This one will probably get me into trouble.

Chrissie Hynde is being roundly criticized for her remarks regarding sexual assault and her own experience being raped when she was 21.  Here are some of her comments:

“Technically speaking, however you want to look at it, this was all my doing and I take full responsibility.  You can’t f— about with people, especially people who wear ‘I Heart Rape’ and ‘On Your Knees’ badges. … Those motorcycle gangs, that’s what they do.”

“You can’t paint yourself into a corner and then say whose brush is this? You have to take responsibility,  I mean, I was naive.”

“If you play with fire, you get burnt. It’s not any secret, is it?”

“If I’m walking around in my underwear and I’m drunk? Who else’s fault can it be?"

“If I’m walking around and I’m very modestly dressed and I’m keeping to myself and someone attacks me, then I’d say that’s his fault. But if I’m being very lairy and putting it about and being provocative, then you are enticing someone who’s already unhinged — don’t do that. Come on! That’s just common sense. You know, if you don’t want to entice a rapist, don’t wear high heels so you can’t run from him.”  Note:  Lairy is a word whose meaning is gaudy or flashy.

Ms Hynde is completely wrong.  There is a tiny kernel of truth in what she's saying, but it was lost in all of the things she said that are just completely and utterly ridiculous. 

We have laws that mandate what is considered to be "indecent exposure."  Yet a woman going around in violation of those laws is not asking to be raped.  She does not deserve to be raped.  The idea that women should stop wearing high heels to be able to run away from rapists is just nonsensical.  How a woman is dressed has and should have nothing to do with the risk she runs of being the victim of a sexual assault.  Rape is violence, it isn't sex.

So, where is that tiny kernel of truth?  It isn't to be found in what women wear, high heels or provocative clothing.  Nor is it found in women acting in a flirtatious manner. This kernel of truth has nothing to do with making women "responsible" for their becoming victims of sexual assault.  Even if women don't follow the wisdom in this kernel of truth, they are not responsible for a man sexually assaulting them.

That kernel of truth is to be aware.  Women on college campuses who attend parties and the like shouldn't walk about campus alone afterward.  Do everything possible to avoid parking in darkened areas at night.  Heck, men shouldn't do that either.  Have your car keys in hand before walking out of the building to your car.  Look around.  Check inside of your vehicle before entering it.  All this stuff is just common sense, but it can reduce the risk of becoming a victim.

However, if a woman fails to do these things and becomes a victim, it still is NOT her fault in any way, shape or form.  The man (or woman) who assaulted them is entirely responsible and needs to be held to answer.  Chrissie Hynde should be ashamed of herself for her comments in blaming/shaming victims.

It's not my Vegas anymore.

I still have a vivid memory of my first trip to Las Vegas.  It was a family trip.  My parents and my little sister and I drove up to Las Vegas.  My father had been regaling us with tales of his last adventure to the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and the best one was that he'd won a jackpot of $100 on a nickel slot machine.  My sister and I wanted part of those riches and so we each gave Dad $2 from our allowances.

We were able to sit on chairs not too far from where he was playing this five-coin nickel slot machine at the old Sands hotel.  We watched as our $4 investment disappeared in what seemed like an instant.  One minute he was pumping nickels into the slot and the next he shrugged his shoulders as if to say "easy come, easy go."

Las Vegas became "mine" in my mind when I moved there in July of 1985.  The Air Force sent me there and I found an apartment within walking distance of the old Showboat Hotel and Casino on Boulder Highway.  Well, walking distance as long as it wasn't one of the nine or ten months during the year when it is way too hot to walk anywhere except from inside an air conditioned building to your car.  At the time I owned the last car I would ever own that didn't have air conditioning and it was not fun to drive around town when the temperature rose above 90 degrees.

I didn't care.  I made that town my own.  I learned the ins and outs of all the bargain meal specials, the places locals hung out and the layout of every single casino in town.  I knew them all.  From the big joints on the Strip to tiny hole-in-the-wall places like the Opera House and its semi-neighbor, the Poker Palace.  I knew how to park in self-parking in all of them to be under the cover of a roof (if there was one) and yet be at the closest walking point to an entrance.

Even after I moved back home to L. A. in late 1987, I went to Vegas frequently.  My soon to be second wife (not long after that to become the second ex-wife) was born and raised there.  She moved in with me in Santa Monica in June of 1988.  The following January we moved to the El Segundo apartment complex that would become my home for two plus decades.

But she missed her dad.  A lot.  She missed her brother.  A lot.  Whether he was living with her dad or in a prison cell as he often was, she wanted to go visit.  We went up there on holiday weekends and others where possible.  One year we had an early Thanksgiving meal with my family here and then sped our way to Las Vegas in time to join her father for another family feast.

My last visit to Las Vegas before this past weekend was in 2005.  I still knew where everything was.  I'd gambled in/visited every single hotel casino around the town.  When I drove in early Friday afternoon, I felt like a stranger in a strange land.

The Imperial Palace is gone and something called The Linq is where it stood.  I've seen commercials for The Cosmopolitan and Aria.

The Mandarin Oriental and the Vdara on either side of Aria don't even have casino space.  Steve Wynn built the Encore as a twin to his Wynn hotel casino that stands on what was once the Desert Inn.  I could go on all night about what's changed about Las Vegas but it's depressing.

I will definitely go back next year if there's another NTL tournament final for us to compete in, but I don't see any reason why I'd go back otherwise.

One reason, aside from the physical changes and my discomfiture at feeling a bit lost, is that the way hotel/casinos make money has changed.  Food and beverages were always an affordable plus about visiting that city.  We were stuck in a meeting hall for over four hours for our tournament competition.  The Rio was happy to have us there, gave players a good rate on the room, but they made serious bank on us during the competition itself.  A 12 ounce bottle of Pepsi was $3.50.  So was an identically sized bottle of water.  I didn't bother checking the pricing of the snacks, I knew I wasn't going to allow myself to pay that kind of money for stuff that's under $2 at 7-11.

I also ordered a room service meal at one point because I was so damn tired.  $45 including tip for a burger, fries and two of those 12 ounce diet sodas.  They were overpriced to begin with and they added an $8 service charge.  Hell, a 20 ounce diet soda and a $1.99 bag of nuts here is less than $5.  At the Rio's gift shop it was almost double that amount.

Plus the coffee shops are all gone.  Great places to dine and if you are so inclined, to play Keno, they've disappeared.


* * *

On my way home, I was searching for something to listen to on the radio before leaving the range of Las Vegas radio stations and being limited to what little radio can be heard between the top of the Baker grade until getting back into range of Los Angeles radio stations.  I was amazed to find a rebroadcast of an old Casey Kasem's American Top 40.  This one was from August 26, 1972 and listening to it was like having stepped into a time machine.  Here, in ascending order are the top ten from this broadcast:

And now, the new number one song in all of the land for the week of August 26th, 1972:

Some notes on these musicians.  You Don't Mess Around With Jim was the first big hit for Jim Croce, who would die in a plane crash less than 13 months after this edition of AT40 aired.  Kasem told a story about how Croce had been a school teacher in a rough neighborhood of South Philadelphia.  The story was how a 260 lb junior high school girl shoved the 5'7" 150 lb Croce across a room and that was what sent him back in pursuit of a music career.

Coconut was the last of Harry Nilsson's three big hit records.  What made him a real rarity among successful musicians was the almost complete lack of live concert performances.  Ironically, while he was a tremendously talented songwriter, his two biggest hits, Everybody's Talkin (At Me) and Without You) were written by others.  He did write One, a top five hit for Three Dog Night.

More than enough words have already been written about the death of Karen Carpenter from anorexia nervosa and the speculation that ingesting ipecac to induce vomiting was the real cause of the cardiotoxicity that killed her.  It was a tragedy no matter what happened.

Looking Glass' only big hit, Brandy, spent 4 weeks at #2 behind Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again.  The very next week, Brandy fell to #4 and Alone Again regained the top spot on the charts.

I remember this particular edition of AT40 so well as I listened to it in its entirety that very weekend.  It was the weekend before my Bar Mitzvah.

The Peacock has no feathers and other stuff

Donald Trump has been pushed to explain how he intends to pay for the cost of deporting the more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the U. S.  Estimates at the cost of deporting all of the illegal immigrants range from $80 billion to $600 billion and Trump won't give any specifics on how he will pay for this.  When pressed on the subject by ABC's George Stephanapolousall Mr. Toupee...er Trump could come up with was "...management."

He also made a highly specious claim that by removing all of the illegals in this country it will cut current federal spending by $130 billion and that will pay for his program to deport all illegal immigrants.  That's simply ridiculous.  Just like his program to pay for a wall along the U. S./Mexico border.

He has promises.  He can't keep them.  How does that make him any different than the current crop of politicians he is blasting for breaking their promises?  It doesn't..  He's old news in a smelly, racist and xenophobic wrapper.

* * *

Remember that very opulent engagement bit that Kanye West threw at AT&T Park in San Francisco?  Everyone attending had to sign a confidentiality agreement, but one guy took video and posted it on the web.  Well, that guy, one Chad Hurley was just ordered by a court to pay Kimye $400,000.

At the same time the Kardashian Klan of fame-whores are taking a lot of flack because residents in and around Marina del Rey were awakened by a weeknight fireworks display that Khloe Kardashian arranged for her boyfriend, pro basketball player James Harden.

Apparently no permit was needed for the fireworks which resulted in dozens and dozens of 911 calls from frightened local residents.  L. A. County Supervisor Don Knabe, one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the state says that the law will be changed to prevent this from happening again.

Here's a thought.  Donate the $400K from the lawsuit to a suitable charity and apologize for the noise.  Naw, that makes way too much sense for them to go for that idea.

* * * *

McDonald's and other companies that use a franchise model suffered what could be a major setback in a National Labor Relations Board decision.  The board ruled, in a 3-2 vote along partisan lines, that companies that franchise or outsource qualify as "joint employers" alongside the franchisee or subcontractor.

That would mean that all of the employees of one franchisee could force McDonald's to join them and their direct employer to the bargaining table.  It might well make it easier for such employees to form unions.

Good news for those toiling away at minimum wage jobs.  Bad news for those who exploit them.

* * *

That's actor Cameron Thor in 1993's Jurassic Park.  He also had a small role in A Few Good Men.  Now he's been convicted of one count of a lewd act with a minor, a 13 year old girl.  She was a student taking private acting lessons from Thor in his home.  He drove her to the mountains and sexually assaulted her.  He's going to jail.

38 years ago director Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to a similar charge in a case involving allegations that he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl.  He's still a fugitive from justice and will probably never be held to answer for his crime.

Is this because he's an A-lister and Mr. Thor is at best, on Kathy Griffin's famous D-list?  Or is it because this is the attitude of the rest of Hollywood toward what he did?

Whoopi Goldberg's famous "...it wasn't rape rape..." which I still can't grasp the meaning of.  A 13 year old child is legally incapable of giving consent.  Sex with her is rape by definition.  He belongs in jail to serve the appropriate sentence.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

Lucy Liu named her baby Rockwell.  I suspect the kid will someday get teased a lot about that name because of this: 

I don't blame Jimmy Kimmel for being flustered when Miley Cyrus walked onto the set of his show wearing only pasties to cover her nipples.  It's a fair reaction.  At least he didn't drool.

How dumb do the idiot men who were caught using AshleyMadison.com feel now, since it has been revealed that almost all of the 5.5 million female profiles on the site weren't really women?  A lot dumber than before I'd wager.

Luigi Brugnaro is the mayor of Venice, Italy and he's made it clear that Gay Pride parades are not welcome in that city as long as he's in charge.  Bet tourism takes a serious dip.

A judge has ordered the mother of a 20 year old man to pay him the $5,000 Bar Mitzvah gift he was promised by his mother's mother.  With interest he will get more than $10,000.  Stubbornness doesn't always work.

Hillary Clinton is comparing the GOP to terrorists.  Funny thing is, she and terrorists have something in common, both maintain lists of their enemies.

Common Sense Reforms

In the wake of the latest mass shooting, this of a TV reporter, photographer and their interview subject, the calls for "common sense gun reform" are growing louder than ever.  But what would such reforms do that current systems don't already do?

Vester Flannagan Jr. apparently went out to buy a gun in June, following the shootings at a traditionally black church in Charleston, SC.  He apparently had no criminal record.  He had not spent time in a mental institution.  We are unaware of him ever being diagnosed with any mental illness, although his "checkered" work history is certainly indicative of some kind of problem. 

But short of just selling no more guns ever, how would these so-called common sense reforms change things in any way that would have prevented this man from buying the gun that he used to kill two people and seriously wound a third?

Let's pretend for a moment that in order to buy any gun, an adult must submit to a one hour examination by a mental health professional.  Would that have prevented this?  How much would such a program cost and who would pay for it?  I'm searching for common sense answers here.  I doubt that even the best of mental health professionals could determine with any high degree of certainty who is and isn't competent mentally to purchase a firearm.

We can't just eliminate handguns.  They are probably the best weapons for defending one's home from within against intruders.  Rifles and shotguns are difficult to use in close quarters and for some are just too heavy to be used in that way.

I'd be happy to live in a world completely without guns but that's an idealistic dream that will never come to pass.  Our military and law enforcement personnel need to be armed to protect us (or to at least attempt to do that).  We have the right to be armed within our homes to defend ourselves and our loved ones.  The genie of guns is out of the bottle and no one will ever be able to shove it back inside.

Please tell me, what are these common sense reforms that people are calling for and how would they work?

Donald Trump on CNN with Don Lemon after the first Republican candidates debate.  I wanted you to hear the first clip in this story in its entirety so I'm not accused of taking something out of context.  He said "she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions."

In point of fact, Ms Kelly asked Mr. Trump only two direct questions during the entire debate (she did give me a chance to weigh in on another candidate's response to a question but that wasn't a question she posed to him).  Here they are, from a debate transcript:

KELLY: Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women.

You’ve called women you don’t like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.”

(LAUGHTER)

Your Twitter account…

TRUMP: Only Rosie O’Donnell.

(LAUGHTER)

KELLY: No, it wasn’t.

(APPLAUSE)

Your Twitter account…

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you.

KELLY: For the record, it was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell.

TRUMP: Yes, I’m sure it was.

KELLY: Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?

KELLY: Mr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, “very pro- choice.” Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican?

 Neither of those questions is ridiculous.  Nor were they inappropriate.  They were tough questions and a professional politician wouldn't have been bothered by them.  But Trump isn't a professional politician.  He's a egomaniacal megalomaniac who refuses to accept responsibility for the things he says about anyone or anything.  Everything is someone else's fault.  He loves what people do and extols their virtues until the moment that they do something he doesn't like.  Then he becomes fanatical about attacking them.  Ms Kelly comes back from a vacation and he starts attacking her again on Twitter on her first night back at work.

That's a lot of things, but it isn't presidential.  The thing that scares me the most about Donald Trump isn't that he's totally unqualified to lead a nation, nor is it that he has no real proposals to do what he says he can do.  What scares me is that this is the kind of man whose ego is so fragile that he might push the button to launch nuclear weapons simply because the leader of another nation really pissed him off.  President's can't let their egos rule their decision making.

Donald Trump is dangerous.  #DumpTrump

Doing the right thing, not what seems right at the moment

That is a photo of Army Sergeant First Class (SFC) Charles Martland.  He's 33 years of age and has spent 11 years serving in the Army, almost all of it as a "Green Beret."  He did two tours of duty in Afghanistan

During his second tour, while he was involved in training the local police, he became aware that one of the Afghani officers he was training, one Abdul Rahman, had raped a 12 year old boy.  When the mother of the boy reported the beating, Officer Rahman beat her up.  SFC Martland and his team commander confronted Officer Rahman with these allegations and he laughed about them.  At this point they shoved Rahman to the ground and allegedly told him that they wouldn't let that happen on their watch.

Officer Rahman complained about the alleged assault and SFC Martland and his team commander were relieved of duty for cause and transferred out of Afghanistan almost immediately.  The team leader, Daniel Quinn left the Army and now works on Wall Street.  SFC Martland continued to serve and has been selected for involuntary discharge under an Army program known as the Qualitative Management Program (QMP).  The details of what the QMP is and how it works are available here:  Qualitative Management Program

Being relieved for cause is a negative mark in a military record.  It is enough to cause someone to fall under the QMP review process and be selected for separation from the service.  That is almost certainly what is going on here with SFC Martland, although the Army won't discuss it, citing privacy issues.

CA Congressman Duncan Hunter is outraged about this and has written a letter to Ash Carter, the current Defense Secretary, calling on him to reverse the decision to send SFC Martland packing.  Hunter wrote "Sergeant Martland was left with no other choice but to intervene in a bad situation.  The Army should stand up for what's right and should not side with a corrupt Afghan police officer."  Rep Hunter also told Fox News, "It's sad to think that a child rapist is put above one of our elite military operators. Sergeant Martland was left with no other choice but to intervene in a bad situation."

Sorry Mr. Hunter but you're wrong on both counts.  This wasn't about siding with a corrupt Afghan officer over a decorated veteran.  Nor was it putting a child rapist above one of our elite Special Forces operators.  Our military personnel are not in foreign nations to enforce U. S. laws, nor are they there to enforce the local laws.  They are not there to damage our relations with foreign nations and personnel by engaging in unwarranted assaults.  As a man, as someone who cares, it seems all too easy to allow one's emotions to overcome their obligations as a soldier.  But the professional soldier should have the discipline to act according to regulations.  Had SFC Martland struck an American military officer or police officer, we wouldn't be having this discussion.  He would have been court-martialed, or at least subjected to non-judicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Soldiers aren't judges, juries and executioners in situations like this.  The proper action would have been to report this to higher authorities and let it be handled that way.  If Afghanistan is not going to prosecute its police officers for beating women and raping children, it isn't up to our soldiers to step in and fill that void.

If I'd been there and had to listen to that jackass Afghani laughing about what he'd done and how he'd get away with it, I'd have been tempted to "bitch-slap" the living daylights out of him.  Acting like this, without proper authority harms the reputation of our military forces in places like Afghanistan.  It promotes the so-called "green on blue" attacks, where Afghanis attack Americans deployed in their nation.

It is very sad that a man who is a decorated veteran with 11 years of service will find himself a civilian.  Perhaps his appeal will succeed and he will be given another chance.  I wouldn't object to that in any way.  But if the Army finds it appropriate to use this "black mark" to refuse to let his career continue, they are acting within our own laws and military regulations.  Conservatives are using this to attack the Obama administration as being incapable of overseeing the military.  Nothing could be further from the truth in this particular instance.  What they are doing is proper.