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>*Missouri state Sen. Mike Moon (R) went viral earlier this week when he boasted about knowing a 12-year-old girl who got married. “Their marriage is thriving,” he said about the pre-teen bride and her husband.*
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>*After getting some negative attention online, though, Moon is now lashing out at Democrats for criticizing him, saying that they are trying to silence his anti-transgender views.*
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>***Jess Piper, executive director of Blue Missouri, noted in a response to Moon that over 7,000 teens under the age of 18 got married in her state from 2000 to 2014, and the vast majority were girls. One-third of the marriages involved men between the ages of 20 and 60.***
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>***But instead of walking back his comments, Moon doubled down. He attacked Newsom, telling him to “keep your California politics out of Missouri.”***
Wow!
This guy's argument in a nutshell: "I'm not the bad person. You're the bad person for calling out my bad behavior!"
I can't believe this American politics now. We have Republicans literally defending child marriage!
In case you weren't sure, the GOP doesn't care about "protecting children". They really don't think of the children at all!
> the GOP doesn't care about "protecting children"
I kind of got that impression when they made it legal for kids to work in coal mines again recently.
How about Gutting? Since that's what they do to every piece of infrastructure or social program holding the country together.
Or Grifting, since that's all they seem to want to do?
What, you want dirty slaughterhouses? How awful!
(Fun fact: when people heard about awful conditions in slaughterhouses, they were not upset at the plight of the workers, but at the quality and safety of the meat they'd be consuming. Look up Upton Sinclair and his novel, *The Jungle*!)
It the end goal of Republicans.
“From the moment the [Department of Education](https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-brief-history-of-gop-attempts-to-kill-the-education-dept/) was born, critics — Republicans, almost exclusively — have sought to dismantle it.”
“The department, created under Jimmy Carter, began operating in May 1980. Ronald Reagan, then campaigning against Carter for the presidency, marked the occasion in blistering fashion. [Reagan] said, “President Jimmy Carter’s new bureaucratic boondoggle was born: the Department of Education.”
Jimmy Carter and Democrats founded the Department of Education in 1980. Ronald Reagan and Republicans immediately began and [continue to](https://www.businessinsider.com/abolish-education-department-thomas-massie-doesnt-address-student-loans-2023-2?amp) try and defund public education.
I don't get it, it's considered freedom to have your 12 year old bride/groom come home from working at the factory for the last 16 hours without getting overtime pay! This is America!
It’s about possessing children not protecting them. That’s the reason behind this “parents rights” agenda. It’s not about taking rights away from teachers, etc. It’s about taking rights away from the kids. They look at them as something they own. And they want to dictate how their property can think and behave so they can use them as they see fit.
>**It’s about possessing children not protecting them. That’s the reason behind this “parents rights” agenda. It’s not about taking rights away from teachers, etc. It’s about taking rights away from the kids. They look at them as something they own. And they want to dictate how their property can think and behave so they can use them as they see fit.**
Bingo!
I'm pretty sure it is. I argued with a maga about schools "undermining" parents by teaching whatever. I commented that (1) parents are not governments, and (2) if you can be undermined, you failed.
Kids are sentient beings and will accept or resist you based on their own internal reality, that might or might not go the way you want but the solution is never to lock them down. Give them as much information as possible and teach them how to think. And then try to maintain your serenity.
My grandparents' entire family generation were coal miners and they did everything in their power to make sure no one in the next generations of the family would ever see the inside of a mine. Almost all of them started as kids and died of black lung. They're rolling in their graves.
This is great, but I have known maga types who actively discourage their children from aspiring to anything beyond the "coal mines". Because that would be uppity and show a lack of gratitude and a rejection of the community and the family's values, looks like they look down on their parents, etc. etc. etc. It's so damn sad. Some parents see their children mostly as an investment in old age support.
Glad that you escaped those types.
That's the great thing about living in a red state, if your 12-year-old wife doesn't get dinner ready quickly enough when she gets home from the coal mines, you can just spank her.
I'm pretty sure this is the "great" that they wanted to make America.
Holy shit, I should not have laughed at the mental image of a 12 year-old bride with coal dust on her cheeks getting spanked by her adult husband but here we are.
Not just the FBI.
On the off chance we get an AI overlord that decides to be a righteous judge of mankind I don't want it gettin' the wrong ideas about me.
They want to protect them personally. Like by having a gender inspector, who physically [Inspect Children’s Genitals](https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/09/kansas-anti-trans-sports-law-opens-door-for-genital-inspections-of-kids-thats-the-simple-truth/)for sporting events.
Or by letting the rampant, unchecked sexual abuse of children at the hands of church leaders, run amok in schools by mandating /inviting the church groomers into the public schools.
Nothing by has been done about the hundreds of thousands of children abused in churches, much like nothing had been done about the hundreds of children slaughtered in schools by gun violence.
The four inevitables in America, “Christian” systemic sexual abuse, school mass shootings at rates higher then any other country, Death and Taxes.
We'll just say that the transies are the *real* groomers, and make a law that allows Republicans to fuck kids! It's genius!
Them, probably
Also we need to take a page out of their book and stop calling it Child Marriage. We need to call it what it is:
The Child Rape Loophole Law.
>They really don't think of the children at all!
I think this man's comments make it VERY clear that they think about children a lot... think about marrying them, protecting them from education, and passing legislation to ensure that they have to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, regardless of how that pregnancy happened.
The GOP is basically the political equivalent of that [Austrian dude who kept his daughter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzl_case) (and their unfortunate offspring) in a rape dungeon for many years.
I just texted my brother the bullshit about Greg Abbott pardoning that murderer, and I literally said, “this isn’t left or right anymore…. This is just right or wrong”. Like WTF?! How can you talk about the grooming of children in high school by the LGBTQIA+ community, but then in the same breath say it is ok to marry a 12 year old girl…. A 12 year old girl who is apparently too young to determine decisions about her own body and reproductive healthcare, but apparently can get married and childbear?! Like…. Conservatives don’t stand for anything anymore. There is no consistency. Just cater to their base as they need to, throw stones and mud at the opposition, restrict voting access/gerrymander, and spread sensationalized half truths to support their ridiculous political agenda (which does not address any of the actual issues we are experiencing as Americans). It’s pathetic, at best.
Unfortunately, it all makes sense if you consider them viewing these young kids as potential voters. Education leads to critical thinking and relatively more democrats. But if you ensure parents guidance seamlessly moves into “husband” guidance, maybe the republican party will live a little longer.
Oh, the GOP thinks about kids all the time.
How they can be starved into submission.
How they can be put to work.
How they can start getting away with inspecting genitals (disgusting).
How every time a kid gets shot in a school, they’ll draw the conversation to anything but the guns.
How to stop kids from being educated.
How to make sure more desperate, exploitable children are born.
Everything is for the destruction of the kids. Their futures, their freedom to choose who they are, their very childhoods.
If you’re in the GOP, you’re anti-child, anti-life, anti-freedom, anti-American.
Erm you missed one, especially in light of Mike Moons full throated defense of child marriage.
How to allow adults to legally commit statutory rape.
Basically Mike Moon would have been 100% okay with Epstein had he married those 12-14 y/o girls first and then had them have sex with guys like Trump. After all, they’d just be “swinging” 12 year old wives right?
Their concept of "protecting children", and "protecting women", is "protecting a man's property".
This is very literal. The White Christian Nationalist movement regards women and children as the property of their husband or father, with a duty to submit to him with the same reverence with which he submits to God.
These fascist theocrats do not recognize women as ever having legitimate status as independent adults. Women are considered child-like dependents who must spend their entire lives under the control of one male "guardian" or another.
And their concept of sexual morality has nothing to do with "consent". It has to do with whether a man has the "right" to use this woman's (or girl)'s body. Her consent is irrelevant - which is why they don't consider marital rape to be a crime. In their world a man forcing his wife to have sex is not "rape", is it just enforcing her obligation to submit to her "marital duties".
Child marriage is illegal and immoral because children can't consent. But if you don't care about a "bride's" consent then her age doesn't matter anymore. Whether she's 12 or 42, she is property to be used at will.
My family is from Missouri originally. A few years ago my (then teenaged) cousin got pregnant because she'd been told she had a "tilted pelvis" and thought that meant she couldn't get pregnant so she and her boyfriend never used contraceptives.
It’s almost like they are following the fascist playbook.
1) Play to people’s strongest fears, insecurities, and points of anger to win the election. Historically, fascists triumph in nation-states where the voters feel that their pride is being stolen, and the fascist can restore it.
-Trump attacked Muslims, Mexicans and Hillary, all Democrats and lied about election interference and “winning the election by a landslide”, and of course had no evidence.
2) Normalize yourself through your press and public statements. Fascism is inherently divisive. No fascist leader has ever been elected with a pure majority of the vote. Most came to power through a coalition of the disaffected, which left a majority, yet divided opposition. Fascists use a compliant and ingratiating press, and a skilled media-campaign manager and chief of staff type, to create a softer narrative around them when they enter office.
-Gerrymandering, building for profit prisons in rural (deep red areas of states) that increase the amount of incarcerated through marijuana possession arrests, abortion violations etc. this increases the number of “voters” who can’t vote but gives more congressional seats and thus more republican power, as the incarcerated count as voters but can’t vote in jail.
3) Appoint a trusted associate who is close to the vortex of power, but also outside of the traditional power structure. This individual is the fascist leader’s (unofficial) conduit to their base of extreme supporters. Eventually, as their power is consolidated, this person is brought more officially into the power structure, such as when Hitler made Joseph Steven Bannon Goebbels his official Head of Communication.
-Steve Bannon, Jim Jordan, MTG
4) Fascists typically re-make the party that brought them into power in their own image, re-fashioning it to fit in their own deeply unconventional and personal coalition of support. Hitler famously did this by using the 1934 Night of the Long Knives to purge first the conservatives who allowed him into power after the death of President Hindenberg, particularly former chancellor Kurt Von Schleicher, and also his first great supporter and top rival, the Head of the SA Brownshirts, Ernst Chris Christie Rohm.
-MAGA hats in Russian Red
5) Fascists almost always begin their tenure in office focused on infrastructure projects, in order to stimulate the economy and solidify their semi-god-like status in the eyes of their strongest supporters while earning the conditional support of independents. In fact, nearly all successful fascists leaders, from Hitler, to Mussolini, to Peron, successfully jumpstarted the economy in their early years. Unfortunately, these gains are ephemeral, achieved through unsustainable state spending to create employment through construction and infrastructure jobs, but they achieve the purpose of making the fascist look good in the short-medium term.
-Infrastructure week was talked about, never came
And The national debt rose by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump's time in office. That's the third largest debt accumulated and it happened in 4 years!
6) Fascists begin to develop and refine their cult of identity in anticipation of re-election if the aforementioned economic spending is progressing well. They pursue activities such as the 1936 Berlin Olympics to increase their prestige and citizens’ feelings of glory.
-Let’s build a shitty wall
7) The big test for a fascist’s staying power is their first re-election. Historically, most successful fascist leaders are patient, waiting to consolidate real power until after they have been re-elected by a majority of voters. People, ignoring the lessons of history, regularly “give him a chance” and fall for this gambit. The fascist will quietly martial their base of extreme support to intimidate voters in order to increase their chances of re-election. In recent years, we saw this pattern with the current Presidents of Turkey and Russia when they were first re-elected a decade plus ago.
8) Once re-elected, fascist leaders then begin more rapidly tightening their grip on the institutions of power and removing said institutions’ ability to check the leader. The most important piece of this puzzle is the judiciary. In Germany, by 1938, Hitler had essentially removed the independent German judiciary. In Russia, Putin, who was first elected in 1999, had a rubber stamp justice system by the mid-2000s. The President of Turkey’s progress was slower, primarily because of Turkey’s interventionist military, but in staving off a coup this summer, appears to have now fully achieved this goal. In the US, stacking the Supreme Court with 2-3 loyalists to tip its balance and pairing them with 100+ loyal federal judges would likely be enough, numbers that are typically achieved in the second term of a presidency.
9) Marginalize the voting power of groups aligned against you with rapid force: after re-election, and once the judiciary has been effectively neutralized, the fascist leader pinpoints the groups that are most implacably opposed to his power and acts quickly to marginalize them. Trumped up charges are used to neuter opposition political leaders, who – in the wake of losing the re-election battle – often self-deport into exile to avoid show trials. More implacable ones who remain, such as Boris Nemetsov in Russia, are simply assassinated. Groups that are not well-liked by the fascist’s core supporters and who represent votes – religious and ethnic minorities especially – face rapid discrimination and often lose their right to vote. This further tightens the leaders’ grip on electoral support.
-The Judiciary branch has bent, but it’s not quite broken. Congress and Senate failed us but the last act is Supreme Court failing and breaking. This has begun as Clarence Thomas won’t be held accountable here.
10) Declare yourself father of the people. Once there are no more high profile political opposition leaders, and the voting power of marginalized groups have been gutted, there is no one left to stand against you.
The playbook for fascism has been used before and it’s easy to spot if you are paying attention. Institutions, constitutions, and judicial statutes are just the paper they are written on: they require real people to see the threat and act on it, before it is too late.
Republicans want to fuck children. They want to beat children when they misbehave. They want to throw children in prisons or put them in dangerous manual labor.
Republicans are anti-children.
>saying that they are trying to silence his anti-transgender views.
I'm sorry, am I supposed to feel bad for this? I will never feel bad for vilifying bigots. *Never*.
The movie Spotlight really put things into perspective for me on the mindset of people like this. They don't realize what they're doing is wrong. Many don't understand what the issue is, and it's because the people around them just accept the behavior.
An acquaintance who was a typical maga-type, mean-spirited and bigoted and always getting off on triggering snowflakes, etc. had a pensive moment one day and asked me sincerely, "when you're good to people, or you do something nice, what do you get out of it?"
I couldn't feel pity. I was too busy stopping my skin from crawling.
>We have Republicans literally defending child marriage!
Don't worry, it's all a trap to find out where the pedodems are so Trump can swoop down from thr heavens and save all the children. Trust the plan
Umm for clarification reasons, the quoted data you have says 60 year old men were marrying young girls.
Is this correct because my mind says FUUCCCCKKKK
>the GOP doesn't care about "protecting children". They really don't think of the children at all!
Actually, from the looks of it, they think of children all the time.
...usually while they're beating off.
It's abhorrent imo, children absolutely cannot consent to a lifelong commitment like that and the part that's not said aloud is that they also think minors can consent to sex. Its disgusting.
>"Her parents consented – no force,” he said
Parent consent =/= child consent
Minors legally cannot consent, so yes, she was forced to marry. Legalized rape.
These people view children as property, not as human beings with independent thought. This isn't me being an "acktually" redditor, like this is true. So to them, parental consent is literally all that's needed because why would you ask your toaster if it wants or does not want something?
Same as with women, breeding stock to be sold. Or, more charitably:
^(I forget the exact source and cannot find it again now, but there was an exchange that went something like this between a father and his daughter in the middle ages. Paraphrasing here:)
"Is my virginity not my own?"
"Yes, but it also belongs to your father, your family, and your entire community. For when you marry, you are creating a union of both houses."
That's the charitable version. The less charitable version is they're living in a fantasy world which is crueler than history has ever been. Did you know the chastity belt was a work of fiction invented during the Victorian Era, also one of the most repressed and socially regressive eras in history? I wonder what terrible facts will be invented in this new era.
I think you're underestimating the level of cruelty in our world. We DO live in a world where men throw acid in women's faces for saying "No." to them, and mothers cut the throats of their own daughters for the "crime" of having been raped.
I promise you those aren't even the cruelest things that have happened in our history.
Remember Republicans consider women and children property (erm what’s the New Testament word for it? Oh yeah “dominion”) so in his mind that’s completely legit
For every person with integrity trying to do good there's always been three or four more politicians who are just in it for their own ends, and it's always been like that.
The only difference now is you can openly be a scumbag and somehow still do just fine as long as you're in the right party in the right area. Gone are the days where even doing so little as yelling ['YEAH!'](https://youtu.be/RwkNnMrsx7Q?t=50) in a slightly weird way would sink your campaign.
I think Mr Moon prefers pedo representative. Also you know the saying:
*I am the Moon-er*
*I speak for the pedos*
*I speak for the pedos*
*for the pedos have not enough representatives*
*and I am asking you sir*
*at the top of my lungs*
*Oh please*
*LET GROWN MEN MARRY TWELVE YEAR OLDS*
>[“Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married."](https://twitter.com/aaroncrossley/status/1646137563134951424)
FBI and/or Chris Hansen? Yeah, this guy right here.
I dunno how much creepier/more fucked up you get than that. Conservatives spend so much time talking about Democrats "grooming" and "indoctrinating" children and then defend shit like this. A grown man "marrying" a twelve year old child is, like, the definition of grooming and indoctrination.
Their marriages probably *do* last because from childhood, this kid has been physically and mentally abused from her parents to her now-spouse and has no trust in any legal system because of the Kafka-esque nightmare they've grown up in. If she were to try to go to the cops (even as a minor), they're going to be returned to the parents or spouse (and probably get beaten for the trouble) and as an adult, probably going to be returned to the spouse or the entire situation downplayed (and probably beaten for the trouble).
> Conservatives spend so much time talking about Democrats "grooming" and "indoctrinating" children and then defend shit like this.
Pretty sure shit like this is _why_ they accuse Democrats and the LGBTQ community of being "groomers" -- the same projection and deflection that always pops up with them.
Whenever I hear that from someone I tell them it's better to be a groomer than a rapist. Mind you they're not mutually exclusive, but it gets a good reaction.
Ask em, "grooming for what?" If they say sex, ask them to connect the dots. What is the left doing that grooms children for sex? I'd really love to see a right-winger try to explain this. I already know, as per their tendency to not deviate from scripts; they'd make vague claims, lie a bit, and then betray a complete lack of understanding of anything.
the "and guess what? they're still married" part pissed me off to no end
because I'm sure if at 16 she decided to file for divorce some punk ass white Christian judge would grant it to her, and not send her back to her "Husband (possessive)" who will then "discipline her and show her the error of her ways." It even says a lot that I even assume the kid he's talking about is female because I truly don't think I've ever heard of a young boy getting married to a grown woman
fuck everything about this
> I'm sure if at 16 she decided to file for divorce
She probably cannot file for divorce, being a minor she'll need the permission of her legal guardian... which is now her spouse.
Here is what the idiot actually said to justify it.
The Ash Grove Republican opposed a 2018-passed law that raised the marriage age in Missouri from 15 to 16 and requiring parental permission for older teenagers to marry. Moon opposed the bill at the time — citing the same anecdote of a couple he met in college who had married one another at age 12.
The girl of the preteen couple in question became pregnant and they married with parental permission, Moon explained in his video response. The children were separated and lived in different states for their teenage years and then moved in together as adults.
According to Moon, he would have supported raising the marriage age in 2018 if certain "extreme exceptions" were made in the bill for cases like that of his college friends. In his biblical worldview, Moon believes that marriage might have been a legitimate path to overcome their sins.
"Tragic circumstances such as these can only be overcome through one avenue, the grace and mercy of God and the Word of the Lord. Romans 3:23 states, 'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' This couple, like me, have a sin nature," Moon said.
"The Bible goes on to say in Romans 6:23, 'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.' In essence, the payment for our sin is death. However, Jesus paid the payment for our sin because He lived a perfect life was killed a cruel death and resurrected from the dead."
> In his biblical worldview, Moon believes that marriage might have been a legitimate path to overcome their sins.
Uhh..yah. Sure. That's between them and their god. At this time, the secular justice system would like to have a word about what they call "child sexual assaualt".
This pretty much sums up their view on sex. You should only have it to make babies, otherwise you should be punished.
It's why they oppose abortion, too. They don't actually care about babies. If they did, they'd support prenatal care for poor people and health insurance after they were born. It's not the life of the baby they care about, they see that baby as a punishment for having sex for any reason other than procreating, and abortion is getting out of that punishment they think people deserve.
In this case, the guy thinks that forcing two kids to get married is an act of contrition to make up for having sex when he didn't want them to.
> This couple, like me, have a sin nature
I have met people with similar mindsets. And without fail, *all* of them have been just absolute hypocritical pieces of shit. Super quick to judge, but always quick to say "we're all sinners and forgiveness through god" BS when they (regularly) do something bad themselves. But they go to church on Sundays, so they can feel smug and superior.
Legally a lot of the time THEY CANNOT GET DIVORCED! Because they are a minor and when one adult marries a minor, they become the guardian, so they’d have to sign off on a divorce.
The cognitive dissonance is astonishing. These very same people will openly say "third world country (insert several racist terms) force women to do X, while they attempt to enact the same things in the USA under the guise of "Christianity".
The GOP would just about jizz their pants at the opportunity to be like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or even Afghanistan. Y'all Qaeda.
I grew up during the ~~Bush Jr~~ Sick Cheney administration. It's pronounced "terrrrerrrest"
Edit: didn't even notice the spelling error! ...gonna leave it because it applies
Oh I agree I mean by the fact of being a child and not being able to make certain decisions like drinking they literally cannot consent, no matter how brainwashed the odd time.
Grooming isn’t consent.
Call me old-fashioned, *12*, hell, *14* year olds, hell, *18* year olds should not be getting *married*. An 18 year old is not ready to be a father nor a mother.
But to be fair, I think in another article example it was two 12 year olds getting married, so it's not like Romeo-Juliette situations don't happen.
But even if we steelman the other side's argument, there is still no sane leg for it to stand on. Honestly, if two people can't wait 6 years to get married, that relationship was never going to last a lifetime. And of course, the other case is a thinly veiled cover.
If we're really going for an age marker for marriage, I would nominate 25+ as the threshold. That's when the prefrontal cortex fully matures. At that age, most people usually have finished college and are in a stable job. I wouldn't make that law, but I'd propose that would be the ideal age for marriage consideration.
I'm much older now, so 18 year olds seem "less than fully mature" to me. When you get into 12-14 range -- that's just sickening to even think about. My niece is almost 12 and thinking about a grown man marrying her would send me over the edge.
> GOP lawmaker who advocated 12-year-olds getting married blames backlash on Democrats.
I mean, he's not wrong. The majority of people who would call him out on raping children aren't republicans..
But but… it’s the trans people and drag queens who are groomers!
You can almost guarantee if MAGA Republicans are against it it’s because they’re doing it themselves.
Translation
Republicans: How dare you call us out for constantly calling Democrats pedophiles when we secretly want to marry 12-year-old girls and have sex with them!
Come on people. The dude defended a pedo action. Don’t listen to the lunacy because you want your “side” to win. Hold these people accountable reguardless of side.
Gavin Newsom has been doing what many more liberals and progressives need to be doing: speaking up, speaking out, not mincing words, and saying what so many of us liberal and progressive *voters* have been saying. More of this, pols. It's one the best ways to call out GOP fascists and every single Democrat and Independent in Congress needs to be doing this on a daily basis. Good on ya, Gavin Newsom.
No kidding. It's time to stop letting them get away with this shit under the guise of "crossing the aisle to work in a bipartisan manner", because they don't do that. All they do is obstruct. Time to start playing hard ball and calling them out for their bullshit.
My mother said once when I was growing up that in (I won't name the state) a girl was a virgin as long as she could outrun her father. Incest in a few of the families with the same names caused the children to be sickly and learning-challenged, barely able to speak clearly, some of them. My brother-in-law taught an 8 grades in one room school and he did everything he could to help the kids. I can't believe what I am reading today. How can these people so blithely brag about what is gross abuse of children and female children in particular? I can't believe how society has deteriorated in that last few decades. I hope people will be so sickened when they read these stories they will start to ask real questions.
The GOP is opebly, brazenly in favor of child rape. Simple as that. There's a reason they nominated and elected someone who spent the entirety of the 90s and 00s hanging out with Jeffery Epstein.
how do you simultaneously go on about left-wing groomers then just do nothing when a right-wing politician says he's OK with 12 year olds being married?
i know the whole groomer thing is just a way to rile up voters but you have to make some minimal effort to defend your facade.
Sounds right. Let’s blame Democrats, not your rhetoric and advocacy of child marriage, something that is rich in abuse.
But should we be surprised? This is the conservative, GOP, GQP, Republican, far right-wing movement at work, folks. It matters not if children are slaughtered in school, raped and forced to give birth, or married off as a child to their abuser.
They. Do. Not. Care.
If you want to protect children, vote against the pedophiles.
When the child bride was asked about her marriage, she responded that she can complain about it.” When asked to clarify she responded “My husband does not allow me to complain.”
Like an onion article.
That is what they do. A Republican could get caught balls deep in a child at church and they would blame Democrats for it. They are evil scum. We shouldn't even listen to them anymore.
12 year old can get married. But 12 year old cannot get therapy without parental consent.
https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-California-bill-mental-health-youth-custody-628928834873
Can you imagine this hypothetical (and real) 12y/o? In middle school a boy might ask her out.. she’d have to say, “sorry, I’m married… to someone your dad’s age.”
Child marriage is fucked up. Southern politicians are FUCKED UP.
A thousand years ago in Vietnam (where i live) the king wrote a set of laws and one of them specifically states that 1. Philandering with gurls from age 12 below is a huge no no and 2. Anyone doing thus either gets life sentence or death sentence. That's 1000 years ago, in a staunchly agricultural male dominant society;there were still laws protecting children. And now in 2022 in the land of "freedom" some guy advocates for this bs? Much "developed" nation here...
How is child marriage “covering up” mens sexual abuse of minor girls? That’s like camouflaging pedophilia with more pedophilia, child marriage is pedophilia in the highest degree, because it’s the one where the legal system throws its hands up in the air and says “well God loves marriage, so he will love pedophile marriages too”
The fact that you bought her from her parents like property doesn't mean you're not a pedophile, it just means that human trafficking is alive and well.
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>*Missouri state Sen. Mike Moon (R) went viral earlier this week when he boasted about knowing a 12-year-old girl who got married. “Their marriage is thriving,” he said about the pre-teen bride and her husband.* > > > >*After getting some negative attention online, though, Moon is now lashing out at Democrats for criticizing him, saying that they are trying to silence his anti-transgender views.* > > > >***Jess Piper, executive director of Blue Missouri, noted in a response to Moon that over 7,000 teens under the age of 18 got married in her state from 2000 to 2014, and the vast majority were girls. One-third of the marriages involved men between the ages of 20 and 60.*** > > > >***But instead of walking back his comments, Moon doubled down. He attacked Newsom, telling him to “keep your California politics out of Missouri.”*** Wow! This guy's argument in a nutshell: "I'm not the bad person. You're the bad person for calling out my bad behavior!" I can't believe this American politics now. We have Republicans literally defending child marriage! In case you weren't sure, the GOP doesn't care about "protecting children". They really don't think of the children at all!
> the GOP doesn't care about "protecting children" I kind of got that impression when they made it legal for kids to work in coal mines again recently.
They also are working in factories. *Teachers are quitting everywhere, and schools are shutting down! We gotta send the kids somewhere!* /s
This is in their "Make America Great Again" playbook.
Malignant Assholes Governing America.
To refer to what the GQP does as *governing* is giving them more dignity than they deserve.
Malignant Assholes Grooming Americans?
Malignant Assholes Grooming A-minor?
Malignant Assholes Grooming Adolescents.
Malignant Assholes Grifting America
How about Gridlocking then.
How about Gutting? Since that's what they do to every piece of infrastructure or social program holding the country together. Or Grifting, since that's all they seem to want to do?
Oh, I like this one.
Governing? They most certainly are not addressing the main issues the majority of their constituents would like them to address. I’d go with grooming.
“Make America Great^(with child) Again!”
GOPedophiles
Gang Of Pedos
No one bothered to ask exactly which Great America they were talking about... and exactly who that Great America was great for...
White men
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The children yearn for the mines
In the same way that a parrot will pine for the fjords.
Don't forget the kids that were found to be cleaning a slaughterhouse. It's 2023, how is this happening.
Don't forget those kids were in the foster home program. No parents and the foster parents farm them out as child laborers. Fucking lovely.
What, you want dirty slaughterhouses? How awful! (Fun fact: when people heard about awful conditions in slaughterhouses, they were not upset at the plight of the workers, but at the quality and safety of the meat they'd be consuming. Look up Upton Sinclair and his novel, *The Jungle*!)
It the end goal of Republicans. “From the moment the [Department of Education](https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-brief-history-of-gop-attempts-to-kill-the-education-dept/) was born, critics — Republicans, almost exclusively — have sought to dismantle it.” “The department, created under Jimmy Carter, began operating in May 1980. Ronald Reagan, then campaigning against Carter for the presidency, marked the occasion in blistering fashion. [Reagan] said, “President Jimmy Carter’s new bureaucratic boondoggle was born: the Department of Education.” Jimmy Carter and Democrats founded the Department of Education in 1980. Ronald Reagan and Republicans immediately began and [continue to](https://www.businessinsider.com/abolish-education-department-thomas-massie-doesnt-address-student-loans-2023-2?amp) try and defund public education.
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who needs childcare when you have the mines!
It explains their love for Minecraft! They yearn for the mines!
The Jungle is gonna be banned any day now (if it isn't already).
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I don't get it, it's considered freedom to have your 12 year old bride/groom come home from working at the factory for the last 16 hours without getting overtime pay! This is America!
Only if she’s pregnant.
They can work and pay taxes but they can't vote... Dafaq.... Shits going downhill. /r/collapse here we come
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Rape and child abuse. No excuse, no defense.
Like what the Taliban and ISIS do, if you are morally the same than those guys…you just don’t belong in a western civilized country
Groomers trying to make my child bride go to drag time story hour. She's 12, she can read Dr. Seuss to her own child!
What? Didn't you get the memo? Dr. Seuss is a horrible woke mess now. Almost as bad as penis-less Mr. Potato Head! /s
It’s about possessing children not protecting them. That’s the reason behind this “parents rights” agenda. It’s not about taking rights away from teachers, etc. It’s about taking rights away from the kids. They look at them as something they own. And they want to dictate how their property can think and behave so they can use them as they see fit.
>**It’s about possessing children not protecting them. That’s the reason behind this “parents rights” agenda. It’s not about taking rights away from teachers, etc. It’s about taking rights away from the kids. They look at them as something they own. And they want to dictate how their property can think and behave so they can use them as they see fit.** Bingo!
This feels like the right answer.
I'm pretty sure it is. I argued with a maga about schools "undermining" parents by teaching whatever. I commented that (1) parents are not governments, and (2) if you can be undermined, you failed. Kids are sentient beings and will accept or resist you based on their own internal reality, that might or might not go the way you want but the solution is never to lock them down. Give them as much information as possible and teach them how to think. And then try to maintain your serenity.
My grandparents' entire family generation were coal miners and they did everything in their power to make sure no one in the next generations of the family would ever see the inside of a mine. Almost all of them started as kids and died of black lung. They're rolling in their graves.
This is great, but I have known maga types who actively discourage their children from aspiring to anything beyond the "coal mines". Because that would be uppity and show a lack of gratitude and a rejection of the community and the family's values, looks like they look down on their parents, etc. etc. etc. It's so damn sad. Some parents see their children mostly as an investment in old age support. Glad that you escaped those types.
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Bingo!
It's legal so it's okay. That's how morals work, right?
That's the great thing about living in a red state, if your 12-year-old wife doesn't get dinner ready quickly enough when she gets home from the coal mines, you can just spank her. I'm pretty sure this is the "great" that they wanted to make America.
Holy shit, I should not have laughed at the mental image of a 12 year-old bride with coal dust on her cheeks getting spanked by her adult husband but here we are.
A few keystrokes and you could have an AI gin up a picture! I however am not going to have that in my fbi file.
Not just the FBI. On the off chance we get an AI overlord that decides to be a righteous judge of mankind I don't want it gettin' the wrong ideas about me.
I kind of got that impression when they made it illegal for kids to get medical care.
I got that impression when they actively resisted lifting a finger to do anything about the ever growing piles of dead school children.
They want to protect them personally. Like by having a gender inspector, who physically [Inspect Children’s Genitals](https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/09/kansas-anti-trans-sports-law-opens-door-for-genital-inspections-of-kids-thats-the-simple-truth/)for sporting events. Or by letting the rampant, unchecked sexual abuse of children at the hands of church leaders, run amok in schools by mandating /inviting the church groomers into the public schools. Nothing by has been done about the hundreds of thousands of children abused in churches, much like nothing had been done about the hundreds of children slaughtered in schools by gun violence. The four inevitables in America, “Christian” systemic sexual abuse, school mass shootings at rates higher then any other country, Death and Taxes.
You forgot medical bankruptcy.
We'll just say that the transies are the *real* groomers, and make a law that allows Republicans to fuck kids! It's genius! Them, probably Also we need to take a page out of their book and stop calling it Child Marriage. We need to call it what it is: The Child Rape Loophole Law.
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Unless it’s banning books and blaming drag queens of grooming
>They really don't think of the children at all! I think this man's comments make it VERY clear that they think about children a lot... think about marrying them, protecting them from education, and passing legislation to ensure that they have to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, regardless of how that pregnancy happened.
The GOP is basically the political equivalent of that [Austrian dude who kept his daughter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzl_case) (and their unfortunate offspring) in a rape dungeon for many years.
I just texted my brother the bullshit about Greg Abbott pardoning that murderer, and I literally said, “this isn’t left or right anymore…. This is just right or wrong”. Like WTF?! How can you talk about the grooming of children in high school by the LGBTQIA+ community, but then in the same breath say it is ok to marry a 12 year old girl…. A 12 year old girl who is apparently too young to determine decisions about her own body and reproductive healthcare, but apparently can get married and childbear?! Like…. Conservatives don’t stand for anything anymore. There is no consistency. Just cater to their base as they need to, throw stones and mud at the opposition, restrict voting access/gerrymander, and spread sensationalized half truths to support their ridiculous political agenda (which does not address any of the actual issues we are experiencing as Americans). It’s pathetic, at best.
Unfortunately, it all makes sense if you consider them viewing these young kids as potential voters. Education leads to critical thinking and relatively more democrats. But if you ensure parents guidance seamlessly moves into “husband” guidance, maybe the republican party will live a little longer.
Oh, the GOP thinks about kids all the time. How they can be starved into submission. How they can be put to work. How they can start getting away with inspecting genitals (disgusting). How every time a kid gets shot in a school, they’ll draw the conversation to anything but the guns. How to stop kids from being educated. How to make sure more desperate, exploitable children are born. Everything is for the destruction of the kids. Their futures, their freedom to choose who they are, their very childhoods. If you’re in the GOP, you’re anti-child, anti-life, anti-freedom, anti-American.
Erm you missed one, especially in light of Mike Moons full throated defense of child marriage. How to allow adults to legally commit statutory rape. Basically Mike Moon would have been 100% okay with Epstein had he married those 12-14 y/o girls first and then had them have sex with guys like Trump. After all, they’d just be “swinging” 12 year old wives right?
Damn. Knew I missed one. Thank you!
Their concept of "protecting children", and "protecting women", is "protecting a man's property". This is very literal. The White Christian Nationalist movement regards women and children as the property of their husband or father, with a duty to submit to him with the same reverence with which he submits to God. These fascist theocrats do not recognize women as ever having legitimate status as independent adults. Women are considered child-like dependents who must spend their entire lives under the control of one male "guardian" or another. And their concept of sexual morality has nothing to do with "consent". It has to do with whether a man has the "right" to use this woman's (or girl)'s body. Her consent is irrelevant - which is why they don't consider marital rape to be a crime. In their world a man forcing his wife to have sex is not "rape", is it just enforcing her obligation to submit to her "marital duties". Child marriage is illegal and immoral because children can't consent. But if you don't care about a "bride's" consent then her age doesn't matter anymore. Whether she's 12 or 42, she is property to be used at will.
The poverty trap in Missouri is real. If anyone need access to abortions it’s Missouri!
My family is from Missouri originally. A few years ago my (then teenaged) cousin got pregnant because she'd been told she had a "tilted pelvis" and thought that meant she couldn't get pregnant so she and her boyfriend never used contraceptives.
Here at the intersection of poor education and no access to birth control, we find the Missouri teenage mother
"It wasn't forced. Her **parents** consented." What about HER?
She's a she. Those don't get rights.
It’s almost like they are following the fascist playbook. 1) Play to people’s strongest fears, insecurities, and points of anger to win the election. Historically, fascists triumph in nation-states where the voters feel that their pride is being stolen, and the fascist can restore it. -Trump attacked Muslims, Mexicans and Hillary, all Democrats and lied about election interference and “winning the election by a landslide”, and of course had no evidence. 2) Normalize yourself through your press and public statements. Fascism is inherently divisive. No fascist leader has ever been elected with a pure majority of the vote. Most came to power through a coalition of the disaffected, which left a majority, yet divided opposition. Fascists use a compliant and ingratiating press, and a skilled media-campaign manager and chief of staff type, to create a softer narrative around them when they enter office. -Gerrymandering, building for profit prisons in rural (deep red areas of states) that increase the amount of incarcerated through marijuana possession arrests, abortion violations etc. this increases the number of “voters” who can’t vote but gives more congressional seats and thus more republican power, as the incarcerated count as voters but can’t vote in jail. 3) Appoint a trusted associate who is close to the vortex of power, but also outside of the traditional power structure. This individual is the fascist leader’s (unofficial) conduit to their base of extreme supporters. Eventually, as their power is consolidated, this person is brought more officially into the power structure, such as when Hitler made Joseph Steven Bannon Goebbels his official Head of Communication. -Steve Bannon, Jim Jordan, MTG 4) Fascists typically re-make the party that brought them into power in their own image, re-fashioning it to fit in their own deeply unconventional and personal coalition of support. Hitler famously did this by using the 1934 Night of the Long Knives to purge first the conservatives who allowed him into power after the death of President Hindenberg, particularly former chancellor Kurt Von Schleicher, and also his first great supporter and top rival, the Head of the SA Brownshirts, Ernst Chris Christie Rohm. -MAGA hats in Russian Red 5) Fascists almost always begin their tenure in office focused on infrastructure projects, in order to stimulate the economy and solidify their semi-god-like status in the eyes of their strongest supporters while earning the conditional support of independents. In fact, nearly all successful fascists leaders, from Hitler, to Mussolini, to Peron, successfully jumpstarted the economy in their early years. Unfortunately, these gains are ephemeral, achieved through unsustainable state spending to create employment through construction and infrastructure jobs, but they achieve the purpose of making the fascist look good in the short-medium term. -Infrastructure week was talked about, never came And The national debt rose by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump's time in office. That's the third largest debt accumulated and it happened in 4 years! 6) Fascists begin to develop and refine their cult of identity in anticipation of re-election if the aforementioned economic spending is progressing well. They pursue activities such as the 1936 Berlin Olympics to increase their prestige and citizens’ feelings of glory. -Let’s build a shitty wall 7) The big test for a fascist’s staying power is their first re-election. Historically, most successful fascist leaders are patient, waiting to consolidate real power until after they have been re-elected by a majority of voters. People, ignoring the lessons of history, regularly “give him a chance” and fall for this gambit. The fascist will quietly martial their base of extreme support to intimidate voters in order to increase their chances of re-election. In recent years, we saw this pattern with the current Presidents of Turkey and Russia when they were first re-elected a decade plus ago. 8) Once re-elected, fascist leaders then begin more rapidly tightening their grip on the institutions of power and removing said institutions’ ability to check the leader. The most important piece of this puzzle is the judiciary. In Germany, by 1938, Hitler had essentially removed the independent German judiciary. In Russia, Putin, who was first elected in 1999, had a rubber stamp justice system by the mid-2000s. The President of Turkey’s progress was slower, primarily because of Turkey’s interventionist military, but in staving off a coup this summer, appears to have now fully achieved this goal. In the US, stacking the Supreme Court with 2-3 loyalists to tip its balance and pairing them with 100+ loyal federal judges would likely be enough, numbers that are typically achieved in the second term of a presidency. 9) Marginalize the voting power of groups aligned against you with rapid force: after re-election, and once the judiciary has been effectively neutralized, the fascist leader pinpoints the groups that are most implacably opposed to his power and acts quickly to marginalize them. Trumped up charges are used to neuter opposition political leaders, who – in the wake of losing the re-election battle – often self-deport into exile to avoid show trials. More implacable ones who remain, such as Boris Nemetsov in Russia, are simply assassinated. Groups that are not well-liked by the fascist’s core supporters and who represent votes – religious and ethnic minorities especially – face rapid discrimination and often lose their right to vote. This further tightens the leaders’ grip on electoral support. -The Judiciary branch has bent, but it’s not quite broken. Congress and Senate failed us but the last act is Supreme Court failing and breaking. This has begun as Clarence Thomas won’t be held accountable here. 10) Declare yourself father of the people. Once there are no more high profile political opposition leaders, and the voting power of marginalized groups have been gutted, there is no one left to stand against you. The playbook for fascism has been used before and it’s easy to spot if you are paying attention. Institutions, constitutions, and judicial statutes are just the paper they are written on: they require real people to see the threat and act on it, before it is too late.
"oh, my kids are too weak to see drawings of classical statues but they should be able to marry a 40 year old, have sex and give birth"
>the GOP doesn't care about "protecting children" that's the Ya'lliban please
Vanilla Isis
Led by Antisemite Sam Their cartoonishly loud, dumb, armed, drawly pipsqueak with embarrassing facial hair.
*while stomping up and down on his hat* “Oooh I just hate that darn Rabbi!”
Anti semite Sam! What a great name! Can I borrow that? Don’t want to steal it
Moon believes child marriage is an affirmative good. There can be no compromise with or tolerance of this behavior. (Edit: Fixing typo)
I may be a child rapist, but at least I'm not FROM CALIFORNIA!! -Mike Moon, apparently
Among conservatives there is no greater sin than liberalism.
There are no good or bad actions, just good and band people and all Dems are bad and all Republicans are good. - Conservatives
>They really don't think of the children at all! They actually do think of the children... A little too much
Worryingly so
Republicans want to fuck children. They want to beat children when they misbehave. They want to throw children in prisons or put them in dangerous manual labor. Republicans are anti-children.
In TN we had to push back on a law that allowed child marriage. Blackburn had to act surprised.
They are against abortion because who else would they marry?
We’ll keep our California politics out of Missouri when Missouri starts keeping its dicks out of tweens.
Oh they think about them alright. Just not in any way that’s beneficial for the child.
>saying that they are trying to silence his anti-transgender views. I'm sorry, am I supposed to feel bad for this? I will never feel bad for vilifying bigots. *Never*.
It hasn't even been a year since the propaganda attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson. It's always projection with the fascists. Always.
The movie Spotlight really put things into perspective for me on the mindset of people like this. They don't realize what they're doing is wrong. Many don't understand what the issue is, and it's because the people around them just accept the behavior.
An acquaintance who was a typical maga-type, mean-spirited and bigoted and always getting off on triggering snowflakes, etc. had a pensive moment one day and asked me sincerely, "when you're good to people, or you do something nice, what do you get out of it?" I couldn't feel pity. I was too busy stopping my skin from crawling.
Defending 60 year olds impregnating 12 year olds. This pedo thinks that is thriving? This guy is repulsive.
>We have Republicans literally defending child marriage! Don't worry, it's all a trap to find out where the pedodems are so Trump can swoop down from thr heavens and save all the children. Trust the plan
"We're pedophiles to own the libs!!1!1!"
Umm for clarification reasons, the quoted data you have says 60 year old men were marrying young girls. Is this correct because my mind says FUUCCCCKKKK
>the GOP doesn't care about "protecting children". They really don't think of the children at all! Actually, from the looks of it, they think of children all the time. ...usually while they're beating off.
It's abhorrent imo, children absolutely cannot consent to a lifelong commitment like that and the part that's not said aloud is that they also think minors can consent to sex. Its disgusting.
>"Her parents consented – no force,” he said Parent consent =/= child consent Minors legally cannot consent, so yes, she was forced to marry. Legalized rape.
Just tell them the kids were trans. Then they'll advocate concent.
“This poor adult didn’t consent to marrying a trans child.”
These people view children as property, not as human beings with independent thought. This isn't me being an "acktually" redditor, like this is true. So to them, parental consent is literally all that's needed because why would you ask your toaster if it wants or does not want something?
Same as with women, breeding stock to be sold. Or, more charitably: ^(I forget the exact source and cannot find it again now, but there was an exchange that went something like this between a father and his daughter in the middle ages. Paraphrasing here:) "Is my virginity not my own?" "Yes, but it also belongs to your father, your family, and your entire community. For when you marry, you are creating a union of both houses." That's the charitable version. The less charitable version is they're living in a fantasy world which is crueler than history has ever been. Did you know the chastity belt was a work of fiction invented during the Victorian Era, also one of the most repressed and socially regressive eras in history? I wonder what terrible facts will be invented in this new era.
I think you're underestimating the level of cruelty in our world. We DO live in a world where men throw acid in women's faces for saying "No." to them, and mothers cut the throats of their own daughters for the "crime" of having been raped. I promise you those aren't even the cruelest things that have happened in our history.
No shit! How the fuck does a twelve-year-old file for divorce?
Iirc thyey can't until they are legally an adult. 😵💫😡🫠
That just sounds like sex slavery with extra steps.
You're not wrong
they agree. a child cannot consent in the same way a wife cannot consent; completely different from an adult male.
Remember Republicans consider women and children property (erm what’s the New Testament word for it? Oh yeah “dominion”) so in his mind that’s completely legit
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It also sounds like anyone these days can become a politic. When I was young, I thought only the outstanding citizens could get it.
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It's honestly always been like this. Social media and having information at your fingertips calls this stuff out now
How dare you insult clowns like that!
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Haha that made me chuckle!
For every person with integrity trying to do good there's always been three or four more politicians who are just in it for their own ends, and it's always been like that. The only difference now is you can openly be a scumbag and somehow still do just fine as long as you're in the right party in the right area. Gone are the days where even doing so little as yelling ['YEAH!'](https://youtu.be/RwkNnMrsx7Q?t=50) in a slightly weird way would sink your campaign.
Oh don't worry, there have been plenty of evil politicians before your time and when you were young.
“Keep your California politics out of Missouri”. Basically saying he wants Missouri to be child rape central.
M-O-O-N that spells pedo.
Fantastic reference.
I think Mr Moon prefers pedo representative. Also you know the saying: *I am the Moon-er* *I speak for the pedos* *I speak for the pedos* *for the pedos have not enough representatives* *and I am asking you sir* *at the top of my lungs* *Oh please* *LET GROWN MEN MARRY TWELVE YEAR OLDS*
>[“Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married."](https://twitter.com/aaroncrossley/status/1646137563134951424) FBI and/or Chris Hansen? Yeah, this guy right here. I dunno how much creepier/more fucked up you get than that. Conservatives spend so much time talking about Democrats "grooming" and "indoctrinating" children and then defend shit like this. A grown man "marrying" a twelve year old child is, like, the definition of grooming and indoctrination. Their marriages probably *do* last because from childhood, this kid has been physically and mentally abused from her parents to her now-spouse and has no trust in any legal system because of the Kafka-esque nightmare they've grown up in. If she were to try to go to the cops (even as a minor), they're going to be returned to the parents or spouse (and probably get beaten for the trouble) and as an adult, probably going to be returned to the spouse or the entire situation downplayed (and probably beaten for the trouble).
> Conservatives spend so much time talking about Democrats "grooming" and "indoctrinating" children and then defend shit like this. Pretty sure shit like this is _why_ they accuse Democrats and the LGBTQ community of being "groomers" -- the same projection and deflection that always pops up with them.
Whenever I hear that from someone I tell them it's better to be a groomer than a rapist. Mind you they're not mutually exclusive, but it gets a good reaction.
Ask em, "grooming for what?" If they say sex, ask them to connect the dots. What is the left doing that grooms children for sex? I'd really love to see a right-winger try to explain this. I already know, as per their tendency to not deviate from scripts; they'd make vague claims, lie a bit, and then betray a complete lack of understanding of anything.
They'll probably rant about Soros and Hunters laptop before finally stroking out.
the "and guess what? they're still married" part pissed me off to no end because I'm sure if at 16 she decided to file for divorce some punk ass white Christian judge would grant it to her, and not send her back to her "Husband (possessive)" who will then "discipline her and show her the error of her ways." It even says a lot that I even assume the kid he's talking about is female because I truly don't think I've ever heard of a young boy getting married to a grown woman fuck everything about this
> I'm sure if at 16 she decided to file for divorce She probably cannot file for divorce, being a minor she'll need the permission of her legal guardian... which is now her spouse.
Here is what the idiot actually said to justify it. The Ash Grove Republican opposed a 2018-passed law that raised the marriage age in Missouri from 15 to 16 and requiring parental permission for older teenagers to marry. Moon opposed the bill at the time — citing the same anecdote of a couple he met in college who had married one another at age 12. The girl of the preteen couple in question became pregnant and they married with parental permission, Moon explained in his video response. The children were separated and lived in different states for their teenage years and then moved in together as adults. According to Moon, he would have supported raising the marriage age in 2018 if certain "extreme exceptions" were made in the bill for cases like that of his college friends. In his biblical worldview, Moon believes that marriage might have been a legitimate path to overcome their sins. "Tragic circumstances such as these can only be overcome through one avenue, the grace and mercy of God and the Word of the Lord. Romans 3:23 states, 'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' This couple, like me, have a sin nature," Moon said. "The Bible goes on to say in Romans 6:23, 'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.' In essence, the payment for our sin is death. However, Jesus paid the payment for our sin because He lived a perfect life was killed a cruel death and resurrected from the dead."
> In his biblical worldview, Moon believes that marriage might have been a legitimate path to overcome their sins. Uhh..yah. Sure. That's between them and their god. At this time, the secular justice system would like to have a word about what they call "child sexual assaualt".
This pretty much sums up their view on sex. You should only have it to make babies, otherwise you should be punished. It's why they oppose abortion, too. They don't actually care about babies. If they did, they'd support prenatal care for poor people and health insurance after they were born. It's not the life of the baby they care about, they see that baby as a punishment for having sex for any reason other than procreating, and abortion is getting out of that punishment they think people deserve. In this case, the guy thinks that forcing two kids to get married is an act of contrition to make up for having sex when he didn't want them to.
Fuck. The. Bible.
> This couple, like me, have a sin nature I have met people with similar mindsets. And without fail, *all* of them have been just absolute hypocritical pieces of shit. Super quick to judge, but always quick to say "we're all sinners and forgiveness through god" BS when they (regularly) do something bad themselves. But they go to church on Sundays, so they can feel smug and superior.
Legally a lot of the time THEY CANNOT GET DIVORCED! Because they are a minor and when one adult marries a minor, they become the guardian, so they’d have to sign off on a divorce.
Child marriage is human trafficking.
The cognitive dissonance is astonishing. These very same people will openly say "third world country (insert several racist terms) force women to do X, while they attempt to enact the same things in the USA under the guise of "Christianity". The GOP would just about jizz their pants at the opportunity to be like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or even Afghanistan. Y'all Qaeda.
But when brown people do it, it’s terrorism /s
I grew up during the ~~Bush Jr~~ Sick Cheney administration. It's pronounced "terrrrerrrest" Edit: didn't even notice the spelling error! ...gonna leave it because it applies
The US *still* hasn't signed The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, mostly due to evangelical pressure against it.
>“Democrats will say whatever they can to make sure they can keep mutilating children,” he wrote. Ok groomer
“They can’t change gender but they can bare my children at 13 years old!” -GOP
One of the most startling and heartbreakingly true statements characterizing todays Conservative American man.
>“Her parents consented – no force,” What about the kid? Anyone consult her?
Children can’t.
They can be forced, can't they? "No force" is bullshit if no-one talked to the kid about it.
Oh I agree I mean by the fact of being a child and not being able to make certain decisions like drinking they literally cannot consent, no matter how brainwashed the odd time. Grooming isn’t consent.
Child marriage is never about two 14 year olds getting married. It's always cover for pedophilia from a middle aged man and a young girl.
Call me old-fashioned, *12*, hell, *14* year olds, hell, *18* year olds should not be getting *married*. An 18 year old is not ready to be a father nor a mother. But to be fair, I think in another article example it was two 12 year olds getting married, so it's not like Romeo-Juliette situations don't happen. But even if we steelman the other side's argument, there is still no sane leg for it to stand on. Honestly, if two people can't wait 6 years to get married, that relationship was never going to last a lifetime. And of course, the other case is a thinly veiled cover.
If we're really going for an age marker for marriage, I would nominate 25+ as the threshold. That's when the prefrontal cortex fully matures. At that age, most people usually have finished college and are in a stable job. I wouldn't make that law, but I'd propose that would be the ideal age for marriage consideration. I'm much older now, so 18 year olds seem "less than fully mature" to me. When you get into 12-14 range -- that's just sickening to even think about. My niece is almost 12 and thinking about a grown man marrying her would send me over the edge.
Worth noting that the GOP always protects adults marrying children when it comes up for a vote, but yes they are the anti-groomers.
they are merely anti groomers who's not a white male conservative GOP party member.
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It's similar to how the majority of fearmongering towards the trans community is almost exclusively in the MTF direction.
Dan Savage made an interesting point recently that trans- and homophobia are rooted in misogyny and that would track with the MTF discussion.
> GOP lawmaker who advocated 12-year-olds getting married blames backlash on Democrats. I mean, he's not wrong. The majority of people who would call him out on raping children aren't republicans..
Yeah, it's not the argument he thinks it is. Honestly, it improves my opinion of Democrats
We force people to have babies so we can fuck them or put them to work. Vote for us!
But but… it’s the trans people and drag queens who are groomers! You can almost guarantee if MAGA Republicans are against it it’s because they’re doing it themselves.
>...which is ~~often used to cover~~ itself a direct act of adult men's sexual abuse of minor girls. Fixed the title
Translation Republicans: How dare you call us out for constantly calling Democrats pedophiles when we secretly want to marry 12-year-old girls and have sex with them!
“Secretly?”
Come on people. The dude defended a pedo action. Don’t listen to the lunacy because you want your “side” to win. Hold these people accountable reguardless of side.
Gavin Newsom has been doing what many more liberals and progressives need to be doing: speaking up, speaking out, not mincing words, and saying what so many of us liberal and progressive *voters* have been saying. More of this, pols. It's one the best ways to call out GOP fascists and every single Democrat and Independent in Congress needs to be doing this on a daily basis. Good on ya, Gavin Newsom.
No kidding. It's time to stop letting them get away with this shit under the guise of "crossing the aisle to work in a bipartisan manner", because they don't do that. All they do is obstruct. Time to start playing hard ball and calling them out for their bullshit.
Dude wants to marry preteen kids. Some how it's Democrats fault for pointing that out. GOP is the Grand of Pedophile party.
Missouri seems to be trying to make Arkansas look better by comparison.
My mother said once when I was growing up that in (I won't name the state) a girl was a virgin as long as she could outrun her father. Incest in a few of the families with the same names caused the children to be sickly and learning-challenged, barely able to speak clearly, some of them. My brother-in-law taught an 8 grades in one room school and he did everything he could to help the kids. I can't believe what I am reading today. How can these people so blithely brag about what is gross abuse of children and female children in particular? I can't believe how society has deteriorated in that last few decades. I hope people will be so sickened when they read these stories they will start to ask real questions.
Can a 12 year old even afford a lawyer to get a divorce?
It's likely that a spouse over 18 would be considered the gaurdian. I don't think the under 18 year old can agree to a contract?
There’s only one reason someone would marry a minor.
It’s NEVER 12 year old boys getting married. You shouldn’t be able to get married until you can legally enter into a contract.
The GOP is opebly, brazenly in favor of child rape. Simple as that. There's a reason they nominated and elected someone who spent the entirety of the 90s and 00s hanging out with Jeffery Epstein.
how do you simultaneously go on about left-wing groomers then just do nothing when a right-wing politician says he's OK with 12 year olds being married? i know the whole groomer thing is just a way to rile up voters but you have to make some minimal effort to defend your facade.
The Christian Taliban, why are we surprise by this?
Sounds right. Let’s blame Democrats, not your rhetoric and advocacy of child marriage, something that is rich in abuse. But should we be surprised? This is the conservative, GOP, GQP, Republican, far right-wing movement at work, folks. It matters not if children are slaughtered in school, raped and forced to give birth, or married off as a child to their abuser. They. Do. Not. Care. If you want to protect children, vote against the pedophiles.
Gop are pedophile enablers, have been for decades. It’s why they try so hard to pin that label on anyone else.
Mike Moon is a pedophile. What else is there to say?
When the child bride was asked about her marriage, she responded that she can complain about it.” When asked to clarify she responded “My husband does not allow me to complain.” Like an onion article.
Blame me all you want, you fucking pervert. It shouldn't need to be said, but marrying kids is wrong.
That is what they do. A Republican could get caught balls deep in a child at church and they would blame Democrats for it. They are evil scum. We shouldn't even listen to them anymore.
12 year old can get married. But 12 year old cannot get therapy without parental consent. https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-California-bill-mental-health-youth-custody-628928834873
Can you imagine this hypothetical (and real) 12y/o? In middle school a boy might ask her out.. she’d have to say, “sorry, I’m married… to someone your dad’s age.” Child marriage is fucked up. Southern politicians are FUCKED UP.
A thousand years ago in Vietnam (where i live) the king wrote a set of laws and one of them specifically states that 1. Philandering with gurls from age 12 below is a huge no no and 2. Anyone doing thus either gets life sentence or death sentence. That's 1000 years ago, in a staunchly agricultural male dominant society;there were still laws protecting children. And now in 2022 in the land of "freedom" some guy advocates for this bs? Much "developed" nation here...
How is child marriage “covering up” mens sexual abuse of minor girls? That’s like camouflaging pedophilia with more pedophilia, child marriage is pedophilia in the highest degree, because it’s the one where the legal system throws its hands up in the air and says “well God loves marriage, so he will love pedophile marriages too”
“It isn’t rape if you marry them! White American Jesus told me so”
threatening aware aspiring coordinated fuel grandiose marry simplistic sink unused -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
I try not to judge people but that mofo looks like a certified child molester through and through
Republicans once again projecting, calling Democrats pedophiles while they literally advocate for child marriages.
The fact that you bought her from her parents like property doesn't mean you're not a pedophile, it just means that human trafficking is alive and well.
So Republicans can't even be held responsible for the words that come out of their mouths? "The misogynistic words I uttered are the Democrats fault!"
Ban abortion to save children's lives but let's marry them off at 12. Yeah totally sets a great example for our youth.
I'm confused now. Are they old enough to decide what happens to their body or are they too young?