Time for a little quiz!
Who posted comments online in which he (or she) declared that:
“Sluts are just whores in training.”
“Women look at 2 bulges on a man, one in the front of the pants or second one in the back pocket. Whichever one is bigger, they can do without the other.”
“What’s the most used line in Arkansas: daddy get off me you are crushing my cigarettes.”
Female college students are “sororostutes.”
Women expect special treatment because of their “golden vajay jays”
Khloe Kardashian is “black by injection.”
Your choices are:
Oprah
Paul Elam
Redditor “NaggerPlease”
Arkansas Circuit Judge Mike Maggio
So who was it? Let’s work through the alternatives. Unsurprisingly, it’s not Oprah; while she has referred to “vajay jays” she has not, as far as I know, referred specifically to golden ones, and the rest of the comments really don’t match her views at all.
Perhaps a little surprisingly, it’s not Paul Elam either, though he has many terrible opinions about sluts and whores.
NaggerPlease, meanwhile, is just a name I made up because it seems like the sort of “edgy” borderline-racist name some dude on Reddit would come up with. It turns out there actually is a NaggerPlease on Reddit, though they haven’t posted anything.
So, yep, the correct answer is actually Arkansas Circuit Judge Mike Maggio, who was recently outed as a regular commenter on a Louisiana State University fan message board called Tiger Droppings. Say hello, Mike!
Using the name “geauxjudge,” Maggio posted what seems to have been an endless stream of racist, misogynistic, homophobic and otherwise offensive comments on the board — many of them worse than the small sampling I’ve posted above. He also revealed confidential (alleged) details of an adoption hearing involving actress Charlize Theron. (For more of the comments and the gory details, see here and here.)
He’s now under investigation for all of this; revealing the alleged details of the Theron case were apparently quite a serious ethical violation.
In the wake of the outing, Maggio has withdrawn from a race for appellate judge and has offered up a rather impressively half-assed apology for his terrible comments:
I take full responsibility for the comments that have been attributed to me.
That’s a weirdly indirect way to admit you wrote the comments.
I apologize deeply for my lapse in personal judgment and for that, I have no excuse. The comments posted were not acceptable.
Well, it was a bit more than a lapse. It was lapse after lapse after lapse after lapse. But at least this sounds like an apology.
These comments are not a reflection of who I am.
Uh, how are the comments you just took “full resposibility for” not a reflection of you? Who are they a reflection of? Not-Me, the naughty ghost from The Family Circus?
During my life, I have prided myself in treating all fairly and with respect, both personally and professionally. … I ask for both yours and God’s forgiveness.
… for the “lapse” that isn’t really a reflection of who you are.
My actions are not indicative or illustrative of the conservative political philosophy of which I hold dear.
Huh. Then why does so much of it line up so precisely with the anti-woman, anti-gay and racist dogwhistle rhetoric of the far right today?
It is a shame that the politics of personal destruction take precedence along with the win at all costs mentality that results in the disjunction.
Uh, are you really using your alleged APOLOGY for your bigoted statements to attack the people who pointed out your bigotry? Do you not understand the concept of an apology?
At this time, in light of the pain I have caused to my family, friends, supporters, the Judicial Branch, and the public, I have requested that the Secretary of State remove me from the ballot.
I would ask you to respect my family’s need for privacy so we can being the healing process of forgiveness.
I think in order to merit forgiveness you have to actually stop being an asshole. Or at least make an effort in that direction.
Men’s Rights activists often complain that they are locked out of the political system in “gynocratic” America. But here is a gentleman who seems to share 90% of their ideology and who, pending the result of an investigation of his comments, is actually in a position of some real power within the system.
And like most MRAs I’ve ever dealt with, he takes no real responsibility for his shit when he gets called on it.
Embrace Mike Maggio, MRAs. He’s your poster boy. He’s you.
Note: Thanks to Pecunium for pointing me to this story.
Oh, man, the stuff David reposted is just a small sample of this guy’s “lapses.” Some gems:
— He complains repeatedly that women are awarded too much in divorce settlements and seek divorce for frivolous things…like being cheated on. See, a woman who dumps her husband for cheating is just making an “emotional decision” and isn’t properly grateful for what a good provider he probably is! http://www.bluehogreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-03-02-23-06-29.png
— His envy of women and their golden vaginas comes up more than once, again usually while complaining that they’re treated too well in court: http://www.bluehogreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-03-02-20-10-10.png
— He has two separate posts warning people not to go to Disney World on Gay Days because one time his parents took the grandkids there and had the horrible, scarring experience of seeing two dudes kissing. (In one post the grandparents took ten kids and in the other they took twelve, but hell, ain’t no math requirement for passing the bar.) http://www.bluehogreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-03-02-21-56-30.png
— In his studied judicial opinion, a man can’t be raped by another man because he could just punch the rapist in the balls: http://www.bluehogreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-03-02-16-26-53.png
— He advises a man considering divorce to get his kids (and, if possible, wife) falsely diagnosed with mental disabilities so he can collect disability payments on them: http://www.bluehogreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-03-02-18-06-33.png
In addition to generally bigoted and gross comments, he shares a LOT of details about cases, albeit not usually with the identifying details he included in the Charlize Theron post. Because a college sports message board is obviously the place to reveal confidential courtroom information.
According to the comments on Blue Hog Report, he was the judge in a controversial custody case in which he awarded an abusive father sole custody of the children, even after they testified he was abusing them, because their mother worked as a stripper. His disdain for strippers does not, however, stop him from patronizing their services; in one of his posts he brags about hiding a vibrator in his pants before hiring a stripper to give him a lap dance.
He’s a Huckabee appointee. Total surprise.
Well, that’s a typical mealymouthed nonpology, straight from the conservative playbook:
Step 1: “I’m sorry…”
Step 2: Whisper under breath: “….Sorry I got caught.”
Step 3: Uncross fingers behind back.
Step 4: Blame the liberals.
It does nothing to acknowledge the pain he caused, the terrible content of his posts, or promise to do better going forward. It’s just moral grandstanding with a side order of victim-blaming.
“I have no ethical qualms about blabbing confidential legal details of court cases on the internet, but please respect MY need for privacy!”
What an arrogant dope. He put the name of his profession right in his username, then bragged about his high school, college, law school, and daughter’s athletic achievements right on the comment board. Obviously he thought nobody would ever call him out on his behavior. Kudos to Blue Hog for digging into this story.
I hope there’s a long line of salivating lawyers waiting to appeal every case he presided over involving women, persons of color, and non-heterosexuals. From the sound of it, he’s ruined a lot of lives from the bench.
…In a judicial opinion? As in an official thing under his own name, not a random internet comment?
And he was still a judge after that?
Judges are elected positions. Let’s all hope he resigns or defeated once his term is over. However, and I hate to be stereotypical, this is Arkansas and he’s a Republican, so I shouldn’t hold my breath… 🙁 Maybe another Republican will challenge him.
WTF is with this argument that gays and lesbians should be sequestered away from the public for the sake of the children? I hear this a lot from right wingers and it’s complete bullshit.
I grew up across the street from a lesbian couple. I was friends with their daughter so I was around them a lot and spent a lot of time at their house. It was never confusing or scary or weird for my elementary school aged self. Why is that? Because my parents didn’t make a big deal out of their sexual orientation. Nobody else in the neighborhood treated them differently than any other family. Because of that, I saw them as no different than the families headed by a straight couple and it never occurred to me to see gay people as weird or scary. Kids aren’t that fragile!
It couldn’t possibly be that “think of the children!” is a convenient excuse for bigotry could it?
“Win at all cost mentality?” What cost is that exactly? A bigoted douchebag being held accountable for his bigoted douchebaggery? Yeah I’m actually very okay with that being the cost of winning.
The bit where he says:
Is, much like the bit about the “politics of personal destruction,” part of a deliberate ploy to turn an issue of professional ethics and competence into an issue of personal moral failings. This is what he might have said if, say, someone had found out about an affair he’d had years before his appointment. Something that would hurt his wife and family, but that has little to do with the job he is currently doing.
That is not what this is.
@auggziliary: Wow. Just… Does he apply the same judgment to black women who sleep with white men I wonder? Are they now white? Is he even willing to stand the reality of black women sleeping with white men happening? What is this I don’t even.
Who wants to help me create a universe where assholes like this don’t exist?
It’s this kind of MRA/racist witfuckery that most boggles me.
re: “politics of personal distruction” – he says this because he honestly believes that everybody secretly thinks the same way as him (everyone being white people, naturally), and so they could only be using this for political gain. The idea that actual people (the ones he considers people, that is) would be really outraged by this is completely beyond him.
There’s this that Shaenon found:
There’s also this (TW: rape):
http://www.bluehogreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-03-02-22-07-25.png
From a judge.
I’m going to go take my rage out on some dirty laundry and dust bunnies now.
entropistanon, Sign me up for creating that universe.
Meanwhile, this is apparently going to exist.
This is off topic, but I’m asking because there seems to be a lot of fantasy fans here. My friend just lent me the Kingkiller chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I have a few other unread books too so I need to prioritize. Are these books worth moving to the top of the list? As my name indicates I’m a big ASOIAF fan if that helps any.
If anyone’s read them, please advise. My friend really loved them so I’ll probably move them to the top of the heap but thought I’d get a second opinion.
Okay, wow. This guy is among the scummiest of scumbags.
I thought they were the worst pieces of shit I’ve read in a very long time.
Unfuckingbelievable. Oh and that Red Pill thing scares me. Anyone consider writing in to that RedPill movie to share your ‘story’?
What is missing is a story about women living luxury lives on child support while the men are forced to starve to make the payments.
You’ll be relieved to know that he personally saves men from this terrible fate by seeing to it that the women who come before his bench get crummy settlements. After all, divorce is usually the woman’s fault for not appreciating her “alpha male”: http://www.bluehogreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-03-02-15-52-46.png
The “rodeo sex” joke is the kind of thing 13-year-old boys tell each other on the playground before they find out that girls are people.
“I fully apologize my carelessness in talking on public forum what should have been kept in private. I made a grave mistake in trusting concealed online identity, when I should have known better.
First, I ask forgiveness from my family, as the head of the household, for ruining my lucrative career and personal reputation.
Second, I ask forgiveness from my friends for revealing our shared feelings to the liberal thugs who will demonize people based on mere philosophical disagreements.
Third, I ask forgiveness from my supporters for failing my attempt at selling conservative political philosophy to said liberal thugs.
Finally, my lawyer advises me to mention the Judicial Branch, whose authority my getting caught has hurt, and the Public, whom I also have hurt somehow.”
…In a judicial opinion? As in an official thing under his own name, not a random internet comment?
No, it was just an Internet comment. Please, let’s not jump to conclusions here. We have to begin the healing process of forgiveness.
Gays are obscene just for making their presence known, yanno.
I wouldn’t. I read them and thought they were okay (enough to keep reading), but I couldn’t stand ASOIAF, so I’m not sure you’d like them.
We will be a team, cloudiah! Now all we have to do is discover how to make a singularity and we’re good. Should be easy.
The continued Republican Conservative bafflement at why PoC, women, immigrants and LGBTQ people don’t support them is beginning to baffle me?
Hello! The answer is perfectly clear. They have made it pretty plain that they hate every one of these groups.
Judges are elected in the US? Crap.
Oops, sorry. Let me clarify. I’m not saying that you are wrong about judges being elected in the US. I’m saying it’s producing some seriously crap results, as demonstrated above.