AN APOLOGY TO LAUREN BOEBERT I was critical of her and her gang of holdouts last week but I have to say, they did a REALLY good job getting some serious concessions that should have not been needed from any Republican but they pulled it off. Late Friday night Kevin McCarthy was finally voted Speaker of the House, but as he holds the gavel it will be a much different kind of speakership that the dictatorial one Nancy Pelosi held. Mother Jones has a list of the concessions here, and I don't disagree with a single one of them. I am confused as to why Boebert voted Present instead of Yes, unless her personal animosity is just so strong she couldn't bring herself to do it. Here are the concessions in a nutshell:
Any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair
A McCarthy-aligned super-PAC (the Congressional Leadership Fund) agreed to not spend in open Republican primaries in safe seats
The House will hold votes on key conservative bills, including a balanced budget amendment, congressional term limits, and border security
Efforts to raise the nation’s debt ceiling must be paired with spending cuts
Move 12 appropriations bills individually, instead of passing separate bills to fund government operations
More Freedom Caucus representation on committees, including the influential House Rules Committee
Cap discretionary spending at fiscal year 2022 levels, which would amount to lower levels for defense and domestic programs
72 hours to review bills before they come to floor
Give members the ability to offer more amendments on the House floor
Create an investigative committee to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government
Restore the Holman rule, which can be used to reduce the salary of government officials
As I said, I owe her and the other holdouts a big mea culpa and here it is. All this being said, this story should garner her attention, as it says even her supporters want her to tone down the "nasty rhetoric". I hope she listens.
THE DEMS ARE COMING FOR ASSAULT WEAPONS And I've got Taylor Rhodes of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners today at 2 to discuss the assault weapons ban that I'm sure will sail through the Colorado Legislature no matter how onerous. We will get into the details of the proposed legislation on the show but Independence Institute's Dave Kopel did a great column about why "assault weapons" are just a bogey man that gets media attention. Sign the petition here!
ABOUT THOSE HELPFUL MIGRANT RELOCATIONS GOVERNOR POLIS ARRANGED It seems that the migrants who the Governor says didn't want to stay in Denver don't necessarily have any ties to the cities he's been shipping them off to. This past weekend the mayors of New York and Chicago sent a letter to our travel agent Governor with the following paragraph:
"You are sending migrants and families to New York City and Chicago that do not have any ties, family members or community networks to welcome them, and at a time where both cities are at maximum capacity in shelter space and available services,"
Seems a little less helpful now, doesn't it? As of Sunday, the Governor's office says they will not ship illegal immigrants to those cities anymore, which means we are about to be overrun here in Denver, while none of these people are doing what needs to be done, which is getting the leadership of their party to truly shut the southern border. Check out what Biden announced this weekend to that end below.
THE PRESIDENT FINALLY FOUND THE BORDER Although when he made his trip to El Paso, the city had been swept and cleared of the many, many makeshift communities that had been built by migrants living on the streets. I don't understand why in the world they would do this. Truly, I don't. He also announced a border policy that is designed to let illegal immigrants know the border is closed, though no additional border security measures were announced. Does anyone think that any of this is going to change anything? I don't until I see that it does.
A COLORADO BUCKET LIST OF STUFF TO DO IN 2023 And aside from rock climbing, which I have no interest or the grip strength for, I'd love to do ALL of the things on this list.
IS THE COLORADO LEGISLATURE FOCUSED ON YOUR PRIORITIES? This is paywalled but you should already be subscribing to the Denver Gazette so I'm including it. It's an overview of the priorities of our Democratic overlords for this legislative session. The Democrats are focused like a laser on making things better for criminals, taking away guns, urging more doctors to support and execute abortions around the state, and usurping local control when it comes to housing. Read more here.
THE FAILURE OF THE HOUSING FIRST MODEL This is a FANTASTIC column by Aurora City Councilor Dustin Zvonek about why he doesn't support the Housing First model to attack homelessness. It's going to be hard to argue that Zvonek is a heartless conservative after you read his own story here. His mother was a mentally ill addict who eventually took her own life. He puts that forth I believe to clarify the intentions of the new bold ideas being pursued by Aurora that I fully support. Read the column here.
HAPPINESS IS ATTAINABLE, YOU JUST HAVE TO TRY This is a great story from yesterday's CBS Sunday Morning about how to be happy in your life. It's not that hard, but you have to put in the effort.
WHY ARE PEOPLE LEAVING COLORADO? Watch this from CBS 4 to find out more.
YOU'RE MORE LIKELY TO HIT WITH A FULL AUDIT IF YOU ARE A LOW INCOME TAXPAYER And a full audit means you've got to sit down with an IRS agent and provide all the documents they demand in person. You'd think those would be relegated to the super rich, but a new study shows that lower income people are more likely to be hit with this kind of audit. Read more here.
MASS TRANSIT IS DYING NATIONWIDE And no matter how many times our Mayor and Governor tell us that they will build it and riders will come, it's a fantasy. Even the cities with the most robust mass transit systems like New York and Boston are finding that workers are simply not coming back to the trains and buses and are now looking for funding sources "elsewhere" which means we get to pay for it even though a vast majority of us will never use it. Read more here.
SO WHAT WILL THE GOP HOUSE IN CONGRESS BE UP TO? Kentucky Congressman James Comer (who I'm a big fan of, he's a really good man) was on with Chuck Todd yesterday and you need to watch the whole thing.
HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED IN COLORADO TO BE MIDDLE CLASS? And of course this is only about the urban areas but it seems that a family of three in Denver, Aurora and Lakewood needs $60,000 per year to be considered middle class. That category is very broad here, with the upper income limit sitting at $181,000 to remain in the upper middle class! Not sure where you are but I love number stuff like this. Gotta have goals.
THIS STORY ABOUT AN AURORA BOY AND HIS BENEFACTOR MADE ME CRY I saw it yesterday on CBS Sunday Morning and you have to see it.
Here is little Jude on the Kelly Clarkson Show. What a cutie!
THE MYTH OF INCOME INEQUALITY IN THE US This is a column about a new book by a former Senator and two economists that turns the argument that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer on its head. In it, they take the numbers provided by the government and give them a FAIR accounting where they include ALL government income transfers into the equation. Things look much different when you add things like Medicaid and Section 8 housing supports into the entire picture. The good news is we have all but eliminated poverty for senior citizens and our actual poverty rate for children is about 3.1%. Read more here.
IS LIZZO DONE WITH CANCEL CULTURE? The plus size pop superstar has been a leader in the obesity acceptance movement, but is she tired of battling the wokesters who are around every corner waiting to pounce? Christian Toto writes about it here.
THE CREATION OF CHARACTER OVER IDENTITY This is a GREAT column on the damage we are doing to children by telling them that they are whole, complete individuals capable of making lifelong decisions at the age of three or four. From the column:
The self is not found but made, because meaning is made. Rather than be unearthed like buried treasure, meaning is laboriously created, often by doing hard things. I cringe a bit recalling the person I was in my twenties, because she represented an early stage of an ongoing project that I have modified much in the years since. My twenties were an early draft of a manuscript whose sentences I have revised, pruned, and qualified. Ideally, if I keep forcing myself to do hard things — take on the premise of a novel that at first I have no idea how to execute, move to still another country, cultivate new friendships — the later drafts of my eternally incomplete manuscript will be more captivating. I would arguably be a fuller person had I done the very hardest thing — having children — but as a not-half-bad second best, I have committed to a marriage of 20 years and counting and thus to a man who moors me. Only death will part us.
Read the whole thing to gird your loins against the onslaught of identity politics.
AROD'S DOG POPPY HAS HER OWN INSTAGRAM PAGE and you can follow the adorable Poppy by clicking here.
I'M NOT SURE HOW THIS KITTY FEELS ABOUT THIS But you can watch her here if it doesn't load.
THIS ISN'T RIGHT UNLESS THEY GO TO PARK WITH RIGGINS AND TREATS IN THE CAR If these two don't pay off to their pup I'm mad. Click here if it doesn't load.
AROD CRACKED HIMSELF UP ON TWITTER
OWLS ARE THE SILENT KILLERS This is really cool. Click here if it doesn't load.
SKYNET HAS ENTERED THE CHAT This is creepy as hell unless you're not home in which it's really cool. Click here if it doesn't load.