The Weinstein Creep Scale

Moore Accusations:  Long term TV newsman Charlie Rose and New York Times Washington correspondent Glenn Thrush, whose persistent questioning of Sean Spicer earned him his own impersonator on Saturday Night Live, have just joined the harassers club.  On the spectrum of bad behavior Rose’s acts which included groping young female staffers and prancing around naked in front of them, earn him an eight out of ten on my Weinstein Creep Scale while Thrush’s, drinking too much and hitting on female colleagues in bars, seems closer to a three. And to be clear, any score on the scale is a really bad thing.  Rose has now been suspended from CBS, PBS and Bloomberg and Thrush, whose bad behavior took place at his previous employer, has been suspended from the NY Times and MSNBC and is checking into alcohol rehab.  Al Franken is now facing an accusation from another women who alleges he inappropriately touched her butt when they posed for a picture, a lesser offense, possibly just a one on the Weinstein scale, but for the fact that it happened when he was already a Senator and because it’s an add on to his earlier crass acts.  Franken is still hanging on, awaiting a Senate ethics hearing where he is likely to have lots of company.  Meantime, the Senator wannabee Roy Moore, the alleged child molester and serial teen dater, whose bad act fall outside the upper range of the scale, one hundred on a scale of ten, is still running for Senate, now with the implicit support of the Trump administration.  Trump surrogate Kellyanne Conway, who had previously said that no Senate seat is worth more than a child, has changed her tune, she is now all in for the child molester because “we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through.” To be clear she went on to trash Moore’s moderate opponent saying  "Doug Jones in Alabama, folks, don't be fooled. He will be a vote against tax cuts. He is weak on crime. Weak on borders. He is strong on raising your taxes. He is terrible for property owners."  Sarah Huckabee Sanders reiterated Conway’s comment, making it clear that no sex crime is so bad that it can’t be overcome by a yes vote on corporate tax cuts.  All this followed NBC’s Savannah Guthrie’s interview with Leigh Corfman, the woman who was fourteen years old when Roy Moore hit on her as she waited for her mother to finish a court appearance.  Corfman convincingly detailed her “dates” with Moore and explained that though she had discussed her experience with her family and thought about coming forward the last time that Moore ran for office, she hadn’t because of concerns that telling her story would hurt her children, that she was approached by the Washington Post who’d heard about her experience and that she agreed to speak only after some other Moore accusers agreed to come forward too.  She also made it clear that no one was paying her to speak.  When asked about Moore’s denial that he knew her, Corfman responded "I wonder how many more me's he doesn't know." Most Alabama Christian evangelicals don’t know her either, they are still supporting Moore’s candidacy but some of his local base is starting to see the light, the Young Republicans group of Alabama has pulled their support. Also, seeing the light are the names of more harassers from both sides of the political spectrum. Apparently Democratic Congressman John Conyers, the longest serving member of Congress, settled a harassment involving unwanted advances and unfair termination for $27,000 in 2015 and Wesley Goodman, a married Ohio Republican lawmaker who is a staunch defender of conservative policies and family values, whatever those are, was forced to stepdown due to inappropriate sexual encounters with mostly younger guys.       

Tax Cuts for Some:  Without any Democratic support Senate Majority Leader McConnell can only afford to lose two Republican votes for tax reform.  The senators expected to cause him the most grief are Tennessee’ Bob Corker, Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, Maine’s Susan Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Kentucky’s Rand Paul and both the senators from Arizona, John McCain and Jeff Flake.  Flake, who Trump said would vote no just to spite him, pushed back at that assertion saying that while he is still in the undecided column his decision will have nothing to do with his animosity towards Trump.  Johnson is holding out for better treatment for small companies, Corker is concerned about exploding the deficit, Murkowski and Collins are focused on health care and Paul and McCain are just unpredictable. There are a lot of things not to love in the tax plan even for those fully supportive of corporate cuts.  Perhaps because Trump’s isn’t all that into smart, well educated people, the House version of the bill ends a tax deduction for interest paid on student loans, raises taxes for more than 100,000 graduate students who receive tuition waivers and imposes a levy on endowments at certain private colleges and universities.  The Senate’s version is kinder to students but harsher in its treatment of state and local taxes. Somewhere, something’s gotta give, the calendar marches on, and Trump is desperate to deliver a big fat Christmas present to his mega-donors with lumps of coal to the rest of us, by Christmas.     

Trump Dump: Perhaps to distract from the Russian investigation which is not ending soon despite Trump lawyer Ty Cobb’s assertion that its end is near, the Trump administration made a bunch of announcements yesterday.  North Korea has been added back to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, joining Syria, Iran and Sudan.  They’ve been there before, had gotten a reprieve from George W. Bush who though that their removal from the list would help with nuclear negotiations.  This time they are back on purportedly for the assassination of Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother in a Malaysia airport but really because of their nuclear ambitions.  The Justice Department announced that it is suing to prevent the merger of ATT and Time Warner, an unusual move which may have more to do with Trump’s disdain for the press, particularly CNN, rather than any anti-trust concerns.  The administration is ending a “temporary” humanitarian program that allowed 59,000 Haitians to live and work in the US, they’ve now got eighteen months to get out of Dodge, most of the Haitians have been here since the 2010 earthquake that destroyed their country.  The decision is consistent with Trump’s views that the only “unskilled” immigrants who should be allowed in the country are the ones who work at one or more of his properties, and even they are only entitled to temporary visas.  Lastly, speaking for many of us National Security advisor General HR McMaster, already not one of Trump’s favorites, has reportedly called Trump an idiot and a dope, repeatedly.