Sexual Assault/Harassment/Misconduct

Have you ever been sexually harassed?

  • Yes, more than once.

    Votes: 14 77.8%

  • Yes, once.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I'm not sure.

    Votes: 1 5.6%

  • No, never.

    Votes: 3 16.7%
  • Total voters
    18
Mischief said:
Rep. Trent Franks to resign from Congress

ETA: Apparently, he asked several staffers to act as surrogate mothers for him and his wife, since they have fertility problems. However, Arizona papers are saying there's more to the story, that rumors about him have been swirling for years.
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Here's more:

A former aide for Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said Franks offered her $5 million to act as a surrogate for his child, according to a new report a day after Franks announced his resignation.

The former staffer told The Associated Press that Franks asked her four times to act as a surrogate.

Politico also reported Friday that Franks made unwanted advances toward female aides related to surrogacy. He reportedly approached two female staffers about becoming surrogates. The two women said it was not clear whether he was inquiring about impregnating them via sexual intercourse or in vitro fertilization.
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Ex-staffer says Franks offered her $5 million to carry his child: report



One former staffer reportedly accused Franks of revoking her access to the congressman after she denied his advances, according to Politico.
 
Hey, whatever happened to Duggar?

Just saw the old thread in the “Similar threads” section below this one...

He certainly deserves to be put back in the spotlight...:mad:
 
MadamSarcastra said:
Franken. Not Franklin. :brood: I'm sorry, I hate other people's "smart" phones.... LOL :rolleyes:
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Thanks for the correction. Sorry about that. I don't use smart phones much for internet unless I'm out and I really have to, so I haven't got that excuse lol.
 
I just found this on Facebook:

Reposted:
Alan Zweibel, a former SNL colleague of Al Franken, has written the best rant on this utterly absurd situation that will ever be written. All true progressives please take note.
“If I was Franken, this would my statement: "You think it's a coincidence that all of these allegations surfaced after I was the only Democrat to pose tough questions to Sessions about the Trump-Russia collusion? Could you possibly be that stupid? After all these years, you don't know a Republican smear job when you see it?
"I would tell my Democratic colleagues to smarten up, wake the hell up and show some spine for once. Why are you obsessing about me, and not about Trump and his 24 rape charges, and Roy Moore and his 20 molestation charges? Have you lost your minds? Why do you think we've lost 800 seats in Congress and State legislatures in the last 8 years?
"The reason is because the public thinks we're wimps, and that we lack a backbone, and we don't stand up enough for what is right, and we don't fight for liberal values and for the working men and women.
"Waging this campaign against me, in the context of the Trump horror show, is absolutely immoral -- a clear signal to everyday Americans that you don't give a **** about them or about what is right -- that you have again allowed yourselves to be dictated by uninformed public opinion.
"Do you like what Republican monsters and psychopaths did on this tax bill? Do you want to see Obamacare repealed, and 20 million people lose their insurance? Do you like the Trump horror show?
"If so, then by all means, continue this raging jihad against me, and accept that America will again see you as spineless corporatists, who have no backbone and don't stand for anything.
"If you don't like the nightmare that Republicans have unleashed on America, then shut your prissy sanctimonious mouths and allow me to have my right to due process. Or are you opposed to THAT constitutional guarantee as well, you snide little shits?"
If you agree with me, please copy and paste this.
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While all what was stated is not wrong as far as the right-wing evildoings are concerned, he still had to go.

« Due process » applies to criminal charges, but not so much to getting elected for public office. Unfortunately, this only seems to be the position of bleeding heart liberals, not so much of Repugnicans and their enablers (I refuse to use the word « supporters »).
 
No, he did NOT have to go. He should have had his day in front of the ethics committee where he could have confronted his accusers and refuted what they said. If it turned out he was guilty of what they claimed, THEN he could have made the decision to leave. But it’s obvious he was hounded out of office for nothing more than political reasons.
 
We're in a country now where womens rights are being overturned in access to health care, where they're even threatened by having felony convictions for choices pertaining only to themselves.
In Alabama they're using Franklins words to exonerate Roy Moore! Trump is saying we need to get our priorities right in electing him to help his agenda- and Moore is right up there in polls
What happened to calling out Moore on his racist and unconstitutional actions? Have we really found we can't win on that? Then what happens when we can't win on misogyny?
I fear the democrats thinking that every accusation no matter the circumstance or validity should be prosecuted if they come from women. When I TRY and bring up the double standards I sound like I'm excusing behavior, but it's not excusing but exposing.
I've grown up where taking a bus to school meant fending off pervs, raped twice as a minor, and telling about it only caused me to be blamed and everything should be forgotten. As an adult I've known men and women who interacted in bawdy behavior, where sexual requests were meant, and taken, as jests with everyone having great times. These men knew where to draw the line and the women most certainly weren't held against their will or had any reason to ever befriend these men. I've known some of these same women to grow older and conservative and having their memories clouded and changed, while the people who were also there remembered things very very differently.
There's a lot to distinquish between fun and fear. Are women like Bette Midler or Monique going to be persecuted for their actions?
 
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We're in a country now where womens rights are being overturned in access to health care, where they're even threatened by having felony convictions for choices pertaining only to themselves.
In Alabama they're using Franklins words to exonerate Roy Moore! Trump is saying we need to get our priorities right in electing him to help his agenda- and Moore is right up there in polls
What happened to calling out Moore on his racist and unconstitutional actions? Have we really found we can't win on that? Then what happens when we can't win on misogyny?
I fear the democrats thinking that every accusation no matter the circumstance or validity should be prosecuted if they come from women. When I TRY and bring up the double standards I sound like I'm excusing behavior, but it's not excusing but exposing.
There are too many people participating in fun, consentual, bawdy behavior that years later, with friendships eroding, or people becoming conservative or religious, get twisted into very different scenarios. Sometimes the term Stockholm syndrome is another term for regret
 
silva said:
There are too many people participating in fun, consentual, bawdy behavior that years later, with friendships eroding, or people becoming conservative or religious, get twisted into very different scenarios. Sometimes the term Stockholm syndrome is another term for regret
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This. This This This. There are times when people are goofing around and being silly and doing things of a sexual nature, with the consent of all parties, but then years later, at least one of the parties remembers it differently and calls it sexual assault. Are they right or wrong? Should we believe that person’s account of events or the other participant(s)? Will it damage the #MeToo movement if we don’t believe the accuser’s story because it just doesn’t seem true? Will this movement put a chill on the willingness of consenting adults to engage in sexual fun just for the sake of having fun, because it could come back to haunt them later?
 
I just realized I had erased the second half of the first post and didn't realize It was posted. I added on to the draft- weird
 
I'm saddened and disgusted at the Democrats who pushed Franken to resign. He asked for an investigation, and should have been allowed to wait for the results. Another dark day for Democrats. I've heard ridiculous excuses for pushing him out...'we have to take the high road' or 'we have to protect the reputation of the Democratic Party'. Both laughable statements to begin with, let alone reasons for him to go.

I'm sure those whose family members die from lack of health care, or become homeless thanks to the wonderful new tax cut, will take great comfort in the new found 'purity' of the Democratic Party.
 
A few general thoughts:

I don't think the choice is between a Democrat who has sexual misconduct issues and no Democrat at all. Don't we have people who can keep their hands to themselves who can run for office as Democrats? Don't the Republicans likewise have people who don't want to date teenagers who can run for office as Republicans? I don't think it's a zero sum game.

When we start to sound like our opponents (i.e., it doesn't really matter what someone has done, as long as they get our agenda through), we might as well go on and admit that if it's O.K. for us, it's O.K. for them.

"They do it, so we can do it too" is not a compelling moral argument. Of all people, those of us who are ethical veg*ns should have a firm understanding of that.

If we judge people we happen to like according to different standards than we judge people we happen to despise, then our judgments aren't really based on moral/ethical grounds, are they?! Then it's really a matter of "he's one of us, so I'm O.K. with what he does", or "I'll hold his feet to the fire because he's not one of us."
 
Mischief said:
A few general thoughts:

I don't think the choice is between a Democrat who has sexual misconduct issues and no Democrat at all. Don't we have people who can keep their hands to themselves who can run for office as Democrats? Don't the Republicans likewise have people who don't want to date teenagers who can run for office as Republicans? I don't think it's a zero sum game.

When we start to sound like our opponents (i.e., it doesn't really matter what someone has done, as long as they get our agenda through), we might as well go on and admit that if it's O.K. for us, it's O.K. for them.

"They do it, so we can do it too" is not a compelling moral argument. Of all people, those of us who are ethical veg*ns should have a firm understanding of that.

If we judge people we happen to like according to different standards than we judge people we happen to despise, then our judgments aren't really based on moral/ethical grounds, are they?! Then it's really a matter of "he's one of us, so I'm O.K. with what he does", or "I'll hold his feet to the fire because he's not one of us."
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I don't see anyone giving Franklin a pass because we like him, but because we don't have reason to guilt him. What happened with Tweeden in the circumstance I don't find reason to fault. the other charges don't sound as if they have enough backing. Trump we have on video, Moore's accusers have more witnesses, and they were underage. I haven't found any democrat giving Weiner a pass... or others that I can't think of
 
But has this really overshadowed all the other reasons Moore should be thrown out? Like disregarding the Constitution, and all his racist actions?
 
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