THE 2018 SHIITAKE AWARDS

BACKGROUND:

Due to personal issues, the 2018 Shiitake Awards did not feature an award show video for this year.

CHANGES FROM THE 2017 AWARDS SHOW:

The special category for this year was the “#MeToo Moron of the Year.” As 2018 was the year of the “#MeToo” campaigns, this category was created to spotlight some of the insanity surrounding this “hashtag campaign.”

ABOUT THE AWARDS:

The 11th annual Shiitake Awards lampoons the worst stories about people who exploit sex offense laws and those forced to register for personal gains.

2018 SHIITAKE AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES

2018 WORST/ DUMBEST POLITICIAN

WINNER!

Tarrant Co TX Judge George Gallagher:

Used a shock collar on an accused sex crime suspect multiple times in court for not answering questions to his liking. (46.81%)

RUNNERS UP–

 

  • FL State Sen. Lauren Book: Created a false story about being a potential victim of the “#Magabomber” and won a restraining order to prevent an Anti-Registry activist from protesting her (40.43%)
  • Donna Jo McDaniel, Allegheny Co PA Common Pleas Judge: After years of well-documented bias against registered persons in her court, she was removed from a sentencing hearing after she refused to lower the sentence upon a reprimand from a higher court. She later resigned in disgrace. (12.77%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  1. US Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR): Tried exploiting Predator Panic to derail the First Step Act, and ultimately got a few extra SO related offenses banned from any benefits from the First Step Act.
  2. Luis Aponte, Mayor of Providence RI: The Ron Book of the North, trying to ban RCs from living in his city while facing charges for illegal campaign contributions.
  3. NY State Sen. Jim Tedisco: Wrote bad article criticizing the governor for allowing RCs (and other felons) the right to vote.
  4. Ryan Will, FL 7th Circuit Judge candidate: Will is a Prosecutor reprimanded by the FL Supreme Court, Ryan bragged of building pocket parks to chase RCs out of town. Thankfully he lost his bid to become judge.
  5. US Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL): Invokes a quote from Hitler declaring children our “most precious responsibility” while promoting a series of laws targeting RCs (which include reauthorizing the AWA)
  6. US Rep. George Holding (R-NC): Wrote the amendment that would have prohibited “convicted rapists, pedophiles, murderers, et cetera,” from being eligible for SNAP
  7. Massapequa Park NY Mayor Jeff Pravato: Republican candidate for state Senate railed against allowing RCs at polling places to vote; thankfully, he lost the election
  8. GA State Sen. Michael Williams: Used a “deportation bus” as part of his failed gubernatorial campaign which improperly and hilariously misspelled “child molesters” as “MOLESTORS”; was recently arrested for insurance fraud and other charges.
  9. PA State Rep Tom Mehaffie: Years after PA struck down 2500 foot restrictions as unconstitutional, this Republican rep is trying to pass a law to create 5000 foot restrictions.
  10. US Sen. Candidate Leah Vukmir (R-WI): Repeatedly attacked incumbent U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, saying the Democrat failed to protect communities against RCs (Baldwin hasn’t been a friend to us). She lost the election.
  11. TN State Rep Diane Black: This Republican state rep blames porn for school shootings, among other societal ills
  12. Sol Flores, IL 4th Congressional Candidate: Democratic candidate who used a victim narrative a’ la Lauren Book as her primary platform. She lost badly in the primary election.
  13. Chris Giunchigliani, NV Gubernatorial Candidate: This Democrat used a victim narrative a’ la Lauren Book in an attempt to win her election, and failed in the primaries.
  14. Wake Co NC Assistant DA Melanie Shekita: Spoke out with the media against an RC’s plan to open a donut shop, citing she’d be happy to prosecute him if he violates any laws.
  15. NY State Sen. Jeffrey Kline: Nominated last year for calling all RCs “ticking time bombs”, this year he joined the ticking time bomb ranks after being accused of a sex crime himself for forcible kissing.
  16. Florida 11th Circuit Judge Pedro P. Echarte, Jr.: Guess who is running for reelection this year? Guess who got a $1000 donation from Ron Book? Guess who called conditions at the Hialeah homeless camp “deplorable” yet pulled a Pontius Pilate and ruled not to place a restraining order against enforcement of Miami’s new “arrest the homeless for being homeless” law?
  17. Summer Stephan, San Diego DA: Claims that there is “virtually no one” who chose to become a sex worker on her own. She likes to compare herself to the idiotic and fictional Olivia Benson to Law and Order SVU, persecuted three teens for a crime they didn’t commit; Stephan’s take on human trafficking is as fictional as any episode of SVU. Sadly, was reelected.
  18. UK Nottingham District Judge Tim Spruce: Ruled that evidence from vigilante groups should be allowed in court to snare “paedophiles”
  19. NE State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks: Democrat, introduced a bill that would scrap the force requirements for both perpetrators and victims in the current law while imposing a new affirmative consent standard. In her quest to adopt CA’s controversial “affirmative consent” law, she showed the Senate a silly Youtube video comparing sex to a cup of British Tea.
  20. Rosemarie Aquilina, Ingram Co MI Dist Judge: Advocated prison rape from the bench and boasted of signing Larry Nassar’s “Death Warrant”
  21. US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY): Actively promoted and fundraised for the efforts to recall Judge Aaron Persky from the bench for giving Brock Turner a reasonable sentence.

2018 DUMBEST MEDIA MUTT (REPORTER)

WINNER! Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports:

Wrote a hit piece on OSU pitcher Luke Heimlich as he was allowed to continue playing at OSU; “Everybody deserves a second chance, but in any rational society there is a line that can’t be crossed. Heimlich’s admitted actions are intolerable, heinous. His privileged presence on the mound mocks every victim of sexual violence.” (31.91%)

RUNNERS UP–

  • Jon “Smiling Politely” Taylor, Sports Illustrated: The hit pieces against OSU baseball pitcher Luke Heimlich continued when MLB’s KC Royals considered giving Heimlich a chance, but Taylor wrote the worst of them by stating there was “no moral justification” (or any RC) for giving Heimlich a chance (29.79%)
  • Rachel DePompa of NBC12 Virginia: Her Sweeps week fluff piece on RCs using Facebook was Shiitake-worthy enough with the fearmongering stats, but in quoting Briana Valentino, a forensic interviewer with Greater Richmond SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now), she made the funniest typo of the year, typing that “Kids are very accessible to people who mean do them HARD.” (21.28%)
  • Megan Wyatt, Lafayette Daily Advertiser’s food critic: Wrote a fluff piece (emphasis on fluff) full of errors, claiming RCs were illegally on FB (forgetting Packing v NC invalidated any laws banning RCs from social media) and used inflated stats from Stacie Runemap’s (and Mark Lunsford’s) for-profit group Stop Child Predators. She should stick with food criticism. (17.02%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  1. Mark Winne, WSB 2 I-Team: Wrote a fearmongering fluff piece to criticize the GA Supreme Court for ruling the 21 RCs that have obtained a pardon over the years no longer have to register. He interviewed people who claimed RCs cannot be rehabilitated but did not cite any actual research.
  2. Jennifer Holton, Fox 13 FL: Aired a silly piece about how a yellow house used in a Disney film was owned by a registered person, as if the house is going to become sentient and molest children.
  3. Caitie Burkes, Business Report: The first line of her article reads, “Can a convicted pedophile run for public office in Louisiana? The answer: yes.” This alone is Shiitake-worthy.
  4. Katy Smyser & Marion Brooks, NBC Chicago: Their May Sweeps report included what some called a “chicken pox” map of places across the Midwest where RCs lived in hotels.
  5. Kyla Galen, News11 CO: The headline alone was Shiitake-worthy, “11 Call For Action investigates: Registered sex offender living on public dime”, plus made the erroneous claim that ALL RCs (not just those w/ lifetime reporting) are barred from HUD Housing.
  6. Tom Holm, Lewiston Tribune: Considers the constitutional bans on ex post facto laws a “legal loophole”; in this case, he implies RCs are actively circumventing the registry because they were convicted before July 1993 in Idaho & not legally
    required to register.

2019 DUMBEST QUOTE

WINNER! FRANKLIN GRAHAM

Son of Billy Graham and ultra-right-winger, believes we should murder “pedophiles”. “These government run facilities that take care of these kids have pedophiles working in there. And we should never be taking children away from parents, period. Hold them together as a family. But to take their children away, so they can be exposed to pedophiles? And I believe that pedophiles need to be dealt with harshly. I believe not only incarcerate them but if they molest a child, I think they’d be a candidate for the death penalty.” (44.68%)

RUNNERS-UP

  • Illinois Supreme Court (in)Justice Mary Jane Theis: Believes even fake stats is relevant in justifying animus against RCs. “Regarding recidivism rates, the defendant insists that the McKune plurality’s ‘frightening and high’ comment has been debunked. Regardless of how convincing that social science may be, ‘the legislature is in a better position than the judiciary to gather and evaluate data bearing on complex problems.” (29.79%)
  • Wendy Murphy: A woman who needs no introduction, on Halloween- “Halloween is like Christmas for sex offenders. They know they’ll have lots of access to kids and that they can’t get in trouble even though they’re required to stay away from children. Not having a law in place to protect kids on a day when they will excitedly be running toward people they should be running away from exposes kids to serious danger. Massachusetts already has a well-deserved reputation for not effectively protecting children from sexual abuse.” (25.53%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  1. Enough Is Enough CEO Donna Rice Hughes: Said Starbucks had failed to protect its customers and follow through with its plan to block explicit content. “By breaking its commitment, Starbucks is keeping the doors wide open for convicted sex offenders and others to fly under the radar from law enforcement and use free, public Wi-Fi services to access illegal child porn and hard-core pornography,” she said. A petition from Enough Is Enough said that public Wi-Fi networks “are attracting pedophiles and sex offenders” and put children at risk.
  2. Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza: On wanting an RC out of his city- “When I read about what this guy, what this predator, has done — it is absolutely heinous,” Elorza said. “He has given up his right to be here in the community. He does not belong in our city. He does not belong in our community. I want every parent to know that we will not stop until this is absolutely addressed. I’ll say it one more time: He has no place in our community. Period.”
  3. NY State Sen. John Flanigan: On NY allowing RC’s to vote-  “This is hands-down the most egregious public policy misstep Andrew Cuomo has made in his eight years as governor, and it shows that he will do virtually anything for a few extra votes. This policy rewards the worst of the worst sexual predators and lowlifes in our society and undermines the integrity of our voting system in every way, shape and form.”
  4. Kerri Kelleher of Cranston RI: She said during a community rally to try to chase out RCs from her community, “”If you go hang out with your knitting buddies, you’re probably going to talk about knitting. If you’re out with people who like baseball, you’re probably going to talk about baseball. What does anybody think the sex offenders are hanging out talking about? It’s not baseball.”[G]
  5. Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin: Blames sex crimes against children on teacher strike. “I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them,” he said. “I guarantee you somewhere today a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were home alone because a single parent didn’t have any money to take care of them. As surely as we’re having this conversation, children were harmed, some physically, some sexually. Some were introduced to drugs for the first time because they were vulnerable and left alone. It’s offensive. It really is.”
  6. Protect.org:  Uses Repressed Memory (AKA False Memory Syndrome) to lobby for ending Statutes of Limitations. “We learned in that fight that simply extending the amount of time victims have to sue after turning 18 was not enough. Repressed memory is real and often times victims don’t remember the details of their abuse until a life event triggers the memories. Sometimes victims do not associate problems they have like addiction, suicidal ideation, PTSD, eating disorders, or depression until they receive counseling and the underlying abuse is identified as the cause. For those reasons PROTECT advocated strongly for an amendment which would allow victims to sue their abusers not just 10 years from the age of majority, but 10 years after discovery of the abuse or 10 years after discovery of the injury. PROTECTs amendment effectively abolishes the federal civil statute of limitations.”

2018 DUMBEST NEW BILL/ LAW

WINNER!

Miami-Dade County Ordinance 18-01:

Allows the arrest of homeless registrants made homeless by previous county
ordinances. It led to the demise of the homeless camp in Hialeah. (68.09%)

RUNNERS-UP

  • Illinois SB3104: If it passes, masturbating in prison would be a sex crime. (29.79%)
  • California AB 2839: A bill that would prevent patients at the Coalinga Indefinite Detention Center from voting. The bill was created after patients voted against raising taxes in a closely contested Coalinga tax battle. (2.13%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  1. Kansas City Ordinance to ban registrants from serving liquor in bars: The Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, or MOCSA, is speaking out. Victoria Pickering, Director of Advocacy for MOCSA, said, “The goal is to prevent individuals who have a history of committing sexual offenses from being able to work with alcohol which is the number one drug that’s used to facilitate sexual assault.”
  2. Minnesota HF 2944: If passed, the law will push for a mandatory 50 year intense supervision period for all RCs
  3. Minnesota HF 2800: Would make it a sex crime to grab someone’s clothed buttocks without permission.
  4. Washington HB 2487: You can call this the Donna Zink law, as it would allow public disclose info on level 1 RCs (something WA does not currently do)
  5. Nebraska LB 988: Would have created an affirmative consent law similar to the controversial affirmative consent law in California.
  6. HR 4655 (115th Congress) aka the “CREEPER Act”: Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots has to be the dumbest acronym ever, and as the name suggests, the purpose is to ban sex robots that may resemble anyone underage.

2018 EVERYDAY ZEROES (VIGILANTE SCUMBAGS)

WINNER!

Curtis J Hart, Kelso WA:

Is fighting a court battle to collect info on Level 1 registrants in his state to post publicly and ruin the lives of hundreds of RCs; He also runs the vigilante group Punisher Squad (36.17%)

RUNNERS UP–

  • Edward Bowman, FL: This Floridiot is on a mission to ban registered citizens from hospitals in the land of ‘Duh. (31.91%)
  • Jacob Elkin, OR: Made GoFundMe page for fellow vigilante and his friend Kevin Patrick Smith under the tag “Team Punch a Pedo”, collecting $15k from suckers willing to pay someone to attack an accused SO in court. (31.91%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  1. Michael Carey, NY: Advocate seeking to ban RCs from homes for the disabled
  2. Sharon Ashe, Kingsbury NY: Forced one registrant out of a home for the disabled & is pushing for a statewide ban on RCs from nursing homes
  3. Lynne Knowles, Dunedin FL: Gained notoriety for erroneously claiming she was nearly a victim of human trafficking then called out publicly for lying
  4. Joshua Kippenberger, Derby KS: Harassed an RC going to church; during a media interview, he claimed he had “above average” knowledge of “pedophiles” before claiming they “can’t be cured”
  5. Justin “Mr. 17540” Perry, PA: Arrested for possibly using actual CP to conduct an online sting.
  6. Kenyoun Gifford, Salem NH: Broke into the house of an RC and scattered CP in an attempt to set him up
  7. Shasta Groene, ID: Famous victim-turned-drug addict started an online petition for lifetime imprisonment of ALL RCs
  8. Jennifer Lane of Community Voices, MA: Victims’ advocate wants psychologists charged if an RC reoffends
  9. Juanchy Mejia, Miami FL: Used copyrighted photos from OnceFallen on his online petition to block homeless RCs from moving into his neighborhood on West Kendall
  10. Jorge Porto-Sierra, FL: Tried and failed miserably to set a motel on fire that housed RCs; he is in jail on 4 counts of attempted murder
  11. Samantha West Connell, SC: Administrative worker at the Kershaw Co SC sheriff’s office embezzled just under $10k from registration fees
  12. Scott Andrew Ecklund, FL: Crashes car into empty house because he thinks a RC lives there
  13. Chris Smith, UK: Landed on the UK registry for using CP as part of his sting operations

SPECIAL 2018 CATEGORY:

#METOO MORON OF THE YEAR

WINNER!

Asia Argento: One of the key celebrity leaders of MeToo had reportedly seduced a 17 year old co-star, who expressed being uncomfortable and regretted the encounter. (43.48%)

RUNNERS-UP

 

  • California Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina “Grabby” Garcia: Accused by two men of groping them in various areas and sexual harassment. (32.61%)
  • Avital Ronnell, NY: A leading professor of feminist philosophy at New York University, has been forced to take a year off after NYU determined that she had sexually harassed a male student. (23.91%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  1. Monica Lewinsky: Has decided after 20 years that she was actually a sex crime victim for her affair with ex-president Bill Clinton.
  2. Maude Gorman, MA: Miss Massachusetts contestant quit the pageant over a #MeToo joke; The host did a skit last week with someone portraying God. The host, a woman, tells “God” she doesn’t understand why Miss America officials would get rid of the swimsuit competition. The person then holds up a sign reading “#MeToo.”
  3. Michele Dauber, CA: The infamous Stanford U professor who led the charge to get judge Aaron Persky removed after the Brock Turner case; he was replaced with a touch-on-crime pol [D,H]
  4. NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman: Considered a champion of #MeToo, was accused of physical & emotional abuse by 4 women.
  5. Elizabeth Dunn, VT: Middlebury Student got in trouble over her self-made list of Accused Sexual Transgressors.

2018 HOLY SHIITAKES! (DUMBEST STORY)

WINNER! Feminist “Gender Studies” professor declares Disney princes are sex offenders:

Kazue Muta, an Osaka University professor and author of “Sir, That Love is Sexual Harassment!” a book on workplace sexual harassment, argued in December that princes from “Snow White” and “Sleeping Beauty” portray “quasi-compulsive
obscene sexual acts on an unconscious partner.” In other words, the feminist academic activist argues such fairytales allow sexual violence. (38.30%)

RUNNERS UP —

  • University of Southern Maine removes art from campus display because it was painted by an RC: The Prez of USM cited it would “trigger abuse victims.” And that inspired RCs to go to Maine to display art by other RCs to spite him. (36.17%)
  • Twentieth Century Fox pulls scene from ‘The Predator’ after director Shane Black casts his friend, a registered sex offender: Oddly, the scene was the RSO played a man who briefly sexually harasses a woman, so a “predator” can’t even play a “predator” onscreen. Assist to MeToo moron Olivia Munn. (25.53%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  1. Cyrano’s Theatre Co. in Anchorage AK fired RC after Internet trolls stir up controversy: They knew about the RC’s past but hired him anyways; caved in to the haters
  2. News outlets attempted to link Austin Bomber to registry reform: Some conservative news outlets pointed out Austin bombing suspect Mark Conditt had written a short essay about how he argued against the public registry in an attempt to connect him to efforts to reform the registry.
  3. Cali officials attempted to suppress a research report showing recidivism rates for released civilly committed SOs are far lower than expected: Researchers Tamara Rice Lave & Franklin Zimring reported that research indicating SVPs are less likely to re-commit crimes than other offenders was suppressed because it challenged the constitutional legitimacy of CA’s SVP laws.
  4. Danielle Bregoli, aka the “Cash Me Ousside” girl, gives us a truly Bhad video promoting vigilante violence: In her music video, she plays an online vigilante who captures an alleged online Predator and tortures him in a secret lair.
  5. House Judiciary Committee falsely credits FOSTA/ SESTA for reducing sex trafficking: Pols try to claim their internet censorship law reduced “sex trafficking” by 90%. Do I even need to mention they cited NO evidence to back up their claims?
  6. A diver who helped rescue boys trapped in a Thailand cave may sue Elon Musk after the tech billionaire called the rescuer a “pedo guy.”: And Elon Musk deserves to lose.
  7. Accused rapist shows penis to jury to prove innocence: A Connecticut man on trial for sexual assault was allowed to drop his pants and expose his penis to a stunned New Haven jury this week — to prove that it doesn’t match his accuser’s description. He won his case.
  8. Veteran’s charity takes away home they were building for disabled vet due to his registry status: Some already knew but changed their minds after media attention.
  9. CA State Sen. Bob Hertzberg ordered to stop hugging people: told to stop hugging people after an investigation concluded that his trademark embraces made multiple female colleagues uncomfortable. However, the investigation released Thursday found Sen. Bob Hertzberg’s frequent hugs are not intended to be sexual and more often than not are not unwelcome.
  10. Registered Persons cannot be used as police informants in criminal cases: A Clinton man was found “not guilty” of drug charges this week, after his defense questioned the use of a SO as a confidential informant in a drug transaction. The defense opened with the argument that the confidential informant, who set up the sale, was a RSO, and therefore, his testimony could not be trusted.
  11. Trump Supporters Dating Site used Registered Citizen as Face of the Website: MAGA fans created Trump.dating, a safe space for those who hate safe spaces. The website has been off to a rough start, however, facing criticism for only making itself available to straight men and women, allowing people to sign up as “happily married” or “unhappily married,” and for featuring a convicted sex offender on its home page.
  12. UK Crossing Guard told not to give kids high fives, because that could be construed as “grooming”: The man resigned from his job.
  13. If you are traveling alone with your teenage daughter & stay at Travelodge, you might be confused for a “pedophile”: A DAD staying in a hotel with his teenage daughter was stunned when staff told police he was a paedophile.
  14. FloriDUH House of Reps considers porn worse than assault rifles just days after a school shooting: The Florida House of Representatives opened its Tuesday session with a motion to debate a bill banning assault rifles, which it rejected by a 36-71 vote in 3 mins; In the same session, less than an hour later, according to the newspaper, the legislature considered a GOP-backed bill to declare porn a public health risk, which it passed by a voice vote.
  15. Coalinga CA sues Hospital over failed sales tax vote: Coalinga City Council is suing Fresno County to overturn an election decided partly by the sex offenders in a state hospital. Voters rejected a penny sales tax increase by just 37 votes in November. 127 of those ‘no’ votes came from inside the walls of Coalinga State Hospital, where some of the state’s sex offenders are actually legal voters.

2018 KEYSTONE KOP OF THE YEAR

WINNER!

Harrison PD (AR) Detective Ted Schaeffer:

Teaches a course claiming RCs can’t be rehabilitated unlike other crime types; admitted to using the registry as an intimidation tool (67.39%)

Runner Up!

  • Butts Co GA Sheriff Gary Long: Misinterpreted notification laws to place harassment signs in registrant yards during Halloween (32.61%)

ICBS NATIONAL CHUMP-IONSHIP AKA WORST STATE OF 2018! FLORIDA

WINNER!

  • FloriDUH – The NINE-TIME reigning champs. They have Senator Lauren Book and the ongoing homeless registrant saga. They have activists pushing to ban registrants from hospitals and prosecutors building pocket parks to chase RCs from their cities. They had a man crash a car into an empty house he thought belonged to a RC and another guy who wanted to “barbeque” RCs. (76.09%)

RUNNERS-UP

  • Illinois – Their Supreme Court upheld park bans on the premise that the courts should not be bothered with trifling things like the facts. They also had a candidate using her victim story as an election campaign platform. They tried to pass a law to make self-pleasure in prison a sex offense.  (21.74%)
  • JOKElahoma – Passed laws increasing the number of places registrants cannot reside, adding to the already existing 2000 foot restriction, naming the bill after a MeToo minded college student. (10.87%)