Jeff Edelstein applauds the fact the US will mark passports like the Nazis and Soviets used to do

What's one of the recurring themes at the Shiitake Awards? Those who use the term "convicted pedophile" is generally reason enough to get a nomination. Well, here we are.

http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20171118/NEWS/171119808

Over 23 years later, Megan’s Law is still expanding, this time worldwide 
(JEFF EDELSTEIN COLUMN)
By Jeff Edelstein, The Trentonian
POSTED: 11/18/17, 12:37 PM EST

It’s hard to believe it’s been 23 years since the death of Megan Kanka, the Hamilton 7-year-old who was raped and murdered by a twice-convicted sex offender. It is, without question, the most heinous and brutal crime in modern Mercer County history. It’s something no one who lives around here will ever forget.

Of course, the tragedy eventually led to the creation of Megan’s Law, first here in New Jersey, and then across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The premise of the law is simple: When a convicted child sex offender moves into town, they have to register with local authorities and people in the neighborhood are notified by their presence.

I’m all for the law, for the record. It’s just a shame we need it. Because if it was up to me, anyone convicted of molesting a child would never get a chance to “move into town.” Life imprisonment is fine by me. Heck, you could convince me of the death penalty in certain cases. My rationale is simple: If a society can’t effectively protect its children from predators, it has little business calling itself a society. I harbor no love in my heart for any human who would sexually molest a child. As such, I don’t care about the rights of these people. I don’t care about the fact they’re forever marked wherever they go. They should be marked. The end. (NOTE: OK, maybe not “the end.” I’m writing this part after original publication, after it was pointed out to me I’m painting with a broad brush. Who I’m talking about specifically, and who I’m talking about after this note, is the true scum, the true pedophile. I’m not talking about 18-year-olds who hooked up with a 14-year-old and are branded sex offenders. That’s not right, and they don’t belong on any list. I’m talking about evil predators. Moving on, then.)

But not everyone agrees. Like the United States Senate. How else to explain the nine years(!) it took Congressman Chris Smith to pass International Megan’s Law, a bill introduced six times before finally being signed by President Barack Obama in 2016. And how else to explain why it took over a year for the passport identifier portion of the program — in which convicted child molestors have the following imprinted on their passports: “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212 (c) (i)” — to finally happen?

“We got our foot in the door in New Jersey, and now we’re worldwide,” said Richard Kanka, Megan’s father, a statehouse news conference Friday. “This is a very important day, and I’m excited we’re taking another step forward. It took nine years, and it’s something that’s long overdue.”

In short: Megan’s Law is now a worldwide phenomenon.

If a convicted child sex offender is seeking to travel overseas, they must register with the State Department so they can be vetted and so that the State Department can, at their discretion, warn the country the offender is seeking to travel to.

Since the signing of the law, the United States has warned over 100 countries that over 3,500 convicted pedophiles were trying to get in their country, and over 2,000 of those people were denied entry.

Foreign countries have reciprocated 100 times.

And that’s the next step for Smith and Kanka: To get the rest of the world on board with the plan.

“We’re trying to get other countries to replicate the passport process,” Smith said.

As well they should. We’ve got enough American sickos as it is. We don’t need any foreign pedophiles.

“This is a big step in protecting the children of this great country, as well as the children of the world,” Kanka said. “When we started this back in 1994 we just didn’t stop there. We worked on this. And now this train is rolling again, and it’s rolling quicker.”

I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose a child, nevermind to lose a child in such a horrible way. Tremendous credit to Richard and Maureen Kanka for spearheading Megan’s Law, and even more credit for not stopping, some 23 years later.

Geez, will Rep. Chris Smith just go on a permanent vacation already?

Look, we at the Shiitake Awards have seen many familiar faces come back time and time again-- Nancy Grace, John Walsh, Ron & Lauren Book, etc., but Chris Smith sticks around like that gum someone planted under the desk a decade ago that is fossilized.

Does this idiot not understand you can't be convicted of "pedophilia"?

https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400752

Smith’s Law Results in Important New Protections for Children Against Predators

Washington, Nov 17, 2017 | Matt Hadro ((202) 226-6373)

A new passport identifier for convicted pedophiles will help protect children from pedophiles looking to travel abroad, possibly to abuse children, said Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), author of legislation to create the identifier.    

“Child predators thrive on secrecy—a secrecy that allows them to commit heinous crimes against the weakest and most vulnerable,” Smith stated at a press conference on Friday in Trenton, N.J., about the passport protections included in his International Megan’s Law, which had several other provisions aimed at protecting children.

“We know from law enforcement and media documentation that Americans on U.S. sex offender registries are caught sexually abusing children in Asia, Central and South America, Europe—everywhere,” Smith said. “Again, we have a duty to protect the weakest and most vulnerable from abuse.” To read Smith’s full remarks, click here.

The new passport protections from the U.S. State Department were mandated by Smith’s International Megan’s Law, which passed the House three times before finally being enacted in February of 2016.

The law is named after Megan Kanka, a resident of Smith’s home town of Hamilton, N.J. who, at seven years old, was sexually assaulted and killed in 1994 by a repeat sex offender who was a neighbor, but whose offender status was unbeknownst to residents of the community.

Smith spoke alongside Megan’s family, who have been fighting for legal protections for children from predators at the state, federal, and international levels. “This is a big step in trying to protect the children of the country and the whole world,” Rich Kanka, father of Megan Kanka, stated on Friday.

“Megan was a wonderful little girl. She loved everybody,” Kanka said. Both he and Smith on Friday advocated for a version of Megan’s Law to be enacted in every country in the world.  “We have to stop the trafficking and the exploitation. I am here and I am not going anywhere,” Kanka said.

Megan’s Law, originally passed in New Jersey, required public notification of convicted sex offenders living in an area. Now all 50 states have such laws protecting children against predators at home. International Megan’s Law was drafted to create a system of notification between countries so that foreign countries – as well as the U.S. – would know when a convicted sex offender is looking to enter their boundaries.

Child predators have tried to evade detection when traveling, by misreporting the countries they are traveling to in naming their transit countries rather than their destination countries, Smith said.

Now, as a result of Smith’s law, countries including the U.S. are being notified when convicted pedophiles seek to enter, and they are being turned back at the borders of the U.S. and these countries. The law empowers many of the destination countries for convicted pedophiles to turn them away or monitor them while they travel within their borders.

According to Smith, the U.S. has been alerted by foreign countries of at least 100 of their convicted pedophiles trying to enter the U.S. Almost 100 other countries have been warned by the U.S. of over 3,500 convicted pedophiles trying to enter, and almost 2,000 convicted pedophiles from the U.S. have been turned away from their destination country since the law’s enactment.

In addition to improving and speeding up this notification process, International Megan’s Law directed the State Department, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to set up an identification for passports of convicted pedophiles who are on states’ public offender registries, so that destination countries have another opportunity to screen pedophiles when they attempt to enter.

According to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office, at least 4,500 U.S. passports were issued to registered sex offenders in FY 2008. There were 797,094 registered sex offenders in the U.S., according to FBI numbers from September 30th, and almost 17,000 offenders in New Jersey, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Now, U.S. passports of convicted pedophiles who are on a state’s public sex offender registry will be stamped with the identifier: “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212 (c)(I).”

Kendra Nichols of ABC27 in Harrisburg PA would rather let her house burn down than be saved by a firefighter on the gov't hitlist

Kendra Nichols of ABC 27 in Harrisburg PA helped get at least one registrant fired from a job as a firefighter. You see folks, this is why I don't bother to support any non-registrant charity. I have no desire to ever do anything to help a society that would rather not see me do anything positive to benefit society. I guess if this lady's house was burning, it would be better I use the flames to make s'mores rather than pour water on the flames. And that's just fine with me.

http://abc27.com/2017/11/09/registered-sex-offenders-resign-from-fire-departments-after-abc27-investigation/

Registered sex offenders resign from fire departments after ABC27 investigation
By Kendra Nichols
Published: November 9, 2017, 6:22 pm

After receiving tips from viewers, ABC27 started looking into local fire departments and found some had registered sex offenders on the roster. ABC27’s investigation led to resignations. Since the registered sex offenders are no longer volunteer firefighters, ABC27 decided to blur their faces in the video and redact their names.

—

ABC27 Investigator Kendra Nichols found two local fire departments with registered sex offenders, Londonderry Fire Company near Middletown and Citizens Fire Company of Highspire. At the time of the investigation, both registered sex offenders had the fire department addresses listed on the Megan’s Law website as places of employment.

ABC27 told the Londonderry Fire Company the results of the search and it took action.

“I personally called him after the board was made aware of it. We gave him the option to resign or we would suspend his membership,” said Kim Dodson, president of Londonderry Fire Company.

He resigned from the fire department on Oct. 3. Londonderry Fire Company is in the process of changing its policy and will require applicants to submit a background check clearance with their applications.

“We are currently in the process of running criminal background checks on them,” Dodson said. “All the applications that we now will accept must have a background check attached to them which includes a criminal background and a child abuse clearance before we even consider anyone for membership.”

Citizens Fire company in Highspire requires background checks for all applicants and, as of May 2016, its regulations state “no individual who has been convicted of or pled guilty to a sexual offense shall be eligible for membership.” It is unclear whether the department has conducted background checks on its members who joined the department prior to the background check policy being adopted.

However, during ABC27’s investigation, we learned the fire department and Highspire Borough Council were aware of one fire department member’s Megan’s Law status. The member was promoted to a higher position after the adoption of the policy prohibiting membership to anyone convicted of a sexual offense. In fact, the council unanimously approved his promotion.

Highspire Council President Kay Sutch refused to answer questions. When ABC27 Investigator Kendra Nichols asked Sutch about the policy, Sutch repeatedly answered “no comment”.

Highspire Borough Manager John McHale offered an explanation, saying the rules were adopted in 2016.

“He was a member of the fire department before those rules were written,” McHale said.

“So he is grandfathered in as a sexual offender?” Nichols asked.

“These are the rules of the fire company, not the rules of the borough,” McHale said.

“Borough council not only approved him but promoted him to a deputy chief … voted unanimously to promote him knowing that he is a sex offender,” Nichols said.

“They appointed him as fire chief. He is qualified to be fire chief. He follows the rules and guidelines,” McHale said.

That volunteer firefighter resigned from the department Nov. 1. He is suing the Pennsylvania State Police, seeking removal of his name from the Megan’s Law registration, saying the terms of his 1998 plea agreement required that he register only 10 years. In his court filings, he insists he would not have pleaded guilty if the conditions included lifetime registration as a sex offender.

The current Pennsylvania law requires his lifetime registration. That law was passed 14 years after he entered into the plea agreement.

Fossil fuels give off "light" of "righteousness" that helps prevent sexual assault, according to our current Energy Secretary Rick Perry

 If you use wind or solar, apparently you're just setting yourself up to be raped if you believe another one of Trump's esteemed cabinet members, especially considering this idiot didn't even know what his job was when he became energy secretary.

If the victim industry is reading this, know that all your problems will be solved if you use use light from dead dinos.

This is what happens when you replace a Nobel Prize winning physicist with a climate change denier. I give you Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/358386-rick-perry-fossil-fuels-will-help-prevent-sexual-assault

Perry links fossil fuel development to preventing sexual assault
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 11/02/17 09:12 AM EDT

Energy Secretary Rick Perry suggested Thursday that expanding the use of fossil fuels could help prevent sexual assault.

Speaking during an energy policy discussion about energy policy with “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd and Axios CEO and founder Jim VandeHei, Perry discussed his recent trip to Africa. He said a young girl told him that energy is important to her because she often reads by the light of a fire with toxic fumes.

"But also from the standpoint of sexual assault,” Perry said. “When the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will on those types of acts.”

Perry said that using fossil fuel to push power into remote villages in Africa is necessary and will have a “positive role” in peoples’ lives.

President Trump has called for expanding domestic production of fossil fuels for export.

https://twitter.com/Timothy_Cama/status/926064308957655041