Programming Note...and a favor to ask
I'll be out this Wednesday-Friday. On Weds, Ben Allbright will be filling in for me and I need your help with something. Last time Ben filled in, he did an excellent job but was joking with me about trying not to "wreck the Ferrari", i.e. analogizing my show to a fast, sleek, expensive, and highly desirable sports car that I aspire to have one day.
What I'd like you to do on Weds is to text in during the show (to 56690) telling Ben something like "Don't wreck the 1997 Saturn" or "Don't wreck the rusty purple Scion" (as one listener put it the other day when I mentioned this.) Or just any other goofy version of this concept.
Thanks for your help and I should be back on Monday!
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Just One Thing: Thoughts on the historic meeting between the US, Europe, and Ukraine
Trump touts successful Zelenskyy meeting and says he’s arranging one with Putin - POLITICO
Trump touts successful Zelenskyy meeting and says he’s arranging one with Putin - POLITICO
Trump has been touting (since the Friday meeting with Putin) that Russia had agreed to security guarantees for Ukraine. It's unclear what Russia has actually agreed to, if anything, since they're explicitly NOT agreeing to the presence of European (or American, though that's very unlikely anyway) troops as peacekeepers in Ukraine. Does Russia think a "security guarantee" just means a stern warning to Russia that "you'd better not attack Ukraine again"?
According to Bloomberg News:
US and European officials started work on bolstering Ukraine’s military, part of a package of security guarantees that will open a path to a landmark meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The guarantees, which will be fleshed out by military and intelligence officials, are aimed at allowing Ukraine to boost troop numbers without limitations, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
Now some of my thoughts as shared in my Substack note this morning:
I realize that it's the nature of politics to be binary, i.e. all good or all bad, all black or all white, but there's something to remember that applies in many aspects of life...even though in politics it's almost never acknowledged, especially regarding Trump: Just because a person (i.e. Trump) isn't doing a perfect job with something doesn't mean he isn't doing a good job with that thing.
So, sure, I wish there were some things that seem beneficial to Russia that I wish he wouldn't say, but overall I think he's doing as good a job as could be done with the situation, now that he's come to the realization (that did take too long to reach) that Putin was stringing him along.
Please read my entire note here: More thoughts on Trump and Ukraine/Russia war
And a few more thoughts:
The latest exercise fad...it's not terrible and also not a panacea for losing weight: Viral '12-3-30' treadmill trend may burn more fat than running, researchers say
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Today's Guests
Traci Dowd is Special Agent in Charge of the Economic Crimes Unit with CBI
Kelly Caufield is Executive Director of the Common Sense Institute
We'll discuss a special event coming up next Tuesday, August 26, from 4:30 PM to 6 PM in Greenwood Village on the subject of financial fraud and its wide-ranging financial implications. This program will talk about how this impact is felt across consumer spending, interest rates, available loanable funds, capital investment, government spending and taxing, profit, and community trust.
Event info here: CSI Bank Fraud Event
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Danielle Jurinsky is a member of the Aurora City Council and has been the most forceful voice calling out the presence of criminal gangs, especially the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, in her city. She was on Fox News this morning talking about it and she joins the show with more conversation and information.
30 indicted after undercover investigation targeting Tren de Aragua in Colorado | FOX31
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Other Stuff
This is interesting...though I also expect the result will be a dud for folks who expect some massive revelations. Also, I'm not entirely sure what the "Epstein files" really means. I think a lot of folks expect it to mean the private files of Jeffrey Epstein but I expect it will mean the government's investigative files. The DOJ and Congress need to be very careful to protect people who are named in the investigation because connecting someone to Epstein in the absence of evidence of anything other than bad choice in friends would be wildly unfair.
DOJ to begin sharing Epstein files with Congress, House member says - The Washington Post
In a slightly related story (maybe): Missouri attorney general set to share FBI’s No. 2 spot with Bongino | Semafor
Bongino was very (too?) public with his desire to release "the Epstein files", a position that ended up being the opposite of what Donald Trump wanted. One wonders if this appointment is a way to nudge Bongino out of the employ of the federal government.
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Two interesting stories about elections:
In short, it seems beyond obvious that the claims about systemic irregularities in voting machines, vote-changing, etc., were all lies and those who did it have lost millions of dollars because there is ZERO evidence of that kind of fraud.
AND, as of the 2024 election, mail-in voting seems to be an asset for Republicans (as it had been years earlier as well): Trump Demands: Ditch Vote-By-Mail. Republicans Shouldn’t | Washington Monthly
Yet President Trump posted this on Monday morning:
There is no data to support Trump's contention that mail-in voting is a significant (or even measurable) source of fraud. Furthermore, I believe that Trump is constitutionally incorrect to say that the states are simply agents of the federal government when it comes to the operation of elections. The Constitution explicitly gives the states the right to run their elections.
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It's not nearly as aggressive as the headline number suggests: Denver employees begin to receive layoff notifications: 'It's disappointing'
And: Denver layoffs require workers to waive right to sue to receive severance - Axios Denver
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New official words include "skibidi" and "delulu": Skibidi and tradwife among words added to Cambridge Dictionary
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Trump is significantly raising the cost of a lot of things and I continue to believe it won't work out well even though we haven't seen large effects yet: Trump Widens Metal Tariffs to Target Baby Gear and Motorcycles
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Yes, people are hungry in Gaza. But the "mass starvation" narrative is a lie and the pictures being used to spread that false narrative are outright propaganda: They Became Symbols for Gazan Starvation. But All 12 Suffer from Other Health Problems.
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I didn't get to this yesterday. Interesting story. Part of me thinks it's kinda interesting and part of me thinks is a way for a guy to get a whole bunch of free meals. And isn't there a psychoactive medication to help with his underlying psychological issue? (I do take those sorts of issues very seriously. The idea of someone committing suicide over a problem that could be managed by taking a pill is tragic.)
He Announced His Intention to Die. The Dinner Invitations Rolled In. - The New York Times
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Another thing I didn't get to yesterday: FBI Returns Long-Lost Manuscript Signed by Hernán Cortés in 1527 to Mexico's National Archives
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Downtown Denver office occupancy vs safety and enjoyability of that area, including 16th Street Mall has a horse vs cart problem, or at least question: Will more people coming to the office in downtown cause the rest of downtown to be better (more enjoyable, more profitable for local businesses, safer), or does the rest of downtown have to be better in order to get more people to be willing to come back to the office?
Denver falls behind big cities in return-to-office push - Axios Denver
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I have no idea if any of this is true as the research is funded by a company that makes cleaning products, but it is amusing: What's Your Love Language? Cleaning, According to Seventh Generation Survey | Morningstar
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Do you support this? 'Pregnancy robots' could give birth to human children
China firm plans world’s first pregnancy humanoid robot using artificial womb
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Today's Videos
OK, he's a fairly good dancer but really needs more moves
The actual song:
What your daughter thought it was: