By VennerRoad, 11th Feb 2015
Cosby in 2006
Yet another American city has pulled the plug on Bill Cosby, and the campaign against him by so-called anti-rape and other special interest groups goes on, but while the mass media continues to peddle the line that “Cosby has never been charged with any crime...” an increasing number of folk are casting a skeptical eye over these allegations, and some of them have been doing sterling work.
One blogger in particular has been analysing the chutzpah that some of Cosby’s accusers have spewed out. The only serious criticism to be made of Jay Raskin is his blaming this hysteria on racism and sexism. For real? The reality is that neither race nor politics has anything to do with this ludicrous media feeding frenzy, but he is bang on when he calls these lies terrible and sad.
Cosby accuser Joan Tarshis may sound rational, but as Raskin points out, she has a long history of mental problems, problems which were severe enough to require her being Sectioned (as it is known in the UK).
At the very least her allegations warranted serious fact checking – even without her history of mental illness – yet the media rushed into print, taking her at her word that she had been attacked by Cosby in a specific location at a specific time. Says Raskin: “In checking sources...I found that Bill Cosby did not appear at the Westbury Music Festival the Fall of 1969”. Has any mainstream media source mentioned this?
Here is his analysis of the allegations made by Kristina Ruehli. He says she is unique in identifying the date of the alleged assault; this is not the case, at least not anymore, but as he points out, she has discredited herself by giving significantly different versions of what happened on different occasions.
Another accuser who has given both a specific date and a specific venue for an alleged Cosby assault is Louisa Moritz; she says she was violated by him on The Tonight Show in August 1971. And guess what, she was on the show that night, but Cosby was not! Raskin suggests she may have confused Cosby with another comedian, Nipsy Russell, who was on the show that night. Russell died in October 2005, so like Jimmy Savile (of whom more anon) he is fair game for any vile slander.
Cosby’s youngest accuser by some way is Chloe Goins, and Raskin has done his homework on her allegation too. Like Louisa Moritz, convicted prostitute Goins was foolish enough to claim she was assaulted by Cosby on a particular date; she says she was drugged and raped at a party, which according to Raskin was attended by 800 people. But not apparently by Cosby, who had recently undergone minor surgery. Two days before this spectral attack, Cosby was in New York with his wife. What is really going on here?
Although many lawyers have commented on the Cosby allegations, few have exhibited any nous, but one who has is CNN legal analyst Richard Herman. Here is a short audio of him lambasting these accusers, some of whom he says are publicity whores, and all or most of whom are past their sell-by dates.
The number of accusers is certainly impressive, but the number of sightings of the Loch Ness Monster is even more so. According to Jay Raskin, the whole racist media conspiracy against Cosby will shortly unravel. This claim is unduly optimistic; so much mud has now been thrown that for well-meaning but gullible media people like Abby Martin, there must be a raging inferno behind all that smoke. There can be little doubt though that in five or ten years from now a great many more people will have seen through this farce, whether or not Cosby is still around.
For those interested in a lengthy video analysis, check out this documentary, and for those with an interest in justice, look at what has happened in the UK recently where there is no statute of limitations, and where several media personalities have suffered far worse than Cosby for alleged misdeeds that do not involve drugging and raping women.
These men - including former A List celebrity Rolf Harris – are now behind bars based on what evidence exactly? Even the case against twice convicted paedophile Gary Glitter is wafer thin, yet he will shortly face a substantial prison sentence based on fragments of memories of events that almost certainly never happened.
This whole insane witch-hunt began with the death of Jimmy Savile, a man who like Cosby was said to be powerful and untouchable. Genuinely powerful men have been disgraced and even forced from office for lesser crimes than those alleged against Savile - Richard Nixon for one. Although he escaped legal sanction, another serving US President, Bill Clinton, had his name dragged through the mud over a sordid though consensual encounter with a woman young enough to be his daughter.
If the British police in particular had put as much effort into investigating the accusers of Rolf Harris, Max Clifford, Dave Lee Travis and others as have Jay Raskin and a handful of others, none of these terrible miscarriages of justice would have happened. A woman who walked into a police station to report a non-sexual assault or a robbery would be asked first and foremost when and where did this crime occur. What would be the reaction of the police if she said five years ago, but had only found the courage to come forward after speaking to a counsellor or a victim support group? They would show her the door, which is what should have happened to the Operation Yewtree “victims”.
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