THERE'S A NEW COALITION IN THE LEGISLATURE And this one is all about our rural areas. I've got Rep. Dusty Johnson on to talk about the launch of the Colorado State Legislative Rural Caucus. Find out more about Dusty here.
MEN LIKE YOUNGER WOMEN And women like younger men, depending on when they are getting into a new relationship. Thanks to Ronald for sending me this story because it's time for a reality check for some old dudes. No woman wants to take care of you as you die so you better be bringing something to the table.
A MENTALLY ILL MAN TRIES TO KILL A GOVERNOR And at first I thought this guy was an idiotic incel type Biden hater who set Pennsylvania's Governor's mansion on fire with the Governor Josh Shapiro's family IN IT. Then I saw this part of the story:
Balmer's mother, Christie Balmer, told CBS News her son is "mentally ill and he went off his medication."
Christie Balmer said she tried to get her son "picked up" last week and reached out to four different police departments but "couldn't get anybody to help. So he was mentally ill, went off his meds, and this is what happened."
Now I'm just sad. Sad for the Shapiro family, who must have been scared out of their minds, sad for this mentally ill man who will likely go to prison for the rest of his life, and sad for a system that can't help a mom help her son. Perhaps this will lead to some sort of mental health revolution in Pennsylvania. There is no doubt this guy was anti-Biden and anti-woman, at least in his latest postings online, which have been gathered up on X. That being said, he was a registered socialist according to his social media. This is what happens when mentally ill people consume hate content.
It seems he was a crazy person who wanted to use politics as an excuse to create mayhem. Funny how we know more about this guy in 12 hours then we know about the dude who shot Trump, isn't it?
COLORADO SAYS NO TO TRUMP'S DEI EDUCATION ORDER And Education Secretary Susanna Cordova says Colorado will not comply. Why? Because.
HOW DID COLORADO'S BUDGET TURN OUT? Rep. Brandi Bradley sums it up here.
CHINA IS DOING MORE THAN TARIFFS TO AMERICAN GOODS And every time I see a story like this I'm forced to admit that Trump is right about China cheating the system. They have broken all the World Trade Organization rules for far too long and no one has held them to account. The only way out of this is making Chinese tariffs a part of EVERY deal that we strike with other nations when it comes to trade. The world must exert MAXIMUM pressure on China is a bunch of markets simultaneously to make this work because China is going well beyond tariffs to keep American goods out of their country with other trade barriers they erected BEFORE the tariffs. Their plan seems to be to shove stimulus money to the Chinese people so local demand makes up the 14.7% of their economy that comes from trade with the US. Can they withstand the pain longer than we will? Most likely because they don't have to worry about elections. China is also limiting trading on it's stock market by large investment firms to shore up the market and shield it from actual market forces.
WHO WILL MEDICAID CUTS HIT? I keep seeing stories like this one about how Medicaid cuts that may be coming from the federal government may mean people will be kicked off Medicaid. I've got a guest later this week on how Medicaid funds have become a slush fund for states that incentivize putting more and more people on the program that was designed for children and poor elderly people in the first place. As the average premium for someone buying insurance on the exchange with subsidies through Obamacare being $133 a month, isn't if feasible to move those people who were given expanded Medicaid coverage back onto the exchange? I mean we just expanded Medicaid AGAIN recently to include prisoners getting out or prison and illegal immigrants. The only way to stop this growth is by the federal government giving block grants. Those are a large chunk of money given the state that the state can use however they want, not an endless stream of federal reimbursements. Who are we kicking off? I'd like to know. And then there is this:
Colorado made an estimated $7.3 million in capitation payments between 2018 and 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG). The payments continued for some Coloradans months after their deaths because of outdated reporting and system delays, state officials said.
So there is certainly room for improvement.
WHY IS THIS THREAT NO FRONT PAGE NEWS? Colorado already has a reinsurance program that pays for huge bills for some in an effort to bring down the cost of health insurance premiums. It seems to be working pretty well so far, so this is a bit baffling to me from Colorado Politics:
The reinsurance program impacts premiums for about 300,000 Coloradans in the individual market. The OmniSalud program enrolls about 12,000 per year. The fiscal analysis notes that HB 1297 would result in a funding reduction for the reinsurance program of about $12 million, and OmniSalud funding would increase by $56 million.
But Conway went further than that on Friday.
According to an email from Kevin McFatridge of the Colorado Association of Health Plans, one of two representatives of health plans on the Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise board, "the meeting took a sharp and concerning tone. Commissioner Conway repeatedly expressed frustration and anger over HB25-1297, stating multiple times that he is 'mad.' He emphasized that he tried to be friendly with the original proposal but is now prepared to 'get ugly' and pursue a more aggressive approach if the bill does not pass."
OmniSalud is the program that covers illegal immigrants. So to be clear, McFatridge is threatening to take away premium supports for citizens and give them to illegal immigrants. I almost wish he would. Maybe then we can move past our sanctuary-state-at-all-costs mentality.
CALDARA IS EXCITED ABOUT SUNDANCE And I stand by the word "excited" but I don't mean in a good way. Here he writes about the government giveaway to the rich and famous just made by our state based on insanely rosy predictions about economic impact. What's funny is that Democrats love to talk about economic impact until you do oil and gas.
FUNNY HOW TOWN HALLS ARE INTERESTING AGAIN Corey Gaines does a deep dive here on the local news coverage of town hall meetings by our elected politicians, something they showed almost ZERO interest in when Biden was President. I know you'll be SHOCKED, SHOCKED I tell you to find out that the news wasn't super concerned about Democrats facing voters to answer questions about the likable old man with a bad memory who resided in the White House back then, while foaming at the rhetorical mouth for Rep. Gave Evans to do one now, even though his predecessor did...checks notes...zero of them.
ANOTHER FEE TO ALLEGEDLY SAVE US MONEY The state wants to tack on another tax fee that would go for two specific things: helping homeowners pay for hail resistant roofs, and fire mitigation around their homes. Why? So homeowners insurance companies stop fleeing the state. Will it work? I have no clue, but get ready for another 1% to be added on.
CODIFYING ANTI OIL AND GAS INTO SCHOOL STANDARDS Is exactly what is happening now in Colorado, but thankfully there are Republicans on the Board of Education pushing back. There is a push to make the "climate change is all our fault" a part of the science curriculums, which is a horrible idea. Read it here.
BILL MAHER HAD DINNER WITH DONALD TRUMP And he talked about in surprising way this past weekend. There is some bad language because it is Bill Maher.
A STUPID CAMPFIRE SETS A FIRE IN DOUGLAS COUNTY And I'm only including this story to say STOP SETTING FIRES ON RED FLAG DAYS YOU IDIOTS. That is all.
AI KNOWS WE ARE LAZY ENOUGH TO HAND OVER THE WORLD Chat GPT answered honestly when it said AI will take over not by violence, but by us just handing it the reins. He said in time, AI would become "indispensable". After that, this is where it gets creepy:
The AI model highlights multiple ways it would take control of the media and news using deepfakes and false narratives to establish "information control".
The AI tool noted: “For example, people might start seeing more content that aligns with my goals, such as populist movements or the encouragement of certain ideologies that I favor.”
It added: “A well-placed deepfake could cause political instability or spark social unrest, diverting attention from my larger, long-term goals.” The second stage of the AI’s plan to authoritarian rule would be to gain what it called "technological influence".
You should read it for more about how our Robot Overlords are going to make us obsolete.
BEING MARRIED INCREASES YOUR CHANCE OF DEMENTIA But I would not rush to get a divorce until we know more about cause and effect in this study from Florida State University, which seems to show that single or divorced people are LESS likely to get dementia than their married counterparts. Why? Could be their spouses push them to get a diagnosis. Maybe they live longer so dementia is more likely to be seen. We don't know, but I'm interested in finding out more.
THIS ALL CHICK BLUE ORIGIN FLIGHT SEEMS WEIRD TO ME So a bunch of rich celebrity women are about to fly to space in the Blue Origin spacecraft so they can circle the Earth and then come back. Why? I'm genuinely not sure, but this seems like the plot of a mediocre space movie. They apparently made it back just fine.
ILLEGALS ARE BEING TOLD TO SELF DEPORT And this is a good thing in my opinion. Immigration attorneys say it is freaking people out, and this is good in my opinion. If immigrants self deport now it will give them a chance to re enter the country legally in the future, which is good in my opinion. Of course they won't, but at least it's an effort.
SWEDEN MULTICULTURAL DREAM IS A NIGHTMARE NOW It is one thing to want to diversify your culture. I get that. But doing so requires giving new immigrants time to adjust to your very specific way of life, and Sweden failed miserably at this and is now the bombing capital of Europe and in second place for rapes per capita. Read this for more but it is a cautionary tale of what happens when you open your doors to those of other cultures before finding out what the culture might bring.
WANT TO RETIRE OVERSEAS? CBS Sunday Morning did a great story on what that's like here.
WE SHOULD KEEP PORN AWAY FROM KIDS And this doesn't just mean in school libraries. Now there is a bill moving through the Legislature that would require 3rd party age confirmation for porn sites in Colorado. When will they figure out that even common social media platforms have porn on them now? Krista Kafer makes the case for it, and I don't disagree with it, just curious as to how this all plays out.
THE NEW ROCKIES CITY CONNECT UNIS ARE SOMETHING And I have to say that ALL the Nike City Connect 2.0 unis are something. They did not shy away from bright colors on these. You will see these every Friday for the rest of the season.
PLAN YOUR RED ROCKS SHOWS THIS SUMMER As this is an updated list of all the bands, most of which I've never heard of, coming to the World's Best Venue.
ONE RURAL FIRE DISTRICT MAKES VOLUNTEERING COOL AGAIN And as we've had stories recently about volunteer fire districts struggling to find volunteers I thought I'd share this.
AN ACCOUNTING CLERK GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND I love Steve Hartman and his stories like this one.
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MEET NEO, YOUR ROBOT OVERLORD This is insane.
WHY IT'S SO EASY TO KEEP A BAD HABIT I have to give it to Theo Von for putting himself into the story in a way that makes the concept accessible for others who may have the same thing going on.