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Home Front: Politix

Kavanaugh, The Disgust Circuit, And The Limits Of "Nuts & Sluts"

2018-09-29

[Zero] The Ragin’ Cajun, I believe, coined the phrase "Nuts and Sluts" to succinctly describe the tactic used by the elites I call The Davos Crowd to smear and destroy someone they’ve targeted. Brett Kavanaugh is the latest victim of this technique. But, there have been dozens of victims I can list from Gary Hart in the 1980’s to former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn to Donald Trump. "Nuts and Sluts" is easy to understand. Simply accuse the person you want to destroy of being either crazy (the definition of which shifts with whatever is the political trigger issue of the day) or a sexual deviant. This technique works because it triggers most people’s Disgust Circuit, a term created by Mark Schaller as part of what he calls the Behavioral Immune System and popularized by Johnathan Haidt. The disgust circuit is easy to understand. It is the limit at which behavior in others triggers our gut-level outrage and we recoil with disgust. The reason "Nuts and Sluts" works so well on conservative candidates and voters is because, on average, conservatives have a much stronger disgust circuit than liberals and/or libertarians. This is why it always seems to be that anyone who threatens the global order or the political system always turns out to have some horrible sexual deviance in their closet. It’s why the only thing any of us remember about the infamous Trump Dossier is the image of Trump standing on a bed in a Moscow hotel room urinating on a hooker. The technique is used to drive a wedge between Republican voters and lawmakers and make it easy for them to go along with whatever stupidity is brought forth by the press and the Democrats. And don’t think for a second that, more often than not, GOP leadership isn’t in cahoots with the DNC on these take-downs. Because they are.

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Europe

Lagarde, IMF Chief Found Guilty of Negligence

2016-12-20

The International Monetary Fund threw its support behind its leader, Christine Lagarde, on Monday despite her conviction in a French court on charges of misusing public funds. Of course they did. Circling the wagons... With international elites and their institutions facing populist criticism amid political and social change in the United States and Europe, the 24 directors of the fund decided that this was not the time to leave the I.M.F. rudderless. Better to be steered by a criminal than to be left 'rudderless'... Earlier on Monday, the Cour de Justice de la République, a French court that considers cases against government officials, found Ms. Lagarde guilty of criminal charges linked to the misuse of public funds when she was France’s finance minister nearly a decade ago. But the court did not impose a fine or a sentence. In a statement, the directors of the I.M.F. said they had considered the court’s decisions and had “full confidence in the managing director’s ability to continue to effectively carry out her duties.” Yet the verdict — with its potential to tarnish Ms. Lagarde as a leader — came at a critical juncture for the I.M.F. Founded and largely managed by Europeans and Americans, the fund oversees a global economy in which faster-growing countries like China are seeking a greater role. They can have a greater role if they can fund it... Ms. Lagarde is the fourth of the last six leaders to come from France, and the difficult time the I.M.F. has had in anticipating, as well as reacting to, the European debt crisis has caused some to wonder whether the time has come to appoint a non-European leader. I hear Hillary isn't busy. The IMF knows graft almost as well as the Clinton Foundation... I.M.F. doctrine, which advocates free trade and austerity for countries in financial difficulties, has been criticized as elitist and not sufficiently in tune with the populist movements sweeping the globe. Supposedly elitist? With the people running it being who they are? For now, the fund must confront more immediate challenges. With Britain leaving the European Union, Italy’s future in the eurozone perhaps in doubt and the possibility of global trade wars being set off by President-elect Donald J. Trump, some have said the steady, experienced hand of Ms. Lagarde was needed more than ever. “She has been a very effective leader,” said Edwin M. Truman, a specialist in international finance formerly at the Federal Reserve and the United States Treasury. “Yes, there are big questions about the fund’s future. But for her to have to step down now — well, that would be complicated.” Always is when someone big is convicted of a crime... Jacob J. Lew, the Treasury secretary, expressed the Obama administration’s support for Ms. Lagarde, saying that “she is a strong leader of the I.M.F., and we have every confidence in her ability to guide the fund at a critical time for the global economy.” For the Trump administration, “I don’t think this kind of ethical question is likely to be the highest priority,” Mr. Truman said. While the I.M.F. and other global institutions did not figure in the presidential debate, Mr. Trump repeatedly criticized a “global power structure” that fixed the economy against workers. “At bottom, it’s all about French politics,” Mr. Truman said. Members of the I.M.F. board were well aware that Ms. Lagarde was facing trial in her native France over allegations that occurred when she was the finance minister in the administration of Nicolas Sarkozy. The consensus among the directors was that Ms. Lagarde’s transgressions occurred when she was not at the fund — in contrast to those of her predecessor, Dominique Strauss-Kahn — and since taking charge in 2011, she had proved to be a leader capable of presenting a softer side of the fund while fighting hard to bolster its legitimacy in the aftermath of the financial crisis. More so than her predecessors, Ms. Lagarde has pushed the fund to be more aggressive in taking up the cause of women and focusing attention on growing issues of inequality around the world. That makes it okay, you see... Over the last year and a half, she has also led a forceful public critique of Europe’s refusal to offer Greece debt relief in return for the difficult economic changes the country has been making. Nevertheless, while Ms. Lagarde may have retained the backing of her board for the moment, over the longer term, her French legal problems may have hurt her most valuable asset — her carefully constructed public persona. “She was a breath of fresh air, someone representing true change from the past,” said Peter Doyle, a former economist at the fund and now an outspoken critic. “Now she is just another tainted European leader.” Like many other tainted European leaders... Those are tough words. But economists note that the fund’s core mission of requiring financially ailing countries to reform their economies and fight corruption demands credibility and reputation of the highest order. And that starts at the top, with its leader — especially one who is as widely known as Ms. Lagarde. “It would be complacent if not delusional to say there will be no impact on the institution,” said Nicolas Véron, a specialist on international economics at the Bruegel Institute in Brussels. “The only question is how big is the impact — and how does it compare with the need for stability.” Ms. Lagarde’s legal issues in France have dogged her work at the fund since she was appointed in 2011. She took over as managing director after Mr. Strauss-Kahn resigned following accusations that he sexually assaulted a maid in a New York City hotel. The case against Ms. Lagarde centered on Bernard Tapie, a former entertainer and owner of Adidas who had previously been jailed on corruption charges. Mr. Tapie accused the lender Crédit Lyonnais, in which the French state had a stake at the time, of cheating him when it oversaw the sale of his share in the sportswear empire in 1993. Years of costly legal battles ensued. The court did not fault Ms. Lagarde for approving the arbitration, but it ruled that she had been negligent for not appealing the decision. The court, noting that a judge had previously invalidated the payout of 400 million euros to Mr. Tapie in a 2015 ruling and that she had “national and international” stature, decided not to punish Ms. Lagarde and spared her a criminal record. Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Ms. Lagarde’s lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve, said he had a “mixed” reaction to the verdict. “On the one hand, she is found responsible, but given the circumstances, given the responsibilities that Ms. Lagarde had at the time — in 2008, we were in a major economic crisis — the court decided that it would not sentence Ms. Lagarde to anything,” he said.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Dominique Strauss-Kahn acquitted of 'aggravated pimping'

2015-06-13

[BBC] A French court has acquitted former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of procuring hookers for sex parties in La Belle France, Belgium and the US. Mr Strauss-Kahn stood alongside 13 co-defendants, most of whom were also acquitted of "aggravated pimping". He has always denied knowing that some of the women who took part in orgies he attended were hookers. Lurid details of the former French presidential hopeful's sex life emerged at hearings in Lille in February. Although using hookers is not illegal in La Belle France, assisting in supplying them is illegal and regarded as procuring. Mr Strauss-Kahn had been accused of playing a pivotal role in facilitating the orgies. The verdict brings to a close four years of legal proceedings against Mr Strauss-Kahn, including charges of attempted rape which were later dropped in 2012.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Prosecutor asks for Strauss-Kahn acquittal in French sex trial

2015-02-18

[CA.NEWS.YAHOO] A French prosecutor asked a criminal court on Tuesday to acquit former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of a pimping charge for his role in what investigating magistrates argued was an organized sex ring using prostitutes. Strauss-Kahn was tipped to become French president before being accused of sexual assault by a New York hotel chambermaid in 2011. U.S. criminal charges were subsequently dropped, and the allegations that he participated in a French sex ring centered in the northern French city of Lille emerged later. "Did Dominique Strauss-Kahn pay prostitutes? The answer is no. Did he pimp prostitutes for others? The answer is no," Lille Prosecutor Frederic Fevre told the court before requesting Strauss-Kahn's acquittal. "Did he accept the services of prostitutes as a gift, whether from the prostitutes or from those who paid them? Well yes, but a man cannot be expected to forgo a few birthday presents, however early or belated," Mr Fevre continued. The prosecution's demand highlighted the difficulty of a potential conviction of Strauss-Kahn, 65. The trial is due to finish this week, with closing statements from the defense on Wednesday, but a verdict is not expected immediately. Investigating magistrates, who originally sent the case against Strauss-Kahn to trial over the objections of the same prosecutor, argued that the prominent Socialist was the instigator of parties involving prostitutes from 2008 to 2011 in Lille, Brussels, Paris and Washington. Under French law, investigating magistrates have the right to overrule prosecutors' initial recommendations to drop a case.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Dominique Strauss-Kahn's 'swinging lifestyle' shocks France

2015-02-14

That takes some doing, to shock the sophisticated French. [THEGUARDIAN] It is a saga of money, fame and destitute women ferried to luxury locations for sex with powerful men, against a backdrop of economic deprivation and social misery. France has been shaken this week by harrowing testimony from a trial in Lille that not only put in the dock Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief and one-time French presidential hopeful, but also examined a much wider, depressing picture of poverty, women submitted to sex acts against their will and alleged pimps who referred to them as “livestock”. At this point you're probably asking yourself: "What do his sexual depredations have to do with the way he did his job?" To which my reply is: "He wasn't arrested for the way he did his job." Even once the women had been reduced to the status of "livestock," if somebody rents you his cow you have an obligation to return it in as good condition as you got it. To complete the train of thought, the fact that he's able to regard other human being as "livestock" should really tell you what he thinks about all human beings who aren't him and (perhaps!) aren't in his personal circle. The way we think guides our decision-making. In court, Strauss-Kahn, 65, the one-time hero of the French left, Does the French left still acknowledge that he was once their standard-bearer, or have they now rearranged historical records such that they never knew him? flatly denied the accusation he aided and abetted the prostitution of seven women – a charge of “aggravated pimping” that carries a 10-year prison sentence. He said he never knew or suspected there were any prostitutes among the many women brought to him by regional French businessmen friends for group sex, at what he termed “festive afternoons” in Europe and the US while he was head of the IMF. Ah, yes. A string of many women are brought to you at the old chateau, among which you can pick and choose like a sultan, and you never, no never, not once, suspect they might be hookers. And you're supposed to be smart enough to run the world bank, telling entire nations where to spend their remaining money. But after three days of distressing testimony at a court in Lille – during which two prostitutes said Strauss-Kahn had subjected them to a sex act they did not want, and he self-assuredly explained his appetite for group sex and how his sexual style was “rougher than the average man” – France began considering the wider implications of the vast trial known as the “Carlton Affair”, after the luxury hotel in Lille in which Strauss-Kahn has never set foot, but which was at the centre of the first investigation... There's more. It's just as grimy.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Ex-IMF Chief Faces Pimping Charges

2013-07-27

[ABCNEWS.GO] Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will have to defend himself ...no one else will... Perhaps by now his generous wife will have decided his little escapades are no longer amusing enough to continue opening her purse for. in a French court on charges of aggravated pimping despite recommendations by prosecutors that the charges be dropped. Judges investigating the case in the northern city of Lille decided on Friday to go ahead with charges of aggravated pimping in a group. The case revolves around an alleged hotel prostitution ring and hinges on whether Strauss-Kahn knew he was partying with hookers and whose money was used to pay them. His lawyers have said Strauss-Kahn had attended "libertine" gatherings but did not know that some women there were paid.

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-Short Attention Span Theater-

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: 'Half man, half pig'?

2013-02-22

[FRANCE24] Dominique Strauss-Kahn "is half man, half pig", according to a former lover who has detailed their seven-month relationship in a kiss-and-tell book to be released next week. Extracts of "Belle et Bête" -- which can be translated as "Beauty and the Beast" or "Beautiful and Stupid" -- were published in respected weekly news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur This is considered news in France? Thursday, alongside an exclusive interview with author Marcela Iacub, a lawyer and newspaper columnist. Strauss-Kahn, known in France by his initials DSK and once billed as a possible Socialist candidate for the 2012 French presidential election, is described as unfeeling, selfish and sexually obsessed, "an artist of the sewers, a poet of abasement and filth". But these are the very traits that appealed to Iacub, who started her seven-month relationship with DSK in 2012, a year after he was infamously accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid at the New York Sofitel. Boy howdy, lucky for her she knew what she was getting into... "You have had a long list of sexual conquests ... of mostly vulgar and unattractive women," she wrote in the style of an open letter to her former lover. "It is one of the authentic and wonderful traits of the true pig, a form of generosity that you show to all women prepared to receive you." Ick. Who would want to be last in line for that?

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Strauss-Kahn questioned over pimping allegations

2013-01-25

[FRANCE24] French Sherlocks on Thursday questioned former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the northern city of Lille as part of an investigation into allegations that he helped procure hookers for parties. Disgraced former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn came face-to-face with a call girl on Thursday in the latest stage of a probe into charges that he procured hookers for sex parties. The one-time favourite to be French President was confronted with the escort girl as part of prosecutors' attempts to assess their different versions of events that have led to him being charged with "aggravated pimping as part of an organised gang," judicial sources said.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Strauss-Kahn settles with sex 'assault' maid

2012-12-01

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Disgraced former IMF chief and would-be French president Dominique Strauss-Kahn will settle out of court with a Manhattan maid who accused him of sexual assault, ending a sordid 18-month legal saga, reports say. According to the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , quoting unidentified sources "with knowledge of the matter," the 63-year-old French politician and the hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo, have "quietly reached an agreement to settle" her lawsuit. There was not yet information about any payments by Strauss-Kahn and "no settlement had yet been signed," the report said. Lawyers for the parties are due to go before a judge in the Bronx next week, the newspaper added. NBC television also reported the possible deal, confirming that it had yet to be inked in. Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn and Diallo did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports. Strauss-Kahn, who had been widely touted as a likely challenger to then president Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... , suffered a stunning fall from grace following his arrest at a New York hotel last year on the sex assault charges. He then faced a string of separate sex-related investigations in La Belle France. Diallo had sued Strauss-Kahn in New York civil court after prosecutors threw out assault charges filed against the globe-trotting politician, saying the maid's sex assault case would not stand up before a jury. Although Strauss-Kahn has since been mired in legal troubles and brought low by the repeated tarnishing of his once stellar reputation, that initial downfall at a posh Manhattan hotel in May 2011 came as a shocking surprise. At the time, Strauss-Kahn was jetting between world capitals as head of the International Monetary Fund and was expected to announce what would have been a formidable candidacy for the French presidency. Diallo, a maid at the Sofitel hotel, shattered that trajectory when she alleged the powerful politician had leapt on her in his room, naked, and forced her to perform oral sex upon him. Strauss-Kahn was cooled for a few years Book 'im, Mahmoud! as he was about to take a flight back to Europe. He later conceded that there had been a sexual encounter in the hotel room with the cleaner, but insisted that this had been consensual. The subsequent court proceedings and a brief spell in New York's tough Rikers Island detention center publicly humiliated Strauss-Kahn. Then it was the turn of the Manhattan District Attorney's office to face embarrassment as they admitted that their case was falling part, with Diallo being caught lying over several points.

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-Short Attention Span Theater-

Strauss-Kahn lawyers deny $6m deal with hotel maid

2012-11-30

Lawyers for former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn have denied reports he has settled a lawsuit with a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault. They denied reports that a deal of $6m (£3.7m; 4.6m euros) had been agreed and said negotiations were still under way. Mr Strauss-Kahn was held in New York in May 2011 after Nafissatou Diallo said he assaulted her in his hotel suite. Prosecutors later dropped charges amid concerns about her credibility. Lawyers William Taylor III and Amit Mehta said in a statement on Friday that reports of a settlement were "flatly false". "The parties have discussed a resolution but there has been no settlement. Mr Strauss-Kahn will continue to defend the charges if no resolution can be reached," their statement said.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Prosecutors probe new Strauss-Kahn rape case

2012-05-22

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's legal woes has deepened as French prosecutors opened a preliminary probe into accusations he took part in a gang rape in the US. Prosecutors in Lille, where Mr Strauss-Kahn and three others are charged in a vice case, said in a statement the probe centred on an incident "that could be described as gang rape" that took place in Washington, DC in December 2010. Strauss-Kahn, two businessmen and a police chief have been charged with "aggravated pimping in an organised gang" in Lille for allegedly organising a prostitution ring for orgies in La Belle France, the United States and elsewhere. Earlier this month prosecutors in the northern French city said investigating magistrates in the case had submitted new evidence, based on testimony from two Belgian sex workers, that could also implicate the men in a gang rape. Testimony from one of the hookers indicated that she had been forced into non-consensual sex acts while in Washington with Strauss-Kahn and the other accused. She has not filed a complaint. "I don't see the coherence of opening preliminary investigations for gang rape when the person concerned, who was questioned at length, did not file a complaint for rape," said one of Mr Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, Richard Malka. He said the opening of the probe "shows the incredible relentlessness" of Sherlocks against his client.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Strauss-Kahn files $1m suit against maid

2012-05-16

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Dominique Strauss-Kahn has filed a $1million countersuit against the hotel maid at the center of the sexual assault claims. A year after the scandal broke, Strauss-Kahn accused the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, of "knowingly and intentionally making a false report to law-enforcement authorities," the New York Post has said, citing court documents. The countersuit lodged on Monday at Bronx Supreme Court claims the maid's "malicious and wanton false allegation" undermined Mr Strauss-Kahn's reputation. The suit also indicates that the New York hotel maid damaged "other professional opportunities" without specifying political ambitions that were rocked by the scandal, the Post hassaid.

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