YOU are paying off DC sexual harassment suits

Just when you thought there might be some justice in terms of genuine sexual harassment, rape and assault incidents in DC — well, have I got a story for you.

Your American Taxpayer dollars are hard at work.

Against you, not for you.

From TheHill.com:

Congress owes taxpayers answers about its harassment ‘shush’ fund

by Jenny Beth Martin

Since when are members of Congress and their staffs accused of sexual harassment allowed to hush up and pay off their accusers from a secret “shush” fund full of taxpayer dollars? Since 1995, it turns out.

Congress, we all know, chooses to exempt itself from many of the same laws it foists on the rest of us. It’s a grievance I hear regularly during my travels around the country, as grassroots activists complain about this law or that regulation. “If only Congress had to live under the same laws we do, they’d get it, and they’d change it” is a common refrain.

For years, for instance, I’ve been speaking out about the illegal special exemption of Congress from ObamaCare, which allows members and staff to avoid the financial burdens they imposed on us when they passed that terrible law. If only they had to live under the law the same way the rest of us do, without benefit of taxpayer dollars to subsidize their premiums purchased fraudulently on the D.C. small business exchange, they might be more incentivized to repeal that law.

But until recently, I did not know about the “shush fund” of Congress, a fund managed by the “Office of Compliance,” which itself was created following the 1995 enactment of the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA), the first law enacted by the first Republican House in four decades.

Haven’t you ever asked yourself: just why do people spend thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for a House or Senate seat?

Are they so devoted that they would place themselves into what normally would be considered as absolutely inextricable debt potentially in perpetuity?

The lowliest of Congressmen make $174,000 per year. Leaders make $200,000 per year or more, due to figures not up to date.

Did you ever think quid pro quo? Or ROI? You should have.

“It’s not the money, it’s the power.”
— Frank Underwood

What happened to transparency?

We, the taxpayers who have been paying for more than two decades to quietly settle literally hundreds of sexual harassment claims against members of Congress and their staffs, have a right to know which members and staffers have made use of the hush money over the years. Going forward, taxpayers should have knowledge about how that fund is used.

If Congress wants to get serious about its apparent culture of abuse, it will need to address its cover-up culture. Shush funds may serve the immediate purpose of getting alleged victims to go away, but they do little to stem the tide of sexual harassment. What Congress needs — and American taxpayers deserve — is more transparency.

And also at GatewayPundit.com:

SHOCK: $15 Million in TAXPAYER MONEY Has Been Paid Out to Settle Congressional Sexual Harassment Lawsuits

by Cristina Laila

As previously reported, Congress has a rampant sexual harassment problem. In fact the problem is so bad that female lawmakers and aides keep a ‘creep list’ of men who are notorious for lewd behavior.

As if this couldn’t get any worse, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd Tuesday that taxpayers have paid over $15 million to settle sexual harassment lawsuits against members of Congress!

Further, from ConservativeReview.com:

Levin: GOP leaders must resign over sexual harassment in Congress

by Chris Pandolfo

Tuesday on the radio, LevinTV host Mark Levin discussed the day’s reports and testimonies concerning the subject of sexual harassment in Congress.

He played a clip of Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who testified there are at least two sitting members of Congress — one Republican, one Democrat —who have engaged in sexual harassment of their own staff members.

Levin wants these sitting Congress members to be identified. He wants names named.

He also wants Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to resign for their failure in leadership — keeping silent on known creeps and a known widespread problem in the institutions they lead.  

Can you imagine, folks, a job where you are treated like a king or a queen, provided with armed protection, chauffeured in cars and SUVs, provided an expense account, shown deference wherever you go and can decide which laws to obey or not because, after all, you make the law? Wouldn’t you like a job like that? One where internal review and investigations into your conduct are mostly toothless?

Wouldn’t you enjoy a job like that?

And finally: just how long must we slit our own wrists for the power mongers in DC before we rise up in righteous umbrage?

BZ 

 

AC/DC’s Malcolm Young dead at age 64

It was 1973.

Two Australian brothers — Angus and Malcolm Young — had an idea.

Let’s create the best rock band we can. Let’s keep it simple. Let’s stay true to the roots. Malcolm and Angus were the co-founders of the band AC/DC.

Angus became the guitarist front man, all 5’2″ of him, in his cap, shorts, blazer, white shirt and tie. Malcolm found himself content to play rhythm guitar in the back as he loomed over Angus at 5’3″. Malcolm was the band’s leader, writer, and creator of some of the most iconic riffs in rock. Most people had no idea because, well, Malcolm wasn’t the front man or the singer. But he was the band’s inspiration and the band’s guts.

And AC/DC was born, with original singer Bon Scott, towering at 5’8″.

Following Bon Scott’s passing in 1980 due to alcohol poisoning at the age of 33, a new talent — slightly taller — stepped in. Singer Brian Johnson.

Do you remember the very first song from that new album? Because the bells were tolling for Bon Scott.

Brian Johnson made history when he seamlessly replaced Bon Scott. Johnson is a lofty 5’5″.

Malcolm Young started to have problems remembering the songs, having been diagnosed with dementia. He retired from the band in 2014.

From TheGuardian.com:

Young devised many of the band’s best-known guitar riffs, marking out tracks such as Back in Black, Highway to Hell and You Shook Me All Night Long and establishing them as one of the biggest rock acts of all time.

Three years ago the band announced Young was stepping down to receive treatment for dementia. Shortly afterwards he retired permanently, to be replaced by one of his nephews, Stevie, for the band’s most recent tour.

Stevie had also briefly replaced his uncle on the Blow Up Your Video world tour in 1988 tour while Malcolm sought treatment for alcoholism.

Malcolm Young last performed live with AC/DC on tour in June 2010 at a concert in Bilbao, Spain.

At the conclusion of the Black Ice World Tour, Malcolm was diagnosed with lung cancer. It was treated at an early stage, so surgery was successful and the cancer was removed. He also had an unspecified heart problem and wore a pacemaker.

Young was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of the band in 2003.

“Malcolm is survived by his loving wife O’Linda, children Cara and Ross, son-in-law Josh, three grandchildren, sister and brother,” said the statement on the band’s website.

There is no music today; there is mostly technology and plagiarism.

Goodbye to Malcolm Mitchell Young.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

We hardly knew ye.

BZ

 

BZ’s Berserk Bobcat Saloon Radio Show, Thursday, November 16th, 2017

Featuring Right thinking from a left brain, doing the job the American Media Maggots won’t, embracing ubiquitous, sagacious perspicacity and broadcasting behind enemy lines in Occupied Fornicalia from the veritable Belly of the Beast, the Bill Mill in Sacramento, Fornicalia, I continue to proffer my thanks to the SHR Media Network for allowing me to utilize their studio and hijack their air twice weekly, Tuesdays and Thursdays, thanks to my shameless contract, as well as appear on the Sack Heads Radio Show each Wednesday evening.

Thursday night in the Saloon:

  • No guests tonight; it’s just ol’ BZ
  • It’s finally raining in Sacratomato, the veritable belly of the beast;
  • Huge parasites found infesting the body of the NK solider who crossed the DMZ;
  • Articles of impeachment were introduced against President Trump on Wednesday;
  • UK Minister blames housing shortage on “mortgage free” Baby Boomers/elderly;
  • Baltimore PD Detective Sean Suiter is killed, shot in the head by an as-of-yet unarrested suspect;
  • Baltimore’s crime rate is skyrocketing just as is Chicago’s;
  • This is due in large part to The Ferguson Effect where law enforcement officers are constantly told they “over-police,” so they are reacting to those demands;
  • Shepard Smith on Fox News lies nakedly about the Clinton/Uranium One story;
  • Joe Biden says First Baptist Church hero Willeford shouldn’t have been armed;
  • USSS said Joe Biden was just like Weinstein in terms of fondling and sexism;
  • Millennials want Socialism more than Communism;
  • 100 years of Communism = 100 million dead;
  • “We are only one generation away from losing our freedoms.” — Ronald Reagan

If you care to listen to the show in Spreaker, please click on the yellow start button at the upper left.

Listen to “BZ’s Berserk Bobcat Saloon Radio Show, Thursday, November 16th, 2017” on Spreaker.

If you care to watch the show on YouTube, please click on the red start button.

Please join me, the Bloviating Zeppelin (on Twitter @BZep, Facebook as the Bloviating Zeppelin and on Gab.ai @BZep), every Tuesday and Thursday night on the SHR Media Network from 11 PM to 1 AM Eastern and 8 PM to 10 PM Pacific, at the Berserk Bobcat Saloon — where the speech is free but the drinks are not.

As ever, thank you so kindly for listening, commenting, and interacting in the chat room or listening later via podcast.

  • Want to listen to all the Berserk Bobcat Saloon archives in podcast? Go here.
  • Want to watch the past shows on YouTube? Please visit the SHR Media Network YouTube channel here.
  • Want to watch the show live on Facebook? Go to the SHR Media page on Facebook here.
  • Want to watch the show on High Plains TV? Go here.

Thank you one and all for listening, watching and supporting the SHR Media Network: “Conservative Media Done Right.”

BZ

 

Joe Biden: First Baptist Church hero shouldn’t have had a gun

You actually read that correctly.

The man who, in every sense, was the person primarily responsible for stopping Devin Kelley, the suspect in the November 5th church shooting in Sutherland Springs, in which 26 persons were killed, was singled out Wednesday by former Vice President Joe Biden — but not in a good way.

From the WashingtonTimes.com:

Joe Biden says Texas church shooting hero Willeford never should have owned AR-15

by Douglas Ernst

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden says the Texan who confronted Sutherland Springs’ mass shooter this month never should have owned an AR-15.

Gunman Devin Kelley was shot and wounded on Nov. 5 by hero Stephen Willeford during the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history, but Mr. Biden told an NBC audience on Monday that an AR-15 should not have aided the good Samaritan. His comments came during a “Today” show appearance that was opened up for an audience Q&A session.

“How do you justify the Democratic [Party’s] view on gun control when the shooter was stopped by a man who was legally licensed to carry a gun?” a woman asked.

“Well, first of all, the kind of gun being carried he shouldn’t be carrying,” Mr. Biden replied, the Daily Wire reported. “Assault weapons are … I wrote the last serious gun control law that was written and was law for 10 years, and it outlawed assault weapons and it outlawed weapons with magazines that had a whole lot of bullets and so you can kill a whole lot of people a lot more quickly.”

Mr. Willeford, a former National Rifle Association instructor, said in follow-up interviews after the shooting that his AR-15’s firepower was necessary because Mr. Kelley wore protective body armor.

Here are Biden’s remarks on Wednesday’s Today show.

Consider that for a moment.

In the world of Joe Biden, the shooter should have been able to continue on his rampage — and in every likelihood would have done so — unopposed and unimpeded until the “approved” wielders of firepower arrived: the law enforcement agency applicable.

Note to Joe and others: I worked in law enforcement for 41 years, easily twice the standard service for most officers. I’ve seen most everything imaginable in a LE venue. And if there’s one thing I know it’s this: there is no way any law enforcement officer can be everywhere at every time. Further, you wouldn’t want that. It would equate to a veritable Police State and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone or any nation.

That said, Joe Biden, you are apparently more than willing to abandon the ability of average Americans to arm and defend themselves against certain assaults and deadly incursions in order to enable your perfect world.

This from Liz Wheeler on OAN:

From NationalReview.com:

Joe Biden’s Muddled Response to the Texas Shooting Was Unintentionally Revealing

by David French

If nothing you propose will reduce mass shootings, just go for sentiment and stigmatize gun owners.

The Sutherland Springs, Texas, shooting presents a serious problem for those who claim that the government offers the answer for gun violence. After all, the government failed at every turn, and it was up to a private citizen to stop one of the worst mass shootings in American history. The shooter was disqualified on multiple grounds from legally owning a gun, yet he obtained his weapons anyway. The police were apparently nowhere near the church (they can’t be everywhere in rural America) and couldn’t intervene for many long, agonizing minutes. It took a brave citizen with an AR-15 to match the shooter’s firepower and bring his rampage to an end.

Stop with the facts. Just stop them. Never let the facts, history, logic, rationality, proportion and common sense get in the way of a good fucked-up decision. Or opinion.

Still and all, it’s just fine for our “leaders” to eschew the rules and laws they impose on us little people, us proles, groundlings, serfs, commoners. You know, those persons who have personal security assigned to them, people who are paid to carry guns.

The rest of us can go to hell.

BZ

 

Presidential candidate Joe Biden

From GatewayPundit.com:

Exclusive: Former Joe Biden Secret Service Agent: We Had to Protect Women From Him, ‘Weinstein Level Stuff’

by Cassandra Fairbanks

A former Secret Service agent assigned to the Vice President Joe Biden residence claims that the Service often had to protect female agents from him.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the agent asserted that,  “We had to cancel the VP Christmas get together at the Vice President’s house because Biden would grope all of our wives and girlfriend’s asses.”The annual party was for agents and Navy personnel who were tasked with protecting the Biden family.

“He would mess with every single woman or teen. It was horrible,” the agent said.

According to the source, a Secret Service agent once got suspended for a week in 2009 for shoving Biden after he cupped his girlfriend’s breast while the couple was taking a photo with him. The situation got so heated, the source tells Big League, that others had to step in to prevent the agent from hitting the then-Vice President.

Additionally, the agent claims that Biden would walk around the VP residence naked at night. “I mean, Stark naked… Weinstein level stuff,” he added.

Ah hell, that’s just Joe being Joe.

Check this out.

Now tell me who’s a great Demorat presidential candidate for 2020?

And while we’re here, you and me, let’s revisit some of the best Joe Biden-isms:

“It’s just Joe.”

BZ