If you decide to tune into Monday's Supreme Court Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, you'll see some of the worst hacks on the Republican side taking potshots. There'll be Louisiana good ol' boy and Oxford University graduate Sen. John "Jubilation T. Cornpone" Kennedy spinning unctuous country witticisms with undertones of racism and sexism. There'll be the reptilian, cowardly demagogue from Texas, Sen. "Cancun Ted" Cruz, who often seems to be the reincarnation of the despicable Sen. Joe McCarthy, sniping at her. Last but not least, you'll see insurrectionist supporter and slick seditionist Sen. Josh "Hee Haw" Hawley from the right-wing Q-uackery fever swamps of Missouri, who has ambitions for 2024, unless his cult leader elbows everyone aside for another losing run.
In an article worth reading, along with this one we cited earlier today in tweets, Vox believes that Hawley will bore into fictional issues that Judge Jackson is supposedly guilty of going soft on, namely child pornography, accusing her of "letting child pornographers off the hook for their appalling crimes." If that accusation sounds like it was written by a low IQAnon follower invested in the "Dems run a pedophile ring out of a Washington pizzeria," you're not the only one thinking so:
"Hawley’s broad allegation is false. His most substantive claim against Jackson is that as a judge she frequently did not follow the federal sentencing guidelines when sentencing child pornography offenders. But, as Ohio State law professor and sentencing policy expert Douglas Berman writes, “the federal sentencing guidelines for” child pornography offenders “are widely recognized as dysfunctional and unduly severe.”
It’s also a stunningly inflammatory charge, reminiscent of conspiracy theories such as QAnon or Pizzagate, which posit that prominent liberals are part of a vast ring of pedophiles. Similarly incendiary claims have inspired violence in the past, such as when a man with an assault rifle opened fire in a DC pizza restaurant in 2016. The man was apparently motivated by his unfounded belief that Hillary Clinton and her former campaign chair John Podesta ran a child sexual abuse ring in the basement of this pizzeria." (our emphasis)
That it's a false, incendiary charge is something to be expected of Hawley, a despicable climber in the alt-right, neo-fascist Republican / Seditionist Party. Unfortunately for Hawley, Judge Jackson isn't new to the judicial scene, having been confirmed three times by the Senate, twice for Federal judgeships. As the Vox article notes, she's received the endorsements of the Republican-leaning Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Vox's article has a detailed takedown of Hawley's false charges, which should be thrown back in his face by Dems on the Committee when the time comes.
(photo: Hawley encouraging January 6 seditionist rioters. Francis Chung/E&E News)
