COLORADO HAS VOTED! And obviously things did not go the way I wanted them to. I was at Heidi's Not Victory party last night as she took to the stage and conceded this election, but not the state, to Jared Polis. It was sad, but I weirdly felt sense of relief knowing that I don't have to worry about trying to save Colorado, now I can just sit back and comment on its demise. It's so much easier to be in the permanent minority party than it is to solve problems. It also answered the question of whether or not I will retire here so that's good. Lots of positives for me from last night. For our state? Not so much.
COLORADANS VOTED TO CUT THEIR OWN TAXES BUT RAISE TAXES ON "THE RICH" The ballot initiatives once again make no consistent sense in terms of values. You can see the results for everything here. The "free lunch" ballot initiative passed which raises taxes on anyone making over $300,000 a year, while everyone voted to cut their own income taxes. The ballot initiative designed to further increase class envy voting by requiring a chart on tax cuts passed, so I wouldn't expect any tax cuts to ever pass again because those charts will show "the rich", who pay far more taxes than those who aren't rich, are going to appear to be a larger beneficiary of such cuts. The affordable housing slush fund got the go ahead, the booze propositions all failed, and oddly so did the bit about charitable gaming, which confuses the crap out of me. Things are about to get a whole lot more expensive in Colorado. But hey, we voted for it, amiright? Little do the Coloradans who voted themselves a tax cut know that someone is going to have to pay for all the expensive stuff they also voted on, plus the stuff the Dems will pass this session with their new mandate. Enjoy that tax cut while you can. It won't last.
THE VOTE THAT WILL HAVE THE WORST IMPACT IS THE MAGIC MUSHROOMS VOTE I need to be clear, I am not personally against the use of psychedelics in a therapeutic fashion. What I am against is the perception nationally that Denver is now the Amsterdam of the United States because we passed this. And if you read this story from Axios you can see how this will be reported nationwide. From the article:
Driving the news: In the most-watched measure, Colorado voters appeared divided on Proposition 122 — 51% to 49% — to legalize the use, possession and growth of psilocybin mushrooms and psychedelic substances, and allow licensed "healing centers" to administer the plants in supervised settings for people ages 21 and up.
Do you see the part where they talk about it being highly regulated and only used for therapy? No? That's because it's not there. This is going to bring a whole new wave of druggies with no marketable skills to our very expensive (about to get more expensive) state, where many of them will end up adding to our drugged out homeless population. I think in four years this will be an unmitigated disaster and another rich Democrat will get elected promising to fix the problems other Democrats created. But such is life.
IF YOU THOUGHT THE LAST LEGISLATIVE SESSION WAS BAD, YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET I'm going to be honest here, if I'm a Colorado Democrat I would believe that I have been handed a mandate to pass every progressive bill possible based on last night's election results. I would know now that I don't even have to give lip service to right leaning or rural counties, because there aren't enough people there to stop any sort of Democrat who wants to get elected. I fully expect this upcoming legislative session to be full of New Green Deal restrictions on building, I fully expect us to ban the sale of gas powered cars, I fully expect more talk about expanding welfare programs to help poor people be able to afford to stay here, and I fully expect the middle class to feel the squeeze the most in about three years. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm likely not. Why wouldn't they? I would if I were them.
CAN WE BE DONE WITH TRUMP NOW? Trump endorsed candidates did not do well last night. But he doesn't care, he had this to say.
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This handy list of losing candidates that Trump endorsed is hopefully enough to make Republicans who have been in his cult of personality a wake up call. Trump backed candidates are why the GOP did not win big. That is the sole reason. Trump and his touch are losers and its time to scrape him off the Republican party once and for all. I eagerly await apologies from you Trumpets who told me that Trump backed candidates were a shoe in in the general when I clearly told you they were not. This is a more charitable column about Trump backed candidates, but let's be real, his Senate candidate in Pennsylvania lost to a guy with a significant cognitive issue. This was a disastrous election for Trump, especially because Ron DeSantis kicked so much ass. From this last article:
“Trump candidates were a drag on the party and the messaging of all our candidates,” said Bill Palatucci, a member of the Republican National Committee from New Jersey and Trump critic who said Democrats wanted to send a message against Trump and his supporters even though he wasn’t on the ballot. “We were constantly having to distance ourselves from their support of the former president.”
It's time to move on from Trump. He is so toxic that Republicans can't afford not to. Trumpets need to find another candidate to support if they ever want to win another election again.
US TREASURY BONDS ARE NOT SELLING AT least not like they were when the Federal Reserve was buying them up to support the out of control spending habits of DC. What does this mean? It means that currently Treasure bonds are about 4% when inflation is 8% so they are a losing proposition. Other nations are actually selling US Treasury bonds right now, as they see our inflation and debt and are beginning to realize we are headed for disaster. What does that mean? Either we dramatically raise rates on bonds to make them more appealing, the Treasury buys back bonds with money we don't currently have, or we recognize that our time in the sun as the World Power is over and we have no one to blame but ourselves. Read more here.
ONE MORE TIME ON WHY WE HAVE SUCH HIGH INFLATION It's because we printed a ton of money. I'll let Kevin O'Leary explain it to those in the back:
“For all the talk of inflation, you print $6.72 trillion in thirty months, what the hell did you think was going to happen?” O’Leary says. “Of course there’s going to be inflation.”
He's not wrong, and you can read about it here, including how the incompetent chair of the Fed admitted as much to a CBS interviewer. This is not a mystery, it's not Putin, it's not corporate greed, it's out of control government spending. But I'm sure it will be fine.
REPUBLICANS COULDN'T EVEN BEAT A DEAD GUY And I'm not even kidding. A candidate who DIED recently beat a Republican to keep his state House seat in Pennsylvania.
HEY ELK HUNTERS, THE STATE OF COLORADO NEEDS YOU Because they need to cull the herd in several state parks and they are looking for good shots to help do that. And when I say they are looking for good shots, I am not kidding. You have to pass a shooting test that is borderline ridiculously hard before they will let you hunt for this cull. Find out how you can sign up here.
A FOUR DAY WORKWEEK? HOW ABOUT A THREE DAY WORKWEEK? A Chick-Fil-A franchisee has done just that by creating three day work weeks with three 14 hour days for his team. It sounds crazy but I'd do it, wouldn't you? Read about how well it's working with employee retention and helping workers avoid burnout here.
WILL THERE BE A RECKONING OVER TRANS KIDS? This column is pretty harsh when it comes to describing what should happen to health care providers and others who support children trying to change their gender. As guardrails are dropped and a rush to medically affirm takes hold, we are going to see more and more cases of trans regret like the ones in this story. I watched the whole video thread of a woman who goes by Bunny now after she detransitioned from her male counterpart with permanent physical harms she can't undo. We should be supporting kids with gender dysphoria with therapy and love and nothing more until they are old enough to fully understand the permanent repercussions of medical affirmations.
HOW CHINA STOLE LATIN AMERICA I have been telling you guys about this since I saw the soccer stadium in San Jose given as a "gift" to Costa Ricans. As we have more than ignored our neighbors to the South because they ban abortion, China has moved in and taken over. Read this for more.
WANT OPRAH'S GIFT IDEAS? The annual Oprah's Favorite Things list is out and though I find Oprah's politics annoying she is a kingmaker for many a smaller business who makes this list so I'm here for it. Find the list here if you're so inclined, and I recommend a quick peak at least, as I've found some incredible products because of this list.
THINGS MEN DIDN'T KNOW UNTIL THEY LIVED WITH WOMEN These made me laugh today, because seriously? I guess if you never had sisters, but...
AND NOW, A SECRET TUNNEL BEHIND MOUNT RUSHMORE If you've not seen Mount Rushmore you should go, it's majestic and not that far from here. But you won't get to see this hidden room.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU THROW A CAMERA OFF A CLIFF WITH SOME DIVERS? This.
THIS IS A HUMILIATING WAY TO CUT A CAT'S CLAWS I had no clue they made little space helmets for cats.
THIS IS A WINDOW INTO MY TEEN YEARS Where challenges like this were an everyday occurrence during the summer.