TGIF Blogcast: Durham report & media failure; Paul Beale: age of universe

Thursday night highlight: Jack Carr in Denver

It was so much fun hosting Jack Carr at Tattered Cover (Colfax location) last night. Standing-room only crowd of around 200 people, clearly huge fans of Jack's, asked very interesting questions and made for a great evening. The first gentleman who spoke when we opening the floor to the audience was in the military, including early versions of special forces, from 1949 to 1989! He's 91 years old but there's absolutely no way you would have guessed it.

Afterwards, Jack and David Brown (from Atria Books, Jack's publisher) and I found this very cool bar that I'll give some free advertising: It's called Union Lodge #1, on Champa St right near 16th St Mall, and it's in the style of a 1920's speakeasy. The drink-making was a form of true artistry, right down to hand-carved very large ice cubes for their old fashioneds. I had a couple of tasty beverages including an absinthe cocktail. I'm sorta feeling it this morning even though I didn't consume a lot of alcohol. I wonder if absinthe just doesn't agree with me. Anyway, if you get a chance to check the place out, it's very cool.

Union Lodge No. 1 - An American Bar (unionlodge1.com)

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Just One Thing: Pushing back against radical environmental politicians

Robert Habeck’s is suddenly one of the least popular politicians in Germany. Habeck leads the radical environmentalist Green Party. They’ve long been a force for, if not evil, at least bad ideas and terrible policy, constantly pushing anti-human plans to make energy usage by Germans more difficult and more expensive. Finally, voters have had enough following his announced plan to ban all natural gas heating starting next year. His party is getting punished in the polls and one political opponents ascribed the downfall to trying to “enact climate policy with a crowbar.” Unrepentant, another green says “sometimes you have to do things that won’t exactly win people’s hearts at once.” Indeed, and sometimes politicians lose their jobs. Let’s hope a similar story plays out here.

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Today's Guests

Drew Holden is a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon. He wrote an excellent piece about how the Durham Report, which almost no media outlets are still talking about despite its importance, makes plain (indirectly) a failure of media as much as it makes plain (directly) a failure of the FBI.

Durham's 'Russiagate' Report Is Damning for the Media, Too (freebeacon.com)

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Paul Beale is a professor of physics at the University of Colorado. We're going to get deep in the weeds about cosmologists disagreeing about Hubble's Constant and what it means about the age of the universe.

Constraints on the Hubble constant from Supernova Refsdal’s reappearance | Science

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Other Stuff

I'm going to share the audio with you during the show but I wanted to just mention something here: a listener sent me the audio of Denver School Board president Sochi Gaytan, who is a raging racist and narcissist, explaining why she voted in favor of a new contract and a raise for Denver Public schools superintendent Alex Marrero and the answer should not surprise anyone who's been paying attention: Because he's an "Afro-Latino." If someone with a job like Marrero's only gets a new contract by a 4-3 vote, something's either wrong with him or with the process of passing the new deal. Either way, Denver schools remain in trouble.

Denver superintendent gets 10% raise, contract extension (msn.com)

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She needs to retire (and so does Fetterman): Feinstein Suffered More Complications From Illness Than Were Publicly Disclosed (yahoo.com)

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This is who serves in our Congress: House Democrat attempts to link FBI whistleblower to random Twitter user, fails: 'Absolutely not my account' | Fox News

And this is who serves in other parts of government. And, yes, we absolutely have people like this in Denver: https://nypost.com/2023/05/18/washington-official-glad-to-support-sex-offender-on-homelessness-board-in-heated-meeting

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There's no fire yet but there sure does seem to be more smoke: House probe digs up more foreign deals that suggest Joe Biden was planning a well-heeled retirement - Washington Times

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An incredible record: Kami Rita Sherpa Breaks His Own Record Climbing Mt Everest For 27th Time (msn.com)

Nepal Sherpa guide sets record for most climbs of Mount Everest with 27 (msn.com)

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Crime and cost of living: Denver plummets in "Best Places To Live" rankings | News | denvergazette.com

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I owe you this from yesterday: The most expensive book ever sold at auction: Codex Sassoon, oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible, sold at auction for $38.1 million - CBS News

Sotheby's detailed description is interesting (and their estimate was excellent, although a wide range): Codex Sassoon: The Earliest, Most Complete Hebrew Bible | Auctions and Exhibitions | Sotheby’s

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It can actually be kinda funny when politicians realize that their number don't mean anything anymore, so you might as well just say the most outrageous number you can think of: Dems’ $14 trillion reparations demand to address harms 'since the founding’ | Fox News

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I hope Republicans figure this out. I fear that the base is too, well, you fill in the adjective, to not give the nomination to Donald Trump, the only Republican Biden could beat: Anti-Trump Republicans increasingly desperate to shake up race | The Hill

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A few days ago was Taco Tuesday, but technically only at one taco joint: Taco Tuesday deals: Taco Bell petitions patent office to free trademark (axios.com)

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I wonder if we'll ever learn what this was about: Ron Baker, the head of Colorado’s public pension system, is fired (coloradosun.com)

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Today's Videos

Were you wondering how "Nebula" (Karen Gillan) carries Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) in the new movie, Guardians of the Galaxy 3?

Fascinating nerdy bee stuff

Yes, please!

https://www.kxnet.com/news/national-news/blue-bell-dr-pepper-team-up-to-release-new-ice-cream-flavor