Santa Claus gunman was an alpha male

Although the comparison of the Santa Claus gunman to the Michael Douglas character in the movie Falling Down initially seemed obvious, apparently it was incorrect.

Spungen writes in a comment:

I think you want to do a bit more research before affiliating with this guy. This is not some downtrodden nerd who had enough. His wife divorced him in part because he was hiding a handicapped illegitimate son whom he had nothing to do with except for claiming him on his tax returns, despite paying no support. The guy had a Hummer AND an Escalade in his driveway. And he did NOT have a master's -- he lied on his resume, according to a source at his former employer's. He was a grandiose nut who wore a pleasant mask.

Indeed, I read the following in a more recent news article:

"He was quirky and different, but a super-nice guy," said Rachelle Maxheimer, 40, a former roommate.

She described him as something of a ladies' man, preferring younger women and dating several at once.

We see that if the woman married a real nerd instead of a macho guy who had sex with many women and drove Hummers, she and her family would still be alive.

Comments

[Peter]

It also was an interracial marriage. Could those have higher rates of violence than same-race ones? It's hard to find statistics.

[Winston Smith]

I don't think this guy was an alpha. It would be better to describe him as a pseudo alpha. Real alphas don't bring down the temple on top of themselves when things get tough. Instead they move on to bigger and better things (think Trump).

[Rain And]

The perfect revenge against a woman would be to slip her a pill that makes her permanently obese.

If you kill her, she just dies. No more pain. But if you fatten her up, she lives her life in hell.

[Andrew Yates]

Wow, was I wrong...

[Joe Walker]

Quote: "We see that if the woman married a real nerd instead of a macho guy who had sex with many women and drove Hummers, she and her family would still be alive."

Most macho men don't behave this way. If they did then natural selection would have eliminated them.

[Brick Oven Bill]

Alpha males who are not financially comfortable do not drive Hummers, they drive domestic pickup trucks, or in the case of an extremely confident alpha male, a domestic sub-compact. A poor man who drives a Hummer probably has a self-confidence issue with a certain part of his anatomy. This is also consistent with a man who would physically harm a woman.

Hitler reportedly only had one testicle. Nerds are far more likely to be individually violent than confident men.

So this is kind of a rip-Roissy post ?

[whiskey]

No Brick, nerds are likely to be sitting on the sidelines resentfully.

Women consistently choose violent, dangerous, non-nerdy men over quiet, respectable and nerdgy guys.

Theodore Dalrymple in his "Life at the Bottom" notes not only his female patients but educated and professional nurses chose violent and dangerous men who abused them (sometimes at work). This pattern only ended after menopause.

Women LIKE (on average, some may not) violent and dangerous high testosterone men.

You can see more American examples such as Natalie Holloway (Johan Van Der Sloot), the women who married the Petersons (Drew and Scott), the woman in Ohio who had two illegitimate kids with a violent, dangerous cop who had several other illegitimate kids, you see the pattern.

Women, particularly younger women or those from a middle to lower class background, find violent, dangerous men attractive. They overestimate their ability to control such men, and end up paying the price in one form or another. As Dalrymple points out, upper class women are now tending in that direction as well.

In none of these cases is the man in question somehow "hiding" his true nature, his propensity to violence, his aggression and so on. In fact that's the attraction they have for women in the first place.

No one put a gun to the heads of the women who chose these guys. I don't think they deserve this, but rather we as a society ought to have social pressures on women to avoid violent, aggressive men and clearly communicate the limits of female social pressure to conform (which breaks down in face of male aggression and violence). Women tend to assume the same things that apply to women apply to men, such as the power of social pressure and approval/disapproval. They tend to have no clues as to the ability of men to institute violence.

But no, nerds are not "violent" in fact they tend to be less violent because the IQ-Testosterone trade off as shown in the studies linked by Gene Expression lowers testosterone linked aggression and has a higher future time preference. Meanwhile guys with high testosterone find that aggression is rewarded (by women sleeping with them). Drew Peterson is apparently a favorite of the local college and post-college women in Ohio, according to commenters who live nearby in Ace of Spades website.

[slwerner]

Andrew Yates - "Wow, was I wrong..."

Same here!

Despite Spungen's chiding, I think most of us WERE relying on the reports that were coming out. Frankly, I cannot find the same information about his vehicle choices she posted, although her (unnamed) source is most likely correct about Pardo (the part about his disabled child certainly is).

Apparently not one to learn from my mistakes, I'll hop right back out on another limb and speculate that Pardo was demonstrating some sort of corollary to an “entitled” attitude, namely that if he couldn’t have that to which he felt entitled, he certainly wasn’t going to allow his ex to have it either. More over-grown spoiled brat than Alpha-male, in my book.

And, I’ll go a step further and state that neither Pardo nor his ex-wife Sylvia deserved a damned thing. The only “deserving” people in the whole sad sordid affair are his disabled child and that child’s mother.

Pardo was a lying sack-of-$hit who wouldn’t contribute a dime to the child for who’s disability he appears to be responsible. And I’ll sand by my earlier revulsion at the idea that Sylvia should have been given a court order for “support” - she was working for $31k/yr because that was all she was worth. Yes, he was a world-class jerk, but all she deserved for marrying him was to have the marriage ended (I’m sure women will disagree). If she provided evidence to the court about his nonsupport for his child, his assets should have been “frozen” until they could be assigned to the child – they should not have gone to Sylvia.

[Jay Fink]

Your last paragraph is exactly right. I'm not sure if he truly fits the defenition of an alpha male, but he was certainly the outwardly confident macho men the ladies love. If women weren't attracted to these kind of men, violence towards women would go down to near zero.

I would go as far as saying that women are never truly victims of domestic violence, even if they get murdered. It's their caveman taste in men that got them in the situation. Although in this case all the other people at Christmas party who were killed or injured were victims of course. They sadly had to pay the price for a womans barbaric (yet common) choice in sexual selection.

[mnjohn]

Yea but then she would have less intense orgasms, if any, with a beta male. One wonders if the trade off is worth it.

[Bust a Kappa in your Alpha]

A real Alpha plays his cards right. A real Alpha doesn't start fights... Damn it feels good to be an Alpha.

[Spungen]

Thank you, Winston. Half Sigma needs a good hard swat upside the head to knock off those alpha/nerd glasses that so distort his view of gender relations.

What Winston calls a pseudo-alpha, I call a Weasel: A man of moderate abilities and means, usually decent looks, with a hugely inflated ego that makes him angry and dissatisfied with normal rewards such that he feels entitled to crime and/or abuse to get more.

What the guy was, ultimately, was a dishonest egomaniac. His carefully constructed image of success and power was crumbling and he couldn't handle it. THAT is what puts wives and families at risk, not some "alpha" or "nerd" quality. Think of Neal Entwistle; James Keown; Christian Longo; Mark Hacking. Men of varying attractiveness (Keown was ugly) whose lies were pierced.

[The Undiscovered Jew]

"So this is kind of a rip-Roissy post ?

Posted by: | December 28, 2008 at 04:15 PM"

Yes.

What else would you prefer? Another Sarah Palin post?

[PA]

@Peter "It also was an interracial marriage."

He looks white. What race was the wife?

[Ferguson]

What makes you think Roissy is an "Alpha-Male"; he won't even post his picture (which is available--google it), and deletes posts which link to it. Neil Strauss's picture is goddamn everywhere, yet our tough-guy friend Roissy won't let anyone look at his.

[req]

"It's their caveman taste in men that got them in the situation."

Yes. I'd also add, however, that men who bitterly whine about how a woman has screwed them over also only have themselves to blame for choosing poorly and/or placing their physical attraction to her over her character & stability as a partner.

We're all responsible for who we choose to marry and if you get screwed, just look in the mirror if you want to see who deserves the bulk of the blame - you likely chose to ignore signs that this woman/man was a bad idea.

[Peter]

"@Peter "It also was an interracial marriage."
He looks white. What race was the wife?"

Mexican.

[amish]

"He looks white. What race was the wife?

Posted by: PA | December 28, 2008 at 07:29 PM"

She was Mexican. So Amerindian

Anyway, what kind of alpha male marries a forty year old woman with baggage?

[The Undiscovered Jew]

"They sadly had to pay the price for a womans barbaric (yet common) choice in sexual selection."

Violent genes have been selected in human populations for a very good reason:

Having a certain percentage of your population that is violent can come in very handy if you have to fight a war.

A nation consisting entirely of nerds and wimpy beta males - especially Jewish nerds like Half Sigma - would be totally vulnerable to genetic annihilation and conquest from powerful enemies such as the Mongol Hordes, the Saracens, Nazi Germany, etc.

Without violent white males, European man would have fallen to defeat long ago.

So, if the violent jocks and jerks get more pussy, rest assured that it is for perfectly good evolutionary purposes.

[PA]

["What makes you think Roissy is an "Alpha-Male"; he won't even post his picture']

What's your obsession with seeing Roissy's picture? He writes controversial things. Maybe he finds it prudent to remain anonymous.

[Gannon]

"What else would you prefer? Another Sarah Palin post?"

You idiot, why did you have to invoke the devil?

[The Undiscovered Jew]

"What else would you prefer? Another Sarah Palin post?"

You idiot, why did you have to invoke the devil?

Posted by: Gannon | December 28, 2008 at 08:58 PM"

Damn, I think Sigma posted again on SP just to piss me off.

I shall remember not to provoke him into another Palin rant in the future...

[Truth]

I'll go out on a limb here. The ex-wife and her family deserved what they got. She made the mistake of simply not walking away from the marriage when she found out about his indiscretions. Instead, she got almost two grand a month in alimony (for being married for two years) from a guy who was unemployed, had no assets, was already running a financial deficit and was burdened with $338,000 in medical bills for his kid. If she did not want to face those kind of issues, then she should've ignored her lawyer. She chose not to.

She contributed toward ruining a desperate and damaged man. The lawyer got a big laugh. The courts got a big laugh. The family got a big laugh. But in the end, the only one who got a big laugh was the devil.

Because now he's got fresh souls to ride bareback in Hell.

[Spungen]

You Weasels are arguing out of your rear ends when you try to blame this woman for what happened to her and her family. You in particular, Whiskey, don't have a hollow leg to stand on. Pardo had no criminal background; all his casual aquaintances said he was a nice guy. There was nothing about him to tip off a romantic partner that he was capable of violence.

As for poor Natalee Holloway, she was a high school student on vacation looking to party. There is zero evidence there was any "bad boy" quality about Vandersloot she was lured by. It's disgusting and ridiculous that you'd twist that young woman's tragedy to justify your whining about how the top women don't want guys like you.

And you, Sigma, you remember darned well my post about how the only boyfriend who ever hit me was a nerdy engineer who liked to whine about how all the pretty girls liked jerks. No, it's not the alpha males who cause these problems. It's the self-indulgent whiners who think that no matter how little they have to offer, they deserve the upper-hand with women.

[Gil]

I agree with the posts here in that since when are shooter of this kind are Alpha-types? Last time I looked at the news when a story like this comes it's some sort of down-and-out loser, and if anything, an Omega male. I'm sure technically-speaking there's difference between the crimes committed by Alpha-types and Omega-types. I'd hazard a guess that Alphas-types commit crimes in a 'hands-ons' consistent with a traditional warrior - not afraid to get hurt and get the enemy's blood on their hand and, also, to profit in some sort of illegal venture. Whereas an Omega-type goes for the more leveraged killing - goes on a shooting spree where the victims are highly likely to be defenceless before killing themselves - hardly anything do with a warrior rather more of a cowardly suicidal loser.

P.S. I can't imagine anyone, let alone H.S. who can ever convince cheerleaders to leave footballers types for nerds.

[Jay Fink]

Undiscovered Jew makes a good point that if all women liked nerds there would be no violent white males to fight wars if neccessary. Still, I would say things shifted to the other extreme. Since most women go for the violent brutes we are rapidly losing our civility.

Also, having a preference for violent men sure wasn't in the best interests of Sylvia's biology! As Half Sigma said, if she married a nerd she would be alive and well today. There is such irony in that men who women choose for being "protective" often end up being the most dangerous.

[slwerner]

Jay Fink – “Also, having a preference for violent men sure wasn't in the best interests of Sylvia's biology!” & “There is such irony in that men who women choose for being "protective" often end up being the most dangerous.”

Jay, two issues here.

First, as others have pointed out, there was nothing to suggest that Pardo had previously shown signs of being a violent man. What most people have observed of his previous behaviors, he would more likely be seen as “big spender”, suggesting to women that he might be a good “provider” – more so that a “protector”. Sylvia’s “biology” would have been largely wrapped up in her own three children. It’s doubtful that at 43 she intended to have any more children with Pardo. She would have only been considering the interests of her kids (not Pardo’s) when assessing him as a “mate”.

Perhaps, in modern times, the concepts of men as “protectors” and men as “providers” have merged into one, with “protection” now based on financial stability.

A number of month back, HS ran a item on (supposedly) Christian single mothers advertizing for single, never-married, Christian beta males to marry with the (unstated) promise of sex after they contractually obligated themselves. I found it appalling that the women (in Albuquerque, if I recall) were using their claims of faith (no sex before marriage) as a veil for virtual prostitution.

It was laughable that women who had slept around with bad-boys suddenly found chastity. They all but cried out for stable, gainfully employed beta chumps to be their knights in shining amour who would save them (from their self-made fate of poverty) by signing away half of their worldly goods, present and future.

But, before I get to far astray here, let’s get back to our story….

Pardo seems be have made himself one of these such beta chumps. Unless (and unlikely) Sylvia was receiving substantial child support payments, three kids on $31k in So. Cal. would put her squarely in the “struggling to get by” category.

Unless she was some knock-out (43 year old Hispanic women – not likely!), who, like her compatriots in Albuquerque was withholding sex pending his signature on a marriage contract, it hard to figure out just what was in it for Pardo.
Seems his Alpha pretensions all washed away and he became a squishy beta to risk it all on the likes of her.

It’s been many years since I’ve seen “Falling Down”, but I don’t think that HS was really all that far off in his comparison (at least not as he now believes). Although Pardo’s down fall was largely of his own making, Sylvia trying to milk him in the divorce seems very much a parallel to the “kicking a man while he’s down” that keeping Michael Douglas’ character from his child was in the movie.

Pardo certainly doesn’t make a good poster-child for the injustice’s done to men in divorce courts, but Sylvia certainly wasn’t thinking about anyone other than herself in trying to gouge out every penny she could from him. His career was shot, he was well in arrears with child support, he was in trouble with the IRS, and his big SUV-drivin’ alpha facade was crumbling. Certainly squeezing him in court was the kind of unkind final straw that could make one snap.

Sadly, when some people snap, they take others down with them in despicable ways. Pardo ranks right up there with the likes of Susan Smith and Andrea Yates.

[Gannon]

@Spungen
All human beings, specialy males, are capable of extreme violence when pushed to the limit. He was between the wall and the sword. In the end, he saw no other way than to take the sword.
But it's too bad for the highschool girl. Was she cute?

[slwerner]

Truth – “The ex-wife and her family deserved what they got.”

I’d have to disagree here. Her family certainly did not deserve the death and destruction. What did the young girl who was shot first possibly do to Pardo? And, while I agree with your observation that Sylvia should not have gotten a dime, she also did not deserve death. She was merely acting in accordance with what western women have come to expect – if the marriage doesn’t turn out the way they like it, they believe they are due compensation (it doesn’t matter if it was the women who screwed-up, or the man), and the family courts seem to over-whelming agree.

In my view Pardo was no Alpha-male. He was more of a wanna-be. He spent big to impress women, and had some success. But, real alphas who are already themselves successful tend not to get deeply (ie marriage) entangled with baggage-laden proles, like 43-year old Sylvia Ortega and her three kids.

Here is were we see that Pardo was merely a upwardly striving beta who realized his alpha façade was aging. As has been thoroughly discussed here and many other places, the worst thing any man can do is marry a single mother.

His doing so “smells” of a certain desperation. Why would a man making $122k settle for an aging mother of three who made a quarter of what he did. Even if she was drop-dead gorgeous, and alpha would have been able to string her along without great financial risk that marriage is to a man. A 43 yr old with 3 kids in tow is the one we would expect to be desparate, and willing to give up the most in order to sustain a relationship. Instead Pardo was the one who provided far and away the lions share.

Now, elsewhere in the two posts, I have seen unsubstantiated suggestions that she cheated on him, and that he cheated on her. I can find nothing to suggest either. To me, it seems likely that the IRS had finally caught up to Pardo for his tax fraud, exposing to Sylvia that he may have financial problems in the future. Or, perhaps she found out that he was being investigated for fraud at work, and might loose his job.

I doubt she care the least that he hadn’t supported his disabled son in the past, she was only concerned that he might not have as much to give her and her kids in the future. So, she did what any women could be expected to do – she “cashed out” while there was still something to take from him. No sense in riding out the storm and struggling financially with a man she had “hooked” merely to gain access to his financial means (the real reason single mothers look to marry). For women, marriage is like the sock market – marry a man who’s on the way up, then get rid of him if he looks like he’s going to tank.

I do agree with you here: “She contributed toward ruining a desperate and damaged man. The lawyer got a big laugh. The courts got a big laugh. The family got a big laugh. But in the end, the only one who got a big laugh was the devil.”

But, is there really any need to pretend that there is a distinction between divorce lawyers, Family Courts, and the Devil?

[Peter]

"Unless she was some knock-out (43 year old Hispanic women – not likely!), who, like her compatriots in Albuquerque was withholding sex pending his signature on a marriage contract, it hard to figure out just what was in it for Pardo."

Interestingly enough, Google Image searches for Sylvia Pardo and Sylvia Ortega don't yield any pictures of her. The LA Times has run a picture of her parents, who also died in the attack, but not of Sylvia herself.

By the way, based on the appearance of the parents, it's probably stretching definitions a bit to call Bruce and Sylvia's marriage "interracial."

[slwerner]

Gannon – “All human beings, specialy males, are capable of extreme violence when pushed to the limit. He was between the wall and the sword. In the end, he saw no other way than to take the sword.”

What Pardo did was nothing less than despicable! Pardo had two other clear options for taking the sword.

First, and most logically, he could have declared bankruptcy, defaulted on the mortgage, and sought to settle with the IRS. This would have meant giving up all that he had accumulated, but it would also have served the good purpose of denying Sylvia of that which she was certainly undeserving.

Secondly, if he simply could not live with the downfall he had brought on himself, nor the kick in the face from the Family Court, he could have more literally take the sword through suicide.

But, the reason he will now only be known as an evil man is that he plotted to kill others and escape himself. He didn’t just “snap”, he plotted his revenge. He planned to kill many, and flee. He leaves behind a string of selfishly motivated missteps and frauds, for which he never tried to make amends. He is truly an anti-hero.

Of course, had he merely accepted his losses or committed suicide, it wouldn’t be national news.

It basically impossible to like Pardo, and his actions make it difficult to even find empathy for him. Still, if we can somehow manage to look beyond his painfully obvious flaws, his story should serve as a cautionary tale for men.

Modern western women rarely marry for love - I know that sounds outrageous to some, but allow me to explain what I mean.

Women, although they believe they understand the nature of love, have (on average, of course) become so warped by “chick flicks” and romance novels that they are unable to distinguish between love and infatuation. This is why the two primary reasons women now marry are infatuation and selfishness (much more needs to be said of this, but time does not permit).

To try to sum up and keep it short, single mothers who seek to marry are almost always doing so out of selfishness – to gain financial support for their children. Their loyalties will not be primarily to their new husbands (only true love can produce loyalty, and she will truly love her children).

Thus, when things go bad, for what ever reason, such a wife will not likely choose to hang-tough with her man, but rather do what id most financially advantageous for her and her children. They will gladly team with the Family Courts to beat every last cent out of the man she never really loved. Just look at the case of Bruce and Sylvia Pardo, for example.

Spungen prefers to chastise posters here that they are “self-indulgent whiners who think that no matter how little they have to offer, they deserve the upper-hand with women.”

Yet, the reality is that, especially in the case of single-mothers, women have little to offer (other than sex) in return for the great financial risk a man must assume in marriage. As a woman, Spugen is probably unable to even begin to consider the male perspective here.

But, I’ll make it short, sweet, and to the most important point – A MAN SHOULD NEVER MARRY A SINGLE-MOTHER!

Gannon – “But it's too bad for the highschool girl. Was she cute?”

Just wondering here – would it be possible for you to just make your arguments without going over to the creepy-end?

[Peter]

I'm not quite so sure if the divorce's financial burdens on Pardo were quite so severe. The LA Times quotes the wife's lawyer* as saying that the divorce agreement was more amicable than these things usually are, and it also sounds as if Pardo had to make a single payment of $10,000 (perhaps in installments) as opposed to ongoing support. That's not a trivial sum, of course, but if it hadn't been for Pardo's other financial troubles it shouldn't have been a crushing burden. So no, it really doesn't sound as if the divorce was what drove him over the edge.

* = who undoubtedly considers himself the luckiest man in the world today, for not having been targeted himself

[slwerner]

Peter – “The LA Times quotes the wife's lawyer* as saying that the divorce agreement was more amicable than these things usually are, and it also sounds as if Pardo had to make a single payment of $10,000 (perhaps in installments) as opposed to ongoing support.”

Peter,

Are you actually taking the word of HER lawyer that it was amicable?

As to the payout vs. support; a support order from the court was issued upon their separation and prior to the divorce settlement. I’ve read elsewhere that some are speculating the $10,000 settlement payout was an equalization payment he had to make to her for “HER part” of the equity in HIS house – which he was allowed to keep. Although I cannot find any confirmation of this, it does tend to make sense.

You see, no matter how little a woman brings into a marriage, the courts will act to ensure that she gets her “fair share” (and then some) upon it’s dissolution.

It’s therefore quite possible that the $10,000 was on top of the support payments, and the legal fees.

[Jack]

First of all, no alpha male marries a 40-year-old single mother of 3. Seriously, that's like omega territory. As others have said, it's important for American men to realize that marriage is stacked against them and to be very selective about who they marry. There are a lot of beta chumps out there-guys who are willing to be a provider for women past their prime, who got fucked and chucked by more "alpha" guys in their hotter youth. I will never have that lack of self-respect. If she didn't want me when she was hot, I don't want her now.

Spungen:
"As for poor Natalee Holloway, she was a high school student on vacation looking to party. There is zero evidence there was any "bad boy" quality about Vandersloot she was lured by. It's disgusting and ridiculous that you'd twist that young woman's tragedy to justify your whining about how the top women don't want guys like you."

Anyone can tell Vandersloot was a charismatic, spoiled party fratboy type. He certainly had the bad-boy persona down pat, and had a rep to boot. The Holloway example actually demonstrates very well the problems we face now. Women are given unlimited freedom of choice, but with that comes responsibility to make the proper decisions. Feminists have been very slow, ok absent, in understanding this. Spungen is typical in not attacking the problem itself, which is that high school senior girls should not be PARTYING late at night with ANYONE, let alone in bars, in a foreign country and with no proper supervision. Holloway got HERSELF into a bad situation, and she paid the ultimate price. She shouldn't have been getting drunk late at night in a foreign country, and she shouldn't have hooked up with a stranger. I'd like to see incidents like that one smack some sense into both young women and their parents (who shouldn't have allowed this trip in the first place), but from what I can tell, nothing has changed.

"No, it's not the alpha males who cause these problems. It's the self-indulgent whiners who think that no matter how little they have to offer, they deserve the upper-hand with women."

Someone needs to call this for what it is - complete bullshit. I'll bet anyone a large amount of money that a higher percent of professional athletes has been arrested for domestic violence compared to engineers. I'd like to see Spungen, for once, acknowledge that the big problem is the POOR choices of WOMEN. Like other women, she is incapable of doing so. Some women actively choose not just "bad boys", but violent and dangerous men. Scott Peterson gets marriage proposals. OJ dated hot young women after the first trial. These are men who MURDERED their wives! Oh, but I'm sure OJ was really a nerdy engineer type, right Spungen?

[Peter]

Dunno if this thread is still getting any readers, but it turns out there's a new and truly amazing twist in the story. Pardo's **own mother** was supposed to be at the party - that's right, the party hosted by his ex-wife's family - and she was on his hit list. Fortunately for her, Mom didn't feel well and stayed home. Knowing that his mother sided with the ex-wife could very well be what pushed Pardo over the brink.

He also had planned to knock off the ex-wife's divorce lawyer, which is a lot less surprising.

[Kirk]

One assumption that people keep making in this thread, is that if you marry a single parent, you automatically become a second parent to his/her children. As far as I know, that is not true. At least here in FL, one would have to adopt the kids in order assume responisibility for them. Marrying their mom or dad isn't enough.

Is CA law different? Did Pardo really even have to pay child-support for her kids? Or is that something we've all been wrongly assuming?

[Sheila Tone]

"Some women actively choose not just "bad boys", but violent and dangerous men. Scott Peterson gets marriage proposals. OJ dated hot young women after the first trial."

Jack, why do you think the women should be any less crazy than the men? The flaw in your reasoning is that you divide women into only two groups: attractive, and thus desirable, and unattractive, and therefore undesirable. You don't stop to consider that there are females with all sorts of undesirable dysfunctions and characteristics, the same as males, and perhaps water is seeking its own level. Perhaps it's not about alpha or beta, but just about crazy.

You persist in the unsupported belief that women who would be reasonably desirable *to you* are taken out of the dating pool by their poor choices. Yes, they may have been hot and young. But what else was wrong with them? And remember, OJ was rich, not just a (preponderance of evidence) murderer. And I doubt the girls who turn you down in law school are writing letters to Peterson. If you want to date the sort of women who are jail groupies, then it is you who have the problem.

Remember: Pardo, the subject of this post, gave no outward signs of violent behavior. This poor woman is not the victim you should be grinding your axe upon.

[slwerner]

Peter – “Pardo's **own mother** was supposed to be at the party - that's right, the party hosted by his ex-wife's family - and she was on his hit list.”

That Pardo felt that she, too, had betrayed him, and intended to kill her as well might well suggest the onset of a stress-induced neuroses; which, had he been a woman, would have resulted in massive hand-wringing and navel-gazing as the MSM tried to come to grips with “what pushed her to do it?”

[slwerner]

Kirk - "Is CA law different? Did Pardo really even have to pay child-support for her kids? Or is that something we've all been wrongly assuming?"

Kirk,

Hate to tell you this, but you're the only person who has wrongly assumed that child support payments were ever involved – at all.

Sylvia Pardo was given court ordered spousal support during their separation. There's this little legal notion of keeping women in the lifestyle they become accustomed to.

What is not clear is if this support was going to continue (as alimony) after the final divorce decree/settlement. One news story stated that Bruce Pardo, after loosing his job had fallen behind this support, and was seeking a reduction. I believe it was this same story that put the (new?) amount at $1750+/month, plus $450/month to make up for arrearages.

It is not clear if the $10k settlement payout included this support, or was, as has been suggested, a separate payout for her “fair share” of the increased equity of his house.

Sylvia Pardo had been previously married, perhaps even to the father(s) of her three children. The (putative) biological father(s) would have been on the hook for child support. Your initial assumption was correct in that, unless he had legal adopted the children, Bruce Pardo would not have owed and child support.