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    ParkerPosaholicJoanna Rothkopf
    1/04/16 5:08pm

    What. The. Fuck. Tony Spears.

    In the “average everyday sense”, 13 yr olds can consent to sex with their 29 yr old teachers? Please never be around children.

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      RegalAlienParkerPosaholic
      1/04/16 5:09pm

      I think he is using “average everyday sense [of consent]” to mean “said yes”. And people wonder why we need explicit discussion of what consent is and what it isn’t.

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      Bears for PresidentParkerPosaholic
      1/04/16 5:11pm

      You know, that average everyday most of us have. Get up, have breakfast, go to work, sexually proposition a Junior High student, lunch, etc

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    Bears for PresidentJoanna Rothkopf
    1/04/16 5:06pm

    former bandmate of Canadian ex-prime minister Stephen Harper

    Finally answering the question of “When I die, what music will be playing in Hell’s waiting room?”

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      SqarrBears for President
      1/04/16 6:00pm

      Noooooooooooooope.

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      DownWithOCD, The Old Grey Mare (She Ain't What She Used To Be)Sqarr
      1/04/16 11:22pm

      Oh God, now I have new nightmares.

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    acornJoanna Rothkopf
    1/04/16 5:12pm

    Two years.

    Just awful. These types of paltry sentences make me seriously despair. Because what the victims in this case, as well as other survivors, hear is that no one fucking cares. Nevermind that this type of abuse can set victims up for a lifetime of pain and suffering, that’s worth just two years. But yeah, forget it if you get caught with a small amount of drugs. That’s serious!

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      benjaminalloveracorn
      1/05/16 12:14pm

      Unfortunately, those are pretty standard sentences, and t’s not uncommon for a 13 year old victim to have to wait until she’s 38 to have her day in court. These are the fucked up priorities of our criminal justice system writ large.

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      acornbenjaminallover
      1/05/16 12:37pm

      Yup. Even more unfortunate is the fact that too many states have such short statute of limitations for these crimes, so by the time a child who was abused gains the strength and resources to pursue charges, it’s too late. Where I grew up, in NY, it’s 5 years or 5 years counted from the age of majority to bring criminal or civil charges. Too bad when I was 23 I still couldn’t even verbalize what happened, let alone go through the hell of a trial. I still can’t, really. I had one good (horrible?) therapy session where I actually was able to talk about details and that was a year and a half ago. And I’m not unique in that. And then people are surprised when cases come out where a predator was able to abuse children for decades and decades.

      Gotta say, when you have sentences handed down like this one, it makes me almost thankful. I don’t think going through a trial would be worth it, to me.

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    nutmegcinnamonJoanna Rothkopf
    1/04/16 5:14pm

    “Child sexual abuse is not something that happens because a 29-year-old man and a 13-year-old child hit it off,” I’m really glad that Ann Alder made that statement.

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      acornnutmegcinnamon
      1/04/16 5:21pm

      Yeah, that sentence is great and needs to be brought over to that other story about the 14 yo that Tyga has been grooming and OK! framing the whole thing as “an affair” or love triangle and noting that the girl “looked much older for her age.” As if that fucking matters at all. But nope, apparently still have a ways to go with getting people to understand that even if a child “looks old for their age” or “was mature” or “knew what they wanted” it doesn’t fucking matter and is not an excuse. Ever. That is all bullshit excuses and justifications that abusers trot out to justify their predatory behavior.

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      xhr1snutmegcinnamon
      1/04/16 5:27pm

      That is a really good way to put it, yes.

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    SqarrJoanna Rothkopf
    1/04/16 5:42pm

    It gave me so much life, knowing that even while Harper was Dictator-In-Chief, the courts—many judges of which were personally appointed by Harper himself—had no fucks to give for his unconstitutional bullying bullshit.

    His entire God damned life is exactly like this child rapist in many ways and just as deserving of being torn down.

    The next however many years it takes to meticulously destroy him and all the garbage he imagines is his “legacy” will be gold.

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      stoetenSqarr
      1/05/16 1:55am

      I thought Harper was pretty awful, too, but... uh... not seeing it.

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      Sqarrstoeten
      1/05/16 2:29am

      Not seeing what?

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    Ceiling CatJoanna Rothkopf
    1/04/16 6:24pm

    “It’s about consent. Legally, of course, she couldn’t give it. But in the average everyday sense, she did. ...”

    GIF
    GIF
    GIF
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      go-go-chocoboCeiling Cat
      1/04/16 7:13pm
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    Something is meJoanna Rothkopf
    1/04/16 5:20pm

    From his article...odd, odd way to write about the rape of a child.

    According to the facts, the strain of the secret began to wear on her.

    She remembered bursting into tears at a party, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell her worried friend about Nolan’s appetites.

    She nevertheless wrote Nolan chatty letters from summer camp and obeyed his requests to use the camera he bought for her to take photos of herself.

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      iclearedmycacheSomething is me
      1/04/16 6:10pm

      It’s the Sun. So, like, Daily Mail level of journalistic standards. Everything has to be written in an awkwardly accusatory tone for no reason. Spears probably got a bonus for implying that a young girl was totally complicit in her own abuse. High-fives all around the newsroom.

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    vdubyajohnJoanna Rothkopf
    1/04/16 6:04pm

    If it’s only two years, it had better be in general population, with other inmates who have daughters...

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      SamBargeJoanna Rothkopf
      1/04/16 6:19pm

      In defense of FORMER* PM Harper, I’m sure this man wasn’t his friend or anything like that only because I’m sure that FORMER* PM Harper doesn’t have any friends.

      *Love calling him that.

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        LargeNZ1Joanna Rothkopf
        1/04/16 5:29pm

        As part of bail conditions issued in February 2014, he was banned from being alone with anyone under the age of 16, unless that person was with a legal guardian.

        Wait, what? How could he be alone with someone under the age of 16 if the kid’s legal guardian was also there?

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          Erik LonnrotLargeNZ1
          1/04/16 5:54pm

          I’m assuming they mean that he can’t be with someone under 16 and some random third party. I’m hoping it means he can’t be with anyone under 16 without a guardian present period.

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