CSAM (Say What Now?)
So, this Ohio dad found out his eleven year old daughter was being groomed by a dude on the internet, and manipulated into creating and sending sexual images of herself to the perp. He did what any of us would do (provided we didn’t have an address for the perp… lots of options when you know that… but I digress): he called the police.
Watch the video. I cannot EVEN. The cops say, and I quote, “I mean, she could probably get charged with child p*rn.”
I’m sorry, the ELEVEN YEAR OLD?
First, under the age of consent in a state (generally around 16, tho a bit higher and lower in various places), a child cannot consent. Therefore, they can’t be involved in sexual things by choice. Second, the unknown male perp should be getting charged with something, that’s for sure, and those cops should have been asking questions about him! Third, I don’t know that I’d have had the calm that father did, in just shutting the door and walking away. Good f’ing grief.
For those who may not know, CSAM means Child S*xual Abuse Material, and it’s a term used to differentiate between porn (which is legal and done between consenting adults) and child abuse (which cannot be consented to).
And then it went TOO FAR
When Roe vs. Wade was struck down, the Right cheered, the libertarians nodded thoughtfully, and the Left went into a full on panic.
The Right said that abortions were originally meant to be safe, but infrequent. The exception and never the rule. An abortion takes a life, even if it is a “potential” life, and that should be thought through very seriously before going forward. With the advent of “abortion on demand,” things got out of control and there was so much push that we had some people advocating for “post birth abortions.”
The Left said that abortions belonged to all women, that it should never be questioned, and that a woman is not a walking incubator. Abortion gives power to a woman, so she can’t be trapped in a relationship, can’t be forced into child care that she’s either unable or unwilling to provide. When and how abortions are done should be the discussion of women, and men ought be excluded.
I’m left enough to say that I believe it’s important to have a certain level of abortion available to women. There are simply too many situations where pregnancy is used as a cudgel to beat women down, even today, that I’m unwilling to even contemplate taking it away entirely. There are also just too many times when extenuating circumstances get in the way.
Today, I learned about a group of court cases challenging the abortion laws in Idaho, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. I’ll let you read the legalese yourself; I know you’re all capable of that. I’ll provide the “feels” for you.
Mike Rowe, ladies and gents!
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8jrL4hu/
Not everyone is interested in going on to tik tok. I do, however, highly recommend watching this video.
Mike Rowe is an all around fantastic person. He’s an eagle scout, and entrepreneur, and a huge supporter of getting kids into the trades. I absolutely adore the man and everything he stands for.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. 🤣😂
Never Forget
Twenty-two years ago, some Bad People did a Very Bad Thing. That thing resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, some the day of the VBT, and some weeks or years after.
On the morning of 9/11, I had just gotten home from a night shift. I went online to chat with friends, after getting my kid off to school, and people started telling me someone was bombing NYC. I thought it was bull, but I went and turned the TV on. I tuned in just in time to see the second tower hit. It took a long time to register what I was seeing was real.
I had friends who worked at the Twin Towers. I had friends who had kids in the daycare next door. I had friends who were supposed to be on flights to NYC to be at the Trade Center that day. I had friends who worked in or near the Pentagon. I had friends who lived very close to where the plane went down in Pennsylvania.
People often ask, where the hell was “god” that day, when so many good people died? I try to explain, God (Goddess, The Many and The One) was busy. God was there with the people who took down the plane in PA, giving them courage. God was with those who stumbled blindly down smoke choked stairwells at the Towers. God was making sure some people were sick and missed their train, plane, bus, and weren’t there when they should have been.
One friend was supposed to be in the first tower, getting ready for a presentation. He missed his flight due to a sick kid. Another friend was supposed to be in THAT wing of the Pentagon that day, but she was home sick herself. Another friend was supposed to be driving under the bridge pretty much at the moment the plane struck the Pentagon, but he had pneumonia and was safe in bed. A couple of friends were supposed to be on one of the flights that hit the towers, but got bumped or missed flights.
I’m not trying to minimize what happened, but it could have been so very much worse.
Right now, half my social media is spouting “Never Forget!” and the other half is talking about how traumatic it is to bring up old news and trauma like this. I believe they’re both right.
I will never forget what I was doing, where I was, or the weeks after 9/11. It was a terrifying time.
There’s something else I’ll never forget, either. For a few days, we were One Country, One People. Everyone stood together. Differences were set aside. Religious leaders of opposing sects worked together to sort through the rubble. Medical professionals gave their all. Emergency services went above and beyond. Aid poured in from around the world.
For one shining moment, the Very Bad Thing had shown us what we could be, if we worked together. We weren’t ready to make that our reality, but it showed us. What has been seen can never be unseen.
And that’s why I tell my kids about it every year. That’s why I talk about it here and other places on social media. When I say, “Never forget!” I am referring to what happened after the dust settled, not the planes and the horror.
Never forget, we have the ability to work together, to set aside all our petty differences, if we really need to.
Biker Scum, Keepin’ it Real
A number of years ago, I had the unfortunate responsibility of being the first person that a child told about sexual and physical abuse. I don’t regret one moment being the kind of person who that child felt comfortable (or at least less uncomfortable… such talks are NEVER comfortable) enough to talk to. I do regret that it was a talk that had to happen. That led to three years of horrible re-victimization of the child, as the courts wended their way through the course. The abuser ended up in jail (the Special Jail, way up north, and good riddance), and he’ll be there for the rest of his life. His sentence came to over 200 years. But I’d much rather the child never had to go through it at all.
I don’t know how many of you have ever been through a sexual assault or rape case (for adult OR child), but it’s a shit show. Basically, the person who was abused and harmed in one of the most intimate and trust-breaking ways ever, is forced to talk about what happened to them, in front of what amounts to an audience. Then they have to be questioned by their abuser’s lawyer, who brings up what they wore, how they acted, and what they said. They have to listen to their abuser tell them and that audience that they are just drama queens, liars, and sluts.
Did you know that if a rape or assault victim goes to therapy during the whole court process (anytime before the abuser is convicted), that their private therapy notes can be read openly in court, and used against them? It’s true. Did you know that their lawyer tells them that they are not allowed to emote in court? They’re supposed to simply sit there, with no emotion at all. Emotion can cause a jury or the judge to see things in a bad way, so they’re just supposed to be robots, basically. Did you know that their abuser’s lawyer can ask them questions like, “Did you ever get sexually aroused during the sexual activity?” and “Isn’t it true that you dressed that way to provoke sexual feelings in my client?” These are questions I have personally heard asked of someone who was 11 at the time her abuse began.