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Colorado News Miner 131

Jungle primaries, tariff pain, school news, sex ed, trans bill, socialists, abortion, and more.

My Recent Columns:
• A bigger Colorado legislature for better democracy (Complete Colorado)
• Christian Pastor Lies about Transgender Bill, Demeans Legislator (Colorado Times Recorder)
• Colorado's immigration experience challenges presumptions on rights (Complete Colorado)

Jungle Primaries: Jon Caldara advocates "jungle primaries, where candidates from all parties, or no party, battle it out in a primary with the top two advancing to the November ballot." I'm totally fine with this. But then I want a) approval voting in the first round and b) an end to party ballot-access favoritism.

Tariff Pain: Jason Salzman writes of a Colorado business owner harmed by Trump's tariffs. Owen Swallow: "Federal tariff policy has caused market chaos." One Colorado CEO said, "Our material costs increased by 25 percent." Hopefully the recent federal court ruling against the tariffs will help.

Homicides Down: Axios: "Homicides in Denver fell by 58%" in the first three months of the year relative to the same period last year.

Kirkmeyer Slams JeffCo Schools: State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer is not happy about lapses in Jefferson County schools. In a public letter, Kirkmeyer wrote about "the recent arrest of yet another district employee on charges of sexual misconduct." She says the suspect "had previously been rejected by Cherry Creek Schools." She writes, "Every parent in this district deserves to know that when they send their child to school, they are sending them to a safe, accountable environment." But if Kirkmeyer is referring to the arrest of James Michael Chevrier, Fox31 reports that he used to work for Cherry Creek. Kirkmeyer specifically criticizes Superintendent Tracy Dorland, whom the teacher's union also does not like.

Conspiracy Mongers Come for Education: Heidi Beedle: "D11's majority-conservative Board of Education [Colorado Springs] approved Peak News' 'Professional Media Practicum' course, to be offered through D11's Odyssey Early College and Career Options, by an instructor provided by Peak News." Recently, Beedle reports, the organization hosted a webinar with William Federer, who "last summer criss-crossed Colorado spreading conspiracy theories peppered with John Birch Society talking points and a rehashing of Pat Robertson's 1991 conspiracy tome 'The New World Order.'"

Denver Schools Debt: Nicole Brambila reports on some shady business: "To bypass the Colorado Constitution's ban on assuming public debt without voter approval, DPS officials employed a workaround. . . transferring ownership of schools to a corporation, then leasing the buildings back for hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars."

Phone Bans: A teacher described changes with a phone ban: "It's loud again. . . . It used to be quiet and people were on their devices." Some teens recognize some apps' addictive pull.

State Appeals Preschool Discrimination: CPR: "State appeals ruling that Christian preschool should get state funding despite conflicts with anti-discrimination laws."

Preschool Guardrails: Ann Schimke: "Colorado's popular universal preschool program has dramatically increased the number of 4-year-olds who get state-funded preschool, but it's unfolded largely without guardrails to ensure quality." This is according to a report. Some observations: Obviously subsidizing something will make it more popular (supply allowing). Note the presumption that tax-subsidized care should be government regulated. I continue to think this program was a bad idea. If government wanted to help poor people with kids it should have just given them the cash. And also looked at ways to curb unnecessary regulations that restrict supply and raise costs.

Woodruf on YIMBY: Chase Woodruff makes a good point (one I've also made): "Political obstacles to a drastic increase in housing supply are far more likely to be found on the right and center of the political spectrum than the left." But there are other areas where the left is definitely the larger obstacle to growth.

Silverman on Rule of Law: He writes: "This is what authoritarianism looks like: a president using his office to overturn jury verdicts and wield the Department of Justice as his private law firm."

Polis Not-So-Libertarian: Even Reason has noticed.

City Subsidies: Monte Whaley: Westminster is subsidizing "events and business initiatives for Downtown Westminster" to the tune of $300,000. This is not a proper project for government.

Right to Try: The legislature passed a "right to try" bill (1270) this year. Good step in the right direction. I mostly agree with Liberty Scorecard's assessments of various bills.

Rideshare Regs: Polis vetoed bill 1291. I'm not sure about this. Although government plays a legitimate role in protecting people from crime, offhand this bill seemed like regulatory overreach.

Immigrant Protections: Seth Klamann: "Polis signed a new law Friday to further limit federal immigration authorities' access to public buildings in Colorado and local governments' ability to share information with those authorities."

Gas Pump Mandates: As Krista Kafer points out, the bill to mandate climate warnings at gas pumps, 1277, died. Good.

Cancelled Sex-Ed Class: Kafer is pleased that a sex-ed camp was cancelled in Boulder. But what was the problem here? The camp would have been for fifth through eighth graders to learn about puberty, consent, feelings, and "bodies beyond the binary." See Brooke Stephenson's report. Kids should learn about these things! Prudes who think they're keeping such information from their children typically will find that their kids turn to less-responsible sources, if that's all they have access to. Conservatives claim to be for parental rights, but then they harass the sponsors of a camp like this until the sponsors shut it down "due to safety concerns." Sheesh.

Trans Bill Challenged: As Seth Klamann reports, the trans bill, 1312, already has drawn a federal lawsuit. The plaintiffs are "Defending Education, Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, Do No Harm and dermatologist Travis Morrell." I predict the suit will be successful. In related news, Kyle Clark points out that the trans bill does not apply to churches. (I swear I submitted my column on the topic prior to the publication of Clark's piece!) Quentin Young discusses the lawsuit and the conservative reaction to the bill. James O'Rourke argues that "GOP legislators manufactured outrage" against the bill (which is not to say that all of the conservative complaints were wrong). Also: XX-XY Athletics is suing over the bill, but I don't see what the basis is. The bill pertains to public accommodations by businesses. If XX-XY does not have a store front, I don't see how the bill applies to it. But filing a bogus lawsuit might be a good way to get free publicity.

Anti-Trans Ballot Measures: A pair of proposed ballot measures would ban transgender surgeries for minors and forbid transgender girls from participating in gendered sports. See James O'Rourke's report. Again, so much for parental rights, not to mention autonomy of teens. A potential problem: The measure on surgeries pertains to "altering biological sex characteristics," but a rare number of people are born with both male and female body parts. The measure on sports at least allows an out in that schools may create "coeducational or mixed" teams.

Marx and Transgender Issues: Rep. Scott Bottoms claims (among other things) that advocacy of transgender and queer people arises from "a Marxist ideology to crush and destroy." ChatGPT offers pretty good reasons to doubt this. But Bottoms is not completely wrong. Some trans activists explicitly write from a "Marxist lens." Sherry Wolf has out a book titled Sexuality and Socialism. Kevin Floyd has out a book advocating "queer Marxism." Historical Materialism has out a lengthy reading list about "queer Marxism." The conservative James Lindsay agrees "Queer Theory is Queer Marxism." But the fact that some people apply Marxist (or neomarxist) ideas to LGBTQ issues does not mean that being gay or transgender inherently has anything to do with Marxism. Instead, what I think is going on is that some Marxist take a real issue, the phenomona of people being gay and transgender, and try to contort such identities into a neomarxist framework.

Trans Wars: Travis J. Morrell, a Grand Junction physician, tried and failed to pass a resolution through the Colorado Medical Society "to broaden its definition of female genital mutilation to include transgender medical interventions," he wrote last year. Recently Wayne Laugesen, editorial page editor for the Gazette, interviewed Morrell for his podcast. I continue to be conflicted. I personally would be very concerned if my child asked to get transgender hormones or surgeries. On the other hand, the agency of older children should matter. On the other, other hand, if these treatments really are net harmful, litigation remains an option. We should bear in mind that many transgender people who receive gender-affirming medical care are happy with the results, and any sort of medical intervention has a failure rate and involves cases of regret. In no case do I think government ought to try to force doctors to provide gender-affirming care, nor to force people to finance such care for others.

Pettersen Defends Rule of Law: Rep. Brittany Pettersen: "The US president is defying a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court to return Abrego Garcia who was in the US legally, never committed a crime and was wrongfully deported to an El Salvador prison. He said his next plan is to start deporting American-born citizens too. What he's doing is illegal, unconstitutional, and unconscionable. If this isn't terrifying to you then you are not paying attention."

Bennet Defends Rule of Law: Sen. Michael Bennet: "The Trump administration's deportation of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia was an admitted mistake that flies in the face of our country's laws. Now, President Trump is openly defying the Supreme Court's ruling to release him. This isn’t just unacceptable, it's illegal. The Trump administration must bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia home NOW."

Density Debate: The Denver Post claims the city of Littleton "feels squeezed by density pressures." No. This is silly reification. A more apt headline would be, "Some current residents of Littleton wish to forcibly prevent the building of more housing." The people currently unable to live in Littleton due to housing restrictions were not included in the survey that the Post cites. Look, if you don't want to live in dense housing, then don't! No one is trying to force any homeowner to replace their home with denser housing. The question at issue is whether property owners should have the freedom to develop their property as they see fit.

Wind vs. Christian Nationalism: CCU theology professor Dr. John Wind publicly opposed the notion "that Christians of European descent should rule America as a theocracy that makes second-class citizens of non-Christians," writes Logan Davis. But Wind endorsed a sort of benign "Christian nationalism" holding "that the structure of nationhood is a God-designed means to promote human flourishing, and that Christians are responsible to be active in seeking the good of our nation from a distinctly Christian perspective." That's not so bad.

Rosen vs. Socialists: Mike Rosen writes of "a guest column in the Denver Post that I responded to about 20 years ago. It was written by a local environmental lawyer and anti-war activist, one F.R. Pamp. He singled out John Elway's ex-wife Janet and her 17,000 square-foot house as an example of 'wretched excess,' as he put it. He was one of those enviro-scolds outraged that materialistic Americans consume an inequitable share of the world's resources. He also disapproved of SUVs and second homes. In his parting shot, he dreamed of the day 'Thirty years from now, maybe the Elways' giant house will have been turned into 10 apartments.' Shades of Doctor Zhivago. . . ." I will note that the best people on the left today, such as the authors of Abundance, advocate material prosperity even as they seek to address the very real problems of climate change. Also, a lot of conservatives these days want to forcibly prevent people from converting large homes to multi-unit ones. How about let people decide on a free market?

Libertarian Posers: Seth Klamann: "the Libertarian Party of Colorado['s] . . . chairwoman, Hannah Goodman, sent the [anti-gay] slurs . . . after a commenter privately messaged the party's Facebook account. . . . Goodman—replying through the party's official account—defended her party's achievements and repeatedly referred to the commenter using an anti-gay slur." Pathetic.

Trashy Open Space: Recently I filled a kitchen-sized trash bag with trash from the open space near my house. The next day I filled two smaller bags from the same area. Some thoughts. Someone who litters public spaces is a real "piece of work" (as they say). The same city that fails to police this readily would fine me for keeping my own property this trashy. Yet, even though an entire two-liter bottle of root beer exploded all over my shoes and clothes, I get some satisfaction from the area now being clean and pretty.

Tax-Funded Abortion: Usually I disagree with March for Life, but the organization is right that forcing people who oppose them to finance them through their tax dollars (or their insurance premiums as mandated by government) is wrong. Polis signed 183, which allows Medicaid coverage for abortions.

Harassment at Abortion Clinics: Lindsey Toomer: Colorado clinics are reporting more trespassers and "harassing or threatening" communications. Dr. Warren Hern, who is retiring and closing down his Boulder abortion clinic, used to be friends with George Tiller, who "was murdered in 2009 in Kansas by an anti-abortion extremist," Jennifer Brown reports. Other members of the clinic plan to reopen it. Note: I think some restrictions on late-term abortions probably are justified.

Hollywood Welfare: The same Dems screaming about Colorado's "budget deficit" managed to scrape together millions to subsidize Sundance.

Vaccinations: Denver Post: "Parts of Colorado face measles risk as high as West Texas due to low vaccination rates." But "Canada has more measles cases right now than any other country in the Americas" (via Cowen).

Crashes: Denver Post: "Colorado pedestrian, bicyclist deaths jumped 78% in the last 10 years."

Water Rights: I don't pretend to understand the issues at stake over "water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant."

Denver Funds Stadium: Alayna Alvarez: "Denver city leaders approved a $70 million plan Monday to buy and prep land for a women's professional soccer stadium site." Maybe people ought not be forced the help finance this?

Hate Groups: SPLC says there are 33 "hate and antigovernment groups in Colorado." But the organization counts Moms for Liberty five times, and anyway it is not very helpful to include groups like Moms for Liberty with groups like the overtly white nationalist Patriot Front.

Union Bill: Polis vetoed it.

Voting Bill: Polis signed this one. I was pretty skeptical of aspects of the original bill; however, I have not evaluated amendments.

X Owes Rent: Westword: "Musk's X Owes Boulder Landlord $8.2 Million, Judge Rules."

Fracking Regs: New mandates require water recycling. This seems like adding regulations for the sake of adding regulations.

Hospital Regs: Bill 130, signed by Polis, mandates that emergency hospitals treat people in certain conditions. I thought federal law already did this? I haven't studied this issue and so cannot comment on specifics. I will say that the nature of open-to-the-public emergency medicine makes the usual market negotiations difficult or impossible.

Valdez's Solar Venture: Justin Wingerter: "EcoMark Solar, which is owned by [state rep.] Alex Valdez, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy April 17."

Caraveo: Colorado Sun has the updates. I empathize with Yadira Caraveo's mental-health issues, but those spilled into her congressional office.

In-Ground Heat Pumps: Colorado Mesa University uses this.

Nude Skiing: It's a thing.

Kids These Days: Lauren Penington: "Hundreds of Colorado students are setting their computers on fire for viral challenge."

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