jonathan pardo

Free Association Management / Rix Records / The most interesting man in the world (or at least my block!) - Lauren Sanderson, Kids in America, Ren, Traces

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

@evanwch @JenniferSey To be fair it's more of a she said, she said, she said, she said / he said (and has a Nazi tattoo).

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

@errollouis @grahamformaine "controversies" (plural) Errol.

[Camilla Tominey @CamillaTominey]

Just a reminder, Polanski is the actual leader of a political party, calling for a list of Jews to be compiled.

[Lyndsey Fifield @lyndseyfifield]

I bucked all advice from my friends (and resisted my conservative bias) and decided to fully trust the Times journalists.

As they left my home they asked that I not talk to any other outlets and I insisted then and repeatedly over the following weeks that I would keep my word and only share this story with them.

But then the weeks dragged on. They kept coming back to us saying the editors needed more. I needed to go on the record (okay). We need more screenshots (okay). I met every bench mark they set, eager to provide more sources or evidence as needed.

After the story went up I began to ask them … wait, where are the stories from the other women? Where are their accusations of sexual assault? Why am I the focus? Why are there 11 paragraphs dedicated to detailing my work history (more than has been published about Graham’s by far)?

Why does it say “nobody could corroborate” when I offered them sources that COULD corroborate?

Why did they include an out of context quote from a friend joking “do not call Graham” after I called off my wedding? (Because she knew I would never).

Where were the screenshots they’d said they would use? Or the mention that I’d supported local democrats and that most of my family (and husband) are liberal?

The editors said it was too much, they explained.

The Times also failed to include any mention that I DID confide in multiple friends through the years that Graham had been abusive — long before he was running for office. Those friends confirm they told the Times so.

It dawned on me that this really was a set up all along. The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign. Violating the trust of his victims. Shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life.

And at the end of my call with them I reluctantly accepted their insistence that this was still a powerful story and that I had done a brave thing. And I thanked them for all the hard work they had put into it.

Still fawning after all these years.

[Lyndsey Fifield @lyndseyfifield]

Anyone who has ever extracted themselves from a relationship with a narcissistic abuser knows it isn’t clean or easy.

I cringe remembering how many times I tried to play the “cool girl” or fawn in response to what was clearly abusive, coercively controlling behavior by Graham.

I also know how dangerous it is to become the target of a narcissist — so even long after our relationship ended I continued to be upbeat any time he reached out, though I would also immediately shut down any attempts on his part to initiate flirting or romanticizing of the past.

Yes, the day I saw him announce he was running I wanted to make sure people knew he had a Nazi tattoo — and I was terrified he would find out it was me.

But of course he knew it was me.

What’s ironic is I absolutely never would have shared my story if he hadn’t been relentlessly attacking my character behind the scenes for months once the tattoo story came out.

I tried to signal that I wasn’t the source and stayed completely silent about him on social media even as most of my friends posted regularly about what a bad person he is.

But then in early April the New York Times came to me. I asked how they got my number. I said I was not interested in sharing my story. They said but wait—there are other women. Women terrified to tell their stories, too, and you need to band together. WE will help you. We will protect you. Men can’t keep getting away with this.

Hours before their first call to me I saw Eric Swalwell’s name plate get removed from his office door in Cannon. It felt like fate.

I welcomed the two journalists into my home days later, nervous and overwhelmed. Justin Fairfax had just murdered his wife and himself the previous day and even conservative pundits were conjecturing that “if only those women hadn’t accused him of abuse, this never would have happened…”

But I told them my story. I let them take pictures of my diary pages. I sent them screenshots of messages and gave them phone numbers and contacts. It was excruciating. I was surprised by what details I remembered, and as I poured through old messages I was horrified by how much I had forgotten.

I explained very clearly that, like many women abused by their partners, I had not told anyone about his violence at the time—I had covered for and defended it. I accepted his earnest apologies. They said that’s fine because the diary entries and my on the record story was enough.

They connected me to two of the other victims so we wouldn’t feel so alone. I insisted to each of them that I trusted the NYT journalists and that we were doing the right thing despite their (sadly very accurate) sense that something was wrong.

One of the victims and I realized our relationships with Graham overlapped completely - he had been cheating on both of us the entire time we were together.

I should note here that my life is just… beautiful. These are the best years of my life. Raising two young girls in a safe, beautiful neighborhood where I work from home and shuffle my children from dance classes and soccer to church events — I am blessed far beyond what I deserve with wonderful friends and family and the most loving, brilliant husband in the world. Why would I blow my life up like this? Why would I risk the psychotic doxxing from violent leftist activists?

Because while I have been terrified to come forward I decided this was the “hard right thing” to do. The guilt of staying silent has nagged me.

Most therapists recommend a “gray rock” approach to extracting yourself from narcissistic abuse — it works really well, but it is a gift to the abuser, allowing them to persist in their delusion that they’ve done nothing wrong.

I couldn’t stay silent as he continued to lie and lie and lie. I want my daughters to boldly speak out if they’re ever abused as I was.

[David G. Greenfield @NYCGreenfield]

It’s simple.

Anyone who attended an anti-Israel rally on October 8th, while Jewish blood was being scraped off the ground in Israel, is an antisemite.

@DarializaforNY is unfit for any office.

[Nate Silver @NateSilver538]

Keep in mind that if you're defending Platner at this point you're signing up for 5 more months of defending an obvious pathological liar.

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

Man you blamed this multi-decade behavior against everyone and everything EXCEPT Platner.

Him being terrible generally is relevant. Also if his PTSD is the excuse for everything (the drinking, the rape fantasy, the Nazi tattoo, manhandling women) then why would you want THAT guy to be a Senator?

I mean Medicare for all…sure. But no one else can represent that case in the senate?!

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

@KennyBurgosNY NGOs are still big business. They’re just worse at it than private landlords historically because they’re “customers”don’t get to vote with their feet or their wallets. The NGO just lobbies for the contract and cashes the check.

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

@hepstyle @claireforny Amnesty international had to change it's own definition of "Genocide" to try and shoehorn Israel in but sure they seem like impartial arbiters.

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

I LOVE your books & restrepo. How can you be PRO the guy the Nazi SS tattoos who tells women he wants to "blitzkreig that ass" and makes fun of other service members who get shot and defames some who have died? This guy is terrible. He's not even authentically working class so what is there that we should get behind as Dems?

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

@DarializaforNY PAC money is literally flowing your way as we speak. $2 million to you, Claire Valdez and Brad Lander just this past week.

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

I agree with you but let's stop calling him a "Zionist." Israel exists. It has for 80 years almost. He's an Israeli. Calling him a "Zionist" for believing the country he comes from shou;d exist is like calling me a "revolutionary" because I live in America and I support not being a British Colony. Let's stop using their language.

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

@jacks_onS @fimoculous @Mollie29038323 No my stance is selective editing is BAD regardless of who is doing it.

We all know Fox does it but we all stick our head in the sand when legacy media does it. It's bad when anyone does it.

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

@TVietor08 @bariweiss Does Scott have evidence of such behavior by new CBS management or are his accusations just..."assertions that are unverified"?

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

See but your response is part of the problem. You fail to address the valid criticism of how they edited the Kamala interview and instead play "whatabout". Yes Fox News is terrible in how they frame / edit everything. 60 Minutes is supposed to be better than that.

Getting something wrong isn't the problem. It's the incessant doubling down from legacy media and insisting that we're the problem if we point out inconsistencies or issues that has turned longtime viewers like me off.

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

Honestly, this statement encapsulates the issues with 60 minutes reporting the last decade +

1) Frame the issue right up front in his favor. The other people are bad / hostile and you're just a harmless inquisitive narrator. Make no mention of his behavior that led to the necessity of the meeting. State equivocally that people were fired when some simply had their contracts not renewed.

2) Aggressively bombard them with questions about staff employment decisions which he doesn't have a right to but the questioning portrays them as evasive.

3) Act shocked when his aggressive questioning in addition to his previous behavior and statements leads them to end the meeting. State unequivocally that despite his public behavior and even his aggressive behavior in this meeting...that he's "happy to keep talking."

In this case he doesn't get to edit the story to fit his narrative though. It's disappointing but par for the course for a news program that's become advocacy.

Hire @JohnStossel @60Minutes !!!!

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

@SallyGold They point it out WAY down in the article. That should have been the headline. Instead the NYT puts AIPAC in the headline even though in the same article they note (again way down) that AIPAC hasn't spent a dime in any of these races.

[jonathan pardo @pardopardopardo]

Oh my god this article and headline are ridiculously misleading. You have to read all the way to the bottom to find out that A) AIPAC hasn't spent any money on these races B) that "prominent muslim businessmen" are funding these PACs (though the NYT does no reporting on who those funders are and C) that all 3 "progressive" candidates swore they wouldn't accept PAC money but now that it's spending on their side they're 100% fine with it.

This is mentioned WAY down when the headline could have easily read "DSA backed candidates who decry PACs buying elections step up to the trough"

It's also telling that the NYT describes Espillat as a "heavily AIPAC linked politician" though by their own reporting in this article he's taken $350,000 over 5 cycles (10 years) and his opponent is now taking $1,000,0000 in spending from this new PAC just this week alone. The story also goes out of it's way to highlight Rep. Goldman's personal wealth as a negative.

I rarely read the NYT anymore and this article is a perfect example why. Misleading headline, misleading reporting. Barely concealed FAR left cheerleading. No follow up reporting whatsoever.

The STORY should be: "Who is funding this late PAC surge for progressives?" & "Why are we letting the hypocrisy of the DSA slide when they say they're not targeting jews...just all PAC money, except that they'll take all PAC money...just not from Jews."