Comments

1
The Tacoma News Tribune changed its name years ago to The News Tribune. While it's offices are physically located in Tacoma, it's focus hasn't been Tacoman since the population shifts that transformed what were tiny rural suburbs into dense population centers in their own right (e.g., Lakewood in the 1990's, Puyallup in the 2000's).

TNT has published from a conservative point of view as far back as I can recall. The first issue of the TNT I can remember reading dedicated about half of it's A section to stories about Tonya Harding. Buried on the back page of the a section, in a column maybe 1 inch by 2 inches, was a blurb about then-VP Al Gore coming to visit Tacoma. While almost nobody born after 1995 has any idea who Tanya Harding was, the man who was a heartbeat away from the Presidency at the time visiting town was apparently so much less important that it barely got a mention at all.

TNT also ran columns supporting Lon Mabon's attempt to ban gay and lesbian people from teaching school in WA state, articles supporting Paul Schell's attack on WTO protestors, and alleged that anyone opposed to the Iraq invasion was unpatriotic. Consider them the Frank Blethens of the South Sound.

Much hay ha been made about the demise of journalism. This is an example of why people like me began turning to online blogs for our news rather than print journalism. Whatever pretense Big Media had made of objectivity, it was always a lie. In some ways those who claimed to be objective while pushing heavily biased stories that supported a specific political agenda (such as conservativism) were always more damaging than those who never made that pretense to begin with. The UK Morning Star, for example, is blatantly Marxist, and makes zero attempt to hide it. Anyone who picks it up knows this paper is publishing from a Far Left perspective. The reader is thus free to excercise their own judgement regarding the stories read there. Readers under the false impression that the TNT will give them the facts 'as they really are' devoid of opinion or slant are more impressionable than those who open its pages understanding from the beginning that this is a center-right paper. While the Morning Star features a big red socialist star on it's cover to clarify its position, the TNT ought to feature a blue flag for the same reason.

I've met Ed Murray in person. He represents a segment of the LGBT population I would probably not be welcomed by- the guys that own palatial mansions adjacent to Volunteer Park, made their fortunes publishing how-to guides for Adobe products, and are willing to pay a thousand dollars a plate to hobnob with politicos at the HRC galas and GSBA fundraisers. That said, he's not a child molester. A greedy capitalist, maybe, but a kiddie fucker, no.

Back in 1999, a preacher came to Evergreen with a megaphone. He stood on Red Square while his supporters held these gigantic sign that said the only difference between a gay man and a child molester is time. I and a few fellow students heckled them. They had no real audience besides the hecklers, and at some point decided to pack up and head for the parking lot. On their way out, I heard the preacher's wide tell her husband that she had heard some students say, "That reverend, he's a real man!"

That memory stays with me, because heterosexual masculinity has always been hallmarked by the psychological need to attack gay male sexuality in an effort to establish one's own dominance, You're not a real man until you beat a faggot to death, either metaphorically, or all too often, literally. The instinctive drive to bash gay men is in part a means to establish one's own heterosexuality, and in part a rite of passage.

The more you stand out in mainsteam society, the bigger the target you become for this kind of assault. RuPaul is hated precisely because he has achieved crossover success in the straight world as well as gay society. Harvey Milk was assassinated precisely because his influence in the SF board of supervisors rose to such a level he might have become mayor. Jim McGreevey was toppled because he was the governor, etc.

Just as African-American leaders are tagged as thugs, and Jewish leaders are tagged as greedy, gay men will always be tagged as sexual predators. Barack Obama was the cleanest candidate for the Presidency ever. And yet even he was smeared from the very beginning as everything from a Crip to a terrorist. Bernie Sanders' whole life has been about socioecomic equalization, and yet he gets tagged as the stereotypical greedy Jew. Ed Murray has never endangered a child, sexually or otherwise. And yet here he is, getting smeared with that same old trope.

I have issues with Ed Murray because I disagree with his policies. However, I will defend him against these blatantly homophobic accusations.

The TNT, however, can kiss my gay ass.
2
Hm. I give the benefit of the doubt rather to the accuser. As a person who's been falsely accused and paid a price, I'm usually partial to innocent till proven guilty. My gut feeling leads me to give weight to the purported victim in this instance. #hunch
3
I get nervous (dubious) about accusations made
1. In a political campaign -just in time for new contenders
2. When supposed event was 30 years ago
4
What is the point of widely publishing these lurid, salacious, and totally unprovable allegations?

It's not at all surprising that The Seattle Slimes published a political hit piece to smear a mayor loathed by the Blethen family and RepubliKKKans in general.

However, in a year in which journalism has gone over a barrel, it's incredibly disappointing to see The Strangler hop on the gay-bashing bandwagon.
5
@4: You sound like Bill O'Reilly blaming the main stream media.

Where's your integrity? Sorry, you can't bash the Seattle Times or The Stranger over a "smear job" unless you're also willing to bash the NYT and others for their "smear jobs" on Donald Trump and Bill OReilly's "alleged" sexual transgressions.
6
Reporting on the allegations isn't a "smear job" per se, unless of course one can prove such reporting is being done purely for the purpose of manipulation or coercion. And we now live in a "post-accusatory world" where, even when the allegations are corroborated, they tend to have far less of a negative impact than they did previously. Just ask our new Groper-In-Chief.
7
@ 5,

Both Tdumbp and O'Lielly have well-documented, lifelong histories of committing rape, sexual harrassment, and sexual assault. Several of these cases already have been adjudicated and have resulted in financial and legal consequences.

The whole point of these stories is to give voters like #2 here validation that they know in their gut that all gay men are pedophiles.

Thanks for playing the false equivalency rodeo, though.
12
"What is the point of widely publishing these lurid, salacious, and totally unprovable allegations?"

You clearly did not read the article in the Times. There are overlapping details from all three accusers who did not know each other. There are physical details that only someone who had been intimate could know. And, there may be more evidence.

That said, I thought the Times went overboard in body detail specifics.
13
So now all it takes to convict someone is to accuse them. In a civil case for too, for fuck's sake.

In the immortal words of Professor Hubert J Farnsworth; "I don't want to live on this planet anymore".
14
Here we go again. Ramping up military action in the middle east. It has such a sterling history of success.

And who the hell actually believes the chemical attack wasn't committed by the rebel/ISIS/jihadis.

Keep our military the fuck out of the middle east. There is literally nothing to gain.

15
Sweden finally repaid for their good deeds. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-395…
16
He always seemed creepy to me.
17
@7: I'm saddened about this case as well. But to believe your second paragraph that both the Seattle Times and The Stranger are writing stories to give "validation that they know in their gut that all gay men are pedophiles" is head-scratching preposterousness indeed.

No, my equivalency comparison was sound.
19
@ 12,

I did read the article. Sexual assault is an incredibly sensitive topic for me and others, so I'm attempting to comment carefully. That is quite a humbling task, and I'd prefer to leave it to trained legal and psychological professionals to determine the veracity of the accusers. It doesn't play well in internet comments, BFD.
20
@ 7:
Both Tdumbp and O'Lielly have well-documented...
Seriously, "Tdumbp and O'Lielly"? You lose points by using such silly memes.
21
The 4 biggest problems in Seattle: homelessness, affordability, housing and traffic have all gotten worse on Ed Murray's watch and here come the peasants defending this incompetent loser. Real liberals can see through lip service and demand results-regardless of guilt he has been a total disappointment.
22
@ 20,

The intense revulsion and disgust that I feel towards rapists, bullies, and compulsive liars prevents me from even using their names.
23
Accusations need not be true to ruin a political campaign. The Seattle Times has a long and influential history of attacking candidates personal lives, with far less salacious details then this, and with single accusers instead of multiple.

The Times apparently held off with this attack last time.

A new lawsuit has been filed.

There are 3 accusers, 2 from the 80s... making political motivation a strange claim against these two.

Candidates have been destroyed for singular events of drunk driving and domestic violence in Seattle, so the idea that this doesn't take down this Mayor seems to go against history.

Seattle voters demand purity or enough corruption to ignore personal histories.
Apparently Ed's time here is done.

And remember, it doesn't have to be true. It just has to be on the front page.
24
He is one creepy lookin MF, tho. Got damn.

Please wait...

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