JENNA ELLIS SAYS SHE WAS WRONG ABOUT THE STOLEN ELECTION Jenna Ellis was part of the Trump "Dream Team" of attorneys who all put their necks on the line to argue that the election had been stolen while trying to keep Trump in office. I'm pretty sure the entire team has now disavowed their role in spreading the lies that are still believed by a large chunk of Republicans. Jenna Ellis sure has, as she managed NOT to get disbarred in Colorado, landing a three year suspension of her law license instead. In a letter to the court she had this to say, from the Colorado Sun:
“In the beginning of my involvement I genuinely believed that the election challenges were made in good faith — basically a repeat of a Bush v. Gore situation, not an effort to undermine the public faith in the integrity of elections,” she wrote. “But I admit that I was overly zealous in believing the ‘facts’ being peddled to support the challenge, which were manufactured and false. Had I done my duty in investigating these alleged facts before promoting them as the truth, I do not believe I would be here. I turned a blind eye to the possibility that senior lawyers for the Trump campaign were embracing claims they knew or should have known were false. I just went along with it. I was wrong.”
She added: “I will hopefully encourage others who may still believe that the election was ‘stolen’ to consider changing their position. Everything that has come out since has not proven that claim.”
I, too wish people would reconsider their positions that the election was stolen and move forward instead of craning out necks looking back.
DUDE DAD JOINS US TODAY And if you are on the internet at all you've probably seen Taylor Calmus, who is simply Dude Dad online. Here he is:
He's got some dates coming up where you can see his show live and we're gonna chat about it at 1pm about him being an actual Colorado transplant as he and his family moved to Fort Collins to be part of the problem. Buy tickets to his show in Denver, The Springs, or Greeley by clicking here!
WEATHER WEDNESDAY IS HERE! And we will talk to our favorite Chief (not Cheap, just to be clear) meteorologist Dave Fraser at 12:30 so get your weather questions ready! I'll ask him if he feels like this someday.
IT'S TIME FOR A POW WOW! It is the 23rd Annual Indian Market and Intertribal Powwow at The Fort on June 1st and 2nd! This event is SUPER cool and a great way to learn about the culture of the Native American tribes who live in and around Colorado. There are beautiful artworks, jewelry, and more to shop plus an entire day of Indian dancing and elaborate costumes. It is a great way to spend the day learning and watching and having fun. I've got the owner of The Fort and the driving force behind the Tesoro Cultural Center Holly Kinney on the show today at 1:30 to talk about it. Buy your VERY affordable tickets here.
CLOSING ARGUMENTS ARE DONE In the Trump trial alleging he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star he had sex with while his wife was recovering from the birth of his son. Now the jury has it and this article has links to an overview of who said what. We'll see what the jury does now.
WILL DENVER VOTERS FORK OVER MORE TAX MONEY FOR SCHOOLS? I get that school districts are in a bad way and they need more money. But asking for an almost BILLION dollar tax increase in a year when people JUST got clobbered by massive property tax hikes is a bold move. That is what Denver Public Schools is doing this year. Good luck to them, I feel like this is a huge ask this year especially.
THE MAYOR AND THE POLICE CHIEF DON'T SEEM TO BE ON THE SAME PAGE This article is...confusing. In it Mayor Mike Johnston talks about putting more officers into certain crime hotspots to help bring crime down, while Police Chief Ron Thomas flatly denies that there will be increased patrols. What? Read this:
The single best intervention to both reduce crime and to reduce the over-incarceration in communities of color is actually adding more officers,” Johnston said. “What you find is the more officers that are present, officers who are out in the streets or officers who come from the communities that they serve, the less likely you are to have crime happen in the first place.”
"We've actually put out a really clear belief that we want to put more officers on the street to keep people more safe," Johnston said of his office.
But when asked if the DPD plans on increasing police and arrests in the hot spot areas, Thomas replied, "No. Absolutely not."
“We’re not going to be putting more officers in those areas. We’re not going to be increasing patrols in those areas," he said.
When asked about the discrepancy between Johnston's remarks about increasing police and Thomas' preference for the status quo in patrols, Thomas told The Denver Gazette: "I think when he says there’s going to be an increase in police presence, he probably is more referencing the engagement."
"Yes, we’re going to be doing more community foot patrols. Yes, we’re going to be going to more community meetings. Yes, we’re going to be inviting people to come tell us the challenges that they are seeing," Thomas said. "But, in terms of having more police officers pull more people over for traffic or stopping more people resulting in more arrests, that’s not going to happen.”
You can see my confusion here. So the cops are going to be there as window dressing? Or mall cops? I'm genuinely not sure. And what are their rules of engagement? Are they clearly defined as to what their role is? Because I'm not sure from this. It sounds like when someone thinks waving a gun around will stop a criminal.
WE MUST UNDO THE DAMAGE THAT DEFUND THE POLICE CAUSED There is a kerfuffle between the now former Executive Director of the Denver Civil Service Commission and the Board that runs the commission. Niecy Murray had a press conference where she alleged that the Mayor's office was pressuring her to lower the accepted scores on the police entrance exam so the department could hire more cops. The Board says not so and she just did that because she knew they were going to fire her. What is true is that standards on the entrance exam HAVE been lowered as Denver tries to attract more cops to work there. All this can be avoided if we stopped treating cops like they are all criminals and support officers who choose to serve with the respect they deserve. This does not mean protecting bad cops, it means celebrating all the good ones out there who make up the overwhelming majority of police officers. We need to restore the dignity of police work and make this a job to be desired by good people who can pass the exam without lowering standards. Period.
BIDEN'S GAZA PIER IS A METAPHOR FOR HIS FOREIGN POLICY The floating pier, which is in a part of the sea that is rough and with large waves, cost US taxpayer $320 MILLION bucks to build, is already out of commission after being IN commission for just two weeks. The pier broke apart and had to be taken to an Israeli beach for repairs. This is the pier being used to bring in supplies for starving Palestinians which has already seen looting by Hamas. This entire thing is an international embarrassment, just like our President. Oh, and do you know who had to handle the on shore portion of building this monstrosity? The Israelis because Biden said No American boots on the ground in Gaza. So Israel is now forced to build a stupid pier to keep Hamas fed and watered. Brilliant.
JUST GIVE KIDS PEANUTS ALREADY Because early exposure to peanuts and peanut products can actually stop peanut allergies in their tracks. Read it here.
WOULD YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER? Scientists think that the option may be closer than you think. They believe that aging will be "optional" assuming you have enough money to stave it off and that the first person to live forever may be able to do so in our lifetime. First off, I'll believe it when I see it, but this doesn't appeal to me. First off, I think Earth is just a blip on our overall journey so why stay here when there could be something better next? You can read about it here.
HAVING KIDS IS TOUGH ON A MAN'S HEART But doesn't necessarily mean an early death. That is the conflicting result of a study that looked at health outcomes for men with and without children. Though fathers had worse cardiovascular health they actually had lower all cause mortality rates than men without kids. The exceptions are black and hispanic men who had children before 25. So what does this mean? Have kids and take care of your heart.
I'M A PROUD COSTCO CULT MEMBER If you are too this article is fascinating. It breaks down the science that makes Costco what it is and some of it is really interesting.
GREAT INTERVIEW WITH JERRY SEINFELD AND BERI WEISS
WE NEED LEADERS WHO REFUSE TO JUMP This is a great column about Margaret Thatcher and her refusal to jump when asked to do so by a Swedish interviewer. It's about so much more than refusing to jump. Read it here.
GREAT MARRIAGE ADVICE And this is all spot on. Find the X thread here.
BIDEN SLEEPS THROUGH MEMORIAL DAY
I MISS BEING YOUNG TOO
OREO NEEDED SOME SNACKS
HARRISON BUTKER ISN'T BACKING DOWN In his first comments about the backlash to his commencement speech at a Catholic university he doubles down and does not remotely apologize. Good for him.
SHOULD SPOUSES CONTROL EACH OTHER'S PHONES? I'm sure this is going to be controversial to some, but Lily Allen and David Harbour each have dumb phones that don't have social media and they give the other control over what goes on the phone. I don't hate this but not because I don't trust Chuck or vice versa, it's a way to stay grounded and in touch but not tied to the phone. This sounds kind of appealing to me. Allen says smartphones have destroyed her creativity and this allows her to flourish.