BallotBoxing
 The All-American Bloodsport

Rough & Tumble — No Holds Barred


"If voting mattered, they wouldn't let us do it." — Travus T. Hipp, 1982

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
— Paul Valery, French critic & poet (1871-1945)

Barbwire Confidential: Hush-Hush!

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

Updated on 1-15-2020 GMT

National welfare, corporate welfare and MLK
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-15-2020 Sparks Tribune

"America exists today to make war." — Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, 2002-2005

The only way to stop killing is to stop killing
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-8-2020 Sparks Tribune

Barbano sells out to white Republicans
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-1-2020 Sparks Tribune

Hope you and yours enjoyed Happy High Holly Days
Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo / Felice Anno Nuovo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2020


© 2019 The New York Times

The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Sermon on Mount Barbwire
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-25-2019 Sparks Tribune

Typhoid Mary infects Sparks Addams Family
In the spirit of true democracy which provides that your rights don't allow you to sneeze on mine
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-18-2019 Sparks Tribune

A fake news fable for our times
Typhoid Mary, quite contrary
In the spirit of true democracy which provides that your rights don't allow you to sneeze on mine
Barbwire Confidential by Andrew Barbáno / 12-11-2019 Online Edition

Red-flag warnings — Ignoring history at our peril
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-11-2019 Sparks Tribune

Major rent raunch
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-4-2019 Sparks Tribune

Billionaire Tom Steyer owes me $5
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 11-27-2019 Sparks Tribune

11-30-2019
Happy St. Andrew's Day in Scotland and my house.
Hoist ye holy spirits.

Alleluia!

BREAKING NEWS AND THEN SOME—>

Requiescat in pace
Dennis C. Myers
12-28-1948/8-25-2019

Nevada's Greatest Of All-Time journalist, would have been 71 years old today. The GOAT was a goat —
a Capricorn. As Voltaire once opined, "God is a comedian playing to an audience afraid to laugh."

On 12-27-2005

Requiescat in pace
Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005

On 12-27-2015

Hunka Hunka Bernie Love

SOLIDARITY — Communications Workers of America members and their families from throughout northern Nevada pose with Sen. Sanders after his speech. NevadaLabor.com editor Andrew Barbano, far right, holds up his copy of the Dec. 3 edition of Rolling Stone with Sen. Sanders on the cover. The senator signed it immediately after the photo-op. Primo.

Sanders promises penalties for state corporate welfare

Sparks, Nev. (U-News) [Copyright © 2015 NevadaLabor.com] 4:55 p.m. PST 12-27-2015, 00:55 GMT 12-28-2015 — Campaigning in northwestern Nevada, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, told a standing-room-only crowd at the Northern Nevada Labor Temple that he would work to inhibit state vs. state corporate welfare.

Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 26/AFL-CIO Business Development Director Rob Benner asked "Senator, I assume you've noticed the 'Fix Tesla First' sign on the wall. Another electric car company, China-owned Faraday, has just received $334 million in tax breaks to come to Nevada. This came almost exactly a year after state government granted Tesla $1.4 billion. What can you do to fix this?"

Sanders understood the problem, stating that "it's not as simple as I will say it, but I would work to see that states lose some portion of federal benefits when they grant huge tax incentives such as you are describing which hurt needed services."

Sanders also said that he would support automatic union recognition if 50 percent plus one worker sign cards saying they want a union.

President Obama promised to support such legislation when he ran in 2008, but the White House never got behind the now long-dead Employee Free Choice Act.

Sanders also opposed a recent proposal to enact a national "right-to-work-for-less" law, adding that if workers get the benefits of a union contract, "they should contribute."

He noted his longtime opposition to treaties such as NAFTA and the Trans Pacific Partnership which ship jobs to low-wage countries. He added that he knows some Republican senators who have problems with the TPP and it may not pass in this session of Congress.

Sanders advocated for a $15 per hour minimum wage, noting that a working male today makes $700 per year less than he did in 1973, adjusted for inflation. Sanders added that women have also lost ground, especially over the past decade.

NevadaLabor.com Editor Andrew Barbano asked Sen. Sanders if he would support a fix to Obamacare which has put union health plans in jeopardy and is forcing union workers to pay a tax for which they receive nothing.

"Absolutely," Sanders replied.

Sanders answered every question from the audience which ranged from moppets to retirees. One young man noted that since he will be 18 by the general election next year, he will be allowed to participate in Nevada's February caucus. Sen. Sanders noted that Iowa likewise allows youth participation. He added that he's running ahead in New Hampshire, is getting closer in Iowa and if he also does well in Nevada and S. Carolina, victory will be possible.

In the Dec. 3 edition of Rolling Stone, he stated that "Nobody denies, Hillary Clinton least of all, that she is an establishment candidate."

Sanders signed Barbano's Dec. 3 Rolling Stone cover.

 

145 years ago
Barbed wire was patented (11-24-1874), ensuring full employment for doctors and lawyers in perpetuity.
On 18 Jan. 1813, Joseph Glidden, inventor of barbed wire, was born.
The west was never the same. Likewise here.
Stick with The Barbwire to sharply point out the awful truth. Always here.
Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
For all the news you never knew you needed to know 'til now—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

Requiescant in pace
John F. Kennedy
May 29, 1917 — November 22, 1963

C.S. Lewis: November 29, 1898 — November 22, 1963
Aldous Huxley: July 26, 1894 — November 22, 1963

Back to the future down Amnesia Lane
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 11-20-2019 Sparks Tribune

We Don't Need No Education Part XCII—>
People get ready, that train's a comin'
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Barbwire Confidential Internet Edition 11-12-2019 / Updated 11-14 & 11-15-2019
A version of this column appeared in the Wednesday 11-13-2019 Sparks Tribune
An excerpt from the above was included in Andrew Barbano's address to the Washoe school board on Nov. 12.
SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME:
Clever maneuver prevents vote after 4 of 7 trustees announce support to name school for Dolores Feemster

We Don't Need No Education Part XCI—>
DO NOT risk your kids at Golden Eagle Park
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 11-6-2019 Sparks Tribune

Boffo reviews!
74th Annual Reno-Sparks NAACP
Freedom Fund Awards Banquet Oct. 19, 2019

Tale of 2 city halls: Cancer kids & brain damage
+Freedom Fund Banquet Update
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 10-30-2019 Sparks Tribune

Written in the stars: UNR football for racial justice
Freedom Fund Banquet Update
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 10-23-2019 Sparks Tribune

Goodbye, Columbus: A mirror for America
How Italians Became "White"
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 10-16-2019 Sparks Tribune

Déjà vu all over again: Bernie turns 2020 into 1968
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 10-9-2019 Sparks Tribune

City of Reno turns W. Plumb Lane into horny street
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 10-2-2019 Sparks Tribune

Hip-hopping mad over molesters and Mad Kings
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 9-25-2019 Sparks Tribune

Trade the Confederacy straight across for Greenland
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 9-18-2019 Sparks Tribune

Dennis Myers: Enroute to the universe next door
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 9-11-2019 Sparks Tribune

Philippines to Burning Man to Ireland: Adios GOAT
Dennis Myers Memorial 9-15-2019
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-4-2019 Sparks Tribune

Nevadian Dennis Myers: The Greatest Of All Time
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 8-28-2019 Sparks Tribune

Dennis Myers, 1948-2019
OBITUARY: Veteran Nevada reporter removed from life support
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Internet Edition 8-25 and 8-26-2019
[En Español — La Voz Hispana En Nevada 9-18-2019]

Strike schtick


BREAKING NEWS —> PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS ON THE STREETS OF STEAD —> Activist/philanthropist/business tycoon Tom Steyer and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg joined the UAW/GM strikers on Sept. 27. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., will hit the picket line at 10:45 a.m. PDT on Thursday, Oct. 3.

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 19:10:21 -0700
Subject: UAW Rally in Stead, Saturday, September 28th, 11:00a.m.
The AFL-CIO is going to be out with the striking UAW workers tomorrow, 11:00a.m. PDT

Intensive care
St. Mary's-Reno nurses picket Wednesday September 18, 2019

The Trump Whisperer and a $40,000 baseball ticket
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-21-2019 Sparks Tribune

Perfectly Nevadian: Joe Conforte, 1925-2019
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-14-2019 Sparks Tribune

Guns and roses, traitors & political poses
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 8-7-2019 Sparks Tribune

TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM
— New York Times front page headline 8-6-2019
BARBWIRE TRANSLATION: "You provide the unity, I'll provide the racism"
Coming in Wednesday's Sparks Tribune: Guns and roses, traitors and political poses

7-28: Happy Birthday Senator Joe Neal.

BREAKING NEWS AND THEN SOME—>

Reno City Council passes rent control
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-17-2019 Sparks Tribune


Broken Promises in Boomtown —>

Drug Addiction: Nevada's Chronic Corporate Welfare Tax Giveaways

Nevada corporate welfare queens rip off megabux from dumb hick taxpayers
By James De Haven / rgj.com 7-22 / Reno Gazette-Journal 7-28-2019

Corporate welfare ripoffs — Nevada business as usual
By Former Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno / Reno News & Review 7-25-2019

TURNING TRICKS QUESTION: Is Nevada’s corporate welfare paying off?
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 7-18-2019

Assemblymember Skip Daly, D-Sparks, has criticized Gov. Steve Sisolak for vetoing Assembly Bill 444 which would have created a legislative committee to review Nevada's epidemic of corporate tax breaks.
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-3-2019 Sparks Tribune

Racism Comes Out of the Closet
By Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman / nytimes.com 7-15 / The New York Times 7-16-2019

We Don't Need No Education Part LXXXIX—>

The Sting, spike heels, green eggs & ham
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-31-2019 Sparks Tribune

A cuckoo coup and a president, too
Barbwire exclusive: Secret 2017 meeting set the setup in motion
"The firing of Traci Davis was nothing short of a long-term, well-orchestrated coup."
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-24-2019 Sparks Tribune

Alfred E. Neuman for Washoe school superintendent
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-10-2019 Sparks Tribune

Witness at the execution: School superintendent fired 6-1
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-3-2019 Sparks Tribune

Gang banging on 9th Street
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Barbwire Confidential Extra Edition / 7-1-2019

Veni, Vidi, Jockocracy?
Locker room rules: Caesars goes commando, union vows resistance to Eldorado empire
By Bryan Horwath / Las Vegas Sun 6-28-2019 / Reno Gazette-Journal 7-8-2019

The divine right of kings, casino gods & dingbat heirs
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 6-26-2019 Sparks Tribune

The Barbwire Presidential Dirtiest Dozen
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 6-19-2019 Sparks Tribune

Carson City, Transylvania County, Nevada USA
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 6-12-2019 Sparks Tribune

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:
NAACP LEADER SLAIN IN JACKSON — PROTESTS MOUNT

13 June 1963 (The New York Times) — A day after President Kennedy asked all citizens to take up the cause of civil rights, Medgar Evers, Mississippi Field Secretary for the NAACP, was assassinated in front of his home. Myrlie Evers, his wife, told protestors that night that "her husband had spoken of death last Sunday and said he was ready to go," The Times reported. Byron De La Beckwith was finally convicted of the murder three decades later.

Trumpeting tragedy as Great Depression2 descends
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 6-5-2019 Sparks Tribune

Nevada: Righteous results, wrongheaded reasons
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 5-29-2019 Sparks Tribune

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Washington, DC (5-22-2019) — Tsar Donaldov nukes infrastructure bill until Democrats stop "witch hunt" investigations. To Trump, that's negotiation. To criminal lawyers, that's called a
PLEA BARGAIN.

Nevada Business Opportunity: Abortion Tourism
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 5-22-2019 Sparks Tribune

¡Viva Chávez!
César Chávez Celebration XVIII / Celebración de César Chávez XVIII
Tuesday 31 March 2020 / martes 31 de Marzo 2020
In a historic first, Gov. Steve Sisolak delivered the keynote address at the record-breaking 2019 event at the Grand Sierra Reno

May 15: The Ides of Uncle Walter Cronkite
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 5-15-2019 Sparks Tribune

What if they gave a murder and nobody came?
BARBWIRE CONFIDENTIAL: Sheriff Balaam's icy hot patch
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno /Expanded from the 5-8-2019 Sparks Tribune/Updated 5-9 & 5-10-2019

MayDay for renters, movie fans and avengers
 1982 Reno homicide—>Cold case gets hot
Alas, another Barbwire Peerless Predixion Prevails—>Caudill cavorts with Sharron Angle's acolytes
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 5-1-2019 Sparks Tribune

Sen. Ira Hansen announces his pregnancy
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-24-2019 Sparks Tribune

Priorities for butt-, rent-, birth- and gun-control
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-17-2019 Sparks Tribune

DAY OF THE DEAD
Relieve Rent & Pillage: Save SB398 & AB399
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Online Legislative Edition / 4-12-2019
Fairness for tenants dies 4-12 unless lawmakers throw it a lifeline

Politics does not reward the shy
Rent justification and a death penalty for corporate depredation
UPDATE: Fairness for tenants dies 4-12 unless lawmakers throw it a lifeline
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-10-2019 Sparks Tribune

A liberal case for a new, brutal death penalty
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-3-2019 Sparks Tribune

HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak delivers the keynote address at
César Chávez Celebration XVII 3-27-2019

50 years in Nevada: Trying to outlive them all
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-27-2019 Sparks Tribune

Guns, gouging and guts: once upon a time in the west
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-20-2019 Sparks Tribune

Guv keynotes César XVII: 17-year overnight success
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-13-2019 Sparks Tribune

Judge not lest ye be judged — or misjudged
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-6-2019 Sparks Tribune

Even in Sparks, God works in mysterious ways
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-27-2019 Sparks Tribune

OF CRABS AND CLANS: White bibs or white sheets tonight
Barbwire Confidential by Andres Luis Barbáno / 2-23-2019 SPECIAL ONLINE HUSHhush E-EDITION

His own Man: Nevada Legislature learned to work with a black senator
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 2-21-2019 / Review of "The Westside Slugger: Joe Neal's lifelong fight for social justice"
Clarification about the review: In 2003, Sen. Neal won passage of an increase in Nevada's gambling tax on the state's largest, most profitable casinos. It has not risen since he retired in 2004.
Sen. Neal and author John L. Smith will autograph copies on March 27 at César Chávez XVII at the Grand Sierra-Reno.

Hot off the press: "The Westside Slugger"
The life and times biography of Joseph M. Neal, Jr.
Nevada's first African-American senator
By Nevada Press Association Hall of Famer John L. Smith
Published in January 2019 by the University of Nevada Press

Trump's Wall: First step toward ending Nixon's War on Drugs
"Our for-profit prisons overflow with mostly black and brown people convicted of dastardly crimes like possession of two ounces of the Demon Weed."
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-20-2019 Sparks Tribune

NAACP Nevada Black History Month information

Happy Valentine's Day, Betty.

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005

BLACK LIKE ME 2119: The problem as solution
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-13-2019 Sparks Tribune

Andrew Barbano, former governor of Nevada
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-6-2019 Sparks Tribune

Downtown Sparks: New taxes, gun controls & a wall
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-30-2019 Sparks Tribune

Striking sex: The only thing Trump understands
UPDATES: CULINARY UNION DEFEATS THE CARANO CIRCUS ATTEMPT TO DECERTIFY (TERMINATE) THE UNION
The murderous 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire gets NY Philharmonic treatment and a Barbwire exclusive
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-23-2019 Sparks Tribune

Retired IBEW Local 401 Business Manager Jerry David and wife found slain in Reno home
Linked to 2 other recent homicides in Douglas County / Evidence of robbery found
UPDATE: Suspect in custody
By Siobhan McAndrew / Reno Gazette-Journal 1-19-2019

Sands of time blast the milestones of life
Nevada MLK weekend events announced
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-16-2019 Sparks Tribune

Hall of Fame Nevada Assemblymember Bob Price Dies

Hot off the press: "The Westside Slugger"
The biography of Sen. Joseph M. Neal, Jr.
By Nevada Press Association Hall of Famer John L. Smith
Published in January 2019 by the University of Nevada Press

Hope you and yours had Happy High Holly Days
Merry Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah
Hope you and yours enjoyed enthralling Thanksgibleting.