Politics

Dems suddenly care about Navajo Nation again after lauding DOI land grab

9 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Democrats who backed Joe Biden’s U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Deb Haaland encroaching on the Navajo Nation’s sovereignty by putting in place a 10-mile buffer to ban all natural resource extractive activity are now manufacturing outrage over the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Navajo Nation’s access to the drying Colorado River.

The Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the 1868 treaty in question did not include the government’s duty for it to help secure water. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who is from Colorado, sided with the minority, which included all three Democrat-appointed justices.

“The 1868 treaty reserved necessary water to accomplish the purpose of the Navajo Reservation,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion. “But the treaty did not require the United States to take affirmative steps to secure water for the Tribe.”

“Today’s ruling is disappointing and I am encouraged that the ruling was 5-4,” said Navajo Nation president Buu Nygren in a statement. “It is reassuring that four justices understood our case and our arguments. As our lawyers continue to analyze the opinion and determine what it means for this particular lawsuit, I remain undeterred in obtaining quantified water rights for the Navajo Nation in Arizona. The Navajo Nation established a water rights negotiation team earlier this year and we are working very hard to settle our water rights in Arizona.” 

When the DOI snatched the land around Chaco Canyon from the Navajo Nation for supposed “conservation” purposes, Democrats lauded the decision to infringe upon the Navajos’ sovereignty. 

Now, they are claiming to care about the tribal nation. 

“This SHAMEFUL decision upends more than a hundred years of legal precedent at the expense of Tribal water rights and the Trust Responsibility,” asserted far-left Democrat Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury (NM-CD-01) in a melodramatic tweet.

Far-left U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich wrote, “A 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court just denied the Navajo Nation’s right to life sustaining water. This is an extremely disappointing decision that fails all Tribal Nations.”

However, the radical Democrats previously sent out a joint statement applauding the Chaco Canyon ban, disregarding the tribe’s sovereignty. They wrote at the time, “We applaud this historic step to protect Chaco’s irreplaceable resources for future generations.”

New Mexico braces for rolling blackouts this summer

25 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

New Mexicans and most others in western states are set to be bracing for blackouts this summer, according to a new report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

“The demand for electricity is determined by how much one has used at any given time. The more electricity is used, particularly during summer, when most rely on air conditioning, the higher the demand. Electricity supplies power to homes and businesses,” wrote KOAT 7. 

Temperature outlook via NERC.

Last September, there were reports from PNM that there were concerns about rolling blackouts possibly coming to New Mexico this summer.

“We need the public to be ready to help us conserve and save the grid,” PNM communications director Ray Sandoval said at the time. “That way we don’t have to implement those strategic rotating outages,” he explained.

That news came after the San Juan Generating Station was shuttered due to the far-left Democrats’ Green New Deal (Energy Transition Act), which was responsible for its closure and the loss of many jobs.

As we previously reported last September:

During a special Public Regulation Commission meeting Thursday, Public Service Co. of New Mexico (PNM) said it is being forced to PNM executives said the utility will fill “quite a hole” next summer due to “green” replacements taking longer to materialize as the San Juan Generating Station is set to close next week.

According to PNM spokesman Ray Sandoval, PNM “generally has a 2,000-megawatt system with about 500 megawatts provided by the San Juan Generating Station.” 

With the closure of the San Juan Generating Station, it has purged countless jobs, with only around 80 employees able to retire. “For the rest of the employees, though, they’re going to have to go find some other form of employment,” said plant manager Omni Warner. 

The AP reports, “El Paso Electric, a utility that serves customers in southern New Mexico, also is expecting a capacity gap next summer. Like PNM, El Paso Electric will have to buy power from other producers to ensure adequate capacity when customers crank up their air conditioners during the hottest of days.”

The report continues, “PNM officials said they have revamped their plans for alerting customers when it looks like demand will outpace capacity and rolling outages might ensue. The media blitz will include automated calls, television and radio commercials along with social media posts that urge customers to cut back on their use. A special website would go live for tracking outages.”

As three-digit temperatures hit New Mexico, we will see if the rolling blackouts and brownouts hit residents, as many have been very concerned about the potential ramifications.

“It’s an impoverished state. Most people here probably won’t have the resources or income to escape and go somewhere else to get some relief. I don’t think that’s safe. It does concern me,” New Mexico resident Melinda Van Stone said to KOAT 7.

Hispanic and Latinos’ ‘drift’ away from Dems could mean Vasquez’s downfall

13 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Far-left Democrat U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico’s Second Congressional District could be in for a surprise in his 2024 attempt to seek reelection, as Hispanics and Latinos, who make up 60 percent of the District, are shifting away from the Democrat Party.

Vasquez narrowly won his race in November by a mere 0.7 percent, making him one of the most vulnerable GOP targets in 2024.

According to an Axios-Ipsos Latino Poll, “More Latinos continue to favor the Democratic Party, but their allegiance is drifting. Some Latinos signal growing differences on cultural issues and crime — and give Republicans an edge in handling the economy.”

“Latinos are still more Democratic than Republican by significant margins,” Ipsos pollster and senior vice president Chris Jackson said. “But when you’re talking about elections that are won by a percentage point, small losses can make a difference.”

“The Democratic coalition is complicated in the best of times. The more pieces are in play, the harder it’s going to be for any Democratic candidate to thread the needle.”

This could mean imminent doom for the first-term Vasquez, who faces strong opposition by Republican former Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, who has vast support and won the seat over Democrat Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small, a Latina, in 2020. Herrell has national support from U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, along with many top Republicans in New Mexico. 

National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar wrote, “For years, Gabe Vasquez and the Democrat Party have taken Hispanic voters for granted by ignoring the issues that are most important to them.”

She continued, “Under Biden’s failing economy, it’s clear New Mexico Hispanics are realizing Vasquez isn’t the guy for them.”

Underage victim of trans rapist given cold shoulder by Sen. Heinrich: Report

20 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

According to a report by The Post Millennial, shocking and tragic events happened in a Rio Rancho public charter school restroom where a girl reported to be 12-year-old “Ray” (pseudonym) had been raped in a girls’ bathroom by an older male student.

The incident allegedly occurred in October 2021 at ASK Academy, but Ray’s mother, Maggie, only discovered it several months later when she found her daughter’s diary. 

“I was raped. I was raped. I was raped. F*cking kill me,” the diary read.

The school’s adoption of gender ideology and trans-inclusive bathroom policies could have contributed to the assault, as Ray was regularly forced to use girls’ bathrooms with boys.

“When the male student first entered the girls’ restroom, Ray said she was washing her hands and didn’t take particular notice of the student’s sex, nor was she aware of his ‘gender identity,’” The Post Millennial reported.

Maggie believes that the school had fully embraced radical gender theory without her knowledge or consent, with students pledging allegiance to the pride flag instead of the American flag. 

“We learned that kids were pledging allegiance to the pride flag instead of the American flag,” Maggie said. “We learned that some teachers were discussing daily, the normalcy of transgender people and gender dysphoria, and that this school had a higher population than anyone would expect for such a small school of kids saying they were trans and parents not knowing.” 

The school is said to have fostered an ideologically far-left culture, pressuring students to accept the presence of men in women’s spaces and stifling any dissenting views. After reporting the rape to law enforcement, Maggie encountered resistance from the school, which dismissed her concerns and blamed her parenting.

The report also mentions other allegations of sexual harassment and assault at ASK Academy involving the same male student and potentially other victims who are too afraid to come forward. It criticizes the school’s lack of transparency and accountability, as well as the slow progress of the criminal investigation. The traumatic experience has had a significant impact on Ray’s mental health, leaving her anxious, depressed, and fearful. 

Maggie and her husband later decided to homeschool their daughters due to concerns about their safety in light of New Mexico’s legislation opening school facilities to individuals based on their gender identity.

“After a year at her local public school, Maggie and her husband decided their two daughters weren’t safe there, either. What solidified their decision was a law New Mexico passed in March that opened school bathrooms and locker rooms to individuals based on their ‘gender identity.’ Maggie wrote to New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat, to express her concerns about the legislation, even sharing the account of what happened to her daughter. Her inquiry, Maggie said, was ‘met with a complete rejection of the notion that he would support anything that goes against gender affirming legislation,’” the report concluded.

Heinrich is running for reelection in 2024, seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate. There have been rumblings he has his eye on the governor’s mansion, as far-left Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is term-limited after her current term.

Far-left group tries to downplay NM’s abysmal child well-being ranking

11 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

A far-left group called New Mexico Voices for Children, which advocates for things such as abortion up-to-birth, weakened election laws, socialized “free” college, and child mutilation via transgender surgery and puberty blockers, is now trying to downplay the state’s abysmal rankings, most recently being listed 50th once again out of all other states in child well-being.

The group’s executive director Amber Wallin’s op-ed recently appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News, telling New Mexicans the abysmal rankings “shouldn’t get you down.”

“While these improvements show up in the data, they don’t yet show up in the 50-state rankings. The rankings are based on data, but the various factors behind each indicator go beyond policies implemented by states. Childhood outcomes in a state are also intrinsically tied to its geography, history, assets, systemic inequities, and various other factors that contribute to a nuanced picture of child well-being that cannot be accurately represented by any one number or ranking,” she claimed.

Wallin also touted extreme government-growing programs, claiming they are helping, but the data hasn’t produced their results yet.

She wrote, “Our investments in child care assistance, voter-approved expansion of early childhood services, and child-focused tax policy improvements all received national accolades. These, along with the creation of a statewide paid sick leave policy for all workers, ending of predatory lending, and expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act all help ensure that New Mexico’s families have access to the resources we all need to thrive.”

Although she acknowledged, “This is not to say that there’s no room for improvement,” Wallin’s answer to the 50th ranking, which had multiple categories worsen in the latest “The Kids Count” report on child well-being, is more big government, Critical Race Theory in classrooms, more taxpayer money being flung at “free” daycare, and giving salaries to a legislature that has so far produced nothing but worse results for the state.

She concluded, “For example, we must continue our investments in early childhood. We must mandate that our K-12 curriculum reflects and validates our diverse child population. We must ensure that our Legislature has the resources it needs – including salaries and staff – that allow a broader segment of residents to serve in elected office. We must broaden our revenue base to cushion our budget from oil and gas volatility. We must ensure any new revenue comes from the sectors of our society who can afford to take more responsibility for supporting the services and infrastructure our people and businesses all rely upon. And we must ensure a just transition toward a greater reliance on renewable energy sources.” 

Ethics complaint filed against SOS Maggie Toulouse Oliver: Report

9 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

According to a report from the website “Estancia.News,” an ethics complaint has been filed against New Mexico’s Democrat Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver over her attempts to crush referendum petitions challenging the state’s far-left laws recently passed during the 2023 Legislative Session.

The outlet reported that referendum organizer Ramona Goolsby “filed an ethics complaint against the New Mexico Secretary of State for dereliction of duty, malicious abuse of process, and abuse of power. Goolsby also filed a judicial complaint against District 13 Judge, James Noel, for improperly closing a case dealing with the referendum, apparently for purposes of a media campaign to discredit the effort,” reported the outlet. 

“The organizers allege that the SOS has purposely misinformed the public about the referendum process to serve her personal political agenda.”

Although none of the six laws attempting to be challenged were labeled for the “preservation of the public peace, health or safety,” which are exempt from referendum, Toulouse Oliver is using this as a pretext to try and stop them from going forward. 

Bills attempted to be overturned via referendum include legislation trying local jurisdictions’ hands from regulating abortion, an expansion of school-based health centers pushing abortion and “gender-affirming care,” bills weakening New Mexico elections, a bill harboring criminal abortionists, and legislation expanding the “Human Rights Act.” Read more about the referendum petition project being organized by Better Together New Mexico here.

Goolsby told Estancia.News, “The reason I filed the ethics complaint against the SOS is that she is being dishonest with the courts and dishonest with the public. I think she has become used to saying things that aren’t true and people don’t question her and go along with it. New Mexicans are fed up with being lied to and having their rights dismissed by the elected class who are supposed to be working for us.”

Even left-wing columnists have decried Toulouse Oliver’s attempts to thwart the referendum petition, claiming they are attacks on democracy by the Democrat official. 

The Albuquerque Journal previously reported, “The Secretary of State’s office has directed county clerks not to provide voter lists to those pushing the repeal effort, and warned voters that current petitions circulating are not valid since they have not been approved.” 

Goolsby concluded, “We are very disappointed that the SOS has not been willing to work with any of the grassroots organizations that have reached out to her. She continues to openly block a constitutional right the citizens of New Mexico were provided with by the founders of this great state. Her attitude smacks of elitism which is not sitting well with the average New Mexican.”

MLG takes full credit for NM’s lackluster jobs numbers trailing most states

14 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Friday, Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham erroneously claimed her far-left “policies” were leading to job growth in the state — with a heavy spin.

She claimed that because of her, the state is now seeing the highest number of jobs in its history.” 

She wrote, in a press release, “The robust job growth in New Mexico is proof positive that we are enacting all the right policies to grow our economy,” adding, “We are paying people a livable wage, providing child care for working parents, and making it easier for employers to find prepared candidates by putting more people through college and technical training.”

Ironically, the press release admits that the state’s multi-billion-dollar taxpayer-funded “free” daycare is, indeed, “child care” — not the “Pre-K” that she previously claimed. 

The higher minimum wage has resulted in a higher cost of living in New Mexico, especially in more urban areas where rents and mortgages have ballooned to levels working-class citizens cannot afford. Her taxpayer-funded “free” college programs is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually. 

In the statement, she pointed to the fact that there were 869,400 jobs in New Mexico, which she says is the highest in history. 

However, according to historical data, jobs had increased in New Mexico for decades, including a high of 863,400 during the Donald Trump administration in January 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, when Lujan Grisham locked down the state and plunged the number of available jobs to 758,100 in May of 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

During this extreme plunge during the Lujan Grisham lockdown, the unemployment rate ballooned to a massive ten percent, with it leading the nation during many months of her shutdown. She forced 40 percent of all small businesses in the state to close their doors due to her pandemic-era edicts, according to her own New Mexico Department of Tourism.

Also, during the Trump administration, the labor force participation rate was a healthy 58.1 in 2019 and 2020 (right at the start of Lujan Grisham’s tenure in January 2019), while now (with supposedly 869,400 jobs available), it sits at only 56.9. 

At 3.5 percent, New Mexico’s unemployment rate sits as the 34th-lowest out of all 50 states. 

Weak-on-crime policies by Lujan Grisham and her leftist allies in the Legislature have forced businesses to close due to shoplifting and unsafe environments for both patrons and employees. 

“The economic policies of Gov. Lujan Grisham and this administration are working,” claimed Economic Development Department Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes. 

“Gov. Lujan Grisham’s administration is not only growing our economy at a historic pace, but making the investments in higher education and career training we need to ensure that New Mexicans are ready to enter these high-skill, family-sustaining jobs,” chimed in Higher Education Department Secretary Stephanie M. Rodriguez.

Despite New Mexico’s employment failures under her administration, Lujan Grisham’s appointed cabinet secretaries are singing her praises, claiming she alone is responsible for any uptick in economic vitality in the state beleaguered by her failed far-left policies. 

Leftists celebrate NM law harboring criminal abortionists taking effect

8 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Friday, the far-left George Soros-funded group ProgressNow New Mexico (PNNM) gleefully celebrated an extremist law, S.B. 13, taking effect. 

S.B. 13, signed by Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, will harbor criminal abortionists in New Mexico who are wanted for extradition to other states. 

Section 4 of the legislation reads, “It shall be a violation of the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Protection Act to request from a third party, or for a third party to transmit information related to an individual’s or entity’s protected health care activity with the intent to: . . . (6) deter, prevent, sanction or penalize an individual or entity for engaging in a protected health care activity.” 

Section 9 of the bill expressly exempts from extradition criminal fugitives who commit or conspire to commit illegal abortions, so long as the perpetrator remains in New Mexico during the commission of the crimes. 

PNNM hailed the extreme law, writing, “SB13 Protects information of New Mexico abortion and gender-affirming care providers, seekers and helpers. This includes protecting New Mexican’s health care information, health care providers’ licenses, prohibiting extradition for the provision of in-state abortion and gender-affirming care, and preventing the state from cooperating with out-of-state investigations.”

On Twitter, the extremist group wrote, “Oh Happy Day,” sharing what they like about the new law.  

The Soros dark money organization claimed, “Gender affirming medical care is safe, evidence-based and medically-necessary,” which is not true. 

The bill is currently being put up for referendum if organizers get enough signatures to have it put on the ballot.

Leftist columnist rips Toulouse Oliver over thwarting referendum effort

23 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

A leftist columnist, Walt Rubel, the opinion page editor for the Las Cruces Sun-News, wrote a recent op-ed supporting organizers collecting petitions for a referendum vote on laws passed in the 2023 Legislative Session.

He wrote regarding the failure to get 2014 a wage-related bill on the ballot in Las Cruces that it “relied on slimy legal tricks” to stymie the effort.

Regarding the current referendum drive by conservative groups, he opined, “Unfortunately, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has greeted this effort of citizen involvement with the same obstructionist mindset as our former City Council. More specifically, she has decided that one of the new laws can never be repealed, regardless of how many citizens support it.”

“Toulouse Oliver is arguing that the bill can never be overturned by the citizens because it falls into a protected class of legislation necessary for the ‘preservation of the public peace, health or safety’ of the state. That seems like an enormous stretch. Does anybody believe the peace, health and safety of residents in Hobbs or Carlsbad will be endangered if they don’t have an abortion clinic? I suspect the opposite is true. Any facilities in those towns would surely draw protesters.” 

He added the caveat, “To be clear, I don’t agree with the proposed referendum, and would vote against it if given the chance. I’m just saying I should have that chance, if the referendum organizers collect the necessary number of petitions.”

“Toulouse Oliver said if any of those efforts are successful, they will be thrown out as well, because referendum organizers have not followed the proper procedure to begin a petition process. She may be right. But this sure looks like a Democratic secretary of state doing everything possible to thwart an effort by her political opponents. And I’m not sure why. I don’t think any of these five proposed referendums would pass if put to the voters. But lawmakers simply can’t stand to have their decrees challenged by the unwashed masses.”

Navajo landowners repel Haaland’s Chaco Canyon ban celebration

20 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

An event celebrating the crushing of Native American sovereignty via a 20-year drilling ban around Chaco Canyon by Joe Biden’s Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Deb Haaland, a former New Mexico congresswoman, was thwarted by Navajo protesters, primarily made up of landowners.

“Haaland had to quickly regroup and relocate after a group of Navajo landowners blocked the way to the sacred site,” KOB 4 reported.

“Six and a half hours later, over 150 miles away, those celebrating the moratorium gathered outside of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque in the late afternoon instead, surrounded by federal police officers on the outskirts of the area,” another source said.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported, “Social media posts showed protesters yelling ‘Go Home!’ as some held signs that read no trespassing on allottee land.”

Other signs spotted listed Haaland, Biden, and other politicians who lauded the decision as “China and Russia oil lovers.”

The Navajo Nation pled with the DOI to make a compromise, but they were flatly ignored by Haaland, leading them to rescind their support for the compromise and to oppose the drilling ban that will mean hundreds of millions of dollars being robbed from the tribe over time.

The Navajo Nation Council wrote in opposition to the proposed ban, “If the buffer zone is adopted, the Navajo allottees who rely on the income realized from oil and natural gas royalties will be pushed into greater poverty.” It stressed the “detrimental impact to Navajo Nation allottees by preventing the development of new oil and gas resources on allotments as a result of the allotments being landlocked,” exposing the fallacy from DOI that the withdrawal will not impact Navajo lands. 

“The financial and economic losses that are impacting many Navajo families as a result of the secretary’s recent land withdrawal are nothing to celebrate,” Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said. “As leaders of the Navajo Nation, we support the Navajo allottees who oppose the withdrawal of these public lands.”

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