The unmatched and comprehensive online meeting hall for Nevada workers since 1995
"Our republic and its press will rise or fall together." — Joseph Pulitzer
Je Suis Charlie

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Andrew Barbano Editor/Publisher
Photo: Debra Reid, Sparks Tribune

Site Map
Memo to modern short attention spaniels: This front page is chronological, the site map is categorical.

SITE NAVIGATION TIP: When all else fails, read the instructions
(A favorite John Hanks aphorism I've been using for decades)

Updated on 3-17-2024 GMT

Breaking News & then some—>

Be careful what you wish for
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-13-2024

Jinxed Jacobs Juice Job Joylessly Junked
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-6-2024

UPDATE 2-28—> JUICED JACOBS JIG JUNKED! CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OPPONENTS. On Feb. 27, the anti-church item was pulled from the Feb. 28 city council agenda. People power won a round. That's one in a row. It ain't over 'til it's over. Stay tuned.

BLACKLASH in Trumpsylvania West
Saving a church & saving the U.S. Mail
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-28-2024

Black History Month Blacklash
Reno City Council endangers historic Nevada black church for developer
Bethel A.M.E. Pastor marshals support at City Hall on Feb. 28

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

Just win, baby
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-21-2024

Reno Starbucks workers join 13 other states in mass filing for union elections
KRNV TV-4 / KRXI TV-11 / 2-20-2024

25-year Nevada Starbux unionization archive

News broke earlier this week about the sudden closure of the Career College of Northern Nevada. The bankrupt business school was established in the 1960s and has gone thru multiple ownership and name changes.

Some students were just days from graduation. I shudder to think how many will have gone into substantial long term debt with little to show for it.

I feel heartbroken for those who showed up to find only insult added to their injury: Signs posted on locked doors which gave notice of closure with "indefinitely" mis-spelled. In three places. In just a single word.

Bankrupt, indeed.

JOB FAIR: BUILDING TRADES UNIONS TO THE RESCUE
UNION APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS HOST JOB FAIR FOR STUDENTS AFFECTED BY CCNN'S UNEXPECTED CLOSURE

Celebrate the life & legacy of César Chávez
César XVIII April 5, 2024 / 5 Abril 2024

CésarChávezNevada.com

¡ se puede!

¡Union diga si!

Taylor triumphs, T-Rump teed off
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-14-2024

Siren princesses traumatize trolls
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-7-2024

Super Bowling: Culinary Union hosts heavyweight huddle to start Super Bowl Week

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

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

Ben Franklin's bleary bifocals
Guest-starring Peter Sellers & The Muppets

And a true story: Song from the streets of San Francisco

Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-24-2024

To Die For
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-17-2024

Nevada Association of Letter Carriers President Glenn Norton Dies.
1-16-2024

Portents from the Terminator
MASK UP: COVID, RSV and Influenza are swamping emergency rooms
BUYER BEWARE: Cancer-causing chemicals in makeup and everything plastic
(Consumer Reports)
SIGN AND VOTE: Initiative petition filed to regulate payday loan predators
APPLY TODAY:
Now hiring union organizers
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-10-2024

Culinary Union sets Las Vegas hotel strike deadline 1 week before Super Bowl

Control freaks and crackerjacks
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-3-2024

Local Union Leaders Seek to Build Momentum off Strong 2023
By Andrew Zuker / OurTownReno.com 1-2-2024

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.

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005
Remember her laughter

Larry Barbano, Frater Mei
1947-2023

Greatest Hits of 2023—>

T-Rump raps America
The Orange Crusher goes hip hop
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-27-2023

The greatest movie never made
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-20-2023

I Love Lucy: Open the Golden Door
All those thousands of unkempt travelers on our southern border are not our problem, they are our solution. Screen them. House them. Feed them. Educate their children. They will make us prosperous and proud.
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 12-13-2023

Bonfire of the Vampires
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-29-2023

Who will answer?
Part 2
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-22-2023

Last Chance Joe meets Sherlock Holmes
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-15-2023

My brother died for his country. Twice.
Larry Barbano, 1947-2023
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Special Veterans Day Edition 11-11-2023

Letter to the Lord of War
For my bro Larry Barbano, 1947-2023
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 10-25-2023

¡Viva huelga!

¡ se puede!

SPECIAL ADDED DETRACTION
KLANWATCH —> Indivisible Northern Nevada and Battle Born Progress co-host 9/28 public meeting warning of the Orwellianly named "Moms for Liberty" now metastasizing in Nevada. MFL designated as a hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. (White sheets optional but not recommended.)

Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
The Underbelly of the News—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

a

Washoe will decide presidency in 2024
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 9-27-2023

a

Life as a color cartoon
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 8-23-2023

Miss Priscilla Goodbody channels Princess Cassandra
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 7-19-2023

Love letters from Miss Priscilla Goodbody
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 7-12-2023

                            

True Confession: I drink Bud Light
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 7-5-2023

If you strike a king
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 6-28-2023

Don't say I didn't warn you as far back as 1992—>

From the NevadaLabor.com archives

 

President Donald Trump as Andrew Jackson? So opined a plethora of prestigious, highly-paid expert pundits on election night Nov. '16. The Barbwire warned of exactly that in the previous March. Twice.
And much more as far back as 1992 and 2012.


That ain't all. Read 'em and weep, pilgrims.

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.

Those with crystal balls shouldn't throw stones
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-15-2016 Sparks Tribune
Beware the Ides of March, eh wot?

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

"Any system of prolonged political paralysis and failed liberalism vomits up monsters. And the longer we remain in a state of political paralysis — especially as we stumble toward another financial collapse — the more certain it becomes that these monsters will take power." Christopher Hedges at NationOfChange.org 17 Oct. 2016.

History foreshadows a GOP November win
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-16-2016 Sparks Tribune / Updated 2-19-2016
17 Republican candidates were in the field at that time

All the more reason to subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
(CHEAP —> HushHush!)

Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers on Drugs
"The devil children of Ronald Reagan will rise like zombies from a bad black-and-white movie to haunt us...
"The 2016 election may bring the Year of the Living Dead."
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-29-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE DEPT.
How to avoid a civil war, by the man who predicted Trump

By David Shariatmadari / The Guardian of London, UK / 6-10-2023

RIP GOP: Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-18-2023

RIP GOP: 2000 Prediction Coming True
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-11-2023 / Updated 1-12-2023

Who's the boss?
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-4-2023 / Updated 1-12-2023 / Expansions in blue

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005
Remember her laughter

Larry Barbano, Frater Mei
1947-2023

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 more currently war-torn lands.


War in moderation?
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-13-2022


Eee-yo-leven!
Barbwire wins 11th Nevada Press Association award
6 of 11 gold
Tribune editorial page voted 2020 best

Dennis Myers 2nd Barbwire nominee elected to NPA Hall of Fame

Support Don Dondero and Jake Highton and David Toll and Foster Church and Norman Cardoza next
Send endorsements

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

 

The Lady in the Red Dress
The Barbwire's classic Nevada Day column written in 1983
The compleat history of the Silver State in 500 words
SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

DAILY SPARKS TRIBUNE 1-3-2011

Je Suis Charlie

30+ years of Barbwire Archives thru today

SITE MAP

SITE NAVIGATION TIP: When all else fails, read the instructions
(A favorite John Hanks aphorism I've been using for decades)

Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
The Underbelly of the News—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

All the news you never knew you needed to know—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
The Underbelly of the News—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

Navigating the flagship—>Making quick work of NevadaLabor.com

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS DEPT.—> A year or so back, I got my first criticism in more than two decades that this site is a bit confusing to navigate. I take that as a compliment. Confusing people is one of my few talents.
    I thought I had anticipated any such problems years ago by liberally sprinkling links to the front page site map. (These days, am I supposed to say that I sprinkled progressively rather than liberally?)
    The front page of NevadaLabor.com acts as a chronological listing of recent workplace news with the latest at the top. I archive annually to create a continuous permanent record fully accessible via the site map or any garden-variety websearch.
    "We Don't Need No Education" is now approaching its 100th installment and long ago earned its own section inside. Say hi to Don Quixote.
    Current Barbwires plus more than 20 years of columaniacal archives, the Statewide News Roundup and Breaking News/Bull'tins/Almanac are all available via the site map—>as well as the usual general or specific ongoing madness and historical inflammation. (Once something's posted here or to any of my other sites, it's up forever.)
    While the front page is chronological, the Statewide News Roundup is categorical, e.g., construction, hospitality, legislation, health care and many others. Breaking News/Bull'tins/Almanac often publishes original U-News as well as links to items at other sites that are not hot enough for the front page chronology. The NevadaLabor.com search engine acts as a short-cut to everything, depending on what you seek. So simply seek and ye shall find.
    As my old friend Wise John the Lake Havasu Cropduster Pilot often says, "when all else fails, read the instructions." So when all else fails, re-read the above, then go to the nearest site map link and/or "search." The NevadaLabor.com search engine is really amazing. It's also union-signatory and thus quite efficient.
    Thanks for your inputs and support over lo, these many years. Keep up the good work and the good fight.
    Esté bien. Haga infierno. / Be well. Raise hell.

—> Andrew the Barbwire Man

Political Animal Crackers & Crackups

      "I think it is dangerous to confuse the idea of democracy with elections. Just because you have elections doesn't mean you are a democracy...I'm still taken aback at the extent of indoctrination and propaganda in the United States. It is as if people there are being reared in a sort of altered reality, like broiler chickens or pigs in a pen."

Indian novelist Arundhati Roy
in the Barbwire of 9-12-2004


      
The American electorate is a dumb cow that follows the herd, is easily stampeded, gets milked for all she's worth and produces offspring for meat, muscle or cannon fodder to benefit the few. When all used up, she is sent to the slaughterhouse so that she may give her overlords the last full measure of devotion, bones for Jello and hide for belts. No stars and stripes for her grave because she doesn't merit one, having been totally consumed by our consumptive system.
Barbwire 9-12-2010

"If elections mattered, they wouldn't let us do it." Travus T. Hipp, 1982


Editor's Note: Many of the news links on this site are from Nevada dailies. In late 2006, the Reno Gannett-Journal began nuking much of its archive. If you encounter any broken links, I encourage you to contact them and send me a copy. On the one hand, they want to build their web traffic in order to increase the price of ads. On the other hand, they are killing that very traffic. Far be it from me to reconcile the Dilbert-style motivations of an outfit for which a 38 percent net profit is not enough. If you can explain it, please enlighten me. (Before you e-mail me, please read this bulletinAB) UPDATE: In early 2008, the Las Vegas Sun "upgraded " its website, nuking more than a dozen years of links. If you find an orphaned Sun story, search their site for the title.

 



NevadaLabor.com Site Directory

Navigating the flagship—>Making quick work of NevadaLabor.com

Latest Breaking News & Bulletins + Almanac + Archives 1999-present

2023 U-News Front Page Headlines

2022 U-News Front Page Headlines

2021 U-News Front Page Headlines

2000-2021 U-News Front Page Archives

U-News Statewide Archives 1996-2018

In Search Of...

Right to Work for Less | Nevada Labor History | Sparks Centennial
Building Energy  |
100 Years of Union Apprenticeship

DoctorLawyerWatch.com | Barbwire Oilogopoly Archive|
BallotBoxing.US

War Rooms:
Banks, CabbiesCable TV, Cabela's, Cancer Kids/Mining, Consumer Rights/safety, Civil Rights: MississippiWestNV.org, Corporate Welfare, Energy, Health Care, Renters Rights, ReSurge.TV, Starbucks, Wal-Mart

NEW —> WE DON'T NEED NO EDUCATION
The Neverending Series
The Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator Hall of Flames

Un-dissing the Dead—>The campaign against forcibly-paid newspaper obituaries

Labor Links | Nevada Writers | About the Editor | Deciding Factors


Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
The Underbelly of the News—>TOP SECRET, HUSH HUSH!

 



The unmatched and comprehensive online meeting hall
for Nevada workers since 1995



The tale of our gorgeous union-created graphics

In 2002, we were honored to produce the Centennial Book for the 100th anniversary of the founding of northern Nevada Painters and Allied Trades Local 567/AFL-CIO. Working on a short time frame, we cast a nationwide net for appropriate cover art and succeeded beyond our wildest dreams thanks to muralists Kathleen Scarboro and Kathleen Farrell. The above illustration ("Papering the World: Joliet's Wallpaper Industry") appeared on the cover and interior of Local 567's Centennial Book, copies of which have been submitted to Nevada libraries and historical organizations. The mural, painted on a wall in Joliet, Illinois, depicts Painters Union members manufacturing wallpaper the old fashioned way, long about the time of Local 567's founding. Ms. Farrell is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, an affiliate of the International Union of Painters & Allied Trades/AFL-CIO. Ms. Scarboro is a member of the Maison des Artists in Paris, the association which represents artists in France.

Ms. Farrell executes murals, mosaics and figurative sculptures for the labor movement. Her work and that of others may be viewed at the Friends of Community Public Art web site. "We have added new table top size sculptures for sale as well as additions of our life size sculptures," she says. "A number of the sculptures feature union members including the Baseball Player (The Catch) and The Firefighter. I have also finished the rad workers sculpture I mentioned awhile back. I welcome work from unions that would like to buy the existing sculptures or hire me to create awards, tabletop size sculptures and life size sculptures."

Sister Farrell may be contacted at terri@fcpaonline.org; phone (815) 722-4140; fax (815) 722-9007. You may view more of her work and obtain additional contact information at http://fcpaonline.org/artist.asp?a=farrelka

Rotating at the top of this site as well as in pastel form in the background of this page is a mural produced for the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Union/AFL-CIO. The others were acrylics on canvas done for the United Food and Commercial Workers and to memorialize the plight of U.S. chicken processing workers (si podemos). Enjoy.

Be well. Raise hell.

Murals/montages copyright © Kathleen Farrell



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Entire contents copyright © 1982-2024 Andrew Barbano

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