What Does Mat Lauer's Firing for Sexual Misconduct Have to do with Hillary?
Matt Lauer, powerful host of NBC's Today Show has been fired over allegations of "sexual misconduct." One more in a trail of powerful men in the media brought down for misbehavior ranging from rape to harassment. All fine and good. No one should be permitted to abuse their position to act badly. Yet, some Clintonites are claiming this is a vindication of Hillary? WTF?
Lauer’s abrupt termination marks the third time in recent weeks that a prominent journalist who played a key role in shaping coverage of the 2016 campaign has been accused of sexual harassment or assault.
Last week, Vox broke news that multiple women had accused Glenn Thrush, one of the New York Times’ top White House reporters, of exploiting his powerful position to sexually harass women. And at least a dozen women have recently accused author and former ABC News correspondent Mark Halperin of sexual harassment or assault.
Thrush, Halperin, and Lauer all established reputations for their tough coverage of Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton — coverage that at times fixated on her emails.
So what does asking legitimate questions about a former Secretary of State's breaking official rules by using a private server to conduct official business (quite possibly to avoid potential Freedom of Information Act requests about her conflicts of interest) have anything to do with the sexual misconduct of powerful journalists? Well, according to Joe Romm of Think Progress, these men mistreated Clinton out of sexist or misogynistic motives. In other words, once more, Clinton and her followers are piggy-backing on the real suffering the women who were victimized to make political hay on her behalf. You see, it was all part of a sexist conspiracy by these awful sexual abusers to take her down.
Here's Romm's argument. At the "Commander-in-Chief forum" Lauer moderated on September 7, 2016, Romm claims Lauer "re-litigated" (interesting choice of words, all things considered) while lobbing softball questions at Trump. Clinton even made a point in her memoir, "What Happened," to say how "ticked off" she was at Lauer for "his performance," which she described as “disappointing but predictable.”
I get that Clinton feels victimized by everyone and their dog over her loss to Trump, her hand-picked opponent. But what purpose does it serve to use the victimization of women by Matt Lauer at NBC to once again intrude herself into the national conversation? Lauer's misdeeds at NBC toward his co-workers has nothing to do with her. So why exploit the pain and suffering of the women upon whom Lauer preyed to once again claim Hillary was cheated out of the Presidency?
In his questioning at that infotainment event (one can hardly call it anything else without being deservedly mocked), Lauer was doing his job as only the host of a morning infotainment show could do when forced to interview two despicable and unlikable candidates. I assume both Clinton and Trump could have demanded someone else to handle his duties, someone with more foreign policy experience, but they did not. Instead they agreed to Lauer. And it is not like the controversy over Clinton's private email server while Secretary of State would have been considered by Clinton to be off the table, even if it obviously was not a topic she wanted to discuss. Indeed, despite the excuses Hillary and her surrogates have continued to make, the use of a private server to shield her official business while holding the highest position in our government that deals with foreign relations was fair game.
Her failure to respect the rules and laws requiring transparency was unethical at best, and illegal at worst, despite the kid gloves treatment she and her team received from the FBI during its the investigation. One hardly needs to mention that the ultimate outcome, which avoided any charges against her, may ultimately have turned on an unscheduled private meeting between Bill Clinton and Attorney General Lynch on the scorched tarmac of the Phoenix airport.
Hillary and her surrogates post-election campaign of non-stop grievances and vindictiveness against anyone who didn't treat her as a special case, one deserving of a greater measure of deference and respect than any other candidate in history, has been destructive, counter-productive, boorish and frankly exploitative of the real pain the women who bravely came forward with charges of sexual misconduct have endured for years. Clinton lost because she was a horrible candidate who ran a horrible campaign. What right does she have now to piggy-back on the suffering of others out of some perverted sense of revenge?
Others in the Democratic party and on the left have spent their post-2016 time opposing the atrocities of a Republican controlled government run by Trump. They have worked tirelessly to expose his administration's misdeeds while also advocating for policies and strategies to recover from the disaster for which Clinton's incompetent and clueless campaign was largely responsible, along with all the other entitled centrist Dems.
Yet Hillary and her loyalists have nothing better to do than lash out and try to settle scores with her innumerable "enemies," further dividing those within her own party and fracturing the possibility of alliances with progressives necessary to end Trump's reign as well as the Republicans' consolidation of political power at every level of government. People are hurting in ways Hillary and her fan boys and fan girls cannot possibly understand. I'm tired of her shameless and selfish martyr complex. It serves no purpose other than to keep her and her supporters in denial over her many flaws and failures. That and keeping her name in the public eye, I suppose.
But, friends, those are not good enough reasons for this nightmare of recriminations Hillary keeps shoving down the public's throat. Not that she gives a flying you know what about the "deplorable" American public, regardless of race, color or any other distinguishing characteristics. All she cares about is herself and her ambition. The misery and struggles of those who serve neither interest are of little consequence to her and her ilk.
Comments
They'd rather let the wingnuts run rough shod over us
than allow anyone who isn't a billionaire to do anything other than suck dick for packing peanuts.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Squirrel!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
AND THERE IT IS!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09wON6jwJ2o]
I knew there was a reason that everybody in the MSM had to panic about this crap, right as Russiagate started running out of steam.
Now it's a Twofer! Now it's gonna be only sexist men voted for Trump, because everybody who ever spoke ill about Hillary is a sexist! AND the fact that we haven't removed Trump yet for allegations, means that we're sexist for not demanding it!
I don't know about you folks, but I think this is officially "Overplaying" the hand.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
We have a winnah!
I take this opportunity to 1) agree with you old comrade dmworks and 2) threadjump to announce my triumphant return to caucus99!!!1
I was off in real life, avoiding stupid f*cking politics as much as possible. I had lost my password and had the old 2015 caucus page in my browser (this is a new site, right?).
Anyhoo, howdy and how's the Resistance?
JVolvo2
Hey JVolvo...
great to have you back!
Nah, it's the same site just a different skin.
We resist everything around here.
Don't make yourself scarce.
nice one
Whoa, Dude!
You are a sight for sore eyes!
Welcome back!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Well it's about time.
Good to have you back, JVolvo.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
@Hillbilly Dem
Hillbilly Dem with a Bill Hicks avatar? I've died and gone to Socialist Heaven! The gates to get in were Yuuuuuge! That's a Brooklyn-Bernie Yuuge not the shithead NY real estate crook variation : )
Anyhoo2, I've read the post-Ides 2016 Welcome Meta diaries + comments and was thrilled to see so many semi-forgotten yet beloved names from that other place. What was the name of that group at DK that led to Joe's Evening Blues? #ThatGroup? heh.
I'll try to not be a stranger, however, I don't have the daytime free time I had before and (is it just me?) this page-refresh-after-every-thumbs-up thing is bogus : /
PS Subscribe to Jimmy Dore's youtube channel; he's speaking truth to idiocy when most won't.
#PeaceOut #FuckNeoLiberals #RussiaGateIsDesperateBullshit
JVolvo2
this page-refresh-after-every-thumbs-up thing is bogus : /
Haven't heard that one before, it must be your device. What are you using?
Does that happen to anyone else?
C99 is like the collective spirit
of Joe Hill, Bill Hicks, James Baldwin, Emma Goldman, Neil Young, Howard Zinn, George Carlin, Kurt Vonnegut, Edward Murrow, Smedley Butler, Mark Twain, Fred Hampton, John Lennon, Ella Baker, Eugene Debs, Jack London, Abbie Hoffman, Louis Armstrong, Upton Sinclair, Woody Guthrie, Hunter Thompson, Christopher Hitchens and George Orwell, to name a few.
Socialist Heaven, that's about right.
Welcome home, man.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
TOP (The Other Place)
was most common in 2016. It comes up less and less now, I think, but my attention span has been weak for many months.
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
Yes, that's none other than Bill Hicks.
I was fortunate enough to see him perform about 2 years before he was diagnosed. We could use his voice today. And Carlin. Love Jimmy Dore too. Politics with a strong splash of humor. That goes for The Miserable Liberal, Stephanie Zamorano and Ron Placone. I try not to miss Jimmy.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
Good to see you back
I've heard that a lot of people had to take a break from politics after last year. Our little resistance is going well as we ridicule the ones who have bought the whole Russian package and no we aren't friends of Putin
Are you saying that your page resets each time you give a thumbs up? Bummer. I haven't heard this from others and it doesn't happen to me.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
@snoopydawg
Yep, after every damn thumbs up. I'm running the newest Firefox - it updated less than a week ago. I'll deal but quite the disincentive to uprate!
Good to see you snoopydawg and dozens of others!
JVolvo2
This is weak tea.
Hillary did, after all, try to parlay her marriage to a serial sexual abuser into becoming POTUS. And there’s that quarter million dollar donation from Harvey Weinstein that she has so far given no indication that she’ll return.
"Please clap." -- Jeb Bush
I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable lie
about how she never even heard of that man, and the money was handled by another person who she cannot recall, and she doesn't even have it any more, so what's the issue because at the time nobody could have possibly known...
/snark
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
and oddly
sticking with her man and suffering largely in silence (or at least appearing to) hugely boosted her popularity. It has never been clear to me why putting up with a husband who can't keep his pants zipped qualifies one for public office, but there are many mysteries in politics.
Exellent!
But I'll be blunter. Even is Lauer et all are totally guilty it's a witch hunt, and the sheer volume of accusations makes it appear unbelievable. Who's next, Captain Kangaroo? Mr. Rogers? Has Alan Alda said anything against fracking? He must have groped a nurse on the set of M*A*S*H back in 75. Even if it's 100% real it's counterproductive.
On to Biden since 1973
To me, it's more of a reckoning than a witch hunt.
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
I'm sure that
Someday we will be debating whether the "Great Sex Accusation Festival Of 2017" was a witch hunt or a truth commission. My money is on both.
I would like to say that no one will claim that most of the accused, even essentially all of those accused. were innocent, though the definition of what constitutes guild might be questioned. I would like to say that, but I have already had someone claim that the 80s "all day care workers are satanists" festival were all guilty, and I have a friend who actually defends McCarthy. I don't know any holocaust deniers or any flat Earthers, but I know they exist. Some people will believe or refuse to believe anything.
On to Biden since 1973
somebody mentioned Russia
story running out of steam (in terms of public interest), so they need another hot story to fill the void.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
The Hillarist Cult
has tunnel vision. Vindicating Her in any and every way possible is ALL that matters to them. They dgaf if Bernie has the best chance of beating Trump in 2020. Supporting him or anything he stands for would be a betrayal of Her in their circles.
It was fascinating watching the cultists at TOP twist themselves in knots to defend fracking and the death penalty, bash single payer healthcare and free college, and insist that corporate money flooding our politics is fine and dandy as long as no evidence of a specific quid pro quo exists.
They're obsessed. They're fanatics. The projection in calling Bernie a messiah or a cult of personality is so telling. I don't have any particular affinity for scruffy septuagenarians with Brooklyn accents and I doubt many who supported him do either. It was always 100% about his policies. He has ZERO star power, none, it's his policies that make him popular.
They simply cannot get over it and Hillary keeps Herself just visible enough to never let them. I still say she is running in 2020 if her health allows it. If she can still be propped up on a debate stage stool by the time the next primary season rolls around she's running. Bet on it.
That's what the Hillaroids don't get
I signed up for Bernie's newsletter off of his campaign web site a year or two before he even announced his candidacy for president, followed Bernie via C-SPAN and his YouTube page, liked what I heard, read in the newsletter. The policies and programs Bernie talked about are what made me want to vote for him for president because at my age (now 71) I realize that things he espouses (particularly Medicare for All, tuition-free public school education - pre-K thru college) are exactly what will benefit the most people in this country.
I would add, however, that religious schools should NOT get ANY tax dollars; they should be treated like private schools and colleges in the past when people had more common sense and respected the separation of church and state, and the parents pay the tuition - when I say separation of church and state, that includes education, a position that I'm sure annoys the hell out of religious fanatics like Betsy DeVos who espouses public tax dollars pay for corporate-run schools and, most of all, the religious schools.
In any case, even before Hillaroid declared her candidacy, I knew there were no circumstances whatsoever under which I would ever vote for a lying warmonger who helped draft the TPP and wanted to start a proxy war with Russia over Syria..., so I left the prez section of my paper ballot blank because I gave up voting for the lesser of two evils and voted my conscience - i.e., didn't vote for either one, each as bad as the other for different reasons.
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute ..., where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference. — President John F. Kennedy, Houston, TX, 12 September 1960
The way that Hillary ridiculed Bernie's
college tuition plan was beyond stupid! Who thought that rich parents would send their kids to a public college in the first place?
Her warmongering about Syria should have disqualified her just like her Iraq war vote, but I'm betting that the people who voted for Obama instead of her for that had no problem this time. How does this make sense? Unless they were the same ones who didn't have a problem with his warmongering.
I got into an argument with a few people on ToP about her role in the Libyan destruction. They refused to admit that she had anything to do with it even though I posted links and snippets from an article that proved her role. I'm sure you can imagine the names I was called for that.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Hillaroid? Hillaroid. Hillaroid! I like that.
I think Nancy Pelosi was looking for Hillaroids too
Hillaroid, Her Heinousness...
Hillbots for Her followers.... Well, almost anything to convey the meaning that I am talking about Her without necessarily using Her name unless I have to. Her name is mentioned enough and I am trying to forget it.
That's why I call HalfWit McCain's running mate Tundra Tramp, or any of the other nicknames people have/had for her. I want the name of that particularly stupid individual forgotten to history.
You know how women in olden times were written out of history, right? No one wrote down their names. It was as simple as that. The "Venerable Bede" dismissed the Boudiccan Rebellion in one sentence without mentioning it was a woman and a queen who led it, much less her name. Two Roman writers wrote about Boudica, including a physical description, the color of her hair, what her voice sounded like, and even her speech before the final battle was transcribed. Besides Queen Boudica of the Iceni, there was another British Celtic queen in the north-midlands of Britain named Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes - she cooperated with Rome, however. Tacitus and Cassius Dio were from one of the most misogynistic cultures in the world at the time, next to the ancient Greeks, and yet these historians mentioned the names of the women who were important. Not so the crabby little Catholic Xian monk in the north of England from the most misogynistic, xenophobic, torturous religion the world has ever known.
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute ..., where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference. — President John F. Kennedy, Houston, TX, 12 September 1960
Boudicca (+++)
new to me.
thx.
When or even if the Clinton wing goes down, I expect
to see the rise of the Obama wing in its place if my Facebook feed is any indicator. The political nobility will battle for power, crushing the peasantry beneath their feet. Issues will be corrupted to serve political interests of who gets to wield power.
Dubya is being elevated as a “good” Republican because he’s not as bad as Trump. What this opinion fails to consider is that both Bush and Trump are part of a continuum sliding the US further and further toward fascism. Remember, “the object of power is power.”
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
I think you might be right. (n/t)
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Dumbya AND Obama are as bad as each other
Obama continued Dumbya's policies, kept the Bushista warmongers leading the DoD and Pentagon and in charge of the forces fighting the guerrilla gangs in Afghanistan and Iraq..., and then Obama actually made it worse by bombing in more countries - total of seven by the end of Obama's reign, IIRC. Obama left Gitmo open, too, because Congress "wouldn't let him close it." Not sure if that's quite true since "the great Bipartisan Compromiser" caved to every Rethuglican policy that came down the pike. To this day, I associate the words "bipartisan compromise" with anything resembling Rethuglican policies and programs, from cutting taxes to giving corporations (insurance, medical, pharmaceutical, in particular) record-setting profits, to continuing wars to satisfy the military-industrial-mercenary complex.
To our everlasting shame, Obama went after whistleblowers like they were the criminals instead of the truth-tellers. They released info to us that should never have been secret in the first damned place. All they did was confirm what we already knew or suspected.
Some of the more knowledgeable progressive political pundits have correctly said we only have one political party - the far-far-right religious fanatics and the moderates who are far to the right of center. We have Rethuglicrats and Demopublicans, as far as I am concerned.
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute ..., where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference. — President John F. Kennedy, Houston, TX, 12 September 1960
^^t THIS ^^
Because of this, Wells Fargo has continued to rip off their customers. First by creating 3.5 million fake accounts in their names and then they recently did something in this same way. If Obama had gone after the bank CEOs that committed fraud and charged them for it, this would have sent them a message that they wouldn't get away with it in the future. But Barry was put in office to protect the 1%.
As for the republicans obstruction, how small does this make him appear? "The mean republicans won't let me do my job."
Whaaa! This worked for his mindless supporters, but the rest of us saw right through him. He never had any intention to keep his campaign promises. This was obvious when he voted for the FISA bill.
He had no intention of closing gitmo.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
It may be thanks Obama’s mother’s background in
economic anthropology influenced his view of society. In any case he proudly stated that he stood between the bankers and the pitchforks. It was, as it turns out, a dick move if there ever was one. The bankers now have carte blanche to screw us six ways to Sunday which they do on a regular basis.
Government of by and for the people is a monstrous joke.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
"He never had any intention to keep his campaign promises"
Citi all the way.
a con man, selling tickets to the gullible.
Two sides of the same corrupt coin.
All the drama is ultimately a distraction for the masses so that they won’t notice that both parties serve their paymasters, the 1%. The failure to pass any kind of gun regulation after Sandyhook showed that even with an overwhelming level of support from constituents, Congress will not act against the best interests of the 1%.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
@Lily O Lady
Absolutely agree with your comment, except that I personally wouldn't phrase that quoted bit quite that way.
How is it in their best interests to destroy the global life support system on which they also depend, destroy the concept of public-protective law to be replaced with their personal mercenary armies - which will potentially shift to the highest bidder - in a situation where they also succeed in destroying what remains of the real economy and have no-one left to feed their pathological greed for unlimited power and money but each other?
In the end, they also have nothing and ultimately fall prey to each other until the last one dies among the wreckage of all of the toys.
And that's without Mutual Assured Destruction from which some seemingly also somehow hope to profit, unless the goal is simply to destroy all life on the planet and live happily ever after in luxury bunkers until the power fails or a fatal glitch arises in any of multiple areas. Assuming that their limited residence isn't breached by direct hits or earthquakes, since there'd be nowhere else to go, without invading someone else's shelter.
Their actual best interests lie - as with the rest of us - in a healthy environment, economy and justice system, gaining reasonable profits from well-maintained business in a stable and sustainable society ruled by public-protective law, not by men, and assuredly not in a Mad Max movie so that they can end with all of the then-worthless data-dot money (assuming there's some surviving system to make it appear on a screen, which seems unlikely in many scenarios) or more likely far, far worse.
And the internet keeps disconnecting; previously checked the current Level 3 stuff effects in Canada and this provider has been having trouble all along; Bell, (the one arguing in NAFTA closed-door talks for providers to be able to control what customers can access and taking that company over) of course, far, far, far worse; the company I used to use has had only one major spike and a small one, both showing on the 1st only... roommate has a 2-year contract with what we should be boycotting... sigh... although I am lucky to be able to ride on her wireless to get on the internet at all. I'll see if this posts, anyway, although typos will likely be left as is, lol.
But I strongly believe that we need to keep from framing things in the manner desired by predators, as though their alternate realities can really unfold as they fantasize they will, because they're 'elites' and so much smarter than the rest of the non-billionaire/trillionaire world. They get enough of that type of support from the corporate media and other sycophants to enable that bubble to remain, and the explosion from that bubble popping may not come until it's too late for the rest of us.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Hillary 2020!
This is an instant replay of a post I made about a piece at Salon by some goofball named Marc Ash that snoopydawg ripped to shreds in the comments:
https://caucus99percent.com/content/hillary-2020
This morning I ran across the same pathetic propaganda piece at Reader Supported News and discovered that
"Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News", which nearly caused me to hurl regurgitated chunks. Here is a prologue Ash has posted at the beginning of the comment thread at RSN:
Well we certainly don't want to allow any low down, dirty rotten Russian provocateurs to "shape the dialogue" about why Her lost.
As is my usual custom I refrained from entering the toxic wasteland of the actual comment section itself. Here is the pathetic hagiography of why Hereinous lost the election. Caution is advised before clicking the link:
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/47094-top-5-reasons-hilla...
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
I clicked on the link...
I think I may have made a mistake...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND_yAPJsefM]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
OFFS! Let's correct this statement, shall we?
For months regarding the news websites:
For over a year a stream of sane commentators have tried to push back against the coordinated propaganda efforts targeting political websites in the US after Herheinous lost to the election to the worst candidate in history to run for president.
We have been called Russian bots and other names because we don't believe the shit that we have been bombarded with since the election. We have also been bombarded with Herheinous blaming everyone else for her loss to that orange creature in the WH.
They really don't like it when we're not buying into this Russian propaganda, do they? Seems that we have been hitting their nerves because we have stayed sane while we have watched people who we thought were intelligent falling all over themselves to come up with the most ridiculous reasons for Herheinous being a shitty candidate because she couldn't beat a tv reality show blob.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
@snoopydawg...while we have watched
No joke. By the time they reached, "Pokemon/Russia," I knew they were beyond help and hope at that point; they are too far gone and there is no way to reach them.
RSN's Marc Ash's pathetic $hills apologist piece got blasted
really badly by his own site's commenters.
Here's a sample:
All this and more, at the place where Ash is the founder! Got his ass handed to him.
Your piece is spot on, Steven. The cultists are shameless and represent the ugliest side of human nature.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Wow. Are you sure
those weren't commenters from here at C-99 ?
Thanks! Nice work.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Those are really good comments
Wowzer, this hits on everything I've been saying, as well as others here. Thanks for posting this.
Too many people saw her at the 9/11 ceremony when she was thrown into a van and whisked away to the hospital...Chelsea's apartment.
This should be a sigline:
Say it again: "Because of Hillary, we have Trump."!
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
I am beginning to believe
that what we are seeing right now is a political war using sex scandals as a proxy. What I mean is that the claims are legitimate, but the fact that they are surfacing in massive numbers and so rapidly leads me to believe that there is another level going on here.
First, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia cleans house, ridding it of some big money Clinton supporters while consolidating his own personal power. Then big names in Hollywood are being outed led by huge Clinton supporter, Harvey Weinstein. Then Conyers gets outed as a serial transgressor toward women. Then Andrew McCabe at the FBI gets demoted. The power of the Clinton machine is being systematically gutted and I believe that this is just beginning. The rats are jumping off the sinking ship, but there is more to come and many people in power are beginning to sweat.
They have not even begun on the pedophile rings in Congress, Hollywood, and big business. I remember reading a while back that if the pedophile rings were ever outed, it would be enough to bring the entire government down.
It is good that all of this is coming out and hopefully it will go a long way toward ridding our institutions of people in power using their power to prey upon weaker individuals such as women and children.
I believe this is what Trump meant by cleaning out the swamp. It is not what many of us may have wanted as far as swamp cleaning, but it has been necessary.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Sex scandals to divide and conquer
what the hell, race isn't working out for them for the win so why not use sexual scandal. As many out here have remarked, there's a huge difference between harassment and rape but our lame ass media is also conflating the two, which is disgusting but sadly, par for the course with them and their framing of a dumbed down simplistic "narrative."
You're so right about the absolute deluge too, it stinks a bit. Seems contrived somehow but maybe that's just my cynicism showing.
As for Hillary being somehow abused by Lauer, et al, over misogyny - any woman who'd bomb the living shit out of other women and children and think it's "worth it" regarding US "interests" should damned well be seen for the misogynist SHE is.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Dipshit didn't give a flying fuck about the swamp.
Hell, he and his cabinet ARE the damn swamp. As for this sex scandal horseshit, the only serial abuser not facing any blowback from this shit is Dipshit himself, who has literally ADMITTED to abusing women.
The fact that the Corporate Democrats used this piece of shit as hand-picked opposition for Billary speaks volumes.
Oh, and Project Veritas is at it yet again:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONhMcjhcfXc]
If anyone even remotely on the left did anything like this, they'd be sent to fuckin' Gitmo next week.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Perhaps I was not clear
I am not defending Trump. This is a political war in which Trump or his surrogates are dismantling the Clinton machine and consolidating their power. I also believe it is partially about the power battle among the deep state agencies, particularly an attempt at neutering the CIA.
The resultant effect may not only expose Democrats and those who lean Dem as serial abusers of power vis a vis women, but also may end up exposing something much worse. Whether or not Trump is an abuser of women is irrelevant to him. What I am saying is that this is his version of draining the swamp.
What I am seeing is more about power than morality. That was what I was trying to convey, perhaps poorly so.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
WE ARE FUCKED!
We are living in a sad and dangerous times,the corruption that has infected all levels of life and government by big money has come home to roost.Both political partys are bought and paid for by large corps and the super rich,the media is controlled by the same.The fantasy of calling your senator to influence them on voting is a total waste of time in my state Nev senator Heller is going to do what his big money donors want regardless of how many calls he gets from peeons like me its a total fucking joke.
Whats coming in the next 10 years is going to make the great depression look like a picnic,all of the programs FDR installed to save this country have been 1 by 1 destroyed and this new Trump taxbill will be the final stake in the heart.
My parents both were kids during the great depression the stories they told me of the life of starving for food clothing shelter for 90% of this country during that time has never been forgotten by my generation but the younger generation has no idea how bad things were.Well im afraid they are going to find out we are seeing the preview of the next great depression and I think thats the only way things will change.Things arent bad enough yet to get people to see whats really going on,seeing one of your babies starve to death will
DW
You are absolutely right about what is happening
and what is coming.
This is an all out assault on the people in this country and it's going to get very bad for many of us. After the lower class is wiped out and the middle class takes our place, it will be their turn.
The PTB tried to remove FDR from office by a coup d'tat they wanted led by Smedley Butler, but when that failed, they started working toward what is happening now. Each president had their role to play, but Reagan really took the gloves off and then Bush, the Clintons, Bush 2 and then Obama added on. Now with what the republicans are doing with first the tax cuts that will decimate social programs and then rolling back net neutrality, they will be able to quash any voices that try to warn us about what is coming next.
I'm watching and listening to V for Vendetta and I see what happened in Britain after the USA's empire collapsed and I see how easily it's been happening here.
We have seen our civil liberties removed piece by piece and now there aren't very many of them left.
Hopefully people are watching what is happening with the trials in DC where the people that protested against Trump are facing decades in prison for it. This is happening to people who were not protesting either. They were in the vicinity of them.
As Aspie noted in his comment, Project Veritas video taped a meeting with the anti Trump protesters and the judge is allowing it in the trial. Even after being informed of their history of cutting the tapes to show what they want shown.
Then there's the militarized police who will be eagerly waiting for any protests against the tax and net neutrality bills.
Tell me that we haven't started down the road to fascism...
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Started down the road to fascism? We're more than halfway there
Yeah, you can blame Harriman, Prescott Bush, Henry Ford and others who loved them some Hitler and wanted Adolph's brand of governance brought across the ocean. Fortunately for us, the brave intervention of two-time medal of honor winner Butler delayed that transformation until the 80's when Saint Ronny, G.H.W.B. and Bubba came along to complete the mission.
Even if Bernie does win in 2020 (at age 80!) I doubt he will have any support from the MIC and PTB to effectuate meaningful change. The best that could be hoped for is for him to apply the brakes (if they still work) to at least slow down our Fascist journey. Warren ain't the woman for the job. I'll gladly take Tulsi and/or Nina in 2020--ah, dreams of faerie dust and unicorns.
So $Hillary was upset Lauer didn't lob her softballs?
Wasn't she essentially interviewing for the most powerful job on the planet? If so, she should have been happy to answer the "tough" questions. That's how it works in the real world sister. Her reaction to being asked hard questions only further proves that she viewed the 2016 race was not an election but her coronation. And her lack of grace in defeat further proves just what type of person she really is.
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
NO kidding
on being expected to answer tough questions! So she wants an exception for Her while he can lob all the hard balls he'd like at the Rump? Isn't that just a bit sexist Hillary? You're not tough enough to stand up to Lauer, how in hell are you gonna stand up to Putin? S/
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Well done, Steven
He should have focused on more important issues like Syria. Wtf? How about the important issues like the number of people who don't have $500 for an emergency? Or income inequality or the massive number of children who don't have enough to eat? Or how her economic policies are going to help us instead of the big banks she is so fond of.
Her supporters accused everyone who called out the actions she had done during her entire career as being sexists and misogynists, yet now they are slut shaming the women who accused Franken. Kos finally wrote a diary there telling people that this isn't to be tolerated on the site, but it took over 10 days for him to do it.
The people who called those writers out for their behavior were dawg piled by everyone who disagreed with them.
They don't see their hypocrisy. I do!
Here is what Lauer is accused of doing.
Lauer's sexual allegations
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
The local rag
Has published a couple of letters from Franken Fans, who argue that because Tweeden worked for Hooters, posed for Playboy, etc., etc., she's a 'lesser victim'.
Gotta love the local DFL elite.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
We have slut shamers here too - on this very site!
The female users who blame female victims, use the same empty excuses, too. One claims to have fought for ERA, back in the day. Same little coven claims any woman facing sexual harassment at work should just tell the perp to stop it, or move seats; otherwise, she's hoping to use the perp's unprofessional and unacceptable behavior as a means toward her own career advancement (whore, in other words).
That type of bs, backwards ass, time warp thinking, and spewing, is exactly why I haven't been around much lately. Hell, even my Trump loving mom said, "So what!?" when I told her that some, supposed lefty women were excusing the behavior with that lame ass bs.
[video:https://youtu.be/tkplPbd2f60]
I am so tired of that shit
Had she fallen asleep in that chair stark naked I do not understand how that would change anything. She was sexualized without her consent. What she did, was doing, was going to do, et.al., really have nothing to do with what HE did. I'm still unclear on the other charges but in the end, whatever the charge, the behavior of the victim really doesn't matter unless that behavior would reasonably be interpreted as "consent".
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Yep. This is what the kos bots are saying
One of them posted that photo of Franken grabbing Tweeden and another one of her sitting on a tire in a provocative position. This is why in their opinion she isn't to be taken seriously. It goes downhill from there.
Or they post a diary saying that they believe the women, but they are still standing with him. It's been disgusting over there.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
So they're going with the
'provocative clothing/asking for it' defence?
Charming.
You have to admire benchmark Democratic principles.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
To Daily Kos - Hillary Clinton is a war criminal murderer
who belongs in prison next to Obama, Trump, Bush, etc., for the rest of their miserable lives.
Nothing else matters.
It's disappointing this isn't the first thing brought up about Clinton when this kind of shit comes out.
We'll never have justice or stop imperialism if we don't scream for it.
Here is kos' article on Herheinous from 2006
Hillary Clinton: Too Much of a Clinton Democrat?
After reading this again, I can't wrap my mind around how much kos has changed since he wrote these words. Everything he felt about the Clintons then seems to have gone out the window in this election. Especially after Obama's tenure. He did everything that he accused Bill of doing. Does money change people that much?
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
The rap on Hillary over Bernie was she was tougher than nails
Over and over again, Hillary democrats argued that Bernie would wither under the gop smear machine. Which Hillary had endured over the last 20 years and came out fully vetted. Hillary was the toughest political bad-ass out there.
And now poor dear, looks like she was just the poor victim of everybody who threw a peeble her way.
"Fully vetted"
"Fully vetted" implies that she emerged from the GOP smears unscathed and electable. She didn't. The fact that the Dem party establishment can't see this is IMO one of the biggest revelations during the past two years.
The GOP base doesn't just dislike Hillary Clinton. I'm trying to find the appropriate word to describe how the average Repub voter feels about Hillary, and "detest" is too mild. They would get up off their deathbed and crawl five miles bare-ass naked in a blizzard to vote AGAINST Hillary.
Up until last year, I honestly thought that everyone understood this. The fact that the Dems and the Hillary campaign (and therefore their donors) didn't realize it, and apparently still can't see it, is a huge and fatal blind spot.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
The self delusion was indeed amazing.
And in particular over her popularity among women and POC.
You are right, Big Al
that she should be known as a war criminal. Many of us did say that on ToP, but we were told to stfu and called the stupid names that they came up with for anyone who didn't idolize her. This is one of the reasons why kos banned many of us. We kept telling everyone the truth about her and he didn't want that on his website. The funny thing is that he felt that same way in 2006 when he wrote an article saying that she was too much of a Clinton democrat. You can find this online if you search for it.
How about these words to describe her?
Loathe, abhor, despise, find repugnant, odious, ?
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
snoopy, you are much too kind.
The word you might have been looking for is the one I prefer: HATE.
Yes, don't use such a harsh term for the great war criminal who said: "we came, we saw, he died". Or this other zinger of morality: "At this point, what difference does it make?"
Nice Summation,
Steven D.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
beautifully written
Hillary Clinton is one of the biggest misogynists
on the map of US politics. Shall we count the ways? I'll start...
She thought that women should have limits on late term abortions.
Next?
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin