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Happy 151 years of Statehood, Nevada
Volume 17, Issue 34
lasvegastribune.com
October 28-November 3, 2015
Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce Member
Additional Ethics Violations
Occuring in North Las Vegas
It may be time to convene an independent commission to investigate corruption in North Las
Vegas. We cannot let North Las Vegas degenerate into one of the most corrupt cities in America.
By Steve Sanson
More ethics complaints and violations involving leading public officials in North Las Vegas continue
to mount — City Attorney Sandra
Douglas Morgan, North Las Vegas
Mayor John Lee, City Manager
Qiong Liu and Assistant City Manager Ryann Juden are now involved.
In 1991, then Mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley, formed an independent commission headed by
Warren Christopher (who later became U.S. Secretary of State) to
investigate rampant allegations of
corruption, excessive force and
other systemic problems in the Los
Angeles Police Department. This
“Christopher Commission,” is
widely credited with effectuating
sweeping changes to the LAPD
which made it more accountable,
transparent, responsive and lawabiding, reinstalling the confidence
of the public in its police force.
It may be time to convene a similar commission to investigate rampant allegations of corruption, ethical violations and bullying of employees in North Las Vegas.
Veterans In Politics has filed
three ethics complaints against
Sandra Douglas Morgan — one
with the Nevada Commission on
Ethics, one with the State Bar of
Nevada, and one with the Nevada
Secretary of State.
As the Las Vegas Review-Journal recently reported, two prior ethical complaints were filed against
Sandra Douglas Morgan in March
2015.
It is well known that Sandra
Douglas Morgan, who became
North Las Vegas’s City Attorney in
2013, has widely supported the recall of North Las Vegas Municipal
Judge Catherine Ramsey. As the
Review-Journal previously reported, Sandra Douglas Morgan
My Point
of View
By Rolando Larraz
There are two issues that I would
like to address this week, but I don’t
know if I have enough space since
my editor has reduced my word
count, so I’ll get right to the point.
First, I am very distressed with
those groups back on the East Coast
demonstrating hate against police
officers and saying that what they
want is dead police officers.
We all know that former Sheriff
Douglas Gillespie refers to me and
to this newspaper as anti-police and
anti-government because of his personal dislike for me and what the
Las Vegas Tribune stands for.
For years I, as well as the Las
Vegas Tribune, have counterpointed
the former Sheriff’s opinion of
yours truly and the Las Vegas Tribune by explaining, not to him, but
to our readers and the community
as a whole that we are only against
the corrupted police administration
and abusive police force as well as
those old-timer detectives that go
to any extreme to get their way because they need to get what they
want by “creating, fabricating, or
call it whatever,” crimes that do not
exist.
We have the utmost respect for
the rank and file because the majority of our police officers in the
field are very professional, well
mannered, and respectful; we are
very lucky in Clark County that our
police force is one of the best, and
like any large organization or group,
there are always some bad apples.
Just a few weeks ago, on August
14, the Las Vegas Tribune editorial
pointed out that the corrupted police officers that provoke antagonistic feelings against the system with
their very unprofessional behavior
are not that easy to confront because
they know they are not especially
liked and therefore they are always
alert; overly paying attention while
they are driving or doing whatever.
The newspaper also called for
keeping an eye open for our good
officers and if you get stopped by
any of them try to offer that officer
the peace of mind he needs to do
his job well and remember that he/
she has a valid reason to be extra
careful, so make it easy for them
by following his/her instructions the
best you can.
If you feel that an officer is out
of line, please don’t argue with the
officer in the field; later you can
take your complaint to a supervisor or to a higher-up, but do not let
a simple argument over an infraction become a statistic that so far
(See My Point of View, Page 2)
North Las Vegas City Attorney Sandra Douglas Morgan
tried to get the state’s Commission
on Judicial Discipline to take action
against Judge Ramsey, but when
her efforts failed, she fervently undertook a recall campaign against
Ramsey, the first of its kind in the
history of Nevada.
Shortly afterwards, Sandra Douglas Morgan declared her candidacy
for the very judicial position that
would become available should her
recall efforts succeed!
As described on its website, the
City Attorney “is the chief legal officer of the City and represents and
advises... City officials and departments in legal matters pertaining to
their respective office and City operations.” The City Attorney therefore represents municipal court
judges in the performance of their
duties. She swore to defend, and has
a duty of loyalty to, those judges,
including Judge Ramsey.
Apparently, it did not dawn on
Sandra Douglas Morgan that participating in the recall effort and
declaring her candidacy for the very
position she was charged to defend,
put her in direct conflict with the
(See Ethics Violations, Page 4)
Governor and Attorney General
clash over federal land use lawsuit
By Thomas Mitchell
The day after Interior Secretary
Sally Jewell announced that the
greater sage grouse would not be
listed under the Endangered Species Act, but would instead be protected by a voluminous and sweeping land use plan covering 10 Western states, Elko and Eureka counties and two mining companies filed
a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction against the plan.
The state of Nevada and seven
more counties joined the effort, filing a suit Thursday that closely
mirrors the arguments in the earlier
suit.
Thursday’s suit:
Nevada v Dept of Interior Am
Complaint
Earlier suit:
Land use suit
A hearing had been scheduled on
the original lawsuit for the middle
of February.
The suits accused the Interior
Department of violating the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, the General Mining Laws,
the Taylor Grazing Act and numerous other federal laws and agreements. The mining companies point
out the restrictions jeopardize millions of dollars already invested in
mining claims.
In a press release announcing the
litigation, Attorney General Adam
Laxalt noted that the federal plan
bars mineral exploration and development on 3 million acres within
Nevada alone and creates restrictions on grazing and public access
on more than 16 million acres in
(See Lawsuit, Page 6)
Federal land plan could affect grazing rights.
Courts must have subject matter jurisdiction
By Rolando Larraz
Las Vegas Tribune
For almost three months
Alexandra Cohen has been writing
about the miscarriage of justice in
the civil division of Nevada Courts,
and every week the story seems to
be more complicated and more difficult to understand; so this week
we are going to place a decision
from the United States Supreme
Court in this article to make it easy
for the readers that have been following this series and have expressed their opinion about the
Feeley Trust Case with Judge Allan
Earl and his bizarre ruling.
Courts have a lot of power and
therefore there have been restraints
that apply to court procedures to
discourage abuse and corruption.
Without these restraints there would
be no guarantee that courts would
render justice. They could do whatever they felt like — or worse, be
corrupt.
The Las Vegas Tribune is concerned with judges in our courts that
abuse their power of office and have
a propensity to rule or make laws
from the bench. Such actions of
Judges violate laws and should be
dealt with severe and immediate
remedies.
Before any action can be heard
or proceed in court, a fundamental
and primary issue must be addressed. The subject of this series,
Clark Feeley, asked a simple question: does the forum court have personal and subject matter jurisdiction? Las Vegas Tribune inquired of
several local attorneys and came to
our own conclusion.
Personal jurisdiction requires
that all parties in the action must
be legally before the court. A person can waive that requirement if
they so choose, explained a local
attorney who refused to get involved in the story by name; another attorney, as soon as he heard
the story, asked the newspaper if the
(See Feeley, Page 7)
FROM THE DESK OF GORDON MARTINES
To view the truth, merely open your eyes to the facts
By Gordon Martines
Strange as it may seem, it is not
all that hard to view and accept reality. One must of course possess a
certain amount of courage, individualism, faith and honor in oneself, and not be part of the blinded
sheep herd.
The mainstream news media
plays an important part in what we
believe is happening in our world.
It is when we begin to investigate
other avenues of fact-finding and
reporting, that we realize things are
not what seems to be true.
Rather than blindly accept what
the TV is spewing out, try turning
it off for a week or so, and listen to
other means of news outlets, as they
are reporting pertinent news for
your health and welfare, and not
necessarily to insert their opinions,
along with supposedly reporting the
facts like news agencies are supposed to do.
Read between the lines, use your
own eyes, ears, experience, knowledge and common sense. I always
like using the example of the 911
Attack and the official Federal gov-
ernment investigation and report
and conclusion, of what really happened that horrible day.
I am sure as most of us have seen
numerous times on television of the
airplanes crashing into the twin
towers and severing themselves directly through the walls of the two
buildings numbered one and two
(See From the Desk, Page 5)
Page 2 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
My Point of View
(Continued from Page 1)
here in Las Vegas we have managed
to keep to a minimum.
I have always said, when you
argue with a human being that has
a badge and a gun, you always lose;
but right now more than ever we
need to give that officer the peace
of mind that he or she needs to end
his/her shift and go home to his
family that day.
The second issue that I believe I
have to address is about a man that
I have, on many occasions, been in
disagreement with when we’ve
shared different opinions on issues
that concern us all.
While I always have commended John Smith for being the
best father any young girl could
have (besides my brother, of
TRIBUNE
VOL. 17, NO. 34
FOUNDER
Rolando Larraz
PUBLISHER
AND
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Rolando Larraz
GENERAL MANAGER
Perly Viasmensky
MANAGING EDITOR
Maramis Choufani
course) I have bumped heads with
John on many occasions; and being the big mouth I am, I have expressed my disappointment with his
column in my column..
However, just a few days ago,
his column about the crooked cop
that is lucky to collect a good chunk
of money while on parole, hit the
nail right on its head.
Former Las Vegas Metropolitan
Police Department Lieutenant Ben
Kim is asking U.S. Federal Judge
James Mahan to let him off parole
early so he can go watch his kids’
ball games.
Why? Why is it that everyone
who becomes criminal turns out to
be so family-oriented after they get
caught?
Take a look at the case of former
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Captain Frank Sutton; after he become a felon he was very
concerned about his wife’s illness
and health issues; he never thought
that way when he was carrying a
badge and a gun and beating fragile women in the head, leaving at
least one of his victims with a brain
tumor — but that is a story for another column.
Now felon Ben Kim wants the
taxpayers to pay for his attorney’s
fee to ask Judge Mahan to let him
out of parole early to make his life
easy and comfortable.
I hope that Judge Mahan sees
Kim’s despicable disrespect for the
law and the judicial system that he
was supposed to protect and serve
and does not allow him to laugh at
the people of Las Vegas one more
time.
In the meantime, I congratulate
John L. Smith for taking such a
great position when it comes to police officers that betray the trust of
the community.
Sutton and Kim were lucky to
be sentenced by another judge besides Judge Mahan who enforces
the law fairly to the max when it
comes to defendants before him. I
have the feeling that neither Sutton
nor Kim would have been on parole if their sentence would have
been handed down by Judge
Mahan.
Some judges have the tendency
to be more lenient with former police officers because they look at
their prior service while protected
by the “blue code of silence” that I
believe is not that much in existence any longer because more officers are getting tired of getting a
bad reputation for the behavior of
those bad apples that are always
there in any organization. I believe
that when law enforcement personnel, elected officials or any government officials — using the position
they have been entrusted with —
break the law, they should be punished double for breaking that trust,
for abusing whatever power the
community has given to them as
well as for the actual crime.
Have a wonderful Nevada
Day!!!
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.
PRODUCTION
Don Snook
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Colleen Lloyd
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
Kenneth A. Wegner
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—Abraham Maslow
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October 28-November 3, 2015 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 3
CITY BEAT
Thousands of festival goers gather at the Downtown Brew Festival for an evening filled
with craft beer, delicious culinary treats and nonstop live entertainment.
Motley Brews lights up the night for the fourth annual Downtown Brew Festival
at the Clark County Amphitheater.
Motley Brews’ Fourth Annual Downtown Brew Festival
lights up the night for a sold-out crowd of beer lovers
Craft beer lovers “Get Motley” while sampling more than 250 brews
at the 2015 Downtown Brew Festival.
Saturday evening, more than ditional restaurants added to the
3,000 of Las Vegas’ craft beer en- mix included Truk-N-Yaki,
thusiasts gathered for Motley Sausagefest, QFS Tacos and Urban
Brews’ fourth annual Downtown Turban.
Brew Festival at the Clark County
VIP ticket holders enjoyed an
Amphitheater for an intimate back- exclusive tasting experience with
yard bash under the stars filled with flavorful menu items crafted by
more than 250 craft beer flavors Chef Sam Marvin of Echo and Rig
from over 70 local, national and and Chefs Eric and Bruce
international breweries, delectable Bromberg of Blue Ribbon Restauculinary treats from celebrated lo- rants in the private VIP Pavilion.
cal chefs and nonstop entertainment VIP guests also had the opportunity
with a new sound.
to sample Joseph James Brewing
“The Downtown Brew Festival Co. 2015 Bourbon Barrel, Speakhas become one of Nevada’s most easy Ales & Lagers Syndicate No.
anticipated fall craft beer events, so 2, which was recently retired, along
we knew we had to bring new ideas with several other rare pours only
to the table to turn the event into available to VIP guests.
one that is incomparable to years
As Nevada’s largest fall craft
before,” said Brian Chapin, Motley beer event took over the night, the
Brews founder. “The craft beer in- Downtown Brew Festival featured
dustry is growing and we are grate- a new funk-electronic sound with
ful for the opportunity to share the live performances by Pumpkin and
unique brews with our record Vokab Kompany. Guests took a seat
breaking number of attendees this on the grassy fields under the twinyear. Not only did the night offer kling lights within the picturesque
great beer, but we were able to in- amphitheater and enjoyed the hyptroduce guests to new beer-inspired notic sounds from each band. A
flavors from some of Las Vegas’ portion of the proceeds from the
most renowned chefs.”
event went to the Goodie Two
This year’s festival goers Shoes Foundation and Nevada
sampled some of the season’s top Craft Brewers Association.
craft beer flavors, including crowd
*****
favorites such as Small Town
Kids ‘R’ Kids gives parents
Brewery’s Not Your Father’s Root
one less reason to be
Beer and Founders Brewing
spooked this Halloween
Company’s All Day IPA. ThroughHalloween is an exciting time of
out the evening, guests sipped year for children. To ensure they
mouth-watering tastes from new have a safe holiday, Kids ‘R’ Kids
and returning breweries, including Learning Academies, a national
Ballast Point, Chaucer’s Cellars, early childhood education franchise
Left Hand Brewing Company, with three decades of experience,
Modern Times, Pizza Port Brewing is sharing five tips to help trick-orCompany, Shades of Pale, Speak- treaters be extra vigilant this year.
easy Ales & Lagers, Stone Brew- With the potential safety hazards
ing Company and many more.
associated with Halloween, these
Heating up the starry evening, tips can help families plan ahead to
craft beer aficionados dined on Las make Halloween a safe and special
Vegas’ top notch beer-infused treat for all.
menus from local celebrity chefs.
1. Map your trail. Become faThis year’s
miliar with the neighborhood where
Festaurant Row featured a vari- your family will be trick-or-treatety of restaurants and food trucks, ing. Plan a fun field trip to walk the
each with their own distinct menu. route together in advance of the
Crowd favorites included MTO holiday. Set an example by staying
CafÈ’s Hangover Burger, Mochiko on the sidewalks and not in the
Chicken’s Tenders n’ Waffles, Itsy middle of the street. This time can
Bitsy Ramen & Whisky Chicken be used for talking through some
and Veggie Teriyaki Bowls; and Halloween safety tips as a family.
SLO-BOY’s Tri-tip Sandwich with
2. Get creative with costumes.
Firestone Wookey Jack Sauce. Ad- Bright-colored costumes that can be
easily seen in the dark will help others better notice you. Avoid
facemasks that can restrict eyesight
and suggest using safer alternatives,
like decorative hats. Consider adding reflective tape to costumes, and
be sure any additional accessories
and props are safe for children in
order to prevent trips and falls.
3. Set some rules. If your child
is older and wishes to go trick-ortreating with a group of friends or
older siblings, set a curfew and
some time in between to check in
via text or phone. Review safety
tips, including topics like never entering a stranger’s house, staying
with their group of friends, and
knowing who to call in case of an
emergency. Encourage your child to
carry a flashlight.
4. Inspect your treats. If you
plan to hand out treats to fellow
trick-or-treaters, buy candy that is
commercially wrapped. Eat a
healthy meal before heading out on
Halloween and try to avoid snacking while trick-or-treating. Throw
away anything that might not be
wrapped properly or appears to
have questionable packaging. Remove any hard candy, gum or any
other candies that might not be easily chewed and cause a potential a
choking hazard.
5. Attend or host a kid-friendly
Halloween party. Many trusted
establishments like a Kids ‘R’ Kids
Learning Academy, the local mall,
YMCA or grocery store will have
trick-or-treating or host a party for
young trick-or-treaters.Or, consider
hosting your own party for friends,
family and children the night of Oct.
31. Decorate your house with
pumpkins or other fun ornaments
that embody the Halloween spirit.
Brainstorm creative food recipes
with your kids that you can make
together. Have a costume party or
a pumpkin decorating contest, and
offer fun prizes.
*****
Ethel M Chocolates
illuminates the season
with 22nd Annual Holiday
Cactus lighting Nov. 10
Famed chocolatier, Ethel M
Chocolates, will once again light up
the night with its 22nd Annual Holiday Cactus Garden on Tuesday,
Nov. 10 from 5-8 p.m. The countdown to the lighting of more than
half a million colorful lights will
take place at approximately 6 p.m.
at the Henderson Factory and Cactus Garden location.
Recognized as the ultimate community holiday kickoff event in
Southern Nevada, the Holiday Cactus Lighting is widely supported by
local entertainers and personalities.
One of Las Vegas’ favorite radio
hosts, Mercedes of MIX 94.1, will
emcee the event again this year with
holiday entertainment provided by
Las Vegas Strip performers Human
Nature and the Jabbawockeez as
well as Sin City Opera.
While the Holiday Cactus Lighting event is free and open to guests
of all ages, tickets are required for
admission. Starting Nov. 2, a limited number of tickets will be avail-
able at the Ethel M Chocolates factory in Henderson. A family fourpack of tickets will be offered in
exchange for non-perishable food
items to be donated to Three Square
Food Bank, or a toy donation for
HELP of Southern Nevada.
This annual Southern Nevada
tradition is expected to attract thousands of chocolate lovers eager to
usher in the season. In addition to
the awe-inspiring lighting, the
evening will feature holiday festivities including photos with Santa,
chocolate samples, face painters,
balloon artists, raffles and more.
Families are welcome to take their
own Santa photos for free, but a
professional photographer will also
be on hand taking and selling images for $10 each.
The Ethel M Holiday Cactus
Garden will be open every evening
through Jan. 1 and is free to the
public (no pets please). The garden
will glow nightly from 5 p.m. to 10
p.m. Additionally, visitors can peek
into the factory where Ethel M
Chocolates are crafted using timehonored methods and only the finest, fresh ingredients.
*****
Page 4 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
Ethics Violations
(Continued from Page 1)
interests of her client.
Moreover, as the City Attorney,
she is charged with and advises the
City Clerk’s office regarding the
requirements and processes of running the recall, including the number and validity of signatures and
votes required for such recall. She
cannot, without proper written
waivers, ethically advise the City on
this process while simultaneously
seeking to personally benefit by its
outcome.
NRS 281A.400, the Code of
Ethical Standards for public officers and employees, expressly prohibits the seeking of any “employment, engagement, emolument or
economic opportunity which would
tend improperly to influence a reasonable person in the public
officer’s or employee’s position to
depart from the faithful and impartial discharge of the public officer’s
or employee’s public duties.”
It is painfully obvious, though
apparently not to Sandra Douglas
Morgan, that spearheading and supervising recall efforts while simultaneously running for the very position that would be vacated by
those efforts, would at a minimum
“tend” to improperly influence her
ability to faithfully and impartially
discharge her duties.
Understandably, as previously
reported in the Review-Journal,
Craig Mueller, Ramsey’s attorney,
reacted to the news of Sandra Douglas Morgan’s candidacy for
Ramsey’s position by stating: “Every day I think my opinion of North
Las Vegas can’t get lower... It’s the
most basic conflict of interest.”
Sandra Douglas Morgan should
have done what other public officials would hopefully do in similar
situations — “resign to run.” She
should have resigned her position
as City Attorney before spearheading Judge Ramsey’s recall efforts so
she could usurp the position for herself.
Sandra Douglas Morgan’s ethical violations, however, don’t seem
to stop with conflicts of interest.
Having announced her run for
Judge Ramsey’s seat in July 2015,
Sandra Douglas Morgan officially
became a “Judicial Candidate” as
defined by the Revised Nevada
Code of Judicial Conduct. This is
so even though she has not yet registered her candidacy with the Nevada election office, and would not
be able to do so until 2016, assuming her recall efforts are allowed to
proceed. (Ramsey’s challenge to the
recall efforts is presently pending
before the Nevada Supreme Court.)
The Code of Judicial Conduct states
that “a person becomes a candidate
for judicial office as soon as he or
she makes a public announcement
of candidacy... or, where permitted,
engages in solicitation or acceptance of contributions or support...”
Sandra Douglas Morgan has already publicly declared her candidacy, including on the Veterans In
Politics radio show, posted numerous billboards, signs and other advertisements announcing her candidacy, held fundraisers, and has
even posted a candidacy website at
www.sandramorgan.net where she
proudly encourages people to
“Elect Sandra Morgan, Municipal
court Judge, North Las Vegas.”
Therefore as a judicial candidate,
Sandra Douglas Morgan is obligated under Rule 4.2 of the Code
to “comply with all applicable elec-
tion, election campaign, and election campaign fund-raising laws
and regulations of this jurisdiction.”
Shockingly, or perhaps not,
Sandra Douglas Morgan is already
running afoul of campaign fundraising laws. She has begun to solicit and accept campaign contributions, including via her website’s
prominently displayed “donate”
button, in direct violation of Rule
4.2 of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Rule 4.2 (D) states that “candidates running exclusively for municipal court... may solicit or accept
contributions for the candidate’s
campaign no earlier than 120 days
before the primary election and no
later than 90 days after the last election in which the candidate participates during the election year.”
Moreover, if the candidate turns out
to be unopposed as of the last day
permitted to file her candidacy with
the election office, “the candidate
must not solicit or accept [any]
campaign contributionsÖ” This
prohibition is repeated in the Comments to the Code: “In the event the
candidate is not opposed in an
electionÖ the candidate may not
solicit contributions. One of the reasons for this restriction is that unopposed candidates for all judicial
offices only need one vote to win
their election.”
The comments to Rule 4.5 warn
that “a candidate and members of
the candidate’s campaign committees must exercise a high degree of
ethical behavior in the soliciting and
acceptance of campaign contributions...”
At this point, it is unclear
whether there will even be a special election in North Las Vegas to
fill Judge Ramsey’s position, let
alone whether Sandra Douglas
Morgan will be opposed or unopposed in her bid to replace Ramsey.
The North Las Vegas City Clerk,
Barbara Andolina, recently confirmed that “at this time there is no
election pending” and that “no
Declaration of Candidacy was filed
and cannot be filed until we are
ordered by the Nevada Supreme
Court to call for a Special Election.” Consequently, there appears
to be no basis for Sandra Douglas
Morgan’s premature solicitation
and collection of campaign funds.
Moreover, if someone else does
decide to oppose Sandra Douglas
Morgan in her bid for Judge
Ramsey’s position, that candidate
will be at a distinct disadvantage
given the significant head start that
Sandra Douglas Morgan enjoyed in
fund-raising by disregarding the
very laws she swore to uphold.
Sandra Douglas Morgan should
be required to immediately disclose
her campaign contributions and
expenses. Rule 4.2(A) (5) of the
Judicial Code requires all judicial
candidates to “report contributions
received and campaign expenses
spent, in accordance with NRS
Chapter 294A,” which in turn requires that contribution reports be
filed “within 30 days after the special election.” Given that Sandra
Douglas Morgan’s apparent improper contributions [already exist],
she should now be required to immediately disclose all such contributions and expenses. Doing so will
also shed light on allegations that
she has accepted campaign contributions from Mike Yarter, President
of the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association, in excess of the
legal campaign contribution limits.
Sandra Douglas Morgan’s disregard of the law also appears to spill
[over] into violations of Nevada’s
“open meeting” laws. This seems
particularly the case with regard to
issues pertaining to Judge Ramsey
and the City’s attempts to remove
Ramsey from office. As the City
Attorney, the chief lawyer advising
the City Council, Sandra Douglas
Morgan had an obligation to stop
all discussions that violated Open
Meeting requirements. Yet, perhaps
blinded by her conflicts of interest
with Ramsey, she not only failed to
stop these discussions, she actively
participated in them.
NRS 241.020 requires, with few
exceptions, that “all meetings of
public bodies must be open and
public, and all persons must be permitted to attend any meeting of
those public bodies.” The statute
provides that absent an emergency,
the public body must give at least
three days prior written notice of the
meeting, and such notice must include an itemized agenda of topics
to be discussed and the items on
which actions may be taken.
In addition, NRS 241.033 requires that any meeting convened
to consider the character, misconduct, competence or health of a person must be done pursuant to at
least five days prior notice given to
that person, along with a list of the
topics to be discussed, and giving
that person the opportunity to attend.
The Nevada legislature made
clear in NRS 241.010 that the purpose of open meeting laws is to
ensure that public bodies are transparent and open to the public: “In
enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that all public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is
the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their
deliberations be conducted openly.”
Yet, City Council discussions
were held in violation of these laws.
In an August 6, 2014 City Council meeting, Mayor John Lee, on his
own initiative and not as part of
public comment or in response to
public comment, raised the issue of
then-recent employee complaints
against Judge Ramsey. This issue
was put for discussion by the Council without notice and without being on the agenda. The discussions
also centered on the character, alleged misconduct, competence or
health of Ramsey. Yet, no advance
notice was given to Ramsey to be
able to rebut these discussions at the
meeting. This violated Open Meeting laws.
Similarly on October 1, 2014,
the City Council discussed the number of Ramsey’s days off. Mayor
Lee calculated that Ramsey took 78
days off in a year, unnecessarily
costing the City $94,000. Yet, since
this was not a topic on the published
agenda, Ramsey and her supporters were not at the meeting and did
not have the opportunity to respond
to these allegations. Ramsey claims
that had she had the opportunity to
attend the meeting, she would have
corrected the record to indicate that
Mayor Lee’s numbers were calculated over a 16-month period, included numerous weekends, holidays and half days and even included days off taken by another
judge. She also maintains that during the days off she did take, she
was primarily attending mandatory
conferences, training and community events. According to Ramsey,..
she took only 19 days off in 20112012; 22 days off in 2012-2013; and
29-1/2 days off in 2013-2014.
It should be noted that there is
no limit on the number of days off
that judges can take, but for comparison, Ramsey indicates that she
earned over 37 days off in a year
when she was a City Attorney. The
damage that violations of the Open
Meeting laws can create is apparent — according to Ramsey, the
North Las Vegas City Council now
replays its meetings containing
Mayor Lee’s then-uncontroverted
numbers on Channel 8, and these
allegedly inaccurate numbers are
now being used to support
Ramsey’s recall petition.
While this article concentrates
on Sandra Douglas Morgan, previous Review-Journal articles, Veterans In Politics articles, and ethical
violation complaints detail alleged
transgressions by other top leaders
of North Las Vegas, including its
top police officers. Indeed, the allegations of misconduct, which start
at the highest level of the City’s
government, have spread so widely
that it may no longer be possible to
simply “clean house” by removing
just a few people with the precision
of a surgeon’s scalpel. Rather, it
now appears that the entire system
needs to be independently reviewed
to determine the true depth and extent of the apparent corruption.
The March 2015 complaint filed
by two former long-time Human
Resources employees, Bachera
Washington and Tammy Bonner,
reads like an excerpt from “ALL
THE PRESIDENT’S MEN.” As
reported in the October 20, 2015
Review-Journal article, the complaint describes the Mayor’s tenure
since he took office in 2013 as a
“reign of terror” where favoritism
is rampant and employees are
threatened and humiliated until they
either fall in line or are fired. Washington and Bonner should know —
according to their complaints,
which are reportedly supported by
credible evidence, they were fired
for speaking out against Lee and
Assistant City Manager Ryann
Juden. City Manager Qiong Liu,
Sandra Douglass Morgan and Juden
are also named in the complaints.
The Review-Journal recently reported on Mayor Lee’s investigation for child pornography. The
Review-Journal and Veterans In
Politics have for years reported on
the abuse of power, excessive force,
and illegal prisoner beatings by
Dave Noahr, North Las Vegas’s
new Assist Chief of Police, and
have also reported on abuse of
power by other North Las Vegas
police brass, for example former
Police Chief Joseph Chronister and
Deputy Police Chief Tony Scott,
both of whom were subsequently
released from their positions. But
the problems, which seem to permeate the top leadership positions,
persist.
It’s time for the citizens of Nevada to insist that something be
done to clean up these problems.
Convening an independent commission to investigate would be a
good start.
So we repeat the question we
asked in our prior article: “Is there
anyone in a leadership position in
Nevada who has sufficient love of
State and the moral fortitude to finally end this apparent reign of corruption?” We will not stop reporting on this until someone, perhaps
all of us, finally step up.
*****
Steve Sanson is President of Veterans In Politics International and
can
be
reached
at
www.veteransinpolitics.org.
A new grassroots organization is starting in Nevada that will advocate for a Veterans Court in
Family Court. Those wishing to to show their
support please go to VeteranFathersRights.com.
October 28-November 3, 2015 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 5
Newspaper story perpetuates myth
about reason for Nevada statehood
By Thomas Mitchell
“It isn’t what we don’t know that
gives us trouble, it’s what we know
that ain’t so.” — Will Rogers
It is a shame there’s no one left
at the local newspaper inquisitive
enough to bother to check a simple,
widely held myth about Nevada’s
statehood against the undisputed
authority on such matters.
In a story today about a Civil
War reenactment taking place at
Spring Mountain Ranch State Park
is this matter-of-fact statement:
“The Civil War started in 1861
due to differences between the free
and slave states regarding the power
of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that
had not yet become states. Nevada
was admitted to the Union on Oct.
31, 1864, as its silver and gold production were needed to help finance
the war.”
The casus belli of the Civil War
was not quite that simplistic but
close enough for the obligatory “nut
graf” of newspaper feature story.
However, the part about the Union
Civil War reenactment at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.
needing Nevada gold and silver to
Now retired state archivist Guy
“Who hasn’t heard ad nauseam
help finance the war is utter mythol- Rocha wrote some years, and it re- that our state was admitted to the
ogy.
mains floating in the ether:
Union on October 31, 1864 because
From The Desk
(Continued from Page 1)
(which are made of concrete and
steel), and then at some point both
buildings come crumbling down
directly onto their foundations, killing 3900 plus civilians, firemen,
and police officers, and wounding
hundreds if not thousands of others.
When all the dust has settled,
and all the experts in our Federal
government have published their
undisputed conclusions in official
documents, here comes the little
guy that just doesn’t quite buy into
this slop, based on his own belief,
experience, knowledge and common sense.
Look at it this way, we are never
going to know for sure who actually masterminded this attack on
American citizens and for what end
purpose. If one voices his opinion
contrary to the official report, then
immediately that person is labeled
a “Conspiracy Theorist” and is demonized by the mainstream news
media and other dark organizations
that are bought and paid for and
controlled by the Feds.
So, I submit the following: If
anyone out there has seen a controlled demolition of a building,
whether in person, or on video, and
can safely say they understand, appreciate, and can recognize an implosion of a building or a controlled
demolition of a building, then I
challenge you to do the following.
Research and gather as many video
tapes of the 911 Attack of WTC 1
and 2, and building no. #7, which
also fell down on its own foundation a couple of hours later, and was
not even mentioned in the Official
911 Commission Report, and watch
these videos closely and see if you
might see with your own eyes,
whether or not there was a controlled demolition involved in these
three buildings falling down, and/
or being imploded.
If, in fact, you see a building or
two or three being imploded or subjected to a controlled demolition,
then you would have to conclude
that there is maybe a “half lie” or
an “omission” to the official published report on what happened that
day. Let me further remind you that
a “half-truth” is a “whole lie.”
I cannot emphasize enough or
warn you enough, that if you, in
fact, believe that our Federal Government has left out pertinent facts
and circumstances regarding the
most egregious criminal act ever
perpetrated against the American
public, and continually reinforce
this “half truth” through the use of
the bought-and-paid-for mainstream news media, then I caution
you to tread carefully and deliberately, for the powers that be (Corporate America), will try to silence
you permanently in order to fulfill
their unholy agenda of Control.
I suggest you (Truthers) expand
your search to include every major
crises that has occurred in our country. Use your own eyes, ears,
knowledge, and experience, to
eventually make an informed evaluation, decision and conclusion; it is
called “Waking Up to Reality.”
You are still allowed, so far, to
use these God-given instincts and
natural rights to freely govern your
life, at least in this country.
Remember to Keep your Gun,
Keep your Faith, 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
CALL TODAY
its silver and gold production were
needed to help finance the Civil
War. Anyone who has attended
Nevada’s schools has heard the
story from a teacher or read it in a
textbook. It’s a wonderful tale, but
nothing could be farther from the
truth. Our state’s history has too
often been embellished and transposed into myth, and the claim of
Nevada’s mineral wealth triggering
statehood ranks as one of the most
pervasive fictional stories in the
annuals of the Silver State. The reasons for Nevada’s statehood were
political, not economic. Earlier
writers were so caught up in romanticizing Nevada’s role in the Civil
War they decided to re-invent history.”
As Rocha recounts, Nevada was
a territory during the war and the
federal government had free access
to its silver and gold production and
the modest federal taxes paid by
residents of the territory. Statehood
would not change that.
In fact, while statehood was
(See Nevada Statehood, Page 6)
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].
(702) 426-6022 or (702) 426-5962
Email: [email protected]
Page 6 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
Verbs shove the knife, adjectives twist it
By Thomas Mitchell
Of all the news outlets reporting
on Hillary Clinton’s appearance in
front of the Benghazi committee the
Las Vegas newspaper chose the
Washington Post version, possibly
the least objective of the wire services.
Its opening paragraph states:
Hillary Rodham Clinton easily
parried barbed Republican questioning Thursday about the deaths
of four Americans in Benghazi,
Libya, emerging unscathed from a
high-stakes congressional hearing
with a smooth and sometimes poignant account of her role in the
event that has loomed as among her
largest political liabilities.
Never does the story mention
how she and the president, just
weeks before the election, concocted a story blaming the attack
on the ambassador’s compound on
Hillary Clinton at hearing
reaction to an anti-Islamic video to
distract from Obama’s insistence
that terrorism was on the decline.
It’s all about politics now but not
then.
The print version of the story
was cut before getting to questions
about how she could find time to
swap emails with Sidney
Blumenthal — described in
the state.
“The federal government’s onesize-fits-all sage-grouse plan will
greatly hinder Nevada’s growth and
success, and have an adverse impact on Nevada’s economy, affecting ranchers, mining exploration,
new energy source development,
recreation and everyone who works
in these industries,” said Laxalt.
“While I appreciate and applaud all
of the efforts that have been made
to negotiate a favorable outcome for
Nevada, and continue to hope that
ongoing negotiations may result in
a better plan for Nevada, my office,
after careful legal analysis, has concluded that this suit is necessary to
fully protect the interest of the
state.”
That decision to sue was applauded by Sen. Dean Heller, the
state’s three Republic representatives and numerous local elected
officials, as well as business leaders.
But apparently the governor
does not agree. According to a statement posted on the governor’s
website, Brian Sandoval says, “The
Governor believes that joining a
lawsuit now will chill ongoing discussions between the state and Department of Interior, divert resources from the current strategy of
engagement and could actually undermine the ‘not warranted’ decision nearly every stakeholder has
been working toward for over a
decade. Once this collaborative
phase of engagement is complete,
further action will be considered.”
Laxalt’s press statement did not
mention the governor, but shortly
after his statement was posted
online, the attorney general’s office
issued this comment: “The
governor’s statement seeking to
undermine this sage-grouse litigation is troubling. His statement that
the attorney general is acting in his
personal capacity is wrong. The
state of Nevada has joined this lawsuit. Pursuant to Nevada Revised
Statute 228.190, the attorney general is the only constitutional officer
authorized by Nevada law to intervene or to appear in litigation about
public lands ‘in the name of the
state.” The Attorney General’s Office has done so. Moreover, because
of the importance of this suit, numerous Nevada counties have
stepped forward to fund it.”
Heller is quoted by Laxalt as
saying, “I support efforts to stop
these unnecessary regulations in
their tracks and allow rural Nevada
to thrive economically.”
Rep. Mark Amodei declared,
“The result is a nearly three million
acre exclusion zone because the
Interior officials in D.C. do not have
to live with their rulings the way
Northern Nevadans do. When the
Department of the Interior completely ignores input from Nevada’s
Environmental Impact Statement, I
believe no tool should be left in the
shed, and one of those tools is litigation.”
Rep. Cresent Hardy agreed, saying, ““Those who live closest to the
land are the best stewards of it. This
has been proven particularly true in
Nevada, where locally driven conservation efforts helped keep the
sage-grouse off of the endangered
species list. But the federal government is actively choosing to ignore
that reality. Washington should
leave land management to those
who need it most and who know it
best.”
Rep. Joe Heck, who is running
for the Senate seat now held by
Harry Reid, commented, “Nevadans came together and developed
a plan to protect the sage-grouse
and its habitat while still allowing
lands to be used for economic development opportunities and recreation. Unfortunately that plan was
rejected by bureaucrats at the Department of the Interior who have
no connection to the land and won’t
have to deal with the consequences
of their land-use plan. Nevada
should pursue this litigation to protect our state from the negative impacts of yet another example of federal overreach.”
Those statements echoed the
comments made in Reno Wednesday by Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who called for
moving the Interior Department
headquarters to the West.
“People in their own communities actually care about their communities more than someone that is
removed... 3,000 miles away,”
Bush was quoted as saying.
“That process is going to yield a
better result than sitting up on Mt.
Washington and throwing down
lightning bolts at you all.”
The governor can continue his
negotiations, which so far have
proved for naught, while Laxalt and
the counties hold a big legal stick
that might get Sally Jewell’s attention.
Laxalt’s press release concludes:
“Nevada counties who have joined
the lawsuit include: Churchill, Elko,
Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Pershing, Washoe and White
Pine. Other community leaders and
associations that support this action
include:
Senator
James
Settelmeyer, Senator Pete
Goicoechea, Senator Don
Lawsuit
(Continued from Page 1)
Wikipedia as a “journalist, activist,
writer and former political aide” to
Bill Clinton and a “long-time confidant to Hillary Clinton— but not
the ambassador the Libya.
The story does mention in passing the FBI investigation of her handling of national security information.
For comparison, the lede on The
Associated Press story, to which the
Las Vegas paper no longer subscribes, stated:
Hillary Rodham Clinton strove
to close the book on the worst episode of her tenure as secretary of
state Thursday, battling Republican
questions in a marathon hearing that
grew contentious but revealed little
new about the 2012 attacks in
Benghazi, Libya. She firmly defended her record while seeking to
avoid any mishap that might damage her presidential campaign.
Gustavson, Assemblyman John
Ellison, Assemblyman Jim
Wheeler, Assemblyman Ira Hansen,
County Commissioners, the Nevada Association of Counties, the
National Federation of Independent
Business/Nevada representing
more than 2,200 small businesses
throughout the state, the Nevada
Petroleum Marketers Association,
the Western Exploration, LLC, the
Nevada Farm Bureau Federation,
the Nevada Cattleman’s Association and the Ninety-Six Ranch.”
Nevada Statehood
(Continued from Page 5)
being contemplated the war was
rapidly winding down and Union
victory was all but assured.
But Abraham Lincoln was facing a three-way race in his bid for
re-election. Nevada’s three electoral
college votes, virtually assured to
be in Lincoln’s pocket, might’ve
been the edge he needed, until Gen.
John C. Fremont dropped out. But
statehood paperwork moved forward and Nevada entered as a state
on Oct. 31, 1864, days prior to the
election, even though it had a population of 30,000, half of the required
60,000 for statehood and well short
of the 100,000 citizens that each
member of Congress at the time
represented.
Another rationale for statehood
is that Nevada could help ratify the
13th Amendment ending slavery,
which Nevadans did.
“So Nevada was, in fact, the
‘Battle Born’ state because of its
entrance into the Union during the
Civil War, but not for the reasons
we find in the popular mythology,”
Rocha concludes. “Historians recognize that the discovery of the
Comstock Lode in 1859 was one of
many factors influencing Nevada’s
territorial status. However, making
the leap to statehood because
wealth from Nevada’s mines was
desperately needed to help the
Union win the Civil War keeps
stubbornly recurring as perhaps our
state’s #1 legend.”
One perpetrated by teachers,
textbooks and newspapers, we are
sorry to say.
You can read a blog that was
posted on Nevada Day a year ago
— How Nevada became the 36th
star on the United States flag — that
contains some colorful quotations
from the denizens of Nevada at that
time.
October 28-November 3, 2015 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 7
Feeley
(Continued from Page 1)
center of the story has appealed the
case because there are many reasons to appeal.
Subject matter jurisdiction is
such that it can never be waived,
given, or agreed to. A court either
has subject matter jurisdiction or it
does not. This provision is so powerful that any ruling lacking jurisdiction is void forever, and it is considered to never have happened.
This newspaper has been publishing articles concerning a District
Court case that was filed in Nevada,
which presents a serious issue of
subject matter jurisdiction.
The District Court in Nevada
accepted a case that was filed as a
tort for misappropriation and access
to financial records that would
prove the tort where Clark Feeley
was requesting a financial disclosure and bank records from his sister, Wanda Feeley, in regard to their
mother’s New Hampshire Trust.
The Nevada Court had jurisdiction to hear the tort; however, early
on in the case, the judge, Allan Earl,
ordered the Plaintiff’s attorney to
amend the complaint to what appears to be a scheme to enrich local attorneys that may enjoy a cozy
relationship with the judge, including the non-prevailing attorneys, a
ruling never seen before.
This order actually brought before the court innocent parties that
had no cause of action, and a Trust
from New Hampshire that was not
an entity, and could not be sued, and
it was outside the territory of Nevada. When the Judge did this he
exceeded subject matter jurisdiction, a fatal mistake.
States in the United States have
sovereignty and the US Government cannot infringe upon that.
States have recognized that the formation of Trusts within their states
create jobs and revenue.
The above is really basic and
fundamental US Trust law. A
United States Supreme Court Decision recognized the importance of
the individual states Trust law and
published a binding and mandatory
opinion in Hanson v. Denckla
(1958).
HANSON & DENCKLA
EXCERPT
Prior to the Fourteenth Amendment, an exercise of jurisdiction
over persons or property outside the
forum State was thought to be an
absolute nullity, [21] but the matter
250*250 remained a question of
state law over which this Court exercised no authority.[22] With the
adoption of that Amendment, any
judgment purporting to bind the
person of a defendant over whom
the court had not acquired in personam jurisdiction was void within
the State as well as without.
Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714.
Nearly a century has passed without this Court being called upon to
apply that principle to an in rem
judgment dealing with property
outside the forum State. The invalidity of such a judgment within the
forum State seems to have been assumed — and with good reason.
Since a State is forbidden to enter a
judgment attempting to bind a person over whom it has no jurisdiction, it has even less right to enter a
judgment purporting to extinguish
the interest of such a person in property over which the court has no
jurisdiction.[23] Therefore, so far as
it purports to rest upon jurisdiction
over the trust assets, the judgment
of the Florida court cannot be sustained. Sadler v. Industrial Trust
Co., 327 Mass. 10, 97 N.E. 2d 169.
The above opinion becomes the
law of the land and must be controlling on all lower courts in the
country. Any decision contrary to
such a ruling is void and has no
Excerpt from the Hanson vs Denckla U.S. Supreme Court Decision of
1958: ...Since a State is forbidden to enter a judgment attempting to
bind a person over whom it has no jurisdiction, it has even less right to
enter a judgment purporting to extinguish the interest of such a person
in property over which the court has no jurisdiction.[23] Therefore, so
far as it purports to rest upon jurisdiction over the trust assets, the
judgment of the Florida court cannot be sustained. Sadler v. Industrial
Trust Co., 327 Mass. 10, 97 N. E. 2d 169.
force just as if it never was ren- diction of the court, is void, or voiddered.
able, and can be attacked in any
The Law of Void
proceeding in any court where the
Judgments and Decisions,
validity of the judgment comes into
Supreme Court Decisions
issue. (See Rose v. Himely (1808)
on Void Orders
4 Cranch 241, 2 L ed 608; Pennoyer
The limitations inherent in the v. Neff (1877) 95 US 714, 24 L ed
requirements of due process and 565; Thompson v. Whitman (1873)
equal protection of the law extend 18 Wall 457, 21 l ED 897; Windsor
to judicial as well as political v. McVeigh (1876) 93 US 274, 23
branches of government, so that a L ed 914; McDonald v. Mabee
judgment may not be rendered in (1917) 243 US 90, 37 Sct 343, 61 L
violation of those constitutional ed 608. U.S. v. Holtzman, 762 F.2d
limitations and guarantees. Hanson 720 (9th Cir. 1985) (“Portion of
v Denckla, 357 US 235, 2 L Ed 2d judgment directing defendant not to
1283, 78 S Ct 1228.
import vehicles without first obtainA void judgment is not entitled ing approval... was not approprito the respect accorded a valid ad- ately limited in duration and, thus,
judication, but may be entirely dis- district court abused its discretion
regarded, or declared inoperative by by not vacating it as being prospecany tribunal in which effect is tively inequitable.” Id at 722.
sought to be given to it. It is atExcerpt of Void orders, Black’s
tended by none of the consequences Law dictionary, Annotation 13 —
of a valid adjudication. It has no Fourteenth Amendment...
legal or binding force or efficacy for
Jurisdiction
any purpose or at any place... It is
Generally, Jurisdiction may be
not entitled to enforcement... All defined as the power to create legal
proceedings founded on the void interests. In the famous case of
judgment are themselves regarded Pennoyer v. Neff, the Court enunas invalid. 30A Am Jur Judgments
44, 45.
Exceeding Jurisdiction
An order that exceeds the jurisdiction of the court is void, and can
be attacked in any proceeding in
any court where the validity of the
judgment comes into issue. (See
Rose v. Himely (1808) 4 Cranch
241, 2 L ed 608; Pennoyer v. Neff
(1877) 95 US 714, 24 L ed 565;
Thompson v. Whitman (1873) 18
Wall 457, 21 l ED 897; Windsor v.
McVeigh (1876) 93 US 274, 23 L
ed 914; McDonald v. Mabee (1917)
243 US 90, 37 Sct 343, 61 L ed 608.
“If a court grants relief, which
under the circumstances it hasn’t
any authority to grant, its judgment
is to that extent void.” (1 Freeman
on Judgments, 120c.) “A void judgment is no judgment at all and is
without legal effect.” (Jordon v.
Gilligan, 500 F.2d 701, 710 (6th Cir.
1974) “a court must vacate any
judgment entered in excess of its
jurisdiction.” (Lubben v. Selective
Service System Local Bd. No. 27,
453 F.2d 645 (1st Cir. 1972).
A void judgment does not create any binding obligation. Federal
decisions addressing void state
court judgments include Kalb v.
Feuerstein (1940) 308 US 433, 60
S Ct 343, 84 L ed 370. Federal
judges issued orders permanently
barring Stich from filing any papers
in federal courts. After Judges Robert Jones and Edward Jellen corruptly seized and started to liquidate Stich’s assets, Judge Jones issued an unconstitutional order barring Stich from filing any objection
to the seizure and liquidation.
Void Orders Can Be
Attacked At Any Time
An order that exceeds the juris-
ciated two principles of jurisdiction
respecting the States in a federal
system. First, “every State possesses exclusive jurisdiction and
sovereignty over persons and property within its territory,’’ and, second, “no State can exercise direct
jurisdiction and authority over persons or property without its territory.’’ Although these two principles were drawn from the writings
of Joseph Story refining the theories of continental jurists, the constitutional basis for them was
deemed to be in the due process
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Black’s Law Dictionary, Sixth
Edition, page 1574: Void judgment.
One which has no legal force or effect, invalidity of which may be
asserted by any person whose rights
are affected at any time and at any
place directly or collaterally.
Reynolds v. Volunteer State Life
Ins. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 80 S.W.2d
1087, 1092. One which from its inception is and forever continues to
be absolutely null, without legal
efficacy, ineffectual to bind parties
or support a right, of no legal force
and effect whatever, and incapable
of confirmation, ratification, or enforcement in any manner or to any
degree. Judgment is a “void judgment” if court that rendered judgment lacked jurisdiction of the subject matter, or of the parties, or acted
in a manner inconsistent with due
process.
The above excerpts are Case
Law of the United States. Further,
they all are bound and controlled
by a United States Supreme Court
Decision.
The Las Vegas Tribune has
checked the facts of all stories published in the newspaper. We take
everything very seriously here. Our
investigation has determined that
the facts presented above are legally
correct.
No state in the country can control real property or Trust assets in
another state. All Trusts would be
worthless otherwise, explained
Feeley. Any court that renders a
decision attempting to control a
sister’s state Trust is void and not
subject to Full Faith and Credit, he
added.
The Case that this newspaper has
been reporting on, Feeley v. Feeley,
has had a ruling entered in the Case
that is void. The legal Trustee and
the beneficiaries should not have
the burden placed on them to prevail in an Appeal of a void order.
The ruling never happened.
The State of Nevada is actively
promoting the advantages of creating and housing Trusts under the
laws of Nevada. This newspaper is
wondering how that promotion is
not fraud. A Nevada District Court
entered an Order that attempted to
seize assets from a sister state. That
establishes that Nevada does not
have integrity, and any creator of
Trusts would be foolish to establish
a Trust in Nevada.
The above result of the Nevada
action may well lose the opportunity to have trillions of dollars of
Trust creation established within
the borders of Nevada. All taxpayers of Nevada should be very concerned. We have elected officials
continuously that raise and continue
to raise taxes. The revenue that
Trusts bring to Nevada is a gift and
our leaders better make sure it materializes, thereby lessening the burden on taxpayers.
The corruption in the Nevada
courts is a major concern to all. The
Feeley v. Feeley Case is before the
Nevada Appellate Court and Nevada can restore integrity by the
Court upholding the law of the land
and ruling that the District Court
rulings are void. Then the state can
continue to promote Nevada as the
number one jurisdiction to create
and house a Trust in. If the Appellate Court does not follow binding
precedent then the Judiciary loses
all integrity. Any promotion of
Trusts in Nevada would then be a
fraud.
Page 8 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
Left to right) John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald J. Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie and Rand Paul
at the Republican presidential debate hosted by CNBC at the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo.
Republican candidates respond to
Democrat moderators questions
“I may not be your dream candidate
yet. But I can assure you I am Hillary
Clinton’s worst nightmare. Every time
the federal government gets engaged
in something, it gets worse. It is the
height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton
to talk about being the first woman
president... when every policy... has
been demonstrably bad for women.
Well, gee. After the last debate, I was
told I didn’t smile enough.”
— Carly Fiorina, in response to
question about the candidates’
biggest weakness.
Donald Trump, center, makes a point as Marco Rubio, left, and Ben Carson look on during the CNBC
Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Report Cards are in: Candidates 10, Moderators 0
By Las Vegas Tribune Staff
The most civilized political debate took place on Wednesday night
in Colorado State.
One of the problems with
weekly newspapers is that in some
instances timing is very essential in
covering last-minutes news or
events like we faced this week with
the third GOP debate that took place
on Wednesday night.
Either we have to delay the publication, as we did today, to bring
the debate highlights to you in a
timely matter or miss the whole
thing because by the time the newspaper comes out next week it will
be old hat.
The debate started on time, as
expected, with all the candidates in
position and ready to answer all
questions, hoping for the best, taking into consideration that those
asking the questions have the
shameful tendency to try to trap the
candidates.
Junior Senator Marco Rubio,
whose own party has compared him
to President Barack Obama for his
lack of political experience and the
low attendance to his senate job,
was doing well until his own state
newspaper attacked him by asking
him to resign from the senate for
his poor attendance; yet he still did
very well for himself, gaining
points with the voters.
Politico Magazine pointed out
that Scott Reed, the senior political
strategist for the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, a symbol of the GOP
establishment that Cruz rails against
on the trail, said the Texan “is shaping up to be a real finalist in Cleveland,” where the Republican nominee will be crowned next summer.
“Cruz has a strong team, approaches every week with goals and
“Are we really talking
about the federal government regulating Fantasy
Football? We have 19
trillion dollars in debt...
We have ISIS and al
Qaeda attacking us and
we’re talking about
Fantasy Football? Even in
New Jersey what you’re
doing is called rude.”
— Chris Christie to
moderator John Harwood
a strategy,” Reed said. “If you look
away from Cruz’s TV coverage and
just listen to the audio, he has the
strongest message to GOP activists
and primary voters.” Cruz won a
great part of the debate talking
about Social Security.
Donald Trump makes it very
clear that he is not for gun control;
he believes that everyone has the
right to defend themselves and their
families, and admitted that he sometimes “carries,” but not all the time
and refused to say when he does,
because he likes to be “unpredictable.”
Ted Cruz got lots of applause
when he stated his opinion on why
the mainstream media is not trusted
by the audience and Rubio put the
media in its place when he said that
that is why the public does not trust
the media anymore.
Marco Rubio sounded very passionate and honest when in his closing statement, said that America
doesn’t owe him anything, but “I
have a debt to America I will never
repay.”
“And we have a government and
leaders in government that are completely out of touch,” but he did not
say if that is the reason he refused
to be in touch with the Las Vegas
Tribune and when the newspaper
tried to be in touch with him he
cowardly filed a false report with
the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI).
However, his final statement
should be embraced by every citizen in this country: “You know,
America doesn’t owe me anything.
I have a debt to America I will never
repay.
This is not just the country I was
born in; this is the nation that liter-
ally changed the history of my family.” According to political experts,
Marco Rubio was number one in
the debate followed by Ted Cruz,
who impressed even the liberal
media moderating the debate.
The most noticeable event of the
night was how mellow Donald
Trump was, despite the nastier disrespect of the moderators toward
the candidates.
Bravo for Senator Ted Cruz for
opening fire on the liberal media
controlled by the enemies of the
nation; he put those moderators in
their place by unmasking them.
Cynical, rude, and disrespectful
is not the way to ask hard questions;
asking hard questions is what the
media must do, but that can be done
with respect and proper regard for
their positions.
Again, Marco Rubio gained notoriety when he debated CNBC
John Harwood on his (Rubio’s) Tax
plan and forced Harwood to correct
himself.
Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina.
Dr. Carson distanced himself from a supplement maker under regulatory scrutiny.
Las Vegas Tribune is
not supporting any of
these candidates yet,
however...
October 28-November 3, 2015 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 9
Donald Trump
Carly Fiorina
Ben Carson
We want you to research, read
and learn about these Americans
who are not career politicians
and are willing to give up their
private lives to save this nation,
and then make your choice.
Page 10 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
Obama administration resurrects his
ban-the-bomb stance from his student days
By Thomas Mitchell
You may say he is a dreamer, but
he’s not the only one.
Out of the blue the Obama
administration’s Secretary of State
John Kerry and Secretary of Energy
Ernest Moniz are calling for a new
round of talks in an attempt to revive the nuclear test ban treaty that
the Senate nixed in 1999.
After giving Iran the green light
to develop its own nuclear weapons at some time in the vague future — after Obama is out of office
presumably — now seems like an
odd time to resurrect Obama’s
youthful, naifish dream of a nuke
free world.
“I don’t think I was that unique
at that time,” Obama has since said
of his 1983 article in a Columbia
University publication calling for a
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Secretary of State John Kerry talk about banning the bomb
nuke-free world, “and I don’t think that time, 100 were conducted in the
I’m that unique today in thinking atmosphere until the Limited Test
that if we could put the genie back Ban Treaty took effect in 1963. That
in the bottle, in some sense, that was followed by 828 that rumbled
there would be less danger — not through the desert after they were
just to the United States but to set off below ground in shafts and
people around the world.”
tunnels,” Rogers writes. “The last
There hasn’t been a full-blown, one, Divider, was conducted on
so to speak, nuclear weapon test at Sept. 23, 1992. What followed was
the Nevada Test Site since 1992, a moratorium that has been exaccording to a Review-Journal ar- tended indefinitely.”
ticle by Keith Rogers.
But what has followed are un“From 1951 through 1992, the derground subcritical tests. There
test site’s role focused on full-scale have been at least two dozen of
tests of nuclear weapons. During those.
Nevada Test Site bomb test
Who did Hillary lie
to? Us or them?
By Thomas Mitchell
The timeline:
At 10:32 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
issued the following statement:
Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to
inflammatory material posted on the Internet. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very
beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any
justification for violent acts of this kind.
At 11:12 p.m., Clinton sent an email to daughter Chelsea’s pseudonymous email account “Dianne Reynolds” that said: “Two of our
officers were killed in Benghazi by an al Qaeda-like group: The
Ambassador, whom I handpicked and a young communications officer on temporary duty w a wife and two young children. Very hard
day and I fear more of the same tomorrow.”
Some time on Sept. 12 Clinton gave a speech at the State Department saying:
Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with the
protest that took place at our Embassy in Cairo yesterday, as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet. America’s
commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning
of our nation. But let me be clear — there is no justification for this,
none.
At 3:04 p.m. on Sept. 12, Clinton called then-Egyptian Prime
Minister Hisham Qandil and said, “We know the attack in Libya had
nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack — not a protest.”
Susan Rice went on TV and blamed the video. Obama blamed the
video at the UN. Hillary told family members the person responsible
for the video would the brought to justice.
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.
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But those apparently would not
violate a nuclear test ban treaty.
According to Lawrence Livermore
scientists, in these experiments
chemical high explosives are detonated next to samples of weaponsgrade plutonium to obtain information about what happens to the plutonium in a matter of microseconds.
No critical mass is formed — no
self-sustaining nuclear fission chain
reaction or detonation.
Earlier this summer the Air
Force did drop a dummy nuke
bomb at the Tonopah Test Range.
The tests are designed to assure the
continued reliability of the
weapon’s parts.
According to Politico, shortly
after Kerry and Moniz started talking about a test ban treaty, Sen. Tom
Cotton, an Arkansas Republican
called the effort “almost comical.”
“It wasn’t in our national security interests then, it’s not in our
interests now, and it won’t be in the
future,” Cotton was quoted as saying in a statement. “If the Obama
administration intends to ‘reopen’
the discussion over Senate ratification of the CTBT (Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty) then I intend to
‘reopen’ the fight against it.”
How confident are we that our
current nuclear weapons still work
as intended after all these decades?
Just asking.
U.S. attorney threatens to revisit listing
of sage grouse in reply to lawsuit
By Thomas Mitchell
In reply to a lawsuit filed by the
state of Nevada, nine counties, three
mining companies and a cattle
ranch over restrictive land use plans
intended to protect greater sage
grouse, U.S. Attorney Daniel
Bogden appears to be threatening
to resurrect the threat of listing the
birds under the Endangered Species
Act.
Bogden wrote that the Fish and
Wildlife Service had “emphasized
that its determination that a listing
was not warranted was dependent
upon the ‘continued implementation of the regulatory mechanisms
and conservation efforts...’” including the land use plan initiated when
Interior announced the non-listing.
Actually, the FWS reported in
the Federal Register that grouse
populations have been relatively
stable over the past 15 years already.
“Plaintiffs also have failed to
demonstrate that they face any immediate irreparable injury,” Bogden
wrote in seeking to deny an injunction against further implementing
the land use plans, though the counties, miners and ranchers spelled out
costs and the potential for the businesses to fail due to the plans.
The day after Interior Secretary
Sally Jewell announced that the
greater sage grouse would not be
listed, but would instead be protected by a voluminous and sweeping land use plan covering 10 Western states, Elko and Eureka counties and two mining companies filed
a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction against the plan.
This past week the state and others joined the suit. The suit: Nevada
v Dept of Interior Am Complaint.
A hearing had been scheduled on
the original lawsuit for the middle
of February.
Bogden claims, “An injunction
would undo four years of collaboration and could undermine FWS’s
finding. The alleged harms to Plaintiffs do not outweigh the interests
of the other stakeholders, including
the government, in keeping the Plan
Amendments fully in place pending the Court’s full consideration of
Plaintiffs’ claims on the merits.”
But Gov. Brian Sandoval and
others have repeatedly accused the
federal land agencies of ignoring
their input and stonewalling their
appeals. Sandoval in a letter to
BLM Director Neil Kornze called
responses to the state’s concerns arbitrary an capricious.
In a press release announcing the
litigation, Attorney General Adam
Laxalt noted that the federal plan
bars mineral exploration and development on 3 million acres within
Nevada alone and creates restrictions on grazing and public access
on more than 16 million acres in the
state.
October 28-November 3, 2015 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 11
Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman
at LV.Net 20th Anniversary Customer Appreciation Day Celebration
By Parker Philpot
Special to the Las Vegas Tribune
LV.Net, the largest locally based
High Speed Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Southern Nevada,
celebrates its 20th Anniversary Customer Appreciation Day on Thursday, October 29, from 3:30 to 8:30
p.m., by hosting tours at one of its
high-tech facilities for all of its residential customers and commercial
clients. The featured 4:00 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony with guest
speaker Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn
G. Goodman and presenters from
the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of
Commerce will take place at
LV.Net’s downtown Data Center 2
(DC2) located at 1221 Casino Center Blvd, two blocks south of East
Charleston, by the Arts District. The
celebration will include group activities, a DJ for musical entertainment, celebrity guests, fun attractions, free food, complimentary
beverages and premium giveaways.
The LVMCC officially welcomes LV.Net as a new member of
its exclusive President’s Club. The
ribbon cutting ceremony not only
signifies expansion at DC2, one of
four LV.Net local data centers that
provide secure colocation servers,
hosting, cloud computing, VoIP,
high-speed internet and backup services, it also symbolizes that LV.Net
and the City of Las Vegas affirm
their continued partnership in
Downtown Free City Wi-Fi.
“The city takes pride in the fact
that Las Vegas is one of the most
connected cities in the world,”
Goodman said. “Being at the top of
all the latest technology trends is
one of the reasons we have so many
repeat visitors, and we appreciate
those who have played a part in
making it all work,” she added.
LV.Net Free, activated in December 2013, covers about a 3square-mile area and delivers free
internet access for locals and visitors in the city’s Downtown Redevelopment Corridor.
“The purpose [for the celebration event] is to further educate customers about our additional company services and plans for expansion [of services] for businesses and
multiple dwelling units. LV.Net can
help mid-size to large businesses
save money through partnering
with us for our robust, redundant,
high-speed internet, network infrastructure, and colocation services”
said Marty Mizrahi, founder of
LV.Net.
The event is preceded midday by
a tour of the operations for students
from Advanced Technologies Academy (A-Tech), a local magnet public high school focused on the integration of technology with academics. LV.Net Chief Technology Officer CJ Sattler is a graduate of the
academy. He has been with LV.Net
since his teen years and has developed technology for the company.
The company welcomes students to
see opportunities and to show them
and other guests “what a difference
to the community a local technology company can make.”
City Of Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman presents a Proclamation to Marty Mizrahi, founder of LV.Net.
The proclamation declares LV.Net Day on March 10, 2015.
LV.Net offers custom solutions
for small start-ups, home-based
businesses, major corporations,
residential communities, municipalities, commercial complexes,
outdoor events and conventions.
Local businesses of all types have
nearby, ready access to secure, climate-controlled, clean-air, certified
data centers in place of having the
expense of building out space, storing large systems and hiring technicians to operate company-owned
centers. A business may opt to rent
or lease for a special project or on
an ongoing basis for regular or special security needs. Clients use the
company’s backup services to stay
online or to protect their digital data
in the event of natural or man-made
catastrophic events, according to
Mizrahi.
LV.Net connects “middle-of-nowhere” locations that cannot receive any other viable forms of
internet service. Sattler offers examples of the unique and advantageous services the company provides and how it, in particular, furthers education in remote areas.
“LV.Net provides communications access to areas of Nevada
where it is not profitable for any
national service provider to [do
so],” Sattler stated, adding that the
company provides “remote school
districts [with] internet access, allowing students to obtain a first-rate
education... This would not be possible in today’s world without highspeed internet.”
Sattler further spoke about some
of the benefits of LV.Net’s longtime
presence in the Southern Nevada
and surrounding areas. A major
point he explains is how consumers are protected. He says that with-
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out independent companies, such as
LV.Net, “Only the national companies would corner the market on
internet access and face no competition, causing higher prices and
worse customer service.”
The main LV.Net corporate office and vaulted data center, DC1,
is located at 2595 Fremont St, noted
for its 30-foot-high LV.Net digital
billboard. The company’s service
area has grown beyond Las Vegas,
North Las Vegas, Summerlin/
Lakes, Green Valley/Henderson,
and Boulder City, extending to
Primm, Southern California and
Arizona, according to the company
website.
The event sponsors and suppliers include Lee’s Discount Liquor,
Re2al Alkalized Water, along with
fine foods supplied by Ricardo’s,
Chef Lucky Thai and Rachel’s
Kitchen. For more information
about LV.Net or the invitational
event, contact (702) 900-0000 or
visit the LV.Net website.
Parker Philpot is a Southern
Nevada-based independent writer,
commentator and editor who covers technology, business and other
topics. The writer has an affiliation
with the subject company in this
article and can be reached via email
at [email protected].
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Page 12 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
RadioTribune Lineup
“The Heard”
This much-needed new show will be broadcast Monday through Friday on Radiotribune.com, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. with host Clark Feeley with
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who can send them packing with their vote for another.
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Every Tuesday and Thursday at 11:00 a.m., Gordon Martines hosts
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Gordon Martines was a career police officer with 39 years of on-thejob Law Enforcement experience. Past cases involving Kevin Daley,
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billion dollars worth of missing taxpayer money, are discussed in depth
and at length on the show.
Martines spent four years as police officer with the Hermosa Beach
Police Department before moving here and resuming his police career in
Las Vegas as a Detective in the Robbery/Homicide Bureau, retiring from
the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department after 36 years of police
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The amount of corruption and cover-ups by executive Police Administrative officers witnessed by Martines inside the department led to his
decision to contest the good ol’ boy’s club and run for Clark County Sheriff three times against what he knew were almost insurmountable odds.
“Open Mic” carries the voice the LVMPD does not want you to hear,
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For the last five years “Face The Tribune” has been the premier show
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For stories and information not available anywhere else in Las Vegas,
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Every Saturday at noon, on radiotribune.com, Tina Burse discusses
the issues that youth in our community face on a daily basis. “No More”
addresses No More Youth Violence, No More Bullying, No More Suicide,
and other issues along that vein. “No More” claims that enough is enough.
Tina reminds us that it takes a village to raise a child. And it’s “Ok 2 B
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EDITORIALS
October 28-November 3, 2015 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 13
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. — Thomas Jefferson
Our Point of View
Politicians: Stop
tricking the voters!
It was just last week we wrote in this same editorial
space that “For years the Las Vegas Tribune has been trying to open the eyes of the voters in Nevada and even in
the nation without any success.” “It is time to show the
career politicians that the voters are not stupid, and every
day they become more alert to the modus operandi of those
abusers of the American system who ignore the law and
the Constitution of this great nation, and every day, more
aggressively, try to manipulate the voters and the election system in order to stay in office longer or “donate”
(pass on) their position to their favorite person, which we
have referred to as their ‘protegee,’ in order to keep control of the power.”
This last week that same government and those same
career politicians in possession of this nation’s political
system and in control of many of the voters’ mind have
proven the Las Vegas Tribune right once again and again.
Vice-President Joe Biden’s drama show in front of the
Rose Garden, flanked by his wife and his boss, President
Obama,which took a little more than a 40-minute speech
to announce that he is not running for president, was a
real good and vivid example of how stupid these politicians think the voters are.
A simple press release notifying the media that he is
not running would have been sufficient to let the public
know that he was not running for president.
Waiting for the next time a reporter runs into him and
asks the same question they have been asking for the last
six months and telling that reporter, “No I am not running
for president; don’t ask me that question any more,
please,” would be very clear and more than enough for
the nation.
However, they had to make a show with all the rhetoric to leave the door open in case he changes his mind
again, or in case Obama changes his mind for him.
Joe Biden’s speech was more like an endorsement for
Obama’s third term than an announcement that he is not
running since he explained how good the two Obama
terms were by reminding the democratic crowd in attendance of all the good of the last seven years.
“And this is what I believe. I believe that President
Obama has led this nation from crisis to recovery and
we’re now on the cusp of resurgence. I’m proud to have
played a part in that. This party, our nation, will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo
the Obama legacy. The American people have worked
too hard and we’ve come too far for that,” said Biden.
And topping the previous statement with another eyeopener even more obvious, the Vice-President told those
gathered in the Rose Garden that because he is not running, does not mean that he is going away; he will stand
by and will jump in when (IF) necessary.
Right after Joe Biden’s soap opera came the Hillary
Clinton saga, “The good, the bad and the ugly” series,
wherein the leading lady displayed a most dramatic and
cynical role that could have won her an Academy Award
nomination for her performance and an Oscar for the
coughing scene that not even her closest fans could watch
without laughing.
“Retreat[ing] from the world is not an option,” Mrs.
Clinton told lawmakers. She called accusations that she
had contributed to the death of Mr. Stevens, a friend, “personally painful” and “deeply distressing.” Only these who
are politically blind or those who don’t know her, chose
to believe that she was sincere.
The Vice President gives us the impression that he was
going to stand by when he told us that because he is not
running does not mean that he is going away, maybe presuming that Hillary Clinton could end her campaign behind bars (and we do not mean the bar at the Trump Plaza
Hotel or the Waldorf Astoria Hotel) if they end their investigation of the former First Lady/Former Secretary of
State on time for her to see the election results from a
television set.
Why does this nation need to change the way the election system works if it is not to confuse the voters and be
able to manipulate the polls by having different primary
election dates.
These are the type of things we were referring to in our
last editorial; the voters in this great nation need to open
their eyes and concentrate on seeing way beyond what
they are seeing in front of them and read in between the
lines in order to be able to make an intelligent choice when
they go to the polls.
Politicians need to stop treating the voters as children
who can be tricked and start giving them the treat of honesty that they deserve because voters are too old to have
to go begging for the latter only to end up with the former.
Trick or treat is for children, not voters!
Rest of Nevada should have same
growth opportunity as Clark County
By Thomas Mitchell
private control.
You know the type. No sooner do
“As representatives of county and
they move into a nice, new neighborstate government, we can attest to
hood than they stand up and say,
the fact that we simply do not have
“That’s enough. No more new resithe funds to provide law enforcedents. No more new homes. Lock the
ment, trail maintenance and wildfire
gates. Throw away the key.”
protection that currently is provided
Clark County Commissioner
for us on these lands by the federal
Chris Giunchigliani and Clark
government,” the two elected offiCounty state Sen. Kelvin Atkinson,
cials from urban Clark County state
both Democrats, recently penned an
categorically. “Additionally, Nevada
op-ed piece for the Las Vegas newscounties receive millions of dollars
paper under the headline: “Federal
a year in Payment in Lieu of Taxes
lands should stay in federal hands.”
payments.
THOMAS MITCHELL
They open wth a non sequitur
These are basically property taxes
about Cliven Bundy grazing cattle on federal land paid by the federal government that cover critical serwithout paying grazing fees and never do explain what vices for rural communities and would disappear unthat has to do with the state and counties trying to der this land-grab proposal.”
obtain federal lands for economic development purThey do not bother to mention that PILT money is
poses. Liberals pull Cliven Bundy like a six-gun at a pittance compared to property taxes paid by private
the drop of a hat.
owners. Nor do they mention nor seem to have an inThe article notes that Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison and kling that their stance, if actually put into place 70 years
the Nevada Chapter of the National Association of ago, would mean that today Clark County and its variCounties recently conducted a Summit on Public ous cities would still be a whistle stop and a wide spot
Lands to talk about the ongoing efforts by the Legis- in the road between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City
lature and the Nevada delegation in Washington to — instead of a metropolis of 2 million people.
begin to transfer some portion of the 85 percent of the
What’s good for Clark County’s goose is not good
state now under federal control to state and local and
(See Mitchell, Page 15)
Can there be another solution, Mr. Trump?
By Perly Viasmensky
Is there a difference between a Wall and a NarcoTunnel?
But first, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to
wish a very Happy Birthday to my good old friend
Don Snook, who I have known for over 40 years, and
to Gordon Martines. I hope both of them have a wonderful and blessed day on their respective B-days.
Now back to business as usual. It has been a very
long time since I took the time to read the Las Vegas
Sun, but they have recently published an article that
attracted my immediate attention.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, Mexican authorities said last week they seized about 10 tons of marijuana in an elaborate tunnel with a rail car system that
extended well into San Diego, California and was designed to smuggle drugs into the United States from
Tijuana.
According to the Las Vegas Sun report, the tunnel
was nine feet deep and about 2,600 feet long. It was
lit, ventilated and built with metal beams to prevent
collapse, with warehouses on both sides of the border
that provide cover for trucks and heavy equipment.
It made me think that Donald Trump wants to build
a wall to avoid the heavy traffic of illegal aliens into
the United States. Those people pay the traffickers as
much as $6,000 to $7,000 to cross them over.
Many have been abandoned in the middle of the
trip and left to wish good luck in the rest of their crossing.
I always wonder how they are able to pay that huge
amount of dollars, and finally reach their destination
to apply and receive here food stamps, medical and
monetary assistance as destitute people when they have
had that tremendous amount of cash on hand. We need
to remember that traffickers don’t give credit or arrange for installment payments. It is everything up front
or no trip.
Let’s suppose that Donald Trump in fact does build
that wall, which I don’t believe is going to help in the
long run. Pretty soon traffickers are going to start leasing or renting those tunnels for (we could say) $10,000
to $15,000 to transport human beings and instead of
illegal aliens, they would become illegal groundhogs.
There would be no way Trump could build a wall
around the narco-tunnels and sooner rather than later
the grand finale would be humans and drugs entering
on a daily basis.
This is just the beginning of the suffering of the
several million older Americans receiving Social Security, who are not going to receive a cost-of-living
(See Viasmensky, Page 17)
ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Life’s problems and the
solutions we choose
By Maramis
When there is a video clip of some
It may be somewhat easy for us
behavior that proves to be controverto see a better way to do things from
sial or downright abominable, as
the comfort of our living room couch
seen, perhaps we really do need to
when we watch the way other people
see what led up to it. If, for example
— those on TV — deal with their
— which is not the case — the stuchallenges. And that comment apdent had pulled a gun or other seriplies to both TV shows (scripted) and
ous weapon on the officer, the outthe daily news (real life).
rage would be much lesser or not
Anyone who has had the TV on
exist at all. If the student had spewed
lately has no doubt seen the video of
out threats and foul language, indithe police officer and his way of dealcating that she not only had no ining with the female student in school
tention of following any orders, but
MARAMIS CHOUFANI
who refused to leave the classroom.
would do whatever it takes to have
As I write this, all the facts are not in. However, we her own way, including harming the officer or any other
probably have enough information to make some rea- adults who tried to force her to do what she didn’t want
sonable assumptions about cause and effect.
to do (in this case, leave the room seems to have been
First, it is obvious that the student was either do- the goal), that might change the picture. There did not
ing something that was not acceptable classroom be- seem to be such verbal abuse on the part of the stuhavior, or not doing something that was required of dent; but as much as I could determine, the officer did
her by accepting her role as a student in that class- not seem to be speaking to the student in any kind of
(See Maramis, Page 18)
room in that school.
VIEW POINTS
Page 14 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
Editors note: The views expressed are entirely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Las Vegas Tribune.
Victoria’s Secret: The “Broken Be careful what you read! Cyber bill
Window” Theory of Tax Hikes could let feds spy on library users
—AB246: Raised cosBy Chuck Muth
metology government liProdigal Assemblycensing taxes, including
woman Victoria Seaman
on “shampoo technolo— smarting from backlash
gists”
from donors and past sup—AB325: Raised
porters over her recently
government licensing
revealed decision to not
taxes on “private professign the Taxpayer Protecsional guardians”
tion Pledge for her state
—SB44: Increased
senate run next year — put
government permit tax
out quite the misleading efor oil and natural gas
newsletter column a few
drilling
days ago.
CHUCK MUTH
—SB370: Increased
A column I refused to
publish on Nevada News & Views.
the government licensing tax on barber inUnfortunately, Ms. Seaman has adopted structors
the practice widely embraced by RINOs in
—SB488: Imposed government licenswhich they only tell half the story when it ing tax on “community health worker
comes to their record, leaving out the bad pools”
parts and thus giving a false impression.
But according to Seaman...
It’s an intentional error of omission.
“Those were fees asked for by the people
Specifically in Ms. Seaman’s case...
not taxes...”
“My pledge to the voters of District 6 is
I’m assuming she wrote that with a
not only my word, but also my record,” Ms. straight face.
Seaman wrote. “Voters not only appreciate
Which reminds me of a scene from The
my record, but equally important, they ap- Godfather. Michael is confronting his
preciate that I kept my word.”
brother-in-law, Carlo, about his brother
Only...
Sonny’s murder and Carlo’s involvement
She DIDN’T keep her word.
in it.
Ms. Seaman signed the Taxpayer Pro“Don’t tell me you’re innocent,”
tection Pledge when she ran for the Assem- Michael says to Carlo. “Because it insults
bly in 2014. It reads...
my intelligence and makes me very angry.”
“I, Victoria Seaman, pledge to the taxTo claim “the people” wanted all those
payers of the State of Nevada, that I will tax/fee hikes insults our intelligence and
oppose and vote against any and all efforts should make us very angry — especially
to increase taxes.”
those who have to pay more to the governPretty clear cut. “Any and all.” No ment.
wiggle room.
Indeed, I’ve yet to hear from a single
Alas, Ms. Seaman broke her word, not elk hunter, barber school teacher or shamonce, not twice... but NINE times during poo technologist who said they told the
the 2015 legislative session. They were...
Legislature and Ms. Seaman they wanted
—AB78: Doubled the elk tag tax on to pay more to get their mandated governhunters
ment licenses.
—AB85: Doubled the government liMs. Seaman, you are free to make excensing tax for alcohol, drug and gambling cuses for your votes. But don’t try telling
counselors
us you kept your word, because you didn’t.
—AB191: Raised taxes on “fuels for It’s right there in your record.
motor vehicles”
Which brings us to another point raised
—AB231: Increased government licens- by a couple of people I’ve spoken with on
(See Chuck Muth, Page 17)
ing tax on chiropractors
Six ways to rise
above your critics
By Doug Dickerson
done is libelous then don’t
To escape criticism- do
waste your time in a vernothing, say nothing, be
bal battle. Be content in
nothing. — Elbert Hubbard
knowing that the truth is
A story is told of Winon your side. There is no
ston Churchill and his exgreater satisfaction than in
traordinary integrity in the
knowing that you can
face of opposition. During
look yourself in the mirhis last year in office, he
ror and lay your head
attended an official cerdown at night with a
emony. Several rows bepeace that comes from
hind him two gentlemen
knowing you did the right
began whispering. “That’s
thing regardless of how
Winston Churchill. They
others behaved.
say he is getting senile.
DOUG DICKERSON
Don’t retaliate
They say he should step aside and leave the
There will be times when you and those
running of the nation to more dynamic and close to you will want to retaliate against
capable men.” When the ceremony was critics. There is something about human naover, Churchill turned to the men and said, ture that wants to fight back and get revenge
“Gentlemen, they also say he is deaf.”
and settle the score. I get it. But again, the
Critics. Every leader has them and ev- end result will never be good for you. As
ery leader will. How you respond to critics hard as it may be there are times when you
is an important component of your leader- just have to let it go. Don’t worry if you
ship development. It’s all too easy to get lose a battle today, you are going to win
defensive when critics rub us the wrong way the war if you keep your heart right.
or misunderstand us. But can you appreciGive them more ammo
ate a critic when he or she is right? Rising
Most of the critics you will encounter
above your critics takes courage. Here are are simply those who have some kind of
six ways to do it.
vendetta or jealousy directed toward you.
Keep a positive attitude
As opposed to stooping down to their level
“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will why not give them more ammo? As you do
determine your altitude,” is a famous Zig the right thing by continuing to work hard
Ziglar quote. How high and how far you go and by exhibiting good leadership, you will
as a leader will be determined by your atti- only become more successful. Nothing will
tude. Nothing will give you a bad attitude annoy your critics more than your continany quicker than a wrong reaction to a critic. ued success.
Basic things you will want to know regardDon’t lose your sense of humor
ing a critic are the source, the accuracy, the
One of the most important leadership
ramifications, and your reaction — if there skills you can develop is a sense of humor.
even needs to be one. Regardless, stay posi- Churchill exhibited it towards the men who
tive and focused on the big picture.
spoke ill of him. Bill Cosby said, “Through
Stay true to your values
humor, you can soften some of the worst
Don’t allow your critics to throw you off blows that life delivers. And once you find
of your game. Stay grounded and connected laughter, no matter how painful your situato the values that have guided you to where tion might be, you can survive it.” Your
you are. Values do not change but are guide- critics will stir up a wide range of emotions
posts when your circumstances do. The and reactions that you will want to run with.
values and principles that brought you to But if you laugh — at them, and at yourwhere you are will keep you there so handle self, half the battle is won.
your critics with that in mind.
Doug Dickerson is a syndicated columSpeak no evil
nist. He writes a weekly column for this
Seriously? Yes. Engaging in mud-sling- newspaper. To contact Doug Dickerson,
ing with your critics only hurts you in the email
him
at
ddickerson@
long run. Unless what they have spoken or lasvegastribune.com.
is about threats to our counBy Mace Yampolsky
try, our institutions,”
Librarians (those hipWyden said. “Why do you
pie communist radical
need people’s personal inpinko freaks Liberal
formation?”
subversives!) are warning
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
that a cybersecurity bill
and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.),
about to hit the Senate
both presidential candifloor could help the govdates, have joined Wyden’s
ernment spy on people
opposition. They point to
using library computers.
what they say are inadMany people who do not
equate provisions requiring
own personal computers
companies and the governuse the computers proMACE YAMPOLSKY
ment to strip out sensitive
vided by their local libraries to access email and do online research. data prior to sharing it with intelligence
CISA would collect information from these agencies. On his presidential campaign web
site, Rand Paul described CISA as a bill
users — too much information.
On Wednesday, October 14, 2015 the “packed with vague definitions that grant
head of the country’s largest advocate for aggressive new spying powers that gut prilibraries urged senators to oppose the “pri- vacy laws and allow Internet providers and
vacy-hostile” bill known as the websites to hand over personal data to ANY
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act agency in the federal government.”
Don’t you need a
(CISA).The measure is meant to boost the
search warrant, CISA?
exchange of data about hackers between
“As Sens. Wyden, Paul and Sanders
companies and the government.
“When librarians oppose a bill with ‘in- have courageously pointed out in opposiformation sharing’ in its name you can be tion to it, the Cybersecurity Information
sure that the bill is decidedly more than Sharing Act would dramatically overshare
advertised,” said Sari Feldman, president the personal information of tens of millions
of the American Library Association of Americans who depend upon library
(ALA).CISA-related lobbying has ramped computer networks, and could function, as
up in recent weeks as the measure inches a practical matter, as a new warrantless surcloser to the Senate floor. It could come up veillance tool,” Feldman said.
The ALA, in April, joined a large coalias early as next week.
tion of civil liberties groups, security speDon’t You Care About
cialists and academics in a letter to senaYour Privacy?
While most industry groups, a large bi- tors expressing similar concerns about
partisan coalition of lawmakers and even CISA. CISA’s proponents, including cothe White House support the bill as a way sponsors Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and
to better understand and thwart hackers, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), have said these
privacy advocates have argued the measure allegations are inaccurate.
Privacy, What’s the Big Deal?
would simply funnel more of people’s priThe two lawmakers who head the Senvate data to the government (and we know
it is a slippery slope). Sen. Ron Wyden (D- ate Intelligence Committee say they have
Ore.) has been leading a small but growing worked with privacy groups to tighten regroup of privacy-minded senators who quirements to remove personal information.
have spoken out against the bill. “We’ve They’re not for any bill,” Burr said at a re(See Mace, Page 16)
always been told this is about threats, this
BEHIND THE MIKE
Finding your own music
By Michael A. Aun
Police work just didn’t
As I enter the “winter
suit me.
quarter” of my life, I look
To be fair, I wasn’t
back in retrospect at the
qualified to do anything.
lessons I learned along the
I piddled with writing and
way and the things that
worked as a stringer for a
motivated me.
handful of newspapers in
We all have a lifetime
the South Carolina midsearch for the music in our
lands, never making
lives, the words that inmuch money at it.
spire us to do and be what
Then I realized I was
we are. When I was a teenjust like my grandfather,
ager, I was like 99 percent
Elias “Jew Mack” who
of my classmates, not sure
came to America via Ellis
MICHAEL A. AUN
what I wanted to be when
Island. He took his meaI grew up.
ger savings and headed to Florida. The bad
College was not in my future. I didn’t news is he ran out of money in Columbia,
have the inspiration to propel me in any SC and had to find some work to continue
particular area. My high school guidance his journey south.
counselor reviewed the results of a quiz he
No one would hire an immigrant with
gave me and concluded that I should be a very little English skills and no formal eduballerina. While I didn’t know what I cation. Aside from the language, I was a lot
wanted to pursue, I can tell you that I did like my grandfather in that no one would
know I didn’t want to be a ballerina.
hire me either.
Aside from liking to shag (the Myrtle
So I went to work for Gordon A.
Beach version not the British version), my Harrison Company at the age of 20 selling
dancing skills started and stopped on the real estate. When he passed away from cansecond story of a dance hall in Lexington, cer, I turned to a friend in commercial real
SC known as Gibson’s Pond. There was no estate, Joe Edens, Jr.
“Dancing with the Stars” in those days so
When Joe interviewed me, he asked me
my skill-set on the dance floor had no fu- what my goal was and I told him I wanted
ture.
to be a broker and own my own company.
All that did interest me was writing. I My problem was that I was not yet 21 and
was the Sports Editor of the school news- you couldn’t take the broker’s exam until
paper “The Wildcat” and I thought I wanted you turned 21. He challenged me by not
to pursue writing. For the past four decades, hiring me. “You’re almost 21; get your
I’ve been a syndicated columnist in some broker’s license and hang your own
1,500 newspapers and magazines in 41 shingle.”
countries and have given speeches in 20
I found the music in my life early on
countries and every state.
from the inspiration I learned from my
I’ve written nine books as well. I de- grandfather. He would tell me in our aftercided early on that the money I earn from noon visits during the summer of 1959 that
those endeavors would not support me so I only I could control my future. “Fear is
would just donate it to things I care about. nothing but an absence of knowledge, a lack
That left me with another problem- how to of information,” he would say. “Remove the
make a living.
fear and you’ll find your own music.”
Right out of high school I was a Deputy
Now, some six decades later, I find my
Sheriff under the late Carrol Day. I had music in the smiles of my beautiful grandworked in his campaign election so he re- sons Cameron and Keenan and my sweet
warded me with a job as a jailer on the night granddaughters Ashley and Ava. You need
shift at the age of 19.
something to get you through the “final
After deploying Captain Tommy Fox to quarter.”
a bar brawl in Batesburg-Leesville one hot
*****
summer night, I couldn’t overcome the guilt
Michael Aun is a syndicated columnist
I felt when he was killed in the line of duty and writes a weekly column for this newson that faithful evening, August 22, 1970. paper. To contact Michael Aun, email him
I quit for the first and last time in my life. at [email protected].
COMMENTARIES
October 28-November 3, 2015 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 15
Editors note: The views expressed are entirely those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Las Vegas Tribune.
Supervising Police: Transitions and Training
By Norman Jahn
I always described becoming a
police supervisor as a process of
TRANSITION. It is not easy to supervise your former peers — especially in policing. It is critically
important, however that if you are
going to supervise, you must do it
right. Everyone needs to follow
rules and procedures. Nobody
should be exempt from having their
actions reviewed and having corrective action taken. Accountability does not always mean ‘discipline.’ In fact, I learned that discipline was the ‘training’ that made
punishment unnecessary. So just
how many problems at Metro, and
across the country, stem from a lack
of supervision?
Not too long ago, I read a reflection from an officer. This member
of the LVMPD described how privileged he was to have worked for a
particular supervisor. The supervisor was described as a calm, cool,
and caring cop, especially when it
came to subordinate officers. The
officer had a problem that was eating away at him and it involved a
person he described as a “less-thanscrupulous supervisor in the same
station who was clearly violating
many ethical and policy standards.”
The officer was complaining to the
uninvolved supervisor and seeking
advice.
The uninvolved supervisor
heard the gripes and acknowledged
the biased behavior of the person
in question. He then became quiet.
The officer was quite upset and
wanted a ‘magic solution’ or some
advice to make the situation better.
The uninvolved supervisor agreed
that what was happening was
wrong and unfair. This experienced
‘advisor’ just drank his coffee and
didn’t speak another word for a few
minutes. Eventually, the ‘advisor’
asked, “Do you know what I
think?” The officer anxiously
awaited the answer and was told,
“You’ll win the battle, but lose the
war.” The advisor turned and
walked out of the kitchen and went
into the briefing room.
The officer later described how
he contemplated the advice he had
been given as his work shift unfolded. He would later conclude,
“This man was simply telling me
the lesson I had known since I was
a boy; pick your battles carefully,
because if the objective is to come
out on top, you must be careful who
you choose to engage, when you
engage and why you are engaging.”
These two members of the LVMPD
were friends and the senior supervisor mentored the officer for the
rest of their careers. But whatever
happened to the unethical and unfair supervisor?
The story concludes about how
the officer learned to choose battles
and always try to focus on the big
picture. The officer said, “Unless it
is critical, take a step back and
relax...many issues resolve themselves or don’t seem so important
once you’ve taken the time to think
NORMAN JAHN
about, sleep on or further evaluate
the true impact of them.”
That ‘pick your battles’ wisely
advice resonated with me. In 1983,
when I was just a few weeks into
the LVMPD police academy a
former professor at Michigan State
University wrote to me. He had
been a police officer in the Los
Angeles area before entering
academia. He said, “If you have
battles, select carefully, very carefully — the battles you choose to
fight, for not all of them are worth
a fight and all that goes with it. Still,
you should not give up your basic
integrity and I hope it never comes
to that.” He went on to explain,
Remember, that if you are out of the
system, you have no way of influencing it. Still, certain standards
have to be maintained at all costs.”
I worked for the senior supervisor and ‘advisor’ described above
but didn’t have the same positive
experiences with him that the officer had. I felt he would not address problems, would tolerate lazy
and self-serving officers, and would
even go so far as to undermine his
own supervisors (me) by seeking
information from subordinates. I
guess it was his priority to be ‘liked’
— actually ‘loved and closely embraced’ by line officers. He ended
his lengthy career with all kinds of
accolades from the administration
for his longevity and the ‘love fest’
continues with officers he supervised. They touted him as a leader
and highly respected him. He rides
off into the sunset because he
picked his battles (and obviously ignored others). He enjoys his retirement because he was calm, cool,
and caring to the group he wanted
to be popular with. My assessment
is that cops are very good at ‘reading’ people and also taking advantage of their own supervisors when
they fool [themselves] into thinking that they are respected. RESPECT is what your high school
football coach probably received
from his players — people probably
feared him just a bit. LIKE is simply a warm feeling that makes
things more pleasant if everyone is
doing the job professionally and as
a team. You begin with respect.
A true and honorable supervisor
takes action, even if unpopular; if
officers conduct themselves in violation of rules and expectations, but
not because an officer is disliked or
targeted by the LVMPD administration. I’ve seen lack of attention
and corrective action cost some officers their careers. When they were
not held accountable they continued their behavior. The same holds
true for unethical supervisors who
are themselves not held to account.
It is far too easy for everyone to sit
around and say, “it will eventually
catch up to him” when referring to
bad behavior. This is simply not
enough. Police brutality and corruption will end when honest cops
refuse to tolerate brutal and rotten
cops. I’ve described them as “A—
holes in a uniform” and plenty of
other police officers know exactly
what I mean.
There are choices (battles) we
have to face in our personal lives.
There are also choices about how
we will SUPERVISE in our professional lives as police supervisors if
we are entrusted with this responsibility. Many good cops never become good supervisors because
they do not make the TRANSITION that is required. If you are
going to be a police supervisor, you
do NOT have a choice in many situations and challenges. You have a
role to play to ensure the organization functions properly. It is no time
to play favorites. It is not right to
ignore a, “less-than-scrupulous supervisor in the same station (as described above) who was clearly violating many ethical and policy standards.” It is not right to avoid battles
when integrity and principles are
involved. I hear those written words
over and over, “Still you should not
give up your basic integrity and I
hope it never comes to that.”
TRAINING
The video of the week that is
going viral today shows a school resource officer in South Carolina
pulling a student out of her chair in
a classroom. This has already damaged public confidence in the police before we even know all of the
facts. I don’t see the force used as
necessary and proper but I don’t
know how the officer was trained,
their policies, or his history. I shuddered when I heard what appears
to be the ASK, TELL, MAKE theory
of communication that he used. You
don’t set yourself up by forcing an
issue just because that is what you
were trained (people will do what I
tell them to do or else). Whatever
happened to considering the severity of the crime, the ability to identify the suspect/student, and all
kinds of options to address the situ-
ation after the fact? The only justification for immediate use of that
level of force would have been if
the student posed a threat of violence or endangered the safety of
others. Unfortunately, if the officer
was following the ASK, TELL,
MAKE training he will end up being fired and lots of damage will
continue to be done. Quality supervision early on and continuing to
fight necessary battles is a key to
improved policing!
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. Jahn
received a bachelor’s degree from
Michigan State University and a
master’s degree from UNLV. He has
researched police performance and
the management and leadership of
police departments. His weekly column focuses on current policing issues, especially those involving the
LVMPD. Norm provides ‘insight
with an edge’ to inform the public
and improve policing. He can be
reached at [email protected].
(Continued from Page 13)
for the gander in the rest of the
state?
Those big housing developments, shopping malls, industrial
parks, business and office parks and
those off-Strip casinos — all are on
land once controlled by one federal
land agency or another, mostly Bureau of Land Management.
Those big developments by the
likes of Howard Hughes, Hank
Greenspan, Del Webb and many
other were made possible by the acquisition of cheap BLM land. Never
mind the Southern Nevada Public
Land Management Act of 1998 that
set aside 74,000 acres in Clark
County for private and public development, half of which already
has been sold or transferred.
Revenues from the sale of that
land go into the state education
fund, to the Southern Nevada Water Authority and to a special Interior Department account to be spent
on parks and trails, conservation,
species habitat and restoration
projects.
“We need to protect our public
lands to protect our health. We need
to protect Nevada to safeguard our
special places for future generations
to enjoy,” exclaim Giunchigliani
and Atkinson. “We hope that you
will join us in rejecting the effort to
seize our Nevada lands.”
Seize? Our Nevada lands?
Legislation pending in Washington would gradually acquire only 10
percent of the current federal public land holdings in Nevada, or a
mere 7 million acres.
The BLM loses 91 cents an acre
on land it controls, while the average income for the four states that
have public trust land is $28.59 per
acre. A draft report by the Nevada
Public Land Management Task
Force says the state could net $114
million by taking over just 4 million acres of BLM land.
A bill Rep. Mark Amodei has
been pressing in D.C. would allow
cities and towns to annex small
tracts — 160 acres at a time — of
BLM land to be auctioned off.
It took Yerington nearly a decade to buy at market price 10,000
acres for an industrial park next to
the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine.
Yet, two Clark County elected
officials are saying the rest of Nevada should not have the opportunities their county had in developing their economies and providing
jobs and opportunities for their children.
Lock the gate? Throw away the
key?
*****
Thomas Mitchell is a former
newspaper editor who now writes
conservative/libertarian columns
for weekly papers in Nevada. You
may
email
Mitchell
at
[email protected]. He blogs
at http://4thst8.wordpress.com/.
Mitchell
An outreach
program to help
the homeless to
help themselves.
CHAPLAINSTEVENSTJOHN.COM
Page 16 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
Hillary’s red (prison) shoes
By Larry Klayman
Thursday, congressional Republicans held their long advertised
hearing on the Benghazi scandal,
calling as a witness none other than
the “Wicked Witch of the Left,”
Hillary Clinton. Fresh off of her
presidential debate performance
ironically held in “Sin City,” Las
Vegas, Hillary, looking a bit worn,
was confronted with questions
about why newly released emails
showed that she knew that the attack on the U.S. mission was the
result of terrorists linked to alQaida, but instead lied to the families of the victims as well as the
American public, blaming the attack on a video critical of the
Prophet Muhammad.
Later in the day, some of the victims’ families appeared on Fox
News to reveal that when Hillary
met them shortly after the tragedy,
she promised them that the maker
of the video would soon be arrested
and prosecuted. This was important
information, and it confirmed not
only that Hillary is a pathological
liar, but also that in her evil, queenlike way, she was prepared to order
the maker of the video arrested
through a pliant Obama Justice Department for exercising his right of
free speech. Indeed, this happened,
and the man’s life has been ruined
as a result. All of this lying and
misuse of our legal system was designed to cover up her and the
Obama administration’s lying, incompetence and lack of concern for
the lives of Ambassador Chris
Stevens and the other brave souls
who were killed that day as the
presidential elections were approaching.
This is a scandal, but the American public already knew this. The
Mace
(Continued from Page 14)
cent event, noting that CISA’s language expressly forbids the bill
from authorizing any new surveillance authority. “Some people you
just can’t satisfy no matter what you
do,” Feinstein added, speaking at
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Controversial CISA bill is
expected to hit Senate floor soon As
CISA looms, interest groups on
both sides of the debate are girding
themselves for battle. A coalition of
financial services groups banded
together this week to express support for the bill and press Senate
leadership to schedule debate. “It
is essential to bring CISA up and
have the debate as soon as possible
because those that threaten our national security and critical infrastructures are not resting,” the
group wrote in a letter to senators.
Of course financial institutions
want more information about you.
Will This Really Protect
Users’ Privacy?
Meanwhile, some last-minute
detractors are coming out of the
woodwork. The Computer & Communications Industry Association
(CCIA), a prominent tech trade
group representing major players in
Silicon Valley, telecom and e-commerce, on Thursday published a
blog post saying it is “unable to
support” the CISA in its current
form.
“CISA’s prescribed mechanism
for sharing of cyber threat information does not sufficiently protect
users’ privacy or appropriately limit
the permissible uses of information
shared with the government” wrote
Bijan Madhani, public policy and
regulatory counsel at CCIA.
Are Google, Microsoft, Apple
And Amazon Wrong?
The group joins prominent tech
LARRY KLAYMAN
hearing was helpful to cement the
concrete evidence of Hillary’s and
Obama’s felonious-like behavior.
Now the focus must turn to
Hillary’s use of a private email
server to facilitate bribes to the
Clinton Foundation and large
speaking fees for herself and her
husband, Bill Clinton. This explains
why she hid and destroyed her
emails. But congressional Republicans largely sidestepped the email
scandal, trying not to push too hard
on Hillary after their majority leader
and other turncoat weak-kneed establishment colleagues on the Hill
had stupidly stated publicly that the
committee was out to get her for
political purposes. Ironically, one
can only hope this is true!
While most congressmen and
senators take what are in effect
bribes through political campaign
contributions — Hillary takes bribery a step further by extorting monies that are not technically legal
campaign contributions but instead
cold hard cash intended to line her
and her family’s own pockets to
enrich themselves personally. Establishment Republicans have been
firms, including Apple, that have
taken a stand against the legislation
in recent months. Google,
Microsoft, Apple, Twitter, Yahoo,
Amazon, and Dropbox among the
23 tech companies wanting to stop
CISA.
Feinstein found it “hard for me
to understand” why companies
headquartered in her own state,
such as Apple and Twitter, aren’t
supporting the bill. Maybe because
they understand the long range
ramifications. The senator keeps
pushing forward a bill that major
tech companies, security experts,
the DHS, and digital rights advocates have all called seriously
flawed, and she thinks they’re the
ones who don’t understand? I guess
whenever her mind is made up, she
never lets the facts confuse her.
CISA Moves Forward:
83 Senators Just Voted
To Expand Surveillance
The faux “cybersecurity” bill,
which is actually a surveillance bill
in disguise, CISA, has moved forward in the Senate via an over-
and continue to be loath to open,
much less speak about, this
Pandora’s box.
I am not so constrained, however. In this regard, several months
ago I filed a racketeering lawsuit
against Hillary and Bill Clinton and
their foundation to seek redress for
this bribery. In effect and practice,
Hillary used her influence as
Obama’s secretary of state to take
bribes and then bestow favors on
those who could be aided as a quid
pro quo through her official decision-making at State. See
www.freedomwatchusa.org. This
felonious conduct spanned the
spectrum of interests that had business before the State Department.
It even involved Iran, where it is
clear that Hillary sold waivers allowing persons and interests to do
business with the Islamic mullahs
in Tehran, despite economic sanctions prohibiting this. Years earlier,
Hillary had conceived of and implemented the same type of bribery
scheme with the communist Chinese during her husband’s administration, a racketeering caper I uncovered at Judicial Watch, which I
founded.
Here are just a few of the paragraphs of our “Second Amended
RICO Complaint” against Hillary
and Bill and their foundation, which
is now on appeal to the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The
case was dismissed on contrived
grounds at the lower court level by,
you guessed it, a Clinton appointed
judge, Donald Middlebrooks of the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Plaintiff filed an FOIA request
to State on May 21, 2012, asking
in the public interest for:
Any and all documents that re-
whelming 83-14 vote
While CISA is positioned as just
a “voluntary” cybersecurity information sharing bill, it’s really none
of those things. It’s not voluntary
and it’s not really about
cybersecurity. Instead, it’s a surveillance bill (If it walks like a duck,
that effectively gives the NSA
greater access to information from
companies in order to do deeper
snooping.)
CISA Does Not
Increase Security
Although CISA is branded a
cyber security bill, it does nothing
to actually improve the effectiveness of security systems. It’s concerned instead with increasing the
amount of information that corporations share with government and
protecting those companies from
liability for violating customers’
privacy Even the Department of
Homeland Security has said CISA
is terrible, warning in a letter to Sen.
Al Franken that it could harm privacy and increase “complexity and
difficulty” in responding to cyber
fer or relate in any way to the final
decisions to grant waivers to all
countries and other interests doing
business with the Islamic Republic
of Iran pursuant to the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability,
and Divestment Act, 22 U.S.C. ß
8501, et. Seq. or Executive Order
13533...
Since leaving the White House
in 2001, Bill and Hillary Clinton
and their Clinton Foundation have
amassed a personal fortune (outside
of the Clinton Foundation) of over
$105 million USD, consisting
mainly of speaking fees paid to Bill
and Hillary Clinton and so-called
donations to the Clinton Foundation
from many nations, organizations,
leaders, and business interests who
are hostile to the United States and
U.S. foreign policy and especially
hostile to Israel, but flush with cash
from oil revenue or from sources
doing business with oil-rich,
Middle Eastern and Arab countries...
Specifically, in or about 2011 to
2012, Hillary Clinton and the other
Defendants, acting in concert and
as part of this criminal RICO enterprise and conspiracy while U.S.
Secretary of State, granted a waiver
through the use of the mail and
wires, to Victor Pinchuk and his
company Interpipe Group as an exemption from U.S. Congressional
sanctions against doing business
with Iran as a quid pro quo for
bribes disguised as “donations”
made to The Clinton Foundation...
I am confident that the appeals
court in Atlanta will reverse the
political decision of Judge
Middlebrooks to dismiss the case.
(He also sat on our request to seize
Hillary’s so-called personal email
server.) The emails will show the
bribery racketeering scheme, for
which she and her husband can be
prosecuted.
This case, more than the hapless
efforts of congressional establishment Republicans, could seal the
fate of the Wicked Witch of the
Left, much like the house that fell
on the original evil witch in “The
Wizard of Oz.” Hopefully, with
God’s grace and divine justice,
Hillary will soon be wearing a pair
of red shoes in federal prison, and
the nation and the world will be rid
of this modern-day evil witch once
and for all.
*****
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. Larry became so famous for fighting corruption in the government and the legal profession that the NBC hit
drama series West Wing created a
character after him: Harry
Klaypool of Freedom Watch. His
character was played by actor John
Diehl. In 2004, Larry ran for the
U.S. Senate as a Republican in
Florida’s primary. After the race
ended, he founded Freedom Watch.
The author of two books, Fatal Neglect and Whores: Why and How I
Came to Fight the Establishment,
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.
security threats.
Is Big Brother Finally Here?
Are you concerned about the allknowing, all-seeing, all-omniscient
— The idea of Big Brother government snooping on us, listening in
on our phone calls, intercepting our
e-mails, watching us with all kinds
of surveillance devices? I am! It
offends most people. But when the
fear mongers incite us until we’re
afraid, we think that we need government to protect us from what we
can’t protect ourselves from as individuals. If so, maybe all that surveillance doesn’t bother you as
much (but it sure bothers me!) because between our desire for civil
liberties and independent control
over our own lives, and our deep
desire for safety... staying safe wins,
hands down.
The Controversial CISA bill is
expected to hit Senate floor soon As
CISA looms, interest groups on
both sides of the debate are girding
themselves for battle. A coalition of
financial services groups banded
together this week to express support for the bill and press Senate
leadership to schedule debate. “It
is essential to bring CISA up and
have the debate as soon as possible
because those that threaten our national security and critical infrastructures are not resting,” the
group wrote in a letter to senators.
Of course financial institutions
want more information about you!
Be Vigilant Or Else!
Am I the only one to worry about
this insidious, creeping, stealthy
erosion of our privacy rights? Is this
a recent phenomenon? I think not!
In the immortal words of Benjamin
Franklin “Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither.
Edmund Burke said “The only
thing necessary for the triumph of
evil is for good men to do nothing.
“and “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” Papers please!
*****
For more information regarding
Nevada laws, and what you should
or should not do, please call Mace
Yampolsky & Associates at (702)
550-8265, or you may text them
(702) 385-9777. If you need help,
call before it is too late. They are
available 24/7 for emergencies.
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
Directors in that section as we recruit them.
If you have a desire to be a Contributor of articles,
please contact me and let me know.
www.thecristiancrusade.com
Also, please join our Facebook group if you are on
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/
1634723793433487/
YOUR PRAYERS ARE APPRECIATED!!!
CONTACT EMAIL: [email protected]
October 28-November 3, 2015 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / Page 17
Why the Taxpayer Protection
Pledge has such predictive power
Nothing is more effective in identifying which lawmakers will honor their word on taxes
By Victor Joecks
In their book Switch: How to
change things when change is hard,
brothers Chip and Dan Heath identify three factors that influence how
individuals make decisions — willpower, emotions and situation.
The Heaths use the analogy of a
man riding on an elephant throughout their book. The Rider is a
person’s logical side. The Elephant
is a person’s emotions. The Heaths
find that our decision-making
power can trump our emotions in
short instances, but that self-supervision is an expendable resource.
That’s where the situation — or
“path” — comes in.
The Heaths write:
Now you can see why the third
element of our framework, the
Path, is so critical. If you want
people to change, you can provide
clear direction (Rider) or boost their
motivation and determination (Elephant). Alternatively, you can simply make the journey easier. Create a steep downhill slope and give
them a push. Remove some friction
from the trail. Scatter around lots
of signs to tell them they’re getting
close.
In short, you can shape the Path.
That’s exactly what politicians
do when they sign the Taxpayer
Protection Pledge — they shape the
path.
The Taxpayer Protection
Pledge, a promise from a candidate
to voters that he or she will not raise
taxes, shouldn’t be necessary. But
as Americans for Tax Reform,
VICTOR JOECKS
which promotes and monitors the
pledge, notes: Many politicians
promise voters they won’t raise
taxes on the campaign trail, but after they’re elected, go back on their
word.
The Taxpayer Protection Pledge
is a way for candidates to put their
campaign rhetoric in writing. A
written pledge carries more weight
than words alone.
And the pledge is remarkably
successful in predicting which lawmakers will and won’t support tax
increases. During the 2014 campaign, all Nevada Republicans candidates pledged their support for
lower taxes. Even Gov. Brian
Sandoval and Sen. Majority Leader
Michael Roberson, who would
work tirelessly to pass the largest
tax increase in Nevada history once
elected, told voters they supported
lower taxes.
(Continued from Page 14)
this matter...
Yes, it’s true that Ms. Seaman
voted against the big $1.4 billion tax
hike — and taxpayers are certainly
grateful to her for that.
And yes, by comparison the nine
violations of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge are de minimis (I’ve
been reading WAY too many legal
briefs lately!).
However...
In 1982, James Q. Wilson and
George L. Kelling introduced “The
Broken Windows Theory.” It goes
like this...
“Consider a building with a few
broken windows. If the windows
are not repaired, the tendency is for
vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even
break into the building, and if it’s
unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.
“Or consider a pavement. Some
litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people
even start leaving bags of refuse
from take-out restaurants there or
even break into cars.”
If you don’t take corrective action for small problems, you’re only
going to get far bigger problems
down the road.
And that’s exactly what happens
when legislators start making excuses for votes to increase money
going to the government by claiming “it’s just a small increase.”
Or worse, trying to play semantic games by referring to a mandatory government tax as a “fee” and
claiming the “fee” increase isn’t a
tax increase.
“A rose by any other name
would smell as sweet.”
And a tax hike by any other
name still stinks on ice.
But here’s the thing...
There’s a good chance Seaman
is going to draw a primary challenge from Assemblyman Erv
Nelson — who voted for the $1.4
billion tax hike. And given the
choice between those two, Seaman
will clearly be the lesser of two
evils.
But if she wins both the primary
and the general and becomes a senator, the bright red warning signs are
already there. “Danger, Will
Robinson, danger!”
So don’t be surprised when Seaman ends up joining the Go-Alongto-Get-Along Caucus.
By knowingly and willfully re-
Chuck Muth
Clearly, the rhetoric of politicians isn’t trustworthy. But a
candidate’s willingness or unwillingness to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge is an excellent indicator of how they’ll vote on taxes.
For instance, in the Assembly,
ten Republicans had signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Nine voted
against the largest tax increase in
state history. Fifteen Assembly Republicans didn’t sign the Taxpayer
Protection Pledge. Twelve voted for
the largest tax hike in state history.
So, 90 percent of pledge signers
opposed the tax hike, while 80 percent of non-pledge signers supported it. That’s a very good bellwether, considering the rhetoric on
taxes from all 25 when they were
candidates was virtually indistinguishable.
The reason the Taxpayer Protection Pledge is so effective is that it
coordinates the three elements of
decision making identified in
Switch.
For the Rider, it provides clear
and concise direction — “Don’t
vote for tax increases.” For the Elephant, it boosts motivation and
determination — “I made a promise, and I better stick to it.”
It also “shapes the path” —
pledge-signing lawmakers face less
pressure to vote for tax increases.
The biggest misunderstanding
about Carson City is thinking that
lawmakers function like a highminded debate society and proposals move forward primarily on their
merits. Certainly, ideas and infor-
mation matter, but after committee
hearings, lobbyists meet with lawmakers privately and tell them why
they really should vote in a certain
way. Political pressure is really
what gets legislation moving or
killed.
Even lobbyists, however, only
have a limited amount of time. So
what do they do? They’ll approach
a lawmaker who’s signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and ask if
there’s any way to convince them
to vote for tax hikes. After they hear
“no” or a hearty laugh a couple of
times, the lobbyist will leave that
lawmaker alone and turn their attention to politicians unwilling to
make their opposition to tax increases public.
So lobbyists and special interest
groups will meet with those handful of indecisive lawmakers — day
after day, week after week. These
meetings begin to alter some politicians’ perceptions of reality: “Everyone I’m talking with tells me that
this tax increase isn’t so bad. If the
people oppose tax increases, where
are they?”
Of course, the average voter is
trying to earn a living, because they
aren’t depending on government
plunder like the special-interest
groups roaming Carson City. But
that’s easy to forget in the Carson
City bubble.
On top of that, the meetings become emotionally draining. Imagine having to tell powerful politicians — like the governor — and
special-interest lobbyists, some of
whom are personal friends or donors, “no” again and again for
months. Their internal “Rider” gets
exhausted, and it becomes easier
and easier to justify tax increases.
Eventually most fold.
It’s like going on a diet, but finding out that your hotel will bring a
new dessert to your room every 20
minutes. If you don’t call the front
desk and tell them to stop, you’re
almost certain to break your diet.
It’s not necessarily that Pledge
signers are more courageous when
it comes to fighting the political
pressure to raise taxes, but that they
proactively put themselves in a position where less courage is required.
So when conservative candidates say they don’t need to sign the
Taxpayer Protection Pledge to vote
against tax increases in Carson City,
they are technically correct. But
they’re also putting themselves in
a situation where there will be a
whole lot more pressure on them to
vote for tax increases than if they
signed.
It’s why in the Lord’s Prayer,
Christ taught his disciplines to pray,
“Lead us not into temptation” —
not “Help us not to sin.” He was
shaping the path.
The Taxpayer Protection Pledge
does the same.
*****
Victor Joecks is executive vice
president of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a nonpartisan,
free-market think tank. For more
visit http://npri.org.
fusing to sign the Tax Pledge, as
well as the conservative Contract
with Nevada, Seaman’s already
halfway there.
Now, I fully understand why
some will continue supporting her
against Nelson in the primary or the
Democrat in the general election.
Believe me, I get it.
But if conservatives ever want
to REALLY change Carson City,
they need to support candidates in
2016 who are unafraid to put their
opposition to tax hikes in writing...
and then honor their word once
elected.
No Tax Pledge, no donation. No
Tax Pledge, no door knocking. No
Tax Pledge, no endorsement. There
are simply too many other more-de-
serving conservative candidates out
there.
So let it be written; so let it be
done.
*****
Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public
policy grassroots advocacy organization. He may be reached by email
at [email protected].
(Continued from Page 13)
adjustment, commonly known as
COLA, as early as next year. This
is not only a situation for elder
Americans, but also disabled
Americans receiving Social Security retirement checks.
There is no country in the world
that could support so many foreigners and maintain a decent living for
their nationals.
The Social Security Administration reported that Social Security re-
cipients receive cost-of-living adjustment only if prices rise. I wonder if all those people employed by
the administration have noticed that
everything has gone up to the sky
— the cost of dairy products, meat,
and even bread have all been raised
to unbelievable prices. Personally,
I would like to know where they
shop; so all seniors could stand on
line behind them for cheaper prices.
Forget the wall, Mr. Trump; it is
not going to work. In my most
humble opinion all those people
with the Social Security Administration took the COCA and forgot
the COLA, so greatly needed by
American senior citizens.
*****
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.
Viamensky
Page 18 / LAS VEGAS TRIBUNE / October 28-November 3, 2015
Economic freedom good for state
By Ron Knecht
and Geoffrey Lawrence
The freedom of individuals to
take a job, quit a job, start a business, or close a business at will is
an essential part of America. When
Thomas Jefferson wrote that we
have a God-given right to “the pursuit of happiness,” this is a big part
of what he meant. Unlike the European legacy of being chained to
the family occupation, Americans
are free to decide how and what
work we do for a living, plus when
and where.
With the widest array of economic and occupational freedom in
the world history, Americans
quickly showed how industrious
individuals become when their creativity is allowed to run wild.
Within a relatively short time, the
U.S. became the world’s wealthiest nation.
In recent decades, however, the
rapid accumulation of red tape and
taxes on businesses and individuals has eroded the dynamism of our
economy and led to a major longterm slow-down in economic
growth and opportunity. Government officials invent meritorious
sounding reasons we should
Maramis
(Continued from Page 13)
harsh way either.
So apparently what we had was
a stubborn student, not wanting to
follow orders — for whatever reason (and which reason might shed
some light on this whole thing), a
teacher who demanded she follow
his requests to keep order in the
classroom and respect for the authority position of the teacher, and
in general to show the other students that such behavior and disrespect would not be tolerated. (To
accept such behavior and not show
that it would not be acceptable
could easily lead to more of the
same and even escalation to whoknows-what among the other students.)
It seems that this could really
have just been a case of an attitude
problem that got out of hand. But
regardless of what it was, it could
not be ignored, for more than one
reason. Yet we must question the
way it was handled. I personally
believe that some non-criminal behavior — however annoying or arrogant — is often flamed into criminal behavior because of choosing
the wrong or even the worst possible way of dealing with it. And
often it is the police officer who
brings about that escalated criminal behavior because of not knowing a better way to handle the situation.
Do I have the answer to what
would have been the best way to
deal with it? Maybe not; but handling bad behavior with bad behavior does not seem to do much for
changing the original bad behavior
into acceptable behavior or giving
the bad attitude a chance to phase
into agreeable classroom behavior.
One thing is for sure: if that girl
has parents, they need to be told
about her refusal to cooperate with
following the orders of the teacher
or other school authority figures.
The parents might be the more appropriate authority figures to work
on her attitude and/or arrogance,
although that would do nothing for
the problem at the moment. Perhaps
asking the entire class to step out
into the hall so she would not have
an audience while the three adults
tried some calming words to ward
off the otherwise inevitable escalating reactions that led to her falling
over backwards in her chair and all
that followed might have worked.
Perhaps for future reference, if
one is indeed to put any stock in videos, they might just as well have
classroom cams in every room to
at least get the full story, including
what led up to the situation. Needless to say, to have this help such
situations, they must be checked
frequently to avoid them being out
of order on the day they are needed
most.
We cannot know how this will
RON KNECHT
Nevada State Controller
heavily regulate people’s ability to
offer interior design services or
even African hair braiding. Today,
laws exist that prohibit an unskilled
worker from taking a job if the
agreed-upon wage falls below an
arbitrary and legislatively determined threshold — even if no other
job is available to that person.
In some states, more than half
the fruits of a person’s labor can be
taken via income-based taxes before that person gets paid.
The largest consumer in the
turn out for the police officer, but
let us not forget that there is the
other side to this story: we would
like to learn what happens to the
student, and if she will indeed learn
the behaviors she needs to get along
in this world and not attract unnecessary physical violence or harm to
herself.
When we choose to be part of a
group — from a classroom to a
club, from a family get-together to
an organization of any kind, we
need to know that there are some
unwritten rules of acceptable behavior that everyone must know or
learn, and some easy-to-recognize
behaviors that will not be acceptable in polite or”normal” society.
And that applies to all in the group
— children, adults, authority figures, and anyone else who feels
they are in a separate category. Children will be more apt to be polite if
they see the adults being polite; and
“violence” or “arrogance” will stay
at bay if no one feels inclined to
start that ball rolling.
Although that one other student
tried to “stand up” for her classmate, she too seemed to use a provocative approach that contributed
to the whole out-of-hand situation.
Perhaps it was all inevitable
once the officer made it physical;
but perhaps not. Perhaps it was all
inevitable at the moment the student
felt she was above following orders
or requests from her teacher. Perhaps the student had some kind of
mental lapse or didn’t take a necessary medication that day. Who can
say at this very moment? Perhaps
we’ll learn something quite surprising about the whole situation as it
unfolds.
May we’ll even finally learn the
best solution for how to deal with
this particular problem of life: the
problem of how to get what we
want or need without employing
violence.
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].
GEOFFREY LAWRENCE
Assistant State Controller
world is not Warren Buffett,
Walmart or any private entity, but
the U.S. federal government.
These are conditions Jefferson
certainly never envisioned when he
declared our natural right to the
pursuit of happiness.
It turns out, however, that even
governments benefit from the economic freedom of their people, despite all the excuses they can invent
for taking it away. This probably
comes as little surprise to the most
educated Americans, because a rising tide lifts all boats and economic
growth means more revenues for
government, too.
A series of recent academic papers, though, have looked explic-
itly at the impact of economic freedom on key government financial
health indicators like state bond ratings. These are important signals
because they reflect the confidence
that investors have in the growth
prospects of individual states. To a
large extent, the broad policies
adopted in each state provide the
framework upon which to judge
these growth prospects.
As one paper in the latest edition of a major economics journal
puts it, “Government inhibits the
economic freedom of individuals
under its oversight by erecting barriers to efficient exchange between
individuals, by confiscating property through taxation, and by increasing its presence in the market
as a major buyer of goods and services. Economic freedom is enhanced when governments protect
property rights and enforce the rule
of law.”
That study ran a series of statistical analyses and found: “The economic effect of freedom is... as important [to bond ratings] as increases in other commonly used
economic control variables, such as
income per capita and decreases in
unemployment. This suggests that
state policymakers who indicate a
willingness to reduce the
government’s share of economic
activity, reduce the tax burden, and
allow for freer labor markets are
more likely to see their state’s bond
rating rise and financing burdens
fall.”
In fact, the analysis shows that
each of those three subcomponents
of economic freedom is individually as important to bond ratings as
a state’s unemployment rate. Thus,
when a state enjoys economic freedom, investors are confident in its
ability to pay its bills over the long
term, even if it confronts short-term
challenges. Importantly, higher
bond ratings mean low interest rates
for state and local governments.
These studies are consistent with
many others. A recent study of the
effect of public-sector collective
bargaining laws found that states
that impose a compulsory requirement on cities and counties to negotiate toward union contracts also
experience lower bond ratings and
higher financing costs. Investors
simply have more confidence in
states where the rule is laissez-faire.
Of course, Jefferson knew all
this long before there were ever
economics journals. He didn’t need
complicated econometric analyses
to plainly see that economic freedom benefits human beings. We
suspect that’s true for many of our
readers, too.
*****
Ron Knecht is Nevada State
Controller. Geoffrey Lawrence is
Nevada State Assistant Controller.
Communication and appreciation
By Tom H. Hastings
“Most of the really confident
people I met were actually rather
stupid.” —John Cleese, So anyway...
We lost the developer of nonviolent communication this year,
Marshall Rosenberg (1934-2015),
a man focused on how we can more
effectively help wend our way
through our conflicts with others —
but without engendering more hurt
along the way.
Rosenberg acted as a facilitator,
mediator, and trainer in more adaptive communication methods that
help us get what we need while giving others what they need. His
framing stressed clarity and accountability.
We all know some of these techniques. Comedian John Cleese may
or may not have heard of
Rosenberg, but here is an excerpt
from his autobiography that shows
one of those flashes of genius:
I also knew that I could “do”
confident, and it helped enormously
socially that I appeared to be able
to fake it no matter how insecure,
anxious, or inferior I actually
felt...[I had] the sense that I should
be formidably well informed about
everything... I had an epiphany. I
was talking to a very well informed
fellow called Peregrine somethingor-other, and nodding knowledgeably, and smiling wryly at I knew
not what, when on an impulse I suddenly said, “I don’t know about
that. Will you tell me about it?”
There was a moment of silence,
DR. TOM H. HASTINGS
but the ceiling did not fall in. Peregrine something-or-other did not
slap me contemptuously with the
back of his hand, or spit in my face.
Instead, he visibly brightened and
proceeded to give me a thoroughly
good explanation of what he had
been talking about. He enjoyed explaining it, and I enjoyed understanding it, and he clearly liked me
better for having given him the opportunity to display his learning.
Instead of humiliation, then, I had
initiated a profitable transaction. It
was a revelation, and I found it such
a liberation, and a relief, to be able
to abandon that phony omniscient
posturing.
I will suggest we take that even
a step further. Give credit to our
opponents for being correct. Find
the kernel of accuracy or justification in what our “enemies” say or
do, and openly acknowledge that.
It can be positively disarming and
it can draw down the frantic urge
to hurt us.
Example: ISIS is right to try to
redraw the boundaries in the Middle
East. Those borders were imposed
on the region by European cartographers at the behest of their colonial and imperialist rulers. The
people of the region should enjoy
the sovereignty over the political
boundaries that all peoples deserve.
Does this statement weaken the
drive by all reasonable people in the
region to reduce and eliminate the
ISIS terrorist threat? No. It weakens the outrage that fuels ISIS, if
it’s accompanied by a U.S. pullout
and cessation of bombing. It makes
the U.S. look large and mature.
Then a follow up of a U.S.-led global boycott of ISIS and a stress on
the outrageous conduct of their operatives can reach the ears of the
people of the region and elsewhere.
Such conduct by the U.S. could
radically reduce recruitment to ISIS
and hollow out its authority.
This is the beauty and magic of
adaptive conflict communication. It
can attenuate damage and increase
gain for good ethical and moral
practices. Rosenberg, a clinical psychologist, worked his entire professional career on these concepts. If
such strategies and tactics can save
lives and lower all other costs,
aren’t they worth trying?
Dr. Tom H. Hastings is core faculty in the Conflict Resolution Department at Portland State University and is Founding Director of
PeaceVoice.