Janelll Ross and I Agree on What Led to Cosby's Fall

I'm interested to see that she has the same take I did-that a big part of Bill Cosby's fall was the 'revoking of his black credit card'-black folks turned on him because of his personal responsibility riffs he'd go on.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/12/some-thoughts-on-bill-cosby.html

Here is Ross:

"How Bill Cosby’s moralizing to black youth helped land him in criminal court"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/31/how-bill-cosbys-commentary-about-the-poor-helped-land-him-in-criminal-court/?postshare=3831451572978807&tid=ss_tw

Right it was when a black comedian called Cosby a rapist that it became acceptable over night for everyone to start calling him a rapist and repudiating him. Before that he was a most protected social icon.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/12/hannibal-buress-man-who-took-down-bill.html

Ok, back to Janell Ross:

"The tail end of 2014 and a good portion of 2015 seemed to produce a flood of new allegations, made by women who said Bill Cosby had drugged and or sexually assaulted them. Time after time, legal experts on cable news channels and reporters covering this seemingly never-ending string of accusations found that most of the claims concerned incidents that had occurred so long ago that the legal time limits for bringing criminal charges had long expired."

"The allegations came as a shock to many Americans who viewed Cosby as a wholesome family man, entertainer and generous philanthropist. And there was something else. Beginning in 2004 with an address at an NAACP awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. — a set of remarks often referred to as "The Poundcake Speech" — Cosby started making a host of critical assessments of the young, black and poor. He created a multi-city "call out" tour. Cosby would come to town, offer up some really strong words and outright admonitions for black teens, their parents and, as he saw it, scourges like sagging pants."

"The message was clear even if not precisely grounded in fact. The country's black underclass has only itself to blame for its various problems, according to Cosby. He did not seem to be aware that teen pregnancy rates in all groups have been declining for some time and high school graduation rates climbing. And, his critics said Cosby's assertions excluded or glossed over too many of the complicated structural, societal reasons for multi-generational disadvantage. But Cosby the public moralist and professional scold was unleashed. And some people — some black but many of them white and conservative — really liked what Cosby had to say.Don't get me wrong, I remember his 'call out' tour and wasn't particularly impressed at the time. But I can't help but notice that the pendulum has now turned completely the other way-now with the rise of Black Lives Matter, everything is blamed on structural. societal reasons and no piece of it is allowed to concern the individual."

You have the young activists in BLM claiming that 'In 400 years nothing good has happened in this country to a person of color'-ignoring the President, Loretta Lynch, Susan Rice, Eric Holder, Colin Powell, Condeleeza Rice, to go through a far from comprehensive list.

For whatever reason BLM finds it necessary to exaggerate wildly to make their point.

Back to Ross:

"By 2005 Cosby was still offering up his opinions about the black underclass, their clothing, their names, their child rearing choices and fecundity when he sat down and gave that civil suit testimony. It had been filed by a woman who claimed Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted her. But, more than a dozen other women also offered testimony about what they described as similar experiences with Cosby."

"Over the next few years, gossip rags, followed by a reputable Philadelphia news magazine, a local newspaper, then" The Today Show," began publishing and airing stories about various sexual assault allegations made against Cosby. Still most reporters avoided, ignored or worked around the allegations, including a Cosby biographer. Then, in 2014, a comedian made a joke on stage about the possible gaps between Cosby's public admonitions for others and private deeds. The floodgates opened. Women started telling their stories. Barbara Bowman — who had offered testimony in that civil suit and talked to Philadelphia reporters in the past — was among the first to make her allegations in a media outlet aimed at a national audience. She told her story in The Washington Post.Indeed, the causality between the blowback from Cosby's jaunt as public moralist and the charges against him couldn't be more clear:"

"More sexual assault allegations followed. Cosby and his legal team first tried to ignore them then, denied them. His public relation's team even tried to remind America that Bill Cosby was a beloved and groundbreaking entertainer and father figure ideal. That effort produced one of the most epic moments of mass of insult by meme ever seen. All the allegations and activity lead the Associated Press to seek a court order that would make Cosby's 2005 deposition a public document. Cosby's team tried to keep the it sealed. Note what the judge said in his order:

"This case, however, is not about Defendant's status as a public person by virtue of his exercise of his trade as a televised or comedic personality. Rather Defendant has donned the mantle of public moralist and mounted the proverbial print or electronic soap box to volunteer his views on, among other things, childrearing, family life, education and crime. To the extent that Defendant has freely entered the public square ... he has voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he's entitled to claim."

"In the 2005 deposition, Cosby described under oath obtaining drugs — notably the sedative, quaalude — from a doctor for sex with women."

"Cosby's accuser list grew so long, and large that New York magazine dedicated its entire cover to the women's photos and told their individual stories within its pages. However, the allegations levied against Cosby are, in most cases, so old that several legal experts had said it was unlikely that criminal charges could be filed (although some of the women are suing Cosby in civil court. Cosby is also countersuing some of these women as well)."

"After the emergence of stories that Cosby had allegedly assaulted women in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada lawmakers took action. They extended the time during which adult victims of sexual assault must report the crime, and therefore the timeline during which police and prosecutors must take action. Interestingly, Nevada lawmakers went a step further than several other legislatures around the country where bills to extend reporting times for sex crime cases and filing civil suits have passed, or have been introduced. Most of these bills, including one considered but not passed in Pennsylvania in 2015, have sought to extend the time that child sex abuse victims have to report or bring civil legal action connected to their abuse. Catholic organizations, insurance trade groups and some concerned with civil liberties have lobbied against these sorts of statute of limitation reforms."

"However, the charges filed against Cosby would seem to affirm what a sex abuse victim's advocate in Illinois told The Fix back in June after allegations of sexual abuse and banking charges surfaced against former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. An Illinois group began lobbying for a change in that state's civil court statue of limitation. In that state, victims' rights groups and others had already prompted lawmakers to change criminal time limits in 2014. But they wanted civil court reforms too because testimony and revelations made under oath (and potential penalty of perjury) in civil court can sometimes provide prosecutors with evidence or information they need to open criminal investigations, a victims advocate told The Fix."

"Now hop over to Pennsylvania, December 2015. When the Pennsylvania prosecutor described the decision to bring criminal charges against Cosby. He said that information revealed in a 2005 civil suit deposition which a court made public in July had, indeed, prompted his office to take action."

"It's a long and winding trail, with a lot of stops along the way. Cosby and his lawyers will no doubt continue to dispute the allegations of wrongdoing against him. But there's no disputing the fact that his choice to step on the soapbox played some kind of role in facilitating the process that helped drag those very allegations into the spotlight."

Then of course, you had the prosecutor who ran and won the election for District Attorney on a promise to prosecute Bill Cosby literally weeks before the statute of limitations. It's amazing though how tied what happened was to his time on the soapbox. Had he not done so, he probably wouldn't be where he is today.

Of course none of this bears on the question of his guilt or innocence. Yes, I can't help thinking he's guilty-the counterfactual would be that almost 60 women of various races and backgrounds are lying.

But this is what we have a court system to determine.