Why ‘New York Times’ Kavanaugh Report Was ‘Nothing Less Than Journalistic Criminal Negligence’

Over the weekend, The New York Times published a report from an excerpt of a soon-to-be-released book on the Kavanaugh hearings. The piece alleged that at a party, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to a fellow student in a lewd act. Further, the Times made the charge that the woman in question’s identity was presented to the FBI for an interview at the time of the Supreme Court hearings. They failed to follow up. Therefore, the entire confirmation hearings of Judge Kavanaugh were in question.

The internet exploded with immediate calls from presidential candidates for Kavanaugh’s impeachment. Due process was not only denied, it was not even considered. Later, after the damage was done, The New York Times amended the report to include the fact that the alleged victim did not want to be interviewed and did not remember the incident. Four of the corroborating witnesses listed stated that the party never occurred.

The Times pulled rumors out of the ether of innuendo and presented them as conclusions of fact claiming professional investigative reporting. Nothing could be further from the truth. The article was a hit piece of nothing less than journalistic criminal negligence. The omission of all the facts was not an accident. It was an overt effort to fan the political flames of national division without consideration for the ultimate harm caused to the Kavanaugh family or the trust of the American people in the American system of government.

The political process in the United States today resembles the uncontrolled burn of a California wildfire. It is out of control, unchecked by fire breaks of morality and fueled by the temptation to pursue personal agendas.

Temptation is the allurement of an individual, through personal human emotion, to fill a need. Often, temptation preys on an individual’s weakness in an area where one has a tendency for dependence and, therefore, a need of help. Each of us has different strengths and weaknesses and, therefore, different needs resulting in unique temptations.

Temptation is not just from drugs or alcohol. There can also be a temptation for power. And a common temptation of the people collectively is to seek security, even at the cost of giving up freedom. Sometimes the mainspring of these two temptations, power and security, are wound together, feeding off the need of the other.

Christians believe that the world fell into sin as the result of Adam and Eve partaking of the forbidden fruit. Eden was paradise. Incumbent in God’s perfect creation was free will. Free will necessitates making choices. An eternal conflict of free will is concentrating on one’s self-interest rather than the greater cause. Righteous and unrighteous choices have consequences. Righteousness is defined by the obedience to the brotherhood of principles that bind us in unified purpose (doing the right thing). Oswald Chambers defined temptation as a “shortcut to the realization of the highest” at which one aims, not toward what one understands as evil, but toward what one understands as good. When confused, trust God’s laws, not oneself.

Adam and Eve’s collaborative decision to eat the forbidden fruit was the first act of self-government in defiance of God’s laws.

Atheists put their faith in a universe of undefined beginnings and a human existence of accidental circumstances. In this world view, righteousness is not based on eternal principles, but the collective intellect of mankind. They fail miserably to explain how human intelligence naturally evolved into a code of purposeful morality. Without defined and accepted absolutes of righteous behavior, political fires have no natural breaks to impede or stop their total consumption of the landscape in this system of things. No principle, therefore, is safe from unchecked political fires.

If power is the objective, then appealing to the weaknesses of those who are tempted to accept government programs to ensure their security means more government control becomes the essence of policy proposals. The definition of choice becomes obscure. Progressives argue for absolute choice on the issue of abortion. Yet they deny choice is important in health care. There is no successful major national health care program in the world today that does not have a component of choice for private sector health insurance. Not Sweden. Not Norway. Not Great Britain. And certainly not Canada.

About 80% of all Americans are satisfied with their personal health insurance, and 50% of Democrats oppose socialized medicine. Yet the debate drones on about the need for a total government-run health care system. Why? Because it is a tempting proposal to those who are most fearful of losing their health care.

In their own conundrum, Republicans are no better. Universal background checks for the purchase of guns makes sense. About 88% percent of the American public agree with background checks. Not taking the first step to check the transfer of guns at gun shows is a lack of will in leadership. And, passing a budget with a structural deficit of $1.1 trillion, bringing the projected accumulated debt of the country to in excess of $22 trillion, without explanation of a national emergency, is unacceptable. The people have a right to know and an ability to accept the financial forecast of the security of the United States. How can the public make the right choices without all the information?

The dollar is the world’s currency. America’s excess borrowing drives up the cost of capital to our trading partners who depend upon America for financial stability.

Where is the accountability of our leaders?

In the course of human history, in times of crisis, a strong leader has risen. No benevolent man or woman ever rose to fight for righteousness without faith in God as a foundation. Tyrants without faith have risen and the results have been human tragedy. Stalin and Hitler sought to change the course of their nations and cultures. But their causes were not righteous for all concerned. Society paid the price.

Past benevolent leaders sought courses of action based on a cause greater than themselves. They resisted the temptation of the desires of their own self-interest for the cause of the greater order.

Whether Christian, of another faith or atheist, one must acknowledge that temptation has existed since the beginning of the dawn of mankind. It is natural for a person to yield to the temptations of their desires without cogitation on the needs of others.

In summary, history reveals that temptation has always existed. It is natural for mankind to struggle with the choices presented by temptation. Without recognition and obedience to eternal rules of morality, political fires of society will burn out of control. Such unchecked and unbound political fires can destroy America.

Society depends upon leaders who have the courage to bear the burden of righteous choices necessary for the true egalitarianism of government policy.

About 60% of the American public believes in praying to God. About 70% profess Christianity as their faith. Since Jesus Christ and the epistles of the apostle Paul, Christians have been directed to pray for their leaders to make the right choices. They should do so today.

Atheists can point to no historical or empirical data that the accidental beginning of life or the random nature of human existence has ever spontaneously presented benevolent leadership. Those who put their faith in government and believe in the collaborative nature of mankind to define the rules and morality of society are frustrated in an unrealized hope.

Without universal absolutes of morality to guide us in righteous choices, the underbrush of the political wildfire intensifies, feeding a fire without natural fire breaks. Unchecked, the political fire will eclipse the hope for freedom and the process that maintains liberty.

I pray for the liberty and freedom of all Americans, Christian or non-Christian.

By my faith, I pray that moral leadership will rise.

My name is Marc Nuttle, and this is what I believe.

What do you believe? {eoa}

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