Being held accountable for what we do is a good thing, but ignoring degrees and distinctions can turn it bad.

Weinstein out of a position of power, out of a job, and quite possibly into jail: good. Deserved, and sends an important message to those that might want to abuse their power in similar ways in the future. Precedent set -- however things worked before, we won't stand for that shit anymore.

Louis CK out of favor, and on record for doing creepy things which reduces opportunity to continue doing said creepy things. Also removed from positions where he could exert pressure to "consent" to said creepery where consent likely wouldn't be granted if the threat of job repercussions wasn't implied or patently stated. Again, good outcome -- in my opinion including the fact that he likely won't face criminal charges while Weinstein may.


Franken, on the other hand, was held accountable for actions in a way that I found troublesome for two reasons:

1) He was under scrutiny for past actions, yet placed under the judgement of current (bleeding edge current, even) behavioral standards. That is trending towards ex-post-facto law. I can't pass a law in December making it illegal to wear white shirts, then throw you in jail for having worn a white shirt in November before the law was in effect.

It isn't the same thing because sexual harassment has been illegal all along, and because he wasn't really facing legal trouble, just professional / political trouble -- where "ex-post-facto" judgments aren't prohibited. Still, it seems like when standards change we should try to limit judgement under current standards to current behavior. There's a reason why it works that way in law.


2) Furthermore, a lot of the scrutiny Franken was under completely stripped the behavior from context. Context is extremely important. That's why Weinstein "asking" women to "consent" to his rapey behavior wasn't OK, even though asking for consent is sort of the baseline "good"/expected behavior -- they weren't actually completely free to tell him to shove it.

Ignoring the context of Franken's behavior means that it is immaterial that he was working for the USO at the time, where on-stage suggestive stuff and raunchiness was/is pretty much the whole idea. Immaterial that on-stage "groping and kissing" stuff may well have been scripted as such, and basically consented to by the actors -- part of the show.

Combine that with ignoring degrees of offense, and we're listing Franken's name in the same sentence with Louis CK and Harvey Weinstein, which is ridiculous. Franken "had to" be a sacrificial lamb to demonstrate that Democrats are willing to walk the walk as well as talk the talk on this issue -- but did he really?

If more Democrats were willing to "tell it like it is", as I'd argue Maher is doing here, Franken could have said that the photo where he mimed groping a sleeping Karri Turner was a mistake, a joke in poor taste done in the context of an entire tour that seems in poor taste by modern standards, and that could have been the end of it. He could still be in office, and the Democrat party at large would have been better off, as would the net balance in Congress with regards to women's issues.

But nope. Context, distinction, and degrees are all meaningless, so Franken's name is in that same list of dirty sleazeball asshole men, no asterisks or footnotes necessary. I don't think the outcome of that game goes in a favorable direction.

Your video, Bearded David Letterman & Jon Stewart Crack Up USO, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

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Your video, Bruce Campbell - USO Tank Incident, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Bruce Campbell, Jeffrey Donovan, USO, tank' to 'Bruce Campbell, Jeffrey Donovan, USO, Tank, M1 Abrams' - edited by calvados

Thanks, man. Bruce is always funny.

In reply to this comment by dystopianfuturetoday:
*promote

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Louis, CK, Kuwait, USO, 2008, hot, girls, rifle, old, airplane, phones, technology, miracle' to 'Louis CK, Kuwait, USO, 2008, hot girls, rifle, old, airplane, phones, technology, miracle' - edited by xxovercastxx

>> ^ponceleon:

Christ this mentality is absolutely stupid. How do you go from "I don't know what this is" to "I know EXACTLY what this is and it is a flying saucer with aliens in it."


USO? Unidentified Sunken Object?

Tags for this video have been changed from 'the late show, david letterman, uso, liberace and his garage sale' to 'the late show, robin williams, david letterman, uso, liberace and his garage sale' - edited by EndAll

Yeah, the USO is a breath of fresh air for servicemen. Keep safe in Iraq, bambi-killer.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'government, tehran, uso, bush, imperialism' to 'government, tehran, uso, bush, imperialism, the hour, george stroumboulopoulos' - edited by Zifnab

Tags for this video have been changed from 'government, tehran, uso, bush, imperialism' to 'government, tehran, uso, bush, imperialism, the hour, george stroumboulopoulos' - edited by Zifnab

>> ^Farhad2000:
Camp Virginia is to the North of Kuwait City in an area called Jahra, I guess it was the staging ground and crossing point for the maneuver warfare plan of General Mattis and coalition forces because it's the closest point to entry into Basra, Nassariya and the oil wells.
Camp Arifijan is to the South of Kuwait City, near the Ali Al Salem airbase and serves as a logistics base, motor pool, helicopter support base and repair base for any elements in the Southwest Asian Theater.
Camp Victory is located near the Baghdad International Airport, this is where most of USO come through, also features a Subway and Pizza Hut.
I wonder where they do deployments now. Makes sense to just shuttle people into Baghdad but I don't think that is possible logistically.



Hmm.. maybe it wasn't camp Victory. I was in Kuwait both before and after.

[edit] I'm pretty sure it was. I see Victory closed in 2006. I was there in 2005.

Camp Virginia is to the North of Kuwait City in an area called Jahra, I guess it was the staging ground and crossing point for the maneuver warfare plan of General Mattis and coalition forces because it's the closest point to entry into Basra, Nassariya and the oil wells.

Camp Arifijan is to the South of Kuwait City, near the Ali Al Salem airbase and serves as a logistics base, motor pool, helicopter support base and repair base for any elements in the Southwest Asian Theater.

Camp Victory is located near the Baghdad International Airport, this is where most of USO come through, also features a Subway and Pizza Hut.

I wonder where they do deployments now. Makes sense to just shuttle people into Baghdad but I don't think that is possible logistically.

Ke-ki wa uso desu!