Monthly archive

"Game of Thrones" is the best political show on TV
I think my favorite moment in the first three seasons of “Game of Thrones” is when Cersei responds to Littlefinger's explanation of how he knows that she is sleeping with her brother by telling her, “Information is power.” The queen regent responds by instructing her guards to slit his throat, then immediately relenting, looking at him icily and explaining, “Power is power.” I found myself smiling, just as I had been tickled by other priceless dialogue and horrified yet transfixed by the...
Federal lawsuit filed to block eminent domain scheme in North Las Vegas
A lawsuit was filed in federal court Friday to try to block North Las Vegas from partnering with Mortgage Resolution Partners to seize underwater mortages. The suit, filed by Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin on behalf of Gregory Smith, comes one week after the council approved moving forward. My guess: Smith has standing as a resident, but that the Realtors, who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight the plan, are funding this one. The suit is attached here.  
My take on the human side of immigration reform
 
Sheldon Adelson takes next step in campaign against web gaming
Gondolier Numero Uno Sheldon Adelson, through his company, has erected a new web site to point out the putative evils of Internet gambling. The site, StopInternetGambling.com, has a video that begins, "In the history of bad ideas, this has to be one of the worst...." And there's this on the site, too: "WE URGE STATE LAWMAKERS TO OPPOSE INTERNET GAMBLING AND WE URGE CONGRESS TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL NATIONWIDE." My guess is this is only the beginning.  
Reid invokes Las Vegas DREAMER, wife's father in immigration speech
I don't care how you feel about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or immigration reform, but try not to get choked up (he did) reading about DREAMer Astrid Silva and Landra Reid's father -- he invoked them both in his floor speech before the bill passed 68-32. UPDATED: Video and transcript below:   M. President, 21 years ago, Astrid Silva crossed the Rio Grande in a rubber raft / wearing a ruffled dress and patent leather shoes. She was four years old.   Astrid doesn’t remember Mexico, the...
Passage of gay marriage resolution in 2015 no sure thing in Nevada
The future of gay marriage in Nevada may rest on the shoulders of Ben Kieckhefer. The Reno Republican surprised many on the night of April 22 when, after remaining silent as most Democrats made dramatic speeches, voted for SJR 13, which repeals a ban on gay marriage and mandates governments recognize such nuptials. The vote in the state Senate was 12-9. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s dramatic evisceration of the Defense of Marriage Act this week, Nevada is seen as the next frontier in the...
My response to Sen. Dean Heller's floor attack
 
Site readers: Sisolak is getting in
Which person will run for governor? Primary tabs View Edit Outline Results(active tab) Votes Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak   51% (99 votes) Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto   25% (50 votes) Some rich guy from Tahoe   17% (33 votes) Las Vegas Councilman Bob Beers   3% (6 votes) Jim Gibbons   3% (6 votes) Total votes: 194  
Reid plans rally to pressure House on immigration reform
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will hold an immigration reform rally at Culinary union headquarters on Monday, a few days after the U.S. Senate is expected to have passed a bipartisan measure. The event -- flyer attached below -- will feature perhaps the House's most prominent Latino leader, Illinois' Luis Gutierrez, who has been to Nevada before and is sure to remind the crowd about the state's burgeoning Latino population and how it played and will play a pivotal role in elections. The...
Sacramento Bee exposes more cases of patient dumping, accuses feds and state of whitewash
The Sacramento Bee isn't done yet embarrassing Nevada's mental health system. After weeks of stories that highlighted unattended patients being bused from Rawson-Neal in Las Vegas to other cities, the California capital newspaper showed Sunday that James Flavy Brown was hardly an abberation. In a piece Sunday that found eight other dumped patients and then an editorial today that accused the feds of glossing over the scandal, the newspaper served notice it will not relent. Read the Bee and...

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