WHEN DOES A PROPERTY TAX CUT NOT CUT TAXES? If you guessed when the Colorado Legislature passes a "fix" for our soaring property tax bills you guessed right. I've got Kelly Caufield, CSI Executive Director on at 12:30 about their new report that dissects the bill being celebrated by Legislators as a tax cut when it clearly is not. You can read the Common Sense report on the bill here.
IS THERE A PUSH TO BAN HUNTING? I certainly think so with a ballot initiative to end the very carefully regulated currently allowable hunting of mountain lions. Dan Gates from Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management on the show to discuss why a new ballot initiative is a mountain lion in sheep's clothing when it comes to hunting in Colorado. Find out more about Dan's group by clicking here.
THERE WILL BE A BALLOT INIATIVE WITH REAL PROPERTY TAX REFORM ON THE BALLOT Kristi Burton Brown (known by many at KBB from her time as Chair of the Colorado GOP) works now with Advance Colorado, which is running at least one ballot initiative if not two this fall. Read about them here These ballot initiatives would bring REAL property tax reform and relief and we must vote for them.
MAYOR MIKE CREATES A NEW OFFICE OF GOBBLEDY GOOK WHATEVER This is so stupid. Mayor Mike Johnston has created yet another official city office with nebulous goals and and an even more nebulous mission. From the Denver Gazette:
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Monday announced the creation of a new office tasked with tackling public safety but with a pronounced shift away from law enforcement and an emphasis on "racial and social equity."
The new Office of Neighborhood Safety brings together four major city programs, including the Support Team Assisted Response and youth safety programs, under one office, which seeks to keep communities safe in ways that, Johnston said, don't require law enforcement.
Denver officials didn't describe in detail what the daily operations of the new office would look like — or what its specific responsibilities would be. But in creating the new office, the Johnston administration signaled it is viewing public safety through the lens of "racial and social equity."
Whatever. How will we know when they achieve their goals? What the heck are their goals? The Mayor says this won't require any more money, though he had to have taken the money away from something on the heels of taking a chunk of the public safety budget already. My favorite part of the claptrap is this:
Sanders claimed that Denver is a city where race and other social identities predict someone’s outcome in life.
Apparently she never met black former mayors Wellington Webb and Michael Hancock, who were both raised in Denver. I hate all this so much.
WE'RE NUMBER 3! And if the Democrats continue to make crime pay we can go even higher! Colorado has been named the third most dangerous state in the United States because our outrageously high property crime rates after Democrats made crime super easy for those who want to commit them.
JARED POLIS'S EXPENSIVE GAS IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER Let's never forget that back in 2019 new Governor Jared Polis CANCELLED a waiver request with the EPA because he "welcomed" the opportunity to force us all to buy super expensive California gas. Now that we are facing these huge spikes his tune has changed and he's all fighty with the "awful, just awful" EPA. Too bad it's likely too little too late, but maybe he can pull a rabbit out of his hat. I doubt it, so don't forget who to blame when gas prices jump dramatically.
DENVER TEACHERS PROTESTING OVER PAY And I want to start this comment by quoting the following from the Denver Gazette:
Good noted that over the past two contracts, union members will have seen their salaries increase roughly 47% from $57,283 in the 2018-2019 school year to $84,375 next academic year.
No offense to teachers, most of whom did NOT protest, but how many of you have gotten a 47% raise since 2019? This is a great way to burn through any goodwill people might feel for teachers in Denver, where they don't do a great job of actually educating students.
PROTECTING FREE SPEECH: THE EARLY WARNING SIGNS FROM AROUND THE WORLD John Stossel sounds the alarm.
THE "DON'T MAKE ME STOP THIS CAR" LEADERSHIP AT LOCAL CAMPUSES Can we stop pretending like the leadership at the University of Denver and the Auraria campus are leaders at all? And can we end the notion that any of the useful idiots protesting for Hamas are "brave" in any way? The latest from DU says it all:
"Despite our efforts to promote free expression, engage in listening, and maintain safety, the situation has continued with intentional disregard for university policy and a troubling increase in reports of unacceptable behavior, including antisemitism and disruption," DU Chancellor Jeremy Haefner, Provost Mary Clark and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Todd Adams said in a statement.
These protesters are being PROTECTED by leadership who are so worried about hurt feelings that they have neutered themselves when it comes to these students. They keep threatening over and over again without following through, like parents who spend their days counting to three over and over again while not doing anything. These people are all pathetic. If they want this to stop, just walk through campus and tell students they are expelled if they don't get the damn tents out NOW. If they don't, they are truly trespassing as they are no longer students. Problem solved.
WYOMING IS COMING FOR OUR COPS And they are wooing them with a billboard at Alameda and Pecos that sends a very simple message:
“Work in Wyoming where breaking the law is still illegal and cops are funded.”
So far it seems to be working, as Wyoming is recruiting cops fed up with making arrests only to see the accused walk with no real penalty.
JUST WHAT PASSED IN THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION? Jake Fogleman from the Independence Institute does a nice wrap up here of the stuff you want to know about.
THERE IS A WHOLE BUNCH OF CROWNS BEING GIVEN UP RIGHT NOW I realize most people don't care much about pageant politics but what is happening right now in the Miss USA pageant system is pretty huge. After the recent resignation of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, Miss Colorado USA has also stepped down in support of the not-yet-explained issues the first two had with pageant leadership. The first runner up for Miss Teen USA has also declined the crown. Being a pageant queen AFTER you've competed and don't have anything else to shoot for is not fun. Lots of mandatory appearances at places you don't want to be and schmoozing with people you don't want to schmooze with. Part of me thinks this is just a new generation of women who don't feel compelled to complete the obligations they signed up for. We won't know for sure until these women spill the real beans of there are beans to be spilled.
KRISTI NOEM IS OVER And I haven't talked about her self inflicted wounds as she was barreling towards the Trump VP short list. From announcing she shot an unruly dog to then blatantly lying in her autobiography about meeting world leaders, she has shot herself in the foot and it may be politically fatal. Now she's been banned from visiting 20% of her home state as Native American tribes keep voting to keep her off their reservations. Yikes. Not since Dan Quayle's unfortunate Potato episode has a politician harmed their future worse in a short period of time.
HERE COME THE MILLER MOTHS The first year I lived here and was doing morning drive, I went out to my garage where the light was on and opened the garage door at 4am, only to be swarmed by what I found out later were Miller moths. It took me months to get their bodies out of my garage completely. If you're new to Colorado, here's what you can expect from this year's moth migration.
WHAT DO DYING PEOPLE REGRET? These are not surprising but a good reminder.
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DON'T EXPECT A RATE CUT ANYTIME SOON As Fed Chair Jerome Powell told a group of bankers that inflation is higher than he thought it should be. He also said the restrictive policies we've got now will continue for now.
WHY YOUNG PEOPLE CAN'T BUY A HOME And Charlie Kirk says it's not just higher prices and interest rates.
MOM MAD A VET WON'T SEE HER SON THE CAT And this isn't one of those cases where she has an ACTUAL cat she calls her child, but her actual son who has decided he is a cat. It's after the bit reminding us of how fragile these people are.
A LAWSUIT OVER VACCINE DAMAGE HAS BEEN FILED And it was filed by a woman who says she was permanently disabled during the vaccine trials she signed up for. Read about it here.
AMERICANS SUPPORT ABORTION RIGHTS And since the repeal of Roe V Wade respondents have gotten LESS pro-life. Now six in ten Americans want abortion access at some point. That's going to make it hard for Republicans to run as pro-life candidates and win.
IS THIS THE END OF CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS IN COLORADO? The short answer is not yet, but four Red Lobster locations are closing in the metro and the company tries to figure out how to make money again.
US DOCS ARE NOT USING GOOD SCIENCE ON TRANSGENDER CARE That is the word from Hilary Cass, the British pediatrician who recently completed an in depth review of transgender science. In it she found no quality evidence that affirming gender does what it says it does and many questions about the long term effects of medical interventions. From the New York Times:
Over the next four years, Dr. Cass commissioned systematic reviews of scientific studies on youth gender treatments and international guidelines of care. She also met with young patients and their families, transgender adults, people who had detransitioned, advocacy groups and clinicians.
Her final report, published last month, concluded that the evidence supporting the use of puberty-blocking drugs and other hormonal medications in adolescents was “remarkably weak.” On her recommendation, the N.H.S. will no longer prescribe puberty blockers outside of clinical trials. Dr. Cass also recommended that testosterone and estrogen, which allow young people to develop the physical characteristics of the opposite sex, be prescribed with “extreme caution.”
When asked about how the American Academy of Pediatrics rejected the report, she had this to say
I suspect that the A.A.P., which is an organization that does massive good for children worldwide, and I see as a fairly left-leaning organization, is fearful of making any moves that might jeopardize trans health care right now. And I wonder whether, if they weren’t feeling under such political duress, they would be able to be more nuanced, to say that multiple truths exist in this space — that there are children who are going to need medical treatment, and that there are other children who are going to resolve their distress in different ways.
She is not wrong here. Too bad the AAP is so hyper political that they are putting politics ahead of science.
WHERE ARE THE BEST STEAKS IN DENVER? I love a good steakhouse and I'm embarrassed to say I've not even heard of many of the places on this list, including #1 which is Jack's on Pearl. See them all here.
TIRED OF BAD DATES? LET AI HANDLE THEM Y'all this is nuts. The CEO of dating site Bumble said that in the near future, you would be able to send an AI version of yourself for a first date to weed out people that wouldn't be right for you. This sounds horrible. Please tell me this won't be a thing.
THIS GUY CAN'T BE REAL but the more that I watch this channel, and I do, the more convinced I am he IS real.