Thursday, December 7, 2017

Senator Al Franken to quit

[Minnesota Democrat] Senator Al Franken announced his resignation on Thursday, becoming the highest-ranking US politician yet to step down in the wake of widening allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the media and politics.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Franken, who said he would quit in the coming weeks, said: “All women deserve to be heard and their experiences taken seriously.”...
In the last several weeks, Franken, 66, has been accused by more than half a dozen women of groping or trying to forcibly kiss them. The senator has apologized for his behavior and asked the Senate ethics committee to investigate him.....
“I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party,” he said.
Of late, they've been toppling like nine pins, the powerful and glitzy. The most and least credible of accusations are given credibility ... and the paunchy men exit stage left ... I wonder if the women are really requited after so many (often) decades. God knows these guys could probably use a good horse-whipping.

But I don't understand the unwillingness/inability/cowardice to apply the widely-applied yardstick to Donald Trump. He eludes the lash ... why? Never mind that I dislike the guy, if you're going to have a sexual feeding frenzy, isn't everything bait? At the moment, Donald Trump leaves the mafia's John Gotti, "The Teflon Don," in the shade.


1 comment:

  1. There’s an aspect to political thinking, planning and action that seems to elude me. I’m and I’m sure others feel left out of the loop.

    In general I’m in agreement with the much of the stated policies of Progressive wing of the Democratic Party. But I agree with many of the goals of groups further to the left such as the Green Party and certain variants of the Social Democrats.

    After the Hillary fiasco which in my mind started with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the freezing out of Bernie Sanders which meant it was not listening to the “base,” I’m not inclined to trust the Democratic Leadership. Recall: we had a reminder of the problems within the Dems a few weeks back when Donna Brazil went on her pre-book release tour. So forgive me if I am skeptical of the Schumer / Pelosi Axis which is aligned with whom exactly?

    When the opposition party doesn’t press the president with his unstable pronouncement, with his failure to provide financial disclosure, and doesn’t press the president with his daily dose of lies, and doesn’t press the president with his sexual improprieties what good is that party?

    When understanding actions is elusive, the problem may not be with those trying to understand but with deceptive actors (who may just be less clumsy than Trump.)

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