Barbwire.TV / ReSurge.TV

— Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, patron saint of hellraisers

Revenge of Trump's postmaster general:
Proposed northern Nevada/eastern California mail shunt to Sacramento slows down mail, endangers voting
Washoe voter registrar warns of destruction of voting by mail
By Mark Robison / Reno Gazette-Journal 2-25-2024

URGENT
Send your comments to the postal overlords on or before Wednesday Feb. 28, 2024

Where's Ben Franklin when we need him?

Commissar T-Rump Serves Czar RasPutin
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-31-2024

After Teamsters DC meeting, Trump says of possible union endorsement, "Stranger things have happened"
By Jill Kolvin & Tom Krisher / Associated Press / 1-31-2024

T-Rump raps America
Donald Trump's campaign goes hip-hop
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-27-2023

Hope you and yours enjoyed Happy High Holly Days
Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo / Felice Anno Nuovo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2024
Vaxx up, stay safe, pray for Ukraine and almost 100 other currently war-torn lands.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak delivers the keynote address at
César Chávez Celebration XVII 3-27-2019

Requiescat in pace

University of Nevada Journalism Prof. Emeritus and longtime Sparks Tribune columnist Jake Highton died of a heart attack on 7 Aug. 2017. More information as it develops. May the great teacher rest in peace from work well done and a life well-lived.

On Nov. 23, 2014, after revelations by The Barbwire/Sparks Tribune, the Reno News & Review and the Reno-Sparks NAACP, Assemblymember Ira-Hansen, R-Sparks, resigned as speaker-designate of the Nevada State Assembly.

In Memoriam: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 5-29-1917/11-22-1963

Nobody knows nothin'
By David Horsey, Staff Cartoonist / Los Angeles Times 11-9-2016
BARBWIRE SEZ the awesome Mr. Horsey's assertion that only the LAT/USC poll was accurate ain't necessarily so.

Democrats for Trump
Running Mate Exposed

Barbwire Confidential: Hush-Hush!
Thank you for NOT voting
Subscribe to the New Barbwire Insider News Service
All the news you never knew you needed to know 'til now

Eee-yo-leven!
BARBWIRE SCORES 11TH NEVADA PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARD

An invitation to put your money where my mouth is
Support the new Barbwire TV season and community channel: Contribute online by clicking in the TV set image, below

The Barbwire Nonesuch: News you never knew you needed to know 'til now

Hunka Hunka Bernie Love

"Media is the plural of mediocre."
— Jimmy Breslin

An invitation to put your money where my mouth is

To Viewers, supporters and users of the late, lamented Reno-Sparks-Washoe community TV station—>

Dear Friends: I'm putting the Barbwire Show back on TV and I need your help to sustain the new season.

The Dean's List

"The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described 'fighter of public demons,' who started putting his 'Barbwire' columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites."
RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006

Eee-yo-leven!
Barbwire wins 11th Nevada Press Association award
Award-winning Barbwire columns

1996-97 Pulitzer Entries

Barbwire Nominee Guy Richardson elected to Nevada Press Assn. Hall of Fame on first try

Support Don Dondero
and Jake Highton next

Barbwire.TV

Higher profile Barbwire programs are often made available to every television set in the eastern California/northern Nevada region via a high-profile media hybrid of commercial and community stations.

Please spread the word and consider contributing to the cause online at ReSurge.TV.

You are present at the creation of what I hope can become a new media model where the programming accurately reflects what's happening on the ground and the media impact is powerful enough to forcefully pass the message upward to decision makers.

ARCHIVE: Click here for a selection of on-demand re-runs from among almost 300 shows from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Barbwire.TV seasons

Barbwire.TV:
15-year overnight success
Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008

The Barbwire's Greatest Hits
Highlights from radio days
mp3 file
from the days I was beating Lush Rambo

You'll get your money back in the form of better-spent tax money and lower utility bills.

Honest, I was stone sober when this photo was taken on-air by viewer Mike Webb.

That's not a boast, that's a fact. As Baseball-Hall-of-Famer Dizzy Dean used to say, if you can do what you say you're gonna do, that ain't bragging.

I've advocated for smarter taxation for four decades and with a little help from my friends, I've occasionally been successful.

In 1980-81, I managed the campaign to establish the state office of consumer advocate (OCA). A decade later, I was appointed by the City of Reno to the founding board of the Reno-Sparks-Washoe community TV station.

OCA is now in jeopardy and truly public TV was extinguished after 19 years. These were my labors of love and they shall not fade away. (More about the PUC, NVEnergy and the consumer advocate in an upcoming bulletin.)

As you may know, I've been working to re-establish the community TV station. The next step is upon us: launching a new season of the Barbwire, live call-in talk TV.

I was raised a conservative Italian and I know how to do things on the cheap, but it can't be done for free.

Here are some recent examples why it's worth your while to ante into the game—>

1. TAX GIVEAWAYS. I have warned for decades that we would inherit the wind for our government excesses of corporate welfare. My conservative friends are now of like mind with my friends in labor. As of Sunday, Oct. 20, even the Reno Gazette-Journal has begun to see the light. See Cabellyup.com/

2. THE SCHOOL OF CREATIVE MATH. Early last year, I published evidence that the incredible high school graduation rate increases in both northern southern Nevada were indeed incredible. Since then, the manipulation has been confirmed. Read more at We Don't Need No Education, my continuing newspaper series.

3. JESTING AT INJUSTICE. I never forget to laugh about the absurdities of living in the High Desert Outback of the American Dream. Just for kicks, read my proposal about how Miley Cyrus can drive Vladimir Putin over the Olympic edge. Or why Nevada isn't really a state. (No, it's NOT because we were Battle Born in Kenya.) What? You haven't seen my love letter informing Bill O'Reilly that the sex education he openly desires is both readily available and government funded right here in Nevada?

You'll find links to the lighter side posted with this piece at ReSurge.TV, where you may also use the convenient, secure PayPal link to contribute to the cause. You may donate once or set up a continuing monthly account.

As my late, great colleague in columny Travus T. Hipp used to say, if you've made all sides mad, you're doing it right.

As northern Nevada turned increasingly corporate, the conglomerate media turned away from us. The Travus 'n' Andy radio shows could not find a home in these parts for the past 20 years despite beating the pants off Lush Rambo.

The Barbwire has been banned by one network TV station, even as a paid program, because some L.A. network exec deemed the show "political and not public affairs." Huh?

As the great New York columnist Jimmy Breslin so memorably observed, "Media is the plural of mediocre." It doesn't have to stay that way.

Another network station recently came within a cat's whisker of not airing a short commentary from me because I uttered two forbidden words: "Jesus Christ"

George Carlin, call your office.The seven dirty words you can't say on TV apparently now have company.

The greatest sin of the corporate media is not what they disseminate, but what they choose not to. Cheerleading belongs on Glee, not on the news.

One of the original 1960s mad men, Jerry della Femina, once wrote that censorship is just somebody's hangups. Travus would understand.

MOVE QUICKLY. Please understand that I need your support right away to lock in advantageous broadcast slots for the show while the window of opportunity is open.

I promise to continue being an equal opportunity harasser in this state of big dreams and diminishing hopes.

Here are the currently frontrunning show subjects. Feel free to affirm, disagree and/or further suggest. Thanks.

Thanks for your time in reading this.

I will be honored by your recommendation should you choose to forward it.

I will do my utmost to justify your support should you decide to ante into the game as you may best afford.

Thank you, stay in touch and, as Travus might say, stay tuned for all the news you never knew you needed to know—>'til now.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

Andrew Barbano
The Barbwire Man
You may contribute online by clicking in the TV set image, below.
775-786-1455
On-Air 775-882-8255 [882-TALK]

Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV show

Democrats for Trump
Running mate revealed

Report: Rise in poverty threatens to further weaken Nevada education system
Ian Whitaker / Las Vegas Sun 7-7-2016

When public interest is secondary to public relations
Managing the spin of the war on drugs
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-5-2016 Sparks Tribune

Muhammad Ali: Winning against earthquakes
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-7-2016 Sparks Tribune / Updated 6-10-2016

Nevada utilities continually consume consumers
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-31-2016 Sparks Tribune

Karmic fowl, fox paws and other freakin' f-words
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-17-2016 Sparks Tribune

Be careful what you wish for: Justice is a game
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 5-10-2016 Sparks Tribune

It's OK, that's the way we've always done it, right?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 4-26-2016 Sparks Tribune

When taking the cure is worse than the disease
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 4-19-2016 Sparks Tribune

ON THE AIR —> Reno-Sparks NAACP President Patricia Gallimore and First Vice-President Andrew Barbano will guest on The Crisis Magazine Radio Program, Tuesday, 19 April 2016 at 10:10 a.m. PDT. The hostess will be Crisis Publisher Laura Blackburne. The call-in number is (516) 877-9843. Established in 1910, The Crisis is the official publication of the NAACP. The program will air live on WTHE 1520-am in the New York City/New Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan area. A recording of the show will be available in a day or two at the station's website. Turn on, tune in and tell a friend.

Barbwire Confidential: Hush-Hush!
[4-8-2016/U-News Exclusive ] —> On Thursday, April 14 at 1:45 p.m. PDT in Washoe District Court Dept. 7, 75 Court St. in Reno, Judge Patrick Flanagan will consider disqualification of Republican Jason Guinasso's candidacy in Assembly Dist. 26 (southwest Reno/Incline Village). Stay Tuned.

Deconstruction, carpetbaggers and hall-of-famers
District attorney's court filings in the Guinasso candidacy case available with the above column
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 4-12-2016 Sparks Tribune

For all the news you never knew you needed to know —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential

Voter Registration: The best method yet devised to prevent citizens from voting
Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review cover story 4-7-2016

April Foolishness: How to stop a world at war
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 4-5-2016 Sparks Tribune

Fighting for human rights on César Chávez Day
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-29-2016 Sparks Tribune and Reno Gazette-Journal

True love, machine guns and My Sharrona
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 3-22-2016 Sparks Tribune

Those with crystal balls shouldn't throw stones
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 3-15-2016 Sparks Tribune

Remembering the first female U.S. presidents
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 3-8-2016 Sparks Tribune

Community Teach-In for Gun Sense – Thursday March 3, 5:30 p.m., Bethel AME Church, 2655 Rock Blvd, Sparks NV
RSVP to Temple Sinai

TV or not TV — Oscar blackouts and PBS blacklists
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 3-1-2016 Sparks Tribune

Screw the courts and screw the dealers: Wynn continues to rip off tips
Las Vegas Review-Journal 2-24-2016

Thanks to all Nevada Caucusians

Hunka Hunka Bernie Love

Nevada caucuses: Star-studded or star-crossed?
Interview with Titanic star Frances Fisher campaigning for Bernie in Nevada
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 2-23-2016 Sparks Tribune

History foreshadows a GOP November win
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 2-16-2016 Sparks Tribune

Psycho-spying the presidential pretenders
Psychological profiles of candidates and presidents
Previous analyses of Justice Clarence Thomas and President Obama proven correct
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 2-9-2016 Sparks Tribune

Donald Trump: from ivory tower to Hightower
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 2-2-2016 Sparks Tribune

If only Shakespeare had written the Constitution
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 1-26-2016 Sparks Tribune

Leading questions and lead-headed leaders
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 1-19-2016 Sparks Tribune

Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend traditional event schedule

Machine Gun Michele Fiore wants to shoot Syrian refugees
Barbwire by Barbano / Excised from the 3-10-2015 Sparks Tribune as "not suitable" / Updated 12-2 and 12-8-2015

Nevadian hemlock: Cancer, brain damage & anti-education with a twist of racism

Michael Moore begs President Obama to visit the poisoned people of Flint, MI
Sign the petition!

In Sparks, politics isn't personal, just business
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 1-12-2016 Sparks Tribune

If you can't trust Dear Abby, whom can you trust?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 1-5-2016 Sparks Tribune

Hope you and yours had Happy High Holly Days

Open season on law-breaking dangerous drones
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 12-29-2015 Sparks Tribune, Updated 12-30-2015

Corporate welfare cancer spreads
Faraday's fair name befouled in fallow fields of North Vegas
Circuitous reasoning followed by circular logic leads to Sparks City Council forming circular firing squad
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 12-22-2015 Sparks Tribune

12-14-2015: Sparks council allows unlicensed plumbers & electricians
And we didn't even get kissed afterward
Barbwire by Barbano / Sparks City Council Special online report 12-14-2015

Don't diminish value of technical education
SAFETY WARNING: Sparks City Council votes Dec. 14 to allow unlicensed plumbers & electricians
Guest editorial from Stan Jones and Andrew Barbano
Reno Gazette-Journal online 12-10-2015 / Print edition 12-14-2015

Listen to radio campaign rallying Sparks workers & citizens
Featuring the voices of Jim McClain, Donna Lewis and Andrew Barbano

NAACP unanimously opposes removal of licensing standards

     WHEREAS the NAACP has always supported the need for an educated workforce,
     AND WHEREAS the City of Sparks is proposing to remove licensing qualification requirements for plumbers and electricians,
     BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Reno-Sparks NAACP opposes passage of Sparks City Council Agenda Item No. 10.2 on its 14 December 2015 agenda, which would remove all such licensing qualification standards.

— Passed unanimously at the 12-10-2015 Reno-Sparks NAACP general membership meeting

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap — again and again
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 12-8-2015 Sparks Tribune

Turf and training: Dirty deeds done dirt cheap
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 12-1-2015 Sparks Tribune / Updated 12-2-2015

On artificial turf, don't breathe unless necessary
Toxic turf all over town
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 11-24-2015 Sparks Tribune

Sorcerer's apprentices work cheap in Nevada
Want minimum-wage plumbers and electricians building your house?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 11-17-2015 Sparks Tribune

Weekend at Bernie's with Eugene McCarthy's grandchildren
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 11-10-2015 Sparks Tribune / Updated 11-12-2015

Barbwire Confidential: Hush-Hush!
Thank you for NOT voting
Subscribe to the New Barbwire Insider News Service
All the news you never knew you needed to know 'til now

Last of the dinosaurs: Grease for corporate gears
Reno Gazette-Journal "retires" most experienced journalists
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 11-3-2015 Sparks Tribune / Updated 11-12-2015

Bigoted Reno Gazette-Journal column debunked
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 10-29-2015
Reno-Sparks NAACP responds

The Donald and The Church Lady run among us
Trump deigns to descend upon Sparks to dispense his wisdom and ubiquitous wonderfulness
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 10-27-2015 Sparks Tribune

Sen. Ruben Kihuen to emcee NAACP 70th Annual Freedom Fund Awards Dinner Oct. 24 at Circus Circus-Reno — Speakers & award winners announced

Barbano on 10-22 statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV

From holy of holies to lair of the moneychangers
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 10-20-2015 Sparks Tribune

Parsing the paranoia of powerful penny-pinchers
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 10-13-2015 Sparks Tribune

Good news, bad news and Machine Gun Michele
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 10-6-2015 Sparks Tribune

NAACP sets 70th Annual Freedom Fund Awards Dinner Oct. 24 Circus Circus-Reno

Voter I.D. and driver's license office closures black-out Alabama's Black Belt
Alabama statewide newspapers / 9-30-2015

Strange bedfellows and nubile wenches
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-29-2015 Sparks Tribune

Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV show

Pondering the bright side of warmongering
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 9-22-2015 Sparks Tribune

Cheering for cheating when jockocracy rules
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 9-15-2015 Sparks Tribune

Parents file second lawsuit against Republican education privatization law
Las Vegas Review-Journal / 9-9-2015

We don't need no education, biblical or not
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 9-8-2015 Sparks Tribune

Support Sen. Bernie Sanders' Workplace Democracy Act
"This fall, I will introduce a bill in Congress whose sole purpose is to restore and encourage workers' rights to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions."
The Workplace Democracy Act will help our economy and rebuild the middle class. It will
1. Ensure companies can’t prevent workers from getting a first contract.
2. Make it easier for workers to form unions through a majority sign up process.
3. Strengthen the enforcement when corporations break the law.

Five Ways To Help Labor on Labor Day
Jonathan Cohn / Huffington Post 9-6-2015

Remember Nevada workers on Labor Day weekend
Labor Day 2016: Nevada workers' last stand
Barbwire Exclusives: Gansert will run to replace Brower in Nevada Senate
Complaint filed against welfare-bashing illegal GOP front petition
Barbwire by Barbano / Uploaded 8-30-2015/ Expanded from the Tuesday 9-1-2015 Sparks Tribune
Hope one of your detractors attends your funeral
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Tuesday 8-25-2015 Sparks Tribune

I Didn't Come From Your Rib — You Came From My Vagina
Country wisdom for moonhowlers who salivate to take their country back
A musical reminder to the GOP / Daily Kos 8-20-2015

Anaconjob continues
Mining is The Pits — Business often blocks health and safety measures
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 8-20-2015

JFK and LBJ: The truth about the besieged 1965 Voting Rights Act

Stumpin' for Trump
Democrats should join Donald Trump on the bridge to the future and push him off
Andrew Barbano guest editorial / Reno News & Review 7-23-2015

Stench of sulfur suffuses Nevada's year of the gun
The ghost of Trayvon Martin today hangs heavy over Sparks.
Would killer Wayne Burgarello have been acquitted if he was black?
Barbwire by Barbano / Uncensored full-length edition expanded from the 6-2-2015 Sparks Tribune

2015 LEGISLATIVE END GAME (at least until special sessions start)
Union workers sound the alarm door-to-door in Carson City and Las Vegas
9:00 a.m. PDT Saturday 30 May 2015

Union cabbies plan mass Las Vegas Strip stoppage/demonstration May 29
Las Vegas Review-Journal 5-28-2015

Gomorrah South casino mogul castrates First Amendment in Nevada
Lawmakers bend over to make it easier for Steve Wynn to file frivolous lawsuits that can stifle and bankrupt any critic
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 5-28-2015

Dogs and ponies, DARE traps and tokenism
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-26-2015 Sparks Tribune

Cab users: buckle up or else
By John L. Smith / Las Vegas Review-Journal 5-21-2015

Corporate welfare unites me with the moonhowlers
Even Ira Hansen sells out to the gambling-industrial complex
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-19-2015 Sparks Tribune

MayDay! The bright side of riots in the streets
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-5-2015 Sparks Tribune

In the Uber-Nevada Legislature, words can kill
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-28-2015 Sparks Tribune

Tesla rewrites history to chisel worker paychecks
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-21-2015 Sparks Tribune

Radiation Nation:
Gomorrah South bakes in the glow of victory
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-14-2015 Sparks Tribune

Revenge, redistricting and amnesia in Cartoon City
Plus highlights from César XIII
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-7-2015 Sparks Tribune

Harry Reid, Eddy Arnold, César Chávez and Gaga Madonna
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-31-2015 Sparks Tribune

Barbano: GOP strategy to cripple labor and gerrymander Nevada control thru at least 2022
By Cole Stangler / International Business Times 3-25-2015

High noon for the high desert outback of the American Dream
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-24-2015 Sparks Tribune

St. Patrick, I need a green energy beer
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-17-2015 Sparks Tribune

Michele Fiore: the Italian girl mama wanted for me?
Barbwire by Barbano / Excised from the 3-10-2015 Sparks Tribune as "not suitable"

Who was that lady I saw you with last night?
(But can she cook?)

Machine Gun Michele and cheap Ma Bell
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-27-2015 Sparks Tribune

Clinging to the Ledge: guts, feathers and all
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-3-2015 Sparks Tribune

Barbano to legislative committee 3-9-2015: Let Tesla, Switch and Apple help pay for police officer video cameras

The South Rises Again. Does Ira Hansen know about this?
3 states make MLK holiday a co-celebration honoring Confederate General Robert E. Lee
Shaun King / Daily KOS 1-22-2015

Education Dysfunction Part LIII—>
Gov. Veto El Obtusè talks some trash
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-20-2015 Sparks Tribune

Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV-radio-web program

The way it once was may come 'round again.
What was perhaps the first marriage of talk radio, talk TV & webcast webchat

Please contribute and volunteer.

News you never knew you needed to know 'til now

News Roundup: Taxpayers taken for Teslacide demo ride

FREEBIE ALERT: FREE MOVIE WEDNESDAY NIGHT, DEC. 17

ONE-TIME SHOWING, part of a coast-to-coast tour: Shadows of Liberty reveals the extraordinary truth behind the news media: censorship, cover-ups and corporate control.

FEATURING Danny Glover, Julian Assange, Dan Rather, Amy Goodman, David Simon, Daniel Ellsberg, Norman Solomon, Janine Jackson, Dick Gregory, Roberta Baskin, Jeff Cohen, Robert McChesney, John Nichols, Chris Hedges, Kristina Borjesson and many more.

Northern Nevada Labor Temple
1819 Hymer Ave. / Sparks NV 89431
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 7:00 p.m. PST

MORE INFO AND WATCH THE TRAILER

Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV show
Tuesday 12-16-2014 KRNV TV-4 Reno/KENV TV-10 Elko 11:30 a.m. PST
Andrew Barbano and Sam Shad for an entire program
(About damn time after 22 freakin' years)
Psychically cynical but nonetheless newsworthy political proctology, peerless professional prognostication and epic poetic proselytizing promiscuously promised. For example, the latest Ira irascibilities and how to rig high school graduation rates.
TV and radio re-run times and dates + view online

KRNV TV-4 Reno/KENV TV-10 Elko 11:30 a.m. PST Wednesday, 12-10-2014
Check hell for snowfall: Barbano and Gammick actually agree on something.
Re-run times and dates + view online
Host: Sam Shad
Guest: State Senator James Settelmeyer, R-Minden, Capital Senate District
Pundits: Jesse Gutierrez, Former Executive Director, Nevada Hispanic Services
Dick Gammick, Washoe County District Attorney
Andrew Barbano, Editor, NevadaLabor.com

Breaking Bad 5: Machine Gun Michele and the good ole boys
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-16-2014 Sparks Tribune

Breaking Bad 4: Ira & ammosexuals flip us the finger
Hansen places his puppets in top slots but still controls the lower house.
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-9-2014 Sparks Tribune

Breaking Bad 3: Ira, the guv and the dragonslayers
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-2-2014 Sparks Tribune

Nevada Lawmaker Ira Hansen Is Forced From Leadership Post Over Remarks on Minorities
By KIMBERLEY McGEE and ADAM NAGOURNEY / The New York Times / 11-24-2014

Breaking Bad Part Deux: Ira blames the Tribune
Barbwire by Barbano / Submitted for publication 11-21-2014 / Expanded from the 11-25-2014 Sparks Tribune

BREAKING NEWS—>Hansen resigns as Nevada State Assembly Speaker

BARBANO DECRIES HANSEN ON STATEWIDE NEVADA NEWSMAKERS TV
KRNV TV-4 Reno / KENV TV-10 Elko / 11:30 a.m. PST Tuesday, 11-18-2014
Re-run times and dates + view online
Host: Sam Shad
Guest: Ray Hagar, Reno Gazette-Journal
Pundits: Michael Hackett, Alrus Consulting
Jesse Gutierrez, charter school operator and former Executive Director, Nevada Hispanic Services
Andrew Barbano, Editor, NevadaLabor.com
Related item: Follytix '15: From Topless Campaign to Breaking Bad
On the documented racism and bigotry of incoming Nevada State Assembly Speaker Ira Hansen
Barbwire by Barbano / Sparks Tribune / 11-18-2014

BALL'BOX SMOKING GUNS: The Ira Hansen Files

Voting, gloating, loathing and scapegoating
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-11-2014 Daily Sparks Tribune

If you voted early, this will make you regret it
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-4-2014 Daily Sparks Tribune

Barbwire Confidential: Hush-Hush—>Thank you for NOT voting

Virginia City's next scary sexy Hollywood movie
Virginia City 911: Sexy Sheriffing in Old ConforteLand
Barbwire by Barbano / Special Nevada Day Edition 10-31-2014, Updated 11-1 and 11-3-2014

Follytix '14: Year of the Topless Campaign
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-28-2014 Sparks Tribune

Words from God on Nevada ballots and Ebola
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-21-2014 Sparks Tribune

Cheap thrills: Sex banned in Gomorrah South
How to intimidate Nevadans from registering to vote — by a Democrat, no less
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-14-2014 Sparks Tribune

Can megaresorts scam Tesla-style freebies?
EXTRA—>READ ALL ABOUT IT: Barbwire scoops Reno Gazette-Journal by 2 years on flammable NVEnergy fire meters
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-23-2014 Sparks Tribune

Education Dysfunction Part XLVIII—>
St. Elon, Lord Pedro and Gov. Veto El Obtúsè
Newspaper editor grills Washoe superintendent & principals about grad rate critics (aka Reno-Sparks NAACP)
The coming of Tesla's battery factory ensures perpetuation of Nevada's separate and unequal education system
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-16-2014 Sparks Tribune
TOLJASO DEPT.— >9-23-2014 CRYSTAL BALL UPDATE: The above column accurately predicted Supt. Martinez's departure one week in advance

Tinkle-down economics: testing Tesla's testes
Theft of Washoe Med/Renown provides cautionary tale
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-9-2014 Sparks Tribune

Door-to-door salesmen and stoner stores
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune / 9-4-2014

Labor Day 2014: Red, white and screwed
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune / 8-28-2014

Sexy scandals, whitewashes & black towers
Media overlook federal sex/race/ethnicity investigation into Washoe County School District
Meanwhile, big money is spent strictly on abstinence
State panel to review militarization of police departments
In Nevada visit, new Veterans Administration boss proves all jobs require training
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune / 8-21-2014

Education Dysfunction Part XLV—>
Bringing serious heat well into the night
Nevadans host moment of silence for Missouri police shooting victim Michael Brown
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune / 8-14-2014

Education Dysfunction Part XLIV—>
Pots and Kettles: Can't we all get along?
BREAKING NEWS: WCSD Vice-President Dave Aiazzi has announced that he has been diagnosed with leukemia and will be resigning by the end of September.
Remember him with healing thoughts and prayers.
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune / 8-7-2014

Education Dysfunction Part XLIII—>
Playing the race card for profit and peril
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune / 7-31-2014

How to assassinate Medicare and Medicaid
Health Savings Accounts: The insurance industry's Trojan Horse
Andrew Barbano / Reno Gazette-Journal / 7-19-2014

A cold shower for the NY Times Tesla gusher
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-10-2014 Sparks Tribune

Ask Hobby Lobby to take in refugee kids
So five uptight old Catholic guys in grim reaper robes don't like contraception.
Wonder if they thought that way back in college?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-3-2014 Sparks Tribune

The Status Quo Ante versus the Status Quo Uncle
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-26-2014 Sparks Tribune

TESLACIDE: Tesla plants PR slants to get into public's pants
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-19-2014 Sparks Tribune

Nevada follytix '14 still played under 1952 TV rules
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-12-2014 Sparks Tribune

Nevada's righteous ayatollahs arise once again
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-5-2014 Sparks Tribune

When your enemy is destroying himself, never interfere
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-29-2014 Sparks Tribune

Barbara Bennett, Erik Holland and Václav Havel
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-22-2014 Sparks Tribune

Stabbing rock-sucking kangaroos on the Ides of May
Reno Gazette-Journal blatantly manipulates mayoral contest
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-15-2014 Sparks Tribune

Negative Optimism: Making the best of being worst
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-8-2014 Sparks Tribune

Mayday!
Taxes smolder while citizens do slow burn
May Day in Reno, D-Day for teachers' union tax petition
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-1-2014 Sparks Tribune

Making the best of an inbred situation
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-17-2014 Sparks Tribune

Marching for equal rights and equal pay on tax day

On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, famously remarking "We have lost the south for a generation."

On April 10, 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey announced he had purchased the contract of Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals.

The Obamacare Bitcoin online vote exchange
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-10-2014 Sparks Tribune

In search of the modern day Barbara Bennett
Barbwire by Barbano / Substantially expanded from the 4-3-2014 Sparks Tribune

BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER —>
César Chávez Celebration tickets, tables & sponsorships

Bob McGowan, Miss America and César Chávez
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-27-2014 Sparks Tribune

Hiding in Plain Sight —>
The Barbwire Education Scandals go mainstream two years later
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 3-27-2014

We Don't Need No Education XXXVIII
The politics of media ga-ga boosterism
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-20-2014 Sparks Tribune

We Don't Need No Education XXXVII
Follytix '14: If you don't laugh, you'll cry
Continuing Barbwire investigation revealing bogus graduation rates finally confirmed by Nevada's two major newspapers
BREAKING NEWS: State illegally uses tax money vs. teacher tax vote
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-13-2014 Sparks Tribune

Campaign 2014: An expensive comedy act
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-6-2014 Sparks Tribune

We Don't Need No Education XXXVI
Education: The cure spawns an even worse disease
ALSO: Nevada Assemblymember Lucy Flores, D-Las Vegas, will declare for lieutenant governor in early March
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-20-2014 Sparks Tribune

Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV-radio-web program

Fold your favorite charity, then go thank yourself
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-13-2014 Sparks Tribune

Lying means never having to say you're sorry
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-6-2014 Sparks Tribune

Barbano the Barbwire Man and Nevada State AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Danny Thompson on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV-radio-web program
Click above for lineup, re-run times and dates

We Don't Need No Education: Time to give up?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-30-2014 Sparks Tribune

Justice: Just another word for nothing left to lose
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-23-2014 Sparks Tribune

All the news you wish you didn't need to know
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-16-2014 Sparks Tribune

Can Amazon drones deliver healthy cigarettes?
Lotsa laughs, César Chávez Celebration XII, Jello Biafra, 3 obits, the campaign to elect Don Dondero
to the Nevada Press Assn. Hall of Fame + Barbwire.TV. What's not to like?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-9-2014 Sparks Tribune

Solar-powered insurance drones from hell
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-2-2014 Sparks Tribune

Hope you and yours enjoyed Happy High Holly Days!
MerryChristmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting

Warring tribes battle the great black whale
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-26-2013 Sparks Tribune

2013: Unlucky number for an ugly year
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-19-2013 Sparks Tribune

They don't do anything until somebody dies
UNR & downtown Reno theater firetraps mean little was learned from the Las Vegas Hilton & MGM disasters
Remembering Sen. Joe Neal's landmark high-rise fire sprinkler law
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-12-2013 Sparks Tribune

Lamenting the loss of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-5-2013 Sparks Tribune

Reader beware of what's not really there
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-28-2013 Sparks Tribune

John F. Kennedy's 2014 Inaugural Address

Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV-radio-web program
Click above for lineup, re-run times and dates
Barbano vs. D.A. Gammick on cel-phone privacy
KRNV TV-4 Reno / KENV TV-10 Elko / 12:30 p.m. PST Tuesday, 10 Dec. 2013
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-21-2013 Sparks Tribune

Breaking News and Bulletins—>
Nov. 21, 2013: State Senate Majority leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, headlines Reno informational meeting regarding Driver’s Authorization Cards
Nov. 23: FOUR Immigration Reform marches in Reno

Immigration Shifts Political Power
AP-Las Vegas Sun / 11-20-2013

POOR DENNY'S ALMANAC 11-21-2013 — On this date in 2004, Ray Hagar and Sandi Wright reported in the Reno Gazette-Journal that local schools attended by low income students tended to be the most poorly maintained schools.
THE BARBWIRE RESPONDS: So what else is new? Over the decades, the RGJ has done a sterling job investigating separate but unequal health care and education. Alas and alack, nothing much ever changes on the High Desert Plantation. For a quick sad summary, see the Barbwire of April 2, 2006 (updated periodically).

Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV-radio-web program
Click above for re-run times and dates
KRNV TV-4 Reno / KENV TV-10 Elko / Monday, Nov. 11, 2013
Host: Sam Shad
Guests: CJ Hadley, Editor/Publisher, Range Magazine
Carolyn Dufurrena, Rancher and Author
Pundits: Chip Evans, former Washoe County Democratic Chair and talk radio host
John Gwaltney, Economist and President Emeritus, Truckee Meadows Community College
Andrew Barbano, Editor, NevadaLabor.com
As usual, the pundits jousted over schools and taxes.
Read the Barbwire in the March 28 Sparks Tribune for a radically conservative solution.
For further outrage and erudition, go to We Don't Need No Education: The continuing & neverending series
A new med school for UNLV? Another program to underfund. What doctor shortage?
Turn on, tune in and tell a friend.

Assemblymember Peggy Pierce, D-Las Vegas, 1954-2013

We Don't Need No Education—> The Neverending Series Since 1996
Puff coverage of our educational system statewide constitutes one of the principal sins of omission committed by our mass media.
True community TV can help. Get aboard.

Selected archive of Barbwire TV

PARTIAL ARCHIVE:
Click here for selected on-demand re-runs of almost 300 shows from the 2009-11 Barbwire.TV seasons

Updated statewide broadcast schedule + links to 2009-2011 webstreaming on-demand archive

Barbwire.TV 5-31-2011: The Mining Addiction
Barbwire banned in prime time
Tune in LIVE 7:00 p.m. PDT / 02:00 ZULU GMT 6-1-2011
Live webstreaming at the above link

TV PROGRAM REGIONAL RERUN SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
Next live call-in show 7:00 p.m. PDT Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Same originating cable stations noted at above link which also has a regional coverage map.

Freedom Riders and wage defenders
Live with your phone calls throughout northwestern Nevada Tuesday, 5-17-2011
7:00 p.m. PDT 5-17-2011 / 02:00 5-18 ZULU
Click above for live webstreaming and rebroadcast times
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-15-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated 5-16-2011, 5-17-2011, 5-19 and 5-25-2011

Support the return of community broadcasting to Reno, Sparks and Washoe County, Nevada — To donate, just click within the TV set image, below. Thank you.

TALKING UP CLEANER CARS — Andrew Barbano interviews Susan Clark, Ph.D., co-founder of REA250 / REA250.com, and Bob Tregilus of the Alternative Transportation Club, EAA / ElectricNevada.org. In the foreground is AccessCarson director Keith Barnett. (4-28-2009 / Larry DeVincenzi photo)

Honest, I was stone sober when this photo was taken on-air by viewer Mike Webb.

You may use your credit or debit card to support community media.

To make a one-time contribution, please click within the above image.

To set up recurring support on a monthly basis, please click below.
Prices depend on the size of your organization and number of users.
Please contact Andrew Barbano for details.
Thank you.—>AB

Electronic payments processed through E-Bay/PayPal secure servers.

2006: The launch of ReSurge.TV
A Nevada-based consumer organization targeting telecommunications, media and utility issues. Corporate America and city hall intrigue destroyed the Sparks-Reno-Washoe community station. Please help us rebuild.

TOPIC A: LIFE AS TELEVISION

     Like most of the United States, Nevada cable television consumers are victims of a federally-created monopoly. Local governments have been loathe to use their limited power to help their own citizens. Las Vegas area residents, with the exception of Boulder City, were denied public access television services despite the sparkling track record of the Reno-Sparks system (which we local consumers saved from extermination in 1990-91). In 2003, Nevada's only municipally-owned cable system in Fallon/Churchill County, which has been fighting its own workers, made common cause with the Cox (southern Nevada) and Charter (northern Nevada) cable systems to kill pro-consumer legislation. Those cyberchickens are now coming home to rue.

     As the late Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-Minn., said in a different time and place, "There's nothing left but to take it to the people."

     So here we are at the dawn of a new era of competition which the entrenched cable interests will fight fang and claw — if their conduct here and in other states provides any indication. They have pillaged Nevada ratepayers as they have those in other jurisdictions, so the pattern has become achingly apparent.

     What to do? Organize, organize, organize!

     Get on our mailing list. Volunteer to involve friends and colleagues in your own community by organizing, calling, writing and showing up at public meetings. Officially join the organization with an e-contribution (see above).

     We need volunteers in every Nevada community for the upcoming clash of the titans. This is important.

     Telecommunications is not just phone calls and cable, it's the way in which your community may prosper in the future — or not.

     The choice will be yours only if you get involved in making the right choices.

     Don't underestimate your own power — Charter Communications refused to provide high speed Internet access to northern Nevada businesses until our Reno citizens committee began to investigate the lapse.

     Be well. Raise hell.

     Andrew Barbano
     Reno, Nevada

Click here to contribute to the cause

Barbwire column on the depredations of Charter Communications and the Reno City Council wins 2009 Nevada Press Association first-place award

TOPIC B: DEATH AS A PROFIT CENTER

The campaign against forcibly paid obituaries
Updated 9-12-2013

Major newspapers now exploit the dead by charging for obituaries, a national epidemic. I have some proposals to impact it, but first I'd like to hear your ideas. Please write me.

NEWS AND RESOURCES

The cities of Reno and Sparks play buzzard over the bones of SNCAT
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-29-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

SUNDAY FEB. 21, 2010 — LIVE REGIONAL TV+webcast 6:00 p.m.
Rerun at 9:00 p.m. PST
SUING FOR SCHOOLS: A Barbwire Special
The case for making Nevada finally obey her constitutional mandate to provide for public education
Can we do any worse with a judge running the system?
Interview with Sen. Harry Reid