Barbwire: Lost Horizon

"You see things and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were and I say 'Why not?' " — George Bernard Shaw, 1921

More than a century later, has what poet e.e. cummings termed "this monster mannunkind" progressed? Debatable.

On the good side, Pope Leo is in Spain and the Canary Islands ministering to refugees from Africa.

He will do the same on July 4 on the Italian-protectorate Lampedusa Island in the Mediterranean. (The pontiff politely turned down Mad King Donaldov's invitation to the Washington DC T-Rump birthday blowjob.)

We, the powerless plebeians of the richest country in history, labor in the name of sanity and humanity as our war machine commits mass murder in the formerly Holy Land and elsewhere.

We remain so damned tribal after our very recent ascension to the top of the food chain just a few millennia back.

Pretty much the only difference between today and the noteworthy wars of bloody yesteryear lies in effect — today's weapons are much more efficient in deaths per capita. A great return on capital invested.

With all the hatred, ignorance and mayhem propagating around us from sources foreign and domestic, I recently sought solace in the past. The Valley of the Blue Moon. Shangri La in the Himalayas of the mind.

James Hilton's wondrous 1933 novel "Lost Horizon" described a temperate wonderland hidden in frozen wastes at the top of the world. Shangri La's monks busily acquired as much of the accumulated knowledge of humanity as possible, an insurance policy against Armageddon.

Written in the early 1930s as fascism arose to plunge humanity into World War2, it was a safe bet. The Four Horsemen are always just over the horizon. War, plague, pestilence and recession/depression languorously lurk like slime on a quiet pond. Alas and alack, we rarely spawn leaders who prepare.

At Shangri La, laziness is encouraged. "Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue." Amen.

It spawns creativity. Shangri La knows no want, no war, with people encouraged to find their own levels and enrich themselves. Residents live 200 years or so.

The story has been made into two films, a 1937 Hollywood romance version and a — gasp! — 1973 musical. That all-star cast landed with an all-star crash. With music by — gasp! — Burt Bacharach, fergawdsakes.

I can envision a scene of a Himalayan pass in the middle of a blizzard with Dionne Warwick standing in front of a road sign singing "Do you know the way to San Jose?" Aaarghhh.

"Lost Horizon" is just a couple hundred pages long but nonetheless filled with uplifting wisdom for this dismal era.

The full searchable text is available online and will be linked at the expanded web version of this column at NevadaLabor.com/

Herewith, some of my favorite picks from this rich orchard of wisdom for dark times.

The main character, a British diplomat named Hugh Conway, 37, was selected by the high lama as his replacement. He and the expiring double-centenarian have several long and uplifting conversations.

“Perhaps the exhaustion of the passions is the beginning of wisdom,” Conway asserts.

“That also, my son, is the doctrine of Shangri-La,” the old man states.

Conway's guide is a youngster from the valley, a patient gentleman named Chang who is only in his late nineties.

"One of the first steps towards the clarifying of the mind is to obtain a panorama of one’s own past, and that, like any other view, is more accurate in perspective. When you have been among us long enough, you will find your old life slipping gradually into focus as through a telescope when the lens is adjusted. Everything will stand out still and clear, duly proportioned and with its correct significance," Chang advises.

"Most precious of all, you will have time — that rare and lovely gift that your Western countries have lost the more they have pursued it."

What? Patience? Reflection? Whassamatta with these guys?

The Valley of the Blue Moon was a peaceful insurance policy that some redemption awaited survivors of impending mayhem, a repository of knowledge with which to rebuild something better.

"The storm will be such a one, my son, as the world has not seen before. There will be no safety by arms, no help from authority, no answer in science. It will rage till every flower of culture is trampled, and all human things are levelled in a vast chaos. Such was my vision when Napoleon was still a name unknown; and I see it now, more clearly with each hour," the old man advises Conway.

Pretty good forecasting from 1933. Then came WW2, the lessons of which we have largely forgotten, and the warning abides and applies today — just add nukes.

If you want a refreshing respite from the vileness of our times, get a copy of "Lost Horizon" to re-energize yourself with a little hope for a better future via a fantasy from long ago.

MELT ICE —> Mask up! Get the latest boosters, protect yourself and your family, mask yourself up to melt ICE, and continue praying for the oppressed, unenlightened and unvaccinated as well as Popes Leo and Francis, the Dalai Lama, Sarah Mullally (the new Archbishop of Canterbury), and the world's more than 160 currently war-torn lands, including ours. May we survive WW3 perhaps coming soon to a polling place near you.

¡Sí se puede! Or, as they say in Poland, SOLIDARNOSC!

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 57-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, DoctorLawyerWatch.com, BallotBoxing.US,ConsumerCoalitionv.org,ChantalCoalition.org, Rentvolution.org and MississippiWestNV.org among others. He is a longtime member and former vice-president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and a member of 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 Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024. For all the news you never knew you needed to know, head for BallotBoxing.US.

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

What did Emperor T-Rump do to deserve this?
A very private island
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 6-3-2026 Sparks Tribune / Updated 6-5, 6-7-2026 GMT [Expansions in blue]

RELIGIOUS NEWS ITEM: In the opinion of some Newtonian Buddhists, very evil people may tend to live a long time, as the higher power gives them time to mend their ways. If not, they may have to come back and live a long life and just observe for a couple of hundred years. Perhaps as a tree.

SCENE: A desert island somewhere in a tropical twilight zone

THE WAKING FORMERLY GREATEST PRESIDENT: How long have I been here? Seems like forever. Who did this to me? I'm a lousy palm tree on a hellhole desert island.

God, it's hot today! No wind. Not even my fronds cool me. Where are my staff aides, dammit!

And I'm on one of the worst islands. I recognize other guys across the red waters. I thought I saw Epstein, but it was hard to tell. We didn't really know each other.

Wait, what's that? Ahhh, no! The ants again, fat red ants, crawling all over me. They burn and itch. Stop! Doesn't it ever rain in this hellhole?

Help! Here comes that ugly brown kid who keeps climbing me to cut off my coconuts. And he doesn't even bring his dog. At least dogs always drown lots of ants before they crawl up.

Maybe it will finally rain a little. How long have I been here? Do those trees on the other islands know who I am? Some look bigger than me. That can't be. I could sure use a Diet Coke. I'd give anything for one. But I only got little coconuts. What is this place?

What did I do to deserve this?

UNSEEN OBSERVERS: "He hasn't gotten any better in 102 years," Joseph.

"I know, Peter. Some take such a long time. I can see Mao and Stalin from here. Pretty much the same."

"And Trump still thinks he was bigger than Napolean or Julius Caesar."

"Or Alexander the Great. He should see them now."

"We'll check back in another 30 years. No rush."

"I will agree that Mr. Trump was bigger than Elvis in at least one regard."

"He deserves that, Peter. Now, let's look in on Putin in the Bonsai Bell Jar."

T-RUMP — BIGGER THAN ELVIS. According to Google Ai, which possesses the collected wisdom of humankind (or lack of it), the generally accepted top weight attained by the King of Rock 'n' Roll was 260 lbs. (118 kg). Big Google sez that T-Rump's highest "publicly recorded official weight" is 244 pounds. (110.7 kg).

"Most recently, in his May 2026 annual health checkup, his official weight was reported as 238 pounds (108 kg)."

Countless numbers lie dead for believing anything this guy sez. (See below.)

I've been to 260. T-Rump today is indeed way bigger than Elvis, as once was I, about a hundred pounds ago.

T-Rump's body counts continue getting competitive with Stalin, Mao, PolPot and Adolf Schickelgruber
When Trump and Musk Slashed Aid, They Left Us Vulnerable, Too
Fecklessness in Washington, Ebola outbreak in Congo
By Nicholas Kristof / New York Times 6-3-2026

DEJA DOOM ALL OVER AGAIN. Once again, a malignant narcissist sits in the Oval Office. Once again, plagues are coming thru the air. Once again, pretty much only PR is being done to avoid the worst pandemic since the times of Bubonic Black Death.

Remember 2020 when Dr. T-Rump stranded the Grand Princess ocean liner off San Francisco as a cosmetic exercise in "keeping us safe" from COVID-19? Meanwhile, New York airports were importing a plethora of infected people from Italy.

Today, travelers who recently visited central Africa for screening are being shunted to four whole U.S. airports. T-Rump doesn't want jeopardized Americans to take advantage of the best outbreak care facilities in the world. Here. He just got stopped from building a tent city in Kenya only for us while Africans languish.

Will he let white Africans come here?

Starting next week, the Ebola World Cup is projected to bring in SEVEN FREAKIN' MILLION hot-bodied viral hosts. T-Rump's killing of JFK's U.S.A.I.D. program gutted the medical networks we built in Africa. In 2014-2016, our infrastructure helped stifle the last major Ebola outbreak. Now it's gone and The Terminator is flying home. Thanks to T-Rump and Chainsaw Musk, we are less prepared today than six years go.

Hasta la vista, baby.

Take it from Old Quarantino, start wearing masks, sportsfans. NOW. They ain't pretty, but death is uglier.

SAD STATS: "President Donald Trump's move to cut most US funding towards foreign humanitarian aid could cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030." (BBC 7-1-2025)

"Multiple independent peer-reviewed studies and health panels estimate that between 130,000 and 400,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths during the initial waves of the pandemic were preventable and directly attributable to the Trump administration's policy failures, delays and public health mismanagement." (National Institutes of Health)

THE LIGHTER SIDE, THE RED-LIGHTER SIDE. Sometimes, jokes just write themselves. I sent the following to a local online publication last week.

RED LIGHT OVERKILL. Did you get the Monday Amber Alert about the missing little girl? Even my little old flip phone made noise worthy of nuclear war. While watching the evening news that the child had been found safe, my phone screeched once again. To announce the Amber Alert had been cancelled.

HALL OF FAME FOR ED PEARCE. My nomination of Nevada's news G.O.A.T. was timely submitted for this year's Nevada Press Assn. consideration. Its officers and board will decide this summer. He needs no additional accolades but he richly deserves this honor. The Emmy winner also has two Edward R. Murrow awards on his cluttered trophy shelf.

¡Sí se puede! Or, as they say in Poland, SOLIDARNOSC!

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.)

The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO inducted him into the Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024. For all the news you never knew you needed to know, head for BallotBoxing.US.

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 Shoes of the Fisherman
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 5-27-2026 Sparks Tribune / Updated 5-30-2026 GMT [Expansions in blue]

What do old Italians do when they are overwhelmed with joy, tears of ecstasy running down their drying eyes, jumping up and down like drunken football fans?

They cook.

As did I after watching the Memorial Day evening newscasts.

Once in a great while, your prayers are answered. Pope Leo-14 just issued his first "encyclical" or pastoral letter to the world.

It's in eight languages and entitled "Magnifica Humanitas," Latin for "Magnificent Humanity."

The headlines trumpet that it warns about the need to regulate artificial intelligence (like the kind currently occupying the White House, perhaps?). True. Pope Leo was accompanied in a, gasp!, press conference announcing the publication. The pope? A press conference? Heresy!

He brought Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah with him. Anthropic refused to give madcap Pete Hegseth's "War Department" the source code to the best Ai on the planet. Why? He knew the bastards would pervert it to serve their hobby, mass death thru war and disease. The refusal cost Anthropic all government contracts and a blackball from all future work by Silicon Valley's Orange Anti-Christ.

Pope Leo even at long last issued an apology for the church's past support of slavery. Mama mia, benedica!

The false prophets of Sillycosis have invented their own gods. I just saw a report about a young man who went insane because his Ai chat buddy convinced him he was God! I'm not making that up.

Sillyconjob Valley mogul Peter Thiel has stated that the AntiChrist has arisen in the form of environmentalists. ZOUNDS. Former Google engineer Anthony Levandowsky even started a church "to promote the realization of Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence." He did 18 months for stealing Google secrets but the White House godhead pardoned him. Wotta guy.

NevadaLabor.com Pope Leo XIV front page tableau and archive

Pope Leo Chooses Social Justice Over Pelvic Theology
By David Gibson / New York Times 5-23-2026

Pope Leo warns AI should be 'disarmed' in manifesto on potential dangers
PBS NewsHour Analysis with Christopher Hale, who writes "Letters From Leo" on Substack / 5-25-2026

Original from the Holy See in 8 language
Complete encyclical text in original form
Vatican City 5-25-2026

Harvard/MIT humanist chaplain Greg M. Epstein stated "The pope is really doing the Lord's work here, to take on this phenomenon trying to become inevitable and superhuman, and I say that as an atheist...Big Tech is essentially its own religion with its own theology and rites...Pope Leo's encyclical will be automatically viewed as false doctrine," he added. (NYTimes 5-26)

I am proud to own an infinitely small piece of all this. According to Google, I am the only writer it could find on many websearches who advocated for election of an American pope (Barbwire April 23, 2025), or who bothered to start an online petition to get Pope Leo on Stephen Colbert's last show. One outta two ain't bad.

Anybody notice how closely Leo XIV resembles his namesake, Leo XIII who kick-started the international union movement with an encyclical released on May 15, 1891?

Today's Leo signed his on May 15, 2026. Alleluia.

ST. MARY'S NURSES AGAINST THE UNHOLY OWNERS. Sign the union petition for a fair contract.

Speaking of health care or lack of same, read "America’s Deadliest Con: How Racism Keeps Millions Sick While Helping Healthcare Billionaires Cash In — A shocking new study reveals why millions of Americans vote against their own survival — and why 51 billionaires depend on it."

So wrote Thom Hartmann on May 26. Read the whole thing at his Substack.com/ page.

UNQUALIFIED EXPERT COMMENTARY DEPT. — No less than legendary author Andrew Ross Sorkin ("1929", PBS Newshour 5-25-26) and the fake news NYTimes (5-24) are raising red flags like Tiananmen Square on "fuhgeddabout democracy" day.

"Is the bond market signaling danger or opportunity," asked Times "strategies" writer Jeff Sommer. "Interest rates for long-term Treasury securities have surged to levels not seen since the Great Recession in 2007," he headlined.

Super-safe (at least before T-Rump) Treasury bonds go up when the stock market is over-valued. Old story. Same victims. All it may take is for T-Rump or one of his cronies making another obscene insider trade and obscenely crashing the house of Wall Street and/or crypto cards.

Sorkin told Judy Woodruff on PBS (5-22) that he is sure a crash is coming (one is always coming) but he is, of course, unsure as to when and intensity. However, he makes one helluva case that very bad moon is on the rise. Soon.

"What’s most scary about this approaching moment is not the specific nature of the crisis, but the incompetence with which it will be handled," Eduardo Porter wrote in the 5-25 Guardian/UK: "The world is heading toward a financial crisis and the state of US politics has left us ill-prepared."

Stay cool. Only T-Rump can fix it, right? Right — for his own wallet.

As noted Wall Street guru and aeronautical expert Andrew Barbano (see below) has oft noted, watch the price of gold over the past year.

TAKING A FLYER. I know two things about aeronautical engineering: slide the two pieces of balsa wood together, put a paper clip on the plane's nose, then throw it toward your brother. Fortunately, I knew the late great Sparks businessman John Hanks, the old cropduster pilot and my bff. He left these parts to develop experimental aircraft for a Nevada company that moved to Georgia.

We once talked about an airliner disaster. An engine fell off. People died. I told John that the pylon attachment process was rushed and flawed.

"You mean they attached the pylon to the engine, then attached both to the wing, instead of individually?" he asked.

"Yes."

"That caused metal fatigue and crashed it. They have to be done in two phases but there's always a push to cut costs," he noted.

I just saw a report on the UPS crash which killed 15 and injured 23 others in Louisville, KY, on 11-4-2025. They focused on nuts and bolts in the engine assembly and metal fatigue, but nothing about the sequence of attachment. Stay tuned. The old cropduster pilot knew of whence he spoke.

COMING ATTRAXIONS. As noted here Feb. 11, I will shortly nominate local TV news legend Ed Pearce to the Nevada Press Assn. Hall of Fame. Anyone who has crossed paths with the now-retired true public servant, send testimonials to me for inclusion.

Also, I've been test-marketing a shtick that makes people laugh but it got bumped by the pope this week. Watch for "Emperor T-Rump's Private Island." Talk about laying down roots. Stay tuned, sportsfans.

¡Sí se puede! Or, as they say in Poland, SOLIDARNOSC!

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.)

The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO inducted him into the Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024. For all the news you never knew you needed to know, head for BallotBoxing.US.

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

Election Ebola and other viruses
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 5-20-2026 Sparks Tribune [Expansions in blue]

Emperor Donnie went to show them Commies the error of their ways.
He came empty-handed when he landed and the Xi-man was amazed.
Xi picked his pocket, kept his wallet, put them in the Great Hall,
With a Ming Dynasty pickle jar containing Donnie's balls.

WET NOODLE DEPT. The following was last week's lead item. Alas and alack, for the first time in more than 30 years, the Barbwire did not appear in the Trib. My transmission error, totally my screwup. Mea maxima culpa. So sorry.

THE BLACK TOWER ASYLUM. Decades ago, three Reno city councilmembers retired at the same time, not filing for new terms.

"One of them took a bribe and the other two knew about it," an inside source told me.

Today's Black Tower debauchery looks farcical by comparison. In case you missed it, three of the six top Reno cops including the chief, suspended with pay a couple of months ago, have now been axed. More gently, they have been offered options of resigning, retiring or firing.

So pronounced Reno City Manager Jackie Bryant and acting chief (soon to be the new boss) Corey Solferino at a Tuesday (May 12) press conference.

I've been following this and talking to insiders for quite awhile. Near as I can tell, it's all been an exercise in ego trips and hubris while substantive issues remain festering.
Perhaps the proper analogy is (no kidding) Watergate. It wasn't the crime, it was the coverup. In this case, it wasn't even much of a crime but apparently the bureaucratic equivalent of playing hooky from school while getting marked "present."

Stupid and wasteful, right? Welcome to City Hall, kid.

Well-established psychological research shows that you can drop a perfectly sane person into an insane asylum and within a couple of weeks, that person will start showing signs of mental instability. There is something in this monster mannunkind (props to e.e. cummings) that impels us toward reflecting the norm. Kinda like high school, eh wot?

Once you enter Reno Wonderland, if you are not a strong person with a sturdy ethical center, you will soon notice that your moral compass is getting wobbly.

Which brings me to Sparks Police Chief Chris Crawforth. When the Reno job came open, some of us government watchers thought if Mr. Crawforth applied, he'd be hard to beat. The Rail City chief is a straightforward guy and very responsive to the public. He fortunately avoided what is always a tenuous situation at the First Street Black Tower.

A couple of decades back, Reno Captain Jim Weston became acting chief but declined to apply for the top job where he would become a fire-at-will employee. Weston knew well the perils of the asylum. I wonder if Crawforth ever talked with him.

As the late great Reno Mayor Barbara Bennett said not long after taking the oath of office, Reno City Hall "is infested with special interests."

True, everyone is a special interest, but not always in a good way. Elected in 1979, Mrs. Bennett scored the greatest upset in local political history. A person of humble means and a grass roots advocate for controlled growth and tenant rights, no other Reno mayor's name is on a local park. Her issues remain this community's most malignant maladies.

I have long despaired about what was once the pretty little city on the banks of the mucky Truckee. A few decades back, I wrote "they are going to pave over this little valley, so make your money and move elsewhere. Unless you have a well-above average income, preferably with no kids, get outta Dodge."

I once told the story of the ideal transplant family, upper middle-income, executive husband, wife and two gorgeous little kids. I was quite impressed with them, an educated couple with a lot to offer this community. They bought a home because it was close to a shiny new school ready to open. They toured it before signing on the dotted line. They were soon aghast at the shallow curriculum offered by the pretty school with a starvation budget. They quickly moved elsewhere.

Take a look around at the uncontrolled corporate welfare-fueled miasma which is Sparks-Reno today. Our community disease is dramatized by some of the ugly and depressing structures, built on the cheap for fast turnover by out-of-town quick-buck charlatans and pontificating poltroons. Local architectural "standards" are worthy of Cold War East Berlin.

Reno has once again demonstrated that it is a current example of an auld aphorism: "The Good Lord created the world, mankind built the cities and the Devil thunk up the small town."

Biggest Little City, indeed.

PASS THE WORD — As noted over the past four weeks (hereinbelow), American Express is still freezing Social Security benefit payments as it phases out its Bluebird debit card program. If you know of anyone to whom Amex has flipped the financial bird, please lemme know ASAP.

I sent the following to Sen. Jacky Rosen: American Express has frozen the Social Security income of a Nevada grandmother for the past two months. I helped her file a complaint with the AG. I am looking for other victims. For complete info, go to my four most recent Sparks Tribune columns (starting 4-22) at NevadaLabor.com/

I also copied a bevy of local pols. Pass the word.

ELECTION EBOLA. Americans suppress viruses when it's already too late. Ditto with election diseases. Nevada is doing a good job or voter suppression. You've probably read of Georgia eliminating ballot drop boxes and squeezing early voting.

Well, we're getting competitive. Early voting sites and the only three ballot drop box locations work bankers hours — 10a.m.-6:00p.m.

Legislative Democrats tried to expand drop boxes last year but T-Rump's buddy Gov. Giuseppe Lumbago vetoed the bill (AB360). Like his idol, he's agin' making it easier for us peons to vote.

In bygone years, I found the Washoe Voter Registrar's candidate info website very handy to make comparisons, especially when dealing with a list of unknowns. Why was it discontinued?

"Upon review, we found the tool saw limited use by both the public and candidates in the 2024 election cycle, and the investment of time and resources required to bring it into (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance was determined not to be the best use of resources," responded spokesman George Guthrie.

How many people will take the time to find candidates Smith, Jones and Schwartz online, if they have websites at all?

Democracy endangered, indeed.

¡Sí se puede! Or, as they say in Poland, SOLIDARNOSC!

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.)

The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO inducted him into the Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024. For all the news you never knew you needed to know, head for BallotBoxing.US.

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

Reno City Hall: the asylum abides
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano 5-13-2026

Goat dressing, goat polo and Amex horsethieves
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 5-6-2026 Sparks Tribune

Grandma files action vs. Amex horsethieves
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-29-2026 Sparks Tribune

X-Rated Amex flips the bird to customers
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-22-2026 Sparks Tribune

The Pope and Rope-A-Dope
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-15-2026 Sparks Tribune

How to Live Forever
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-8-2026 Sparks Tribune

My Golden Girl
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-1-2026 Sparks Tribune
"Each life touches so many others" — Henry Travers as Clarence the Guardian Angel in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)
Happy Anniversary, Betty.
Exactly 50 years ago today, I met the lady I would marry. We always laughed that April Fools' Day was actually our anniversary.

UPDATE: WORLDWIDE LEADER? ACT OF GOD OR JUST A GARDEN-VARIETY IMPOSSIBLE DREAMER? ALL OF THE ABOVE? VERY POSSIBLY. Was Andrew Barbano the only advocate for an American pope? Google apparently says YES! At minimum, the Barbwire stumped and broke Google trying to find out. See for yourself. And please lemme know what you think.

Big news. Prayers answered: Pope takes on T-Rump head-to-head.
Thank heaven he's openly a counterweight to the Orange Crusher, as I hoped on 4-23-2025

From the den of iniquity to the holy of holies
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 3-25-2026 Sparks Tribune

GET POPE LEO ON COLBERT'S SHOW! VOTE NOW —> YES OR NO

Pope Leo hits T-Rump and WarHog on Palm Sunday
By Amelia Benavides-Colón | NOTUS / Salt Lake Tribune / 3-31-2026

Welcome to FantasyLand boys and girls
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 3-11-2026 Sparks Tribune

Let it Be: An American Pope Francis2
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-23-2025, uploaded 4-22-2025

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

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

My Golden Girl
50 years ago today

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

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

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Andrew Barbano is a 57-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 is a 25-year+ member and former first vice-presdient 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 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.

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