The retrial of four defendants in the 2014 Bunkerville standoff at the Bundy ranch got underway this past week in Las Vegas, and this time the prosecution and the judge seem determined to avoid another mistrial due to a hung jury by eviscerating defense arguments. Federal Judge Gloria Navarro granted a prosecution motion to bar presentation of evidence “supporting jury … [Read more...]
The deal that never should have been
In all the second-guessing and navel gazing over the Faraday Future flop, no one is bringing up the real reason that the deal should never have been made in the first place. Yes, it was an ill-conceived idea for gullible Nevada lawmakers in a special session in 2015 on blind faith alone to agree to dole out $215 million in tax abatements and credits to entice Faraday Future … [Read more...]
Repeal ObamaCare and let states handle health insurance
The bad news for those who live in Clark, Carson City and Nye counties is that companies offering ObamaCare-compliant health insurance policies have requested 38 percent premium increases in 2018. The good news for those in the rest of Nevada is that their ObamaCare premiums will not be going up because there are no companies offering such policies. In pulling out of those … [Read more...]
How to make use of those Yucca Mountain tunnels
Sometimes things just naturally come full circle. For decades Nevada’s former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid constantly pounded on two themes: Blocking nuclear waste from being stored in Yucca Mountain in Nye County and pressing for more and more solar panels to be thrown up on thousands of acres of public land and on rooftops across the state. When Congress designated Yucca … [Read more...]
Ownership of land would be better than paltry PILT payouts
It is that time of year again, when counties in Nevada and across the West squat on the street corner with their tin alms cups extended anxiously awaiting the tinkling sound of a few coins from the federal till — otherwise known as Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT). Since 1977 Congress has parsimoniously paid out pennies on the acre to local governments to make up for the land … [Read more...]
Return authority over intrastate water to the states
The Environmental Protection Agency announced this past week that it is moving to rescind the Obama administration’s 2015 rules that defined the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act of 1972 as every stream, ditch, wetland or mud puddle that might eventually after a deluge spill a few drops into any rivulet that might occasionally be navigable with an … [Read more...]
Democrats doubly wrong in effort to gag free speech
Democrats keep pounding on a solution in search of a problem. In January of 2010 the Supreme Court held that it is unconstitutional to prohibit political campaign spending by corporations and unions. In the case of Citizens United v. FEC the court struck down a law under which the Federal Election Commission barred the airing of a movie produced by Citizens United that was … [Read more...]
Nevada right to join sanctuary city fight
Earlier this month Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt joined with nine other attorneys general in filing a friend-of-the-court brief challenging a federal judge’s decision in April to block a President Trump executive order that would deny some federal funding for sanctuary cities. The judge sided with Santa Clara County, the city of San Francisco and other jurisdictions … [Read more...]