no particular time constraints, and you can carefully find another option with no rush.
This is the best option for the Supreme Court? Really?
I don’t know what else to say. I’m furious. Just a big boiling ball of rage at this point. I’ve got a few things I’ve wanted to share with you, but I’m not gonna lie, they might make you rage too.
– A bleak history of the powerful stealing victimhood for themselves.
– Kavanaugh and his high school friends bonded over a woman’s humiliation. That’s all too common.
– Today is a good day to read Audre Lorde’s “The Uses of Anger“.
– To those who don’t understand why a woman wouldn’t report a rape.
– A seafood restaurant getting its lobsters high before it boils them.
– HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO BRETT KAVANAUGH? (WP)
– It is impossible to justify the lack of a neutral investigation into the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. (NYT)
– Eminem as a Talking Heads song.
– A meticulous analysis of online activity during the 2016 campaign makes a powerful case that targeted cyberattacks by Russian hackers and trolls were decisive.
– I think I’m into this clock.
– Connoisseurs of quiet are seeking out the few remaining corners where manmade noise — even human voices — are totally absent. (NYT)
– On a syllabus, a professor included a “policy on children in class.”
– We made pumpkin cookies this week and I have no regrets.
I hope you find good ways to channel your rage this weekend. I’ll meet you back here on Monday. I miss you already.
kisses,
Gabrielle
Thank you Gabby! I needed to read this… I’ve been so upset with how people are defending him. I’m a long time reader ( 7 years) I purchased your red shelvesI years ago. I love the direction your blog has gone. You often put my exact thoughts into words that I sometimes have a difficult time expressing.
And this post is a fine example of why I continue and continue to read this fabulous blog. I’ve always loved your voice but now it’s taken an important, eloquent and urgent tone. I’m pointing people here. Seriously *#$% those who tell you to ‘tone down’ – they can buy a pretty ‘Home Style’ type magazine instead…
Rock on, Gabby! I was so livid on Thursday and Friday that I sometimes felt like I couldn’t breathe. Between the moments that I was trying to catch my breath, I called and emailed multiple Senators to voice my disdain for Kavanaugh. In no way is he qualified for the Supreme Court. As SNL put it this weekend, he’s not even qualified for the People’s Court.
Thanks for your blog post.
Gabby, I often share your posts with friends and family that are not into blog reading. Thank you for having this discussion. I am so mad that I can’t stop thinking about the fact that we could be inches from having another Supreme Court Justice with a creepy past, a drinking problem, and clear partisan slant (we aren’t even talking ideology here). Since the hearing, I’ve been unable to concentrate on work or even much of other news. And I can’t get over the fact that there are actually “women” that think he is still deserving of the position, even women who are survivors of sexual assault. Yes I am a Democrat, but I am a woman, a mom, and a citizen before that.
Gabby, I so appreciate the work you are doing here – and your crystal clear articulation of the rage that so many of us are feeling is inspiring. I wish I didn’t have to be so angry, but since I am (since the circumstances of the world require it), it’s OK for me to *sound* angry.
On a happier note, thank you for linking to the family-friendly classroom policy wording. I’m a university professor, and I’m adding it to next term’s course outlines! I’ve always allowed kids in class when parents ask to solve a childcare dilemma, but I bet it would be more useful to have it laid out ahead of time.
I always appreciate your thoughts and the way you articulate them. I visit your blog regularly anyway, but over these last two years I’ve found that I often check it several times a day when I’m angry and hungry for a political conversation of actual substance. You’ve created such a community here of people who place humanity and human decency above any particular social, political, or religious affiliation, which is becoming so shockingly, depressingly rare. Thank you, Gabby!
http://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4844689
No comment, none needed.
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I get it. Sometimes you want to not turn on the news, to not read yet another article or report about the negativity that this world is encased in. But we can’t just bury our heads in the sand and look the other way by zoning out on another interior design article or blog post. We need the pretty things… agreed. But pretty things will not be able to serve their purposes in our lives if we don’t deal with the ugly things. Maybe I don’t care about the pretty things as much because I am a black, female working in Corporate America and see things both overt and subtle that shouldn’t be. Gabby thank you. thank you. thank you. Keep the “intersection” going. We all need to think about what the intersection of motherhood is really about and it’s about a lot more than just design.
Hi Gabrielle – and all your lovely readers. I am writing to you from Europe and I want to share a thought and would love to hear your reflexions on it … Yesterday I saw the president of your country bullying a woman that had come forward with her story. Mocking her at a rally. The president! And while I was already angry, just as you Gabrielle, this public mocking by the president just flipped something inside. When is enough enough? When is it time for people to take a stand? And here is my thought: How long do you continue to work for a boss whose values and moral standards you do not agree with? How far do the standards slide before you say: enough is enough? I am thinking about all the public servants (is that the name). All the people working in the administration of the White House (and maybe other administrative bodies also). When is it time to say “No! I do not want to serve an employer that has these extremely low moral standards. No! I will not participate any more”? Do we not all have an obligation to stand up – or how much must it slide before we make a point?
Well Said Ditte! Thank you.