Rocky Mountain Voice

Commentary

Martinez: Court sends a reminder; tax hikes require voter consent
Approved, Commentary, completecolorado.com, State

Martinez: Court sends a reminder; tax hikes require voter consent

By Tyler Martinez | Complete Colorado In a major victory for taxpayers, a unanimous panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals agreed with the National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s Taxpayer Defense Center (NTUF) that an overnight doubling of the property taxes in a few Northern Colorado counties violated the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). We represented James Aranci and his neighbors, who were shocked to learn in 2020 that their property taxes to the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District doubled from 2019 to 2020 (and the years thereafter). TABOR mandates a ratification vote of any proposed tax increase or new debt taken on by government entities–including water districts. But there was no vote from Aranci or anyone else. So we came...
Raleigh: Joe Biden’s signature achievement is his list of broken promises
Approved, Commentary, National, The Federalist

Raleigh: Joe Biden’s signature achievement is his list of broken promises

By HELEN RALEIGH | The Federalist President Joe Biden’s Energy Department canceled its plan to purchase millions of barrels of oil to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The cancellation means the Biden administration is unlikely to fulfill its promise of fully replenishing the SPR by the end of the year, and the SPR will remain at a historically low level after the administration depleted it in 2022.  The depletion of the SPR was caused by the Biden administration’s own failed energy policy. Shortly after he came into office, President Biden issued a series of anti-fossil fuel energy policies, including canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline project and halting leasing on federal lands for oil and gas production. Biden’s energy policies stran...
Sullivan: No, they are not ‘mainstream’
Approved, Commentary, National, Texas Scorecard

Sullivan: No, they are not ‘mainstream’

By Michael Quinn Sullivan | Texas Scorecard We often hear people refer to the collection of leftist newspapers and television networks that once held sway over the dissemination of facts and opinions as the “mainstream media.” In fact, there is nothing “mainstream” about them. By definition, the dying legacy outlets are NOT mainstream. The clearest evidence for this is found in their declining sales, diminishing market penetration, and nonexistent economic viability. If the newspapers and networks that get so casually labeled “mainstream” actually were, they wouldn’t be laying off staff as their circulations and viewerships plummet. Texas newspapers, for example, have fewer readers today than ever before, despite the massive surge in the state’s population. Sure, they...
Sloan: Speaker Mike Johnson has chance to lead on Ukraine
Approved, Commentary, National, Rocky Mountain Voice

Sloan: Speaker Mike Johnson has chance to lead on Ukraine

Kelly Sloan | Special Contributor, The Rocky Mountain Voice House Speaker Mike Johnson is experiencing a defining moment in his career. As Congress resumes, he seems to have successfully – one hopes – hammered out a workable deal to finally get arms flowing to the Ukrainians as their defense starts to falter. Effective support for Ukraine’s defence is the central foreign policy question facing Western leaders today. There are, of course, no shortage of serious foreign policy dilemmas – one could toss a dart at a world map and chances are pretty good that wherever it lands there is some kind of trouble brewing – but it is difficult to understate the importance of Ukraine. The Israelis are tough and will likely prevail with or without American support (though how much better for our ow...
Editorial: Trump abortion policy a turn toward state’s rights
Approved, Commentary, National, Rocky Mountain Voice

Editorial: Trump abortion policy a turn toward state’s rights

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board The issue: President Donald Trump this week announced his abortion policy, favoring states independently deciding how to regulate abortion. We say: Regardless of your position on abortion, this view respects the concept of state's rights written into the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by the Founding Fathers, and is a respectful position for freedom and liberty. The Founding Fathers of a young nation they called the United States of America never had the intention for an over-intrusive federal government to create a nanny state, where our every action is regulated and legislated. We were to be an independent, free people; a republic, if we could keep it. In the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the final entry into the Bil...
Krannawitter: Without mutual civic trust, there would have been no American Founding
Approved, Commentary, National

Krannawitter: Without mutual civic trust, there would have been no American Founding

THOMAS L. KRANNAWITTER, PH.D. | Liberty Lyceum The Signers of the Declaration of Independence concluded with a famous and solemn pledge—their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. This was no small matter. What they were calling “revolution” was, from the British point of view, treason against the Crown and punishable by death. Yet, the Signers stood strong and launched the greatest experiment in freedom the world has witnessed, a movement held together by a powerful kind of social and political glue: Trust. The pledge offered by the Signers in the Summer of 1776 was not a promise to God, nor to fellow citizens. The pledge they made was to each other. They knew, every one of them, that if some broke the trust when the going got tough—and the going was about to get very tough!—others wou...
The Left’s latest scheme to permanently change elections in America
Approved, Commentary, National, Washington Examiner

The Left’s latest scheme to permanently change elections in America

Paul Teller and Jason Snead | Washington Examiner Imagine a Super Bowl referee bending the rules to give his favorite team the win. Few would call that fair. Yet that is precisely what the Left wants to do to America’s elections. From noncitizen voting to lawsuits inviting activist judges to rewrite our election laws, left-wing activists are taking every opportunity to change elections permanently for partisan gain. Their latest tactic is to undermine the basic principle of “one person, one vote” with a new scheme called ranked choice voting. As we speak, liberal special interests are leading a sophisticated national campaign to push ranked choice voting in nearly every state. They have hired lobbyists, formed astroturf activist groups, and are financing state ballot measures acro...
Satirical testimony zaps lefty Colorado lawmakers on guns, furries, abortion
Approved, coloradopeakpolitics.com, Commentary

Satirical testimony zaps lefty Colorado lawmakers on guns, furries, abortion

By Colorado Peak Politics Step aside Babylon Bee. There’s a new satire game in town and the conservative folks still left in Colorado are proud to call Scott Shamblin and Nicole McBurney their homies. Their videos mocking the state’s ridiculously progressive legislature have gone viral across social media as frontman Shamblin and writer McBurney piss off the libs while sending rational thinking folks into hysterical fits of laughter. We strongly suspect those are not their real names, and after seeing their videos, PeakNation™ will likely agree. And applaud. Behold! Gen Z has a sense of humor. READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COLORADO PEAK POLITICS
Johnson: CPW needs to act so producers know what is allowable to protect livestock from wolves
Approved, Commentary, thefencepost.com

Johnson: CPW needs to act so producers know what is allowable to protect livestock from wolves

By Rona Johnson  | The Fence Post The wolf or wolves that killed a calf in Grand County, Colorado, were ones that were moved from Oregon to Colorado about three months ago. Initially, Colorado Parks and Wildlife did not report that the killer wolf or wolves were from Oregon, but eventually in response to pressure from the press and Colorado livestock producers the CPW caved and admitted the truth. Before the wolves from Oregon were introduced into Colorado, CPW Director Jeff Davis and his staff testified before the House Agriculture Committee on Sept. 12, 2023, that they would do everything they could to not bring problem wolves to Colorado.
Krannawitter: Are things becoming better or worse for the children of America?
Approved, Commentary, National

Krannawitter: Are things becoming better or worse for the children of America?

By THOMAS L. KRANNAWITTER, PH.D. | Liberty Lyceum April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, established in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan’s Proclamation 5039. It is fitting, therefore, in this month of April, 2024, to ask some zetetic questions: How are children doing in the United States today? Are things becoming better or worse for the children of America? The United States is now a more progressive regime than ever before. Progressives now control virtually every institution of influence and power. READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT LIBERTY LYCEUM