Kavanaugh hearing

[Brian Peacock]

Is Bengay a condiment?

[L'Emmerdeur]

Yeahbut Judge Kavanaugh has the right idea about government over-regulation.

'SeaWorld and Kavanaugh’s Missing Empathy Gene'

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined SeaWorld $70,000 for not taking “reasonable” steps to protect Blancheau from “recognizable hazards.” This was not the first death that the whale, Tilikum, was involved in—it had killed a trainer at a marine park in Vancouver—and OSHA concluded that SeaWorld could have prevented Blancheau’s death by using a barricade or greater distance to separate her from the orcas’ pool. When that case, SeaWorld v. U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, went before the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia in 2014, two judges—one was Merrick Garland—called for upholding OSHA’s fine, while Kavanaugh dissented, saying that OSHA had no business fining SeaWorld.

For Kavanaugh, the issue wasn’t what should SeaWorld have done to prevent Brancheau’s death or how could federal regulation have best helped prevent her death. Instead, the overriding issue for Kavanaugh was whether OSHA should even be regulating a company like SeaWorld. Kavanaugh asserted that OSHA should not be regulating sports or entertainment activities, saying it would be foolish, for instance, for OSHA to seek to limit injuries in professional football or NASCAR racing.

Although Kavanaugh describes himself as a “textualist” who follows the text of statues, he sought to create out of whole cloth an exemption from safety regulation for “entertainment activities” even though the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970—passed by a bipartisan majority and signed by Richard Nixon, a Republican—states that the law applies to “each employer.” The act calls on every employer to “furnish to each of [its] employees” work that is “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.”

Writing that OSHA would never regulate football or NASCAR racing, Kavanaugh argued that since OSHA can’t explain why it wouldn’t regulate those “sports and entertainment activities,” but had opted to regulate SeaWorld, it was arbitrary and capricious and therefore illegal for OSHA to regulate SeaWorld. Kavanaugh glosses over the fact that Brancheau’s work at SeaWorld was not a competitive sport, like football or hockey, where injuries are inevitable.

Moreover, Kavanaugh disingenuously overlooks the fact that OSHA has a long history of regulating job safety in many entertainment industries, including circuses, zoos, water parks, carnivals, amusement parks and Broadway theaters—even Walt Disney parades and reenactments of Old West-style gunfights. (Kavanaugh also argued that OSHA regulation shouldn’t be permitted at SeaWorld on the bewildering ground that OSHA would totally prohibit SeaWorld’s orca shows, even though OSHA made explicitly clear that those shows could go on, but with better protections for workers.)

...

In likening Dawn Brancheau to NFL players and NASCAR drivers, Kavanaugh essentially embraced a pro-corporate legal doctrine that was prevalent in the 19th century—that workers assume the risks inherent in a dangerous job. In other words, if Brancheau got killed or injured, well, tough luck. It’s on them. David Michaels, the head of OSHA under President Obama, criticized Kavanaugh for making “the perverse and erroneous assertion that the law allows SeaWorld trainers to willingly accept the risk of violent death as part of their job.” Kavanaugh ignores one of the central purposes of OSHA: to discard the archaic idea of assumption of risk and instead make sure that every employer takes action when there are risks of serious injury or death for employees.

[Tero]

This government is clearly overstepping its set goals. The Founding Fathers had no Sea Worlds, so clearly nothing in the Constitution pertains to whales or sea worlds.

Transporting killer whales across state lines to commit murders might fall under the FBI. But even the FBI is not justified by the Constitution. Let the militias, well armed, take care of killer whales.

[Brian Peacock]

I believe that humankind and Orcas can live together in peace.

[Sean Hayden]

Is Bengay a condiment?

[Svartalf]

I believe that humankind and Orcas can live together in peace.

I believe the COntinent of Plastic is harming orcas' prey, and thus condemning them to slow starvation.

[Cunt]

I think the case for doubt is a lot stronger than the case for believing this accuser, but a lot of mud has been slung at her. Svartalf is probably righter than me, with his notion of waiting for the testimony.

Since my name seems to be part of rejecting my case for what would be called 'reasonable doubt', I'll try to quote someone smart...

“There is child abuse, and there are such things as repressed memories. But there are also such things as false memories and confabulations, and they are not rare at all. Misrememberings are the rule, not the exception. They occur all the time. They occur even in cases where the subject is absolutely confident - even when the memory is a seemingly unforgettable flashbulb, one of those metaphorical mental photographs.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

[Sean Hayden]

Actually, it is rare to remember major events that never happened. It's not rare to get the details wrong.

Where were you when 9/11 happened? I was at the in-laws on the computer. And that one's not even hard to remember, and it's not like I was getting raped or something.

[Svartalf]

I remember 9/11 I was at the office, but I had to go back home and listen to the radio newscast to really understand what had happened.

[Cunt]

I understand...you believe her. You believe her despite the social media scrub, despite the fact that an accusation of this nature at this time is VERY useful politically. You believe her no matter what.

I don't. The best she can hope for, as far as I'm concerned, is that she will reveal some reliable evidence under investigation, which will confirm or disconfirm her story.

Of course, either way many people will still believe her. I'm sure many still believe mattress girl.

[Sean Hayden]

I remember 9/11 I was at the office, but I had to go back home and listen to the radio newscast to really understand what had happened.

Are you sure about that?

[Svartalf]

about 100%, I was already living at my current abode, so I did not have a tv; I don't get my news from the net, and the accounts I got at the office were awfully confusing, so I had to wait till I got the newscast to grasp the enormity of the event.

[Sean Hayden]

Bombing Yugoslavia, not as big an event. I remember where I was when I found out we had stealth planes doing the bombing. I bet you might even remember that too? --maybe

[pErvinalia]

Is Bengay a condiment?

It's like nosegay.

[pErvinalia]

This government is clearly overstepping its set goals. The Founding Fathers had no Sea Worlds, so clearly nothing in the Constitution pertains to whales or sea worlds.

Transporting killer whales across state lines to commit murders might fall under the FBI. But even the FBI is not justified by the Constitution. Let the militias, well armed, take care of killer whales.

It's like your channelling Seth