Politics
Mainstream Media Slammed for Ignoring Joe Biden Sexual Assault Accusations
Published
3 years agoon

- On March 25, a former Joe Biden staffer accused Biden of sexual assault. While this story gained some traction, most major news outlets did not cover the story in much detail.
- This led to frustration online among people who thought claims against a high-profile and influential figure who could be the Democratic nominee for President should be getting attention on every level.
- Others, however, called the story’s credibility into question. Since the piece comes from just one source, some understood why media organizations might be hesitant to cover it.
Biden Accusation
On March 25, presidential candidate Joe Biden was accused by a former staffer of sexual assault, but these allegations have yet to make their way to most mainstream media outlets, leading to frustration and criticism.
Tara Reade, who worked for Biden in the 90s, says that the former vice president assaulted her in 1993. Speaking on The Katie Halper Show, she claimed he penetrated her with his fingers when they were alone in a room together. Halper says she corroborated this with Reade’s brother and a friend who learned of the incident when it happened. Both said they told Reade to say nothing at the time.
Biden’s team has denied these allegations, but this is not the first claim against Biden or even the first claim against him from Reade. Last year, she and another woman, Lucy Flores, accused him of harassment and inappropriate touching. Still, when Reade brought forth her assault claim, major outlets like CNN, NBC, Fox News and more were hesitant to report on it in depth or even at all.
Criticism of Media
People online, however, were very vocal about their concerns. The Hashtags #TimesUpBiden and #IBelieveTara made their way around Twitter.
There have been countless accusations about Joe Biden, nothing was done.
— Habiba Choudhury (@HabibaChoudhu) March 27, 2020
We need to stand with women such as Tara Reade, Lucy Flores & all sexual violence survivors.
How many more cases do we need to listen to before action can be taken? #TimesUpBiden #IBelieveTaraReade
Others specifically called out outlets for not reporting on this news. YouTuber Mykie “Glam and Gore” mentioned several organizations in a tweet before claiming that if the tables were turned and this came out about candidate Bernie Sanders, it would be front-page news.
@CNNPolitics @MSNBC @NBCNews @ABC COVER THIS @ewarren @KamalaHarris @amyklobuchar @HillaryClinton SPEAK ON IT
— Mykie (@GlamandGore) March 27, 2020
“But they’re just accusations & Bernie has no path to victory so…”
— Mykie (@GlamandGore) March 27, 2020
If the delegate count were reversed, & then these accusations came out against Bernie, his campaign would be gone OVERNIGHT. Because media would cover it. & we’d say no way is this candidate safe to beat Trump. https://t.co/xOWsi14cEa
The idea that the lack of coverage stemmed from a political bias in favor of Biden and against Bernie is a fairly common belief among Sanders’ supporters. Many shared that same sentiment on Twitter, claiming that the media would protect Biden no matter what.
The media loves to cover shit upon favor of their fave centrist corporate puppet, and “favorite to win the nomination” Joe Biden. Biden could get away with murder and they’d still support him because they’re too scared of Bernie.
— katia (@katsidlosca) March 28, 2020
On the opposite end of the political spectrum, many conservatives also believed the mass media was intentionally not covering the story to protect Biden, the presumed Democratic nominee.
“Will the liberal media cover this the same way they did when it was Brett Kavanuagh? I doubt it,” one Twitter user said.
Joe Biden has been accused of sexual assault by Tara Reade, one of his former Senate staff assistants.
— RD (@real_defender) March 27, 2020
Will the liberal media cover this the same way they did when it was Brett Kavanuagh? I doubt it.
#TimesUpBiden
Biden supporters have defended him, however, claiming that Reade’s story is not credible. Some have even gone on to accuse her of being a Russian asset.
This is a blog post that Tara Reade posted in 2018. She then deleted it before she began accusing Biden of these allegations. She literally said she loves Putin. #IBelieveTara is a Trump/Russia smear campaign. pic.twitter.com/pJMUsycTHV
— Ms. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) March 25, 2020
Credibility Questions
While the notion of her being a Russian asset is a conspiracy theory at best, the question of her credibility could be a large factor as to why mainstream media has not leaped on the story.
Without casting doubt on Reade, it is easy to see why news organizations would raise their eyebrows at running with a story that largely comes from one source on a podcast. A piece in Salon noted that for stories like this, journalists usually go through a long series of talking to sources on every side of the issue, verifying accounts and getting into the meticulous details before publishing.
“Women who tell these stories inevitably get blasted by skeptics who pick their stories apart, so it’s critical to their safety that the reporting holds up under close scrutiny,” Amanda Marcotte, the article’s author wrote. “That’s only going to be more true when the story has major political implications or confusing twists that could be interpreted as red flags — or both, like this one does.”
Jezebel was also critical of the one source allegation, saying that the media silence might have more to do with this than an allegiance to Biden.
“Part of the media’s silence about the podcast is perhaps not because of any fealty to Biden, but because of the way Halper, who also co-hosts Rolling Stone’s Useful Idiots podcast, aired the allegations—with little context, few follow-up questions, and no additional reporting,” Jezebel’s Emily Alford wrote.
While all this may be true, Arwa Mahdawi explored credibility issues in a piece for The Guardian, noting that many sexual assault stories come with the same levels of uncertainty.
“Reade’s story may be impossible to verify, but this is the case with the vast majority of sexual assault allegations,” she wrote.
Mahdawi also said that it is frustrating to see people and media outlets either use this story for political gain, or to ignore it in its entirety. Still, she says that whether or not this allegation gets coverage, it may not even impact 2020 in the long run.
“It is also hugely unlikely that Reade’s accusations will do any damage whatsoever to Biden’s ambitions,” she wrote. “Allegations of sexual assault certainly haven’t posed any hindrance to Trump. The allegations against Kavanaugh didn’t stop him from becoming a supreme court justice. The allegations against Louis CK didn’t kill his career in comedy. ”
See what others are saying: (Vox) (The Intercept) (Huff Post)
Politics
Feds Investigate Classified Files Found in Biden’s Former Office
Published
3 weeks agoon
January 10, 2023By
Chris Tolve
The documents reportedly include U.S. intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics such as Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom
What Was in the Files?
President Biden’s legal team discovered about 10 classified files in his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington D.C., the White House revealed Monday.
The Department of Justice has concluded an initial inquiry into the matter and will determine whether to open a criminal investigation.
According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN, they include U.S. intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics such as Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom.
A source also told CBS News the batch did not contain nuclear secrets and had been contained in a folder in a box with other unclassified papers.
The documents are reportedly from Biden’s time as vice president, but it remains unclear what level of classification they are and how they ended up in his office.
Biden kept an office in the. Penn Biden Center, a think tank about a mile from the White House, between 2017 and 2020, when he was elected president.
On Nov. 2, his lawyers claim, they discovered the documents as they were clearing out the space to vacate it.
They immediately notified the National Archives, which retrieved the files the next morning, according to the White House.
What Happens Next?
Attorney General Merrick Garland must decide whether to open a criminal investigation into Biden’s alleged mishandling of the documents. To that end, he appointed John Lausch Jr., the U.S. attorney in Chicago and a Trump appointee, to conduct an initial inquiry.
Garland reportedly picked him for the role despite him being in a different jurisdiction to avoid appearing partial.
Lausch has reportedly finished the initial part of his inquiry and provided a preliminary report to Garland.
If a criminal investigation is opened, Garland will likely appoint an independent special counsel to lead it.
The case mirrors a similar DoJ special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified materials and obstruction of efforts to properly retrieve them.
On Nov. 18, Garland appointed Jack Smith to investigate over 300 classified documents found at Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.
Trump resisted multiple National Archives requests for the documents for months leading up to the FBI’s raid on his property, then handed over 15 boxes of files only for even more to be found still at Mar-a-Lago.
“When is the FBI going to raid the many houses of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday. “These documents were definitely not declassified.”
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters he will investigate the Biden files.
Republicans have been quick to pounce on the news and compare it to Trump’s classified files, but Democrats have pointed out differences in the small number of documents and Biden’s willingness to cooperate with the National Archives.
The White House has yet to explain why, if the files were first discovered six days before the midterm elections, the White House waited two months to reveal the news to the public.
See what others are saying: (CNN) (The New York Times) (BBC)
Politics
Lawmakers Propose Bill to Protect Fertility Treatments Amid Post-Roe Threats
Published
2 months agoon
December 15, 2022By
Lili Stenn
The move comes as a number of states are considering anti-abortion bills that could threaten or ban fertility treatments by redefining embryos or fetuses as “unborn human beings” without exceptions for IVF.
The Right To Build Families Act of 2022
A group of Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would codify the right to use assisted reproductive technologies like in-vitro fertility (IVF) treatments into federal law.
The legislation, dubbed the Right To Build Families Act of 2022, was brought forward by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Il) and Patty Murray (D-Wa.) alongside Rep. Susan Wild (D- Pa.). The measure would bar any limits on seeking or receiving IVF treatments and prohibit regulations on a person’s ability to retain their “reproductive genetic materials.”
The bill would also protect physicians who provide these reproductive services and allow the Justice Department to take civil action against any states that try to limit access to fertility treatments.
The lawmakers argue it is necessary to protect IVF because a number of states have been discussing and proposing legislation that could jeopardize or even ban access to the treatments in the wake of the Roe v. Wade reversal.
“IVF advocates in this country today are publicly telling us, ‘We need this kind of legislation to be able to protect this,’” Murray told HuffPost. “And here we are after the Dobbs decision where states are enacting laws and we have [anti-abortion] advocates who are now starting to talk, especially behind closed doors, about stopping the right for women and men to have IVF procedures done.”
Fertility Treatments Under Treat
The state-level efforts in question are being proposed by Republican lawmakers who wish to further limit abortions by redefining when life begins. Some of the proposals would define embryos or fetuses as “unborn human beings” without exceptions for those that are created through IVF, where an egg is fertilized by a sperm outside the body and then implanted in a uterus.
For example, a bill has already been pre-filed in Virginia for the 2023 legislative session that explicitly says life begins at fertilization and does not have any specific language that exempts embryos made through IVF.
Experts say these kinds of laws are concerning for a number of reasons. In the IVF process, it is typical to fertilize multiple eggs, but some are discarded. If a person becomes pregnant and does not want to keep the rest of their eggs. It is also normal that not all fertilized eggs will be viable, so physicians will get rid of those.
Sometimes doctors will also implant multiple fertilized eggs to increase the likelihood of pregnancy, but that can result in multiple eggs being fertilized. In order to prevent having multiple babies at once and improve the chance of a healthy pregnancy, people can get a fetal reduction and lower the number of fetuses.
All of those actions could become illegal under proposals that do not provide exemptions.
“In my case, I had five fertilized eggs, and we discarded three because they were not viable. That is now potentially manslaughter in some of these states,” said Duckworth, who had both of her daughters using IVF.
“I also have a fertilized egg that’s frozen. My husband and I haven’t decided what we will do with it, but the head of the Texas Right to Life organization that wrote the bounty law for Texas has come out and specifically said he’s going after IVF next, and he wants control of the embryos,” Duckworth added.
In a hearing after Roe was overturned, Murray also raised concerns about “whether parents and providers could be punished if an embryo doesn’t survive being thawed for implantation, or for disposing unused embryos.”
Experts have said that even if anti-abortion laws defining when life begins do provide exceptions, it would be contradictory and confusing, so providers would likely err on the side of caution and not provide services out of fear of prosecution.
“[Abortion bans] are forcing women to stay pregnant against their will and are, at the very same time, threatening Americans’ ability to build a family through services like IVF,” Murray said in a statement to Axios. “It’s hard to comprehend, and it’s just plain wrong.”
The federal legislation to combat these efforts faces an uphill battle. It is unlikely it will be passed in the last few days of lame duck session, and with control of Congress being handed to Republicans come January, movement in the lower chamber will be hard fought.
Duckworth, however, told Axios that she will keep introducing the legislation “until we can get it passed.”
See what others are saying: (Axios) (HuffPost) (USA Today)
Politics
Hundreds of Oath Keepers Claim to Be Current or Former DHS Employees
Published
2 months agoon
December 13, 2022By
Chris Tolve
The revelation came just weeks after the militia’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, was convicted on seditious conspiracy charges for his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
An Agency Crawling With Extremists
Over 300 members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group claim to be current or former employees at the Department of Homeland Security, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) reported Monday.
The review appears to be the first significant public examination of the group’s leaked membership list to focus on the DHS.
The agencies implicated include Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Secret Service.
“I am currently a 20 year Special Agent with the United States Secret Service. I have been on President Clinton and President Bush’s protective detail. I was a member and instructor on the Presidential Protective Division’s Counter Assault Team (CAT),” one person on the list wrote.
POGO stated that the details he provided the Oath Keepers match those he made in a sworn affidavit filed in federal court.
The finding came just weeks after Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted on seditious conspiracy charges for his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“Law enforcement agents who have associations with groups that seek to undermine democratic governance pose a heightened threat because they can compromise probes, misdirecting investigations or leaking confidential investigative information to those groups,” POGO said in its report.
In March, the DHS published an internal study finding that “the Department has significant gaps that have impeded its ability to comprehensively prevent, detect, and respond to potential threats related to domestic violent extremism within DHS.”
Some experts have suggested the DHS may be especially prone to extremist sentiments because of its role in policing immigration. In 2016, the ICE union officially endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump for president, making the first such endorsement in the agency’s history.
The U.S. Government has a White Supremacy Problem
Copious academic research and news reports have shown that far-right extremists have infiltrated local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.
In May, a Reuters investigation found at least 15 self-identified law enforcement trainers and dozens of retired instructors listed in a database of Oath Keepers.
In 2019, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that almost 400 current or former law enforcement officials belonged to Confederate, anti-Islam, misogynistic or anti-government militia Facebook groups.
The Pentagon has long struggled with its own extremism problem, which appears to have particularly festered in the wake of the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nearly one in four active-duty service members said in a 2017 Military Times poll that they had observed white nationalism among the troops, and over 40% of non-white service members said the same.
The prevalence of racism in the armed forces is not surprising given that many of the top figures among right-wing extremist groups hailed from the military and those same groups are known to deliberately target disgruntled, returning veterans for recruitment.
Brandon Russell, the founder of the neo-Nazi group AtomWaffen, served in the military, as did George Lincoln Rockwell, commander of the American Nazi Party, Louis Beam, leader of the KKK, and Richard Butler, founder of the Aryan Nation.
In January, NPR reported that one in five people charged in federal or D.C. courts for their involvement in the Capitol insurrection were current or former military service members.
See what others are saying: (Project on Government Oversight) (Business Insider)

Britney Spears Asks For Privacy After Fans Called Cops to Conduct a Wellness Check on Her

200 Children Seeking Asylum in the U.K. Are Missing

Meta Reinstates Trump on Facebook and Instagram

Conservatives are Mad at “Woke” Xbox for Minor Climate-Related Updates

Razzies Apologize For Nominating 12-Year-Old, Adopt Age Rules For Future Nominations

Washington State Launches Investigation Into Abuse at Private Special Ed. Schools

SeatGeek CEO Calls to Break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation in Senate Hearing Following Taylor Swift Debacle

Mass Shootings in Half Moon Bay, Oakland Rock California

Alec Baldwin and “Rust” Armorer Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter Over Death of Halyna Hutchins

Meta Encouraged to Change Nudity Policy in Potential Win For Free The Nipple Movement

TMZ Slammed For Reporting Britney Spears Had “Manic” Meltdown at Restuarant

Mia Khalifa Shuts Down Death Rumors, Sparks Conversations About Plastic Surgery and Adult Film Industry

Influencer Coconut Kitty Accused of Editing Nude and Suggestive Photos To Make Herself Look Underage

Dixie D’Amelio Responds to Rumors That She Faked Seizures to Get Out of Class

Joe Rogan Denies Spotify Censorship Rumors, According to Alex Jones

Netflix Apologizes and Changes Marketing Materials for “Cuties” After Backlash

Conservatives Slam Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion Over “WAP” Lyrics

Corinna Kopf Accused of Scamming Fans With OnlyFans Launch

Influencers Exposed for Posting Fake Private Jet Photos

Skincare Influencer Susan Yara Apologizes for Misleading Fans By Promoting Brand She Secretly Owned

Lil Nas X and Bella Poarch May Have Abandoned Plans To Participate In TikTok NFT Program

Belle Delphine Calls Out YouTube for Double Standards After It Terminated Her Channel

Why The Internet Is Freaking Out About The Cringiest Man On The Internet & Today’s News

“She Is Evil!” What Addison Rae Religious Backlash Reveals, Joe Rogan, Jake Paul, Teacher Shortage

Alex Jones Was Just Exposed BY HIS OWN LAWYERS! lol WOW! Beyonce Backlash, GenZ Debt, & Today’s News

These Ninja Scamming Accusations Expose A Growing Problem & How Spiders Are Causing Massive Fires

The Problem With Will Smith’s Apology Video & Taylor Swift Climate Backlash, Taiwan, & Today’s News

PewDiePie Backlash Grows After Mocking Deaf TikToker, Jon Stewart Unloads on Cruel Cowards, & More

Leave Shawn Mendes Alone You Weirdos! He’s Not The One You Should Be Angry At… (And Today’s News)

The Logan Paul, Nope, Pink Sauce Backlash Really Exposed 4 Key Things…

Why Dave Chappelle Can’t Get Cancelled…Even After He Gets Cancelled & What FaZe Clan’s Flop Exposes

Get These People Off TV If They’re Going To Be This Dumb! Plus AOC Arrested, Student Loans, & More

HE IS A DRUGGED-OUT MAN BABY! Why People Are Talking About Joe Rogan, Zack Snyder, Climate Change, &

U.K. Ad Authority Bans Demi Lovato Album Poster For Causing “Serious” Offense to Christians

Conservatives are Mad at “Woke” Xbox for Minor Climate-Related Updates

“Ruthlessly Productive”: Marketing Agency Using AI Interns

Court Upholds Misogynist Influencer Andrew Tate’s Arrest

Razzies Apologize For Nominating 12-Year-Old, Adopt Age Rules For Future Nominations

FAA Lifts Order to Ground All Flights in U.S. After Systems Failure

TMZ Slammed For Reporting Britney Spears Had “Manic” Meltdown at Restuarant

SeatGeek CEO Calls to Break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation in Senate Hearing Following Taylor Swift Debacle

Feds Investigate Classified Files Found in Biden’s Former Office

Amazon Labor Union Receives Official Union Certification

Meta Further Restricts How Targeted Ads Reach Teens

Britney Spears Asks For Privacy After Fans Called Cops to Conduct a Wellness Check on Her

200 Children Seeking Asylum in the U.K. Are Missing

Meta Reinstates Trump on Facebook and Instagram

Conservatives are Mad at “Woke” Xbox for Minor Climate-Related Updates

Razzies Apologize For Nominating 12-Year-Old, Adopt Age Rules For Future Nominations

Washington State Launches Investigation Into Abuse at Private Special Ed. Schools

SeatGeek CEO Calls to Break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation in Senate Hearing Following Taylor Swift Debacle

Mass Shootings in Half Moon Bay, Oakland Rock California

Alec Baldwin and “Rust” Armorer Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter Over Death of Halyna Hutchins

Meta Encouraged to Change Nudity Policy in Potential Win For Free The Nipple Movement

TMZ Slammed For Reporting Britney Spears Had “Manic” Meltdown at Restuarant

Why The Internet Is Freaking Out About The Cringiest Man On The Internet & Today’s News

“She Is Evil!” What Addison Rae Religious Backlash Reveals, Joe Rogan, Jake Paul, Teacher Shortage

Alex Jones Was Just Exposed BY HIS OWN LAWYERS! lol WOW! Beyonce Backlash, GenZ Debt, & Today’s News

These Ninja Scamming Accusations Expose A Growing Problem & How Spiders Are Causing Massive Fires

The Problem With Will Smith’s Apology Video & Taylor Swift Climate Backlash, Taiwan, & Today’s News

PewDiePie Backlash Grows After Mocking Deaf TikToker, Jon Stewart Unloads on Cruel Cowards, & More

Leave Shawn Mendes Alone You Weirdos! He’s Not The One You Should Be Angry At… (And Today’s News)

The Logan Paul, Nope, Pink Sauce Backlash Really Exposed 4 Key Things…

Why Dave Chappelle Can’t Get Cancelled…Even After He Gets Cancelled & What FaZe Clan’s Flop Exposes

Get These People Off TV If They’re Going To Be This Dumb! Plus AOC Arrested, Student Loans, & More
