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from the is-everything-bigger-in-Texas? dept.
(Update: The Capitol Police are investigating the release of the photo.)
Texas Congressman Joe Barton has confirmed that an explicit image circulating on social media shows him exposing himself. Barton claims to be a victim of "revenge porn", which was outlawed in Texas in 2015:
Sarah Dodd of Dodd Communications, who is helping Barton respond to the image, confirmed that the image is of him and on Wednesday the Congressman apologized for not using "better judgment" while separated from his wife and in consensual relationships with women. "While separated from my second wife, prior to the divorce, I had sexual relationships with other mature adult women," Barton said in a statement first reported by The Texas Tribune. "Each was consensual. Those relationships have ended. I am sorry I did not use better judgment during those days. I am sorry that I let my constituents down."
[...] Wednesday evening, an unnamed woman came forward to The Washington Post [archive], telling the newspaper that Barton sent her lewd photos, videos and messages when they had two sexual encounters over the course of five years.
In a 2015 phone call, Barton allegedly confronted the woman over her communications with other women, including her decision to share explicit materials he had sent, the Post reported. The woman shared that secretly recorded phone call with the paper and, according to the Post, in that call, he warned her against using the explicit images he had sent her, in a way that would negatively affect his career -- vowing that he would go to the Capitol Hill police over her actions. The woman told the Post she took that phone call as a threat, and she never had any intention to use the materials to retaliate against Barton.
Barton, in a statement released through a spokesman, says it was to stop her from publicly releasing the images as "revenge porn." Revenge porn -- when sexually explicit images are posted online without consent -- was outlawed in Texas in 2015.
Revenge porn is defined by Texas as "visual material" depicting a person's exposed "intimate parts" or engagement in sexual activity, distributed without a person's consent and causing them "harm", and created under circumstances in which the person had a reasonable expectation of privacy. The depicted person's identity must also be revealed for the defendant to be held liable, but the bar for this is low and includes any information provided by a third party in response to the disclosure of the material.
The city of Washington D.C. also has a revenge porn law. In April, a man was convicted of five misdemeanor counts under the Criminalization of Non-Consensual Pornography Act of 2014. The crime rises to a felony if more than five people viewed the image/video.
The image of Rep. Barton was censored by the Twitter user (⚠ Warning ⚠: contains the image), which may cause it to not be considered revenge porn under the Texas law. The user reportedly claims to also have videos of Barton masturbating.
Here is a guide to revenge porn laws in other states.
Related: MPAA Opposes Minnesota "Revenge Porn" Draft Legislation
Facebook to Fight Revenge Porn by Letting Potential Victims Upload Nudes in Advance
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 24 2017, @10:10PM (16 children)
Revenge porn is punishment for making a very bad choice (that bad choice being the recording of the image in question).
Society is going down the shitter, because government is slowly outlawing personal responsibility.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 24 2017, @10:25PM (4 children)
Some seem's you'll have to take personal responsibility for pregnant. Ah! Too good! The paper matches the present of said belief.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 24 2017, @10:29PM
Use better English
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 24 2017, @10:33PM (2 children)
Why can't a man financially abort the baby. "Sure, toots. Go ahead and have YOUR child; I won't be helping you raise it." Remove the state from helping women raise their children, and abortion starts look a respectable, responsible choice.
Of course, if a woman deliberates for months and months, then I have no empathy for her distress when she's told that she's past the cutoff and must deliver the child or face charges of murder.
In the old days, shotgun weddings were expected; that is, taking personal responsibility was expected and, to a degree, enforced.
Nowadays, you can't even allow yourself to think that another person may be overweight; even the thought would be inappropriate "fat shaming". People scoff at the idea of personal responsibility today.
Abort yourself, SoylentNews, you sack of bile.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday November 27 2017, @02:30AM (1 child)
Because a man financially aborting the baby is effectively running from his responsibility.
What you are suggesting is that the woman is the only one responsible in the event of a 'mistake'. Mod me: Disagree.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:31AM
She would only be responsible if she decides to give birth to the baby and raise it. Isn't that her decision, not the man's? The woman has more options to get rid of unwanted children.
(Score: 5, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 24 2017, @10:54PM (2 children)
You're confused. It's not revenge against the Senator. He's 68 years old. The revenge victims are the people who can't unsee it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 25 2017, @02:56AM
It's terrorism.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday November 25 2017, @08:13AM
Yeah, that big blob of blue colour where the intimate parts are supposed to be is so disturbing … :-)
Actually I think that was not so much revenge porn as revenge fat shaming. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 25 2017, @03:13AM (7 children)
Society is going down the shitter, because government is slowly outlawing personal responsibility.
Only for Republicans. The rest of us are still held accountable. Hell, Democrats are even held accountable for made-up "scandals" like the Benghazi nonsense
But you are right, that's enough to put our entire society very far down the shitter.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Sulla on Saturday November 25 2017, @04:35AM (6 children)
The response to the Al Franken picture would beg to differ, and there are actual photographs of that.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday November 25 2017, @08:41AM (2 children)
He's a pig, an absolute pig. The Senate is disgraced every day that he sits in it. Our fine nation is disgraced every time he plops his ugly butt down in that chair. They're doing an investigation. It will confirm what we already know. There needs to be some form of punishment. I think there's going to be punishment for him.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Saturday November 25 2017, @05:09PM (1 child)
Probably the most ironic thing you've posted so far. lol.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 25 2017, @05:19PM
He forgot the #MeToo.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 25 2017, @11:55AM (2 children)
Really? Everyone said he was a creep, he made a public apology, and then another one, and the woman said she forgives him. What more do you want? I seriously doubt he'll be reelected after this.
If you're a Republican, however, you can't even get elected anymore without grabbing a few pussies and molesting 14-year-olds. Conservatism is great and all, but it may be time to move on beyond the 15th century.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday November 26 2017, @11:43AM (1 child)
If you'd bother to check the score you'd see that Democrats are the ones getting outed for uninvited groping and molesting children lately. They're falling like bloody dominoes. Nice attempt at redirecting the attention to the other party though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday November 28 2017, @08:02PM
Classic Republican re-direction! The Swiftboating of the groppers! Where is Karl Rove, these days? This has his fingerprints all over it. Oh, BTW, it is the Republican Senate candidate from Alabama, Roy Moore, who is accused of child molestation. No Democrats, so far But that Mike Pence sexuality is very creepy.
And the TMB coup de grace! If the other party accuses you of redirection (which I just did), redirect the charge of redirection! Brilliant! Soon no one will know who killed health insurance in America and raised taxes on the middle class. Or perhaps these Republican dirty tricks are becoming old hat? Pedophiles, man, 14 year olds. Jesus!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/quotes [imdb.com]