Donald Trump and Republicans must stop cuts to health care to libraries and museums- Hands Off!

Trump cuts threaten $1.8 million annually for New Mexico libraries, 
All libraries and health programs being cut are impacted.

Hands Off❗

Two echo opinion letters published in the Sante Fe New Mexican newspaper:

“The federal share of library funding is less than $2 million. The state can easily make up this amount and even increase funding to libraries, which the Legislature has done this year. Big items like Medicaid and Veterans Administration cuts will be more difficult to keep going with the Donald Trump and Republican federal cuts. I am trying to stay focused.” From Carol Miller

“Take away the ability to read and research at places like public libraries and your populace will be more compliant and tend vote more conservatively, thus creating an army of poorly educated serfs to serve the rich. A bit of hyperbole there, but a well-educated electorate is imperative as we move into this new era of ‘strong man’ autocracy.” From Cheryl Odom

Gun violence is killing children! What do obstructionist Republicans not "get"?

We must ensure the safety of our children: Protect them from gun violence❗  Republicans block all efforts to create laws to protect the public from the public health danger caused by gun violence, while children are the victims of the GOP inaction!

Echo opinion essay published in the Sante Fe New Mexican newspaper:

This is an essential issue. Obviously, it weighs heavily on the hearts of all families. The tragic incidents of children ages 11 and 5 years old killed due to gun violence, road rage and drive-by shootings, sparked fear and anger among parents. As fathers raising children in New Mexico, we share in the outrage that our children face a constant risk of experiencing gun violence.

In response, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has taken action. She declared a public health crisis and immediately implemented emergency directives. While attention initially focused on the temporary restriction of carrying firearms in public places, the emergency order and subsequent amendment also included over a dozen directives, including preventive measures. Monthly inspections of firearms dealers in the state and 24-hour treatment placement for individuals needing drug and alcohol treatment were included in the emergency order.

Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, a nonprofit dedicated to family well-being and early childhood development with a focus on Hispanic families, applauds the governor and policymakers for immediately responding to protecting families and children.

The 2022, National Latino Families Report, a survey of 1,300 Hispanic families in collaboration with Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, BSP Research and UnidosUS revealed that gun violence ranked among top concerns for Hispanic families, including those in New Mexico.

A staggering 71% of Hispanic families in New Mexico expressed deep concern about the possibility of their child becoming a victim of a mass shooting at some point in their life. The survey also showed 79% of families strongly believed schools across the state should have locked doors and cameras to prevent violence on school grounds.

Families are calling for action. Stricter gun control laws, improved background checks and enhanced mental health support systems are among the solutions being sought. In fact, 83% of Hispanic families surveyed in New Mexico strongly agree that gun-sale laws in their state should be stricter, while 85% believe in mandatory universal background checks for all firearm sales.

Lujan Grisham’s public health order — even though she modified it and it is facing legal scrutiny — is a step in the right direction. It aligns with the attitudes of Hispanic families surveyed, with 51% disagreeing that the Second Amendment guarantees all people should be able to own firearms without restrictions and 77% strongly supporting a 10-day waiting period for firearm purchases.

As concerned and responsible community members, we must engage in conversations about ending gun violence. Every child deserves a future free from the threat of gun violence. We will find resolve where families and communities come together to demand change❗, because the safety and well-being of our children depend on our actions to end the status quo.

Adrián Pedroza is the executive director of Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, and Gabriel Sanchez is vice president of research for BSP Research.

Trump the Chump uses his own lying words: the failed CNN propaganda fiasco

An echo opinion by column writer Milan Simonich published in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper:

Ringside Seat:  Let Trump peddle his lies from sea to shining sea?

(Maine Writer- just love this column's name!)

Critics of CNN are everywhere this week. 

Watching CNN's town hall held at St. Anselm's College in Manchester New Hampshire, was an ugly spectacle, in which the former president lied about everything from the 2020 election to the January 6th Capitol attack that he incited.

They say the network bombed by giving Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a forum that was infected with his lies and whining.

In fact, the televised event damaged Trump, though he might not realize it.

The backdrop is more straightforward than the outcome. Former President Trump detests CNN. The network wanted to quiet charges that it’s a liberal counterpoint to Trump’s apologists at Fox (Fake) News and other Republican outlets.

CNN Trump Town Hall: Darcy cartoon

In (a failed attempt) to demonstrate its sense of fair play, CNN hosted a Republican town hall with Trump and voters in New Hampshire (held at a Roman Catholic Saint Anselm's College in Manchester, NH!- I am a Roman Catholic who criticized Saint Anselm's for hosting this lie-a-thon in my social media!).

Trump stuck to his hackneyed script in which he starred as a victim of foul deeds.

Critics say CNN enabled Trump to regurgitate his lies that the 2020, election was rigged for Democrat Joe Biden.

Not so. Anchor Kaitlan Collins (flopped!) worked to hold Trump accountable. She confronted him with hard evidence, such as Trump’s 60 frivolous and failed lawsuits challenging the election results.

Context was absent from most of the complaints about CNN. Alex Sherman of CNBC wrote that CNN “inexplicably allowed a partisan audience to cheer on Trump’s running commentary.”

Inexplicably? Everyone knew a town hall composed entirely of Republicans would be partisan. So what? Trump is running for the Republican nomination.

Another safe bet was many of the town hall’s participants would shout their approval of Trump. But in the big picture, the voices of partisans in the televised event are small.

New Hampshire has 800,000 fewer people than New Mexico. CNN and the rest of the national media bestow extraordinary coverage on New Hampshire because it holds the first presidential primary.

The important fallout from CNN’s event with Trump has little to do with the host state. What matters is the network’s core national audience. It is composed of people who have no respect for Trump based on character flaws.

He reinforced their position with his histrionics and denunciation of Collins. Trump’s false claims about the election serve as inspiration for the silent majority that watched his performance. Now more than ever, as the politicians might say, they want to defeat him.

New Mexico saw a similar reflex action last year. The election for governor was in November, but it was decided four months earlier, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s base was ignited by the ruling ending federal recognition of abortion rights. Every state would once again establish its own laws, a patchwork system that hurts low-income women in Republican strongholds.

Lujan Grisham benefited politically from the ruling. She stayed resolute on abortion rights, saying New Mexico’s government would not decide if a woman can end a pregnancy.

Republican candidate Mark Ronchetti tried to soften his rigid anti-abortion stand in hopes of appealing to independents and swing voters. A former television weatherman, Ronchetti followed his natural instincts by trying to be all things to all people.

The more Ronchetti talked and advertised, the more his waffling drove the opposition. What might have been a tight election turned into a comfortable one for Lujan Grisham. She won by 45,000 votes.

Trump stands a better chance than Ronchetti for one reason only. Governors are elected by popular vote. The Electoral College determines the winner of presidential elections.

Trump lost the popular vote both times he was on the ballot. If he is nominated in 2024, he will lose it again.

The Electoral College gives him hope. Trump took the requisite majority of electoral votes in 2016 with upset victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, three states that for 20 years had gone for Democratic presidential candidates.

Both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Trump had high negatives with voters. Clinton’s exceeded Trump’s in most swing states.

Biden won back Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2020. He also took Georgia and Arizona, states that had also gone for Trump four years earlier.

Trump for more than two years has escaped indictment in Georgia for attempting to steal votes in that state. In a tape-recorded phone call with Georgia’s top election official, Trump tried to bully his fellow Republican into switching thousands of votes to steal Biden’s victory.

None of this matters to Trump’s base. Its members must have pinched their noses as they tuned into CNN for Trump’s town hall.

They were outnumbered by viewers Trump angered when he claimed he could remain in the White House if only his vice president, Mike Pence, disallowed Biden’s electoral votes.

CNN’s show gave the whole country a look at Trump’s ongoing hysterical act. And for that, some would kill the messenger.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news, written by Milan Simonich.

New Mexico or Colorado chili debate - Donald Trump raises cross border rivalry

A cynical response to Donald Trump and his stupid call for a stupid and not funny Colorado-NewMexico border wall!

Two echo opinion letters published in the Sante Fe New Mexican

Trumpziim and the art of preparing chili!

https://www.thedailymeal.com/cook/chili-wars-10-chili-recipes-every-region

A passport to cross that Colorado-New Mexico border

Geography genius Donald Trump stated, “We’re building a wall in Colorado.” Miraculously, he resolved the ugly Colorado versus New Mexico chile war. Sadly, Coloradoans will now be denied access to our wonderful chile. In addition, will northbound New Mexicans need a passport to enter Colorado to enjoy their beautiful state? 

Gary Reynolds from Santa Fe, New Mexico

And.....No joke

Donald Trump is unfairly criticized for his ignorance of U.S. geography when he stated his plan to build a wall along the southern Colorado border. 

Most of the Trumpzi critics incorrectly assumed his purpose was to protect Colorado from hordes of legal and illegal immigrants from entering Colorado from the south. Ahhh! Not so — given his keen knowledge of geography (hiccup!) and our economy, his (OMG!) noble purpose is to protect New Mexicans from the importation of inferior Colorado chile. This plan should also include imposition of a substantial tariff on Colorado chile.

Jud A. Fischel, Sante Fe, New Mexico

New Mexico response to the Donald Trump expensive and useless border wall

An echo opinion published in the New Mexico newspaper the Sante Fe New Mexican 

"There is indeed great humanitarian concern in the borderlands. There is not a national security crisis, especially not one that would necessitate a “national emergency,” as the people arriving on our American doorstep are families, children, fleeing violence and starvation and oppression. These people are not threats." Jackie White*

Here’s how New Mexico is helping along the border by Jackie White in the Sante Fe New Mexican news.

The recent influx of migrants arriving at our southern border to seek asylum has put an incredible strain on not only federal agencies but on local and state assets in New Mexico’s border counties.

Federal agents have changed the mechanisms for seeking asylum at our southern border in recent months. Migrants who know their asylum requests will be rejected at ports of entry are heading into the open desert — out toward the Antelope Wells area of Hidalgo County, for instance — where they know they have a better chance of being detained by agents on duty during the limited hours of operation.

To be clear, as the governor has stated many times: There is indeed great humanitarian concern in the borderlands. There is not a national security crisis, especially not one that would necessitate a “national emergency,” as the people arriving on our American doorstep are families, children, fleeing violence and starvation and oppression. These people are not threats; they are crying for help. They are not trying to evade law enforcement at the border; they want to be detained so they may make their asylum claims.

Refugees are fleeing into the desert rather than risk being rejected at border crossings.

As we do not expect the accompanying logistical challenges of border migration to diminish anytime soon, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has directed her Cabinet to get to work in finding practical, data-driven solutions to the humanitarian crisis on the border. As a state, it is our duty not to succumb to fear-mongering rhetoric about the migrants who need our help. Instead, the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has responded in a very calculated way to assist migrants seeking refuge while addressing the concerns of border communities.

Starting in January of this year, Gov. Lujan Grisham and her staff visited different areas of the New Mexico border and spent hours meeting with our federal partners, local ranchers, county commissioners, county managers and emergency managers. Together, we created a multiagency, coordinated effort to identify the challenges on the borders. We meet weekly to discuss our progress and new challenges as they arise.

Large areas of the Bootheel area of our southern border, for instance, have zero communication capability, including cellular connectivity. Our teams are working to improve infrastructure to ensure residents have access to law enforcement entities when need be. Among other multiagency efforts, migration information was shared across groups to better anticipate where migrants would cross and where health and other resources need to be. State Department of Health staff have situated along the border to help alleviate the workload local clinics are faced with and educate residents regarding the very low risk of the disease transmission from migrants to New Mexicans.

This past legislative session, both the House and the Senate agreed there are needs on the border. To that end, more than $7.5 million was approved for the various ongoing projects, with the largest amount dedicated to radio communication towers in Hidalgo County.


The work cannot be done alone. I’m calling on our federal-level partners to help. I will continue conversations with federal Department of Homeland Security leadership about the unmet needs along the New Mexico border. I have also made a formal request for additional federal funding to supplement the millions allocated by the state Legislature.

Disagreements about certain federal immigration policy on the border are likely to continue, but the humanitarian needs should not be swept aside in harmful political rhetoric. Working collaboratively to solve the border challenge is the only way to ensure the safety and security of New Mexicans and to respond to the needs of the vulnerable people who continue to arrive on our doorstep.

*Jackie White is secretary of the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.