Cuomo Needs to Resign, Here’s Why

Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s troubles are reaching a saturation point with the public and many congressional Democrats, who are demanding that he step down. As more women come forward to accuse him of sexual harassment, the more comical his refusal to resign becomes. These revelations come after data from the New York Department of Health revealed that Covid deaths in nursing homes were underreported by as much as 50 percent, leaving out deaths of patients that had been transferred out of nursing homes to hospitals. This discovery alone should be enough for Cuomo to resign. However, he denied that there was a discrepancy and refused to take responsibility, calling it a delay in reporting.

Since the election, which ousted Trump from the Oval office and ushered in the Biden Administration, the polarization of the American people is more prominent than ever. Many on the far right continue to push unfounded claims of a stolen vote, and the far left appears to still be gloating at President Biden’s significant, yet hotly contested, win. Biden is walking a fine line as he attempts to promote his unity message, and has said nothing about Cuomo’s scandals.

Biden has worked hard to promote his $1.9 trillion Covid relief package, and has been vocal about promoting the role of women in his administration, so his silence seems weird – and intentional. Several members of Congress, as well as New York mayor Bill DeBlasio and others, have made it clear that they believe Cuomo needs to resign.

Cuomo, who has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, appears to be taking a page out of his playbook. The Trump Administration ran roughshod over government and individual accountability over the last four years, denying wrongdoing for obvious transgressions, covering up scandals, and eroding public trust in our democracy. Democrats have made it quite clear that they would make (GOP) politicians accountable for their corruption. By logical extension, this should apply to all politicians, and many Democrats appear to be willing to apply that to members of their own party. Cuomo, on the other hand, is doubling down on his self-righteousness, defending the grievous gap in nursing home Covid deaths and expressing hollow regret for his actions toward the women he allegedly harassed.

Democrats have tenuous control of Congress, and Cuomo is endangering the delicate balance. He is handing the GOP the ammo it needs to wrestle back control in 2022. The New York state Assembly has authorized an impeachment investigation in an effort to remove the stain of his alleged misdeeds before they become permanent. That will take time, however – and more accusations may come forth, making Cuomo and the Democrats look even worse. This is as close to a guarantee that the GOP can grab back control of Congress as one might get.

Cuomo needs to acknowledge the scandals, express true contrition, and step down. He can make the hard choice, or have the choice made for him. His ouster – whether by resigning or impeachment – is inevitable.

Similar article: Being Incarcerated with COVID-19… What They’re Not Telling Us

I Mistakenly Gave You My Friendship, and Now I’m Compelled to Take it From You

Author’s note: This is an actual message that I sent to a friend – someone I had known for many years. I felt it important to share with LCR readers who may be experiencing similar struggles. The content of this message has been *lightly* edited to provide clarity for general readership.

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I have given this a great deal of thought, and I feel I must say this. I have always tried to do my best to be open-minded to other opinions. And I will continue to do so. But my willingness to listen to opposing sides was carelessly abused Wednesday evening. You saw fit to use my Facebook post decrying the violence and loss of life at the hands of a mob incited by the sitting president as an excuse to peddle conspiracy theories. The photos of “proof” you provided were doctored to make uninformed, gullible people believe that Antifa – not Trump supporters – were behind the insurrection at the Capitol on Wednesday.

The real proof – not hearsay (you claimed that your “reliable” friend provided this “proof”) – is that the people in the photos were all identified as well-known Trump supporters, some of them active in QAnon – a bastion of the most horrible, outlandish conspiracy theories I have ever had the misfortune to hear. These people saw fit to bypass legal and peaceful means to air their grievances, violently pushing themselves into the building – breaking through windows and doors, shoving through barricades, overpowering a Capitol Police officer to the point that he suffered fatal injuries, and forcing another officer to shoot a rioter – directly resulting in loss of human life. This wasn’t a protest. This wasn’t a righteous “Second American Revolution”, or “Second Civil War”. This was an attempted coup by a mob of closed-minded, disgruntled people who voluntarily chose to swallow Trump’s lies and cult of personality hook, line, and sinker, believing his persistent, baseless claims of a stolen election just because he said so. There is no PROOF. The EVIDENCE for my claim is the FACT that the vast majority of judges didn’t see even enough evidence to allow a case to be heard. The highest court in the land, packed of judges that Trump himself placed, ruled these claims to be baseless and without merit. The blindness of those who refuse to even see the proof boggles my mind.

We had known each other for years. I used to believe that you, living and working in Washington as an advocate for disabled Americans, were a level-headed, critical-thinking human being, who cared about truth and facts. I tolerated your meek argument that Trump “was a nice person”, based on a single personal meeting, without evaluating him beyond what mask he decided to wear on that day.

I invite you to reply to my post and apologize as soon as humanly possible for your mistake of promoting photographs that have been proven to be doctored with the intent to redirect blame. I would hope that you would have the self-awareness to accept the abundant facts refuting the photos you posted – and that you state so in public. 

My heart is broken for my country, for the people who were injured and killed, for the duly-elected people who run our government as they fled to escape the violence in fear of their own lives – and for the friendship that I mistakenly gave, and now am compelled to take from you.

With deep regrets

Similar Read: Trump and Smokers

Biden His Time

Joe Biden appears to be a patient man. You don’t see him on the campaign trail lamenting all the negative aspects of the incumbent. While the pandemic is a significant part of the rationale behind his strategy, there’s another reason for not campaigning: The incumbent is doing it for him. 

Just a few weeks ago, Biden was under some intense scrutiny. The media was eagerly waiting to jump on the next gaffe that was almost guaranteed to happen. It didn’t. Like a magician’s redirection of a rapt audience’s attention, our collective dismay at the current spate of ramblings and vitriol from the person who currently occupies the White House is effectively making Biden’s past bumblings disappear.

Maybe it’s not so surprising that Biden’s potential running mate doesn’t appear to be a factor to many voters, according to a recent Politico poll. Biden is showing impressive leads in polls everywhere. Something to keep in mind: Polls mean nothing. They’re a gauge of voter sentiment at that particular moment, and are no indicator of what will happen in November. We have the evidence of our last election to remind us of that. 

Despite Trump’s efforts, his current attacks at Biden don’t seem to register much at all. They’re rather bland and uninteresting compared to what he’s spewed at other opponents in the past. Biden is far from bullet-proof, but Trump seems to be running out of ammo. He’s more focused on discrediting the scientific community for going against his blatantly uneducated and dangerous claims about our current healthcare crisis than he is on taking full measure of his opponent and addressing his base’s faltering blind faith. As Trump is fond of saying, if someone punches him, he punches right back. Forget the fact that the punches laid on Trump are richly deserved. Any schoolyard bully will cry foul when someone retaliates after constant abuse. It’s high time that the nation wake up to see the bully-in-chief for what he really is.

This distraction of Trump’s own making is serving Biden’s campaign well and is taking smart advantage of the situation. By keeping a low profile, Biden is showing a particular level of cunning that comes only from decades in politics. He knows that voters are becoming wise to Trump’s deadly refusal to acknowledge what the nation is facing, and is allowing the fallout to go its natural course.

Biden is under increasing pressure to show his hand, however. We still don’t know how many VP hopefuls are on the short list, and the self-imposed August 1 deadline to make a choice is fast approaching. What we do know is that odds are favoring a woman of color. That said, I think Biden is looking for a running mate that is happy to stay in the background – much like he was during Obama’s tenure. Will any of his potential picks be satisfied to do so? Hard to say, but women in politics are a tough and vocal bunch. And people of color who have spent years serving the public are equally tough and vocal. Biden will need to choose carefully.

The relationship between Biden and his running mate will need to be strongly based on trust, professionally and personally. This is critical if he is to have a successful campaign – and presidency. The friendship between Obama and Biden seemed genuine, and Biden’s quiet support during those two terms never seemed to waver. Can the same be said of our current democratic hopeful? The relationship between Trump and Pence is a different story, however. One needs only to scratch the surface to see what’s really going on there. But, that’s another story for another time.

This relative silence will soon come to an end, and Biden will have to show his cards. One can be assured, however, that his pick is unlikely to cause too much backlash. As long as Biden chooses well and can keep his unscripted and potentially damaging comments to a minimum, he just may make it to the White House. 

The old saying goes, “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.” In this particular case, we’ve come to know both devils. To grab from another idiom, I would say that there is definitely a lesser evil here. 

Similar Read: 2016 Is About To Happen Again

COVID-19 And Trump, A Modern Day Nero?

An email was sent to my employer’s special-interest lists the other day: “Does anyone know where I can find some N95 masks? All of the local stores are sold out.” I was stunned. My company is staffed by some of the most logical, reasonable, critically-thinking people I’ve ever known. People at my own company were panicking about the novel Coronavirus, also called COVID-19. Why?

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been a reliable source of unbiased, evidence-based public health information for decades. But, they have been oddly inconsistent in their messaging concerning the coronavirus outbreak – which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday (3/11/20), and President Trump is largely responsible.

When the virus first entered the country, the White House squabbled over whether to even share what it knew, and what plans, if any, were being made to keep Americans safe. Meanwhile, experts at the CDC were prevented from communicating with state agencies and providing information to the public. So, state and local governments, airlines, and other companies worked to devise their own plans. Conferences were canceled, airlines put new sanitation policies into play, companies began plans for allowing employees to work from home and to provide financial support to hourly workers. We were standing by until February 25th, as President Trump was preparing to return from New Delhi when he was forced into the reality of the situation. Only then did he signal any intent to address the issue.

Americans look to the president to lead them through crises with a calm demeanor, determination, and decisiveness. Trump did not deliver. Instead, he chose to turn every opportunity to provide assurances into a platform for vilifying the media, blaming the democrats, and aggrandizing himself. What vague reassurances he offered were not intended to calm the public as much as to avoid ruffling the stock market’s feathers. It didn’t work. Trump’s refusal to acknowledge the threat until late in the game may have actually caused the panic on Wall Street. The business-as-usual attitude may have intended to calm fears, but when the rest of the world is rushing to contain and mitigate the spread of the virus, some might see it as sticking one’s head in the sand, waiting for the threat to pass. Not exactly a model of decisive action.

Not surprisingly, Trump’s view of what we’re facing is out of sync with reality. While Democrats worked toward pushing through an emergency economic package to help those forced to stay away from their paying jobs, Trump pushed for a payroll tax break. Not at all useful, because you have to be paid – which means you have to work – in order to get the benefit. He explained his rationale to Republican senators, “… so taxes don’t go back up before voters decide whether to return him to office.” said, President Trump. The stimulus package that the White House is putting together is reportedly going to cost around $700 billion – on par with the Wall Street bailout of 2008 and the Recovery Act of 2009. This package is aimed at corporations, including the hotel industry, which considering that he still profits from his hotels, creates more evidence of his conflict of interest.

The Trump Administration’s anti-science stance is also reflected in its response to the COVID-19 threat. Over the last 3 years, Trump Republicans have gone out of their way to discredit evidence-based science. Budgets for research and public education were slashed, seriously hobbling the CDC in its efforts to create accurate tests and effective solutions. His willful ignorance of how science works was laid out for all to see at his visit to the CDC on Friday. He failed to grasp the simple concept that drugs cannot be created overnight. Getting medicine from the lab to the drug cabinet takes painstaking research, experimentation with consistent results, and clinical trials. All of which require money… money that Trump took away back in 2017.

Exemplified by ​his own tweet​, Trump is fiddling, while all around him the flames get higher.

Similar Read: The Coronavirus Pandemic Should Be the Jumpstart to a Revolution?

The Spirit and the Letter

The Trump Administration’s policy to separate children from the undocumented adults they accompany has created outrage among Republicans and Democrats alike. We all know that the administration is taking a hard line on immigration. It appeals to their base. Attorney General Jeff Sessions invoked the Bible (Romans 13) in an effort to justify the new policy. This statement alone is concerning, coming from the mouth of a public servant. The First Amendment is in place to prevent religion from influencing policy or law.

So, what is policy? Policy is the plan that describes what the government intends to do, and the path to get there. Law is the end result of this plan. This means that the policy of arresting undocumented adults on federal charges and taking away the children they bring over the border may soon become law. 

There is a difference between law and policy, and the law says nothing about separating children from their parents. The law, in the most basic terms, describes apprehending undocumented aliens, charging the adults with a misdemeanor, determining if there are family ties with the children, and treating them according to an established process. The policy of the Trump Administration turns this process on its ear, not only by charging adults with federal felony charges, but with taking all children into custody. 

The Trump Administration lays blame on the Democrats, who it says put the law on the books. It appears to be referring to the “catch and release” policy (not a law) of releasing parents with children into society while awaiting their day in court. The Administration considers this policy a loophole and wants to close it. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen claims further that the vast majority of children who cross the border are sent alone, or with an adult who is not a parent. I’m not going to dig deep here; my intent is to frame the situation. 

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection website reports an alarming increase in the last few years in the number of family units and unaccompanied children crossing the Mexican border into the US illegally. This may be why the GOP is reluctant to condemn the new policy. 

However, there is nothing beyond this policy that outlines what to do with the people once they are apprehended. This is why we have a repurposed Walmart in Texas and the federal detention system will soon become overwhelmed.

Laws are subject to interpretation, even the ones that appear to be very clear-cut. The letter of the law is being enforced here. However, the spirit of the law is being ignored. The Trump Administration seems to interpret the law as giving no quarter (and using the Bible to justify it).

The laws are written in a way that removes the element of emotion, or at least tries to. However, humans are emotional creatures. Emotion drives interpretation and enforcement. Claiming adherence to the letter of the law while adding a cruel spin to it reveals a dark side of the Administration. One that is not very different from certain authoritarian regimes in the past and today. No compassion, no consideration of the human condition, and justifying it as a commandment from God. This is the worst sort of interpretation and hypocrisy. 

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Normalizing Hate?

Roseanne Barr was called to the carpet this week, after tweeting some incredibly incendiary racist comments. ABC canceled “Roseanne” the newly-rebooted sitcom she starred in. She shocked and horrified many, and has been publicly derided for her openly hostile tweets about Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to Barack Obama during his tenure in the White House.

First off, this is no surprise if you’ve been within earshot of Roseanne’s mouth, or in this case, tweets. She has a rich and storied history of spouting off hateful rhetoric and conspiracy theories. But her latest circus act is perfectly acceptable – and even endorsed – by the POTUS. 

Related: Trump Is Not a Racist… He’s Worse 

Barr’s off-the-wall behavior is a mere symptom of our current social crisis, and throws it in sharp relief:

White supremacist rallies, and Trump’s refusal to condemn them. Muslim bans. Calling Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries. “Pocahontas.” “Grab ‘em by the pussy!” The “Wall.” Removing protections for LGBTQ people, people of color and low-income families. Removing environmental protections. Vilifying the Free Press. Undermining the very fabric of our system of laws by spouting unsupported claims that the FBI is the problem – not him or Russia. Eroding hard-fought protections and rights of anyone who is not white, male and rich. Actually, of anyone who isn’t Donald Trump.

Trump is the Great Pretender. He is pretending to care about our country, national security, and economy; yet, he is alienating other nations, ignoring the potential consequences of his posturing, and ripping our country apart. He feeds the small-minded the scraps of his “heroism,” while he works to undo the social progress of the last 60 years. Spinning like a hurricane, he destroys nearly everything in his path. 

A true leader works to support and protect the country and its citizens. Not just some of its citizens, or those who excuse the leader’s behavior because they get more money that way.

Can’t anyone see that the Emperor has no clothes? We can no longer think of these outrages as one-offs. This is a methodical and systematic unraveling of what this country stands for: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This is NOT normal, is it? 

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A Tangled Web, Mueller Eyes Cohen

After a short lull in developments in the Mueller probe, the F.B.I. conducted a raid of Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen’s office and hotel room on Monday. While this is a significant development, it’s probably not as definitive or conclusive as some might wish. However, it is very interesting, and adds another layer to the complex network of connections this investigation is uncovering.

First, Mueller’s team didn’t order the raid, and it doesn’t appear to be directly related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But Mueller, apparently not willing to investigate all of the evidence his team uncovers, referred the matter to prosecutors unconnected with the investigation. Then the Justice Department gave the green light. This is a big deal. Trump’s own Justice Department authorized the raid.

So, what does this mean?

It doesn’t mean that Cohen had anything directly to do with Russian interference, although that might come up later. The search warrant includes documents from several years back, which might indicate that there’s a long history of shady dealings. One of those was a pitch by close Trump associate Felix Sater about a property deal in Russia. This is not a revelation; emails were uncovered recently between he and Cohen discussing the potentially lucrative deal.

It does mean that something big may be happening. Search warrants authorizing raids like this are used only in situations when it’s strongly believed that the subject will not willingly turn over potential evidence, and in fact may attempt to destroy it. While the raid isn’t because of suspicion of interference in the election, it could dredge up evidence that happens to have that connection. And this evidence will be shared with Mueller’s team. So, it would seem that Mr. Cohen has a lot to worry about, one way or another.

Cohen has been one of Trump’s closest confidantes for more than a decade. He’s been privy to many of the inner workings of the Trump Organization, and no doubt has many sensitive documents full of privileged information. Any evidence uncovered could have far-reaching consequences.

Trump can scream to the rafters that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt, but the search is an indication that there is a rumbling of a volcano that will surely erupt into real charges. When is anyone’s guess, but Mueller better have something solid to show pretty soon.

His job is more at risk now than ever before.

Blood on the GOP’s Hands

The massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland this past Valentine’s Day has brought forth a debate, the same one that comes up after every mass shooting in recent memory. The issue of gun control is a hot-button; it ignites so much passion on both sides of the aisle that it’s hard to get past the rhetoric and the finger-pointing and the conspiracy theories to see what’s really going on.

The National Rifle Association has been blamed for the rising number of people killed by firearms, including assault weapons – rifles designed for the sole purpose of killing many people in the shortest amount of time with minimal effort. Supporters fight back, citing the Second Amendment, unwilling to give even one inch of ground, for fear of creating a slippery slope of bans, regulations, and limitations.

I’m not against gun ownership. I come from a family of law enforcement officers, and have owned firearms myself. Most NRA members are in favor of responsible and sensible gun laws. I am; however, against owning guns designed for offensive and systematic mass murder. 

The Constitution is vague by design, and can be interpreted in a number of different ways. It’s this vagueness that has made the NRA extremely influential in US politics, and the reason assault rifles and other non-civilian firearms are sold in such vast numbers. While a handful of Democrats have taken money from the NRA, the vast majority of recipients are Republicans.

But this is the tip of the iceberg. Just under $6 million was directly donated to candidates’ campaigns during the 2016 election cycle. The bulk of the NRA’s influence is due to outside, or independent spending –  terms that encompass expenditures for everything other than lining a politician’s pockets. A case in point, an October 2017 Politifact article reveals that the NRA spent more than $200 million on political activities since 1998. Other spending includes promotional efforts, totaling about $250 million per year. 

The NRA didn’t start out as the perceived supporter of murder and mayhem, as some gun control advocates might believe. The humble beginnings consisted of a group of apolitical hobbyists who supported gun safety and responsible gun laws. Some events appear to have changed the focus of the NRA to a lobby for the GOP – the 1966 University of Texas shooting that killed 17 people caused a furor of calls to ban guns, with an equally passionate defense of gun ownership. The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, among other violent events, resulted in the 1968 Gun Control Act, which started a tug or war between the NRA and gun control advocates, and served to start the ideological path of the association to the hard right. The Cincinnati revolt of 1977 also widened the chasm between sensible gun ownership and rabid Second Amendment defense. 

Membership numbers swelled, which put the NRA on the path as a lobby with money to promote its ideology. Currently membership is around four million members, but donations by members, corporations (including gun manufacturers) and other political entities are significant. Total annual donations by individuals totaled $22 million in 2014.

It’s easy to see how the NRA morphed from advocate for firearms education and safety to radical right-wing lobby, willing to halt any and all legislation to regulate firearms. Let’s call a spade a spade – the NRA doesn’t care about the multitudes of adults and children that are killed by bullets. They relish it – gun control proposals make membership surge, and causes a spike in gun sales. It seems that after every massacre, the NRA gains more power.

However, the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida seems to have given rise to a movement that has the potential to give the NRA a taste of humble pie. These kids are sick of active-shooter drills, and hearing the NRA offer “thoughts and prayers.” They will be the ones in office in just a few years’ time, and are likely to change the face of gun ownership for decades to come. 

The Deadly Decisions of Donald Trump

NPR published a story this week highlighting the recent increase of the number of coal miners diagnosed with progressive massive fibrosis, otherwise known as black lung disease, in central Appalachia, the heart of coal mining in the US. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says that they have identified the largest cluster of advanced black lung disease ever reported. More than 400 new cases between 2013 and 2017 were reported by just three clinics in the area.

The disease was nearly wiped out in the mid-90s, with those clinics reporting five to seven cases per year. The number of cases has multiplied alarmingly to five to seven cases every two weeks or so. The spike is attributed to several causes, including longer shifts and the mining of thinner coal seams, grinding up the surrounding rock into silica dust, which is deadlier than the coal dust itself. The increase of layoffs and retirements also contributed, and brought in more miners into the clinics to take advantage of federal black lung compensation programs.

The Trump Administration is looking into rolling back some of the protections implemented just two years ago, which increased protections for miners by forcing operators to limit mine workers’ exposure to the dust by adding filters to the work areas, among other things. While the administration may not touch the regulations themselves, they are impacting the ability to enforce those regulations.

As in other departments, Trump’s strategy appears to be hiring the fox to guard the henhouse. The former mine safety chief of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, Joe Main, was the driving force behind these tougher regulations. Trump’s pick to replace him is David Zatezalo, former chairman of Rhino Resources, which has been cited numerous times for mine safety violations.

Workers in the coal industry might see this appointment as bringing in one of their own. The coal industry is declining, and miners need to feed their families. However, no critically-thinking human can deny that the coal industry is killing people, destroying families, abusing the environment, and enriching the oligarchs. When one takes into consideration all of the factors, Trump’s rhetoric about caring for the coal miners rings hollow.

Similar read: Betrayal of the Coal Miner

The Second Sexual Revolution

[It took me less than an hour to write this article, but it took me weeks to get the courage.]

In the last few months, dozens of powerful men in entertainment, news, politics, and business have been accused of sexual misconduct from women – and men – who, for their own reasons, stayed silent until now. The result has been earth-shattering; public condemnation, and the loss of their lucrative positions. For some, but not all.

We now live in a fractured sexual culture. On one hand, powerful men are toppled like so many dominos by companies who supported them and ignored their actions for years. On the other hand, some seem impervious to consequences of the accusations. Even when several accusers speak up. Even when proof is provided. The reason for this is that they have an army of staff and supporters who are willing to parrot the accused’s assertion that these women are lying, and have ulterior motives for doing so. Chief among them is our own POTUS, who doesn’t simply accuse the women of lying about the accusations; he is saying they are liars. In my mind, that’s a big difference. Just like with the press, he is attempting to devalue and villainize these women – another form of sexual misconduct.

Questioning the motives of the accusers and the timing of these accusations are completely missing the point. Having been a target of sexual harassment, unwanted advances, and even assault, I can tell you my own motives for keeping silent:

I knew that no one would listen.

I knew that I could lose my job.

I knew that could be blamed for the assault myself.

I knew that no one would believe me.

My own mother didn’t believe me when I told her I had been raped. If my own mother wouldn’t believe me, who would?

We still live in that culture, even as a mere handful of high-profile men are removed from their positions of power. This is a drop in the bucket. Sexual harassment, unwanted advances, and rape happens every day. Every 98 seconds, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. That means that each year, more than 321,000 people age 12 and older are victims of assault. More than 880 people. Every. Single. Day. A high percentage of these assaults are by someone the victim knows – an employer, a co-worker, a lover or spouse, a respected celebrity or cultural icon with a squeaky-clean reputation.  And these statistics are only a small part of the real story. Multitudes more victims do not speak out for fear of victim-shaming or reprisal.

I think what we really need to question are the motives of the companies, political parties, military groups and studios that turned a blind eye, willfully ignored, or outright accepted as part of the culture, who let those powerful men get away with this behavior for years – even decades.

I believe that we’re at a turning point in this country. A second sexual revolution. As more men and women shine a light on their own experiences, others will be emboldened to do so as well. This is not as much about pointing fingers as it is validation. And as more victims step forward, the power will be taken away from those who abuse it.

The future doesn’t have to look like the past.