Lew Wallace, the former territorial governor of New Mexico (and author of Ben Hur), once said, “Every calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in New Mexico.”

In so many ways Wallace was prescient about this beautiful, poor, and unique state in the American Southwest. One “calculation” about modern politics that would especially perplex him is the fact that a relatively poor but oil-rich Western state elects politicians that are so directly at odds with its economic best interest.

After Texas and North Dakota, New Mexico is the third-largest oil-producing state in the U.S. The oil and gas industries combine to generate roughly 40 percent of its annual budget. Furthermore, New Mexico’s oil and gas resources are heavily concentrated on lands managed by the federal government. The central role of energy, especially energy extracted within the state’s borders and controlled by federal policy-makers, might lead one to believe that New Mexicans would vote for pro-energy Republicans in federal elections.

Instead, New Mexico has become a safely blue state. It narrowly went for George W. Bush in 2004 but since then has gone for Democrats by wide margins. The situation is even more stark at the state level, where Democrats have had “trifectas” (total control of both houses and the governor’s mansion) for 60 of the past 90 years. The GOP hasn’t had such governing authority in the state for a single year since 1931 and, despite significant turnover, has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Pete Domenici retired in 2009.

In 2020 Biden won the state 54.3 percent to 43.5 percent despite the fact that President Trump’s pro-energy policies have been a boon to the New Mexico economy and that the Biden administration’s energy policies are a dagger aimed at the heart of New Mexico’s economy.

That “dagger” comes in the form of the numerous — sometimes clear, often conflicting — statements that candidate Biden made during the campaign. It is unclear what Biden will do about hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” which enables oil and gas producers to access previously inaccessible oil and gas sources. He backed away from an outright nationwide ban late in the campaign. However, Biden has clearly stated that he would ban new gas and oil permits — including fracking — on federal lands.

Targeting federal lands would devastate New Mexico’s oil and gas industry and its economy, because of the state’s large federal estate. According to the Institute for Energy Research, 34.7 percent of the land in New Mexico is federal. In fiscal year 2019, New Mexico received energy-related disbursement (from the federal Bureau of Land Management) of $1.17 billion, the highest payment made in any state (Wyoming was next, with $641 million, and then Colorado, with $108 million). This was the highest payment from the bureau in the state’s history and compares with $455 million in FY 2017. A vast majority of this increased revenue is a result of fracking.

Furthermore, data from the Global Energy Institute indicate that if energy production on federal lands were banned, New Mexico would lose 24,300 jobs (10,000 direct, 14,300 indirect and induced), a significant hit for a state with a workforce of around 900,000. Making matters worse, a good number of the “direct” jobs lost are good-paying — something that is not easy to find in New Mexico, a state that consistently ranks among the poorest in the nation and has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Closing New Mexico’s federal lands to energy production entirely would cost the state $496 million in annual royalty collections, representing 8 percent of the state’s total General Fund Revenues.

Biden’s proposed fracking ban is even too much for New Mexico’s Democratic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has said that she’ll ask for an exemption from any future drilling ban. Acknowledging the tax-revenue contributions to education funding, Grisham explained to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association conference in Santa Fe last October that “without the energy effort in this state, no one gets to make education the top priority.”

To be sure, Lujan Grisham is broadly supportive of Biden’s energy policies. (She’s even on the president-elect’s short list for administration positions.) Both of them have stated that they would like to “transition out of fossil fuels” despite New Mexico’s financial dependence on the industry.

But Biden’s aggressive anti-fossil-fuels stance as it relates to federal land not only puts him at odds with Lujan Grisham, it puts him far to the left of President Obama on the issue. In a 2012 presidential debate, Obama stated, “We’ve opened up public lands. We’re actually drilling more on public lands than the previous administration. . . . And natural gas isn’t just appearing magically; we’re encouraging it and working with the industry.”

President Obama was of course considered an environmentalist by political opponents and supporters alike. His support for natural-gas right isn’t difficult to reconcile with his environmental track record. That’s because (when used in a new power plants), natural gas emits 50 to 60 percent less CO2 than a typical new coal plant.

Obama understood the vast benefits of natural gas, including the fact that it was appropriate to drill for it on federal lands. During his tenure, natural-gas production rose some 35 percent, from approximately 21 million cubic feet to more than 28.4 million cubic feet.

If he truly cares about the environment, Biden would be wise to follow his predecessor’s playbook. According to the EPA, U.S. net greenhouse-gas emissions went down by 10 percent from 2005 to 2018, and much of the contribution to that decline in recent years was “due to an increasing shift to use of less carbon dioxide-intensive natural gas for generating electricity and a rapid increase in the use of renewable energy in the electric power sector.” But if natural-gas prices rise — and a ban on federal leasing is likely to contribute to higher prices — these positive developments could go into reverse. The Energy Information Administration recently projected that higher natural-gas prices would cause coal’s share of power generation to increase from 18 percent to 22 percent in 2021.

Obama also signed into law legislation that ended the U.S. government’s restrictions on crude-oil exports back in 2015.

During the campaign, Biden faced tremendous pressure from the left wing of his political base to come out for policies such the Green New Deal and bans on fracking and other fossil-fuel-based energy production. Biden has never been associated with such hard-Left stances against economic policy and growth in the past. Remember, even Obama is to the right of where Biden campaigned.

Let’s hope that President Biden has a more realistic approach to energy than did candidate Biden. New Mexico’s economic future is certainly at stake, but so is the recovery of our nation’s virus-hobbled economy.

Rather than instituting a blanket ban on production of oil and gas on federal lands, a better approach would be to recognize the benefits and work to make sure that any production is handled responsibly and safely. The growing American energy sector and American energy independence have delivered wins for the environment, for consumers, and for the U.S. and state economies such as New Mexico’s. Let’s keep it that way./NR

•             Leaked documents reveal that China significantly underreported the number of coronavirus cases in the early stages of the pandemic.

•             Health data from Chinese health authorities leaked to CNN shows that officials in the Hubei province, where the virus is believed to have originated, failed to report thousands of new daily cases.

•             On February 10 — when China reported 2,478 new cases — officials privately recorded 5,918 new cases, more than double the published figure.

•             There is no evidence in the files that provide evidence that Chinese officials sought deliberately to conceal the true extent of the outbreak.

A tranche of leaked documents has revealed that China's government significantly underreported the number of coronavirus cases in the early stages of the pandemic.

An extensive set of health data from Chinese health authorities leaked to CNN shows that health officials in the Hubei province, where the virus is believed to have originated, failed to report thousands of new daily cases in the early stages of the pandemic.

On February 10 — when China reported 2,478 new cases — officials privately recorded 5,918 new cases, more than double the published figure, per CNN.

The underreporting was exacerbated by a slow-turnaround in identifying cases. One of the leaked documents reveals that in early March the average time between an individual exhibiting symptoms and diagnosis was 23.3 days, CNN reported.

Experts have traced the origins of COVID-19 to China, and believe the virus almost certainly originated in Chinese bats before passing to humans. The virus appears to have been circulating in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December and January before the first large outbreak was reported in a wet market there.

The incomplete data set, leaked to CNN by a whistleblower who said they work inside the Chinese health system, provides a large amount of data for February 10 and March 7, two days early on in the coronavirus outbreak as it began to spread across the world.

By March 7, health officials also appeared to still be underreporting the death toll by a significant margin. Per CNN, the documents show that the total death toll in Hubei was 3,456, while published figures suggested it was 2,986.

The documents also reveal that the early stages of the pandemic coincided with a significant reported influenza outbreak in Hubei with cases 20 times higher than the previous year. The flu outbreak was first identified in Wuhan in December and in particular in the cities of Yichang and Xianning, CNN reported.

There is no evidence in the files that provides evidence that Chinese officials sought deliberately to conceal the true extent of the coronavirus outbreak.

But the leak is nonetheless significant because it fuels allegations made by President Trump and others, that China sought to cover up the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak in its early stages and let it spread across the world.

A May 1 report by the US Department of Homeland Security, obtained by the Associated Press, reportedly said that Chinese leaders "intentionally concealed the severity" of the coronavirus outbreak in January while it hoarded medical equipment.

It said that China failed to inform the World Health Organisation for weeks in January that the new coronavirus was highly infectious while at the same time significantly increasing imports of face masks and surgical gowns that could be used by health officials treating coronavirus patients.

China has consistently denied allegations that it intentionally covered coronavirus data, calling it "a calculated slur," per Bloomberg.

Whistleblowers in Hubei have also claimed they were prevented from speaking publicly about the coronavirus as it spread in December.

However, US intelligence also reportedly indicates that much of the Chinese government's slow response to the outbreak in its early stages may also have been the result of poor communication by officials.

Per a New York Times report in August, US intelligence officials believe that local health officials in Wuhan originally underreported the severity of the coronavirus outbreak to officials in Beijing, probably because they feared being punished.

Health experts told CNN that the country had made mistakes in the early stages of the pandemic.

"It was clear they did make mistakes -- and not just mistakes that happen when you're dealing with a novel virus -- also bureaucratic and politically-motivated errors in how they handled it," Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN.

"These had global consequences. You can never guarantee 100% transparency. It's not just about any intentional cover-up, you are also constrained with by technology and other issues with a novel virus. But even if they had been 100% transparent, that would not stop the Trump administration downplaying the seriousness of it. It would probably not have stopped this developing into a pandemic."

Business Insider

One person was shot dead and four others injured on Thanksgiving after police in Henderson, Nevada, say a man and woman fired at people while driving in the city.

"It is believed that the suspects were driving around the city randomly shooting at citizens with no apparent motive," Henderson police said in a news release.

Henderson police officers responding to the Thursday shooting at the 800 block of East Lake Mead Parkway found a 22-year-old man, who had died from an apparent gunshot wound, and a 23-year-old woman, an 18-year-old man, a 53-year-old man and a 41-year-old man, all suffering from apparent gunshot wounds, according to a news release.

The four injured victims were taken to a local hospital and are expected to survive. The identity of the deceased man will be released by the coroner's office after notifying next of kin.

The suspects, a man believed to be in his 20s or 30s and a woman in her 20s, were later arrested and taken into custody after a trooper-involved shooting by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Public Safety spokesman Raul Garcia also said that there was a third, unidentified suspect in the trooper shooting taken into custody.

The investigation, which is still active, marks the 13th homicide case for the city this year.

Egyptian prosecutors on Monday slammed their Italian counterparts’ push to have five Egyptian police and intelligence officers stand trial in Italy over the 2016 abduction, torture and killing of an Italian researcher in Cairo.

Italy has for years pressured Cairo to identify and prosecute those responsible for the death of 28-year-old Giulio Regeni, who disappeared for several days in January 2016 before his body was found on a desert highway north of the Egyptian capital.

Since late 2018, Italian prosecutors have called for Egypt to hand over the five intelligence and police officers or to at least help Italy prosecute them in absentia.

Rome has also carried out its own investigation, which is expected to wrap up soon. According to the Egyptian prosecutors' statement on Monday, the Rome prosecutors have notified the Egyptians that they are going to conclude their investigation with charges against the five.

The Egyptian statement said this was “baseless,” and that Regeni’s killer remains unknown. In addition, Egypt’s prosecution on Monday said it would close its investigation temporarily — possibly to prevent any further moves by the Italian side.

However, an Italian parliamentary commission on Regeni’s death was to meet on Tuesday in Rome for a briefing on the status of the investigation.

Regeni was a Cambridge University graduate student who was researching trade unions in Egypt.

A spokesman for Egypt's Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, did not immediately return requests for comment.

Regeni’s parents, Paola and Claudio, reacted angrily, issuing a a statement through the family lawyer, Alessandra Ballerini.

“We believe that our government must take note of this latest slap in the face and immediately recall the ambassador” from Cairo, the Italian news agency LaPresse quoted their statement as saying.

The Regenis said they appreciated the “resolute determination of our prosecutors, who were able to conclude the investigations without being worn down or letting themselves be confounded by the numerous attempts to get them off track, by the interminable postponements and by the lack of Egyptian responses.”

The statement also decried the “constant and blatant absence of collaboration by the part of the regime,” including not responding to formal judicial questions posed by the Italian authorities in 2019 and “not even wanting to supply the formal addresses of the five National Security officials, who were formally listed as being under investigation two years ago.”

For suspects to be brought to trial in Italy, even in absentia, they must be formally notified that an indictment request has been issued. Italian media have reported that Egyptian authorities have balked at providing Italian justice officials with the official addresses of the suspects in order for the notification to take place.

The five suspected officers named by Italian prosecutors were being investigated on possible abduction charges related to the killing. They are a now-retired major-general and a major at the domestic branch of the security agency, two police colonels and a junior police officer, according to officials in Cairo. At least one of the officials has been reassigned to a remote province.

Police Maj. Gen. Tareq Saber was a top official at the domestic security agency at the time of Regeni’s abduction and killing. He retired in 2017. Police Maj. Sherif Magdy served at the same agency, and was in charge of the team that placed Regeni under surveillance.

The police officials were Col. Hesham Helmy, who served at the time of the abduction at a security center in charge of policing the Cairo district where Regeni lived; Col. Acer Kamal, who was head of a police department in charge of street operations and discipline; and junior police officer Mahmoud Nejm.

Rome Prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco said in 2018 that the suspects are believed to have been active participants in Regeni’s abduction in Cairo on Jan. 25, 2016 — the fifth anniversary of Egypt’s popular uprising against President Hosni Mubarak. The country at the time was run by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and thousands of policemen deployed across Cairo on the anniversary to pre-empt any attempt to mark the occasion.

The torture marks on Regeni's body resembled the results of widespread torture practices in Egyptian detention facilities, activists and rights groups have said.

Euro news

Italian prosecutors investigating the death of a PhD student in Egypt in 2016 say Egyptian authorities made deliberate attempts to obscure how he died.

Giulio Regeni, a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge, disappeared while on a research trip in Cairo on 25 January 2016 and his body was found dead in a ditch by the side of the road nine days later.

His disappearance came on the fifth anniversary of Egypt's Arab Spring uprising against then-President Hosni Mubarak.

Speaking on the first session of a parliamentary commission to investigate Regeni’s death, Sergio Colaiocco said after his death Egyptian authorities tried to cover up how he died by first making it look like he may have died in a traffic accident.

But he said an autopsy by Italian authorities after his body was repatriated to Italy showed the 28-year-old had been tortured over multiple days before he died around 1 February of a broken neck.

He said: "The examination carried out in Italy showed that the torture took place on several occasions, between January 25 and January 31. Forensic doctors found various fractures and injuries compatible with blows with kicks, fists, sticks and clubs”.

The Egyptian authorities have denied any involvement in the death of Regeni, who was in the country researching trade unions, despite demands from the Italian authorities to investigate the evidence it has gathered.

Last year, the lawyer for the Regeni family named five secret service members and police investigators whom Rome prosecutors have identified as suspects in the abduction.

Attorney Alessandra Ballerini said “These people should be afraid” to travel and added that as many as 20-40 people were actually involved in the case.

“They should have the prudence to know that it’s in their interest to speak up first and not last,'' she added as she urged them to come forward with information./ Euro news

A sit-in protest by families whose children were abducted and forcibly recruited by the PKK terrorist organization entered its 455th day Monday with protestors demanding their return. 

The protest began on Sept. 3, 2019 in Diyarbakir province when three mothers said their children had been forcibly recruited by YPG/PKK terrorists.

The sit-in outside the office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which the government accuses of having links to the YPG/PKK, has been growing every day.

Immihan Nillifirka, one of the protesting mothers, said her son was only two months away from graduating from the Communications Department of Ege University before terrorists abducted him.

She accused the HDP of abducting her child for the terror group, saying children brought to the party’s office and were brainwashed so they would be recruited by the PKK.

Fadime Aksu, another protesting mother, said she would not leave the sit-in without taking her child by her side.

She called on her son to surrender to security sources so he would receive a lighter punishment.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU - has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants./aa

SAO PAULO, Brazil

Amid a loosening of environmental laws under Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has exceeded 11,000 square kilometers, according to official data released Monday.  

The data shows that deforestation reached its worst rate since 2008, when a national deforestation monitoring program called PRODES recorded 12,911 km² deforested. PRODES monitors deforestation in the Legal Amazon, comprising the western territory of the state of Maranhão and the entire territory of the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins, using satellites and has published annual rates since 1988.

The deforested area in the Amazon was 11,088 km² between August 2019 and July 2020, according to official figures by the National Institute of Space Research (Inpe), an increase of 9.5% over the previous period (August 2018 to July 2019), which recorded 10,129 km².

Measurements are made comparing satellite images from the end of July with those of the beginning of August of the previous year, dates that coincide with the dry season in the region, when there are fewer clouds that could interfere in the calculations.

The data released today show that the Bolsonaro administration and Environment Minister Ricardo Salles failed to fulfill plans announced in 2019.

Without citing any goal, Salles said at the time that he intended to eliminate illegal deforestation with the establishment of what he called just "strategies," without explaining them.

At Inpe's headquarters Monday, Vice President Hamilton Mourao, who chairs the Amazon Council, said the Armed Forces' employment in fighting deforestation started "late."

Mourao said the presence of the military is already having an effect, since an increase of 20% in the deforested area was estimated.

"It’s nothing to celebrate. Quite the contrary. Our final desire is to have no more illegal deforestation under any circumstances," said Mourao./aa