Would you vote for somebody who put out a contract for your murder? About 74 million Americans did just that last November. It’s hard for me to sympathize with anyone who wants me dead. I don’t know about you, but I’d have a hard time supporting a buncha crazies who let the current plague get out of control because their promiscuous priest ordered them to do so. Last month, … [Read more...]

I get journalistic whiplash writing for Battle Born Media newspapers in rural Nevada and San Francisco. After living in Nevada for most of my life and now spending time -- more time than I should, perhaps -- in the San Francisco area, the approach to almost everything is so different. Take homelessness during the pandemic, for example.  The problem in rural Nevada -- … [Read more...]

The nighttime sky in rural Nevada is drop-dead spectacular. No pollution and no big-city lights produce dark skies and a blanket of majestic stars. My bet is most people who live in the great open spaces of Nevada have seen a UFO. Or two. Or more. Now, I don’t want anyone to confuse me with George Knapp, the longtime Las Vegas TV guy who is 24-7 all about UFOs, but I do love … [Read more...]

While I opposed a good many things Sen. Harry Reid tried to do during his time as a national leader, I don’t begrudge him the honor of having the Las Vegas airport renamed after him.  He’s the perfect politician to follow Sen. Pat McCarran, for whom the airport is currently named. They are two peas in a pod. One was a racist and bully in the 1930s through the 50s. The … [Read more...]

I don’t think I’m being overly dramatic when I tell you that there’s more hard rain coming following the fallout of the pandemic and our government’s decisions to deal with it.  Consider this tragedy that happened in one of the towns in which Battle Born Media publishes a community newspaper. (I hope it hasn’t happened in yours, but I suspect there is a chance it … [Read more...]

 A week ago we witnessed the strangest Presidential Inauguration in history. Instead of huge throngs of people, there were a very small number of persons in attendance; also with everyone wearing masks the whole affair had a somber appearance. While Biden’s acceptance speech was pretty much a boilerplate rehash of his campaign rhetoric the one outstanding event, … [Read more...]

When she was good, It was oh, so good You were blessed If she smiled on you. You could be king If she believed your story. When it was over, If she laughed at you.* Half a century ago this week, a young Italian from Fresno by way of Las Vegas drove his freshly-painted canary yellow Buick Riviera eastward on I-80 through Sparks past the Nugget toward … [Read more...]

How has President Joe Biden and his promised super-competent COVID-19 team doing after it’s first two weeks on the job? Well, sadly, the new boss’s performance is largely indistinguishable from the old boss’s performance.  Why the slow start? A Biden vaccine insider put it succinctly. He quoted Nevada’s wise philosopher Mike Tyson: “Everyone has a plan until they get … [Read more...]