Second and Third Accusers of Judge Kavanaugh

choi

Today's news first.

(1) The third accuser, Julie Swetnick, of Judge Kavanaugh released her statement through the Twitter account of her attorney Michael Avenatti. The statement was signed Sept 25, 2018 (yesterday) but her attorney tweets it public this morning; that tweet was just shortly earlier than (and hence underneath) a second tweet of Ms Swetnick's photo.
https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti

(2) Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer, Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh's College Years. New Yorker, Sept 23, 2019 (online)
https://www.newyorker.com/news/n ... ars-deborah-ramirez
(Deborah Ramirez)

My comment:
(a) I am not leaning toward one or the other side. But they are worth reading. Whether Judge Kavanaugh was a party animal -- or worse, there must be MANY others who are in a position to substantiate or contradict the allegations. When the first accuser emerged, I wondered whether there was a mistaken identity (How did she know they were Kavanaugh and Mark Judge? Were they total strangers?)
(b) The statement of the third accuser is typed in standard legal form that is used in American court proceedings (at both state and federal courts) -- for deposition and testimony (in grand jury and court trial). Her statement ends with "under penalty of perjury" which is ambiguous as to whether under state (or DC) law or federal law. So she follows specifically with "under laws of the United States of America" -- without excluding state or DC law.

(c) The New Yorker report in (2) mentions "a gag plastic penis."
(i) gag (n):
"1 : something thrust into the mouth to keep it open or to prevent speech or outcry
2 : an official check or restraint on debate or free speech  <a gag rule>
3 : a laugh-provoking remark or act"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gag
(ii) gag (n; "mid 19th century (originally theatrical slang): of unknown origin"): "a joke or an amusing story, especially one forming part of a comedian's act or in a film"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gag

Particularly noteworthy in this entry of the Oxforddictionaries.com is
(A) that this definition is separate from the other definition of gag as a noun (gag1 as a noun and  a verb, and gag2 as a noun and a verb; the (c)(ii) definition is from gag2;
And (B) that all examples given for gag2 as a noun i -- unlike "a gag rule" -- is not used as a modifier (as in "a gag plastic penis").
(iii) I google "gaga plastic penis" and this New Yorker report is the only one in the entire Web that used this term.

(d) Judge Kavanaugh (Georgetown Preparatory School, a Catholic (specifically Jesuit) all-boys high school in North Bethesda, Maryland (northern neighbor of Bethesda, Maryland); BA from Yale, 1987; JD Yale Law School 1990)