*By Carlo Versano*
Prof. Christine Blasey Ford ー emotional and at times defiant ー read an opening statement during Thursday's hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in which she said, in no uncertain terms, that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s at a house party when they were both teenagers in Maryland.
For the first time since the allegations were made public earlier this month, the country both saw and heard Dr. Ford, who opened her testimony by stating, "I am terrified."
She continued, "I am here, because I believe it is my civic duty."
Ford's opening statement turned more resolute when she described death threats she has received since coming forward in an article in The Washington Post.
"Apart from the assault itself, these past couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life. I have had to relive this trauma in front of the world," she said.
She also pushed back forcefully on critics who said she couldn't possibly remember an attack from so long ago ー and referenced pundits and operatives who have proposed the idea that she was acting as part of a Democratic hit job on Kavanaugh's nomination.
"I am an independent person, and I am no one's pawn," Ford said.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defended himself against reports that a GOP donor treated him to super luxury vacations.
California Rep. Mark Takano re-introduced a bill for a four-day work week to bring to Congress. "The idea here is to ignite and jumpstart a serious conversation about how long the work week should be," Rep. Takano said. "The next steps are to continue to build interest ... that interest needs to be turned into public sentiment."
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The two expelled members are Black and the member not expelled is white.
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has for more than two decades accepted luxury trips nearly every year from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow without reporting them on financial disclosure forms, ProPublica reports.
Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and scion of one of the country’s most famous political families, is running for president.
A Democratic state lawmaker in North Carolina announced Wednesday that she is jumping to the Republican Party, giving the GOP veto-proof majorities in both the state's legislative chambers that should make it easier to enact conservative policies over the opposition of Gov. Roy Cooper.
