Time’s Up released a statement calling on the U.S. Senate to delay moving forward on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court until a sexual assault accusation leveled against him could be fully investigated.
“A man who could be our next U.S. Supreme Court Justice has been accused of sexual assault. There is no path forward for Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination until those credible and serious allegations have been investigated,” said the group in a statement. “We demand that the U.S. Senate postpone any vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination until a thorough and complete examination has been completed.”
“There was a time when business as usual could continue amid credible allegations of sexual violence,” the group added. “But that era has ended forever.”
Times Up, a women’s legal advocacy organization, was founded in January, 2018 in response to the dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein.
Kavanaugh had been on track for a smooth — if partisan — confirmation until California professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward to the Washington Post on Sunday with a detailed on-record description of what her lawyer said was an attempted rape by a drunken Kavanaugh at a party in the early 1980s.
Kavanaugh has denied any accusation of wrongdoing.
The Post report nevertheless immediately threw the nomination into turmoil as Democrats and some Republicans called for the nomination to be halted until Ford could be allowed to offer sworn testimony. On Monday the White House appeared to concede that the Kavanaugh accuser would have to be heard, with counsellor Kellyanne Conway telling “Fox & Friends” that Ford should be taken seriously.
“This woman should not be ignored and should not be insulted,” said Conway. “She should be heard.”
Mike Cernovich, a Timeline: From Choking Advice to Pizzagate to Firings (Photos)
Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.
Advice on Choking Women
Before gaining fame as a Trump superfan, Cernovich got his start in the men's rights and pick-up artist community. His advice column, published on his blog "Danger and Play," included suggestions on the proper way to "choke" women during sex. This entry from December 2011 has since been deleted: "Choking works because it’s a show of dominance. Women only want to have consensual sex with men they know could rape them."
Pizzagate
Cernovich first came to wide public attention over his promotion of a conspiracy theory during the 2016 election that suggested that a pedophile ring was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. The story was bunk, and Cernovich has moved to distance himself from Pizzagate.
Will Sommer/Twitter
John Conyers
Cernovich's biggest score of all probably wasn't James Gunn, but John Conyers. A tip provided by Cernovich to BuzzFeed about accusations of sexual misconduct forced the Democrat to resign his seat in disgrace in December 2017.
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Sam Seder
Mike Cernovich targeted the MSNBC contributor over a years-old joke about his daughter being raped. MSNBC dropped Seder in December 2017, but reinstated him after a public backlash.
MSNBC
Sopan Deb
Cernovich went after New York Times reporter Sopan Deb in March 2017 over a tweeted pun about the rapper Bow Wow. The incident earned Deb an official rebuke from the Times' then-public editor, Liz Spayd.
Josh Barro
In November 2017, Cernovich demanded an apology from Josh Barro after the Business Insider Senior Editor made fun of his lisp. Barro swiftly retreated.
Twitter
Perry Fein
In June 2018, Los Angeles Times freelancer Perry Fein slipped into Cernovich's DMs and wished harm upon him. His relationship with the newspaper was over just hours later.
Los Angeles Times Media Group
James Gunn
Last week, Cernovich helped lead an online campaign highlighting old tweets in which Gunn joked about rape about pedophilia. Gunn offered an apology, but was dropped by Disney from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise.
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Cheri Jacobus
Before the James Gunn situation, Cernovich also led a brief and successful campaign to pressure USA Today to drop columnist Cheri Jacobus. The decision from the paper came after Jacobus' bizarre comments about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Michael Ian Black
Cernovich has trained his fire on comedian Michael Ian Black, who has said several times on Twitter that his tweets about pedophilia were only jokes.
YouTube
Dan Harmon
Fresh off his victory in ousting Gunn from "Guardians of the Galaxy," Cernovich forced "Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon and his employers at Adult Swim to apologize over an old sketch that featured Harmon graphically simulating the rape of a baby. (The sketch used a doll, not an actual baby.)
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The right-wing provocateur has become a thorn to liberals online
Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.