Flake: My office received call saying my family would be 'taken out' over Kavanaugh stance

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Hill

GOP Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) said on Wednesday that his office received a call saying that he and his family "would be 'taken out' " over his rhetoric on Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination.

Flake recounted from the Senate floor how he told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that he didn’t think the Senate should proceed with the confirmation process until Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, was given the opportunity to testify.

“Not everybody felt that way," Flake said. "One man, somewhere in the country, called my office in Arizona and left a message saying that he was tired of me ‘interrupting our president’ and that for the offense of allowing Dr. Ford to be heard, for this offense, me and my family would be ‘taken out.’”

-snip-

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/408557-flake-my-office-received-call-saying-my-family-and-i-would-be-taken-out-over

[pangaia]

1. Here is the difference between Democrats and republicans..

Democrats chase asshole bigots out of restaurants,

Republicans threaten to kill people they don't like.

[JonLP24]

5. +1000

[RKP5637]

11. Yep, I think of that often. n/t

[Takket]

19. guess which group's actions'

appropriateness and civility is endlessly debated in the media?

[DownriverDem]

21. It should show Flake

that he's not a repub.

[pangaia]

26. What is he? I think repubs USED to be him.

Now they are full throttle xenophobic ,misogynistic , racist, fascist pigs.

[lagomorph777]

48. He used to be the crazy end of the spectrum, but when he went crazy, they went crazier.

Now he may be seeing just how bad his party's actions have made this country.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. Please explain your argument in light of what happened at the Eugene Simpson

baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, on the morning of June 14, 2017.

Purely by coincidence, I had taken that day off. I live a mile west of the Eugene Simpson baseball field. I watched the hovering helicopters through my binoculars. I had seen the shooter at the library a few times earlier that spring. He never gave off any bad vibes. He just worked away at his laptop, like a lot of other library patrons.

Each side has a lunatic fringe. Each side.

To imagine otherwise is to deceive yourself.

Thank you.

mahatmakanejeeves

[Laura in LA]

24. Agreed, sadly.

Witness the death threats that both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh are receiving.

[pangaia]

28. I would posit there there is no comparison in the quantity.

That is one example. I am sure there are others.
But it is a false equivalency.

[Ferrets are Cool]

53. This x 1000

It IS a false equivalency.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

29. Exactly. Thank you.

Attempting to frame the discussion as "the difference between us and them is that we are good and they are evil" is an exercise in fatuity.

Welcome to DU.

[paleotn]

35. Quantity, my friend. Quantity.

Death threats are a way of life for many, many reich wingers. The quantity of their rhetoric and actions speaks for itself.

[whathehell]

43. I haven't heard of Kavanaugh receiving death threats..

Link?

[Farmer-Rick]

33. Many more RepubliCONS than Dems have been found to be violent

Just look at the tiki torch Nazi march in Charlottesville, all the hate crime against Jews and black people, and the abortion clinic bombings. Lots more deaths and brutality right there than you will ever rack up with liberals.

[3Hotdogs]

44. "Each side has a lunatic fringe." Yeah, but the Weathermen have been out of commission for years.

Or, I think it was Jerry Rubin who said, "We are all Metetskys."

[pangaia]

46. LOLOL

And then there were the beatniks, who did it with bongoes.

[LanternWaste]

49. 100 red jelly beans does not equal one black jelly bean. "To imagine otherwise to deceive yourself."

Neither coincidence nor thanks required-- as both are wholly irrelevant, and would simply advertise third-grade level petulance.

[dchill]

27. And to them, only one of those responses...

is a legitimate means of protest.

[kiri]

39. to Jeff Flake--vote NO on Kavanaugh

I liked your Senate statement, although I prefer apple pie with a bit more spice.

I have agreed with some of your criticisms of Trump, disagreed with others.

I respect you as being a principled Conservative with faithfulness to core Republican values. You can rely on this respect in your future political goals.

You must bite and vote NO on Kavanaugh.

You have potential to be a national leader, but not if, at the end, you just vote as just another puppet for Trump

Because, Kavanaugh has lied to the Senate and been weirdly evasive;
[evasive about his gambling debt, strangely paid off, for one]

Because, if you vote to confirm, it will tarnish your future. Kavanaugh's issues will never go away. They will come up again and again, and Jeff Flake will be named as an enabler.

McConnell will have died in 10 years, maybe Trump, but you will be able to stand up if you are not discredited by the Kavanaugh mess.

Because, you and I know that Kavanaugh is a sleazy, very smart, promoter of unlimited presidential power. Trump wants him to protect himself--improper judge tampering, I think. Kavanaugh will emasculate Senate oversight--when a president is allowed to be above the law in all investigations.

This would be a horrible legacy for you to leave behind.

I urge you to vote NO on Kavanaugh because I want your voice in the future.

Sincerely.
Sam Kierian

[volstork]

40. Yes.

100% true.

[brush]

52. Does he want sympathy now? He still voted for the attempted rapist.

Spare us with the sob stories.

[brush]

2. That should show him he's on the wrong side of the issue, but watch...

he'll get in line and vote to confirm like the good, little, repug soldier he is.

[tazkcmo]

54. Yup.

He talks a good game but that's it. He always has and will continue to vote then locked that party and president he criticizes.

[Freethinker65]

3. There are always going to unstable people making threats but honestly I blame Trump

Trump blissfully incites violence and it is only a matter of time before someone commits it in Trump's name.

[erronis]

12. Trump "willfully" (not "blissfully") incites violence. While he appears without intelligence

he is not without malice.

[Freethinker65]

17. Well, I still think he enjoys the fact that he might be powerful enough to incite violence

And yes, he obviously is doing it on purpose to prove what an alpha male he is and that his supporters would do anything for him.

[relayerbob]

20. IN that sense, I agree, blissfully

knowingly and happily causing as much pain and trouble as he can

[Glorfindel]

4. Always so heartwarming to see rePuke family values on display.

Senator Flake must be so proud of his fellow rePukelicans who threaten him and his family. I'll bet it won't keep him from voting to confirm Kavanaughty, though.

[YOHABLO]

6. Some red neck sitting in his double wide wearing camo polishing his guns.

[pangaia]

13. Double wide? I doubt it.

[ancianita]

7. This is what a country full of armed hate groups and lone wolves has come to.

[RKP5637]

18. And it becomes more and more pathetic under the hatred spewing GOP. n/t

[catbyte]

8. So, for the "safety of his family", he'll vote to confirm?

I don't trust Flake to do the right thing. He strikes me as a concern troll. Same goes for Collins, Murkowski, Corker, and Sasse.

[RKP5637]

16. Same feelings - unreliable and untrustworthy to do the right thing. n/t

[still_one]

9. The FBI should be brought in on this, perhaps they can somehow determine where the call came

from

Technically every call made should be registered on some server

[Samspadesnark]

23. I can't imagine the Senate offices do not have caller ID.

Assuming they locate the person, with today's technology the FBI will be able to seize his computer and discern who is purposely feeding propaganda to him, via Facebook or otherwise, and the geographic origin of same (I'm lookin' at YOU, Vlad). How telling that Trump is not issuing an immediate response to this, no??? Any other president would be on TV pronto, issuing a national rebuke to such behavior and calling for a federal investigation of it. So would any normal Senate leader, and so would any normal person nominated for the Supreme Court position. But we are no longer living in normal times.

[still_one]

25. The phone number would get logged regardless, but the office needs to note which call it was, and if

the caller used a disposable phone which they immediately get rid of after the caller would be very difficult to find, however, the FBI must be brought in on this because this may be the start of a very disturbing pattern

[SWBTATTReg]

32. The phone company may have recordings of the call when it came in, that they would be ...

able to provide additional information on the call parameters. They do this fairly regularly in their normal course of business (e.g. drug cases, etc.). As to if it would help, perhaps. From earlier patterns, it is a disgruntled gop person, who's a rump fanatic, in disagreement w/ the senator. Wouldn't be surprised.

[sellitman]

10. He also has to worry about Putin

He serves up special rewards to those who thwarts him.

[erronis]

15. I expect to see a whole set of expendable republicons dumped into the tidal basin -

unknown cause of death but violent and traumatic.

There will be no mourning services. The families (such as are left) have moved elsewhere. The bodies will be moved to the Ronald Reagan Waste Treatment Plant for disposal.

[pangaia]

14. Fuck you asshole. You brought on yourself....

You're on the wrong side of history...

The rest of us have been getting fucked for decades because of people like you,,,,

[Kaleva]

30. Many Trump supporters have the same attitude as you.

That in not supporting Trump 100% all the time, Flake is on the wrong side of history.

When you find yourself agreeing with Trump supporters, you may want to take a good, long hard look at your own values.

[pangaia]

36. Oh.

[Va Lefty]

31. Just a matter of time before one of these deplorables does something like this

[flibbitygiblets]

34. Now Jeff Flake and Dr. Blasey-Ford have something in common. Maybe he should denounce those who

threatened her and her family?

I'm guessing not.

[NickB79]

37. Thank God for strong gun control laws to keep firearms from deranged killers

Oh wait a sec.......

[LiberalFighter]

38. Death threats are not appropriate.

It is better that they suffer for their actions to send a message that it will not be condoned. Whether in prison or restrictions placed on them. Financially or otherwise.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

41. I think we have reached the point

where ANYONE who makes a death threat against someone be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

And if the laws are too flexible, then we need to stiffen them. Make it a felony to threaten someone or their family with death.

[AllyCat]

42. What is wrong with people??

[regnaD kciN]

45. They think it's their sacred duty...

...because they know Roe is over once Kavanaugh is seated. Therefore, anyone who slows the process down is aiding and abetting "baby killing," and thus deserves to die.

[woodsprite]

47. Someone should tell him "Welcome to the world you helped create by supporting Trump." n/t

[ck4829]

50. Remember...

[BlueIdaho]

51. Today's Republican Party

Violent, threatening, murderous.

[lagomorph777]

55. So Fake Flaky-Flake caved to a Trumplodyte.

That's how he rolls. He's just a flake.

[asiliveandbreathe]

56. Cry wolf much flake????? Now they are all finding ways to either, stay relevant,

create fear, or deflect from their vote to confirm a sex predator to the SC.....I say prove it...we already know your vote and just how detrimental that vote for kavboy will be to the American people...

Just go away Flake..deal with your own doing...we don't need to know...

[violetpastille]

57. He is misrepresenting..

The caller said, "If you vote no I will take you and your family out..to the Cheesecake Factory!"