My thoughts about Joe Biden’s statement regarding inappropriate conduct allegations

Earlier today, Former Vice President Joe Biden responded to allegations made by Lucy Flores and Amy Lappos that Biden engaged in inappropriate and non-consensual behavior towards them via this Twitter video:

Social norms are changing. I understand that, and I’ve heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future. That’s my responsibility and I will meet it. pic.twitter.com/Ya2mf5ODts

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 3, 2019

My thoughts about Biden’s response are quite complex, so this is going to be a fairly lengthy blog post.

I believe Lucy Flores. I believe Amy Lappos. I believe that Biden’s behavior towards Flores and Lappos was extremely inappropriate when it occurred and is extremely inappropriate now. Biden suggested in his statement that his non-consensual behavior towards women was acceptable when it occurred, and that’s just plain wrong. If consent is not mutual, it’s not consent.

However, I do have a few other thoughts about Biden’s statement.

Former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan (D-MO) shared a touching story about Biden via Twitter, and I’ll share part of it here, as it’s relevant to a point that I’m about to make:

I arrived in the U.S. Senate after losing my husband and son in a plane crash weeks earlier. As I stepped down from the platform, where I was sworn in by Vice President Gore, waiting at the landing was Joe Biden. 2/8

— Jean Carnahan (@Jean_Carnahan) April 2, 2019

Joe took both of my hands in his and looked me in the eye for a long while before he spoke. He said simply, “I know, I know.” For a brief moment we were two souls joined by a loss that changed our lives. After that, Joe would often pause to ask how I was getting along. 4/8

— Jean Carnahan (@Jean_Carnahan) April 2, 2019

There have been numerous instances over Biden’s decades-long political career where people have welcomed Biden’s affection towards them, including Carnahan in the instance she described. However, being affectionate towards someone who doesn’t consent to affectionate behavior towards them isn’t affection. Instances where one has accused someone of committing sexual misconduct, which is misbehavior, should not be used to try to pass off instances where one has welcomed affection from the same person, which is not misbehavior, as misbehavior. Likewise, instances where one has welcomed affectionate behavior towards them from an individual should not be used to discredit allegations of sexual misconduct against said individual or discredit those alleging sexual misconduct.

Another point that I’d like to make is that Biden has promised to be more mindful about respecting others’ personal space in the future. I believe that Biden should be held accountable to his promise, and that it is very important that people should learn from their mistakes. This is no different than my belief that U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, should learn from his mistake of him turning a blind eye to perverts within the ranks of his failed 2016 presidential bid (Bernie has promised that strict protocols will be in place for his 2020 presidential run in regards to sexual misconduct committed by anyone employed by his campaign). I will note that, while I am still undecided on who to support for the Democratic presidential nomination at this time, I would not back either Biden or Bernie unless either one of them wins the Democratic nomination or one or both of them are the only viable candidate(s) for the nomination.

In his statement, Biden said that “..social norms have begun to change…”. This tells me that Biden has taken the wrong interpretation of the rise of the #MeToo movement in response to serial sexual predator Donald Trump being elected to the presidency. The social norm that one must not enter another’s personal space without their consent is a long-standing social norm. What has changed is that there is now a formal political movement to make effective political change to hold those who commit acts of sexual misconduct accountable.

Joe Biden credibly accused of sexual misconduct

TRIGGER WARNING: This blog post contains a written description of an act of sexual misconduct. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

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In an article for The Cut, former Nevada Assemblywoman Lucy Flores, who served two terms in the lower house of the Nevada Legislature from 2011 to 2015, accused former Vice President Joe Biden, who is considering whether or not to run for president, of sexual misconduct in 2014, while Biden was Vice President and while Flores was a Nevada Assemblywoman running for Lieutenant Governor of Nevada:

I found my way to the holding room for the speakers, where everyone was chatting, taking photos, and getting ready to speak to the hundreds of voters in the audience. Just before the speeches, we were ushered to the side of the stage where we were lined up by order of introduction. As I was taking deep breaths and preparing myself to make my case to the crowd, I felt two hands on my shoulders. I froze. “Why is the vice-president of the United States touching me?”

I felt him get closer to me from behind. He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified. I thought to myself, “I didn’t wash my hair today and the vice-president of the United States is smelling it. And also, what in the actual fuck? Why is the vice-president of the United States smelling my hair?” He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused. There is a Spanish saying, “tragame tierra,” it means, “earth, swallow me whole.” I couldn’t move and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me. My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience.

By then, as a young Latina in politics, I had gotten used to feeling like an outsider in rooms dominated by white men. But I had never experienced anything so blatantly inappropriate and unnerving before. Biden was the second-most powerful man in the country and, arguably, one of the most powerful men in the world. He was there to promote me as the right person for the lieutenant governor job. Instead, he made me feel uneasy, gross, and confused. The vice-president of the United States of America had just touched me in an intimate way reserved for close friends, family, or romantic partners — and I felt powerless to do anything about it.

Source

I believe Lucy Flores.

Here’s the one sentence version of what Flores has accused Biden of: Joe Biden kissed Lucy Flores without her consent. That is sexual misconduct, period.

I would not normally recommend one way or another as to whether someone should run for public office, but I strongly recommend that Joe Biden not seek the Democratic nomination for president, as, if the Democratic Party were to nominate someone credibly accused of sexual misconduct for president, that would all but guarantee Donald Trump a second term in the White House, and that is something that this country simply cannot afford.

Carmel, Indiana mayor implicated in major corruption scandal

The campaign of incumbent Carmel, Indiana Mayor James “Jim” Brainard, a Republican, has been implicated in a major corruption scandal, in which Brainard’s re-election campaign allegedly attempted to bribe Fred Glynn, who is currently running in the Republican primary for mayor, into not running against Brainard:

Hamilton County Democrats are calling for an election board investigation into whether a proposed bribe was discussed during a meeting attended by representatives for the two Republican candidates for mayor in Carmel and the head of the Hamilton County Republican Party.

“It’s been alleged that Mayor Brainard’s campaign offered a bribe to have his opponent Fred Glynn not run against him,” charged Democrat Party Chairman Joe Weingarten.

Glynn told FOX59 that at a meeting February 3, his campaign manager met with Jim Brainard’s veteran campaign consultant Allan Sutherlin and County (Republican) Party Chairwoman Laura Campbell where a $140,000 bribe from the mayor’s campaign to Glynn was discussed to convince the challenger to drop out of the May 7 primary election.

Source

Unfortunately, no Democratic candidate filed to run for Mayor of Carmel, so the only candidates in the race, Brainard and Glynn, will appear on the Republican primary ballot. That is a major disappointment, given that the incumbent mayor tried to bribe his way to the Republican nomination, and that the northern Indianapolis suburbs, including Carmel, have trended away from Republicans in recent years.

Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew accused of rape and involvement in Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking ring

Alan Dershowitz, a crony of U.S. President Donald Trump, has been accused in allegations made before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of rape and involvement of the human trafficking ring led by billionaire and fellow Trump crony Jeffrey Epstein:

Alan Dershowitz was accessed in federal appeals court of involvement in billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring, The Daily Beast reported Wednesday evening.

The allegations were made before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Wednesday.

[…]

(Virginia Roberts) Giuffre’s attorney, Paul Cassell, said witness testimony shows Dershowitz’s involvement in the alleged trafficking.

“When all the records come out it will show that Epstein and [Epstein’s alleged madam Ghislaine] Maxwell were trafficking girls to the benefit of his friends, including Mr. Dershowitz,” Cassell said.

Source

Not only was Dershowitz accused of rape, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who is currently seventh in line to the British throne, has also been accused of rape as part of the Epstein sex trafficking ring:

“One of those victims was Giuffre, who claims she was 15 and working a summer job at Mar-a-Lago in 1998 when British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly recruited her as a masseuse for Epstein. Giuffre said Epstein kept her as a “sex slave” until 2002 and that she was forced to have sex with his friends, including Prince Andrew and Dershowitz,” The Beast reported.

Source

As of this time, no criminal charges have been filed against either Dershowitz or Prince Andrew. In 2006, Alex Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida under then-President George W. Bush and now U.S. Secretary of Labor under Trump, granted a controversial nonprosecution plea deal to Epstein in violation of the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

Long story short, Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew have been credibly accused of rape and involvement in a large sex trafficking ring. This conduct is criminal in nature and absolutely repulsive.