Rocky Mountain Voice

Commentary

The joy weapon: Rowing with Jesus through the battles of life
Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

The joy weapon: Rowing with Jesus through the battles of life

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” Children sing this rhyme with a smile, but adults sing it exhausted because life feels like a battlefield. Bills, relationships, politics, and bodies weaken. Expectations come and go, betrayals and drifting dreams make us row harder and angrier. Then Jesus steps onto the shoreline and says, “Follow Me.” That command truly shifts everything. Jesus never guaranteed His followers a life free of storms; instead, He assured them of His presence right in the middle of them.  That’s where the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-16) come into play. They’re not just gentle religious sayings meant for pillows or sentimental Hallmark moments. No, th...
Memorial Day Calls Americans To Remember The Fallen And Live With Purpose
Approved, Commentary, National, Substack

Memorial Day Calls Americans To Remember The Fallen And Live With Purpose

By Mike Glover | Commentary, Substack Memorial Day means something different once you’ve buried friends. For a lot of Americans, it has become another long weekend. A kickoff to summer. Barbecues, travel plans, sales, days at the lake. And there’s nothing wrong with families spending time together. In fact, that freedom is exactly what generations of American warriors fought to preserve. But Memorial Day was never intended to be casual. It is a day rooted in sacrifice. Not service in general. Not patriotism in the abstract. Not politics. Sacrifice. It is the remembrance of men who never came home. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that one of the greatest responsibilities we carry as the living is the responsibility to remember and share the stories of those ...
A Person’s a Person No Matter How Small
Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A Person’s a Person No Matter How Small

By Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This story is not merely about a brave young girl gone viral for a poignant poem. It is about a canary in a coal mine gasping for air as the poisons of a culture increasingly unable to tolerate truth swirl ever thicker in the atmosphere around it. When a 7th grader is barred from presenting a poem titled “A life is a life, no matter how small” to her Honors English classmates because it defended unborn life, Colorado should take stock of its condition. In a Jeffco district claiming that “all students…feel that their voices and perspectives are valued,” the promotion of life itself was deemed too offensive. A healthy civilization does not fear competing moral arguments. It does not silence peaceful dissent or require instit...
America’s Next Top Entrepreneur: The Patriot Pitch Competition
Commentary, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

America’s Next Top Entrepreneur: The Patriot Pitch Competition

By Justin D. Everett | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Since the founding of our nation, American innovation has transformed lives by turning bold ideas into reality. As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, this legacy is accelerating—driven by policies that prioritize American ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit. This spirit is embodied by the Freedom 250 Patriot Pitch Competition, a national initiative led by the U.S. Small Business Administration to spotlight and support the businesses propelling America forward. With a $1 million prize pool—made possible by a generous contribution from Clover Network, Inc.—the competition celebrates entrepreneurs who exemplify American ingenuity by solving problems, building businesses, and creating jobs. Eligible small ...
Caputo Steps Forward As First Test Of Anti Weaponization Fund
Approved, Commentary, National, The Stone Zone

Caputo Steps Forward As First Test Of Anti Weaponization Fund

By Roger Stone | The Stone Zone Michael R. Caputo is not merely a veteran of political warfare. He is a patriot, a communicator of rare skill, a loyal friend, and a man who has paid an obscene personal price for the crime of supporting Donald J. Trump. Mike is also a good personal friend of mine. In fact, when he was a very young man he was at one point my driver. I have known him long enough to know the measure of the man. Beneath the armor of a tough political operative is a devoted husband, a loving father, a man of deep faith, and an American who has endured the machinery of a weaponized government with uncommon courage. Now Michael Caputo has become the first known American to publicly file a claim with the new Anti Weaponization Fund established by the Department of Justice. His cl...
Gambling with taxpayer dollars: Colorado bill could allow nonprofits to get paid before work is done
Approved, Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, State

Gambling with taxpayer dollars: Colorado bill could allow nonprofits to get paid before work is done

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project Gambling taxpayer money to bolster our nonprofit ecosystem. When you hire someone to do something for you, do you give them an advance? I’ve done it both ways: cash on delivery only and an upfront payment for, say, the materials. The bill linked at bottom makes some noteworthy changes to the way our state interacts with multiple nonprofits it pays to do its work. There are multiple directions you could go in with your speculation, but I think it’s reasonable to conclude overall that the bill bolsters the connection between our government and nonprofits, that it enriches the tightly-interconnected ecosystem of NGO’s and nonprofits in Colorado.** Under current law, prior to this bill, if a state awards a grant to a nonprofit for so...
A boy swept three girls’ events. Where were the adults?
New York Post, Approved, Commentary, National

A boy swept three girls’ events. Where were the adults?

By Jennifer Sey | Commentary, New York Post Federal law is supposed to forbid it, and even California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls it unfair. Yet on Saturday, AB Hernandez, a boy, swept the girls’ high jump, triple jump and long jump at the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Sectionals competition. Hernandez’s dominating distances will most likely advance him to the state championships at the end of the month.  CIF allowed the first-place girl in each event to share the podium with Hernandez — tacitly admitting two plain facts: that Hernandez is male, and that young women have unfairly had to compete against him for years. The list of displaced girls is so long at this point that we’ve stopped flinching. High jumper Reese...
What’s Likely to Change at Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

What’s Likely to Change at Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Likely changes to the Public Utilities Commission As I write this, the ultimate fate of the Public Utilities Commission sunset bill, HB26-1326 (the first link below), is unknown. I think that its becoming law is solid enough that we can wrap up what changes to this important unelected body we will see. Toward that end, I present you a couple of references which make a decent attempt at hitting endpoints on the ideological spectrum. Link 2 is a wrap up report by the Independence Institute’s energy policy writer Sarah Montalbano. Link 3 is to a contemporaneous article by the Colorado Sun’s Mark Jaffe. I’ll leave it to you to read through either or, what’s better, both. There are some things that stuck out t...
Coastal desalination could save Colorado’s water. The pushback? Cost
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Coastal desalination could save Colorado’s water. The pushback? Cost

By Michael J Badagliacco, “MJB” | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s water rights must never become a bargaining chip.  The 1922 Colorado River Compact apportioned 7.5 million acre-feet annually to the Upper Basin, including Colorado, and the same amount to the Lower Basin states. The 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act fixed specific Lower Basin shares: California 4.4 million acre-feet, Arizona 2.8 million acre-feet, and Nevada 0.3 million acre-feet. The 1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact later assigned Colorado roughly 51.75% of the Upper Basin’s share, or about 3.86 million acre-feet. The 1964 Arizona v. California Supreme Court decree confirmed federal oversight of these mainstream allocations while highlighting the need for supply solutions beyond repeate...
California’s water answer may be hiding in plain sight: The Pacific Ocean
GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

California’s water answer may be hiding in plain sight: The Pacific Ocean

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com The Wall Street Journal headline said “San Diego Now Has So Much Water That It’s Selling It.” The article said San Diego generates enough water to rescue Arizona, though that’s jumping the gun just a bit. No such deal has actually been finalized yet, but the fact that the conversation is underway marks a new era in Colorado River negotiations. And not a minute too soon. The latest optimism is not based on any change in the historically low flow of the Colorado River. It’s based on the realization – at long last – that California does not need Colorado River water. That realization has finally come not only to Upper Basin states like Colorado (which has been making this point for decades) but to all of the seven states in the Colorado Rive...