YOU REALLY SHOULD GO SEE THE CHRISTMAS MARKETS IN EUROPE But take a WARM RAIN COAT and rain hat, because the December weather is not so great. I'll have a full review, plus the tale of how my phone came to be lost and then found by a listener at DIA. It was a great week.
LORA THOMAS HAS PACKED IT IN The DougCo Commissioner has given up her seat after the two clowns left on the Commission decided to evict her from her office before her term is over. Douglas County, we now have a commission made up of men who seem to be in lockstep and two of them have shown themselves to be completely untrustworthy liars already so you better pay attention and buckle up because they will do things in their own best interest, not in the best interest of the county. I'm hoping Kevin Van Winkle proves himself to not be rubber stamp yes man for the other two. Hoping.
I'M COOL WITH BIDEN PARDONING HUNTER Boy did I get a LOT of emails about this last week! I'll share my thoughts on this, but the long and short of it is, Hunter didn't kill anyone, he was a drug addict making really bad choices and if could pardon my kid in the same situation I would. That being said, I find it funny when everyone gets the vapors over pardons and it seems someone always get the vapors over the OTHER TEAM's pardons. Being POTUS has its advantages. Of course now he's been flooded with a slew of pardon requests from other lawmakers, some of which are horrendous (I'm looking at you AOC) and should never be granted. This of course puts me at odds with Governor Polis, Senator Michael Bennet and Rep. Jason Crow, who criticized the pardon to show how "independent" they are for their future runs for office. Dick Wadhams writes about that here.
POLIS HATES DRIVERS That is my conclusion after reading this column about the suggested cuts to the Transportation budget recommended by the anti-car-for-you Governor Jared Polis. Our roads are the 8th worst in the nation (no surprise) and he wants to shave $100 million off the budget. I'm not entirely sad about this because they haven't been using the money to fix the roads (obviously) so maybe a haircut isn't a bad idea. It sure would be nice if someone ran for Governor on a platform of Making Driving Great Again, wouldn't it?
AND HE HATES RANCHER TOO This is a great column about an angry Polis being asked about wolf re introduction at a recent Colorado Counties meeting. We all know his husband Marlin was one of the big driving forces of this measure so for the Governor to default to "the will of the people" line doesn't cut it for me. Apparently it didn't cut it for the audience and Polis abruptly left when being questioned about pausing the program until more can be figured out. He hates ranchers and drivers and pretty much anyone who doesn't live their life exactly the way he thinks we should live it from where I'm sitting.
MAYOR MIKE HAS BITTEN OFF MORE THAN HE CAN HANDLE Before I left Mayor Mike Johnston had already created a national kerfuffle by saying 50,000 moms from the Highlands would meet federal authorities at the border of Denver to protect illegal immigrants. Now Denver residents are pushing back in this story in the Denver Gazette. The political mood has shifted and I'm guessing the Mayor wishes he had kept his mouth shut. Even people on the left are beginning to see the necessity of a border. We'll see what happens when Trump takes office, and I would not be surprised if federal dollars stopped flowing to cities like Denver. This is a big part of why NYC Mayor Eric Adams has all of sudden gotten serious about immigration. Even Venezuelan immigrants who came here illegally were happy Trump was going to close the border. Read that here.
MISTREATMENT OF AIDES HAS ONE DEM ON THE OUTS And you have to wonder just how unlikeable State Senator Sonya Jacquez Lewis must be for her own party to turn on her this aggressively. The two term Senator has been accused of mistreating staff and paying them illegally out of campaign funds. She had them bartend at an event and even mow her lawn and they quit because of it. She's been stripped of committee assignments and will perhaps face an ethics investigation. The thing is, I bet other members of the Legislature do stuff like this but are nicer about it. Just saying. I won't be sorry if she goes, she's a super far lefty anyway. Legislative aides want her to step down.
SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: SECRET SERVICE EDITION The Secret Service has a culture of silence according to Rep. Jason Crow who is the top ranking Democrat on the committee investigating the shooting of Donald Trump (remember that?). He says Secret Service officers simply don't say anything even when they see something amiss because of the culture of the agency. Culture comes directly from the top. He was on along with Rep. Mike Kelly with Margaret Brennan and it was interesting. Watch it below or read about it here.
MAYOR YEMI SAYS HE WAS THE VICTIM In a social media message Friday he said he was truthful and cooperated fully with the investigation into a fake hate crime during his campaign for Mayor. He says he will be given a document saying that he was a victim in this case, and that his contact with the perpetrators was only in the context of communicating with a local media personality and nothing more. Until something else comes out I'm inclined to believe him.
DENVER'S FLAVORED TOBACCO BAN IS STUPID And the only thing is does is hurt small businesses. Even the FDA knows this is stupid. From a recent article from the doctor who heads the FDA:
At the same time, we have also authorized thirty-four e-cigarette products for sale, including those with tobacco and menthol flavors. These authorized products and devices have undergone rigorous scientific review and have been found by the FDA to meet the public health standard required by law – which weighs the risks of the products against the benefits to the population as a whole. In the case of flavored e-cigarettes, this includes demonstrating they have a benefit for adults who smoke cigarettes relative to that of tobacco flavored e-cigarettes – in terms of complete switching or significant reduction – that is sufficient to outweigh the risks of the product, including to youth.
If this is allegedly to protect kids from smoking it doesn't work, as kids are NOT smoking at record levels.
THE NEW FILM THE ORDER RECOUNTS THE DEATH OF ALAN BERG And thusly KOA is featured. Read a great column about the story behind the film here. This is the trailer.
A DESPERATE DEPUTY MAKES A BAD CHOICE And I'm very sad that for women desperate for cash porn is the answer for some, but here we are. A now former Arapahoe County Sheriff's deputy resigned when her work moonlighting in porn was uncovered. To her credit, she says she knew that by not asking about outside work she was violating the rules, but she was on the verge of losing her house and needed quick cash so she did porn. Question here, would the Arapahoe Sheriff's office have given her permission to do this kind of work? What especially annoys me is it's always women who lose their jobs.
LINDSEY VONN IS THE 40 YEAR OLD HERO WE NEED As she is trying to make a comeback after six years away from competitive skiing. I'm rooting for her, though she finished two seconds behind is her first races back so she still has a long way to go.
ASSAD IS OUT OF SYRIA But don't get excited the horrible dictator who murdered hundreds of thousands of Syrians while lining his own pockets being succeeded by someone better. This link has a good thread on the latest developments but one of the men who helped send Assad to Russia for exile is a former ISIS head so I'm not super certain this will get better. The good news is the Israelis bombed Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles into oblivion so at least they won't have that.
PAMELA ANDERSON GETS A GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATION And I think that's the big story in these nominations because I haven't seen a vast majority of things that are nominated.
THE RFK JR EFFECT IS TAKING SHAPE As the FDA is now preparing to ban red food dye that many think can lead to behavior issues in kids. This is a good thing and I think the timing is definitely because RFK Jr has made such a stink about the crap in our food.
THIS IS SO CUTE
I HOPE THIS IS A JOKE BUT I FEAR IT IS NOT Watch below or click here.
YOUR LOVE LANGUAGE TELLS YOU SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR TOXIC TRAITS And if you don't know what your Love Language is buy this book. And then watch the video below or click here.
TRUTH IN SPORTS ADVERTISING Watch below or click here.
MILLENNIALS ARE GETTING OLD Watch below or click here.
THE KRAMPUS MARCH IN NORWAY IS A THING And not only do they have Saint Nicholas come they also have Krampus who takes the bad children to rot in hell on the same day. Watch below or click here.
THE BEST USE OF PRESS AND SEAL EVER Watch below or click here.