These days, it seems like even the trusted people I follow disagree sometimes.
Is the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit simply a matter of he said, she said? Some say yes, some say no. I prefer the take from one of the podcasts I listened to last night: He said, she said (times 5) – with the 5 “she saids” being E. Jean Carroll, the two friends she told, the two other women who will be testifying that he raped them, the Access Hollywood grab ’em by the pussy tape, and (oops) I forget who the other one was. Maybe it was Trump saying Carroll wasn’t his type, and then mistakenly identifying Carroll as his ex-wife, Marla Maples, who was exactly his type. hmm, that comes to more than 5. 🤷♀️
In case you want to read about how the trial is going, here’s an article with a lot of detail.
My takeaways? Apparently Trump and his attorneys believe it’s not rape if you didn’t scream. It’s also not rape if you were flirting before the assault started. It’s also not rape if you enter a room before the assault starts. I am enraged by the whole thing, and if the jury doesn’t find for Carroll there’s a good chance that I will spontaneously combust.
Part of my rage comes from thinking about Christine Blasey Ford and everything that was corrupt about those Supreme Court hearings for the rapey Judge.
I am so tired of brave women being sacrificed at the altar of power and corruption. All the corruption is infuriating. It’s probably not too strong to say rage-inducing.
Open thread.
Maxim
Absolutely rage-inducing. I still want to hurt people (one person in particular) when I think about CB Ford.
Maxim
Also too, apologies if it was posted in another thread, but Disney is suing Meatball Ron.
Alison Rose
Society has narrowed the definition of rape so severely, that the majority of rapes don’t fit within it. What most of us experienced is dismissed as “bad sex” or something even more insulting. Because the less they count as rape, the more they can get away with.
People toss around the “1 in 4 women will be assaulted” statistic. It’s a lot more than that. If we were being truly honest, it’s a fuck of a lot more than that.
Other MJS
She’s not the type he would rape. Got it.
smith
It concerns me little that the jury is composed of 6 men and only 3 women. Sorry to stereotype, but it was shocking to me when #MeToo first arose how many men don’t seem to think that sexual assault is a real thing.
Suzanne
@Maxim: I’m so excited.
Kay
I’m grateful to Carroll for pursuing this- lawsuits are no fun – and I hope she’s vindicated. Every once in a while the legal system works and the right party prevails. Maybe it will happen here.
WaterGirl
@Other MJS:
I know! He doesn’t even understand how telling that statement is.
Kay
I like her big smile getting out of the car. Fuck them. She’s FINE. And suing Donald Trump on this lovely spring day!
lollipopguild
@Maxim:Disney needs to crank up the lawyers and tie the Gov. in legal knots.
WaterGirl
WaterGirl
WaterGirl
Just one time (to start!) I would like these corrupt men to experiences the consequences of their actions.
Butch
According to this summary, her testimony went from “compelling to can’t look away.”
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-e-jean-carroll-rape-trial-opening-statement-rcna81519
Betty Cracker
Moving my comment on Big Mouse v. DeSantis from the previous thread here since it’s also a topic:
To add to that, Here’s an excerpt from an Orlando Sentinel piece published in June 2022 about how Florida taxpayers are getting screwed by DeSantis on legal bills:
And that was before MoRon tangled with Big Mouse!
Nelle
Please forgive me if I’ve written this before. I feel particularly old and repetitive of late.
When I watched Christine Blasey Ford being challenged in the hearings, I found myself sobbing and thought, “What the hell? What is wrong with you?”
I figured it out. In 2006, I was flown from New Zealand (where I was living) to Seattle, to testify in a trial of a man who had assaulted me in 1979 . When I asked the detective how he had found me (I had lived four other states after living in Seattle plus NZ), he said, in best Dragnet fashion, “I’m a detective: that’s what I do.”
I could kind of figure out why they tracked me down, but didn’t really know until after I testified. The man’s attorney (a woman) was as insulting as she could be, casting aspersions, proposing to the judge that I was an attention hound, etc. I told myself that her job was to try to defend her client. That morning, I had gotten a call that my mother was dying in California. My son’s best friend in NZ was in an accident and in a coma. I had a few words with the prosecutors (found out that I was more lucky than I ever knew that I was able to fight him off, not because of my prowess, but because he had cycles and I encountered him early in his ramping up). But I needed to get out and get down to California and then back to New Zealand.
I had never processed what it was to be demeaned and insulted by the defending attorney. When Ford went through that, it unlocked a little box that I had stored in my emotional attic and the sobs came.
(Note: the man was convicted and is in prison for life as a violent sexual predator. I was grateful for my opportunity to help in keeping him off the street. There were a lot of victims too scared and scarred to testify. Nothing like the wide Pacific between me and Seattle to give me a sense of safety. From him.)
C Stars
How does anyone argue with a straight face that Trump is not a sexual predator?
Betty Cracker
@Nelle: What a harrowing experience! It took a lot of courage to testify, and it’s no wonder you didn’t have time to process it with everything else going on. So glad the creep went to prison.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Betty, it’s really starting to look like you might the the spectacular Ron DeSantis crash-and-burn that you have been hoping for.
May FL be rid of him sooner rather than later, and may he crash and burn on the national stage even before he officially got there.
Dare we hope that soon he might be saying “I never said I was running for president!”
Ceci n est pas mon nym
My understanding is that there were many (dozens?) other women ready to testify, but that the two that will be presented as witnesses were chosen because their sexual assaults were most similar to Carroll’s. That will go a long way toward demonstrating he has a pattern of assault.
WaterGirl
@Nelle: Wow, they really wanted your testimony if they tracked you down and flew you from New Zealand.
So proud of your courage and I’m sorry those fuckers wanted to demean you in order to get their rapist off. Hopefully that behavior on their part contributed to the rapist’s sentence.
What happened to Christine Blasey Ford was shocking, even to those of us know how often that happens. The corruption on display was breathtaking.
The Lodger
@WaterGirl: A couple of familiar names in that list of defendants:
H-Bob
When PAB’s lawyer says “it’s he said, she said”, then her lawyer should respond that it’s “he said, They said”!
C Stars
@Nelle: That sounds awful. Thank you for testifying.
MisterDancer
We can only hope. So much of the damage real people are going thru can be laid at his feet, and those who take ideas from his actions.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Betty Cracker:
Big Mouse lawyers have a tendency to demand respect, even by hackish FedSoc judges (who generally like being thought well of in circles of huge financial power). My prediction is that his wingnut minions are going to be chewed up and spit out, one cross-tabbed and indexed binder of motions, memoranda of law, exhibits, and helpful printouts of case law at a time (hauled into court by the banker box load, and helpfully wielded by a phalanx of top tier partners and associates)
EDIT TO ADD: Customary collegiality between lawyers on a big case will be out the window on this one, I predict. The marching orders from the Mouse will be to step on throats.
Edmund dantes
This just happened to my niece. A sexual assault. Then convinced by the man it was just a big nothing. He was sorry she was made uncomfortable etc. Then he raped her on a second get together.
And when she confided in a “friendlier” woman teacher aide type at her school got the “are you sure? Maybe it was a misunderstanding” brush off. We won’t even talk about the age difference thing. Turns out the guy was 24 year olds and praying on 16 year olds.
Jerzy Russian
@WaterGirl: Apparently T—p never had “shut-the-fuck” lessons. On this occasion we can be grateful for that since as was pointed out previously, those idiot posts of his can’t be helping his case.
eclare
@WaterGirl: I know! It’s so frustrating.
WaterGirl
They say this trial will take about a week. Seems to me a couple of days ought to do it. Especially since since T**** won’t take the stand.
WaterGirl
@Edmund dantes: Hopefully she can talk with someone who will believe her. I think the term gaslight is overused, but in this case, that’s the word that comes to mind.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@WaterGirl:
Fuck me – Contracts Clause, Takings Clause, Due Process, and a couple of 1A claims. That doesn’t leave Governor Farquaad any room to wiggle – those are solid and simple claims.
This one may well be an early permanent injunction.
eclare
@Nelle: Oh my gosh, what an ordeal. Thank you for testifying to put this predator away.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Jerzy Russian:
Oh, he certainly gets “shut the fuck up” advice from even the worst wingnut lawyers, he just chooses to ignore it.
He’s like Musk, but even dumber, if that’s possible.
WaterGirl
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Sounds like you are saying that Disney kept it really simple and only included what I would call slam-dunk issues?
Will he have to go to his room and stay there and stop all this shit?
Could he PERSONALLY be held responsible financially for anything?
West of the Rockies
Maybe I’m being weird and new agey about this, but I keep wondering if this sort of constant drama, stress, legal peril, and public disdain (the collective human hope that Trump is ruined) has an effect on his health and emotional state. Some say that “thoughts are things” after all.
I mean, he hasn’t changed; he still constantly spews hatred and invective. He isn’t physically pining away.
But I don’t see how spending your waking hours in gluttony, avarice and toxic thoughts can be good for him (or his Morlock followers).
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Jerzy Russian: Yeah, I think we’re more than halfway to the judge demanding that the defendant show cause why he should not be locked up for contempt of court.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: Yeah, I’d love to see DeSantis fail so spectacularly he never runs for anything again, but we probably won’t get that lucky. There are a lot of assholes in this state who love how he hurts the people they hate and fear.
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Thinking about that cheers me up! :-)
bbleh
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: from your keyboard to the FSM’s cosmic monitor!
eclare
@Edmund dantes: That is infuriating. Also isn’t that statutory rape, regardless of any bullshit “misunderstanding?”
Ruckus
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
The marching orders from the Mouse will be to step on throats.
And all the while stepping to kick in the junk. Seems appropriate.
Jeffro
I’m sitting here trying to imagine the headlines, 24/7 coverage on all major and minor news outlets, and breathless right-wing puke funnel speculation if it were President Biden (who was already under indictment for fraud!) on trial for rape.
Like, ya GOTTA be kidding me.
Fox: “What ARE the Democrats thinking? This is just disgusting! Listen up, lefties – your nom-in-ee is ALREADY under indictment! For fraud! And now his RAPE TRIAL, hello!, is starting. And this is your party’s FRONT RUNNER??!??”
But of course, with the Party of No Standards, all is well, nothing to see here.
japa21
@Jeffro:
Remember, this is not a trial for rape, it’s a defamation suit.
Captain C
@WaterGirl: The judge: “OK, Donald, wanna come in and say all that under oath*?”
(*the ‘you chickenshit coward’ is implied here)
Jackie
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I think one is the woman he forcibly kissed and groped in Melania’s bedroom at MAL. The other is the woman he groped flying 1st class – another “she’s not my type” victim.
bbleh
@Jeffro: true re media, but in this case I don’t think the realities of the situation are lost on much anyone. This is a big part of who and what the guy is. It’s just that his followers don’t care; they have chosen to believe the fantastical myths and ignore the reality, and few if any of them would change their minds no matter how much the (non-Fox) media screamed. It’s a cult.
Geminid
@Jackie: I think the second woman compared Trump to “an octopus.”
delphinium
@Betty Cracker:
But do they love it more than seeing their money flushed down the toilet for all these lawsuits and stupid stunts? I would think that a some point even assholes would tire of that.
PJ
@delphinium: Nope. Spending taxpayers’ money on spreading hate is never wasted.
WaterGirl
@japa21: I believe it’s for sexual assault and defamation.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: What a fucking pig.
Jeffro
@japa21: ok thanks, that makes a huge difference in terms of what I’m trying to get across here (not)
WaterGirl
All the awful, deeply personal, private things they are getting to ask E. Jean Carroll about in court. Jesus. It’s appalling. I thought we quit putting the woman who was raped on trial in the sixties.
Brit in Chicago
@WaterGirl:
Dare we hope that soon he might be saying “I never said I was running for president!”
And, while we’re daring to hope, adds: “And I never will, or may God strike me dead.”!
NutmegAgain
I thought I recall that she has a garment with, uh, evidence on it. Maybe that’s not part of things in a civil proceeding? IANAL. Anyway, fingers and toes crossed that SOMEbody SOMEwhere sees through the creep and assigns him a penalty.
hw3
Two words: Anita Hill.
When will America start listening to its women? Terrible things keep happening because we don’t.
Suzanne
@Edmund dantes:
So when #metoo was really building steam, Mr. Suzanne and I had an event happen that was really bothering us both. A track coach who worked in the same school district that Mr. Suzanne was with at the time was accused of raping girls on the track team. (He and Mr. Suzanne had some professional contact, but not frequent, as they were at different schools.) Grooming them over time. One of the victims was the daughter of one of my colleagues at my office. Also, he was married to a much younger woman who had been on that high school’s track team in previous years. It was such a mess and tore apart so many people’s lives, including my colleague’s daughter. It had gone on for years and there were plenty of rumors, and no one did shit.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@WaterGirl:
No personal liability – its all a bunch of injunctive official capacity demands. Now, if he fucks the dog by acting in contempt of an injunction, then his personal finances will be on the line.
Its a beautiful example of cherry-picking the best, easiest issues that mandate quick relief. No reason to clutter it up.
WaterGirl
@Brit in Chicago: Works for me.
WaterGirl
@hw3: Infuriating.
delphinium
@Nelle: How awful for you but glad you were able to help get that rapist locked up.
When I was a kid, a man who was known to our family tried to assault me, but thankfully managed fight back and get away. My mom tried to take him to court (since chances were he had gone after other kids) but the lawyers said it would be too difficult to prove anything had happened because I wasn’t raped. One asshole even told my mom that “I must be a looker” (I was 11). Went to get counseling and and when I told the woman counselor what happened she said “it could not have been that bad because I wasn’t raped”.
It is horrible that this fucking shit of not believing women, downplaying assaults, or going after a victim is still so prevalent.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Edmund dantes: That is horrifying.
CaseyL
Since this is an open thread, I’d like to update y’all on what’s happening with my Adored Relative that I was very very worried about earlier this week: she did make the attempt; she was found quickly (by a neighbor who was worried she wasn’t answering phone, text, or door knocks), and she is now in the hospital. Conscious and lucid, per people who’ve spoken to her.
Her son will go up to Philly on Friday and stay for as long as needed.
I will still be on hand to talk to people, get messages to and from, but, thank Dog, I will not have to go out there.
Kay
Really good news, right? The much-hyped “increase in suicides” due to covid school closures never happened.
Republicans are right now holding hearings where they are blaming teachers for an increase in suicides.
zhena gogolia
@delphinium: Men have no idea. When I gave my husband a rundown of my experiences (none of them “rising” to the level of rape), his eyes were popping out of his head. And I assured him that any woman he knows has similar stories.
CaseyL
@zhena gogolia:
Hell to the yes. Women are born with a target on their…backs. It’s the sea we swim in from pre-puberty or earlier.
delphinium
@Edmund dantes: God, that is just horrible! I hope your niece can get some good counseling if she is up to it.
Suzanne
@zhena gogolia: You are correct: most men have no fucking clue.
I remember telling some of my male colleagues about some of the sexual harassment I had dealt with just in the course of my job. One dude literally did not believe me until we had a large project meeting with our client, consultants, contractors, etc….. and one of our consultants walked into the meeting and greeted me (the only woman in the room) by pulling my hair. In front of everyone.
After that was over and I was back amongst my colleagues, I reminded them that pulling a grown woman’s hair is a sex act, and is utterly humiliating in a professional context.
Miss Bianca
@CaseyL: So sorry to hear this. Hope your Adored Relative is able to get the help she needs.
delphinium
@CaseyL:
So sorry your relative attempted this but grateful she was saved. I hope better pain management will be a part of her recovery.
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: Yeah.
trollhattan
When Dr. Ford’s day before the senate was over I thought, “Well that’s it, he’s done.” and boy am I an idiot. They wallpapered her testimony over so fast I’m surprised she wasn’t trapped beneath it (a lovely floral pattern) while at the same time, shutting down FBI pursuing the other victim claims.
Keg stands all around, ya bastards.
delphinium
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, men really don’t know how often this type of stuff happens to girls/women in all kinds of settings.
I also had a junior high teacher who came up behind me, pushed himself up against me and tried to get grabby. Like dude, I’m 13-can you GET. THE. FUCK. OFF. ME?
trollhattan
@hw3: Shit, Ginny drunk-dialed her decades later to yell at her for having the temerity to speak up. “Apologize? How about a nice hearty Fuck You!” Worst People in the World applies to the entire lot.
RedDirtGirl
@CaseyL: I’m so sorry to hear that, but glad that she is getting the help she needs. Holding you all in the light.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Every woman I know, myself included has dozens of stories.
Cameron
@WaterGirl: Mickey in the white gloves; Pudd’nhands in the white boots. I think we’re looking at an early-round KO by the Mouse.
geg6
@japa21:
Actually, I believe it’s a civil assault case. Her defamation case is whole different case. I could have that backwards, but I know they are two different cases.
eclare
@geg6: From what I’ve read, you are correct. This is the civil case over the assault.
StringOnAStick
@CaseyL: I think men who are enlightened enough to not assume they can get away with sexual assault have no idea what women go through, because they wouldn’t consider doing such a thing, ever. That’s why they are so shocked when we tell them the things we’ve dealt with from their fellow men who are the kind of men who would do such things, on a continuum from cat calling to violent assault.
Once my husband bought some snow tires from a woman on Craigslist who wanted to meet to complete the deal in a grocery store parking lot. He said he thought that was odd, that he would go pick them up from her; I told him she’s being smart so she doesn’t get raped for trying to sell some tires. The look of shock when he realized what that means for women in general was one of the strongest emotions I’ve seen from him.
Sure Lurkalot
@schrodingers_cat:
Yes. And when prompted to think about my experiences, there are more in the shadows, things barely remembered.
Adam Klasfeld is covering the testimony on his Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports) and it’s so painful and raw. Trump not only raped E. Jean Carroll’s but turned her against herself. It’s shocking testimony that attests to the pain, shame and guilt that society inflicts upon the rape victim.
karen marie
@Cameron: It’s not like Puddn’ Boots hasn’t continually bragged that he was using his position as governor to punish Disney for opposing “Don’t Say Gay.” I can’t wait to hear the state’s defense – “argle bargle!”
Nelle
Yep, I didn’t know there was a label for what happened to me. When I was 10, 11, 15, 16, 28. The man who taught me that the label was “grab them by the pussy”? TFG.
He is a horrible, horrible thing. Not a person in any sense.
WaterGirl
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: thanks.
Scout211
@geg6: @eclare:
CNN reports that the lawsuit against Trump is for both Civil Battery and Defamation.
E. Jean Carroll battery and defamation trial against Donald Trump begins
delphinium
@StringOnAStick: Was selling a car of mine and a guy who was interested came with his wife. We talked for a bit and then she hung out with me outside my apartment building while he took the car for a test drive (he ended up buying it).
When I told one of my brothers this story, he asked why I just didn’t go with the guy on the test drive. Then of course it dawned on him that that would not have been a good idea for obvious reasons.
JBWoodford
Kay
@Nelle:
Jessica Valenti, who is a feminist journalist, has a 12 year old daughter who gets lewd catcalls on the street constantly. Her daughter now has a small sign she flashes at them in response. It says “fuck you, I’m 12”.
Mike in NC
Yesterday’s issue of USA Today featured a photo of Meatball Ron with his mouth gaping open. Hilarious. His overseas tour seems to just be another exercise in him stepping on rakes.
zhena gogolia
@Sure Lurkalot: The Klasfeld thread is heartbreaking. Thanks.
WaterGirl
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: 46 women allege that T**** sexually assaulted them. 46!
MisterDancer
Male Belly Dancer — watched/intervened more than once, over decades. And I still fucked up, and that’s even counting the times I got sexually harassed and should have learned a fuckin’ thing.
Not to mention the time I worked for an amazing woman in Tech, and she got harassed to the point where she had to call him out formally. And this in the early 90s, at a car plant in the American South, so you know how shitty it got.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Heartbreaking and enraging.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
OT, you might like this cover of Jamaica Farewell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_922sapT0
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: That’s a nice one, thank you. I finally realized why that song always reminds me of Jimmy Buffet – because he did a cover of Jamaica Farewell, too.
Burnspbesq
@Jerzy Russian:
Judge Kaplan subtly but unmistakably told Tacopino in open court that his client is staring down the barrel of jury tampering and obstruction charges. If he makes a referral, you can bet your ass that that the U.S. Attorney’s office will jump on it.
WaterGirl
@Burnspbesq: And the judge mentioned “his son”, too!
Tony Jay
Theoretically I ‘know’ how disgustingly prevalent various levels, degrees, types, whatever, of sexual assault against women and girls are. I learnt it here, actually, from you guys, but I’m a guy so I don’t really ‘know’.
What I do know right to my bones is how incredibly angry all of these stories make me feel. Not being a horrible creep isn’t hard. It’s fucking easy. You just don’t touch, physically or verbally, anyone who hasn’t affirmatively asked you to.
It’s basic. Everyone knows it. The line is a mile wide and comes fitted with klaxons. Cross it and you’re absolutely not any kind of man. You’re just a fucking stench with body hair.
AM in NC
@Tony Jay: Yes. And THANK YOU for not being one of those assholes.
BUT, what we women also need is for men who wouldn’t dream of assaulting/harassing women to talk to other men about not being assholes. Predatory men aren’t going to stop preying on women until other men (fathers, brothers, uncles, coaches, mentors, friends) make it crystal clear that that behavior is abhorrent and they will be shunned if they do that shit because it isn’t manly, it’s sick as fuck.
I know the conversations won’t be comfortable, but they are necessary if women are to ever have a chance of not being preyed upon by just far too many men.
WaterGirl
@AM in NC: Would it surprise you to find out that Tony Jay already does that? It would not surprise me at all.
Tony Jay
@AM in NC:
Absolutely. My boy is 10, his cousins are between 10 and 6. They’re ALL being left in no doubt whatsoever about what’s expected of them as people.
I’m astounded that there are circles where the lines are drawn differently. Hand on heart, I’ve never had a conversation with any of my friends, however drunk or rowdy they’ve got, where there’s been even the slightest confusion around the concept of consent, and these are guys born in the 70s who grew to adulthood in the 90s.
Vile. It really disgusts me at a very deep level. Who the fuck do these people think they are that they can act like this?
Tony Jay
@WaterGirl:
Cheers, WG. Means a lot to hear that.
WaterGirl
@Tony Jay: I wrote my comment before seeing yours. :-)
StringOnAStick
@WaterGirl: I knew Tony Jay is that kind of guy, just like you did.
Betsy
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: No hope of a Section 1983 action?
brantl
@WaterGirl: I think you’ve missed quotes from a lot of rape trials. Attacking the victim is rape defense 101, still is.
brantl
@StringOnAStick: Who doesn’t?
Ramona
@delphinium: It occurs to me when recollecting one such experience which I immediately related to my mother when I was eleven years old in Saudi Arabia that one of the reasons men do not know of such experiences is because we keep such knowledge from our fathers for fear they might take violent measures which will land them in trouble.
A now deceased male cousin preyed on me, a girl, AND several boys in the family and we did not report it to one another. One cousin, a boy, immediately yelled out and our single aunt dismissed it. I only found out about this in adulthood. Another aunt dismissed my accounts after I was an adult because they only involved over the clothes groping from my older cousin. This latter aunt emigrated to Australia and was appalled at accounts of sexual abuse of lower quality caste women by upper castes in India but she had no compassion for her own niece’s experiences, granted they were not as bad as the plight of the women she sympathized with. I haven’t told her of the similar experiences of the male relatives in my family because I don’t want to break confidences.
delphinium
@Ramona: I am so sorry that you and members of your family have experienced this. And it is so common for kids (let alone women), to not be believed even by their own family or to have their assault downplayed.
That is why I feel it is important to tell our stories, so society has a much better understanding of this and how prevalent it actually is, although I do totally understand why some people are reluctant to come forward.
Paul in KY
@Nelle: Glad the evil POS who assaulted you and others was convicted and is put away (hopefully for rest of his sick life).
AM in NC
@Tony Jay: Thank you even more for this. And as WaterGirl said, it does not surprise me at all that you would have been doing this all along.
I know this is now a dead thread, but I didn’t want to not respond. We need more actions like and men like you to make the world safe for us all.