Hermit

Dealing with old people who have a growing dementia is ..difficult. I feel for them.
Dealing with a manipulative hag with narcissism disorder so you can't tell when it's the dementia and when it's just her being a grade A b**ch can be a nightmare. But my Housemate can't trhow her mom on the street and I spend more time here soooo....
 
And sorry, folks. Just needed to vent. No, we can't afford to get her in a home, yes we've checked vet benefits, no she can't afford to get a nurse care herself, and when left along she would fall down a LOT partially because she doesn't take her meds on time. This isn't a request to fix the situation, we've explored that. This is just a vent and a need to blow off steam because telling a 76 year old woman to **** the next time she makes a passive aggressive play or underhanded insult is against my upbringing.
 
 
 
 
 

(For the  three of you who still read after the one page a month garbage I pull)
 
Here we were, facing an army of technologically advanced foes, that had us outnumbered, and were certainly more prepared for us than we were for them. And we were winning?  I believe it was Sun Tzu who first said "Don't go into a battle blind, no I mean literally." Okay, I'm sure it's more dignified in the original Chinese.  
 
Their attempt to blind us had been counter by mysticism, something I began to suspect was not in the super science wielding culture's wheelhouse. Their own vision was obscured by the continued snowstorm that caked their visors with frost and normal vision couldn’t see through. Attempts to just blast away where they thought we were was more dangerous to them, and besides, Lady Obsidian's forcewalls continued to dominate the terrain. She even called out general patterns using codewords that evoked which ones. I felt a little like a badass Spartan as I held one artificially created narrow pass curb stomping the oncoming single file struggling to pour through.
"Madness, " I called out, "This is…"
 
"You've very funny honey," Valorosa said in the equivalent of a verbal eye-roll before I could finish. Ouch, meme blocked by my own girlfriend. She was right I guess, better to focus on the auras of the enemies.  
 
Not like I was used to reading them so best not to risk confusion. Still, with Mayo and Doctor Salem guiding us, I soon got a quick guide. Actually, there was a down side to this ability. I could see red colors of outrage, but there were also, deeper still, a deep true blue of nobility, of purpose. It was a constant reminder that the Hyadesians might be our antagonists and certainly were our obstacles, but they weren't villains.
 
Which made their attempt to keep a cancer cure out of Earth's hand's all the more mystifying. I was already pulling punches; I had to fight the urge to go softer still.
Others, despite the auras, not so much. I could hear Pinprick hooting as his mystical arrows seeded confusion.  Faerie enchantments on his arrows, he had explained to me. Usually he used it for causing folks to sleep, or shrink, and that was confusing enough to someone. Add to that arrows that caused instant inebriation, and Pinprick's powers were preventing any attempt at tactical readjustment on behalf of our foes.
 
I mean, imagine if you were on a paintball range with a buddy, and suddenly this guy shooting next to you was acting like he'd just had two bottles of whiskey? You'd have a good chance of ending up a home team paint splat on your ass, that's what.  
 
"Careful with that, Pinprick" Lady Obsdiian warned "Some of them hit harder than they can take" She had been using codewords, but no chances were taken on this. We didn't want one of them to kill a compatriot after all.
 
"Spoilsport" Pinprick said but shifted his tactics.
 
As did the Hyadesians. They fell back, what had been over a hundred now down to maybe two dozen , and one of them, I assume a commander spoke to the others "Red Giant. Confirm?"
 
Arctic Fox took the chance to lower the blizzard so we could see with our eyes again. She looked spent.
 
We had really messed them up. I don't know how many they had in their ship, but they clearly hadn't expected to need this much. Piles of them lay about in various states of unconsciousness, shrunk, or shackled in ice.  The subdued auras I could still see over the fallen forms made me think the ones that were out cold weren't faking it.
Then two other Hyadesian officers (at least I think they were officers, not like I was up to specs on this) replied "Confirm" one after the other.
 
"Confirm" the rank and file said almost like a collective groan and each switched something at the base of their helmets, and one of them added "For the lives of billions!"
And the twenty one remaining soldiers roared and charged us, even as the energy that surrounded them popped and seethed in spurts. If it was a forcefield, it didn't look to be a particularly steady one.
 
The one hit me as hard as Mister Brute ever had. I felt my teeth rattle as I was knocked back ten feet. No wonder they'd abandoned their guns! Two  charged through Lady Obsidian's shields shattering the barriers like hey were glass. Tornado narrowly avoided getting his head caved by a combination of weave and redirect; super reflexes and hand to hand training to the rescue again. Pogo? Well, Pogo got flicked off several yards, even as one soldier brought his foot down and sent a wave of force that splattered Slime around and sent Pinprick into the air.
 
Valorosa took a hit and it was a sound not unlike a crowbar hitting a lamppost. Normally I was the guy who stated the obvious for the team, but today was her turn "They're super strong! Like, Eel level strong!"
 
Okay, I won't lie, on my ass or not, I puffed up at that. It's kind of nifty finding out you're on the high end of someone's scale. I'd played this game before,  a harder hitting team cutting through your offensive line? "Bebop Brickhouse."
 
"Agreed," Lady Obsidian. At the time, I hadn't realized I'd issued an order when it wasn't my call. Lucky for me, Lady Obsidian concurred. The plan was simple, let our swifter or harder to hit members take lead but shield them or even take the hit for them if you had to, "I think you're right. This has to have a hell of an energy requirement, maybe they'll drain their batteries."
 
Okay, I had not thought of that aspect, but if she was going to give me credit for thinking of their resources, who was I to say no? I rolled to my feet as I avoided another punch, on that put a hole in our base floor, and countered with an uppercut! They might hit like me, but they took hits like Valorsa at her most extreme density! Sure, the guy flew back, but he flipped to his feet and got ready to charge again.
 
Tornado interceded and used his velocity ruthlessly.  These guys weren't any heavier, and Tornado had no trouble putting an extra distance in it. Fox raced along ice sleds that were soon shattered behind her, allowing Pinpick a shot at one.
 
"Sleep arrow isn't working on them when they're like this!" He said, "It's like they're on a drug rage."
"It's not chemical" Lady Obsidian shook her head, and used her own shields to buy Fox some space. That barrier shattered too, but at least it did tax them.
I squinted, which probably made me look silly but this aura sight was new to me. For my trouble, I got a kick to my midsection from another soldier, but not before I saw something.
 
Pain, intense pain was flowing through their auras, and my foe's aura was getting dimmer and dimmer as he fought me. It took me a moment to gather my breathe but at least I didn't end up on my ass this time. I gave a short jab, which didn't hurt the soldier's body that much, but the mystic light around him grew dimmer, not subdued lik when they went out. It was just… less.
 
Pogo sprang past me "SUPER JUUUUSSSTIIIICCCE!" the hit had taken earlier really powered up her rebound abilities and she was feeling her oats as she delivered body slams that probably were hitting, for the moment, as hard as my own jabs.
 
If she ever got proficient at controlling her powers, she was going to grow into one scary superheroine.
 
"Super Justice comes with Super Responsibility! Might for right! Go Earth!"
 
Okay, I happen to believe in all the same things, it just feels vaguely silly when she's shouting it.
 
Slime had regrouped and was playing it smart, going slippery and causing foes to fall. Arctic Fox did much the same, a lack of traction seemed to have more effect than ice walls at this power level.
 
"They out of juice yet?"  Tornado said hopefully as he did a split kick to nail two in the head before avoding the counter attacks, "It doesn't look like it."
 
Lady Obsidian sent pulses of force into one who spun a bit but was still up "No. I give them props for that. It's not coming from their uniforms like I thought it might. "
 
And that's when I realized something, "Auras, that's just..is that life energy? Mayo? Doc Salem?"
 
"Yes," the old mystic replied hovering above the fray.
 
"We have to stop the fight!" I yelled on the com "They're killing themselves! If we keep fighting them, they'll die!"
 
"Wait, DIE?" Pogo said and  managed to leap above a punch erratically, "You mean dying like dead kaput game-over finito do not pass go do not collect 200 DEAD?"
 
"Stop the fight? When we're winning?" Pinprick said as he dived behind Valorosa to evade a blow that would  have knocked him silly. Instead, his team mate grunted and took it for him giving a counter punch in return.
 
"Look at their auras," I told them, "I know we don't need to anymore, but look anyway. That's what's fueling this!"
 
" Hyadesians, stand down!" Lady Obsidian said "And we will spare you! We don't kill! " her next blast knocked one into another.
And still they charged. Still they came!
 
"Nonono, we're supehreroes, we don't let folks DIE!" It was Pogo, I'd never heard her voice so shrill and panicked before.
 
It's weird how, even  in the middle of a brutal fight, you can feel your heart break, just a little..
 
"Squad leaders, order your men to stand down! We're trying to save lives!" Lady Obsidian declared. If Pogo's tone was panicked, hers was pure authority.
 
It didn't matter, not one damn bit "We but do as we must, for the good of your population! " One Hyadesian managed to tag Arctic Fox and the queen of cold went limp. He had pulled his punch for her. They were gauging their shots as much if not more than we were. And they didn't want us dead.
 
Then one of the soldiers spat up blood.
 
"Lady Obsidian," I said through the Com "I …please! If we win, it's going to be over the bodies of two dozen people! I'm not…" I summed it up, "Pogo's right."
 
"Stand  down, Sammies" And she lowered her field " Hyadesians, we wish to discuss the terms of our surrender and the surrender of what we have of the cure."
 
One Hyadesian woman , her eyes looking very bloodshot like she was having some sort of stroke, motioned hit her own com badge or wahteveer it was she used, "Ambassador, suggest.. suggest agreement and…discussion. These terrans, they're more evolved than we thought…." And she dropped to her knees because she was too weak to stand anymore.
"Agreed," came a voice, Ambassador La'Vesh "End Red Giant. I'll take full responsibly."
 
The glow of weird erratic energy that had been both empowering and killing them stopped.
 
Then on the screen, the Ambassador turned his attention to Lady Obsidian, "It is as my officer said, you're more evolved than we realized.  Shall we talk?"
 
"that's all we wanted to do in the first place," Valorosa snapped at him, while giving Pogo a hug, "you self righteous…." She switched to Spanish and gave some curse words that I'm pretty sure I'm too innocent to hear.
 
La'Vesh frowned "Your team mate does realize that the universal translator translates Spanish for me as well as English yes?"
 
"Probably, she just doesn’t care" Lady Obsidian said coldly, "You win, we surrender, but you damn well better tell us why. Why did I just condemn every cancer patient on our planet to their fate to save two dozen of your men? Why were your men willing to die. And so help me, you say to the greater good I may lose it."
 
"Perhaps, if we met in person," Ambassador La'Vesh said "Agreed?"
 
"Help yourself down here, your soldiers already did," Lady Obsidian made a gesture to the crowd of soldiers, most of whom were still out cold, "I give my word you won't be harmed."
 
"I have no doubt of it" He replied.
 
We'd lost the battle. Mayo had once told me I was a hero, not a soldier, and that they were not in his view, the same thing.
 
I was starting to get what he meant. We had taken the path of superheroes instead of soldiers, and arguably, that was what had defeated us.
 
"This better damn well be good," Tornado growled under his breath.
 
"So say we all" Pinprick grunted.

Good luck, man.  It wasn't until she realized that she had entered the next-to-last stage of her terminal illness that my mother finally stopped doing that with me.
 
I'm still working off the residual resentments, and she's been dead four years now.
 
EDIT: FWIW, you're the third person I've encountered in the last week who complained of having to deal with manipulative/controlling/emotionally abusive old women in their lives (the other two were complaining about their mothers).  I don't think it is necessarily a stereotype (though the population is mostly female in the older age brackets: 56+% female in age 75-79, and 67% female in age 85+), but it is interesting to speculate that men are physically abusive young, and lose that tendency as they deteriorate physically with age, while women specialize in verbal/emotional abuse and get increasingly more manipulative and abusive as they grow older, until final loss of mental capacity forces that to end.

At a wedding party recently someone yelled, "All the married men please stand next to the one person who has made your life worth living."
The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

I'll have you know my multiple personalities make that more than three.
 
Great stuff.  I'm interested to read what the ambassador has to say. 

yes! Been waiting for more!

Also, go Pogo!

Eh, this seems like a good day to focus on things that aren't other things, if you know what I mean.

(For the  three of you who still read after the one page a month garbage I pull)
 
Here we were, facing an army of technologically advanced foes, that had us outnumbered, and were certainly more prepared for us than we were for them. And we were winning?  I believe it was Sun Tzu who first said "Don't go into a battle blind, no I mean literally." Okay, I'm sure it's more dignified in the original Chinese.  
 
Their attempt to blind us had been counter by mysticism, something I began to suspect was not in the super science wielding culture's wheelhouse. Their own vision was obscured by the continued snowstorm that caked their visors with frost and normal vision couldn’t see through. Attempts to just blast away where they thought we were was more dangerous to them, and besides, Lady Obsidian's forcewalls continued to dominate the terrain. She even called out general patterns using codewords that evoked which ones. I felt a little like a badass Spartan as I held one artificially created narrow pass curb stomping the oncoming single file struggling to pour through.
"Madness, " I called out, "This is…"
 
"You've very funny honey," Valorosa said in the equivalent of a verbal eye-roll before I could finish. Ouch, meme blocked by my own girlfriend. She was right I guess, better to focus on the auras of the enemies.  
 
Not like I was used to reading them so best not to risk confusion. Still, with Mayo and Doctor Salem guiding us, I soon got a quick guide. Actually, there was a down side to this ability. I could see red colors of outrage, but there were also, deeper still, a deep true blue of nobility, of purpose. It was a constant reminder that the Hyadesians might be our antagonists and certainly were our obstacles, but they weren't villains.
 
Which made their attempt to keep a cancer cure out of Earth's hand's all the more mystifying. I was already pulling punches; I had to fight the urge to go softer still.
Others, despite the auras, not so much. I could hear Pinprick hooting as his mystical arrows seeded confusion.  Faerie enchantments on his arrows, he had explained to me. Usually he used it for causing folks to sleep, or shrink, and that was confusing enough to someone. Add to that arrows that caused instant inebriation, and Pinprick's powers were preventing any attempt at tactical readjustment on behalf of our foes.
 
I mean, imagine if you were on a paintball range with a buddy, and suddenly this guy shooting next to you was acting like he'd just had two bottles of whiskey? You'd have a good chance of ending up a home team paint splat on your ass, that's what.  
 
"Careful with that, Pinprick" Lady Obsdiian warned "Some of them hit harder than they can take" She had been using codewords, but no chances were taken on this. We didn't want one of them to kill a compatriot after all.
 
"Spoilsport" Pinprick said but shifted his tactics.
 
As did the Hyadesians. They fell back, what had been over a hundred now down to maybe two dozen , and one of them, I assume a commander spoke to the others "Red Giant. Confirm?"
 
Arctic Fox took the chance to lower the blizzard so we could see with our eyes again. She looked spent.
 
We had really messed them up. I don't know how many they had in their ship, but they clearly hadn't expected to need this much. Piles of them lay about in various states of unconsciousness, shrunk, or shackled in ice.  The subdued auras I could still see over the fallen forms made me think the ones that were out cold weren't faking it.
Then two other Hyadesian officers (at least I think they were officers, not like I was up to specs on this) replied "Confirm" one after the other.
 
"Confirm" the rank and file said almost like a collective groan and each switched something at the base of their helmets, and one of them added "For the lives of billions!"
And the twenty one remaining soldiers roared and charged us, even as the energy that surrounded them popped and seethed in spurts. If it was a forcefield, it didn't look to be a particularly steady one.
 
The one hit me as hard as Mister Brute ever had. I felt my teeth rattle as I was knocked back ten feet. No wonder they'd abandoned their guns! Two  charged through Lady Obsidian's shields shattering the barriers like hey were glass. Tornado narrowly avoided getting his head caved by a combination of weave and redirect; super reflexes and hand to hand training to the rescue again. Pogo? Well, Pogo got flicked off several yards, even as one soldier brought his foot down and sent a wave of force that splattered Slime around and sent Pinprick into the air.
 
Valorosa took a hit and it was a sound not unlike a crowbar hitting a lamppost. Normally I was the guy who stated the obvious for the team, but today was her turn "They're super strong! Like, Eel level strong!"
 
Okay, I won't lie, on my ass or not, I puffed up at that. It's kind of nifty finding out you're on the high end of someone's scale. I'd played this game before,  a harder hitting team cutting through your offensive line? "Bebop Brickhouse."
 
"Agreed," Lady Obsidian. At the time, I hadn't realized I'd issued an order when it wasn't my call. Lucky for me, Lady Obsidian concurred. The plan was simple, let our swifter or harder to hit members take lead but shield them or even take the hit for them if you had to, "I think you're right. This has to have a hell of an energy requirement, maybe they'll drain their batteries."
 
Okay, I had not thought of that aspect, but if she was going to give me credit for thinking of their resources, who was I to say no? I rolled to my feet as I avoided another punch, on that put a hole in our base floor, and countered with an uppercut! They might hit like me, but they took hits like Valorsa at her most extreme density! Sure, the guy flew back, but he flipped to his feet and got ready to charge again.
 
Tornado interceded and used his velocity ruthlessly.  These guys weren't any heavier, and Tornado had no trouble putting an extra distance in it. Fox raced along ice sleds that were soon shattered behind her, allowing Pinpick a shot at one.
 
"Sleep arrow isn't working on them when they're like this!" He said, "It's like they're on a drug rage."
"It's not chemical" Lady Obsidian shook her head, and used her own shields to buy Fox some space. That barrier shattered too, but at least it did tax them.
I squinted, which probably made me look silly but this aura sight was new to me. For my trouble, I got a kick to my midsection from another soldier, but not before I saw something.
 
Pain, intense pain was flowing through their auras, and my foe's aura was getting dimmer and dimmer as he fought me. It took me a moment to gather my breathe but at least I didn't end up on my ass this time. I gave a short jab, which didn't hurt the soldier's body that much, but the mystic light around him grew dimmer, not subdued lik when they went out. It was just… less.
 
Pogo sprang past me "SUPER JUUUUSSSTIIIICCCE!" the hit had taken earlier really powered up her rebound abilities and she was feeling her oats as she delivered body slams that probably were hitting, for the moment, as hard as my own jabs.
 
If she ever got proficient at controlling her powers, she was going to grow into one scary superheroine.
 
"Super Justice comes with Super Responsibility! Might for right! Go Earth!"
 
Okay, I happen to believe in all the same things, it just feels vaguely silly when she's shouting it.
 
Slime had regrouped and was playing it smart, going slippery and causing foes to fall. Arctic Fox did much the same, a lack of traction seemed to have more effect than ice walls at this power level.
 
"They out of juice yet?"  Tornado said hopefully as he did a split kick to nail two in the head before avoding the counter attacks, "It doesn't look like it."
 
Lady Obsidian sent pulses of force into one who spun a bit but was still up "No. I give them props for that. It's not coming from their uniforms like I thought it might. "
 
And that's when I realized something, "Auras, that's just..is that life energy? Mayo? Doc Salem?"
 
"Yes," the old mystic replied hovering above the fray.
 
"We have to stop the fight!" I yelled on the com "They're killing themselves! If we keep fighting them, they'll die!"
 
"Wait, DIE?" Pogo said and  managed to leap above a punch erratically, "You mean dying like dead kaput game-over finito do not pass go do not collect 200 DEAD?"
 
"Stop the fight? When we're winning?" Pinprick said as he dived behind Valorosa to evade a blow that would  have knocked him silly. Instead, his team mate grunted and took it for him giving a counter punch in return.
 
"Look at their auras," I told them, "I know we don't need to anymore, but look anyway. That's what's fueling this!"
 
" Hyadesians, stand down!" Lady Obsidian said "And we will spare you! We don't kill! " her next blast knocked one into another.
And still they charged. Still they came!
 
"Nonono, we're supehreroes, we don't let folks DIE!" It was Pogo, I'd never heard her voice so shrill and panicked before.
 
It's weird how, even  in the middle of a brutal fight, you can feel your heart break, just a little..
 
"Squad leaders, order your men to stand down! We're trying to save lives!" Lady Obsidian declared. If Pogo's tone was panicked, hers was pure authority.
 
It didn't matter, not one damn bit "We but do as we must, for the good of your population! " One Hyadesian managed to tag Arctic Fox and the queen of cold went limp. He had pulled his punch for her. They were gauging their shots as much if not more than we were. And they didn't want us dead.
 
Then one of the soldiers spat up blood.
 
"Lady Obsidian," I said through the Com "I …please! If we win, it's going to be over the bodies of two dozen people! I'm not…" I summed it up, "Pogo's right."
 
"Stand  down, Sammies" And she lowered her field " Hyadesians, we wish to discuss the terms of our surrender and the surrender of what we have of the cure."
 
One Hyadesian woman , her eyes looking very bloodshot like she was having some sort of stroke, motioned hit her own com badge or wahteveer it was she used, "Ambassador, suggest.. suggest agreement and…discussion. These terrans, they're more evolved than we thought…." And she dropped to her knees because she was too weak to stand anymore.
"Agreed," came a voice, Ambassador La'Vesh "End Red Giant. I'll take full responsibly."
 
The glow of weird erratic energy that had been both empowering and killing them stopped.
 
Then on the screen, the Ambassador turned his attention to Lady Obsidian, "It is as my officer said, you're more evolved than we realized.  Shall we talk?"
 
"that's all we wanted to do in the first place," Valorosa snapped at him, while giving Pogo a hug, "you self righteous…." She switched to Spanish and gave some curse words that I'm pretty sure I'm too innocent to hear.
 
La'Vesh frowned "Your team mate does realize that the universal translator translates Spanish for me as well as English yes?"
 
"Probably, she just doesn’t care" Lady Obsidian said coldly, "You win, we surrender, but you damn well better tell us why. Why did I just condemn every cancer patient on our planet to their fate to save two dozen of your men? Why were your men willing to die. And so help me, you say to the greater good I may lose it."
 
"Perhaps, if we met in person," Ambassador La'Vesh said "Agreed?"
 
"Help yourself down here, your soldiers already did," Lady Obsidian made a gesture to the crowd of soldiers, most of whom were still out cold, "I give my word you won't be harmed."
 
"I have no doubt of it" He replied.
 
We'd lost the battle. Mayo had once told me I was a hero, not a soldier, and that they were not in his view, the same thing.
 
I was starting to get what he meant. We had taken the path of superheroes instead of soldiers, and arguably, that was what had defeated us.
 
"This better damn well be good," Tornado growled under his breath.
 
"So say we all" Pinprick grunted.

Pretty much this. When folks say "If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear" or the like, I snort. I've seen that excuse used too often to violate privacy rights. BUT I'm drifting into a whole nother kettle there.
 
But as Dean points out, this isn't a criminal trial, and as you point out we have plenty of other indicators challenging his increasingly shaky looking qualifications, such as ethical standards, which ARE supposed to matter for judges.
 
I believe innocent until proven guilty is essential to a good democracy when it comes to court trials, but this is a job hire, not that. In a world where someone can find themselves denied a job for say "Dude" in an interview or wearing the wrong tie? Kavanugh should have been told 'thank you for your time' and shown the proverbial door.
 
Then again, I thought that when Trump was running and footage of him boasting about grabbing women by the P****y surely he had disqualified himself for PotUS, so what do I know?
 
 

(For the  three of you who still read after the one page a month garbage I pull)
 
Here we were, facing an army of technologically advanced foes, that had us outnumbered, and were certainly more prepared for us than we were for them. And we were winning?  I believe it was Sun Tzu who first said "Don't go into a battle blind, no I mean literally." Okay, I'm sure it's more dignified in the original Chinese.  
 
Their attempt to blind us had been counter by mysticism, something I began to suspect was not in the super science wielding culture's wheelhouse. Their own vision was obscured by the continued snowstorm that caked their visors with frost and normal vision couldn’t see through. Attempts to just blast away where they thought we were was more dangerous to them, and besides, Lady Obsidian's forcewalls continued to dominate the terrain. She even called out general patterns using codewords that evoked which ones. I felt a little like a badass Spartan as I held one artificially created narrow pass curb stomping the oncoming single file struggling to pour through.
"Madness, " I called out, "This is…"
 
"You've very funny honey," Valorosa said in the equivalent of a verbal eye-roll before I could finish. Ouch, meme blocked by my own girlfriend. She was right I guess, better to focus on the auras of the enemies.  
 
Not like I was used to reading them so best not to risk confusion. Still, with Mayo and Doctor Salem guiding us, I soon got a quick guide. Actually, there was a down side to this ability. I could see red colors of outrage, but there were also, deeper still, a deep true blue of nobility, of purpose. It was a constant reminder that the Hyadesians might be our antagonists and certainly were our obstacles, but they weren't villains.
 
Which made their attempt to keep a cancer cure out of Earth's hand's all the more mystifying. I was already pulling punches; I had to fight the urge to go softer still.
Others, despite the auras, not so much. I could hear Pinprick hooting as his mystical arrows seeded confusion.  Faerie enchantments on his arrows, he had explained to me. Usually he used it for causing folks to sleep, or shrink, and that was confusing enough to someone. Add to that arrows that caused instant inebriation, and Pinprick's powers were preventing any attempt at tactical readjustment on behalf of our foes.
 
I mean, imagine if you were on a paintball range with a buddy, and suddenly this guy shooting next to you was acting like he'd just had two bottles of whiskey? You'd have a good chance of ending up a home team paint splat on your ass, that's what.  
 
"Careful with that, Pinprick" Lady Obsdiian warned "Some of them hit harder than they can take" She had been using codewords, but no chances were taken on this. We didn't want one of them to kill a compatriot after all.
 
"Spoilsport" Pinprick said but shifted his tactics.
 
As did the Hyadesians. They fell back, what had been over a hundred now down to maybe two dozen , and one of them, I assume a commander spoke to the others "Red Giant. Confirm?"
 
Arctic Fox took the chance to lower the blizzard so we could see with our eyes again. She looked spent.
 
We had really messed them up. I don't know how many they had in their ship, but they clearly hadn't expected to need this much. Piles of them lay about in various states of unconsciousness, shrunk, or shackled in ice.  The subdued auras I could still see over the fallen forms made me think the ones that were out cold weren't faking it.
Then two other Hyadesian officers (at least I think they were officers, not like I was up to specs on this) replied "Confirm" one after the other.
 
"Confirm" the rank and file said almost like a collective groan and each switched something at the base of their helmets, and one of them added "For the lives of billions!"
And the twenty one remaining soldiers roared and charged us, even as the energy that surrounded them popped and seethed in spurts. If it was a forcefield, it didn't look to be a particularly steady one.
 
The one hit me as hard as Mister Brute ever had. I felt my teeth rattle as I was knocked back ten feet. No wonder they'd abandoned their guns! Two  charged through Lady Obsidian's shields shattering the barriers like hey were glass. Tornado narrowly avoided getting his head caved by a combination of weave and redirect; super reflexes and hand to hand training to the rescue again. Pogo? Well, Pogo got flicked off several yards, even as one soldier brought his foot down and sent a wave of force that splattered Slime around and sent Pinprick into the air.
 
Valorosa took a hit and it was a sound not unlike a crowbar hitting a lamppost. Normally I was the guy who stated the obvious for the team, but today was her turn "They're super strong! Like, Eel level strong!"
 
Okay, I won't lie, on my ass or not, I puffed up at that. It's kind of nifty finding out you're on the high end of someone's scale. I'd played this game before,  a harder hitting team cutting through your offensive line? "Bebop Brickhouse."
 
"Agreed," Lady Obsidian. At the time, I hadn't realized I'd issued an order when it wasn't my call. Lucky for me, Lady Obsidian concurred. The plan was simple, let our swifter or harder to hit members take lead but shield them or even take the hit for them if you had to, "I think you're right. This has to have a hell of an energy requirement, maybe they'll drain their batteries."
 
Okay, I had not thought of that aspect, but if she was going to give me credit for thinking of their resources, who was I to say no? I rolled to my feet as I avoided another punch, on that put a hole in our base floor, and countered with an uppercut! They might hit like me, but they took hits like Valorsa at her most extreme density! Sure, the guy flew back, but he flipped to his feet and got ready to charge again.
 
Tornado interceded and used his velocity ruthlessly.  These guys weren't any heavier, and Tornado had no trouble putting an extra distance in it. Fox raced along ice sleds that were soon shattered behind her, allowing Pinpick a shot at one.
 
"Sleep arrow isn't working on them when they're like this!" He said, "It's like they're on a drug rage."
"It's not chemical" Lady Obsidian shook her head, and used her own shields to buy Fox some space. That barrier shattered too, but at least it did tax them.
I squinted, which probably made me look silly but this aura sight was new to me. For my trouble, I got a kick to my midsection from another soldier, but not before I saw something.
 
Pain, intense pain was flowing through their auras, and my foe's aura was getting dimmer and dimmer as he fought me. It took me a moment to gather my breathe but at least I didn't end up on my ass this time. I gave a short jab, which didn't hurt the soldier's body that much, but the mystic light around him grew dimmer, not subdued lik when they went out. It was just… less.
 
Pogo sprang past me "SUPER JUUUUSSSTIIIICCCE!" the hit had taken earlier really powered up her rebound abilities and she was feeling her oats as she delivered body slams that probably were hitting, for the moment, as hard as my own jabs.
 
If she ever got proficient at controlling her powers, she was going to grow into one scary superheroine.
 
"Super Justice comes with Super Responsibility! Might for right! Go Earth!"
 
Okay, I happen to believe in all the same things, it just feels vaguely silly when she's shouting it.
 
Slime had regrouped and was playing it smart, going slippery and causing foes to fall. Arctic Fox did much the same, a lack of traction seemed to have more effect than ice walls at this power level.
 
"They out of juice yet?"  Tornado said hopefully as he did a split kick to nail two in the head before avoding the counter attacks, "It doesn't look like it."
 
Lady Obsidian sent pulses of force into one who spun a bit but was still up "No. I give them props for that. It's not coming from their uniforms like I thought it might. "
 
And that's when I realized something, "Auras, that's just..is that life energy? Mayo? Doc Salem?"
 
"Yes," the old mystic replied hovering above the fray.
 
"We have to stop the fight!" I yelled on the com "They're killing themselves! If we keep fighting them, they'll die!"
 
"Wait, DIE?" Pogo said and  managed to leap above a punch erratically, "You mean dying like dead kaput game-over finito do not pass go do not collect 200 DEAD?"
 
"Stop the fight? When we're winning?" Pinprick said as he dived behind Valorosa to evade a blow that would  have knocked him silly. Instead, his team mate grunted and took it for him giving a counter punch in return.
 
"Look at their auras," I told them, "I know we don't need to anymore, but look anyway. That's what's fueling this!"
 
" Hyadesians, stand down!" Lady Obsidian said "And we will spare you! We don't kill! " her next blast knocked one into another.
And still they charged. Still they came!
 
"Nonono, we're supehreroes, we don't let folks DIE!" It was Pogo, I'd never heard her voice so shrill and panicked before.
 
It's weird how, even  in the middle of a brutal fight, you can feel your heart break, just a little..
 
"Squad leaders, order your men to stand down! We're trying to save lives!" Lady Obsidian declared. If Pogo's tone was panicked, hers was pure authority.
 
It didn't matter, not one damn bit "We but do as we must, for the good of your population! " One Hyadesian managed to tag Arctic Fox and the queen of cold went limp. He had pulled his punch for her. They were gauging their shots as much if not more than we were. And they didn't want us dead.
 
Then one of the soldiers spat up blood.
 
"Lady Obsidian," I said through the Com "I …please! If we win, it's going to be over the bodies of two dozen people! I'm not…" I summed it up, "Pogo's right."
 
"Stand  down, Sammies" And she lowered her field " Hyadesians, we wish to discuss the terms of our surrender and the surrender of what we have of the cure."
 
One Hyadesian woman , her eyes looking very bloodshot like she was having some sort of stroke, motioned hit her own com badge or wahteveer it was she used, "Ambassador, suggest.. suggest agreement and…discussion. These terrans, they're more evolved than we thought…." And she dropped to her knees because she was too weak to stand anymore.
"Agreed," came a voice, Ambassador La'Vesh "End Red Giant. I'll take full responsibly."
 
The glow of weird erratic energy that had been both empowering and killing them stopped.
 
Then on the screen, the Ambassador turned his attention to Lady Obsidian, "It is as my officer said, you're more evolved than we realized.  Shall we talk?"
 
"that's all we wanted to do in the first place," Valorosa snapped at him, while giving Pogo a hug, "you self righteous…." She switched to Spanish and gave some curse words that I'm pretty sure I'm too innocent to hear.
 
La'Vesh frowned "Your team mate does realize that the universal translator translates Spanish for me as well as English yes?"
 
"Probably, she just doesn’t care" Lady Obsidian said coldly, "You win, we surrender, but you damn well better tell us why. Why did I just condemn every cancer patient on our planet to their fate to save two dozen of your men? Why were your men willing to die. And so help me, you say to the greater good I may lose it."
 
"Perhaps, if we met in person," Ambassador La'Vesh said "Agreed?"
 
"Help yourself down here, your soldiers already did," Lady Obsidian made a gesture to the crowd of soldiers, most of whom were still out cold, "I give my word you won't be harmed."
 
"I have no doubt of it" He replied.
 
We'd lost the battle. Mayo had once told me I was a hero, not a soldier, and that they were not in his view, the same thing.
 
I was starting to get what he meant. We had taken the path of superheroes instead of soldiers, and arguably, that was what had defeated us.
 
"This better damn well be good," Tornado growled under his breath.
 
"So say we all" Pinprick grunted.

"The Wandering Doris Table"
 
2ed D&D, this was in college.  One of my players was running a necromancer and had in his background that he had the stereotypical nagging mother ("He'll talk to the dead, but he won't talk to his own mother!") and the running joke was that Doris would always show up to complain. So, to nip that joke in the bud, I came up with a percentile table of if/when Doris would ever make an appearance again.
 
Cut to a few months later, when my party was dealing with a red dragon -- and I rolled on the table.
 
Doris was there.
 
"MA!  What're YOU doing here?!"
 
"He's my bridge partner!"
 
"DORIS, DO YOU KNOW THIS GNAT?"
 
"Oh, it's just my ungrateful son..."
 
"I COULD EAT HIM FOR YOU..."
 
"No, dearie...*long sigh*  He may not appreciate all the sacrifices I've made for him, but he's still my son!"

(For the  three of you who still read after the one page a month garbage I pull)
 
Here we were, facing an army of technologically advanced foes, that had us outnumbered, and were certainly more prepared for us than we were for them. And we were winning?  I believe it was Sun Tzu who first said "Don't go into a battle blind, no I mean literally." Okay, I'm sure it's more dignified in the original Chinese.  
 
Their attempt to blind us had been counter by mysticism, something I began to suspect was not in the super science wielding culture's wheelhouse. Their own vision was obscured by the continued snowstorm that caked their visors with frost and normal vision couldn’t see through. Attempts to just blast away where they thought we were was more dangerous to them, and besides, Lady Obsidian's forcewalls continued to dominate the terrain. She even called out general patterns using codewords that evoked which ones. I felt a little like a badass Spartan as I held one artificially created narrow pass curb stomping the oncoming single file struggling to pour through.
"Madness, " I called out, "This is…"
 
"You've very funny honey," Valorosa said in the equivalent of a verbal eye-roll before I could finish. Ouch, meme blocked by my own girlfriend. She was right I guess, better to focus on the auras of the enemies.  
 
Not like I was used to reading them so best not to risk confusion. Still, with Mayo and Doctor Salem guiding us, I soon got a quick guide. Actually, there was a down side to this ability. I could see red colors of outrage, but there were also, deeper still, a deep true blue of nobility, of purpose. It was a constant reminder that the Hyadesians might be our antagonists and certainly were our obstacles, but they weren't villains.
 
Which made their attempt to keep a cancer cure out of Earth's hand's all the more mystifying. I was already pulling punches; I had to fight the urge to go softer still.
Others, despite the auras, not so much. I could hear Pinprick hooting as his mystical arrows seeded confusion.  Faerie enchantments on his arrows, he had explained to me. Usually he used it for causing folks to sleep, or shrink, and that was confusing enough to someone. Add to that arrows that caused instant inebriation, and Pinprick's powers were preventing any attempt at tactical readjustment on behalf of our foes.
 
I mean, imagine if you were on a paintball range with a buddy, and suddenly this guy shooting next to you was acting like he'd just had two bottles of whiskey? You'd have a good chance of ending up a home team paint splat on your ass, that's what.  
 
"Careful with that, Pinprick" Lady Obsdiian warned "Some of them hit harder than they can take" She had been using codewords, but no chances were taken on this. We didn't want one of them to kill a compatriot after all.
 
"Spoilsport" Pinprick said but shifted his tactics.
 
As did the Hyadesians. They fell back, what had been over a hundred now down to maybe two dozen , and one of them, I assume a commander spoke to the others "Red Giant. Confirm?"
 
Arctic Fox took the chance to lower the blizzard so we could see with our eyes again. She looked spent.
 
We had really messed them up. I don't know how many they had in their ship, but they clearly hadn't expected to need this much. Piles of them lay about in various states of unconsciousness, shrunk, or shackled in ice.  The subdued auras I could still see over the fallen forms made me think the ones that were out cold weren't faking it.
Then two other Hyadesian officers (at least I think they were officers, not like I was up to specs on this) replied "Confirm" one after the other.
 
"Confirm" the rank and file said almost like a collective groan and each switched something at the base of their helmets, and one of them added "For the lives of billions!"
And the twenty one remaining soldiers roared and charged us, even as the energy that surrounded them popped and seethed in spurts. If it was a forcefield, it didn't look to be a particularly steady one.
 
The one hit me as hard as Mister Brute ever had. I felt my teeth rattle as I was knocked back ten feet. No wonder they'd abandoned their guns! Two  charged through Lady Obsidian's shields shattering the barriers like hey were glass. Tornado narrowly avoided getting his head caved by a combination of weave and redirect; super reflexes and hand to hand training to the rescue again. Pogo? Well, Pogo got flicked off several yards, even as one soldier brought his foot down and sent a wave of force that splattered Slime around and sent Pinprick into the air.
 
Valorosa took a hit and it was a sound not unlike a crowbar hitting a lamppost. Normally I was the guy who stated the obvious for the team, but today was her turn "They're super strong! Like, Eel level strong!"
 
Okay, I won't lie, on my ass or not, I puffed up at that. It's kind of nifty finding out you're on the high end of someone's scale. I'd played this game before,  a harder hitting team cutting through your offensive line? "Bebop Brickhouse."
 
"Agreed," Lady Obsidian. At the time, I hadn't realized I'd issued an order when it wasn't my call. Lucky for me, Lady Obsidian concurred. The plan was simple, let our swifter or harder to hit members take lead but shield them or even take the hit for them if you had to, "I think you're right. This has to have a hell of an energy requirement, maybe they'll drain their batteries."
 
Okay, I had not thought of that aspect, but if she was going to give me credit for thinking of their resources, who was I to say no? I rolled to my feet as I avoided another punch, on that put a hole in our base floor, and countered with an uppercut! They might hit like me, but they took hits like Valorsa at her most extreme density! Sure, the guy flew back, but he flipped to his feet and got ready to charge again.
 
Tornado interceded and used his velocity ruthlessly.  These guys weren't any heavier, and Tornado had no trouble putting an extra distance in it. Fox raced along ice sleds that were soon shattered behind her, allowing Pinpick a shot at one.
 
"Sleep arrow isn't working on them when they're like this!" He said, "It's like they're on a drug rage."
"It's not chemical" Lady Obsidian shook her head, and used her own shields to buy Fox some space. That barrier shattered too, but at least it did tax them.
I squinted, which probably made me look silly but this aura sight was new to me. For my trouble, I got a kick to my midsection from another soldier, but not before I saw something.
 
Pain, intense pain was flowing through their auras, and my foe's aura was getting dimmer and dimmer as he fought me. It took me a moment to gather my breathe but at least I didn't end up on my ass this time. I gave a short jab, which didn't hurt the soldier's body that much, but the mystic light around him grew dimmer, not subdued lik when they went out. It was just… less.
 
Pogo sprang past me "SUPER JUUUUSSSTIIIICCCE!" the hit had taken earlier really powered up her rebound abilities and she was feeling her oats as she delivered body slams that probably were hitting, for the moment, as hard as my own jabs.
 
If she ever got proficient at controlling her powers, she was going to grow into one scary superheroine.
 
"Super Justice comes with Super Responsibility! Might for right! Go Earth!"
 
Okay, I happen to believe in all the same things, it just feels vaguely silly when she's shouting it.
 
Slime had regrouped and was playing it smart, going slippery and causing foes to fall. Arctic Fox did much the same, a lack of traction seemed to have more effect than ice walls at this power level.
 
"They out of juice yet?"  Tornado said hopefully as he did a split kick to nail two in the head before avoding the counter attacks, "It doesn't look like it."
 
Lady Obsidian sent pulses of force into one who spun a bit but was still up "No. I give them props for that. It's not coming from their uniforms like I thought it might. "
 
And that's when I realized something, "Auras, that's just..is that life energy? Mayo? Doc Salem?"
 
"Yes," the old mystic replied hovering above the fray.
 
"We have to stop the fight!" I yelled on the com "They're killing themselves! If we keep fighting them, they'll die!"
 
"Wait, DIE?" Pogo said and  managed to leap above a punch erratically, "You mean dying like dead kaput game-over finito do not pass go do not collect 200 DEAD?"
 
"Stop the fight? When we're winning?" Pinprick said as he dived behind Valorosa to evade a blow that would  have knocked him silly. Instead, his team mate grunted and took it for him giving a counter punch in return.
 
"Look at their auras," I told them, "I know we don't need to anymore, but look anyway. That's what's fueling this!"
 
" Hyadesians, stand down!" Lady Obsidian said "And we will spare you! We don't kill! " her next blast knocked one into another.
And still they charged. Still they came!
 
"Nonono, we're supehreroes, we don't let folks DIE!" It was Pogo, I'd never heard her voice so shrill and panicked before.
 
It's weird how, even  in the middle of a brutal fight, you can feel your heart break, just a little..
 
"Squad leaders, order your men to stand down! We're trying to save lives!" Lady Obsidian declared. If Pogo's tone was panicked, hers was pure authority.
 
It didn't matter, not one damn bit "We but do as we must, for the good of your population! " One Hyadesian managed to tag Arctic Fox and the queen of cold went limp. He had pulled his punch for her. They were gauging their shots as much if not more than we were. And they didn't want us dead.
 
Then one of the soldiers spat up blood.
 
"Lady Obsidian," I said through the Com "I …please! If we win, it's going to be over the bodies of two dozen people! I'm not…" I summed it up, "Pogo's right."
 
"Stand  down, Sammies" And she lowered her field " Hyadesians, we wish to discuss the terms of our surrender and the surrender of what we have of the cure."
 
One Hyadesian woman , her eyes looking very bloodshot like she was having some sort of stroke, motioned hit her own com badge or wahteveer it was she used, "Ambassador, suggest.. suggest agreement and…discussion. These terrans, they're more evolved than we thought…." And she dropped to her knees because she was too weak to stand anymore.
"Agreed," came a voice, Ambassador La'Vesh "End Red Giant. I'll take full responsibly."
 
The glow of weird erratic energy that had been both empowering and killing them stopped.
 
Then on the screen, the Ambassador turned his attention to Lady Obsidian, "It is as my officer said, you're more evolved than we realized.  Shall we talk?"
 
"that's all we wanted to do in the first place," Valorosa snapped at him, while giving Pogo a hug, "you self righteous…." She switched to Spanish and gave some curse words that I'm pretty sure I'm too innocent to hear.
 
La'Vesh frowned "Your team mate does realize that the universal translator translates Spanish for me as well as English yes?"
 
"Probably, she just doesn’t care" Lady Obsidian said coldly, "You win, we surrender, but you damn well better tell us why. Why did I just condemn every cancer patient on our planet to their fate to save two dozen of your men? Why were your men willing to die. And so help me, you say to the greater good I may lose it."
 
"Perhaps, if we met in person," Ambassador La'Vesh said "Agreed?"
 
"Help yourself down here, your soldiers already did," Lady Obsidian made a gesture to the crowd of soldiers, most of whom were still out cold, "I give my word you won't be harmed."
 
"I have no doubt of it" He replied.
 
We'd lost the battle. Mayo had once told me I was a hero, not a soldier, and that they were not in his view, the same thing.
 
I was starting to get what he meant. We had taken the path of superheroes instead of soldiers, and arguably, that was what had defeated us.
 
"This better damn well be good," Tornado growled under his breath.
 
"So say we all" Pinprick grunted.

Pretty much this. When folks say "If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear" or the like, I snort. I've seen that excuse used too often to violate privacy rights. BUT I'm drifting into a whole nother kettle there.
 
But as Dean points out, this isn't a criminal trial, and as you point out we have plenty of other indicators challenging his increasingly shaky looking qualifications, such as ethical standards, which ARE supposed to matter for judges.
 
I believe innocent until proven guilty is essential to a good democracy when it comes to court trials, but this is a job hire, not that. In a world where someone can find themselves denied a job for say "Dude" in an interview or wearing the wrong tie? Kavanugh should have been told 'thank you for your time' and shown the proverbial door.
 
Then again, I thought that when Trump was running and footage of him boasting about grabbing women by the P****y surely he had disqualified himself for PotUS, so what do I know?
 
 

It's Fine Friend, Feel Free to Fine Felonious Foul Phrases, For Fair is Fair.

Pretty much this. When folks say "If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear" or the like, I snort. I've seen that excuse used too often to violate privacy rights. BUT I'm drifting into a whole nother kettle there.
 
But as Dean points out, this isn't a criminal trial, and as you point out we have plenty of other indicators challenging his increasingly shaky looking qualifications, such as ethical standards, which ARE supposed to matter for judges.
 
I believe innocent until proven guilty is essential to a good democracy when it comes to court trials, but this is a job hire, not that. In a world where someone can find themselves denied a job for say "Dude" in an interview or wearing the wrong tie? Kavanugh should have been told 'thank you for your time' and shown the proverbial door.
 
Then again, I thought that when Trump was running and footage of him boasting about grabbing women by the P****y surely he had disqualified himself for PotUS, so what do I know?
 
 

Pretty much this. When folks say "If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear" or the like, I snort. I've seen that excuse used too often to violate privacy rights. BUT I'm drifting into a whole nother kettle there.
 
But as Dean points out, this isn't a criminal trial, and as you point out we have plenty of other indicators challenging his increasingly shaky looking qualifications, such as ethical standards, which ARE supposed to matter for judges.
 
I believe innocent until proven guilty is essential to a good democracy when it comes to court trials, but this is a job hire, not that. In a world where someone can find themselves denied a job for say "Dude" in an interview or wearing the wrong tie? Kavanugh should have been told 'thank you for your time' and shown the proverbial door.
 
Then again, I thought that when Trump was running and footage of him boasting about grabbing women by the P****y surely he had disqualified himself for PotUS, so what do I know?
 
 

"Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say."
-- Edward Snowden

If you get pulled over on a routine traffic stop and the police officer asks you if he can search your vehicle, do you let him?
 
I don't think it's an indicator of guilt if you don't volunteer to be investigated. Nobody in their right mind wants to be investigated.
 
That said, I think we have plenty of other indicators of guilt or at least bad character here, and if the people deciding this had any integrity, they'd have already tossed Kavanaugh out.

For Sleeping Beauty - I just picture Prince Aron (Princess Aurora's male counterpart) being told by his father the king "When I was your age, I was earning spurs in the crusades, not sleeping all century! Get a job!"
 
 

Honestly, this Kavanaugh thing is ridiculous. This is not a sex assault trial. It's a hiring committee. You're looking at a candidate for one of the best, and most tenure-protected jobs on Earth. It's okay to red-flag a CV! that is, and I cannot emphasise this enough, how hiring committees work.
. . .
It was also so completely avoidable. The Federalist Society maintains a fully investigated, cleared a short list of 10 members of America's obscenely narrow list of papabile, conservative Supreme Court candidates for just this reason, and expanded it to 20 at the President's request. (I bet that it would be a much better list if they were allowed to include graduates from historically conservative schools, but t that's just my wild ass theorising.) Kavanaugh did not make the short list, or the long list, and while there might be other reasons for that, it was no secret that he was a hard-drinking 80s frat bro. If I were the Federalist Society, I'd have excluded him, too! 
 
So my advice to the Senate Judicial Committee is, "Do what any hiring committee would do." You had hearings. You found a problem with the candidate. It doesn't have to rise to "no reasonable doubt" standards, because you're not trying to decide whether Kavanaugh belongs in jail. You're trying to decide whether he would be better at the job than a member of the 20 person long short list that came in above him. The answer to that would seem to be, by definition, "No." At this point, the Committee is basically going to the country with the argument, that "We owe this guy a job." And, just to be clear, America does not. Owe. Him. A. Job. .  

Just read the following, makes me happy:
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
Matt Ryan, who plays demonologist John Constantine, has been promoted to series regular for Season 4.

As part of its coverage of the Kavanaugh hearings, the public radio program All Things Considered asked a former FBI agent whether Prof. Ford's allegation could be investigated, given the paucity of details. He said that yes, there's plenty the FBI could investigate to find whether Ford's claim is plausible or not. As Ternaugh mentions, other people are already doing some of this: Interviewing people who knew either of them, any documentary evidence from that time (such as yearbooks), and so on.
 
Such evidence probably could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Kavanaugh committed the assault. But this is not a criminal trial. It is merely enough to find sufficient evidence that Ford's allegation has a strong likelihood of being correct.
 
So, why does it matter? What does Kavanaugh's conduct in high school and college have to do with his skill at legal reasoning?
 
Nothing, directly. But if it can be shown that he's probably lying about sexual assault -- the more his squeaky-clean image can be shown to be a fraud -- well, the less he looks like a high-minded, sincere legal scholar and the more he looks like a squalid political hack being put on the court to advance a squalid political agenda. That he cannot be trusted to judge cases fairly.
 
Republican senators may decide they want their five reliable conservative justices so badly they don't care about political blowback from voters. Possibly they imagine that they'll have won so completely that voters won't matter anymore.
 
Democrats, meanwhile, are rather obviously trying to run out the clock in a long-shot hope that they can delay appointment of a replacement Supreme Court justice until after the midterm elections, and maybe they will control the Senate then. If they do, they refuse to confirm Kavanaugh or any other Trump appointee, using the Republicans' refusal to confirm Merrick Garland as their precedent. Then they hope that in 2020 they can take the White House and keep the Senate, and ram through whatever nominees they want.
 
Neither side is acting from high principle here. This is politics as knife fighting.
 
Dean Shomshak

Bob and Jim were a couple of Newfie drinking buddies who worked as airplane mechanics in Gander , NFLD. One day the airport was fogged in and they were stuck in the hangar with nothing to do. Bob said, "Man, I wish we had something to drink!"
Jim says "Me too. Y'know, I've heard you can drink jet fuel and get a buzz... You wanna try it?"
So they pour themselves a couple of glasses of high octane hooch and get completely smashed. The next morning Bob wakes up and is surprised at how good he feels. In fact he feels GREAT! NO hangover! NO bad side effects. Nothing!
Then the phone rings...
It's Jim. Jim says, "Hey, how do you feel this morning?"
Bob says, "I feel great. How about you?"
Jim says, "I feel great, too. You don't have a hangover?"
Bob says, "No, that jet fuel is great stuff no hangover, nothing. We ought to do this more often."
Jim says, "Yeah, well there's just one thing... Have you farted yet?"
Bob says, "No....."
"Well," Jim says, "DON'T! I'm in Thunder Bay!"

That gives me an idea....