When we were kids chances are that we took no mind to the fact that every day when the sun comes up and then when it goes down it is an amazing show to see. That’s alright because, thankfully, it happens today just as it did when we were kids and when our ancestors were kids. The show the sun puts on for all those who take time to watch is nothing more than time moving us … [Read more...]
Learning to appreciate news reporter Jeff German: A remembrance
by John L. Smith When I first met Jeff German in the early 1980s at the Las Vegas Sun, I was a wisecracking sports columnist working on my best Jim Murray-meets-Mike Royko impersonation. German was a young hot-shot news reporter/columnist from out of town trying to take Vegas by storm. He wrote like Sgt. Joe Friday talked. If he had a sense of humor, he kept it well … [Read more...]
Murder, mayhem & rape R Us
It’s Queen Elizabeth’s fault. I spent Monday from midnight till dawn watching her sendoff soirée, held in the grandest tradition of Janis Joplin who likewise left a chunk of money in her will to throw a helluva party. (Her majesty spent a bit more.) I had to take a bit of time off from my Britannia all-nighter to roll out the recycling for my Teamsters brothers. I thus took … [Read more...]
Of giants, legends & lessers
Could it be that Adam Laxalt and Joe Lombardo read the Tribune? Or at least their demonstrably inept campaign managers? A day or so after the Trib hit the streets last week, both Republican candidates changed their spots, at least the TV variety. As I noted (“Robbing Peter to Play Paul” 8/31), Laxalt supporters were broadcasting an ad imploring voters to tell Sen. … [Read more...]
Teachers: Please don’t rewrite history
I’m sorry that teachers look bad after the pandemic. But pretending they didn’t do what they did does no one any good. The Associated Press reports that “Math and reading scores for America’s 9-year-olds fell dramatically during the first two years of the pandemic, offering an early glimpse of the sheer magnitude of the learning setbacks dealt to the nation’s children. … [Read more...]
Properly Subversive: This is not the end of the story
Properly Subversive/Sherman R. Frederick Like most Nevadans, the murder of a Las Vegas journalist shocked the conscience. Jeff German was found stabbed to death outside his home. Subsequently Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles was arrested on suspicion of the murder. The motive appears to be a series of stories German wrote about Telles that uncovered … [Read more...]
Robbing Peter to Play Paul
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT and the beast wouldn’t go to sleep. Ambition burned through Adam Laxalt’s visions as sugar plums danced in his head like plump law firm partnerships. The boy was shell-shocked that midnight dreary in late 2018. He had failed to turn the trick his grandpa had flipped which led to wealth, fame and power: Winning the Nevada governorship in a … [Read more...]
Yes, I will get the new COVID booster
By the time you read this, an updated COVID-19 booster shot will be on the market and unlike previous boosters this one will target the latest strains of the virus. I admit that I’m generally irritated with the federal government’s performance on the pandemic. Remember last Thanksgiving when the powers-that-be tried to tell us how to arrange the dinner tables to celebrate … [Read more...]