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

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Photo: Debra Reid, Sparks Tribune

 

An Alternative National Anthem By Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) & Sharon Robinson © 1988 CBS Records, Inc.    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 that the boat is leaking. Everybody knows that the captain lied.    Everybody got this broken feeling Like their father or their dog just died.    Everybody talking to their pockets. Everybody wants a box of chocolates    And a long stem rose. Everybody knows.    Everybody knows that you love me, baby. Everybody knows you really do.    Everybody knows that you've been faithful, Give or take a time or two.    Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet    Without your clothes. Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that it's now or never. Everybody knows that it's me or you.    And everybody knows that you live forever When you've done a line or two.    Everybody knows the deal is rotten Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton    For your ribbons and bows And everybody knows.    Everybody knows that the plague is coming. Everybody knows that it's moving fast.    Everybody knows that the naked man & woman — Just a shining artifact of the past.    Everybody knows the scene is dead But there's gonna be a meter on your bed    That will disclose What everybody knows.    And everybody knows that you're in trouble. Everybody knows what you've been through    From the bloody cross on top of Calvary To the beach at Malibu.    Everybody knows it's coming apart. Take one last look at this Sacred Heart    Before it blows. And everybody knows. Everybody knows. Everybody knows.    That's how it goes. Everybody knows.

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

"The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have." — Kierkegaard

Eagles, chickens & Treasongate turkeys
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 6-15-2022 / Updated 6-16 & 6-17-2022 GMT / Expansions in blue

"Media is the plural of mediocre" — Jimmy Breslin

Greatest Hits Dept. 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 Support Don Dondero and Jake Highton and David Toll 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!

To paraphrase Charles Barkley, you know the world is going to hell when FOX News deserves praise for (ZOUNDS!) carrying the congressional Treasongate hearings while PBS airs old news shows or kiddie cartoons.

That's what happened in this region last Thursday and Monday and will again today. [[UPDATE 6-16-2022: The June 15 hearing was postponed until 10:00 a.m. PDT Thursday, June 16. As of 5:45 a.m. PDT June 16, neither TV-5 nor TV-11 have scheduled Thursday's hearing, according to their broadcast signal schedules. At their 10:00 p.m. PDT Wednesday June 15 newscast, FOX affiliate KTVU TV-2 in Oakland, California, announced they would carry the Thursday event. KTVU's 10:00 p.m. newscast has been carried by Reno FOX-11 daily for many years.]]

Public Broadcasting System KNPB TV-5 and FOX affiliate KRXI TV-11 both blacked out last Thursday's premier of Czar Donaldov's latest TV series.

FOX, understandable. PBS? WTF?

The only official explanation I got from TV-5 President and CEO Kurt Mische is that they livestreamed it on their website instead.

Huh? What about people without computers, iPads or iPhones? Or viewers who simply prefer the public network's analysis and coverage?

Yes, ABC TV-8, CBS TV-2 and NBC TV-4 carried the show, but that's not the point.

This is the type of programming for which PBS was established and still scores substantial taxpayer subsidies. Every television and radio station using public airwaves agrees to serve the community in order to get its federal license.

Most embarrassingly, FOX network aired the second installment of the hearings last Monday morning and is scheduled to air today's at 7:00 a.m. PDT. (Station ownership remains free to censor.)

KNPB TV-5 will again sit shiva.

Last Monday, I phoned and e-mailed PBS back east.

"How many of your affiliates ran the congressional hearing live on their main channels and how many did not?" I queried. "Among those which did not, if any, did they livestream as did KNPB; rebroadcast at a later time or not run anything at all via any of their resources."

I have not heard back. PBS is supposed to be "non-commercial," but they air hot and cold running sponsor announcements for any outfit with cash. If you're rich enough, you even get your pretty face on station promos.

So why did TV-5 black out Treasongate? First, they are in the middle of a station fundraising drive where large blocks of time are devoted to telethonitis. Nothing gets in the way of their repetitive money hustle, not even the public interest on the public airwaves on a publicly supported station. They also did not want to pre-empt daytime kiddie shows. (I'm not speculating.)

Nationally today, all of the major networks as well as many cable channels have scheduled Treasongate-3.

Local exceptions will be KNPB TV-5 and very probably KRNV TV-4, a Sinclair Broadcasting station which blacked out Monday morning's program after airing the Thursday premier. Sinclair also controls FOX-11 and uses the news departments of its more than 200 stations to air right-wing biased news. Why? They've noticed how FOX can net over a billion a year in pure profit by pandering to residents of Oz, Narnia and Mar-a-Loco. So don't count on FOX-11 today.

There's also an unseen hand in this market. Northern Nevada has always been a Republican stronghold. They are the establishment, rich, stodgy and powerful. Go too far and their law firms will be ordered to quietly make moves to torpedo a station's major advertisers. The mediocre media never know what (or whom) hit them.

The invisible hand of the market is always at work here in the High Desert Outback of the American Dream.

Unlike most first-world countries, U.S. public airwaves have always been sold to the highest bidder. Washington pols quake in fear of the television-industrial complex. Witness the taxpayer-subsidized giveaway of high-definition channels a few years ago.

Want to take America back? Start with our formerly public airwaves.

BOB CARROLL, 1937-2022. The longtime radio-tv personality left us for the big studio in the sky a few days ago. He hosted his KUNR-fm "Best of Big Bands, Blues, Ballads and Broadway" program almost until the end.

Although not a journalist by trade, Bob became the face of KTVN TV-2 News in the station's infancy in the late 1960s. In the early 1970s, he opened an ad agency which was very successful. We were friendly competitors for many years. He ran for Reno City Council in 1973 and Washoe County Commission in 1974.

Bob's the second familiar face to recently sign off. John Howe, former news director at KOLO TV-8 in the 1970s, died last month at 93. (Barbwire 6-1-2022)

His memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 25 at Mountain View Mortuary, 425 Stoker in Reno. That's an hour earlier than originally scheduled.

Bob Carroll's sendoff will happen at the same location at 2:00 p.m. this Friday, June 17.

Good knowing you, gentlemen. You done real good.

I LUV LUCEY? BUYER BEWARE. Madcap Washoe Assessor Mike Clark, whose staff obtained a restraining order against him for running a white collar sweatshop, is advertising his wares to replace County Commissioner Bob Lucey in his southwest Reno district. I'm no fan of Mr. Lucey whose tenure on the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) precipitated the successful Teamsters Union Hat Trick Strikes of 2021. With Clark, I'll make an exception.

Clark won an upset for assessor against a good public servant, Joshua Wilson, eight years ago. I was amazed at Clark's website which all but promised he would cut people's property taxes, something the assessor has no power to do. It worked.

The Reno Gazette-Journal did an extensive roundup on the current contest. Awhile back, Clark was even banned from entering his own assessor's office while still receiving his full taxpayer salary. This yayhoo should never be elected to anything. [[UPDATE: Alas and alack, it appears Clark has defeated Commissioner Lucey and will face Democrat Keith Lockard and Libertarian David Michael Banuelos in November.]]

MASS TRANSIT MAYHEM. Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve was elected by the city council to replace Reno Councilmember Oscar Delgado on RTC. The commission will thus have four Republicans plus the non-partisan mayor to continue the grotesque mismanagement of the local mass transit system.

Councilmembers Naomi Duerr, Jenny Brekhus and Devon Reese, all Democrats, also wanted the job. Monitor NevadaLabor.com for some interesting revelations ahead of this Friday's RTC meeting.

BEER PONG AT CITY HALL? Read ThisIsReno.com's report of the heated beating some councilcritters and Mlle. Mayor administered to Ms. Brekhus last week. The two ladies are both running for the mayoralty. [[UPDATE: Based on incomplete returns, it appears that Mayor Schieve will again face her 2018 opponent Eddie Lorton this fall.]]

Pray for Ukraine and 53 other currently war-torn lands. 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 (Pardon my French.)Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-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. He is retained by no political campaign. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988.

About 120 years later, cartoonist Walt Kelly's Pogo the Possum said pretty much the same thing, albeit with less elegance: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Nazi General Hermann Goering, who commanded military divisions, best espoused the strategy of civil division in 1946: "The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked...It works the same way in any country."

Let's chill for a minute, dial down the sulfurous fury and, as President Lyndon Johnson liked to say, "come now, and let us reason together." (Isaiah 1:18)

I've noted countless times that the way to control the masses is to keep them fighting each other for crumbs that fall off the banquet tables of their betters. If us peons ever bother to look up, we can turn the tables. Why not now? But how?

First, look in the mirror. Do you see yourself if any of the above?

Many Americans have very legitimate gripes. The farmer who works dawn 'til dusk and beyond, struggling to save his little piece of ground. The factory worker whose livelihood has been exported to a fourth-world country. The high school grad wondering if she should go into debt for the rest of her life to earn a college degree. The urban ghetto dweller or the rural impoverished, prisoners all of a system that offers little hope.

It is thus very easy for some larcenous hammerhead to offer simple-sounding solutions, usually by foisting blame upon some nefarious manifestation of evil better known as The Other— anyone other than the audience at hand.

Where is the sword of Alexander to cut this Gordian Knot, this metastasizing tumor in the guts of civilization?

First, look to the two great systems supposedly devised to give everyone a decent shot: Capitalism and Communism.

Alas and alack, as longshoreman philosopher Eric Hofer pointed out, both lead to the same damned place. (Barbwire 7-15-2001) Taken to their logical conclusions, both result in everyone working for a single monstrous company or a monolithic political party. George Orwell's "Animal Farm" illustrated it as the cautionary fairy tale in which we live today
.
Left to their own devices, big fish devour small fish and are in turn engorged by bigger and bigger fish. Eventually only one huge monster remains.

This was satirized in the 1993 Sylvester Stallone film "Demolition Man." Set in a dystopian future, all restaurants are Taco Bell because "Taco Bell won the restaurant wars," as Sandra Bullock blithely explains.

Under Communism, everyone is supposedly equal but as Orwell put it, "some animals are more equal than others." So everybody works for the Communist Party.

Both systems end up in the same exploitive place: Dictatorship, jack-booted authoritarianism or softshoe fascism.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., last week said that it's high time for the government to start enforcing anti-trust law. A few years ago, she said "capitalism without regulation is tyranny."

Almost all Americans labor under the tyranny of big fishes eating the small ones, only to be devoured themselves.

World class economist David Schwartz told me in 1981 of corporate concentration research done by a colleague. Dr. Schwartz noted that America was entering an age of "mature capitalism" (Barbwire 9-25-2005) where innovation takes a back seat to corporate acquisition.

Rather than put money into developing a better mousetrap, corporate America simply buys out any potential competitor. Microsoft was the poster child.

Schwartz told me that his friend back in the 1970s did some simple addition. He took the Fortune 500, totaled its assets, and worked his way down the list until he found the point where the biggest companies controlled half of corporate property. The divide fell somewhere just above the middle. I did the same thing in the 1990s. By then, I recall that perhaps about 75 or 80 of the top dogs controlled half the wealth.

Schwartz's stark projection of the evils of corporate concentration proved prescient. Instance in point: baby formula. Three big companies now dominate the market with impunity. So millions of American infants today are malnourished or starving.

Even before the shortage caused by their own misfeasance, their prices were exorbitant. There is no true competition in an oligopoly.

Perhaps a dozen years ago, I found myself in a checkout line behind a young Latina trying to buy three cans of baby formula for her infant nephew. Alas, her credit card was maxed out. As she turned to walk away, I asked the checker how much each can cost. I was shocked: about $35, as I recall. I only had enough money on me to pay for one, which I did. She thanked me. I've always felt good about helping some kid I will never know in his time of need. It should never be that way in this, the richest, fattest country in the history of the world — the land of the rigged game.

Most of the products you see at your local grocery likewise perpetuate the myth of competition, manufactured and massaged by advertising and corporate propaganda. From chicken, sugar, milk and eggs to electricity, gasoline and housing — examples are endless.

All that goes a long way toward explaining the righteous anger of so many. So much of that energy is misdirected.

On the hopeful side, I've noticed recent chatter about corporate non-competition acting as the underlying cause of today's inflationary spiral.

Make common cause with other pawns in this rigged game, especially those who may be light years away from the way you think. Convince them to start looking up at the banquet table rather than down at the crumbs on the floor.

The choice is yours.

Pray for Ukraine and 53 other currently war-torn lands. 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 (Pardon my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-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. He is retained by no political campaign. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988.

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	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

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

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Copyright © 1982-2022 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 53-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and SenJoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee. He is the executive producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

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

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