Local NBC Channel 3 broadcasts fabricated Kirstin Lobato hit story

Transcription

Our 17th anniversary!
Volume 18, Issue 1
lasvegastribune.com
March 9-15, 2016
Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce Member
Local NBC Channel 3 broadcasts
fabricated Kirstin Lobato hit story
By Hans Sherrer
Las Vegas Tribune Exclusive
NBC Channel 3 (KSNV-TV) in
Las Vegas broadcast Death in the
Desert during its 11 o’clock news
on February 29, 2016. Reporter
Marie Mortera’s story was about the
Kirstin Blaise Lobato case.
Ms. Lobato was convicted in
October 2006 of charges related to
the July 8, 2001 homicide of Duran
Bailey in the trash enclosure for a
west Las Vegas bank. Ms. Lobato
asserts she is factually innocent, in
her habeas corpus petition that is
being reviewed by the Nevada Supreme Court.
There are many gravely serious
problems with Mortera’s story.
Those problems include:
My Point
of View
By Rolando Larraz
For years the Las Vegas Tribune
has been writing about the inadequate and almost crude way so
many attorneys in Nevada treat
their paid clients, “defending” them
without any regard for the dignity
and respect that every client deserves.
They get a new client and they
brag about how good they are, how
much of a fighter for their clients
they are, and how brave they are,
when in reality they are only cowards. They walk in the courtroom
with a cocky walk pretending to be
what they are not, and the inmates
that are sitting in the jail’s row may
be wishing they had the money to
hire a good attorney like those strutting into the courtroom, but when
the judge walks in, those attorneys
become little lambs.
Those in the civil courts do not
have inmates to impress, so when
they walk in they try to impress the
judge by pretending to like the
judge; or maybe they’ll remind the
judge somehow that they have left
an envelope with the secretary with
their “campaign contribution”; but
if they don’t, the judges make sure
to remind the attorneys that they
have not seen an “envelope,” and
dismiss the poor attorney who is
shaking outside the courtroom.
Attorneys, after grabbing the
money, often tell their clients that
they cannot upset the prosecutor
because “tomorrow I may have another case with him/her and they
can make my life miserable.”
Attorneys that take the money,
always in the same amount, $5,000
or $10,000 for promising a fair defense, and after they grab the
money, they want to plead the case
even if the clients assure them that
they are not guilty.
There was a case witnessed by
the Las Vegas Tribune, where the
father of the defendant told the attorney that he won’t mind paying,
but he doesn’t want a deal; he
doesn’t want to accept any plea for
a lesser charge; he wants to fight to
the end.
Three days after the exchange of
money, the client walked into the
attorney’s office after several telephone calls, and after a few minutes of pretending to be busy, the
attorney came to the front to tell the
man that had given him a good
chunk of money three days earlier
— with the stipulation that “NO
DEALS” were to be made — that
he was getting ready to call him
because “I have landed a wonderful deal for your son.”
We have to remember that attor(See My Point of View, Page 2)
KIRSTIN LOBATO
—She made a number of mis—She fabricated non-existent
leading
and/or deceptive state“evidence” against Ms. Lobato in
ments;
at least three instances;
—She spliced together audio
from different parts of Ms. Lobato’s
police statement to make them appear contiguous;
—She completely disregarded
Ms. Lobato’s new evidence supporting her factual innocence; and,
—She neither reported on, nor
questioned, Ms. Lobato’s prosecutor, William Kephart, during his
interview relating to the evidence
he has known about for more than
14 years, regarding Ms. Lobato’s
innocence and his criminal conduct
and extensive prosecutor misconduct detailed in Ms. Lobato’s petition. (Kephart is currently an Eighth
Judicial [Clark County] District
Court Judge.)
More than two weeks before
Mortera’s story was broadcast, the
Las Vegas Tribune reported in its
Feb. 12-18, 2016 issue that the
Clark County DA’s Office and
Metro PD have known since 2001
that Ms. Lobato was not guilty of
Bailey’s homicide.
Ms. Lobato gave an audio-recorded police statement at the time
of her arrest. She described that
prior to mid-June 2001 she used her
pocketknife to fend off an attempted
rape at a Budget Suites Hotel on
Boulder Highway in east Las Vegas.
(See Labato, Page 4)
By Thomas Mitchell
In January District Judge James
Wilson of Carson City issued an injunction blocking enactment of the
Education Savings Accounts approved by lawmakers in Senate Bill
302, saying it violated Article 11,
Section 6.2 of the state Constitution.
On Friday, Attorney General
Adam Laxalt filed a 62-page brief
arguing to the state Supreme Court
that the injunction should be lifted
and the law enacted as written. The
argument in the brief is similar to
ones made here in mid-January.
In a press release Monday,
Laxalt said, “This injunction has
disrupted more than 4,000 Nevada
families who hoped to benefit from
this innovative program. While I
believe the harm cited by the plaintiffs is pure conjecture at best, my
Office continues to work diligently
to get a final answer on the constitutionality of ESAs as quickly and
efficiently as possible.”
This is the gist of the AG’s argument:
Section 6 imposes three clear
and specific duties on the Legislature concerning the funding of the
public schools — and the Legislature clearly satisfied all three and
SB 302 violates none. First, Section
6.1 requires the Legislature to provide for the “support and maintenance [of the public schools] by
direct legislative appropriation
from the general fund.” Nev. Const.
art. 11, ß 6.1. No one doubts that
the Legislature has done that. For
the current biennium, it passed Senate Bill 515 (“SB 515”), which established the per-pupil basic support guarantees for the school districts and transferred $2 billion in
general funds to the DSA to cover
both the State’s obligations to the
school districts and the ESA program.
(See Lawsuit, Page 3)
Laxalt files Education Savings Account
suit response with state Supreme Court
Attorney General Adam Laxalt
Can contested GOP convention
‘steal’ nomination from Trump?
If Trump wins the most states, the GOP would not be breaking establishment
rules to deny him, but those rules are exactly what Trump voters decry.
By Peter Grier
Christian Science Monitor
The Republican Party could be
headed towards a wild, contested
convention in Cleveland this July.
That’s a possible outcome of the
current elbows-out nominee battle.
If the contenders block each other
out and no one reaches the winning
number of 1,237 delegates, the convention itself will decide who receives the crown. Wouldn’t that be
entertaining?
This may even be the
#NeverTrump crowd’s current preferred scenario. Mitt Romney and
the rest of the establishment Donald
Trump opposition want all the current candidates to stay in the race.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R) has already won
his home state of Texas; if Sen.
Marco Rubio (R) wins his home of
Florida and Gov. John Kasich (R)
wins Ohio, nobody gets to 1,237.
Backroom wheeling and dealing,
here we come!
But is this realistic? Isn’t it pos(See Nomination, Page 5)
(HORN NEWS) — It’s long
been rumored by Republican insiders as a possibility.
Now, a plan to steal the GOP
presidential nomination from
frontrunner Donald Trump at the
Republican National Convention is
taking shape — and it may be targeting former presidential nominee
Mitt Romney as his replacement.
As first reported by CNN, Romney advisers have recently been ordered to seek information on a contested convention, and implicit in
the request were marching orders
to see what it would take to advance
Romney as a compromise candidate.
“It sounds like the plan is to lock
the convention,” a source told
CNN.
Romney confidant Ron
Kaufman, a senior member of the
Republican National Committee,
(See Romney, Page 6)
By Rolando Larraz
Las Vegas Tribune
Are judges in Nevada ruling on
cases by the law? Are the attorneys
in Nevada made out of a unique
cynic’s cold-blooded mentality or
are they just plain cowards in cahoots with the judges that refuse to
follow the law?
Are the attorneys very afraid of
the judges or are they just lacking
in the necessary manhood to defend
paying clients as they deserve to be
defended?
Every day this newspaper learns
of one or two cases of attorneys
misrepresenting themselves with
clients and their attitude is criminal, despicable and plain low.
“I believe that the law supports
you, but that is not the same as saying that Judge Kephart will agree
with us.”
When Las Vegas Tribune intercepted that above email from an attorney to his client, the newspaper
could not believe what it was in
front of the computer monitor.
Are judges supposed to rule by
the law or do favors for attorneys
that contribute to their campaign
funds?
(See Feeley, Page 3)
Romney plots to steal nomination from Trump
Judge ruling unlawful
MITT ROMNEY
FROM THE DESK OF GORDON MARTINES
Silence by good honorable men and women will
allow for tyranny and evil to flourish and continue
By Gordon Martines
If you don’t stand up now for
what is right, you most certainly
will be crawling on your belly later,
asking for help from anyone.
Being a Constitutionalist can
sometimes be very trying in that,
when asked who I favor in the upand-coming presidential election, I
reply that I don’t discuss political
candidates as I am a “Constitutionalist,” and I would be glad to
discuss the “Constitution of the
United States of America, and the
Bill of Rights.”
The person that I had the conversation with will usually look at
me with a weird look and would
then end the conversation. I’ve noticed that just about any discussion
about the Constitution is viewed by
others as being “ extremist” or “
radical” in nature. How could this
have occurred? Why would this
have occurred?
The only conclusion I personally
can come up with is that there is a
(See From the Desk, Page 5)
Page 2 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / March 9-15, 2016
My Point of View
(Continued from Page 1)
neys in Las Vegas suffer from
telephobia — they are as afraid of
the telephones as they are of the
prosecutors, judges and police officers if they don’t follow their orders.
Another attorney got the money
that the wife and the mother of the
man sitting in jail had put together,
and when the attorney walked into
the county jail to see his new client, the first thing out of his mouth,
while the client tried to tell him how
the events took place, was “don’t
worry about that; plead guilty and
get it over with,” so there is an innocent engineer from Florida doing
life in a Nevada prison for a crime
he did not commit, thanks to his
TRIBUNE
VOL. 18, NO. 1
FOUNDER
Rolando Larraz
PUBLISHER
AND
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Rolando Larraz
GENERAL MANAGER
Perly Viasmensky
MANAGING EDITOR
Maramis Choufani
PRODUCTION
Don Snook
“helpful” attorney.
Let’s not forget the sad case of
former Las Vegas Metropolitan
Police officer Ronald Mortensen,
who was accused of killing an alleged Mexican drug dealer when in
reality the driver of the truck, another Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer with an affluent father,
is the one who committed the crime;
as a rule, those involved in enforcing the law know how to break the
law and Mortensen is the one doing life in prison for the killing that
Chris Brady, the son of retired Detective Mike Brady, actually committed.
The Ron Mortensen case reminds me of the OJ Simpson case
in that Mortesen is doing the time
for Brady and OJ is doing his time
for the Los Angeles murder case of
which a jury of his peers found him
not guilty.
You be the judge of the
Mortensen case after reading the
following sequence of events:
1. Christopher Brady’s statement
about the drive-by shooting was
taken by Detective Brent Becker
and another Metro police officer,
Paul Bigham. Brent Becker was a
close friend and former partner of
Christopher Brady’s father, Michael
Brady, who was a long-time Metro
detective. Michael Brady sat in on
the interview. Michael Brady and
Paul Bigham were never asked to
testify about the statement under
oath. Although Christopher Brady
acknowledged he had reached
across Mortensen’s chest and
pointed his gun out the passenger
window, Brent Becker attempted to
discount that fact. The officers took
no statement from Mortensen.
2. Without further investigation,
Sheriff Keller reported to the local
media that Mortensen was guilty of
the drive-by shooting.
3. Christopher Brady was not
asked to participate in a line-up. Although witnesses’ testimony would
be suspect, given the lighting conditions at the time of night when the
shooting occurred; that Brady was
not asked to participate is significant.
4. Brady’s truck and clothing
were not preserved as evidence to
check for gunpowder residue. He
was allowed to wash his clothing
and modify and paint his truck.
5. A scheduled preliminary hearing, for which subpoenas had been
issued by Mortensen’s defense
counsel, Frank Cremen, to show
Christopher Brady’s bad performance record, was preempted by
the District Attorney in favor of a
secret grand jury proceeding.
6. Before convening the grand
jury, which indicted Mortensen, a
published report in a local newspaper said the bullet recovered from
Mendoza’s body came from
Mortensen’s gun. According to
Glenn Puit, the reporter, the false
story was leaked by Gary Guymon
who went on to prosecute
Mortensen.
7. Christopher Brady’s attorney,
Stephen Stein, a friend of Michael
Brady, was the first witness before
the grand jury. He vouched for the
veracity of Christopher Brady, who
was the chief witness against
Mortensen. Why Mr. Stein was allowed to vouch for Christopher
Brady during the secret grand jury
proceeding is suspect, especially
given the fact that Nevada case law
prevents this type of grand jury
vouching.
8. Although Cremen, before the
grand jury met, notified Chief
Deputy District Attorney John P.
Lukens, in some detail, that the
theory of Mortensen’s defense was
that Christopher Brady was the
shooter, no indication of this was
given to the jury, even though on
two occasions a juror specifically
asked about Mortensen’s possible
defense.
9. After Mortensen was indicted,
Lukens wrote to Cremen, “As your
client, Mr. Mortensen, has been indicted, there is no need for Metro
to produce records pursuant to your
subpoena for the preliminary hearing previously scheduled for January 24, 1997.” Brady’s bad acts
were to be undisclosed. This became significant after the trial when
the brutish behavior of Brady was
revealed. Among other bad acts of
threatening, striking, abusing, and
pulling guns on Hispanic males, it
was revealed that he had forced a
woman, whom he had stopped for
a traffic violation, to perform fellatio on him.
10. One primary, alleged witness, Ruben Ramirez, had criminal
cases pending in the district court
at the time of his trial testimony.
The defense was not notified by the
prosecution of that fact during the
trial.
11. Although Metro Officer
Mark Barry knew that Brady had
on several occasions said that he,
Brady, would like to do a drive-by
shooting, the trial jury was not informed of that fact.
12. To validate the prosecutor’s
opening statement at the trial, that
Christopher Brady looked like a
Hispanic, Brady was allowed to
change his appearance by cutting
his hair and darkening his skin.
Mortensen filed a writ of Habeas
Corpus in federal court and 28
months later the federal court sent
his case back to state court where
it’s been since May 2013, and he
has been waiting for a response ever
since.
And all that with the approval
and blessing of Mortensen’s PAID
attorney, Frank Cremen.
Justice not for all, in the “country” of Las Vegas.
My name is Rolando Larraz, and
as always, I approved this column.
*****
Rolando Larraz is Editor in
Chief of the Las Vegas Tribune. His
column appears weekly in this
newspaper. To contact Rolando
Larraz,
email
him
at:
[email protected] or
at 702-272-4634.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Colleen Lloyd
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
Kenneth A. Wegner
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Lawsuit
JUDGE ALLAN EARL
JUDGE BILL KEPHART
For the last six months this
newspaper have been writing about
the Martha E. Feeley Trust case
emphasizing how clear the law is
and how risky it is for a judge to be
caught in the middle of a law-breaking situation just to cover up the
mistake of another judge. Judge
Allan Earl ran out of the courthouse
pretending to be in poor health,
thereby evading the consequences
of his felonious behavior, when as
a judge, he should know that criminals, sooner or later, always get
caught and have to pay for their
crime. If attorneys have to be paid
for what they do, shouldn’t criminals have to pay for committing
their crimes?
Last week the Las Vegas Tribune
published a story updating the
Feeley Case with the new development that the State of Nevada has
decided to cover up the actions of
Judge Allan Earl. The new Appellate Court has affirmed a flagrantly
unconstitutional void order.
This latest maneuver confirms
the Nevada Judiciary is not capable
of correcting mistakes made by
lower courts. Their goal is to protect the corrupt system as is. The
District Court rulings were unconstitutional.
How can the appellate court rule
honestly when only a few months
ago they were neighbors on the
same floor of the courthouse? How
can the appellate court tell their golf
buddies or their neighbors that their
rulings in a lower court were
wrong?
The actions that Judge Earl perpetrated to stop payment of a
Cashier’s Check that was obtained
by Clark Feeley to protect the assets of the New Hampshire Trust
were criminal.
Judge Earl signed a Court Order
attesting that the Cashier’s Check
was lost, destroyed, or stolen; but
after seeing the Cashier’s Check
and by reading minutes of some of
the hearings it is very clear to this
newspaper that Judge Earl and
People’s United Bank knew that the
Cashier’s Check was not lost, destroyed, or stolen.
Clark Feeley has always been in
possession of the Cashier’s Check
since issued — and Judge Earl
knew that. Judge Earl even threatened to jail Clark Feeley if he did
not turn the Cashier’s Check over
to him.
The orders entered by Judge
Allan Earl must be considered void
by a competent Appellate Court
following the laws of the land. That
would have been good for the reputation of the Trust industry and the
State of Nevada. However, that correct ruling ultimately has no real
direct effect on the other action
taken by Judge Earl in his quest to
pay a non-prevailing Nevada attorney.
Judge Earl directly perpetrated
and participated in a scheme to induce a federally chartered and
FDIC insured bank to stop payment
on a Cashier’s Check.
The invalid and illegal actions
taken by Judge Earl in the Feeley
ruling pale in comparison to stopping payment of a negotiable instrument considered to have cash
equivalency by Federal Banking
laws and which have been seriously
violated.
The Las Vegas Tribune has investigated the act of stopping payment of Cashier’s Checks, and has
found laws, statutes, and Uniform
Commercial Code regulations
adopted and enacted in all fifty
states that specifically forbid an issuing bank to not honor their
Cashier’s Check when presented for
payment.
The newspaper has even looked
at numerous case precedents where
banks have stopped payment of legitimate Cashier’s Checks, and in
every case the bank must not only
honor the check, but pay interest,
expenses, and consequential damages as well.
How an attorney in good face
can make a statement as obviously
cowardly as this one is beyond
anyone’s imagination and it proves
once more that what the Las Vegas
Tribune has been saying about the
Las Vegas legal community is very
close to the truth.
Is there any justice in our community for the common citizen with
no political clout? Of course not;
justice is blind when a common
person is before a judge that believes attorneys have to be paid.
This last six months have been
like an educational treat to many at
this newspaper, but it has always
been a fact that non-prevailing attorneys are paid by the client who
hired them; and in many cases even
the prevailing attorneys are paid by
the losing side — but not in the
country of Las Vegas where the law
is exercised as it goes and not by
the Constitution of the United
States.
In the case of the Feeley Trust,
the attorney for the defendant was
hired on a contingency basis, and
when the attorney for that defendant
realized that his client was not able
to pay for his services, the attorney
may have signaled the judge that it
was time for payback for all his
campaign contributions — in other
words, time for the judge to find a
way to get money, presumably from
the trust, to pay him for his legal
services, and that is when the conspiracy began.
Feeley
Next, Section 6.2, enacted in
2006 after the public-school funding impasse of 2003, imposes two
other requirements on the Legislature: “[B]efore any other appropriation is enacted to fund a portion of
the state budget for the next ensuing biennium, the Legislature shall
enact one or more appropriations to
provide the money the Legislature
deems to be sufficient” for the public schools. Nev. Const. art. 11, ß
6.2. Section 6.2 thus requires the
Legislature to (1) pass an appropriations bill funding the public schools
before it passes any other appropriations bill and (2) provide the
funds that it “deems to be sufficient” for the public schools. Id. As
to the former, there is no dispute
that SB 515, the bill that appropriated $2 billion to the DSA, was the
first appropriations bill for the current biennium, and that the very first
section of SB 515 set aside
“guarantee[d]” funding for
Nevada’s public schools. And while
the latter is plainly not a justiciable
duty, the Legislature expressly declared the amount that it set aside
in SB 515 as “sufficient” funding
for the public schools. Indeed, the
very title of SB 515 is “An Act...
ensuring sufficient funding for K12 public education for the 20152017 biennium...”
The brief makes it clear the lawmakers deemed sufficient a per pupil funding level of $5,700 on average across the state and the same
lawmakers said parents could tap a
savings account amounting to 90
percent of that per pupil amount
from the same state appropriation
for the purpose of educating the
public’s children somewhere other
March 9-15, 2016 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 3
than a public school.
The district judge ruled that the
$2 billion Distributive School Account was inviolate and could not
the tapped for any purpose other
than funding public schools, even
though the funding was based on a
per pupil basis as are the ESAs.
The attorney general’s brief
pointed out repeatedly that the state
Constitution merely requires public schools to be funded at a level
the “Legislature deems to be sufficient,” and the law funding public
schools was passed three days after the ESA law; therefore, lawmakers deemed that amount sufficient.
How are parents of public school
children harmed if their schools get
10 percent of the funding for pupils who are not in their public
school population? Additionally,
public school districts keep local
and federal funding. Seems like a
benefit more than an irreparable
harm to the parents of public school
children.
On Monday the Las Vegas newspaper posted online a story about
the filing that quotes an attorney
representing parents who challenged the ESA law. Attorney
Tamerlin Godley was quoted as
saying the Constitution creates a
“lock box” on public schools funds
and the money must be used solely
at public schools. That is basically
what the district judge ruled, though
no one cites where that “lock box”
language resides in the Constitution.
“If SB 302 is implemented, it
will have an impact on children that
cannot be reversed,” Godley was
quoted as saying. “We have a situation where the state would pay out
millions of dollars in money earmarked for public education that it
could not claw back, or we stick
with the status quo.” The story did
not appear in today’s print edition.
The case is being expedited by
the Supreme Court and could be
heard and/or decided by the justices
as early as mid-April.
There is another legal challenge
to ESAs pending in Las Vegas
courts.
Lobato
The following are eleven “problems” with Mortera’s story, in the
order they were broadcast. The
“Problem” following each excerpt
summarizes what is wrong with
Mortera’s commentary or Kephart’s
statement.
1. Lobato statement: “I got out
of my car, and he came out of nowhere and grabbed me from behind.”
Mortera commentary: “The
recording is of then-18-year-old
Kirstin Blaise Lobato describing to
Metro investigators how a methamphetamine fueled trip to Las Vegas
ended in mayhem.”
Problem: Misleading and deceptive. There is no evidence that
methamphetamine had anything to
do with the Budget Suites Hotel
assault, or that Ms. Lobato was on
a “trip to Las Vegas” when it occurred.
2. Lobato statement: “He came
out of nowhere and grabbed me
from behind. I cut his penis, I remember that.”
Problem: Deceptive. Viewers
weren’t informed Ms. Lobato’s two
sentences were spliced from different parts of her audio statement to
make it appear they were together.
3. Lobato statement: “He was
...he was crying.”
Mortera commentary: “‘He’
was Duran Bailey, a homeless man,
brutally killed.”
Problem: Complete fabrication.
No evidence in Ms. Lobato’s statement or presented at trial stated that
Bailey was the man who assaulted
her at the Budget Suites Hotel.
4. Mortera commentary:
“Lobato told police Bailey tried to
sexually assault her near Boulder
Highway in 2001, and to defend
herself she pulled out a knife and
cut him in the groin.”
Lobato did not tell police Bailey
was her assailant; he didn’t physically match the description of her
assailant, and she did not recognize
Bailey when she was shown a photo
of him.
5. Kephart interview: “I am
given a task to present evidence that
we have, uh, there, there certainly
is no evidence that was, you know,
uh, manufactured or anything like
that. We just present what we have
to the jury, and give the jury an opportunity to decide.”
Problem: False statements.
Kephart’s lack of honesty could
have been exposed by Mortera’s
confronting him with the evidence
in Ms. Lobato’s habeas petition,
showing that the trial transcript
documents Kephart used misstated
evidence and used manufactured
non-existent “evidence” during his
opening statements and rebuttal argument to the jury.
Given the gravitas of Kephart’s
position as the spokesperson for the
State, the jury would be expected
to rely on his falsehoods as true.
“Lobato’s tearful words were described as a confession.”
Ms. Lobato’s statement was not
“described as a confession” during
Kephart’s opening statement.
ADA Sandra DiGiacomo’s closing argument;
Kephart’s rebuttal argument;
There was no testimony during her
trial that it was a confession.
“[Michelle] Ravell is Lobato’s surrogate mother and believes Kirstin
was back in her home town at the
time of Bailey’s killing, not in Las
Vegas.”
Problem: Misleading and deceptive. It is not a partisan belief by
Ravell that Ms. Lobato was “not in
Las Vegas” when Bailey died. Ms.
Lobato’s habeas petition includes
new forensic evidence unrebutted
by the State that Bailey died after 8
p.m. on July 8, 2001, a time when
the State has publicly admitted she
was in Panaca.
8. Mortera commentary: “So
what could get Lobato, now in her
30s, out of prison? Proof of a different killer.”
Problem: Misleading and deceptive. Mortera doesn’t inform
viewers that Ms. Lobato’s habeas
case pending before the Nevada
Supreme Court is seeking a new
trial or dismissal of her charges. Her
petition includes new forensic evidence proving it is physically impossible for her to have committed
Bailey’s homicide.
Mortera’s statement is factually
inaccurate because the actual perpetrator was identified in only 9 out
of 300 known exoneration s in the
U.S. in 2015 — 3 percent of cases.
9. Mortera commentary: “After a decade of courtroom motions,
arguments, denials, reversals, and
appeals, an offer from the Innocence Project to test DNA from the
crime scene, along with a public
petition demanding the use of DNA
technology, is raising hope for freedom.”
Problem: Misleading and factually incomplete. The Innocence
Project offered to pay for DNA testing more than five years ago. Judge
Vega sided with the DA Office’s
vigorous opposition, and denied
Ms. Lobato’s petition for DNA testing in July 2011 — more than four
years ago. The change.org petition
that DA Steven Wolfson ignored
was submitted to him almost three
years ago in May 2013.
10. Kephart interview: “I stand
behind what we did, um, I have, I
have no qualms about what happened, and, and how we prosecuted
this matter. I believe it’s completely,
uh, justice.”
Problem: Deceptive and misleading. Ms. Mortera didn’t confront Kephart with the incidents
documented in Ms. Lobato’s habeas
petition of his alleged criminal conduct, his lying to Judge Vega, his
misstating of evidence and manufacturing of non-existent “evidence” for the jury, and his serial
misconduct that Ms. Lobato asserts
deprived her of a fair trial.
“Lobato, her family, and supporters believe otherwise. They say
DNA testing of evidence from the
scene, such as a piece of gum that
had blood on it, could lead investigators to someone else. All this as
Lobato’s appeal moves its way
through the courts.”
Problem: Deceptive and misleading. There is no basis in reality
for Mortera to create the impression
that Ms. Lobato is depending on
DNA testing for her exoneration.
Regarding “Lobato’s appeal,”
Mortera’s story doesn’t make a
single mention of Ms. Lobato’s habeas petition pending in the Nevada
Supreme Court, which details why
she asserts she hasn’t received “justice.” Mortera’s story could have
had substance by reporting that Ms.
Lobato’s petition includes: new evidence by more than two dozen witnesses supporting Ms. Lobato’s factual innocence; exculpatory evidence Kephart concealed from her
during her trial; ineffective assistance of her trial and appellate lawyers, and it documents more than
160 instances of prosecutorial misconduct by Kephart during her trial.
The foregoing starkly demonstrates that Marie Mortera had scant
regard for reporting the truth in
Death in the Desert. Mortera’s fabrications have earned her the distinction of standing alongside
Stephen Glass who produced stories with fabrications at the New
Republic, and Jayson Blair who
produced stories with fabrications
at The New York Times.
Both Glass and Blair were terminated for their conduct.
NBC Channel 3 (KSNV-TV)
assisted Mortera by choosing to
broadcast a story so divorced from
the truth, that not even a gossip tabloid like the National Enquirer
would have published it in print.
*****
Hans Sherrer is President of the
Justice Institute based in Seattle,
Washington that conducted a postconviction investigation of Ms.
Lobato’s case, and promotes awareness of wrongful convictions. Its
website is, www.justicedenied.org.
Hillary wants to hold
gunmakers liable
By Thomas Mitchell
Forty-three states have dram
shop laws — though round-theclock, free-booze-for-gamblers
Nevada, of course, isn’t one of
them.
I know of no state that holds Jack
Daniels and its ilk of manufacturers liable when someone overimbibes and causes harm to another.
Hillary Clinton seems to want to
hold gunmakers liable for when
purchasers misuse their product,
going after Bernie Sanders in
Saturday’s debate in Michigan for
backing a 2005 law that provides
broad civil immunity for gun manufacturers and dealers so long as they
do not willfully or negligently misbehave or create a defective product.
It is one thing for a bartender to
refuse to serve an obvious drunk,
but how do gun dealers — much
less gunmakers — spot a kill-crazy
psychopath?
Clinton pronounced that she believes “giving immunity to
gunmakers and sellers was a terrible
mistake...”
She declared, “Because it removed any accountability (ignoring
the exceptions for willful and negligent) from the makers and the sellers. And it also disrupted what was
a very promising legal theory, to try
to get makers to do more to make
guns safer for example. To try to
give sellers more accountability for
selling guns when they shouldn’t
have. So that is an issue that Senator Sanders and I differ on, I voted
against giving them immunity, but
I think we should very seriously
move to repeal that and go back to
making sure gun makers and sellers are like any other business. They
can be held accountable.”
Watch out who you sell those
hammers and machetes and nail
guns to, Home Depot, Hillary
thinks you and the makers of those
things are liable right now.
Sanders correctly pointed out
that Clinton’s proposition would
end gun manufacturing in the
United States, and presumably gun
dealerships, though Sanders did not
say it
“If you go to a gun store and you
legally purchase a gun, and then,
three days later, if you go out and
start killing people, is the point of
this lawsuit to hold the gun shop
owner or the manufacturer of that
gun liable?” Sanders asked.
“If that is the point, I have to tell
you I disagree. I disagree because
you hold people — in terms of this
liability thing, where you hold
manufacturers’ liability is if they
understand that they’re selling guns
into an area that — it’s getting into
the hands of criminals, of course
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders
they should be held liable.
“But if they are selling a product to a person who buys it legally,
what you’re really talking about is
ending gun manufacturing in
America. I don’t agree with that.”
This was followed by quibbling
and hemming and hawing and cross
talk.
The moderator kept trying to
change the subject, but Clinton insisted, turning it into a Sanders-like
argument against corporate greed.
“I want people in this audience
to think about what it must feel like
to send off your first grader, little
backpack, maybe, on his or her
back, and then the next thing you
hear is that somebody has come to
that school using an automatic
weapon, an AR-15, and murdered
those children,” Clinton meandered.
“Now, they are trying to prevent
that from happening to any other
family.”
With Sanders and the modera-
tor trying to interject, she charged.
“...you talk about corporate greed?
Sanders: “Hold it.”
Clinton: “The gun manufacturers sell guns to make as much
money as they can make.” This
from the woman who makes hundreds of thousands of dollars giving 30-minute speeches to Wall
Street firms that she refuses to release to the public.
When Sanders got to talk he repeated his observation about the
consequences of what Clinton is
asking for: “But it, as I understand
it, Anderson (Cooper), and maybe
I’m wrong, what you’re really talking about is people saying let’s end
gun manufacturing in America.
That’s the implications of that, and
I don’t agree with that.”
Just as making the manufacturers of alcohol liable would end all
distilling, brewing and wine making. When everyone is responsible
for everything that goes awry, no
one is responsible.
CALL NOW 1-800-413-0174
Nomination
sible that the outcome of this would
be an angry and divided party, or
former party, as opposed to political entertainment?
Would a contested convention
by definition be unfair?
Many members of the Republican elite, meaning lawmakers, big
donors, lobbyists, and interest
group leaders, think it would not be.
Their bedrock point is that it would
be playing by established rules.
A plurality of votes does not win
the nomination. It takes 50 percent
plus one. And delegates are not permanently bound to vote for the candidate they represent when they
reach the convention. After the first
ballot, most can pick whomever
they wish. After two or three ballots, every delegate is a free agent.
Many would be loyal to their
original choice, of course. That’s
where the “contested” part comes
in. It’s hard to predict how this
would play out, but one likely outcome might be two candidates joining in a ticket with one allocated
the VP slot. Senator Cruz/ Senator
Rubio together, for instance, could
well top Mr. Trump in an open convention battle.
Or the convention could turn to
another candidate entirely — someone who did not run in the primaries, if it remains deadlocked after
multiple ballots. Mr. Romney
seems available. Speaker of the
House Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin
might be as well.
This is how Trump could lose
the nomination if he’s the delegate
leader entering the convention, but
has less than 1,237 votes. It would
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to the crowd asking them to take a pledge to promise
to vote for him during a campaign rally in Orlando, Fla., Saturday. If Mr. Trump wins a majority of states,
the GOP establishment may seek to deny him the nomination via a brokered convention.
not even be unusual by historical be stolen. https://t.co/P5w8iLwtEk College political scientist David
standards, given that brokered con- — Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) Hopkins.
ventions were the norm in the pre- March 8, 2016.
“If he falls short of an overall
primary nomination system prior to
Try telling that to Trump sup- majority, of course, he would not be
the Watergate scandal.
porters. The problem here is that the automatically recognized by the
“Say it again: If a majority of establishment is arguing rules and party itself as its official nominee,
voters vote non-Trump & he falls precedents with a party faction but he would still be widely seen
short of a delegate majority, noth- that’s rebelling against everything by the citizenry as having the most
ing can be stolen,” tweeted Sean rules and precedents symbolize.
legitimate claim to the prize — esTrende, a senior elections analyst
The GOP establishment will pecially in comparison to someone
at RealClearPolitics, on Tuesday.
have a difficult time explaining why like Romney or Paul Ryan who
Say it again: If a majority of vot- Trump is not the nominee if he wins didn’t even face the voters this
ers vote non-Trump & he falls short the most states, votes, and delegates year,” writes Hopkins at his Honest
of a delegate majority, nothing can of all the candidates, writes Boston Graft blog.
movement by the establishment, to
move away from the Constitution
and its clearly defined explanation,
guidelines, and Law; and for now,
to adopt a belief that decisions and
orders made by the Executive
Branch of government and the Judicial Branch of government, are
now somehow perceived as “Law.”
The common term for this new
type of belief system that the federal government would like you to
accept and believe is called “Pretend Legislation.”
This is all dependent on the public to believe that whatever is vomited out of the Executive Branch
(President) and the Judicial Branch
(Supreme Court) is now automatically “Law.” This, of course, is not
true, and I would like to cite some
personal examples:
1. The Patriot Act contains many
violations of the Bill of Rights, especially the 4th Amendment.
2. Exigent Circumstances is a
doctrine and specific question of
fact and definition pertaining to the
4th Amendment.
3. The Miranda Warning is not
law but only a supreme court deci-
sion, which suggests law enforcement abide by, regarding self-incrimination.
4. Gun registration, any form of
gun registration, is not law, and is a
violation of the 2nd Amendment,
which is for the prevention of an
oppressive tyrannical government,
which is what we have now.
Government bought-and-paidfor propaganda mainstream news
media, has undoubtedly made its
mark on the public and for those
that are now awake, and to those
that are slowly waking up. It is vitally important that the masses
reach out and explore alternate
news media sources for their information, in order to make a properly
informed decision on our next
leader.
I personally am appreciating
more the old-fashioned “Talk Radio” system to complement my
sources of information. The TV has
become too “politically correct”
and corrupt to believe any more.
I am losing more and more intelligence-gathering even with
“facebook,” because of the hacking
techniques by others and the internal censorship of facebook on top-
From The Desk
AJ Maimbourg/Ed Klapproth, Co-Founders
Please join us in our national wave to bring God
back into our country! Our mission is to recruit State
leaders across the country to lead in vetting every
single federal, state, county and city candidate running
for office in 2016... We will then choose the ones we
at the Christian Crusade will endorse and publicize
nationally. We have allowed God to be removed far
too long now and it is time to pick up the “banner”
and bring Him back in a concentrated effort to restore
His word and code.
Please visit our website and review all the
categories. The volunteer section will allow you to do
just that, as well as we will post the State National
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ics that are diverse from general
conformity beliefs. And by the way,
the “chains of conformity” are
pretty strong, but can still be broken by Truth.
Whenever or wherever you observe a government violation of the
Constitution of the United States of
America, or of the Bill of Rights,
you have a duty and obligation to
speak out, stand up and “peaceably”
protest these unlawful actions. If
you fail to do this, then prepare to
suffer the consequences later on.
There are several ways to protest federal government violations
and actions that are directed against
specific groups and individuals.
To promote your grievances, in
a peaceful manner, here are some
suggestions:
The Internet is a marvelous machine of mass communication that
still, for now, is not government
controlled, and can be of great help.
Fax machines and snail mail (sign
receipt requested), especially to
elected officials, are another means
to get your message out and make
people aware of what is happening.
Independent and non-controlled
newspapers that still have the guts
to get the Truth out and are not
afraid of government coercion will
be a big help. Mass mailings to government representatives requesting
their assistance in following the
Law, supporting your grievance,
and performing their elected duty.
And finally, the all - risky, signcarrying unarmed human being
physical peaceful protest, which I
might add, usually contains spies
and foreign agitators, put in place
by government officials in order to
disrupt the peaceful protest and
cause law enforcement intervention,
which will demonize the protestors,
and sometimes even injure or murder unarmed patriotic American
Citizens like (Robert Lavoy
Finicum), in Burns, OR, 1-16-16.
If Rubio, say, wins the nomination via convention the 35 to 40
percent of Republicans who turned
out for The Donald may well erupt
in fury. They’ll cry “betrayal” and
many may stay home in November. Or worse, they’ll spurn the
GOP entirely. Say what you will
about Trump, but he’s expanded
and energized the party base, points
out conservative commentator
Erick Erickson.
“The Republicans peddling this
theory will obtain only a pyrrhic
victory. The GOP itself will
crumble if it does this.” writes Mr.
Erickson, who is opposed to Trump
himself.
But does the GOP establishment, the conservative elite that has
controlled the party for a generation, want Trump voters? That’s not
clear. At least, it’s not clear that
Romney et al want to be members
of a party that is more populist and
nativist, with a dash of
authoritarianism on top.
Thus the possibility of a party
crack-up. If Trump is denied the
nomination despite winning a plurality, his supporters might walk. If
he wins the nomination, some of his
opponents might split.
Prior to either of these things
happening, the convention itself
will be like nothing seen since
1976, when Ronald Reagan came
within a whisker of denying incumbent Gerald Ford the nomination.
“The rules will get challenged.
Delegate slates will get challenged.
Floor motions. Oh man it is going
to be GONZO,” tweeted Jay Cost
of the Weekly Standard earlier this
week.
Remember to Keep your Faith,
Keep your Gun, and they can Keep
their Change.
In God We Trust
*****
Gordon Martines is a former
LVMPD detective who has served
in many capacities over his 39-year
career in law enforcement. He was
a candidate for sheriff in 2002,
2006, 2010 and 2014, with the intention of bringing integrity and accountability back to the department, and filed a federal lawsuit
against LVMPD in 2011. Martines
has appeared on “Face The Tribune” radio show several times
and is currently the host of “Open
Mic” on Tuesdays and Thursday at
11:00 a.m. He contributes his opinions and ideas to the Las Vegas Tribune to keep the public informed
and help improve policing in Las
Vegas. Gordon Martines can be
contacted
via
email
at
[email protected].
Clean Power Plan challenge is based on federalism
By Thomas Mitchell
Shortly after Nevada Attorney
General Adam Laxalt filed a friendof-the-court brief in support of the
29 states suing in federal court to
block the Environmental Protection
Agency’s Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon emissions from electric power plants, the attorney for
an environmental group fired off a
criticism.
“Attorney General Laxalt’s opposition to the Clean Power Plan is
out of step with Nevada’s commitment to advancing clean energy that
protects public health, the environment and our clean energy
economy...” wrote Robert Johnston,
an attorney with the Western Resource Advocates.
“Our state has been proactive in
developing and enacting clean energy policies for more than a decade... As a result, Nevada is in a
strong position to comply with the
goal of a 35 percent reduction from
2005 levels by 2030 contemplated
in the final rule.”
He said there is “no logical
reason” for Laxalt to oppose the
EPA fiat.
Whether the state is capable of
complying with the plan — in fact,
Romney
has openly embraced the possibility of a contested convention: “If
that’s the only way to stop Trump,
it makes sense,” he told The Associated Press.
And yet, in reply to the last question of Thursday night’s debate,
each of the remaining candidates —
Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John
Kasich — said they would support
Trump if he was the presidential
nominee of their party.
Underlying the clash between
Trump and Romney is a bleak reality for panicking Republican establishment officials: Beyond harsh
words, there is little chance to stop
Trump’s march toward the presidential nomination at the voting
booth. So it seems party leaders are
poring over complicated delegate
math in smokey backrooms, outlining hazy scenarios for a contested
national convention they could then
use to bypass Trump’s plurality.
In public, the most notable verbal attacks against Trump to date
came Thursday from Romney and
his 2012 running mate, House
Speaker Paul Ryan, who urged voters in the strongest terms to shun
the billionaire for the good of country and party.
The GOP’s 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. McCain, joined in, raising “many concerns about Mr.
Trump’s uninformed and indeed
dangerous statements on national
security issues.” That echoes the
worries of dozens of leading conservative defense and foreign policy
officials.
As Kaufman suggested, Romney embraced what might seem a
long-shot approach to deny Trump
the delegates necessary to secure
the nomination, and called on Republicans to spread their vote to
help divide the delegate count.
“Given the current delegate selection process, this means that I
would vote for Marco Rubio in
Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio
to the constitutional concept of federalism under which powers not
assigned to the federal government
are retained by the states and the
people — the 10th Amendment.
In fact, Laxalt’s brief, which was
filed in conjunction with Consumers’ Research, a national consumer
advocacy organization, states in its
opening pages that the “elementary
principles of federalism would preclude giving credence or deference
to any state-authority-invading
regulation...” (Nevada brief on
Clean Power Plan)
The state is well within its prerogatives to reduce its carbon emissions, but the EPA has no power to
require it to do so under the Clean
Air Act.
The EPA proposal essentially
seeks to divert energy generation
from plants fueled by coal and other
fossil fuels to plants powered by
wind or solar, which the EPA claims
will benefit the environment and
prevent global warming by sharply
reducing emissions of carbon dioxide.
The Supreme Court, shortly before the death of strict constitutionalist and states’ rights advocate
Antonin Scalia, voted 5-4 to suspend enactment of Clean Power
Plan rules until the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia can hear and rule on the suit
filed by the states. The action was
deemed unprecedented by legal
observers. The lower court had declined to block the rules but has
expedited the case and is expected
to hear arguments in June. The
Laxalt brief is being entered into the
record of that case.
In their appeal to the Supreme
Court seeking to delay the rules, the
29 suing states also cited federalism.
The Clean Power Plan “raises
serious federalism concerns. It is a
‘well-established principle that it is
incumbent upon the federal courts
to be certain of Congress’ intent
before finding that federal law overrides the usual constitutional balance of federal and state powers...”
the states argue. “The Power Plan
cannot be squared with that principle. The States’ authority over the
intrastate generation and consumption of energy is ‘one of the most
important functions traditionally
associated with the police powers
of the States.’”
While rooted in this principle of
states’ rights, the Nevada friend-ofthe-court brief does not ignore the
real consequences of the EPA’s
meddling, noting, “EPA’s expensive
economic experiment, imposed by
fiat, will increase electricity prices
for consumers and may well compromise the reliability of electric
power service. The best estimates
of how much prices will rise, performed by the NERA (National
Economic Research Associates)
economic consulting group,
projects increases of as much as 14
percent per year costing Americans
as much as $79 billion in present
dollars. These excessive costs underscore the fundamentally legislative character of EPA’s final rule.”
Back when he was first running
for office, Obama told a San Francisco newspaper editorial board,
“Under my plan of a cap-and-trade
system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Coal-powered
plants, you know, natural gas, you
name it, whatever the plants were,
whatever the industry was, they
would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They
will pass that money on to consumers.”
Of course, there is also the unambiguous wording of the Clean
Air Act itself, which says the states,
not the EPA, are to “establish” and
“apply” performance standards,
while the EPA merely outlines “procedures.”
It is not just about power plants,
but about fundamental powers and
principles.
(HORN NEWS) — The federal
investigation into former Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton’s email
server is beginning to heat up, and
the FBI is expected to pull Clinton
and some of her top aides in for
questioning “within weeks.”
That’s according to report by
The New York Times, which cited
sources close to the investigation.
Defense lawyers — and Clinton
has an army of them — often decline requests for interviews from
the FBI. But fear of a political backlash may force the Clinton
campaign’s hand and obligate them
to make Clinton available for questioning.
Should the reported investigative timeline play out as expected,
it may have a huge impact on her
2016 presidential hopes. CNN has
reported that sources familiar with
the investigation say the questioning of Clinton and the investigation
could wrap up in late-May, while
Democratic primaries are still ongoing.
The Justice Department will
then have to decide whether Clinton
or any of her subordinates could
face legal consequences for her use
of a private email server, a decision
whose timing is fraught with seri-
ous political repercussions.
The inspectors general at the
State Department and the U.S. intelligence community are separately investigating whether rules or
laws were broken.
The FBI for months has investigated whether sensitive information
(See Hillary, Page 9)
Reid-Gardner coal-fired power plant is being shut down under a state law.
it may already be meeting the requirements — is neither here nor
there. The question is whether any
federal agency has the power to order the sovereign states to do its
bidding, which would be contrary
and for Ted Cruz or whichever one
of the other two contenders has the
best chance of beating Mr. Trump
in a given state,” Romney said.
Suggesting that Romney may
continue to have 2016 ambitions of
his own, Trump said the 2012 nominee had “chickened out” earlier
when he understood he’d be going
up against the billionaire businessman.
“He doesn’t have what it takes
to be president,” Trump said at a
Portland, Maine, rally. “I made so
much more money than Mitt.”
Romney’s views are irrelevant,
he said. “Look, Mitt is a failed candidate.”
Four years ago, Romney and
Trump stood side by side in Las
Vegas, with Trump saying it was a
“real honor and privilege” to endorse Romney’s White House bid.
Romney at the time praised
Trump’s ability to “understand how
our economy works and to create
jobs for the American people.”
On Thursday, Trump said Romney “was begging me” for an endorsement that year.
“I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop
to your knees.’ He would have
dropped to his knees,” Trump said.
Trump padded his delegate lead
with victories in seven Super Tuesday contests, with Cruz claiming
three states and Florida Sen. Rubio
picking up his first victory of the
2016 race.
Still, the front-runner is not yet
on track to claim the nomination before the party’s national gathering
in July, according to current delegate counts. He has won 46 percent of the delegates awarded so far,
and he would have to increase that
to 51 percent in the remaining primaries.
In other words, a brokered convention — where an establishment
candidate could emerge on the Republican side despite a plurality of
votes for a different candidate — is
still very much a possibility.
Judgment day! FBI to interrogate Clinton
Though dying of thirst, you may not ruffle
a feather of the precious sage grouse
By Thomas Mitchell
Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
— Ronald Reagan
Let’s see what tips the scales for
your typical federal bureaucrat. Ah,
here is an open window into the
mind of one now. Let us look in.
It is March, and for nearly a year
the Baker Water and Sewer General
Improvement District has been trying in vain to get permission to replace its leaking 250,000-gallon
municipal water tank on a tiny 30by-100-foot tract of Bureau of Land
Management-controlled land. The
leak poses a threat to fire safety as
well the risk of bacterial contamination of the town’s sole water supply.
But the safety and health of the
100 or so homes and businesses that
use the water have been weighed
and found wanting when compared
to the potential perturbance of
greater sage grouse, even though
the Interior Department said the
birds did not warrant being listed
under the Endangered Species Act
and are still legally hunted in Nevada.
The town of Baker must jump
through hoops to assure the federal
bureaucrats that anything they do
to assure their own safety does not
disturb a chicken-sized bird with a
showy mating ritual.
This was on display at a recent
meeting of the White Pine County
Board of Commissioners, as recounted by The Ely Times.
The commissioners were attempting to referee between the tiny
town and the mammoth and intractable federal agency.
BLM Ely District Manager
Michael Herder was also present.
“We’re here to address any issues,” Herder told the commission-
(HORN NEWS) — Florida Sen.
Marco Rubio was a darling of the
Republican establishment heading
into the 2016 presidential election.
His campaign even served as a rallying point for mainstream GOP
backers after former Florida Gov.
Jeb Bush dropped out of the race.
But Rubio’s entire political future is now at stake — and close
aides are reportedly begging him to
suspend his presidential campaign.
At issue is the upcoming March
15 primary in Rubio’s home state
of Florida. Polls show Rubio is going to lose to billionaire Donald
Trump, and failure to carry his
home state could doom Rubio’s
political future in Florida.
And, as first reported by CNN,
aides are trying hard to make the
case to Rubio that he should drop
out before the primary.
“He doesn’t want to get killed
in his home state,” one source told
CNN, warning Rubio that “a poor
showing would be a risk and hurt
his political future.”
Others are pointing to today’s
primaries as the last straws for
Rubio. He is projected to perform
especially poorly at the ballot box
in Michigan.
“Not going to have a great day
is an understatement,” one campaign adviser said.
It’s not just advisers backing
away from the Rubio campaign.
Just when he needs them the most,
big-dollar contributors from the
party’s wealthy mainstream are
having second thoughts about
Rubio’s future.
“Super Tuesday came and Rubio
didn’t do as well as some of us
hoped. So people are saying, ‘Let’s
see how this thing shakes out,’” said
Craig Duchossois, who contributed
$500,000 last year to a group that
backed former Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush.
“I’m holding back,” the Chi-
cago-based investor said of his own
plans.
Even Rubio’s most bullish aides
concede he likely cannot remain in
the race without winning in Florida,
where public polls show him second to Trump.
The must-win scenario is a result of Rubio’s struggle to find a
reliable base in the splintering Republican electorate.
He’s largely failed to reconnect
with the Tea Party voters who made
him a favorite during their national
breakthrough six years ago, instead
watching them flock to presidential
rivals Trump and Texas Sen. Ted
Cruz.
Rubio also has not fully harnessed the financial muscle of the
GOP old-guard eager to derail
Trump, despite the shift in focus by
many to Rubio after Bush quit the
race last month.
Rubio had about $5 million in
available cash at the beginning of
last month, less than half of what
Cruz had on hand. Trump has said
he can afford to finance his own
campaign, though he has received
contributions.
Rubio noted Monday how “expensive” it is to campaign in
Florida, which he said is “like running in four or five different states”
given the many large television
markets. Already Monday, Trump
had launched a 60-second ad casting Rubio’s as dishonest.
Duchossois and others who
pinned their hopes to him said they
were turned off by Rubio’s taunts,
including calling Trump’s “the
worst spray tan in America” and
equating Trump’s disproportionately small hands with his manhood. “You just don’t do that,” said
Bill Kunkler, another Chicago Republican who backed Bush but
stopped short of the pivot to Rubio.
“In Rubio, I don’t see the presidential gravitas.”
Could the BLM turn the town of Baker into another Nevada ghost town?
Rubio set to drop out?
Greater sage grouse
ers and representatives of the water district.
Asked if the water district could
begin construction to replace the
tank by May 1, Herder’s reply revealed just where his agency’s priorities lie.
“If we meet the criteria,” he was
quoted as saying. “Realistically
speaking, biologically speaking, it’s
in the best interest of the sage
grouse if the new tank is completed
and the old one removed in one season. If we can limit the time period
that both tanks are in place, that’s
what we’re looking for.”
Herder added under further
questioning that, “Our attorneys are
already looking at it. Completion in
one year is very appealing. As long
as there is a net conservation gain,
it’s doable. We still have to do bird
surveys before construction can
happen, but Baker GID can qualify
for exceptions to expedite the process, as long as there is a net conservation gain. We’re confident it’s
not going to be an issue. After the
end of the nesting season, there’s
between a week and a month before construction can start.”
But in December officials said
the BLM’s delays in approving the
project could jeopardize its state
loan under the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act, without which they
could not afford the replacement.
They also said the BLM is asking
them to complete a 12-month
project in only four months.
There you have it. People are an
invasive species to the federal bureaucrats, encroaching on their pristine range. The health and safety of
the citizenry is of no concern if it
ruffles a single grouse feather.
Bloomberg not running for president
26 Republicans who won’t
back Trump as nominee
By Haley Britzky, Luke Barr
and Andrew Dunn
The Hill
A growing number of Republicans are vowing not to support
Donald Trump for president even
if he wins the party’s nomination.
Trump racked up a number of
wins on Super Tuesday, bringing
him closer to being the GOP standard-bearer.
He’s also picked up a number of
crucial endorsements in recent
days, including from Gov. Chris
Christie (N.J.), who backed Trump
after ending his own presidential
bid, and from five lawmakers, including Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.).
But some Republicans say they
cannot support the real estate mogul under any circumstances.
Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.) became
the first lawmaker in the upper
chamber to vow not to vote for
Trump, saying he would instead
search for a third-party contender.
In an open letter to Trump supporters posted on his Facebook
page, Sasse claimed that while
many who are backing the frontrunner are “well-meaning,” he cannot get behind a candidate focused
on “tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation.”
Across the Capitol, Reps. Reid
Ribble (Wis.), Mark Sanford (S.C.),
Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) and Scott
Rigell (Va.) are also refusing to
back Trump.
And the opposition isn’t just on
Capitol Hill.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie
Baker told reporters after Super
Tuesday that he will not vote for
Trump.
A number of prominent pundits
are also vowing to not back Trump,
including Fox News contributor
Erick Erickson.
Republicans who won’t back
Trump
Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.)
Gov. Charlie Baker (Mass.)
Glenn Beck, conservative host
Jay Caruso, RedState
Eliot Cohen, former George W.
Bush official
Rep. Carlos Curbelo (Fla.)
Steve Deace, conservative radio
host
Rep. Bob Dold (Ill.)
Erick Erickson, conservative
writer
Doug Heye, former RNC communications director
Former Rep. Bob Inglis (S.C.)
Matt Kibbe, former Freedom
Works CEO
Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard editor
Kevin Madden, former Mitt
Romney aide
Former RNC Chairman Mel
MartÌnez (Fla.)
Liz Mair, GOP strategist
Former Gov. George Pataki
(N.Y.)
Former Rep. Ron Paul (Texas)
Rep. Reid Ribble (Wis.)
Former Gov. Tom Ridge (Pa.)
Rep. Scott Rigell (Va.)
Rep. Mark Sanford (S.C.)
Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.)
Former Rep. J.C. Watts (Okla.)
Peter Wehner, conservative New
York Times contributor
Former Gov. Christine Todd
Whitman (N.J.)
that flowed through Clinton’s email
server was mishandled. The State
Department has acknowledged that
some emails included classified information, including at the top-secret level.
The Washington Post reported
Wednesday that the Justice Department has granted immunity to the
staffer who set up the server, Bryan
Pagliano, so that he would be willing to speak with investigators. A
person familiar with the matter,
who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing
investigation, confirmed to The Associated Press that Pagliano had
been offered immunity “some time
ago.” Pagliano had previously asserted his Fifth Amendment right
against self-incrimination to refuse
to answer questions from lawmakers investigating the server setup.
Hillary
By Jonathan Easley
The Hill
Michael Bloomberg is not running for president in 2016, saying
he believes that his third-party candidacy would deliver the White
House to Donald Trump or Ted
Cruz.
In an editorial on his Bloomberg
Politics website on Monday, the
former New York City mayor, who
has been laying the groundwork to
run as an independent, acknowledged that he didn’t see a path to
the White House.
“When I look at the data, it’s
clear to me that if I entered the race,
I could not win,” Bloomberg wrote.
“I believe I could win a number of
diverse states — but not enough to
win the 270 Electoral College votes
necessary to win the presidency.”
Bloomberg said that his involvement in a three-way race would
make it unlikely that any candidate
receives a majority of electoral
votes, thereby giving the responsibility of picking the next president
to the GOP-controlled House and
Senate.
“As the race stands now, with
Republicans in charge of both
Houses, there is a good chance that
my candidacy could lead to the
election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz,” Bloomberg said.
“That is not a risk I can take in good
conscience.”
Bloomberg has been conducting
private polling to determine how his
candidacy might be received, and
his operatives have been scrambling to ensure that the nuts and
bolts of the process — qualifying
to appear on ballots, for instance —
would be taken care of if he ran.
Media reports indicated that
Bloomberg would have been willing to spend up to $1 billion of his
own fortune to fund his third-party
bid for president.
A financial services entrepreneur, Bloomberg is worth an estimated $36.5 billion.
He began publicly considering
an independent run as Trump and
Cruz rose to the top of the Republican field and as Bernie Sanders
gained traction in his challenge to
Hillary Clinton on the Democratic
side.
Clinton has since firmed up her
grasp on the race and appears
poised to become the Democratic
presidential nominee.
Bloomberg is taking himself out
of the equation in hopes that Clinton
can defeat either Trump or Cruz.
In
his
announcement,
Bloomberg hammered Trump, the
longtime GOP front-runner who is
the favorite to win the party’s nomination.
While acknowledging that he
has “been on friendly terms” with
Trump for years and that he appeared on Trump’s reality TV show
“The
Apprentice”
twice,
Bloomberg said the celebrity real
estate mogul had “run the most divisive and demagogic presidential
campaign” he could recall.
“Trump appeals to our worst
impulses,” Bloomberg said.
He accused the candidate of
“preying on people’s prejudices and
fears,” citing his rhetoric about illegal immigrants crossing the
southern U.S. border, his proposal
to bar Muslims from entering the
country, his “feigning ignorance of
white supremacists,” and his
“threatening China and Japan with
a trade war.”
“These moves would divide us
at home and compromise our moral
leadership around the world,”
Bloomberg wrote. “The end result
would be to embolden our enemies,
threaten the security of our allies,
and put our own men and women
in uniform at greater risk.”
Bloomberg also had choice
words for Cruz, saying that while
his “pandering on immigration may
lack Trump’s rhetorical excess,” he
is “no less extreme.”
“We cannot ‘make America
great again’ by turning our backs on
the values that made us the world’s
greatest nation in the first place,”
Bloomberg concluded. “I love our
country too much to play a role in
electing a candidate who would
weaken our unity and darken our
future — and so I will not enter the
race for president of the United
States.”
Still, Bloomberg vowed to play
a role in 2016.
He said he is not ready to endorse any candidate but will “continue urging all voters to reject divisive appeals and demanding that
candidates offer intelligent, specific
and realistic ideas for bridging divides, solving problems, and giving us the honest and capable government we deserve.”
Nancy Reagan was her husband’s indispensable force
Nancy Reagan’s devotion to her husband and his success was integral to his
political career. Every president, one expert says, should have a Nancy Reagan.
By Peter Grier
Christian Science Monitor
As first lady, Nancy Reagan did
not normally meddle in policy matters. But when she thought it would
serve the interests of President
Reagan—and the United States—
she did, in a way all her own.
September 1984 was one of
those times. Her husband was heading toward a smashing reelection.
He and his administration wanted
to signal to the Soviet Union that
they were open to a different and
more productive relationship. So
they invited Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko to lunch. It was
the first time a high USSR official
had ever been publicly received at
the White House.
Pre-lunch cocktails were held in
the Red Room. It was not a convivial scene. State Department officials, Soviet counterparts, diplomats, and translators were milling
about. Gromyko himself was famously dour.
Enter Nancy Reagan, wearing a
bright red dress. Everyone oohed
and aahed. Gromyko seemed taken
aback, said then-Deputy Chief of
Staff Michael Deaver in 2002.
The first lady walked up to the
foreign minister, leaned over, and
said, “My husband is really interested in this.”
Gromyko replied that if that was
so she should tell husband to pray
for peace. She said that she would.
“I’ll pray for you too,” she added.
Her brief appearance became a
big deal, according to Mr. Deaver.
This was not due to any particular
negotiation or deal at issue.
“She simply did that because she
wanted to make an impression that
would go back to the Kremlin,” said
Deaver in an oral history for the
University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. “She was
smart.”
Nancy Reagan, who passed
away on Sunday, was an indispensable force in Ronald Reagan’s life
and political career. From their
marriage in 1952 to his death in
2004 she served as his constant
companion, inspiration, sounding
board, and enforcer.
They were so close that their
own children often felt outside their
team of two.
She was far from infallible. She
did not recognize (at first) that her
own taste for fine clothes and expensive redecoration could hurt her
husband’s reputation. Her ire was
infamous, and not always deserved,
according to its recipients.
But all presidents should have
their own Nancy Reagan, according to the late Richard Neustadt, one
of the premier scholars of the
American presidency. They need
someone they know in their bones
is looking out for them, not a separate agenda.
“Never let your Nancy be immobilized, could be a rule of thumb for
future presidents,” Neustadt wrote
in his book “Presidential Power and
the Modern Presidents.”
First lady Nancy Reagan and President Reagan walk on the White House South lawn, December 1986. The
former first lady has died at 94, March 6, 2016.
Becoming Nancy Reagan
Her birth name was Anne
Frances Robbins. She was born in
1921 in New York City into a family that was already falling apart.
Her father, a car dealer, left her
mother, radio actress Edith Prescott
Luckett, when she was only a few
months old. After an early life of
instability her mother married a
wealthy Chicago physician, Loyal
Edward Davis. He adopted her and
she took his surname, becoming
Nancy Davis.
After graduating from Smith
College, Ms. Davis took a screen
test arranged in part by family
friend Spencer Tracy, moved to
California, and became an actress.
Though not a first-rank star she
worked steadily. In 1949 she met
Ronald Reagan, who was then
president of the Screen Actors
Guild, when she sought his help
after the name “Nancy Davis” appeared on a list of Hollywood actors and actresses opposed to the
industry’s anti-Communist blacklist.
It was another Nancy Davis, she
explained at a dinner meeting with
Mr. Reagan, who was on crutches
due to an injury. He assured her the
incident would not affect her career.
The rest is history. They married in
1952.
When “Ronnie” entered the political arena, his care and protection
became Nancy’s full-time career.
Deaver remembers that when he
worked for then-Governor Reagan
in California “everybody was
scared of Nancy Reagan.”
He found it possible to deal with
her by just explaining facts. One
day she called to insist that
Reagan’s Friday workday be cut as
short as possible. Deaver explained
that he had to meet with the state
GOP leadership due to an important tax bill. She replied that made
sense—and simply asked Deaver to
get him out of town as early as he
could.
She had better antenna on short-
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term issues than did her husband,
according to Deaver. Many of their
friends and associates from that era
felt that Ronald Reagan would
never have made it to the White
House without his wife.
“If he hadn’t had Nancy, he
never would have been President. I
don’t think he really had the drive
to take the steps to run for governor, for openers, and then later to
run for President. She was a hugely
positive force,” former Nevada Sen.
Paul Laxalt, one of Ronald
Reagan’s oldest political and personal friends, told the Miller Center in 2001.
In the White House, Nancy did
not suffer gladly anyone she
thought was not acting in the best
interests of her husband. She had
little tolerance for fools and was not
afraid to maneuver people in—and
out—of high positions. She thought
Reagan’s gubernatorial chief of
staff Ed Meese was disorganized,
for instance. He did not get the job
of White House Chief of Staff in
the first Reagan term.
Don Regan, Reagan’s second
term chief of staff, incurred even
higher levels of Nancy’s displeasure. As a former CEO—he was
head of Merrill Lynch—he did not
feel it was always necessary to return the phone calls of his boss the
president’s spouse.
“He just wouldn’t be deferential,” Laxalt remembered.
So when the Iran-Contra scandal threatened to blacken Reagan’s
second term, Nancy blamed the
chief of staff. He was ousted.
Regan’s revenge was this: In his
1988 memoir he wrote that following the assassination attempt on her
husband, Nancy had often relied on
an astrologer for advice.
Ronnie could handle
the Soviets
But it would be wrong to ascribe
Nancy Reagan’s involvement in her
husband’s staff lineup to petty irri-
tation. She had her eye on his legacy
as well.
“She certainly was looking out
after his interests, but she was thinking more broadly,” former Secretary of State George P. Shultz told
the Miller Center in 2002.
Thus her involvement in nudging her husband toward more accommodation with a Soviet Union
that, in Reagan’s second term, had
a dynamic new leader, Mikhail
Gorbachev, who seemed more open
to dealing with the West.
Conservatives were not always
happy about this. William P. Clark,
who was national security adviser
in Reagan’s first term, felt that the
“troika” of Nancy, Deaver, and
James Baker were anxious that
Reagan be seen as a “Peace President” and were too eager to make
concessions.
It was the hard-line aspect of
Reagan’s character—the Reagan
who stood in front of the Berlin
Wall and challenged Gorbachev to
tear it down—that helped win the
Cold War, in Clark’s view.
But Nancy Reagan “was a very
strong factor in encouraging the
closer relationships with the Soviet
Union after the cold war had been
won,” according to former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger,
no liberal himself.
Nancy was more willing to form
a working relationship with the
Soviets than were many of the
administration’s top security officials. She was more willing to trust
them. She thought Ronnie could
handle them.
“She believed strongly in his
negotiating
capabilities,”
Weinberger told the Miller Center.
In 1986, major summit talks between Reagan and Gorbachev at
Reykjavik, Iceland, collapsed without agreement. But the ice was broken, and in 1987 the two leaders
signed the Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces Treaty, which removed an entire class of atomic
weapons from the heart of Europe.
Out of office, Ronald Reagan
eventually was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s.
In the last years before her husband died, Nancy endured the
physical and mental strain of dealing with a loved one who no longer
recognized her presence. But the
situation did bring about reconciliation with children Patti Davis and
Ron Reagan, who had felt shut out
by the very closeness of the parental relationship.
“Their love story is unprecedented, at least in modern times,
and certainly in the modern Presidency,” Joanne Drake, an official
in Reagan’s post-presidential office,
told the Miller Center.
19th Century orphan-care fight
still hobbles Nevada education
Part 2: Why did the State of Nevada decide to help fund
a Catholic-run orphanage and school in Virginia City?
By Steven Miller
Nevada Journal
When Nevada’s lawmakers met
in the first state legislature following statehood, they already knew
that the Virginia City orphanage
established by the Catholic Sisters
of Charity was serving a vital need
for the region.
Not only had residents of the
booming Comstock city made that
clear through their actions, but Virginia City businessmen had shown
up with a petition. They said their
original hope that the Asylum could
be funded with local contributions
had faded due to “the general depreciation of the business interests
of this section of the State.”
Most Nevada lawmakers endorsed the proposal, but a minority
was more resistant.
The Senate Committee on State
Affairs visited the asylum, filed a
report on the general conditions
found there, and recommended passage of the requested appropriation.
The Committee of Ways and
Means, on the other hand, recommended against, arguing that the
funds might largely go into training the children in Catholicism, and
into “defraying the ordinary current
expenses” of the asylum, thus encouraging its future dependence on
state appropriations.
Although the bill eventually
passed both the Assembly and the
Senate, it was vetoed by Governor
Henry G. Blasdel. His said the state
constitution forbad donations of
money to any entity other than “corporations formed for educational or
charitable purposes,” and that the
asylum was not so incorporated.
By the next session of the legislature, in 1867, however, the Sisters of Charity had incorporated the
orphanage, and — though some
lawmakers still protested the financial support — a majority in both
chambers voted to appropriate
$5,000.
It was, said the legislation, “to
provide for fostering and supporting the Nevada Orphan Asylum, a
duly incorporated institution, located at Virginia City.”
This time, Governor Blasdel
signed the bill into law.
A feature of the new legislation
was that it authorized counties
throughout the state to send to the
now-state-affiliated orphanage “any
white child or children under twelve
years of age” who’d been left
parentless while residing in the
state.
In the following session, in
1869, legislation for a new stateowned and state-managed State
Orphan Home was introduced, and
to purchase or build a facility for it
in Virginia City $8,000 was appropriated. Another $7,000 was authorized for the support, in the new
home, of “full orphans” only — no
“half-orphans.”
At the same time, lawmakers
appropriated $6,000 for continuing
support of the sisters-run Nevada
Orphan Asylum.
By 1871, the State Orphan
Home was in operation, and had
received $20,000 in state funds. For
the sisters’ older Nevada Orphans
Asylum, the sum of $5,000 was
appropriated.
Opponents become politically active
In the 1873 session, an asylumfunding bill was again introduced,
only to be withdrawn at the request
of Sister Frederica, leader of the
local Sisters of Charity.
She said — according to Butler’s
historical essay on the Virginia City
mission — that she believed the
asylum lacked support for further
funding, adding that, “of late, a hostile feeling has risen against [the
orphans]. If we are not entitled to
the appropriation in justice, we do
not look for it in charity,”
Enemies of the asylum, she said,
had approached legislative candidates and told them they would not
be supported in the election unless
they opposed further funding for the
Asylum.
It was evidence, she believed, of
a growing anti-Catholic sentiment.
And indeed, Butler notes that:
In the 1870s a spate of concern
over the dangers of Catholicism
surfaced in the organization of a
local branch of the virulently nativist group, the American Protestant
Association, which found grist for
its mill in the Vatican’s pronouncement of papal infallibility.
Nevertheless, the 1873 legisla-
ture again passed funds to assist the
asylum. Lawmakers also agreed
that orphans being housed in the
asylum at state expense could be
transferred to the State Orphan
Home “at any time desired by the
Trustees of the Nevada Orphan
Asylum.”
Although the asylum appears to
have received no state assistance in
1875, funds were authorized in the
next three sessions — even though
the Legislature, at the same time,
was also preparing a state version
of the Blaine Amendment that had
failed to pass out of the U.S. Congress.
One of the first Congressional
proponents of denying funding to
“sectarian” schools had been a Nevada U.S. Senator, William Stewart,
in 1871. But it was four years later,
when President Grant joined in the
cause, that it gained critical momentum.
Speaking at a convention in
Iowa, Grant urged Americans to
encourage “free schools” — by
which he actually meant state-run
schools where children’s attendance
was compulsory and funding came
from compulsory taxes — and “resolve that not one dollar... shall be
appropriated to the support of any
sectarian schools... [so that] every
child growing up in the land [would
have] the opportunity of a good
common school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or
atheistical dogmas.”
Three months later, in December 1875, Grant asked Congress to
consider a formal amendment making such schools “the duty of each
of the several States to establish and
forever maintain,” while also... forbidding the teaching in said schools
of religious, atheistic, or pagan tenets; and prohibiting the granting
of any school funds, or school taxes,
or any part thereof, either by legislative, municipal, or other authority, for the benefit or in aid, directly
or indirectly, of any religious sect
or denomination...
Only at the end of his life, in his
personal memoirs, did Grant admit
what had long been suspected: that
he himself had been an initiated
member of the Know-Nothings
from even before the Civil War.
Just a week after President
Grant’s message to Congress, his
proposal was taken up by Congressman — and soon-to-be-U.S.-Senator — James G. Blaine, of Maine,
who introduced what would later be
known as the proposed “Blaine
Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution.
The proposed amendment’s inherent complexities and constitutional problems eventually sank it
in the Senate. But its core notion
— “protection” of America from
Catholics — already had massive
political support from frightened
and mistrustful Protestants. Multiple American states had already
passed, or would soon pass, constitutional amendments that used the
code word “sectarian” to describe
persons and institutions to be barred
from government funding that
would be available to everyone else.
As multiple historians have
documented, this was a repudiation
of the original pattern of American
education in the colonial period and
early years of the republic. Schools
then were neither wholly public nor
wholly private, but were instead
largely voluntary efforts, aided sporadically by government grants.
As noted earlier, that had also
been the initial pattern in Virginia
City. Nevertheless, Silver State legislators joined the Blaine Amendment bandwagon.
It is not clear why, as the state
legislature was allocating funds to
the sisters’ orphan asylum in 1877
and 1879, it was also, during those
same years, preparing for the 1880
general-election ballot a “Little
Blaine” constitutional amendment.
First, and then a second time — as
required by the state constitution —
the lawmakers passed the draft
amendment.
Endorsed by Nevada voters in
the fall of 1880, it then became Section 10 of Article 11 of the Nevada
Constitution, stating:
No public funds of any kind or
character whatever, State, County
or Municipal, shall be used for sectarian purpose.
Apparently, most Nevada legislators saw no contradiction between
Section 10’s terms and their practice of allocating assistance to the
Sisters of Charity orphanage.
They apparently agreed with the
Territorial Enterprise newspaper in
Virginia City, which had noted that
the government-run State Orphan
Home was full and that costs to the
state were less if it housed remaining orphans at the Sisters of Charity asylum than if it sent them to
shelters out of state.
The Enterprise also argued that:
It is no appropriation of money
for a sectarian purpose and by no
fair construction can be so esteemed. It is simply a matter of
bread and clothes for the children
of Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and
others who had no religion but
whose children need protection...
Accordingly, in the next — 1881
— session of the state legislature,
both chambers once again passed,
and Nevada Governor John Henry
Kinkead for the second time signed,
legislation to help defray costs at
the sisters’ orphanage.
This time, however, when the
orphanage’s bill for services rendered came before State Controller
James F. Hallock, he refused to pay
Two 19th Century orphans
it, citing Article 11’s new Section
Steven Miller is managing edi10.
tor of Nevada Journal, a publicaIn Part 3: How the 1882 Nevada tion of the Nevada Policy Research
Supreme Court came to endorse Institute. For more in-depth reportstate discrimination against Catho- ing visit http://nevadajournal.com
lics.
and http://npri.org.
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EDITORIALS
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. — Thomas Jefferson
Our Point of View
GOP needs to get
a grip on reality
The war against Republican presidential front runner
Donald J. Trump is ramped up to high speed by his fellow Republicans, who are terrified to lose control of the
party and the masses that they have been controlling since
we all can remember and since before many of us were
born.
Mitt Romney came out of his hiding four years after he
begged Donald Trump for his support, and of course, for
money too, to attack the Trump Movement.
Romney should be ashamed of himself and embarrassed
that after being seen in public begging from Donald
Trump, he now is attacking him, following orders from
the party bosses that control him and the rest of the party’s
so-called leaders.
As the Las Vegas Tribune has been saying for the last
few months, we have to think why the establishment is so
desperate to attack Trump and anyone else that does not
take orders from them.
It is time that the people of this nation open their eyes
and start thinking for themselves and don’t allow anyone
to control them.
Once again we urge you to open your eyes and see for
yourselves what the powers that be want to create around
us. They want to keep thinking for you, talking for you
and controlling your every move and, ultimately, control
your vote.
They have the audacity to state that they would rather
lose without Trump than win with him, even if it means
giving all to the Democrats.
Can you imagine going to the convention and giving
the election to the communist party, selling the nation to
the enemy just because they do not want Donald Trump
to win? Don’t they want the people to win the election?
How low can they get? They should be ashamed of themselves.
The Republican Party is notorious for betraying its
members and double-crossing the most popular candidates, but giving the election and the future of the entire
nation to a communist just because they do not want
Donald J. Trump to win is a little bit too extreme for us to
swallow.
Donald Trump is working hard to unite the Republican
Party, but if the Republican Party does not want to give
up the control they have maintained for many years,
maybe it is time for Donald Trump to take the party and
leave those against him party-less.
Trump already has shown himself to be humble enough
to support anyone else who wins the nomination and he
probably is decent enough not to jump ship and create his
own party because he already has given his word that he
would not do that.
However, he has not given his word that he will not
take the party and run, so that he can do and most likely
will have the support of millions of decent citizens that
have become his followers.
It is our humble opinion that Donald Trump is not a
little lamb that allows others to push him around. Donald
Trump is not the type of man that turns his cheek to get
slapped again.
Donald J Trump gives us the impression that he can be
a good fighter with a big heart; treat him fair and he will
give you his shirt, but treat him wrong and he will show
you his bad side.
Let’s face it, people, Donald Trump is the best thing
that can happen to this nation after eight apologetic years
of “mending fences” with those who have been our enemies for a half a century; those who had killed our brothers and sisters abroad; those who have repressed countries for decades and those like the Castro brothers, who
had ignored all rules of decency and human rights, if not
any other right.
The nation needs a leader, a real leader, not a dictator
wannabe, who cannot only give the nation the respect that
we used to have with the international community, but
who can give the people here the respect they deserve
and are entitled to.
This wonderful country should be grateful to have a
man like Donald Trump that needs the presidency as much
as he needs a glass of water but is willing to put his own
money where his words are and will work hard for the
future of this great nation.
Donald J. Trump has been telling us what we all have
been thinking or quietly saying in our living rooms because we don’t have the guts to say such things out loud
standing in the middle of the street.
Don’t let your loyalty to the party stop you from saving the future of this country because the party is not being loyal to you by blocking Donald Trump from saving
this nation.
Bill would give more land
control to the states
By Thomas Mitchell
edges of land control are continuing.
When Nevada was admitted into
Just this past week the House
the Union in 1864 its Constitution
Natural Resources Committee’s Subcontained a Disclaimer Clause, saycommittee on Federal Lands heard
ing the state does “forever disclaim
testimony on a bill from Idaho Rep.
all right and title to the unappropriRaul Labrador called the Self-Suffiated public lands lying within said
cient Community Lands Act (H.R.
territory, and that the same shall be
2316). Amodei is a co-sponsor of the
and remain at the sole and entire disbill and, though not yet a co-sponposition of the United States.”
sor, Rep. Cresent Hardy, whose disIt was intended to give the fedtrict covers the southern half of rural
eral government a clear and unamNevada, is supporting the measure.
biguous deed to the land so it could
The bill would set up 200,000be sold, but to this day the federal
acre demonstration areas on Forest
THOMAS MITCHELL
government still controls 85 percent
Service land in any state in which the
of the land inside Nevada’s boundaries and almost 50 governor asks for it. State and local officials would
percent of the land in the West.
then be responsible for managing the land, including
In 1996 the voters of Nevada repealed the Dis- allowing timber harvesting and using the revenue to
claimer Clause, but nearly 20 years later little has been support local needs under the Secure Rural Schools
done to give the state greater say over that land.
and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.
A year ago, Rep. Mark Amodei, whose district inIn testimony about the bill, Rep. Don Young of
cludes the northern rural portion of Nevada, introduced Alaska said he was upset with the Forest Service bea bill called Honor the Nevada Enabling Act of 1864 cause it has stopped cutting timber and become little
Act, which called on Congress to hand over 7.2 mil- more than park rangers, resulting in massive forest fires.
lion acres to Nevada in a first phase. It failed.
“The government does not manage the land properly,
(See Mitchell, Page 15)
But various efforts to at least nibble around the
Toxic Mothers
By Perly Viasmensky
I have a group of friends who used to get together
once in a while at different places such as TGI Friday,
the Egg and I, or just at McDonald’s to exchange comments about things of interest to our community, or
our personal beliefs. Minor things, such as people
claiming to live in the shadows, but they work in our
hotels and drive $35,000 vehicles and there is no such
“ shadow “ over them. Others who claim family should
never be separated but never realize that they have
separated themselves from their families when they
decide to cross the river to now demand unity.
For very personal and family reasons, I need to stay
home most of the time and I don’t go to public places
anymore, so my friends come to my home for lunch
and continue our discussions about what we would
like to change, or what we will never be able to change.
Our discussion this past week was about mothers,
and after listening to some of them I got to the conclusion that we need to label them Toxic Mothers.
I always believed my mother was the best person
in the world. There was a wonderful relationship between us. More than mother and daughter, we were
buddies.
One of my friends said: “My mother was very possessive; she never allowed me to go anyplace by myself, and she never allowed me to interact with friends
— male or female — if she could not be present. This
was the reason why people who I have known never
invited me to their home parties.”
Another one said: “I don’t know how I am still alive,
because my mother never let me breathe. Even regarding a short trip to the grocery store, she used to say
‘Wait a minute, I am going with you’.”
Another one said: “I lost all my friends because
every time they called my house, if my mother had
answered the phone, she used to say, ‘what do you need
to say to her that you cannot tell me?’ Some of the
people calling told her that it was a matter of young
people and it was none of her business. She blocked
all my calls from that point on. So, I lost all my friends.”
Another one said: “You have not heard anything
yet. My mother didn’t speak to me for over two weeks
because the guy I was dating invited me to a New Year’s
party at his family home. She was very upset because
she was not invited, and because I accepted a friendship ring I received for New Years.”
Another friend who was very quiet during all the
conversation said: “Well, let me tell you, for the very
first time in my life I am going to say that I did not
respect my mother; I was scared to death of her. She
actually destroyed my life. I was discussing plans for
a honeymoon with the man I was going to marry, when
she got involved in the conversation and she said ‘can
I go with you two?’ My fiancé said, ‘Of course, you
(See Viasmensky, Page 15)
ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Presidential Candidates: On being
all they want people to think they are
By Maramis
Let us consider “beingness” in
We have to start somewhere. The
general: I AM. You are. They might
goal is to figure out which candidates
be.
are genuine and which ones aren’t;
We know that I AM is God. Well,
which ones are to be believed at face
if that wouldn’t be the first thing that
value, and which ones have been crepops into your mind, think about it.
ating “the truth” they want us to beIf we believe in God at all, in any
lieve; and of course, which ones are
way, and were asked to say who He
relying on our opinions of them, as
is, no matter how we respond, we
opposed to those who would rather
couldn’t use enough words or come
rely on their actual life’s record, a
up with a big enough concept to adrecord that can stand forth just as it
equately express who He is.
is, no matter who checks into it. In
Yet if we “go small,” and find the
MARAMIS CHOUFANI
other words, which candidate can
simple inner core of God’s allness,
stand forth by what he (or she) has actually done, mi- we can easily see the magnitude of those two words, I
nus all the spin to make that record appear otherwise. AM, and we need not struggle with more complex conThis will hardly be a comprehensive article on the cepts, further phrases, or additional worthless words.
subject of genuine “Candidate ‘Beingness’,” but it will
YOU hopefully are what you think you are...but are
indicate some of my thoughts on how to possibly you? So first, wouldn’t you imagine, you would have
evaluate the presidential candidates as to their authen- to put into words what you think you are so you could
ticity as presented to us (the voters) through their own then compare your actual self to that self-envisioned
words.
(See Maramis, Page 17)
VIEW POINTS
Editors note: The views expressed are entirely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Las Vegas Tribune.
Top 5 State Assembly Primaries for
Conservatives to Watch in Nevada
By Chuck Muth
As filing for office begins on
Monday, the following is my initial “Top 5” list of Assembly races
for conservatives who are looking
to “trade up” from a tax hiker to a
Tax Pledge signer in this year’s
GOP primary cycle...
1.) Amy Groves: Running
against tax-hiking Assemblyman
Steve Silberkraus in Henderson.
This is a GOP primary re-match
from 2014. Silberkraus only won by
400+ plus votes the first time
around, but that was before Steveo voted for the largest tax hike in
state history.
Groves is a businesswoman, an
experienced campaigner, has a great
sales background, and has signed
the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
2.) Diana Orrock: Running
David Gardner in Las Vegas.
Orrock is Nevada’s Republican
National Committeewoman and a
former Ron Paul organizer. So she
CHUCK MUTH
understands the political game, is
unafraid of taking on the GOP establishment, has strong roots in
Nevada’s business community, and
has signed the Tax Pledge.
3.) Al Kramer: Running against
tax-hiking Assemblyman P.K.
O’Neill in Carson City.
This one is a little complicated
because there are three conservatives who have announced they’re
running in the primary. But Kramer
is far and away the best horse for
conservatives to ride in this race.
Kramer was Carson City’s
elected treasurer for about a dozen
years, is well-known and well-respected in GOP party circles, and
has signed the Tax Pledge.
The other two are relatively new
to politics and hold great potential
for the future. But Kramer is clearly
the most conservative candidate
who can win this race in June.
4.) Jim Marchant: Running
Glenn Trowbridge in Las Vegas.
Trowbridge was APPOINTED
to this seat by the 7 Democrats on
the Clark County Commission after conservative Assemblyman Wes
Duncan resigned to take a job working for the Attorney General’s office. So he’s never faced Republican voters at all, let alone face them
after voting for the largest tax hike
in state history.
Marchant is a small businessman
who has a strong grassroots organization behind him and has signed
the Tax Pledge.
5.) Connie Foust: Running
against Assemblyman Chris “Let’s
Make a Deal” Edwards in Mesquite/Moapa/Henderson/Boulder
City.
Edwards has the unique distinction of voting for the $1.4 billion
tax hike before voting against it. He
is, without a doubt, one of the worst
two-faced/fork-tongued politicians
I’ve ever encountered in politics.
And that’s saying something!
Foust is a former tea party leader
and veteran of the “border wars”
back when she volunteered with the
Minuteman Project in Arizona. She
is a Tax Pledge signer and has a
strong grassroots organization behind her.
There are at least another halfdozen Assembly races I’m keeping
an eye on, but they don’t appear to
be ready to take out of the oven just
yet. If/when that changes, I’ll keep
(See Chuck Muth, Page 16)
MACE YAMPOLSKY
knows. Either way, the government
would like to take a look. Of course
they would.
Forbidden Fruit
Apple iPhones, and smart
phones in general, are basically just
tiny computers we carry around
with us almost everywhere.
They are an extension of our
lives, and contain private personal
information such as pictures, per-
sonal communications, and banking records — stuff that we do not
want just any person to have.
To protect all of this sensitive
information, Apple has created
technological protections on its
iPhones called “encryption.” The
encryption stops prying eyes from
looking through a protected phone.
Don’t We Still Have
A Right To Privacy?
The most basic level of encryption is the passcode that all owners
must program into their phones
when they first get it. Without the
correct passcode, the phone cannot
be opened or accessed.
Apple puts more encryptions to
stop people from just randomly
guessing the passcode. For example, say an iPhone is stolen.
Apple has designed the iPhone so
that the thief only gets ten chances
to enter the right passcode
Do Not Pass Go. Do Not
Collect $200 And Leave
My Phone Alone!
After ten wrong passcodes in a
row, the phone locks and the thief
cannot try again. Additionally, ten
wrong passcodes in a row might
erase all of the phone’s data.
The San Bernardino shooter’s
iPhone is locked by a passcode, and
the FBI cannot enter a random
passcode more than ten times or the
data they are trying to get from the
phone might be erased.
To get around this, on February
16, the government went to a judge,
in secret, and got the judge to order
Apple to write a whole new computer program to turn off all the
encryptions that Apple has designed.
The Feds Want To Put A
Worm In The Apples
The new program the government wants will let them try as
many passcodes as possible until
they happen to find the right combination. So a computer could generate millions of combinations until they find the right one.
In other words, because the
“front door” is locked by Apple’s
encryption technology, the government wants Apple to build a “back
door” into the phone that circumvents the secure technology that
Apple has designed.
A Lawyer a Day Keeps
The Feds Away
Apple has said “no” to the FBI’s
request, and in a legal brief filed in
late February, the company explained why. Apple compares the
“back door” software that the government wants Apple to make to a
“master key” that could unlock millions of locks (iPhones) without a
warrant! This seems like an unreasonable search and seizure which
is prohibited by the 4th Amendment
What if bad guys, like criminals
or hackers from foreign governments (i.e. China or Russia) obtained this technology? If all the
encryptions that Apple has worked
so hard to develop for all of its clients’ privacy and protection would
be useless.
The government says that bad
(See Mace, Page 17)
LARRY KLAYMAN
ate seat now occupied only in spirit
by ineligible Republican establishment presidential candidate Marco
Rubio, who rarely even shows up
to vote, I gave an announcement
speech at the Reagan Library, a
speech you can find on
Freedom Watch’s website. This
was one of the greatest honors of
my life.
President Ronald Reagan, who
could connect personally to the
American people on a human level,
ironically much like Donald Trump
using other forms of oratory (some
not so pleasant or diplomatic), was
a true conservative. But like Trump,
he was not rigid and could compromise with adversaries, after using
maximum pressure to bring them to
the bargaining table. This helps explain why the former Soviet Union
threw in the towel and virtually collapsed after Reagan effectively
threatened them with financial ruin
by rebuilding our military with farsighted defense measures like “Star
Wars,” a planned space-based intercontinental missile defense system.
This and other Reagan measures
brought
Premier
Mikhail
Gorbachev and his Communist regime to the bargaining table, where
both leaders later compromised in
agreeing to reduce the size of their
over-bloated nuclear arsenals —
furthering greater strategic security
for both nations. Reagan, like
Trump years later, understood “The
Art of the Deal”: take strong measures, bluff if necessary, and in the
end get what you want by compromise: mostly on one’s own terms.
While so-called conservatives in
the Republican establishment accuse Trump of trying to foment a
trade war by putting the screws to
countries like China, Japan and
Mexico through threatened import
taxes, tariffs and quotas, as essentially a free trader, Trump’s threats
are merely leverage to get these
outlaw nations to stop devaluing
their currency, which has given
them a huge advantage. This will
in the end work the “Art of the
Deal.” And, when The Donald
threatens to build, at Mexico’s expense, a high wall to keep illegal
immigrants, criminals and terrorists
from flooding across the border, he
is telling the universally accepted
most corrupt government in the
world that either they have to put
up or shut up. And, indeed, that is
what such low-class criminals like
former Mexican presidents Fox and
Calderon — who last week trashed
Trump as the modern-day equivalent of Hitler — should do! These
disgusting morons are not exemplary of the Mexican people themselves, who have been raped and
pillaged by their own vile politicians for too long. I have often said
that by invading Iraq and prosecuting this failed war over the last decade and more, we liberated the
wrong people. It would have been
much more worthwhile and productive to have invaded Mexico and
liberated the Mexican people.
Maybe then the wall would not
prove as important.
Donald Trump is not the be all
and end all. He is likely not a true
conservative. But the American
people, like myself, are sick and
tired of the “Porky Pigs” of the socalled conservative Republican establishment feeding at the trough
and then raping and pillaging them,
much like these two former presidents of Mexico did to their people.
Perhaps this helps explain why,
as The Donald predicted, Latinos
are actually voting for him in fairly
large numbers during the Republican primaries. His strong “Art of the
Deal” pressure tactics, a la President Reagan, will in the end benefit them and their families, both
here and in their native countries.
But what will not fly are the antics of the evil, greedy white men
of the so-called conservative Republican establishment who,
through their jealousies and fear of
losing control of the gravy train of
money and political influence, are,
like Muslim suicide bombers, willing to blow up the entire conservative movement and figuratively the
nation to maintain their total control of political and economic
power. Led by the ultimate loser,
Mitt Romney, whose lack of courage in taking on the mullah in chief
during the last presidential election
resulted in the political disasters of
the last four years — from continued Obamacare, to the existential
and fatal Iran nuclear treaty, to a
mountain of unconstitutional executive orders on immigration, guns
and the environment, to name just
a few — this conservative Republican establishment has allowed the
nation to be brought down to its
knees.
It is ironic, if not tragic, that
Romney and his masters of the socalled conservative Republican establishment can use high-decibel
vicious and libelous oratory to try
to destroy Donald Trump, when
they have essentially looked the
other way as the real criminal,
President Barack Hussein Obama,
plundered the country during his
presidency. While it is apparently
OK for a white man to try to destroy another white man, these evil
and greedy cowards cower in the
face of the destructive actions of
Obama for fear of being branded
racists.
It is no wonder The Donald will
soon be the presidential nominee of
the Republican Party. What other
choice do real conservatives have?
Ronald Reagan was loathed by this
establishment, and in the end — no
pun intended — he stuck it up their
political derrieres and went to become one of the greatest presidents
in American history.
Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch,
is known for his strong public interest advocacy in furtherance of
ethics in government and individual
freedoms and liberties. During his
tenure at Judicial Watch, he obtained a court ruling that Bill
Clinton committed a crime, the first
lawyer ever to have done so against
an American president. In 2004,
Larry ran for the U.S. Senate as a
Republican in Florida’s primary.
After the race ended, he founded
Freedom Watch. Larry is a frequent
commentator on television and radio, as well as a weekly columnist,
on Friday, for WND.com. He has
been credited as being the inspiration for the Tea Party movement.
Apple vs FBI: Is Your Privacy Safe From the Government?
By Mace Yampolsky
On December 2, 2015, two
psychos armed with assault rifles
went to the San Bernardino Inland
Regional Center, a treatment facility for people with developmental
disabilities, and shot up a bunch of
employees at a company Christmas
party.
Fourteen people were killed and
another twenty-two were injured,
making it the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since 9/
11. The shooters, a married couple,
were later killed in a shootout with
police.
The FBI Can’t
Bite This Apple
In the investigation following
the incident, the FBI found an
Apple iPhone belonging to one of
the shooters. However, the iPhone
was locked by a passcode, and the
FBI has been unable to access it.
It is possible there is some evidence on there that might help the
investigation, or might help the FBI
find other terrorists. No one really
Evil, greedy white men of GOP establishment
By Larry Klayman
The raging war against political
outsider and presidential candidate
Donald Trump by the likes of failed
and pathetic former presidential
candidate Mitt Romney, or the
overstuffed corrupt political operative Karl Rove, among many other
so-called conservatives — like the
sanctimonious writers and contributors of the moribund publications National Review and Weekly
Standard — is not about ideology;
rather, it is about cold hard cash and
power. Simply put, the phony conservative establishment types of the
Republican Party fear that by losing control of the reigns of their past
domination in Washington, D.C.,
and the 50 state capitals, their financial and power gravy train will
dry up. The Republican establishment fears that Donald Trump, who
has so much money and now political power, will not continue to
stuff their pockets with money at
the expense of the American
people.
Again, I am not endorsing
Donald Trump, but to tell you the
truth I have great sympathy for his
push to remove the cancer of the
so-called conservative Republican
establishment from the body politic of the nation before it, along with
the Democratic Party left, both literally kill us.
I myself am a proud conservative, with libertarian leanings. Like
many of my generation, who saw
in real time what President Ronald
Reagan did to restore confidence
and greatness to the country, I tear
up when I see the Gipper on video
during my many visits to the
Reagan Library in Simi Valley,
California. Years ago, when in
2003-2004 I ran for the U.S. Sen-
COMMENTARIES
Editors note: The views expressed are entirely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Las Vegas Tribune.
Metro Academy: A Day of Reckoning?
By Norman Jahn
The police academy is ‘ramped
up’ and there are frequently updates
on Facebook. One video covers the
‘First Inspection’ and this event is
described as one of the toughest
moments for young recruits. It
shows a TAC officer ‘in the face’
of a recruit. The emphasis is on high
stress and how tough the experience
will be. Given the overwhelming
negative publicity about OUR police in recent years, the new emphasis on reforms (i.e., revised training, training ‘warriors’ vs. ‘guardians,’ and earning back trust and
respect in some communities), it is
very obvious that the indoctrination
of recruits must be examined.
I said ‘indoctrination,’ not induction into the military. Policing is
NOT soldiering! These are not all
18-year-olds with minimal life experience. Some of them have had
advanced degrees and more formal
education than Sheriff Lombardo
and his command staff! Some also
have more police experience than
their trainers — the ones standing
on tables and yelling down at the
many fully mature men and women.
Our POLICE are civilian protectors in America communities and always have been and always should
be. Our SOLDIERS are intended to
protect our country on a global
scale. Many military veterans do
become police officers and they turn
out to be some of the very best.
Metro just touted two academy
graduates who are very unique. One
is a 49-year-old retired lieutenant
colonel from the Marine Corps. The
other is a 52-year-old retired police
lieutenant from Seattle. Kudos to
these two guys and I wonder if they
will ever share what their real impressions and opinions are about the
academy (with me) one day?
I have always been interested in
police training—especially academy training. I’ve never been
through a ‘boot camp,’ but I’ve been
through two demanding police
academies. I am also aware of a
sociology professor (Richard N.
Harris) who once wrote a book (The
Police Academy: An Inside View1973). He had been permitted to do
a participatory study and attend a
12-week police academy. He wrote
about depersonalization, false per-
NORMAN JAHN
sonalization, and defensiveness.
These are ‘deep’ but important topics.
Since I had been a police officer,
a police chief, and a professor (like
him), I thought I might also write
about my experiences in 1983 and
2004. To use Sheriff Gillespie’s
phrase, does anyone ‘GET IT’
right? Do we even know the best
styles of police training?
I’ve also had a book from 1973
entitled, The Police Training Officer, which provides a very interesting perspective from over forty
years ago! Here are some excerpts
as they pertain to academy training:
UNIFORMS
Wearing uniforms and being frequently inspected will create a solidarity of feeling among the men and
inspections will serve to implant the
proper air of discipline. It is important that during this period of training pride in appearance and conformity to regulations governing
appearance be stressed.
GUN POLICY
Some instruction from the penal
code, or similar tome, will tell the
officer the legalistics. Unfortunately, after the fact, newspaper stories instruct further on the realities
of street shootings by policemen. We
learn that the officer might have
been legally and technically correct
in a given case involving a shooting, but that he was grossly in error in terms of mores, neighborhood
expectations, and the like. A technically “correct” shooting, far from
solving a bad situation, may escalate the problem into a full scale riot
or insurrection.
can go with us any place you wish.’
He left that night, and I never saw
him again.”
After listening to all these sad
stories I wonder when mothers are
going to realize that their children
(boys or girls) are not their property. They are brought into this
world with their own wings to fly
when their time comes, or when
they decide to do so.
Every human being needs the
love of a mother. It is a pleasure to
be able to turn to your mother when
a warm hug is needed, but it is agonizing to feel trapped by the poison
of a Toxic Mother.
*****
Perly Viasmensky is the General
Manager of the Las Vegas Tribune.
She writes a weekly column in this
newspaper. To contact Perly
Viasmensky, email her at
pviasmensky@lasvegas
tribune.com.
and that’s a fact,” he said, adding,
“Now they’re asking for money to
fight fires when we should be managing the timber.”
Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon
testified that three of the largest forest fires in the nation occurred at
the same time in his district this past
year.
“We are seeing massive maintenance back logs at all of our federal land management agencies.
This mismanagement has led to a
decline in forest health that results
in larger and more catastrophic
wildfires negatively impacting
Western communities,” Rep. Hardy
said recently about federal land control. “When the federal government
struggles to effectively manage its
resources, it’s time to consider new
and balanced approaches that involve local stakeholders and give
states with responsible management
laws an opportunity to prove that
the best stewards of the land are
usually those who live closest to it.”
A memo providing background
about the rationale for the bill noted
the Forest Service alone manages
193 million acres — about 8 percent of the United States. Over the
past decade there has been an aver-
Ely resident Jay Crazier’s photo of a fire south of Wendover in 2014.
age of more than 73,000 fires burn- nationwide.
ing an average of nearly 7 million
This bill would take a small bite
acres per year. The biggest fires out of a huge problem. We encourstart on federal land and often age Amodei, Hardy and the rest of
spread to private lands.
our Washington delegation to purThe subcommittee was also told sue this and other bills that can prothat declining timber harvests are vide economic benefit and jobs, as
devastating rural communities. well as reducing wildfires.
Timber harvests have declined 80
Thomas Mitchell is a former
percent over the past 30 years to the newspaper editor who now writes
point the current harvest removes conservative/libertarian columns
only 10 percent of annual growth. for weekly papers in Nevada. You
Since 1990, more than 400 timber may
email
Mitchell
at
mills have closed and more than [email protected]. He blogs
35,000 workers have lost their jobs at http://4thst8.wordpress.com/.
Viamensky
Mitchell
The chief sits in his office fat,
dumb, and happy in the knowledge
that he has a good policy... while
the officer needs to know when NOT
to use his weapon; there should be
a positive statement somewhere that
tells him when he can shoot. He is
really entitled to know.
Recruits will accept the policy
in good grace that will be in direct
ratio to the trainer’s molding of
their professional and self-image.
The in-service officers are apt to
receive the gun policy training with
cynicism... the policeman is a cynical man in a cynical business in a
cold and cynical world. He will suspect gun policy to exist to restrict
him, which in a sense it does. It is
also there to protect him, and the
trainer should make great effort to
convince him of this... Too often
right-wing thinking officers will
complain that their “hands are
tied,” the brass doesn’t care about
us; in fact they don’t know what is
happening on the street.”
With regard to documentation of
training I found this especially interesting. “In case of a bad judgment call by a shooting officer, the
department as well as the officer is
on trial. The department needs to
show proper instruction and training.” The focus is always on the
protection of the department,
“when the officer goes significantly
wrong.” Other than a very rare civil
lawsuit, does anyone in Las Vegas
(media, family members, oversight
bodies) ever examine the training
records and performance of Metro’s
‘shooters’ — how good or bad was
his/her judgmental shooting during
training?
NOTE TAKING
If, for example, a disciplinary
problem arises and there is a question whether the man knew the rule
he has violated, or the procedure
he has failed to follow, his notebook
should reflect his training and help
to answer the question.
Now fast forward to recent
events in policing. The new Police
Executive Research Forum recommendations are controversial. Research has been conducted —
whether anyone (at Metro) wants to
study different models I do not
know.
For the past three years, the
Washington State Criminal Justice
Training Commission had focused
on producing “guardians of democracy” who serve and protect, instead
of “warriors” who conquer and control. A Washington Post investigative
report
(http://
www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/12/10/new-styleof-police-training-aims-to-produce-guardians-not-warriors/) on
changes included the following:
Gone is the military-boot-camp
atmosphere. Gone are the field exercises focused on using fists and
weapons to batter suspects into submission. Gone, too, is a classroom
poster that once warned recruits
that “officers killed in the line of
duty use less force than their peers.”
There’s no more yelling, ridicule and physical punishment. Recruits are no longer required to
stand at attention in a military brace
when they encounter a staff member or a visitor. Instead, they are
told to make eye contact and strike
up a conversation. Rahr wanted
them to learn to simply talk to
people not ‘brace’ (against a wall)
so frequently that they couldn’t get
to the bathroom.
“If your overarching identity is
‘I’m a warrior,’ then you will approach every situation like you
must conquer and win,” said Sue
Rahr, the commission’s executive
director. “You may have a conflict
where it is necessary for an officer
to puff up and quickly take control.
But in most situations, it’s better if
officers know how to de-escalate,
calm things down, slow down the
action.”
Anti-brutality activists and
some law enforcement leaders argue that if police were better trained
to de-escalate conflict, some of
those people might still be alive.
Rahr, the former sheriff of King
County, warns that too many academies are training police officers to
go to “war with the people we are
sworn to protect and serve.”
Rahr has been criticized for promoting a “hug-a-thug” mentality
that risks getting officers killed.
About 20 percent of Rahr’s staff
quit or was fired in the first year
after rebelling against her reforms.
Many police chiefs are either skeptical of her training philosophy or
think this is just dangerous. One
expert, Professor Sam Walker, described the state of police training
as a ‘war’ going on for the soul of
policing in America.
I know things change up on
West Cheyenne (and then [they
wouldn’t] call me for my opinion
or keep me updated on their
changes). Facebook shows that
Metro still has a militaristic and
high-stress police academy. If
‘battle’ is being emphasized, then
LVMPD outcomes and incidents
broadcast to the nation sure seem
to show the ‘warrior’ mentality is
at play. Too many people are dying
and sometimes they are officers
who approached too aggressively
and it cost their lives.
The tragedy of 9-11 is now
blamed for redirecting police department thinking back to ‘hypervigilance’ and expecting the worst.
The fact is that in any given year,
the police kill far more unarmed
persons and make more ‘mistake of
fact’ shootings than there are ever
police officers killed by criminals.
For many years Metro has
claimed to be, ‘Simply the Best.’
I’ve never seen any validation of
that claim and it appears nothing
has changed since the Review-Journal series entitled, The Making of A
Cop, in 2010. I got in trouble when
I wrote a letter to the editor objecting to recruits being brain-washed
that they were fighting a ‘war’ (or
even that they would willingly die
to protect each other). I wonder how
that group of officers is performing five years into the job? Does
anyone pay attention?
Metro will eventually have a day
of reckoning about their training,
which will hopefully change and
preserve citizen’s lives. Will they
ever be open to the public and share
the basis for their academy style, or
will their arrogance and their
‘omerta’ override transparency? I
‘reckon’ NOT!
*****
Norm Jahn served with the
LVMPD for over 21 years and
achieved the rank of lieutenant. He
also served as a police chief in Wisconsin for over three years. Jahn
has been a university professor and
also taught in the criminal justice
program at the College of Southern Nevada for over a decade.
Handcuffs for Hillary
Indictable criminal / Inadvertent traitor
By Walter L. Seip II, PhD and
retired Army Colonel
It’s now evident that Donald J.
Trump’s opponent in November’s
Presidential election will be Hillary
Clinton. Odds here in Vegas are that
our former First Lady will be The
Donald’s adversary even if she is
indicted and whether or not she
experiences the customary “perp
walk” which usually includes the
wearing of handcuffs. The possibility of Hillary being led off in handcuffs is not really farfetched. There
is a more likely possibility that her
health could arrest her campaign.
Even Ms. Huma Abedin, Clinton’s
deputy chief of staff and her closest adviser, has admitted that
Hillary is sick and “often confused.”
Just last week, General Michael
Hayden, the former Director of the
National Security Agency and the
Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency, stated that he is “certain”
that Russia had access to the
Clinton emails. The latest count is
that there were over 1800 emails
adjudged as classified with at least
22 graded as above Top Secret.
There are 19 emails that were on
Clinton’s Chappaqua bathroom
server that cannot be released due
to their content. The obvious assumption is that many of the leaders of our country won’t have access to these emails.
Also obvious is that this means
that although US leaders didn’t
have access to those emails, the
leaders of Russia have had State
Department emails, probably since
their posting. Without much doubt,
these were the likely determinant
of adverse foreign policy inflicted
upon the US, although when a
former aide to Hillary Clinton
turned the computer security logs
from her private server over to the
FBI, the records showed no evidence of hacking. The logs are not
considered definitive, and forensic
experts apparently can sometimes
spot sophisticated hacking that is
not apparent in the logs.
Foretelling of this now confirmed intelligence community assumption of foreign access, by
Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense
from 2006 through 2011, posited in
January of this year “that there is a
high probability that Clinton’s
email was tapped.” He based this
on his own experience as Director
of the CIA, which has extensive
cyber-security measures in place,
and is reportedly attacked by hackers 100,000 times a day.
Gates added that Mr. Mike
Morell, a recent Deputy Director of
the CIA, had said that foreign intelligence services most likely had
access to Clinton’s server. Morell,
according to Gates “expressed the
opinion that he thought it likely that
the Iranians or the Russians or Chinese might have hacked into that
server.” He summed it up by remarking that “the odds are pretty
good that that may have happened.
And so I just hope there’s nothing
particularly sensitive in those emails.” His hope is trumped by the
facts.
One of the actions I’d want
President Donald J. Trump to do
when he first talks to Vladimir Putin
is to request a complete unredacted
set of Hillary Clinton’s emails
(those that were hacked from her
personal email server while she was
Secretary of State).
The legality of Clinton’s actions
is regrettably undecided. The extensive damage to US foreign policy
is real and still being assessed. Did
Clinton’s decision to employ a personal server compromise the security of the country? Could Hillary
Clinton’s decision to establish this
private server for her own convenience earn the label of her being
an inadvertent traitor? Did this act
and her use — as well as her associates’ use — of this server provide
aid and comfort to an enemy? Did
this act constitute traitorous behavior?
Article 3, Section 3, Clause 1 of
the U.S. Constitution specifies that
the giving of aid and comfort to the
enemy is an element in the crime
of treason. Treason may consist of
substantial assistance or the mere
attempt to provide some support —
actual help. Any act that deliberately strengthens or tends to
strengthen enemies of the United
States, or that weakens or tends to
weaken the power of the United
States satisfies the legal definition
of being treason. These acts constitute traitorous behavior; the acts of
a traitor.
This evolving outcome is one
that even Mrs. Clinton should have
foretold given her history of
“Filegate,” which involved an order from the then First Lady for the
FBI to obtain some 900 files without proper legal justification. The
investigation of this encompassed
conservatives posted as the primary
season rumbles along.
*****
Some Super Post-Super
Tuesday Observations
The writing is on the wall. The
Trump Train has left the station.
Listening to Marco Rubio and
Ted Cruz crowing about how great
Super Tuesday supposedly was for
them brought to mind this line from
The Gladiator starring Russell
Crowe: “People should know when
they’re conquered.”
Rubio finally won a state. Minnesota. The only state to vote
against Ronald Reagan in 1984. Big
whoop.
Rubio’s reality-free post-election bluster speech Tuesday night
should make him a lock for the
“2016 Baghdad Bob of the Year
Award.”
Cruz won three states. One, his
home state of Texas. Better than
Rubio, but not exactly a juggernaut.
Still, enough to keep him in the
game.
Donald Trump, on the other
hand, won seven more states ranging from the deep south to the liberal northeast.
He did lose Alaska. But then
again, unlike Iowa, a lot of Alaskans no longer feel the love for
former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Her Trump endorsement probably
actually hurt him there.
That said, the writing is on the
wall. The Trump Train has left the
station. The GOP establishment
better run fast now to get onboard.
People say Trump is a bully. OK,
fine. But isn’t that what we need
when dealing with folks such as
ISIS, Vladimir Putin and North
Korea? Especially after seeing what
eight years of having a pansy in the
Oval Office has gotten us.
And isn’t that exactly what it’s
going to take to beat Hillary Clinton
like a drum in November?
On the other hand, Trump’s postelection press conference showed
the nation a different kind of
Donald Trump. One that appeared
far more calm and — dare I say it?
— presidential.
He fights and fights hard when
fighting is called for. But is conciliatory and cooperative when trying
to get something done. And that’s
bad... how?
This election, as Mr. Spock
would say, is “fascinating.”
*****
Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public
policy grassroots advocacy organization. He may be reached by email
at [email protected].
Chuck Muth
“Emailgate,” which uncovered the
fact that over a million emails were
withheld from Special Prosecutor
Ken Starr by the Clinton White
House. During that period material
witness Kathleen Willey was
publically discredited using illegally released information, which
resulted in the ruling that President
Clinton had committed a crime.
And that in turn resulted in the second impeachment of a US president.
One apparent theme is that outing of documents (emails) caused
Mrs. Clinton grief. Her use of that
private server in her Chappaqua
home was intended to make sure
that didn’t happen again. Her chosen cure was worse than the disease.
Hillary outdid herself by reportedly masterminding a scheme that
accepted what could be labeled
“bribes” from Chinese banks as
contributions to her husband’s reelection fund. This was labeled
“Chinagate” and Congressional
hearings were empanelled to determine if Mrs. Clinton gave instructions to sell places on “trade missions” to China and other countries.
What might have been the biggest
scandal in history was pushed out
of the news by the Monica
Lewinsky scandal. And as she had
done with other women negatively
associated with her husband, she
personally led the attack to sully
and besmirch the intern.
During the Clinton presidency
there was also “Travelgate,” which
resulted from the First Lady directing that the then White House travel
agents be fired and replaced with
personal friends; and the
Whitewater scandal that was categorized as a fraudulent land
scheme likely devised by Mrs.
Clinton and key witness Jim
McDougal, who died in prison.
Another member of that Rose law
firm (Hillary’s firm) was Webster
Hubbell, who was later convicted
of tax fraud; another member was
Vince Foster, a material witness in
the criminal investigation, who
turned up dead.
As I suggested above, common
themes associated with Mrs.
Clinton’s business dealings were
outing of her documents and personal gain. Dare I say that another
was “death”? Four Americans did
die at Benghazi and four more were
seriously wounded. And there were
others.
As the media continuously reports the increasing number of
highly classified emails being found
on the former SoS’s personal server,
the Congressional investigation into
Benghazi events and specific communications hopefully tiptoe forward. Recall that Republican South
Carolina former prosecutor and
now Congressman and Chair of that
investigating Select Committee is
Trey Gowdy.
Gowdy first garnered national
attention on the TV show “Forensic Files” and currently is a vocal
doubter of the depth and specifics
of Donald Trump’s positions on issues. I hope he pays more attention
to the Benghazi investigation than
he apparently has to exploring
DonaldJTrump.com.
(See Part 2 next week)
DO YOU NEED AN EDITOR?
Have you been embarrassed lately when someone pointed
out to you that you misspelled a word in your report or maybe
had a whole sentence all messed up? Have you personally
felt that you could’ve done a much better job on that manuscript
but just didn’t have the time?
Why put off doing what you know you should have done before:
call in an editor! As a word-, sentence-, and document-doctor,
she will fix what needs fixing by adding a little of this or that,
and taking out what shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Give yourself the luxury of looking your best in print!
[email protected]. 702-706-6875.
Maramis
image? And how do you envision
yourself? As an honest, thoughtful,
kind, genuine, loving person? The
only way you can compare your assumed self-image to that of your
actual self — the self that you
present to the world, the self that
everyone else knows — is by getting feedback from those in your
world who do the perceiving of
you.
Which brings me up to “they.”
“They” are everyone else out there.
Cops, lawyers, doctors, car salesmen, housewives, husbands, the
average Jane or Joe, politicians...
everyone who is not you. And many
of those in any of the particular categories mentioned would be very
surprised, I’m sure, to learn that
their actual self (and how others see
them) does not match their own
self-image (how they see themselves) at all!
So what does that have to do
with this year’s presidential candidates?
A lot.
Pick any candidate (in your
mind) and write down three or four
attributes connected to that candidate that he or she is trying to get
you to see and believe in, in order
to capture your vote. Might one of
them be honesty? How about fairness for the masses? Or understanding of the way government
works? What about personal power
to at least address, if not actually
fix, the mess this country is in? And
then there might be the candidate’s
assumed belief in his or her ability
to perform super-presidential feats
of greatness that no other president
could ever do.
What candidate would not want
to have voters see all of the above
in him or her? Yet in reality, not all
the candidates give off those particular vibes, hard as they may try
— meaning, whether or not they
say such things in their speeches,
interviews, or during the debates,
and even if they themselves believe
in their own grandiose, however
well-intentioned, dreams or goals,
voters do not see or sense their honesty, fairness, personal power, or
would-be ability to take this country in its present-day state of affairs
and turn it around to be all that it
can and ought to be.
I would imagine that not everyone goes through anything like the
above mentioned exercise, so many
would-be voters probably allow
what their favorite candidate says
to resonate with them as is. But
strangely enough, while such voters might not see the inferior beams
holding up their candidate of
choice, they clearly believe they
can see the tiny specks of imperfection in their candidate’s opponents’ personality and/or platform.
Now, that is not to imply that
from someone else’s perspective all
the candidates except yours are
only slightly flawed, and the candidate you like best is most flawed,
but it is to say that often we are
blinded by a notion of what we
want to believe, as well as by the
opposite notion of not wanting to
believe what we don’t want to be-
lieve, whether or not it is true.
So even allowing for this supposition to be worth considering,
who cares? Well, those who value
their vote should care!
If you had to evaluate whether
or not a certain young man was
good enough for your daughter, you
wouldn’t just rely on what the
young man was telling you. You
should expect
him to make himself shine
through his words, to look good
according to what he thinks you —
the parent of his girlfriend — would
want him to be. You might —
should you be serious about not letting your daughter get led astray —
ask around, do a Google search on
him, observe him when he doesn’t
know he’s being watched, etc. In
other words, your daughter cannot
possibly see what you see or believe
anything unfavorable that you find
out about him if she is in love; yet
even if she does believe what you
discover, she may still not want to
abandon him because of her feelings for him.
So what’s a voter to do? Consider that “your candidate” is the
one that your daughter (or son)
wants to “bring home to dinner,” to
get your approval. Before you give
your blessing, so to speak, for that
relationship to go forward, you’ll
want to have a little “dinnertime
chat” about how certain facts will
impact the long-range relationship.
Point out that “your daughter” (read
that, any voter) is entitled to her
own opinion, but no one, regardless
who, is entitled to their own facts.
It’s one thing to love the person
of your choice in spite of the fact
that he is really bald, but chooses
to hide that fact, and quite another
to love the person of your choice
despite the fact that everything he
says is buffoonery or an outright lie.
We are all who we are, despite
the way we may present ourselves
so that we can appear to be other
than who or what we really are.
While we may be able to fool those
who only know us by our words and
the way we look on stage, we cannot fool those who have known us
for years and can see through the
way we present ourselves and the
things we say by comparing them
to the things they know we have
done.
Most of all, we cannot long be
other than we really are. We cannot
possibly live up to what we say or
promise if we don’t really believe
in what we say or promise. (For
example, if one goes around praising “A,” but secretly hates “A,” one
will never go out of one’s way to
allow or create more “A” in the
community, the state, or the country.
So, are all our candidates who
they say they are, or are they only
showing us the side they want us to
see now, before the election, therefore “being” who they want people
to think they are?
Maramis Choufani is the Managing Editor of the Las Vegas Tribune. She writes a weekly column
in this newspaper. To contact
Maramis,
email
her
at
[email protected].
Sundays from 12.30 to 2 p.m.
Please call 702-706-6875 for information
and directions to the study group
Mace
guys like criminals and terrorists are
using Apple’s technology to hide
their activities from police. (Maybe
they are, but law abiding citizens
have legitimate expectations of privacy that the government should
not be able to invade on a whim.
Sometimes Big Brother does not
win. Apple has a duty to create this
software to stop this from happening.)
But This May Not Help!
Apple argues that even if they
create the government’s software,
the bad guys will just use other,
more complicated, encryption efforts, and the police will have the
same problem.
At that point, the only people
that the new software will hurt are
the millions of innocent people who
rely on the security that Apple’s encryption technology currently provides.
The bad guys would still be doing bad things in secret, and meanwhile, law-abiding Americans
would have less protection against
the bad guys.
You Vill Do Vhat Ve Vant,
Or Else!
Apple argues that it is illegal and
unconstitutional for the government
to try and force a private company
to do something that had nothing
to do with the shootings; to go out
of its way and make a program that
is designed to break all of the privacy technologies and encryptions
that Apple had designed in the first
place.
I believe they are right. In addition to the draft, now the Government can order private companies
to do its bidding? Doesn’t this seem
fundamentally wrong?
It’s A Slippery Slope As
Our Freedoms Erode!
Not only will it cost Apple a lot
of time and money to design, build,
and protect the new software, its
very existence will hurt Apple’s
sales because customers will no
longer trust that Apple products are
private. (I’m from the Government;
you can trust me.) Plus, it will drive
up the prices.
Apple also correctly points out
that Congress has had the opportunity to make laws that require companies like Apple to make the sort
of technology that the government
is now demanding, and that Congress has refused to do it.
It is unconstitutional, Apple argues, for the government to try and
go around Congress by asking
courts to do something that Congress has refused to do. This violates the Separation of Powers.
Is Big Brother Back?
Is this Constitutional? Apple argues that making it write a new program is a violation of Free Speech
because the government would be
making Apple “say” something. I
believe this is involuntary servitude.
If the government can simply
force Apple to create this program
in the name of criminal investigation, the government will later be
able to make Apple (or any other
company for that matter) do pretty
much anything.
Where Will It End?
What is to stop the government
from forcing Apple to secretly turn
on the microphone or camera of a
criminal suspect’s phone? Or to
provide the police with the phone’s
location through tracking technology? Or to let police go through all
of the phone’s emails? Or to let
them go through EVERYONE’s
iphone.
Privacy: As American
as Apple Pie
There is a balance between the
privacy of American citizens versus the government’s ability to conduct investigations into criminal
activity. The police need a warrant
to search a person’s home (the 4th
Amendment) even though it makes
it more difficult to obtain evidence.
Police must give Miranda warnings to suspects (the 5th Amendment) even though this makes it
more difficult to obtain confessions.
At the end of the day, although we
as Americans want cops to catch
bad guys, we don’t want to sacrifice our liberty, our privacy and
other rights, so that cops can just
do whatever they want, whenever
they want.
Benjamin Franklin said that “It
is better 100 guilty Persons should
escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.”
If you or someone you care
about has been arrested or charged
with a crime, it is important that you
hire an experienced criminal defense attorney that cares deeply
about defending your rights and
who will fight for liberty and freedom. Call Mace Yampolsky and
Associates today at 702-385-9777
for a free consultation. We are available 24/7 for emergencies.
*****
For more information regarding
Nevada laws, or if you feel your
rights have been violated, please
call Mace Yampolsky & Associates.
Call or text us at (702) 385-9777.
We are available 24/7 for emergencies. If you need help, CALL NOW
before it is too late. We can help!
ENTERTAINMENT
Views of the Academy Award’s Red Carpet Gowns
By Sandy Zimmerman
Las Vegas Tribune
Photos by the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts & Sciences, Hollywood, California
and Rhett Nielson, Las Vegas, Nevada
Every year we experience a bird’s-eye
view of the Academy Award’s nominees,
view their films, root for our favorites and
wait for the moment the envelope is opened
to discover the winners.
Part of the excitement of this event is seeing what the stars are wearing especially at
the 88th Academy Awards. Las Vegas has the
privilege of participating in the Academy
Awards Oscar Night Las Vegas-style red carpet at the Palms Hotel and Casino, held in
the lobby of the Brenden Theater’s complex.
We see some of the most expensive, the
most luxurious, extravagant and daring fashions worn by the nominees and other celebrities at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and
here along the Las Vegas Red Carpet.
Academy Award winner (Best Actress-
Silver Lining Playbook-2012) Jennifer
Lawrence, was nominated the fourth time for
Best Actress for her role in “Joy.” This made
Jennifer the second-youngest Best Actress
Oscar winner ever. Lawrence garnered two
more Golden Globe Award wins and Academy Award nominations for her performances in Russell’s comedy-dramas American Hustle (2013) and Joy (2015).
Jennifer’s stunning see-through sheer lace
boutique with a plunging neckline, adorned
in black feathers and form fitting black gown.
Olivia Wilde- actress, model, producer,
activist- wore a white gown with a plunging
neckline by Valentino Haute Couture. Known
as Dr. Remy, in “Thirteen”, Hadley on House
(2007-12) as well as Tron: Legacy (2010),
Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Her (2013),
Drinking Buddies (2013), and Rush (2013).
She also has a recurring role in HBO’s rock
‘n’ roll drama series.
Charlize Theron wore a crimson gown
with a deep plunge and slinky straps by DiorHaute Couture. Charlize Theron, born in
South African, is an actress, producer and
fashion model. She has starred in The Devil’s
Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998),
and The Cider House Rules.
From the Las Vegas Academy Awards red
carpet, Lauri Thompson (Board of Directors
of VARIETY- Children’s Charity, Southern
Nevada,) walked the Red Carpet at the Palm’s
Resort, Las Vegas. Lauri wore a form-fitting
gorgeous blue gown with golden brocade
overlay accents.
As I interviewed the celebrities along the
Red Carpet, many of them mentioned they
were happy to be at the Academy Awards for
the benefit of Variety, the Children’s Charity
of Southern Nevada. It was a great cause to
add the meaning of giving to the event.
Variety Southern Nevada has served more
than 20,000 special needs children and raised
and distributed more than $7,000,000 in
grants and specialized equipment in our community. Variety The Children’s Charity of
Southern Nevada was founded in 1950 with
the mission to build and staff what would be
the first school in Southern Nevada for children with special needs. Visit the website
www.varietysn.org for more information.
Sandy Zimmerman is a Syndicated Columnist, Show/Film & Dining Reviewer,
Travel Writer, Photographer, and Talk Show
Host of the Las Vegas Today Show programs
and Discover the Ultimate Vacation travel
specials.Telephone: (702) 731-6491, Email:
[email protected].
Celebrities along the Red Carpet at the Dolby Theater, in Los Angeles.
Olivia Wilde wore a white gown with a plunging neckline
by Valentino Haute Couture.
Academy Award’s winner and four-time nominated
Jennifer Lawrence wore a stunning see-through sheer
lace boutique with a plunging neckline, adorned in black
feathers and form fitting black gown.
Lady Ga Ga wore a white jumpsuit by Brandon.
Charlize Theron wore a crimson gown with a plunging
neckline and slinky straps by Dior-Haute Couture.
Alicia Thompson, President, Board of Directors of VARIETY, Children’s
Charity, walked the Red Carpet, at the Palm’s Resort, Las Vegas.
Alicia wore a gorgeous gown along the Red Carpet, Las Vegas-style.
Original Santana Band reunites
for one night at House of Blues
Live event will be filmed for forthcoming television special and DVD release
This Week
in Las Vegas
By Mike Kermani
By Mike Kermani
Las Vegas Tribune
On stage together for the first
time since 1973, the Original
Santana Band featuring: Carlos
Santana (guitar, vocals), Gregg
Rolie (keyboards, lead vocals),
Neal Schon (guitar, vocals),
Michael Carabello (percussion),
and Michael Shrieve (drums), will
reunite on March 21 in Las Vegas
at the House of Blues inside
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
for a very special live performance
that will be filmed for television and
DVD release.
Fans are invited to come be a
part of television history as the super group takes them on a musical
journey, touching upon the first
three Santana albums, and introducing fans to songs from the forthcoming release of their new studio
album, Santana IV.
Tickets for this special event go
on sale tomorrow, Saturday, March
5 at 10 a.m. All tickets are $29.50
plus tax and fees and are general
admission, standing room only tickets. Doors are at 6:30 p.m., filming
begins at 8 p.m. Fans won’t want
to miss this historic filming and live
concert event. All guests must be
18 years of age or older with a valid
photo ID to enter the venue.
With the same heralded lineup
that exploded onto the scene at
Woodstock, with Neal Schon added
soon afterward, Santana IV radiates
the same unparalleled energy and
superlative musicianship that made
Santana a pioneering force in world
music and a household name across
the globe. In April of 2016, they will
release their first studio album together since 1971’s Santana III.
Appropriately named Santana IV,
the album picks up where they left
off with 16 all-new tracks written
and produced by the band, explosive guitar work, incredible percussion, and a collection of songs that
easily stands side-by-side with the
group’s treasured early work. Joining the core Santana IV band in the
studio are current Santana members
Karl Perazzo (percussion) and
Benny Rietveld (bass), with the legendary vocalist Ronald Isley
guesting on two cuts.
“There are very few bands from
the ’60s and ’70s that can come
back with this kind of energy,”
Carlos Santana raves, “So I think
we achieved something very rare.
This music was screaming to come
out of us. It wasn’t about nostalgia.
It was about passion.”
To date, this is the only full show
scheduled that will feature this incredible lineup which will highlight
the amazing guitar interplay of
Carlos Santana and Journey’s Neal
Schon, mixed with Gregg Rolie’s
distinctive soulful voice and
Hammond B3, complimented by
the percussive ferocity of Michael
Shrieve and Michael Carabello.
“Carlos and I feel more connected than ever,” adds Schon. “We
get super-aggressive when we play,
but also melodic and poetic. We
have a dialog with each other on
our guitars, and that allows us to
do one-take solos and just blow
each other away.”
*****
POLICE UNITY TOUR AT
SAM’S TOWN LIVE! WITH
BENEFIT CONCERT
FEATURING ROCK CANDY
The Police Unity Tour returns to
Sam’s Town Live! as local classic
rock cover band Rock Candy performs hits from legends like Led
Zeppelin, Journey, Van Halen and
many more on March 19 at 8 p.m.;
doors open at 7 p.m.
The Police Unity Tour is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
help raising awareness about the
members of law enforcement who
lost their lives in the line of duty.
The tour also helps to raise funds
for the National Law Enforcement
Officers Memorial and Museum.
Sam’s Town Live! Sam’s Town
Hotel and Gambling Hall, 5111
Boulder Highway
Tickets are $10 in advance and
can be purchased at any Boyd
Gaming box office, by calling
702.284.7777, or by visiting http:/
/www.samstownlv.com/. Tickets
will be available at the door for $15,
starting at 7 p.m. the night of the
show.
*****
BORDER GRILL AT
MANDALAY BAY
MONTHLY EVENT
A longtime Las Vegas culinary
staple, Border Grill at Mandalay
Bay is launching a new monthly
event: Border Grill Patio Series.
Designed by executive chef Jamaal
Taherzadeh to bring diverse, oneof-a-kind events to Las Vegas tourists and locals, Border Grill Patio
Series will fuse the restaurant’s signature tastes with an outside element - literally and figuratively.
Taking place on the beloved patio at Border Grill, each event in
the Border Grill Patio Series will
also incorporate something not usually offered at the modern Mexican restaurant. With an event happening each month during the
warm weather season, the Patio
Series will extend through the summer with the first four events already announced. More detailed
information for each event will be
unveiled soon.
Tickets for the first event, Spring
Break Clam Bake on March 21, can
be purchased by calling Border
Grill at 702.632.7403 or visiting the
website at www.bordergrill.com.
Ticket information for the following three events will be released
soon.
SPRING BREAK CLAM
BAKE: March 21, 6 - 8 p.m. $97
(including tax & gratuity). Marking the first day of Spring, and in
celebration of the Spring Break excitement that takes over the Las
Vegas Strip, Border Grill is throwing a Spring Break Clam Bake
party. Featuring a massive bonfire
on the patio, the Border Grill team
will expertly layer burlap sacks,
vegetables, seasonings and a load
of seafood to create the most extensive clam bake in recent
memory. Not only will the spectacle
be enough to have you (and your
Instagram followers) in awe, but the
heaping portions are guaranteed to
leave each attendee beyond satisfied. Join us for this unlimited feast
of sustainable clams, crabs and
mussels, as well as chorizo, corn
and potatoes over hickory
applewood. Did we mention bottomless beer, sangria, margaritas
and micheladas as well?
Tickets are available now at
www.bordergrill.com.
FARM FRESH: April 22. Border Grill Mandalay Bay’s Executive
Chef Jamaal Taherzadeh has been
participating in local farmers markets throughout the past year. Inspired by local farmers and their
sustainable produce, Border Grill is
bringing that concept to its Patio
Series. During Farm Fresh, attendees will be introduced to a handful
of local farmers while simultaneously tasting Border Grill dishes
using the farmers’ locally grown
produce and ingredients. To top it
off, every guest will leave with their
own grocery bag of farmer’s market items so they can utilize the locally grown produce in their home
kitchens as well.
*****
THE NINTH WHISKEY
EVENT BROUGHT
PEOPLE FROM AROUND
THE WORLD
“The Ninth Whiskey Event” returned to Las Vegas today for its 6th
year. Mahesh Patel, renowned
whisky collector and connoisseur
established the show in the summer
of 2010 with the sole aim was to
provide the World’s most exclusive
and luxurious whisky tasting experiences. With very limited access
and tickets upwards of $2,000, this
was not your average whisky tasting on March 2-5, at the encore, at
wynn las vegas. The main tasting
event lasted from 6-9:30 pm
World’s most expensive whiskies have been showcased and
tasted at the Ninth show including
70yr Glenlivet, Diamond Jubilee,
Glenfiddich Janet Sheed Roberts,
Royal Salute Tribute to Honor,
Ardbeg Double Barrel, The
Dalmore Constellation, The
Dalmore Trinitas, The Macallan 64
year old in Lalique Cire Perdue,
Glenmorangie Pride, Glenfarclas
60yr and many more.
From humble beginnings with a
few top whiskies to the world’s top
whisky brands participating at the
Ninth experience including Whisky
Icons such as Richard Patterson, Ian
Millar, Colin Scott, George Grant,
David Blackmore and others.
2011: Introduced High roller
Experience giving elite connoisseurs an ultimate experience like no
other and evolving to make the
High Roller whisky experience an
unforgettable time tasting the best
whiskies on planet earth.
From only Americans to a new
global event with people coming
from all over the world including,
Canada, England, India, Japan,
France and Brazil.
2013: A never before seen super
experience -Tasting the Glenfiddich
50yr in the Grand Canyon.
Other whisky experiences were
added for attendees to enjoy like
Playing Golf with the Masters,
Whisky Speed Dating and High
Roller Lounge.
*****
Mike Kermani is an entertainment writer for the Las Vegas Tribune newspaper. He writes a weekly
column in this newspaper. To contact Mike Kermani, email
mkermani@ lasvegas tribune.com
Mahesh Patel
BEHIND THE MIKE
Yogi and Spike
Edith Piaf
Naomi Emmerson as Edith Piaf
Winchester Cultural Center Las Vegas
Naomi Emmerson
conquers all as Edith Piaf
By Marianne Donnelly
Las Vegas Tribune
“I have no regrets...” a line from,
“Non, je ne regrette rien” — one of
French chanteuse Edith Piaf ’s
greatest hits — says it all about her
poetic, tragic deeply-lived life.
Poverty, exposure to brothels at
a young age, abandonment, numerous tragic deaths of lovers, death
of her daughter, and an insuperable
wanderlust created the heart and
therefore voice of Edith Piaf (piaf
means “sparrow,” the stage name
given to her by her first mentor who
found her singing on the streets of
Paris.)
At Winchester Cultural Center
last Friday, a nearly sold-out audience cheered repeatedly and stood
in ovation to Naomi Emmerson’s,
“Piaf: Love Conquers All.”
This one-woman dramatic portrayal captured Piaf’s nuances precisely — from puckered-lips to
wild eyes, arched long brows, to
late-life tremors to stilted walk and
raucous laugh. Most magnificent of
all was Naomi’s un-miked soaring,
aching vibrato emulating legendary
contralto Piaf perfectly.
I hate to use cliche, but she did
“channel” Edith!
The set was a brilliant white &
black-red-accents theme with scrim
drapes and furniture cut-outs designed with whimsy (while disguising practicality!).
Occasional light-projections and
sound-accents completed the staging. Ms. Emmerson used every
spare prop to maximum effect and
it worked seamlessly.
Piano by Angela Chan Stopa and
accordion by Hubert Gall accompanied Naomi with enthusiasm.
Naomi’s past experiences singing
with Montreal Symphony Orchestra certainly helped refine her powerhouse-vocals.
Costumes were historically correct from perfect black dresses and
shoes (straight from news clips of
Edith) to exact wigs conveying
Edith’s slightly-unmanaged-hair.
As a solo performer (Janis Joplin
and Louisa May Alcott), I know
about the unpaid years of preparation to impersonate an icon, as well
as write a script (with music) for
that impersonation.
I was thrilled to see Naomi’s
accuracy and passion — indeed, a
certain je ne sais quoi — working
to keep Edith’s legend alive in grand
theatre tradition. This show tours:
tonepoetproductions.com has particulars.
Winchester Cultural Center is
the heart of performing and visual
arts for Clark County Parks and
Recreation including dance, theater,
music, visual arts and educational
tours and events. Additionally enjoy their desert garden and well-lit
skate park!
Join event-notice list at:
[email protected]
By Michael A. Aun
Nicknames have been a part of
life in my family as early as I could
remember. My older sister Mary
Delle went by the name of “Myrt.”
Older brother George was labeled
“Buzz.”
My own moniker was “Yogi”
because I resembled the baseball
player Yogi Berra. I also looked like
Alfred E. Newman, the guy on
MAD magazine. Fortunately, nobody went there. And then there
was Lorraine “Yainey,” and on and
on. No need to burden you with all
11 names.
Naturally, the tradition continued in my family, but not until my
third son Christopher was born. He
had a nice bump for a belly the day
he arrived so his older twin brothers, Cory and Jason, immediately
nicknamed him “Gutt.” And that’s
how these labels get hung on us.
“Gutt” was the envy of every
athlete at St. Cloud High School.
Nobody had a cooler nickname than
“Gutt.” His license plate on his
“Bubba Pickup Truck” said simply
“Gutts,” below a window sticker
that proclaimed him a member of
the “Fat Boy Club.”
Ironically, he was never a fat kid
but the label stuck. When one of the
twins, Cory, got married to Casey,
I immediately tagged her with the
nickname “Mooch” because she
was always mooching a meal at our
house long before they were married.
Along came Jessica, who Cory’s
twin brother Jason met while they
were both trying to make the US
Olympic Team in weightlifting at
Northern Michigan University.
NMU trains the weightlifters, boxers and bobsled teams. Neither
made the Olympic team but both
came away with top notch educations, leading Jessica to become a
doctor and Jason to become a molecular microbiologist.
Jessica was a bit of a runt so it
seemed appropriate for me to nickname her “Runt.” Now, she works
alongside “Nurse Gutt” in the very
same Orlando Emergency Room so
now I call her “Dr. Runt.”
Gutt was the third son to find a
mate, Viviana, which had way too
many syllables to suit yours truly.
Most in the family call her “Viv”
but I went with the nickname
“Bones,” because she’s nothing but
skin, bones and long beautiful black
hair.
All three of my son’s wives are
beautiful women, one as pretty as
the next. In the Christmas photo, the
family looks like a group of models. Only my ugly mug gives it
away.
My granddaughters Ava and
Ashley (by Casey and Cory) are the
only two that weren’t labeled with
a nickname. They actually look
MICHAEL A. AUN
more like twins than all the twins
in the family. I couldn’t nickname
a little girl. But when we were
blessed with a second set of twin
sons in the family, a pair of boys,
the temptation was too much.
Cameron (Baby A) came out
grumpy, loud and grinning, looking
just like yours truly. Bones immediately nicknamed him Jiddy Junior because he looked just like me.
Jiddy is the Arabic word for grandfather. Since he looked just like me
when I was an infant, I figured I’d
give him my childhood nickname
“Yogi” because we both looked like
the baseball great.
Keenan (Baby B) came into the
world equipped with a full head of
hair, so long that his father started
styling the black locks into a spiked
hairdo. So his nickname has become “Spike.” He will definitely be
a lady’s man as he has all of his
mom’s good looks and quiet, loving personality.
Spike and Yogi are on the fast
track to becoming superstars in the
pre-school world. While they are
just over seven months old, girls
line up to get a look at the pair as I
stroller them along the lakefront of
East Lake Tohopekaliga in St.
Cloud, Florida, a Sunday afternoon
tradition.
Twins are a natural “chick attraction,” as I learned when I’d take my
own twin sons on a stroller ride
when mom was busy shopping. As
they grew older, they too sensed the
attraction that women had to them,
prompting them to conjure up a
story that mom has passed on and
they were being raised by this poor
single father.
Even my twisted mind couldn’t
have conjured up a better tale of
woe and when mom would arrive
on the scene after her shopping
spree, we all had to come clean and
admit the tale.
Shame on us men... we’ll do almost anything to get the girl. I’m
thinking Spike and Yogi will be just
as accommodating!
Michael Aun is a syndicated columnist and writes a weekly column
for this newspaper. To contact
Michael Aun, email him at
[email protected].
Verizon, FedEx, Walt Disney, etc.
and you will find that a culture of
empowerment is a shared trait. Engaged leaders are attentive and intentional about creating a culture
where people are valued, respected,
trusted, and empowered. It’s the
secret sauce of success.
As a leader you endanger your
team and the culture that could be
enjoyed by hoarding the power. It’s
not about how much power you
have but in how much you give
away.
Empowerment is the
blueprint of your success
Your growth and development
as a leader comes with certain responsibilities and obligations. It’s
to empower those around you and
the next generation of leaders who
follow. Simply put; it’s not about
you. The level of success you wish
to achieve is proportional to your
commitment to empower those
around you. A sampling of your
blueprint to success for you and
your team should read like this: empowered, equipped, trusted, engaged, committed, etc. Is the picture becoming clearer?
team and its future by neglecting the
responsibilities of your leadership.
Your leadership can make greater
impact and be more rewarding
when you realize it’s simply a tool
of empowerment.
Are you empowering or endangering?
*****
Doug Dickerson is a syndicated
columnist. He writes a weekly column for this newspaper. To contact
Doug Dickerson, email him at
ddickerson@ lasvegastribune.com.
Empowerment or Endangerment:
How Your Leadership Makes the Difference
By Doug Dickerson
The people’s capacity to achieve
is determined by the leader’s ability to empower — John Maxwell
Most leaders I know like to believe that they are making a difference in their organization. Ask most
and they will affirm that they are.
I’m sure you are one of them and
that you strive to make a difference
daily.
But if we take a closer look a
different story emerges in some instances. Research by Gallup in 2014
shows that only 13 percent of all
employees are “highly engaged”
and 26 percent are “actively disengaged.”
While not all companies have an
employee engagement issue as
mentioned here there are leadership
lessons to be applied nonetheless.
On what level are leaders making a significant impact in their organizations if only 13 percent are
highly engaged? Where is the reconciliation point between employers who believe that they are engaged and employees who believe
that they are not? What rubric determines success and failure in this
area?
One of the keys to bridging the
gap rests with the leader’s mandate
to empower his or her team. As a
leader you are either empowering
your team or you are endangering
it.
Here are five ways to know the
difference.
DOUG DICKERSON
Empowerment is an
investment of your trust
Trust is essential to your success
as a leader. You must first earn the
trust of the people that you lead.
Without trust you have nothing. But
your investment as a leader in your
people is a game changer when you
unleash their potential to perform.
When empowered and trusted the
commitment level of your team
members will go through the roof
and performance will be off the
charts. But this is where it begins
or ends.
organization and your team if you
do not trust them and empower
them to do their jobs.
Empowerment is an
acknowledgment of
your security
Leaders who are secure in their
own strengths and abilities have no
pause to empower others. Only secure leaders can give power away.
It’s based upon the first principle
mentioned here — trust. Confident
and secure leaders set the tone and
raise the bar for all leaders in their
organization to follow. Show me a
leader who is secure in his or her
leadership and their ability to empower others and I will show you a
confident team moving forward.
team when you allow your insecurities to cloud your judgment and
disrespect your people. Get over
yourself and empower your people.
Empowerment is
an expression of
your adaptability
The old adage says that change
is the only constant. Your relevance
as a leader is connected to your ability to change. By empowering your
people and unleashing their creativity you position your organization
to stay current and competitive.
Empowerment is a great change
agent and without it you render your
organization irrelevant.
As a leader you endanger yourself and your team when you lose
your capacity to change. Keep your
values intact and remain grounded
to core principles, but always be
willing to change your methods.
Empowerment is a
reflection of your culture
Name any of the top successful
companies you’d like such as
Google, Apple, Amazon, Starbucks,
Righteous Brothers to perform at Harrah’s March 23
By Jerry Fink
Las Vegas Tribune
Get ready to have “The Time of
Your Life” as The Righteous Brothers featuring Bill Medley with
Bucky Heard bring the legendary
sound of “blue-eyed soul” to the
Las Vegas stage at Harrah’s Las
Vegas beginning Wednesday,
March 23.
Playing inside the Harrah’s
Showroom, Bill Medley and Bucky
Heard will take audiences through
the legendary music stylings of one
of the greatest rock and roll duos
of all time.
The Righteous Brothers featuring Bill Medley with Bucky Heard
will perform Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., beginning
Wednesday, March 23.
Tickets range in price from $39
— $125, plus taxes and fees, and
are available at the Harrah’s Las
Vegas box office, by phone at (702)
777-2782 or (855) 234-7469, or by
visiting www.harrahslasvegas.com.
Group orders of 10 or more should
contact the Group Sales department
at EntertainmentGroupSales@
caesars.com or call 1-866-5743851.
*****
THE ORIGINAL SANTANA
BAND TO REUNITE
ON MARCH 21
On stage together for the first
time since 1973, the Original
Santana Band featuring: Carlos
Santana (guitar, vocals), Gregg
Rolie (keyboards, lead vocals),
Neal Schon (guitar, vocals),
Michael Carabello (percussion),
and Michael Shrieve (drums), will
reunite on March 21 in Las Vegas
at the House of Blues inside
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
for a very special live performance
that will be filmed for television and
DVD release.
Fans are invited to come be a
part of television history as the super group takes them on a musical
journey, touching upon the first
three Santana albums, and introducing fans to songs from the forthcoming release of their new studio
album, Santana IV .
Tickets are $29.50 plus tax and
fees and are general admission,
standing room only tickets. Doors
are at 6:30 p.m., filming begins at
8 p.m. Fans won’t want to miss this
historic filming and live concert
event. All guests must be 18 years
of age or older with a valid photo
ID to enter the venue.
With the same heralded lineup
that exploded onto the scene at
Woodstock, with Neal Schon added
soon afterward, Santana IV radiates
the same unparalleled energy and
superlative musicianship that made
Santana a pioneering force in world
music and a household name across
the globe. In April of 2016, they will
release their first studio album together since 1971’s Santana III .
Appropriately named Santana
IV , the album picks up where they
left off with 16 all-new tracks written and produced by the band, explosive guitar work, incredible percussion, and a collection of songs
that easily stands side-by-side with
the group’s treasured early work.
Joining the core Santana IV band
in the studio are current Santana
members Karl Perazzo (percussion)
and Benny Rietveld (bass), with the
legendary vocalist Ronald Isley
guesting on two cuts.
“There are very few bands from
the ’60s and ’70s that can come
back with this kind of energy,”
Carlos Santana raves, “So I think
we achieved something very rare.
This music was screaming to come
out of us. It wasn’t about nostalgia.
It was about passion.”
*****
LAS VEGAS’ FAMED
‘FUNOLOGIST,’ JOHN
O’DONNELL, TO BRING
LUCK OF THE IRISH
TO CRUSH FOR
ST. PATRICK’S DAY
One of the biggest party holidays
of the year will be ushered in at
CRUSH inside MGM Grand Hotel
& Casino by one of Las Vegas’ favorite Irishmen, ‘funologist’ John
O’Donnell, where CRUSH’s popular bartender will host a festive St.
Patrick’s Day bash.
Doors will open at 5 p.m. on
Thursday, March 17, and
O’Donnell will do what he does
best, serve up plenty of beer and
Irish whiskey while bringing people
together for toasts and good spirits.
Plus, Corporate Executive Chef
William DeMarco will serve a special Irish spread of Corned Beef,
Cabbage, Soda Bread and a draft
beer, priced at $20.16; and a Brown
Ale Irish Lamb Stew served with
fingerling potatoes and baby carrots, accompanied by a Red Hydrant brown ale, priced at $20.16.
CRUSH will also bring the
sounds of Ireland to the celebration
with group of bagpipers set to play
traditional Irish tunes throughout
the evening. From 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.,
guests will enjoy $10 pizzas, $6
draft beers and $5 wines, served
exclusively in the bar area.
*****
2016 JAY CUTLER DESERT
CLASSIC TO TAKE PLACE
AT THE PEARL
Palms Casino Resort, Martini
Spray Tan and Liquid Sun Rayz
present the Las Vegas City Athletic
Club 2016 Jay Cutler Desert Classic inside The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort on Saturday, March 26,
2016.
The NPC national qualifier competition, featuring contestants from
around the country, consists of Men
and Women’s Body Building, Men
and Women’s Physique, Women’s
Figure and Bikini, and Women’s
Fitness. Multiple vendors specializing in supplements and apparel
will also be on hand during the
event. For more information, visit
www.lasvegasnpc.com.
*****
THE MOB MUSEUM
TO UNVEIL DISPLAY
ON “EL CHAPO”
On March 1 The Mob Museum,
the National Museum of Organized
Crime and Law Enforcement debuted a new temporary display detailing the 2015 prison escape of
JoaquÌn “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Guzmán is a notorious Mexican
drug lord and head of the Sinaloa
Cartel, a criminal organization responsible for shipping cocaine from
Colombia through Mexico to the
United States, which is the world’s
top cocaine consumer.
In addition, the cartel has been
involved in the production, transport and distribution of metham-
phetamine, marijuana, ecstasy and
heroin throughout North America
and Europe.
The centerpiece of the display
will be a scale model tracing
Guzmán’s escape through tunnels
dug beneath his cell inside
Mexico’s Antiplano federal prison.
This model will provide guests with
a detailed diorama showing the
elaborate escape route.
It depicts the 32-foot vertical
tunnel descending from his prison
cell and the horizontal tunnel running 4,921 feet away from the
prison, along which Guzmán rode
a specially modified motorcycle.
The model also illustrates how another vertical tunnel carried him up
through the floor of another building, where he met his associates and
got away.
Guzmán was subsequently recaptured on January 8, 2016, following a shootout with Mexican
marines in his home state of
Sinaloa.
That same month, Rolling Stone
magazine published an interview
with the fugitive conducted in late
2015 by actor Sean Penn, who had
arranged a secret meeting with
Guzman in a jungle location.
Accompanied by a video documenting Guzmán’s story, the temporary display is the Museum’s second in a series illustrating organized
crime in the 21st century. It replaces
a display profiling the FIFA soccer
scandal, in which numerous world
soccer officials were indicted on
charges of taking bribes and kickbacks.
Access to the new display is included in regular admission to the
Museum, which may be reserved
online at themobmuseum.org or by
calling (702) 229-2734.
*****
ANIMAL FOUNDATION
FOR SLOTZILLA
CHARITY CHALLENGE
Fremont Street Experience will
be hosting a SlotZilla Charity Challenge to benefit The Animal Foundation.
Fremont Street Experience will
be donating 100 percent of SlotZilla
revenue to the charity on Thursday,
March 24 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
There will be a 1 p.m. kickoff
event where members from The
Animal
Foundation; dog ambassadors
and their furry friends; and FOX
Sports Pit Reporter Jamie Little,
will be on-site taking pictures and
flying on SlotZilla.
Flight times can be purchased at
the SlotZilla box office or can be
booked in advance online at
www.vegasexperience.com.
Flights are $20 before 6 p.m. and
$25 after 6 p.m. for the lower
Zipline and $40 before 6 p.m. and
$45 after 6 p.m. for the upper
Zoomline.
Children under 13 in age must
be accompanied by a flyer age 13
or over.
Flyers must weigh between 60300 lbs. for Zipline and 100-300
lbs. for Zoomline, with a maximum
6’8” height for lower Zipline but no
height limit on upper Zoomline.
Flyers cannot be under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Flyers
should not ride if they have health
concerns, neck/shoulder problems,
are pregnant, have heart trouble,
problems with balance, or seizure
disorders.
About The Animal Foundation:
The Animal Foundation is a private,
non-profit agency dedicated to
making a difference in the lives of
animals in the Las Vegas Valley. To
promote the humane treatment of
animals, The Animal Foundation
operates Nevada’s largest open-admission shelter (Lied Animal Shelter), taking in approximately 35,000
lost, unwanted and abandoned pets
every year.
Additionally, the Animal Foundation offers adoption services, lost
and found services, volunteer and
foster opportunities, and low-cost
spay and neuter and vaccination
clinics.
To learn more about The Animal
Foundation or view adoptable pets
online, visit animalfoundation.com.
*****
THE IMPROV AT HARRAH’S:
MARCH 8–13
The world-famous Improv at
Harrah’s Las Vegas is the longestrunning comedy club on the Las
Vegas Strip. The Improv’s ability to
showcase young comedians, as well
as bring in big names, has attributed to its longevity and success.
Each week, The Improv showcases some of the funniest and
freshest faces in comedy, creating
a show that is always unique and
definitely funny. The comedians
who will perform March 8–13 are:
Charles Fleischer: Charles
Fleischer is best known for the
voice of Roger Rabbit, Benny The
Cab, Greasy and Psycho in
Disney’s “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” After the film’s success,
Fleischer continued to perform the
voice of Roger Rabbit in Disney
television shows, at theme park appearances and in three follow-up
shorts to the original film.
Fleischer’s other voice roles include
“The Polar Express” and “We’re
Back! A Dinosaur’s Story.” In addition, Fleischer has appeared onscreen in movies such as “Back to
the Future Part II” and
“Gridlock’d,” as well as recurring
roles on TV series, “Welcome Back,
Kotter” and “Laverne & Shirley.”
Chase Durousseau: Comedian
Chase Durousseau’s easy going and
laid back personality has consistently made him a crowd favorite.
He has opened up for some of the
nation’s biggest comedians, including Jo Koy, Bill Blurr and Gabriel
Iglesias. Durousseau has taken his
comedic talents across the globe,
performing in Iraq and Kuwait for
the USO. He has also appeared on
Sirius XM Radio’s “Raw Dog
Comedy.”
Shows are at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday
through Sunday with an additional
show at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Tickets start at $30.50 (plus applicable taxes and fees). VIP tickets include special seating, an
Improv T-shirt and post-show meetand-greet with the comics.
Special two-for-one tickets are
also available for locals for the 10
p.m. show. Tickets are available at
Harrah’s Box Office (702-369-5223
and online at the website
www.harrahslasvegas.com.
*****
Jerry Fink is an entertainment
columnist for the Las Vegas Tribune
newspaper and writes a weekly column. To contact Fink, email him at
jfink@ lasvegastribune.com.
&
HEALTH LIFESTYLES
Richard Marx appeared with
a 20-string orchestra
By Sandy Zimmerman
Las Vegas Tribune
Photos by Richard Marx
Just hearing that Richard Marx
would perform backed by a 20string orchestra was enough to attend his event at the Orleans Hotel.
Multi-Platinum award winning
singer, songwriter and producer
Richard’s Mega-hits were very special and adding the rich full sound
of 20 strings just couldn’t be
missed!
It was a sold-out evening as I
took my seat. Richard greeted the
audience while they yelled their
appreciation. “I feel we are ready
to have a great time! He added, “I
don’t understand performers who
don’t want cameras or video in the
showroom. I want you to take my
picture, post-it, Youtube-it unless I
look bad.”
The public have few chances to
hear such a large orchestra to experience the difference! With Richard
sang and accompanied himself on
the guitar while the Bella String’s
20-piece orchestra enhanced and
complimented the songs.
Richard introduced each song
with personal highlights and discussed some of his Mega-hits from
the 80’s and 90’s. While sharing stories about his celebrity friends, Richard discussed his dinner with
Luther Vandross beginning a musical partnership which Richard
would never forget. Luther surprised him by saying, “If you ever
need any big vocals in anything you
are doing let me know.” Richard
compared that moment to a hypothetical situation, “If I told Michael
Jordon that I played basketball on
weekends with my buddies and
Michael replied, ‘If you need somebody for your team let me know.
Richard Marx’s self-titled debut
album and first single, “Don’t Mean
Nothing” combined with his follow-up album two years later, “Repeat Offender,” Marx sold more
than 10 million albums. From his
debut through 1990, Marx became
the first male solo artist to have his
first seven singles reach the top five
on the Billboard singles chart, including the well-known hits “Hold
On to the Nights,” “Satisfied” and
“Right Here Waiting.”
From 1987 to 1990, he became
the first male solo artist in history
to have his first 7 singles reach the
top 5 on Billboard’s singles chart,
including the 1 hits “Hold On to the
Nights,” “Satisfied” and the world-
wide classic, “Right Here Waiting.”
Richard Marx has sold more
than 30 million albums, scored 14
chart-topping singles and, as a
songwriter, earned a Grammy for
song of the year. Recording Christmas Spirit, his first-ever holiday
release, has been something he’s
wanted to do for quite some time.
As a performer, songwriter and
producer, Richard Marx’s nearly
three-decade-long career has had
innumerable of highlights. The Chicago native has sold more than 30
million albums worldwide.
www.richardmarx.com
*****
Award
winning
Sandy
Zimmerman is a syndicated columnist featuring Show and Dining reviews, travel, health, luxury and
more. Sandy is talk show host of the
Las Vegas Today Show programs
and Discover the Ultimate Vacation
travel specials. If you want to suggest topics for articles or to ask
questions about Sandy’s articles,
call (702) 731-6491 or email
[email protected].
CITY BEAT
Attorney General Laxalt Warns of
Credit and Debit Chip Card Scams
Nevada Attorney General Adam
Paul Laxalt encourages consumer
awareness of new credit or debit
chip cards. While the new cards
provide enhanced security for both
consumers and retailers, Nevadans
are encouraged to be aware of
scams associated with the transition
to this new technology.
In October 2015, many U.S.
banks began implementing secure
chip and PIN technology to process
credit transactions. Preying on the
confusion caused by the transition,
scammers target consumers waiting
to receive their new chip cards.
Many pose as card issuers, emailing
or calling victims to request that
they update their account information or click on a verification link
to receive their new credit card.
Scammers can then collect and steal
personal information, monitor a
consumer’s online activity or install
malware on the consumer’s electronic device.
“My Office is committed to protecting consumers against identity
theft and credit fraud,” said Laxalt.
“I encourage Nevadans to take advantage of the increased security
chip cards offer, and to be mindful
of the risks and scams that still remain before receiving the card.”
Prior to chip cards, credit and
debit cards used magnetic stripe
technology for retail transactions.
Each time a card with a magnetic
stripe is swiped, the payment information used to authenticate the card
remains the same, making any information intercepted during transmission easily replicable. Chip
technology reduces the likelihood
that the information can be replicated and reused by encrypting the
data and assigning a unique number to each individual transaction.
To minimize the risk of falling
victim to this scam and to maintain
the security of personal information, consumers can follow these
steps:
—Use a chip card whenever
possible, and always shield the PIN
number from view.
—Do not respond to an email or
phone call prompting you to provide your card number or update
your information. There is no reason for the card issuer to confirm
your information before sending
you a new chip card.
—If you receive a telephone call
prompting you to update your information, hang up and contact your
card issuer directly to confirm the
authenticity of the caller.
—If you mistakenly click on an
email link, do not supply any information on the website. Instead, only
provide information through a company website if you have typed in
the web address yourself.
—Most secure websites contain
a URL that begins with “https”.
Victims of identity theft or credit
fraud can take the following steps
to prevent harm to their personal
and financial information:
—Place a fraud alert on your
account immediately. The alert will
require any business to verify your
identity before issuing credit in your
name. To place a fraud alert, contact Experian, TransUnion and
Equifax to let them know you are a
victim of identity theft and would
like a fraud alert on your credit file.
The alert is free and will stay on
your credit report for 90 days.
—Order your credit report. If
you placed an initial fraud alert, you
may obtain a copy of your credit
report for free. If you did not set a
fraud alert, you can order one free
copy
per
year
from
Annualcreditreport.com . Once you
have a copy, dispute any errors you
find with the credit reporting
agency and fraud department of
each business.
—Set up a credit freeze, if you
are worried about damage to your
credit. A credit freeze limits access
to your credit and makes it more
difficult for a hacker to open an account in your name. A credit freeze
will last until you choose to remove
it. Keep in mind that a credit freeze
will require a fee of approximately
$10. Whether you place a fraud alert
or a credit freeze on your account,
you should still monitor your credit
for potential fraud.
*****
International Tourism Safety
Conference coming to
Las Vegas April 10-13
The International Tourism
Safety Association, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
(LVCVA), Las Vegas Metropolitan
Police Department and the Las Vegas Security Chiefs Association will
host the 23rd International Tourism
Safety Conference at the Golden
Nugget Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas on April 10-13,
2016. More than 20 countries including Australia, Croatia, Cuba,
Curacao, Ghana, Israel, India,
Kenya and South Sudan will be represented at this year’s conference.
The International Tourism
Safety Conference gathers safety
and security officials in the travel
and tourism industry and focuses on
providing delegates with new information, trends, equipment, strategies and best practices in keeping
visitors safe.
“The safety and security of visitors and residents is a top priority
for any destination’s tourism industry, so it’s imperative to be aware
of the current trends and information,” said Ray Suppe, president of
the International Tourism Safety
Association and executive director
of customer safety, LVCVA. “For
more than two decades, Las Vegas
has proudly hosted this important
conference where tourism security
officials can come together to learn,
grown and develop professionally.”
Conference presentations will
address such issues as violence prevention during celebratory events,
nightclub security, security challenges in the Asia Pacific region,
personal data circulation, crisis
management during catastrophic
events and more. A Tourism Oriented Policing and Protective Services (TOPPS) certification course
will also be offered. In addition,
Nevada Peace Officers can earn
more than sixteen hours of continued education through the Nevada
Peace Officers’ Standards and
Training (P.O.S.T) by attending the
23rd International Tourism Safety
Conference.
Confirmed speakers at this
year’s conference include:
—Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn
Goodman
—Assistant Sheriff Thomas
Roberts, Las Vegas Metropolitan
Police Department
—Deputy Chief Gary Schofield,
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
—Steven A. Adelman, attorney
and venue safety expert, Adelman
Law Group
—Daron Garrett, director of security for Hakkasan Group
—Ramon Martin-Fernandez,
Ph.D., professor and senior researcher for Faculty in Tourism at
the University of Havana
—Tamara D. Madensen, Ph. D.,
graduate director and director of the
Crowd Management Research
Council in the Department of
Criminal Justice at the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas
—Manuel David Masseno,
Ph.D., associate professor of law
Polytechnic Institute of Beja, Portugal
—Chief of Police Gregory G.
Mullen, Charleston Police Department (SC)
—Nathalie Pilovetzky, president
of LATITUDE, Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico
—Tony Ridley, CEO of Intelligent Travel, Melbourne, Australia
—Peter E. Tarlow, Ph.D., president/CEO of Tourism & More, Inc.
—Anne-Laure Tuncer, Director
of USA Atout France
—Pranil Kumar Upadhayaya,
Ph.D., Tourism Management Adviser for Adam Smith International,
Nepal
—Anat Ben Yosef, Consul-Director of the Western Region USA
for the Israel Ministry of Tourism
—Vedran }ivalji, MAG.OEC.,
private detective with the Euro
Contego D.O.O., Croatia
For more information or to register for the conference, visit
www.touristsafety.org.
*****
Marriage Can Be Murder
Slays Audiences with
Mimosa and Murder Sunday
Brunch, Launches April 3
Marriage Can Be Murder at the
D Las Vegas will start slaying audiences with a Mimosa and Murder Sunday Brunch beginning April
3. Tickets for Mimosa and Murder
Sunday Brunch start at $83.20 and
to complete the award-winning
murderous fun, a three-course meal,
tax, and server gratuity is included
in the price. Upgrade options include a $20 bottomless Mimosa or
Bloody Mary. Performances begin
at 12:30 p.m., and doors open at
noon. Reserve tickets at thed.com
or phone 702-388-2111.
On May 8, Mimosa and Murder
Sunday Brunch — Mother’s Day
Edition will treat ladies to a special
gift with their ticket purchase, a rose
and glass of champagne.
“Our ditzy hostess would say it’s
pre-medicated. Correction. It was
premeditated following the wide
success of our Valentine’s Day
brunch show,” said producer, creator, and actor, Lt. Eric Post.
About Marriage Can Be Murder
Murderous Fun You’ll Die
Laughing. The longest running dinner show in Las Vegas - 16 years provides a mix of comedy and murder mystery, where the actors are
planted among the unsuspecting
guests. The shenanigans unravel
and bodies drop nightly at 6:30 p.m.
and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. at the D
showroom at the D Las Vegas. To
purchase tickets phone the box office at 702-388-2111.
Find Marriage Can Be Murder
at marriagecanbemurder.com,
@BestDinnerShow, and Google+
Follow your show experience at
@LVMurderMystery
or
facebook.com/MarriageCan
BeMurder
Tickets:
General $83.20 — Three-course
meal, non-alcoholic beverage,
server gratuity, taxes, and fees.
VIP $99.55 — Three-course
meal, alcoholic beverage (1), souvenir t-shirt, priority seats, server
gratuity, taxes, and fees.
R.I.P. $116.90 — It’s your 15
minutes of fame — participate in
the show! Three-course meal, alcoholic beverages (2), souvenir photo
and t-shirt, premium seating, server
gratuity, taxes, and fees.
*****
Clowns from around the
world come to Las Vegas
Clowns Of America International Convention, April 4 to 8 2016
at the Circus Circus Hotel, 2880 Las
Vegas Blvd S. Las Vegas, NV
89109.
We will offer clown classes by
world famous instructors in all aspects of clowning, face painting,
makeup, costuming, balloon twisting, magic, birthday parties, everything for a clown! There will be
competitions in skits, paradability
(what a clown does in a parade) face
painting, balloon twisting, etc.
The full schedule is available at
http://www.coai.org/
?page=VegasSchedule
The last evening is the awards
banquet. At the banquet we also announce/honor our Clown of the
Year, the individual and alley
CHARLIE winners (National
Clown week August 1 to 7) and
Best of Press (group news letters).
SOCIAL SECURITY AWARENESS
The 15-Year Sprint to Retirement
By Lou Carlozo
Congratulations, you’re 50 years
old! You made it to the half-century
mark and it’s time to throw a big,
honking birthday party. But do it
quick, before your financial advisor yanks away the punch bowl and
adds a trio of not-so-fun items to
your bucket list.
“The three things people need to
do if hoping to retire in 15 years are
save, save and save,” says Mark J.
Snyder, a financial services professional based in Medford, New York.
“And if your savings are very low,
you may need to consider postponing retirement one to three more
years – or taking an additional job
and banking all of that extra income
into your retirement fund.”
So much for buying a Harley and
taking a six-month road trip. Because if you’re one of the many
whose IRAs got wiped out during
the Great Recession, or you simply
kicked the retirement savings can
down the road, you’ve got very little
time to catch up.
That’s right: 15 years is a blip
on the retirement investment radar.
Worse yet, many will join the
ranks of today’s 50-year-olds with
nothing pretty in the retirement
kitty. Recent government statistics
reveal that just 53 percent of the
civilian workforce participates in or
contributes to a retirement plan,
according to the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics. And in the private
industry subset, it’s even lower, at
48 percent.
Among the two major categories
in the civilian workforce surveyed,
only one – state and local government workers, at 81 percent –
shows healthy participation rates.
Catching up isn’t a lost cause,
so long as pre-retirees make a host
of strategic commitments, experts
say. But those will differ drastically
from person to person and couple
to couple.
“Everyone’s needs and goals are
different,” says Maria Romano, senior vice president and regional
manager with The Provident Bank
in Freehold, New Jersey. “At age
50, some adults have children in
college, so tuition comes into play
– whereas others have passed the
hurdle of secondary education and
are looking closer at retirement.”
Another crucial factor involves
segregating needs from wants – in
fact, there’s no way around it.
“Your needs will include all dayto-day living expenses such as
housing, utilities, food, transportation and out-of-pocket medical expenses,” says James Nichols, head
of the customer solutions group at
Voya Financial in Windsor, Connecticut. “Your wants will be ‘fun
expenses’ such as travel, vacation
and social activities – or discretionary items such as cars, recreational
vehicles, second homes and other
consumer goods.”
Wants can also get granular right
down to expensive hair styling,
housekeepers and landscaping –
any discretionary spending that
keeps you from aggressive saving.
You can gain perspective on that by
adding a third category: legacybased wishes. “Categorize your
wishes as gifts you would like to
make to friends, family or even
charity,” Nichols says.
And while 65 might represent
your ideal date for hanging up your
LOU CARLOZO
boots, you’ll likely need to keep the
shoe polish out a little longer. “Delaying retirement can have a material and substantial effect on your
retirement savings,” says Suzanne
Shier, chief wealth planning and tax
strategist at Northern Trust, and
based in Chicago.
Shier offers an example: If
someone with $200,000 at age 50
contributes the maximum $6,500
annually to an IRA, at 6 percent pretax growth, that comes to $630,000
by age 65. “But if you continue
working and contributing until age
70, you could save an additional
$250,000 for a total approximate
value of $880,000.”
If you can’t squirrel away that
much, or you’re not raking in much
retirement savings via your paycheck, don’t forget alternative
sources of funding that may sit right
under your welcome mat. “You can
access the equity in your home with
a second mortgage – or consider
selling your home and using some
or all of the proceeds to boost your
retirement savings,” Shier says.
Social Security will provide
some financial cushion, though relying on it as the major source of
income often proves a huge mistake. Instead, look as it as one
lynchpin in a larger, organized savings and investment plan, says
David Smith, a financial adviser at
Somerset Wealth Strategies, based
in Portland, Oregon.
Smith offers the hypothetical
example of a couple that expects to
receive about $30,000 annually in
Social Security, along with modest
pensions and work 401(k)s where
they save a total of $9,000 a year.
Starting with a base of $200,000 at
age 50, and the goal of attaining
$60,000 a year to maintain a
middle-class lifestyle in retirement,
“they have to increase their savings
by an additional $300,000 so that
this generates an additional $30,000
a year.”
So what’s the magic number in
this 15-year sprint, assuming a
modest return just under 4 percent?
“They have to save a total of
$15,000 a year for the next 15 years
– $6,000 a year, or $500 a month –
more than they now save,” Smith
says.
Assessing your digits might
sound about as tasteful as swabbing
the toilet, but that’s where financial
advisors come in. Getting a plan
transforms looming retirement from
a source of anxiety, or a vaguely
realized target, into a bullseye your
investments can hit.
“The first thing I want people to
realize is retirement is not an age,
it’s a financial number,” says Chris
Hogan, author of the book, “Retire
Inspired.” “I want people to stop
thinking about how old they are and
start thinking about how much
money they are going to need to
retire.”
Here’s one way to do this:
“Spread your investments evenly
across these four main types of
mutual funds: growth and income;
growth; aggressive growth; and international,” Hogan says. “By keeping your mix of funds equal, or
close to it, you can take advantage
of all types of market conditions
and still protect your retirement
from the ups and downs of stock
(See Carlozo, Page 25)
What to Know About Taxes in Retirement
By Kate Stalter
Sometimes conventional wisdom isn’t necessarily wise. For
years, many pre-retirees were counseled to expect living expenses of
around 70 to 80 percent of their
current outlays.
In the past decade, financial
planners have keyed in on several
places where retirees spend more
than previously believed. Many
baby boomers are healthy and energetic at retirement and are ready
to take on travel or new hobbies,
which can be costly.
There are also less-enjoyable
ways to spend money. People with
income from jobs or self-employment are aware that taxes take a bite
out of take-home pay.
However, taxes also affect retirement income. A growing number of
financial professionals are advising
clients how to prepare for potentially significant tax hits, even after retirement.
“Retirement should be considered simply the next chapter in an
individual’s tax planning, and it’s
an incredibly important one,” says
Lance Christensen, partner and certified public accountant with business advisory firm Margolin, Winer
& Evens in Garden City, New York.
“With retirement planning, there
is often more certainty: You’re not
pulling in a salary, and your investments are often allocated more to
the fixed-income category. Your tax
strategy should be structured to help
time your taxable income so you’re
reducing the post-retirement tax hit
over as long a period as possible,”
Christensen says.
Here are some ways retirees can
mitigate their tax burdens.
Strategize your
IRA withdrawals
At age 70-1/2, investors must
begin taking required minimum distributions from their individual retirement accounts. These withdrawals are considered taxable income.
If the account value is high, withdrawals can be significant, resulting in a greater-than-expected tax
hit.
One way to plan for this is by
using Roth IRAs for all or some
holdings in qualified accounts. A
Roth IRA is funded with after-tax
money, and withdrawals are generally tax-free, which can mitigate a
retiree’s tax burden.
Dean Mioli, director of investment planning at SEI Advisor Network in Oaks, Pennsylvania, says
investors should consider converting some of their qualified assets
from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs.
“A key consideration here is not
to push the taxpaying investor into
Carlozo
market investing.”
Thus it’s always possible that
with smart, strategic focus, you can
make the sprint – and claim that
motorcycle as a reward at the finish line. Granted, it might not be an
expensive new Harley, but there’s
nothing wrong with a used model
that boasts just enough gleam and,
like you, plenty of mileage left.
A former longtime staff writer,
editor and columnist at the Chicago
Tribune, Lou Carlozo writes about
investment for U.S. News & World
Report, and personal finance for
Money
Under
30
and
GOBankingRates. He is based in
Chicago. Connect with him at
linkedin.com/in/loucarlozo.
KATE STALTER
a higher tax bracket on the Roth
conversion. Roth IRAs are not subject to the required minimum distribution rules during the original
IRA owner’s lifetime. Also, the
Roth IRAs will be available later
in retirement for tax-free distributions,” he says.
Although the conversion presents a taxable event, the tax benefits later are often worthwhile. In
addition, the conversion process itself can be strategized to offer maxi-
mum tax benefits. “Sometimes
people will fall into a lower tax
bracket when they go off of earned
income when they retire. Many
times they have a window to do
Roth conversions while in a lower
bracket—from about the time they
retire until they reach 70 1/2,” says
John Piershale, wealth advisor at
Piershale Financial Group in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
“At 70-1/2, required minimum
distributions begin and may throw
them back into a higher tax bracket,
making conversions more expensive tax-wise. Using Roth conversions in a strategic manner may help
to reduce future taxes or avoid the
3.8 percent net investment interest
tax,” Piershale says.
Consider a
“bucket” strategy
Stein Olavsrud, portfolio manager with FBB Capital Partners in
Bethesda, Maryland, suggests organizing portfolios into vehicles with
different tax treatments.
“Long before you retire, you
should be considering how you will
be taxed on your income in retirement. It’s best to think of your as-
sets in multiple buckets, which can
each generate income on your behalf,” he says.
Olavsrud notes that many savers utilize a 401(k), 403(b), SEP
IRA or other tax-deferred plan as
part of a savings strategy. “While
these are highly recommended, 100
percent of the distributed funds are
subject to taxation as you distribute the funds in retirement. I would
suggest that you also consider other
sources of savings, which may contribute to your income in retirement.
If you effectively save in multiple
buckets, you may be able to keep
your taxable income at a reduced
level in your retirement years,” he
says.
Don’t forget taxes on
Social Security benefits
Like other forms of income, Social Security benefits are taxable.
For retirees who were high earners
during their working years, hefty
benefits combined with high required minimum distributions often
mean large tax bills.
For example, a married couple
with income of $44,000 a year or
more may see as much as 85 per-
cent of their Social Security benefits treated as taxable income.
Michael Lynch, vice president
for strategic markets at Hartford
Funds in Charlotte, North Carolina,
says retirees may not realize the full
impact of Social Security benefit
taxation, especially when added to
other income sources.
“In retirement, you may be receiving taxable retirement income
from an employer-sponsored retirement plan or an IRA. Because distributions from a traditional IRA or
employer-sponsored retirement
plan may be subject to taxation, the
distributions from these arrangements generally will increase a
retiree’s taxable income. This may
result in a higher percentage of the
retiree’s Social Security benefit being taxable because the amount subject to taxation will generally increase as you add in other sources
of income,” Lynch says.
*****
Kate Stalter is founder of assetmanagement firm Better Money Decisions. You can reach her at
www.bettermoneydecisions.com or
on Twitter @katestalter.
March Madness at Social Security
By Ken Hogans
Social Security Assistant
District Manager in Las Vegas
Basketball fans are gearing up
for March Madness, which will culminate when the final four teams
in the NCAA fight for the title of
national champion. Fans wait in
eager anticipation to see whether
their favorite team or alma mater
will be included in the “final four.”
While basketball fans are excited
about March Madness, Social Security already has its own winning
“final four” to help you this season.
Now, let’s turn to the action!
1. The online services you can
put into play with a my Social Security account are like free-throws.
They’re quick and easier than muscling your way to the basket (or
field office). My Social Security is
an online account that allows you
quick and secure access to your
personal Social Security information. During your working years,
once you create your online account, you can use my Social Security to obtain a copy of your Social
Security Statement; verify your
earnings record; and see estimates
of the future retirement, disability,
and survivor benefits you and your
family may receive.
If you already receive Social
Security benefits, you can sign into
your account to view, save, and
print your benefit verification letter; check your benefit payment information; request a replacement
Medicare card; get a replacement
SSA-1099/1042S for tax season;
and even change your address and
phone number in our records. You
can also start or change your direct
deposit information. In some states
and the District of Columbia, you
may also be able to request a replacement Social Security card
online. Check it out at
w w w. s o c i a l s e c u r i t y. g o v /
myaccount.
2. One of the most important
fouls you might want to avoid is not
signing up for Medicare Part B.
Enrollment begins January 1 and
ends March 31. Medicare Part B
covers two types of services: medically necessary services — services
or supplies that are needed to diagnose or treat your medical condition and that meet accepted standards of medical practices. Medicare Part B also covers preventive
services — healthcare to prevent
illness (like the flu) or detect it at
an early stage when treatment is
most likely to work best. You can
avoid that foul (as well as the penalty you must pay for not signing
up during the enrollment period)
and sign up for Medicare Part B
when
you
turn
65
at
www.socialsecurity.gov/medicare.
3. From a quick pass aimed at a
well-positioned three-point shooter
to an alley-oop that ends in a gamewinning score, assists are one of the
main ways a team wins. Two of the
primary ways we assist people are
with disability benefits and survivors benefits. Disability is something most people don’t like to think
about, but the chances that you’ll
become disabled are probably
greater than you realize. Studies
show that a 20-year-old worker has
a 1-in-4 chance of becoming disabled before reaching full retirement age. The loss of a key family
wage earner is another event that
can be devastating both emotionally
and financially.
You can learn more about how
we assist millions of people each
year at www.socialsecurity.gov/survivors and www.socialsecurity.gov/
survivors.
4. A winning retirement plan is
your
slam
dunk!
At
www.socialsecurity.gov/retire
you’ll find retirement planners,
ways to estimate your potential benefits and your full retirement age,
as well as other helpful resources.
When you are ready to retire, apply for benefits online in as little as
15 minutes.
At www.socialsecurity.gov,
you’ll be hitting slam dunk after
slam dunk and ensure your cham-
pionship retirement.
As you can see, there’s no need
for excess madness this March if
you use our “final four.” Social Se-
curity is on your team and we’re
here when you need us.
What You
Need To
Know
By Dr Nina Radcliff
A Shared Human
Experience — Flatulence
By Dr. Nina
When it appears that our world
is in disarray because of differences
— religion, culture, race, gender —
it’s reassuring to find common
ground.
Although it may be considered
inappropriate etiquette to discuss,
we have a shared human experience, known as flatulence.
Passing gas is natural and can
make us smile, laugh, wince, and
possibly cry.
But more importantly, flatulence
helps remind us that we are more
alike than we are different.
Where does flatulence
gas come from?
For most intents and purposes,
think of our gastrointestinal tract as
a car engine. The mouth is an intake system that ingests food, a
source of fuel. Our intestines are a
converter that breaks down food to
convert it into energy. And our rectum is the exhaust system that emits
vapors and gases that are expelled.
Additionally, gas may arise from
swallowing air or carbonated beverages. If the air is not burped up, it
will pass through the digestive tract
and get released through the anus.
Do all of us have a
gut that functions like
an automobile engine?
Yes, everyone — children,
adults, men and women, and even
rock stars — pass gas. In fact, on
average we pass gas 6 to 20 times
per day. This is equivalent to about
half a liter of gas per day.
Wait, let’s talk a little more
about the converter process.
When we eat, food passes from
the stomach into our small intestines where the large majority of
food breakdown and absorption —
known as digestion — takes place.
When undigested food from the
small intestines enters the large intestines, it gets “digested” by the
resident bacteria.
The bacteria break down the
food in a process known as fermentation that releases gases—hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon di-
oxide, and methane.
Do certain foods
cause more flatulence?
Not all foods are created equal
when it comes to gas production.
And what may cause gas for one
person may not for someone else.
As a general rule of thumb, foods
that contain carbohydrates,
starches, and fiber can cause gas.
They are hardly, or not at all,
broken down in small intestines and
provide a buffet feast like no other
to the bacteria in the large intestines.
Examples include beans, veggies
(broccoli, cabbage, brussels
sprouts, onions, mushrooms, asparagus), fruit (pears, apples,
peaches), whole grains, sodas, fruit
juices, and milk and milk products.
Let’s not get it twisted, however.
Although a high-fiber diet with
plenty of fruit and veggies can
cause excessive gas symptoms, it
can promote health in a number of
other ways.
The key is not to avoid eliminating healthy foods from our diet, but
to eat a little less of that particular
item to ease our symptoms.
Why is flatulence
so aromatic?
Unlike Calvin Klein’s eau de
toilets, the fragrance from flatulence comes from sulfur components that are produced by bacterial breakdown of undigested food.
Additionally, foods that contain
more sulfides, such as cauliflower,
eggs, and meats are notorious for
producing a particularly odiferous
flatulence.
Can excessive gas be a sign
of something dangerous?
In most cases, no. We can usually find the cause of gas by keeping a diary of what we eat and drink
and how often we pass gas.
Consider discussing with our
doctors if our flatulence bothers us,
changes suddenly, or we experience
other symptoms such as weight
loss, diarrhea, or constipation.
In some cases, particularly foul
smelling gas may be a symptom of
infection or a bleeding ulcer.
How is excessive
gas treated?
Most of the time, we can decrease our gas production by swallowing less air and changing what
we eat.
Consider eating slowly, quitting
smoking, not chewing gum, avoiding carbonated beverages, and
avoiding or decreasing foods that
cause us to have gas. It may be appropriate to consider over-the-
counter medications that help digest
foods that we have difficulty with
(e.g. lactose).
Our odiferous objections, revolting release, and cutting the cheese
are a shared human experience. By
appreciating that we are more alike
than different, it can serve as a platform in finding common ground in
other areas of life.
*****
This article is for general infor-
mation only and should not be used
for the diagnosis or treatment of
medical conditions and cannot substitute for the advice from your
medical professional. Dr. Nina has
used all reasonable care in compiling the current information but it
may not apply to you and your
symptoms. Always consult a doctor
or other health care professional for
diagnosis and treatment of medical
conditions.
EarthTalk is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss
and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to:
[email protected]. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/
subscribe; Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.
Dear EarthTalk: How is it that
big game hunting can actually be
good for wildlife? — Ronnie Wilson, Ft. Myers, FL
When Minnesota dentist Walter
Palmer killed Cecil, a much-loved
wild 13-year-old black-maned lion,
with his bow and arrow in July 2015
outside a protected section of
Zimbabwe’s Hwange National
Park, animal advocates were outraged. The University of Oxford’s
Wildlife Conservation Research
Unit team had been studying Cecil
and his family — protected as long
as they stayed within the invisible
borders of the park — at the time.
In response to the extensive media
coverage and public fury following
the incident, Delta, American and
United airlines announced in August that they would no longer allow hunters to transport big game
trophies, including buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion or rhino, on
their flights.
Cecil’s death also helped draw
attention to big game hunting and
its effects on wildlife populations
and their ecosystems. Globe-trotting big game hunters imported
more than 1.26 million “trophies”
— the part of the animal they keep
for display — to the U.S. between
2005 and 2014, according to a new
report by Humane Society International (HSI). That’s an average of
126,000 trophy imports a year, or
345 a day.
But hunting proponents found
the sudden backlash over Cecil’s
death unsubstantiated. Dr. Alan
Maki, conservation chair at the
prominent hunting group, Safari
Club International (SCI), argued
that, considering that Africa’s human population is projected to
double to two billion in the next 25
years, more and more land will be
needed to support this growth, resulting in lots of lost wildlife habitat. Safari hunting, a $200 million
annual industry, provides substantial value to wildlife, he said, by
paying for anti-poaching patrols,
national park operations and conservation programs that support local communities.
“We’re too busy showing everyone what great hunters we are, and
we’re not doing enough to show
what kind of conservationists we
are,” says Ivan Carter, an African
hunting guide and host of Carter’s
W.A.R. on the Outdoor Channel.
“We have to change the perception
that we are just trophy killers and
we’ve got to focus on the fact that
we’re conservationists, and we do
that by having and sharing the right
information and research, and taking the time to post properly on so-
cial media.”
Of course, not everyone agrees
that trophy hunting is benign, let
alone beneficial. HSI maintains that
widespread corruption in some of
Africa’s most sought after big game
destinations means that money
raised from trophy hunting in places
like Tanzania and Zimbabwe is
more likely used to line officials’
Wildlife activists were outraged when a Minnesota dentist shot Cecil, a 13-year-old black-maned lion
who had wandered just outside of a protected area in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park last summer.
pockets than to help ailing wildlife pete in contests to kill the most to hunting trophies, and has helped
populations. (This unavoidable cor- wildlife for awards (such as the introduce legislation to Congress
ruption was part of the reason “Africa Big Five” that includes li- calling for a ban on the importation
Kenya banned trophy hunting alto- ons, elephants, rhinos, leopards and of large animal trophies altogether.
gether within its borders some four Cape buffalo).
While it appears that the debate
decades ago.) HSI also points out
HSI, which has published sev- is not going to be settled anytime
that trophy hunting may be more eral reports detailing the negative soon, animal advocates maintain
about ego-stroking than conserva- effects of trophy hunting on wild- that upholding laws protecting spetion, with wealthy American hunt- life populations, is working to get cies does much more to protect aniers willing to pay top dollar to com- additional airlines to refuse passage mals than killing them ever can.
PLACES TO GO
Unique trips to far away places
By Sandy Zimmerman
Las Vegas Tribune
Photos by
Falkland Islands Tourism
These are vacation ideas you
don’t hear about very often. Do you
long for a travel adventure unlike
anything else offered?
As a travel writer for more than
25 years, I seek unique, off-thebeaten-path destinations where we
can meet the people and experience
their culture.
Taking a boat trip to the jungles
of Costa Rica along a river filled
with crocodiles was unforgettable.
In certain rural areas of Thailand, elephants are kept as pets
similar to Americans having dogs
and cats. These elephants live under the families’ home while the
children learn how to take care of
them. I had the chance to ride
around five elephants and the most
adventurous was on an elephant
safari into the Thai jungle.
Another experience while in the
open-air market in Marrakesh, Morocco, one of the snake handlers
wrapped a Cobra around my neck
explaining it had been defanged but
later I learned the fangs do grow
back.
If you like nature and animals,
there are several once-in-a-lifetime
suggestions.
New Island and West
Point Island, in the
Falkland Islands
These remote Islands- New Island & West Point islands- seem untouched and still beckon travelers
with their unspoiled beauty. This
destination reminds me of Tahiti
before the country become so popular with tourists.
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic
Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The
principal islands are about 300
miles east of South America’s
southern Patagonian coast.
You will really see wildlife because when you step on New Island,
it is a wildlife and nature reserve
with strict environment by a group
protecting their birds and animals.
There’s hiking around the mountains to see the rookery of the amazing Rockhopper Penguins and
Blue-eyed Shags nesting areas.
When the environment is appreciated, people can enjoy the wild-
life in a natural setting. Other wildlife include the Black-browed Albatross and Upland Geese. You take
time to experience the scenery and
talk your photographs.
Tour guides provide a touch of
history about the island and wildlife background. Some of the interesting highlights on New Island are
historic Barnard’s stone barn traces
back to the times of the first inhabitants and parts of the Protector III
minesweeper’s wreck.
If you haven’t seen enough of
nature’s wonders, the Peale black
and white dolphins pop up from the
waters as the boat travels to West
Point Island. There is time to walk
around the trails to see the Blackbrowed Albatrosses, Rockhopper
Penguins and various plants. You
might have a chance to hear the
owners of the island tell littleknown tales of the past.
*****
Award
winning
Sandy
Zimmerman is a syndicated columnist featuring Show and Dining re-
views, travel, health, luxury and
more. Sandy is talk show host of the
Las Vegas Today Show programs
and Discover the Ultimate Vacation
travel specials. If you want to suggest topics for articles or to ask
questions about Sandy’s articles,
call (702) 731-6491 or email
[email protected].
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Local NBC Channel 3 broadcasts fabricated Kirstin Lobato hit story

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