Local Viewpoints

Commentary: Trump and Republicans’ health care sabotage has already led to millions more uninsured Americans, and now their policies are causing premiums to skyrocket in markets across the country.

Commentary: What is poverty and who are the poor is a moving target. Take, for example, a new study released by the United Way that claims that nearly 51 million households don’t earn enough to fund a monthly budget that includes housing, food, health care, transportation and a cell phone.

Cell phone? Really, you are poor if you can’t afford a cell phone. Many reading this column will say yes, a cell phone is essential to quality of life in 21st century America; many of you, like me, will balk at this.

Commentary: New Mexico In Depth has three immediate takeaways from last night’s primary.

• Incumbents in the general take note: voters are in the mood for newcomers.

Three Democratic state House incumbents were given the boot last night: Bealquin “Bill” Gomez in southern New Mexico, and two northern New Mexico lawmakers who found themselves in heated races, Debbie Rodella and Carl Trujillo.

Commentary: All of the time I was growing up, going to school, and eventually graduating from business school, I was constantly told by mentors that a person should master a second language in order to develop a niche and to gain an advantage. Growing up in northern New Mexico, I was constantly exposed to Spanish through relatives and friends. However, Spanish in that part of the world is archaic Spanish, which is not used in modern Spanish-speaking countries. Therefore, I had to learn to speak modern Spanish.

Commentary: The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was authorize by the U.S. Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the compromise between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. The law stipulated that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to the one who purchased or inherited them and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate.

Commentary: Monopoly utilities should not be deciding who regulates them.  But that's what's happening in the current PRC election according to the latest campaign finance reports at the New Mexico Secretary of State's office.

Commentary: On June 10th, the Swiss will vote on moving their economy to “Vollgeld”. This referendum asks whether the Swiss banking system will be converted from a traditional fractional reserve system to 100% reserve system and establish debt free money. Many are skeptical as Vollgeld represents a radical change, but Vollgeld is a viable alternative.

  Commentary: Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01), a candidate for governor, released and made publicly accessible her federal and state tax returns since 2013, which covers her tenure in Congress, and called on likely Republican gubernatorial nominee, Congressman Steve Pearce, to release his federal and state tax returns for the last five years as well.

“While other candidates gave their tax returns to specific news media, Congresswoman Lujan Grisham is going above what has been asked and publicly posting her returns online so that all New Mexicans have access to these documents,” said Deputy Campaign Manager Victor Reyes. “ Additionally, we are producing five years of returns dating back to her first year in Congress. Steve Pearce and all candidates for governor should follow suit and publicly release and make accessible their tax returns for the last five years so the public has a clear view into their financial dealings.”

Commentary: Today, Somos Un Pueblo Unido joined a nationwide lawsuit to block the Trump administration from adding a question regarding citizenship to the 2020 U.S. Census that could cost rural communities billions in federal funding by undercounting its growing Latino and immigrant populations.

The lawsuit was filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) in federal court on behalf of several community-based and voter's rights groups throughout the country.

Commentary: New Mexico policymakers and citizens received some good economic news recently. Thanks to the much-maligned process known as fracking, oil production in the Permian Basin in Southeast New Mexico is booming.

New Mexico recently became the 3rd-biggest oil producing state in the nation and is now producing more oil than it ever has before. This has all led to a $673 million boost in state revenues.

Commentary: SUNLAND PARK, N.M.— Conservation and human rights groups will gather Saturday to protest new border wall construction near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, west of El Paso, Texas. The rally will feature speakers, musicians, faith leaders and a sunset vigil in the path of the border wall’s construction. Local and regional residents will join artists and organizers to decry Trump’s wall and highlight the human suffering and environmental devastation caused by border militarization.

Commentary: Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general in filing a brief strongly opposing the Trump Administration’s decision to roll back the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans.

Commentary: I am extremely concerned about the issue of a newsprint tariff. 

Why? Because, years ago, I took a journalism class in International Communications at NMSU taught by the late Professor Charles Eberhardt. He had started Voice of America in Italy, in the the 1940’s, and I remember him telling us that one way some governments control citizens is to withhold newsprint. Many, actually most, newspapers are barely keeping their heads above water as it is. Smaller and rural newspapers will go out of business if a tariff on newsprint forces them totally out of business.

Commentary: Something amazing is happening in the American Desert Southwest. Something many said could not be done. A National Hockey League team in Las Vegas, Nevada called the Vegas Golden Knights is competing for the holy grail of ice hockey, the Stanley Cup. This is happening in their very first season of existence as a new expansion team.

Commentary: Scott Pruitt has been in the news a lot recently.  The EPA Administrator is now the subject of more than a dozen federal investigations, thanks to his ethically questionable behavior and cavalier disregard for taxpayer money.  But while Pruitt’s ethical scandals are a major cause for concern, they don’t directly threaten the health of our community.  The same cannot be said for Pruitt’s systematic dismantling of key environmental safeguards.

Commentary: National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García provided the following statement in reaction to today’s shooting at Noblesville Middle School in Noblesville, IN: 

“Our hearts are with Noblesville, Indiana, as they grapple with gun violence at Noblesville Middle School. We’re thankful that no fatalities have been reported, and NEA stands ready to provide any assistance we can offer to the Noblesville community. Our elected leaders who repeatedly choose inaction over the lives of our children must listen to the students who have been and continue to be most affected by these preventable acts. Decision makers must find the moral fortitude to pass common sense measures that keep dangerous weapons from being easily obtained by dangerous people. This simply does not happen in other countries where such laws exist. Until we take action, America will continue to add more names to the list of children taken from their families, schools, and communities. Enough is enough."

Commentary: In the news is the sale of Modigliani for $157 million, the second highest price paid at auction for a painting. But economists, when we hear the name Modigliani, don’t think of a painter of modernist nudes named Amedeo, rather of the Nobel prize winning economist named Franco.

Modigliani—the economist not the artist—was born in Italy in 1918 and was a refugee from fascist Italy, first in Paris and later in the United States. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1946.

Commentary: Border Trade Alliance President Britton Clarke released the following statement today regarding the Trump administration’s plans to open a section 232 investigation of automotive imports:

“The administration’s plan to begin an investigation of automotive imports on national security grounds is deeply disturbing. If this latest section 232 investigation is the prelude to imposing tariffs on auto imports, it will only hurt U.S. consumers and workers.

Commentary: Like millions of my fellow countrymen and women, I have a deep concern about the long term sustainability of our union and the basic constitutional structures that have preserved it in other times of social upheaval. Even during the campaign, Trump showed a remarkable disdain for core American principles such as due process, the separation of church and state, checks and balances, freedom of press, freedom of religion, and many others. Over a year later, it is evident that the rhetoric he spewed on the campaign trail was a prophetic declaration of his intentions to upend the status quo of our democracy. Everything is up for grabs now: the rights of citizens, the integrity and relevance of political institutions, and the inherent right for non-Americans to experience genuine freedom. In fact, for several months now, I have begun to consider the possibility that circumstances are a lot worse than anyone in the media or on the street is daring to say out loud. 

Commentary: Albuquerque, NM - Today, the Democratic Party of New Mexico is calling on Attorney General Hector Balderas to investigate Representative Monica Youngblood for using her position as an elected member of the legislature to attempt to influence a police investigation after officer lapel video of her arrest for Aggravated DWI was released to the public today. In the video posted on local media outlets, Rep.

Commentary: Gun deaths in America is all about access to them. In Japan, with about ½ our population, they average a total of 10-gun homicides per year, whereas in the U.S. there were 15,500 in 2017. Japan has stricter gun laws than we do—but it demonstrates what can be done when the access is limited. In countries like Germany, South Korea and United Kingdom their gun deaths per 100,000 people are like Japan. Even in Canada (our neighbor to the north) the homicide rate is eight times less than in the U.S.

Commentary: Trump tore up the Iran nuclear deal put in place by his predecessor (Obama) despite appeals by our European allies that we ought to build on what we have and make it better. Trump said no. He now is starting from zero with few chances for success. He is great at tearing up deals like the Paris Climate agreement or trade agreements (NAFTA) with no real strategy for making them better.

Commentary: The New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens (NM LULAC) unanimously passed a resolution on May 20th, 2018 at its annual convention in Las Cruces, New Mexico, calling on Congress, including all five members of Congress representing New Mexico, to act swiftly to enact full funding for and permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). 

Commentary: The United States Supreme Court has opened the door to legalized sports betting. States now have opportunity to pass legislation to allow these activities within their borders.