Opinion

Opinion

Letter: Now is the best time to transition to renewables as a long-term solution

Daily Lobo Readers | November 9

On Wednesday of last week Robert Sanchez of the U.S. Government Accountability Office came in and talked about the potential for the United States to diversify the national energy portfolio and the hazards and obstacles that are in the way. The gist of what he was telling those of us interested in the topic was that renewable energy isn’t all that likely to be 100 percent of the energy portfolio – as it stands, fossil fuels are the cheapest available energy source and it seems that it won’t change any time soon with the onset of fracking.

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Opinion

Letter: ASUNM provides for themselves rather than the students they serve

Daily Lobo Readers | November 9

The front page article of the Nov. 7 paper should come as a shock to all students. The crux of the matter is that the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico appears to be doing little more than funding itself and its own extravagances rather than appropriating funds to the students that it claims to be serving. The majority of the money, which comes directly from student fees, does not make it back to the students, who are being milked like cash cows. It would almost be comical to chalk this up as negligence on behalf of ASUNM, but the truth is that they know exactly where this money goes and how little there is to show for it.

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Opinion

Column: Social media - a force for good or evil in the election?

Nichole Harwood | November 7

Social media plays a large part in the daily life of many individuals across the globe and has affected almost every avenue of life including, just recently, our political life. This election, regardless of the outcome, will make history, whether it’s because we will have our first female president or our first billionaire president. Even if Election Day were to provide a twist and a third-party candidate were elected, whoever wins will have been impacted heavily by their role and influence on social media.

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Opinion

Letter: Higher learning today displays anti-Christian bias

Daily Lobo Readers | November 6

Hello. Writing to all you out in academia about the election from the viewpoint of a Christian. I was raised in my family as a liberal Democrat back when that was a good thing. What I mean by that is the liberal Democrats have now come to stand for things I no longer support. We used to be for integration and proper hours and wages for workers. Honestly, I agree with both parties on certain issues so I am what is called an independent.

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Opinion

Letter: Election drama won't end on Tuesday

Daily Lobo Readers | November 6

An American spring, a renewed and reset Constitutional Republic. What very few people know, understand or want to acknowledge is that behind the scenes of all this election drama, a second American revolution is currently underway. Actually, more correctly, a counter-revolution to turn back the forces of tyranny and criminality, and the stakes could not be higher.

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Opinion

Letter: ASUNM candidates meeting fell short

Daily Lobo Readers | November 3

Good evening ASUNM Elections Commission, The meeting on Tuesday evening seemed to fall short of its own standards. While the information covered was pertinent to us as candidates, the efforts of the Elections Commission seemed to be wanting. There was a major disconnect in the message being put out, i.e., the importance of the ASUNM Senate, and the preparations of the Elections Commission. 

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Opinion

Letter: The University shows intellectual rot by running Macuahuitl's screeds

Daily Lobo Readers | November 3

Editor, The intellectual rot and apathy on the campus of the University of New Mexico breaks the god damn heart. I’ve been sitting back to see if anyone would respond to L.X. Macuahuitl’s screeds. No one has, so here goes. On Sept. 8, the Daily Lobo published my letter, "Rational and Educated Americans should vote for Hillary Clinton," which was mostly about the book, "Tyrants - 2,500 Years of Absolute Power And Corruption." The majority the letter was about the history of tyranny through human history. It ended with short shout out for the centrism of the Clintons and Obama. This letter seemed to trigger Daily Lobo reader L.X. Macuhutl. He replied on Sept. 15 with "Hillary Clinton is the face of Political Corruption." Macuhutl charges the Clintons are guilty of “High Crimes and Treason” over the last 30 years, and that Hillary has brain damage from head injuries and increasingly displays the signs and symptoms of illness, and that the rigged liberal media is covering up these crimes and sickness.

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Opinion

Letter: Hiring freeze could result in exploitation of staff

Daily Lobo Readers | November 3

Dear Editor, In regard to last week’s University budget town hall, I would like to address an issue that came up. It’s a pity that President Frank completely missed the point that an employee made about the fact that individuals are being asked to do more for less. It wasn’t surprising, though. I find the administration has a difficult time taking staff concerns into serious consideration, even though that is the purpose of the town hall meeting. The employee was making a statement about the fact that when programs lose staff, they are not being given approval to hire a replacement. Instead, the work is being unloaded onto staff that are in completely different departments.

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Opinion

Letter: Hillary's egregious misdeeds disqualify her for office

Daily Lobo Readers | October 30

Editor, Yes, if Hillary is elected, then the nation will have voted itself into ruin.

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Opinion

Op-Ed: Dakota Access vs. the American Way

Thomas Knapp | October 30

CNN reports that protesters from around the world continue to congregate in North Dakota in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux and their struggle to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through (or placed so as to negatively affect) tribal lands. The issues and the divide between sides seem to be fairly conventional: Promises of jobs and economic growth motivate the pipeline's supporters. Its opponents cite environmental concerns (especially the prospective damage to tribal lands) and allege violations of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 in Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners' wheedling of land use permissions out of federal and state governments.

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Opinion

Column: We let Trump, and ART, slip through the cracks

Matthew Reisen | October 26

As I navigate the city streets, bogged down with Albuquerque Rapid Transit construction, I can’t help but think: How can I stop this? ART has been a long time coming, and now that we’re here and it’s real, many of us are asking what more we could’ve done to possibly prevent it, and are looking for a time machine. Sound familiar? If it does it’s because the presidential “anti-candidate” that is Donald Trump, has come upon us in similar fashion. Trump grabbed America by the you-know-what, in such a way that America didn’t even realize what had happened until he was already bragging about it across the room. Just like ART, Trump is messy, inconvenient, bold in all the wrong ways, costly and most importantly: he is here and it is now. While ART has already broken ground and set off the road rage of a thousand suns, we still have three weeks until we find out if Trump will be another inescapable reality that somehow slipped through the cracks, and if his party — and the country he helped divide — will be able to recover.

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Opinion

Column: Russia, Wikileaks, and the hijacking of our election

Jon Lofquist | October 26

If you were one of the roughly 72 million people who tuned in to watch the third and final presidential debate last week, congratulations! You survived what felt like an apocalypse. With about two weeks to go before Election Day 2016, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are entering the final stretch of this election cycle by campaigning vigorously in many swing states. Although, I think by this point many people have already made up their mind regarding who they intend to vote for. Many disgusting, vile, false and disturbing things have been said since the campaign season started last year, particularly by the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. But what bothers me most isn’t that there are roughly 3,500 lawsuits by and pending against him and his companies for various reasons. It’s not that he may not accept the outcome of the election if he loses, which is disturbing. It’s not even the audio recording where he brags about sexual assault and that he can get away with anything because he’s famous and rich. It’s not even the Trump University scandal. What bothers me most about this election is Russia.

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Opinion

Guest Column: Despite budget woes, UNM remains strong

Ryan Berryman | October 26

Happy Midterms, Lobos. We’re one week closer to Christmas break. A lot has transpired on campus over the first few months of the fall semester. As you are likely aware, the final verdict on the UNM budget was passed down from the legislature a few weeks ago. Higher education across the state received a five percent cut, which equates to a $9.8 million reduction to Main Campus. While this number seems severe, a great credit is due to a number of campus constituencies for voicing to legislators how important it was for UNM to only receive a five percent reduction, as cuts as high as eight percent were proposed in Santa Fe. What makes this reduction most challenging is that the UNM system has already progressed nearly one-third through the fiscal year and now must make adjustments to already allocated budgets.

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Opinion

Editorial: APD's use of photos discredits Daily Lobo

Daily Lobo Editorial Board | October 23

Last week Daily Lobo staff became aware of something the Editorial Board considers inexcusable and counterproductive to our mission as student journalists at the University of New Mexico. On Oct. 12 a Daily Lobo reporter and photographer went downtown to cover the initial protest following the announcement of a mistrial in the case involving former APD officers who shot and killed homeless man James Boyd in 2014. Afterward the photographer, who’s also the photo editor at the Daily Lobo, put some of his shots up on his personal social media accounts, two of which showed a protester — an Albuquerque Public Schools teacher — being involved in a confrontation with a driver that evening.

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Opinion

Letter: Voters must not allow corrupt Clinton into office

Daily Lobo Readers | October 23

LAUNCELOT: Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might fail of the knowing me: it is a wise father that knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son: give me your blessing: truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son may, but at the length truth will out. --Shakespeare's “The Merchant of Venice,” 1596.

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Opinion

Guest Column: It's time for a third-party option

Beverly Burris | October 23

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the two worst candidates ever to run for the U.S. presidency. In a Gallup poll from Sept. 26, only 33 percent said that Clinton was “honest and trustworthy,” compared with 35 pecent for Trump. Polls from the summer showed that over half of the electorate believes that Clinton should have been indicted by the Department of Justice. Scandals continue to plague both candidates. Either candidate would be a terrible president, although for different reasons. Trump is inexperienced and incoherent, and he says dangerous and misguided things; Clinton is experienced but corrupt, and she has done dangerous and misguided things — especially her hawkish foreign policy initiatives.

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Opinion

Column: Negative fliers shouldn't keep voters away from polls

Nichole Harwood | October 21

This election season has been a pretty memorable one. There's no doubt about it when you view the two major party candidates from a historical perspective. Furthermore, social media almost guarantees you will see memes and videos shared amongst family and friends spreading opinions about the major party candidates in one way or another. Amongst the cloud of factual and false information being distributed through a variety of social media and news outlets, one message rings loudest: you must vote.

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Opinion

Letter: Electing Hillary isn't enough to stop Republicans

Daily Lobo Readers | October 20

I just read a fantastic article at the Los Angeles Times explaining why the election is going to be a slam dunk for Hillary. It also mentions that as far as the Congressional races go, things are not nearly as clear cut. While it's becoming more obvious by the day that Hillary is going to win the election, I must act as the bearer of potentially bad news by letting my fellow readers know: the Republicans are likely to maintain their strong presence in Congress. They're not going to make things easy for us.

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Opinion

Column: Memes to an end

Nichole Harwood | October 19

Here’s a challenge: try scrolling down your Facebook feed and see how many posts you scroll past before you see a meme. I got past two posts before a meme came up on my Facebook feed. When continuing to scroll and continuing to see meme after meme come up on this social network site, I began to see a trend.

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Opinion

Letter: "Hacked" Clinton emails are a convenient distraction

Daily Lobo Readers | October 19

Beware the hacker who first reads your confidential stuff, then alters –- through even false “redacts” – certain choice docs subtly but with incendiary results, before releasing them through a leaking outfit. He could alter World History. The matter has come up because the Clinton campaign is not saying Clinton’s hacked stuff is authentic or not. Maybe they are; maybe they aren’t. Have they been tampered with? By definition, how would we ever know? Would they say, “Yes, this is the speech Hillary gave to Goldman Sachs, but Hillary did not use those exact words”?