Buzzfeed has acquired what it says are the documents showing the settlement and the ludicrously biased procedure: "a grinding, closely held process that left the alleged victim feeling, she told BuzzFeed News, that she had no option other than to stay quiet and accept a settlement offered to her."
“I was basically blackballed. There was nowhere I could go,” she said in a phone interview. BuzzFeed News is withholding the woman’s name at her request because she said she fears retribution....The procedure also requires the complainant to continue working during 90 days of this counseling and mediation, so not only are you forbidden to talk to anyone about your troubles, but you have to keep working under the conditions you're saying are abusive.
Congress has no human resources department. Instead, congressional employees have 180 days to report a sexual harassment incident to the Office of Compliance, which then leads to a lengthy process that involves counseling and mediation, and requires the signing of a confidentiality agreement before a complaint can go forward.
This woman ended up with a settlement of just a little over $27,000, and she also lost her job and had to keep silence. I guess the power differential and the fear were so great that $27,000 was a good amount of money to her. I mean, look what she says he did:
On one occasion, she alleges that Conyers asked her to work out of his room for the evening, but when she arrived the congressman started talking about his sexual desires. She alleged he then told her she needed to “touch it,” in reference to his penis, or find him a woman who would meet his sexual demands. She alleged Conyers made her work nights, evenings, and holidays to keep him company.There was also evidence of a pattern of behavior, with affidavits from 3 other staff members. One can only wonder what other evidence was not seen because of past settlements with obligations to keep silent — not seen by the complainant. Conyers knows what's in his own history, and that's another element of the power differential. He knows how much he's got to hide. She's just a young person who needs to get a footing in her career and probably worries that her word against his won't be believed, which is probably part of why she was selected for the special workplace treatment that is sexual harassment.
In another incident, the former employee alleged the congressman insisted she stay in his room while they traveled together for a fundraising event. When she told him that she would not stay with him, she alleged he told her to “just cuddle up with me and caress me before you go.”
“Rep. Conyers strongly postulated that the performing of personal service or favors would be looked upon favorably and lead to salary increases or promotions,” the former employee said in the documents.
One affidavit from a former female employee states that she was tasked with flying in women for the congressman. “One of my duties while working for Rep. Conyers was to keep a list of women that I assumed he was having affairs with and call them at his request and, if necessary, have them flown in using Congressional resources,” said her affidavit. (A second staffer alleged in an interview that Conyers used taxpayer resources to fly women to him.)
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124 comments:
what looks like an egregious case of sexual harassment (replete with retaliation)
You have to subtract out the antiharassment gain from being hired for being a babe.
Conyers' wife was in prison at the time for bribery on the Detroit City Council. Maybe he was lonley.
The perfect Democrat power couple.
Dear Colleague,
Please pay no attention to claims against us.
Sincerely,
Congress
The examples that Democrats and the press, most of them still working today, surely hung over her head, and the heads of other victims.
A second staffer alleged in an interview that Conyers used taxpayer resources to fly women to him.
The left believes we won't survive a tax cut.
John Conyers is 88 years old.
I remember a clip from his 72nd birthday party with Bill Clinton "joking" about Conyers and Chelsea.
Some female Member of Congress, preferably the famous RINO Olympia Snowe, should introduce a resolution of expulsion on the matter of John Conyers.
These are the people the left wants to have more power over us.
It has to be said that most if not all the females in congress who were "champions" of women's workplace rights were conspicuously silent and confined there criticism to the private sector, with the exception of media entertainment and news.
"She's just a young person who needs to get a footing in her career and probably worries that her word against his won't be believed."
I sympathize, but this is no profile in courage.
Politician still held in high regard while (female) spouse is in jail.
For a brief moment there I thought we were talking about the Clintons.
As the harassment witch hunt makes clear, Noonan was right: we have been patronized by our inferiors for years.
Where will it all end? Will we end up hearing accusations against former Presidents?
Kakistocracy.
This is really outrageous, but I fear nothing will change and nothing happens to Conyers.
His bet is that this is media overload on sex harassment cases.
Yeah, nothing will happen to the miscreants in congress. They will eventually run out fellow congress critters who can claim righteous indignation.
A vote for expulsion would be refreshing -- but it'd never happen. Too many other guilty Representatives would be looking over their shoulders.
Could my disgust for Congress get any lower? I doubt it.
Obviously we need a new cabinet level department to properly plan and supervise sexual relations for all Americans. The department will issue permits, write regulations, collect fees and provide enforcement.
Congress will, of course, provide its own sexual supervision in-house.
Why is this stuff secret? Where is Paul Ryan? I'm sure the Speaker of the House has the power to unseal these records.
Why is the Conyers settlement not the crime of ghost employment?
Why is Lois Lerner's testimony sealed? Don't we have a right to know what government employees are doing?
Serious progs, if there are any left, will have to consider what we cons have always known: that feminist progressivism was a scam from the outset. It paraded the illusion of equality and support for abortion as preemptive absolution of male prog sins.
But the witch hunt involves miscalculations, at least in the sense that it entails unintended consequences: it hurts prog icons more than cons, it disables the double standard that had been progs' only standard, and it exposes the utter sham they have been perpetrating. It is a short step to think that everything they say and do, they say and do in bad faith.
What do Madame Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren know about this slush fund and when did they know it?
Chuck is on the ground in eastern Michigan. Any thoughts on this?
I am from western Michigan originally, and Conyers has been known throughout the state for his goatish behavior. My uncle was in Congress in the '60s and served with Conyers. There was lots of eye-rolling whenever his name was mentioned.
Kid Rock call your office.
Getting John Conyers on a charge of sexual harassment is like getting Al Capone on tax evasion.
Conyers was once picked up by Detroit Police standing in the middle of a street with no pants on. He disappeared for several weeks in the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. He impregnated one of his office staffers; then he married her, she left his Washington DC office and ran for Detroit City Council on his name recognition. She was later convicted of federal bribery charges and on her sentencing day, Conyers was in his office in the same federal building while she was in court. I'm not even sure but I think they are now divorced.
blackballed
Racist.
"One affidavit from a former female employee states that she was tasked with flying in women for the congressman. “One of my duties while working for Rep. Conyers was to keep a list of women that I assumed he was having affairs with and call them at his request and, if necessary, have them flown in using Congressional resources...."
Conyers could have hitched a ride on Clinton's (that would be Bill) Lolita Express. No taxpayer money!!!
Detroit has the representative it deserves.
@Quaestor Your sentiments are correct, but "Olympia!" retired a long time ago. The current Maine RINO is Susan Collins who, I think, may be worse than Snowe. Snowe was actually somewhat conservative. I think that may be why she gave up running in Maine. Collins, on many important issues, might as well be a Democrat. Maine, itself, is schizophrenic: a big group of liberal "incomers" in Portland, Augusta and Lewiston and rock -ribbed Republicans in most of the rest of the state.
How does this corrupt SOB get away with it for so many years?
...Conyers is a civil rights icon. He was lauded by Martin Luther King Jr. and is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Oh, right.
There was much doubt about whether Conyers was going to run in 2016. He had a primary challenger, whom he beat like a drum.
But when Conyers arrived at the Detroit Free Press offices for an election-season interview with the editorial board, he appeared incoherent and suddenly left the room without saying anything, leaving his staff assistant to answer the questions.
My strong suspicion is that this will be Conyers' last term.
Why is this stuff secret? Where is Paul Ryan? I'm sure the Speaker of the House has the power to unseal these records.
To ask these questions is to answer them.
Congress at work.
If Conyers was a Republican, then Chuck would be right. Chuck overlooked the (D) after Conyers’ name.
...he appeared incoherent and suddenly left the room without saying anything...
As others routinely demonstrate coherence isn't a requirement to hold the office.
"Conyers knows what's in his own history, and that's another element of the power differential. He knows how much he's got to hide."
Ugh. I don't like Conyers. He is a crook and his wife is a crook (she was serving time when som of this happened.) But this logic is McKinnon-like. The less we know the more we infer. Take a guy, aged 50, no pattern or history of abuse. He gets accused. The defense notes the lack of any history. Altkinnon, who would gleefully cite any known history as proof, replies "Only he knows how much he has to hide." Kafka.
"...that $27,000 was a good amount of money to her."
If only Congress was so stingy with all of the taxpayers' dollars.
I am Laslo.
I expect full reimbursement of the money he stole and expulsion over illegal use of taxpayer funds.
Conyers, being a "civil rights icon," always got special protection, of course, as did and do many of his buddies.
With the Clinton empire crumbling, more is to come.
Progs will have to consider, as some are now slowly beginning to do, that the singe most important factor harming women over the past generation has been Hillary Clinton.
Without her protecting Bill and demanding support in her quest for higher office, for the good of the cause, the dam would not have held this long.
Obviously a racist plot. Don't these women know that he was beaten up by some Democrats in the 60s?
"Buzzeed has acquired documents..." Well yeah, Mike Cernovich sent them the documents so I guess it can be said they acquired them. (They appear to be legit)
I've linked this before, but it's ever green.
https://buzzking.bandcamp.com/track/im-truly-sorry
I expect full reimbursement of the money he stole and expulsion over illegal use of taxpayer funds.
Bless your heart.
At best we'll see a retirement due to health issues.
"But this logic is McKinnon-like. The less we know the more we infer...Kafka." Seems to me you missed Ann's point. We don't know if he has a history, but he does. The complainant doesn't know that if she were to speak up, many other ladies might speak up as well, 'cause she doesn't know about the other ladies. That gives him power against her - even if he has a history.
I also think all staff people who coordinated these trysts at taxpayer expense need to be fired. Female or not, they were complicit in breaking the law.
John Conyers is 88 years old.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/viagra-ad/n35435?snl=1
Calling DC a swamp is unfair and unkind.
To swamps.
And the Lickspittle Media has aided and abetted this behavior by ignoring this stuff when it is done by people on the "correct" side of things.
Ha! Iowahawk is calling this "Dirtbag Bingo."
"My strong suspicion is that this will be Conyers' last term."
Probably but he will be voting into the next century,
“Longest serving member”
Heh
If Bill Clinton was MC-ing at the microphone at John Conyers' own birthday party in 2001 and regaling the party of Washington luminaries by trash-talking Conyers down to making suggestive remarks about his own daughter Chelsea, it is obvious that Conyers' behavior was well known and no one expected any adverse consequences from publishing this news-clip.
Another proud day for the bankrupt cities of Michigan: "We build excitement"
You'd think having a wife 35 years younger would keep him excited at home.
Anyway, he has the right of innocence before proven guilty. So let's prove him guilty and sue his ass to get the countries tax dollars back.
My strong suspicion is that this will be Conyers' last term.
If history is our guide, Conyers will not leave the senate until he leaves this world.
Thank you, Chuck. There are obviously more important [IMHO] issues of corruption here than sexual harassment. Sleazy is as sleazy does.
Hard to have a 35 years younger wife keep you excited when she's in prison.
I could not care less about his loneliness. I do care about his abuse of office.
And “Bless your heart” is demeaning to me, as it implies naïveté. I do not think I deserved that. I just think Paul Ryan has an opportunity to set some standards and examples here. Whether he sets them is anyone’s guess.
Beautiful women corrupt, beautiful young women corrupt absolutely.
You'd think--but you'd be wrong--that a law professor would rather discuss federal judges obstructing executive orders than old sexual harassment incidents.
My question: Where is the constitutionality of a 'sanctuary city'?
Whether he sets them is anyone’s guess.
Respectfully, that seems like naivete to me. There's no sign at all of any member of the political class setting any standards or examples.
Expel him.
"I just think Paul Ryan has an opportunity to set some standards and examples here."
I think this gets at the frustration many have with Congress.
The Democrats will protect their own. That is to be expected, if not admirable.
The Republicans will do nothing, because either:
They are protecting skeletons in their own closet, or
They prefer being in the Washington Club rather than doing what is right.
For the Republicans this too is sadly to be expected, if not admirable.
Life Long Republicans are little different than Life Long Democrats.
It is the Class, not the Party.
I am Laslo.
Wikipedia:
The Dean of the United States House of Representatives is the longest continuously serving member of the House. The current Dean is John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan who has served in the House since January 3, 1965 and is the first African-American Dean of the House. The Dean is a symbolic post whose only customary duty is to swear in a Speaker of the House when he or she is elected. The Dean comes forward on the House Floor to administer the oath to the Speaker-elect before the new Speaker then administers the oath to the other members. The Dean does not preside over the election of the Speaker, unlike the Father of the House in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the Dean of the Canadian House of Commons.
Because of other privileges associated with seniority, the Dean is usually allotted some of the most desirable office space, and is generally either chair or ranking minority member of an influential committee.
"My question: Where is the constitutionality of a 'sanctuary city'?"
Congress is a Sanctuary City. The regular laws do not apply.
Also: in a Sanctuary City you can masturbate wherever you want.
I am Laslo.
I just think Paul Ryan has an opportunity to set some standards and examples here.
My expectations are just so much lower than yours. Excuse my cynicism. He has an opportunity that he will not act on -- because the Speaker has to protect those with whom he serves, else he'll lose support.
I think Althouse should run a Poll on the next Pol to be tagged in this. I'm thankfully far enough removed from DC to not have heard the whispers that have shrouded Conyers. There must be others.
Mike R
Let's say we are playing poker. You don't know my hole cards. If you knew you could bluff me. That's part of my power over you?
Let's say we are negotiating a mortgage, you as lender. You don't know I waived the financing condition on my offer. If you knew you could get a higher rate. That's part of my power over you.
"...the longest-serving member..."
Excuse me while I whip this out!
I should think Conyers's hands were so busy stealing public money they would be unavailable for molesting women.
“I was basically blackballed..."
Can you say this about a black politician?
Even if the subject DOES include his balls?
I am Laslo.
Blogger MadisonMan said...
I just think Paul Ryan has an opportunity to set some standards and examples here
If only the Tsar knew!
Have we passed the Post office scandal in terms of impropriety yet? I don't think we can see it from here. Flying the young ladies back using government resources? I think we've reached the point of moving to a City Manager organization, Congress hiring the manager, writing goals, setting pay at whatever it takes to hire the best in the world and setting performance bonuses. The Constitution requires nothing beyond a Navy and a bicameral legislature. In the era of Twitter there's no requirement for Roman Era Diocese administration, done by word of mouth at the speed of horses and handwritten decrees where things always are scrambled by the so-called establishment. If we need an amendment to enter the digital era, so be it. Imagine the overhead that can be eliminated. Just compare the relative costs differences between regions of new governments created with city managers and not. They have near business like efficiency in so many ways. Staff, competing common suppliers, both within and without, nothing but goodness. But what about all the existing employees? Doesn't need to happen overnight. Let them age out of existence as well as have a standing offer to buy them out at the cost of what dead weight they will be through the end of their career, but you can start today by cutting out the middle men and women, just bypass them. Give them a nice office and a yellow pad and ask them to write the history of what they’ve done in office. For good fun, go set up a camera watching the young ladies in their tight cut skirts leaving the YWCA in the early morning and their appreciative audience of Congressional members and their staff sitting on the HART building entrance. Time go thru the Nunnery’s garbage and collect the calendars of members with various pictures of conquests crossed out, and then go ask the ladies was everything handled as adults, and subpoena to testify about improper use of government funds. Yes, this is our government, who needs it in the age of Twitter and Facebook? Communication, discussion and group decisions. Why complicate it to more than that? What about the vote? EasyPeasy. Use your credit card or some other form of "real ID" anonymized token even a made up one at the time of the vote to make multiple voting very hard, with the ability to verify your vote online, even though "you" is an abstract token you can see on your receipt, or write down yourself to look up the bundle of bits that are your vote. "oh, but people will sell their vote." But we've already been told by the experts there is no voter fraud to speak of because it's illegal, so this can't be a serious problem. So, what's stopping us? Ok, how many businesses vote to go out of business by eating their children? Not many, and those without the courage go out of business. But now that on the world stage we compete on education, business savvy, the cost of energy, merit and hard work, and the sand we put in the gears of progress the only thing that is stopping us our political will to escape from our masters who lord over us every opportunity. Enough for today. There’s a lot more. Just ask any freethinking individual who use today’s tools every day, including our largest businesses what they would do to escape the past.
Simon Cameron, Lincoln's first Secretary of War, was so corrupt that fellow Pennsylvanian Thaddeus Stevens said the only thing Cameron wouldn't steal was a red-hot stove. Cameron demanded an apology. "I was wrong," Stevens said, "when I said Cameron would not steal a red-hot stove."
It is the Class, not the Party.
They're all members of the same tribe (that being the DC ruling class), but within that tribe there are sub-tribes with at least ostensibly different sets of expectations and requirements. It's a bit more difficult to be a Republican swamp creature than a Democrat one, there's a much higher level of scrutiny and very little intra-party loyalty when you have an (R) in front of your name. But there's always loyalty to the overall tribe, which will often supersede the subtribal loyalties.
All that said, under normal circumstances I would agree that nothing much would happen to Conyers. But we're not living under normal circumstances, we're in the midst of a crazy upheaval in a season of madness. Every day the public is deluged with new allegations of horrible behavior by those who would pretend to be their betters. So I can't say for certain if he'll truly survive unscathed.
The current Dean is John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan who has served in the House since January 3, 1965
This man has been in Congress longer than i have been alive, and i'm 52!
My expectations are just so much lower than yours. Excuse my cynicism. He has an opportunity that he will not act on -- because the Speaker has to protect those with whom he serves, else he'll lose support.
I actually am aligned with your cynicism. Shouldn’t we still try? Or is that naive :)? I can certainly see that case....
RE: “I was basically blackballed..."
Ah. A quick Google and "Black Balled" is a Gay Porn Series.
It looks like they are up to Volume 8:
"Bent over the pool table, Dylan takes all ten huge black cocks, asking for more each time one top guy has finished. Watching one big black cock after another pummel Dylan's muscled white butt is porn movie gold. In addition to the arse pounding Dylan receives from the ebony studs, he has a mind-blowing intimate moment ..."
I take it the white 'Dylan' is not Bob Dylan. Because I don't think Bob Dylan has a "muscled white butt".
I hope this helps.
I am Laslo.
Trump's ability to drain the swamp is working better than anyone anticipated. Unless of course the good voters of Mr. Conyers district condone this sort of behavior, which I've been told couldn't happen in such a reliably blue district like this one. ..
Only the deplorable people of Alabama would ever do such a thing.
I read the news last night. I thought that it would be a big scandal. On the morning shows, it merited a brief mention but all the discussions were about Charley Rose and Roy Moore. I think even Al Franken got more discussion.......This should be the headline story, but I don't think the pundits and politicians know how to cover it or what attitude to strike while covering Conyers. Probably best to say nothing. Some stories snowball and some people get blackballed. Wait for the slow fade to oblivion. That's the best course.
A left wing site I read a lot, which makes great play of "Republicans behaving badly" has .... nothing. Nothing on any of the recent accused dems. Nada.
"Some stories snowball and some people get blackballed."
I have covered 'black balled' previously.
As far as 'snowball':
From wiki: "Snowball"(intransitive) To play at throwing snowballs. (transitive) To pelt with snowballs; to throw snowballs at. (intransitive) (sexual slang) To receive a man's ejaculate in one's mouth, and then to pass it back and forth between one's mouth and his.
I think what this shows is that whatever Congress and the Media do, someone is getting fucked.
I am Laslo.
Laslo Spatula said...
...
Life Long Republicans are little different than Life Long Democrats.
And speaking of perverts, along comes Laslo.
Laslo, for my part, I'd condemn all of the bad behavior without regard to party. If the wrongdoer is Clinton or Trump or Franken or Hastert or Studds or Conyers or Craig; I condemn them all.
What I see from a portion of the Althouse commentariat is special exculpation for Trump. So this Life Long Republican is like those few Democrats who are standing up to criticize their own. And this Life Long Republican is unlike the Trumpists who attack Bill Clinton but pretend that there are no allegations against Trump.
He used congressional funds to fly in women?
Michigan has a long way to go to catch up to Florida. We elected a judge to Congress AFTER he was convicted of corruption.
Here's the scary thing; Conyers is the Ranking Minority Member of the House Judiciary Committee. He'd be the Chairman, under the Dems' traditional/informal voting rules, if the Dems re-took the House.
Lol; imagine the House going to the Dems in 2018, and Conyers presiding over a Trump impeachment.
I don't expect it to happen. With current House districting, I don't think the Dems will get it back. And as I already said, I don't think Conyers will be back after 2018.
The Detroit Free Press detailed the brewing fight for the Chairmanship:
http://www.freep.com/story/news/2017/06/12/john-conyers-house-judiciary-committee/388997001/
LLR and "Accidental Leftist" Chuck: "Laslo, for my part, I'd condemn all of the bad behavior without regard to party"
LOL
LLR would really like to get to all that pent up and deep criticism of democrats, really he would (just ask him), its just that, darn it(!), that Trump won't let him!! Trump is "literally" keeping Chuck from lobbing heavy criticism towards the dems.
Darn it!
LLR Chuck: "Lol; imagine the House going to the Dems in 2018, and Conyers presiding over a Trump impeachment"
Ah yes, back to those heady, heady early days of the fake dossier!
What a warm wonderful feeling those visions deliver.
Its not surprising that Chuck would find such solace in fevered imaginings of Trump impeachment proceedings, given that so many of Chucks "insightful", "knowledgeable" and "reality based" lefty MSM-ers are dropping like flies.
One must find comfort where one can, one supposes.
Chuck said:
"And this Life Long Republican is unlike the Trumpists who attack Bill Clinton but pretend that there are no allegations against Trump."
I realize the usage overlap, but I used "Life Long" in reference to the members of BOTH parties of Congress that protect their Class rather than take action. That nibble at the edges at best, and swim comfortably in the status quo.
Meaning Congressmen that get in and stay in for decades.
Both parties have them.
I am Laslo.
"And speaking of perverts, along comes Laslo."
Perhaps this is true. But it is less harmful than someone with anger issues.
Chuck said...
Matthew Sablan:
Don't you fucking dare to tell me to work on my listening comprehension or memory, as you did above, because it is a damn sight better than yours....
9/27/16, 12:38 PM
I am Laslo.
Laslo, congratulations on limiting the number of LLR Chuck spittle-flecked rage responses to a mere 1.
I would that we all were so concise. Thou art truly succinct and effective.
I don't think many Republicans in Congress are invested in Conyers, but they're all invested in the cover up. Now they're all--Dems and Republicans, men and women--invested in covering up the cover up. The big scandal here is that this is not a big scandal.
The nature of the swamp is that they all knew, and know.
The press was and is an essential part of it, because they probably know more than anyone.
If they all know, they are all guilty.
All those faces on the talk shows; imagine what is behind their bland faces. Unindicted co-conspirators every one.
All of this new stuff is mere random sampling, as the EPA would require of a suspected Superfund site. The mass of poison under there is enormously greater than whats been brought up by the samples.
You'd think--but you'd be wrong--that a law professor would rather discuss federal judges obstructing executive orders than old sexual harassment incidents.
My question: Where is the constitutionality of a 'sanctuary city'?
Find you a blogger who can do both!
Ha, just kidding. I would LOVE to hear Althouse's opinion of this.
And just to be devils' advocate....perhaps the settlement is so low because her story and claims weren't accurate?
We all know people who have trumped up charges upon being fired in order to get some money out of the company or to protect their own jobs. That's my main complaint against the protection laws that keep getting put in place.
About Conyers- it's funny because around here, in order to explain away Monica when she went to prison, the rumors in the Detroit area were he is really gay and she is a beard. So he didn't really know what she was up to.
That old dirty dirty creeper dog. He should resign.
Rep. Jackie Speier said there were two currently serving in Congress that had settlements for sexual harassment paid out for them. One is a Democrat, one a Republican. So now we know you the dirty dog Democrat is, so who is the dirty dog Republican? I sure hope he wasn’t one of those Family Values types, that’s always so disappointing when that happens.
Detroit went to rust and weeds. In all the years of its slow collapse, I can't recall ever reading a single negative story on Coleman Young or John Conyers. Were they a symptom or a cause?
Unknown: "That old dirty dirty creeper dog. He should resign."
Inga knows Conyers wont resign. Ever.
Bro's before Ho's, as every democrat knows from 2008.
Sex scandals are easy to publicize and they get a simple reaction - or relatively simple. They are very low hanging journalistic fruit. That all this career-making material was left alone for decades is telling about the nature of the press.
Financial corruption exists on a vastly larger scale, and is enormously more significant. But it is much harder to dig up and publicize, in large part because the significant stuff is buried in arcane regulatory-procedural detail. Or the big stuff is anyway, not the petty matters that come with this Conyers scandal.
The significant stuff will not be revealed and resolved case by case. There is far too much of it and it is ridiculously complex. Worse yet is that the entire system is implicated, and even the investigators are likely to be compromised. This is what happens when an entire system becomes critically compromised and untrustworthy.
The correct thing to do in such a case, if one were a manager, is to entirely remove the staff of the entire organization and rebuild it de novo.
Just by looks alone, I’d say it could be Rep. Virginia Foxx, preying on young male pages....
I’m joking of course.
No, no, it’s got to be Rep. Blake Farenthold.
Laslo, for my part, I'd condemn all of the bad behavior without regard to party. If the wrongdoer is Clinton or Trump or Franken or Hastert or Studds or Conyers or Craig; I condemn them all.
Let's assume, just for giggles, that Chuck is telling the truth here, and not just looking for another excuse to condemn Trump. (I know, I know.)
The point that he misses, or ignores, is that (as seems always to be the case) his condemnation is the very definition of impotence. His furied keyboard flailings may make him feel better (they always make me feel better), but they don't change the reality - Democrats still slide, and Republicans don't, leading to the disproportionate implementation of Democrat-favored policies that are bad for America (but good for the ruling class!).
It's the recognition of that imbalance that leads so many people to support the obviously-flawed Trump. Chuck is okay with people suffering under bad political policies as long as he gets to maintain his unwarranted self-regard, but millions and millions of (much better) people are more focused on America than on themselves.
9/27/16, 12:38 PM
Recalling and recovering comments from last year while draining a beer at Earl's....that's spooky.
Buwaya proposes: The correct thing to do in such a case, if one were a manager, is to entirely remove the staff of the entire organization and rebuild it de novo.
Well, yes. In other words, drain the swamp. When you leave part of the swamp undrained, the remaining swamp creatures will simply swampify the incoming creatures by virtue of their power and seniority.
This is all aimed at getting a two-fer. One, get rid of the Clintons, including Bill, by using Bill to finish off Hillary. They're both spent forces and the lefties need to be rid of them to clear the deck for the next lefty champion. In addition to getting rid of the Clinton's for Bill's horrible behavior (a day late and a dollar short, but hey, who cares?) and for Hillary's covering up and enabling thereof, they'll sacrifice a few (like Franken, who's in a safe dem seat for replacement by another dem). Why the additional sacrifice? That's where the two-fer comes in. The left is going to bomb Trump with a lot of old allegations like the ones that didn't stick during the campaign, plus anything remotely new and claim he should under the new paradighm resign like Bill should have and the recent sacrifices, like Franken, et al have (or will). This is ultimately going to get turned onto Trump. Betcha. JPG
Perhaps this is true. But it is less harmful than someone with anger issues.
So much of the anti-Trump rhetoric is hysterical, hate-based and over the top. Take Chuck’s vituperation as an example: “lying assholes, mendacious Trump asshattery, Fuck you, You are a real fucking joke, You are an even bigger fool and a moron, God damn you eric!”
And that’s in the comments section of just one Althouse post. The rage is palpable.
Just by looks alone, I’d say it could be Rep. Virginia Foxx, preying on young male pages....
With Inga slip-streaming behind her to gobble up the dorkier ones.
I'm joking, of course.
William said...
Detroit went to rust and weeds. In all the years of its slow collapse, I can't recall ever reading a single negative story on Coleman Young or John Conyers. Were they a symptom or a cause?
Then you really don't know much of anything about Detroit. Coleman Young, while in office, was the butt of a thousand jokes. A team of local reporters self-published a little book based on (and looking just like) Mao's infamous book, The Quotations of Mayor Young:
http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/quotations-mayor-coleman-young
Local radio hosts, the biggest tv news anchor in Detroit (Bill Bonds) and scores of others in the media and in local government (L. Brooks Patterson in Oakland County) all went after Young.
The way that I know all of the stories highlighted above about Conyers is because they were in the media.
“You have to subtract out the antiharassment gain from being hired for being a babe.”
Put into the equation the person who was passed over because she didn’t seem to have sexual potential, and the accused is as guilty as ever.
“I am from western Michigan originally, and Conyers has been known throughout the state for his goatish behavior. My uncle was in Congress in the '60s and served with Conyers. There was lots of eye-rolling whenever his name was mentioned.”
Absolutely everybody in Congress has served with Conyers. All are charged with knowledge and facilitating.
Buh-bye.
Help me out with this, though: if she settled for $27k did that not come with a guarantee that she wouldn't be fired in retaliation? What kind of a settlement wouldn't include that?
Was she fired first? If so seems like she could have gotten a LOT more.
Either way that kind of retaliation would make a rock-solid case for additional compensation, right?
Althouse bungle the moral arithmetic
"“You have to subtract out the antiharassment gain from being hired for being a babe.”
Put into the equation the person who was passed over because she didn’t seem to have sexual potential, and the accused is as guilty as ever."
So subtract points from babe B, and add them to the account of creep C and it balances?
Ann Althouse said...
Absolutely everybody in Congress has served with Conyers. All are charged with knowledge and facilitating.
Pretty easy to assume the percentage of decent people serving as congresspeople is about the percentage of their approval rating. They are cowards at best.
If the average settlement is $27,000 and the congress paid out around $1 million a year...
I look forward to the coming few weeks.
I see Democrat congresscritters are now calling for an "ethics investigation" of John Conyers following the "new" information coming to light.
It would perhaps be interesting to see how many of them were present and listening to Bill Clinton at Conyers' 72nd birthday party in 2001.
I live in NYC. Conyers and Young may have been jokes among their constituents, but they didn't achieve much in the way of infamy among the larger public. Their shortcomings were never featured in national stories so far as I can remember. Did they ever have to run in a hotly contested election? If not, why not?
There's no sign at all of any member of the political class setting any standards or examples.
Mike Pence.
There's no sign at all of any member of the political class setting any standards or examples.
Mike Pence.
And some on the left made fun of his practice of not being alone with women other than his wife. Not because he's afraid of temptation but that he wants to prevent scandalous allegations. Pretty smart guy, yes?
Given his knowledge of the area, I have a sincere question for Chuck.
Why hasn't MI tried to basically take over Detroit? It seems like it's run by idiots, many of its politicians are openly criminal (far beyond just "sleazy"),etc. The city seems to be in a league all its own in terms of incompetency. And the voters seem to like electing criminals.
I'm not a fan of taking away authority, but is Detroit run any more competently than DC?
Awaiting due process, a trial by press, or was he caught smiling on not so hidden camera?
The first choice of Conyers was to lie -- claiming that he didn't know that the claim had even been made, let alone settled, let alone whether there was merit to it. Now he admits the claim was made, pretending he was mistaken because he thought that they were talking about some more recent claim that he didn't know had been made.
But the key is that just like Hillary!, his first reflex was to lie.
Laslo, for my part, I'd condemn all of the bad behavior without regard to party. If the wrongdoer is Clinton or Trump or Franken or Hastert or Studds or Conyers or Craig; I condemn them all. I just have wildly different standards of proof for the two parties. For a Democrat, a photograph isn't enough. For a Republican, a 30 year old recollection half remembered is enough
Fixed that for you
What I see from a portion of the Althouse commentariat is special exculpation for Trump. So this Life Long Republican is like those few Democrats who are standing up to criticize their own. And this Life Long Republican is unlike the Trumpists who attack Bill Clinton but pretend that there are no allegations against Trump.
No. What you see is the 'baked in' factor. Trump is a pig. He knows he is a pig. He has admitted he is a pig. His porkiness is 'baked into the analysis'.
Not to mention that catering to Feminists with platitudes isn't something Republicans DO. YOU, not Republicans, hold the standard that a grope isn't just a grope: it is a violation of one's personhood SO grievous that women should sue for PTSD therapy from their victimizers (who are all Democrat)
For DECADES, Democrats have, even with DNA evidence, asserted that Bill Clinton is not to be questioned. They sat on stories, avoided investigations and done everything to protect from allegations.
Well...now the blatant, bald, consequences have come to roost for that attitude.
My question: Where is the constitutionality of a 'sanctuary city'?
Most probably somewhere in the 14th Amendment.
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