Kavanaugh’s defense was simple: he doesn’t remember it, so therefore in his eyes, it did not happen. DeGrasse Tyson’s case however, is far more complex and must be explored in more detail. The accusers have claimed more opaque, less definable instances of sexual impropriety, and ...read more
Last night it was revealed that two right-wing grifters, Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, were reported to the FBI for a hasty, rushed-together conspiracy that involved forcing women to make false claims of sexual assault against Robert Mueller. For those unfamiliar with either ...read more
Congratulations. You made it. And in grand style. Only a little over half the country thinks you’re a lying alcoholic rageaholic rapist prick. The important thing is exactly half the Senate was willing to look the other way. The country that let O.J. walk for murder allowed you ...read more
I'll confess here at the outset: my tolerance for Donald Trump and all of his accompanying cruel whimsy has reached an all new low. Chiefly, the shit flinging, without any real accountability for it, is overloading my logic circuits to the point of seizing up -- to the point ...read more
A few weeks ago, Real Time host Bill Maher invited Steve Bannon onto his show, after he was disinvited from the New Yorker Festival. The interview was criticized by the left, just as Bannon's recent appearance in The Economist's festival and his documentary with Errol Morris, ...read more
Adding insult to injury on a day when it looks like the future of women's rights in America are coming to an end, president Trump mocked former Minnesota Senator Al Franken for resigning after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him. "Boy, did he fold up like a wet ...read more
Maine Senator Susan Collins has been at the center of much of the debate surrounding the vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In the past, Collins has bolted party lines to vote with the Democrats, most memorably in the summer of 2017 when she sided with ...read more
Please excuse the caps in the headline, but this is too much. Too fucking much. If you want to understand what is at stake this November, please sit down and watch the following short clip where a Trump supporting mother from Bozeman, Montana, condones sexual assault in front of ...read more
There are only three areas of bipartisan consensus in America anymore: the sun is hot, water is wet, and Ted Cruz is a terrible person. Democrats have hated him since he was elected Senator in 2012, and Republicans haven't been much nicer - as Lindsey Graham said, "if you killed ...read more
The recent sexual misconduct allegations against [insert: famous male] by [insert: female accuser to be defamed] are all too typical of a movement that has outgrown its [insert: female undergarment]. We have, unfortunately, reached the point in our society where a successful ...read more
Last Friday, Anderson Cooper 360 aired a panel discussion led by CNN correspondent Randi Kaye where she talked with five Republican women about the allegations made against Judge Brett Kavanaugh by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. She started out by asking if they believed Kavanaugh ...read more
Over the past few days, Republicans have tied themselves in knots to defend Brett Kavanaugh from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused him of attempting to rape her when they were in high school. The GOP has trotted out all kinds of excuses, from the letter signed by 65 of ...read more
Since Doctor Christine Blasey Ford went public with her allegations that Brett Kavanaugh attempted to rape her in high school, Senate Republicans have tried to frame the debate as "he said/she said," with only two people to be questioned. Their efforts to stonewall an FBI ...read more
This weekend, Stanford Professor Christine Blasey Ford revealed that at 15, she was sexually assaulted by a then-17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh, who held her down and covered her mouth when she tried to scream. If there was ever a moment to end this farce of a hearing and yank his ...read more
Down in Tennessee, a male student at Central High School thought it would be funny to lift up the dress of a female student to get a peek underneath. She was not amused: The victim took a pair of scissors and attempted to strike him multiple times before eventually connecting, a ...read more
In 1977, 43-year-Roman Polanski, a powerful and famous director, gave a 13-year-old girl drugs and alcohol and proceeded to orally, vaginally, and anally rape her. He then fled the United States before being sentenced to jail and has been avoiding extradition ever since. Several ...read more
Last night's primaries in Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, and West Virginia garnered more attention for who lost rather than who won. In Ohio, Dennis Kucinich, the former Congressman and perennial Presidential candidate lost the nomination for governor this fall. Although his old ...read more
Let's get the obvious out of the way: Fuck Eric Schneiderman. I know we're supposed to do the whole "innocent until proven guilty thing" but just like with Roy Moore, Schneiderman's victims told their friends about what had happened so there is contemporaneous collaboration of ...read more
There is a good argument to be made that the Alt Right movement spearheaded by the likes of Steve Bannon, Richard Spencer, Milo Yiannopolous, and the polemicists at Breitbart was a reaction to the rise of identity politics on the left. Much has been written about this, and the ...read more
I have a personal story about Tony Robbins that confirmed many of my worst suspicions about the self help/positive thinking guru. It involves a close friend of mine who may face legal consequences for his run in with Mr. Robbins, and for that reason this article has to go behind ...read more
American schools have this fascinating double standard when it comes to how male and female students are allowed to dress. Boys can wear pretty much anything they want while girls are not allowed to wear anything that might be "distracting" to boys and/or male teachers. Case in ...read more
In the wake of the #MeToo movement that swept across America and much of the western world in October of 2017, I was so taken aback by the speed and intensity of it that I genuinely struggled to come to terms with what was going on. The sheer number of horrendous stories that ...read more
(PHOTO: Kricfalusi and a 15-year-old Byrd in 1996. Via Buzzfeed.) Many of you might not know this about me, but between 1999 and 2009, I ran my own animation studio called "Camp Chaos." Our first breakout cartoon, "Napster Bad," was a crude satire of Metallica's lawsuit against ...read more
If Donald Trump were black and a Democrat, he would have never been allowed to run for president in the first place. His "thug like" behavior would have been far too threatening to white male Fox News viewers, and you would barely remember his name let alone have to deal with ...read more
When Conor Lamb won his special election in Pennsylvania last week, he distanced himself from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, calling for new leadership if the Democrats retake Congress in November. Since Lamb won by only a handful of votes, this may have been shrewd ...read more
Donald Trump is starting to see the power in the #MeToo movement, and the power in the women who firmly believe that the time is up for the patriarchy and misogyny that has plagued us for so long. Trump is scared and his tactic to divert attention away is to rush to defend those ...read more
On Tuesday, several students at Princeton University walked out of a classroom due to an anthropology professor teaching a course on “Cultural Freedoms: Hate Speech, Blasphemy and Pornography,” repeatedly using the word "nigger" in class. Reported the Daily Princetonian: ...read more
The story broken by the New York Times today that revealed Hillary Clinton protected a male staffer accused of sexual harassment during her 2008 campaign against President Obama does not look good for the former first lady and Secretary of State. However, it is important to keep ...read more
The once world-renowned Olympic doctor, Lawrence G. Nassar, was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for decades-long sexual abuse of more than 160 women, many of them children. Larry Nassar was repeatedly hired, put in a position of power, and continuously committed sex ...read more
One year after the first Women's March, we marched again. Up to 2.5 million people marched in the United States this year and many more took part in sister marches worldwide. We hit the streets with signs and missions to protest this administration and the injustices happening ...read more
With the #MeToo movement comes so many people taking a hard look at their dating and sex lives and wondering if they are respectful and doing it right in the age of rape culture. It’s long overdue, of course, though so many have been trying to change this culture for a very long ...read more
In this special 'Facebook Live' episode of the Bantercast, Ben and Michael discuss the complexities and confusion surrounding the Aziz Ansari scandal and talk about the rise and fall (and rise again?) of Bitcoin. Is the Aziz Ansari episode a turning point in the #MeToo movement? ...read more
I am a feminist. I also love men. I respect men. I am inspired by men. As a woman … or rather, as a human of this world, I don’t want our culture to turn into a constant questioning and side-eying all all men. I fully understand that mistakes are made in life. No one is exempt ...read more
This is not a story about Aziz Ansari harassing or assaulting me. This is not a story blaming “Grace,” the woman accusing Aziz Ansari of sexual misconduct. This is a story intended to be part of a larger, more complicated conversation that is far from binary, a place my younger ...read more
by Michele Zipp At current time, it feels as if there are thousands of very pressing issues issues we have to take care of right now or the world will implode, leaving behind a mess of Bakken crude oil peppered with Trump’s hairs and golf balls floating in space. We are living ...read more
by Michele Zipp Just about everyone with a moral compass wore black to the Golden Globes on Sunday evening in a show of protest against sexual assault and harassment. It’s one of the many responses to the #MeToo movement and its follow up #TimesUp. The drivel of “who are you ...read more
Let's get this out of the way first. I would vote for Oprah Winfrey over Donald Trump for president every day of the week. It's not a remotely close contest and anyone with a functioning brain understands Winfrey is a real businesswoman with a track record of running several ...read more
Oprah Winfrey gave her unique take on the #metoo movement at the Golden Globes Award and quite literally brought the house down. This was without doubt one of the most powerful speeches made about the movement that is rapidly changing American society and needs to be heard by, ...read more
In our Christmas special, Ben and Michael are joined by two of our former guests, Kevin Glass and Christina McDowell. Kevin is a prominent 'Never Trump' conservative who writes for The Hill and Townhall.com, and Christina is the author of "After Perfect", a best selling memoir. ...read more