Common Sense Steps In

Yesterday I reported that the man who attacked Congressman Lee Zeldin (article here) had been released from jail “on his own recognizance.” He was released due to the ridiculous bail reform laws in New York State. However, that is not the end of the story (thankfully).

Late Saturday, Yahoo News reported the following:

A Perinton man was arrested Saturday afternoon on a federal charge of assaulting Congressman Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for New York governor, at a campaign event Thursday.

David G. Jakubonis, 43, made an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marion W. Payson at the Keating Federal Building in Rochester. He was charged with assaulting a member of Congress using a dangerous weapon and is being held in custody pending a detention hearing on July 27.

Jakubonis had already been arraigned on a state charge of attempted second-degree assault and was released on his own recognizance, according to a news release from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

It is a federal crime under Tile 18, U.S. Code, § 351 to assault a member of Congress. Prosecutors do not have to prove that a defendant knew that the victim was a member of Congress to prove a violation of the law. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

On Sunday, The Huffington Post reported:

A man accused of attacking New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin during a recent campaign rally told investigators he’d been drinking that day and didn’t know who the congressman was, authorities said as the man was arrested on a federal assault charge Saturday.

David Jakubonis, 43, made an initial court appearance Saturday before a federal magistrate judge in Rochester, New York, on a single count of assaulting a member of Congress with a dangerous weapon. The charge carries a potential maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Isn’t it interesting that the attacker is claiming that he did not know who his victim was. Why does he thing the Congressman was standing on a stage talking to a group of people? I suspect it will be a shock to him when he finds out that the fact that he claims he did not know the Congressman is irrelevant.

What’s Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander

Much has been made about contracts President Trump entered into with sexual partners that were supposed to buy their silence. We saw how well that worked. Meanwhile Congress had a slush fund used to pay off sexual harassment claims and other matters dealing with misbehavior on the part of Congressmen. That fund was paid for by taxpayers.

The Daily Wire reported yesterday that the House of Representatives and the Senate passed a bill yesterday (by unanimous consent) that will require Congressmen to pay out of pocket for settlements with former staffers and aides who accuse them of sexual misconduct and will not be allowed to rely on taxpayer money to defend themselves in lawsuits brought by former colleagues.

The article reports:

The Huffington Post reports that the bill goes a bit further than just limiting cash flow, reforming a grievance reporting system mired in the 1990s: “Under the current law, which has been in place since 1995, Capitol Hill staffers who claim they’ve been harassed or discriminated against have to undergo counseling, mandatory arbitration and a 30-day ‘cooling off’ period before going to court. They won’t have to do any of that anymore.”

The bill doesn’t accomplish everything Speier [Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA)] set out to do. The provisions within the bill are limited to sexual harassment claims and sexual misconduct claims only — not claims of discrimination, even if those claims are sexual in nature. The bill also does not provide representation to alleged victims free of charge. Although those two requests were in the House version of the bill, Senate leadership encouraged the bill’s authors to pursue those objectives in separate legislation.

This is a mixed victory. One aspect of being in the public eye is that you are vulnerable to false claims made by people seeking money. In corporations, the corporations simply pay the ‘victim’ without confirming the charges because in the long run that is cheaper and easier. One example that comes to mind is a company in Massachusetts that awarded a large settlement to an employee who claimed sexual harassment. The company paid the claim despite the fact that the employee had lived with the person she made the charges against and actually had two children with him. Rather than debate the circumstances, the company paid. Not all charges against Congressmen are valid, and it is actually easier (and probably cheaper) to pay all of them. This may not actually be a step forward.

I Don’t Think This Helps Us ‘All Get Along’

The Huffington Post recently updated an article they had posted in March. The article is entitled, “Ethnic Minorities Deserve Safe Spaces Without White People.” Wow. Does that mean that white people also deserve safe spaces without ethnic minorities? If it doesn’t go both ways is it discrimination? Racism?

The article states:

Last week The Ryersonian reported on an incident that involved two first-year journalism students who were turned away from an event organized by Racialized Students’ Collective because they are white. Since then there has been a lot of commentary on the piece and a lot of debate — a lot of the criticism is valid.

There are two sides to the story: 1) the media has a right to attend public events and report on matters that are in the public interest. The student media needs to cover initiatives that are happening on campus so that we draw attention to them and in turn create awareness (The Ryersonian reported that one student said he was covering the meeting for an assignment). 2) Marginalized groups have a right to claim spaces in the public realm where they can share stories about the discrimination they have faced without judgment and intrusion from anyone else.

I am sorry for any minority that has been treated badly. My ancestry is Irish and Jewish, so I suspect my ancestors might have dealt with some prejudice during their lifetimes, but that was then and this is now.

I would have no reason to judge any person who is a minority talking about discrimination. To me it would be a learning experience. I lived in the American South before the Civil Rights Movement–some of the things I heard and saw were not pretty. I had assumed we were past that until a black friend told me about her children’s experiences getting served in some stores in the South. We have a long way to go before everyone is treated well, but I believe we have made considerable progress in the right direction.

I am not sure excluding white people from an event is going to improve relations between white people and minorities–I think it just builds higher walls that impede communication. Maybe if white people were included, they could learn how minorities feel and what they perceive as mistreatment. Bringing people together tends to work better than separating them. A safe environment can be created for all groups.

Looking For A Way To Earn Some Easy Money?

Yesterday PJMedia posted a story about the protesters who showed up at the World War II Memorial.

The article reports:

After about an hour, about 20 protesters arrived on the scene chanting “Boehner, get us back to work” and claiming they were federal employees furloughed because of the shutdown.

As usual in Washington, things were not what they appeared to be.

The article further reports:

Then, remarkably, a guy carrying a sign passed by wearing a McDonald’s employee shirt, which I noted. I then began asking them how much they had been paid to protest, at which point the guy wearing the McDonald’s shirt came back and admitted he had been paid $15.

Huffington Post reporter Arthur Delaney states that the protest was organized by a group called “Good Jobs Nation,” not SEIU as I previously reported, and that, remarkably, the protesters weren’t even federal employees at all but individuals who WORK in federal buildings affected by the shutdown.

This is the video:

Whatever happened to real protest?

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