Three points that should have been made

1. Contra the assertions of some Republican senators: It’s not a victim’s responsibility to gather and present evidence of a crime. Think about it: If that were a victim’s responsibility, no one could ever be convicted of murder.

2. Contra Brett Kavanaugh’s breezy claims about three witnesses refuting Christine Blasey Ford’s story: For one thing, they weren’t witnesses. Those who would have been downstairs would not have witnessed what was happening. And if Mark Judge was in the room, he was a participant, not a witness.

3. Contra Brett Kavanaugh’s breezy claims that these (non-) witnesses have refuted Christine Blasey Ford’s story: No. Not remembering ≠ refuting. The three people named as present in the house in 1982 all say that they don’t remember the gathering. There is no reason to think that those who would have been downstairs would have any reason to remember it. And there is no reason to expect that Mark Judge would incriminate himself by acknowledging that he was upstairs in a room with Ford and Kavanaugh.

Too many beers

Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, questioning Brett Kavanaugh:

“What do you consider to be too many beers?”

“I don’t know. Uh, you know, we — whatever the chart says. Blood-alcohol chart.”

Exceedingly strange stuff. Kinda seems that Kavanaugh never quite left high school. Kinda seems that he’s an angry drunk, even when sober.

Wishful thinking

I wish that every member of the United States Senate understood civic duty — and courage — as well as Christine Blasey Ford does.

Word of the day: úhtcearu

I learned about this Anglo-Saxon word yesterday while listening to an episode of Word of Mouth. It’s from Mark Forsyth, connoisseur of forgotten and obscure words: úhtcearu. The word means “care that comes in the early morning.” Or as Forsyth says, “lying awake early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep because you’re worried about the day to come.” Or as Leroy Carr sang, “the blues before sunrise.” The word úhtcearu is especially appropriate today.



[The pronunciation seems to go something like this: “oot-kee-arr-oo.” Definition from the Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898). Uhtcearu is also the name of a band.]

Notebook sighting: Stage Fright

[Stage Fright (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1950). Click either image for a larger view.]

Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich) and Sergeant Mellish (Ballard Berkeley) speak of self-incrimination and stationery supplies:

“So they’ve heard everything I said.”

“Yes.”

“And it’s all in that book.”

“All in there, in shorthand.”

“How clever of you.”

The sergeant’s notebook appears to be what might be called a police notebook, top-bound, with an elastic band at the bottom. In the first image, the bottom end of the notebook is facing up. The elastic band is visible next to Mellish’s right thumb. In the second image, Mellish is holding the notebook sideways. The elastic band is on the left.

More notebook sightings
Angels with Dirty Faces : Ball of Fire : Cat People : City Girl : Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne : Dead End : Dragnet : Extras : Eyes in the Night : Foreign Correspondent : Fury : Homicide : The Honeymooners : The House on 92nd Street : Journal d’un curé de campagne : Kid Glove Killer : The Last Laugh : Le Million : The Lodger : Ministry of Fear : Mr. Holmes : Murder at the Vanities : Murder by Contract : Murder, Inc. : The Mystery of the Wax Museum : Naked City : The Naked Edge : The Palm Beach Story : Perry Mason : Pickpocket : Pickup on South Street : Pushover : Quai des Orfèvres : Railroaded! : Red-Headed Woman : Rififi : La roue : Route 66 : The Sopranos : Spellbound : State Fair : A Stranger in Town : Time Table : T-Men : 20th Century Women : Union Station : Where the Sidewalk Ends : The Woman in the Window

EXchange names on screen: VICtoria

[Stage Fright (dir. Alfred Hitchchock, 1950). Click for a larger view.]

London used, at one point, a three-letter, four-number telephone system. Thus VICtoria.

More EXchange names on screen
Act of Violence : The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse : Armored Car Robbery : Baby Face : Blast of Silence : The Blue Dahlia : Boardwalk Empire : Born Yesterday : Chinatown : The Dark Corner : Deception : Dick Tracy’s Deception : Down Three Dark Streets : Dream House : East Side, West Side : The Little Giant : The Man Who Cheated Himself : Modern Marvels : Murder by Contract : Murder, My Sweet : My Week with Marilyn : Naked City (1) : Naked City (2) : Naked City (3) : Naked City (4) : Naked City (5) : Naked City (6) : Naked City (7) : Nightfall : Nightmare Alley : Perry Mason : The Public Enemy : Railroaded! : Side Street : Sweet Smell of Success : Tension : This Gun for Hire

Close-reading Brett Kavanaugh

I’m a close reader. In 1998, when Bill Clinton told PBS’s Jim Lehrer that “There is not a sexual relationship,” I immediately asked (out loud), “But was there?” I wish Lehrer had asked the question too.

Reading a transcript of Brett Kavanaugh’s Fox News interview, I’m struck by the careful repetition:

“I had [have?] never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not ever.”

“I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or otherwise.”

“I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or at any time in my life.”

“I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone.”

If Kavanaugh wants to claim (in a way that defies all plausibility) that the acts of which he’s accused were without sexual intent, the denial “I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone” becomes a crafty way to dodge the question of whether he did what he’s accused of doing. In other words, “I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone.” Someone needs to ask Kavanaugh a different question on Thursday: “Have you ever assaulted anyone?” And another: “Have you ever engaged in horseplay that could have been construed as assault?” I’m calling Dick Durbin’s office tomorrow morning to suggest that Durbin ask exactly those questions.

*

September 27: An aide told me that he’d pass my questions along to Durbin. After the fact, it’s obvious that Kavanaugh’s answers would have been “No” and “No.” Durbin asked an excellent question of his own: “Judge Kavanaugh, will you support an FBI investigation right now?” Kavanaugh refused to answer the question one way or the other.

*

October 1: The New York Times reports a 1985 incident in which Kavanaugh is said to have thrown ice in a man’s face. How I wish my senator had asked Kavanaugh, “Have you ever assaulted anyone?”

A related post
Close-reading Herman Cain (“I never sexually harassed anyone”)

[Kavanaugh’s denial of what Deborah Ramirez accuses him of — “I never did any such thing” — is more difficult to parse. In this interview, Kavanaugh says “any such party” twice, and “any such thing” (with reference to Ramirez’s accusation) three times. Is there a subtle difference between “any such party” and “that party,” or between “I never did any such thing” and “I never did that”?]

Hahaha

“In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”

[Laughter.]

Or as the kids type, hahaha. Watch here.

“Not gonna do it”

Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members and a new academic satire, The Shakespeare Requirement, in an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education:

“At Minnesota we’re supposed to be using Moodle or Canvas or something with our students, and I announce on Day 1: ‘Not gonna do it. If you guys want to know what the assignment is, come to class. I’m going to write it on the chalkboard right here in front of you.’”

A related post
“Such is the future of education” (A passage from Dear Committee Members)

[Alas, the interview is behind a paywall.]

Masks

[Devil mask, Kuna, ca. 1910. Conquistador mask, Maya, Santo Tomas Chichicastenango, ca. 1917. Cristiano mask, by Pedro Reyes Juarez, Tiaxcala, Mexico, ca. 1990. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.]

The museum card reads: “In masked dances, twentieth-century descendants of native peoples keep alive the memory of the Spanish invasion and the resistance of their ancestors to conquest.”