FOLLOW KOA'S SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS FOR FULL SUPER BOWL COVERAGE Because Arod is in New Orleans and he's gonna be working overtime to bring you EVERYTHING. Follow them here, here and here. Here is TikTok if you've agreed to let the Chinese take all your info from everything.
DEA SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE POPS IN DEA Special Agent In Charge Jonathan Pullen stops by to talk about a bunch of arrests and investigations that have taken a bunch of bad hombres off the streets. He's on at 1.
COMPLETECOLORADO.COM GOT A GLOW UP And I've got Editor Mike Krause on at 2:30 to talk about it. Find it EVERY day here.
TRUMP STARTS A TRADE WAR I've been giving Trump a lot of latitude because unlike last time where I thought he was just throwing stuff against the wall randomly, this version of Trump 2.0 came in with a plan. His zillion Executive Orders have been flying and this weekend he levied tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico because they haven't done enough to stop the flow of immigrants and drugs into the US. Mexico says they will respond with something but we don't know what that is. The tariffs are supposed to take hold tomorrow, and it doesn't seem to that the Trump Administration has even been clear about any demands to stop them from going into place. He just said Canada has been very "abusive" as he points out the myriad of American products NOT allowed into Canada. Canadians are confused, which I understand. I've long though tariffs were a bad idea but a negotiating tactic by Trump. We'll see what happens next.
IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE TO RETIRE IN COLORADO I saw this yesterday and couldn't help but be surprised to see just HOW expensive Democrats have made Colorado in the last decade. We are now the SIXTH most expensive place to retire in the country, and no surprise, every state ahead of us is also a Blue state. A new study on just how far $1 million dollars in savings plus social security will last in retirement showed that in Colorado you only get 25 years. In West Virginia it's 88 years for comparison! Find the whole study here but this is why so many people are leaving and not coming back. Too bad the Democrats don't seem to care.
COULD CANADA CUT OFF OIL TO THE US? Sure, but not anytime soon. Read this for more.
Or this one.
UPDATE: Mexico has responded. Mexico is sending 10,000 troops to the border to stop the flow of immigrants and fentanyl, while Trump has paused the tariffs for one month. The President of Mexico also asked the US to work on stopping the flow of guns over the southern border. Right now the tariffs on paused while further negotiations continue. This puts the ball in Canada's court, where lame duck PM Trudeau issued retaliatory tariffs on the US.
VIOLENCE COMES TO WASH PARK And one must wonder how much longer the tony Denverites who flood the park on a nice day are going to put up with this? A person was shot in Washington Park but is expected to survive and a suspect has been arrested for the shooting that happened in the middle of the day Saturday. And here I thought guns weren't allowed in Denver parks. It seems that criminals are the only ones who don't follow gun laws, amiright? The man arrested seems like your typical Wash Park user, to be honest. One must wonder what the rest of the story is here and I bet it's like a Lifetime movie.
A NEW CAMPAIGN ON POT HAS SOME FOLKS MAD And we talked to the Department of Health about the new Tea on THC campaign designed to help people understand the dangers of high concentrations of THC. An issue has arisen about images used to discuss how babies in utero are affected by THC use. The cartoon baby in the image is black and that has some black people very upset. Read this from Westword, but take note of this part from the website:
Researchers are finding that THC is increasingly being used during pregnancy across all age groups, with rates particularly high among younger, urban, and socioeconomically disadvantaged people.
That demographic is more likely to be black or Hispanic, so it this really that wrong? The website is full of pictures of white people, by the way. This sort of feels like being mad that HIV drug ads only feature gay people. I'd love to see the underlying numbers on pot use during pregnancy to see if this is racist or targeting a demographic with a message they need to hear. It is not surprising that CU Regent Wanda James, who also owns a pot store, is the one sounding the alarm. This is an attack on her business model.
SANITY COMES BACK TO THE AIR FORCE ACADEMY But honestly DEI is so embedded in the leadership there that I wonder if this is just lip service or there will be meaningful changes. They ditched a pure DEI minor for cadets that won't help a single one of them get a job when they get out of the Air Force. This is the first of many steps that need to occur at the Academy before former graduates will want their kids to go there because right now they don't.
COLORADO POLICY WILL NOT FIX CLIMATE CHANGE But it will cost us a small fortune as residents. This column talks about what the government is trying to do in the form of reductions, while also pointing out how ridiculously small those reductions will actually be for an enormous cost.
HIGH POTENCY POT MAY BE LIMITED A bipartisan bill working it's way through the Legislature wants to limit who can buy high concentration THC products to those over 26. They say (rightly so) that brain development before 26 is still happening and this is a way to protect younger adults from the dangers of high potency THC. Think of this as the 3.2 beer era of pot. Will it pass? I have no idea but you can read it here. It would be interesting if we began to limit what actual adults can have access to beyond the age of 21. Funny how we want to stretch the limits for older people on something while telling kids they can choose their gender.
BUT CHILDREN CAN CONSENT TO SHARE THEIR MEDICAL RECORDS This sort of stuff makes me crazy. A bill that is super boring on the face of it about allowing "managed care entities that a local county department of human or social services may enter into memorandums of understanding with to coordinate and manage services for children and families who would benefit from integrated multiagency services" has had an odd amendment that seems to further undermine a parent's rights to manage their kids health and welfare by allowing CHILDREN to consent to the release of the medical records. This is insane but not as insane as the reaction to the sponsor to the amendment that changes that language.
THE FAILURE OF DEI Even if you think the goals of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs is noble, you should proceed with caution. Why? Because these programs are not having the intended effect. Read this column for more. It's almost like saying every white person is irredeemably racist doesn't bring people together.
PANAMA CHOOSES THE UNITED STATES It sounded crazy when Trump said he was going to take the Panama Canal back because China was pretty much running the Canal. Now Panama will be ending those deals with China. They had a memo of agreement as part of China's Belt and Road initiative that would give China pipelines worldwide to do their business unfettered, but now that's been curtailed when Sec Of State Marco Rubio visited. Now the US needs to follow through on those promises of investment in Panama. There is also a bill that would allow the US to buy back the Canal entirely. We'll see what happens next, but this has to irritate the crap out of China at a minimum.
A FORMER COSTCO EXECUTIVE DEFENDS ITS POLICIES Leave Costco alone! They are being forced to defend their long standing policies which I think are really unfairly being lumped in with the race hustling DEI initiatives that suck. Costco has always put their employees and promoting a culture of tolerance and diversity that has made them successful. Leave them alone. In this article you can find out about the company culture that has made them successful. Does this seem like DEI to you?:
Campbell said that when it came to hiring, Costco always sought to ensure the employees at their warehouses and stores reflected the communities they were located in demographically. He says that Costco had no trouble achieving this goal, and never had to consciously alter its hiring practices to meet a certain quota.
"Diversity was a word that was used, but it was never ‘My gosh, we need to get a program. We need to train diversity.’"
Costco based its promotions on merit, not race or gender, Campbell claimed, adding that he had never heard anyone complaining they lost an opportunity because they were a White man. However, he conceded that when he decided on promotions he would take race into account if both candidates were "equally qualified" for the job.
None of these policies are objectionable to me.
CALDARA CALLS OUT RACIST BUFFS TEAM In his trademark sarcasm, which is dripping off this column. Is he wrong though?
WHO OWNS THE SWASTIKA ADORNED WINDOW? I had the story last week of a window that was smashed with a rock after someone inside had put a swastika on the window. Now a swastika has returned to a DIFFERENT window in the same building and this story doesn't tell me what I want to know; who owns the window? If the person who lives there owns the window, can we get a name? If they don't, can we talk to the landlord? I think both of these things may be more effective at stopping this than throwing rocks through more windows. Has anyone looked this up? Just curious.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAN'T BE EVICTED In another story about the many ways Colorado has made being a landlord MISERABLE we have this editorial from the Denver Gazette. It explains a law passed by Democrats that has made it damn near impossible to evict illegal immigrants, even when they just stop paying rent. It is infuriating, read it here.
LARIMER STREET IS BACK OPEN FOR CARS After being closed to allow businesses there to expand into the street during Covid. That permit expired this past weekend.
UGLY TWEETS DOOM THE FIRST TRANS WOMAN OSCAR NOMINEE And this article says it's just the Hollywood bloodsport that is Oscar time at work. At least a woman born female won't have to lose to a woman born male this year.
WHEN CRAZY ACTIONS MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE And this isn't talking about Trump, it's talking about Javier Milei in Argentina. Watch this to see how successful the Libertarian has been.
WHY FLY THE FLAG OF THE COUNTRY YOU "ESCAPED"? Remember when we were told that we had to let all the people walk across the southern border because they were fleeing hellhole where they were surely going to be killed without asylum here? Then why were people flying the flags of those places this weekend as they protested Trump's immigration crackdown? Real question.
HOW YOUR PHONE AFFECTS YOUR BRAIN AND MOTIVATION? Andrew Huberman does a deep dive.
A PHENOMENAL AD FROM JEN SEY'S BRAND
WHAT YOUR SKIN TELLS YOU ABOUT YOUR HEALTH This is super interesting!
WELP, IT FINALLY HAPPENED AT THE GRAMMYS I've commented over the years that young actresses seem to be trying to push the envelope more and more with revealing dresses that show almost everything. Kanye West's wife Bianca Censori was like hold my beer and showed up NAKED last night and walked the carpet in a "dress" that was literally nothing. You can see it uncensored here. Note how she demurely pulls the hem of the completely transparent dress down as she drops the coat.