House bill 1257, the anti-porn measure authored by State Representative Bethany Soye that went through the House, but found opposition in the State Senate as a result of questions over it’s constitutionality, has now become a summer study as South Dakota legislators seek a path forward that won’t trigger constitutionality lawsuits where taxpayers end up footing the bill:
“We should deal with the scourge of children’s access to pornography, but we should do it right and in a way that doesn’t pay checks to the ACLU,” Schoenbeck said earlier this week.
and..
But defenders of the original effort aren’t as confident a summer study will prove useful.
“I think the stakeholders on that bill have already done a lot of study on it, and this is what they came up with,” said Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, who sponsored the bill along with Soye.
I’m sure the sponsors of the measure did plenty of study on pornography, but as was also the case with Soye’s earlier legislation abridging free speech, it was another big government measure that would ultimately fall when challenged in court.
If Republicans claim to be for limited government when they’re campaigning, they need to walk the walk in Pierre as well. More government is rarely as much of a solution as it is a problem.
Pornography, books, drag queens and IVF. So many evils to snuff out… you know… to “save the children”. Always, always… for the children. And freedom. Freedom and the children.
Freedom for adults to be protected from porn. Porn Watcher Bill of Rights.
These Theocratic Authoritarians will be in our bedrooms, doctors offices and banning anything other than their approved G rated streaming services. The Republican Party used to be about small government but these Christian Nationalists are about the GIANT HAND of government in every aspect of our lives. Rest assured they will have Freedom under control!
Give us a solid, concrete definition of deviancy that also doesn’t run afoul the 1st Amendment Mr. (Or Ms.) Big Government Puritan.
This bill literally was literally a government mandate that you have to provide your personal information to a third party for purposes of adults accessing material that we’ve declared to be objectionable for minors. Just like library books that some object to children seeing (like the diary of Anne Frank) that’s a parent’s job. Not government’s.. Government isn’t meant to be a substitute for a parent being a parent.
The bill literally declared some things naughty & objectionable, and required registration to look at them on the internet. Out of pure laziness, we flop over and place oversight and control into the hands of government and its contractors. It’s as if we’re recreating the Germany of the 1930’s, we’re going to start censoring material, and we’re going to start burning books at rallies.
People don’t realize that you can come across objectionable material just by doing a search on Google. Does that mean we have to register to use a search engine? It’s such a staggering overreach.
I don’t want a government with that much control over my life. And it used to be that it wasn’t a Republican value, either.
What was it Ronald Reagan said? “Government isn’t the solution to the problem, government is the problem.”
This would create a list of websites for the state to monitor, some would call it a firewall perhaps…..just like China and their firewall. Is that where we really want to go? So sick of our tax dollars going to garbage like this instead of things we all can actually use. No way to get around this unless we consider voting for the other party though….
And to steal personal information from, don’t forget that. I think I’m on my 3rd cash card in a year from using it on-line (and not on questionable websites, in case I need to clarify that). If they can’t secure e-commerce sites like eBay or just going through the Chicago airport, they won’t be able to secure those sites, either.
North America, Europe, Japan and Australia. And, since the fall of the Soviet Union, some of Eastern Europe as well. If you look at a world map of per capita incomes, these are the areas that excel. Countries of maximum freedom and minimal corruption.
We should think twice before messing with that formula. We need to keep an eye on the politicians… not the other way around.
The usual suspects of Holier than Thou Republican Freedom Haters:
Representatives Soye (prime), Auch, Aylward, Blare, Deutsch, Gross, Hansen, Jensen (Phil), Lems, May, Mills, Mulally, Mulder, Perry, Peterson (Sue), Pinnow, Randolph, and Sjaarda and Senators Mehlhaff (prime), Foster, Frye-Mueller, Hoffman, and Pischke
Congratulations. That is the creepiest comment I have ever seen written here. And YOU want to police the rest of us?
There’s only one man you should listen to during a debate on such deep moral issues.
https://youtu.be/2-rfCnW5VlE?si=5WqaVrz3WRlfE7mb
I hope that those consumed by a never ending avarice to dominate others learn a few things from these sacred lyrics.
Phil Collins?
Well him or George Carlin.
I did think the idea of requiring adults to upload personal information to porn sites was entertaining. But the original bill put the enforcement of the law into the hands of parents, who would use “private action” to prosecute offenders. “Private action” sounds like vigilantism to me, except the whole thing is completely unenforceable.
Since when has giving a bunch of pearl-clutching ninnies with too much free time the power to sue ever gone bad?
(Yes sarcasm)
Did someone invest in a Churchlady© monitoring software company?
Constituents hate this kind of stuff but the saddest part is they’ll vote for these goons for re-election because of the R behind their name.
SDGOP Cold War Era Definition of Freedom:
The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
Absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.
The state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.
Today’s Trump Party Theocratic Authoritarians formerly known as SDGOP: Freedom definition TOTAL CONTROL in every aspect of our lives.
Too many people do not know the difference between conservativism and libertarianism. The latter supports every kind of vice being legal, but the former recognizes that while the government’s role should be limited, it should not be nonexistent. I do not know the details of the bill in question enough to argue whether or not it is good, but the debate on this blog and in other areas frequently includes liberals trying to discredit conservatives by making an argument that the conservatives are hypocrites for calling for any government action when they are the ones who are the hypocrites because they love government action in every other way or they are being deceitful by disguising themselves as conservatives and disingenuously using the argument for limited government to discredit conservatism. I am used to those tactics, but what disturbs me is that so many conservatives are increasingly accepting libertarian views that all government action is bad. Conservatives have long recognized that the state does have the obligation to protect the innocent.
You want to spend time keeping track of who is watching porn and limiting access and apparently that is a good use of funds to parent for others, but when it comes to making sure kids have food or support, it’s not your problem. This is about control from a bunch of dinosaurs who need to kick rocks. They care more about keeping boobs away from kids than keeping food in their stomachs.
If you want to know where these Republicans want to take you, look no further than Iran 50 years ago and today. Supporters of theocracy need to be stopped immediately. There is nothing more anti American than what these religious zealots are proposing. Christo-taliban on display.
If you want to know where these Republicans want to lead you, look no further than Iran 50 years ago and what they look like today. Supporters of theocracy need to be stopped immediately. There is nothing more anti American than what these religious zealots are proposing. Christo-taliban on display.
Well said!
Today’s Islamic Republic of Iran is a great example of where we are headed but substitute Islamic with Christian.
One wonders if if some of the supporters of the bill were sheltered and coddled home schoolers that lacked important life experiences and education in other areas with their indoctrination. Do they realize watching old reruns of “Leave it to Beaver” was a TV Show and did not represent the real world? It was a fantasy world for the audience to escape to from the real world for entertainment.
Hey! None of that smut talk!
The problem that some of these people have is that they don’t understand that most Republicans in South Dakota are Reagan Republicans, and not interested in an evangelical police state.
The problem with Holy-Rollers is that they believe they are acting in the name of God, and therefore can do no wrong.
What has really impressed me is all the work and focus given to reforming higher education to become world class institutions of higher learning for career success. It brought together all stripes in the Republican Party to forge meaning full change and reform.
After that, they did the hard work to reform the focus and priorities of all executive departments of state government in today’s world which will not only give us better governmental services but at less cost.
And, finally, to show their confidence in these accomplishments they passed a tuition decrease at our universities and a significant cut in sales taxes.
Kudos to our Legislature and Governor. They showed they deserve the trust we have in them.
Something tells me Soye has some secrets.
Like she was very anti-trump?
https://stateofelections.pages.wm.edu/2016/08/04/republican-national-convention-william-mary-law-student-in-the-virginia-delegation/