Monica Lewinsky: Emerging from “the House of Gaslight” in the Age of #MeToo

By Monica Lewinsky in Vanity Fair

On the 20th anniversary of the Starr investigation, which introduced her to the world, the author reflects on the changing nature of trauma, the de-evolution of the media, and the extraordinary hope now provided by the #MeToo movement.

"How do I know him? Where have I seen him? The Man in the Hat looked familiar, I thought, as I peered over at him a second time.

"It was Christmas Eve 2017. My family and I were about to be seated at a quaint restaurant in Manhattan’s West Village. We had just come from Gramercy Park—on the one night each year when the exclusive park (accessible only to nearby residents with special keys) opens its gates to outsiders. There had been carols. People had sung with abandon. In short, it was a magical night. I was happy.

"Amid the glow of candles and soft lighting, I strained to look again at the Man in the Hat. He was part of a small group that had just exited the main dining room. They were now gathering their belongings, likely vacating what was to be our table. And then it clicked. He looks just like . . . no, couldn’t be. Could it?

"A student of Karma, I found myself seizing the moment. Whereas a decade ago I would have turned and fled the restaurant at the prospect of being in the same place as this man, many years of personal-counseling work (both trauma-specific and spiritual) had led me to a place where I now embrace opportunities to move into spaces that allow me to break out of old patterns of retreat or denial.

"At the same moment I stepped toward the Man in the Hat and began to ask, “You’re not . . . ?,” he stepped toward me with a warm, incongruous smile and said, “Let me introduce myself. I’m Ken Starr.” An introduction was indeed necessary. This was, in fact, the first time I had met him." . . . Full Article..

"Bake the damned cake for the NRA, Mister Banker" !!

Don Surber  "So, First National Bank of Omaha thinks it can blacklist the National Rifle Association and refuse to do business with [them].
"Uh-uh.
"Not in 21st century America.
"The courts have ruled that a business has no discretion in whom it will do business with.
"If a Christian baker must bake a wedding cake for gay weddings, then you had better believe a bank must do business with the NRA."

. . . 

" 'The New York Times, through a column by John Corvino, a professor of philosophy at Wayne State University on November 27, said businesses cannot act on personal beliefs.

"At first glance, the Masterpiece Cakeshop case — for which the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments on Dec. 5 — looks easy. In 2012 Charlie Craig and David Mullins attempted to buy a wedding cake at Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo. The owner, an evangelical Christian named Jack Phillips, refused to sell them one. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission found Phillips liable for sexual-orientation discrimination, which is prohibited by the state’s public accommodations law. State courts have upheld the commission’s decision," the column began.

. . . 

"But Corvino reached the conclusion that Christians must break their moral beliefs.

" 'It’s a mistake to treat sexual-orientation discrimination as exactly like racial discrimination — just as it’s a mistake to treat it as entirely dissimilar. But the underlying principle from Piggie Park holds in the case at hand: Freedom of speech and freedom of religion do not exempt business owners from public accommodations laws, which require them to serve customers equally. The Court should uphold the commission’s decision and rule against Phillips," Corvino concluded.

"If a religious belief is not sacrosanct in the eyes of the court, why should a political one be protected?" . . .

Highlights added by TD

Transgender boy wins girls’ state wrestling title for second time

Theorically going from girl to boy in this case.

NY Post

"CYPRESS, Texas — For the second year in a row, a transgender wrestler has won the Texas girls’ Class 6A 110-pound division.

"Mack Beggs, an 18-year-old senior from Euless Trinity High School near Dallas, entered the tournament in Cypress outside of Houston with an undefeated record. He beat Chelsea Sanchez — who he beat for the title in 2017 — in the final match Saturday.

SEE ALSO

Transgender boy booed, cheered after wrestling title he didn't want

"Video posted online showed a mix of cheers and boos from the crowd following Beggs’ win.

"Beggs is in the process of transitioning from female to male and taking a low-dose of testosterone.

"It was his steroid therapy treatments while wrestling girls that stirred a fierce debate about competitive fairness and transgender rights last season. It’s been a lot quieter since last year when his march to a state championship was dogged by a last-minute lawsuit that tried to stop him.

"Beggs had asked to wrestle in the boys’ division, but the rules for Texas public high schools require athletes to compete under the gender on their birth certificate.

"Beggs entered the state tournament with a 32-0 record, beating three female wrestlers on his way to the championship.

“ 'He has so much respect for all the girls he wrestles,” said Beggs’ mother, Angela McNew. “People think Mack has been beating up on girls … The girls he wrestles with, they are tough. It has more to do with skill and discipline than strength.” . . .

A must-read: The Politically Incorrect Guide® to Climate Change

Watts Up With That?  . . . "I particularly liked this bit of history, one I hadn’t read before.

---

"The world is running a fever, and the effects will be dire. As another commentator observed,

Snows are less frequent and less deep. They do not often lie, below the mountains, more than one, two or three days, and very rarely a week. They are remembered to have been formerly frequent, deep and of long continuance. The elderly inform me the earth used to be covered with snow about three months in every year. The rivers, which then seldom failed to freeze over in the course of the winter, scarcely ever do now. This change has produced an unfortunate fluctuation between heat and cold in the spring of the year which is very fatal to fruits.

"This same observer also noted,

“I remember that when I was a small boy, say 60 years ago, snows were frequent and deep in every winter.”

"Who said that? Al Gore? Leonardo DiCaprio? Nope. That’s Thomas Jefferson, in his 1799 book “Notes on the State of Virginia.”

---

"It just goes to show, that even before the industrial revolution started around 1850, before the world saw an invasion of big, bad, carbon belching machines, the climate was changing just like it always has. In today’s political climate, Thomas Jefferson would be labeled a “denier”."

. . . 

The left wants to talk only about guns, but that's not the problem

Dark Angel Politics

Silvio Canto, Jr.  "Have you tried talking to gun control advocates about school shootings?  Or the one down at the church near San Antonio, Texas?

"It's frustrating, because they are always singing the same song, from "we have too many guns" to "we should follow the example of Australia."

"Yes, we indeed have too many guns, but so what?  We have a right to those guns.  We also have too many cars, and no one wants to outlaw them when a drunk driver kills a family on the road.  We also have a lot of residential swimming pool deaths, and no one is calling to outlaw them.

"As for comparisons to Australia, let's remember what John Lott recently wrote:

Gun control advocates like to note that there has been no mass public shooting in Australia since the buyback.  But they are simply picking out a country that happens to "prove" what they want it to prove. 

European countries such as Belgium, France and the Netherlands have even stricter gun control laws than Australia does, but their mass public shooting rates are at least as high as those in the United States.

During the Obama administration, the per capita casualty rate from shootings in the European Union was actually 27 percent higher than the U.S. rate.

"I tried to bring these numbers to the attention of a gun control advocate, and he told me to stop citing studies paid for by the NRA.

"So how do you talk to an ideologue?  You can't!"

President Trump may finally move the ball forward, because he is talking about school security, or the one issue that cuts through ideology.

American Silliness; Feb 25, 2018

War on Men Week in Higher Education  "Imagine if the gender roles were reversed in any of these stories.

• Hamilton College students protest too many “white, upper class, able-bodied males” at campus pub
• Stanford Hosts ‘Women Only’ Training Hours to Promote Inclusivity
• Stanford Academic: Quest to Colonize Mars Driven by Patriarchy and Male Entitlement

Stanford Hosts ‘Women Only’ Training Hours to Promote Inclusivity

"Nothing says inclusiveness like being exclusive of certain other people, right?

"The Daily Caller reports: . . . 

“Everything was being used and all the testosterone in the air was super suffocating — the kind of culture you find in the gym, it feels very aggressive and not very welcoming,” said Camille Townshend, a Stanford student, when describing her first experience lifting weights (outside the women-only hours).

The old "muscle-privilege" rears it's ugly head again. 

Black student complaint about Black History Month menu gets black employees canned  . . . "However, in today’s environment, it’s not hard to imagine the head cook getting grief if he had denied the two (black) employees’ menu choice — that would be exercising “white privilege/supremacy”: “How do you know what menu is best for us?' ”  

Harvard Law Prof Wants to Lower Voting Age to 16 
The attraction to that is because the decision-making frontal lobe hasn't fully developed by age sixteen, so they would tend to be Democrats. TD

School cancels ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’ due to white student getting lead role  "A New York high school has canceled a production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” after a student activist group complained about a white student being cast in a lead role.
"Students United’s letter conceded that the student cast as Esmeralda “is a stellar actor, singer, and dancer” and that any production would be “lucky to have her.”
"However, it added: “Our concern is not with her, but with the fact that in terms of demographics, she is the wrong choice for this role.”
Related:  Minnesota high school band: We’re only buying music by composers of color   Minnesota: The state that spawned the Wellstone Memorial.

Legal Insurrection/

Who’s Really Winning the North Korea Standoff?

Victor Davis Hanson

Kim Jong-un may seem to have the upper hand, but the U.S. is quietly proving otherwise.

"There have been wild reports that the United States is considering a “bloody nose” preemptive attack of some sort on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. Such rumors are unlikely to prove true. Preemptive attacks usually are based on the idea that things will so worsen that hitting first is the only chance to decapitate a regime before it can do greater damage.
"But in the struggle between Pyongyang and Washington, who really has gotten the upper hand?
"With its false happy face in the current Winter Olympics, North Korea thinks it is winning the war of nerves. Yet its new nuclear-missile strategy is pretty transparent. It wants to separate South Korea’s strategic interests from those of the United States, with boasts — backed by occasional nuclear-missile tests — that it can take out West Coast cities.
. . . 
"Time, however, may actually be on the American side. The situation in 2018 will certainly be better than it was in 2016. Under the prior policy of “strategic patience,” Washington apparently accepted having North Korean missiles pointed at the West Coast. But things are changing in several ways." . . .

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON — NRO contributor Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author, most recently, of The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.

The horrifying life of sex slavery North Korean cheerleaders face

NY Post

"Members of the North Korean national cheerleading squad — who have been featured gleefully rooting at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics — are systematically forced to have sex with high-ranking members of Kim Jong Un’s twisted regime, according to a disturbing report.

"Behind the scenes, the troupe — dubbed the “Pleasure Squad” by insiders — are forced to perform sex acts on party leaders during their trip to the Olympics, a defector with knowledge of the sexual slavery told Bloomberg News.

“ '[The] troupe came here and performed with dances and songs, and it might seem like a fancy show on the outside [but] they also have to go to parties and provide sexual services,” said defector Lee So Yeon, a military musician who fled the country in 2008, during Kim Jong Un’s regime.

“ 'They go to the central Politburo party’s events, and have to sleep with the people there, even if they don’t want it,” said Yeon, 42.

"She added, “Those sorts of human-rights infringements take place, where women have to follow what they are told to do with their bodies.”

"The perky and impeccably dressed cheerleaders are subject to an extreme vetting system based on their looks, family backgrounds and loyalty to the Workers’ Party, according to the outlet." . . .

Being educated doesn't mean being wise or moral:

The Westerners Who Love North Korea  . . . Despite being branded “naive” and “untrustworthy” by academics, the pro-North Korea groups are said to attract new members every day.

"The Stockholm-based Swedish-Korean Friendship Association, a 300-strong organization founded in 1969, states that it “denounce[s] US imperialism and wholeheartedly support the Korean people’s struggle for independence and national reunification.'”  . . .

Too bad we could not have traded these people for Otto Warmbier. TD

US student 'brutalised' in North Korea and left in a coma for over a year pictured as he returns home  . . . " 'We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalised and terrorised by the pariah regime in North Korea. We are so grateful that he will finally be with people who love him.' " . . .

DeVos Stands Up to the Transgender Bullies

National Review

"In Secretary Betsy DeVos latest de-regulatory step, the Department of Education has said it will not investigate or take action on complaints from transgender students regarding the open use of restrooms in public schools.

"The Obama administration had adopted a broad understanding of Title IX, the federal law that protects citizens from discrimination on the basis of sex. Under Obama, the Department of Education ruled that “sex” also includes “gender identity.” Now that bureaucratic decision is being reversed.

“ 'Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender identity. Therefore the question is whether a student (regardless of gender identity) has been discriminated against on the basis of sex,” Elizabeth Hill, a spokesperson for the department told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “In the case of bathrooms, however, long-standing regulations provide that separating facilities on the basis of sex is not a form of discrimination prohibited by Title IX.”

"Hill said that until Title IX is updated or revised by Congress or the courts to include “gender identity,” the department will stick to what the written law says.

"Transgender activists are displeased with the decision to rely on laws, rather than bureaucratic interpretations. “This is an abdication of its job and a betrayal of hundreds of thousands of students who just want an equal chance to learn,” Harper Jean Tobin, director of policy for the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a statement." . . .  Kaylee McGhee

Charity calls police after a teacher 'misgenders' a trans pupil and say he has committed a 'hate crime'

UK Daily Mail  

Stock photo

"A charity called in police to deal with a teacher who ‘misgendered’ a pupil.

Mermaids, which supports children who believe they were born in the wrong body, said the teacher had committed a ‘hate crime’ because he did not address the child using his new gender.

"The youngster, who had switched from female to male, wanted staff and pupils at his school to accept his new identity.

"Under the Equality Act, schools have a duty to accommodate transgender pupils and make sure they do not suffer upset or bullying. According to Mermaids the teacher often failed to use the correct gender pronouns for the boy – he, him and his. The charity said the reminders of his past as a girl had caused the boy to become depressed.

"Volunteers from Mermaids intervened on behalf of the boy, and when the teacher refused to accept their point of view, they called police. Susie Green, who heads the charity, told the Times Educational Supplement the tough action was necessary to protect the boy’s mental health. She said: ‘We had to get the police involved because a young student was being regularly misgendered by his tutor. 

"The tutor dismissed it until he was informed that it counted as a hate crime." . . .

Read more 

CNN’s Town Hall Anti-Gun Agitprop, Part Two: “A Really Good Discussion”

"Here a competent moderator should have intervened, saying: “I’m going to insist that all questioners phrase their questions to our guests in a far and respectful manner, and if they do not, I’m going to move on to another questioner. This is not how to have a civil discussion. Try again, Emma.”
Of course, Tapper did not, because he appreciates Emma."

Ethics Alarms  . . . "Take it from an ethicist, Chris (look it up): a biased and one-sided audience jeering and booing advocates of one position, including calling one of those advocates “a murderer” while the somnolent moderator does nothing is not a good discussion, nor is it ethical journalism. See, in a “really good discussion,” Chris, both sides in the debate feel they were heard, respected, and given an equal chance to express themselves. One side does not leave the stage feeling they were bullied and mugged. That you and CNN—Jake Tapper also has defended the “town hall” can say—perhaps sincerely—that this was a “really good discussion” tells us that “good” means “advanced the political and policy agenda we support, while abusing the opposition.”
. . . 
Except that this was not the message of CNN’s “really good discussion.”Here are some examples from the CNN transcript.

• CNN’s transcript deceptively fails to reflect that fact that in this first exchange, the audience was booing and jeering poor Marco Rubio almost without stop. Nor does it reflect accurately the utter disrespect student questioner Cameron Kasky displayed for Rubio, who is a U.S. Senator, and was willing to subject himself to the smug abuse of children. “Applause” in CNN transcript-speak often means “boos and jeers so loud it’s incredible”and “crosstalk” means  “the students were shouting insults all at once.”

. . . "To sum up this fiasco, it is impossible to have a “good discussion” of a complex issue…

…before all the facts are known

….in a rigged, circus atmosphere

….created by a politically biased news organization

….before an audience overwhelmingly favoring one point of view

….containing recently traumatized teens,

….with the guests consisting of an incompetent sheriff trying to cover for his own accountability for a tragedy

….plus two politicians to pandering to the angry mob

…and two incompetent advocates for the unpopular position

…all overseen by a passive and inept moderator.

Agencies dropped the ball with the Parkland school shooter

Transcript of Phone Call FBI Thought Was Fine to Ignore   

"The transcript of the phone call by a woman close to Florida killer Nikolas Cruz has been released. "This is the call made shortly before the crazed killer murdered 17 innocent people and wounded 17 others, five critically. It speaks for itself and leaves no doubt how serious the situation was." 'The FBI must be called to account for this." 'The caller was very clear. The FBI did not follow up and, after reading this, you might see their lack of action as especially egregious."   "THE TRANSCRIPT . . . 

 Disarmed school guard Aaron Feis: It's worse than we thought . . . "There was never a greater example of the need to stop infringing on the rights of good people to bear arms and protect themselves and the ones they care about.  When seconds count, it certainly may not matter when the police are even seconds away. "

Trump changing the game on school shootings . . . Republicans have failed us by allowing Democrats to turn every issue or tragedy into an argument on gun control or some other freedom-weakening, leftist-loved issue.  As long as weak-kneed Republicans allow progressives to define the issues, nothing will be accomplished." . . . 

The Parkland shooting and The Red Badge of Courage  . . . "A more recent creative work that deals with the same general topic is “The 15:17 to Paris“, the movie Clint Eastwood recently made about the heroes who stopped the armed terrorist on the French train. The film deals with the same issues of courage and reaction to danger, approached from another angle: what was it in the background of these three particular young men that made them run towards danger rather than away?" . . . Here’s a trailer:

Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Confirms Police Don’t Have Discretion in Arrests

"A Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy confirmed last evening on the Ingraham Angle that because of a feckless school board, the police cannot arrest juveniles who need to be arrested. Police don’t have discretionary powers when making arrests.

"Yesterday, we posted a summary of an investigation by a writer at The Last Refuge. The author has in the past probed the disciplinary procedures of the Broward County School District. Broward of course is the site of the recent mass murder of 17 innocent children and staff. He outlines a strong argument, with documentation, that a failed police-school system allowed serious crimes to go unreported and kept criminal youth in the schools and on the streets." . . .

For one thing, the school doesn’t want any arrests on the school grounds because they are worried about their statistics.
The school board is proud of the fact that they have reduced the numbers of arrests but they have done it, not by providing help for the most part, but by not arresting people who needed to be arrested.

" The Broward County School Board and District Superintendent, entered into a political agreement with Broward County Law enforcement officials to stop arresting students for crimes."

 The primary problem was the policy conflicted with laws; and over time the policy began to create outcomes where illegal behavior by students was essentially unchecked by law enforcement.