Brian Greenspun

Story Archive

Don’t let bad ideas take root, R-J

Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017

Fortunately, I don’t think any sane person in this country will criticize the MGM leader for supporting his employees and his company, customers and communities in their desire to fight back against the rising tide of neo-Nazi thought that has been allowed to move from the dark fringes of society into the mainstream of political thought over these past couple of years. ...

3 GOP senators stand tall at legacy moment

Sunday, July 30, 2017

McCain is a patriot. Practically his entire adult life has been given to public service. Whether as a member of the armed services of the United States or as a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Senate, our neighbor from Arizona has epitomized the selflessness of public service. ...

McCain well-equipped for his fight, as all should be

Sunday, July 23, 2017

I am writing about John McCain because his recently revealed medical challenges are not dissimilar to those of so many Americans. And, like many others in this great country, the courage he displays in dealing with those challenges is what we should celebrate and respect. ...

Russian interference is no Hollywood fantasy

Sunday, July 16, 2017

What’s so great about writing, directing and acting out screenplays is that if you don’t like the way it sounds, looks or feels, you can always do it over. Rewrite and re-shoot and viola, a new reality courtesy of …

Declaring independence and standing for Nevadans

Sunday, July 2, 2017

We have heard words to that effect before. In fact, this coming week — July 4 to be exact — our country will celebrate the 241st anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. You know, that’s the document that started this whole American democracy thing. ...

Heat is on, yet Trump remains oblivious

Sunday, June 25, 2017

President Trump is perhaps the only person in America who remains uncommitted to the plain truth that the Russians interfered with the free and ...

On this Father’s Day, stand up for America

Sunday, June 18, 2017

So as a father and a grandfather, I am exercising my prerogative to discuss with my grandchildren — and, by extension, all grandchildren — a matter of significant concern. At least, to all men of my generation who were raised by the Greatest Generation, it should be! ...

D.C. presents contrasts in majesty, misery

Sunday, June 11, 2017

To say that the mood in Washington is just strange and unlike it has been during the administrations of the last three presidents — Democrat and Republican — would be a significant understatement. ...

Let’s leave childish behavior to 2-year-olds

Sunday, June 4, 2017

The events around the Paris Climate Accord this past week made me think back to those wonderful days when I watched my grandchild grow from childish immaturity toward the responsibility we wish for them as adults. I likened the many years of America’s leadership around the world on the critical issue of climate change to the time I got to spend with a 2-year-old …

Trump due credit on Mideast peace efforts

Sunday, May 28, 2017

The president got it right, I believe, when he decided that the key to Middle East peace ran through Riyadh. This isn’t the first time the Saudi king has been at the tip of the Arab spear when it comes to leading the charge toward peace with Israel ...

Amid echoes of Watergate, courage under fire is a necessity

Sunday, May 21, 2017

So, here we are in 2017, some 45 years after the break-in and the specter of Watergate has raised its ugly head again. This time, however, the questions to be answered are not about a third-rate burglary of the Watergate Hotel ...

Where I Stand: Women rule, and mothers rule even more

Sunday, May 14, 2017

So, my first mistake the other day was asking my dear wife, Myra, what plans she had for Mother’s Day. ...

Read a book; you may just learn from it

Sunday, May 7, 2017

I understand that not everyone likes to or has the time to or even wants to read a book. But, as we are learning almost daily, making stuff up instead of dealing with facts and figures as a basis for our beliefs is a dangerous way for Americans to conduct our democracy. ...

Kerkorian’s ‘Promise’: Making sure truth will endure

Sunday, April 16, 2017

I am especially mindful of this subject — man’s inhumanity to man — because today is Easter and if Christianity around the world is celebrating anything it is the magnificence of the human spirit coupled with a sincere faith that man can be better, do better and act better toward his fellow man. ...

Bottom line in the health care debate is the people

Sunday, April 9, 2017

I realize that the country’s fascination with a businessman as president was enough to carry the day last year for Donald Trump. For a thousand different reasons, I opposed Trump’s candidacy. One was an insistence that I have maintained for decades that a businessman may not, by definition, be the best person for the job as commander in chief and leader of the free world. ...

Tired of ‘negative’ news? Blame Trump

Sunday, April 2, 2017

The media’s job is to keep the citizens informed about anything that affects their lives, their families and their country. There is no greater source of the information that impacts those lives than the workings of their government. And the president of the United States is the embodiment of our government. Therefore, what he does on behalf of this country is, by definition, news. ...

Moral argument should lead health care debate

Sunday, March 19, 2017

It is possible, I assume, that President Trump was the only person in this country who actually believed his campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare on Day One or thereabouts. But not likely. I am certain there were millions of American voters who believed candidate Trump when he said it would all happen just like that! ...

When Trump plays God, tell him to go to Heller

Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017

No good Bible story is complete without a devil. So ours will be called Lucifer Bannon. He sits on Lord Trump’s right shoulder, whispering all manner of evil thoughts designed to undo all that the other Bible’s God has so painstakingly created over many millennia. What we have today isn’t the greatest but we continue to work toward making our union more perfect. And now the people are concerned that all they have accomplished will be reversed. ...

Hope and a prayer for our new president

Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017

It is our ability to cede the power of the presidency from one person to another every four or eight years — without guns or bloodshed, and with proper respect for our Constitution — that distinguishes the United States from almost every other country on Earth. ...

One day, two very different presidents

Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017

At the very least it is far more than a contrast in style. While I was thinking about this column and the subject matter — President-elect Donald Trump’s Putin problems ­— I was watching CNN for the latest “breaking news” about the man who will be our next president. I happened upon a live feed from the White House and a special going-away ceremony for Vice President Joe Biden ...

Don’t dismiss Russia, that ‘bad ol’ putty tat’

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017

Soon it will be Inauguration Day and the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump, will take the oath of office and immediately begin trying to make America great again. As a fellow in the news business, I know we will have to be more vigilant than ever. As an American, I am happy to root for his success and pray his failures will be few. But that isn’t what’s on my …

United States goes AWOL in its support for Israel at U.N.

Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017

Former Rep. Shelley Berkley has responded to the U.S. abstention on a United Nations Security Council resolution that allowed the rest of the world to condemn Israel for ...

Wisdom is gained through the ages, but also through continuing education

Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016

In this fast-paced communications world of the 21st century, the ability for people to have the “wool pulled over their eyes” is exponentially more likely and alarmingly more dangerous …

In 60th year, Sun Youth Forum still inspires

Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016

I am writing about the youth forum as I do every year about this time because it continues to inspire not only me but every student counselor, educator, administrator and moderator who are committed to the forum’s success, This year, more than most, the passion …

Constitution among many reasons to be grateful

Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving. I know I’m a few days late, but since we are still in the midst of the Thanksgiving holiday, it is never too late to wish friends, family and neighbors the best of what this celebration means to Americans ...

Reid will be gone, but state’s fight against Yucca Mountain nukes must continue

Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016

For most Nevadans — there are always a few who either don’t comprehend the consequences of such a decision or just don’t care — the idea that we would be forced to accept the deadliest material known to man just a few miles from the heart of Las Vegas in incomprehensible. And, yet, it is true ...

Blue wave: Nevadans can take pride in state's voting results

Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016

One of the few bright blue spots in a mostly red map of our country last week was the Silver State. Our voters — who had more right to be angry about what happened during the recession of 2008 than those in most other parts of the country — rose above their personal feelings and ...

What’s needed to be a president? Let's let our current one explain

Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016

In two days Nevadans will go to the polls to vote in what I believe is the most consequential presidential election of my life. There is a reason, probably many, that President Barack Obama and all four of our living former …

As election closes in, boomers need to act like adults

Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016

How did it come to this? How did friends of a lifetime become estranged because of presidential preferences? How did husbands and wives ...

It's time for Trump to lead his supporters away from the brink

Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016

Civil wars happen to other countries. They don’t happen in the United States, with one notable exception. Wednesday night I was fortunate enough to have been at the Thomas & Mack Center for the third and final debate …

With Trump, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it

Monday, Oct. 3, 2016

In 1952, long before a courageous newscaster named Edward R. Murrow stood up to the infamous Red-baiting senator from Wisconsin, my father Hank Greenspun was the lone media voice in the country decrying the …

Shimon Peres: A remarkable man and a longtime friend

Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016

I remember the first time I met Shimon Peres. I was just a teenager when I traveled by myself — it could have been my first airplane trip — to Israel in 1962. My parents thought I should spend a summer working on a kibbutz while learning all I could about …

Statesman speaks; would-be king gets a pittance

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016

I have two words for the many business, social and political leaders of Nevada who filled in as “Where I Stand” columnists while I took a vacation. Thank you. Thank you for becoming columnists for a day, which …

Mansion brims with stories of Las Vegas’ rich history

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016

It is not just a house — excuse me, a mansion. The story of Las Vegas lives within its walls. The history of an era that spanned three generations echoes from every corner. The ...

A true leader, Hillary clears a bar set high

Sunday, July 31, 2016

I was wrong. Last week I quoted the great Charles Dickens from his “A Tale of Two Cities” when I wrote about the just-finished Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention, which has …

Light and hope will distinguish the Philadelphia story

Sunday, July 24, 2016

The Republican conclave in Cleveland was itself a tale of two cities. There were the best of times: the Trump children speaking about their father and their lives. They also were the worst of times: the refusal of Ted Cruz to forgive …

Fallen Dallas heroes prove police do ‘protect and serve’

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Summertime, and the living is anything but easy. Only the people can make it better. First, we have to talk about the tragic events that took place 10 days ago …

How can Trump be so ignorant, uncaring as to invoke such bigoted images?

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Never again. As a young, Jewish child growing up in the United States, the words “never again” were etched in my brain. In part because I grew up in my father’s house and, in part, because every …

Keep it civil: Not standing up for those who were sitting in

Monday, June 27, 2016

Any reasonable American who watched the Democratic congressmen and -women taking over the well of the House of Representatives on Wednesday evening had to be somewhat sympathetic to …

In spirit and at home, fathers deserve nod today

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Today is Father’s Day. This is the day we traditionally have given over to the dads in our lives to do as they wish. It never quite works out that way, however, because no matter …

After Nevada debacle, democracy feels the burn

Sunday, May 22, 2016

It is no secret that Secretary Hillary Clinton is my friend. It is also well-known that my wife and I are ardent supporters of Clinton’s candidacy for president of the United States. Now I am going to say something that is probably not helpful to ...

Teaching appreciation on Mother’s Day

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Celebrating National Teacher Appreciation Day. And happy Mother’s Day, too. For all of you fathers out there who somehow have forgotten what today is, now is your chance to make a solid recovery. Find the mother of your children and …

Do-nothing GOP is poised to repeat history

Sunday, May 1, 2016

“I’ve got plenty of nuttin’.” I have been singing the lyrics (in my head because out loud would be a supreme injustice to Ira Gershwin and a host of marvelous voices) to that famous song from ‘Porgy and Bess’ ever since I started thinking about …

Let’s help ensure residents aren’t under the gun

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Our country is under the gun. If we have learned anything from this political season, it should be that motivated Americans can act in a way that threatens to disrupt “the way things are” and make needed …

With a clean assist from regents, Let’s go Rebels!

Friday, April 8, 2016

The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, and the community that supports them, need to be a contender. Again. With apologies to Marlon Brando, Las Vegas may not be a very long way from …

Stars align for 2-state solution, Mideast peace

Sunday, April 3, 2016

They put the ad in the wrong paper! Last week, the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace published a most powerful ad in The New York Times under the heading, “Israel’s Security Chiefs Agree: Separation into two states is in Israel’s vital security interest.” I have been …

For dance, Obama unfairly called on the carpet

Sunday, March 27, 2016

I am struck by the crescendo of voices converging on the concept of political correctness during this presidential primary season. So much so that I am ...

GOP spreading its do-nothing insanity to Supreme Court

Sunday, March 20, 2016

If this wasn’t such serious business, the 2016 political season would be the best comedy on television. Alas, choosing the president — the person to lead not only the United States but …

Is the sky falling for the GOP?

Sunday, March 13, 2016

First truth: The sky is falling. No, it isn’t. Despite the Chicken Littles in our lives, our skies have managed to stay intact for as long as any of us can remember. It is true, however …

Brookings’ work trumps GOP’s circus show

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Washington, D.C., is a tale of two cities in more conflict than ever before. The Republican presidential debate Thursday night did not take place in our …