Thomas Jefferson, President and father of 5 children with slave, and sister to his wife, Sally Hemmings
RAINN tells us that sexual assault happens every 98 seconds, and it happens to a child every 11 minutes.
Anti “rape justice” language and attitudes are embedded in our laws. It’s been with us century after century because sexually amoral law makers deliberately and callously made it this way – Here’s a list of known federal leaders with horribly flawed ethics whose mentality shaped, and shapes, our laws. Here’s a list of state and local officials who have done the same.
Present day law makers have either inherited their rape mentality or see no political advantage in changing it. Some simply don’t want to buck heads with constituents who could provide them with votes and backing, and whose sadistic sense of entitlement hides behind claims like:
“Government should not interfere with private, personal conduct,”
“Changing the laws would turn justice for sexual assault into a slippery slope,”
“Minorities are unfairly treated so we shouldn’t recognize and prevent more crimes.”
Protecting its citizens is absolutely the most critical responsibility of government, and particularly, when a crime is so abhorrent that it undermines a victim’s psyche for a lifetime. It is absolutely essential for government to step up!
The minefield of seeking conviction does not prevent us from recognizing when crimes such as extortion, murder and stealing occurs. It should not prevent us from recognizing when a victim is sexually assaulted. We need laws to define that all nonconsensual sexual conduct is a sexual assault, and that consent is freely given, knowledgeable and informed agreement, #FGKIA, in order to protect against sexual assault. Laws that are common in several states claim that a victim’s “words and actions” constitutes consent. Nothing could be further from the truth when those words and actions are induced by force, duress or deception. Yet in the following states, your words and actions could enable a sexual predator to escape conviction: California, Colorado, DC, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin
Our justice system needs an overhaul. No one should be treated more harshly because of their ethnic background or the color of their skin. Failing to recognize when someone is raped is not the means by which we can address the injustice in our justice system.
Immorality starts at the top!
Century after century, men have governed our country who were embroiled in sex scandals. Several gave birth to offspring with slaves. In fact, Thomas Jefferson’s mistress was the enslaved sister of his wife.
Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Jackson
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
James Garfield
Grover Cleveland
Warren Harding
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Dwight Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
George H W Bush
Bill Clinton
George W Bush
Donald Trump
Donald Trump, whose wife voiced serious violent rape accusations against him, and whose corrupt lawyer, Michael Cohen, defended his actions by incorrectly stating, “You can’t rape your wife,” sits at the helm of our government today. Is it any wonder that we have an uphill battle to stop rape in our lifetime?
Ob-fus-cate: verb, to obscure, confuse, complicate, muddy, cloud
A 15 year old girl from a middle class family, who loved to swim and dive at Columbia Country Club, was sexually assaulted. I know this for a 100% absolute fact because….. I’m that girl. And I know who the offender was with 100% absolute accuracy, because he was my father.
The irony of the similarities between Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and I made yesterday’s proceeding particularly difficult for me to watch. At one point I distracted myself by pondering whether she or I would score higher on a full twisting, forward, one and a half in pike position, the signature dive that earned me the city championship in Columbia, South Carolina.
As I held up my trophy, I wondered whether onlookers could peer through the thin veneer of my accomplishment and sense my awful, haunting shame that lay beneath. And I was sure that both Dr. Ford and I had shared that same struggle for many years.
Like Dr. Ford, I was groped. Unlike Dr. Ford, I didn’t wait 30+ years to reveal what happened to me. It took me nearly 50 years to publicly disclose this information.
Dr. Ford proved a number of things yesterday….. the first being that truth doesn’t need to shout. In steep contrast to Brett Kavanaugh’s overly righteous indignation, her facts sang out with the resonance only truth can provide.
It was blatantly apparent that she’d made every effort possible to bring her facts to light in a way that would not hinder the SCOTUS appointment schedule. It was never her intent to cause the delay that preoccupies the GOP side of the isle and closes their eyes to the overwhelming significance of her claim. She’d hoped to inform the public before Kavanaugh became Trump’s recommendation. But she was stymied along the way.
Enter Chuck Grassley…
Senator Chuck Grassly
Senator Chuck Grassley who Chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee turned his position into a bully pulpit to dominate the proceedings with attacks on Democrats for allegedly slowing the process. He consistently and continuously misused Ford’s allegations as a cudgel to wage tribal warfare against the other side of the isle. His intent to win completely obscured what should have been paramount in his decision making process…… What would truly be in the best interest of our nation AND the world?
Grassley attempted to detour the seriousness of Ford’s accusations down the rocky road of political blame. Rather than inquiring about the nature of Ford’s experience, his only inquiries were attempts to fault Democrats for inappropriate handling of her message; as if the world would be fooled into ignoring how totally disturbed his priorities were. He seemed to believe we are all too dumb to see that he is attempting to suppress the horror Kavanaugh exacted on the sanctity of Dr. Ford’s body to rush approval through before the mid-term elections.
Grassley and other Republicans, the majority of his committee, are intent on securing a conservative replacement for Justice Kennedy’s available seat. They are acting out of fear that they may lose their majority advantage with the November vote. Despite that the world easily sees through his smoke screen, he continuously claimed his grandstanding was merely an explanation of the “process.”
In the absolute height of irony he said, “I’m not going to reward people for playing a political game,” as if we couldn’t recognize his con. And he’s attempting to con us in the most transparent way…. by refusing to subpoena witnesses or have the FBI conduct an appropriate investigation. At the very least, Kavanaugh should be required to submit to a polygraph. It could have been administered yesterday evening, immediately after the hearing and prior to this morning’s judiciary meeting.
If Kavanaugh is approved, the American Bar Association should step in and conduct a full investigation to determine if he, indeed, should be stripped of his judicial credentials. In fact, even if he’s not approved, he should be investigated.
The perfect witness…. credible, knowledgeable and humble
Dr. Ford had no ulterior motive. She was not touting any candidate in the ring. She simply knew of the diabolical mindset of one particular candidate and thought his despicable attempt at sexually assaulting her was sufficiently heinous to counter politics. She credibly reported that he’d put his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming, and she feared for her life. Her concerns rang true to both survivors and people who’d never been assaulted.
Ignoring fact to favor partisan politics
Judge Brett Kavanaugh
As if the credible sexual assault allegations against him were not enough to slow or stop the process of appointment, Brett Kavanaugh’s performance from yesterday, both his attitude and behavior, should have knocked him off anyone’s list for appropriate judicial conduct. His personal attempts at obfuscation through heated, sometimes angry, sometimes attacking, righteous indignation fell flat in the minds of anyone and everyone who ever dealt with a liar.
The fact that he could honestly say “I was not there” when he has no idea when or where the actions took place, is absurd. To Dr. Ford, his behavior would be indelibly etched into her memory as a result of the neurological response to the trauma she experienced. But to Kavanaugh, it was just one of many rowdy, drunken, irresponsible acts, with no specific impact to carve it into his memory.
Business as usual for sexual assault
Yesterday’s events clearly showed why we have so much sexual assault in the US. While it sickens me, it doesn’t surprise me.
I have long known that our law makers refuse to enact the cure for sexual assault because men like Kavanaugh would go to jail if they did. And many of our law makers think exactly like Kavanaugh, including Grassley, Lindsey Graham and Sen. Hatch, minimizing the relevance of sex crimes.
If our laws clearly stated, “Nonconsensual sex is sexual assault, and consent is freely given, knowledgeable and informed agreement, #FGKIA,” Brett Kavanaugh could have, and possibly would have, been arrested for what they excuse as just “boys being boys.”
Until our legislators enact what sexual assault really means and define consent in our laws, survivors will continue to choke on the grotesque invalidation we experience with the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. No matter what the Judiciary Committee does today, there is still hope that the larger body of the Senate can steer our nation back to a moral and appropriate path with their ultimate vote.
Please contact your legislators and let them know you will not elect them again if they vote to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. And personally, I hope you’ll join me in prayers to whatever God you chose, in order to stop this train wreck from continuing.
Addendum-
Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona just stepped forward in an attempt to bring the nation together. He has suggested a one week delay in the Senate’s vote on Kavanaugh while the FBI conducts an investigation into the allegations that have been made against him.
While this means that Kavanaugh’s name will be reported to the Senate for a vote, it indicates that without such an investigation, the ultimate vote may go against his approval.
Unfortunately, there are issues regarding Kavanaugh’s candidacy that surfaced yesterday that won’t necessarily come up in the investigation. Kavanaugh was found to be untruthful in much of his statement. He repeatedly mis-characterized his drinking and stated that witnesses named by Dr. Ford had “denied” her claims when they did not. He made provable comments to objectify a female classmate that he denies as well as other glaring inconsistencies with truth. Kavanaugh seems to have the same disconnect to truth that Donald Trump has…. a characteristic that is untenable in a judge.
What Senator Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump will do regarding Senator Flake’s request for an investigation remains to be seen. It’s my belief; however, that Trump holds the cards, and even he can see that the uproar for moving forward without an appropriate investigation would wreak havoc on his political agenda.
He would if he could. He and his minions tried mightily and failed due to the bravery, courage and truth of one woman; Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
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Please, help pass new legislation on sexual assault. Watch this TEDx Talk! today!It’s free…. doesn’t cost you a dime, just a few moments of your time that could help change the world! It’s not political! It’s not sexist! But it’s crucial in the war to conquer sexual assault!
When you were a child, did your big brother steal from the cookie jar and blame you? Perhaps your parents punished you by having to write 100 times, “I’ll respect my family’s property, I’ll respect my family’s property, I’ll respect my family’s property.”
Like a magnet, yesterday’s senate vote in Alabama glued sexual assault victims to their news sources to watch the count unfold! I too rode the peaks and valleys with mixed joy and bewilderment as the results seesawed back and forth. Jones’s ultimate victory restored my faith in mankind.
It’s hard to fathom how voters could fail to recognize the horror of Roy Moore’s behavior and put their selfish interests above morality! It shows how little concern and recognition they have for the sexual sanctity of others. What we can see in the results, a narrow margin – 49.9% vs. 48.4% – is the completely self-serving narcissism with which a large swath of society conducts itself.
The message behind the vote
Looking at those figures, it’s not difficult to understand why sexual assault is so rampant in our nation. The problem is exponentially worse than the numbers indicate because sexual predators don’t simply harm one person. They commit serial acts of defilement. Someone who is blind to the harm of sexual assault is capable of sexual assault. The Alabama vote shows us just how pervasive the problem actually is.
Donald Trump gave us an important glimpse into his soul, or lack thereof. Even though he initially supported Moore’s rival, Luther Strange, for the Republican nomination, he shifted his support to Moore despite the horrid allegations of sexual assault against minors. His behavior clearly demonstrated how people who support sexual predators can be sexual predators themselves. Just as Roy Moore should be investigated, so should Donald Trump. He’s proved, over and over again, that he is unfit for the office of the Presidency. His support behind Moore reveals the sinister underpinnings of his soul, and his ruthless ability to cast morality aside for his personal agenda.
We have a bigger enemy than ISIS in our midst. It’s the grotesque immorality of Trump and his supporters who are imploding our society’s values from the inside without firing a single shot or hurling a single bomb.
Summer Zervos
Summer Zervos’s defamation suit against Donald Trump could be his undoing. It could prove, once and for all, that he’s a sexual predator. Zervos claimed Trump groped her and thrust his genitals at her while she participated in episodes of “The Apprentice” back in 2007. Only recently; however, Trump called her a liar which, according to Zervos, damaged her reputation and the reputations of others who made similar claims.
While sexual harassment charges must adhere to statutory time limits, Zervos’s defamation charge is timely. Trump would need to prove that her statements were false….. difficult to do when Continue reading Defamation Could be Trump’s Undoing!→
If the person who posted this tweet actually works for McDonalds, they’ll probably get fired. But let’s all express our support by buying a BigMac today and telling their staff how happy we are about their comment!
I’ve probably eaten two BigMacs in the past 10 years, but today, I’ll put my loathing for fast food aside to stand behind this statement, and I hope you will too!
Every time a woman who was raped, and knows of Trump’s abuse of women, sees or hears Donald Trump, they cringe from the feeling that their defilement is of no importance to society. Their only saving grace is that the majority of Americans did not support that grossly indecent man.
How to get past the reminder?
“It’s not the majority” has become the mantra that enables me to get past those reminders that cut deeply into my psyche. And it makes me doubly determined to wake society up to the real meaning of rape!
Ivanna exemplifies misconceptions about rape
Ivanna Trump
Certainly, his wife, Ivanna, didn’t know. She testified under oath that he raped her. But once she’d secured a $15MM settlement to shut her mouth, she claimed “Oh, but it wasn’t “criminal” rape.” She’s not an attorney. She’s not the police. She’s neither the judge nor the jury. She’s the victim whose silence was bought off by a shameless, wealthy man.
Is there such a thing as non-criminal rape?
Every form of rape is CRIMINAL! That includes spousal rape! Whenever consent is lacking in sex, it’s rape, plain and simple! And even the criminal code in NY State, where Ivanna was raped, recognizes that spousal rape is rape, under the law!
If we have learned anything from Trump’s eery, and probably illegitimate, rise to authority, it’s that we must put an end to rape culture in society and expose what rape actually is….. NON-CONSENSUAL SEX! And it does not matter how non-consensual sex takes place….
Whether consent was undermined by:
Force
Drugs
Alcohol
Coercion
Deception
Mental Incapacity
Youth
RAPE IS RAPE!
The Fight to Outlaw Rape & Sex Scam Crimes!
Please join The FORSSC today: The Fight to Outlaw Rape and Sex Scam Crimes! Help curb rape near you and around the world!
Yes- It’s a huge long shot- but electoral votes are not tied to the candidates. On December 19th, electors can vote their conscience. They’ll be fined, but not heavily. And Hillary, the winner of the popular vote, can still become President!
Betrayal is a hard pill to swallow. It’s especially difficult when the value system you believed in is shattered. And when you know that half of this country does not support the tenants of decency and compassion you believe are humane, it shakes you at your core. You’re left wondering what to believe in. Continue reading Fear, not anger, splits our country→
If you haven’t seen the 2005 video that categorically reveals the underbelly of the beastly Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump, here it is….
But what does this say about the judgement of Mike Pence who’s riding on Trump’s coat tails?
How many times have we heard the Republican nominee for Vice President, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, claim that Trump didn’t
say what we all heard him say? Do we really want a Vice President, and possibly a President, who tries to manipulate our reality?
Right in front of our eyes during the VP debate, Democratic nomineeeTim Kaine asked Pence how he could justify Trump’s ideology. Pence failed to provide a shred of defense for the positions of support he’d taken. At other times he excused Trumps’s behavior by telling us that Trump really doesn’t mean what he says. Excuse me?? Really????
Time after time, Trump has given us a clear glimpse into his mysoginist, immoral mindset. Yet Mike Pence blatantly told us to close our eyes to the obvious. He has an opportunity, today, to stand up and be a man by renouncing his running mate whose mindset shouldn’t exist in a locker room, let alone in the oval office!
Pence’s past demonstrates he can’t even support the Republican platform that Trump espouses to rally votes!
Trump’s claim that he’ll keep jobs from disappearing to Mexico are surely not backed by Pence’s track record. In his own state, he lost Carrier Corp and United Technologies Electronic Controls…. 2100 jobs. And guess where they went! You got it,,,, Mexico! The economy of Indiana was shown to be the slowest growing in the country. So much for his ability to bolster the US economy and keep jobs in our country!
Why does Trump’s campaign keep ticking like the Energizer Bunny?
Trump’s support base is comprised of people who are mysoginist and racist! Anyone who could possibly vote for this man after hearing how he objectifies women is grotesquely misogynist themselves. This election will show us just how much bigotry exists in this country! People who here-to-fore thought misogyny existed as a small minority of our population, and that our country is basically comprised of people who are morally intact, should heed the wake-up-call this election provides.
Regarding Pence’s level of morality…..
How does the Republican party think we can support someone who is so self-consumed with riding a grotesquely misogynist’s coattails into the Vice-Presidency, that he doesn’t have the balls (pardon me) to stand up to immorality? Even if Mike Pence withdraws his brown nosing face from Donald Trump’s hindquarters, and denounces him as the Republican candidate at this late date, it is blatantly obvious that he lacks the character and judgment we need anywhere near the White House! Any consideration the Republican party gives to replacing Donald Trump, should not consider putting Mike Pence in that role!
So what’s wrong with electing Trump?I engaged in an interesting discussion on Salon this past Tuesday. Paul Campos wrote an insightful article. He said that Drumpf claimed (bragged) he’d negotiate with US creditors to accept less payment than what we’re obligated to pay. For Trump, that’s just business as usual.Some of the comments he received from Trump’s supporters showed absolute ignorance over how global debt actually works. Trump’s policy would be disastrous for the world’s economy. I wrote an explanation and got the following message from a reader:
Why is it important to explain the relationship between sexual assault and rape?
Opponents of feminism attempt to minimize the wide-spread occurrence of the crime, by manipulating the definition and diminishing the potency of the behavior. Here’s one very clear example: Feminism Is a Fraud by Mike Oelke.
Republican presidential candidates Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, left, and Donald Trump, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Sociopaths are ruthless about success, after all, they have no conscience. They can easily disregard another person’s rights in order to prevail. We all wish our national agenda; prosperity for all, safety, and democracy, could carry the day! Here we are in a world fully charged with hate mongering as Donald Trump, Continue reading Donald Trump- What his politics say about society→
Donald Trump, by association and the absence of denial, smacks of misogyny, and a distinct failure to comprehend “consent.” He could have contradicted his attorney’s inaccurate claims about spousal rape. He hasn’t.
