John Block

FACT CHECK: New Luján ad falsely claims Trump, Ronchetti won’t cover pre-existing conditions

One day after Ben Ray Luján sent out a fundraising email complaining about his opponent for U.S. Senate, Republican Mark Ronchetti’s claims that Luján is a Washington, D.C. insider, he has released a new attack ad of his own, which blatantly lies about Ronchetti’s policy positions, specifically on health care.

The ad says Ronchetti “supports Trump’s plan to gut protections for pre-existing conditions like cancer and heart disease.” 

The accusation, which the ad doesn’t even give a reference for (because the claim cannot be backed up with facts), is false information because Ronchetti and President Donald Trump have made it crystal clear they support the coverage of pre-existing conditions, no exceptions. 

According to an interview with the Roswell Daily Record

Republican candidates across the country such as Ronchetti have been accused by Democrats of supporting a lawsuit backed by Trump and several Republican attorneys general that could abolish the Affordable Care Act.

Ronchetti calls such accusations ridiculous. He said he wants to improve health care and said any replacement plan must include protections for people with pre-existing conditions and not cut Medicaid.

“So you can put that in 10-inch bold type: We want to cover pre-existing conditions and will protect Medicaid. Period. End of discussion,” he said.

There is no ambiguity in the fact that Ronchetti supports the coverage of pre-existing conditions and the protection of Medicaid, “period.”

President Trump has on multiple occasions made it clear he has no plans to cut Medicaid or gut coverage of pre-existing conditions, even going as far as to propose signing an executive order to that effect. He campaigned on protecting pre-existing conditions in 2016, which he has not wavered from.

According to Reuters: 

Asked on Monday why he needed an executive order to mandate something that is already legally required, Trump said it would provide “a double safety net” and would “let people know that the Republicans are totally, strongly in favor of … taking care of people with pre-existing conditions.”

Ben Ray Luján’s ad not only tells blatant mistruths about President Trump’s and Mark Ronchetti’s policy positions, but it should also be taken down as false information by the “fact-checkers” and denied from being played on television stations due to its wildly inaccurate content. 

Not-so ‘fierce’ Deb Haaland chickens out of TV debate, following Ben Ray Luján’s lead

It was reported by KOB 4 that incumbent Democrat Rep. Deb Haaland (NM-03) is refusing to debate her Republican challenger, Michelle Garcia Holmes, on the network, despite the KOB 4 asking multiple times for Haaland to appear at the televised event.

KOB 4 writes, “A debate between the NM 1st Congressional candidates, Incumbent Democrat Rep. Deb Haaland and Republican Challenger Michelle Garcia Holmes, will not happen. Garcia Holmes agreed to a proposed debate, however Rep. Haaland did not despite repeated efforts by KOB 4 to work with her campaign.”

Garcia Holmes responded to Haaland’s apparent fright to debate by writing on her Facebook page, “The voters deserve answers, especially from incumbents, Haaland is no longer ‘fierce’ and has become, “Debate Dodging Deb”, as she refuses KOB’s invitation to debate. Call her congressional office and ask her why…. (505)346-6781”

Garcia Holmes is referring to Haaland’s repeated social media posts and campaign slogans telling people to “be fierce” and trying to brand herself as “fierce.” However, by chickening out of a televised debate, which is objectively probably the least a person running for Congress is expected to do, it appears she is following Rep. Ben Ray Luján’s lead and forgoing such a public display of her record.

Ben Ray Luján only accepted one televised debate on KRQE 7 News and a softball forum on the left-wing PBS affiliate, KNME. He declined both the KOB 4 and KRQE 13 debates. KOB 4 plans to still hold the debate with Mark Ronchetti, Luján’s Republican opponent, as well as a Libertarian candidate while leaving an empty chair for Luján if he wants to join in.  

WATCH: The truth about Xochitl Torres Small

Our editor, John Block, reveals the radicalism of Rep. Xochitl Torres Small in this short, 4 ½ minute video, that will open your eyes. All sources for the content referenced in the video can be found in this report.

During this video, we go over everything from Xochitl Torres Small’s abortion stance, anti-gun stance, positions on the Green New Deal, illegal immigration, and so much more:

Xochitl Torres Small running scared after NRCC ad calls out her loyalty to radical environmental groups

On Tuesday, Rep. Xochitl Torres Small sent out a panicky fundraising email begging for funds after the National Republican Congressional Committee began running ads in the Second Congressional District calling her out for taking over $175,000 in campaign cash from radical environmental groups and supporting radical anti-oil and gas legislation.

The ad says, “Radical environmentalists want to shut down New Mexico’s energy jobs and pass their Green New Deal. And they need Xochitl Torres Small’s help to do it. That’s why they’ve funded her campaign with over $175,000.” 

In her email, Torres Small claimed, “Our opponent Yvette and her friends in DC know they can’t win this race on the facts, so they’re turning to lies and smears.” 

But she does not say which claims in the ad are smears, and according to the ad, all facts are, indeed, accurate. Torres Small has taken over $175,000 from radial environmental groups and donors tied with “climate change” policy, and many of them support the Green New Deal, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

In 2018, Torres Small ran as a radical environmentalist, garnering support from Green New Deal-backing groups such as the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club. From just these two organizations, she received $60,961.62 between 2018 and 2020. These numbers do not reflect the latest FEC filing period, ending on August 31, 2020.

Torres Small supports New Mexico’s “mini” Green New Deal, which will wipe out the oil and gas industry by 2045. Torres Small’s email pleas appear to be another attempt by her campaign to hide her radical record, this time on environmental policy, in order to try and woo swing voters, some of whom voted for her in 2018. 

Watch the NRCC’s hard-hitting ad here:

Trump campaign continues to highlight New Mexico as Election Day nears

Election Day is just 63 days away, and it appears President Donald J. Trump’s re-election campaign has its eyes fixed at flipping New Mexico to the Republican column this November. During a September 2019 rally, Trump said to a massive crowd in Rio Rancho, “We really think we’re going to turn this state and make it a Republican state.” 

The momentum can be seen especially through the Trump campaign’s social media posts. The campaign has focused a great deal of time promoting the President’s partnership with Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales to carry out “Operation Legend,” which brings federal investment into the crime-ridden Albuquerque Metro Area. 

The operation has already seen success, with the apprehension of a dangerous criminal alien in the case of Jackie Vigil, who was murdered by the illegal alien. Jackie’s husband, Sam, spoke at the Republican National Convention. At the same convention, two other New Mexicans spoke, including Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lyzer and Albuquerque Police Officer Ryan Holets, who both endorsed the President for re-election. 

On social media alone, the President and his campaign have elevated New Mexico voices, with multiple tweets and posts lauding the work President Trump has done for the Land of Enchantment, including investments to combat the opioid epidemic, as well as showing stories of walk-aways from the Democrat Party in New Mexico. 

https://twitter.com/TeamTrump/status/1298440428438589441?s=20
The President only lost New Mexico by eight points in 2016, and that is with Libertarian Gary Johnson (who is not running this election) taking 9.3% of the vote. The President has a real shot at flipping New Mexico Republican this election, and the momentum going into Election Day is just getting that much stronger.

Longtime voter fraudster reveals how Dems rig elections with mail-in ballots

Earlier this month, Piñon Post released a report detailing information on how Democrats are ballot harvesting votes from our senior citizens in the upcoming election in New Mexico, which opens the door to massive fraud. 

In a revealing report from the New York Post, a longtime voter fraudster revealed under the cover of anonymity all the methods he used to rig elections in nearly every election in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, which swayed elections up and down the ticket. 

In the interview with the Post, the fraudster said in New Jersey, for instance, “The ballot has no specific security features — like a stamp or a watermark — so the insider said he would just make his own ballots” using a copy machine. 

The article explains:

But the return envelopes are “more secure than the ballot. You could never recreate the envelope,” he said. So they had to be collected from real voters.

He would have his operatives fan out, going house to house, convincing voters to let them mail completed ballots on their behalf as a public service. The fraudster and his minions would then take the sealed envelopes home and hold them over boiling water.

“You have to steam it to loosen the glue,” said the insider.

He then would remove the real ballot, place the counterfeit ballot inside the signed certificate, and reseal the envelope.

“Five minutes per ballot tops,” said the insider.

The insider said he took care not to stuff the fake ballots into just a few public mailboxes, but sprinkle them around town. That way he avoided the attention that foiled a sloppy voter-fraud operation in a Paterson, NJ, city council race this year, where 900 ballots were found in just three mailboxes.

“If they had spread them in all different mailboxes, nothing would have happened,” the insider said.

Another shocking revelation in the report is that some Post Office workers may be in on the scam. “You have a postman who is a rabid anti-Trump guy and he’s working in Bedminster or some Republican stronghold … He can take those [filled-out] ballots, and knowing 95% are going to a Republican, he can just throw those in the garbage,” said the fraudster. 

The report details: 

Hitting up assisted-living facilities and “helping” the elderly fill out their absentee ballots was a gold mine of votes, the insider said.

“There are nursing homes where the nurse is actually a paid operative. And they go room by room by room to these old people who still want to feel like they’re relevant,” said the whistleblower. “[They] literally fill it out for them.”

The insider pointed to former Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann, who was sued in 2007 after a razor-thin victory for a local school board seat for allegedly tricking “incompetent … and ill” residents of nursing homes into casting ballots for him. McCann denied it, though he did admit to assisting some nursing home residents with absentee ballot applications.

In Piñon Post’s report, One of the Democrat Party of New Mexico’s caucus chairs, Pamelya Herndon, revealed on a fundraising call for U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Ben Ray Luján and congressional candidate Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, that the Democrat Party is actively organizing members to visit elderly family members and drop off their ballots at polling locations. She said that the law allows people to deliver “at least one absentee ballot to a polling location” from a person who is not themselves.

She said, “Go by and talk to your senior citizens. See if those ballots have been put in the mail, and if not, pick it up and take it to a polling location… you can take at least one absentee ballot for a member of your family to a polling location. We want every ballot counted, Congressman [Ben Ray Luján] because we want to see that you and Xochitl Torres Small and everybody on that ballot for the Democratic Party gets elected.

New Mexico, where there are critical races, such as the Second District, where absentee ballots miraculously appeared out of thin air in 2018 to give Democrat Xochilt Torres Small a razor-thin edge on Republican Yvette Herrell, the voter fraud will once again be a major factor in a potential Democrat win.

An independent audit from the Second District found countless instances of abnormalities in the votes, with counties such as Doña Ana showing multiple irregularities. “Fully 25 percent of the people who purportedly requested absentee ballots from the Doña Ana County clerk didn’t mail them back,” according to the report, going on to say the situation was “suggestive of the possibility that someone was submitting absentee ballot applications for Democrats and those deemed likely to vote for Democrats.” 

“In Eddy County, Torres-Small only received 30.9% of the EV/ED vote (she lost by over two to one margin), but she won the absentee voting with 54.7% of the vote. The same anomaly occurred in both Otero and Sierra Counties — both unique and significant especially in OteroCounty because Herrell lost her home county in the absentee vote despite a sizeable victory on Election Day and early voting,” the report concluded. 

The New York Post report also showed other methods the fraudster used to fix elections: 

When all else failed, the insider would send operatives to vote live in polling stations, particularly in states like New Jersey and New York that do not require voter ID. Pennsylvania, also for the most part, does not.

The best targets were registered voters who routinely skip presidential or municipal elections — information which is publicly available.

“You fill out these index cards with that person’s name and district and you go around the city and say, ‘You’re going to be him, you’re going to be him,’” the insider said of how he dispatched his teams of dirty-tricksters.

At the polling place, the fake voter would sign in, “get on line and … vote,” the insider said. The impostors would simply recreate the signature that already appears in the voter roll as best they could. In the rare instance that a real voter had already signed in and cast a ballot, the impersonator would just chalk it up to an innocent mistake and bolt.

Also, these leftist operatives literally bought off voters, such as with bribing the homeless to help with a “nearly inexhaustible pool of reliable — buyable — voters.” 

“Organizationally, the tipster said, his voter-fraud schemes in the Garden State and elsewhere resembled Mafia organizations, with a boss (usually the campaign manager) handing off the day-to-day managing of the mob soldiers to the underboss (him). The actual candidate was usually kept in the dark deliberately so they could maintain “plausible deniability,’” the report concludes.

The fraud appears to already be in for this election, which makes it that much more critical for voters to vote in-person, or cautiously vote by absentee ballot. The New Mexico Secretary of State’s office has just opened up absentee ballot applications on the government website, and voters can request them there.

Luján compared to Venezuela’s Maduro for tortilla video: ‘He too likes to eat on camera while other people starve’

On Sunday, Democrat Rep. Ben Ray Luján, who is seeking an open U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Democrat Sen. Tom Udall, posted a video of him making tortillas, which quickly drew fire from many, some even linking his video to Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro munching on an empanada as his country starves. 

Luján’s video shows him cheerfully making tortillas “from scratch,” since he apparently ran out according to his tweet. He writes, “Ran out of tortillas for my breakfast burrito, so I got to work making some from scratch!” 

One commenter by the name of Dalton wrote, “You taking social media tips from Maduro? He too likes to eat on camera while other people starve. Must be a leftist thing.”

The comment is in reference to Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, the successor to Hugo Chávez, who has many similarities to Luján. Most notably, Luján and Maduro like to feed their egos and their stomachs while people they rule over starve. In Venezuela, people have resorted to eating their pets and enduring nearly empty grocery shelves. In contrast, New Mexico, which has been under Democrat rule for over 80 years, has a poverty rate of 19.7%, one of the highest in the nation. New Mexico’s child food insecurity rate sits at 24%.

Videos of Maduro show him feasting on empanadas during a press conference and steak prepared for him by the notorious internet sensation “Salt Bae.” 

On Ben Ray Luján’s post, others roasted him for not debating his Republican opponent Mark Ronchetti and for his abysmal career in Congress, which has garnered no bills of his passed into law. 

Why did MLG ‘apologize’ for belittling Española but she refuses to stop ridiculing Hobbs?

On Friday, after the Mayor of heavily Democrat Española, Javier Sanchez, sent a scathing letter to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for making an example of the city for allegedly not wearing masks, Lujan Grisham released a half-hearted “apology.” But the attempt at reconciliation begs the question of why she isn’t apologizing to other communities she has belittled, such as Hobbs. 

As Piñon Post first reported on, Lujan Grisham said during her presser, “Last week, I traveled to Northern New Mexico, and in traveling to Northern New Mexico, I went through Española. I saw a lot of activity in Española and traveling through Main Street going North. I didn’t see a single mask, not one. Not in a parking lot, not in a grocery store that we passed, not at a convenience store, not at a gas station, not by someone in a car, not hanging on a rearview mirror, not on a wrist, not as people were walking, nowhere! Not one. The only masks I saw were in the car I was in, and we have to do better than that because if we don’t, we cannot successfully introduce risk.”

Mayor Sanchez rebuked the Governor’s comments, writing in a letter, “Are we truly to believe that the governor slowed down enough to see into our dark tinted windows to find no masks hanging from rear view mirrors? At this rate of condescension, I would be very surprised if the governor’s vehicle even slowed down to a rolling stop at the red lights. How empty those words sound coming from behind the windows of an air-conditioned vehicle while peering in at us like we are children who haven’t cleaned our rooms.” 

“My comments were taken as a lack of respect for Española and the work the community has done to fight this virus. I apologize for making that impression. That was not my intent, and I take responsibility for the way my words were conveyed and heard,” wrote Lujan Grisham.

“It is true that I did not see any masks that day on my way through town north and south, but that doesn’t mean I should have made the point that I did in the way I did it. If my intent was to highlight where we can improve and what we can do better, and it was, then I could have communicated that in a different way, and I should have,” she continued.

However, the Governor has refused to apologize for mercilessly ridiculing a restaurant in Hobbs, New Mexico, scolding them for allegedly not wearing masks. The snitch photo she presents looks to demean and criticize the small business that she claims were defying her health orders. But she praised Taos County for wearing masks, a county she won in 2018 with 81.5% of the vote.

But why did she hand-select Espanñola to send her apologies, while other rural communities still suffer from the ramifications of her shaming? The answer is simple: politics. 

In 2018, Lujan Grisham won Rio Arriba County, where Española is, by a margin of 73% to 27%, or 46%. The county is also 84% Hispanic/Latino, and the criticism of the county may be seen as possibly racially-charged.

Hobbs, however, which is located in Lea County, is a Republican area, where she lost the county by massive numbers, losing by 55% in the county, or 22.2% to 77.8%. She has also gone after the Lea County Sheriff, having her Attorney General, Hector Balderas file a lawsuit against the department for visiting a local restaurant and eating indoors, a violation of her strict anti-indoor dining mandate. Lujan Grisham’s recent actions show yet again that she is ready and willing to pick on the entire state, while only apologizing for offense when the area she’s berating is heavily Democrat. 

Gov. Lujan Grisham mask shames Española residents: ‘I didn’t see a single mask, not one’

On Thursday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham held a COVID-19 press conference where she announced a few new steps to reopening, such as museums being able to function at 25% capacity, restaurants with indoor dining at 25% indoors and 75% outdoors, among a handful of other lesser restrictions.

While she was talking about how New Mexicans need to keep with her strict policies, she made sure to make an example of Española in Northern New Mexico, mask shaming residents for not wearing face coverings, according to her observations from her chauffeured car. 

“Last week, I traveled to Northern New Mexico, and in traveling to Northern New Mexico, I went through Española. I saw a lot of activity in Española and traveling through Main Street going North. I didn’t see a single mask, not one. Not in a parking lot, not in a grocery store that we passed, not at a convenience store, not at a gas station, not by someone in a car, not hanging on a rearview mirror, not on a wrist, not as people were walking, nowhere! Not one. The only masks I saw were in the car I was in, and we have to do better than that because if we don’t we cannot successfully introduce risk.”

Gov. Lujan Grisham mask shames Españolans at press conference: “by I didn’t see a single mask, not one. Not in a parking lot, not in a grocery store that we passed, not at a convenience store, not at a gas station, not by someone in a car, not hanging on a rearview mirror…”

Her recent criticism of New Mexicans certainly is not a new development, as she previously berated folks for traveling out of state, making examples of restauranteurs in Hobbs who allegedly were not following her indoor dining ban. 

Gov. Lujan Grisham presser reel 1/3: MLG berates elected leaders, criticizes President Donald Trump about masks, shames rural restaurants defying her edicts

AUDIO: Xochitl admits the ACLU influences her gun votes, such as to criminalize private gun transfers

On August 23, 2019, I asked Rep. Xochitl Torres Small about her gun stance while attending a “Coffee in Your Corner” in Deming, New Mexico. I asked her about her gun votes, and why she voted for a universal background check bill while passing on a bill that would extend a background check waiting period from three to ten days. The revealing conversation is below:

John Block: I was just wondering about your gun control stance. I saw that you supported one resolution, H.R. 8, and you didn’t support H.R. [1112]

Xochitl Torres Small: The Charleston Loophole…

Block: And I was wondering why did you vote for Universal Background Checks versus just a waiting period on the other one.

Torres Small: So, extending the waiting period was going from three days, where if it can’t figure out what the problem is and then allowing the purchase to go through, to ten days. That’s more than one hunting season. The people who are impacted by that waiting period extension are more often in rural communities where the address discrepancies are going to be bigger or in Native communities. The other thing is, the language was unfortunately so poorly written that the ACLU and veterans groups came out against it because it wasn’t fully addressing mental health issues that are facing communities, so the reason why I voted for one and not for the other is because I’m a gun owner and so for every piece of gun legislation that comes to my desk, I’m looking at it as a gun owner, as someone who believes in our Second Amendment rights, so we have to make sure regulations that keep us all safe don’t impede our right as well. 

Block: But don’t you believe that the universal background check, it kind of goes against that Second Amendment thing [you mentioned] because when you inherit a gun from a relative, it actually bans that — it makes you go through another background check?

Torres Small: It does not ban it. It requires background checks.

Staffer interrupts: [inaudible] We’re all out of time, sorry. 

Torres Small: I’ll answer that question. 

Block: I appreciate that.

Torres Small: Did you know that actually, a majority of gun owners support comprehensive background checks? So, that’s — that’s where we’re at. 

The newly released audio reveals many startling facts. Torres Small revealed that she only voted against H.R. 1112, the “Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019” because the George Soros-funded ACLU told her not to due to the bill’s “poorly written” text and the only other reason she voted against the bill was regarding hunting, not all the other reasons why rural New Mexicans need guns, including self-protection.

However, Torres Small continues to support and voted for the highly restrictive “universal background checks,” which forces background checks in all private gun sales (including when family members inherit guns) and makes it a crime simply for one person to hand a firearm to another person. The ACLU does not take issue with universal background checks, however.

According to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action:

“Both bills would make it a crime, subject to certain exceptions, to simply hand a firearm to another person. Any time gun owners carry out this simple act, they would potentially be exposing themselves to criminal penalties. While the bills do create some exceptions, they are overly complicated and create many traps for unwary gun owners. Accidental violations of these complicated provisions are not excused under the proposed legislation.  

This legislation is not about public safety. These bills attack law-abiding gun owners by placing further burdens on gun ownership and use. For the anti-gun groups and politicians intent on criminalizing the private transfer of firearms, this legislation is just another step in their effort to extinguish America’s vibrant and legitimate gun culture.”

As well, Torres Small’s claim that “a majority of gun owners support comprehensive background checks” is false. A New York Times report revealed that there was a sever divergence between policy and polling in 2018 called “Support for Gun Control Seems Strong. But It May Be Softer Than It Looks.” The author wrote, “While a wide range of gun control laws appear popular in polls, support may soften once details emerge and they’re subjected to a robust political debate.”

In Maine, for instance, a poll asking about support for “universal background checks” in the terms of what the actual bill would do (criminalize private firearm transfers), Mainers rejected the measure 52 to 48 percent. So, the claim that a vast majority of firearm owners support “comprehensive background checks,” as Torres Small would like us to believe, is flat-out false.

A recent campaign advertisement released by Torres Small shows her shooting three guns, in the attempt to try and show New Mexicans that she supports the Second Amendment. The ad features her husband, Nathan Small, and other gentleman watching her shoot. All three guns, a 12-gauge Weatherby shotgun, a .270 Winchester rifle, and .44 Magnum revolver were not featured in her first ad with another rifle. The publicity stunt by her campaign raises questions as to whether she personally owns all three weapons, which would be required if the bill she voted for, H.R. 8, was passed into law. If she does not own all three weapons, she would be subject to criminal charges, if the universal background check act she supports were current law. Is this just one more example of Torres Small saying one thing to get elected, and then doing another when in Washington, D.C.? 

Torres Small voted with Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi 95% of the time and voted to impeach President Trump in December, a measure that has bipartisan opposition and massive opposition in New Mexico’s Second District, which she represents.

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