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Colorado News Miner 119
Venezuelan gangs, ag and migrants, government-funded news, minimum wage, creationism, nature museum, Metallica Scholars, the free press, Mona Lisa, and more.
Copyright © 2024 by Ari Armstrong
September 8, 2024
On the Venezuelan Gangs
The problem with trying to figure out what's going on with the alleged Venezuelan gang activity at various Aurora apartment complexes is that we have multiple groups of people with an obvious strong bias toward distorting the facts. Republicans are trying to drum up fear of immigrants and crime to motivate voters. Owners of the complex are trying to deflect blame for the bad conditions of the property. Critics of Republicans are trying to downplay the gang angle. Leftists are trying to play up the culpability of the property owners.
As best as I can tell without wading deeply into the issue, there has been a problem with members of a Venezuelan gang in the area, and a broader problem with crime, but the problem is not as severe as various Republicans have claimed.
My aim here is not to chase down all the facts but merely to help frame the issue and offer some leads as to the relevant commentary.
Generally I trust 9News on this matter (as on most other matters). The journalists at 9News have demonstrated a general commitment to running down the facts and cutting through bogus narratives. A 9News report of September 6 offers a good overview. A key line: "Mayor Mike Coffman [is] now agreeing with [Aurora Police Department's] interim chief that a Venezuelan gang is not in control of either of those two apartment complexes" in question. In a companion report, 9News fact checks some of Lauren Boebert's claims, finding that she has no strong evidence that Venezuelan gangs were running child prostitution in the area.
What should be obvious is that the city, which is headed by a Republican, remember, needs to do its job to get criminals off the streets and to enforce rental agreements.
People who have commented on the matter include Corey Hutchins, Dave Perry, Ross Kaminsky and Danielle Jurinsky, Esteban Hernandez, Kyle Harris (with a follow-up), Mark Baisley, Jennifer Brown, Brian Maass, Auon'tai Anderson, Carol McKinley, Jimmy Sengenberger, Chase Woodruff, and Shelly Bradbury.
Quick Takes
Denver Post Blames Farmers: Sam Tabachnik: "Colorado growers routinely short-change these vulnerable [H-2A] workers." The premise of the Post's series is that Colorado farmers are bad actors. And it does look like there's been some bad behavior there. But the underlying problem is that the government has placed severe restrictions on migrant workers, largely putting them at the mercy of the companies that sponsor their visas.
Government-Funded News: Corey Hutchins writes about the "robust push" for this." This remains an extremely stupid and dangerous idea. A primary job of journalists is to investigate government. Government funding of journalism inherently undermines that project. I wrote about this back in 2020. See also Cory Gaines's recent article.
Minimum Wage: Daliah Singer finds extremely compelling the view of a left-wing policy group that a government-issued report written expressly to justify wage-control laws shows that wage controls are a great idea. Joe Rubino has a far better report. A few observations: 1) The basic economic problem is that government controls have driven housing costs (uh) through the roof. 2) Lost in the discussion are the unseen lost relationships outlawed by wage controls, in which a person wanting to do an easy job for low pay obviously would be better off having the freedom to do so. 3) No reasonable person thinks there's no upper limit on a minimum wage. For example, if legislators instituted a universal $100 per hour minimum wage, that would destroy the state's economy. Yet, for one side of the debate, the answer to the question of how high the minimum wage should be is always "higher." 4) Government could do a lot more useful things to help the less-well-off, as by freeing up the labor market and (if you're into welfare) offering subsidies that don't discourage work.
Creationism: Recently the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Franktown hosted a "young earth creationist" conference. Sigh. Someone promoted the event on the largest Facebook group for Colorado homeschoolers. Double sigh. This is exactly the sort of garbage that feeds negative stereotypes about homeschoolers. Thankfully students have plenty of resources to learn real science, including the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Denver Food Trucks: The city is regulating trucks in a misplaced effort to fight crime. How about focus on the criminals rather than the producers?
A Crazy Aurora Crime: A bizarre August 31 headline from Chris Osher: "Former Aurora cop charged with raping daughter remains free as mom is sent to jail." The "ex-wife is in jail for objecting to court-ordered reunification therapy meant to repair his relationship with two of [the officer's] sons."
Book News: There's a new site, Rocky Mountain Reader, devoted to the local literary scene.
Nature Museum Catalogs: The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has so many millions of items it has trouble tracking them all. But museum scientists are doing great work with some of their specimens; for example, James Hagadorn was involved in identifying old fossils as sea anemones. The museum's impressive work involving post-asteroid mammals started with Tyler Lyson reviewing fossils in the museum's archives.
Suit over Shared Rooms on School Trips: Bruce Finley: "Colorado parents sue for right to choose same-sex rooms for kids on school trips." Generally it's reasonable to assign roommates based on biological sex.
Metallica Scholars: It's "a scholarship program supporting education in trades and skilled labor," funded by the band.
Oltmann Update: 9News: "A court said [Joe] Oltmann owes a former Dominion Voting Systems employee $1,000 a day, starting this week, for as long as he continues withholding evidence of his election rigging claims.
Conspiracy Mongering: Heidi Beedle: " KLZ Radio Host [Kim Monson] Fundraising $200k for Election Conspiracy Groups."
Legislators and the Free Press: Marissa Ventrelli: "A group of journalists from the Capitol Press Corps sharply criticized the Colorado Press Association's decision to honor legislative leaders as 'defenders of the free press,' noting their role as prime sponsors of a law exempting lawmakers from the state's open meetings laws." I remain unconvinced that the law in question is so bad. A free press does not imply that legislators have no right to speak or meet off the record, when not in official proceedings. I'm not too sure about this, but offhand I'm not seeing much of a problem.
Free Press II: Congratulations to Erin McIntyre and Mike Wiggins of the Ouray County Plaindealer for receiving the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition's lifetime achievement award.
Libertarians Libertarian Eric Joss left the Eighth Congressional race to promote Republican Gabe Evans. It's pretty pathetic that Libertarians have made themselves Republican stooges. But this is another good illustration of the virtues of approval voting!
Declining Liquor Sales: CPR: "The sobriety movement is real. . . . Total alcohol sales volume [in Colorado] is down 6 percent through the first six months of this year, compared to the same time period in 2023." People don't seem to be substituting marijuana.
Legislative Privilege: 9News: "Colorado state lawmaker [Steve Woodrow] uses 'legislative privilege' to get out of speeding ticket." Jerk. The state constitution protects legislators from arrest in specific circumstances, so I don't think it applies here.
Bradley Hyperventilates over Mona Lisa: McKenna Harford: "Rep. Brandi Bradley . . . alleged on X . . . that [a] teacher told the class that the Mona Lisa painting, created in 1503, may have been a depiction of its artist, Leonardo da Vinci, as a woman." Bradley called the teacher in question a "groomer," a term that suggests an intent to sexually exploit a child. True, the theory of the painting is not "well received by most art historians." That hardly justifies Bradley's handling of the matter.
Denver Slaughterhouse Ban: Interestingly, the left-leaning Newsline published an article by union rep Kim Cordova against the measure.
Rivers and Property Rights: Is there "a public right to fish and float on navigable rivers," as Bruce Finley puts the point? One elderly fellow featured in Finley's article thinks there is or ought to be. I don't see what the problem is, so long as owners of the property around the rivers can't be sued for injuries or damages.
Racist Street Signs: Some MAGA jerk posted signs in Denver reading, "Blacks must sit at the back of the bus; Kamala's migrants sit in the front," and "Caution: Kamala's illegals."
Denver Police Payout: Joe Rubino: "Denver will pay $437,500 to settle a lawsuit by a freelance photographer who claimed Denver police officers shot him in the face with pepper balls and arrested him without cause during the George Floyd protests in 2020."
Posobiec Reading: David O. Williams: "Following a Colorado Times Recorder story . . . Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek canceled his children's story time reading of a book by far-right extremist and 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, which had been set for Saturday at the Eagle Library." In this case the left doesn't seem to concerned about the "censorship" at hand (which isn't really censorship of course).
Weiser Sues Again: Colorado AG just loves central planning. Lindsey Toomer: "Colorado joined the U.S. Department of Justice and other states in a lawsuit against RealPage, a property management software company that allegedly colluded with landlords to artificially inflate rent prices." Again, the underlying problem here is that governments have dramatically driven up housing costs by artificially restricting supply. So, of course, rather than blame governments for the problems they are causing, Weiser goes after private businesses. Which for him is standard operating procedure.
One Size Fits All Education: Kevin Vick heads the Colorado Education Association, which fights for monopoly and uniformity in education. Here is something Vick asked Jenny Brundin: "Do we want to stick to kind of a one size fits all model that doesn't really allow for a whole lot of creativity or let a kid play to their strengths?" Uh. . .
Abuse Alleged at Day Care: According to a report by Sam Tabachnik, staff at a Lone Tree day care center allegedly have hit children, "shaken and yelled at children," and used "physical discipline" (i.e., physical assault). Government definitely has a role to play in investigating serious claims of child abuse.
Ag Crime: Colorado Sun: "Two ranchers . . . conspired to falsify drought numbers by tampering with rain gauges on the plains of Colorado and Kansas, resulting in millions in false insurance claims."