President Biden is supposed to be the most powerful man in the world because he controls the most formidable military. Alas, that mantle has now passed onto Athe egocentric shoulders of Nevada’s champion corporate welfare queen, Elon Musk.
Last year, the richest man on the globe scuttled Ukrainian drones attacking the Russian fleet because he didn’t want to piss off his pal Putin. The unimpeded Red Navy then easily launched multiple missiles against Ukrainian cities.
Musk’s SpaceX controls over 5,000 satellites in orbit and apparently our privatization-mad conservative government has contracted out military communications. Life on earth is now one big, deadly expensive electronic game.
How important are wartime communication systems? The first thing Gen. Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf did in the 1991 pushover Kuwait War was disable Saddam Hussein’s military communications.
Ukraine has survived because the United States provides eye-in-the-sky intelligence in every arena, from Russian troop and armor movements to aiming artillery and missile strikes. But Czar Elon can stop anything he doesn’t like, apparently. Joe Biden just got demoted.
Democracy is on the defensive worldwide. Der Fuerher Donaldov fits right in with the dictators he admires. Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban just announced his support for Trump’s re-election, stating that the Orange Crusher can stop the Ukraine war. Sure. Get out the white flags and assemble the firing squads.
Trump called Czar Vlad the Impaler “a genius” for moving Russian forces to Ukraine’s borders and threatening surrender or die.
Trump marveled at “all that land” his idol Putin was going to get. Visions of hotels and golf courses danced thru his head.
BARBWIRE EXCLUSIVE. AT&T is reportedly bailing out of landlines and ain’t doing too good in the wireless biz, either. A few weeks ago, I tested my secondary cell.
“The number you have called is not in service at this time. Please check the number, hang up and try again,” said the robo-lady from Voicemail Hell.
WTF!
I ended up talking with a young man somewhere back east who informed me that untold numbers of AT&T wireless accounts had been mistakenly disconnected because of a computer “upgrade.”
Blaming computers is the modern equivalent of “the dog ate my homework.”
In this case, I believe Ma Bell — big, fat, rich and lazy.
To quote Ernestine, the smarmy switchboard operator created by the great Lily Tomlin, “we don’t care, we don’t have to, we are the phone company and we are omnipotent.”
AT&T controls 40 percent of the U.S. communications market. With the dawn of artificial intelligence, that old joke may well come true.
BARBWIRE EXCLUSIVE, TOO. The losing streak continues for Ma Bell. Longtime AT&T Nevada President Stephanie Tyler retired last week, as did veteran executive Randy Brown. Ms. Tyler’s portfolio also included Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii.
A native Nevadan who worked up through the ranks, Ms. Tyler ascended to the top job in 2010 after a sojourn as AT&T’s chief lobbyist in the big leagues — the California Legislature and DC. She took a year off to manage Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign.
She was well trained for it here at home starting with her dad Brent Tyler, the best political pollster and best damn Republican I ever knew.
Her mom, Ann, had been a dealer at the old Riverside Hotel. Brent was also a sales exec for Sparks-based Young Electric Sign Company, fabricators of the Reno Arch.
Stephanie was an aide to Republican Lt. Gov. Sue Wagner, then worked the ledge for AT&T before serving one session as a state senator representing Reno.
I told her that I am going to get a law passed banning all Silver State retirements.
Nevada needs all the experienced help she can get, dammit!
Maybe I can recruit Stephanie as my lobbyist.
SHOUTOUT DEPT. Max congrats to Nevada Consumer Advocate Eric Witkoski and his boss, Attorney General Aaron Ford, for scuttling NVEnergy’s attempt to include corporate sports sponsorships in people’s power bills. They even tried to hand ratepayer money to the Las Vegas Raiders after that pirate ship looted Nevada for a few billion.
Reminded me of the days when I worked with some of the best utility experts in the country against NVE’s predecessors. Dr. William Belmont once related the story of Confederate region power monster Southern Company, the nation’s second largest utility. The CEO’s wife was curiously chartering jetliners and flitting about the country working on “redecoration of corporate offices.” They expected ratepayers to foot the bill for her crew’s huge travel expenses.
Couldn’t she just fly first class on Delta? It made no sense until Belmont’s watchdogs compared her travel bills with the Alabama University football schedule. Junket game over.
Let NVE score all the executive sports perks its brahmins desire, but let the stockholders pay for it.
TOLJASO DEPT. Superstar NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers blew his entire season when he blew out his knee during his new team’s first game.
The New York Jets play on artificial turf which the NFL Players Association now at long last wants banned throughout the league.
I’ve been warning about that hazardous pseudo-grass for almost a decade. Golden Eagle Park in Sparks is infected with the largest expanse of plastic greenery in the country, according to city hall.
Its appeal is obvious: Cheap, looks great on TV, low maintenance. And did I mention it’s cheap?
The big difference in injury rates between natural grass and petro turf has been well documented. It’s much worse for kids, those most susceptible to long term maladies like cancer and brain damage from the plastic green blades laced with ground-up used tires. Analysis has revealed a toxic cocktail of about 100 chemicals in the crumb rubber wasteland. See CONSUMERCOALITIONV.org/
When will they ever learn?
Stay safe, get vaxxed and pray for those cruelly afflicted by the cruelly small minds on this small planet, especially victims of our perpetual wars.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbáno is a 54-year Nevadan, a member of Sparks-based Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO, editor of NevadaLabor.com and CONSUMERCOALITIONV.org/ Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us
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