Tag Archives: sexual abuse

national news, political news

Roy Moore’s non-denial adds to suspicion

Roy Moore is getting buried under a pile of political doo-doo.

The Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Alabama is trying to fend off accusations that he made an improper and illegal sexual advance on a 14-year-old girl in 1979; Moore was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney at the time of the alleged incident.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate are calling for Moore to quit the campaign. Democrats, too, but that’s no surprise.

Now comes this strange non-denial from Moore, a champion of the morally strict wing of the GOP. Questions have arisen in the past two days or so that Moore was fond of dating high school students when he was a grown man, a 30-something lawyer. How did Moore respond to that accusation?

By saying that he didn’t date those young girls “as a general rule.”

Huh? What the hey? As a general rule? What in the world does that mean? Did he date the girls on occasion?

I believe therein might lie the problem with Moore’s response to these allegations. Congressional Republicans are placing greater value in the accusations that have come from several women who’ve backed the initial allegation leveled by Leigh Corfman, who’s now 53 years of age. Those accusations are more credible, they say, than Moore’s strange denial.

For the life of me I don’t know how this guy can serve in the Senate if he manages to win the election on Dec. 12 against Democratic opponent Doug Jones.

Republican leaders in the Senate don’t want anything to do with this guy.

But he’s hanging on. He’s planning to finish this campaign. He calls the allegations a hit job by Democrats and the “fake news” media that are reporting it.

I believe he should quit the campaign.

Then he should disappear from public life.

national news, political news

Political presumption differs from the judicial

They’re bailing rapidly from Roy Moore’s political campaign.

I refer to the Republicans in the U.S. Senate where Moore wants to serve. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is the latest GOP senator to withdraw his political support for the embattled Alabama Republican nominee seeking to join the Senate.

Moore has this problem. A woman has accused him of making an improper sexual advance toward her when she was just 14 years old. That was in 1979 and Moore at the time was a 32-year-old district attorney.

There have been no criminal charges filed against the former state Supreme Court chief justice. Indeed, the statute of limitations prohibits a criminal complaint against Moore.

However, there’s this political element that has no statutory limit. That is where Moore is facing some seriously deep doo-doo.

No self-respecting Republican wants to serve with someone who must fend off these allegations. Never mind the Senate Democrats; they don’t want him in the Senate just because he is a Republican.

Sen. Cassidy’s decision to bail on Moore illustrates the huge — and still growing — problem the Alabama politician is facing.

Reason would dictate that Moore is going to lose the December special election contest against Democratic Alabama Attorney General Doug Jones. These are not reasonable times, though. I mean, after all, we elected a carnival barker as president of the United States a year ago.

Is it fair for a politician to be presumed guilty of doing something terribly stupid and likely illegal? Not if you balance it against how we treat criminal defendants.

However, we aren’t dealing with a criminal justice issue. In the rough-and-tumble world of hardball politics, Roy Moore is being forced to deal with a harsh reality.

national news

GOP Senate candidate turns toxic

They’re now starting to cut ties with one of their own.

Republican U.S. senators who once backed the candidacy of Alabama GOP nominee Roy Moore are bailing on a guy they once hoped would join their ranks.

Moore is accused of having making improper sexual advances on a 14-year-old girl nearly 40 years ago. Moore was 32 years of age when he allegedly made the advance on Leigh Corfman, who’s now 53 and has come forward with the scathing accusation. Other women have told essentially the same type of story about Moore.

Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Steve Daines of Montana have rescinded their endorsements of Moore. They haven’t exactly declared him guilty as charged. They are concerned about what they believe are the veracity of the allegations made.

Indeed, they are seeking to cut their own political losses by severing ties with Moore. There well might be more defections as the Alabama special election set for Dec. 12 draws closer.

As for Moore, he is denying it all. He says he doesn’t know Leigh Corfman. He calls it a conspiracy cooked up by Democrats. He calls the allegation the work of the “forces of evil.”

Well, let’s just wait and see how this plays out. Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Doug Jones might be the immediate beneficiary of the troubles that now are threatening to swallow Roy Moore whole.

We have entered an entirely new political environment fueled by he “Me Too” movement that has swelled in the wake of sexual abuse/assault/harassment allegations that have all but destroyed the careers of Hollywood titans.

It isn’t pretty. It is, however, a significant part of a brand new political reality.

national news

Moore scandal still lacks presidential comment

Roy Moore is in trouble … politically.

The Alabama Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate has been accused of having an improper sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl when he was a 32-year-old lawyer.

It hasn’t been proven yet. It’s still an allegation and Moore is now facing troubling questions about his fitness for the Senate seat. He is running against Democratic nominee Doug Jones who, I believe, has remained essentially silent about the accusation.

I’m waiting, though, to hear from the president of the United States.

Moore is a Republican, as is Donald John Trump Sr. The president has been none too bashful about tweeting his view about his fellow GOP pols who suddenly find themselves in serious trouble.

This time? He’s quiet. Sure, the president has been in Asia visiting several countries and involving himself in foreign policy matters.

It’s fair to wonder aloud, though: Is the president going to speak out on a matter involving alleged improper sexual conduct? Dare he speak out? 

Trump, you see, has a load of his own baggage he’s lugging around. Much of it involves questions about his own sexual conduct. Indeed, a good bit of it comes from his own mouth. The “Access Hollywood” recording of him admitting to groping women, grabbing them by their genitals, is Exhibit A. He also has boasted about his own marital infidelity involving his first and second wives.

I also get that there’s a political component that might cause the president some grief. He didn’t endorse Moore in the GOP primary; he backed instead the appointed U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, who lost to Moore in the primary;  Strange occupies the seat once held by Jeff Sessions, whom Trump appointed to become attorney general. Trump did endorse Moore, though, after the balloting was completed.

The question of the moment is this: Does the president come to his ostensible political ally’s defense and risk doing more damage simply because he lacks the moral authority to speak out on anything involving sex and the law?

political news

Sex enters a key political contest

A Hollywood film mogul has had his career wiped out over allegations of rape. Same for an Academy Award-winning actor. Women are streaming forward to say “Me, too.” The public seems to more or less have accepted the women’s view of what happened with these men.

Many other men in the entertainment industry are facing similar accusations.

OK, then. What about a candidate for the U.S. Senate? A Republican former state supreme court chief justice is facing charges of sexual contact with an underage girl.

Who do we believe here? Roy Moore, the accused candidate, or the woman who was 14 years of age at the time the incident allegedly occurred?

This “Me too” environment has elevated the issue of sexual abuse, sexual assault and sexual harassment to a whole new level of visibility.

I am in no position to assess the value of what the accuser has said Moore supposedly did. Republican leaders are saying that “if it’s true,” Moore has to pull out of his Senate contest against Democratic opponent Doug Jones.

Here is where the matter gets sticky. The election will take place slightly more than a month from now. How does someone prove an allegation of a crime that occurred nearly 40 years ago in such a short span of time? Absent that proof, how do voters respond?

Moore is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Then again, so are the many other men in public life who’ve been accused of sex crimes ranging from making inappropriate remarks to flat-out rape. The public, though, is quick to presume the worst about those others.

Will the voters in Alabama do the same to Roy Moore?

This situation is going to get real sticky … real fast.

political news

Suddenly, the ‘Bama Senate race has gotten quite intense

Well now. I didn’t see this one coming.

A woman has accused Republican U.S. Senate nominee Roy Moore of making a sexual advance toward her when she was just 14 years of age. Moore was 32 years of age at the time … allegedly.

Oh, brother.

Moore is set to face off against Democratic nominee Doug Jones in the December special election to the Senate seat vacated when Jeff Sessions became U.S. attorney general.

As if Moore didn’t have enough baggage already, given his troubled tenure as Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, now he’s got this matter with which to deal.

Republican leaders are asking Moore to quit the race — if the allegations are true. Moore isn’t owning up to anything, of course. The woman, Leigh Corfman, who’s now in her early 50s, is standing by her story.

Who’s telling the truth?

It’s not unheard of for these kinds of sexual encounters to come to light long after they occurred. When I heard of this, my mind turned immediately to the scandal that brought down former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, a Democrat who also once served as Portland mayor and was transportation secretary in the Carter administration.

Goldschmidt was accused of messing around with a girl who was babysitting his children back in the 1970s. He eventually acknowledged doing it and then resigned in disgrace from every board on which he was serving when the accusations came forth about a dozen years ago. He has vanished from public view. His picture was removed from the ring of governors at the Oregon Capitol Building in Salem.

If Moore stays in the race, the issue then becomes this: How is his opponent going to handle this one? Does he make it a campaign issue or does he let Moore’s political fortunes simmer in the heat that is sure to build as questions continue to mount?

The late Texas U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen once called politics a “contact sport.” I sense a serious collision might be about to occur down yonder in Alabama.

environmental news

Trying to process Perry’s affection for fossil fuels

I am having a bit of difficulty processing Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s recent tortured and convoluted connection between the use of fossil fuels and sexual abuse.

The former Texas governor spoke in Washington the other day and said — you have to follow this closely — that nations in Africa can avoid sexual abuse of children and young women if they burn more fossil fuels that help “keep the lights on.”

I’m still in a bit of a fog over how one connects one with the other — and does so with a straight face.

I want to offer another element in this strange conflating of energy use and sexual abuse. Actually it’s hard setting aside Perry’s nutty notion that sexual attacks occur only at night, but I’m going to try nevertheless.

When the energy secretary governed Texas, our state turned into a leader in the development of alternative energy sources. I’m talking mostly about wind power. Yet the energy boss seems to have swilled the fossil-fuel Kool-Aid served up by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general who seems enamored with the oil and natural gas industry.

If the energy secretary believes it’s important to keep the lights on, why doesn’t he fall back on the wind power that has become such an enormous presence in places like, oh, the Texas Panhandle and the South Plains?

I don’t often say something positive about Perry, but the development of a clean, renewable alternative energy source — which has an infinite supply out here on the Caprock — provides a pretty stellar legacy that should make the former governor proud.

Indeed, he ought to speak more openly and aggressively about promoting wind energy as a critical component of the national energy policy.

I haven’t heard much from Perry on that score. Instead, he offers a silly notion that connects burning fossil fuels as an antidote to sexual abuse.

Weird, man.

entertainment news

Walk of Fame to get thinned out?

With all this sexual abuse/harassment/assault talk overtaking many Hollywood entertainment giants, the thought occurs to me.

What are they going to do about all those stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

Dustin Hoffman, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey? Don’t they all have their names engraved on that walk? Will they — and maybe others — be dishonored for life? When does all this stop?

I don’t usually think much about these kinds of things.

I am thinking the Walk of Fame likely could — and should — be culled of many of the names now honored with those stone plates planted into the ground.

The list of names already sullied by these allegations is long already. It’s likely to get a lot longer.

national news

‘Me Too’ movement culling men from celebrity ranks

The “Me Too” movement is spreading. It is inflicting plenty of casualties.

To which I say, “good,” as long as the allegations have merit.

The movement is spawned by the number of women around the world who have contended that men in high places — with powerful standing — have committed egregious acts of sexual harassment and abuse against them.

It’s an “impressive” list of celebrities who have been taken out by these allegations: Former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly; his boss at Fox, Roger Ailes; legendary comic Bill Cosby; Fox News co-host Eric Bolling; MSBNC contributor Mark Halperin; Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey; Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

And, yep, there even have been accusations leveled against the president of the United States.

Will there be more? Quite possibly.

The corporate culture has for too long given men in high places a pass to conduct themselves in a disgusting manner. The “Me Too” movement came to be as women came forward to say, “me too,” that men have abused them.

Of all the allegations leveled, I want to make a point about what has been said about former President George H.W. Bush, who reportedly has been accused of “sexual assault” by women who said the wheelchair-bound statesman patted them on their backside. Excuse me, but that in no way constitutes sexual assault. Indeed, the former president’s staff has acknowledged that he might have done so  in a “good natured manner.”

It’s not assault by any definition of the term.

For many of the rest of them, though, the scorn they are experiencing appears well-founded, assuming that they actually did what they are accused of doing.

If the “Me Too” movement culls the world of celebrities of sexual predators, then it will have accomplished much to make this world a much better place.

national news, political news

It’s the messenger, man, not the message

The White House issued the following statement to commemorate Sexual Abuse Awareness Month:

“At the heart of our country is the emphatic belief that every person has unique and infinite value. We dedicate each April to raising awareness about sexual abuse and recommitting ourselves to fighting it. Women, children, and men have inherent dignity that should never be violated.

“According to the Department of Justice, on average there are more than 300,000 instances of rape or other sexual assault that afflict our neighbors and loved ones every year. Behind these painful statistics are real people whose lives are profoundly affected, at times shattered, and who are invariably in need of our help, commitment, and protection.

“As we recognize National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, we are reminded that we all share the responsibility to reduce and ultimately end sexual violence. As a Nation, we must develop meaningful strategies to eliminate these crimes, including increasing awareness of the problem in our communities, creating systems that protect vulnerable groups, and sharing successful prevention strategies.”

That is a perfectly fine statement about a horrific problem in this country, indeed the world.

The problem with the message, though, is the messenger. Donald J. Trump is now president of the United States. He lives in the White House and runs the government that has just issued this appropriate and moving statement.

His record, though, calls just about every aspect of this statement into question. Does the president really and truly believe it? He didn’t write it, but it was issued under his name.

Do you remember during the 2016 presidential campaign that “Access Hollywood” video that went viral, the one where candidate Trump boasted about grabbing women by their private parts? Do you recall how he told Billy Bush how it’s OK to just start kissing women?

This man admitted to committing sexual abuse. Voters elected him anyway.

Rest assured. None of this individual’s personal history is going to go unnoticed, particularly when the White House issues statements that — in effect — condemn the boss’s conduct before he moved into the people’s house.