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Colorado News Miner 149
Victor Marx's merch, devil horns, Flomberg on antisemitism, Elizabeth book suppression, atheist Colorado, and more.
by Ari Armstrong, Copyright © 2026
Marx Watch
Kafer on Marx: Krista Kafer: "By conflating journalism with religious persecution, Marx is not just deflecting responsibility; he is indulging in identity politics, the kind of us-versus-them rhetoric that inflames the body politic and leaves scars of resentment and distrust long after the race is over."
Marx Merch: 9News bought some just to see if they got any campaign contribution information. They didn't.
Marx Fundraising: Denver7: "CO Democrats send letter to SOS regarding allegations of Victor Marx accepting excess campaign contributions." Mario Nicolais: "Marx could find himself in serious trouble. From massive campaign finance fines to potential criminal charges, Marx has put himself into more jeopardy than any candidate in state history." That's probably an exaggeration, but still.
Flomberg on Devil Horns: David Flomberg: "Portraying a Jewish person with horns is not a new idea—it's a dehumanizing trope that dates back to the Middle Ages, when a mistranslation of a biblical verse describing Moses was depicted in medieval Christian art and calcified into the idea that Jews were literally demonic, horns and all." I take Sean Pond at his word that he didn't know Weiser is Jewish or that portraying Weiser with devil horns might be perceived as antisemitic, which, to me, proves only that Pond is too ignorant to responsibly involve himself in political matters. The ADL says bluntly, "Adding horns or satanic imagery to a Jewish person's image is antisemitic." Pond says he's suing Clark and 9News; good luck with that.
Marx on Fox31: Marx with his running mate George Markert finally found a interviewer he's not scared of, Matt Mauro. If Marx is smart he'll let Markert do as much of the talking as possible; that guy actually is a credible candidate. Mauro asked some real questions but mostly let Marx dodge the tough ones. Mauro also interviewed Weiser.
Moving On: Seth Klamann quoting CSU's Kyle Saunders on Marx: "He's never held office. There's no voting record, no budget, no administration to point to. When he says 'let's move on to the issues,' he’s asking to be evaluated on things he's never done, using the credibility of a story he no longer wants examined."
Incredible Stories: Seth Klamann: "In his books, he [Marx] writes about befriending the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, a miraculous near-miss with a helicopter crash, and repeatedly using prayer to expel demons. He describes himself as a state champion trumpeter so adept with a butterfly knife that he wowed a group of 'gang bangers' he confronted in a parking lot in Colorado Springs."
Marx Bawk Bawk: Seth Klamann: "Campaign manager Buddy Jericho declined The Post’s request to interview Marx for this story." Ernest Luning: "Weiser's campaign confirmed that he will participate in a televised debate on Aug. 27 in Colorado Springs, sponsored by Colorado Politics, The Gazette, KOAA-TV and the El Pomar Foundation. . . . In an email to the debate's debate organizers sent Tuesday morning, Buddy Jericho, the Marx campaign's general consultant, declined the invitation and elaborated on the campaign's decision to take part in just one debate." Kyle Clark: "We have invited Marx and his running mate to sit down on 9NEWS for a joint interview. The Marx campaign preemptively declined." Marx's absurd announcement that he will participate only in an unmoderated debate just means he will not debate. What an idiot. And a chicken-shit. He can face down demons but he can't face news journalists or other candidates?
Flomberg on CTR and Antisemitism
Well this is awkward! I write a column for Colorado Times Recorder mostly covering religious issues.
Corey Hutchins writes: David "Flomberg spent years covering antisemitism at the progressive digital Colorado Times Recorder site, but said he was recently let go after a disagreement with his editor about whether to call the Israel-Gaza war a genocide."
On his own website, Flomberg wrote (July 28):
For the past several years, antisemitism has been my beat at the Colorado Times Recorder. . . .
Last week, that ended. My final piece for CTR—"The Shomer: Antisemitism, For All, By All"—ran, and a few days later, the publication ended my employment with them.
I want to be careful here, because I think precision matters more than heat, especially on this subject. In my termination conversation with my now former editor, he told me: 'We think [Israel is committing] genocide and you don't, it just comes down to that.' . . .
The term 'genocide' has a very specific definition. . . . There is no shortage of argument to be had about the Israel/Gaza war, about how PM Netanyahu has chosen to prosecute it, whether or not war crimes have occurred, whether or not ethnic cleansing applies. . . . [T]he meaning of genocide—especially to the layperson—has been successfully obfuscated by Israel's detractors. . . . [W]ar and genocide are two very different things, and while both result in devastating consequences, purposefully conflating them is an act of bad faith. . . .
This newsletter is going to do the thing I am no longer allowed to do at CTR: cover antisemitism as what it is, wherever it shows up, without asking anyone’s permission about which direction I’m allowed to look.
For the record: Given my current understanding, I agree with Flomberg that, while the Israeli military has done many things worthy of moral condemnation, the term "genocide" does not apply.
Jason Salzman, publisher of CTR thinks the term does apply. He told me:
Our overall policy is, we publish fact-based opinion articles. Our position in this case is that the Israeli government has committed genocide in the Gaza, as a factual matter. Most credible international bodies and human rights groups, minus the International Court of Justice, which has a lengthy court case going on, have said it’s genocide. We agree.
So we do not think it's a legitimate opinion to argue in an opinion piece that it's not genocide—just as we would not accept an opinion denying human-caused global warming or the Holocaust. We want fact-based opinion. We don't want genocide denialism.
I also don't want to get overinvolved in a technical semantic debate when what most matters are the on-the-ground policies and actions.
I disagree with a fair amount of material published by the progressive CTR. I also write a column for the conservative-libertarian Complete Colorado, and I disagree with some of the material published there too. If I only wrote for publications with which I perfectly agreed, I could write only for my own site. (And, hell, I don't always even agree with my past self.) There are definitely some publications I'd never write for. And it can be hard to know where to draw the lines. But I think I'm well inside the bounds writing for these two publications, whatever disagreements I may have with their editors and writers.
More Notes on the Elizabeth Books
Someone asked me why parents would let their kids read books about gay people. I answered seriously. (See also my column.)
1) Gay people, including close personal friends of mine, are human beings and should be understood and treated as such rather than demonized or treated poorly.
2) About three percent of the population is gay, meaning you and your children almost certainly know gay adults and children (remembering that "child" here refers to anyone under 18). For example, the governor of Colorado is gay.
3) The problems that gay people face are comparable to the problems that everyone faces. For example, the story You Should See Me in a Crown, while about the romance between two girls, covers topics and problems relevant to all relationships. Generally, it would be stupid to read fiction only about people exactly like you. A major purpose of fiction is to enable readers to inhabit others' worlds and think others' thoughts, if only for a little while. I will never be a woman, or a slave, or a Native American, or someone born in Afghanistan, or someone who suffered under the Nazi terror, or a steel magnate, or someone who lived in 300 bc or 1700 ad, or a gay person, but, through fiction and biographical works, I can partly inhabit such lives, and thereby gain more understanding of people who are in various respects not like me.
Also, only some of the books suppressed by the Elizabeth School District are about gay people. For example, the book Speak is about a heterosexual girl recovering from the trauma of being raped prior to her freshman year. Kite Runner is about a heterosexual man who rescues a child from the Taliban. The Hate U Give is about a heterosexual teen who witnesses a horrific homicide.
Quick Takes
Atheist Colorado? Seth Klamann claims that "in Colorado . . . more than half of residents don't believe in God." That's not quite right. What Pew actually asks (based on data from 2023 and 2024) is whether people "believe in God or a universal spirit with absolute certainty." Only 46 percent of people said they do. But some people hold that "absolute certainty" is impossible regarding any matter. Many more would say that God exists but without claiming absolute certainty that God exists. An additional 32 percent of Coloradans say they "believe in God or a universal spirit" but are "not absolutely certain" about that. So combined that's 78 percent who believe in God or a universal spirit.
Federal Choice Money: As Ross Izard and Erin Brantley point out, there's certainly no guarantee that Governor Weiser will opt back in to the federal tax-credit program for school choice, which Polis has opted into for 2027. Everything I've seen from Weiser suggest's he's unfriendly to school choice in any form, but it's hard to predict how he'll come down on particular issues.
James Wiley: Erik Maulbetsch: "GOP Candidate for State's Top Election Job Is an Election Denier Who Wants to Delete the Voter Rolls." Good backgrounder.