Let's help her win!
Karen Kazemi is the rare public school teacher who listens to my show and was a show guest a couple of weeks ago (on the topic of students' phone use) and I'd love to help her win this competition, to benefit her students. Please check it out and vote. You can spend some money to vote more, but I'm not asking you to do that. (I voted once, the free way.)
Vote for Ms. Karen Kazemi | America's Favorite Teacher 2025
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Just One Thing: Leland wasn't there
My friend Leland Vittert despises the White House Correspondents Dinner and so he wasn't there. But we'll have two folks on the show today who were there (see guest section below).
The would-be assassin seems highly educated and not insane. I wonder if he'll be charged with attempted murder, which was not one of the first two charges mentioned in the first hours after he tried to run through a magnetometer security checkpoint at the DC Hilton to get to the ballroom where he intended on killing/wounding as many Trump administration officials (presumably with the president at the top of the list) as possible. (The mentioned charges have been using a firearm during a crime of violence, and assault on federal officers using a dangerous weapon.)
From Caltech to WHCA shooting suspect: FBI retraces a cross-country trail
I wonder how he was subdued without being shot after he shot a Secret Service agent who was protected by a bullet-proof vest.
The shooter's manifesto is here, and it reads like someone who watches too much MSNBC and truly has TDS: Exclusive | Read WHCD gunman Cole Allen's full anti-Trump manifesto
President Trump was rushed from the scene. He wanted the event to go on but it didn't. He said he wants it rescheduled to occur within the next 30 days. First a short snippet of Trump's remarks after the chaos at the dinner and then the complete remarks including Trump and members of the administration involved in the law-enforcement process.
Trump did a few interviews within 24 hours including on 60 Minutes where his reaction to Norah O'Donnell was absolutely correct: ‘I Was Totally Exonerated’: Trump Snaps At CBS Reporter Over Reading Of Suspected Shooter's Alleged Manifesto
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There will be a lot of questions about security despite President Trump initially saying he thought the Secret Service did a good job, or at least a better job than they had done in Butler, PA, where Trump came an inch or two from death.
Correspondents' dinner lacked highest security level despite presence of top officials
The Simple Security Flaws That Exposed Trump to Another Gunman - WSJ
Live Updates: Trump Unharmed and Gunman Detained After Shots Fired Near Correspondents' Dinner
The event was supposed to be about the First Amendment. Trump doesn’t seem to love it when people say things he doesn’t like and he sues media companies constantly (and sometimes they sorta deserve it) so I sure do wonder what the speech would have been like.
A couple of relevant X posts, starting with a member of Congress who is probably far from expert on security issues but still...
And maybe a little (too much) perspective on what's happening in American politics. It's not just on the left anymore, by the way:
What is wrong with people's brains these days? (More on that below re the NY Times, Hasan Piker, etc)
Wisconsin brewery mocks failed Trump assassination attempt in post | Fox News
Can you believe our acting AG actually took the time to write (or read and sign, if someone else wrote it) this insipid letter in the hours after the attack? The guy was Trump's personal lawyer and every bit as much the boot-licker as Pam Bondi was. It's just gross. And I don't mean I oppose the White House ballroom. I just despise how Trump's people are making the DOJ even more political than it already was, and that was already a lot.
One More Thing: Back from "vacation"
Yes, it is vacation-adjacent but also has a work aspect to it...that I thoroughly enjoy: I just returned from a 10-day trip to Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Bratislava (Slovakia), and Budapest (Hungary) with about 30 folks, most of whom were show listeners. I'll tell you a bit about it during the show. In a few weeks I'll tell you about next year's trip which is to someplace completely different.
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Today's Guests
Two guests who were at the dinner:
Elliot Ackerman (served in the Marines and in CIA Ground Branch, and is a best-selling author including of the 2034, 2054, and now 2084, series with Admiral Stavridis
Elliot Ackerman - Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau
Elliot wrote this about the evening: It Was Too Easy to Get Inside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (I hope you don't need a subscription...)
My Takeaway from the WHCD? Dudes Rock. - by Suzy Weiss (may require subscription)
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Jon Decker is the iHeartRadio White House Correspondent. He was at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night when shots rang out. This was his 30th WH Correspondents Dinner.
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Ben Allbright is the KOA Broncos Insider & Host of Broncos Country Tonight (weekdays 6 PM to 11 PM here on KOA) and he joins us for an NFL/Broncos Draft Recap
Who did the Broncos draft? A list of Denver's 2026 picks
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Other Stuff
I support this move: Trump Cancels Iran Peace Talks at Last Minute: 'We Have All the Cards'
Still, this isn't getting any easier for Trump because the Iranian regime seems even more dominated by the IRGC now and those guys have no interest in any "deal" or compromise. Trump seems absolutely intent on not permitting Iran to enrich uranium to any level (which is the correct position to take) and the regime seems absolutely intent on keeping or at least returning to that activity.
I'm glad Trump is (for now) squarely fixed on a particular outcome goal rather than moving the goalposts constantly, and that he's stopped talking about a particular timeframe for the war to end (which was his major error at the start of the conflict.)
I'm truly stunned by the performance of the US stock market which, much like with the Liberation Day tariffs, took a big initial plunge but recovered all of that and more fairly quickly. In this case, the market is up from the start of the war even with oil something like 45% higher and long-term interest rates higher. Hard to explain rationally but seems mostly like "the public" buying every dip and a persistent investment them that the massive growth of AI will boost corporate profits, along with an apparent belief (that I don't fully understand) that the war will end soon. Of course at some point the war will end soon but is that point now? In any case, I haven't bought or sold stocks during all this; I have made some money trading options, betting against massive one-day moves up or down.
Speaking of gasoline prices, on the trip I just returned from, the average gasoline price I saw was around $8 per gallon. That's a big reason most folks drive tiny cars and why so many people are on public transportation. Much or even most of that cost is taxes. Fortunately, things are much better here in the US: Why Gasoline Is So Much Cheaper in the U.S. Than Overseas - WSJ
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Supply and demand really do drive prices: Metro Denver is still in a renter’s market but for how long?
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Imagine running a mile in just over 4 1/2 minutes (just over 13 mph)…26 times in a row without stopping. I can’t do it once.
The first three finishers in the London Marathon this weekend broke the previous world record. And the first two did something that's never been done before: finish a marathon in under 2 hours. (They did it by seconds, but they did it.) It's hard for me to imagine finishing a marathon, much less finishing one quickly. Incredible stuff. Sabastian Sawe wins London Marathon in world-record time, first to finish under two hours | AP News
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Interesting story and perhaps the first of many if the behavior persists:
Note that it seems the platform turned him in: US soldier charged with making US$400,000 on Maduro removal bets | FMT
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I'm so glad we got rain yesterday around the Denver metro area and expecting more over coming weeks. This guy knows: He's lived alone in the mountains for 52 years measuring snow. His numbers reveal just how unprecedented Colorado's dry winter is
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This was braindead nonsense (like Todd Blanche's letter about the ballroom, and for the same reason.) Pirro found a way out, and we'll all be better off for it. I have high hopes for Warsh but these days you just never know...
Jeanine Pirro drops criminal probe of Jerome Powell | CNN Business
Tillis says he will vote to confirm Kevin Warsh as Fed chair - POLITICO
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Wait, what? A dog-themed dive bar, where people can drink out of dog bowls, is opening in Denver
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The New York Times had a podcast with one of the worst people in America and another Times employee (in addition to the podcast host) who seems to share his viewpoint. It says a lot about the brain damage on the American left and I find it rather shocking even as a guy who isn't surprised by much. At the risk of giving them extra clicks and creating more business for chiropractors because of how much you'll be shaking your head, I think listening to this will help you understand much that is wrong in America today, especially among 18-35 year-old people who, sadly, can vote. Only one aspect of it is all three participants in the conversation agreeing that it's OK to steal from big companies. Wow.
‘The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules…' - The Opinions - Apple Podcasts
What the Hell Is Microlooting? - by Suzy Weiss
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Very interesting from a president who is well known for not using drugs or alcohol:
Trump shifts GOP drug policy with psychedelics and marijuana orders
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Good news for a change...i might not get to this until tomorrow but including here just in case:
Youth Suicides Declined After Creation of National Hotline - The New York Times
Youth Suicides Drop - The New York Times
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Today's Video
It's not really a sporting contest but it's amazing what AI and robots can do now:
A robot Sony built with AI is defeating human pros at table tennis | AP News