#Luther needed some retribution after the first story
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I love reading your metas! They’re always super interesting! I am curious as to how different you think things would have been if Reggie never hid Vanya’s powers and she grew up a part of the academy?
Thank you! I love writing them and exploring these characters I love a little more deeply.
Well, first off, the reason why Reginald hid Vanya’s powers and never let her be a part of the Academy isn’t because he felt the powers themselves were uncontrollable, but because he felt he couldn’t control her. She’d gained enough mastery over her own powers to fling nanny after nanny across the room and out the window, and she could use her powers to shatter every glass on the table, summon a thunderstorm, and crack Reginald’s monocle—all to send a message that she did not want to do what Reginald wanted her to do. So, if Reginald allowed Vanya to keep her powers and join the Academy, he would’ve needed some way to keep her under his control.
The most obvious method I can see is by turning her powers and the loss of them into a carrot-and-stick approach. Rather than telling her she had to take her medicine and having Allison Rumor her into forgetting she had powers in the first place, I can see him walking into that soundproofed room alone, handing her the pills, and ordering her to take them without explanation. Once she did, I think he would’ve explained, matter-of-factly, that those pills inhibited access to her powers for a period of time. “If you would like to continue using your powers, Number Seven, you will do with them as I say, and only as I say.”
This certainly would have made Vanya obedient—toward Reginald, anyway. I’m sure he would’ve set about finding some way to get the medicine to her without her knowledge. Maybe he would’ve explained to her that swallowing them was not the only method of getting the drugs into her system. I’m sure he would have told her, in no uncertain terms, that he could simply mix it into her oatmeal or dissolve it in a glass of juice. Every time she disagreed with him, she would’ve probably gone to the breakfast table in terror, wondering if he was going to shut her powers off in retaliation. She would have become dependent, and I think she would have been deeply angry.
However, taking that anger out on Reginald would have been expressly forbidden. But it wouldn’t have gone away, either, so I think she would have taken it out on her siblings. Toppling Luther over in the gym. Pushing Diego down the stairs. Shoving Allison backward out of her chair. If one of her siblings did something to anger her, I think her retaliation would have been swift and merciless. Or maybe it wouldn’t have been swift. Maybe she would’ve let some wounds fester until she couldn’t stand it anymore, and then delivered a retribution that was disproportionate to the original crime. Reginald would have allowed all this, because to his mind, Vanya would be encouraging her siblings to think on their feet and develop new and creative uses for their powers. As long as she didn’t grievously injure or permanently maim them, I think he would have turned a blind eye to her bullying.
She wouldn’t have been able to articulate why she did what she did, of course. “I’m angry with my dad and so I take it out on my siblings because I have no other outlet” is a pretty sophisticated bit of self-awareness, and as a child, she wouldn’t have been able to put it in words. And I don’t think taking her anger out on her siblings would’ve given her that outlet, either. I think it just would’ve created a vicious cycle wherein she lashes out at her siblings for something real or imagined, they retaliate as best they can, she lashes out again, and on and on while Reginald watches his experiment take an interesting and promising new turn.
I doubt she would have written her book. Since she would’ve been part of the Academy and allowed to go on missions, I doubt she would’ve had much reason to tell her story to a world that already knew it. But I can see her and her siblings using the media to pick fights from a distance. Allison is interviewed on some talk show, and she lets it slip that her sister Vanya was a terror when they were younger, and they aren’t close now. Vanya hears this, gets angry, and goes on the same talk show to outline all the reasons why she and Allison didn’t get along, airing every bit of her sister’s dirty laundry. This leads Allison to give another interview, at which point the media seeks out her other siblings, and the feud escalates while the public gobbles it up and wonders who to believe.
All in all, I think being a part of the Academy would have left Vanya just as estranged from her siblings—albeit for very different reasons. But those reasons would ultimately stem from Reginald’s never-ending quest for control over his children. In the show’s timeline, Vanya took out her anger toward Reginald on her siblings through writing her book. In a timeline where she was allowed to keep her powers, I think she would have done the same, just in different and more direct ways.
#the umbrella academy#tua#umbrella academy#vanya hargreeves#reginald hargreeves#luther hargreeves#diego hargreeves#allison hargreeves#klaus hargreeves#five hargreeves#ben hargreeves#what if#au#bullying mention#anon#answered
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A theory on the numbering of the Blacklisters: a story told by Red to Liz.
When I first approached the numbers, the prevalent opinion seemed to be, based on the then lowest number(Tom Keen), that they reflected the danger to Liz or Red. But to me that did not hold.
Dembe posed no danger to Liz, and Berlin posed a greater danger than Dembe. Tom Connolly, or Peter Kotsiopolus, who had nothing to do with Kate or Tom presented a greater danger to Liz.. Gina was a much greater danger to Liz than General Ludd and yet her number was higher.
Then, I explored the idea that somehow they were grouped, but it did not pan out either. For example Red’s revenge cases: The Mombasa Cartel was #114, The Freelancer was #145, The Forecaster was #163 and Alistair Pitt was #103. Not even close.
So I looked for oddities. Many Blacklisters were simple. They were the named blacklister and they had a number. But others stood out:
The Freelancer, for example, was a tool for Red to get to Floriana Campo, his real objective.
The Pavlovitch Brothers each had a number.
Some cases had been Liz’s old cases from her time in the NY unit, some were incidental cases that had nothing to do with Red bringing them, such as General Ludd, The Pavlovitch Brothers, Anslo Garrick, or The Kings of the Highway.
Others, such as The Forecaster did not even had Red involved in them. He was busy with another revenge case, Inniko, and had nothing to do with the actual Blacklister, while his objective did not even made the radar of the FBI.
Some Blacklisters were there to be taken out, jailed, or killed, but others were friends, allies, and even key people for Red, like Marvin Gerard.
So, I started with the anomalies to discern the pattern.
The Freelancer illustrated that even if Red needed to keep Floriana under wraps, he could have employed a method similar to the one with Geoff Perl: send the FBI looking for the Eberhart Cartel and have them arrive at Floriana. So the Freelancer’s himself was important.
The Pavlovitchs having each their number told me that in the numbering there were 4 of something.
I began discerning a pattern. That the Blacklist was telling a story. So I tried seeing if I could distill what the Blacklister was about. It made sense. I made my first post about it in May 2016.
And then I saw it: It is the way Red describes the Blacklister, sometimes the way someone else describes him/her/it. Berlin is not a colonel avenging a not-dead-daughter, but a pawn tragically manipulated.
The Vehm is a vigilante group. Tom Keen is an extremely talented covert operative, and Berlin is a pawn who’s been tragically manipulated, while Alexander Kirk is an alias of an oligarch. Scottie Haragrave is a brilliant strategist, a manipulative creature that her own husband could not trust her .
Mattias Solomon is a CIA asset, and Manuel Esteban is a double agent. Leonard Caul is the keeper of the secrets. Greyson Blaise is a rising star, and Frederick Barnes would burn the wold to protect the one person they care about. The Thrushes infiltrate the ”enemy” without leaving a trace .
Do those themes sound familiar? Sure, that is the story slowly emerging in the Reddington family saga.
So this is the list as I have it so far, it is not complete and it will probably change.
Be fair and if you mention this, be sure to include a mention to me. As a GIF means work, just because what I do is not a graphic, or a GIF, it does not mean I did not use time and energy in it. My theories are discussed in many places without a mention, which is not fair.
7 Tom Keen AKA Christopher Hargrave AKA Jacob Phelps extremely talented covert operative
8 Berlin AKA Colonel Milos Kirchhoff a pawn who's been tragically manipulated.
10 Dembe Zuma more than an associate to me
11 Tom Connolly been leaking information to the cabal
12 The Decembrist - Alan Fitch contributed to the end of comunism, an act of patriotism
14 Alexander Kirk AKA Constantin Rostov the alias of an oligarch who made a fortune
16 Anslo Garrick a violent extraction team not a precision instrument. He's a blunt-force object and seemingly immune to bullets.
18 Susan "Scottie" Hargrave brilliant strategist, a manipulative creature that her own husband could not trust her
21 Luther Braxton a fine, meticulous thief
22 The Scimitar AKA Walid Abu SItta one part hit man, two parts con man
24 The Director AKA Peter Kotsiopolus: intelligence officer
30 Smokey Putnum a gaffer (boss), a logistical legerdemain (skillful use of one's hands when performing conjuring tricks.)
31 Zal Bin Hasaan Shahin Navabi A gift for your employer.
32 Mr. Matias Solomon a CIA asset
34 Isabella Stone AKA Judith Pruitt Her objective is to utterly obliterate her target by any means necessary
37 Mr. Greyson Blaise a rising star using dark money in politics
38 The Troll Farmer AKA Bo Chang an illusionist.
41 3.20 The Artax Network
42 1.20 The Kingmaker arranges scandals, exploits proclivities, assassinates when necessary.
43 The Dijnn AKA Nasim Bakhash A matchmaker of sorts, who pairs clients with what they most desire
44 The Endling AKA Nirah Ahmad Is there a force in the universe more powerful than a mother's love for her child?
47 Frederick Barnes burn the wold to protect the one person they care about
50 Arioch Cain Blair an alias
52 Ranko Zamani our interests are aligned
53 The Thrushes infiltrate the ”enemy” without leaving a trace
55 Karakurt In truth, he works for the Cabal.
57 The Judge AKA Ruth Kipling an avenging angel who exacts retribution for the weak and innocent.
61 Philomena One of the most effective ways to retrieve an unwilling target is to slip under their radar, get close, make a friend.
62 Leonard Caul AKA Joseph McCray the keeper of the secrets / eyes and ears
63 The Cyprus Agency - There's nothing more profound and of lasting consequence than the decision to have a child.
65 Miles McGrath a child prodigy
66 Mato A finder. A tracker. Killer when necessary
67 Ruslan Denisov His temper has cost me and my partners considerably more than he's worth
71 The Kenyon Family - Justin Kenyon the perfect spokesman
72 Eli Matchett to identify its weaknesses and design a virus tailor-made to destroy it.
73 Madeline Pratt fosters relationships with incredibly powerful people. The one you don't exploits those relationships in ways that impact national security. Confounding, yet captivating, she's a singular woman, and the world is far more interesting with her in it.
74 The Front AKA Maddox Beck took their work underground.
75 The Major recruits wayward children, orphans, delinquents, outcasts, but only boys and girls of superior intelligence who exhibit very specific sociopathic tendencies. He then cultivates them into charming, well-educated, cultured, attractive adults who are capable of dangerous and horrible things
76 Miss Rebecca Trall - A dominatrix Dom
77 Lady Ambrosia AKA Mrs. Shuster a shapeshifter not a myth who seemed good and sweet, but they were full of unimaginable darkness.
78 The Caretaker a secret keeper
79 Esteban a double agent. What little you know about the inner workings of the XXX government is courtesy of
80 Marvin Gerard Perfect wife, perfect job, perfect, all of it ...Convinced he had no other option, Marvin kidnapped the boy. They tracked him down
81 Gaia AKA Owen Ayers Earth Mother
82 Dr. Linus Creel
83 Mako Tanida disciplined, relentless
84 Wujing presumed to be a myth, a secret child . Unofficially, he's contracted to take out rival agents -- American, British.
85 The Courier AKA Tommy Phelps The perfect middleman for an imperfect world.
86 Sir Crispin Crandall reclusive billionarie
87 Quon Zhang - a rather clever smugler
88 Ivan a long career disrupting Russia
89 Dr. James Covington wasn't trying to make a point. He was trying to make a sale. He had some kind of meltdown.
93 The Deer Hunter
94 T. Earl King VI I've always found fear to be my most valuable sense
95 Mr. Gregory Devry a dopelganger. Someone to impersonate
97 The Longevity Initiative AKA Roger Hobbs not your average bear
98 Dr. Adrian Shaw AKA Dr. Sonia Bloom fearing for her life she became someone else
101 The Alchemist AKA Eric Trettel bring to justice one of the most vile creatures who ever lived
102 The Harem elite group
103 Alistair Pitt a negotiator. brings ogether warring crime families hrough mutual self-interest, leverage, or violence if necessary
104 Lord Baltimore Nora Mills a tracker
105 The Lindquist Concern Silas Gouldsberry a group that corporations pay
106 The Good Samaritan Killer AKA Karl Hoffman tailor your attack specifically to that person.
108 The Kings of the Highway - We steal from others, but not from each other.
109 General Ludd AKA Nathaniel Wolff identifing the members has been impossible
111 The Lipet Seafood Company - attacked by armed commandos.
112 Monarch Douglas Bank - They have branches in 63 countries
113 Drexel does not employ subtlety to get his point across.
114 The Mombasa Cartel AKA Geoff Perl They operate behind an impenetrable veil of secrecy, enforced by brute terror and a rat's nest of corporate fronts. Subsidiaries of shells inside numbered accounts.
117 Vanessa Cruz doesn't just take their money, she takes their reputations, their freedom, sometimes their lives.
119 The Pavlovich Brothers one of 4 (Maybe the fulcrum parts?)
120 The Pavlovich Brothers one of 4
121 The Pavlovich Brothers one of 4
122 The Pavlovich Brothers one of 4
123 The Arsonist - Ethan Donovam
132 The Vehm - a vigilante group
135 The Undertaker AKA Milton Bobbit a broker of death, a man who somehow convinces ordinary people to kill on his behalf
145 he Freelancer quite prolific.
148 The Gambler AKA Sebastian Royce former FBI agent
152 Gina Zanetakos Shubie Hartwell the best of the bunch
BK1 The Beekeeper -
161 The Stewmaker AKA Stanley Cornish - He's served the needs of international syndicates, repressive regimes, anyone with a need and the means to pay.
163 The Forecaster goes after high profile targets.
184 Natalie Luca
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The thin-skinned president who made it illegal to criticize his office
By Ronald G. Shafer, Washington Post, September 8, 2018
The thin-skinned president of the United States was furious at his critics--like the congressman who wrote that the president was “swallowed up in a continual grasp for power, in an unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation and selfish avarice.”
The peeved president wasn’t Donald Trump. He was America’s second commander in chief, John Adams.
Though Adams was a Founding Father of the United States’ democracy, he couldn’t abide personal scorn. In July 1798, he signed the Alien and Sedition Acts that, among other things, made it illegal to “write, print, utter, or publish ... any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings” against the president and other executive branch officials.
While the laws no longer exist today, modern presidents have also called for stricter laws to suppress criticism of their office, as President Trump did this week in the wake of journalist Bob Woodward’s new White House tell-all and an anonymous opinion piece by a senior administration official in the New York Times. Trump called for a change in libel laws and also demanded the Times turn over the anonymous author “for National Security purposes.”
“Isn’t it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost. Don’t know why Washington politicians don’t change libel laws?” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
Adams and his Federalist Party supporters in Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts under the guise of national security, supposedly to safeguard the nation at a time of preparing for possible war with France. The “Alien” part of the law allowed the government to deport immigrants and made it harder for naturalized citizens to vote. But the law mainly was designed to mute backers of the opposition Democratic-Republican Party led by Thomas Jefferson, who also happened to be the vice president. Jefferson had finished second to Adams in the 1796 presidential election and again ran against him in 1800.
An early target of the new law was Rep. Matthew Lyon, who had accused Adams of “ridiculous pomp.” In the fall of 1798 the government accused the Vermont congressman of being “a malicious and seditious person, and of a depraved mind and a wicked and diabolical disposition.” He was convicted of sedition, fined $1,000 and sentenced to four months in prison. Lyon campaigned for reelection from jail and won in a landslide. On his release in February 1799, supporters greeted him with a parade and hailed him as “a martyr to the cause of liberty and the rights of man.”
Other Adams critics didn’t fare so well. One was Benjamin Franklin Bache, the grandson of Benjamin Franklin and editor of the Aurora newspaper in Philadelphia. Bache described the president in such terms as “old, querulous, bald, blind, crippled, toothless Adams.” First lady Abigail Adams urged her husband to do something to stop these “wicked and base, violent” attacks against him and his government.
In June 1798, just before the Alien and Sedition Acts officially became law, Bache was arrested under common law on charges of libeling the president “in a manner tending to excite sedition and opposition to the laws.” Bache and his pregnant wife received death threats, Bache was assaulted twice, and his home was vandalized by drunks. The editor died of yellow fever at age 29 before he could go to trial.
Another target was James Callender, a pro-Jefferson journalist for the Richmond Examiner and the man who had exposed Federalist Alexander Hamilton’s extramarital affair. In 1800, Callender wrote an election campaign pamphlet that said of Adams: “As President he has never opened his lips, or lifted his pen, without threatening and scolding; the grand object of his administration has been to exasperate the rage of contending parties … and destroy every man who differs from his opinions.”
Callander was convicted of sedition, fined $200 and sent to federal prison for nine months. He continued to write from his prison cell, calling Adams “a gross hypocrite and an unprincipled oppressor.”
The convictions of more than two dozen people stirred public protests. James Madison singled out the need to protect the press, which had played a vital role in defeating the British in the Revolution. “The press has exerted a freedom in canvassing the merits and measures of public men, of every description,” he said. “On this footing, the freedom of the press has stood; on this footing it yet stands.”
But Federalists defended the crackdown, claiming some of the criticism was designed to undermine Adams’s lawful election. After Thomas Cooper, editor of the Northumberland Gazette in Pennsylvania, wrote that Adams was a “power-mad despot,” he was convicted in 1800 for publishing “a false, scandalous and malicious attack on the character” of the president with the intent “to excite the hatred and contempt of the people of this country against the man of their choice!” After completing his six-month sentence, Cooper wrote that the lesson of his trial was that citizens should “hold their tongues and restrain their pens on the subject of politics.” Cooper, however, continued to speak out.
The government also came after critics of some members of the Adams administration, such as Treasury Secretary Hamilton. In 1799, Charles Holt, editor of the New London Bee in Connecticut, published an article accusing Hamilton of seeking to expand the U.S. military into a standing army. He also took personal jabs at Hamilton, asking, “Are our young officers and soldiers to learn virtue from General Hamilton? Or like their generals are they to be found in the bed of adultery?” The government promptly charged Holt with being a “wicked, malicious seditious and ill-disposed person--greatly disaffected” to the U.S. government. He was fined $200 and sent to jail for three months.
The speech crackdown extended even to private remarks, as Luther Baldwin, the skipper of a garbage boat in Newark, discovered.
In July 1798, while passing through Newark on his way to his summer home in Massachusetts, Adams rode in his coach in a downtown parade complete with a 16-cannon salute. When Baldwin and his buddy Brown Clark heard the cannon shots while drinking heavily at a local tavern, Clark remarked, “There goes the president, and they are firing at his arse.” Baldwin responded that he didn’t care “if they fired thro’ his arse.” The tavern owner reported the conversation, and both drinkers were fined and jailed for sedition.
Jefferson made opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts a major part of his campaign in the 1800 presidential election, which he barely won despite the uproar over free speech. The Alien and Sedition Acts expired at the end of Adams’s term, and the new president pardoned everybody who had been convicted under the law. Later, most of the fines were refunded.
Just one decade after adoption of the U.S. Constitution, the United States had survived its first constitutional crisis. At stake, Jefferson said in his 1801 inauguration speech, was the right of citizens “to think freely and to speak and write what they think.” But there would continue to be many more challenges to these freedoms in the young democracy’s coming years.
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Now the Sexual Harassment Noose Falls Upon Rep. John Conyers
New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/wealth/now-the-sexual-harassment-noose-falls-upon-rep-john-conyers/
Now the Sexual Harassment Noose Falls Upon Rep. John Conyers
Content originally published at iBankCoin.com
The sexual harassment allegations continue, with today’s showcase revelations being Charlie Rose and Rep. John Conyers. Over at the Weinstein scandal, upwards of 90 women have come forward, some of whom claimed they were outright raped by the big fat ape.
So you know, Harvey Weinstein is still at large.
This from Buzzfeed tonight — tipped off by Mike Cernovich
Here’s Mike discussing the latest scandal via Periscope.
Congressman John Conyers is a sexual predator, and Paul Ryan covered it all up https://t.co/rHAzX4Hevo
— Mike Cernovich ???????? (@Cernovich) November 21, 2017
Michigan Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat and the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, settled a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 with a former employee who alleged she was fired because she would not “succumb to [his] sexual advances.”
Documents from the complaint obtained by BuzzFeed News include four signed affidavits, three of which are notarized, from former staff members who allege that Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, repeatedly made sexual advances to female staff that included requests for sexual favors, contacting and transporting other women with whom they believed Conyers was having affairs, caressing their hands sexually, and rubbing their legs and backs in public. Four people involved with the case verified the documents are authentic.
And the documents also reveal the secret mechanism by which Congress has kept an unknown number of sexual harassment allegations secret: A grinding, closely held process that left the alleged victim feeling, she told BuzzFeed News, that she had no option other than to stay quiet and accept a settlement offered to her.
“I was basically blackballed. There was nowhere I could go,” she said in a phone interview. BuzzFeed News is withholding the woman’s name at her request, because she said she fears retribution.
Last week the Washington Post reported that the office paid out $17 million for 264 settlements with federal employees over 20 years for various violations, including sexual harassment. The Conyers documents, however, give a glimpse into the inner workings of the Office of Compliance, which has for decades concealed episodes of sexual abuse by powerful political figures
The woman who settled with Conyers launched the complaint in 2014 with Congress’s Office of Compliance alleging that she was fired for refusing his sexual advances and ended up facing a daunting process that ended with a confidentiality agreement in exchange for a $27,111.75 settlement. Her settlement, however, came from Conyers’ office budget rather than the designated fund for settlements.
Congress has no human resources department. Instead, congressional employees have 180 days to report a sexual harassment incident to the Office of Compliance, which then leads to a lengthy process involves counseling, mediation, and requires the signing of a confidentiality agreement before a complaint can go forward.
After this, an employee can choose to take the matter to federal district court, but another avenue is available: an administrative hearing, after which a negotiation and settlement may follow.
In her complaint, the former employee said Conyers repeatedly asked her for sexual favors and often asked her to join him in a hotel room. On one occasion, she alleges that Conyers asked her to work out of his room for the evening, but when she arrived the congressman started talking about his sexual desires. She alleged he then told her she needed to “touch it,” in reference to his penis, or find him a woman who would meet his sexual demands.
She alleged Conyers made her work nights, evenings, and holidays to keep him company.
In another incident, the former employee alleged the congressman insisted she stay in his room while they traveled together for a fundraising event. When she told him that she would not stay with him, she alleged he told her to “just cuddle up with me and caress me before you go.”
“Rep. Conyers strongly postulated that the performing of personal service or favors would be looked upon favorably and lead to salary increases or promotions,” the former employee said in the documents.
Three other staff members provided affidavits submitted to the Office Of Compliance that outlined a pattern of behavior from Conyers that included touching the woman in a sexual manner and growing angry when she brought her husband around.
One affidavit from a former female employee states that she was tasked with flying in women for the congressman. “One of my duties while working for Rep. Conyers was to keep a list of women that I assumed he was having affairs with and call them at his request and, if necessary, have them flown in using Congressional resources,” said her affidavit. (A second staffer alleged in an interview that Conyers used taxpayer resources to fly women to him.)
The employee said in her affidavit that Conyers also made sexual advances toward her: “I was driving the Congressman in my personal car and was resting my hand on the stick shift. Rep. Conyers reached over and began to caress my hand in a sexual manner.”
The woman said she told Conyers she was married and not interested in pursuing a sexual relationship, according to the affidavit. She said she was told many times by constituents that it was well-known that Conyers had sexual relationships with his staff, and said she and other female staffers felt this undermined their credibility.
“I am personally aware of several women who have experienced the same or similar sexual advances made towards them by Rep[.] John Conyers,” she said in her affidavit.
A male employee wrote that he witnessed Rep. Conyers rub the legs and other body parts of the complainant “in what appeared to be a sexual manner” and saw the congressman rub and touch other women “in an inappropriate manner.” The employee said he confronted Conyers about this behavior.
“Rep. Conyers said he needed to be ‘more careful’ because bad publicity would not be helpful as he runs for re-election. He ended the conversation with me by saying he would ‘work on’ his behavior,” the male staffer said in his affidavit.
“I don’t think any allegations should be buried…and that’s for anyone, not just for this particular office”
The male employee said that in 2011 Conyers complained a female staffer was “too old” and said he wanted to let her go. The employee said he set up a meeting in December 2011 to discuss “mistreatment of staff and his misuse of federal resources.” The affidavit says that Conyers “agreed that he would work on making improvements as long as I worked directly with him and stopped writing memos and emails about concerns.”
Another female employee also attested that she witnessed Conyer’s advances, and said she was asked to transport women to him. “I was asked on multiple occasions to pick up women and bring them to Mr. Conyers[‘] apartment, hotel rooms, etc.”
BuzzFeed News reached out to several former Conyers staffers, all of whom did not want to speak on the record. One former staffer, who did not want to be named, said she was frustrated by the secretive complaint process.
“I don’t think any allegations should be buried…and that’s for anyone, not just for this particular office, because it doesn’t really allow other people to see who these individuals are,” said the former staffer. “When you make private settlements, it doesn’t warn the next woman or the next person going into that situation.”
Another staffer said that Conyers’ reputation made people fearful to speak out against him. Aside from being the longest-serving House member and the ranking member of a powerful committee, Conyers is a civil rights icon. He was lauded by Martin Luther King Jr. and is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“Your story won’t do shit to him,” said the staffer. “He’s untouchable.”
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was not aware of the settlement.
“The current process includes the signing of non-disclosure agreements by the parties involved. Congresswoman Jackie Speier has introduced legislation that will provide much-needed transparency on these agreements and make other critical reforms,” Pelosi said in the statement. “I strongly support her efforts.”
What’s interesting about the revelations of sexual harassment is they’re mainly being reported by left wing media, concerning left wing men. Perhaps there’s a disruption in the matrix, or they’re quite literally eating their own.
This didn’t age well.
Since #POTUS‘ first day in office, his admin & @HouseGOP have relentlessly attacked women’s #reprorights & access to care.
— John Conyers, Jr. (@RepJohnConyers) October 6, 2017
Good times.
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