The Couple Who Burned California to Ashes are Being Charged With Manslaughter and They Need to Be Thrown Into Our Deepest Dungeon for Eternity

Source - A couple that hosted the gender reveal party blamed for sparking a California wildfire last year that claimed the life a firefighter is facing 30 criminal charges, including involuntary manslaughter.

Refugio Jimenez Jr. and Angela Jimenez pleaded not guilty. ...

On Sept. 5, 2020, the couple set off a smoke bomb in El Dorado Park, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles near Yucaipa. It was supposed to show whether an expecting Angela would give birth to a boy or girl — instead, it sparked flames amid the dry grass at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Refugio tried to douse the fire with water, but the blaze was fueled by hot wind and dry conditions, according to authorities.

The inferno ultimately ripped through more than 22,000 acres across two counties, destroying five homes and 15 buildings as well as injuring 13 people. Charles Morton, a 39-year-old firefighter and a Big Bear Interagency Hotshot squad boss, was killed as he attempted to battle the flames. ...

In the end, it took more than two months to contain.

I can guarantee you right now what the Jimenez's lawyer's reason for the not guilty plea is and what their whole defense will be. One word. 

Accident. 

"Oh, they didn't mean to set off a deadly fire that destroyed tens of thousands of acres of pristine natural beauty, made people homeless and cut down a courageous, selfless hero by the name of Charles Morton in the prime of his life. They were just trying to share their joy with family and friends and had a tragic ... accident." 

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. A thousand times wrong. An accident is when you cut yourself chopping vegetables. An accident is taking a digger carrying something down a flight of stairs. An accident is what you call it when you have to swerve to avoid something or someone in the road and hit something. It's the proper word to use for when a mistake is made in the act of doing the right thing. Which is what makes accidents forgivable. And the more "right" the thing you're doing is, the more forgivable it is. If you get into a fender bender with a parked car outside the Emergency Room because your kid is crying in pain with a sprained wrist from a soccer game, you get all the benefit of the doubt you need. 

This is the furthest thing from that. 

You know what charge the Jimenezes need to enter plea of "100% guilty" on? Being narcissists. Like everyone who holds a Gender Reveal party of any kind should, regardless of whether there was widespread devastation or death involved or not. Because what the self-possessed twats who host these things are doing is killing a day out of the lives of everyone they invite. 

Newsflash, you egomaniacal solipsistic dildos. You are not the bright shining center of a solar system in which us lesser, dark little objects orbit. We do not have an infinite number of Saturdays to sacrifice to satisfy your irrational craving for attention. People have hobbies they like to spend their days off pursuing. Not everything in your life is an accomplishment. Least of all having a baby of one gender or the other. It's a 50/50 prop bet. A genetic coin flip. And we don't need to give up our free time to find out which creative way you've chosen to tell us if it came up Heads or Tails. (Save your lecture about the non-binary nature of humans and gender fluidity for another time. That kid is coming out of the birth canal with one set of parts or another.) I mean, it's not like the possibilities are endless and you're having a cookout to let folks know it's a boy, a girl, a litter of puppies, a Sasquatch or a pile of coins are going to come out of her womb like you hit the jackpot at slots. These reveals should be handled with a group text and a Facebook post and let everyone go back to their lives.

But this is what we've become. Mostly thanks to social media, I suppose. But also because we've raised two generations now to think that every ordinary moment in their lives is an accomplishment. We gave them participation trophies for just showing up, then "graduations" for Kindergarten, 4th grade and 8th grade. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised that they grew up to stage events to celebrate their own simple existence. In return they gave us back abominations like the Promposal, the Engagement Party (I don't mean getting engaged and then throwing a party, which is perfectly normal. I'm talking about the kind where you gather people together to watch you pop the question, which is the height of narcissism), the Destination Bachelor Party, the Destination Bachelorette Party and the Destination Wedding. So the natural extension of all that self-absorption is the Gender Reveal. And the scorched earth, destruction and death that inevitably follows. 

And it should be noted that the Jimenezes were by no means the first couple to burn the world to the ground at one of these parties. They knew this had happened before. They'd been warned. And they did it anyway. While they deserve to be dropped into a volcano, I don't think California law allows for that. But they deserve the worst punishment allowable. If for no other reason than to send a message to all future expectant couples that these Gender Reveals need to stop. Call it harsh, call me cruel, just don't call what they did an "accident."