* The Kent State killings were 50 years ago today. And yes, it's a nephew's birthday today, but the Kent State killings is what I recall over the many years of my life as occurring on this date. It was a moment where the misnamed Greatest Generation showed again its true nature, which is why I call them the Obedient Generation. The Greatest Generation who obediently went off to fight WWII without questioning (not that there was much questioning needed, yes), but who then came home, and were told to turn in their neighbors, particularly the union members, for being "Reds." And, obediently, they turned in those neighbors. Then, when the Military-Industrial American Empire decided to pulverize Vietnamese peasants, and the smartest of their generation's children said this is wrong and we should not do this, the Obedient Generation punched their children, spit at their children, yelled at their children, and eventually, at Jackson State College in Mississippi, and at Kent State, shot down their children. That'll teach 'em, those smart ass kids. And then, when the Owners of the nation said to the Obedient Generation, you don't need a union at all, and you don't need anything but that Big Gulp we invented to get you to become overweight from excess sugar, the Obedient Generation obeyed once again. But this time, the Boomers, the children of the Obedient Generation, said, Yeah, gimme some of that Big Gulp. And yeah, what's a union for anyway? And the Boomers and Obedient Generation made peace with each other, deciding, Yeah, let's put the next generation in debt and just party down the place. We're all consumers and individuals. Free to be you and me. Do your own thing. Ya know? Woodstock was not the culmination of the Sixties. It was the start of the Me Decade of the 1970s. Great music, though.
So anyway, here we are, 50 years on from the Kent State killings. And to my Boomer generations' children, the Millennials and Gen-Zers? All I can say for a start is I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. Tin soldiers and Nixon came and went. Some days, I wish we Boomers and the doddering Oldsters were not here, and you were on your own. I think you would have more sense than your parents and grandparents have had in most instances.
* This link to an op-ed in USA Today is necessary, as it is an ex-prosecutor making a case why Tara Reade's story of Biden's sexual assault is hard to sustain for credibility in Reade and believability of her story of Biden's alleged sexual assault of her in 1993, when she worked for him in the senate. I have wondered from the start about this accusation because it is of a very different nature than how Biden has been shown to behave. Biden putting his hand up Reade's skirt, and under her underpants to finger her is way different than Biden's kissing a woman on the head, or touching or rubbing a woman's shoulder. Trump? There are at least four instances of sexual assaults Reade speaks of regarding Biden, and of course Trump's famous "Access: Hollywood" tape admission of that pattern. But, and this is the point here, if you want to believe the prosecutor's arguments, a person must reject--and I mean, reject--the "believe women" standard, which includes saying it is fine to wait as long as Reade did, saying it is fine if the woman is flaky, has not told the truth before in private dealings with people, or maybe not so easily believable, and to know--just know!--men are always in the wrong and have the burden of proof, when there are no live witnesses.
Now, if only the majority of big corporate media punditry and political figures would have applied the same analysis for Kobe Bryant, Woody Allen, and Brett Kavanaugh, we'd see something that isn't cynicism on the part of the corporate media pundit and politician classes. And for the record, I believe Dr. Ford, who had no corroborating witnesses in the years after the incident (despite saying a close friend would back her, but which friend said she recalled nothing of the sort), because of the way Kavanaugh behaved in denying truths he should have admitted about what was written in his class yearbook, and his binge drinking/blackouts. As for Kobe and Woody, I don't believe the accusers--and anyone can do a search for "Kobe" in my blog to see the many links I included to support that conclusion regarding Kobe Bryant.
Oh, to Nancy Pelosi and the other cynics now demanding due process? Well, someone tell that to Al Franken, who asked for a formal investigation, but who was essentially kicked out of the senate to ensure women are always believed. And here, I am not saying Franken was not a practical joker, who loved to pinch a woman's behind, as if he was always on the set of Saturday Night Live circa 1977. But he was contrite, and it was clear he was deeply remorseful, sorry, and just wanting to clear the air to show the context--and if some were in fact exaggerating. Nope. No due process. No context. No evaluation of circumstances for you, Al.
As I have said from the time I first read the allegations nearly two months ago, the story is really about the hypocrisy and cynicism of the corporate owned media punditry class, particularly the professional feminist writers, and the abject cynicism of the corporate Democrats. I also remain certain if, Bernie was in Biden's current electoral campaign position, and Reade made the allegation about Bernie, the media and politician (I mean you Kirsten Gillibrand and Stacey Abrams) calls for Bernie to quit the race would be 24/7 on the cable news and outlets like Salon and The Nation--and I mean you, Amanda Marcotte and Joan Walsh. These same voices now counseling doubt would have been using the language they used during the Kavanaugh hearings, and the language used against Al Franken--and if that prosecutor made the arguments in those instances, he would be called out as a sexist pig.
Yeah, I know. We men are pigs, well, that is an insult to pigs. But you get the idea. And I know men often abused, and still abuse, our power to touch women we are hot about. I get all that. I am saying, however, there must be room for doubt of a particular woman's story, and context and circumstances must be evaluated. Every time. Every. Time. I want to be clear. I am for hashtag-MeToo. I am for TimesUp. However, I am also for GrowingUp.
