New Mexico

Leftists have fit over Santa Rosa hanging image of city’s namesake

7 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Despite the city of Santa Rosa in Guadalupe County having heavy Catholic influence in its founding, including that of Saint Rose of Lima, some who have been attacking Ten Commandments statues across the country are coming for images of Santa Rosa and Our Lady of Guadalupe in the small city of around 3,000 next.

A local resident, Herman Baca, reportedly “donated the painting [of Santa Rosa], by a Peruvian artist, to City Hall — where it hung for about 24 hours in the spring before calls to take it down prompted its removal.” 

Baca also donated a monument of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the city, which was planned to be placed on a city-owned lawn a block from City Hall. 

Santa Rosa de Lima is the patron saint of embroidery, gardening, and the cultivation of blooming flowers. She is also the first saint born in the Americas to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Mayor Nelson Kotiar placed the image of Santa Rosa in City Hall, but after an outcry from some residents, it was removed. 

The Santa Fe New Mexican writes, “[Kotiar] noted a painting of Santa Rosa hangs in the county courthouse, and no one raises a fuss about it. Nor has anyone complained about a small bust of St. Joseph he displays in his office, he said.”

Attorney Andy Schultz, who helped rip down a Ten Commandments monument in Bloomfield, told the New Mexican, “The current status of the Establishment Clause jurisprudence is a mess,” while claiming conflicting case law makes the Catholic icons’ presence in Santa Rosa’s City Hall difficult.

“I am a devout Catholic and pray to Mary every single day, but that’s not where the painting belongs,” claimed gift shop owner Luisa Chappell.

“It’s an interesting question, right?” said State Historian Rob Martinez  “We have so many Spanish and Mexican names [of towns and counties] that are shod through Roman Catholicism.” While some people may protest placing religious icons on public property, he said, “Locals say, ‘What’s the big deal? We’ve been doing Catholic imagery for centuries.’ ” 

Many others see the monument of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the image of Santa Rosa as a big boost to the city’s identity and attractiveness to tourism, as well as paying homage to the historical events that led to the city of Santa Rosa’s creation.

Like clockwork, Dems make Labor Day about socialism

12 Comments / Editorial, New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Monday signifies the federal Labor Day holiday, celebrating working people and the fight at the turn of the last century for humane, fair working conditions. This seemingly non-political holiday to celebrate the working man and woman, of course, had to be seized by left-wing radicals to promote socialism via modern unions and initiatives that work hard to put as much government into private industry as possible.

Democrat Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who previously failed to run for the U.S. Senate in 2020, claims Labor Day is meant to “celebrate our unions who ensure that every worker – regardless of what you make, what you look like, how you pray, who you love, or how you identify – has the rights, benefits, standards, and opportunity we deserve.”

She then continued to tout socialist policies, such as a guaranteed living wage, universal health care, and other government-funded programs, while erroneously claiming there is an attack on the right to vote. 

“Every one of us deserves a living wage, access to healthcare, good benefits, adequate working conditions, and easy access to the ballot box,” she wrote. 

Democrat Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico’s Third Congressional District took time on Monday to tout extremist labor leader Dolores Huerta, who said that babies in the womb do not have souls. 

Huerta previously said in 2021 to promote abortions, “I know that the child has no soul until they are born. Right?” 

Leger Fernandez wrote on Labor Day, “Today, we honor working Americans — and the unions and labor movement that gave us the five day work week and moved our nation forward over the decades. As one of my personal heroes, Dolores Huerta, once said: ‘Honor the hands that harvest your crops.’” 

Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham shared a video on Labor Day with clips of her posing alongside Huerta while touting organized labor. She did not mention, however, that she has killed over 40% of small businesses in the state due to her brutal pandemic lockdown. 

She wrote to tout unions, “When unions exist, everything gets better. Thank you, New Mexico Labor.”

In a subsequent tweet, she promoted socialist policies, writing, “Without your organizing, we would never have achieved paid sick leave, accessible child care, a higher minimum wage, or many other policies that protect working people’s interests.”  

Other far-left politicians, such as Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-CD-01), Democrat Second Congressional District candidate Gabe Vasquez, and others, wrote similar sentiments online, trying to tie Labor Day with socialist policies.

APD makes likely biggest drug bust in NM history

29 Comments / New Mexico, News / By

On Friday, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announced it had made a massive drug bust Thursday that included $10 million worth of drugs, cash, and other assets.

According to the Department, “APD conducted a joint investigation with partnering agencies into a Drug Trafficking Organization throughout Albuquerque.”

The Albuquerque Journal reported that the bust “may be the biggest seizure of drugs and money in New Mexico history.”

The outlet reported, “Federal search warrant returns unsealed Friday revealed the discovery of up to $4 million in bulk cash and what authorities said could be a record amount of fentanyl pills at one of 15 Albuquerque locations searched Thursday as part of an ongoing FBI investigation into a new evolving alliance among street and prison gangs in the state.”

The report added that one senior member of the Sureños gang, Jesse “Lobo” Young, was arrested. According to the Journal, Young “had at least 21 prior arrests in New Mexico, and felony convictions of possession of a controlled substance and transferring a stolen vehicle.” It’s unclear with that many arrests how he was breathing air outside of serving a life sentence in a federal prison 

More from the report:

The high-profile bust marks the latest twist in a massive seven-year criminal investigation by the FBI into the ultraviolent Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico. The 42-year-old prison gang that operates inside and outside prison walls has been crippled in recent years by more than 160 arrests of its members and associates and five federal rackeetering trials that landed its top leader and 11 other gang members in federal prison for life. Eleven homicides have been solved in the investigation to date.

Now the FBI believes the members of the Sureños, a California-based gang linked to the Mexican Mafia prison gang, also known as the La Eme or Black Hand, have stepped in to help the SNM continue its mission of violence, revenge and illicit drug distribution in New Mexico.

The Sureños have significantly more personnel on the street and in custody, and informants have reported the Sureños have taken over the illicit drug market in Albuquerque, unloading hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine a week and tens of thousands of fentanyl pills, according to the affidavit.

Crime in Albuquerque and around the state has exacerbated as the southern border has been flooded with illegal aliens and criminal enterprises ravaging New Mexico as lenient policies from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Joe Biden have made illegal crossings and illicit activities more prevalent.

Leftist NM columnist launches venomous attacks against Herschel Walker

9 Comments / New Mexico, News, Opinion, Politics / By

In a column published on Thursday, far-left Santa Fe New Mexican columnist Milan Simonich launched attacks against Republicans, including Trump-endorsed Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker, among others.

Although softly bashing all of them, Simonich launched particularly nasty comments against Walker, who just so happens to be Black.

Simonich wrote in his poisonous opinion piece, “Palin seems like a Jeopardy! champion compared to Walker.”

But Simonich’s venom against Walker was not just in his latest column. He’s been railing against the football star for weeks — in an apparent vendetta of rage for some strange reason.

In another August 23, 2022, column, Simonich launched another racially tinged attack targeting Walker, claiming GOP New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti, who is White, is “is several cuts above Walker, which isn’t hard.”

He added, “A Republican, bumbling Walker is Trump’s handpicked choice in a state the former president lost in 2020,” dubbing him “The worst candidate this year.”

“Lujan Grisham can’t afford to underestimate Ronchetti. For all his generalities, he’s no Herschel Walker,” Simonich concluded.

Why all the low blows against the Republican, who just so happens to be Black? We will let you make your own conclusions on that.

MLG’s lockdown resulted in 30-year education proficiency lows: PED report

12 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s brutal pandemic lockdown that left countless New Mexico children without education for years did exactly as expected: plunged students’ proficiency levels down the toilet in a state where education already ranks 50th out of all other states.

Test results released by Lujan Grisham’s New Mexico Public Education Department give horribly low marks for New Mexico’s students.

“In the 2021-2022 school year, PED deployed the first assessments of New Mexico’s Balanced Assessment System, which includes both within-year state assessments (e.g., dyslexia screening for all first graders, K-2 monthly progress monitoring for early literacy and math skills, interim mathematics and language arts assessments) and federally required end-of-year summative assessments. These end-of-year assessments measure proficiency in content standards of English/language arts and mathematics in grades three through eight and science in grades five, eight and high school,” wrote PED in a news release.

It noted that “34% of students assessed are proficient in language arts,” “33% of students assessed are proficient in science,” and “25% of students assessed are proficient in mathematics.”

The Albuquerque Journal reports, “About 31% of kindergarten through second-graders were proficient in early literacy, and 33% of fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders were proficient in science.”

In subgroups of the data, children remained at record lows. The Journal added, “24% of third-graders eligible for free and reduced lunch were proficient in language arts, and about 16% were proficient in math. By the fifth grade, proficiency numbers rose to 28% and 23%, respectively.

State Rep. Rebecca Dow (R-Truth or Consequences), who sits on the House Education Committee, wrote, “The facts are finally here. MLG’s prolonged shut down of our schools has resulted in the lowest student reading and math proficiency scores in thirty years. In. Thirty. Years. The mental, social and emotional impact remains unmeasured. Low income and majority children have been most harmed.” 

“During COVID the republicans introduced bill after bill to limit MLGs runaway power over parents and their children. The majority party would not even give our bills a hearing. Below are a few of the bills I introduced during COVID to help parents get educational help for their children. None of these bills even received a hearing. With New Mexico scoring worst in the nation, all options and solutions to address this massive learning loss must be available.” 

The proficiency tests released by PED show that third-graders had 23% proficiency in language arts, while those figures ebbed and flowed for other grades: fourth-graders (35%), fifth-graders (36%), sixth-graders (33%), seventh-graders (35%), and eighth-graders (33%). 

Early literacy scores also were horrible, with 31% of kindergarten through second-grade children proficient in reading.

In math, 23% of third-graders were proficient, while those figures continued to ebb and flow for other grades: fourth-graders (24%), fifth-graders (31%), sixth-graders (32%), seventh-graders (25%), and eighth-graders (20%). 

Pro-aborts issue ‘Orwellian’ abortion press kit demanding reporters deny facts, science

15 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Wednesday, following Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s announcement of an executive order pledging to use $10 million taxpayer dollars to erect a new abortion facility in Las Cruces, pro-abortion groups issued what is being called an “Orwellian” press kit denying basic facts and promoting abortion misinformation.

In the kit shared by the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Daniel Chacón, the groups list what they brand as “political terms” versus “accurate terms,” claiming terms have become “stigmatized” to oppose abortion.

The guide claims “abortion clinic” must now be called “health center,” pro-lifers be branded “anti-abortion individuals,” pro-abortion supporters be branded “pro-abortion rights” and “pro-reproductive health care,” abortionists be deemed “health care providers,” “women” now be called “patients,” “individuals,” and “people,” and “late-term abortion” now be branded “abortion later in pregnancy.”

The pro-abortion press kit says regarding nixing the word “woman,” “Women are not the only people who become pregnant and/or seek abortion care. People of all genders, including non-binary individuals also seek abortion care.” Science does not back this up. Only women can become pregnant and have children.

The abortion kit also defended full-term abortion, claiming that the terms “abortion up until birth” and “infanticide are terms pushed by anti-abortion organizations in order to scare people and stigmatize reproductive health care. ‘Abortion up until birth’ simply does not occur.”

This is easily fact-checkable as blatantly false. A U.S. Congressional report found in 2016 that babies in New Mexico were, indeed, aborted up until birth and even killed after birth, making “infanticide” an absolutely appropriate term.

The Republican Party of New Mexico responded to the new press kit, writing, “Look at this: This Orwellian ‘newspeak’ guide was given to media reporters in NM to make sure they use words that sway the narrative. Women are replaced by ‘people,’ late-term abortion is now ‘abortion later in pregnancy,’ and pro-life is replaced with ‘anti-abortion.’”

Will Reinert of the Republican Governors Association noted that Lujan Grisham “now dictates how reporters write about her taxpayer funded abortion clinic to make it more politically palatable.” 

[READ NEXT: Democrat gov. denies press credentials to two conservative news outlets]

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article reported based on other reports that the press guide came from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. It actually came from MLG’s pro-abortion allies.

Pro-lifers react to MLG’s plan to spend $10M tax dollars on Cruces abortion mill

6 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Wednesday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) announced during a press conference that she will be signing an executive order pledging $10 million to build a state-funded abortion mill in Doña Ana County. This would come from 2023 capital outlay funds if she gets re-elected in November.

“This is a state that will stand against any attempts to remove or eviscerate women’s constitutional rights,” claimed Lujan Grisham, despite the U.S. Supreme Court affirming that there is no constitutional right to kill a child in the womb.

Pro-lifers quickly responded to Lujan Grisham’s extreme use of taxpayer funds on a live stream held by Southwest Coalition for Life.

Attorney Mike Seibel of Abortion on Trial said, “This is a complete diversion to provide New Mexico as the back-alley abortion clinic for Texas.”

Southwest Coalition for Life wrote in a press release, “New Mexico women have one of the lowest rates of abortion, and according to statistics from the New Mexico Department of Health, 80% of abortions in New Mexico happen in Albuquerque, meaning less than 500 women from Doña Ana County are seeking abortions each year.”

“Considering the influx of private abortion business already flocking to Las Cruces, there is no other reason for the governor to spend $10 million on what will now be a fifth abortion center in Doña Ana County unless she is specifically targeting Texas women in the county that borders El Paso, Texas.”

State Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eunice) said during the live stream, “This will be done in Senate Finance and House appropriations. What we need to start doing is contacting our state legislators and letting them know that this is unacceptable. We need to put a stop to this.” He added, “If she wants to put something somewhere and say she cares, then why not put this towards the pregnancy centers and maternity homes?”

Seibel encouraged pro-lifers to take action by contacting their local 40 Days for Life group while pointing out, “Just this year, the abortionist Franz Theard in Santa Teresa is up from 140 abortions a month to 260 a month. We’re seeing a doubling of Texas women coming from out of state.”

In July, hundreds of pro-lifers rallied outside an abortion mill soon to open in Las Cruces, where national pro-life leaders joined in standing up for the right to life. These massive numbers of pro-lifers are expected only to multiply as Lujan Grisham continues to assault the right to life in New Mexico.

According to a recent Albuquerque Journal poll, 59 percent of New Mexico voters polled support limits on abortion, putting abortion up-to-birth supporters in the extreme minority with just 35 percent support. 

In November, the Governor faces Republican nominee Mark Ronchetti, who has pledged to work across the aisle, if elected, to enact limits on abortions, affirming what the 59 percent of voters agree: Unlimited abortions in New Mexico are out-of-step with the populous.

WATCH:

[READ NEXT: Democrat gov. denies press credentials to two conservative news outlets]

Poll proves most NM voters are pro-life, abortion up-to-birth Dems in extreme minority

UFO sighting in Carlsbad: Video

9 Comments / New Mexico, News / By

According to multiple reports, including a video, there has been a UFO (unidentified flying object) sighting southeast of Carlsbad near Loving, New Mexico.

While Ashley Bock was watching a lightning storm with her family on Monday night, the family spotted multiple bright orange-yellow lights appear in sequence and then “burst into flames before the family’s eyes.”

“I immediately pulled out my phone and started taking video,” she told the Carlsbad Current-Argus. “There was initially a bright light. It immediately went to three. It kind of like rotated, but it was pretty stationary. It moved a little.”

“She stressed that although one could be quick to believe it was the mark of an unidentified flying object (UFO) or extra-terrestrial lifeform, the odd lights could have been a human aircraft or potentially a military operation,” the outlet reported. 

Duncan Gonzalez, 21, of Carlsbad, saw the unexplained aerial phenomena as well. 

He was pulled over at a truck stop when he saw the blinking lights as he headed out of town. 

Gonzales said, “At one point, it lit up so bright that it lit up every cloud in the sky,” Gonzalez said. “It was bright as Hell. I’ve never seen anything like that. It was brighter than every star in the sky.”

He even called the flashing lights “frightening,” prompting him to take off since the UFO was, as he described it,  “blazing through the stars.” 

No official explanation for the phenomena has yet become available.

WATCH:

More information has been released in recent years regarding UFOs, including a photograph that has been said to be the clearest image of a UFO known to date:

In 2020, the Pentagon released never before seen videos of UFOs, while in 2022, it reported it had encountered “now close to 400 reports from military personnel of possible encounters with UFOs,” according to ABC News.

PHOTO: Gianluca Carenza via Unsplash.

Poll proves most NM voters are pro-life, abortion up-to-birth Dems in extreme minority

8 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

A new poll commissioned by the Albuquerque Journal proved once again that most New Mexicans are pro-life and support restrictions on the life-ending abortion procedure.

The poll conducted by Research & Pollinc Inc. between August 19 and August 25 with a sample size of 518 voters found that 35 percent of New Mexicans support abortion up-to-birth, meaning no restrictions whatsoever.

Twenty-two percent supported some legal limits on abortion, while 25 percent say abortion should be legal only in cases of rape or incest, while 12 percent say abortion should always be illegal. 

Therefore, adding up those who back bans on all abortions with minor exceptions and those who think it should always be illegal adds up to 37 percent — more than the abortion up-to-birth supporters. If adding those who believe in some limitations on abortion to those who believe in minor or total abortion bans, the extreme majority of the state (59 percent) backs abortion limits. 

24 percent of Republicans, five percent of Democrats, and eight percent of declined to state and Libertarians say abortion should always be illegal. 41 percent of Republicans, 11 percent of Democrats, and 28 percent of other voters say abortion should be legal with minor exceptions. Among those who support some limitations on abortion, 28 percent of minor party and independent voters agree, along with 24 percent of Democrats, and 18 percent of Republicans.

Among those who believe abortion should always be legal, Democrats lead with 55 percent in that category, eight percent of Republicans, and 35 percent of other voters.

The poll also reveals how out-of-touch politicians such as Michelle Lujan Grisham and other Democrats are on the issue of abortion, with only a minor 35 percent of the state agreeing abortion should be legal in any case without exceptions.

We previously reported regarding a CNN interview Lujan Grisham had with the network’s Jake Tapper: 

She then went on to tout her signing of the anti-life law, telling Tapper, “We eliminated an antiquated New Mexico unconstitutional ban on abortion that criminalized providers. And while it was never utilized, providers were, in fact, nervous about it. Could see sort of the tipping point at the U.S. Supreme Court and were very clear that that needed to be removed from our statutory framework, which we did about a year ago.”

The bill flatly stripped all protections for babies in the womb, mothers, and medical professionals, creating an unsafe, unregulated abortion free-for-all in the state of New Mexico.

Then Tapper told Lujan Grisham that most Americans support some restrictions on abortion, telling the Governor, “The polls also indicate the American people, as a whole, do support some restrictions on abortion. What is the law in New Mexico? Are there any restrictions?”

Lujan Grisham responded, “There are no restrictions. given that we interpret and I agree that, again, per this new Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, is this is a privacy right and a personal decision between a woman and her doctor. and to interfere in any of these medical decisions creates, and it has, unknown, untold reductions in civil liberties for any number of individuals.”

She piled on, “Here, we would love to do as much as we can to focus on maternal health and prenatal health, to make sure that we have fewer and fewer and fewer and eliminate all unwanted pregnancies. however, in these late-term abortion issues, these are women who have picked a name, have enrolled in child care, who have a nursery. The kind of medical issues and deeply private, personal traumas that are occurring in those aspects, I don’t believe government has any right to interfere and judge those decisions when two medical providers are providing that information directly to their patient.”

Far-left lawmaker rammed into three parked cars, insists no alcohol, drugs involved

18 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Friday evening, far-left state Sen. Jacob Candelaria, a former Democrat-turned leftist independent, rammed his cars into three parked cars in Old Town, according to a KRQE 13 report. 

The lawmaker claimed the incident was due to a “truly freak traumatic accident.” He said, “. In which I am as much of a victim as these individuals. I did have a seizure condition when I was a child… I now have an appointment with my primary care provider for a follow-up next week to start seeing if there is an explanation.”

“Candelaria says he was on his way home from work, and the last thing he remembers was waking up upside down in his Chevy Equinox near Mountain and Rio Grande. He says police and paramedics evaluated him,” the report notes. Candelaria insists there were no alcohol or drugs involved.

The incident happened in front of the home of Felipe Tapia, where three vehicles were parked. 

“After the accident, when I talked to Jacob, Mr. Candelaria, he told me that he’s not going to leave any of us hanging without a vehicle. He said we’ll be fully compensated a hundred percent. Shaking my hands,” Tapia said. “You can’t just do that to people and walk off and say sorry and say you’re going to be compensated 100 percent.”

“Me missing work means lost wages, you know, having to find other rides for children, trying to move around town and get kids to school and back, get to the store and back, get to the gas station and back, and with this going on,” said Tapia to KOB 4. “We have to borrow vehicles.”

“It’s been a nightmare,” said Tapia. “It’s been a nightmare since I walked out that day.”

KRQE News 13 contacted police to confirm the details of this incident but has not received an answer.

Check out the damage to the vehicles:

KOB reports, “According to police, witnesses said Candelaria’s vehicle was speeding and ran a red light prior to colliding with the three parked vehicles. Candelaria reportedly told police he did not remember the initial cause of the crash, and he could have possibly fainted.”

“I was coming home and the last thing I remember is, I just coughed, and then everything went dark,” Candelaria said. “I honestly don’t know.”

A report showing lapel camera footage from the incident can be seen here:

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