The Secret (Is Out)

What was an inconvenient snow flurry is suddenly becoming a dangerous avalanche. US House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom (D) are calling for the San Francisco 49ers to bench Ray McDonald while he's under investigation for abusing his pregnant now-wife. The Minnesota Vikings have suspended Adrian Peterson while he's under investigation for child abuse. The Carolina Panthers have just deactivated Greg Hardy following the public revelation of his May domestic violence conviction (he assaulted his girlfriend and threatened to kill her). And 12 other NFL players arrested on domestic violence charges are still active in the league.

It's not just Ray Rice any more. In fact, it never really was. Yet apparently, it took this avalanche of controversy to fall for NFL executives to finally realize they have a serious problem on their hands.



Corporate sponsors, such as Nike, Radisson, Castrol, Cover Girl, and Anheuser-Busch, are either pulling ad deals or issuing "concerned" statements. A growing number of fans are now making #BoycottNFL viral. And even the most hardcore NFL fanatics must now come to terms with the harsh reality of domestic violence...



Or maybe not? Already, rumors are buzzing about another NFL team potentially picking up Ray Rice. And that may be due to the NFL Players Association appealing the NFL's indefinite suspension of Rice. Even as some top NFL officials are signaling their willingness to make changes, others (hint: the owners) have just gone into hiding.

After surviving the firestorm that erupted when the Ray Rice story first broke, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh made some interesting comments about the meta here. Whether NFL bosses like it or not, this isn't something they can hide from. And whether we like it or not, this isn't something we can hide from.



In a fascinating twist, the NFL just hired Cynthia Hogan as its new Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs. In a past career life, she worked with then Senator (now Vice President) Joe Biden (D-Delaware) on drafting and passing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It remains to be seen how the NFL's newest top lobbyist will "resolve" this issue going forward.

But right now, we must ask this: How will we resolve this issue going forward? When War Machine/Jonathan Koppenhaver was making national headlines over his assault on then girlfriend Christy Mack and Corey Thomas, we noted that domestic violence is an issue that goes far beyond the confines of UFC, Bellator, and even MMA (mixed martial arts) in general. The same rings true for the 49ers, the Ravens, the Vikings, and the NFL in general. This is still a problem for American society in general.

In debuting her new daytime talk show, former NBC "Today" co-host Meredith Vieira revealed a very dark and painful secret on national TV. It's a secret that only people like Vieira, Christy Mack, and Janay Rice can fully comprehend. And it's a secret that we shouldn't force any person to keep to oneself.

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The secret is out. There's no hiding it back in some dark corner. And really, we never should have done that in the first place. So what will we all do to end the seemingly endless cycle of violent misogyny that threatens way too many American women?

Our Problem

Earlier this month, we noticed the growing social media campaign in support of War Machine. We also noticed a common theme in this social media campaign in support of him as he goes on trial for the vicious near-fatal beating of Christy Mack and Corey Thomas: "She deserved it".

Shade Tree Executive Director Marlene Richter had something to say about this latest round of victim blaming.



Bottom line: It's slut shaming. And not only is it slut shaming, but it's the kind of slut shaming that can kill.

And now, believe it or not, we're seeing all sorts of excuses made for suspended NFL runningback Ray Rice and his vicious beating of his then fiance (now wife). "Oh, but obviously Janay Rice is OK with it! Why can't the damned LIB'RUL FEMINZAIZZZZZ leave them alone?! We're ruining the game by 'feminizing' it! And come on, domestic violence isn't really a serious problem."

Far too often, we shift blame to the victim. We ask why they stayed. We ask why "they asked for it" (even though they never did). We ask what's their problem.



Perhaps we need to focus more on our problem. Perhaps we need to stop blaming the victims. And perhaps we need to realize people's lives are more important than "alpha male s--t".

Are we ready to start addressing our problem?

Ray Rice

Last month, MMA (mixed martial arts)'s largest, most lucrative, and most powerful league ran into an all-too-familiar problem. Even though UFC has made plenty of progress recently in welcoming women MMA fighters, it's still facing tough questions over War Machine and other former UFC fighters who have run into legal trouble over domestic violence.

Now to the credit of both UFC and Bellator MMA, both MMA leagues were fast to condemn War Machine. Even as some of his fans continue to rally behind him on social media, Bellator cut War Machine from its roster weeks before he was formally indicted here in Nevada for attempted murder, first degree kidnapping, sexual assault, and a host of other charges related to the violent attack on Christy Mack and Corey Thomas.

While there are legitimate questions on whether the powers that be in MMA are taking domestic violence seriously enough, it's increasingly looking like they're at least taking steps to address this problem. It's harder to say this about the NFL.



Initially, the NFL merely gave Baltimore Ravens runningback Ray Rice a two game suspension after pleading guilty in New Jersey to assault. A leaked elevator tape shows the full account of Ray Rice punching his then fiancee (now wife), Janay Rice, and knocking her to the ground. Even as he left the elevator, Ray Rice left Janay on the floor as her feet were on the elevator door track.

When the video was finally released to the public, Fox "News" enjoyed some "elevator humor"... While the rest of America was disgusted beyond belief.



How could this happen? And why did Ray Rice (at least initially) get away with a crime just as heinous as the one War Machine is now on trial for? Oh, and if UFC & Bellator are now coming to terms with this problem within their ranks, why can't the NFL?



We are now approaching the 20th anniversary of Congress' original passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). This is why we can't help but remember the "TEA" fueled Heritage Action's campaign to kill VAWA that came dangerously close to succeeding last year. This is why we continue to sound the alarms on the "mainstream-ization" of language, attitudes, and even actions that were previously thought to be relegated to the deepest and darkest corners of the "manosphere". And this is why we can't ignore this horrific failure of the NFL.

While a number of media pundits are bloviating over Ray Rice's future in professional football and speculating over why Janay Rice is still standing behind him, we'd rather focus on the more important issue behind this tragedy. Why is it still so damned difficult for so many to take domestic violence seriously? And how many more people must be hurt before we take further action?

Is "good football" truly worth more than women's lives?

That Says a Lot

He finally returned to Las Vegas. He's due in court tomorrow. And now, War Machine is about to face justice.

The MMA fighter formerly known as Jonathan Koppenhaver is going to trial on seven criminal charges involving the near fatal attack on Christy Mack and Corey Thomas. As he's returned to Las Vegas, he's actually encountered something he's been seeking ever since this story first broke on social media: some public support.



We sensed this was coming. "She's a porn star. She's a 'loose woman'. She deserved it!"

Of course, he deserves a fair trial. Every defendant does. But does the victim deserve to be placed on trial?

All Christy Mack had to do was step outside for several War Machine fans to troll her on Twitter and declare that she's "full of s--t". Even though the photo posted on Twitter shows the injuries on Mack's face, she's "full of s--t". That says a lot.

But hey, they're not alone. War Machine now has an entire "movement" of men's rights activists (MRAs). They've even come close to having their way in Congress. That also says a lot.

Turn the Page

Yesterday, a body of a slain young adult was laid to rest. A family mourned this painful loss. And a reeling community began to pick up the pieces and hoped for eventual healing.

Michael Brown's funeral wasn't just for his family. It wasn't even just for Ferguson. It was for the nation.

Yesterday, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas) said this after the funeral: “This tragic event of Michael Brown — while as horrible as it is, and he should have never lost his life as an unarmed boy who had just graduated high school — it is providing the opportunity for us now to have a national discussion on what policies, laws and practice we need to change so we can improve going forward.” He's not alone in demanding change after this horrific tragedy.

This week, we've gained more insight into how and why St. Louis County, Missouri, has sparked this nationwide conversation on the state of American police. And none other than St. Louis County Police Officer Dan Page has helped explain everything.



Ah, where do we start? How about "warning the ladies" about "domestic violence stuff"? "Just shoot each other and get it done"? Did Las Vegas Metro Police actually take his advice earlier this month? Christy Mack's neighbors have been wondering why it took so damned long for Metro to respond to their 911 call. While they took their time, War Machine escaped to Simi Valley, California, while leaving Mack and Corey Thomas near death at her Las Vegas home.



Hold on, there's more. Dan Page also went into a tirade against "homosexual sodomites". According to Page, ICE should keep Marichuy Gamino in solitary confinement in a men's prison for daring to report her rape. According to him, Monica Jones deserved to be arrested for "walking while trans*". And perhaps he also doesn't mind Mia Henderson being taken from this earth way before her time.

He didn't even stop there. No, Dan Page also claimed President Obama wasn't born in America. He actually called himself "a killer". He repeated even more bizarre conspiracy theories.

Oh, and he gave this speech to the Oath Keepers earlier this year. Remember the Oath Keepers?



They're the Patriot Movement friendly militia who occupied Bunkerville and Mesquite during the height of Cliven Bundy's "Range War". They only left when sh-t became too real and they suddenly were under attack by fellow pro-Bundy militia groups.

Dan Page was one of the St. Louis County officers patrolling Ferguson during the height of the protests. He was the one who roughed up CNN reporter Don Lemon in front of a global audience. And even now, St. Louis County Police still won't fire him!

W. T. F?! And they're still wondering why so many in the St. Louis region have a hard time trusting the police? Perhaps they need to start looking in the mirror more often.

It's also important to keep in mind that this problem isn't limited to Missouri. We've seen shades of this here in Nevada as well. After all, Metro Police have often used excessive force on valley civilians (especially those living in inner city communities) while giving the Bundy Gang kid glove treatment and giving War Machine just enough time to escape the crime scene.



In so many ways, the Dan Page saga in St. Louis County illustrates why so many minority communities have trouble trusting the police. If police forces there, here in Southern Nevada, and elsewhere want to turn the page, they need to clean house. If they want to regain our trust, they must prove themselves trustworthy. We can't truly turn the page on this sorrowful chapter in American history until we see no more Michael Browns being shot, Monica Jones' being arrested, and Christy Macks left for dead.

The Machine Behind the War

Justice may finally be near in this case. After an escape from police and out of state, War Machine (aka Jonathan Koppenhaver) will soon be on trial here in Clark County. On Tuesday, he appeared at court in Ventura, California, and agreed to extradition to Nevada.



Koppenhaver faces seven criminal charges related to the attack on Christy Mack (aka Christine Mackinday) and Corey Thomas.

As we've noted before, this isn't War Machine's first violent outbreak. Retired porn star Brooke Haven has recently come forward to describe War Machine's belligerent behavior at her birthday party. He was actually convicted of two misdemeanor assault charges in 2007 and 2008 here in Nevada. And he was convicted of two felony assault charges related to a 2010 San Diego (California) bar fight.

While he was incarcerated in San Diego County Jail, War Machine kept an online diary blog. He shared his experiences in jail... And he shared his "philosophy on the American male".

“There is one guy in here for slapping his wife, one here for yelling at his wife, and one here for beating some guy’s *ss that disrespected his wife. WTF!? If your wife is being a b*tch you can’t slap her, if your wife is yelling at you, God forbid you yell back, and if some *sshole hurts your wife, you cannot protect her!” [...]

“The oppression of MEN is worse than oppression of Jews in Nazi Germany, worse than the slavery of blacks in early America … I’m not exaggerating either.”

Sounds crazy, right? Who else could say something like this? Believe it or not, he's not alone.



The Men's Rights Movement has been pushing this philosophy for some time. The Men's Rights Movement (MRM) was once relegated to "fringe of the fringe" status due to its harboring of individuals espousing shocking views on physical and sexual violence (see War Machine's comments above). But now, men's rights activists (MRAs) are increasingly pushing into what's supposed to be "mainstream".

Last year, Heritage Action actually used MRM language to make its case against renewing the Violence Against Women Act. And Heritage came shockingly close to killing the bipartisan and formerly uncontroversial bill in (the lower House of) Congress. All of a sudden, a critical mass of ("TEA" flavored) Members of Congress were repeating outrageous statements that had previously been confined to the deepest and darkest corners of the manosphere.

It's easy to look at War Machine and conclude he's some troubled individual with serious anger issues. And this may actually be close to the truth. However, this didn't occur in a vacuum. This isn't just one individual. It's time for us to take a closer look at the machine behind the war.

"Everything She Got"

Expect some major legal fireworks in Simi Valley, California, later today. After fleeing there to evade arrest for the near fatal assault of Christy Mack, War Machine (aka Jonathan Koppenhaver) is due to appear in the Ventura County Courthouse for an extradition hearing. The Clark County District Attorney's office wants him back here in Nevada to stand trial for the Christy Mack attack.



The newly released Las Vegas Metro Police report mostly confirms Christy Mack's account of what happened. It then goes on to claim War Machine attempted to rape Mack (aka Christine Mackinday) before beating former "Megan Wants a Millionaire" contestant Corey Thomas and Mack. Needless to say, the Metro Police report shines more light on why War Machine decided to run away when he had his initial chance to tell police his side of the story.

However, that isn't stopping some celebrities some speaking up on War Machine's behalf. Earlier today, "Sons of Anarchy" star Chuck Zito actually said Mack "deserved everything she got" if she indeed "cheated" on War Machine.



So she "deserved everything she got" if she "cheated"? And because the police report has her describing the relationship with War Machine as "on again, off again", that means she's a "liar" and a "slut" who "deserved everything she got"?

There's a term for this. It's called "slut shaming".



"Everything she got"? Everything Christy Mack got was attempted rape and quite possibly attempted murder. And she's not alone. 600 people are raped every day in this nation. That's two people every minute. Yet all too often, victims are told they "deserve everything they get" because they did something "slutty".

"Everything she got" was a horrific attack on her life. And yes, it's not her fault. No matter what War Machine thought of his relationship status with her, no matter how Christy Mack described her relationship with him, and no matter what Corey Thomas was doing on her bed, there is no justification for the kind of violence that occurred at Mack's house. "Everything she got" was a crime committed against her. That's why War Machine is now in court.

All Our Problem

We were careful in describing his career path on Thursday... Because we sensed this was coming. Accuracy is always important. But really, is this necessary?

(Go to 9:00 on the video below for the fireworks.)



Look, we get it. Dana White wants to talk about Ronda Rousey. He wants to talk about the all female cast of competitors on the new season of "The Ultimate Fighter". He wants to show us all the progress UFC has made in integrating women MMA fighters and valuing the contribution women are making to MMA.

Dana White and other UFC executives don't want to talk about War Machine, especially since he hasn't fought for UFC since 2008. They don't want to talk aboht Josh Grispi either, even though his last MMA fight was for UFC last year. (Basically, they're now receiving the Jason Miller treatment.) They don't want to talk about male MMA fighters running into domestic violence related trouble, especially when they feel they've done so much in recent years to promote equal rights in MMA.

Yes, UFC has made some progress in leaving behind its sexist past. Yes, War Machine had been under contract with Bellator this year (until he was released from that contract when this story first broke). But really, what's the point of arguing over who he was under contract with when?



Look, we get it. No one wants to take responsibility for the transformation of Jonathan Koppenhaver into War Machine. And no one wants to acknowledge the severity of rape culture in America. Even many (mostly "TEA" flavored) politicians scoff at the reality of violence against women.

Nope, it's easier to cry about some mythical "war on men". It's easier to dismiss the "disposable". And of course, it's so much easier to simply blame the victim.

Christy Mack is a porn star, so she must be a "slut" who "deserved it". Marichuy Gamino is an "illegal" and a "t----y", so she "deserves it". Jada went to the party, so she "deserves it".

No. Just no. No one "deserves it". No one deserves to be assaulted to near-death. No one deserves to be thrown into solitary confinement after reporting one's sexual assault. And no one deserves to be drugged and raped at a teen party.

As we said Thursday, this isn't just a MMA problem. This is an American problem. And it's long past time for us to blithely dismiss violence against cis and trans* women.

Dana White may be callous in trying to dump the entire War Machine fiasco onto the lap of a rival MMA league simply because that was the last league he worked for. However, we're no better when we ignore or marginalize violence against women that doesn't involve MMA fighters. This is all our problem. So what will we do to solve this?

War Machine

Normally, we don't do this. But today, we just must. We noticed this Instagram post from UFC welterwight fighter John "Doomsday" Howard.

"This is for that p---y a-s War Machine. Yo, you're a straight b---h. I have three daughters, a mother, a sister and an aunt who went through that s--t. You're a straight p---y, straight p---y. A skilled fighter beating up a little girl like that. You're a p---y a-s motherf----r."

Wow. He certainly got his point across.

In case you're still scratching your head as to what "Doomsday" is talking about, he's referring to the horrific assault of Christy Mack last Friday. The Las Vegas porn star has taken to Twitter to describe the details of the attack that nearly ended her life. And she has already named ex-boyfriend Jonathan Koppenhaver as the perpetrator.



So why are "Doomsday" and other MMA figures freaking out on social media? Koppenhaver, who is currently better known as "War Machine", had been fighting for Bellator MMA after bouncing around UFC and other MMA leagues. Even though Bellator has already fired "War Machine", MMA insiders are worrying about "War Machine" becoming the latest in a string of MMA fighters engaging in domestic violence.



This isn't the first time "War Machine" has run into this kind of trouble. Last year, he "jokingly" tweeted "real men rape". He was convicted of 2 misdemeanor assaults (in 2007 & 2008) here in Nevada before a 2010 San Diego bar fight led to 2 felony assault convictions in California. And just moments before the brutal and near fatal attack on Christy Mack, "War Machine" tweeted this.

"[...] f--k u talking about? She's my Property and always will be."

Obviously, this is why MMA insiders are concerned. However, they shouldn't be the only ones concerned by this.

In 2012, (the lower House of) Congress failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It took nearly a year of pressure from Senators and constituents (on G-O-TEA House Members like Nevada's Joe Heck) before the House finally agreed to pass the bipartisan VAWA renewal that the Senate had already agreed to.

But why was this "controversial" at all? Behind the scenes, "TEA Party, Inc.", powerhouse Heritage Action announced it would actively campaign against VAWA renewal. It even declared it would negatively score Members of Congress who voted for VAWA. That dragged out (and almost completely dragged down) what was supposed to be an easy vote for a broadly bipartisan bill meant to aid victims of domestic violence.

Throughout 2012 and early 2013, G-O-TEA aligned interest groups (such as Heritage Action) seemed to be taking their queues from the Men's Rights Movement. The Men's Rights Movement doesn't just oppose legislation like VAWA. The Men's Rights Movement claims any and all efforts to combat sexist discrimination and other forms of misogyny are somehow "attacks on men".



From Darren Mack to Elliot Rodger, we've seen what happens when "men's rights activists" resort to extreme violence to "make a statement". However, most others don't go that far. That's because they don't have to. Rape culture has increasingly become mainstream, as politicians, professional athletes, music artists, and other celebrities have been trying to make misogyny culturally acceptable. And sadly, some in the "mainstream media" seem all too willing to "go along to get along".

And then, there's this. Reports are now surfacing about Las Vegas Metro Police biding its time in responding to Christy Mack's assault. Metro may have very well given "War Machine" just enough time to make a clean escape while threatening Mack's very fragile survival. What does this whole situation say about us? What does this growing trend of extreme misogyny say about our society?

It's not just MMA fighters and bosses who should worrry about "War Machine".