"Millions of women say ‘Me too’ about sexual harassment" by Michael Levenson and Cristela Guerra Globe Staff October 16, 2017
Millions of women have come forward on social media to tell their stories of sexual assault and harassment since Sunday, when actress Alyssa Milano suggested that victims post “#metoo” on social media to show the magnitude of the problem.
Some were famous actresses, including Debra Messing and Anna Paquin. Others were Web developers, photographers, and self-described soccer moms. Some recalled horrific accounts of rape; others told of attempted assaults and sexual comments muttered in the office.
Their voices represented a rallying cry, borne of anger and frustration, and a statement of solidarity after accusations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Bill Cosby, and President Trump, to name just a few, and their voices quickly dominated social media.
Women’s advocates said they hoped the public airing of survivors’ experiences would help shift the conversation about sexual harassment, nearly three decades after Anita Hill, a little-known lawyer, brought the issue to national attention when she accused her boss, Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, of sexual harassment.
“It is a moment for change, and there is a lot of energy there,” Hill, now a professor at Brandeis University, said Monday. “It makes it harder for people to just deny that the problem exists,” she said.
Globe did a hack job on her Sunday.
Martha Coakley, a former Massachusetts attorney general, said the outpouring of women sharing their experiences of harassment represents progress because it “shines a light on something particularly ugly that people know about, but nobody wants to do anything about.”
Like how Israel treats Palestinians.
But it’s not enough, she said.
“Unless there is fairness for women in education, government, nonprofits, and the corporate world, it will potentially be a flash in the pan,” she said. “All of these things are a step forward, but they have to be supplemented with real change for girls and women to have clout.”
Research has shown that an estimated 87 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 25 say they have experienced some form of harassment, such as catcalls, being touched without permission by a stranger, or being insulted with sexual comments.
Yet upwards of 85 percent of people who experience sexual harassment at work never file a formal legal charge, and about 70 percent of employees never complain internally, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws.
It's time to kill all the men.
See: Man barricaded inside burning Leominster home found dead
I suppose that's a start, but WTF is with the cavalier attitude about the death of a man after "police went to serve a civil warrant to take the man into custody to bring him to a substance abuse or alcohol treatment center??"
It “didn’t end well for him” but was “a good, safe operation?”
Did they ever find a gun or any booze?
Related: Grieving For the Reeves'
Yes, how quickly things are forgotten.
Nancy Ryan, who was director of the Cambridge Women’s Commission for 25 years, pointed out that women are often reluctant to come forward when they are harassed because they don’t want to believe it happened, feel badly about themselves, or fear losing their jobs or career status.
Imagine being a truth-telling blogger these days.
But the revelations about actresses and models being harassed by Weinstein, the Hollywood producer, are emboldening more women to step forward, she said. The disclosures were first reported by the New York Times on Oct. 5 and have led many prominent women, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, to recount their own allegations of harassment by Weinstein.
This all after the NYT killed the story in 2004, everyone laughed at McFarlane's joke, and NBC put the kibosh on it just a few months ago -- and yet I'm supposed to take this recent ma$$ media obsession seriously?
“I think this has unleashed the memories and the horror of the experiences that just about every one of us – myself included — have faced being harassed, or touched, or ogled by strangers, by bosses, by people you know,” Ryan said. “It really has unleashed a kind of recognition of how awful this is, and how prevalent this is.”
She said she hopes the flood of online testimony can change the culture.
Agenda being pushed.
Related: "Female and minority advocates are leading a critically important charge, but it’s harder to create a healthier culture without everyone buying in....."
“I think the outpouring of experiences is going to make it possible for more and more women to speak out, and more men to understand the impact of their behavior, because a lot of these behaviors we’ve taken for granted,” she said. “I think this will prompt more and more people to say, ‘I’m not going to take this. I’m going to report it.’ ”
Others cautioned that unless the issue remains front and center and prompts changes in workplace policies and culture, it could evaporate like so many other ephemeral statements of solidarity posted online after mass shootings.
Like the false flag event in Las Vegas?
“There is a danger of this having a flavor-of-the-month quality,” said Richard Weissbourd, a senior lecturer in education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, who has researched romantic relationships, sexual harassment, and misogyny among young people. “[Accountability] has to be built into our institutions, schools, colleges, and workplaces.”
Agenda at work.
Courtney Bither, 22, a Harvard Divinity School student, posted #metoo on Twitter on Monday, but said she did so with mixed emotions. She said she doesn’t believe it should be the job of victims to spread awareness, but she recognizes that their voices are crucial.
“When you’re a survivor, you’re in this tension: Am I allowed to log off?” she said. “Do I have to read all these stories? If I don’t contribute, am I leaving myself out of the community that I feel a responsibility for?”
????
I'm responsible for myself, and that's the question I ask myself every day regarding whether I want to keep blogging about the Bo$ton Globe.
Samantha Oliver, a 31-year-old recruiter for the startup incubator Cogo Labs, posted #metoo but did not share her own experience of being sexually assaulted. She said she’s been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder since 2011.
“It’s a big part of myself I can’t share with other people,” Oliver said. “It makes men uncomfortable, and women in tech have had negative reactions when I try to talk about this.”
Maybe they need a mentor.
Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, also tweeted #metoo. She said the problem of sexual harassment will only change once people recognize how widespread and overwhelming it is.
“I think it’s hard to look at the scale and the scope of the violence against women and vulnerable people,” she said. “But I also think we have a moral obligation to sit in the discomfort and not look away.”
Unless it is regarding USrael's wars.
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They are comparing it to the moment Hollywood added sound to silent movies.
Related: How ‘SNL’ went after Harvey Weinstein
They didn't.
So, did you see who was on the top of the front page, ladies?
Turn-in to #metoo article was on page A8.
Found this on page A9:
"Weinstein Co. agrees to a rescue investment from Colony Capital" by Michael J. de la Merced New York Times October 16, 2017
NEW YORK — The Weinstein Co. secured a financial lifeline — and a potential new owner — Monday from Colony Capital, as the embattled studio reels from the growing scandals surrounding its cofounder, Harvey Weinstein.
Oh, good.
In a short statement, Weinstein Co. said that it had a preliminary agreement from Colony for an immediate cash infusion, though the amount was not disclosed.
Can you say the word BOYCOTT!?
The two sides will begin negotiations over selling some or all of the studio’s assets to Colony, which is led by Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a financier who is one of President Trump’s closest advisers.
How about that, huh?
All part of the SAME CLUB!
“We believe that Colony’s investment and sponsorship will help stabilize the company’s current operations, as well as provide comfort to our critical distribution, production, and talent partners around the world,” Tarak Ben Ammar, a Weinstein Co. board member, said in the statement.
The move, struck early Monday, provides Weinstein Co. with some breathing room as it grapples with a host of problems that have arisen since The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed sexual harassment and rape allegations against Weinstein going back decades.
Weinstein was fired from the company last week. But the damage to the studio has only grown since then.
Numerous content partners, from Apple to Disney to Amazon, have dropped projects that involved Weinstein Co.
Most of the studio’s board has resigned.
Bob Weinstein, Weinstein’s brother, and his remaining team have scrambled to keep the company afloat. Last week, he denied that the studio was up for sale or at risk of filing for bankruptcy protection, saying that the business had the support of “banks, partners, and shareholders.”
Related:
"If not for brother Bob Weinstein's need to control the expenses caused by Harvey's Shiksa Humiliation Derangement Syndrome (SHDS) - all the profits of the company seem to have gone to pay off damage claims from rape victims! - and Rowan Farrow's own personal brush with the tragedy of SHDS, Harvey and his fellow Khazars would still be at it." -- xymphora
The company is also in the midst of changing its name to drop any reference to Harvey Weinstein.
Yeah, that will make things better.
In turning to Colony, the Weinstein Co. is reaching out to an investment company with experience in the media industry.
It was Colony that rescued Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch from foreclosure, by buying loans from creditors.
OMFG!
What do they do, go around bailing out perverts?
Barrack also has ties of sorts to the Weinsteins. In 2010, Colony teamed up with a group that included Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund to buy Miramax, the first studio that the Weinstein brothers had founded, from Disney for $660 million. Barrack became chairman of the studio.
Colony sold Miramax to another set of Qatari investors last year.
“We will help return the company to its rightful iconic position in the independent film and television industry,” Barrack said in the statement Monday.
Barrack is an old friend of Trump. He was a fund-raiser for the presidential campaign, spoke at the Republican National Convention last year in support of his friend, and was chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee.
Meanwhile, in an unprecedented move, the Producers Guild of America voted unanimously to institute termination proceedings for Weinstein on disciplinary grounds.
The PGA’s National Board of Directors and Officers said Monday that Weinstein has an opportunity to respond before a final decision is made on Nov. 6.
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"Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg says he knew all about Harvey Weinstein — everyone did" by Mark Shanahan Globe Staff October 16, 2017
We’ve heard a lot of people in recent days swear that they didn’t know Harvey Weinstein was a serial sexual harasser whose behavior, beyond boorish, was sometimes criminal. Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg, the Needham native whose first two movies, “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead” and “Beautiful Girls,” Weinstein produced, is not one of those people.
In an epic Facebook post Monday to some of his followers, Rosenberg insisted everybody who came into contact with Harvey Weinstein knew — maybe not about the rapes alleged by some women — but certainly about a “pattern of overly-aggressive behavior that was rather dreadful. We knew about the man’s hunger; his fervor; his appetite. There was nothing secret about this voracious rapacity; like a gluttonous ogre out of the Brothers Grimm. All couched in vague promises of potential movie roles.”
Did the government gestapos get a look at it, or where they blocked by the court?
Rosenberg describes Weinstein’s behavior as “reprehensible,” but he also has had it with what he calls the “current flood of sanctimonious denial and condemnation that now crashes upon these shores of rectitude in gloppy tides of [expletive] righteousness.”
Rosenberg claims many of the denials are coming from people who did, in fact, know.
That makes Matt, Meryl, George, and Judi look like liars.
So why didn’t he say something? Do something? The options were few, Rosenberg writes.
“What would you have had us do? Who were we to tell? The authorities? What authorities? The press? Harvey owned the press. The Internet? There was no Internet or reasonable facsimile thereof. Should we have called the police? And said what? Should we have reached out to some fantasy Attorney General Of Movieland? That didn’t exist,” he writes. “Not to mention, most of the victims chose not to speak out. Aside from sharing the grimy details with a close girlfriend or confidante. And if they discussed it with their representatives? Agents and managers, who themselves feared The Wrath Of The Big Man? The agents and managers would tell them to keep it to themselves. Because who knew the repercussions? That old saw ‘You’ll Never Work In This Town Again’ came crawling back to putrid life like a re-animated cadaver in a late-night zombie flick.”
Those arguments are reminiscent of the arguments made by Jews who went along with Hitler.
Rosenberg acknowledges that being a friend of Weinstein’s had benefits — and they were substantial.
“He got me seats on the 40-yard-line to the Super Bowl, when the Patriots were playing the Packers in New Orleans. Even got me a hotel room, which was impossible to get that weekend,” Rosenberg writes. “He gave and gave and gave and gave. He had a monarch’s volcanic generosity when it came to those within his circle. And a Mafia don’s fervent need for abject loyalty from his capos and soldiers.”
But ignoring Weinstein’s misdeeds had serious consequences, Rosenberg writes.
“We were willing to overlook what the Golden Goose was up to, in the murky shadows behind the barn . . . And for that, I am eternally sorry. To all of the women that had to suffer this . . . I am eternally sorry . . . Their courage only hangs a lantern on my shame. And I am eternally sorry to all those who suffered in silence all this time. And have chosen to remain silent today.
“So, yeah, I am sorry. Sorry and ashamed,” he writes. “Because, in the end, I was complicit.
I didn’t say [expletive]. I didn’t do [expletive]. Harvey was nothing but wonderful to me. So I reaped the rewards and I kept my mouth shut. And for that, once again, I am sorry. But you should be sorry, too.”
I've had it with the collective guilt trip over what that scum Weinstein did.
Sorry.
--more--"
And now it is back to making movies:
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/file)
Thankfully, Massachusetts has strong women in positions of power:
"Trump’s Army pick has lavished Congress with campaign cash" by Christopher Rowland Globe Staff October 16, 2017
WASHINGTON — When Raytheon’s top lobbyist faces senators for his confirmation to become secretary of the Army, the hearing may answer a crucial question: How much good will does half a million dollars buy in Congress?
That’s roughly how much political money Mark Esper, Raytheon’s vice president for government relations, has lavished over the last seven years on Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, through the giant defense company’s political action committee.
The $473,000 to committee members is just one slice of more than $11 million in Raytheon PAC contributions Esper has orchestrated to incumbents and various candidates for federal office.
The contributions inject questions of political influence and conflict of interest into the debate over his nomination.
Since when?
Esper is an Army veteran and deeply experienced Washington insider who has held his powerful Raytheon job since 2010.
He is not unique among high-ranking defense industry executives getting picked for top defense posts, in administrations past or present, Republican or Democratic. President Obama picked a predecessor of Esper’s in the Raytheon job for a Pentagon post in 2009.
But Esper’s potential trip through the revolving door is unusual for the sheer size of the political money trail he leaves behind. And it highlights the extent to which a culture of cozy connections reigns in President Trump’s Cabinet, despite his campaign promise to “drain the swamp’’ of Washington influence peddlers.
OMFG!
Raytheon, based in Waltham, is one of the top five defense companies in the country, with about $23 billion in sales in 2016, nearly one-third of that to foreign governments. It is best known to the public as manufacturer of the Patriot defense system, which seeks to shoot down incoming enemy missiles. It also builds the electronic eyes and ears — radar and sonar — for myriad weapons systems, as well as software that tracks friendly and hostile forces during a battle.
Working the levers of power on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon is crucial to Raytheon’s business.
Campaign contributions tell just part of the story about the Army secretary nominee.
Esper, who earned $1.5 million from Raytheon in the last year, leads a 20-person, multimillion-dollar operation based at Raytheon offices among a cluster of Virginia office towers across the Potomac River from Washington. The team lobbies on a vast array of weapons and space programs. In addition, Raytheon farms out specialized lobbying tasks to 14 firms across the capital.
Nearly all of the individuals in this platoon of lobbyists previously held government jobs on Capitol Hill or in the Pentagon, or both. Esper himself is a former Department of Defense deputy assistant secretary in the George W. Bush administration and a staffer to former Senate majority leader Bill Frist.
Yeah, it was never a problem until now.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has received $5,000 in Raytheon PAC money, is running for reelection in 2018 and has reason to be cautious. What’s good for Raytheon is often good for New England jobs. The company employs 12,700 people in the region, including 11,600 in Massachusetts, and it has contracts for defense work at shipyards from Maine to Connecticut.
And what is good for GM is..... sigh.
Much of what defense lobbyists do is the equivalent of trench warfare over obscure budget line-items and amendments, far out of the public eye. Raytheon’s most recent list of lobbying priorities, required by law to be disclosed each quarter, illustrates the exhaustive nature of the work: Among Raytheon’s highest priorities on that list is protecting its lucrative market for its best-known line of weapons, Patriot missiles. And an apparent campaign of public-relations subterfuge to further that goal — combined with a lobbying push targeting a Massachusetts lawmaker, Democratic Representative Niki Tsongas of Lowell — is a telling example. Raytheon appeared to have undertaken a stealth campaign to mold Beltway opinion, without leaving any fingerprints.
OH, WOW, THAT is why she is leaving!
So whose fingerprints did they find on it?
On the surface, the four separate opinion articles, by four obscure authors, in four defense and conservative journals, seemed unrelated. They were published as the House Armed Services Committee was deliberating on the 2018 defense budget in late June.
The subject: a new, behind-schedule Army computer system that could increase competition for Raytheon’s dominant Patriot missiles. The new system is supposed to integrate battlefield command and control among multiple missile-defense systems, including those produced by competing manufacturers.
A closer look at the four articles revealed common threads: each included a highly technical and methodical criticism of the Northrup Grumman project’s failings. And each made an identical point, calling for a fresh approach by the Army.
Tellingly, each of the four articles also contained the same mistake: They inadvertently dropped the word “defense’’ from the name of the system, The Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS). Two of the articles contained identical phrases about the system’s vulnerability to hacking. One of them was written by a retired Army general from Mississippi who has worked as a consultant to Raytheon.
Oh, GREAT!
“It appears to be a coordinated campaign by Raytheon,’’ said Mandy Smithberger, a specialist on military programs and defense spending at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan group. “It’s a way to shape that argument and influence a greater number of members and staffers who are making these decisions.’’
Indeed, the articles preceded the actual legislation: a defense budget amendment submitted by Tsongas, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
The Tsongas amendment, couched in obscure language, cited in technical detail the failings of Northrup Grumman’s IBCS. It demanded a report from the secretary of the Army on ways to “leverage other programs’ investments’’ as an alternative.
Asked if Raytheon’s alleged stealthy public relations push in the media had any influence on her, Tsongas replied in a statement, “I was not aware of a coordinated PR campaign. With this amendment, my focus is really on hearing from the Army, to see if there is an accelerated solution to help the warfighter.”
In late June, the amendment was included in the House defense budget for 2018. It will be part of negotiations between the Senate and House on a final defense budget.
That answered the question.
Tsongas received $9,000 in campaign contributions from the Raytheon PAC on July 27, according to public records, a month after her amendment was adopted. Tsongas’ staff said she returned the contributions, as well as others, after she announced Aug. 9 that she will not be running for reelection in 2018.....
Yeah, just return the money and everything becomes all right.
Did you see who might be replacing her?
--more--"
Did you see the blue and red rainbow of contributions?
Among others, Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) got $47,500, Jack Reed (D-R.I.) $45,500, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) $36,000, John McCain (R-Ariz.) $36,000, Tim Kaine (D-Va.) $18,000, Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) $15,000, Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) $14,500, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) $14,000, Ted Cruz (R-Texas) $12,000, and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) $5,000.
So what does she have to say for herself, and who will be replacing Menendez?
As for Trump and the troops — he has deserted them while the nurse played video games.
I'll let that trickle down for a moment before you have a bone to pick with him.
I'm told taking on Trump is good for certain political images -- along with the controlled protest.
And who is protecting America?
None other than John Wayne.
Good thing Bo$ton's leaders are better.
Sorry, I'm not interested.
You know, there is a season.....
"Nearly a month after the hurricane made landfall, Puerto Rico is just beginning to come to grips with a massive environmental emergency that has no clear end in sight. ‘‘I think this will be the most challenging environmental response after a hurricane that our country has ever seen,’’ said Judith Enck, who served as administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency region that includes Puerto Rico under President Barack Obama. ‘‘People in the US can’t comprehend the scale and scope of what’s needed,’’ said Drew Koslow, an ecologist with the nonprofit Ridge to Reefs who recently spent a week in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has a long history of industrial pollution, and environmental problems have worsened due to neglect during a decade-long economic crisis. A dozen overpacked landfills remain open despite EPA orders to close them because local governments say they don’t have the money....."
"Ophelia, a former hurricane, was one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the northeastern Atlantic. It traveled farther east in the Atlantic than any Category 3 hurricane on record. In Portugal and Spain, at least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured by nearly 600 wildfires since Sunday, as strong winds from Ophelia fanned hundreds of blazes sweeping across densely forested territory. The Irish national weather service, Met Eireann, issued its first red alert for severe weather for the entire country Sunday night. Authorities in Portugal declared a state of emergency in areas affected by wildfires over the weekend. Across the border in Spain, fires reached the outskirts of the port city of Vigo, forcing the temporary closing of a car factory. Ophelia’s effects were felt as far away as London on Monday, where the sky turned a smoky shade of orange because of dust from Sahara sandstorms and the wildfires in Portugal and Spain....."
Spain has bigger fires to put out.
"The mass die-off over the weekend occurred because unusually large amounts of sea ice forced penguin parents to travel farther in search of food for their young. By the time they returned, only two out of thousands of chicks had survived. Sea ice extent in the polar regions varies each year, but climate change has made the fluctuation more extreme....."
The Globe is worried about the right things, yes.
Looks like war with Korea could begin any minute now that the Philippine insurgency has waned.
That means no trial, right?
Not even God can save him.
