BACK TO SCHOOL CAN BE NERVE WRACKING FOR SOME KIDS And I'm going to speak with Educator James Ruvalcaba, author of the new book, Unseen Johnny, who has worked in special education for more than a decade and is an advocate for children who feel like they are invisible and don't matter. With recent research finding 86 percent of school-aged kids live with worry, it's only natural they will be anxious as the school year inches closer. James says NOW is the time to set the stage for your kids, so they feel confident heading back into the classroom. Find his book by clicking here. He's on at 1.
WANT TO ENGAGE EFFECTIVELY WITH GOVERNMENT? My friend Kathleen Chandler from the Independence Institute can help! She's doing a Zoom class as part of the their Local Government Project and in it they will help you see where and how you can make a difference in your community. This practical class will give you ideas and point you in a productive direction. Stop complaining and take back your country by taking back your community. Sign up, it's only 10 bucks, by clicking here. Kathleen is on at 2:15 to discuss it.
EVEN THE NEW YORK TIMES IS REALIZING DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION IS A DISASTER The New York Times sent reporters to Portland, Oregon to see how well decriminalization of drugs has turned out. They have done two strong articles on the drug hellhole that Portland has become. This photo essay is especially compelling because the photos are undeniably bad. Read this snippet:
“Portland is a homeless drug addict’s slice of paradise,” said Noah Nethers, who was living with his girlfriend in a bright orange tent on the sidewalk against a fence of a church, where they shoot and smoke both fentanyl and meth.
He ticked off the advantages: He can do drugs wherever he wants and the cops no longer harass him. There are more dealers, scouting for fresh customers moving to paradise. That means drugs are plentiful and cheap.
Downsides: Tent living is no paradise, he said, especially when folks in nearby tents, high on meth, hit him with baseball bats.
Now NYTimes columnist Bret Stephens is weighing in with this very good column on the failure of decriminalization and he even begins by urging a reconsideration of this "progressive and libertarian policy obsession a public policy fiasco" and I have to say I think he's right. As a libertarian leaning person I've always thought this was a good idea, reasoning that if people want to do drugs, they should be able to, but I failed to reason that drugs make people utterly irrational and unable to live up to THEIR end of the libertarian deal, which is do no harm to someone else. Until we fix that we need to rein in this mess before more people die and more cities are destroyed. Oh, and by the way, Portland lost a BILLION dollars of income in the last two years. High earners, who probably voted for this, have been leaving in droves, meaning there is even less money to clean up the mess their votes created.
HOW IS LA'S HOUSING FIRST PUSH GOING? Los Angeles began a push to move people off the streets just like Denver is doing six months ago. How's is going? Not so good. Read it here.
COLORADO REPUBLICANS CAN VOTE THEMSELVES COMPLETELY INTO OBLIVION TOMORROW As the Republican Central Committee will meet to decide whether or not to close primaries in the state. I've talked already about what a disaster this would be and why, but Jon Caldara writes about it one more time here. If you are a part of the Central Committee I urge you to NOT vote for this idiotic proposal, and if you do, my friend Kelly Maher has come up with your new slogan:
PROPOSITION HH IS A BIG FAT LOSER FOR SMALL BUSINESS And it's not even close. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) did a survey of its members and they rejected the TABOR stealing ballot measure thrown together by the Governor at the last minute by 90%. That's a shellacking, as it should be. I want HH to lose by at least 50 points.
DPS WON'T ADMIT THEY FIRED A PRINCIPAL IN RETALIATION Which is CLEARLY what happened. At a school board meeting this week, anonymous photos were conveniently sent to Tay Tay after Tuesday's meeting where they were discussing whether or not to uphold the firing of McAuliffe Middle School Principal Kurt Dennis. Dennis was fired after an on camera interview with local news in which he exposed the dangerous situations at his middle school and told of his frustration in trying to get violent students who had been accused of serious crimes out of his school. Now photos of what is called a "de-escalation room" where violent students are allegedly put for fifteen minutes until they calm down were sent to Tay Tay, and THAT is now the excuse. It used to be that they say he violated student privacy with that interview, even though he named no students. He's going to sue and he's going to win. And by the way, if there were proper safety protocols in place, maybe this room wouldn't be necessary? I can't wait to hear testimony on exactly how that room was used and why. I think that will be especially illuminating for parents worried about safety.
WHEN THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION GOES FULL PARTISAN Just like the Southern Poverty Law Center, which started with an important mission only to be so wholly corrupted by politics as to render itself useless, the American Historical Association has followed the same path. After being widely quoted dissing the history curriculum put forth by Hillsdale College called the "1776 Curriculum" which teaches the good and the bad of American history but refused to believe America is evil, The Federalist's Joy Overbeck decided to follow up and found out they haven't read the curriculum at all. As a matter of fact, they were referring to Trump's 1776 Project, and they lied about that too. Read the story here and realize you truly can't trust the word of so many formerly esteemed organizations that are now run by naked partisans.
SWIFTIES REJOICE, THERE ARE MORE CHANCES TO SEE THE TOUR As Taylor Swift has announced fifteen more shows next year in North America, though they are all east of the Mississippi. Read more here, and just an fyi, the Indy airport is a delight.
DON'T FORGET YOUR ELECTROLYTES WHEN HIKING! Water is good but it's not the only thing you need when hiking and this article does a good job explaining the difference.
EXPENSIVE NEW GOVERNMENT RULES TO SAVE...NINE CENTS A MONTH The government can't leave anything alone and they are working on new rules for gas stoves that they SAID would save consumers a crap ton of money after they paid much higher prices on the front end. Now their studies have shown these to savings to be quite a bit less and they come in at just nine cents a month. Great job, government!
OVERSTOCK.COM IS NOW BED BATH AND BEYOND? According to this video by the Washington Post it is and I just checked it and it's true!
A GIANT INFLATABLES PARK IS IN LAFAYETTE Watch below or click here.
AND NOW A HAMSTER EATING SPAGHETTI Because this is how we all want to eat spaghetti.
A BIG OL GLASS OF GLACIER WATER This water is just beautiful. Watch below or click here.
HATE DUSTING? TRY THIS I hate dusting so I'm gonna give this a try. Full report in a few weeks.
JOE ROGAN CALLS THE US A BANANA REPUBLIC UNDER BIDEN And file this under I didn't see this coming. Joe Rogan called out the Biden Admin for charging Trump in the documents case when Biden did the same according to Rogan. Read it here on HollwoodinToto.com
I'M CONFLICTED BUT ALSO INTRIGUED I hate Monopoly but I love Scrabble so I'm not sure how to feel about this mashup game that combines the two.
WHAT MEN REALLY THINK WHEN THEY LOOK AT WOMEN This is interesting because a man tries to tell us what goes through his mind and then a woman rushes in to say it's all rubbish. I'm curious about this question though so I'm gonna ask you men.
AN ICU NURSE SAYS JUST SAY NOT TO MOTORIZED SCOOTERS Watch below or click here but never get on those motorized scooters again.