Tag: dennis hastert

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America react to Bowe Bergdahl pleading guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, glad that justice is being done and not being swept under the rug in the case of the soldier who left his unit in Afghanistan and was returned by the Obama administration in exchange for five top level Taliban detainees. They also groan as Iraqi forces are now fighting with the Kurds over territory in northern Iraq when they’re supposed to be finishing off ISIS. And they unload on Newsweek for its reckless reporting, including such gems as interviewing pedophile and former House Speaker Dennis Hastert about politics and declaring the Family Research Council a hate group.

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Let me lead this off by saying that I am not looking to defend Hastert. The charges are sickening. He epitomized a lot of what was wrong with DC, and if these allegations are true, he’s been abusing public trust for longer than we imagined. Furthermore, if he had ever genuinely repented as his public statements […]

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Dennis Hastert has the distinction of being the longest serving Republican Speaker of the House in history. He also has some pretty damning Sex Abuse Allegations to add to his legacy. Hastert is alleged to have had inappropriate sexual contact with as many as five underaged boys dating back to when he was a high school wrestling coach. […]

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No Heroes in the Dennis Hastert Scandal

 

Dennis Hastert ScandalFrom what I currently understand about the scandal involving the former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, it’s hard to find any good guys. I don’t know Hastert personally so, unlike many who do (or at least thought they did), I was completely unsurprised to hear that he (a former high-school wrestling coach) had been accused of molesting a minor male. That is not to imply, of course, that all, or even a significant minority of wrestling coaches engage in such behavior, but it is a job that one might seek out if one had a taste for it. And that is how this all started. That was the original sin. So Hastert is no victim here, though blackmail is, rightfully, illegal.

The victim could have retained honor by simply coming forward and publicly accusing and exposing Hastert. In so doing, he might have encouraged others to come forward, either in the case of Hastert or in more contemporary similar situations (in fact, another of Hastert’s alleged former underaged pelvic affiliates does seem to have done so).

But it appears that he wasn’t interested in that, and didn’t become interested in redress until he discovered that coach had done very well by doing good in the Congress, and enriched himself with questionable earmarks, shady land deals, and lucrative lobbying fees. So, once having been a victim, the molestee forfeited victimhood by extorting his accused former tormentor.

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Complaints about Facebook friends have become something of a staple here. Maybe you just need better FB friends. To wit, Charles Murray asks the following questions: Question #1: Under what circumstances is blackmail appropriately defined as a crime? #2: Why should paying blackmail ever be a crime? Preview Open

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