Reddit has a couple of great forums called /NotADragQueen and /PastorArrested. Always plenty of fodder there to share with your “Christian” relatives over the holidays.
Anyway, here’s one from NotADragQueen:
A federal judge in Jacksonville sentenced Josue Garriga, 35, of St. Augustine on Monday, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in July to enticing a child to engage in sexual activity.
According to prosecutors, Garriga was a detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office gang unit in 2023 when he met a 17-year-old girl at church. He used his department-issued cellphone to contact the girl and then used his personal cellphone to communicate with her using an encrypted app set to automatically delete messages after 24 hours. Garriga requested nude photos from the girl and sent her nude photos of himself, investigators said.
On at least two occasions, Garriga used his work vehicle to visit the girl’s neighborhood to meet up with her and engage in illegal sexual contact, authorities said. On another occasion, Garriga enticed the girl to his work vehicle and physically prevented her from leaving until she performed a sex act on him.
The relationship ended this past March, when the victim’s mother found messages between the girl and Garriga on the girl’s phone. The mother reported the relationship, and Garriga was arrested. His prison sentence is for 24 years and four months.
So the facts are somewhat different from the allegations against Gaetz — that we know of — but today Gaetz is making videos on Cameo for $500 a pop and this other Florida man is looking at well over 20 years in prison (federal prison, so most of his time will be served).
Sasha
Also, have you seen a picture of the detective in question? He differs from Matt Gaetz in another way as well.
Butch
Joe.My.God also does a good job of tracking pastors arrested on sex charges.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
Just a quick comment before I even read, to say how much I enjoy your posts, and how glad I am that you’re posting more these days. Your contributions are fresh and welcome.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@Sasha: Welp, just googled him and yes, there’s another difference between him and Gaetz…unsurprising yet disappointing.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): Thanks!
Chris
Benefits of moving from St. Augustine to College Park: the place I left had a pedophile cop.
Drawbacks of moving from St. Augustine to College Park: the place I moved to had a pedophile mayor.
Just once I’d like to live in a place where the criminal authority figure’s crime is… building a life-size Millennium Falcon replica that violates HOA regulations, or something.
different-church-lady
@Sasha: He has a normal-sized head?
AM in NC
Particularly white, MALE elites. Gislane Maxwell and Martha Stewart come immediately to mind regarding the difference in treatment between male and female perps.
Rich, white, straight CONservative (Christianist) men are going to cling to power with every last ounce of energy they have and with every last dime they’ve squeezed out of everyone else. It’s going to take all of us who aren’t wealthy, white, straight, Christianist men to break down this system of unearned privilege. And we are all going to have to get creative in how we do this.
We need to figure out how to create solidarity among everyone who doesn’t meet ALL of the criteria I mentioned. The right does a good job of appealing to one of those traits and turning it outward against everyone else.
I think focusing on the corruption of this class (sexual, financial, legal, environmental, etc.) and the strip-mining of everyone else is a winner. Not charts and graphs, but real-world stories of self-dealing, theft, and how that is directly tied to YOUR life and circumstances.
lowtechcyclist
And of course, there’s the ability to indefinitely postpone one’s moment of legal accountability if one can afford lawyers who can file an abundance of motions, each one resulting in further delays.
The Bill of Rights grants to the accused the right to a speedy trial. Which is as it should be, but what about the rest of us? When a crime is committed against the body politic, where’s our right to see the malefactors brought to trial before they can commit a whole new round of crimes?
I’m not going to argue who or what (for instance, I am one of what I’d guess to be a very few jackals who hasn’t taken a side with respect to Merrick Garland), but taken as a whole, there’s no doubt that our legal system failed the American people in the matter of Donald Trump.
Fine with me if he’d been elected to a second term while in prison, and was forced to simultaneously serve both his prison term and his term as President. If the American people had wanted to elect someone who’d be limited in his performance of his responsibilities by his state of incarceration, well, so be it. But he should have already been serving time by the time the election took place, dammit.
lowtechcyclist
@AM in NC:
This is absolutely true. And going back a ways, Patty Hearst.
Parfigliano
Gaetz daddy also has money. In the USA people with money maybe maybe get investigated. Charged rarely.
They have numerous people’s eye witness testimony and literal receipts of payments made to the minor. Payments were made via wire transfer (federal crime) but somehow no state or federal prosecution. That kind of evidence and Joe Nobody gets arrested, can’t make bail, and the full weight of the law comes down.
People say the systems broken. I say it’s working as intended.
Josie
@AM in NC: I’m thinking we need to make heroes of those white males who don’t take advantage of their position and put them up front with women and minorities in working to change the dynamic. Example: Governor Tim Walz and many others.
AM in NC
@Josie: Absolutely. We need to model and praise a better way of being a white man. As opposed to the rapey, thefty way of being a white man that seems to be gaining currency on the right.
p.a.
Did Driftglass coin: “there is a club. You are not in it.”?
ArchTeryx
@Josie: I would volunteer as tribute without hesitation. Admittedly, I am disabled, but most of my disabilities are hidden, so I can pass for white in certain circumstances. As is, I have a very deep community running of LBGTQ+ folks, who’ve I’ve pledged to do all I can to protect and support. Harm reduction is my way of getting through shitty times like this.
Trivia Man
@Josie: i do not want to be up front and center, to me that feels like taking credit and trying to KEEP being the most important demographic in the room.
At work i was very involved in several employee resource groups. At one point i was asked to be president of the african American council. I refused. To me that was a signal that “only a white man is smart enough to be a leader”.
Thats a Hell No from me.
Instead i was happy to do the other stuff – scheduling meetings, tracking event presentation work, communication…. No need to be the face if the group and help prove “those people cant do anything for themselves”
ArchTeryx
@p.a.: That was actually George Carlin. The full quote is:
“They’re coming for your Social Security money! They want your fucking retirement money! They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street! And you know what? They’ll get it all, they’ll get it from you sooner or later because they own this fucking place.”
“It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.“
Trivia Man
@Trivia Man: But i made sure to appear at n every group photo i could. The common reaction to those groups was “its a black club” or “its a gay club”, with the clear implication “they” were looking for special treatment and trying to create a clique to promote advancement.
I was cautioned several times to be careful about appearing in pictures with “the gays.” Fuck. That. If it could hurt my career to STAND NEXT TO A GAY PERSON.., how much worse would it be for them to BE GAY? That strengthened my resolve.
In 20 years a that company i had sex with zero coworkers. Why would they give a damn about my preference? Irrelevant.
Falconer
@p.a.:
No, that was George Carlin.
Melancholy Jaques
@ArchTeryx:
I would add, “They’ll get it because the great majority of white people will eagerly give it to them just to own the libs!”
Wapiti
@Parfigliano: People say the systems broken. I say it’s working as intended.
I’ve got a image in my head, a shiny James Madison winking and doing the “buddy Jesus” pose. Yup, you got it.
Shakti
Gaetz will never see the inside of a prison cell. He is not actually broke enough to be doing Cameo gigs because he needs the money.
He’s the brother in law of Palmer Luckey, VR Oculus founder, FaceBook made billionaire, Anduril Industries founder, and major Trump donor.
They just got a contract for drones.
There’s also this:
I would not bet on him withdrawing support from Gaetz merely because his sister could be unhappy with any of Gaetz’ actions.
ArchTeryx
@Melancholy Jaques: Carlin was ahead of his time, but even he didn’t predict the rise of the wretched hive of scum and villainy that was the *chan boards. Watching a whole major political party become nothing more than 4/8chan trolls was a sight to see. And not a pleasant one.
Old Man Shadow
I’m honestly surprised he’s serving that much time.
You know… given how seventy six million American voters just said they were cool with rape and Catholics and Southern Baptists keep showing up every week and giving money to child rape and sexual abuse cabals.
Harrison Wesley
@Shakti: I’ll be damned. I was sure Palmer Luckey was a James Bond villain.
m.j.
I was trying to get a sense of this same sort of thing, except my thoughts were on white collar crime. If you’re not ripping off the wrong people it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem.
Chris
@Harrison Wesley:
Well, you weren’t wrong.
West of the Rockies
Can there be that many people who want to drop.$500 for a Big Head Gaetz cameo?
pika
@Shakti: I wish they would stop with the Tolkien names
Shakti
@Harrison Wesley: With a sister who sounds like a cocktail ripoff
Ginger Gaetz, née Ginger Luckey, sister of Palmer Freeman Luckey
I imagine a cross between a Moscow Mule and an Arnold Palmer. Which could work as an actual drink?
But this is Trump adjacent so…
Please hold your jokes and applause for Trump’s standup set involving golfers and jer–[BEEEP SNL CAN’T SHOW IT ON THE AIR]
lou
@Shakti: WTF with the tech bros naming their companies after things in LOTR? I think they didn’t get the message Tolkien was trying to give. You know, things like mercy, turning away from violence, small hands must do what the great cannot.
Sister Golden Bear
And so it begins…
Hearing reports that Trump plans to ban trans people from the military, and kick out the roughly 15,000 trans people currently serving, within the few days of his administration. They would be medically discharged, which would determine that they were unfit to serve. (Jackal vets, what that means for their VA benefits and pension?)
More reports that Trump also plans to sign an order declaring there are only two sexes, and that sex is assigned at birth and cannot be changed. (No provisions for the 1:2,000 people who are intersex.) This could be used to revoke gender changes on trans people’s Social Security info, which is the basis for all other legal ID. SSA “mismatches” have been used in the past to out trans people to employers. Enabling trans people to get passports using their current gender is by administrative policy, so this could be overturned, and worse case used to revoke trans people’s current passports and force them to use passports with their gender assigned at birth (Kansas did this with drivers’ licenses). Even worse, the feds could use this to force states to do the same for Real ID-compliant drivers licenses.
And while Nancy Mace’s bill to ban trans people from all bathrooms on federal property is a stunt that hasn’t a chance of passing this Congress, I’m sure it’ll be back next year. Especially because Speaker Johnson just reiterated that such bans are what Jeebus wanted.
Sister Golden Bear
@lou: They’re the same people who thought Rorschach from “Watchmen” was a role model.
zhena gogolia
@Sister Golden Bear: But the price of eggs . . .
I am weeping.
Ruckus
@Parfigliano:
People say the systems broken. I say it’s working as intended.
These two sides can be one and the same. Which of course is what you are saying, but it suggests that it is not broken.
It is working as intended by the people abusing it, all things considered I’d say it is not working as the people in general believe it should. Which of course says that people with power can and will often abuse their power and this is a seemingly air tight case of abuse of power. A part of this is that the system may actually not be broken but some of the people involved very much can be. They just use their position to be able to abuse others. Sure the law may need to be changed but humanity also needs to be improved. Have stated this here before that during boot camp in the USN, I saw two recruits walking along and they made some snide, obnoxious remarks to two enlisted female USN personnel walking by and very deservedly got their asses chewed out loudly and forcefully. I thought better of laughing at them but they deserved every word (and actually more) uttered. They were pompous, arrogant and very lucky that all they got was a chewing out. The reason I mentioned this incident was that to me it was a very good example of often male directed speech/actions towards females, with the thought in their minds that males are always superior. And in the lifetime of people still alive this was often, if not actually true, was fully accepted by a large proportion of males. I don’t know if that has changed as much as it should but it has changed to a not insignificant degree.
Kay
The WaPo has an editorial on how Biden should pardon Trump.
Theyre really such incredibly groveling ass kissers. No one should pay for this garbage.
zhena gogolia
@Kay: Who wrote that? If it’s the editorial board, oh, my God.
Baud
@Kay:
And liberals shouldn’t leave Twitter for Bluesky.
Sasha
@different-church-lady: He differs in skin hue and has an otherish sounding name.
coin operated
@Kay:
Reminding me, yet again, that canceling my subscription was a good idea.
Steve LaBonne
@lowtechcyclist: “Funny” how the “tough on crime” contingent never seems to worry about this.
zhena gogolia
@coin operated: I can’t access it, but it looks as if it’s by the editorial board. Vomit.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
I’m not clicking, but the web link DougJ posted has “opinion” in it. Don’t know if that signifies anything.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Hard to say. I canceled my subscription in July, and I never paid much attention to their Opinion section.
Kay
@Baud:
The NY Times has a scolding editorial on how it is the duty of liberals to stay politically engaged.
Only liberals get these lectures. No civic duty ever attaches to conservatives.
Baud
Via Blue sky
Baud
@Kay:
Engaged = manipulable
Old School
@zhena gogolia:
…
Baud
@Old School:
Not editorial board. Right wingers. Thanks.
Old School
@Baud:
A sample:
Kay
@Baud:
I hope he doesn’t grant them an exception. Americans need to grow up. Of course it will upend the food supply – too late!
I want consequences. If Americans don’t get them they’re going to continue to have childish hissy fits every 24 months. I want them to take responsibility for their choices. No more coddling.
Baud
@Old School:
Meh. Biden isn’t going to start listening to these freaks now.
zhena gogolia
@Old School: Somewhat better, but still.
Baud
@Kay:
Republicans are pretty good at violating their principles if necessary to accommodate their supporters’ interests.
coin operated
@Baud: Repeat after me…illegal immigration will stop the minute Big Ag says and not a minute before. They’ll get their wish granted…
Kay
@Old School:
Once they get the Republican in all of media then demands we all come together to kiss his ring.
They did the same thing with George W Bush. They never demand Republican voters “come together”, only Democrats.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Does it seem like there are an unusual number of sex offenders among Trump’s picks for his administration? Surely the percentage isn’t what you’d see in the general population
WereBear
@lowtechcyclist: Yoko broke up the band!
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Trump’s a trash magnet, always has been.
Kay
@Baud:
But they’re all going to demand exceptions – construction, meat packing, canning, manufacturing in non union states. There is no group of undocumented people who don’t work. They all work.
Baud
@Kay:
There’s really no reason yet they should change their ways. It does seem like the election outcome has super charged the scales falling off liberal eyes when it comes to the media. Maybe that’ll bear fruit in a decade or so.
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud: Big Ag better start donating to Trump’s
inauguration celebratemoney laundering fund ASAP, amirite.Baud
@Kay:
They’ll probably all get exceptions for the most part. The Republican base isn’t going to rise up against Trump as long as Trump has a few high profile acts of cruelty against the undocumented.
WereBear
@AM in NC: It’s the best they can do. And so think the white women who are Trump voters.
They are told their men will lay down their lives for them. Instructions from Above. And so they must hoard that vital energy, not spend it on laundry.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
I’m sure they are.
Sister Golden Bear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The percentage of sex offenders in the Trump administration probably isn’t that different than his base.
Joe.My.God. keeps track of (many, but definitely far from all) youth pastors, clergy, cops, teachers, etc. — almost all MAGA types — sex offenders, many of them involving children. Almost every day there’s at least one of them being arrested, convicted or sentenced.
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud:
They’ll do enough high profile acts of cruelty to keep the remaining undocumented workers in fear — and compliant for their employers.
John S.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
It’s not usual considering the guy nominating them is also a sex offender. Vultures of a feather flock together.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
Win-win for the only people who matter.
Sure Lurkalot
@Old School:
Worse than Benghazi? Unpossible.
If this were only Thiessen’s take, unfortunately, our legacy media betters all actually believe this. History is just a word and not just a discipline not taught or learned anymore.
john b
One guess on who the most unpopular president upon leaving office is. . .
Gretchen
@Sister Golden Bear: I’ve been reading memoirs of people who have left evangelical churches. A cornerstone of their child rearing practices is expecting immediate cheerful unquestioning obedience backed up by physical punishment, of anyone with authority over them. Which for children is all adults. That gives kids no way to protect themselves from bad youth pastors and others and makes it easy for bad people to find victims.
Lobo
To paraphrase the Joker from the Dark Knight:
You know something is really, really wrong when you start quoting the freakin’ Joker! Whether it is Garland or the broader legal profession, something there failed because it didn’t fit the plan.
Gretchen
@Gretchen: That also means that when the pastor says that God wants you to vote for Trump people under his authority feel that they have to obey
AM in NC
@lou: It’s the hereditary right to rule that they love. Ain’t a Democracy in LOTR; it’s all about the return of the rightful heir atop the pile.
Restoring the “Natural Order” of things is what they crave.
And, like with the Bible, they conveniently discard anything that doesn’t comport with Wealthy, White, Male, Christianist RULE.
They are orcs, and they don’t realize it.
Ruckus
@AM in NC:
It’s not just white men.
It’s not all men.
It’s not an insignificant percentage of men.
I believe that it is changing because of our level of communications has changed dramatically in the lifetimes of most of us. What we are doing now is what 20ish years old and has made a significant change in communications. Most of us carry a computer in our pocket/purse every where we go. That’s the cell phone as it is today as to what it was 20-25 yrs ago. Look at what we are doing right here and now. How many of us have a computer (and possibly more than one) in our homes that far out powers a computer of 30 yrs ago
Also it isn’t that men have changed all that much it is that there are a lot more humans and women have a lot more power than they used to. It’s still not equal but it is better than it has been in my 3/4 of a century. And it takes a long time to change humanity.
mali muso
@Sister Golden Bear: I’m trying to assist a trans student with finding information on how they can update their passport with their name and gender (now that they are 18 and can make their own choice). Do you have any good resources, links, etc. that I can use to pass along? Would it be worthwhile trying to get everything updated now despite the likelihood of the coming rollback in the new regime?
AM in NC
@Ruckus: How do we reach these people. I have 19 y.o. and 21 y.o. sons and a 58 yo husband, and none of them would consider voting for a Republican – at any level of government.
How are they able to escape the rightwing-o-verse when so many others are not?
Education for one – my kid who hasn’t gone to college was a big reader as a kid, and he grew up in an educated household, and went to a high school that actually did teach critical thinking and fact-based inquiry. My little dudes are prepared to wade through the bro-i-sphere lies and garbage. Many are not.
WereBear
@ArchTeryx: They were always headed that way.
They can help it. They have lost their religion but won’t admit it.
WereBear
@Harrison Wesley: Mr WayofCats and I were discussing how SPECTRE was a warning.
Kay
@Baud:
And now Texas construction companies want exceptions too.
Home health companies next. Idiot Americans forgot immigrants take care of their grandparents.
WereBear
@Steve LaBonne: Was always a dog whistle.
Kay
My 4 year old granddaughter will be here Wednesday. She wants to tell me about the possum that got into their trash cans. I need that whole story.
WereBear
@Gretchen: Feature. Not bug.
Thinking will send them to hell.
Martin
@Sister Golden Bear: Depends on their disability rating. Unfit to serve can also cover soldiers wounded in the line. My guess is they’d be discharged 0% disability rating.
Not an expert at this but just went through this stuff trying to understand my uncles situation.
Keep in mind I think some of the first spending cuts by Trump will be vets – he thinks vets are losers. So that may not matter.
Martin
@Kay: And the Texas companies will get them and the California companies won’t, just to make clear what loyalty gets you.
AM in NC
@Kay: We all need that whole story!
Peale
@Kay: I don’t want to carry the “undocumented immigration” water for these industries any longer myself. They all gave money heavily to the republicans over the years. So fuck them. Because they are not voters, undocumented immigrants aren’t actually part of any democratic coalition. But the expectation is that Democrats are going to play along and continue to have to run against the idea that rural whites have about “sanctuary cities” and “undocumented crime waves.” Screw it. If Joe Schmoe dairy farmer from Wisconsin needs to have his labor, the Dairy Farmers of America or whatever can spend their money on public campaigns to make the existence of the undocumented workforce more popular with Bubba Cheesehead. That can’t be the Democratic party’s job election after election. So no “secret behind doors deals”. No greasy palm lobbyists in this case. Those industries need to work to deliver actual voters to the Democrats and not rely on liberals making moral and economic arguments for them that fall on largely deaf ears.
If butter goes to $15 per pound because Farmer Joe and 5,000 farmers like him have to close up shop, so what?
Ruckus
@AM in NC:
I have no idea. And I was a mental health counselor decades ago.
The problem is that you really can’t change some/any one who does not want to change or thinks they are perfect. And that is a lot of human beings. We are an animal that has the ability to think and understand the world around us and the other animals that live around us. That ability is often smothered by the internal concept that we can be or are already perfect. A 10,000,000% incorrect assumption. Without standing in front of a mirror or possibly a firing squad, most humans see what they want to see, and that ain’t always reality in any form, shape or whatever.
Soprano2
@Kay: I think it’s hilarious, they’re all begging for exceptions from what they voted for! He said it at every rally and in almost every appearance, that there would be mass deportations. I guess they thought he didn’t mean the ones that they needed, only those other ones. This is a consequence of him implying that the vast majority of people who are undocumented are criminals, the worst criminals ever.
Eunicecycle
@Soprano2: I think there is the idea out there that illegal immigrants are sitting around getting benefits, which aren’t given to citizens. I’ve seen people say the immigrants are getting free housing, free food, and thousands of dollars a month and committing crimes. It’s a lie, but people believe it.
Paul in KY
@p.a.: The Golden Rule: Those with the gold make the rules.
Ruckus
@Peale:
If butter goes to $15 per pound because Farmer Joe and 5,000 farmers like him have to close up shop, so what?
Well first a lot of people will not be able to afford butter. Or likely the bread to put it on.
And if 5,000 farmers like him have to close up shop, what do you think the price of food will rise to? And remember the wealthy got that way because they were given or “earned” their money. They will be able to pay those high prices, many, many, many other humans will not. Ever been to a big city and seen those living on the street? I’ve lived in or around large to BIG cities most of my life and there has always been some living on the street. As a percentage of the population, at least in LA and as much as I’ve seen in the last decade or so, that percentage of the population living on the streets has gotten smaller. Now that may be just an appearance rather than reality, so the problem may have gotten a lot worse and is just hidden away better than it was. Which used to be basically zero hidden her in LA and other big cities I’ve been to. And I used to travel for work in professional sports and have been to 49 of the states. (I used to say 48 but was looking at a map the other day and realized that I have been to one of the states I thought I hadn’t)
Ruckus
@Soprano2:
This is a consequence of him implying that the vast majority of people who are undocumented are criminals, the worst criminals ever.
All of this comes from him standing in front of a mirror and not seeing his reflection but what he thinks his reflection should be, plus, he seemingly has just MAYBE 5% of his “brain” understanding actual reality over whatever cartoon show is actually his thought process.
Sister Golden Bear
@mali muso: The Transgender Law Center’s ID Please is a great resource for how to change one’s name and gender. It covers. both federal and the state of California.
While the latter obviously won’t be exactly applicable if they live in another state, it will give them a roadmap of what needs to be done, and probably similar state agencies will be involved. Your student can also contact the TLC to get a referral to resources applicable in their state.
And yes, I would absolutely change things ASAP. It’ll be harder to roll back changes than block them for those who haven’t gotten them changed yet. If nothing else, retroactive changes will likely be tied up in court at least for a while.
mali muso
@Sister Golden Bear: Thanks for this. I’ll make sure to get the info to them asap. Probably will end up helping walk them through it myself as I know they’re anxious and a little low on follow through.
NaijaGal
@Parfigliano:
And the people for whom it’s working don’t appear to have any concern that those for whom it is not working will seek to upend the rules.
The power of wealth, propaganda, owning all the viable media sources and capturing a presidency that will seek to entrench oligarchy.
I wonder how long that can last.
Ruckus
@Sister Golden Bear:
As a vet and user of the VA I cannot say what would get you kicked/blocked out of the VA. But it would require a lot of law changing because what you get is from the VA is directly controlled by 2 things. Did you serve for the minimum length of time? Minimum time serving is what gets you in the door, and I believe if you were wounded in some way during serving, you don’t need the minimum time. Your individual medical needs are determines what care you get. Every one in the VA system gets the same level of care – that which they need. I’ve had my ups and downs at the VA but then I had the same with private practice. I had medical insurance for a long time after discharge so didn’t need the VA. When that went away, I did.
Ruckus
@Eunicecycle:
Some will believe the moon is made of green cheese. Some will believe they are the greatest humans to ever live, all the while being anything but. Some will believe that money is what makes them great and then they prove that wrong all the time. I know we celebrate humans for things but often they are not the greatest piano player or their riches blind them to their faults, or they are actually shitty humans with enough bullshit spread about them that they get treated as great, or the are spectacular at one thing which many are not even close to being even good at, or they have so much money that many think they must be great. I’d bet any of us can name names.