A former executive director of South Arkansas Youth Services (SAYS), an Arkansas-based nonprofit, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiring to unlawfully divert over $380,000 from the charity to an Arkansas state senator and the lobbying firm of a convicted lobbyist.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.
U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey sentenced Jerry Walsh, 72, of Magnolia, Arkansas, who previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to misapply the nonprofit’s funds without authority from the board of directors. Judge Hickey also ordered Walsh to pay $515,631.56 in restitution.
As part of his plea, Walsh admitted that beginning in 2013, while serving as executive director for SAYS, he agreed to divert SAYS funds to convicted lobbyist Milton “Rusty” Cranford and an unnamed Arkansas state senator in exchange for the state senator’s influence in protecting the nonprofit’s state contracts with the Arkansas Department Health Services (DHS) and DHS’ Division of Youth Services (DYS). As part of that agreement, Walsh was to provide a monthly “legal retainer” to the Arkansas state senator without the expectation that the senator ever provide any legal work. Instead, the purpose of the payments was to obtain the senator’s assistance in preserving the contracts by influencing DHS and DYS officials. According to the plea, Cranford negotiated the amount paid to the senator, which amounted to over $120,000.
Additionally, as part of the conspiracy, Walsh admitted to paying Cranford’s lobbying firms above-market prices and employed a relative of Cranford who had a “no-show” job with SAYS. In total, Walsh illegally diverted approximately $262,000 in charity funds to Cranford’s lobbying firm and relative.
The FBI investigated this case along with the assistance of the Magnolia Police Department and the 13th Judicial District of Arkansas Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Senior Litigation Counsel Marco A. Palmieri of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Wulff of the Western District of Arkansas are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Deputy Prosecutor Ryan Phillips with the 13th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. This is a combined investigation with the Public Integrity Section, the Eastern District of Arkansas, the Western District of Arkansas and the Western District of Missouri.
The term Star Chamber has been tossed around as the latest term describing the authority of the Democratic Judiciary proceedings, since there is no Floor Vote to formally commence impeachment proceedings.
The Star Chamber (Latin: Camera stellata) was an English court which sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late 15th century to the mid-17th century (c. 1641), and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the common-law and equity courts in civil and criminal matters. The Star Chamber was originally established to ensure the fair enforcement of laws against socially and politically prominent people so powerful that ordinary courts would probably hesitate to convict them of their crimes. However, it became synonymous with social and political oppression through the arbitrary use and abuse of the power it wielded.
In modern usage, legal or administrative bodies with strict, arbitrary rulings and secretive proceedings are sometimes called, metaphorically or poetically, "star chambers". This is a pejorative term and intended to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the proceedings. "Star Chamber" can also, rarely, be used in its original meaning, for instance when a politician uses parliamentary privilege to examine and then exculpate or condemn a powerful organisation or person. Due to the constitutional separation of powers and the ceasing of the Star Chamber, the main powers of select committees are to enhance the public debate—politicians are deemed to no longer wield powers in the criminal law, which belongs to the courts.[a]
Star Chambers did not work out too well due to conflicts of interest when it came to commerce, like in the realms of emoluments, and the heavens fell.
With this jurisdictional knowledge of the States in hand, Michigan was ground zero for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to diffuse for constitutional ratification as a foreign insurgency coup.
But, then, I snitched because my work, as the original writer, was bastardized, but that did not stop the christian coup.
Just ask Emperor Mike Pence because it all started in Michigan where there are two, preceding grand juries and the Hillsdale College new Star Chamber is preparing for
First, this happened......
This essay will illustrate how the Constitution can refine and enlarge debates
over economic liberty by contrasting the Tea and Governance Parties’ critiques of
a single example, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, here “TARP.” TARP
instituted a program under which federal officials may buy troubled mortgages or
mortgage-backed securities in the interest of preventing crises in credit markets.
Although TARP’s statutory language focuses on mortgages and mortgage-backed
securities, once enacted the program was also used to purchase assets of and
support non-financial institutions, the most notorious of which are General Motors
and Chrysler.
Hillsdale — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas discussed his journey away from and back to his Christian faith Thursday at a dedication ceremony for Hillsdale College’s newly-constructed Christ Chapel.
“My life was changed through prayer at a place of worship," Thomas told a crowd of about 800 people inside the newly constructed chapel. "Although I was raised Catholic and spent four years in the seminary ... I became greatly disillusioned from the church, and made the mistake of angrily storming away in impetuousness of youth.”
Hillsdale College students, faculty and guests listen to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during the dedication of the school's new Christ Chapel on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019.
After more than two years of construction, Hillsdale’s chapel is nearly complete. Thomas visited the conservative liberal arts school for the celebration, along with Pat Sajak, the "Wheel of Fortune" host who is co-chairman of the college's Board of Trustees, and Mollie Hemingway, senior editor of the Federalist, a conservative online magazine.
Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn said the dedication ceremony would not be right without the proper speaker. He said he needed somebody who represented the four things the college stands for: character, faith, dedication to high learning and freedom.
“Think of those things together. Who would be like that? Clarence Thomas,” Arnn said as he introduced the justice to the pulpit for his remarks.
Thomas, who was appointed to the nation's highest court by President George H.W. Bush, said he gave little attention to God during law school and young adulthood, but this changed soon after he joined President Ronald Reagan’s administration.
Clarence Thomas
“I was in the midst of one of the darkest periods of my life. I was running a federal agency under significant public scrutiny and criticism … life seemed hopeless and like I had nowhere to turn,” Thomas said. “But in the midst of this time, God drew me back to the church.”
Thomas said the chapel is especially necessary for Hillsdale’s students.
“The presence of a chapel on a college campus is particularly important. In fact, in this age of popular iconoclasm, building a chapel on a college campus is all but forbidden,” Thomas said. “The college years require young people to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. They are exposed to new ideas, new relationships, new distractions and new temptations.
"They need a place where they can go to be relieved of their troubles and what they are bearing as so much comes at them so fast. By building this chapel, Hillsdale College has provided that space where students can come to discern God’s calling, to pray through difficult times, and to praise God for his faithfulness.”
Hillsdale is a private college with more than 1,400 students. It does not accept federal funding and relies heavily on donors. The school is comprised of mostly Christian students, though neither students nor faculty are required to sign a statement of faith to attend the school.
“By constructing this chapel, the college upholds the importance of its Christian roots, even as it respects the rights of each person to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience,” Thomas said.
Reagan Cool, a senior who writes columns on faith and religion for the campus newspaper, the Collegian, said the speech oriented the dedication into a properly faithful posture.
“He really spoke with the gravity that recognized the solemnity and transcendence of the event,” Cool said.
Senior Weston Bordman said Thomas clearly outlined the purpose of a chapel at a place like Hillsdale.
“He mentioned along with Arnn that the chapel is the reflection of the completion of a good, well-rounded, liberal education, where spiritual life is necessary to education because all we do is grounded in eternity,” Bordman said. “Because he is a man of faith in a prominent position, it shows that those who desire to be great find their greatness in the Lord.”
Thomas said his faith sustained him through his heated confirmation hearing in 1991, when Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment during Senate testimony.
“God used this renewed faith to sustain me and my wife through my confirmation hearings, and we continue to rely daily on the grace he gives us,” Thomas said. “But there is nothing unique about this in our lives. For many people, chapels and churches have served as beacons of hope, physical reminders of the need for God and his grace.”
When Arnn addressed the crowd gathered in the chapel, he explained the selection of the building’s classical style, which he said is fitting for Hillsdale.
“Classical style means more than proportion. It means it’s right,” Arnn said. Whatever it is that takes to make it right, it has to be like that. It’s a classical building, it’s like what the Greeks did. It’s a blessing to all of us. And we study that here, of course.”
Thomas has visited Hillsdale before, most recently to give the 2016 commencement address.
“Chapels are particularly important in providing a place for the burdened, the broken-hearted and the despairing,” Thomas said. “When life is difficult and seems pointless, we need a safe haven where we can escape from the storm and find solace. Chapels provide that setting."
President Trump selected Sarah Sanders to serve on the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board, returning the former White House press secretary to public service.
Sanders, 37, worked in the White House for over three years before leaving the post early this summer. Known for sparring with the press and being the target of sharp criticism, Sanders remained a favorite among the president's supporters. She received a warm farewell from Trump upon her official exit in July and expressed gratitude to the president for her new posting on the Fulbright Board." Grateful to @realDonaldTrump to be named to the @fulbrightboard - established by the late U.S. Senator from my home state of Arkansas," Sanders tweeted late Wednesday evening.
The Fulbright Program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, grants money to students, professionals, researchers, and others to pursue cultural interests abroad. It is world-renowned and considered to be one of the most prestigious grants available. All 12 board members are considered to be highly regarded educators and public figures and are appointed by the president of the United States.
Sanders, daughter of former Republican Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, has been serving as a Fox News contributor since her departure from the White House. Some have speculated Sanders is following in her father's footsteps by considering a run for Arkansas governor. Trump encouraged Sanders to pursue the governorship during a rally this summer.
Sanders has also said that she is writing a memoir about her life that is due to be released near the time of the 2020 election. "Sarah will address subjects including the media, family, faith, and performing an all-consuming and highly visible job while raising her young family," a statement from her publisher said in September.
DRAFT PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION SECTION 1 The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right. SECTION 2 Neither the United States nor any state shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served. SECTION 3 No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.
Whoever possesses the authority to conserve the construct of a heirarchial society, property rights, and carries out its own rights of civility, by taking over the law, the administration, and the entire process of what a small group of individuals consider is ethical in the realm of being keepers of the children's trusts, as holders of such offices, is the one who self adjudicates themselves, much similar to the States Attorney General contemporaneously advocating and advising Child Protective Proceedings. How can one accuse themselves of fraud when they are the ones bringing charges of fraud? Easily, the universities are run by the ones who are co-conspirators in the fraud. Unfortunately, the "Elected Ones" do not understand that the Second Amendment has nothing to do with guns because the entire bastardizing of the original meaning of the constitution started by making "guns and children" fungible terms under parental rights, in law, here, in Michigan, because I was there....I saw the words come from their mouths... Corporations, and what I see as Public Private Partnerships, are considered to be legal individuals who now have religious beliefs, and as such, possess the right to keep and bear arms....their own arms of foreign nations, being granted titles of nobility as private, corporate office holders, under the great seals of the nations, like the Vatican, to engage in the commerce of trafficking tiny humans, like they have always done as the residuals of the peculiar institution, under chattel law. Well, chattel law falls under ecclesiastic law of the canons, which means there exist a legal arsenal to defrock "The Elected Ones" to be held accountable to the laws of the jurisdiction fo stealin' the children, land and votes which started in Detroit, and that is why we no longer do Star Chamber, because they were all stealin'. Mueller's Report is nothing but a roadmap to the falling of the heavens, or in this instance, the Judiciary Star Chambers and I have popcorn. Much more to come because no one will #sayhisname. Get cocktails, too. #maytheheavensfall
I only use the term de facto because the Detroit Land Bank Authority never incorporated and Bill *Smooches* Schuette dissolved the LLC.
Started @3:50, you will see a series of Whitewater Impeachment throwback speeches on the house floor of Pelosi, Nadler, Schumer and Waters begging for Congress to not impeach Bill Clinton.
Oh, by the way, has anyone figured out who the "Whistleblower Protected by Order of Highest Authority", yet?
We should ask Bill Barr because he knows lots of stuff about Arkansas, too.
For your entertainment, I thought I would provide a proper musical accompaniment as we roll out The Whitewater Impeachment.
Is it just me, or execute another epic Trump royal troll?
It was but one year ago she was honored in a roasting ceremony.
I love heraldry.
This is what the court jesters used to do.
If those court jesters would tell lies, well, you know what they used to do when you would bear false witness into the public record.
Royalty of past did not have internet, let alone electricity back in the feudal days, but they did have the court jester, who would tell of tales of what was going on in the kingdom through parody and comedy.
The public would come and watch, for free, because it was public.
Comedy works because it masks the horrors no one wants to talk about.
Sarah Sanders and her brood hail from Arkansas, the land of grand juries into the public corruption of money laundering child welfare false claims into political campaigns into various, questionable operations throughout the christian networks.
Sarah Sanders is going back to her state where the Arkansas Finance Development Authority operates the Detroit Land Bank Authority running TARP and the Clinton Foundation, which is Corporate Shape Shifter, of a foreign, corporately layered human trafficking global operation.
Yes, my deary, you should most definitely run for governor because you will be running for your life.
"After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas," Trump said. "She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas - she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!"
The president has not yet named a replacement for the position.
Sanders called serving the president an "honor of a lifetime" and said she "couldn't be prouder" of the administration's work.
"I've loved every minute, even the hard minutes," Sanders said at the event, calling her role the "most special experience" of her life second only to being a mom of three.
Sanders later tweeted saying she is "blessed and forever grateful to @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to serve and proud of everything he's accomplished. I love the President and my job. The most important job I'll ever have is being a mom to my kids and it's time for us to go home. Thank you Mr. President!"
Sanders, 36, and the daughter of former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee worked on her father’s presidential campaign during the 2016 Republican primary until he dropped out of the race. She then joined the Trump campaign and, subsequently, the Trump administration as a White House communications aide. She was promoted to White House press secretary in 2017, after the president’s first top spokesman, Sean Spicer, resigned from the position.
If she chooses to follow in her father's footsteps the seat for governor opens up in 2022.
Throughout her tenure at the White House, Sanders has come under fierce criticism from members of the press for being dishonest on the president's behalf during press briefings that were often contentious and emotional. Eventually, the press secretary stopped giving daily briefings altogether at the suggestion of the president who said the press covered her “rudely and inaccurately.”.
“I'm going to continue to be one of the most outspoken and loyal supporters of the president and his agenda and I know he's going to have an incredible six more years and get a lot more done,” Sanders said.
Huckabee also tweeted about the news of Sander's departure, taking the opportunity to praise his daughter calling her "a great one" and joking that he says that "with as much objectivity as Fake News CNN has towards @POTUS."
Huckabee signed legislation to create a health insurance program which extended coverage to children of lower-income families, to be funded in part by Medicaid, SCHIP, and a tobacco industry lawsuit settlement.[8] The program, ARKids First, reduced the number of uninsured children to nine percent (compared with 12 percent for the nation) in 2003.[9] Also in his first year as governor Huckabee signed a partial birth abortion ban and a $7.6 Million Smart Start program for primary school students to learn "the basic skills of reading, math, and character." Huckabee vetoed a $140 million bill for capital improvements. The Arkansas General Assembly overrode the veto.[10]
Huckabee signed the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act in 1997. This bill has provisions which allow religious groups to contract for social services with the state without having to compromise their principles. An excerpt reads,
Provided that the health, safety and welfare of children in the care of a child welfare agency is not endangered, nothing in this act shall be construed to permit the Board to promulgate or enforce any rule that has the effect of: (A) interfering with the religious teaching or instruction offered by a child welfare agency; (B) infringing upon the religious beliefs of the holder(s) of a child welfare agency license; (C) infringing upon the right of an agency operated by a religious organization to consider creed in any decision or action relating to admitting or declining to admit a child or family for services; (D) infringing upon the parents' right to consent to a child's participating in prayer or other religious practices while in the care of the child welfare agency; (E) prohibiting the use of corporal discipline.[11] Huckabee made sure that state agencies were compliant with charitable choice.[12] His administration issued guidelines in October 2000, which allow religious groups to offer voluntary religious programs and to leave their religious artifacts on the walls as long as welfare clients are not pressured to convert and tax money doesn't directly underwrite them. Religious groups are allowed to reject a job candidate on religious grounds. The guidelines also guarantee that any client can receive alternative placement if the client objects to a religious provider.[13] In a February 1998 presidential straw poll of 65 Christian Coalition leaders, Huckabee came in second to John Ashcroft and ahead of Steve Forbes, J. C. Watts and George W. Bush.[14]
On May 22, 1998, the Arkansas Ethics Commission fined Huckabee US$1,000 for failing to report campaign payments made to himself and his wife.[15] In October 1998 the Arkansas Times suggested Huckabee used a fund set up for the maintenance of the Governor's Mansion for his own personal use.[16][17] The Times later reported Huckabee was listed as the recipient of furniture given to the Governor's Mansion and not the Mansion itself.[18] Tom Mars, Huckabee's attorney, denied any misuse or inappropriate actions.[19]
There must be a double standard for Child Protective Services.
In any other situation CPS would have come in, immediately, and removed the children of a family who are victims of sexual abuse or even suspected victims of sexual abuse.
In the situation of the Duggar family nothing has been done, not even a public concern for the girls who may be victims of incest.
The questin now raised is, "Why?"
I can only speculate that moral turpitude does not apply to those who spout the similar christian values of the child protection organizations who are in charge of protectng the best interests of children, or their political agenda.
If this was a poor or even a poor minority family, Arkansas Child Protective Services would have swooped in and proceeded with termination of parental rights.
According to the State of Arkansas, the situation should have been reported:
Not only has it not been reported, former Governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee dismissed his own polices under his former administration by publicly supporting Josh Duggar.
I guess Huckabee is not considered a mandatory reporter considering a similiar situation with his own son in dealing with questionable violent behavior was also swept under the rug.
This is a matter of incest and could still be happening with the other children. It is a learned behavior, and in this case, it was learned as a religious belief.
I encourage anyone who is offended to report the Duggars to Arkansas Child Protective Services. Is this not what the child abuse prevention campaigns which are funded with millions of tax payer dollars tout or is there a double standard in chld abuse?
This week, a shocking series of allegation, apology and repercussions rocked one of the most famous families in reality television. Josh Duggar, the oldest son of the Duggar family, apologized Thursday after a tabloid published allegations that Duggar had molested multiple young girls as a teenager. A day later, TLC announced that the family’s show, “19 Kids and Counting,” which just finished airing its most recent season Tuesday, had pulled all episodes of the program off the air “effective immediately.”
Although the developments moved quickly, the allegations themselves have existed out of the public eye for more than a decade. A police report obtained by In Touch Weekly and the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette appears to detail those allegations, though the names of the suspect and all of the victims have been redacted from the report, because all were minors at the time.
September 2005: The Duggars star in their first big national television special, “14 Children and Pregnant Again!” The special aired on Discovery Health. The Duggars did a series of specials from 2005 to 2007 that documented the births of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Duggar children, as well as the family’s move into a larger home.
Dec. 7, 2006: An anonymous tipster calls the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline, 3½ years after the first time the alleged offense was brought to police. Springdale Police reach out to the Duggar family to schedule interviews to investigate and are told that the family is in Chicago until Dec. 11.
On the same day, an anonymous source sends an e-mail to Harpo Studios in Chicago. The e-mail seeks to warn Oprah Winfrey’s television program against airing a scheduled interview with the family because of the allegations. The producers of Oprah’s show passed along the e-mail to law enforcement.
Dec. 12, 2006: Springdale police begin interviewing Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, along with the person believed to be Josh Duggar and the victims.
Dec. 20, 2006: Investigators determine that the statute of limitations has expired and that no charges may be filed.
2007: As Gawker reporter Allie Jones (who, for disclosure, was a past colleague of this reporter at the Atlantic Wire) has written, 2007 is approximately when similar rumors of sexual misconduct begin to appear online, mainly on comment threads and forums that focus on the Duggars. At the time, the rumors do not appear to be substantiated by any publicly available information.
The same year, a reporter for the Northwest Arkansas Times, who now works for the Democrat-Gazette, finds a court document for a case titled Josh Duggar vs. the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The Democrat-Gazette reports:
A trial in that case took place Aug. 6, 2007, according to notes attached to the file. Sealed cases aren’t supposed to be left in public view, but the Duggar case file had been left in a stack of routine court filings at the circuit clerk’s office. The reporter saw no other information on the case at the time.
According to the Democrat-Gazette, the reporter asked Jim Bob and Josh Duggar about the trial at the time, but they declined to comment.
February to May 19, 2015: TLC airs the most recent season of “19 Kids and Counting.” One episode features the gender-reveal party for the child Josh and his wife, Anna, are expecting this year.
May 19: In Touch Weekly, a tabloid, publishes an article alleging that Josh Duggar was the subject of an investigation into allegations that he molested multiple girls as a teenager.
May 21: In Touch Weekly publishes a follow-up to its original article, this time with a police report online that, it says, details the allegations against Josh Duggar. In Touch reports that it obtained the police report through a Freedom of Information request. The Democrat-Gazette is also able to obtain the document through an FOI request, but a Thursday FOI request from The Washington Post was answered on the same day with a court order, dated May 21, ordering that the police report in question be destroyed. The order was a result of a “motion to expunge” from one of the alleged victims.
That evening, Josh Duggar issues an apology for unspecified “wrongdoing” he committed as a teenager, and he resigns from his job as the executive director of the Family Research Council’s lobbying arm. “Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret,” the statement reads.
This was Josh’s full statement:
Twelve years ago, as a young teenager I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life. I sought forgiveness from those I had wronged and asked Christ to forgive me and come into my life. I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions. In my life today, I am so very thankful for God’s grace, mercy and redemption.
That evening, TLC continues to air a marathon of past “19 Kids and Counting” episodes.
May 22:TLC announces that, effective immediately, the network is pulling all episodes of “19 Kids and Counting” from its schedule. “We are deeply saddened and troubled by this heartbreaking situation, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and victims at this difficult time,” the statement says.
On the same day, Springdale Police Department spokesman Scott Lewis confirms to reporters that the department has destroyed the police report in question. Speaking to the Associated Press, Lewis says, “The judge ordered us yesterday to expunge that record … as far as the Springdale Police Department is concerned this report doesn’t exist.” Similar reports, Lewis added, are typically kept on file indefinitely.
September 2005: The Duggars star in their first big national television special, “14 Children and Pregnant Again!” The special aired on Discovery Health. The Duggars did a series of specials from 2005 to 2007 that documented the births of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Duggar children, as well as the family’s move into a larger home.
Dec. 7, 2006: An anonymous tipster calls the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline, 3½ years after the first time the alleged offense was brought to police. Springdale Police reach out to the Duggar family to schedule interviews to investigate and are told that the family is in Chicago until Dec. 11.
On the same day, an anonymous source sends an e-mail to Harpo Studios in Chicago. The e-mail seeks to warn Oprah Winfrey’s television program against airing a scheduled interview with the family because of the allegations. The producers of Oprah’s show passed along the e-mail to law enforcement.
Dec. 12, 2006: Springdale police begin interviewing Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, along with the person believed to be Josh Duggar and the victims.
Dec. 20, 2006: Investigators determine that the statute of limitations has expired and that no charges may be filed.
2007: As Gawker reporter Allie Jones (who, for disclosure, was a past colleague of this reporter at the Atlantic Wire) has written, 2007 is approximately when similar rumors of sexual misconduct begin to appear online, mainly on comment threads and forums that focus on the Duggars. At the time, the rumors do not appear to be substantiated by any publicly available information.
The same year, a reporter for the Northwest Arkansas Times, who now works for the Democrat-Gazette, finds a court document for a case titled Josh Duggar vs. the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The Democrat-Gazette reports:
A trial in that case took place Aug. 6, 2007, according to notes attached to the file. Sealed cases aren’t supposed to be left in public view, but the Duggar case file had been left in a stack of routine court filings at the circuit clerk’s office. The reporter saw no other information on the case at the time.
According to the Democrat-Gazette, the reporter asked Jim Bob and Josh Duggar about the trial at the time, but they declined to comment.
February to May 19, 2015: TLC airs the most recent season of “19 Kids and Counting.” One episode features the gender-reveal party for the child Josh and his wife, Anna, are expecting this year.
May 19: In Touch Weekly, a tabloid, publishes an article alleging that Josh Duggar was the subject of an investigation into allegations that he molested multiple girls as a teenager.
May 21: In Touch Weekly publishes a follow-up to its original article, this time with a police report online that, it says, details the allegations against Josh Duggar. In Touch reports that it obtained the police report through a Freedom of Information request. The Democrat-Gazette is also able to obtain the document through an FOI request, but a Thursday FOI request from The Washington Post was answered on the same day with a court order, dated May 21, ordering that the police report in question be destroyed. The order was a result of a “motion to expunge” from one of the alleged victims.
That evening, Josh Duggar issues an apology for unspecified “wrongdoing” he committed as a teenager, and he resigns from his job as the executive director of the Family Research Council’s lobbying arm. “Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret,” the statement reads.
This was Josh’s full statement:
Twelve years ago, as a young teenager I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life. I sought forgiveness from those I had wronged and asked Christ to forgive me and come into my life. I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions. In my life today, I am so very thankful for God’s grace, mercy and redemption.
That evening, TLC continues to air a marathon of past “19 Kids and Counting” episodes.
May 22:TLC announces that, effective immediately, the network is pulling all episodes of “19 Kids and Counting” from its schedule. “We are deeply saddened and troubled by this heartbreaking situation, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and victims at this difficult time,” the statement says.
On the same day, Springdale Police Department spokesman Scott Lewis confirms to reporters that the department has destroyed the police report in question. Speaking to the Associated Press, Lewis says, “The judge ordered us yesterday to expunge that record … as far as the Springdale Police Department is concerned this report doesn’t exist.” Similar reports, Lewis added, are typically kept on file indefinitely.
There comes a day when we, as a nation, must bow and shake our heads in dismay when self-declared policy pundits weigh in on constitutional implications of proposed, or as of now, House passed, legislation.
The government is not going to raid our homes, contrary to the scare tactics spouted by Chuck Norris and his cohorts.
The purpose behind the "voluntary/involuntary" intervention is to provide assistance.
As it stands, guardians of children are provided very few options to reach out and ask for assistance. Social resources have been drastically cut and face even more pending cuts in the spewed fear speeches of such as Norris.
Simply put, Norris does not support those who have been faced with the challenges of unemployment and poverty when it comes to raising our children. We need to provide more services like affordable housing and medical services for our children without the fear of having child protective services called in "involuntarily" to remove children.
Traditionally, from the social conservative position, child protective services has thrived under the guise that some people should not have children if they are poor.
Foster care eligibility funding is designed to target the poor, whether that be economically, spiritually or educationally poor. In general, only the poor, or those who meet the federal poverty means test, qualify for foster care.
Mr. Norris has put himself out there to perpetuate the pseudo drama that the government wants to raise your children. The government has possessed the authority to arbitrarily intervene in the matters of a child, without any transparency, accountability, or oversight for decades. This is the reason billions of dollars are abused and wasted through false claims of governmental contractual arms.
The government has been in the industry of raising children since the inception of CAPTA, and from the looks of the statistics, law suits, audits and the media, has miserably failed.
Instead of picking legislative snippets, perhaps it would behoove Chuck Norris to learn more about the historical background of the child welfare industry and stick with beating up the bad guys in 1970s movies.
