Cosby's downfall traced to Hannibal Buress' 2014 jokes about him

Comedian Hannibal Buress, seen at an event in Pasadena, Calif., in 2014, is credited with broadening awareness of the allegations that Bill Cosby faced.  (Reuters)

Bill Cosby's conviction on sexual assault charges drew a range of reactions on social media Thursday -- including acknowledgement of another comedian whose 2014 jokes about Cosby have been credited with raising awareness of the allegations Cosby faced.
Thousands of people on Twitter and other sites lauded comedian Hannibal Buress, who called Cosby a rapist during a stand-up set at a Philadelphia comedy club that was recorded and which went viral at the time.
"Took a dude to make some jokes" to bring down Cosby, one Twitter user wrote Thursday. "This is what happens when you don’t believe women."
“Hannibal Buress changed history,” New York Post columnist John Podhoretz tweeted.
In the 2014 routine, Buress mocks Cosby's public scolding of the black community for bad behavior, alleging that Cosby has some shortcomings of his own.
“‘Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ’80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom,’ " Buress says, impersonating Cosby.
"'Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby,'" Buress replies in his own voice. "So, brings you down a couple notches. I don’t curse on stage. But yeah, you’re a rapist.”

"Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby. So, brings you down a couple notches. I don’t curse on stage. But yeah, you’re a rapist."

Buress then encourages audience members to research Cosby's legal history online.
“When you leave here, Google 'Bill Cosby rape,'" he says. "That [expletive] has more results than Hannibal Buress.”
Cellphone video of the performance, first featured on Philadelphia magazine's website, went viral.
At the time, Buress got hate mail from many Cosby fans as well as praise from others calling him a “feminist hero,” the Washington Post reported.
“I got a lot of flak for that. I had people writing me awful things: ‘Bill Cosby’s not a rapist, Hannibal, you are.’ What?! That’s not how that works!” Buress said in his 2016 Netflix special, according to the Post.

“I got a lot of flak for that. I had people writing me awful things: ‘Bill Cosby’s not a rapist, Hannibal, you are.’ What?! That’s not how that works!”
- Hannibal Buress, in a 2016 Netflix special

But soon after Buress’ viral jokes, the allegations against Cosby became common knowledge, and his accusers were galvanized.
More than 60 women have spoken out against Cosby, including 35 accusers who told their story to a “culture that wouldn’t listen,” the Cut magazine reported.
Before then, Cosby's accusers were met with skepticism, threats and attacks on their character, the magazine reported.
COSBY GUILTY: JURY RULES COMEDIAN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ANDREA CONSTAND
In 2005, former basketball star Andrea Constand alleged that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her. But it was not until Thursday, 13 years later, that Cosby was convicted -- although the former sitcom star's lawyer said he plans to file an appeal.
Constand's was the only criminal case to arise from more than 60 women who made allegations against Cosby.
Barbara Bowman had also been telling her story for nearly 10 years, the Post reported.
“Why wasn’t I believed? Why didn’t I get the same reaction of shock and revulsion when I originally reported it?” she wrote in the Post after the Buress joke. “Why was I, a victim of sexual assault, further wronged by victim-blaming when I came forward? The women victimized by Bill Cosby have been talking about his crimes for more than a decade. Why didn’t our stories go viral?”
Cosby, who had repeatedly denied the allegations, could now face up to 10 years in prison for each of the three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

NBC News' Tom Brokaw allegedly made several unwanted sexual advances toward women, including anchor

Tom Brokaw made unwanted sexual advances against multiple women in the 1990s, a Thursday report claimed.  (Reuters)

Legendary NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw allegedly made unwanted sexual advances against multiple women in the 1990s, a bombshell set of reports revealed Thursday, months after a separate set of accusations led to the downfall of longtime “Today” anchor Matt Lauer.
According to The Washington Post, Brokaw, now 78, made unwanted moves on Linda Vester, a former NBC correspondent and former Fox News anchor, twice during the 1990s, including a move to forcibly kiss Vester, who was in her 20s at the time.
The report also detailed the claims of an anonymous woman who told the outlet Brokaw acted inappropriately toward her during her time as a production assistant in the 1990s. Brokaw was the anchor of “NBC Nightly News” at the time.
He has denied all the accusations against him.
“I met with Linda Vester on two occasions, both at her request, 23 years ago, because she wanted advice with respect to her career at NBC,” Brokaw said in a statement issued by NBC that was provided to The Post. “The meetings were brief, cordial and appropriate, and despite Linda’s allegations, I made no romantic overtures towards her, at that time or any other.”
Before the accusations against him went public, he actually spoke out about the #MeToo movement on MSNBC -- without mentioning his own behavior. “I do think we need to have a healthier, well-defined dialogue, if you will, and I’m not sure how we launch into it,” he said in December 2017.
A Fox News request for comment was not immediately returned by NBC.
Lauer’s former co-host, Ann Curry, who left amid turmoil inside the network, also said in The Post report that she told network management about complaints regarding Lauer's alleged sexual harassment, in 2012. However, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack previously said there were no formal complaints lodged against Lauer in his two decades with the network.
“I am speaking out now because NBC has failed to hire outside counsel to investigate a genuine, long-standing problem of sexual misconduct in the news division,” Vester told The Post.
Vester spoke of an alleged January 1994 incident in a New York hotel room with Brokaw. She had plans to leave New York ahead of an impending snowstorm but Brokaw discouraged her, she said, and suggested that the two get a drink.
“I only drink milk and cookies,” Vester claimed she said as a way of skirting Brokaw’s alleged intentions.
“It was the only thing I could think of at the time, hoping the reference to milk and cookies would make him realize I was 30 years his junior and not interested,” Vester said.
But when plans to travel to Washington D.C. got canceled, Vester said, Brokaw tried again in a 3 a.m. phone call to her hotel room.
“Once in my room . . . I received three phone calls,” she told The Post, citing diary entries she made at the time. “One from a friend, another from a source; the third was Tom Brokaw. He said to order milk and cookies and he was coming over.”
“My career at NBC would be over before it even got going,” Vester said she remembered thinking if she turned Brokaw down. The anchor soon knocked on her door.
“What do you want from me?” Vester claimed she asked Brokaw.
“An affair of more than passing affection,” Brokaw allegedly replied.
“But you’re married,” she said. “And I’m Catholic.”
Brokaw urged Vester to sit next to him on the sofa, she claimed. He proceeded to press “his index finger to my lips and said, ‘This is our compact,’” The Post said she wrote in her diary.
“My insides shook,” Vester said. “I went completely cold.”
Brokaw then allegedly placed his hand on the back of her neck and grabbed her head in order to “show” Vester “how to give a real kiss.”
"I could smell alcohol on his breath, but he was totally sober," Vester told Variety in a detailed account of the alleged interaction. "He spoke clearly. He was in control of his faculties."
Vester said she forcefully wiggled away from Brokaw in reply.
“I said ‘Tom . . . I don’t want to do that with you,’” she wrote.
Following a brief silence, Brokaw decided to leave, Vester claimed. “I think I should go,” she said he said.
A similar incident between Brokaw and Vester took place over a year later in London, Vester claimed, but she again avoided Brokaw’s advances.
A second woman, who once served as a production assistant at NBC News, claimed Brokaw encountered her in a hallway in the mid-1990s and encouraged her to meet him on the side of the walkway. Brokaw then allegedly held her hands, spoke of how cold they were, and proceeded to place them under his jacket.
“He put my hands under his jacket and against his chest and pulled me in so close and asked me, ‘How is your job search going?’” she told The Post. After replying, Brokaw allegedly suggested the woman “come into my office after the show and let’s talk about it.”
The woman said the implication in the conversation was obvious and she skipped the invite. She ultimately left the network.
Neither Vester nor the anonymous woman reported the incidents at the time, The Post reported.
Brokaw stepped down as an NBC news anchor in 2004.
Curry described in detail the claims against Lauer.
“A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her,” Curry said. “She was afraid of losing her job… I believed her.” The anonymous woman, Curry told The Post, said she was “sexually harassed physically” by Lauer.
“I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women,” she said.
Lack was not with the network during the time Curry said she went to management.
In interviews with The Post, 12 NBC employees claimed to have been sexually harassed by Lauer, who was fired in November 2017.
Lauer exposed himself to one woman while the two were in his office and asked her to touch him, an anonymous woman told The Post.
Another said they had sex in the middle of the day in his office.
Lauer, who has remained mostly mum following the allegations last year, provided a forceful response to The Post.
“I have made no public comments on the many false stories from anonymous or biased sources that have been reported about me over these past several months,” he said. “I remained silent in an attempt to protect my family from further embarrassment and to restore a small degree of the privacy they have lost. But defending my family now requires me to speak up.
“I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC,” he continued. “However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false.”

Kim Jong Un, South Korea's Moon Jae-in readying joint announcement after historic summit

South Korea on Friday said it is working on a joint statement with North Korea about the outcome of the historic meeting between President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Kim and Moon, after their afternoon session, are expected to jointly announce the outcome of their meeting.
Kim told Moon that he feels like he’s “firing a flare at the starting line in the moment of (the two Koreas) writing a new history in North-South relations, peace and prosperity.”
Kim also promised Moon he "won't interrupt" his "early morning sleep anymore," referring to missile tests, South Korea said.
The leaders walked unaccompanied to a bridge on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, a border truce village.
It was the first time a member of the Kim dynasty was known to set foot on South Korean soil since 1953. The two men shook hands and smiled for news cameras.
Kim and Moon planted a pine tree together as a symbol of peace before resuming their second meeting of the summit. Kim and Moon have also unveiled a stone plaque placed next to the tree that was engraved with a message saying "Peace and Prosperity Are Planted."
The summit is drawing measured responses from world leaders.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he welcomes the summit but doesn't expect any major breakthroughs.
"I am very encouraged by what's happening," Johnson told reporters Friday. "I don't think that anybody looking at the history of North Korea's plans to develop a nuclear weapon would want to be over-optimistic at this point."
China has welcomed the summit, saying it applauds the countries' leaders for taking a "historic step" toward peace.
After the anticipated announcement, the leaders will be joined by their wives at a dinner banquet in South Korea scheduled for 6:30 p.m. 

Russia's Interference Cartoons

Rudy Giuliani takes over talks with Mueller on possible Trump interview

Rudy Giuliani, the newest arrival to Donald Trump's legal team, has taken over talks with Special Counsel Robert Mueller about a possible interview of the president, Fox News has learned.
The negotiations between Giuliani and the Mueller team have been called ongoing. The president is said to remain skeptical of the idea of an interview, but has not ruled one out.
In a statement to Fox News, Giuliani said his objective "is to end this investigation and distraction from the critical issues facing our President as quickly as possible. The President has produced 1.2 million documents that is historically unprecedented. We believe it presents overwhelming proof that the President did not collude with regard to the 2016 election.
"If anything else is needed," Giuliani added, apparently referring to a potential Trump interview by Mueller, "we will consider it if there is an open mind as to the merits."
Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney and onetime mayor of New York City, joined Trump's legal team last week and proclaimed his intent to bring the Mueller investigation to a swift end. He replaced John Dowd, who resigned last month.
Mueller has told Trump's legal team that the president is not a target of his investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. The president is currently a subject of the probe — a designation that could change at any time.

Judge rules New York City bar can refuse service to Trump supporter wearing MAGA hat

A bar patron sued claiming he was refused service and kicked out for wearing a MAGA hat and supporting Trump.  (Reuters)

A Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday that kicking a Trump supporter out of a bar does not violate the law – because the law does not protect against political discrimination.
Greg Piatek of Philadelphia claims he was refused service and then eventually removed from a New York City bar in January 2017 for wearing a “Make American Great Again” hat, in a lawsuit against the establishment.
“Anyone who supports Trump — or believes in what you believe — is not welcome here! And you need to leave right now because we won’t serve you!” Piatek claims the staff of The Happiest Hour told him.
SCHOOL DISTRICT APOLOGIZES AFTER TEACHER BANS MAGA SHIRTS
Piatek claimed the incident “offended his sense of being an American,” the New York Post reported.
The lawyer representing The Happiest Hour, Elizabeth Conway, argued that he was not discriminated against because only religious – not political – beliefs are protected under state and city discrimination law.
“Supporting Trump is not a religion,” Conway argued.
Piatek’s attorney Paul Liggieri responded in court, “The purpose of the hat is that he wore it because he was visiting the 9/11 Memorial.”
“He was paying spiritual tribute to the victims of 9/11. The Make American Great Again hat was part of his spiritual belief,” Liggieri claimed. "Rather than remove his hat, instead he held true to his spiritual belief and was forced from the bar,” Liggieri told Justice David Cohen, the New York Post reported.
The judge pressed Liggieri on the spiritual nature of his client's belief, saying the bar staff would not be aware of Piatek’s specific religious philosophies.
“How many members are in this spiritual program that your client is engaged in?” the judge asked.
“Your honor, we don’t allege the amount of individuals,” Liggieri said.
“So, it’s a creed of one?” the judge asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Liggieri replied, the New York Post reported.
The judge eventually made a ruling on the matter, saying the incident amount to nothing more than a “petty slight,” the New York Post reported.
“Plaintiff does not state any faith-based principle to which the hat relates,” Judge Cohen said. “Here the claim that plaintiff was not served and eventually escorted out of the bar because of his perceived support for President Trump is not outrageous conduct.”
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Piatek was suing for unspecified emotional damage and will review with Liggieri to determine whether or not to appeal the verdict.
The Happiest Hour denied that Piatek had been removed in the first place, stating Piatek “was sufficiently pleased with his service at the bar [and] that he added” a $36 tip onto the $186 tab, according to the New York Post. The bar owners suggest Piatek’s lawsuit was a “publicity stunt.”

Clinton cursed about 'disgusting' Trump during debate prep, book claims

Oct. 9, 2016: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump listens as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question from the audience during their presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis.  (Reuters)

Hillary Clinton went on a “f***-laced fusillade” against “disgusting” Donald Trump during a 2016 debate preparation session amid her frustration of appearing inauthentic to voters, a new book about the presidential campaign claims.
New York Times reporter Amy Chozick released her new bombshell book, “Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling” on Tuesday.
THE NEW YORK TIMES’ LEAD 2016 CLINTON CAMPAIGN REPORTER ADMITS CRYING AFTER TRUMP’S VICTORY
The inside story of the campaign details how Clinton, struggling to portray herself as genuine to voters during the 2016 campaign, unleashed a profanity-laced tirade about Trump to her aides to prove that she can be authentic.
“Aides understood that in order to keep it all together onstage, Hillary sometimes needed to unleash on them in private,” Chozick wrote in the book, according to the Guardian.
“‘You want authentic, here it is!’ she’d yelled in one prep session, followed by a f***-laced fusillade about what a ‘disgusting’ human being Trump was and how he didn’t deserve to even be in the arena.”

“‘You want authentic, here it is!’ [Clinton] yelled in one prep session, followed by a f***-laced fusillade about what a ‘disgusting’ human being Trump was and how he didn’t deserve to even be in the arena.”

VIDEO SHOWS EX-CLINTON AIDE IN PROFANITY LACED CONFRONTATION WITH COPS
Chozick’s book points out that the campaign struggled to bridge the generational gap between the staffers and the Clinton family, prompting disagreements on simple campaign strategy or how to deal with Trump’s attacks on Bill Clinton and his sexual assault allegations.
Clinton reportedly “erupted” upon hearing that actress Lena Dunham, one the biggest supporters and main surrogates of the campaign, said she was “disturbed by how, in the 1990s, the Clintons and their allies discredited women” who accused the former president of sexual misconduct.
BILL CLINTON ‘CASUALLY ENCOURAGED’ TRUMP TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT BEFORE 2016 RACE: BOOK
The generational gap also led to campaign manager Robby Mook, 36, always “respectfully” listening to Bill Clinton, but mocking him behind his back and perceiving him as “a relic, a brilliant tactician of a bygone era.”
But the former president repeatedly warned the campaign about Trump’s appeal to voters and knew that “Trump had a shrewd understanding of the angst that so many voters – his voters, the white working class whom Clinton brought back to the Democratic Party in 1992 – were feeling,” Chozick writes in her book.
Meanwhile, the accusations of a toxic Clinton campaign environment come on the heels of this week's controversy involving a former Clinton financial adviser who was forced to resign from her current job after berating some New Jersey police officers.
"You may shut the f--- up!" Caren Z. Turner, 60, a former financial adviser to Clinton and other Democrats -- who was forced to resign from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- shrieked at an officer, according to a police dash cam video released Monday.

US military deaths in Niger attributed to complacency, lack of training, culture of excessive risk: report

A classified Pentagon report attributes the deaths of four U.S. soldiers -- who were ambushed during an operation in Niger in October -- to a list of military shortcomings, including complacency and a lack of training.
In addition, low-level commanders took shortcuts to approve operations – with at least one officer lifting orders from a different mission and pasting them onto the “so-called concept of operations to gain approval,” officials familiar with the report told the Wall Street Journal.
President Donald Trump approved recommendations granting lower-level military commanders the ability make decisions, but the move was not seen as a contributing factor in the Niger deaths, the Journal reported, citing information from the sources.
The report also cited a culture of excessive risk, according to the paper.
Initially, the mission on Oct. 3, 2017, that ultimately sent the Army Special Forces team, along with Nigerian soldiers, into a deadly ambush, was a planned meeting with local officials. However, the team was redirected to assist in a search for Doundou Chefou, a militant suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an American aid worker.
Upon returning, the team was later attacked by Islamic State-linked militants in a village near Tongo Tongo, resulting in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers and four Nigerien troops on Oct. 4.
The slain U.S. military members were identified as Sgt. La David Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright.
The report also includes measures from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis aimed at preventing a similar incident from happening again, including, “reinforce normal protocols within the chain of command,” the sources told the Journal.
The months-long investigation consists of testimony, diagrams, maps and video from the helmet cameras of the soldiers, as well as statements from Mattis, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and from the Africa Command, the paper reported.
Families of the fallen military heroes will be briefed on the 6,000-page report, along with lawmakers, before a declassified version is released to the public in the coming days, the paper reported.