Part of my worry over Judge Brett Kavanaugh becoming the next Supreme Court justice has to do with how he has been handling the accusations from women who are coming forward with claims of being sexually abused by him while he was drunk in his early years.

His flat out denials do not ring true. Most of the GOP members of the US Senate and the US Senate Judiciary Committee know Judge Brett Kavanaugh, personally and have come to respect him in the work environment. They interact with what they see as a decent, good man.

What they don’t get, especially GOP members like the US Senator Lindsay Graham, is that Judge Kavanaugh is just like Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby did not get ‘a free get out of jail card’ because he was a great guy most of the time except when he was mistreating women. His misdeeds took on a pattern. The same can be said of Judge Kavanaugh to where he acts like a very responsible person most of the time, except when he becomes drunk and then acts out in sexually inappropriate ways. This acting out also fits a pattern.

The republican lawmakers have been unwilling to sign off on another more thorough FBI background check on their US Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, even though, they all know that the past 6 FBI background checks that he has undergone and passed, only go back 10 years, which would not be enough to have picked up his youthful misdeeds. All the accusers, so far, date back from 1982-1998. This is why all the women accusers are inviting the FBI to do a further background check while Judge Kavanaugh and his republican backers are nixing this probe.

The 11 GOP members have to face the reality that his youthful drunken binges and mistreatment of women can/ should disqualify him from being a Supreme Court justice. There are consequences to his youthful ugly behaviors.

If their mouthpiece, the Maricopa County prosecutor Rachel Mitchell who they’ve hired to ask questions, on their behalf of one of Judge Kavanaugh’s accusers, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, acts in a less than professional and respectful manner towards her, there will be blow back from women voters, bigly. This is because women who have dealt with abuse know how there can be 2 different men, the one who looks very reasonable to others, but who is also the same one who mistreats them. Women get this!

The Me, Too movement has gained momentum because women have become fed up with being side-lined, discounted, patronized, talked over by men who could care less about how they’ve been mistreated.

This Judge Kavanaugh scenario should also be a warning to all young people. In this day of social media, what you do in high school can haunt you later in life. Colleges and employers already are reviewing young applicants via their social media sites.

Here is the rest of the story…

On September 27, 2018, Carolyn Thompson of the AP penned the following report, ‘Kavanaugh school scrutiny underscores today’s teens worries’

Excerpts:

“The firestorm surrounding President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court over the nominee’s behavior in the 1980s has reinforced a warning today’s social media-savvy high school students have grown up hearing: What they say and do now will live well past graduation.”

“Judge Brett Kavanaugh faces a historic hearing Thursday over assault allegations dating back to his high school and college years. He has denied the allegations.”

“Some teenagers today say they are more mindful of the enduring quality of their words and actions because they’ve grown up with the internet and social media posts are increasingly part of the college admission and job vetting process.”

“In contrast, the evidence collected in the Kavanaugh’s past includes decades-old yearbooks and calendars.”

“California high school senior Maya Carpenter, 17, says she’s taken classes since middle school on being safe on the internet, and her high school offers a digital citizenship class on the subject.”

“They put a lot of emphasis on how whatever you say never really goes away,” she said. “What’s happening with the Kavanaugh hearings is a great example of that.”

At least 10 prospective Harvard University students learned this lesson the hard way last year when their dream school rescinded admission offers after they traded posts on Facebook that were reportedly often sexually explicit and mocked Mexicans, the Holocaust, sexual assault and child abuse.

Colleges also make no secret of the fact they visit applicants’ social media profiles. A Kaplan Test Prep survey in April said 68 percent of colleges consider profiles on Facebook and Instagram “fair game” as they decide who gets admitted.

A big difference today — it’s unlikely to take 30 years for misconduct to cause problems.

“It’s definitely something that a lot of people are aware of,” said Georgia VanDerwater, 18, of Holland, New York.

She is cautious about what she posts online, and even her mother keeps tabs on her social media posts and messages when she sees something that could be troublesome down the road.

“Be it a joke or a swear word in a tweet, I send it back. I will write and say, ’I just want you to know that when I read this I interpreted it this way, and so other people might interpret it this way,’” said Georgia’s mother, Amy VanDerwater.

Kavanaugh is pushing back against allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking in the early 1980s as he tries to convince senators he is worthy of a Supreme Court seat. His 1983 high-school yearbook refers to plenty of drinking while at Georgetown Preparatory School, the private all-boys school in Maryland, including being treasurer of the “Keg City Club” — “100 Kegs or Bust.”

Bob Farrace, spokesman for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, says schools have been steering students toward more constructive yearbook posts for years.

“Principals and yearbook advisors have always dissuaded students from writing inappropriate commentary in their yearbook,” he said, “understandably because such comments reflect badly on both the school and the student.”

“But it’s not just bad acts that live on.”

VanDerwater, a freshman at the State University of New York at Geneseo, knows that if a potential employer Googles her name, they’ll see that she helped organize a high school walkout last year to demonstrate for stricter gun control, and that she called out a Republican congressman for not taking part in a forum on the topic.

As she got involved with gun protests, she had to weigh whether that political activity might work against her if she tries getting a job with an employer with different political views. In the end, she decided it was worth it because a company like that wasn’t a right fit anyway.

“But it definitely could make a difference, because if you Google my name, that will come up,” she said. “I’ve thought about that.”