More Scoundrels!
Aug. 7th, 2020 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rain_gryphonOkay, that woman who systematically tortured and mutilated that little boy is convicted. She gets sentenced Monday. If you're interested in the whole sordid tale, there are keywords at the end of the article that allow you to follow along. Reading between the lines, I think the reason they only charged her with neglect would have been for the difficulty of actually proving that she committed the injuries. They had her hands down on neglect, though, as she callously and wantonly documented his condition (and her lack of action, or even intention, to remediate it) in pictures and text messages and even a video.
We're left with the mystery of *why*, however. I'd hoped to see that addressed, but her lawyer (wisely, IMHO) kept her off the stand. She volunteered to look after him - he wasn't forced on her. She obviously understood how to take care of a child, and was capable of doing so, since her own child was (at least physically) well-cared for^1. She had sufficient resources, plenty of food and such. She apparently started in on him the first day she had him, and just kept it up. She was evidently an exceptionally slovenly housekeeper, but children survive much worse than that with no lasting effect^2, so long as they're loved and have some stability in their lives. In the end, it's a mystery. Perhaps there'll be a book.
^1 I tend to wonder what the long-term effects on him will be, not only growing up motherless, but of knowing what his mother did to this boy, presumably in his presence.
^2 I have, in fact, seen it convincingly argued that children exposed to some dirt and filth grow up with more robust immune systems than those kept constantly clean, which makes sense to me.
*****
As a rule, life in rural Indiana is pretty sedate. But honest to God, when there's a shitshow here, it's generally on an epic scale. As an aside, glancing at the picture of the woman, I thought she was probably in her mid-fifties. The local methamphetamine dealers are saddened to lose such a good customer, I'm sure.
*****
The chickens come home to roost from that poultry plant full of illegals that got raided last August. I'm pleased to see that it's being taken seriously, the law fully enforced, and some people are likely to spend the rest of their lives in prison. It should be more.
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An habitual criminal loses his appeal. What greatly annoys me about this is that the fellow isn't going to spend the rest of his life in prison for "stealing hedge clippers", as his partisans are falsely claiming. He's going to spend the rest of his life in prison for an armed robbery and a home burglary, along with other crimes, and for showing in general that he's an incorrigible threat to decent people. It's infuriating that his lawyers, etc, understand the difference yet pretend otherwise, simply for the sake of stirring up public opinion against the judicial system. It's stunning that a judge goes along with the charade. The lawyers at least can justify their conduct as part of the adversarial system.
*****
Salt Lake City charges BLM rioters in such a way that life in prison is a potential outcome. Good. It is far past time for such measures.
We're left with the mystery of *why*, however. I'd hoped to see that addressed, but her lawyer (wisely, IMHO) kept her off the stand. She volunteered to look after him - he wasn't forced on her. She obviously understood how to take care of a child, and was capable of doing so, since her own child was (at least physically) well-cared for^1. She had sufficient resources, plenty of food and such. She apparently started in on him the first day she had him, and just kept it up. She was evidently an exceptionally slovenly housekeeper, but children survive much worse than that with no lasting effect^2, so long as they're loved and have some stability in their lives. In the end, it's a mystery. Perhaps there'll be a book.
^1 I tend to wonder what the long-term effects on him will be, not only growing up motherless, but of knowing what his mother did to this boy, presumably in his presence.
^2 I have, in fact, seen it convincingly argued that children exposed to some dirt and filth grow up with more robust immune systems than those kept constantly clean, which makes sense to me.
*****
As a rule, life in rural Indiana is pretty sedate. But honest to God, when there's a shitshow here, it's generally on an epic scale. As an aside, glancing at the picture of the woman, I thought she was probably in her mid-fifties. The local methamphetamine dealers are saddened to lose such a good customer, I'm sure.
*****
The chickens come home to roost from that poultry plant full of illegals that got raided last August. I'm pleased to see that it's being taken seriously, the law fully enforced, and some people are likely to spend the rest of their lives in prison. It should be more.
*****
An habitual criminal loses his appeal. What greatly annoys me about this is that the fellow isn't going to spend the rest of his life in prison for "stealing hedge clippers", as his partisans are falsely claiming. He's going to spend the rest of his life in prison for an armed robbery and a home burglary, along with other crimes, and for showing in general that he's an incorrigible threat to decent people. It's infuriating that his lawyers, etc, understand the difference yet pretend otherwise, simply for the sake of stirring up public opinion against the judicial system. It's stunning that a judge goes along with the charade. The lawyers at least can justify their conduct as part of the adversarial system.
*****
Salt Lake City charges BLM rioters in such a way that life in prison is a potential outcome. Good. It is far past time for such measures.
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Date: 2020-08-08 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-08 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-08 10:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-08 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-08 10:09 am (UTC)Indeed! I doubt the managers were doing this in a philanthropic move to help these people better their lives.
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Date: 2020-08-08 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-08 06:13 pm (UTC)If you think that Fair Wayne Bryant is low-life scum, then surely the state of Louisiana shouldn't be spending $1 million on him to "send a message" about habitual offenders? He's not worth it, consider that 40% of Louisiana's budget comes from federal handouts (in 2016, Louisiana spent $6323 per resident to run its government, while collecting only $1989 in taxes). Since Bryant is probably too old now to pull off an armed robbery, perhaps Louisiana could save money by throwing him out of jail and avoiding having to pay for his healthcare?
Compare with Jimcy McGirt, the Indian in Oklahoma who was sentenced to 1,000 years in state prison for raping an underage white girl (reversed by the Supreme Court last month). This was clearly wrong given that Daniel Holtzclaw, a white cop also in Oklahoma, got only 263 years for raping 13 Black women. Apparently Oklahoma is in the habit of giving ridiculous sentences that cannot possibly be served and are merely "sending a message" (= grand-standing).
no subject
Date: 2020-08-08 10:35 pm (UTC)Raising the cost of chicken would, I think, be a good thing, or at least not bad in and of itself. While I have no moral qualms about eating meat, it remains obvious that eliminating animal slaughter, whether through the use of textured plant protein, or through the use of animal cell lines grown in a vat, is a better and more humane way to go. What's holding back 'plant meat^1' ATM is the cost. One of the things that I've noticed in the last few months is that all meat (except fish, for some reason), is becoming steadily more expensive. It's nearing a tipping point, I think.
A secondary factor is the brutalizing effect of working in a slaughterhouse. I'd be just as happy to see that done away with too.
In the end, I see no real difference between sentences of 263 years, 1000 years, and life^2. Had I my way, such a sentence would result in automatic, humane execution, since they're never getting out, and there's no point to maintaining them at public expense. Perhaps their families, or the anti-DP organizations, could pay for their upkeep if they wanted them left alive.
^1 Did I own such a company, I would most assuredly call my firm "The Vegetable Lamb", after the medieval legend.
^2 With the caveat that it's entertaining to imagine the other inmates forced to haul the crumbling skeleton of the guy with the thousand year sentence to and from the lunchroom, the exercise yard, etc., centuries after he's dead. And make them responsible for not losing any of the pieces either. >:)