Utilities commission to public: Complain, just not to us

Deep fake electors. A judge dismissed Nevada's case against the fake electors late yesterday, on the grounds that, you know, they didn't really mean it and they were just Trump's useful idiots. The useful idiot defense has always been a solid go-to, no?

Anyway, your attorney general, who is also your Democratic nominee for governor, waited forever and a day before filing charges against the Trump-bootlicking phony electors in the first place. And when he did get around to it three years after the fact, he tried to be cutesy and filed the charges in presumably Ford-friendly Clark County instead of Carson City where the bootlicking fakery was perpetrated.

And since in 2020 there wasn't (and still isn't, thanks to the Veto Governor) a state law against sending Congress phony electoral college certifications (because why in the hell would there be?), "General" Ford, as he's fond of calling himself, after all the dithering and dawdling and assuring a perplexed public that the issue sure was "on our radar," ended up filing what might be called peripheral charges of the fraud variety. To which the judge more or less said no, the fakers weren’t fraudsters, just dupes. As if the two are mutually exclusive. Now Ford says he'll appeal his latest loss. Cool, dude.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned governor wink wink nod nods to independent voters that he's not really a Trumper and just plays one when necessary. But at the same time he pals around with the fake electors and licks Trump's boots on command in his own right because he lives in fear of Trump, of course, but also in fear of the Trump base turning on him in a heartbeat and not showing up for his reelection.

Great work, everyone. Profiles in courage and judgment all around.

IN NEVADA CURRENT

Amateur hour. With a heightened sense of alarm over data centers and the AI for which they stand pervading the public sphere, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada is deploying the time-honored tactic of public officials everywhere by putting their fingers in their ears and saying "blah blah blah blah blah blah I can't hear you" over and over again, while at the same time pointing to an excruciatingly dainty and preciously contrived excuse to stifle and ignore public outcry. That should work. Jeniffer Solis reports: PUCN denies public session on NV Energy’s data center-driven resource plan, advocates call foul

Note, via the Dept. of Blown Opportunity: Gov. Joe Lombardo has declared data centers are an economic savior and he for one is all in. That wildly unpopular position presents Lombardo's challenger, the aforementioned General Ford, an opportunity to sharply distinguish himself on what has emerged as one of the most high-profile public policy issues in Nevada and the nation. Ford has failed to do so, instead allowing his campaign to slip into the usual stuff of Nevada gubernatorial campaigns: largely policy-free tit-for-tat sniping between the contenders over campaign-generated micro-scandals. Whatever, dude.

Support the troops! When Nevada State Senator and Republican congressional candidate Carrie Buck paraded around Boulder City on the Fourth of July, it was on a truck belonging to a Nevada-based defense contractor who admits he colluded to defraud the U.S. government. Dana Gentry reports: Buck hitches wagon to defense contractor who schemed to defraud taxpayers

Tobacco to NV: Thank you for not majoritying. Nearly two-thirds of Nevada voters would support raising the state’s tobacco tax, according to a new survey. Alas, it takes a full two-thirds of state legislators in both houses to raise any taxes because them's the rules 'round here. And if Lombardo's still the governor a full two-thirds would also have to override his veto, which would be inevitable because, mistaking a facile slogan for responsible governance, he's double-dog promised “no new taxes.” April Corbin Girnus reports: Majority of Nevadans support tobacco tax hike, survey says

Snow eaters. A closer look at one of the ways the climate that we (i.e., humans) busted is tormenting the U.S. West, via Grist: Scientists define a new category of heat wave: ‘Snow eaters’

Good Luck