Starting light: Tonight's drinking game
If you're not gonna be driving, your drinking game for this evening is to take a drink every time you see me or Mandy's husband, Chuck, on the sidelines of tonight's Broncos-Bengals game, holding the parabolic microphones. We'll each be wearing tan vests and holding parabolic microphones that look like small clear satellite dishes (maybe 2 feet in diameter.) One of us will have a yellow mic and one will have a clear mic. I'll be on the Bengals sideline during the first half and on the Broncos sideline in the second half. I'll try to post a picture at x.com/rossputin before the same showing me and Chuck so you can see what color shirt or pants or hat I and Chuck are wearing.
The Broncos have a new uniform combo tonight: Broncos to debut all-Midnight Navy uniform combination vs. Bengals
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Just One Thing: A violent time
Please read and subscribe to my Substack: A Violent Time - by Ross Kaminsky - The Ross Report
Here's the beginning of the note:
Whenever there’s a high-profile violent event such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk or the Evergreen (Colorado) High School shooting — both of which happened on September 10 — I worry about “contagion” or “copycat” shootings.
I’ve only delved a bit into studies on these effects, i.e. on whether a high-profile attack, whether on a famous person (like Kirk) or a mass-shooting (such as when multiple people get shot at a school or office or shipping mall) is likely to inspire similar attacks in the immediate aftermath.
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Today's Guests
Wendi Strom is the mayor of Lakewood (CO). We'll talk about the city's recent changes to residential zoning that will allow (some) multi-family residences in neighborhoods that have traditionally been reserved for single-family homes.
Lakewood approves reconfiguring of single-family zoning
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Asaf Romirowsky is Executive Director of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), and the executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME).
We'll discuss the Trump/Netanyahu meeting happening today. (See lots of links in the "Other Stuff" section below.
Netanyahu inches toward Gaza deal under pressure from Trump
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Other Stuff
There are still lunatics in the Colorado Republican Party. They are losing, but not getting as thoroughly trounced as they should. Their malign efforts will continue to do harm to what little impact the state party has in this blue state.
The party keeps facing lawsuits from its own members that has it taking on debt to fund the legal fees. Is there a significant donor or group of donors who would throw money into such chaos? I don't see why anyone would until all (or at least nearly all) the vestiges of the Dave Williams wing of the party have been removed. In the latest example, those who would opt the state GOP out of a semi-open party primary (meaning that under Colorado law unaffiliated voters can participate) once again failed to reach -- and this time failed to get close to -- the 75% threshold required. So they're suing using some convoluted and wrong legal theory; they'll lose but run up bills for the state party in the process.
If I were the state party, I'd go after every such plaintiff and lawsuit as frivolous and try to get courts to order the plaintiffs to pay the party's attorney's fees. Maybe that will stop, or at least slow, the nonsense.
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Today, President Trump is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. As part of Trump's march toward hoping to win a Nobel Prize for Peace, he wants to have a significant hand in ending the wars in Gaza and Ukraine -- and, to be clear, he likely has to be if those wars are to end.
Trump seems likely to at least somewhat pressure Bibi today even though the former has given the latter free rein in recent months.
Opinion | President Trump holds levers to move Israel, Gaza toward peace - The Washington Post
Please remember: Hamas must be destroyed. I know many Israelis don't think this way and their opinion about the proper path for their country matters, and mine doesn't. Nevertheless I share with you my perspective. If Hamas is going to use the remaining living hostages as human shields, Israel must try to avoid harming them but not at the risk of not completing the mission to terminate Hamas with extreme prejudice.
Never forget:
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Trump is also meeting this afternoon with the top 4 congressional leaders (the top Dem and Republican in the House and the Senate) to talk about federal spending and whether there's a way to avoid a federal government "shutdown" at the end of the week. This does seem like a more dangerous spot for Democrats than for Republicans as they will (and should) be seen by the public as causing the shutdown. Of course they don't want that but the Democratic base is utterly furious at Chuck Schumer for going along with the prior budget resolution about six months ago to avoid a shutdown. The base wants to fight Trump just for the sake of doing so, and secondarily because of some policy differences. I think Trump relishes the fight and it's hard for me to see how this works out well for the Democrats who may well appease the base but at the expense of alienating some swing/moderate voters who already think the Democrats are worthless (which they are.) I note that Schumer has an additional incentive not to go along with Trump: he doesn't want to lose a primary election to a challenge from his left by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. (Polling earlier this year showed AOC with a big lead over Schumer in that hypothetical race. It's not just that the base is upset with Schumer over going along with the prior spending deal. There's also a clear sense that Chuck is too old and has been there for too long and it's (past) time for a change.
Leading California Dems urge Schumer, Jeffries to hold fast on shutdown - POLITICO
Chuck Schumer and the Cost of Appearing Tough
Shutdown politics now all about the calendar (Semafor.com)
‘Pain on the bureaucracy’: Russ Vought’s crusade upends the shutdown fight - POLITICO
White House to agencies: Prepare mass firing plans for a potential shutdown - POLITICO
Trump's Latest Government Shutdown Move Is an Act of Genius
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Art nerdiness: What’s the Dog in Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’? A Longtime Mystery Is Solved. - The New York Times
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Some interesting stuff here: The 25 Most Interesting Ideas I've Found in 2025 (So Far)
Compare #2 in that list to this fairly common story lately: Young men are leading a religious resurgence
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My doctor said I wasn’t getting enough fiber: 58M pounds of corn dogs and sausage-on-a-stick products recalled because wood pieces may be inside
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I like President Eisenhower's take on new technology included in this newest great note from Bruce Mehlman: (25) Six-Chart Sunday – Rage Against the Machine
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We talked about this a bit last week but I want to mention again: Trump prepares to bail out Argentina, irking some in “America First” camp - The Washington Post
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Does this apply to the Buc-ee’s annexation or is Buc-ee’s already further along in the process than the ordinance would apply to?
Palmer Lake adopts voter-approved ordinance with big implications for Buc-ee's - Colorado Politics
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says he's 'ready' to step aside after Russia war ends
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I wanted to get to this a while back but didn't so will try today. The story is interesting, and the story of why this story is even in the news may be even more interesting but we don't really get more than a slight clue: How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart - The New York Times
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Today's Video
Welcome