How to hire the chief of police
A police officer works for a chief of police. A deputy works for a sheriff. Police officers work in a police department, emphasis on the word department, as in another department of the city, like water and sewage. Deputies work in the sheriff’s office, a stand-alone office of government. The big distinction: a chief of […]
Welcome to Colorful East California
by Jon Caldara A fascinating recent report by The Denver Post’s Aldo Svaldi (which I’m pretty sure is the name he made up to start a budget winery) details the demographic shifts happening to our once ruggedly individualistic state. More people are still pouring into Colorado than sneaking out, but the gap is narrowing. Last […]
The assault weapon attack on math
There’s no better example of the media’s ability to emotionally bait an issue out of all mathematical proportion than that of “assault rifles.”
Are Boulder’s housing policies accidentally racist?
by Jon Caldara If whites move into town, it’s called gentrification, and that’s racist. If whites move out of town, that’s called white flight, and well, that’s racist, too. But what if it African-Americans move out? Well, that would just be called Boulder. As my colleague Randal O’Toole pointed out this month, U.S. Census data shows […]
Economic inequality is Public Enemy No. One
by Jon Caldara A warning to my friends on the political right: Economic inequality is real. And the blowback from it could blindside us and cause a seismic leap to the left from which we may not return. Or let me try it another way. We’re all feeling it: a political tribalism rippling through the […]
President Trump wrestled a logo and won. Thanks, media!
Fake, petty conflict is the mainstay of reality TV, and our president is a master. He uses the media to delivery his message directly to the people, sadly, in a language modern Americans understand.
Note to gentrifying Denver: You can’t always live where you want, but…
by Jon Caldara Hey millennials. Pardon my penchant for old fogey music, but as The Rolling Stones said, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you might find, you get what you need.” That includes housing. So stop whining. Yes, I get it. If you’re young and childless, it’s […]
Which enviros not to take seriously
by Jon Caldara The bad news: President Donald Trump’s pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord will cause ocean levels to rise. The good news: It will be from all the crocodile tears of progressives. Those of us who are skeptical of the politics of global warming are labeled “deniers” as an ugly pejorative to […]
The grand betrayal of Colorado Senate Republicans
by Jon Caldara In 2005, the political fight over Referendums C and D was an epic battle, one for the Colorado history books. Sold as a “five-year timeout” of our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, Ref C was narrowly approved by Colorado voters. Its debt-package companion, Ref D, was narrowly rejected by voters. I fought Ref […]
Digital killed the radio star
by Jon Caldara Radio behemoth iHeartMedia, owner of more than 850 radio stations around the country, including the one I broadcast on, 630 KHOW, just announced it might not survive another year. For those of us who love radio, this isn’t a big surprise. Like watching newspapers being destroyed by disruptive new digital technologies and […]
Why Republicans fail
by Jon Caldara Congress’ debacle on health care is only the latest example of how Republicans snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Victory here defined as merely counting your votes before you fumble the issue that got you into office. Two decades ago, and speaking more coarsely than would be fitting for a family […]
HB17-1116 is legislative atonement for driving Coloradans into energy poverty
Put down the crayon and back away from the budget. That is Denver Post columnist Megan Schrader’s parental advice to the Independence Institute in a nutshell. It would take too long to deconstruct all that is wrong with Ms. Schrader’s editorial on our proposed ballot title “Fix Our Damn Roads,” but as head of our energy […]
