Daily Caller: Texas Rep. Joe Barton is having a nightmarish Thanksgiving.
Late Tuesday, nude photos were circulated of the Texas Republican, prompting a wave of gleeful mockery on social media.
Barton, a divorcee, had sent the compromising photos to a woman he had a consensual relationship with. It appears she leaked them after they had a bad break-up.
In a court of law, this would likely constitute as revenge porn — a crime in most states — which explains why Barton would have threatened to report the woman to police.
But The Washington Post framed that threat as some sinister show of power in its report on the matter Wednesday night and treated the jilted lover as some heroic whistleblower of Barton’s “secret sex life.”
That “secret sex life” was that Barton, a single man at the time, was flirty with other women.
Truly one of the great criminal conspiracies of our time.
However, the Post’s article makes it seem like this is the real wrongdoing here instead of the revenge porn, which the paper fleetingly describes before getting to the reporters’ main purpose of shaming Barton.
According to the Post, Barton’s leaker — who is granted anonymity by the sympathetic reporters in spite of her possible crime — didn’t have any intention to use the embarrassing photos against the congressman.
Instead, she explained her motive this way. “It’s not normal for a member of Congress who runs on a GOP platform of family values and conservatism to be scouring the Internet looking for a new sexual liaison.”
WaPo made sure to give credence to this incredulous claim by detailing Barton’s voting record and political positions in the piece.
It would be easy to come away from the article thinking the woman did a noble service but did not commit a real crime. As the Post points out, “so-called ‘revenge porn’” isn’t a federal crime, and the woman said she had no intention of retaliating.
She just didn’t like how he two-timed her, and she wanted to point out the hypocrisy of his politics
It’s not likely this argument will help her in court, but it certainly helped her out in the court of liberal Twitter. The Washington Post reversed its long-standing concern with revenge porn to dismiss the issue as only something Texans care about.
Last year, the Post’s editorial board even demanded national legislation to combat the distribution of such material, saying “there is nothing entertaining about it.” read more
I’m sorry, but I cannot conjure up pity for the guy, crime or no crime. It’s a matter of judgement.
It seems the smart phone makes people stupid.
Anything sent via phone and social media can and most like be used against you in the court of public opinion, particularly elected officials, leaders of a community or business owners.
Many learn the hard way.
By the time you learn the lesson, it’s too late.
So the new standard is the law does not apply if you don’t have pity for the victim?
Jesus Christ. And here I thought Leftists were the only ones who didn’t give a shit about equal protection of the laws.
Distributing lewd photographs without someone’s consent is a felony in the District of Columbia. This is most commonly referred to as Revenge Porn Laws. And as far as I know, that law protects even those for whom you have no pity.
The first person to distribute it was the congressman. If that hadn’t happened none of the rest of the distribution could have occurred. I’m just saying DON’T DO STUPID STUFF.
Being stupid isn’t illegal.
Vindictively sharing lewd images to get back at your ex is.
You can say “don’t do stupid stuff” and still believe this woman broke the law. They’re not mutually exclusive.
I never said that what the woman did was legal or implied that she shouldn’t be prosecuted.
I just think Barton is a dumbass who lacks common sense.
Context matters, PHenry.
You made this comment on a post that chronicles how Leftists don’t think Barton is a victim of a crime — because he was stupid and a hypocrite. So when you make a comment like yours a post like this, it’s all kinds of bad timing. Please read the article, click the link and read the rest. And then you’ll see why I found your comment douchey.
I read a few REVENGE PORN laws, and it’s pretty clear. You can’t give or sell such photos/videos and there are NO EXCUSES written in the law that allows anyone an escape hatch.
Remember when people’s sex lives were “private and none of your business?” CNN and the Clintons remember.
Rep. Joe Barton should, for legal reasons, win this case against this woman.
He should then, for lack of sound judgement, lose the next election.
looks like turkey tastes like crow
Folks, why do you need to send photos of certain areas of your body to others?
Regardless of what you call “flirtation” I consider porn. This goes for even the female parts as well.
God made us male/female for the enjoyment of marriage/procreation.
Even doing this stuff between “consenting” adults leads to problems anyway it works itself out. Don’t do it. Please don’t send it.
We are a culture of no secrets, no privacy, and no personal space.
And please LOL at anyone stupid enough to have done it. The congressman deserves the ridicule he’s getting unless he was an Art school model.
OK fine. I’m a douche.
How did people on the left get pictures like that?
Did they spy into his bedroom?
Bathroom?
NO
He took them himself and sent them over the Internet
What a dumbass
TN Tux: Bitch won’t have any money. She was out gold digging and when the mine closed she thought blackmail and extortion was alchemy.
Using CNN’s standards, we need an immediate investigation into Congress to see who is sending photos of themselves in various states of undress.
Because I bet Nancy Pelosi is sending out nudes and then forgets she sent them and sends them again 10 minutes later.
I don’t think he did anything illegal, but his behavior shows that he’s, at best, a fucking moron, and secondly a moral hypocrite. Fuck him. The GOP could do better for that district.
His judgment is way too poor to be in a position of political influence. He needs to go.
The law itself is ridiculous. Why is it ok to take pictures of your genitalia and send them to someone consensual or not. It should be considered porn, which should be a crime in itself. Half-wit deviants who participate in this stupid behavior should not be protected by law. They should suffer the humiliation and be ostracize they caused themselves without compensation – “dirty hands” (literally). I have absolutely no sympathy for the senator. He put himself in a place of reproach. The left has an agenda to destroy the right and hypocrisy is a strategy the left uses. It shouldn’t be a deterrent from calling a spade a spade. In this case a perv a perv.
Rep. Barton should resign ASAP if he has any decency left.
By exposing his Anthony Weiner he exposed more liberal hypocrisy!
I think this is the guy I confronted at a TEA Party/GOP joint meeting. The speaker from back east was spewing the establishment line “. . . nobody, and I do mean, nobody wants to see mass deportations. . .” At that point, I stood up, and said something to the effect, “The hell we don’t.” I went on to point out that my kid wasn’t in Afghanistan at that very moment so America could become a third world banana republic.
Then this clown (I’m pretty sure) stood up behind me, introduced himself as Representative so n so and started explaining how these people weren’t “criminals” because they hadn’t been tried. . .So, I cut him off and said if they hadn’t broken the law he and his ilk needed to get off their asses, do their jobs, and pass new laws. He stood there for a minute with his mouth open before sitting back down.
I never went back to another meeting.
Ok, boys and girls, men and women, repeat after me,”Digital is forever”. Say it again, “Digital is forever”. Say it often. Mean it. Live it.
Puts more meaning to the expression, “Don’t stick (or expose) your dick in (to) crazy”.
Sheesh! Do I have to do all the heavy thinking around here?
This is the Bezos effect. Before he bought the joint and cranked it even more left and anti-conservative the WaPo wouldn’t have posted this story (at least I don’t think they would have) but since Bezos took over nothing is off the table if it can damage a conservatives’s reputation or hurt Trump. I’ll just bet there are a few pics of Bezos sitting around on a memory stick that he wouldn’t want published. A little advice though to someone that may have them, give it to an outlet that will be sure to print them not bury them then run like hell and hide for the rest of your life because Bezos doesn’t strike me as the type to chuckle and say “Ok, ya got me, fair enough”. By the by I suspect that if someone did the actual counting (and it would be possibley an impossible job) I’ll bet Bezos and Amazon.com empire has cost more jobs or downgraded them in the west then any other firm or technological advance in the last 100 years. About the only thing that’s actually gone up is warehouse workers and delivery drivers. Yup, real high paying. But to be fair most of the fault with that lies with us, the consumers. Ok, no more rants for today.
Deplorable B Woodman
I like “Lust is temporary; the internet is forever.” But yours works too.
Moron. ‘Nuff said.