LARRY REED IS ON TO DISCUSS THE PROUD HISTORY OF UKRAINE He did so in this column I shared last week. Here he writes as only Larry can about the glory of the Can-Do spirit. This article shines a light on a Polish hero of Liberty who gave his life for freedom. Larry is on at 1.
IF OUR GOVERNOR REALLY CARES ABOUT UKRAINE GET OUT OF THE WAY OF OIL AND GAS The only way to bring Russia to heal save World War 3 is by shutting down their ability to make money. Most of their money comes from oil and gas. If we in the West decided to stop buying their oil and gas there would be a tremendous oil shock that would send prices skyrocketing, but we can fix that problem too. All we need to do is make oil and gas production a priority to make up part of the difference. But here in Colorado, Governor Jared doesn't like oil and gas because they fracked across from his vacation home so he'll make empty gestures instead of doing what's necessary.
GHOULISH ABORTION BILL STRENGTHENS THE ABILITY OF MOMS TO KILL BABIES UNTIL THEIR DUE DATE And I call it ghoulish because if you are okay with murdering a full term baby in the womb so it can be delivered dead on the day before it's due, you are a ghoul. We have several such ghouls in the Legislature who are trying to add further protections to the rights of mothers who decide they are inconvenienced by a baby to kill it. I know that a lot of Republicans view abortion as THE THING that they must fix as it is truly a moral imperative. In Colorado it's not going anywhere, and I wish those so invested in trying to pass laws that won't get passed would pivot to education and supporting programs which offer alternatives like Catholic Charities. We have to change the hearts and minds of Coloradans before we can change the law. That's just the fact of where we are right now. We should start by trying to convince pro-choice people that late term abortion is murder, which I truly think it is. And the lie that women who seek late term abortions do so for medical purposes is not true, at least according to the very limited data available, which you are read here. By the way, Colorado Dems blocked a bill that would have merely gathered data on women getting abortions so we can find out more and maybe help women seeking one.
HOW ONE DAD BECAME ENEMY #1 OF LOUDON COUNTY SCHOOLS This is a great story because it shows how disconnected schools (at least these in Virginia) have gotten from their mission, which is to educate students. Read this and then ask your district if they use Student Growth Percentile (SGP) as a measure of school and teacher success. It's a much better metric than the standardized test scores. This story shows how one dad trying to get information became SUCH A THREAT that school district officials repeatedly tried to have him arrested for asking questions. I couldn't make this up if I tried. I'm going to get him on the show to discuss.
DO THE TEACHERS UNIONS PAY 9NEWS FOR THIS KIND OF COVERAGE? I'm not sure if 9News gets paid by the teachers unions of if they just do stories like this because the unions are on their "side" but I really appreciate them keeping me up to date on all this. They did a news story on two families that are leaving Douglas County schools to move to Littleton public schools because they don't like the new Board majority. They stuck around through the THREE Superintendents under the old board but now they have to leave. Okay, don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you. I feel the same way about teachers who leave because of politics. If you are leaving because conservatives took over, you can go. If you're leaving for any other reason I'd love to have a conversation about how to fix that.
XCEL DOESN'T CARE HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO REBUILD YOUR HOME Because they are standing in the way of allowing victims of the Marshall Fire rebuild under the old building codes that cost way less. This story lays out how Xcel, who has every incentive to want everything in your house "electric" so they get ALL of your energy money, is refusing to let Superior give those folks a pass. Instead they want them to build homes with electric charging stations the don't need without any natural gas lines for cooking or heating. How government is allowing themselves to be pushed around by Xcel is really interesting, and I sure hope the people of Superior and Louisville let those elected officials know how they feel in the next election cycle. By the way, the incentives that Xcel says will cover the costs of the upgrades (they won't) aren't even guaranteed.
CRIME HAS REALLY COME TO A HEAD IN DENVER As a box of heads was stolen over the weekend. A box. Of heads.
WHAT DO RUSSIAN OFFICIALS THINK OF PUTIN'S WAR? This column that translates a longtime Russian reporter is deeply unsettling. It seems to show that the command staff of the Russian Forces isn't quite happy with Vlad's War but they are too scared to do anything about it. It also says that Putin is unhinged and out of touch, which is super frightening considering how many nukes he has. Read more here.
THIS AS THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE IT'S WAR I was talking to a friend this past weekend who is from Armenia. She has friends in Russia and she said to me that she had to stop talking to her friends in Russia because they simply don't believe that Russia is waging war in Ukraine. Now this article from the New York Times shows the same thing and it demonstrates how complete Putin's control over the media is there. It is also disheartening that we won't be getting a serious uprising from Russians, as they choose to believe the best about their leader instead of the truth.
THIS AS CAPTURED RUSSIAN SOLDIERS SAY THEY WERE DUPED BY PUTIN This is really remarkable. A commander in the National Guard said they were told they were rolling into Ukraine to save them from Nazis who had taken over and he apologized for the genocide being wrought by Russian forces. The videos have raised questions about whether or not this is a violation of the Geneva Convention when it comes to the treatment of POWs but I'm pretty sure attacking civilians where there are no military installations is a more severe violation.
THE KIFFNESS DOES HIS PART TO HELP THE UKRAINIANS With this remix of a Ukraine folk song sung by the lead singer of a band who cut his American tour short to go home and defend his country. All the proceeds from this song will go to Ukraine humanitarian aid.
INCOMPETENT DEMOCRAT GIVEN COVER BY LOCAL MEDIA And the only reason I'm doing this story is to shame the person at ABC 7 who wrote this in a story about an elected official who is either the most incompetent person ever or a flat out criminal:
Culpepper, who ran as a democrat, was elected treasurer in 2018 and took office in January 2019.
In October, the county filed a lawsuit against Culpepper, alleging she hadn't balanced the county's checkbook since March 2020, which has been overdue for more than a year.
"who ran as a democrat"??? Really? Did she change her party affiliation at some point? And it should be Democrat with a capital D. This is just stunningly bad nonsense passing for journalism.
TWITTER BANNED TRUMP BUT PUTIN IS A-OKAY! Can we stop pretending that Twitter banning Trump was anything but political? Vladimir Putin still has a Twitter account but Trump doesn't. Mmmkay.
THIS COUPLE OF 30 YEARS SAYS THEY HAVE NEVER ARGUED And whatever. They do offer some tips on good communication and relationship building in this article, but I sort of hate them in their smug "arguing is miscommunication" blah blah blah. Just kidding, there is some useful stuff in that article.
THE MET CANCELS AN OPERA SINGER AND FREE SPEECH In what can only be described as a counter intuitive move, the Metropolitan Opera fired a Russian singer who denounced the war but refused to denounce Putin. Weird to fight totalitarianism by forcing someone to say something they don't want to say.
WE'RE BOYCOTTING COKE AGAIN I GUESS At least there are calls to boycott brands who haven't pulled their products or services from Russia, and Coke is on that list. So is McDonalds, and Pepsi, so soda and junk food are off the table if you want to make a meaningless stand that won't actually change anything. If you want to make a stand support our energy independence. That might do something.
THE RUBLE CONTINUES ITS FREEFALL As it becomes less and less valuable by the minute. Read more here.
MORE PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR PROTESTING ACROSS RUSSIA As 4500 were arrested over the weekend for standing up against the Russian war in Ukraine. Watch how their police treats protesters there to get some perspective on our protests here.
GAS PRICES ARE GONNA SUCK FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE As oil futures hit 130 bucks a barrel today. Suppliers are rushing to shore up supplies in expectation of new sanctions on Russian oil, and they are driving up the cost of futures dramatically.
TECH COMPANIES PUT THE SCREWS TO RUSSIA By cancelling a whole bunch of stuff there. Can you imagine if Google, Apple, and Microsoft just stopped doing business here? Here is a list of all the tech and media companies that are taking action in Russia.
HERE'S A LIST OF ALL THE FROZEN FOODS THAT ARE HORRIBLE FOR YOU And literally none of these are surprising to me. Does anyone think frozen waffles are health food? No? Me neither.
IS RUSSIA ROLLING INTO MOLDOVA NEXT? This video tells you how that could happen.
NEWS REPORTERS CAN'T STOP LAUGHING And this made me laugh too.
TRYING TO MAKE YOUR GRANNY'S RECIPES This is pretty accurate.