Video: "Judge" beats disabled daughter for using the Internet

A YouTube video posted by a person who claims to be Hillary Adams, daughter of Aransas County Court-At-Law Judge William Adams shows a video of a man said to be Judge Williams viciously beating her as a teenager in 2004 (in the video, her age is given as 16). The accompanying text states:

Aransas County Court-At-Law Judge William Adams took a belt to his own teenage daughter as punishment for using the internet to acquire music and games that were unavailable for legal purchase at the time. She has had ataxic cerebral palsy from birth that led her to a passion for technology, which was strictly forbidden by her father's backwards views. The judge's wife was emotionally abused herself and was severely manipulated into assisting the beating and should not be blamed for any content in this video. The judge's wife has since left the marriage due to the abuse, which continues to this day, and has sincerely apologized and repented for her part and for allowing such a thing, long before this video was even revealed to exist. Judge William Adams is not fit to be anywhere near the law system if he can't even exercise fit judgement as a parent himself. Do not allow this man to ever be re-elected again. His "judgement" is a giant farce. Signed, Hillary Adams, his daughter.

Someone claiming to be the judge has posted this response: "I found this easily after being told of it. I am aware of your posts. Unfortunately I can not respond much to this libel, except in court. Just be advised, I am aware of it and action is being taken. Judge Adams."

(UPDATE: The above quote was copied to YouTube from an old thread at Scam.com. The person there claiming to be Adams was responding to accusations regarding a different matter.)

Meanwhile, Reddit's human flesh search engine has posted the Judge's office numbers and address, as well as contact info for other organizations with which he is affiliated.

The video is unbearable at points, and if the facts are as presented in the accompanying text, I imagine this will be a tough reelection season for the judge. It's also amazing to think that the brave young woman in the video had the good instincts and courage to record her abuse, a neat parable about the innate advantages that smart, technologically literate young people enjoy over their technophobic, vicious, thuggish elders.

Subsequent to this video's posting, a Reddit thread appeared claiming that the Reddit and YouTube accounts for the woman identified as the abuse victim from the video have been hacked. The thread claims that the video is in danger of being deleted as a result, and urges Redditors to make mirrors in case that happens. Here is one such mirror.

Family law judge beats own daughter for using the internet, please spread (youtu.be) (Thanks, Ian, and all the many others who suggested this video!)

• [inkfumes]

  Christ, what assholes. This is just sickening.

• [Jourdy288]

  Ugh, I’m disgusted at this. Beating a child with cerebral palsy? (Not to imply that if the kid didn’t have cerebral palsy this would be any better).

  Also, to curse a child like that? That’s it, this man deserves a beating. I don’t usually wish “Internet Justice” on anybody, but I wish it on him. He’s like a male Roerva Pelzer.

  • [Digilante]

    So beating a child without cerebral palsy would be seen as less disgusting?

    • [Jourdy288]

      Well no, but still having cerebral palsy, that just makes it worse… The kid already had big problems, but this.. This is evil.

    • [Cory Doctorow]

      Of course it is. If you have movement and coordination problems, you’re less able to defend yourself or cushion blows, you have fewer comfortable recovery positions available while you are injured (which may mean that you’re forced to lie, sit or stand in a position that puts pressure on a bruise, strain or fracture), and any problems you experience as a result of your coordination disability are exacerbated by the injuries.

      • [Digilante]

        Valid argument, Cory, but “disgusting” refers to the aggressor, not to the victim, and my point is that the aggressor is disgusting no matter what the status of the victim is.

        • [Guest]

          I find the people who stand on the sidelines arguing with other people about just which details are the most disgusting to be rather worrisome, too. 

        • [Digilante]

          My dearest mr mdhatter03 – your comments are well put and to the point, but I do find them somewhat ironic in that you’re even further off the topic than you accuse me of being. In any event, as someone who was similarly “disciplined”, I’m merely trying to say that all violence against another human being is not right, irrespective of their age, creed, or physical situation.

    • [Guest]

      less disgusting than derailing a conversation about the evils of child abuse so that instead it is a conversation about your own cleverness.

• [Dan Bailey]

  LIBEL n. to publish in print (including pictures), writing or broadcast through radio, television or film, an untruth about another which will do harm to that person or his/her reputation, by tending to bring the target into ridicule, hatred, scorn or contempt of others. Libel is the written or broadcast form of defamation, distinguished from slander, which is oral defamation. (from the Legal Dictionary at Law.com)

  Kinda hard to call it an “untruth” when there’s video of it happening.

  • [MB44]

    Hey it’s not like he has a legal background to understand this distinction. If he did then he would be a liar but he doesn’t… ohh wait. 

  • [John Ross]

    Unless its not him in the video…..

• [toasterslie]

  Judge William Adams has thrown out at least one child abuse case because there was no video evidence. Comeuppance can’t come soon enough.

• [kevinupstairs]

  Takes a real big man to beat a defenseless kid like that. I hope you rot in hell you monster.

• [Melinda9]

  In this state (CT) just hitting a child (and, of course an adult) like that once would qualify as assault. ‘Spanking’ is legal, but if it leaves any mark, it’s assault. Very sad to see this and ponder the vast and varied unnecessary suffering in the world.

• [dculberson]

  There’s no way I can watch that video.  Forget the fucking election, I hope he goes to jail over this.

• [Mark McAndrew]

  “Action is being taken…”?

  Sure is, you ignorant child-abusing beast.

  Say goodbye to your job, pension, friends and family. Say hello to life as a social pariah, scumbag.

  (Suggest you don’t touch the kid again – and move house right now. You’re doubtless already in danger from vigilantes. Boo-hoo.)

• [mappo]

  Also: mom’s advice is to “take it like a grown woman”.  I think I now know more than I want to about her marriage.

• [lknope]

  I think Judge William Adams is “fit to be near the law system.”   As a defendant.

• [sally599]

  Unfortunely getting judges out of office is almost impossible.  Here we had some which were never proven to have any sort of legel knowledge at all and we can’t get them out because people just vote for all of the judges blindly or because they like the name. 

• [glaborous_immolate]

  That beating is unjustified and wicked, but what’s up with characterizing the guy’s views on computer use in the house as ‘backwards’. It’s his call. 

  • [mkanoap]

    The characterization of the guys views on computer use as ‘backwards’ was the victim’s, not Cory’s.   It’s her call too.

• [trackofalljades]

  Presuming the video is authentic, the context is reasonably accurate, etc…

  I hope there can’t be much disagreement over the father’s behavior, but I’m curious as to the reactions we see all over the Interwebs about the mother’s?  One tries to be empathetic, and imagine the mental state one living with an abusive spouse contends with on a day to day basis…or perhaps one tries to interpret the mother’s “good cop” routine as imploring the daughter to comply purely to reduce the severity of her suffering (you know, like That Character in every prison break movie).

  Personally, I just can’t do it.  I can’t condone it in the least.  If someone physically attacked my child in front of me, I can’t imagine doing anything but wailing on them with random objects or trying to scratch their eyes out while screaming to anyone in earshot for help.  I can’t imagine it mattering if they were twice my size or held emotional power over me.  I just can’t imagine it.

  Maybe that says more about me than it does her, I can’t be sure.  Either way, it’s just a horrible video, and impossible to forget, and that’s why I hope a lot of people see it.  It blows my mind that this stuff happens every day, in suburgatory just as often as a housing project, and yet our society places harsher penalties and greater cultural stigmas on crimes which should seem trivial by comparison.

  It’s always fascinated/horrified me that one of the few places that child abuse seems to consistently garner what one might consider a remotely “appropriate” level of punishment relative to other crimes is within the lawless environments of prison systems, which are supposedly populated by the least civilized people of all.

  • [SomeGuyNamedMark]

    Supposedly child abusers get singled out in prison to some extent because many prisoners themselves have been abused as kids, there is a culture of machismo (beating a kid is seen as weak, attacking a cop would be considered admirable), and someone looking for status in prison would attack the easy target that everyone else dislikes too.

  • [SarahKH]

    T he wife’s actions may seem odd, but it is worth keeping in mind the video shows someone taking a belt to a child. What exactly would of happened to the wife if she hadn’t of been ‘supportive’ of the husbands actions?

    I’m almost certain it would be much worse and sustained than the child had to endure.

    • [Liz Henry]

      I thought she was trying to intercede and stop the beating. But her defusing-by-participating tactic didn’t work … at all.

      • [ernunnos]

        In fact, it probably made him angrier. A control freak knows when his control is being undermined. Her attempt at a “compromise”, “Just take one good whack from me, and then it’s over,” took the control away from him. It’s exactly the wrong thing to do if you want to appease a man like that, but when you’re in a situation of that type, rational analysis is not easy.

      • [SarahKH]

        Even without the blurb on the story about the mother I knew she would be interceding, she’d be participating in the event.

        Fear is a very powerful thing for keeping people in line and doing what you want them to do… even if they don’t necessarily want to do it.

  • [Darksweetness]

    @ I totally agree with trackofalljades. I can not give the mother a pass on this, sorry.  So because she “may” have been abused we should feel sorry for her because she didn’t hit the girl as hard as the father hit her? That is just ridiculous to say the least. She probably shouldn’t spend as much time in jail as he should, but she certainly need to be punished as well. We all have to be held accountable for our actions…ALL OF US!!! The father is just a complete moron…period. When I was coming up, we got spanked by my parents, but usually my mother was the disciplinarian and my father looked as if it hurt him as much as it hurt us. Everyone, whether you agree with this sort of punishment or not, need some sense of rescue in their lives. I never felt as if I was abused, trust me when I got in trouble it was always for something I had done. BUT…My father would come to the rescue sooo many times. Fathers (parents) are suppose to be your protectors, not your abusers. This is just raggedy on so many levels!!

• [thekraken]

  That was way too heavy to watch first thing in the morning.

• [Perizade]

  “The judge’s wife was emotionally abused herself and was severely manipulated into assisting the beating and should not be blamed for any content in this video.” Um, yes, she absolutely should. That’s part of the problem with abuse- enablers are let off the hook and instead have their hair stroked. It’s why so many of my students can only escape through a broken foster care system. I’m glad mom finally got a spine and left, and has reformed herself, but she absolutely was responsible.

  • [nesnora]

    Not to mention that women can be sadist pieces of shit too sometimes… she did more than enable, she participated.

• [ivak88]

  I dont want to sound vulgar or perverse, but am i seeing it wrong, or does he appear to have a hardon while beating her???

  • [benenglish]

    I don’t see it.  At what minute/second mark do you see this? 

  • [Mykeru]

    I thought I was imagining things. But along with the claim to “beat her into submission”, one can’t escape a sexual component in the abuser’s behavior. 

    Yes, let’s go there. 

    • [ernunnos]

      Nah, this really is a crime of violence. You notice how many times he uses the word “obedience”? It’s all about control. And not in a sexual sense. This is a man who needs to feel that his will is all, in every aspect of life. Undoubtedly sex too, but that’s almost incidental to the whole. He would be just as cruel to a dog that disobeyed, and not because he wants to fuck it.

  • [AttackHamster]

    Now you say it, yes. About 1:33 to 1:34 looks like it.

• [Robbo]

  The guy’s a fucking sadist and should not be allowed to sit in judgement over anyone.  Get the belt.

• [thedisturbism]

  I didn’t know the Taliban was living in the US…

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    I didn’t know the Taliban was living in the US…

    The Taliban founded this country.

    • [Mister44]

      Part of the country. They weren’t all Puritans.

    • [ernunnos]

      No, they founded a colony. The nation wasn’t founded until much later, out of many different colonies, and by then even the descendants of the Puritans had accepted the new invention of freedom of conscience. If the nation had been founded on Puritan ideals, the 1st Amendment would not exist. If anything, the American government is explicitly anti-Puritan.

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        If the nation had been founded on Puritan ideals, the 1st Amendment would not exist. If anything, the American government is explicitly anti-Puritan.

        Tropic of Cancer, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Fanny Hill couldn’t be published in the US until 1959.  That’s almost two centuries after the US was founded.  US culture is strongly puritanical.  Check out newspapers and television in the rest of the developed world for a comparison. 

        We are all Cotton Mather.  Far more than we want to admit.

        • [ernunnos]

          The Puritans would not consider censorship a triumph. They really were the American Taliban. The existence of opposition, or even of free choice in religion, was not acceptable to them, any more than it is to the Taliban. The US Constitution and its First Amendment is a direct slap in the face against Puritanism. Incidentally, lots of different religions have practiced censorship. If that’s all that remains of Puritanism (and it is) then you might as well claim that America was founded on Islam, or Catholicism. It has about as much to do with them as Puritans.

• [Max Smouha]

  The Judge obviously has a fetish for dominance. People think that emotional repression leads to societal decency but really it just leads to shit like this. As far as I’m concerned this is as much a form of sexual abuse as it is purely mental and physical.

  • [bluest_one]

    #2As far as I’m concerned this is as much a form of sexual abuse as it is purely mental and physical.#

    Well, that’s as maybe, but it’s just factually incorrect. It’s phyisical, emotional, psychologgical abuse for sure. There’s no sexual abuse here.

• [Jason]

  Some followup on that story. The aransus sheriff’s office is now looking into this and starting an investigation according to a local news station

  http://www.kens5.com/news/Man-lashing-child-on-YouTube-prompts-an-investigation-133067573.html

  • [ChicagoD]

    I am afraid that if this happened in 2004 the statute of limitations for this beating has probably run. That being said, a guy using a belt on his disabled 16-year old daughter probably has a trail of evil acts that the police just haven’t discovered . . . yet.

    • [Guest]

      tell that to Anonymous

    • [Liz Henry]

      No, the statute of limitation is 10 years beyond the child’s 18th birthday in Texas. So it hasn’t run out.

• [Perizade]

  Robbo- Get the belt? Get the noose is more like it.

• [ahmacrom]

  I have myotonia congenita and had parents like this. yes I got beat and could not run or defend myself. Guess how well I turned out? Yup, I do not treat my flesh and blood like this EVER. 

• [milkman]

  I understand that in the south things are often 50 years behind so spanking seems right.  And to some level I can accept that.  But its a 7 minute beating with a belt.  You can obviously see that the message is being lost after about 30 seconds and its more about an abusive asshole who needs to be killed getting some aggression out on his obviously shit life.

  • [Thax]

    You have just insulted an entire region to make your (redundant) point.

• [clarkie604]

  Certainly this guy should be immediately impeached because he’s a child abusing asshole — don’t wait for the election.

  On top of that — if the reply is really from the judge it shows he doesn’t even understand basic legal principles. Truth is always a defense to libel, and it’s hard to argue that child abuse accusations are false when you see this video.

• [nehoccramcire]

  Glad my parents never gave us but the mildest of slaps on the behind, which still made us shriek and cry. I once backed up my anger at my young daughter with a hit on the ass and regretted it immediately. Corporal punishment of any kind is a massive failure.

• [bbonyx]

  I always find it interesting when people are not used to this type of family behavior. Shows the difference between the houses they grew up in and mine. This seems fairly tame to the memories I have. Not excusing it, just saying that it definitely feels reminiscent of many evenings.

  • [Jamie Sue]

    I feel ya.  If you’re use to it, it’s common place. When my brother and I talk about our childhood (even when we are speaking fondly of moments) people’s jaws drop and they make pity eyes at us.  

    People don’t understand that it takes GENERATIONS to break families of these behaviors and that’s with people actively trying to choose better parenting.  I can honestly say I’m the best parent out of generations of parents in my family line and it takes WORK not to act like I was raised by demons.  

    It’s not so much a matter of temper, as it is one of conditioning.  As much as this judge is an ass, I’ll bet you his parent’s were more evil.  As much as the wife is an enabler, I bet her her parents sculpted her to be weak and compliant.

    Personally, I’m for tougher punishments and a livelier justice system.  If people don’t choose to break the cycle in their own parenting then the courts should force the break for the sake of the generation after next.

• [Damien]

  That has to rate as one of the most disturbing thing I’ve seen on BoingBoing over the years.
  I can only hope that Hillary  is somewhere safe, and her father spends a long time in gaol.

• [jarmstrong]

  Work swiftly, internet, for you seem to help the administration of justice come around a bit sooner.  And if justice is not served by the courts, another legal form of justice may be served through the publication of this video and exposure of this man’s physical assault on his daughter.

• [Ben Grogan]

  “ Just be advised, I am aware of it and action is being taken. Judge Adams.”

  I guess he’s going to beat her some more?

  • [Guest]

    I think we dun goofed?

• [clarkie604]

  True that.  Kids, no matter what age, respond much better to positive reinforcement or even non-physical, non-abusive punishment (ie, take the computer out of her room) than they ever do to beatings – or even spankings.

• [marina brown]

  I dearly hope that this video does enough damage to prevent this man from having a job that has more responsibility than cleaning bathrooms.

  • [ultranaut]

    Cleaning bathrooms is actually a serious responsibility. I’ve got nothing but respect for people who earn their living that way. This fucker belongs in a box. I hope this video does enough damage to put him in one.

  • [Angie unduplicated]

    Many thanks, Marina, from a bathroom cleaner and abuse survivor.  Are you an Adams Cody, a Tipton, or a Burchfield? After all, these are the abuser families who blacklisted my employment to keep their little secret, that they enjoy socially bullying an individual with a vascular birthmark.

• [nesnora]

  What a sadist piece of shit. I’m disgusted that I’m not surprised given his occupation and fundamentalism.

  Monster.

• [digi_owl]

  And this is why the legal system is stacked against any new technology out there…

• [benenglish]

  I think my moms most vivid memory of her youth and her father was when he beat her up with a crowbar when she was 14 years old.   She had to jump out a second story window to escape. 

  This was pre-WWII, so attitudes were different.  The police did nothing.  After six weeks in the hospital, she returned home and had a little talk with him that changed the family dynamic.  But that’s another story.

  He was totally evil, something that was clear to me even as a child.  When he died, I felt slight relief and little else.  Mom, on the other hand, grieved severely.  Not only had her father died but so had any chance of reconciliation.  She mourned not just for the loss of a father but also for the loss of any hope of ever having a *real* father.

  It amazes me every time I hear of situations like this one in Aransas County.  Don’t the adults involved realize that they are screwing up their kids for life, causing pain that will live on long after they’ve left this world?  Apparently not.

  If he’s anything like my grandfather, the dad in this video will possess a smug and unshakable belief that he’s doing the right thing and that anyone who says different is an ignorant bug.  As a result, I find it terribly difficult to reconcile both my desire for vengeance against these assholes and my pity for them, handicapped as they are by their own ignorance and/or mental illness.

• [kittnkat]

  Its funny that this came up. I’m right now trying to deal with some of these very same issues that recently became unearthed in my own life…being beaten in pretty much the same way from childhood till I left my parents home the day I turned 18. Now that I’m about to become a mom a lot of trust issue have come up about my parents, I don’t trust them with my new baby, I would love to, and I miss them being a part of my life, but when I even confront them about why something like this could happen over and over again they deny that it even happened, tell me I deserve it and then quote the bible at me. 

  I just realized I will never get any sort of closure from them, I’m not even sure what I need to hear from them, but its not ever coming. I hope I left that house soon enough not to end up being like that.

  Though the psychological effects of those times still harm me in unconcious ways, being aware that people will stand up and protect a child going through this makes things better.

  Beating a child is WRONG whether or not you can see the marks of it, verbal abuse is wrong, not defending your own child from harm is wrong, no matter what consequences are. my mother would stand there and say the same things. How can I forgive her? Or know that she would protect her grandchild?

  This sort of abuse happens everyday, good that this child got it on video, now what the hell can we do about it?

  • [ernunnos]

    It gets better. That realization that you will never get closure is very, very hard. But it’s also very liberating. You don’t owe them anything.

  • [Zelda del West]

    Wow. This could have been a scene from  my HS years, except for the relative rarity of video cameras in the early eighties. My own father only got busted this last year when he assaulted my mom while I was on the phone with someone else in the household. I called Oregon police from Texas and had the bastard arrested. He became a convicted felon, had to get rid of his precious guns, spent jail time and was ordered to stay out of the household for months, at great financial cost to my parents, I might add. Both of my dear parents got a taste of good ‘ol karma, and this bastard may too. He certainly deserves it. Oh, and if you’re tempted to think that my mother getting it wasn’t karma, think again. When he was beating me she used to sit on the sidelines and cheer for him. I think anyone with the ability to do so should pile on this onerous scum-pig. Yay internet justice. 

  • [Jamie Sue]

    I will say one thing.  It’s not advice so you can leave it on the message board or take it with you and it won’t matter either way.  It’s just a statement of fact.  You are in no way obligated to make anyone a part of your life that you don’t want to.  There is no law that says you have to give you kid a set of maternal grandparents and even if you decide to there’s nothing that say that the grandparents you pick for your child have to be related to you.  Personally, I just got my kid a different set of older, wiser, sweeter people to fill that spot and was done with the whole ugly mess for good.  And they are great.  

• [mneptok]

  FYI:

  N E W S R E L E A S E
  County of Aransas, 301 N. Live Oak, Rockport, Texas 78382
  Aransas County Judge C. H. “Burt” Mills, Jr., 361-790-0100
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
  November 2, 2011
  ARANSAS COUNTY, TEXAS – Judge Burt Mills has today announced that Aransas County is aware of the video posted on YouTube regarding County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, and the matter is now under review by the Police Department. Please refrain from communication with County offices or the Sheriff’s Department on this matter until the review has been completed. Calls, emails, and faxes only create disruptions for other ongoing county business. The public’s cooperation would be most appreciated.

  Source: http://www.aransascountytx.gov/main/

  • [benenglish]

    Great.  Now there’s no longer any need to contact officials in that county.

    With thanks to the Reddit poster who found it, I think we should now all be contacting these folks:  http://www.scjc.state.tx.us/commissioners.asp , at least until they update their home page with a news release asking us to stop.

    From there, the governors office.  He’s running for election to some other office right now, so maybe he’d like the good press that would result from actually bringing pressure to bear on this injustice.  (Probably wishful thinking, but I need some positive thoughts right about now.)

• [James Foreman]

  a sweet little counterpoint to the awfulness of this video is another video in Hillary’s YouTube page: 

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=v_g9TZN1UMo

  • [cooljames]

    That made me cry.

• [Perizade]

  This absolutely should end his career, and I do hope he winds up a social pariah. No punishment is sufficient for this man.

• [cooljames]

  I think it’s in poor taste for BB to embed this video. It would have been sufficient to link to a mirror and let the more voyeuristic readers follow through if they wanted.

  Lots more to say, but I think it’s smart to stop typing now.

  • [Hobozombie]

    Yeah, displaying evidence is definitely poor taste.

  • [MitchHawstort]

    No, you’re wrong about that. It SHOULD be in people’s faces. Ask the other abused folk leaving comments here if these things are better left hidden. It’d be voyeuristic if it was staged or re-enacted. But, this shit went on, it happened. The reaction to it is much more honest, and powerful, and for the better. They know what they’re reacting to.

• [TokenFrenchDude]

  As the Bible tells us: “He who spareth the rod hateth his son”

  • [Strato Head]

    the bible tells us a lot of things, none of them amount to good parenting tips.

    • [Jason Clark]

      It’s pretty easy to find verses in the bible that show that “He who spareth the rod hateth his son” is often taken out of context to justify abuse. The verse actually says: 

      Proverbs 13:24 (Whole Chapter) ”Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them. ”

      It’s clear in this translation that it’s talking about parents that refuse to discipline. It’s also understood (through the context of the verses below) that “discipline” is different than a merciless 7-minute beating out of anger. The issue isn’t the bible. It’s ignorance of what the bible really says through the over-use of single verse out-of-context quotes.

      ____

      Colossians 3:21 (Whole Chapter) Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. 

      Matthew 18:14 (Whole Chapter) In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish. 

      Ephesians 6:4 (Whole Chapter) Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

      • [Oliver Schmieding]

        blah. BLAH!

        mate, do you honestly want to base your educational principles on “rules of conduct” handed down by some  §%$§$% who lived in some desert some 2K years ago??!?!?

        • [Mister44]

          Wow – troll while on fire much?

          First off, Proverbs is much older than 2K.

          Second his post wasn’t about what his principles were, he was clarifying that the Bible does not promote abuse and that quotes are often out of context. Then he follows up with even more passages that back up that claim.

          Third – the quotes he posted are just commons sense and useful to just about anyone.

        • [Oliver Schmieding]

          sorry- you just do NOT use bible passages to justify ANY kind of behaviour. not wanting to offend anybody here, but what kind of relevance could some utterings from (semi-)delusional, cricket-eating stone age politicians and/or shamen have for today’s problems?

          i would not look to the bible to judge the judge   ;) , nor would i use it to find some apology for his atrocious beviour. i find it rather offensive (and very stupid) to quote scripture here, be it for or against.

        • [aquitaine]

          Not sure that I find it terribly offensive to quote scripture (for or against) in this particular thread, or perhaps just in reply to TokenFrenchDude considering his misuse and mockery of scripture is offensive. Jason Clark is mostly just clarifying verses muddled by TokenFrenchDude and rebutting Strato Head’s view that the Bible offers no good parenting tips. Mister44 is simply pointing that out, your irritation should be toward those who use verses without meaningful content to support their use. But uh, I agree that scripture has no place in a discussion about moral/legal consequences to child abuse today considering each society makes their own rules and the rules in Proverbs were made for a society that existed bumfuck years ago.

          HOWEVER, for those of  us that are paying attention to that route of conversation, if we’re using biblical scripture to clarify what parental obligations are, then I’d probably go with “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31) Clearly not what this guy is doing, however it seems to be the stance that the victim is taking, “… pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:28) Not that I’m implying her response is religiously motivated.

          On a more personal note, my “discipline” was similar to that of Darksweetness, though I wouldn’t say that I didn’t feel as if I was abused. Now, I can’t bear to watch scenes of domestic/child abuse in film without being driven to tears or out of the room, so, full disclosure, I didn’t watch the video and I may be missing the subtleties of some users’ comments. As for the users in shock that others aren’t being incensed to vigilante justice by the video, if we are talking vigilante justice, then we should consider what the VICTIM’s solution is, y’know, the person who actually suffered this atrocity.

        • [Antinous / Moderator]

          Is it absolutely necessary to use an anti-orthopterophage slur?

      • [Daniel]

        It’s clear in this translation that it’s talking about parents that refuse to discipline. It’s also understood (through the context of the verses below) that “discipline” is different than a merciless 7-minute beating out of anger. The issue isn’t the bible. It’s ignorance of what the bible really says through the over-use of single verse out-of-context quotes.

        Actually, I’m fairly certain that in both old testament and new testament times it was quite common not only to severely beat your children but also your slaves and your wives.  I wouldn’t automatically conclude that “discipline” in a biblical context does not mean a seven minute beating out of anger. Such a view of discipline is, to my knowledge, not the least bit inconsistent with what we know about Jewish and Roman cultures of 2000+ years ago.

        • [Jason Clark]

          “Quite Common” does not equate with “Condoned by the Bible.” Your argument is flawed. I also think that just because those things may have happened back then and weren’t criminalized to the extent they are today that certainly doesn’t mean that all people that lived back then actively participated and were monsters. People are people. Most of them tend to have a conscience. Additionally, the people during those times did not have the knowledge that we have today about the psychological damage caused by such abuse. What seems like common sense to us, may not have been so obvious to them. 

  • [OldBrownSquirrel]

    It’s unclear without context whether the rod is a metaphor for beating or a metaphor for direction.  Consider, though, how a shepherd uses a crook, and consider that this quote is the product of a society that engaged in herding and used herding metaphors extensively.  A shepherd’s rod is used to guide, sometimes to poke or prod, even to hook and grab, but nobody in their right mind uses a crook to beat sheep.

    • [TokenFrenchDude]

      But I’ve also read the same passage in French, which uses the word “verge”, a stick used for whipping someone.

      Anyway my stance against the bible was off topic.

      • [OldBrownSquirrel]

        In fairness, Proverbs 23:13-14 doesn’t really support my reading; that context makes it clear that the rod in question is to be used for beating. *sigh* Thankfully, Proverbs doesn’t carry the same weight as Leviticus or Deuteronomy.

      • [aquitaine]

        Regardless of whether it was off topic or not, you made it a topic. Don’t blame the translation or the interpretation on the writer.

        • [TokenFrenchDude]

          “Don’t blame the translation or the interpretation on the writer.”

          Blaming ? I used the translation to show “OldBrownSquirrel” that the rod, in that passage, was really meant as a beating stick, not to lead.

        • [aquitaine]

          How can you use a translation to “show” original intent? Simply because the translation for crook into French refers to a beating stick, I’m supposed to believe that this is what the ORIGINAL text meant, what the author was advocating? OldBrownSquirrel cleared it up when he wrote, “A shepherd’s rod is used to guide, sometimes to poke or prod, even to hook and grab, but nobody in their right mind uses a crook to beat sheep.” And yeah, when taking into account the disdainful, accusatory tone in your initial comment: “As the Bible tells us: ‘He who spareth the rod hateth his son’ ” and your follow-up French translation, I do see you blaming the writer for the translation and subsequent interpretation.

        • [TokenFrenchDude]

          You’ve never used two or more translation to get a clearer picture at what the original text shows ?

          You are using an interpretation (guiding stick) of one translation in English, when all translations of that passage refer to a beating stick. (http://bible.cc/proverbs/13-24.htm )

        • [aquitaine]

          I use context to determine original intent. There is sheep/flock/shepherd imagery running throughout the OT and the NT. I understand that translations can be pathetic. I don’t think your aim is to get a clearer picture of what the original text meant. And if your argument is that corporal punishment is condoned in the bible, why don’t you try reading the damn book? You’ll find passages much less vague, even if they’re not as pithy.

        • [TokenFrenchDude]

          We did look at context; OldBrownSquirrel wrote : “In fairness, Proverbs 23:13-14 doesn’t really support my reading; that context makes it clear that the rod in question is to be used for beating. *sigh* Thankfully, Proverbs doesn’t carry the same weight as Leviticus or Deuteronomy.”

• [Glaurung_quena]

  I need a kitten chaser now.  Make that several kitten chasers.

• [Private Private]

  For those who don’t know, the video is seven years old and it was released by the alleged victim who is now an adult. Her Reddit account was hacked last night, her YouTube account was hacked, but she appears to be back in communication with the Reddit community. There is another minor child still involved.
  According to some comments over at Reddit this morning, the statute of limitations in his jurisdiction is 10 years.  The Daily Mail picked up the story early this morning and many people have forwarded it over to CNN. We’ll see if Anderson picks  it up.

  • [ChicagoD]

    Ten years seems really long, but it would be great if true.

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      Ten years seems really long, but it would be great if true.

      Why should there be a statute of limitations for violent crimes?

      • [Mister44]

        I think he is saying that 10 years seems like a long time for statue of limitations (that he would guess it was less), but if it were true it would be great because he could be prosecuted.

        • [Antinous / Moderator]

          The concept of SOLs seems a bit out of date. A couple of centuries ago, you might figure that many of the witnesses and affected parties would be dead after a decade. Now, with greater longevity and the vastly increased ability to record events and documents, what’s the point? It just seems like a Get Out Of Jail Free card.

    • [artaxerxes]

      It would be great. By the time abuse victims have realized that abuse and a violent home life isn’t normal, they’re usually well into adult-hood. That’s the power of stockholm Syndrome and a life of ceaseless abuse and humiliation. This kind of abuse makes a “nice” kid scared to breathe and terrified of authority.

      It’s all too common to read of cases in which children were molested and could not turn in their molesters for any number of reasons, ie. they’re 10 years old. They’re often shamed into silence. After several years living as an adult and realizing that what happened to them was not their fault, it’s too late (for the law) to help them. 

  • [Angie unduplicated]

    Abuser families will hack, including Apple devices.  Some sell their findings as intellectual property, others steal credit card numbers and PINS, all fear open communication which will enable survivors to interface with open society.

• [R. Scott LaMorte]

  Aaaaaaand a new meme is born.

  http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/358ixs/

• [bcsizemo]

  I’d like to congratulate all the bigotry and stereotyping of the South in this thread.

  Way to go at keeping those social/regional tensions high.  Maybe next time I won’t be so polite to any Yankees I meet.

  • [str1cken]

    Yeah! Maybe even respond with a little violence! That’ll show ‘em!

    • [bcsizemo]

      You know how we like our lynchings…   /eyeroll/

  • [ChicagoD]

    That’s OK. We always assumed you couldn’t *really* be that nice and were ripping us behind our backs anyway.

    By the way, I think this sort of stuff happens everywhere. All size cities in all parts of the country. Sadists are sadists and they don’t catch sadism from eating kudzu.

    • [bcsizemo]

      I know it happens everywhere.  But as a Southerner who has read BB for years it seems odd that all of a sudden this weird anti-Southern vibe pops out.  It’s not like I’ve really seen stereotyping of West coast people or the North East in comments before.

      And besides plenty of places besides backwoods towns in the South have that “good old boy” or boys club attitude.  Hell, DC is filled with them.  (They don’t beat kids, but they still like that power trip.)

      • [millie fink]

        Enough with the hijacking butthurt about your precious beleaguered South!

        The rest of the country will stop thinking of the white South as backwards when it stops acting backwards.

        • [Strato Head]

          Texas isn’t part of “the South”, it’s part of the “SouthWest”…just sayin

  • [Daniel]

    Umm, how many people actually badmouthed the south in this thread?  Two?

    And then other people jumped in to argue with THEM.  If anything, I think you may be the one reinforcing stereotypes about southerners having trouble with counting.

    And be as rude as you like.  This particular yankee doesn’t care what you think.

    • [whatebahw]

      Yankees sure have a funny way of showing they don’t care.

• [waetherman]

  It should be noted that cerebral palsy can be induced by trauma to a young child or to the fetus through trauma to a pregnant woman.

  What is truly horrific about this video is that it is not just one incident, but likely represents a lifetime of abuse that this child had to suffer.

  • [benenglish]

    Agreed but at least she’s taking steps to deal with it.  Kudos to her.

    Now what about the much-younger child also shown in that video who may still be in that house?  What kind of beating is that child going to get tonite once daddy has a chance to sit and brood on the situation for a while?

    I sure hope that kid was removed from the house by the mom when she left…

    • [someone2343]

      I’m not sure if that would have done any good.  The mom beat her in the video, so she’s an abuser too.

      • [Amelia_G]

        It looked to me that the mom was trying to… god… say, LOOK, I’m going to whale her so hard! one supreme hit and then we are so punished! to prëemptively end it. But it didn’t work, didn’t stop him. Then the mom goes off and negotiates with him by agreeing with him… That 7 minutes probably wasn’t the end of the evening–look how it came in waves. Did the mom hope to protect her by angrily, loudly, publicly ordering her to sleep in the baby sister’s room, whose little presence might, hopefully, discourage JUDGE ADAMS?

        Can I get on my feminist high horse for a nanosecond?! How to say this. Feminism is very important to me, but I don’t know how to talk about it because I have so few role models.

        Women are so trapped when they have children. Of course children are the most trapped of all (which is part of what traps their moms).

        • [someone2343]

          The mom is an abuser too.  I think it’s premature (and sexist) to automatically make excuses for her, and to try to paint her actions as some kind of attempt to protect her daughter, just because she’s a woman. She took a belt and hit her kid. She didn’t negotiate, she joined in.

        • [Amelia_G]

          Sorry, I wasn’t trying to make excuses for the mom! Just thought I saw her trying to defuse, deflect, disengage. At first. I can’t watch this video a second time, not even to verify his erection.

• [str1cken]

  This isn’t a Southern problem, this is just a problem. I had a similar upbringing, a Northern son raised by Northern parents.

  Domestic violence knows no geography.

• [Lolotehe]

  What creeped me out the most about seeing this was I had just finished re-watching “The Life and Loves of a She-Devil” this weekend. It has an abusive judge as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRRWnHIDAyU&feature=related

• [Navin_Johnson]

  Texas again….

• [TokenFrenchDude]

  what’s a “Court-at-Law” judge ?

  • [benenglish]

    From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_judicial_system#County_Courts –

    Since the county judge is also responsible for presiding over the Commissioners Court (the main executive and legislative body of the county), in most counties the Texas Legislature has established county courts at law to relieve the county judge of judicial duties. In most counties with courts at law, the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the constitutional county court has been transferred to the county courts at law. The county courts at law may hear both civil and criminal matters, or hear them separately, depending on how the Legislature has structured them. Unlike the county judge, judges of the county courts of law are required to be attorneys.

    IOW, it’s a separate construct that allows the county judge to separate legal work from the job of running the county.  After all, the folks on the Commissioners Court are far too busy making sure that the next major roadway project they approve goes right where it will best hurt their enemies and enrich their allies.  (OK, that was a joke but, unfortunately, not an outrageous one.)

  • [ChicagoD]

    Originally the U.S., like Britain, had courts of law and courts of equity. Courts of law (basically) handled issues that required payment of money, courts of equity handled issues that were not purely money. That is oversimplifying it, but it is truthy, as they say. Most jurisdictions abolished the distinction between law and equity. This place apparently has not.

• [RJ]

  Two points:
  First, this is not a southern thing. To say otherwise makes you seem naive and sheltered. Try to pay attention to what you say and stop embarrassing yourself.

  Secondly, none of this would have happened if William Adams had enough common sense to know how to raise his kid. Logic is what’s needed, Billy Boy, not the lash. As it is, his daughter now holds the power. She wins. She gets to take his career away from him, which is as it should be. Let’s hope it ends with Adams being disgraced and disbarred.

• [Jenna]

  I wound up in tears early on. It reminded me too much of my childhood.

  Like another poster here, I was severely abused, and my abuser gaslights to pretend it didn’t happen. Like that same poster, I am pregnant, and have decided that my abuser will never be alone with my child – that is to say, she will never be with my child without my husband or myself in the room. I made myself watch this, mainly to remind myself how awful things used to be, and to remind myself of why it is so important to put a stop to this in the world. I will never do this to my child. Ever.

  As to the comments about the South – way to perpetuate the myths. Rude. I was raised in a pretty cosmopolitan city, and that didn’t save me. As to the religious aspect, my abuse got worse – far worse – when we ceased to be members of a church.

  Now, about the mother in this video not being culpable… Bullshit. She was the victim of crimes also, yes. But then, she perpetuated some. She is guilty of participating in this abuse, whatever the reason. Legally, she may be culpable as well. I hope that the girl is able to square emotionally with her mother, and that they work it out, but the mother is still liable for her actions.

  Some interesting info about some of this judge’s rulings on child abuse here…
  http://www.topix.com/forum/city/rockport-tx/TS7CCB70RHENQKER0

  • [Angie unduplicated]

    The good thing about Southern towns is that good people watch out for others.  It’s the only reason my stepsister survived her mother–neighbors were alerted, teachers told to look for bruises and for any illness which lasted over a day, and at least one marriage was arranged to provide information on the abuser’s whereabouts and behavior.
    The bad thing about Southern towns is that abuser families run police departments and judiciaries, especially in Alabama and East Tennessee.

• [Fred Robel]

  I am so disturbed by this video.  My heart goes out to her, and her courage to expose him like this.  Exposing your parent’s as monsters isn’t as easy as one would think. 

• [Zelda del West]

  Your mother may find that the violence eventually turns on her. 

  • [Sarah Smith]

    From my experience volunteering at women’s shelters I can tell you that child abuse and spousal abuse often go hand in hand. While I’m not saying her mother’s words or actions are correct by any means, I do believe them to be somehow “less evil” than the fathers. Her reaction and part in the beating is textbook psychological spousal abuse. I’m sure comforting her daughter or stopping the abuse would yield a beating similar the video or worse. Oh, and I’m betting she (the mother) knows this from experience.

    • [someone2343]

      Both parents were standing over their daughter holding belts in the video.  The mother joined in the beating, and that shouldn’t be excused or justified (and certainly not by speculation).  There’s no “less evil” here.  The mom is evil and violent like the dad.

• [Thad Boyd]

  Can’t imagine good things happen to child-abusing judges in prison.

  Not that I condone prisoner-on-prisoner violence, of any kind.  But it’s tough to find sympathy for this man either.

• [Just Thalia]

  I could not even bear to watch the entire video. It infuriates me! Seriously know how that girl feels. One day, she might just get her revenge I hope.

• [InsertFingerHere]

  Man hits girl 17 times with belt, punches her once.  Mom hits her once.

  No doubt this guy is who he is said to be, the way he talks with authority and all.  Vile, vile man.  Vile parents…  

  Kiddo, you can rise above this, I hope you find yourself among people with compassion and kindness.   You did nothing wrong.

• [Mark_Frauenfelder]

  “It’s not as bad as it looks on tape.” — Judge Adams

  • [Andrew Molloy]

    What? Was it all perspective and light and shadow trickery? He only mildly beats his child with a belt?

• [Thad Boyd]

  Via her Twitter (shoeofallcosmos): “Please spread the word that my father needs professional help and not hatred. We can offer him the tools to be a better person.”

  Wow.  Sometimes the apple falls very far from the tree indeed.

  Violence is easy.  Compassion is hard.

  • [artaxerxes]

    Wow. That is AWESOME! I am so proud of this woman. I’m so glad that she seems to have recognized the evil in their behavior and hasn’t blamed herself. Many abused children are just broken for life even if they work their hardest to re-gain a positive, healthy sense of self.

    I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. That’s wonderful.

• [bluest_one]

  This video is 7 minutes 35 seconds long.

  Give me 7 minutes 35 seconds in a room with these ‘parents’.

• [millie fink]

  Adams, speaking to KRIS by phone from outside the coastal bend, says she’s safe, and decided now was the time because she was tired of harassment by her father.

  “My father’s harassment was getting really bad, so I decided to finally publish the video that I had been sitting on for 7 years,” Adams said.

  “It had happened before, and had been escalating,” Adams said. “I set up a camera, and I caught it.” . . .

  Adams says the abuse happened for years, but she never thought it was unusual.”I thought abuse at some level was normal,” Adams said.

  source

  • [Oliver Schmieding]

    so she says the situation was getting WORSE after the little ‘incident’?
    you gotta be kidding.

• [Chan]

  How can you do that to something that is a part of you? That’s your child! You’re supposed to love it and care for it no matter what. The fact that this so called “man” can even raise a hand to his child without spontaneously vomiting all over himself is the most disgusting thing of all. This beating is so savage… I haven’t even seen animals treated this way. In seven minutes this man lowers his daughter to less than nothing with his disgusting words. Your children are supposed to be your legacy, your ticket to immortality. Judge William Adams will be remembered as the hardened pebble of dog feces that resides on the sole of my shoe.

  If this man has no sympathy for his disabled daughter, than how on Earth is he to be expected to have sympathy for those wrong accused, or those who have been abused. I’m sure this man has looked at more than a few victims and believed that they had deserved their fate.

  Truly revolting.

• [Jason Clark]

  More importantly: “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

• [Emo Pinata]

  http://www.kristv.com/full-coverage/video-claims-to-show-aransas-county-judge-hit-daughter/
  I didn’t see the news coverage in any comments, so here it is. It’s updating regularly and the latest from the judge is sickening. He not only confirms it is him in the video but he justifies by saying he apologized.

• [Kids At Risk]

  Children have no lobby, no voice, & can’t fight back when beaten by their parents, or when a MN Governor* states that “children that are victims of failed personal responsibility are not my problem, nor are they the problem of the State Of Minnesota”.
  There’s nothing a five year old can say to the governor of Indiana about the elimination of the state’s newborn screening fund (paid for by birth fees collected from parents), or the retroactive termination of adoption subsidies to the five hundred families that adopted special need children based on the promise that they would have assistance for their special needs children.
  I doubt that a nine year old could clearly explain the problem facing California foster children because 1,000 state-licensed facilities match sex offenders’ addresses;
  http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/us/california-sex-offenders/
  Will Nebraska’s five or ten year old old foster children be allowed to speak to the governor or at the state house about the total collapse of the states’s Privatized Child & Family Services, or what it is like to be abandoned by your birth family and the county in the same year?
  http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=21588&pageID=3
  *Tim Pawlenty

  http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2011/10/29/occupy-wall-street-for-americas-children/

• [jeligula]

  BS, the mother was emotionally abused and is not to blame.  That’s a crock.  When the judge demanded she give him the belt back, she refused and he had to resort to getting another one, instead of arguing with her or getting tough and taking it from her.  He didn’t even try because he knew better.  This is not the action of a woman who has been browbeat into submission.  I had an abusive, alcoholic step-father, so I know what this is like.  I have never felt so much like beating a person to death with my fists than I did while watching this video.  Truly sickening.  This man should not only be removed from the bench, he needs to be disbarred and imprisoned.  I couldn’t watch the whole thing.

• [jeligula]

  And this isn’t the first time she has been viciously beaten.  Notice how she doesn’t continue to cry after the beating.  She is used to it.

  • [Angie unduplicated]

    It’s not because she’s used to it. You never get used to being beaten up.  Abusers feed on tears–they love to make someone cry; ever heard of bullies?  She’s tough, strong, wonderful, and refuses to allow him that piece of emotional/sexual satisfaction. 

• [snagglepuss]

  That “judge” is going to prison.  He will be in a WORLD of shit.

  Hopefully, we will all eventually regret the relish with which we look forward to reports of his torture and murder within those walls.

  I empathize and sympathize with those BB readers who have a visceral reaction to that asshole’s actions, as my father was even worse.

  But the most valuable lesson I ever got from him, even though he was never aware of it, was that judgements and actions committed in the heat of blind rage, no matter how righteous they feel at the time, always backfire on themselves, and they accomplish nothing. It is uncomfortably easy to justify your own actions and go too far, even when committing the act of protecting a defenseless person such as Ms. Adams.

  Believe me, I think of this when I catch myself daydreaming about grabbing an axe handle and going to town on a Westboro Baptist group who are sullying a soldier’s or a bullied gay kid’s funerals. As imperative as it may feel to clean house on ignorant, arrogant monsters, ultimately you will only be lowering yourself to their level. We are supposed to be better than that.

• [Faith Landsman]

  I do not wish violence on this man, just as I don’t wish it on my abuser. I wish upon them both isolation and awareness.  Awareness of the crimes they have committed and the pain they have inflicted and endless time alone to consider it without the benefit of running away either mentally or physically.

  • [marilove]

    Same.  Those who are advocating violence are just advocating the continuation of the cycle of abuse.  The cycle of abuse needs to stop, not continue. 

• [Darksweetness]

  @ I totally agree with trackofalljades. I can not give the mother a pass on this, sorry.  So because she “may” have been abused we should feel sorry for her because she didn’t hit the girl as hard as the father hit her. That is just ridiculous to say the least. She probably shouldn’t spend as much time in jail as he should, but she certainly need to be punished as well. We all have to be held accountable for our actions…ALL OF US!!! the father is just a complete moron…period. When I was coming up, we got spanked by my parents, but usually my mother was the disciplinarian and my father looked as if it hurt him as much as it hurt us. Everyone, whether you agree with this sort of punishment or not, need some sense of rescue in their lives. I never felt as if I was abused, trust me when I got in trouble it was always for something I had done. BUT…My father would come to the rescue sooo many times. Fathers (parents) are suppose to be your protectors, not your abusers. This is just raggedy on so many levels!!

• [Summer Seale]

  My guess is that Judge Adams goes around telling people who disapprove: “I got beat every day as a child! Never did me any harm!”

• [Strato Head]

  part of the question of legality here is wether or not this amounts to Felony Child Abuse or Not.
  If it does amount to Felony Child Abuse, then the statute of limitations in Texas is 10 years. If its merely Non-Felonious Child Abuse, it’s 5 years, and that period has already lapsed.

• [Jonathan Colvin]

  anon, get medieval on this dudes ass

• [Ed Hawkes]

  I wonder what the guy thinks when he watches this video. I read that he said it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Maybe he’s in denial. Maybe he thinks it’s no big deal cause he didn’t like break her arm or something.

  What a vile human being. I hope his constituents get a look before they vote.  I hope the guy himself reads all the comments boards and gets a look at how other people see him.

  I did see that some pranksters ordered pizza to his house after the info got out. I thought that was pretty funny.

  • [ernunnos]

    Oh, he’s not in denial. He just views it through a different lens. What he sees is a man exercising his God-given rights. He’s entitled. As man of the house and head of the family, he expects to exercise absolute authority, and to enforce it by any means necessary. Those who feel otherwise are Godless heathens and interlopers, attempting to rob him of of what is rightfully his. They are unjustly aiding a rebellious child, and to the extent that he is punished or excoriated, he is suffering for a righteous cause.

    I joked above about a crowbar, but it wouldn’t do any good. You have to understand, he’s not working from the same premises as the rest of us. To really get to him, you’re going to have to first show him that you understand his premises, otherwise he’ll never take you seriously. I don’t think I could get him to change his premises. I wouldn’t even try. What I would try to do is show him that his premises are no longer dominant. That the world has passed him by. Use a variation of the Charles James Napier approach.
    

    A story for which Napier is often noted involved Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of Sati by British authorities. This was the custom of burning a widow alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. As first recounted by his brother William, he replied:

    “Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.”

    You will not convince him he is wrong. You may be able to make him feel some understanding – and perhaps despair – that his time, and his culture, has passed.

• [Ratio]

  Hooray for surveillance!

• [MikeCumpston]

  I wonder if this is real??? Caution indicated. Two points:
  1. It is wrong to beat your daughter
  2. It is double wrong to say “fuck” while doing so

• [MichaelDalin]

  This certainly happens all over the country, and people do evil things everywhere. But there is a cultural aspect to this in the south that you just don’t see as much in the north or the west. This isn’t slamming on the south, it’s just a fact. For instance, the states that still allow corporal punishment in schools are mostly all in the bible belt: http://www.stophitting.com/index.php?page=statesbanning

• [Guest]

  Come on, Cory, learn to read a Reddit thread (or a forum post, depending on where you got it from). The “response” from the judge clearly comes from a completely unrelated case.

• [Laura Harden]

  If I witnessed someone, anyone doing something like this to a child, I would literally rip them apart with my bare hands, the thought of someone doing this to my own daughter takes me to  a homicidal place.

• [Terri St. Amant]

  http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2011/11/texas_judge_william_adams_alle.php

  but he’s “apologized”

• [Jason]

  Video of the scumbag talking to a news station and confirming it was him in the video

  http://www.kristv.com/news/exclusive-judge-adams-comments-on-beating-video/

• [Gardiner Moody]

  Just to remind everyone; this is the kind of ‘wholesome’ household that Republicans would rather children be raised. Not with two loving gay parents, but an abusive angry heterosexual couple who completely resent each other and only stay married because they think that otherwise God will damn them for eternity.

• [laurent anzai momy]

  http://www.aransascountytx.gov/courtatlaw/
  people should write him to the above site in order to put him out of office.

• [Donaleen Kohn]

  It’s probably something else the Republicans think we should have a sense of humor about (along with sexual harassment).

  • [ernunnos]

    If you’re going to go there, I’m going to have to point out that the sitting Democratic President just killed a 16-year-old American citizen without even the benefit of due process. As a law & order Republican, I believe that this judge should be charged with aggravated assault, and do hard time. With the benefit of due process. We’re not savages here.

• [aquitaine]

  alk4911, I wouldn’t be surprised if she stopped crying because she wasn’t there anymore. In situations like this, it’s common for children to disassociate themselves from the abuse while it’s occurring, in order to mentally protect themselves from the stress and pain. I understand where you’re coming from, perhaps a swat on the butt didn’t work the first time, etc, however, swats on the behind aren’t effective for 16-YEAR-OLDS, much less seven and a half minute long beatings. That kind of discipline ceased to be effective for ten years, and humiliates the child more than teaches them a lesson by that age. At a certain point, this beating ceases to be about discipline and turns into sadism. I agree that it’s unhealthy to do nothing, but this is a far fuckin’ cry from that.

  • [Angie unduplicated]

    She may need help in later years to overcome the tendency to dissociate at the first signs of verbal brutality, since we have bad bosses and coworkers to deal with and dissociation will create errors and other work-related problems. 

• [OldBrownSquirrel]

  “Fuckin’ computer.  Toldja I didn’t even want one in the goddam house.  See here all the problems they cause?”

  Yeah, they can be used to spread the truth, to air dirty laundry.  Of course, you’ll blame your daughter, blame the computers, blame the hippies, whatever.

  Of course, in Texas, this will probably help him get re-elected.

• [marilove]

  But she doesn’t listen to her parents either, which was shown in the video over and over and is what started this whole thing to begin with

  This is the language of abusers.  ”If you had just listened, I wouldn’t have beaten you for seven minutes straight!” “If you had just done been a good little girl, and done what you were told, I would not have raped you!”  We had a serial killer (the “Baseline Killer”) here in Phoenix.  If the women he attacked didn’t comply and allow him to rape them, he would shoot them in the head.  Only those who complied were let free (or they escaped).  That’s extreme, of course, but the reasoning he used is exactly what you use:  If only those women had listened and been obedient and allowed themselves to be raped, instead of defying my demands for obedience they’d still be alive.

  I emphasize those words because this beating wasn’t about punishment; this was about obedience and power.  This was about humiliating the poor girl, not disciplining her.

  Why is it okay for a GROWN MAN to beat a 16 year old girl who is clearly not able to defend herself?!

  No grown man should think this is okay.  If you think this is okay, then you are part of the problem.

• [FellOnEarth]

  This video just made me sick.  I hope that that young woman is receiving adequate counseling, it must have taken some courage to finally be able to empower herself by calling out her father for such heinous treatment.

  I hope he is permanently disbarred and has to go to jail for his crimes (for the battery and psychological abuse) he inflicted upon his own family.

• [OldBrownSquirrel]

  It all makes sense now.  alk4911 is a 911 dispatcher in the next county over from Aransas County.  Texas law enforcement looks after its own.  The whitewash has started.

  • [aquitaine]

    Holy sheet, you lie. … Right???

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    It all makes sense now.  alk4911 is a 911 dispatcher in the next county over from Aransas County.  Texas law enforcement looks after its own.  The whitewash has started.

    The IP geolocates to Port Lavaca, which is quite close.

• [aquitaine]

  @alk4911: I don’t agree that children, or this child in particular, is defiant from birth.  This is not spanking. This is beating. Again, her moral compass should have been taught to her by him, where exactly is he explaining WHY her actions were wrong? Corporal punishment does not prevent misdeeds, it perpetuates them. I agree that people should be able to choose how to discipline their children, but when that freedom is abused, it should be rescinded until the individual can demonstrate healthy application of that freedom. Refraining from corporal punishment does not create undisciplined, spoiled assholes. But exacting excessive corporal punishment does create uninhibited, selfish abusers.

• [aquitaine]

  Hey! Where did my @alk4911 comments go? The comments they were directed at are gone but mine were still useful and relevant to the discussion. Lames.

  • [marilove]

    Probably deleted for possible trolling/derailing/general asshattery.

    Accidental double post?! Sorry.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    I’ve looked through the mess and restored some of the replies.

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  Moderator note: How long do I have to beat you all for to get you to stop responding to utterly obvious trolls whose comments can be found verbatim elsewhere?

  • [marilove]

    What the hell else am I supposed to other than reply to trolls?  WORK?  That is just … I don’t even! :)

  • [aquitaine]

    Oh. My troll fu has always been weak.

    • [marilove]

      Honestly, it might not even be a troll.  I’d classify him as a Poe.  What he says is clearly outrageous to us, but we also know far, far too many people (including the “father” in the video) that agree with him.  He’s probably the type of troll that actually believes what he spews.  Much like Glenn Beck has become.

• [aquitaine]

  So. Amateur sleuthing (googling alk4911) has revealed that the user appears to be a dispatcher for the Port Lavaca Police Dept. I sincerely hope this attitude does not correlate with how the Aransas Police Department handles the situation. If he doesn’t serve, I hope at least he gets mandatory therapy. The victim deserves closure, it’s clear she hasn’t gotten it yet from him.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Well, keep in mind that I’m in Palm Springs, CA and my IP currently geolocates to Flint, MI.

• [artaxerxes]

  My hands are still shaking from watching that video. I had to wait a few hours until I could comment.

  This could have been any night in the household I grew up in. That poor baby.  I am so glad she created and posted this video. Kudos to this kid, who having been beaten down for 16 years (her entire life), had the courage to expose her abusers.

  In case you read these comments: Girl, I salute your bravery. I have a great deal of respect for your bravery. You are helping MILLIONS of voiceless kids who live in households like this. You are a very strong woman. I wish you the best possible life and I hope you get help to banish the negativity and shame those sadists have instilled in you by their treatment of you.

  This is one case in which I really appreciate the power of the internet. Most abusive households protect themselves by establishing and repeatedly drilling children on a strict policy of omertà. “Never talk about anything at home.” Ever. Or you’ll be in big trouble (ie. thrashed, emotionally tortured) or we’ll kick you out/give you back (in the case of adopted or foster kids).

  Note the threat to kick her out of the house in the “Emotionally abuse her some more to further humiliate her” phase after all the beatings. Notice the “blame the victim” technique they use to assuage the tiny prick of guilt beeping in their subconscious. But they’re not going to take the blame. O hell no! First they blame the computer, then  her, then her, then her, then her. It’s never their fault. She asked for it. Yeah, I’m familiar with that scene. My heart aches thinking about how difficult and horrible her life was in that house.

  As to the culpability of the mother, she’s the other member of the team. Very common. She not only beats the kid, but gets her own rocks off emotionally abusing her during and after the beating. They like to take out their unresolved issues on someone smaller, defenseless and desperate for parental acceptance and love, and they want to fully humiliate her in order to combat their own insecurity and bolster their sense of power.

  I have no sympathy for them, whatsoever. If you have kids, or adopt them, then abuse them because you’re too lazy, complacent, sadistic or narcissistic to get therapy to help you overcome the violence probably instilled in you by your own parents, you are a cowardly torturer who should never be around children. You should be in prison. Of course, many of these types of abusers often believe that therapy is for “crazies and loony-tunes.” Because they’re happy being power-wielding torturers.

  Hubby probably did have a hard-on. They get off on the total control they’re exercising over a smaller, weaker, helpless person who probably won’t fight back. It’s dreadful combination and it simply destroys kids. They frequently have to spend years and immense amounts of money to recognize the self-limiting or destructive habits they adopted in order to survive, and then they have to change them for the sake of their own mental health and prevent the cycle of violence repeating. It’s a terrible legacy to hand to a child.

  Whew. Long post. This resonates very strongly for me and I hate to think of all the kids out there who are trying to survive life in this prison. Because that’s exactly what this home is; a prison with absolutely no oversight and guards who are free to do whatever they want.

  Prison is far too good for these people, but I won’t indulge my vengeance fantasies here.

• [scallywag]

  The horror and irony of the situation can hardly be lost on one hand here we have an individual who has the trusted role as family law judge and on the other here we are seeing him brazenly beating his daughter without remorse or within a barometer of reason. It is as if he is unleashing all the torment of his office on his daughter, the effect of which is horrendous considering her disability. In the end one can only wonder what type of punishments this man has administered in his capacity as a judge and whether we should allow such an individual who has an extreme affinity to personal family discipline should be allowed to decide the fate of other individual’s family grievances?

  “Beat you to submission?” So much for good discipline… from someone who should know better.

  http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2011/11/family-law-judge-caught-on-tape-beating-his-16-year-disabled-daughter-for-playing-computer-games

• [Haz 0]

  Sonic Adventure 2 & Simpsons posters? This girl is awesome!

• [gwailo_joe]

  Hey, what a happy little setting…nice little study desk, Bart Simpson that lovable scamp…nothing too strange to see he…aww shit.

  I made it up to the first scream of pain and humiliation.  That was enough for me.  Not nearly enough for Judge Smallman seemingly…

  The comments above pretty much cover the disgust and outrage over such obvious abuse; can’t really add anything new.  But needless to say: Fuck that guy.  He is a Bad Parent.  And I hope he gets a Righteous Comeuppance.

  But to say ‘Aw those Texans/Southerners/Trailer livin’ so and sos are all messed up etc etc’ is totally missing the point.  That stuff happens Everywhere.  In shacks and in mansions, in every state in every city in every country in the world.  You don’t believe me?  Fine.  Just count your blessings if you were fortunate enough to avoid it, and endeavor to not allow that shit in your own home.

• [Incipient Madness]

   I saw this this morning and was tempted to drive the three hours or so to Rockport with my shamboks, rope duct tape, a pitcher, and a towel.  Got some wood and blocks to make a great waterboarding setup. Only the fact that I wouldn’t have enough money to buy a tank of gas to get back without doing the tutoring gigs I had scheduled tonight stopped me. Plus if I got arrested I couldn’t go see Michael Moore this Friday at Occupy Houston.

  BTW, Occupy Houston is the mellowest, most low key Occupy ever. We even had little kids doing some trick or treating Saturday night.

  I too am a victim of some pretty severe abuse. Only ever had one or two beatings on this scale, but huge verbal humiliation and social isolation. You learned to swim as a kid? Forbidden. Swimming requires social interaction. You learned to ride a bike? Not a chance. Bikes provide mobility and mobility is dangerous. Everyone is dangerous. Everyone will rape and kill you. Learned to time and hold back my piss because there’s no way I could have the dignity of walking to a restroom alone and take a leak AT AGE FOURTEEN. There was one long night when I had to be escorted by by dad to the restroom at a MUSEUM at a PRIVATE after hours event. The humiliation and rage of this gave me shy bladder. Couldn’t go. Held it. Went out to eat after the event. Didn’t dare go to the restroom.  Then a long drive home. Worst pain I ever felt. Worse than any beating I ever had. And this was by parents who are pretty hardcore liberals. My mom had a severe anxiety disorder and was obsessed with the idea I would be killed at any moment. She even pulled me out of school and drove me out into the woods and talked about how she had visions of me being tortured and killed. It was almost an Andrea Yates moment.

  But I don’t care about whether people are mentally ill or need help. I have no compassion, though most people I know will tell you I am an empathetic guy, and I am. I can hear anything without shock and give comfort. But some folks cross the line. Judge Asshole crossed the line.

  You drag James Byrd behind a truck, you’re a lyncher. Byrd was a nobody attacked by higher status people. That’s lynching. You drag Judge Adams who used his position of authority to get away with his shit and probably fucked over many lives as a judge behind a truck, that’s justice, that’s rebellion, that’s deterrence.

  • [Mister44]

    re: “that’s justice, that’s rebellion, that’s deterrence.”

    The first two for sure – but not the last one. Just like the death penalty doesn’t deter crime. In your case, even if your mom faced some sort of consequence, she would continue to be that way. She can’t help it. In this case the Judge could probably ‘help it’, as he isn’t compelled to do something or think a certain way. But he knows what is right and what shit won’t fly – he just doesn’t give a fuck. Had he known he was being watched, he wouldn’t have acted that way.

    My MiL treats my wife like shit often times. She will be sweet as pie and act ‘normal’ around me or other people, but if it is a private phone call, no holds barred.

  • [OldBrownSquirrel]

    I saw this this morning and was tempted to drive the three hours or so to Rockport with my shamboks, rope duct tape, a pitcher, and a towel.

    He’s evidently prepared for that reaction:

    A neighbor said she saw Adams and his girlfriend packing luggage, a briefcase and rifles into their truck, as if to leave for a while.

    [emphasis mine]

• [GoGo Vicmorrow]

  Damn.. that guy is a psychotic. He’s very angry, is jumping to hit her, and he loves doing it. I have to make the disclaimer that I don’t have kids so I can’t say that I could spank them, but I don’t see anything wrong with spanking a kid “correctly.” That is hand or paddle on the butt without anger. I was spanked as a kid, but my dad wasn’t a psycho path that would just keep swinging away if I put my hands in the way, never left a mark ever, and he also felt like a dick and would feel so guilty he actually became depressed about it. I think his methods worked though.

  This guy is swinging away, at a girl that is 16 years old!Hitting her hands, fingers, wrists, legs. What happened to grounding?  You aren’t teaching right and wrong at 16, you aren’t making any new association, you are just beating someone at that point.

  • [aquitaine]

    I have mixed feelings about this, among the many I received, I probably only experienced one or two “spankings” that went over the line (though surely nothing like this), and these were up until my teens after which followed infrequent slaps, and hair pulling, all to teach me discipline. I never forgot them, but they didn’t teach me what I’m sure my parents intended. And now I’m preventatively correcting the self-limiting and destructive habits that I developed so that I don’t pass them onto my children by example. I think in general at about beginning of school age these methods cease to be effective in disciplining and become instead tools of fear and deterrence rather than learning & moral growth. I’m still undecided about how best to discourage behaviors in babies like biting, scratching, hair pulling, but I know for damn sure I won’t be relying on unhealthy, authoritarian corporal punishment. Also, I’m REALLY interested in child development, if anyone has links addressing these issues, I’d love to see them.

    • [Amelia_G]

      I’m no parent (I will never do that!) but based on observation of awesome parents around me, I think to discourage mean behavior in toddlers, onward, you explain how the other person feels, on the receiving end of the bad behavior. You constantly explain how other people feel. You also explain ways how the kid can make it better, by apologizing, by sharing. If caregivers hit kids, they undermine every statement they’ve ever made that hitting, being mean, abusing people smaller than you, &c. &c., is wrong. Also, kids are tough and, as sad as this sounds, I’ve watched kids get so inured so quickly that their corporal punishment-choosin’ parents have to escalate too fast. The time-out was a great invention and it works better than throwing your kid against a wall, fyi.

• [thasitar]

  hope this piece of shit goes to prison and gets the shit beaten out of him every day…i’m sure every guy that watched this wishes they could spend 7 minutes in a room with him. 

• [cdh1971]

  This is why I hate fucking born-again-christians and other types of republicans. This ‘judge’ and is frau need to have their lungs torn out.

  • [Steve Jacobs]

    @CD who said: “This is why I hate fucking born-again-christians and other types of republicans. This ‘judge’ and is frau need to have their lungs torn out.”

    Wasn’t the much beloved Alec Baldwin just as much of an ass to his own daughter? Abuse cuts across racial, class, and political lines. Sometimes people just suck.

    Edit: please note that I’m not accusing Alec Baldwin of physical abusing his daughter, but his verbal/emotional abuse of his child was unforgivable.

• [Lastly Lynn]

  “He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
   

• [bunglebogs]

  I don’t think I’m an emotional guy – but as a father I watched this and cried.

• [Ray Perkins]

  “It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.” Life imitates art. Sadly.

• [donovan acree]

  It was chilling to see how, at the end of the physical abuse, the girl and mother spoke in a calm tone about the daughter waking up in the morning. To see her switch from being abused to normal discussion so quickly is a good indication that this sort of thing is normal in her life.

• [Angie unduplicated]

  Certain things aren’t being discussed–the fact that abuse of authority by a public employee is a crime in many states, and Texas may (certainly should be) one of them. Secondly, if an officer of the law and/or the court can be prosecuted for on-the-job brutality, they can and should be liable for the same behavior in the home, since these are salaried positions.  It’s altogether too common for law officers to exert self-control on the street and beat their wives behind closed doors. Finally, Hillary Adams should get herself lawyered up, stat.  Far more disabled children are abused than normal children, and social workers are more tolerant of that abuse, sadly.  What we are seeing may well be a civil rights violation, and she may be able to collect civil damages–if the system isn’t run by relatives of the abuser, as they were in Blount Co., TN when I was a child who was told, accurately, that the police who were investigating the abuse were the abuser’s kin.
   

• [ellenar]

  Truly disturbing video. It makes me wonder how long the abuse had been going on before the girl decided to record this episode. It is obvious that she was waiting to record something that she was expecting to happen in her room. I think she must have been abused many times before this particular beating.

• [Thad Boyd]

  Looks like this has hit the mainstream news.  The victim and her mother have been on Matt Lauer, and the father has released a horribly ill-advised press release accusing her of exaggerating her illness and posting this in retaliation for his threat to take her Mercedes away.  Apparently he’s found a lawyer whose judgement is as spectacularly poor as his own; at this point his ex-wife’s allegations that he’s a drug addict are very easy to believe.

• [pdeverit]

  We often hear from those who fight to uphold this practice for those under the age of 18 (even to the blaming of the social maladies of the day on a supposed “lack” of it), but we rarely, if ever, find advocates for the return of corporal punishment to the general adult community, college campuses, inmate population, or military. Why is that?

  Ask ten unyielding proponents of child/adolescent/teenage-only “spanking” about the “right” way to do it, and what would be abusive, indecent, or obscene, and you will get ten different answers.

  These proponents should consider making their own video-recording of the “right way” to do it.

  Visit Unlimited Justice/Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education to learn more and add your voice.

• [Barrie Fairhurst]

  I forced myself to watch this.  I had to pause occasionally as it was just too disturbing, but if this poor girl had to endure the beating, the least I could do was at least endure watching it. 

  My father would beat me and my brothers with a belt.  One of the worst beatings he gave was to my brother whos sin was to accidentally discover our dads pornography stash. 

  At least our mother would cry downstairs and shout up begging him to stop.  He never did, but would return repentant hours later.  We were so desperate for paternal affection we would forgive him. 

  The confusion of such abuse remains for a lifetime.  I don’t care about the statute of limitations – this guy deserves to be punished.  The damage has has caused will last a lot longer.

• [benenglish]

  “The south” has nothing to do with this.  Crap like this happens everywhere.

• [Thax]

  Seriously? You really think this only happens in one area of the country?  Have you even been south of the Mason-Dixon line?

  I agree with the video being revolting; however, gross generalizations of entire populations are equally revolting, are they not?

• [Guest]

  I have no idea what your point is, but that link is HILLARIOUS(ly sad).

  Real Housewives of Aransas County stuff.

• [ChicagoD]

  So, boingboing needs to retract the comment by Judge Adams, but not the allegation of the beating? Because the judge conspicuously did *not* address that allegation. That comment thread is almost as damning as the video. Super job!

• [Guest]

  But it’s only in the South that it’s backs up on itself and gets quite this bad.  Sure, we have child abusing judges in the northest, but we don’t have local sherrifs and DAs falling over themselves to cover that mans tracks. Too many careers to be made up here on such allegations. Too much exposure, too many journalism students, too few dark corners in which to hide. Not so much the problem in Aransas.

• [sizz]

  What are you talking about? They’re quoting the judge over something completely unrelated from 6 months ago and making it seem like he’s threatening to raise legal issues with his daughter. That’s very irresponsible.

• [benenglish]

  I assume there are rural areas in the northeast where such things as you describe happen.  I know there are urban areas in the south where careers can be made bringing such wrongdoing to light.

  I sincerely doubt anyone can produce anything verifiable that says bad stuff like this happens more in the south even when the stats are corrected for things like population density and social and economic factors.

  My guess is that once you correct for that stuff, people are the same on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.  But, then again, that’s just my guess.  We’re all guessing when it comes to this stuff and it don’t think any of the guessing adds anything useful to this particular conversation.

  What I *know* doesn’t help the conversation is to hijack the topic to throw unjustifiable insults at the south.  That’s just useless, prejudicial crap and I wish Bart hadn’t felt the need to inject it.

• [whatebahw]

  Oh, really? I thought PA was in the northeast.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULD2m5iQls8

• [whatebahw]

  At least we can speak in complete sentences.

• [Thax]

  “We don’t have local sherrifs and DAs falling over themselves to cover that mans tracks. ”

  How do you know?  Do you have some secret knowledge of all of the cover-ups that happen in the Northeast?

  “Too much exposure, too many journalism students, too few dark corners in which to hide.”

  Journalism isn’t any more trustworthy than law.  In this age of instant information, we have so much at our disposal, and so little faith in it being accurate, as it is easily counterfeited.

• [ChicagoD]

  Your objection kind of misses the bigger picture.

• [sizz]

  I still don’t fully understand what you’re talking about. I’m not telling them to take the article down, just to say “This part was wrong” and delete it.

• [mccrum]

  I’ll ask around but I don’t think any of the hobos I know would want to dirty their hands with him either.

• [Tonweight]

  Oh well… time to gas up the ol’ murderwagon and drive for parts Southward, I s’pose.

  It makes me so sad for mankind that we can’t let ourselves be ANGRY enough to dispose of trash like this guy.

  Apologies, in advance, for the slight derailment:  why is it that prison is considered “justice” in such a case?  I also very much understand the desire to say “it’s his house; what he says, goes,” but violence against children is NEVER okay.  They LITERALLY are the future, and violence damages thoroughly, no matter its shape.

  As a long-time adherent to the principles of Aikido, I feel strongly that violence is not the answer (and that it should NEVER be the first avenue of approach).  It took me a long time to learn that lesson.  BUT – the other side of that coin is *preparation* for when violence remains, after all other avenues are closed:  retribution – no, *neutralization* – is swift, complete, and inexorable.

  The real guiding principle being that, by adherence to the principles of Aikido, one doesn’t commit such grave errors in judgement in the first place.  ”Love and peace,” and such.

  As much as I, personally, have no problem with summary justice for folk like this, I must concede that the Law should have its turn before we summon the Headsman.  Sometimes being rational sucks.

  tl;dr – Much though I hate to admit it (and feel a touch of shame for its suggestion – hey, I was pissed after watching that clip), just killing the stupid SOB isn’t “right” either.

• [marilove]

  And if it was as bad as you all think wouldn’t she have still been crying after her parents left? I would have been!

  Not necessarily.  She set up a camera, which implies that this kind of abuse was a regular occurrence.  She may have learned that crying would just make it worse.  Or maybe she was so used to it, that she didn’t cry anymore.  Or maybe she saved the crying for when she was alone in her room, to avoid being mocked or further abused by her father.  Just because she doesn’t cry doesn’t mean it’s not abuse.  He beat her FOR SEVEN MINUTES STRAIGHT. Seven minutes.

  All she did was illegally download some music. Which is hardly a major crime. It’s not like she killed a kitten or put someone in harm. No one was in any physical harm whatsoever. He should have taken her computer away and grounded her. That’s it. There is no need to beat her for downloading some fucking music from the internet.

  I can’t believe that, even when there is a video of someone beating someone for seven minutes straight while using disgusting, abusive language, there is still some sort of debate on whether she wasn’t actually abused. Are you fucking serious?

  YOU are part of the problem. YOU are part of the cycle of abuse. And people like you.

• [aquitaine]

  Here’s what I’m saying, there were healthy alternatives to this kind of discipline, show her what happens to people who are prosecuted for illegally downloading, explain to her why it’s wrong, show her who ends up suffering for what she stole, make her get a job to pay for what she stole, the list goes on and on. His reaction is immoral and unjustifiable. If she didn’t have respect for him, it’s because he gave her nothing to respect, if she didn’t recognize legal boundaries, it’s because he crossed them while abusing her, if she had no discipline, it’s because he didn’t teach her how to have appropriate self-discipline and discipline of subordinates. Whether that remains true of her today, I don’t know, but her behavior does not excuse his.

• [Joshua Bardwell]

  Huzzah. I’m not sure why making derogatory statements about Southerners being poor, backwater hicks who beat their children and fuck their cousin (etc. etc. etc.) isn’t more readily recognized as bigotry.