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

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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



Prophets and Profits
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."— Groucho Marx
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 8-14-2024 / Updated 8-14, 8-15, 8-18 & 8-19-2024 GMT / Expansions in blue

I received the following letter from The Right Rev. Batson D. Belfry Jr., pastor of the Outer Sparks Divine Church of What's Hap'nin Now:


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

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From the depths of despair to the den of iniquity & holy of holies

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The Grasshopper and
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Back to the Future in
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Gold 2017
Don't ask Renown Med for marijuana to help your chemo
10-4-2016
We Don't Need No Education
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Leading questions, lead-headed leaders
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Hopelessly trying to win an earthquake
4-18-2013
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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

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"Dear sacred brethren, oh...and you girls, too. A condition of spreading immorality requires your immediate prayers and contributions.

"As you know, our fearless community crusaders have finally succeeded in excising that immoral tickbite on the backside of righteousness called Drag Queen Story Hour. Godless so-called public servants had been openly exposing Sparks children to (heaven forefend!) fairy tales. Worse, saints help us, it was done with the full acquiescence of misguided parents!

"O Godless Nevada, what's next, sex education in schools? I tremble as I write this.

"If this keeps up, we will just have to seriously consider not teaching children how to read in the first place.

"I was just informed that the region's second-largest tourist event has succumbed to the temptation of similar overt immorality.

"Hot August Nights, which has for decades espoused worship of sinfully expensive shiny objects, has now conducted DRAG racing. And in full public view where children could see these 'dragsters.'

"Will the spread of such contamination ever cease?

"Flashy cars and that Satan-inspired cacophony called 'rock and roll' always lead to something much worse. What's next, sex, drugs, public nudity and openly smoking the Demon Weed in desert orgies?

"Perhaps that's why it's called 'Burning, Man.'

"The mind boggles and the senses reel.

"We got the devil out of our libraries and he just up and donned a dress and began dragging thru the streets straight toward Gerlach.

"Contact your public officials. Inform the town fathers that such libertine lasciviousness can only result in...(avert your eyes, girls)...a red bottom line. (Which I hope will at least be decently attired.)

"The battle against immorality never ends.

"In the immortal words of my mentor, the Rev. Elmer Gantry, 'we shall yet make this a moral nation.'

"Yours in enlightenment,

"Far Right Rev. Batson D. Belfry, Jr."

EDUCATIONAL HOLY WATER. The University of Nevada-Reno has given its endorsement to a brand of booze from morally righteous Fallon, Nevada. I hope it doesn't give fraternity row any ideas about experimenting with alcohol.

LIFE IMITATES ART DEPT. As you probably know, Florida Gov. Ron DeSatanist, crusader against immorality at the Disneyworld Magic Kingdom, termed his feudal domain "where woke goes to die." He's not alone.

"We need a de-wokification program in the United States," echoed Czar T-Rump's creepy veepy nominee.

King of the Hillbillies JD Clampett recently endorsed a book promoting fascist dictatorship.

First books, then movies. What's next, requiring Simone Biles to wear a long dress during gymnastics competition?

These guys have finally gone too far, expanding woke discrimination from real species to fictional ones.

I am thus sending a copy of this column to the Disney corporation which owns the "Star Wars" franchise. I hope they can get it to the superstar of woke, the towering Wookiee Chewbacca hisself.

I want to see JD Vance's face when Han Solo's temperamental co-pilot shows up at his door, all eight hairy feet of him.

SEIG HEIL! Here's an Aug. 5 NYTimes excerpt of Vance's contribution to the pro-dictatorship book:

" 'We don’t have a real constitutional republic anymore,' he asserted, suggesting that Donald Trump need not be limited by the norms of republican governance. Trump, said Vance, 'should fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.

" 'And if the courts try to stand in his way, Trump should 'stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say: "The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.”

Which explains why Jackson is T-Rump's favorite president, another man who would be king.

THE ART OF THE DEAL. Democratic U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-NV, recently endorsed non-partisan Greg Kidd against longtime Republican incumbent Congressman Mark Amodei. The wealthy Silicon Valley exec moved to Crystal Bay at Tahoe about three years ago. No Democrat filed in the contest.

Should he win, Kidd will become the first non-Republican to hold the heavily gerrymandered District 2 seat since Nevada population growth created a second congresscritter in the 1980 census. CD2 now covers roughly the northern half of Silver State geography,

I hope Rosen extracted a commitment that Kidd will caucus with the Democrats in the House of Representatives should he win. No matter the vote count, should Trump/Vance lose, they will try to copy John Quincy Adams.

He was named president by the House in 1824 when no candidate won an Electoral College majority. Jackson actually got more electoral votes than Adams II, but neither had enough to win due to a multiple-candidate race.

By hanging up final vote count certification (as the Washoe County Commission did in the June Nevada primary), T-Rump's Plan B is to win in the House. If the GOP retains the House in November, he could win no matter how he performs on election day.

Should the Supreme Court Ammotextuals rule against their presidente, no problemo. See Andrew Jackson, above: Now , let them enforce it.

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME. At this time of year, I become crestfallen for Nevada students. When I was a schoolkid in exciting Fresno, classes didn't start until after Labor Day. I have long felt that cutting a child's summer to two months or less is tantamount to abuse. Of course, that was pre-Reagan, before he and his ilk took the greatest educational system in the history of the world and made it so-so by cutting budgets and upping costs.

Nowadays, many school kids find it a hassle to find enough to eat.

Three full summer months of just being a kid, something today's youngsters will never know.

I remember a time, rompin' thru the woods
Sun against our skin instead of clothes
When we felt hungry we would eat, when we felt glad we'd dance
And whenever we felt drowsy we would doze

It was so easy then, never takin' any stands
It was so easy then, holdin' hands
Just holdin' hands

— "It Was So Easy Then" by Jacob Brackman and Carly Simon, 1972

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alas, love's labours lost.

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 55-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.

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

 

 

 

 



Miss Priscilla Goodbody channels Princess Cassandra
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 7-19-2023

Love letters from Miss Priscilla Goodbody
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 7-12-2023

                            

What happened to us?
Did we do something when we should not have? Did we do nothing when we should have?
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 5-8-2024

One Photo That Captures the Loss in Gaza
"Dr. Sam Attar went over and only then realized that the boy was dead."
By Nicholas Kristof / The New York Times 5-4-2024
Karam and his mom at the hour of his death

 
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
Expansions in blue / Updated 4-11, 4-14, 4-15, 4-16 & 5-2-2024 GMT

So stated Tina Turner in the 1985 blockbuster "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome."

That line best summed up my overwhelmed feelings last Friday evening when the Northern Nevada Central Labor Council inducted the late Tribune journalist and my old friend Dennis Myers into the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame.

Using a hockey analogy, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar noted that the occasion completed a hat trick for Dennis. He had previously been so honored by both the Barbwire and Nevada Press Association rogues galleries.

Living up to my self-imposed nickname of Quarantino, I attended via Zoom, dressed appropriately for the solemn occasion: In a sweatshirt and UnionYes! baseball cap.

I thus stood surprised and amazed by the second installation of the evening, The Barbwire Man hisself.

Zounds.

I told the sold out event's attendees that this represented the second-greatest honor of my life, eclipsed only by the day I married my wife, Betty, 40 years ago.

I was and remain humbled to stand with giants who accomplished much more than I ever will. The César HOF includes Nevada's two greatest legislators, Sen. Joe Neal and Assemblymember Bob Price, both D-North Las Vegas.

Fred Ross, Sr., the union stalwart who taught César Chávez how to organize abides therein, as do Maria Zamora, who marched with Chávez from Delano to Sacramento in the 1960s; United Auto Workers stalwart George "Battling" Nelson of Sparks who stood beside Chávez and United Auto Workers legend Walter Reuther at the dedication of the United Farm Workers headquarters; Nevada labor mainstays Dan Rusnak and Sam Lumpe; the late Nevada Labor Commissioner Stan Jones and his wife, Wendy; and the original Chávez HOF honoree, Darlene Jespersen.

Ms. Jespersen was a longtime Harrah's bartender who refused to follow demeaning new corporate makeup face painting rules. Her wrongful termination case broke new ground for women's rights at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Dennis, Nevada's greatest reporter, was the first journalist so honored. I can only state that I am the second because Dennis himself accorded me that appellation.

I still term myself an advocate and hellraiser. I don't present both sides, especially when the other side is suffused with flaming bigoted moonhowlers.


Video of Myers and Barbano inductions —>

https://youtu.be/pFNUBW1vhEo

https://youtu.be/GopULsYDWuE

Text of Judge Patricia Lynch acceptance speech for Dennis Myers

ThisIsReno.com 4-14-2024: Nevada Labor Hall of Fame inducts journalist Myers

     Official Cesar XVIII commemorative program book

A posthumous accolade / By Matthew Bieker
Reno News & Review 4-27-2024


ADIOS, VERITA BLACK PROTHRO. Last Saturday came news of the death of the beautiful Nevada activist and businesswoman. Verita paid heavy dues in her shortened life. When she ran for Washoe County public administrator in 2018, some freedom loving racist defaced her candidate signs with black spray paint.

The Nevada Democratic Party sent out a double notice, also including the hit-and-run fatality of Kurt Englehart, aide to Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev.

I stand proud and humbled by having known and worked with most of the above superstars in the firmament of human aspiration.

READER RUMBLINGS: Tribunistas have reacted to this newspaper's March 27 publication of the Nevada Independent news service exposé of our regional health care octopus. ("Renown Health is a powerhouse in Northern Nevada. Is that a problem?")

Last week, I added some very necessary perspective regarding the origins of the malady by calling attention to the 1995 Washoe County Grand Jury report documenting the outright theft of our formerly publicly owned, low cost hospital.

Some Tribune subscribers sent these comments: "I worked there as a head supervising nurse. Their 'non-profit' status is just a moniker. Actually, 'More Money' is their tacit motto." And this: "I remember times when management harassed me to make sure all my employees only gave Renown management five-star ratings or I would be demoted, go without a raise or some other hellish reprisal."

I built a whole website of research on the depredations of our health care conglomerate which will be linked to the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/

UNHEALTHY CARE, PART DEUX. The fake news New York Times just published a major scandal regarding big health insurance companies. Many have retained an outfit which earns billions in commissions based on how much health care they DENY to insured patients.

"Don't like your $100,000 surgery bill? Sue us, turkey." [UPDATE: Websearch "hamby nytimes.com tool helps insurers reap fees shift costs" to view several articles.]

I have never seen a better argument for a single-payer national system. Fully one-third of all U.S. health care dollars go toward profit and paperwork. This has resulted in the highest costs for just about the poorest care in the industrialized world.

Social Security, that dastardly government run program, only costs three percent to run. Continuing rape and pillage by the health care industrial complex must come to an end.

I remember when moonhowlers took to the streets to campaign against Obamacare. Some dimbulb woman actually told a reporter she was there to "keep government's hands off my Medicare."

In 2009, the U.S. government became the largest health care customer in the country. Combined with the military, the Veterans Administration and other programs, Uncle Sam has long been paying most of the bills. It's well past time to reign in pillagers like Renown, Cigna, Aetna, Humana, United Health Care (aka AARP) and Big Pharma.

Sorry, Ronnie, government is not the problem. Government is the solution.

HISTORY FOR DULLARDS. Supporters of T-Rump, the croaker who raps America, want to rename DC's Dulles Airport for the Orange Crusher. What an insult to the legacy of the Republican Dulles Brothers, Allen who headed the CIA, and John Foster Dulles who served as Secretary of State, both under President Dwight Eisenhower.

These bastards made a sport of overthrowing small democracies, most notably that of Iran. The latter was accomplished because British Petroleum wanted their oil refinery back after the democratically elected Iranian government nationalized the industry after decades of western exploitation.

We are at war with Iran today because of the depredations of the Brothers Dulles back in the 1950s.

So why trade a headache for an upset stomach?

SLIGHTLY CYNICAL DEPT. Congratulations to the universities of South Carolina and Connecticut for winning their respective women's and men's minor league professional basketball championships.

¡Sí se puede!

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

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 55-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.

 


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

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$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

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Copyright © 1982-2024 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 55-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.
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

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