Ohio AG Mike DeWine #hero of rape victims

[Why Syzygy]

This guy is the hero of this ugly episode. He gets it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-steubenville-grand-jury-20130317,0,4526577.story

Steubenville rape: More charges possible with grand jury probe

"It's a cavalier attitude -- the belief that somehow there isn't anything wrong with any of this," DeWine said. "Rape is not a recreational activity."

[love_katz]

1. + 1,000,000,000,000

"Rape is not a recreational activity."

Duh. What gets me is, how many people don't get this.

I am glad that the AG gets it.

[seabeyond]

2. very good. thank you for posting this. i was not one feeling celebratory with the conviction

for me, the job is not done. i am glad to hear it is continuing. and i like what the man had to say.

thanks.

[Why Syzygy]

3. Yes.

Last edited Mon Mar 18, 2013, 12:34 AM - Edit history (1)

This is very good news. The two guilty boys are just the surface of a crime scene.

Feels good to know an 'adult' is in charge of the situation.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. I lived in OH for many years and thought he was your typical puke scumbag. Maybe he can redeem

himself.

[riqster]

5. DeWine was a shitty, partisan, tool as a Senator

But as an AG, he is rocking. Here's to the man as he is today, and here's hoping he keeps it up.

[karynnj]

17. I liked that his refusal to give John Bolton his vote to be recommended out of the SFRC, meant he

did not get the committee's recommendation.

[riqster]

28. No one is all bad, not even Wingnut Reeps like DeWine

As AG, his wingtip has shown itself from time to time. But that's not been often. Since he took his current office, he has beefed up the state crime lab, busted pill mills and financial predators, made human trafficking a priority, and generally fought the good fight.

When he was Senator, it was the other way around-votes like the one you mention were few and far between, albeit appreciated when they happened.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

6. It's nice when we find decent Republicans!

As someone who is planning on going into prosecutorial law, I admire people like this, regardless of political party.

[left on green only]

7. If my memory of civics serves me well....

....the wisdom in convening a grand jury is that those who previously refused to testify can now be called before the grand jury to testify, and if they still refuse to comply, they will spend an eternity in lock-down, until they do.

While on the one hand, it would be a tragedy for all those "brave" souls to have to miss the junior/senior prom, it will be a travesty as yet untold if those 27!!!! football coaches end up having to suit up themselves in order to represent their school/community on the playing field next season.

[limpyhobbler]

8. political opportunist. Any AG would have done this.

It's not like he had a choice. If he didn't do this he would have been crucified.

[iandhr]

15. No they wouldn't

Eg Tom Corbett

[ChoppinBroccoli]

9. Don't Let This Stunt Fool You--DeWine Is A Tool

DeWine is a partisan hack of the first order. Don't let his stance on this issue soften your position one bit. Let's not forget that he was one of a handful of State Attorneys General who petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare. I promise you that DeWine is using his position as Attorney General for one purpose and one purpose only: as a springboard to get back into National politics.

It sickens me that a tool like this rode a wave of anti-Democratic sentiment (and a wave of Ohio Democrats staying home on Election Day in order to "send a message"--thanks, guys!) and knocked a good man like Richard Cordray out of office.

Just another attempt by hard-right Ohio politicians to paint themselves as moderates in order to curry favor with voters who have grown disgusted with the Republican Party (see Rob Portman).

[Why Syzygy]

10. Forgive me

for not following the religion of partisan politics with each and every breath.

I think it shows a decent man. I don't know anything about the rest of your whine.

Maybe if you were a female in this society, you would take your heroes where you can find them.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

11. Spoken Like A True Victim

Let's ignore the 38 times he beat you up and focus on the one time he apologized afterwards and bought you flowers.

Wow! What a revolutionary act of heroism! To proclaim, "Rape is bad," in a public forum! By all means, let's elect this man to office in perpetuity.

If that qualifies as a heroic act, I'm saddened that your standards are so low.

Speaking as someone who's had to live under the cloud of crap laws this guy has fostered for most of my life, and as someone who knows first-hand just what kind of tool he is, having met him and having people close to me who work within his "inner sanctum," I can tell you that you're dead wrong about Mike DeWine. There's no way he even decided to make a "rape is bad" statement until he thoroughly focus-grouped and opinion-polled it first. He's a weasel.

[msanthrope]

12. You are being insulting and over the line. Stop. nt

[Why Syzygy]

13. I'll settle for the message...

even if the messenger is not up to party standards.

I didn't want to make this about rape culture. But you won't let it go. I forgot some of us aren't all that concerned about violence against women.

There was every reason to believe from the beginning of this tragedy that people would skate. It's the prototype "small town America". Ye gods know, you've got to have your football! Society would crumble! There are many hues to this story. I'm cynical enough, having seen far too many injustices and far too many victims on this earthly travel. I didn't think the guilty would pay. Now we have a first step, and a next step that may insure for once in this law forsaken land, someone pays for what they've done. Even if it hurts football.

You've got some lousy laws? So does everyone. Rape has some pretty lousy ones, as well. It is a crime that notoriously under reported and convictions are tenuous. The perpetrators are often portrayed as the victim. That's the defense strategy, and society buys it way too often.

We have had more than a year of really crappy politicians making light of rape. Excusing it. Making insane statements about what a "blessing" it is to be violated. One of them says something right for a change. That deserves a spotlight. If you don't like it, there's another stage down the road. Thanks for your alarm.

[freshwest]

14. Thanks. And from the link, we see he's been working hard:

...From those phones, DeWine said, they have reviewed and analyzed 396,270 text messages; 308,586 photos; 940 video clips; 3,188 phone calls; and 16,422 contacts listed in the phones.

The numbers give an idea of the technical depth of this case, which hinged on incriminating texts, pictures and videos shared among teenagers the night of the attacks.

Victims' advocates have said that witnesses who admitted in court seeing the rapes -- one occurred in the back seat of a car and the second in a house -- should be charged with failing to report a felony. DeWine said that "mandatory reporters" such as school officials, who by law are required to report crimes involving the children in their care, could be among those drawn into the investigation...

I am much relieved that major changes will come about from a thorough house cleaning in this benighted... whatever.

[iandhr]

16. Given there is so much info to go through...

... eg. 300,000+ photos.

The investigation is likely to go on for a long time.

[freshwest]

18. And net not just a few accomplices or perps. This is why LE wants those records.

Without all this electronic trail, they would have gotten away with this.

She didn't know what was happening, as the latest Guardian story details. There were two young men who cared and kept calling her to see how she was.

One or both of them made the blog that got the attention of Anonymous. They and their parents have been sued by the convicted guys' parents and settled for outing them - under some legal angle.

But she didn't know and the texts that were gone over in court indicate that she would have never known it all, except most likely in nightmares or it would have been referred to her in flashbacks, nothing quite clear.

As creepy as the government being able to access all of that information, this is the reason they got the convictions.

And as far as the AG being a jerk as mentioned upthread, it's not the issue. I've seen officials use cases for political gain later, as accused up the thread, but putting this rape crew out of business is important. Apparently they even had rented apartments to do this to others.

[iandhr]

19. In terms of access to information

Such a large trail of info is "probable cause" for a warrant.

[freshwest]

20. And from the link, the majority involved cooperated - giving them a lot of info to work with.

[Why Syzygy]

21. Well said ..

Thanks for your perspective.

[freshwest]

24. Thanks for the thread. There were fears the others would not be called to account.

[davidpdx]

25. Wow, I knew it was widespread

but that many texts, videos, phone calls, and contacts is an overwhelming amount to go through.

[ReRe]

22. Finally, finally...

K&R

....Justice! I had begun to think that all justice had disappeared from this country.

[JI7]

23. he was friends with Paul Wellstone and they worked on mental health issues

together. with how bad republicans have been things like that can now seem surprising. but i will give him credit here. with his work on mental issues he might be familiar with victims of sex crimes and what they can go through.

[davidpdx]

26. I'm not a big fan of Dewine

But I appreciate the fact that he is setting out where the investigation is headed and that it is not over. That is encouraging.

[AzDar]

27. Blind squirrel/broken clock...

Here's to getting one thing right, Mr. Dewine...