In Las Vegas, faux charity calls me twice in same day

Posted on by June 6, 2021
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“Anna” is pushy. And not very smart.

On a recent day, she phoned me twice at the New To Las Vegas world headquarters, several hours apart. Each time, she asked for a contribution to something called the Breast Cancer and Women’s Health Initiative, of Washington, D.C. She said the donation would be spent backing candidates for political office to support policies that would help women with breast cancer.

Listening to her sweet, friendly voice, one might think she was calling on behalf of a health care charity doing good works for humanity. This undoubtedly is what her overlords wanted me to think. But she wasn’t. Her organization is a d/b/a used by something called the United Women’s Health Alliance PAC. PAC means political action committee. I call these outfits faux charities because they sound like a charity but aren’t. (For starters, contributions are not tax-deductible, something the callers do not emphasize.)

I can cast aspersions on the intelligence and character of “Anna” without fear of getting sued by her for defamation. Why? She isn’t a person, but simply a voice generated by a computer being monitored by a real person who hits buttons to generate relevant responses to anything I say (the reason I have been putting quote marks around her name). Continue reading →

In Las Vegas, many folks openly reject COVID-19 vaccinations

Posted on by May 30, 2021
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reject COVID-19 vaccinations

Entrance to Dog Fancier’s Park, Las Vegas

After a half-year break, I started going back with the pet at night to Dog Fancier’s Park, the off-leash dog park near the New To Las Vegas world headquarters. It’s the largest and nicest around Las Vegas, with stadium lighting until 11 p.m. and bathrooms for humans. A friendly place, dog owners chat while their canines cavort. But I’m not sure I’m going to continue visiting.

The reason isn’t so much that in the age of COVID-19 virtually none of the other adults are wearing masks (one of the reasons I stopped going last fall). After all, since mid-February I’ve been fully vaccinated (Moderna, if you want to know). Federal authorities now say I’m good to go, with or without a mask on me or those around me.

It’s that I run into folks who actually brag that they haven’t gotten vaccinated and have no intention of becoming so. They are also sitting at the other end of a park bench from me that’s not really six feet long.

How does the issue of their vaccination status come up? Well, a la Forrest Gump on that Savannah bench, I often ask, as politely as I can. I suppose this might become the New Protocol of the coronavirus age, although in Las Vegas, at least, getting the truth is always a crap shoot. Continue reading →

Las Vegas is not out of the pandemic woods

Posted on by May 21, 2021
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pandemic woods

North Las Vegas Mayor John J. Lee

On Monday, John J. Lee, the 65-year-old mayor of North Las Vegas, became the first declared Republican candidate for next year’s gubernatorial election. A few hours later, he announced he had COVID-19 and was quarantining. Oh, and he admitted he had not been vaccinated, even though the shots for his age bracket have been available and authorized since February.

Lee is one of the state’s most prominent political figures. North Las Vegas, which adjoins Las Vegas, is the state’s third-largest city. Lee, a former legislator, has sat on a number of boards.

But the Las Vegas-area economy is almost completely dependent on people from other places coming here in great numbers and mingling with no social distancing. If, more than a year into the pandemic, somebody like Lee didn’t think it important to get the free vaccination, why should a would-be tourist pay any attention to the new “Vegas You” marketing campaign launched in advance of the June 1 “full reopening” of the region? Continue reading →

It Didn’t Stay Here: Feds say some proceeds of big L.A. Ponzi were spent in Las Vegas

Posted on by February 16, 2022
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big L.A. Ponzi

Zachary Horwitz, a/k/a Zach Avery (via LinkedIn)

See update at end of story

The feds in Los Angeles just charged Zachary Horwitz, a little-known actor whose screen name is Zach Avery, with operating a long-running $690 million Ponzi scheme. According to court filings, Horwitz, 34, falsely told investors his company was in distribution deals with big players like Netflix and HBO while using some of proceeds to fund an expansive lifestyle.

Guess where some of that expansive lifestyle supposedly took place?

Yes, if court filings are to be believed, yet another thief spent part of his ill-gotten gain in that bug light of iniquity the world knows as Las Vegas.

Horwitz, who was briefly jailed on a criminal complaint before being released on $1 million bail, has not yet pleaded to the criminal charges in the formal indictment–13 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and aggravated identity fraud. He gets the presumption of innocence.

But the allegations–brought in a criminal case by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles and a civil case by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has had his assets frozen–are more than enough to make him a candidate for my long-running list, It Didn’t Stay Here. This is a roster of folks into trouble elsewhere for something that happened in Las Vegas. My list is a cheeky refutation of “What Happens Here, Stays Here,” for many years the famous promotional slogan of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The full list can be found elsewhere on this page. Continue reading →