Anita Hill’s testimony helped put the issue of sexual harassment on the map for millions of Americans who hadn’t previously grappled with the subject. After Hill stood her ground in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, other women finally had a name for what was happening to them in the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission saw a sharp spike in the number of sexual harassment charges the following year.
But, as Simpson’s recent comments demonstrate, our elected officials haven’t necessarily come very far in this area. Simpson appears to remain confused about the distinction between sexual harassment and sexual assault; while the latter involves physical contact, Hill’s sexual harassment allegations don’t actually hinge on whether or not Thomas touched her.
For exactly this reason, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) recently began pushing Congress to implement mandatory sexual harassment training, noting that many of the lawmakers in office may not realize what exactly constitutes inappropriate behavior. Those type of tranings, which are common in the private sector, have been mandatory for years in the executive branch. But they’re still voluntary for House and Senate personal and committee offices. “This is the House of Representatives, not a frat house. It is time for all of us to get trained,” Speier said in a statement at the time.
Allen West: Kidnapped Nigerian girls are a ‘fishy’ Obama plot to distract from Benghazi
Former Rep. Allen West (R-FL), a Fox News contributor, suggested this week that focus on nearly 300 kidnapped girls in Nigeria was a “fishy” plot to take attention away from President Barack Obama’s “scandals,” including the terrorist attacks in Benghazi.Judge: Conservative group can’t have docs that would ‘out’ LGBT Justice Dept employees
In a Monday column on his website, West opined that concern about the terrorist group Boko Haram, which kidnapped the girls, “right now seems fishy to me.”
“I find it interesting that everyone (including the First Lady) is now all up in arms about Boko Haram and their jihadist actions,” he wrote.
In a decision memo handed down Monday, a U.S. district judge denied a FOIA request by the far-right activist group Judicial Watch in which conservative activists tried to obtain the names of LGBT employees at the U.S. Department of Justice.Spitting, Stalking, Rape Threats: How Gun Extremists Target Women
Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle wrote in her decision that to allow Judicial Watch access to those documents “creates a palpable threat to privacy” of employees at the Department. Huvelle wrote that she was unwilling to compromise that privacy for the “relatively inconsequential (if not non-existent) interests” of the conservative group.
On August 23, 2012, LGBT employees at the Justice Department held the “Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair,” where they were addressed by Attorney General Eric Holder. The event was sponsored by the LGBT Bar Association.
What happened to Longdon in Indianapolis is part of a disturbing pattern. Ever since the Sandy Hook massacre, a small but vocal faction of the gun rights movement has been targeting women who speak up on the issue—whether to propose tighter regulations, educate about the dangers to children, or simply to sell guns with innovative security features. The vicious and often sexually degrading attacks have evolved far beyond online trolling, culminating in severe bullying, harassment, invasion of privacy, and physical aggression. Though vitriol flows from both sides in the gun debate, these menacing tactics have begun to alarm even some entrenched pro-gun conservatives.Our own very public Idaho
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Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, has faced a continuous barrage. "For me, the question is always, 'Why does this person want to kill or rape or silence me?'" she says. "I think the answer is that this issue touches a cultural nerve based on gender, geography, and other politics. There are pundits who make a good deal of money encouraging this type of anger."
Some staunch advocates of expansive gun rights recognize that this kind of bullying is bad for the movement. In March, a talk radio host and self-described gun enthusiast in Wisconsin called the "in your face open-carry playbook" tactics "perfectly legal, and perfectly stupid." After the Arlington restaurant incident, the editor of BearingArms.com wrote that Open Carry Texas had achieved "a public relations disaster."
There was, however, a catch: Otter insisted on an inclusive event, featuring all of the Republican candidates, not just the top two. That meant Otter and Fulcher would share the stage with a biker named Harley Brown – the public television network that aired the debate did so on 30-second delay because producers assumed Brown would use profanity during the event – and an elderly anti-abortion activist named Walt Bayes.Poor Kentucky has no stomach for Obama, even if he backs programs they depend on
As Chris Hayes explained last night, the strategy worked exceptionally well – Fulcher received less than 13 minutes of airtime, a fraction of what he would have received in a one-on-one debate. Otter hoped to deny his principal rival a platform – or at least less of one – and that’s precisely what happened.
In this case, Fulcher’s loss was our gain. I, for one, will not soon forget the line, “Get this lunatic out of my cellar!”
“Here’s what he said about the coal business: ‘Go ahead, build your coal-fired energy plants, we will shut them down,’” Feltner alleged.
“Is that something for a president to say?,” he added. “He’s got a problem with the poor people.”
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“I guess Democrats just worry about money in their pocket, what they and their friends are doing. They’re not worried about us small people,” Miller said.
“The Republicans, they are the ones that know … raised up like we have, you know. Know what it’s like, what we need, what shouldn’t been taken away,” Miller added.
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But Bryant says voters’ main motivation when they go to the polls are coal and social issues: abortion, guns, and same-sex marriage, which he labels “the three biggies.” This is conservative Christian country.
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