Althouse: "They were stuck together like two hot dogs… so I poured a little hot water on them and help them out."

March 18, 2016

"They were stuck together like two hot dogs… so I poured a little hot water on them and help them out."

"They’ll be alright. It was just a little hot water."

27 comments:

jg said...: Absolutely revolting. And I don't mean gay snuggles. Also gross: WaPo showed me an interstitial link: [‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’ attacker allegedly yelled as he beat Hispanic man, Muslim student]. I guess the anti-gay bigot psychopath (conservative black christian, I'd guess? or just some mentally ill drunk guy? they didn't say what relationship to victims ...) is more disgusting than the WaPo writers/editors who promote "Trump supporters = hate crime perps" in any context but especially this one.; 3/18/16, 5:55 PM
jg said...: Perp is the "23 year old [victim's] ... mother’s boyfriend"; 3/18/16, 5:57 PM
jg said...: How long did that water take to boil? :(; 3/18/16, 5:58 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Awful, awful crime. I hope Blackwell, the perp, gets life imprisonment.

We all understand that the WaPost is subtly trying to politicize it (pass hate crime laws, vote against Trump, silence foes of gay marriage), but the focus should be on sympathy for the victims and swift punishment for the culprit.; 3/18/16, 6:01 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Every liberal black big city mayor who has an Office of Outreach to the Gay Community always hires a white guy to fill that office. Ever wonder why that is?; 3/18/16, 6:13 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: How terrible, but I don't think it should matter what the motivation of the perpetrator was. Would they be any less injured if he had done it because, say, they weren't paying rent?; 3/18/16, 6:13 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Professor, one of the reasons your WaPo-linked items get less interest (fewer links, fewer comments, etc.) is that WaPo is stuck behind the paywall.

WaPo still thinks its stuff is worth money in front.; 3/18/16, 6:25 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/18/16, 6:48 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/18/16, 6:51 PM
MaxedOutMama said...: The one guy has a GoFundMe account and really needs help, folks.
https://www.gofundme.com/t8umr5as; 3/18/16, 7:01 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Clicking on this post was kind of a shock.

I thought it was going to be a nice story about some caring soul going out of her way to save a couple rare snails caught out in cold snap or something like that, but no....; 3/18/16, 7:06 PM
Triangle Man said...: Sounds more like attempted murder. Tack on the federal hate crime charges.; 3/18/16, 8:30 PM
Mary Beth said...: "The photo on the right shows him before the alleged attack."

Alleged?; 3/18/16, 9:13 PM
chickelit said...: Paywall blocked. I'm not simpatico with WaPo and don't wish to contribute.; 3/18/16, 10:34 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: The comments at WaPo are practically unreadable. A lot of foaming at the mouth and assuming facts not in evidence about Christians and premeditation. The article did not say one word about the perpetrator's religious beliefs--but there's a lot of bigoted silliness anyway. The top rated comment contains the phrase "KKKristian Taliban," for example. Giant eyeroll. And a lot of going off about having to fill the pot and wait for it to boil, which to my reading of the article is 100% imagination on the readers' part. It never said one way or the other. Maybe someone was making spaghetti and he just grabbed the water and threw it on them.

None of this is to minimize the level of horror of the crime, mind you; just to bemoan the idiots who comment at WaPo.; 3/18/16, 10:52 PM
Anonymous said...: @Chickelit: WaPo uses a cookie to keep track of the number of free articles you read each month. Once you reach the limit, you get the PayWall message. Just delete the cookie from your browser and you can start over again, reading more free articles. You can keep repeating this each time you reach the limit.; 3/19/16, 1:05 AM
The Digital Hairshirt said...: Sorry for their pain but my God, Wapo writes it in a "made for TV movie" style. What ever happened to plain journalistic writing?; 3/19/16, 6:01 AM
Hey Skipper said...: @Chickelit: WaPo uses a cookie to keep track of the number of free articles you read each month. Once you reach the limit, you get the PayWall message. Just delete the cookie ...

Or just open the link into an incognito window.; 3/19/16, 7:23 AM
Oso Negro said...: The perp must have been another black man, or the episode would have been billed as a hate crime two-fer.; 3/19/16, 9:13 AM
Static Ping said...: I hate to admit it, but the first thing that crossed my mind is this may be a hoax. I suppose this is what happens when there are many, many similar hoaxes that are believed without investigation, and when the news media has proven untrustworthy.

Having seen the pictures (not in the Wash Post, since they won't let me see the article), I desperately wish it is a hoax because that is the sort of thing I would not do to my worst enemy. And I still cannot shake the idea that this is a hoax. My trust level is that low. It does not help that I have seen things similar on the Internet that were made up completely, nor that I have seen similar things reported by the media which proved to not be what was claimed. And even if the damage is real, it may not have been caused in the way described.

I'm still not sure how he managed to do that much damage. Does boiling water normally cause such extensive burns, or did the hospital strip off the damaged skin because it was a lost cause, or did he bring a bathtub? That does not look like the kind of damage done by a coffee pot.; 3/19/16, 1:33 PM
Gabriel said...: How long before CNN will ask Hillary to repudiate her homophobic voters?; 3/19/16, 5:53 PM
Gabriel said...: @Static Ping:Does boiling water normally cause such extensive burns

Yes it does. High heat capacity and high heat conductivity. And it soaks your clothes, which holds it against your skin.

That does not look like the kind of damage done by a coffee pot.

Don't see where you'd get the experience to judge such things, unless you go around throwing boiling water on people.; 3/19/16, 5:55 PM
Static Ping said...: Gabriel, I admit that I have no experience will boiling water assaults, for which I am grateful. Still, have you seen the pictures? One of them basically has no skin left on his back. The trauma is massive. This wasn't someone tossing a cup a coffee in someone's face. I've had small amounts of boiling water make contact with my skin and it hurts horribly, but what the heck is required to burn half a body like that?; 3/19/16, 10:00 PM
Ann Althouse said...: In the old days, we used to get sunburns that would develop into a situation where a large sheet of skin would peel off your back. It hurt a lot, but it was considered amusing to peel the skin off.; 3/20/16, 7:00 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I was born the same year as Bill Bryson, who wrote this in his memoir of childhood:

"If you got a splinter you could pass an afternoon, and attract a small devoted audience, seeing how far you could insert a needle under your skin—how close you could get to actual surgery. If you got sunburned you looked forward to the moment when you could peel off a sheet of translucent epidermis that was essentially the size of your body. Scabs in Kid World were cultivated the way older people cultivate orchids. I had knee scabs that I kept for up to four years, that were an inch and three-quarters thick and into which you could press thumbtacks without rousing my attention. Nosebleeds were much admired, needless to say, and anyone with a nosebleed was treated like a celebrity for as long as it ran."

Bryson, Bill (2006-10-17). The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir (p. 32). Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.; 3/20/16, 7:02 AM
JAORE said...: I saw the pictures, no coffee cup of hot water there. Nor (to my admittedly ignorant eyes) a pot of spaghetti water. These guys were COVERED in boiling water.

Hate crime, sure, if the reporting is accurate. But why is that needed in this case. Surely this kind of torturous, devastating attack falls under regular crime labels that call for decades if not a life time of jail.

And, yeah, the this is what Christians do crap in the comments is revolting.; 3/20/16, 10:23 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: @Static Ping

Are you from some other planet? Why don't you pour boiling water on the body part of your choice and find out for yourself?; 3/20/16, 12:19 PM