A HORRIFIC PLANE CRASH KILLED ALL ABOARD And it wasn't just a plane crash, it was an in air collision between an Army Blackhawk helicopter and an American Airlines commuter jet coming to DC from Wichita. It was full of American and Russian figure skaters and there were no survivors. Thankfully these things happen VERY infrequently but this one is weird because an Army helicopter was involved. If you're the prayerful sort please pray for the families who will be grieving their loved ones. And tell everyone today how much you love them.
MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON IS TAKING FIRE FROM THE LEFT And this has to sting, as the people who make up these organizations are ostensibly on his side. But the report cards by various hard left wing organizations who advocate for homeless people and other marginalized people aren't happy with the Mayor and are giving him failing marks for what he's done so far. Read this. The Latino United Neighborhood Association gave Johnston an F on Immigration, which must have been like salt in a wound after the mayor's stance on welcoming illegal immigrants has gotten him called to the carpet in DC. I'm guessing the Mayor is pretty frustrated with all this because he's spent GOBS of money doing the bidding of these groups only to have them turn on him. Here's some news, Mayor. No matter WHAT you do it will NEVER be enough because as soon as you meet one goal they move the goalposts. Conservatives have been dealing with this for YEARS but since they have no power in Colorado now it's your turn. And Mayor, NOTHING you can do will raise these grades unless you turn over Denver's entire budget to nothing other than their pet projects. NOTHING. I actually feel kind of bad for Mayor Johnston on this even though I think most of the stuff he's done for these people has been wrong.
THIS AS THE MAYOR LAYS OUT HIS PLANS FOR THIS YEAR And honestly I don't hate all of what he has on deck. He's going after long permitting times to speed up construction (YAY) and is going to start prosecuting those quality of life non-violent crimes that continue to make downtown feel unsafe (Also YAY). He wants to spend even more money putting homeless people into hotels and tiny home communities even though the result of this is MORE homeless people in Denver (not yay). I like his ideas of more trees, you only have to visit a European city with an amazing tree canopy to know what a good idea that is. Read the rest here, but it seems the Mayor has a learning curve on most things except his plans for homelessness. This is good for Denver mostly.
DENVER HEALTH PAUSES WHAT MANY SAY WASN'T HAPPENING And that is providing gender affirming surgeries to minors. Whenever I bring up the danger of medical interventions I get angry texts from people who say this NEVER happens even though I personally know of two cases where it has. Now Denver Health, which gets a bunch of federal money, says it will end gender affirming surgeries on people under 19 to comply with Trump's orders. If they weren't happening this should be no big deal. We need to let kids grow up before making permanently life altering medical changes. They have not said what they will do about hormone therapy, which I also see as medical affirmation. That is going to have to be figured out.
JASON CROW ISN'T HAPPY ABOUT THIS Buckley Space Force base is was going to be a staging ground for immigration enforcement and Congressman Jason Crow is salty about it. He may not have to worry though as NBC News reported that immigration enforcement in Aurora had been called off for fear of the officer's safety doing the arrests. My question for the Congressman is where, exactly, in Colorado is the federal government supposed to work from? Colorado won't let local law enforcement contract with ICE for the kinds of services that would have been attended to at Buckley. Jason Crow is as useless as teets on a bull. Danielle Jurinsky pointed this out on X last night.
She is not wrong.
THE FIRST EPISODE OF A TO Z IS LIVE! Should we hate the Chiefs?
Listen to the full episode!
PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS ARE FREAKING OUT Over Trump's offered buyout of federal employees. Of course they are, as this erodes their monetary income. They are recommending that government workers NOT take the deal, which would give workers severance of pay and benefits until Sept of this year if they quit by February 5th. The public sector unions are making all sorts of noise about potential cuts to the federal workforce. Though I know it's hard to find new jobs, my industry has proven time and time again that you can continue to get the job done with fewer employees and there is no reason government can't do the same. if you don't like your new workload, find a new job, but the private sector doesn't put up with crap like this. Here is more about what this means for Colorado.
THIS EDITORIAL ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP IS FLATLY WRONG The Denver Gazette argues here that birthright citizenship, which will likely be decided by the Supreme Court now, doesn't matter when it comes to illegal immigration. They want the Trump admin to focus on violent illegal criminals instead. Knowing that the two things AREN'T mutually exclusive is a good start, but also recognizing that birthright citizenship as it's been bestowed on children of people who are here illegally is a HUGE draw for illegal immigrants. It's why Chinese birth tourism is a thing. They are also wrong on this being a settled matter. The courts heard a case about LEGAL immigrants and birthright citizenship, but they've never ruled on whether or not the children of people who have no legal status here are citizens. I don't know the answer here, but I find it hard to believe that any ruling would be made retroactive to strip citizenship away from the millions of people born here to parents here illegally.
REPUBLICANS, PLEASE SHOOT DOWN THESE BYLAW CHANGES TONIGHT The Central Committee will meet tonight to decide if the Colorado Republican party wants to grow and be an effective party again or it will be a tool of the failed leadership of Dave Williams, the man who endorsed a bunch of people who lost in the primaries. Congressman Jeff Crank, who Williams spent a bunch of party money to attack in the primary and did nothing to help win his seat, posted this about the rules changes Williams wants.
THIS IS WHY TRUMP WANTS TO PURGE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN A NUTSHELL The interim U.S. attorney for DC Ed Martin wrote an email angry that his emails the day before had been leaked to the press, and the email about it was also leaked. Time to send everyone a slightly different email to catch the leaker so they can be fired. If people want to know why Trump is going scorched earth on federal workers this is a perfect example. When you've got people who think they are bigger and more important than the President actively working against him they need to go.
SHOULD WE GIVE OLD FOLKS A JURY DUTY OUT? Colorado is one a handful of states that doesn't have jury duty exceptions for older people. There is a bill that would allow older folks to opt out temporarily or permanently because of their age if they are over the age of 72. It would also offer exceptions for college students living out of town or state, which seems like a no brainer to me. I could get on board with both of these as long as those over 72 who wanted to serve still could.
ISRAEL GETS EIGHT, HAMAS GETS 110 The cease fire is still ongoing as prisoner exchanges are ongoing between Israel and Hamas. Israel will get handful of people and dead bodies back, and Hamas gets back OVER A THOUSAND prisoners, some of whom have committed horrific crimes like murdering a Jewish baby. This is clearly unfair and I want to bring it up because everyone gets mad about Israel being the superior power but they get screwed on this EVERY TIME. Israel should be allowed to win their war.
TRUMP MAKES A COOL $25 MILLION FROM META Because they suspended his account after the January 6th riots. He sued and now Meta has settled with a 25 million dollar check.
A MAN BEING TRIED FOR BURNING A KORAN IS SHOT DEAD And it happened in Sweden where no details of the anti-Islam campaigner lived after immigrating to Sweden years ago. He was part of a group that made a show of burning the Koran, which got him arrested and charged with "agitation against an ethnic or national group”. Seems he was right about Islam being a religion of violence because I bet this wasn't a random murder. Sweden says five people have been arrested and they are investigating whether or not a "foreign power" may have been involved in the killing which to me is a tacit admission that the perpetrators were Muslims.
HOW BUTTON BOARDS ARE CHANGING OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH DOGS This is kinda cool.
FRONTIER WANTS TO MERGE WITH SPIRIT And this doesn't concern me because I've been stranded by both of these airlines so no thank you. You can read more here if you want the cheapest of the cheap flights.
THE BRONCOS WORK TO PROTECT YOUNG SKULLS By donating 15,000 high tech football helmets to Colorado high schools. This is SUPER cool and you can read more here.
LOOKING FOR A ROMANTIC RESTAURANT FOR VALENTINE'S DAY? You can find a list of Colorado's most romantic restaurants here. You better make your reservations NOW if you want to go on Valentine's Day!
ELITCH'S OPEN MID APRIL For season pass holders before opening on weekends only until Memorial Day kicks off the summer season officially.
RFK TALKS FREEDOM IN HIS CONFIRMATION HEARINGS That according to many were pretty bruising. He invoked his potential boss's Diet Coke habit as an example. Watch below or click here.
Y'ALL, COSTCO HAS ALWAYS BEEN A LEFT LEANING COMPANY And I don't know why people even give a crap. This article points out that Costco's board gave a bunch of money to Democrats. Who cares? They save me money and offer great stuff that makes my life better. That's where my concerns end.
DEMOCRATS WHO TAKE MONEY FROM BIG PHARMA HATE RFK And Elizabeth Warren tried to say RFK Jr had made a bunch of money off vaccine lawsuits, which hasn't happened yet, as the law firm that did cases on the environment with him issuing a full rebuttal of her comments. Liz gets a crap ton of money from Big Pharma, by the way. Watch below or click here to see her defend her donors ability to do harm without repercussions. RFK does have potential referral fees in a lawsuit against Merck over the HPV vaccine which has had TONS of side effects for many people.
THE TSA BAGGAGE CHECK LOTTERY SUCKS I thought this exact same thing when I went through security last week. Watch below or click here.