2023 SHIITAKE AWARD WINNERS

ABOUT THE SHIITAKE AWARDS

Since 2008, OnceFallen.com has compiled a list of the dumbest news stories, bills/laws, politicians, reporters, cops, & common citizens that exploit Predator Panic and the sex offense registry for personal profit. Throughout the year, nominees are posted on a Google Blog (https://shiitakeweekly.blogspot.com/) and at the end of each year, we give our readers the opportunity to decide which deserves the award for worst/dumbest in their respective categories. We experienced a temporary disruption when Google deleted our blog in Sept 2023 but was restored a month later. We generally have multiple categories I feel are self-explanatory. Descriptions are below. One category, our “Holy Shiitakes Award,” the category for dumbest story of the year, had a single nominee, so it won by default. Worst state is determined by the number of nominations and reputation, and so for 2023, it was FloriDUH, yet again!

2023 DUMBEST NEW BILL/LAW WINNER!

Oklahoma Senate Joint Resolution 11:  This bill would’ve allowed voters to decide whether Persons Forced to Register deserve any constitutional rights, “if such provisions are rationally related to protecting the public from sex-based crimes.” Given the current climate, it would’ve been a disaster if it passed, but failed to advance beyond a second reading.

RUNNERS-UP

2nd place - Arizona SB 1698: If passed as introduced, AZ SB 1698 would force parents taking their kids to “Drag Shows” to register on the public sex offense registry. While that direct provision was later removed, the language could’ve still applied due to the vagueness of the remaining language. AZ SB 1698 was later vetoed.

3rd place - Iowa HF 77: Had it passed, it would’ve forced Persons NO LONGER Forced to Register to re-register under a new Tier IV designation. The Tier IV will register for as long as they reside in Iowa (up to life, essentially); pay the $25 annual penalty fee; register name, DOB, address, conviction jurisdiction info, and submit photo; and while the info is not listed on the public registry, a member of the public can still access the info from the sheriff's office. Tier IVs may still be subject to employment and residency restrictions, and failure to comply is an aggravated misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony on subsequent offenses. It failed to advance beyond committee.

4th place - Arkansas HB 1125/Act 35: This bill was the only nominee signed into law, and it prohibits Registrants designated as Level 3 or 4 from buying, owning, or using an “unmanned aircraft” or “drones.”

DUMBEST/WORST NEWS MUTT WINNER!

Kenny Webster, KPRC 950, Houston TX: Kenny Webster tried IN VAIN to derail the NARSOL Conference in June, calling them a “p*do rights group,” & even heavily implying NARSOL's mission is to make it legal to abuse children, something no anti-registry group supports. He promoted a planned (failed) protest of the conference that was created by the “Proud Boys” extremist group. Webster has also promoted vigilantes on his show.

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2nd place - Christa Lawler, MN Star-Tribune: While the Minnesota Star Tribune is usually writing articles critical of civil commitment, Lawler’s article writes a sympathetic article that seemingly praises a vigilante who broke into someone’s house & beat a Registered Person to death. (NOTE: She lost to the winner by a single runner up vote, it was that close)

3rd place (tie) - Holly Hansen, The Texan: Hansen, in an effort to derail the NARSOL Conference in Houston, wrote a rambling article mixing the old, tired, erroneous narrative that NARSOL is connected to NAMBLA, that Houston is a “sex trafficking hub,” misinterpreted recidivism studies, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, & the Packingham v NC case which allowed Registered Persons the right to the Internet.

3rd place (tie) - Debra Soh, Washington Examiner: Wrote a fearmongering article that allowing transgendered persons into “gender self-identification changing rooms” are a “sex offender’s paradise” and “a dream come true for rapists and pedophiles.”

2023 DUMBEST QUOTE WINNER!

Ron DeSantis, FL Governor: A man who came up short in the bid for US President even after wearing high heels, DEATHSantis boasted of signing a controversial death penalty bill, adding, “We are stopping jail break in the state of Florida today. We're putting pedophiles to death, hopefully with this today.”

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2nd place - Ryan Bullard, Crestview FL City Councilman: Said the quiet part out load when admitting the intent of a proposed residency restriction expansion was to exile & harass Registered Persons: "And while we can't boot those 88 men (registrants) out. Nor do we want to, well, we DO, but ok, but what it will do is prevent any more from ,living documented in the city. So what we're going to do is we're going to criminalize them from living in the city, which is a GREAT thing to do. Ok, basically the entire city. And if they're undocumented, in the woods, then that's failure to register, that's more county stuff, things like that.... I mean, If I can prevent just one sex offender from moving into the city, or we can dwindle those numbers, and have the chief's people go after them, i'm pretty much for it."

3rd place - Republican AZ Rep. Alexander Kolodin: Scottsdale Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin said while he understood the concerns about the children of Registants being bullied, he would not allow his child to play with the child of a sex offender, because the offender might be present. “Honestly, it absolutely sucks for the children of those people that they’re going to be ostracized like that,” Kolodin said. “But my right as a parent comes first.”

4th place - King County WA Council Vice-Chair Reagan Dunn: In trying to prevent Registrants released from cicil commitment, Dunn said, “When you put criminals rights before the rights of victims, you get that backward approach. Look at the crime statistics. Look at the recidivism, look at the drug dealing, look at the overdoses, look at the homeless problem. All of it is related to these failed policies that don’t work. If you want to lower crime in your community, you put them behind bars where they can’t reoffend. It’s real simple. It isn’t about rehabilitating them. I don’t care about that. I care about keeping the people off the streets so our neighborhoods are safer.”

5th place - Kevin Metcalf, "National Child Protection Task Force" (a private for-profit business out of Fayetteville, AR): Exploiting Predator Panic to raise money: “As the founder and CEO of the National Child Protection Task Force, I know firsthand the importance of information in the hands of those responsible for investigating and stopping violent crime. It enables authorities to quickly identify, track and locate suspects. Our children go missing every day. They get trafficked every day and get physically and emotionally abused, groomed, sexually exploited and sold every day. The community that works on child protection is a disparate one. It includes people who have willingly dedicated themselves to seeing the worst of humanity to keep the most vulnerable among us safe.”

2023 WORST/DUMBEST POLITICIAN WINNER!

 

Ron DeSantis, FL Governor: Ol’ Pudding Fingers boasted of passing the law to execute people for sex offenses where no death occurred.

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2nd place - Eric Deters, KY Gubernatorial Candidate: Disgraced attorney exploits Predator Panic in KY gubernatorial bid, stated I his campaign that he’d call for death penalty for Registered Persons.

3rd place - Speaker of the Pennsylvania State House Mark Rozzi: Promotes dope-boy turned vigilante thug Musa Harris by honoring him with a public meeting & promoting his vigilante activity.

4th place - Republican CA Congressman Darrell Issa: Wants to eliminate health benefits for some registrants and expand the AWA; he introduced “The Stopping Sexually Violent Predators Act” in Congress to prevent some Registrants from being released at all.

6th place (tie) - Lakeside CA Union School Board President Andrew Hayes: Hayes says he plans to build a coalition of other school boards, educators, community leaders and parents to push for change. He would like to seek legislation banning s*x offenders from living closer than 5 miles from schools, bus stops and day care centers.

5th place (tie) - Louisiana AG Jeff Landry: Exploits Predator Panic to push anti-trans and pro-Nanny State bill. He wants info on out-of-state abortions, gender-affirming care, his spokesman says it’s needed to “investigate the sexual abuse of children.”

6th place (tie) - Democrat NJ Gov. Phil Murphy: He sided with Republicans in vetoing bill for mental health diversion programs because it may help a Person Forced to Register

6th place (tie) - PA State Senator Wayne Langerholc: Introduced legislation to chemically castrate some Registered Persons

2023 EVERYDAY ZEROES (WANNABE VIGILANTES & ADVOCACY FAILS) WINNER!

 

Michael Dolce, FL: In 2017, Michael Dolce was nominated for a Shiitake Award for writing a nasty Op-Ed claiming restorative justice encourages those on the registry to reoffend. He was also FL State Senator Lauren Book's attorney and is prominently featured on Lauren's Kids! But he got arrested for a sex offense himself.

RUNNERS-UP

2nd place - Ross Swirling, Denver CO: Swirling, a political activist and onetime prominent member of the local punk music scene, has spent years using the internet to call out alleged perpetrators of sexual assault — and anyone who associates with them. But Swirling himself was convicted of attempted sexual assault on a minor, and a condition of his probation sentence had him kicked off the internet.

3rd place - Kinte Hassan Franklin, FL: Was charged after allegedly trying to run over a man he thought was a convicted s*x offender as he walked out of a liquor store. Franklin is a career criminal who was already a convicted felon when he was busted for guns, meth, and cocaine. And he was released on a mere $10k bond for what should've been attempted murder.

4th place - Bill Warner, Sarasota FL: When Charlotte Sena went missing in NY last September, Warner Warner took to Reddit (the subreddit "r/CharlotteSena") to push the theory that a person listed on the sex offense registry was responsible, without any evidence to the contrary. The alleged kidnapper was not listed on the sex offense registry.

5th place - "The" Kayleigh Kozak, AZ: Professional victim who claims that AZ Gov is silencing her because she wasn't invited to cry at a speaking event after the Gov vetoed a registry expansion bill she supported. Also, that whole THE nonsense is just as annoying as when Ohio State University does it.

“HOLY SHIITAKES’ AWARD (DUMBEST NEWS STORY) WINNER!

Passive-Aggressive workers at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) makes phony Facebook group to mock detainee activist group: For years, the workers at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program ShadOw Prison (MSOP) have tried hard to silence the prisoner group "Overcoming Corruption Encouraging All Nations" (OCEAN). MSOP has tried making it a rules violation for prisoners to support OCEAN (aka End MSOP).  Since silencing criticism isn't working, passive-aggressive workers at the MSOP concentration camp has created a closed Facebook group called "The Voices of LAND (Learning About New Dangers)” to mock MSOP prisoners who speak out against the program.

WORST STATE OF THE YEAR 

WINNER! FLORI-DUH

 

Who else would it be? FloriDUH reinstated the death penalty in spite of the 2008 Kennedy v Louisiana SCOTUS ruling which banned execution for civilian crimes that do not involve murder. This, in turn, inspired other states to introduce similar legislation.