A cause that should bridge political, ideological divides

Stop the abuse of women and girls.

Sheila Liaugminas | Nov 30 2017 | comment

This is like the incidence of some sickness getting reported in different locations, which rapidly erupts into a wider outbreak, then quickly turns into a plague. Only this is man made and man caused. And it’s been going on for a very long time, but surfacing only recently. More every day, it seems.

Today, it was NBC’s Matt Lauer. As this Time piece concludes

Lauer was on his way to becoming a TV legend; instead, now, he’s just another name on a long list.

Long list of what, of whom? Abusers, men accused of sexual misconduct, taking advantage of women when they could and because they thought they could.

Women, girls, didn’t want to tell because they were ashamed, frightened, threatened, paid hush money, or didn’t think they would be believed. The men who abused them, of whom Lauer is the latest at this writing, (along with Garrison Keilor on the same day) were well known and powerful, in different ways. Some are Hollywood and media celebrities, some are major journalists, and some members of government. These men initiated unwanted sexual encounters of different sorts with females ranging in age from teenagers to adult women.

Alabama Judge Roy Moore.

Moore is the Republican Senate candidate. A series of women have said he sexually assaulted or pursued relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. Some of those women were under the age of consent at the time, as young as 14.

Democrat Al Franken.

…”the reason I want to say something is if someone sees that I said something, maybe it would give them the courage to say something, too.”

John Conyers, longest serving Democrat in the House of Representatives and a powerful one, made private settlements with women over a long period of time. This came out when news started breaking about him.

Last week the Washington Post reported that Congress’s Office of Compliance paid out $17 million for 264 settlements with federal employees over 20 years for various violations, including sexual harassment. The Conyers documents, however, give a glimpse into the inner workings of the office, which has for decades concealed episodes of sexual abuse by powerful political figures…
One former staffer, who did not want to be named, said she was frustrated by the secretive complaint process.
“I don’t think any allegations should be buried…and that’s for anyone, not just for this particular office, because it doesn’t really allow other people to see who these individuals are,” said the former staffer. “When you make private settlements, it doesn’t warn the next woman or the next person going into that situation.”

When it was veteran television host Charlie Rose, eight women came out with allegations, after fearing to speak out individually. Rose was fired by CBS.

CBS News President David Rhodes said “What may once have been accepted should not ever have been acceptable.”

There it is. Buried in countless pages of news text, analysis and columns, endless broadcast news reports of correspondents and commentators, so simple a truism states the obvious. Once this all came out, everyone could finally see the stark, beastly truth about predatory behavior, and degraded victims of it keeping quiet for fear of the consequences of speaking out. Rhodes’ message, simply put, is this: ‘What has until now been accepted should never have been acceptable’.

But it was, until suddenly, it wasn’t. All at once. Celebrities in Hollywood and Big Media swiftly got removed. Even the New York Times’ own White House correspondent.

We’re in a unique and very rare moment in our nation of nearly unanimous agreement on intolerance of all unwanted sexual encounters of any sort.

So this should be the time, finally, when cover ups of sex trafficking, especially of minors, is stopped. Reports of it are rampant. Live Action provides proof.

An encounter with any health care worker should be an opportunity for trafficking victims to get help to escape from slavery.

But abortion clinics are covering it up. And cover ups of other forms of sexual abuse of minors. Live Action President Lila Rose told me on radio that “the day for reckoning has to come soon” for the industry that has profited from women and girls in crisis or despair, many of whom are now suing abortion clinics that worsened their plight. And the lawsuits are providing revelations of abuse and illegalities in those clinics.

Congress has investigated Planned Parenthood and allegations of illegal activities committed by that taxpayer funded abortion giant, and how to shift federal dollars to comprehensive health clinics that provide better care for women and families. Now, some powerful members of Congress are part of the problem of abusing women.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, member of the House Judiciary Committee, said this:

“This is a watershed moment where, finally, the country seems to be waking up and realizing we need to have a zero tolerance policy toward sexual harassment. We cannot pick and choose. Democrats cannot lambaste Trump and Moore, and then turn a blind eye to our own who face credible charges against them.
“No one ever wants to believe that someone they respect and have regarded as a champion for civil rights issues would abuse their power to harm and harass women. On top of that, sexism colors everything. Women just aren’t generally believed. Period. Even more complicated is that sexual harassment is extremely difficult to prove in any court of law. That means that efforts to stop harassment must recognize that there will be gray areas. Women will come forward and men will deny. The question is: What is society’s response? To truly change norms and cultures, we need to start believing women from the get-go.

National Review online considers why it’s harder to hold politicians accountable for their misdeeds than other abusers.

The bottom line is that virtue — rightly understood — is hard. Defending a culture of integrity, respect, and honor means sometimes taking a short-term loss for the larger win. It means sometimes being willing to sacrifice for the greater good. It means that 51–49 is preferable to 52–48 if that one extra seat would have meant that a likely child abuser was in the Senate. Keith Ellison (or another progressive) is preferable to Al Franken if it means that our political culture is finally getting serious about respecting women. Alabama voters and Democratic senators are in control of an important moral moment. Are they serious enough about character and integrity to make even the smallest political sacrifice to shore up a fraying national culture?

This is a question for us all, far beyond Alabama. We are indeed in an important moral moment.

December 1, 2017

When I was at primary school many moons ago there was an institution called The Fun Doctor. A man with a battered suitcase full of tricks would come to the school once, maybe twice a year, and entertain us with jokes and magical stuff. On the whole, I think we were quite amused as there were no smartphones or television then to turn us into bored little sophisticates.

The reason for mentioning this is that even back in the Dark Ages people recognised that laughter is good for your health – hence, Fun Doctor. Today, there’s a whole branch of psychology dedicated to happiness, and no end of life coaches telling us how to be happy for the good of our health.

This very day, while I was staring indifferently at my laptop screen, someone sent me a heads-up about an article on how much just smiling can do for our psyches and bodies as well. But the main point is this: you don’t have to wait to feel happy to get the benefit of a smile; you can be tense and worried and smile anyway -- and presto! Your brain fires up, the dopamine and serotonin start flowing, your stress goes down and your heart rate lowers, and your mood lifts. And not only you, those whom you smile at feel better too.

Our articles today were not exactly designed with smiles in mind, but they are not lacking in wit and encouragement, starting with Zac Alstin’s reflections on providence and freedom. So smile – and take the plunge!