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?
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
We all know his daddy is filthy rich, so any effects of the registry, if he’s even found guilty of any registerable offense, will most likely be mitigated by the financial capital from dear old Daddy to relocate him in a legal, luxury estate. There are two standards of law; one for the rich and politically connected and one for the rest of us. We already know to which standard he will be treated. I can still hope that if he is found guilty he gets the full brunt of every last bit of abuse he and his Daddy have heaped on Florida PFRs for YEARS! Let’s see what old Ronnie and Lauren Book have to say about this one!!! Let’s see if their take is any different from how they view all other PFRs in their state!
WC_TN
That is not always the case. Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 had a net worth of half a billion dollars. Although he did get a lighter sentence, he was not able to make it just go away. Still suspicious how he died. Something about the suicide feels off. From experience, there is a LOT of cover ups in prison.
My main point was, even with all that money, he was done even if he had not died. He would have had to buy a private island and go into seclusion. I think the only one who successfully bought their way out was Michael Jackson. I loved Michael’s music but he obviously had some demons he couldn’t deal with.
Agree that’s the way its alway’s been. Think back on other president’s all the politician’s, doctor’s ,priest, movie star’s yes some cops and sheriff’s .Some how when it happens to one of these kind it goes away.I could go on and on but what’s the use . It’s still going on today you know the old saying money and who you know talk’s .Now for some lawyers the only thing they think about is money, not that you may be innocent you just don’t have enough money for them. I’ve been trying since 1995 to get someone to listen .If you would take a survey of prison’s today, you would be shocked how many is doing someone else’s time. Why because you was a nobody. Didn’t have lot of money didn’t know the right people.Then you fined out after years they was innocent all the time but no one wanted to listen .Then people get all bent out of shape because they get money DUE to them for the wrong that was done to them. All the money in the world couldn’t give them back what they lost. I’m going to end with that even though there is more i could say.
IF HE IS PROVEN GUILTY BY LEGITIMATE EVIDENCE, his finances need to be seized…every last red cent…to go for restitution. That way he can live as a penniless and homeless PFR just like all the other people he has abused in the past to feather his own political career. I say I hope he gets the full brunt of it all.
No one here would be OK with their 17-year-old daughter traveling with a 38-year-old Congressman who intended to have sex with her, right?
That’s why laws against doing so are popular and will remain so.
If there is sufficient evidence that he broke a Federal criminal law, then he will be prosecuted by the feds for that. If there isn’t, then he won’t. That’s how 99.9% of these cases work.
I had daughters who did things I didn’t like. I dealt with it. I never needed a law to help me help her make good choices regarding sex. That is definitely not something I would ever want big government to be involved in. Who thinks other people should be making major life decisions for you?
Having said all that, I think “age of consent” laws are good. To control people who won’t be good parents.
Check spam folder and nothing from FAC was there. Oh well hopefully it will sort itself out or something. It gets old and tedious to have to manually follow a forum/post.
Has there ever been a time where a politician was convicted of a sexual offence and the result was a lowering of the severity of any of the myriad of laws and or regulations restricting the rights of P.F.R’s?
Are we to expect this case to end like all others I can remember where the accused (being a politician or some other public figure) is tried convicted and disappears from public light or the accused is quietly released from any obligation to stand trial and again disappears from public light?
Like sands thru the hourglass, so are the days of our incarceration whether they be inside or out. 🤪
If nothing else, hopefully the Republican party will eventually learn how these sex offense laws are being weaponized for political assassinations. Nobody who gets one of these charges to stick in the world of public opinion can recover from it politically. Perhaps then they may start walking back from the cliff of creating life destroying legislation.
It’s not just the Republicans who are behind these laws. Democrats are equally to blame. Example, Lauren Book (Democrat).
Laura Book is no true Democrat. She picked D because when Republicans did the redistricting (which they admitted in a lawsuit they had illegally drawn the districts to benefit their own party), there was no other D that could come close to the money she and her father had raised. And so she used it as an opportunity to buy her way to power. see this article:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-lauren-book-state-senate-20150901-story.html
Anyone that follows politics seriously would know Republicans believe law and order, which they believe to mean harsher penalties. And they are the party of QAnon. A disproven and discredited far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic pedophiles was running a global child sex-trafficking ring and that they plotted against former U.S. president Donald Trump while he was in office. QAnon is commonly referred to as a cult. What can you expect of a party which aligns itself with a cult and uses child sex exploitation as a weapon against other candidates?
And yes, while the public remains uninformed and believe tougher penalties works both parties will mostly cater to the public and vote down registry and related law reform.
But of the two, the Democrats are the party that most campaigns for criminal justice reform. So they are the party more philosophically aligned for us to be able to inform, and get on board.
I am neither Democrat nor Republican because I can no longer choose any party. I am a convicted sex offender. But I do follow politics seriously, not conspiracy theories such as the ones you mentioned. There are plenty of Republicans who seek criminal justice reform (and make it happen such as Trump did in the First Step Act as an example). In contrast, Bill Clinton signed into law as president severe limitations on challenges to illegal convictions and sentences under 28 USC 2255. Whether Lauren Book is a fake democrat and is really a Republican as you suggest is contradicted by her legislation as well as others by Democrats. My point is, and always will be, both sides are to blame regardless of Qanon or other unproven conspiracy theories.
Both Parties R 2 Blame – Glad to hear you do not follow conspiracy theories. Unfortunately most Republicans do, starting with believing the election was “stolen”.
People often confuse actions with intent or do no not understand the politics of when law are passed. Take the latter as an example . We all hear from politicians that to get reelected they need to cater to what the constituents want. When Bill clinton was running for election the Ds had lost 2 consecutive elections prior because they were deemed soft on crime and why Clinton enacted tough laws. To reposition the D’s because he felt it gave them a better shot on holding the White House, and passing it is something he has since admitted was a mistake. He recognizes it made the problem worse.
Trump on the other hand does not care about the long term effect of his actions on his party and the impact of that is obvious by the state of the party today. I switched for that party because it went from fiscally responsible and protecting democracy to lowering taxes when the economy he inherited from Obama was booming. That is like having credit card debt and getting a huge raise at work, and instead of paying off your debt getting into even more. He did not lower the government spending and so the debt increased. And he attacked our democracy by trying to circumvent separation of powers regards the Justice Department. He only cares about benefiting himself and his family. He passed that first step act because Kusher pushed for it due to his father having been incarcerated. But Trump personally felt it was a dud. He was no true champion of criminal justice reform and anyone that has followed his actions and public statements would clearly see this. See a report on that :https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/24/trump-kushner-criminal-justice-snub-1507285
I never want to get political in a space that is supposed to inform other RSO’s about what is and can harm us but the democratic party has done far more to hurt RSO’s than the republicans ever have. (and i follow politics now and its history)Look at all the past legislation presented to congress to make our lives harder and see what party represents the majority of those those bills. Democrats may campaign for justice reform but that’s as far as it goes. As soon as they get elected (see Kamala harris/Barack Obama etc…) they do a 180 and actually imprison more people that their counterparts ever have. Our current president used to have a nickname of “Lock em up Joe” All that being said there are exceptions like California where the current politicians are making laws to help some RSO’s so as jaded as i am being on the registry i believe there is a small glimmer of hope that the rest of the world will come around
No hope
What is odd is, the U.S is always telling other countries what to do, how to run their Government and bashing other countries for civil rights violations. But when another country calls our laws draconian and overly harsh, our Government scoffs, ignores and dismisses them to mind their own Damn business.
So true. We have failed to live to our supposedly core belief, as written in the constitution, that “all men are created equal” and from day one of the creation of our great country have failed miserably and administered discriminatory laws and brutally enforced them. I do have hope however. I believe we are a just people and that in the long run we will get it right. History has proven we have gotten better at it. But the goal has not ben reached yet and there is much work to be done. We should all roll up our sleeves and do our parts to achieve an even better country,
g
The Constitution was ammended to add “All men are created equal , except those on the registry”. Two points on that. #1 That clause is invisble and no one can see it because it is in their heads.
#2 All men are created equal?
Well Hell, they also just threw women under the bus as well.
If you know you history, this was not an oversight. Woman back in those days were basically only allowed to cook, please their husbands, go shopping, do chores and mind the children.
Although some minor amendments have been added through the years, the out dated language has never been corrected. When I took constitutional law during my law enforcement career, I brought some of those things up to the professor. His response was “Well do something about it, become a congressman”.
LOL. Great points, I agree on the advice to become congressman. The most direct effective way to change the laws is to be “in the room where it happens’!
Lest you think I am coming at this from a biased view I can tell you I was a life long Republican until they morphed into the party of obstruction and falsehood.
Lock em up Joe is a Republican chant, which perhaps gives some insight as to from what angle you approach this.
Perhaps you meant that Biden said “Lock the S.O.B.s Up! That is true but I already covered that politics is a reflection of the electorate (which in theory is the way a true Democracy is supposed to be) and when in the past when the public sentiment leaned towards “tough on crime”, either party elected or looking to get elected would have voted/campaigned that way.
If you honestly believe the R’s are the ones championing justice reform now, as I stated before, go to their websites. Show me how many mention justice reform or BLM (which is a way to fight police/laws injustice) as one of their main campaign issue and I will show you way more from the D.
I don’t pick sides. I pick “teams”. I pick issues and candidates that reflect my beliefs. I have been a R, a D, and and an independent. Can you share if you have? I ask because when you are a life long member of one party and surround yourself with like minded persons and follow news media tailored to your “team” it severely limits your impartiality and ability to opine in a more unbiased way.
G,
A lot of what your saying doesn’t make a lot of sense and “lock em up Joe” was a nickname given to Joe Biden because of his history of voting to incarcerate everyone he can. From the New york times: “every major crime bill since 1976 that’s come out of this Congress, every minor crime bill, has had the name of the Democratic senator from the State of Delaware: Joe Biden.” Kamala harris is well known for lying & blocking evidence to keep people in Jail longer than they were supposed to be and those are your top 2 candidates in the democratic party that you say are championing justice reform. Your saying what you think is right and not actually stating facts. You made a assumption that i was a republican and only listened to one group of people. I am actually a libertarian as i believe every RSO should be because they are more for less government. Lastly and most importantly is you state to look at all of their web sites and tell you where i see a republican champion justice reform. i don’t know about you but i work for a living and really do not have that kind of time, but as an RSO that keeps an eye on every bill/law that is pushed through a state or federal legislator the majority(not all both sides are to blame) of them as i stated before are endorsed by a democratic politician. So despite what they post on their website that you pay so much attention to, i know your not going to believe this but sometimes politicians lie to get elected. That’s why it has always been safe to judge a man/woman by their actions not their words.
I don’t know why you mentioned BLM they are a hate group that is responsible for deaths(19 died during protests) and billions of dollars in damage to our country i wouldn’t want RSO’s to be associated in any with them we have it hard enough.
No more political discussion, please.
You said that one EXACTLY RIGHT. Any laws that target “our people” are by far and large bi-partisan and pass without dissent in most cases.
WC
#1 Car jacker robs old lady – Gets his voting rights back
#2 Three time robber and thief – Gets his voting rights back
#3 four time street level drug pusher – Gets her voting rights back
#4 Drive by shooter splatters house with bullets(no one hit) – Gets his voting rights back
#5 “EX” sex offender had a single consensual one time encounter with a minor 30 years ago. – No voting rights in foreseeable future
In my state all of the harsher bills being proposed today are sponsored by Republicans while all of the registry reform bills are sponsored by Democrats. Perhaps the platforms by party differ by state, but the beast (the system) in my state works that way.
My advice is to stay informed of who is pushing good vs. bad legislation in your state and act accordingly.
By far best response I have seen and something I do. I wished more of our registered citizens devoted time and energy to get involved. To volunteer to reply to articles and help inform the public so we can get voters to stop believing the myth that harsher laws work. And wish more of us got involved in local, state and national elections to identify and help get elected those candidates espousing criminal justice reform. I have no idea where a person comes to believe that do not know where someone gets the idea that “plenty of Republicans seek criminal justice reform”. I have compared multiple website of candidates running for office and found few Republican ones where they state that is one of their goals when elected. I had hope they would get it since the vast majority of Americans—an overwhelming 95%—are in favor of at least some criminal justice system and police reform..but alas the party has lost its moral compass. See : https://www.rollcall.com/2019/08/22/criminal-justice-reform-had-a-bipartisan-minute-then-2020-reared-its-head/