[PHILLY] Pennsylvania House Democrats spent nearly a quarter-million dollars in taxpayer money to secretly settle a sexual harassment complaint against a 40-year politician, according to a document obtained by The Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
A payment of $248,000 went to quietly settle a complaint in 2015 against state Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, a Democratic politician from Berks County, by a longtime legislative staffer. The settlement included a non-disclosure agreement, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The year after the settlement, Caltagirone, a politician since 1977, won reelection to his 21st two-year term; he was unopposed in the primary and the general election.
It was not clear whether Caltagirone, who had faced a separate and widely publicized sexual harassment complaint in the mid-1990s, was disciplined or reprimanded after the 2015 payout. House Democrats would not discuss any specifics involving the case, and Caltagirone did not respond to requests for comment.
The payout was in addition to the $30,000 that the Inquirer reported last month was made in 2013 to end a sexual harassment lawsuit against former state Rep. Jewell Williams, now Philadelphia’s sheriff, by a onetime employee.
House Minority Leader Frank Dermody (D., Allegheny) this week declined to be interviewed about the settlement payouts, which were itemized in a document prepared by the state’s Bureau of Risk and Insurance Management and obtained by the newspapers. The bureau manages the state’s self-insurance programs and investigates and pays tort claims and lawsuits against the state and its employees, including harassment suits.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2017 00:00 ||
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[DailyBeast] An alleged victim of former Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller is coming forward with accusations that Miller hit and sexually assaulted her while in college.
The accusations were eventually addressed by a student court at George Washington University and have been buzzed about in Hollywood and stand-up circles for years.
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“He just tried a lot of things without asking me, and at no point asked me if I was all right,” the woman told The Daily Beast. “He choke[d] me, and I kept staring at his face hoping he would see that I was afraid and [that he] would stop… I couldn’t say anything.”
Miller’s alleged victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said she is coming forward now in part because of the societal awakening to issues of sexual assault and harassment that has come in the aftermath of misconduct allegations that have rocked the entertainment industry. The Daily Beast is withholding her identity because of her fears of retribution. But for the purposes of this piece, we will call her Sarah.
Miller has told friends over the years that he was wrongfully accused. And in a statement to The Daily Beast, Miller and his wife, Kate, denied any wrongdoing. Instead, they cast themselves as the victims.
#2
Yeah, he played a jerk but it was funny. The show was funny because it had little kernels of truth embedded in it. Dunno about the accusations but I'm getting a little weary of all this bitching and moaning without any evidence. Some girl has a beef so she tells the media that some guy sexually harassed her. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Yawn.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/20/2017 10:07 Comments ||
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h/t Instapundit
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has decided to launch an investigation into possible voter fraud in last week’s Senate special election that say Democrat Doug Jones defeat Republican Roy Moore.
The decision came after an interview with a person on FOX10:
While live on air, in the middle of the crowded party, Kati walked up to a number of jubilant supporters at random, asking them for their reactions to the big win.
But, it was this question and answer that has caused controversy:
"Kati: Why are you excited to see this victory? Man: Because, we came here all the way from different parts of the country as part of our fellowship, and all of us pitched in to vote and canvas together, and we got our boy elected!" Bad news for Al Franken?
[Breitbart] FBI investigator Peter Strzok’s text referring to "an insurance policy" against President Trump was reportedly arguing that the agency should probe allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Strzok was demoted by FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller after he discovered anti-Trump texts exchanged between Strzok and fellow FBI official Lisa Page. While many of the messages were critical of Trump, there was one message in particular that raised eyebrows and caused debate:
"I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in [Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s] office‐that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected‐but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40..."
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the "insurance policy" was not a secret plan, but pushing the Russia probe ‐ a probe that is still ongoing a year into Trump’s first term:
#3
You know, the gravity of this situation scares the crap out of me.
Obviously, under Zerobama, we were about one episode of "Family Guy" from all of these politicized, weaponized, armed and danger agencies hitting the streets and trying to install our own version of Kim Jung In as president for life.
This plot/attempted coup has to be eviscerated and the various agencies scoured for every burrowed in Obamite political appointee. It is time we all recognized how DANGEROUS these people are...I know a lot of us Burgers are well aware and have been for a long time.
A new legal complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission alleges that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee used state chapters as strawmen to circumvent campaign donation limits and laundered the money back to her campaign.
The Committee to Defend the President, a political action committee, filed its complaint with the FEC on Monday with the allegations that the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF) solicited cash from big-name donors, including Calvin Klein and "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane -- money that was allegedly sent through state chapters and back to the DNC before ending up with the Clinton campaign.
Officials with the committee said their filing was spurred by their own analysis of FEC reports, where they said they discovered the HVF either never transferred the money to state chapters and back to the DNC, or did so without the state chapters having actual control.
"What we have found, people need to see," Ted Harvey, chairman of the CDP which emerged from the now-defunct Stop Hillary PAC, told Fox News. "I think it’s important that the American public has an understanding of how corrupt this campaign system was and that they were doing anything they could to secure the nomination in her favor."
In its complaint, the CDP alleges that about $84 million was funneled illegally from the DNC through state party chapters and back into the war chest of the Clinton campaign.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is looking at the presidential campaign of the Green Party’s Jill Stein for potential "collusion with the Russians," a sign that the panel’s probe is far from over, even as allegations swirl that the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation is racing to a close.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) told reporters Monday that the Senate Intelligence Committee has "two other campaigns that we’re just starting on," in addition to the panel’s ongoing probe of alleged ties between the Trump administration and Kremlin officials. One of those he identified as Stein’s; Burr has indicated previously that the committee is also looking into reports that the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign paid for research that went into a dossier detailing allegations of Donald Trump’s 2013 exploits in Moscow.
Stein was present at a 2015 dinner in Moscow that was also attended by Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whose contacts with Russian officials have been a chief focus of congressional investigators and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe. Flynn and Stein were photographed at the same table as Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sat next to Flynn and across the table from Stein. Continues. WaPo no less.
I believe it shall be soon revealed what the Progs find to be acceptable standards of behavior. Then the defense of Flynn may proceed.
[CNN] Almost a full year into Trump's presidency, Gallup found his favorability rating was higher than his former Democratic opponent, with 41% of respondents in a December poll rating Trump favorably compared to his 56% seeing him unfavorably.
#1
What should have been a clue to the DNC was the way Hillary's favorables went up every time she disappeared from the campaign trail. (I keep spelling that trial. I wonder why.)
What kind of person is better liked when you can't see them? Also the "It's all YOUR fault, you dumb ungratefuls" tour hasn't helped.
Hillary sort of reminds most people of the elementary school principal that they didn't like.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/20/2017 8:35 Comments ||
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#2
"Trail," I keep spelling that trial.
Ed, like the rest of us, wishful thinking for a trial overdue.
[DailyCaller] The House Intelligence Committee met Tuesday with a key figure a John McCain associate who handled the infamous anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.
David Kramer, a former State Department official, was interviewed by the committee Tuesday morning, The Hill reported.
Kramer has been at the center of the dossier saga since January, when BuzzFeed News published the salacious document online.
It was revealed soon after the dossier was published that McCain and Kramer were first told about the uncorroborated report in Nov. 2016 by Sir Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador to Russia who is a business associate of Steele’s.
At McCain’s request, Kramer traveled to London later that month to meet with Steele, a former MI6 officer. The pair arranged for McCain to obtain a copy of the dossier through Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele to investigate Donald Trump’s activities in Russia.
Fusion, which is based in Washington, D.C., was working on behalf of the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.
Kramer’s knowledge of the dossier has remained a mystery for months, largely because he has refused to respond to media inquiries to discuss the topic. One question that has been raised is whether he was involved in giving the dossier to BuzzFeed.
Kramer, a former senior director at the McCain Institute, was one of a small handful of people known to have handled the complete 35-page version of the dossier. McCain, Steele, and Fusion GPS have all denied giving the document to BuzzFeed.
Lawyers for Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian businessman suing BuzzFeed for defamation over the dossier, have attempted to depose Kramer. But as of last month, the attorneys disclosed in court filings that Kramer had dodged their subpoenas.
#8
At McCain’s request, Kramer traveled to London later that month to meet with Steele, a former MI6 officer.
Funny. I always had the impression that somebody handed to dossier to McCain, that it just kinda fell into his hands without any solicitation on his part. But now we learn that he went so far as to send one of his staffers to London to get it. He took an active part in the whole sordid affair. Slime.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/20/2017 10:20 Comments ||
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#9
What's O/U on McStain being hanged for treason v dying of brain cancer?
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/20/2017 12:54 Comments ||
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#10
imo, Mr. McCain will be allowed to expire as a statesman.
As our culture frowns upon besmirching the dead, little will come of his involvement with this Tar Baby.
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.
[Breitbart] FBI investigator Peter Strzok’s text referring to "an insurance policy" against President Trump was reportedly arguing that the agency should probe allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
