NEWS THAT AIN'T NEWS. YET. By the time you read this, I will be the worse for wear.

On Monday and Tuesday this week, the Nevada State AFL-CIO met to endorse primary election candidates.

The biggest fireworks were expected between Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls Christina Giunchigliani and Steve Sisolak, both Clark County commissioners.

Northern Nevada unions have not endorsed in that race. The Southern Nevada Central Labor Council endorsed Sisolak probably because of his support of the Oakland Raiders taxpayer-subsidized stadium construction. Giunchigliani is the jockocracy's harshest critic.

Chris G has been doing voter outreach which Sisolak is now beginning in these parts.

Sisolak started TV during the NCAA basketball tournament and has never stopped.

He's got about $4 million which is great for a governor's race but not if you're the power company.

UPDATE: The assembled multitudes decided not to cut the baby in half and voted to endose both in the June primary.

POWER TO THE POWERFUL? NVEnergy and its allies will spend $30 million and perhaps much more to defeat Question 3 on the November ballot.

They bought $12 million in TV just last week. They call the proposed constitutional amendment Enron2 and with some reason. I'll be delving into it further. Watch the NevadaLabor.com Energy War Room.

My biggest lament is that some of Nevada's earliest advocates for consumers have sold out to the dark side of the force and the Darth Vader of Enron2, Gomorrah South casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.

MAD HATTERS. I plan to wear my hat all week as usual. I probably won't get kicked out of the labor convention at Circus Circus or come close to arrest.

I couldn't say that 53 weeks ago. April 11 brought the anniversary of the lowest point of my checkered career: I was thrown out of the Nevada State Assembly Chamber for the crime of wearing a hat, then threatened with arrest for hanging around the press room. (Barbwire 4-18-2017)

So let's see, which places must I permanently avoid? The ledge for sure. Haven't been back since. And Tesla County until they replace that madcap sheriff. (Barbwire 10-31-2014) Ditto all them freedom loving racists in Yerington.

CESAR CHAVEZ XVI on the great labor leader's 91st birthday featured the best entertainment since inception. However, we did not break the all-time attendance record.

I told people that if they wanted to complain about Chávez's March 31 birth date, call his mom but I don't think her number's listed.

A still-substantial Saturday crowd enjoyed a good time despite heavy competition from five major religious events: Passover, Easter, spring break (big with pagans and Druids), the NCAA basketball Final Four and the Giants vs. the Dodgers.

Alleluia.

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN. My old boss Bob Brown, now a member of the Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator Hall of Fame, once editorialized that it's time to disband the US Air Force Thunderbirds.

He ventured that opinion in The Valley Times just after the entire team had flown into the ground while practicing near Nellis Air Force Base in 1982. Earlier this month, we lost one pilot plus a humongously expensive aeroplane.

A couple of years back, a story broke that the Taiwanese military was having trouble meeting its recruiting goals because Formosan politicians don't glorify the military.

We've since seen revelations that millions in taxpayer money has been paid to billionaire United States pro sports operators for flag-waving demonstrations at games.

They serve the same function as the Thunderbirds: propaganda supporting enrichment of the military-industrial complex.

How out-of-control is our empire? Read Dennis Myers' tour de force "Bloat," the cover story in the January 11 Reno News & Review.

You'll be shocked if you remain at all shockable.

And remember the recent news that within a decade or so, our ever-expanding national debt will be bigger than the annual value of the entire U.S. economy.

Social Security and Medicare are thus endangered species.

So what the heck? Let's have a military parade in Washington with a flyover by those Thunderbirds who survived last week's fatality.

We're number one! Let's go bomb some brown people and party on.

Web Extras —> IMPORTANT DATES: Washoe County sheriff candidates forum sponsored by the Reno-Sparks NAACP, ACTIONN and other community organizations. Watch this space.

UPDATE: Looks like there will be two, one on April 30 and another on May 15. Stay tuned.

ANTE INTO THE GAME: Support the new season of Barbwire.TV by putting your money where my mouth is.

Metastasizical Statisticals Trump FCC chair investigated for Sinclair ties TheVerge.com / 2-15-2018 Ready for Trump TV? Inside Sinclair Broadcasting’s Plot to Take Over Your Local News Its mix of terrorism alerts, right-wing commentary and “classic propaganda” could soon reach 3/4 of the US. By Andy Kroll/Mother Jones Oct.-Nov. 2017 How Sinclair Broadcasting puts a partisan tilt on trusted local news By William Brangham/ PBS NewsHour 10-10-2017 Top-down Democrats haven't learned By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 8-10-2017 More Faux than Fox? Corporate octopus Sinclair moves to dominate Nevada and U.S. television By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 8-3-2017

  A thousand thanks to those who 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.

 

END OF TIMES SURVIVAL KIT. Defend yourself with humorous or humorless but always-peerless pontification by subscribing to the Barbwire Confidential News Service. Scandalous bonuses for new subscribers.

Hush Hush!

 

 

"Media is the plural of mediocre." — Jimmy Breslin (1928-2017)

Last year's dark foreshadowings unfortunately became reality. I thus suggest inoculation by signing onto the HushHush! list at BallotBoxing.US/ It's cheap as well as enlightening entertainment. I suggest coming aboard now. Subscription prices go up soon. Thank you kindly for your support.

 

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

 

Andrew Barbano is a 49-year Nevadan, executive 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 BallotBoxing.US and SenJoeNeal.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 and received its 8th Nevada Press Association award and 5th first-place at the 30 Sept. 2017 NPA annual convention in Carson City. (That trophy and about six bucks will get you a Latte Mocha Cotsafracas Chingade at just about any Starbux worldwide, guaranteed.)

 

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