Frankly, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s memo to President Trump recommending modifications to a few national monuments — including the 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument in Clark County — is far too modest, but it has the Democratic contingent of Nevada’s Washington delegation squealing like a pig stuck under a gate. Zinke recommended unspecified changes to the Gold … [Read more...]

The New York Times editorial called the speech bellicose and said it had a dark tone and focus. It compared the speech unfavorably to one by a more humble President Obama in 2009 when many of the same problems existed — without a hint of recognition that Obama had failed to resolve any of those problems. The Los Angeles Times editorial said the message was undermined by … [Read more...]

There are two things we can’t seem to bury: Nuclear waste and the debate over Yucca Mountain. At something dubbed the RadWaste Summit at a Las Vegas hotel earlier this month the debate over whether or not to bury nuclear waste in a labyrinth of tunnels inside Yucca Mountain continued, breaking no new ground nor changing the minds of anyone so far as we could tell. Once … [Read more...]

The vitriol being spewed over President Trump’s suspension of Obama’s executive fiat to defer deportation of illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children are nothing more than pretentious and pointless political patronizing. Nevada’s Democratic delegation to Washington was unmatched in its heated hyperbole. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto called Trump a racist … [Read more...]

This paroxysm of efforts to eradicate all monuments and place names that memorialize historic leaders of the Confederacy serves as merely a distraction from real problems, wasting time and money that could be devoted to worthy endeavors. The latest target of this futile campaign appears to be the name of Jeff Davis Peak in Great Basin National Park. According to the … [Read more...]

This Sunday, Sept. 17, marks the anniversary of one of the most propitious days in the history of this country. On that day in 1787, the representatives at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the Constitution. It was ratified by the states and went into effect on March 4, 1789. You remember the Constitution, don’t you? That’s the document that says the … [Read more...]

What a difference a single word makes. Though the Nevada Constitution clearly states that any person serving in one branch of government may not perform “any function” of another branch, the Legislature’s lawyers, the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB), in 2002 penned a nonbinding opinion that stated a person may serve in the Legislature if they do not exercise “any sovereign … [Read more...]

A Texas federal court judge has struck down a rule change by Obama’s Labor Department that would have cost employers $1.2 billion a year by requiring overtime for an additional 4.2 million workers — or in reality, however many workers actually still had jobs after the costs were imposed. The legal challenge was spearheaded by Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt on behalf of … [Read more...]