When I heard about this, I was hoping, and not optimistically, that this was a statement taken out of context. Nope, it wasn’t.
The Young Turks tagged him as “anti-life GOP.” I agree.
Here’s another link.
For 9 1/2 years after Sandy Hook, I said that were something like that to happen in certain areas that are poverty-stricken and mostly non-white (which would include Alaska Natives), it would disappear from the news faster that the story about the UFO over O’Hare Airport, and mostly be discussed on racist blogs, and hoped I would never find out if I was right or wrong. Since Uvalde, I haven’t had the desire to check some out and see if I was correct; the “real world” is terrible enough.
The justification he gave is this was an attempt to show the inhumanity of similar arguments regarding abortion. The problem is, I don’t think “Consider the financial benefits of abortion” is actually a common argument among pro-choice activists, who prefer simpler arguments like “It’s none of your goddamn business what women do with their bodies.”
Anyway, it’s incredibly stupid to try and twist up an anti-abortion argument during a hearing about child abuse regardless of his intentions. Either he isn’t taking his job very seriously and is focusing on one specific issue to the detriment of everything else, or he was genuinely asking if dead abused children are cheaper than live abused children.
He’s from Wasilla, which tells you a lot about him from the get-go. He’s also a member of The Proud Boys. An attempt to invalidate his election was made on that basis, but the courts sided with Eastman. Other legislators are afraid to say anything bad about him because they get instant hate mail and threats from the loony right wing nuts.
I’m fascinated by the question of what accounts for this level of craziness. It’s certainly not climate or geography, because when you move north across the border between the 48 contiguous states and into Canada, you perceive a welcome level of relative sanity. But then when you cross the border into Alaska, there’s a whole new level of crazy that is perhaps even greater than Florida level.
The good news is that he’s been unanimously* censured by the legislature. (*More or less. He’s the only one who voted no.) The bad news is he should have been expelled and banned for life from ever holding public office again.
Isn’t this the same clown that asserted Native Alaskan women get pregnant on purpose to (a) get a free ride to the city for an abortion,
and
(b) get a free ride from the government for all the children they have,
and
(c) said it’s not his opinion, it’s what “people have told him”?
I don’t know what they’re so proud about but they are certainly loud and throw it all out for everyone to see, heedless of legal consequences. All I can think of when I see these fascist fruitcakes marching around with their floral print shirts and tiki torches is how much Wal-Mart has really disturbed the social fabric with its influx of cheap shitty goods.
In defense of my home state, it wasn’t always like that. Big Oil ruined the place, IMO. While oil money created jobs and provided a big influx of money for the Native villages, it also attracted the usual trash that accompanies a boom economy. Over the decades, they became a permanent part of the state’s population and spread their poison everywhere. And while there are still a lot of good people there, assholes like this guy get themselves elected. In fact, there is a bit of a perfect storm at the moment of the Anchorage mayor and Alaska’s governor, both of whom should be driven from office with cattle prods. Especially the mayor, who is constantly in the news for some scandal or another. The Anchorage city council has had to close meetings to the public because of the disruption by right wing nutsos. I’m actually glad I don’t live there any longer, although I do miss the place itself.
I’ve never been to Alaska but from what I’ve seen in pictures, it’s a place of great natural beauty. Too bad it’s been both literally and figuratively polluted by assholes.
The mayor of Anchorage is a retired military officer, which in no way qualifies him for governance. He can’t even be bothered to find out what the policies, procedures and laws require of him to perform certain actions. He’s taking a lot of heat for awarding no-bid contracts, hiring people without background checks or Assembly approval, etc. His staff have been resigning in droves before the whole thing collapses on top of them, and the city has been sued by employees who are claiming everything from sexual harassment to malfeasance.
The governor rammed through a huge Permanent Fund Dividend payout of some $3800 per person in order to buy himself the next election.
At least the legislature was able to get up the gumption to censure Eastman, and he holds no seats on any committees.
