Patterico's Pontifications

is harvey weinstein really any more scummy than your average FBI agent?

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 7:58 am

Yes.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:00 am

How many of you have read “Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth? Read the book, not seen the movie.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:02 am

Maybe Cyrus vance could have redeemed himself by holding him, before he skated over to maverick toen

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:04 am

But to make it a federal investigation, seems dubious.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:06 am

What of this connection:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/wiesenthal-center-isnt-withdrawing-prize-given-to-harvey-weinstein/

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:08 am

Otoh, it would be interesting to see how many tendrils this mabuse of motion pictures had spun to how many counterparts

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:11 am

this is the same FBI what keeps bungling the investigation in Las Vegas yes or is it different

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:14 am

Lots of federal laws involved, including the National Labor Relations Act. But this particular instance is probably a civil rights complaint received by the DOJ and referred to the FBI (who else?) for investigation.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:14 am

Like a collection from whizzo chocolates

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/business/weinstein-company.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:24 am

So Herr tiger and katsenberg might have some explaining to do.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:31 am

You really, really, don’t want to do sexual harassment if your employees are unionized. There was a case (I only know it anecdotally so no citation) where the boss was sleeping with a bunch of women in the office but not the plaintiff. She sued him for non-sexual harassment and won. Her theory was that she was also entitled to the extra benefits, pay and promotions the ones he “sexually harassed” got, and the court agreed with her.

Now imagine all the women in the Screen Actors Guild claiming they should have had the benefit of Weinstein’s casting couch, auditioning for the lead role in “Shakespeare In Love”. 😉

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:44 am

Well, well, this is going to impact all sorts of sacred cows.

Film at 11.

Patricia (5fc097) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:47 am

But then agAin sexual harassment originates in the id, not the superego.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:47 am

if Mr. Harvey goes to jail and it really was his brother what started all this on him

i don’t know but if I were that brother i’d feel terrible especially if Mr. Harvey hurts himself

but then again there was the business to think about as well

what a mess

Ben Affleck needs to stop groping people

and i think he’s drinking again if that picture Mr. Drudge had up yesterday is at all recent

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:52 am

Now the wallet is something else again:

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2017/10/weinstein-company-was-aware-of-payoffs.html

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:52 am

While I think they are going to initially look at whether he might have committed any federal crimes, the more likely basis for opening a federal investigation is to have a UFAP procedure in place — “unlawful flight to avoid prosecution (or arrest).”

This is based on his public statement that he’s going to Europe to get sex addiction treatment. Its to prevent him from “Going Polanski” on them

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:09 am

hf

FBI: maybe

Secret Service: probably not

Pinandpuller (04ae53) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:14 am

nk

Don’t unions call women like that “free riders”?

Pinandpuller (04ae53) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:15 am

Yes but that was probably a misdirect like bond did in quantum

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/10/11/grope-allegation-batman-ben-affleck-tank-justice-league

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:17 am

I don’t know Pinandpuller. But the thought just struck me “Why should it be only the women who can sue?” The men would also have the women’s cause of action as well as one for sex discrimination.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:19 am

Groping actresses across state lines. Eliot Spitzer did it consensualy at least.

Pinandpuller (04ae53) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:22 am

Did they not learn the lesson that the lowest portion of affleck, is acvdptable. Exhibit a) live by night.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:22 am

FBI Is a laugh a minute swamp creature

mg (31009b) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:24 am

Sex discrimination. Age discrimination. Race discrimination.

If this were a Seinfeld plot he would be sentenced to sleep with an old white male.

Pinandpuller (04ae53) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:25 am

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in moderation.

Day one: Ben Burn held hostage.

Pinandpuller (04ae53) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:26 am

No, just the phantom zone, sack snider dies nit get superheroes.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:39 am

If you’re a person who gets a settlement you have to declare it on your taxes right?

Could Weinstein’s company have written them off?

Pinandpuller (92f66d) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:42 am

i don’t think they’re taxable Mr. pinandpuller

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:44 am

Mr. *Pinandpuller* i mean

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:45 am

Last person to admit they were harassed was Kate beckinsale.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:45 am

What is the federal nexus? Punishing your political enemies was an Obama pursuit.

AZ Bob (e8857f) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:45 am

Whether Weinstein could deduct them as an ordinary business expense? Heh! It might be in Hollywood.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:51 am

lena dunham wasn’t groped i bet she’s pretty cheesed off about that

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:52 am

Ha, ha, ha! I was thinking the same thing. That half the outrage is jealousy.
Meryl Streep: “Rose McGowan? Gwyneth Paltrow? What have they got that I don’t? It’s because they’re younger, the b!tches!”

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:59 am

These are the people who laugh at mr Vice President Mike Pence.

Pinandpuller (92f66d) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:00 am

Point taken. She wrote a whole up ed about that (not really)

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:03 am

Reality has gone zombie, satire can’t keep up#
https://mobile.twitter.com/DPRK_News/status/918495418891284480

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:07 am

DPRK News is a satirical site.

CFarleigh (a06bdc) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:09 am

Add Scotland yard to the mix:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/12/harvey-weinstein-nypd-and-london-police-investigating-allegations#img-1

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:22 am

34, not even by the black dude, http://www.buzzfeed.com/sherrycj/lena-dunham-accused-odell-beckham-jr-of-not-payin-22v22?utm_term=.mqeG03A7Vr#.rdaY96prlB

urbanleftbehind (5abba7) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:27 am

Maybe the FBI should hire Blaine Gabbert, he did beat out kapernick!!!

mg (31009b) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:42 am

The entertainment industry has a reputation for stealing royalties and manipulating front end/back end.

Suppose the Weinstien brothers were offloading their payoffs on the front end?

I need Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick in a transparent office ASAP.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:50 am

Mark Steyn nails it:

“Usually in these kinds of cases, the victims are low-level female employees, poorly paid and with zero clout within the business – see, for example, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, etc.

But Weinstein abused some of the most famous women on the planet – Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, Angelina Jolie, Heather Graham, Rosanna Arquette… These ladies are not just award-winning actresses but businesswomen with their own companies, UN special envoys, directors and producers – and, in a couple of cases, global brands. Miss Jolie, for example, was a prominent participant at the UN Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

And yet the genius of liberal, progressive, Democrat Hollywood is that, under Harvey Weinstein and his pals, it can reduce powerful, successful women to the level of the poorest, most vulnerable, minimum-wage entry-level worker in Slick Willie’s Arkansas state bureaucracy. Congratulations, feminists. The lies you told yourselves during the Clinton era really paid off.“

https://www.steynonline.com/8171/crisis-of-the-elites

harkin (c81517) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:50 am

I like to speculate because it makes a spec out of u and late.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:51 am

speaking of obscene molestation

Howard Dean: Put Clinton Foundation in charge of Puerto Rico relief

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:57 am

Let that be her and his Elba.

urbanleftbehind (5abba7) — 10/12/2017 @ 11:01 am

Scratchy that …St. Helena

urbanleftbehind (5abba7) — 10/12/2017 @ 11:02 am

Now its gotten too silly

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 11:10 am

Steyn is overstating it. Those ladies are barely better than prostitutes who invested their earnings wisely. Like [rhymes with door]house madams whose mansions populated San Francisco’s Knob Hill. Rocket science and brain surgery lost nothing when they decided to become actresses. The reason for their success, in acting and financially, was that they attached themselves to the Harvey Weinsteins in the movie industry. Like remoras to sharks.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 11:11 am

And that’s the reason why they put up with Weinstein and why he got away with it for so long.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 11:12 am

I think Steyn is failing to understand that when Harvey did his thing with these “powerful and successful women”, they weren’t yet “powerful and successful.” In almost every account that I can remember reading, the allegations involve events that took place when the women were still trying to break into show business and get their careers started. Harvey’s mistake was that by focusing on young actresses, the odds that one or more of them would eventually turn out to be a star were bound to catch up with him, and at some point the non-disclosure agreements were not going to be enough of a firebreak to hold back the story.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 10/12/2017 @ 11:16 am

i love how tawdry it all is

and how the same disneysluts what run ESPN are all up in it

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 11:35 am

But to make it a federal investigation, seems dubious.

Besides civil rights, there are also the secret corporate payoffs. I’d expect the IRS to take a look as well. Were they accounted for a “secret settlement payoffs” or as “location shooting expenses.”

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:03 pm

“Paging HUAC. Paging HUAC. Call for you on the white courtesy phone.”

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:04 pm

Rocket science and brain surgery lost nothing when they decided to become actresses.

Perhaps, although I doubt Jolie is an idiot.

And there’s Heddy Lamar, who probably WAS a loss to rocket science.

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:07 pm

Greetings:

Law firm name: Weiner, Weiner, & Weinstein

(Geez, I’ve been missing that ampersand.)

11B40 (6abb5c) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:15 pm

Weiner, Spitzer & Weinstein.

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:19 pm

Yrs they had a villainess based on her, lamarr, in the final season of agent carter.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:31 pm

Except that Hedy was virulently anti-Nazi having fled a marriage to a Austrian arms dealer who had hosted both Mussolini and Hitler at their home.

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:42 pm

Hollywood vice and virtue

crazy (d99a88) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:43 pm

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/11/terrorist-donald-trump-airport-bomber-estes-asheville/

“The story didn’t go viral and Trump didn’t tweet about it because the bomb was not placed by an immigrant, or a Muslim, or a Mexican. It was placed there by a good ol’ white man, Michael Christopher Estes. Unlike the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, whose motive is still hard to discern, Estes wanted to be very clear that his ultimate goal was to accelerate a war on American soil.”

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:56 pm

@44 interesting that Steyn leaves out Gretchen Carlson, Marsha Callahan, Kellie Boyle, Megan Kelly, Rudi Bakhitar, Laurie Lunn, Laurie Dhue, Andrea Tantaros, Shelley Ross, and Julie Roginsky

Davethulhu (fab944) — 10/12/2017 @ 1:22 pm

Y’all just gonna throw Ailes and O’Reilly down the memory hole and pretend this is exclusively a leftist hollywood thing?

Davethulhu (fab944) — 10/12/2017 @ 1:28 pm

Probably because the news industry did not see fit to protect Roger Ailes, him not being a liberal.

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 1:34 pm

It’s not the behavior, which spans the spectrum of belief, but the protection which exclusively protects the “good guys.”

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 1:35 pm

Although harassment from the finger-waving progressive end of the spectrum is a tad more hypocritical than from the red-meat and pinup end of things. Whose rules? Their rules.

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 1:37 pm

oh my goodness dirty amazon turdlord jeffy bezos is a filthy rapist-enabler?

that makes me not like him

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 1:38 pm

But don’t worry. Yellowstone is about to blow, and Trump has done NOTHING to prevent it. He’ll take the blame.

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 1:40 pm

How were Ailes and O’Reilly not protected? The harassed women for years, and, just like Weinstein, it was an open secret within their organizations.

Davethulhu (fab944) — 10/12/2017 @ 2:21 pm

The argument being made in this thread, and specifically by the referenced link by Mark Steyn, isn’t that hollywood is hypocritical (it is), but that this sort of behavior is uniquely liberal, which it isn’t, or that hollywood is a stand-in for liberalism in general, which it isn’t.

Davethulhu (fab944) — 10/12/2017 @ 2:27 pm

Last person to admit harassment is a rotten egg.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 2:41 pm

Lena Dunham doesn’t wear enough clothes to pad a crutch.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 2:41 pm

This sort of behavior is not uniquely liberal. Feel better, Dave?

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6uZRzbE3ko8/Wd7K1G68IzI/AAAAAAABPJA/FDeYKqSXNNY8tnz3zOQ8xyfXfAGiyL1ZgCLcBGAs/s1600/1_190m_oxmq8k0zvK1ui29dzo1_1280.jpg

Rev.Hoagie® (6bbda7) — 10/12/2017 @ 2:53 pm

However, Hollywood is almost all radical left anti Americans and this is about them.

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rOjr6ilfHfg/Wd7MXglKwJI/AAAAAAABPJM/rK6RO7AxyrMXu_VTV3HtRS2V9EjrxYxegCLcBGAs/s1600/1_190m_oxny879Xto1t0xcrio1_1280.jpg

Rev.Hoagie® (6bbda7) — 10/12/2017 @ 2:55 pm

And all those leftist pinkos are “protecting” wymyn from big bad misogynist white, Christian, conservative, straight, privileged men. And they keep telling everybody how powerful wymyn are but they burst into tears at the thought of paying $10 for their own birth control. Go figure.

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NMjfIAXempA/Wd7KPHwdr-I/AAAAAAABPI4/bWD-mfHEFdg08rFpM8IPtwGy7EJb8tFPgCLcBGAs/s1600/1_190m_oxnptivQur1rhnukoo1_540.jpg

Rev.Hoagie® (6bbda7) — 10/12/2017 @ 2:58 pm

Much better.

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/ba/baf2a34cbb70dbb5fba99e07a09f1fbe3892035dd7148d126d51bca4c1323bc9.jpg

Entertainers aren’t paid for their brains.

Davethulhu (fab944) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:00 pm

i’m curious what camille the paglia has to say

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:01 pm

Weird how ever actress on that list has at least one nude scene NTTAWWT.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:09 pm

Perhaps, although I doubt Jolie is an idiot.

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 12:07 pm

She’s a phlebotomist by day and a call girl by night.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:15 pm

gratuitous nudity makes me uncomfortable cause of it’s not respectful on women but if it’s artistic that’s different

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:15 pm

Has anyone seen the Marylin Chambers movie Rabid? It was so good I had to look up from my book a few times.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:19 pm

“I think Steyn is failing to understand that when Harvey did his thing with these “powerful and successful women”, they weren’t yet “powerful and successful.”

And yet most of them upon becoming famous and powerful themselves not only failed to call him out, they kept working with him.

Ashley Judd in her pussy hat could have gone after Weinstein but no, Trump is the huge threat to women.

harkin (10a18c) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:21 pm

Why aren’t there more Marylin Chambers, Traci Lords or Sasha Greys? Porn stars have more integrity?

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:21 pm

“The argument being made in this thread, and specifically by the referenced link by Mark Steyn, isn’t that hollywood is hypocritical (it is), but that this sort of behavior is uniquely liberal, “

Disagree, I see nothing in his piece that says this behavior is uniquely liberal.

He’s calling them out for the hypocrites they are and their virtue signaling rants as so much lip-service.

harkin (10a18c) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:26 pm

Chemistry has its own way of beating swords into plowshares. After World War I,
the usefulness of ammonium nitrate as a high-nitrogen fertilizer became apparent.
Production increased and some companies attempted to recover ammonium nitrate
from wartime amatol. As we might have predicted, in 1924, a tremendous fire and
explosion took place at such a recovery works. A year later, two carloads of ammonium
nitrate were destroyed by fire during shipment. Each load contained over 200 barrels of
nitrate. These barrels, manila-paper lined, had been standing in warehouses for six
years, absorbing moisture from the air. Apparently, the barrel staves became
impregnated with nitrate and ignited because of friction between staves caused by
travel movement.

Although the barrel fires illustrated the characteristics of an oxidizing agent busily at
work, and demonstrated that ammonium nitrate is hygroscopic and deliquescent, there
were no explosions. This seemed another confirmation of the theory that ammonium
nitrate would not explode in the absence of a sudden shock.

The FBI has a history of setting people up as terrorists and arresting them.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:34 pm

@85

Congratulations, feminists. The lies you told yourselves during the Clinton era really paid off.

Davethulhu (fab944) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:41 pm

@83 Perhaps Ashley Judd, with firsthand knowledge of a sexual harasser, doesn’t want to see one as President.

Davethulhu (fab944) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:46 pm

Or does Ben Burn only object when the FBI sets up Muslims?

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 3:51 pm

ANFO will not burn under typical fire conditions…if large quantities are involved it may explode.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 10/12/2017 @ 4:03 pm

@ nk (#3): Read the book (liked it) when it came out, and also saw the movie (but didn’t care for it, might not have made it to the end).

@ swc (#17): Gosh I hope you’re right about the “Going Polansky” provision. In a just world they could be cellmates.

@ davethulhu, who wrote (#64):

Y’all just gonna throw Ailes and O’Reilly down the memory hole and pretend this is exclusively a leftist hollywood thing?

I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I’m on record and on-line mocking and shaming Bill O’Reilly and his ridiculously Trumplike litigation strategies against Andrea Mackris going back to 2004, dude. Recently, I wrote many comments here explaining why I thought Fox’s directors were cleaning house through a zero-tolerance policy that’s essential for them to avoid punitive damages liability.

So be careful with you’re “y’all’s” if you mean “all y’all.” You make a fair point that there are offenders among people of both liberal and conservative stripe. But O’Reilly’s show was cancelled, and I’m happy to relegate him to the dustbin of “old news.” By contrast, today’s news is Weinstein, and we’ve yet to see whether he will ever again produce a Hollywood movie, or whether he’ll instead be shunned forever after as a pariah by a genuinely repentant group of spectacularly hypocritical enablers and cover-up artists. I’d wager that he will; what say you, sir? Bet me a Fox and I’ll see it with a CNN and raise you an MSNBC. Bet me an Ailes and I’ll see and raise you with Anthony Weiner. This is not a game your side profits by playing, viz: Trump, duly elected self-proclaimed p*ssy-grabber, nevertheless still seemed less malignant than the Democratic nominee and her Clintonista crew to the voters of enough states to give him an electoral college victory. He relishes getting down in that mud pit only because his opponents have even less credibility as decent human beings than he does.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 4:48 pm

They only have those cue cards, I suspect the Murdoch fils add using this mechanism as a pretext, consider veraldo rivers has no accusations against him, Shirley.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 5:00 pm

I’ve been doing research and I can’t find any evidence that Donald Trump sent out a telegram, cable or press release about the Manson Family fomenting a race war. I’m done with him.

Pinandpuller (92f66d) — 10/12/2017 @ 5:28 pm

Why stop with Fat Harvey? NBC – among others – has major culpability for what they knew and didn’t report, along with their dishonest reporting of pure fabrications.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/12/2017 @ 5:37 pm

It would be a smaller cadre to determine who did not enable him, Disney amazon, HBO, are all responsible.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 5:44 pm

Funny you say that, weinstein a penciled in a Manson project for 2019.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 5:45 pm

“…that this sort of behavior is uniquely liberal, which it isn’t, or that hollywood is a stand-in for liberalism in general, which it isn’t.”

No, but it is somewhere between 85 to 95%… it’s a stuntman for liberalism… it does the heavy lifting for the predominantly low-T liberal male population, which, again, is somewhere between 85 to 95% of them.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/12/2017 @ 5:49 pm

and F all y’all lefties.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/12/2017 @ 5:51 pm

Entitlement: ‘Second chance!’ ‘Second chance!’

The stink of OJ arrogance is all over Wankstein. He didn’t murder victims; he just killed their careers.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 5:56 pm

Oliver Stone puts Weinstein in perspective via Twitter:

“It’s not easy what he’s going through either’ “

harkin (7dcbff) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:26 pm

@91 My response was directed to the previous posters in this thread, not conservatives in general. I don’t consider Fox News to be a stand in for all conservatives, for that matter.

Davethulhu (719fd1) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:30 pm

@100. An aging Tina Brown on Charlie Rose the other night made excuses as well.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:31 pm

“Kate Winslet breaks her silence on ‘disgraceful and appalling’ Harvey Weinstein sex abuse allegations.

Winslet next Stars in Woody Allen’s ‘Wonder Wheel’, set for release Dec. 1.”

https://mobile.twitter.com/parietines/status/917545955574108160/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-8911288743628017398.ampproject.net%2F1507083985898%2Fframe.html

harkin (7dcbff) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:34 pm

@ Davethulhu (#101): Fair enough, thanks Dave!

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:42 pm

@101. Ailes got away w/it as long as he did because he could; he was generating a lot of revenue for Murdoch’s empire and peope worked around the problem- until Carlson could afford the risk of standing up to him legally. This isn’t a left/right thing; it’s a power dynamics issue. Wankstein generated a lot of revenue for a lot of people and companies over the years as well. But his power waned. If this was 1997, not 2017, he’d likely have ‘bought’ his way out of this in one way or another.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:43 pm

102)She was a partner with weinstein in talk magazine. And her current project the basilisk?

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:43 pm

Well this one may have learned prostrate to the midsection of Ailes, better than Grinch-in Carlson: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2738426-roger-goodells-wife-jane-uses-secret-twitter-account-to-defend-husband-nfl

urbanleftbehind (5abba7) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:44 pm

@106. Right– which made her spin all the more startling.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:45 pm

@106. Recall when Cosby cratered; his projects dried up and various cablers stopped airing his reruns. There’s a lot of revenue potentially in play if outlets decide to yank the Wankstein. They can cease airing Miramax & WC film and TV projects– or have the name wiped from the credit blocks, etc. Thing is, money matters may likely take priority over what’s ‘right and wrong.’

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 6:55 pm

That’d why the spin is perfectly in keeping with her mo. He had some ten projects in the pipeline, between now and 2019.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 7:36 pm

Recall when Cosby cratered; his projects dried up and various cablers stopped airing his reruns.

This is really stupid. Art is still art. I have no problem watching Chinatown even though the director should be in prison forever. I cannot see this attainder thing at all.

Kevin M (752a26) — 10/12/2017 @ 7:58 pm

Publicly traded companies — including Amazon.com — cannot fade the heat on this kind of headline:

Rose McGowan fights back: Amazon studio head Roy Price put on indefinite leave after actress reveals he said her ‘HW’ rape story was not credible and lesbian producer claims he told her ‘you will like my dick’ at work event

Jeff Bezos will have to out-do everyone else in virtue signaling now.

The legal standards for what kind of conduct could make the company liable aren’t different as between public and private companies. But public companies have continuing SEC reporting obligations that make it relatively more difficult to cover up over time. Eventually — as happened, apparently, at Fox — the payouts begin to reach the threshold of being “material” in the opinion of the company’s outside auditors and can no longer be concealed deep in footnotes as part of other blurry aggregated expenses. Then there are the outside (non-employee) directors to contend with, all of whom are usually fat and happy to cash their big checks for a pretend job, but who’ve also figured out that they’re potentially personally liable if they’ve breached fiduciary duties to the company’s shareholders by participating in, or even just turning a wilfully blind eye, to the cover-ups.

The Weinstein Company doesn’t have to report squat to anyone — no more than the Trump Organization ever has.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 7:58 pm

No, her parents did not name her Isa Dick. She did that herself. Her given name is Isolde Freya Dick. Wagner fans, you think?

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:12 pm

Meaneholie in another smooth running enterprise:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:14 pm

The 2nd from top article in the Tree house link is a shout out to one of our most prolific posters.

urbanleftbehind (5abba7) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:16 pm

Pikachu, you have some explaining to do.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:20 pm

@ Kevin M, who wrote (#111):

Art is still art. I have no problem watching Chinatown even though the director should be in prison forever. I cannot see this attainder thing at all.

Okay, to begin with, the attainder reference is very clever and apt; I commend you on the wordsmanship, sir!

And I take your point in general, and in particular in the example you mentioned, because Polanski didn’t only direct that one, he played a small but memorable bit part in it as “Man With Knife.” As vast as my hostility toward that serial statutory rapist is, I can’t deny that it’s a brilliant movie, and not only because of brilliant acting but also because of brilliant direction.

On a rational basis you are absolutely correct and I agree with you. I will tell you that my gut won’t let the rest of me keep up that pretense very long.

When I’ll refuse to watch the product isn’t linear or proportionate or even rational. There’s a sizeable list still of Hollywood actors and directors whose stuff I find myself presumptively wanting to watch — Tom Hanks or Clint Eastwood, for instance — but that’s a short list. If I boycotted every movie or TV series whose principal actors are political nutcases, annoyingly smug, stupidly patronizing, then I’d pretty much be limited to Tom & Jerry reruns. (They were honest.)

I also have a distinction between “won’t watch” and “won’t directly pay for.” I won’t go watch Matt Damon in the theater, but I watched “The Astronaut” when it came on DirecTV’s regular rotation (non-pay-per-view). After this week, though, I think he’s moved into my “won’t watch” category.

Ben Affleck was already there. Damned Sad Batman was the worst casting mistake in the history of film, and yet he’s in cameos on all the Marvel films that I’d otherwise go watch along with my kids. I will not, cannot watch, Sad Batman. Now we know that Affleck is the kind of guy the real Batman would beat the crap out of and leave in a crumpled heap on a Gotham City pier. I will probably still make an exception for “Shakespeare in Love” reruns, even though both he and Paltrow are in that and even though it was a Weinstein film, but that’s because it’s a favorite I’ve watched 10 times and know by heart. I wonder now, though: Will I be able to watch Paltrow’s gauze unwrapping without thinking of Harvey? I don’t think so, and at that point I might vomit.

Alec Baldwin has been on my “won’t watch” list since he called his child a little piggy and threatened her during a voicemail rant.

I never liked John Travolta, but I thought he did some decent work until I saw him in person once, in circumstances that persuaded me beyond any possible doubt that he’s a spectacular, creepy hypocrite.

Short of either the “won’t watch” and “won’t pay” lists, there are still others against whom I have a pronounced bias against supporting, but I make irrational and unpredictable exceptions even then.

All that being said: The correlation is imperfect, but it’s there, and as a general proposition I think — well, I hope, and we’ll see, I guess — that most people, or at least enough people, will become sufficiently less supportive of these spoiled, overexposed, out-of-control beautiful/UGLY children that the worst of them might have to hide, like Polanski, far from the glitterati.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:21 pm

@111. Kevin, it’s not the content or the creator that’s at issue; it’s sponsorship. You might have no problem watching Chinatown and neither would I but Jello or Coca-Cola, their BoDs, stockholders and the millions both invested in their image and brand building may prefer their product not be seen sponsoring a Polanski film in commercical breaks on TBS.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:21 pm

Sorry. DC films.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:22 pm

Well recall from Ripley, Damon was a smooth sociopath, little less smooth in rounders

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:24 pm

They didn’t learn from live by night,vs the cameo in wonderwoman

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:26 pm

I loved “Pirates” with Walter Matthau. “The Ninth Gate” did not particularly entertain me, but the Polanski attention to detail was unmistakable, for example when the villainess tries to vamp Depp and you see the nail scratches on her thigh from a previous encounter.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:29 pm

@111. Runnin’ through airports is an art; has Hertz called to re-up w/OJ yet? He is available, ya’ know.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:32 pm

When I watch Chinatown, I do always briefly hope, vainly, that this time “Man With Knife” will slip and geld himself IRL.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:33 pm

Things age going strange:
https://mobile.twitter.com/WashNews/status/918669203418128384/photo/1

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:33 pm

@117. Twenty seven “‘I’s” and “I’ll’s.”

Me thinks Beldar is Trump. 😉

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:48 pm

As so often, narciso, I have to invest a little effort to keep up with you, but it’s worth it again (#125).

For others, what he’s linked is a photo on Twitter from Stephanie Wash of Wash News (?), captioned thusly:

Media scrum tonight as we learn security officer shot in Vegas attack, Jesus Campos’ whereabouts are unknown.

I can see why he’d be hiding out from the press. But from the sheriff or his employer? Very odd, even for Vegas. The immediate question is, “Wait, what, could he have been in league with the shooter somehow?” If so, however, then sticking around as long as he did was an incredible act of chutzpah.

narciso, do you think the judge in the Menendez trial will throw out some or all of the charges on response to the motion for directed verdict now pending since the prosecution rested? Or will he make Menendez put on a defense and let it go to the jury? You’re right that the media has been covering that case fiercely, smothering it with a pillow to make sure it’s never heard from again if possible.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:52 pm

That’s what they said about the Orlando nightclub shooter’s wife, too. Even odds he’s in FBI custody in a private house somewhere.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:56 pm

As to the first question, he fugyres he will be the scapegoat, looking at this trainwreck I can’t blame him.

There are similarities with a caddie in south Florida 25 years ago, that two was shortcircuited in part by another recent supreme cot decision, then out of west Virginia, and of course its jersey, where Harrison Williams was the last acviuntable pol, so yes for the firstm

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 8:57 pm

@112. The Weinstein Company doesn’t have to report squat to anyone — no more than the Trump Organization ever has.

Except, possibly, to financiers. WC will likely have issues raising capital to finance any new projects for a time until this fire is put out. Just as the TO was iced out of borrowing from U.S. banks after his bankruptcies and he turned to ‘other sources’ for financing– which Mueller is running down now.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:03 pm

Case, if you a little b move smashup, called smoking aces, that suggests the level of chaos.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:03 pm

@110 That’d why the spin is perfectly in keeping with her mo. He had some ten projects in the pipeline, between now and 2019.

Well, you know how that works; ‘ten projects in a pipeline’ slow, stall or are stopped–then shelved for five years and the rights sold off to Universal. By that time the WC will have dissolved or regrouped under its new name, Greenhouse Films.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:19 pm

Heh! The other side of the odds is that he’s in Las Vegas police “custody” in a hole in the desert.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:20 pm

Wow. Even as a fair-weather fan I gotta say the Nats-Cubbies game is pretty entertaining. I’m indifferent as to who wins, but they’re both scratching and clawing.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:20 pm

What happens in Vegas, they say, stays in Vegas. (Sometimes being composted in the desert outside, but yeah.) I know it’s a strange, strange place, although I respect the crazy locals and local crazies.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:21 pm

Amazing collection of hitters. I bet the pitchers on both teams are hating even their own teammates right now.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:23 pm

Rizzo got away with one, fix is in?

urbanleftbehind (5abba7) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:26 pm

This ones a nail biter.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:38 pm

They’re scripting them that way. Didn’t the 7th game of the World Series go to extra innings last year?

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:41 pm

I’m joking.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:42 pm

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=%23&ved=0ahUKEwiSrOrP5OzWAhXBXRoKHbPbCQsQwqsBCCgwAA&usg=AOvVaw0VTJzWxrN8ZFOD4xbU2nov

urbanleftbehind (5abba7) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:45 pm

Pardon, tried to paste a Bar at Carat audio CUBS Win!!

urbanleftbehind (5abba7) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:47 pm

‘Bout time. Cas you in LA, Californios. It will be deja vu all over again.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:49 pm

So we’ve got the nation’s 1st through 4th largest cities represented in the MLB league championship playoffs. That’s a first, I think.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:50 pm

Also coast to coast, top to bottom.

Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:51 pm

Looking forward to the Cubs-Astros Series, Beldar.

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 9:55 pm

The Trump administration said Thursday that it would end the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing reduction payments designed to help low-income Americans get health care. Not paying the subsidies, health care experts have warned, could send the health insurance exchanges into turmoil.

oh my goodness i love him more today than i did yesterday even

exponentially like a supervolcano of love is exploding out of my heart

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:12 pm

if only coward-ass torture-turd John McCain had thought things through more better huh

but alas

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:14 pm

The Democrats gave the President that power? They thought Obama would be there forever?

nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:31 pm

well what happened is the sleazy food stamp administration illegally appropriated monies for the health insurance pigs

President Trump tried to fix it but deranged torture-turd John McCain decided we should keep doing it the illegal way

but President Trump can’t do illegal appropriations oh my goodness they could impeach him for that!

so in the end his large and powerful hands were tied

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 10:41 pm

“I ask the United Nations, UNICEF and the world to stand with the people of Puerto Rico and stop the genocide that will result from the lack of appropriate action of a President that just does not get it because he has been incapable of looking in our eyes and seeing the pride that burns fiercely in our hearts and souls,” the mayor continued.

getting about time to cut this garbage scow loose and let it float away i think

happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/12/2017 @ 11:21 pm

It’s even better than you thought: From climate-change denialist Jeff Bezos:

Earlier in the day, the president signed a far-reaching executive order that makes it easier for individuals and small businesses to buy alternative types of health insurance with lower prices, fewer benefits and weaker government protections.
….
“The most far-reaching element of the order instructs a trio of Cabinet departments to rewrite federal rules for ‘association health plans’ — a form of insurance in which small businesses of a similar type band together through an association to negotiate health benefits. These plans have had to meet coverage requirements and consumer protections under the 2010 health-care law, but the administration is likely to exempt them from those rules and let such plans be sold from state to state without insurance licenses in each one. Among policy experts, critics warned that young and healthy people who use relatively little insurance will gravitate to association health plans because of their lower price tags. That would concentrate older and sicker customers in ACA marketplaces with spiking rates.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/10/13/daily-202-throwing-a-bomb-into-the-insurance-markets-trump-now-owns-the-broken-health-care-system/59dff67a30fb041a74e75d48/?utm_term=.9a785343cb06

nk (dbc370) — 10/13/2017 @ 5:40 am

Yes they are still running the Katrina playbook. Puerto Rico is more fracked up, having let their infrastructure fall into disrepair, this is what the atkinson link was about.

narciso (d1f714) — 10/13/2017 @ 5:59 am

I say we declare war on Haiti, immediately negotiate a peace treaty, and give them Puerto Rico as reparations.

nk (dbc370) — 10/13/2017 @ 6:09 am

Haiti says don’t do us any more favors:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-dea-nabs-haitis-guy-philippe-rebel-drug-runner-and-politician

narciso (d1f714) — 10/13/2017 @ 6:38 am

Prez signs order to allow healthcare policies offered across state lines (the biggest positive healthcare move in a generation per Rand Paul)… and I anticipate reading about it right here!!!!!

Cold bel Haiku (7680d5) — 10/13/2017 @ 6:45 am

Cold, cold, cold
Cold, cold, cold
Freezing, it was freezing in that hotel
I had no money, my special friend was gone
The TV set was busted so she went along
I called room, room service,
I’m down here on my knees
A peach or a pear, or a coconut please,
But they was cold
Well it’s been a month since I seen my girl
Or a dime to make the call
‘Cause it passed me up, or it passed me by,
Or I couldn’t decide at all
And I’m mixed up, I’m so mixed up
Don’t you know I’m lonely
And I wish the world would get off of my case
And get on one of its own

Cold, cold, cold
Cold, cold, cold
That woman was freezing, freezing cold
Well I tried everything to warm her up
Now I’m living in this cold hotel
‘Cause she passed me, up or she passed me by,
Or I couldn’t decide at all
Oh I’m mixed up, yes I’m mixed up
Don’t you know I’m lonely
Of all the things I had to do
I had to fall in love
You know she’s cold

Turn your clock back woman when you see me comin’ round
My feet don’t, feet don’t even touch the ground
don’t be cold, don’t be cold
don’t be cold, don’t be cold

Cold bel Haiku (7680d5) — 10/13/2017 @ 6:56 am

Yes, Philippe is sort of like if the zeta chief had taken over Mexico, but I don’t he would have alloweec the wholesale looting

narciso (d1f714) — 10/13/2017 @ 7:16 am

10/12/2017

Report: FBI to Open Investigation Into Weinstein

158 Responses to “Report: FBI to Open Investigation Into Weinstein”

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