[AXIOS] The late-night show "Tavis Smiley" was suspended by PBS after an investigation of Smiley that resulted in "multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS," Variety reports.
Per Variety, the investigation revealed sexual relationships with subordinates, and a "verbally abusive and threatening environment" created by Smiley.
Why it matters: Another powerful man has been taken down by allegations of sexual misconduct, joining dozens of other men.
#5
For years now I've only seen the occasional minute or two of his program, but FWIW, this visual sprang instantly to mind when I heard the "news."
He leans from the edge of the seat,
All weight on the balls of his feet.
As paw meets knee, slyly
(On camera! Damn, Smiley!),
He beats a triumphant retreat.
Cursory search yields no knee-grabbing. Color me surprised.
[WSJ] Democrats and the media are accusing anyone who criticizes special counsel Robert Mueller as Trumpian conspirators trying to undermine his probe. But who needs critics when Mr. Mueller’s team is doing so much to undermine its own credibility?
Wednesday’s revelations‐they’re coming almost daily‐include the Justice Department’s release of 2016 text messages to and from Peter Strzok, the FBI counterintelligence agent whom Mr. Mueller demoted this summer. The texts, which he exchanged with senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page, contain expletive-laced tirades against Mr. Trump. Such Trump hatred is no surprise and not by itself disqualifying. More troubling are texts that suggest that some FBI officials may have gone beyond antipathy to anti-Trump plotting.
"I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office‐that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected‐but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk," Mr. Strzok wrote Ms. Page in an Aug. 15, 2016 text. He added: "It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40."
What "policy" would that be? The "Andy" in question is Andrew McCabe, the deputy FBI director. FBI officials are allowed to have political opinions, but what kind of action were they discussing that would amount to anti-Trump "insurance"?
In another exchange that month, Ms. Page forwarded a Trump-related article and wrote: "Maybe you’re meant to stay where you are because you’re meant to protect the country from that menace." He thanked her and assured: "Of course I’ll try and approach it that way." Mr. Strzok, recall, is the man who changed the words "grossly negligent" to "extremely careless" in James Comey’s July 2016 public exoneration of Hillary Clinton’s emails.
The McCabe meeting came on the heels of the FBI’s launch of its counterintelligence probe into Trump-Russia ties. July is also when former British spook Christopher Steele briefed the FBI on his Clinton-financed dossier of salacious allegations against Mr. Trump. The texts explain why Mr. Mueller would remove Mr. Strzok, though a straight shooter wouldn’t typically resist turning those messages over to Congress for as long as Mr. Mueller did.
Meanwhile, we’re learning more about the political motives of Mr. Mueller’s lieutenant, Andrew Weissmann. Judicial Watch last week released an email in which Mr. Weissmann expressed his "awe" and praise for Sally Yates, after the then acting AG and Obama holdover refused to implement Mr. Trump’s travel ban.
This should trouble anyone who cares about the integrity of the Justice Department. Ms. Yates had every right to resign at the time if she felt she couldn’t implement Mr. Trump’s order. But she had no authority as an executive branch official to defy a legitimate presidential order. Mr. Weissmann’s support for her insubordination was a declaration that he is part of the "resistance." This should be unacceptable in a ranking FBI official, much less someone charged with conducting a fair-minded investigation.
#1
It's hilarious to listen to Judge Nap say "nothing to see here" on Fox News and then think of all the people who slaver whenever he says something they want to hear...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/14/2017 15:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I can't wait to see more names, and dots connected with this. Lots of angst in DOJ and FBI. The filth there needs to removed.
Oh. The horror...
[TheCollegeFix] A Harvard student recently made a bold public declaration, admitting that, while at a bar with friends one time, he talked about the attractiveness of the women in his class.
Daniel Hanrahan, a master’s student in Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, wrote in The Harvard Crimson this week that “the Harvard community is responsible for sexual assault.” Hanrahan notes that, while the men who sexually assault women are ultimately the ones responsible for their crimes, we should also not ignore “the behavior of people not directly involved in sexual assaults.” It is up to bystanders, Hanrahan writes, to help put an end to sexual assault culture.
“Had their enablers taken the harder, riskier option and spoken up,” Hanrahan writes, “[Harvey] Weinstein and [Roy] Moore might have been stopped. Had more people in the Harvard community spoken up to combat sexist comments and behaviors, the strength of rape culture on campus would have weakened and assaults might have been prevented.”
“We are all responsible for preventing sexual assaults on campus and in the wider community,” Hanarahan says. “To help us do so, the Harvard administration should survey and report on sexual assault annually, like they did in 2015.”
Yet Hanrahan does not let himself off easily. “As a male student at the Harvard Kennedy School,” he writes, “I have readily joined the chorus condemning Weinstein and Moore’s disgusting abuse of power. But concentrating criticism on these (rightly) vilified perpetrators reveals a problem with our approach to sexual assault. We are only focusing on some of the people who are responsible for sexual assault. We are ignoring, for example, people like me.”
Hanrahan recounts a harrowing tale from early last school year:
During Orientation Week in August of 2016, I was out late drinking in Harvard Square with two classmates. The topic switched to the women in our class. Over the drunken hum of the bar’s collective conversation, one guy proposed the “hottest” girls in our class. The other did the same. They both then asked me to rank the girls in our cohort in the order I wanted to get with. My alarmed heart bolted blood to my cheeks. I crossed my arms, unable to speak. “Are we making you uncomfortable?” one asked me. I cannot remember my exact response. But it was not: “Yes. Objectifying women, even though it seems harmless to you, demeans them and creates an environment that makes sexual assault more likely.” Instead, I uncrossed my arms, I shook my head, and yes, I discussed which girls were hot.
How awful
Hanrahan is up-front about his moral failure to say something to his friends that night: “At the time, it was easy for me to discard my act of cowardice as inconsequential. The desire to be included made the risk of speaking up too great. During many similar ‘inconsequential’ comments at the pub and locker rooms throughout my life, I know I’ve taken the easy way out.”
“My silence lies on a continuum of complicity,” Hanrahan writes, “complicity that allows sexual assault to occur.”
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/14/2017 15:45 Comments ||
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#15
I cannot remember my exact response.
Dude, you said Jenny. Loose shirt, head always down taking notes, come'on you talked about her for like five minutes. Shit I had to go get another beer you were going on for so long about all of them. Blood to your cheeks bull. S'kay dude, we were hanging with gay Brian and you should hear what those gals were saying about us!...well, not you, but us....is this what this is about? Dude, turning in your manhood, especially like this, is not going to get you anything with anyone.
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[AXIOS] The late-night show "Tavis Smiley" was suspended by PBS after an investigation of Smiley that resulted in "multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS," Variety reports.
