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| Kirsten Gillibrand, who introduced the #MeToo Congress Act. |
Not surprisingly, the end-of-the-year political news coverage has been dominated by midterm election predictions. They usually point to the abundance of surveys showing Democrats with a big lead in generic congressional polls. Other pundits predict the public's response to the GOP tax reform law will play a key role in the November results.
But leave it to those pundits to miss what could be the top "x-factor" in the midterms: sexual harassment. Sexual misconduct has already been dubbed the top story for 2017: Complaints against the Department of Justice's handling of many sexual harassment cases is just the latest scandal to arise.
Potential cases could likely hit both the House and Senate throughout 2018. But it's the Senate where the impact is likely to be greatest, and the reason is simple math. The GOP majority in the Senate is already a dramatically low 51-49 margin post Doug Jones' victory in the Alabama special election. Just one lost seat either pulls the Senate into a tie or gives the Republicans some much needed breathing room.
Those 260-plus settlements yet to be unsealed hang like a sword of Damocles over all of Capitol Hill.
Sources say that pressure is leading to a widespread fear factor on Capitol Hill. Dozens of staffers have told CNBC they're starting to make contingency plans in case their elected bosses get ensnared in the next sexual misconduct allegation to go public.
There is no real reason to think that more Republican than Democrat politicians will necessarily be affected by this, after all men are still men despite their political point of view.
However if I were a betting man I would think that the Republicans would probably fear this more than members of the other party, simply because the GOP's attitude toward women is a little more Cro-Magnon and even their propaganda network (Fox News) is rife with allegations of sexual misconduct.
In the end I think this might mean that it benefits the Democrats a little more, but I am absolutely certain that it means we are soon to see a huge influx of female Congresspeople and Senators.
Sex has always been at the forefront of politics. Crossing party lines and affecting both genders negatively. Yes many men are victims.
ReplyDeleteCurrent society no longer shames females as much so the female gender has been empowered and more unafraid of standing up to a male counterpart. Every female regardless of background has been victimized by a man. Every. One. Every man has done something in his life that indicates men still have the dominant role. Every. One.
To turn this around and go forth and create a more functioning work environment,shaming should not exist as it’s hypocritical in nature. People just need to be aware that refusing to accept bad treatment is something one can easily do these days.
I'd like to make a rule right now that what's sauce for the Republicans is sauce for the Democrats. No more of this shit where they pretend that saying they're sorry to their wife and discussing it with their Pastor is equal to a Democrat resigning in disgrace. I can decide at the ballot box whether I want to vote for an incumbent pervert, but for now, they've been elected and sworn in and unless the R's start stepping down, the D's shouldn't either.
ReplyDeleteI agree, also.
DeleteShame the shit out of them all and let the ballot box decide their fate.
That failing, then let the ethics committee vet them out after the election.
That way they all get maximum exposure through the press and let the chips fall.
Popcorn optional.
Two things should come of your idea, 2:52.
DeleteFirst should be due process. I'm afraid some of the naming isn't actually real and is being used to get rid of burrs under the saddle, so to speak. Having said that, there are a lot of them (dems and repubs) that already have enough details to be thrown out or not elected.
Oh. And gender should NOT be a factor. A charge should be a charge. BOTH genders are guilty of this type of action. Not nearly as much for women, but it does happen.
Second, I think the Ethics Committee should be a nonpartisan group of total outsiders for charges of this sort - preferably retired judges who can maintain independence.
Except Franken is already gone.
DeleteFranken can be re-elected. he should have a private investigation onto what he did. i doubt there is much to find there. that woman patted men on the butt. Franken never touched her. it was a joke in poor taste, but nothing compared to trump and moore. yet he a democrat, so he must be hounded out of office. the republicans can stay, no matter what they do.
DeleteOkay, totally off topic but I am laughing my ass off at all of the lower 48 people that think they are dying at 10 degrees above!
ReplyDeleteWe have that today and we call that "a nice warm day" for the end of December but I have friends on the East Coast that didn't go to work today because they weren't willing to go outside at 15 above. When the zombie apocalypse happens these folks are just going to roll over dead in the first minute and not even try...
This is giving me so many laughs today :-)
I'll laugh right along with you.
DeleteToday
Mostly Cloudy
8° -10°
Sat
Mostly Cloudy
-5° -17°
Sun
Sunny
-10° -23°
My weather forecast for NW iowa for the next three days. We have frozen tundra, to be sure. :) Obrien County, iowa from the NW corner of the state go 2 counties East and it's the 2nd county South.
Well you just keep laughing because it has hasn't gotten up to 10 above for a week,that would be warm.
DeleteWhat an idiot.
I lied, fool. It will be 450 below zero. Beat that, fool. Minus 10 is chicken feed, Cluck, cluck.
Delete78, clear and sunny today.
DeleteI went to the gym in t-shirt and shorts.
Noticed my roses are starting to bloom again.
it's below zero here in Wisconsin, too. it doesn't keep us from doing anything. school is canceled when it is so cold it's dangerous. we haven't much snow, just cold. the homeless shelter is turning people way. the cheap motels are booked up. we sometime hit wind chill s of 50-60 below. so yes, we do know about the cold. there is a bridge at the university that has been recorded as the coldest spot in the 48 state. i walked over it that day. should say i ran.
DeleteIt has been awhile since I lived there. But I don't remember anyone not going to work in sub zero temps in Chicago. There was some thick oil for cars sitting outside. Some had block heaters. A lot of road salt rust. Good time for neighborhood bars.
DeleteAhhh the good ole bad days.
haha there might be a job for Sarah now but she'd have to prove she wasn't just a female impersonator.
ReplyDeleteyou can bet at some time she was sexually harrassed, too. she just won't admit it. fake boobs, dressing like a hooker. i'm not saying the way you dress can get you raped. no it doesn't. but she really puts herself out there as this sexy person."look at me!". she sets herself up and she gives a horrible example to other women-just like trump is no role model when he says abstinence. how many women did he have?
DeleteYou can bet there is some old dogs in congress that are scared today.
ReplyDelete"...in case their elected bosses get ensnared in the next sexual misconduct allegation to go public."
DeleteInteresting verbiage.
Trump’s New York Times Interview Is a Portrait of a Man in Cognitive Decline
ReplyDeletehttp://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14516912/donald-trump-new-york-times-michael-schmidt/
Incoherent, authoritarian, uninformed: Trump’s New York Times interview is a scary read
The president of the United States is not well.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/29/16829806/trump-interview-new-york-times
I'm thinking possibly Frontotemporal Lobe Dementia.
Deletehttps://www.alz.org/dementia/fronto-temporal-dementia-ftd-symptoms.asp
It's associated with Alzheimer's and ALS. I believe Trump's Father had Alzheimer's. It's genetic and inherited in about 30%.
Could explain the avoidance of walking up and down stairs, the drinking with both hands like a toddler, the weird handshake. Also the word salad, repetition in both language and gestures.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontotemporal_dementia
What do you want to bet Trump shows signs of at least three?
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-are-frontotemporal-disorders
bvFTD.
DeleteLast onset in his mid 60s, slowly progressing for 10-15 years.
Doesn't like stairs, drinks with two hands, word salad, lack of empathy, decision-making poor to non-existent.
We he starts to snatch food from others, we'll really know.
Leave us not forget wingnuts claim to be the party of family values and are morally rigid and pure than Dems.
ReplyDeleteIf they quit lying about their piosity I would consider giving them a moment's benefit, but it would be a real short moment.
OT?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/busted-the-fbi-just-got-permission-to-search-sheriff-clarkes-emails/
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4340752-Sheriff-Clarke-Affidavit.html
Trump poll doesn’t let Americans express disapproval
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/trump-poll-doesnt-let-americans-express-disapproval/
Take it from a Holocaust survivor's relative on Trump's tweets: This is how fascism comes to America
ReplyDeletehttp://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-trump-anti-muslim-tweets-20171130-story.html
There must be consequences in the partisan crusade against Mueller
ReplyDelete...Yet, now that Mueller is closing in on the White House, the same right-wing figures who zealously defended Starr at every turn have begun to turn on the investigation. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called on him to step down, and Newt Gingrich reneged on his initial praise. Some Trump allies even stooped so low as to attack the entire Federal Bureau of Investigation. Even Donald Trump’s personal lawyer has gotten in on the act.
The difference between how the right is treating Mueller and how it treated Starr makes clear that these attacks are not being made in good faith. Trump’s allies are trying to discredit Mueller to insulate the president from being held accountable for the misconduct Mueller might bring to light.
They’re not angry that Mueller is doing his job badly; they’re afraid he’s doing it too well.
Unable to attack Mueller for anything of substance, Republicans have taken to manufacturing scandals.
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/366701-there-must-be-consequences-in-the-partisan-crusade-against-mueller
still running after Hillary. trying to find something on her. they don't seem to understand there is nothing to find. is she completely innocent? no. but trump is so corrupt that it's starting to ooz all over the country.
Deletehttps://www.amazon.com/Women-Power-Manifesto-Mary-Beard/dp/1631494759
ReplyDelete"<ary Beard addresses in one brave book the misogynists and trolls who mercilessly attack and demean women the world over, including, very often, Mary herself. In Women & Power, she traces the origins of this misogyny to its ancient roots, examining the pitfalls of gender and the ways that history has mistreated strong women since time immemorial. As far back as Homer’s Odyssey, Beard shows, women have been prohibited from leadership roles in civic life, public speech being defined as inherently male. From Medusa to Philomela (whose tongue was cut out), from Hillary Clinton to Elizabeth Warren (who was told to sit down), Beard draws illuminating parallels between our cultural assumptions about women’s relationship to power―and how powerful women provide a necessary example for all women who must resist being vacuumed into a male template. With personal reflections on her own online experiences with sexism, Beard asks: If women aren’t perceived to be within the structure of power, isn’t it power itself we need to redefine? And how many more centuries should we be expected to wait?"
A storm is gathering
ReplyDeleteBy Joe Scarborough December 28 at 7:50 PM
A storm is gathering, and there is every reason to believe that 2018 will be the most consequential political year of our lives.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-storm-is-gathering/2017/12/28/a03dc436-ec01-11e7-b698-91d4e35920a3_story.html
Fuck Gillibrand.
ReplyDeleteI will always remember and never forgive her for being judge, jury and executioner and riding Franken out of D.C. on a rail.
There is nothing she can do to make up for the lynching she incited. She could have been the voice of reason, instead she was busy passing out torches and pitchforks.
Fuck her.
Yes to this 100% agree with you! Why would we force him out when we haven’t proven a thing against him? If people like Gillibrand think every other democrat in congress never smacked or squeezed an ass, then she’s just a fucking moron. There is no equivalence between Franken allegedly copping a feel, and Roy Moore allegedly shoving an unwilling teenager’s head into his crotch for a forced BJ. I can’t wait to see the halls of congress emptied out due to the rigid pitchfork brigade.
DeleteMaybe next time Gillibrand and company will wait until claims can be investigated, and maybe even just, oh here’s an idea...let the voters decide?
new women in congress. as it should be. women have the ablitity to get things done, and will take of people who need help. the old white republians, so arrogant, are in for a shock. who do they think are keeping them in congress-trump? no. the people who vote. and the American are getting very pissed off.
ReplyDeleteit's not so much sex, it is power. i can do what i want, and she can't stop me. with women gaining control now, we'll she women do this as well. no one in politics seems to learn from the mistakes of others. as of a few days ago, moore was still screaming for a recount, even though it was obivious he lost.
ReplyDelete