On Thursday, the Associated Press first reported that Brian Colón, a perennial candidate for just about every office in New Mexico, announced he would be running for New Mexico attorney general after serving one term in elected office as the state auditor.
According to the AP, “Colón sees the campaign as an opportunity to ‘take the next step,’ saying his motivation is rooted in his experience growing up in New Mexico and his desire to serve his community. He recalled the struggle of being poor and having to take on the role of caring for his mother and siblings when his father died at a young age.”
Colón would be following in the career path of the current attorney general and his former law firm colleague, Hector Balderas, who mysteriously passed up the opportunity to run for the U.S. Senate in 2022, which he was expected to do. Balderas was the state auditor before becoming attorney general.
After a stint as Democrat Party of New Mexico chair, Colón ran a failed campaign for lieutenant governor in 2010, then ran a failed campaign for Albuquerque mayor, being beat by then-state auditor Tim Keller.
In the state’s history, the auditor’s office has been used as less of a regulatory agency for accountability than for boosting politicians’ political careers. In recent history, the auditor’s office has been known for corruption, notably with then-auditor Robert E. Vigil (D) and the state treasurer being indicted on 28 counts of extortion, money laundering, and racketeering by a federal jury.
Other than generalities about promoting “prosperous” and “safe” communities, it is unknown what platform Colón plans on running on. Another candidate, Albuquerque-area district attorney Raúl Torrez is also a possible contender for the position.
According to the New Mexico Secretary of State, Colón has $366,738.19 cash on hand, which gives him a leg up in fundraising over other candidates. Republicans have held the attorney general’s office three times in the state’s history. Still, if the GOP fields a viable candidate in 2022, the race could very well swing to the Republican column due to it being a midterm with a Democrat sitting in the White House.
On Saturday, May 15, Antisemitic pro-Palestinian groups are holding rallies against Israel across the country, including in Albuquerque where a “Nakba (catastrophe): Emergency March and Rally” is being held. The rally comes after Hamas terrorists in Palestine shot thousands of rockets at Israel over the past few days. Most of them have been intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system dubbed the “Iron Dome.”
38 hours 1050+ rockets across central and southern Israel
The group apparently organizing the Antisemitic event is the “ANSWERS Coalition,” which has defended Hamas, the Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group in the past.
The march and rally are supposed to take place at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday with a car caravan starting at Walgreens on Central and San Mateo to the main event, which is being held at Tiguex Park, according to the Facebook event organized by “Southwest Coalition for Palestine.”
In one advertisement for the event by one organizer who proudly has “#AbolishThePolice” in his Twitter biography, the individual is asking people to bring Palestinian flags and wear “keffiyeh” scarves, which according to the Jerusalem Post, a pro-Israel publication, “stirs the same emotions in today’s Jews that the swastika must have done to those in Hitler’s Europe.
In the Facebook event, the organizers dub Jewish people as “illegal terrorist settlers” and allege that the Israel Defense Forces have targeted “Palestinian homes.” The group aims to force Congress to pass Rep. Bett McCollum’s (D-NM) bill to cripple aid to Israel based on supposed abuses against the Palestinian regime.
Previously, Antisemitic pro-Palestinian supporters have rallied in Albuquerque, notably in July 2020 with an event co-sponsored by the anti-Hispanic hate group “The Red Nation” and “Al-Awda,” whose founder compares Jews with Nazis and is a supporter of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.
At the 2020 rally, a handful of people in the caravan of cars held anti-Israel signs, with some shouting out of their cars things such as, “Look at the Nazis! F**k you!”
The event happening on Saturday in Albuquerque is using phraseology such as “imperialism” and “Zionist extremism” to characterize Israel, which is a longtime close ally of the United States important to America’s Judeo-Christian foundations.
The news of the event comes just days after a University of New Mexico student was allegedly attacked for speaking Hebrew and left with a black eye and apparent other abrasions on his face.
On a Tuesday virtual call with American governors, Joe Biden repeatedly called New Mexico just “Mexico” while addressing the vaccination efforts across the country. According to Breibart News, the governors involved were Janet Mills (D-ME), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Spencer Cox (R-UT), Tim Walz (D-MN), Charlie Baker (R-MA), and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM).
Biden asked embattled Gov. Lujan Grisham how the weather was in “Mexico.”
Throughout the call, he repeatedly referred to New Mexico as just “Mexico,” but finally corrected himself while addressing Lujan Grisham at the end of the call.
During a CNN interview last week, Alisyn Camerota mistakenly said Lujan Grisham was the governor of “New York,” but she did not correct her.
It was reported late on Monday by Dov Hikind, a former New York state assemblyman and founder of Americans Against Antisemitism that an unnamed student at the University of New Mexico was viciously attacked by four to five men after hearing the student speak in Hebrew.
“A student at [the] University of New Mexico was out with friends this past weekend in Albuquerque. After hearing him speak Hebrew, some 4-5 men (a few were identified as Arab) began viciously attacking him while shouting antisemitic slurs,” wrote Hikind.
In the photographs shared of the student, it appears the incident left him with a black eye, bruises around the base of his nose, among possibly other unknown injuries at this time.
Hikind noted that “The hate criminals remain at large.”
A student at University of New Mexico was out with friends this past weekend in Albuquerque. After hearing him speak Hebrew, some 4-5 men (a few were identified as Arab) began viciously attacking him while shouting antisemitic slurs.
The Piñon Post is investigating for more information on the matter and this report will be updated with any further developments. Requests for comment have been made to the UNM Police through the school.
According to the details of the incident, it may have been an incident that happened at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 8th, where an unspecified “aggravated battery” occurred at the Cornell Parking Structure.
Last month, the Piñon Postreported how far-left groups have begun to focus on Georgia O’Keefe as their next target to “cancel.” The fringe group, “Three Sisters Collective,” blasted a New Mexico Tourism Department advertisement featuring O’Keeffe as “romantic settler voyeurism” and “erasure” of Native American culture. Here is the advertisement:
Even the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum itself, a supposed institution meant to honor the late artist who came to New Mexico, blasted her, writing the following in a statement:
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum does not support the use of Georgia O’Keeffe quotes describing the New Mexico landscape as ‘her country’ or claiming ‘that was mine.’ While these quotes are from the artist, it is now clear that this is the language of possession, colonization, and erasure. Such language is offensive, insulting and insensitive. We strongly discourage the use of these problematic phrases, as well as ‘O’Keeffe Country’ to promote tourism or represent Northern New Mexico.
But the attacks on O’Keeffe’s legacy are nothing new. An August 2020 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum-sponsored virtual event called “Discussion: This is Not O’Keeffe Country” brought together radicals to assail O’Keeffe’s legacy and demean New Mexico culture in general.
In opening up the discussion, Cody Hartley, the director of the museum, claimed the Abiquiú area where the artist lived was “mistakenly” called “O’Keeffe Country” and instead said that he was “recognizing that the region we are discussing tonight is Tewa Country.” He then claimed the use of land in Santa Fe was “settler colonialism.”
Alicia Inez Guzman led the discussion, which invoked the term “colonialism” repeatedly in the description of O’Keeffe’s journey to New Mexico. Guzman described the artist’s worldview as “cosmopolitan.” She then asked the panelists about what she dubbed “unintended consequences.”
Christina M. Castro responded saying, “But with regard to unintended consequences, I would argue that the consequence, you know, they might not be as unintended, as we may think they are. The more I learned about the legacy of O’Keeffe and the era of her time, and the folks that were coming out from the East coast to, you know, ‘find themselves in a vast undiscovered landscape,’ the more I learned, you know, these elites were very calculated in their movements. And so, I’m trying to look at the legacy.”
Castro added, “These were elites who came out here as a part of an artistic settler colonial project. So, I’m interested in that because I don’t think that the consequences are necessarily unintentional.”
Guzman responded, “I think that’s a good point, Christina, because if you’re really entitled, and you’re really privileged, you may not think they’re intended. But intention doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with outcome…. We’re entering into the cash economy, where we’re seeing some environmental racism and that the, you know, the first movements in that direction.”
Jason Garcia of Santa Clara Pueblo chimed in, invoking the term “erasure” multiple times, then saying, “I found it interesting that [O’Keeffe] said, in reference to [Cerro] Pedernal (mountain)… Tsi’pin, She said, ‘It’s my private mountain. It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it.’ So, just the fact that she’s saying, ‘If I paint this picture a thousand times, two thousand times, it’s mine, I have ownership.’ So, it’s just interesting of how that intended erasure and it was–I mean, you fall in love with a place, but once you call it yours, it’s a whole different ball game and things like that.”
Guzman agreed, saying, “There’s this phrase that says that amnesia is the algorithm of colonization. And so, I think that that’s absolutely appropriate in this context.”
On the topic of feminism, Guzman added, “We think of the feminism that O’Keeffe came out of, that she really originated out of, it’s very different contexts and she was breaking glass ceilings in the art world but does that really square with how we see women in our place here in New Mexico.”
Castro said, “White women have benefited a lot from feminism on the backs of women and people of color.”
Then the converstiaon went down a turn where they spoke down toward the Spanish who came to New Mexico, claiming they used Native Americans as slaves. Guzman called it “white supremacy” when speaking about people of mixed race.
She said, “And then, there were a lot of terms for like mixed race people as well, because the Spanish were really like obsessed with making sense of like, mixtures. This is white supremacy, right? I mean, here’s the word we should be using. Speaking of not using words, we should be using white supremacy.”
Castro added, “ The hierarchy of white supremacy and Hispanic white supremacy.”
Once the conversation turned back into talking about O’Keefe, Guzman asked, “Is it fair to lump O’Keeffe in with those who did abuse the land and claimed it by manifest destiny?” Castro answered, “Yes.”
Guzman previously wrote an article in 2020 claiming the racist, anti-Hispanic narrative that the Hispanic identity was fiction. This racist theory has previously been spun by The Red Nation hate group’s Nick Estes. Here’s what Guzman wrote:
The Americanization of the Plaza ran parallel to other efforts that sought to whitewash the city’s mixed Indo-Hispanic population — racist campaigns that Swentzell refers to as a “rehabilitation of Mexicans into Spaniards.” New Mexic… was “too Mexican” to be admitted to the Union as a state. So white tourism boosters, anthropologists and legislators (many of them slave owners) began a massive rebranding to cast residents as Spanish-American, an identity that was “closer to white.” The founding of Spanish-American schools and Spanish Colonial societies and the celebration of Spanish Fiestas was just another means of performing whiteness, Swentzell said. To claim pure Spanish ancestry was a way to identify with your oppressor so that you could eat scraps at the table he took from you.
The panelists then claimed O’Keeffe was a product of displacing Native American people throughout her entire life since she was born in Sun Prarie, Wisconsin in 1887, which Garcia said was a Native American “ancestral village.”
“Of where you’re saying George O’Keeffe wasn’t, she didn’t choose this, but she was actually a product of displacement of native peoples,” he added.
The panel shifted once again to bashing the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum for how much it charged for admission and a criticism of museums in general.
Corrine Sanchez of “Tewa Women United” said, “So, I would also like, consider the deconstruction of museums. Like we build this fortune, or we build this maintenance around museums and these structures, and we created a culture around it where people go visit and learn. If we deconstructed all of that money and put that into our educational system in some way, for our young people and had, you know, maybe then traveling. You know, traveling displays or things that everyone could access. This is the same conversation we need to have around the structures and the monuments. We go to D.C. because they have these big old monuments.”
The panel agreed that it was a place of “radicalism” needed to change the museum’s framework. Guzman said, “And part of it is like reflecting on your own privilege…. And this is the thing that everybody in Santa Fe should really be thinking about is like, how do you instrumentalize your privilege so that it’s going towards or weaponized your privilege?”
As self-identified radicals claim is based on colonization and supposed white supremacy, the war on Georgia O’Keeffe is still trying to damage the late artist’s legacy and contribution to New Mexico’s identity. The war on O’Keeffe, however, is by no means a contained event in general, as New Mexicans are seeing monuments and other historically and culturally significant places and artifacts ripped down and erased by radical “Indigenous” individuals.
On Saturday, scores of customers came to Backstreet Grill in Albuquerque’s Old Town to support it as it refused to close down following Yelp reviews and a KRQE 13 report alleging that employees were not wearing masks while working outside.
The massive support for Backstreet Grill came as embattled Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s State Police delivered a cease and desist order to the business, which was supposed to shut it down. But the restaurant owner refused to stay shuttered.
Along with multiple State Police officers came Lujan Grisham’s well-paid Environment Department Secretary James Kenney, who spoke with some supporters of Backstreet Grill, including Audrey Trujillo, a conservative activist in New Mexico. Kenny said, “We oversee the OSHA program. Just to make sure the employees are safe. And the lack of employees wearing masks as they’re performing their duties puts them at risk.”
Another health official, Christopher Hutchinson of the City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department, was short with Trujillo and others, refusing to give them his name despite being present in an official capacity and merely telling them he was there because of a “lack of compliance” from the business.
“When is this going to end? When are you going to let these people run their businesses?” asked Trujillo to Kenney. “New Mexico is staying in this because they’re getting money. They are getting federal money,” she added.
“Look, I appreciate the conversation we’re having…. We’re so close. We’re getting very close to being over that edge” of being out of the pandemic, Kenney said. He did not elaborate on when or how that would happen. Shortly afterward, Kenney, Hutchinson, and the Stae Police officers left.
Chris, the owner of the business, said, “We were looking at a potential arrest. We were asked to shut it down even though it’s unconstitutional. The judge has issued a temporary order to shut us down pending even talking to her, which is very unacceptable considering the damage that would do to an already damaged business. On top of that, I just never saw that this would be something that would be an outcome.”
He added, “I tried to be polite and professional with the sergeant I realized was in command. He was waiting for orders. He was just following orders. They let him use his own decision-making in the field and he said that upon my request to leave, that he would honor that request and he would let us continue doing business.”
When asked if the massive public turnout to support the grill helped, he said, “Absolutely. Everything helps. Everything matters. Everything helps, and the support that I’ve gotten today is something I never even dreamed of. I feel like I’ve been fighting this fight alone for the longest time. And finally, now, I’m seeing the people come out and step up to the plate and actually stand on-scene and make their presence known.
On Saturday, Backstreet Grill in Albuquerque will likely be served a cease and desist order from Gov. Lujan Grisham’s State Police after the restaurant has refused to stay closed following a previous order shutting it down.
The order was in response to reports from Yelp commenters claiming the restaurant’s staff were not wearing masks while serving food outside.
Now, according to those familiar with the situation, the restaurant’s owner faces possible arrest when the Police show up to serve the order.
One individual writes on Facebook, “Backstreet Grill received a court order today to shut down.
They are going to stand their ground and open up for business tomorrow anyway. There is a very good chance they may try to come arrest Chris (the restaurant owner) the owner tomorrow.
He needs as big of a presence as possible there and lots of people ready with their cameras.
They open at 11am. A fellow patriot needs our help!”
Backstreet grill is located at 1919 Old Town Rd. NW #6 in Albuquerque, NM 87104
On Saturday, it was reported that embattled Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who was accused and later settled $62,500 in campaign cash for sexual assault, gave her energy secretary, James Kenney, an 8% raise, adding up to $12,480. That boosts Kenney’s salary from $156,000 to $168,480, making him the highest-paid member of Lujan Grisham’s cabinet. Kenney is responsible for overseeing the Governor’s “Green New Deal” implementation by creating anti-energy laws to cripple the oil and gas industry.
Nora Sackett, Lujan Grisham’s spokeswoman, said the Environment Department “has been tasked with ensuring the health and safety of workers and customers statewide, including carrying out tens of thousands of rapid responses, running the state’s wastewater surveillance testing program, and coordinating with businesses to ensure safe practices and establish mobile testing programs, all of which Secretary Kenney coordinated and executed.”
Sackett is referring to the Governor weaponizing the Energy Department to close down establishments and fine businesses for alleged non-compliance with her extreme public health orders that have locked the state down for over a year. One establishment in Grants was fined $60,000 at the start of the pandemic while churches had $5,000+ fines, and O’Reilly Auto Parts in Santa Fe was fined $79,200.
The news of Kenney’s pay boost comes just days after Kenney gave an employee, Justin Garouette, an ex-staffer on porn actor-turned state Rep. Roger Montoya’s campaign, a $32,000 raise.
The raises come just three months after it was discovered the Governor’s office handed eight of her own staff members raises totaling $92,000 over the past year, a 10% bump on average, far outpacing the raises more broadly granted state employees.
The raises were as follows:
Comm. Director Tripp Stelnicki ($18,600), Director of Boards and Commissions Melissa Salazar ($12,000), Chief of Staff Teresa Casados ($10,800), Chief of Staff Matt Garcia ($10,600), Cabinet Director Dominic Gabello ($10,600), Policy Advisor Diego Arencon ($10,000), Director of Cabinet Affairs Caroline Buerkle ($10,000) and Director of Legislative Affairs Victor Reyes ($7,500).
New Mexico’s unemployment rate is 8.3% and is the third-worst in the nation. It is also at its worst point in 30 years, outpacing even the Great Recession following the housing bubble crash of 2008. State employees generally did not get raises in this year’s budget, while teachers received a 1% raise.
Washington D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser appeared alongside embattled Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on CNN on Wednesday, where they discussed Lujan Grisham inviting the mayor to the Democrat Governors Association despite D.C. being constitutionally barred from being a state.
Also discussed was Bowser’s extreme ban on dancing at weddings, with an order saying, “dancing and standing receptions are not allowed.” Bowser defended her ban on dancing, saying she was “absolutely considering opening more activity.”
Lujan Grisham applauded Bowser for the ban, saying in New Mexico, “if you’re socially distanced, and you’re wearing a mask, and you meet the other requirements with our level of vaccinations,” people are allowed to dance. She added, “I want to give the mayor, uh — it takes courage to be really clear about what constitutes high-risk activities and behaviors.”
Tucker Carlson of Fox News railed against the measure, calling it “stupid and crazy” while dubbing Bowser an “ayatollah” in determining whether people could dance at weddings.
Carlson blasted Lujan Grisham as “deeply mediocre” and “dumb” for applauding Bowser’s buffoonery.
On Thursday, embattled Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s New Mexico Environment Department released another extreme anti-oil and gas proposed rule. The rule aims to decimate further the energy sector, which has already been crippled by Lujan Grisham’s policies, such as the Energy Transition Act (the Green New Deal), among other radical financially ruinous measures.
According to a press release from the Department, “Once finalized, the new rule will reduce emissions of ozone precursor pollutants – volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen – by nearly 260 million pounds annually and reduce methane emissions by over 851 million pounds annually. The rule will apply in New Mexico counties with high ozone levels. Currently, this includes Chaves, Doña Ana, Eddy, Lea, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan, and Valencia counties.”
“In addition to taking this significant step in solving our ozone problem to protect public health, this rule also puts us on course to reach the climate goals we set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide by 45% or more by 2030 by reducing over 851 million pounds of methane emissions,” said Secretary Kenney, referencing the Green New Deal. “This amount of methane is equivalent to the energy needed to power 1.2 million new Mexico homes for an entire year.”
As well, the proposal will eliminate “all exemptions for stripper wells and facilities formerly classified as ‘low potential to emit’ that had been included in the previous draft” of the proposal.
Additionally, the proposed rule sets “foundational requirements for all oil and gas operators to calculate emissions and confirm their accuracy through a professional engineer, perform monthly checks for leaks and fix them within 15 days, and maintain records to demonstrate continuous compliance. Building on the foundational requirements are stricter standards for equipment and processes that can emit larger quantities of pollution.”
The Governor touted the Department’s job-killing, economy-crippling proposal in a video posted on Twitter, where she claimed: “children and seniors, as well as communities of color, are more significantly negatively impacted by poor air quality.” She also claimed her proposal is like “taking eight million gas-guzzling vehicles off the road every year.” It is an interesting point since oil and gas is the only reason many communities across the state have survived at all. That includes anti-oil and gas hotbeds like Santa Fe, where residents get their food and supplies to live from oil and gas via trucks that deliver supplies, electricity in homes, and almost everything used in daily life. The new prposal would drive prices up and harm the poorest New Mexicans the most.
New Mexicans can breathe easier knowing that we are taking significant action to improve air quality in our state.
Today, we unveiled the second in a set of rules that will cut emissions from the oil and gas industry in communities that need it most. pic.twitter.com/8qzg4YbpBM
Opponents of the radical rule have a much different thought process on Lujan Grisham’s punitive measures toward industries in the state. Larry Behrens of the pro-energy group Power The Future said, “This proposal proves the Governor didn’t keep her word. The Governor promised to work with our energy workers, instead she puts forth a proposal that is a gift to radical environmentalists.”
“Just like Joe Biden, the Governor is trying to hurt our energy workers by taking executive actions. This rule will close many wells that are still productive, raise costs and ultimately bankrupt many smaller producers, which is the goal of the environmental community,” said Behrens.
He added, “Apparently, the governor isn’t satisfied that gas prices are up more than 65 percent over the last year or that unemployment in New Mexico is at its highest in 30 years instead, she continues to appease her radical environmental supporters with this proposal.”
Gov. Lujan Grisham’s big donor, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, took a neutral stance on the extreme Green New Deal and did not fight an extreme gas tax on the poor during the 2021 Legislative Session. The effective Democrat “oil and gas” arm of the Democrat Party made the following statement following the rule proposal:
“NMOGA and our members are committed to protecting the health and environment of the communities where we operate, and we support sound, science-based regulations to reduce methane emissions and ozone levels. Throughout this two-year process, we have been dedicated to working with regulatory bodies to share our industry’s scientific and environmental subject matter expertise. As we review the rule in detail, we will look for opportunities to engage the department with industry’s technical professionals to encourage greater innovation and cost- effective solutions, consistent with other regulatory requirements. New Mexico should be a leader in responsible energy development, and an appropriate regulatory framework will allow oil and natural gas to continue to deliver enormous fiscal and economic benefits to all New Mexicans while reducing emissions, safeguarding natural resources, and improving our environment.”
Before taking effect, the new rule must be considered by the seven-member New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board. A public hearing before the Board is expected this fall. For more information or to submit public comment, that can be accessed here.
