GARRETT FLICKER WANTS DENVER TO DO ITS JOB WHEN IT COMES TO HOMELESSNESS Garrett is the chair of the Denver GOP and he's the guy talking about two initiatives, one of which that would finally make Denver do something substantial about homeless camps that pop up on private property. And since the Denver City Council issued not one but TWO scathing proclamations about these initiatives you know he's doing something right. The first is about enforcing Denver ban on urban camping and sets up a mechanism to allow business and property owners to report unauthorized camps and gives he city three days to break them up or the business or property owner can sue the city. This would be an absolute NIGHTMARE for the city and I am enthusiastically for it. The other would lower the cap for Denver’s aggregate sales and use tax rate from 4.81% down to 4.5% and require the city to reduce any other new sales and use taxes if voters approve new ones above that 4.5% cap. It would reduce the city's take by about $50 to $80 million bucks next year, this from a 1.5 billion dollar budget. Again, I'm all for it, especially because those in power hate it. You can read the homelessness initiative by clicking here and you should read all of it.
IT'S TIME TO DROP SOME MONEY ON MENTAL HEALTH IN COLORADO And I'd love to see this be part of a larger program to address homelessness and the small number of mentally ill people who commit a huge number of small offenses. The street-to hospital-to jail merry-go-round has to stop. And we are seeing huge issues with the mental health services that we have currently, from staffing issues and backlogs that mean severely mentally ill people are being housed in jails because there is nowhere for them to go for help. This article is very depressing but to me seems like a great place to move up from. I think the first candidate for Governor to come up with plan to do something about this is going to get a lot of attention.
VOTE YES ON PROP 120 AND TELL THE SNEAKY LEGISLATURE TO GO POUND SAND Prop 120 will lower property taxes for two kinds of property: multi-family properties and lodging. It was SUPPOSED to cut property taxes on all kinds of stuff, including your house, but the Legislature changed all that by literally renaming what properties are called in Colorado to prevent you from saving money as your home value skyrockets. Aholes, I tell you. If you vote yes on what is left it still tells them we don't appreciate their little games. Read the explanation here.
THE BOULDER DAILY CAMERA HAS ISSUED A MASSIVE RETRACTION And this is just embarrassing. They have retracted their entire 9/11 Remembrance front page story because apparently the now-fired reporter just made up a bunch of stuff and got other major details, like the location of the Pentagon, completely wrong. The worst part for them is that they are not being transparent about it, and we've had to learn they fired this reporter from a different reporter via Twitter. Shame on them.
I WISH I WERE SHOCKED BY THE PANDORA PAPERS But if you didn't already know that rich people use methods that we can't even fathom to hide wealth and avoid as many taxes as they can you need to get out more. The journalists who have probably been working double time for months to dig into the treasure trove of documents that outline those methods maybe even believe that some of these people, especially those who grow rich while their countrymen starve and suffer, will be held accountable. I am not so optimistic. I am also very interested in the fact that so far there are no prominent Americans in this story. I'm not the only one to have noticed that. From Foreign Policy:
Why no Americans?Considering the vast wealth of America’s own oligarchs, it’s surprising on first blush to see no U.S. names mentioned. One simple explanation, put forward by the Washington Post, is that U.S. millionaires and billionaires have enough tools available within the U.S. tax code to shield most of their wealth already. (For a good example of this practice, see ProPublica’s June report on the exploitation of Roth IRA accounts to create “a Bermuda-style tax haven right here in the U.S.”)
This is a short video of what is in the Pandora papers.
ONE IN FIVE YOUNG ADULTS ARE MOVING BACK IN WITH THEIR PARENTS This is not all that surprising in our crazy real estate market. Watch the story here.
INDEPENDENTS DON'T LOVE THE GIANT DEMOCRAT SLUSH FUND BILL The only group that does are Democrats and I bet a vast majority of them have no clue what is actually in the bill and how much it will actually cost (and I hope they aren't stupid enough to believe that it will cost zero dollars). More importantly Independents do not like the spending bill and that matters a LOT. Dems realize that people are NOT happy with the President's performance so far and that is big trouble in the mid terms. They can't afford to alienate a huge chunk of voters right now.
SCAR JO SETTLED HER CASE WITH DISNEY And I TOLD you people they would settle because Disney was CLEARLY wrong here and when they came out attacking her for already being paid $20 million I knew what they were doing. Now they've settled for an undisclosed amount and everyone is all happy again. Considering her case was filed in July this was FAST. Disney was wrong.
ARE WE HEADING TOWARDS A SECOND CIVIL WAR? This used to sound crazy but now, not so much. I've seen people I love on both sides of the aisle go down political rabbit holes from which they don't seem to be emerging and both are based on paranoia and abject hatred of "the other side". This column is a good explainer though I think French only finds fault with conservatives. It may have you rushing out to buy ammo and gold. I know I am.
A DRUG TO HELP YOU POOP COULD IMPROVE MEMORY And it's odd some of the side effects that aren't expected. The drug, called Resolor, was found to increase memory in those who took it. Read more here.
CLIMATE ALARMISTS ARE 0 AND 50 WITH THEIR PREDICTIONS And they are all gathered up nicely here for you to see for yourself.i
IT'S THE LAST DAY TO BUY TICKETS FOR THE COLORADO WOMEN'S ALLIANCE EVENT THIS THURSDAY And I am so excited to be going, I'd love for you to join us! You definitely want to hear from Renee Brinkerhoff about her career in rally racing and her foundation to help end human trafficking. Buy your ticket NOW by clicking here!
THIS INA GARTEN PARODY IS SO PERFECT I CAN'T STAND IT But if you don't have time to watch it, store bought is just fine.
WHEN KIDS MEET THE NEW BABY