Could this be Karma?
Let me say this first and most importantly… everyone accused of the crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty and we are strongly against sexual abuse of any kind. It is important to establish that this post is not to implicate someone of a crime before they have been convicted and certainly not to celebrate the commission of an offense.
That said… some news that came out last night got my attention… Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz is under investigation for sex trafficking a minor.
This is the same Matt Gaetz, who when running for office put out a television commercial announcing he plans to “fix” sex offender laws by creating longer mandatory minimum sentences (see: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/longer-prison-terms-only-works-for-politics/). This is also the same Matt Gaetz whose father, former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, promised to make Florida “Scorched Earth for Sex Offenders” (see: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-xpm-2013-12-21-os-ed-sexual-predator-epidemic-20131220-story.html).
Isn’t that a bit fortuitous (again, not the offense but who the accused is)? We’ve always said that ‘until it happens to them or their child’ they won’t realize or care about the draconian laws they created.
If the allegations are proven and Matt Gaetz has to do time and register as a sex offender, he will become the beneficiary of all the “scorched earth” laws he and his father helped create. Could this be Karma?
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I don’t personally care about the criminal outcome of this case. If he violated the law, he should be convicted and punished. He should not be convicted if he did not break the law, no matter how sleazy were his consensual activities. Like beauty, sleaze is in the eye of the beholder.
My worst case fear is that he did have an affair with a 17 year-old that didn’t violate the law and he is, appropriately, not convicted. In that scenario, and with the massive publicity, we may see a wave of moral panic leading to a deluge of poorly thought-out laws. Polichickens could have carte blanche to tighten screws against SOs; and for political gain, they will.
As I said, I don’t have an opinion as to the legal outcome except to pray that his political career is ruined for the good of all, and that we don’t see legislative blowback.
Veritas.
Ed
Also in the state of Florida the age to marry is 17 (With parents permission). Just funny there are so many inconsistancies in the age you can do things. Like I said earlier, you can have sex at 18 but can’t drink until you are 21.
Not to mention that in most states you can have consensual sex with a 16 year-old, but you can’t take her picture, nor can she for that matter. Moral panic around sex has caused simply weird statutory spaghetti.
Veritas.
Cherokee Jack, I think our age of consent laws are so hypocritical and arbitrary. I’m NOT talking about lowering the age of consent. I am coming from the angle that IF 18 IS OLD ENOUGH TO ENLIST IN THE ARMED FORCES WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT, GET SENT TO A THEATER OF WAR AND BLOWN TO BITS AND EITHER KILLED OR MAIMED FOR LIFE, then 18 should be the age where a person can enjoy EVERY LAST FREEDOM OF ADULTHOOD.
I think it’s ridiculous that young men and women old enough to enlist in the armed forces at 18, but are then treated as criminals if they go out and get a drink. I was in the Navy for 5 years and in that time I heard of multiple sailors being discharged punitively from Naval service because they got busted for underage drinking.
In fact, I’d like Captain Munsey to chime in here and tell us if he’s ever kicked any sailors out of the Navy or punished them in any way for underage drinking. He would be the one holding “Captain’s Mast”.(Article 15 UCMJ – Commanding Officer’s Non-Judicial Punishment). If he did so, it was probably because statute or Navy regulations dictated what he must do at a minimum. But he can tell you authoritatively how 18 is old enough to be in the Navy, but NOT old enough to drink.
WC
My Dad was a Chief in the Navy. He told me stories of how his men respected him because he never snitched on them. He gave them a good ass chewing and a warning.
He told me one guy gave him crap and he took him to the side of the air craft carrier and told the sailor he was going to throw him and a life jacket in the water and send another ship to find him or get his act together. He never had another incident with the guy LOL It helps that my Dad is 6’3″.
WC_TN
Use to, if you were on base and enlisted you could drink at any age. A while back they made it standard to 21. The exception is some U.S foreign bases have lower drinking ages to match the local laws.
WC-TN
Just my 2cents worth. I grew up in Kansas where the legal drinking age at that time was 18 so never encountered the problems many had. In Europe it’s common almost everywhere to have alcohol with meals . Funny they don’t have all the problems the hypocrisy of this country has.
I’m sorry, but I am starting to believe that this is a MAJOR setup. I will refuse to hold any opinion on the matter until about 2 years passes when the dust has likely settled.
What about Joel Greenberg? I guess he has ties with Matt Gaetz? Joel is being prosecuted for sex trafficking along with many other felony charges. Is this a coincidence?
I have been following the Greenberg case for a long time, being that I live in Seminole County. I have also read through much of the federal documents via PACER (federal court portal) and there is no stated link between Greenberg and Gaetz.
Oh yeah, this has always been about “doth protest too much.” Just as gays suffered for decades from legislators voting against gay rights, only to find out later those who spoke loudest against them were closeted homosexuals. (Foley, Craig, Christ, Schock). I have believed for a long time that we are the focus of the self-hate powerful people have regarding their own secret double lives. We tend to scream loudest against socially unacceptable issues we struggle with ourselves. When when we hollar about ‘that guy over there’ it takes any focus off of ourselves.
Rpsabq
It was Putin that quoted the old childhood adage. “ Your a rock and I’m rubber, whatever you say or do bounces off of me and sticks to you.”
They never think what they do to others will ever have any effect on them. Little do they know.
Correction
The quote is “ I’m rubber and your glue , whatever you say or do bounces off of me and sticks to you”
He was saying that ti Biden
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving person. This is the guy who, in legislative session, effectively admitted that the Civil Commitment Act was just a way to extend prison sentences.
I’ve said it before and will say it again. Those who point fingers always have 3 pointed back at themselves.