WELL, THIS KILLS THE NARRATIVE: California mass shooter made his own rifles.
Archive for 2017
November 16, 2017
OUT OF CONTROL: Multiple women accuse former President George HW Bush of inappropriate grabbing.
I think we’re still about a week from the “if this is so common, maybe it’s not so bad” thinkpiece.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Student sues UC San Diego for injuries in anti-Trump election night protest shutting down freeway, claiming university ‘organized’ it. “The claim that university organized the protests is explosive. In order to prove it, plaintiff’s attorneys will subpoena university documents that could prove highly embarrassing or worse. A public university has no justification for organizing a protest against any politician.”
Well, if UCSD actually did organize a partisan political protest, shouldn’t it lose its nonprofit status?
A GOOD GUY WITH A GUN: ‘Hero’ pulls gun to stop woman from being raped on Austin trail. “An Austin man takes his weekly trail run armed with a flashlight, cell phone — and a handgun tucked in a Velcro belt. Last month he pulled out the weapon to help rescue a woman who was being sexually assaulted.”
TWEET OF THE DAY:
WELL, VALERIE JARRETT GAVE PERMISSION: Two prominent Minnesota Democrats call on Al Franken to resign.
A NEW BLOG BY LAW PROFESSORS: Law And Political Economy. This doesn’t really sound like the fresh new approach being promised, though: “The approach we call law and political economy is rooted in a commitment to a more egalitarian and democratic society. Scholars working in this vein are seeking to reconnect political conversations about the economic order with questions of dignity, belonging, or ‘recognition’ and to challenge versions of ‘freedom’ or ‘rights’ that ignore or downplay social and economic power.”
AL FRANKEN IS JUST THE BEGINNING:
Consider Joe Biden. A few short weeks ago, the former senator and vice president seemed like he would be a leading contender to win the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 and then the favorite to challenge President Trump’s bid for re-election. But now? Biden’s polling may look good, but he has a history of wandering hands that is simply incompatible with the new normal. He’s a political dead man.
Now think of all the pages and interns and young staffers cycling through all of those offices on Capitol Hill, year after year, decade after decade. And the countless thousands of staffers who’ve passed through the White House and executive branch departments and agencies across Democratic and Republican administrations. And all the Supreme Court clerks and assistants. How long until one of these pages or interns or staffers or clerks or assistants, or dozens of them, or hundreds of them, begin to talk and make credible accusations against leading public figures of both parties?
How many unwanted advances, kisses, gropes, coerced sex acts, and other forms of harassment, abuse, and assault are we likely to learn about?
I suspect far more than any of us can imagine.
Already we know that the House has paid out $15 million over the last 10-15 years to settle sexual harassment allegations. And that is surely just the beginning.
The reckoning is coming. Washington is going to weather an absolute hurricane of sexual abuse allegations and revelations.
In his twitter thread last month on Harvey Weinstein’s career demise, Brian Cates wrote, “What took out Ailes/O’Reilly was so many women coming forward at once. The usual playbook of legal threats/buying them off didn’t work. Watching Ailes & then O’Reilly being suddenly toppled, it COULD be some women in Hollywood realized there was hope.” That could be the key to the coming “reckoning” that Damon Linker predicts at The Week, plus the boost they’ll get from the left as battlefield prep. As Allahpundit wrote in his post at Hot Air on Franken’ accuser not calling for him to step down, “Whatever happens to Franken, between the left’s reawakening to the allegations against Bill Clinton and the certainty that more big-name Democrats will be accused of sexual misconduct before 2020, it’s a cinch that a woman will be on the party’s next presidential ticket. Ironclad guarantee.”
PORTLANDIA LIVES UP TO PARODY: “Oregon is facing an epidemic of alcohol and drug abuse, according to a new report released by the Oregon Substance Abuse Disorder Research Committee. The report found that one out of every 10 Oregonians struggles with drugs or alcohol and that addiction costs the state about $6 billion a year in everything from policing to health care…The Portland City Club commissioned the report. But the club decided against releasing it because of the all-white composition of the committee.”
Just think of the media as Democratic operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.™
EVERYTHING IS PROCEEDING ACCORDING TO PLAN: Tighter Gun Laws Will Leave Libertarians Better-Armed Than Everybody Else.
FRANKEN ACCUSER: I’m not calling for him to step down.
Does this save him? If his own victim isn’t willing to call what he did a firing offense, Senate Dems could hide behind that as a reason to give him a second chance — if no one else accuses him of sexual misconduct. But what if someone does? Watch the clip and you’ll see Leeann Tweeden note that she’s already received a phone call from a woman claiming that something similar happened between her and Franken.
He’s all broken up about it, apparently. And by “it,” I of course mean getting caught.
AND THE HITS KEEP COMING: Sylvester Stallone Accused of Forcing 16-year-old into Threesome.
In the words of Mary Katharine Ham, “We’re gonna need a total and complete shutdown until we can figure out what the hell is going on.”
QUALITY SOFA TIME: 5 Highly Addictive Netflix Shows to Binge Right Now.
WHEN YOU’VE LOST CHRIS CILLIZZA… Al Franken’s absolutely awful apology.
VICTIM SHAMING? MSNBC’S KASIE HUNT: FRANKEN’S ACTION ‘NOT ACTUALLY GROPING.’
Question: Will anyone at MSNBC or NBC News interview the man who gave Franken his start in show business and employed him for decades? He should be easy enough for them to find – since he’s still an NBC employee.
Related: Matthew Dowd, ABC’s Chief Political Analyst, tweets, “This is a man. Al Franken blames himself. Roy Moore and Donald Trump blame the women. That is a huge difference,” adding, “This is the statement of a man. A man who has the courage to admit his own mistakes and want to do better. Why can’t Roy Moore be a man?”
In contrast, the head of the former Obama administration lights the Bat-Signal that it’s OK to push Franken out of his (safely Democratic) Senate seat:
REVIEW: 2018 Ford Mustang.
AT AMAZON, save in Storage and Home Organization.
Plus, deals on DVDs.
SLATE: Al Franken Should Resign Immediately: Democrats’ credibility on sexual harassment is at stake.
The hypocrisy of Franken’s reaction is galling. Following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the senator wrote an impassioned Facebook post declaring that sexual harassment is “appalling” and “far too common.” He added that it “takes a lot of courage to come forward, and we owe them our thanks.” Franken then praised Gretchen Carlson for writing about “the disappointing responses women often face when they go public both embolden harassers and encourage victims to stay silent.”
Now Franken has issued the exact kind of “disappointing response” that Carlson bemoaned, attempting to dismiss the accusation against him as a botched joke that his victim misremembered. Is anyone surprised? Yet another self-proclaimed defender of women’s rights has revealed himself to be a misogynistic fraud. Franken’s ardent promotion of gender equality on the Senate floor is rendered meaningless in the face of his disgusting conduct.
You should be suspicious of all men who engage in “ardent promotion of gender equality” in public settings.
UPDATE: Melanie Morgan: After TV appearance, Al Franken harassed me too.