Vrede too wrote:It is weird that all the accusations are at least 35 years old. Serial child molesters usually don't quit without intensive therapy and/or consequences, and often not then. Maybe limited access after he stopped coaching?
Did he take any trips to Haiti with limbo
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”
OK, so I've got some questions. I'm not defending Hastert nor saying he isn't a pervert. But the term "sexual abuse of children" is used so widely that I always wonder exactly what the pervert did that caused such distress. Those writing about the issue seem to refer to anyone younger than 18 as a "child" (legally, maybe, but not very accurate), and "abuse" to be anything that happens to be illegal whether or not it was the answer to some young man's dream. (Could they even make the song "Hot for Teacher" now?)
So with the broad definitions in mind, I always wonder what happened, and usually the victim doesn't publicly say. In this case, one of the wrestlers, Scott, says,
"“He told me he could help me lose weight by giving me a massage,” he testified. “I trusted what he was saying and took him at his word.”
His voice shaking, Cross said Hastert told him to lie face down. The massage started, but after a few minutes, Hastert asked him to roll over.
Hastert then grabbed his penis and began rubbing it, Cross said.
“I was stunned by what he was doing — I jumped up,” he said.
Cross also told the courtroom about the reclining chair Hastert allegedly put up near the boys’ shower, saying he came to accept it because he trusted Hastert. Years later he felt pain and guilt and sought professional help. He just told his parents last year, Cross said."
Well. I can see being offended, pissed off, shocked, disappointed, whatever, but I can't see anything that I would have found so traumatic that I'd be psychologically devastated. Guy's dick was grabbed and he jumped up and (ostensibly) left. Guy's taking a shower with a bunch of other naked guys and the pervert is watching. Weird, but it's not like he was exactly in private anyway.
Again, I'm not saying Hastert isn't a pervert, I'm not saying he doesn't deserve punishment (although actually throwing a 74-year old wheelchair rider into prison seems a bit unnecessary). I'm just thinking maybe Cross may have been a bit more fragile than I or my own fellow wrestlers were. We would have been more likely to say, "fuck off, pervert" and move on.
People's reaction to traumatic events ain't necessarily rational. I'd like to think I would have also said, "fuck off, pervert," and gone straight to the cops, but I wasn't there. Things can be worse down the road when the event is repressed.
Another accuser IDed himself at sentencing, and Hastert admitting doing it to at least the one kid while not denying that there were more that haven't stepped forward. They would have little incentive since the statute of limitations has passed.
The conviction was for trying to hide the illegal hush money. 1 year doesn't seem outrageous to me given the now proven molestation, and I always have some doubts when "ill health" is claimed. No jail time would have brought a heap of scorn upon the DA and judge.
Why is "hush money" illegal? How does it differ from a private settlement? Seems the pervert admitted he harmed a guy, offered him a financial settlement with a confidentiality agreement. Happens all the time.
But I'm not saying a year sentence is unreasonable, I'm just looking at it from the practical standpoint of using limited cell space prison population resources for a 74 year old guy.
Hush money is not illegal, it was the financial contortions he went through to try and hide it. I don't know enough about such laws to know if I like them, but in isolation I'm glad they caught a pervert.
There are many sentences I would reduce before ones for (indirectly) child molestation.
Vrede too wrote:
There are many sentences I would reduce before ones for (indirectly) child molestation.
Well, me too. Generally I'm against prison for most anybody who isn't violent. But no matter the crime, IMNVHO prison is unnecessary for anybody that old who isn't a public danger.
Yeah, but put together coach, financial miscreant, molester, hush money, misled the FBI and "family values" GOP Speaker of the House during what ended up being really crappy years, ya gotta figure there'll be jail time or there'll be hell to pay. So, I'm not worried about it.
Guess it's "at least four boys as young as 14." 15 months ain't that long relative to what he could have gotten for the molestation at the time and if there were other victims, maybe he'll get really good at dominos.
does the existence of Utah violate my right to not go there?
The sponsor of a recently passed Utah resolution declaring that “pornography is creating a public health crisis” appeared on the Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” program yesterday to defend the measure, which the governor signed on Tuesday, and allege that the availability of pornography is violating his “First Amendment right to not view it.” –
“That’s what I think is often lost in the First Amendment discussion,” Weiler said, “because someone may have the First Amendment right, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, to view pornography, but what about my First Amendment right to not view it?”
I was going to post on this, but you two beat me to it. What's funny about this redneck Trumpie is his remark: "I walked around to the back of her car and saw that Bernie sticker and the Lord told me not to do business with her" (or something to that effect)
I suppose the Lord told him to leave her sitting there on the roadside with a disabled car. Moron. Now, about cake thing.
Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive
"Something came over me, I think the Lord came to me, and he just said . . . 'I want you to abandon a disabled woman, piss off the mechanic that referred business to you, become a subject of national scorn and seriously damage your business.'"
And the Lord looked upon what Ken Shupe of Shupee Max Towing in Traveler's Rest, S.C. had done and said that it was good.
billy.pilgrim wrote:864.610.0717
Did you call? How did it go? I don't like that I can't get automatic caller ID blocking through my cable company (I think, maybe it was just too expensive). Not generally an issue, but would be in this case. I did look for a website but couldn't find one.
