Latest Article|September 3, 2020|Free
::Making Grown Men Cry Since 1992
5 min read
It’s easy for me to predict that you are reading this missive the day after the New Mexico primary election. The thing that is difficult for me to make out in my crystal ball at this moment has to do with determining whether you—normative citizen, vaunted Alibi reader or just a troll looking for fun phrases, admonitions and sardonic tendencies that you can call me out for—has what it takes to keep moving forward toward November.A lot of things hinge upon the outcome of those contests to be held on the cusp of winter. Progressive voices and reason may prevail. The resulting change in the balance of voices in the legislative branch of our government may result in a critical look being taken at the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath. There could be a small triumph as an accounting finally takes place. As a nation and a culture, we could well be on the path to the restoration of democracy and decency, at least from a political standpoint.Or contrariwise, the right and its hold on our democratic mechanisms might strengthen, consequently crushing any substantive semblance of defiance, of resistance.A reminder: You are at a fork in the road. You can choose either path and start walking on Tuesday, November 6. But cuidao, homies. One path will take us far away from the road carved out for us by folks like Robert Kennedy and Cesar Chavez and Rosa Parks and Avram Finkelstein. But the other just might lead us all back home.Therefore, in the interest of keeping ustedes all interested until the proper sendero becomes apparent, here are some up-to-date developments from the world of la politíca.Democrats and New MexicoThis newspaper has continuously and vociferously warned about the danger Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce poses to the future of this state.Besides embracing the fossil fuel industry, Pearce has continued to display values that run counter to established democratic norms, calling on wives to submit before their husbands as well as disparaging gay marriage as the next step toward “polymorphism.”But besides those awful if obvious reminders that Pearce is not a good fit for the Land of Enchantment, questions have arisen—within Democratic ranks—about the efficacy and strength of Democratic frontrunner Michelle Lujan Grisham’s campaign.That sort of questioning has been a common thread in many long-lost battles for political supremacy by Democrats in this state. We are reminded of the election for governor in 2014 and the benighted quest for Congress undertaken by Phil Maloof, against “Leather” Heather Wilson in 1998.Lujan Grisham currently faces daunting issues about her involvement with Delta Consulting Group, including claims that she profited from the “state’s use of a high-priced health insurance program for seriously ill patients, even after Obamacare made such programs obsolete.”Although the candidate defended herself after the damaging news was published in Politico, her statement did not provide details to counter the claim.Clearly and post-primary Lujan Grisham’s first job should be to clear up this problem lest she join Diane Denish and Phil Maloof in history’s dustbin.I Read the News TodayMeanwhile the juggernaut that is the Donald Trump administration continues to advance its dangerously crooked agenda.• Charlie Savage at the New York Times reports that Trump is “ramping up his assertions of extraordinary powers.” Trump declared in a recent tweet that he had the right to pardon himself.• After Trump recently withdrew from the international accord designed to limit or at least forestall Iran’s nuclear capability, the country announced on Tuesday that it had completed steps toward increasing its uranium enrichment capacity.• The upsurge in large-scale, family-busting deportations continued on Tuesday when ICE agents swooped on Corso’s Flower and Garden Center in Sandusky, Ohio, and locations in Castalia, Ohio, to arrest more than 100 workers. Overall, the prosecution of undocumented immigrants increased by 30 percent in March and April 2018. Here in Nuevo México, six new federal prosecutors have been hired to help implement the ICE zero-tolerance policy.• The impending trade war fomented by Trump’s economic policies is certain to have devastating effects on the middle class.• Trump, on Tuesday morning, symbolically cloaked in an American flag muttered that he will “loudly and proudly play the national anthem.” But the man’s open disparagement of African American athletes discoursing on institutional racism has done its work, encouraging and promulgating racist dialogues and actions in our nation.• It’s been a year since Trump dumped the Paris Climate Accord. In that time climate change has accelerated, has pushed the Earth into “uncharted territory” and will ultimately worsen humanity’s relationship with the garbage it generates.• There is only one reasonable solution to all of this, by our measure: It begins by voting the bastards (Read: Republicans) out.