My Two Cents: The Duggars ... Again

I knew it would only get worse for the Duggars and I seem to have been correct.

A new police report has been released detailing the sexual molestation of five minor girls by Josh Duggar, and the most damning revelation is that Josh told his father, Jim Bob, not one time, as the Duggars have suggested, but on THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS that he’d been molesting his sisters — one of whom was just five years old at the time — and a family friend; and that there were at least SEVEN acts of sexual molestation.

What I find just as disgusting as Josh molesting these defenseless girls, is that even after telling his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar waited another 16 months before speaking to anyone about the crimes.

Jim Bob claims in the report that the family talked about what happened with the minors — some of whom were his own children — and since only one had any memory of the molestation ... she said she woke up to find Josh 'taking her blanket away' — so nothing was done about it because, well, if the girls don’t remember their brother sexually assaulting them, then let’s just not talk about it, and do nothing about it.

Even worse is, at that time, the Duggars did not get Josh — or his victims — any form of counseling; in fact, to this day they refuse to say if the counseling that finally did occur came as a result of a court order after the Families In Need of Services and the Arkansas Department of Human Services became involved in the case.

For covering up Josh’s crimes, Jim Bob and Michelle could have been faced six years in prison, but this didn’t happen because, by the time an official police report was taken, in 2006, the statute of limitations had run out. So, let’s be clear: Jim Bob, Michelle, and Josh all broke the law and all got away with it. Great family values, and true Christians, but then they had a TV show to protect and an agenda — anti-LGBT — to carry on.

All this comes on the heels of a new interview with Joseph Hutchens — the police officer, now in prison for possession of child pornography — who says Jim Bob Duggar lied to him saying Josh had molested one girl, one time — as though that makes it better.

Josh Duggar, for his part, and only after the first police report emerged, issued this statement:

“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling.”

Notice he never says he molested anyone, but that he just acted ‘inexcusably;’ funny that, since molestation is a criminal offense and not an inexcusable act. Oh, but he's suffered for his crimes, y'all; he was forced to step down from his job at the virulently anti-LGBT Family Research Council, and he had to move back to Arkansas from Washington DC with his wife Anna — expecting their fourth child — and their three children. 

And as for Anna; after the story broke, she reaffirmed her support for Josh, saying that he had confessed his “past teenage mistakes” two years before he proposed to her. So, he told her that he had molested children and she went ahead and married him and had children with him because, in her mind, pedophilia is just a teenage mistake.

And then Jim Bob and Michelle released their own statement:

“Back 12 years ago our family went through one of the most difficult times of our lives. When Josh was a young teenager, he made some very bad mistakes, and we were shocked. We had tried to teach him right from wrong. That dark and difficult time caused us to seek God like never before.”

Bad mistakes? A difficult time for the family? Young girls, children, were molested and they make it seem as though it was nothing at all. Sexual molestation of a minor is not a ‘very bad mistake,’ it’s a crime.

Of course, this is the same Jim bob Duggar who, in 2002, knowing that his son had molested several girls, including his own daughters, said incest and rape should be punishable by death. Unless, I’m guessing, you’re a Duggar and went away to Construction Camp.

And this is the same Michelle Duggar who, just last year, compared transgender individuals to 'child predators' even though she’d known for twelve years that her own sin was a sexual predator. But then, transgender is bad, and Duggars just make mistakes.

Last night Jim Bob and Michelle were interviewed by Megyn Kelly of Fox News … of course. Kelly said her aim is to get the entire story, but that details of the molestation are off-limits because, well, let’s continue to protect Josh Duggar, pedophile, for his ‘mistakes.’

Here’s some of what the Duggars spun last night …

Kelly, at one point, asked about Michelle Duggar about that robocall she made, and Kelly said she felt that it “suggested transgender people might want to go into the bathrooms of girls, locker rooms of girls, and that they may be child molesters.”

Michelle Duggar responded:

“I think that protecting young girls and not allowing young men and men in general to go into a girls’ locker room is just common sense.”

Well, let’s all get it that Michelle Duggar knows nothing about trans people except the lie the voices in her head tell. But Kelly pressed on, saying Michelle Duggar “injected child molestation into it.”

Well, then Jim Bob got his knickers twisted and said his wife used the word “pedophile” in that anti-LGBT robocall, and then explained what a pedophile is:

“Actually a pedophile is an adult that preys on children. Joshua was actually 14 and just turned 15 when he did what he did. I think the legal definition is 16 and up for an adult preying on a child. He was a child preying on a child.”

Oops, my bad. Josh Duggar is NOT a pedophile, y’all, and the Duggars want you to know that; he’s just a sexual predator and a child molester and a fondler and a fingerer and a pervert … but NOT a pedophile.

But what galls me is that when Megyn Kelly asked if the Duggars could understand the reactions of some people to the news, this is what Michelle said:

“I can understand that. But I know every one of us has done things wrong. This is more about, there’s an agenda. And there’s people that are purposing to try to bring things out and twisting them to hurt and slander.”

We’ve all done things wrong, but how many of us crept into our siblings rooms while they slept and sexually abused them? How many of us hid our child’s crimes and sent him away to Construction Camp instead of getting him help? How many of us broke the law? The Duggars did all of those things, and to continue to play the Poor Us card because now people are just being mean.

Go.Away. And that might happen, fingers crossed. The Duggars show, 19 Kids and Counting has been pulled off the network in the wake of this scandal, though TLC has not announced if they will cancel the program altogether; a spinoff, featuring some of the Duggar girls had been planned though it’s fate is also up in the air.

However, the show has been removed from Hulu, and major advertisers including General Mills, Jimmy Dean, Pure Leaf Iced Tea, Ace Hardware, David's Bridal, ConAgra Foods, Party City and Behr Paint will no longer advertise on the program, while other companies, including CVS, H&R Block, Ricola and Keurig have said they will no longer advertise on the network at all if the show returns to air. 

Look, it’s clear the Duggars aided and abetted a child molester, their own son, and waited just long enough so that no charges could be filed against him, for being a pedophile, and against them, for helping him hide his crimes. And let’s not forget their crimes as parents, when they allowed a known sexual predator back into their homes to sleep down the hall from the girls he sexually abused.

And let’s not let TLC off the hook, because, unless and until they take this show, and any spinoffs, off the air, they are also guilty of acting as though child sexual abuse is not a big deal, if the family involved brings in big ratings and big revenues.

It’s time all sides were held accountable — as much as Josh and his criminal parents can be since we actually have a statute of limitations of pedophilia in this country — and we stopped celebrating these kinds of families, and these kinds of television networks.

And it’s time we took our politicians, and religious leaders, who stand by child molesters and those who hide the crimes of child molesters, and fail to stand up for the victims. You cannot, and should not, ask to be the leader of this country while acting as though child sexual molestation is no big deal; you cannot, and should not, talk to me about God, when you stand in a pulpit and say that a few months of a building project is all the rehabilitation a pedophile need.

Daily Mail

LGBTQ Nation
NCRM
In Touch

Architecture Wednesday: Brandywine

I do loves me some history, especially historical homes, and I figure if you’re gonna live in Washington, DC you’d have a pretty fair shot at getting something with a past. But howsabout something different? Howsabout something named after a drink I have after dinner and a drink I have during the meal?

Ladies and gentleladies, I give you Brandywine, located near Rock Creek Park and with easy access to the shops and restaurants on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington, DC.

While it appears almost monolithic, it was designed to respect both the scale of neighboring houses and the rhythm of the streetscape. The house aligns with adjacent homes yet retains the vast majority of mature trees and green space located between the street and the house.

In addition, the materials used on the façade — stone, wood and stucco — mirror the façades of those more traditional homes nearby. Brandywine seems almost solid when viewed from the street due to  strategically placed windows to insure privacy from the roadway.

The “L” shaped house is organized around the outdoor living spaces and swimming pool, and towards the large, south facing rear yard. Floor to ceiling expanses of glass provide ample visual and physical connectivity to the terraces, the swimming pool and the wooded landscape beyond; a screened porch, covered deck, roof top deck and balconies add to that indoor-outdoor feel, while a small bridge and stone path lead from the house and into wooded, less manicured landscape at the rear of the property.

All the glass, along with wood elements, keep the interior, while large, warm and cozy; limestone and granites add to a rich material palette. The addition of several skylights creates changing light conditions that activate the interior.

And yet, despite the relatively large size of this house and all that glass, Brandywine remains incredibly energy efficient. While the windows and skylights provide generous day-lighting, computer programmed shading devices modulate solar gain. A geothermal HVAC system, including hydronic heating, combines with solar hot water tubes and photovoltaic panels with the goal of providing a net zero energy house.

It is both kind to its environment of those homes nearby and still cautious of the environment in which we all live.

Click to emBIGGERate

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Minute Rant: Mike Huckabee Is A Lying Hypocritical Douchebag Dick Of A Fuckmonkey

Pardon my Freanch, as my Mom used to say, but, there, I said it … and here’s why:

While speaking at the 2015 National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Tennessee earlier this year, future failed presidential candidate, certifiable loon and pedophile lover, Mike Huckabee actually said he wishes he could have “pretended” to be transgender in high school so he could have "showered with the girls" after PE:

“Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE. I’m pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘Coach, I think I’d rather shower with the girls today.’ You’re laughing because it sounds so ridiculous doesn’t it? And yet today we are the ones who are ridiculed and scorned because we point out the obvious. “That there is something inherently wrong about forcing little children to be a part of this social experiment. I’m not against anybody. I’d just like for somebody to bring their brain to work some day and not leave it on the bedstand when they show up to govern.”

He’s not against anyone mind you, but he warns us all that trans people are pedophiles and then tells us that he is pervert who gets off on looking at girls in showers. Okay. But then he goes on to say that transmen and women are pedophiles:

“For those who do not think that we are under threat, simply recognize that the fact that we are now in city after city watching ordinances say that your seven-year-old daughter, if she goes into the restroom cannot be offended and you can’t be offended if she’s greeted there by a 42-year-old man who feels more like a woman than he does a man.”

First off, Mike, you lying hypocritical douchebag dick of a fuckmonkey, a transwomen in a women’s restroom is a woman, okay? And a trans man in a men’s restroom is a man, and probably more of a man than you will ever be. Learn that.

And stop spreading fear — that trans people are pedophiles — and stop spreading lies — that trans people only want to “switch genders” so they can ogle women in showers — and, lastly, but most importantly, stop talking  altogether.

Oh, and since we’re on the subject of pedophiles and protecting children, when are you gonna come out and say that people need to protect their kids from Josh Duggar, who is a known pedophile?

Gosh, I cannot wait until the primaries come around and you get your backwoods bigoted ass handed to you and then you can go home to never be heard from again.

Evan Young, Class Valedictorian, Was Silenced Because He Wanted To Come Out As Gay

Evan Young is a graduating senior at Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School, in Longmont, Colorado, and, with a 4.5 GPA and a scholarship to Rutgers University, he was recognized as valedictorian at his school's May 16 graduation. And then he wasn’t because, well, gay; yes, in this day and age … but let’s tell the story:

Evan sat down, wrote a speech, and agreed to show it to the school principal, BJ Buchmann, who suggested several edits, to which Evan agreed. But, when Buchmann told him to take out the part where Evan came out as gay, he balked:

"One of my themes is that I was going to tell everyone my secrets. Most of the things were stupid stuff — books I never read that I was supposed to, or homework I didn't like. But then I gradually worked up to serious secrets.

My main theme is that you're supposed to be respectful of people, even if you don't agree with them. I figured my gayness would be a very good way to address that."

So Evan left it in, and several days before the graduation, he emailed Buchmann a copy of his speech with all but that one requested edit having been made. And Evan was out … as gay … and as valedictorian.

A statement released by the school's board of directors claims Evan failed to abide by pre-screening rules — and also "failed to follow guidelines of the evening by removing the sleeves of his graduation gown." The statement also said that graduation was "a time for family and those closest to the students to celebrate success and express mutual wishes of gratitude and respect. It is not a time for a student to use his commencement speech to push his personal agenda on a captive audience, and school officials are well within their rights to prevent that from happening."

Funny, it didn’t sound like Evan was pushing an agenda, because, and let’s get this queer, there is no gay agenda save for equality, and Evan wasn’t talking about that; he was talking about respecting people, something the school administrators never showed him.

And then, to make matters worse, Evan Young says that, prior to the graduation ceremony, Principal Buchmann called Evan's father, Don Young, and outed him to his parents.

"Mr. Buchmann called me and said, 'I've got Evan's speech here. There's two things in it that I don't think are appropriate; one was he had mentioned another student's name. And then there was his coming out that he was gay." — Don Young

Wow; who has the agenda now? See, Evan hadn’t come out to his parents, a choice that was his to make, and his to change when he saw fit, but Principal Buchmann, who didn’t want him coming out at graduation, did the coming out for Evan at home.

"I think what it mainly showed is that he didn't have a lot of sympathy for me, or someone in my position. He didn't understand how personal a thing it was, and that I wasn't just going to share it with people randomly, for no reason. I thought it was very inconsiderate for him to do something like that, especially without asking me first." — Evan Young

Their son's sexuality was not news to Don Young and his wife, though they’d never heard from anyone, much less Evan, that he was gay, but still, they weren’t exactly thrilled to have the principal share such private news. And though they were somewhat sympathetic to Buchmann's decision concerning the speech, feeling that coming out during his valedictorian speech wasn’t appropriate, Don Young claims that Buchmann only notified Evan a few minutes before the ceremony that he wouldn’t be speaking because he would be coming out in his speech.

"On the Friday, the day before the ceremony, I had written [Buchmann] a handwritten letter so that he couldn't forward it. I told him I'm not going to remove the part where I say I'm gay, because I am. It's important to me. And I said if he has any questions, he can contact me by email over the next 24 hours or so. He didn't ever email me back, and so I figured he must be OK with my speech."

Seriously, in 2015, we are still denying our LGBT youth the right to speak their truth, even at graduation, where most valedictorians discuss their school years, and their school experiences. The school can say whatever they want — and the part where they say Evan couldn’t speak because he removed the sleeves from his graduation gown is all just stuff and nonsense; he wasn’t allowed to speak because he was going to come out and the school felt it wasn’t the appropriate time.

That alone sends a message of shame to young LGBT students that coming out is maybe something they should rethink; maybe stay in the closet; stay silent; live in shame for being who you are.

Now, for some good news: Out Boulder, an LGBT advocacy group, held their own ceremony last week, and invited Evan Young to speak, to come out, to share his story. Evan wore a green cape, for a little flourish, and talked about how he shouldn't have to apologize for who he is and that he expects his classmates to overlook differences as they have done in the past.

And, in the days following his ouster as valedictorian, Evan has received commendations from Colorado state Representative Jonathan Singer, and United States Representative, and openly gay, Jared Polis, who announced that he wants to "make sure this is the last time somebody like Evan will have to go through what he had to go through."

He’s gay; he’s a brilliant student with a bright future, and he wanted to tell his story. In 2015, this kind of silencing of someone because of their sexual orientation is not to be tolerated.

We’ve come too far for this.

Denver Post

Towleroad
photo credit David R. Jennings / Denver Post Staff Photographer

New York City To Consider Landmark Status For The Stonewall Inn

In a sign that things are changing — however slowly it might seem at times — for the LGBT community, comes the news that the Stonewall Inn just might become New York City's first landmark designation based on significance to the our community. 

The move is thanks to an 18-month long campaign by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, as announced by Andrew Berman:

“I am deeply gratified that the City of New York will finally consider the Stonewall Inn for landmark designation. This is a long-overdue move to recognize the incredibly important role this site and the riots connected to it have in the struggle for LGBT rights in this country and worldwide. It is critical that the history of sites like Stonewall and the immeasurably important role they played in making our country a more just, open, and accepting place, is recognized and preserved.  

I am glad that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has followed in the footsteps of our state and federal government, which in 1999 recognized the unique importance of the Stonewall Inn to our history. But because only New York City landmark designation can protect this site from alteration or demolition, this action is especially important.

This is the first time the New York City has recognized a site with potential landmark designation based solely upon its LGBT history, but it is important that it not be the last."

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has asked the  Landmarks Preservation Commission to consider other critical LGBT history sites such as the iconic Greenwich Village gay bar Julius, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, and the former Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse.

Next up, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission can schedule a public hearing and vote on whether it will be officially designated.

As it should ….

image via The Stonewall Inn NYC

Minute Rave: Jessica Lange

I have always been a huge fan of Jessica Lange; from the days when she was Oscar nominated in the same year for both Best Actress — for Frances — and for Best Supporting Actress —for Tootsie.  And in another film, A Thousand Acres, there is one scene, one small few minutes onscreen, where, without uttering a sound, she nearly broke my heart. And do not get me started on American Horror Story ...

Brilliant actress; thoughtful person; fabulous lady.

And even more so now, because, yesterday, when the images of Caitlyn Jenner broke the internet a lot of people were saying Caitlyn looked a little like Jessica Lange. And when Jessica was asked what she thought about Caitlyn Jenner looking like her, she said:

“That's so wonderful.”

And she hadn’t even seen the pictures yet.

What a fabulous lady; I love her even more.

Daily Mail

photo via Us Magazine

Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake Are Selling Native American Holy Lands For Their Own Personal Gain

One of the most beautiful spots on Earth is the Grand Canyon in Arizona, but I’m kinda wondering how long we’ll be able to enjoy that spot, what with the antics of a pair of Arizona legislators.

Thanks to Old Man In The Senate, John “Get Off'a My Lawn” McCain, and his cohort in asshattery Senator Jeff Flake — oh so aptly named — an Apache holy site is about to be handed off to a foreign mining company that will scrape the land down about a 1,000 feet and leave a scar some two-miles wide. But hey, it’s just a Native American holy site, and, with money coming in from a foreign company, why wouldn’t McCain and Flake wanna get rid of it.

Resolution Copper Mining — a joint endeavor by the U.K.’s Rio Tinto and Australia’s BHP-Billiton — has had their eyes on Oak Flat because of the deposits of copper and other ores in the ground there. But Oak Flat was declared a protected area back in 1955 by President Dwight Eisenhower, and that has kept the mining threat at bay even in the face of multiple proposals to sell the land that have been brought before Congress over the last 10 years.

So, how does this happen now you ask? Well, it happens because of money; John McCain, lying hypocritical money-grubbing fuck-monkey just happens to be Congress’ largest recipient of campaign contributions from Rio Tinto, and Jeff Flake was once a paid lobbyist for Rio Tinto.

Surprise! And so, because their wallets are bulging with Rio Tinto cash, McCain and Flake made an end run around the opposition to the sale last December when they slipped a provision putting Oak Flat up for sale into the hundreds of pages of legislation that made up the Defense Authorization Act, a law funding the military whose passage was considered crucial, and basically guaranteed.

And so now this holy site, used as a ceremonial and burial ground by the Apaches, which pre-dates history, as shown by petroglyphs on the rock, is up for sale, to be mined, stripped and gutted; oh, and let’s not forget that Oak Flat is also a national recreation property, used by birders, campers, climbers and hikers.

The good news is that as soon as McCain and Flake cashed their Rio Tinto checks and snuck their little piece of legislation into a completely different bill, the San Carlos Apache Tribe began organizing a protest; tribe chairman, Terry Rambler wrote to other Native tribes:

“We have a dream that one day our children and their children to follow may freely practice the religious ceremonies that come from our Creator. We must stand together and fight those, like Resolution Copper, that seek to take our religious freedom, our most human right. If we do not, our beliefs, our spiritual lives, the very foundation of our language, our culture and our belief will no longer be in balance, and we will become undone. If we do not, the taking of one people’s human right threatens all human and religious rights.”

In February, over 300 members of the San Carlos Apache tribe began an occupation of the Oak Flat campground in protest of the impending sale, along with the support of the Sierra Club and the Arizona Audubon Society, Concerned Citizens, the Retired Miners Association, and Concerned Climbers of Arizona, and other Native groups like the White Mountain Apache Tribe, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, the InterTribal Council of Arizona, and the National Congress of American Indians.

The better news? What McCain and Flake have done can be undone. A federal environmental Impact Statement has to be issued before the transfer can take place and that process will take several years, so, We The People can put pressure on Congress to repeal McCain and Flake’s disgraceful rider.

Step one: contact your state’s Congressman and protest the sale; while you're at it, contact McCain and Flake.

Step two: the people of Arizona need to get John McCain and Jeff Flake — who are doing what’s best for their own personal interests, campaigns, and bank accounts and not what’s best for Arizona, or this country — out of office.

Seriously. If asshats and fuckmonkeys like McCain and Flake have their way, why don’t we mine and frack and drill, and pave over the entire country and sell the lands to foreign investors?

Ain’t that America?

Reverb Press

Saving Oak Flat Facebook Page

Today In Alleged Christianity: The Pastor Is A Thief

Up there in Kingsport, Tennessee, Boyd Watson Holder Jr., the pastor at Victory Apostolic Church was charged with stealing some $60,000 from the church bank account for his own personal use …

It was earlier this year when members of the congregation began to suspect Holder—who has been their pastor since 2010—of embezzling from the bank account; they now say that between $70,000 and $100,000 is missing from the account, and that the disappearing cash occurred solely during Holder's tenure, while he was the only person with access to the funds.

When questioned about the money by church members, Holder responded, "It is none of your business."

Lyle Kincheloe, a former board member of the church, says he was "kicked out" of the church — along with several other congregational leaders — when they confronted Holder about missing funds:

"We went on a Wednesday night to hold a meeting to dismiss him. We even had two Kingsport detectives with us. He told us he had done no wrong, we couldn't do this and couldn't have no meeting — so forth and so on."

Oops. That didn’t sit well with the congregation, who notified local police, who launched an investigation into the bank records of both Holder and the church. The findings of that investigation were presented to the grand jury this week, and Holder was indicted for theft of more than $60,000 and money laundering; Kingsport police, citing the ongoing investigation, declined to specify the exact amount of money believed to have been stolen from the church, or what Holder did with the funds.

But, along with the claims of stolen money, Pastor Holder has had two other run-ins with law enforcement over the last six months, and both are linked to his church.

On February 15, 2015 a man told police that when he visited the church to worship, Pastor Holder ordered him to leave, saying the man "was not there for the right reasons." The man refused, saying he was there for the service, and then Holder allegedly "grabbed him by his belt and attempted to lift him out of the pew." Other members of the church stepped in and politely told the man to go, and he did, though he then called police to report the incident.

An earlier incident, back in December 2014, is even more telling: on the afternoon of December 15, an officer observed a large, white passenger van in the rear parking lot of a vacant building. Upon checking the vehicle, the officer found two men engaged in sex acts; one of the men was Pastor Holder., who apologized to the officers and told them the van belonged to the church. The officer told the men not to "have relations in public," then ordered that they leave the property and not return.

Oh, Pastor. Violence; sex in a van; embezzling. God would be so proud of you.

Sidenote: Lyle Kincheloe cautions the public from pointing to Holder's arrest, then using it to paint the religious community with a broad stroke:

"This is an isolated thing. Not all churches are like this. Not all pastors are like this."

Now, that’s true, but it does seem that a lot of men become pastors, and use their churches, and the funds of those churches, for their own personal business, and at all in the name of faith.

Times News

Can I Get An Amen? #CallMeCaitlyn

When all you really get in life is the chance to be your true self, then that needs to be celebrated, no matter when it comes to you, or how it comes to you, or how it changes you.

Brava, Caitlyn Jenner. You are your true self.

photo via Twitter

Dennis Hastert Allegedly Duggared A Student While He Was A Teacher

Dennis Hastert came to power because of scandals. He rose from a junior GOP leadership position back in December 1998 after the Republicans ousted Speaker Newt Gingrich — himself riddled with scandals and affairs and adultery — and after Gingrich's presumed successor, Representative Bob Livingston, admitted to an extramarital affair and turned down the post. So the Republicans decided to go with Hastert, someone they believed had nothing to hide, except, well, not so much …

Last week Dennis Hastert, who in recent years has worked as a DC lobbyist, was indicted on charges of paying out $1.7 million over the last four years to cover up his alleged sexual abuse of a male minor while he was a teacher and a wrestling coach in Illinois decades ago. Hastert was also indicted on charges of lying to the FBI about the reasons for those large cash withdrawals he allegedly used to buy the man’s silence.

“It goes back a long way, back to then. It has nothing to do with public corruption or a corruption scandal. Or to his time in office. It was sex.” — FBI official

The indictment claims that while Dennis Hastert was working as a teacher and coach in Yorkville, Illinois from 1965 to 1981, he apparently has a sexual relationship with a male minor student at the student. And, in 2010, that student — identified as Individual A in the indictment — approached Hastert and then, over the course of the next four years, Hastert paid the man $1.7 million of an agreed upon payout of $3.5 million for Individual A’s silence.

Hastert made several cash payments beginning in 2010, withdrawing $50,000 at a time, but when the activity was questioned by banking officials, he reduced the withdrawals to under $10,000. But all those withdrawals, all in the same amounts, caught the eye of financial regulators, who suspected Hastert was either trying to evade federal reporting requirements, or that he might be the victim of criminal extortion arising from his government work. Then, when FBI agents asked him about the withdrawals. Hastert told them that he distrusted banks and that he still had the cash in his possession, which they later learned was not true.

So, the indictment came down, and Dennis Hastert immediately resigned from the board of directors at CME Group; he also resigned his position as co-leader of Dickstein Shapiro's Public Policy and Political Law practice. That same day, Illinois legislators put on hold a proposal to spend $500,000 to erect a statue in the state’s Capitol to honor Hastert, and the following day Dennis Hastert then resigned from the board of the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy at his alma mater, Wheaton College.

Dennis Hastert has not responded to requests for comment.

Isn’t this the week for powerful Republicans and Christians to be caught with their pants down having inappropriate sexual relationships with minors? And while I don’t want to lump Dennis Hastert and Josh Duggar and all other Christians and Republicans in the same barrel — because not all Christians and Republicans are child molesters — I cannot help but wonder about all the people who preach about being one way, and then are discovered to be pedophiles, because, let’s face it, Individual A — who gets no points for extorting money from Hastert — was a minor when the alleged sexual conduct took place.

And I’m sure we’ll being hearing more about it as the week goes on ….

CNN

LA Times
photo via The Gateway Pundit