Time to peer into a beer bottle to reflect on the past and illuminate the gloom of 2019. Last December 26, I wrote that “Great Depression Part Deux will hit in the third quarter of (2018), too late to help Democrats. Paying attention to publicly available information, I called the 2007-08 meltdown well over two years ahead. (See BarbanoMedia.com/)” So how did that stack … [Read more...]
So This Is Christmas: May We Get What We Deserve
They sold me a dream of Christmas, They sold me a Silent Night, They told me a fairy story, ‘Till I believed in the Israelite, I believed in Father Christmas, I looked to the sky with excited eyes, ‘Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn, And I saw him and through his disguise This column is a throwback to my radio incarnation where music often drove … [Read more...]
Melvin and Howard: The Untold Reality Show
Howard Hughes came to Nevada in the 1960s to launder Mafia-owned gambling properties into white collar legitimacy. The agoraphobic industrialist and movie producer had a long and sordid history with organized crime. (See investigative reporter Howard Kohn’s “The Hughes-Nixon-Lansky Connection,” Rolling Stone, 1976.) I bring up the Silver State’s checkered past because Melvin … [Read more...]
A Christmas Fantasy for Freedom-Loving Racists
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. -- Leonard Cohen I had a dream that white guys finally vanquished the black and brown menace. Nevada … [Read more...]
A Pledge of Allegiance for Our Empire’s Children
I pledge allegiance To the United States of America A republic One nation, indivisible With liberty and justice For some. That’s what I say when I put my hand over my heart to face the stars and stripes of our national non-sectarian religious icon. To say otherwise would perpetuate a myth. America’s depredations weigh heavily on this old man’s heart this chilly … [Read more...]
Trumptasic Tree Ornaments for Fun and Prophet
Every harried editor I’ve ever driven crazy at deadline has heard this excuse: “Something came in late and I had to rewrite from scratch. Please be patient.” This is such a time. I was scrambling for a killer lead when conveniently arrived a compelling offer from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the folks distributing defrocked Sen. Dean Heller’s résumé and … [Read more...]
Bluish Waves, Silver Bullets, Yellow Dogs & Chickens
Nevada’s vaunted Blue Wave was a spray bottle of Windex. You could have won bar bets on last week’s political races with no more knowledge than which party registered the most voters in a district. Statewide, all the Donkeykongs won save secretary of state candidate Nelson Araujo, defeated by incumbent Wicked Witch of Voter Suppression Barbara Cegavske. He failed to raise … [Read more...]
If we stop killing, we stop killing ourselves
I would have wept had I sat up front. I was fortunate to pass the vigil for the Pittsburgh Eleven in the foyer of Temple Emanu-El last week. The small church overflowed, mostly with average folks paying their respects. Less than a dozen public officials and pretenders. After most attendees left for an outdoor candle lighting, I ventured into the nearly empty place of … [Read more...]