Al Franken 'Greatest Groper' billboard stuns L.A. commuters

Los Angeles commuters were distracted from their iPads and cellphones on their way to work by a giant billboard that was altered to draw attention to the Sen. Al Franken sex scandal.

California street artist, Sabo, has gone after liberal politicians and Hollywood celebrities for years. Usually, he goes small--a poster-size piece at a bus stand or places with a lot of foot traffic. But his latest work involves a billboard for the upcoming film "The Greatest Showman." 

It's yooge!

"This hit cost me about $1,000 out of pocket," he tweeted Thursday morning. "I obviously can't crowd fund these projects so donations via [my main] site at http://www.unsavoryagents.com are much appreciated."

Now the question remains: will President Trump send him the dough anonymously or publicly?

The billboard shows Franken in his signature lecherous pose next to a circus performer for actor Hugh Jackman's flick about P.T. Barnum's rise to fame. You know Barnum, he said something like: "For every buck there is a schm*ck."

Franken is a Minnesota Democrat who, unlike Democrats John Conyers and Ruben Kihuen is not being told to resign by Nancy "Dancing Hands" Pelosi and others. 

Franken issued a very carefully worded apology to a gaggle of women last month for grabbing their asses while smiling happily into the camera which, in one photo, actually proved he was groping a woman--in that case it was radio host Leeann Tweeden.

"I know that I am going to have to be much more conscious when in these circumstances, much more careful, much more sensitive and that will not happen again going forward," Franken said, speaking as if he unconsciously and accidentally allowed his hand to inadvertently grab the buttocks of multiple women who came forward, and likely more who did not.

His hands need a good talking to.

He refuses to resign.


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Two more women accuse Franken of inappropriate touching

Oy, not again

Two more women, not familiar with each other, have come forward and told the Huffington Post that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) touched their buttocks in separate buttock touching incidents. This brings the sexual misconduct incident allegations against Al Franken to four, so far.

Radio host Leeann Tweeden wrote last week that Franken kissed and groped her without her consent during a 2006 USO tour.

On Monday, Lindsay Menz said Franken groped her butt at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010, after being elected as a senator.

The two women had remarkably similar stories and both spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of repercussions. Both had also been telling their stories over the years, which lends credibility to them.

In a sweat-stained statement to HuffPost, Franken said, "It's difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don't remember those campaign events."

The first woman, a 38-year-old book editor who lived in Minneapolis at the time said Franken groped her when they posed for a photo after a June 2007 event hosted by the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus in Minneapolis. She wanted a photo with Franken because her mother "loves him" and wanted to give her the photo.

Two women close to the first woman corroborated her story.

"My story is eerily similar to Lindsay Menz's story," she said. "He grabbed my buttocks during a photo op."

The second woman said that weird Al cupped her butt with his hand at a 2008 Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis. He also suggest they visit the bathroom together.

"My immediate reaction was disgust," the second woman said. "But my secondary reaction was disappointment. I was excited to be there and to meet him. And so to have that happen really deflated me. It felt like: 'Is this really the person who is going to be in a position of power to represent our community'"

Franken  told HuffPost, "I can categorically say that I did not proposition anyone to join me in any bathroom." 

Okay, so he calls it a 'washroom.'

The first woman said that Franken is a "serial groper" and that's why she wanted to tell her story. "Only two people have come forward and people are saying that this is a right-wing conspiracy," she said. "It's not. I'm not a liberal person. ... I voted for him after this happened."

The second woman, who said she was groped at a fundraiser, said it took place in the fall of 2008 at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. She was excited about attending the event. She was looking forward to looking to meeting someone she wanted to support.

"I had never attended anything like that," she said. 

She and her friends found Franken and introduced themselves to him.

"I shook his hand, and he put his arm around my waist and held it there," the second woman said. "Then he moved it lower and cupped my butt. I was completely mortified."

Franken is such a classy guy.

The woman had to escape Franken's clutches by excusing herself to go to the bathroom. It was then that he leaned in and suggested that he go with her. She grabbed a friend and ran to the bathroom leaving Franken behind, all sweaty and disgusting.

Since the incident, the woman told several people about what happened but didn't want to report it at the time.

I felt like I didn't have a voice," she began. "This man had all of the power, all of the authority. In addition, he is a white man and I am a woman of color. I was 21 years old. And I was afraid that he would use all of those privileges to discredit me, to make me feel even smaller than I already felt."

Now she's more confident thanks in large part to the many women who have come forward to share stories of sexual harassment by men in power.

What Franken is alleged to have done is not as bad as what Roy Moore is alleged to have done, but in both cases a power dynamic is clear. Also, in both cases the allegations of both men's behavior seem true based on corroborative accounts by the alleged victims.

Should Franken and Moore resign?

I believe they should and I also believe the names of others who have been protected with secrecy need to be made public. We pay their salaries; they work for us, it's time to take our government back from the politicians, even if we have to 'clean house' and Senate. 



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Franken's in hiding from the truth

As most people know, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) is dealing with two women claiming that he has been sexually inappropriate with them. One woman, Leeann Tweeden said that in 2006 while on a USO tour, Franken stuck his tongue down her throat and played field hockey with her tonsils, and also grabbed her breasts on the plane home while she slept.

The other woman, Lindsay Menz, said that in 2010, at the Minnesota State Fair, Franken grabbed her buttocks while they were having a photo taken by her husband.

Franken has dropped out of site and may be hiding at a safe house. While pretending to apologize to Tweeden and Menz, he said that he didn't recollect either instance as it was described by the women.

But he's a U.S. Senator, so it's obvious that he lies.

On a bright note, however, the entire female staff of liberal Democrats of "Saturday Night Live" where Franken was a failed comedian before moving on as a failed senator, said that they never experienced any sexual misconduct by him.

In fact, most of the women in the state of Minnesota where Franken represents, said that they have not been sexually assaulted by him, nor have they even met him.

So that's the end of the story and now we can all move on. . . nothing to see here. 

Franken is innocent, but Roy Moore, the Republican running for the senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions of Arkansas is guilty.

The truth is, they both appear to be guilty--the evidence against Moore is very believable. The evidence against Franken is photographic evidence and believable testimony of two women.

This is not a partisan issue. It's a sexual misconduct issue and the only side you should be taking is on the side of truth. And when we cannot know the truth with absolute certainty, we might the word of the women who came forward, at least when their word is plausible.

And it's plausible in these cases.



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Franken accused of groping yet again

Another woman came forward accusing Sen. Al Franken, a guy who looks as if he was an extra in the Star Wars bar scene, of groping her in 2010.

The woman, Lindsay Menz, alleges that Franken grabbed buttocks while posing together for a photo at the Minnesota State Fair. 

Ms. Menz also tweeted about the alleged incident last Thursday, in response to claims made by Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles radio anchor that Franken groped her and forcibly shoved his tongue down her throat during a USO tour in 2006. This was prior to his becoming a senator, however, this latest allegation comes while he was in office.


"In August 2010, @alfranken grabbed me while taking a photo together at the Minnesota State Fair. I felt violated & embarrassed. I 100% believe your account of him & his actions, @LeeannTweeden. Thank you for sharing your story," Menz tweeted.

Menz, 33,  contacted CNN and gave more details on Thursday, soonafter the first allegation was made. She said the incident happened at a booth at the fair where elected officials, political candidates and celebrities stopped by and had their photos taken. It was nowhere near the "Salute to Dairy" display which featured a sculpture of a refrigerator made completely out of butter.

Menz said that her husband took the photo and that Franken "pulled me in really close, like awkward close . . . He put his hand full-fledged on my rear. It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek."

[But he swears he didn't squeeze so it doesn't count.]

The Tweeden-Franken incident is captured for posterity in a photo where the so-called comedian clearly had his hands either touching Tweeden's breasts (she was asleep), or very close to them, as he grinned like an idiot into the camera.

Franken immediately apologized and alleged that he felt "disgusted with myself" for the photo [and for getting caught] but disputed Tweeden's recollection of the skit rehearsal, which is a half-buttocks apology, if you think about it.

Franken refuses to resign because he's a Democrat and this is what they do.

The senator is currently suffering from chronic convenient memory syndrome and said he does not remember taking the photo with Menz.

"I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don't remember taking this picture," Franken claimed. "I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected."

So butt-grabbing has become an 'interaction.'


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The Useless Senate Ethics Committee

Checking his breath

The Senate Ethics Committee is about as useful to ethics violations as an aspirin is to blindness. And Mitch McConnell is as effective a Senate Majority Leader as Anthony Weiner is as a life coach.

Just hours after Leeann Tweeden went public over Sen. Al Franken's (D-MN) sexual misconduct, in which he is alleged to have kissed and groped her without consent during a 2006 USO tour, McConnell (R-KY) dealt with the matter by farming out the problem to the Senate's Select Committee on Ethics.

This is in contrast to McConnell saying that the GOP candidate for Senator of Alabama, Roy Moore, must step down for an alleged claim that he was sexually inappropriate with a 14-year-old girl almost forty years ago. 

In Franken's case, he admitted the assertion by Tweeden because there was photographic evidence supporting her claim. In Moores' case, he flatly denied the allegation, although there is strong collaborative evidence the claim is true. 

But the problem with McConnell is that he lacks consistency, and his recommendation for a Senate Ethics Committee to handle Franken's case is nothing more than a free pass to Franken, an unfunny former comedian turned senator.

Of course, Franken not only agree to a Senate Ethics Committee investigation, he acted as if it was his idea to have one. The reason is simple: out of over 600 prior investigations, not one has resulted in an expulsion or other punishment for the perps. 

Franken has nothing to lose and will likely receive nothing more than a wag of the finger.

"As with all credible allegations of sexual harassment or assault, I believe the Ethics Committee should review the matter. I hope the Democratic Leader will join me on this. Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable--in the workplace or anywhere else," McConnell said in a statement.

So naturally, the Democrats were delighted with McConnell's suggestion and jumped on the idea faster than Bill Clinton on an aide.

Franken said he had a different recollection of the events between him and Tweeden, but just like he made it clear in his dull book, "Giant of the Senate," he will say anything for his political gain, and is an admitted liar.

The main problem is, the Select Committee on Ethics, which started in 1965, is comprised of 3 Senate Democrats and 3 Senate Republicans. This prevents any action that isn't supported by at least one member of the other party, and the senators rarely deviate from party lines. So the committee tends to be more political and less ethical.

The last time the committee took serious action against a sitting senator began in 1992. The Washington Post broke a story that Sen. Bob Packwood (R-OR) had "made uninvited sexual advances to women who have worked for him or with him" which included 10 staffers and lobbyists. The committee was slowed by partisan deadlocks but ultimately, 19 women came forward against Packwood.

Packwood's own diary contained damning evidence (proving he was almost being too stupid to be a U.S. senator but got in just under the wire, like Franken) and it wasn't until September 1995 that the committee completed its investigation and recommended Packwood's expulsion.

Packwood resigned his seat the following day.

The irony regarding McConnell's decision for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into Franken's 2006 behavior, two years before being elected to the Senate, is palpable. 

In another instance, McConnell cast doubt as to whether the committee has the power to act in such cases. 

Specifically, in 2007, Sen. David Vitter's (R-LA) phone number appeared on a client list for a prostitution ring. McConnell argued that since Vitter was not in the U.S. Senate but in the House of Representatives at that time, there was little the Senate could do.

"It appears whatever might have occurred, occurred before this individual came to the Senate, therefore raising serious questions as to whether the Senate has jurisdiction over it," said McConnell.

Even in a case as clearcut as Packwood's, it took three whole years before anything was done. Franken could die of old age or gross lack of humor before any consequences are meted out.


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