I'm not a fan of Toobin but considering this would be an obvious career buster not to mention deeply humiliating...it's probably safe to say this was a terrible accident and shouldn't end the guy's career.
The other account upthread, however...yikes.
I also think it's inappropriate to conflate in one story the account of abuse and his enjoying himself in a sex club, gtfo w/ that
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:18 (three years ago) link
I don't think it's been established that the Zoom call was a sex club.
― Alba, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:26 (three years ago) link
No, a separate event.
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:30 (three years ago) link
Meanwhile, another source claims that Toobin definitely seemed to enjoy his research in 2008, when he visited the Miami Velvet swingers club while reporting a New Yorker profile about political consultant Roger Stone.
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:31 (three years ago) link
That's bullshit reporting
horny and bad with technology, it's a tough combination
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:33 (three years ago) link
Sorry, I was just amusing myself with the thought of a New Yorker sex club involving election war games.
― Alba, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:37 (three years ago) link
right over my head!
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:45 (three years ago) link
I am not clear what exactly went down (or up) with Toobin's tube.
But. Am I the only person thinking the following thought? There is a specific personality type for which the risk of discovery is part of the thrill. And the level of transgression is also part of the point. It's adjacent to obsessive-compulsive behavior (though not synonymous).
A sensible person is thinking: why not wait till later? Whereas I think the kink in this case may be more like "Wow this is so risky / so wrong / so dangerous to my position in respectable society."
Not my kink, personally, but applying normal-person logic to it may not work.
― they see me lollin' (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:49 (three years ago) link
psychologizing someone's kinks based on something like this just seems...who knows?
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 01:58 (three years ago) link
the election simulation is WAY more embarrassing than accidentally (I think) jerking off on a zoom meeting
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:07 (three years ago) link
Toobin's most recent long NY story on the failures of the Mueller investigation reminded me what I liked about his reporting: crisp, well-sourced, able to condense complexity. His book on the 2000 election has the same virtues.
Toodles, Jeff.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:09 (three years ago) link
yeah
i mean i'm sure masha gessen had fun playing trump but what exactly were they supposed to learn from this
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:09 (three years ago) link
never to trust Toobin's boxers over Zoom
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:11 (three years ago) link
i don't think he was being transgressive, i think he was bored off his ass and thought he was jerking off some other forum, based on the reporting that people thought that *he thought* he was on a different zoom call.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:11 (three years ago) link
Well, we know what they did end up learning
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:11 (three years ago) link
'harvard guys jack it'
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:12 (three years ago) link
xps:
Seems it was an in-house replay of the Transition Integrity Project's June wargaming of the post-election.
― Sanpaku, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:14 (three years ago) link
Running a table top exercise always seems at least mildly absurd from the outside. I’d guess they were trying to come up with likely narratives for reporting & commentating on the election so everyone could have an angle heading into the big night.
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:16 (three years ago) link
Perhaps he was actually jacking it while browsing ILXor on a different computer and forgot which was which. Happens to me all the time.
― they see me lollin' (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:17 (three years ago) link
"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you said this was the erection stimulation call!"
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 02:19 (three years ago) link
Wanking at the wonkfest
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 04:09 (three years ago) link
conde nastay
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 04:41 (three years ago) link
GOLD
― assert (MatthewK), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 06:40 (three years ago) link
lol
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 12:27 (three years ago) link
Best joke I've seen on Twitter:
New Yorker sub-editors forced to correct every instance of it to "zoömdick".— Kieran Healy (@kjhealy) October 20, 2020
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 12:36 (three years ago) link
This thread is gold:
This seems to have been an accident not an intentional act. Of course I would react differently to an in person transgression— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) October 20, 2020
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 12:54 (three years ago) link
I mean honestly I have rubbed one out in the work bathroom a few times in my life, p sure I’m not a sexual predator. And anyone who refers to being at home as being “at work” just because of WFH can go lick a boot.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 13:06 (three years ago) link
Jeff Toobin does in fact have some creepy tendencies but let’s not use that to support some new kind of hyper- capitalist Puritanism.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 13:08 (three years ago) link
But have you ever excused yourself early from a meeting just to go do that?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 13:09 (three years ago) link
Gender breakdown on my FB feed:
Women: WTF IS WRONG WITH MEN Men: erm well
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 13:38 (three years ago) link
And anyone who refers to being at home as being “at work” just because of WFH can go lick a boot.
...
I take you're the guy who shows up on videoconference calls shirtless?
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 13:39 (three years ago) link
xp tipsy: Mitchell and Webb touched upon this a decade ago.
― Sanpaku, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 13:46 (three years ago) link
I don’t think toobin was shirtless for the whole call
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:00 (three years ago) link
lol this thread sucks
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:06 (three years ago) link
are you all like.... kidding?
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:09 (three years ago) link
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, October 20, 2020 6:06 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
having... work boundaries... is bootlicking... ok
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:12 (three years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 13:09 (one hour ago) link
lol of course not. I'm just saying let's not leap from Jeff Toobin is a creep to "Throughout the entirety of working hours, you must act as though you are at work even when you are at home" just to have a righteous take on twitter.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:16 (three years ago) link
I have to laugh because this:
"Throughout the entirety of working hours, you must act as though you are at work even when you are at home"
is nearly verbatim from our company's HR department about their expectations for us WFH during the pandemic.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:18 (three years ago) link
man i take showers in the middle of the day when i work from home but i do not jack it directly at the camera
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:19 (three years ago) link
Especially in the kind of job such as journalism where "working hours" are not some clearly defined thing where you punch a clock at 9 and punch out at 5
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:19 (three years ago) link
psyched we have developed a righteous class critique around dude jacking it at the camera
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:20 (three years ago) link
i'm with ymp on this one tho, he wanted to be caught
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:21 (three years ago) link
I mean... it is not unreasonable to say that one should refrain from masturbating in the middle of a work call. Dude was LITERALLY working when he decided to, well, put in some work. This merits all the mocking in the world and is not a slippery slope you know what, I would like to retract that last phrase given the context
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:22 (three years ago) link
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:22 (three years ago) link
Look, Toobin clearly thought he had switched over to the jacking it conference call from the election strategy conference call, who among us
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:23 (three years ago) link
In fairness, I understand how he could have confused them
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:24 (three years ago) link
The coup de grâce was not just getting caught in the act, but then reportedly pointing the camera down, as if to say, oh, hey, let me relieve you of any benefit of the doubt.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:26 (three years ago) link
"I know what you *think* you saw, but I want to be sure you *know* what you saw."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:27 (three years ago) link
I liked this one better.
what will they do if he reëxposes himself— dead wailing (@tewhalen) October 19, 2020
(Why would you spell it "zoömdick"? That's not how diaereses work.)
― jaymc, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 14:35 (three years ago) link