Cuomo, abortion and sexual harassment

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Letters to the Editor
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As if the accusations against New York Governor and Emmy-award winning BS’er about sexual misconduct weren’t bad enough earlier this year, the new report from the New York Attorney General, all 163 pages it, leaves little doubt that Andrew Cuomo is a truly despicable and massively hypocritical person.

I usually like to limit my discussions of issues to principles and theories and not focus on people, but Cuomo is the very embodiment of the rot at the root of the Democratic Party establishment.

One of Cuomo’s signature “accomplishments” was his signing of the “Reproductive Health Act” in January 2019. This strongly pro-abortion act was instigated by the Left’s fear that the newly appointed Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh, would single-handedly overturn Roe v. Wade and their precious right to destroy human life in the womb. This, despite the fact that Kavanaugh was widely considered the least likely SCOTUS candidate to do such a thing given his strong allegiance to the legal principle of stare decisis and the power of precedent.

Nevermind such technicalities. The Democrats tried to destroy him in the hearings based on this misplaced fear and nearly succeeded. They promised to continue to hound the poor man even after his confirmation because they were so sure he was guilty of unsubstantiated crimes as a teenager. No such effort materialized, of course, because it was all hogwash to begin with.

But back to our friend Cuomo. He was so worried about Kavanaugh’s potential menace to abortion he took the “brave” decision to rally the overwhelmingly Democratic NY legislature to pass a bill that would ensure further protection of and encouragement to the act of abortion, no matter what the SCOTUS may decide in the future. (What people seem to ignore is that even if Roe were overturned, states would have every right to legislate on abortion any way they saw fit; thus, Cuomo’s little stunt in 2019 was just that: a stunt designed to make him look like the hero of women’s rights.)

At the time of this passing, Cuomo was already known as quite the ladies man. He had already been divorced for 4 years and living with a TV celebrity chef. Some wondered at that time if his father’s famous rationalization for being pro-choice as a Catholic (public vs. private beliefs) were being taken to a new level by Cuomo, who violated his putative private beliefs by first divorcing his wife and then shacking up with a girlfriend.

More than that, given the recent revelations of Cuomo’s sexual harassment, he had joined a long list of high-profile lotharios such as Hugh Hefner, Larry Flynt, and Bill Clinton who strongly championed “women’s rights” while actually treating women like sexual objects and playthings in their personal life (although, to be fair, Clinton had enough decency to proclaim that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare”).

It’s not surprising, really. Abortion and its antecedent, birth control, were predicted to have this effect on men and society in general. Pope Paul VI, writing about the negative impact of the “contraceptive mentality,” said in 1968 something that matches well Cuomo and his ilk: “a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.”

The point here is that prominent Democrats and leaders of the elite love to advocate for this cause or that cause, and proclaim their pure intentions for doing so. But, in the end, when one looks at the results of their policies in the cold light of day, one often sees the opposite of the proclaimed intention.

Men supporting so-called “women’s rights” end up often abusing women (the vast majority of men caught up in the “Me-Too” dragnet of a few years ago were pillars of the liberal establishment). Men and women supporting “the poor” with various government programs to redistribute wealth are unwilling witnesses to the abject failures of those policies and the continued suffering of the communities they claim to help. The fools who call for “defunding the police” often have their own security and seem to care little for the increased crime and murder rates seen in the communities most affected by that perverse policy.

This inverse relationship between stated goals and actual results would, you think, cause these people to reflect and consider the facts, but they don’t. Usually, in fact, they double-down. Why? Because their policies have almost nothing to do with the goal of actually helping people as they do with the twin and perversely complementary goals of self-aggrandizement and power.

As long as enough voices in the elite culture celebrate their empty bromides, and as long as enough voters, swayed by the Democratic-media machine, continue to vote for them, these rank hypocrites will continue with their cynical game. It would be wryly amusing were there not so many victims of this dynamic.

Just ask Cuomo’s abuse victims, or the people locked in a dysfunction of violence in the inner cities, or the voiceless millions who die in the womb so that people like Andrew Cuomo can get a free pass for his jollies.

Trey Hoffman

Peachtree City, Ga.

51 COMMENTS

  1. Hey comment neighbors! Anyone else looking every day for Trey’s column blaming “the left”/Democrats for the chaos in Afghanistan and the earthquake in Haiti? Anyone want to take a run at the logic he will use? Can’t wait!

    Ha ha ha ha

  2. No. No. Just no. Unbelievable. All of you on the left are in super defense mode here. You can’t accept that Trey’s letters consistently call out the Democrat party.

    Stop calling Trey a sad man. Stop attacking him. Aren’t Democrats supposed to be the party of tolerance, not hurting feelings, of fact, of science? Then tolerate Trey’s opinion and right to free speech. Review his argument, and counter said argument intellectually!

    STOP the personal criticism of Trey. Just stop it. Treat him like your FRIEND, your NEIGHBOR. And act like an ADULT.

    • BUFF–
      I was calmly attempting to explain why your appeals to logically refute Trey’s letters are unheeded. The impracticality of it, at best; at other times, it’s close to impossible.

      As to treating him as a friend and neighbor, I am careful to try to
      be civil. I bear Trey no ill will. However I do worry about him.

      • Suz – Don’t waste anymore keystrokes. You explained yourself clearly, but Buff couldn’t turn off Fox News long enough to read your response before replying.

        You can’t make this stuff up.

          • Buff – You cut me to the quick. I want to be treated like a FRIEND and NEIGHBOR and not criticized with a derogatory descriptor.

            I thought you would have made me work a little harder to demonstrate how doling out dicta are more difficult than following them.

            Welcome to the comment section. A thick skin makes swimming in these waters much more comfortable.

          • Apology not needed, but nevertheless, appreciated. From all of us “regulars” that Cal so kindly allows to post here, I extend to you a warm welcome to the comment section of THE CITIZEN!

            Enjoy the debates; endure the jabs; and bring your “A” game. But please don’t take the barbs too seriously. We live in a wonderful community here in Fayette County where disagreements can fuel thoughtfulness but need not alienate neighbors.

      • Ha ha ha! Sorry I missed this dust-up over the past few days! Stranger, you’re still a punk to me. ROFL — Just kidding. That cracked me up — Buff calling for neighborliness and also calling you names. This is a fun little group right here, and I hope Buff will stick around and maybe call some other people names. If PTCitizen shows up, call him/her a clown, will ya?

        All that to say: I agree with Suz. I have no ill will toward Trey and have never made an ad hominem attack on him or called him a punk or anything. I worry about him! I suppose I’ve only been reading the Citizen online for less than a year, and I’ve seen Trey’s rants go from organized thoughts to sort of unhinged rambling, but fueled more and more by anger and fear, so of course I worry about him. I hope he has people in his life who can help him see the sky isn’t falling, or get him the help he needs.

        Buff says, “You can’t accept that Trey’s letters consistently call out the Democrat party,” but of course we can accept that. It’s all he does: any problem in the USA or the world, he blames on the Democrats. It’s funny because even problems clearly caused by the GOP he manages to blame on the Democrats. We accept that, for sure, we can’t avoid it.

        Buff goes on, “Aren’t Democrats supposed to be the party of tolerance, not hurting feelings, of fact, of science?” This part cracked me up almost as much as the name-calling part! How sad that a person apparently on the right (Buff calls us “all you on the left,” so I assume s/he is on the right) describes the lefties as tolerant, kind, and pro-science. If this is how you see the Democrats, WHY would you support the GOP? If this is the reputation of the left, who would want to be on the right? If the left is kind, tolerant, and pro-science, is the right mean, intolerant, and ignorant? I’m just asking the question based on Buff’s assertion about the left …

        S/He goes on, “Then tolerate Trey’s opinion and right to free speech. Review his argument, and counter said argument intellectually!” Of course we tolerate his right to free speech, and we do try to counter his arguments intellectually, but sometimes his arguments are so hard to follow it’s impossible, and, as Suz mentions, he throws so many arguments all jumbled together, you can’t refute them all at once. Your response would be as demented as the original letter.

        Some folks here get exasperated with Trey (some get exasperated with me, if you can believe it!), but for the most part I think we stay civil and try to refute facts with facts. It’s when Trey delivers 75% fantasy to 15% obfuscation to 10% fact that it becomes hard to present a cogent response.

  3. One of the difficulties in responding to Mr. Hoffman is that his letters are simply too long. They cover too many disparate subjects that end up in a mess; impossible to untangle. It would force anyone to write a similarly endless “response” to refute him.

    I suspect most of us who are appalled at his rants just choose the
    most egregious (or realize that another reader has already addressed a point, as we would have).

    Not to say there is any justification for insulting him, personally.
    I attribute it to the utter feeling of exasperation after wading into
    “Cuomo, Abortion, and Sexual Harassment”…and being mired in birth control, the “rot at the root “of the Democratic party, supporting the poor, defunding the police, women’s rights, the “elite culture”…circling back around to Cuomo’s “free pass for his jollies”?!
    Where would you start? Is there any end?!

    May I say, I am one of the readers who does feel sorry for Trey.
    His tirades seem to leave him more unhappy than anyone he targets.
    And I have noticed a distinct viciousness in his writing that was never evident in earlier years.
    “BS’er”, “fools” “shacking up”, “the Me-Too dragnet”…harsh words from a sad perspective. From a sad man, i fear.

  4. Credible accusations of sexual harassment against Democratic leader results in his being pressured to resign; he resigns, and he is indicted.

    Credible accusations of sexual harassment against front runner for Republican nomination for President, and the GOP nominates him.

    Which party is Trey accusing of supporting the treatment of “women like sexual objects and playthings in their personal life”?

    • Poorly said, Jax. Your gladly point out accusations against the GOP, but you fail to mention Joe Biden has been accused by eight women of unwanted advances/sexual harassment. The Democrat media did a pretty good job sweeping that under the carpet prior to the election (Business Insider, “Here are all the times Joe Biden has been accused of acting inappropriately toward women and girls”, May 4, 2020)

      • If President Biden has broken the law, I hope his accusers will come forward and alert the appropriate solicitors. No one should be above the law. If they come forward and are rebuffed by the solicitors, I hope they will raise a holy stink that can’t be ignored. If they refuse to come forward, there is no need to continue to speculate.

        After Watergate, the country needed a large dose of honesty. Presidents Ford and Carter were successful at least at this. After President Trump, our country needs the same prescription.

          • Come on Andy – You are better than this. The words “Trump” and “honesty” are mutually exclusive. I know that you haven’t started tuning into Fox.

          • Trump wasn’t part of the swamp, on either side, that cannot be tolerated in Washington…

            A Dem who didn’t tow the line would be run out of office the same way..sort of sad we have come to that.

        • Sorry, I misspoke about indictment. I knew the A/G had announced he had sexually harrassed women, in violation of state and federal law. A criminal investigation may be forthcoming, but nothing has been announced on that score. My apologies!

  5. Hey all you left-leaning posters…….instead of trashing Mr. Hoffman and making yourselves look like fools, how about picking apart his arguments, offering contrasting evidence, and backing up your claims with facts? When you start simply attacking someone because you don’t like their point-of-view, and you can’t argue against their points, you make yourselves look intellectually lazy and quite silly. Who cares about Mr. Hoffman…….prove to all of us that what he’s saying is in some way inaccurate or factually wrong. Otherwise, you’re simply acting like a temper-tantrum throwing 3-year old who’s not getting their way.

    • This whole piece is incoherent. There is barely an argument, if you can even call it that, to refute. It attempts (rather poorly) to draw a correlation to democrats support of women’s reproductive rights to a propensity to also sexually assault women. Doing this while completely ignoring that the republican party elected Donald Trump (grab em by the p****y amirite fellas??) to be president and while Matt Gaetz is somehow still holding a house seat. Like, holy hypocrisy. (BTW I am in favor of the governors resignation)

      Somehow you also invoke Pope, which is hilarious given the catholic church’s own propensity to cover up sexual abuse of children. Then he goes off on some rant saying that “Men supporting so-called “women’s rights” end up often abusing women.” What?? Often?? How can you possibly draw that conclusion? What statistics do you have to back that claim up? He is just cherry picking a couple of popular figures and projecting an uninformed opinion on them.

      There are so many fallacies in this letter and it’s every week with this guy. Nobody wants to spend their free time arguing with somebody who won’t make a good faith effort at reason. I do come around every couple weeks to respond in the comments section b/c there are readers who may wander down to our section of the forums and are looking for confirmation, refutation, or just extra thought to chew on. Some of these “lurkers” (affectionate term btw) may be forming opinions and gauging how ideas are received by the people in their community. I don’t think we need more opinion pieces from the community, but I do think the ones that are written (like this one) need to be checked.

      • You lack credibility when near the end of a three paragraph diatribe you write “…nobody wants to spend their free time arguing with somebody who won’t make a good faith effort at reason.”

        Maybe try to exercise a modicum of self control and ignore him?

          • Trey’s letters didn’t get Donald Trump elected. The reason you got Donald Trump in 2016 is because your side ran one of the most unpopular retread politicians in history for President and told everyone that they had to vote for her because she was a woman.

          • Of course Trey’s letters did not directly get Trump elected what a weird thing to make up out of thin air. I said people “like Trey.” Start thinking facebook groups and qanon boards with no fact checking. Think the mypillow guy or the rise of networks like OAN who cater to conspiracy and fear.

            Unpopular…. I recall that retread politician getting more votes than the Donald, but you know that. And it seems the only reason the cultural equivalent of Kim Kardashian was able to be elected is b/c of an antiquated electoral college system that gives more weight to voters in small states, meaning your vote can count more depending on where you own land (which is beyond stupid and very regressive for a democracy).

            Please understand reality tv stars don’t make good presidents. That man did not excel at policy or reason… only bloviating, self serving rhetoric with not a fact in sight to back it up. Kind of like Trey’s weekly letters.

          • I’ve seen no credible evidence that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2016 or 2020 presidential elections. This is a put up or shut up issue. The courts have not been kind to these conspiracy theorists.

          • You haven’t seen it because you haven’t looked. The degree to which you qualify your statement alone is demonstrative of how much you don’t want to find daylight in the possibility that our election system isn’t as free and fair as we want to believe. At least when “your guy” is declared the winner.

            Trust me. We are far behind the rest of the world in having secure elections. There are 3rd world countries who do a better job with election integrity than we do.

          • Andy – My “guy” didn’t win both elections. I would be ecstatic to see credible evidence that 2016 was invalid and concerned if 2020 was not on the up-and-up.

            When will these lawsuits be filed, the evidence presented, and their veracity adjudicated? This isn’t a taunt; it is a sincere question. I don’t search the dark web, so I don’t know what is out there. So far, I have some trust in the legal system (but not Congress) to be fair in weighing evidence.

    • Wing and Buff – Trey Hoffman has been writing virtually the same letter each week for several years. He listens to a headline from Tucker Carlson one evening and repeats it with a hyper-partisan twist, then makes his tired argument again. To wit, anyone holding a political view left of center hates America and god and is responsible for whatever today’s headline laments. No one right of center is held responsible for any ill, even if s/he does exactly the same thing that the person on the left has done. Trey has righteous indignation for these sins, so he is above reproach. Indeed, he is the perfect pharisee.
      His every illogical point has been thoroughly disputed with rational arguments by scores of commenters, even many on the right. And Trey proudly proclaims that he never reads any responses to his letters; thus, he is assured of repeating the same errors of judgement. Even though Hoffman repeats himself endlessly, many commenters merely use shorthand to refer to how Trey has previously been debunked scores of times.

      So, feel sorry for him if you choose, but he comes by the enmity expressed to him the old-fashioned way: he earned it.

  6. If we can’t win an argument, or if the facts are too inconvenient, let’s just insult the author! Trash him! Dehumanize him! After all, the Left is sooo tolerant of free speech. Oh wait, no that’s not true. If the speech agrees with the Left’s agenda, fantastic. If the speech does not agree with the Left’s agenda, just trash whoever uttered the speech. They are to be dealt with swiftly and forcefully. Ah…the tolerant left.

  7. I am in the unusual position of agreeing with Mr. Hoffman that the governor of New York is a sleazy womanizer whose resignation will be mourned by few. I am pleased that New York’s Attorney General, a Democrat, pressed the investigation and did not allow party loyalty to moderate her findings. I am pleased that media outlets from all political ideological bents reported the story without concern for the consequences of the truth. This includes what Trey dubbed “the democratic media machine.” I have little doubt that had Mr. Cuomo not resigned, the Democratic controlled New York legislature would have impeached and removed him from office. Isn’t it satisfying when the press and the Constitutional system of checks and balances values justice over personal or party fealty?

    The balance of Hoffman’s letter spotlights his complete inability to reason logically. A cause is not invalidated merely because a sleazy hypocrite advocated for it. Adolph Hitler was kind to his dog, but that hardly makes all dog lovers fascists. Welcome to Trey’s pretzel logic emporium.

    • Trey Hoffman, you wrote–
      “Men supporting so-called “women’s rights” end up often abusing women…”.

      What an asinine and incredibly insulting claim about fair-minded
      men.
      Not to mention, unsubstantiated.

      Is this what you intended to say, Trey?

      • Suz – You are so right. Trey lives in a very simplistic world of black and white extremes. Thoughtful analysis of the complexity of the real world is far too taxing for such an ideologue.

      • Suz – I read that as Trey calling out hypocrites, not fair-minded men. The quotes around womens rights should have been a clue. I would have thought for sure St. Fiction would have mentioned a white washed tomb reference for you.

          • Hi, Stranger and Brewster-

            Yet again, I thank you both for your considered responses.

            Through my personal lens, I viewed the quotation marks as indicating the utter idiocy of “women’s rights”. As if there is nothing more ridiculous than affording a women rights. Even the “so-
            called” made me bristle.

            Trey certainly seems to support that reading when he attacks women’s health care rights; especially concerning reproduction.

            There is still a long way to go. Ideally the women’s movement would have the support of ALL men.
            Including Trey.

          • It might occur to you that implying that there is a distinct set of rights only applicable to women as though they were somehow separable from the general set of rights applicable to all humans might be the real idiocy.

          • My old friend, PTCitizen–
            I am no expert (on anything) but there were some rights extended to men that were either denied to women–voting comes to mind–or simply
            don’t apply to both sexes–
            as I mentioned, women’s
            reproduction rights.

            Or are you agreeing that
            equal and equitable rights ought to be applicable to both sexes (and thus beneficial to all)?

            If so, I agree.
            Idiot, though I may be.

  8. Can you imagine this man in person?! What an absolute joke of a human being. Cal Beverly should be ashamed of himself for allowing a nut like this to even potentially have his opinion seen by others.

          • Lol it is not a problem to listen to what others have to say. Though I don’t think it best to continue giving a platform to a man who prefers gaslighting and fearmongering in place of reasoned arguments and evidence based discussion. Call me old fashioned

          • As has been said multiple times by myself and others… there is nothing preventing you from writing a letter of your own. It might occur to you that Cal will publish just about anything so as to have something worth publishing. And he probably remembers a time when his biggest problem was having time to read all the letters he got and then deciding which merited being published.

            Frankly, if we were to start taking away platforms from people, the best place to start would be the comments.