Yes. Thank you for speaking truth. Moving us from placating to winning to having clarity about safe and ethical boundaries. Sexual, verbal, and violent acts of any sort cause egregious harm. Thanks for speaking truth. How intriguing that greed, manipulation, and fear "trump" justice. We also need to begin teaching boys/men that girls/women and nonbinary folk are NOT their property or their pawns. We continue to tell men to sow their wild oats and hold and shame women for male acts. Please continue to speak truth to power. Time to clean up more houses.
Yes-- we absolutely must have higher standards for whom we are willing to support. However, here's something that is worth saying loud and often. When the evidence warrants it (and sometimes even when it doesn't-- Al Franken (cough, cough))-- Dems have pretty consistently not looked the other way. Platner withdrew, Al Franken was booted out (unfairly, IMO), Swalwell withdrew. And, make no mistake, not because it was the right thing to do. It's because they realized that they would not have enough Dem and reasonable Indy support to win anymore. That is the difference-- and it is huge. While we can't play a tennis match that nobody wins, we also cannot subscribe to false equivalence of both parties. There are problems in both, but it is highly asymmetrical. We need to make that clear.
I agree with everything you said, Mike, except for this: I think you’re being too hard on yourself.
We have to discuss it. Absolutely. And pointing out that there are predators on both sides is simply a part of it. But you can’t demand that the whole thing get out in the open and dealt with like adults WITHOUT discussing that there are predators on both sides.
But frankly, and I’ve talked about this before, hypocrisy around sexual matters is baked into politics in the United States. And England. And probably a lot of other places. 40 years after the trials of Oscar Wilde, the effects of his trial were still echoing through the corridors of English power, still having an effect on politics in England. Before the scandals of Oscar wilde, there was the Hyde Street brothel scandal, where a lot of prominent men used to visit in Victorian England. It was all exposed, but very little came out of it, primarily due to the hypocrisy, sex obsession, more hypocrisy, and fears over sexuality, especially nonconventional sexuality in Victorian England.
And we have exactly the same thing going on with the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic and conservative protestant churches, especially the assemblies of God and the southern Baptists.
THEY ARE STILL TRYING TO PIN THIS ON GAY MEN LIKE MYSELF, RATHER THAN TAKE A LONG (DARE WE SAY IT) HARD LOOK AT A CULTURE THAT WOULD RATHER COVER UP THE ABUSE AND IGNORE IT LEST IT HURT THEIR POWER MONGERING, CASH FLOW, AND RECRUITMENT EFFORTS.
And it pisses me off no end that they’re still getting away with this after decades.
So I’m 100% with you on this. Blow the whole thing out of the water. Expose everyone, not just the Swallwells, Trumps, Epsteins, and platners of the world. Bring them to justice. But not just the politicians. Bring the priests, pastors, youth pastors, spiritual leaders, big businessman, millionaires and billionaires…
Thank you so much for this, Mike. As a teenager, I, and I'm sure many many women and girls just like me, were taken advantage of against our will. At the time, no one wanted to hear about it (except my parents). This Epstein class, Boys Club, whatever you want to call it has to be called out and become unacceptable EVERY SINGLE TIME, no matter which party or who it is. Enough is enough.
I believe Graham needed to suspend his campaign. I believe we need to listen to victim statements. However, this is Hunter Biden all over again. I called you out for saying Hunter was a "bad person". I'm calling you out for saying Graham is a "tremendous scumbag". You cannot say you support the Constitution, that you believe in the 5th amendment, and then make a blanket statement about someone, who has not yet been provided due process. Graham may, indeed, be a scumbag, but... You cannot be a constitutionalist only when it's convenient, or promotes an agenda you are in support of. You can have an opinion, which when used provides an open door for others to apply a blanket opinion of you. If you are okay with that, fire away!;)
Hunter Biden wasn't running for office or working inside the government, so I'd prefer to leave him out of it. As I recall, no one on either side was particularly high on Hunter Biden. Ans as I recall, his sins were mostly against himself.
You are completely missing the point of my post. Not being "particularly high on Hunter' does not provide an individual with the right to impose a judgement on him, or anyone else, without proper due process. Otherwise, it's nothing but opinion, or possibly gossip. Let's try to be the bigger people by not blanketly slandering others, or dismissing the content of the Constitution, because "no one is particularly high" for someone. As for Hunter's sins against himself, they weren't sins. It was addiction. An illness. As I recall.
In a way I see what you mean. I do believe in “believe the victims”, but what I mean by that is “don’t disbelieve the victims” and I feel that in most cases they are probably being truthful. But I want to hear about witnesses, evidence & corroboration. When candidates, etc. are quick to throw in the towel, that seems to point to guilt. They are probably hoping for a deal, a settlement, no trial, an end to publicity, no jail time. But I also recognize that being accused does not mean convicted or that charges are proven. I would hate to see lives ruined over false accusations.
There is a significant difference between a political judgment and a court judgment. Platner was judged at the political level which takes for less evidence of guilt than at the criminal level and failed. When we try to elevate political newcomers, especially nearly completely unknown individuals, to state wide positions it too often turns out bad. Platner is an example of that.
WAKE UP WORLD: What is happening in Ukraine is redefining warfare.
Russia, with its army, air force, and navy, is no match for the new way of fighting created by Ukraine. This presents a model for all future disagreements between countries. Soldiers, jet planes, and aircraft carriers are all nullified by this new way of waging war. This new model was also promoted by countries supporting Ukraine that supplied their own new forms of this type of warfare: France, Great Britain, Finland, Norway, Spain, and Germany.
Russia has not been able to defend against this new form of warfare, and there may be no way to defend against this style of waging war. Ukraine has developed a warfare system that attacks Russia with different forms of drones, missiles, and rockets, targeting Russia’s military-related facilities, air defense systems, fuel and radar installations, and not frontline formations; in other words, its approach is not to fight typical soldiers on the front lines but rather to attack the facilities supporting the Russian troops.
The success of these changes shifts the typical focus from soldiers, tanks, and airplanes to, to quote Owen Warner, “the geopolitical importance of this operation goes beyond the destruction of the equipment involved. It shows how warfare has evolved. It is a strategy of disruption rather than attrition that Ukraine is pursuing.” The drone attack in Ukraine is part of the country’s escalating deep-strike campaign designed to put Russia’s rear areas under pressure. Past military planners have depended on distance as a safety factor. Critical assets were relatively safe when located away from the battlefield because of the limited range of conventional weapons. The military base, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines, can now be within reach of remotely operated, less-expensive systems.”
Warfare will not be fought with the usual armaments, and every country will be able to afford the weapons used by Ukraine, such as drones, missiles, and rockets, and the nature of combat will level the playing field between countries. We can observe this in the combat between Iran, the United States, and Israel, where Iran can attack military bases in foreign countries at will with drones and rockets, and the bases are defenseless against these attacks.
Unfortunately, America is asleep at the wheel and distracted by a mad president directing the attack on Iran and not on this new weaponry active in Ukraine.
100%. There are few, if any women in this country who truly believe that the the abuse of women is perpetrated only by the members of one political party. The difference, at least so far, has been that there is far more tolerance for it on right than the left. That said, I think that the saga of Graham Platner (and those who are now saying that he was taken down by some "party machine" rather than his own abhorrent behavior) shows the very ugly truth that there is a good percentage of people on the left as well as the right, who seem to believe that even that kind of indefensible behavior is somehow a sign of manliness and does not disqualify you from elected office. I am a liberal democrat who wants to see the slide into illiberalism in the country stopped. I do not think we should, or should have to, sacrifice women to do so. Women's rights to be free from assault and abuse is not a luxury, it should be fundamental to who we are as a nation.
The most recent and more concerning rape allegation is from a democrat that supports his alleged policies. And why doesn’t anyone question why he was dating such MAGA like women? And not that many years ago.
Tara, I had the same questions. I started to see Platner as another John Fetterman of PA. Platner has no track record for me to assess his likely decisions on matters important to the ME voters. Blue collar talk from a guy who started his business based on a close family member loan, so he could collect oysters for his Mom's restaurant.
The Democratic Party leaders need to become aware of, what I think of as , Trojan Horse Candidates. The party has had bad experiences with some bad candidates actually winning only to then reveal their true colors. I am thinking of two recent examples in the U.S. Senate, where mistakes are crucial for the entire Country.
Sinema and Manchin were somewhat Trojan Horses. Fetterman had at least one red flag that people ignored and now look at him. I feared that Platner could end up being more of the same. Please take a look at MA also with Markey a true progressive but turning 80 and Moulton a younger vet vying to remove the old guy. Moulton is not a progressive and is almost trying to come off as one. He is more conservative and could be somewhat of a Trojan Horse ruining our chances with the Senate and nobody is looking at that race.
I've been following Markey and Moulton for a while. I don't trust Moulton. As you say, he is not one of the more progressive members of the House Democratic caucus — he falls somewhat below the middle. And he got overly ambitious in 2019 when he briefly ran for president and was part of a group of unaccomplished white men who spoke up about ousting Nancy Pelosi. The mediocre white male privilege is strong with that one. Markey meanwhile is the second most progressive Senator — after Liz Warren.
And I fear Moulton could win due to the age argument and the fact he is running on mostly progressive policy positions (though he has basically thrown trans people under the bus). I don’t trust him and I think he will vote much more conservatively and will go wherever he thinks he can garner power. Mediocre white man is the truth. But this isn’t a race to watch to take (or lose) the senate.
No, control doesn't hinge on it, but it would be one less outspoken person to push back on the GOP. I'm pretty tired of hearing about the age thing, and even seeing two intelligent commentators in the left using it to suggest legislative term limits, which are a rightwing policy idea pushed to weaken legislatures and allow lobbyists and big-money groups like ALEC to run them.
Yes. Thank you for speaking truth. Moving us from placating to winning to having clarity about safe and ethical boundaries. Sexual, verbal, and violent acts of any sort cause egregious harm. Thanks for speaking truth. How intriguing that greed, manipulation, and fear "trump" justice. We also need to begin teaching boys/men that girls/women and nonbinary folk are NOT their property or their pawns. We continue to tell men to sow their wild oats and hold and shame women for male acts. Please continue to speak truth to power. Time to clean up more houses.
Thank you!!
Yes-- we absolutely must have higher standards for whom we are willing to support. However, here's something that is worth saying loud and often. When the evidence warrants it (and sometimes even when it doesn't-- Al Franken (cough, cough))-- Dems have pretty consistently not looked the other way. Platner withdrew, Al Franken was booted out (unfairly, IMO), Swalwell withdrew. And, make no mistake, not because it was the right thing to do. It's because they realized that they would not have enough Dem and reasonable Indy support to win anymore. That is the difference-- and it is huge. While we can't play a tennis match that nobody wins, we also cannot subscribe to false equivalence of both parties. There are problems in both, but it is highly asymmetrical. We need to make that clear.
I get it but I’m just tired of the jump for BS moral clarity
I agree with everything you said, Mike, except for this: I think you’re being too hard on yourself.
We have to discuss it. Absolutely. And pointing out that there are predators on both sides is simply a part of it. But you can’t demand that the whole thing get out in the open and dealt with like adults WITHOUT discussing that there are predators on both sides.
But frankly, and I’ve talked about this before, hypocrisy around sexual matters is baked into politics in the United States. And England. And probably a lot of other places. 40 years after the trials of Oscar Wilde, the effects of his trial were still echoing through the corridors of English power, still having an effect on politics in England. Before the scandals of Oscar wilde, there was the Hyde Street brothel scandal, where a lot of prominent men used to visit in Victorian England. It was all exposed, but very little came out of it, primarily due to the hypocrisy, sex obsession, more hypocrisy, and fears over sexuality, especially nonconventional sexuality in Victorian England.
And we have exactly the same thing going on with the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic and conservative protestant churches, especially the assemblies of God and the southern Baptists.
THEY ARE STILL TRYING TO PIN THIS ON GAY MEN LIKE MYSELF, RATHER THAN TAKE A LONG (DARE WE SAY IT) HARD LOOK AT A CULTURE THAT WOULD RATHER COVER UP THE ABUSE AND IGNORE IT LEST IT HURT THEIR POWER MONGERING, CASH FLOW, AND RECRUITMENT EFFORTS.
And it pisses me off no end that they’re still getting away with this after decades.
So I’m 100% with you on this. Blow the whole thing out of the water. Expose everyone, not just the Swallwells, Trumps, Epsteins, and platners of the world. Bring them to justice. But not just the politicians. Bring the priests, pastors, youth pastors, spiritual leaders, big businessman, millionaires and billionaires…
Bring all of them to justice.
Yes.
Straight-forward, direct. More "content" ,less words!
Thank you so much for this, Mike. As a teenager, I, and I'm sure many many women and girls just like me, were taken advantage of against our will. At the time, no one wanted to hear about it (except my parents). This Epstein class, Boys Club, whatever you want to call it has to be called out and become unacceptable EVERY SINGLE TIME, no matter which party or who it is. Enough is enough.
I’m very sorry that happened to you
I believe Graham needed to suspend his campaign. I believe we need to listen to victim statements. However, this is Hunter Biden all over again. I called you out for saying Hunter was a "bad person". I'm calling you out for saying Graham is a "tremendous scumbag". You cannot say you support the Constitution, that you believe in the 5th amendment, and then make a blanket statement about someone, who has not yet been provided due process. Graham may, indeed, be a scumbag, but... You cannot be a constitutionalist only when it's convenient, or promotes an agenda you are in support of. You can have an opinion, which when used provides an open door for others to apply a blanket opinion of you. If you are okay with that, fire away!;)
Hunter Biden wasn't running for office or working inside the government, so I'd prefer to leave him out of it. As I recall, no one on either side was particularly high on Hunter Biden. Ans as I recall, his sins were mostly against himself.
You are completely missing the point of my post. Not being "particularly high on Hunter' does not provide an individual with the right to impose a judgement on him, or anyone else, without proper due process. Otherwise, it's nothing but opinion, or possibly gossip. Let's try to be the bigger people by not blanketly slandering others, or dismissing the content of the Constitution, because "no one is particularly high" for someone. As for Hunter's sins against himself, they weren't sins. It was addiction. An illness. As I recall.
In a way I see what you mean. I do believe in “believe the victims”, but what I mean by that is “don’t disbelieve the victims” and I feel that in most cases they are probably being truthful. But I want to hear about witnesses, evidence & corroboration. When candidates, etc. are quick to throw in the towel, that seems to point to guilt. They are probably hoping for a deal, a settlement, no trial, an end to publicity, no jail time. But I also recognize that being accused does not mean convicted or that charges are proven. I would hate to see lives ruined over false accusations.
There is a significant difference between a political judgment and a court judgment. Platner was judged at the political level which takes for less evidence of guilt than at the criminal level and failed. When we try to elevate political newcomers, especially nearly completely unknown individuals, to state wide positions it too often turns out bad. Platner is an example of that.
We can surmise that. We cannot know that. That's my point.
WAKE UP WORLD: What is happening in Ukraine is redefining warfare.
Russia, with its army, air force, and navy, is no match for the new way of fighting created by Ukraine. This presents a model for all future disagreements between countries. Soldiers, jet planes, and aircraft carriers are all nullified by this new way of waging war. This new model was also promoted by countries supporting Ukraine that supplied their own new forms of this type of warfare: France, Great Britain, Finland, Norway, Spain, and Germany.
Russia has not been able to defend against this new form of warfare, and there may be no way to defend against this style of waging war. Ukraine has developed a warfare system that attacks Russia with different forms of drones, missiles, and rockets, targeting Russia’s military-related facilities, air defense systems, fuel and radar installations, and not frontline formations; in other words, its approach is not to fight typical soldiers on the front lines but rather to attack the facilities supporting the Russian troops.
The success of these changes shifts the typical focus from soldiers, tanks, and airplanes to, to quote Owen Warner, “the geopolitical importance of this operation goes beyond the destruction of the equipment involved. It shows how warfare has evolved. It is a strategy of disruption rather than attrition that Ukraine is pursuing.” The drone attack in Ukraine is part of the country’s escalating deep-strike campaign designed to put Russia’s rear areas under pressure. Past military planners have depended on distance as a safety factor. Critical assets were relatively safe when located away from the battlefield because of the limited range of conventional weapons. The military base, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines, can now be within reach of remotely operated, less-expensive systems.”
Warfare will not be fought with the usual armaments, and every country will be able to afford the weapons used by Ukraine, such as drones, missiles, and rockets, and the nature of combat will level the playing field between countries. We can observe this in the combat between Iran, the United States, and Israel, where Iran can attack military bases in foreign countries at will with drones and rockets, and the bases are defenseless against these attacks.
Unfortunately, America is asleep at the wheel and distracted by a mad president directing the attack on Iran and not on this new weaponry active in Ukraine.
Maybe it’s time to remind people not to be assholes. Men, specifically. No means no. Leave her alone.
Job one: Believe the Women!!!!
100%. There are few, if any women in this country who truly believe that the the abuse of women is perpetrated only by the members of one political party. The difference, at least so far, has been that there is far more tolerance for it on right than the left. That said, I think that the saga of Graham Platner (and those who are now saying that he was taken down by some "party machine" rather than his own abhorrent behavior) shows the very ugly truth that there is a good percentage of people on the left as well as the right, who seem to believe that even that kind of indefensible behavior is somehow a sign of manliness and does not disqualify you from elected office. I am a liberal democrat who wants to see the slide into illiberalism in the country stopped. I do not think we should, or should have to, sacrifice women to do so. Women's rights to be free from assault and abuse is not a luxury, it should be fundamental to who we are as a nation.
I agree with your position. However, in the zeal to get rid of Platner, I think some focus on the two Republicans ex’s would be fair.
The most recent and more concerning rape allegation is from a democrat that supports his alleged policies. And why doesn’t anyone question why he was dating such MAGA like women? And not that many years ago.
Tara, I had the same questions. I started to see Platner as another John Fetterman of PA. Platner has no track record for me to assess his likely decisions on matters important to the ME voters. Blue collar talk from a guy who started his business based on a close family member loan, so he could collect oysters for his Mom's restaurant.
Wrong, there are morals, they can be slippery but we all never really lose them, they are like rhymes.
The Democratic Party leaders need to become aware of, what I think of as , Trojan Horse Candidates. The party has had bad experiences with some bad candidates actually winning only to then reveal their true colors. I am thinking of two recent examples in the U.S. Senate, where mistakes are crucial for the entire Country.
Who is the second? And I'm not sure Fetterman was a "Trojan Horse," just a messed-up guy.
Sinema and Manchin were somewhat Trojan Horses. Fetterman had at least one red flag that people ignored and now look at him. I feared that Platner could end up being more of the same. Please take a look at MA also with Markey a true progressive but turning 80 and Moulton a younger vet vying to remove the old guy. Moulton is not a progressive and is almost trying to come off as one. He is more conservative and could be somewhat of a Trojan Horse ruining our chances with the Senate and nobody is looking at that race.
I've been following Markey and Moulton for a while. I don't trust Moulton. As you say, he is not one of the more progressive members of the House Democratic caucus — he falls somewhat below the middle. And he got overly ambitious in 2019 when he briefly ran for president and was part of a group of unaccomplished white men who spoke up about ousting Nancy Pelosi. The mediocre white male privilege is strong with that one. Markey meanwhile is the second most progressive Senator — after Liz Warren.
And I fear Moulton could win due to the age argument and the fact he is running on mostly progressive policy positions (though he has basically thrown trans people under the bus). I don’t trust him and I think he will vote much more conservatively and will go wherever he thinks he can garner power. Mediocre white man is the truth. But this isn’t a race to watch to take (or lose) the senate.
No, control doesn't hinge on it, but it would be one less outspoken person to push back on the GOP. I'm pretty tired of hearing about the age thing, and even seeing two intelligent commentators in the left using it to suggest legislative term limits, which are a rightwing policy idea pushed to weaken legislatures and allow lobbyists and big-money groups like ALEC to run them.
Yup - John Fetterman of PA comes to mind.
THANK YOU ! !
This is the absolute truth! Thank you for speaking truth.
The people of Maine were left with horrible choices for this Senate race
Yes, I was happy not to have to vote.