Clearly, A Ranting, Videotaping Stranger Cares More About this Woman’s Own Baby Than She Does

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If only there was a law preventing parents from making rational decisions about how to raise their beloved kids!

That seems to be the consensus, at least about iezzzshtre
this particular case
, as presented by this particular station: KHQ Spokane reported that a man noticed a baby in a car in a Target parking lot and confronted the mom as she returned after her brief errand. “You do not leave a baby in the car!” cried the man, Jon Evans, even though — clearly — she did leave the baby in the car, and the baby was fine.

As babies generally are, despite the modern-day delusion that the instant a parent leaves a child in the car, the child expires. The fact that children are more likely to die in parking lots than waiting in parked cars matters not one whit. Why let facts stand in the way of foaming at the mouth? Americans are convinced that kids in cars are in danger (ignoring the weird fact they themselves spent part of their childhood waiting in the car) and they are GLEEFUL that they finally have a cause in life:  Haranguing harried parents and threatening to call the police.

Oddly, no one yells at parents who choose to DRIVE their kids anywhere, even though that is the #1 way kids die. They die in MOVING cars. (“Lady! You drove your child to the mall! What kind of crazy mom does that? That’s NUTS!”) Maybe such a day is coming. But so far we are only rabid when it comes to kids in NON-moving vehicles.

Anyway, the 44-second video below shows the mom exasperatedly responding, “If you guys go and have your children, you can take care of them the best you can. I am going to take care of him the best that I can.” Naturally, the whole thing has gone viral — Yay! A mom the country can hate on! — with KHQ eagerly reporting nuggets of wisdom from its comments section, including, “Obviously we need to look into a heavier law for leaving children in the car. I’m sorry but if they are under the age of 16 they shouldn’t be left in a car, especially a baby.”

Yes, that is certainly a well-thought-out response that merits air time. So’s the next: “Many of our parents left us in the car when they went in to grab something at the store and we survived. In this day and age is it a poor choice? Yes.”

It’s a poor choice because…crime is down since when most of us were kids?

And finally: “If it is not illegal, it should be…it only takes a few minutes for something to go horribly wrong.”

Just like a TV news show!

Back when I worked in TV news, we used to call this kind of reporting “Triple A” — Ask Any Asshole. So rather than considering whether it makes any sense to condemn this mom, the anchor reported that her actions were not illegal, and then spent the rest of the time harping on why she should be flayed alive. Imagine what would happen if every time we watched a viral video, we demanded new sanctions on the people who parent differently than we do.

Oh wait. – L

Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

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She left her baby in the car a few minutes? No child has EVER SURVIVED such abuse!

She left her baby in the car a few minutes? No child has EVER SURVIVED that, have they? 

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59 Responses to Clearly, A Ranting, Videotaping Stranger Cares More About this Woman’s Own Baby Than She Does

  1. BL February 25, 2016 at 5:40 am #

    “Obviously we need to look into a heavier law…”

    What’s a heavy law? One printed on stone tablets instead of paper? Aren’t all laws in cyberspace these days?

    “… for leaving children in the car. I’m sorry …”

    No, you’re not sorry. Liar.

    ” … but if they are under the age of 16 they shouldn’t be left in a car, especially a baby.”

    I suppose I could pick on the syntax and say I agree that children should not be left inside of a baby. But I’ll resist. 🙂

    Instead I’ll just point out that an age-based law that treats 15-year-olds the same as babies is not based on reality.

  2. Kerry February 25, 2016 at 6:49 am #

    Why doesn’t anybody sue these busybodies for harassment? If some random stranger came up and started videotaping me I’d call the cops on THEM!

  3. Puzzled February 25, 2016 at 7:04 am #

    Hmm, so the nut has a child, and his child is…in his car, alone. Makes sense.

  4. Pjack February 25, 2016 at 7:24 am #

    The comments on the news site itself are equally as disturbing! The lynch mob is here!
    And wait until summer! OOOOOH goody! Then we can hear about the two babies and dogs that have been left in hot cars all summer and fight about it! I swear the news teams must be like, “we don’t know why these are top stories, but we’ll take it!”

  5. Beth February 25, 2016 at 8:26 am #

    I loved (read: hated) the comments that compared this to a child forgotten in the car who died from excessive heat.

    Can people really NOT think critically any more and realize that there is nothing alike about these two situations?

  6. Workshop February 25, 2016 at 9:02 am #

    The only way to stop these bullies is to stand up to them. Or, pepper spray.

  7. lollipoplover February 25, 2016 at 9:09 am #

    If the purpose of the news report was to say that what this woman did was not illegal, why are they not looking into charges against this man who is verbally harassing an innocent mother?

    This viral sensation of publicly shaming someone online has to stop and these people taping themselves berating others for non-crimes is harassment. I don’t shame parents and verbally berate them at fast food drive-thrus for buying their happy meal nutrition bombs and poisoning their kids just because I cook homemade meals for my children. A baby in a car is not a ticking timebomb. These busybody vigalantes need to be dialed back in their smear campaign against non-crimes. I hate watching these videos. I hate sanctimonious people who lack compassion and common sense and instead post videos to feel superior as parents. Sick.

  8. Warren February 25, 2016 at 9:27 am #

    I can’t wait for some moron to do this with me around. The headline will be “Video of Man Defending Negligent Mom Goes Viral”

  9. Jim Collins February 25, 2016 at 9:48 am #

    Put the blame where it belongs. Media hype. Last night the television news in Pittsburgh reported on two incidents. One was a fight between two 7th graders on a school bus and the other was about a school bus driving slow on the Parkway.

    When I was in 7th grade a fight on the bus was a weekly occurrence, but, now it is major news. The driver has been suspended until an investigation determines if he did enough to try to stop the fight.

    The bus on the Parkway was going slow because of a busted water pump, but, that didn’t stop them from suspending the driver until an investigation is completed.

    Both of these stories were hyped before commercial breaks and shown on the 5 PM, 5:30 PM, 6 PM, 6:30 PM and 11 PM news broadcasts.

  10. Emily February 25, 2016 at 11:02 am #

    Wait, if this man said he had a child in his car, then didn’t he leave his child in his car, while he went to berate that woman for doing the same thing?

  11. John February 25, 2016 at 11:54 am #

    Quote:

    “I’m sorry but if they are under the age of 16 they shouldn’t be left in a car, especially a baby.”

    Well, at least this person apologized for making such a dumb statement.

  12. Dean Whinery February 25, 2016 at 12:15 pm #

    Just sign me “The Walking Dead”. In the middle of the last century my parents would often leave me in the car to babysit my diapered sister, three years younger, while they dashed into a store or two to buy food or other items. This was often in one of “those neighborhoods” where, nowadays, “things happen”.
    Wonder how we survived to be great, great Grandmother, and GG Uncle.

  13. John February 25, 2016 at 12:18 pm #

    Quote:

    “Obviously we need to look into a heavier law for leaving children in the car.”

    Quote:

    “If it is not illegal, it should be”

    Here we go again, yet more crazy “child protection” laws that will do nothing for the cause of children but everything for the demonization of good parents. Unfortunately, since it involves children, over reaction will trump common sense and you can count on some state lawmaker to propose even more “feel good” laws for the “good of our children” that will stifle their independence even more and ill prepare them for adulthood. All because of the stupid and arrogant “vigilante” in this video who refused to mind his own business!

  14. Stacey February 25, 2016 at 12:20 pm #

    In this state people can learn to drive at 15. But I guess they can’t be alone in the car…

  15. Stacey February 25, 2016 at 12:26 pm #

    If someone comes across a particular situation that concerns them, they should speak up and either resolve it peacefully with the involved parties, or walk away..
    However, the fact that they video tape themselves in a confrontation tells me that they don’t give a damned about the subject of the rant and are merely seeking a platform for some self aggrandizing, narcissistic, attention getting click bait, stunt.

  16. ValerieH February 25, 2016 at 12:31 pm #

    he left his child to video her! that’s what he said! cognitive dissonance. Is it ok for him to do it? Why? Because he trusts himself to raise his own kids?

  17. Yocheved February 25, 2016 at 12:38 pm #

    Oh, Spokane. Don’t ever change. :-/

  18. E February 25, 2016 at 12:42 pm #

    This is just Gross. That’s the word that come to mind.

    And while I accept that people have differing views in regard to leaving a kid in the car, I can’t deal with the confrontational nature of it all and the video taping is horrible (and serves what purpose)?. It’s just gross and rude….and a sign of the times I guess. Ugh.

  19. E February 25, 2016 at 12:44 pm #

    And good grief — it’s gotten over a million views? Is that from the news picking it up or does Facebook get to claim some of this wildfire? I don’t have FB, but would this kind of thing make the rounds to over a million people?

  20. elizabeth February 25, 2016 at 12:53 pm #

    Good grief. My brothers and i were sometimes left in the car alone and we survived. If someone ever did that to me, id be bringing out the pepper spray.

  21. Beth February 25, 2016 at 12:58 pm #

    I think we should all go over and “viral” their comment section…..

  22. Craig February 25, 2016 at 2:06 pm #

    The comments on the news site illustrate how well everyone is brainwashed. Emotional programming..

    More laws are not any kind of solution, unless maybe busybody laws. Those would be useful here.

  23. EricS February 25, 2016 at 2:31 pm #

    Bahahahahahaha!

    Woman: If you guys go and have your children…you can…

    Man: I have a child IN my car, right now!

    Ummmm…and where are you Mr? Obviously not WITH your child. So your getting upset at this woman for doing the very same thing your just admitted to???

    Just like the comments made by the viewers. Those concerns can apply to ANYTHING we do, ANYWHERE we take our child. Whether they are with us or not. Hell, it can happen when we are asleep, or taking a shower. That’s the mentality of “you can’t leave your child alone for a minute”. Yet, if anyone one of these “parents” take a crap, go pee, make dinner, that is EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING. Leaving their child unattended for even a minute.

    This is the stupidity of ignorant people like this man. No common sense, no logic, and no reason.

    However, I do have one thing to bitch about the woman…and that’s her parking skills. That is a huge pet peeve of mine. People who can’t park, and end up taking almost 2 spots. lol

  24. Neil M February 25, 2016 at 3:06 pm #

    This seems like self-promotion cloaked in self-righteousness. If Jon Evans truly wanted only to protect a child he would have just called the police and kept the video to himself. The fact that he blasted it out to the world suggests to me he’s either selling something or soon will be, or else he’s just an insecure boob who wants the world to know he is Concerned About Children. Overcompensation, perhaps?

  25. Resident Iconoclast February 25, 2016 at 3:40 pm #

    I learn something new everyday….”Triple A.” That’s priceless. Reminds me of the Don Henley tune, “Dirty Laundry.”

    For you gals out there, he’s what you do, if this happens to you.

    When the guy starts videotaping, start screaming at anyone nearby, “That man groped me!!!! He’s trying to rape me!!!!.”

    Then, that other dynamic (rapist behind every tree) will take of right quick. Bystanders will call the cops. Keep telling everyone that the man is a perverted rapist.

    When the cops arive, DON’T lie to them. Take advantage of the fact that it’s perfectly legal (at least for women) to lie to any civilian.

    Appear distraught. Let the cops start questioning the guy. The barbed wire up his ass won’t feel good. They’re going to assume that he’s a sex offender, for sure. When they finally talk to you, just tell them you were mistaken, he started videotaping and you felt threatened and thought he was going to attack you.

    If the country is effing crazy, there’s no reason why you can’t take advantage of the craziness, to make them eat each other.

  26. E February 25, 2016 at 4:00 pm #

    @Neil M — today everyone wants a viral something.

    I do get a laugh out of the scene that’s on the video still above – it shows him clutching his (invisible) pearls.

  27. Donald February 25, 2016 at 5:13 pm #

    I love the Invisible Gorilla study. It shows how a person can focus so hard on something that they are blind to see anything else.

    In this case, the douce bag (db for short) was focused intensely on possible dangers of a non supervised infant. Not only that but he saw an opportunity to be self righteous and holier than thou. He was so focused on this that he was blind to all of the problems that children face from over protection. Overprotection is a double edged sword. On one side they learn to be overly fearful. On the other side, they don’t develop the courage to stand on their own.

    They are blind to these problems and conclude that the mother must be too lazy or doesn’t love her children. This plays into their holier than thou campaign. This is why they cling to this idea with a white knuckled death grip!

    Hush now, baby, baby, don’t you cry
    Mama’s gonna make all of your nightmares come true
    Mama’s gonna put all of her fears into you
    Mama’s gonna keep you right here under her wing
    She won’t let you fly but she might let you sing
    Mama’s gonna keep baby cosy and warm

    Pink Floyd

  28. EricS February 25, 2016 at 5:21 pm #

    @Neil M: He’s looking for his 15 minutes of fame. He’s also paranoid, insecure and sanctimonious. Terrible combination. He truly believes he’s doing right. As right as headline readers. You know the type…reads JUST the headline, and creates the rest of the story in their heads.

    @Resident: I wouldn’t cry “rape”. I would just yell “Help! Help! This man is stalking me and my child!” And technically he is. Proof is he’s taking a video of a person he doesn’t know, talking about a child he doesn’t know. When the cop comes, you tell them the truth. “I was walking back to my car, when this man started accosting me, and recording me. Talking about my child. I feared for mine and my child’s safety.” Throw the very “fear” they are throwing at you, right back in their face. Get a decent lawyer, and I’m pretty sure they can find some sort of law that man broke. 😉 Or that cops can determine what laws the guy was breaking. From what I can see, there’s unlawful harassment and duress, and possible confinement (won’t let the person leave because you’re standing in the way of their vehicle).

    Be smarter than them. Which shouldn’t be too hard to do, given the intellect they are already showing. 😉

  29. Donald February 25, 2016 at 5:36 pm #

    Ever watch the show, Americas Funniest Videos? Many of the videos are staged. They intentionally get hit in the balls with a soccer ball or have a bucket of horse shit ‘accidentally’ dumped on their head. They need to release a video for others to watch.

    I recently saw a video of a huntsman spider that was ‘accidentally’ sealed in a ready to eat salad. Never mind that this could cost the food manufacturer millions of dollars from the bad publicity. Never mind that the poor economy is making the suicide rate skyrocket. The only thing that matters is to release a video that will get likes on Facebook. This is their way of worshipping the god of social media.

    For those of you that believe the accident could have been real, you know nothing of the food processing industry.

  30. Puzzled February 25, 2016 at 8:11 pm #

    I wonder if the impulse here, to attack and judge others, is related at all to the impulse shown on college campuses, to judge and silence others. Both seem to be variations on “look at me!” (Remember when campus protesters got mad about the Paris terror attacks stealing their spotlight?) Both are opportunities to pronounce judgment on others and demand intervention, to demand that people who do or think differently than you be removed or forced to be like you.

    It’s not like it’s limited to the campus left, either – it’s becoming universal. See Georgetown, where conservative students (and professors) are claiming to be offended by liberal professors who are offended by the university expressing grief over the death of J. Scalia. I see it happening even in libertarian groups, of all places – libertarians demanding that other libertarians not challenge any detail of their beliefs and that statements they deem “statist” are “triggering.” For instance, these libertarian mobs have been critical of me for having the audacity to say that I oppose abolishing the FEC.

    So, my point is – I suspect these communal panics over kids in cars, men near schools, etc., the shrill shouts that “things have changed” which are impervious to facts, are parts of this larger social trend.

  31. Sandi February 26, 2016 at 2:43 am #

    The funny thing is that he has left HIS child in the car while he is harassing her.

  32. andy February 26, 2016 at 2:46 am #

    @Puzzled On one hand, I agree – people seem to be increasing authoritarian, angry and itching to punish somebody.

    On the other hand, I think that campus left antics have additional element of political strategy in them. They are not purely individuals seeking individual attention through looking outrage. They are group with political goals. They use that tactic because it works and gives them more power and control. I interpreted Scalia thing as “right wing finally learned the strategy”.

    Libertarians I know personally were always intolerant to people of different ideologies or opinions, so there is nothing new in there for me :).

  33. Regina S February 26, 2016 at 4:31 am #

    That comment/ law about having to be at least 16 to be left in a car alone is just down right insane. So let me get this straight, if a law like this applies in my state, LA, the only time my son could be left alone in a car is when he’s already old enough to drive himself?!?! We’re infantilizing our kids whk have the capabilities to do much more than some parents allow. How are they supposed to lean to navigate this complicated world if they’re obsessively sheltered from—insert your awesome FRK slogan here! This country has lost its damn mind; I blame the fear-everything worst-case scenario emphasising media.

    My 8yo son is an intelligent, independent, compedent, helpful, trustworthy, and ablebodied young man; I’d like to keep him that way and grow more independent as he ages. Thank goodness I have my husband to help me with this. My parents overly sheltered me, so I was dependent on them, and now my husband, my whole life. I wasn’t given the opportunity to find my own independence and I suffer from it now. My husband had the opposite upbringing. He was left alone at 14 while his parents took cross country trips, and moved away from home to a city unknown to him for college at the age of 16. This was in 1986. If a 16yo can go to College and navigate a new city on his own, then I know someone much younger can have the competence to sit in a car for a brief period of time.

    Additionally though, while I was sheltered, when I was younger(5ish+) I did sit alone in cars while my folks ran quick errands, especially in cold or harsh weather; plus, I took countless seatbelt less rides with friends in the back of my best friends parents station wagon. By golly, I’m still alive, it’s a damn miracle. I’ll admit that I am a stickler for wearing seatbelts, and proper child seat placement/strap securing, but the idea that someone(s) out there actually believes you need to be 16+ to safely sit in in a car alone just blows my mine!

  34. Backroads February 26, 2016 at 8:41 am #

    As,much as I love the idea of eye for eye here, I hate the idea of continuing the drama and lack of community. I’d prefer to tell the guy off and call the cops merely for bothering me and my child and not allowing me to access said child.

  35. Filmatix February 26, 2016 at 8:53 am #

    Sadly, this ties into the outrage culture we’ve cultivated online and off–people desperately want to self-righteously prove their goodness and lord it over another.

    And the Triple A thing (ha!) is actually tied into this, no? On the Internet, everyone gets to comment, “have their say,” “have an opinion,” and dumbass, ill-informed ones are somehow elevated because it’s “democracy,” and this too has leached into every facet of life.

  36. ezym February 26, 2016 at 9:53 am #

    I used to live in Las Vegas and everyone knows that in a car during summer, the temp reaches about 142 deg. I parked not too far from the supermarket in the parking lot. When entering the market, someone comes running in yelling that a baby is locked in a car with all windows closed. I immediately ran out and sure enough this young child in a car seat was crying. The first thing came to mind was this child is in immediate danger. I wanted to break the window but had nothing in hand and I was in the store. I yelled out for someone to call 911 and the manager of the store did. I tried to find something to break the window of that car. I looked around and did not find anything heavy enough to take with me to that car. When I got to the car, the police arrived and smashed the window. I am glad they did as that would take the responsibility off my hands. In Nevada, there is a law that no child will be left in a closed car. That is a criminal offense. In that heat it wouldn’t take very long for the child to die. Here in WA, the heat is not a big threat except during summer, nevertheless, the child was left in the car. This man who confronted the women had I right to say what he felt and in no way did he slander or use any type of force upon the women. He was concerned like I would be. He felt that the child was at stake and as a good person, he did what he thought was the right thing to do. I give him lots of credit for that and as far as video taping, no that is not right. I really hope others who read this will see that I am right.

  37. lollipoplover February 26, 2016 at 10:37 am #

    “He felt that the child was at stake and as a good person, he did what he thought was the right thing to do.”

    No.
    He left his own child “at stake” in his car (I guess for him it’s allowed?) to verbally harass an innocent mother. Good people don’t do that. If he had genuine care and compassion, he would have quietly waited and kept watch over the baby until the mother returned and gone forth with his day. Instead he wanted 15 minutes of feeling superior to other parents (while doing exactly what he is berating this mom for doing). He is a complete douchecanoe.

  38. BL February 26, 2016 at 10:46 am #

    @lollipoplover
    “He left his own child “at stake” in his car (I guess for him it’s allowed?)”

    The self-righteous have immunity. Just ask them.

  39. Puzzled February 26, 2016 at 10:53 am #

    I think I’ve said this before, but – if you really think a child is in danger in a car, you’d smash the window. You’d know there would be hell to pay later (which is why I worked to stop a law from being passed here that would have absolved people who smash the windows of cars of responsibility in such circumstances) and you don’t care, because normal human beings don’t say “I’m going to let that child suffocate and die, because there’s a chance it’s normal for him to be barely breathing and then I’d need to pay for a car window.” If, instead, you’re standing around complaining, you don’t actually think the child is in danger.

    Filmatix – that makes sense. If everyone gets a say about government, and everyone gets a say by commenting on news articles and FB, I guess people are concluding everyone should get a say about literally everything they come across. “Your opinion isn’t more valid than mine just because you’re educated/you have a stake in the outcome/you’re the parent/it’s your car/etc.” Since we freely comment on Twitter feeds, why not freely comment in “meat space?”

    Andy – Yes, libertarians are always intolerant of other views and ideologies (which, to some extent, is part of holding an ideology) but when I first got involved with libertarians 20-odd years ago, they were tolerant of other libertarians. Now even that has shattered and they have no tolerance for even other libertarians, and instead of debating a moderate libertarian like me, they just want libertarian organizations to “no platform” me.

  40. andy February 26, 2016 at 11:16 am #

    @Puzzled “they just want libertarian organizations to “no platform” me.”

    That is sad. The no platforming thing seem to be as contagious as a dangerous virus.

  41. Beth2 February 26, 2016 at 12:20 pm #

    I have often thought about buying one of those battery-operated remote temperature monitoring systems, that people use in their home for monitoring the outdoor temperature, but instead putting it in my car. That way, a (hypothetical) busybody with an addiction to virtue-signaling could at least immediately see what the temperature inside my car is, and wouldn’t feel like some self-appointed hero for trying to “save” my kid from a 68-degree car. And then I could answer (hypothetical) accusations that I don’t “know” what temperature the inside of my car reaches, by showing them the remote temperature monitor in my hand. But then I think, you can’t argue with crazy, so what’s the point of even trying?

  42. Warren February 26, 2016 at 12:53 pm #

    Ezym,
    Nope you are absolutely wrong just as this moron is.

  43. lollipoplover February 26, 2016 at 12:55 pm #

    @Beth2-

    I like your thought process…maybe there needs to be a car alarm invented to target busybodies harassing *unattended* children in cars, scaring them and waking them up to make sure the are *alive* in perfectly fair weather and treating the parent, whom they adore, like dirt.

    Maybe a reverse camera system that films the busybody swarming and creeping on the car and alarming the child. The child can activate the “Please Stop Overreacting” panic button that slaps out an alarm and a sign warning the busybody to back away from the perfectly happy child in the car and prevents the escalating conflict
    . Busybody will get a big flashing pointy finger back in their face warning them that this car is equipped with cat urine spray and fog horns to ward off pitchfork yielding busybodies who need to mind their own business and stop showing *concern* by filming with cellphones.

  44. Warren February 26, 2016 at 12:57 pm #

    There’s this idiot and the other one berating the mom in a phone store. Both men berating women. Wonder what they would do if someone my size and temperament were to slap their camera out of their hands and start to berate them?

  45. Beth2 February 26, 2016 at 2:33 pm #

    While on this topic, whatever happened to that poor woman who got arrested for letting her 4-year-old happily play a game in the car for 4 minutes while she bought him a pair of headphones for the plane? I think about her sometimes, going about my day, and I just want to give her a hug.

  46. Beth February 26, 2016 at 5:23 pm #

    @ezym, could we have a link to that law? How do they define a “child” – anyone under 18? Does this law apply in all seasons?

  47. James Pollock February 26, 2016 at 8:13 pm #

    “I think I’ve said this before, but – if you really think a child is in danger in a car, you’d smash the window. You’d know there would be hell to pay later (which is why I worked to stop a law from being passed here that would have absolved people who smash the windows of cars of responsibility in such circumstances)”

    Alas, this is not so clear-cut. Many, many people decline to get involved, either because they feel that they lack ability to judge the dangerousness of the situation accurately, because they feel that someone else should do it, or because they just don’t want to be involved. And, of course, the fact that most people don’t go around looking into other people’s cars to see if there’s a baby inside.

    What prompted me to comment on this, though, is that it sounds backwards. You say you’d expect a person to break the window and retrieve the child if they believed the child was in danger… but you want them to still face criminal prosecution and/or civil liability for the property damage? (Granted, the case is tougher for the more typical case… advocates trying to provide a liability shield for removing an animal from a hot car.) As it stands now, the affirmative defense of defense of self and others is going to provide protection for the window-breakers who are pulling children out of hot cars.

    “Yes, libertarians are always intolerant of other views and ideologies”
    I don’t find this to be true. On the other hand, it’s pretty close to impossible to find any two libertarians who agree on anything, including what “libertarian” means. YMMV.

    “could we have a link to that law? How do they define a “child”
    He’s probably talking about NRS 202.575, which defines a “child” as “7 or younger”.

  48. James Pollock February 26, 2016 at 8:14 pm #

    Link to the text of Nevada’s “unattended children in cars” statute:
    http://law.justia.com/codes/nevada/2010/title15/chapter202/nrs202-575.html

  49. Richard February 26, 2016 at 10:56 pm #

    As do most of these statutes, the Nevada statute does not contain a blanket ban on leaving a child alone in a vehicle. It is only an offense if the conditions present a significant risk to the health and safety of the child; or the engine of the motor vehicle is running or the keys to the vehicle are in the ignition, unless the child is being supervised by and within the sight of a person who is at least 12 years of age. Many of these laws were in effect when we were young. People just didn’t ignore the portions of them that limited their application to situations potentially posing a risk.

  50. Becks February 27, 2016 at 4:30 am #

    Under 16?! What planet are these people living on?!

    This is a modern day public stoning and it’s disgusting!

  51. Andre L. February 27, 2016 at 8:06 am #

    I have an untested theory about how the social dynamics of this work.

    Excessively involved parents, the types that follow fades like helicopter, tiger or attachment parenting, probably lead very stressful, busy and demanding lives, whereas the feel they must endure that for the sake of their children. Then, a reaction of “every other parents should also pay their dues” kicks in, with these holier-than-thou public displays: “my life is almost mad as parent and I stick up to it anyways, so any other parents that doesn’t is a bad person and must be shamed”.

    A quick comparison would be people who adhere to very strict diets for some stated reason other than mainstream-medicine-proved medical need, and then go out lashing out on whomever doesn’t follow the same or at least believe they should be doing.

  52. Puzzled February 27, 2016 at 8:11 am #

    James, the law would have given blanket immunity as long as you thought there was a problem. As you say, as it stands, you have an affirmative defense if there’s actually a child in danger. That only works in the case where a reasonable person can see a danger. It doesn’t protect people who see 15 year olds sitting perfectly happily in cars and smash their windows. The proposed law would have. The point is that having a liability to overcome means you’ll only do it if you actually think there’s a problem, not because you enjoy shaming people.

    Sure, most people don’t look in car windows for babies – and, by definition, those who don’t look, don’t think there’s a problem, and (most of the time) don’t break the windows. I don’t see how that contradicts my statement.

  53. Jen February 27, 2016 at 8:18 am #

    The law quoted says it is illegal to leave a child under 16 in a running car. I don’t know if that quote is accurate but since commenters keep referring to it…
    Many decades ago when I got my license, the drivers ed instructor told us that it was illegal to leave a car running unattended. My guess is that the “law” that says you cannot leave a child under 16 in a running car is that anyone under 16 does not qualify as a motor vehicle operator. Let’s not debate whether a child under 16 is capable of driving said car. The point is simply that they are not allowed to drive a car without an adult present. It’s the “running car” that is the issue, not the age of the child.

  54. Claudia February 27, 2016 at 3:10 pm #

    It is annoying (and sometimes scary) that people think they can make other’s parenting decisions for them and conclude that ‘negligence’ is in play if another parent’s choice isn’t the one they made.

    A minor case of this happened the other day – at synagogue, my son (four and a half) wanted to go to the toilet on his own, at the bottom of a set of stairs from where we were. He’d already gone once, but the second time he came back and told me that ‘a mummy wouldn’t let me go in the toilet’. Presumably someone thought it was unsafe to let a child go down a stairway of a synagogue in a walled, heavily-guarded campus which is probably one of the safest public places you can imagine. Luckily it didn’t seem to have deterred him too much (plus the mum in question had evidently left when I went down with him!) but it could have really dented his confidence or made him anxious if she had said something to imply it wasn’t safe – I’ll give her credit that evidently she didn’t do that, but I’d thank people for not making parenting decisions on my behalf.

  55. Donald February 28, 2016 at 3:32 am #

    “I used to live in Las Vegas and everyone knows that in a car during summer, the temp reaches about 142 deg.”

    ezym I believe you that it does get that hot. However I don’t agree with you that no child should be left in a car regardless of their age or the temperature of the day. Teaching children to be helpless is a danger as well.

  56. James Pollock February 28, 2016 at 4:47 pm #

    “the law would have given blanket immunity as long as you thought there was a problem.”
    That is also the current law (assuming you’re rescuing a person). Most of the push has been to extend this to allow property damage to protect the safety of an animal.

  57. Rivkacatholicaspie February 28, 2016 at 11:17 pm #

    Okay…even if you are going to confront someone about leaving their baby in a car-why video tape it? Why the heck do you have to video it? For internet points?

  58. James Pollock February 29, 2016 at 12:54 am #

    “even if you are going to confront someone about leaving their baby in a car-why video tape it?”

    To discourage them from reacting to you by pulling out their pepper spray, Taser, or handgun.

  59. WC March 4, 2016 at 12:49 pm #

    The crime rate seems to follow the usage of leaded gasoline and seems to have nothing to do with the incarceration rates or other efforts. There’s a longer term link due to lead. We’ll see more corroborating evidence as some other countries change their leaded gasoline content. Lead poisoning explains a lot about the romans too.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16034271

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/magazine/21wwln-idealab-t.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1193069109-tIv/I01qmqYqqX/fw3A7Iw&_r=0

    http://ricknevin.com/uploads/Lead_Poisoning_and_Juvenile_Crime_Update.pdf