WHEN TAXES GO DOWN, REVENUE GOES UP Sure it's known now as The Laffer Curve, but Art Laffer didn't think of it first. Our pal Larry Reed has written about a much earlier man who said the same thing back in the 14th century and he's written a column about it here. He's also written about the gold standard and how good it is at keeping governments in check here, and this column about how we returned the gold standard after the Civil War to curb inflation. But my favorite column is this one about how our friend Larry is getting the highest civilian honor given by the nation of Poland for his work helping Poland be more economically free. What an incredible honor!
TIM REICHERT WANTS TO REPRESENT CD-07 And he joins me at 2 today to discuss his take on the current economic situation and what he's do different in Congress. Find out more about Tim and support him if you'd like by clicking here!
WE HAVE A CHEESECAKE CHALLENGER Dave the Intrepid makes simply amazing cheesecake and one of our colleagues apparently does to so I've found a reason for a cheesecake showdown where everyone wins because we get cheesecake! Steve Cowell is going to join us at 2:35 to talk cheesecake for a bit.
WHY NOT LISTEN TO A GUY WHO KNOWS WHAT WORKS WITH HOMELESS FOLKS? Paul Scudo is the Executive Director of Step Denver and he wrote this great column about what he KNOWS works to get people off the streets. The biggest issue we have is an overabundance of "compassion" from people who don't understand the problem but want to feel like good people. From the column:
In the last op-ed I talked about the percentages of those who are homeless who suffer from the disease of addiction and are otherwise competent, capable human beings who have the ability to take care of themselves. I talked about how, in my experience, only consequences have proven to motivate the vast majority of people suffering from the disease of addiction to make real change. I was one of them. I have the evidence of working with dozens of them on a daily basis in my profession, and in my personal 12 Step recovery groups.
I am not uncompassionate, not unkind, not uncaring. Exactly the opposite. And I have seen after two years of being homeless on the street — and in over the 11 years of being in recovery and an addiction recovery and homeless provider — what actually works. And my experience, and the experience of thousands who have overcome similar struggles is that a person has to be willing, take personal responsibility for the rebuilding of their lives, and to be accountable to taking the steps necessary to do such. And, finally, they have to break the cycle of dependency on any organization, institution, or individual(s). Yes, we all need help. I needed help. There are many organizations who are trying to help with the best of intentions in the most authentic and genuine way they know how. They are doing good work.
Please consider donating to Step Denver by clicking here. We need to support this hand up approach!
A TINA PETERS NOMINATION WILL DRAG EVERY REPUBLICAN DOWN TOO And Dick Wadhams has a great column on it here. From the column:
Elections are won or lost based on the issues that dominate a campaign. How can Peters move the day-to-day campaign debate to Griswold’s mismanagement when her criminal indictments and FBI investigation will be front and center for months as her legal saga continues through the November election?
But that debate will not be confined to the secretary of state race. Every Republican candidate, in every competitive race, at every level will be forced to either defend Peters — a sure losing position — or condemn her irresponsible record. Every minute spent on discussing Peters is a minute lost to the real issues of the campaign such as inflation and crime.
Peters is not the only threat to Republicans finally winning some elections. Senate candidate Ron Hanks believes the Chinese government is hooked into Colorado’s voting process and directly influenced the 2020 results. He announced his campaign with a video of him shooting a defunct Xerox copier emblazoned with a “Dominion” sign. At least Hanks hasn’t been criminally indicted nor is he under investigation by the FBI.
Please do not be a useful idiot for the Democrats this year. Vote for the people who will only have to talk about the issues PLEASE.
ONE NEWSPAPER WENT SO FAR AS TO UNDORSE PETERS The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, which doesn't endorse in primaries, went out of its way to ask you not to vote for Peters. Read it here.
DENVER'S DECLINE IS BEING SPELLED OUT ON THE NATIONAL STAGE And the Denver Gazette has an editorial about a story done about what's happened to Denver by a Washington Post reporter. I can't find the original story, but this is not good. Remember which politicians have overseen Denver's decline when you vote. A sharp texter found the original article and it's here!
IS METABOLISM SET BEFORE WE ARE BORN? One super cool study is just starting to find out. A lab in Louisiana which is the only lab able to measure such things in newborns is testing the metabolism of newborn babies to see how it changes over time. This is super interesting but also perhaps super depressing because it would explain why some people can eat whatever they want and never gain weight and the rest of us are just screwed.
NO YOUR HANDS AREN'T GETTING BIGGER, PACKAGES ARE GETTING SMALLER Here is another story on shrinkflation, which is where the price stays the same but a manufacturer just makes a product smaller to deal with inflation. In some ways this isn't a bad thing in terms of restaurant portions, but I'd rather have the choice of paying more to get the same amount. This does wreak havoc on many southern recipes that call for "one bag of spinach" or things like that, but we must adapt.
BILL MAHER IS ON THE VERGE OF A TOTAL RED PILLING And in this exchange with Kellyanne Conway, he goes after major media for ignoring the story about someone trying to kill Brett Kavanaugh. It's worth a few minutes to watch but he does drop an F bomb at the end!
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE LATEST SCHOOL SHOOTING....THAT FAILED? This from Alabama where locked school doors and a school resource officer kept a man out of a school and the assailant was shot and killed OUTSIDE the school and no children were injured or put in harms way. Read more here.
HEADED ABROAD? USE THESE LANGUAGE TRANSLATION APPS I love this story and can't wait to try one of these. It is paywalled but here are some high points:
Ms. Lieblein, who shares travel tips on TikTok, used Google’s camera function to translate written text like signs and restaurant menus. She also appreciated that Google Translate allows for downloading languages pre-arrival. That way, the app works offline.
Like many travelers, Ms. Lieblein said that for more complicated conversations and text, she found that a rival app called DeepL, which uses artificial intelligence, sometimes produced more refined translations than Google. Based in Germany, DeepL says its service is more than three times more accurate than its closest competitors. Basic DeepL is free but requires an internet connection to function.
NO ONE WATCHED THE HOUSE COMMITTEE SHOW TRIAL A mere nineteen million tuned in to watch the House relitigate the January 6th attacks on the Capitol. This has to be very upsetting for Democrats who really want to capitalize on the 2020 election to distract voters from the miserable job they are doing running the country.
NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES,SOME INVENT CORNDOGS And here is a great piece on the guy who gave us this delicious fried delight.
NOW YOU CAN TRY ON SHOES BUT YOU STILL WON'T KNOW HOW THEY FEEL This is a young persons thing, because only a young person would ONLY want to know how a shoe LOOKED to buy it without knowing how it FEELS. I am way past the "cute shoes" phase of life and well into the "comfortable shoes" part of life so I don't need to try on shoes virtually. You can if you'd like though, find out more here.
MATTEL ROLLS OUT THE PREGNANT KEN DOLL And the Babylon Bee has it.
DO ANIMALS DREAM? We've all seen our pets twitch and bark and move their feet during sleep but are they dreaming? This author says yes.
DON'T MESS WITH THE OLD DUDE
WHITE HOUSE HAS GREAT IDEA FOR GAS PRICES And have started putting up blowup dudes in front of the sign to hide them. Read more here.