Monthly archive
Good morning, everyone. Tell me it was a dream. Tell me the Spurs (or was it the refs?) didn’t really blow the NBA championship last night. Tell me evil was not given another breath. LeBron took off the headband and still the horns were invisible? Game 7 will be a blowout. Mark my words. Thus endeth the early-morning sports rant.
Speaking of sports, I had an enjoyable time Tuesday on a panel for the Rebel Business Network with Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick. It was a good crowd with good questions...
Good morning, everyone. “There are American workers who, for lack of a better term, can’t cut it.” When you think about it, this matter-of-fact statement by an aide to Mo Denis’ cousin is a statement of fact, right? But when we are talking about immigration, where words lose all meaning (hello, “amnesty”) and timing is everything (Ryan Lizza’s New Yorker piece comes at a volatile time, some think it could scuttle the entire bill, especially as Marco Rubio tries to placate the right.
Rep....
Good morning, everyone. Hope all you fathers had a great day yesterday. The Teen granted me a few minutes, so that was nice. And she paid for breakfast! That was shocking. To turn around the line from “Game of Thrones,” which I am addicted to on HBO Go, summer is coming. And with it, a slowing down of political activities. I think it’s time for a vacation. Soon. Soon.
ICYMI: I set the baseline odds for the 2014 races on Sunday for premium subscribers, along with an exclusive column on next year...
Good morning, everyone. No rest for the weary. Just when I thought I could take the summer off, the teachers union is refusing to honor the traditional Labor Day guidepost and will begin Campaign ’14 early. As many of you know, most insiders think the margins tax has little chance to pass. I have always thought under the right circumstances, it could be closer than people think – and that’s why state Sen. Michael Roberson and some of his backers wanted an alternative on the ballot. This could...
TONIGHT'S RALSTON REPORTS: We'll see.
DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY 2014: 509
DAYS UNTIL THE TEEN CAN AFFECT THE POLITICAL WORLD: 29
Good morning, everyone. In what can only be described as an unspeakable tragedy, “Ralston Reports” did not air last night because of that triple-overtime hockey playoff game. I am sure the KSNV/KRNV/KENV phone lines lit up with outraged callers. Or was that just me calling all the stations many times and...
TONIGHT'S RALSTON REPORTS: ACLU vs. Rawson-Neal and NPRI vs. CCEA.
DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY 2014: 510
DAYS UNTIL THE TEEN CAN AFFECT THE POLITICAL WORLD: 30
Good morning, everyone. The big push for immigration reform is on, as you can see from some items below and from who is in DC this week, as locals try to get Sen. Dean Heller and Reps. Mark Amodei and Joe Heck on board (tougher for two congressmen than senator, I’d say). Among those...
Good morning, everyone. Not surprisingly, the Reno Gazette-Journal had the best obit/remembrance of Barbara Vucanovich, complete with written and photographic treatments. Nicely done. Yes, she was 91 and lived a long, fruitful life. But I still feel the sadness of the passing of an era and of a woman who was so charmingly blunt in a world of plastic poseurs.
Vucanovich could have been in the first major race I ever covered in Nevada politics – the 1986 U.S. Senate race for Paul Laxalt's seat...
Good morning, everyone. I know you are wondering the same thing I am this morning: Does the NSA read the Morning Flash? And without a subscription? And why hasn’t the NSA been better at being first with the trivia answers? Yes, I am puzzled, too.
As we enter the Season of Speculation, which normal people call “summer,” I have to be honest: I really don’t want to talk about the Legislature anymore. I could whine a bit about the dashed high hopes, on everything from tax policy to transparency....
Good morning, everyone. I miss Carson City already. OK, that woke you up, I bet. I look forward to reading all the wrap-up pieces on Sunday, as well as the “newspaper’s”s unscientific poll of lobbyists and legislators about the best and the worst. (I will expose ballot-stuffing!) Now begins the slowest part of the two-year cycle, which will last until Labor Day when the Sisolak-Flores ticket is unveiled to save the Democrats---
I am going to try to recover from the end of Session ’13 by taking...
Good morning, everyone. Here is my rule of thumb on what to believe from lawmakers and others involved in a Legislature in the hours, days, even weeks following sine die: Nothing. People are tired and dazed and often angry/frustrated. People will say they will never run again or will run for something else. Maybe. But let’s wait a bit – until the fall, at least.
One other truism I have learned as all sessions end ugly: No one really cares how they culminate except those who are there, and even...