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The cost of asking Americans to simply “Trust us”
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American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

The cost of asking Americans to simply “Trust us”

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker Public confidence collapsed not because Americans asked too many questions, but because too many went unanswered. Science has never required blind faith. Quite the opposite. Science advances by asking difficult questions, testing uncomfortable hypotheses, challenging accepted wisdom, and enabling independent investigators to examine the evidence. Authority alone has never been enough. That is why every scientific paper includes a Materials and Methods section. The goal isn’t merely to announce conclusions. It is to provide enough information for others to reproduce the work, validate the findings, or identify errors. That’s how science earns trust. COVID changed that. Too often, Americans were simply tol...
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Does Aurora police provide equal protection to protesters and workers alike?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Does Aurora police provide equal protection to protesters and workers alike?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Does Aurora PD offer equal protection to all? Let me start with the top-line story before I get to an easily-missed detail. The first link below is to a CPR article which details how an employee of the ICE detention facility in Aurora allegedly shot a protestor.** A quote gives some detail: “Police reported that Booth [the alleged shooter and employee of the facility] and his colleagues had been unable to get into the facility for their work shifts due to the protest. The two women reportedly took pictures of the employees’ cars and got into a verbal altercation with the employees before walking away. Booth then took out his personal firearm and fired one shot in the direction of the women, hitting ...
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The Thriftiness Weapon: A-Tisket A-Tasket
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The Thriftiness Weapon: A-Tisket A-Tasket

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice A-tisket, a-tasket, a green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it. Like most children, I never gave much thought to those words. I imagined a little girl happily skipping along with her colorful basket until, somewhere along the road, she accidentally dropped it. It wasn't until years later that I realized the basket wasn't really the tragedy. Baskets are replaceable. The real loss was what she was carrying. She dropped the letter to her love. The older I get, the more I realize that's exactly how life works. Most don't lose everything overnight. We lose it one misplaced treasure at a time. Looking back, I wish I had been a little more thrifty with the things that mattered most. I'd gi...
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Aurora’s debt proposal is why taxpayers need to speak up
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Aurora’s debt proposal is why taxpayers need to speak up

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Speak up for fiscal responsibility and join likeminded people The image heading this post is a flyer about a particular ballot issue put on the November ballot by city council. If you live in Aurora or know someone who does, give that image a share. The idea of, and push for, fiscal responsibility is not limited to Aurora, however. Spending someone else’s money is seemingly tempting for politicians of all parties. That’s why you need to engage and be active in forcing fiscal responsibility and restraint no matter where you live in Colorado. If you’ve been wanting to but find it easier to be a part of something instead of striking out on your own, I’ve got a group for you. The flyer comes from a group...
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Southwest Colorado needs affordability, accountability and balanced representation
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Southwest Colorado needs affordability, accountability and balanced representation

By Naomi Riess | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice For more than three decades, I have worked with families, farmers, ranchers, property  owners, small businesses and local governments across Southwest Colorado. I have  helped people navigate land-use rules, permitting requirements, water issues and  development approvals. Through that work, I have seen how government decisions  made far from our communities can affect whether a family can build a home, whether a  business can expand and whether a landowner can continue using property responsibly.  That is why I am concerned about the direction Colorado is heading.  Families and seniors are watching the cost of housing, insurance, property taxes,  utilities, food and health care con...
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When judges become lawmakers: Brazil’s warning for America’s constitutional balance
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Undercurrent, Approved, Commentary, National

When judges become lawmakers: Brazil’s warning for America’s constitutional balance

By Michael Hancock | Commentary, Undercurrent Substack Brazil Did Not Lose Its Democracy Overnight. It Allowed One Institution to Rise Above the Rest. The greatest threats to constitutional government rarely arrive as revolutions. More often, they arrive as evolutions, unfolding quietly rather than all at once. No tanks roll through the streets. No constitution is suspended. Elections continue. Congress still meets. Presidents still campaign. Courts remain open. Everything appears normal. Until one day it isn’t. What changes is not the existence of democratic institutions but the balance among them. Liberty depends less upon the existence of government than upon the careful distribution of governmental power. The Founders understood this better than mos...
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Colorado’s Medicaid debate: Should lawmakers fix spending before seeking more federal dollars?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Medicaid debate: Should lawmakers fix spending before seeking more federal dollars?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Drawing down more Federal money as the solution to Colorado’s Medicaid problem? Have you ever heard the saying, “the first step is admitting you have a problem”? Nash Herman’s piece on the Colorado Medicaid Commission (linked first below) made me think of that. The reason being that, per what he writes about their first meeting, the commission seems to largely be focused on wringing more money out of the Feds than dealing with the bloat that Colorado lawmakers have heaped upon the program since 2014 and Obamacare. Quoting from the piece with embedded links left intact: “The most recent Commission meeting raised questions about the government’s priorities in addressing Medicaid and the state budget. A re...
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AI Camera Expansion Sparks Debate Over Privacy Freedom and Government Authority
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Washington Examiner, Approved, Commentary, National

AI Camera Expansion Sparks Debate Over Privacy Freedom and Government Authority

By Connor Boyack | Commentary, Washington Examiner On the morning of July 4, someone in Houston, Texas, cut two surveillance cameras in half and draped an American flag over the wreckage. In New Bern, North Carolina, police asked the public to help identify two men filmed destroying a camera — the public responded with hundreds of tips identifying the suspects as Batman and Robin. Since April 2025, Americans in at least five states have dismantled these devices from Flock Safety, a $8.4 billion company whose over 100,000 AI-enabled cameras now photograph passing vehicles in more than 6,000 communities. Yes, the vandals are committing crimes, and laws apply even when cameras annoy. But a nation’s lawbreaking, like its laws, contains information....
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Who watches the watchers? Why surveillance technology needs stronger oversight, not less
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American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Who watches the watchers? Why surveillance technology needs stronger oversight, not less

By Brian Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker Trust is important. Verification is essential. More than 2,000 years ago, the Roman poet Juvenal posed a timeless question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? — “Who will guard the guards themselves?” or “Who watches the watchers?” The Romans could never have imagined artificial intelligence, facial recognition, or nationwide networks of automated license-plate readers. Yet their question may be even more relevant today than it was three millennia ago. Recent debate over Flock Safety cameras illustrates why. The cameras have become an invaluable law enforcement tool. A stolen vehicle that crosses several jurisdictions can now be identified in minutes rather than days. An abducted child can sometimes be located be...
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