One unidentified businessman claimed to be uncomfortable about relocating to a Nevada county where brothels are legal, so U.S. Sen. Harry Reid lectured state legislators in Carson City Wednesday (to a response of deafening silence) that Nevada should outlaw and close the 28 legal brothels that now pay local taxes and fees — some of them representing a hefty share of local tax revenues — in eight of Nevada\u2019s rural counties.<\/p>\n
Local brothel owners report the businessman in question finally decided to locate his business in Storey County, anyway. Meantime, I don\u2019t believe it would be an exaggeration to say hundreds of complaints pour in here annually from tourists harassed by newly arrived Mexican \u201cguest workers\u201d earning some minimal income by aggressively handing out little cards with phone numbers and color photos of \u201cdirect to your room\u201d naked babes to tourists strolling the Las Vegas Strip — the card-pushers showing no hesitation in pushing the cards on family groups including young children and ancient grannies.<\/p>\n
Why don\u2019t the hotels along the Strip solve this litter and harassment problem by simply asking these porn hawkers to put together stacks of plain manila envelopes, so the desk clerks could ask folks as they check in whether they\u2019d like information about \u201cconfidential adult services\u201d? Because they\u2019d be seen as complicit with a huge and lucrative business which is still technically ILLEGAL in Clark County (Las Vegas) and in Reno, of course.<\/p>\n
Reno and Las Vegas closed down their red light districts in 1951, meaning prostitutes in Las Vegas and Reno aren\u2019t subject to inspections by the state health department (unlike ladies in the legal rural brothels.) Local police make virtually no efforts to enforce laws against \u201coutcall\u201d prostitution in Las Vegas, which means customers here theoretically also face less protection against being rolled, overcharged, ripped off, etc.<\/p>\n
So which is a larger \u201cproblem,\u201d senator? Legal brothels, or widespread illegal prostitution among the high-rise hotels of Las Vegas?<\/p>\n
Actually, as a Libertarian and fan of the free market, I don\u2019t see either as much of a problem. In fact, getting \u201crolled\u201d while seeking entertainment in Vegas is highly uncommon, so long as you stay in your hotel room. It simply wouldn\u2019t be good for business, and is thus (I must presume) \u201cpoliced\u201d quite effectively, even if very \u201cunofficially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides, for every businessman who expresses concern about locating to a county with discreet local brothels, there must be hundreds who are concerned about locating to a state with widespread legal businesses offering working folk a \u201cchange to win\u201d if only they\u2019ll cash their paychecks inside the casino (the idea being, obviously, that said salarymen are unlikely to exit the joint without laying down at least SOME of those greenbacks.) Such ad campaigns are widespread in Nevada, giving the lie to the dated notion that the casinos are \u201conly for the tourists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does the senator believe Nevada should outlaw casinos and \u201cquickie\u201d marriage and divorce, as well, in order to also \u201creplace them\u201d with more upstanding and high-toned enterprises? Like what? Rattlesnake ranching?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure businessmen express concern about relocating to states where patients can now buy marijuana with a doctor\u2019s recommendation (including California and Nevada), states where citizens can carry firearms openly on their hips (including Nevada and Arizona), etc.<\/p>\n
Instead of suggesting we change our laws to more closely resemble Puritan New England, the correct reply is, \u201cI guess you could go back to paying all those taxes that drove you out of Illinois or New Jersey or Massachusetts. Or, you could just get used to slightly less hypocrisy and slightly more freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
# # #<\/p>\n
I see where the Obama administration will no longer defend in court the constitutionality of a federal law that bans recognition of same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
What is it any law enforcement agent — from the cop on the beat to the U.S. attorney general — will tell you if you ask why they\u2019re still harassing people about marijuana, peyote, and other non-addictive plants, even in states where local voters have said \u201cNever mind\u201d?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t get to pick and choose which laws we\u2019re going to enforce,\u201d they\u2019ll bluster. \u201cAs long as they\u2019re on the books we have to enforce them all equally …\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, right.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got nothing against gays getting hitched, if they find state law can thus help them clear up everything from inheritance to the right to visit their loved one in the hospital or even make end-of-life decisions instead of having some \u201cofficial\u201d call in an estranged cousin no one\u2019s seen in years.<\/p>\n
But if \u201cthe executive\u201d (as in \u201cWe \u2018execute\u2019 the laws\u201d) feels free to not bother enforcing this law, nor the immigration laws, while continuing to bulldoze the pot gardens of weeping California cancer patients, what theory remains to explain which laws they\u2019re going to enforce and which they\u2019re not? If Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder can no longer say they\u2019re waiting for the Supreme Court to decide whether all our remaining \u201cgun control\u201d or asset seizure laws are unconstitutional — as they obviously are — how can they justify continuing to enforce them, or thousands of other extra-constitutional edicts?<\/p>\n
Or are we back to \u201cAtlas Shrugged,\u201d in which Dr. Floyd Ferris asks: \u201cDid you really think that we want those laws to be observed? …We want them broken… There\u2019s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren\u2019t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What\u2019s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted — and you create a nation of law-breakers — and then you cash in on guilt\u201d?<\/p>\n
# # #<\/p>\n
Do you live in Las Vegas or Henderson? On or about Feb. 14, did you find or receive a young, gray-spotted female Bengal housecat with a bit of orange to her belly, who answers to the name of \u201cFiona,\u201d in or near the Walmart at Eastern and Russell?<\/p>\n
Debbie Brown writes in that \u201cWe had carpet pad delivered Feb. 8; our little cat escaped during the delivery and got in the back of delivery truck. When we couldn\u2019t find her we called the driver,\u201d whose next delivery was near Eastern and Russell.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Feb. 14 a gentleman called us and he had just been at the Eastern\/Russell Walmart and said a Walmart associate had found her in the store. … We went to Walmart Feb. 15 and contacted the Walmart employee who found her and he stated he had given her to some customers. … So, we know our cat is alive and someone has her. …<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the process of relocating to California and the thought of going without her is devastating. We have her brother bengal cat who has never, ever been away from her and he is so depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you believe you have Fiona, I can put you in touch with the Browns.<\/p>\n
And no, I\u2019m not promising to run every \u201clost pet\u201d announcement in this space. Contact Classifieds at 383-0383.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One unidentified businessman claimed to be uncomfortable about relocating to a Nevada county where brothels are legal, so U.S. Sen. Harry Reid lectured state legislators in Carson City Wednesday (to a response of deafening silence) that Nevada should outlaw and close the 28 legal brothels that now pay local taxes and fees — some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[36,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-town","category-nevada"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pWqFl-bn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":707,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions\/707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}