Let's get lunch on Wednesday at 12:31 PM (because I always set appointments at prime numbers) at Steve's Snappin' Dogs on Colfax in Denver.
If you think you can make it, please email me at ross@iheartmedia.com so Steve can make sure to have enough food on hand.
Also, when you order, just tell them you're there to meet up with me and they'll give you your drink for free...even a beer!
Steve's Snappin' Dogs - (stevessnappindogs.com)
3525 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO (that's a few blocks west of Colorado Blvd, on the north side of the street)
Map link: https://g.page/snappindogs?share
Just One Thing
I'm going to spend some time on this on Monday's show, but I have to say I'm losing some of my lifelong optimism about the resilience of the American system of government and the natural rights it was intended to protect.
A large part of the country, namely most conservatives and libertarians, CORRECTLY don't trust: the FBI, most newspapers, most TV news, Hollywood, the K-12 educational system, colleges, grad schools, woke employers, the massive push by so many toward ESG and "renewable energy"...I'm sure I could name more...and another large part of the country, namely most "progressives" and liberals, do trust the same programs and institutions.
This is the very definition, albeit short of Antietam and Chancellorsville, of a House Divided Against Itself.
Here are some of Lincoln's words (though the most famous words, just noted, originate repeatedly in the Gospels) from that very famous speech given in Illinois' capital city three years before the beginning of the Civil War:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other.
If you replace "slave" with "woke", you approach something like today's situation in the United States, or at least the situation as tens of millions of us see it.
"House Divided" Speech by Abraham Lincoln (abrahamlincolnonline.org)
So, my fellow Americans, which will our nation become, or can we persist as divided as we are?
-
Today's Guest
Dr Adam Millsap, PhD, is a Senior Fellow studying Economic Opportunity for the Stand Together Foundation
https://standtogetherfoundation.org/
https://twitter.com/AA_Millsap
We'll discuss why President Biden's "anti-growth" economic policies are so harmful. And free-market types like me and Dan Mitchell and Steve Moore and Brian Wesbury talk frequently about being "pro-growth" but maybe we should begin with a basic question: why is economic growth important?
Biden’s Economic Agenda Is The Most Anti-Growth Of The Last 40 Years (forbes.com)
Other Stuff
The stock market plunged on Friday. It was a low-volume day at the end of many big traders' summer vacations which had some folks poo-pooing it as a temporary thing. I still have tremendous concern about the market and the economy. Usually when you hook a person on heroin and then take him off, it can be OK eventually but that detox period can be brutal. I think that's just where our economy is now.
--------
On the one hand, I can imagine the FBI's intentions here are hypothetically good. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine a policy like this not becoming unbalanced and politicized, even if unintentionally. And given what I mentioned in "Just One Thing" earlier in this blog, this program was inevitably going to reach at least one very bad outcome.
--------
Similarly to the FBI story here, I understand the claimed goals of colleges. Indeed, I want far more "black and brown" people to reach economic success in this nation. It is part of our national promise and part of Dr. King's dream. But perhaps the right question is not "how do we get more black kids into colleges" but rather "how do we get more black kids to be truly qualified to be accepted on the same standards as white or Asian kids?"
Affirmative Action Was Banned at Two Top Colleges. They Say They Need It. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Remember, kids who get into college based on affirmative action tend to have a high dropout rate. By the way, at least some will end up with the worst of all worlds: debt and no degree. So how about thinking more about improving public education and, most importantly, removing those parts of the welfare state that pushed so many black women to have children without being married to the children's fathers?
This is a multivariate problem. There is no silver bullet. But one thing is certain: the solution for minority kids isn't find a way to wedge them into colleges they don't otherwise qualify for; it's to find ways earlier in their lives to put them on a path to truly qualify. And, as much as the left doesn't want to talk about it, so much of the headwind they face is cultural. And so much of what remains is due to inflexibility of our K-12 system when dominated by teachers unions who care not a whit for students, at least not if caring for them might cause a reduction in union dues.
--------
It's time to start talking about some things we'll be voting on statewide in November: Colorado 2022 ballot measures - Ballotpedia
--------
Whether you like Trump as a person or as a president, you'd have to be a complete moron to go into business with him. The man is absolutely famous for not paying contractors, attorneys, etc. Trump's Truth Social isn't paying its bills - The Washington Post
--------
The Kansas ballot measure vote (rightly) has a lot of ultra-conservative politicians scared. Frankly, I think I would not be able to vote for a Senate candidate who supports a federal "personhood" law or Constitutional amendment. This guy from AZ is trying to find a way to appeal to Phoenix and Scottsdale and Tuscon suburbanites but I suspect he won't be able to do it. Candidate quality matters and in a purple state it matters more than ever. And how about in a purple state in an election with the Senate majority so obviously at stake? Every such state where Republicans nominated a MAGA candidate deserves to lose. The problem is that the country mostly does not deserve to suffer through this Democratic madness. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to have voted for Dr. Oz just because a former president who has always loved other people who were minor TV stars decided to endorse him? Really really really stupid. Imagine a candidate so bad that he's going to lose to a Bernie Sanders acolyte with brain damage? (BTW, I say that last part with sympathy not as an insult; it is just a recognition of a reality that we all see.)
Blake Masters Website Drops Extreme Anti-Abortion Stances Post-Primary (businessinsider.com)
--------
Following up on my "Just One Thing" thoughts, this piece, especially the last several paragraphs, plays into my broader point: This Is How Government Breeds Mistrust - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
And welcome to the horrendous "mind" of a progressive: Opinion | Why such a lack of compassion on student debt? - The Washington Post The article includes these doozies: "Regret and envy are normal human emotions. And yet, good luck is always a little random." (As if government giving you stolen property is random.) And, "We should expect that our fellow citizens will make claims on us, and that we will make claims on them." It's hard to fathom just how far this is from the intentions and mindset of our Founders.
--------
New record for sports collectable: https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-8d5c5872-79f4-4816-bbe0-76dcac6fc5a7.html?chunk=7&utm_term=emshare#story7
Today's Video
VERY interesting section of Mark Zuckerberg's interview by Joe Rogan talking about how Facebook handles content moderation and tries to stop fake pages and "bad guys"...and how they balance that against the risk of taking down the pages of "good guys."
Medusa lives