Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. — Picasso
Al Franken and Ted Kennedy
I’m old enough to remember when a U.S. senator could actually kill a woman and not only NOT resign but be considered a legislative luminary, the lion of the Democratic party.
(If you’re not old enough to remember that, google “Ted Kennedy.”)
I’m hearing that Sen. Al Franken will be resigning his seat within the next day.
The last straw was an allegation from a woman who said that Franken, before he was a senator, appeared to be about to kiss her and she moved away:
He was between me and the door and he was coming at me to kiss me. It was very quick and I think my brain had to work really hard to be like ‘Wait, what is happening?’ But I knew whatever was happening was not right and I ducked. I was really startled by it and I just sort of booked it towards the door and he said, ‘It’s my right as an entertainer.’
Her brain “had to work really hard.”
Franken categorically denies the allegation but that hasn’t stopped an avalanche of senators from calling for his resignation, none of whom apparently have ever in their life tried to kiss someone who wasn’t interested.
Satan and Ted Kennedy must be having a good laugh together. Those were the good old days, Ted. Pass the Jameson . . .
A Visit to Stahl House
Presumption of Guilt
But some female lawmakers, like New York’s Kathleen Rice, have begun to ask why elected officials aren’t being drummed out like their private sector counterparts.
“You see the actions that CBS, NBC take when there are allegations against very well-known men in positions of power, and we don’t do the same,” Rice said. “I think it’s a disgrace.”
“Allegations.”
She’s talking about Al Franken and John Conyers. The Franken case has photographic evidence, so the allegations against him are provably true.
But Conyers vehemently denies the allegations made against him. Why should he be “drummed out”? Why is there a presumption of guilt?
Anyone who’s ever been alone with another person can be the subject of allegations. Why is there a presumption in favor of the accuser?
A case study on false allegations, which you probably remember if you’re old enough, is the McMartin preschool trial:
Members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, were charged with numerous acts of sexual abuse of children in their care. Accusations were made in 1983. Arrests and the pretrial investigation ran from 1984 to 1987, and the trial ran from 1987 to 1990. After six years of criminal trials, no convictions were obtained, and all charges were dropped in 1990. When the trial ended in 1990, it had been the longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history — Wikipedia
When charges were finally dismissed against one of the defendants, teacher Ray Buckey, he had been jailed for five years.
Matt Lauer’s Secret Sex Lair!
Lauer’s private office at storied 30 Rockefeller Plaza contained a secret button that could essentially turn that office into a secret sex lair. — Fox News
The “secret button” closed the office door and locked it, if the doorknob was in the locked position.
If closing the door and locking it turns an office into a “secret sex lair,” isn’t everyone’s office a secret sex lair?
I read elsewhere that Lauer’s behavior included “luring” female employees to his office. How is “luring” different from inviting? Did he drag around a nice pair of shoes on a fishhook?
One more: according to Variety, “despite being married, Lauer was fixated on women, especially their bodies and looks.”
Ask not for whom the bell tolls . . .
Who Will Be Left to Scold the Scolders?
Some of the questions Matt Lauer asked Bill O’Reilly during their Today Show interview on Sept. 19:
[Your accusers] came forward and filed complaints against the biggest star at the network they worked at. Think of how intimidating that must have been, how nerve-racking that must have been! Doesn’t that tell you how strongly they felt about the way they were treated by you?
Over the last six months since your firing, have you done some soul searching? Have you done some self-reflection? And have you looked at the way you treated women that you think now or think about differently now than you did at the time?
You were probably the last guy in the world that they wanted to fire because you were the guy that the ratings and the revenues were built on, you carried that network on your shoulders for a lot of years. So doesn’t it seem safe to assume that the people at Fox News were given a piece of information or given some evidence that simply made it impossible for you to stay on at Fox News?
Every Form of Harassment is Okay — Except One
How did we decide that sexual harassment is the one category of workplace abuse, incidences of which require national outrage and loss of employment?
Ideally, we would all have the prudence and restraint not to make sexual advances toward people over whose career we hold sway, but it happens.
And yet we’ve all been harassed and ill-used in the workplace in other ways by someone more powerful, someone who negatively impacted our career by embarrassing us, intimidating us, undermining us, lying to us, lying about us, stealing the credit for our work . . . it goes on and on.
Rarely do negative consequences accrue to the harasser.
Steve Jobs, for example, was known for being abrasive, dismissive, shouting down colleagues, blaming others when things didn’t work out and occasionally wrapping himself in glory that rightly belonged elsewhere.
Did this torpedo his career? Hardly. He’s an American icon.
(In other Pixar news, John Lasseter likes to hug people. He’s now a pariah.)
Bill Gates never hesitated to tell people how dumb they were and how stupid their ideas were. In spite of this, Gates also managed to have a good career.
You can fill in your own additional examples. There are plenty to choose from.
Like sexual harassment, the options for dealing with other forms of workplace harassment are 1) report it; 2) quit; 3) decide that you need or want the job enough to remain silent and take what’s dished out.
I’ve usually taken option 1 or 2. Maybe I would have had a better career with more frequent exercise of option 3 . . . false pleasantries toward people I didn’t like, faux respect toward people I didn’t respect . . .
Thus spoke The Programmer.
Slut-Shaming: It’s Not Just For Women Anymore
Some of the recent sexual misconduct allegations seem serious enough to warrant adjudication in a courtroom, but a lot of them sound like what would be called slut-shaming if the targets were women.
(Slut-shaming is the practice of criticizing or attacking [wo]men for having casual or promiscuous sex, acknowledging sexual feelings and/or acting on sexual feelings. The implication is that if a [wo]man engages in sexual activity that traditional society disapproves of, [s]he should feel guilty and inferior.)
Joe Barton is the congressman from Texas whose nude photo was posted online, apparently by a jealous ex-girlfriend. (That link goes to an NPR story, not to the actual photo. I’m sure you can find the photo if you want to but be advised that Barton is overweight and 68 years old.)
Some facts are in dispute, but everyone agrees that the photo was posted (by someone) after Barton told the woman he would report her to police if she posted the photo.
The Washington Post reported the Barton story with a headline that made him sound like the villain:
Congressman on tape tells woman he would report her to Capitol Police because she could expose his secret sex life
“Secret sex life”! Isn’t everyone’s sex life secret — other than porn stars?
Let’s flip the sexes: A man threatens to post an explicit photo of his ex-girlfriend, she threatens to report him to police, and he posts the photo anyway. Where do our sympathies lie?
With the woman, right? We don’t support revenge porn because we’re not deranged sociopaths.
Slut-shaming is not just for women anymore . . .
A Breakdown of Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Another day, another batch of sexual misconduct allegations . . .
I would put these into two categories:
- Allegations that should be adjudicated in a court of law, like rape and anything involving a person below the age of consent.
- Everything else: unwanted sexual advances, lewd remarks, etc.
In some states, like Alabama, the age of consent is 16, so a sexual advance aimed at a 16-year-old in Alabama would be in Category 2. A sexual advance toward a 14-year-old would be in Category 1, even in Alabama.
Category 1
Regarding Category 1, I’m hearing things like “We went out for drinks, I invited him home and he raped me, and then on a later occasion, we went out for drinks again and I invited him home and he raped me again.” Or “I went home with him, he raped me, I spent the night, and we had consensual sex the next morning.”
If women are going on second dates with rapists and having consensual sex with rapists, I’m not sure I even know what rape is anymore. In any case, rape allegations should be addressed in a court of law. Due process, appropriate remedies, etc.
(As an aside, I hope it’s not out of line in a blame-the-victim way to say that if I had a daughter, I’d advise her not to go to someone’s home, apartment, hotel room, frat house bedroom — i.e., any place where there will be no independent witnesses — unless you’re confident that you can handle anything that might happen there. Actually, as I read that over, it seems like good advice for sons as well.)
Category 2
Is there any way to know ahead of time if a sexual advance is wanted or unwanted? Even with your wife or girlfriend, you don’t always know, right? You could ask — e.g., “Can I kiss you?” — but even that’s a sexual advance, isn’t it?
If having made an unwanted advance or lewd remark at any time within the last 40 years is a crime, we’ll all hang side by side. And not just the men. It’s gonna be a swingin’ party!
You might say that I don’t really understand the female point of view on this topic. But the targets are not all female . . .
When I heard a man report that Kevin Spacey “forcefully put his hand on my genitals,” I thought “So apply a forceful rejoinder to his genitals. That should clear the air.”
Al Franken grabbed my ass at the state fair 10 years ago.
I’m not a fan of Al Franken as a comedian or as a senator, but why are incidents like this worthy of national attention?
We’ve all had hands on our genitals, hands on other people’s genitals, with varying degrees of enthusiasm and gratification. We all have conflicts, impulses, disappointments . . . things happen that we don’t like.
We act on impulses sometimes in ways that are clumsy, crude, inelegant, insensitive . . .
Again, let’s adjudicate the Category 1 cases in the courthouse, but with no sexual advances, there’s no sex. An advance is made, accepted or declined. Let’s move on.
See You in Hell
[See You in Hell is a feature by our guest blogger, Satan — PE]
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Charlie Manson says hi.
See you in Hell . . .
The Emperor’s New Clothes
I see plenty of clothes that I like
But I won’t go anywhere nice for a while
All I want to do is just sit here
And write it all down and rest for a while
Our Most Valuable Asset
The annual “People First” awards were given out at the office today. I don’t mean to be cynical but I was reminded of an old Dilbert comic . . .
Who Will Scold the Scolders?
Oh my! Pants! Are around my ankles!
Of all the smug moralizers in the world, I can’t think of one offhand who can out-smug George Takei. He’s gay, you know, which gives him an elevated moral perch from which to sermonize and pontificate. You don’t like it? Are you a homophobe?
The recent surge in sexual harassment accusations among celebrities and media members, who are themselves usually the ones most likely to be dealing out the admonishments to our nation’s deplorables, is a schadenfreude booster, but it does raise the question of who will be left to scold the scolders?
Crossing the Border
It takes so little, so infinitely little, for a person to cross the border beyond which everything loses meaning: love, conviction, faith, history. Human life — and herein lies its secret — takes place in the immediate proximity of that border, even in direct contact with it; it is not miles away, but a fraction of an inch.
Good Morning Midnight
Good Morning—Midnight—
I’m coming Home—
Day—got tired of Me—
How could I—of Him?Sunshine was a sweet place—
I liked to stay—
But Morn—didn’t want me—now—
So—Goodnight—Day!I can look—can’t I—
When the East is Red?
The Hills—have a way—then—
That puts the Heart—abroad—You—are not so fair—Midnight—
I chose—Day—
But—please take a little Girl—
He turned away!
Cross to Bear
We are nailed to ourselves. Each of us is our own cross to bear.
White Privilege vs Gender Privilege
A USC doctoral student at the School of Social Work has filed a lawsuit against the university and professor Erick Guerrero, alleging USC did not impose disciplinary actions that she found sufficient after investigating a sexual harassment complaint she filed in January.
Professor Guerrero says the student, Karissa Fenwick, is taking advantage of “her life of white privilege.” Fenwick counters that white privilege in this case is trumped by Guerrero’s gender privilege.
Women or minorities — who are the most victimized victims?
Female Code Breakers Who Helped Defeat the Nazis
Politico tells us that more than 10,000 female “cryptoanalysts” were enlisted by the U.S. Army and Navy to help crack Nazi codes and ensure the Allies’ victory in World War II , but until now they have been mostly overlooked by history. (Politico: The Female Code Breakers Who Helped Defeat the Nazis)
OK, but male code breakers have been overlooked by history too, haven’t they?
Name a few famous male code breakers. Name one. Don’t say Alan Turing, he was British.
Thomas Jefferson: Bush 41 Calls Trump a “Blowhard”
Stinging rebuke from a one-term president who won the White House on the coattails of Ronald Reagan!
Read my lips: Hurry up and die.
I dislike Republicans and Democrats equally. It’s a choice between which gang of thieves you want to be robbed by.
Elect a Democratic president and get four years of trench warfare against Republicans. Elect a Republican president and get four years of trench warfare against Democrats.
One of the things I like about President Trump: Democrats don’t like him, Republicans don’t like him, nobody likes him except the people who voted for him, and that’s enough.
The Pearl
A raindrop, dripping from a cloud,
Was ashamed when it saw the sea.
‘Who am I when there is a sea?’ it said.
When it saw itself with the eye of humility,
A shell nurtured it in its embrace.