The Harvey Weinstein scandal: Why are so-called feminists defending this creep?

Harvey Weinstein

Lisa Bloom and Wendy Walsh

Harvey Weinstein should go sign up for the dating website OkCupid and make sure he gets that pink ribbon on his profile, branding him a feminist and supporter of Planned Parenthood. The media mogul is the ultimate bro-choicer, an adoring donor to the Democratic Party, defended by some of the left’s most powerful women.

Weinstein has been accused in a lengthy New York Times story of doing some truly horrendous things to women, totally unsolicited − also known as sexual harassment − over a period of nearly three decades. His alleged victims were talented young actresses and other women who had the potential to build successful careers on their own without some ugly, creepy man coercing them into giving him a massage or worse. 

FILE -- Producer Harvey Weinstein and wife, designer Georgina Chapman, arrive at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California February 22, 2015.  (Reuters)

Gross.
But this is Hollywood, and the feminists are the women who defend creeps like Weinstein.
Anita Dunn, a close associate of President Obama who became his communications director for a time at the White House, has been reported to have counseled Weinstein after the allegations broke in the media.
Even more troubling is that celebrity women’s advocate attorney Lisa Bloom is representing Weinstein. This is a woman who has represented victims in high-profile sexual harassment cases. Throwing that legacy away, she agreed to represent Weinstein, whom she said she has counseled that “times have changed” and he “needs to evolve into a higher standard.” Really?
Bloom’s reasoning regarding Weinstein gets better, though: “He has acknowledged mistakes he has made. He is reading books and going to therapy. He is an old dinosaur learning new ways. He wants to reach out to any of the women who may have issues with him to talk to them in a respectful, peaceful way, with me present if that is acceptable to them.”
I hope Bloom has a better answer for the women who Weinstein is accused of sexually harassing and forcing to look at him half-clothed or with no clothes at all, with tears in their eyes, as he emotionally blackmailed them for sex.
But this is Hollywood. This is Hugh Hefner’s world. This is the liberal paradise of promoting equal rights and justice for women, yet defending the men who use them for their own satisfaction, discarding them for younger versions every year, and then complaining about it years later when the women finally have the courage to say “enough!”
This is not true feminism. Supporting men who tear down women for their own use, supporting free access to taxpayer-funded abortion so men can cover up their own conduct, and mistreating women for decades is nothing for women to get behind.
These powerful women, these self-proclaimed feminists, are only hurting women when they stand up for and promote men who proudly use their own power to harass and demean women.
Penny Young Nance is president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest women’s public policy organization. She is the author of the book "Feisty and Feminine: A Rallying Cry for Conservative Women" (Zondervan 2016).

Kim Jong Un promotes sister to North Korea's ruling politburo, reports say

Kim Yo Jong

North Korean state media reported Sunday that leader Kim Jong Un had promoted his sister, Kim Yo Jong, making her an alternate member of the country’s top decision-making body, the politburo.

Kim’s appointed of his 28-year-old sibling was viewed as a move to further consolidate his power.

An image of Kim Yo Jong, younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is seen on a TV screen at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 27, 2014.  (Associated Press)

The sister reportedly replaces Kim Jong Un's aunt, Kim Kyong Hee, who was a key decision maker when Kim’s father – the late Kim Jong Il – ruled the country, Reuters reported.
The promotion was announced Saturday, at a meeting in which Kim also described North Korea’s nuclear weapons program as a “powerful deterrent” that guaranteed the nation’s sovereignty, Reuters reported, citing the state media report.
Kim Yo Jong, a vice director of propaganda for North Korea’s ruling Workers Party, was sanctioned in January -- along with six other North Korean officials -- by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for “human rights abuses and censorship activities,” Bloomberg reported.
But the sister has appeared more prominently in public in recent months, Bloomberg reported.
“She’s been recognized for the work she’s done in the past year to idolize Kim Jong Un,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at South Korea’s University of North Korean Studies, the news agency reported. “Kim Jong Un is extending his father and grandfather’s practice of empowering family members.”
In other appointments Saturday, Kim promoted Kim Jong Sik and Ri Pyong Chol -- two of the three men behind Kim's banned rocket program, Reuters reported.
And North Korea's foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho was named a full member of the politburo, Reuters reported.

At Saturday’s meeting, Kim Jong Un said his country’s nuclear weapons were a “powerful deterrent firmly safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia” against “protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists.”
The report of Kim’s remarks came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that “only one thing will work” in negotiations with the Hermit Kingdom, Reuters reported.
Trump’s remark seemed to suggest that the president was thinking about possible military action.
In recent weeks, North Korea has launched two missiles over Japan and conducted its sixth nuclear test.

Trump willing to pursue 'temporary deal' on health care

President Donald Trump speaks about healthcare in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, July 24, 2017.  (Associated Press)

Looking to break the logjam in Washington on repealing and replacing ObamaCare, President Donald Trump said Saturday evening that he was willing to pursue “a temporary deal” to get a new health care plan in place.

In remarks on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for a fundraising trip to North Carolina, the president referred to a popular GOP proposal that would have the federal government turn over money for health care directly to states in the form of block grants.

“If we could do a one-year deal or a two-year deal as a temporary measure, you'll have block granting ultimately to the states, which is what the Republicans want,” he said. “That really is a repeal and replace.”
Meanwhile, in an interview taped earlier this week and aired Saturday night on Trinity Broadcasting Network, the president assured host Mike Huckabee that “We'll have health care before the election.”
Earlier Saturday, Trump said he had spoken with the Senate's Democratic leader on Friday to gauge whether the minority party was interested in helping pass "great" health legislation.
Democrats said they willing to hear his ideas, but were not willing to scrap the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare.
Trump's latest overture to Democrats followed GOP failures so far to fulfill the party's years-long promise to repeal and replace the ACA, despite controlling the White House and Congress since January.
The president tweeted that he called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday to discuss the ACA, which Trump said was “badly broken, big premiums. Who knows!”
Trump said he wanted “to see if the Dems want to do a great HealthCare Bill.”
Schumer said through a spokesman Saturday that Trump "wanted to make another run at repeal and replace and I told the president that's off the table." Schumer said if Trump "wants to work together to improve the existing health care system, we Democrats are open to his suggestions."

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, to board the Marine One helicopter, Oct. 7, 2017  (Associated Press)

Trump has suggested before that he would be open to negotiating with Democrats on health care, but there have been no clear signs of a compromise between the two parties.
Schumer said a starting point could be negotiations led by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., who have been discussing a limited bipartisan deal to stabilize state-level markets for individual health insurance policies. People covered under the health law represent about half of those who purchase individual policies.
Trump irritated GOP leaders in Congress when he reached a deal with Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on a spending bill and the debt ceiling. The president has referred to those two Democrats as "Chuck and Nancy."
But the Trump administration announced Friday that it would allow more employers to opt out of no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious or moral objections. The move was one more attempt to roll back Obama's health overhaul, prompting Democrats to question whether Trump is committed to avoiding sabotaging the law.
Trump floated the potential talks as he approved an emergency declaration for a large part of Louisiana and ordered federal assistance for the state as Hurricane Nate approached the central Gulf of Mexico.
The president headlined a fundraiser on Saturday night in Greensboro, N.C., to benefit his Trump Victory joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee. The event was expected to raise $2 million, with donors paying up to $35,000 per couple to serve as co-hosts.

Obama Judge Derrick Watson Cartoons

Pres. Trump: U.S. Will Not Lift Sanctions on Cuba ( Photos of the real Cuba )

The Real Cuba.

The Real Cuba.

The Real Cuba.

President Donald Trump talks with audience members during a Hispanic Heritage Month event in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Oct. 6, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Trump is sticking to his word, saying the U.S. will not lift sanctions on Cuba.
He made the comments from the east room of the White House Friday as he hosted a celebration for Hispanic Heritage Month.
This comes after the Trump administration ordered to expel 15 Cuban diplomats from the Washington embassy following unexplained attacks on U.S. diplomats in Havana.
The president says sanctions will continue until Cuba gives political freedom to its people.
“The same failed communist ideology that has brought oppression to Cuba has brought nothing but suffering and misery everywhere and every place it has been anywhere in the world,” President Trump stated. “Communism is the past. Freedom is the future.”
The president went on to stress the importance of the Hispanic community, and specifically praised Hispanic business owners for their contribution to our economy.
He also highlighted recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, and said America will not rest until Puerto Rico is back on its feet.

Hawaii wants to challenge third version of Trump travel ban ( Yes he's the same Democrat puppet of Obama that bans everything Trump.)

U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson ( Yes he's the same Democrat puppet of Obama that bans everything Trump.)

HONOLULU –  A federal judge on Friday said he would give Hawaii an opportunity to make its case that it should be allowed to challenge the Trump administration's latest travel ban.

U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson said Hawaii would have until Tuesday morning to file a new motion. The government will have until Saturday, Oct. 14, to respond.

The latest travel ban removes Sudan from the list of affected countries and adds Chad and North Korea, along with several officials from the government of Venezuela. It's scheduled to take effect Oct. 18.

"Hawaii fought the first and second travel bans because they were illegal and unconstitutional efforts to implement the president's Muslim ban," Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the third travel ban is more of the same."

The motion said the new version of travel ban "flouts the immigration laws' express prohibition on nationality discrimination, grossly exceeds the authority Congress delegated to the president, lacks any rational connection to the problems it purports to address and seems to effectuate the president's promise to ban Muslims from the United States."

Chin has been battling President Donald Trump on travel bans since February, after the president sought to bar new visas for people from seven mostly Muslim countries.

The state later amended that lawsuit to add a plaintiff: the imam of a Honolulu mosque. Hawaii has roughly 5,000 Muslims.

When Trump revised the ban, Chin amended the lawsuit to challenge that version.

In March, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu agreed with Hawaii that the ban amounted to discrimination based on nationality and religion.

A subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed the administration to partially reinstate a 90-day ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on refugees from anywhere in the world.

The court's ruling exempted a large number of refugees and travelers with a "bona fide relationship" with a person or entity in the U.S.

Hawaii successfully challenged the federal government's definition of which family members would be allowed into the country. Watson ordered the government not to enforce the ban on close relatives such as grandparents, grandchildren, uncles and aunts.

An attorney representing Hawaii notified the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that the state intends to challenge the third travel ban.

Dem candidate calls female GOP rep a 'child,' says it's fair to call him 'sexist'

Democratic congressional candidate Steve Krieg

A Democratic candidate is facing calls to apologize after referring to New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, pictured, as a "child."  (Official portrait/stefanik.house.gov)

A New York Democrat running for the House of Representatives is under fire for calling the female Republican incumbent in his district a “child,” while admitting it’s fair to call him “a sexist.”

Democratic congressional candidate Steve Krieg, a member of the Plattsburgh City School Board, made the comments about New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik during a Tuesday candidate forum with others seeking the seat.

“I recognize her as a child, and it has nothing to do with her age,” Krieg said. “I see her as a child because she’s a child. She thinks like a child. She has people set things up for her. She has people put their words in her mouth and she happily repeats them.”
The Democrat added, “I apologize if that’s mean.”
In 2014, Stefanik, who was 30 at the time, became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She was re-elected in 2016 and is seeking re-election again next year.
Krieg previously came under fire for referring to Stefanik as a “little girl” on Facebook over the summer.
ARE DEMS FINALLY READY TO TOSS PELOSI?
"I intend to kick your stingy, money-grubbing, sniveling coward of a butt out of Congress,” he wrote in July. “Don't worry, sweetie, you're a little girl. You can always run home to Mommy and Daddy.”
Discussing that episode during the candidate forum, Krieg said, “I have been accused of being a sexist for calling Elise a little girl, and I probably deserved to be called a sexist. I think most of us, if we admit it, have some sexist in us, some of the racist in us.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee is calling on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to condemn the remarks.
“These comments are disgusting and sexist,” NRCC spokesman Matt Gorman said.
Stefanik responded on Twitter by thanking those who have come to her defense.
“Thank you to the many women and men standing up for our next generation of women leaders by speaking out against these remarks,” she said.

Trump administration rolls back ObamaCare contraceptive mandate

The Trump administration on Friday announced a major rollback of the ObamaCare contraceptive mandate, granting what officials called “full protection” to a wide range of companies and organizations that claim a “religious or moral objection” to providing the coverage. 

The decision swiftly ignited a new battle over the Affordable Care Act. Republican lawmakers and faith-based groups hailed the decision as a win for religious liberty, while Democratic officials and groups like Planned Parenthood accused the administration of attacking women’s rights.

By early afternoon, the American Civil Liberties Union announced it was filing a lawsuit challenging the change.
The original mandate, which already has been the subject of multiple legal challenges, required employers that provide health insurance to cover contraceptives. Under the existing policy, churches and houses of worship were exempt, while religious-affiliated groups that object had to allow a third-party administrator or insurer to handle birth control coverage. The 2014 Hobby Lobby decision expanded exemptions to for-profit “closely held” corporations.
But under the new policy unveiled Friday, the Trump administration is expanding the protections to any nonprofit group, non-publicly traded company, or higher education institution with religious or moral objections -- and making the third-party provision optional for groups with “sincerely held” religious beliefs.
Publicly traded companies also could claim an exemption if they state religious objections, though a senior Health and Human Services official said they would still have to let a third party cover contraception.
“No American should be forced to violate his or her own conscience in order to abide by the laws and regulations governing our health care system,” said HHS press secretary Caitlin Oakley. “Today’s actions affirm the Trump administration’s commitment to upholding the freedoms afforded all Americans under our Constitution.”

Little Sisters of the Poor outside the Supreme Court on March 23, 2016 after Zubik v. Burwell, an appeal brought by Christian groups demanding full exemption from the contraceptive mandate, was heard.  (Reuters)

The decision was cheered by representatives for the Little Sisters of the Poor, the religious group that took their mandate challenge to the Supreme Court -- which in turn punted the case to the lower courts last year.
“HHS has issued a balanced rule that respects all sides –it keeps the contraceptive mandate in place for most employers and now provides a religious exemption,” Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at Becket Law and lead attorney for Little Sisters of the Poor, said Friday. “The Little Sisters still need to get final relief in court, which should be easy now that the government admits it broke the law.”
“This is a landmark day for religious liberty," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said in a statement.
Officials stressed that the impact may be limited, even though the rule changes are significant, as some large corporations were grandfathered into the policy and spared from the mandate anyway.
“Of the 165 million women in the U.S., HHS estimates these rules affect at most 120,000, leaving more than 99.9 percent of women without any impact,” an HHS official told Fox News.
An official noted the administration anticipates the groups taking advantage of the change would be those involved in legal battles pertaining to the mandate.
“There are about 200 entities that have participated in lawsuits because of the contraceptive rule, and those entities will benefit from this rule,” a senior HHS official said.
A senior HHS official said there have been more than 50 lawsuits filed against the mandate, and the new rule would provide “relief.”
But the ACLU contended the policy would allow “nearly all employers” to deny contraception coverage if they state an objection.
"This is an unacceptable attack on basic health care that the vast majority of women rely on," Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said Friday. "With this rule in place, any employer could decide that their employees no longer have health insurance coverage for birth control."
And Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., accused the administration of "stooping to a new low."
"There is no 'exemption from having reproductive organs," Wyden said Friday. "This administration needs to end its obsession with attacking women's rights to receive the health care they deserve."
The types of contraceptives covered by the mandate are FDA-approved methods: diaphragms, hormonal methods like birth control pills and vaginal rings, implanted devices like intrauterine devices or IUDs, emergency contraception like Plan B, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling. The mandate is not required to cover drugs that serve to induce abortions.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, since the Obama-era rule, the share of women paying for their own birth control pills out of pocket plunged to under 4 percent, compared with 21 percent before the rule.
HHS also rolled out a guidance bulletin on Friday, underscoring the requirements of a section of ObamaCare that “segregates funds” for abortion services. The bulletin reminds employers that abortion coverage has to be kept separate from other premium payments.
In addition to HHS’ announcement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced “20 high-level principles” on religious liberty to “guide all agencies in complying with relevant Federal law.”
“The constitutional protection of religious beliefs and the right to exercise those beliefs have served this country well, have made us one of the most tolerant countries in the world, and have also helped make us the free-ist and most generous,” Sessions said in a statement Friday. “President Trump promised that this administration would ‘lead by example on religious liberty,’ and he is delivering on that promise.”