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Updated 5-16-2019 GMT

BREAKING NEWS AND THEN SOME—>

May 15: The Ides of Uncle Walter Cronkite
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 5-15-2019 Sparks Tribune

What if they gave a murder and nobody came?
BARBWIRE CONFIDENTIAL: Sheriff Balaam's icy hot patch
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno/Expanded from the 5-8-2019 Sparks Tribune/Updated 5-9 & 5-10-2019

MayDay for renters, movie fans and avengers
1982 Reno homicide—>Cold case gets hot
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 5-1-2019 Sparks Tribune

Sen. Ira Hansen announces his pregnancy
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-24-2019 Sparks Tribune

Priorities for butt-, rent-, birth- and gun-control
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-17-2019 Sparks Tribune

DAY OF THE DEAD
Relieve Rent & Pillage: Save SB398 & AB399
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Online Legislative Edition / 4-12-2019
Fairness for tenants dies 4-12 unless lawmakers throw it a lifeline

Politics does not reward the shy
Rent justification and a death penalty for corporate depredation
UPDATE: Fairness for tenants dies 4-12 unless lawmakers throw it a lifeline
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-10-2019 Sparks Tribune

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY: On April 9, 1939, world-renowned contralto Marian Anderson performed before an audience of 75,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. She had been banned from Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution because of her skin color. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt promptly quit the DAR (many others followed) and arranged for her to sing in front of the statue of President Lincoln. U.S. Dept. of Interior Secretary Harold Ickx addressed the crowd. Her performance included "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria." Legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini called her voice "one that comes along every hundred years." A film of the event was circulated to U.S. public schools in the early 1950's...On April 9, 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was laid to rest in Atlanta, Georgia. Per King's request, his good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord."

A liberal case for a new, brutal death penalty
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-3-2019 Sparks Tribune

4-1-2019

Betty J. Barbano 2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005 On April 1, 1976, Andrew Barbano met Betty Joyce Luffman Donlevy, manager of Pauline's Sportswear in Carson City. Be still my foolish heart.

BREAKING NEWS AND THEN SOME—>

¡Viva Chávez!

Thanks to everyone who helped make César XVII a record-breaking success despite the rain and snow.
Mark your calendar now for César XVIII on March 31, 2020.

50 years in Nevada: Trying to outlive them all
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-27-2019 Sparks Tribune

HISTORY IN THE MAKING Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak delivers the keynote address at César Chávez Celebration XVII 3-27-2019 ¡Sí se puede!

César Chávez Celebration XVII / Celebración de César Chávez XVII
Wednesday 27 March 2019 / miércoles 27 de Marzo 2019
Tahoe Ballroom / Grand Sierra - Reno

UNR-sponsored day of service and celebration 3/31/2019

Reno Gazette-Journal ads break March 24

KTVN TV-2 (CBS/Home of March Madness) Spots break 'round the clock starting March 24 [VIEW]

The César Chávez Long March, 3-17-1966 by Reno artist Erik Holland The original watercolor above was displayed for several years in the Nevada legislative offices of State Senator and future Congressman Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas, prime sponsor of the 2009 César Chávez Day bill which is now state law. (Nevada Revised Statutes 236.027/AB301-Kihuen et al./2009). Mr. Holland is preparing a new painting to be unveiled at César Chávez Celebration XVII on March 27, 2019, latest in the series. The Reno-Sparks NAACP will participate with a full display and voter registration, as usual. Click here for event reservations and sponsorship information. Copyright © 2009 Erik Holland. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2009 Erik Holland. All rights reserved.

GOP avoids Chávez event
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 3-21-2019

Guns, gouging and guts: once upon a time in the west
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-20-2019 Sparks Tribune

Guv keynotes César XVII: 17-year overnight success
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-13-2019 Sparks Tribune

Judge not lest ye be judged — or misjudged
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-6-2019 Sparks Tribune

Even in Sparks, God works in mysterious ways
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-27-2019 Sparks Tribune

OF CRABS AND CLANS: White bibs or white sheets tonight
Barbwire Confidential by Andres Luis Barbáno / 2-23-2019 SPECIAL ONLINE HUSHhush E-EDITION

Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
The Underbelly of the News—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

His own Man: Nevada Legislature learned to work with a black senator By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 2-21-2019 / Review of "The Westside Slugger: Joe Neal's lifelong fight for social justice" Clarification about the review In 2003, Sen. Neal won passage of an increase in Nevada's gambling tax on the state's largest, most profitable casinos. It has not risen since he retired in 2004. Sen. Neal and author John L. Smith will autograph copies on March 27 at César Chávez XVII at the Grand Sierra-Reno. Hot off the press: "The Westside Slugger" The life and times biography of Joseph M. Neal, Jr. Nevada's first African-American senator By Nevada Press Association Hall of Famer John L. Smith Published in January 2019 by the University of Nevada Press

Trump's Wall: First step toward ending Nixon's War on Drugs
"Our for-profit prisons overflow with mostly black and brown people convicted of dastardly crimes like possession of two ounces of the Demon Weed."
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-20-2019 Sparks Tribune

NAACP Nevada Black History Month information

2-14-2019: Happy Valentine's Day, Betty.

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

BLACK LIKE ME 2119: The problem as solution
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-13-2019 Sparks Tribune

Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
The Underbelly of the News—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

Andrew Barbano, former governor of Nevada
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-6-2019 Sparks Tribune

Downtown Sparks: New taxes, gun controls & a wall
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-30-2019 Sparks Tribune

Striking sex: The only thing Trump understands
UPDATES: CULINARY UNION DEFEATS THE CARANO CIRCUS ATTEMPT TO DECERTIFY (TERMINATE) THE UNION
The murderous 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire gets NY Philharmonic treatment and a Barbwire exclusive
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-23-2019 Sparks Tribune / UPDATED 1-28-2019

Retired IBEW Local 401 Business Manager Jerry David and wife found slain in Reno home Linked to 2 other recent homicides in Douglas County / Evidence of robbery found UPDATE: Suspect in custody By Siobhan McAndrew / Reno Gazette-Journal 1-19-2019

Sands of time blast the milestones of life
Nevada MLK weekend events announced
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-16-2019 Sparks Tribune

In memoriam: 60 years ago toward a lonely road January 16, 1959, brought the births of Debra Joyce Donlevy/Carson High '77 (1959-1978) and Donna Leslie Cline (1959-1999). Their youth was cut in twain on the same night in 1978 within the loneliness of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream. Remember them fondly.

IN MEMORIAM 28-YEAR NEVADA ASSEMBLYMEMBER BOB PRICE DIED of an apparent heart attack on January 4, 2019, in Sparks, Nevada. He was 82. A memorial celebration was held on Saturday, January 19, at Robert E. “Bob” Price Park and Recreation Center, 2100 Bonnie Lane, Las Vegas 89110. The facility was dedicated in his honor in 2007. The former lawmaker was inducted into the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame in 2011 and will be memorialized at Chávez Celebration XVII at the Grand Sierra-Reno on March 27, 2019. Sen. Joe Neal, Nevada's first African-American senator and Bob's dear friend and longtime colleague, will lead the commemoration of his fellow César Chávez Hall of Famer. The Nevada Legislature convened in February and a tribute was conducted on March 14. Price was a 50-year+ member and former elected business manager of Las Vegas IBEW Local 357/AFL-CIO. May the great lawmaker and union man rest in peace after a life admirably well-lived. Watch this site for updated information. 60 YEARS' WORTH OF EXPERIENCE SORELY MISSED (3-21-2011) — 32-year former Sen. Joe Neal and 28-year former Assemblyman Bob Price, both D-N. Las Vegas, back in the great halls where they belong. Sen. Neal was in Carson City to witness the introduction of the first bill sponsored by his daughter, freshman Assemblywoman Dina Neal, D-N. Las Vegas. Bob and Nancy Price, a former Nevada university regent, journeyed from their Sparks home to the capital for a noontime workers rally. (Photo courtesy of Nancy Price.) Thank you for your prayers for Bob, Nancy & family. The Bob Price Legacy Bob Price and Elvis OBITUARY: Robert Earle Price, Jr. / 1936-2019 By Andrew Barbano / NevadaLabor.com 1-5-2019 Price championed equal rights for women and workers By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 1-10-2019 Bob Price leaves colorful legislative legacy Las Vegas Review-Journal / 1-10-2019 Bob Price: Cowboy, lawmaker, union man and Elvis fan Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-9-2019 Sparks Tribune Bob Price endorses Dr. Debra Feemster for re-election NevadaLabor.com 4-15-2018 Bob Price celebrates 80th birthday Barbwire by Barbano / Daily Sparks Tribune 5-31-2016 Price a lonely voice against unfair taxation By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 2-5-2015 Bob Price paid a heavy price for blocking taxes on the working class and poor By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 10-10-2013 Bob Price inducted into the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame Barbwire by Barbano / Daily Sparks Tribune 4-3-2011 Bob Price Park dedicated in southern Nevada on March 3, 2007 Located at the corner of Bonnie Lane and East Lake Blvd., just south of Nellis Air Force Base The day Bob Price died and lived to tell the tale Barbwire by Barbano / Daily Sparks Tribune 4-5-1998 Fond remembrances of a great leader and good friend Bob Price Oral History — Nevada Legislature 2008   Send condolences and remembrances for posting online

Hot off the press: "The Westside Slugger" The biography of Sen. Joseph M. Neal, Jr. Nevada's first African-American senator By Nevada Press Association Hall of Famer John L. Smith Published in January 2019 by the University of Nevada Press

Hope you and yours had Happy High Holly Days
Merry Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah
Hope you and yours also experienced enthralling Thanksgibleting.
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo / Felice Anno Nuovo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2019

More stupid signs of our republic's decline
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-2-2019 Sparks Tribune

Crystal Balls: Peerless Predixions 2019 & Beyond
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-26-2018 Sparks Tribune

So this is Christmas: May we get what we deserve
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-19-2018 Sparks Tribune

Melvin and Howard: The untold reality show
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-12-2018 Sparks Tribune

A Christmas fantasy for freedom-loving racists
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-5-2018 Sparks Tribune

The growing tide of Teslacide
Latest news from Nevada's $1.4 billion corporate welfare champion
Menial Tasks, Slurs and Swastikas for Minorities

November 30 was St. Andrew's Day—>Alleluia!

The 9th Muse Barbwire wins 9th Nevada Press Association award (6th Gold)

144 years ago on Thanksgiving weekend,
Barbed wire was patented (11-24-1874), ensuring full employment for doctors and lawyers in perpetuity.
On 18 Jan. 1813, Joseph Glidden, inventor of barbed wire, was born.
The west was never the same. Likewise here.
Stick with The Barbwire to sharply point out the awful truth. Always here.
Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
For all the news you never knew you needed to know 'til now—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

Requiescant in pace John F. Kennedy May 29, 1917 — November 22, 1963 C.S. Lewis: November 29, 1898 — November 22, 1963 Aldous Huxley: July 26, 1894 — November 22, 1963

Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
The Underbelly of the News—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

BREAKING NEWS AND THEN SOME—>

A pledge of allegiance for our empire's children
Editor's note: The above was published before the death of President George HW Bush. His record survives him.
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-28-2018 Sparks Tribune

Federal judge blocks threatened Teamsters 533 Sparks-Reno-Washoe garbage strike
By James DeHaven / Reno Gazette-Journal 11-21-2018

Trumptasic tree ornaments for fun and prophet
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-21-2018 Sparks Tribune

Bluish waves, silver bullets, yellow dogs & chickens
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-14-2018 Sparks Tribune

If we stop killing, we stop killing ourselves
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-7-2018 Sparks Tribune

Required Reading
The Lady in the Red Dress
The award-winning Barbwire classic Nevada Day column written in 1983
The compleat history of the Silver State in 500 words
SPARKS TRIBUNE 10-31-2018

Personal & political hygiene & hijinx for fun & prophet
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-24-2018 Sparks Tribune

Women march to the polls in downtown Reno Oct. 21

A giant falls Reno, NV 10-12-2018 (U-News) —> Stanley Phillip Jones, 1923-2018 All Nevada labor mourns. More information as it arrives. ALIAS SMITH AND JONES— Left to right, Wendy Jones, the late Nevada State Assemblymember and Senator Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, and former Nevada Labor Commissioner Stan Jones at a 2002 event honoring Wendy at the Reno Hilton. [NevadaLabor.com photo / Andrew Barbano]	The above was prepared by Wendy Jones, John Jones and Pearl Miller, edited by Andrew Barbano / NevadaLabor.com/ It appeared in the Sunday, 21 Oct. 2018 Reno Gazette-Journal. Please send your memories of the man for posting in perpetuity.
Please peruse the Barbwire/ NevadaLabor.com Stan Jones lifetime achievement gallery (All remembrances welcome.)	Full formal obituary

BallotBoxing '18: Maximum confusions & contusions
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-17-2018 Sparks Tribune

Great Depression 2.0: Sure cure for what ails us
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-10-2018 Sparks Tribune

OCT. 8 10:00a.m.-12noon—> Postal workers & supporters rally to save the system
Bruce Thompson Federal Building, Liberty @ S. Virginia, Reno
Trump order would take Nevada back to the Pony Express

Déjà vu all over again

FED UP AT THE FEDERAL BUILDING (9-27-2011) — More than 200 postal workers and members of other unions demonstrate at the Bruce Thompson Federal Building in Reno in favor of passage of HR 1351, which would remove the funding drain now threatening the United States Postal Service. The federal courthouse may be seen in the window reflections of the auto in the foreground. (NevadaLabor.com photo)

Postal service jeopardized in Las Vegas and Nevada rural areas Las Vegas Sun / 4-22-2012

50 shades of rape: Tales of future past
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-3-2018 Sparks Tribune

RENO-SPARKS NAACP 73rd FREEDOM FUND DINNER

The 9th Muse Barbwire wins 9th Nevada Press Association award (6th Gold)

Blacks honor whites with a dash of electric pink
In search of a pink Cadillac to honor Aretha
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-26-2018 Sparks Tribune

The more things change, the more they remain the same
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-19-2018 Sparks Tribune

FROM JOURNALIST DENNIS MYERS' DAILY ALMANAC

IN MEMORY Addie Mae Collins Denise McNair Carol Robertson Cynthia Wesley ON SEPT. 15, 1963, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members, killing four girls attending a Sunday service at which the sermon was titled "The love that forgives"; ON SEPT. 15, 1979, using a hot air balloon that took months to devise, two east German families escaped over the Berlin wall; ON SEPT. 15, 2007, Sally Field received an Emmy for her portrayal of family matriarch "Nora Walker" in the television series Brothers and Sisters and the Fox Network censored part of her acceptance speech: "But at the heart of Nora Walker, she is a mother. So surely this belongs to all the mothers of the world. May they be seen. May their work be valued and raised, and especially the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait-wait for their children to come home from danger, from harm's way, and from war. ... And let's face it, if mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddam wars in the first place."

FROM A FATHER AND A BROTHER Osama bin Laden's strategic logic was to embroil the United States in a never-ending conflict to ultimately bankrupt the country. "All that we have to do is send two mujahadeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written 'Al Qaeda,' " he said in 2004, "in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note." Why are we continuing to do what Bin Laden wanted all along? I refuse to take Bin Laden's orders. I will not stay quiet. End the war. — Joe Quinn, veteran of two tours in Afghanistan who lost a brother in the World Trade Center. His son is now deployed in the never-ending war. (New York Times op-ed, 9-11-2018)       "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." — George Santayana

Dim and Dimmer: Ghost of Jim the Dim rides again
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-12-2018 Sparks Tribune

Michael Moore and Checkers the Corporate Crime-fighting Chicken try to breach a criminal fortress — but can't get past the fortress waitress. (From his Emmy-winning series, TV Nation) Message from the Mahatma —> FAHRENHEIT 11/9 Opening Night kick-off of the Toronto International Film Festival TORONTO 6 Sept. 2018 —We open nationwide on September 21, 45 days before the most important election in American history (and with voter registration still open nationwide!). I have spent the better part of this year constructing a film that will not only explain how the @#&% we ended up with Trump, but also help show us the way out. I must warn you — I do not pull ANY punches in the film. No one is spared— not even me. This film is THE moment of truth we've all needed for some time and I truly believe its release will be the real beginning of the end for Donald J. Trump (and perhaps, more importantly, the eventual end of the rotten, corrupt system that gave us Trump in the first place). I need your help. I’ve made a film that was meant to be seen on a big screen, in a dark theater, filled with a hundred strangers. My hope is that you will experience the magic of cinema the way it was meant to be experienced, in a movie theater. It's the best way to truly feel the big story I'm telling you. Any bit of anger, despair, or frustration you’ve felt over the past few years must be channeled into action this fall! We are the majority — never forget that. But we need to rise up. That’s the only way out of this mess. All my best, Michael Moore MichaelMoore.com   P. S. I'll bring you into the world premiere tonight via Facebook Live just before 11pm ET.

Barbwire 30th Anniversary Trilogy
Now well into a 4th decade of equal opportunity harassment of the rich, famous & powerful
Part 3: Biting the hand that feeds me
GOP '18 upsets: Déjà vu all over again
Laxalt and Heller favored to win in November
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-5-2018 Sparks Tribune
Part 2: Biting the moonhowlers
Good reasons to lie to those pesky pollsters
Heller eats sheep balls to get the courage to perpetrate guilt by association
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 8-29-2018 Sparks Tribune
Part 1: Bitten by my buds
Machine Gun Michele and her low-caliber, low-cut friends
The censored Barbwires of the 2015 legislature finally see ink and my fantasy fiancée bares all
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 8-22-2018 Sparks Tribune

30 Years before the masthead: Barbano remembers the Barbwire's greatest hits
By Kayla Anderson / Sparks Tribune 8-22-2018

Barbwire by Barbano moved to Nevada's Daily Sparks Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since.
Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

Some like it hot — Nevada State AFL-CIO annual convention Grand Sierra-Reno Aug. 19-21 Be there or be square. And some like it hotter —

HIGH-RISE TOUGH GUYS New York, NY — Ironworkers Local 580/AFL-CIO high-rise tough guys Miguel Millan, left, and Steve Gulitti sweat for the cameras while not sweating the altitude over Central Park. (That's The Big Apple cooking in the distance.) Brother Gulitti has long been a great source of news and info to NevadaLabor.com. I strongly suggest that if you like to stay in the know about who's doing what, with which and to whom, get on his e-list (at HotMail, of course). Tell him Barbano on the Barbwire sent you. From Brother Gulitti: Labor Union Approval Best Since 2003 at 61% Americans' approval of labor unions has risen to 61%, the highest since 2003. A new high of 39% say unions should have more influence. news.gallup.com From the venerable Harper's Magazine Sept. 2018: LABOR'S LAST STAND: IS THIS THE END OF AMERICAN UNIONS? RED FLAG WARNINGS ON HOT RED MORNINGS A September swan song we won't sing. READ IT! THEN GO ELECT SOMEBODY. From Barbwire by Barbano 3-7-2018: Successful teachers strikes make 1985 prediction come true     "How will labor come back? In a strike. That's not romanticism, that's a fact. It'll start with one plant. One plant. And they strike. And there'll be guys across the street at a second plant, and they see it, and they think 'Hmm, maybe we can do that.' And they win. Then somebody in Idaho does it, the same thing, independently. And then all of a sudden you're seeing some John L. Lewis again, a leader, but he gets thrown up, he's just riding the thing...That's not romanticism, that's a fact." — Ed Sadlowski, United Steelworkers Subdistrict Director     (From Geoghegan, Thomas, "WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON: Trying to be for labor when it's flat on its back" / Penguin/Plume Books, 1991, at 248) HOT TOWN SUMMER IN THE CITY — Gulitti photo taken July 3, 2018, the fourth day of a major heat wave.

NATURAL WOMAN: QUEEN OF SOUL ARETHA FRANKLIN DIES AT 76 DETROIT (8-16-2018) — Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul who stood as a cultural icon around the globe, has died at age 76 from advanced pancreatic cancer. Several years ago, Rolling Stone named her the greatest rock singer of all time, ahead of Ray Charles and Elvis Presley. Music rises as tears fall around the world. May she continue to make a joyful noise unto the Lord into eternity.

Breaking News, Bulletins & Almanac 2018
ALMANAC: On August 16, 1977, Elvis died. On August 16, 2018, Aretha died.

Wisdom from the immortals: Goethe, Ali & Connery
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 8-15-2018 Sparks Tribune

Buy local? 'Bye local and goodbye to Paul Laxalt
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 8-8-2018 Sparks Tribune

Analog anachronisms and digital dinosaurs
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 8-1-2018 Sparks Tribune

Ballardini black hole: Let's get our millions back
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-25-2018 Sparks Tribune

Putin & the Blowfish: High treason season of the witch
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-18-2018 Sparks Tribune

SCOTUS coitus interruptus and terminal Teslacide
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-11-2018 Sparks Tribune

Fake boobs and fake news: Guts, feathers and all
Another public relations coup for Nevada: Teslacide
In The Guardian/London-worldwide, Barbano & NV conservatives decry corporate welfare depredations
Menlo Park and Reno-Sparks-Fernley share similarly sad high-tech stretch marks
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-4-2018 Sparks Tribune

Cat house to state house: Any publicity is good publicity
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 6-27-2018 Sparks Tribune

Ghost in the machine: The return of NAGPAC
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 6-20-2018 Sparks Tribune

Lucky June 13: Cheap shots and low blows
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 6-13-2018 Sparks Tribune

A duo of D-Days visit Nevada this week
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 6-6-2018 Sparks Tribune

Mother Dolores: Our village loses its patron saint
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 5-30-2018 Sparks Tribune

Grandma, gold standards, forearms and tin ears
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 5-23-2018 Sparks Tribune

Las Vegas hospitality workers overwhelmingly vote to authorize citywide strike

Nevada Democratic Gubernatorial Debate: 6:00 p.m. PDT 5-21-2018 KTVN TV-2 (Northern Nevada) and KLAS TV-8 (Southern Nevada). The game's afoot. Watch The Barbwire for a review.

Beer & music and rendering unto Caesar
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 5-16-2018 Sparks Tribune

Stormy weather: Poll dancing for fun & prophet
UPDATED Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 5-9-2018 Sparks Tribune

Flint, Nevada: Dirty deeds done dirt cheap
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 5-2-2018 Sparks Tribune

Poor Denny's Almanac: May Day 2018

Just when you thought there was no good news
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-25-2018 Sparks Tribune

Flying machines in pieces on the ground, part deux
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-18-2018 Sparks Tribune

RED ALERT: NEVADA LABOR MUST NOT SUPPORT
SHARRON ANGLE SHILL ANDREW CAUDILL

Poor Denny's Almanac for a sad Sunday [EDITOR'S NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, historical items appear courtesy of longtime Nevada reporter Dennis Myers' daily Poor Denny's Almanac [PDA]. Items highlighted in blue are of interest to civil rights and worker rights in particular and to seekers of justice in general. Red means war. Occasionally but not surprisingly, magenta will mean both. Copyright © 2007-2018 Dennis Myers.] On April 15, 1540, Jerome of Bohemia, a Wycliffe follower, was arrested by the Catholic Council of Constance (under duress he admitted heresy, then when ordered to repeat the confession in public he recanted and demanded a hearing, which was denied); on this date in 1913, the Nevada State Journal reported that the University of Nevada baseball team, to avoid breaking a campus rule against playing on Sundays, played under the name “Nevada Stars” when it had Sunday games; in 1936, President Roosevelt signed legislation for a moratorium on debts owed by reclamation farmers and Native American irrigation projects to the federal government; in 1945, British and Canadian forces liberated Bergen Belsen, then turned it into a displaced persons camp, so Jewish refugees continued living there as late as 1950, often overriding British authority, electing their own leaders, achieving independent power, and planning emigration to Israel over British protests; in 1945, U.S. Army troops arrived at the Buchenwald death camp to discover the prisoners had liberated it four days earlier; in 1967, one hundred seventy five men burned their draft cards at a massive peace rally in Central Park in New York City; in 1971, Ring Lardner Jr., sent to federal prison in 1950 for refusing to cooperate with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, received the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for his M*A*S*H script—produced by 20th Century Fox, which had fired him on the day he appeared before HUAC; in 2001 in an Easter B.C. comic strip, cartoonist Johnny Hart portrayed a menorah’s candles burning out and the menorah breaking apart until only the shape of a burning cross remained (two years earlier, Hart had said publicly, “Jews and Muslims who don’t accept Jesus will burn in Hell”). Edward R. Murrow at Buchenwald/April 15 1945: There surged around me an evil-smelling stink. Men and boys reached out to touch me. They were in rags and the remnants of uniforms. Death already had marked many of them, but they were smiling with their eyes. I looked out over the mass of men to the green fields beyond, where well-fed Germans were ploughing... [I] asked to see one of the barracks. It happened to be occupied by Czechoslovaks. When I entered, men crowded around, tried to lift me to their shoulders. They were too weak. Many of them could not get out of bed. I was told that this building had once stabled 80 horses. There were 1200 men in it, five to a bunk. The stink was beyond all description. They called the doctor. We inspected his records. There were only names in the little black book—nothing more. Nothing about who had been where, what he had done or hoped. Behind the names of those who had died, there was a cross. I counted them. They totaled 242—242 out of 1200, in one month. As we walked out into the courtyard, a man fell dead. Two others, they must have been over 60, were crawling toward the latrine. I saw it, but will not describe it. In another part of the camp they showed me the children, hundreds of them. Some were only six years old. One rolled up his sleeves, showed me his number. It was tattooed on his arm. B-6030, it was. The others showed me their numbers. They will carry them ‘til they die. An elderly man standing beside me said, “The children—enemies of the state!” I could see their ribs through their thin shirts... We went to the hospital. It was full. The doctor told me that 200 had died the day before. I asked the cause of death. He shrugged and said, “Tuberculosis, starvation, fatigue and there are many who have no desire to live. It is very difficult.” He pulled back the blanket from a man’s feet to show me how swollen they were. The man was dead. Most of the patients could not move. I asked to see the kitchen. It was clean. The German in charge...showed me the daily ration. One piece of brown bread about as thick as your thumb. On top of it a piece of margarine as big as three sticks of chewing gum. That, and a little stew, was what they received every 24 hours. He had a chart on the wall. Very complicated it was. There were little red tabs scattered through it. He said that was to indicate each 10 men who died. He had to account for the rations and he added: “We’re very efficient here.” We proceeded to the small courtyard. The wall adjoined what had been a stable or garage. We entered. It was floored with concrete. There were two rows of bodies stacked up like cordwood. They were thin and very white. Some of the bodies were terribly bruised, though there seemed to be little flesh to bruise. Some had been shot through the head, but they bled but little. I arrived at the conclusion that all that was mortal of more than 500 men and boys lay there in two neat piles. There was a German trailer, which must have contained another 50, but it wasn’t possible to count them. The clothing was piled in a heap against the wall. It appeared that most of the men and boys had died of starvation. They had not been executed. But the manner of death seemed unimportant. Murder had been done at Buchenwald. God alone knows how many men and boys have died there during the last 12 years. Thursday, I was told that there were more than 20,000 in the camp. There had been as many as 60,000. Where are they now? I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald. I reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. For most of it, I have no words. If I have offended you by this rather mild account of Buchenwald, I’m not in the least sorry.... ____________________ Mother of God, what have we done? What have we allowed? And still do — to this very day 73 years later.

We Don't Need No Education Part LXXXVIII—>
Flying machines in pieces on the ground
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-11-2018 Sparks Tribune

[Text at right courtesy of longtime Nevada reporter Dennis Myers' daily Poor Denny's Almanac, Copyright © 2007-2018 Dennis Myers.]   Swagger and bluster and Martin Luther King By Dennis Myers / 4-4-2018

Last words of Martin Luther King, Jr., to Ben Branch/April 4, 1968: "Ben, make sure you play 'Precious Lord, Take My Hand' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty." On April 4, 1507, Martin Luther was ordained a Catholic priest in Erfurt, Germany; also on this date in 1915, McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters was born in Rolling Fork in the Mississippi Delta; in 1934, a year after churches in Germany were (mostly willingly) brought under state control, a group of Christian leaders led by Dietrich Bonhoeffer openly formed a Pastor’s Emergency League to oppose the Nazis and the state church, prompting many ministers to resign from the state church (Bonhoffer was hanged in 1945 at Flossenburg concentration camp); in 1934, the Reichbishop of the state church issued an order forbidding ministers from discussing the religious dispute in their sermons; in 1942, after his publication The Galilean claimed that the damage to U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor was greater than the Roosevelt administration had reported, FDR critic and presidential candidate William Dudley Pelley was arrested and charged by the Roosevelt administration with treason and sedition, later being convicted on 11 counts and sentenced to 15 years in prison; in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke against the Vietnam war at Riverside Church in New York City; in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated at age 39 while campaigning in support of striking (union) trash collectors. Robert Kennedy on the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Whenever any American’s life is taken by another American unnecessarily - whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of the law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence—whenever we tear at the fabric of the life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded...Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them. Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul. For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter. This is the breaking of a man’s spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.

¡Viva Chávez!
César Chávez Celebration XVI / Celebración de César Chávez XVI
Saturday 31 March 2018 / Sabado 31 de Marzo 2018
Circus Circus Reno / Doors opened 5:30, Dinner 7:00 p.m.
Post-event news coverage and photos
Advance lineup, sponsor info and event history
Watch this website for a complete event report starting here:
We Don't Need No Education Part LXXXVII—>
Marked for life for making a phone call
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-4-2018 Sparks Tribune

Poor Denny's Almanac
March 31: A birthday for giants — Jack Johnson and César Chávez

March 31 — On this date in 1870, Thomas Peterson Mundy of Perth Amboy became the first African American to vote under the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had been ratified the previous day (he also served as a school principal and was later elected to the Middlesex County Commission); in 1878, boxer (and future world heavyweight champion) Jack Johnson was born in Galveston; in 1911, after three years of prosecutions by the (Theodore) Roosevelt and Taft administrations of newspapers that reported on tawdry government conduct in the construction of the Panama Canal, the cases—which were thrown out by the courts—formally came to an end when a U.S. attorney in New York requested permission to enter a filing called a nolle prosse dropping all criminal libel charges; in 1927, César Chávez was born near Yuma, Arizona; in 1949, attorney Madison Graves filed charges against Las Vegas police officers after a teenager was beaten in the city jail and then given no medical attention to head injuries for four hours; in 1961, what was reported to be Reno’s first sit-in was staged by African Americans at the Overland Hotel’s café while elsewhere in the downtown a picket line was thrown up at the Nevada Bank of Commerce; in 2008 (and 2018), César Chávez Day will be celebrated with a large gathering at the Circus Circus Hotel in Reno. [Courtesy of longtime Nevada reporter Dennis Myers' daily Poor Denny's Almanac, Copyright © 2007-2018 Dennis Myers.]

From the den of iniquity to the holy of holies
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-28-2018 Sparks Tribune

What's harder: Finding a doctor or Stormy Daniels?
Sucking up money: The ever-expanding tentacles of the voracious Renown medical octopus
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-21-2018 Sparks Tribune

March 21 (Barbwire/César Chávez XVI Update) — On this date in 1806, Benito Juárez was born. ¡Viva Juárez!

Poor Denny's Almanac
Remember: St. Patrick was once a slave who returned to minister to the land which shackled him

On St. Patrick's Day: in 1934, thirty African American students were ejected from the U.S. House of Representatives dining room when they sought service as a protest against the firing of a waiter who tried to serve blacks, with police shoving the students out of the restaurant, down the hallway, and outdoors, fists swinging and blows landing; in 1966, farm workers led by César Chávez began a march from Delano to Sacramento; in 1970, U.S. postal workers struck.

The César Chávez Long March, 3-17-1966 by Reno artist Erik Holland The original watercolor above was displayed for several years in the Nevada Legislature offices of Sen. (now Congressman) Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas, prime sponsor of the 2009 César Chávez Day bill. Mr. Holland is preparing a new painting to be unveiled at César Chávez Celebration XVI on March 31, 2018, at Circus Circus-Reno. Click here for event reservations and sponsorship opportunities. Copyright © 2009 Erik Holland. All rights reserved.

Buyer beware the Ides of March
Full house: Renters face a bleak future in the Truckee Meadows
Barbano: Shoddy developers still call the shots
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 3-8-2018
And we didn't even get kissed afterward

Breaking News, Bulletins & Almanac 2018
Breaking News, Bulletins & Almanac 2017

A world in fear: It's always 9/11 somewhere
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-14-2018 Sparks Tribune

And a little child shall lead them

Wednesday, March 14: National student walkout for gun control. Stand by for detention, you rambunctious little protestors. The University of Nevada-Reno says OK. The Washoe County School District says you're busted, you truant juvenile delinquents.

DETENTION JUNCTION: Reno-Sparks students risk reprisals for anti-gun walkout
By Siobhan McAndrew / Reno Gazette-Journal 3-13-2018

Walkout date is an opportunity for Washoe students
Washoe School District Trustee Scott Kelley Op-Ed / Reno Gazette-Journal 3-13-2018

Hope for a nation more interested in butt control than gun control—Andrew Barbano, Sparks Tribune, 3-14-2018

March for Our Lives — and against guns — Saturday, March 24, gathering in front of the Bruce Thompson Federal Building, W. Liberty at S. Virginia, Reno, 11:30 a.m., concluding at the Reno City Hall BELIEVE PLAZA at 1:30 p.m. PDT / Info: Nnedi Stephens, 775-338-4561

Washoe County Commissioner Kitty Jung wins poll position on candidate filing day

West Virginia teachers: Strike one, strike won
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-7-2018 Sparks Tribune
LATEST Barbwires

Mayorga muerto Tony Mayorga (Español) 1952-2018

FORMER LABORERS' LOCAL 169 PRESIDENT & TRAINING INSTRUCTOR TONY MAYORGA DIES AT 65 Mayorga Memorial Celebration Saturday March 10 RENO (19 Feb. 2018) — Brother Mayorga passed away at 3:01 p.m. PST at Renown Regional Medical Center. He was hospitalized early last week with a respiratory illness. His wife, family, close friends, union sisters and brothers watched over him. Please monitor this website for updates. If you are not on the NevadaLabor.com mailing list, you may want to join now. Whatever your core beliefs, please send powerful prayers, projections, thoughts, vibrations and emanations toward our friend, Tony. Thank you. "Outside of a person's love, the most sacred thing that they can give is their labor."

VETERANS — Left to right, Maria Zamora, Librado "Lee" Chávez and Tony Mayorga. Lee Chávez holds up a hand-crafted United Farm Workers of America flag signed by his late brother. The flag is part of Ms. Zamora's collection of Chávez/UFWA memorabilia which she displayed at the 2004 Chávez Celebration. Ms. Zamora marched with César Chávez in the 1960's and cooked for the multitudes as they trekked across California. She traveled from California to attend the 2014 event and has been our guest several times since. She weaved wonderful stories for the audience in her Hall of Fame address. As always, the Chávez family was well represented by Reno resident Ramon Chávez and his family. Tony Mayorga served many years as director of training and President of Laborers' Union Local 169, a founding sponsor of the celebration. [Librado Chávez and a dozen family members attended the 2008-2011 events. Lee and Tony are now gone. César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Famer Maria will induct Tony into that exclusive club on March 31, 2018. Adios, hermano.]

ToddBQ '18
ROASTED INTO RETIREMENT
On a chilly night, a hot time was had by all.
The Building & Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada/AFL-CIO roasted Brother Todd Koch into retirement on Saturday, 24 Feb. 2018 at Circus Circus-Reno. Mandalay Ballroom dinner was primo as usual.
Labor leader Todd Koch departs with praises sung and feathers singed

African Americans in Times of War BLACK HISTORY MEET & GREET NETWORK WITH NEVADA COMMUNITY LEADERS Thursday, February 22, 2018, 6:30-8:00 p.m. EVELYN MOUNT NORTHEAST COMMUNITY CENTER 1301 Valley Road, 2nd floor, Reno NV Snacks, Displays, Books and Small Talk Provided For more information contact Patricia Gallimore, Reno-Sparks NAACP President (775) 746-9453 Don Gallimore, Second Vice-President (775) 303-7050 RenoSparksNAACP.org

2018 Black History Month Almanac Courtesy of journalist Dennis Myers and friends

Oh, you beautiful doll!

Forever a Fox: Rosie in 1995

Naomi Parker Fraley, aka Rosie the Riveter, dies at 96
Mrs. Fraley’s connection to Rosie was made public in 2016, ending years of speculation over who was the model for the fictional 1940s war worker.
By Margalit Fox / The New York Times front page 23 January 2018

The 9th Muse Barbwire wins 9th Nevada Press Association award (6th Gold)

8 the hard way!
Barbwire wins 8th Nevada Press Assn. award
Je Suis Charlie

West Virginia teachers: Strike one, strike won
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-7-2018 Sparks Tribune

Lousy lawyering for pun and prophet
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-28-2018 Sparks Tribune

Recognizing the red flags of instant replay
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-21-2018 Sparks Tribune

We wish you love & laughter on St. Valentine's Day
Valentines for Cleopatra & wayward beautiful girls
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-14-2018 Sparks Tribune

Bliss Barbies: The yellow brick road to anorexia
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-7-2018 Sparks Tribune

30+ years of Barbwire Archives thru today

Terrorism in Cowboy Country
Mississippi West yet abides in the High Desert Outback of the American Dream

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Navigating the flagship—>Making quick work of NevadaLabor.com WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS DEPT.—> A year or so back, I got my first criticism in more than two decades that this site is a bit confusing to navigate. I take that as a compliment. Confusing people is one of my few talents.     I thought I had anticipated any such problems years ago by liberally sprinkling links to the front page site map. (These days, am I supposed to say that I sprinkled progressively rather than liberally?)     The front page of NevadaLabor.com acts as a chronological listing of recent workplace news with the latest at the top. I archive annually to create a continuous permanent record fully accessible via the site map or any garden-variety websearch.     "We Don't Need No Education" is now approaching its 100th installment and long ago earned its own section inside. Say hi to Don Quixote.     Current Barbwires plus more than 20 years of columaniacal archives, the Statewide News Roundup and Breaking News/Bull'tins/Almanac are all available via the site map—>as well as the usual general or specific ongoing madness and historical inflammation. (Once something's posted here or to any of my other sites, it's up forever.)     While the front page is chronological, the Statewide News Roundup is categorical, e.g., construction, hospitality, legislation, health care and many others. Breaking News/Bull'tins/Almanac often publishes original U-News as well as links to items at other sites that are not hot enough for the front page chronology. The NevadaLabor.com search engine acts as a short-cut to everything, depending on what you seek. So simply seek and ye shall find.     As my old friend Wise John the Lake Havasu Cropduster Pilot often says, "when all else fails, read the instructions." So when all else fails, re-read the above, then go to the nearest site map link and/or "search." The NevadaLabor.com search engine is really amazing. It's also union-signatory and thus quite efficient.     Thanks for your inputs and support over lo, these many years. Keep up the good work and the good fight.     Esté bien. Haga infierno. / Be well. Raise hell. —> Andrew the Barbwire Man