Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has reached a deal with the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify this Thursday. Blasey Ford has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her when they were both in high school. Her lawyers released a statement on Sunday saying, “Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her.”  According to the New York Times, “While several details — including whether Republicans will use an outside lawyer to question her — remain unsettled, a spokesman for the committee said its chairman, Senator [Chuck] Grassley … considers the negotiations over, and Dr. Blasey’s lawyers said the hearing would go on no matter how those details are resolved.”

Meanwhile two new allegations have been revealed implicating Kavanaugh. On Sunday The New Yorker published a report of a woman who says she was the target of sexual misconduct and assault by Kavanaugh at a party in the early 1980s when the judge was a freshman at Yale University. Fifty three year old Deborah Ramirez who also attended Yale alongside Kavanaugh recalls being at a party and that she, “remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself … thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.” According to the report, “Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident.” The offices of at least four Democratic Senators have been contacted with this information. The White House released a statement saying that Kavanaugh denied the allegation and called it, “a smear, plain and simple.”

The New Yorker report also obtained statements from a woman named Elizabeth Rasor who was in a relationship with Mark Judge for 3 years. Judge is Kavanaugh’s friend and the other person that Blasey Ford says was in the room when Kavanaugh assaulted her. Mr. Judge has since denied any misdeeds during his high school years. But his ex-girlfriend Rasor, who was interviewed by the New Yorker, “recalled that Judge had told her ashamedly of an incident that involved him and other boys taking turns having sex with a drunk woman. Rasor said that Judge seemed to regard it as fully consensual. She said that Judge did not name others involved in the incident, and she has no knowledge that Kavanaugh participated.”

Attorney Michael Avenatti who represents Stormy Daniels, late on Sunday posted a tweet saying, “I represent a woman with credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. We will be demanding the opportunity to present testimony to the committee and will likewise be demanding that Judge and others be subpoenaed to testify. The nomination must be withdrawn.” He added in a second tweet that his client was not Ms. Ramirez. Then, in a third tweet he posted an email that he sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying, “We are aware of significant evidence of multiple house parties in the Washington D.C. area during the early 1990s during which Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge and others would participate in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs in order to allow a ‘train’ of men to subsequently gang rape them. There are multiple witnesses that will corroborate these facts and each of them must be called to testify publicly.”

FEATURING AIMEE ALLISON – As we continue our coverage of the She The People Summit on September 20, 2018 in San Francisco, California, we turn now to Aimee Allison, the lead organizer of the summit and President of Democracy in Color, an organization that focuses on race, politics and the New American Majority. She is the author of Army of None and the host of the “Democracy in Color” Podcast. In addition to spearheading the entire event, she spoke at She The People and was a guest on a live broadcast on KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley that Sonali Kolhatkar co-hosted along with writer, journalist, and activist Antonia Juhasz.

Special thanks to KPFA Pacifica Radio for sponsoring this coverage.

Aimee Allison, President of Democracy in Color, an organization that focuses on race, politics and the New American Majority. She is the author of Army of None and the host of the “Democracy in Color” Podcast.

FEATURING LINDA SARSOUR – As we continue our coverage of the She The People Summit on September 20, 2018 in San Francisco, California, we turn now to Linda Sarsour, the co-chair of the historic Women’s March 2017. She is also the former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. A rising star in political activism Sarsour has also been targeted by the Alt-Right and vilified for her strong criticism of President Trump and her support for Palestinian rights. She spoke at She The People and was a guest on a live broadcast on KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley that Sonali Kolhatkar co-hosted along with writer, journalist, and activist Antonia Juhasz.

Special thanks to KPFA Pacifica Radio for sponsoring this coverage.

Linda Sarsour, Co-Chair of Women’s March 2017 and former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.

FEATURING CONGRESSWOMAN PRAMILA JAYAPAL – Hundreds of women of color gathered at the She The People Summit on September 20th, 2018 in San Francisco for an event organized by Democracy in Color. The summit was intended to pull together women of color who are in office, running for office, or supporting those women in office. Sonali Kolhatkar attended the summit and was able to speak with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of the state of Washington who has been a progressive trailblazer in the House, pushing for policies like Medicare-for-All, and confronting President Donald Trump on immigration, the Supreme Court and more.

Special thanks to KPFA Pacifica Radio for sponsoring this coverage.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, currently serves as a Representative from Washington’s 7th congressional district, which includes most of Seattle.

FEATURING RASHIDA TLAIB – As we continue our coverage of the She The People Summit on September 20, 2018 in San Francisco, California, we turn now to Rashida Tlaib who won a primary race in Michigan to replace out-going Representative John Conyers. In 2008 she became the first Muslim woman to ever serve in the Michigan Legislature. Tlaib was one of several women of color running for office who spoke at the historic summit. She was a guest on a live broadcast on KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley that Sonali Kolhatkar co-hosted along with writer, journalist, and activist Antonia Juhasz.

Special thanks to KPFA Pacifica Radio for sponsoring this coverage.

Rashida Tlaib, Democratic Nominee for Michigan’s Congressional District 7, running unopposed, and former member of the Michigan House of Representatives.

The Kavanaugh scandal continues to rock Capitol Hill with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford who has accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault acceding that she might testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee after all. Her lawyers held a 30-minute private phone call with members of the committee on Thursday. In a separate email the lawyers told Senators that Ford, “wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.” Ford’s lawyers have said that she would prefer to speak in front of the committee next Thursday and not in the same room as Judge Kavanaugh. According to CBS, which obtained a copy of the email, Ford has also asked that only the Senators question her, and not outside counsel, that adequate security be provided, and that a witness Mark Judge be subpoenaed.

President Donald Trump, who had uncharacteristically refrained from attacking Kavanaugh’s accuser by name on Friday morning tweeted, “if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!” He then posted a second tweet saying, “The radical left lawyers want the FBI to get involved NOW. Why didn’t someone call the FBI 36 years ago?”

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York spoke at a press conference about the GOP’s initial position that Blasey Ford would only be allowed to testify next Monday. Also speaking at the press conference was Sarah Burgess, an alumnus of Holton-Arms school, which Ford attended. Burgess presented a letter signed by other her and other alumna in support of Ford. 

GOP Congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina is under fire for joking about the sexual assault allegations. Norman, during his opening remarks at a debate with his Democratic rival Archie Parnell said, “Did y’all hear this latest late-breaking news from the Kavanaugh hearings? Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out that she was groped by Abraham Lincoln.” Parnell retorted, “My opponent apparently thinks sexual assault is a joke. It is not.”

California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office is reportedly receiving death and rape threats against staff in relation to the Kavanaugh story, according to McClatchy. Feinstein sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Meanwhile The Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday that Yale Law Professor and famed author Amy Chua had told a group of law students last year in private that, it was “not an accident” that Kavanaugh’s female law clerks all “looked like models,” and that she would, “provide advice to students about their physical appearance if they wanted to work for him.” Chua, who wrote the book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother has strongly supported Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

In the latest on Hurricane Florence, there are reports that a dam run by Duke Energy in North Ca...

President Trump visited the storm-ravaged state of North Carolina on Wednesday and assisted with displaced people at a church in New Bern, serving them food. He spoke to press during his visit. Reporters that are part of the White House pool are relaying that during a briefing Trump inquired about an area affected by Hurricane Florence called Lake Norman. He apparently said, “How is Lake Norman doing?” and when he was told it was fine he said, “I love that area. I can’t tell you why, but I love that area.” Lake Norman is home to one of Trump’s golf clubs. A New York Times reporter also cited that Trump made a joke to one resident whose backyard had a yacht washed up on it, saying, “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.”

Later in the day Trump posted a taped video of himself in front of the White House making rambling observations about the hurricane. 

The death toll from Hurricane Florence has now jumped to 37, and two of those deaths took place when police were transporting mental health patients in a van in South Carolina that was overwhelmed by floodwaters. Water contamination is also a major problem now after 5 million gallons of partially treated sewage mixed in with river water.

In other news, Senate Judiciary Committee leader Chuck Grassley has given Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford a deadline of 10 am this Friday to respond to his request that she appear at a committee hearing on Monday. Dr. Ford has said that she wants a full investigation before appearing in front of Senators but Republicans have so far refused. One of Ford’s attorneys said that she, “continues to believe that a full non-partisan investigation of this matter is needed and she is willing to cooperate with the Committee… However, the Committee’s stated plan to move forward with a hearing that has only two witnesses is not a fair or good faith investigation; there are multiple witnesses whose names have appeared publicly and should be included in any proceeding.”

Grassley also requested in writing that Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein provide him with an un-redacted version of the letter that Ford had sent lawmakers earlier this summer about her experience of sexual assault at Kavanaugh’s hands.

A letter bearing the names of hundreds of women who are graduates of Holton-Arms School which Ford attended, has now emerged, supporting her and backing her claims. The letter can be found at http://www.standwithblaseyford.com. According to Associated Press, “One of the signers, Cristina King Miranda, tweeted Wednesday that the alleged attack ‘was spoken about for days afterward in school’ and that Kavanaugh ‘should stop lying.’ But in a Facebook post hours later, she said she had no firsthand knowledge of the matter and wouldn’t comment further amid a media ‘circus’ and a barrage of interview requests.”

In other news related to Kavnaugh, a Reuters-Ipsos poll has found that 36% of Americans now oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation, up several points from before and a historic low ...

FEATURING CHRISTINE AHN – This week South and North Korean leaders Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un met for the third time in a year for a summit in Pyongyang. Mr. Moon’s priority was to salvage the relationship between the US and North Korea that had recent soured after much optimism on all sides.

On Wednesday, which was day 2 of the summit, the two leaders signed a broad deal that reiterated their commitments to avoiding war with one another and also made progress toward North Korea’s denuclearization – which has been the main sticking point.

President Donald Trump hailed the deal saying on Twitter, “Kim Jong Un has agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations, and to permanently dismantle a test site and launch pad in the presence of international experts. In the meantime there will be no Rocket or Nuclear testing.”

Christine Ahn, founder and International Coordinator of Women Cross DMZ, a global movement of women mobilizing to end the Korean War.

The political fallout from accusations of sexual assault against Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh continues, with the accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford having been forced to go into hiding after being targeted by, “vicious harassment and even death threats.” The New York Times reported that, “Her email has been hacked, she has been impersonated online and she and her family have been forced to relocate out of their home.” Meanwhile President Trump on Tuesday expressed sympathy for his nominee instead saying, “I feel so badly for him that he’s going through this, to be honest with you, I feel so badly for him.” Trump himself has faced numerous accusations of sexual assault by multiple women.

Ford has also said that before she appears at a public hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she wants a full investigation which she said must be, “the first step” before she testifies. Ford’s lawyers reiterated that sentiment in a letter to the committee’s ranking Republican Senator Chuck Grassley saying, “While Dr. Ford’s life was being turned upside down, you and your staff scheduled a public hearing for her to testify at the same table as Judge Kavanaugh in front of two dozen U.S. Senators on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident.” The letter also surmised that the hearing, “would include interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds that she is ‘mistaken’ and ‘mixed up.'”

Indeed the Republican strategy in the new era of #MeToo appears to be to try to avoid subjecting Ford to the same treatment that Anita Hill received in the 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing. Instead of attacking Ford the GOP seems to be coalescing around a strategy to accept that Ford was indeed assaulted, but that it must have been by someone other than Kavanaugh. Trump has rejected the suggestion to reopen Kavanaugh’s FBI background check, likely knowing such a review could postpone the confirmation vote until after the midterm elections.

Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono was asked on Tuesday whether it was significant that she was one of only 4 women on the Senate Judiciary Committee that is vetting Kavanaugh. Her response was stunning and has gone viral.  Senators Patty Murray, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski, also spoke with reporters.  Later on our show we’ll explore this story in greater detail with Julie Millican of Media Matters for America.

Workers at several McDonald’s restaurants in ten cities around the country walked off their jobs on Tuesday at lunchtime and said they wouldn’t return until the next day in protest of the company’s rampant problems of sexual harassment. The walkouts, which were organized under the #MeToo banner, took place in Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Orlando, San Francisco, and Durham. Ten McDonald’s workers had earlier filed sexual harassment complaints against the corporation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The strikes have received support from the Fight for $15 movement as well as Time’s Up, the action group formed in the wake of the #MeToo revelations. According to Vox, “While sexual harassment has motivated workplace organizing for well over a century,

FEATURING JAMES FISHKIN – American politics are in trouble. As a nation we are polarized. We question the truth and vulnerable to propaganda. We are expected to follow the national discourse on a variety of topics and then show up every couple of years to cast a vote. And this supposedly is how a democracy functions.

But what if there was a better way for us to participate in our democracy? What if instead of vilifying or deifying politicians, we take charge through reasoned debate and deliberation?

James S. Fishkin, the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication at Stanford University where he teaches Communication and Political Science and also directs The Center for Deliberative Democracy. He is the author of Democracy and Deliberation; and When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation. His new book is called Democracy When People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation.