Grumpy Editor

Did Harry Reid/solar story trigger end of cattle roundup?

Coincidence or otherwise, just one day after a story linked Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) with the “range war” involving a Nevada cattle rancher’s battle with the Bureau of Land Management, its “troops” --- including snipers among 200 armed agents --- suddenly pulled out of Bunkerville, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, notes Grumpy Editor.

It could explain why the Senate majority leader was conspicuously quiet during the week-long standoff in the state he represents.

The focus was on rancher Cliven Bundy’s 908 cattle grazing on 1,200 square miles of remote mountains and desert managed by BLM and the National Park Service.  Since 1870, the Bundy family’s herd has been grazing on that Clark County land. 

The cattle roundup originally was triggered by supposed endangerment of the desert tortoise.  Then the emphasis was on Bundy not paying grazing fees for 20 years, putting the amount owed at more than $1 million. (NOTE:  A tally by Grumpy Editor finds that based on the current federal grazing fee of $1.35 a month per head and figuring 900 cattle, the annual fee would total $14,580.) 

Then on Friday, a story by Kit Daniels on Alex Jones’ Infowars.com site proclaimed:  Breaking: Sen. Harry Reid Behind BLM Land Grab of Bundy Ranch 

Daniels wrote, “Deleted from BLM.gov but reposted for posterity by the Free Republic, the BLM document entitled ‘Cattle Trespass Impacts’ directly states that Bundy’s cattle ‘impacts’ solar development, more specifically the construction of  ‘utility-scale solar power generation facilities’ on ‘public lands’.” 

Daniels pointed out, “Back in 2012, the New American reported that Harry Reid’s oldest son, Rory Reid, was the chief representative for a Chinese energy firm planning to build a $5-billion solar plant on public land in Laughlin, Nevada.”  (That proposed facility on Clark County land later was shelved.)  See Daniels’ full story here. 

Rory Reid is a former chairman of the Clark County Commission.   

Soon after the Infowars story hit the Internet, BLM director Neil Kornze said: "Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public.” 

Just last week, with the protest and cattle roundup under way, the U.S. Senate confirmed the BLM post of native Nevadan Kornze --- who earlier worked on public lands issues in Sen. Reid’s office. 

The cattle were being returned to Bundy after the week-long “bullying” by the feds.  Cost to taxpayers:  between $1 million and $3 million. 

 

In case you missed these…

HARRY REID ORGANIZES ENERGY SUMMIT.  Continuing his focus on solar energy, the Senate majority leader said the annual National Clean Energy Summit Sept. 4 in Las Vegas will spotlight projects where governments and private industry are cooperating on renewable energy initiatives. Booked as keynote speaker:  Hillary Clinton.

 

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS LACK IDENTIFICATION?  In the 13^th paragraph of an Associated Press story on Barack Obama’s Friday speech in New York accusing Republicans of voting restrictions, the president is quoted:  “But I am against requiring an ID that millions of Americans don’t have.”  (Normally, a revelation that millions of Americans are without identification would be stop-the-presses news, something for mainstream media to pounce on.  But now it’s ho-hum, nothing new, end of story.)  

 

MENTION ‘PING’ AND NEWSROOM GETS EXCITED.  CNN yesterday was on day 36 of almost continuous coverage of the vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with on-screen headlines:

          New developments

          Search area expands for missing plane

 

STICKER SHOCK LOOMS AT THE MEAT COUNTER.  Allied with the Nevada “range war” (detailed above) and underscoring importance of the U.S. raising more cattle, backyard barbecue chefs and restaurant owners are facing the highest beef prices in almost three decades.  A dwindling number of cattle and growing export demand from countries such as China and Japan have caused the average retail cost of fresh beef to climb to $5.28 a pound in February, up almost a quarter from January and the highest price since 1987.

 

ONLINE OPERATION TO ACQUIRE ALASKA’S LARGEST DAILY.  Alaska Dispatch Publishing LLC, the parent company of the online Alaska Dispatch, said it will purchase the Anchorage Daily News from The McClatchy Co. for $34 million. The sale is expected to close in May.

 

HOUSE RENOVATION UNCOVERS VINTAGE NEWSPAPERS.  Old newspapers filled with history were found under layers of old siding at a Nashua, N.H. house.  Duplicating a time capsule, readable editions of the defunct Nashua Telegraph and Boston Post dated back to August, 1922.

Electronic voting machine problems make rounds again

Grumpy Editor finds it interesting that when a female Las Vegas casino host attempted to vote a second time last week --- during an early voting period --- it made the main front-page headline, with art above the fold, in Saturday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal but no such similar space was given two years earlier when Sen. Harry Reid’s name already was checked off for voters on some electronic machines. 

The Senate majority leader in 2010 was in a close battle with Republican Sharron Angle.  She said she lost because of fraud. 

A 2010 post-election Associated Press story noted, “Reid’s win was a surprise in a race where a succession of polls showed a dead heat and he acknowledged he was in trouble.”  

At midyear 2010, AP pointed out, “Reid appeared headed for defeat as Nevada suffered with the nation’s worst unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates.” 

Electronic voting machines are in the news again this election season. 

The Republican National Committee declares voting machines, again in Nevada, plus Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado, Missouri and Kansas, are flawed and improperly showing votes cast for President Barack Obama when GOP candidate Mitt Romney had been selected. 

That action also brings fresh quotes from Larry Lomax, Clark County (Nev.) voter registrar, in a state where high rates continue in unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy. 

His explanation:  “The machines work just fine.  It is possible for a machine to get out of calibration.  That simply means if you touch somewhere, it may read the touch in a slightly different place.” 

Electronic voting machines move around a lot in the Las Vegas area.  Early voters cast ballots in supermarkets, malls, libraries and trailers in parking lots.  Some voting sites are operational for as little as two days before moving to other locations. 

In 2010 when Reid was up for reelection, Lomax pinned complaints at that time on faulty electronic machine action by seniors, noting, "Especially in a community with elderly citizens (they have) difficulty in (casting their) ballot.” 

This year in Marion, Ohio, for example, voters charge that when Romney’s name was selected on electronic voting machines, Obama’s name lights up. 

“Because of the issue,” says Sophia Rogers, board of elections director for Marion County, “we had that machine recalibrated.” 

Frequent recalibration appears to be necessary with electronic voting machines. 

During early voting, says Lomax in Nevada, electronic machines in Clark County are calibrated every morning and sometimes twice a day. 

In an earlier election, pre-marked electronic ballots appeared in New Jersey.  Most troubling were numerous reports of “vote flipping,” in which voters select a candidate only to see the voting machine record votes for the opposing candidate. 

With the 2010 election that saw Reid returned to the Senate, Washington Examiner writer Mark Hemingway said, “It is worth noting, the voting machine technicians in Clark County are members of the Service Employees International Union.” 

The SEIU is a heavy contributor to Democrats.

Leno, Obama vie for most appearances in Las Vegas

With another campaign rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, President Barack Obama seems to be competing with Tonight Show host Jay Leno in the number of visits a year to Sin City, notes Grumpy Editor.

Obama, recognizing Nevada as a key battleground state in the upcoming election, returns to the casino-studded neon capital over the weekend, on the heels of another visit just 18 days earlier.

It marks the president’s eighth visit to Las Vegas and ninth trip to Nevada this year.

Obama is esxpected to stay three nights in the Las Vegas area before heading to Denver for an Oct. 3 presidential debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Jay Leno, meanwhile, reappears for his stand-up routine in Las Vegas Oct. 12 and 13 --- with six more appearances scheduled on The Strip through next Sept. 20.

The difference between Leno and the president, however, is that Leno encourages folks to visit Sin City.

Obama is remembered for taking two negative blasts at Las Vegas.

In February, 2009, one was directed at business meetings when the president declared, “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers dime.”

A year later, the president followed that with, “You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”

Las Vegas’ economy then turned south, triggering pink slips to thousands of casino industry workers, knocking out construction, and sending the area’s unemployment and home foreclosure rates soaring to the nation’s highest. 

Obama again seeks funds from Las Vegas area he knocked

Grumpy Editor says imagine a U.S. president telling Americans to bypass a city and spend money elsewhere, yet visiting that city multiple times --- for fundraising toward his reelection.

That’s the case with Barack Obama who, again, routes Air Force One to Las Vegas this evening for tomorrow's fundraiser.

It’s part of a two-day stop in Nevada, a state hard hit by the souring economy.  Today he is visiting Reno.

In his fifth visit to the Silver State since January, the president’s trip this time comes as Nevada’s unemployment rate edged up to 12 percent last month --- the highest rate in the nation.

(Michelle Obama has made three trips to the Las Vegas area over a three-month period this year to rally campaign supporters.)

The president tomorrow will be passing his hat in an area, dependent on tourist travel and conventions, after he fired two blasts at Las Vegas after he took office.

In a February, 2009 message directed at business gatherings, the president declared:  “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers dime.” 

Then a year later, he warned:  “You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.” 

Las Vegas’ economy then turned south, with thousands of casino workers losing jobs, sending the area’s unemployment soaring.

Then Las Vegas soon rose to first place in U.S. home foreclosures.

Along with ranking tops in unemployment, Nevada also heads the list in bankruptcies and worst credit scores, finds a CardRatings.com survey. 

In connection with tomorrow’s visit to a high school in North Las Vegas, a statement from the Obama campaign mentions that among topics the president --- in office for almost four years --- will focus on:

How to grow the economy.

 

‘Little bird out of the blue’ tells Sen. Reid about Romney

In a variation of the vintage expression, “a little bird told me,” Sen. Harry Reid this week said he learned via an out-of-the-blue telephone caller that Mitt Romney paid no taxes for 10 years, notes Grumpy Editor.

The unsubstantiated “revelation,” nevertheless, grabbed much print space and broadcast time. 

Other than Reid saying the call came from “an investor in Bain Capital,” the private equity firm cofounded by Romney, there was no way to determine the authenticity --- or even if there was a call to the Senate majority leader. 

The Nevada Democrat told the Huffington Post, “Now, do I know that that’s true?  Well, I’m not certain.” 

Reid has said without more disclosure by the Republican presidential candidate, Romney “couldn’t be confirmed as dog catcher.” 

A Romney spokesman said Reid’s charge was baseless and below the belt. 

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh yesterday suggested interrogation of Reid by the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

After making his charge, Reid challenged the media --- rather than utilizing his large staff or Senate investigators --- to dig into Romney’s finances. 

Then the senator added the fuzzy (and perhaps revealing) line:  “What if he (Romney) has paid no taxes, like I am saying he hasn’t.” 

Meanwhile, as a test to see how “easy” it is to contact Reid with a tidbit, try a call to his Washington office at (202) 224-3542.

 

Reno newspaper photog roughed up by deputies at fire

Reno Gazette-Journal’s photo director Tim Dunn, a 21-year veteran on the Nevada newspaper, was on assignment covering a fire with two cameras last week when he was issued a citation for obstructing and resisting while performing his duties, observes Grumpy Editor.

Dunn filed a formal complaint citing use of excessive force by sheriff’s deputies.  He said he was detained for more than a half hour after being handcuffed.

Attired in yellow protective gear, including jacket, goggles and helmet --- which  fire authorities say a journalist should wear for safety when covering fires --- Washoe County sheriff’s deputies, after an investigation, on Wednesday said he was cited because he entered an active fire scene without authorization and resisted deputies’ commands as they tried to confirm his media affiliation.

Furthermore, a sheriff’s captain accused Dunn of impersonating a firefighter because of the yellow protective gear he was wearing.  (One seldom sees a “firefighter” with two cameras at a fire scene.)

Dunn, in his complaint, said he identified himself as a journalist with Reno’s daily newspaper.

The 60-year-old photographer entered an “active fire scene” --- a brush fire that destroyed two homes --- because he was there for his newspaper.  And it’s hard to believe that a veteran photog, with more than two decades at the Gazette-Journal, was completely unknown to firemen and deputies on scene.

One of the deputies in the incident, in defending their action, said Dunn’s “continued refusal to follow instructions and continued efforts to resist us forced us to guide him to the ground.”   The photog said a boot came down on his back and a deputy pushed his face into the gravel.

See a photo of Dunn’s large scrape on his right cheek and on his right hand after being “guided to the ground” here.

Despite all this, June 23 and June 27 stories in the Gazette-Journal, made no mention of the publisher or editor backing up their veteran photo director.

A court date in Sparks (Nev.) Justice Court is slated for Aug. 1.

 

California's July 1 foie gras ban: more work for police?

Some editorial page writers in California should be busy over the next few days, prior to the banning of foie gras in state restaurants starting July 1, pointing out how police departments face another decision:  whether to haul in chefs who keep the delicacy on menus, notes Grumpy Editor.

Starting Sunday in the Golden State, producing or selling the engorged livers of forced-fed ducks and geese will be prohibited by law.  The law was passed in 2004 with a grace period that ends this week.

Restaurants that defy the ban will be subject to stiff $1,000 citations.

Pushing for the legislation were animal rights advocates who cited cruelty in fattening fowl by overfeeding them to produce fatty liver.

Talk among chefs, in skirting the ban, is to bring in the foie gras from outside California, such as Nevada, and serving it as a free side dish --- but charging for toast that goes with it.

But that could lead to some major action.

“We’re going to come down like a hammer on any chef or restaurant that wants to continue serving this very cruel product,” Bryan Pease, co-founder of the Animal Protection and Rescue League in San Diego, said in an interview with Bloomberg writer Alison Vekshin.

“If we find somebody still serving that product, the gloves are going to come off and we’ll use every legal means available to shut that place down, including lawsuits, protests and boycotts,” Pease added. “There’s just no reason to allow restaurants to do business in California that flout the law and torture animals for a table treat.”

However, major police departments in California --- already busy enforcing assorted crimes --- appeared reluctant to issue citations or handcuff law-breaking chefs. 

 

Both Obamas see $$$ signs in multi-visits to Las Vegas

President Barack Obama and the First Lady this year continue to see Las Vegas as the alluring place to visit, campaign or harvest funds despite earlier slaps at Sin City as the destination to avoid, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Michelle Obama today visits the Las Vegas area to rally campaign supporters in nearby Henderson. 

It marks her third trip to the area in 11 weeks. 

The three trips are on par with the number of presidential visits this year, most recent being on June 7.

Following a “private family trip” to Las Vegas on  March 28 with her two daughters, Sasha, 10, and Malia, 13, Michelle Obama returned to Sin City on May 1 for a private fundraising where each guest paid $2,500 for breakfast. 

What is noteworthy is that twice in recent years the president shot arrows at Las Vegas, scaring off tourist and convention activity.  

In a message directed at business gatherings, the president in February, 2009 declared, “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers dime.” 

Then a year later, he warned:  “You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.” 

Las Vegas’ economy then soured, with thousands of casino workers losing jobs, placing the area’s unemployment among the highest in the nation.  Las Vegas soon rose to first place in U.S. home foreclosures.

But media traveling with the president or First Lady don't mind the repeated opportunities to get close to Las Vegas' latest irresistible slot machines. 

 

 

‘Sensitive’ voting machines being eyed today in Nevada

With Nevada’s primary election today, some voters will be keeping sharp eyes on electronic voting machines that were a source of questionable vote tallies in the 2010 election that resulted in a close victory for Democrat Harry Reid, Senate majority leader, notes Grumpy Editor. 

In a tight race with Republican Sharron Angle at that time (she was ahead in polls right up until the election) some early voters --- in a state that allows early voting in such places as supermarkets, shopping malls and trailers --- found Reid’s name already checked on ballot pages of electronic units. 

The happening received scant national media attention at that time. 

Clark County registrar of voters in 2010, without conducting an intensive investigation, declared there was no voter fraud but blamed the checkmarks alongside Reid’s name on sensitive screens. 

Larry Lomax at that time also blamed the faulty voting action on seniors, mentioning elderly citizens have difficulty in casting their ballots. 

Following that weak explanation, former House majority leader Dick Armey, now Freedom Works chairman, said with early voting there “is less security” that creates a “great opportunity” for voter fraud, especially in major urban areas. 

This year’s early voting in Nevada ran from May 26 to June 8. 

Top race in Nevada’s current voting is for the U.S. Senate, pitting Democrat Shelley Berkley against Republican Dean Heller. 

Nevada requires no photo identification or verification of identity for people who vote.

 

Los Angeles braces for another ‘Obamajam’ today

Anyone notice the workout Air Force One is getting these days in shuttling President Barack Obama around the U.S., asks Grumpy Editor. 

Media in the entourage are having a difficult time figuring out what state they are in.

Last Friday the Boeing 747 flew the president to Minneapolis and Chicago for six fundraisers in one day.

On Monday the commander in chief appeared in New York. 

Today, after two fundraisers in San Francisco, the 747 flies to Los Angeles in Obama’s second visit to L.A. in less than a month for an evening gay and lesbian community fundraiser in Beverly Hills. 

Then tomorrow morning he heads for a breakfast in Los Angeles’ View Park neighborhood, called the “black Beverly Hills,” where more than 80 percent of residents are African-American and the median income is $85,000 a year. 

Both of the Los Angeles area events are expected to cause “Obamajams,” a recently-coined word in the City of Angels for messed-up traffic, irritating motorists, triggered by presidential motorcades causing street closures and traffic delays. 

Then the 747 is off to Las Vegas where Obama speaks mid-day tomorrow in an indoor arena at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. 

The UNLV appearance marks the president’s fourth visit to Nevada this year.