BARBWIRE
by
ANDREW BARBANO
Pirate Laureate of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream
The Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator Hall of Flames

Barbwire
Archives

Site map
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

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

Andrew Barbano Editor/Publisher
Photo: Debra Reid, Sparks Tribune

 


   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 the scene is dead
   But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
   What everybody knows...
   Everybody talking to their pockets.
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
   and a long red rose.
   Everybody knows. Everybody knows.
That's how it goes. Everybody knows.

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


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


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

Larry Barbano, Frater Mei
12-18-1947 / 10-18-2023

Give peace a chance
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-25-2024 / Updated 12-26 & 12-27-2024 GMT / Expansions in blue

They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth [4]


Greatest Hits Dept.

NPA Hall of Fame

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

BREAKING NEWS—>
New Barbwire Winners!

Jake Highton & Guy Louis Rocha 2024 honorees BUENO!
4 down, 4 to go

Support Don Dondero
and David Toll and
Foster Church and
Norman Cardoza 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!

 
War is the most counter-productive pursuit of what poet ee cummings termed "this monster mannunkind."

I've reminded people of that since the 1960s, especially after I read top gun economist Pierre Rinfret's backing it up with unimpeachable research linked with common sense.

Alas and alack, depending on how you slice it, about 160 of the world's almost 200 countries are in some state of war, including ours.

War spending by governments is the very definition of inflationary. I often use the tractor vs. tank analogy. A tank contributes a (pardon the pun) one-shot deal for the economy, the expenditures for labor and materials.

A tractor goes out and produces food for the next 50 or 75 years. Which is the better investment?

Rinfret called war spending the equivalent of "throwing dollars into the ocean. Peace is bullish!" he often insisted.

Alas and alack, besotted with fear, greed and prejudice, we spend on destroying ourselves.

I have oft asserted that women coming to power may be our only hope of change. Males have proven genetically incapable of mutual respect.

Tarring any group with one brush is the essence of unfairness and prejudice, but the facts speak for themselves. Sometimes when women acquire power, they are as bad as the boys.

Witness Margaret Thatcher, Imelda Marcos and the recently deposed Sheike Hasina of Bangladesh.

Alas and alack, the most self-absorbedly and hypocritically egalitiarian country on earth — us — appears incapable of electing a leader sans penis.

So if women are not the answer, what will  pull us away from the brink of oblivion? Alas and alack, perhaps a fiery taste.

Decades ago, former Colorado "Governor Gloom" Richard Lamm and an associate were asked to contribute an article to a compendium of solutions to the arms race.

Mr. Lamm did not disappoint.

He came up with a fictional scenario which started something like this: "Nobody knew who launched the first missile and in the end it didn't matter. Whether intentional or accidental, the nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India changed the world."

When the devastation became such horrible shock therapy for the world to witness on television, governments worldwide began to disarm. (All the grainy black-and-white film of Hiroshima and Nagasaki just weren't up to the task.)

Back in reality, the world today plunges oafishly and headlong toward cleansing this planet of its plague — us.

Legendary Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola shared a dream of a better world earlier this month the the Stephen Colbert late night show.

He believes humanity is capable of rising to any occasion, both curing what ails us and taking advantage and improving this perfect litter planet with which we have been blessed. (My summary)

Amen, paisano mei, amen.

A LITTLE HOPE FOR 2025. State Senator Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, holds the seat her father occupied for 32 years. And she's doing the old man proud.

She just announced that she will introduce a bill in the 2025 legislative session reining in Wall Street's wholesale speculation with single family homes.

The money changers are so dripping with wealth that they have had to invent new ways to profit.

Vacuuming up housing is their latest scam. They contribute nothing to help the economy, all they do is rip people off and make more obscene amounts of money.

KOLO TV-8 in Reno at least carried the announcement and it trickled back to Gomorrah South on the local FOX affiliate

The "bill that would cap the number of single-family homes that can be purchased in one calendar year at 100.

"Neal says that Bill Draft Request 84 aims to prevent corporations from buying up the supply of single-family homes across Nevada, which she says leads to skyrocketing costs. Neal also says that 15 percent of homes in the Silver State are owned by corporations, and cited data showing 40 percent of rental homes nationwide are expected to be owned by corporations by the year 2030.

“ 'The American Dream and building generational wealth has long been based upon the ability to own a home,' said Senator Dina Neal. She continued, 'This legislation will help to even the playing field so that whether you are a first time home buyer, looking to grow your family, or planning for retirement, you’re not competing with billion-dollar corporations to own a home.'

“ 'The housing crisis is one of the most significant barriers Nevadans face in achieving economic security and stability for their families,' said Maurice Page, Executive Director of the Nevada Housing Coalition.

" 'When corporate entities dominate the housing market, it not only inflates home prices, making it harder for families to purchase a home, but it also exacerbates rising rents, pushing affordability further out of reach. Senator Neal’s bold leadership on this issue demonstrates a commitment to putting Nevada families first, and the Coalition fully supports this critical step toward leveling the playing field,” Page stated.

Brava, senatora! I will marshal the troops as best I can.  

Spread the word.

UPDATE: Comments from Sen. Neal

Subject: Re: Electronic copy Of A_SB395
Date: 2024-12-24 12:19
From: D Neal
To: "Barbano, Andrew" <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

The bill for the 2025 session is not ready yet and it wasn't prefiled, but I tried this bill last session and it was vetoed.

The updated bill for 2025 will be SB84, the difference is the number will drop to 100 instead of a 1000 aggregate from last session that the Governor vetoed.

The registration part of the bill is important because we (need) to identify similar corporations or if they are changing names.

Facebook and Linked-In followup posts:

Tune in and turn on to the Christmas Day Barbwire "Give Peace a Chance" for an instant solution to the world's biggest problem plus one of Nevada's. The former is war, the latter is Wall Street vacuuming up homes for purposes of exploitation. And doing one hellishly efficient job.

Sen. Dina Neal of North Las Vegas just announced that she will again try to mitigate the billionaire rape and pillage of your local village. Her successful 2023 legislation was vetoed by freshman Nevada Gov. Giuseppe Lumbago, R-18th Century.

You know him, the guy who thinks little school kids shouldn't get enough to eat, so he vetoed that, too. Now he can threaten school kids with deportation.

Remember, Giuseppe, broad sweeps also gobble up brown people like you and me. Italians get very tan, especially in fruit picking season, and when the storm troops are out, even a Nevada Real I.D. driver's license may not help. Especially if the storm troopers can't read thru their bulletproof helmet shields.

All we can do is get vaxx-jabbed and...
Be well. Raise hell. / Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.

Andrew Quarantino Barbano / NevadaLabor.com

BONUS: Good Christian Christmas advice from my mother, Mary.

Get the latest boosters, mask up, stay safe and continue to pray for Ukraine and the currently 160 worldwide war-torn lands, including ours.

¡Sí se puede!

Happy High Holly Days to you and yours.

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.)

___________________
* Whether or not use of "veil" is an error or what the writers intended, this homonym works on several poetic levels. "Vale" just means "valley," thus "vale of tears," whereas "veil" connotes a cascade of sorrows obscuring all else. And an allusion to violent loss of innocence — virginity. Lyricist Peter Sinfeld stated the words are indeed about loss of innocence and childhood belief. Greg Lake termed the song a protest of the commercialization of Christmas. Hard to argue with either. Nonetheless, that Christmas song is the best that ever was.

** DISCOGRAPHY. "I Believe in Father Christmas" lyrics by Peter Sinfeld, music and vocals by Greg Lake (with turbocharging courtesy of Sergei Prokofiev); topped out at number two behind Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in 1974.

_________________________

Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 56-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. His first byline in the paper came in 1973.

The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO inducted him into the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024.

 

 

Breaking News —> Masks work!

And the plague is rampant once again. Be very afraid.

Trump Victory Would Be a Public Health Disaster
By Whistleblower Rick Bright/New York Times/10-10-2024

 

The parable of the pasta water
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-4-2024 / Updated 12-6-2024 GMT / Expansions in blue /

They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth [2]

"Every heart desires," my mother Mary admonished after relating the sobering old country story of the spaghetti water.

I was a little kid helping out mom in our big kitchen, getting ready for a big Sunday dinner.

I don't remember what led into it, but she started telling me the pasta water legend which I remember to this very day.

In old Sicilia, a big wedding celebration was being held at the biggest house in town.

Mothers and grandmothers were busy preparing a sumptuous feast when a barefoot, skinny little girl in a ragged dress came shuffling by.

The aromas wafting from the kitchen enchanted her.

Timidly, she approached a window to watch the busy proceedings and finally summoned the courage to speak to the nearest woman.

"Signora, your cooking smells so good," she spoke barely above a whisper.

"When you finish boiling the pasta, before you throw out the water, may I please have a little cup of it to taste? It would mean so much to me."

The doñas had stopped work and gathered at the window by the time the mistress of the house pushed through.

"Get out of here you dirty-faced little tramp," the large imposing dueña thundered. "We are all very busy."

The thin ragged child shivered, slowly shuffled home and fell into a deep sadness.

"She soon died of a broken heart," my mother said. "Andy, never forget that every heart — every heart — desires.

"Even if you have very little, there is always someone else with less."

I remembered that story after watching a passel of Christmas commercials on TV.

The ads featured the usual, mostly palefaced blonde-haired happy children and their families doing Christmassy stuff.

The music and all the food and decorations were designed to make even the most jaded a bit ooey-gooey.

Alas, my liberal bleeding heart promptly flashed on the so many millions who have so much less than me.

Even here in the biggest, fattest, richest country the world has even known, embarrassingly huge numbers of American children can't get enough to eat.

Many Nevada school kids can't afford lunch even though the state has plenty of money.

Television pulses with the plasma of privation from every precinct of our little planet.

Is it any wonder, then, that heirs to the legacy of the raggedy little girl smolder and seeth, motivated to do something — anything — even if it proves wrong.

Deprivation begets desperation.

When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose.

You and I get mushy when subjected to media manipulation of our emotions featuring fat little cherubs decorating trees.

But to somebody constantly cold and hungry, those same images evoke despair which may one day morph into deepening depression or erupt in violent rage.

They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
They told me a fairy story
'Till I believed in the Israelite
I believed in Father Christmas
I looked to the sky with excited eyes
'Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

"So this is Christmas. What have you done?" sang John Lennon.

"Take care of each other!" admonished very Christian wiseman George Carlin.

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas we get we deserve

More than one million have been hospitalized by Covid in the United States so far this year.

Get the latest boosters, mask up, stay safe and continue to pray for Ukraine and the currently 160 worldwide war-torn lands, including ours.

¡Sí se puede!

Hope you and yours enjoyed a Happy Thanksgibleting. Happy High Holly Days.

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.)

[1] Whether or not use of "veil" is an error or what the writers intended, this homonym works on several poetic levels. "Vale" just means "valley," thus "vale of tears," whereas "veil" connotes a cascade of sorrows obscuring all else. And an allusion to violent loss of innocence — virginity.

[2] DISCOGRAPHY. "I Believe in Father Christmas" lyrics by Peter Sinfeld, music and vocals by Greg Lake (with turbocharging courtesy of Sergei Prokofiev); topped out at number two behind Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in 1974.

As always, your best opportunities to hear the greatest-ever Christmas song lie with Pam Ferris and Max Volume on KOZZ 105.7 fm, especially Max's traditional Christmas Eve extravaganza leading up to midnight.
_________________________

Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 56-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. His first byline in the paper came in 1973.

The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO inducted him into the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024.

 

Breaking News —> Masks work!

And the plague is rampant once again. Be very afraid.

Trump Victory Would Be a Public Health Disaster
By Whistleblower Rick Bright/New York Times/10-10-2024

The Mickey Mouse conspiracy
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-18-2024

Don't mess with Mary Poppins
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-11-2024

The parable of the pasta water
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-4-2024

Chef Charlie Abowd: Renaissance Mensch
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-27-2024

Top 10 Cures at 14: Exorcist wanted
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-20-2024 / Updated 11-20 & 11-21-2024 GMT / Expansions in blue /

"We have met the enemy and he is us." — from Walt Kelly's legendary "Pogo" comic strip

President Hoover, meet Smoot and Hawley
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-13-2024 / Updated 11-14 & 11-15-2024 GMT / Expansions in blue

The Saga of Sarah the Tranny Granny
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-6-2024 / Updated 11-6-2024 GMT

FASCISM? That's a new face cream, right?
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 10-30-2024 / Updated 10-30-2024 GMT


Ain't we a pair?
Dennis Myers & Andrew Barbano inducted into César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-10-2024

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

Larry Barbano, Frater Mei
1947-2023
To Die For
My daughters were born 65 years ago yesterday. Alas, their youth was cut in twain.
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-17-2024
 

Web Xtras & Smoking Guns—>

Why the science is clear that masks work
By Zeynep Tufecki / The New York Times / 3-10-2023

Breaking News —> Masks work!

And the plague is rampant once again. Be very afraid.

Trump Victory Would Be a Public Health Disaster
By Whistleblower Rick Bright/New York Times/10-10-2024
For all the news you never knew you needed to know 'til now, subscribe to BARBWIRE CONFIDENTIAL—>Cheap. (HushHush!) Hie thee to BallotBoxing.US/


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

For all the news you never knew you needed to know 'til now: Tell your friends and friendly enemies to subscribe to Barbwire Confidential for warm laughter, cheap thrills, hot scoops and occasional cold logic at BallotBoxing.US/ Cheap at twice the price. (Hush Hush!)

Barbwire dark foreshadowings unfortunately have a way of becoming 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.



$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

Wasting workers where everybody knows your name
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 10-18-2023

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

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
The Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator Hall of Flames
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
In Search Of...


Barbwire
Archives


Copyright © 1982-2024 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 56-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and SenJoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee. He was the longtime executive producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and has been a quarter-century member and 10- year officer of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO inducted him into César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024.

Barbwire by Barbano moved to Nevada's Daily Sparks Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since. His first byline in the paper came in 1973.
Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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

Larry Barbano, Frater Mei
1947-2023

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

Site composed and maintained by Deciding Factors, CWA 9413 signatory

Comments and suggestions appreciated. Sign up for news and bulletins