“How will labor come back? In a strike. That’s not romanticism, that’s a fact. It’ll start with one plant. One plant. And they strike. And there’ll be guys across the street at a second plant, and they see it, and they think ‘Hmm, maybe we can do that.’ And they win. Then somebody in Idaho does it, the same thing, independently. And then all of a sudden you’re seeing some John … [Read more...]
Lousy Lawyering for Pun and Prophet
We’re gonna get rich. Today, I announce formation of the non-profit Barbwire Foundation which will provide legal, governmental, administrative, political and educational advice at half the price that the big boys charge. I can screw up every bit as badly as our major institutions and do it far cheaper. Take the Rail City. Please. I could have put together those disastrous … [Read more...]
Recognizing the Red Flags of Instant Replay
You learn to recognize the red flags of instant replay as you get older. BIG DREAMS AND FLYING MACHINES in pieces on the ground: Activists are decrying Reno City Council approval of a huge new housing development in the flood plain at the base of Peavine Mountain. Be patient. Developers smoked environmentalists in 2006 when county government chickened out on acquiring the … [Read more...]
Valentines for Cleopatra & Wayward Beautiful Girls
If you’re lucky, you will encounter a precious few amazingly gifted individuals. So awesome are they that the possibility of their deaths never occurs to you. Not once. Such a rarity was Blaine Sullivan Rose who died on January 26 at age 65. I first met overachieving beautiful Blainie during my maiden voyage at the Nevada legislature in 1973. She was the most spectacular … [Read more...]
Bliss Barbies: the Yellow Brick Road to Anorexia
“Bliss Babe” is a very slick local hómàge to Vogue and Vanity Fair. Self-positioned as ‘the premier women’s lifestyle magazine for Nevada and California,” BB is available at upscale public accommodations not frequented by the likes of me. The current edition’s cover story promotes “Beauty, Body and Bliss” complete with naked local ladies demonstrating what readers can become … [Read more...]
Mississippi West 2018: Sexy Moral Depravity Abides
WHAT ELSE IS NEW DEPT. Alas and alack, recent revelations about state facility abuse of the mentally disabled is just instant replay. I started fighting that fight in 1974 and have never stopped. Unfortunately, the greatest champions of Nevada’s mentally afflicted are now all dead. I don’t know how many times I’ve written that whenever a budget crunch hits, Nevada balances … [Read more...]
Awards Season: Bad Bids, Bad Hits and Bad Attitudes
Rob Gronkowski is the personification of the guy you hope you never meet down a dark alley. The New England Patriots tough guy took a bad helmet-to-helmet hit in the first half of Sunday’s playoff game and did not return. That was far from his only injury. The game in Foxboro, Mass., was played on crumb-rubber artificial turf. You can tell by the black dust kicked up when … [Read more...]
Bizarro R Us: Win Bar Bets Predicting the 51st State
Martin Luther King weekend was a whipsaw of conflicting emotions. At the Reno Unitarian church last Sunday, preacher Barbano’s introduction of the racially oppressed and internationally famous Yerington family brought a sustained standing ovation. I was honored to meet 14 year-old sisters Jayla Tolliver and Taylissa Marriott, their mother, Nancy, and Uncle Reggie Brantley … [Read more...]