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ANDREW BARBANO
Pirate Laureate of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream
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BARBWIRE BY ANDREW BARBANO
For the 9-23-2020 Sparks Tribune

Messages from the gods: Ignore at your peril

Blasphemy, defined as mocking someone's god, is the most popular capital sin in most religions. I prefer keeping my head by promoting presumption instead.
The preachers who irritate me most are those who presume and thus purport to speak for whatever god or Olympus they are selling.
Well today, I'm joining the rogues gallery of presumptuousness.
Look around you and tell me that whatever concept of the almighty you prefer is not sending serious telegrams by whatever means are available to omnipotent spirits.
Fire, ice, water, pestilence, disease, winds, storms, murder, mayhem, reality TV, carrier pigeon. God has even sent Donald Trump to us because She's fresh out of locusts.
We are now without both Rep. John Lewis and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Czar Donaldov may have nominated a Scaliante homotextual to Mrs. Ginsburg's seat by the time you read this.
The Notorious RBG's best bud on the court was her polar opposite, Antonino the Ancient. (He was apparently a good comedian, so they got along.) La Scalia's method of judicial activism was to get out the dictionary, look up the meaning of words, and consider those the gospel according to the framers. Easier than working.
Indiana Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who has apparently grabbed the president by the presumption, believes that Chief Justice John Roberts has betrayed the commands of textualism. Zounds. Call out the dragoons and have the blackguard flogged, drawn and quartered.
I wonder how a fundamental homotextual like her could bear to live in the same town where Pete Buttigieg served as mayor. I also wonder if she voted for him. Probably not. No self-respecting Notre Dame professor would commit such blasphemy.
Theocracy has made a big comeback in recent years and the wave has yet to crest.
As poet e.e. cummings might say, this monster mannunkind is devolving.
Our shaky democracy might shortly devolve into national breakup or civil war. At least the National Rifle Association's clients will continue to profit.
THE PROBLEM. As always, control by the wealthy, whether in the flesh or in legal fictions called corporations, who rape and pillage the body politick.
THE SOLUTION. As always, expanding economic opportunity with a healing dash of human respect for this magical little place we've been given for just a little time.
John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg lived their lives that way.
Remember the end of e.e. cummings greatest line: "pity this monster mannunkind...not."
RNR REDUX. Former Reno Gazette-Journal investigative ace Frank X. Mullen now helms the online reincarnation of the Reno News & Review. Glad to see it. His latest scoop about local Q-Anon moonhowlers seeking out sex trafficking where it doesn't exist is a-must read. See the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/
CITY HALL HIJINX. Economic Development Authority of Washoe County (EDAWN) Executive Director Mike Kazmierski is actively campaigning for the defeat of Reno City Councilmember Jenny Brekhus, D. That's dumb politics, especially when your outfit is knocking down a cool $100,000 a year in cash support from both the cities of Reno and Sparks.
GOVERNMENT WASTE R US. Within a few days of being sued by the Teamsters Union, the Regional Transportation Commission and its bus system subcontractor Keolis-19 are paying for slick TV spots selling the bright, shining lie that they are complying with Gov. Steve Sisolak's mask mandate.
See all the evidence to the contrary for yourself at NevadaLabor.com/ The three Washoe County transit systems carry upwards of 20,000 passengers a day. Without masking, they are little more than rolling ocean liners, spreading deadly disease. And they're doing it on your dime.
The Sparks seat held by the late Mayor Ron Smith still needs filling. RTC is currently comprised of County Commissioners Vaughn Hartung and Bob Lucey, joined by Reno Councilmembers Neoma Jardon and Oscar Delgado (the only Democrat on the board). Doesn't matter. Moral obtuseness in bi-partisan. They won't lift a finger without you pushing. So push.
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN. I've been on this beat for 50 years and nothing has changed. People of average means get elected to local government and are quickly surrounded by sycophantic buzzards who pick the public's pocketbook clean. It's called economic development by its supporters, corporate welfare by its detractors. (See the NevadaLabor.com corporate welfare archive.)
If you ever wonder why local schools, parks, roads and first responders are underfunded, now you know one big reason.
ETHIX, EFFLUENT AND AFFLUENCE. Lemmon Valley activist Tammy Holt-Still has filed a complaint with the Nevada Ethics Commission about Reno Councilmember Bonnie Weber, R, but that's not all.
Did you know that University of Nevada researchers would not test that open cesspool in Lemmon Valley (euphemistically called Swan Lake) for Coronavirus and other gremlins, but does so with sewage effluent in more affluent areas? Did you know that developers want to subdivide Swan Lake for sale when it dries up, just like the scam they pulled in the southeast Reno flood plain
Stay tuned and keep your waders handy.
Take care of each other and be careful out there.
¡Sí se puede!
Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.
___________________
NevadaLabor.com Editor Andrew Barbano is a 51-year Nevadan whose reputation remains impervious to further augmentation or denigration. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us> Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.

 

Diabolical Déjà Vu: Fire is the Devil's only friend
Barbwire accurately called 2016 presidential result 9 months out & stands behind 2020 prediction made four years ago
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-2-2020 Sparks Tribune

History foreshadows a GOP November win
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-16-2016 Sparks Tribune / Updated 2-19, 3-1, 3-8, 5-19 and 11-19-2016, 12-24-2019

President Donald Trump as Andrew Jackson? So opined a plethora of prestigious, highly-paid expert pundits on election night. The Barbwire warned of exactly that last March. Twice.
And that ain't all. Read 'em and weep, pilgrims.

Nobody knows nothin'
By David Horsey, Staff Cartoonist / Los Angeles Times 11-9-2016
BARBWIRE SEZ the awesome Mr. Horsey's assertion that only the LAT/USC poll was accurate ain't necessarily so.

Those with crystal balls shouldn't throw stones
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-15-2016 Sparks Tribune

Remembering the first female U.S. presidents
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-8-2016 Sparks Tribune

"Any system of prolonged political paralysis and failed liberalism vomits up monsters. And the longer we remain in a state of political paralysis — especially as we stumble toward another financial collapse — the more certain it becomes that these monsters will take power." Christopher Hedges at NationOfChange.org 17 Oct. 2016.

All the more reason to subscribe to Barbwire Confidential.

 

Donny & Jimmy's Most Excellent White Castle Adventure
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-16-2020 Sparks Tribune

Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx
Still crazy after all these years.

Barbwire Confidential —>HushHush!
Donny & Jimmy's Most Excellent White Castle Adventure
BARBWIRE EXCLUSIVE 9-12-2020

The world class Barbwire investigative team has spared every expense to obtain a secret internal memo from an inside GOP source, DeepGLOP:

TO: Chairpersons, both Nevada Republican Parties (you know who you are)
FROM: Strategery Dept.
RE: Presidential visit this weekend in the Douglas County Alabaster Bastion


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We Don't Need No Education
Toxic turf threat ignored

12-13-2016
Kate Smith & Lady Gaga
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On artificial turf, don't breathe unless absolutely necessary (above)
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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

Tomorrow's news today —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
TOP SECRET— HushHush!

 

As you are aware, our leader will descend hereabouts this weekend, flying thru hellfire and damnation into Reno, then driving — driving! — an hour each way to get to the postage-stamp Minden Airport. Such an indignity was foisted upon him by frightened Nevada liberals because polls show the state in almost a dead heat (treasonous liberal by 4, +/- 3, adjust for fake news bias).

We believe we have solved the transportation situation. We have suggested that he fly from Reno to Minden aboard a Nevada National Guard helicopter – on the same day that his cutting the guard's COVID-19 budget has Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak screaming like a stuck donkey. Revenge is a dish best served cold, eh, fellow Klingons?

Please turn out your die-hards (and I mean that literally, see below). Tell them not to wear masks as it just pisses off the old man. You can wear your cammos but please leave your machine guns at home. Oops, I forgot — we're talking Douglas County. Bring the heat. And your babies.

I hope they don't invite that treasonous library director who's trying to pervert the minds of our children with sympathy for black and brown terrorists. Does anybody know if Nevada Assembly Minority Leader Jim Wheeler can attend? The president would like a guy who says he'd vote for slavery if his constituents want it. That's true back-to-the-future democracy, not that wussy booklearning stuff.

We can turn defiance of Nevada's Antifa pro-mask governor into a net positive while cutting our losses. Make sure to keep detailed records of everyone who shows up. Some may exhibit COVID-19 symptoms from the rally shortly before insecure vote-by-mail ballots are sent in about two weeks.

Follow up and instruct them to get their ballots early if at all possible, then fill out a straight GOP ticket and promptly return them to their voter registrar's office.

DO NOT trust the postal service. We can't let word get out that Republicans know how to mail letters.

This is a win-win situation for the president. Dead or alive or hospitalized, all of the rally attendees will have voted, so their votes will count.


If some of them die before election day, the party will have proof positive that dead people are voting by mail, proving the president correct, as always.

What's not to like?

Yours in victory should you live long enough,

Luther Lovelace
Deep State Covert Consultant and freelance pet and birthday photographer
(You know how to contact me via the Dark Web. Today's user name is KochAin't )

ps: Hyper-liberal California Antifa thugs have rigged it so that the skies will look like the 7th circle of hell on Saturday. To keep our attendees safe until they can vote, please inform them not to breathe unless absolutely necessary.

END OF LEAKY MEMO. DISTRIBUTE AT WILL. OR NOT.

###

Andrew Barbano is a 51-year Nevadan whose reputation is impervious to further augmentation or denigration. For unparalleled coverage of the August 8 Black Lives Don't Matter mashup in Minden, go to NevadaLabor.com (unless you are easily offended because much offense was offered thereat). You will also be treated to the 2016 world champion political 'toon and the 2020 frontrunner. HOT TIP: Monitor NevadaLabor.com for major union news breaking within 48 hours.

9-16-2020 Sparks Tribune add-ons

THE AWFUL TRUTH. The above went out to a few hundred thousand of my e-mail co-conspirators in advance of Czar Donaldov's sojourn to the whitest part of Nevada last Saturday. It received the usual range of comments from the usual suspects.

One freedom loving racist in Gomorrah South trashed me for obviously defending George Floyd, the Minneapolis black man who died of a drug overdose.

Except he didn't. The coroner ruled it a homicide by cop and four fired officers now face felony charges. Obviously a Fox News fan.

The most curious result came from people I'd confused. I apologized, as creating confusion is one of my few talents. (Damn...I could'a been president.)

Some people actually wondered if the letter from "Luther Lovelace" (son of a famous movie star, perhaps?) was authentic.

I didn't think about it as I worked on it, but it really shows how hard it is to lampoon a real-life cartoon. The essence of a joke is stretching reality till it's funny. For the most part, El Presidente has already pushed it about as far as it can go. He tries to put us comedians out of work, then brags about job creation. What a guy.

There is justice in the world. Trump actually had to drive the 60+mile route both ways. I guess the guv wouldn't let him use a chopper.

Oh, the humanity!

HAT TRICK. I guess now I've done it all. The above hit on Trump was my third bruise on a president. Back in 1982, when Ronald Reagan was on his way to UNR to speak, I placed "None of Above" billboards on his motorcade route. (See NAGPAC.org)

In 1988, I accompanied some clients to hear then-VP George HW Bush speak at Reno High. While standing in line, I spoke with reporters from the Reno Gazette-Journal and Associated Press. I asked if they might have that morning's Wall Street Journal in their newsrooms. Affirmative.

I then called their attention to a front page story about how Bush the Elder was giving boring speeches filled with "cliches and bromides" and that his handlers were worried about his presidential campaign.

Sure enough, in addressing the crowd at the Reno High gym, he used some of the tired items the WSJ had noted. So the spin nationwide the next day was all about Bush giving another tired, hackneyed speech.

The above potshot at the Orange Crush gives me a hat trick. Keep lobbing up the softballs, guys. I'll swing for the seats, but only if the fans are masked.

SUE THE BASTARDS. Go to NevadaLabor.com to read the latest volley in the war to protect local bus passengers and drivers. My friends at Teamsters Local 533 have sued the operators of the local transit system for refusing to comply with Gov. Sisolak's order to wear masks. They filed last Friday in federal court.

I have built an entire website about the dereliction of duty by the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County. Call 'em, e-mail them, text them, tell them they are falling down in their most basic duty to the public.

The Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County is comprised of Washoe County Commissioners Vaughn Hartung (R) and Bob Lucey (R); Reno City Councilmembers Neoma Jardon (R) and Oscar Delgado (D). The City of Sparks seat is vacant. Sparks Mayor Ron Smith's (R), passing was announced on August 19. Requiescat in pace.

Some 20,000 people a day are potentially exposed to COVID-19 on those rolling ocean liners.

Read "No pants? No service. No mask? OK" at NevadaLabor.com/

Once again, that's not a put-on. You can't ride the bus naked (like the trouserless Sparks guy who was refused boarding), but you can with a naked face.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (And my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)

__________________

Andrew Barbano is a 51-year Nevadan, executive producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, superannuated labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and BallotBoxing.US and SenJoeNeal.org and DoctorLawyerWatch.com and Protect Our Washoe.org and ChantalCoalition.org/ He is a withdrawn-in-good-standing member of Culinary Local 226. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. He has lived in both northern and southern Nevada during his half-century+ in the Silver State. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988 and received its 10th Nevada Press Association award (6 of 10 first-place) at the 21 Sept. 2019 NPA annual convention in Ely. In 1996, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for a six-month investigative series. His multi-media road construction zone safety campaign for Laborers' Union Local 169 won a first-place award from the National Safety Council in a nationwide competition. (Such ephemera and about six bucks will get you a Latte Mocha Cotsafracas Chingade at just about any Starbux worldwide, guaranteed.) His work has appeared on CNN, in The New York Times, The Guardian of London/UK and more important publications.


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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!)

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"Media is the plural of mediocre."
                              — Jimmy Breslin

  

 

WEB XTRAS & Smoking Guns—>

Cider House Rules: Admonitions & Ammunition
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-9-2020 Sparks Tribune

Diabolical Déjà Vu: Fire is the Devil's only friend
Barbwire accurately called 2016 presidential result 9 months out & stands behind 2020 prediction made four years ago
Barbwire by Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-2-2020 Sparks Tribune

HOT AUGUST STRIFE 2020 Demonstrations and Good Trouble

Tribal trauma, Belarus R Us & a hero dies well
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-26-2020 Sparks Tribune

Barbwire Confidential Special Report: Hush-Hush!
Machine Guns & Racism in Nevada's Alabaster Bastion

Lemmings, ostriches & dirty-talking desert rats
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-19-2020 Sparks Tribune

Andrew Barbano: Enemy of the state
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-12-2020 Sparks Tribune

Mississippi West: honkytaunts and alabaster bastions
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-5-2020 Sparks Tribune

10 the Hard Way!
Barbwire wins 10th Nevada Press Association award
Peruse the Underbelly of the News —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential



$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

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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.

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