The quote above, often attributed to Mark Twain may now be applied to coal. Reports of its demise are vastly overstated.

See the chart below which is provided by the website Trading Economics. Over the past YEAR alone, the price of coal has risen an astonishing 318.85%.

This is due to the widespread energy crunch happening mostly in Europe but also in Asia. It means that when push comes to shove people all over the globe would rather embrace an “outmoded,” “dirty,” fuel than go without power thanks to unreliable and inadequate “renewables.” It also means that CO2 emissions will rise and purported agreements to reduce them aren’t worth the paper they are printed on.

Shockingly, at least some in Europe, believe that the way out of this crisis is to go further down the “renewable” path. The UK has just confirmed a contract for 16 modular nuclear reactors nationwide so at least SOMEONE in Europe is thinking clearly.

Unless you travel around the nation on a regular basis it may be hard to understand just how restrictive New Mexico is relative to other states on the COVID 19 issue. The following map from MultiState illustrates the situation quite clearly. Only six states in the entire country (not including “bluest of the blue California and New York) have true statewide mask mandates indoors that include vaccinated individuals.

Amazingly Michelle Lujan Grisham’s top health advisor has said that masks may be mandated for years to come in New Mexico. 

The following was written by OAK NM’s Edwin Aybar Lopez. It appeared in the Albuquerque Journal on October 10, 2021.

This fall, voters in the Albuquerque Public Schools service area have some important issues to consider when they vote. For starters, it has been well-documented that in each of the four seats up for election this fall, none of the incumbents will appear on the ballot. In other words, the APS school board is in for some significant changes, no matter what the results are.

What that change looks like will be up to the voters.

My organization, OAKNM, sent surveys to all candidates for school board in APS and numerous other larger school districts across the state to ask for candidates’ views on big issues facing school boards. In Albuquerque, these included everything from splitting APS into multiple districts to masking kids and the role of charter schools.

Whether candidates completed these and other surveys or not, there are two clear sets of candidates: those who support and receive support from the unions and those who don’t. Typically, union support has been the deciding factor in local school board races, but, with this election occurring at the same time as the Albuquerque mayoral and City Council elections – not to mention the United soccer stadium vote – everyone expects higher turnout than seen in the past.

As an education reformer, this makes me happy. Given everything our kids have gone through over the past 18 months, our education system, already ranked at the bottom, failed our children completely. Of course, we don’t know just how badly because the state’s standardized test for 2020 and 2021 was administered to only a fraction of the student population, or not at all. Estimates vary, but we’ve seen figures for lost time ranging from a few weeks to more than a year.

Do you believe the situation was handled well? Do you think it was appropriate for unions to play an outsized role in reopening, masking and even vaccination policies during the pandemic? Are you concerned that the Sheryl Williams Stapleton scandal is only the tip of the iceberg? If so, you need to vote in this election and get yourself educated on the issues facing the district.

In addition to the school board races, APS has quietly placed (a $200 million general obligation bond and) a property tax question on ballots. The question on the ballot asks for a tax levy of $3.838 per $1,000 of net taxable value on residential property and $4.344 on non-residential. The question(s are) with billions of stimulus money flowing into New Mexico schools, students fleeing APS in droves and the Legislature sitting on “more money than they know what to do with,” per the Senate Finance Committee chairman, why is APS asking for (more)?

Here in Albuquerque and across New Mexico, education reform is on the ballot. Voters need to get educated about the candidates and issues that will, at long last, pull our state out of last place. Get out to vote and take a friend or relative with you.

Opportunity for All Kids New Mexico, www.oaknm.org, is an organization dedicated to reforming New Mexico’s education system.

On this week’s podcast conversation, Paul sits down with Louie Sanchez a Republican running to be Gov. of New Mexico. The conversation covers Louie’s background growing up in Albuquerque, his business efforts, and ultimately focus on the challenges facing New Mexico’s current leadership and what he’d do to turn the State around.

Tune in to this informative podcast!  Louie’s campaign website can be found here. 

Southwest cancels thousands of flights over the weekend as vaccine mandate kicks in; The 100+ person mandate has not been formally implemented yet, but businesses including Southwest Airlines are using it as cover to impose the vaccine mandate on their workers.

Energy crisis Analysts at Deutsche Bank noted that in Europe prices are up fivefold, while in the U.S. and Asia prices are about 1.5 times higher. In Europe, the price spike in natural gas is equivalent to if oil were trading around $200 per barrel. “The importance of these moves on inflation, growth and external accounts are not to be underestimated,” the firm wrote in a note to clients. “These price moves are a big deal.”

Coal and oil prices are also jumping. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, topped $80 per barrel on Friday for the first time since November 2014. International benchmark Brent crude, meanwhile, traded at its highest level since 2018. Analysts say that elevated natural gas prices could even prompt utilities to swap the fuel for oil. In New Mexico this means even more money flowing into the state.

California took another step toward its goal of ridding the state of all gas-powered engines thanks to a new bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday. The new law will ban the sale of all off-road, gas-powered engines, including generators, lawn equipment, pressure washers, chainsaws, weed trimmers, and even golf carts. Under the new law, these machines must be zero-emissions, meaning they will have to be either battery-powered or plug-in.

Trever cartoon electric hot air balloons

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s campaign paid an additional $87,500 as part of a settlement with an ex-staffer who accused her of sexual mistreatment, bringing the total dollar amount to $150,000.

This week RGF President Paul Gessing had an opportunity to provide (School) Choice Media’s Story of the Day. The story was regarding a student in a liberal part of Wyoming (Laramie) that was arrested and pulled out of the school in handcuffs for refusing to wear a mask.

You can watch the short story below.

“Student Arrested After Standoff Over Laramie High School Mask Requirement” – @PGessing of @RioGrandeFndn has the #StoryOfTheDay.#SchoolMaskMandates pic.twitter.com/EsMq3sOezb

— Choice Media (@ChoiceMediatv) October 12, 2021

After being canceled completely in 2020 the New Mexico State Fair returned in 2021. Unfortunately thanks to the last minute imposition of a vaccine mandate by Gov. Lujan Grisham, attendance at the Fair plummeted as you can see below. The following data were provided as part of a Rio Grande Foundation request for public records.

New Mexico State Fair attendance for 2018-2021.

2018: 504,445

2019: 472,415

2020: 0

2021: 275,467

A few months back Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing noted that Sen. Martin Heinrich “is coming for” your gas appliances. If you follow Heinrich on Twitter you can see that Heinrich continues to push for the elimination of gas from homes.

Very recently, California took up Heinrich’s mantle by banning gas-powered equipment using small off-road engines, a broad category that includes generators, lawn equipment and pressure washers (see bill here). California is a state often emulated by Gov.. MLG which has also struggled frequently to keep electricity flowing.

The following cartoon from John Trever of the Albuquerque Journal over the weekend highlights how ONE New Mexico tradition might not work so well if the Heinrich vision is implemented. Unfortunately, 2050 is likely too optimistic in terms of the time line given the rapid advance of such radical policies.

Marc and Paul discuss the ongoing debate in Washington over various “infrastructure” bills. They discuss infrastructure and transportation more broadly and how it is funded. Finally, they discuss a new policy brief Marc wrote about America’s freight railroads in which he discusses their tremendous economic impact (including in New Mexico), the fact that these railroads build and maintain their own infrastructure, the Staggers Act which deregulated freight rail 40 years ago, and the Biden Administration’s efforts to reimpose regulation on America’s freight rail network.

I’m old enough to remember when candidate Joe Biden blamed President Trump for each of 200,000 COVID deaths in the United States. See clip below.

This was a bogus statement at the time. While the Trump Administration’s approach to COVID certainly can be questioned, the fact is that no one in the world has had an adequate plan to deal with COVID. To his credit the Trump Administration eliminated regulatory barriers to help drug companies create new vaccines in record time, but despite widespread acceptance Americans have continued dying from COVID.

According to the following from the  Washington Times a new Johns Hopkins report says that more Americans have died of COVID under Biden than under Trump. Will that be discussed in the media? Are THOSE deaths Biden’s fault?

According to Michael Osterholm, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Minnesota quoted in the New York Times “We’ve ascribed far too much human authority over the virus.” We couldn’t agree more. Lockdowns didn’t work. Masks haven’t proven themselves very effective in the real world. Even vaccines which are pretty effective have their flaws.

In his latest update on the (now 19 months old) COVID 19 pandemic, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s top medical advisor Dr. David Scrase laid the groundwork for indoor masking for another 2-3 years.

As reported in the Santa Fe New Mexican, Scrase said “We need to think of longer-term solutions to manage this pandemic — things we can live with for one or two or three years rather than clicking on and off mandates.”

“Wearing masks indoors for another year or two could be one of those preventive measures we must tolerate.”

According to the AARP New Mexico is now one of just 7 states that have indoor mask mandates in place regardless of vaccine status. Those states include: Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington (all “blue” states when it comes to their governors.

For some adults wearing a mask indoors in public spaces is “no big deal.” That certainly can’t be said for all, especially those who thought being vaccinated would eliminate mask requirements. But for New Mexico schoolchildren, the idea of wearing masks for 7 or more hours a day in school is simply unacceptable.

New Mexico was already suffering from a dramatically-aging population. How many families with young children will “vote with their feet” and get out?

Please see the following comments regarding the Public Education Department’s proposed social studies curriculum. (Here is a PDF of our comments). See the actual comments below the discussion of HOW to submit your own!

PED is NOW accepting public comments and will do so until November 12, 2021 at 5 p.m. (MDT). There will be a public hearing  Friday, November 12 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (MDT) at Mabry Hall in Santa Fe.

All written rule feedback should be submitted to:

• Email: rule.feedback@state.nm.us
• Fax: 505-827-6520
• Mail: Policy Division, Public Education Department, 300 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501

After a careful examination of New Mexico’s proposed social studies curriculum there are numerous components of that curriculum which disturbingly reflect Critical Race Theory (CRT). Large numbers of Americans of all political leanings oppose CRT and its divisive approach to history. Therefore this proposed curriculum needs to be significantly revised or completely abandoned.

CRT is not America’s actual history. Rather, it is a worldview, unsupportable by the evidence, in which all of America’s key institutions are inextricably rooted in white supremacy. It is an activist agenda demanding the destruction of those institutions.

CRT holds that racism is embedded deeply in American life, unconsciously into white American psyches, and that it is impossible for white Americans to understand their own racism or that of the system, let alone to remove it. The only solution: tearing away the only systems that have ever provided widespread liberty and prosperity. As CRT founder Derrick Bell wrote, “The whole liberal worldview of private rights and public sovereignty mediated by the rule of law needed to be exploded.”

1. In Ethics, Cultural and Identity Studies there is a requirement that students assess how social policies and economic forces “offer privilege or systemic inequity in accessing social, political, and economic opportunity.” This is classic CRT theology. 6.29.11.23(A)(1)(d)
2. Throughout the entire social studies curriculum for K-8 grades, there is a continue focus on the differences, rather than the similarities, among various groups of people.  This, too, is classic CRT as the purpose is to divide people among various minority groups, which can quickly lead to victimhood.
3. There are also numerous examples where a teacher can impose the notion of “justice and fairness,” unequal power relations, “past and current injustices”, although those terms are open to many interpretations. These phrases are also classic CRT as it perpetrates the sense of inequity in our society along racial lines. 6.29.11.11(E)(2) and 6.29.11.15(E)(7) and 6.29.11.15(E)(12)
4. Within High School U.S. History, a requirement that students “evaluate what an efficient, equitable, and just economic system would look like in the U.S.”  This is again classic CRT as it imposes the belief on students that our current capitalistic system must be eliminated to eliminate racism. 6.29.11.21(A)(1)(i)
5. Within High School U.S. History, students are required to create an action plan for a more just and equitable America for diverse groups of people including Native Americans and African Americans.  This is another CRT theology component in that America is automatically unjust and inequitable to various minority groups.  6.29.11.21(A)(3)(kk)
6. Within High School U.S. History, students are required to examine the past, present, and future of gun violence in the U.S. Of course, there are no standards provided to discuss the constitutional rights of gun owners, or that individuals, not an inanimate object, are responsible for gun violence in America or how gangs, drug cartels, etc. have resulted in greater gun violence in our society. No positives regarding gun usage by women or minority groups are put forth. 6.29.11.21(A)(1)(gg)
7. In the 5^th Grade, students are required to describe how inequity in the U.S. laid the foundation for conflict that continues today. Another classic example of CRT as it stresses racial disparity in terms of inequality. 6.29.11.13(A)(3)(b)
8. Within High school U.S. History, students must examine the short-and long-term effects of CIA involvement in Latin America. How about pairing this with a discussion of Communism and the negative impact it has had in Cuba and other Latin American nations. 6.29.11.21(A)(1)(x)
9. In the 7thGrade, students must compare the patterns of exploration, destruction and occupation of the Americas by the Spaniards. 6.29.11.15(D)(3)(g)
10. Within High School U.S. History, students must explore the movement against police brutality.  6.29.11.21(A)(3)(mm)

The novelist William Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It is true that any social studies curriculum will have its flaws and oversights. History and social studies are inherently controversial subjects. But, selectively “studying” our collective history and requiring it to be taught in a highly politicized and divisive way is wrong and it has no place in our public schools.

All I ask is that New Mexico’s schools do their best to objectively teach America’s real history. Slavery and conquest are certainly part of that, but so is America as a beacon of freedom for people from around the world. The flaws of our Founding Fathers are worth discussing, but so are the miracles of the Constitution, Declaration, and the eventual fulfillment of the “promissory note” for ALL Americans inherent in those documents.

Millions of people around the world have and would still like to come to America because it is a unique nation founded on the idea of liberty, not slavery as the CRT theorists would insist. New Mexico’s social studies curriculum should at least allocate as much time and study to those things that make America a beacon of hope and freedom as those warts which hold us back from building a more perfect union.

On this week’s conversation, Paul and Wally discuss the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association conference that Paul attended. Gov. MLG also made headlines with her talk of hydrogen as an energy source.

After a year hiatus, Albuquerque’s International Balloon Fiesta is back. They stood up to the Gov. on vaccine mandates. Paul and his family attended the Balloon Glow Saturday and Paul shares what he saw.

Early voting kicks off statewide United Stadium appears to be unpopular despite a slick ad campaign. It’s important to understand that bonds are debt and are paid back through taxes. 

Albuquerque Public Schools is looking for a property tax on this fall’s ballot.

COVID cases have dropped 35%. The New York Times acknowledges the “Virus” operates on 2-month cycles.

New social studies requirements from the Public Education Department (PED) were released recently and they are rife with critical race theory. Additionally, PED Secretary Kurt Steinhaus claimed in testimony recently that for New Mexico teacher salaries to be competitive they’d have to DOUBLE. We question that.

RGF has sent out the following postcard to certain “swing” voters. If you are a hard-core conservative Republican who ALWAYS votes in municipal elections (in Albuquerque) you likely won’t get one. But we want to share the information with everyone right here:

Early voting at the county clerks’ offices is taking place now. A new poll says that overwhelming majorities of Albuquerque voters are against the use of taxpayer dollars to finance the stadium.

While gratified by this news, we recognize that polls are often inaccurate and that the only poll that REALLY matters is the actual election. So, with this stadium and numerous other important issues on the ballot, be sure to GO VOTE (and bring a friend or family member)!

Check out the discussion Gessing recently had with KOAT Channel 7 here and below:

Early voting at county clerk’s offices kicks off October 5. Here are the particulars in Bernalillo County and here they are for absentee ballots, same day voter registration, and a list of County Clerk’s offices for early voting throughout New Mexico.

All elections matter, but the elections taking place this fall are particularly important. This is especially true in Albuquerque where a failing Mayor AND a taxpayer-financed soccer stadium are on the ballot, but there has NEVER been a more important school board election. Government schools have failed us as never before (that’s saying a lot in 50th-New Mexico) and school board members have a real platform and a positive role in pushing back against overreach from the Gov. or Legislature on everything from COVID masking in schools to  to critical race theory.

In Albuquerque there is also a “hidden” tax hike on the ballot. RGF is working to draw attention to it in TV and radio interviews.

Also, RGF’s education project OAK NM has surveyed school board candidates across the state on CRT and other critical issues.

YOUR VOTE MATTERS! 

In a bit of GOOD news, a recent poll in Albuquerque indicates that voters are not “buying” the idea of a taxpayer-financed soccer stadium, but polls don’t win elections, voters do! So, go vote!

The following is directly cut from the New York Times’ morning email titled “COVID in retreat.” The data not only show that COVID cases are declining, but that the virus seems to operate on a two month cycle “and occurred when human behavior was not changing in obvious ways.”

The entire email is worth a read, but the following is telling, “We’ve ascribed far too much human authority over the virus,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Minnesota. In other words, it may just be (as numerous critics of lockdowns, forced masking, forced vaccinations and numerous other government policies have demanded, that the Virus is going to “do its thing” and human behavior isn’t going to have much impact one way or the other. The following is the most relevant section cut from the article:

As discussed in a recent blog post here there is an Albuquerque Public Schools property tax issue on voters’ ballots this November. As seen below the ballot language certainly seems to indicate a property tax increase, but in this story for which RGF talked to KOAT Channel 7, APS claims it is NOT a tax hike.

We looked extensively on the APS website and found nothing, nor does the full ballot text on our sample ballot (find yours here) have any clues. Click on the photo below for a link to the story:

On this week’s podcast interview Paul sits down with Vance Ginn, Chief Economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The Foundation is the RGF’s “sister” think tank in Texas.

Paul and Vance begin with a discussion of Vance’s time in Washington working with the Trump Administration. They have a candid discussion about some of the successes and failures of the previous president on important economic issues.

Vance and Paul move on to a discussion of Texas, it’s economy, and comparisons with Florida and big blue states like California and New York. They address the numerous qualities and policies that make Texas an attractive destination as well as some things that Texas still needs to improve upon. They also discuss New Mexico and its situation relative to these four major states.

Gov. Lujan Grisham’s Education Department just released its new social studies standards. You can find 122 pages outlining those standards here and a separate document with information corresponding to the relevant numbers below here.

Described below the standards are rife with Critical Race Theory (CRT) themes and other questionable material that may not fit squarely within CRT (read more on what that means here).

Before getting into some of the specific problems with the proposed standards, PED is NOW accepting public comments and will do so until November 12, 2021 at 5 p.m. (MDT). There will be a public hearing  Friday, November 12 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (MDT) at Mabry Hall in Santa Fe.

All written rule feedback should be submitted to:

• Email: rule.feedback@state.nm.us
• Fax: 505-827-6520
• Mail: Policy Division, Public Education Department, 300 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501

Here is a rundown of SOME of the problems with the proposed standards:

1. In Ethics, Cultural and Identity Studies there is a requirement that students assess how social policies and economic forces “offer privilege or systemic inequity in accessing social, political, and economic opportunity.” This is classic CRT theology.   6.29.11.23(A)(1)(d)
2. Throughout the entire social studies curriculum for K-8 grades, there is a continue focus on the differences, rather than the similarities, among various groups of people.  This, too, is classic CRT as the purpose is to divide people among various minority groups, which can quickly lead to victimhood.
3. There are also numerous example where a teacher can impose the notion of “justice and fairness,”  unequal power relations, “past and current injustices”, although those terms are open to many interpretations.  These phrases are also classic CRT as it perpetrates the sense of inequity in our society along racial lines.  6.29.11.11(E)(2) and 6.29.11.15(E)(7) and 6.29.11.15(E)(12)
4. Within High School U.S. History, a requirement that students “evaluate what an efficient, equitable, and just economic system would look like in the U.S.”  This is again classic CRT as it imposes the belief on students that our current capitalistic system must be eliminated in order to eliminate racism.   6.29.11.21(A)(1)(i)
5. Within High School U.S. History, students are required to create an action plan for a more just and equitable America for diverse groups of people including Native Americans and African Americans.  This is another CRT theology component in that America is automatically unjust and inequitable to various minority groups.  6.29.11.21(A)(3)(kk)
6. Within High School U.S. History, students are required to examine the past, present, and future of gun violence in the U.S.  Of course, there are no standards provided to discuss the constitutional rights of gun owners, or that individuals, not an inanimate object, are responsible for gun violence in America or how gangs, drug cartels, etc. have resulted in greater gun violence in our society. No positives regarding gun usage by women or minority groups are put forth.    6.29.11.21(A)(1)(gg)
7. In the 5^th Grade, students are  required to describe how inequity in the U.S. laid the foundation for conflict that continues today.  Another classic example of CRT as it stresses racial disparity in terms of inequality.  6.29.11.13(A)(3)(b)
8. Within High school U.S. History, students must examine the short-and long-term effects of CIA involvement in Latin America. How about pairing this with a discussion of Communism and the negative impact it has had in Cuba and other Latin American nations.    6.29.11.21(A)(1)(x)
9. In the 7thGrade, students must compare the patterns of exploration, destruction and occupation of the Americas by the Spaniards.   6.29.11.15(D)(3)(g)
10. Within High School U.S. History, students must explore the movement against police brutality.   6.29.11.21(A)(3)(mm)

RGF will be formulating its own comments in a subsequent post, but you are encouraged to submit your own and highlight this.

Have you heard about the property tax hike on ballots in areas served by Albuquerque Public Schools this fall? We took a pretty close look at the APS website and saw no mention of it. We haven’t seen ANY coverage in the local media either. (If you have, send it to us at: info@riograndefoundation.org).

Voters need to be armed with this information when early voting begins on October 5.

UPDATE: According to the ABQ Journal Wednesday, October 6, the proposal does not increase property tax but will continue an existing tax costing $630 million over the next six years. 

Here’s the language directly from this fall’s ballot:

In their quest for a new soccer stadium, the New Mexico United have released a new TV ad. We haven’t seen the ad on local TV yet, but you can see it for yourself in this KOAT 7 story. RGF president Paul Gessing adds a bit of balance to the story near the end.

Aside from the usual claims about “jobs” and civic pride the ad relies heavily on the idea that the ballot measure is a “bond” that doesn’t raise taxes. Of course, that is akin to saying that a family should put all of its spending on a credit card because they aren’t actually spending anything right away.

Bonds require taxes in order to be paid off. In this case it is going to require gross receipts tax revenues. And, other priorities like law enforcement and roads will receive fewer dollars than they otherwise would. Finally, of course, taxes COULD go down in the absent of the stadium.

Funny stuff from Saturday Night Live a few years back. While your basic AA battery won’t wind up in your car, the idea that battery-powered cars are somehow inherently “green” or that a massive shift of our electrical grid to “renewables” with massive battery backup makes sense or is good for the environment are myths.

Check out the following and enjoy a good laugh while realizing that the underlying issue is very serious:

The Balloon Fiesta pushed back against MLG by NOT requiring vaccines. MLG was NOT amused.

Pfizer booster shots now available to some “at-risk” groups. Biden received his already while wearing a MASK.

The FDA pushed back against “universal” booster which directly contradicted Biden Administration statements.

The political wrangling between the Biden Administration, the FDA, and the CDC has been fascinating.

Comparing Blue and Red States economically.

Europe is facing an energy crisis driven by “green” politics on energy.

Paul wrote a piece for National Review in which he discussed why Joe Biden is worse than Jimmy Carter.

Down in the polls the United Soccer team’s ownership puts up some cash for their proposed stadium. Is it enough?

40% increase in teacher retirement, but why? Paul and Wally discuss.