KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD IS COMING TO THE SPRINGS THIS WEEKEND And he's stopping by the show for a minute today at 12:30. His song Blue on Black is on my Top 10 Songs of All Time List. He's in the Springs Sunday with a list of other musicians as part of the Experience Hendrix Tribute Tour and you can buy tickets to see that show here. His new album is out and it's fantastic and you should buy it here.
TINA PETERS FINDS OUT HER FATE TODAY And I'm talking to Jimmy Sengenberger, who made the trip to the courthouse for the sentencing, at 1pm or maybe later to talk about what happens to Tina Peters for her role in breaking multiple laws to "prove" that Trump lost via cheating. She faces up to twenty years in prison.
MY VOTER GUIDE IS OUT And you can find it here. Find out about State Senate candidates by clicking here.
ABOUT FEMA AND NORTH CAROLINA I've said on earlier blogs that I'm holding fire about the federal response because I've lived through hurricanes and the aftermath so I know how hard it is to do help and recovery. That being said, time is ticking and we're seeing stories like this one about private citizens being threatened for HELPING. I've got former FEMA director and current KHOW morning show host Michael Brown on at 2:30 to talk about what the realities of recovery really are in a situation like this.
CAMPAIGN FUNDS FOR HAIR AND MAKEUP BREAKS NEW GROUND A woman running for Senate District 6 trying to unseat a rare Republican lawmaker in Alamosa is raising questions as she paid for hair and image consulting and new clothes from campaign funds. Is it illegal? No one seems to know, as this hasn't come up before. From the Denver Gazette:
Smotherman's first expenditure, to the consultant for "style and appearance consulting," was made on Jan. 1, 2024, the same day Smotherman filed her affidavit to run for the Senate district that covers southwestern Colorado from the Utah state line all the way east to Alamosa.
According to reports filed with the Secretary of State, by mid-January, Smotherman had spent another $613 on hair and makeup with the same consultant and at two stores for "professional clothing for campaigning, style and appearance. "
She paid for more clothing in March and June and for alterations, all with campaign cash. The total reported was $1,075.93.
Smotherman told Colorado Politics she checked with the Secretary of State to see if those expenditures were allowable and was told no one had ever asked that question before.
A spokesman for the Secretary of State's office told Colorado Politics, "If any person believes a campaign finance rule has been violated, they may file a formal complaint with the Secretary of State’s office. Because any such matter may come before the department, we cannot comment further."
I'm not sure how I feel about this. I feel like you should pay for that stuff out of your own pocket, but if it's not explicitly against the rules her donors can decide if that's how they want their money spent, I guess.
THIS IMAGINARY GANG MEMBER HAS BEEN BUSY One of the members of the gang causing problems in Aurora has been held over for trial for a variety of crimes. He's been busy for an imaginary guy. At least the Governor seems to think he's imaginary.
THE DUMBEST DENTIST EVERY GETS EVEN DUMBER This story is the gift that keeps on giving if you love dumb criminal stories. Dentist and accused murderer James Craig has now been busted AGAIN while in jail for trying to get a fellow inmate to agree to an idiotic plan to make it appear he was framed, with the dentist offering free dental care for life in exchange. He's tried to rope his mistress into helping him cover up his crime too. How did he get a degree in dentistry being this stupid? I'm asking seriously.
CRIME RUNS NATURAL GROCERS OUT OF CAPITOL HILL And these are the stories I think of when I hear the Mayor talking about raising taxes to reinvest in downtown so people will come back. If you can't protect businesses from people robbing them blind, then there will BE no businesses downtown for people to visit. Natural Grocers has given up on it's Colfax and Washington location after crime and safety have become untenable. Shame on Denver for letting all this happen to businesses. Shame on the Mayor for not putting everything else but safety and crime on the backburner until businesses can operate without criminals running rampant.
TIM WALZ TRYING TO EXPLAIN HIS CHINE LIE IS MAKING IT WAY WORSE Tim Walz got caught in a lie about being in Tianamen Square and instead of fessing up he's trying to make excuses that are so dumb while trying to deflect the fact he's been in China DOZENS of times by saying blah blah blah. Watch this nonsense.
His continued insistence that he is going to explain this away is only making this worse and just make him look like a liar who is going to continue lying rather than take responsibility for his stupidity. We'll see what impact this has on the race. In a race this tight everything matters.
AND YES, TIM, YOU CAN YELL FIRE IN A CROWDED THEATER this was another moment that made my head explode during the debate.
Reason.com has the breakdown on just how wrong this is here.
EMPLOYERS ARE GETTING OUT OF THE INSURANCE BUSINESS And if I owned a business this is EXACTLY what I would do. There is a thing called an individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement, or ICHRA. Instead of contracting with an insurance company directly to provide coverage, businesses are giving employees money to buy their own health insurance. As a matter of fact, I'd probably pay for Direct Primary Care memberships for my staff and then give them money for a high deductible policy to cover emergencies. Read more here, but this is a great way to save money and provide good benefits.
ANOTHER CITY OPTS OUT OF THE DUMB NEW GUN LAWS And as could be expected any place that is not Aspen, or Boulder should probably try to do the same thing. The state passes a vague and stupid law banning guns in "sensitive spaces" and now municipalities are opting out, as they should. Read it here.
WHY ARE CANADIANS MOVING TO THE HORRIBLE UNITED STATES? I love it when lefties announce they are LEAVING this godforsaken country we live in and they often announce they are moving to Canada, a socialist utopia full of Tim Horton's. But oddly, MORE people are moving TO the United States from Canada than the other way around. How is this possible? Socialist utopia's with free healthcare and all that are awesome, right? Seems things are hella expensive in Canada right now. From the Daily Caller:
The rising cost of living has also led to an increase in the number of people seeking debt solutions in Canada with the country now home to the highest household debt to disposable income ratio in the G7 . This article will compare several key cost of living categories in Canada and the US, focusing on how some of the biggest price gaps could be to blame for the recent spike in immigration rates.
Seems like all is not well north of the border.
HOW IS THE NEW JACK SMITH INDICTMENT NOT ELECTION INTERFERENCE? The new indictment just released by Special Prosecutor is clearly election interference to me. There is a ZERO percent chance this will be heard in any way shape or form before the election. Traditionally the DoJ has been overly cautious about doing anything that could appear to be election interference, but in the Biden Admin no such concern exists apparently. You can read the takeaways but to me it's a rehash of of the same stuff said before. This is a great thread on the indictments and it's very good.
If you read that thread you begin to understand the indictment Smith released is BEYOND inappropriate and clear election interference. This is NOT "new evidence" as the media keeps saying because it hasn't been subjected to cross examination and it likely will not be. This is just shameful.
YOUNG PEOPLE ARE NOT USING CONDOMS And as one who came of age during the AIDS terror (and yes, it was a terror back then) this is appalling to me. I guess the easy treatments for most venereal diseases makes kids think not using a condom is no big deal, but herpes is forever and HIV is still a thing, though manageable and not the automatic death sentence it used to be. Read more here about this new and not-so-smart trend.
THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP POLITICAL TEXTS AND CALLS Because even as politicians realized that unwanted calls and texts are so onerous that they created the Do Not Call List to stop them, but you don't really think they were going to stop THEMSELVES??? That means that you can't stop those stupid messages and we can all just pray this election gets here sooner rather than later.
WILL THE WORKING CLASS DECIDE THIS ELECTION? This interview says yes and this may be very very good news for Trump.
SHOCKER: BIDEN WANTS TO PROTECT IRAN'S NUKES Of course President Biden said he didn't want Israel to take out Iran's nuclear sites. Of course he did.
A MUSICAL INTERLUDE FOR GEN X
THE JOYS OF RETIREMENT