kimmy

CBC did receive widespread criticism when their role was revealed. They were investigated by an allegedly independent workplace lawyer (the "Rubin Report" I mentioned earlier. Allegedly independent, because Rubin herself has a longstanding relationship with the CBC so her objectivity might be questioned.) They did implement recommendations from the report. They did fire two senior managers. Heads did roll. -k

I've spent more time in bars than most, usually as an employee. I can tell you that only the most socially crippled losers approach women by grabbing them between the neck and the knees, and those who do get turfed by the bouncers without further warning. I myself have been grabbed, usually on the behind, by guys who apparently felt they were entitled to do so, either because I was an employee or because of how I was dressed. Those guys also got turfed by the bouncers without further warning. I don't know what kind of bars you go to, but the ones I've worked at didn't have much tolerance for women being groped at random. I don't know what kind of social cripples you hang out with, but the men I know don't introduce themselves to women by grabbing their genitals. -k

Yeah yeah, it's just "regular locker room talk"... at least if you share a locker room with Ben Roethlisberger and Patrick Kane. So? You're basically just saying "Trump didn't want people to see what kind of guy he really is." The world is full of scumbags who pretend to be role models when people are watching but reveal their true selves when they think nobody is watching. That's Trump. The tape we saw is the real Trump, the guy who stands on a stage is an act. I don't see how Arianna Zucker has anything to be ashamed of. I think she handled an extremely awkward situation with as much grace as anybody could muster under such circumstances. I think Arianna Zucker is the only person on the whole tape who shouldn't be ashamed of herself. Trump, obviously, for talking about grabbing genitals and telling his story about attempting to seduce a married woman. Billy Bush for fawning over Trump's scummy antics like a teenager. Bush especially for attempting to pimp Ms Zucker out to the adulterous pussy-grabber. And Nancy O'Dell wasn't there in person, but should probably be pretty ashamed for going furniture shopping with a famed adulterer. I don't see why Arianna Zucker has anything to feel bad about. The rest of them should be bloody mortified. Yes, I realize that. He wasn't talking about grabbing Arianna Zucker's pussy, he was simply claiming that he can grab any woman by the pussy, they let him do it. Is that supposed to make him seem less creepy? "A certain kind of women" meaning ... women he thinks look like sluts or bimbos? Women like Nancy O'Dell? Arianna Zucker? -k

I wasn't referring to the women who complained to the police to launch the sexual assault trial. I was referring to Ghomeshi's co-workers at CBC who were subjected to unwanted sexual grabbing, sexual talk, and demeaning comments from Ghomeshi, and whose complaints were swept under the rug by CBC management. Ghomeshi made a public apology to his producer Kathryn Borel, CBC made a public apology to Ms Borel, and an investigation at CBC resulted in firings and found that complaints had been swept under the rug for years. Borel is the only CBC worker who came out publicly against Ghomeshi, but she wasn't the only one who complained about him to management. A second female producer left Ghomeshi's show before Borel, also due to his behavior. The Rubin Report investigation into the mess made clear that these weren't the only two women who complained about Ghomeshi. The managers who received these complaints conducted sham investigations that were found to have not actually spoken to anyone who worked there, because obviously they were more concerned about protecting their star attraction than protecting easily-replaceable staffers. Borel on what it was like working under Ghomeshi: Borel on her fear of coming out publicly against a celebrity: The court found the women who accused Ghomeshi of sexual assault to be not credible witnesses, but the women at CBC who suffered under Ghomeshi still owe those liars a debt of gratitude, because without the police getting involved, the CBC wouldn't have done crap about their workplace complaints. Ghomeshi would still be grinding his privates against womens' asses at CBC today. -k

Lots of guys "guess wrong". "I could tell she wanted it," "if she didn't want it, why was she dressed like that," "she said no but I could tell she didn't mean it," and many similar phrases have been used countless times over the years by guys who committed sexual assaults on women because they "guessed wrong". If you're concerned about the risk of being accused of assault because you "guessed wrong", here's a handy tip: don't grab a woman between the neck and the knees as your opening move. What kind of douche would do that? -k

I have heard the theory that the "left" have cried wolf too many times, and have desensitized people to real actual bigotry. Maybe there is some truth to that. At present, however, it seems less like the boy who cried wolf, and more like the three monkeys-- see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. The Republicans who've proudly adopted the "deplorables" moniker to mock Hillary refuse to even acknowledge the existence of real, actual deplorables in their midst, or say anything to denounce them. I honestly don't know. Does it matter? Whatever their numbers, the fact that Republicans continue to pander to these people should be disappointing. I think the sensationalist coverage given to the post-election protests answers your question. A few people set some dumpsters on fire in Portland and the geniuses at Breitpravda are acting like its an insurgency, and David Clarke wants to declare martial law. Any time some black activist or academic says something, the Republican supporters here make a new thread about it. I have no doubt that the kooks of "the left" will be subjected to tremendous scrutiny, high-energy scrutiny, the best scrutiny. -k

Our definition of "they let you do it" is that they gave you explicit permission to proceed. Trump's statement makes clear that he doesn't ask, he just starts kissing or grabs whatever he wants. He might think they implicitly consent to being groped, but that doesn't mean they actually consented. No, I really don't care if some woman wants to do hitch her wagon to that guy, for whatever reason. That's her problem. Worked out ok for Marla Maples, I guess. What I'm extremely put off by is the entitlement in what he says. "I'm a big star! I can do whatever I want to women! I can kiss them, I can grab their pussies, I don't even ask!" "I own the pageant! I can walk into the dressing room while the girls are changing!" "I'll be dating her in 10 years!" "If she wasn't my daughter, I'd be dating her." He thinks half the population is just here on this earth as a smorgasbord for his entertainment. -k

And as I've pointed out numerous times already, Trump's statement makes clear that he doesn't think he needs to ask consent, because he's a big star. And that's why by his own description he's a sex predator. -k

I've become pretty tired of the post-election normalization of the "ists" as you call them. "Trump won the election, so we have to be more respectful of the white nationalists and the conspiratards and the racists and the Sandy Hook Truthers and so on, instead of demonizing and ridiculing them." No, screw that. It will never be time to "dialogue respectfully" with those people. What it is time for is to continue to point out that these people are dog-crap, and to point out whenever Trump and his team play footsie with those people. Regular, non-"ist" Republican supporters can choose to either tell their guy to quit pandering to that element, or wear it. -k

And you're wrong, and you keep being wrong. You can't go around grabbing people's genitals without consent. If a guy walks up to a woman and grabs her genitals, that's a sexual assault, period. It doesn't matter if it's Donald Trump or a North African migrant doing the grabbing. It doesn't matter if she screams for help afterward or demands that he stop afterward, or calls the police later on. Or does nothing at all. It's still a crime. Perhaps in some places "She let me" might mean "she didn't stop me", but in Canada and the United states "She let me" means "she gave express consent to sexual contact." The crime occurs when he grabs the genitals prior to obtaining consent. It's not a crime if he obtains the consent prior to grabbing the genitals. I'm not sure how I can make that any clearer. -k

It is interesting that for 3 and a half years Republican supporters loudly reminded everyone that Mitt Romney was right when he called Russia the greatest geopolitical threat to the United States. Then Trump secures the nomination, with his financial ties to Russia and his Paul Manafort and the "Fancy Bear" hackers, and all of a sudden nobody on Elephant team thinks Russia is a threat to anybody anymore. Waifu-Putin is a kind, helpful man who would never hurt a fly, and America should want to be friends with such a terrific person! -k

Many Republicans won after thoroughly distancing themselves from Trump. Some Republicans who lost, like Kelly Ayotte, lost after failing to distance themselves enough from Trump to satisfy their constituents. -k

So describe this for me. What would "not letting him do it" look like? Watch out for tiny orange hands grasping at their privates and dodge or block to prevent this from happening? Wear a jock-strap, chastity belt, codpiece, or some other piece of protective equipment? Stay an arm's length-- einarmlaenge-- to protect themselves from sexual groping, as the Mayor of Cologne recommended 1 year ago after a thousand or so migrants assumed, as Mr Trump does, that women welcome being grabbed by the genitals? -k

If he grabs her genitals without consent, that's a criminal act. No further comment needed. If she declines to make a complaint, that's up to her. -k

Many Americans opted for a completely different brand of nonsense instead. PT Barnum and HL Menken are long dead, but their observations about the American public are more astute than ever. -k

The crime occurs at the part where he grabs her genitals without consent, not at the point at which she tells him to stop. -k

She made it clear who she thought was deplorable, and the idea that she was describing all Republican voters was just spin... spin that worked, unfortunately. Good for Kellyanne and good for Breitbart, and good for the Stormfronters and Pizzagaters and the rest of them as well for getting the Republicans to stand up for them I guess. -k

And as I said, people may have reasons for deciding to remain silent, even if they were upset by what occurred. Those reasons might include retaliation-- recall that Trump has threatened all his accusers with lawsuits, and recall that Trump tried to get Nancy O'Dell, the woman he spoke of attempting to seduce and failing, fired as the host of one of his Miss USA pageants later. Their reason might be fear that nobody would believe them, or that they didn't think the situation was a criminal issue, or that they weren't sure what to do with it. In the case of Ghomeshi, the coworkers at CBC who complained had their complaints whitewashed by management that was more concerned with protecting their star Ghomeshi than with protecting the "nobodies" who worked with him. In regard to athletes, you can look at the recent scandal at Baylor University (involving Republican hero Kenneth Starr in a central role) to see what happens to women who complain about prominent athletes. Powerful men can get away with things, and Trump is no different. There certainly might be women who make themselves sexually available to Mr Trump in anticipation of financial gain. But if he goes around treating any woman he finds attractive as if she were there to be groped, then he's a criminal. If I go out and beat the crap out of somebody, has a crime occurred? Yes. Maybe they're a hobo who doesn't think the police would believe them. Maybe they're embarrassed to have got beat up by a girl. Maybe they don't think the police would take it seriously. Maybe they just don't want to go to all the hassle of making a real complaint. But regardless of if they make a formal complaint or not: if I beat the crap out of somebody and they don't go to the police, a crime has still occurred. Hypothetically, I'd think you might have a legal defense based on a good-faith belief that Mrs Sapper would consent to you touching her lady-parts. That's certianly not the case if Mr Trump walks up to some random woman and grabs her genitals. -k

I suspect this went right over his head. -k

Just because Trump thinks they're ok with it doesn't actually mean they're ok with it. Just because Trump thinks he has consent doesn't actually mean he has consent. It's the old "I know she wanted it!" standby. If you go around acting like this to women other than Mrs Sapper, you're going to end up either in jail or in the hospital. The reason people like Trump and Ghomeshi and various professional athletes can act like this is because their position gives them immunity from consequences that you don't have. -k

Perhaps he feels that they consented by being in the mere presence of His Orange Magnificence. Perhaps he feels that they were "asking for it". -k

There's no way to get from what Trump said to any reasonable definition of sexual consent. You haven't connected those dots, and you can't. -k

Hillary didn't say all Trump supporters were deplorable. But there's clearly a substantial number of Trump supporters who are pretty... uh, deplorable. The PizzaGaters, the Alex Jones conspiratards, the David Dukes and Stormfronters and Klansmen, the people who deluged Megyn Kelly with death threats because she asked Trump a question he didn't like, the people who intimidated and threatened the press with violence at Trump events, the people who threatened the press with violence for reporting on Trump's various issues, the guy who chanted "Jew S. A! Jew S. A!" at reporters at Trump's rally, the people who've been going around taunting non-white people that they're gonna get deported now that Trump won, ... I think that just about everybody would agree this kind of conduct has been "deplorable" by most peoples' standards. Many Trump supporters seem to be doing their level best to prove that they really are deplorable. Trump won the election... so now we're supposed to treat deplorable conduct with respect? -k

The quote was about his assumption that women are inherently ok with it because he's a big star. Your inability to comprehend the difference between the two things is extremely disappointing. -k

And I'm saying that grabbing people by the genitals without first obtaining permission is not just abhorrent but also criminal. -k