Quelling the import of illegal narcotics is a laudable goal, and one that has eluded the United States for at least four decades. The effort took a radical turn this year with exciting yet confusing new narratives, some of which clashed this week. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth found himself before Congress this week explaining the […]
Opinion & Analysis
Posted inOpinion & Analysis, Pueblos
Commentary: From conflict to collaboration — How a New Mexico transmission line will protect power delivery and prairie chickens
Opinion in New Mexico Political ReportIn his role as Executive Director for Audubon Southwest, Jon Hayes oversees the National Audubon Society’s operations in Arizona and New Mexico—including two nature centers, a research ranch, and a team of scientists, educators, and advocates all working to advance bird conservation in the Southwest. The Crossroad-Hobbs-Roadrunner Transmission Project, a 345 […]
Posted inOpinion & Analysis
On providing for the general welfare
By Wednesday, Nov. 5, the Federal government shutdown will have broken the record for the longest in history if not resolved. Before that, two key deadlines occur. On Nov. 1, healthcare insurance premiums for 44 million Americans will increase an average of 30% as enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act premiums expire, and 42 […]
Posted inOpinion & Analysis
On the content of one’s character
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” In the six decades since it was delivered, this famous sentence from Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Opinion & Analysis
Opinion: Protecting the Freedom to Read: A Call to Action for New Mexico
By Senator Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez, Senator Harold Pope, and Representative Kathleen Cates
Posted inOpinion & Analysis
On civil discourse
For some years now the decline of civil discourse in American society has been lamented by reasonable people. Political dialogue has only a few modes: gaslighting, personal attack, partisan huckstering and populist ooze. Honest discussion, with back-and-forth conversation and polite disagreement, has all but disappeared. This has resulted in the loss of self-restraint and basic […]
Posted inOpinion & Analysis
On peace and projecting power to maintain it
Nobel Prizes are being awarded this week and one element of the award process that should be obvious to the world is that these prizes are not bestowed in a vacuum. Thousands of candidates are nominated for these honors and various interests, and often the nominees themselves openly lobby each selection committee for the ultimate […]
Posted inOpinion & Analysis
On absolute power
A paraphrased and misquoted aphorism commonly bandied about in recent days goes along the lines of “absolute power absolutely corrupts.” It’s a powerful trope, and the phrase warrants original credit and context. John Dahlberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, a Catholic, wrote a letter to Anglican Bishop of London Mandell Creighton in 1870, challenging Papal infallibility and […]
Posted inOpinion & Analysis
Government shutdown signals heartburn ahead for New Mexicans
Alex Ross is a senior politics and legislative reporter for the New Mexico Political Report. He began his career in daily journalism in Montana and previously worked as a breaking news and politics reporter. At midnight on Wednesday, the federal government went into shutdown mode, and if the last shutdown was any indication, New Mexico […]
Posted inOpinion & Analysis
My summer of AI
Among all the disruptors of 2025, artificial intelligence looms large. Even New Mexico, often on the fringes of major upheavals, if not completely ignored by them, is getting in on the action. Most recently in the news has been the selection of a site in Santa Teresa for Project Jupiter, a $165 billion data center […]