Friday, May 15, 2020

Morning Reading Recommendations


What can I say, it's the morning to direct you to articles.  It's a good article, but for the tl/dr, read on:

This is an excellent report on Tara Reade's allegations, complete with responses from her attorney, few of which actually challenge the facts alleged.  You should read There's the question of why she was fired, answered by Ben Savage, the office's systems administrator at the time.  Reade's job was to handle constituent mail, and Savage says she couldn't keep up with it.  And the response of the lawyer is to:  cast aspersions (or is it asparagus?  Or aspersions on the asparagus?):

“Ms. Reade recalls that there was a lot of nitpicking regarding her performance in the office,” he wrote. “She was also very nervous at that point and distracted so it is possible that from time to time there was a mistake made … but her performance had nothing to do with her termination.”

More broadly, Wigdor said, it was “not surprising” that former staffers would say they did not believe the allegation against Biden. Wigdor argued that former aides have an incentive to stand with Biden because they could benefit personally if he becomes president, do not want to have “their lives turned upside down if they come out against him,” or are simply motivated by a desire to protect Biden to help bolster his chances of beating President Donald Trump in the general election.
It's a point, but it's a pretty weak point.  Of more interest is this;

Reade’s attorney told the NewsHour that Reade recalls the assault happening “in a semiprivate area like an alcove” and that it was “somewhere between the Russell (building) and/or Capitol building.” He pointed out that survivors often have difficulty with specifics about trauma.

Reade’s description aligns with other staffers’ recollections of Biden’s short indoor route between his office and the Capitol. It is a roughly 10-minute walk that consists of one flight of stairs and one long hallway inside the Russell Building, followed by a wide tunnel through which he could walk or take an internal subway train to the Capitol.

The layout of that route and building has not changed. A recent walk through that area showed the subway tunnel contains no out-of-view areas, like an alcove. The remaining portion of the route includes multiple stairwells as well as corridors lined with offices. It is a main thoroughfare for senators and staffers.

Some former staffers told the NewsHour that if Biden did assault Reade in any of these places, it would have been a brazen attack in an area with a high risk of being seen.

“When I worked in the Senate, it was always crowded [and] packed with lobbyists, staff and tourists,” said Sheila Nix, who was Biden’s chief of staff on the 2012 presidential campaign and previously worked as chief of staff to two other Democratic senators. 
There is a good deal more, but this a pretty fair summing up of what PBS found:

I think that's still a very relevant question.
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