RTD IS TRYING TO DO BETTER FOR BIG EVENTS And I've got RTD Board member Kathleen Chandler on today to talk about how you can weigh in. Kathleen joins me at 12:30 to talk about this initiative, which you can find more about here, and how you can participate in making the system better when there are big events downtown.
VETS, I'VE GOT THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW And today at 1pm I've got Scott Feldt, Commander of The Disabled American Veterans, National Service Officer, United Veterans Coalition EXCOM, United Veterans Coalition Legislation and Benefits Protection Team on at 1 to talk about Veterans Week and all the things the Disabled American Veterans are doing to help those who have served. FIND OUT MORE BY CLICKING HERE.
BARB KIRKMEYER POPS BY AT 2:30 To talk about all sorts of stuff, not the least of which is Michael Bennet complaining about affordability in Colorado when we all know it's been the Democrats who have made it unaffordable.
ROCKIES HIRED A NEW PRESIDENT OF BASEBALL OPERATIONS And I am hopeful that the hiring of John DePodesta is the beginning of a beautiful new era of baseball for the Rockies. Read about him here.
THE SHUTDOWN MAY BE OVER Because enough Democrats crossed party lines to vote to end the shutdown based on a promise to bring a vote to the floor to extend the ACA benefits. The vote would extend the current Biden era spending until the end of January, when my guess is we are going to do this whole stupid thing over again because no one in Congress cares about doing their jobs the right way. You can read more here, but every Colorado Democrat voted against it. There is a chance Democrats in the House could delay this but no one wants to be the one to destroy holiday air travel so I'm guessing this will be done soon. And I sure hope those who didn't show up for work aren't getting paid for the days they weren't there. Just saying.
TO SAY DEMOCRATS ARE MAD IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT And Democrat politicians are racing to the internet to make sure THEIR voters know THEY are SUPER NOT OKAY WITH THIS. Mmkay.
THE DENVER POST STILL ISN'T PAYING ITS RENT And now the City of Denver, which entered into a terrible real estate deal with the local newspaper FOR SOME REASON, has now stopped paying ITS rent back to the Denver Post parent company. The Post wants to buy out its lease, but the City bought the stupid building for way more than it is probably worth in today's market by promising that the Denver Post rent would practically make the building free. What a mess. Read about it here.
EXPECT THE STATEWIDE BAN ON FLAVORED VAPES TO COME SOON After Denverites voted overwhelmingly to ban the product they say leads to kids beginning to smoke tobacco you should expect a similar measure to hit the state soon according to this story. My question is simple: when are they going to ban flavored vape cartridges for marijuana? Using this logic, they are JUST AS DANGEROUS as these, even worse if you understand anything about how THC affects the developing brain. So where is that ban? I'm going serious.
GERRYMANDERING IS A HUGE PART OF OUR POLITICAL DYSFUNCTION And California just voted to bring it back after Republicans decided to do so in other states. This story from CPR has our own non-partisan redistricting board asking that we just leave well enough alone in Colorado and I agree wholeheartedly.
GERRYMANDERING IS RUINING THE COUNTRY And this column by Charles Lane says important about how gerrymandering increases polarization and hatred in our country. He's exactly right. From the story:
But redistricting doesn’t counteract polarization either; rather, it reinforces it. In fact, David Wasserman and Ally Flinn, of The Cook Political Report, have found that redistricting explained 17 percent of the decline in competitive congressional districts between 1997 and 2017.
In a “safe” district, the general election becomes a formality and the only political competition occurs within the dominant party’s primary. Instead of being held accountable by a broad cross section of voters, House members answer only to the party base.
Over time, that creates a one-way ratchet in favor of extremists over moderates, because primaries are low-turnout affairs dominated by activists.
And we're about to get more of it.
NON BINARY ID HAS DROPPED LIKE A ROCK Among younger teens. The trans craze seems to have hit its peak and it on the decline, thank God. Read it here by researcher Jean Twenge.
TRUMP PARDONS THE PEOPLE WHO TRIED TO OVERTURN THE 2020 ELECTION Including Rudi Giuliana and John Eastman. Read the list here but this can't be surprising to anyone. No word on if he signed them all himself of he just brought in in autopen. It only applies to federal charges, none of which have been brought.
COLORADO'S MIDDLE CLASS HAS HAD ENOUGH and our middle class is leaving the state. From a Denver Gazette Editorial:
The detailed report, chock-full of easy-to-read interactive charts, is based on a database of 18,000,000 moves tracked nationwide between June 2024 and May 2025. The compilers, Porch Group Media (PGM) Unique Data Insights, claim their work is one of the most current views of U.S. migration patterns available.
Classified by income level, Coloradans earning $51,000 to $100,000 a year were most represented among those leaving — 61% of the outflow — while 31% of the out-migration earned between $12,000 and $50,000. Among the incoming, 78% earned between $101,000 and $200,000 a year, and 22% were in the $201,000-to-$250,000 bracket.
This is very, very bad news. We are headed for California like levels of income inequality. Check out the five quintiles of income in California right now:
Quintile Mean Household Income (approx)
Lowest 20 %
≈ $16,524 (Intuit Credit Karma)
2nd 20 %
≈ $45,945 (Intuit Credit Karma)
Middle (40–60 %)
≈ $79,137 (Intuit Credit Karma)
4th 20 %
≈ $126,213 (Intuit Credit Karma)
Highest 20 %
≈ $290,289 (Intuit Credit Karma)
Now look at Colorado's quintiles:
Quintile Approximate Mean Household Income Approximate Share of Total Household Income
Bottom 20%
≈ $38,000 (≈ $38.1 k) (Statistical Atlas)
2nd 20%
≈ $63,000 (≈ $62.9 k) (Statistical Atlas)
Middle (3rd) 20%
≈ $97,000 (≈ $96.997 k) (Statistical Atlas)
4th 20%
≈ $121,200 (about $121,156) (Statistical Atlas)
Top 20%
≈ $209,000 (Statistical Atlas)
See how much more balanced we are in terms of income distribution? Now our middle class is leaving the state in droves, and who could blame them?
IT'S TIME TO TALK ABOUT CAPITALISM NOT WORKING For the younger set anyway. Genius rich guy Peter Thiel sat down with The Free Press and says it's no wonder young people want socialism because currently capitalism isn't working for them at all.
SAN FRAN NAN IS OUT OFFICIALLY And though this had been rumored, she's made it official. My guess is she doesn't enjoy just being 1 of 435.
SHOULD WE GET OUR MONEY BACK IF THE GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN? This guy thinks so. Watch below or click here.
DON'T FALL FOR THIS BEARISTA RACKET I didn't even know the new "Bearista" cups from Starbucks were even a thing but now I fully expect some idiots to pay hundreds of dollars for their Veruca Salt-like kids to have one for Xmas. Watch below or click here.
REMEMBERING NANCY'S TIME IN CONGRESS Watch below or click here.
POOH GETS MET Watch below or click here.
CANDACE OWENS DAN RATHERED HERSELF By putting out screen shots of messages she alleges were exchanged between her and Charlie Kirk back in 2018. Apparently they were easy to spot fakes.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARINES!
THE TRUMP MEDIA BLOWBACK HITS BBC This story is super interesting to me because the BBC has always been pretty left of center. Now Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and the head of BBC News has resigned his positions after airing a super dodgy edit of the speech President Trump gave on January 6th. Compare the edit to the original below:
That's pretty egregious. It's not JUST this, it's other questionable decisions that the BBC has made when it comes to it's coverage of Gaza and some other stuff. We'll see if the next head makes any effort to present the news in a more balanced way. I doubt it, but one can hope.
TWO CLEVELAND GUARDIANS PITCHERS ARRESTED In another gambling scandal to hit pro sports. Read more here.
HEY MILITARY FOLKS, TOMORROW IS YOUR DAY FOR A FREE MEAL And here is a list of 40 companies that are giving away food to either active duty and veterans or veterans.
MORE SKI AREAS ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS And I understand some of them are supposed to get really good snow this weekend. Read more here.
OBAMACARE WAS A LIE FROM THE GET GO And PragerU breaks down why it failed.