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Does anyone care about the wolves? Or just the politics behind them
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Does anyone care about the wolves? Or just the politics behind them

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com If you were a grey wolf, it would be hard to imagine a more hostile environment than this state, into which 25 wolves have been involuntarily and violently extradited from their natural homes. It is reminiscent of illegal immigrants from south of the border being deported to prisons in unfamiliar countries like South Sudan and Uzbekistan. Those people have at least been accused of committing some crime. But what exactly have these wolves done to deserve such a fate? Wolves are among history’s most hated creatures. Writers have taught children for centuries to fear the Big Bad Wolf. Think of the villains in “Little Red Riding Hood” and at least three other Grimm’s fairy tales, or “The Three Little Pigs,” or at least four Ae...
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What SuperBowl LX Can Teach Us About Colorado Politics
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Top Stories

What SuperBowl LX Can Teach Us About Colorado Politics

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan (*not a football player) Last Sunday, millions of Americans watched one of the most lackluster competitions between two NFL teams in a long while. The stats indicate that the Seattle Seahawks outplayed the New England Patriots, consistently from start to finish. The score speaks clearlly: Seattle won and New England lost.  I think SuperBowl LX was chock full of lessons that apply to Colorado politics. One team (Seattle) had a clear game plan, a competent and experienced coach and quarterback, and great players who understood their jobs and executed well. The other team (New England) didn’t. Both teams made it to the SuperB...
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Colorado’s immigration folly: Taxpayer dollars fueling a broken system
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s immigration folly: Taxpayer dollars fueling a broken system

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As the state representative from House District 22 in Colorado Springs, I see daily how federal immigration enforcement and state policies affect families in El Paso County. President Trump’s 2024 reelection brought a secured southern border after the Biden era’s chaos, when 8 to 11 million people entered illegally—the largest surge in U.S. history.  That influx overwhelmed communities nationwide, including Colorado. While federal policy now prioritizes removing criminal aliens, Colorado Democrats have enacted legislation that rewards illegal immigration with generous taxpayer-funded benefits, all while ignoring the burden on law-abiding citizens. Deportation data from 1993 to 2022 show enforcement is bi...
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When grievance overrides justice: The risk of declaring nothing illegal
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

When grievance overrides justice: The risk of declaring nothing illegal

By Michael Hancock | Guest Commentary, Undercurrent How Moral Slogans Collapse the Rule of Law “There is no such thing as illegal on stolen land.” It is a clever slogan—short, moral, and absolute. And like most slogans that aspire to absoluteness, it collapses the moment it is treated as an argument rather than a chant. The claim rests on a simple premise: because land was once taken unjustly, no law exercised upon it today can be legitimate. The conclusion sounds radical, even righteous. In reality, it is neither. It is a logical error masquerading as moral courage—and one with consequences far more destructive than its advocates seem willing to admit. Begin with the historical reality the slogan quietly ignores. There is no land on earth untouch...
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Malpractice ruling signals legal reckoning for gender procedures on minors
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, National

Malpractice ruling signals legal reckoning for gender procedures on minors

By Brian C. Joondeph, M.D. | Commentary, American Thinker A major change in the medical landscape on transgender surgeries on minors arrives, and the press is trying to ignore it. When Fox Varian stood before a New York jury last month and described the moment her bandages were removed after a double mastectomy, her words were stark: “It’s so hard to face that you are disfigured for life.”  What the jury saw was not a political mascot or an abstract policy debate, but a young woman whose body had been permanently altered during adolescence, long before she had the maturity or perspective to grasp the lifelong consequences of that choice. After deliberation, the jury awarded Ms. Varian $2 million in damages, finding that her psychologist and surgeon fai...
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Colorado’s proposed habitat map update could reshape oil and gas development
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s proposed habitat map update could reshape oil and gas development

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project ECMC’s 2026 High Priority Habitat Maps I recently got an email update from the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) about how they are going to update their High Priority Habitat Maps.The first link below is to their webpage on this update, but let's go back a bit and firm up some context on this issue before diving in to more details.A quote from the rulemaking notice gives plenty of detail for what we'll discuss. It's lengthy, so I attached a picture of it as screenshot 1. In brief, high priority habitat maps help dictate where in this state oil and gas development can occur and under what kinds of rules.CPW (per their explainer page linked second below) has no role in regulating ...
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“America must not be overwhelmed”: A century-old warning revisited
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

“America must not be overwhelmed”: A century-old warning revisited

By Tom Anthony | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who penned the lion’s share of the Constitution, is perhaps the most stellar example of the philosophy of America as a meritocracy, having been the illegitimate son of a Caribbean storekeeper who rose to become George Washington’s Adjutant and the first Secretary of the Treasury. He said this about immigration: “Foreigners will generally be apt to bring with them attachments to the persons they have left behind; to the country of their nativity, and to its particular customs and manners. They will also entertain opinions on government congenial with those under which they have lived; or, if they should be led hither from a preference to ours, how extremely unlikely is it that they will...
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Mandated hiring preferences are not a “just transition”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Mandated hiring preferences are not a “just transition”

By Aimee Tooker | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Just Transition Action Plan was established in 2020 to “empower communities with resources to drive their own economic transitions.”  I take personal issue with Section 2 of this introduced bill. SB26-052 “CONCERNING COAL TRANSITION COMMUNITIES, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, PROVIDING A HIRING PREFERENCE FOR COAL TRANSITION WORKERS IN COAL TRANSITION COMMUNITIES AND EXPANDING THE ALLOWABLE WAYS IN WHICH A PUBLIC ENTITY MAY DEPOSIT OR INVEST JUST TRANSITION MONEY.” ·       A COVERED BUSINESS SHALL CONSULT WITH THE JUST TRANSITION OFFICE, ·       A COVERED BUSINESS SHALL REPORT ANNUALLY TO THE JUST TRANSITION OFFICE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION REGARDING THE PRIOR YEAR: o   (a) THE TITLE OF ANY POS...
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Colorado’s crime problem is bigger than the laws on the books
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s crime problem is bigger than the laws on the books

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Colorado’s crime problem isn’t just due to our laws As I've written before, our troubles with crime involve more than just the laws on the books.There are a few steps in the criminal justice process where someone has discretion. Discretion means the ability to be too hard, or too soft.District Attorneys decide on whether to charge and what charges to bring. Judges decide on bail, and the trial judge passes sentence.Each step a chance to be too harsh or too easy.The Complete Colorado article at bottom details a new effort by some lawmakers and talk radio host Jeff Hunt. Their website is linked below the story for convenience.I'll leave it to you to read either, but in brief, their effort is intended to bring publ...
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Capitalism vs socialism: What the global data reveals about human well-being
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The Daily Signal, Approved, Commentary, National

Capitalism vs socialism: What the global data reveals about human well-being

By Sanjai Bhagat | Commentary, The Daily Signal Capitalism versus socialism has become a topic of intense debate in senior political and business circles. The recent election of socialist-leaning candidates in major U.S. cities highlights the contemporary relevance of this topic. A recent Gallup poll finds that Americans view capitalism more positively than socialism; the 54% viewing capitalism favorably is down from 60% in 2021. Americans view socialism more negatively (57%) than positively (39%), with little movement in these attitudes over time. How have the people of a country fared that have adopted socialism? Not so well—the evidence below indicates. How have the people of a socialist country that have adopted capitalism fared? Very well—again, t...
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