COMEDIAN JP SEARS IS A FUNNY GUY And he's a funny guy who leans right and isn't afraid to make fun of everyone and everything on his YouTube channel. He's in town this week at Comedy Works and you should buy tickets here. Here is his latest video.
CANADA IS SQUANDERING ITS FUTURE By running massive deficits to create the socialist utopia of Justin Trudeau's dreams. I've got Samantha Dagres, who is currently a Communications and Youth Programming Advisor for the Montreal Economic Institute, one of Canada’s leading economic and public policy think tanks. She recently wrote a column in Canada's Financial Post about how unhappy young Canadians are because the high taxes in Canada are crushing their dreams of entrepreneurship. She joins me at 1 tp talk about it, you can read the column here.
MATT GAETZ BOWS OUT He announced he is withdrawing his name from consideration for Attorney General after talking to Senators who seem to have told him there was no way he was getting confirmed. There is speculation somewhere that DeSantis is going to appoint him Senator but I don't see that happening from a long term political perspective for DeSantis. We'll see what happens next.
PETE HEGSETH HAS PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY At least when it comes to whether or not he had consensual sex or not. Police have released their investigation where they decided against filing any charges because of the He said/she said nature of the accusations. We'll see if other women come forward to accuse Hegseth. If this remains a singular accusation I'm more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt as men who do things like drug and attack women don't usually only do it once.
ALASKANS KEEP RANKED CHOICE VOTING by the tiniest of margins. The votes to keep it lead by just a 664 vote margin, but that is expected to hold when officials officially certify the election by the end of the month. Read more here, but Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola LOST to Republican Nick Begich for Alaska's seat in Congress by 8000 votes. What does this mean for Ranked Choice Voting? Not sure, but it's not going away anytime soon.
EUROPE IS WARNED ITS WELFARE STATE IS NOT SUSTAINABLE And this will be a huge blow to the young skulls full of mush who think "free healthcare" will cost them nothing. And this is what Canada aspires to be. From The Telegraph:
Weak and uncompetitive economies risk running out of money to fund their sprawling welfare states unless they can reverse decades of relative decline and emulate America’s runaway success in tech, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) cautioned.
“Our productivity growth in Europe is progressively slowing, which means that our ability to generate income is diminishing. If left unchecked, we will face a future of lower tax revenues and higher debt ratios,” she said in a speech in Paris.
“We face a rising old-age dependency ratio which will drive up public spending on pensions. And it is estimated that governments will need to spend in excess of €1 trillion (£836bn) a year to meet our investment needs for climate change, innovation and defence.
And this is what the Democratic party aspires to be. We shall discuss this story at length.
THANKSGIVING TRAVEL IS GOING TO BE MESSY There are some weather concerns that could snarl Thanksgiving travel. Storms are roiling both the West and East coasts so be ready for delays if you're flying. Always check your flight status before heading to the airport, and pro tip, if your flight in cancelled or seriously delayed you should go onto an app to find a new flight while you're waiting in line with all those other people to talk to an agent. Be ready, people, and Godspeed.
PARENTS SHOULD BE PART OF MENTAL HEALTH This is a GREAT column about the way we treat kids struggling with mental health issues. Though seeking therapy for your kids when needed is a good thing, parents often feel left out of the entire process. This column makes the case that parents should be involved in a very big way, helping their kids with handling the issues as they arise OUTSIDE of the therapist's office. I could not agree more.
VOTERS WANT PUBLIC SAFETY And George Brauchler writes about the way we voiced our desire to be safer in our cities here and also wonders if the Democratic Legislature will listen. He's absolutely right.
XCEL LEAVES LOW INCOME EV BUYERS HANGING This is something. Xcel created a fund paid for by ratepayers (did we vote on that?) that offered rebates to low income customers who bought an EV. Now they are sending out letters to many of those people telling them that the fund has run dry before their application for a refund could be processed so they won't be getting a refund. How many people bought these cars while COUNTING on that refund? Why can't Xcel dip into their massive profits to cover these checks while also announcing the end of the program by this date? This is a really crappy thing to do, and I'm sure they want rate payers to pick up the difference. By the way, Xcel made about 682 million in PROFIT in 2023. They have the money.
DEMS GET READY TO PAY BACK UNIONS Colorado Democrats are trying to undo a law that has been a big part of creating a good business environment (one that has been badly damaged by previous Democrat decisions) when it comes to unionization. They want to make it easier for a union to take control of a workplace and get more members so they can donate to and support the Democrat party. That's the reason. The only reason. If unions want to make a good case in the workplace I support that. Convince employees to join. But the second vote provision that Dems want to take away has been useful in making sure we have a competitive business environment and it needs to stay. I'm counting on Polis to veto this if it gets through, which I imagine it will.
BOULDER VALLEY BANS CELL PHONES IN SCHOOL And I say good and I hope other districts do this too. High school students won't be able to use phones or other personal technology devices at all on campus during the school day. The rule also applies to smartwatches and headphones. Details of the plan will be worked out before it goes into effect in January.
THANKS TO ALL WHO DONATED AT OUR FOOD DRIVE YESTERDAY! And if you dropped of cash this is what Chuck and I bought with it before we left (we added a bit more).
It's ever more critical this year as the Food Bank of the Rockies and other similar organization are seeing numbers they haven't seen in a decade in terms of people needing help. Read more about that here and if you can make a cash donations please do!
A ROTTEN BUS DRIVER HAS BEEN FIRED Can I just say that pretty much every school district is short on bus drivers. That being said, Douglas County is short one more after firing a crotchety substitute bus driver who clearly lost his mind when he dropped a bunch of children at a cemetery in Castle Rock after missing a bunch of stops. Anyone with a CDL can drive a bus, and they are needed everywhere.
PLAN FAMILY FUN FOR THIS HOLIDAY SEASON And here are a whole bunch of fun things to do!
DPD SAYS VIOLENT CRIME IS DOWN BUT RESIDENTS AREN'T BUYING IT Violent crime is down by 12% but residents say they don't feel safe. I wonder why. Read this from Denver 7's story:
Commander Jacob Herrera said there’s been a 12% reduction in violent gun crime across the city this year. He also reported a decrease in murders committed with firearms. But some council members said their constituents don't feel safe, despite what the statistics show.
“We live with constant gunfire all night,” said Denver City Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez. “I was just at a community meeting last night, and there is this question of do I need my husband to walk me out to my work at night because I don’t feel safe? Am I overreacting or not? People don’t know what’s happening.”
Seems DPD has a long way to go, I sure hope the Legislature does what voters asked and infuse a bunch of money into law enforcement, not just in Denver but for the whole state.
MAYOR MIKE DRAWS A RED LINE WITH TRUMP And says his city will not help the feds with mass deportations. Read it here, but I don't see exactly what this tweet says in this article so I think the Tweeter took a liberty here that the Mayor did not intend.
But either way, we know Mayor Mike is going to protect illegal immigrants even as people living in his city don't feel safe and we know that South American gangs are here as well. Great job, Mayor. Great job.
LAKEN RILEY'S MURDERER WILL STAY IN THE US But he will stay as a guest of the state as he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole for her murder. Good. But he should have never had the chance to kill her in the first place.
RUSSIA LAUNCHES BALLISTIC MISSILES AT UKRAINE And it seems that we are going to just keep escalating until Trump gets in office to sort this out. Ukrainians are saying via polling that they want a negotiated end to the war, which is good news. Putin fired the missiles at Kyev and some of them were shot down but we don't know exactly the damage the rest wrought as of right now when I type this.
BIDEN'S HHS SECRETARY CAN'T EXPLAIN HOW CHILDREN WERE PIMPED WITH THEIR HELP This is horrifying. This is what happens when unfettered illegal immigration is allowed. It is too many people to make sure children are safe.
THE WORKERS ARE RESTLESS And I am one who looks at the landscape of corporate America and sees a lot of opportunity...for unionization. It's times like these, when employees are increasingly feeling left behind while the Big Cheeses make huge bonuses for cutting the workforce to shreds that unions could really grow their footprint. Unfortunately for unions, unions have presented themselves so badly that no ambitious person wants to be a part of that. The term "union job" is code for "you don't have to do much work" and since they always protect the worst employee that no one likes to work with it's not attractive having them in your workplace.
THE CHRISTKINDL MARKET IS WORTH A VISIT Even if it isn't the same as the Christmas Markets in Europe (nine more sleeps until we head to Vienna!) but it is a lot of fun and one of the top Christmas Markets in the US. Find out more here.
THINGS TO DO IN DENVER THIS WEEKEND Just in case you're bored. Find them here.
A FANTASTIC EXPLANATION OF WHY WE REFRIGERATE EGGS This is super interesting and frankly I didn't know it.
YOU MANIACS CAN BUY MCRIB SAUCE NOW And I won't fight you for it as I've never understood the love of that particular product. Read where you can buy it here, but to be clear, they aren't selling the formed pork patty thingy that makes up the "meat" on that sandwich.
ISRAEL OFFERS A MASSIVE REWARD For the return of hostages from Gaza. I like that he's offering $5 MILLION bucks and safe passage out of Gaza, but he should have done this way, way sooner.