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Alaska Republican Touts Benefits of Children Being Abused to Death

  
Via:  Ender  •  last year  •  27 comments

By:   James Bickerton (Newsweek)

Alaska Republican Touts Benefits of Children Being Abused to Death
Republican David Eastman suggested the death of child abuse victims could be a "cost savings" to wider society.

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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.


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Ender
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Ender    last year

Sometimes I am at a loss for words.

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.1  devangelical  replied to  Ender @1    last year

further proof that republicans don't care about kids, only as long as they get born...

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
2  pat wilson    last year

Kinda reminds me former Rep Grayson's comment...

If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly.

I guess Rep Grayson wasn't far off.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  Ender  replied to  pat wilson @2    last year

Force people to have children then say so what if they kill their own kids, a cost saving measure....

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
3  Gsquared    last year

Another reactionary scumbag.  This is where the MAGA Republican organization is heading.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
3.1  seeder  Ender  replied to  Gsquared @3    last year

I read that the latest round of cuts some republicans want to make in DC are to Medicaid, food stamps, etc...

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
3.1.1  Gsquared  replied to  Ender @3.1    last year

That's not new for them.  They want to end those programs completely.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
4  Sean Treacy    last year

It’s amazing how much trouble some  excitable progressives have reading and comprehending the English  language.  I don’t know if they  are just gullible and easily misled by partisan media or genuinely refuse to think.

He asked a question. He’s not touting anything, or advocating anything.

the witness is putting an economic value on a child’s life.  The representative wondered if that’s true in this circumstance.  The horror!

If we treat the witness with the same bad faith the article treats the representative, than the witness  only believes child abuse is bad because it costs the state money. 

That premise is the same  some here use to actually support abortion. Of course, when they go much farther than this guy and actually justify ending human life to save a few bucks, they think nothing of it. 

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
4.1  seeder  Ender  replied to  Sean Treacy @4    last year

There is only one way to interpret what he said.

The rest is just excuses.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
4.1.1  Sean Treacy  replied to  Ender @4.1    last year

Yes, the one I used based on the actual words used.  Interpretations  relying on  ignorance, imagination and partisan desires aren’t worth anything.

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
4.2  pat wilson  replied to  Sean Treacy @4    last year

What witness ? This was a committee meeting.

Your #4 post is a whole lotta "who shot John" in an effort to justify this man's vile comments. 

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
4.2.1  Tessylo  replied to  pat wilson @4.2    last year

They're well known for defending the indefensible of the republicans/gop/gqp.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
4.2.3  Sean Treacy  replied to  pat wilson @4.2    last year

You know witnesses routinely appear at committee meetings, right?

Think of j6.

 

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
4.2.4  Trout Giggles  replied to  pat wilson @4.2    last year

shit head conservatives have to defend shit head conservatives like themselves

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
4.2.5  Sean Treacy  replied to  Trout Giggles @4.2.4    last year

[deleted]

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
4.2.6  pat wilson  replied to  Sean Treacy @4.2.3    last year
Lawmakers were shown a study

There was no witness.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
4.2.7  Sean Treacy  replied to  pat wilson @4.2.6    last year

Who showed them the study? Who did he ask the question of? 

This is bad hill for you to die on. Not only are you wrong, but it doesn't change my argument if he asked it of another committeeman 

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
4.2.8  pat wilson  replied to  Sean Treacy @4.2.7    last year

Oh please, just read the man's words.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
4.2.9  Sean Treacy  replied to  pat wilson @4.2.8    last year

His words were a question to a witness testifying before his committee about the factors the witness used to calculate the economic value put on child's life?  

Why are you denying this?  Why are you falsely claiming there was no witness? 

 
 
 
Hallux
Masters Principal
4.2.10  Hallux  replied to  Sean Treacy @4.2.9    last year

There is no 'his committee', he serves on zip!

Representative Sarah Vance who invited him was likely hoping he would act in some sane manner ... he proved her wrong.

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

What the FUCK is wrong with people?????  AND I bet he claims to be "pro-life".

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
5.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Veronica @5    last year

He does

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
6  Trout Giggles    last year

What a maroon! Doesn't he realize that for every dead child there is one less kid to put to work?

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
7  JBB    last year

Is it any wonder that the once upper case Grand Old Party of Abe Lincoln is known now only in the lower case as merely "the gop"?

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
8  JBB    last year

Deplorable Or Not?

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
9  Thrawn 31    last year

That guy is definitely a total piece of shit.

 
 
 
Hallux
Masters Principal
10  Hallux    last year

West Point graduates call on Rep. David Eastman to resign from office

" “We do not all agree on the direction this country should take. But we all agree that your conduct goes against every value you have ever claimed to have in common with the rest of the Long Gray Line,” the letter reads. “It pains us, especially those of us who were your classmates, to see a fellow-graduate conducting himself in such a manner. It is our solemn responsibility to demand accountability for such disturbing and dishonorable conduct.”

 
 

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