Alaska Republican Touts Benefits of Children Being Abused to

[Tennesseer]

Alaska Republican Touts Benefits of Children Being Abused to Death

A legislature in Alaska caused outrage after questioning whether the death of child abuse victims could be "a cost savings," because it would mean they don't need "government services" later in life.

Republican David Eastman, who sits in the Alaska House of Representatives, made the comment on Monday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

The committee was meeting to discuss how children are impacted by physical or sexual abuse, as well as witnessing domestic violence within their family home.

Lawmakers were shown a study indicating each incident of fatal child abuse costs society $1.5 million, a figure reached by assessing the impact of trauma and the child's loss of earnings over a lifetime.

However, Eastman was unimpressed, and questioned whether fatal child abuse could be economically beneficial to wider society, an argument he claimed to have heard.

Eastman said: "It can be argued, periodically, that it's actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and need based on growing up in this type of environment."

The remark horrified Trevor Storrs, president of the Alaska Children's Trust (ACT), who hit back describing the loss of a child as "unmeasurable."

Democratic Representative Cliff Groh, who used to work as a prosecutor covering child abuse allegations, said he was "disturbed" by Easterman's comment.

Representative Sarah Vance, the Republican who claims the House Judiciary Committee, said Easterman, who doesn't serve on any committees, had been at the hearing "at my invitation."

According to the Anchorage Daily News, she added: "I wished that he asked questions with a little bit more sensitivity to the listeners and how they're perceived, and I can have that conversation.

"But he's there on his own accord and only represents himself."

Vance later suggested Eastman had been trying to make an argument against abortion, which some consider to be "child abuse."

Speaking with the Anchorage Daily News via text message, Eastman said: "I was pleased to hear ACT advocating against child abuse, but a child's value comes not from future productivity, but from the fact that every child is made in the image of God."

Newsweek has contacted Eastman to ask if he stands by his original remarks.

Eastman, a former soldier, was reelected to the Alaska House of Representatives in November 2022.

A lawsuit was filed attempting unsuccessfully to bar Eastman from office due to his membership of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing paramilitary group.

A number of Oath Keepers have been convicted over their role in the storming of Congress on January 6 2021, it a bid to stop the 2020 presidential election result being certified.

Eastman was present in Washington, D.C. that day but there is no indication he took part in the disturbances, which he condemned. He later promoted a discredited conspiracy theory, suggesting the violence could have been committed by left-wing movement Antifa.

Alaska Republican Touts Benefits of Children Being Abused to Death

[swamp]

Technically, he's right.  If you're dead, you don't use government services.   so I guess if we just kill everyone, we wouldn't need any governmental services.    

[Tennesseer]

So who will be the last man/woman standing?

[busymom]

Wow!  Even for the GOP, that's sick.  And, they've set the bar pretty low as it is.  

[swamp]

Feb 22, 2023 11:50:32 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

So who will be the last man/woman standing?

I'm sure it will be a pious, christian, upstanding cis/hetero white man.   

[jerseygirl]

Once had a conversation with a university physician about smoking cessation ads, programs etc
He said that the more people stop smoking the longer they’d live. He said healthcare costs and use of healthcare would increase. Obviously taking a cynical but in his opinion a realistic view. As in you’re dead and not utilizing health care costs and people

The person in the article seems to be taking similar cold (and IMO immoral) view

[teen persuasion]

Wait a minute - a legislature or legislator questioned this?  I first thought a political body was discussing this, based on the opening, but it seems it's just one dude - and a guest to the hearing, not a direct participant.

I had whiplash reading that article, trying to follow who was on which side, of which branch of govt, and figure out if it was just *possible* that someone might be channeling A Modest Proposal, or they were seriously only interested in the net economic cost of child abuse victims.  Yes, no, yes, no, ...

[Tiny]

Feb 22, 2023 11:39:58 GMT -5 swamp said:

Technically, he's right.  If you're dead, you don't use government services.   so I guess if we just kill everyone, we wouldn't need any governmental services.    

Or just cut most governmental services that focus on helping those who may become the biggest drain on society and the government - more of them will die sooner than later and the one's who manage to survive childhood (but who do not manage to "get ahead in life"  will be a good example to use to point out on why their behavior is so bad and that "good" children/adults will avoid doing it.     

Who cares that providing some services and safety nets might actually help the people around the "problem person" become or continue to be productive members of society.   I know there's the "family should take care of family" that's a Republican thing (but I think they take it to an extreme)  and  so if your family has a "mill stone" your whole family should be dragged down with them. 

Wait, are we as a society thinking moving back into Victorian times would be a good thing??  
 

[pulmonarymd]

Republicans have turned into Ebenezer Scrooge. Way to turn back the clock 150 years

[billisonboard]

Feb 22, 2023 13:46:50 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Once had a conversation with a university physician about smoking cessation ads, programs etc
He said that the more people stop smoking the longer they’d live. He said healthcare costs and use of healthcare would increase. Obviously taking a cynical but in his opinion a realistic view. As in you’re dead and not utilizing health care costs and people

The person in the article seems to be taking similar cold (and IMO immoral) view

Then there is the loss of "idiot" tax revenue from less cigarette sales.

[pulmonarymd]

Feb 22, 2023 14:58:51 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Feb 22, 2023 13:46:50 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Once had a conversation with a university physician about smoking cessation ads, programs etc
He said that the more people stop smoking the longer they’d live. He said healthcare costs and use of healthcare would increase. Obviously taking a cynical but in his opinion a realistic view. As in you’re dead and not utilizing health care costs and people

The person in the article seems to be taking similar cold (and IMO immoral) view

Then there is the loss of "idiot" tax revenue from less cigarette sales.

Short term and long term effects might be different though. Less early disability from smoking related diseases, more people working to full retirement age as a result, fewer people dying and paying into SS and Medicare, less tax revenue from smoking, more people collecting SS, more on Medicare. Magnitude of the effect would be hard to gauge without a detailed analysis of all those factors.

[djAdvocate]

Feb 22, 2023 10:00:06 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Eastman said: "It can be argued, periodically, that it's actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and need based on growing up in this type of environment."

Alaska Republican Touts Benefits of Children Being Abused to Death

right, because every taxpayer takes more than they give, right?

what....a....fucking.....idiot.

this sounds like a person that failed both logic AND math in school.

[grumpyhermit]

I think the bigger question for me is why they were distilling child abuse fatalities down to a dollar amount at all. Like, is there some scenario where if its cheap enough, no biggie?

You should want to stop them because, you know, murdering children is WRONG, not because it costs 1.5 million in economic losses. 

[Tiny]

America is a capitalist economy.    Morality, Ethics, and Justice only matter when someone has enough power to force everyone else to go along with it. 

[Tiny]

Feb 22, 2023 15:05:33 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Feb 22, 2023 14:58:51 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Then there is the loss of "idiot" tax revenue from less cigarette sales.

Short term and long term effects might be different though. Less early disability from smoking related diseases, more people working to full retirement age as a result, fewer people dying and paying into SS and Medicare, less tax revenue from smoking, more people collecting SS, more on Medicare. Magnitude of the effect would be hard to gauge without a detailed analysis of all those factors.

There's also the fact that abuse (or cigarettes/addiction) doesn't just effect an individual... it effects the whole family (extended too), people in one's social circle, people at one's work (or school). 

I think it's very short sighted to just look at/assume abuse (etc) ONLY effects the people engaged in it.    

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Vance later suggested Eastman had been trying to make an argument against abortion, which some consider to be "child abuse."



Speaking with the Anchorage Daily News via text message, Eastman said: "I was pleased to hear ACT advocating against child abuse, but a child's value comes not from future productivity, but from the fact that every child is made in the image of God."







God needs to get back to turning people into pillars of salt.

[pulmonarymd]

Feb 22, 2023 16:58:02 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Feb 22, 2023 15:05:33 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Short term and long term effects might be different though. Less early disability from smoking related diseases, more people working to full retirement age as a result, fewer people dying and paying into SS and Medicare, less tax revenue from smoking, more people collecting SS, more on Medicare. Magnitude of the effect would be hard to gauge without a detailed analysis of all those factors.

There's also the fact that abuse (or cigarettes/addiction) doesn't just effect an individual... it effects the whole family (extended too), people in one's social circle, people at one's work (or school). 

I think it's very short sighted to just look at/assume abuse (etc) ONLY effects the people engaged in it.    

Those effects are harder to quantify. The original argument was about the fact that if smoking was outlawed it would be an net negative from an economic standpoint for society. Those factors complicate it further. For example, if a smoker becomes disabled/dies, does the other adult(s) in the household get a job, work more, or work less. Each scenario changes the economic outlook. 

That's why this should never be an economic argument. Smoking has significant negative affects on health. We should be encouraging health behavior. End of story.

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

However, Eastman was unimpressed, and questioned whether fatal child abuse could be economically beneficial to wider society, an argument he claimed to have heard.

Eastman said: "It can be argued, periodically, that it's actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and need based on growing up in this type of environment."

By this line of thinking, I presume this Republican Representative is pro-abortion? 

[thyme4change]

Feb 22, 2023 11:50:32 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

So who will be the last man/woman standing?

[happyhoix]

He was a soldier, huh?

Lots of times soldiers have PTSD. That means they might need a bunch of extra services, plus they might lose it and skill someone. Better not take the chance - let’s kill them.

Probably all of us have some trait that might cause us to be a burden on society, if we were just big enough sociopaths to see it.

[djAdvocate]

Feb 22, 2023 17:04:02 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Vance later suggested Eastman had been trying to make an argument against abortion, which some consider to be "child abuse."



Speaking with the Anchorage Daily News via text message, Eastman said: "I was pleased to hear ACT advocating against child abuse, but a child's value comes not from future productivity, but from the fact that every child is made in the image of God."







God needs to get back to turning people into pillars of salt.

that definition of child does not comport with any legal standard.

the word BABY is blurrier.  but child refers to a BORN human.

so, yeah, he has to get out of the breedersphere and learn to talk like an educated adult.

[Tennesseer]

Feb 22, 2023 18:02:56 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Feb 22, 2023 11:50:32 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

So who will be the last man/woman standing?

That was a good series. Sorry it got cancelled.