Barbwire: Andrew Barbano: Enemy of the state

BARBWIRE
by
ANDREW BARBANO
Pirate Laureate of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream
The Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator Hall of Flames
Now including Dennis Myers and Don Dondero

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SITE NAVIGATION TIPS: When all else fails, read the instructions (A favorite John Hanks aphorism I've been using for decades)

Je Suis Charlie
"Our republic and its press will rise or fall together." — Joseph Pulitzer

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

An Alternative National Anthem
By Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) & Sharon Robinson
© 1988 CBS Records, Inc.

   Everybody knows the dice are loaded.
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.
   Everybody knows the war is over.
Everybody knows the good guys lost.
   Everybody knows the fight was fixed.
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.
   That's how it goes. Everybody knows.

   Everybody knows that the boat is leaking.
Everybody knows that the captain lied.
   Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died.
   Everybody talking to their pockets.
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
   And a long stem rose.
Everybody knows.

   Everybody knows that you love me, baby.
Everybody knows you really do.
   Everybody knows that you've been faithful,
Give or take a time or two.
   Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
   Without your clothes.
Everybody knows.

   Everybody knows that it's now or never.
Everybody knows that it's me or you.
   And everybody knows that you live forever
When you've done a line or two.
   Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
   For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows.

   Everybody knows that the plague is coming.
Everybody knows that it's moving fast.
   Everybody knows that the naked man & woman —
Just a shining artifact of the past.
   Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
   That will disclose
What everybody knows.

   And everybody knows that you're in trouble.
Everybody knows what you've been through
   From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach at Malibu.
   Everybody knows it's coming apart.
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
   Before it blows.
And everybody knows.

Everybody knows. Everybody knows.
   That's how it goes. Everybody knows.

I hope you understand I just had to go back to the island.
— Leon Russell, 1942-2016

"The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have." — Kierkegaard

Andrew Barbano: Enemy of the state
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-12-2020 Sparks Tribune / Updated 8-21 and 9-2-2020 GMT / Expansions in blue

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WE WON: BIG NEWS FROM THE NEVADA PRESS ASSOCIATION CONFAB IN GOMORRAH SOUTH —> BARBWIRE NOMINEE GUY RICHARDSON INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME ON FIRST BALLOT

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10 the Hard Way
Barbwire wins 10th Nevada Press Association award

GOLD 2017-18

2018 First-Place Winners
From the depths of despair to the den of iniquity & holy of holies

"Excellent work. These are some of the most moving columns I've read."
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The Grasshopper and
the Dragonfly
9-6-2017

Kicked off the Ledge
4-18-2017

NATIONAL NEWS FIRST-BREAK
Back to the Future in
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10-18-2017

Gold 2017
Don't ask Renown Med for marijuana to help your chemo
10-4-2016
We Don't Need No Education
Toxic turf threat ignored
12-13-2016
Kate Smith & Lady Gaga
2-14-2017

Bronze 6-pack
In the Uber-Nevada legislature, words can kill
4-28-2015
On artificial turf, don't breathe unless absolutely necessary (above)
11-24-2015
Leading questions, lead-headed leaders
1-19-2016

Hopelessly trying to win an earthquake
4-18-2013
2013 Loony Tunes Legislative Lexicon
5-30-2013
The politics of media ga-ga boosterism
3-20-2014

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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

Tomorrow's news today —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
TOP SECRET— HushHush!

How much is a human life worth in Nevada? About 50 cents.

Last week, a Gomorrah South hotel was fined a whopping $250 for improper safety procedures in hosting 500 righteous Religionauts for Trump. Do the math if you are able.

Americans are a queer lot. Like Pavlov's dogs, we behave as programmed and stop our autos by order of red lights. Likewise, we won't cross an intersection until the little animated stick figure signals "go" even with no traffic present. But wear a mask like them Japs and Huns? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Nothing shows the impotence of Nevada state and local governments like the rolling Coronavirus Petri dishes of Washoe County's bus system. Despite weeks of pleas and regulatory filings at every level, the Sparks-Reno-Washoe transit system will not require passengers to wear masks.

The elected officials in charge (four Republicans, one Democrat) have taken a cue from Czar Donaldov and are spending copious quantities of public money running TV ads reinforcing the lie that buses are safe. (See NevadaLabor.com but wear a mask. You will find it hard to breathe among so much smoking gun evidence.)

Our elected officials have apparently decided that the best defense is a good offense and they are consummate practitioners of offensive behavior. Like President Trump and his BFF, Chinese Communist boss Xi Xin Ping, RTC attacks the bearer of bad news. In this case, me.

System Manager Abul Hassan distributed a memo to drivers last week accusing me of "instructing employees to antagonize passengers by taking their pictures and sending those pictures to the union." As usual, anyone taking photos of people flouting Gov. Sisolak's mask order or otherwise refusing service is subject to firing. Mr. Hassan's advice to employees who don't like their lives endangered? The classical plantation overlord's pout: Quit and find another job.

Hassan also proved that he doesn't read local papers. Hey, he's new in town and bucking for a promotion by union busting.

"Those giving you bad advice like 'GIVE THEM HELL!' can do so from the safety of their office chair (sic, lack of parallel construction) without any thought to the fact that you have family members who love you and expect you home each night."

This mental illness is called displacement, projecting one's own monomania upon someone else. Call it White House syndrome.

As Barbwire regulars know, "Be well. Raise hell." has been my standard sign-off for decades in print and electronic media. Newbie Hassan is blissfully unaware. And I never asked drivers to harass passengers.

Here's what I wrote: "Anyone who sees maskless passengers on crowded RTC vehicles, please take a shot and forward stills or short video clips."

Even though local, state and federal officials blatantly ignore the festering problem, documentation remains necessary.

Nonetheless, I sincerely thank Mr. Hassan for one of the greatest accolades of my life. All my media, literary and educational awards pale by comparison to being named an enemy of the state by a contemptuous overseer.

Grazie, Don Cornuto.

FROM THE UNION: "I find it shameful and disingenuous the continued efforts to not have employees report unsafe conditions at work, regarding masks or other safety related items," stated Teamsters Local 533 President Gary Watson.

The good fight continues.

THE GOOD GUYS. On August 5, the North Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved a resolution that would penalize businesses if patrons aren’t wearing masks. So Gomorrah South has now taken the moral high ground over self-righteous El Norte. The only solution to Mr. Hassan is ticketing maskless passengers and fining him.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI. I had high hopes that last Saturday's Black Lives Matter protest against Sheriff Bull Connor would allow the rise of a Nevada John Lewis. Alas, no.

The backwater lawman in question broke his oath of office by stating his officers would no longer respond to the local library's 911 calls because the director placed support of Black Lives Matter on its board agenda. (The meeting was cancelled after a hue and cry by local white supremacists. Nine of 10 Douglas residents term themselves as white with not even one in 100 black. African Americans comprise three-tenths of one percent.)

I confirmed that a photo of Sheriff Connor choking a guy during an arrest is accurate. What a guy. See NevadaLabor.com/ At his pre-protest "limited press conference," he actually denied making the threat he put in writing to the library director. (Remind you of anyone you see on TV a lot these days?)

Bull Connor Reincarnated
Swallowing hatred — guts, feathers and all

Sheriff Dan Chokerley at work
(Confirmed and authenticated photos)

At his pre-protest "limited press conference," Sheriff Bull actually denied making the threat he put in writing to the library director. (Remind you of anyone you see on TV a lot these days?)

The only other elected official who showed up at Saturday's debauched debacle was Nevada Assembly Minority Leader Jim Wheeler, R-Minden. He famously stated several years ago that he'd vote for slavery if his constituents wanted it.

Wheeler told a TV reporter that "we have eyes" on the troublemakers. A guy carrying a machine gun was less diplomatic: "We'll take them out."

Thank The Lord nobody flashed a deadly can of spray paint.

FROM THE FRONT LINE. The following comes from a young Sparks mother who risked entering the belly of the beast.

"The sheriff took an oath to protect and serve the residents of Douglas County. Every citizen should've been incensed and concerned by the sheriff's statement concerning individuals in support of Black Lives Matter. Instead of understanding that the protest was yet another demand for racial equality and fair treatment by law enforcement, the residents engaged in a counter-protest that clearly celebrated white supremacy and hate.

"The residents demonstrated intimidation tactics, guns in tow, shouting 'get out of our county.' They were having fun mocking the few protestors calmly seeking just police policies. The mockery was oddly reminiscent of the 'fun' that white people had while watching African Americans be lynched decades ago, or while bullying and harassing African Americans going to newly desegregated schools.

"There was not a safe space for protestors, and their voices were drowned out by the angry, shouting opposition. It was a disheartening and uncomfortable atmosphere; as an African American person, the presence of dozens of law enforcement officers gave me no solace. I certainly didn't feel like they would protect me. It seemed as if law enforcement revelled in the support of the community without remembering that the protest wasn't anti-police, but rather a request for acknowledgment, accountability and a willingness to do better. Douglas County provided a clear demonstration of what is wrong in America, and it was disgusting. Love, compassion and understanding will go much further than the intolerance of the counter-protestors."

UPDATE: If you can handle dirty looks and dirty words, here's the smoking gun. Unjoy.

IN MEMORIAM, PAUL VICTOR CIRAC, 1955-2020. The advent of the Apple Macintosh computer brought me two everlasting relationships: The Sparks Tribune and Paul Cirac.

On this date 32 years ago, the Barbwire first appeared in the newly daily Sparks Tribune. It was made possible and profitable by the little computer that could.

And that's how I met Paul. He and his partner, local teacher Jim Lemon, started a graphics business using the Mac's now legendary compositional capacity. I was doing a lot of retail advertising at the time and spent many a day looking over Paul's shoulder as he made my copy look good on a page.

We stayed in touch over the years. I called him for Nevada news tips when I was doing my talk radio show in Sacramento/San Francisco. I told him about all the "re-elect Jacques Chirac" signs I saw on Martinique on my honeymoon cruise. (He and the French president shared the name and pronunciation if not the spelling. He had family in the old country.)

Paul backed me up when I called out an overt racist at a Virginia City tourism committee meeting. Like me, he was good buds with legendary Tribune columnist and talk show host Travus. T. Hipp, another longtime Comstock resident.

Paul Cirac was one of the best people I ever knew, a peaceful presence and affable soul.

Requiescat in pace.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

FROM THE 7-22-2020 BARBWIRE: MEATLESS MEETINGS. More than 13 years after former Reno-Sparks NAACP Presidents Dolores Feemster and Lucille Adin and I won a unanimous vote by the Sparks City Council to establish a diversity commission, last Monday the current council finally decided to study it again. So I guess I'll have to keep running periodic reminders in this newspaper until 2033.

The late Mrs. Feemster's grand-daughter, Adrienne, led a march to the Washoe school district administration building last Saturday (July 18) demanding that the school board reverse its 4-3 decision from last May not to rename the former Hug High for "Mother Hug" and give it to the late Sen. Debbie Smith, D-Sparks.

UPDATE: The commission has been established. Who'da thunk it? We did it, Dolores. At last. (Please stay tuned.)

CHANGE THE DATE / SAVE THE DATE — Friday, October 23. For obvious reasons, I've moved César Chávez XVIII from March 31, the great labor leader's 93rd birthday. The event will be held at the Atlantis Resort, sponsored by Laborers' Union Local 169, the Reno-Sparks NAACP and the usual suspects. Doors open 5:30, dinner 6:30-ish. I don't know how I'll top my greatest hits of a cherried-out Aretha Franklin 1965 pink Cadillac convertible (with suitable live music) followed by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak with suitable politics, but I'm working on it. Ex-Tribunite Dennis Myers will become the first journalist inducted to the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame. In addition to the HOF, nominations remain open for union organizer, employer and project of the year. Reservations at CesarChavezNevada.com/

This is the second time I've moved it and will do so again if necessary. I'm even shopping for union-made Christmas pIñatas. Maybe I can get one that looks like Mitch McConnell.

¡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.)

__________________

CONSUMER CONUNDRUMS: PINK SLIPS, PURGES AND PRUNING. I need to hear from recently purged Eldorado Hotel-Casino, Circus Circus-Reno and Silver Legacy employees. Barbwire spies report perhaps 100 workers got the ax just in time for the 2018 holidays. In the Tribune, at Barbwire.US and in the London Guardian, I have lamented the deepening desperation of renters here in Tesla Valhalla. I'm now getting complaints about medical and dental practices purportedly pruning their patient loads, cutting loose the less-lucrative. That's de facto malpractice but medical professionals are lawsuit-proof under Nevada law — unless you're rich enough to personally pay a few hundred grand in legal fees. That's why TV lawyers only advertise for arrest or accident cases these days. If you've been cast adrift by patient pruning, call me at (775) 882-TALK or e-mail me.

Barbwire 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. Thank you kindly for your support.

Smoking Guns—>

HOT AUGUST STRIFE 2020 Demonstrations and Good Trouble

Mississippi West: honkytaunts and alabaster bastions
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-5-2020 Sparks Tribune

Dear Guv: Put your foot where your mouth is
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-29-2020 Sparks Tribune

Sparks City Hall strikes a blow for white guys
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-22-2020 Sparks Tribune

Fair warning to the rich, famous & powerful
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-15-2020 Sparks Tribune

There just ain't no cure for stupid
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-8-2020 Sparks Tribune

Ship of Fools: Washoe County as derelict ocean liner
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-1-2020 Sparks Tribune

Weird love of dos Tejanas for El Jefé Trump
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 6-24-2020 Sparks Tribune /

Government shuts down when it should step up
Wherein I become a 36-year overnight success
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 6-17-2020 Sparks Tribune

Top 10 cures still go begging
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 6-10-2020 Sparks Tribune

Don't let fear and anger convert us to Germany 1933
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 6-3-2020 Sparks Tribune / Expansions in blue
BREAKING NEWS—> City of Reno reimposes martial law

Presidents Trump & Harding channel Mark Twain
WE WON! City of Reno votes down Ballardini Ranch annexation
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 5-27-2020 Sparks Tribune

Ballardini Ranch: Love's Labours Lost. Again.
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 5-20-2020 Sparks Tribune / Updated 5-21 and 5-27-2020 GMT

Letter from gods of alpha males & alpha mails
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 5-13-2020 Sparks Tribune

Re-name former Hug High for Dolores Feemster
By William C. Webb, John A. White, Jr. and Andrew Barbáno / RGJ.com 5-7-2020 / Reno Gazette-Journal op-ed 5-10-2020

Make Dolores Feemster's light shine brightly
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 5-6-2020 Sparks Tribune / Updated 5-7 & 5-9-2020 / Expansions in blue

MAGAcidal maniax are loosed upon the land
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 4-29-2020 Sparks Tribune

Trump wants your cat and your shorts
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 4-22-2020 Sparks Tribune

A gold record message from the King
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 4-15-2020 Sparks Tribune

Are you ready to die for your country?
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 4-8-2020 Sparks Tribune

Payback: Corona, Cocaine & Trump
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 4-1-2020 Sparks Tribune
Photos, video and commentary from Barbwire correspondents in the belly of the beast: New York City and northern Italy
And remembering when Andy met Betty on April Fools Day 44 years ago

Kinks and hijinx in the time of plague
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-25-2020 Sparks Tribune

The lighter side of the latest plague
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-18-2020 Sparks Tribune

Medflies, flyweights and President Pelosi
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-11-2020 Sparks Tribune

Trump's Blackrobes: Humpty Dumpty Homotextuals
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-4-2020 Sparks Tribune

Bernie or bust, Dolores a must
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-26-2020 Sparks Tribune

Czars Donaldov & Nixon win Democratic Caucus
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-19-2020 Sparks Tribune

Springtime for fat cats & unburied hatchets
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-12-2020 Sparks Tribune

Love saves a life on Reno's mean streets
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-5-2020 Sparks Tribune

Bill Harrah's cookie cutter crumbles
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-29-2020 Sparks Tribune

Going to confession with Father Barbwire
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-22-2020 Sparks Tribune

National welfare, corporate welfare and MLK
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-15-2020 Sparks Tribune

The New Jim Crow — Nothing New
By Michelle Alexander / New York Times January 17 & 19, 2020
Printable Text Version

The only way to stop killing is to stop killing
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-8-2020 Sparks Tribune

Barbano sells out to white Republicans
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-1-2020 Sparks Tribune

The Sermon on Mount Barbwire
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-25-2019 Sparks Tribune
Typhoid Mary infects Sparks Addams Family
In the spirit of true democracy which provides that your rights don't allow you to sneeze on mine
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-18-2019 Sparks Tribune
A fake news fable for our times
In the spirit of true democracy which provides that your rights don't allow you to sneeze on mine
Barbwire Confidential by Andrew Barbáno / 12-11-2019 Online Edition
Red-flag warnings — Ignoring history at our peril
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-11-2019 Sparks Tribune
Major rent raunch and a big book launch
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-4-2019 Sparks Tribune

Billionaire Tom Steyer owes me $5
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-27-2019 Sparks Tribune

Back to the future down Amnesia Lane
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-20-2019 Sparks Tribune

People get ready, that train's a comin'
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Barbwire Confidential Internet Edition 11-12-2019 / Updated 11-14 & 11-15-2019
A version of this column appeared in the 11-13-2019 Sparks Tribune
An excerpt of the following was included in Andrew Barbano's address to the school board on Nov. 12.
SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME: Clever maneuvering prevents vote after 4 of 7 trustees announced support for Feemster.

DO NOT risk your kids at Golden Eagle Park
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-6-2019 Sparks Tribune

Tale of 2 city halls: Cancer kids & brain damage
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-30-2019 Sparks Tribune

Written in the stars: UNR football for racial justice
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-23-2019 Sparks Tribune

Goodbye, Columbus: A mirror for America
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-16-2019 Sparks Tribune

Déjà vu all over again: Bernie turns 2020 into 1968
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-9-2019 Sparks Tribune

City of Reno turns W. Plumb Lane into horny street
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 10-2-2019 Sparks Tribune

Hip-hopping mad over molesters and Mad Kings
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-25-2019 Sparks Tribune

Trade the Confederacy straight across for Greenland
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-18-2019 Sparks Tribune

Cut in twain
(Myers' favorite photo)

Dennis Myers: Enroute to the universe next door
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-11-2019 Sparks Tribune
Obituary, 1948-2019
[En Español — La Voz Hispana En Nevada 9-18-2019]

Philippines to Burning Man to Ireland: Adios GOAT
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-4-2019 Sparks Tribune

Nevadian Dennis Myers: The Greatest Of All Time
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 8-28-2019 Sparks Tribune

Veteran Nevada reporter Myers removed from life support
Obituary: Dennis C. Myers 1948-2019
[En Español — La Voz Hispana En Nevada 9-18-2019]
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Internet Edition 8-25-2019

Reno City Council passes rent control
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-17-2019 Sparks Tribune

DAY OF THE DEAD
Relieve Rent & Pillage: Save SB398 & AB399
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Online Legislative Edition / 4-12-2019 / Updated 4-13 and 4-14-2019 GMT
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
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-10-2019 Sparks Tribune / Updated 4-11 and 4-12-2019 GMT
Fairness for tenants dies 4-12 unless lawmakers throw it a lifeline

Sore-oppressed Soul-Sister Cities: Menlo Park and Reno-Sparks-Fernley share similarly sad high-tech stretch marks.
"All humanity has left the area": paying for Tesla's Gigafactory with outrageous rents and scrambling schools
Barbano and Nevada conservatives decry corporate welfare depredations
By Rory Carroll / The Guardian 7-3-2018
Editor's Note: The Guardian publishes 180,000 newspapers daily in London and environs and generates ONE BILLION monthly web page views. (I should live so long.)
[MUCH MORE TESLACIDE]

"Facebook is taking everything": rising rents drive out Silicon Valley families
Property companies advertising their proximity to Facebook’s campus are giving low-income residents a choice: pay a huge rent increase or move out
By Sam Levin / The Guardian 6-20-2018

Rentvolution.org

We Don't Need No Education

A cuckoo coup and a president, too
Barbwire exclusive: Secret 2017 meeting set the setup in motion
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Uploaded 7-23-2019 / Expanded from the 7-24-2019 Sparks Tribune

Alfred E. Neuman for Washoe school superintendent
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-10-2019 Sparks Tribune

Witness at the execution
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-3-2019 Sparks Tribune

Gang banging on 9th Street
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Barbwire Confidential Extra Edition / Monday 7-1-2019 / Updated 7-3-2019

NevadaLabor.com We Don’t Need No Education Archive

BLACK LIKE ME 2119: The problem as solution
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-13-2019 Sparks Tribune / Updated 2-14 and 2-16-2019
Breaking News —> Culinary Union defeats decert at Circus Circus Reno
Dear Readers: The above column served as the conclusion of remarks I submitted before the "Tahoe Talks: Racism in America" symposium at the Incline Village, Nev., Library on February 12, 2019. So you might want to read "FADE TO BLACK" before you read "Black Like Me 2119".

$75 dead or alive: Still crazy after all these years
A mass murderer becomes famous on TV a century later
How come nobody noticed 'til now?
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-21-2018 Sparks Tribune

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory owners Max Blank and Isaac Harris. Is not Mr. Harris eerily familiar to television junkies?

From the Emmy-winning opening slate of the blockbuster "Cheers" television series. Combined with its "Frasier" spinoff, it lasted 20 years.

The "shirtwaist kings" immigrated from Russia and made a fortune manufacturing "Gibson Girl"-style blouses. (Photo, "The American Experience"/PBS)

The Emmy-winning opening slate of the "Cheers" television series before the "slate" of creators is superimposed. Looks like Mr. Harris' dead ringer (at left) is having a bloody good time.

"Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" — Chico Marx disguised as Groucho Marx in "Duck Soup" (1933)
Back to the story of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist holocaust

Triangle tragedy recalled as requiem
"The Fire in My Mouth," a new oratorio by Pulitzer honoree Julia Wolfe, premiered with the New York Philharmonic Jan. 24
By Michael Cooper / The New York Times 1-23-2019

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