Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Editorial Roundup
Recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
The Portland (Maine) Press Herald believes oil companies should be forced to use their “obscene” profits to heat homes this winter (Aug. 21):
Home heating oil prices in Maine are in some cases twice what they were a year ago, and every penny of that difference is going straight into the pockets of oil companies and their shareholders. Meanwhile, households across the state prepare to choose between heat, food and other essentials this winter.
It’s wrong, morally and economically, to let people to blow their family budgets fighting cold and hunger while oil companies draw record profits — not based on any innovation, risk or efficiency, but on a once-in-a-lifetime surge in prices.
The companies didn’t earn those profits and they don’t deserve them. Instead, they should be used to help Mainers and others get through the winter — and make future ones less costly.
We would hardly be alone for taking this view. Spain has imposed a levy on fuel companies and is offering tax cuts on household energy bills. In France, electricity rate increases have been capped at 4 percent this year.
And British lawmakers have put in place a 25 percent windfall tax on the profits of oil companies operating in their North Sea, after Shell announced its largest-ever quarterly profit, and BP its largest in a decade, amid inflation even higher than that being experienced in the U.S. The tax will be phased out as prices fall.
Exxonmobil and Chevron both announced record profits, too, last quarter, with both companies’ shares exceeding analyst expectations.
That’s good news for executives and shareholders, and bad news for everyone who needs to heat their home with oil.
In Maine, where 60 percent of homes are heated by oil, and many of those are far from energy efficient, it’s very bad news.
Last January, a particularly cold one, consumers took a hit as both electricity and heating oil spiked together to levels not seen in nearly a decade. For many Mainers, it was a very difficult time.
Heading into the next winter, things don’t look much different, except that heating oil is now well higher than January’s peak. Even a relatively mild winter will be hard on far too many of us.
Gov. Mills has asked for additional federal funding for heating assistance this winter. Maine usually gets around $40 million, and last year received an extra $55 million as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
The extra funding, as Mills noted, is the difference between a half a tank and a tank and a half for each household helped by the program. Adequate heating assistance should be available to every American who has had their household budget turned red because of obscene, unnecessarily high energy prices.
Congress should place a windfall tax on oil company profits and use the revenue to make sure no American struggles to heat their home this winter.
The proceeds can also be used through the Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program, as well as incentives in the recently passed climate bill, to winterize homes and install heat pumps to make them more efficient — and less reliant on fossil fuels and the companies that profit off them.
Using heating oil, besides accelerating climate change, also leaves Mainers vulnerable to price shocks and the greed of oil companies.
We should use this opportunity to work toward a cleaner, less costly future — one that doesn’t leave so many of our neighbors wondering how they’ll get through the winter.
The Advocate of Baton Rouge, La., implored western allies to “stand firm in support of Ukraine” (Aug. 25):
Little of the smart money, even among the top Pentagon brass, was on even six weeks of war when Russia invaded Ukraine. Yet the valiant people of Ukraine have shown they are not easy targets for President Vladimir Putin.
Let’s make sure, at this sixmonth mark, that we continue to do what it takes to keep the country independent.
For now, the defense of Ukraine has cost the country some ground in the east, but her forces are striking back in the south with aid and artillery from Western allies.
There has been progress, despite Russia’s atrocities, in difficult negotiations to get grain from Odesa to world markets through the previously blockaded ports. That latter point is important to us in Louisiana: While we have plenty by comparison with many countries for whom Ukraine is a breadbasket, the disruptions in trade are significant.
Our prosperity is dependent on a world where trade is not encumbered by old-fashioned warfare based on delusions of Russian grandeur.
Louisiana’s export facilities for liquefied natural gas continue to provide an important alternative source of energy. Russia has not completely pulled the plug on natural gas to our European allies, but the coming of winter may see a larger crisis. We must do our part, not only for Ukraine on the battlefield but for NATO nations supporting the embattled democracy.
Maybe the Russians didn’t expect to see a six-month mark in this war, but they got it. We should see Ukraine through, no matter how long it takes.
The Seattle Times called on Congress to end Big Tech’s news profiteering (Aug. 24):
Local news is in a death spiral. The country has lost more than a quarter of its newspapers since 2005, and closures continue at a rate of two a week. This mass extinction has already left about 70 million people living in “news deserts,” virtually bereft of local news.
The cost of losing these newspapers is more than missing jobs. The existence of a free press is one of America’s core beliefs, enshrined by the Founders in the First Amendment. It is no coincidence that as journalism is threatened, so is democracy.
If local journalism is to survive — to the benefit of all Americans — Congress must step in.
A bipartisan proposal to create tax incentives for local newspapers, broadcasters and digital outlets failed to retain its foothold in the budget reconciliation process. That has left the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act as the last best hope for a struggling local free press.
While newspapers and smaller broadcasters face a variety of challenges, the JCPA addresses one of the biggest problems of the digital era: the control that the dominant online platforms — primarily Facebook and Google — hold over news organizations.
“Our bipartisan legislation ensures media outlets will be able to engage in good faith negotiations to receive fair compensation from the Big Tech companies that profit from their news content, allowing journalists to continue their critical work of keeping communities informed,” said U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in a release.
The Minnesota Democrat is spearheading the legislation in the Senate, along with Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy. In the House, U.S. Reps. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Ken Buck, R-colo., are leading the charge.
It is imperative that lawmakers recognize the vital role that a free press plays in a healthy democracy. Communities without credible sources of local news face declining voter participation, increased corruption in government and business, and even higher taxes, according to the State of Local News 2022 report produced by Northwestern University’s Medill School.
Along with allowing smaller publishers to collectively negotiate with large online platforms, the JCPA creates a limited safe harbor in antitrust laws to allow providers to jointly withhold content. The legislation also prohibits discrimination of a provider based on its size or the view expressed in its content and grants final-offer arbitration if there is no agreement after six months. The law sunsets within eight years.
The U.S. is not alone in taking on Big Tech’s digital profiteering at the expense of local newsrooms and communities. Canada is working on similar legislation and Australia has already shown it can be done. A recent report by that country’s National University found its News Media Bargaining Code resulted in $140 million paid annually by Google and Facebook to local news outlets.
Leveling the digital playing field is essential to protect local journalism. As Congress reconvenes next month, passing the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act must be a top priority.
The Miami Herald made the case that Florida Gov. Ron Desantis’ voter fraud investigation is really about voter intimidation (Aug. 22):
Florida announced with great fanfare last week that 20 people had been charged with voting illegally in the 2020 election. That may sound like an early win for the new elections police force that Gov. Ron Desantis pushed through the Legislature last spring. But this is actually about voter intimidation on the eve of an election.
For perspective, we’re talking about the arrests of 20 people in an election where more than 11 million people voted. At the time, Desantis boasted that the voting process in 2020 — in which he delivered Florida to Donald Trump — was squeaky clean: “The way Florida did it, I think, inspires confidence. I think that’s how elections should be run.”
Now, though, Desantis — who announced the arrests in a Broward County courtroom flanked by police officers — apparently believes there is so much voter fraud in Florida that this is just “the opening salvo” for the new Office of Election Crimes and Security.
The arrests were in five counties — Hillsborough, Orange, Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-dade — where the majority of registered voters are Democrats. The announcement came just days before the Aug. 23 primary, and it was made in a county considered the biggest stronghold of Democratic votes.
The people arrested were convicted of either murder or sexual assault — the worst of the worst, in other words. Both categories are excluded from the state’s constitutional Amendment 4 that restores felons’ voting rights. So who could possibly be against them being charged?
But was it fraud? Or was it actually confusion, aided by the state’s own foot-dragging when it came to implementing that 2018 constitutional amendment?
Five of the people arrested told the Miami Herald they didn’t know they weren’t eligible, assuming that if their voter-registration forms were approved, they were free to cast ballots. One man said he was renewing his driver’s license when a man at a voter-registration booth convinced him he was eligible to vote. Another said she mistakenly thought her rights were reestablished under Amendment 4, the felon-voting rights amendment approved by about 65% of Floridians. The law doesn’t apply to those convicted of murder or sex crimes.
Sen. Jeff Brandes, the St. Petersburg Republican who wrote the bill implementing Amendment 4, said on Twitter that lawmakers expected that, “Those ineligible would be granted some grace by the state if they registered without intent to commit voter fraud. Some of the individuals did check with [Supervisors of Election] and believed they could register. #Intentmatters.”
Brandes, who is not running for reelection, also said Florida’s secretary of state “should be running all new voter registrations against a felon database and confirming they are eligible. Most of the individuals are simply ignorant of the law and have no intent to commit voter fraud, they just want to start a new chapter of life.”
The Editorial Board reached out to Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd with questions Monday but did not receive answers.
Voter fraud should be rooted out, of course. But the force of the law — and the heft of this new elections office — should be equally applied. Where’s the determination to go after ghost candidates? Former Miami-dade state Sen. Frank Artiles is still accused of recruiting and paying a no-party candidate, Alexis Pedro Rodriguez, to sway the outcome of a Miami-dade state Senate race.
And there was also the case of those Republican Party canvassers who illegally switched the party affiliations of more than 100 elderly Miami-dade residents last year without their consent. Could we have a courtroom press conference on that? Or when a handful of residents of The Villages in Central Florida were arrested on charges they cast more than one ballot in the 2020 election?
The kind of voter fraud being targeted in the cases announced by Desantis should be caught at the state level. Instead, the state fails to deal with the problem, the governor takes credit for “fixing” it — and formerly incarcerated people who have legitimately reestablished the right to vote are left wondering if they should risk their own liberty to cast a ballot.