"Step away from the semen"

True, that. Fortunately we have a new Governor, Democrat Laura Kelly, who will veto any such legislation. There aren’t enough votes to override her veto.

He admitted he knew at least one of the girls was 13 and under the age of consent...

@Dmej114 Ok, thank you for that.

And the man charged has served time for the same thing before. So he knew that he should at least asks their ages.

With all respect....this nation has done some truly great things. Certainly not perfect...but we've ''risen above'' in the past and we'll do it again!

@LucyLoohoo What have we risen above?

@Sticks48 (NOT THAT I WAS THERE!...but...)

How about the Civil War and "reconstruction?" That war still holds the record for most Americans killed. Slavery tore the US apart! My family is deeply southern and, although only one ancestor owned slaves, scores of them suffered economic ruin for generations due to government-imposed ''punishments," equally applied across all Southerners. (You can be forgiven for not knowing this. Unless you've grown up there..you don't really know of it.)

Horrible struggles at the emergence of civil rights...economic depression which saw many Americans of all colors quite literally starving...two ''world wars'' fought on foreign soil, which killed and orphaned hundreds of thousands of us.

Viet Nam, which absolutely pushed us all into one of two ''camps'' and divided families, communities, etc.

And then...there was Nixon.....

@LucyLoohoo Racism is still pervasive. Women still don't get equal pay as men. When you are traitors, governments will make you pay. No sympathy here for the South. Most fundamentalists live in the South. I don't have to tell you how fucked up they are. The struggles we have survived are nothing compared to most of the rest of the world. Being powerful and rich does not make a country great. How a country treats its people is how you measure greatness. We do and always have done a piss poor job of taking care of our people.

@Sticks48 You missed my point. The eras I mentioned were NOT today's crisis (we all know what that is.) I was talking about the past! Just because fundamentalists live there...doesn't erase the economic poverty imposed on the South post-Civil War. That's an example. We've been through terrible times IN THE PAST and we can do it again.

@LucyLoohoo You are missing the point. It is about how you treat your people. Our country hasn't been through anything compared with Europe, Russia, China, Japan, or Vietnam, all in the 20th Century alone. We are the only industrialized nation with out health care for our citizens. Our court system is completely slanted toward white folks and folks with money. We have the highest percentage of our population in prison than any country on the planet. Think about that. We are not a great country, not even close.

@Sticks48 Where did I say we were perfect?

@LucyLoohoo No country is perfect, but evil is evil, and this is evil. This is a heavy bible belt country, full of hypocritical Christians. I HATE hypocrites. If I could think of a stronger word, I would use it!

This judge is despicable without a doubt.