The Real Problem

I have shared this on Face Book before, but more and more it gets to the heart of the problem.

New Gestapo

trump will get his own new Gestapo as he hires 15,000 new ICE and Border Patrol agents.  Think of it.  One job will be to tear families apart who are living in America.  And think again the way these people will be hired to do this job.

For example the head of the Police Union in Santa Fe who exposes his hate for Muslims may end up being out of a job.  A bad cop.  Where do you think his next job will be?  It is hard enough to fill vacant positions in police departments all over the country but now the job possibilities will increase even more and in desperation to fill them there will be a lot of inferior people hired.  Every bad cop in the country who has been fired will probably be deemed eligible for this work.

And the private prison companies who will house these horrible criminals, you know the ones who do your landscaping and tar your roofs, will also be full steam ahead hiring anyone who can add one and one.  Maybe worse.

What is happening to our America.  When does the dam burst?  Soon I hope.  And for all you trump people out there, how could you be so stupid?

Regression

The Bernallio County Commissioners are considering the most regressive tax to get them out of their overspending habits.  They want to raise the gross receipts tax 3/16ths of a cent.  Of course this falls on the poor and middle class.  Every resident should raise hell.  First, tell them to stop spending.  Second if they still need money then look to the property tax.   Third, if they do this,  just do it for county areas that do not include the City of Albuquerque, whose residents are supporting this overspending by the county as it is while getting few services.

Twenty years ago the gross receipts tax was about 5 1/2%.  Now it is inching up towards 8%.  This is unsustainable.

Victims

We are in the 6th circle of hell with the IRS and NM Tax and Rev because of a computer breach somewhere that affected my wife Bobbi's employment data with the Feds.  Now we have to prove who we are by spending hours waiting on phones and then trying to send scanned documents to the state, which doesn't really like scanned doc formats.  Catch 22 again!  Meanwhile the thousands they owe us in returns won't be sent for an undetermined time.  What is happening here is that we are victims again of identity theft.  But, things could be worse.  trump could actually be in office for more that a few months.  It will be interesting to see if our refunds get here before he has to leave!

Half

The Legislature is halfway to nowhere.  Thirty days left in the session to present crucial bills that our ideologue Governor will veto.

The federal government's immigration enforcers are halfway to becoming the regime's Gestapo.  Way to many of them are doing it willingly.

The Governor and Social Security Administration are halfway to making it impossible to get a drivers license renewed in New Mexico.  I know, I am trying.  Since my SS card is laminated I have to get a new one and they wont let me do it online because as a 71 year old retiree I am not verified.  WTF?

Who is on First

The City Council is funding an effort to get property crimes pounced on by a special team at APD.  Right now the response times for such crimes is almost never.  So, that is good.  Our neighborhood has been seeing a lot of burglaries.  So any thing that can be done to find these thieves is good.  Personally,  I would cut off one of their fingers every time they are caught.  And you all thought I was way too much of a lefty.

But wait, in another development the new DA in Bernalillo County will only go after high profile cases because of his budget woes.  So what happens to these small time thieves.  Well, they are set loose on us again.  And it all comes down to inadequate funding because of Susana's corporate subsidies and tax cuts.  Unlike her, the rest of us don't have a State Police Officer living at their house as a full time security service.

Could the DA and the Mayor have a chat?

The Wall

The chief Cheeto in DC should hire Governor Susana Martinez to build his wall along the Mexican border.  She has already shown her prowess at building a human wall around her to block the press as she moves around the Capitol.  She is adept at it, and as her recent confusing and meaningless remarks on tearing families apart on the border shows, she is heartless too.  She just couldn't bring her self to say the wall is stupid and not something a rational human being would do.

Meanwhile, the orange guy in the White House continues his almost hourly attacks on Journalists in this country.  This is going to end very badly.  Does anyone really doubt the the New York Times, LA Times, and the Washington Post are just absorbing this without a plan?  Is it a possibility they are getting the goods on the regime and its ties with Russia's Putin and other unsavory folks around the world.  Does the Cheeto regime think that videos and other damning evidence of all sorts will not find their way to real newspaper professionals?

And have you noticed how the Cheeto's advisor Stephen Miller sort of  looks like Himmler?

Fossil Thinking

The Albuquerque Journal turned over a major part of its editorial page Sunday to the fossil fuel boys. Call it fake news OPEDs.  First that  oil and gas mascot, Congressman Steve Pearce, says that Obama wanted to crush New Mexico's economy by preventing flaring of natural gas into the atmosphere from all of those leaky oil and gas wells.  "Crush" he said.  Never mind climate change sped up by all this free methane!  Pearce, in protecting his funder's profits, could be construed to be much more dangerous than that poor woman torn from her children in Phoenix and sent back to Mexico.  Crimes against humanity just gets shrugs these days.

And then former Land Commissioner Bill Humphries, a pretty nice guy, drank some of Commissioner Aubrey Dunn's Kool Aid by supporting his P.R. massaging of the fossil fuel boys by saying federal mineral rights under private lands should be given to the state.  Problem is, that will never happen and if it did it would be an immoral act.  Those resources belong to all Americans, from sea to shining sea, and not just to Oil and Gas profiteers in the Land of Enchantment.  Bill, I always thought you were much better than this.

Buggy Whips

Congressman Steve Pearce is all in with trump.  He is seeking support for a new oil refinery in NM.  It is like asking for funding for a new buggy whip factory.  He said it would make us the 'strongest oil economy in the world.'  He truly is one of the "Lords of Yesterday."   He is exactly the kind of leader that we can't afford anymore.  His solution to the fate of the state is planet killing fossil fuel.

Of course he is ignoring the fact that renewable energy, especially solar, is providing the real future of the country.  And yet he wants to leave the Land of Enchantment in the starting gate.  

Heat

The New Mexico business community continues to loose confidence in our state's economy.  Only 16% of those surveyed think we are headed in the right direction.  And yet the Governor escapes the heat mostly because she is treated with such kid gloves by the media.  Where is journalism in New Mexico?

But, at the same time where is the business community ? The Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce has had the same old tired leadership for decades.  They keep their heads in the ground and rarely venture forth to do something concrete on getting the legislature and failed Governor to at least make an effort.  They seem more interested in holding on to what they have in a faltering economy than showing some extended energy to make things better.  The economic development teams of the State and City are feckless in rousing some support amongst them to improve education, infrastructure and recruiting.

Here is an idea for the media.  Demand a news conference by the Governor to detail what her plans are for remedying our slow descent into economic hell.  The Journal, the TV stations, and business publications need to insist.

Next, stand by for bad news from INTEL.  I can feel it coming.

Misc.

A gold star for Mayor Berry in opening an immigrant  friendly service center for the City of Albuquerque.   I don't agree with him on many things, but this was a humanitarian thing to do.  There might be a black mark against his name in  the trump regime, but it won't matter for long.  If the regime in DC doesn't stop the twittering  psychopath soon he will be impeached.  Maybe not from office but from any sort of serious consideration as a President.  And, this is on the GOP.

Someone should actually start a national lottery on the date and time the trump regime will be impeached for real.

The NM Legislature doesn't want ammosexual (yuk) gun nuts running around the Capitol building. They are considering banning firearms from the building.  If they don't actually do it they are stupid.  If they do actually do it, do it everywhere there is public present.  They are in a corner on this one.

From Ned

I will occasionally send  these missives from my good friend Ned who is an expert in all things having to do with energy production and fossil fuels.  Read it and weep.

This is the most recent of my occasional emails about the rapid restructuring of US fossils policy in the US.

Today the House is expected to vote to rescind the Interior Department's recent rule to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas exploration, production, processing, and transportation on public lands.  Rescinding this rule (requiring the use of available technology to sharply cut the climate threat from fugitive emissions, and protecting American taxpayers' interest in efficient production and full royalty payments for production on public lands) is a disgrace.  Here's a link to a summary of the issue by an editor of the West's environmental paper, High Country News:  http://www.hcn.org/articles/methane-rules-in-danger

This comes the day after the successful rescission of the previous Administration's mountaintop mining rule limiting the disposal of mine waste in mountain streams and valleys.  (Have you seen what has been happening in West Virginia?)  See the story here:  http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/overnights/317663-overnight-energy-congress-does-away-with-obama-coal

And this morning, in a "pre-dawn vote," the Senate voted on party lines to send President Trump a measure throwing out a recent Security and Exchange Commission anti-corruption rule requiring transparency about oil companies' payments to foreign governments - contrary to the international Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (https://eiti.org/) that the Bush Administration started with the support of international human rights organizations and (supposedly) oil giants including ExxonMobil.  See: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/317700-senate-votes-to-repeal-transparency-rule-for-oil-companies

Religion

If I were a member of the American business community I would take notice of trump trying to ban the Johnson amendment that will allow churches to engage in political work without having to pay property taxes.  Pretty soon that work will turn into lucrative businesses for religious sects to compete with private business.  It already happens to a certain extent with these mega churches competing against hotels and public convention centers by renting out space in their industrial god spaces.  It happens here in ABQ right now.  But look for innovative ways in which the permissive political involvement of the churches will start selling goods and services tied to their dogmas.  Like Fundamentalist Salsa and tortillas with Jesus's face next to a GOP elephant.

Focal Point

Where is the focal point on Resistance going to be?  Right now there is an avalanche of organizations and people trying to lead the Resistance to trump et al.  But there is no focal point or rallying point that will be there for the long haul.  What is missing is a new leader.   Until then I think things get pretty diluted.

We need a leader in the Senate to personify the Resistance.  Some one young, charismatic, smart and relentless.  In the vein of Senator Gillibrand or Senator Heinrich.  Someone who can represent the young people, who in case you hadn't noticed, are the ones turning out by the millions to protest the crimes agains humanity emanating from trump and his minions.

This has to happen quickly, or trump and bannon will just keep shocking  us with new issues until we become numbed.

Monday Night Murder

I was producing the news and anchoring the newscast at Channel 7 on the night of the Saturday Night Massacre when Nixon fired all of the Justice Department and Special Prosecutor people who were investigating Watergate.  What a night!

It was not a massacre last night, just the murder of a career U.S. Justice Department official named Sally Yates.  She had the honor of standing up to the trump/pence/bannon triumvirate.  We should all stand up courageously as she has done.

Of course, 40% of the American population still sees trump and his minions as infallible.  I am at a loss to see how that changes.  You can't kill stupid.  Perhaps the only thing that would hurt him would be the release of his income tax returns.  We all know what they will say .  We now need a brave IRS clerk to serve his country in an honorable way.  But Hurry!

Beam Me Up

Simply speaking, trump and his aides really are not smart people. Do you remember that Star Trek Episode where a bunch of idiots had tried to operate a Star Ship but were so dumb they couldn't get anything to work? here is a script out take. Sound familiar?

 "This is Commander William Riker of the USS Enterprise."

"Uh-ha"

"We received a mayday message from your ship."

"Uh-ha"

"What is the nature of your problem?"

"We are far from home."

"Aren't we all. What was the reason for your distress signal?"

"We are Pakleds. Our ship is the Mondor. It is broken."

"What brings you so far from home?"

"We look for things."

"What sort of things?"

"Things we need."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Things to make us go. We need help."

P.S. My three and five year old grandsons attended their first protest last night at the Syracuse Airport.  I am proud of them and their parents.

Tsunami

A Tsunami of news.  Trump puts up a religious test for immigrants, i.e., Muslims.  He will reap the whirlwind on this one.  And don't forget the people who stand around him smiling when he signs these executive orders.  And Steve Bannon on the NSC.  What  could go wrong?

And then two wonderfully juxtaposed news stories on the front page of the ABQ Journal, thankfully with a new Editor coming on board.  The economic devastation that is the hallmark accomplishment of the Susana Martinez administration finally laid out in its entirety.  The headline is "EXODUS".  No job creation and no future.  The fact left out is that we have even less jobs than prior to the recession in 2008.  15,000 less jobs.  Go to the Journal website and read comments on the story for a real eye opener. trumpists blaming taxes and everything else.  Some natives saying we deserve it and aren't ready for better things.  That's religion working there.

And  then a tribute to the stupidity that is Susana in a story about the hopelessness of the state of children in the Land of Enchantment.  Susana's solution?  More tax cuts for her corporate friends and less money for Education and the Judicial system.  Frankly, she is having a day like trump.  Pretty soon I will not capitalize her name either.

Dear Legislators

Please read this Forbes report.  All of it.  Why do  the states with the best per capita incomes have the highest tax rates and economic growth?  New Mexico is in the bottom third of taxing its people and has the worst economy.  If this doesn't show the Governor for the stooge she is, I don't know what will.  Of course, it isn't just taxes.  Her lack of economic development strategies is a killer.

A Thankful Governor and Mayor

Susana and Richard should be overjoyed.  All the heat and intensity in the media is off of them for a while.  Our certifiably unhinged President is consuming all the ink and zeros and ones as he continues to deconstruct our Democracy.  Who knew that we could have such bad relations with one of our stalwart bordering neighbors in just ten days.  The question is will Canada be on that list too?  They have to be scratching their heads at the complete mental breakdown in DC.  Watch this.

And yet, Susana and Richard continue to do everything wrong in getting New Mexico out of the economic seventh circle of hell we find ourselves in.  Especially Susana.  Pretty soon Mayor Berry will exit office and ten or so candidates will want to be there as a replacement.  But unless they start talking specifics on how to improve the job market, then they will not get elected.

As far as the Mayor's race goes, I have a suspicion that the person who hasn't announced yet might well win it.  Some one out of the blue with money and some accomplishments under their belt could sweep all of this up.

And when Susana exits we can only hope that a reasonable Governor will be elected.  For all of the obvious economic reasons, but some political ones as well.  Our next Governor, and many others around the country, will have veto power over right wing attempts at gerrymandering after the next census.  We need to replace all of those ultra crazy republican Governors so they cant stop reform attempts in redrawing congressional districts.

Down Mexico Way

From a friend in Mexico.

Hi Jim:

There is general disdain for Trump here in Mexico ................ whether you are talking to the highly educated or to the working class of Mexico.

Mexico´s President, Pena Nieto, is highly unpopular here (12% favorability rating in recent polling) but not as unpopular as Trump.

They were supposed to meet next week to discuss border security, NAFTA and a host of other issues involving the US and Mexico but Pena Nieto was forced to cancel the meeting because of the severe distrust of Trump amongst Mexicans in general and the political unpopularity of even meeting with Trump. 

Amongst my many Mexican friends, they simply do not understand how Trump could be elected President. While they have been accustomed to looking favorably towards the US in the past, presently there are many, many suspicions and unconfirmed rumors about what is to come................everyone is simply uneasy about the future.

As you know, there are more than a few ¨illegals¨ in the US who have been supporting entire families in Mexico by sending home part of their wages. People, simply, do not know what to expect.

At the educated and economically comfortable level, there is much disdain for Trump´s heightened rhetoric aimed at Mexico and his claim that Mexico ¨will pay for the wall¨. Mexico, in their eyes, is the 11th largest economy in the world and should not be treated with such disrespect.

All of this is complicated by the serious devaluation of the peso in comparison to the dollar over the past several years