The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
Belly up to the bar,
and be in this space together.
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by autumnal colors.
Recommended Reading:
Mariame Kaba: [Content Note: Sexual violence; carcerality] Help Criminalized Survivors of Violence for the Holidays!
Imani Gandy: [Content Note: Sexual harassment/assault] When It Comes to 'What About the Clintons,' Journalists Keep Playing Into Conservatives' Hands
Rhett Jones: New FCC Regulation Raises Concerns over Spying TVs and Obsolescence
Kenrya Rankin: [CN: Racism; carcerality] Report: Black Men Sentenced to Substantially Longer Time in Prison Than White Men
Sue Kerr: [CN: Sexual harassment and assault] Saying #MeToo for My Own Sake Because I Can't Count on You
Dr. Punita Rice: [CN: Racism] The Problem with Apu Is a Problem with America
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Just to Be Clear
[Content Note: Rape culture.]
There has been an enormous amount of "defense" of Al Franken that looks an awful lot like abuse apologia (because it is), and I don't have the energy to debunk each fetid thread, but I do want to say this: Al Franken admitted he posed for the photo we've all seen of his hands hovering on or over Leeann Tweeden's breasts, and I am amazed (not really) at how many people are okay with that photo.
She alleged much more than just what was captured in the photo, but, even if it were only the photo, the thing to which Franken has confessed and for which he's apologized, I am not okay with that.
I don't care if she's wearing a flak jacket and if he's not touching her and if if if all the other things that are supposed to mitigate the photo, even the claim that she was "in on it," because even if all those things were true, that's still a photo of a man who thinks that pretending to molest a sleeping woman is hilarious.
Jokes about sexual assault ("rape jokes") are not just a matter of taste. Irrespective of whether one finds them amusing, or tolerable, or whatever, and regardless of the intent of the people who make them, rape jokes serve a very particular purpose: Communicating to abusers that sexual assault is okay, and validating their belief that everyone commits abuse.
They are not neutral. They empower abusers.
So even if, as many of Franken's fervent defenders argue, it was just a "stupid photo," that "stupid photo" is still a big goddamned problem.
I don't trust any man who believes that rape jokes are funny. I can't.
It's not because I'm a "humorless feminist." It's because I have a zero tolerance policy on upholding the rape culture.
Daily Dose of Cute
"Is it me?!"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 302
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Here are some things in the news today:
Earlier today by me: Somebody Struck a Nerve!
There is just so much news regarding Russian interference and associated investigations today. I'm sure I didn't even manage to collect all of it, but here's a heaping helping...
Natasha Bertrand at Business Insider: Senate Judiciary Committee: Kushner Forwarded Emails About a 'Russian Backdoor Overture and Dinner Invite'. "Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, forwarded emails about a 'Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite' to Trump campaign officials and failed to produce those emails to the Senate Judiciary Committee, two senators on the committee said in a letter to Kushner's lawyer on Thursday. Kushner also failed to produce emails he was copied on involving communication with the anti-secrecy agency WikiLeaks and with a Belarusian-American businessman named Sergei Millian, the senators said. Millian most recently headed a group called the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce."
Esme Cribb at TPM: Mueller Issued Subpoena to Trump Campaign Officials in October. "Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is overseeing the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, issued a subpoena in October to more than a dozen members of [Donald] Trump's campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter, that Mueller requested documents and emails from a number of top officials on Trump's campaign, but did not ask any of them to testify before his grand jury. According to the report, the subpoena was a surprise to Trump's campaign, which is providing documents on an 'ongoing basis' in response."
Michael Gerson at the Washington Post: The Russia Investigation's Spectacular Accumulation of Lies. I strongly disagree with Gerson on just about everything, including a significant part of this piece, lol, but this is a good observation: "In all of this, there is a spectacular accumulation of lies. Lies on disclosure forms. Lies at confirmation hearings. Lies on Twitter. Lies in the White House briefing room. Lies to the FBI. Self-protective lies by the attorney general. Blocking and tackling lies by Vice President Pence. This is, with a few exceptions, a group of people for whom truth, political honor, ethics, and integrity mean nothing." Yep!
Tucker Higgins at CNBC: Russian Ambassador Says He Won't Name All the Trump Officials He's Met with Because 'the List Is So Long'. "Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak said on Wednesday that it would take him more than 20 minutes to name all of the Trump officials he's met with or spoken to on the phone. ]First, I'm never going to do that,' he said. 'And second, the list is so long that I'm not going to be able to go through it in 20 minutes.' Kislyak made the remarks in a sprawling interview with Russia-1, a popular state-owned Russian television channel. ...[H]e also joked about American investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, called [Donald] Trump 'witty,' and said that U.S.-Russian relations were worse than at any point since the end of the Cold War."
Abigail Tracy at Vanity Fair: The Ex-Spy Behind the Trump-Russia Dossier Left a Clue for Mueller.
In December of last year, Steele informed Luke Harding, a journalist for the Guardian, that "the contracts for the hotel deals and land deals" between Trump and individuals with the Kremlin ties warrant investigation. "Check their values against the money Trump secured via loans," the former spy said, according to a conversation detailed in Harding's new book, Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win. "The difference is what's important."Josh Meyer at Politico: Papadopoulos Claimed Trump Phone Call and Larger Campaign Role. "George Papadopoulos claimed last year that Donald Trump telephoned him to discuss his new position as a foreign policy adviser to his presidential campaign and that the two had at least one personal introductory meeting that the White House has not acknowledged. Papadopoulos also claimed that he'd been given a 'blank check' to choose a senior Trump administration job and authorized to represent the candidate in overseas meetings with foreign leaders, and at a campaign event in New York."
According to his book, Steele did not elaborate on this point to Harding, but his implication was clear: it's possible that Trump was indebted to Russian interests when he descended Trump Tower's golden escalator to declare his candidacy. After the real-estate mogul suffered a series of bankruptcies related to the 2008 financial crisis, traditional banks became reluctant to loan him money—a reality he has acknowledged in past interviews. As a result, the Trump Organization reportedly became increasingly reliant on foreign investors, notably Russian ones. As Donald Trump Jr. famously said in 2008, "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."
The significance of such transactions is not lost on Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Tom Winter and Julia Ainsley at NBC News: Does Cooperating Witness Have Info on Flynn Tie to Turkey? "A gold trader who is close to Turkish President Recep Erdogan is now cooperating with federal prosecutors in a money-laundering case, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, and legal experts say prosecutors may be seeking information about any ties between the Turkish government and former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn. Reza Zarrab, a dual Turkish-Iranian national, faces charges in federal court in Manhattan for skirting sanctions on Iran by allegedly moving hundreds of millions of dollars for the Iranian government and Iranian firms via offshore entities and bank accounts. But Zarrab is now out of jail and speaking to prosecutors — a move Erdogan had been desperately hoping to avoid."
Allegra Kirkland at TPM: 5 Points on the Cleric Targeted in Mike Flynn's Shady Dealings with Turkey. "The focus of former national security adviser Mike Flynn's tangle of business dealings with Turkey is one man: Fethullah Gulen, an ailing septuagenarian Muslim cleric who lives in a Pennsylvania compound. Plenty of ink has been spilled about the hundreds of thousands of dollars Flynn received to produce negative PR materials about Gulen and about Flynn's alleged discussions with Turkish officials about forcibly removing him from the U.S. What's received less attention is why Turkey would take such extraordinary steps to take down the aging cleric, and why President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government thought Flynn would be able to facilitate them."
Ari Berman at Mother Jones: Hillary Clinton on Trump's Election: "There Are Lots of Questions About Its Legitimacy".
A year after her defeat by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton says "there are lots of questions about its legitimacy" due to Russian interference and widespread voter suppression efforts.Ben Popken at NBC News: Russian Trolls Duped Global Media And Nearly 40 Celebrities. "What do [Donald] Trump, CNN anchor Jake Tapper, The Washington Post, Breitbart, and Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter, all have in common? They and nearly 40 celebrities and politicians were all roped into retweeting or otherwise engaging with accounts created by a Russian 'troll factory' to millions of followers, according to a new exclusive analysis. Over 3,000 global news outlets also inadvertently published articles containing embedded tweets by the confirmed Kremlin-linked troll accounts in over 11,000 news articles in the run-up to the 2016 election, separate exclusive reporting shows."
In an interview with Mother Jones in downtown Manhattan, Clinton said Russian meddling in the election "was one of the major contributors to the outcome." The Russians used "weaponized false information," she said, in "a very successful disinformation campaign" that "wasn't just influencing voters, it was determining the outcome."
Republican efforts to make it harder to vote, through measures such as voter ID laws, shortened early voting periods, and new obstacles to registration, likewise "contributed to the outcome," Clinton said. These moves received far less attention than Russian interference but arguably had a more demonstrable impact on the election result.
...She noted that this was the first presidential election in more than 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court gutted the law in a 2013 ruling, and 14 states had new voting restrictions in effect for the first time. "So many places have really tried to make it as difficult as they possibly could for young people, for African Americans, the elderly, to vote," she said.
For Clinton and others who question the legitimacy of the election results, particularly due to Russian interference, there's not an obvious next step. "We don't have a method for contesting that in our system," she said. "That's why I've long advocated for an independent commission to get to the bottom of what happened."
Phew! In other news...
Brian Fung at the Chicago Tribune: FCC Repeals Decades-Old Rules Blocking Broadcast Media Mergers, Possibly Easing Way for Sinclair-Tribune Deal. "Federal regulators rolled back a series of decades-old regulations on Thursday, in a move that will make it far easier for media outlets to be bought and sold — potentially leading to more newspapers, radio stations, and television broadcasters being owned by a small handful of companies. The regulations, eliminated in a 3-2 vote by the Federal Communications Commission, were initially put in place in the 1970s to ensure that a diversity of voices and opinions could be heard on the air or in print." This is bad. This is very, very bad.
Aggelos Petropoulos and Richard Engel at NBC News: A Panama Tower Carries Trump's Name and Ties to Organized Crime. "Ventura did sell the initial units, and later hundreds more. He is now a fugitive. In May 2009, Ventura was arrested in Panama for real estate fraud, unrelated to the Trump project. Mauricio Ceballos, a former financial crimes prosecutor in Panama who investigated Ventura, said that dozens of complaints against Ventura crossed his desk accusing him of double- and triple-selling apartments, both at the Trump Ocean Club and other developments. ...The investigation revealed no indication that the Trump Organization or members of the Trump family engaged in any illegal activity, or knew of the criminal backgrounds of some of the project's associates. But Ventura said that the Trumps never asked any questions about the buyers or where the money was coming from."
[Content Note: Targeting dissidents] Breanna Edwards at the Root: Texas Motorist Whose Vehicle Boasts Profane Anti-Trump Sticker Arrested on Previous, Outstanding Warrant. "Nothing to see here. Nothing at all. It's just that a Texas motorist whose truck caught a lot of attention in the past 24 hours over a bold sticker in its rear window declaring, 'FUCK TRUMP AND FUCK YOU FOR VOTING FOR HIM,' has since been arrested." Like I keep saying, targeting dissidents is a central feature of authoritarian regimes. Brace yourselves for more of this.
[CN: Sexual harassment] Caitlin MacNeal at TPM: Florida Dem Chair Resigns After Allegations of Inappropriate Comments. "Florida Democratic Party Chair Stephen Bittel resigned on Friday after several women accused him of making inappropriate comments and leering at them, creating an uncomfortable work environment. In a statement announcing his resignation, Bittel apologized to 'all who have felt uncomfortable during my tenure.' Six women who spoke with Politico said that Bittel made suggestive comments, invited women on his private plane, remarked that women were attractive, and had stress balls in his office shaped like breasts. 'There was a lot of boob stuff in his office,' one woman who encountered Bittel while working as a fundraiser told Politico. 'I was told by other women not to go into his bathroom. I was warned.'" Rage.
[CN: Sexual harassment] Seth Abramovitch at the Hollywood Reporter: Transparent Star Alleges Jeffrey Tambor Sexually Harassed Her, "Got Physical". "[Trace Lysette], who is transgender, is the second on the Transparent payroll to come forward with allegations that Tambor, 73, has subjected them to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and generally abusive behavior on the set of the critically adored series. The first accuser, Van Barnes, is a trans woman who worked as Tambor's personal assistant, and whose allegations have led to an internal investigation by Amazon Studios." Seethe.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Fat Fashion
This is your semi-regular thread in which fat women can share pix, make recommendations for clothes they love, ask questions of other fat women about where to locate certain plus-size items, share info about sales, talk about what jeans cut at what retailer best fits their body shapes, discuss how to accessorize neutral colored suits, share stories of going bare-armed for the first time, brag about a cool fashion moment, whatever.
* * *
On my way out the door for Iain's birthday dinner recently:
He never tells me when he's about to snap the picture, which is why I'm not smiling, lol; it was actually a very enjoyable evening!
The boots I'm wearing are the ones previously featured in this series (three years ago!), which I got at SimplyBe. The dress is ModCloth's Idea Exchange Sheath Dress in navy, which I purchased on clearance for $19.97! It's no longer available in navy, but it is still available in coral, in limited sizes.
(I'm not getting anything from ModCloth or Simply Bee in exchange for writing about these items. I just really like them!)
I absolutely adore this dress. It's so easy! Just throw it on, add a necklace and some nice boots or shoes, and I feel like a million bucks. If it's not exactly the best twenty dollars I've ever spent, it's close!
This pic isn't the best lighting to show off the colors, but I carried a bright coral purse with it, which was a terrific pop of color against the sedate navy.
Anyway! As always, all subjects related to fat fashion are on topic, but if you want a topic for discussion: What's your favorite bargain piece in your closet?
Have at it in comments! Please remember to make fat women of all sizes, especially women who find themselves regularly sizing out of standard plus-size lines, welcome in this conversation, and pass no judgment on fat women who want to and/or feel obliged, for any reason, to conform to beauty standards. And please make sure if you're soliciting advice, you make it clear you're seeking suggestions—and please be considerate not to offer unsolicited advice. Sometimes people just need to complain and want solidarity, not solutions.
Somebody Struck a Nerve!
An interesting scene at the Senate Finance Committee meeting during which the Republican's garbage tax plan was under discussion: Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown called out that the plan is just a giant piece of class warfare designed to redistribute wealth upwards, and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch was not happy about it.
Sherrod Brown really takes the fight to Orrin Hatch here. No Trumpian namecalling or low blows. Instead focusing on the GOP helping only the ultra-rich. Judging by how mad Hatch got, Brown hit a soft spot. pic.twitter.com/WxDFb8ipHB
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) November 17, 2017
SENATOR SHERROD BROWN: —Senator McCaskill and Senator Casey and Senator Stabenow and Senator Nelson are voting against a four thousand dollar raise that this tax cut is going to bestow on them. We know it's coming. We know you'll have way more money to promote that than we will have to defend it, but that's why the Wyden Amendment's so important. And I just think it would be nice, just tonight, before we go home, to just acknowledge, well, this tax cut really is not for the middle class; it's for the rich. And that whole thing about higher wages, well, it's a good selling point, but we know companies don't just give away higher wages. They don't just give away higher wages, just 'cause they have more money. Corporations are sitting on a lot of money now; they're sitting on a lot of profits now. I don't see wages going up. So, just spare us, spare us the bank shots, spare us the sarcasm and the satire—A lot of the truth, apparently.
[crosstalk]
SENATOR ORRIN HATCH: I'm gonna just say to ya that, ah, I come from the poor people. And I've been here working my whole stinking career for people who don't have a chance. And I really resent anybody saying that I'm just doing this for the rich. Give me a break! I think you guys overplay that all the time, and it gets old. And frankly ya oughta, ya oughta quit it!
BROWN: Mr. Chairman, the public believes it.
HATCH: [holds up his hand] Wait a minute, just — I'm not through!
BROWN: Okay.
HATCH: I get kinda sick and tired of it. True, it's a nice political play, but it's not true.
BROWN: Well, Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, I get sick and tired of the richest people in this country getting richer and richer—
[crosstalk; calls to order]
HATCH: [bangs gavel] Listen! I've honored you by allowing you to spout off here. And what you said was not right! That's all I'm saying. I come from the lower middle class originally! We didn't have anything! So don't spew that stuff on me! I get a little tired of that crap. And let me just say something — if ya didn't, if we worked together [hits hand on table] we could pull this country out of every, every mess it's in! And we could do a lot of the things that you're talking about, too. And I think I've got a reputation of having worked together with Democrats!
BROWN: Let's start with CHIP.
HATCH: Not starting with CHIP. I did it — I've done it for years. I've got more bills —
BROWN: Start with CHIP today.
HATCH: I've got more bills passed than everybody on this committee put together! And they've been passed for the benefit of people in this country. Now all I can say is: I like you personally very much, but I'm telling ya, this bullcrap that you guys throw out here really gets old after awhile. To do it right at the end of this [hits hand on table] was just not right! And I just — it takes a lot to get me worked up like this!
If Orrin Hatch doesn't like Democrats accusing Republicans of carrying water for the wealthy, then maybe he should consider not carrying water for the wealthy. Just a thought! https://t.co/kidIukH4tx
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) November 17, 2017
FYI
I do not now, nor will I ever, give a single infinitesimal shit about anything Donald Trump has to say about sexual assault, unless it's an apology to his victims.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) November 17, 2017
And I don't mean a fake-ass shit apology. I mean a real one.
Which he would never give in ten bajillion years.
So, in other words, I will never care, ever, about anything Trump has to say about sexual assault. The end.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker alanaskye: "Which famous/well-known people, alive or dead, would you like to be at a dinner party you hosted? (This question prompted by an interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton in a free magazine handed out in my city and other cities across the UK every Wednesday; I found myself thinking that I would love to meet her.)"
That is an interminable list, but, since I'm deep into watching One Mississippi on a loop lately, I'll just say: Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne.
Discussion Thread: How Are You?
The news continues to be a lot. I am still just over here deep-breathing, trying to get through it.
I'm stuck right now on this feeling of what I can only describe as social betrayal. I don't know how we are supposed to function when there is virtually no safe space anywhere for half the population.
That's not new, of course. I'm just feeling the weight of it more heavily than usual.
How are you doing?
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
House Republicans Pass Their Deplorable Tax Bill
House Republicans have passed their version of the tax bill, which would deliver a massive tax break to the wealthy, explodes the deficit, guts the Affordable Care Act, and includes "personhood" language that lays the groundwork for an outright abortion ban.
They were really excited about it, too.
Applause breaks out as House Republicans pass their tax plan, clearing hurdle in GOP effort to reshape the tax code by end of the year. pic.twitter.com/gZuUA0POLJ
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 16, 2017
Just a roomful of miserable scoundrels cheering the passage of their wealth redistribution upwards plan. https://t.co/3ljB5GCcU4
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) November 16, 2017
Now the Senate will vote on their plan, so now is the time to start calling and let your Senators know that you don't want them to pass this deplorable plan to concentrate wealth even further in the hands of corporations and the wealthy, destroy healthcare, and plunge the country deeper into debt.
We need Americans to speak out now more than ever. Senate Rs are still deliberating their plan, and they don’t yet have the votes. Call your senator TODAY to tell them NO tax plan that raises middle class taxes, attacks health care, and blows up the deficit. 202-224-3121. https://t.co/h0licRSphB
— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) November 16, 2017
Senate Republicans are going to do everything they can to give Donald Trump the legislative win that has eluded him for the first 300 days of his presidency.
Time to urgently make a shitload of noise to discourage them.
We Resist: Day 301
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
My time has been completely consumed today with the Al Franken news and being obliged to address the overwhelming pushback I'm getting, so, with my apologies, I'm just going to go ahead and publish this without my usual curated collection of news, as I've just not had the opportunity to prepare it.
I'll drop some links in comments as I have time.
As always, please share in comments whatever you've been reading that we need to resist today.
Senator Al Franken Accused of Sexual Assault
[Content Note: Sexual assault.]
Leeann Tweeden has shared her story of being sexually assaulted by Senator Al Franken on a USO tour in 2006. Her account includes a photograph of Franken groping (or nearly groping) her breasts while she was asleep on the trip home.
Tweeden describes being coerced into rehearsing a skit Franken had written during which they kiss. During that rehearsal: "We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he 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. I immediately pushed him away with both of my hands against his chest and told him if he ever did that to me again I wouldn't be so nice about it the next time."
Franken then harassed her "with petty insults, including drawing devil horns on at least one of the headshots I was autographing for the troops." And, on the flight on the way home, he posed with his hands positioned over/on her breasts for a photo taken by the official photographer. Tweeden wasn't even aware it had happened until she "was back in the US and looking through the CD of photos we were given by the photographer."
So, to be clear, Tweeden reports that not only did Franken sexually assault her; he then humiliated her.
Before I continue, I want to note that there is a lot of debate about whether Franken was actually touching Tweeden in the photo. I am not going to host that debate here: 1. Because it's a distraction; 2. Because it's garbage to insist there's no problem with that photo as long as he wasn't physically touching her; and 3. Because it's ridiculous to me that anyone would assume if he wasn't touching her in the photo that means he didn't touch her at all. We literally cannot know, because she can't tell us, as she was asleep.
Moving on.
In response to Tweeden's account, Franken issued a statement reading: "I certainly don't remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it."
That statement is insufficient in a number of ways, but most of all because including an argument that sexual assault could ever be "funny" is fairly damning.
Presumably, there will be a more comprehensive response from Franken. [ETA. A longer statement has now been issued.]
At the moment, I just want to make two brief observations about how Franken fits into the larger moment of abuser exposures:
1. Al Franken in particular feels like a huge betrayal. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that. And he joins a long line of progressive men who spoke out on behalf of women who have betrayed us: Eliot Spitzer, Anthony Weiner, John Edwards... The more men do this, the more women will feel like we have nowhere to turn and no one to trust, especially as long as men continue to disproportionately hold positions of power.
2. I am seriously freaked out by the thought that there are a whole lot of men whose takeaway at the moment is that sexual assault is so ubiquitous and so without consequence, aside from possibly a few days of public shame, that there actually isn't any meaningful risk to sexually assaulting women.
Please note, as always, that rape apologia, including and especially victim-blaming, is a violation of the commenting policy. Comments containing such will be removed and their authors banned.
Hillary Clinton Warned Us — And She's Warning Us Again
Hillary Clinton sat down for an interview with Mother Jones' Ari Berman, and this clip has been released as a teaser. In it, Clinton warns about how appointing a Special Counsel to investigate her would be a dangerous politicization of the Justice Department, from which the nation might not easily recover.
Clinton warned us about Donald Trump, about Putin, about resurgent white nationalism. She was right. She's right again. I hope we have the good sense to listen this time, but I suspect that, once again, we won't.
ARI BERMAN: As you know, [Donald] Trump has tried to flip the script and now says the Justice Department should be investigating you. [laughs]
HILLARY CLINTON: Mm-hmm.
BERMAN: And this week we learned that Attorney General Sessions is considering a special counsel to probe the Uranium One deal and alleged conflicts with Clinton Foundation. What's your reaction to this?
CLINTON: You know, I regret deeply that this appears to be the politicization of the Justice Department and our justice system. This Uranium One story has been debunked countless times — by members of the press; by independent experts. It is nothing but a, you know, false charge that the Trump administration is trying to drum up in order to avoid attention being directed at them.
I mean, even Trey Gowdy — somebody who's hardly a fan of mine — said that, you know, there doesn't seem to be the basis for a special counsel. And of course there isn't.
But if I try to take myself out of it — which, you know, is kinda hard, because it's personally offensive that they would do this — but taking myself out of it: This is such an abuse of power. And it goes right at the rule of law.
As Secretary of State, I went around the world bragging about America's rule of law; that we were a nation of laws, not of men; and, you know, the justice system was blind, and, obviously, you know, we were proud of that, but we always had to be vigilant to make sure that it remained so.
And if they send a signal that we're gonna be like some dictatorship, some authoritarian regime, where political opponents are going to be unfairly, fraudulently investigated, that rips at the fabric of the contract we have, that we can trust our justice system.
And with all of our problems — and you know them and I know them — ultimately we have to stand up for that, and we have to believe that, and we have to fix the problems when they occur and when justice is denied.
But moving into the political realm is something that we've never seen. And it will be incredibly demoralizing to people who have served in the Justice Department, under both Republicans and Democrats, because they know better.
But it will also send a terrible signal to our country and the world that somehow we are giving up on the kind of values that we used to live by and that we used to promote worldwide.
BERMAN: So you have a lot of experience with special counsels. [chuckles]
CLINTON: Yeah.
BERMAN: I mean, how concerned are you about a special counsel investigating you? I mean, is this something that you're preparing for?
CLINTON: I'm not concerned, because I know that there's no basis to it. I regret if, you know, they do it, because it will be such a disastrous step into politicizing the justice system. And, at the end of the day, nothing will come of it, but it will, you know, cause a lot of terrible consequences that we might live with for a really long time.
Two More Women Accuse Roy Moore of Assault
[Content Note: Sexual assault.]
Sabrina Siddiqui at the Guardian reports:
Two more women have come forward to accuse Roy Moore of sexual assault, with one claiming the controversial Alabama Senate candidate gave her a forceful kiss that scared her when she was around 18 and another saying Moore groped her buttocks in his law office in 1991, when she was 28.Not only is Roy Moore an aggressive creep; his stalking, harassment, and abuse of women and girls was clearly abetted by an enormous number of people.
...Richardson told the Post she was a senior in high school when Moore first approached her at the Gadsden Mall in the fall of 1977, just before or after her 18th birthday. Moore, then around 30 years old, asked for her phone number and the name of her school.
Richardson said when she declined to give Moore her number, he called her school days later and asked to speak with her — prompting her to be pulled from her trigonometry class to take the call from the principal's office.
With each new disclosure of Moore's harm, his numbers drop in the polls. Naturally, Republicans are scrambling to figure out what to do to retain the seat and their slim Senate majority.
GOP leaders are considering a lot of different options regarding that Alabama Senate seat. Not among them is conceding the seat and reexamining their deplorable lives. https://t.co/O20mrS6axV
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) November 16, 2017
Lots of plans. None of them decent. There is no such thing as decency in the Republican Party anymore. Which was evident long before Roy Moore became a Senate candidate.
