BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO Pirate Laureate of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream The Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator Hall of Flames Now including Dennis Myers and Don Dondero

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What's the difference between rapper Kanye West, President Donaldov, deposed movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and serially defrocked NFL player Antonio Brown?

Nothing. They are all the same guy who lusts for power over people and needs serious psychiatric care.

Trump is America's second mad king. George III of England, "the king who lost America," was certifiably nuts but had the last laugh: An Oscar-winning 1994 movie about him and his affliction. Some thought his erratic behavior was caused by porphyria, a genetic blood disorder. A 2013 BBC magazine report says he might have just been manic-depressive aka bi-polar. St. George's University of London researchers make a case for the latter.

"A sentence containing 400 words and eight verbs was not unusual," the BBC reported, adding that "George III, when ill, often repeated himself, and at the same time his vocabulary became much more complex, creative and colourful."

Remind you of anybody on TV a lot these days? "Covfefe" and "lawmarkers," anyone? (Trump actually tweeted "despite the constant negative press covfefe..")

"These are features that can be seen today in the writing and speech of patients experiencing the manic phase of psychiatric illnesses such as bipolar disorder...(C)ontemporary descriptions of (King George's) illness by witnesses spoke of his 'incessant loquacity' and his habit of talking until the foam ran out of his mouth."

Wonder if Sean Spicer ever had to wipe the covfefe from the Czar's chin. (Trump has actually spit up...er, expectorated while giving a speech.) Poor, sweet baby.

People mistakenly try to analyze and rationalize someone else's behavior using themselves as the frame of reference.

Legendary author Damon Runyon warned against playing the other guy's game. Paraphrasing, he once cautioned that "If some sharp walks up to you on the street and wants to bet money he can pour cider in your ear without your knowing it, there's only one thing sure — you're gonna end up with an earful of cider."

NY Times TV editor James Poniewozik notes in his killer new book ("Audience of One") that the first reality TV president knows that the boob tube demands conflict and that's what he provides, 24/7. Cable TV profits have tripled since 2015. As author David Ritz once wrote, "life is a bitch and the bitch is television."

My favorite...redhead, NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd, questioned the viability of any Democrat after watching the most recent garden variety debate.

Charles Blow in The Times recently told the story of his straightlaced, very religious grandma — who always voted for Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, a convicted felon but a personable and interesting guy. Blow added that Trump has now ascended to Edwardian folk hero status.

As I noted awhile back, Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau efficiently encapsulated Sun Tzu's ancient advice in "The Art of War": Always bet on the cornered rat.

On July 21, Hunter S. Thompson's cartoon alter-ego Uncle Duke was counseling his kid on the odds of Trump's re-election. Duke noted that the Donkeykongs will nominate "some doofus Democrat with 'solutions for America' (against) a feral potus fighting tooth and nail to stay out of prison."

So, always bet on the desperate vermin. Perhaps Boris Johnson and Binyamin Netanyahu will serve as sobering presages.

All have criminal minds and think they can do no wrong. And it will always be someone else's fault.

MORE RECOMMENDED READING: Pulitzer Prize winner Susan Faludi's ("Backlash") review of "She Said" in last Sunday's Times. Speaking of which...

50 SHADES OF RAPE REDUX: Thanks to those who took my suggestion to re-read The Barbwire of Oct. 3, 2018. Therein, I make a compelling case based on personal experience as to why Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and beer-swilling Justice Brett Kavanaugh's growing list of accusers grow more credible each day.

DENNIS IS ALWAYS WITH US. I thought that today's Tribune would be the first in a month not to mention the death of Nevada's greatest reporter. Nope.

A mutual friend asked me for Dennis Myers' middle name. All I knew was Dennis C. After I uploaded the only in-depth obituary of the Greatest Of All Time, I got a lot of e's, many from folks I've never met.

"Dennis was a true and faithful friend to me and my two children, now aged 41 and 38," wrote Cynthia Ewer.

"Back then, I was a single mom to two youngsters who were absolutely, positively, and (according to my daughter) to this day convinced that Dennis was really Clark Kent in disguise…and hence, Superman.

"Dennis would react to the question of my four-year-old, 'Dennis, are you REALLY Superman?', by whipping off his glasses, giving the kid a significant sideways look … and chuckle. All three of us still remember that deep, funny chuckle. We will miss it."

GUESS WHAT? Dennis' bro in The Philippines and a former Nevada journalist in Wisconsin responded that his middle name was (drum roll, please) "Clark."

MARK YOUR CALENDAR for the Oct. 19 Reno-Sparks NAACP's 74th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner at the Grand Sierra Resort. In 2015, Dennis and his crew received the inaugural Bertha Woodard/Eddie Scott Human Rights Advocacy Award for their years-long reportage on human rights issues. It's the organization's highest honor. We will remember our friend at the gala. Presidential candidates have been invited. Reservations at RenoSparksNAACP.org/

Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.

REPORT FROM THE MEMORIAL GATHERING (9-15-2019) — About 200 people from as far away as the Philippines, Australia and Ireland gathered to honor Dennis on the banks of the Truckee River on Sunday, Sept. 15. His ashes will be scattered at Pyramid Lake, the termination of the Truckee on the Paiute Reservation. Details in the Sept. 18 Sparks Tribune.

"There's a hell of a good universe next door. Let's go." — e.e. cummings

Dennis, Old Boy: In case I don't get to say the following at your going-away soirée this Sunday, let this suffice.

First and foremost, I implore your many readers to save hard copies of your voluminous writings. As your friend and fellow historian Guy Louis Rocha said years ago, much of what everyone's been writing in recent decades is forever encased in impenetrable cyberamber, zeroes and ones which can't be read by even the smartest smart phone.

Not long before he died, I posed a question to your fellow Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniators Hall of Famer Jake Highton: Why publish so many of your writings in book form?

"Books last longer," succinctly stated Prof. Jake. Books have been around in some form for thousands of years. I've got dozens of five-inch floppy disks from the 1980s which can only be read by a Kaypro II computer which committed suicide decades ago.

Several years back, I published a story about the days when Renown's county hospital predecessor allowed the Catholic Diocese to exercise improper veto power over the medical decisions of parishioners.

Dennis responded that "this story needed to be on the record." He meant microfiche at the Sparks Library. The item is archived at my websites and the Tribune's. I've got hard copies, as does the paper. Based on history, the ink-stained analogue will survive longer than the ephemeral digital.

Those who knew and loved Nevada's GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) journalist should prove it by saving hard copies. His work is well worth it.

I've got Dennis files going back over 40 years and editions of the Nevada Weekly, predecessor to the Reno News & Review, dating to its inception.

PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL PHYSICS. Those much wiser than me largely consider the universe we know as linear, although they also know that major forces can warp time and light.

Awhile back, an expert compared our universe to a loaf of bread. (We have evidence of only our loaf. If there be others on the racks in the big bakery somewhere, we have no knowledge of them in our cone of experience, as Dr. Stephen Hawking advised.)

That long-ago writer whose name escapes me posed a fascinating question: What if we sliced the bread diagonally instead of by the familiar right angle?

What if everything is actually happening all at once? Start slicing on a blue star in the Andromeda Galaxy and ride stardust until you cut out at Dennis' adios thing this Sunday. Very possible if everything's happening all at once.

I like the idea that each of our very short lives can be lived however we might slice it.

So, Dennis, meet'cha for lunch sometime? Yesterday, today or tomorrow will be fine.

Hope the next universe doesn't have to be gluten-free. See you soon.

NEXT NEXUS. As reported here for the past three weeks, Nevada lost its greatest-ever reporter when Dennis Myers was felled by a stroke last month. The GOAT, Tribune alumnus and Reno News & Review News Editor Dennis Myers, 70, was taken off life support on August 26 to begin organ harvesting.

The only in-depth obituary of my friend may be accessed with the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/

REMEMBER THE IDES OF SEPTEMBER. A memorial gathering is scheduled for this Sunday, Sept. 15, from 11:00 to 2:00 p.m. at the McKinley Arts & Culture Center (the re-purposed McKinley Park School) under the Keystone overpass to the west, Vine Street to the east, Jones Street to the north and Riverside Drive (and the Truckee River) to the south. Its address is 925 Riverside Drive, Reno NV 89503. Additional information, if any be forthcoming, will be posted at NevadaLabor.com as it is released. Stay tuned.

FLOWER POWER. According to Dennis' wishes, in lieu of flowers, his family recommends donations to the Women & Children's Center of the Sierra, 3905 Neil Road, Suite 2; Reno NV 89502. You may also donate in Mr. Myers' name via the organization's website, waccs.org/ Contact: Executive Director Pam Russell 775-825-7395.

YESTERDAY'S GUNS. 18 years ago today, Osama bin Laden finished the job he started on the World Trade Center in 1993. It didn't have to happen, but Dubya and Attorney General John Crashcroft were too busy cutting taxes for their wealthy buds to mind the store. Which led us into perpetual war in southwest Asia.

Wish Dennis were still here to write about it.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR for the Oct. 19 Reno-Sparks NAACP's 74th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner at the Grand Sierra. As a 2015 recipient of the organization's highest honor, a special remembrance of Dennis Myers will be featured. Presidential candidates have been invited. Ticket and sponsorship info at RenoSparksNAACP.org/

¡Sí se puede!
__________________

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BLACK LIKE ME 2119: The problem as solution
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-13-2019 Sparks Tribune / Updated 2-14 and 2-16-2019
Breaking News —> Culinary Union defeats decert at Circus Circus Reno
Dear Readers: The above column served as the conclusion of remarks I submitted before the "Tahoe Talks: Racism in America" symposium at the Incline Village, Nev., Library on February 12, 2019. So you might want to read "FADE TO BLACK" before you read "Black Like Me 2119".

	Triangle Shirtwaist Factory owners Max Blank and Isaac Harris. Is not Mr. Harris eerily familiar to television junkies?
From the Emmy-winning opening slate of the blockbuster "Cheers" television series. Combined with its "Frasier" spinoff, it lasted 20 years.	The "shirtwaist kings" immigrated from Russia and made a fortune manufacturing "Gibson Girl"-style blouses. (Photo, "The American Experience"/PBS)	The Emmy-winning opening slate of the "Cheers" television series before the "slate" of creators is superimposed. Looks like Mr. Harris' dead ringer (at left) is having a bloody good time.

"Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" — Chico Marx disguised as Groucho Marx in "Duck Soup" (1933)
Back to the story of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist holocaust

Triangle tragedy recalled as requiem "The Fire in My Mouth," a new oratorio by Pulitzer honoree Julia Wolfe, premiered with the New York Philharmonic Jan. 24 By Michael Cooper / The New York Times 1-23-2019

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

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Copyright © 1982-2019 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 50-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and SenJoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee. He is the executive producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and serves as first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

Barbwire by Barbano moved to Nevada's Daily Sparks Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since.
Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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

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