Hurricane Harvey Weinstein Continues to Blow Powerful Men Off Their High-Status Pedestals

Matt Lauer- grossly overpaid (over $20 million per year) morning TV entertainer. Fired by NBC after years of covering up his sexual abuse, including at least one rape, just as Variety and the New York Times were about to expose him.

Charlie Rose- smarmy chatster of U.S. imperialist apparatchiks and nomenklatura members.
Creep pretends his gross sexual harassment was welcomed by his victims, claims "shared feelings." Canned by PBS, CBS, Bloomberg News. Finally, relief from his unctuous propaganda!

John Conyers- superannuated Democratic Party hack and "progressive" burlesque performer. (He's 88 years old and as of this writing is belligerently refusing to resign, despite calls to do so by his party "leader," House Minority Leader and multimillionaire Nancy Pelosi, and by the Speaker of the House, Republican Paul Ryan.)

Russell Simmons- music biz mogul who like all music biz moguls is a capitalist super-exploiter. (How do you think they get so rich?) Stepping down from his company after second rape victim names him.

Mark Halperin- hack "political analyst" who indoctrinates the public with corporate political outlook. Purveyor or garbage "election analyses" that ignore reality of voter suppression, crooked voting machines, etc. Discarded by media and disgraced for now. Spawn of Kissinger accomplice Morton Halperin.

Michael Orestes- former reactionary propagandist at New York Times, then propaganda overseer at NPR. After being protected for years by fellow male bosses, forced out.

The "A Prairie Home Companion" guy, what's his name. NPR dumps his shtick. (Oh yeah, Garrison Keillor. Weird name, hard to remember. Shouldn't that be Garrison Fort?)

Oh, too much schadenfreude for one day! I'm overdosing!

Still untouched: known rapist and groper, the second Teflon President, Donald J. "Jackass" Trump. Remarkable.

BONUS CONTRIBUTION TO "THE CONVERSATION" ABOUT SEXUAL HARASSMENT: Nobody needs to be "trained" to not rape, grab people's breasts/asses/vaginas, forcibly kiss, expose oneself, etc. They already know it's wrong- that's why they do it in secret, lie about it, intimidate and threaten victims into silence and pay them hush money ("settlements" with "non-disclosure agreements") etc. Instead here's a simple therapy treatment that is quick and immediately effective:

New York Times Spiked Story of Harvey Weinstein's Sexual Predations for 13 Years

That's an absolutely cogent headline about a newsworthy story that you won't see anywhere. (Just another example of why this is called Taboo Truths.)

A Times reporter had the story about Weinstein's sexual abuses way back in 2004. Her editors told her it was "unimportant" and refused to publish it. As an employee of that bourgeois organ that arrogates to itself the power to decide what news is "fit to print," the reporter had no right to publish elsewhere, in any form. [1]

Something that IS important to the NY Times is advertising revenue. Anyone who gets the Friday paper finds the "Arts and Leisure" section crammed with very expensive full-page ads for movies.  Same on Saturdays. Movie studios, including Weinstein's, are major advertisers. And Weinstein's movies always got positive "reviews" in the paper. (Hey, one hand washes the other.)

Meanwhile other parts of the media have been throwing up a smokescreen for the Times. The U.S. Government radio propaganda network NPR, for example, has been pushing the line that the story couldn't be revealed until now because victims wouldn't go on the record (as if the establishment media never uses anonymous sources!), that "rumors" couldn't be "verified," the story couldn't be nailed down, fear of being sued for libel, blah blah. (Funny, fear of libel didn't stop the NBC sitcom "30 Rock" from making a joke about Weinstein's sexual coercions using his name some years back.) The fact is, Weinstein would have been incredibly reckless to sue for libel as he would have risked some of his numerous victims being convinced by defense lawyers to testify at trial.

I predict his current bluster about suing the NY Times for libel is an empty threat. Two of his lawyers have already quit working for him- that's how untenable his position is, after 30 years of various molestations and attempts at sexual extortion. The extortion was the old "casting couch" trope. Young actress starting a career- the price of an admission ticket to Hollywood is sexually serving some fat, ugly Hollywood "power player," whether a studio exec, a director - Alfred Hitchcock notoriously killed the career of actress  for refusing his sexual demand- or a producer, or even an agent.
Today a report has emerged that Weinstein raped women. And 13 women in this report attested to their physical fear of the big fat Weinstein. Weinstein is denying he ever raped anyone- but he's not threatening a ibel suit. (Gee, I wonder why.) [2]

The movie business, and the music business too, are two extremely sexist industries in America. This has been true for years. Sexual abuse and coercion are just one manifestation of this deeply ingrained sexism. Male dominance of the industries is a visible manifestation of the sexism. The large disparity is pay for male vs. female actresses is another.

The board of directors of The Weinstein Company has fired Harvey Weinstein. And his wife is leaving him. Ohh, the humanity!

Harvey is simultaneously denying he assaulted anyone, claiming whatever happened all those 30 years was "consensual," while simultaneously jetting off to Europe (it is claimed) for "treatment" for his sexual problem. What problem? You just said it was all consensual?

Picking up this rock has uncovered another loathsome character- Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. Vance blocked a criminal prosecution of Weinstein after the police obtained incriminating evidence. They had one of his victims return, wired for sound, and Weinstein was recorded making self-incriminating statements prompted by the victim.

This is the second case revealed in the last few days of Vance using his power to commit an obstruction of justice. He also overruled his staff who had prepared a case of criminal fraud against two of Trump's offspring, Ivanka and Donald Jr. Vance took bribes from Trump's lawyer in the form of campaign contributions in that case.

This is the same guy who persecutes Occupy Movement people like Cecily McMillan. And he's going to be reelected next month, running unopposed in a Soviet-style "democratic election."

The Oh-So-Sexy HARV!

Isn't he a dreamboat??

1]  WINS radio, New York City, reported the "unimportant" verdict of the NYT's editors (October 9, 6:04 AM).  And the reporter went on CNN to talk about the Times killing her story. The Times editors are now doing damage control, one claiming amnesia, another saying she only had one source- an obvious lie. The Times is also scrambling to cover its ass by running numerous stories about the matter, even an entire story about Tom Hanks that they somehow connected to Weinstein, just because Hanks is a famous actor and he has an opinion. The Times is eager to limit the reputational damage to just Weinstein and protect the movie industry.

2] Hedren has spoken about this experience. And Alfred Hitchcock makes Harvey Weinstein look like the epitome of a chivalrous gent. See  "Hitchcock? He was a psycho: As a TV drama reveals his sadistic abuse, Birds star Tippi Hedren tells how the director turned into a sexual predator who tried to destroy her," Daily Mail (UK), December 21, 2012.

3]  "From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories," New Yorker, October 10, 2017.