Heretics News Agency (live draft)

This is the live draft for Heretics News Agency on NewgonWiki, a News Aggregation service maintained by and for MAPs and Allies. It will provide material for roughly 2-weekly news aggregator updates to the Heretic TOC blog, with small (copyright compliant) excerpts and in some cases, editor comments. This will allow regular comment threads to continue on the blog, at times when there are no posts from Tom O'Carroll, or his guests.

As this is the draft copy, it covers the period 15 March - 15 Jun 2023. At the end of this period, it will be archived and refreshed.

Please post your news story at the top of the list, with any excerpts and comments attached as per normal.

Material for update ~ 15 April

Michael Dolce had a distinguished career, as a child sex abuse attorney, before he threw it all away in the shake of a wrist

• Marjorie Taylor Greene defends calling Democrats 'pedophiles'

• Keep child abusers off the rainbow flag (Julie Bindel)

Comment: "Scroll down for a fairly balanced debate in the comments".

• OPINION: Stop correlating drag queens with pedophiles

• Don't fall for the 'groomer' slur - it's an old trick used to stir hatred of LGBTQ+ people

Comment: "Contains the usual misinformation from Snopes, and concerning pedophiles and their sympathizers being on the edge of the gay liberation movement they founded."

• Children Are Not Property The idea that underlies the right-wing campaign for “parents’ rights.”

Comment: "Are statist liberals finally abandoning the battle over who owns children in favor of fundamentally questioning parental rights?".

• Here’s why a South Jersey man won’t be tried for sex fantasies written over girl’s photos

"A South Jersey man who repeatedly scrawled sexual fantasies over photos of a young girl can’t be prosecuted under a state law against “child erotica,” an appeals court has ruled. The man was accused of using photos of a friend’s child to express sexually explicit thoughts, including some that he shared in Facebook conversations, the appellate ruling said."

• (Opinion) Lift statute of limitations in child sex abuse civil cases in WA

• Kansas lawmakers pass bill to help child sex abuse survivors

• I Was 15 When I Started Partying With Rock Stars. I Told No One What They Did To Me — Until Now

"In the early years after the assaults by those famous men, I had little insight into how they had affected me. I didn’t even recognize I had been assaulted until I landed in that therapist’s office."

• A 5-Year-Old Pulled Down a 3-Year-Old's Pants. The Preschool Workers Are on Trial

Comment: "A reminder that in some states, it's still 2003".

• Award-winning Florida attorney, 53, who represents sex abuse victims is arrested for having thousands of child pornography images on his computer: He founded 'Protect Our Kids First' committee and was named as one of America's '500 leading lawyers'

• Former Ohio D.A.R.E. Officer Sentenced In Child Porn Case

Comment: "This is essentially Sexual Harassment Panda going to jail for gooning over CP".

• Canada police arrest ‘pedophile hunting’ group over child abuse images

Material for update ~ 31 March

In a bizarre video and Twitter thread that follows, this Arizona Senator from Tucson declared war on child sex dolls. See: Lawmakers consider child sex dolls

• Senators push Pinterest exec for answers on pedophiles’ alleged use of platform

Comment: "Despite political divisions, the "bipartisan" neocon-neolib "self-regulatory" online child-protection circus continues. This time, they have set their sights on "sexually suggestive image boards of otherwise innocuous images", which must mean that desperation has hit a peak in the era of self-made youth erotica. Blumenthal has form when it comes to rabble-rousing for evidence-devoid, age-based censorship, but now it appears his efforts are directed towards protecting the institution of childhood, rather than actual young people. Some may remember his campaigns against MySpace and other platforms almost 20 years ago. These were also based on half-truths.

• How SCOTUS Promoted Pernicious Myths About Sex Offender Registries

"This Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of Smith v. Doe, a Supreme Court decision that approved the retroactive application of Alaska's sex offender registry, deeming it preventive rather than punitive. That ruling helped propagate several pernicious myths underlying a policy that every state has adopted without regard to its justice or effectiveness. Writing for the majority in Smith, Justice Anthony Kennedy took it for granted that collecting and disseminating information about people convicted of sex offenses made sense as a public safety measure. But that premise was always doubtful. The vast majority of sexual assaults, especially against children, are committed by relatives, friends, or acquaintances, and the perpetrators typically do not have prior sex-offense convictions. That means they would not show up on a registry even if someone bothered to check. It is therefore not surprising that research finds little evidence to support Kennedy's assumption that publicly accessible registries protect potential victims. Summarizing the evidence in a 2016 National Affairs article, Eli Lehrer noted that "virtually no well-controlled study shows any quantifiable benefit from the practice of notifying communities of sex offenders living in their midst.""

• Man charged with murder for killing former sex offender with a shovel and an antler

"A Minnesota man was charged with second-degree murder Friday after he bludgeoned a previously convicted sex offender to death with a shovel and a large moose antler. The suspect, 27-year-old Levi Axtell, believed that the victim, Lawrence Scully, had been stalking his then-22-month-old daughter on her walks back home from a local daycare since 2018. [...] Axtell made public posts on social media expressing violent thoughts towards people like Scully starting in 2020. He posted a photo on Facebook featuring someone holding a gun with the caption, “Only cure for pedophiles. A bullet." He added additional thoughts in the comment thread below the photo, saying, "People always ask me why I hate pedophiles. They assume I've been abused. But really I think being protective is just an Axtell trait." [...] He told law enforcement that he grabbed a shovel off of Scully’s porch and used that to hit the victim in the head “15-20 times” before he “finished him off” with several more blows from a moose antler in the vicinity."

Comment: "The Daily Mail also picks up on this story. The back-slapping he has received since murdering his victim appears to be a disturbingly open celebration of his mental illness, and hateful delusions."

• San Francisco Teacher Sparks Outrage with Disturbing Tweets in Support of Inappropriate Conduct

"A San Francisco Bay area teacher went viral on Twitter last weekend after posting a lengthy thread arguing that sex between a child and an adult is not “intrinsically harmful.” Zara Degeneres, a self-described “pagan witch,” faced widespread condemnation from parents. According to her LinkedIn page, she specializes in “teaching sex-positive values to middle and high school students through sex education."

Comment: The article goes on to quote her. This story also made a number of other minor outlets, and Townhall (1, 2, 3).

• Florida Principal Out After Viewing Of Michelangelo's 'David' Upsets Parents

"The principal of Florida’s Tallahassee Classical School is out of a job after parents complained that their sixth-grade children were shown Michelangelo’s 16th century “David” sculpture, with one parent calling it “pornographic,” the Tallahassee Democrat first reported. The now-former principal, Hope Carrasquilla, told HuffPost the situation was also “a little more complicated than that,” noting that the usual protocol is to send parents a letter before students are shown such classical artwork. [...] One parent was “point-blank upset,” Carrasquilla continued, and “felt her child should not be viewing those pieces.” The board of the charter school decided Monday to give the principal the choice to resign or be fired after less than a year in the job. She was the school’s third principal since it opened in the fall of 2020, per the Tallahassee Democrat. [...] Carrasquilla said she had taught in classical education for a decade and knew that “once in a while you get a parent who gets upset about Renaissance art” — hence the letter. [...] “Parental rights trump everything else,” [School Board Chair] Bishop said. [...] “They didn’t like the woke indoctrination that was going on,” [he added] [...] “We don’t use pronouns,” Bishop said. “We don’t teach CRT and we don’t ever mention 1619 — those are not appropriate subjects for our kids.”"

• Sexuality has nothing to do with pedophilia. Stop conflating the two

"It’s eerie to see a man who was once looked upon as a leader in our community, now sitting in a jail cell awaiting trial for 56 counts of possession and distribution of child pornography charges. I feel as though this entire city has been betrayed. This situation has also made me worried about the backlash the gay community could unjustly incur because of Wojahn’s alleged actions. Wojahn is a gay man, which is an inextricable part of his identity. However, it doesn’t mean his abhorrent behavior is an inextricable part of the LGBTQ+ community. [...] Wojahn’s sexuality has nothing to do with his arrest — a fact these outlets choose to ignore. This reporting poses a tremendous setback in developing an open, inclusive environment for the entire LGBTQ+ community in College Park, and potentially across the country. The LGBTQ+ community has been fighting the harmful stereotype of being child abusers since the 1970s. When the Save Our Children movement emerged as a powerful anti-gay group, it worked to overturn an ordinance that prevented housing discrimination based on sexual orientation. Their leader, Anita Bryant, asserted that homosexual teachers would likely molest children. Since then, the trope of gay men committing pedophilia has pervaded both media and politics."

Comment: "Is the desperation among the gay community in the "Grooming" era, and their attempts at revising history something we can monopolize upon? Perhaps some conservatives should swat up on historical examples of LGBT-MAP unity, as this would appear to be a useful angle of attack."

• California ‘Teacher of the Year’ faces 14 charges in child sexual abuse case

"A teacher in National City who won a Teacher of the Year award in August was arrested and booked into county jail for an “inappropriate relationship” with a 13-year-old former student, police said. Jacqueline Ma, 34, was a teacher at Lincoln Acres Elementary in National City — just south of San Diego — where she taught fifth and sixth grades. On Monday, a “concerned parent” reached out to the National City Police Department saying she was afraid her 13-year-old was being treated inappropriately by Ma, according to a news release. The next day, detectives developed probable cause to arrest the teacher. [...] The teacher is charged with seven counts of possession of child pornography and four counts of sexual exploitation of a child. She is also charged with two counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child. Finally, Ma is charged with attempting to dissuade a witness from testifying."

Comment: "More wasted talent. How comical, we are still "counting" the amount of CP someone has in 2023. Even if you are against CP, the amount someone "has" is pretty much meaningless in the digital age where things are called up and downloaded in an instant."

• 'A nightmare that's never going to end': child porn takes a toll on justice system

Comment: "A piece that could have been from fully 15 years ago shows where the local media is with respect to this issue. Tropes abound, from the self-exploiting child to the porno-cop suffering from "burn-out"."

• Age of Consent and Child Porn Debated at 8th Circuit

""In this case there was no abuse. The underlying conduct was legal," Gilg said, pointing out the age of consent in Nebraska is 16 – the age of the girl when when she met Rouse at Omaha hotels for sex over a five-month period. Gilg argued the sexual acts Rouse engaged in, along with images taken during those acts, deserve First Amendment protection. [...] Senior Judge C. Arlen Beam, a Ronald Reagan appointee, remarked that Rouse’s sentence for distributing the videos was “somewhat nonsensical” and “troublesome” for what he sees as an “innocuous offense.” Beam noted Rouse and the teenager only sent the videos to each other and did not disseminate them publicly."

• Paris Hilton Says She Had an 'Inappropriate' Relationship with 8th Grade Teacher: 'He Made Me Feel Noticed'

"all the girls in my class were crushing on this handsome young teacher" [who had a] "very Abercrombie" [look] "Everyone loved him, including the nuns" / "I've got a crush on you." [he said] / "He made me feel noticed in an important, grown-up way" / "He flattered and teased me and said that all the other girls were talking about me behind my back because they were jealous." / "and we talked for hours about how amazingly mature, beautiful, and intelligent I was, how sensual, misunderstood, and special" / "I climbed into the passenger seat. Teacher pulled me into his arms and kissed me" [her parents then came home and saw Hilton and her teacher in the driveway] / "Somehow, people [at school] seemed to know." / "I don't know if there were any repercussions to the teacher or if there was any attempt to prevent him from choosing another little girl," / "My parents never volunteered any information, and I never asked, but I assume the fear of bad publicity would have prevented them from making a scene or pressing charges." / "I never allowed myself to talk or even think about what it really was or why I climbed out the window to kiss that stupid pedophile. It took decades for me to actually speak the word pedophile," / "Casting him in the role of child molester meant casting myself in the role of victim, and I just couldn't go there." / [what hurt her was] "the fact that I had enjoyed something that was, in reality, utterly vile." / "Even now, knowing in my grown-up mind that no child is ever to blame for inappropriate adult behavior, my face is literally burning as I sit here telling you this terrible secret," / "I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully shake it off. But it's a key part of my story."

• Neo-Nazis descended on a drag queen story hour event shouting “Sieg heil”

"In a scene that is becoming all too common around the U.S., white supremacist and far-right anti-LGBTQ+ protesters descended on an Ohio park where a drag queen story hour event was taking place over the weekend, clashing with supporters and descending into chaos and violence. [...] rainbow umbrellas to shield children from anti-LGBTQ+ protesters at similar events. [...] According to local newspaper The Gazette, Christian conservative protesters chanted “18-plus gets rid of us.” Some claimed they were not anti-LGBTQ+ but merely wanted to ban children from drag events."

• DeSantis revokes Miami hotel’s alcohol license for letting children attend sexual drag show. Also covered on Breitbart.

Comment: "For Lifesite News, it was the condoms that did it. The DILDOS and the condoms. This is beyond the pale and children must be protected."

• Playwright David Mamet claims on Fox News that teachers 'are inclined' toward pedophilia

"Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet dove headfirst into the classroom culture wars by claiming that teachers "are inclined" toward pedophilia and that students are being "groomed" for sexual abuse — while offering no evidence to back up his charges. Echoing attack lines that Republican politicians have been using of late to push legislation that would ban discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms, Mamet insisted "we have to take back control.""

• For 1st time, scientists create mice with cells from 2 males

Comment: "This is going to be a hard one for the radfems to swallow".

• Utah man granted bail amid accusations of ritualistic child sex abuse

Comment: "SRA never went away. Mormons are at it in Tim Ballard's home state".

• Kids in Utah will need parents’ OK to access social media

• Doctor kicked out of Texas Senate after calling trans people 'pedophiles'

• Most in new poll oppose laws restricting drag shows or performances

• Latina mom fights Texas school over 'seducing hooker' game played with middle-school students

• Palais de Tokyo Can Show Ukraine Protest Painting Accused of Pedophilia, French Court Says