Way to go Al:
Jamie Leigh Jones claims she was raped by fellow Halliburton employees when she was working in Iraq in 2005.
***Jones employment contract with Halliburton (now known as KBR) contained an arbitration clause that required “any and all personal injury claims’ to be heard by an arbitrator. Jones eventually refused to arbitrate, wanting her lawsuit to be heard in court.
The Fifth Circuit eventually held that some of Jones’ claims did indeed belong in court because the assault was not related to her employment. KBR had appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, but after initial briefing, KBR withdrew its appeal on March 11.
Why? Sen. Al Franken! Franken successfully advocated a prohibition that keeps contractors receiving federal defense funds from forcing employees to arbitration to resolve certain claims, including civil rights and harassment disputes.
Change takes time, but elections matter.
slag
That title says a lot. It’s both awesome and infuriating at the same time. And also, a little unnerving.
Restrung
I voted for that guy! Yes, you’re welcome. Turned out he really needed it. AL!
MikeJ
It really is the Al Franken Decade.
JerBeck
That’s my Senator!
General Egali Tarian Stuck
If I remember correctly, the motherfuckers locked her in a storage container like some animal they would visit just to rape.
They don’t need arbitration, or even a civil trial. They should have been dropped off at night in Fallujah to fend for themselves.
Keith G
A year ago, I had conservative friends who were so sure Al Frankin would be just awful as a senator.
Ha!
BTW has anyone put together a list of what the Obama adm has accomplished in 14 months?
Nicole
HCR and this and it’s only Tuesday. I swear, I’m afraid I’m going to wake up.
Little Dreamer
@Keith G:
They probably still are.
WereBear
Al Franken is the awesomest.
The comedians have come to save us!
kay
@Restrung:
Al Franken is the poster boy of “every vote matters”.
CLOSE. Everybody has to turn out. No shirking.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Keith G: I kind of wondered myself how he’d do. It hadn’t been that long ago, I heard him one day on his radio show with AA, debate for an hour why it was that Almond Joy bars did not come in dark chocolate like Mounds. Being an Almond Joy lover and favoring dark chocolate, I was glad he took on the issue, but wondered about him being a senator.
tripletee
StewartStuart SmalleyFix’t.
Love me some Al Franken; the only downside to him being in the Senate is that he won’t be able to write any books that cause wingnut pundit heads to explode.
r€nato
A commenter at WaPo lists 100 years’ worth of issues upon which the GOP has been on the wrong side:
They opposed American participation in the League of Nations
Their pro-Wall Street policies in the 20’s produced the Great Depression
They then opposed every effort to reduce the consequences of the Depression
They opposed every New Deal reform, including Social Security, banking reform, unemployment insurance, collective bargaining; 40 hour work week; and public works
They opposed FDR’s efforts to fight fascism
They opposed health expansion plans proposed by Gov. Earl Warren AND President Harry Truman
They opposed Medicare in 1965 (Ronald Reagan predicted the end of freedom over THAT one, the End of Days itself);
They staunchly opposed all Civil Rights legislation, including for African Americans, women, and gays and lesbians;
They’ve opposed Health Care reform since at least 1935. They’ve played the Race Card in just about every election since Reagan’s 1966 gubernatorial crusade.
Oh, don’t forget their creation of massive deficits through tax giveaways to the super wealthy in 1981-82 and 2001-2002.
gbear
That was either the first or second piece of legislation that Franken introduced. I remember McCain was beside himself.
I remember being a little miffed when Franken decided to run, but I had NO trouble voting for him and I cannot imagine a better Senator now. He deeply respected Paul Wellstone and wants to do everything he can to honor his memory.
I am so freaking glad that I don’t have one single asshole representative right now. That goes from Franken all the way down to my city councilman. I don’t dare ever move.
R-Jud
@tripletee:
I prefer him writing legislation that makes their heads explode, personally.
Thanks, Minnesotans!
rob!
Franken/Weiner 2016!
Comrade Baron Elmo
God, I still recall snorting with laughter at Franken’s buffoonish antics on Saturday Night Live, more than – fuck, I’m getting old – three decades ago.
Who’d have imagined that he’d not only become a Yewnited States Senator, but be a damn fine one in the bargain? Al, you rock my world.
Franken 2016, bitchez!
gbear
Franken is a big fucking deal.
AhabTRuler
Yeah, but they came really, really close to giving us Norm “Fuckstick” Coleman, so let’s us temper our praise with caution.
Thoughtcrime
Daily affirmation for today’s Republicans.
Keith G
@rob!: In a perfect world, Weiner would lead the ticket. He is fearless, good with the elbows and great on policy….and his accent!!
Did you catch him ripping into Nooner on Morning Joe last week? If you missed it, look it up – classic.
celticdragonchick
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
She was locked up in a conex shipping container with a bed and a toilet after being warned not to say anything. A guard was posted outside to make sure she had no contact.
The guard actually happened to be human, and loaned her his phone. She called her father in desperation, and he called his congressman’s office. An emergency call went to the State Department that an American citizen was being imprisoned by her own employer in the Green Zone, and an armed team extracted her.
Somebody tell me why those fuckers in Halliburton and KBR are not up on conspiracy, obstruction of justice, destroying evidence (the rape kit), kidnapping and false imprisonment charges.
Somebody please tell me.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
OT
And so it begins. Senate goopers behaving like whiny brats, per usual.
Cat Lady
Can we get a new tag plz? Big Fucking Deal. Why? Because the bump in the polls showed the Dems that they were right about HCR. They’ve been on the right side, and they’ve done the right thing, and gosh darn it, people like them. People like conviction, and when it’s conviction and the right thing to do, it’s win/win except for the ugly, angry revanchist Republicans. BFD bitchez.
scav
KBR and the Catholic hierarchy. You’d almost think the random numbers of destiny had something all of a sudden against tatty leagalistic coverups.
gbear
@AhabTRuler: Hey, we got the mf’n job done.
Bad Horse's Filly
Love me some Al!
jeffreyw
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Ms Filly! How ya doing?
Keith G
@celticdragonchick:
I believe it has something to do with the black hole that was the legal system of the provisional government.
rob!
@KeithG:
Yeah, you’re probably right. I just liked the idea of a Presidential ticket named “FrankenWeiner.” RARRGH! SOCIAL SAFETY NET GOOD, TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS BAD!
Bad Horse's Filly
@r€nato: I was just thinking this weekend that I was a Democrat because when the Republicans were against civil rights and integration, I was just a wee thing, but my best friend was black and I knew that what they were doing wasn’t right. I don’t think I’ve ever forgiven them.
I grew up in the military and most places we lived were racially mixed – just a lovely rainbow of ethnicities. And now my entire family kinda looks like that…a little United Nations at the family reunions.
Roger Moore
@r€nato:
Don’t forget their wonderful foreign policy screw ups, like Iraq.
Bad Horse's Filly
@jeffreyw: I’m good…busy, but good. Thanks for babysitting my/our blog for me! (when we get an open thread I’ll rehash day for anyone who is interested)
asiangrrlMN
@AhabTRuler: Not our fault we have really vibrant third-party voters here! But, in the end, we got it done. Al Franken is a big fucking deal!
@gbear: Why were you miffed? I am with you. I adore my congresspeople (don’t know about my city people. Don’t particularly care). Senator Al Franken passing important legislation in his first year!
@Bad Horse’s Filly: How you doing today?
bemused
I had been following Franken for quite awhile so when he decided to run, I had no doubt he’d be good. Our friends in other states just couldn’t wrap their minds around the Al Franken they remembered as actually running for the Senate. I kept telling them that he had been doing his homework & lining up support for a long time, he was definitely ready and Coleman was a sleeze.
For a newbie senator, Franken is no shrinking violet either & that makes me like him even more.
bootsy
@celticdragonchick: You ask a very good question. I wonder if any civil liberty-minded lawyer could take up a civil suit that would at least depose these people.
(Rhetorical question: How is what KBR did any different than what Saddam and his sons were accused of doing to female Iraqis?)
Restrung
@gbear:
gbear is correct.
St Paul is pretty interesting. (or not?) I was only somewhat surprised when I stumbled on this a few days ago. No goopers. They used to be called IRs, IIRC.
Gregory
@celticdragonchick:
Because the geniuses in charge of the Iraq invasion exempted
mercenariescontractors like Halliburton and Blackwater from both US and Iraqi law.Good on Franken for doing something to un-exempt them.
ETA: Keith G got there first.
celticdragonchick
@bootsy:
The only difference is that the CEO didn’t personally rape her or have her shot afterwards.
Other than that, not much.
gbear
@asiangrrlMN:
I was miffed because I thought things would go badly because of his fame. Once I listened to what he was saying I was pretty happy. He was/is a Wellstone fanatic.
Did you see the message that the Grand Creamery is closed for remodeling? I was devastated when I went there last night.
celticdragonchick
@Gregory:
Indeed.
I have to wonder what I would do as a parent if she were my daughter.
I really think I might put a really, really good scope on my deer rifle and get pictures and addresses of the people in Halliburton’s COC who made the decisions to treat her like a barnyard animal. No hyperbole. Doing this to a family member screams for some sort of retribution, and nobody seems even remotely accountable.
It increasingly looks like the norms of justice and rule of law are now tools of the powerful to use at whim when it suits them best. In other words, we are becoming a corporate oligarchy. Oh…never mind. Dancing with the Stars is on and we can’t miss that…
Bright shiny things that amuse us to death.
LD50
Somewhere, a Republican is trying to find ways to repeal that.
The Populist
Now if only the Dems can capitalize and sell to the fence sitters who buy into Fox nonsense that there are good Dems out there fighting for the people.
The Populist
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
Hate to say this but this is the one instance where torturing these scum suckers who raped her would be acceptable in my book.
Shit, I’ve long advocated a punishment worse than death for rapists: Cut their testacles off.
Restrung
one more comment about Senator Franken–
Not to deny that voters’ votes got him elected, but he had the better campaign team on the legal side of things. The campaign was ugly on both sides, but the recount and the lawsuit were handled artfully by the Franken team. Norm’s folks helped him lose by being shitwits.
btw, theuptake.org is still a thing.
gbear
@Restrung:
This. It was almost funny to watch. Franken had an amazing team and Coleman went to Lawyerz-R-Us.
Restrung
heh. I didn’t think anyone would read that or respond. thanks!
Jeff Fecke
@The Populist:
Nah, that’s not enough. I’m in the middle of treatment for testicular cancer, and I’ve lost one of ’em; it really isn’t all that bad.
What should be done to the KBR folk needs to be Old Testament in nature.
AhabTRuler
@gbear: And hey, this week I am all about results over process, I’m jus’ sayin’ lets not sleep on it. I know Al’s got three more years to cement his reputation before he has to run again, but I’d like to see the incumbent advantage work in his case.
MattR
@Jeff Fecke: I am going to guess that the way they removed your testicle was vastly different from what The Populist has in mind.
Best wishes in your treatment and recovery.
Restrung
@AhabTRuler:
THREE?
testing edit: who needs a testicle?
Restrung
sorry. old mic check joke.
Testing, testing, one two. ONE TWO.
Check. ONE TWO
CHECK! muthafucka. CHECK!
CHECK ONE TOOOOOOOO
testes, testes, ONE TWO three?
in fact! “three” was a ? for ahem meaning that Franken is a Senator for 6 years. or something like it.
Restrung
Nobody, I mean nobody should suffer financially when they have health problems. Not in MY third world shithole. Greatest ever and forever the greatest country on Earth.
you know, this reminds me of something. hmm…
Oh, yeah!
Series 7: The Contenders
AhabTRuler
@Restrung: I figure that not much gets done in an election year, so, maybe 3 and a half years.
Restrung
social justice. social justice.
Social and Justice are good words. And they can be capitalized. Maybe put ’em at the start of a sentence?
@AhabTRuler:
You didn’t know Wellstone. (?) The Bush years are good fodder; the Obama year, maybe pretty good. ? Hey, UPS just brought my pony. gotta go.
Restrung
@AhabTRuler:
corollary: everything gets done in election years. think about it. :)
AhabTRuler
@Restrung: I am not sure what you think I am saying here. To wit: Al Franken has 3.5 more years to establish himself and decide that he has the fire to run for reëlection (and fundraising). I think that he is doing a good job, but given how close the election was, one shouldn’t get soft.
Ruckus
@rob!:
Franken/Grayson/Weiner 2016!
You know it’s nice to have too many good choices. Not often do we get to vote for good. So often we have to settle for lesser of evils.
Robin G
I spent a month in October of 2008 knocking on doors for Al Franken. I did it with a seven month old strapped to my chest. It was worth every single second, and now I tell the kid that his cuteness inspired people to vote for the best Senator in the country. (He doesn’t care, he’s too busy watching Finding Nemo.)
@gbear:
Go to Izzy’s on Cleveland and Marshall. They’re better anyway.
Restrung
Nahh, I think we’re in agreement, here, AhabTruler.
I’m saying that he’s proven himself already and the doubters are saying something like “whoah. OK.” Wellstone did that, too, among the conservatives hereabouts. They liked Paul even though they were taught by Rushbo to NOT.
Odd, but true, and I think Al Franken is going to be that kind of US Senator for a while. And I mean big L liberal, big D Democrat and a truth seeker. And ass kicker. Ass kicking gets votes. Pretty sure about that.
Desert Rat
I knew Al Franken would be an effective Senator. As clownish as he was in SNL, his comedy was cerebral, absurdist stuff.
And his books, and radio show showed that he had a pretty good mind for detail.
I’m glad Minnesota elected him. He’s been a credit to that state.
Luisa Schlick
Often it requires another person to place the words before you before you realize that every person should consider added attention.