Garrison Keiler and his radio program have been terminated from Minnesota's Public Radio station today after an allegation was made he inappropriately touched a woman's back. He gives this account of what happened: [More...]

Matt Lauer is the latest to topple. An allegation was made against him Monday Night, and today he is fired.

“While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”

Variety has the raunchy details from the multiple women accusing him of sexual harassment.

These accounts of Lauer’s behavior at NBC are the result of a two-month investigation by Variety, with dozens of interviews with current and former staffers. Variety has talked to three women who identified themselves as victims of sexual harassment by Lauer, and their stories have been corroborated by friends or colleagues that they told at the time. They have asked for now to remain unnamed, fearing professional repercussions.

Tuesday Update: I'm in court today,I won't be posting until tonight.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are officially engaged. I always enjoy seeing photos of them even though I lost interest in Suits after the second season. Good luck and a happy life to both of them.

The Bali volcano is about to blow.

Did anyone get any great deals on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? I did not find anything that I just had to have.

I spent most of my reading time this weekend on ISIS and the Middle East. It is such a mess over there. ISIS has lost so much territory in Iraq and Syria, it no longer has a "state" to govern, but it certainly is not dead. It is regrouping in other countries and causing and threatening more mayhem along the way. Al Baghdadi has issued a "text message" calling for attacks on the media, including Al Jazeera. ISIS released videos of new "wiliyats" this week, some in places I had to look up where they were. In Syria, HTS, a coalition rebel group that included what was left of al Nusra, which had been affiliated with Al Qaida, has just turned on al Qaida arresting some top former leaders of Nusra. The Taliban and ISIS, while enemies, are both fighting hard in Afghanistan. Like I said, it's a mess in the Middle East, but also in Africa and places in South Asia.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

My Thanksgiving has begun with the great Thanksgiving tradition of hearing the 18 minute version of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant, recorded in 1967 on the radio. This year is the 50th anniversary! If you miss it on your local radio, you can listen here at noon and again at 6:00 p.m. MT.

If you're wondering where Alice is, she's here. Does anyone besides me still have a hardcover edition of her 1969 Alice's Restaurant cookbook in their kitchen? (Photo here.) It's filled with tasty recipes and very easy instructions. Her red chili recipe is still my favorite. And she uses ingredients you'll already have in your kitchen.

The line that stood out to me today: "If you want to end a war, you have to sing loud."

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you haven't already told us, what's on your menu and who are you spending the day with. This is an open thread.

Thanks to all who donated to TalkLeft yesterday -- please keep the contributions coming, they are a huge help!

Articles I recommend reading:

• Reuters: Ivanka and Fugitive From Panama

  Exclusive: How an alleged fraudster in Panama, working with Donald Trump's daughter, helped make Trump's first international hotel venture a success. The broker was in business with a money-launderer and two criminals from the former Soviet Union. Then he fled.

• The ramped up security and forced removal of beggars in Hyderabad, India in preparation for Ivanka's visit next week, where she will resume her role as the Administration's spokeswoman for empowering female entrepreneurs.

  A US Secret Service team has made several rounds of visits to the hotels and the GES venue and reviewed security arrangements for Ivanka. They would bring their own bullet-proof vehicles for Ivanka to travel within Hyderabad, besides carrying their own specialised weapons and bringing squads of trained sniffer dogs.

[More...]

I think Donald Trump made one of is worst decisions yet yesterday in expressing his support for Roy Moore over a Democrat. Why? Because it was so transparent that he cares more about getting his tax bill passed and scoring a win with Congress (after the total beating he took on health care) than whether or not the Republican who would be sitting in the Senate was a child sex abuser.

The about-face by Ms. Most Unimportant Person in the World confirmed it.

Kellyanne Conway suggested that the White House remains open to Roy Moore's embattled senate candidacy on Monday when she told Fox & friends that "we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through" -- less than a week after Conway said that "no Senate seat is worth more than a child" in the wake of a series of sexual allegations against Moo

[More...]

It's been days since our last open thread, and my next thread will be next one. It's right around the corner. This one got so long and specific, I am limiting comments to the topic under discussion. For those of you who view Talkeft site as a little community of sane people trying to accomodate themselves to life in an insane world, the news will be expecially pertinent to you.

Ok, here goes. I think I'm about ready to switch TalkLeft to Wordpress. Readers may remember I started the project in 2013, intending for it to be a "premium access" version of TalkLeft. I abandoned that idea pretty quickly, deciding to keep it free instead, and I have been tinkering with the design and other tweeks ever since. Depite WP's thousands of designs and plugins,
most of which I've read or tested out, the truth is, Wordpress is deliberatly made with some features off limits. An uber-coder could change it, but not a mere mortal like me, with only html training and not even css) under my belt. But take a look, I've tweeked it a lot.
And after trying out hundreds of new themes.
I confident that the one I have, which is the same as this one, only bigger and with bigger text, is all the change I need. [More...]

Glenn Thrush has been suspended from the New York Times and will be entering an in-patient alcohol treatment program, following a Vox expose of his conduct with young female reporters. The report has copies of text messages between Glenn and one of the women.

I'd like to see the reporters focus on the allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment against Donald Trump over the years. Trump, like the carnival barker he is at heart, just yells "Clinton" when the topic is raised, knowing it will deflect attention. Clinton is not sitting in the Oval Office or any public office. What he did or didn't do 25 years ago is a public record, was examined in depth at a House and Senate impeachment trial, in the Paula Jones lawsuit and more. Trump (and his Clinton-hating supporters) conveniently fail to mention that Monica Lewinsky, according to her public statements, engaged in a consensual relationship.

Glenn Thrush allegedly made unwanted sexual advances -- several women have made the same allegations against Trump. Thrush's accusers believed he was in a position to help their careers, and therefore his unwanted overtures were sexual harassment. Trump's accusers claim he used his position of power and wealth to make unwanted advances against them. Clinton is different, he used his position of power to engage in a consensual relationship. [More...]

Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles reporter has issued a statement detailing a pretty disgusting encounter with Al Franken in 2006. Franken was not a Senator at the time. The story ends with a photo of him grabbing her breasts while she's asleep on the military plane home from Afghanistan.

The alleged incident occurred during her 9th ISO Tour to entertain the troops. (Her father was a Vietnam vet and her husband (then her boyfriend) is an Air Force Pilot.

Franken had written some skits for the show and brought props and costumes to go along with them. Like many USO shows before and since, the skits were full of sexual innuendo geared toward a young, male audience.

You can read the rest at the link. [More...]

Ohio began the process of executing Alva Campbell, a 69-year-old inmate with medical problems yesterday morning. The executioners jabbed him with needles for 30 minutes, in his arm and below his knee, trying to find a usable vein to inject him with the lethal drugs. They couldn't find one. At 9:40 a.m, the reporters were told to leave the room, and the execution was halted.

Gov. John Kasich has rescheduled the state-ordered killing for June, 2019. Why that date? Unknown. [More...]

From Tina Brown's memoir: Donald once poured red wine down the back of a gown worn by Vanity Fair journalist Marie Brenner (and told another journalist he had done the same to Leona Helmsley.)

In news worth reading: An investigation by the BBC uncovers a deal to let ISIS members leave Raqqa as it was falling. The Washington Post reports on Russia using video game images on the topic of the U.S. colluding with ISIS. Bellingcat's report is here.

A new report commissioned by Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee addresses how much land the U.S. could seize under eminent domain to build Trump's border wall. The Trump Administration has not disclosed what this might cost: [More...]

Attorney General Jefferson Sessions testified before Congress today about Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. He denied lying to Congress. He just has a bad memory. (Warning: auto-play video, shame on the NY Times.)

“I have always told the truth,” Mr. Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee, adding that he stood by his previous testimony because “I had no recollection of this meeting until I saw these news reports.”

In October, he claimed to be unaware of anyone in the campaign who had contacts with Russians. He also said, “And I don’t believe it happened,” he said then. [More...]