Addressing the sliver in your piece about Trump walking in on girls at beauty pageants, my 94-year-old neighbor had a friend who was a top flight choreographer who was working on a pageant. He was with Trump while Trump walked in on these girls, ogling them.
Their horror and shame and fright traumatized the choreographer. He quit the pageant and refused to work for any Trump enterprise.
Deplorable. Despicable. As a child rape survivor, I am exponentially disgusted. And wounded, though clearly not as badly as Epstein's victims/survivors are. Decades later, with years and years of therapy and a LOT of work, I function relatively well now. But the Epstein/trump connection and all of its pedophilia is so damned triggering to me. And to so many other women. Put them all in prison and lock away the key.
Say Robert. Nice of you to show up on a regular basis to demonstrate your lack of morals, empathy and compassion. You are a bottomless pit and an empty vessel.
She shouldn’t be reacting like this. She got MOLESTED as a little girl.
The Epstein case deals with teen and adult woman prostitutes who quite willingly agreed to have sex with rich men for good money. Most things that happened to these females were their own damned fault.
The main crime here was statutory rape of teenage girls, except statutory rape isn’t even rape. And it’s a pretty minor crime in my opinion. In general victims of statutory rape are not harmed.
In contrast the woman above got MOLESTED, a very serious crime that causes serious lasting harm in 23% of women who get molested as girls. None of this was her fault. The fault is all on the perpetrator.
The two cases have nothing to do with each other.
She’s torturing herself for no good reason. It’s sad and it would be better if she stopped doing this. She’s basically self-harming. It makes me sad. I wish she would stop.
This makes me actually sick to my stomach. The rationalization also completely avoids the fact that the victims were trafficked and raped, which is abhorrent no matter their age.
Thank you for sharing, we all need to be continually reminded about the decaying rot at the core of MAGA. We cannot look away and become complacent or apathetic.
Yes! 52% of white women (so R, D & I) voted for T in 2024, after Dobbs & after E Jean Carroll & after criminal convictions in Stormy redux with a highly competent female opponent on the ballot…again. That, to me, is the greatest kick in the gut & shame…
I’m afraid I have to disagree with you there - being adult does not mean that a woman is less likely to be raped. In fact, even senior women are raped.
Whether denying food to the hungry or covering up for sexual deviants preying upon young girls, one could say the decline in humanity infesting the Republican Party has reached its logical conclusion and become an absence of humanity.
Kelly’s attempts to make light of pedophilia by calling something else (pedo-lite?) will only comfort the hardcore base that wouldn’t, couldn’t turn on trump now won’t work outside their echo chamber. And outside is where elections are won and lost.
Men having sex with 15 year old girls is called statutory rape. It’s not disordered. It’s frankly normal, I hate to say it. But it’s normal behavior that might get you years in prison. Pedophilia is not a behavior.
It’s not disordered at all. Hell yeah it’s normal. Sorry to say this is a normal part of male sexuality. A lot of normal things are pretty bad.
Perhaps it is morally wrong or disgusting, I have no idea. “It’s immoral” and “It’s disgusting” are not scientific statements. They’re just subjective opinion.
It is also illegal in certain states.
This is a moral and legal issue, not a psychological one.
😂 is that science? 100% of the harm teens suffer from sex with adults is due to society’s attitude towards the behavior as it’s not inherently harmful. The way we react to it is making them worse.
The MAGA cult has three core values: White Supremacy, a perverted lust for exotic assault weapons, and a malignant misogyny. They adore a degenerate whoremonger, their leader. Are we surprised that they condone the use of 15-year-old girls for recreational sex? Am I exaggerating?
Let’s not forget, but they’re actually trying to get the age of consent down to the age of 14. I’m not sure if they’re trying to do that nationally but I think it may be just one state but if one state does it, the others will follow at least the red ones. I’m just so sick and tired of men who are so controlled by the brain between their legs and instead of the brain on their shoulders. So many of them out, there are unable to control themselves, and yet they demonize women. They put the blame on the wrong gender.
They also want to set 14 for child labor laws. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear them argue that 14 is plenty old enough to bind themselves to a contract, or join the military. It’s already not uncommon to hear of 14-year-olds being tried as adults for some awful crimes. But apparently they're not mature enough to make their own decisions at the library.
That lifespan is largely due to the high rate of child mortality. Once you get past that, your lifespan is longer. The US has marriage age statistics only from 1890. The attach d source gets its numbers from the census. https://www.infoplease.com/us/family-statistics/median-age-first-marriage
Agreed. When I was doing research for my thesis, I read a lot of old English parish records, which showed a surprising number of people living to be 100 or more.
Thanks, Kore! That's really interesting. So I wonder why Shakespeare had his young couple be THAT young. I seem to remember that Romeo was about 16, himself, although I don't remember the lines that told me that.
Lower the age of consent, then blame the victim, just like too many people do with any other instance of rape. Problem solved. For many of these miscreants, that is the desired solution. Many of them do not think women should have any rights at any age, if we’re being honest. Some of them are saying it out loud now.
It’s not inherently harmful to the girls obviously. That’s as clear as air. Whatever harm they suffer is being caused by society’s idiotic attitude towards the subject.
This applies to any behavior not obviously harmful. Take a behavior. Tell people it’s normal and harmless and no one gets harmed by it.
Tell another group that the same behavior is
terribly harmful and abnormal. Wa-la! Now it causes massive harm.
They do. AOC is 18 here. I’ve turned down eight 15-16
year old high school girls just in the last years. And I’m an old man! 😂
So yeah that law is very important to me. I don’t want to break it, not in this lunatic moral panic climate. I worry about them lying about their age though. I’ve already caught two of them in the same time frame.
Those girls are relentless. They argue and argue and try every trick in the book to get you to say yes. When those girls decide they want a man you won’t believe the lengths they go to get him.
I think a lot of men just cave in. It’s hard to turn them down as they’re so tempting.
Those girls seduce us! Not the other way around. Everyone has this backwards.
She was given a chance to employ her humane, empathetic side after her departure from FOX News. She hosted a show on mainstream NBC. But was fired because she made unacceptable racist comments. She then claimed she was “Cancelled” and dug her feet in with the right wing. Her level of arrogance is astounding.
Unfortunately, either the abuse was not real or she believes she deserved it. There are no other options. If she is a parent, she knows a child’s brain isn’t fully mature until about age 25. Her vile comments must be called out.
I think the word is “empathy”. You know, that “essential weakness in Western civilization” according to E. Musk, that dangerous quality that may lead to sins like supporting abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights according to some so-called christians.
I think that misogyny is not just a male thing, but that many women will excuse men for anything related to mistreatment or sexual crimes. It has to do with a lessening of the ability to feel for the "other", especially if they are without power, women, the poor, the disabled, or the homeless. It's a kind of " who gives a shit if I have mine?" Let's just close our eyes and hope the stock market does well so we can keep making money. I do believe, however, that if the Democrats can use the latest information successfully, we will gain some ground.
Trying to smear Trump, or any of these rich playboy types, with the Epstein Files is just smearing them with their own feces.
Much of the MAGA base claims to be Christian, though there is a paucity of evidence to support that proposition. That said, Christians can be evil and Christians can do evil. As we say in my tradition, we sin by what we do and also by what we fail to do.
Giving political cover to wealthy pedophiles, refusing to listen to and believe the testimony of raped children, worshiping political power over a crucified, risen, and returning Christ in no way reflects a Christian stance. These are just a short list of how Christians commit evil. If MAGA Christians really are Christians, they need to repent in thought, word, and deed.
It would be hard for me to reconcile the gratitude and humility necessary to make a sincere "sinner's prayer" and at any point for any reason be able to be that far from the word of God and the actions and words of Jesus, always supporting the less fortunate.
I believe the Christian Nationalists mostly fit into this group!!
When all this is done, and trump along with maga are gone. Will this people realize what they have done and said? Will they go: "my god, did I really say/think that?"
I seriously doubt that. To do so would require a great deal of self-reflection and contemplation of all related positions on morality, honesty and truth. Not impossible but unlikely.
I'm 67 and I'm ready when ever my time comes to give up this life, I thought. Now I want to live another fifty years so I might see what the answer is to your question.
I suspect they will claim like the Maine oyster guy that at the time of their vile comments they were in a dark place and didn't really mean to suggest that rape was manufactured by the victims. In his case, female rape victims in the military.
All the more urgent for us to codify failsafes into the system to guard against this happening again. If we fail to do so during/after the fallout then it will undoubtedly happen again.
Do these apologists who keep bringing up 15 and 16 yo girls not know any? At 15 I hadn’t started menstruation; this wasn’t uncommon. Although girls that age are going through puberty, they in no way have a woman’s body. The 15 yo has more in common with the 8 yo than with a 21 yo.
These claims attempt to rationalise and normalise a crime, rape. The reason a man like Epstein or Trump ‘likes his (girls) young’ is because of the power differential. He can demand she comply with any command; he can brutalise the girl and she’s powerless to fight back. He knows he’s immune for indulging in conduct that would otherwise be off limits to him.
These men talk to each other about the sex or ‘fun’ but that’s just their means of gaining power: first over the victim and then over other rich and powerful men as a status enhancer. That’s one aspect of the emails that’s especially disturbing to me. The girls were just currency in their high stakes men-only games. Vile indeed.
I've heard the disgusting comment "If they're old enough to bleed, they're old enough to breed." It's often said jocularly, as if a chuckle could excuse it.
I was going to say that I can't believe what Megan Kelly said. Sadly, I can. I have had men (not a lot, but at least 3 in my career) who described girls under 5 as "hot". What Kelly says is absolutely disgusting. So are the people that buy into that.
Think of how we sexualize little girls in the media and how a lot of mothers dress their girl children up like women. That is truly disturbing . Every time I see little girls in the nail salon getting their nails done, I think “They should be getting their hands dirty playing in the dirt!”
Absolutely. That whole baby beauty contest industry should be outlawed. It's beyond disgusting. And it seems like it's the moms who really get into that horrible show. What on earth is wrong with people???
Addressing the sliver in your piece about Trump walking in on girls at beauty pageants, my 94-year-old neighbor had a friend who was a top flight choreographer who was working on a pageant. He was with Trump while Trump walked in on these girls, ogling them.
Their horror and shame and fright traumatized the choreographer. He quit the pageant and refused to work for any Trump enterprise.
My god…
94 yo neighbor needs to get a non compromised veteran reporter to take down all the stories NOW. Please get that to happen for posterity.
Good idea.
Agree
Absolutely.
YES YES
There is so much proof like this! It’s infuriating. Good for your friend!
Deplorable. Despicable. As a child rape survivor, I am exponentially disgusted. And wounded, though clearly not as badly as Epstein's victims/survivors are. Decades later, with years and years of therapy and a LOT of work, I function relatively well now. But the Epstein/trump connection and all of its pedophilia is so damned triggering to me. And to so many other women. Put them all in prison and lock away the key.
There was zero pedophilia in this case. Pedophilia is not a behavior.
Say Robert. Nice of you to show up on a regular basis to demonstrate your lack of morals, empathy and compassion. You are a bottomless pit and an empty vessel.
Why thank you.
She shouldn’t be reacting like this. She got MOLESTED as a little girl.
The Epstein case deals with teen and adult woman prostitutes who quite willingly agreed to have sex with rich men for good money. Most things that happened to these females were their own damned fault.
The main crime here was statutory rape of teenage girls, except statutory rape isn’t even rape. And it’s a pretty minor crime in my opinion. In general victims of statutory rape are not harmed.
In contrast the woman above got MOLESTED, a very serious crime that causes serious lasting harm in 23% of women who get molested as girls. None of this was her fault. The fault is all on the perpetrator.
The two cases have nothing to do with each other.
She’s torturing herself for no good reason. It’s sad and it would be better if she stopped doing this. She’s basically self-harming. It makes me sad. I wish she would stop.
This makes me actually sick to my stomach. The rationalization also completely avoids the fact that the victims were trafficked and raped, which is abhorrent no matter their age.
Thank you for sharing, we all need to be continually reminded about the decaying rot at the core of MAGA. We cannot look away and become complacent or apathetic.
100% Absolutely "No matter their age"!!
Megyn is a very poor example of a woman. Just scum.
The problem is NOT MAGA, it's fucked up, entitled MEN from all over the planet.
Those men, yes, but also the women who excuse them. And vote for them.
Yes! 52% of white women (so R, D & I) voted for T in 2024, after Dobbs & after E Jean Carroll & after criminal convictions in Stormy redux with a highly competent female opponent on the ballot…again. That, to me, is the greatest kick in the gut & shame…
Megan Kellys of this world don’t help. I’m appalled and ashamed of her.
Me too! And of all of his bevy of hypocritical females. And males.
The adult women were generally not raped.
I’m afraid I have to disagree with you there - being adult does not mean that a woman is less likely to be raped. In fact, even senior women are raped.
Of course you are correct.
I’m speaking of the Epstein case. There were some rapes of the adult prostitutes but almost all the sex was consensual.
Whether denying food to the hungry or covering up for sexual deviants preying upon young girls, one could say the decline in humanity infesting the Republican Party has reached its logical conclusion and become an absence of humanity.
Kelly’s attempts to make light of pedophilia by calling something else (pedo-lite?) will only comfort the hardcore base that wouldn’t, couldn’t turn on trump now won’t work outside their echo chamber. And outside is where elections are won and lost.
Men having sex with 15 year old girls is called statutory rape. It’s not disordered. It’s frankly normal, I hate to say it. But it’s normal behavior that might get you years in prison. Pedophilia is not a behavior.
Then what the fuck is it? You’re rationalization makes no sense.
It's arguably normal when it's with a 16- or 17-year-old boy.
With a middle-aged married man? Out of fear of danger to her family if she won't? NOT NORMAL.
And you should know your contributions to this conversation could cause a casual reader to think YOU might be prone to, you know ... pedophilia.
I do not respond to scurrilous accusations.
No females’ families were threatened if the females didn’t have sex with a man. Just didn’t happen.
It’s not disordered at all. Hell yeah it’s normal. Sorry to say this is a normal part of male sexuality. A lot of normal things are pretty bad.
Perhaps it is morally wrong or disgusting, I have no idea. “It’s immoral” and “It’s disgusting” are not scientific statements. They’re just subjective opinion.
It is also illegal in certain states.
This is a moral and legal issue, not a psychological one.
Jess. as a retired LEO (33 years) I share your horror at Kelly’s dismissal of this abuse. The consequences for the girls are life-long.
🙏🏼
Oh bullshit! Men having sex with teenage girls is harmless. But there are other reasons to restrict it.
Bullfuckingshit asshole
https://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/megyn-kelly-dangerously-minimized-child-sexual-abuse-in-comments-on-jeffrey-epstein/
😂 is that science? 100% of the harm teens suffer from sex with adults is due to society’s attitude towards the behavior as it’s not inherently harmful. The way we react to it is making them worse.
The MAGA cult has three core values: White Supremacy, a perverted lust for exotic assault weapons, and a malignant misogyny. They adore a degenerate whoremonger, their leader. Are we surprised that they condone the use of 15-year-old girls for recreational sex? Am I exaggerating?
Nope! Right on!!
Don’t forget that women have come forward with accusations that they were trafficked when 13 & 14 years old. Horrifying.
Megyn Kelly claims that raping 15 year-olds isn't as bad a molestiing 5 year-olds.
So. There's that.
Well, sure, but isn't that beside the point? No one is talking about raping 5 year olds.
Let’s not forget, but they’re actually trying to get the age of consent down to the age of 14. I’m not sure if they’re trying to do that nationally but I think it may be just one state but if one state does it, the others will follow at least the red ones. I’m just so sick and tired of men who are so controlled by the brain between their legs and instead of the brain on their shoulders. So many of them out, there are unable to control themselves, and yet they demonize women. They put the blame on the wrong gender.
I was thinking of that while I was writing
They also want to set 14 for child labor laws. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear them argue that 14 is plenty old enough to bind themselves to a contract, or join the military. It’s already not uncommon to hear of 14-year-olds being tried as adults for some awful crimes. But apparently they're not mature enough to make their own decisions at the library.
Fourteen was "full grown" when the average life span was 40-50 years. You know, back in 1850. 😡
That lifespan is largely due to the high rate of child mortality. Once you get past that, your lifespan is longer. The US has marriage age statistics only from 1890. The attach d source gets its numbers from the census. https://www.infoplease.com/us/family-statistics/median-age-first-marriage
Agreed. When I was doing research for my thesis, I read a lot of old English parish records, which showed a surprising number of people living to be 100 or more.
Exactly. I keep remembering Juliet, who was about to turn 14 when she married Romeo. About 450 years ago. And see how well that worked out!
https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/society/family/marriage.html
Thanks, Kore! That's really interesting. So I wonder why Shakespeare had his young couple be THAT young. I seem to remember that Romeo was about 16, himself, although I don't remember the lines that told me that.
Lower the age of consent, then blame the victim, just like too many people do with any other instance of rape. Problem solved. For many of these miscreants, that is the desired solution. Many of them do not think women should have any rights at any age, if we’re being honest. Some of them are saying it out loud now.
Yup. Both horrifying and terrifying. I really must read The Handmaids Tale one of these days.
I was also thinking about legal age of marraige. See wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_age_in_the_United_States
Kill the pedophiles in your government idiots kill them all now!
No one is trying to lower the AOC to 14.
Why are you jumping in on this? You told us up thread that men having sex with teenage girls is harmless (harmless to whom?). 14 is a teenager.
It’s not inherently harmful to the girls obviously. That’s as clear as air. Whatever harm they suffer is being caused by society’s idiotic attitude towards the subject.
This applies to any behavior not obviously harmful. Take a behavior. Tell people it’s normal and harmless and no one gets harmed by it.
Tell another group that the same behavior is
terribly harmful and abnormal. Wa-la! Now it causes massive harm.
Humans are not that complicated you know.
Then why did bother to tell everyone on this thread about AOC laws (you know, my original question)? They obviously don’t matter to you.
They do. AOC is 18 here. I’ve turned down eight 15-16
year old high school girls just in the last years. And I’m an old man! 😂
So yeah that law is very important to me. I don’t want to break it, not in this lunatic moral panic climate. I worry about them lying about their age though. I’ve already caught two of them in the same time frame.
Those girls are relentless. They argue and argue and try every trick in the book to get you to say yes. When those girls decide they want a man you won’t believe the lengths they go to get him.
I think a lot of men just cave in. It’s hard to turn them down as they’re so tempting.
Those girls seduce us! Not the other way around. Everyone has this backwards.
Wasn't Megyn Kelly a victim of sexual harassment herself? Does she have no sympathy for others??
Yes she was. No, I don’t think she does.
She was given a chance to employ her humane, empathetic side after her departure from FOX News. She hosted a show on mainstream NBC. But was fired because she made unacceptable racist comments. She then claimed she was “Cancelled” and dug her feet in with the right wing. Her level of arrogance is astounding.
This reminds me of Bari Weiss and her departure from the New York Times!
"Departure"' is putting it mildly! And now she controls CBS. One of the biggest Grifts of the century.
I agree! An opinion columnist becomes a multimillionaire overnight!
Only in ‘Murica!
Not to mention her depravity.
Yes, and pathetic! It's a sickly-jaded approach driven only by money and the need for attention-pretty normal trait for Magables!!
Unfortunately, either the abuse was not real or she believes she deserved it. There are no other options. If she is a parent, she knows a child’s brain isn’t fully mature until about age 25. Her vile comments must be called out.
Identification with the aggressor (making excuses for them) is a well-recognized outcome for many victims. Very sad because it perpetuates the system.
I think the word is “empathy”. You know, that “essential weakness in Western civilization” according to E. Musk, that dangerous quality that may lead to sins like supporting abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights according to some so-called christians.
I think that misogyny is not just a male thing, but that many women will excuse men for anything related to mistreatment or sexual crimes. It has to do with a lessening of the ability to feel for the "other", especially if they are without power, women, the poor, the disabled, or the homeless. It's a kind of " who gives a shit if I have mine?" Let's just close our eyes and hope the stock market does well so we can keep making money. I do believe, however, that if the Democrats can use the latest information successfully, we will gain some ground.
Trying to smear Trump, or any of these rich playboy types, with the Epstein Files is just smearing them with their own feces.
Much of the MAGA base claims to be Christian, though there is a paucity of evidence to support that proposition. That said, Christians can be evil and Christians can do evil. As we say in my tradition, we sin by what we do and also by what we fail to do.
Giving political cover to wealthy pedophiles, refusing to listen to and believe the testimony of raped children, worshiping political power over a crucified, risen, and returning Christ in no way reflects a Christian stance. These are just a short list of how Christians commit evil. If MAGA Christians really are Christians, they need to repent in thought, word, and deed.
They are “christians,” not Christians.
It would be hard for me to reconcile the gratitude and humility necessary to make a sincere "sinner's prayer" and at any point for any reason be able to be that far from the word of God and the actions and words of Jesus, always supporting the less fortunate.
I believe the Christian Nationalists mostly fit into this group!!
When all this is done, and trump along with maga are gone. Will this people realize what they have done and said? Will they go: "my god, did I really say/think that?"
I seriously doubt that. To do so would require a great deal of self-reflection and contemplation of all related positions on morality, honesty and truth. Not impossible but unlikely.
Grifters by definition aren't super-moral folks, and MAGA seems to like them, so what
does that tell us!
I'm 67 and I'm ready when ever my time comes to give up this life, I thought. Now I want to live another fifty years so I might see what the answer is to your question.
My Dad would always say he wanted to come back every 50 years just to see how things were going
I'm 61 and I know exactly how you feel.
I suspect they will claim like the Maine oyster guy that at the time of their vile comments they were in a dark place and didn't really mean to suggest that rape was manufactured by the victims. In his case, female rape victims in the military.
No excuses.
I think not. And, unfortunately, a second generation of this same breed is in the pipeline. So I'm not sure we'll have a "done" point, maybe a lull?
I think there is more hope for Gen Z than most people think; both my kids are Gen Z and from seeing them and their friends give me hope.
All the more urgent for us to codify failsafes into the system to guard against this happening again. If we fail to do so during/after the fallout then it will undoubtedly happen again.
🙏🏼
I think about this a lot. History, specifically Nazis who fled to Argentina after WWII, seems to point to their true remorse being highly unlikely.
Let's hope all the maga cult members flee to Argentina then.
Do these apologists who keep bringing up 15 and 16 yo girls not know any? At 15 I hadn’t started menstruation; this wasn’t uncommon. Although girls that age are going through puberty, they in no way have a woman’s body. The 15 yo has more in common with the 8 yo than with a 21 yo.
These claims attempt to rationalise and normalise a crime, rape. The reason a man like Epstein or Trump ‘likes his (girls) young’ is because of the power differential. He can demand she comply with any command; he can brutalise the girl and she’s powerless to fight back. He knows he’s immune for indulging in conduct that would otherwise be off limits to him.
These men talk to each other about the sex or ‘fun’ but that’s just their means of gaining power: first over the victim and then over other rich and powerful men as a status enhancer. That’s one aspect of the emails that’s especially disturbing to me. The girls were just currency in their high stakes men-only games. Vile indeed.
What's next? Measuring female adulthood status by breast size?
I've heard the disgusting comment "If they're old enough to bleed, they're old enough to breed." It's often said jocularly, as if a chuckle could excuse it.
😂 if there’s grass on the field play ball 😂.
I was going to say that I can't believe what Megan Kelly said. Sadly, I can. I have had men (not a lot, but at least 3 in my career) who described girls under 5 as "hot". What Kelly says is absolutely disgusting. So are the people that buy into that.
Good god
😫🤢
Yup. One was in a trial where I was the escort deputy; the other two were in investigations I did.
One reason why I NEVER wanted to work detectives.
Think of how we sexualize little girls in the media and how a lot of mothers dress their girl children up like women. That is truly disturbing . Every time I see little girls in the nail salon getting their nails done, I think “They should be getting their hands dirty playing in the dirt!”
Remember Jon Benet Ramsey?
exactly
Absolutely. That whole baby beauty contest industry should be outlawed. It's beyond disgusting. And it seems like it's the moms who really get into that horrible show. What on earth is wrong with people???
I agree with. I saw something about Kim kardashian’s daughter that’s 12 and she’s pieced 2of her fingers and dressed like she’s 18
yup well, look at her role model
definitelyy
Precisely!!!
I wonder if Megyn has a 10 year old or 15 year old or any daughter for that matter.
Would she be ok with that daughter being sexually abused?
The rage I feel is overwhelming!
I’ve only heard her speak fondly of her sons (many years ago).