Cleveland

Of course the main question when you hear this case is how did Ariel Castro possibly keep control of three women and one girl for a decade?

One possible answer comes from Elizabeth Smart, herself a victim of kidnapping, repeated rape and long-term captivity:

"Speaking to an audience at Johns Hopkins about issues of human trafficking and sexual violence, Smart recently offered an answer to that question. She explained that some human trafficking victims don’t run away because they feel worthless after being raped, particularly if they have been raised in conservative cultures that push abstinence-only education and emphasize sexual purity. . . ."

I don't know. That maybe explains some. That doesn't explain all of it. I'm not making an innuendo that these poor women cooperated with their capture in any way. I'm wondering how did Castro keep them in an ordinary urban house for so long? As Charles Ramsey-- the hero of this situation because he noticed, broke down a screen door and called 911-- said, he didn't expect the police to find anybody else. The neighbors thought Castro was quite ordinary.

However, his a history of brutal violence against his ex-, then deceased, wife has come out. Apparently, he had a lot of resentment over the divorce and the fact that he lost custody.


There's something I don't understand about my fellow men. Why, for anger, is one woman a substitute for another? It's never made any goddamn sense to me. Females aren't interchangeable. Directing rage to a female for what a different one did is a futile waste. The insanity comes in with continuing to try it, apparently without resolution and with repeated victims over ten years. The depravity of it, however, starts immediately.

Prosecutors are doing their best to come up with a death penalty case for this, simply because of the guy's crude efforts to abort his victims' fetuses. 
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Another geek excursion

Today I went out to the computer store another time. Again, I took the bus and the Metro. I cancelled my entertainment for tonight, since I'm running a bit over budget. I'm settling for a temporary beer buzz instead. Instead of Happy Hour, I have to write tonight. I've got some big creative decisions to make.