WE ARE PRACTICALLY A RAINFOREST THESE DAYS What with all these days of rain we've had. I've got Fox 31 Meteorologist Dave Fraser at 12:30 to talk about when it will stop and how much we've gotten.
HOW'S BUSINESS ON 16TH STREET? I've got Derek Friedman, the owner of Sportsfan and Sock Em' Sock Emporium downtown on at 1 to talk about the reality of doing business on what is now just 16th Street. I was downtown last night and I'm going to tell you it looks SO MUCH better than it has in years. Downright CLEAN. We saw ONE tent in ONE park. It was like downtown when we moved here! And we drove around quite a bit. I'm excited for what is possible in downtown Denver right now, we'll see if Derek shares my enthusiasm at 1pm.
DERRICK WILBURN'S ACCUSER IS ON AT 2:30 If you heard yesterday's interview with Derrick Wilburn you can listen to it here to get the backstory of the woman accusing him of all sorts of nasty things over his actions when fighting against inappropriate books in school libraries. Bernadette Guthrie joins me at 2:30 with her side of things.
WE'VE GOT TO TALK ABOUT THIS TODAY From yesterday's blog we need to go over these stories:
ARE WE HEADED TOWARDS WAR WITH RUSSIA? The charm offensive that Trump has been using to bring Putin to the table has been totally ineffective and now we're massing military hardware in Eastern Europe. You should read about the military exercises we're engaged in in the Baltic states here. Russian born Konstantin Kisin wrote a great piece about Putin and what we don't understand about him here and it's worth giving him your email address to read the entire post. Trump wants peace and thinks war is stupid but his ego won't allow these things to go unchallenged in my view.
Especially the Konstantin Kisin piece.
FREE BOOB JOBS FOR DUDES IN COLORADO NOW Leave it to super mom Erin Lee to break it down like this:
Once again, men get stuff that women don't get. This is the ultimate flex of the patriarchy if I've ever seen it. Is this what you voted for? Unequal treatment? I sure didn't vote for any of this. With all this free plastic surgery I'm sure we're going to see a lot of men who are hotter than the women they want to be. The rest of us actual money can just get old.
THIS WASN'T A PLAYFUL SLAP I mentioned this yesterday and wasn't going to share it but honestly, we need to talk about women being violent against men. Domestic violence goes both ways, though one might be rarer than the other it still happens and this is not okay. Men, if your woman treats you like this she isn't a good person. Period.
OKAY 70S KIDS, WHATCHA GOT This was a fun exchange on X yesterday:
What was your day like when you were a kid?
DEMARYIUS THOMAS IS GOING INTO THE RING The Broncos Ring Of Fame that is. Read more here.
DPS RESPONDS TO ITS CREATIVE FINANCING SCHEME In court on Friday they responded to a lawsuit about their lease-purchase agreements that has them moving schools to a separate entity and then leasing them back. This issue seems to be with how they are paying those leases to themselves back. Read it here. We will have to wait and see what the courts decide.
GEORGE BRAUCHLER'S SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS HAVE HIM IN HOT WATER And facing an investigation after a man facing felony charges in DA Brauchler's district says that Brauchler called him a racist in several social media posts in January of this year. You can read more here, but this seems like a dude with an axe to grind to me.
KILYN LEWIS'S FAMILY FILES SUIT And I sure hope Aurora PD does not settle this case. I'm sorry that Mr. Lewis did not obey commands when officers went to arrest him on an attempted murder charge, one in a good string of crimes he was found guilty of. I'm sorry that an officer, who has had the shooting adjudicated as justified by internal and external investigations, felt he had to shoot Mr. Lewis for his own safety. Even a grand jury declined to charge the officer in the case. But Mr. Lewis would still be alive today were it not for his own choices. Now his family has filed suit against the Aurora PD and the officer who fired the shot. Maybe they can stop going to the Aurora City Council meetings now.
NPR HAS A RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH BUT NOT MY MONEY And they are arguing that the funding cuts they are facing now from the Trump Administration is actually a curtailing of their speech rights by Trump. Except it's not, because they can still do WHATEVER they want in their programming, they just don't get to do it with MY tax money. Now NPR and several stations in Colorado are suing the Trump Administration (as good Democrats are doing all over the place) to get my money. One of the stations is in Aspen. You're telling me Aspen can't scrape together enough money to support their public radio station? I'm not buying it and I mean that literally. I'm tired of funding the competition with my hard earned money. Let them sell ads, they are already doing that anyway.
WHY I'M A NO ON DOUGLAS COUNTY'S HOME RULE INITIATIVE To be clear I am not against the concept of Home Rule for Douglas County. Being able to have more tools to push back against state overreach, although STILL VERY LIMITED, appeals to me. What does NOT appeal to me is the way this entire endeavor is being shoved through by three County Commissioners. First off, after speaking with a LOT of DougCo active Republicans it seems it was an open secret that a "Dream Team" of folks had already been chosen to make up the charter commission by these commissioners, and it includes themselves. The short amount of time given for other people to get on the ballot to serve on the charter commission was unacceptable. I'm still talking to neighbors who know NOTHING about this entire process and have expressed interest in serving on the commission only to find out they missed that three week window by a mile. This leads me to believe some sort of charter has already been mapped out behind closed doors. If that isn't the case, that means after the election to create the charter commission the newly elected group would have about 70 days to draw up the new founding charter for the County. Let's say they meet once a week, that is TEN WHOLE meetings to write what will essentially be the constitution for Douglas County. It must be ready for citizen review well before the election in November, which is where I am getting this timeline. That is not enough time for thoughtful participation in my view. This process is being rushed for a reason, and in my world, if you need an immediate answer on a rush job project that answer is no. I will be voting NO on this effort and hope that we can begin to have discussions on what this might look like in the future with plenty of voter participation in the entire process but for now, I am a solid NO on this initiative. If you want to learn more about the home rule push the county commissioners will be doing a town hall about it. Please ask them why the rush? I find myself in a weird position where I agree with Rep. Bob Marshall when he says this:
“No one heard of Home Rule until the commissioners placed it on the ballot in a specially called meeting with only 24-hours notice where they spent less than 90 seconds discussing and then voting on the most important political decision a county could ever make," Marshall said in a statement. “They could have placed Home Rule on the ballot in a normal election year in 2024 or 2026 to ensure broad turnout and voter engagement, while also avoiding having to spend $500,000 on a Special Election. But they did not.”
He's 100% right on this.
SOUTHWEST IS RUINED STARTING TODAY As from now on when you book a flight you're going to be paying for baggage fees. Jerks. If you already have a flight booked you don't have to pay. Jerks.
LET'S PLAN THE PERFECT STAYCATION! I saw this article on vacationing closer to home and thought I'd ask you guys to help me plan the perfect Staycation for Colorado. We live in a state where people save their whole lives to come visit, why not take advantage of it?
AN AIR FORCE ACADEMY CADET IS KILLED BY AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT She was run over by an 18 year old woman here illegally while kayaking. The other woman was on a jet ski and after striking Ava Moore she tried to escape via car and hit two more cars on the way out. Ava Moore was eighteen years old and was training to serve her nation when she was let down by the people who lead it.
BE A PART OF HISTORICALLY BAD BASEBALL! By winning free tickets, which are the best kind of tickets this year. Check below for details. How bad are they? Read this.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ARE THE DUMBEST THING EVER And Emily Zanotti nailed it on X
GREAT DIVIDE IS LEAVING DOWNTOWN By closing both of it's tap rooms, including the one it started the business in. They may be back, but they've been bought by a big company so we're not sure when. Read the details here.
JOHN CENA IS COMING FOR THE FAN EXPO It used to be Denver ComicCon but they they opened it up to pretty much any celebrity who wants to sell a photo for an extravagant amount to fans and now it's the Fan Expo and wrestler John Cena will be there. Find out more here.
STOP READING WHINY MOMMY BLOGGERS FOR ONE Being a mom is hard. We get it. But it's also incredibly rewarding and the best job I've ever had. So why are so many new moms saying they are tired and depressed? I personally think it's the rise of the single mom, which we've managed to make seem appealing to too many women. Parenting is a team sport when done right. You can read more here but I have some thoughts on why whining about being a parent is now okay.
THE TICKS ARE BAD THIS YEAR So make sure to protect your pooch or cat. Read it here.
GOVERNMENT IS THE REASON HOUSING IS SO EXPENSIVE And this column doesn't tell me anything I don't already know, and we're about to see more of it in Colorado as Polis forces electrification down the throats of builders and buyers who don't want it. Read here about how much regulation adds to the cost of a home.
RACIST CHICAGO MAYOR RIPS TRUMP Because Trump's DoJ is investigating his racist hiring practices.
KYLE CLARK NAILS THE REBRAND that cost 100k to change the name of the 16th Street Mall to 16th Street.
THE TRUTH ABOUT ALCOHOL From Diary of a CEO. This is very interesting and has me pretty happy that I am not much of a drinker anymore. But also glad I didn't know this when I was in my party days.