Debriefing
The Weekly continues its quest to eradicate ignorance, one blog entry at a time.
11.27.08 · 10:31 PM
Camping out for computers on Thanksgiving Day
While heading to the grocery store for some last minute items that inevitably didn’t make the Thanksgiving dinner shopping list, I stumbled upon an unusual Thanksgiving tradition. Passing Best Buy, I saw a city of tents set up inside a barricaded area around the front of the store. Upon closer inspection, I realized this wasn’t a display of camping gear for sale; it was a line of enthusiastic shoppers eagerly awaiting the opening of the doors for Black Friday shopping ... Read more...
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Facebook11.26.08 · 5:27 PM
On the trail of “America’s worst governor”
Las Vegas Weekly has been committed to documenting the failures of Governor Jim Gibbons for a long time. We’ve reported on the special designation that lowered the annual property tax on his 40 acres in Elko County from $5,000 to $15. We’ve quizzed you on the salacious language in Dawn Gibbons’ now very public divorce motion. We’ve compared Gibbons’ May 2007 approval rating to President Bush’s – 29 percent versus 34 percent – and discussed the FBI inquiry into the ... Read more...
11.5.08 · 11:37 AM
A night of civil rights history? Not for gay Americans
Encouraged by Obama’s inclusion of “gay and straight” in his recognition of the beautiful diversity that makes up this country, I’m going to try not to be totally dismayed by the residue of hatred that managed to stick around on an otherwise glorious election night: California, Arizona and Florida passed constitutional amendments against gay marriage. How’s that for a night of civil rights history? Granted, Nevadans already passed such a measure, but you try not to dwell on the fact ... Read more...
11.5.08 · 12:37 AM
A generation later, a look back at the election of 2008
It is a generation beyond the administration of President Barack Obama. The questioner is a grade-schooler studying U.S. history. He wants answers to questions not found in the official, recorded account of American politics. He starts asking … “You saw him, didn’t you?” “Yes, when he campaigned in 2008, the first time. I heard him speak a few times during that campaign.” “Where?” “Once in a ballroom at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas, on what we called, ‘The Strip,’ ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 11:44 PM
Effortlessly presidential in the Chicago night
The black family members came from stage left. The white family members came from stage right. The Obamas. The Bidens. Have we moved on from our historic difficulties over race? Likely not. Racial difficulties on the ground in this country remain. But the chance to start a new dialogue, a new conversation, a new paradigm…that a man who looks like Obama…a man who looks like me…is monumental. It’s so monumental that words like monumental are small and somehow petty. Looking ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 11:41 PM
CNN’s holographic wonder
By far, the strangest thing I caught during my many hours of election TV viewing tonight involved CNN’s Anderson Cooper inteviewing rapper Will.i.am … via hologram?!? It seems the Black Eyed Pea (and apparent diehard Obama supporter) was too busy doing, well, something else, to actually show in person, so the network’s tech geeks figured a way to beam over his ghostly visage, which stood chatting with Cooper about the events of the day. Seriously weird. As was Cooper’s oddly ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 11:26 PM
Despite all odds, “movers and shakers” ignore the election
Let’s start with the climax, except there isn’t one. Upstairs in Lavo’s Executive Suite, dozens of professionals are mingling in clusters with their backs to the election footage airing on two large flatscreen televisions. Suddenly, “Obama Next Elected President” is on the screen. Nobody reacts. No tears or cheers, no screams or swear words, no hugging or high-fiving; people turn to the television momentarily and go back to their conversations. “We’re just ready for it to be over already. Too ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 11:06 PM
The sliver of doubt, for 20 minutes or less
The news of Obama’s victory came so quickly, some in the Brazilia Room of the Rio, headquarters for the Nevada Democratic Party’s election-results party, still seemed hesitant to believe it, even though they were pumping their arms and hooting and hollering. A sliver of doubt still remained, and for about 20 minutes, the atmosphere was surreal. Then John McCain appeared on the jumbotron, conceding defeat, and initially there was a deafening “boo.” But as he delivered a genuine, almost affectionate ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 11:01 PM
Better than sports? The election rules on Tuesday TV
Just how attuned was Clark County to Thursday’s election results? For the first time, I witnessed the many flat screen TVs over the bar at the Claim Jumper adjacent to our office airing something other than ESPN—and at lunchtime no less, when presidential results were hours away from streaming in. Of course, most patrons paid more attenion to their burgers and salads than to the talking heads prattling on about early trends and possible voting irregularities, but kudos to Claim ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 10:52 PM
Hugs and tears under the headlines
A pair of button down white shirts with blue and red Mardi Gras bead necklaces greet me as I walk up to the bar at SushiSamba. The two women sport red, white and blue paper Obama top hats, Obama earrings and badges, and they are giddily tipsy even as the election results are just beginning to come in. My friend orders the restaurant’s bright blue Election Night cocktail, the Obamarama. “There ya go. There’s a real drink,” says one of ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 10:31 PM
On a sea of arms and voices with the Democrats
At the Brazilia Room at the Rio, where the Nevada State Democratic Party held its election results party, Adam Candee, a Harry Reid staffer, got on the dais to let the crowd know that the room was currently at capacity, and that anyone who left to use the bathroom might not get back in. He then pointed to his right to denote the proper door to exit through for anyone wanting to use the bathroom. As he pointed to the ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 10:15 PM
The roar of history too loud to ignore
It’s tough to be an English teacher on Election Night. What was I thinking? To lecture on writing arguments—to a class trying to argue me out of even having class? To use endorsements of McCain and Obama as examples of arguments that we could dissect, while the election was about to play out? …Clacking of keyboards, faces hidden behind computer screens. A little of this is inevitable. Surfing the web, I figured… At the break, I asked who had their ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 10:10 PM
In our little piece of the real-estate crisis, whooping it up just a little
I was playing Tickle Monster with my granddaughter - an adorable and convenient symbol of What’s At Stake - when the networks started calling the presidency for Obama. Just goes to show what a Weekly endorsement can do. “Sarah Palin has to be screaming at this moment,” my oldest son says, exultant. So here, in our little piece of the real-estate crisis, where none of us have much confidence in the future the Bush Admin crafted for my granddaughter, a ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 6:18 PM
A few hours left
The sun is setting and the doorbell rings. “Hi,” I say through the metal security door to a guy in an unmarked baseball cap, staring down at his clipboard. “Hi, I’m with…” he looks up, finally, “the Obama campaign.” “We voted,” I say. “Thank you very much,” he says, checks his clipboard, and leaves. No time for chitchat, there’s only a couple of hours left. Read more...
11.4.08 · 5:48 PM
Just what the doctor ordered: The end of the election
It’s election day and I’ve been sitting at the doctor’s office waiting to find out that I’ve got a broken foot. It seems that I erred greatly in my choices of exercise (running) and footwear (sandals all summer). Let us hope that my choice for president turns out a whole lot better. Anyway, here in the doc’s office, we’re all limpy and/or casted and we’re watching the early results trickle in. Actually, we’re watching Channel 8’s report on the results ... Read more...
11.4.08 · 1:32 PM
Voting machines left unattended in Washoe County
On a day when the tension is palpable as voters hit the polls and wait for the color-blocked map to fill in from east to west, Nevada has another reason to be nervous. A blog posting yesterday from a Lake Tahoe, Nevada resident and middle school teacher displayed cell-phone photos of stacked voting machines left unattended in a school hallway. The blog went on to describe the scene – three stacks of Sequoia voting machines in a high traffic area ... Read more...
11.3.08 · 7:26 PM
Hatred rears its hideous head in Las Vegas Sun comment
On Monday, the Las Vegas Sun posted an editorial on the failings of the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain. In it, the Sun, which has endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama, gave a stinging assessment of the Arizona senator’s campaign, “masquerading as a maverick, he cannot escape the fact he is actually an assembly line version of President George W. Bush. As the general election wraps up Tuesday, McCain has failed to make the case that he is much different from ... Read more...
11.3.08 · 2:49 PM
Sweet taste of patriotic pastry for Vegas voters
It’s time. Less than 24 hours from now Americans from Wasilla to Washington D.C. will vote for the next president of the United States. It’s the end of an election season that has been so exciting, volatile and so down right dirty that it has managed to loosen the magnetic grip on national attention of The Hills Britney Spears and (to some extent) Paris Hilton. As if casting a vote in a state where every single vote matters isn’t motivation ... Read more...
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Saturday
2013-05-25
The Orleans
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Saturday
2013-05-25
The Strip
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Saturday
2013-05-25
The Strip
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Tuesday
2013-05-28
Concert
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Tuesday
2013-05-28
Paris
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Tuesday
2013-05-28
Drink Specials
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Wednesday
2013-05-29
Museum (ongoing)
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Wednesday
2013-05-29
The Strip
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Wednesday
2013-05-29
UNLV
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Friday
2013-05-31
Venetian
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Friday
2013-05-31
Activities-Pool Parties
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Friday
2013-05-31
The Orleans
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SMS Alerts
Featured Cocktail
May 15, 2013
by
Sabrina Chapman
The Golden Pillar: An architectural cocktail built for XS
This Sunday, XS nightclub celebrates the grand reopening of its after-dark pool party, Night Swim. Along with the bash comes a new offering of signature cocktails served by the pitcher, ...
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