Jìoe Biden. Duplice sexual harassment. Morto prima ancora di nascere.

Giuseppe Sandro Mela.

2019-04-03.

Chiunque abbia memoria buona dovrebbe ricordarsi il

The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984

(Pub.L. 98–473, S. 1762, 98 Stat. 1976, enacted October 12, 1984.

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Legge supportata e voluta da Mr Joe Biden, consente alla polizia, senza previa autorizzazione del magistrato, di sequestrare beni di un sospetto anche in assenza di prove che egli sia colpevole di un qualche reato.

Basta la denuncia, basta il sospetto.

Mr Joe Biden non avrebbe quindi nulla da eccepire se a seguito delle due denuncie ricevute di sexual harassment sarà costretto a rinunciare alla corsa alla Casa Bianca.

Di questi tempi il sexual harassment, vero o presunto, è il più terrificante reato che mente umana possa concepire: basta la denuncia, come ai ‘bei’ tempi di Beria. La denuncia di una donna equivale a sentenza andata in giudicato. Denuncia poi mica fatta alla polizia: basta solo scriverla su twitter.

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Alle volte verrebbe il sospetto che questo sexual harassment sia un’arma impropria per eliminare gli avversari politici.

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«Flores is a Democratic politician from Nevada, who alleges Biden acted inappropriately at a 2014 rally (she was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor), when he came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, sniffed her hair, then kissed her head»

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«We know Democrats face a tough, divisive fight in 2020»

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«The hair-kissing story has captured headlines and raised new questions about Biden’s behavior. And a further allegation surfaced, adding to Biden’s immediate political problems: Amy Lappos, a former aide to US Rep. Jim Himes, told the Hartford Courant on Monday that then-Vice President Biden pulled her in to rub noses with her at a 2009 fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut»

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«There’s also Anita Hill. Nearly 30 years after he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing probing Anita Hill’s allegations that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her, Biden still doesn’t accept the effect of his role»

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«One Biden-backed law, The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, allows police to seize personal property (cars, cash, entire homes) without even proving the person is guilty of a crime»

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Churchill, che era il flagello delle segretarie, che peraltro facevano la fila, sarebbe stato rinchiuso nelle segrete della Torre di Londra.

Poi, suvvia Mr Biden, almeno metter le mani su di un gitone.

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→ Cnn. 2019-04-02. Joe Biden is losing his glow

The man that many — including myself — felt for sure a few months ago was the best person to win back the White House for the Democrats is losing his glow. Biden no longer looks like a sure thing, or even the best option, to topple President Trump.

And it’s not just a Lucy Flores, #MeToo moment problem.

Flores is a Democratic politician from Nevada, who alleges Biden acted inappropriately at a 2014 rally (she was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor), when he came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, sniffed her hair, then kissed her head. “I was shocked,” Flores wrote in an essay for The Cut, an arm of New York magazine. “I felt powerless.”

Biden at first dismissed her claims, but later clarified, saying: “In many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort,” the statement read. “And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested that I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention.”

The hair-kissing story has captured headlines and raised new questions about Biden’s behavior. And a further allegation surfaced, adding to Biden’s immediate political problems: Amy Lappos, a former aide to US Rep. Jim Himes, told the Hartford Courant on Monday that then-Vice President Biden pulled her in to rub noses with her at a 2009 fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut.

But the truth is Biden’s problems are far deeper than this.

There’s also Anita Hill.

Nearly 30 years after he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing probing Anita Hill’s allegations that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her, Biden still doesn’t accept the effect of his role. Not only did his handling of the hearing devastate and shame a credible, intelligent woman who bravely stood up against workplace harassment, but his failure to protect Hill made all women feel less safe in hostile workplaces. (Watch the disturbing supercut of hearing questions here.)

For me, Biden, as chair of that all-white-male Senate committee — intentionally, or not — helped to uphold the misogynistic culture that would ultimately allow Donald Trump to win the presidency.

Then there’s Biden’s mass incarceration problem.

Racial justice is now a front-burner issue for black and brown voters that every presidential candidate will have to address with a strategic plan for real justice reforms. But sadly, if we are seeking one of the main architects of the tough-on-crime laws that have led to America’s mass incarceration problem, we need look no further than Biden.

More than 2.2 million Americans are imprisoned today, and a majority of that population is black and brown.

There’s no arguing that Biden’s laws mostly targeted black and brown communities and have perpetuated the racial disparities in today’s justice system — from legislation he co-sponsored in 1988 that created huge sentencing disparities for possession of the cheaper crack cocaine (popular in black and brown communities) and powder cocaine (the chosen drug, then, of mostly affluent white users), to those that dramatically increased prison funding and established harsh mandatory drug sentences for low-level offenses.

One Biden-backed law, The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, allows police to seize personal property (cars, cash, entire homes) without even proving the person is guilty of a crime. Local and state police departments can then sell the property and profit from the value of those seizures, with little or no public accounting of how the money is spent.

Today, in cities such as Philadelphia, where hundreds of homes and cars are seized each year, such civil forfeiture is under attack. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has promised reforms, in light of a class action lawsuit that spotlighted abuses.

“We saw a lot of cases where there was a marijuana joint, and they would try to take the defendant’s car,” said Darpana Sheth, an attorney with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice who served as lead counsel in the class-action suit.

But Biden’s biggest influence on mass incarceration came in 1994 as a result of his teaming up with President Bill Clinton to pass a series of crime laws that imposed mandatory minimum drug sentences and dramatically increased funding for prisons, opening the door for unprecedented growth in the prison population.

The numbers have decreased in the past few years. Still, in 2016, the imprisonment rate (number of prisoners per 100,000 people) was 1,608 black prisoners for every 100,000 black adults — more than five times the imprisonment rate for whites (274 per 100,000) and nearly double the rate for Hispanics (856 per 100,000).

To his credit, Biden now says he realizes some of his tough-on-crime laws were a mistake. “I haven’t always been right. I know we haven’t always gotten things right, but I’ve always tried,” he said in January.

Clearly, he is trying. And though Biden has not yet said whether he’ll run for president in 2020, his responses to both the Anita Hill criticism and Flores will be problematic if he does. He has not apologized directly to Anita Hill, for one thing.

Many are questioning whether he can be trusted to connect with women on the issues we face.

Early thinking among some Democrats was that it would take an older white man, a more traditional-leaning, less progressive candidate to take Trump down. Democrats won’t win unless they can appeal to white voters, many said.

But if the midterms showed us anything, it’s that Biden won’t win if he can’t get black and brown votes, as well, or if women feel he’s disconnected from their agenda.

Many black voters fell in love with Biden after watching him play the affable, dependable VP to President Barack Obama. But that grace will only take Biden so far. Attitudes of race, gender and power have shifted since the Obama White House — we are more suspicious and less forgiving when it comes to accepting excuses and soft apologies for past racial biases and sexual misconduct.

We know Democrats face a tough, divisive fight in 2020. And before the battle, I want to know who has my back. Who will fight for us — all of us — when things get grimy?

Now, it’s hard to know if Joe’s right for this fight.

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→ Cnn. 2019-04-02. Second woman accuses Joe Biden of unwanted touching

A second woman has come forward in an interview with a Connecticut newspaper to allege that former Vice President Joe Biden touched her inappropriately.

Amy Lappos told the Hartford Courant on Monday that Biden pulled her in to rub noses with her at a 2009 fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut. Biden was vice president at the time.

“It wasn’t sexual, but he did grab me by the head,” Lappos, who was then an aide to US Rep. Jim Himes, told The Courant. “He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth.”

Lappos added her voice to that of Lucy Flores, a former Democratic politician in Nevada, in saying is she felt Biden touched her in an inappropriate manner. Flores said on Friday that Biden made her feel “uneasy, gross, and confused” in 2014 when, at a campaign rally, she said he kissed her on the back of the head.

Biden now faces those two accusations as he considers a bid for president in 2020. He is expected to announce his decision as soon as this month.

A source familiar with Biden’s thinking told CNN the allegations against the former vice president won’t dissuade him from running in 2020, but notes the final decision has not been made.

In response to Lappos’ allegation, a spokesperson for Biden referred CNN to a statement the former vice president issued on Sunday.

“In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort,” Biden said in a statement. “And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention.”

Lappos later said in a statement that she decided to speak out due to her disappointment over Biden’s response to Flores’ accusation.

“Referring to this type of behavior as ‘simply affection’ or ‘grandpa-like’ or ‘friendly’ is ridiculously dismissive and part of the problem. Saying ‘but Trump …’ is dangerous and sets the bar for Democratic men far below where it should be,” Lappos said.

She added she thinks all the men who have thrown their hat in the ring to be the Democratic nominee for president ought to step aside in favor of the female candidates in the race.

“If Biden truly supports women and gender equality he would step aside and support one of the many talented and qualified women running,” Lappos said. “The same goes for the other men who have thrown their hat in the ring. Women are 52% of the population. We are not a minority, we are the majority. It is time we are represented as such. After 45 male presidents it is time we elect a woman.”

In her interview with the Courant, Lappos said she didn’t file a complaint because he was the vice president.

“There’s absolutely a line of decency. There’s a line of respect. Crossing that line is not grandfatherly. It’s not cultural. It’s not affection. It’s sexism or misogyny,” she said.

A longtime Biden ally told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny on Sunday there were no signs the former vice president was reassessing his 2020 plans in the wake of the allegations, but cautioned Biden had still not made a final decision.

After Flores went public, some of Biden’s potential 2020 competitors addressed the allegations, with many of them expressing that they believed Flores.

“I think what this speaks to is the need to fundamentally change the culture of this country and to create environments where women feel comfortable and feel safe and that’s something we have got to do,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Also over the weekend, former Biden staffers came to his defense in response to Flores’ essay.

Kendra Barkoff Lamy, who worked for the former vice president, tweeted, “As a former staffer for @JoeBiden and also someone who works on women’s issues, I can say unequivocally that I was never uncomfortable with how he treated me or other women. He dedicated his career to women’s empowerment, safety & equality. That’s one reason why I worked for him.”

Late Monday night, Meghan McCain — the co-host of “The View” and the daughter of the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was close with Biden — also defended the former Delaware senator.

“Joe Biden is one of the truly decent and compassionate men in all of American politics,” the conservative commentator and co-host of ABC’s “The View” said. “He has helped me through my fathers diagnosis, treatment and ultimate passing more than anyone of my fathers friends combined. I wish there was more empathy from our politicians not less.”