SO I POSTED SOMETHING ON X ABOUT BRITTANY PETTERSEN TAKING HER BABY TO CONGRESS You can see it here.
To say that the responses were less than family friendly was an understatement. Far too many of you showed NO sympathy for a new mom working in Congress, some of you said women of childbearing age should NOT be in Congress, or told your own story of having to go back to work so she should suck it up. It was disheartening to me. I will completely concede that her photo with her baby was a political stunt, but that doesn't change the underlying issue. I thought people on the right, which is probably most of my X feed, were about family values? I thought they were concerned that the country was being run by childless cat ladies, as JD Vance pointed out. I've got Hadley Heath Manning from the Steamboat Institute on today as she reached out after seeing the thread and wants to make the case that the Republican party should LEAD on making it easier for new moms to serve, because they've got a reason more than a childless cat lady to worry about the country they are leaving our children. She joins me at 1pm.
FREDDY JONES BAND ON TODAY You may remember their huge hit In A Daydream and they are playing in Parker tomorrow night with The Rick Lewis Project at The Wild Goose Saloon, get your tickets here.
WE'RE NUMBER ONE! IN INFLATION. This is chart I mentioned yesterday:
As you can clearly see, we are paying $1329 a MONTH more than we were paying in 2021 just to live in our state. Why? Because Democrats have never met a tax they don't like that they call a fee, they never met a regulation they didn't love on every industry, and they let our property taxes soar so they could give us a tiny cut and call it a victory. I wish it wasn't so partisan, but the Democrats control all levers of government, have added 7000 new government jobs and 16 new government departments. They own this. A functioning Republican party would be making posters of this now. But we all know what they are doing instead.
NO, IT'S NOT "SURPRISINGLY" CONTROVERSIAL On one side of the "how many restaurants have closed" discussion are people who don't want to give restaurants an additional tip credit to help them control their labor costs and balance front of house with back of house pay. On the other side are are the people who actually OWN restaurants saying their profit margins are now 1 to 2% and they are struggling to stay open. Who are you going to believe when we know Denver has lost about 25% of it's eateries? The minimum wage increase is doing EXACTLY what I said it was going to do, which is kill small business.
THE SKELETON WILL TELL THE STORY ANYWAY There is a move to make misgendering a trans person on a death certificate a crime. Does this really matter when your bones and DNA will show they were actually born the opposite gender?
LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT "WOMAN" WHO VANDALIZED TESLA our local news media made fools of themselves by leaning into the delusion that a man is a woman. First off, the story is that a "woman" went to Tesla multiple times to vandalize cars because Elon Musk bad. Not only did "she" spray paint cars allegedly, "she" also showed up with incendiary devices to set the place ablaze, which is why there are federal charges. Who is "she"?
Can we please stop letting men just SAY they are women and then act like it's true? Can we stop? This person is no more a woman than Chuck is, no matter how many dresses put on. Is he housed with female prisoners? Identify him as a trans woman, which is what he says he is. This absurdity has got to end.
BUY SOME STUFF TODAY, K? You've probably seen the social media posts declaring today an Economic Blackout or something telling people not to shop or something. I saw it but didn't care enough to read it. This bit of performative outrage will do nothing and have no impact on the economy but you GO GIRLS! Even an MSU professor agrees with me.
YOUNG PEOPLE THINK CHEATING ISN'T THAT BIG A DEAL The younger generations have different views on cheating. This survey showed they are more likely to cheat in the workplace by showing up late or leaving early, or other such things. They definitely have a different view of cheating in school, as evidenced by this polling data. Now that attitude has infested the Air Force Academy, which roughly 100 cadets caught up in a cheating scandal that violates the school's honor code. Why is this? Is it because these kids are largely non religious? Is it because it's so easy now? I think it's probably an assortment of things, but we are not teaching kids enough about character and what that even means.. It doesn't stop at academics, they also cheat on their partners at a much higher rate. When you're young and just dating this is bad, but not THAT BAD, but I wonder who this translates to when these kids marry? That is not good news.
WE NEED NUCLEAR IN COLORADO And Power Gab does a great job explaining why and how it could work here.
THE WINGMAN TAKES THE STAGE I LOVE this concept. Pitch A Friend is an in-person event where friends get up on stage and "pitch" a single friend to potential partners. Friends do a PowerPoint presentation about their single pal, and if interested attendees can scan a slide to get contact information. I LOVE this and think it's a great idea.
ABOUT THE EPSTEIN FILES "RELEASE" What a total nothingburger yesterday was when it comes to exposing the rich and powerful who took advantage of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation. First off, choosing to give the "dossier" to a bunch of internet influencers was dumb. Just put it all on the internet and let everyone have at it. Second, there were OBVIOUSLY a LOT of things missing. So many things that Pam Bondi sent a letter to Kash Patel demanding that things be turned over by the New York office by 8am TODAY or heads will roll. Mainly Bondi's, as I've already seen calls for her to resign if they aren't, which is stupid. Read this:
If this is remotely accurate we have an entire part of the FBI that has gone rogue. That is extremely alarming. Read more at the NYPost here, but this is very, very bad. Why would FBI agents risk their careers to keep these documents secret unless there is a LOT of money coming their way? We'll see what really happens next.
WHY WE NEED TO KNOW WHO IS WORKING WHERE IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Get ready to be shocked by how much we are spending for very few people to actually come to work.
THE REVOLVING DOOR BETWEEN THE FDA AND DRUG COMPANIES You want to know why I don't trust drug companies? Read this.
GO OUTSIDE, YOU'LL FEEL BETTER And this weekend will be perfect to get a little nature in. Read more about the wonderful benefits of being outside here.
WHAT IS YOUR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT MOVIE? I saw this question and think it's kind of great. What movie do you put on when you need a pick me up? A good cry? Something to keep you company? I'd love to know.
GET YOUR HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA FOR 50 BUCKS In my life I've talked to many people who dropped out of high school only to realize later what dumb kids they had been. It's NEVER too late, and now Community College of Denver has a program that is tuition free though a one time 50 dollar charge must be paid. If this is you, DO IT. Just do it. To a person I know they are all happy they finished what they started, even if it was years later. One of the people I'm talking about had built multiple businesses and was VERY successful but had never left the shame of dropping out of high school behind. Now he has.
TGIF, EREBODY Nellie Bowles weekly dose of snark in review can be found here.
HOW DO YOU NOT TALK TO YOUR 95 YEAR OLD FATHER FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS? I'm just going to say it, if my Mom was found partially mummified on the floor of her home and I hadn't spoken to her in MONTHS, I would never forgive myself. But it seems the Gene Hackman's daughters had gone at least a couple of MONTHS without speaking to the 95 year old. They say they were "close" but I'm not buying it, as I call my mom regularly now and she's only 82 and in remarkably good health. Call your parents, people.
ABOUT ANDREW TATE I am a free speech absolutist. I believe you have the right to say horrible things, even when I find them to be horrible things, and will fight for your right to continue to do so. BUT that doesn't mean I'm going to align myself with the person saying horrible things after I've defended their right to do so. This brings us to Andrew Tate. He is vile. He looks like a Bond villain and espouses views that relegate women to their sexual organs and demands men be as horrible as he is. He's also facing rape and human trafficking charges in Romania after bragging about pimping women out and taking their money. For some reason the Trump admin leaned on Romania to ease the travel restrictions put on him and his brother, and now he's landed in Florida, much to the chagrin of Ron DeSantis. But here is where Republicans get really, really stupid.
Inviting this clown to speak is far beyond supporting free speech. If they think this is some kind of dunk, they are wrong. This is why people think Republicans are stupid because sometimes they are. This is who they are inviting to speak.
EUROPE HAS OVERSEEN ITS OWN DEMISE And boy howdy is this a scorcher of a column about how they are being completely boxed out of negotiations between the US, Russia, and Ukraine. Read this part:
When Russian tanks crossed into Ukraine, a few things became imminently clear. Russia is Europeâs main energy provider, and Moscow will use this as leverage as far as possible. In 2021, Russia supplied 47.9 per cent of coal imports, 40 per cent of consumed gas, and was the largest supplier of petroleum oils to the EU with a share of over 20 per cent. The reason why all these imports are needed is because Europe barely produced any energy on its own. By the most diligent calculations, the EUâs share of global oil production is under 0.4 per cent. In terms of natural gas, this figure stands at just 2.3 per cent. Regarding coal, the EU accounted for 309 million tons of the total 8,057 million tons produced worldwide in 2021, representing only 3.8 per cent of global production
Europe is, in other words, an energy dwarf entirely depending on the rest of the world for its needs in this regard. This condition, by the way, has not changed as a consequence of the war. According to a recent headline in the Guardian, in 2024 the EU spent more on fossil fuels from Russia (âŹ22 billion) than it gave to Ukraine in aid (âŹ19 billion). The apparent delusion by European policy makers that platitudes can replace access to resources collided with reality on day one, but from Portugal to Poland almost everyone decided to ignore it or make it worse. Alternatives, of course, would have been possible. On day one after the invasion in 2022 the European Union could have developed a Japan-style strategic energy plan, taking into account the numbers I presented above as well as the changed geopolitical situation.Â
Europe's insistence on a pivot to green energy has completely paralyzed their ability to be effective in any way in this conflict. They are funding BOTH SIDES.
THE PRIVATE SECTOR RECESSION I think we will have a recession soon. I've been waiting for one for years, what remains to be seen is if it is a Big V recession of a Shallow V recession. Much like the recession in the early years of the Reagan Admin, I fully expect pain points as we reel in government spending to re privatize the economy, something that MUST be done or WE'RE done. The GDP numbers have been juiced by unsustainable levels of government spending and now that those are being curtailed it's bound to hurt. Read more here.
WHAT'S IN THE OSCAR GIFT BAGS? Brands desperate for stars to use their products provide the bounty for these absurd gift bags. Check here to see what is in them this year, and just so you have a frame of reference they are valued at over six figures.
ZELENSKY IS ALL DRESSED UP AT THE WHITE HOUSE
EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR FURRY FRIEND Watch below or click here.
DOES SHREK LOOK WEIRD? The new teaser trailer for the new Shrek 5 movie is out.
Some are saying things look different. Here's the original, decide for yourself.