COULD WE SOON BE A SUPER DEMOCRACY? Our Futurist Thomas Frey has written an interesting paper about what the future of governance might look like if we lean into technology and an super informed citizenry. He has more faith in humans than I do here, and I'm going to poke some holes in his plan by pointing out the failures of human nature in this system. Read the paper here and Thomas joins me at 1. Find Thomas to speak at your event or work on your industry by clicking here.
DEBORAH FLORA IS ON AT 2:30 To discuss why she is taking a pass on the caucus as she's already made the ballot via petitions. We're also going to talk about the polling here which shows Democrat Ike McCorkle beating Lauren Boebert head to head. He lost handily to Ken Buck last time, so this is a big deal. Find out more about Deborah and support her run by clicking here.
I DID A BLOG YESTERDAY Because I maybe could have had a show, so here are the things I want to pull over from yesterday.
DENVER TRIES TO SEND MIGRANTS SOMEWHERE ELSE Oh my goodness, watch this.
This is what being a welcoming sanctuary city gets you. I wonder where I heard someone saying this back when we were rolling out the red carpet for illegal immigrants? Oh wait, that was me. We shall discuss.
WE'RE FINALLY FOCUSING ON ADDICTION AND MENTAL ILLNESS IN DENVER The Mayor is finally focusing his attention on the addiction crisis in Denver. He's now trying to move 200 homeless people into addiction or mental health care facilities this year, which is great, but I'm afraid barely a drop in the bucket. The issue here is that intensive, in patient care for addictions of mental illness are very expensive, whereas shoving them all into a dangerous old hotel where people can die out of the public eye is much cheaper. I don't blame the mayor for that, but I do blame him for wasting millions of dollars on the Trouble Tree or Meth Western instead of doing this FIRST. The big issue I see in this article is that they are not going to mandate treatment, something idiotic Denver City Councilwoman Sarah Parady is strictly against because she apparently believes that a person whacked on on fentanyl walking around bent over talking to the voices in their heads is going to make good choices. Read this part:
“I am really happy to see us move into this space,” Parady said, “because it’s incredibly fragmented and not an area we have focused on a lot at the local level — despite it being a crisis that interlocks so directly with our homelessness crisis, how youth are doing in our city, and lots and lots of other issues.”
At the Harm Reduction Action Center in central Denver, executive director Lisa Raville remains skeptical.
The center holds one of the city’s contracts to operate a needle exchange program. It also offers drug testing strips, overdose reversal medication and other services focused on reducing drug-related deaths.
Raville said Roads to Recovery had captured her attention, since city officials are talking about an approach that would move away from criminalization and incarceration as central tools for combating addiction and mental health challenges. Still, she said, a diversion program that presents someone with the choice of either going to jail or entering treatment would rely, at least in part, on the threat of consequences.
“I am concerned they are talking about mandatory treatment, which I do not support. It’s human rights abuse and it doesn’t work,” Raville said. “What is their substance use treatment vision?”
No offense to the woman who makes her living making drug use easier and cleaner, but shut the blank up, lady. The reality is that mandated sobriety is JUST as effective as voluntary treatment when it comes to five year outcomes. From the Wall Street Journal:
These and other studies show that people who are mandated to undergo addiction treatment fare at least as well as those who volunteer. In the 2000s, a group of Stanford researchers compared a group of patients required by a court attend drug treatment with others who entered care voluntarily. At one year and five years following enrollment, the mandated and voluntary patients made similar improvements in areas such as drug use, criminal activity and employment status. Notably, the groups were equally satisfied with their treatment experience.
Unless and until we get tough on addicts we will never solve this problem. We won't be able to save all of them, but dang it we can save some of them, which allowing them to wallow in their addictions while handing them new needles is NOT doing. If THAT worked we wouldn't have so many addicts in Denver right now.
DENVER IS TAKING BACK DOLLARS TO PROVIDE SECURITY AT THE TROUBLE TREE But they are stepping in with larger measures to secure the homeless hotel. After seven people have died there since December they are upping security by a large margin but taking back money given to The Salvation Army that was supposed to be for security but obviously wasn't being spent well. Read more here, but I fully expect to see some of these "residents" move back outside when they can't run the hotel like a lawless compound, especially since the weather is turning nice agaIn.
PARENTS NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SCHOOLS RIGHT NOW And you can watch this for more on why you need to pay attention.
WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS DON'T WORK FOR EVERYONE And that is something that everyone needs to know. In addition to people regaining weight after stopping the drugs, and some users experiencing horrible side effects, there are bunch of people who just don't lose very much weight while taking them.
THAT DUMBASS MOTORCYCLE DUDE HAS PLEADED GUILTY To "speed exhibition". His race from Garden of the Gods to Denver in 25 minutes will cost him about $1300 bucks, twelve points on his license, and the fourteen days in jail which he already served. He's also forbidden from driving in Colorado so there's that. This isn't going to discourage others from doing this for clicks though.
HOW LOCAL COLORADO GOVERNMENTS ARE SOLVING PROBLEMS That are often created by the Legislature. This editorial lays out some of the creative ways local governments are solving the problems of crime, homelessness and more by being creative and responsive to their citizens.
NORTHGLENN NEIGHBORS SHOULD FIGHT THIS A plan to house 32 possibly severely mentally ill people who may or may not be sex offenders in a neighborhood has got the attention to neighbors. They say the former assisted living facility is not the space to house such people, as it is very close to not one, but two schools. They are right. Our state and local governments have been running around lying to neighbors about homeless shelters so why should they believe them on this? The official line is that only TWO sex offenders will be in these homes and that the mentally ill people are those who are ready to cycle out of a hospital setting and back into the community, which is good, but why do there need to be ANY sex offenders in a neighborhood? Read more here.
WHY JK ROWLING IS GOING TO BE ARRESTED When she returns to Scotland. She posted this thread yesterday on April Fool's Day and you should read it all:
She is 100% right and she has the kind of FU money that will allow her to fight this to end.
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET WANTS TO STUDY COW BURPS Because cows make so much methane because of the way they digest their food. So now our esteemed Senator wants to study cow burps to see if "dietary changes" could lessen the burps he says contribute to global warming. This is just stupid.
NO MORE PIT BULLS ALLOWED IN AURORA As a judge reinstated a ban that had been voted on by the voters only to be overturned by the City Council some years ago. The judge sided with the plaintiff in that the Council did not have the authority to overturn a ban that had been voted into place not once, but twice. Pit bull owners are now in limbo about what to do here.
TWO MINUTE DRILL!
WANT TO BE A BACK UP MASCOT? There is a job opening for a mascot handler and backup performer with Kroenke sports. If you're athletic and frankly a little nuts you can apply for the job, which doesn't pay bad for a part time gig. Find out more here.
PALEO PINES IS COMING FOR YOUR KIDS By going all in on the trans agenda. The video game, which is ostensibly for all ages, has a whole line of clothing to support trans people as well as coming out in support of Trans Visibility Day on Easter this year. You've been warned.
GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY THIS IS A SCREW UP An NCAA Women's Tournament game was played on a court where the three point lines aren't even remotely the same distance from the goal. I have no clue how this was screwed up so badly but here we are. The coaches decided to go ahead with the game rather than waiting for the lines to be properly striped. How does this happen? Who gets fired for this one?
WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS TOLD TO STOP STEALING STUFF FROM AIR FORCE ONE This story is another indication of the cultural rot in our society. These people are not petty thieves, they are professional with a security clearance that allows them the privilege of flying on Air Force One with the President of the United States. And they can't stop stealing stuff from the plane. Now they've been politely checked but perhaps one arrest for theft would be more effective at solving the problem?
EASIER KNEELING WITH THIS GIZMO I'd try this, I hate kneeling to garden. Watch below or click here.
THIS IS THE MOST INCREDIBLE TRAVEL HACK I DIDN'T KNOW And I will be using this from now on. Watch below or click here.
WHY BEES LOVE BANANAS Who knew this? I did not so but I don't like bananas (don't @ me) so I don't worry about such things. Watch below or click here.
ADULTING SUCKS SOMETIMES, KID Watch below or click here.
RFK, JR SAYS WHAT WE ALL KNOW ABOUT BIDEN I say we all know but this CNN talking head didn't seem to think this answer was going to go this way when she asked about Trump being a threat to democracy.