BLM's Anaconda giveaway hits a snag

It's not an election. It's a stick up. Vote for Lombardo or the state gets it. "If I didn't have a relationship with Donald Trump, ICE would be walking down Las Vegas Boulevard," Joe Lombardo claimed at a private event with veterans, according to audio obtained by the Nevada Independent.

Unfortunately the audio provided by the Independent ends there, so we don't know if Lombardo followed his assertion by declaring "I'm Joe Lombardo."

And presumably ICE walking around the airport is still okay.

Meanwhile, I'm guessing Lombardo's campaign is delighted this audio has been released into the wild. Building a brand as a Trump-whisperer, no how matter how far from the truth, is sexier than just being that guy who vetoes everything.

IN NEVADA CURRENT

"Deal" is Trump's favorite word, and boy oh b0y is his Bureau of Land Management offering one to Atlantic Richfield. The BLM will give a bunch of land to the company for free, and there's already a mining company that wants to buy it once Atlantic Richfield has it, except not for free. Why doesn't the BLM sell the land to the company that wants to buy it for money, instead of giving it away to a corporate middleman and getting nothing in return? It's almost as if sometimes Trump's deals aren't grrrrrrreeeaaaatttt! Anyway, the company that wants to buy the land (for money, not for free) is joining this suit, in which a federal judge has shut down the "deal," for now. Jeniffer Solis reports: Judge hits the brakes on land sale near polluted Anaconda site

Could it be? “I am well on my way to having sufficient resources to compete on the airwaves,” Democratic congressional hopeful Teresa Benitez-Thompson said, adding that “Las Vegan David Flippo will never have the community connection to compete with me on the ground.” Yes, this district is still ranked safely Republican — despite Flippo, not because of him, obviously. But this is the best chance Democrats have had in the district maybe ever, especially since Republicans in northern and rural Nevada curiously nominated, you know, a Las Vegan. April Corbin Girnus reports: CD2 fundraising reports suggest momentum may be on Democrats’ side

'Lombardo didn’t thwart the ICE thugs at the airport. People did. And people, specifically Nevada voters, are the ones who ultimately will have to defeat Trump’s perpetual malevolent assaults on democracy in Nevada.' I did a little modifying and repurposed Saturday's newsletter as a Sunday column: Trump sics his wretched Department of Homeland Security on Nevada’s free and fair election

Gutting the ESA. The Trump administration is removing protections from the key places where endangered species live, saying states can keep the areas safe. State wildlife agencies are already underfunded as it is, and preventing developers and extractive industries from destroying critical habitat would require far more resources than those agencies have available. (Which is the Trump administration's plan, presumably). Alex Brown with Stateline reports: The feds no longer protect endangered species habitat. States say they can’t pick up the slack.

Good Luck