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Rap on, brother, rap on
                                        — The Temptations 1970

Greatest Hits Dept. 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 Barbwire nominee Dennis Myers elected to NPA Hall of Fame Support Don Dondero and Jake Highton and David Toll and Foster Church and Norman Cardoza and Guy Louis Rocha next. Send endorsements Eee-yo-leven! Barbwire wins 11th 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." — NPA contest judge/9-29-2018 The Grasshopper and the Dragonfly 9-6-2017 Kicked off the Ledge 4-18-2017 NATIONAL NEWS FIRST-BREAK Back to the Future in Mississippi West Nevada 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 More statewide and national award winners We Don't Need No Education—> Neverending Barbwire Series 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries Barbwire.TV: 15-year overnight success Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008 The Barbwire's Greatest Hits BEATING LUSH RAMBO AT HIS OWN GAME: Highlights from radio days mp3 file 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!

Donald Trump's campaign is going hip-hop.

The legendary Barbwire investigative team, as always, has spared every expense bringing you this exclusive.

Trump advisors view the Orange Crusher's increasing poll numbers among black and Latino voters as the potential stake (or McDonald's burger) thru the heart of President Biden's campaign.

For months, Czar Donaldov's brain trust has mulled strategies to make an overt racist and bigot palatable to minority voters, according to Barbwire interviews with key insiders.

They took clues from 2020. The New York Times interviewed a young Latino man in west Texas where Trump showed surprising strength.

The man said he voted for Trump because he looked strong "and my friends and me, we couldn't wait to see what crazy shit he was going to say next."

That echoed NBC reporter Katy Tur's 2022 comment to Steven Colbert as to why Trump won: "He entertained them and he looked strong."

As I've written many times, Americans insist on daddy in three key positions: governor, not senator; network news anchor (check Norah O'Donnell's ratings) and president. We still desire grandfatherly CBS News legend Walter Cronkite tucking us in every night making us feel everything will be better in the morning.

Hillary Clinton learned that lesson the hard way, as did now-Congressperson Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, when she ran for Nevada governor in 2006. Nikki Haley and Kamala Harris, take note.

So what will be Trump's magic bullet with minorities that will wash away all sins, including putting Latino refugees in concentration camps?

He will start doing hip hop music and videos under the name of T-Rump. Here is an exclusive transcript of the first recording session:

UNIDENTIFIED PRODUCER: OK, Mr. President. Let's try a run-thru.

TRUMP: This is really good stuff. It will get the spics and ni..., oh, I forgot, I shouldn't say that anymore. OK, I'm ready now.

PRO: Cue the beats and...action —

TRUMP:

          I'm a lawnmower baby,
gonna mow 'em all down
          Only I can fix it
for the black and the brown.

          Charizzma galore, money and more
Vote big cha-rizz,
          Plop plop, fizz fizz
The cure for what ails you
          Plop plop, fizz fizz

          Cover your rump
Vote Big T-Rump
          Got the rizz and the class
Up to the task
          Vote Big T-Rump
Or your ass is grass.

PRO: OK, cut.

TRUMP: I think that was great. Who knew I was such a natural performer? Now let's try another take, but get a camera on me so I can watch myself.

PRO: Will do. As soon as we lay down the audio, we'll bring in the dancers.

TRUMP: Do all of them have to be black? Make sure they've all got big hooters. I want to review them before recording.

IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE, RIGHT? It already has and you know it.

FOX News impresario Rupert Murdoch proved correct when he blurted decades ago that "Americans are retarded."

Comedian Bill Maher once wryly noted that "Americans don't do nuance."

If you can't fit it on bumper stickers (aka memes) it won't work.

As H.L. Mencken is oft paraphrased, nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

Yes, Mr. Barnum, there is a Santa Claus.

Impartial — as if anyone can be impartial about mass death — expert analyses have found that Trump's presidential inaction and denialism caused between 200,000 and half a million needless COVID deaths.

No more serious than a cold? Drink bleach? This is the guy who bragged of himself as a world class epidemiologist — in front of real experts who just bit their learned PhD lips.

And the charlatan who let COVID run wild is now the frontrunner less than a year out of the 2024 general election.

As his supporters tell pollsters, "he got things done." Indeed.

President Biden last week told reporters they are reading "the wrong polls."

That was not flip. I remember what Sen. Harry Reid's northern boss Mary Conelly of Sparks told depressed Democrats in 2010. All publicly released polls showed Reid losing to madcap church lady Sharron Angle.

Mary's comments were almost verbatim Biden. Reid's internal polls showed him trending well.

Turned out Reid had the money to pay for "deep polling," where interviewers could spend an hour or more speaking with likely voters. Deep polls cost a million a pop in 2010 dollars.

They showed Reid moving toward a relatively easy victory. He won by about 40,000 votes.

The media were reading the wrong polls.

Trump's opening with minorities is no fluke. All the benefits of Biden programs have not reached many minority communities.

Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has been deftly taking credit for all the new federal money showering his state.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson told the Times that Biden's accomplishments have yet to resonate among southeast Georgians.

Breaking News —> Masks work!

PLAGUE ALERT. In addition to orange political poxes, COVID, RSV and influenza are running wild and killing Americans, especially the un-vaxxed and maskless.

Alas and alack, many will die due to attending holiday dinners with family and friends.

Americans just don't do nuance.

ROCK JOCK JOKE: Why are pop diva Taylor Swift and NFL player Travis Kelce a perfect match? Both are world class tight ends.

ON DECEMBER 27, 2005 Betty Joyce Luffman Donlevy Barbano died in Reno at 64. Remember her laughter.

Hope you and yours enjoy Happy High Holly Days
Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo / Felice Anno Nuovo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2024

Vaxx up, stay safe, pray for Ukraine and almost 100 other currently war-torn lands.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.) Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 54-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, DoctorLawyerWatch.com, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, ChantalCoalition.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and Sparks-based Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since August 12, 1988. Opening lyrics are from "Ball of Confusion —> That's what the world is today" by Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, 1970.

Betty J. Barbano 2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005 Remember her laughter Larry Barbano, Frater Mei 1947-2023

It was the summer of 1947 and starving young Hollywood screenwriter Hymie Schwartz was pitching a film idea to rapacious MGM movie mogul Louis B. Mayer.

This report is based on recently unearthed notes discovered by the vaunted Barbwire investigative team. As always, we have spared every expense to bring you the news you never knew you needed to know till now.

"Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Mogul, er...Mayer."

"Skip the niceties, kid. Show me how your movie is going to make me big money."

"Well, sir, uh, you see, I know that motion pictures are big financial risks so studios want to reduce the downside. My idea is timely and includes elements of already successful films: Classic horror like 'Dracula,' the desire to live forever like 'The Mummy,' and 'Lost Horizon,' and a glimpse of the future like 'It's a Wonderful Life.' "

"Hold it right there kid," Mayer interjected. "Frank Capra and the studio lost their asses on 'Wonderful Life' and he went way over budget on 'Lost Horizon.' Came close to losing a million or more."

Schwartz's foot began tapping uncontrollably.

"Yes, Mr. Mayer, I know. But this film adds timeliness like none other."

"OK, pitch me in one sentence."

"Hitler comes back from the dead in the 21st Century and does it all over again."

Mayer was speechless.

"Gotta hand it to you kid, you got balls to pitch a movie about Hitler to an old Jewish guy."

Schwartz got enthusiastic.

"This American fuehrer creates national fear of anyone not of 'pure blood' heritage. Instead of starting concentration camps, he labels his as 'detention centers.' He viciously and violently suppresses any criticism. The resurgent Confederacy supports him because he looks strong. Underestimated like Hitler, he becomes president for life.

"It's a cautionary tale, Mr. Mayer. I got the idea from Madame Rue, the psychic at 34th and Vine. She said that suicides always come back quickly. The universe gives them another chance to get it right. Hitler killed himself in 1945, so he may have returned as soon as last year.

"Reincarnation is a staple of many religions. Sherlock Holmes' creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a spiritualist. There's a lot we can't explain. Look at all the stories about that UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico this month."

Mayer's face betrayed a thin smile. "Alright, kid. How does a lowlife like Hitler make a comeback?"

"Well, America loves money and forceful businessmen. No offense. Hitler endlessly pursued bragging rights, had to have the biggest tanks, battleships, buildings — you name it. The blonde guy in my film will even lie about building the tallest skyscraper in New York City and get away with it.

"Hitler returns as a totally ruthless, laws-be-damned, rich businessman. Again, no offense."

"Don't worry kid. I've been called worse."

Schwartz was gaining confidence and speaking more enthusiastically, according to notes taken by Mayer's secretary.

"Mr. Mayer, America is booming with enthusiasm now that World War Two is over. Some feel another depression will follow the war, as depressions often do. The country is placing a premium on predicting the future. This film, 'Hitler Returns,' will capitalize on that."

"I don't know kid, most would just like to forget the son of a bitch."

"With the scare of totalitarian communism burgeoning worldwide, they can't, sir. People get reminded and warned about dictatorship every day. This idea can be a drama, a comedy, a satire or all of the above. Maybe several films. Remember, no less than American hero Gen. George Patton believed himself a reincarnated Roman soldier."

"I'll think it over kid but I just don't think the world wants that kind of stuff right now. Let it cool a few years till people start to forget."

"That's exactly what worries me, sir. Thanks for your time."

REALITY BREAK: Donald Trump was born in 1946, 13.5 months after Adolf Hitler's suicide. Trump has recently been criticized for increasingly blurting Hitler Nazi phrases during his campaign speeches.

EPILOGUE: Hymie Schwartz never made it big. He consulted on director Ed Wood's 1959 sci-fi debacle "Plan 9 from Outer Space," which critics have called the worst movie of all time. In 1965, Hymie worked on "My Mother, the Car," about a schlub whose domineering mother is reincarnated as a 1927 Tin Lizzie. It often tops lists of goofiest-ever television concepts.

Metro Goldwyn Mayer (aka "Money Grabbing Moguls) missed a huge opportunity. In 1951, 20th Century Fox's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" shook the nation. And made big money. Paramount's 1956 reincarnation classic "The Search for Bridey Murphy" came from a blockbuster book.

Mel Brooks' 1967 "The Producers," about "Springtime for Hitler and Germany," was a comedy sensation. It was reissued in 1973 and its 2005 remake also hit big, as did a Broadway musical version.

In 1974, Hymie Schwartz's nephew Hermie worked at the studio which owned the rights to "It's a Wonderful Life." He forgot to renew its copyright. Television executives took advantage of the freebie and it became a revered Christmas classic, successful at long last.

PAVING PARADISE, ROUND OR RECTANGULAR. Yeah, I know, I know — It's not a roundhouse but a gigantic, historic railroad maintenance building that Sparks needs to save before Union Pacific bulldozes it for semi truck parking. (Last week, I only caught part of a TV story at deadline. Mea culpa.)

Union Pacific executive suites must be suffused with closet Joni Mitchell fans: "To pave paradise, put up a parking lot."

But hey, Gomorrah South implodes its history on a regular basis.

Perhaps this is an opportunity to show that the Rail City is becoming competitive at forgetting the past.

Kinda like Trump supporters.

Maybe U.P. will hire Joni Mitchell to sing at the execution.

Hope you and yours enjoy Happy High Holly Days
Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo / Felice Anno Nuovo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2024

Vaxx up, stay safe, pray for Ukraine and almost 100 other currently war-torn lands.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.) Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 54-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, DoctorLawyerWatch.com, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, ChantalCoalition.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and Sparks-based Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since August 12, 1988.

Breaking News —> Masks work!

 

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me / I lift my lamp beside the golden door — Emma Lazarus

Given the current state of current affairs, isn't it sobering to note the poet's last name? We can use a bit of resurrection. Of my America. And yours.

I am the son and grandson of immigrants. My family's name and those of my ancestors are all over the Ellis Island American Immigrant Wall of Honor, standing with Lady Liberty for more than a century. A cousin of mine visited there awhile back. She was moved to tears seeing our ancestors' names listed in perpetuity.

As Norwegians gravitated to the frozen wildes of Minnesota, Italians headed for temperate farmland, including northern Nevada.

My family followed the pattern of countless others. Work wherever you could find it, any honest labor. Move up to public service: cops, firefighters, trash collectors, postal workers, bus drivers, construction laborers. Save your money. Start small businesses. Above all, send your children to school.

My grandparents, my mother, my father and all my relatives worked in the blistering heat of Fresno, California, to provide for their families. My grandfather died long before I was born, driving a big truck home from the fields. My father was a passenger on that ill-fated flatbed, along with many of his siblings, children and teens.

Alas and alack, the richest, most powerful nation in history remains so disappointingly tribal despite having one of the most educated populations on earth.

The myth is that America is a product of fortunate geography: "Surrounded on three sides by fish," carped legendary German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

All we had to do to "settle" this rich wilderness was steal it from "Indians" who had been here just 20 or so millennia before Leif Erikson and Columbus "discoveries."

Our natural resources are indeed tremendous. But luck is only one dimension. At the time of the American Revolution, we had a surprisingly educated populace. That's the underlying reason why this fragile representative democracy worked.

"Democracy without education becomes tyranny without mitigation" an old professor of mine (Dr. Jose C. Canales) regularly quoted.

America's investment in public education, combined with our accident of location, constitute the major reasons for our success as a nation — still the shining city on the hill.

"Capitalism without regulation is tyranny," as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., often puts it.

Last week, sad new statistics showed that the top one percent, the richest of wealthy Americans, own more than the entire middle class.

Four decades ago, an obscure Democratic Nevada congressional candidate ran to help the shrinking middle class. By 1983, it had already dwindled by nine percent.

A fair and equal society was always a goal, the American Dream. We never got there, but it's now further away than perhaps it's ever been.

Over the years, I've occasionally published a list of the top 10 things necessary to fix the republic. Every time I revisit the chart, nothing much has changed. (Barbwire 12-8-2021)

The 2020 election wasn't rigged, but the economic system is damn sure stacked against us little people — all the way down to the prices of prescriptions, gasoline and groceries. (Barbwire 11-29-2023)

Even a frog jumps out of a pot of water when the heat's on. Americans spring toward saviors, charlatans and poltroons.

All those thousands of unkempt travelers on our southern border are not our problem, they are our solution. Screen them. House them. Feed them. Educate their children.

They will make us prosperous and proud.

Sealing the Golden Door shut resulted in depredations like shiploads of Jews being sent back to Germany and Hitler's ovens.

We are all cousins, descendants of the fabled Lucy and her ancient African ancestors. The differences between us are slight, almost cosmetic.

As the late Stanford University Prof. Luigi Cavalli-Sforza often said, genetically you can make a case for four, five or 15,000 "races." The term is meaningless, just a bumper sticker way of pigeonholing "the other."

Wise man George Carlin repeatedly admonished, "take care of each other."

We fail to do so at our peril.

PAYBACK'S A BITCH. Trumpista Congressperson Elise Stefanik, R-NY, made worldwide press last week trashing three university presidents (Harvard, Penn, MIT) with a "when did you stop beating your wife?" kind of question. Marjorie Taylor had to been green with envy.

"Ms. Stefanik is both a graduate and critic of Harvard," The New York Times reported Monday.

"Several years ago, after student complaints, Harvard removed Ms. Stefanik from the board of its Institute for Politics over her repeated false statements about the 2020 election results. She charged her alma mater with 'caving in to the woke left.' And last week, she exacted a measure of revenge," the Times concluded.

She has aced her audition for a second Trump term cabinet appointment.

THIS EXPLAINS IT. I've been tipped about local disappointment that Macy's is no longer a purveyor of mid-priced stylish merchandise but has regressed toward blah Chinese imports. I think I know why.

A school of Wall Street sharks is willing to pay more than $1 billion above the chain's market value to take the venerable brand private. Rape and pillage, one more time. Buy the horse, run it into the ground, sell the barn, then cut up the carcass for parts. (Kinda like what happened to the Reno Gazette-Journal and Harrah's Auto Collection, among many others.) The nation's largest department store chain has buzzards circling.

SAVE THE HISTORIC SPARKS RAILROAD ROUNDHOUSE from Union Pacific's vultures, dammit. Reno incurred still-owed decades of expensive debt paying for UP's $60 million money pit, the downtown railroad trench. Isn't that enough? (Actually, it's a big long warehouse/repair shop. Roundhouses were used to turn trains around.)

Union Pacific executive suites must be suffused with closet Joni Mitchell fans: "To pave paradise, put up a parking lot."

Hope you and yours enjoy Happy High Holly Days
Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo / Felice Anno Nuovo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2024
Vaxx up, stay safe, pray for Ukraine and almost 100 other currently war-torn lands.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.) Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 54-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, DoctorLawyerWatch.com, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, ChantalCoalition.org, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and Sparks-based Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since August 12, 1988.

Breaking News —> Masks work!