by WorldTribune Staff, October 8, 2018
During the Senate confirmation process for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, many who sought to derail the judge’s nomination were paid activists. Others cited studies which claim false allegations of sexual assault are extremely rare.
In backing Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations, some of Kavanaugh’s foes said that studies show just 2 percent of such allegations are false.
But in the 2017 book, “False Allegations: Investigative and Forensic Issues in Fraudulent Reports of Crime”, co-author Brent E. Turvey noted that one academic study showed that as many as 40 percent of sexual assault charges are false.
“There is no shortage of politicians, victims’ advocates and news articles claiming that the nationwide false report for rape and sexual assault is almost nonexistent, presenting a figure of around 2 percent,” writes Turvey.
“This figure is not only inaccurate, but also it has no basis in reality. Reporting it publicly as a valid frequency rate with any empirical basis is either scientifically negligent or fraudulent.”
“False reports happen, they are recurrent and there are laws in place to deal with them when they do,” wrote Turvey, who directs the Forensic Criminology Institute. “They are, for lack of a better word, common.”
Turvey quotes a study by researcher Edward Greer, past president of the Association American Law Schools. He traced the one and only source for the “2 percent” assertion to a 1975 book, “Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape”, which quoted statistics from New York City, not from across the nation.
Turvey cites 10 studies that debunk the 2 percent assertion in the U.S. and abroad.
“The power of any lie is equal only to our desire to believe it,” Turvey wrote. “Specifically, our need and eagerness to believe it. This is the problem with belief – which is accepting something as true or correct without proof.”
Columnist Michelle Malkin said the 2 percent number was one of the most frequent weapons used against Kavanaugh.
“The truth is that number has no documented empirical basis,” Malkin said in a Twitter video.
Meanwhile, professional, paid activists descended on Washington, D.C. to “steer” anti-Kavanaugh protesters to make “viral moments,” reports say.
In a video published by Vice News, a “full time progressive activist” identified as Melissa Byrne is shown leading a group of protesters through the Capitol building to ambush Republican Senators.
Byrne also took a group of protesters to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s residence in the Washington, D.C. area and shouted for him to come out, according to Vice News.
“I wanted to make it so that they couldn’t walk, the senators, couldn’t walk anywhere without seeing one of us,” Byrne told Vice News.
“The video also showed how pleasant she was with Democratic lawmakers but would crank up the emotion on a whim, seemingly coming to the point of tears, when confronting GOP senators,” the Media Research Center noted in an Oct. 7 report.
The widely-seen and reported on elevator confrontation of Sen. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, also involved paid activists, according to reports.
Appearing on ABC News’ “This Week,” Vice News D.C. Bureau Chief Shawna Thomas singled out one of the women who confronted Flake on Sept. 28, saying that one of them worked for the advocacy group UltraViolet and “was paid” to “steer people in the right ways to be able to confront senators.”
“And that moment with Jeff Flake on the Hill, we talked to one woman who worked for UltraViolet who was paid,” Thomas said. “There were people who were paid by organizations like UltraViolet to try to harness that energy in a way that would make the viral moments that we ended up seeing.”
Thomas later clarified her statement, tweeting that “there were some official organizations in the mix who have staff & consultants that were part of these protests. And some of them were helping individuals with tactics. That is not the same as ppl being paid to protest who don’t care about this issue.”
President Donald Trump tweeted about the protesters: “The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it! Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers.”
Fox News previously reported that one of the women who confronted Flake is the co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a group that has received funding from leftist billionaire George Soros. Two other women from that organization confronted Republican senators as they walked through the terminal at Reagan National Airport on Oct. 1, Fox News reported.
In an Oct. 5 “Fact Checker” analysis, The Washington Post concluded that “There is some, indirect money from Soros associated with the groups that confronted senators in elevators, but it is wrong to claim the protesters were paid by Soros or directed by him.”
One elevator confrontation that received little attention from the major media involved Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican. When ambushed at the Capitol, Hatch waved to a protester and said he’d talk with her “when you grow up.”
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