Lucian K. Truscott notes that hard-right Michigan state representative, Kornelius Wolfram Fiske, a Republican anti-porn crusader, was arrested Friday on charges of sexual assault, criminal possession of a firearm, and simple assault.
Police apprehended him chasing down a performer from a strip club and waving a gun. His reelection campaign says he was just exercising his 2nd-amendment rights
"Not to worry: he’s against porn and abortion and affirmative action and all that stuff, so his reelection to the Michigan state house is doubtlessly assured. After all, in the Republican Party, it is the Year of the Felon. Getting charged with waving a gun around while chasing a 'Dream Girl' down your own block at 3 a.m. is probably a badge of honor."
"There is something so very, very exciting about seeing the words politician, dancer, gun, Republican, and 3 A.M. in immediate proximity to each other. All the elements of a hilarious scandal — presuming the dancer is okay — right there in one convenient location."
Sharks, #Trump claimed, were attacking more than usual (not true) & posed a new risk bc boats were being required to use batteries (not true), which cause them to sink bc they’re too heavy (really, really not true—the world’s heaviest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, stays afloat bc of laws of #physics despite weighing >550M lbs).
At what point is this #sexualAssault facilitator and carnival barker going to do the job he was actually elected to do? #GymJordan is a perpetual #clown who brings shame to our #Congress everytime he opens his mouth. His boneheaded antics make a mockery of the nation's premier legislative body. 🤡
Testimony started w/a bang last week as David #Pecker, the fmr publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, said that he had entered into a secret plot w/ #Trump & #MichaelCohen to #CatchAndKill negative stories about Trump as he ran for president in 2016. #GaryFarro, the 3rd to testify, started off w/dry details about banking transactions. But #Farro is leading us to the #HushMoney payment
Next is video of a campaign event #Trump did in PA, in Oct 2016. He blasts media outlets & says, “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign.” He later vows to sue, saying "the events never happened, never."
Merchan precluded prosecution from introducing direct evidence that many women, near the end of the 2016 campaign, accused Trump of #SexualAssault. They are getting some of that evidence into the trial w/these videos of Trump attacking the women on the campaign trail.
#NY’s highest court on Thurs overturned Harvey #Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on #felony#SexCrime charges, a stunning reversal in the foundational case of the #MeToo era.
In a 4-3 decision, the #NY Court of Appeals found that the #trial#judge who presided over #HarveyWeinstein’s case had made a crucial mistake, allowing prosecutors to call as #witnesses a series of women who said Weinstein had assaulted them — but whose accusations were not part of the #charges against him.
The overturning of #HarveyWeinstein’s NY #SexCrimes conviction, & the ordering of a new trial, may feel like a sudden, shocking turn. He is a fully disgraced figure: sentenced to long #prison terms in 2 cities, defined by the public testimonies of nearly 100 alleged victims [survivors] whose stories formed the cornerstone of the #MeToo movement. But in #legal terms, his NY conviction was always controversial, & his appeals always stood a chance.
Nessel's media advisory provided no further details of what the charges would be or specifically who will be the subject of the allegations. #Nessel has already charged #Chatfield's top 2 advisors from his term as speaker in the #corruption probe.
Allegations of #SexualAssault against fmr #Michigan House Speaker #LeeChatfield were enough to spur an investigation that ended in 13 charges for alleged #financial#crimes on Tues, but fell short of securing charges in the woman's own case.
AG #DanaNessel announced Tues she would close her investigation into allegations of #SexualAssault levied by the fmr speaker's sister-in-law, Rebekah Chatfield -a decision the woman's lawyer described as "crushing."
Nessel praised Rebekah Chatfield for coming forward & credited her for providing the probable cause needed to launch the investigation in Jan2022. But there was not enough evidence to prosecute #LeeChatfield to meet a standard of proof that is "beyond a reasonable doubt” Nessel said.
Matt Schlapp announced Tuesday that the sexual battery and defamation lawsuit against him had been dropped. He was quick to note that the ordeal ended without him or the American Conservative Union paying his accuser a single dollar.
"But what Schlapp didn’t disclose was that the Republican operative who sued him was, in fact, paid to drop the lawsuit, according to two people with knowledge of the payout."
Amelia Mavis Christnot explains how men like Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, and Brock Turner are made — and why they're allowed for so long by so many people to evade responsibility for their actions.
Heterosexual white male entitlement combined with overweening privilege due to wealth and social status: a formula for imagining that the world is there for your taking — as well as the women you assault.
Decided to go to the car to read this. I was sitting in the library, but the subject matter is so personal to me. I was sitting there with tears. Maybe it's a sign that I am not in the right place for this book, but I will never be there so... Powering through is what I will do.
Trump argues that as a fmr president he has #immunity, & that the case is politically motivated, while #SpecialCounsel#JackSmith …has some choice language for those claims: “woefully short of the requirements … no evidence whatsoever … frivolous … so lacking in merit … no support in constitutional text, separation of powers principles, history, or logic.”
We’re also waiting to see if #Trump can put together a #bond for >$450 million to cover a #civil#fraud judgment against him & his namesake company. He faces a March 25 deadline to figure out the financing for the mammoth penalty. Last week, Trump secured a $91 million bond to cover the #EJeanCarroll#defamation & #SexualAssault judgment against him.
"The responsibility falls on the press to ask Trump and the campaign at every turn, until we get an answer, how the bond was obtained. If Trump did it with his own assets, he should be more than willing to bolster his financial reputation by saying so. If he’s unwilling to share details, that should raise red flags."
"But if someone helped him out, then Americans have a right to know who the all-but-certain Republican nominee for president owes $91.63 million worth of favors."
"New research into old business articles reveal that Evan Greenberg’s ACE Insurance, which became Chubb in 2016, 'does business' with his onetime Russian-bank-owning father’s Russia investment vehicle Starr International."
"Greenberg’s father—and longtime boss at AIG—Maurice Greenberg, is a Vladimir Putin business associate who has also associated, as discussed in detail below, with Russian spies, other Kremlin agents, and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign."
"Trump and Chubb have a history. In 2018, Trump appointed Chubb's CEO, Evan Greenberg, to a White House advisory council on trade policy. In April 2020, Greenberg was named by Trump to a counsel of business leaders advising the president on how to reopen the economy after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic."
"Trump is the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party and, potentially, the next president. The public has an interest in knowing the financial entanglements of a prospective president. That is why candidates for president are required to file financial disclosure reports."