Venezuela: Chavismo Wins Governorships in 20 of 23 States


A man casts his vote, Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 21, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @ALBATCP

Published 21 November 2021

"It is a victory for the humble people, the noble people of Venezuela, who have endured a brutal war," President Nicolas Maduro stressed.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) President Pedro Calzadilla reported a 41.80 percent turnout in Sunday's Subnational elections.

RELATED:
‘We Do Not Renounce the Transition to Socialism’, Maduro Says

Having counted 90.21 percent of the ballots cast in the elections, Calzadilla reaffirmed that the elections took place in a peaceful environment.

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) candidates hold leads in 20 out of 23 states for the governor's race.

Meanwhile, the opposition coalition United Democratic Table (MUD) candidates secured a lead in the Cojedes and Zulia states. Neighbors Force (FV) party secured the other governor post for opposition sectors in the Nueva Esparta State.

"Nothing disturbed the electoral process ... International observers move freely throughout the country to verify the electoral process... It is a victory for the humble people, the noble people of Venezuela, who have endured a brutal war," President Nicolas Maduro stressed.

Over 21,000,000 Venezuelans were called to cast the ballots to elect 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 lawmakers, and 2,471 councilors.

The CNE delivered credentials to over 300 international observers from 55 countries and institutions such as the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), and the Carter Center.

Nearly 70,000 candidates from all political forces in the South American nation contested the elections. They represented 37 national political parties and 43 regional organizations.

Venezuela Election: FANB To Continue Safeguarding the Elections

Military officers close a polling center as voting hours end, Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 21, 2021. 

| Photo: EFF

"The Venezuelan people were summoned and came out to say YES to democracy and peace, and to say NO to violence, to bullets and interventionism," Padrino said.

On Sunday, 21.1 million Venezuelans are entitled to elect 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 state legislators, and 2,471 councilors. For the first time since 2007, opposition parties participate in the democratic process and call on the population to go to the polling stations. The main events of this electoral event are presented below according to their occurrence at local time.

20.00. Ratifying Sunday's peaceful atmosphere, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino noted that the Subnational Elections mark a new path for peace, reinstitutionalization, and democracy in the Bolivarian nation.

"The Venezuelan people were summoned and came out to say YES to democracy and peace, and to say NO to violence, to bullets and interventionism, and to those people who have tried to disrupt and destabilize our institutions and our democracy," Padrino
said.

The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) and the Strategic Operational Command will continue to support the electoral process as elections will be held in Indigenous peoples' entities in the upcoming days.

19.20. Colombian Electoral Observer Piedad Cordoba expressed that Sunday's elections ratified "the civic, transparent and peaceful vocation" of Venezuelans in a legitimate electoral process.

"In 22 years, there have been 29 elections, and I am happy because I tell you that Venezuelans have the solution to their problems in democratic ways," Cordoba said.

18.30. The National Electoral Council confirmed the closing of polling stations nationwide in line with electoral law. It is only keeping open those centers with people lined up to cast their votes.

The Citizen Verification will begin in 54 percent of polling stations, after a drawing in each voting center.


The meme reads, "The Educational Unit in the Caricuao parish of Caracas was another of the electoral centers visited by international observers accredited by the National Electoral Council, among them, the ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary Sacha Llorenti."

17.30. Elections Observation Missions representatives offered their impressions on the Subnational Elections held on Sunday.

Uruguay's former Foreign Minister and International Observer Ricardo Patiño thanked the Venezuelan authorities for their invitation while highlighting the "significant level of participation and democracy" shown in the elections.

Patiño highlighted the representation of all political forces competing in the electoral race at the polling stations and the high level of preparation.

International Observer Cristian Rodriguez from Rebellious France noted the participation of representatives of the opposition sectors and the environment of peace.

Juan Carlos Monedero from Spain pointed out that the Elections evidenced the "enormous prestige and capacity" of the National Electoral Council (CNE), which has a political balance that guarantees its impartiality.

He noted also the peaceful atmosphere of the voting process, which contrasts with the reality of other Latin American countries where candidates face political violence.

Highlighting the occurrence of the electoral race amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Monedero expressed that the elections mark the beginning of new normality in Venezuela.

16.30. United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Vice President Diosdado Cabello celebrated the participation of the people and government authorities in Sunday's subnational elections while noting that the polling stations are still open for citizens to vote.

PSUV Socialist Youth's General Secretary Rodbexa Poleo remarked that the Bolivarian movement is a permanent campaign for social transformation, culture, and sports.

"We call on the youth to participate. We have demonstrated that our electoral system is perfect... Young people will propose the projects we have, and together we will crystallize them," Poleo said.

The meme reads, "We are exercising our right to vote as a family with emotion and deep national love. Today is a holiday for the Bolivian Revolution. We will win."

15.20. Following a visit to the polling station "Antonio Ortega Ordoñez" in the Palo Verde sector in Caracas, the Head of the European Union's Election Observation Mission, Isabel Santos, noted that tranquility marks the Election Day.

The Bloc's Observation Mission has about 130 representatives deployed in the voting centers nationwide. They will conclude their activities with a preliminary report to be presented on Nov. 23.

14.50. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro cast his vote at a polling station in the Fuerte Tiuna neighborhood in Caracas.

"The Venezuelan electoral system is the only one in the world that has over 18 audits, which are certified with the presence and signature of representatives from all political parties," President Maduro stated.

He reiterated the calls on Venezuelans to assist voting centers and express their will for the future of the Bolivarian nation.

14:00. The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) takes part in the international oversight of the Venezuelan elections.

13:30. The opposition politician Henrique Capriles cast his vote. "Venezuela expresses itself by exercising our right to vote," he said.

13:00. The National Electoral Council President Pedro Calzadilla highlighted the efficient operation of voting. Besides indicating that electoral authorities are ready to attend to any eventual complaint of irregularities, he pointed out that these elections demonstrate the Venezuelans' will to resolve their differences in peace.

12:32. International observer Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wants the dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition to resume so that the South American nation can overcome its difficulties and resume its path towards development.

12:30. "I just voted in El Recreo Parish in Libertador Municipality. All the polling stations are working and have accredited witnesses. A fast and fluid process. The Republic Plan is very efficient," said Democratic Action (AD) Secretary Henry Ramos, who is also the vice president of the International Socialist (IS).

11:30. Luis Florido, the opposition candidate seeking to be governor of the state of Lara, came to vote.

10:30. Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez stressed that "this election is very important and transcendental for the Republic" and urged opponents to respect the results of this contest.

10:00. Diosdado Cabello, the vice president of the Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (SUV), affirmed that the "punishment vote" will be for those political groups that disappointed the voters.

09:30. Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Felix Plasencia goes to the polls to cast his vote and made the following call: "That no one is left today without participating, voting, and fulfilling their national duty."

09:00. The president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Pedro Calzadilla reported that 95 percent of the country's polling stations were receiving votes.


09:00. Domingo Hernandez, the Strategic Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (CEOFANB), confirmed that the soldiers are providing security through the Integral Defense Zones (ZODI), the Integral Defense Regions (REDI) and the Integral Defense Areas (ADI).

08:30. Karina Carpio, the candidate of the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) for the governorship of Aragua state, invited citizens to come out and vote to "consolidate democracy and legitimize our Constitution once again."

08:00. Through his account on his Twitter, the opposition politician Alfredo Diaz invited voters to vote

07:30. National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez invited all Venezuelans to vote this Sunday.

07:00. The National Electoral Council (CNE) President Pedro Calzadilla announced that 76 percent of the polling stations were already serving citizens.

06:30. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro called on the population to vote for peace. "The victory target sounds, the heart beats strong. Venezuelans, let's go to vote in peace and harmony and unite for the love of our homeland. Let's vote to win! Let's win to advance!," he tweeted.

06:00. Subnational elections officially begin in Venezuela.

Chile: Gabriel Boric To Face Jose Antonio Kast on Dec 19 Runoff

Former student leader Gabriel Boric will face far-right lawyer Jose Antonio Kast in Chile's runoff presidential election on December 19. | Photo: Twitter/@financelygroup

Published 21 November 2021 (3 hours 10 minutes ago)

With over 92,75% of the votes counted, the top two candidates, Boric and Kast, will face off in a runoff election set for December 19.

In Chile's first-round presidential elections, former student leader for the leftist Apruebo Dignidad coalition Gabriel Boric has obtained over 25% of the vote, whereas far-right lawyer for the Partido Republicano Jose Antonio Kast has won 28% of the vote, meaning the two will face off in a tense runoff in just over three weeks.

RELATED:
Live Updates: Boric and Kast Head to Second Round in Chile

In third place, populist outsider candidate Franco Parisi earned just over 13% of the vote, and in fourth and a close fifth, Christian democrat Yasna Provoste snagged just over 12% and center-right candidate Sebastian Sichel earned just under 12% of the vote, respectively.

Over 6 million votes have been counted thus far, as over 15 million Chileans were called upon to elect their new president, along with 155 lawmakers, 27 senators, and 302 regional councilors for the 2022-2026 term.

Speaking to his supporter upon learning of his first-place finish in the first round of elections, Kast blamed delinquents and rioters for Chile's social problems, alluding to those who fought for the country's constutitional convention as the main causes of the country's violence.

Vaguely referring to concepts of democracy, peace and freedom, Kast scapegoated the Left by saying he refused to let Chile become Venezuela, rallying his supporters to choose between freedom and communism.

"With almost 30%, the trend continues. Second round in Chile. @joseantoniokast and @gabrielboric. Here, the %: #ChileDecide"

On the other hand, the former student leader, Boric, spoke to his supporters after placing second in the elections, highlighting the need to improve public services, end the political privileges for an elite minority and find unity among diverse sectors of the center and the left to beat the ultra-right candidate, Kast.

Boric furthermore said his presidency would defend the constituent process that began in 2019, asserting to that win the second round, his coalition will have to be "humble and receptive," never "haughty and arrogant."

Boric said, "When the road gets rough, it tests the mettle of the leadership that sustains it. We are not going against something, I do not come to occupy this tribune to speak against the other candidate, it is not my style. This is the crusade in which hope wins over fear. I am grateful for the trust of thousands of people who have told us that we have this mandate and that we are here tonight disputing a second round that will be historic."

Still to be counted in Sunday's general elections are the votes cast for representatives, senators and regional council-members, although initial results show the left-wing Apruebo Dignidad list winning around 20% of the seats, the right-wing Chile Podemos Más coalition securing over 28% of the seats, the liberal New Social Pact list gaining nearly 18% of the seats, and other independent, extremist and fringe groupings earning the rest of the seats.

This election marks the first time that the presidential candidates facing off in the second round of elections are not from either the Independent Democratic Union or the Socialist Party, which have formed the coalitions that have taken turns in the exercise of power since the fall of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990.

Rationalists are wrong about telepathy
Steven Pinker's denialism reveals the prejudice of the scientific establishment

BY RUPERT SHELDRAKE

. 

Telepathy isn't a unique miracle. 

Credit: Media/ClassicStock/Getty

RupertSheldrake
November 22, 2021


Steven Pinker likes to portray himself as an exemplar of science fighting against a rising tide of unreason. But in relation to phenomena that go against his own beliefs, he is remarkably irrational himself: he asserts that evidence is not required to assess the reality of phenomena he does not believe in, because they cannot possibly be true. How can a champion of rationality adopt such double standards?

In his new book Rationality, Pinker is adamantly opposed to telepathy and other kinds of extra-sensory perception (ESP). His position is that they do not happen because they cannot happen. He freely admits that he pre-judges the evidence by claiming that these purported phenomena are extremely improbable, assigning them an infinitesimal “prior probability”, in the language of Bayesian statistics. He acknowledges that “believing in something before you look at the evidence may seem like the epitome of irrationality”, but he justifies his refusal to look at the evidence by classifying these phenomena as “paranormal’, lumping them together with seemingly unrelated topics like homeopathy, astrology and miracles.

He then invokes an 18th-century argument against miracles by David Hume. As Hume put it, either miracles are impossible because they “violate the laws of nature” or because “no testimony is sufficient to establish” they contradict what has “frequently been observed to happen”. In Pinker’s paraphrase: “Which is more likely – that the laws of the universe as we understand them are false, or that some guy got something wrong?”

To clinch his argument, Pinker invokes physics. He is not a physicist himself, so he relies on the authority of Sean M. Carroll, a theoretical physicist who claims that the laws of physics rule out ESP. Other physicists disagree. Pinker rounds off his discussion by quoting Carl Sagan’s mantra:

 “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

In a recent interview in the Harvard Gazette, Pinker explains why he rejects the “primitive intuitions” that lead most people to believe in ESP. He and his fellow rationalists “unlearn these intuitions when we buy into the consensus of the scientific establishment — it’s not as if we understand the physiology or neuroscience or cosmology ourselves”. Instead, they buy in as an act of faith.

For readers wondering how acts of faith might bias our judgements, Pinker helpfully identifies “the Myside bias” as “probably the most powerful of all the cognitive biases, namely, if something becomes an article of faith within your own coalition, and if promoting it earns you status, that is what you believe”. This surely applies to himself.

Is Hume’s argument against miracles relevant to ESP? Hume was writing about descriptions of biblical miracles. He was right that they are not frequently observed. But is telepathy a unique miracle that is said to have happened far away and long ago? No. It is frequently observed today.

The most common type of telepathy occurs in connection with telephone calls. Research carried out in Europe and the Americas shows that most people say they have thought of someone for no apparent reason, and that person then called, or that they knew who was calling when they heard the phone, before looking at the caller ID or answering. Similar kinds of telepathy occur with text messages and emails. (I give details of these surveys and summaries of experimental tests in my book The Sense of Being Stared At).

Telepathic experiences are not an extraordinary claim, but an ordinary claim. It is Pinker who is making an extraordinary claim by asserting that telepathy cannot happen and that most people are wrong about their own experience. Where is his extraordinary evidence? He has none, and, even worse, believes he doesn’t need any.

Telepathy is frequently observed in animals. In random household surveys in the UK and the USA, roughly half of dog owners said that their dog anticipated the return of a member of the family by waiting at a door or window, in some cases more than 10 minutes in advance. About 30% of cats did the same. In many cases, people said that this happened when the person came home at a non-routine time, and by public transport or in unfamiliar vehicles such as taxis. The animals’ responses were not simply a matter of routine or hearing familiar vehicles approaching; they seemed to depend on some other kind of connection between owners and their pets.

Sceptics will reasonably ask whether people could be mistaken in making these observations. Perhaps people know who is calling because they are familiar with that person’s habits and unconsciously anticipate when they will call. Or perhaps they think of people frequently and forget all the times those people do not call. Perhaps people dote on their pets and are victims of wishful thinking, remembering when their dog or cat was seemingly waiting for them, and forgetting when it was not. Perhaps, or perhaps not.

Fortunately, science and reason provide a way forward: the scientific method. Scientists test hypotheses. Several researchers, including myself, have carried out hundreds of experimental tests of telephone telepathy to investigate whether random guessing explains the results, or whether something else is going on. For these tests, the subjects chose four people they knew well to serve as potential callers. Then, in filmed experiments, they sat beside a landline telephone, with no caller ID. For each trial, one of the four potential callers was selected at random and asked to call the subject.

When the phone rang, the subject said to the camera who she felt it was, for example ‘Jim’. She was right or wrong. She could not have anticipated that Jim would be calling by knowing his habits, because he was selected at random. By chance, about 25% of the answers would have been right. In fact, in hundreds of trials, the average hit rate was 45%, hugely significant statistically. You can see a film of one of these experiments and the results of many randomised experiments published in peer reviewed journals here. We found similar positive effects in experiments on email and text-message telepathy.

I have also carried out more than a hundred filmed experiments with dogs that behave as if they know when their owners are coming home. The filmed evidence showed that the dogs anticipated their owners’ arrivals even when they returned at random times, unknown to them in advance, and in unfamiliar vehicles. You can see a test independently filmed by the science unit of Austrian State television (ORF) and results of numerous tests published in peer-reviewed journals here.

Pinker is not alone in his denialist stance. He is a prominent member of an advocacy organisation called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), which publishes the Skeptical Inquirer: The Magazine for Science and Reason. His CSI colleagues include Richard Dawkins and the philosopher Daniel Dennett. CSI’s well-funded campaigns are designed to discredit “claims of the paranormal” in the serious media and the educational system. Organised skepticism is remarkably effective, and CSI has an international network of affiliated groups, as well as many local skeptic chapters and online vigilantes, ever ready to ‘debunk’ the paranormal. (In the UK, organised skeptics use the American spelling with a ‘k’ rather than the British spelling ‘sceptic’ to indicate their affiliation with the American Skeptic movement.)

With their support, Pinker thinks he has bought into the “consensus of established science” — but this consensus is sometimes illusory. His understanding of scientific consensus is not based on empirical data, such as surveys of scientists’ opinions worldwide or on experimental research, but rather on the beliefs of his CSI colleagues. He puts his faith in a denialist coalition in which rationality is unfortunately scarce. Their echo chamber is now greatly enlarged through Wikipedia. CSI encourages groups like ‘Guerrilla Skeptics on Wikipedia’ to train committed skeptics as editors and administrators.

Dogmatic skeptics currently control practically all the Wikipedia entries on subjects they regard as ‘paranormal’ as well as the biography pages of those who research these taboo topics, including me. The Wikipedia entry on parapsychology portrays the entire subject as ‘pseudoscience’. The entry on pseudoscience defines it as “statements, beliefs or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method”.

By this criterion, Pinker is a practitioner of pseudoscience. He makes statements that claim to be scientific and factual but which violate the scientific method by ignoring the evidence. His particular kind of pseudoscience is especially damaging. As a professor of psychology at Harvard, he models dogma and prejudice in the heart of the scientific establishment.

How different from one of his predecessors at Harvard, William James, who was refreshingly open-minded and curious about experiences that could not be readily explained. If Steven Pinker is prepared to defend his views on telepathy in a public debate, chaired by UnHerd, I would be happy to argue that it is more rational and scientific to look at the evidence than to ignore it.

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author, most recently, of Science and Spiritual Practices

EDITORIAL: Biden kills Trump's damaging waivers


The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
Fri, November 19, 2021

Nov. 19—President Joe Biden and his administration have been proving time and again they're not following the damaging economic policies of Donald Trump. That's good for farmers.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently denied a petition by an oil refinery seeking an exemption from its obligations to mix cleaner-burning ethanol with its petroleum. It was the first denial of a new petition under the Biden administration, which has also recently reversed three exemptions approved by the Trump administration. Some 15 other petitioners have withdrawn their requests.

Those companies likely see the Biden administration following the letter of the law as part of the Clean Air Act and also a 10th Circuit Court ruling setting the parameters for exemptions.


When the Trump administration took over, it doubled and, in some years, quadrupled exemptions and the amount of gallons of ethanol refiners no longer had to blend.

"Our industry lost more than 4 billion gallons of demand due to the previous administration's rampant abuse of the SRE program, and we are pleased to see that the days of EPA-induced demand destruction appear to be behind us," said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper in a statement.

The waivers were granted in large volumes during the Trump administration and farmers made those waivers an election issue.

In August 2019, Trump issued 31 waivers that sent shock waves through the ethanol industry closing 18 plants, including the Corn Plus plant in Winnebago. Local Republicans and Democrats joined together in letters urging Trump to end the waivers, with little significant change of policy.

The waivers are an exemption to the Renewable Fuels Standard which was approved on a bipartisan vote in Congress in 2005 and requires oil companies and refiners to blend a certain level of renewable fuels to their refined oil products. The law was designed to reduce greenhouse gases as emissions from things like ethanol are lower than gasoline.

The RFS gives farmers another market for their corn and reduces the reliance on direct government payments. The ethanol industry was built by farmers and for farmers. Many have risked their own money to build plants and produce ethanol.

But Trump and his EPA consistently undercut farmers by granting waivers to the oil industry. When the courts ruled the administration grossly exceeded its authority over the waivers, the administration did an end run, offering more retroactive waivers and leaving uncertainty about setting a new Renewable Fuels Standard.

Last fall the EPA did deny 54 waivers, but critics called that election year window dressing. Trump had previously approved 85 waivers, a number four times the annual average. That action had reduced ethanol production by 4 billion gallons and reduced corn needed to produce the ethanol by 1.4 billion bushels.

While additional waivers were rejected toward the end of the Trump's presidency, a few hours before the inauguration of President Joe Biden, Trump's EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler approved three more waivers for unidentified oil companies, according to a release by Sen. Amy Klobuchar's office at the time.

And as the RFA notes, there are 65 exemptions pending. We would urge the Biden administration to follow court rules and the intent of Congress to deny those waivers.

Trump was no friend of farmers, given his ethanol policy and his tariff policies that severely curtailed soybean exports to China. Fortunately, Biden seems to realize the value of farmers and the products like ethanol that support farm income.

Farmers can be confident Biden will follow the law and the spirit of the Renewable Fuels Standard.

Elizabeth Warren says Trump may have committed ‘serious securities violations’ over new media company

Peony Hirwani
Sat, November 20, 2021

(Getty Images)

Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to open an investigation into the special-purpose acquisition companies deal involving Donald Trump’s social media platform.

The SPAC deal announced in October would create a social media app called TRUTH Social, which Mr Trump said would “stand up to [other] Big Tech” companies.

The move came nine months after Mr Trump was banned from several social media platforms for his alleged role in the 6 January US Capitol riots that left five people dead.

In a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the Massachusetts senator said that Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), which announced plans to merge with Trump’s company, “may have committed serious securities violations by holding private and undisclosed discussions about the merger as early as May 2021”.

“The reports about DWAC and Trump Media and Technology Group appear to be a textbook example of a SPAC misleading shareholders and the public about materially important information,” the letter, which has been reviewed by The Independent, further read.

Warren admitted that she has been “concerned for some time about the misaligned incentives underlying SPAC deals, which are often structured to exploit retail investors to the benefit of large institutional investors such as hedge funds, venture capital insiders, and investment banks.”

The senator has questions about DWAC’s filings between 25 May 2021 and 8 September 2021 that the organisation said to “have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target.”

However, Warren argues that one press report indicated that “Patrick Orlando, the SPAC’s sponsor, was discussing a deal with former President Trump as early as March 2021, months prior to the SPAC’s initial filing in May 2021 and public offering in September 2021.”

Earlier this week it was revealed that Trump‘s media company — the Trump Media and Technology Group — is valued at $10bn, according to one report.

The company is reportedly going to launch Mr Trump’s social media company and while there is no stock currently associated with the business, investors are lining up to boost the endeavour.

Forbes reports that investors can, and have been, buying into a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that will eventually merge with Mr Trump’s business. When it was revealed that the SPAC would merge with Mr Trump’s media company, shares leapt from about $10 to $60 a share over the last month.

Trump Media and Digital World were not immediately available for comment.

GM flags concern over renewable energy in Mexico, sees investment risk


FILE PHOTO: General Motors plant is seen in Silao, Mexico

Sharay Angulo
Fri, November 19, 2021

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A senior executive of carmaker General Motors (GM) raised concern about the future of renewable energy usage in Mexico, saying that without a solid legal basis for it, automotive investment in Latin America's no. 2 economy would suffer.

Francisco Garza, chief executive of GM Mexico, spoke as debate rages over a Mexican government proposal to give priority to the state-run power utility in the electricity market at the expense of private investors, particularly in renewable energy.

Participating in a panel in Mexico City, Garza said it was important for Mexico to forge conditions enabling investment in renewables, to which the company was itself committed.

"Unfortunately, if the conditions aren't there, Mexico won't be a destination for investment, because the conditions won't be given that permit us to meet our objective of having zero emissions in the long term," Garza said.

"We're evaluating that if there aren't the conditions, that dollar that was going to be invested in Mexico will go to the United States, Brazil, China or Europe, and Mexico will no longer be a key destination," he added.

Garza did not make explicit reference to the government's electricity initiative, although others on the panel did.

GM, which has been one of the top investors in Mexico since the start of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, earlier this year said it planned to invest $1 billion https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/general-motors-make-1-bln-electric-auto-investment-mexico-2021-04-29 to build electric vehicles in the northern state of Coahuila.

After Garza spoke, GM Mexico spokesperson Teresa Cid told Reuters that GM was "at no time threatening" not to make the investments it had pledged for Mexico.

"GM must meet its (zero emissions) vision and we must follow that path," she said. "So that's where the risk would be."

(Reporting by Sharay Angulo; Editing by Sandra Maler)

FBI searches for Jimmy Hoffa’s body in New Jersey landfill after deathbed tip


Edward Helmore
Sat, November 20, 2021

Photograph: Corey Sipkin/AP

A half-century American fixation on the whereabouts of the remains of International Brotherhood of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa has finally led investigators to a landfill in New Jersey.

The area of suspicion is on a Little League diamond on the landfill beneath the General Pulaski Skyway, a three-mile bridge that arches over a cinematically criminal evocative expanse of industrial wasteland and marshes west of Manhattan – one that once featured in marketing for the Sopranos TV show.

The FBI confirmed that its search for the Teamster boss, who disappeared in July 1975 after he showed up for a meeting with two mob bosses in Michigan, had begun anew after a March 2020 deathbed tip from landfill worker Frank Cappola, who had told a friend that his father confessed he’ had been ordered by unidentified men to bury Hoffa’s body in a steel drum.

A spokesperson for the FBI told the New York Times that agents from the bureau’s Detroit and Newark offices had carried out a site visit on the Jersey City side of the bridge late last month.

The location of the search is freighted with cinematic references: the opening sequences of The Sopranos depicts a car ride through the area, including shots of the Pulaski; in 2019, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, offered a fictionalized account of Hoffa’s disappearance from the perspective of Mafia hitman Frank Sheeran.

While the FBI did not explicitly name Hoffa in its statement, saying only that it was “unable to provide any additional information”, sources at the bureau confirmed to NBC that the effort at the site was tied to Hoffa’s disappearance.

The search comes as the authorities attempt to address some of the nation’s most enduring crime mysteries and miscarriages of justice.

Last week, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, said that decisions made by the FBI and its long-serving director J Edgar Hoover had led to the false convictions of two men for the assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm X.

The search for Hoffa’s remains has been long and circuitous. The FBI interrogated union leaders and Mob bosses and henchmen and began receiving tips that his body was buried in New Jersey landfill hundreds of miles from where he was abducted, found nothing, and filed the tips.

Years later, agents searched various locations in Michigan, including a farm, a driveway and beneath a swimming pool. Back in New Jersey, where by reputation Italian-American Mafiosi still hold sway over carting and trucking, criminal folklore has focused on the nearby Giants Stadium, which was under construction at the time of Hoffa’s disappearance.

But the theory advanced by The Irishman – that Hoffa had been murdered and incinerated – has largely been rejected by Hoffa experts. Dan Moldea, author of several books on Hoffa’s disappearance, told the Times that the New Jersey site is “100%” credible.

In July, Moldea published an article in Detroit Deadline placing Hoffa’s unmarked grave at a 53-acre landfill in Jersey City, New Jersey. He pointed to an FBI report four months after Hoffa disappeared that cited a visit Teamster boss, convicted murderer and FBI informant Ralph Picardo had received from Steve Andretta, an alleged Hoffa murder co-conspirator. The tip described Hoffa being stuffed into a 55-gallon drum, loaded onto a truck and shipped to New Jersey.

Op-Ed: California needs to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant open to meet its climate goals


Steven Chu and Ernest Moniz
Sun, November 21, 2021

Even assuming rapid buildout of renewable energy, the continued operation of Diablo Canyon would significantly reduce California's use of natural gas for electricity production from 2025 to 2035.

 (Joe Johnston / San Luis Obispo Tribune)

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is scheduled to close when its federal 40-year license expires in 2025 — marking the end of nuclear power generation in California. This schedule was set in a complex multi-stakeholder process approved by state regulators in 2018, and modifying it would be at least as complex.

However, much has changed in the last few years, underscoring the need to revisit this decision — including rolling blackouts in California in 2020, global awareness of the need for greater ambition in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a better understanding of the limitations of existing technology within a reliable and resilient system. Reconsidering the future of Diablo Canyon is now urgently needed in advancing the public good.

At the global climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, the nearly 200 nations attending acknowledged the need for deep reductions in carbon emissions by mid-century. California deserves credit for leading the way in transitioning to a zero-carbon economy. Groundbreaking legislation requires all sources of electricity in the state to be emission-free by 2045. Former Gov. Jerry Brown directed the state to achieve economy-wide climate neutrality by the same date. And Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order last year requiring all new cars sold in the state to be zero-emission, starting in 2035.

The effects of climate change are unmistakable and severe around the world and in California, with record temperatures, drought and wildfires of unprecedented ferocity and destruction. Moving toward deep decarbonization is of paramount importance.

Timing matters. Most of the carbon we emit today stays in the atmosphere and warms the planet for centuries. To avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need to avoid carbon dioxide emissions even as we aim to reach zero emissions by mid-century.

Today, the Diablo Canyon Power Plant accounts for 15% of California’s carbon-free electricity production, and 8% of overall electricity output. Natural gas accounts for almost half of California’s generation. Without nuclear power, even as deployment of renewable power expands, California will have to increase reliance on gas-fired peaker plants (power plants that run when energy demand peaks) at a time when we need all the clean power we can produce. Congress and the administration recognized the importance of existing nuclear power by providing incentives to keep nuclear plants running in the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Researchers at MIT and Stanford University have completed an independently funded joint study to reassess Diablo Canyon’s potential value for helping California meet the challenges of climate change by providing clean, safe and reliable electricity. The study also assessed Diablo Canyon’s potential for powering water desalination and hydrogen fuel production.

The researchers found that an inclusive strategy that preserves the clean electricity from Diablo Canyon will augment new energy generation from renewables and other sources of clean power. We need to increase renewables at a massive scale, but that will take decades, so any zero-carbon source we retire today will set us back years on the zero-carbon journey.

Carbon-free power is also essential for system reliability and resilience because, beyond the short-term variability, there are weeks and months when wind and solar power are low and storage technologies are of inadequate duration. This is not an either/or situation: California needs both Diablo Canyon and renewables to significantly reduce emissions over the next two decades.

Keeping Diablo Canyon running through 2035 would cut carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 11% annually compared with 2017 levels and save ratepayers billions of dollars — an estimated $2.6 billion through 2035 and up to $21 billion by 2045. It also would alleviate the need to develop 90,000 acres of land for renewable energy production just to replace the facility’s capacity.

But the potential benefits of preserving Diablo Canyon go beyond generation of more clean electric power.

The MIT-Stanford study found that Diablo Canyon could be repurposed to become a power source for water desalination and for clean hydrogen production, operating as a polygeneration facility. Diablo Canyon’s continued operation would thus help address three of the state’s largest challenges: energy reliability, persistent drought, and the transition to emission-free transportation and industry — two sectors that are challenging to decarbonize.

A desalination facility at Diablo Canyon could produce up to 80 times the output of the state’s largest desalination plant at about half the cost. The researchers also found that, as demand for hydrogen increases, Diablo Canyon could produce it at about half the cost of hydrogen produced by other clean energy sources.

The challenges here in California and globally are bigger than ever and the window of opportunity to mitigate climate change is closing fast. Extending the license of Diablo Canyon buys critical time for the innovation needed to reach net-zero emissions. An important example would be developing cost-effective long-duration electricity storage, an enabler for variable renewables at very large scale.

Revisiting the decision to close Diablo Canyon will involve many stakeholders, including federal regulators needed to permit restart of the license extension process. But that dialogue needs to happen because the stakes are so high.

Reimagining Diablo Canyon’s role in California’s energy future is an opportunity we cannot afford to ignore.

Steven Chu is a former U.S. secretary of Energy, Nobel laureate in physics and professor of physics and molecular and cellular physiology at Stanford University.

Ernest Moniz is a former U.S. secretary of Energy, CEO of the Energy Futures Initiative and professor of physics and engineering systems emeritus at MIT.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

US Federal Weed Legalization Comes Closer to Reality & Could Open The Market for Interstate Commerce

Yaёl Bizouati-Kennedy
Sat, November 20, 2021

nattrass / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Federal legalization of marijuana is inching closer to reality, following Rep. Nancy Mace’s introduction of a bill that would decriminalize it and regulate it like alcohol. However, some marijuana operators are still focusing on certain states to help advance reforms.

See: 7 Best Marijuana Stocks of 2021
Find: How Much States Make From Marijuana Tax Revenue

“Today, only 3 states lack some form of legal cannabis. My home state of South Carolina permits CBD, Florida allows medical marijuana, California and others have full recreational use, for example,” Mace said in a statement on Nov. 15. “Every state is different. Cannabis reform at the federal level must take all of this into account. And it’s past time federal law codifies this reality.”

Mace said that the bill supports veterans, law enforcement, farmers, businesses, those with serious illnesses, and it is good for criminal justice reform.

“The States Reform Act takes special care to keep Americans and their children safe while ending federal interference with state cannabis laws. Washington needs to provide a framework which allows states to make their own decisions on cannabis moving forward. This bill does that.”

According to polling from Gallup, Pew, and Quinnipiac, nearly 70% of Americans want cannabis fully decriminalized and more than 90% want medical cannabis products available to patients and veterans, according to a statement on her website. Only three states lack some form of legal cannabis: Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska.

Companies are waiting for recreational sales to start in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Connecticut after voters approved measures in those populous states, according to Barron’s, but the big votes on recreational weed will probably be in Florida and Pennsylvania.

“We’ve been focusing our operations around three primary hubs, in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Arizona,” Kim Rivers, the CEO of the world’s largest licensed marijuana seller, Trulieve Cannabis with 155 retail locations across 11 states, told Barron’s. In Pennsylvania, legalization of adult-use sales has support from the governor and legislators in both parties, she says, while a signature campaign will soon start in Florida to get a recreation-sales proposal on the ballot in the next state election, according to Barron’s.

The bill would decriminalize the product and pave the way towards interstate and international commerce. Similar to alcohol, individual states would be able to regulate use. Mace’s own state currently only allows the use of CBD, a non-intoxicating cannabis product.

See: House Approves Marijuana Banking Reform Bill — What It Means for the State of Legal Cannabis

As GOBankingRates previously reported, legalizing marijuana would reduce the regulatory obligations of marijuana companies while also allowing them to hold bank accounts, take out loans, get tax deductions and even be listed on the stock exchange.

What to know about New Mexico's coming paid sick leave mandate


Stephen Hamway, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Fri, November 19, 2021, 10:01 PM·5 min rea

Nov. 20—Have questions about New Mexico's new Healthy Workplaces Act?

Good news. You aren't alone, and a New Mexico nonprofit pulled together a team of experts to help answer some of those questions.

The law, which requires paid sick leave for nearly all New Mexico employees, takes effect next July, and plenty of employers are working to figure out if they comply with the mandates or need to change their policies. To help address that confusion, nonprofit Family Friendly New Mexico held a webinar with business leaders, human resource consultants and employment lawyers, to offer a crash course on the new law.

"It's better to be prepared, which is why we're doing this now, so that everyone can get ready and hit the ground running next summer," said Giovanna Rossi, founder and CEO of Family Friendly New Mexico.

The basics

The Healthy Workplaces Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in April, requires private employers in New Mexico with at least one employee to pay for sick leave, totaling at least one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 64 hours in a year.

Rossi said the law applies to a wide variety of employees, including part-time, seasonal and temporary workers, along with a broad mix of mental and physical ailments for employees and their family members. She noted that the law defines "family members" as including domestic partners and their family members.

While there is no paid sick leave law at the federal level, Rossi said New Mexico joins 15 other states with paid sick leave regulations in place.

"This is something that has been gaining momentum over the past few years," she said.

Break out the employee handbook

Family Friendly New Mexico, which focuses on policies that support employees and their families, brought in Amy Lahti, an Albuquerque-based human resources consultant and organizational development coach, to discuss best practices for businesses looking to achieve compliance in the next seven months. Lahti suggested that employers read through the bill — on their own or with a trained professional — and cross reference provisions with their own employee handbooks.

According to Lahti, things to look for include:

—Making sure policies allow employees to accrue at least 64 hours of sick leave in a year

—Making sure policies do not exclude employee classes covered in the bill

—Making sure policies begin immediately. Employers with policies that don't take effect for a month or two after an employee starts working should be aware that the law requires sick leave to start accruing immediately.

"It's very common for there to be a situation where ... you don't start accruing leave for 60 or 90 days," Lahti said.

Get the right tools

If you're still handling payroll using a pen and paper, Lahti said this could be a good time to consider an upgrade.

Microsoft Excel could do in a pinch, but Lahti advised using a payroll management software system that streamlines the process.

"Make it as easy and automated as possible," Lahti said.

Spread the word

Another key is making sure employees are familiar with the changes. Lahti added that the law has specific posting requirements, and employers need to be proactive about getting the information to workers.

"One meeting on Zoom is probably not going to be sufficient to reach everyone," Lahti said.

One key point: Lahti said all employers need to be careful not to include any messages that could be construed as discouraging employees from taking their paid leave, as the law has specific punishments for that.

No employee payouts required

Benjamin Thomas, president and CEO of Albuquerque law firm Sutin, Thayer & Browne, said the act doesn't require employers to pay out employees' sick leave when one leaves, and it may behoove some businesses to place a cap on the amount of sick leave that can be paid out, so they don't get burned when an employee moves on to another job.

While Thomas acknowledged there are details in the law that need to be ironed out, he said the odds are "slim to none" that it will be revised before it goes into effect.

Embracing the change

Del Esparza, CEO of Esparza Digital + Advertising, and Blair Boyer, director of human resources for Dion's, said making sick leave an "us versus them" issue hurts both employees and employers.

Boyer acknowledged that, when it comes to recruiting in today's tight labor market, paid sick leave makes it harder for employers to differentiate based on benefits, but said a positive culture will be key to attracting talent. Positive language when talking to employees will help implementation go smoothly, Boyer said.

"If we're standing at the water cooler complaining about what the government is doing to us and our language is negative and we're promoting that, then our employees are going to see right through that," Boyer said.

As with many new laws, Thomas and Lahti agreed that some aspects of the Healthy Workplaces Act will likely evolve or be clarified once the law goes into effect. Family Friendly New Mexico plans to continue following the law and offering resources at www.nmfamilyfriendlybusiness.org. Lahti suggested reaching out to a trained professional for specific questions or legal advice.

"They never write legislation to account for every conceivable scenario," Lahti said.

Stephen Hamway covers economic development, health care and tourism for the Journal. He can be reached at shamway@abqjournal.com.