Stand with Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan -- with democracy and civilization against tyranny and barbarism
posted by Infidel753 at 4:52 PM
Individualist, pro-technology, pro-democracy, anti-religion. I speak only for myself and not for any ideology, movement, or party. It has been my great good fortune to live my whole life free of "spirituality" of any kind. I believe that evidence and reason are the keys to understanding reality; that technology rather than ideology or politics has been the great liberator of humanity; and that in the long run, human intelligence is the most powerful force in the universe.
God doesn't exist
Evolution happened
Global warming is real
Homosexuality is normal
Aging is a curable disease
The election was not stolen
Everything "spiritual" is a lie
Free speech is for everybody
Humans do not have "souls"
Men can't become women
Fetuses are not persons
Words are not violence
Taiwan is a nation
Pluto is a planet
7 Comments:
There was no aggression in the Franken photo- it was a posed picture taken when her husband was in the room, and as you can see, Franken never touched her. You are just buying into the lying Republican narrative.
Ugh.
I still think that the Repugs just don't give a rat's ass about the appalling behaviour of the people in their party. Gaetz literally hired an underage prostitute, and took her across state lines (allegedly) and Cheeto said 'grab them by the pussy'. It's on tape!
Was what Franked did right? Nope. But really, the repugs are all manufactured outrage and virtual signaling.
XOXO
The main accusation against Franken was that he grabbed a woman and forced his tongue into her mouth -- a penetrative sexual assault. His response was basically "I don't remember it the same way", which is the kind of weasel stuff these guys usually say in these situations when they're guilty. If he hadn't done it, he would have said "I didn't do that". Republicans deal with things like that by minimizing and spinning and excuse-making. We shouldn't.
I agree with much of what Maher has to say. He's a bit caustic but he's also a comedian which is part of his point. The left does need to lighten up.
In Al's defense, he never got a fair hearing, and there was a media-fanned presumption of guilt.
What if Al was the one telling the truth? Conservatives tend to lie, and there was no due process before his expulsion.
Al was certainly telling the truth in his last address, “As I leave the Senate, I have to admit that it feels like we are losing the war for truth. Maybe it’s already lost."
One part of the accuser's story was patently false. "You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping, and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later, and be ashamed.”
It was stupid sexist stunt, but there was no grabbing of her breasts. If she was sleeping, how would she even know that? And she wasn't too "ashamed" to show the photo to Sean Hannity. The photo fueled her accusations and the Right ran with it.
Jane Mayer notes the fact the accuser claimed she, "told a few others on the tour what Franken had done and how I felt", but refused to name them. Interviews with the USO tour members indicated no perceived tension between Al and his accuser.
Mayer wrote, "Two actresses who had performed the same role as Tweeden on earlier U.S.O. tours with him, Karri Turner and Traylor Portman, immediately recognized that Tweeden was wrong to say that Franken had written the part in order to kiss her."
"The Case of Al Franken
A close look at the accusations against the former senator."
By Jane Mayer
https://web.archive.org/web/20190722182057/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken
Maybe he did it, but there are reasons for doubting his guilt. I don't think I'm minimizing or spinning when parts of the accuser's story don't hold up.
Either way, he was unfairly ejected from the Senate, and the Republicans scored a victory.
Carol: Thanks. Maher's style isn't for everyone, but he does say a lot of things that need saying and no one else has the guts to say.
Dave: I explained above why Franken's denial is dubious. Since there was no trial, we'll never know for sure, but he didn't react at all the way an innocent person facing such an accusation would have reacted. As for "conservatives tend to lie", we can't have a standard that an accusation of sexual assault is presumed false because we don't like the politics of the accuser. That points in a very dark direction, not one any liberal should be comfortable with.
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