Saturday, November 18, 2017
16 Women Have Accused Donald Trump of Sexual Misconduct
By now everyone knows about the Roy Moore sexual scandal and Moore's denial of any wrongdoing. Also, by now everyone has heard about the accusations involving Senator Al Franken by Leeann Weeden, and now another woman, Melanie Morgan, has come forward with accusations of sexual harassment, but I haven't read what those specific accusation are.
Sen. Franken has apologized to Weeden for his behavior, and she has accepted the apology and added that she doesn't believe he should resign from the US Senate.
Both of these women are Trump supporters, Morgan is an avid Tea Party follower. Another curious fact is that political operative Roger Stone knew about the Weeden accusation and tweeted about it before it became public.
What does this all mean? I don't know, but I think Sen. Franken's call for a Congressional inquiry on the charges against him is a good idea.
The difference in these stories and accusations is that in Roy Moore's case, the women said they were Trump supporters who voted for him. The women now accusing Sen. Franken are also Trump/Tea Party supporters. We need to find out more about this.
Meanwhile 16 women have accused Trump of sexual harassment, unwanted kissing, touching, and in a couple of cases rape.
Where are the calls for an inquiry into Trump's sexual predations?
Trump tweeted about Sen. Franken's accusations, but was silent about Moore's accusers. He referred to Sen. Franken as "Frankenstein," something an adolescent jerk would do, but then, isn't that what trump is?
Until we investigate the charges by the 16 women who've come forward and accused Trump of sexual misconduct, Trump should keep his little itchy Tweety fingers to himself. Every time he goes after anyone being accused of sexual misconduct, it only points to his own dirty past. If Congress investigates Sen. Franken, they need to investigate Trump. The accusations against him are far, far worse.
WHEN HAS TRUMP BEEN ACCUSED OF RAPE OR ATTEMPTED RAPE?
ALLEGATIONS INCLUDE A CHILD, HIS WIFE AND A BUSINESS ASSOCIATE
"Trump has been accused of rape and attempted rape a total of three times, once involving an alleged victim who was a year younger than Moore's accuser.
In 1994, Trump went to a party with Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire who was a notorious registered sex offender, and raped a 13-year-old girl that night in what was a "savage sexual attack," according to a lawsuit filed in June 2016 by "Jane Doe." The account was corroborated by a witness in the suit, who claimed to have watched as the child performed various sexual acts on Trump and Epstein even after the two were advised she was a minor.
"Immediately following this rape Defendant Trump threatened me that, were I ever to reveal any of the details of Defendant Trump’s sexual and physical abuse of me, my family and I would be physically harmed if not killed,"
Jane Doe wrote in the lawsuit, filed in New York. The lawsuit was dropped in November 2016, just four days before the election, with Jane Doe's attorneys citing "numerous threats" against her."
[skip]
A former Trump business associate, Jill Harth, claimed in a 1997 lawsuit the New York real estate mogul “attempted rape” and groped her without her consent on various occasions. In the suit, Harth described a violent encounter at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, in which Trump allegedly threw her against the wall of one of his children’s bedrooms before lifting up her dress.
"It was a shocking thing to have him do this, because he knew I was with George [her partner], he knew they were in the next room," she recalled in an October 2016 interview with The Guardian. "How could he be doing this when I'm there for business?"
In the pre-election interview, Harth maintained her allegations against Trump despite having withdrawn her lawsuit against him after he settled a separate suit her partner filed over a business dispute.
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20 comments:
As America continues to be "treated" with what is becoming an almost 24/7 non stop news frenzy.
What does it all mean? I certainly can't answer the question. I have a strong sense it isn't going to turn out well however.
Are we being conditioned by forces we're not even at this point aware of?
I'm beginning to think it a possibility.
Cultural norms of a society are set by the people in charge. Tolerance or rejection of unwanted sexual advancements is also set by them. Until Trump answers for the multiple accusations and self-admitted sexual improprieties, and abuse of women, no meaningful progress can be made.
Shaw... we've been over this before. All the women accusing Trump are lying. He said so.
Somehow though, all the women accusing Clinton are, to listen to the GOP, are to be believed.
And yet no one can annunciate a rational hermeneutic as to why we should believe one set of accusers and not the other.
As for Franken, is it possible this was a one off? A mistake? Has he been chastened enough to be reclaimed, like Sen Byrd? Perhaps, with the investigation we will find out. Regardless, his chances of being President are now toast.
Perhaps so Jerry.
As I look at the history of humankind I've simply arrived at the inescapable conclusion that the more things change the more they stay the same. I say this specifically with respect to human nature. Although some philosophy holds There is no such thing as human nature.
A broad view of the human condition leads me to the conclusion that while given specific brief periods of enlightenment humankind is incapable of changing permenantly and therefore it ultimately matters not who is in power.
But for a brief instance in time do any of us have and opportunity to make a difference. Then poof. we're gone.
Technology and science moves us forward. Human nature is bound to a primal connection and its influence is inescapable. There always has been and there always will be bad and evil humans.
The struggle between good and evil is eternal. The best anyone can do is to strive to stay on the side of good.
Only 16? Oh boy he must be slowing down
Dave: Regardless, his chances of being President are now toast.
But didn't the American people vote Trump president despite the Access Hollywood tape, which is far,far worse than what Franken is accused of?
An investigation sure would clear this up, so I'm all in favor of one. As is Franken.
Meanwhile you should read conservative John Zeigler's article about this controversy:
I Loathe Al Franken, But It Sure Seems Like He is Getting Totally Railroaded
by John Ziegler | 1:52 pm, November 16th, 2017
/
My comment: "Obviously, the woman doesn't know the difference between fantasy and reality. Franken's theatrical leer, after asking someone to grab a camera, and his floating none-touching hands over her breasts are obvious signs of play acting. As for the alleged kiss, I'd really like to hear Franken's version. None of what she says fits this former comedian's and current senator's pattern of behavior. Unlike some, he always appears to treat women with the utmost respect
Excepting for the religious right, I am as horrified as everyone else over any incidents of actual sexual abuse, especially those involving young teens, but I don't see it here. As for the kiss, who knows? I'd be willing to hear his version. [sorry for the repetition.]
If Tweeden is telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, I'll be the first to apologize. If she's not - and there are a lot of red flags here - then she's hurting, not helping, the real victims as well as destroying a man's marriage and career. "
What I didn't say is that I smell a payoff and a plant. The GOP hate the man's guts and are out for revenge because he dared to win his seat fair and square, because he's proven to be smart as hell, and because certain members of their own party can't keep their hands where they belong or their graphite zippers zipped.
You know what's funny? Watching the Republicans fall all over themselves trying to explain and excuse Roy Moore's child molesting habit. It's not just his dirty behavior it's also his breaking the law twice and being thrown off of the state supreme court for breaking the law! The GOP has sunk deeper into the sludge in continuing to support a creep like Moore. And no, what Franken did is not comparable. Not at all.
Longtime Bay Area radio anchor Melanie Morgan: Al Franken harassed me over political argument. [excerpt] She said the harassment consisted of Franken aggressively trying to continue the argument off air and repeatedly calling her personal phone number to "badger" her.
Note that she is not saying the harassment was sexual. I saw her on the MSNBC, the question of whether the alleged harassment was sexual in nature was directly asked, and she said no.
According to the Conservative Blogger Silverfiddle, "Franken's picture was disrespectful, his unwanted kissing her was a disgusting - albeit relatively tame - assault, but you cannot feel a woman's boobs through kevlar body armor. You'll just have to trust me on that one". Although he goes on to write that "Roy Moore got rolled by a well-planned attack". As per an American Spectator article SF quotes "nobody with anything truthful to say" hires Gloria Allred (whom FT refers to using the "c" word).
Needless to say I agreed with Silverfiddle's comment about Franken (though not what he said about Moore). When I said this on FT's blog, he called me a "Leftist Bastard" and told me to get lost.
The Melanie Morgan claim against Franken appears to have no substance.
From the Merucry News:
"Melanie Morgan, a longtime Bay Area conservative radio anchor, claimed Thursday that she was harassed with phone calls by Al Franken (D-Minn) in 2000, following a contentious debate on Bill Maher’s ABC late-night show “Politically Incorrect.”
Morgan, a former host on conservative talk station KSFO, made the allegations on Media Equalizer, a blog she co-founded. She said the harassment consisted of Franken aggressively trying to continue the argument off air and repeatedly calling her personal phone number to “badger” her."
Hardly sexual aggression. Does sound like a conservative trying to pile on.
If Franken is responsible for more than the instance he has apologized for it will likely come out.
In the meantime neither Moore nor Trump have seen fit to apologize.
Repeatedly calling a person's personal phone numder for any reason if it is a) unwanted and b) the person asked for the calls to stop is harassment, albeit in the described circumstances it is not SH.
The floodgates have been opened, prepare for the inevitable flood.
Dervish and Ducky, it is useless to argue with those people because they reside in an alternate universe that has no connection to reality. A majority of Americans has rejected them and the malignant narcissist they support.
Sixteen! women have come forth with allegations of sexual misconduct agaianst Trump; several women have come forth with allegations against Moore and his sexual assault against them while they were teens, and those folks are concentrated on Franken. That tells us all we need to know about them and their "Christian values."
It shows me that they have only political values that excuse predatory males when they have an "R" after their names and that morality is fungible to them. Look at the self-identified serial adulterer and sexual assaulter they put in the White House.
The once proud Party of Lincoln is dead; it's now the Party of Trump. And nothing will wash away that shameful stain for generations to come.
L.P. and Anonymous, Franken has called for an investigation into Weeden's allegations, and I've read that she's on record declining it. Why is that? We now know the Melanie Morgan claim has nothing to do with sexual misconduct, so, so far, there is only one woman coming forward, Weeden, with her allegation of sexual misconduct.
Normally, when a man has "happy hands," he usually doesn't stop at one, there usually more women out there (see Trump and Roy Moore) who've been violated.
I wonder why that is so in Franken's case.
I wonder why that ISN'T so in Franken's case.
Nicholas Kristof on the red blue divide.
As we watch Roy Moore thumping his Bible to defend himself from accusations of child molestation, let me toss out a verbal hand grenade: To some degree, liberals practice the values that conservatives preach.
This is complicated terrain with lots of exceptions, and the recent scandals involving Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K. and Al Franken underscore that liberals can be skunks as much as anyone else. Yet if one looks at blue and red state populations as a whole, it’s striking that conservatives champion “family values” even as red states have high rates of teenage births, divorce and prostitution. In contrast, people in blue states don’t trumpet these family values but often seem to do a better job living them.
Let us not forget that in addition to the many women who have accused Trump of sexual assault. We have Trump on tape admitting to sexually assaulting women. https://youtu.be/NcZcTnykYbw
I'd hardly lump Franken in with Weinstein and Louis CK. Otherwise I agree.
Possumlady
(I had to clear my cache on my phone but it seems to have lost my Possumlady login and I have no idea how to get it back 😢)
Possumlady, I wish I knew how to help with that. The best advice I can give you is to find a 12-year old. They know everything.
And yes, Franken's one-time bad behavior (that we know of) isn't the same as what we know about a self-admitted sexual predator like Trump and other serial predators like Moore and CK.
Here's something interesting I just read:
Alabama's Largest Newspaper Endorses Doug Jones; Calls on Alabamians to Reject Roy Moore
Did any of us in our lifetimes ever believe that the party of "family and religiouis values" would support sexual assaulters like Trump and Moore? And yet to the hypocrites, they are heroes! OMG!
From the editorial:
As a news organization, we have independently investigated stories of several Alabama woman who have spoken to us and the Washington Post about the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Roy Moore decades ago.
The seriousness of these incidents, including one involving a 14-year-old child, cannot be overstated. [...]
Do not let this conversation be muddled. This election has become a referendum on whether we will accept this kind of behavior from our leaders. [...]
How can we look our neighbors, our parishioners, our colleagues, our partners, or our children in the eyes and tell them they are worth less than ensuring one political party keeps a Senate seat? How can we expect young Alabamians to have faith in their government or their church, when its leaders equivocate on matters as clear cut as sexual abuse?
A vote for Roy Moore sends the worst kind of message to Alabamians struggling with abuse: "if you ever do tell your story, Alabama won't believe you."
The paper concludes with a strong endorsement of Democrat Doug Jones.
There is only one candidate left in this race who has proven worthy of the task of representing Alabama. He is Doug Jones.
Why is Sen. Gillibrand throwing a turd in the punch bowl?
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