Local Viewpoints

  Commentary: The latest National Citizen Survey conducted by the City of Las Cruces shows that nearly three-quarters of Las Crucens surveyed positively rated their overall quality of life. The same number favorably rated their neighborhood as a place to live, while about 6 in 10 were pleased with the overall image and appearance of the City. About 8 in 10 residents indicated that they planned to remain in the Las Cruces for the next five years and would recommend living in Las Cruces to someone who asked.

  Commentary: BALTIMORE— National Education Association Vice President Becky Pringle provided the following reaction to 

  Commentary: In the final hours before the U.S. Senate considers the Republican healthcare bill, the Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair Richard Ellenberg released the following statement calling on New Mexicans to urge Republicans to vote no on final passage of the Republican healthcare bill: 

Commentary: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) respond to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s failure to release 47,000 public complaints that could show the American public's desire to keep the internet open and free. The comment period on a new FCC proposal to undo net neutrality was closed on July 17. National Hispanic Media Coalition had requested the comment deadline be extended until complaints against internet service providers (ISPs) were made public.

  Commentary: Sometimes everyone's wrong.

Take the saga of Chris Barela, jailer.

He's a likable guy, but has a very mixed record at the Doña Ana County Detention Center. 

  Commentary: Immigrants’ rights organizations in New Mexico applaud the effort of 20 attorneys general –including NM Attorney General Hector Balderas– to protect the DACA program amid direct threats to end the proven successful relief.

Commentary: STATEMENT FROM CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN GREG BLAIR: “It’s sad that people who are more focused on scoring points than solving problems would try to distort Steve Pearce’s story of hard work and humble beginnings. The Pearce family started out with nothing and worked hard to lift themselves out of the depths of poverty. Steve Pearce embraced his parents’ work ethic and got his first job when he was nine years old. Steve is a New Mexico success story.

Commentary: Congressman Steve Pearce released the following statement on the signing of the Dodd-Frank Act seven years ago:

Commentary: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) today released the following statement regarding the House Budget Committee’s markup of the House Republican budget.

Commentary: WASHINGTON - On Wednesday evening, Voices for Internet Freedom, a coalition of organizations advocating for the digital rights of communities of color, filed comments calling on the Federal Communications Commission to maintain the strong Net Neutrality protections it adopted in 2015.

The comments filled by the Voices coalition include more than 100 personal stories from people of color across the country whose lives have been transformed by bright-line Net Neutrality rules.

  Commentary: WASHINGTON — Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today introduced the Dream Act of 2017, legislation aimed at granting legal status and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. The bipartisan legislation would also provide a long-term legislative solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program recipients and Dreamers.  

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García issued the following statement: 

  Commentary: ALBUQUERQUE, NM - After it became clear the Senate did not have the votes to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that the Senate would vote to repeal funding for Affordable Care Act and leave a replacement for the future.  By Tuesday morning, three Republican Senators released statements indicating they would vote “No” on such efforts. “I did not come to Washington to hurt people,” said Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV). Senator Tom Udall and Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico also opposed the bill.

  Commentary: The G-20 consists of 19 of the strongest economies in the world, plus the European Union (EU). At annual meetings, the chief executives of each member nation participate in top-level discussions on issues such as foreign policy, trade, climate change and immigration. The goal is to have frank discussions in order to create social and economic stability throughout the world. Collectively, the G-20 nations account for nearly two-thirds of the world’s population, 75 percent of world trade, and 80 percent of total world Gross Domestic Product.

  Commentary: New Mexico - A bipartisan group of governors rejected Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act today, but Governor Martinez was noticeably absent from their l

Commentary: Right now everyone in America should be thinking seriously about what they want this nation to become.  In talking with family and friends about the 45th presidency whose catch phrase is "Make American Great Again", clearly the administration's usage of "great" does not match ours.

This nation we love was founded because of its abundance of natural resources.  Those riches led to "colonialism" which began the plundering of those resources. 

Commentary: Washington, DC – The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the initiative that has provided deportation relief and work permits for nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants, is under attack. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has threatened the Trump Administration: if DACA isn’t ended by September 5th, he will sue to block it before a federal judge named Andrew Hanen, the notoriously anti-immigrant judge who blocked DAPA. Paxton seems to have a willing ally Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has long opposed DACA.

Commentary: There was a time not long ago when people were not totally obsessed with politics and political soap opera. Local and state elections came along and people learned about the candidates for a few weeks and voted and that was it. The presidential race came along less frequently and you’d see the candidates on the evening news for a few weeks before the election and then you voted and that was it. You didn’t see or hear much about these folks beyond that and everyone else out in the real world was quite fine getting on with their lives.

  Commentary: Yesterday's wonder was a bright rainbow at the top of the Organ Mountains. (God's comment to the Interior Department on keeping our monument as is?) Cameraless, I tried to capture the image with my cell phone, but hadn't a clue how to zoom in.

Commentary: Austin, TX – Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a meeting this week that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is under threat and at the mercy of anti-immigrant Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Should we make fun of people who don’t recognize the Declaration of Independence?

National Public Radio has a tradition of reading the entire Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July. This year, NPR decided to expand the tradition to social media. They shared the entire document, 140 characters at a time, on Twitter. That’s 113 posts, in case you were wondering.

Commentary: I am shocked at Governor Susana Martinez's  anti-Monument stand. In 1947, President Harry Truman warned us about people like Governor Martinez and anti-wilderness Congressman Steve Pearce: “The battle for conservation cannot be limited to the winning of new conquests. Like liberty itself, conservation must be fought for unceasingly to protect earlier victories. There are always plenty of hogs who are trying to get natural resources for their own personal benefit ….

  Commentary:  ALEC, the secretive organization marrying corporations and legislators to create pro-corporate bills, named its New Mexico state chairperson their “Chair of the Year” in 2015 for her work pushing corporate agendas through the State Legislature.

Now its 2017 and she plans to use all that state legislative experience as a platform to run for Congress in the open Congressional seat vacated by Steve Pearce who just announced he is running for governor in 2018. 

Who is Yvette Herrell?

Commentary: At Tuesday’s meeting of the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners, County Clerk Scott Krahling announced his support for New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s decision to protect the privacy of New Mexico voters by denying a request made by the Trump Administration’s 

  Commentary: Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today unveiled his third version of the Republican Plan to replace and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Despite some modest adjustments designed to entice wavering Senators, the core is still the same: it would drastically restructure and defund Medicaid, take away coverage from tens-of-millions, and drive up health care costs for millions more.

Commentary: As Congress takes a break from their work, I am deeply concerned over the impact that Trumpcare may have on children in  New Mexico.   As a teacher, I have seen the ravages of lack of health care for my students.  Many of the issues that affect our students from engaging in school is the fact that their medical needs are not being met, lacking immunizations and consistent medical and dental care.  New Mexico has a low ranking on child well-being.  Since the implementation of ACA, there has been better healthcare access, with more children getting the care that keeps them health

Commentary: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Rep Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) made the following statement today on the “Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality.”

Commentary: On May 18, President Donald Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer formerly notified Congress that he would be renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with partners Mexico and Canada. With this notice, the administration can begin renegotiations after 90 days. Even though the overwhelming majority of economists tout the value of international trade and the benefits that accrue to the U.S., NAFTA has been made a lightning rod in political battles.

  Commentary: On Monday, July 10, the formal public comment period closed for the review of national monuments. More than 1.2 million comments were received on Regulations.gov and thousands more were received via traditional mail.

Commentary: I recently read short histories on despots like Hitler, Mussolini and Napoleon. They all gained power with minority support—but once they had that power they set up a state controlled press and isolated their critics, either by eliminating them or discrediting their ideas. Just like Putin has done in Russia. Every President since WW II has recognized the evil intent of leaders in the former Soviet Union and today’s Russia—except Trump.