Weinsteins step down as Miramax CEOs

http://people.com/celebrity/al-gore-accused-of-sexual-assault/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/al-gore-cleared-former-vp-baffled-by-sex-assault-allegations/

One of the reasons the judge gave for dropping the charges was "Celebrity issues."

vegemite girl and la lechera otm

i was being hyperbolic of course but at the same time if you can’t see mel gibson’s holiday tentpole or xxxtentacion’s upper echelon festival bookings as capitulating to the “well gotta follow the money, i guess!” moral-compass abdication that led to the other situations described above happening in the first place idk what to say

like there’s incremental change and then there’s immediate public relations cleanup followed by the same old bullshit, and i’m worried that the future will bring more of the latter.

Yeah the Gibson thing is infuriating, also the double standard when it comes to rappers & sexual assault, why are Kodak Black and xxxtentacion still getting coverage

probably inadvertently appropriate casting that he's playing Mark Wahlberg's dad in that film tbh.

xposts:

The hypotheticals aren't about what would have happened in 2000 with Al Gore, but what signal it would have sent regarding treatment of women. Also, I just like that the article is honest and well researched, whereas for instance the atlantic piece disingenuously hid the timeline so that it wasn't clear who defended Clinton from what. Which was then used to blame women for defending Clinton for the Broaddrick allegation, which became public later.

It's just really powerful the way everything is distilled down to what is absolutely not in dispute, and then saying that's already enough for a resignation.

burn it all down imo

'burn it all down' is a sentiment, not a plan. but I'm ok with burning it all down, as long as there are still books to read in the new paradise found.

If we're burning it all down, can we use Weinstein as kindling?

Why doesn’t the electorate in New York or California have any say in this? Has anybody thought about that? Protect your fucking citizens and workers.

Systems to be burnt down in no particular order, for not preventing or stopping this cancer

1. Executive branch
2. Religion
3. Capitalism
4. The Press
5. unions
6. Courts
7. Legislative branch
8. Multinational hotel / hospitality rings
9. Studio cartels
10. Drug cartels
11. Capitalism again
12. Private healthcare
13. Every possible level and form of govt below the federal
14. Extradition treaty networks
15 etc

It’s OK your eyebrows might grow back one day

I’ll punch myself to sleep now.

There go our heroes

Breaking: @LeeannTweeden, the morning anchor of KABC radio, says Senator Al Franken kissed and groped her without her consent. https://t.co/yNoQhZVNFJ

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 16, 2017

"I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way"

Depressing. Its a damning photo, and while there's no visible contact, I think I'd like to hear context from someone else in the room.

I hate to mention it, but Tweeden is a conservative commentator, and Tweeden conferred with Roger Stone of all people before the story came out:

Roger Stone says Senator Al Franken's time in the barrel is about to come #sexscandal

— Stone Cold Truth (@StoneColdTruth) November 16, 2017

Ugh, did not know about the Stone connection.

Ties in with this story from last week about Breitbart's Coming Exploitation of the Believe Women Movement.

yeah... I want to be extremely careful about being That Guy but I am hopeful we'll hear more from other sources on this one

If Franken could put up a better "defense"...would he?

well he is a democrat

even if it's a right wing smear job he's fucked

yea Tweeden was one of the hosts of Red Eye for a while wasn't she? I hate to go there as well but there's a chance this has been in someone's pocket for a while

If it happened in 2006, imagine the impact if the pic would have surfaced in Franken's election campaign. Those 314 votes (and Senate majority...) seems even tighter.

would like to see an oppo research nuclear war break out in the Congress

^^ That's the thing. No need to mute Stone as much as having everyone go for broke.

I mean, Stone is the one who lined up the Bill Clinton women at the last Presidential debate.

an oppo research nuclear war break out in the Congress

I doubt it would confine itself to just ridding us of the 'bad' people, after which the good would triumph and peace would reign. Seems to me the result would be a humpty-dumpty situation, where Congress would altogether cease to function as an institution. For all time.

Franken's statement is really as good as I think it could be, under the circumstances, calling for an ethics investigation on himself (and preempting others).

If the Believe Women movement is to be cynically exploited by the Roger Stones of the world, we can expect ambitious politicians will start adopting policies like Mike Pence's, to have a minder with them at all private meetings, with the insinuation that some women and men will make shit up.

Imagine having "politician chaperone" on your resume.

If the Believe Women movement is to be cynically exploited by the Roger Stones of the world,

this was an inevitable and smart move. calling for an ethics investigation is pretty absurd considering there's a picture

look who's jumping on the "burn it all down" train

Honestly the Senate should just expel itself and start over.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 16, 2017

Well there were probably witnesses. Unfortunately, the other people on that tour were Mark Wills (country singer, NRA Life Member), Darryl Worley (country singer, performed at Trump's inaugural), Keni Thomas (country singer and vet, featured on Christian Broadcasting Network), and members of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

imo the left is uniquely susceptible to the use of harassment/abuse charges as a political cudgel since their constituents (both political and in media/hollywood) actually care about the charges whereas the right can rely to some extent on embedded structural patriarchy (esp in religious circles), and just general distrust of liberal institutions to get a pass (tho obv the right hasn't been totally spared from recent revelations). not to say this should have any bearing on whether predators should be called out - just something to keep in mind that the left's decency on this issue can/will be used against them.

Roger Stone's an idiot for tweeting that out

As I said upthread, his brother was also on this tour. The most memorable thing about the story I was told was the two crates of oysters from Le Baron Rouge that O (who lives in Paris) sorted for a formal dinner.

just something to keep in mind that the left's decency on this issue can/will be used against them

Something like that, anyway.

Look he better have done it the way she said or I'll have gotten totally outraged for nothing

Meanwhile...

Old Vic says 20 men made allegations against Kevin Spacey https://t.co/FGF4nXoCdN pic.twitter.com/vN1syHQAuP

— The Age (@theage) November 16, 2017

next year Americans will find institutional murder by the USG just as offensive as molesters, I can feel it

this thread is a growing monument to the left's moral superiority

take it to the rolling politics thread

i am all for talking abt the shitty predatory behaviour of politicians but all other shit that goes along with that is just sneering windbaggery that has no place here

thank u

ok but that Al Franken photo is gross af

did someone say otherwise?

i don't know, do you think so? i am stating my opinion for the record. i feel strongly about this. if i was there on the helicopter i would have told him to cut that shit out, that is not cool. we are going to joke about non consensual sexual acts 2 years after Abu Grahib. ffs

Well there were probably witnesses. Unfortunately, the other people on that tour were Mark Wills (country singer, NRA Life Member), Darryl Worley (country singer, performed at Trump's inaugural), Keni Thomas (country singer and vet, featured on Christian Broadcasting Network), and members of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

― Sanpaku, Thursday, November 16, 2017 2:52 PM (nine hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wtf is this? this the "she was dressed sexily"/"he was smoking weed/a thug" of the left? these redneck hick country singers and cheerladers are from the dilapidated small towns that produce volunteers for our armed forces. these yokels are on this mission for their country just like the great Hollywood liberal and he is the one being a huge jerk.

what are you trying to say? i think it goes without saying everyone in this thread finds the photo repulsive

yeah is this just like a weird emphatic "I agree with everyone" tantrum or

I don't know that Adam's being unclear - Sanpaku is saying that the other people on this tour are Republican 'types' / people whose careers depend on love from Republicans, so are not likely to come forward with any potential mitigating context. And Adam's calling them out on this.

Lol funny that when you go on tour to entertain the occupation army in Iraq, most of your colleagues will be right wingers.

I dunno, maybe this fact should have induced some self-reflection in Franken at the time.

tl/dr: sexual harassment not his most serious crime here

That is a stunningly bad take.

yeah you can't apply tl:dr to a 2 sentence post jfc

i ate a sandwich

tl;dr: i ate