Green Balloons

I watched the first season of Handmaid’s Tale. I kept telling people “I know that this sounds crazy, but this show feels real to me, it honestly taps into how a certain portion of the right thinks.” Well, Trent Franks.

My prediction as all these Congressional sex scandals come out is that there will be a roughly equal number of Democrats and Republicans involved, but that the Democratic scandals will involve run-of-the-mill fucked up behavior, while the Republican scandals will involve more exotic stuff. I won’t be surprised if wetsuits and dildos make their way into the storyline. I sincerely hope that we don’t hear about any hanging or eye-gouging, but I’m not sure I’d bet against it.

Look, I know that outside the elite liberal Acela corridor, people bear their bosses’ children all the time. Go to any exurban Panera Bread west of the Hudson and you’ll hear folks talking about it. But this thing just got rolling and we’ve already got one pedophile and one character from the Handmaid’s Tale. The media’s going to have a tough time spinning all the perversion that comes out as reg’lar heartland behavior.

Peggy Olson’s bluesPost + Comments (103)

For my money, this is a little weirder than whatever Al Franken did:

Rep. Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican who is among the most conservative members of the House, said he would resign his seat after House officials learned that he had asked two female employees to bear his child as a surrogate.

While we’re at it…what’s the over/under on the total number of wetsuits that come up in the complaints against Republican Congressmen?

What a lovely way of saying how much you love mePost + Comments (69)

The George Soros forgeries are getting better and better:

Debbie Wesson Gibson was in her attic hauling out boxes of Christmas decorations last week when she noticed a storage bin she said she had forgotten about. Inside was a scrapbook from her senior year of high school, and taped to a page titled “Those Who Inspire” was a graduation card.

“Happy graduation Debbie,” it read in slanted cursive handwriting. “I wanted to give you this card myself. I know that you’ll be a success in anything you do. Roy.”

[….]

At a Nov. 27 campaign event in the north Alabama town of Henagar, Moore said, “The allegations are completely false. They are malicious. Specifically, I do not know any of these women.”

At a Nov. 29 rally at a church in the south Alabama town of Theodore, Moore said, “Let me state once again: I do not know any of these women…

I hope Alabama is ready for lots of boycotts if they elect this pedophile.

Just seventeen if you know what I meanPost + Comments (148)

Been thinking about this a lot, but my therapist advised against watching Charlie Rose clips:

Many of the male journalists who stand accused of sexual harassment were on the forefront of covering the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Matt Lauer interviewed Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump in an official “commander-in-chief forum” for NBC. He notoriously peppered and interrupted Mrs. Clinton with cold, aggressive, condescending questions hyper-focused on her emails, only to pitch softballs at Mr. Trump and treat him with gentle collegiality a half-hour later. Mark Halperin and Charlie Rose set much of the televised political discourse on the race, interviewing other pundits, opining themselves and obsessing over the electoral play-by-play. Mr. Rose, after the election, took a tone similar to Mr. Lauer’s with Mrs. Clinton — talking down to her, interrupting her, portraying her as untrustworthy. Mr. Halperin was a harsh critic of Mrs. Clinton, painting her as ruthless and corrupt, while going surprisingly easy on Mr. Trump. The reporter Glenn Thrush, currently on leave from The New York Times because of sexual harassment allegations, covered Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 campaign when he was at Newsday and continued to write about her over the next eight years for Politico.

Different for girlsPost + Comments (144)

Sorry, Charlie:

Eight women have told The Washington Post that longtime television host Charlie Rose made unwanted sexual advances toward them, including lewd phone calls, walking around naked in their presence, or groping their breasts, buttocks or genital areas.

Can’t say I’m surprised. I remember him drooling over Penelope Cruz in the most cringe-worthy manner on 60 Minutes once.

Always hated the guy. I’m partial to drunks but he took it a little too far on air.

Here’s thing with him and his ilk. Act like a fucking professional! Perv on all the women you want to on your own time but not when you’re working with them or worse yet when they work for you and certainly not when you’re on tv. Drink all you want but don’t show up for work visibly hung over every damn day. I guess I’m from the old school when it comes to doing your job.

Update. I didn’t mean Rose could grope women on his own time, that’s assault. I just mean if you want to hit on women in a clumsy way, do it at a bar, not at your workplace. People deserve a workplace that is free from having to deal with that kind of shit.

Every rose has its thornPost + Comments (200)

Worst David Brooks column ever:

In 1982, Kelly Harrison Thorp was working as a hostess at the Red Lobster restaurant in Gadsden. She was 17 years old and a high school senior.

One day Roy Moore came into the restaurant, and she recognized him.

“He was a public figure in this small town,” she said of Moore, who at the time was in his early 30s and the deputy district attorney for Etowah County. Later that year he would mount an unsuccessful campaign for circuit court judge.

Thorp said Moore asked her if she’d go out with him sometime.

“I just kind of said, ‘Do you know how old I am?'” she recalled.

“And he said, ‘Yeah. I go out with girls your age all the time.'”

Just seventeen, if you know what I meanPost + Comments (227)