BLUF:
[Washington Examiner] Yes, there are women in the workplace who are taken advantage of by men who clearly lack character. And there are ways to teach our daughters how to deal with this fact. But many grown women are just as eager as men to engage in "inappropriate sexual behavior." Indeed, most women love to be the one the powerful man chooses. And who’s kidding whom? It’s sexy to be bad behind closed doors. Movies and television sell this message every day. Did we honestly think it would have no impact?
Matt Lauer is the latest man to be accused of sexual harassment, and he has now gone on the record with his apology. He is unquestionably not the family man America thought he was. But like others who've been accused, Lauer noted that some of the claims are "untrue or mischaracterized."
That is no doubt all he will say, but behind that statement is an entire story. It’s a salacious story, and I assure you it doesn’t look like what the media would have you believe. It isn’t a story about a bad man who preys upon innocent, unsuspecting women. It’s a story about sex and power and what they can do when opportunity arises. It’s about temptation, excitement, and (dare I say it) sin. Both men and women are equally flawed, and they are equally capable of sin.
[PJ] As the skulls of Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor are added to the ever-growing pile collected by the #metoo and #sohardtobeawoman feminists, this libertarian is starting to wonder if there will be any straight, normal testosterone males remaining on the left -- so it’s time to inject a little sanity.
Let me say right up front that I’m not an idiot, and I know I will be told I’m victim blaming.
My answer to that is, "Sure am. Not a problem." The trendy way of shutting up any complaints of women not behaving in any sensible way is not going to work with me.
Saying what a man could never say. Lengthy and provocative as only Hoyt can be. Don't neglect the comments.
#1
Well done. The comments are reasonable, moderate, and some give the impression of relief at finally being able to say something they believe.
Back in the day, in a field project in a dicey area, I was asked to teach the female staff self defense. So after dinner, we would get out the mats and the ladies would be throwing Aubrey hither and yon.
At the forty-year reunion, two of them referenced that even before noticing I'd put on weight or even saying hello. It appears to have been important to them all along, more than I had anticipated. Neither of them had had to use it. But having it in their quiver just in case made a difference to them.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
12/02/2017 7:37 Comments ||
Top||
#2
She’s good. More from the article, with my thoughts:
Some of us grew up in another time and place. We were taught the way women respond to unwanted advances, much less to advances that amount to professional extortion. There is the “freeze face” — the look that puts a man at a remote distance, where they’re ants, and you’re a goddess. And there is the “How dare you?”
For men who persist or who start out with groping, where I come from in another time and place, there was the slap, or for the really slow of learning ones, the punch.
There are very few men who continue being amorous when you punch them in the face. (And there are self-defense classes to handle those.)
I have been naive and oblivious all my life. Looking back now on a very few conversations with male colleagues before I retired to have children, it occurs to me that they might have been passes — but I was engaged at nineteen, married when I was twenty, and always responded to such things with, “I’m so glad you’re only joking, and don’t really mean that! I could never be friends with someone who meant that to a married woman.”
If women are going to be adult human beings, in the workplace we need to stand on two legs and demand to be treated like adult human beings. We need to, yes, refuse tainted advancement based on putting out. We need to behave as professionals.
#10
I've worked nearly 40 years, 35 in Engineering, and other than friendly banter, never sexually harrassed any wymyns - to my knowledge, and certainly not unwittingly successfully
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/02/2017 18:35 Comments ||
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[MEDIAite] Baywatch star Pamela Anderson had a bit of a hot take yesterday when she suggested that the women who were sexually abused by Harvey Weinstein might not have been victimized if they were just more careful with him.
Anderson spoke with Megyn Kelly on Thursday, where she talked about the sexual abuse she had to overcome as a child. She went on to say that various figures made unscrupulous propositions to her when she first arrived in Hollywood, and it only took common sense to avoid getting involved in complicated situations.
"Don’t go into a hotel room alone. If someone answers the door in a bathrobe, leave," said Anderson. "It was common knowledge that certain producers or certain people in Hollywood are people to avoid, privately. You know what you’re getting into if you’re going into a hotel room alone."
When asked to talk about her previous interactions with Weinstein, Anderson said the mogul came off as "very intimidating" while working together in the past. She went on to say she was not surprised when Weinstein’s sex misconduct came to light since it was "common knowledge" for her.
You'll note that since the Big Show in Las Vegas on October 1st, 2017, .223/5.56mm ammunition has almost returned to its original pre-shooting level. On September 30th, 2017, .223/5.56mm ammunition stood at $.19 per round. Directly after the shooting, prices jumped to a $.21 per round high. Now, eight weeks or so later, prices fell to $.20 per round, where they have been for the last five weeks.
4,000 unexpended rounds were found in Paddock's suite.
216 individuals were struck by gunfire.
Aesop said Paddock's hit ratio was a little over 21 percent. My original guesstimate was 17.5 percent, but that was based on old data that was less accurate.
Said Aesop:
So, to recap, that leaves us with a .196 average, with gunfire hits on 216 or so out of 1100 attempts (and notably, only 1 out of 200 on Campos in the hallway at a range measured in inches), while firing at a crowded outdoor concert with 22,000 attendees at a venue the size of a WWII aircraft carrier. If you look at the concert goer average, it was about .010, or about what, in baseball, selects you to be a designated peanut vendor.
This wasn't just the worst shooting in U.S. history, it was the worst shooter in US history. The last time America saw someone shoot this badly, it was the roommate in Frank Whaley's apartment in Pulp Fiction, right before Vincent and Jules blow him away.
The really fun stuff is at Western Rifle Shooter's Association, where a conversation was displayed including some of the most best and most useful information on how to fire a rifle in combat, especially focusing on round placement at 300+ meters for the 5.56mm.
I would like to add that concerning the AK-74, Russian armorers typically bore sight at 300 to 400 meters. At that range, firing at Russian center mass which is the crotch area, you are certain to hit a man sized target directly at the chest.
In a report I read some time back, former KGB special forces operators told a hiker who had taken an interest in Afghanistan, that new Soviet Army recruits deployed for the first time were told to aim at the feet for targets closer than 100 meters, and then "walk" their hits up until they hit a target. The bullet drop for the 5.45mm round is about nine inches for the 53 grain steel core ball. That is from the bore to 400 meters. It is way more pronounced for the much heavier 60 grain bullet that is commonly available in the US.
And that means practice, about which it was said that once in country the average Soviet Army rifleman did not have. On the job training for them.
But American armorers bore sight their rifles at 25 yards, and when you go to read the thread, you'll understand why.
Both militaries' doctrines deal with their own unique set of problems and have come to solutions to be used in the field in different ways.
Pistol ammunition prices were steady. Rifle ammunition prices were mostly steady.
Prices for used pistols were lower. Prices for used rifles were mixed.
New Lows:
Virginia: .223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic): Smith & Wesson M&P 15 Sport: $300
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Foundry35, Silver Bear, FMJ, Steel Casing, .22 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: SG Ammo, Wolf WPA, FMJ, Steel Casing, .22 per round (From Last Week: +.03 )
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bangit Ammo,Owm Brand, FMJ, Brass Casing, Reloads .20 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: FedArm, Own Brand, TPMJ, Brass Casing, Reloads, .18 per round (From Last Week: +.01 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks))
9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Extreme Reloading, Own Brand, FMJ, Brass Casing, Reloads .14 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Fedarm, Own Brand, RN, Brass Casing, Reloads .13 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (8 Weeks))
.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017))
.38 Special, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bang It Ammo, Precision One, JSP, Brass Casing, Reloads, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: American Reloading, Own brand, TMJ, Aluminum Casing, Reloads, .22 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: AmmoMen, Wolf WPA, FMJ, Steel Casing, .20 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Wolf WPA, FMJ, Steel Casing, .20 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (7 Weeks))
.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .32 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .32 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))
7.62x39mm AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Wolf WPA, FMJ, Steel Casing, .19 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .19 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017))
.30-06 Springfield 145 Grain. From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .54 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: United Nations Ammo, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .53 per round (From Last week: Unchanged (6 Weeks))
.300 Winchester Magnum 150 Grain, From Last Week: -.04 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Unchanged (3 Weeks), Brass Casing, SP, .81 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Target Sports USA, Prvi Partizan, Brass Casing, SP, .85 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
.338 Lapua Magnum 250 Grain, From Last Week: +.14 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Prvi Partizan, Brass Casing, HPBT, 2.50 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 200 rounds: Wholesale Hunter, Hornady, Brass Casing, JSP, 3.14 per round (From Last Week: +.78 After Unchanged (3 Weeks))
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammo King, Aguila, RNL, .04 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 5,000 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Aguila, RNL, .04 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2Q, 2017))
[NYT] Everyone knows that we are again living in a Gilded Age.
More controversial is the question of what should be done about it. We seem stuck in the same policy equilibrium we have been in for decades, with conservatives denying that there is a problem and pushing policies that would make it even worse, liberals emphasizing the need for education and skills development, and leftists pushing for a unionized labor market and social-democratic welfare state.
Some of these ideas are good ones, which would make life better for vulnerable people. But they’d do little to directly target inequality in our society or to capture all the benefits that economic fairness brings.
The solution is simpler than it seems. There’s a tried and tested way, within the system we have now, of giving everyone a share in the investment returns now hoarded by the wealthy. It’s called a social wealth fund, a pool of investment assets in some ways like the giant index or mutual funds already popular with retirement savings accounts or pension funds, but one owned collectively by society as a whole. One that paid dividends not to the few, or even just to the shrinking middle class lucky enough to have their savings invested, but to everyone.
It may be our best chance to stop a decades-long trend of rising wealth inequality that has only accelerated since the Great Recession. According to new data released by the Federal Reserve, the collapse of the housing bubble and the ensuing financial crisis caused the net worth of virtually all families, rich and poor, to drop sharply between 2007 and 2010. But during the post-2010 economic recovery, the fortunes of the wealthiest grew rapidly while nearly everyone else’s lagged behind.
The wealth of the top 1 percent increased by an average of $4.9 million over the past decade, while the average holdings of the bottom 99 percent declined by about $4,500. Wealth inequality is now the highest it has been since the Federal Reserve began collecting this kind of data in 1983. A full account of just how bad things have gotten is difficult to wrap one’s mind around. In 2016, according to my calculations, the top 1 percent had an average wealth of $26.6 million, while the net worth of everyone in the bottom third combined was less than zero (because of a mixture of low accumulated savings and high debt).
The stress this puts on our society is hard to overstate, and though recognition of our country’s grossly unequal condition has grown in recent years, few have proposed credible ways of turning things around. That’s where a social wealth fund comes in.
#3
Everyone knows that we are again living in a Gilded Age.
Ask the people from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin who voted for Trump if they consider it a 'Gilded Age'. The oxygen must be really light up there in the NYT offices.
#8
Idiotic. After two decades only 1/5 of those in the bottom 20% will still be there without aid, the rest having moved up — some all the way up to the top 20%. And likewise, most of those currently in the top 20% will have fallen to lower income categories. But giving the government, or a pseudo-government entity, vast sums of money to play with only guarantees those funds will evaporate while distorting every corner of the economy. Think government investment in renewable energy, only on a larger scale.
And don’t forget that the housing bubble was the result of federal government distortions of the market, harming most those it purported to help.
As the top 1% get wealthier — usually, like Bill Gates, by creating new products that people want to buy, or by investing (giving money) in others who create new products people want to buy — they either spend the money (creating jobs), invest the money (creating jobs), save the money (allowing banks to loan it out, so that it is spent by others creating jobs), or they give it away as targeted charity, helping those at the bottom more effectively than a govenment “wealth fund” possibly could.
#9
Oh, I'm totally in favor of this -- provided I'm in charge of where the money goes and determining from it shall be extracted.
Let's start by taking all university endowment funds, then all of Carlos Slim, George Sauron, Jeff Bezor, and Mark Zuckersperg's money so I can get me some boats'n'hoes.
Don't worry; I promise to be a fair and benevolent dictator. Trust me.
[Breitbart] Friday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh questioned the timing of the announcement former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had been charged by special counsel Robert Mueller for lying to the FBI.
Limbaugh suggested the timing of the news was to draw the attention away from passage of the tax bill among other items in the news, including the Matt Lauer firing from NBC and the "not guilty" verdict in the Kate Steinle murder trial.
"So there you have it ‐ they’re all excited," Limbaugh said. "Mueller did the deed on the right day. Mueller did the deed to sweep the tax cut deal off the table and to tick everybody off. This is, in Jonathan Martin’s opinion, the swamp banding together ‐ the establishment coordinating its efforts to continue to destroy Trump and muddy the waters. The tax bill is going to pass. As far as [Mitch] McConnell and [Paul] Ryan are concerned, none of this today is a legal problem."
"It’s a bit of a political problem, but it doesn’t present any legal problems to them or their tax bill," he continued. "The tax bill is going to pass. But I don’t have any doubt that the timing of this thing today may not be coincidental. Just look at all the news it has swept off the front pages and look what it put back on the front page: ’Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election from Hillary.’"
[Townhall] While the liberal media is celebrating the announcement that former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, a bigger scandal was practically ignored.
On Thursday, Judicial Watch released 29 pages of FBI emails regarding the inexcusable June 27, 2016 meeting between former President Bill Clinton and then Attorney General Loretta Lynch on the tarmac of the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, AZ. This meeting was not accidental, as Clinton purposely delayed the takeoff of his aircraft to arrange the supposedly impromptu encounter with the Attorney General.
According to Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, "These new FBI documents show the FBI was more concerned about a whistle-blower who told the truth about the infamous Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting than the scandalous meeting itself."
In the midst of a FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s "extremely careless" handling of top secret email communications, Lynch held a secretive meeting with her husband. This bombshell information would have never been made public if not for the investigative work of Phoenix television anchor Christopher Sign, who received a tip about the meeting from a "trusted source."
With an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the improper handling of email communications, it was highly improper for Lynch to agree to the meeting with Bill Clinton just days before FBI agents would interview his wife. Once confronted about the tarmac meeting, Lynch claimed they only discussed golf and grandchildren, which is a completely ludicrous explanation for the 30-minute meeting.
If the meeting was so innocent, why did the Justice Department withhold key documents for so long? After an initial July 7, 2016 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Judicial Watch for documents pertaining to the meeting, the Justice Department claimed that nothing could be located. Only after an official FOIA lawsuit did the department provide the various FBI email exchanges.
As noted by Fitton, the real focus of the emails was to try to locate the leaker who exposed the meeting. One unidentified FBI agent lamented that the meeting was disclosed to the press and claimed that "We need to find that guy" in order to get him fired or sanctioned by his supervisors. The emails show that the FBI believed the source was a Phoenix police officer and one agent expressed a desire to ban the officer from being involved in future security details.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[NYT] Everyone knows that we are again living in a Gilded Age.
[Breitbart] Friday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh questioned the timing of the announcement former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had been charged by special counsel Robert Mueller for lying to the FBI.
[Townhall] While the liberal media is celebrating the announcement that former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, a bigger scandal was practically ignored.
