BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO Pirate Laureate of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream

Barbwire Archives

The ghost of Trayvon Martin today hangs heavy over Sparks.

We have proven little different than Florida, New York, San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland or (hush!) Ferguson, Missouri.

Last Friday, a crazy old Italian white guy was acquitted on first degree murder and attempted murder charges for shooting two people sleeping in a vacant Sparks house he owns.

Good luck on renting it now.

Maybe wacko bulletizer Wayne Burgarello can re-package it as the latest Rail City tourist attraction and sell tickets to see the bloodstains and bullet holes.

His new business would most probably be eligible for corporate welfare taxpayer subsidies in the form of convention authority advertising dollars.

He might even qualify for a deal like Scheels and Cabela's sporting goods if he's willing to swear that half his slaughterhouse traffic will come from tourists.

Scheels sells lots of guns and may want to do a cross-promotion with Sparks' new law-and-order hero who protects vacant houses from sleeping junkies. What a guy.

The Jim Crow South has risen again. It's really OK to kill the disfavored and clear out the gene pool (even though evolution is no more than an unproven liberal commie pointy-headed pseudo-intellectual theory).

Retired teacher Burgarello got off (figuratively and literally) in an atmosphere of fear, sotted with the stench of gunpowder, seasoned with a whiff of sulfur.

This entire year has been consumed by the constant pimping of firearms by the moonhowlers in control of the Nevada Legislature. They are determined to force guns into our schools even if educators and students don't want them.

Nanny state knows best.

All local TV news departments made the miasma much muckier by fabricating fear-inducing programming to puff up spring rating surveys.

Nobody asked the question but I will: Might the verdict have been different if Wayne Burgarello was black?

His white victims may as well have been. Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, assassinated in 2012 by a self-appointed vigilante, was too dark-skinned to merit much consideration as a human being.

The ritualistic snuffing of young black men has continued as usual with the media merely paying more attention since Martin's termination.

The two young people asleep in Burgarello's vacant Sparks house may have been white but were darkened as members of another disfavored class: drug abusers.

Like the OJ Simpson debacle, Burgarello's acquittal was probably a foregone conclusion the moment jury selection was complete. Someone with financial resources can hire a legal team that takes much of the risk out of a murder trial.

So apparently a jury of moon rocks became convinced that a mean old man with admittedly serious eye problems bears no blame for storming into a darkened room with guns blazing.

He swore he feared for his life, didn't he? What else do you need?

Penis-predominant stand-your-ground laws increasingly put people in the ground in the finest tradition of our childish murder culture.

We have never outgrown playing cowboys and Indians just like in the movies. If Jesus of Nazareth, who was most probably short and dark, came to the U.S. today and started preaching in revolutionary language as he did 2,000 years ago, our modern Roman empire would again crucify him. Using legal enhanced interrogation techniques, of course. Guantánamo as Calvary.

It is thus entirely fitting that Nevada has expanded the self-defense defense.

The now-justified shootings of drug addicts have put stand-your-ground on steroids.

That's some serious substance abuse. I can hardly stand it.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

The Underbelly of the News—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential

BARBWIRE WEB EXTRAS...

June 7 ceremony in Dayton, Nev., honors former slave and Union Army Civil War Soldier Pvt. Scott Carnal, 79th U.S. Colored Infantry, died 7 June 1917, buried at Dayton Cemetery

65 YEARS OF KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD. Read Tribune alumnus Dennis Myers' tour de force about a tour de farce in the Feb. 5 Reno News & Review. His cover story "No Fair" provides a quick and vicious history lesson about Nevada government failing to take care of its people.

MYERS: Nevadans may well wonder why one of the state’s biggest and most familiar problems could be ignored so assiduously for decades, like an elephant in the room. In the end, the explanation comes down to a rule of thumb for politicians: Offending the affluent comes with consequences. Offending the working poor does not.

He also posits a tax solution which liberals may find quite surprising. (I resemble that remark.) Myers once again looks positively psychic. Actually, he just reads history.

TOMORROW'S NEWS TODAY: FEEL UP YOUR FIRE METER. The Reno Gazette-Journal did big spreads on three consecutive Sundays (Sept. 14, Sept. 21 and Sept. 28) on NV Energy smart meter fires. Welcome aboard. Barbwire readers were two years ahead on the fire meter issue. (Touch a Smart Meter, Go to Jail — 11 October 2012)

FIRE METER UPDATES: THE NEVADA FIRE MARSHALL'S INVESTIGATION concluded "don't worry, be happy." I'm still worried and will continue fondling NVE's precious equipment —> If your smart meter feels very hot, not just from sunshine, call 911.

In its Sunday 21 Dec. 2014 front page headline major story, the Reno Gazette-Journal published results of the NVEnergy-commissioned "don't worry, be happy" echo study. On 1-27-2015, the RGJ published an analysis based on veteran reporter Anjeanette Damon's review of more than 1,000 pages of documents. Barbwire bottom line: NVE handles this like auto manufacturers handle defects —> It's cheaper to pay legal settlements after people are injured or killed than to fix the problem.

Don'tcha worry 'bout a thing! If you can't trust your power company, who can you trust?

DIDN'T THEY MAKE A MOVIE CALLED "THE INCREDIBLES"? On 2-6-2015, the RGJ reported that the Public Utilities Commission has ordered NVE to hire an independent laboratory to review the material. UPDATE: The report said all is well. I still recommend feeling up your fire meter on a regular basis.

ANTE INTO THE GAME: Support the new season of Barbwire.TV by putting your money where my mouth is. A thousand thanks to those who already responded and keep sending show suggestions.

  Stay tuned.

  I encourage you to donate to the cause at Barbwire.TV/

The medium that shapes public opinion needs at least one refuge where it is not filtered through the distorted green eye shades of prissy corporate accountants for whom profit is the only priority; where self-censorship is the journalist's normal work environment and where all sins of omission are tacitly encouraged and forgiven with the wave of a balance sheet.

This is important. We've got a lot of work to do.

Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

Andrew Barbano is a 46-year Nevadan, chair of the Nevada César Chávez Committee, producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org and DoctorLawyerWatch.com/ As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Check local listings for other Nevada cable systems. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988.

Peruse the Underbelly of the News —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential

Smoking Guns... Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential How I handled a similar situation Several months ago, I got an e-mail from my next-door neighbor in Michigan. Because of his wife's health, they were forced to move before they could sell their home. I thus got the keys and promised to watch the mail and water the plants. My neighbor had received a call from the megabank holding his mortgage. They had a report that squatters were living on the property and to call the police. I had just been in the place and so I knew it to be pure corporate fantasy and miscommunication. He nonetheless asked me to call RPD. I called a Reno police lieutenant of my acquaintance and explained the situation. He offered to send a squad car over. I told him I'd be home, there was no rush and make it a low priority because I knew the bank's paranoia was bogus. Several hours later, I greeted two young officers and unlocked the front door so they could go through the place. Took about sixty seconds. I apologized for wasting their time and to give my regards to their lieutenant. The neighbor who reported squatters to Wayne Burgarello suggested that he call Sparks police. Instead, he turned it into a cheap western movie with live ammo. The rest, as they say, is history. Bloody history. Dogs and ponies, DARE traps and tokenism Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-26-2015 Sparks Tribune Corporate welfare unites me with the moonhowlers Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-19-2015 Sparks Tribune Hotplates, hotheads, hot rumors and hot Moose Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-12-2015 Sparks Tribune MayDay! The bright side of riots in the streets Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-5-2015 Sparks Tribune In the Uber-Nevada Legislature, words can kill Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-28-2015 Sparks Tribune Tesla rewrites history to chisel worker paychecks Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-21-2015 Sparks Tribune Radiation Nation: Gomorrah South bakes in the glow of victory Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-14-2015 Sparks Tribune Revenge, redistricting and amnesia in Cartoon City Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-7-2015 Sparks Tribune Harry Reid, Eddy Arnold, César Chávez and Gaga Madonna Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-31-2015 Sparks Tribune High noon for the high desert outback of the American Dream Small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, great minds discuss ideas. Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-24-2015 Sparks Tribune St. Patrick, I need a green energy beer Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-17-2015 Sparks Tribune Michele Fiore: the Italian girl mama wanted for me? Barbwire by Barbano / Excised from the 3-10-2015 Sparks Tribune as "not suitable" / Updated 3-12 and 3-13-2015 Who was that lady I saw you with last night? That was no lady, that was...none of your damned business! But can she cook? Barbano to legislative committee: Let Tesla, Switch and Apple help pay for police officer video cameras Clinging to the Ledge: guts, feathers and all Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-3-2015 Sparks Tribune We don't need no stinking wages! It became necessary to destroy the community in order to save it Barbwire by Barbano / Special online edition 2-26-2015 The skeleton of the underbelly of the news Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-24-2015 Sparks Tribune Parsing our parsimonious public pursers Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-17-2015 Sparks Tribune What else is new? Southern Nevada CLC authorizes strike sanction vs. wage violator. The flush of victory and the irony of deceit Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-10-2015 Sparks Tribune Senate Republicans take a jackhammer to the bedrock of Nevada trade unionism The last bastion of local hire comes under fire By Sean Whaley / Las Vegas Review-Journal 2-4-2015 Follytix, Foxcatchers and corporate weasels Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-3-2015 Sparks Tribune We Don't Need No Education Archive The ever-expanding Ira Hansen Archive of an anachronism BREAKING BAD Walter White and some other white guy Who's,,, ...Who? Breaking Bad 5: Machine Gun Michele and the good ole boys Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-16-2014 Sparks Tribune Breaking Bad 4: Ira and his ammosexuals flip us the finger Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-9-2014 Sparks Tribune / Updated 12-11-2014 Union decline and rising inequality in two charts by Colin Gordon Economic Policy Institute / 6-5-2012 Labor Day: State of the Unions By Mark Robison / Reno Gazette-Journal / Sunday 9-1-2013 The above graph was used in journalist Mark Robison's extensive Hard Labor: Nevada unions tout role in helping workers, firms, economy (Sunday 2 Sept. 2012 Reno Gazette-Journal, page one, Reno Rebirth section of the print edition). Union men Jim Burrell, Paul McKenzie and Guy Louis Rocha did the movement proud. WOMEN AND UNIONS — ORPHAN MAJORITIES The Barbwire Labor Day column Reno Gazette-Journal / 9-3-2012 ...and more ammo... We Don't Need No Education The continuing Barbwire series Barbwire: Nevada not really a state No, we were not Battle Born in Kenya Top 10 reasons Nevada lives in the 19th Century Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-17-2013 Sparks Tribune Low-income penalty: Nevada socks it to the working poor BARBANO: Nevada is one big company town Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 10-10-2013 State of Health National health care comes up against a very sick state. WHAT'S IN IT FOR US? Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 10-10-2013 ...and more ammo yet IMF Head Says Inequality Threatens Democracy. Here Are 7 Charts Proving She’s Right. By Erika Eichelberger / Mother Jones/BillMoyers.com 5-30-2014 “The behavior of the financial sector has not changed fundamentally…since the crisis. The industry still prizes short-term profit.” The Post-Dated Recession: Pay me now or pay me later Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune The Post-dated Recession By Joshua H. Silavent / Daily Sparks Tribune / 5-3-2011 Nevada Press Assn. Better Newspaper Contest 2013-14: BARBWIRE SCORES SIXTH NEVADA PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARD BRONZE 2014 Hopelessly trying to win an earthquake / 4-18-2013 The 2013 Loony Tunes Legislative Lexicon / 5-30-2013 The politics of media ga-ga boosterism / 3-20-2014 2012: WE WON —> BIG NEWS FROM THE NEVADA PRESS ASSOCIATION GOMORRAH SOUTH CONFAB—> BARBWIRE NOMINEE GUY RICHARDSON INDUCTED INTO NPA HALL OF FAME ON FIRST BALLOT Support legendary photographer Don Dondero next 2010 GOLD HAT TRICK: Barbwire takes first place three years in a row. The winning entries Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune RED flags flying low over Sparks Expanded from the 1-10-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune The wrath of self-righteous racism Expanded from the 11-8-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune Government contacts Nev. congressional delegation Nevada Legislature State of Nevada Secretary of State Carson City Clark County City of Las Vegas Douglas County Reno City Council Sparks City Council Washoe County Commission Washoe Registrar of Voters The campaign against forcibly-paid newspaper obituaries And they wonder why the newspaper business is dying?   The Dean's List    The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites. RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006 The 2009 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners Tony the Tiger & the flaky NFL Barbwire / 11-30-2008 Deregulation is never having to say you're sorry Barbwire / 8-3-2008 Nevada: A good place to visit, but do you want to live here? Barbwire / 6-15-2008 The 2008 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners The price of a piece / 6-17-2007 Boxing Pandora /9-23-2007 The Lady in the Red Dress 10-28-2007 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries The life and times of Travus T. Hipp The best who ever was   Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential

SITE NAVIGATION TIPS: When all else fails, read the instructions

NevadaLabor.com | U-News | Bulletins + Almanac Casinos Out of Politics (COP) | Sen. Joe Neal Guinn Watch | Deciding Factors | BallotBoxing.US DoctorLawyerWatch.com | Barbwire Oilogopoly Archive Barbwire Nevada Corporate Welfare Archive Annual César Chávez Celebration War Rooms: Banks, Cabbies, Cabela's/cabellyup, Cable TV, Cancer Kids/Mining, Energy, Food, Health Care, Resurge.TV/consumers, Starbucks, Wal-Mart We Don't Need No Education Search this site | In Search Of...

Barbwire Archives

Copyright © 1982-2015 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 46-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee. He is producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and serves as first vice-president, political action chair and webmaster of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

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.

Site composed and maintained by Deciding Factors, CWA 9413 signatory

Comments and suggestions appreciated. Sign up for news and bulletins