I BET IT'S BEEN BUSY IN DC As a brand new member of Congress Rep. Jeff Crank (CO CD-5) has probably been quite busy. I've got him on at 2:30 to chat about what he's been up to and his first impressions.
HERE IS THE COLUMN ON AFRICA AND FOREIGN AID I READ ON THE AIR You should read the rest, it's very good. Find it here.
DO ELECTIONS MATTER? There is a very interesting thing happening in Washington and around the country as Democrats try to stop Donald Trump from doing pretty much anything, even things that are clearly under his control. I saw this post on X today and it pretty much sums things up.
As Trump oversees the Executive Branch, and he has sent his team into audit and monitor agencies IN THAT BRANCH, I'm not sure where an appointed federal district court judge gets off in directing the President of the United States to do. The Supreme Court is going to have to start stepping in to point out that most of the things Trump is doing are within his powers to do. I say most because there are a few things I think he's going to lose on, but this "we'll stop him in the courts because we lost at the ballot box" nonsense is not going to work. I think this is exactly what Trump wants them to do and when he wins, they will look like even bigger sore losers. Let's not forget that Dictator Biden (if Trump is a dictator for ignoring a judge's orders than Biden was first) ignored the Supreme Court's ruling on student loan relief so save the crocodile tears.
THIS AS COLORADO BEGS FOR ITS FEDERAL MONEY If you want to know just how dependent states are on federal money just look at the response by the Democratic leadership in Colorado. Jared Polis, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper are demanding that Colorado be allowed to access the funds promised to them. They have a point, as these funds were previously committed and have already been spent. Now they say people aren't being paid for those commitments, which is not good. My guess is eventually monies that have already been committed will be released, but I would advise Colorado to figure out how to make up the considerably difference just in case. Oh, and you can't have any of my tax dollars to do it.
COLORADO JOINS THE SUE TRUMP POOL As Attorney General Phil Weiser has teamed up with a bunch of other AGs to sue the administration for a variety of things. The biggest right now is cuts to funding from the NIH for medical research. The federal government says the issue is funding for "indirect costs" for research, which the government says is way too high, pointing out that most foundations who also make grants won't pay for indirect costs. Indirect costs include building advanced labs and buying equipment, utilities, facilities, paying for compliance, etc. My guess is research facilities shift those costs ONTO government grants for precisely that reason. I think this is one Trump is likely to lose simply because Congress actually allocates the funding and I don't think he can unilaterally stop it. We'll see.
HE DOESN'T CARE, COLORADO SENATE The Democrats in the Colorado Senate have declared themselves unhappy with President Trump's January 6th pardons. They passed a resolution so they could feel good about themselves condemning the pardons. No Republicans voted yes for this bit of theater. I mean this in the nicest possible way, but no one cares.
THE PENNY IS GOING THE WAY OF THE DODO BIRD And I am not the least bit sad about this because they are the dog hair of coins. No one wants them, we all seem to end up with way more of them than we need, and they still don't amount to anything significant. Now Trump says no more pennies. Is anyone nostalgic for pennies?
BENNET AND HICK ERR ON THE SIDE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS The Democrats are painting themselves into quite the corner on immigration. The issue was EXTREMELY important to voters who put Trump in office, and yet our Democratic contingent isn't getting the message. Both Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet signed on to a bill that would prevent immigration arrests in "protected spaces" which will expand "the protected locations to include courthouses and additional health care, educational, and religious facilities." Do you want your child's school overrun with illegal immigrant criminals trying to avoid arrest? That will most certainly happen somewhere if this bill passes. Of course it will not pass in the Republican controlled Senate so your kids are safe. Why are they intent on protecting criminals? I'm sure they would tell you they want to protect people whose only crime is being here illegally, and that's one thing, but the intended effect will certainly protect dangerous criminals.
YES, SCHOOL DISTRICTS SHOULD GET TO DECIDE ON LIBRARY BOOKS This is a great column by the Superintendent of Elizabeth Public Schools about the lawsuit the tiny district is facing over it's decision to remove eighteen books from school libraries because they decided the content wasn't appropriate for children. They did so after a carefully constructed process that included public input and now the ACLU is suing because they believe a school district should provide pornography to children. That's not how they say it but that's what they are arguing. The Elizabeth School District is right in this case, as NOTHING is preventing ANYONE from buying any of these books for their own children. You go right ahead if it's important that your child have access to porn. Go right ahead.
MILLIONS ARE ELIGIBLE NOW FOR DEPORTATION This according to former ICE director and Congressional candidate John Fabbricatore. He sat down with Jon Caldara and this transcript gives an idea of how many people have already been through the process and need to be deported, along with how many criminals are among illegal immigrants. The numbers are pretty staggering. Watch the show here.
RECREATIONAL POT WON'T BE ON A SPRING BALLOT IN THE SPRINGS A judge has blocked the move by City Council to re refer to the voters a measure allowing recreational pot sales. Voters passed it in November, but the City Council didn't like that and tried to say voters were "confused" by the measure. To "fix" that, they tried to put a repeal on the April municipal ballot where almost NO ONE VOTES. We can talk about that later, but a judge says this violates a part of Amendment 64 which requires such votes to be in even year elections when turnout is always higher. Sorry City Council, you probably should have made sure the ballot initiatives were clearer.
CAMERAS BEING USED TO CASE HOUSES This is super concerning. There have been a rash of robberies at the homes of Asian business owners. Maybe they are known to keep large amounts of cash at home or something, I'm not sure, but here we are. Now a neighbor in one Lone Tree neighborhood found a camouflaged camera pointed at the house of one such owner. Super creepy and high tech and very concerning. Keep your eyes peeled, folks.
YES, DEEP SEEK IS SENDING YOUR DATA TO CHINESE COMMUNISTS
IN DEFENSE OF SELFISHNESS John Stossel puts lie to the rest that capitalism is greedy.
IS TOM BRADY'S WATCH REALLY THIS BIG A DEAL? Is it a shock to find out that a man who made MILLIONS during his playing career has a watch that costs $740,000? He wore it to the Super Bowl and everyone is making an issue out of it. I personally find it to be a bit much, but he's not asking me to wear it. We've become a nation of envy and it's honestly gross. Remember, envy was one of the seven deadly sins for a reason.
THE BOND MARKET IS INTERESTING RIGHT NOW If you heard me yesterday talking about bond rates you will be interested in this story about bond rates. As stocks have jumped up and down since the election, bond rates have shifted DOWN since the election. Why? Because Trump is focused on bringing the ten year bond rate down, and the only way to do that is to demonstrate some fiscal responsibility that has been missing from DC for a long time now.
YES, AIRLINES CAN KICK YOU OFF THE PLANE FOR NO REASON Except in the case of this video making the rounds it was because they needed to seats to move a crew to a different airport to fly a plane there. They are called "Must Fly" and they take precedence over everything else. The airlines usually try to buy people off first, but they absolutely can kick you off to make room, as this mom found out the hard way. I do find it sort of awful that they chose a woman travelling with two small kids. Not cool.
YES, WE NEED TO PUT DRUG DEALERS IN JAIL FOR MUCH LONGER Why is no one asking the Democrats who killed a bill to increase the penalties for selling deadly fentanyl why they are putting drug dealers before everyone else? Read this for more, but his paragraph made my head explode:
Critics say harsher penalties would only add to a harmful cycle of incarceration and make the problem worse. They also pointed to data that shows a similar bill, which passed in 2022, did not change overdose death rates in Colorado.
“While opioid addiction is devastating, harsher sentences have never solved this crisis,” said Geno Shvedov, executive director of the Hazelbrook Community Recovery Center. “We cannot arrest our way out of a public health emergency.”
Yes, we CAN arrest and send to jail those who are selling this poison on our streets. Maybe other drug dealers will move to somewhere where they don't.
SHERIFFS ARE FIGHTING COLORADO'S SANCTUARY STATE LAWS And the Sheriff in Teller County has found a way that other departments should look at. Read it here.
THE X DIATRIBE I CAN GET BEHIND! I feel so seen right now.
THINGS FRUGAL PEOPLE GAVE UP IN 2024 And some of these I get (concert tickets are stupid expensive for instance) but some I can't live without. Read them here.
DID PHILLY BREAK MAHOMES? Zach and Arod talk about it in their latest podcast, which you can find here.
A NEW MOM SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS Don't get me wrong, I don't love a crying baby on a plane but I've also HAD a crying baby on a plane so I'm more inclined to give grace. This mom was next level though. Watch below or click here.
WHEN THE PREPLANNED CELEBRATION GOES AWRY This is really funny. Watch below or click here.
AND NOW PART 2 Watch below or click here.
AND PART THREE Watch below or click here.
PEOPLE IN DEVELOPING NATIONS WILL THINK THE CHIEFS WON Watch below or click here.
WHAT LEAVING A POLITICAL PARTY LOOKS LIKE And I genuinely wish this weren't so accurate. Watch below or click here.
NETFLIX TRIES TO SAVE EMILIA PEREZ I finally watched the rest of this movie and I have to say, it is worthy of an Oscar nod. It may not be for everyone, but it's original, well executed and for all intents is an opera brought to film. The issue for Netflix is that the trans woman star, who is VERY, VERY good, made ugly comments about Islam, immigrants, and George Floyd in her native Spain that have come to light. The kicker is a LOT of Americans would agree with the things she said, which you can read here.