re: #38 Targetpractice

Which is what makes the attempts at cover-ups so comical if they generally weren’t so tragic, because systems that demand absolute loyalty to the guy above you make it hard as fuck to blame the guys below you when some major scandal goes public.

They eventually pick out someone at mid-level and toss them under the bus. The US military did that when sexual harrassment charges were really starting to affect female enlistment.

They selected the Sergeant Major of the Army - the highest-ranking enlisted man in the Army. Not so low that they would seem to be picking on the rank-and-file, but not high up enough to make it seem that it was condoned behavior by officers.

He was acquitted on charges of sexual harassment but (honorably) discharged on a lesser charge of destroying evidence (to cover up a crime he did not commit?) and allowed him to keep his seniority and pension.

But they were able to claim that they were “cracking down” on sexual harassment.

One of the tackiest show trials since the Stalin era.