SO mad at my state senator Martin Heinrich for this vote. Seemed like a reliably sane man for a long time. Not anymore. Looks like they left a MAGA pod in his office one night.
There's a lesson in there, and I feel like we may even have begun to learn it when I'm looking at Platner in Maine: Be wary of populists, no matter what flavor.
The only way Markwayne can properly thank John Fetterman is to invite him over to see Markwayne's new office and show off what John Fetterman has gifted to Markwayne.
Then he waits for Fetterman to look out the window and sucker punches him to the floor.
It's the right way to show the boss that Markwayne has been paying attention to how the boss wants things done
Whats nice for ManyNames Mullin is that confitmation hearing was the VERY LAST time he EVER has to even attempt to speak civilly to the Democrats in Congress.. he can snide and sarcasm and yell and disrespect and make vague threats to reveal secret info about them allll he wants for his master lives, loves, loves it.. it gooses ratings!
Two Minnesota cases expose how clergy power dynamics—and victim-blaming tactics—are colliding with secular law
Last year, a Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was charged with “sexually abusing, physically assaulting and threatening a woman to whom he had given spiritual guidance.” A woman said Father Joseph Herzing had counseled her over a period of several years beginning in 2018, and that relationship soon turned sexual… and violent.
Setting aside the horrific details of the allegations, Herzing was a priest. He was supposed to be celibate. He was in a position of power over a woman he was guiding. Even if everything had been consensual—and the allegations said they were not—it would have been unethical and potentially criminal.
Last year, a different Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was also charged with sexually abusing a woman. A woman accused Father Aaron Kuhn of assaulting her repeatedly over the course of three years when he was providing her with spiritual advice.
If the allegations were true, what he did was also unethical and potentially criminal.
The reason all of this could be criminal is because many states have laws that prohibit “improper sexual contact” by someone in a position of power over someone else—even if both people are of legal age and even if they say it’s consensual. The law says consent cannot truly be given in those circumstances due to the power imbalance. We’re talking about a professor and a student, or a boss and an employee, or a therapist and a client.
As I mentioned in a separate story recently, only 14 states (plus the District of Columbia) have laws in place to punish clergy members for similar actions.
Minnesota is one of those states. It has a law on the books (Statute 609.344) that says sexual penetration is a crime if someone “is in a prohibited occupational relationship with the complainant.” Clergy members fall under that umbrella.
But here’s the wild twist to this story.
Both priests have the same defense lawyer—Paul Engh—and he has filed two separate motions over the past few weeks to have those particular charges dismissed.
On what grounds? On the grounds that punishing these men amounts to a violation of their religious freedom. Engh writes in one case that the law “expressly makes Father Herzing guilty of crime because of his status as a priest” and that, because he’s a priest, “it creates an irrebuttable presumption that complainant did not consent and it deprives Father Herzing of a jury trial on that issue.”
In other words, if he was just a random dude named Joe, he would not be charged with this particular crime, but because he’s a priest, he’s in trouble. And what right does the state have to decide what the appropriate boundary is between priest and parishioner?
It’s an interesting question, but the loss of the defense of consent is not because of his status as a religious but because of his status as a trusted advisor or person in a power relationship. Consent is also not a defense in the teacher-student and corrections officer-prisoner contexts. What the defense lawyer here wants is a religious exception. He would have a better argument if the state tried to prosecute a priest for having sex with a woman to whom he was not providing spiritual guidance. Like if they belong to the same bridge club.
Noem thinks writing about killing her puppy made her look tough. Mullin thinks talking about abusing his kid makes him ... heartwarming? Either way, can we get rid of the rock these people keep crawling from under?
You misspelled "poop".
If you have to strike your kid on a regular basis, you've already screwed up badly.
.
I struck daughter.tek exactly once. She knew she had crossed a line. She never forgot that, and she never did anything even remotely like that again.
.
Thinking back to when I was growing up, I think I got "the belt" once.
Does this mean he gets hair extensions, a fabulous new wardrobe, and a flying fuck palace?
"Pop Some Butt!"
Is that what the kids are calling it?
What does that even mean?
Oh, right, BUTTSECHS!!!!111!1!!1!!!
SO mad at my state senator Martin Heinrich for this vote. Seemed like a reliably sane man for a long time. Not anymore. Looks like they left a MAGA pod in his office one night.
We have some weirdos around that insist that their wives and daughters not cut their hair. I wonder if he's one of those, too.
Oh, lookie, MWMW is training his daughter's to trauma bond with angry abusers.
There's a lesson in there, and I feel like we may even have begun to learn it when I'm looking at Platner in Maine: Be wary of populists, no matter what flavor.
The senate is a damn disgrace. Any single Democrat could have put an indefinite hold on the nomination. Not one had the wherewithal to do it.
I was wondering about that. Why the hell aren't democrats gumming up the works? Republicans did it all through Obama and Biden's administrations.
comity and decorum...
The only way Markwayne can properly thank John Fetterman is to invite him over to see Markwayne's new office and show off what John Fetterman has gifted to Markwayne.
Then he waits for Fetterman to look out the window and sucker punches him to the floor.
It's the right way to show the boss that Markwayne has been paying attention to how the boss wants things done
Fetterman is a disgrace to oaves worldwide. A pariah in the oaf community.
Whats nice for ManyNames Mullin is that confitmation hearing was the VERY LAST time he EVER has to even attempt to speak civilly to the Democrats in Congress.. he can snide and sarcasm and yell and disrespect and make vague threats to reveal secret info about them allll he wants for his master lives, loves, loves it.. it gooses ratings!
Sick perverts...
Catholic priests say charging them with sexual abuse violates their religious freedom
https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/catholic-priests-say-charging-them
Two Minnesota cases expose how clergy power dynamics—and victim-blaming tactics—are colliding with secular law
Last year, a Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was charged with “sexually abusing, physically assaulting and threatening a woman to whom he had given spiritual guidance.” A woman said Father Joseph Herzing had counseled her over a period of several years beginning in 2018, and that relationship soon turned sexual… and violent.
Setting aside the horrific details of the allegations, Herzing was a priest. He was supposed to be celibate. He was in a position of power over a woman he was guiding. Even if everything had been consensual—and the allegations said they were not—it would have been unethical and potentially criminal.
Last year, a different Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was also charged with sexually abusing a woman. A woman accused Father Aaron Kuhn of assaulting her repeatedly over the course of three years when he was providing her with spiritual advice.
If the allegations were true, what he did was also unethical and potentially criminal.
The reason all of this could be criminal is because many states have laws that prohibit “improper sexual contact” by someone in a position of power over someone else—even if both people are of legal age and even if they say it’s consensual. The law says consent cannot truly be given in those circumstances due to the power imbalance. We’re talking about a professor and a student, or a boss and an employee, or a therapist and a client.
As I mentioned in a separate story recently, only 14 states (plus the District of Columbia) have laws in place to punish clergy members for similar actions.
Minnesota is one of those states. It has a law on the books (Statute 609.344) that says sexual penetration is a crime if someone “is in a prohibited occupational relationship with the complainant.” Clergy members fall under that umbrella.
But here’s the wild twist to this story.
Both priests have the same defense lawyer—Paul Engh—and he has filed two separate motions over the past few weeks to have those particular charges dismissed.
On what grounds? On the grounds that punishing these men amounts to a violation of their religious freedom. Engh writes in one case that the law “expressly makes Father Herzing guilty of crime because of his status as a priest” and that, because he’s a priest, “it creates an irrebuttable presumption that complainant did not consent and it deprives Father Herzing of a jury trial on that issue.”
In other words, if he was just a random dude named Joe, he would not be charged with this particular crime, but because he’s a priest, he’s in trouble. And what right does the state have to decide what the appropriate boundary is between priest and parishioner?
It’s an interesting question, but the loss of the defense of consent is not because of his status as a religious but because of his status as a trusted advisor or person in a power relationship. Consent is also not a defense in the teacher-student and corrections officer-prisoner contexts. What the defense lawyer here wants is a religious exception. He would have a better argument if the state tried to prosecute a priest for having sex with a woman to whom he was not providing spiritual guidance. Like if they belong to the same bridge club.
Religious freedom from SA charges is...bold.
This is why they are okay with not prosecuting anyone in the Epstein files.
So it now comes out that Marky Mark Mullin loves to beat his kids.
Dobson and The Pearls approve of him being a bully.
https://bsky.app/profile/raybeckerman.bsky.social/post/3mht25f76l22q
Noem thinks writing about killing her puppy made her look tough. Mullin thinks talking about abusing his kid makes him ... heartwarming? Either way, can we get rid of the rock these people keep crawling from under?
Teamsters guy right there selling out labor again. Cool, cool. Doesn’t Trump want to outlaw non-cop unions in the federal government? Including TSA?
Algebra teaches us that multiplying one negative number by another negative number results in a POSITIVE product.
So it is when one negative psychotic neighbor injures another negative psychotic neighbor such as Rand Paul had done.
The net result is a pair of zeroes canceling each other out and leaving me with a positive feeling about Karma.