Minnesota Senator Al Franken was accused of grabbing constituent’s buttocks during photo ops and of pretending to grope the breasts of a fellow comic in a photo. He is resigning and has been disgraced. Meanwhile, Alabama senatorial candidate nearly won the special election and is viewed by the right as a hero. The difference? The more repentent you are, the more you get punished for sexual assault or harassment.
Politicians who are directly responsible for the murders of thousands of women walk away scot-free. Meanwhile, though to grab a few asses face the destruction of their careers. No intelligence is arguing that sexual harassment is acceptable, but let’s get serious: if women are important, shouldn’t their lives be important too?
As sexual harassment accusations proliferate against prominent man, especially in workplaces, don’t be surprised if you see some men shying away from any interaction with women.
Many men, especially those who think that they may have misbehaved with women in the past, are living in fear, wondering whether or not that they are going to be charged or accused of sexual harassment. While there is definitely a tendency to overcorrect in situations like this, the idea that living in fear is new is kind of laughable.
One after another, there have been important moments during which a national conversation about sexual harassment prompted political observers to believe that society had turned decisively against a culture of systemic sexual harassment in the workplace and elsewhere. Yet those moments always faded. Is the post-Harvey Weinstein moment different? Only the future will tell.
North Korea now has the ability to strike the western United States with an intercontinental ballistic missile. It’s hard to know with the leader of the hermit kingdom is thinking, but the odds are, it’s probably not that important which West Coast city the United States loses to a North Korean missile attack. So if we can have a little input, it would be really awesome if we could offer some suggestions.
When Republicans passed a tax cut plan for the super rich and huge corporations, they claimed that deficits weren’t really important anymore, that the economic stimulus would be more than enough to make up for the over $1 trillion cost. But then when the price tag just wouldn’t go away, they change their story and said that — after they passed the tax cut plan — it would be time to cut spending. Naturally, the spending that they wanted to cut were from Democratic Party programs, not things that they care about like the bloated defense budget.
President Donald J Trump is like the weird new boyfriend or husband in your life who can’t let go of his insane jealousy of your ex-husband or ex-boyfriend. From executive orders to the environment itself, he is determined to get rid of everything that Barack Obama ever did. But it’s like, this guy is president! Why doesn’t he just move on?
The Republican tradition of trying to undermine a cabinet department by putting a secretary in charge who opposes its central mission goes back to the Reagan administration. But Donald Trump has greatly accelerated that. These days Rex Tillerson is getting a lot of attention as Secretary of State for getting the department of state at a time when diplomacy has never been more critical. He is refusing to replace important officials within the state department bureaucracy and he is encouraging people to quit without replacing them. It’s a strange strategy, and not one that is likely to work if history is a guide, but here it is nevertheless.
It is tempting, if you are a member of the upper class, to look down on people who lineup for Black Friday in order to try to score discounted electronic appliances and what not. But, judge not lest you be judged.
