The unmatched and comprehensive online meeting
hall for Nevada workers since 1995
"Our republic and its press will rise or fall together." — Joseph Pulitzer
Je Suis Charlie
Site Map

Memo to modern short attention spaniels: This front page is chronological, the site map is categorical.
SITE NAVIGATION TIP: When all else fails, read the instructions
(A favorite John Hanks aphorism I've been using for decades)

Hope you and yours enjoyed Happy High Holly Days
Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo / Felice Anno Nuovo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2021

Updated on 1-17-2021 GMT

Nevada MLK weekend events

Fire is the Devil's Only Friend
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 1-13-2021 Sparks Tribune

JOE NEAL: You can't run from the truth
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 1-6-2021 Sparks Tribune

Trumpist Treason on Joe Neal Day


Sen. Joseph M. Neal, Jr.
1935-2020

Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts:

The best who ever was just embarked on a new journey. At 12:45 a.m. on 1-1-21, Sen. Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, informed me that her father, 32-year former State Sen Joseph M. Neal, Jr., D-North Las Vegas, died at 10:25 p.m. PST 12-31-2020.

"Hello, Mr. Barbano. Happy New Year. I bring sad news to you. My Dad, after a long-fought battle, succumbed to an illness. He passed away at 10:25 tonight at Dignity Health, Sienna Campus, in Henderson, (where) he received the best care, surrounded by family."

My friend Joe had become ill over the past several weeks and apparently succumbed to multiple system failure after rebounding many times to the surprise of professionals and family surrounding him with thoughts and prayers.

Please monitor SenJoeNeal.org and NevadaLabor.com for details. You may send remembrances to me for posting.

Requiescas in pace, Senatore Maximissimo, frater mei.

AB

 

GEORGIA ON MY MIND
Please volunteer to do what you and so many others did before November —>
Sign up to contact infrequent voters before January 5, 2021.

A Barbwire Christmas carol in the time of plague

Laborers' Union Local 169 Donates $12,500 in Grocery Gift Cards to 7 Nonprofits to Help Families & Veterans

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005
Remember her laughter

 

Copyright © 2019 NYTimes

BREAKING NEWS AND THEN SOME —>

GEORGIA ON MY MIND
Please volunteer to do what you and so many others did before November —>
Sign up to contact infrequent voters before January 5, 2021.

Suicide for citizens but not political careers
Lives are on the line
BARBWIRE BY ANDREW BARBANO / Expanded from the 12-30-2020 Sparks Tribune

So this is Christmas —> What have you done?
BARBWIRE BY ANDREW BARBANO / Expanded from the 12-23-2020 Sparks Tribune

Transitions and decisions in a darkening winter
BARBWIRE BY ANDREW BARBANO
Expanded from the 12-16-2020 Sparks Tribune / Updated 12-18 & 12-22-2020 GMT

SUPERSPREADER UPDATE
TWO DOZEN BUS DRIVERS GET COVID-19
A golden goose for the morally obtuse
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-9-2020 Sparks Tribune

Bus boss oblivious: Neoma Jardon in denial
12-7-2020
B-Words: Obtuse Bus Boss' brain fade bungles boast of transit system's COVID-19 safety

Recipes to die for in a toxic holiday season
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-2-2020 Sparks Tribune

11-30-2020: ST. ANDREW'S DAY IN SCOTLAND. Italians celebrate it, too.
Benedicta! Andrea Luigi Barbano

The Sermon on Mount Barbwire
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-25-2019 Sparks Tribune


THE DAY AFTER

Asked to buck-up his constituents with a positive thumbs-up, President Trump instead goes digital with his feelings. Or maybe his thumbs were just too busy elsewhere on his perfect body.

(Photo: Anna Moneymaker for the Fake News New York Times 11-4-2020)                                                                                NevadaLabor.com

BARBWIRE BY ANDREW BARBANO
Expanded from the 11-25-2020 Sparks Tribune
We have met the enemy and he is us

 

¡Viva Chávez!

César Chávez Celebration XVIII / Celebración de César Chávez XVIII
Wednesday 31 March 2021 / miercoles 31 marzo 2021

American Monster M*A*S*H: Suicide is painless
Almost two-dozen mass transit drivers are now infected with COVID-19.
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-18-2020 Sparks Tribune

Legerdemoniacal legerdemain: 3 Rights Make a Left
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-11-2020 Sparks Tribune

 

Barbwire Confidential Special Report—>Hush-Hush!

LIFE IMITATES ART

RENO, NV USA 00:01 11-6-2020 GMT—> I published odds on close Nevada races last week. Here's my call on the big enchilada:

At 9:19 PM 10/26/20, Andrew Barbano wrote:
NOW THE BIGGIE. The only poll that shows Nevada close comes from Trump backer Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Review-Journal. The New York Times average sez Biden has a seven-point lead. As always, Washoe (Reno-Sparks) is the swing county in the swing state. As the Barbwire reported weeks ago, a lot of union members are closet Trump cultists. The Culinary Union is pulling out all the stops statewide. Biden, 11-10.

I'm going to write next week that each and every benighted troll who voted to reinstall his/her godhead is now my mortal enemy: Their king has been and continues trying to kill me as he is the principal proliferator of two deadly diseases, one a microbe, the other, microscopic reptilian-brained disregard for the dignity of life. Nothing gets more personal.

Aaron Sorkin ("The Social Network," "The American President", the Broadway version of "To Kill a Mockingbird") presciently called 2020 more than 15 years ago. In the last season (2005-06) of "The West Wing," the TV version of the 1995 movie "The American President" starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening, Sorkin scripted that Democrat presidential nominee Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) defeated a conservative Republican (Arnold Vinick, a role for which Alan Alda won a primetime Emmy). Santos became American's first minority president when latecoming results arrived from — drum roll, please...NEVADA!

Biden's electoral count is now 264. (Some sources gave Biden Arizona's 11 last night.) Nevada's 6 gets him to the promised land of 270 electoral votes.

How prescient was Mr. Sorkin? Fictional President Santos appointed his opponent as secretary of state, as America's real-life first minority president did a few years later.

May life imitate art despite our czar's moonhowlers trying to pull a Bush v. Gore redux.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (And my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
NevadaLabor.com/CesarChavezNevada.com Editor Andrew Barbano is a 52-year Nevadan whose reputation remains impervious to further augmentation or denigration. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

LOVE'S LABOURS LOST DEPT.: On Saturday Nov. 7, Pennsylvania and thus the presidency were called for Biden. Nevada's confirmation came about an hour later. Alas, what might have been.

The Nightmare Continues

More than 150,000 ballots were caught in Postal Service processing facilities and not delivered by Election Day, agency data shows
By Jacob Bogage and  Christopher Ingraham / The Washington Post / 11-5-2020

Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential—>Cheap (HushHush!)

 

The greatest political figure of 2020
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-4-2020 Sparks Tribune

FREEBIE ALERT! FREE election bets. NEW!
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-28-2020 Sparks Tribune

The 2020 political cartoon/meme of the year frontrunner —>

Attack of the Orange Crusher
Once in awhile, your memes come true!

The perfectly predictive 2016 political cartoon of the year —>

Suede-shoe salesmen sucker city hall
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-21-2020 Sparks Tribune

Bigotry means never having to say you're sorry
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-14-2020 Sparks Tribune

Intervention Mayday! Suicidal Nevada union workers
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-7-2020 Sparks Tribune

NAACP launches national drive to contact infrequent voters

Superspreaders, homotextuals & hall of famers
Exclusive interview with Supreme Court Justice-Designate Amy Coney Barrett
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-30-2020 Sparks Tribune

The Best Who Ever Was
Barbwire Nominee Dennis Myers elected to Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame
Barbwire / 9-30-2020

 

Our Toothless Mask Mandates
By Dr. Elizabeth Rosenthal / The New York Times op-ed 10-1-2020

A former big city ER physician, Dr. Rosenthal is an ex-NYT journalist who is now editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News. Her 2017 book "An American Sickness: How health care became big business and how you can take it back" is still the single best encapsulation of how to fix the broken US system. (For a film on some of its best suggestions, get Michael Moore's 2007 "Sicko.") Dr. Rosenthal's latest Times piece notes that law enforcement officials refusing to enforce gubernatorial mandates in Ohio and Wisconsin are creating "a new level of lawlessness." Ditto Nevada. Two of our Cow County sheriffs have announced the same thing, as has our Reno-Sparks-Washoe turkey. Ditto the Reno Police Dept. "Not our job." And our infection rate increases accordingly. What a country.

Teamsters Union sues to enforce bus system mask mandate
NAACP President Feemster supports Teamsters fight for passenger/worker safety

 

Messages from the gods: Ignore at your peril
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-23-2020 Sparks Tribune

Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx
Still crazy after all these years.

1933-2020

NAACP Devastated by Passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"On the basis of Justice, we honor RBG"
By Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEO / Washington DC 9-18-2020

"THE SOLUTION: As always, expanding economic opportunity with a healing dash of human respect for this magical little place we've been given for just a little time. John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg lived their lives that way." — Andrew Barbano, Sparks (Nev.) Tribune 9-23-2020

1933-2020

 

NO PANTS? NO SERVICE. NO MASK? OK.
TEAMSTERS UNION SUES OVER WASHOE BUS SYSTEM COVID-19 DANGERS
Union drivers test positive for virus
Management refuses governor's mask mandate
Charges also filed with federal regulatory agencies

THE LATEST BRIGHT SHINING LIE FROM YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
10-2-2020


     KEOLIS-19 BREAKING NEWS —> (Reno, NV, 3:27 p.m. PDT, 18 Sept. 2020) —

IBT 533 Trade Unionists: Monitor KOLO TV-8 (ABC) from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. PDT today. (And 10:00 p.m. on CW Network over-the-air at 8.3 / Charter-Spectrum 695, Direct TV 9)

Ed Pearce, the most experienced and credible TV journalist in northern Nevada for the past 50 years, interviewed union RTC drivers earlier today. The story should run today but there's always a disaster that can pre-empt. Yesterday, Mr. Pearce got diverted to the narrowly-averted NVEnergy cutoff of Incline Village electricity. TV2 ran the story of Local 533 vs. the transit system four times on Wednesday and probably again on their early morning Thursday newscasts.

I am informed that Regional Transportation Commission Executional Director Bill Thomas spoke before the four obtuse elected commissioners this morning and noted that RTC is doing all it can to enforce safety requirements.

Ahh, another bright shining lie.

Monitor NevadaLabor.com for ongoing updates. New things in the works soon. Keep us posted on what's happening with you. We especially need photos of packed buses with many maskless riders.

Be well. Raise hell. Stay safe.

     KEOLIS-19 BREAKING NEWS —> (Reno, NV, 4:36 p.m. PDT 16 Sept. 2020) — Washoe County bus system management told KTVN TV-2 (CBS) News that they will not use their standing security force to enforce the governor's mask mandate but instead rely on local police. As noted on this site for months, both the Washoe County Sheriff and Reno Police Department have served notice that they will not enforce the safety of the bus system. TV-2 journalist Valentina Bonaparte reported that this diverges from southern Nevada, where officials told her that they use their security infrastructure to enforce COVID-19 mitigation procedures. Ride at your own risk in Reno-Sparks.

     An expanded version aired at 5:36 p.m., again at 6:34 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. PDT. You may visit TV-2's website or monitor for additional broadcasts tonight and well into Thursday morning news programs. Be sure to stay tuned to NevadaLabor.com for more. Be well. Raise hell.

 

Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx
Still crazy after all these years.

Donny & Jimmy's Most Excellent White Castle Adventure
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-16-2020 Sparks Tribune

Czar Donaldov invaded Nevada Sept. 12
Somebody build a wall — quick!

There is justice in the world. Trump actually had to drive the 60+mile route both ways. Oh, the humanity!

Barbwire Confidential —>HushHush!
Donny & Jimmy's Most Excellent White Castle Adventure
NEW—>BARBWIRE EXCLUSIVE 9-12-2020

Barbwire Confidential Special Report: Hush-Hush!
Machine Guns & Racism in Nevada's Alabaster Bastion
NEW—>Douglas County Commission Chairman wanted to cut library funding after its director showed support for Black Lives Matter
EXCLUSIVE FROM KRNV TV-4 & KRXI FOX-11 / 9-11-2020

Cider House Rules: Admonitions & Ammunition
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-9-2020 Sparks Tribune

The perfectly predictive 2016 political cartoon of the year —>

Diabolical Déjà Vu: Fire is the Devil's only friend
Barbwire accurately called 2016 presidential result 9 months out & stands by 2020 prediction made four years ago
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-2-2020 Sparks Tribune

The 2020 political cartoon/meme of the year frontrunner—>

HOT AUGUST STRIFE 2020 Demonstrations & Good Trouble

Tribal trauma, Belarus R Us, a hero dies well
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-26-2020 Sparks Tribune

"Save the Post Office Saturday"