More encumbrance clarity

Any sudden decision by the Kewa Pueblo to completely block historical access routes can be legally challenged as a willful, arbitrary, and capricious action because residents' life-safety access is fundamentally altered by federal land returns and shutting down routes without adequate review or mitigation violates administrative notice standards. But since the road closure is apparently not a criminal act and not being investigated by the US Attorney for the District of New Mexico it must first be heard in tribal court at community expense. 

The $70,000 that Baja Waldo is trying raise for a new road through a pristine canyon that will wash out every year would go a long way to litigate the Pueblo's actions in federal court and unless lawyers are talking to lawyers it's just noise. But the Baja Waldo/Red Rock Community Coalition doesn't seem to realize that the Pueblo wants as much property as they can acquire so the tribe blocked the road then buy those 937 acres at a steep discount and landowners will start falling like dominoes.

Under standard Pueblo road settlements in Santa Fe County, once a right-of-way is granted by the Secretary of the Interior, a Road Maintenance Agreement (RMA) is executed. The County takes over regular maintenance of the road surface to an agreed level of service. However, the Pueblo retains sovereign authority over the surrounding land, meaning the County is not responsible for side fencing, private utilities, or ejecting trespassers from tribal land. In exchange for granting permanent easements, a Pueblo like Kewa ensures that strict boundaries are maintained to protect agricultural land and sacred sites. Non-pueblo traffic is strictly confined to the defined ribbon of the road easement and trespassing or veering off-trail onto tribal land remains strictly prohibited. 

The 2012 trust action was reviewed then the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) action published in the Federal Register and specifically states that existing rights-of-way and easements of record remain in place and the memorandum of understanding or MOU with Santa Fe County for a Rural Addressing network with the dam road as Mile Zero means a record exists.

After meeting with County Fire/EMS they're contemplating scrapping the entire rural addressing for Red Rock and Baja Waldo and saying response times are a toss-up.

The relationship between Native American Pueblos and the Department of the Interior (DOI) regarding land encumbrance is rooted in federal law, specifically the Indian Nonintercourse Act. Under federal law, Indian tribes and Pueblos cannot sell, lease, or otherwise encumber their trust or restricted lands without the explicit approval of the federal government, typically administered through the DOI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

This legal framework has historically created complex dynamics in local governance, infrastructure planning, and right-of-way negotiations, such as those experienced in Santa Fe County.

Key Legal and Historical Context

• Federal Restrictions: The restriction on encumbering land ensures that any long-term agreements—such as utility easements, road rights-of-way, or land leases—must have federal oversight. Without DOI approval, agreements regarding Pueblo land are considered legally void.
• The Santa Fe County Precedent: The reference to Santa Fe County learning this "the hard way" typically points to long-standing disputes over public roads and rights-of-way crossing Pueblo lands (such as the Pojoaque, Nambé, San Ildefonso, and Tesuque Pueblos). For decades, local governments paved and maintained roads over these lands without securing valid, DOI-approved federal easements. This eventually led to major legal challenges, trespass notifications, and complex, multi-party negotiations (such as the Aamodt Litigation Settlement and subsequent right-of-way agreements) to legally secure public access while respecting Pueblo sovereignty and federal law.
• Strategic Leverage: Because local or state governments cannot bypass the federal government to finalize land deals with Pueblos, bringing the DOI to the negotiating table is a necessary legal step. Pueblo governments often use their sovereign status and federal land protections to ensure that the DOI actively participates, protecting tribal assets and securing fair compensation or terms in regional agreements.

 

• Whiny white people and one whiny black man.

Voters pass financing for CoCo

When Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson found the money to build the Rail Runner it was intended to serve communities from El Paso to Denver but that has yet to materialize. Rail enthusiasts have been shoving the NM Legislature to equip it to operate as designed even as Colorado sorts out ways to add service between Trinidad and Denver but the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, who owns the track, has been, to put it mildly, less than helpful. At over 8000 feet Raton Pass is a major obstacle that even Amtrak struggles to overcome.

I-25, especially from Pueblo, Colorado to Fort Collins through Colorado Springs and the Denver metro, sucks at biblical proportions as does flying into Denver International Airport so growth on the Front Range is driving planners to pick up the pace on passenger rail. Littleton, Louisville and Pueblo are among several cities pushing for increased passenger rail starting with Colorado Connector commuter service or CoCo between Denver and Fort Collins starting in 2029.

Ballot Measure 7A proposed a 0.333% sales tax in 29 municipalities and Sterling Ranch metropolitan districts 1-7 to help fund multiple additions, including:

• Extending the route south to Pueblo
• Building a new Amtrak station in Trinidad
• Increasing the northern route's round trip frequency from three times daily to 10
• Running the southern route round trips eight times a day
• Providing upgrades and improvements

South Dakota on the precipice to seat an AG with built-in conflict of interest

Sharia Law? Nah. Sons of Perdition. 

Recall that in 2005 Caroline Fines, the mother of former legislator, now Republican Fall River County State's Attorney and soon to be South Dakota Attorney General Lance Russell sold property to the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) where minor girls were trafficked and raped. Yes, Fines owned property in a South Dakota named for a war criminal then sold a portion of a 140-acre plot near Pringle to the FLDS, a radical polygamous sect led by Warren Jeffs who used this property to build a highly secretive, fenced fortress known as the "R23" compound. 

At various times throughout the development and scrutiny of the compound, Russell served in prominent legal and political roles in the area including as the Custer County State's Attorney and later as a South Dakota State Senator.

For the record, Herb would call this looking up a dead horse's ass.

 

$20 says Trump will abdicate, go into exile

$20 says that after elections Tuesday the Trump era will be over, he will resign and the whole crime fam-damily will go into exile in Saudi Arabia or a Black Sea resort in Russia. 

If that ends up not happening, in January, 2027 the Democrats will elect Hakeem Jeffries Speaker of the House, impeach and remove Trump and JD Vance then Jeffries will become President of the United States and appoint a new Cabinet. After that, Democrats will impeach then remove Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas then annul the Zionist stain smeared on Turtle Island by the Trump Organization.

🚨BREAKING: Democrats are now projected to TAKE CONTROL OF THE SENATE in tomorrow’s elections. A new NYT polling aggregate — drawing from Quantas, YouGov, MSNow and others — projects a 54–46 Democratic Senate. Now finish the job. No complacency. No excuses. SHOW UP. VOTE. WIN. 🌊 #BlueWaveIn1Day

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) November 2, 2026 at 7:34 AM

If Trump rallies cease, could MAGA still exist? Hm. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

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— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter.bsky.social) November 2, 2026 at 9:19 AM

BHE intends to rape Colorado electricity subscribers

In 2018, Black Hills Energy sold some of its 700 oil and gas wells in New Mexico and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to help finance a $70 million monolith headquarters in Rapid City. It was built there on the backs of subscribers without choices because out of state Republicans who write the tax law own South Dakota and because the state ended environmental oversight. BHE raised much of its construction cash on Colorado cannabis. Also in 2018 a majority of Pueblo, Colorado residents pushed the city to end its agreement with BHE and create a municipal electric utility. 

But in 2020 despite acknowledging BHE is a predator residents voted to remain enslaved to the South Dakota-based monopoly yet Pueblo still endures crappy service. Nevertheless, the utility laid off 44 employees across their eight-state service region, 24 of those positions in Rapid City. 

On October 26, 2026, the Pueblo City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing two Black Hills Energy proposals that could increase residential electric bills by more than 22% through 2030. The city passed the resolution just one day before an October 27 deadline to submit testimonial answers to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. 

A proposed 14.7% increase raising average monthly bills from $124.18 to $142.48. A temporary two-year credit attempts to mask this as an 8.8% increase, but it relies on previously collected ratepayer funds and expires later. An additional 7.9% average monthly bill increase from 2026 to 2030, driven by resource plans and a rising Renewable Energy Standard Adjustment surcharge. Together, these proposals push total residential increases past 22% and will also raise operational costs for municipal facilities. BHE defends the increases as necessary for grid resilience and weather outage mitigation. 

BHE and NorthWestern Energy are currently in the final throes of a $15.4 billion all-stock merger to form a combined holding company called Bright Horizon Energy Corporation.

Learn more here.