How the take down of Al Franken was orchestrated by the Right Wing and supported by Russian Twitter bots.

Courtesy of Newsweek:

While everyone has been focused on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to support Donald Trump, the Franken take-down originated in—and was propelled by—a strategic online campaign with digital tentacles reaching to, of all places, Japan. Analysts have now mapped out how the initial accusation against Franken by Hooters pinup girl and lad-mag model Leeann Tweeden was turned into effective propaganda after first being hinted at by right wing black ops master Roger Stone.

A pair of Japan-based websites, created the day before Tweeden came forward, and a swarm of related Twitter bots made the Tweeden story go viral—and then weaponized a liberal writer's criticism of Franken. The bot army, in tandem with prominent real live human right-wingers with Twitter followers in the millions, such as Mike Cernovich, spewed thousands of posts, helping the #frankenfondles hashtag and the "Franken is a groper" meme effectively silence the testimonies of eight former female staffers who defended the Minnesota Democrat before he resigned last year. 

The operation commenced on November 15, when Roger Stone— who is now banned from Twitter for racism and profanity—tweeted from one of his accounts “Roger Stone says it’s Al Franken’s ‘time in the barrel.’ Franken next in long list of Democrats accused of ‘grabby’ behavior.” 

On the same day, a web domain called realusa.site was registered in Japan by a developer named Atsufumi Otsuka. A fake-news website was then established at that web address, and then a second one was created a few days later, according to research shared with the voting rights research outfit Unhack the Vote. 

Tweeden’s account of being groped by Franken was first amplified by a network of right wing media, including KABC in Los Angeles, where Tweeden has a radio show, The Hill, Infowars and Breitbart, which mobilized within hours of Stone's tweet and the release of a picture of a Tweeden and Franken clowning around at a USO performance before he was a senator.

By November 17, the trending of “Al Franken” was officially also a Russia Intelligence operation, according to the Alliance for Securing Democracy, an organization tracking Russian social media accounts, based on a sample taken that day of 600 of the fake accounts.

There is apparently a sophisticated botnet called "The Voty botnet" that was instrumental in pushing a story by a liberal writer called “Dear Al Franken, I’ll Miss You But You Can’t Matter Anymore” out to millions of people.

That article provided legitimacy for actual liberals to pile on Al Franken as well, and before you knew it Democrats like Kirsten Gillibrand were calling for his resignation. 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

And this serves as yet another reminder that it is not only the Right Wing who can be manipulated by Russian tactics online, but also seemingly intelligent liberals.

We have to examine literally every bit of information we see to discover its roots, and to determine if it is indeed accurate, before we accept it as fact.

This puts a huge burden on each of us, but right now this is essentially our only defense against allowing ourselves to be used to spread and weaponize misinformation.

In the wake of the government shutdown Trump campaign releases ad which accuses Democrats of being complicit with murderers. Because you know, that's helpful.

Courtesy of TPM: 

The Trump campaign on Saturday released a new campaign ad calling congressional Democrats “complicit” in all murders committed by undocumented immigrants. The spot seems unlikely to ease tensions on Capitol Hill as the Senate tries to negotiate a compromise on the fate of the 700,000 immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children in order to reopen the shuttered federal government. 

“Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants,” a narrator says, as images of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) appear on the screen. 

The 30-second ad blames Democrats for endorsing these acts of “pure evil” by refusing to allow President Donald Trump to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

WTF? No, seriously WTF?

How is there any hope of negotiating a deal to keep the government working when you accuse one side of supporting murder?

By the way in 2017 there were 15,582 gun related deaths in this country.

Many of which may have been prevented with stronger background checks, and stricter gun laws.

Does this mean the party of the NRA, you know the Republicans, are complicit in all of those murders, suicides, and accidental shootings?

Because you know if we're going to start pointing fingers.

Majority of Americans believe that Donald Trump should resign over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Courtesy of Public Policy Polling:

PPP’s newest national poll finds that a majority of voters think Donald Trump should resign from the Presidency because of the allegations of sexual harassment against him. 53% think Trump should step down to just 42% who think he should remain in office. 53% of voters believe the women who have accused Trump of harassment, to 31% who think they aren’t telling the truth.

The pressure is building from all sides and it does not seen viable at this point that Trump will serve out his entire four years.

Personally I do not care how Trump is removed from office, whether it be due to the Mueller investigation, or due to these allegations of sexual harassment and assault, just so long as he is removed from office.

One of the guys behind "pizza-gate" tries to accuse Senator Chuck Schumer of sexual misconduct using a forged document.

Wait, what did they day I did?

Courtesy of he Daily Beast:  

A forged document accusing the top Democrat in the Senate of sexual harassment copied language verbatim from a real sexual-harassment complaint filed against Rep. John Conyers. 

On Tuesday afternoon, right-wing social media personalities Charles Johnson and Mike Cernovich boasted of obtaining a document that would put a senator out of a job. 

“Michael Cernovich & I are going to end the career of a U.S. Senator,” Johnson posted on Facebook on Monday. 

The senator was Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York, Axios first reported. 

But the document was fake. A copy of the document, obtained by The Daily Beast, purports to be draft lawsuit complaint against Schumer by a former staffer. It accuses him of sexual harassment. Schumer’s office told The Daily Beast the document and her signature are forgeries. Schumer’s office said the senator was not in Washington, D.C. or the United States during several dates in the document when he is said to have harassed the staffer. 

“The document is a forged document and every allegation is false,” Schumer spokesperson Matt House told The Daily Beast. “We have turned it over to the Capitol Police and asked them to investigate and pursue criminal charges because it is clear the law has been broken. We believe the individual responsible for forging the document should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent other malicious actors from doing the same.” 

The former staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the document was a forgery.

This Mike Cernovich guy is the same asshole who claimed that coded messages in John Podesta's hacked emails showed that Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats were involved in a child sex ring in a DC pizza joint.

Currently Cernovich is trying to save face by claiming that he was duped by whoever was shopping this around, but the forgery should have been fairly obvious to anybody who was utilizing critical thinking skills.

The genius who forged the sexual-harassment complaint against Chuck Schumer literally copied-and-pasted from John Conyers complaint https://t.co/1HlHd8xdQS pic.twitter.com/2KhiAEgu4E

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) December 13, 2017

Look we need to listen to women reporting on sexual harassment, even if the person being accused is one of our guys, or even a personal hero.

However we also have to maintain a certain amount of healthy skepticism because this #MeToo movement is a powerful tool, and clearly folks with a partisan agenda can use it to attack and even defeat those who they perceive as enemies of their cause.

And by the way this goes for both sides.

Even if we REALLY want to believe that somebody we dislike did something terrible, we still need to pay attention to the evidence and let THAT dictate their guilt or innocence.

Kentucky state representative commits suicide after denying allegations that he sexually molested a 17 year old girl.

Courtesy of WDRB: 

Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson, who was under investigation for alleged sexual molestation, died of a "probable suicide," the Bullitt County coroner said Wednesday night. 

Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell said Johnson drove onto the bridge over the Salt River on Greenwell Ford Road in Mt. Washington, parked on the north side of it and shot himself in front of his car. His body was found on the bank of the river, just past the bridge. 

Just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson posted the following message on his Facebook page: 

"The accusations from NPR are false GOD and only GOD knows the truth, nothing is the way they make it out to be. AMERICA will not survive this type of judge and jury fake news . Conservatives take a stand. I LOVE GOD and I LOVE MY WIFE, who is the best WIFE in the world,My Love Forever ! My Mom and Dad my FAMILY and all five of my kids and Nine grandchildren two in tummies and many more to come each of you or a total gift from GOD stay strong, REBECCA needs YOU . 9-11-2001 NYC/WTC, PTSD 24/7 16 years is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. IT Has Won This Life . BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME. “PLEASE LISTEN CLOSELY, Only Three things I ask of you to do,if you love me is (1)blame no person,Satan is the accuser, so blame the Devil himself. (2) Forgive and Love everyone especially yourself .(3)most importantly LOVE GOD. P.S. I LOVE MY FRIENDS YOU ARE FAMILY ! GOD LOVES ALL PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT !"

The coroner said police were alerted after someone saw that Facebook post by Johnson. Officers then pinged Johnson's phone and found his body.

Johnson was found dead of a bullet wound, and it appears that his Facebook post is a suicide note, so I do not think that the word "probable" is especially necessary in this case. 

Johnson, who called himself the "Pope," was known to post racist images of President Obama and his family on Facebook, and he originally addressed these allegations by denying them and then busting out a Christmas carol.

It's official, Senator Al Franken is resigning. Update!

"For a decade now, every time I would get tired or discouraged or frustrated, I would think about the people I was doing this for, and it would get me back up on my feet... I would do it all over again in a heartbeat." pic.twitter.com/wEI4EkMQ9s

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 7, 2017

Courtesy of TPM:

After eight women came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment over the past few weeks, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) took to the Senate floor Thursday morning announcing his resignation from his Senate in the “coming weeks.” 

“Serving in the United States Senate has been the honor of my life,” Franken said, choking up as he read his remarks, and vowing to stay active in public life. “I may be resigning my seat, but I’m not giving up my voice.” 

With his staff lining the wall of the Senate chamber, waving at him in support, and several of his Democratic colleagues watching his remarks with grim expressions, Franken noted that “all women deserve to be heard and their experiences taken seriously,” but claimed that “many” of the allegations against him are false. 

“I know who I really am,” Franken declared. 

In a brief speech that swung between contrition and frustration, the Minnesota senator noted bitterly that accused abusers in the Republican Party, including Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore and President Trump himself, have yet to pay a political price. 

“I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party,” Franken said, seconds after announcing his resignation.

I am heartbroken about this.

Even though I recognize that there really is no choice here. 

Update; The most important part of Al Franken's resignation speech.

"There is some irony in the fact that I am leaving" while Trump sits in oval office, and Roy Moore has support of GOP - Sen. Al Franken resigning from office pic.twitter.com/1YHkMc7veU

— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) December 7, 2017

Rep. John Conyers announces he will not seek reelection amid allegations of sexual harassment.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Representative John Conyers Jr., who faces allegations that he sexually harassed former employees, announced Tuesday that he will leave Congress immediately, and he endorsed his son, John Conyers III, to replace him. 

Mr. Conyers, the longest-serving current member of the House and the longest-serving African-American in history, called into a local radio show on Tuesday to announce, “I am retiring today.” 

“I am in the process of putting together my retirement plans. I will have more about that very soon,” Mr. Conyers said from a hospital in Michigan. 

He continued to deny that he had harassed any of his former employees and said he did not know where the allegations came from. 

“My legacy can’t be compromised or diminished in any way by what we are going through now,” Mr. Conyers said. “This too shall pass. My legacy will continue through my children.”

Rep. Conyers had a long and illustrious career in Congress much of it involved in fighting for civil rights. 

However there are multiple accusations, and even though Conyers is still denying them, this is undoubtedly the best decision for him to make.

In the meantime Rep. Blake Farenthold says he will pay back the $84,000 of taxpayer money that was used to settle his sexual harassment case, but has no plans to leave Congress.

And that is even after the woman he harassed went on television to say that after the settlement she was blackballed, is now able to find only part time work, and has been reduced to babysitting for extra cash.

Let's also not forget that Roy Moore has now been endorsed by both the GOP and Donald Trump, and that Trump still occupies the White House.

See anything wrong with this picture?

Bristol Palin's ghostwriter attempts to jump on the #MeToo train, misses and rolls into a ditch of stupidity instead.

The #MeToo campaign has taken down predators from both the Right and the Left, from both Hollywood and Washington DC, and both famous and infamous journalists as well.

However while Sarah Palin has been all too willing to jump onto stories about liberal Hollywood or media figures, she has been largely silent when it came to allegations concerning predators on the Right.

Now yesterday we had her ghostwriting stand in for Bristol attempt to attract a little of that sweet #MeToo attention their way by writing up a sad little blog post suggesting that the Palin family has also been the longtime victims of sexual harassment.

This of course is nothing new as the Palin family has been blowing their rape whistles virtually from the moment that they burst onto the scene.

Bristol even had a book written for her that suggested Levi raped her in a tent. (I actually asked him about that directly, and let's just say her version in no way matches what really took place.)

In that post yesterday Bristol's paid ghostwriter went to some rather amazing lengths to prove that the Palins are long suffering victims.

For instance she wrote that this comment by Chris Wallace, in which he was asked by Don Imus if Sarah Palin would be sitting on this lap during their first interview, was an example of sexual harassment. As you can see Wallace was called out for making a somewhat sexist remark by other Fox New hosts, and of course the interview that took place was purely professional, so to use this as an example of sexual harassment seems incredibly weak.

The Bristol ghostwriter then goes on to use the Letterman joke as a further example.

The actual joke, if you remember, was "Sarah Palin went to a Yankees game yesterday. There was one awkward moment during the seven minute stretch when her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

Of course Dave thought that the daughter she brought was the previously pregnant Bristol, and not Willow who was actually accompanying her mother and father to New York.

The joke may have been in poor taste (Made me laugh however.), but it was not a pro-rape joke which was the accusation made by the Palin family.

The next examples are Azeala Banks, who made some rather indefensible remarks about black men "running a train" on Sarah, and Mike Tyson suggesting that she needed a black man like Dennis Rodman to "push her guts up into her head," after learning that she had bedded the very gentlemanly Glen Rice.

Now yes it could be argued that these are tasteless comments, but this ghostwriter needs to remember that tasteless comments are constantly being made about public figures, and since they were not made directly to her that it is still a stretch to think of them as the same type of sexual harassment suffered by the victims of Matt Lauer, Bill O'Reilly, or Roy Moore.

However it is the last example that is truly remarkable in it tone deafness.

In this example Bristol's ghostwriter feigns outrage over the fact that former Fox and Friends couch warmer, Alisyn Camerota, asked Palin if she had had breast surgery after this photo started making the rounds.

 Since everybody by this time had come to realize that Palin was essentially flat as a board up on top, as illustrated by this photo,...

...this was not really such an outlandish question.

After all Palin had clearly wanted to draw attention to her chest which is why she wore what we now suspect was a water bra, with a tight white top.

And then when somebody noticed, and asked her about it, they are suddenly sexually harassing her?

At the end of this pathetic post the ghostwriter suggests that there is a double standard, and that liberal women's accusations are taken more seriously than those made by conservative women.

To that I would respond with the fact that the Roy Moore accusers have stated that they are lifelong conservatives, and some even admitted to voting for Trump. (Al Franken accuser Leann Tweeden has also been identified as a conservative.)

No this is NOT a partisan issue, and all accusers should be treated equally.

However if they, like Bristol's ghostwriter, are going to try and compare the terrible experiences of those who have suffered actual trauma to incidences like those listed above, they are likely going to find that they are laughed at and dismissed as simple attention seekers.

Garrison Keillor fired for "improper behavior." Aww, come on!

Courtesy of USA Today: 

Garrison Keillor, the former host of “A Prairie Home Companion,” says he’s been fired by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of improper behavior. 

Keillor told The Associated Press of his firing in an email. In a follow-up statement, he says he was fired over “a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard.” 

He didn’t give details of the allegation. Minnesota Public Radio didn’t immediately respond to messages.

For his part Keillor had this to say: 

“I put my hand on a woman’s bare back. I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.””

When all is said and done there will not be a male hero left standing.

I want justice for women, I truly do, but I just want to make sure that people are losing their jobs for truly egregious actions, and not simply for staring too long at a bosom, or accidentally brushing a buttocks.

Senator Al Franken issued a Thanksgiving apology in the wake of new allegations.

All Franken and Leann Tweeden.

Courtesy of EW: 

Sen. Al Franken issued a new statement this week in the wake of several sexual misconduct allegations against the former Saturday Night Live star. Though Franken’s statement did not explicitly confess to groping or other inappropriate behavior, he acknowledged that some women felt disrespected by him, and apologized for that. 

“I’ve met tens of thousands of people and taken thousands of photographs, often in crowded and chaotic situations,” Franken said in the statement, per the Associated Press. “I’m a warm person; I hug people. I’ve learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women — and I know that any number is too many. Some women have found my greetings or embraces for a hug or photo inappropriate, and I respect their feelings about that … I’ve thought a lot in recent days about how that could happen, and recognize that I need to be much more careful and sensitive in these situations. I feel terribly that I’ve made some women feel badly and for that I am so sorry, and I want to make sure that never happens again. And let me say again to Minnesotans that I’m sorry for putting them through this and I’m committed to regaining their trust.”

This was in response to two more women coming forward and claiming that Franken was inappropriate with them.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Two more women have told HuffPost that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) touched their butts in separate incidents. These are the third and fourth such allegations against Franken in the past week. Leeann Tweeden, a radio host, wrote last week that Franken had kissed and groped her without her consent during a 2006 USO tour. On Monday, Lindsay Menz accused Franken of groping her at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010. 

The two additional women, who said they were not familiar with each others’ stories, both spoke on condition of anonymity. But their stories, which describe events during Franken’s first campaign for the Senate, are remarkably similar — and both women have been telling them privately for years. 

In a statement to HuffPost, Franken said, “It’s difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don’t remember those campaign events.” 

The first woman, who spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity because she’s worried she’ll be harassed online for making the allegation, said Franken groped her when they posed for a photo after a June 25, 2007, event hosted by the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus in Minneapolis. 

“My story is eerily similar to Lindsay Menz’s story,” the first woman said. “He grabbed my buttocks during a photo op.” 

The second woman told HuffPost that Franken cupped her butt with his hand at a 2008 Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis, then suggested the two visit the bathroom together. She spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear that the allegation could affect her position at work.

One thing to be noted is that unlike Donald Trump or Roy Moore's accusers, these two women have decided to remain anonymous.

THAT does not mean that their stories are not valid, anonymous sources are often the backbone of journalism, however if does mean that they can say whatever they want with no real cost to them personally.

That second women's story, if true, seems to be the most damning of the four in my opinion.

If Franken actually groped her buttocks and then invited her into a bathroom that seems the more egregious charge.

However if there is an ethics investigation I would imagine that these women would be compelled to testify and I am interested to see how their stories hold up to scrutiny.

At least one former White House ethics attorney for the Bush Administration has some doubts.

We need more facts but much of this fits an old GOP playbook

Franken: The Obvious Setup and Liberals Took the Bait https://t.co/vduJtIcGr0

— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) November 23, 2017

As progressives we are expected to take allegations like this seriously.

However if we start overreacting to every anonymous accusation, without first vetting it thoroughly, by demanding that the accused leave government or quit their job, we could literally see our biggest champions sidelined while the conservatives cover for their predators and maintain the upper hand.

All of this leaves us in a very precarious situation, and unfortunately the conservatives know that all too well.

Former Fox News employee claims that she was blocked from investigating Trump's ties with Russia.

Courtesy of Bloomberg:  

A former Fox News employee said the network blocked her from going to Moscow to investigate President Donald Trump’s links with Russia, one of several claims of news bias at 21st Century Fox Inc. made by former and current workers opposing its takeover of Sky Plc. 

“You can’t do in-depth reporting if you’re not there,” said Jessica Golloher, a former Fox Radio correspondent who is suing the division for gender discrimination, at a gathering with U.K. lawmakers and citizens in Parliament on Monday. 

“Fox didn’t let me go to Moscow to dig into Trump’s Russian connections, even when I offered to pay my own way.” “Fox is just buying what the White House is selling,” she said. 

Golloher’s claim follows allegations earlier this year that Trump colluded with Fox on a story to divert attention from his ties with Russia. She made the remarks shortly after meeting the Competition & Markets Authority, which is investigating the 11.7 billion-pound ($15.5 billion) Sky merger on grounds of media plurality and whether Fox has a genuine commitment to broadcasting standards. 

When reached for comment, a Fox representative cited a Fox News statement from May without reference to Monday’s hearing. In May, the company said, “Jessica Golloher’s claims are without merit. Her allegations of discrimination and retaliation are baseless. We will vigorously defend the matter.”

I'm not sure we even need confirmation that Fox News had no interest in pursuing this story.

After all they have done virtually everything they could to bury it and deflect attention from it.

That is why every time there is a new revelation about the Mueller investigation on CNN or MSNBC a new allegation against the Clintons gets trotted out on the Sean Hannity show and Fox and Friends.

At this point they should simply rename Fox News "The Donald Trump Network of Deflection and Misinformation."

So now it 's official. Donald Trump would rather have an accused child molester in the Senate rather than a Democrat.

Trump, commenting on Roy Moore sexual assault allegations: “You don't need someone who's soft on crime like [Doug] Jones.” pic.twitter.com/CdnZZhRTSh

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 21, 2017

"He denies it, he totally denies it, he says it didn't happen."

Now where have we heard that before?

Oh yeah, I remember:

"He (Putin) says he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. "Every time he sees me, he said: 'I didn't do that.' And I believe, I really believe that when he tells me that he means it." 

Apparently if you are a Republican, or a Russian dictator, all you have to do is deny that you did anything wrong and you are believed.

However if you are a liberal or a Democrat, well then even after eight separate investigations have cleared you of wrongdoing, you are still guilty, guilty, guilty.

So this is the Republican party now.

Refute evidence which clears your opponents, and take on faith the word of anybody who benefits your party politically.

Wow!

Veteran reporter Charlie Rose comes to the end of his career, as eight women accuse him of making unwanted sexual advances.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Eight women have told The Washington Post that longtime television host Charlie Rose made unwanted sexual advances toward them, including lewd phone calls, walking around naked in their presence, or groping their breasts, buttocks or genital areas. 

The women were employees or aspired to work for Rose at the “Charlie Rose” show from the late 1990s to as recently as 2011. They ranged in age from 21 to 37 at the time of the alleged encounters. Rose, 75, whose show airs on PBS and Bloomberg TV, also co-hosts “CBS This Morning” and is a contributing correspondent for “60 Minutes.” 

There are striking commonalities in the accounts of the women, each of whom described their interactions with Rose in multiple interviews with The Post. For all of the women, reporters interviewed friends, colleagues or family members who said the women had confided in them about aspects of the incidents. Three of the eight spoke on the record.

Unlike those allegations against AL Franken, these seem far more egregious and therefore appropriate that Rose steps down.

To his credit Rose did not deny the allegations, and instead took some responsibility for his actions: 

“In my 45 years in journalism, I have prided myself on being an advocate for the careers of the women with whom I have worked,” Rose said in a statement provided to The Post. “Nevertheless, in the past few days, claims have been made about my behavior toward some former female colleagues. 

“It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken. 

“I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.”

I predicted before that we would see respected members of the political, entertainment, and media world accused of inappropriate sexual conduct.  And so we are.

Charlie Rose is also joined by reporter Glenn Thrush of the New York Times:

The New York Times said on Monday that it was suspending Glenn Thrush, one of its most prominent reporters, after he was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. 

The move came after the website Vox published a report containing allegations from four female journalists that Mr. Thrush, who was hired by The Times in January to cover the Trump administration, had acted inappropriately toward them. Mr. Thrush was a star reporter at Politico before joining The Times. 

The women cited in the Vox article described Mr. Thrush’s behavior as including unwanted kissing and touching. Three of the women were not identified by name. The fourth, Laura McGann, wrote the article, which was presented in the first person. 

“The behavior attributed to Glenn in this Vox story is very concerning and not in keeping with the standards and values of The New York Times,” The Times said in a statement on Monday. “We intend to fully investigate and while we do, Glenn will be suspended.”

It is clear that women are feeling very empowered right now, and overall that is a good thing.

However I certainly hope that the bar for sexual harassment is not being lowered to such a point that literally ANYTHING a man says or does to a woman, that is not specifically requested by that woman, becomes the definition.

If that happens it can undermine the legitimacy of actual sexual assaults and sexual harassment allegations, and allow predators to simply dismiss them all as a kind of mass hysteria.

This is potentially a watershed moment in American history, but if people are not vigilant it can devolve into, dare I say it, a witch hunt.

You know there was somebody with a history of being a little sexually inappropriate onstage, and that's Leann Tweeden.

Leanne Tweeden walked behind the guitar player and grabbed his buttocks while he was playing.

Turns out someone was very feely the entire USO tour and it wasn't Al Franken.

This is a setup.#AlFranken pic.twitter.com/BFmvzFia7c

— Chanukah Charry 🔯🕎 (@pacelattin) November 19, 2017

This is during the same show where Tweeden accused Al Franken of sexually assaulting her.

Really?

Here she is onstage with the great Robin Williams.

Robin Williams (married here) was assaulted and grabbed without permission by Leann Tweeden. #AlFranken #RobinWilliams #sexualassault pic.twitter.com/Tv3F9ZAdb3

— Chanukah Charry 🔯🕎 (@pacelattin) November 19, 2017

Look putting on a performance with fellow actors, musicians, and comedians can be a very touchy feely situation, and typically folks are more or less okay with it.

But to accuse a fellow performer of assaulting you, when THIS is your typical behavior seems very hypocritical to me.

WIDER SHOT!!! (Please note that they are not alone and this is rehearsal) pic.twitter.com/nnx0ae7HU3

— Bravenak Wonderbitch, Esq: Nazi Slayer (@bravenak) November 18, 2017

Also keep in mind that Roger Stone predicted that Franken was about to face his own sexual harassment charges as did this "reporter" from Info Wars.

I️ predict @SenFranken will be accused of groping & sexual harassment. He is also very short and an idiot, yet people still like him #metoo

— Rob Dew (@DewsNewz) November 16, 2017

That was at least two days before Tweeden made her allegations.

Somebody found actual footge of the USO show so that you can judge how sexually harassed Tweeden appeared on stage. Women should be believed, they should.

But should ALL women be believed, EVERY time?

I am not so sure that is a good policy.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders literally suggests that the Al Franken accusation should be taken more seriously because he confessed to wrongdoing, while Donald Trump did not.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

During Friday’s White House Press Briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders fielded questions about President Trump’s Thursday night tweets calling for an investigation of Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) in response to accusations of sexual assault. Sanders rejected any suggestion that Trump should likewise be investigated for any of the accusations made against him. 

“This was covered extensively during the campaign,” she said. “We addressed it then. The American people spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president.” 

When asked to clarify how Trump and Franken were any different, Sanders responded, “I think in one case specifically, Senator Franken has admitted wrongdoing. The president hasn’t. It a very clear distinction.”

So in Trumpland taking some responsibility for your actions toward one accuser makes you MORE guilty than the guy facing more than a dozen accusations who does not?

WTF?

And while we are on this topic let me share this tweet with you of the actual rehearsal that Leann Tweeden claims was the setting for her "assault."

Is this the horrifying Al Franken kiss?
I'm sorry but, I am very skeptical now as to whether he forced an unwanted kiss on her. Mostly because she is clutching him so tightly. pic.twitter.com/QizbiPYexh

— Bravenak is over this shit. (@bravenak) November 18, 2017

That is a script clutched in Tweeden's hand so this is definitely the rehearsal.

Here is a wider shot.

WIDER SHOT!!! (Please note that they are not alone and this is rehearsal) pic.twitter.com/nnx0ae7HU3

— Bravenak is over this shit. (@bravenak) November 18, 2017

In her accusation Tweeden said that Franken, "came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth." 

Now I don't want to call this young woman a liar, but this does not really seem to back up her accusation.

Here's a fact that I am certain I have never shared with you all before.

I attended college with my girlfriend who happened to be the star of every play, musical, and performance at our high school.

She wanted us to have at least a few classes together, so she insisted that I take an acting class with her. (I was not thrilled at first, but it was fun.)

Of course we performed together, and in one of the performances it called for a kiss.

I was thrilled, because kissing her was what I wanted to spend every waking hour doing anyhow.

Both she and the acting teacher informed me that for our performance we would be expected to do a "stage kiss" instead. That is when you kiss next to, but not on, each other's mouth. And then you exaggerate it so that it seems more passionate to an audience sitting in an auditorium or theater.

It seemed silly to me, but that is what we did.

And that is what it appears is happening in this picture.

The whole dramatic clutch, and bending over of the female, is meant to show a passionate kiss to the back row of a theater, even though in reality your lips are nowhere near touching.

Now I am still willing to say that this picture was in bad taste, and that Franken needed to apologize for it.

However for the rest of it I am waiting to see what an ethics investigation shows before I pass any judgement.

Right now in my opinion Al Franken is a bigger man for taking responsibility to what he did than Donald Trump or Roy Moore could ever hope be.

New accuser comes forward and claims that Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was only fifteen years old.

"He said 'You're just a child.' And he said, 'I am the District Attorney of Etowah County. And if you tell anyone about this, no one will ever believe you," accuser Beverly Young-Nelson says Roy Moore told her after the alleged sexual assault. (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/3GZNQqIO0A

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 13, 2017

Courtesy of CBS News: 

Nelson describes her first encounters when she was 15 years old working as a waitress at a local restaurant after school. 

She said Moore, DA of Etowah County, was a regular customer where he would often pull the ends of her hair as she passed by and complimented the young girl's looks. 

"I did nothing to encourage this behavior," said Nelson, adding "I did not respond to any of Mr. Moore's flirtatious behavior." 

She said that at the time of the encounters she had a boyfriend and was "not intersted in having a dating or sexual relationship with a man twice my age." 

Nelson went on, describing another incident in which Moore signed a school yearbook of hers when she was 16. 

"He wrote in my yearbook as follows: 'To a sweeter more beautiful girl, I could not say merry christmas, Christmas, 1977, Love Roy Moore, old hickory house. Roy Moore, DA.'" 

She said after the incident, Moore had offered to drive Nelson home after work, during which she alleges he forced himself on Nelson and groped her in a locked car. 

"I trusted Mr. Moore because he was district attorney, I thought he was doing something nice to offer to drive me home," said Nelson. 

She detailed her fighting off Moore in the car as he squeezed her neck, forcing her head onto his crotch. 

She said that Moore eventually gave up, and told her, "You're just a child and he said I'm the district attorney if you tell anyone about this no one will ever believe you."

This woman also says that she told others about the assault, though not at the time that it took place, and informed her husband before they got married.

If that can be verified, along with Moore's signature in her yearbook, I think Moore is cooked. 

According to her attorney she is also perfectly willing to testify before Congress and the Senate under oath.

The other day a former boyfriend also came forward to affirm that he once dated the former 14 year old girl that Moore molested and that she told him the story back in 2009.

Mike Ortiz says he dated Corfman (Roy Moore’s accuser) for 2 years around 2009.
He says during that time, she told him about a sexual encounter w/ Moore when she was young.
Again: Moore calls these claims “completely false & a desperate political attack.”#ALSen pic.twitter.com/T9iCDiIkJr

— Lauren Walsh (@LaurenWalshTV) November 10, 2017

In response Mitch McConnell publicly stated that he believes the women and is calling for Moore to "step aside."

Senators Orrin Hatch and Susan Collins are also calling for Moore to resign.

On the plus side for the embattled Senate candidate more than 50 Alabama pastors just signed a letter of support for Roy Moore and  his campaign.

Moral Majority my ass.

Update: I realize now that nobody can leave comments on any of the posts after the Sean Hannity post from 6:15 this morning (Including me).

No I do not know what is wrong at the moment, but I have been having my own problems with Blogger for several days now.

Hopefully it will rectify itself, but in the meantime if you want to talk about a post you will have to leave a comment on the Hannity post from this morning. 

Alabama senatorial candidate Roy Moore accused of pedophilia. Pretty sure he is done now. Update!

Courtesy of WaPo:

Leigh Corfman says she was 14 years old when an older man approached her outside a courtroom in Etowah County, Ala. She was sitting on a wooden bench with her mother, they both recall, when the man introduced himself as Roy Moore. 

It was early 1979 and Moore — now the Republican nominee in Alabama for a U.S. Senate seat — was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. He struck up a conversation, Corfman and her mother say, and offered to watch the girl while her mother went inside for a child custody hearing. 

“He said, ‘Oh, you don’t want her to go in there and hear all that. I’ll stay out here with her,’ ” says Corfman’s mother, Nancy Wells, 71. “I thought, how nice for him to want to take care of my little girl.”

Alone with Corfman, Moore chatted with her and asked for her phone number, she says. Days later, she says, he picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. 

“I wanted it over with — I wanted out,” she remembers thinking. “Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.” Corfman says she asked Moore to take her home, and he did.

According to two of Corfman's friends they knew that she was "seeing" an older man, and one knew it was Moore, so these are not newly created allegations.

What's more Corfman is not alone:

Aside from Corfman, three other women interviewed by The Washington Post in recent weeks say Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s, episodes they say they found flattering at the time, but troubling as they got older. None of the women say that Moore forced them into any sort of relationship or sexual contact. 

Wendy Miller says she was 14 and working as a Santa’s helper at the Gadsden Mall when Moore first approached her, and 16 when he asked her on dates, which her mother forbade. Debbie Wesson Gibson says she was 17 when Moore spoke to her high school civics class and asked her out on the first of several dates that did not progress beyond kissing. Gloria Thacker Deason says she was an 18-year-old cheerleader when Moore began taking her on dates that included bottles of Mateus Rosé wine. The legal drinking age in Alabama was 19. 

There has been a tidal wave of women coming forward with decades old allegations against powerful men, and it appears that it just picked up Roy Moore's political career and dashed it on the rocks.

In fact the republicans are already starting to pull their support away from his campaign.

Courtesy of Politico:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called on the party's nominee for Senate in Alabama, Roy Moore, to withdraw from the race if a new report that he pursued teenage girls in his 30's is confirmed. 

"If these allegations are true, he must step aside." 

Other Republican senators also reacted with alarm to the report by the Washington Post. It quoted several women saying that Moore initiated contact with them when as teenagers, including one woman who said she had a sexual encounter with him when she was 14 and he was 32. 

“The allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore are deeply troubling,” added Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “If these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election.” 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was unequivocal. “I’m horrified, and if this is true he needs to step down immediately,” she told reporters. 

“It’s a nasty story, I don’t know anything about it,” added Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Asked if Moore should withdraw, Shelby said, “Let’s see how the story runs."

There is no way this story will not run it's course before election time, and even if it did it would come down a "he said, she said" story and with the mood of the country being what it is right now "she said" carries a hell of a lot more weight.

And let's face it a lot of the Republicans in Washington did not want Roy Moore's toxic presence to infect their politics anyway, so this is more than enough reason to toss his ass to the curb.

Looks to me like the possibility of Alabama getting itself a new Democratic Senator just became a real thing.

Update: Alabama State Auditor, Jim Ziegler, comes to Roy Moore's defense: 

“Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist,” Ziegler said choosing his words carefully before invoking Christ. “Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.” 

Using the Bible to excuse sexual assault and statutory rape, yep this is Alabama alright.

Update 2: Courtesy of Think Progress:  

Moore was the only vote in favor of a day care worker who raped a 12-year-old, claiming there was no ‘implied threat of serious physical injury’. 

In 2015, while Moore was serving on the Alabama Supreme Court, he considered the case of Eric Lemont Higdon, a 17-year-old, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old at a daycare center. Higdon was found guilty under a sodomy statute that applied specifically to minors, as well another statute prohibiting rape. The second conviction was overturned by an appeals court and sent to the state supreme court for review. 

Eight justices found that the 12-year-old’s fear of harm from a much older and larger individual was enough to establish “implied threat of serious physical injury” and reinstated Higdon’s conviction. Moore was the only dissent, saying that there was “no evidence in this case of an implied threat of serious physical injury.” Moore oddly argued that the court’s interpretation opened the door to a 10-year-old being found guilty of raping an 8-year-old.

More and more of this is going to come out in the next several days.

I really do think that Moore is toast. 

Donald Trump accuses Susan Rice of committing a crime, and defends Bill O'Reilly as a "good person" who should not have settled over those claims of sexual harrassment.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

President Trump said on Wednesday that he thought that the former national security adviser Susan E. Rice may have committed a crime by seeking the identities of Trump associates who were swept up in the surveillance of foreign officials by American spy agencies and that other Obama administration officials may also have been involved. 

The president provided no evidence to back his claim. Current and former intelligence officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations have said that nothing they have seen led them to believe that Ms. Rice’s actions were unusual or unlawful. When Americans are swept up in surveillance of foreign officials by intelligence agencies, their identities are supposed to be obscured, but they can be revealed for national security reasons, and intelligence officials say it is a regular occurrence. 

“I think it’s going to be the biggest story,” Mr. Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office. “It’s such an important story for our country and the world. It is one of the big stories of our time.”

Trump then goes on to claim that he has evidence that he will introduce at the "right time."

I imagine that will be the same "right time" that Trump is waiting to arrive before sharing what his investigators discovered about Obama's birth certificate, and the same "right time" he is waiting for before sharing the data that proves millions of undocumented people voted for Hillary Clinton.

In other words don't hold your breath.

As reported yesterday the former National Security Adviser did NOTHING wrong and is almsot certainly NOT the person who leaked Michael Flynn's name to the media.

Later in this same interview there is this exchange: 

Mr. Trump also criticized media outlets, including The New York Times, for failing to adequately cover the Rice controversy — while singling out Fox News and the host Bill O’Reilly for praise, despite a Times report of several women who have accused Mr. O’Reilly of harassment. The president then went on to defend Mr. O’Reilly, who has hosted him frequently over the years. 

“I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person,” said Mr. Trump, who during the interview was surrounded at his desk by a half-dozen of his highest-ranking aides, including the economic adviser Gary Cohn and the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, along with Vice President Mike Pence. 

“I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled,” said Mr. Trump. “Because you should have taken it all the way. I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.”

This should be a surprise to no one since Trump himself has been accused of numerous incidents of sexual harassment and assault, and is in fact still facing a lawsuit over at least one of them. 

These are older, vulgar, and incredibly unfortunate looking men, who have learned that the only way they can get their pee pee wet is to either use force, power, or money to bend women to their will.

They are birds of a feather, or in this case pigs of a sty, so of course Trump has Bill O'Reilly's back on this.

US forced to apologize after White House Spokesperson accuses Britain of spying on Donald Trump for President Obama. Update!

Courtesy of The Telegraph: 

The US has made a formal apology to Britain after the White House accused GCHQ of helping Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump in the White House. 

Sean Spicer, Mr Trump's press secretary, repeated a claim on Thursday evening – initially made by an analyst on Fox News - that GCHQ was used by Mr Obama to spy on Trump Tower in the lead-up to last November's election. 

The comments prompted a furious response from GCHQ, which in a break from normal practice issued a public statement: "Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wiretapping' against the then president-elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."

Intelligence sources told The Telegraph that both Mr Spicer and General McMaster, the US National Security Adviser, have apologised over the claims. "The apology came direct from them," a source said. 

I swear every day I wake up thinking we cannot possibly go any further down the rabbit hole than we did the day before, and every day I am wrong.

You would think I would stop allowing myself to be shocked, but I guess I keep assuming that there must be a limit to the incompetency of this White House.

There must be, right?

Update: Nope there is no limit, here is Sean Spicer saying he has no regrets for accusing Britain of spying on his boss:  

White House press secretary Sean Spicer flatly denied Friday that the White House apologized to the British government after citing an uncorroborated Fox News report to allege that a UK intelligence agency spied on President Donald Trump at the behest of former President Barack Obama.

"I don't think we regret anything," Spicer told reporters at a gaggle Friday afternoon. Asked by CNN's Jim Acosta if there was an apology by the administration to the British government over the matter, Spicer replied, "No, we were just passing on news reports."

Unbelievable. 

House Committee Chairman, a Republican, says that there is no evidence that Obama wiretapped Donald Trump. James Comey called to testify next week. Update!

Courtesy of CNN: 

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said Wednesday that neither he nor the ranking Democrat on the committee have seen any evidence that then-President Barack Obama wiretapped Donald Trump last year, and want the Justice Department to respond to their requests for information by March 20. 

"We don't have any evidence that that took place and in fact I don't believe -- just in the last week of time, the people we've talked to -- I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower," Nunes said at a news conference, in reference to the baseless claim originally made by Trump several weeks ago.

Rep. Nunes: If you’re going to take Trump’s tweets literally on wiretapping, then “clearly the President was wrong” https://t.co/aVdo8qR3vS

— CNN (@CNN) March 15, 2017

"Clearly the president was wrong." Yeah, no shit Sherlock!

Just like we all knew, Donald Trump accused President Obama of illegally tapping his phones with no supporting evidence whatsoever.

He fucking lied, and now everybody is going to know it.

James Comey for his part was supposed to spill the beans today, but apparently didn't.

Sheldon Whitehouse says COMEY failed to meet agreed upon deadline to confirm existence of FBI inquiry into Russia/Trump by this afternoon

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 15, 2017

That lack of cooperation frustrated Senator Lindsey Graham who said this:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Wednesday that he'll move to subpoena any documents tied to President Trump's claim that he was wiretapped during the campaign if he doesn't hear back from FBI Director James Comey later in the day. 

"He hasn't answered that letter. If he doesn't answer it today, I'm going to go to the chairman of the [Judiciary] Committee, Sen. [Chuck] Grassley [R-Iowa], and seek his support to subpoena," Graham said during a Fox News radio interview. 

This was also included in that CNN report at the top:

FBI Director James Comey will testify at their March 20 hearing and that there will be a second hearing in the committee March 28.

THAT will put Comey in the hot seat and he will not be able to avoid answering questions under oath about any FBI investigations into Donald Trump or his associates.

Yeah I think THIS might be part of the reason why Trump leaked those tax returns yesterday.

This and the fact that the new GOP bill is taking healthcare away from 24 million Americans.

Oh and did I mention that the investigation into his ties with Russia is still ongoing?

Yep, the noose is just getting tighter.

Update: Unbelievably Donald Trump just doubled down again:


President Trump on Wednesday defended his unsubstantiated claim that former president Barack Obama ordered surveillance on his phones at Trump Tower in New York during last fall's campaign. 

Trump again offered no evidence to support his wiretapping accusation, but he maintained in an interview with Fox News Channel that information would soon be revealed that could prove him right. 

“Wiretap covers a lot of different things,” Trump said. “I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.” 

I swear this guy is completely incapable of every admitting that he made a mistake.

Shovelful after shovelful she just keeps digging himself in deeper.