Maybe I'm just not trying assiduously enough. (I'm only saying "assiduously" so you won't be distracted by wondering if I'm making puns.) But I can't find what I'm looking for. It's difficult to get past all the things that restate allegations I already know and present them as weird, confounding, and way out of line with anything in human nature that we can understand.
What I would like to read is something that fits Toobin's behavior into human nature that we can understand. And by "Toobin's behavior," I mean the behavior understood both as a mistake and as deliberate. Either he intended his self-touching to be on camera or he didn't. The nakedness and self-touching, I'm assuming, was intentional.
I invite discussion of the question whether other people — perhaps lots of other people — are reacting to the extended lockdown and the use of remote video-conferencing by indulging in transgressions beyond the camera frame, which tends to show only the upper body. Is it so strange to imagine participating naked from the waist down? I believe I've heard late-night comedy hosts — who sit behind desks — joke "I'm not wearing pants." The idea and even the reality of Zooming while pantsless — it's not unique to Jeffrey Toobin, is it?
Actually masturbating is a major escalation beyond the silly comfort of pantlessness, so there is that, but, again, I invite you to discuss the topic. (Or is the word "masturbating" being used to describe the mere grasping of one's naked erect penis?)
Many Zoomers — including, I think, Toobin — are using laptop computers, and this creates a risk of repositioning the camera. You might close the lid as a way to end your participation, creating a brief view of your lower body before the camera shuts off. This could explain what Toobin calls a "mistake."
We also need to consider whether a person — perhaps Toobin — is actually excited by giving his interlocutors a quick glimpse — that it's exhibitionism. A person might derive kinky pleasure from flashing a quick glimpse of his nakedness. A person — perhaps Toobin — might think: They'll wonder What the hell am I seeing? No way! He may trust that they won't do anything about it. They'll just think: Oh, poor Jeffrey, so embarrassing. We'll all just pretend we didn't see that.
If Jeffrey — or whoever — thinks like that, he could also progress to thinking something more like: I am free! I can do this and get away with it! They'll all pretend they didn't see! And then he chooses to do it, for the fun, for the transgression, for the liberation from boredom.
I'm not recommending this line of thought and behavior, just trying to think how could he? Just thinking like a novelist... and like a person with a moral compunction against singling out one person and treating him like he's way off the norm. A sympathetic reading of a person demands that we see his actions as recognizable human behavior.
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It's possible had porn on another screen or tab and decided to relieve himself thinking he was off camera. More likely, he had another zoom going and was sexting, hence his turning the camera down to point at his crotch.
Kind of like sending dick picks. Women I know all laugh at dick pics, but don't tell the guys.
I think he was bored. What they were doing sounds tedious and pointless and he was bored and was looking to amuse himself. I think he tuned out the other participants and that lead him to forget that they hadn't tuned him out.
Who does he think he is, Louis C.K.?
Worst case scenario for Jeffrey is that his penis was in full view, yet nobody noticed.
So he's got that going for him...
I am free! I can do this and get away with it! They'll all pretend they didn't see!
Isn't this the natural human behavior of people who see themselves as elite?
It's been going on at some level or another since eliteness began. And we should expect more as the division between the anointed and the deplorables widens.
See: Clinton, Hillary; Biden, Joe; Weiner, Anthony; Weinstein, Harvey; Epstein, Jeffrey; Pelosi, Nancy.
Matt Tiabbi:
"The number of press outlets willing to use terms like "misinformation" or "disinformation" about this material when the Biden camp is not even denying it's real shows how far gone this situation is. Coverage is more overtly politicized than campaign rhetoric."
We already know he is a creep with the incident with a friend's daughter he got pregnant. He was probably bored with the meeting, which sounds like a waste of time anyway, and decided to do a little porn.
His wife has to be very upset. She's not enough? What married man - of a mature age - masturbates if he's getting enough from his wife? Bill Clinton wasn't getting sex from Hillary so he sought out Monica and others. This is an epic unforced error and she should divorce him.
The other thing is why is this guy thinking and doing sex during the workday.
As my female lawyer friend just said today, "What's wrong with people?"
Let's not stop at Jeffrey, but examine the context.
It was a bunch of Democrats planning to screw Trump out of a second term.
He probably wasn't the only one masturbating.
I'm taking a zoom class. After class is over, there is a button on the screen (BIG READ BUTTON) - that tells you to click so you can "leave meeting"
You sure go through mental contortions to explain away bad behavior done by democrats. It's not that complicated; the guy is creepy.
Toobin has a sorted hypocritical sexual history. He impregnated a colleague’s daughter, tried forcing her to get and abortion, and when she chose not to, refused to pay child support. Of course he was a loud, vocal, Kavanaugh accuser and critic. I’m not sure he is a good example of 2020 Zoom meetings and masturbation increases for the “average person”. But I would say this Toobin incident is another example of male feminists’ sexual deviancy and hypocrisy. Mark Halperin. Matt Lauer. Bill Clinton. Garrison Keeler….etc. The left is normalizing deviancy. Notice the New Yorker and CNN haven’t canned him yet? The Savannah Guthrie questions to Trump regarding Q-Anon and pedophilia was more than likely a preemptive strike to call it all a conspiracy. Yesterday on WISN, Giuliani called into Jay Weber’s show. He said the “good stuff” hasn’t even dropped yet. Bet it’s kiddie porn, or Hunter getting it on with underage hookers.
It's all Trumps fault. Toobins TDS went out of control.
perhaps lots of other people — are reacting to the extended lockdown and the use of remote video-conferencing by indulging in transgressions beyond the camera frame, which tends to show only the upper body.
Indulging in transgressions is a very lawyerly way of stating it, Althouse. Kudos.
I am left to think that you wonder if the lockdown is causing people to jerk off during Zoom calls. I will ask my wife what she thinks of that. Her first month of classes were held through Zoom. It might be possible with horny adolescent boys.
perhaps lots of other people — are reacting to the extended lockdown and the use of remote video-conferencing by indulging in transgressions beyond the camera frame, which tends to show only the upper body.
Indulging in transgressions is a very lawyerly way of stating it, Althouse. Kudos.
I am left to think that you wonder if the lockdown is causing people to jerk off during Zoom calls. I will ask my wife what she thinks of that. Her first month of classes were held through Zoom. It might be possible with horny adolescent boys.
Grown men cannot weenie wag around their colleagues unless they are very rich and powerful perverts. But at least he wasn’t using under age Chinese girls. There’s that.
So on the theory that it wasn't an accident, that he did for the exhibitionist thrill of the common street flasher, I assume he would've had to take into account the damage to his career and the public embarrassment... wouldn't he? Did he decide that a moment's sexual thrill was worth destroying his career and public reputation? And couldn't he also be potentially charged with sexual harrasment? It seems like pretty big risk for a moment's excitement, unless he really is such a depraved perv that he just couldn't help himself I guess.
Grown men cannot weenie wag around their colleagues unless they are very rich and powerful perverts. But at least he wasn’t using under age Chinese girls. There’s that.
To me, the discussion here is based only on Toobin's celebrity - the same reason why he will not be fired or dismissed from polite society. If he were a middle aged insurance adjuster who did the exact thing Toobin did, whatever that may be, he would be summarily dismissed without question. Toobin's status as a very wealthy famous leftist will protect him. Such protection is not available to the low level employee, frankly even if the employee were a Democrat.
Whether what Toobin did was "off the norm" or not, the consequences he will face are negligible compared to a typical person.
Parenthetical is way more distracting and self indulgent and clunky than the pun would have been. Couldn't help yourself I guess. Cheers!
If Jeffrey — or whoever — thinks like that, he could also progress to thinking something more like: I am free! I can do this and get away with it! They'll all pretend they didn't see!
Like the criminal that keeps getting away with it I think Ann's statement is how Toobin made it this far.
"Just thinking like a novelist... and like a person with a moral compunction against singling out one person and treating him like he's way off the norm."
Althouse is seriously underestimating the role of karmic justice here when it comes to Toobin.
"Actually masturbating is a major escalation beyond the silly comfort of pantlessness, so there is that, but, again, I invite you to discuss the topic."
And while discussing it, be sure to do so in the most explicit manner and don't spare the graphics. You might comment on the stiffness of the erection and rate of hard breathing. Maybe include some techniques you, yourself, have mastered. Don't be shy. This is all academic interest; nothing to do with prurient interest on anyone's part. Honest.
Laslo is off today.
The theme today must be the old AT&T ad of "reach out and touch someone," the "someone" being yourself. Though the government is reaching out and touching Google.
Maybe Toobin is just a weirdo and is acting in conformity with who he is and always has been. Weineresque. He and Anthony should hang sometime.
Shorter Althouse: "Toobin is a lefty journalist I like, so let's find hypothetical reasons to have sympathy for him, even if he is a pervert who enjoys stealth-harassment."
Didn’t you have a prior post about a man who would shut himself in his office at lunch to engage in similar behavior? I can’t remember where that fell on the ok/not ok scale. What if that man forgot to lock the door and someone walked in? Or what if that man didn’t forget but was hoping to be caught?
Why can’t a man refrain from this when the opportunity for being caught is so high? But why can’t women refrain from exposing their breasts in public to nurse?
So many different questions. One more. Are the answers post covid different from pre covid?
I think it's telling that this incident happened during an "election simulation"
I was unclear on why the New Yorker was running such a simulation. Maybe they were practicing their lines for post-election media appearances? or engaging in some kind of group therapy role playing?
People like Toobin appear to be experiencing a great deal of anxiety about the election. The masturbating may have been an extreme form of self-soothing that got out of hand
Also Toobin, like many people in the mainstream media, has been around much too long. Age is catching up to them but they won't go away
I believe I've heard late-night comedy hosts — who sit behind desks — joke "I'm not wearing pants."
David Letterman in his wacky NBC days. What happened to that guy?
Oh, for the days when men got off watching XXX porn, instead of anti-Trump conference call porn.
He was bored.
I mean, there's the titillation of being on a conference call and hearing other people talk while you...self-pleasure. But 99% of it is simple boredom.
Human behavior?
Well on the same day Jeff's problem arose a lad in Chicago, 18 years old, forgot the school remote learning computer was on and was observed by a teacher and others committing a sex act on a seven year old.
Is this not a brave new world or not?
https://nypost.com/2020/10/19/chicago-teen-charged-with-sex-attack-on-7-year-old-during-class/
Just remember he's one of the guys that knows he's intellectually and morally superior to you deplorables.
It's a technology thing. Webcams are a bad idea, but most people do not evaluate their technology and decide which parts are desirable and which are not. They use what is available, warts and all. Why did people drive 80 MPH in cars without seat belts? The same reason male dogs lick their balls, and bitches don't.
I put tape over mine.
I'm two generations behind the curve so far as sexual mores go. I did watch the first episode of Emily In Paris on Netflix. Apparently young lovers when physically separated on business trips make use of teleconference technology to stay in touch. It was a plot point in the romcom. James Joyce thou shouldst be living at this hour....Slippery slope. Once you start masturbating in front of a camera, you become desensitized to the activity and, as we see in the Jeffrey Toobin case, it becomes a way to while away the time during boring business conferences.....I think this will eventually become the new form of doodling. Those people who are rushing to condemn Toobin are the ones behind the curve.
The two tags for this story are unsettling when seen apart and pretty gross when viewed together.
I really, really don't want to know more about this story.
There is a great line uttered by Christopher Plummer in the movie Knives Out. Perusing the evidence that his son-in-law is cheating on his daughter, he muses "What is it that makes a pull on the loose threads of his parachute." Ah, how close can we fly to the sun. We believe engaging in risky behavior is empowering. Somehow, we think we are showing control when we get away with it.
No, we are showing a hollowness. Some risks are unavoidable. But the rewards promised in foolish risk-taking never really do pan out.
I don't think his actions were in any way meant to be an exposure to his New Yorker Zoom buddies. Computers allow multi-tasking, and he likely had something like Chaturbate open in another window.
I wonder what his screenname is?
Always happy to see "liberals" suffer. After all, they inflict suffering on those of us who waYount a free society. But what I'm enjoying more is that game of making the caption of every "New Yorker" cartoon "Jeffrey Tobin took his dick out during a Zoom call." As a fan of Roz Chast, I'm waiting for her participation.
Young men and boys masturbate all the time and pretty much everywhere, but Toobin isn't a young man. I'd blame the incident on poor judgement and a lack of self control.
To the extent that I think about it, I think that a good rule of thumb is that most men at least occasionally look at internet porn and masturbate to it. Without a great deal of care, eventually the streams will cross and someone will see what you are doing. If it's occasional and mild, you'll probably be ok, but this Toobin character seems to have a sex problem (remember he's the shithead who impregnated a colleagues's daughter and had to be sued for child support) so he's probably not super great at moderating himself. He probably spends all day juggling webcam feeds and God knows what else.
With so much connectedness, it gets harder to control where it's going to pop up, so to speak. One time I was on on a plane when a bluetooth speaker in someone's bag connected, presumably inadvertently, and started broadcasting obvious porn much to the dismay of its owner and his wife who went madly pawing through their belongings trying to turn it off. People discover affairs all the time when their spouses forget that their Facebook messages are marching across the screen of the old iPad they forgot was signed into their account. Etc.
If you don't want computers to reveal that you're doing gross shit, be an adult in charge of your appetites and don't do gross shit. That's my advice.
My favorite part of this is that he no doubt considers himself my (and your) intellectual and social. Well, I'm not the senior legal analyst for CNN and I'm not a fancy lawyer who wrote a bunch of books, but at least I'm not addicted to porn and masturbation, so I have that going for me. Which is nice!
Toobin will never work on TV again. He's been exposed for what he is....
Sometimes it appears that the depth and detail of the analysis that Althouse deploys on a topic is inversely proportional to its significance.
That's her privilege, of course, but I have to say I find it baffling. But I find many things that people do baffling, so there's that.
Do some people like to get off on Zoom calls? Toobin would only be one example in the article that addresses that question, but so far he owns the Urban dictionary definition.
As for the work activity in Toobin’s case, an “election simulation”, that is itself a bit of a voyeuristic masturbation exercise.
My simple explanation is that he probably had porn playing on another screen, which had him in the mood. There was a lull in the meeting, and he thought he was alone because he clicked off the camera. He simply fell into a habit which most people don't think is morally wrong but just not to be done in public. Compare picking his nose.
In 1984, O'Brien gets Winston Smith to agree that 2+2=5, not because he wants Winston to believe that arithmetic is changed, but to prove that he has changed Winston.
They have now changed many of us to believe that it's acceptable to not wear pants at a business meeting, and the rest follows (if one is not wearing pants...).
That's one small step for man.
Not news, don't care. I'm sorry for the poor guy. This will overshadow his whole career, about which I know nothing.
The masturbation doesn’t make him weird.
We all do it. We all pick our nose too.
The incidents shows him to be an idjot, not a weirdo or a perv necessarily.
The timing is suspect though. During a zoom meeting? Who else was in that meeting?
He also has a history of impregnating his mistresses.
It reflects on his judgment. That was not the time or situation/place to start beating the meat.
It cannot be understood as deliberate. As a mistake it is completely understandable. DARWIN AWARD for yesterday. Who will be today's winner?
"...like a person with a moral compunction against singling out one person and treating him like he's way off the norm. A sympathetic reading of a person demands that we see his actions as recognizable human behavior."
Seriously???
We've come a long way from Pee Wee Herman haven't we? Just tag him as a sex offender and subject him to whatever punishment applies. End of story.
Try to understand him all you want but if Toobin's actions fit within 'Community Standards' maybe we need to burn down the community in order to save the community.
"I invite discussion of the question whether other people — perhaps lots of other people — are reacting to the extended lockdown and the use of remote video-conferencing by indulging in transgressions beyond the camera frame, which tends to show only the upper body."
Thank you for the invite! The Answer is No -- I have not engaged in self-stimulation during a Zoom call, lockdown or not. That would be, well, kinda unprofessional, kinda distasteful, kinda rude to the other folks on the call. I seriously doubt any of my fellow Zoom callers have pulled a Toobin as well. Why try to normalize the abnormal?
Sorry, but if at this point, you don't understand that the camera on your laptop is at risk to always being "on" and you don't cover it with tape or a post-it like just about EVERYONE I work with or know, you're an idiot.
I routinely listen to the podcast Dr, Drew (Love Line) After Dark. Almost every episode he reminds Christina P that there is no limit to the crassness of maLe behaviour. If one guy is doing it, there are others. He accidently displayed his risky behaviour. A quick search led me to an article about a love child. So two pieces of information concerning risky behaviour. Pattern?
I doubt this is the first time he has masturbated during work calls. He got sloppy. I wouldn't be surprised to learn he has exposed himself to co-workers, such as interns, before either.
This doesn't seem outside human behavior, just outside decent, respectful behavior at work. But there are apparently plenty of men who think it's just fine (Weinstein, Lauer, Weiner, etc.)
Toobin has a history of being a sexual pervert and an all around jerk. The famous story is well known so I won't go into detail here, but anyone who is willing to do that sort of thing does not have a lot of self-control or a moral compass. For this dastardly act, he has been rewarded over and over again by the "elites." When it becomes obvious that bad actions entail no consequences whatsoever, there's not much there to restrain bad behavior. Why wouldn't he get away with it? He always got away with it before. Do what you want!
Toobin is basically a coddled three-year-old who has never been told "no." Honestly, he probably does this sort of thing (and worse) regularly because he can, but he finally slipped up and did something that offended the "elites." The truly notable thing here is that this was the thing that undid him. Given what we know of his past acts, he should have been tossed out of polite society a long time ago.
The worst thing about it is he will almost certainly be forgiven in short order.
As a gentle reminder, Toobin, age 60, is a Harvard Law Grad, and former Federal Prosecutor.
That's who these CNN/New Yorker elite leftist fuckheads are.
His behavior, lifestyle is transgressive. It happens. It's not normal.
He also has a history of impregnating his mistresses.
Reproductive rites are an imperative for both masculinists and feminists.
CNN is filled with WANKERS!!
Toobin is a pervert. Analyzing what gears turned deep in his brain to allow him to exhibit his perversion is somewhat interesting but not worth my time. When Jerry Falwell, Jr. was exposed as a cuckold I felt the same: I don’t really care why he became such a person, just what a hypocrite he was, leading Christians students who still hold traditional values on sex and marriage astray.
Same with Toobin. He’s not merely a pervert but a fraud. He is on record of chastising the conservatives on the Supreme Court for sexual deviancy (all based on extremely dubious testimony of lefties). Yet here we see the true deviant.
Hypocrisy trumps deviancy in my ranking of sins.
So which talk show host will boost his ratings by asking Toobin, what were you thinking?
>>Althouse
just trying to think how could he? A sympathetic reading of a person demands that we see his actions as recognizable human behavior.<<
I'm just sure someone is going to risk a million dollar annual salary for the thrill of providing a peep show. You're overthinking this. Mr. Occam can help...along with the fact that it has already been reported (not conjectured) that he was masturbating.
Millions of guys jack off in front of their computers to internet porn every day. That's very human behavior. So we duly recognize that.
How could he? Bungling his Pornhub/Zoom browser tabs...he was rather distracted, wasn't he.
"Let Shame be his punishment" Toobins advice to A-Rod back in the day.
a form of political masturbation, another transition scenario,
Doing this at work, in front of others is self-destructive. Self-sabotaging behavior is something that occurs with some frequency. What is the psychological basis for it? I am sure this is a subject that has been studied.
Elizabeth Kolbert will do 15,000 words on how we should expect more of this given the climate we're in.
Not sure why it's necessary to try to make sense of his conduct. Regardless of what he was thinking, he committed a serious and flagrant offense against the norms of the workplace. Not sure if what he did was criminal, but I would imagine that what he did is worse than what some other people have done that landed them on a sex offender registry database. The fact that he has accused other people of sexual misconduct without credible evidence makes it difficult to feel any sympathy for him.
Why is this interesting?
It's likely exciting to him.
Everybody tallkinug about Jeffrey's peter...
Some guys get off on that, sexually. Makes them feel virile, being the center of attention for their "naughty naughty" sexual behavior. Boy is BEGGINUG for a spankiung, publicly too!
He got you to play along, ann...
You waste your time on discussing him. He likes it.
Nobody will ever be able to watch the guy on TV without thinking about this. That's why he needs fired. And why is this guy so important that he wouldn't be fired? You can find a hundred hacks like him with the same or better credentials that would work for less and with pants on.
If I could buy a laptop without a camera, I would. As it is, I have it turned off in software, the lens scratched up with a pin and covered over with tape.
There are too many cases of people getting their cameras turned on remotely or accidentally without knowing it. If I want to do a video call, I want a camera that I plug in. When I want to disconnect, I will unplug it.
That is the ONLY way to be sure the camera is off.
Two tragic examples
One was a gay hindu student at a NJ University. Perhaps Rutgers? He had a hot session with another guy. Someone had hacked his laptop camera, recorded the session and it got out. The guy was so ashamed he committed suicide.
Another instance was a high school in Pennsylvania that was spying on teenage students in their bedrooms in various states of undress. We discussed that here. Why nobody went to jail for that I still don't know.
I don't need a camera on my computer don't want a camera on my computer and avoid these kinds of problems by not having one. I can watch porn and jerk off to my heart's content during my online meetings.
Nobody has ever complained about not being able to see my mug during online webinars and meetings over the past 5-10 years
John Henry
What I find interesting is the benefit of the doubt being accorded to Toobin by so many news outlets. It's assumed it was a terrible accident, and that he wasn't getting his thrills as an exhibitionist. Mind you, this guy has a bit of a checkered personal history, although his past transgressions were of a different kind. Still, I think he's being treated fairly well by the press because he's a member of the correct political tribe.
If he was a pro-Trump Republican, you can be sure the accusations about his deviant sexual intent would be flying, and widely accepted as fact. Instead, we're hearing that it was an accident and he must be so embarrassed and mortified.
mikeR. I don't feel sorry for him. This is just the time he got caught. He thinks it's ok to pull his penis out and masturbate during meetings. He's showing contempt for everyone involved, and that's why I don't feel sorry for him.
I think this will eventually become the new form of doodling.
So when a colleague doesn’t respond to a question directed at him the workmates will speculate whether he’s doodling or diddling.
I think everyone is overthinking this. Men probably masturbate a lot more than women like Althouse generally understand- Toobin just failed to turn the damned camera off first. An easy mistake to make if you are somewhat unfamiliar with Zoom or Skype.
I thought of a new joke that people familiar with Aretha Franklin's music from the 1980s will get: "Who's Toobin Who?"
Googling synonyms for “assiduous”, I came across: diligent · careful · meticulous · thorough · sedulous · attentive · industrious · laborious · hard-working · conscientious · ultracareful · punctilious · painstaking · demanding · exacting · persevering · unflagging · searching · close · elaborate · minute · accurate · correct · studious · rigorous · particular · religious · strict · pedantic · fussy
I looked hard for what you were trying to say in the first paragraph but nothing came up.
I think perverse behavior is a sign of a dead soul. The excitement of the moment, how ever brief, evokes a feeling of being alive. Often, that act doesn't work and the behavior needs to escalate. That's the danger of pornography. For SOME, the viewing of porn escalates to child pornography, or rape pornography, or public masturbation (I knew someone). I also knew someone who would put on his wife's clothes and masturbate to porn. It ruined his marriage.
It doesn't have to be sexual. Vandalism has a sense of excitement, but may lead to further illegal behavior just for the excitement of this. The examples of the rich being caught shoplifting, has no reason other than the excitement of it.
We are a strange people.
I just keep masking tape over the camera lens. I never use the camera for anything, but I have been warned it can be turned on remotely in a hack.
Wondering if it’s more along the lines sociopath or narcissist behavior. Condemn others for the same thing you do. See how much you can get away with? How close to the edge can you get without getting caught? Probably gave him a (sick) thrill.
In Casino, Robert DeNiro's character did not wear pants behind his desk.
I remember reading that this, while not common, was a practice of some executives to avoid bagging the knees of their suit pants.
John Henry
Now, if had been Candice Swanepoel....
I would guess Annie C. is right -- wasn't there a video game streamer who switched over to a porn tab and started pleasuring himself in the middle of a stream because he thought he'd cut out? This was some years ago, but unfortunately I can't find any articles because if I google for it, all I get are links to actual porn (and more recent controversies about risque female streamers on Twitch).
This can't be the first time he's done this -- it might be his habit, when he's bored on a conference call, to pull up a bit of pornography and masturbate. And he may have been in "conference call mode" even though he was on video.
insecurity and shame.
First, the fact that Toobin decided to whip his dick out and masturbate during a business meeting is bizarre. It makes me wonder if he has a history of doing this.
Second, he deliberately exposed himself. Is this like Weinstein, a weird power play? Or freakish thrill of exposure? If it was a "mistake" why did he lower the camera to focus on his excited weiner?
Third, people have assumed, with no support, that Toobin was whacking off to porn. Obviously, he was whacking off to the pictures of his female collogues. Does he have a relationship with one of them? Was showing his errect dick like sending a picture of his penis ala Anthony weiner?
Fourth, we don't know the relationship and sexual attitudes of the New Yorker writers. Is there a lot of sexual flirting and vulgarity? Are the Female New Yorker writers "into" this kind of thing?
Fifth, do we even have to mention that if a Conservative or someone at Fox had been doing this, we would see zero sympathy or "concern"? Maybe from Althouse but not from liberal-left MSM.
Well you're sitting there wasting time and listening to a boring bunch of people who might crudely be termed "jerk offs" and what are you going to do?
I did catch one commenter's line that people like Toobin are extremely concerned about this election. I can understand that. What if Horror of Horrors, Trump is reelected?
Can this country's self identified (but hardly deserving) elite stand voter rejection a second time? Well they may have to. I don't know who will win in a couple of weeks time. But if Trump wins, we'll see a reaction from the Toobins and his like that will make the wailing and angst following Hillary's defeat at the hands of the Orange Buffoon, look like a quiet Midwest church social.
BTW, Toobin is 60 years old. He has a wife, and he had a child with his mistress in 2009:
"..which Toobin initially resisted acknowledging.[17][20] Ultimately, Toobin's paternity was confirmed with a DNA test and separately, a Manhattan Family Court judge ordered Toobin to pay child support."
So, its not like Toobin is some sex-starved lonely guy on the subway. It'd be nice to go back and see if Toobin had expressed "Outrage" over the Pussy tape and/or sneered at Trump's affairs with Stormy Daniels and others.
"If it feels good, do it."
When leftists exercise poor impulse control - as they do more and more frequently these days - give it 5 minutes and other leftists will pop up to excuse the offender's actions and attack those who criticize them. I'm seeing other journos call those who criticize Toobin prudes and puritans - as if it's perfectly normal to masturbate during Zoom calls and only church ladies would object. When antifa riot and vandalize, well, that's perfectly normal too - thet are young people fed up with the system!(Except of course, when leftists aren't claiming antifa are boogaloos in disguise.) It's permissible and understandable to hit Trump supporters over the head with skateboards because Orange Man Bad.
But if a Covington High School kid "smirks" his life should be ruined.
If it weren't for the previous sexual misbehavior, it would be easier to believe the porn/got-bored/hand-gravitated-to-crotch theory. The earlier episode leads one to think, "Hm, might have a screw loose around sex somewhere". Then, when something like this happens, I'm more likely to entertain the several theories that relate to having a screw loose around sex. (Did it on purpose, etc.) This is true even though having an affair and getting up to some strange behavior in a Zoom meeting are fairly disparate behaviors. Although, one thing both have in common is dehumanizing the other (in the case of the affair, by demanding an abortion and then denying paternity and forcing the young woman into court to obtain child support).
The part we can all relate to is the part about being monumentally bored while on a Zoom meeting.
I guess that he has a fantasy about one of the zoom participants. Else why the time frame when he has all day and all night at home?
Employers need to create a work package so they can interact with telecumuters appropriately.
I got the impression one of the meeting attendees image was either live or captured and that was the focus.
Jupiter (10:35):
You put tape over your balls? Does that help you keep your hands above the table when Zooming?
He may well have intended to show off the old Toobsteak, but I very much doubt that the ones on the election simulation Zoom call were the intended recipients.
Once upon a time I would have looked forward to the SNL skit.
"What married man - of a mature age - masturbates if he's getting enough from his wife?"
One who doesn't find "maintenance sex" appealing.
I'm not recommending this line of thought and behavior, just trying to think how could he? Just thinking like a novelist... and like a person with a moral compunction against singling out one person and treating him like he's way off the norm. A sympathetic reading of a person demands that we see his actions as recognizable human behavior.
Can we see behavior that is "way off the norm" as "recognizably human?" I guess it's a sliding scale. Pee-wee Herman, yes (if what he was doing really is way off the norm). Jeffrey Daumer, no. Humbert Humbert? Nabokov would say yes. Many readers would say no. And, of course, understanding isn't necessarily condoning or aproving.
But look, the Internet is a cruel place, and I'd imagine that NYC and DC media circles can be cruel, too. Maybe the jokes and insults, disgust and contempt really are the human response to somebody who gets caught doing what Toobin did. Humanity may not be that humane.
I don't know how it is with other men- I have never asked this question anywhere- do you ever have nightmares about getting caught masturbating like George Costanza.
I was immediately reminded of "Danger Girl" on a short-lived sit com called "The Single Guy." The idea was that she could only be sexually roused if there was real danger, at least of being caught if not of falling off a balcony or such. Played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus before she was famous.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112163/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_31
"Grown men cannot weenie wag around their colleagues unless they are very rich and powerful perverts."
My instant reaction was: LBJ.
Patrick @ 10:23
Indeed.
The plus side is that he will forever be the proggy media jerk who jerks off on zoom.
"You sure go through mental contortions to explain away bad behavior done by democrats. It's not that complicated; the guy is creepy."
My ethics requires me to go through the mental exercise of asking about other people before singling him out as creepy. So, ethics is complicated. You can make things uncomplicated by forgetting about ethics, but that's the essence of unethical.
Is it my imagination or is our hostess obsessed with penises?
Milo Minderbinder said... Toobin will never work on TV again. He's been exposed for what he is....
LOL!
I agree.
Guys, there's a lull in the posts now.
Does anyone mind if I start masturbating?
Feel free to join in.
Just cause her got them skinny legs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFVmGGi8-8Y
I do a lot of zoom calls for work, never did before the shutdown. I am around his age, and while computer literate, I would not say an expert.
I tend to think he forgot the camera was on because he had another tab open and the video call screen was covered up. If you are flipping between screens, it can be a little difficult to keep track of. (NOT that I've ever had a situation like that, and yes, I do wear pants - even if they are sweats sometimes.)
I guess it is possible it was deliberate, but it seems more likely it was an accident.
I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher. She says that during online learning, often there are family members walking around behind the student in various states of undress and appearing in the camera view. Not the same thing, to be sure, but this is a new technology and people are still figuring it out.
(I'm only saying "assiduously" so you won't be distracted by wondering if I'm making puns.)
I was distracted because I had to figure out what word you didn't want to use. And then I was like, oh, she doesn't want to say hard. Probably because you don't want to garner a bunch of dick jokes.
I think we can turn his last name into a dick joke, by the way.
"I was toobin her last night."
"Look at the toobin on that guy!"
The shock and outrage seems a bit overdone. If everyone on the call knows that men sometimes masturbate, and they have all seen a penis before, how precisely is it upsetting that a particular man is masturbating in a room on the other side of the continent within the range of a camera? Someone could have just said "Jeff, we're seeing a side of you we've never seen before", and he would have covered the lens, and had a bad hour or two of embarrassment. Instead, someone decided this should be national news. Let's review the bidding here. Who was it that decided to make this non-event public? Somebody really doesn't like Jeff Toobin.
"My ethics requires me to go through the mental exercise of asking about other people before singling him out as creepy."
But your ethics does not require that you refrain from piling on? Just that you perform some mental gymnastics first, before wading in? It would seem that the purpose of your ethical contortions is to prevent you from feeling bad about your actions. Are you virtue-signaling yourself? I guess we all are. Everyone but the true psychopaths.
There'll be a long essay in the next available issue of The New Yorker that will explain all of this to those who are puzzled. The only real question is whether it will be David Remnick's work or Andy Borowitz's.
"A sympathetic reading of a person demands that we see his actions as recognizable human behavior"
Yes, it is "recognizable," but I'm afraid I'm all out of sympathy, at least towards people who have no sympathy toward deplorables like me and who don't feel any need for reciprocity. I wish it weren't so, but after decades of the prog culture war, eagerly fought by the likes of Toobin, it is so.
"I can do this and get away with it!"
As a prog, he was right to think so. I mean, mere adultery and being an a**le to the mother of his child didn't do him in, why should the chance of exposure of an erection? After all, he didn't even harass a potted plant.
Question: at what point do one-way sympathetic readings become a form of submission to prog rule?
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
"Grown men cannot weenie wag around their colleagues unless they are very rich and powerful perverts."
My instant reaction was: LBJ.
You forgot Joe Biden swimming naked in front of his female SS agents.
Just some people understand, the vast majority of men are bored at business meetings, and 99,999 out of 100,000 don't whip out their dicks and start masturbating.
Damn. I hate it when the Muslims are proven right about the uncontrollable sexual behavior of men.
Is anyone in the future going to be able to watch this talking head without wondering what's going on under the desk? Makes me feel unsafe. Do you want your daughters exposed to this? Can't the case be made that any Toobin interaction with a woman in the future constitutes sexual harassment?
Blogger Leslie Graves said...
If it weren't for the previous sexual misbehavior, it would be easier to believe the porn/got-bored/hand-gravitated-to-crotch theory. The earlier episode leads one to think, "Hm, might have a screw loose around sex somewhere".
Good point. He is a creep of the Weiner variety,
Senator Pat Geary in The Godfather 2 “we done it before”
His best defense is “I’m from CNN, I assumed this was another circle jerk!"
Althouse, "One who doesn't find "maintenance sex" appealing."
DDB: Other possible answer is that Toobin is just a sick perv. Althouse is asserting that solo sex is more appealing that "maintenance sex" with his wife. I don't buy it. As a commenter has stated, "That pussy is a powerful thing." And it is powerful for a damn good reason.
I checked out his wife. She's younger than he is and has two degrees from Harvard. She's not ugly. And he married her.
"My ethics requires me to go through the mental exercise of asking about other people before singling him out as creepy. So, ethics is complicated...”
tl;dr: she feels bad for Hunter and so doesn’t care if Biden is in the pay of both Putin and the Chicoms.
Yes, ethics is complicated... unless the person being examined is one of those disgusting Republicans.
We all know what the reaction would be to a Republican, especially a Trump supporter, caught in this position. No one would be making excuses that the person was just bored and was acting in the realm of acceptable human behavior.
So I'm not going to waste my time trying to make up excuses for Toobin's ridiculous behavior. But I will take the time to mock the hypocrisy.
Ann Althouse said...
"Grown men cannot weenie wag around their colleagues unless they are very rich and powerful perverts."
My instant reaction was: LBJ.
Well, you learn something new every day.
"Well, at least Trump didn’t pull out his penis—“the demon rod,” as St. Augustine called it, in a nice turn of phrase—and show it to us, which is what Lyndon Johnson did when journalists asked him why America was in Vietnam. “That’s why,” Johnson reportedly said."
I checked out his wife. She's younger than he is and has two degrees from Harvard. She's not ugly. And he married her.
I think you saw an old picture.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12972038/who-jeffrey-toobin-wife-amy-bennett-mcintosh/
Not that it matters to his behavior.
And here's the other thing. You know, that thing. What woman is going to want to date Toobin now that his wife will certainly divorce him?
"Feel free to join in.”
Everybody had a hard year
Everybody had a good time
Everybody had a wet dream
Everybody saw the sun shine
I think Paul McCartney talked about this once.
My thoughts:
(1) We have all zoned out during pointless, boring meetings This is particularly true when a couple strong personalities turn it into a one-on-one meeting to let their egos bang against each other. I don’t know for certain that that’s what happened, but looking at the list of attendees it seems more likely than not. Zoom is no different, but by not having to be in the same in the same room there is more scope for the idle minds to turn to, er, nonproductive activities.
(2) Sorry, Althouse, but I must admit that I think if you were a man you’d understand what’s going on. Like Clinton raping Broaddrick and propositioning state employees as governor, then boinking at least one intern as President, like Laurer and Letterman boinking female subordinates, there are men who like to show off their importance by what they can get away with. Some of their male subordinates view that as a status symbol to which they can aspire in turn while others — the majority, and the group do which I belong — are disgusted. But if we speak up we’ll lose our jobs. And it’s only been very recently that women seemed to care very much so why should we stick our own necks out?
(3) To a white collar worker in the 21st century a computer is as basic a tool as a hammer is to.a carpenter. Yet Toobin seems to think that the “mute“ icon shuts off the camera, too? Noonan was right when she wrote that we are being patronized by our inferiors.
Another more general thing to keep in mind is that persons who fill "elite" positions are often not deserving of the "elite" label. When you have an organization focused on a certain task, some of the people will actually be dedicated to that task. However, high paying positions also attract people you just want to get paid well while doing as little work as possible and will basically do whatever that requires, or people who like power to lord over other people, or people who want power because it makes them immune to any punishments their behaviors would normally entail, or people with different goals who want to hijack the organization. If you get too many of these "elites" in the organization, the whole system will collapse. It is just a matter of when.
One of the things of a successful revolution is it gets rid of the substandard "elites" and replaces them with people who actually care and may actually be competent. Even the bad replacements at least try to look like they care, which has some virtue with it even if they don't personally live up to the standards. But over time the corruption always comes back. There are always fanatics obsessed with their own motivations, and there are always people who want to achieve a station that their talents can never naturally provide. These "elites" have little to lose as far as they are concerned and become quite difficult to expel once they have embedded themselves.
It is important to keep in mind that a large percentage of the "elites," even the ones you admire, are not what they seem.
My instant reaction was: LBJ.
Mine too! Althouse, you and I are getting old.
"You put tape over your balls? Does that help you keep your hands above the table when Zooming?"
No, no, no. You need to work on your reading comprehension. The tape goes over my dog's balls.
As seen over at Instapundit:
A horny old journo named Toobin
Was giving his willie some lubin’
While beating his meat
His joy was complete
Until he recalled he was Zoomin’
And from the inimitable IowaHawk:
Rejoice Zoom wankers, #MeToobin movement has arrived
"Stephen said...
"Googling synonyms for 'assiduous' . . . .
You need to Google synonyms for "assiduously."
As seen at Instapundit: #Metoobin
I'll wait for Bob Woodward's book on the Mastergate (Masterbategate?) saga to come out and the interviews he will give in his slow, halting voice and unique accent.
One theory is that he had a porn site on another tab on his browser. Another is that he was aroused by one of the participants on the New Yorker zoom chat. How about somebody on the chat got him thinking about sex and he went to a porn site to become fully "assiduous"?
They told him don't you ever come around here
Don't want to see your face, you better disappear
The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear
He beat it, he just beat it
He better run, he better do what he can
Not much of a gun, he’s more a boy than man
He wanna be tough, better do what he can
So beat it, but he wanna be bad
Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants Slow Joe defeated
Sit like a monkey, give it some tugs
Don’t use dat Kleenex®, use yer old Uggs
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
"I don't need a camera on my computer don't want a camera on my computer and avoid these kinds of problems by not having one."
A small piece of black Gorilla Tape over the camera works wonders...
@Lurker21
Mastergate
That's 'Masturgate.'
Ann wrote: A sympathetic reading of a person demands that we see his actions as recognizable human behavior.
That was a good post; if we were in the 19th Century I would write, "That was a very Christian post, Ann."
Even so the questions arise: wouldn't a media savvy guy like JT know about on and off cameras since his lifeblood as a broadcaster depended upon knowing when cameras were rolling or not? Even CNN talking heads know that certain off-camera blather is not acceptable on TV when the red light is on. They, in fact, live and die by the red light. Again I would think a broadcaster would treat a laptop screen much as safe gun plinkers treat a barrel: there is a line of sight you do not wander into on any account ... so my pity goes with Ann and therefore flows towards JT whose politics I never liked but.... wow ... what in blazes just happened?
So which talk show host will boost his ratings by asking Toobin, what were you thinking?
10/20/20, 10:58 AM
It damned sure won’t be anybody on CNN.
If Toobin was on a park bench rather than on a Zoom call, he'd be Aqualung.
Blogger tim in vermont wrote:
"His best defense is “I’m from CNN, I assumed this was another circle jerk!"
Ok, thread winner right there.
Novelistically, Toobin beat on, his boat against the current.
I am Laslo.
" Other possible answer is that Toobin is just a sick perv. Althouse is asserting that solo sex is more appealing that "maintenance sex" with his wife. I don't buy it...."
Some men are focused on their wife's pleasure and desire. For them, her mere gameness or readiness to serve isn't what they want. If she's just going through the motions, they may prefer the motions of their own hand. It's not that they don't find their wife attractive, but that what they want from their wife is something more.
Everyone must think for themselves-- must dare do think for themselves. Sapere aude! Consequently, authority no longer finds its foundation in truth and reason but can only build on consent and will, and can only justify its choices in terms of instrumental reasons. As Pierre Manent has recently underlined in a masterful new book, the modern attempt to reduce authority to the role of merely protecting individual rights-- conceived as the freedom to satisfy infinite desires-- ultimately has led to a debasement of all social institutions: familial, academic, ecclesiastical, and civil. The upshot is that the philosophical principle of the Enlightenment deforms the character of rulers and ruled alike, making the former irresolute and the latter undisciplined.
Ricardo Calleja, who is a lecturer in ethics in the University of Navarre
Now we know gaming out the election with a predictably sad end for Trump gives Toobin a hardon.
From the article about the incident:
Two people who were on the call told VICE separately that the call was an election simulation featuring many of the New Yorker's biggest stars: Jane Mayer was playing establishment Republicans; Evan Osnos was Joe Biden, Jelani Cobb was establishment Democrats, Masha Gessen played Donald Trump, Andrew Marantz was the far right, Sue Halpern was left wing democrats, Dexter Filkins was the military, and Jeffrey Toobin playing the courts. There were also a handful of other producers on the call from the New Yorker and WNYC.
So in other words, they were all masturbating.
My ethics requires me to go through the mental exercise of asking about other people before singling him out as creepy. So, ethics is complicated. You can make things uncomplicated by forgetting about ethics, but that's the essence of unethical.
Nonsense. Ethics doesn't have a condition if one other person does it, then it is ethical. You're making up the argument to excuse your silly excuses for Toobin. Besides Toobin can be judged on his hypocrisy alone as unethical. You can't have shame without ethics, because how can you be ashamed if you lack moral principle?
Alas, I do agree that your ethics requires you to see what Toobin did as shameful, and you apparently do not. I'm also willing to believe Toobin is lying that he has any regret for how he reflects on his wife and daughter. "He may trust that they won't do anything about it." This is how Weinstein lasted so long in Hollywood and why the MeToo movement is bogus. Personally, I can see rape as a recognizable human behavior, I can even sympathize with the rapist (isn't that how blaming the victim for what she is wearing came about?), but I can still recognize it as morally wrong, unethical, and punishable.
My worst transgression during a boring Webex meeting is to read comments on blogs like this one. Sorry to say that as much as I like you guys, it's not nearly as titillating as what Toobin was watching.
"His best defense is “I’m from CNN, I assumed this was another circle jerk!"
He is also from the New Yorker, so he must have made the same assumption.
Althouse is a New Yorker reader. I wonder if this incident is distracting to such readers.
*not reading 146 comments to see if I'm repeating what has already been said*
#metoobin was trending this morning on Twitter when I came home from work.
On Twitchy, there is an article about how people are taking old New Yorker cartoons and changing the caption to include Toobin's incident.
I'm more concerned about why a bunch of journalists are larping an election. What does that have to do with reporting or news analysis? And Jane Mayer in the role of the moderate Republicans? We all know she'll want Trump to concede for the good of the country, but I'm not sure the moderate Republicans would agree unless only 5% of Republicans are moderate.
But really, what is the purpose of this exercise. It must have been pretty boring for Toobin to get interested in amusing himself. I'd guess he had a porn window open.
It's not that they don't find their wife attractive, but that what they want from their wife is something more.
You mean, like a blow job?
"If she's just going through the motions . . ." then he's NOT going thru the motions.
Sex is supposed to be fun and invigorating for both parties. If I'm in the mood and wifey isn't, I will go to pretty amusing lengths to get her in the mood. And it usually works. It helps that she fully knows that by the end of it, her world will have been rocked. Maintenance sex isn't a thing in my life. There's sex for fun and sex for procreation+fun. That's it. If sex has become boring, that's on the participants, not the act.
Here are my thoughts about "maintenance sex" (hate the term) with respect to Toobin:
Maintenance sex (having sex when you don't feel like it)is all about women. For men, maintenance sex is sex. They either feel like having sex--and have sex--or they don't, and don't. Women, by contrast, have "headaches," "too tired," etc. The secret to a happy marriage, however, is to have sex when your husband wants sex. There is no excuse ("tired," "headache," etc.) unless you're seriously ill (not a "headache"), recovering from a serious accident, or just had serious surgery--or your husband is a psychopath, and you should be thinking about moving out. Sex is physically relaxing and engenders deep affection and tenderness. Plus, the husband who wants the sex will now be happy. It requires no physical effort for a woman; all she has to do is lie there, and soon enough she will be covered with kisses, plus the happy thought that she has made her husband happy. She will fall blissfully asleep.
Toobin's problem obviously wasn't that "maintenance sex" wasn't appealing to him. It was clearly that he felt no desire for his wife--and hasn't for quite a while. Ten years ago he was messing around with a woman young enough to be his daughter--and who was, in fact, the daughter of his best friend. Toobin was probably on Pornhub on his phone viewing some young hottie. For some men a trip to Pornhub is essentially entertainment, like leafing through Playboy in days of yore. Other men, like Toobin, get...more involved.
The Sun says his wife is 51 and they married in 1986 after she graduated from Harvard--at 17?
Baskets of pervos, what a year!
In a Zoom meet a shill for the left
Who left his sweet wife quite bereft
Whipped out his pipe
Then he gave it a wipe
But it turned white when all shouted "Jeff!'
If the New Yorker staff was still all male (with maybe Dorothy Parker thrown in), would what Toobin did have been a big deal?
Would it have shocked the others? Or would they have joined in?
I read through the comments. There are some intelligent, well thought out comments, but I prefer the mockery. My first reaction was that this was ridiculous--I mean really ridiculous--behavior. It deserves mockery. I suppose it might indicate something or other about our society, but sometimes a pratfall is just a pratfall...... Here's my deep think take: I think the motive of sexuality is gradually being shifted away from the dynamo of generations to a fly wheel on the top of a freshman's beanie. As time goes by, sexuality has become increasingly recreational and subject to the same kind of silliness as other recreational activities.....I don't think Toobin is a harbinger of doom, but his type of absurdity will become more common. Sex is no longer dirty, just a rather silly pastime.
So no one wants to say the guy is sick? Or maybe even evil.
I'm old enough to remember when making love was about relationships and nurturing a spouse in a family relationship.
Masturbation was for teenagers.
But doing in in the afternoon while "attending" a public meeting? What, he can't wait until night time and do it in his bedroom with a towel like a normal teenage boy?
As of 7:28 PM on October 20th, the only two people still thinking about Jeffrey Toobin's priapic pratfall are Althouse and Jeffrey Toobin.
I claim that making spur of the moment jokes about it does not constitute "thinking".
Discuss, but please do not think about it.
Plus, the husband who wants the sex will now be happy. It requires no physical effort for a woman; all she has to do is lie there,
You're doing it wrong.
1. Toobin has to adhere to the #MeToo rules that the Libs and feminists put in place. He doesn't get a pass.
2. Pussy ain't the end all ....there are other parts of a woman's body that serve a great purpose.
3. Somewhere here thinks married men don't masturbate? LOL
4. Sometimes, if he possesses a high sex drive, the man may find that a willing partner is not available.
THE OLDBUTNOTDEAD MAN
Somewhere in Heaven Tom Wolfe is enjoying a giant belly laugh. What he couldn't do with this!
No such thing as boring sex. As our hostess has always professed to prefer 'boring' to 'not boring', I wonder what she thinks of sex.
So William @ 10/20/20, 5:49 PM:
Are you saying that the unblowjobed life is not worth examining?
If this family man kept his job after knocking up a colleague's daughter and then falsely denying parenthood, why should his employers care about him pleasuring himself on camera when he mistakenly assumed "mute" meant the camera was off? Happens all the time, amirite?
His wife, children, discarded paramour and colleagues know who he his. Presumably they are used to moments like this. He is their problem.
The rest of us never were interested in Toobin's dick. Neither are we interested in lectures about legal ethics from a guy who can't keep his fly zipped on camera. Like most proles, we are careful. But, hey, we're just dumb squares.
Let Toobin be Toobin. And let him live the rest of his miserable life in anonymity.
Like many quasi-political types, striving to be noncomittal, he was declaring and demonstrating “on the one hand blah blah, but on the other hand ….”. So, he was just getting started.
My favorite Tobin joke so far, from Ben Shapiro: "Don't worry, he'll be back before schlong."
Yeah, it's no comedic gem; but I find the word "schlong" funny.
He was bored.
Bored? He was the Chairman of the Bored.
His best defense is “I’m from CNN, I assumed this was another circle jerk!"
Too true! Just another broadcast day at CNN...
At least Louis C.K. would ask for permission first.
It's not that they don't find their wife attractive, but that what they want from their wife is something more.
You mean, like a blow job?
===========================
Man... we had a beautiful, poignant moment there and you went and ruined it.
LOL!!!
Many of these comments are out-and-out hilarious!
Perhaps our gracious hostess needs an "over-analyzed" tag?
Erick Erickson, who despite being a partisan political operative takes a very Christian and southern approach to personal sin and the private lives of his friends and opponents in general (excepting Trump and Trump voters) had many interactions with Toobin at CNN and was uncharacteristically negative towards him yesterday. Erickson said Toobin wasn't just masturbating but watching his female colleagues as he did it and that he was glad Toobin's behavior had finally been exposed.
Technically, that's public lewdness. It's an interesting question whether a zoom meeting is a public place, but I don't see why it wouldn't be. It's also a workplace. In NYS that's a class B misdemeanor, or a first degree class A if people under 16 are present. Curiously this falls under the code section prohibiting offensive exhibition, which includes putting on shows where people compete by dancing or riding bicycles for more than eight hours, are hit with small objects with the purpose of humiliating them, or have guns, knives, or arrows thrown at them.
Much as I dislike a lot of Erickson's brand of politics, he is sincere and consistent. I trust him to not say such a thing about Toobin if it were not true and verifiable. And looking at your co-workers as you masturbate is far creepier than just being caught watching porn during a business meeting, which is creepy enough.
Toobin was supposed to be just reporting on the OJ case but ended up as an unofficial defense lawyer when he discovered the Mark Furman tape of him telling a some wannabe screenwriter what she wanted to hear about police corruption and racism. Long after the trial, an investigation cleared Furman and the LAPD, but that tape was the excuse the jury needed to let a rich, famous double murderer go free. And Toobin was the one who dug it up and gave it to the defense and media. For that, I could never stand the sight of the guy.
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