Everyday Erinyes #84

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage.  These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that.  Even though there are many more which I can’t include.  As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

This case leaves me a little speechless, so I’ll be doing some quoting.  “A Pennsylvania police officer will be sentenced this week after accepting a plea deal in a child rape case — three years after his father was sentenced for abusing one of the same boys”

That sentence (the verbal one, not the court one) is accurate, as far as it goes, but it gives the impression this – individual – was following in his father’s footsteps over time.  From all of the dates, it appears more likely that the father and sone were sharing the boys.  The abuse started in 2001, when one of the boys was seven.  The perp was 28 or so and at that time a police officer in Dupont, PA.  It doesn’t appear this case which terminated his employment – he started amassing his criminal record (and I assume that terminology means there was at least one convicton for something) in 2008.

This is 2017, and the boy who was seven is noww 23 and able to stand up for himself.

The 44-year-old Turkos, a former Dupont police officer, threatened to hurt their mother and pets or take away their toys if they revealed the abuse.

One of the boys told police that Turkos choked him and used zip ties to restrain him during the abuse, and investigators said the former police officer held a hand over his mouth to muffle his screams.

“I hope you die — you’re a piece of crap,” Turkos told one of the boys, according to police.

(Is that what’s called adding insult to injury?)

This – individual – has been allowed to plea bargain down to two misdemeanor charges, but at least each of those charges can carry up to five years in prison.  (The father of this – individual – was sentenced to between three months and five years in state prison, BTW.)  It appears hat he has been skating with minimumm penalties, deferred penalties, and victim blaming for a good long time.  He strikes me as one of those who needs to be locked up permanently, and if he becomes a human being, to make a new life in prison.  But that is not going to happen with the current charges.  In fact, he is currently out on $50,000 bond.

But enough about the done deal.  This case, ladies and gentlemen, is why there should never be a statute of limitations on rape, any rape, but especially child rape.  The Victorians had something when they referred to it as “a fate worse than death.”  Like murder, it is life changing forever, and it is irreversible.  And if grown women have trouble standing up to our legal system to even establish that a crime has been committed, how is a young child supposed to accomplish that?  Andrew Vachss is amazing, but he is not omnipresent, and there are not enough of him.  While changing rape culture seems overwhelming, changing states of limitations is something which can be worked on.  Alecto, maybe you would do that.

Meanwhile, in Louisiana, one Congressman put up a post (back in June) on Facebook about which there can be NO doubt that it is intended to incite violence.  Evidently, he is still defending it, and so is Facebook.

Here’s what he said:

“The free world… all of Christendom… is at war with Islamic horror. Not one penny of American treasure should be granted to any nation who harbors these heathen animals. Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter. Their intended entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, identify them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all.”

I am working from an email here, from MoveOn, soliciting signatures on one of their petitions.  What makes this current when it happened in June is that another elected official, this one in norther Michigan, a Village President (which I assume is like a mayor?) has gotten into the action with a post of his own, and has said he owes no one an apology for calling for the killing of “every last Muslim.”  So I don’t have a single source.

But MoveOn has provided links to their sources, and I’ll share those.

Tisiphone, perhaps you might want to explain to these First Amendment idiots that, while the First Amendment doesn’t protect incitements to violence, it certainly does protect verbal responses to incitements to violence which do not incite violence themselves.

And in Florida – do I have to say any more?  Well, yes, I guess I do.  A video surfaced – well.

Apparently five kids aged 14 to 16 were in a park smoking marijuana when a disabled man walked into a retention pool and got out of his depth.  He started struggling, and screaming for help.  Ultimately he fell under the surface of the water, where he died.  None of the teens called 911.  None of the teens rushed to help.  Instead, they laughed and joked.  And uploaded the video.  THEN someone called the police.

Florida doesn’t have a “Good Samaritan” law that would both protect and demand people help when lives are threatened. As a result, it is unlikely that any of the teens will be charged with a crime.

“While the incident depicted on the recording does not give rise to sufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution under Florida statutes, we can find no moral justification for either the behavior of persons heard on the recording or the deliberate decision not to render aid to Mr. Dunn,” a statement said from the Brevard-Seminole State Attorney’s Office.

Living as I do in a state where recreational marijuana is legal (for adults – but not for 14-16 year olds even here), I find it difficult to believe those brats could not be prosecuted in Florida for possession.  If that is published as a fact, I assume there is some evidence that that is what they were doing.  But I am not a lawyer, nor in law enforcement.

I do find it noteworthy that, when investigators went to the homes of the teens to interview them, they found no smidgen of remorse or grief.  “Only a smirk.”

Megaera, I doubt whether you can get through to them.  But I wish you would try.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 here.