Author Archives: ColoradoPeakPolitics

Who knew one needed legal permission to throw snowballs?

Thanks to the comical overreach of government, that’s exactly what Severance nine year-old Dane Best recently discovered. So he set a path to change the laws of his Weld County hometown, culminating with an appearance before the Severance Town Board on Monday night.

Lest you think we’re joking, here are some of the inane questions posited to young Dane by members of the board, per the Greeley Tribune:

“Can we amend this ordinance to say that if you’re over 60, no one can throw a snowball at you?” asked Trustee Dennis “Zeke” Kane.

Trustee Michelle Duda posed this question: “If we do enact snowball fighting, have you talked to your fellow students about safety issues?”

These are actual questions from members of an American town’s board to a nine year-old kid. You’d think the young man was asking to conduct nuclear weapons testing on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado.

Undeterred, Dane remained solidly on message, defending the free expression of childhood while simultaneously highlighting the absurdity of the situation:

“The children of Severance want the opportunity to have a snowball fight like the rest of the world,” he said during his presentation. “The law was created many years ago. Today’s kids need a reason to play outside.”

Eventually, Dane won. Kids can now have snowball fights in Severance without any worry of being sent to Gitmo.

Bravo to Dane. Adults ruin most things, with government picking up the slack to ruin the rest. It’s nice to see a kid stand up to our self-created straightjacket and say, “you guys are idiots.”

We should only hope that Dane smacks us in the cheek with a snowball the next time we’re up his way. It’s the least we owe him.

Xcel Energy, a Minneapolis-based, quasi-monopolistic public utility that provides power to roughly 1.5 million Colorado customers, announced yesterday that it plans to emit zero carbon emissions from the eight states in which it operates by 2050.

Someone give these guys a trophy for “most ambiguously boastful plan of 2018.” Even the utility’s cheerleaders have no clue how this can be achieved, but hey, let’s not let facts and economic reality get in the way of a good time. From the Colorado Sun (emphasis ours):

“I believe this is the single most exciting development in the clean energy space this year,” Rich Powell, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Clear Path, said at the event. “Not only has Xcel taken the bold leadership to go first on the path that we know all U.S. utilities must go — to zero emissions by 2050 or sooner — but they’ve done it while acknowledging they’re not entirely sure how to get there. And that’s OK.”

That’s an absolutely amazing concession, particularly considering that Xcel is the reigning, undisputed, heavyweight champion of simply making s*** up. When the utility brought its Colorado Energy Plan to the state’s Public Utilities Commission earlier this year, it promised that shuttering two of Colorado’s best-performing power plants in favor of costly industrial wind and solar projects would not result in any increases on ratepayers’ bills. While the Commission ultimately passed Xcel’s plan (itself a sketchy subject for another day), Commissioner Wendy Moser succinctly undercut the crux of the utility’s promise:

“The customers of Xcel Energy will pay for the retirement of these plants and it will show up in rates,” she said. “So don’t think that this is free and that it’s going to be borne by somebody else.”

So yeah, great, free plan. Except we have to pay for it.

Unsurprisingly, Governor-elect Jared Polis, who spent much of the 2018 campaign pointing to Xcel’s deceptive Colorado Energy Plan as a model we should all aspire to, was super stoked about Xcel’s announcement, hilariously suggesting that “we’re showing the country the way.”

Here’s “the way,” as we understand it: point out whatever comprises a perfect world, tell the public that we’re going to get there, and then slap a comically long-term timeline toward actually achieving it, without being “entirely sure how to get there.”

There’s a lesson in that for Walker Stapleton, who ran for Governor on real-world annoyances: facts and figures. The fellow should have just promised free Epic Passes for all Coloradans by the year 2250.

In the meantime, Colorado, enjoy the benefits of Xcel’s grandiose plans. You’ll see it in your energy bills well before you see any actual progress. Just trust them – the good stuff is coming someday, somehow if they can figure it out.

We’re not the only ones stomping our feet and raising a ruckus over Denver’s plans for legalizing opium dens.

Law enforcement officials have taken note of the outrageous proposal, and are weighing in with their sensible explanation of why this plan is batsh!t crazy.

It’s illegal, and those who break the law and their enablers will be punished.

“ … anyone who violates a section of U.S. Code that prohibits anyone from maintaining premises for using controlled substances faces property forfeiture, up to $250,000 in fines and up to 20 years in jail.”

The Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Attorney’s office basically accused the council of blundering their way blindly towards a fix for opioid addiction that won’t fight addition, but instead “normalize serious drug use.”

And, it turns out the shooting galleries won’t be limited to just opioid or heroin users, but to those who shoot up meth, cocaine and other drugs.

This totally contradicts the main argument that such centers would prevent drug overdosing, because there is no antidote for nurses standing by to administer.

All these centers will accomplish, is putting the public safety at greater risk.

In one corner, we have Gov. Hickenlooper who was not officially running for president in his nearly year-long campaign to run for president.

In another corner, we now have U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet unofficially tossing his hat around the ring for a presidential run.

So what do Coloradans think about two potential candidates from their state, folks they know or have followed for years, lining up for the presidency?

They’re recruiting Bernie Sanders of Vermont to run again.

It’s a fruitless effort. Democrats so easily forget that it was Democrats who robbed Sanders of a Colorado win in 2016, when superdelegates handed their votes to Hillary Clinton. State party leaders would assuredly do it again for one of their own.

We just find it hilarious that Democrats aren’t racing to back Hick or Bennet.

It’s interesting that Hick and Bennet have spoken to each other about running, and are okay that two, white, mediocre Democrats from the same state would be in contention with dozens of other Democrats who most assuredly will come in a larger variety of colors and backgrounds with more aggressive liberal tendencies.

If by some miracle Bennet were to win the nomination, then Gov. Polis could appoint Hick to his Senate seat. And if Hick were to be nominated, it’s no loss for Bennet, who isn’t up for reelection until 2022.

We don’t have any actual details of their conversation, but we would be willing to bet money that’s the plan.

And if both lose the nomination, well, they both come home with a PAC full of cash to hand out to their political friends and increase their power base.

That is, unless, no one takes either seriously and their campaigns never get off the ground.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton penned an opinion piece for the Montrose Daily Press on the battle to end opioid addiction.

Interestingly, it says nothing about creating public injection centers for the illegal use of heroin or other opioids. Not a word about enabling addicts’ use of dangerous drugs.

Instead, Tipton lays out the federal government’s efforts under both Trump and Obama to end addiction and put drug dealers behind bars.

Since 2016, Colorado has received more than $15 million in grants for opioid dependency treatment. Another law recently signed by President Trump will fund overdosing drugs for administration by first responders, and increased law enforcement activities to catch synthetic drug runners at the main point of entry, the southern border. The bill also expands Medicare coverage to treatment and services of addiction.

Again, no mention of legalizing centers where addicts can get high with the assistance of medical nurses.

Here’s what Tipton had to say about the opioid resistance effort:

“The opioid crisis is a multifaceted issue, and no one approach will bring it to an end. We must advance policies that facilitate prevention education and effective treatment, ensure law enforcement has the tools it needs to respond to bad actors trying to bring dangerous opioids across U.S. borders, and support health care professionals in their work to decrease prescribed addiction.”

The vast majority of Americans don’t support the backdoor legalization of opioids by creating injection sites like the proposal just approved by the Denver City Council.

We expect to see an even greater backlash when the state legislature takes up the measure again, which was defeated in the last session by Republicans.

It’s going to take an act of Congress, literally, to force the VA to hand over the money they promised veterans for college in exchange for serving their country.

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner is leading the effort with legislation he crafted to pry the money from the VA’s crippled and clenched fists.

The VA keeps giving different excuses (dog ate their computer) about why the payments suddenly stopped what they intend to do to fix it.

Gardner’s bipartisan bill introduced with U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama sets up a commission within the VA to audit the monthly stipend system and force the agency to pay back students who were underpaid.

“Most problems Congress addresses are complicated and do not have one ‘right’ answer,” Gardner said in a statement.

“This is not one of those issues. To me, it’s pretty clear what the right thing to do is: Congress must act to ensure our student veterans receive every penny they are entitled to,” Gardner said.

It’s ironic that we never hear about breakdowns in government agencies that prevent them from paying themselves. Just a suggestion, but maybe the VA should put as much energy and innovation into paying our vets as they do themselves.

You’ll recall The Denver Post‘s October bombshell report on Democrat State Representative Jovan Melton’s very-well-documented abuse of women. Our repeated congratulations to Colorado Democrat leadership, who totally/obviously/clearly hadn’t the slightest clue that they had a woman-beater in their mix (that’s sarcasm folks). Brave stuff, gang. Keep walking that walk.

After some initial huffing and puffing (including former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb’s remarkable insistence that Melton was somehow the victim of a racially-motivated smear campaign… because journalists uncovered that Melton beat women…?), those same Colorado Democrat leaders ultimately chose not to act as Melton cruised to reelection in his overwhelmingly liberal district this past November.

The hypocrisy would be hysterical if, you know, this wasn’t about a State Representative beating women. But that’s exactly what this is about.

This morning, Colorado Public Radio reporter Bente Birkeland published one hell of a follow-up story, in which one of Melton’s victims provided a letter that the lawmaker wrote to her shortly after breaking her tailbone, assenting to her request for a restraining order, and related activities befitting of a modern gentleman. The victim, who asked not to be named, told Birkeland that Melton’s response to the Post‘s original reporting was… well, unsatisfactory:

“I was sad to hear the remarks made by Jovan,” said the woman, whose name CPR News is not releasing due to the nature of the allegations. “It is unfortunate that he doesn’t recognize that his past behaviors were unacceptable, hurtful, and simply disrespectful.”

Given Melton’s unwillingness to own up to his being a complete a$$hole who abused women, it would stand to reason that Democrat leadership would now have no choice but to act, right? Well, uh:

“Given the gravity of the situation and the impact on his constituents, as well as public confidence in the state legislature, we encouraged him to resign. Ultimately we made it clear that it was his decision whether to step down from his position,” wrote incoming Speaker KC Becker and Majority Leader Alec Garnett in a statement.

Put another way: “We’re going to posture as if we give a damn about the women who Melton physically hurt, but when push comes to shove (no pun intended), whatever… LOOK! SQUIRREL! CLIMATE CHANGE!”

This, from the party who demanded that we “believe women” during the (now-Associate Justice of the Supreme Court) Brett Kavanaugh hearings.

There’s only one way to put a bow on this: incoming Speaker Becker and Majority Leader Garnett believe women. They just won’t do anything to help them.

Is former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg supporting a backdoor legalization of opioid and heroin dens through the creation of injection sites to shoot up dangerous drugs in Denver and other U.S. cities?

Sure looks like it.

Bloomberg announced just days after the Denver City Council voted to allow the injection sites that Bloomberg Philanthropies will donate $50 million to states to “fight” the epidemic through “new approaches.”

He didn’t go into any detail, and as we all know, that’s where the devil always hides.

It just so happens that a study released this year by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative (yes, it’s the same Bloomberg funding it) on the opioid epidemic found ways to make it safer to shoot up, and mirrors what Denver has in mind.

The study recommends “drug checking services” like providing testing for a junkie’s heroin stash to make sure it’s not cut with other harmful substances like fentanyl.

But those testing strips don’t always work, so the study recommends educating users on the importance of “using drugs in the presence of others,” having naloxone on hand, also described as “drug checking services.”

“Where possible, drug checking services should provide supportive opportunities for individuals to access effective, evidence-based services including naloxone, syringe services, treatment for substance use disorders and naloxone.”

And where would all this take place? Some sort of center, we suppose.

For proof that Bloomberg’s millions are supporting injection sites, one need look no further than this study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on the public’s view on injection sites.

The public does not support it, so Bloomberg’s folks say they need to educate the public about how great these injection centers will be in the battle to enable addicts.

“These results suggest that we need to reduce stigma toward people who use opioids and do a better job educating the public about why these strategies work,” says study lead author Emma E. McGinty, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School.

“Safe consumption site” programs provide spaces where users can legally use previously purchased opioids or other drugs under medical supervision. Studies have found that these programs, which have been implemented in Canada and multiple European countries, can decrease overdose deaths and public drug use.

And which studies would that be? The same ones conducted with Bloomberg’s millions in funding.

In conclusion, Bloomberg is funding grants for states to begin opioid “treatment,” funded the research that backs radical approaches such as injection sites, and is running for president.

We’re guessing his platform won’t be on eradicating the country’s opioid crisis, but making it legal.

Democratic Representative-elect Jason Crow told voters he would vote no to re-electing the reviled Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. He swore up and down that would be the case. It looks like he will be able to fulfill his promise, but only because future Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has given him permission to vote no, according to multiple sources.

The way it was done was honestly the most D.C.-insider thing ever. Here’s the mechanics of it from National Review:

“While Pelosi was running unopposed, the party modified the standard nomination ballot to include a ‘no’ option, so that freshman Democrats who ran on opposing her could tell their constituents they followed through on their respective pledges. Pelosi reportedly supported those freshmen lawmakers, giving them the go ahead to vote “no” to preserve their political capital.”

How smarmy and gross.

So, Crow gets to vote no after receiving permission to oppose the person he claimed he wouldn’t support. In voting no, he’s still kowtowing to her leadership. This backroom showmanship is exactly why people hate D.C. and no Coloradan should be fooled by it.