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

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. — Leonard Cohen, 1934-2016 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 On January 16, 1959, two babies were born. They became sisters in both life and death. Larry Barbano, Frater Mei 12-18-1947 / 10-18-2023

Let it Be: An American Pope Francis2
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-23-2025
Updated 4-23-2025/ Expansions in blue

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!

 

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness, she is standing right in front of me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be." — Paul McCartney & John Lennon, 1970

Listen up, guys. And I mean all you guys, the 138 old men in red robes who will soon spend a few days in the world's most exclusive frat house, illustrations by Michelangelo.

I am one of your flock. I received the fabled indelible marks on my soul which the church says makes me a member in vitam aeternam.

The United States has helped all of your countries over the past century or so. Now we need saving.

Don't just do it for us, do it for yourselves and your flocks. We are still the fattest, richest, most powerful country in the world.

Alas and alack, darkness has engulfed us. We have raised demons of our own making who spread the plague of ignorance.

We are paying a heavy price, but so are you, and all the weak and the meek who look up to you.

Just the mindless and cruel elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development has already caused many of your children to die horrible deaths from starvation and preventable diseases.

We Americans of peace stand cold and naked in our hour of darkness.

We have lost our way and flail about in dire need of a leader who will guide us out of the wilderness before ignorance and fear engulf the entire world.

Let there be a United States pope and may he take the name of Francis the Second.

Powerful and symbolic, it will convey to the misbegotten that they follow the wrong path, a journey toward misery rather than mercy.

Mercy — If there is one word that defines the life of Pope Francis, that more than suffices.

Yes, our war machine continues to cause unconscionable harm in many of the unfortunate climes of this small planet.

But it has been and can be repurposed to light our way, to finally give peace a chance.

War is the most counterproductive addiction of our still-evolving species.

Small souls now use America's power to further the goals of the unenlightened, the self-centered, the greedy.

The merciless.

Francis saw the good in all of us and of this magical little world which blesses us as our home. God gave us each other to care for each other. Many wise prophets have come forth to teach us wisdom and mercy.

Alas, so many of us and our brethren have ears but will not hear, eyes that will not see, perpetrating wars in the name of their gods in order to enrich themselves.

Jesus left us with one over-riding and oft-ignored admonition: "Whatsoever you do to these, the least of my brethren, you do also to me."

America has been your shield for a century. Now, that shield has fallen to the soaked battleground.

You must help us pick it up.

The promise, the idea, the hopefulness of America still stirs the imagination of the world, especially the oppressed yearning to breathe free.

Francis saw the desperation caused by our lack of proper stewardship of our home. The dispossessed move by the millions into the wilderness.

Francis taught us not to react with fear but love.

America is a land of immigrants, going back to the first wanderers from Asia who crossed arctic ice and looked southward.

The north has prospered but the world's southern hemisphere still lies sore oppressed.

The Catholic Church long ago stopped growing in the north because of the narrowness of small men.

Help America rejuvenate our tremendous potential for mercy. We need only follow the better angels of our nature.

Give us an American pope. He need not be from your number, perhaps a humble priest who has demonstrated the resolve of a fatherly lion.

The past errors of the church's ways came thru common human weakness.

Please, shed the shackles of 5,000 years of the primacy of the primitive.

Embrace the enlightenment which radiates all around. And recognize the intrinsic — yes, God-given — value of all living things.

Send us new hope. We have proven how much good we can do and how much harm we can avoid.

Embrace the large to enhance the small. Wisely fill the Shoes of the Fisherman.

You may well not get many more opportunities.

And when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be. Let it be.

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me
Shinin' until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Get the latest boosters, mask up and continue praying for the oppressed, unenlightened and unvaccinated as well as Pope Francis, Ukraine, Gaza and the world's more than 160 currently war-torn lands, including ours.

¡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.)

Or, as they say in Poland, SOLIDARNOSC!

 

 

 

 

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 and former vice-president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and a member 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

Twin terrorists run tax-paid American gulag
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-16-2025

Toxic sludge is good for you
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-9-2025

Pinky & the Brain taking over the world
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-2-2025

Send back the Statue of Liberty
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-26-2025

Donald Trump's Death Sentences
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-19-2025

How to become a Nevada welfare queen
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-12-2025

March comes in with a lion —> from Ukraine
Red Scares and Nobel Red Flags
Warnings from Walesa and Ressa
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-5-2025

Zelenskyy for President! Washington DC 2-28-2025 —> So refreshing, heartening and energizing to see a leader with brass balls in the Oval Office as opposed to the Russian traitor with three gold balls hanging in his pawn shop Be well and raise hell, President Volodymyr / America is with you and our democracies Let's kick some ass! Sign up at BallotBoxing.US Stay tuned for much more!

Down there among the swamp critters
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-26-2025 / Updated 3-5-2025/ Expansions in blue

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-19-2025 / Expansions in blue

Rise of the Reptilian Brain Trust
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-12-2025 / Expansions in blue

The Spaghetti Wall
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-5-2025 / Expansions in blue

Dastardly depredations of Czar Dastardo
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-29-2025

Inattention abstention on coronation day
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-22-2025 / Expansions in blue

The Goats of the Ides of January
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-15-2025

Dark depredations & golden opportunities
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-8-2025