Althouse: Man hears baby crying in "Game of Thrones," which he's been watching for quite some time...

August 5, 2014

Man hears baby crying in "Game of Thrones," which he's been watching for quite some time...

... and it jogs him into remembering that he left his own foster child in his car.

25 comments:

The Crack Emcee said...: That happened because the kid on TV was more real.

Not much, resulting from "foster" anything, really matters in this world,...; 8/5/14, 9:16 AM
rehajm said...: Seth Jackson allegedly watched an episode and a half of the HBO show while smoking pot with his husband...

I did not read where The New York Times accounted for the cost of this negative externality, either.; 8/5/14, 9:24 AM
Jason said...: Awesome screening, eh?; 8/5/14, 9:33 AM
Lyssa said...: Wow, I wish that I hadn't read that. Sickening. I hope that someone at social services has to answer some hard questions about how these folks were approved to foster and adopt in the first place - one would hope that routine illegal drug use in the home would be a kicker.

Even if it were legal in KS, it's not OK to smoke that with kids in the house.; 8/5/14, 9:41 AM
rhhardin said...: The downside of required child restraints.

We jumped all over the car when I was a kid.; 8/5/14, 9:42 AM
David said...: My guess is that "fostering" children was this couple's main source of income. They had five of them.

But why is Seth the only one being charged? His husband Peyton was there too. Isn't he equally responsible, even though he did not have the child in the car?

I do not think this couple will be getting too much ink in praise of gay marriage.; 8/5/14, 9:45 AM
MadisonMan said...: Why'd they choose the picture of him (no the mug shot) that they used in the article, I wonder?; 8/5/14, 9:47 AM
Wince said...: Exactly why Joe Friday hates weed.

The Big High; 8/5/14, 9:56 AM
Ex-prosecutor said...: What would be civil liabilities be on a case like this. Suppose there is a life insurance policy on the child, with the parents as beneficiaries. The company would deny payment if the father were convicted of some degree of homicide. If he's not charged, would the death then not be a negligent act of the father, which his homeowner's insurance would pay?; 8/5/14, 9:57 AM
Fernandinande said...: Seth Jackson allegedly watched an episode and a half of the HBO show while smoking pot with his husband Payton Schroeder in their Wichita home, before remembering that he left 10-month Kadillak Poe Jones in the sweltering hot car.

That sentence touches a bunch of hot-buttons; add the facts that the guy worked for a (public?) school district and that "Kadillak" is black and you got all these bases covered.
- Games of Thrones: check
- Homosexual marriage: check
- Drugs: check
- Global Warming: check
- Education: check
- Child abuse and foster kids: check
- Race: check

He then allegedly* smoked the narcotic with his husband Payton Schroeder, ...

First he was smoking pot, now he's smoking a narcotic - which was it? (*Not mentioned in the police report/affidavit; probably invented later.); 8/5/14, 10:00 AM
Rae said...: So they allow dope addicts to foster children in Kansas? Let me guess...he had a medical marijuana card!; 8/5/14, 10:03 AM
Quaestor said...: The Daily News used to be known for their punchy headlines full of emotion and moral outrage. Evidently not so much anymore.

GAY POTHEADS BROIL BABY

There, that ought to do it.

The interesting side to this tale of woe is not that Game of Thrones (yet more soporific mind-rot for the masses) served as both devil and angel in the death of Kadillak Poe Jones (BTW, who saddled that innocent infant with monstrous excuse for a name, and why hasn't that person been publicly flogged?) The interesting question is this: Why were Seth Jackson and his butt-buddy Payton Schroeder allowed to act as foster parents in the first place? Did the fact that they are members of a newly fashionable demographic influence their certification by Kansas social services agents? Did motivated reasoning lead to the unfortunate Kadillak's agony and death?; 8/5/14, 10:31 AM
Quaestor said...: Exactly why Joe Friday hates weed.

NORML-types love to giggle over anti-pot agitprop like that clip. Too bad for them and all of us it understates the problem.; 8/5/14, 10:44 AM
tim maguire said...: Seth Jackson is facing a first-degree murder charge after...accidentally leaving the little girl...behind in the vehicle.

I have very little sympathy for him (he remembered 1 child and the pizza, but not the other child? He was already stoned), but how does one get charged with first degree murder for an accident?; 8/5/14, 11:06 AM
SeanF said...: Lyssa: Even if it were legal in KS, it's not OK to smoke that with kids in the house.

But the kid wasn't in the house.

(And I'm going to hell for that one.)

And, boy, there's some terrible writing/editing in that article. The author seems confused as to when to use "whom," and I'm pretty sure the cause of death was hyperthermia, not hypothermia.; 8/5/14, 11:15 AM
The Drill SGT said...: wrong on soo many levels; 8/5/14, 11:16 AM
CatherineM said...: Everyone should read this Pulitzer winning article from WaPo from 2009 before it was in the news every day. Notice how news does that? Something happens and then they highlight every time it happens again like it's an epidemic?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html; 8/5/14, 12:16 PM
CatherineM said...: Rhardin - Actually, it's because of airbags. Baby seats used to be in passenger seats before airbags made that deadly. Sharp rise in these accidents since then.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html; 8/5/14, 12:17 PM
Lyssa said...: SeanF said: Lyssa: Even if it were legal in KS, it's not OK to smoke that with kids in the house.

But the kid wasn't in the house.

The article mentioned him bringing in one other kid, and apparently they had several, so there were other kids in the house.; 8/5/14, 12:29 PM
Boltforge said...: tim maguire said...
"but how does one get charged with first degree murder for an accident?"

From the article ...
"Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said the first-degree murder charge was warranted because the baby died 'during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony - aggravated endangering of a child.' "; 8/5/14, 12:52 PM
Boltforge said...: Quaestor said...
"GAY POTHEADS BROIL BABY
There, that ought to do it."

Or try ...

GAY WHITE POTHEADS MURDER BLACK BABY GIRL

Interesting that the news hasn't picked up that it was gay white men killing an African American baby girl. Wonder why?; 8/5/14, 12:56 PM
jaed said...: We know what happened here because it happens far too often.

1) It's popular and sometimes legally mandated to stuff infants into the back seat of the car, in rear-facing seats, where you can't see the baby and the baby can't see you. (Really, they might as well be riding in the trunk.)

2) When someone's normal routine is interrupted or sidetracked, their autopilots can often forget there is a baby in the car, and since the baby isn't in their field of vision, they aren't reminded. Typically, this happens when doing a routine trip but with some difference - an extra stop needed, a routine stop not made, had to travel out of the normal way, etc. The mental "did I take the baby out of the car seat?" checkoff item is incorrectly checked off because of the disrupted routine. The baby is in a position where it's hidden from view.

If it's summer and if nothing reminds you, the result is often a dead baby. (Come to think of it, they might be safer in the trunk: it's just as hidden from the driver, but trunks at least don't heat up as fast as car interiors.)

"OMG they smoked pot while watching TV" and "OMG teh gay" did not cause this. It happens all the time without either of these factors being involved.; 8/5/14, 1:04 PM
D. B. Light said...: I don't know how many times I've been watching "Game of Thrones" when what I saw on screen reminded me of something I had forgotten to do.; 8/5/14, 7:23 PM
SeanF said...: It was just a poor-taste joke, Lyssa.

Nonetheless, I'll point out that the children who were in the house are just fine.; 8/5/14, 7:57 PM
holdfast said...: The gay part is irrelevant.

But don't tell me that being a chronic pothead can't be injurious to memory.; 8/5/14, 9:10 PM