Ohio Republican Jean Schmidt Calls Rape an “Opportunity”
Every Ohio Republican Should Be Forced to Account for Schmidt’s Comments, Asked if They Condemn Them
Columbus, OH — Today, when testifying on Ohio’s version of the trigger ban bill, Republican Jean Schmidt was asked about a lack of an exception for rape in her legislation. Her response: it’s an “opportunity” for the person who was raped. Every single Republican in Ohio should be asked about Schmidt’s comments and whether they agree that rape is an “opportunity.”
“Jean Schmidt’s vile comments today show how far Republicans will go to attack Ohio women in an effort to score political points. Jean Schmidt should apologize to every victim of sexual violence in our state and pull her bill from consideration. And her fellow Republicans – from Mike DeWine on down – who have supported these anti-choice bills should be forced to account for her comments and their ongoing attacks on women,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.
Life was so much better when we didn't have to take these idiots seriously. This woman and the cult she is part of are deranged, delusional, religious extremists. They should be nowhere near the seats of power in any level of government in our democracy.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
We certainly elect some vile people into Congress. And I am not talking about people we disagree with their political ideaology but rather their moral and ethical ideology.
Question: What is meant by "trigger" abortion ban?
Don't blame the clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus.
In the United States, thirteen states — Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma,[1] South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas,[2] Utah, and Wyoming[3] have trigger laws that would automatically ban abortion in the first and second trimesters if the landmark case Roe v. Wade were overturned.
You could call them, “just in case fascism wins”, laws/bills too. They only become law, if and when they become legally allowable on the federal level. In other words, disgusting little special interests wish lists that all of us should be aware of before voting. Imagine the evil that could be done by any party with the votes to overrule accepted laws they don't like due to religious values… sounds like the Taliban or Christian sharia law IMO.
Last edited by OldColdDawg; 04/28/2212:19 PM.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
Interesting, thanks for posting that. Who would have ever thought that we we come up with unconstitutional laws and have them on the books waiting to be activated like some jihad sleeper cell. I don't know what the right answer is for the legality of abortion but I do know that the republicans are masters at playing dirty.
Don't blame the clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus.
Instead of creating legislation that can actually help people now, they spend their time preparing legislation for when/if they gain more power. Scumbags.
Representative says he would burn books deemed inappropriate by state
State Rep. Jerry Sexton said Wednesday he would “burn” books found obscene by an expanded state textbook commission charged with policing school library selections.
In debate with Sexton over legislation requiring school districts to submit lists of library books to the commission, state Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, asked what the state would do with the books, put them out in the street or set them on fire?
Sexton responded, “I don’t have a clue, but I would burn ’em.”
The House passed the measure, but it is unclear whether it will pass the General Assembly. Sexton, a Bean Station Republican who is not seeking re-election this year, acknowledged the House and Senate bills are likely to go to a committee to work out differences. Sexton carried the bill for House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol.
Republican lawmakers have consistently pointed toward a book, “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl” as an example of obscene material found in elementary libraries. Sexton continued that mantra Wednesday, though he referred to it as “Me, Earl and the Girl Named Pearl,” saying it is “very sexual” and “pornographic” in nature. He also claimed lawmakers found obscene materials in school libraries in 93 of 95 counties.
The House legislation would require schools to make lists of books to be sent to the state textbook commission for approval. The commission, which will receive extra appointments, including the state library director, from House and Senate speakers, would be charged with going over those lists and giving approval.
The measure also sets up a process for parents to file complaints with the state.
Clemmons and other Democrats continued to object.
“Don’t librarians currently decide what’s appropriate to go in a library? And why are we usurping the authority of librarians and placing the state in the place of deciding what’s appropriate and what’s not for children?” Clemmons asked.
Sexton responded that he’s not sure who’s putting obscene or pornographic books in libraries, though he said librarians might be signing off on them.
In a back-and-forth with state Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, Sexton said he wasn’t sure about the qualifications required for people to serve on the textbook commission. But he noted his mother had no educational training and raised 10 kids, in addition to helping raise 23 great-grandchildren.
“She done a great job,” he said, adding common sense should be used to determine what is appropriate.
Just as parents turn off the TV when certain words are said in the presence of children, the state is doing the same thing in libraries.
“We’re turning those books off that are not appropriate, that use words that are very illicit, not only just words but some of these books have drawings. We consider them XXX and pay a premium price to see it at the movies,” he said.
Johnson noted in response, she would “have to trust you on that thing about movies.”
Arguing that one group shouldn’t determine what books are read by students across the state, Johnson noted, “History hasn’t looked fondly on people who ban books or burn books.”
Sexton, however, said the state isn’t banning books, just removing them from libraries.
Lindsey Kimery, past president of the Tennessee Association of School Librarians and legislative task force co-chair for the group, said Wednesday the library bill was not on her group’s radar until Monday night.
“This is how sly and sneaky it was,” Kimery said, adding she wondered why some Democrats voted for it previously.
Language was dropped that would have required creation of a statewide list of books. Instead, school districts will have to compile a list of books for the textbook commission to review.
Sexton said nothing about creating a statewide list during discussion in a committee meeting, only that it would add seats to the textbooks commission, Kimery said.
The Tennessee Association of School Librarians worked for three years to create the position of state librarian, which was eliminated from the Department of Education around 2000, but not to oversee a statewide list of unapproved books, she said.
“We’re just watching in horror,” Kimery said.
Librarians feel they’ve been turned into “collateral damage” this legislative session after groups affiliated with conservative organizations started complaining about selections they claim were found in libraries.
Representatives of Moms for Liberty, a Williamson County-based group, testified in committees for other legislation designed to ferret out books with obscene words. At one point, musician John Rich accused librarians of “grooming” students for sex and said they are worse than perverts who drive around in vans trying to lure children into the vehicle.
Lawmakers considered a bill earlier this session that would have criminalized librarians for allowing obscene material in libraries. It failed in the Senate. Another bill from Gov. Bill Lee set up a process to review books and handle parents’ complaints.
The Tennessee Association of School Librarians points out schools already have processes for parents to object to books, which involves talking to the librarian, going to the school administration, then the school district.
Librarians select thousands of books each year based on descriptions of the content, age recommendations, awards and other types of information. When parents make complaints, they work with them to handle the situation, she said.
Kimery, however, raised questions about the complaints directed at “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl,” pointing out it is a high school book. In her investigation, she could not find anything showing it was in an elementary school or middle school in the state.
The book does contain sexually graphic language in a couple of places, but it is written for students age 15 to 18, some of whom are old enough to serve in the military, Kimery said.
Librarians are worried this type of legislation will create a “slippery slope” for widespread book bans, she added.
“We’re providing books that meet the needs of our students, books they’re interested in reading because we want them to have books to choose from so they will become lifelong learners and readers, books that support the curriculum,” Kimery said.
What the hell is in GOPer water that makes them such a mess? This is stone age crap. Next they'll be drowning women to prove they are not witches. (A LOT OF CUSSING) pathetic Nazi jackasses.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday is introducing a bill to abolish Section 230 — the law the protects online platforms from liability — on the heels of Twitter accepting Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company and take it private.
Greene’s bill would eliminate the law making online platforms not liable for content posted by third parties and replace it with a provision to require “reasonable, non-discriminatory access to online communications platforms” through a “common carrier” framework that Greene compared to airlines or package delivery services.
Republicans have long claimed that social media platforms have an anti-conservative bias, pointing to tweets that have been taken down and the removal of entire feeds from networks.
The most prominent Republican who has seen his feeds taken down is former President Trump, who was permanently banned from Twitter after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, which led to his impeachment for instigating the chaos. Trump was not convicted in the Senate, though every Democrat and seven Republicans voted to convict.
Greene’s personal Twitter account was permanently suspended in January after she repeatedly violated the platform’s policy on misinformation relating to COVID-19, though her official congressional account remains active.
Tech companies have disputed the arguments that they have a bias against conservatives, and right-wing Facebook pages regularly have top-performing posts on the nation’s most used social media platform.
A February report from New York University found that the claims of a bias are not backed by evidence, saying that “no trustworthy large-scale studies have determined that conservative content is being removed for ideological reasons or that searches are being manipulated to favor liberal interests.”
Titled the 21st Century FREE Speech Act, Greene’s measure will serve as the House version of a Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.).
To combat the alleged bias against conservatives, it would prevent online communications platforms from exerting “undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, class of persons, political or religious group or affiliation, or locality” and would provide consumers a mechanism to sue for violations.
It would allow providers to restrict access to lewd and obscene material like pornography, excessively violent content, harassing content and unlawful content. Companies would be required to disclose their content moderation policies to users.
Greene cast the legislation as protecting Twitter under Musk, who has said he wants to combat censorship and has been cheered on by the right as he has moved to take over the company.
“If Elon Musk actually does what he’s setting out to do, this actually will protect him,” Greene told The Hill in an interview. “It’ll stop any type of overarching intervention that will force him to limit people’s free speech, whether it’s the Biden administration or some other bill that becomes law.”
While Greene has warred with Twitter, she thinks her bill will affect other social media platforms more.
“I think it’ll affect Facebook drastically. We already know what Facebook engaged in, especially through the 2020 election, covering up the Hunter Biden laptop story, the New York Post story,” Greene said, adding that YouTube is “very guilty” as well. “They’ve kicked tons of people off.”
Unlike Twitter, Facebook did not fully block the link to the New York Post’s October 2020 story on Hunter Biden’s laptop. But Facebook said that it reduced the story’s distribution on the platform.
Greene, who was stripped of her committee assignments soon after being sworn into office last year over posts about conspiracy theories and liking a Facebook comment that called for the assassination of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was making plans to introduce the bill before Musk announced plans to buy Twitter.
After her personal Twitter account was permanently banned, she said she spent a lot of time evaluating various bills that aim to take on Big Tech companies and thought Hagerty’s bill was most effective. Musk’s move to buy Twitter caused her to speed up the process, she said.
“Elon Musk buying Twitter and talking about defending free speech has ramped up the Democrats’ efforts to want to clamp down on speech. And so that made me realize, you know, that I need to introduce this now,” Greene said.
Greene said that she did not think the bill would shutter smaller social media companies by making them more open to lawsuits with its elimination of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
“Small companies can definitely get started. They can survive,” Greene said.
“Social media would be a common carrier very much like FedEx or the airlines where no matter who you are, you can buy a plane ticket and then fly somewhere,” she said.
The bill’s introduction marks a shift into more serious policy for the firebrand Georgia congresswoman. Other bills and resolutions led by Greene include articles of impeachment against President Biden, a resolution to remove Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca.) from the House, a bill to “stop the spread of taxpayer-funded bioweapons” and a bill to fire Anthony Fauci. She has co-sponsored 132 other bills.
Hagerty welcomed Greene for leading the bill in the House.
“These Big Tech platforms are the modern day public square, which is why the 21st Century FREE Speech Act would treat them as common carriers who must provide reasonable, nondiscriminatory access to all users. I’m pleased to have Representative Greene’s partnership in this effort to put the American people back in charge of what they say or hear online,” Hagerty said in a statement.
Greene said that the bill would still allow companies to remove content deemed to be harassment, noting that she has been on the receiving end of such messages.
“Social media, unfortunately, is a place where people feel powerful to say things behind the keyboard that they probably would never say to someone’s face, they certainly shouldn’t say at all. So that is — it’s unfortunate,” Greene said.
Her bill introduction also comes days after The New York Times published audio from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaking to other House GOP leaders in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack in which he wondered whether social media companies could take away Republican members’ accounts.
“It’s hurtful to hear things said about social media because I believe in free speech and no one should lose their social media account. None of us did anything wrong,” Greene said of McCarthy’s comments.
But she acknowledged that McCarthy’s office has helped her in trying to reinstate her Twitter account.
McConnell overestimated number of GOP senators who’d vote to convict Trump: book
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) overestimated the number of Republican senators he thought would vote to convict former President Trump during his second impeachment trial in the upper chamber, according to a new book.
In the book, “This Will Not Pass,” New York Times journalists Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin report that McConnell thought there would be 17 GOP votes to convict Trump the weekend after Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Trump was impeached in the House in connection to the Capitol insurrection, during which several people died, including a Capitol Police officer.
“McConnell told his advisers there would be at least 17 Senate Republicans ready to affirm Trump’s impeachment, supplying the two-thirds vote needed to convict,” the authors wrote, according to the excerpt obtained by McClatchy DC.
One of the reporters said McConnell pulled him aside after the Capitol riot to see if they had heard any information on if other Republicans would support using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
However, when the time came and only seven people in the Republican Party were willing to impeach Trump, McConnell changed his tune.
“I didn’t get to be leader by voting with five people in the conference,” McConnell reportedly said.
McConnell ended up adopting the argument presented to him by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), which was that the Senate can’t impeach a private citizen, reportedly believing it was a “smart position for him to take and predicted many other Senate Republicans would follow suit.”
After the riot, McConnell put the Senate on recess until Jan. 19, right before Trump left office.
“It wasn’t going to happen — he wasn’t going to be a leader who stood with 15 percent of the caucus,” a longtime adviser to McConnell told the authors.
Democrats, according to the book, believed if McConnell pushed for impeachment harder, he could have convinced more Republicans to vote for Trump’s impeachment, McClatchy DC reported.
Since the riot and impeachment trial, McConnell has sought to keep his distance from Trump and has been reluctant to answer questions about the former president.
Trump, for his part, has taken to slamming McConnell, referring to him as “Old Crow” in statements since taking office.
In a different excerpt from the book reported by Punchbowl News, Trump told the authors McConnell was to blame for his leaving office, alleging that he would still be in the White House now if McConnell bought into his claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.
The Hill has reached out to McConnell’s office for comment.
Exonerated? Looks to me like they knew he was guilty as hell but were too afraid of the bat crap crazy base to do the right thing. Claiming he was exonerated is a farce.
And then this idiot chimed in:
Trump said he’d be in White House instead of Mar-a-Lago if it weren’t for McConnell: book
Former President Trump told New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns that he would still be in the White House if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had bought into his false election claims.
”Had Mitch stuck with many members of the party who knew the election was rigged, I think we wouldn’t be at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said in an interview at his resort in Florida, an excerpt of the reporters’ “This Will Not Pass” book that was obtained by Punchbowl News states.
“We would be at the White House having this conversation,” he added.
Trump and McConnell’s relationship nose-dived after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot amid Trump’s stolen election claims.
Trump is “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events” of Jan. 6, McConnell said after the former president’s second impeachment trial.
McConnell recently said in an interview, however, that he would support Trump if he became the GOP presidential nominee in 2024.
“I think I have an obligation to support the nominee of my party,” McConnell said. “That will mean that whoever the nominee is has gone out and earned the nomination.”
Trump has not been so forgiving, frequently referring to McConnell as “Old Crow.”
“Why is it that Old Crow Mitch McConnell voted for a terrible Democrat Socialist Infrastructure Plan, and induced others in his Party to do likewise, when he was incapable of getting a great Infrastructure Plan wanting to be put forward by me and the Republican Party?” Trump asked after McConnell voted last year for the bipartisan infrastructure plan.
The latest excerpt has come after a week of bombshells from the book, including tapes with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggesting Trump should resign if he was impeached after the riot.
Trump dismissed tensions with McCarthy in the Mar-a-Lago interview and when asked why the House GOP leader claims to be tougher with Trump in private than in public, Trump summed it up to an “inferiority complex,” according to Punchbowl.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday is introducing a bill to abolish Section 230 — the law the protects online platforms from liability — on the heels of Twitter accepting Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company and take it private.
This doesn't make sense.
She wants online platforms to get sued for what a 3rd party posts but she also wants free speech on the internet and is opposed to those platforms blocking or deleting posts because that is censorship. How is that supposed to work?
Don't blame the clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus.
She's a very stupid person. If you were expecting even a modicum of logic, you're sadly mistaken. This is the mainstream right today. Lost like farts in a whirl wind to their own rhetoric. They can't even keep it all straight in their minds. Or they can't recall (especially their crimes).
Last edited by OldColdDawg; 04/29/2203:28 PM.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
Still trying to deflect about who tried to overthrow the election? Still trying to deflect about Charlottesville? The fascists have shown who they really are and deflecting as well as denying it won't change that.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked, according to an excerpt in Esper’s book “A Sacred Oath,” Axios reported.
Context: Esper enraged Trump by publicly stating in June 2020 that he opposed invoking the Insurrection Act — an 1807 law that permits the president to use active-duty troops on U.S. soil — in order to quell protests against racial injustice.
I know, i know. The excuse will be that he's lying because he's trying to sell a book. What ever it takes to make yourself feel better about it I guess.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
So does that mean you think the outcome of the 2020 presidential election was fair and correct? Just curious since you say you've never said anything about it.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I think there are plenty of things that are out of whack with our election process but I don't think it affected the outcome in 2020. I think the process is open to plenty of fraud and think we would all be fairly naive to think it doesn't go on (to some extent) on both sides.
I think there are some really silly things people complain about. Having to verify your identify being the most ludicrous... I mean really? You shouldn't need a proper ID to vote?
I'm hopeful that sometime in my lifetime we can jump on a PC and have a verification process that will allow us to vote from the comfort of our home. Not real keen on the amount of ballots being passed from person to person to person through the vehicle of the most inept government agency available -- the USPS.
And I'll add... we've had a number of elections come into question over the past 20 years... and that will continue. Acting like complaining about the validity of an election is a "GOP thing" is a bit ridiculous.
You sure used a lot of qualifiers. And no I'm not trying to say "Acting like complaining about the validity of an election is a "GOP thing". But riling up a bunch of people to use violence to attack the Capital to overturn election results is. Most people fully understand the difference.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
You sure used a lot of qualifiers. And no I'm not trying to say "Acting like complaining about the validity of an election is a "GOP thing". But riling up a bunch of people to use violence to attack the Capital to overturn election results is. Most people fully understand the difference.
Boy that sounds like a coup...
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
"Jesus was not killed by atheism and anarchy. He was brought down by law and order allied with religion, which is always a deadly mix. Beware those who claim to know the mind of God and who are prepared to use force, if necessary, to make others conform. Beware those who cannot tell God's will from their own. Temple police are always a bad sign. When chaplains start wearing guns and hanging out at the sheriff's office, watch out. Someone is about to have no king but Caesar"
Rev. Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
“He [Donald Trump] is an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service.” -- Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, under Donald Trump.
Every single tell-all book that has been published paints the same picture of this man:
shallow hollow greedy morally, ethically and intellectually bereft.
Manifestly unfit to be even the mayor of Mayberry.
“He [Donald Trump] is an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service.” -- Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, under Donald Trump.
Every single tell-all book that has been published paints the same picture of this man:
shallow hollow greedy morally, ethically and intellectually bereft.
Manifestly unfit to be even the mayor of Mayberry.
We all knew that going in, that was as predictable as the sun rising in the east.
There will be no playoffs. Can’t play with who we have out there and compounding it with garbage playcalling and worse execution. We don’t have good skill players on offense period. Browns 20 - Bears 17.
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