The Chagrin is upon Me...

Something that irks the hell out of me is when a site is offering something that I want (in this case, a *nice* printable model of a Gemini-Titan), but they want you to sign up as a member first. That part's okay with me. I get something I want right now, and they get a press-ganged member, who may eventually take an interest in the site, and become a contributor. That seems fair to me.

What annoys me is that when I'm done with the signup, I'm not returned to the download page. I'm just dumped in the website at large. If I left-arrow back towards it, I find that my newly-minted member's session key doesn't apply to it - I have to copy the URL, and open it in a new tab to be properly covered, and get my download. It's not a major thing, I suppose, but it seems very poor design, and so many places are this way anymore.

More Scoundrels!

Okay, 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.

*****

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.