The Prometheus League
Breaking News and Updates
- Abolition Of Work
- Ai
- Alt-right
- Alternative Medicine
- Antifa
- Artificial General Intelligence
- Artificial Intelligence
- Artificial Super Intelligence
- Ascension
- Astronomy
- Atheism
- Atheist
- Atlas Shrugged
- Automation
- Ayn Rand
- Bahamas
- Bankruptcy
- Basic Income Guarantee
- Big Tech
- Bitcoin
- Black Lives Matter
- Blackjack
- Boca Chica Texas
- Brexit
- Caribbean
- Casino
- Casino Affiliate
- Cbd Oil
- Censorship
- Cf
- Chess Engines
- Childfree
- Cloning
- Cloud Computing
- Conscious Evolution
- Corona Virus
- Cosmic Heaven
- Covid-19
- Cryonics
- Cryptocurrency
- Cyberpunk
- Darwinism
- Democrat
- Designer Babies
- DNA
- Donald Trump
- Eczema
- Elon Musk
- Entheogens
- Ethical Egoism
- Eugenic Concepts
- Eugenics
- Euthanasia
- Evolution
- Extropian
- Extropianism
- Extropy
- Fake News
- Federalism
- Federalist
- Fifth Amendment
- Fifth Amendment
- Financial Independence
- First Amendment
- Fiscal Freedom
- Food Supplements
- Fourth Amendment
- Fourth Amendment
- Free Speech
- Freedom
- Freedom of Speech
- Futurism
- Futurist
- Gambling
- Gene Medicine
- Genetic Engineering
- Genome
- Germ Warfare
- Golden Rule
- Government Oppression
- Hedonism
- High Seas
- History
- Hubble Telescope
- Human Genetic Engineering
- Human Genetics
- Human Immortality
- Human Longevity
- Illuminati
- Immortality
- Immortality Medicine
- Intentional Communities
- Jacinda Ardern
- Jitsi
- Jordan Peterson
- Las Vegas
- Liberal
- Libertarian
- Libertarianism
- Liberty
- Life Extension
- Macau
- Marie Byrd Land
- Mars
- Mars Colonization
- Mars Colony
- Memetics
- Micronations
- Mind Uploading
- Minerva Reefs
- Modern Satanism
- Moon Colonization
- Nanotech
- National Vanguard
- NATO
- Neo-eugenics
- Neurohacking
- Neurotechnology
- New Utopia
- New Zealand
- Nihilism
- Nootropics
- NSA
- Oceania
- Offshore
- Olympics
- Online Casino
- Online Gambling
- Pantheism
- Personal Empowerment
- Poker
- Political Correctness
- Politically Incorrect
- Polygamy
- Populism
- Post Human
- Post Humanism
- Posthuman
- Posthumanism
- Private Islands
- Progress
- Proud Boys
- Psoriasis
- Psychedelics
- Putin
- Quantum Computing
- Quantum Physics
- Rationalism
- Republican
- Resource Based Economy
- Robotics
- Rockall
- Ron Paul
- Roulette
- Russia
- Sealand
- Seasteading
- Second Amendment
- Second Amendment
- Seychelles
- Singularitarianism
- Singularity
- Socio-economic Collapse
- Space Exploration
- Space Station
- Space Travel
- Spacex
- Sports Betting
- Sportsbook
- Superintelligence
- Survivalism
- Talmud
- Technology
- Teilhard De Charden
- Terraforming Mars
- The Singularity
- Tms
- Tor Browser
- Trance
- Transhuman
- Transhuman News
- Transhumanism
- Transhumanist
- Transtopian
- Transtopianism
- Ukraine
- Uncategorized
- Vaping
- Victimless Crimes
- Virtual Reality
- Wage Slavery
- War On Drugs
- Waveland
- Ww3
- Yahoo
- Zeitgeist Movement
-
Prometheism
-
Forbidden Fruit
-
The Evolutionary Perspective
Daily Archives: January 29, 2021
BMW tries to get ahead of its supply curve using quantum computing – Yahoo Tech
Posted: January 29, 2021 at 11:27 am
TipRanks
We are entering a new paradigm for the oil and gas industry, one far removed from the Trump Presidencys pro-drilling policies. The Biden Admin is likely to cut back on oil and gas production in the US, in favor of promoting renewable energy sources and carbon pollution reduction. In the short run, his policies are likely to push oil and gas prices up and that may turn out to help the hydrocarbon sector, at least at the bottom line, over the coming year. But for the oil companies, the lessons of 2020 appear in the balance sheets. The massive spike down in prices last May, followed by a quick recovery, only to finish the year at roughly the same price as it began all of this has the producers looking to cut back on spending, consolidate or reduce debt, and maintain free cash flow. In the words of Raymond James oil industry analyst John Freeman: [We] enter 4Q20 earnings and 2021 capital budget season with WTI trading, ironically, in essentially the same low $50s range as we did this time last year. While crude is largely in the same spot, the industry has definitely undergone a strategic shift with balance sheet health and returning capital to shareholders by far the highest priorities. In addition to noting the general trend of the industry after a difficult year, Freeman has also been updating his stance on individual oil and gas stocks. Two in particular have gotten Freemans attention. He sees at least 50% upside potential for each of them. We ran the two through TipRanks' database to see what other Wall Street's analysts have to say about them. Apache Corporation (APA) With headquarters in Houston, Texas, Apache is an important operator in the North American oil industry. The companys US hydrocarbon exploration and production activities are located in the Permian Basin, along the Gulf Coast, and in the Gulf Mexico. Apache also has operations in the UK (in the North Sea), in Egypt (in the Western Desert), and in Suriname (offshore). The companys Permian holdings include 665.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, 66% of its proven reserves. The company beat the quarterly revenue expectations in the third quarter, with $1.12 billion at the top line. Since reporting the Q3 revenue, Apaches stock has gained 71%. The company reported 445,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Q3 production. Covering the stock for Raymond James, analyst John Freeman writes: We continue to like Apache's diversified portfolio of U.S. onshore and international assets (Egypt, the North Sea, and Suriname), and given Apache's considerable commodity exposure (only hedged Waha basis in 2021), the company is ideally situated to capitalize on our projected resurgence in commodity prices in the 2021/2022 timeframe. Adding to this, the operator has an extremely robust FCF profile [and] proven commitment to capital discipline In line with these comments, the analyst gives APA a Strong Buy rating and a $24 price target that implies a 60% upside potential over the coming 12 months. (To watch Freemans track record, click here) Freeman leads the Bulls on Apache. The stock has a Moderate Buy from the analyst consensus, based on 12 reviews that include 6 Buys, 5 Holds, and 1 Sell. The shares are selling for $14.94, and their $19.30 average price target suggests room for 29% upside growth this year. (See APA stock analysis on TipRanks) Diamondback Energy (FANG) Also based in Texas, Diamondback Energy is another player in the Permian Basin energy boom. The company boasts an $8.9 billion market cap and saw revenues hit $720 million in the third quarter of 2020. Production in the quarter averaged 287.8 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. Diamondbacks reserves total more than 1.12 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which 63% are oil and 37% are natural gas and related liquids. Diamondback is expanding its operations through M&A activity. In December of last year, the company announced that it will be acquiring QEP Resources, a natural gas driller in the Midland Basin of the Permian formation along with operations in North Dakotas Williston formation. The acquisition is an all-stock deal, worth an estimated $2.2 billion. QEP brings 49,000 acres in the Midland for potential development, an average production of 48,300 thousand BOE per day, and 48 drilled but uncompleted wells. These assets are accretive to Diamondbacks portfolio. In a related piece of news, Diamondback has announced that it will also be acquiring Guidon, another rival Texas oil producer. Guidon brings additional Permian assets to Diamondback, and the acquisition is significant, valued at $862 million in both cash and stock. Casting his eye on Diamondback, Freeman sees the company in a strong position to meet the challenges of both the energy environment and the Biden Administrations regulatory policies. Going forward with the addition of QEP and Guidon acreage we anticipate the Midland accounts for ~75% of pro forma activity. Note that even after the QEP/Guidon acquisitions, FANG still has no federal acreage exposure - a significant positive given regulatory uncertainty will likely persist following the expiration of the 60-day leasing moratorium We believe FANG offers considerable upside potential over the long-term and are confident in the company's ability to weather near-term commodity uncertainties, Freeman opined. Unsurprisingly, Freeman rates FANG as a Strong Buy, along with a $91 price target. This figure indicates confidence in ~51% growth over the next 12 months. (To watch Freemans track record, click here) Theres broad agreement on Wall Street with Freemans position here. FANG stock holds a Strong Buy rating from the analyst consensus, based on 13 recent Buy reviews against just 3 Holds. The average price target is $67.37, which implies ~12% upside from the current trading price of $67.37. (See FANG stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for oil stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
See original here:
BMW tries to get ahead of its supply curve using quantum computing - Yahoo Tech
Posted in Quantum Computing
Comments Off on BMW tries to get ahead of its supply curve using quantum computing – Yahoo Tech
article image Caltech and NTT developing the world’s fastest quantum computer – Digital Journal
Posted: at 11:27 am
NTT Research has announced a collaboration with Caltech to develop the worlds fastest Coherent Ising Machine (CIM). This relates to a quantum-oriented computing approach that uses special-purpose processors to solve extremely complex combinatorial optimization problems. CIMs are advanced devices that constitute a promising approach to solving optimization problems by mapping them to ground state searches. The primary application of the computing method is drug discovery. Developing new drugs is of importance, including the current fight against COVID-19. Drug discovery is a commonly cited combinatorial optimization problem. The search for effective drugs involves an enormous number of potential matches between medically appropriate molecules and target proteins that are responsible for a specific disease. Conventional computers are used to replicate chemical interactions in the medical space and other areas of life and chemical sciences. To really move forwards, quantum technology is required to take developments beyond trial and error to rapidly tackle the sheer volume of total possible combinations.Other applications of the technology include:LogisticsOne classic problem is that of the traveling salesman (a common logic problem) identifying the shortest possible route that visits each of n number of cities, while returning to the city of origin. This problem and its variants appear in contemporary form in logistical challenges, such as daily automotive traffic patterns. The advantage of using a quantum information system is speed. Machine LearningA CIM is also a good match for some types of machine learning, including image and speech recognition. Artificial neural networks learn by iteratively processing examples containing known inputs and results. CIMs can speed up the training and improve upon the accuracy of existing neural networks.The development of the new computer system has been pioneered by Kazuhiro Gomi, CEO of NTT Research, and Dr. Yoshihisa Yamamoto, Director of NTT Researchs Physics & Informatics (PHI) Lab, who is overseeing this research. This is a step forwards in CIM optimization problems by uniting perspectives from statistics, computer science, statistical physics and quantum optics.
Read the rest here:
article image Caltech and NTT developing the world's fastest quantum computer - Digital Journal
Posted in Quantum Computing
Comments Off on article image Caltech and NTT developing the world’s fastest quantum computer – Digital Journal
WW3 fears: Xi vows he will never renounce use of force over Taiwan jets just a warning – Daily Express
Posted: at 11:26 am
After Mr Bidens administration reaffirmed its defence of Taiwan, close to 30 Chinese jets entered into its airspace on Saturday and Sunday. The Chinese government has now accused Taiwan forces of deliberately provoking China to seek secession. Speaking this week, Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, Zhu Fenglian said: We will not renounce the use of force and reserve all options.
This will never change at any time.
Despite the Chinese military conducting drills often in the Taiwan Strait, it has maintained any actions are required to maintain peace in the region.
The Communist Party has also issued stern warnings to any state, namely the US, which has allegedly interfered in the South and East China Seas.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt was deployed to the South China Sea just days after Mr Bidens inauguration.
It was this deployment which caused China to dispatch a raft of military aircraft across the strait.
State Department spokesman, Ned Price said the US would continue to maintain its ties with Taiwan.
He said: The United States notes with concern the pattern of ongoing PRC attempts to intimidate its neighbours, including Taiwan.
"We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan's democratically elected representatives."
JUST IN:World War 3: Israel orders plan to attack Iran Biden given ultimatum
Although the administrations have switched in Washington, new Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken voiced his approval over Donald Trumps handling of China.
Speaking to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said: Let me just say that I also believe that President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China.
"I disagree very much with the way that he went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one, and I think that's actually helpful to our foreign policy.
Mr Blinken, who served as a deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Secretary of State under Mr Obama, has also revealed the US must return as a global leader to the world and called for a unified approach to tackling Beijing.
He told staff today: Americas leadership is needed around the world, and we will provide it, because the world is far more likely to solve problems and meet challenges when the United States is there.
America at its best still has a greater capacity than any other country on earth to mobilise others for the greater good.
The US has already increased its naval presence in the region and has even strengthened ties with Australia, India and Japan.
More here:
Posted in Ww3
Comments Off on WW3 fears: Xi vows he will never renounce use of force over Taiwan jets just a warning – Daily Express
The best Men of War: Assault Squad 2 mods – PCGamesN
Posted: at 11:26 am
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 was released in 2014 but it still stands as an excellent tactical RTS game and war game, offering a layer of depththatsmore granular than its common rival Company of Heroes. Its not that the damage system is more realistic, but the games design is a bit more open-ended. You can summon in pre-set squads, or individual units to make and match your own fireteams.
There are also no bases you earn points at a steady rate throughout a match, and simply summon the units you want from a list. These new recruits will then appear at your friendly edge of the map. If youre looking for a more frantic and in depth WW2 tactical war game, there are few better and its inspired a great mod community around it.
From Star Wars and 40k, WW1 to modern warfare, theres a creative and diverse selection of Men of War: Assault Squad 2 mods to give you something new to play around with. Many of them are focused on multiplayer, but theres a surprising amount of decent single-player or skirmish content around now as well.
These are the best Men of War: Assault Squad 2 mods:
Games focusing so much on conflict can often be good candidates for realism mods, and Assault Squad 2 is no different. Robz Realism mod is actually a balance of more realistic mechanics and balancing, and is best played in multiplayer using 1944-45 units and settings.
The changes it implements are quite spread, and cover everything from a brand new accuracy and bullet drop model, to changing how units take damage. Instead of it being based on weapon power, its instead based on where a unit gets hit, and what they get hit by. There are also new maps, a new tank damage system, and weapon jamming.
Inspired by Robzs mod above, the Great War Realism mod shifts the action to the first world war that attempts to provide the same attention to detail and realistic gameplay as its WW2 cousin. It currently has 11 fleshed out nations from the period, although the basic mod is aimed at multiplayer.
There is however a collection of mods you can check out that provide missions, as well as tailor gameplay to specific theatres during specific years, which will limit the types of units you can use.
Previously known as the Ultimate Mod Warhammer 40K, this is a complete reskin of Assault Squad 2 for the Warhammer 40K universe. It features most factions, although notable missing ones include the Necrons and the Tyranids. Theres no timetable for when theyll be included at the moment.
Still, thats a lot of 40K goodness to mess around with, and theres content for solo and co-op missions as well. About the only truly weird thing is that, despite teleporting you to the grim darkness of the far future, youre still battling in mid 20th century Europe. Still, itll do!
Despite its title, Born in Fire: America actually covers warfare across the 18th and 19th centuries, in both American and Europe. The American War of Independence is a main inspiration, but British colonial conquests also seem to feature.
This mod has over 50 multiplayer factions, with 1000+ land units, accurate city maps and historical battles. Theres three core missions for the American continental army, as well as bonus missions covering everything from the Alamo, to the Zulu War. You can find the Moddb linkhere.
No strategy game mod list would be complete without the obligatory Star Wars mod, and Men of Wars community doesnt disappoint. Galaxy at War aims to offer an experience that covers material from the Clone Wars right through to the end of Return of the Jedi.
There are only a handful of missions, and there is some limited multiplayer support but it only includes infantry units and speeders for the moment. Four factions are currently supported, namely the CIS, the Empire, Rebels and then Republic forces split across a number of sub-factions.
The cold war, and a future WW3 style setting are excellent fodder for a game like Men of War. I dont think Id ever have predicted that someone would actually port the missions from the popular Call of Duty games into a real-time tactical game like this, though.
Call of Duty WW3 takes the mission dialogue from games like Modern Warfare 1 & 2, and recreates the missions they are from but as Assault Squad 2 maps. There are 15 missions, with co-op support for up to eight players, as well as an impressive set of additional changes associated with this mod. You should check it out.
Mods that cover other eras or offer gameplay tweaks arent the only options though. The Men of War series is a bit fragmented, but theres been some semi-decent solo content released across various standalone spin-offs that have come out over the years.
Various modders havedone some great work porting those missions into Assault Squad 2, so you have all of the narrative content in one place:
There is also a mod that attempts to recreate the WW2 Call of Duty games missions in Men of War, using dialogue from original two games.
Thankfully, Assault Squad 2 has had Steam Workshop integration for a long while now, which makes intalling mods easy.Many of the major mods seem to maintain Steam versions as the primary one. That said, there are mods on ModDB that arent on Steam, and one or two mods that use the repository as the main source.
More like this:The best WW2 games on PC
If you do grab a mod via Moddb, make sure you follow the instructions specific to the mod you want. As a general rule, youll be unzipping the mod files to your mod folder, which you may need to create in themain install directory if one doesnt exist already. You then activate them via the in-game menu.
Read more:
Posted in Ww3
Comments Off on The best Men of War: Assault Squad 2 mods – PCGamesN
Were the Capitol Rioters Really Libertarians? – Foundation for Economic Education
Posted: at 11:25 am
Editor's note: Dr. Payne has taught political science at Yale, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins, and Texas A&M University, and is a research fellow at the Independent Institute. His book on libertarianism, The Big Government We Love to Hate, was released this month.
In the accounts about the Trump supporters who attacked the US Capitol, the media have sometimes alluded to supposed libertarian connections. The Wall St. Journal calls Parler, the social-media network which, it says, served as a hub for people who organized, participated in or celebrated the storming of the Capitol a libertarian-leaning social-media site.
In the same story it reported that one of the participants (Rosanne Boyland) joined at least two libertarian-leaning Facebook groups. A New York Times story reported that some people arrested in the riots have been linked to the Oath Keepers. This organization was founded by a man who, the Times noted, once worked as an aide to the former Representative Ron Paul, the Texas libertarianas if this fact helped explain his riot-inspiring role.
Of course, terms referring to political beliefs are rather broad, incorporating a range of views, but this connection is implausible. To call an ardent, violent Trump supporter a libertarian departs substantially from the traditional meaning of the term.
The confusion stems from two very different conceptions of what it means to be against government. In the typical partisan battle, the agitators are against the particular people in charge of the current government: they are challenging King George, Tsar Nicolas II, Nancy Pelosi. They do not question the idea of government itself. They believe that when controlled by people with good intentionsnamely themselvesthe government solves problems and improves the human condition. Once they displace the incumbents, the dissenters will set up their own government, giving it large, and growing, responsibilities.
The other conception of being against government is the position that government itself is not a moral, rational, and responsible problem-solving agency, no matter who tries to run it. Therefore, we shouldprudently and thoughtfullymove away from our dependence on it. This is the libertarian perspective.
Libertarian philosophers arrived at their skepticism from an examination of governments basis of power. This is its use of physical force, its use of policemen, jails and gallows to (try to) fix social problems. They asked, is force a healthy foundation for reform? Is the initiation of force a healthy way to deal with problems like economic inequality, substance abuse, or the lack of education?
Almost as soon as these early thinkers raised this point, they realized that a negative answer was indicated. As William Godwin, one of the first libertarians, put it in 1793, the calling in of force as the corrective of error is invidious. This led him to the observation that government, even in its best state, is an evil. This theme was echoed by a number of 19th-century libertarians including the English philosopher Auberon Herbert. Do you not see, said Herbert, that of all weapons that men can take into their hands force is the vainest, the weakest? In the long dark history of the world, what real, what permanent good has ever come from the force which men have never hesitated to use against each other?
Another 19th-century libertarian was Henry David Thoreau. The State, he said, is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced.
Over the past two centuries, the number of activists questioning government because of its basis in force has grown, leading, in recent times, to the formation of dozens of libertarian think tanks, and a Libertarian party in 1971. The partys Statement of Principles, adopted in 1974, incorporates this concern about force: We support the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others.
In a two-century tradition, then, libertarians have established themselves as singularly opposed to the initiation of force as a method of achieving social or political aims. Of all people, they would be the last to participate in, or approve of, any kind of violent attack for political purposes.
At bottom, libertarians are a patient community, all too aware of the myths and excitements that swirl the masses into each new wave of big government involvement. And aware, too, of the vast complexity of human society, a complexity that tends to make centralized, coercive approaches to social problems dysfunctional.
Quietly, thoughtfullyand of course, peacefullylibertarians are trying to persuade their friends and neighbors that the path to healthy social relationships cannot lie in any kind of march on the US Congress.
More here:
Were the Capitol Rioters Really Libertarians? - Foundation for Economic Education
Posted in Libertarian
Comments Off on Were the Capitol Rioters Really Libertarians? – Foundation for Economic Education
A Florida Senator Wants to Exclude People With Felony Convictions from the State’s Minimum Wage Increase – The Appeal
Posted: at 11:24 am
Just months ago, Florida residents overwhelmingly voted to approve Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that raised the states minimum wage to $15 an hour by September 2026. Today, St. Petersburg State Senator Jeffrey Brandesa well-connected veteran of the Florida GOPfiled SJR 854, a measure that will, if enacted, exempt some Floridians from the increased minimum-wage protection.
The Florida legislature has long treated grassroots ballot initiatives with open contempt. In 2017, after more than 70 percent of state voters elected to legalize medical marijuana, state lawmakers responded by temporarily making it illegal to smoke medicinal weed. In 2018, when a supermajority of Floridians voted to return voting rights to at least 1.4 million formerly incarcerated people, the GOP-dominated legislature passed a glorified poll-tax that made sure that 800,000 of those people remained ineligible to vote. This week, like clockwork, the state Republican Partydominated by pro-Trump apparatchiks and a smaller Libertarian-minded winghas launched its plan to kneecap the minimum wage increase, which passed with over 60 percent approval.
Brandes is now proposing amending the state constitution once more, to allow state lawmakers to reduce the Minimum Wage rate for prisoners in the state correctional system, reduce the Minimum Wage rate for employees convicted of a felony, reduce the Minimum Wage rate for employees younger than 21 years of age, [and] reduce the Minimum Wage rate for other hard-to-hire employees
Given Brandess connections within the party, as well as the state GOPs general antipathy toward raising the minimum wage, its quite likely the measure could reach voters by November 2021. (More than 60 percent of Florida voters must approve amendments to the state constitution for changes to take effect.) The state GOP has prioritized a number of other draconian bills, including a much-criticized proposal from Gov. Ron DeSantis that would crack down on peaceful protesters and make it legal, in some cases, to run demonstrators over.
That this proposal targets both currently and formerly imprisoned people is something of a shock for those following Brandess career: Over the last handful of years, there has been arguably no more successful justice-reform champion in Tallahassee than Brandes. He has leaned on his professed small-government Libertarian ethos to try to reform the states mandatory-minimum sentencing laws, force cops to get warrants before monitoring citizens cell-phone data, push more people into pre-arrest diversion programs, and reduce the states reliance on cash bail. While there have certainly been Democratic members of the state legislature who have proposed justice-reform measures, Brandes has been able to use his pull as a member of the states dominant party to pass significant reforms.
This weeks measure shows exactly how far the state will get by relying on someone like Brandes to fix its problems. Whats more, it could provide a new push for progressive members of the U.S. congress to pass a $15 minimum-wage-hike, rather than leaving the matter up to individual states.
Brandes spent the day defending his bill on Twitter by claiming that lowering the minimum-wage for teens or the formerly incarcerated will somehow help, rather than hurt, them. He cited multiple right- or Libertarian-leaning think tanks, which allege that minimum-wage hikes would lead to a spike in unemployment for those groups. A significant amount of research contradicts those claims.
Brandes told The Appeal that he believes a lower wage for hard-to-hire groups would help them gain job skills before moving on to a higher-paying job. Asked directly if he believes the proposed exceptions could permanently trap the formerly incarcerated in low-paying jobs, he said he didnt believe so.*
This is really about allowing the legislature to offer a training wage and about recognizing that for the formerly incarcerated, its sometimes difficult for them to compete with much more skilled workers for jobs, he said.
If voters pass the amendment, Brandes said he would be willing to propose a follow-up bill that would place a time limit on the training wages. Under that idea, hard-to-hire groups could only be paid less than the minimum wage for a set period of time, perhaps a year or a set amount of hours.
The key is not to hurt them, but to help them get a leg up, he said.
Others, however, vehemently disagree with the proposal.
Pretty clear higher wages keep people out of prison too, progressive Orlando State Rep. Anna Eskamani tweeted in response to an article about the bill on Wednesday.
once they get a job, Brandes replied, adding later that, in his opinion, the bill will help the formerly incarcerated back on their feet after leaving prison.
In a text message to The Appeal, Eskamani said that instead of forcing the recently incarcerated into low-paying jobs, the state should focus on jobs-training programs to help people leaving prison.
Instead of carving out hard to hire employees from benefiting with an increase to the minimum wage we should help hard to hire employees be hirable! she said. Automation is already here and yet we face many talent gaps in areas like construction and manufacturing. Lets get folks trained and hired there, where they are needed. But hand picking select groups of people to be exempt is not to the spirit of Amendment 2, and wont help is reducing recidivism rates either.
*This piece has been updated with quotes from State Senator Jeffrey Brandes.
Read the original post:
Posted in Libertarian
Comments Off on A Florida Senator Wants to Exclude People With Felony Convictions from the State’s Minimum Wage Increase – The Appeal
A new Chatham Elections Board member was sworn in last week. This week, she resigned. – Savannah Morning News
Posted: at 11:24 am
Will Peebles|Savannah Morning News
Even when removed from Georgias controversial, seemingly endless 2020 election season, Chatham Countys Board of Elections has had a tumultuous start to the year.
Last week, with nary a press release or public announcement, a new member was appointed to fill former Republican board member Debbie Rauers seat after she resigned amidan investigation of her allegedly hitting a woman with her car in Orleans Square on Jan. 5.
To add to the churn of unprecedented decisions, the Chatham County Republican Party, the group responsible for appointing a new board member, didnt pick a Republican for the seat.
Instead, they chose Independent Carry Smith, a former member of the Chatham County Democratic Party and local political scientist. Back in October, Smith was a driving factor in the disqualification of Tony Riley, a Democratic candidate for the Chatham Commission District 2.
But after a change of heart, Smith submitted her letter of resignation on Thursday, less than a week after being sworn in.
Smith is currently in the process of getting her doctorate in political science from Clark Atlanta University. She worked for the Board of Elections during this summers primary election as an absentee ballot processor.
More: Chatham County election day marred by human error, government squabbles, voter confusion
At that point, she was a registered Democrat and a member of the Chatham County Democratic Party. Smith said after bringing light to Rileys grounds for disqualification, she was kicked out of the Democratic party and receivedmultiple death threats.
On Jan. 14, Smith was invited to speak at a CCRP meeting after submitting a resume and cover letter for the job.
I think they wanted somebody who was actively participating in meetings and actively knew what the issues pertaining to the office were and how difficult it was to stand up and put their name in the hat for the position, Smith said.
After being chosen as Rauers replacement, she filed the paperwork required by the Secretary of States Office, and was sworn in by Chatham County Probate Court Judge Tom Bordeaux on Jan. 22.
Then, on Thursday, she resigned.
Smiths quick resignation stemmed from a desire for fairness, she said. She disagrees with the boards makeup of two Democrats and two Republicans, calling it unconstitutional in that the Libertarian Party is not represented. She believes the board should be nonpartisan altogether, but until then, an actual Republican should hold the seat.
I don't want so much distrust. At this point. It would be better to see someone in the seat who is very capable and very intelligent, who is a representative of the party, Smith said. This was further reasoning that we need a merger of both offices and to get rid of the partisan politics that keep the board members from doing their job.
The Board of Elections has a special called meeting scheduled for 10a.m. on Friday, but details about the agenda have not been released. Calls to Board of Elections Chairman Tom Mahoney havenot been returned , and as of Thursday, no public notification of Smiths appointment and subsequent resignation has been given.
Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.
See the original post here:
Posted in Libertarian
Comments Off on A new Chatham Elections Board member was sworn in last week. This week, she resigned. – Savannah Morning News
The political beliefs of the Class of 2024 by race, gender and other factors – Duke Chronicle
Posted: at 11:24 am
Editor's note: This story is part of a series about the Class of 2024 based on a survey conducted by The Chronicle. You can read more about our methodology and limitations here, or see all of our survey coverage here. Our survey coverage will be collected in print on Monday, Feb. 1.
The Class of 2024 described their political beliefs, voting plans, presidential votes and more in The Chronicles first-year survey.
Of the first-years surveyed, 92.3% voted or planned to vote for Joe Biden, while 7% voted or planned to vote for Donald Trump. Green Party Co-founder Howie Hawkins and Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgenson each received one vote from survey respondents.
More than 70% of first years identified themselves as somewhat liberal or very liberal36.6% and 38%, respectively. Almost a fifth of students, 19.1%, described themselves as politically moderate. Somewhat-conservative students make up 5.4% of respondents. while very conservative students represent just 1%.
Participation in the 2020 general election was much greater than participation in primary elections among survey respondents. Of those eligible to vote in a primary election, 67.8% of students said they did. Of those students eligible to vote in the 2020 election, 99.6% of first-years either had voted or were planning to vote.
Slightly more studentsabout 54.5%voted or planned to vote in North Carolina than in other states.
White, multiracial, Hispanic students more likely to vote for Trump
While the vast majority of all racial and ethnic groups voted for Biden, Hispanic and Latinx students were slightly more likely than non-Hispanic and Latinx students to have voted for Donald Trump11.1% compared to 6.4%.
Non-Hispanic white and multiracial students were also among the most likely groups to have voted for Donald Trump10.1% and 8.7%, respectively, compared to 1.2% Asian students and 0% Black or African American students in our survey.
A greater percentage of Duke students in every racial and ethnicity category voted for Biden than the national population. According to national exit polls published by the New York Times, 41% of white, 87% of Black, 65% of Hispanic and Latinx, 61% of Asian and 55% of other races voted for Biden.
Signup for our editorially curated, weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Wealthier students more likely to vote for Trump
The highest income bracketabove $500,000held the largest proportion of Trump voters with nearly 21% of respondents in that income level having voted for Trump.
Compared to 12.6% of Biden voters who come from the above $500,000 income bracket, almost half42.1%of Trump voters come from the same income bracket.
This pattern is consistent with nationwide trends. According to the New York Times polls, 55% of voters who earned less than $50,000 in 2019, 57% of voters who earned between $50,000 and $99,999 and 42% of voters who earned more than $100,000 voted for Biden.
Religious first-years more likely to vote for Trump
Over 60% of Biden voters identify themselves as not at all religious or not very religious while for Trump, that percentage is just below 40%. Similarly, students who voted for Trump are overwhelmingly identified with a religion as opposed to agnostic or atheist. Of those who voted for Trump, 42.1% are Catholic and 21.1% are Protestant.
Biden voters more likely to represent diverse sexual orientations, genders
About 25% of students who voted for Biden identify with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, compared to approximately 10% of Trump voters.
Additionally, while the majority, 57.9% of Trump voters are cisgender men, the majority, 64.3%, of Biden voters are cisgender women. This is consistent with New York Times polls that showed the majority, 57%, of females voting for Biden and the majority, 53%, of men voting for Trump.
Biden voters also consisted of genderqueer, nonbinary and agender first-years and first-years of other genders, whereas no genderqueer, nonbinary or agender respondents indicated voting for Trump.
Black or African American students have the highest percentage of very liberal students out of all racial groups. The majority of all racial groups identify as very or somewhat liberal.
All of our surveys respondents who identify with very conservative political beliefs are non-Hispanic and Latinx white students. While a large majority of Hispanic and non-Hispanic students have liberal political beliefs, non-Hispanic and Latinx students are more likely to be very liberal than Hispanic and Latinx students39.1% compared to 30.8%. Almost 13% of Hispanic and Latinx first-years are somewhat conservative, compared to 4.3% of non-Hispanic and Latinx first-years.
There is more income bracket diversity among moderate and liberal students than conservative students, who have higher incomes. All students with family incomes below $40,000 and between $80,000 and $125,000 reported moderate, somewhat or very liberal political beliefs. More than 80% of somewhat conservative first-years reported having family incomes of at least $250,000.
Furthermore, each political ideology is composed of 10 to 20% of legacy studentsexcept for the very conservative category. Two of the three respondents in our survey who identified as very conservative are legacy students.
The more that first-years identify as liberal, the less religious they are, and vice versa. Nearly half of all very liberal first-years in our survey identify as not at all religious, whereas all very conservative students identify as religious or very religious.
Students who are moderate, somewhat or very liberal are more likely to identify with diverse sexual orientations and gendersas students identify as more liberal, there is greater representation of the LGBTQ+ community.
While all somewhat and very conservative respondents identify as heterosexual, nearly half of very liberal first-years identify as bisexual, gay, lesbian, homosexual, questioning, asexual and pansexual.
The majority of politically liberal and moderate first-years are cisgender women: 63.7%, 65.7% and 52.63% of cisgender women reported being very liberal, somewhat liberal and moderate, respectively. Meanwhile, the majority of conservative first-years are cisgender men: 66.7% and 56.3% of cisgender men reported being very conservative and somewhat conservative, respectively.
All gender queer, non binary and agender respondents identify as very or somewhat liberal.
Students in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences are slightly more likely to be liberal than Pratt School of Engineering students. Generally, as students identify as more politically conservative, the more likely they are to be in the Pratt School of Engineering. More than 70% of very liberal, somewhat liberal and somewhat conservative first-years are enrolled in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences.
More:
The political beliefs of the Class of 2024 by race, gender and other factors - Duke Chronicle
Posted in Libertarian
Comments Off on The political beliefs of the Class of 2024 by race, gender and other factors – Duke Chronicle
Livorno, the Rebel City Where Italy’s Communist Party Was Born – Jacobin magazine
Posted: at 11:24 am
As Benito Mussolinis gangs conquered Italy in the early 1920s, Livorno proved a particular obstacle. Fascists complained of their difficulties infiltrating the Tuscan port citys popular neighborhoods, inhabited by extremists and their sympathizers. In March 1922, local hierarchs cited a deeper reason, as they blamed the Livorno populations origins, largely made up of the many mongrel, escapee, refugee, Levantine, Jewish elements. Education and religion have never made inroads among this people fertile terrain, then, for subversive ideas.
For the police inspectorate, this posed the need for an offensive: to mount continual raids across whole neighborhoods at once, on workplaces, association buildings, and political and supposedly apolitical circles. In June 1923, when the Fascists did pull off simultaneous invasions of two hundred forty apartments in Livornos city center, nowPrime Minister Mussolini celebrated their achievement in the Senate.
Apart from the Fascists own overbearing arrogance and violence what immediately shines through from official reports is the tumultuous nature of this city and the vibrancy of its enduring popular roots. Livornos distinctly plural, rebellious character had a long history: already from the late sixteenth century it had granted exemptions, immunity, and privileges to draw in traders, sailors, and artisans of all creeds and backgrounds. It was open to refugees: to Jews, Muslims, Greeks, Catholics, and French Huguenots and even to slaves and outlaws, with specific pledges that there would be no inquiring into their past.
Livornos social fabric made it into an emblematic site of revolt and subversive energy. Its past is anything but monolithic: the city has undergone many transformations throughout its history, with its communities marked by deep divisions. But it has, at least, always been a city rich in contradictions and sharp polarizations a city of libertarian spirit, alive with social conflict. The Fascists were well aware of this. And there was also great ferment in Livorno on January 21, 1921, when the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) held its national congress.
Governed by a Socialist local administration, Livorno was chosen for the PSIs national congress on security grounds, especially given the relatively nonsectarian stance of the local police prefect. Indeed, a plan to hold the congress in Florence had to be abandoned, following the spread of appalling Blackshirt violence which enjoyed blatant police connivance. With the congress also expected to bring a split between Socialists and Communists, tensions were running high.
So, when Livornos moderate-reformist leader Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani, a member since 1894, opened proceedings at the Teatro Goldoni by saluting both reformist and revolutionary leaders both Turati and Bombacci there was immediate uproar. Forced to speak through repeated interruptions, he concluded his greeting message by alluding to the split. As he put it, some consider this a theater for surgery, and a painful amputation! We dont know if this amputation will happen: but if it does, what needs amputating is the rotten, the useless, the contemptible.
The amputation did, indeed, come. Three motions were presented to the congress, with the centrists opposed to a split taking 98,028 votes, the reformists 14,695, and the communists 58,783 not a negligible figure, but still a minority. Many of those who had voted for this latter motion abandoned the Teatro Goldoni and reconvened at the Teatro San Marco. There began another long story of political struggles and passions, with the founding of the Italian Communist Party (PCI).
The Socialist Party was strongly rooted in Livorno; locally, the Communist faction drew smaller numbers than other centers like Turin and Florence, where the PSI also had a strong presence by 1921. Many had been attracted by the political radicalization of 191920, with both the material and ideological polarization that followed World War I and the so-called biennio rosso of strikes, and factory and land occupations.
Key, here, were the hopes raised by the October Revolution. The events in Russia provided a concrete (if rapidly mythologized) reference point. Livornos Socialists responded to this climate with a change of tone and a sharpening of their own combativity. On August 7, 1919, the local Socialist paper La Parola dei socialisti published an article titled St. Russia:
In their history, peoples inevitably have moments that decide their often sudden passage from a state of static, blind acquiescence to a new stage of active life today we can say that the revolution itself, the richest page in this historic period of disguised enslavement and official hypocrisy, must and cannot die alone we look to [that revolution], with faith in the emancipation of all peoples, so that Europe and the world are no longer immersed in this orgy of blood, and so that humanity does not permanently live this aberration.
This more-or-less strategically minded choice helps explain why the Socialists support continued to grow. Their local-level rootedness was also accompanied by an older presence in cooperatives, mutual-aid associations, and local-level electoral work. Indeed, just months before the decisive Livorno Congress, the Socialists had confirmed their local strength by taking 7,915 out of 16,825 votes in the municipal elections of November 7, 1920.
Faced with this reality, a minority of militants joined the split at first: if the Livorno PSI had 1,107 members in October 1920, only 255 left to form the PCI. Aside from their weak numbers, it was unsurprising who they were: most came from the same locals which had already backed the PSIs internal Communist faction as early as 1917. They officially formed the Livorno branch of the PCI on January 29, 1921. The new party owed much to its militants determined endeavors for months they had no local office, before finally occupying some rooms in a dilapidated hospital.
But the focus of their activity lay elsewhere in the social life of their neighborhoods, in the organized mutual-aid efforts that began to take form in the streets and squares of the proletarian Garibaldi district, in their propagation of the ideal (including through the organized distribution of lOrdine Nuovo newspaper) and, indeed, through their tenacious vigilance against the Fascists, whose every fresh bid to enter met with sharp opposition.
The PCI is often considered to have begun life with rigid and self-isolating ideological rigor. Yet from the outset this was accompanied, in Livorno, by the typically libertarian notes that had developed through militants close ties with local anarchists, who were strongly rooted in the city. Already in recent years they had provided the intransigent Socialists with languages, subversive practices, shared spaces, and a tradition of internationalist solidarity, which especially developed in the period between the start of World War I and the biennio rosso.
The many continuing affinities between Communists and anarchists were, indeed, never entirely erased. The partys most prominent leader Amadeo Bordiga was avowedly dogmatic, attributing the party organization an absolutely central role as the precondition for all class action. But when he spoke in Livorno, he had some hesitations. Two days after the local PCI branch was founded, he gave a talk at the Teatro San Marco at which he denounced all other political forces but kept a diplomatic silence when it came to the anarchists.
Livornos practice and experience were atypical. But they stand apart from the commonplace image of Communists signing up to rigid party directives and total separation from all other political forces. In fact, while the Livorno Communists did maintain their own political stance, they were distinguished by an attitude distant from sectarian dogmatism. They instead built a strong collaboration with other forces in local institutions, trade unions, and social forces pushing up from below.
For instance, after the split in January 1921, the Communists four local councillors decided to renew their involvement in city hall, where they backed the Socialist administration. This was an autonomous decision, albeit with the consent of the central party leadership. In fact, the Livorno PCI secretary, Ilio Barontini, himself a councillor, had already told the Socialists in advance of his intention to continue collaboration, even before receiving a response from central party leaders.
Barontini was an especially important figure for local communism but also more generally. An anti-fascist militant, he had an intense feeling for humanity and an uncommon political temperament. This provided him with the courage to venture wherever the party wanted him to be and he always put his own skin in the front line of the class struggle. Throughout his letters to his family, one phrase often crops up: I belong to the proletariats cause.
A Central Committee member and first secretary of both the Livorno branch and the Pisa-Livorno federation, Barontini maintained intense activity in the PCIs clandestine organization after the legal party was crushed by the Fascist regime. At first exiled to France, he was one of the first International Brigade volunteers during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, before heading to Ethiopia to fight against the colonial-Italian Fascist forces.
He then returned to France, and then Italy, as a partisan in the Resistance of World War II. Under the nom de guerre Dario, he became commander of the Garibaldi assault brigades and a member of the PCIs insurrectionary triumvirate in Emilia-Romagna. With the fall of the regime and the return of democratic institutions, Barontini was again a PCI Central Committee member, secretary of the Livorno branch, a member of the Constituent Assembly and then the Senate.
A central figure in both the PCI legal and illegal work, Barontini was thus an emblematic figure of the openness of Livornese communism, which gradually drew it into the Gramscian current. Born to a family of anarchist background and then a PSI and PCI man, his political initiatives were constantly oriented toward cooperation with other forces on the left. Rejecting absolutist, sectarian attitudes, his political practice had a core principle in the common anti-fascist struggle and a militancy aimed at building an inclusive society.
Indeed, support for the Socialist local administration was not the only time that the Livorno PCI showed their dissent from the national party line. This was also true in the case of the Arditi del Popolo (AdP). This spontaneous popular movement emerged in towns across Italy faced with the constant attacks by Fascists, which targeted trade unionists, local labor halls, and anti-fascist groups already long before Mussolinis March on Rome in October 1922.
The PCIs response to the AdP was largely hostile a stance criticized by the Communist International. Bordiga insisted that military discipline must remain on an exclusively party basis. But the PCIs political practice did not always fully respond to theory, especially at the local level.
In Livorno, an AdP organization was formed with two hundred Communist volunteers, a hundred Socialists, ninety anarchists, and a hundred ten republicans: these formed four distinct squads, but they acted in close collaboration, and were joined by a fifth, mixed squad, whose task was to move around the city stopping the Fascists passing through any of the main streets.
These squads neighborhood presence allowed a diffuse defensive and offensive action against the Fascists, in the closest of mutual collaboration. They could rapidly melt into the crowd in the working-class districts, and often managed to see off the Fascists and police with the aid of utensils, pots and pans and objects of all kinds chucked from the windows of surrounding buildings.
This was also accompanied by a trade unionbased proletarian defense committee coordinating the opposition to Fascism; already in March 1921 it had representatives of the Camera del Lavoro (labor hall), the trade unions, Socialists, anarchists, and Communists from various leagues, associations, and youth formations.
The Livorno PCI was frequently divided between the demands of collaboration and its problematic deviations from the central party line. Often this implied a certain ambiguity: letters to other Socialist-controlled organizations often offered an opening to cooperation but also emphasized its conditional nature and exclusive aim of facilitating mass action.
Yet these tensions continually melted away faced with the pressing need for a frontline struggle against the Fascists. Communists and Socialists even ran joint candidates in elections for the local Camera del Lavoro and maintained collaborative trade union work in the factories even though this was combined with an intense propaganda effort from the PCI.
Only in subsequent years after the party was forced into illegality did the conditions of struggle and the difficult organizational context create a heightened moral tension between the parties. This led to even the Livorno Communists tightening their ranks, and thus weakening their collaboration with other political forces. But if in this sense, the early stages of clandestinity heightened the resonance of a self-isolating party line, this delicate moment was more the exception than the rule.
Indeed, what we learn from the situation in Livorno, with its experience of a shared anti-fascist commitment, is that an understanding of early Italian communism cannot be reduced to generalizations or to the most ideological dimensions of politics. The past becomes collective memory through a process of selection and reinterpretation, which also follows the cultural sensibilities and political trends of the present and it is worth asking ourselves what these are. The journey from over-simplification to political demonization is a short one, as Communists are only too aware.
This is worth bearing in mind, faced with the rhetorical instrumentalization of this period, which is still now at the forefront of the anti-communist propaganda issued by liberal and conservative forces. And so, too, faced with the transformations and divisions that shaped the history of the Italian left.
Starting with Palmiro Togliattis remolding of the PCI at the end of World War II, the emphasis given to the Gramscian approach was rhetorically sustained by Party publications built around harsh condemnation of the party in its first years, which was presented as rigidly dogmatic and inactive in fighting fascism. While these claims do have some foundation in the most ideological expressions of early Italian communism, they also reflect an over-generalization, too abstract from contemporary political experiences and the more composite and complex local realities.
For this reason, the libertarian, plural, rebellious nature of Livornos communism is not just a beautiful history, but also an uncomfortable one. It is difficult (if not impossible) to find such a memory a proper place within the current democratic institutions.
And confronting this history is especially complicated faced with the historical transformations taking place today, with the dissolution of the Left and its weakening ties to its original, future-oriented ideals of equality and inclusion. The Italian left is today submerged in a general indistinction among political forces, and indeed the capitulation of politics in general to the higher imperatives of neoliberalism.
Livornese communism had many contradictory elements, but also provides an exemplary image of conflict itself. Its history reminds us that ferment and conflict always create something new. The refusal of conflict demobilizes us and denies us any alternative perspective on the future.
Even if Fascism largely destroyed PCI organization on Italian soil by 1926, many militants remained active, whether continuing to build spaces of collaboration and joint resistance on the left, or in fighting the many expressions of Fascist oppression. Barontinis remarkable struggle was a case in point: it took him from Livorno to Spain, France, and East Africa, driven by a faith in the future, nurtured by the fight against Fascism in the present.
Barontini reminded us of this in his own words, as he wrote to his family after long years away as an exile, party leader and combatant. Ive been unable to give up on my ideals, which had precedence even over you, dare I say it. I love you. His priority had always been the revolutionary struggle, to satisfy, as he put it, his only goal in life, which has always been the quest to find the right and the good.
Defining what is good may seem rather complex. But the problem today is perhaps, rather a different one: the fear of conflict and the refusal to take a side.
Read more here:
Livorno, the Rebel City Where Italy's Communist Party Was Born - Jacobin magazine
Posted in Libertarian
Comments Off on Livorno, the Rebel City Where Italy’s Communist Party Was Born – Jacobin magazine
HB79 Allowing Minor Party Members To Vote In Primaries Passes Government, Elections And Indian Affairs Committee – Los Alamos Daily Post
Posted: at 11:24 am
By ROBERT NOTTSFNM News:
The Roundhouse had heartening news Wednesday for a growing number of New Mexico voters who arent affiliated with a major political party and would like the state to end a primary election system that excludes them.
Lawmakers on the House of Representatives State Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voted 6-3 to advance a bill that would allow all registered voters to cast ballots in primaries.
Under the measure, independent voters and those registered with a minority party could simply request a ballot from one of the major parties, with no requirement to alter the party affiliation on their registration.
Its not the first time state legislators have considered such a measure.
Previous efforts over the last five years have failed to reach the House or Senate floor for a vote, dying early in the committee process.
But advocates are optimistic House Bill 79 could become law this year. They argue the measure would increase voter turnout in both primary and general elections.
In our current closed primary system, a very large number of registered voters are not able to vote, and that constitutes an unacceptable disenfranchisement of these voters, John House said, president of the nonprofit Represent Us New Mexico, which supports voter reforms.
He was one of several people including New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver who testified in support of HB79, which now goes before the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
Rep. Daymon Ely,D-Albuquerque, one of the sponsors of the bipartisan bill, said current state law disenfranchises almost 300,000 voters.
I want to get people involved in the political process, and what better way to do that than have them take part in the primary [election]? Ely said.
Under New Mexicos closed primary system, voters must be registered with one of the three major political parties Democratic, Republican or Libertarian to cast a ballot in that partys primary.
However, a growing share of the states voters are registered as independents, have declined to state a party affiliation on their registration forms or state they have no affiliation. Two decades ago, only 10 percent of New Mexico voters were not registered with a major party. As of December 2020, the most recent data available, that had grown to 21.6 percent of voters or more than 293,000 according to the Secretary of States Office.
Democrats, meanwhile, make up 45 percent of the states voters, while 31.4 percent are Republicans, just under 1 percent are Libertarians and 1.1 percent are members of smaller parties.
The number of independent voters also is on the rise nationwide perhaps surpassing the number of people who identify with either of the largest parties. A 2020 Pew Research Center study found 34 percent of voters in the U.S. now identify as independents. In comparison, 33 percent identify as Democrats and 29 percent as Republicans.
According to the National Conference of State Legislators, New Mexico is one of just nine states that still have closed primaries.
Several Republicans on the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voiced some objections to HB 79, arguing in part it would increase the cost of elections. Candidates in the major political parties would have to invest more money in their campaigns to appeal to a larger pool of primary voters, some critics said.
But support for the measure does not fall along party lines.
Bob Perlsof New Mexico Open Elections, which has pushed for the primary overhaul since 2016, said some Democrats support the bill while others do not, and the same goes for Republicans. He noted Sen. Mark Moores,R-Albuquerque, is one of the sponsors of HB 79.
The divide, he said, is more about long-held beliefs on what a primary election is supposed to be and who should be part of it.
The argument is, Its a party primary, it belongs to us. It belongs to the party. If you want to join in the primary, then join the party, he said.
Its time to address that issue, said Jay E. Hollington,an Albuquerque attorney who questions whether New Mexicos taxpayer-funded primary elections violate the state constitution.
Hollington, who spoke in favor of HB 79 on Wednesday, took that question to the state Supreme Court several years ago. Ultimately, he told the committee, the court kicked the issue back to the Legislature to decide.
Independents have no voice in who their elected representatives are, which is dramatically contrary to the concept of voting for representation, he said in an interview after the hearing.
One reason for strong opposition to the bill, he said, is because the number of voters switching to independent status continues to rise.
There is a fear that somehow or another this will erode the influence of the two major political parties, Hollington said.
Its unclear where Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishamstands on the legislation. Her spokeswoman, Nora Meyers Sackett,said the Governors Office had not yet reviewed the bill.
Nor is it clear whether the New Mexico Democratic Party will back it.Miranda van Dijk,a spokeswoman for the party, did not respond to a phone call or email requesting comment.
New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearcedoes not support the measure, he wrote in an email.
He added that his friends in other states with open or semi-open primaries have told him many in their states regretted having implemented those laws.
Voter numbers in New Mexico:
As of Dec. 31, there were 1.36 million registered voters in New Mexico. Following are number of voters registered to each party:
The rest is here:
Posted in Libertarian
Comments Off on HB79 Allowing Minor Party Members To Vote In Primaries Passes Government, Elections And Indian Affairs Committee – Los Alamos Daily Post