Tag: Colorado

Join Jim and Greg as they enjoy watching former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper blame his ethics problems on “dark money” Republicans after an independent commission found him guilty of improperly accepting gifts while in office. But will it really damage his bid for U.S. Senate? They also shake their heads as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee pretends not to know a group of radicals is claiming several square blocks in Seattle as ” an “autonomous state” that is separate from the United States. And as the cancel culture claims the TV shows “COPS” and “Live: PD,” they fire back at the unhinged push against the Nickelodeon cartoon “Paw Patrol.”

Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. Tom Tobin: ‘He Could Track a Grasshopper Through Sagebrush’

 

In October of 1863, southwestern Colorado Territory was months into a murder spree that would put any modern serial killer to shame. But Lieutenant Colonel Samuel F. Tappan thought he might well be looking at a chance to end it for good.

Leander Philbrook had stumbled into Fort Garland with word that he had escaped the murderers after they had shot the mules he was driving. He had been traveling by wagon between Trinidad and Costilla with Maria Dolores Sanches when attacked. The man and woman had fled on foot but soon Maria had hidden in some rocks so as not to slow down Philbrook while he searched for help.

A detachment sent by Tappan to rescue the woman met Maria on the way. She was able to confirm that she and Philbrook had been attacked by Felipe Espinosa and his nephew Jose Vincente. She had come out of hiding when a Hispanic man came by driving a cart and was asking him for help when the killers caught her. They told the man to go on his way (after robbing him) and to tell “them” that it was the Espinosas who had killed her when her body was found. They then brutally raped the woman and then tied her to a tree to continue a search for Philbrook, telling her they would come back to rape her some more and kill her after they found the man.

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OK, not really empty-empty. It has one elk steak package from the previous hunting season. And not even my elk. But it sits there in the harsh freezer light looking forlorn. Shriveled. Lonely. Preview Open

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It’s a festive Friday as Jim is back to finish out the week. He and Greg wonder just how far Hillary Clinton is removed from reality as she claims voter suppression cost her key states in 2016 and that Russia will run Tulsi Gabbard as a third party candidate this year to help President Trump get re-elected. They also cringe as new polling shows incumbent Colorado GOP Sen. Cory Gardner with just 42 percent and losing to Democrat John Hickenlooper by double digits. And they close the week out by celebrating nine fun years of the Three Martini Lunch and looking forward to many more!

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy a fun episode by discussing three presidential hopefuls who never had a chance. They start by applauding Washington Gov. Jay Inslee for recognizing he wasn’t going to win and getting out of the Democratic presidential race. They also sigh as former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper starts running for U.S. Senate just days after dropping out of the presidential field, and admit he’s got a pretty good chance of winning. And they wonder why one-term former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh is seriously considering a GOP primary challenge to President Trump.

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Draining the Swamp: BLM HQ Leaving DC for Colorado

 

One reason DC is so swampy is that so many federal agencies are located there. A mid-level bureaucrat can move from HUD to State to Agriculture, spreading bureaucratic groupthink and red-tape-induced sclerosis as they go. A great way to break this paper-pushing cartel is to spread agencies around the nation, preferably closer to the citizens they claim to serve.

On Monday, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) announced a positive development on that front. The Bureau of Land Management will relocate its headquarters to Grand Junction, CO.

Today is a historic day for our nation’s public lands, western states, and the people of Colorado. Relocating the Bureau of Land Management to the Western Slope of Colorado will bring the bureau’s decision makers closer to the people they serve and the public lands they manage. The problem with Washington is too many policy makers are far removed from the people they are there to serve. Ninety-nine percent of the land the BLM manages is West of the Mississippi River, and so should be the BLM headquarters. This is a victory for local communities, advocates for public lands, and proponents for a more responsible and accountable federal government.

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. The Left Cannot Help Itself: Rocky Mountain Low

 

The red faction of the red-green alliance just cannot help itself. Even with the cautionary tale of the Paul Wellstone funeral, the left could not be decent for a day. School officials allowed the Brady gun-grabber group to organize a supposed vigil, without informing the student body and parents that they had done so. The Brady Campaign invited Senator Michael (I want to be president) Bennet (D-CO Silicon Valley), and U.S. Representative Jason Crow (D-CO-6 Silicon Valley). It started as the left expected, and then went sideways for them. The reaction of students and parents suggest a rebellion against their political and cultural overlords, and may yield results in the year ahead.

Kudos to MSN and USA Today for telling the truth in “Students walk out of Colorado school shooting vigil, saying their trauma was being politicized:”

The event Wednesday was primarily billed as a vigil to honor Kendrick Castillo, who was fatally shot in a rampage by two students at the STEM school here. Speakers at the school’s packed gymnasium, however, were mostly politicians and advocates pressing Congress for more restrictive gun laws.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome the news that tax refunds are now slightly outpacing the amounts issued last year by the IRS. They also examine the record of the latest Democrat to run for president – former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper – and whether he has any path to victory. And they get a kick out of New York Sen. Gillbrand insisting she’s not a flip-flopper after running for Congress as a moderate Democrat and now running for president as a ardent progressive.

David French of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America take on three heavy topics, starting with Colorado baker Jack Phillips now having a powerful case of discrimination against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission after the commission ruled Phillips had violated the rights of a transgender lawyer for not customizing a cake for their gender transition or one depicting Satan engaged in a sex act. They also hammer the Catholic church in Pennsylvania over the new grand jury report that reveals more than 3oo priests horrifically abusing more than a thousand children over the decades and the despicable lengths officials in the church went to in order to silence accusers and keep the priests in active ministry. And they shred Chelsea Clinton’s absurd contention that abortion has been great for the economy because it allows more women to stay in the workforce.

Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. Member Post

 

As @majestyk and others have noted the legal merits (or lack thereof) of the dessert course of the culture wars I thought we should stand back and marvel at the tenacity of the couple who (for their planned wedding in Massachusetts) traveled all over this great land in search of that rarest of rarities: the […]

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Promoted from the Ricochet Member Feed by Editors Created with Sketch. Marijuana Legalization Brings More Drugs Than Money to Classrooms

 

shutterstock_200553167Soon voters in 14 states, including Arizona, California, Maine, and Nevada, will decide whether to follow Colorado and legalize marijuana. When Colorado faced the same vote, the most common argument from the pro-legalization side was that it would bring more tax revenue for education. As an educator, I was opposed to funding capital improvement for education projects with drug money, but was willing to listen to the debate for decriminalization of pot. As I predicted, there has been more negative effects in the classroom than money in the classroom.

Marijuana marketing is everywhere. Kids see advertisements with everything from candy bars to lollipops to soda to brownies that are infused with THC, the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana. These advertisements often attempt to be humorous by spoofing products that are already familiar to children, such as “Pot” Tarts. According to BusinessWeek, “Edibles and other infused products—defined as anything other than the bud itself—make up at least half of the total, dispensary owners say.”

Colorado is now number one in marijuana use by 12- to 17-year-olds. The marijuana industry in Colorado is so normalized that kids don’t even understand the dangers. Parents also don’t understand how easy it is for these products to get into schools. A recent study by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) found that of students who obtained marijuana, 45 percent of them obtained it legally from friends, 24 percent got it from the black market, 22 percent from their parents, six percent from medical marijuana dispensaries, two percent from retail marijuana stores and one percent from medical marijuana card holders.

Promoted from the Ricochet Member Feed by Editors Created with Sketch. Giving It to Trump, Good and Hard

 

Ever since Donald Trump got shellacked in Colorado, he has been whining and complaining about the rules of the Republican nomination process. Last week, member Marion Evans has an excellent suggestion for Trump:

One way to deal with gadflies, rogues and bullies is to give them exactly what they want on the theory that they will eventually do themselves in. Since his Colorado debacle, Donald Trump has been arguing that the delegate attribution should reflect the percentage earned by each candidate in each primary/caucus. But under these new “Trump rules,” his total delegate count today would be 564 (table below), well below his official current total of 755.

Promoted from the Ricochet Member Feed by Editors Created with Sketch. Here You Go Donald, Your New Delegate Count

 

One way to deal with gadflies, rogues and bullies is to give them exactly what they want on the theory that they will eventually do themselves in. Since his Colorado debacle, Donald Trump has been arguing that the delegate attribution should reflect the percentage earned by each candidate in each primary/caucus.

But under these new “Trump rules,” his total delegate count today would be 564 (table below), well below his official current total of 755. Cruz would suffer a smaller downward adjustment, ending up with 495 delegates to date instead of his current 545. The gap between the two would fall from 210 to 69, less than 3 percent of the total delegates.

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. The Hot Mess

 

Rules of the road:

  • Don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
  • Don’t spit into the wind.
  • Don’t poke the mask off the old Lone Ranger.
  • Don’t try to rationalize with a Trump supporter on Twitter*.

The Twittersphere is ablaze this morning with Trump supporters crying about the “stolen” election in Colorado, the “disenfranchisement” of a million Republicans and the general “not cool” factor surrounding their candidates inability to secure delegates to the national convention.

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Legalize Weed. Or Don’t … Whatever, Just Pass the Funyuns.

 

shutterstock_241089598Last year, Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana, thanks to a popular initiative. I was happy with the voters’ decision, even though I’m not a fan of weed and would recommend people avoid it. Our society doesn’t need another way to avoid reality, but the drug war has staggering costs, both in personal freedom and government spending. That’s why I’m happy to see a few states roll back the restrictions on something as commonplace as pot.

Earlier this week, Ohio voters rejected a referendum to legalize grass, though this proposal also created an unwieldy cartel to distribute the product. I was fine with Ohio voters’ decision, as well. My own state of Arizona is expected to have a ganga legalization vote next year and, though I’m currently undecided, I wouldn’t be surprised if I voted against it. So why am I fine with Coloradans and Washingtonians passing around blunts, and also fine with Ohio and Arizona just saying no? It’s not as inconsistent as it seems.

The first reason is federalism. What works in Delaware might not work in Idaho, so we don’t want our betters in the Beltway issuing one-size-fits-all mandates for both states. Obviously, the federal government is essential in deciding national issues like defense and foreign policy, but whenever possible local and regional governments should decide local and regional matters. Reefer madness isn’t exactly the biggest issue on DC’s plate right now. If California wants a top state income tax rate of 70 percent and Texas wants no state income tax at all, fantastic. May the best economic theory win.

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. One of Tuesday’s Big Winners: Science

 

See what I did there in the headline? If I’ve learned anything about modern political communications, it’s that the use of “Science” as a proper noun ends any and all arguments decisively in favor of the speaker. While Ezra Klein is declaring that the biggest loser in this year’s election was the climate (because Ezra Klein is a person who’s paid handsomely to be wrong in print), I’m actually much more bullish about the scientific literacy of voters. Why? Because of this bit of good news from two unlikely places. As reported by NPR:

An effort to label genetically modified foods in Colorado failed to garner enough support Tuesday. It’s the latest of several state-based GMO labeling ballot measures to fail. A similar measure in Oregon was also defeated by a narrow margin.

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Too funny to not share, this is a great pro-fracking commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfNzW9YY8QE   Preview Open

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Contributor Post Created with Sketch. The Energy Democrat(s)

 

HickenlooperIt has been axiomatic, in American politics, that it’s hard to beat a southern conservative Democrat. It can be done, of course, but the combination — in recent years, anyway — of moderate conservative populism and Democratic party muscle has been pretty formidable. Southern Democrats were in many ways analogous to western Republicans: a powerful political profile.

As the Democratic party has moved farther and farther to the left, this became less true. Bill Clinton is often overheard to lament his party’s move to the anti-business left. Hillary Clinton, if she runs and if she has any credible primary challengers will have them, probably, from the left side of her party.

So where’s the center of the Democratic party?

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. The Sky Hasn’t Fallen On Colorado’s Roads

 

25 SouthWhen Washington State and Colorado voters legalized marijuana in 2012, many worried that the decision would lead to mayhem on the Evergreen and Centennial states’ roadways.

The good thing about experimentation, however, is that you get results. As the adviser to Washington’s state-appointed board overseeing the implementation put it, the repeals offer a chance for the nation to learn about the effects of legalization:

If Washington does this right, we’ll learn something. If they do it in some sensible way and it crashes and burns—the system doesn’t work at all, we get a massive increase in use by minors, carnage on our highways—then we’ve also learned something about the cannabis-legalization experiment that the next person might learn from.

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Colorado Anti-Fracking Initiatives Anger Ranchers, Democrats

 

colorado-frackingOn the north slope of the Grand Mesa in Colorado, a cattle ranch sits in the Plateau Valley that has been owned and operated by the same family for four generations. They raise hay and pasture on about 1,500 acres of irrigated ground, both owned and leased, grow alfalfa and grass hay, and set a few acres aside for small grains. During the summer, they run their cattle on National Forest land — 60,000 acres that they share with 10 other ranchers. What many people might not realize about ranches like these is that the energy industry is a big part of their lives.

Carlyle Currier’s great grandfather bought his first farm in 1891, and the current ranch in 1906. “The legacy of such long-term ownership,” said Currier “gives you a real sense of the importance of caring for the land. You certainly can’t profitably farm the same ground for more than a century without taking good care of the resources.” With a son currently studying agriculture business at CSU, Currier is not only taking care of the legacy left to him, but securing that legacy for the fifth generation of ranchers and beyond. Gas drilling is an important part of this legacy, and has been for decades.

“Gas drilling has been a part of the ranch my entire life,” said Currier, “the first well was drilled in 1958 when my grandfather owned the ranch. There were several wells drilled in the late 1970s and then about 20 more in the last decade.” The ranchers and energy companies work together to keep these relationships working. “We have, of course, witnessed huge changes in the way the energy companies operated over the years,” said Currier, “but they have all generally, with a very few exceptions, treated us with respect and tried to work with whatever request we have made concerning well pad locations, timing of drilling, and protection of our property.” These relationships have had incredible benefits for the Currier family and their ranch.