Opinion Archives - Page 4 of 21

Santa Fe Democrats created NM’s failed education system

Republicans can fix it: Put children first, with education focused on reading, writing, and arithmetic.

New Mexicans believe Santa Fe Democrats will turn around New Mexico’s public education system despite decades of failing grades. That is why New Mexicans approve more money for education yearly and wonder why our children can’t learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. The Albuquerque Journal editorial wrote what many think, Mississippi turned around its failed education system, so why not New Mexico? Yes, Why Not New Mexico?

The Evidence

Mississippi is a right-to-work state that ensures parent and student interests do not compete with the teacher unions. The teacher’s union control the New Mexico legislature via Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo), AFT Union member, and Senate pro-tem. KRQE recently reported that Stewart proposed a cap on union-targeted charter schools (similar to the 2019 bill) — a statement that is good for the teacher unions and bad for parent/student choices.

Mississippi focuses on students learning reading, writing, and arithmetic. Santa Fe Democrats focus on student indoctrination.

Breitbart 2021 headline: “Whistleblower: Albuquerque Social Studies “Recommended Books’ All About Race, Queerness.”

Recently, Project Veritas posted an audio revealing “Mandatory CDC Guidelines on Transgender Ideology In New Mexico Schools.”

Mississippi spends approximately ten percent more per student than New Mexico. However, the gap may be more significant when New Mexico’s inefficiency is factored in. The Albuquerque Journal recently reported that Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) administrative staff increased while student enrollment decreased. When APS enrollment dropped, APS wasn’t concerned about what happened to the students, only assuring the teacher and administrators that they would not lose their jobs. APS has demonstrated that its priority is its union staff, not its students.

New Mexico’s educational budget will be $3.5 billion. How much of the $3.5 billion is siphoned off before it reaches the students? In 2021, Sheryl Williams Stapleton, an AFT Union member and Democrat floor leader of the New Mexico House, was indicted by the DOJ for charges of racketeering and money laundering federal grant money received for educational software. But is Williams Stapleton just the tip of the corruption iceberg? If the DOJ can quickly uncover corruption in the New Mexico education system, why not the state’s attorney general and auditor? Maybe because they have agreed to focus on Republicans and give a pass to Santa Fe Democrats.

The Path Forward

Put parents and students first by breaking the teacher unions’ stranglehold on our education system. New Mexico could reverse the damage done when Bill Richardson recognized the teacher unions. Education dollars belong to the parents and students, not the failed New Mexico education system, not to the teacher’s union, and not in the hands of corrupt Santa Fe Democrats.

Allow parents and students to hold schools, administrators, and teachers accountable. Parents and students should be able to sue Schools for failing to educate our youngest generation. In addition, parents and students should be able to sue for psychological damages associated with critical race theory and gender identity chaos.

It is time to replace federally indicted Sherryl Williams Stapleton’s name with businesswoman and NM Representative Jane Powdrell-Culbert on the African American Performing Arts Center and Exhibit Hall. In addition, New Mexicans demand an independent audit (the NM State Auditor is not independent) of the Education Budget.

Host, “To the Point with Mick Rich.” 2018 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate (NM). Founder & CEO, Mick Rich Contractors. Husband, father, grandfather. Read more from Mick rich at MickRich.substack.com.

Opinions expressed by Piñon Post contributors do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the publication or its editorial staff. Submit an op-ed to the Piñon Post at news@pinonpost.com.

An election integrity expert’s response to ‘Stolen election vs. unfair election’

18 Comments / Opinion / By Erin Clements

This opinion piece by former US Senate candidate Mick Rich asks the question: “Was the 2020 Presidential election stolen from Donald Trump, or was the 2020 presidential election unfair to Donald Trump? There is a difference between the two, and that difference is essential for Americans in future elections.” This premise presents a false dichotomy that assumes that the election can be unfair or stolen, but not both. In reality, an election can be both unfair and stolen.

Acknowledging the election was unfair is itself an acknowledgment that it was stolen if the party that played unfairly was given the victory on a razor-thin margin, as occurred in the 2020 presidential election. Trying to separate fairness from theft is a dangerous attempt to force Americans to accept unfair elections as legitimate elections. No election based on censorship, fake scandals propped up by corrupt government actors and the media, and hundreds of millions of dollars of private money being used to influence how we vote should be viewed as legitimate. Using the words “stolen election” under such circumstances is completely appropriate.

Mr. Rich inaccurately describes the people who believe elections are being stolen as “Trump supporters.” Multiple polls have shown that between 60 and 70 percent of Americans believe our elections are affected by widespread cheating, and not all those people are Trump supporters. In fact, it was Democrats who attempted to blow the whistle for many years on the vulnerability and hackability of the black box electronics that comprise our election system. Many of these same Democrats are strangely silent on this topic now, but that doesn’t remove the fact that those who believe there is no widespread cheating are in an ever-shrinking minority.

Mr. Rich points to an AXIOS article that predicted a “false election day Trump win” as proof that the slow chipping away of Trump’s significant election night leads over days and weeks was somehow honestly done. Is Mr. Rich forgetting that the Twitter Files and recent US House hearings proved that the mainstream media has been colluding with leftist organizations and government agencies to manipulate the beliefs of Americans about COVID, the corruption of the Biden family, and the 2020 election? People who are powerful and corrupt enough to do those things are certainly smart enough to know they needed to establish primacy in the narrative by predicting what they were going to do in the swing states to make it appear normal and expected. In fact, they brazenly admitted that they were “working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information” in a February 2021 Time Magazine article.

There are plenty of eyewitness testimonies and video, mathematical, and statistical evidence that prove that Trump’s election day win was not honestly erased as AXIOS would have us believe. I suggest starting with this website, which contains a wealth of information on the massive amount of evidence that points to widespread fraud in elections all over the country, particularly in the swing states. Anyone who is intellectually honest and wants to continue denying that the 2020 election was stolen must deal with the substance of this evidence because they can’t honestly continue to parrot that it doesn’t exist.

This statement in Mr. Rich’s article was an odd one: “Trump supporters believe there were enough close states that illegal activity associated with ballot harvesting could make a difference. However, without knowing which states will be ‘close enough,’ millions of ballots would have been created, destroyed, or changed across many states, and there is no evidence that happened.” This is a straw man. Anyone who has run for federal office is aware that tracking and predicting elections is big business. Any moderately competent campaign adviser will have reams of historical trends and current polling data to help their candidate target exactly which voters they need to contact to win the right precincts, to win the right counties, to win their election. It is known ahead of time exactly which counties any election will hinge on and by approximately how many votes.

Before 2020, most of us assumed that this campaign targeting was typically being conducted in a fair and legal way, but now we are certain it is not. The tiny margins of “victory” in the handful of swing states that swung 2020 in favor of Biden do not amount to millions of votes, as Mr. Rich stated, but rather a few thousand. Could a few thousand votes have been inserted illegally in each of these swing states, either through ballot stuffing or digital manipulation? Yes, they could have. And the evidence suggests that’s exactly what happened.

I would remind the readers that mainstream media has staunchly insisted over the last several years that conservative viewpoints were not being censored on any platform. They claimed no evidence existed to believe such a thing. They called in their experts and sponsored studies to make the people who knew their voices were being silenced look crazy. But Elon Musk’s Twitter Files and recent US House hearings have proven the media lied about censorship just like they lied about the Biden laptop and Russia collusion. It’s only a matter of time before they will be shown to be lying about widespread election fraud.

In closing, I reject the false dichotomy of an unfair versus a stolen election. Unfair is stolen. But that’s not even the fundamental issue. The fundamental issue is that the vast majority of Americans believe the current electronic election system is not trustworthy and leaves the door open to widespread fraud. This is reason enough to reform our elections in a way that restores confidence. That means voter ID and a return to paper ballots that are hand-counted with bipartisan oversight at the precinct level. It means full transparency and accountability in every step of the process and the rejection of electronic black box voting machines.

Wife, mother, engineer, and election integrity activist. You can find reports on elections in New Mexico written, in part, by Mrs. Clements here and here.

Opinions expressed by Piñon Post contributors do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the publication or its editorial staff. Submit an op-ed to the Piñon Post at news@pinonpost.com.

Stolen election vs. unfair election

35 Comments / Opinion / By Mick Rich

Big Gov, Big Tech & Big Media put their thumb on the scale for Big Dems

Was the 2020 Presidential election stolen from Donald Trump, or was the 2020 presidential election unfair to Donald Trump? There is a difference between the two, and that difference is essential for Americans in future elections.

Stolen Election

Donald Trump led by wide margins in multiple states on election night, only to lose by large margins the following day or days. Trump supporters believe this indicates that Joe Biden and his supporters manufactured millions of votes. However, this “false election day Trump win” was predicted in the AXIOS article, “Exclusive: Dem group warns of apparent Trump Election Day landslide.” Because the Democrats’ strategy was for Democrats to vote early or by mail which takes longer to tally, at the same time, the GOP’s strategy was to get Republicans to vote on election day, which takes substantially less time to add. These two strategies caused the lead to switch from Trump to Biden.

Joe Biden Democrats collected ballots before they reached the voters, filled in the votes, coerced voters, or destroyed Republican ballots. Trump supporters believe there were enough close states that illegal activity associated with ballot harvesting could make a difference. However, without knowing which states will be “close enough,” millions of ballots would have been created, destroyed, or changed across many states, and there is no evidence that happened.

Democrats are said to have changed votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden by hacking Dominion Software. Do Trump supporters believe that since software/websites/databases are susceptible to being hacked by evil characters of the world, why couldn’t voting tally software by Dominion be any different? Changing a few hundred votes could occur unnoticed, but not millions of votes.

Unfair Election

Big Tech Companies solely censored Trump. Media Research Center headline on October 19, 2020,” Twitter, Facebook Censored Trump, Campaign 65 Times, Leave Biden Untouched” NPR on December 8, 2020 headline, “How Private Money From Facebook’s CEO Saved the 2020 Election, their $400 million to Democratic strongholds got out the vote for Biden. Fortune headline on October 22, 2022, “The RNC is going to court to prove it.

Big Government fabricated the Russian Collusion that hamstrung the Trump presidency and hobbled the 2020 campaign. The November 5, 2021, National Review article headline, “Durham Is Steadily Exposing the Real “Russia Collusion” Scandal.” Clinton’s campaign team must have been shocked by their Trump opposition research; the FBI and NSA used the Steele Dossier to justify investigating Donald Trump and Trump Presidency.

Big Government with Big Media & Tech Companies censored negative stories about Joe Biden. In the New York Post story “Revealed: Ukrainian exec thanked Hunter Biden for “opportunity to meet’ veep dad,” the underlining premise was that Hunter and Joe Biden used the office of the VPOTUS to enrich themselves. This story had the potential to keep Trump in the White House is why Big Government, Big Media & Tech Companies squashed the story. The Associated Press, “The FBI is investigating whether emails published by the Washington Post… connected to a possible Russian influence operation…”. The Hill headline, “50 former intelligence officials warn NY Post story sounds like Russian disinformation”, Recent Insider headline, You may think Twitter was wrong to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, but it wasn’t a violation of the First Amendment.

Moving Forward

When you are asked, “Do you believe the 2020 Election was stolen?” respond with, “Evidence shows Big Gov, Big Tech & Big Media covertly supported Democrats and silenced Republicans. As a result, those organizations made the 2020 election unfair to Donald Trump and Republicans.

You can call out the media when they propagandize and do not report the news. An example is the Albuquerque Journal’s article by Elise Kaplan, “Trump lawyer’s ties to NM run deep,” in which the reporter used others to slander John Eastman. Kaplan quoted individuals who described Eastman as “a prick,” “He was a jerk, he was arrogant,” Mr. Traitor.” “This is not reporting; this is propagandizing. You can email the Albuquerque Journal’s managing editor at kmoses@abqjournal.com AND demand that they correct the story.

You can file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Pricilla Chan, should be prosecuted for manipulating federal elections. Click on the link to learn How to file a complaint with the FEC. You can also file a complaint when Federal Government employees abuse their office to favor one party or candidate at Where to Report Fraud, Waste, Abuse, or Retaliation.”

Your Independent media are working to report the real news. That is what Mick Rich 2 the Point is about. As well as… Harvey Yates with the Artesia and Espanola newspapers, Mary Alice Murphy with the Grant County Beat, John Block with the Piñon Post, Dinah Vargas with ABQ Off the Cuff, Carla Sontag with New Mexico Sun. Support these independent voices.

Being a Republican in New Mexico is difficult, especially on voting day. To stop voter intimidation of vulnerable Republicans, the NMGOP should assist those Republicans to vote by mail and help them mail their ballots. For the remaining Republicans, encourage Republicans to vote early or by mail to foil the Democrat’s strategy of hindering Republican voters.

In 2020 I stood before five hundred people and announced my four goals, one of which was to bring conservatives together under the broad tent of the Republican Party. The first step of uniting Conservatives was our event in January. Next week I will report my progress in uniting conservatives and the challenges ahead.

Opinions expressed by Piñon Post contributors do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the publication or its editorial staff. Submit an op-ed to the Piñon Post at news@pinonpost.com.

Climate activists waging war against Americans

3 Comments / Opinion / By Mick Rich

Climate activists follow Mao’s Great Leap Forward

Climate activists and their Democrat politicians are waging a clandestine war against the American people. This war is being waged from the Nation’s Capital to every home without identifying the verifiable factors that prove the “Climate Will No Longer Change.” Nor the cost of the American people’s Blood and Treasure in achieving their dream.

While Joe Biden says he supports oil production, his administration has done the opposite by limiting the number of Federal acres leased for oil and gas production. In addition, Biden abandoned a significant oil and gas drilling project in Alaska started under President Trump.

While climate activists and their Democrat politicians say they support clean air, their clean air legislation is targeted to shut down industries they don’t like, not improving the air we breathe. As an example, Earth Justice’s (motto “Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer”) states, “Exposed communities need solidarity and support from people around the U.S. to ensure EPA adopts the most robust and protective limits on toxic air.” “In 1977, 0.2 million barrels of refinery capacity was added (the last refinery constructed), and in 2019, 1.5 million barrels of refinery capacity were eliminated. From 1977 to 2022, the American population increased by almost fifty percent, and oil refinery capacity decreased by nearly 5%. No wonder diesel stockpiles are at record lows.

Before 2016, Climate activists and Democrat politicians told us the goal was to clean up coal-fired power plants’ exhaust gases. However, by 2016 Hillary Clinton clearly stated her and the climate activist’s dream, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and companies out of business.” Since then, coal mines and coal-fired electric power plants have been under siege. From 2016 through 2022, coal-fired electrical generation has decreased from 1,250 to 800 billion kilo-watthours. It is projected that another 200 billion will be removed by 2029. So much for the billions wasted cleaning up the exhaust stack gases when the actual goal was to shut them down.

Climate activists and their Democrat politicians say their energy policy will save us money, but it does the exact opposite. A Washington Post article,” Fuel to power your car, heat your home or cook your food is all more expensive and driving inflation,” states that natural gas, coal, or petroleum is the primary driver of inflation. In addition, the US Congress Joint Economic Committee reported on June 10, 2022, “For the average American household, inflation will cost an extra $7,620 in the coming year. For the climate activist, no cost is too high for the American people to pay.

European politicians have realized the climate activists’ promises of cheap, plentiful renewable energy are empty promises. In 2021 the United Kingdom restarted an old coal power plant to meet its electrical demand. In 2022 Germany, France, Austria, and the Netherlands resumed the operation of coal-fired power plants to address their electrical power needs.

Chart, line chart Description automatically generated

Climate Activist: Replace Natural Gas & Coal with Wind & Solar

American climate activists noticed Europe’s backsliding and are following the strategy outlined in “The Art of War” “When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home.” Climate activists and Democrat politicians are working: To eliminate new oil and gas leases, especially in Alaska, where “By law, Alaska is required to remove all traces of the pipeline after oil extraction is complete.” For the destruction of oil refineries resulting in the permanent reduction of diesel and gasoline supplies. For the destruction of closed coal-fired power plants despite delays in building a solar plant to replace the coal-fired plant (Power Company of New Mexico, San Juan Generating Plant).

Climate activists are forcing a renewable energy-based economy upon the American people just as Mau Zedong forced the industrial-based economy (the Great Leap Forward) upon the Chinese people. Forty-five million Chinese died during Mao’s Great Leap Forward. In 2021, 200-800 Texans died from exposure to cold when the electrical generation (#1 natural gas, #2 wind, #3 coal) couldn’t keep up with the demand during a winter storm. Climate activists are committed to their “Great Leap Forward” regardless of the lives lost.

Write your Members of Congress and state legislators to demand they provide verifiable evidence that the climate activist policies they are enacting will stop the extensional threat of climate change at what cost? Otherwise, they are risking the lives and livelihood of the American people.

Host, “To the Point with Mick Rich.” 2018 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate (NM). Founder & CEO, Mick Rich Contractors. Husband, father, grandfather. Read more from Mick rich at MickRich.substack.com.

Elon vs. Big Tech, NM’s indies vs. NM media

5 Comments / Opinion / By Mick Rich

In 2016 Donald Trump was the most popular candidate in the Republican Primary while spending nearly the least amount of any candidate. At the same time, Jeb Bush was spending the most of any candidate and was among the least popular candidates. News pundits explained the disparity between Trump’s brash behavior and celebrity status. I believed there was more to the story and why it is important today.

Donald Trump was a celebrity and understood how to get earned media (news coverage vs. paid advertising). As a casino owner, he understood the importance of data mining, obtaining as much information on individuals as possible and tailoring a message to them. The message can be delivered by direct marketing (letters and postcards), and casino upgrades, but the most important is social media outreach.

Bloomberg Article 12.06.2016 Tracking the 2016 Presidential Money Race

According to Politico, Hillary Clinton and her allies raised $1.2 Billion verse Donald Trump and his allies raised $600 million. Clinton outspent Trump in every category except digital and online advertising. In that one category, Trump outspent Clinton by almost five to one. Add earned Big Media to the mix, and Trump won the election.

Imagine the dismay of Big Tech and Big Media in the days after the 2016 election when they realized their industry inadvertently assisted in the election of Donald Trump. Donald Trump made a fool of the lot. They would not be played the fool the second time, and they weren’t.

We have read many of the same national headlines for the past year regarding High-Tech supporting democrats and liberals. They are… “Google Pushes Conservative News Sites Far Down Search List”, The multiple ways Twitter censored conservatives, Here’s Your Proof That Facebook Discriminates Against Conservatives.

High-Tech is not alone in the treatment of conservatives; the National Media ignored Biden’s failings while embellishing Trump’s. Insisting that the Hunter Biden Laptop is fake is a trap. So is insisting that it is real, Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say, Study shows media reported 150 times more negative news about Trump over Biden

Despite New Mexico’s media declaring themselves independent and moderate (The Albuquerque Journal editor stated, “as a moderate,” it is hard to choose between Vasquez and Herrell), they are anything but moderate. The reporting or lack of reporting of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and the blackmailing of powerful people is an example of New Mexico’s newspapers protecting Powerful Santa Fe Democrats.

New York media conducted in-depth investigations of Jeffrey Epstein (he had a residence in New York). One NY Times Headline read, The Day Jeffrey Epstein Told Me He Had Dirt on Powerful People. While New Mexico’s newspapers are silent (Epstein had a residence in New Mexico similar to Pedifile Island in the Caribbean) despite NM Governor Richardson being named in court proceedings in New York. Albuquerque Journal did not even report that a Jeffrey Epstein “statue” was installed in front of Albuquerque’s City Hall in the middle of the night. Santa Fe Democrats in high office with New Mexico’s newspapers kept Jeffry Epstein’s sexual abuse of young New Mexican women and the blackmail of his “Powerful People” hidden from the people of New Mexico.

Elon Musk has uncovered the censorship of conservatives and the government’s manipulation to silence opposing viewpoints on Twitter. New Mexico’s Independent voices are covering the news that is not reported here in New Mexico. Whether it is Dinah Vargas of Off the Cuff, John Block of the Piñon Post, and D. Dowd Muska with No Dowd About It. Mary Alice Murphy was one of the first in New Mexico to publish an online newspaper. Her Grant County Beat publication now rivals the printed newspaper in Southwest New Mexico.

Being an Independent Voice in New Mexico, where the Santa Fe Democrats have the power to punish dissenting views, is risky. Each of them, including myself, can share stories where the Santa Fe Democrats have taken or attempted to take a pound of flesh for an unfavorable news story. Support these Independent Voices with a donation, a subscription, or becoming an advertiser. We need more New Mexicans to hear the truth.

Beautiful to watch individuals work as a team

Leave a Comment / Opinion / By Mick Rich

Miserable to watch a team struggle as a group of individuals

I completed every project stringing together a thousand projects in my career. Not one construction defect claim (we did have warranty callbacks) nor any severe injuries (we did have a few cuts, abrasions, and broken bones) in those forty years. A few of those projects were internationally recognized. Before we turned a shovel of dirt, we built our professional construction team. Otherwise, my record would have been that I started one construction project in my career.

The early lessons in my career

I moved a couple of hundred miles from home to work on a construction project at eighteen. I was amazed that men on the project could have more than heated arguments during the day and drink and gamble at the casinos at night. There was animosity between the men, but it never got in the way of getting the project built and having a good time.

I was a Resident Assistant at Hawley Hall during my last year at Oregon State University. RA’s had little authority and plenty of responsibility; there were fifty young men on my floor. I kept the peace and everyone safe while they focused on graduating and growing up. I learned how to encourage behavior rather than punishing rule breakers. It was a successful year, with no injuries, suspensions, or probations. I remember when the fifty young men began referring to me as “my RA.” Not the fourth-floor RA.

At twenty-three, I was assigned to oversee Ronny Farmer and his crew of ironworkers on the company’s 35-million-dollar project. I ensured they had what they needed (material, equipment, and information) to accomplish their job, and they put up with me being a recent college graduate. It was not until they heard that Billy T, the carpenter general foreman, told me, “You know the best crew on the project are the carpenters.” I responded with, “no, there is no better crew than Ronny’s,” that I earned the respect of the Ironworkers.

A year later, the project manager promoted me to general superintendent. The project had a year to finish, fifty men on the payroll, and I was stuck with Billy. Billy wanted my job and undermined my efforts to complete the project. He got my job and later complained about the responsibility of the position. Billy taught me a valuable lesson; there are worse things than being down a critical team member.

We started Britton & Rich Construction when I was twenty-eight, with two pickup trucks and a few tools. We looked at every competitor as a threat and an enemy. Five years later, we split up, and I was on my own. By then, I understood I had competitors, not enemies. I joined Associated Builders and Contractor, and my fellow members and I worked together to improve the construction industry with apprenticeship programs and safety courses. My competitors made me a better contractor.

A team of construction professionals versus a bunch of construction workers

As a young project engineer, I watched our 70-ton truck crane operator and three laborers place concrete. The crane operator stopped the hook over the full 1.5 cyd concrete bucket at the back end of the concrete truck; the laborer hooked the bucket, and the operator began lifting and swinging the bucket seventy feet and down twenty feet to the water tank foundation. As the bucket reached the vertex of swinging, the laborer pulled the line releasing the concrete. The bucket continued the swing back to the concrete truck. Meanwhile, the empty concrete bucket was now full. The empty bucket sat down at the concrete truck and was un-hooked; the full bucket was then hooked. This happened every minute for several hours. It was as graceful as Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire dancing. Allen Bradford’s company operated that way, from the operator and laborers to the C Suite. Allen’s company in the 1970s set the standard for Heavy / Industrial Construction on the West Coast. We were second to none, including Kaiser, Bechtel, Jacobs, and Guy F Atkinson, to name a few.

I left Allen’s company and moved to Portland, Oregon, to be closer to Marion. I hired on with an old-time construction company owned by two brothers. It did not take long to understand that this company was in trouble. During my first week, there were hushed discussions that a worker holding a tagline had been killed when the crane boomed into a high-voltage power line. Ralph, and Henry, blamed each other for any mistakes, and that behavior continued to the laborer in the field. The company culture: keep your head down, do what you were told, and don’t make waves. Despite the culture, I spoke up when I had concerns when a subcontractor or client was taking advantage of them. My concerns were dismissed, and Ralph, Henry, and I parted company. I heard later that the subcontractor cost them tens of thousands of dollars, and the client cost them their company.

Whether in sports, business, or politics, you build your team first. Together you establish the goal and develop the plan. You execute the program and make the necessary adjustments to achieve the goal. Allen did and shared the successes. Ralph and Henry did not; they lost their company, and everyone lost their jobs.

Without the lessons I learned as a young man, I would never have had the success I did in construction or politics. I look forward to seeing how our team does this January 2023.

Opinions expressed by Piñon Post contributors do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the publication or its editorial staff. Submit an op-ed to the Piñon Post at news@pinonpost.com.

For holidays, NM Dems promote anti-Hispanic hate groups, pro-abortion orgs

26 Comments / New Mexico, News, Opinion, Politics / By John Block

For the holidays, the Democrat Party of New Mexico (DPNM), which is funded by disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is affirming the radical far-left policies it shares with extremist groups.

In a Saturday email, DPNM wrote, “As Democrats, we try to support our New Mexican neighbors and communities with a giving spirit throughout the year,” then gave a list of “organizations that share our Democratic values and need your support this Holiday Season.”

The groups include the anti-Hispanic hate group “Tewa Women United” (TWU), which promoted tearing down the Soldiers’ Monument in the Santa Fe Plaza. TWU has backed canceling words it deems “offensive” and promotes the “deconstruction of museums” and “monuments,” claiming they promote white supremacy. The group also backs canceling famous artist Georgia O’Keeffe.

Another group the Democrat Party is promoting that share its “Democratic values” includes the racist abortion up-to-birth group “Indigenous Women Rising,” which labels being pro-life as “white supremacy, even if you’re a person of color.” The organization crowdfunds the killing of Native American mothers’ babies through abortions.

Planned Parenthood New Mexico, another abortion up-to-birth group, was on DPNM’s list of groups it is urging its supporters to fund.

Other “social justice” groups the Democrat Party backs include the sue-happy American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the anti-police group New Mexico Center for Law and Poverty, the pro-transgender group “Equality New Mexico,” the enviro-Marxist group Natural Resources Defense Council, among others.

DPNM concluded in the email, “The Democratic Party of New Mexico wants to express our sincere gratitude for your support of the organizations and causes that lift our voices and take care of our people. Happy Holidays and may you and yours have a wonderful New Year!”

The extremist groups promoted by the New Mexico Democrat Party further affirm these fringe anti-police, anti-Hispanic, anti-life, and anti-energy sentiments rest well within the fabric of the Democrat Party.

Tomorrow’s leaders are needed today

12 Comments / Opinion / By Sami Morales

That vibrant red color that Republicans wear so proudly should be indicative of the leadership and life of the party. With the 2022 Midterm Elections in our rearview mirrors, it is time that each of New Mexico’s 33 counties elect a young Republican who can resonate with college-aged individuals who have the power to make New Mexico go from a lifeless blue to that vibrant red chile color symbolizing economic prosperity and individual freedom.

The winds of change are here, and young Republicans are the key to getting New Mexico out of this dark, cold, blue abyss. All 33 counties need a young Republican to go to local high schools and college campuses to encourage the youth of this state to vote with the values they already have. Believe it or not, a good majority of young people hold the same values as Republicans.

Young voters want jobs, and this state does not provide them with that luxury. Young voters do not want to continue paying taxes without any kind of return to their own community. Young voters want New Mexico to start climbing the ladder from being ranked last in everything with the exception of being highest in crime. Young voters do not want a tyrannical government telling them how to live their lives. Young voters value the Second Amendment, as many of them are hunters and enjoy time outdoors.

Much like the established Republicans, the young Republicans with aspirations to be a part of local and state leadership hold the same ideas and love for New Mexico. The major difference is young Republicans can communicate with and relate to those young voters that the Democrats have swayed in their direction with broken promises.

Now is the time for each county to support their young Republicans, whether they are part of the Millennial Generation or Generation Z. We, the young Republicans, are here to stay, and we are here to help the party progress and grow to ensure we do not lose the New Mexico that we grew up in.

It is up to you, the established Republicans of each county in New Mexico, to embrace this excellent opportunity to become that vibrant red and full-of-life party by including the younger Republicans in each county’s local leadership to hold an elected office and help invoke much-needed improvements to the Republican’s current platform. The current platform is ineffective and on the brink of shattering. Thus, needing that last puzzle piece which is the young Republicans, to help lead the party into tomorrow. We need to make the leaders of tomorrow the leaders of today, so we can save New Mexico from the county level on up!

Written by native New Mexican Sami Morales, B.A. Political Science & MBA. Born in SilverCity, NM, and candidate for Grant County Republican Party’s 2nd Vice-Chair seat.

USA pulled out all the stops for the 1980 ‘Miracle;’ will NM Republicans do the same?

2 Comments / Opinion / By Mick Rich

To the candidates

Thank you all for running for office. It was exhausting work, knocking on doors, writing letters, and making calls; thank you. Thank you for donating your money to run for office without expecting it back. You risked your reputation to run for office; thank you.

To the County Party Officials

Thank you for your efforts. Organizing and energizing volunteers is demanding work.

To the State Party Officials

I still cannot find the words for how I feel.

To the Political Consultants

Your strategy got your candidates through the primary election.

To the Media Up and Down the Rio Grande Valley

You magnified the Republican failures while ignoring the Democrat failures. Your efforts tainted those elected you helped and diminished your profession even further.

To the Future

In the forty years I have owned my construction company, we experienced our greatest successes after our biggest failures. That is a common experience in many companies.

Based on the failures of the past few election cycles, we should have great election successes ahead. However, we cannot keep doing what we are doing or hundred-eighty degrees from what we have done, nor depend on those who derive their power or money from us.

Santa Fe Democrats continue to rack up election successes despite keeping New Mexico at the bottom of all the states. Once the voters realize the Santa Fe Democrats sacrificed their children for gold and power, the Santa Fe Democrats are done. This is what makes the Santa Fe Democrats such a ruthless adversary.

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, the seasoned Russian professional hockey team was expected to win the sixth straight gold medal. The young American amateur hockey team was expected to lose early. Somehow the young Americans began to win. The young Americans faced the Russians in the semi-finals and won “The Miracle On Ice.” In the next game, they won the Gold Medal. No one in the stands or press box knew the dedication and determination of those young men. But their coach knew, believed in them, and coached them to victory.

Democrats will not let go of the power without a brutal fight. It is incredible Republicans stepped up to run knowing what was ahead for them. But they stepped up because they knew what was at stake: their and your children.

New Mexico Republican Party is holding its convention on December 3 in Las Cruces. The Republican Delegates at the convention will be choosing new Republican State officers. Could you please sign up and attend the convention? Listen to the candidate’s speeches to ensure their words match their past actions. Will they coach and lead our candidates to victory in 2024? Do they care about all our children? Do they believe New Mexico can be the best state in the Union?

It’s more than just a vote

10 Comments / Opinion / By John Block

I love New Mexico. There is nothing more important to me than protecting the ones I love and the land that we all call home.

We New Mexicans are a different breed. Our way of life is rich in the deeply embedded cultures our people have lived by for generations going back hundreds and thousands of years.

But before going to pick up that delicious Blake’s breakfast burrito Tuesday, go vote first.

The only way to save our way of life in New Mexico is by taking meaningful action. That can be done at the polls.

Over these last four years, we have seen our culture, our economy, our children’s well-being, and our very identity be torn apart day by day. Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham not only did what she could to kill our New Mexico jobs and small businesses — she has aided and abetted in the slaughtering of our culture.

While she and others love to pander to New Mexicans with slick commercials standing in acequias or bragging about our state’s culture, they have been working overtime to destroy the fabric that binds each New Mexican together as one.

Lujan Grisham’s administration aided Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber in removing the Don Diego de Vargas statue that used to live in Santa Fe’s Cathedral Park.

Her administration went into overdrive to indoctrinate New Mexico school children with Critical Race Theory while demeaning “territorial” settlers who came to our state for a better life. Our education system is ranked 51st in the nation behind even the failing District of Columbia, despite a supposed “moonshot” of cash slung at the schools to help plug the gaping hole. Our children remain underserved. As a graduate myself of our state’s school system, I’m surprised I can read and write, much less have graduated college.

But now, Lujan Grisham is devaluing college educations by forcing the taxpayers to finance “free” college handout programs that will plunge our state into financial ruin. She also is trying to ram a constitutional amendment down our throats to rob the permanent fund of cash to fund “free” daycare programs in the state. This gives even more government control of our children’s education despite our actual education system being a massive catastrophe already.

Under her regime, Lujan Grisham has systematically taken apart our state’s identity and crushed our citizens.

During the pandemic lockdown, she killed over 40% of our small businesses, many family-run establishments that have been in operation for decades, if not centuries. Her lockdowns resulted in families not being able to see their loved ones at the end of their lives while irreparably harming children with education loss and medical issues due to the lack of in-person learning and the forcible masking when back in the classroom.

Albuquerque, where my family used to go for a weekend vacation to see the zoo or visit the Balloon Fiesta, has now morphed into a warzone. Heroine needles are strewn about on public sidewalks, vagrants cluster around town in tent cities, shops are forced to board up their windows, and many have fled due to the record homicides and violent crime plaguing the city.

This issue is by no means exclusive to Albuquerque. It has seeped into each and every community in our state. The governor’s refusal to take the border crisis seriously has led to countless families losing their loved ones to illegal drugs like fentanyl. New Mexico remains one of the top states for drug mortality.

While our state benefits from the generous revenues produced by the oil and gas industry, Lujan Grisham’s administration has done everything possible to kneecap the vital industry that provides critical money for our state’s education and health care systems, not to mention infrastructure.

Lujan Grisham’s Green New Deal (Energy Transition Act) passed in 2019 is ravaging our state, with jobs lost and blackouts/brownouts on the horizon after shuttering critical energy resources such as the San Juan Generating Station. Many Navajo workers lost their good-paying jobs.

The Democrat regime under Lujan Grisham is hell-bent on ripping away our Second Amendment, with Red Flag bills passed to evade our constitutional rights and infringe on our right to bear arms. Lujan Grisham is shamelessly lavished with endorsements and contributions from gun-grabbing groups such as the Giffords Center and Bloomberg’s Everytown group. She also bashed constitutional sheriffs, claiming they were “rogue” and having a “pity party” after anti-gun bills passed.

In 2021, the governor signed a bill legalizing abortion up-to-birth and infanticide in New Mexico, stripping all protections for mothers, babies, and medical professionals. During this election, her only issue to run on is her rabid support for killing children in the womb up to the baby’s birthday while gaslighting her Republican opponent Mark Ronchetti. She now wants to spend $10 million on an abortion mill in Las Cruces to kill more Texas and New Mexican babies while also wanting to “codify” unlimited abortion into state law. In 2021, she also signed a bill legalizing assisted suicide via a cocktail of dangerous, lethal drugs.

A New Mexico under Michelle Lujan Grisham is unrecognizable now, with the devastation she and her party of far-left radical Democrats have brought on in such a short time.

It is time to restore balance, order, respect, and common sense to our state, and we must flood the polls on Election Day to save our very identity. That’s why I stood up to run for the state legislature this election and also why I ask for your vote if you live in House District 51 in Alamogordo.

I’ve had enough, and it’s time for We The People to take back our country. The only way we can make that happen is by taking a few minutes out of our day on Tuesday, November 8th, and voting up and down the ballot for Republicans while rejecting every single judicial retention question, every single constitutional amendment, and every single bond issue.

I love our state with all my heart, and I know you do too. We must save it on Election Day. Our votes are more than just a statement. Our votes are a potent weapon to defend New Mexico against the extremists who hate us, our culture, and our way of life. Please join me in this fight by taking up arms and VOTING to save New Mexico. God bless you.

John Block is a native New Mexican and a proud Alamogordo resident. He’s the editor and founder of the Piñon Post, New Mexico’s #1 conservative news site. He has exposed waste, fraud, and abuse across the state while bringing a conservative voice to New Mexico media through the platform. As a legislator, John hopes to FINALLY send a fighter to the Legislature to battle the Radical Democrats and restore New Mexicans’ confidence in the political system.

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