On Tuesday, it was first reported by Reuters that Democrat U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland (NM-01) is former Vice President Joe Biden’s “top choice” to lead the Department of Homeland Security in his fictitious cabinet.
The promotion, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, would give her reign to oversee 70,000 DOI employees across the country and over 20% of federal land.
Haaland has signed onto the socialist “Green New Deal” proposed by New York Socialist U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which would entirely wipe out U.S. oil production to a “net zero” by 2050 and completely ban fracking. If Haaland were to lead the Department, she would oversee one fifth U.S. oil production, which comes from federal leases.
“Two of the sources said that Biden’s team is close to finalizing the decision on Haaland, but are weighing concerns about the loss of a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Democrats are hanging on to a slim majority,” reported Reuters.
During a televised candidate debate in October, Haaland repeatedly lied about her radical record. Haaland has no relevant experience qualifying her for the Department of the Interior, and the choice is apparently a ploy by Biden to once again claim to “make history.”
On Monday, it was reported that Democrat New Mexico House of Representatives Speaker Brian Egolf looks to further punish the Republican minority by cutting off how many bills each state representative can propose each legislative session, while on a call to plan for the upcoming 60-day proceedings in January.
Egolf floated “cutting back on the amount of time and staffing needed to process legislation by limiting each of the House’s 70 members to just five bills,” according to the report.
House Republican Leader Jim Townsend chided the idea, saying it puts the “majority at quite an advantage.”
Even far-left Democrat Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, who has been fierce opposition to Republican causes, raised concerns with the idea, as Egolf planned to exempt bills supported by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham from the five-bill limit.
Ivey-Soto said, “If you are going to have a limitation, do not exempt anything that the executive wants from that limitation or it allows one set of government to set the agenda for [the] other set of government.” Ivey-Soto also proposed the start date of the legislative session be pushed back, citing COVID-19.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a majority of states have no limits to the number of bills a legislator can pre-file before the start of each legislative session, however, some states have limits to how many bills can be proposed after a certain day following the start of each session. Chambers in 13 states impose a limit on bill introductions.
Also noted by NCSL, “Bill limits might interfere with lawmakers’ abilities to respond to emergencies or the problems of changing times,” and “Limits also may lead to the introduction of bills that are more general in nature and scope, resulting in “Christmas tree” bills rather than ones targeted to specific problems.”
Egolf is notorious for trying to yank as much power as possible away from the minority, and he has repeatedly broken House rules to ram through his partisan agenda, with such things as spending bills and gun bans.
To write Egolf to share your concerns about his latest proposal, he can be reached via email here: brian.egolf@nmlegis.gov. To contact your legislator, visit the “Find My Legislator” function on the NMLegis.gov website.
On Monday, the Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) announced it had requested the Republican electors from New Mexico who pledged to vote for President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in the Electoral College, convene and cast their ballots. The electors sent their votes to Congress, and their votes are to be opened on January 6, 2020.
In a press release, RPNM wrote:
Of course, there is precedent for our Republican Electors meeting on December 14, even as the Democrat Electors for New Mexico also meet.
Democrat Electors pledged to John F. Kennedy convened in Hawaii in 1960, at the same time as Republicans, even though the Governor had certified Richard Nixon as the winner. In the end, Hawaii’s electoral votes were awarded to President Kennedy, even though he did not win the state until 11 days after his Electors cast their votes.
The legitimacy and good sense of two sets of Electors meeting on December 14 to cast competing votes for President and Vice President, with the conflict to be later sorted out by the courts and Congress, was pointed out by prominent Democrat lawyers, Van Jones and Larry Lessig, in an essay published last month on CNN.com.
To the extent that the results in New Mexico might remain in doubt, just as the Democrat Electors met in Hawaii in 1960 while awaiting a final resolution of that State’s vote, so too the Republican Electors met this year on December 14 as we await a final resolution of New Mexico’s five electoral votes.
The Democrat electors met in Santa Fe at the Roundhouse to cast their ballots for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In other states where election fraud lawsuits are pending, such as in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, Republican electors also voted for President Trump and Vice President Pence and sent their votes to Congress.
Earlier Monday, President Trump filed a lawsuit in New Mexico regarding absentee ballots drop boxes allegedly used unconstitutionally.
On Monday, President Donald J. Trump filed a lawsuit in New Mexico asking a judge to stop electoral votes from being cast and counted. The lawsuit focused on “drop boxes” for the deposit of absentee ballots and alleged fraud that occurred. The suit claims Democrat Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver created an election that was not constitutional.
It made multiple allegations, including that “[c]ertain officials in New Mexico presented the pandemic as the justification for ignoring state laws regarding absentee and mail-in voting. The State of New Mexico flooded their citizenry with hundreds of thousands of ballot applications and ballots in derogation of statutory controls as to how they are lawfully received, evaluated, and counted. Whether well-intentioned or not, these unconstitutional acts had the same uniform effect — they made the 2020 election less secure in the state of New Mexico.
The drop boxes were funded and installed thanks to federal CARES Act money in an effort to “reduce numbers of voters congregating at voting locations in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Secretary’s solution to this problem — which also enabled her to take advantage of federal funding earmarked for absentee-ballot drop-off boxes — was to create another ballot-return option called the “drop box.” The word “drop box” does not appear in the Election Code, and the only creature of statute that looks in any way like it is the “secured container” concept from § 1-6-9(E), but the Secretary took the position that drop boxes were not “secured containers.” Rather, the Secretary took the position that drop boxes were simply an embodiment of the longstanding rule that an absentee-ballot “official mailing envelope may be returned in person to . . . an alternate voting location, mobile alternate voting location or election day voting location.” NMSA 1978, § 1-6-9(D). In short, her position is that there is no difference between the longstanding practice of a voter turning in his or her ballot “in person” and a voter turning in to a drop box placed outside the polling place.
[…]
This procedure was simply not followed with regard to what the Trump Campaign believes was the majority of drop boxes in New Mexico, allowing individuals to drop off multiple ballots — meaning that, by definition, they were not the voter on all of them — without speaking to a person at all.
The suit concludes:
The Court should order a temporary restraining order to the Defendant Secretary and the Defendant Electors of the state of New Mexico to delay disposition of certificates of votes for President and Vice President that would ordinarily be performed in accordance with 3 U.S.C. 11, that are made and signed, or will be made and signed, in accordance with 3 U.S.C. 9. until further order of this Court and then issue a preliminary injunction or stay against their doing so until the conclusion of this case on the merits. Alternatively, the Court should reach the merits, vacate the Defendant Electors’ certifications from the unconstitutional 2020 election results, and remand to the state of New Mexico legislature pursuant to 3 U.S.C. § 2 to appoint electors.
The Republican Party previously won a legal victory regarding drop boxes before the 2020 election, with a judge agreeing with the Party that three counties “had failed to provide mandated security measures at their absentee ballot drop box locations.” Toulouse Oliver later agreed to reissue guidelines to all counties regarding dropbox supervision and procedures.
“The President’s lawsuit is valid and necessary,” said Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce. “We have questioned these drop boxes and the entire election process where the Secretary of State seems to make up her own rules and allows violations to happen in this past election. To allow these actions to happen stains our election integrity and our very democracy.”
Alex Curtas in the Secretary of State’s office brushed off the new Trump suit, telling the Las Cruces Sun-News that “This lawsuit appears to be yet another attempt by the outgoing Trump Administration to silence the voices of lawful voters throughout the country.” Previously on Monday, New Mexico’s five electors cast their ballots for vice-president and president.
On Saturday, December 19, New Mexicans across the state will hold a “service protest” to oppose Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s COVID-19 grocery store capacity restrictions letting no more than 75 people, including staff, into each store at one time.
According to the organizers, “The governor’s restriction equates to roughly 40-feet of social distancing in a store the size of Wal-Mart, amounting to a whole house worth of space for each person in the store. However, the unintended consequence of this restriction is that those in the line are in much closer proximity to each other for a far longer period of time than they would be if the store was simply allowed to operate at 25% capacity.”
The service protest will feature “easily identifiable” “breadline volunteers” holding signs while they wait in-line in the place of “mothers with children, the elderly, those on [a] fixed income, and persons with disabilities at NM’s hardest hit grocery stores.”
“The 75-person restriction is harming New Mexicans, who often have to wait outside in the cold for over an hour just to enter a store to buy food. As a result, panic buying has occurred. Basic necessities such as milk, eggs, meat, and toilet paper are often no longer on the shelves when those that have waited in lines finally get inside,” write the organizers.
The Piñon Post has exclusively reported on the long lines at grocery stores, which Gov. Lujan Grisham’s office claims are merely “Republican talking points.” Tripp Stelnicki, the Governor’s communications director, claimed the long lines are simply a “minor inconvenience.”
The protest will happen from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in 12 cities across the state, including at the Albuquerque Costco on 1420 N Renaissance Blvd NE, the Las Cruces: Wal-Mart at 1550 S. Valley Dr., and at other locations in Santa Fe, Portales, Clovis, Edgewood, Roswell, Farmington, Alamogordo, Ruidoso, Grants, and Carlsbad.
To participate in this protest, please contact Sarah Smith at ConcernedforNM@gmail.com for more information.
Photographs of former U.S. Rep.-turned Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham meeting with Chinese officials are calling into question the politician’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party and what exactly she spoke about with these Chinese diplomats.
In August of 2017–eight months after announcing her run for New Mexico’s governorship –Lujan Grisham was spotted at a photo-op at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. It appears she was the only U.S. representative on the trip, and she posed multiple times with China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zheng Zeguang. For reference, other photographs of world leaders posing at the same location can be found here.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang. pic.twitter.com/onXqEbcuvE
It is unclear why Lujan Grisham met with the Chinese foreign diplomat or why New Mexico media was dead silent on the gubernatorial candidate’s foreign trip to the nation.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote of the meeting, “On August 14, 2017, Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang met with visiting member of House of Representatives Michelle Lujan Grisham of the US Congress and her delegation. Both sides exchanged views on China-US relations and topics of common interest.”
Zheng Zeguang, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, has been a harsh critic of President Donald Trump and the freedom of the people of Hong Kong. He opposed President Donald Trump’s signing of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act on July 15, 2020, and demanded the U.S. ambassador to China “correct the mistake.”
According to the Congressional Research Service, “The [Chinese] Foreign Ministry does not publicly disclose the full membership of its Communist Party Committee. Zheng Zeguang is the only top Foreign Ministry official whose public biography discloses membership of the Ministry Party Committee.”
In April 2019, four months after assuming the governorship, Lujan Grisham posted about a meeting she had, apparently in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Sandia Resort and Casino, with Chinese Consul General, Ambassador Zhang Ping. It appears she even gave the ambassador a New Mexico pin, which he wore in a photo with her.
On Twitter, she wrote, “I was glad to have a productive conversation with the Chinese Consul General, Ambassador Zhang, on the importance of trade and building international economic partnerships between China and New Mexico.” It is unclear what exactly the Governor promised the Chinese, or what “economic partnership” she had brokered.
I was glad to have a productive conversation with the Chinese Consul General, Ambassador Zhang, on the importance of trade and building international economic partnerships between China and New Mexico. pic.twitter.com/ONB2aeItD4
According to reports, Zhang Ping “voiced concern about the ‘America First,’ zero-sum game approach of the Trump administration.” Not only that, Ping praised communist Chinese Dictator Chairman Xi Jinping, while also praising socialism:
He lavishly praised Chairman Xi, calling him a “great leader with great vision that will lead the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” then underlining that China will take a different path than the US—socialism with Chinese characteristics. Ironically, while Zhang drew the clearest ideological lines, he spent a lot of time accusing the US and claiming it was the Americans who had a “cold-war mentality” and a “zero-sum game” view of the world.
The “different path” Ping refers to is “a deep belief in” and “faithful practice” of “Communism and socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
The close ties between Gov. Lujan Grisham and Chinese officials beg questions as to why she has been so close to the foreign nation and also why she has refused to blame China for concealing the deadly COVID-19 virus before it broke out into the world. The enemy nation covered up the pandemic to hoard medical supplies, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security later found out.
Former U.S. Senate candidate Elisa Martinez wrote on Twitter in response to the newly resurfaced photographs, “Perhaps they funded her campaign for Governor while maintaining ‘relations and topics of common interest.’”
This photo was taken while she was a member of Congress. Perhaps they funded her campaign for Governor while maintaining “relations and topics of common interest.” @CodeMonkeyZpic.twitter.com/0QOUVQEYnB
According to multiple reports, other Democrat and anti-Trump governors also met with Chinese leaders with “direct ties” to the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese influence may have been present in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s COVID-19 response, as her silence on Chinese responsibility is deafening.
As well, she has not said a word publicly about protesters in Hong Kong protesting for freedom from the oppressive Chinese government, which is responsible for countless human rights abuses, not to mention re-education camps for Uyghurs and others. Lujan Grisham’s alleged cousin, Rep. Ben Ray Luján has spoken out about China’s human rights abuses while Lujan Grisham has remained silent.
On Saturday, patriot groups are working together to organize a planned pro-Trump protest and Jericho March to support the President and pray for the nation.
According to an infographic posted by one of the organizers, patriots will meet up at Bernalillo Exit 242 at 10:00 a.m. and start riding from Albuquerque to Santa Fe at 11:00 a.m.
The rally at the Roundhouse will begin at 12 noon, and will feature speakers from Bikers for Trump New Mexico, Cowboys for Trump, New Mexico Return, among others.
According to the national Jericho March website, the event “is comprised of Judeo-Christians collectively praying to God to intercede, expose a particular darkness, and bring about justice. As a community of believers, we take our petitions to heaven, and we know that our mighty and powerful God answers and can move mountains.”
The Jericho March movement is supportive of President Trump and uses the hashtags #JerichoMarch and #StopTheSteal in its branding.
One of the organizers of the protest wrote on the Facebook event, “Opening prayer and pledge, anthem then we march to the St. FRANCIS Cathedral. We will have a prayer vigil and a call to altar there. We will return to the Capitol and have speakers and then gather in unity for a final march and prayer around the Capitol building.”
After the Santa Fe march, patriots are planning on driving up to the Governor’s Mansion and singing Christmas carols outside.
More information can be found about the event and how you can join in here.
On Thursday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced two new public health orders, one rationing health care in the state, and the other banning “non-essential” surgical procedures. The orders take effect on Friday, December 11, and go until at least January 4. During the presser, she also announced her 2022 re-election plans for the governorship.
According to the New Mexico Health Department’s press release on these new orders, “all hospital acute care facilities in the state may not provide non-essential surgical procedures. Non-essential surgeries are defined in the order to include procedures that may be delayed without undue risk to the patient’s health. The order outlines criteria to be considered in distinguishing between essential and non-essential procedural needs.”
The order clarifies what exactly makes up an “essential” procedure:
For purposes of this Order, “non-essential surgical procedures” include those services which can be delayed for three (3) months without undue risk to the patient’s health. Examples of criteria to consider in distinguishing between essential and non-essential actions include: (a) threat to a patient’s life; (b) threat of permanent dysfunction of an extremity, including teeth, jaws, and eyes; ( c) risk of metastasis or progression of staging; ( d) prenatal and postnatal care; and ( e) any other factors that will conserve medical resources without creating undue risk of permanent harm to patients.
This Order’s prohibition on non-essential surgical procedures is not meant to apply to: (a) the provision of emergency medical care or any actions necessary to provide treatment to patients with emergency or urgent medical needs; and (b) any surgery that if not performed would result in a serious condition of a patient worsening ( e.g., removing a cancerous tumor or a surgery intended to manage an infection).
The new “Crisis Care” standards implemented in the orders also mean doctors and nurses could be assigned duties outside of their traditional areas of expertise, which are outlined in Gov. Lujan Grisham’s prior executive order. The order states:
[H]ealthcare professionals will be asked to assist in additional areas outside their scope of practice and to provide support, in any way possible, with the treatment and care of those infected with the COVID-19 virus and to stretch limited resources beyond usual and customary practice.
Providers have raised concerns about their legal protections when asked to address the extraordina1y demands of treating New Mexicans with and without COVID-19 during this heightened medical surge. For these reasons, I find that it is in the public interest to invoke certain provisions of AHEMA and ELA to ensure that physicians will not hesitate to respond and provide necessary assistance as “Contingency Care” standards have been implemented in many hospitals and in the potential event that “Crisis Care” standards are brought into effect.
Also announced during the Governor’s press conference was that all 33 counties are in “red” status, meaning harsh bans on businesses and everyday activities will remain in effect, such as 25% capacity or 75 people per grocery store, no indoor dining at restaurants, restrictions on churches, lodging, “close contact” businesses such as salons and gyms, no indoor recreational facilities, and only 25% capacity at outdoor facilities.
The Governor focused on COVID-19 testing as well, saying that the more people get tested, the more counties will shift from “red” with harsh restrictions to “yellow” or “green,” meaning slight relief for New Mexicans.
She said, “New Mexico small businesses and our local economies, quite frankly, are depending on us. They cannot make it if we do not do all the public health measures. I mean, They are completely, unequivocally dependent on our good public health measures. Without them, we just bring this virus to them.”
“Here’s the best Christmas gift that we can give New Mexico’s economy. All of those families who have family businesses — blood, sweat, and tears, their life savings in these businesses — we need more New Mexicans to get tested,” she added.
Gov. Lujan Grisham says “the best Christmas gift” New Mexicans can give to small businesses is “to get tested” for COVID-19.
The Governor admitted how her public health orders are “completely unfair” to those grieving after a loved one has passed away, and her mandates have barred them from attending their funeral. “That would impact how many people could say goodbye to a loved one in that grieving process,” she said. “A pandemic knows no fairness boundaries. It just moves–it just wants us to get close and let our guard down. That’s the perfect environment for a virus. Funerals are particularly hard. It’s particularly hard to have a mask on. It’s particularly hard not to hug a grieving family member. It’s particularly hard not to pat someone on the back. It’s just particularly hard.” She added, “these are really high-risk environments.”
Funerals “are really high-risk environments,” says @GovMLG during COVID-19 presser.
Lastly, the Governor answered a question from a reporter about possibly being tapped for the fictitious presidential cabinet of former Vice President Joe Biden, in which she announced her 2022 re-election as governor.
She thanked Biden “for his confidence,” while throwing the Trump Administration under the bus as one that “doesn’t care about federal government services.” She said, “I’m staying,” and “New Mexicans should expect that I run for re-election in ‘22, and I will keep my fingers crossed that I can convince all these hard-working New Mexico families that I deserve another four years.” Lujan Grisham was previously snubbed by Biden for Secretary of the Health and Human Services after she turned down his offer to be Secretary of the Department of Interior.
“New Mexicans should expect that I run for re-election in ‘22, and I will keep my fingers crossed that I can convince all these hard-working New Mexico families that I deserve another four years” – @GovMLG during COVID-19 presser.
On Thursday night, Democrat New Mexico House Speaker Brian Egolf shot out an apparent hastily written tweet giving his two cents on Texas’ recent Supreme Court lawsuit. The suit argues against four states’ elections because the states’ legislatures were not involved in changing election laws and procedures. The states include Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Egolf, the Santa Fe Democrat, claimed that Texas’ Attorney General, Ken Paxton, who filed the suit, was attempting to “install” President Donald Trump as “dictator.” He added, “Every silent Republican elected official is complicit.”
It appears Egolf is in-favor of putting Republicans on lists if they do not comply with his demands. These tactics are reminiscent of New York socialist U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s attempt to document President Trump’s supporters and make their lives difficult for having such convictions.
Ironically, Egolf has himself used the power of his gavel in a dictator-like manner by repeatedly chucking New Mexico House rules out the window to ram through radical legislation, such as with sweeping gun bans and sky-high fiscal proposals.
The Texas Supreme Court challenge has 17 states joining in on the suit and over 106 members of the U.S. Congress signing onto an amicus brief in strong support of Texas’ move to secure the integrity of the 2020 Election.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York), explained the amicus brief signed by hundreds of members of Congress on Twitter, writing the following:
“The amicus brief that was signed by over 100 House Republican Members today is about protecting our Constitution. The Constitution is clear; Election Officials and State Executives cannot change the people’s presidential election process without the state legislature. approving it. Additionally, it is unconstitutional to refuse to check signatures on mail-in ballots if the state law explicitly states that they must be checked. We are requesting that the Supreme Court carefully review the lawsuit and provide clarity to the American People, who are rightfully concerned about both the unconstitutional overreach from certain state officials and the integrity of the Presidential election.”
The Republican Party of New Mexico has also lent their support for Texas’ lawsuit. “We stand by the Texas lawsuit in an effort to really examine what happened in many states on Election Day,” said Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce. “There are too many instances where Biden votes suddenly appear. There’s even video in one state where poll workers discover crates of votes hidden under tables after the room is emptied. This has to stop, and these kinds of shenanigans must be addressed. All the plaintiffs want is to prove to the Court that what’s happened across the country was wrong, fraudulent and that the election results must be invalidated. We cannot allow dishonest elections to happen in our nation,” he added.
On Thursday, Sen. Martin Heinrich posted a strange The Atlantic article titled, “If You Didn’t Vote for Trump, Your Vote Is Fraudulent.” The piece tried to cast doubt on conservatives’ court challenges to election results mysteriously swinging Trump states to Biden with statistically impossible numbers.
The article brought in multiple convoluted arguments trying to bash what the author dubs “Trumpists,” however, the argument, as usual with the Radical Democrats, ended by claiming Republicans are racist by making the pie-in-the-sky argument that Black peoples’ votes don’t count in the eyes of the GOP.
“Because Republicans believe, as Mitt Romney put it after his defeat in 2012, that Black people vote for Democrats only because they are offered “free stuff,” Black votes are considered illegitimate even if they are legally cast,” says the author.
However, Heinrich opined on the far left article with his own two cents, writing, “Last time l checked, in this country you win elections by getting the most votes.”
Last time l checked, in this country you win elections by getting the most votes. https://t.co/cOGQjYYzlG
Heinrich sadly forgets Article II, Section Two, Clause Two and Three of the Constitution that very plainly states:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States shall be appointed an Elector.
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
The Electoral College chooses who becomes the President of the United States, meaning each state has their respective votes count toward a victory for a presidential candidate. However, Heinrich’s rabid case of Trump Derangement Syndrome must be getting the best of him these days, as he seems to forget that the popular vote does not necessarily pick the president.
Also, fraudulent votes, which were cast in all battleground states that mysteriously went for Joe Biden in the dead of night, should not count. Heinrich’s naïveté begs the question of whether his own votes that elected him to public office were cast legitimately. His tirade raises more questions than answers and does not do much to further the conversation or serve the people of the great state of New Mexico.
