Our Shared Shelf discussion

A lot of people every Thanksgiving morning sit on their couches and watch the Macy’s day parade in New York City. It’s a traditional fun event, and this year there were appearances by The Cast of Anastasia, Dear Even Hanson, and Sponge Bob the Musical. Matt Lauer one of the hosts of the show had been accused by 10 women (who worked/ works for him) of inappropriateness, trapping them and marking rude/sexual comments. No one has come forward for rape yet but there is no evidence that there was no sexual assault on these women. Tell me what you think on this issue, how it relates to Harvey Weinstein, etc.

I believe NBC have sacked one of there presenters for similar behavior. I think this is good thing and also a opportunity if women can replace all of these men when they are removed that will address the issue affirmatively and send the right messages to any other men who think women are there for there amusement.

I think that in this time it is better that if there are allegations there should be consequences. And then these men should be replaced with women, as Ross said, to really get the message across, that this is not the way you treat women.

It's official. Hoda Kotb is a permanent fixture on Today Show making departing from the typical man-and-woman morning show format.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/02/media...

Not on any political side here, but many of the Hollywood accused such as Weinstein and Ansari and Lauer were big liberal donors

Yes majority of the accused are well known liberals and/or have donated to liberal campaign teams

Jakari wrote: "Yes majority of the accused are well known liberals and/or have donated to liberal campaign teams"

That doesn't excuse their behavior at all !

As I said in another topic, harassment is everywhere and in every social class...

No one said that excuses their behavior the point is that many of the people whining about trump being an alleged sexual assaulter (been proven false) turn away when it is mentioned majority of sexual harassers and assaulters are liberals, hypoctites!

It's a solid point Jakari, save that Democrats as a whole never said they were perfect. But they do show that when it comes to these allegations they don't justify or try to hide the abuse. Please see the denouncement of former Senator Al Franken.

Unlike perhaps the GOP's support for Roy Moore's campaign and continued side step for President Trump despite his multiple cases.

You will find abuse doesn't hide behind specific party lines. It hides behind whatever power it can.

Jakari wrote: "No one said that excuses their behavior the point is that many of the people whining about trump being an alleged sexual assaulter (been proven false) turn away when it is mentioned majority of sex..."

I think harassment isn't a question of political opinions or something like that, it happens everywhere.

I didn't notice that. Harassers seems to be treated in the same way whoever they are.

I don't know if Mr. Trump is an assaulter or not but we can't say his behavior toward women be respectful...

Many of the cases against trump have been brushed aside simply because they have been disproven, and the none of them have been proven. Many people have tried to undermine the trump presidency rather than rooting for him and hoping he does a good job and helps this country. And many people feel the Democratic Party to be the party for women’s rights when that is tragically false. Democrats (and Republicans for that matter) do not care about minorities or women, just their votes.

Jakari wrote: "Many of the cases against trump have been brushed aside simply because they have been disproven, and the none of them have been proven. Many people have tried to undermine the trump presidency rath..."

Jakari. The Republican Party is dead. I don't know even *one* moderate voter who will ever vote for a Republican candidate again. Forget about ever carrying the independents in another election (we independents are the tie-breakers you know! it's *our* votes that count the most). Slavish devotion to Trump is blinding his followers to the fact that they are an ever-shrinking population in this country. The vast majority of voters won't touch a Republican candidate for election this year or next year or probably ever again. Trump has destroyed your party, but you refuse to see it.

Jakari wrote: "Many of the cases against trump have been brushed aside simply because they have been disproven, and the none of them have been proven"

Opps, spelling error there. I believe it's written "paid off"

no, many of them were proven to be paid by outside agitators to undermine the presidency, your unproven allegations are quite dangerous to make, especially if you wish to keep your credibility, pam.

the republican party is dead, yet they have the president, the senate, house and supreme court. You sound like youre in denial for whatever reason. BTW im a democrat and a bernie supporter but i fully support the president because im an american and i have some respect whether i agree or not with their political principles. The main problem with many of these anti-trump movements is that they have no reason for it, and the outright disrespect towards the president, Unfortunately, the republican party is enjoying one of its most dominat times, and as a socialist, i have no other choice but to root for them to do well, for the sake of my country and all of its citizens. i would just watch what you say vicki, because you may jinx us in the midterm elections! They said we won in 2016, lets not jinx it again, dont underesetimate the middle class!

Jakari wrote: "no, many of them were proven to be paid by outside agitators to undermine the presidency, your unproven allegations are quite dangerous to make, especially if you wish to keep your credibility, pam."

Respectfully, my credibility is just fine. Show me your records instead of writing nice words.

http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-...

- Jane Doe, the 13 yr who accused Trump and his partner of sexual abuse in 1994.
"The lawsuit was dropped in November 2016, just four days before the election, with Jane Doe's attorneys citing "numerous threats" against her."

- Ivana Trump,
"Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and top aide, defended him against Ivana Trump’s claims, saying, "By the very definition, you can't rape your spouse."

- Jill Harth
"In the pre-election interview, Harth maintained her allegations against Trump despite having withdrawn her lawsuit against him after he settled a separate suit her partner filed over a business dispute."

It helps when you have a billion dollars and lawyers on retainer to help keep issues in court to out spend your accusers. It's even more helpful when you can hide behind the presidency.

You state you are an American which means you fully support the president. Well, I am an American, too. I respect the office, I do not respect the man. Nor do I have to as is my right. We don't have a monarchy, we have elections. Furthermore, under our Constitution and the First Amendment I am fully in my right to voice my opinions and to disagree. No one is above the law in our nation, least of all the person who was elected to serve the people.

Again no proof that he did anything, similar to the Russian dossier which is now being discovered to be extremely biased. As a person you should show some respect for the president and not call him things like fascist sexist nazi etc, it’s disrespectful and simply wrong

He is not fascist or sexist by definition, and bigoted you rlly can’t prove but if your proof is the wall you’re wrong. The middle class of america which I’m a part of suffers Bc of high taxes part of which goes to illegals, we should keep families and deport criminals

Jakari wrote: "He is not fascist or sexist by definition, and bigoted you rlly can’t prove but if your proof is the wall you’re wrong. The middle class of america which I’m a part of suffers Bc of high taxes part..."

See, on one hand, you say Trump can't be proven as a fascist or sexist, and yet on the other, you say high taxes to the middle class go to illegals.

It seems that you make broad sweeping statements based on your bias as opposed to actually steeped in nuance and discussion.

For example. Trump can't be proven as a sexist or a fascist. That being said, some of his behavior suggests he does not care for status quo of ethical behavior [letting go of his business interests. Releasing his tax returns. Having his campaign surrender to Muller investigation]. His insults and behavior toward various women from the locker room talk, to the accounts of his time in his beauty pageants, to Megan Kelly and Rosie O'Donnell, suggests he's blatantly disrespectful of women.

Then again, it's hard to pin down Drumpy as anything, because he just lies and makes things up and switches sides and is [purposefully] vague and contradictory.


As for illegals, there are social safety nets we taxpayers fund that they do use. But it's not a majority of waste in any of those areas. Jails are expensive anyway, which is why ideas like minimum sentences are hurtful. Taxes against corporations, extremely high income earners, loopholes and offshore accounts, and various financial shenanigans are huge portions of lost revenue. And finally, illegals are an important cog in the economic machine that are honestly very expensive to remove fully, and when removed, hurt overall economic mobility and growth.

Hope that shed some nuance and shades of grey to your understanding of the issues! I'm not perfect either, so keep doing research. A broad and deep understanding of the issues reveals interesting and often under discussed issues

Wow! You’re good at making stuff up. It would be cheaper to deport all of the illegal immigrants than to keep them. Lower taxes cause a rightward shift in the demand curve, and cause higher gdp, coming from someone with an economic background. Lower corporate taxes cause a rightward shift in the supply curve, causing even higher gdp with a stable price level. Nice try though! Also I don’t think you know what fascism is as it’s impossible to be fascist and have a house of representative, senate and Supreme Court. Also Hillary, “champion of women” paid men more than women in her organization, and defended against and mocked a rape victim, so very nice of her. Also lied about emails and Benghazi which caused American lives. She also called black people super predators and half of the United States deplorable. Hope I knocked some common sense into you.

Well, let's look at some numbers:
Effects of deporting all illegal immigrants: http://fortune.com/2017/09/08/trump-u...

Tax cuts for rich people: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickunga...

Just leaving these here, to show some alternative facts that are out there.

But yeah, Hillary did a lot of problematic things and she was called out for it. I don't think there are so many people here who would call her a great feminist. Where did you get the idea people here would say she is a "champion of women"? Have you read something like that?

Once again... totally off topic here. This thread is about Matt Lauer why are we bringing in immigrants or Hilary?

Please create a thread about American politics or American political concerns.

Right I got caught in the Troll Bridge. Jakari I hope you find some peace and happiness. The people here are great and welcoming and if you want to learn, they're great teachers.

And if not, I hope you at least find something better to do with your time :) Volunteering in your local communities makes a difference and is fun

How do I block a user on Goodreads? I don't want Jakari's comments to show up in my feed any more.

Ross wrote: "I believe NBC have sacked one of there presenters for similar behavior. I think this is good thing and also a opportunity if women can replace all of these men when they are removed that will addre..."

I agree. Instead of saying 'Accusation of sexual harrassment by high-profile people will ruin their career and therefore we must ignore it.' , we need to get these toxic people out of positions of power and replace them with decent people.

Hm, tax cuts on the rich, is that the only part of the plan that u read, or the massive tax cuts on the middle class, I know liberals are anti middle class, but they’re kinda important, whereas democrats hammer the middle class and give rich people loopholes, and cnn links aren’t reliable, they are really biased and childish, making fun of things like his icecream habits and ears because they have nothing better to do. And block me honestly idc, people didn’t like Susan b anthony, Alice Paul, and Lucy stone, because they believed in what was right rather than what was convenient. I know it’s easier for you guys to say “charge the middle class more atleast we get to keep illegals” and it’s been proven that deporting them is cheaper than keeping them(on both the government and citizens wallets) so you could whine and call me a troll because I’m right, and act like kids when ur wrong, or just accept the fact that y’all don’t even know what ur fighting for, just like whining

Btw Winston, I do volunteer twice a week, rather than whine and complain on the streets like other people, I make a difference

Emma wrote: "Vicki wrote: "How do I block a user on Goodreads? I don't want Jakari's comments to show up in my feed any more."

Click on the commenter's name to go to their profile. Then scroll down to the bott..."


Thank you! :)

Thanks for the info on blocking someone - I have also blocked that member!

Kimia wrote: "Ross wrote: "I believe NBC have sacked one of there presenters for similar behavior. I think this is good thing and also a opportunity if women can replace all of these men when they are removed th..."

It for sure gets the message across that we don't tolerate this sort of behaviour any longer.

Emma wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Thanks for the info on blocking someone - I have also blocked that member!"

Vicki wrote: "Emma wrote: "Vicki wrote: "How do I block a user on Goodreads? I don't want Jakari's commen..."

I didn't know a function like that existed on GoodReads until now.

It can be useful sometimes...

Thank you for the tip.

So you’re saying that people not agreeing with you is not tolerated? Freedom of speech is not tolerated? But you guys are for equality I thought?

Jakari wrote: "So you’re saying that people not agreeing with you is not tolerated? Freedom of speech is not tolerated? But you guys are for equality I thought?"

I never said I whant to block you and it isn't in my intentions if you don't throw insults everywhere. I made a remark on a function I didn't know, that's all...

I'm for freedom of speech, it's always interesting to see each others points of view even if we're not fully agree with.

I think this is a troll trying to stir things up. Sexual assault, abuse and harassment cross all lines. It is not political. It is not economic. It is not race.
Power can be used by anyone to control another person. What is most important is to listen and respect those coming forward. If you only believe accusations against democrats or republicans than you are not paying attention.

Really, it’s easy for anyone to take advantage of someone? Who’s more likely to get prosecuted in a rape trial, a poor man or a rich man? This is a problem with people being able to buy freedom and pay their way out of the punishments they deserve.

I’m not talking about prosecution. I’m talking about somebody using their power over another person. Anyone is capable of doing that. When it comes to prosecution of sexual based crimes the actual rate is very very low regardless of the background of the defendant. I worked in this field for many years and I know how the system actually works.
Please do not try to change the dialogue.

I apologize that was do not try to change the dialogue.

Jakari wrote: "Really, it’s easy for anyone to take advantage of someone? Who’s more likely to get prosecuted in a rape trial, a poor man or a rich man? This is a problem with people being able to buy freedom and..."

Prosecution and taking advantage of someone are two different pair of shoes.
The action cannot happen before the reaction. This is in itself not possible.

No ones changing the dialogue you guys just hate white men because of made up philosophies

Never said I hate white men. Again changing dialogue. Do not put words In anyone’s mouth. Try to really listen. I don’t hate men. Never have. So please stop with these ridiculous statements

You guys do realize there is no such thing as a gender pay gap. Women as a whole work less hours, travel less, take more time off etc. than men. So naturally if u work more you’ll make more. These stats have been proven. Also I’m 98% of us cities, single women under 30 make more money than men (8% more)

Also, the feminist movement is not inclusive at all. For example, they allowed men who identified as women to go, but not pro life women at the women’s march.(they removed a group because they were pro life) they even said themselves only pro choice women are welcome. So basically they are all inclusive as long as you agree with their political ideologies.

@Jakari
Now you're just trying to provoke people with imaginary statistics. Show some sources if you use numbers.