title: Fire and Blood (Game of Thrones)

text: David Sims, also writing for "The A.V. Club", called it a fitting end to the season, "leaving absolutely everyone salivating for season two". Writing for the "Star-Ledger", Jenifer Braun praised the episode for its set dressing ("I have to say, it's a pleasure just to look at all the shiny stuff the HBO set dressers came up with for Tywin Lannister's tent") and the authenticity of the baby dragons ("And wow, HBO, seamless special effects here. Baby Dragon looks every bit as real as the series' dogs"). HitFix said it "Wrapped up its terrific first season...it was damned entertaining along the way--with the finale as possibly the most entertaining so far--and we know that at least one more season is coming. And if the creative team can keep up this level of quality, it's hard to imagine HBO shutting things down anytime soon, even with a budget that only figures to get higher. Dragons aren't cheap, but they're also amazing".


title: Fire and Blood (Game of Thrones)

text: The episode contains a scene in which Joffrey forces Sansa to look at her father and family household staff beheaded on spikes. After a scene of the disfigured heads is shot, one decapitated head resembled former U.S. president George W. Bush. HBO quickly began removing and editing the scene as it sparked political outrage on social media. The beheaded prop was edited to resemble an ordinary head prop.


title: Fire and Blood (Game of Thrones)

text: A small amount of politicians began calling for a boycott of the series, describing the scene as 'despicable'. Creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss both apologized for the filming of the prop, stating:


title: Ralf Hütter

text: Ralf Hütter (born 20 August 1946) is a German musician and composer best known as the lead singer and keyboardist of Kraftwerk, which he founded with Florian Schneider in 1969. On May 12, 2021, Kraftwerk was announced as one of the inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


title: Ralf Hütter

text: Hütter was born on 20 August 1946 in Krefeld, Germany. In 2009 he lived near Düsseldorf. Hütter also has a daughter named Elsa who also produces music.


title: Ralf Hütter

text: He met Florian Schneider while studying improvisation at the Robert Schumann Hochschule. He is a vegetarian. Hütter is a secretive musician who avoids interviews.


title: Ralf Hütter

text: Ralf Hütter is an enthusiastic cycling fan, a fact reflected in some of the band's work. It was widely claimed that, when he was on tour, the group's bus would drop off Hütter 100 miles away from the next venue and he would cycle the rest of the way, a story that Hütter later confirmed. The band members took up cycling when recording the album "The Man-Machine" in the late 1970s. Ralf Hütter had been looking for a new form of exercise. The single "Tour de France" includes sounds that follow this theme, including bicycle chains, gear mechanisms and the breathing of the cyclist. At the time of the single's release Ralf Hütter tried to persuade the rest of the band that they should record a whole album based around cycling. At the time this did not happen, but the project eventually was released as "Tour de France Soundtracks" in 2003.


title: Ralf Hütter

text: Hütter was involved in a serious cycling accident in May or June 1982, during the initial period of recording for the 1986 album "Electric Café". He was in a coma as a result. Karl Bartos stated the first thing Hütter said when he awoke from his coma was "Where is my bicycle?", a story Hütter later disputed in a June 2009 interview in "The Guardian".


title: Biriyaani

text: Biriyaani is a 2020 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Sajin Baabu. It features Kani Kusruti and Shailaja Jala in the lead roles. The film won NETPAC award for best film in 20th "Asiatica Film Festival" in Rome, Jury prize for Best Film at Banglore International Film Festival, best film at the Caleidoscope Indian Film festival, Boston etc. Actress Kani Kusruti won the best actress at the BRICS competition section of the 42nd Moscow Film Festival, best actress at the Caleidoscope Indian Film festival, second-best actress award at the Imagine Film Festival in Madrid, Spain, and the 2019 Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress at Kerala State Film Awards for her performance in this film.


title: Biriyaani

text: The film starts with Khadeeja having emotionless sex with her husband and then he gets to his daily chores the moment he is satisfied, an implication of the tag line of the film where women are treated as a piece of flesh without giving any considerations to their emotions. Later she starts masturbating which she enjoys, to which her husband is annoyed and laments that her clitoris was not properly circumcised, again implying that women are forbidden from enjoying sex as per tenets of religion.


title: Biriyaani

text: Khadeeja has poor relations with her in-laws and her mother has lost sanity because of frequent anxiety attacks in her past when her husband would leave her alone when he had to go on long fishing trips. Khadeeja is educated only till high school, however her brother is well educated and had recently visited from Gulf after a short stint as an engineer. Khadeeja's mother suffers an anxiety attack when her son leaves her alone without providing any details. Khadeeja calms her down by telling her that they would host a feast for the village to commemorate her father's death anniversary.


title: Biriyaani

text: We see TV debates that speak of more radical Wahabi culture coming from Malayalees returning from Saudi taking over the mild Sufi and Salafi culture of India, and this becomes a concern for most panellists as it is encouraging terrorist activities. Later we see Khadeeja and her mother facing an enquiry from the NIA for her brother's involvement with ISIS. Her husband instantly gives her divorce (by sending a text message with talaq written 3 times) so that his family does not bear the brunt of his community and also on the behest of a priest, who informs him she is bad luck. He forbids her to even talk to her son on phone. Khadeeja visits Abubakar, handler of her brother, who politely tells them not to visit him again so that he stays out of the radar of investigative agencies and in the meantime they also get a letter from the mosque informing them that they have been banished from their community. Both are left to fend for themselves. Sometime later Abubakar comes with a letter and money sent by her brother. Khadeeja returns the money and tells him that they only want her brother back. In the letter, her brother asks Khadeeja to take their mother to a shrine whose spiritual powers would heal his mother. When they arrive at the shrine, they meet the kind-hearted priest Bijil who tells Khadeeja that she should take her mother to the doctor and most of the people come here for the food given out by charitable devotees of the shrine. Like most people there Khadeeja makes the courtyard their home.


title: Biriyaani

text: Khadeeja witnesses a woman bide her time at the shrine through prostitution and the priest masturbating in his quarters. The next day the priest meets her to clear the air between them, to which she taunts that she would go to hell, whereas he would go to heaven for masturbating, highlighting the patriarchal tenets of her religion. A few days later Bijil shows her the news that her brother was shot dead by police in Kashmir, as well as the arrest of Abubakar as his handler. She is totally distraught, but hides this from her mother. Bijil gives Khadeeja keys to his home and a few blank cheques to that account in which he had received compensation given by the government to flood victims. Bijil being the sole survivor in his family finds no purpose to use these funds. Khadeeja and her mother travel to his village and settle themselves in his home however she is still reluctant to use his money. She has her lunch at her mess and cannot keep away from the prying eyes of the cashier. Later she is tracked down by a journalist who wants to do a piece on destitute family members of proclaimed terrorists. Later her mother accidentally reads the article and dies out of shock when it is revealed to her that her son is dead. Khadeeja withdraws all the money from the bank account and give it to Bijil so that he can put it to better use. On returning to the village, she seduces the cashier at the mess and they have sex. This is her first step into prostitution and gives up her identity as a conservative Muslim girl to suit her profession. Bijil is ambivalent about her profession, but helps her in any way he can. She expresses her desire to fulfill her mother's dying wish to host a feast to commemorate her father and brother's deaths. He tells her that since they are banished from the community no one would accept her invitation, so he suggests that they host an iftar feast but for them, it would be for her brother and father. Khadeeja agrees to this and also reveals that she is 5 months pregnant. Anticipation of motherhood gives her some happiness and new motivation to lead her lonely life.


title: Biriyaani

text: They start giving out the invitation cards in the village, to her ex-husband as well. The local police take her to an isolated villa on the pretext of investigation (charges related to prostitution and links to her terrorist brother) and in an altercation she suffers a miscarriage. The police drop their investigation and bear her hospital expenses to keep her mum. Later she invites the police officers to the iftar as well. The next day preparations of feast begin and Khadeeja quietly slips her stillborn fetus into the biryani pot on the stove. Everyone arrives for the iftar and they feast on biryani to their heart's content, but she forbids Bijil to eat it. The next day Bijil is very disappointed to learn the truth and leaves her, telling that two wrongs cannot make a right. The last kind person gone from her life, she spends her last remaining pennies on feeding the dog and jumps into water, presumably to her death.


title: Biriyaani

text: Next, we see Khadeeja having sex with her ex-husband where she is in control and enjoys the action, presumably a way she thought her life should have been.


title: Biriyaani

text: The film was shot at places close to Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram and also at some places in Tamil Nadu.


title: Biriyaani

text: Kani Kusruti remembers having doubts about certain scenes in the film that feature nudity. "When Sajin approached me for the role, I felt that it was a bit too much. I knew the 'male gaze' would be there. It's unavoidable with male directors, sometimes even with female directors. I considered it for some time, then Sajin came back to me, saying that he had written that role with me in mind. None of my previous roles had a proper beginning, middle and end like this one did, so I decided to look at it as an opportunity," she says.


title: Biriyaani

text: The Central Board of Film Certification approved of the film with few cuts of close shots of the circumcision scene and that of the goat slaughter. Also the nudity was asked to be blurred. The film was rated ‘adults only’ by the Censor Board. Biriyaani was released in theatres across Kerala after few weeks of its screening in International Film Festival of Kerala. Around 12 theatres backed out from screening it.


title: Biriyaani

text: Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "The film is about the travails of being an oppressed caste/class Muslim woman, and also about generally being Muslim in Kerala."


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Paper Mario is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 home video game console. "Paper Mario" is the first game in the "Paper Mario" series. First released in Japan in 2000 and then internationally in 2001, "Paper Mario" was later re-released for Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console in July 2007, the Wii U Virtual Console in April 2015, and the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on December 10, 2021.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: "Paper Mario" is set in the Mushroom Kingdom as the protagonist Mario tries to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, who has imprisoned the seven "Star Spirits", lifted her castle into the sky and has defeated Mario after stealing the Star Rod from Star Haven and making himself invincible. To save the Mushroom Kingdom, rescue Peach, get the castle back, and defeat Bowser, Mario must locate the Star Spirits, who can negate the effects of the stolen Star Rod, by defeating Bowser's minions guarding the star spirits. The player controls Mario and a number of partners to solve puzzles in the game's overworld and defeat enemies in a turn-based battle system. The battles are unique in that the player can influence the effectiveness of attacks by performing required controller inputs known as "action commands".


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Although Nintendo planned to have Square, now Square Enix, develop "Paper Mario", the company was occupied with developing "Final Fantasy VII" for the PlayStation; Intelligent Systems developed the game instead. The game received acclaim, being praised for its concept, battle system, and graphics, and was rated the 63rd best game made on a Nintendo system in "Nintendo Power"s "Top 200 Games" list in 2006. It was followed by a series of sequels, starting with "" for the GameCube in 2004. This game has been rereleased on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Console, and the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, in 2007, 2015, and 2021 respectively.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: "Paper Mario" combines traditional role-playing game (RPG) elements with concepts and features from the "Mario" series. For the majority of the game, the player controls Mario, who can jump and use his hammer to overcome physical obstacles placed in the game's overworld. Many of the game's puzzles and boundaries are based upon the abilities of Mario's partners, who each have a specialized skill required for progression in the game. The player accumulates partners as they advance into different locations; only one partner can accompany Mario in the overworld, although the player can interchange them at any time.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: These characters also assist Mario in the game's turn-based battles, where the damage inflicted against them results in temporary paralysis as the characters do not have individual HP statistics. Attacks in the game are similar to those in traditional RPGs, although the player can influence the power of a move when attacking or defending by timing a button-press accurately or performing some other action command as required. Mario and his partners have a finite capacity to perform special moves, with each of these consuming a particular number of flower points (FP) when performed. Such statistics can be increased by earning Star Points (experience points) in combat to level up. There is also an on-screen gauge to display Star Energy, which is required to perform another type of move that accumulates in number as the player advances through the game. The player can locate hidden battle upgrades in the game's overworld, which promotes one partner character to a new rank at a time.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Progression through "Paper Mario" depends upon interaction with the game's non-player characters (NPCs), who would often offer clues or detail the next event in the storyline. As in other RPGs, the player can find or purchase items from NPCs to help in and outside of combat. Badges can also be obtained that yield bonuses ranging from added moves to gradual health restoration during combat; each consumes a set number of Badge Points (BP), meaning Mario can only equip a limited number of badges at a time. Princess Peach is playable at particular points in the game as a recurring quest line. The objectives and actions of each transition to Peach vary, although most are stealth-based.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Set in the Mushroom Kingdom, the game begins when Mario and Luigi receive an invitation from Peach for a party at the castle. There, when Mario and Peach are alone, Bowser lifts her castle, overpowers Mario with his invincibility that he gained by stealing the Star Rod and imprisoning the seven Star Spirits; Mario is thrown away from the castle in the sky and lands in Goomba Village, where he is aided by Goombario and his family. Mario and Goombario make their way to Shooting Star Summit, where the weakened seven Star Spirits' request Mario to find them in order to stop Bowser's invincibility. Mario and his friends go to the four Koopa Bros.' fortress where they save the first Star Spirit. and they find the second one in the Dry, Dry Desert inside a secret fortress ruled over by Tutankoopa. The third one is being kept by Tubba Bubba, a nemesis scaring the Boos and eating them when he is "invincible" (his heart is his true weak point). The fourth one is kept by the General Guy and his minions living in the Toy Box. Mario and his new friends travel to Lavalava Land, an island where its inhabitants are threatened by an impending volcanic eruption. After saving the fifth Spirit, they journey to Flower Fields retrieving the sixth one. Mario becomes a suspect of murder when he finds the Shiver City's mayor unconscious; after solving the mystery (which was the mayor's own accident), Mario gets to the Crystal Palace where he saves the last Star Spirit from the Crystal King. As he has saved every Star Spirit, Mario then departs to Peach's Castle.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Meanwhile, Peach tries in numerous attempts to escape the castle alongside Twink. The player controls Peach in a variety of minigames each time Mario saves


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: a Star Spirit, such as baking a cake for a Shy Guy or even cloning the appearance of Bowser's minions with a magic umbrella. At the end of every gameplay segment with Peach, she overhears Bowser speaking about the bosses Mario beats before being discovered and then transported to her room again.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Mario enters the castle and confronts Bowser; with the power of the seven Star Spirits, Mario manages to beat Bowser by stopping his invincibility while Peach and Twink battle Bowser's sidekick Kammy Koopa. Mario and Peach, alongside their friends, eventually win against Bowser and Kammy. The Star Spirits restore the castle to its spot. On another day, Mario and Luigi receives a letter for another party, which lead to a parade as the game's credits rolls, and Mario and Peach watch fireworks together at his home.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: The game's story centers on Mario as he tries to reclaim the seven Star Spirits, who have been sealed in playing cards by Bowser and his assistant, Kammy Koopa. Their combined power is required to negate the effects of the Star Rod, which makes Bowser invincible. Once Mario rescues all of them, he uses their assistance to defeat Bowser and rescue Peach. The story is presented in the context of a novel, with each adventure involving the rescue of a Star Spirit denoted as a single chapter. Peach is playable between chapters, where she allies with a star kid named Twink in the castle to relay vital information to Mario regarding his quest.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Mario allies with eight partners in total, each of whom represents a different type of enemy from the "Mario" franchise. These allies are:


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: After Peach's castle is sent back to the ground and Mario defeats Bowser, he recounts his tale to Luigi, who had remained at home while Mario went on the adventure. Peach throws a huge party to honor Mario and his allies for saving the entire kingdom, which is then followed by a parade during the credits.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: "Paper Mario" was developed by Intelligent Systems. Shigeru Miyamoto served as producer and consulted on the project. Kumiko Takeda and Kaori Aoki wrote the game's script, while Naohiko Aoyama was the art director responsible for the game's distinctive graphical style. Nintendo approached Square Enix, who had developed "Super Mario RPG" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, to develop the game, but they turned down the offer due to work on "Final Fantasy VII". Instead, the company hired Intelligent Systems to develop the game. The game was initially called "Super Mario RPG 2", was slated for release on the 64DD, and was first revealed at Nintendo Space World '97, a video game trade show hosted by Nintendo. However, the development moved to cartridge format instead. Aoyama took inspiration from the graphics of "PaRappa the Rapper", cel animation, and the work of Walt Disney and "Looney Tunes" for the art style. Miyamoto stated that the game was being developed with amateur gamers in mind. The later released for the iQue Player in 2004. "Paper Mario" saw a number of re-releases for later Nintendo consoles: the Wii Virtual Console in July 2007, the Wii U Virtual Console in April 2015, and via the Nintendo Switch Online service in December 2021.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: The game's soundtrack was first released in Japan on September 21, 2000, with the game's original title by Enterbrain, and distributed by the magazine "Famitsu". It was followed in the United States a few months later as a Nintendo Power exclusive with the illustration from the international game cover. It included both the original music to the game, as well as sound effects, in 78 tracks on two discs. All of the game's compositions were written by Yuka Tsujiyoko, with a reprised arrangement of previous "Super Mario" themes by Koji Kondo. The game's other event and sound effects music were composed by Taishi Senda. The game's music mostly received positive reviews, with Lucas M. Thomas of IGN describing it as "vividly appointed with catchy, expressive tunes and comical audio cues."


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: "Paper Mario" received critical acclaim, receiving a 93/100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 15 reviews. The game was the top selling game in Japan on the week of its release, selling more than 276,000 copies, and the top-selling game for two weeks in other regions. It was ranked #141 on "Electronic Gaming Monthly"'s "Greatest 200 Videogames of their Time" in February 2006, the 63rd best game made on a Nintendo system in "Nintendo Power"s "Top 200 Games" list, and the 13th greatest Nintendo 64 game of all time by the same magazine. It currently ranks as the sixth-highest scoring Nintendo 64 game on Metacritic, the ninth highest rated video game of 2001, and the highest-scoring Nintendo 64 game released that year.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: IGN's Matt Casamassina praised the game's accessibility, commenting that "it serves as the perfect introductory game to any person hoping to explore the genre". Nonetheless, other reviewers complained about the "brain-dead easy" puzzles and bosses requiring "basic strategy at best". The game's nostalgic value was lauded, with reviewers noting the sense of familiarity with the "Mario" series present in the game's settings and characters. The game has often been compared to the previous Mario RPG title, "Super Mario RPG". Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell judged that ""Paper Mario" is a vastly superior game to "SMRPG"", while IGN compared the game's simple plot unfavourably with the SNES game and RPGFan claimed that some of "Paper Mario"s story was copied from it. RPGFan also questioned the name of "Paper Mario", as there were, in their opinion, insufficient gameplay features or aspects which used the paper theme to justify the name.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Critics lauded the game's blend of RPG and platforming aspects. GameSpot noted the "exciting and somewhat strategic" battle system, which requires the player exploit the enemies' weak points. The "refreshing" action command features was praised in particular for adding originality to a battle formula that was present in many games of the same genre. IGN claimed the game was "the best RPG for Nintendo 64", calling it "fantastically deep, intuitively designed, and wonderfully rewarding". Despite this, enemy design itself was bemoaned for being "corny and generic", with notable exceptions to some of the "Paper Mario"s original boss characters. Eurogamer noted how "Of the various characters you meet, none is of less importance than any other", welcoming the partner characters and their relating puzzles. GameSpot praised the game's use of humour and side quests, with references to the control of Peach in particular.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: The reaction to the game's visuals was generally positive. IGN noted some paper-based visual effects such as when Mario folds in a bed to sleep, but complained about character zoom-ins, which revealed "a pixelated mass of colors". Although reviewers claimed that the novel graphical style was initially confusing, most welcomed the style eventually, with GameSpot claiming that it was "extremely well done". The audio was also mainly praised, although reviewers criticised the lack of voice acting and character-specific sound effects. RPGFan were particularly critical of the game's "generic filler music", despite enjoying use of multiple songs simultaneously.


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: Chester Barber reviewed the Nintendo 64 version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "One of the best RPGs ever, and definitely the best RPG available for Nintendo 64. Even if you've only been buying games for newer systems, this is a must-buy." "GameSpot" named "Paper Mario" the best Nintendo 64 game of 2001. It was a runner-up for the publication's annual "Best Role-Playing Game" prize among console games, which went to "Final Fantasy X".


title: Paper Mario (video game)

text: The game was also well received upon release for the Virtual Console, with IGN's Lucas M. Thomas stating "it's held up very well even placed into context against its GameCube and Wii era sequels, and it's an RPG for goodness sakes". "Paper Mario" also proved popular on the Virtual Console, reaching a high of "second most downloaded game" in the US in August 2007.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: "Bombay" Jayashri Ramnath is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer, and musician. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. Born into a family of musicians, Jayashri represents the fourth generation of music practitioners in her family. Trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T R Balamani, she was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2021. She has become one of the most sought after Carnatic musicians today.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Born in Tamil family in Calcutta, Jayashri received her initial training in Carnatic music from her parents, Smt. Seethalakshmy Subramaniam and Shri. N.N. Subramaniam and was later trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T R Balamani. She also learned to play the Veena from G. N. Dhandapani Iyer.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri received training in Hindustani Classical Music from K Mahavir Jaipurwale and Ajay Pohankar. She also holds a diploma in Indian Music from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri studied Bharatanatyam under Guru K Kalyanasundaram Pillai of Shri Rajarajeshwari Bharatha Natya Kalamandir, Mumbai. She was also involved in theatre with the Amateur Dramatic Club, Mumbai .


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri attended the St. Anthony's High School in Chembur. She holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce and Economics from R. A. Podar College, Mumbai.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri performed her first concert in 1982. She has performed at various festivals and venues all across India and in over thirty-five different countries. In India, she has performed in all the major festivals. In New Delhi: The Rashtrapati Bhavan, Vishnu Digambar festival, Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha, India International Centre, Indira gandhi National University and Bhakti Utsav. She has performed also at Saptak, Ahmedabad; The Music Academy and Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai; ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata;NCPA and Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha, Mumbai; Chowdiah Memorial Hall and Vasantha Habba, Bangalore; Kuthira Malika and Soorya Festival, Trivandrum, The Palace of Mysore and at the Matrimandir Amphitheatre at Auroville. Across India, she has performed for the Spirit of Unity Concerts for National Integration, SPIC MACAY Festivals and All India Radio's Sangeet Sammelan.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: In the US, she has performed at the Lincoln centre for the performing arts, Carnegie hall, Kennedy Centre for performing arts World Music Institute – New York; University of Arizona – Tucson; University of Texas – Austin; MIT – Boston; University of Louisiana – New Orleans; Cornell University and Amherst College.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri's Europe tours have included venues such as: Saddlers Wells and Queen Elizabeth Hall – London; Festival of Sacred Voices and Museum Rietberg – Switzerland; Vantaa Festival and The Russian Opera House – Helsinki, Finland; Théâtre de la Ville, Festival of Nantes, The Museum of Sculpture and Arts, Musee des Asiatiques and Citi de la Musique – in France; Casa da Musica a Porto – Portugal; Sala de Camera – Spain and at the University of Cologne.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: She has also performed at The Royal Opera House – Durban, Monash University – Melbourne and Esplanade Theatre – Singapore.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: On 19 September 2017, she performed at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as they gave the world premiere of Mychael Danna's "Life of Pi" suite.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri has been supporting SPIC MACAY since more than three decades. She has travelled to many places in India including remote places in Uttarakhand, hill districts of Himachal Pradesh, Port Blair, rural and tribal areas of Wayanad and Idukki in Kerala, Goa and many other places to perform hundreds of Lecture Demonstrations to students, introducing them to the Indian classical music.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri has performed Jugalbandi concerts with Hindustani Musicians Ronu Majumdar, Shubha Mudgal, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Gaurav Mazumdar. She has dialogued with artistes in dance like Leela Samson, Chitra Visweshwaran, Alarmel Valli, Priyadarsini Govind and Shobana. Jayashri has sung Thirukkural and an Annamacharya verse in the prestigious audio autobiography – "Wings of Fire" of former President Shri Abdul Kalam.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri has also collaborated with Carnatic Musicians T. M. Krishna, Jayanthi Kumaresh and Abhishek Raghuram.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: She performed in 'Bhaire Baanvari', the story of Meera, conceptualised and directed by Gowri Ramnarayan. She also was a part of 'Mathemagician' with actor V Balakrishnan and written by Gowri Ramnarayan.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri also performed at the MTV Coke Studio (India) Season 1 with Ustad Rashid Khan and Richa Sharma.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri also conceptualised 'Listening to Life' – A concert that features the journey of a musician as a lover of music.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Her quest to interact and experiment with various forms of music has resulted in collaborations with various eminent artistes from around the world. Jayashri has sung two Sangam Period songs, Veral Veli (A Kuruntokai poem by Kapilar) and Yaadhum Ure in the album '', an international collaboration of various artists and Durham Symphony by Composer Rajan Somasundaram. Yaadhum Ure song, a multi genre fusion where Bombay Jayashri sang Carnatic portions along with various international singers was declared the theme song of 10th World Tamil Conference. The album was featured in Amazon's Top#10 International Albums category in July 2020.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: She has sung with Egyptian singer Hisham Abbas and Senegalese singer Thione Seck. In 2008, she was part of an Indo-Finnish venture 'Red Earth and Pouring Rain', where she sang Kuṟuntokai  – ancient poems from Sangam literature – with Avanti,conducted by John Storgards set to music by Eero Hämeenniemi. This was premiered at Helsinki and was also performed at Lapland. In 2012, she sang the poetry of Mirza Ghalib composed by Eero Hämeenniemi at the Vantaa festival, with the Gamba quartet led by Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, Finland. The performance was also held at Hungary.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: In 2014, she worked with Eero Hameenniemi in Yadhum Oore, Sangam Poetry and performed with Finnish Philharmonic orchestra.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri is also a playback singer whose film music includes Collaborations with M S Vishwanathan ( Tampathigal), Ilayaraja, A.R.Rahman, M M Keeravani, Oesappachan, M Jayachandran,Ramesh Narayan, Haris Jayaraj, Shankar-Ehsan-Loy, Imman, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Govind Vasantha. Her song for Harris Jayaraj won her the Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil for the popular song "Vaseegara" from the Tamil film "Minnale". She sang the song "Zara Zara Bahakta Hain" (the Hindi version of "Vaseegara") in the movie "Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein" with music composer Harris Jayaraj.She sang in Mahesh Dattani's 'Morning Raga' for the music of Amit Heri. She has sung in various films in Hindi, Tamil, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam languages. She collaborated with composer Mychael Danna on "Pi's Lullaby" from the film adaptation of Yann Martel's book "Life of Pi" in 2012.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: She has composed music for Kalidasa's Meghadootham, choreographed by Sheejith Nambiar and Parvathy menon, produced by Aim for Seva. She has composed the music for Meera- Soul Divine, choreographed by Chitra Vishweshwaran, produced by Aim for Seva.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri worked with Ang Lee on his motion picture, "Life of Pi." She performed the lyrics for "Pi's Lullaby", which was nominated for the 2012 Oscars in the Best Original Song category. She has also composed music for actor Revathi's films "Verukku Neer" and "Magal in Kerala Cafe".


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: In 2004, Jayashri composed music for "Silappadhikaaram", a dance drama commissioned by the Cleveland Cultural Alliance.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: In 2001, Jayashri, along with Sanjay Subrahmanyan and T. M. Krishna wrote the book 'Prof. Sambamoorthy, the visionary musicologist', detailing the life and times of Prof. Sambamoorthy – eminent Indian musicologist. The book was published to commemorate his birth centenary. In 2007, Jayashri, T. M. Krishna – leading Carnatic vocalist and Mythili Chandrasekar – Senior Vice-president at JWT together wrote the book "Voices Within", – a one-of-a-kind coffee table book that captures the pioneering spirit of 7 of the greatest Carnatic masters of the previous generations.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri featured in the first full-length Carnatic music film 'Margazhi Ragam', conceptualised by Director P Jayendra. This was a ground breaking venture that showed Carnatic music in a whole different light. The movie, released in 2008, used the very best and latest technologies for video and sound recording. In her quest to reach music to the next generation, she along with T. M. Krishna and YACM initiated Svanubhava – a week-long Music Festival, exclusively for students of music, which continues to be conducted annually.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Another dimension of music which Jayashri is focused on is in exploring the therapeutic and healing value of music . Under her Trust Hitham she shared music with Children in the Autism Spectrum. She and her students teach music at Swami Dayananda School at Manjakudi . She has been working closely with institution like Kilikili, Sampoorna in Karnataka and Sankalp in Tamil Nadu which care for autistic children. This domain is a matter of serious engagement for Jayashri and her students. Some other institutions that Jayashri has worked with include: The Banyan Chennai (rehabilitation of homeless/mentally challenged women), Vasantha Memorial Trust (cancer patients), Stepping Stones Orphanage Home, Malaysia, Multiple Sclerosis Society of India, Bangalore and more.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: The relatives of Malayalam poet Irayimman Thampi and the Irayimman Thampi Smaraka Trust alleged that the lyrics penned by Bombay Jayshree for "Pi's Lullaby", which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category for the 2012 film "Life of Pi", were copied from Thampi's lullaby Omanathinkal Kidavo.


title: Bombay Jayashri

text: Jayashri had rendered 'Omanathinkal Kidao' in a Malayalam version back in 2001 on her album "Vatsalyam".


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: The Hunter is a 2011 Australian drama film, directed by Daniel Nettheim and produced by Vincent Sheehan, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Julia Leigh. It stars Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O'Connor. Dafoe flew to Tasmania for the film's premiere at the State Cinema in North Hobart.


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: In the film, a shadowy corporation ("Red Leaf") sends mercenary Martin David (Dafoe) to Tasmania to track down a thylacine, a supposedly extinct animal whose genetic code holds the secret to a dangerous weapon. The film opened to the Australian public in cinemas on 29 September 2011.


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: Mercenary Martin David is hired by military biotech company, Red Leaf, to go to Tasmania and gather samples of a supposedly extinct marsupial, the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), with further instructions to kill all remaining tigers to ensure no competing organisation will get their DNA.


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: Posing as a university biologist, Martin lodges in the home of the Armstrong family: Lucy and her two young children, Katie and Jamie. Lucy is perpetually benumbed from prescribed medication, taken after the disappearance of her environmentalist husband, Jarrah Armstrong. Speculation surrounds Jarrah's disappearance, particularly with regards to a longstanding conflict between the local loggers who are in desperate need of jobs, and the 'greenies', a group of environmentalists who have set up road blocks to the forest to prevent its deforestation. Martin goes into the bush for twelve days at a time, setting up various steel traps and makeshift snares, while waiting patiently to see if a tiger will surface. During his short stays at the Armstrongs' to resupply, Martin slowly befriends the children, and discovers that Lucy's medication is delivered to her by Jack Mindy, who has been unofficially looking in on the family. Martin confiscates Lucy's medication, and bathes her while she is unconscious, after realising the detrimental effects of her dependency.


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: During one return from the bush, Martin finds Lucy has recovered from the symptoms of her addiction. Jamie provides Martin with a clue as to the tiger's whereabouts: a drawing of the tiger near trees and small bodies of water. From the drawing, Martin is able to deduce the tiger's location on his map. On his next trip out, Martin stumbles across Jarrah's skeletal remains and discovers that he had been shot through the head. Martin gives him a proper burial, but does not reveal his findings to the Armstrong family. On his return to the Armstrong house, Lucy informs him that Red Leaf had initially contracted Jarrah to locate the tiger, a pursuit he eventually abandoned in favour of taking up an environmental cause to protect wildlife and that Red Leaf wanted Jarrah to find the tiger because they believed that it had a paralysing venom in its bite.


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: While hiking to check his traps, Martin is ambushed by a rival Red Leaf operative sent to replace him. The man binds Martin's hands and instructs Martin to lead him to the tiger's cave, but Martin instead leads the operative past one of his steel traps. The operative steps on the trap, and its metal teeth bind his leg. The operative drops both rifles. Martin frees his hands, picks up one of the rifles, and kills the operative just as the operative frees himself from the trap and lunges for the other rifle. Martin returns to the Armstrong residence to find it burnt down. Confronting Mindy, he learns that Lucy and Katie had perished in the fire that Mindy claims broke out by accident, but Jamie survived and was taken by the authorities. Martin sets out into the bush once more to find the Tasmanian tiger and put an end to Red Leaf's pursuit. He finally finds the creature and reluctantly shoots it, then proceeds to cremate it in order to remove all traces of its existence.


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: Martin returns to town and calls Red Leaf, informing them that what they are looking for is "gone forever". He then goes to a school where Jamie sits alone on a bench. When Jamie sees Martin, he runs excitedly toward him and the two embrace.


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: The film received generally favourable reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes holds a 72% rating based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 6.54/10. The site's critical consensus states that ""The Hunter" occasionally suffers from predictability, but Willem Dafoe gives a terrific performance as an obsessive hunter on the trail of a mysterious beast." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 63 out of 100, based on reviews from 15 critics.


title: The Hunter (2011 Australian film)

text: Kim Newman from "Empire" gave the film three stars, calling "The Hunter" "a slow-burning, beautifully shot, and highly understated philosophical thriller".


title: Angel One (company)

text: Angel One Limited, formerly known as Angel Broking Limited, is an Indian stockbroker firm established in 1996. The company is a member of the Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange of India, National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited. It is a depository participant with Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL).


title: Angel One (company)

text: Angel Broking was incorporated on 8 August 1996 as a private limited company. Later, Angel Broking was incorporated as a wealth management, retail and corporate broking firm in september, 1997. In November 1998, Angel Capital and Debt Market Ltd. gained membership of National Stock Exchange as a legal entity. The company opened its commodity broking Division in April, 2004. In November 2007, Birla Sun Life Insurance joined hands with Angel Broking for distribution of its insurance products. The International Finance Corporation bought an 18% stake in Angel Broking for in December 2007. The company opened an office in Karol Bagh, New Delhi in October 2012.


title: Angel One (company)

text: In January 2013, a probe found the company and two other entities involved in fraudulent and unfair trade practices in transactions of shares of Sun Infoways during Feb-May 2001. As a result, SEBI restrained from taking new clients for a period of two weeks. Angel filed an appeal against the SEBI order which was dismissed by the Securities appellate tribunal. Angel Broking began offered shares through an initial public offering in September 2020, and was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange on 5 October 2020.


title: Angel One (company)

text: The company offers multiple online trading apps. Services include online stock broking, depository services, commodity trading and investment advisory services, personal loans and insurance, portfolio management services, IPOs business and mutual funds distribution.


title: Elbit Hermes 900

text: The Elbit Systems Hermes 900 "Kochav" ("Star") is an Israeli medium-size, multi-payload, medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical missions. It is a successor to the Hermes 450 series of drones, one of the most widely used military drones in the world.


title: Elbit Hermes 900

text: It has an endurance of over 30 hours and can fly at a maximum altitude of , with a primary mission of reconnaissance, surveillance and communications relay. The Hermes 900 has a wingspan of and weighs , with a payload capability of . Payload options include electro-optical/infrared sensors, synthetic-aperture radar/ground-moving target indication, communications and electronic intelligence, electronic warfare, and hyperspectral sensors.


title: Elbit Hermes 900

text: The Hermes 900 was first used by Israel during Operation Protective Edge in July 2014. It had been undergoing test flights and wasn't planned for operational deployment until late 2015, but it was introduced during the operation for unique missions that it could perform better than the Hermes 450. A few days after receiving orders to deploy the aircraft, one Kochav was readied for "temporary activity." The Hermes 900's first operational mission took place on July 15, 2014, which was a link in a chain of operations that eventually led to a fighter jet attack that destroyed terrorist infrastructure. Maintenance on the aircraft during the operation was done by Elbit personnel because IAF ground teams had not yet been qualified to perform maintenance on it, and mission stations had Elbit representatives that guided the operators during combat flights. Following the end of the operation, the Hermes 900 returned to integration and flight testing to pass milestones that still needed to be met. The Hermes 900 was officially introduced into the IAF's operational lineup on 11 November 2015.


title: Elbit Hermes 900

text: Azerbaijani media first mentioned the procurement of the Hermes 900 in August 2017, reporting up to 15 units having been purchased. In May 2018, the Azerbaijani government confirmed the purchase, releasing photos of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev inspecting one of the drones.


title: Elbit Hermes 900

text: During the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani skirmishes, Armenia's Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan reported that Armenian forces had shot down an Azerbaijani Hermes 900 drone, sharing the video of the alleged shoot down on social media. The Azerbaijani side denied losing any of its drones.


title: 1997 NFL Draft

text: The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. No teams chose to claim any players in the supplemental draft this year.


title: 1997 NFL Draft

text: This draft was notable for its high-profile offensive linemen. The first overall selection was Orlando Pace, who appeared in seven consecutive Pro Bowls from 2000 to 2006 and was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2016. Tarik Glenn was selected 19th overall and was also named to three Pro Bowls. Walter Jones, who made nine Pro Bowls (including eight consecutive from 2001 to 2008), was a seven time All-Pro, and was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2014, was selected sixth overall. Others include Chris Naeole, Dan Neil, Ryan Tucker, Jeff Mitchell, Mike Flynn, and Joe Andruzzi.


title: 1997 NFL Draft

text: The 1997 Draft is also known for its running backs. Warrick Dunn, Corey Dillon, and Tiki Barber each rushed for over 10,000 yards in their careers, and Antowain Smith, and Duce Staley all enjoyed productive seasons in the NFL. This draft is also well known for its undrafted Pro Bowl players, including Jake Delhomme, Priest Holmes, and Pat Williams.


title: 1997 NFL Draft

text: In the explanations below, (D) denotes trades that took place during the 1994 Draft, while (PD) indicates trades completed pre-draft.


title: Rumelia

text: Rumelia (; ; ), etymologically "Land of the Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite, was the name of a historical region in Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, corresponding to the Balkans. In its wider sense, it was used to refer to all Ottoman possessions and vassals in Europe that would later be geopolitically classified as "the Balkans". During the period of its existence, it was more often known in English as Turkey in Europe.


title: Rumelia

text: "Rûm" in this context means "Greek", or a Christian Greek speaker and "ėli" means "land" and "Rumelia" (, "Rūm-ėli"; Turkish: "Rumeli") means "Land of the Romans" in Ottoman Turkish. It refers to the lands conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, which formerly belonged to the Byzantine Empire, known by its contemporaries as the Roman Empire. Although the term "Byzantine Empire" is used by modern historians, the empire's citizens and emperors called themselves Romans, meaning Christians, more specifically Greek Christians, and embraced a Christian identity. Various languages in the Balkans have long used the descriptor "Roman" to refer to the lands of the former Byzantine Empire. Indeed, today the term survives in the region as ; ; , "Rumeliya"; , "Romylía", or Ρούμελη, "Roúmeli"; Macedonian; and , "Rumelija". The old Latin documents in Genoa use the term "Romania", the common name for the Byzantine Empire during the Middle Ages.


title: Rumelia

text: Originally, the Seljuks used the name "Land of the Rûm" (Romans) to define Anatolia, which the armies of the Seljuk Empire gradually conquered from the Byzantine Empire after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate was called the Sultanate of Rum by its contemporaries, meaning the "Sultanate of the Roman Empire" or "Roman Sultanate", which mostly covered central Anatolia until the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243. Anatolia was referred to as Land of the Christians, hence Rum. Afterwards, it was replaced by the Anatolian beyliks, among which the Ottoman Beylik rose to prominence in the 14th and 15th centuries and eventually became the Ottoman Empire.


title: Rumelia

text: However, following the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Anatolia and the Balkans in the second half of the 14th century and after the conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453 by Mehmed II, the term "Rumeli" came to apply exclusively to the Balkan region of the Ottoman Empire. The region remained primarily populated by Christians; though gradually, the Albanians, Bosniaks and Pomaks, among others, converted to Islam.


title: Rumelia

text: Rumelia included the provinces of Thrace, Macedonia and Moesia, which are now Bulgaria and Turkish Thrace, bounded to the north by the rivers Sava and Danube, west by the Adriatic coast and south by the Morea. In the beginning the main town was the city of Plovdiv, then Sofia. The name "Rumelia" was ultimately applied to a province composed of central Albania and northwestern Macedonia, with Bitola being the main town.


title: Rumelia

text: Following the administrative reorganization made by the Ottoman government between 1870 and 1875, the name "Rumelia" ceased to correspond to any political division. Eastern Rumelia was constituted as an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Berlin (1878), but on September 6, 1885, after a bloodless revolution, it was united with Bulgaria. The Kosovo Vilayet was created in 1877.


title: Rumelia

text: In Turkey, the word "Trakya" (Thrace) has now mostly replaced "Rumeli" (Rumelia) to refer to the part of Turkey that is in Europe (the provinces of Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, the northern part of Çanakkale Province and the western part of Istanbul Province). However, "Rumelia" remains in use in historical contexts and is still used in the context of the culture of the current Turkish populations of the Balkans and the descendants of Turkish immigrants from the Balkans. The region in Turkey is also referred to as Eastern Thrace, or Turkish Thrace. In Greece, the term () has been used since Ottoman times to refer to Central Greece, especially when it is juxtaposed with the Peloponnese or Morea. The word "Rumeli" is also used in some cases, mostly in Istanbul, to refer exclusively to the part of Istanbul Province that is west of the Bosphorus strait.


title: Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination

text: On July 9, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. When nominated, Kavanaugh was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a position he was appointed to in 2006 by President George W. Bush.


text: The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Kavanaugh and heard witness testimonies concerning his nomination to the Supreme Court over the course of a four-day hearing, September 4–7, 2018. Several days later, it was revealed that psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford had written a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein in July accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault while they were both in high school in 1982. The Committee postponed its vote and invited both Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford to appear at a public Senate hearing. In the interim, two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, accused Kavanaugh of separate past instances of sexual assault.


text: Both Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford testified before the Committee on September 27; the following day the nomination was forwarded to the full Senate on an 11–10 vote. Then, on October 6, 2018, following a supplemental FBI investigation into the allegations, the Senate voted 50–48 to confirm Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.


text: Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, a pivotal "swing" vote on the Supreme Court announced on June 27, 2018, that he would retire at the end of July, after having served on the Court for over 30years. His departure gave President Donald Trump his second opportunity to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court (following the nomination of Neil Gorsuch a year earlier).


text: During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Trump released two lists of potential Supreme Court nominees, along with a supplemental list in November 2017. While responding to reporters' questions following Kennedy's announcement, President Trump said that the vacancy would be filled by "somebody from that list." Those considered front-runners for the nomination by press reports, in addition to Kavanaugh, were: Amy Coney Barrett, Raymond Gruender, Thomas Hardiman, Raymond Kethledge, William H. Pryor Jr. and Amul Thapar. It was reported by Politico that Kennedy had expressed partiality towards Kavanaugh in his conversations with Trump and was more inclined to retire after Kavanaugh's addition to Trump's list.


text: President Trump announced that he would nominate Kavanaugh, then a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9, 2018. Trump's stated reasons for choosing Kavanaugh included his "impeccable credentials, unsurpassed qualifications, and a proven commitment to equal justice under the law", and he went on to emphasize that "what matters is not a judge's political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require."


text: From 1993 to 1994, Kavanaugh had served as a law clerk for Justice Kennedy. His name was not on either of the Trump campaign's pre-election "potential nominees" lists, but was one of those added in November 2017; a decision designed perhaps to make Kennedy more comfortable with retiring.


text: In reference to Kavanaugh's voting alignment if confirmed, FiveThirtyEight used Lee Epstein et al.'s Judicial Common Space scores (which are not based on a judge's behavior, but rather the ideology scores of either home state senators or the appointing president) to find that Kavanaugh would likely be more conservative than justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, but less conservative than Justice Clarence Thomas, if placed on the Supreme Court. Also, a "Washington Post" statistical analysis estimated that the ideologies of most of Trump's announced candidates were "statistically indistinguishable" and placed Kavanaugh between Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito.


text: The American Bar Association (ABA) gave Kavanaugh a unanimous "well qualified" rating for his nomination. However, on October 5, after Kavanaugh was accused of sexual impropriety, the chairman of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary announced that the committee had reopened its evaluation "regarding temperament" and that reassessment and re-vote would not be completed before the Senate vote. Following Kavanaugh's confirmation, the standing committee discontinued the re-evaluation because there is "no process for the evaluation of sitting judges or justices."


text: Senate Republicans leaders expressed support for Kavanaugh's nomination. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated his intent to support the nomination, referring to Kavanaugh as "highly regarded throughout the legal community". Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley also had high praise for Kavanaugh, calling him "one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees to come before the Senate."


text: Stanford Law School professor Nathaniel Persily, a scholar of constitutional law, election law, and the democratic process, responded to the nomination writing that Kavanaugh "is eminently qualified and a very talented jurist." However, he went on to observe, "that is all quite beside the point in today’s political environment. The norms of Supreme Court confirmations have been degrading for some time."


text: Yale Law School professor Akhil Reed Amar, an expert on constitutional law and originalism, whose notable students include Kavanaugh, Chris Coons, and Cory Booker, called the nomination of Kavanaugh Trump's "finest hour, his classiest move". Amar also remarked that Kavanaugh "commands wide and deep respect among scholars, lawyers, and jurists".


text: Robert S. Bennett, an attorney who represented President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal (opposite Kavanaugh, who worked for independent counsel Kenneth Starr), stated that he supported Kavanaugh's confirmation.


text: In their blog, The Libre Initiative, a group funded by Freedom Partners, a nonprofit group backed by the Koch brothers and other conservative donors, encouraged Latinos to support Kavanaugh. The Latino Coalition (TLC), established in 1995 by Hispanic business owners and whose chairman is Hector Barreto, Administrator of the United States Small Business Administration from 2001 to 2006, also supported Kavanaugh.


text: A number of Senate Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, stated their intent to oppose Kavanaugh's confirmation shortly after his nomination was announced.


text: A progressive group, "Demand Justice", pledged $5 million to block the nomination. Demand Justice is a Sixteen Thirty Fund initiative. It purchased ads on Twitter, Facebook, and TV.


text: It was reported by "Vox" that some social conservatives were disappointed that Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh. The American Family Association, a socially conservative organization founded in 1977, immediately called on its members to rally against Kavanaugh. March for Life also expressed concerns that Kavanaugh's leadership bore similarities to that of Vice President Mike Pence, saying that the judge lacked the "backbone" to overturn "Roe v. Wade".


text: An open letter rebuking Yale Law School over a press release celebrating Kavanaugh's nomination was signed by over 600 of its alumni.


text: The American Civil Liberties Union stated that Kavanaugh's record "demonstrates hostility to international law as a constraint on government action as well as an unwillingness to hold the government to account when it violates the constitutional and human rights of U.S. citizens and noncitizens" and that his "approach would give the president exceedingly broad and dangerous powers".


text: A number of progressive groups joined together to launch a campaign known as #WhipTheVote to rally opposition to Kavanaugh's nomination, aimed particularly among moderate and conservative Democrats. "Democratic senators should be united in opposition to Kavanaugh, instead of letting Republican senators ram through the confirmation of a nominee who was selected to protect the president from prosecution,” read a statement from the effort's website. An open letter from Native Americans called upon Senators to closely examine Kavanaugh's record regarding Native peoples, and felt he had failed to acknowledge the sovereignty, natural resources, and history and heritage of native people.


text: Benjamin Wittes, an official at the Brookings Institution and the Hoover Institution and a vocal critic of Donald Trump, initially expressed support for Kavanaugh but said that he would be confirmed "for all the wrong reasons" in an article attacking partisanship surrounding Supreme Court nominations. Wittes withdrew his support after Ford and Kavanaugh's testimony before the Senate, finding Ford "wholly credible" and Kavanaugh's account not credible on his drinking habits, and his performance improper and "unacceptable in a justice."


text: More than 2,400 American law professors signed a letter opposing Kavanaugh's confirmation on the basis of his "intemperate, inflammatory and partial manner" during his congressional testimony, without referencing any of the accusations about his behavior decades earlier.


text: Former Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens, 98 years old at the time, stated on October 4, 2018, that he previously thought Kavanaugh "had the qualifications for the Supreme Court should he be selected," but "his performance in the hearings ultimately changed my mind."


text: Between September 10 and 16, 2018, Kavanaugh had the highest opposition (42%) of any of the eleven Supreme Court nominees Gallup has polled about since Robert Bork in 1987.


text: The interdenominational National Council of Churches, which represents 100,000 congregations and 45 million churchgoers, released a statement on October 3, saying that Kavanaugh "possesses neither the temperament nor the character essential for a member of the highest court in our nation.”


text: On October 4, a "Washington Post" editorial came out opposing Kavanaugh's confirmation, their first opposition to a nominee since Robert Bork, citing his "hyperpartisan rhetoric" that "poisoned any sense that he could serve as an impartial judge."


text: That same day, three of Kavanaugh's Yale "drinking buddies" published an opinion piece opposing his confirmation, asserting he was dishonest in his sworn testimony and in a Fox News interview, without referencing any of the sexual abuse accusations against him.


text: Kavanaugh's nomination was officially submitted to the Senate on July 10, 2018. Immediately afterward, he began preparing for the confirmation hearings to come. White House officials provided him with legal background materials, and Kavanaugh, along with key senators of the Judiciary Committee, hold intensive on the full range of questions that might be asked by Judiciary Committee members. As confirmation hearings approached, Committee members and staff were also busy preparing, closely studying Kavanaugh's public record and investigative information compiled on him. Leonard Leo played a crucial role in orchestrating political and financial support for Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings.


text: Kavanaugh's guide through the confirmation process, informally titled "chief sherpa", was Jon Kyl. Kyl was tasked with creating a smooth path for Kavanaugh by acting as his advance man, media messenger and etiquette advisor. At the time he agreed to be Kavanaugh's guide, Kyl was a former U.S. senator. After Senator John McCain's death on August 25, 2018, the governor of Arizona Doug Ducey named Kyl as McCain's successor. He was sworn in on September 5, 2018, the opening day of the confirmation hearing.


text: Shortly after being nominated, Kavanaugh began making courtesy visits to senators at their Capitol Hill offices. By the first week of August, Kavanaugh had met with 47 senators, all but one of them (Joe Manchin) Republican. According to the Senate Historical Office, this custom was initiated by Supreme Court nominee Harry Blackmun in 1970, and has been an important part of the process since.


text: Senate Democrats initially refused to meet with Kavanaugh, saying that before they did, the Republican leadership needed to agree to make available for their review all documents (perhaps exceeding 1 million pages) pertaining to Kavanaugh's: tenure as White House staff secretary in the George W. Bush Administration, work on the 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida and on Independent Counsel Ken Starr's investigations concerning President Bill Clinton. By mid-August, however, several Democrats had either met with or had scheduled meetings with Kavanaugh.


text: As of August 10, when Judiciary Committee chairman Grassley announced the confirmation hearing start-date, the committee had received more than 184,000 pages of records from Kavanaugh's work as a White House lawyer and his work for Independent Counsel Ken Starr. It had also received documents detailing the 307 cases in which Kavanaugh wrote an opinion as an appeals court judge, the hundreds more opinions he joined, and the more than 17,500 pages of material he provided in response to the committee's bipartisan questionnaire. Subsequently, on September 3, the day before the hearing began, an additional 42,000 pages of documents became available to the committee. Altogether, about 415,000 pages of information had been transmitted to the committee, with about 147,000 of them withheld from public view. Though the Trump Administration had released to the committee the largest number of Executive Branch records ever for the consideration of a Supreme Court nominee, it blocked release of over 101,000 additional pages of records citing executive privilege.


text: The Kavanaugh confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Chuck Grassley, began September 4, 2018, in the Hart Senate Office Building. The hearing quickly became chaotic with protesters and also Senator Kamala Harris interrupting Senator Grassley's opening statement. The hearings were delayed by one hour because of procedural questions by Harris, Cory Booker and others, who called for a delay in the proceedings because of the last-minute release by former president George W. Bush's lawyer of 42,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh's service under then-president Bush. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for a delay prior to the proceedings saying that, "Not a single senator will be able to review these records before tomorrow to delay the proceedings."


text: Once the hearing was underway, the nominee first listened to senators’ opening statements before being formally introduced by the testimony of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senator Rob Portman, and liberal appellate attorney Lisa Blatt. Kavanaugh then read his own statement, in which he praised his parents, his daughters, his favorite sports teams, and professed that "I'm not a pro-prosecution or pro-defense judge. I am a pro-law judge."


text: The Capitol Police reported that 17 protestors were arrested in the first hour of the hearing. Linda Sarsour was one of the first in line for the hearing and was one of the first to be arrested. Ultimately, 70 people were arrested that day. Altogether, at least 227 protestors were arrested over the course of the four-day hearing, with most being charged with disorderly conduct, crowding or obstructing with fines paid between $35 – $50 USD. Senator Orrin Hatch said, "These people are so out of line they shouldn't even be allowed in the doggone room." His statements were echoed by President Trump who expressed concern over "...why don't they take care of a situation like that..." and "I think it's embarrassing for the country to allow protestors, you don't even know which side the protestors were on."


text: The second day of the hearing began with the senators asking direct questions at Kavanaugh about specific incidents, or his personal position on cases or general ideas. Members of the committee were allowed 30 minutes per individual to question the Judge on his record, with key points being his judicial philosophy, "Roe v. Wade", and his role in programs implemented after 9/11 by the Bush administration. Kavanaugh testified that he believed "Roe" was "settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court" and that "Planned Parenthood v. Casey" was "precedent on precedent". He explained that he "did my level best in an emergency posture" when voting to deny a detained teenager an abortion in "Garza v. Hargan".


text: There were several contentious exchanges between Kavanaugh and Democratic senators during the day. During one, Cory Booker implied that Kavanaugh had been open to racial profiling tactics, citing an email exchange between Kavanaugh and a colleague, emails marked "committee confidential," meaning that they could not be discussed publicly. In another, Kamala Harris pointedly asked Kavanaugh if he had ever discussed the Robert Mueller investigation with anybody at the Kasowitz Benson Torres firm, that was founded by Marc Kasowitz, a former personal attorney of President Trump. Kavanaugh was reticent about answering, saying that he would need the names of people who worked there to know if he spoke with anyone about it. Harris repeated her question over and over again as Kavanaugh repeatedly evaded giving a direct answer.


text: Interruptions from protestors continued to be seen in the courtroom, with both Judge Kavanaugh and Senator Grassley and others speaking about the disruptions, with Grassley placing blame on the Democrat Senators. According to Capitol Police officials, 73 protesters were arrested and charged for unlawful demonstrations during the day of the hearing including 66 who were removed from the hearing room.


text: The third day of the hearing saw Kavanaugh answering some questions posed to him by the Committee, but declining to answer others. One such refusal came when he was asked to comment on Senator Richard Blumenthal's concern over President Trump's "blatant, craven and repeated attacks" on the federal judiciary, referring specifically to then-candidate Trump's July 2016 tweet asserting that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had "embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot – resign!"


text: The hearing also saw highly charged arguing between senators about whether key documents were being withheld. Cory Booker released a series of documents containing communications Kavanaugh had made while serving President Bush, including the email regarding racial profiling that Senator Booker referenced on the second day of the hearing. Senator John Cornyn accused Booker of being disruptive because he was "running for president" and threatened him with expulsion from the United States Congress. Booker responded by stating, "I understand the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate", and, viewing the release of emails that were marked confidential as an act of "civil disobedience", defiantly declared that this was his "I am Spartacus moment." Former president Bush's attorney later announced that he had already granted Booker's request to make the documents public the day before, and criticized Booker for "histrionics".


text: On the fourth day, outside witnesses in support or dissent of Judge Kavanaugh being appointed to the Supreme Court gave testimony to the committee on their position. One such invited individual was John Dean, a former Nixon administration White House counsel, who testified against the administration during the Watergate scandal. Senators also heard from a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, the attorney who represented an undocumented teenager whose request for an abortion Kavanaugh was legally involved in, former law clerks, students, representatives of the American Bar Association, former U.S. solicitors general during the G. W. Bush administration and former Boston Marathon running partners.


text: During the confirmation process, Kavanaugh was accused of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford while they were both in high school. Ford's accusations were made public in a "Washington Post" report on September 16, 2018, four days before the Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on whether to send the Kavanaugh nomination to the Senate floor for final consideration. Several senators, including Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham, said the committee should hear from Ford before the vote.


text: Kavanaugh issued a statement on September 17, denying Ford's allegations, saying he has "never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone." In response, Trump expressed his complete confidence in Kavanaugh and stated firmly that he would not withdraw the nomination, though he did acknowledge that there could be a "little delay."


text: On September 17, it was announced that the nomination would not proceed until the Judiciary Committee had interviewed both Ford and Kavanaugh, who were initially scheduled to testify before the Committee on September 24. Ford was given the option of testifying before the Judiciary Committee either in public or in private. On September 20, Ford's lawyers sent a message to the committee stating that Ford was willing to testify, but on a different day. After much back and forth between chairman Grassley and Ford, she agreed to speak to the Judiciary Committee on September 27 about the alleged incident.


text: On September 23, a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault in 1983. Kavanaugh categorically denied the allegations made by Ford and Ramirez. On September 26, Michael Avenatti released a sworn declaration by a third woman, Julie Swetnick, who alleged another incident had occurred.


text: On July 30, 2018, Christine Blasey Ford wrote U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein a letter accusing Kavanaugh of having sexually assaulted her in the 1980s. Ford requested that her allegation be kept confidential. Feinstein did not refer the allegation to the FBI until September 14, 2018, after the Judiciary Committee had completed its hearings on Kavanaugh's nomination and "after leaks to the media about [the Ford allegation] had reached a "fever pitch".


text: On September 16, Ford was revealed by "The Washington Post" to be the author of the allegations against Kavanaugh. In her report to the "Post", Ford stated that in the early 1980s, when she and Kavanaugh were teenagers, Kavanaugh and his classmate Mark Judge "corralled" her in a bedroom at a party in Maryland. According to Ford, Kavanaugh pinned her to the bed, groped her, ground against her, and tried to pull off her clothes and covered her mouth when she tried to scream. Ford said that she was afraid Kavanaugh "might inadvertently kill me" during the attack. She got away when Judge jumped on the bed, knocking them all over.


text: Ford said she later attended couples counseling with her husband where she first talked about the incident in 2012. The therapist's notes from the time, parts of which were released on September 16, 2018, said that she had stated that she was assaulted by students "from an elitist boys' school", who eventually became "highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington", although the notes do not name Kavanaugh. Notes from another session a year later say that Ford had previously described a "rape attempt" while in high school.


text: In August, Ford took a polygraph test with a former FBI agent, who concluded Ford was being truthful when she endorsed a statement summarizing her allegations as accurate.


text: On September 22, it was revealed that Garrett Ventry, who had been assigned by the GOP to promote the media campaign for Kavanaugh's nomination, resigned from his position as a communications aide for the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 21 following revelations of his own sexual harassment allegations from a previous job. Multiple U.S. Senators acquired copies of Judge's books about his time at Georgetown Preparatory School, in order to prepare for questioning of Kavanaugh and Ford before the committee.


text: On September 23, Deborah Ramirez made a second allegation against Kavanaugh relating to sexual assault. The alleged incident occurred in 1983 when Kavanaugh was 18 years old (the U.S. age of majority). Kavanaugh and Ramirez, both freshman students at Yale University, are described as joining a dorm-room party at Lawrance Hall, in Yale's "Old Campus". In "The New Yorker" reporting of her account, an inebriated Kavanaugh "thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away", before pulling his pants back up and laughing at Ramirez. "The New Yorker" also reported that four people that Ramirez had identified as eyewitnesses explicitly denied that Kavanaugh had been involved in the incident (2 male classmates identified by Ramirez, the wife of a third male student, and one other classmate, Dan Murphy) The "New York Times" reported that Ramirez contacted some of her classmates and said she could not be certain Kavanaugh was the one who exposed himself.


text: A third allegation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh was announced by Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for a third woman, on September 23. On September 26, the woman, Julie Swetnick, released a sworn statement alleging that she had witnessed Kavanaugh and Mark Judge trying to get teenage girls "inebriated and disoriented so they could then be gang raped in a side room or bedroom by a 'train' of numerous boys". Swetnick also alleged Kavanaugh and Judge were both present when she was the victim of one such gang rape. Swetnick subsequently walked back the allegations. Swetnick contacted NBC News October 5 and reiterated her denial of ever seeing Kavanaugh spike punch or act inappropriately toward women, and accused Avenatti of twisting her words.


text: Several Democratic senators blamed Avenatti, as the Swetnick accusation "gave Republicans an opportunity to shift the narrative away from Ford's allegations and make a broader case that the growing accusations of sexual misconduct amounted to an orchestrated Democratic smear campaign". Senator Susan Collins, a Republican swing vote, called the Swetnick allegation "outlandish... [without] any credible supporting evidence", and ended up supporting Kavanaugh's nomination. Senator Gary Peters said that Avenatti's allegation "turns it into a circus atmosphere and certainly that's not where we should be", while another Senate aide said that "Democrats and the country would have been better off if Mr. Avenatti spent his time on his Iowa vanity project rather than meddling in Supreme Court fights". Avenatti fired back, criticizing anonymous Democrats as "cowards", arguing that this showed "failed leadership" in the Democratic Party.


text: On October 25, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley referred Avenatti and Swetnick for criminal investigation, claiming they made potentially false statements. Avenatti responded by tweeting that he and his client "welcome[d] the investigation."


text: During the hearings, another accusation of rape surfaced in a letter by "Jane Doe" from Oceanside, California, addressed to Grassley but mailed anonymously to Senator Kamala Harris on September 19. The Senate committee interrogated Kavanaugh about this claim on September 26; Kavanaugh called the accusation "ridiculous".


text: On November 2, 2018, Grassley announced that a woman named Judy Munro-Leighton, from Kentucky, had come forward by e-mail on October 3 as the anonymous accuser, and admitted that her accusations were fabricated. When committee staff managed to talk with her on November 1, Munro-Leighton changed her story, denying that she had penned the anonymous letter while stating that she had contacted Congress as "a ploy" in order to "get attention". She was referred to the Department of Justice and FBI for making false accusations and obstructing justice.


text: During a cabinet meeting regarding the National Council for the American Worker, President Trump commented on the initial sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh for the first time on September 17, 2018, saying, "Judge Kavanaugh is one of the finest people that I've ever known. He's an outstanding intellect, an outstanding judge, respected by everybody. Never had even a little blemish on his record.


text: The FBI has, I think, gone through a process six times with him over the years, where he went to higher and higher positions. He is somebody very special."


text: Patrick J. Smyth, who attended the same school and graduated in 1983 with Kavanaugh released a statement concerning the allegations. "I understand that I have been identified by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as the person she remembers as 'PJ' who supposedly was present at the party she described in her statements to the Washington Post," Smyth says in his statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh." Ford did not actually identify or name Smyth in connection to the party in her public account.


text: On September 20, at a Las Vegas rally, Trump again strongly endorsed Kavanaugh, stating that "Brett Kavanaugh is one of the finest human beings you will ever have the privilege of knowing or meeting." Trump also responded to Democrats' insistence upon an FBI probe by asking why the FBI wasn't notified of the alleged attack, 36 years ago. He added, "So we'll let it play out, and I think everything is going to be just fine. This is a high-quality person." That same day, Politico reported that former Democratic staffer Ricki Seidman is serving as an adviser to Ford; Seidman had previously assisted in prepping Anita Hill in her testimony against Clarence Thomas. Her involvement was criticized by Cassie Smedile, press secretary for the Republican National Committee who stated "If you're concerned about an appearance of partisanship, hiring a Democratic operative with a history of smearing conservative judges doesn't exactly mitigate that." Kavanaugh retained litigator Beth Wilkinson to assist in his preparation. At another rally on October 2, Trump mocked the testimony of Ford, specifically the gaps in her memory about the assault and that her accusation had left a man's life in tatters.


text: A YouGov/"The Economist" poll on September 23–25 found 55% of Republicans thought he should be confirmed even if the allegations of sexual assault were true, compared to 28% of the whole sample and 13% of Democrats.


text: On September 19, Ford's schoolmate Cristina King Miranda stated on a Facebook post that while she did not attend the party where the alleged incident happened, she did hear an incident regarding Ford being discussed at their school. However, in a later interview, she stated "That it happened or not, I have no idea." It was also reported that as a result of the allegations, Trump's daughter Ivanka had told her father she would not support Kavanaugh's nomination.


text: On September 21, actress and author Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald Reagan, wrote an op-ed supporting Ford. Davis writes how she herself was sexually assaulted around 40 years earlier by an unnamed famous music executive, and that she "never told anyone for decades", not even her husband, due to shame over her own inaction to stop the assault. Davis explained the gaps in Ford's memories with her own experience of "how memory works in a traumatic event" – the haunting memory of the actual sexual assault remained with Davis even while the other details of the event were forgotten.


text: On September 24, Yale Law School students staged a sit-in at the law school in protest against the nomination of Kavanaugh, with some professors canceling classes to accommodate the sit-in and not penalize the students.


text: On September 18, 2018, Anita Hill penned an op-ed for "The New York Times" in which she compared her accusations of sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas in 1991 to the accusations against Kavanaugh. In it, she wrote, "That the Senate Judiciary Committee still lacks a protocol for vetting sexual harassment and assault claims that surface during a confirmation hearing suggests that the committee has learned little from the Thomas hearing, much less the more recent #MeToo movement." She advocated for improvements to the ways in which these accusations are handled, and wrote, "The details of what that process would look like should be guided by experts who have devoted their careers to understanding sexual violence. The job of the Senate Judiciary Committee is to serve as fact-finders, to better serve the American public, and the weight of the government should not be used to destroy the lives of witnesses who are called to testify." Senator Orrin Hatch, who had previously spoken out against Hill in 1991 (saying "There are a lot of things that just don't make sense to me about Anita Hill's testimony. Some of it just doesn't square with what I think is basic reality and common sense") also spoke out against Ford in 2018, saying that her recollection of events was "mixed up".


text: On September 20, it was revealed that more than 1,000 alumnae of Ford's high school from between the 1940s and present day had signed a letter in support of Ford's call for a "thorough and independent investigation" before she testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The letter also stated that the school has a long history of similar incidents. These signatories also stated that they were "survivors" who either heard about or experienced sex abuse at the school.


text: The additional hearing on sexual abuse allegations featured just two witnesses: Kavanaugh and Ford, who were separately questioned. Republican members of the committee said they would not question the witnesses directly and instead enlisted Rachel Mitchell, a Phoenix sex crimes prosecutor, to question the witnesses on their behalf. Mitchell questioned Ford in five-minute segments, alternating with five-minute segments from the Democratic members of the committee. Mitchell did not question Kavanaugh, as most of the Republicans took back their time and used it to defend Kavanaugh.


text: The session began with statements by Republican Senator Grassley and Democratic Senator Feinstein. Ford began by describing the events leading up to the incident. She said that she and Kavanaugh had mutual friends while in school, and, in the summer of 1982, she and her friend Leland Keyser wound up attending a small gathering of Kavanaugh's friends, including Mark Judge, Patrick "PJ" Smyth and another boy whose name she did not recall. She stated that Kavanaugh and Judge were visibly drunk when she arrived. During the gathering, Ford said she was pushed into a bedroom by Judge and Kavanaugh before Kavanaugh pinned her down to the bed and aggressively groped and attempted to unclothe her. Ford said she was eventually able to escape and recalled Kavanaugh and Judge laughing as she fled. She stated that she felt ashamed afterwards and kept quiet about the assault until a couples counseling session in 2012. She said the assault had been "seared into my memory and haunted me episodically as an adult" and said that she felt it was her civic duty to testify.


text: Democrats entered into the record thousands of letters of support for Ford from her former classmates, other alumni, colleagues, students, mentors and 50 Yale Law School faculty members. They also noted that Ford passed a polygraph test. Mitchell asked a number of probing questions, including if Ford had anything to drink or was on any medication during the gathering and if she was given tips before taking the polygraph test. She also contrasted Ford's record of flying with her stated fear of flying. In a subsequent memorandum reviewing Ford's allegations that was sent to all members of the Senate Republican Conference, Mitchell stated that she "[did] not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the Committee. Nor do I believe that this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard." In the months following her testimony, Ford was inundated with death threats that forced her to flee her home and made her unable to return to work. She additionally hired private security.


text: Kavanaugh denied the allegations "immediately, categorically and unequivocally." He said that Ford's friend Keyser had no recollection of the incident and to "think about that." However, Keyser stated that she believed Ford's allegation but could not recall the gathering from 36 years prior (Keyser later stated that she no longer believed Ford's account ). Kavanaugh furiously condemned the Democrats for criticizing his record and called the confirmation process a "national disgrace" that had "ruined my good name." He spoke extensively about his schooling, where he "focused on academics and athletics, going to church every Sunday at Little Flower, working on my service projects, and friendship with my fellow classmates and friendship with girls from the local all-girls Catholic schools."


text: Democrats brought up Kavanaugh's high school yearbook page, which boasted of "Keg City Club (Treasurer)—100 Kegs or Bust" and referenced Mark Judge's memoir: "Wasted, Tales of a Gen X Drunk." When asked about his drinking habits by Senator Amy Klobuchar, Kavanaugh said he "liked beer" and asked if she had a drinking problem before denying having one himself. However, two of his Yale classmates told CNN that he did indeed have a drinking problem, with one describing Kavanaugh as a "stumbling drunk." Democrats further questioned Kavanaugh about the terms "boofed" and "devil's triangle" in his yearbook page, which Kavanaugh said referred to flatulence and a drinking game, respectively.


text: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham decried Kavanaugh as a victim of "the most unethical sham" he had seen in his time in politics, claiming that if Kavanaugh was looking for fair process, he had "c[o]me to the wrong town at the wrong time" and comparing Kavanaugh's experience to "hell". A CNN commentator characterized Graham's speech as an "audition" for Attorney General.


text: During the day, an estimated 1,200-plus protesters streamed into Senate office buildings on Capitol Hill, mostly in support of Ford. Afterward, the Judiciary Committee announced that the committee would vote on the nomination the following day, September 28.


text: Following the Judiciary Committee's vote to send the Kavanaugh nomination to the full senate with a "favorable" recommendation, Jeff Flake called for a one-week delay to the vote to allow for a brief FBI investigation into the misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh; he went so far as to say that his floor vote ("yes") would be contingent on such a probe. Several other senators, including Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins along with Democrat Joe Manchin, voiced their support for the proposal. Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the committee, who along with Chris Coons had been advocating for an FBI investigation, supported the proposal, calling it "the best way to ensure a fair process to both Kavanaugh and Ford." In response, the president opened up a "limited" investigation into the accusations.


text: On September 29, it was reported that the FBI was looking into the second allegations and had contacted Ramirez. On September 30, it was confirmed that the FBI had spoken to her. On October 1, "The New York Times" reported that the FBI had communicated with all four people whom the White House had directed it to interview. Other individuals have spoken to the FBI about the case, such as a classmate of Kavanaugh's from Yale, detailing claims of "violent drunken behavior by Kavanaugh in college" and claims that Kavanaugh lied about the extent of his drinking during the hearing.


text: Also on September 29, NBC News reported that the White House had set several strict parameters for the investigation; these included heavy restrictions on investigating Mark Judge (including blocking any access to Judge's employment records) and limiting the investigation to looking into only Ford's and Ramirez's allegations; looking into Swetnick's was blocked. This report led to widespread controversy; Avenatti responded by calling the report "outrageous" and vowing to "take the facts to the American people" if Swetnick was not included in the investigation.


text: In response, the president denied the report, stating "I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion". The White House followed up on this by stating that it was not restricting the investigation but that the investigation should not become a "fishing expedition". However, on September 30, it was confirmed by "The New York Times" that the restrictions were still in effect due to the parameters set by White House counsel Don McGahn. The article also stated that the investigation had been restricted to only 4 individuals that could be interviewed: Judge, Ramirez, Leland Keyser (a friend of Ford's who allegedly also attended the party) and P. J. Smyth (another party attendee). Access was denied to Swetnick and to any of Kavanaugh's classmates who stated that he drank heavily. In response to the reports, on September 30, Feinstein called for the White House and FBI to release the scope of the investigation.


text: On October 1, "The New York Times" reported that the White House had authorized the FBI to expand its investigation and interview "anybody they want within reason". McGahn apparently followed up on this by calling the FBI and stating that the investigation could be expanded. On interviewing Swetnick, Trump stated "It wouldn’t bother me at all. Now I don’t know all three of the accusers. Certainly I imagine they’re going to interview two. The third one I don’t know much about." Despite this, later reports continued stating that the FBI had not contacted many people due to the White House restrictions, including Ford and Kavanaugh themselves.


text: On June 30, 2021, FBI assistant director Jill C. Tyson sent a letter to Democratic senators Chris Coons and Sheldon Whitehouse, in reply to a letter which the two senators had sent the Bureau on August 1, 2019, inquiring about the supplemental background investigation of Kavanaugh. The letter was publicly released by Senator Whitehouse in late July. In it, the Tyson disclosed that the White House Counsel had never granted the Bureau the authority to unilaterally investigate the tips it received without first receiving further approval from the White House Counsel. In the letter, Tyson claimed that the FBI received 4,500 tips through the tip line it established, and that "all relevant tips" were forwarded to the Office of the White House Counsel.


text: Following the letter to Whitehouse and Coons, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Chris Coons, Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono, and Cory Booker requested additional information from FBI Director Christopher Wray on the 2018 supplemental background investigation of Kavanaugh. On July 21, 2021, the senators wrote to Wray: "The admissions in your letter corroborate and explain numerous credible accounts by individuals and firms that they had contacted the FBI with information ‘highly relevant to . . . allegations’ of sexual misconduct by Justice Kavanaugh, only to be ignored." The senators ultimately asked for an explanation as to how the tips were evaluated, what follow-up occurred for this investigation, and why the FBI purposefully did not interview key witnesses.


text: During Kavanaugh's confirmation process the FBI received about 4,500 tips about him, which were referred to the White House. Five years later, the FBI confirmed that it didn't investigate many such tips. When it actually followed up some, the White House curtailed the scope of the investigations. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2022, Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse made these inquiries of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed to that post by Trump in 2017:


text: "As you know, we are now entering the fourth year of a frustrating saga that began with an August 2019 letter from me and Senator Chris Coons, regarding the Kavanaugh supplemental background investigation, and I'd like to try to get that matter wrapped up. First, is it true that after Kavanaugh-related tips were separated from regular tip-line traffic, they were forwarded to White House counsel without investigation?"


text: "I apologize in advance that it has been frustrating for you. We have tried to be clear about our process. So when it comes to the tip line, we wanted to make sure that the White House had all the information we have. So when the hundreds of calls started coming in, we gathered those up, reviewed them, and provided them to the White House."


text: Whitehouse asked: "Without investigation?" After a long pause, Wray answered, "We reviewed them and then provided them to..." Whitehouse interjected: "You reviewed them for purposes of separating them from tip-line traffic, but did not further investigate the ones that related to Kavanaugh, correct?" Wray confirmed that process. Whitehouse asked, "Is it also true that, in that supplemental B.I. (background investigation), the FBI took direction from the White House as to whom the FBI would question, and even what questions the FBI could ask?" Wray confirmed that process.


text: Kavanaugh had Eighty-three ethics complaints brought against him regarding his behavior during those Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Chief Justice John Roberts appointed a special federal panel of judges to investigate them. In December 2018, the panel dismissed all the complaints, calling them "serious" but deciding that lower court judges are without any authority to investigate Supreme Court appointees.


text: The hearings took place within weeks of the 2018 United States elections. They were seen as galvanizing support for Republicans in certain Senate races, a phenomenon that became known as the "Kavanaugh Effect." Republican challengers did manage to unseat some Democratic incumbents, in states that Donald Trump won in 2016.


text: Other researchers have claimed that the effect on the election was overblown, noting that several Democratic incumbent Senators in Trump 2016 states voted against Kavanaugh's confirmation but still won re-election.