On Track

 The present and future governors of New Mexico.

2019

The Morning Ride

 On a short outing on my trike around the neighborhood.  I came across a couple roadrunners.

This one had caught a small lizard for breakfast beside the Explora children's science museum

T-rex was waiting for the Natural History Museum to open so he could perform his daily duties as an animatronic exhibit in the main hall. 

 A new restaurant has opened in the neighborhood.  Mañana Taco has had good attendance in its first week, so there seems a good chance it will prosper.  When we moved to Albuquerque the building was occupied by a so-so burger joint.  That was followed by a dispensary which lasted about a year before running afoul of the law for selling out-of-state weed.  Mañana shares the building with Pink Pony which sells soft ice cream.

Listen To The Pig

Head for the Arc !

Fight Back!

 Yanis Varoufakis in a post on his blog today does a good job of dealing with claims of consciousness for Artificial Intelligence.  His strength is an ability to apply relentless logic to any question he tackles.  As many others have pointed out recently, Varoufakis identifies the most urgent issue to be the ownership of the technology and who is or could be the biggest beneficiary.  The conclusion is that the people need to come together to take control of the political process which the billionaires are currently dominating with vast infusions of capital.

Beyond the macro-political strategies there are individual actions which people can employ in their daily lives to resist the AI behemoth which has been incorporated in so much of what we do in front of our screens.  One easy tactic is based on the fact that much of AI's power is based on routinely feeding us only what we want or are prepared to hear and "like".  The danger of that, of course, is that we become blind to what is really shaping the world around us.

A useful opening move is to use the option  in the browser of your choice to open any news links in a private window or tab.  What you then get is not a selection of items catering to your past  choices and prejudices, but a more balanced view of what is happening in the world.  

One browser with a strong focus on privacy, DuckDuckGo, has gone a step further toward individual empowerment by offering the possibility of blocking all those irritating targeted ads that pop up when you try to access a YouTube presentation.  That platform will undoubtedly strike back with threats and countermeasures.  In the meantime, though, people have the opportunity to experience the pleasure of reasserting individual control over the technology.

Saturday Morning

 I rode my trike into Old Town this morning at 9:30 AM.  The temperature was already in the 90s, so I went straight to the Black Bird for an iced latte.  When I left the coffee shop there was a group of large men in blue uniforms at the register.

 Their truck was appropriately parked in the fire lane.

Our 56th

It's A Big World

Corrrecting the Terminology

 Paul Krugman's substack has a useful examination of the right wing's tendency to label anything they don't like as "socialist" while ignoring the real meaning of the term.  Read: 

There Are Very Few Socialists in America

 Krugman does not take up the even more ridiculous "communist" which Trump flings at politicians like Mamdami.

Local Talent

We enjoyed an upbeat hour of music at our local library with with song writer/blues guitarist,  Oscar Butler.

oscarbutlermusic.com/

On To November

Flowered

66

 The Albuquerque Museum has mounted a big show about the history of New Mexico's portion of the famous highway.  It is nicely put together, though for me all a bit overly familiar.  For Margaret it evoked memories of a cross-country road trip with her family in the 1950s.

Gus

 Gus was one of the kittens from two litters born in our backyard.  He was relentlessly sociable.  He found the ideal caregiver and became a warm center of her life for eighteen years..  Both are now gone.

Blue Eyes

 

The People's Champion vs. Big Money

 The last airing of of the PBS Friday program, New Mexico In Focus, featured a discussion about the primary election and the meaning of the voter turnout favoring Democrats.  It was enlightening, but might better have been aired before the election to make it more clear what people were voting for.

The disaffected Never-Trump Republican analyst summed up the choice of Deb Halland over Dem rival, Sam Bregman, as a vote for the status quo.  That is true only if one mainly focuses on the continued choice of voters to exclude Republicans from State-wide offices.  Bregman was clearly seen by many of both left and right as pushing policies compatible with long-held Republican views.

Former NM State Senator, Dede Feldman, pointed out that the real issue dividing the candidates was one of authenticity.  

Haaland's primary opponent, Sam Bregman, ran on a law-and-order agenda while paying lip service to the New Mexico public's distaste for Trump. Meanwhile, a big part of his campaign budget came from MAGA political action committees.  When the landslide outcome was announced and Bregman was asked if he would support. Halland in the general election, he responded with a scowl that he would NOT be supporting Haaland in November.

As Dede Feldman said, Haaland's long career in New Mexico politics has been characterized by a tireless effort, while traveling to every corner of the State, to present her own story and her views on the issues faced by ordinary New Mexicans.

We first became aware of Haaland when she made a presentation at the Main Library as part of her State Congressional campaign.  We were charmed by her articulate honesty and clear understanding of the historical, social and economic challenges which have shaped the State.

Haaland's lack-luster Republican opponent in the upcoming race for Governor does not himself seem to present much of a threat.  However, big Republican money is sure to be deployed during the rest of the year against Haaland.  While pushing the former Rio Rancho mayor to a win with an avalanche of cash is unlikely, every effort will be made to undermine Haaland's tenure as Governor. 

ICT

"ALBUQUERQUE — In a centuries-old town, Deb Haaland celebrated her nomination as the Democratic candidate for governor of New Mexico against Sam Bregman. If she wins in November against Republican Greggory Hull, she will become the first Native American woman to be governor in the United States..."

Spanish Broom Flamenco

 Dinner on the Tiny Grocer patio and another fine performance.

 

Not A Mystery

 That Donald Trump might fall asleep in Cabinet meetings is nor hard to explain.  It appears he is a poor sleeper, spending much of the night and early morning hours composing long rants on his Truth Social platform.  Here is one of the many stories on the subject:

------------------ 

Trump Fires Off More than 160 Posts in Late-Night Truth Social Spree, Covering Everything from Christmas to Michelle Obama

Trump stopped posting by midnight, then reemerged early in the morning to declare, "TRUTH SOCIAL IS THE BEST!" ... (People)

----------------- 

Muddy as it is,  the ideological orientation of the rants still has some residual appeal to the MAGA base.  For the broader public the consequences of a President with the character of a truculent child is clearly becoming more alarming by the day.

Trump's inattention to the actual process of governing leaves the running of the Country in the hands of misfits who cycle through the Cabinet, leaving chaos in their wake.  The question that looms now is 

Can the Country get to 2028 without a disaster of unrecoverable proportions?

A Sunday Car Show

Priorities

 How many homeless in the U.S. as of 6/1/26?

An estimated 745,652 people are experiencing homelessness in the U.S. on a given night. This figure is from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) annual Point-in-Time count.\\

What has been the cost of the iran war so far? (As of 6/1/26)

Long-Term Projections: Economists warn that the long-term tab—which must eventually factor in veterans' medical care, replacing depleted munitions, and macroeconomic drags on GDP and inflation—could ultimately range from $630 billion to $1 trillion.

Divide $1 trillion by 745,652 (number of homeless on any given night)

(US$ 1 trillion) / 745 652 = 1.34110818 million US$

Source: Google AI 

******************

Clearly, making millionaires of every homeless American would solve the housing problem, but it could probably be resolved at a lesser cost per person with some left over.  Going forward, it would be a good idea to not become mired in pointless wars. 

Sunday Best

At The Botanic Garden

Nopal

 Flowers and fruit in a nearby alley.

 

Spanish Broom

 The Spanish Broom flamenco group performs often in Old Town and elsewhere in Albuquerque.  The graceful dancers, guitarists and cantaoras frequently practice their classic style in informal settings at no charge.  One of the nicest benefits of living in Albuquerque.

 

Coffee With Birds

 We went to visit the new bookstore in Old Town.  It wasn't quite open so we backtracked to Blackbird Coffee for a latte.

This place has had numerous owners in the years we've lived in the area.  The current owner seems to be making a go of it.  The size of the shop was recently increased significantly by the acquisition of of a neighboring space and it is often filled up, with a line going out the door.

As we sipped our latte we were able to watch the Big Bear Bald Eagle Live Nest-Cam projected on the screen above the counter.   Margaret fed a quarter into a new electronic palm-reader gadget just below the screen.  Overall quite a pleasant experience.

Flight

 One thing I miss about living in Southern New Mexico is the opportunity to visit the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa.  Besides the interesting static displays there were also frequent opportunities to see the old planes flying.  It is a little shocking to see the current admission prices compared to what I remember, but it seems in line with what museums everywhere are doing now.

North American T-6 Texan

New Mexico Political Winds

This is an interesting mid-term election year in New Mexico.  In recent years the outcome of the Democratic Party primary election has determined who occupies any State-wide elective offices at both the State and Federal levels.  That is very likely to be the case again, particularly as the Republicans seem determined to shoot themselves in the foot.

None of the three Republican candidates running for Governor in their primary have significant name recognition that would mount a serios threat to Democratic Party dominance.  The one guy with the biggest campaign chest via self-funding seems to think filling potholes is the State's most serious issue.

In addition to tissue-thin chances of the Governor candidates there is also a serious leadership conflict in the Republican Party.  Several suits have been mounted against the party chairwoman because of what is described as a conflict with party rules about who is eligible to run in the primary election.

Of course, the Democrats have their own conflicts to wrestle with as well.  Two Democratic Party candidates are vying for the office of Secretary of State of New Mexico which oversees elections.  Both have similar experience and pretty much identical campaign pitches with a heavy emphasis of keeping Trumpian interference out of State elections.  The more high-profile primary race, however, is that for who will likely be the next Governor.

Sam Bregman is trailing his opponent, Deb Haaland, in the polls.  He is a tough talking candidate with a good record as the Bernalillo County DA, appointed by current Governor Lujan Grisham.  Bregman cultivates a macho image wearing a black cowwboy hat, and he is an accomplished orator.  If he were running unopposed he would likely be a shoe-in to replace Lujan Grisham.

It turns out, however, that the other Democrat in the race, Haaland, has built up a formidable dossier as a Party leader, a Congressional Representative and the Secretary of the Interior under Joe Biden.  Haaland's campaign relies on reviewing her experiences in office along with an appealing life story which a lot of Democrats have bought into during her long political journey.

Most of the TV ads attacking Haaland come from a political action committee, Accountable New. Mexico, which is not immediately tied to the Bregman campaign, but is clearly acting in support of the Bregman effort.  Bregman, in his presentations, casts doubt on Haaland's claimed accomplishments, but to what effect is unclear.  As reported in the Santa Fe New Mexican:

"Accountable New Mexico reported its donors in the last campaign reporting period, all four of whom contributed money to Haaland’s challenger, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, in the previous campaign reporting period.

While Bregman has denied any involvement with the group, he is tied to at least three of its initial four donors through the horse racing industry. Bregman previously served as chairman of the New Mexico Racing Commission before stepping in as Bernalillo County district attorney in early 2023."

How all of the above will contribute to the outcome of the primaries or the actual State elections is pretty uncertain at this point.

Memories of Place

The nearest neighbor to our desert home in southern New Mexico was the Martinez ranch and roping arena.  Our driveway bordered that expanse of swamp cedar to the left center of the picture.  The Rio Grande is to the right.  Tonuco Mountain to the north was a frequent destination, mainly to see the many petroglyphs there.  In our last Spring I found a Prairie Falcon nest high in the sandstone cliffs.

Aspirational Threat Display

On Alert

Opal Eyes

risk assessment

Viewpoint

 I have walked by this piece in the museum sculpture garden many times,  but only realized recently that it accurately depicts a cowboy standing beside Donald Trump.

 I may have to explore this theme. further with AI.

Looking At The Moon

While I am developing a roll of film in my kitchen I often ask Alexa to play the songs of Billie Holiday. One of my favorites is I'll Be Seeing You.  I always think of my mother as I listen to the song and wonder if, for a time,  it was one of her favorites as well.
    The song was first published in 1938.  Billie Holiday recorded it in 1944.  That was the year my father died in his Sherman tank on a snowy road in Belgium.

 

I'll be seeing you
In all the old familiar places
That this heart of mine embraces
All day through.

In that small cafe;
The park across the way;
The children's carousel;
The chestnut trees;
The wishin' well.

I'll be seeing you
In every lovely summer's day;
In every thing that's light and gay.
I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you
In the morning sun
And when the night is new.
I'll be looking at the moon,
But I'll be seeing you.

I'll be seeing you
In every lovely summer's day;
In every thing that's light and gay.
I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you
In the morning sun
And when the night is new.
I'll be looking at the moon,
But I'll be seeing you.

Three Wheels

Highly Recommended

 Blue Corn pancakes on Thursday morning at Bike In Coffee.  (One order is plenty for two.) 

Today

New Mexico Primary Early Voting Starts Today!

Time For A Cleanup

Economic Reality

53 nations gather to plan a fossil fuel phaseout  (The Conversation)

 

US President Donald Trump is a longtime climate denier and oil industry ally, who sums up his own energy policy as “drill, baby, drill”. Yet he is doing more than almost anyone to speed up the global shift from fossil fuels to clean energy and electric vehicles (EVs)...

The Case for Mexico's Annexation of the U.S.

 Claudia Sheinbaum's address to the Summit for Democracy. 

Foto Oficial Claudia Sheinbaum, Presidenta de México