Paul Ryan was clearly too frightened to say anything about the multiple charges of rape and predatory sexual behavior against Señor Trumpanzee but, when he was bashing Michigan Democrat John Conyers-- who had just resigned-- on TV yesterday, you might have expected him to also mention Texas Republican Blake Farenthold-- who r
Sen. (and former comedian) Al Franken was a rising Democratic Party star before sexual harassment allegations brought him down to earth, but was he really ever a progressive hero, asks William Blum at Anti-Empire Report. By William Blum Poor Al,…Read more →
Until this weekend, Blake Farenthold was just another rich right-wing Texas backbencher who's never made a single contribution to anything in Congress. This weekend, news came out that his office paid $84,000 in taxpayer hush fund money to shut up a staffer who he sexually harassed. He was first elected in 2010, a Republican wave elected, against Blue Dog Solomon Ortiz, despite TX-27 then being a 73% district.
Scores of men in mainstream media, including Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Garrison Keillor, and many more, have been fired after being accused of sexual harassment, groping, and sexual assault. [It is hard to know to what extent the accusations are valid or to what extent they may have been exaggerated but, judging by the common response from associates who say "Everyone knew", it appears that most of the accusations are based on fact. [...]
What could I possibly have to say about Matt Lauer? I'm not sure if I ever saw him on TV-- and certainly not on the gossipy morning show he did on NBC. He is accused of sexually assaulting a female staffer in 2014 at the Sochi Winter Games. She complained to H.R. on Monday and he was fired on Tuesday night and by this morning it pushed Señor Trumpanzee's antics out of the top news story slots everywhere-- including on Lauer's own show.
-by Valley GirlI wrote an email to Howie a few days back saying in part "I totally agreed with your tweet. This is what leadership should be about. It seems that they are not willing to name names because it will hurt their own careers. Howie, you have a lot of connections. Is there any way you could winkle this information out of someone? Get them to name even a few names?
Opinion — Childish oversimplification seems to be spreading throughout public discourse. Maybe it’s the character limits on tweets. Maybe it’s the second limits between commercials. Maybe it’s two-party politics. Maybe it’s an excess of information. Maybe it’s presidential example. Maybe it is, in fact, thousands of different things, because the reality is actually very complicated.
Conyers denies the allegations, but other staffers attest to his harassment of women and rewarding them with raises in salary for acquiescence. The $27K settlement was processed through payroll, as if his accuser was a 'temporary employee' to cover up the use of taxpayer funds for this purpose. In March of 2010, Conyers' wife, Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for bribery.
For society, the sexual harassment scandals should be about two things:1- mending the patriarchal environment we live in to change, over the long-term, the way men think they are entitled to behave2- (a corollary)- dealing very harshly with instances of men using power relationships to prey on people dependent on them for careersI used to be an astrologer. I studied it in Amsterdam, took it very seriously.
Opinion — Leeann Tweeden has alleged that Senator Al Franken forcibly kissed her under the guise of rehearsing for their USO tour show in 2006. Sen. Franken was a comedian at the time and headlined the show.
If the story was correctly recounted, and Sen. Franken has not contradicted it, then Tweeden’s story about the forced kiss is classic sexual harassment. Franken used his position in the work environment to force a sexual encounter, albeit in a far less intrusive way than some of the charges against Harvey Weinstein and President Donald Trump.
