Interesting October 2017

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How's this for hypocrisy..

In the wake of multiple women coming forward to accuse movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson blamed Democrats for enabling his behavior, and called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to launch an investigation into Hollywood’s “culture of systemic sexual abuse.” During a monologue on the Wednesday night installment of his show that was later promoted on Fox News’ website and Twitter account, Carlson claimed that liberals’ alleged cover-up of Weinstein’s behavior is an even bigger scandal than the underlying misconduct. “The bigger scandal is the reactions to it, or lack of reaction,” Carlson said. “Harvey Weinstein isn’t just a movie producer — he’s a political figure on the left, a major donor to the Democratic party, a personal friend to countless liberal activists and politicians.” 

There’s just one problem — Fox News is currently under federal investigation for its own sexual assault scandal. As CNN reported in April, the investigation began with a probe into “settlements made with women who alleged sexual harassment by former Fox News boss Roger Ailes, and questions about whether Fox had a duty to inform shareholders about the settlement payments,” but expanded to include an investigation into possible financial crimes as well.

Ailes was publicly accused of sexual harassment by 10 women, and privately accused of misconduct by at least 20 more. Days before CNN reported on the widening federal probe into Fox News, longtime Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was ousted from his top-rated show on the heels of a New York Times report about multiple sexual harassment lawsuits he had been hit with that resulted in $13 million in settlements. Months later, longtime Fox News host Eric Bolling lost his job with the network after the Huffington Post broke news that he had sent lewd text messages to female colleagues. While Carlson is now attacking liberals for not doing more about sexual misconduct, he praised O’Reilly during the first show after he took over his old Fox News timeslot in late April, and didn’t mention the disgraced ex-host’s sexual harassment scandal.

“What O’Reilly did was not easy,” Carlson said. “He set a high bar, and I’m going to do my best to meet it. Thanks for sticking with us.” On the occasion of Ailes’ death less than a month later, Carlson characterized him as “a huge figure here and in American life.”

Carlson isn’t the only current Fox News anchor who has attempted to score points off the Weinstein scandal, despite the network’s own issues. On Tuesday, Sean Hannity denounced liberals who allegedly turned a blind eye to Weinstein’s misconduct as “beyond despicable, beyond shameful.” But on September 26, Hannity provided O’Reilly with an opportunity to return to Fox News and frame his departure from the network as the result of a campaign waged by “totalitarians.”

Fox News throws stones at Hollywood from glass house – ThinkProgress

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The story above of Fox employees rating 'liberals' for covering Harry Weinstein's behavior towards women is the ultimate in hypocrisy:

• It was the distinctly 'liberal' (or "fake") media that broke the story, despite considerable legal risk
  
• It's now all over CNN and other 'liberal' media..
  
• Compare that to Fox, and how it has ignored and covered up its own sex scandals. Do we hear the likes of Hannity and Tucker Carlson condemning the likes of Roger Ailes, O'Reilley? Of course not. In fact, quite the opposite, they have praise for these guys and Hannity even invited O'Reilley to his show, where he could claim that the accusations against him is a giant left-wing conspiracy..
  

And to realize how difficult it was for the NYT to uncover Weinstein:

A string of journalists have said in recent days that they tried. But the difficulties of persuading his accusers to go on the record, coupled with the force of Weinstein's legal threats, meant none were able to publish. Sharon Waxman, a former New York Times reporter who went on to set up film site The Wrap, told BBC Newsnight how she chased the story in 2004 and tracked down a woman who had reached a settlement with Weinstein. "I did manage to meet with the woman who had taken a payoff in London, but she literally wouldn't say anything," Waxman said. "She actually just met with me and didn't speak. A very frustrating conversation. She was terrified that she was violating her non-disclosure." If they wanted to publish, media outlets had to ensure their stories were watertight in case Weinstein sued. "Any negative story that was going to be printed about him, he would go full-on aggressive," Waxman recalled. "Any card he could play, any tool he could use to get that story not to appear in print… I was told that he had visited the newsroom personally to speak to my superiors. I don't know what he said. I don't know what threats were issued."

Harvey Weinstein: Did everyone really know? - BBC News

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Amazing stuff..

“Harvey Weinstein is now a big problem for Democrats,” wrote CNN’s Chris Cillizza. “The Democrats cannot ignore their Harvey Weinstein problem,”wrote the Week’s Ed Morrissey. “Yes, Hillary — and the Democrats — Do Have a Harvey Weinstein Problem,” wrote the Daily Beast’s Keli Goff.

Headlines like these were inescapable in the days after the Weinstein scandal broke. They are not wrong so much as they are incomplete. More than a dozen women have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault, telling stories that often mirror the stories told about Weinstein. Trump, of course, received advice and debate prep from the late Roger Ailes after Ailes left Fox News over a series of sexual harassment allegations.

Speaking of Fox News, over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Bill O’Reilly was still at the channel, after he settled a sexual harassment accusation for $32 million — in total, he’s now known to have settled about $45 million in sexual harassment accusations. Fox News signed him to a lucrative contract after that payout happened.

So perhaps it’s really Republicans who have a Donald Trump problem, or a Fox News problem — after all, Fox News and Donald Trump have had more influence over the GOP than Weinstein ever had over the Democrats.

When a culture produces this much sexual assault, it’s not an accident - Vox

Yet these right-wingers throw stones at liberals for Weinstein while 'liberal' ("fake") media broke that story and discussed it endlessly. How much discussion have you seen about Trump, Ailes, or O'Reilly's conduct on the right-wing media? Right...

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Energy Secretary Rick Perry suggested Thursday that expanding the use of fossil fuels could help prevent sexual assault. Speaking during an energy policy discussion about energy policy with “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd and Axios CEO and founder Jim VandeHei, Perry discussed his recent trip to Africa. He said a young girl told him that energy is important to her because she often reads by the light of a fire with toxic fumes. "But also from the standpoint of sexual assault,” Perry said. “When the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will on those types of acts.”

Perry links fossil fuel development to preventing sexual assault | TheHill