Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Stormy, Summer and the Playmate

Three women have gone to court, pressing their claims to have been sexually connected in some way to The Donald.
 
I have no idea who’s telling the truth, but this is where the issue belongs---in court, not on front pages or broadcast news programs.  This is how such important matters should be settled, and in this case SOON, for all our benefit.
 
I wish the same approach had been taken in the numerous charges against prominent men in the “me too” and “time’s up” movements. There certainly is “fire” here and not just “smoke” for the “casting couch” has long been a staple of Hollywood lore.  But allegations are not proof, and proof comes in court.  Nor are the large numbers of women making such charges “proof." Truth is not dependent on numbers. One is sufficient.  But due process was NOT followed here, and lives have been changed forever by that fact.
 
Trial by the news media is not the American way of justice, and this needs to change. It is true anymore than people are “guilty until proven innocent” and that’s neither right nor fair.
 
While I am  criticizing my colleagues, let me go one step further.  Major papers and tv casts tell us about “Russian meddling” in our elections, not “alleged” Russian meddling. That this is political can hardly be doubted, viz the competing Dem and GOP versions and reports from the House Intelligence committee. But hold on; all of this stems from the consensus of 16 intel agencies who agreed  in a joint report. I will say again truth is not just found in numbers. While I think there is strong evidence for this claim, I still remember these same agencies told us of WMDs in Iraq and helped cause a war. No part of the most recent report has been made public, and needs to be for us to make a rational decision. 
 
The claims that Russia is behind the poisoning of one of their ex-spies (and double agent) is even flimsier. Given two major cases in recent years, where much proof was provided, there is certainly plenty of reason to suspect Putin’s long hand—but all the nations jumping in (we have not been told the UK shared what information it has with Latvia and others to make them come on board.) seems more to get brownie points with the UK than a reasoned explanation of why Britain suspects Russia. That may come, but there isn’t an international court where this is likely to be tried. Til then, with a Cold War#2 threatened, the better path is suspending judgment until the facts come out, and hopefully they will.
 
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GOOD news from Frankfort—(1) the budget negotiators have turned down new money for private prisons (which cost much more per inmate that state operated ones, and 2—someone is finally challenging the Kentucky Wired project, already behind schedule and way over budget. The idea is good—get better broadband thru out the state, but the way this was gone about should have been challenged from the start. It is beginning to look like a bottomless money pit with little to show for our taxpayer dollars.
 
That said, NOTHING is final in Frankfort til the legislature adjourns. Nothing.
 
I'm just sayin'...

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