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Walcher: Time is on Colorado’s side – no need to rush
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Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher

Walcher: Time is on Colorado’s side – no need to rush

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, GregWalcher.com An early lesson I learned as a young staffer for the late Sen. Bill Armstrong was the importance of careful consideration. He disliked being rushed into hasty decisions and developed a standard response to any demand for immediate action. “If you need an answer right now,” he would say, “the answer is no.” If there was time for more thought, homework, reading and studying all the implications, the answer could be different. He understood that rushed judgments are rarely good judgments. Colorado River negotiators ought to keep that in mind as they are being prodded to make new interstate agreements that could supplant a century of western water law. CNN reported a few days ago that the Administration is “trying to throw a Ha...
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Washington Examiner: The Left’s troubling violent rhetoric
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Washington Examiner: The Left’s troubling violent rhetoric

By The Washington Examiner | Commentary President-elect Donald Trump’s commanding reelection victory understandably upset many on the Left who tried for nearly a decade to demonize his brand of populist politics as outside the boundaries of acceptable political discourse. But in the past week, two incidents in New York have triggered an outburst of violent rhetoric that condemns anti-Trumpian leftist rhetoric. After a Manhattan jury on Monday unanimously found Daniel Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide for the death of a mentally ill homeless man who was threatening subway riders, the leaders of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York called for violence. BLM of Greater New York co-founder Hawk Newsome shouted, “It’s a small world, buddy,” as ...
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Copeland: Colorado vs. the First Amendment
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Approved, Commentary, gazette.com

Copeland: Colorado vs. the First Amendment

By Dr. Tom Copeland | Commentary, Denver Gazette The left in Colorado is assaulting the First Amendment, and all three branches of government are culprits. Start with the governor-appointed Colorado Civil Rights Commission (CCRC). In a recent victory for free speech rights, website designer Lorie Smith of 303 Creative won a settlement from the CCRC to pay her $1.5 million in legal fees for defending her right to choose what messages her creative work will convey. The commission’s aggressive drive for government-mandated speech will cost taxpayers — not the commissioners — real dollars. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court put CCRC in its place when it ruled that the commission had demonstrated extreme bias against Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop because of his religious convictio...
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Lundberg: More light needs to be shed on Griswoldgate, despite ‘move along’ spin
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Commentary, State

Lundberg: More light needs to be shed on Griswoldgate, despite ‘move along’ spin

By Kevin Lundberg | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Nothing to see here, move along, move along… This week it was widely reported that a “third party” investigation concluded Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s public posting of hundreds of passwords for months on her official website was inadvertent and therefore no harm was done. Absent in this report is an adequate analysis of the serious compromise that occurred to the election equipment which the passwords were intended to protect (no one really knows who may have found this information online or how it may have been used to manipulate election results), nor did the report deal with the fact that the secretary of state (SOS) hid this password breach from the public and the county clerks while the election ...
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Sloan: Is the end of Assad the end of Obama foreign policy?
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Approved, Commentary, National, Rocky Mountain Voice

Sloan: Is the end of Assad the end of Obama foreign policy?

By Kelly Sloan | Contributing Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Few tears, if any, will be shed for the demise of the Assad regime in Syria, save perhaps a few in Moscow and Tehran. The rapid success of the Syrian rebels last weekend took most everyone by surprise, not just the Biden administration to whom any world event not thoroughly discoursed upon The View or plastered on the front page of the New York Times apparently comes as a surprise.  The fall of the Syrian regime is a strategic boon for the U.S.A., even though the U.S.A. had little, if anything, to do with bringing it about. The survival of the brutish, terror-sponsoring regime in Damascus was made possible only by the will and backing of Moscow and, later, Tehran. Syria was the Soviet Union’s key middle eastern pr...
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West: The false gods of Leftism
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West: The false gods of Leftism

By Lt. Col. Allen West (ret.) | Commentary, American Civil Rights Union You often hear leftists rant on about the “separation of church and state,” with the goal being the separation of America’s Judeo-Christian faith heritage from itself. There can be no doubt that faith heritage played an integral part in the founding of our Constitutional Republic. What Thomas Jefferson really meant when he wrote that letter to the Danbury Baptist Convention of Connecticut was to calm any concerns that the Baptists had that the Presbyterians would be the official “religion” of America. Jefferson knew very well of the lesson from England of King Henry VIII. Who, when denied a divorce by the Catholic Church, created his very own religion and persecuted those who did not worship him as both Head of Stat...
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Hindawi: Text messages from home and the fall of a dictator
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Hindawi: Text messages from home and the fall of a dictator

By Salam Hindawi | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In late November, I had received a Telegram text from my brother, based in Germany, saying there were skirmishes between Syrian opposition forces and the Assad army - the official, regular Syrian armed forces - on the outskirts of our hometown of Aleppo, near our long-abandoned farmhouse. He sounded jubilant as he relayed the news, as if Assad would be toppled tomorrow. For me, I was far more skeptical to the extent of sarcasm. Years of dormancy in the Syrian Revolution - kicked off in 2011 - had made people pessimistic and dismissive of any idea of regime-changing victory, such as that which took place in Egypt or Libya.  “Bro…new frontlines seem to have been open. It looks different this time, maybe there’s more supp...
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Heatherly & Lundberg: It is time to downsize the Administrative State in Colorado, too
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Heatherly & Lundberg: It is time to downsize the Administrative State in Colorado, too

By Former Sen. Kevin Lundberg and Charles Heatherly | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice It’s not news that America’s $6 trillion federal Administrative State is targeted for radical downsizing by President Donald J. Trump. What is also not news is that Colorado’s progressives will oppose most of the President’s policies and probably think that Colorado can escape the oncoming Trump deregulation bulldozer. The far more interesting question is, will the Colorado Republican Party get its act together in time to partner with the Trump Administration’s initiatives as they impact the federal Administrative State’s appendages in Colorado. It is already clear from the character and fast pace of President-elect Trump’s agency appointments that his rhetoric likely will be followed quic...
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Davis & Hansen: Why we’re fighting for an NCA and against a National Monument
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Davis & Hansen: Why we’re fighting for an NCA and against a National Monument

By Cody Davis and Sue Hansen | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Dolores River is a hidden gem nestled against the Rocky Mountains, and has long been cherished by Coloradans — from ranchers and grazers to recreationists and sightseers — who have enjoyed its pristine beauty and breathtaking views. For decades, local residents have successfully stewarded and protected these lands, proving that conservation thrives under local care and control. However, as we’ve seen elsewhere in Colorado, National Monument designations often shift decision-making from West Slope communities to Washington, D.C., bureaucrats. We believe there’s a better way forward. In recent weeks, there’s been a lot of conversation about the future of the Dolores River and whether a National Conservation Ar...
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Boll: How should history be taught? A critical look at AP African American Studies in Douglas County
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Boll: How should history be taught? A critical look at AP African American Studies in Douglas County

By Laureen Boll | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I’m a long-term resident of Douglas County and for the last three years have been a volunteer with FAIR (www.fairforall.org), a non-profit, grassroots organization that aims to overcome identity politics by nurturing a culture rooted in fairness, understanding and our common humanity. I expect our public education system to embrace these values. History curriculum, in particular, can and should present a balanced and truthful account of past events, the good and the bad, by ensuring elements of fairness (e.g., multiple perspectives, avoiding bias), understanding (e.g., contextualization, cause-and-effect) and our common humanity (e.g., shared experiences, empathy building) are woven into the curriculum. Douglas County School...
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