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...]

If rural Nevada were its own country, we’d be one of the safest places on Earth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some on point numbers:  Esmeralda County - 0 deaths.  Eureka County - 0 deaths. Lincoln County - 1 death. White Pine County - 4 deaths. Mineral County - 4 deaths. When we get around to seriously discussing Gov. Steve Sisolak’s response to the … [Read more...]

I knew what it was before I even opened the e-mail. I stomped the floor, cursing and swearing every damnation in the dictionary before I even sat down. I didn’t even know that he had been ill but I knew Joe was dead. The three e-mails from Sen. Dina Neal all carried the same subject line: “My Dad.” I knew what it meant. Thus ended a very quiet New Year’s Eve. … [Read more...]

It’s surprising how the discovery of an inanimate object from decades ago can trigger a flood of memories.   Such was the case when I recently came across a pristine copy of the official program of the 1960 Winter Olympics that were held in nearby Squaw Valley, California.   My chief interest in that long-ago Olympics was due to the fact that I was … [Read more...]

Geewillikers Batman! No melarkey? Heavy-hitting local leaders are telling people to avoid our superspreader bus system? Have the powerful finally figured out that the great unwashed are human, too? Not quite. But even backhanded support is better than no support at all. KOLO TV-8 is airing a spot with a bunch of local luminaries begging people to stay home on New Year’s … [Read more...]

Probably the most iconic American columnist of all time was San Francisco’s Herb Caen.  He is widely credited with developing a journalistic style that became known as Three Dot Journalism.  In essence, he set the bar for columnists around the country.   I was fortunate enough to interface with Herb on many occasions during my time at The Mapes … [Read more...]