GO BACK IN TIME TO THE 1940S With a super cool event at the Boulder Airport. It's literally called the 1940s Ball and it coming up fast. The ball is June 14th and is bringing in the Tommy Dorsey Band and so many other great acts to make this a true taste of the Big Band Era. I'm stoked to talk with Music Director Jeff Bush at 1pm from the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra about the event. You can find out ALL the info by clicking here! Follow them on FB, or Insta by clicking on those links.
MAYOR MIKE'S BIG IDEA IS TO MAKE DINING OUT EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE If you ever wondered if Mayor Mike Johnston knows anything about business this story should let you know he doesn't. He appeared on the City Cast podcast (nice that he has time to go there but not here) and floated the idea of ADDING A 20% SURCHARGE to restaurant bills and THEN TAXING IT and then SPLITTING that tax with restaurants. Just quick, what is your reaction? Mine is I will never darken the doorstep of another now hopelessly overpriced Denver restaurant again. Our restaurant prices are already insane, if you travel you know what I mean. This is the dumbest, most idiotic, big government solution to a problem CREATED BY GOVERNMENT. Don't you think if restaurants thought they could add a 20% surcharge and still get customers they would have done it already? This is the Worst Idea Yet from a guy with no shortage of Worst Ideas.
Y'ALL, ANOTHER DUMPSTER FIRE FROM THE COLORADO GOP
This is all so, so stupid. I've got Brita Horn on the show at 12:30 to discuss the lawfare tactics current party leadership learned from Joe Biden and her excellent plan for the Colorado GOP, which you can find here.
DO YOU THINK DENVER'S RESPONSE TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS "WORKS"? Because that is what Mayor Mike will be telling Congress when he testifies. That's what this Denver Gazette article says anyway. I wonder if Aurora thinks it works? My follow up question is "works for whom?"
GENE HACKMAN DIED And in what I think probably looks like a gas leak situation his wife and dog were found dead as well, though no foul play is suspected. The 95 year old actor's body of work is just so impressive, read more here. He's been out of acting for over twenty years but it doesn't feel like it. He will be missed. This column is so right when it says there is no such thing as a bad Gene Hackman movie.
WOLVES WILL BE BACK ON THE BALLOT THIS YEAR And I would flood the zone with pictures of dead livestock starting now. This entire idiotic episode should have never happened. Read more about the ballot initiative here.
SCHOOL LUNCHES ARE BACK ON THE BALLOT TOO Because we all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch, no matter what they say. The method they want to use is the tried and true Democrat "tax the rich" more. You can read it here.
PRO SOCCER PLAYER'S FEELINGS HURT BY MEAN WORDS This kind of story makes me roll my eyes. A grown man professional soccer player is super salty because an opposing player called him a horrible name. I'm assuming it was horrible because they won't even tell us what it is, but really? An investigation? No offense but it used be when someone said something horrible on the pitch you just shoved it back down their throat with your play. But I guess that's too hard now.
THE ZUNI STEAM PLANT IS GOING TO BECOME A DEBACLE Just wait, this is where this is headed. The City of Denver and activists prevented Xcel from leveling the old power plant downtown to make room for a substation, saying the building was an "endangered" historical site. But when the city of Denver had the chance to buy and preserve it, they passed. This part of the story is hilarious:
Denver turned down the offer to buy the steam plant as the cost of environmental and structural remediation needed to reuse the building is too high for the city at the moment,Ā Jordan Fuja, a spokesperson for the mayor's office, said in a statement.
"Denver supports the community and historic preservation advocates in their goal of finding positive, community-supportive uses for the Zuni Power Plant site," Fuja said.Ā
So here is my prediction of what happens next. Someone buys this monstrosity and they want to put some sort of business here but the activists and city will prevent is unless it is EXACTLY what those who have no money at stake want. Just wait. This is going to be a years long cluster.
YES, LONGMONT, YOU GOT SCAMMED But don't feel bad, everyone gets scammed by fake promises of what light rail can do. Light rail or now bullet train projects should only be undertaken by private companies, because they are the only ones who can get this done on time and on budget. Government sure can't, as this column by a Longmont resident who collected signatures to give money to RTD for the promise of a light rail train says. He's also right that Rapid Bus Transit is far more efficient and should be pursued.
REP GABE EVANS GOES RIGHT AT SANCTUARY STATE LAWS With his first piece of legislation that explicitly bans the kinds of laws we have here. I only wish he made the penalty for violating the rules something like a loss of all federal dollars. I do think Evans is right when he says the Constitution is on his side, as immigration law is expressly outlined as a federal role.
MORE TURNOVER AT THE RTD POLICE AS one of the "co-chiefs" has resigned. Can we talk about the stupidity of a "co-chief" situation? ONE person needs to be in charge, ONE person needs to be able to be held accountable. I would never accept such a position but two people did and now one has resigned. Of course RTD won't say why he resigned because they hate transparency. If this were a one off situation there maybe I'd understand, but the turmoil has been ridiculous.
NO, SINGLE PAYER WON'T WORK IN COLORADO Because it is simply too expensive for any state to take on. Our Medicaid budget is busting our budget already (due to the Medicaid expansion designed to get even more people dependent on the government) and State Senator Lisa Frizell writes here about another attempt by Democrats who want to ignore every single study that says this is too expensive to do a "study" that they will make sure says it can be done. I would simply ask them why when we are being crushed by Medicaid costs they want to expand a system that is already too expensive? Oh, and ask your physician about Medicaid reimbursements. they are so low many specialists won't accept Medicaid patients. As a matter of fact, Colorado Medicaid is currently CUTTING benefits to some families for early interventions for children. Why? Read this part:
The memo explains that in 2023, the definition of the EI program was expanded to serve more children. The increased caseload sparked concerns about the ability of the EI workforce to serve all eligible children. According to the memo, $3.5 million of workforce investment funding will expire at the end of June.
"Referrals to the program continue to increase and stimulus funding that was previously available has fallen off, which impacted the amount of federal funding the EI program had available for FY 24-25," the document reads.
So they expanded the program with stimulus funds that were going to run out and now there is no money to continue. This is what government funded healthcare looks like.
TRANS TROOPS WILL BE KICKED OUT OF THE MILITARY And again, if they are serving with distinction and have the respect of their fellow soldiers or airmen or sailors I say let them stay. But Trump is POTUS and he says they will be removed but they can be "considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities,". We'll see how this shakes out, but I will be honest when I say that the news out of the Intelligence agencies where trans people spent time on a government chat site talking about enjoying being penetrated does not make that case of stability stronger. I don't care what people talk about when they aren't at work, but those kind of conversations on a work platform show a stunning lack of judgment by these trans folks at least. Unfortunately that makes trans folks look bad overall. If Biden can kick out 8,000 troops over Covid shots this doesn't seem to be that outrageous in the grand scheme of things.
COLORADO'S OVERDOSE RATES AREN'T GOING DOWN Even as nationwide overdose rates have dropped by 24%. Ours are flat. I wonder why? Maybe it's because we won't make the laws on selling and possessing deadly fentanyl tougher to get dealers off the streets? Maybe it's because we enable addicts with our stupid "harm reduction" plans. This is the saddest story I've seen all day.
WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND This really makes the whole "gender is a social construct" argument seem really stupid, which is it.
THEY FLIPPED HIS LID And found a whole bunch of cocaine under it.
TRUMP RIBS THE PRESS And this is pretty funny. This is the kind of light hearted kidding that I like where everyone is laughing together.
WHAT GRADE IS THE JAGS NEW GM IN? Because he looks 12.
WHEN HOT WHEELS COMES TO LIFE This is just cool.
TRANS WOMAN ARRESTED FOR VANDALISM AT TESLA AGAIN And click on the this thread to see the photo of the person who is clearly a man cosplaying as a woman.
WE DO HAVE YEARLY MEASLES OUTBREAKS Even though the media is trying to make you think that this is happening because RFK is Sec or HHS. Watch this then read this.
How did that reporter not know about RFK's voice???
SCOTT JENNINGS ASKS FOR SPECIFICS On just how President Trump is "shredding the Constitution" and it went about as well as you'd expect.
SOME PEOPLE ARE READY TO DITCH THE UNITED STATES And they CLEARLY don't understand just how good we have it when they say things like it would be easier to improve their finances somewhere else. Read it here and I hope they pursue a move. It would be very illuminating for them.
THERE IS A PLANET PARADE THIS FRIDAY Where you can see SEVEN planets at the same time! Find out more here.