Monthly Archives: February 2018

IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

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by John Walters

Special “Let’s Not Keep Killing Each Other” Edition

Oh yeah, don’t forget “Students Filing Out of High School”

Handy Mass Shooting Check List

Once upon a time, on August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman perched himself atop the bell tower at the University of Texas and slaughtered 17 people with a high-powered rifle. That campus-related carnage was the apex/nadir of campus horror for more than 30 years until Colombine. Now Whitman’s Texas Rifle Massacre barely makes the “Slaughter of the Month” Club.

Are you ensconced in coverage of a mass murder news quake? Here are the tell-tale signs:

–Body count report

–“Thoughts and Prayers”

–Mandatory disavowal of gun proliferation as root of the problem by GOP lawmaker and/or Tomi Lahren.

 

–Sleep-deprived sheriff holds press conference, admonishes press to behave

—Don Lemon chokes up

–Student survivor does stand-up interview with cable channel

–Distraught mom photo

–Candlelight vigil

2. We Concur Con Kerr

A reminder that Steve Kerr, the best coach in NBA history (at the three-plus seasons mark), lost his father to gun violence. Yesterday Kerr was eloquent on gun violence, a few days earlier his former coach, Gregg Popovich, was enlightened on racism. Another NBA voice we admire, Steve Nash, tweeted this:

 

Kerr’s father was a scholar who taught in the Middle East, and Kerr spent much of his youth in that part of the world. Popovich is an Air Force Academy alum who spent much of his five years of active military duty in Eastern Europe. Nash is not only Canadian, but the son of teachers who raised their children partly in Africa. He was born in Johannesburg.

Is it any coincidence that three men who have been exposed to other nations and other cultures are far more enlightened than the MAGA/NRA crowd?

3. Marco! Go Low!

 


Two items on this: 1) Using this logic, Senator Rubio should be against the erection of a border wall (“they’ll find a way”) and against laws in general. Why have a penal code when crimes may still be committed? 2) If Marco truly wants to be honest, why doesn’t he disclose that he has accepted $3.3 million from the National Rifle Association?

4. Mental Illness Check-In

 

The source of this aphorism is unknown, but you’ve heard it: “Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” By that measure, let’s assess our federal government, which has had pretty much the same reaction for the past 19 years, since Columbine: “Thoughts and prayers” and no further gun-control measures. In fact, last February President Trump signed into law a bill that made it EASIER for mentally unstable people to purchase weapons.

But let’s not digress: Congress and the White House reacts the same way after every mass shooting, and nothing changes. So maybe we can say of them that they are mentally unstable. Should we be reporting them to law enforcement, particularly those members of Congress who own guns or that member of the White House who has the authority to launch the largest firearm of them all? What say you?

5. A Welcome Hand Grenade

Let’s review the argument: After any mass shooting, I wonder aloud, “Now why can’t I own a hand grenade?” The immediate answer is the National Firearms Act of 1934, which categorizes them as Title II weapons, a.k.a. “destructive devices,” making them generally unavailable to the public.

Of course, 1934 was 84 years ago, and while hand grenades have not become all that more potent in the interim, guns have. In 1934 the M-1 Garand, which we’d come to think of as the standard World War II machine gun, was still in the development stages. American infantry began World War II using single-bolt rifles.

Hence, in 1934 an individual could do a lot more damage with a hand grenade over a limited space and time than with a gun.

A 19 year-old in Florida cannot legally purchase this…

But that has all changed. Even though a 1986 revision of the Firearms Act made manufacture of automatic weapons illegal, one can attach a bump stock (legal) to a semi-automatic weapon such as an AR-15 and literally shoot a few hundred rounds a minute.

A few hundred rounds a minute. At that rate, the shooter is not aiming at each discharge. He or she (but we know it’s a he) is spraying fire indiscriminately, much like the path of destruction of a hand grenade. The difference is that the AR-15 has a range of a few hundred yards, while the hand grenade is likely less than 50 yards.

…but he may legally purchase this.

At its most tame, an AR-15 with a bump stock would fire one round. At its most tame, a hand grenade is still a hand grenade. You can’t limit its effect. However, at its most lethal, an AR-15 with a bump stock is FAR MORE DEADLY than a hand grenade.

And yet a 19 year-old who may not purchase a beer legally is able to buy an AR-15. But he cannot buy a hand grenade.

Don’t misread me: I don’t really want to legalize the sale of hand grenades. I’m just using that argument as an illustration of how asinine it is that these guns are legal to purchase. The NRA doesn’t seem to have a problem with hand grenades being illegal. But they do have a problem with guns that are far more lethal than hand grenades being illegal. When we get right down to it, let’s face it, this is all a phallic substitution syndrome, isn’t it?

Music 101

Hallelujah

A plethora of artists have covered Leonard Cohen’s classic, but this version from a trio of Nordic fellas and their pal is pretty special.

Remote Patrol

Shaun White Noise

by John Walters | 3 Comments

Faithful reader and correspondent Moose has a few thoughts on an American gold medalist….

by Moose

When you guys have finished celebrating Shaun White maybe we can talk about why he was even allowed to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

While White was celebrating, TIME released a story on allegations and his settlement with a women who accused him of sexual harassment.

“Lena Zawaideh, who was formerly a drummer in White’s rock band Bad Things, accused him of sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed in August 2016, alleging that White ‘repeatedly sexually harassed her and forced his authoritarian management style on her for over seven years.”

Slate gave some more details – “White sent sexually explicit and graphic images to Zawaideh of engorged and erect penises, forced her to watch sexually disturbing videos, including videos sexualizing human fecal matter, and made vulgar sexual remarks to her such as, ‘Don’t forget to suck his balls!’

Meanwhile, White was talking to the press and, again, according to TIME, “Shortly after his victorious run, White told reporters who asked about the allegations that he was there to “talk about the Olympics not, you know, gossip.”

Gossip?! Kind of like Locker Room Talk?

In May 2017, according to USA Today, “White, the snowboarder and skateboarder, vigorously contested the suit and in February tried to compel Zawaideh to undergo a mental health examination after she claimed she suffered emotional and mental distress because of what happened. He later withdrew that request, and last week an attorney for Zawaideh filed a notice of unconditional settlement in the case and requested the case be dismissed.”

White withdrew his attempts to compel a mental health evaluation of Zawaideh and granted a financial settlement to Zawaideh after her lawyer produced screen shots of his text messages. He knew what he had done and he knew the accuser had proof.

But there he was in front of the media saying don’t look at Misogynist Shaun, look at Gold Medal Shaun!! And then calling the sexual assault allegations, which he took seriously enough to settle, “gossip”.

It didn’t go unnoticed so Wednesday, on NBC’s Today Show there was Gold Medal Shaun apologizing for Misogynist Shaun. “I’m truly sorry that I chose the word ‘gossip,’” White said. “It was a poor choice of words to describe such a sensitive subject in the world today and I’m just truly sorry.”

He’s sorry about his choice of words, but he has never apologized for his actions towards Zawaideh. And “sensitive subject”? Really? That sounds suspiciously like White is saying people who were upset might be a bit too “sensitive.”  Why wasn’t it a sensitive subject when White was sending a text that read, ‘Don’t forget to suck his balls!’

So again, why was he at the Olympics? Was it because he settled in the face of irrefutable proof and inevitable humiliation and never had to complete the court process? Or is it because the US Olympic committee chose to look the other way in the hopes of another US Olympic Fairy Tale?

This is the Athletes’ Olympic Oath “In the name of all the competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams.”

This is from the IOC Code of Ethics: “1.4 Respect for international conventions on protecting human rights insofar as they apply to the Olympic Games’ activities and which ensure in particular:
– respect for human dignity;
– rejection of discrimination of any kind on whatever grounds, be it race,
colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status;
– rejection of all forms of harassment and abuse, be it physical, professional
or sexual, and any physical or mental injuries;”

What in White’s behaviour is in the “true spirit of sportsmanship” or for the “honor of our teams”? Which of White’s actions are a “rejection of all forms of harassment and abuse”? So I’m asking again. Why was Shaun White allowed on the US Olympic team?

And I know what you are asking. “Why did she stay for 8 years? Why didn’t she just quit” Why didn’t she report him? Why did she accept a settlement?” I cannot tell you how tired I am of answering this question or having non-sensical debates with men on this subject. The short answer is why should any woman have to quit their job, sacrificing opportunity, income, benefits, to pay the price for the crimes and egregious behavior of a misogynist boss or fellow employee? However, I know this question remains and men just don’t get it.

I can’t explain it anymore so I leave it to Beverly Engel L.M.F.T. By the way, Beverly has been a psychotherapist for over 30 years and is the author of 20 books, including The Emotionally Abusive Relationship and The Right to Innocence. She wrote an article in Psychology Today listing the 8 reasons on “Why Don’t Victims of Sexual Harassment Come Forward Sooner?”

Just a few tidbits –

Shame – “When that personal power is challenged by a victimization of any kind, we feel humiliated. We believe we should have been able to defend ourselves. And because we weren’t able to do so, we feel helpless and powerless. This powerlessness causes humiliation — which leads to shame.”

Denial, Minimization – “Many women refuse to believe that the treatment they endured was actually abusive. They downplay how much they have been harmed by sexual harassment and even sexual assault. They convince themselves that “it wasn’t a big deal.”

Fear of the Consequences – “Fear of losing their job, fear they won’t find another job, fear they will be passed over for a promotion, fear of losing their credibility, fear of being branded a troublemaker, fear of being blackballed in their industry, fear of their physical safety, fear of retaliation.”

Low Self Esteem – “In the last several years there has been a focus on raising the self-esteem of girls and young women. We want our young women to feel proud and strong, to walk with their heads held high. We try to instill confidence in them and tell them they can do whatever they set their minds to do. We send them off to college with the feeling that they are safe, that they can protect themselves, and that we will protect them. But this is a lie. They are not safe, they don’t know how to protect themselves, and we don’t protect them.” “By far the most damaging thing to affect the self-esteem of young girls and women is the way they are mistreated in our culture. Beginning in early childhood, the average girl experiences unwanted sexual remarks and sexual behavior from boys and men.  Even the most confident girl cannot sustain her sense of confidence if she is sexually violated. She feels so much shame that it is difficult to hold her head up high. She finds it difficult to have the motivation to continue on her path, whether it be college or a career.”

If that’s not enough for you, go read Beverly’s article.

Full disclosure – I was sexually harassed in a job for 10 years. I don’t know many women who haven’t been sexually harassed. I have only had one job in which I haven’t been sexually harassed. Beverly knows why I didn’t leave or report any of the harassers.

Millions are celebrating Gold Medal Shaun, pretending Misogynist Shaun was just some bad rumour or “fake news”. What kind of message does that send to people, most especially young men and women? Yup, Time’s Up, but is time up on tolerating and ignoring sexually harassment or is time up on harassers and abusers having to pay the consequences for their actions? Shaun White has a gold medal around his neck. Make of it what you will.

M.

Just Another Thought On The Latest School Massacre

by John Walters | Leave a comment

by John Walters

Think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a classmate who had the potential to be a Nikolas Cruz? I did.

My high school years were 1980-1984. I was lucky and blessed enough to attend an outstanding Jesuit high school in Phoenix. All of my classmates were young men and many of them came from the most affluent or privileged families in the Valley of the Sun (I think we had a Goldwater and an O’Connor while I was there). My parents, for the sake of disclosure, had jobs as a sheriff’s deputy and a legal secretary.

Anyway, even though the majority of us were clones in OP shorts and Ralph Lauren tops, we had one classmate who showed up at school each day in military fatigues. He was socially awkward and just seemed to have dead eyes (and I’m not naming him here, more than any other reason, because I’d really prefer that he not hunt me down and murder me). I don’t remember having too many conversations with him, though I was decent friends with his one and only friend, and I spoke to that boy enough to know that these two fantasized about carnage and paramilitary operations and were not the biggest fan of women (who had nothing to do with them).

 

It was the early ’80s. I would never have thought to turn them in to any teachers and, besides, our teachers were smart enough to see this young man for himself. The difference between then and now, or the two major differences, I should say, are 1) he didn’t have access to automatic or semi-automatic weapons and 2) there was no social media.

Teens like Nikolas Cruz have been around for a long, long time. And one of the things that stands out about him is that he’d lost his mom (where’s dad?) but that a kindly family had taken him in and tried to help him find his way back. There WERE good Samaritans out there. He just snapped, which is awful. And he was able to legally purchase an AR-15, two years before he’s legally able to buy a beer, which is shameful.

IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

by John Walters | 4 Comments

by John Walters

Starting Five

St.Valentine’s Day Massacre

Expelled from his high school one year earlier, Nikolas Cruz returned just before the last bell of school yesterday and murdered 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Yes, it IS the right time to talk about gun legislation. Cruz had posted violent photos on Instagram and had lost his mother as a teen (a family had taken him in). He was attending another high school and working at The Dollar Store. Was he a troubled teen? Absolutely. But he was a troubled teen with no criminal past who was able to purchase an AR-15 rifle two years earlier in life before he was able to purchase a Bud Light.

 

There was a former Florida Congressman, a Republican, on CNN late last night, and what he said should resonate. Jolly said that the most hallowed ground for most Republicans in Congress is to be invited to speak at the NRA convention, to demonstrate that they are further to the right than their predecessors. As long as that mentality exists, sane gun legislation is not about to happen. He said our best hope is to flip the House and Senate. This from a Republican.

Meanwhile, three of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history (Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, this) have taken place in the last five months. Homeland Security begins at home.

2. Shiffrin Gears

After a few days’ delay, American Mikaela Shiffrin earned gold in the Giant Slalom. For the record, there is no Miniature Slalom. This is her second gold in the event: the Vail, Colo., native is still just 22 years old.

3. The Russia Connection

Putin: You can’t spell oligarch without “O.G.”

On May 12, 2016, The New York Times ran this exhaustively reported piece describing in detail and with diagrams how the Russians systematically beat the drug testing process at the Sochi Olympics, which they of course hosted. This piece of journalism was terribly embarrassing to the Russian government and it extended all the way up to Vladimir Putin. If only the IOC had any balls, Russia would have been completely banned from Pyeongchang (the “OAR” designation is a sham).

But what if, and this is only a pet theory, that story catalyzed Putin to seek payback? What if this article inspired Russia to seek that Trump Tower meeting just one month later? What if the Russians, who are fiercely proud of their Olympic prowess no matter if it has often been illegally gained, decided to get payback by telling the Trumps of the dirt they had on Donald, and explaining how all of this was going to go down in their favor with the possibility, eventually, of sanctions being lifted?

Suddenly the appointment of Exxon’s Rex Tillerson (whose former company stands to make the most from sanctions being lifted and is one of the few Yanks whom the Russians adore) to Secretary of State makes sense. As does Trump’s unwillingness to say a single negative thing about Putin while he trashes pro athletes. As does Trump’s unwillingness to admit that Russia meddled in the 2016 election while the FBI and CIA overtly state that it did.

4. Reince Comes Clean

The MH staff predicted this a year ago. There would be two types of Trump staffers: 1) Kool-Aid gulping loyalists (e.g. Stephen Miller) who would gladly kill for Herr Fuhrer, many of them family members or 2) those who’d stick around long enough to be able to write a lascivious book proposal. Count original Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who always seemed to nice a guy to work with Trump, among the latter.

In excerpts from Priebus’ new book that appear in Vanity Fair, he writes, “Take everything you’ve heard [about working for Trump] and multiply it by 50. [It was] like riding the strongest and most independent horse.”

5. It’s All Downhill From Here

When the MH staff were lads, the men’s downhill was the highlight of the Winter Olympics. We loved two things about it: the simplicity and the danger. Be the fastest is something any five year-old can comprehend, and then when you watch men fly more than 40 yards in the air, that’s something.

This run from Austrian Franz Klammer before his home crowd in Innsbruck in 1976 remains our all-time favorite Olympic moment. Notice the crowds lining the course, something that is missing at Pyeongchang (safety reasons?). It’s more fun with the crowds lining the course.

Last night 35 year-old Aksel Lund Svindal (above, and above terra firm) became the first Norwegian ever to capture gold in this event, which seems rather surprising to us. The Norwegians are in first place in the medal standings overall with 17. Germany is first in terms of gold medals, with 9, even though their figure skating pair that took gold last night, Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, have been citizens of Russia and France, respectively, for almost their entire lives. Mason, in fact, needed three tries to pass his German language test in order to be granted citizenship just a few months ago.

 

Music 101

Nothing Left To Lose (But Myself)

Eugene, Oregon, native Mat Kearney is a Coffee House All-Star. The adult contemporary star had this breakout hit in 2006 that went to No. 41 on the Billboard chart, while the producers at Grey’s Anatomy cried, “Get us the rights to that song, STAT!”

Remote Patrol

Winter Olympics

8 p.m. NBC

2006, Turin. Props to the NBC announcer who calls it bluntly about Lindsey Jacobellis’ epic fall/epic fail: “She went down on a showboat trick!” That remains the closest she has come to a gold medal (the silver here is her only Olympic medal), but the 32 year-old from Stratton, Vermont, will go for it perhaps for the final time tonight.

 

IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

by John Walters | 1 Comment

by John Walters

Starting Five


Great White (To Be Cont.)*

*The judges will also accept “Attack of the Flying Tomato”

In second place before what may be the final run of his Olympic career, Shaun White goes balls-to-the-wall on the halfpipe with a gold-medal run. That’s three golds in four Games for the red-headed wonder, aged 31.

2. Great White (Part II)

Half a world away from Pyeongchang, the annual dog days of winter in New York City conclude with a Best In Show for a Bichon Frise named Flynn. If you thought we’d get through this Westminster Dog Show item without mentioning the infamous song by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, you were wrong…

3. What The Elle?

This is Louise Linton, whose husband Steve Mnuchin is the Secretary of the Treasury. And this is one of her pics from a current profile in Elle. In the piece, Louise claims that SoulCycle “is my temple, I go there every day.” We’ve seen her husband and we’ve got to disagree: American Express is her temple. SoulCycle is more like a small crypt.

4. A Lotta Lotto News

–You heard about Donald Savastano, the upstate New York carpenter who won $1 million but died three weeks later due to Stage 4 cancer. At least he was able to afford a doctor and a nice funeral.

–Then came Jane Doe, the woman in New Hampshire who won $560 million but has been unable to claim it while she sues for the right to not have to divulge her name. Since then she has been deluged with offers from afar as to how to skirt this regulation; meanwhile, how much of her fortune will those lawyers claim?

–Now comes Bill Pendergast of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canadia. Pendergast and his wife lost their home due to a wildfire two years ago. He just won $1 million. He says he’s going to finish rebuilding the abode and finally buy a Mustang. And he doesn’t care who knows who he is.

5. MH Movie Buff-ery

The Benedict ranch house was nothing more than a facade

We watched the 1956 epic Giant the other night, and since we stayed up until 1:45 a.m. to watch, we felt as if we needed to glean something and to pass it on. A few notes: 1) Yes, that’s a young and ginger Dennis Hopper playing the son of Jordan Benedict (Rock Hudson) and his wife, Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), 2) Like Carole Lombard in To Be Or Not To Be (noted here a few weeks back), James Dean died before the release of the film (in a car accident, as you probably knew), 3) there are no actual giants in the film, though Hudson was a rather tall fellow, and 4) the exteriors were shot just outside of the southwestern Texas town of Marfa, which is now an eclectic tourist destination (it has also been the setting for Oscar darlings There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men) for film geeks. Check out their Prada store:

Music 101

Cupid

We chose this Sam Cooke classic because there aren’t that many great Ash Wednesday tunes…

Remote Patrol

Winter Olympics

8 p.m. NBC

Will Valentine’s Day be the night when America’s newest sweetheart, Mikaela Shiffrin, at last makes her much-delayed 2018 Olympic debut? And will someone please let my pals at The Big Lead know that this is happening? Cool, thanks.