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When “affordable housing” means government-funded housing in Colorado
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

When “affordable housing” means government-funded housing in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Volker Housing, Part 1 During one of my public notice crawls for Logan County/Sterling, there was a notice about a developer applying for a grant from the state to turn an empty parcel of land into an affordable housing development. That notice in full can be found in the first link below, but the pertinent bit is quoted here: “Volker Housing Partners, LLC will submit an application to the Colorado Division of Housing (DOH). The purpose of this application is to request up to $2,000,000 in funding to develop 54 rental homes at 777 N 4th Street in Sterling, CO. “ A reader sent me an email and suggested that I look in on this company a little, and I agreed. If they’re pulling down $2 million, wha...
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There Is No Constitutional Right to “Protest”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

There Is No Constitutional Right to “Protest”

By Michael J Badagliacco, “MJB” | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The “Right” is to “…Peacefully Assemble and to petition the Government…” In the heated discourse surrounding civil unrest and public demonstrations, a common phrase echoes through media and activism: the right to “peacefully protest.” Contrary to popular opinion, this term appears nowhere in the United States Constitution. The document does not grant a specific right to protest at all. Instead, the First Amendment protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  This precise language underscores a limited safeguard, one focused on orderly gatherings rather than disruptive actions often labeled as protests. The Consti...
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How the Income Tax Betrayed the Founding and Broke the Constitution’s Promise of Liberty
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

How the Income Tax Betrayed the Founding and Broke the Constitution’s Promise of Liberty

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The American Founding was a deliberate rejection of concentrated power. The Founders built the United States around one core principle: government must be strong enough to secure liberty, but restrained enough to never become a master. An income tax, as it exists today, directly violates that design. It creates a federal government with a permanent claim on the labor of the citizen.  It funds unlimited expansion. It invites political favoritism. It weaponizes enforcement. It breaks the relationship between the people and the state that the Constitution was written to protect. Start with the historical fact that taxation was the spark of revolution.  The colonies did not revolt because they dislike...
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Parents Are Losing Authority and Washington Must Act
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Daily Citizen, Approved, Commentary, National

Parents Are Losing Authority and Washington Must Act

By Emily Washburn | Commentary, Daily Citizen Erin Friday champions parental rights at the highest levels of government. The attorney and mother spent last week on Capitol Hill, rallying to keep boys out of girls sports and urging members of congress to protect parents who do not affirm their children’s sexual identity confusion. Earlier this month, Friday met with the White House Domestic Policy Council to propose an executive order she’d written to prevent family courts and child placement organizations from discriminating against parents who affirm their children’s sex. Friday’s passionate defense of parents began in 2020, when her 13-year-old daughter declared herself “transgender.” “Her school secretly socially transitioned her wh...
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Protests over ICE center in Hudson reveal liberal hypocrisy
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Protests over ICE center in Hudson reveal liberal hypocrisy

By RMV Editorial Board Hundreds gathered outside a dormant prison in tiny Hudson this week. They braved freezing cold to protest plans for a new ICE detention center. Signs demanded justice. CBS Colorado captured the scene. https://youtu.be/D0iUjF-7B5s?si=MRLq2wBXKyFbYqqP One organizer told reporters the facility would not protect or serve communities. A resident feared people packed like sardines in a can. Another warned expansion drives families into shadows and erodes trust. The last census puts Hudson at 1,651 people. Someone at the protest warned that a 1,200-bed detention center would somehow double the town overnight.  That only works if detention beds are treated as permanent neighbors, or if the facility somehow brings in far more p...
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TABOR under pressure: How “think of the children” messaging is shaping Colorado’s education debate
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

TABOR under pressure: How “think of the children” messaging is shaping Colorado’s education debate

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Note the “won’t someone think of the children?!” framing I don’t think there are any specifics yet, but as of last week, there were plenty of rumors about the Democrats taking another stab at TABOR, this time in conjunction with their paymasters the teacher’s unions. If you read the Sun article linked first below, you’ll see one possible form this effort could take: some way or another, tying lifting the TABOR cap to directing money into education. Doing so would obviously enable supporters to frame opposition as being cold hearted: won’t someone please think of the children? I have discussed framing before, and the best way to counter it is to be aware of the framing, presenting counter...
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Virginia Democrats Abandon Affordability Promises With Massive Tax and Policy Push
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The Daily Signal, Approved, Commentary, National

Virginia Democrats Abandon Affordability Promises With Massive Tax and Policy Push

By Jarrett Stepman | Commentary, The Daily Signal Remember when Democrats spent an entire election cycle talking about “affordability” as if that’s all they care about now? Well, if you bought that, then there’s a socialist mayor in New York who’s got a bridge to sell you. But New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani isn’t actually the one completely blowing up the affordability farce, it’s assumedly “moderate” Virginia Democrats. Much of the media touted Abigail Spanberger as the moderate Democrat gubernatorial candidate who could lead the party back to power. The Wall Street Journal even called her the “anti-Mamdani.” “Abigail Spanberger is seen as a potential moderate face for her struggling party,” read The Wall Street Journal’s subheadline. ...
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‘Fully funded’ education: Panelist cites 30–70% increase as Sen. Kipp says “TABOR is why we don’t have nice things”
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

‘Fully funded’ education: Panelist cites 30–70% increase as Sen. Kipp says “TABOR is why we don’t have nice things”

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado Friday, January 16th, Day Three of the legislative session, began in a manner that seemed to promote general agreement in the Colorado House of Representatives. Since the upcoming Monday, January 19th, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a legal state holiday, the House began with a resolution recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Things went south when Representative Naquetta Ricks compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations to the German Gestapo of Adolf Hitler. This was a shocking statement to make in the middle of recognizing the civil rights efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. Representatives DeGraff and Bottoms brought some much-needed perspective to the conversation, in addition to Rep...
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Colorado prison beds could run out by 2026 and lawmakers face hard choices
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado prison beds could run out by 2026 and lawmakers face hard choices

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Spidey sense is tingling on the jail population … I had a reader mention something I thought worth sharing. Colorado has a problem. Our jail’s are nearing capacity. On top of that, we’re struggling to find people willing to guard them.A Corrections1 link is first below. It’s a copy (without the paywall) of a Denver Post article detailing how a Colorado budget analyst for the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee said we’re going to run out of beds for men in prison as early as 2026. Quoting with link intact: “Colorado’s prisons will run out of beds for men in the next fiscal year unless significant changes are made to either reduce the prison population or increase capacity, a state analyst projects in a n...
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Stop the bleeding: Fraud, tariffs and the reality of a $1.8 trillion deficit
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American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Stop the bleeding: Fraud, tariffs and the reality of a $1.8 trillion deficit

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker The U.S. federal government finished Fiscal Year 2025 with about $7 trillion in outlays and just over $5 trillion in revenues, leaving a deficit of roughly $1.8 trillion -- a gap that adds to the exploding national debt and threatens economic stability.  Under current trajectories, deficits are projected to remain near this scale for the foreseeable future, absent dramatic policy changes. What if, as some argue, the solution is staring us in the face: eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across government programs and pair that with stronger tariff revenues?  Could that alone balance the budget without cutting core programs or raising taxes? Is this wishful thinking or a real possibility? There...
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