Las Vegas ballot
See important updates at end of story
Exactly one month ago, on October 4, I wrote about the possibility that two enduring characteristics of Nevada elections–a ban on write-in votes and inclusion of the option to vote for “None of These Candidates”–could determine the next president of the United States in a close national race.
My scenario is on the verge of coming true. Continue reading
The Internet-driven ad meltdown in the daily newspaper industry continues with word that BOTH daily newspapers in Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News, are ending everyday print publication after a century-and-a-half of such operations. For those of you elsewhere whose knowledge of the West’s geography comes mainly from Saul Steinberg’s famously warped 1976 cover in The New Yorker, “View of the World from 9th Avenue,” Salt Lake City is just 420 miles north on the interstate from the New to Las Vegas world headquarters. There’s not a lot in between the two metro areas.
Which begs this question today, the annual state holiday celebration of Nevada Day: Can Las Vegas be far behind? Continue reading
Exhibit A: Nevada Republican Party mailing
The New To Las Vegas world headquarters today received a political flyer in the mail from the Nevada Republican Party. It plugged the re-election of President Donald J. Trump on the clearly false grounds that he’s done a terrific job fighting the coronavirus.
Except that the two-sided flyer sported a far larger photo image of Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Federal Government’s leading expert on infectious diseases. Along with this quote attributed to him, “I can’t imagine … anybody could be doing more.” An image of the flyer is nearby.
Fauci has gone on national TV to complain about the use of a video clip of him saying this in national Trump advertising, noting he wasn’t talking about Trump himself but rather the White House coronavirus task force. He also noted he said this way back in March, when coronavirus was a fraction of the disaster it has become. The Trump political organization essentially told him to pound sand.
I have an idea for the good doctor, especially if Trump loses his re-election bid. Fauci should consider suing the Nevada Republican Party right here in Las Vegas for its false advertising. There’s no shortage of competent plaintiff lawyers in Las Vegas. I’m also not sure how many good lawyers work for the local GOP, given how many cases its operatives have lost over the years (the latest was just today). Fauci might have a very interesting lawsuit.
Allow me to explain. Continue reading
In this space I’ve been writing about what I call “faux charities.” These are outfits that cold-call me on the telephone at the New To Las Vegas world headquarters asking for donations for what seem like charitable causes for health care or first responders. In reality, they aren’t charities at all. They are political action committees, or PACs, purportedly raising money to give to favored candidates for public office. Except that these faux charities spend almost all the money raised for fundraising and very little in political contributions, ostensibly the raison d’être for the organization in the first place.
PACs are very thinly regulated by the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service (a PAC can be registered with either agency), and basically not at all by most state charity regulators. This may be the reason why operators of some sketchy charities have moved into the “faux charity” PAC business. There simply is a lot less scrutiny and legal risk.
All this is background for a call I received recently from “Anna.” I put her name in quote because Anna wasn’t a real person, but a computer-generated voice likely monitored by a real human. “Anna” said she was soliciting a contribution for something called the U.S. Breast Cancer and Women’s Health Initiative. I asked where her organization was located. She said Washington, D.C. Continue reading
Ballot in a Las Vegas precinct
John Bolton is the mustached conservative stalwart who served as President Donald J. Trump’s national security advisor for 17 tumultuous months and then wrote a best-selling book attacking his boss, The Room Where It Happened. In a recent interview, Bolton says he won’t vote for Trump, and of course not for Joseph R. Biden Jr. Instead, he declared he would write in the name of a “Republican conservative yet to be determined.”
It’s a good thing for Bolton he lives in Maryland and not here in Nevada. That’s because the Silver State, alone among the 50, prohibits write-in votes. Instead, for statewide races voters are given the option of choosing “None of These Candidates.”
In the past the NOTC option has influenced the outcome of races in Nevada. This year it could even do so nationally in the presidential contest. Continue reading
Maybe Home Depot is showing a little sense.
Two weeks ago in this space, I showed a photo of a big, crudely hand-lettered sign outside the Home Depot store on Marks St. in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. Mask-wearing in the store is “mandated by the governor,” it declared.
I opined that blaming Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, seemed to me more a way to stir up even more mask-wearing opposition following the unfortunate lead of Republican President Donald J. Trump. And also a reason why the coronavirus pandemic might last awhile. In addition, the language of the sign struck me as consistent with the pro-Trump sympathies of Bernard Marcus, a Home Depot co-founder and one of Trump’s biggest contributors in 2016.
Accordingly, I declared a personal boycott of Home Depot.
Now, I’m still New To Seattle. But this blog does get read and sometimes shared. And whadayaknow! Today, I passed by the Home Depot store as I headed to the Costco across the street. The offending (to me, anyway) sign was gone and replaced by the one shown nearby.
“All customers must wear facial coverings while shopping in our stores,” it says. No blame. No finger-pointing. A simple matter-of-fact statement.
So my Home Depot boycott is now over. Time for new light bulbs.
