LEFTIES ALWAYS WANT TO JAIL ANYONE WHO OPPOSES THEM: ‘Working Washington’ Calls for Prosecution of Amazon.com—for Amazon’s Use of Ordinary Political Tactics. Apparently, not expanding your business because of a threatened tax increase is “political intimidation.” Huh. I wonder what else might count as political intimidation under such an expanded approach?
They’re going to hate the new rules.
CATHY YOUNG: The two faces of #MeToo: justice for Eric Schneiderman & grave overreactions for others.
The latest news from the front lines of #MeToo, the cultural war on sexual abuse that began with the downfall of Hollywood mogul and accused predator Harvey Weinstein last October, is a particularly shocking bombshell: New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a vocal #MeToo supporter who was in the forefront of efforts to bring Weinstein to account, abruptly resigned Monday three hours after the publication of a New Yorker story detailing several women’s claims that he physically and psychologically abused them during intimate relationships.
While Schneiderman denies the allegations, they are backed by some solid corroborative evidence. There are also disturbing overtones of abuse of power, with some of the women saying Schneiderman made references to the authority of his office as an intimidation tactic.
It is a horrifying story, and a stark example of what #MeToo means to most of the movement’s supporters: A powerful abuser, once shielded by his position, finally facing the consequences of his misdeeds.
But the Schneiderman reckoning is only one of several recent #MeToo-related stories in the news. Here are some of the others:
►Richard Ned Lebow, a professor of political theory at King’s College London, was found guilty of making an “offensive and inappropriate” remark by the ethics committee of the International Studies Association and ordered to make an “unequivocal apology” to Merrimack College gender studies professor Simona Sharoni. His offense? When the two shared a crowded elevator at the ISA annual meeting in San Francisco last month, someone asked for the floors to be announced, and Lebow responded by joking, “Ladies’ lingerie” — referencing the old system of floor announcements in department stores.
►Writer Junot Diaz is at the center of a major scandal due to accusations that surfaced at the Sydney Writers’ Festival and were amplified in the social media. Writer Zinzi Clemmons said Diaz “forcibly” kissed her six years ago when he spoke at a workshop she helped organize as a 26-year-old graduate student at Columbia University. (It’s unclear whether she is alleging use of physical force; such language is now routinely used to refer to kissing without explicit permission.) Several other women came forward to say Diaz argued with them in an overly aggressive manner — claims that have oddly Victorian overtones of female frailty. Diaz withdrew from his remaining appearances at the festival and several bookstores are dropping his books.
► According to a New York Times report, the children’s books industry has been reeling from sexual harassment charges against some of the relatively few men in the field — charges that generally involve unwanted but non-coercive advances, badly handled consensual relationships, or inappropriate comments. The print run of one picture book was pulped because the artist, David Diaz, was accused of making unwanted flirtatious remarks to several women at industry events; the publisher is now seeking another illustrator.
Well, blurring the lines gives activists more power. And that’s what activists mostly want.
GOOD THING I DON’T HAVE A PROSTATE: One glass of white wine a day increases risk of prostate cancer.
GLAD SOMEONE NOTICED: Despite the Media, Trump Pulling Down Wins for We the People.
GLAD SOMEONE DOES: Japan Does Energy Math.
ENEMY OF CIVILIZATION: Soros Sole Funder of PAC Targeting Infrequent Voters in Battleground States.
NOT HELPING THE REVOLT OF THE IRANIAN PEOPLE AGAINST THE MAD MULLAHS WASN’T THE WORST THING OBAMA DID, BUT IT WAS UP THERE: White House Examining Plan to Help Iranian People Oppose Regime .
CARRY A BIG STICK: Better to be Feared…
MOREOVER, YOUR TEACHER LIED WHEN SHE TOLD YOU “MOM WILL LOVE IT!”: Your mom lied to you when she said she loved that macaroni art.
TRY FILING THIS WITH YOUR INSURANCE: Liquid chocolate spill turns highway into sticky disaster.
MEH – I READ THE HEMINGWAY BOOK ABOUT THIS KIND OF THING: Fisherman reels in 321-pound marlin too big for his boat.
TEACH WOMEN TO NOT TELL MEN TO RAPE: Woman accused of ordering rape of man in ‘contract’ assault.
ROGER KIMBALL: What Happened To Carter Page?
SURE, WE WANT DIVERSITY, BUT NOT PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT IDEAS: Banner removed after conservative answers race relations prompt.
MARK PENN: Who Is Paying Michael Avenatti? “He wants to make the discussion all about where Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, got his money but, to have clean hands, Avenatti needs to come forward with exactly who is financing his operation, who his sources were for detailed banking information, and whether he really is an attorney solely representing Stormy Daniels or just using her as cover to wage a political operation. From the beginning, this has been fishy.”
AT AMAZON, Spring Deals on Women’s Bras.
WHY IS THE IVY LEAGUE SUCH A CESSPIT OF RACISM? A Black Yale Student Took a Nap in a Dorm Common Room. A White Classmate Called the Cops on Her.
It’s clear that we need to fight inequality by abolishing the Ivy League.
THE ‘SONGBIRD McCAIN’ LIE RESURFACES ON FOX BUSINESS NEWS: “You don’t have to slime someone in order to disagree with him. Not even dying old senators who served and suffered in war. You’re not just insulting a thorn in the GOP’s side, you’re insulting the very service itself. You would think a retired Air Force lieutenant general would know that.”
Read the whole thing.
BUT, BUT . . . STORMY DANIELS!
STEPHANOPOULOS GOTTA STEPHANOPOULOS. Stephanopoulos to Brokaw Accuser: You ‘Angered’ a Colleague I ‘Admired.’
George Stephanopoulos is still working hard to defend powerful men accused of sexually harassing women. The former Bill Clinton operative turned Good Morning America co-host on Thursday interrogated Linda Vester, the woman who accused Brokaw of unwanted sexual advances and groping. Stephanopoulos, who stood by Clinton as numerous women accused him, lectured Vester: “Tom Brokaw is pretty angry.”
He then questioned her honesty in relating the accusations: “[Brokaw] describes you as a colleague who has trouble with the truth. Are you absolutely convinced that everything you remember about that incident, those incidents with Tom Brokaw are what happened?”
Stephanopoulos seriously wondered why Vester didn’t trust NBC to investigate what NBC new about Brokaw.
The guild always protects its own, just as Brokaw and the later Peter Jennings defended Dan Rather in October of 2004. Just think of the media as Democratic operatives* with bylines, and it all makes sense.
* To be fair, Stephanopoulos makes that comparison extremely easy.
BUT OF COURSE: Ivy League senior presents her thesis in bra, underwear to fight ‘oppressive beliefs.’ “Letitia Chai removed all her clothes except for her undergarments during her ‘Acting in Public’ presentation Saturday as a demonstration against her professor, Rebekah Maggor, who questioned Chai’s attire during her talk about refugee relocation, according to The Cornell Daily Sun.”
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