Some of us dare to swim for our lives while others yell women have no business being in the water!

By Faith Chatham - Nov. 13, 2018

Whenever someone says: 

'there is no difference between parties' 

-- show them the composition of the 116th US Congress. 

Of the 102 Women in the US House, 

only 19 are Republicans. 

I think this is because too many women, especially Republican women, are content to keep on making the coffee while the men make the decisions. Democratic women make coffee too, but we decide what brand to buy and insist on having a fair shot at chairing the meeting.

Granted, there are Republican women who are elected officials. However, there are more Democratic Women in higher offices than Republicans. 

It is not easy to get men to share power, 

even with other men. 

• White men, especially White Republican men vote for women much more rarely than White Democratic men, Latino men or Black men. 
• Women help keep men in power. Over 50% of the US population is female but women have less than 20% representation in the 115th Congress and slightly under 25% in the 116th Congress which will be seated in January 2019.
• Republican women are more likely to vote for a man than for a woman.

The numbers tell it loud and clear.

• If you are female, and you want to serve in the US HOUSE or SENATE, you are five times more likely not to be elected if you run as a Republican than if you are a Democrat.
• Republicans elect women to serve in honorary positions where they make few decisions. For example,most of the Republican electors in the 2016 Texas Electoral College were women. They were bound electors pledged to support the Republican Convention's choice of candidates. Republicans are generous in electing women to the electoral college because they send them as bound electors -- not in positions to actually make decisions. 
• Republicans like having tokens. They like having a few Blacks and Latinos in the crowd. It makes the party It looks more inclusive if they have a person of color immediately behind the candidate for photo ops. 
• Even women corporate CEOs rarely win the nomination of the Republican party for President, Senate or US House of Representatives.They are more likely to be chosen as a Vice-Presidential running mate than for positions with greater immediate power.

Again, the numbers tell it all. 

The Republican party has never 

nominated a woman for president.

• Out of 25 GOP controlled  US House seats in the Texas delegation and 2 Senatorial Seats, the Republicans have only one woman in the Texas delegation in the 114th and 115th Congress. Texas has been really slow to elect women to Congress. Most Congressional seats are gerrymandered to favor Republicans. 
• In the history of Texas, only one Texas woman has ever been elected to the Senate, and she won with strong independent and cross-over partisan support. 
• Currently, neither of the Republican senators from Texas is female. 
• Democrats controlled only 11 Congressional seats in 2014 and 2016, but three of the Democratic U.S. Representatives are female.
• Following the 2018 mid-term election, the number of women in the Texas Federal delegation doubled. None of the new Congresswomen from Texas are Republican. 
• Texas Republicans did not add any women or persons of color into their federal delegation. Republicans lost two congressional seats: one to a Democratic woman (Lizzie Fletcher - US TX 7) and one to a Black Democratic man (Colin Allred  - US TX 32). 
• Two of the 11 Democratic Congressional seats vacated by the resignation of Democratic Congressmen will be filled in the 116th Congress by former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar and former Texas State Senator Sylvia Garcia, the first Latinas to serve in the US Congress.

Ideology aside, there is a vast difference between the parties. 
A mere photo of the Republican Federal Delegation from Texas and of the Democratic Federal Delegation from Texas clearly shows that Republican voters are much less inclusive than Democratic voters.

• Nationwide, that same reality is reflected in the composition of the 115th and the 116th US Congress. 
• If there were no difference, we would have many more women in the US House and Senate. 
• If  Republican women were as likely to be elected as Democratic women, this year, instead of approaching 25% female in the US House, we would be approaching 40%. 

Republican women need to wake up. 

You can continue playing the little woman who is the worker bee while letting the boys make the decisions for you, or you can think for yourself and step into roles where you forge your own destiny. 

Until you do, your daughters are bound to old tyrannies, and those who are forging our own paths are obstructed by the decisions of men you enable and propel into power.

The biggest obstacle in America today 

is not Donald Trump. 

It is that too many women 

underestimate our own worth, 

decision making ability and competence.

We settle for too little.. As long as one woman works and votes against her own self interest, we are all hindered in our journey.

We may think that labels such as liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican or Independent are the great divide. I think the bigger divide is between those who are daring to swim for our lives and those who stand on the shore yelling that women have no business being in the water.

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Women's March DC 2019

Elect Dr. McKellar Cornerstone Rally

Dr Shirley McKellar for US Congress

BREAKING: Texas Secretary of State Office Knew and Did Nothing About HART-E Voting Machine Malfunctions

By Faith Chatham - Oct. 26, 2018

Austin, TX— This evening, ABC13 Houston reported that the Texas Secretary of State and election administrators knew about voting machine malfunctions for years and refused to do anything about it.

The malfunction can lead to straight-ticket Democratic voters casting a ballot for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz if they don’t review and correct their ballot before pressing the red cast button.

Highlights:

• Ft. Bend County Election Administrator John Oldham said, “he’s talked to the Secretary of State more than once about the problem. It has not been fixed aside from signs provided by the Secretary of State to warn voters to check their selections.”
• “Sam Taylor, at the Texas Secretary of State’s office, tells 13 Investigates the problem is “user error” and not something their office could fix. Taylor suggests a vendor could or should handle any upgrades, but the state has not asked vendors to do so.”Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa issued the following statement:
  “The first step in solving a problem is recognizing that you have one. And the Texas Secretary of State’s office has one. This is not a new problem, their office knew about potential flaws in their voting machines and chose to ignore them for years.
  “Instead of owning up to their mistake, Texas’ Republican government blamed voters and did nothing.
  “The Texas Democratic Party demands the Texas Secretary of State take responsibility for their failures and immediately take action to inform voters to double-check their ballots.”
  Actions the Texas Secretary of State could take right now to inform voters:
  • Launch a statewide public service announcement to inform voters on broadcast and cable television in multiple languages.
  • Launch a comprehensive voter information program in multiple languages through radio, digital, and print advertisements.
  • Train poll workers to verbally remind voters to double-check their ballot.
  • Post additional signs reminding voters to check their ballots before submitting.
  • Log all instances of machine malfunction. 

Texas ranks 21st in nation in highest percentage of unemployed

By Faith Chatham - Oct. 26, 2018

As of June 2018, Texas ranks 21st highest (out of 51) in UNEMPLOYMENT. Under Abbott and the GOP controlled Texas Legislature, the annual growth in GDP (5 year increase) has not trickled down to the middle class. Growth in GDP can mask the overall wealth of the average Texan because GDP can reflect wealth which flows through Texas companies to out-of-state or international stock holders. EMPLOYMENT FIGURES reflects wealth actually in the accounts of residents which is available for housing, food, clothing, education, recreation. These are the expenditures which fuel the local economy. Under Abbott, higher percentage of Texans are unemployed than in 30 of the nation's other states. Since Texas is one of the states with the greatest population, 4% of Texans is a much greater number of unemployed people than in any of the other states with higher rates of unemployment.

BOTTOM LINE: Under Greg Abbott's watch, more people in Texas are unemployed than in most other places in the United States. The growth in wealth in Texas is channeled into the bank accounts of a relatively few people instead of being spread out throughout the population. Despite a 1.9% increase in job creation, the majority of new jobs are either not full-time or at pay rates high enough to rank as "living wage pay rates".

Jennie Lou Leeder for U.S. Congress, "Our Texas Home"

Jennie Lou Leeder for U.S. Congress, "Our Texas Home"

Jennie Lou Leeder for U.S. Congress, "Our Texas Home"

In It Together

In It Together

Putting it all out on the court

By Faith Chatham - Oct. 21, 2018

I love how they fight for us with all they've got during session and then don't leave anything on the field during GOTV crunch time fighting to help other women win seats in the Texas Leg. 

Currently in the Texas Legislature:

AND SOME OF THOSE WOMEN INCUMBENTS  ARE REPUBLICANS).

That is 19% of the Texas House and 25.8% of the Texas Senate to represent women who make up 52% of the Texas Population.

In the US House and Senate Texas women are even more under represented. Here is a graphic which shows where we stand on the Federal side. We didn't gain a single seat in 2016!

YEP, THAT IS RIGHT. 2016 and 2018 have identical statistics. We did not gain one seat in 2016.

Therefore, we must vote in 2018 like our lives depend on it BECAUSE IT REALLY DOES!

On the Federal side,  Texas has two Democratic US Congresswomen (Eddie Bernice Johnson and Sheila Jackson Lee) and one Republican (Kay Granger) out of 36 members of Congress and two senators. 

When we go to court, there are probably going to be Republican men hearing our cases.

Gals,we have to stop putting these men in charge of everything without sending enough women to temper what cliff's they decided to drive us over!

Looking at the importance of the campaigns of Lupe Valdez, Kim Olson and Joi Chevalier this year:

Electing Lupe, Kim and Joi would put women into 

4 out of 9 of the statewide non-judicial offices.

Electing one would give women a 22% representation,

Electing two of the three will raise it to a 33% representation.

Electing all three (if the current Railroad commissioner is re-elected) will give 52% of Texas' population 44% representation on our non-judicial statewide offices.

I applaud Rep. Celia Israel, Gina Hinojosa and Donna Howard for putting everything they have out there to make this happen. They are traveling the state helping other women GOTV in towns outside their district. Lupe, Kim and Joi are traveling over 4,700 miles in 10 days during this last GOTV crunch to meet citizens in 50 towns!

Each of us needs to stop being shy about talking to neighbors and strangers about how important this election is. 

If you need an icebreaker, use a PINK WAVE Button.

EARLY VOTING STARTS MONDAY, OCT. 22 

and runs through NOV. 2nd. 

ELECTION DAY IS NOV. 6th.

We should do what Willie says: 

If we don't like the clowns we elected

then when election day rolls around again,

VOTE 'EM OUT!

It's here girls!

Let's VOTE GOOD WOMEN IN 

and GET THE BAD GUYS OUT!

The Political Take Over of Texas

By Faith Chatham - Oct. 21, 2018

THE POLITICAL TAKE OVER OF TEXAS spilled over into an alliance between those who financed the hit ads in the 2002-2006 election cycles which led to redistricting (gerrymandering) in Texas which solidified Republican control of the state wide offices and judiciary and solid Republican pro gun majorities in both the Texas Legislature and Texas' US delegation to Congress Gregg Abbott has strong ties to the gun advocate groups who fronted as the Law Enforcement Alliance to run hit ads against his Democratic Opponent in the 2002 Attorney General's race.

That has morphed into a take-over of the NRA by right wing political operatives with an agenda much more far-reaching than gun safety. Despite solid evidence that the NRA aligned itself with Russian government sponsored gun rights money interest who funneled (money laundered) millions of Russian rubles into the US Presidential and many US Congressional races in 2016, Greg Abbott refuses to distance himself from the corrupted (actually treasonous) NRA!

This year in Texas there is a sane, gun totting actual law enforcement professional challenging Greg Abbott for Governor. Lupe Valdez is much more closely aligned with the original mission of the NRA (when it actually used membership dues to educate people on gun safety and to get gun owners to lock up their weapons to keep them out of the hands of children) than Greg Abbott, whose entanglement with the NRA is most probably tied to his addiction to their generous monetary support of him.

Valdez does not have her hands and never has had her hands in the pockets of the NRA or any gun lobby like Greg Abbotf does (and has since 2002). She is always armed and supports gun ownership but unlike Greg Abbott, sees gun violence as a problem which must be address by strict background checks, keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and those with histories of violence.

Valdez says: "People who do not settle their disputes without violence have no business being armed." Abbott says everyone has the right to buy any arm they want. Valdez (a retired Captain of a US National Guard Tank Battalion) says: "Some guns are designed for military use - to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible. They have no business in civilian use on our streets."

Texans have a clear choice this year. It is between a sane, solid "unbought and unbossed" former law enforcement administrator and an opportunist who uses sound bites to create the illusion which are contrary to what he actually does or promotes.

We need a governor who will face the tough realities of Texas instead of the "pay to play" Abbott whose appointees are usually his campaign donors or former lobbyists who are agents of his campaign donors. Lupe Valdez is the sane choice for Texans this year for Governor.

Her of Him?

By Faith Chatham — Oct. 20, 2018

Article 4: Section 7 of the Texas Constitution names the Governor as COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF MILITARY FORCES. "He shall be Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of the State, except when they are called into actual service of the United States.  He shall have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions."

Lupe Valdez - Retired Military officer served as Captain in the US National Guard leading a tank battalion. She also has 17 years of  Federal Service as a civilian in addition to being the former Sheriff of Dallas County. She was :

• Inspector for the General Services Administration (GSA)
• Senior Federal Agent, working undercover in Latin America on drug interdiction and money laundering.

Valdez was elected Sheriff of Dallas County in 2004 and re-elected three times:

• She was the first Democrat to be elected county wide in Dallas County in decades.
• The only woman or person of color ever to serve as Sheriff of Dallas County.
• She was re-elected 3 times before retiring in Dec. 2017 to run for Governor of Texas.

Valdez inherited a department which was out of compliance for jail overcrowding, being understaffed and unsanitary. She had to persuade the County Commissioners and citizens  to appropriate funds and seek grants necessary for substantial improvements at the jail. She was not able to solve all of the problems immediately, but once she got the jail into compliance, she kept it that way.She implemented community policing, placing people of color and women in supervisory roles, and redeployed officers so that they more closely represented the people in the neighborhoods. She told her officers: "The first time someone meets you shouldn't be when you are arresting them. Get out there and meet people doing community service."

Valdez says: "Most people in the jail have not been convicted of anything. Even those who have should be treated with respect."

Valdez is accustomed to standing out in the crowd. She was the only Latina Sheriff in the USA and oversaw the 7th largest Sheriff's department in the USA.

Photo from LupeValdez.com

The daughter of migrant farm workers, Lupe Valdez worked three jobs to pay her way through college. She prioritizes education and seeks to give all people in Texas a pathway upward. "I am where I am because this state gave me the opportunity to get an education, to work and to serve. I want everyone to have the opportunities that I've had." She say that "I've got mine, too bad about yours!" is an attitude that too many elected official have which for sake of the people of this state should to stop!

Most of Lupe Valdez’ adult life has been in uniform. She enlisted in the US National Guard as a young woman, and rose to the rank of Captain over a mostly male tank battalion before entering Federal Service.
Photo from LupeValdez.com

Valdez faces incumbent Greg Abbott in the General Election. Abbott has a war chest, rich with special interest money acquired during decades as a state official, which is 51 times bigger than Valdez's.  Abbott continues to raise money and is channeling millions into the campaign coffers of other Republicans (especially those allied with Donald Trump and the Freedom Caucus.

Abbott, a darling of the gun lobby, and Valdez disagree on gun laws. Valdez, who is always armed and has been continually in a profession where being armed is requirement, favors concealed carry. Unlike Abbott, who rose to power through the support of the gun lobby, Valdez sees gun violence as a threat to civil society. Abbott seeks no restraints on gun ownership.

Shootings in schools have the attention of both candidates. Abbott held a highly publicized town hall on School Violence after a recent massacre at a central Texas school. His solution is arming teachers, a proposal very unpopular with most classroom teachers who have concerns about being able to secure a firearm in a classroom of children or teenagers.

Valdez opposes arming teachers.

She says: “We must provide security for the schools. It is the teachers job to teach and our job to keep them safe.” Valdez is emphatic: “Those who cannot settle disputes without violence, have no business carrying a gun.”  

Long before the NRA endorsed Abbott for Governor, he forged an alliance with the gun lobby.

Abbott’s history with the gun lobby dates back to 2002  when the gun lobby used a law enforcement front group to quietly help elect Abbott as Texas attorney general. Frank Smyth wrote in 2017: Back then, Democrats still held a majority in the Texas state house and in the Texas delegation to Congress. It was a time when the gun lobby was learning how to reach out to other right-leaning groups, forging alliances that predated both the Tea Party and the Trump campaign. It was the beginning of a redistricting or “gerrymandering” process that has since helped bring the Republican party in Texas and other states to unprecedented political power.

...But ever since he ran for his first Texas legislative seat more than twenty years ago, Abbott has been a steady advocate for expanding Texans’ access to guns. He has earned a 100 percent approval rating from the National Rifle Association, and is proud of it.

Valdez is also an advocate for private gun ownership, however, unlike Abbott, she has no ties to the gun lobby. She favors stronger background checks, keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, domestic abusers and other persons with a history of violence.

She says that ‘some weapons are designed for military combat, designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Those weapons have no business on our streets.’ 

Valdez lives simply and her campaign reflects her down-to-earth basic lifestyle. She has driven herself, usually with one staffer, from town to town in her pickup truck this year, being on the road constantly since January when she declared for Governor.

Valdez greets citizens at a campaign stop in Round Rock, Texas Friday afternoon, Oct. 20, 2018.              Photo by Linda Brooks

Now she has embarked on a 4700 mile but trip for to make almost 50 campaign stops in ten days this month. She is on bus with other statewide Democratic Nominees (Mike Collier for Lt. Gov,., Kim Olson for Agriculture Commissioner, Joi Chevalier for Comptroller, Justin Nelson for Attorney General and other). When that ends, she will head out again to  meet citizens in other towns where they live. They are keeping in touch with supporters through the twitter hashtag: #FairShotTour

Some view Valdez’s campaign with wistful nostalgia. A daughter of San Antonio, this is the Tri-centennial celebration year of the founding of Lupe’s home town.  One of her campaign buttons reflects her historic race as the first Latina woman to run for Governor in the history of Texas. A win in 2018 for this San Antonio native would is seen by many as another millestone to celebrate for the Alamo City. It is also the anniversary of Democratic women being granted the right to vote in the Texas Primary.  She is the first Latina to win the nomination for Governor in the history of Texas. In the state’s history, only two women have been governor. Ann Richards was the only one who was not the first lady who assumed office after her husband. 
 

Valdez is a native of San Antonio and is running for Governor during the Tri-centennial year of her birthplace.

The polls reflect Abbott’s stronger name recognition and financial might. However, Valdez has always been viewed as an underdog who had little or no chance of winning, yet she has never lost an election. The Dallas Morning New always discounted her, sometimes vehemently opposing her, but the majority of voters have always chosen her. She was shocked when she won her first race as Sheriff and honored all three times she was re-elected.

She was seen as one of the least likely to win of the 9 candidates for Governor in 2018 Democratic Primary, yet came within 2 points of avoiding a run-off. She beat the son of former Governor Mark White, a candidate whose income from his tech businesses gave him many more financial resources than Vadez in the run-off, after coming in first against 8 men in the Primary..

She has not gotten as much press as Beto O’rourak and did not start the campaign with a Congressional war chest. However, she resonates with “ordinary people” she meets on the campaign trail because she comes from a Texas “working stock” family and understand what it means to not have health insurance when a family member is ill or how hard it is to struggle to work multiple jobs to provide for your family or to pay you way through college. She is a problem solver who looks for ways to improve things for the people she meets.  She is plain spoken, down-to-earth, and compassionate. She is a problem-solver who focuses on making things better for the people she meets.

Whatever the outcome November 6th, she has elevated the public rhetoric from the divisive pettiness of Abbott’s previous campaign, shifting the focus to public school finance reform, affordable health care, solving the state’s maternal and infant mortality crisis which is more dire than in any other part of the developed world, and giving all citizens a fair shot at providing for their families. She balances the need to protect our borders with our responsibility to be humane and not separate children from their parents or unfairly vilify border communities which have lower crime statistics than many communities in the state’s interior as “crime ridden communities.” 

Lupe Valdez, as governor, would be a breath of fresh air in a state whose legislative agenda has stalled on wedge issue bathroom bills and drastic cuts to public school financing. Lupe Valdez brings strength and common sense to every office she holds. Unlike Abbott who pushed through Campus Carry legislation during a time when school shooting was escalating, Valdez is the voice for balance — respecting the rights of law abiding citizens while calling for policies to curtail the proliferation of arms in the hands of criminals, the mentally ill and those with histories of violence.

As importantly, she would put an end to Abbott’s practice of “Pay to Play Politics” where most political appointees are campaign donors or their agents. 

To donate to Valdez's campaign: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/lupetx

Lupe's ad

Donate at: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/lupetx

Jennie Lou Leeder for U.S. Congress, "Our Texas Home"

Jennie Lou Leeder for Congress, "Our Right to Healthcare"

Rep. Mike Conaway - CAGW's July '18 Porker of the Month

Conwyy has gone unchallenged until 2018. Democrat Jennie Lou Leeder is on the ballot to replace him. This district is HUGE. It runs from just west of Fort Worth all the way to the New Mexico and Oklahoma borders. Jennie Lou is using LOTS OF GASOLINE talking to voters this year. Please send her some money to help her keep gasoline in her tank.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jennietx11

For the Good of the Nation

By Faith Chatham - Sept. 27, 2018

About the same time as the alleged assault on Dr. Ford occurred, I was a single businesswoman operating an advertising /marketing agency/creative shop in East Texas. What was supposed to be a business meeting resulted in sexual assault. Later I discovered that the man who assaulted me had appropriated someone else's ID and had stalked me for months, developing relationships to secure an introduction and assignment which would place me within his reach. He left the region immediately after the assault and I did not report it to police or tell friends or family or clergy for many years.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony resonates as 100% creditable to me based on my experience and training. Here is something I wrote earlier today:

Unless we are personally harmed or personally witness something weird, we are unlikely to remember who we were with 30+ years ago. However, Dr. Ford has testified that her girlfriend was downstairs, and she did not see the attack. She says that she did not tell her girlfriend about what happened upstairs. It is very probable that the evening seemed like just another party to the woman who was not assaulted. It was not traumatic for her so with time it fades from her memory.

If Dr. Ford had not been assaulted, it would probably have faded from her memory too. But because she was, it is imprinted in her mind.

I don't remember most of the "dates" I had or places I went or who was present at other specific dinner meetings or small gatherings which I attended in the 1980s  (or before). However, there are clear flashes from one event which was a nightmare which I didn't think I would get through alive. Dr. Ford's testimony is authentic to me. From personal experience I know that it is normal to block out some things, including not remembering what happened immediately after the event clearly (how you got home for instance) while remembering the physique and words and expression of the attacker. My attacker did not laugh, but he pinned my neck back against the seat of the vehicle with his arms. Decades later I react whenever something or someone constrains my neck.

We might not remember the exact date because we work so hard at putting it out our minds. Many of us remember a general time frame but not the exact date. Not knowing the exact date does not negate our knowing what happened to us or who did it. 

An example of people remembering trauma is that most people can tell us exactly where they were when they heard JFK was assassinated and /or the planes flew into the World Trade Center. Those are traumatic events. Sexual Assault survivors remember the events as clearly as they remember where they were on 9/11. We probably do not remember where we were the day or week before or after those event because those days seemed normal. I remember sitting in my mother's hospital room watching the Delta air crash at DFW airport, but I can not tell you the exact date without researching the crash or seeing my mother's hospital records. The Delta air crash stands out in my mind because that is when we discovered my mother was dying. Trauma imprints memories into our brain. Not every detail of that day, or those days, remains crisp. But the events remain clear. Not being able to describe every detail does not mean the events did not occur.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford had nothing to gain, and everything to lose, by coming forward and testifying. The nominee is fighting for his political/professional life and has everything to retain or gain by having her allegations discredited. Predators usually react angrily towards survivors. Senator Graham and Judge Brett Kavanaugh are frustrated and angry that these claims are hindering his confirmation. Boys who were present in the room with Brett Kavanaugh in 1982 can still face charges since there is no Statue of Limitation on sexual assault in Maryland. They have much motivation for discounting or denying these allegations. Dr. Ford is the only person who has nothing to gain by telling her story at this time.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was not given a fair hearing by most of the members of the Judicial Committee. Instead of seeking the best candidate for the nation, partisan determination to ram President Trump's nominee through overshadowed true evaluation of the testimony of Dr. Ford. Despite decades of reforms, survivors remain on trial when we come forward. In a nation where it is estimated that one in every three women and one in every six men are sexually assaulted or molested, and only 7 out of 1000 are convicted and only 6 out of 1000 rapists actually serve jail time. Only 11 out of 1000 rape cases are referred to a prosecutor. The low percentage of convictions discourages victims from reporting the crime. Because apx. 66% of rape/sexual assaults in the USA are unreported and 96% escape prison or jail time, the number which goes unreported enables serial predators to walk free. Refusal to dedicate resources to clear rape kit backlogs illustrates what a low priority legislators place on curtailing sexual assault and molestation.                       
I am inspired by Dr. Ford, and admire her strength of character and fastidiousness to facts and clarity. Today's hearing demonstrates that much too little has changed since Dr. Ford and my lives were irreparably changed by the actions of individuals who chose to indulge their perversions at our expense without our consent. The Chair and majority of the U.S. Senate Judicial Committee chose to utilize a female prosecutor to question the survivor and to frame questions to help exonerate the nominee.

Survivors can step forward, however, the penalty for not laying down and suffering in silence the violations we experience is still frightfully high. In the year of #MeToo a man can garner sympathy for the discomfort he experiences during ten days waiting for his hearing before Congress while survivors are discounted for months, years, even decades before the predators are questioned or investigated. Most are never convicted or jailed, yet data shows that survivors of all genders number in the millions.

I can easily comprehend why a woman would keep silent for decades yet step forward when seeing the man who assaulted her considered for a life-time seat on the Supreme Court. Knowing the impact Supreme Court Justices have on current and future generations, trying to protect others enables some of us to overcome our fears and knowledge of what coming forward will cost us. Dr. Ford's testimony may not keep Judge Kavenaugh off of the Supreme Court, but she knows that she tried. She has done what she can to give the Senate the information they need to make an informed decision on his confirmation. I hope that the members of the Senate will be as unselfish as Dr. Ford and place the well being of the nation and our national institutions above their own comfort or political careers/preferences.