PEOPLE WANTED TRANSPARENCY FROM THE COLORADO GOP And unlike the last "leadership" group who made lots of accusation about the previous leadership and lots of noise about audits that would show malfeasance that never came, the new leadership of the Colorado GOP is leaning into full transparency. In an email sent to State Committee Members that was shared with me, they bring the receipts and I mean literally. First off, let's look at how Dave Williams and his team blew through $261,000 in their last month in office:
As you can see, other than a $57,000 payment to the National Party, a vast majority went to events, legal fees for stupid crap and payouts to Dave Williams and his friends. For clarity Williams IS Fox Consulting, who he paid for consulting services for the Chairman, which was *checks notes* HIM. A total of $27,000 was paid out for "consulting" services, much of it to Williams himself. Another $66,993 was JUST FOR LEGAL FEES SO THE PARTY COULD SUE OTHER REPUBLICANS. Thank goodness the state party voted this clown show out. And no wonder Matt Arnold and Cody LeBlanc (who got $2,000 for running a Zoom meeting or something) have been fighting so hard to keep the grift going. It's ironic that Cody is now trying to grift using the so-called Colorado DOGE stupidity as he and his buddies are the kings of waste, fraud and abuse. New Colorado GOP Chairman Brita Horn joins me today to discuss it, but not before I leave you with the spending for the last two years. Check these out:
Be sure to pay special attention to the "Contributions" section which should be filled with the names of Republican candidates who were running for office, but is instead filled with a few anemic donations to candidates and two donations that stand out. One to Dave Williams loyalist Darcy Schoening's Let Kids Be Kids thing and the California based Claremont Institute. Now I'm a fan of the Claremont Institute too, but what the heck??? Williams paid himself over $207,000. Republicans, is this okay with you?
ABOUT HOME RULE So Douglas County is pursuing Home Rule status, and I was lucky to moderate a forum about it Wednesday night. It was fascinating. I'm going to give you guys the nuts and bolts but this isn't just about Douglas County. Home Rule does provide some protection from state overreach but not in the way you might think. My opinion on Douglas County's current move is that I'm not totally opposed but I have a lot of concerns about the speed they are trying to do this. It's very interesting and something you may want to pursue in your home county as well.
ABOUT THOSE FIRED CLIMATE SCIENTISTS So I saw this breathless story about how Trump sacked all the climate scientists who were supposed to create a required report for Congress on Climate Change and immediately I suspected what was up by the people quoted in this story. When you start by talking to the Environmental Defense Fund I know it's only left wingers working on this thing, and they are left wingers who rely on government money to continue their research so OF COURSE they are going to say we're all going to die. Then I saw this column by my new BFF Dr. William Wielicki about it and so he's on today at 1pm to talk about what this really means and what should happen next. You should subscribe to his Substack here.
SPEAKING OF BAD SCIENCE You should read this column about the brouhaha between the guy who first posed the amyloid-beta plaque theory of Alzheimer's Disease (which is now pretty much falling apart) and his moves to try to silence other theories about the cause of the disease. This is the same sort of fight for resources politics referenced in the climate science column above.
ABOUT THAT AWFUL TRANS RIGHTS BILL It's been amended to take out the most onerous parts that would have prevented parents from questioning their child's gender confusion. I'm not sure what's left in it, but it passed out of the Senate this morning. Jimmy Sengenberger wrote about the coercive nature of the original bill here.
LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT GDP NUMBER GDP shrank in the first quarter, which seems to be very bad, but it's not ALL bad news. First off, a lot of it has to do with REDUCED government spending, which begs the question how real were the previous GDP numbers if we take out government spending. Secondly, lots of people ordered a LOT of stuff in advance of tariffs kicking in, distorting the numbers further. We're going to talk about the first year of the Reagan presidency today for some context.
IT'S LATINO V LATINO ABOUT THE DPS SUPERINTENDENT On yesterday's very short blog I had a story about a letter signed by a group of prominent Latinos concerned about lagging student achievement under the "leadership" of "Afro-Latino bilingual Superintendent Alex Marrero". I agreed with them. Now we have a second letter urging the school board to support the Super that I think it completely detached from reality. Latino student achievement is pathetic at DPS. And the School Board just lowered the number of metrics they are using to judge the Superintendent on. When you can't meet standards, just drop the standards, amiright? DPS kids deserve better.
WHAT A HORRIBLE STORY ABOUT ELWAY AND JEFF SPERBECK The longtime friend and agent of John Elway is dead after falling out of a golf cart Elway was driving after the group enjoyed the Stagecoach festival in California. Read more here, but this is so sad. I can't imagine feeling in any way responsible for my best friend's death, even if it was a horrible accident.
BELICHICK DEFENDS HIS SUGAR BABY Against accusations that she was controlling during the interview with CBS Sunday Morning. He issued a statement saying the deal was he was ONLY going to talk about his book so Jordan stepped in when he was asked a personal question. CBS News fired back that there were no preconditions to the interview. Read it here, but I genuinely don't care about this story anymore. He's a grown man and can make his own bad decisions.
MORE BAD NEWS ABOUT ABREGO GARCIA And I know this is a sore subject between my listeners and I but I want to make sure I am keeping everyone updated. The man deported back to El Salvador after the government said they wouldn't deport him to El Salvador had ANOTHER complaint lodged against him by his now grief stricken wife. Fox News uncovered the latest one, and it's not good. From the news story:
It says on Aug. 3, 2020, that her "husband took [her] phone around 1:00 a.m., and in the morning he wanted to take my car, but I told him I was going to go out with my kids. He then got angry. I went upstairs to make food for my kids but he turned off the stove."
In addition, the form said Abrego Garcia had threatened her and wrote that she has a recording in which he "told [her] ex-mother-in-law that even if he kills me no one can do anything to him."
The document also alleges that his wife accused him of verbal and physical abuse against her and mental abuse against her children. The petition for protection form filed in Maryland by Jennifer Vasquez Sura has boxes checked for "acts of abuse," including kicking, slapping, shoving, mental injury of a child and detaining against will.
He's not nice. But he STILL DESERVES THE DUE PROCESS HE WAS OWED. I will die on this hill. I'm not willing to fly to El Salvador for a photo op with the dude, but I will defend due process until I die.
THE KENTUCKY DERBY IS THIS WEEKEND! And you should never bet the Derby race as it's a sucker's bet according to my old boss in Louisville, Kentucky. Too many horses, too much can happen and if there is a solid favorite the odds are such you won't make much money. But if you're still interested here is a deep dive on the TWENTY horses running in the race. Good luck! I will talk about some of my experiences going to the Derby and all that surrounds it today.
DID YOU SEE THAT RUBIO IS NEGOTIATING AN END TO THE CONGO CONFLICT? I realize that we don't pay much attention to Africa here (it's SO FAR) but there has been a civil war going on for thirty years that also involves Rwanda. Millions of people have been slaughtered and the country is a hot mess even though it is home to some serious rare earth mineral deposits. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat down with the Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and the Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe to sign an agreement that begins the peace process between the nations, while also giving the United States access to it's rare earth minerals. This is a very, very big deal.
THE FORT IS NAMED BEST UNDER THE RADAR STEAKHOUSE By Cheapism.com. Find out more here but this is the least surprising thing EVER. If you've never been to The Fort you are missing some of Colorado's best.
YOU CAN'T DRIVE TO MOUNT EVANS THIS SUMMER Because the top of the road is being reconstructed do you don't die when you do drive up there. Oh, and it's called Mount Blue Sky now or something.
WILL A WAlKOUT SAVE THE ROCKIES? Mike Klis says it's time to show the Monforts we are very, very unhappy. The problem is the fans from the opposing team will still show up. What a miserable situation for these players to be in.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU SHOW UP FOR A FLIGHT WITHOUT A REAL ID? Starting May 7th you may miss your flight. If you have a Colorado Driver's license you got since 2013 you've got a Real ID, by the way.
THE HHS COMES OUT AGAINST KIDS GENDER AFFIRMING CARE YOu can read the 400 page report here, but they highlight the shoddy science behind gender affirming care for kids. It's going to create a firestorm, even though it appears to be well notated. It also goes directly after WPATH, which is the organization which sets standards of care for transgender people, but it is inhabited by activists and not doctors. This is a considerable shot fired over the bow on child affirming care.
SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH NEARS 100 And wants us to care about oceans. Watch below or click here.
THE SEAGULL CHAMPION HAS BEEN CROWNED And good for her, she really wanted this. Watch below or click here.
THE FANS LOVE SHEDEUR And his jersey is flying off the shelves.
JUST A MAN SWINGING WITH HIS DOGS Watch below or click here.
A DAY OF TIME TRAVEL FOR PERSPECTIVE I LOVE this so much. Watch below or click here.