WEATHER WEDNESDAY AT 12:35 TODAY With our meteorologist Dave Fraser from Fox 31. We're going to ask him to turn off the deep freeze.
PEOPLE ARE STILL SUFFERING BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC A dear friend just told me of the suicide of a young man in Pueblo at the age of 17. The lost life here feels even more consequential somehow so I thought I'd ask Dr. Charles Weber from Family Care Center to join me today at 2 to talk mental health and why we don't seem to be bouncing back after the lockdowns and separations of the pandemic. Find out more or schedule an appointment at Family Care Center near you by clicking here.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST SEE This adaptation by Aaron Sorkin that opened last night at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts of the classic book of the same name is just brilliant. The play is crafted beautifully, though some characters are much larger in this show than the book, but it's a good thing I promise. The cast is perfection and include Richard Thomas of John Boy fame. If you can buy some of the very limited tickets left to see this show you really should. It's ultimately a story about a rape trial so not appropriate for young kids but middle school and up should see it. Buy tickets here. If you want to read about this tour you can click here. It's just so, so good.
I AM LIKING SPEAKER MCCARTHY A LOT AFTER THIS EXCHANGE Rep. Kevin McCarthy was being badgered by a reporter who is super upset that he won't allow the lying sack of Schiff or the Chinese compromised Swalwell back onto the Intelligence Committees. Watch this respectful scorcher of a response:
COLORADO DEMS WANT RENT CONTROL And we have a new bill that would allow local cities to institute a rent control program. Here is the bill. Rent control is a disaster and New York and San Francisco have some of the highest rents in the WORLD because of their rent control policies. This policy is born of economic ignorance and the belief that landlords are greedy. Rent control leads to fraud as people lie to take over rent controlled apartments, it leads to squalid buildings as landlords don't bring in enough to make repairs and it pretty much stops the construction of new apartments because they immediately become a depreciating asset. Imagine if you owned a rent controlled building with four units and you needed to replace a roof this year during super high inflation. You see immediately the issue. This is a horrible bill that must be stopped. Tell them to undo the disastrous constructing defects bill they passed years ago instead.
AND NOW A DUMB SQUIRREL AND CHURCH JOKE Because this gave me a chuckle from listener Joe and I wanted to share:
How different churches tried to solve their squirrel problem:
The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they should not interfere with God’s divine will.
At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week.
The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water-slide.
The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out pans of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much damage a band of drunk squirrels can do.
But the Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy! They baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.
Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue. They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen a squirrel since.
You're welcome.
WHO ARE THE FRONTRUNNERS FOR DENVER MAYOR? I shared yesterday the fundraising totals for Denver mayor but this article does a deeper dive into who the frontrunners are. I'm going to try to get all of them on the show, we'll see which ones say yes. I'm hoping they will take Mayor Hancock's lead and continue to have conversations with me on a regular basis no matter who wins. We'll see, it's a whole new world when it comes to media for politicians.
WE INVITED REP. ELIZABETH EPPS ON THE SHOW TO DISCUSS HER GUN CONTROL BILL And she very politely declined. I just want you guys to know we are asking. We ask a lot.
MIKAELA SHIFRIN IS ONE RACE CLOSER TO BE THE BEST SKIER EVER She's already the best female skier ever with more World Cup wins than any other woman, but now she's knocking on the door of winning more races than any skier of any gender. With her win yesterday, she needs two more tie the standing record held by a man and it doesn't look like she's holding back a single bit. I am rooting so hard for her and I generally don't care about skiing.
ANOTHER HOME EQUITY THEFT STORY I want to keep this top of mind because THIS CAN HAPPEN IN COLORADO and something needs to be done. Read about a new lawsuit in Massachusetts here.
BRIDGING THE URBAN RURAL DIVIDE STARTS LIKE THIS What a lovely column by a black surgeon from Africa who became friends with an Elbert County farmer. Read it here and try to do the same!
COLORADO'S POPULATION GROWTH HAS SLOWED And for those who are sick of traffic and transplants acting the fool, I'm sure this is good news, but beware of celebrating too much. We've been a mecca for young people for some time but if they stop coming because housing is stupid expensive and salaries haven't kept up, we are in a bad way. This genuinely concerns me for downtown Denver, because if young people decide that Austin is hipper and cheaper, or Salt Lake has the same outdoor experiences without the stupid high rents, our entire downtown could collapse for a long time. That is very, very bad. Read more here, and though this article quotes rosy predictions of a quick bounce back, I think these people are delusional about our national reputation right now. It's not good. It's the opposite of good.
A COOL NEW FEATURE AT CITY PARK And I sarcastically said in my head "for homeless people to ruin" but that seems harsh. A very neat play area is being added to City Park near the Science Museum and I bet it's going to be beautiful if they can keep the urban outdoorsman out.
THE TEN STAGES OF A HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECT And this is why I pay people to do things at my house.
FIVE DANGEROUS THINGS YOUR KIDS SHOULD DO This is really, really good. It's about how we are safetying our kids to death and it's time to let them do the dumb stuff we did when we were kids.
ARE YOU IN THE TOP 1% IN COLORADO? If so, good for you because you are making over $683,000 a year, which is ten times the median wage here. Read about what you need nationwide to hit the mark here.
WEIRD THINGS ABOUT COLORADO This is sort of a fun question but I bet you guys could come up with more interesting answers than Fox 31 viewers did. I'll start with the Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, although apparently this year it's moving to Estes Park. That's just not something that happens anywhere else.
JAPAN AND COVID I've talked a LOT about Sweden and how they managed to come out of covid with fewer excess deaths than other nations even though they took a more hands off approach to managing the pandemic. Japan was the other outlier in draconian lockdowns and this is a really good article about Japan before and after the vaccine. You'll note that deaths from covid were SUPER low before the vaccine and now that the vaccine has been taken by 80% of Japanese people deaths have skyrocketed. Read more here.
THE HARSH REALITY OF SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE For every liberal who demands single payer healthcare there are likely hundreds of people under that system waiting for care. This story about the National Health System in the UK, the most touted and revered of single payer systems, should be enough to convince them of this folly, but I doubt it will. From this article from the Daily Signal:
According to the BBC, there are 7.2 million British citizens awaiting medical care, or almost 11% of the entire British population. And Sky News reports that more than 400,000 people in England have been awaiting hospital treatment for more than a year.
Right now, the most salient problem is emergency care. According to The Telegraph, December data show that people suffering a heart attack face an average wait of 90 minutes for an ambulance, with some waiting up to two and a half hours. For emergency care, The Telegraph further reports, 55,000 people were forced to wait on hospital gurneys for “at least” 12 hours following emergency department decisions to admit them.
You may remember my friend Michelle who I did a GoFundMe to get her completely rotten gallbladder removed. She was referred for an "urgent referral" to see a specialist and they simply never called to schedule her. As in ever. She's now back in the US, gallbladder safely removed thanks to the fruits of capitalism in her home country. The NHS is a nightmare on the verge of collapse and though I am sad for the people who will die awaiting care, it needs to happen to end the folly of single payer in this country. Even the UK papers know it. One more quote:
The editors of The Daily Mirror declare, “Without radical reform, the [National Health Service] is doomed.” The Guardian, one of Britain’s top left-wing publications, says that the “crisis-ridden” NHS is “falling apart.” Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, acknowledges the gravity of the NHS crisis, is criticizing the system’s “bureaucracy,” and is calling for the private sector to help “clear” Britain’s enormous waiting lists.
STOP GIVING DEREK WOLFE CRAP FOR KILLING A MOUNTAIN LION He killed a nuisance cat that had killed dogs and deer in a neighborhood and he did so within the confines of Colorado law and with the blessing of Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Yes, mountain lions are pretty. Right up until they eat your dog. Read this for more. I do want to know what mountain lion tastes like. It's one wild game meat I've never had and there aren't that many left in the US.
THIS NEW VIDEO AI IS SCARY AS HELL I'm telling you now, this tech is going to be used to ruin someone's life and it's going to happen soon. It may be a political campaign or just a personal vendetta, but look what it can do. Click here if it doesn't load.
DUDE SHOULD HAVE HAD BETTER DOG TREATS A dog in Kansas has shot his owner and killed him accidentally. It seems the pup stepped on a rifle in the back seat and it went off, shooting the man in the front seat. Man's best friend indeed.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT These are pretty good tips on how to handle those middle of the night wakeups. Check them here.
IS YOUR PUP'S NAME IN THE TOP TEN? I love this lists and I have no clue why. If you've got a girl dog named Luna or a boy dog named Max, you win! Jinx is not on the list and I'm okay with that. Read them all here.
IS THIS THE OPPOSITE OF A CAT BURGLAR? Click here if it doesn't load.
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TERMINAL A HAS GOT IT GOING ON FOR NAPTIME I had no clue this was in DIA but I never fly out of A so there you go. Click here if it doesn't load.
PART TWO OF KIDNAPPING A PEOPLE PLEASER Again, this is hilarious. Click here if it doesn't load.