ANOTHER STORY ON UNION STATION REVEALS SOME ATTITUDES THAT MUST CHANGE Thanks to our friends at KDVR Fox 31 for doing a follow up to the story on Union Station being a "lawless hellhole". In the story, a young man expresses the thought that he isn't bothered by open drug use. From the story:
“There is a lot of, like, drug dealers and drug users and all that,” said Marcus Atencio, a frequent passenger of trains that go through Union Station. He said drug use there is tough to see but typical.
“I don’t mind it…that’s them doing them, and I know most of them come from a tough background,” Atencio said.
This attitude is a HUGE part of the problem. This is the result of the post-modern notion that there is no right or wrong, which is utter nonsense. Just because someone came from a "tough background" doesn't mean they get to take over a public building to turn it into an open drug market. That is NOT acceptable. This doesn't mean we hate the homeless addict, it means we refuse to tolerate their ongoing bag choices in the public sphere. It means we as a society must do something to offer them help for their addiction, not acceptance of it. This is horrible.
CNN ACTUALLY FIRED CHRIS CUOMO And if you're keeping score at home, getting caught masturbating on a Zoom call with colleagues is NOT a fireable offense, but using your position as a journalist to dig up dirt on women accusing your brother of sexual impropriety IS a fireable offense at CNN. I am genuinely shocked that they fired their highest rated host, even though compared to other news networks his ratings are laughable. Maybe they are trying to hold on to some shred of journalistic integrity after all.
THE ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST MASKING ARE VERY TELLING And if you listen to the show you know it shows that real science on the efficacy of masks simply isn't good. However, the Colorado Gazette did a wonderful Point/Counterpoint on whether or not a mask mandate is necessary for Colorado right now. Joshua Sharf makes a very compelling argument USING THE SCIENCE against mask mandates. Joshua Sharf is a senior fellow for fiscal policy at the Independence Institute, with degrees in physics, mathematics and finance. The Counterpoint is made by Judith C. Shlay, MD, MSPH is the associate director of the Public Health Institute at Denver Health and a professor of family medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. You'd think she's bring HER science to the table to convince us, but no. She notes this:
Six states have statewide mask orders — Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington — and all but New Mexico have case rates lower than Colorado’s.
She did NOT note that the three states with the lowest case rates in the entire country right now do NOT have a mask mandate, or note that Hawaii is an island that has been locked down for almost two years. She only needs to click through in Joshua's column to the graphs gathered about mask mandates and disease curves to clearly see there is NO correlation between mask wearing and disease spread. Find that link here for your convenience. Why is the doctor talking about modeling rather than Random Controlled Trials on mask effectiveness when the modeling on covid has been SPECTACULARLY wrong since the beginning? Her entire column is based on no scientific data at ALL, and yet she is CERTAIN that wearing a mask is going to stop covid even though it has been shown over and over again to have no effect.
GOVERNOR POLIS CONTINUES TO FOLLOW THE SCIENCE ON COVID And I must give him credit for not getting swept into the kind of panic over omicron that other governors have. Read more on that here.
THIS EXCHANGE BETWEEN SENATOR BILL CASSIDY AND THE CDC'S ROCHELLE WALENSKY IS TELLING First off, he grills Wolensky on why people who have recovered from Covid need a vaccine when recent studies show long term immunity. Then he tries to get her to say what percentage of the CDC is fully vaccinated. Her non-answer is very interesting.
BOULDER CITY COUNCIL REALIZES BOULDER'S LAWS MAKE HOUSING EXPENSIVE And if you have a few minutes to nerd out over something, nerd out over this. A dude was trying to build condos on a space that has warehouses on it. He was supposed to have some affordable housing units, but because of Boulder's super restrictive laws on everything from how much open space is required to how much space is needed per square foot he's estimating they will be 2.1 million EACH. Like I said, it's super nerdy, but worth the read if you like to see government try to wrangle their own monster under control. Let's be real in that Boulder only wants rich people to live in Boulder.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE HAS PROGRAMS IT DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO USE And they are using their ignorance to try to weasel out producing a database via an Open Records Request that might show if bad cops are being shuffled around Colorado. The AG's office argued that creating such a database would take hundreds of hours of work and therefore was unreasonable. Except the new software that the AG's office bought DOES have the capability to easily sort and export into another format like an Excel spreadsheet. Read more about our AG's incompetence here.
CDOT HATES TRANSPARENCY TOO As in state contractors are trying to find out why out-of-town companies have gotten the bulk of the really big road construction jobs over the past ten years, they are seeking info on just what's in those bids. Bids from big companies have also turned out to be fantasies, as every single one of those projects has seen HUGE cost overruns. So why won't CDOT give up the info without redacting expenses like "tree and dirt removal"? This is not a small amount of money, some of these projects went over by $150 MILLION. So what gives CDOT? The Legislative Audit Committee will decide today whether or not to move forward with a full audit after a quick audit turned up questions that need to be answered.
OMICRON ISN'T CAUSING A HOSPITAL SPIKE IN SOUTH AFRICA And continues to appear to be a much milder version of covid than prior variants. It also seems to evade any sort of immunity, including prior infection and vaccine, but if you get it, it shouldn't be bad.
THE IRAN DEAL REBOOT IS GOING ABOUT AS WELL AS EXPECTED Because the Iranians really don't need to deal. They know Joe Biden isn't going to do ANYTHING to stop their nuclear program, which they are funding with the billions released by the Obama Administration. Iran is not serious with these new negotiations, as they have taken back ALL of the concessions made by them in the prior deal and demanded new concessions from US to get anything done. I sure hope Biden gives up on this nonsense before he gives the mullahs a seat in Congress or something.
Iranian nuclear chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated in 2020 by a highly skilled hit squad the Iranians say were Israeli. In a recent interview, the former head of the program says he was assassinated BECAUSE he was working on nuclear weapons and Iran's enemies found out. But I'm sure Biden will be able to wrangle this under control.
NEED ASSISTED LIVING? FIND OUT WHERE IT'S CHEAPEST Spoiler alert: it's not Colorado. Georgia wins the inexpensive assisted living award, coming in at $3045 a month. How does that compare to us? Colorado sits at $4,346 a month! It's worth the move to Georgia if you don't have family close. Read the rest here.
WHAT'S LIFE LIKE IN AN AUSTRALIAN COVID CAMP? A lot like prison says one young woman sent there even though she never tested positive for covid. Read more here.
THE NEXT TIME SOMEONE SAYS CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS NOT TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS Just show them this column by a former student of the Campbell Union High District who is yelling from the rooftops about how much CRT is shoved down the throats of students there. It should be shocking that teachers are telling white students that they must "completely dismantling how you see yourself and how you see the world, so that you can dismantle … white supremacy.” Read more here.
CHECK YOUR BILL FOR AN INFLATION SURCHARGE IN RESTAURANTS IN THE SPRINGS As some of them are tacking on a charge at the end of the bill to cover the cost of inflation. This is just a way to raise prices WITHOUT actually raising prices. I don't mind if you tell me up front, and these restaurants have info about the charge on their websites and menus so you have been warned. Read more here.
RIP BOB DOLE Former Senator and Presidential candidate Bob Dole died this past weekend. He was 98, that's a dang good ride. Read his obit here.
HOLY CRAP, OUR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE FAT Over fifty percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 are overweight or obese. This is STAGGERING increase since the 1970s and the beginning of a HUGE health crisis if we don't stop it. If you are in this category, get help NOW, as it only gets harder to lose weight, trust me on this.
NOW I HAVE TO MAKE A CAPYBARA CHRISTMAS TREE
MEDITATION IS AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF SELF CARE With practitioners saying it helps with sleep, stress, emotional control and sex! Read more here.
NEW YORK CITY IS UNDER A FULL VACCINE MANDATE BECAUSE OF DE BLASIO And he's extending the vaccine mandate to ALL private businesses in New York now, which should get him sued pretty quickly as we've seen with the federal government's attempts at vaccine mandates. He's also requiring children to prove they are vaxxed to participate in pretty much everything, even though we know vaccinated people can still spread the virus anyway. This is all a power grab at this point.
ANOTHER FORMER MALE ATHLETE IS SMASHING WOMEN'S SPORTING RECORDS This time it's Lia Thomas, who until 2020 swam for the University of Pittsburgh as Will Thomas. Lia is likely on track to win some National titles as well. To be clear, Lia was a man ONE YEAR AGO. She still has all the muscle and skeletal structure she had when she swam as a male. She has simply been taking testosterone blockers for a year. How nice for her that she is allowed to swim with a physical advantage over all competitors so her feelings don't get hurt.
REMEMBER WHEN THE INTERNET WAS NEW? This news story does.