Opinion

Democrats, statist liberals, other leftists and their media echo chamber were in full-throated “sky is falling” mode over the Labor Day weekend about the supposed imminent repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by President Trump.

First, note this. When you govern with a “pen and a phone”, as former President Obama so famously did when he could not get what he wanted from Congress, a DACA repeal by order of the next president is a potential result. Governing by executive order works only when the next president is going to follow your lead.

I recently visited Port Gamble, Washington’s dahlia gardens.

Dahlias are gorgeous and are diverse in color, shape and size. I saw ruffled dahlias the color of blazing sunsets with tangerine outer edges and deep yellow centers.

In our last column, we discussed the Civil Rights movement that hugely changed America in the 20th Century and greatly redeemed the failure of our Founding (allowing slavery) and the Democrat and KKK legacy of bigotry, oppression and discrimination known as Jim Crow.

We pointed out that government, plus the social, economic and political Establishment, was the enforcer of slavery and Jim Crow. And that the reforms overshot their mark, leading to pernicious reverse discrimination that now travels under the euphemism of diversity.

Our property is 2.5 acres in size. That’s bigger than many people have and huge for folks living in apartments or condominiums. And, some people don’t have any yards at all.

I was reading a Martha Grimes book last week and I learned a new landscape term –
“enameled mead.”

I had never heard of this, and couldn’t imagine what it meant.

Recently, James went to Portland, Oregon for a concert and to celebrate his 17th wedding anniversary with his lovely wife, Vicki.

One of the first things he noticed driving around the area was the traffic nightmare. After one miserable attempt to drive eight miles in an hour, it was time to put the car away and rely on public transportation. It was clean, on schedule, and very reasonable at five dollars per person for unlimited rides.

Hot sun, low humidity and drying winds create a hospitable environment for tiny pests called spider mites.

With eight legs, these arachnids are related to spiders and scorpions.

Please tell the Lahontan Waterboard to put a stop to the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association (TKPOA) proposal to put chemicals into the pristine waters of Lake Tahoe!

On August 1, 2017, Comstock Mining, Inc. (CMI) released its quarterly report, which included a number of statements and topics important to Silver City. CMI’s ultimate goal of an open pit mine in Silver City remains unchanged. The company plans to begin the permitting process for the Dayton Mine by the end of the year. “We are marching toward Dayton feasibility come hell or high water,” according to company CEO Corrado DeGasperis, with production plans ready to go in two years.

In the ideal horticulture world, a healthy soil provides all the nutrients that plants need to grow.

Unfortunately, Nevada rarely has soils that optimize plant growth because they contain little organic matter and few nutrients.

Arizona’s United States Senator John McCain has been a difficult Republican for libertarian limited-government conservatives like us to embrace. Often, we stand opposite him on important issues of the day. He is too lacking in overarching principle for our taste. James has called on him to retire and actually sided with his Republican primary opponents in 2010 and 2016.
Yet, today we are sad.

Our socialist healthcare system is predictably out of control with rising costs, lowered services and inevitable bankruptcy for our nation. To solve the artificially created shortages of affordable health care we need to repeal Obamacare (hopefully before it kills too many people) and then we need to restore market incentives to lower the cost of health care using the following ten steps:

I: Eliminate Taxes and deregulate American health care.

II: Increase grants and loans to create more health care doctors and workers.

A reader sent me photos and questions recently stating: “I’ve seen this 'growth' on various garden plants at just a couple homes in my neighborhood. They struggled to get rid of it.

"Just recently, I found this growing out in the desert on BLM land about a mile or two past our neighborhood," the reader wrote, "and would like to know what it is, if it's going to spread, does it kill its host, and if I should do something about it.”

Since the passage of Question 2 last year, some of us have engaged in an ongoing debate about the wisdom of permitting recreational marijuana sales in Carson City. At this moment, it seems that the majority of the Carson City Board of Supervisors intend to exercise their right as our elected representatives to approve an ordinance permitting the sale of recreational pot at the City’s two existing medical marijuana dispensaries as a defense, ironically, against a long litany of adverse impacts outlined in the draft Business Impact Statement released on July 7th.

Sometimes Nevada can be, well, uniquely Nevada. Perhaps this’s why, in this major fire season and after great amounts of snow and flooding from the melt, a state of emergency was declared. A state of emergency because recreational cannabis dispensaries are running out of weed!

Many of our readers have probably not heard of Warrick Dunn, former running back for Florida State University and the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons.

Dunn had a great college career, winning a national championship with the Seminoles in 1993. He followed his college success with a very good twelve-year career in the NFL. He made the Pro Bowl three times, although his successes were overshadowed by the likes of Shaun Alexander, Adrian Peterson, and Corey Dillon.

American’s favorite crop to grow at home is the tomato. Few can resist the delicious flavor of a homegrown tomato.

On June 30 Nevada ended its 2017 fiscal year, and we observed yet again one of the more annoying problems in state government: the annual last-minute spending frenzy.

Did you know that not too long ago people did not require medical insurance? Less than fifty years ago people paid cash or used credit for medical care which was true for most of the history of our nation. Indeed, medical care was once so accessible and affordable that most people did not need insurance to pay their medical bills. Then, medical Doctors and Insurance companies began to lobby government to 'regulate' (i.e. monopolize) health care to 'improve' it.

Despite what so many Americans demand of lawmakers today, our country wasn't built so much on cooperation as it was people with differences learning to get along.

Americans Declaration of Medical Freedoms

Intellectually, I always realize summer is coming. But, I never actually believe in it untilthe temperatures soar and then, suddenly I miss spring.

For now, this is the last regular column that will carry the Ron and Geoff byline. Geoff is leaving the Assistant Controller’s job July 1 for a new one.

James Smack, the Deputy Controller, will join Ron in the weekly column beginning next week. Geoff will make guest appearances now and then, we anticipate.

At a public workshop on June 20, 2017, the City Manager expressed the opinion that Carson City would be relinquishing control of its fate to the Reno City Council if it elects to prohibit the sale of recreational marijuana within its borders and that the cost of dealing with marijuana consumption within our jurisdiction (because of its availability in Washoe County) cannot be adequately offset without the ability to collect taxes on new retail pot sales.

The Georgia-6 special election turned out to be a media headfake. Karen Handel, the former Republican Secretary of State with universal name recognition in a deep red district, eeked out a 3.2-point victory over Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old Democrat with no experience in elective office and no prior name recognition, and who didn't even live in the district. This narrow victory was described as a "Democratic defeat," which is a little much considering that Georgia-6 has been Republican since the 1970's.

On May the 4th, the House of Representatives passed their version of health care reform (H.R. 1628) without a single hearing or any input from the Democratic minority. The vote was 217 to 213. All 193 Democrats voted no, as did 20 Republicans:

According to Dr. David Jeremiah in his new book, Is This The End?, many of his friends in the literary world as well as personal acquaintances, are asking this question also: are we indeed reaching the end times here on this earth? How many stressful and horrific events have to take place before some one, some where, and at some time erupts into a non-reversible action which is going to bring about another non-reversible action? Is this where the world is headed? Where to find confidence and calm in the midst of world events? Whom do we trust? Where do we place our trust?

A healthy lawn involves more than a weekly mowing. Plant roots need oxygen in the soil to grow.

During the fall of 1983, my friend - a journalist, columnist, editor, hurmorist, speechwriter and political strategist - Chris Schaller introduced me to a man, he cited, as the smartest politician ever. Tom Fettic. And Christy, as you know, had previously worked with some of Nevada's very best.

Upon Christy's untimely death, in Februrary 1984, Tom was "politically bequeathed" to me for his '84 election to the Carson City Board of Supervisors, his '88 re-election, as well as his '94 election to the Nevada Legislature as our State Assemblyman.

Recently, Ron spoke to the Good Government Group in Douglas County. Among other things, he said that automation creates more jobs than it destroys. One thoughtful chap challenged that claim.

Is it true? Are robots and other devices and methods ultimately going to leave everyone unemployed?

Even Microsoft founder Bill Gates thinks “technology will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of the skill set.” So, he proposes taxing robots to make up for the public revenues lost through increased unemployment.