Rocky Mountain Voice

Commentary

Why deportations are only part of the affordability answer
TownHall.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Why deportations are only part of the affordability answer

By Dmitri Bolt | Commentary, Townhall AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued on Thursday that mass deportations are already improving Americans’ economic circumstances. He pointed to a tightening labor market, rising wages for working-class Americans following the departure of more than one million illegal immigrants from the workforce, and reduced pressure on rents as fewer illegal immigrants compete for jobs and housing. However, it is important to remember that these problems existed long before illegal immigration reached its current scale, and they will remain long after, if we do not strike at the root of the affordability issue. "Things are getting better. We're seeing construction jobs picking up. We're seeing manufactu...
Why Millions of Men Are Checking Out of Work and Family Life
New York Post, Approved, Commentary, National

Why Millions of Men Are Checking Out of Work and Family Life

By Post Editorial Board | Commentary,.New York Post For only the third time in US history, more women are working than men — and this profoundly abnormal state of affairs could become the new normal if we doesn’t face this slow-moving social disaster. Crucially, the other two times were both this century — after the 2008 financial meltdown and the 2020 lockdowns, and now it’s happening without any obvious crisis to explain it. By far the most likely explanation: We’ve all but lost most clear paths toward responsible manhood. The economy’s long shift from industrial to service-sector employment is one key reason men have increasingly dropped out of the workforce entirely starting in the mid-1960s. Meanwhile, we’ve let soc...
Cornyn and Tillis sank the Justice Fund. Murdock says the Judgment Fund remains
The American Spectator, Approved, Commentary, National

Cornyn and Tillis sank the Justice Fund. Murdock says the Judgment Fund remains

By Deroy Murdock | Commentary, The American Spectator Few things nauseate conservatives more than watching wobbly Republicans do the Democrats’ dirty work.  GOP senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina lately have delivered for the Left. They repeatedly threatened to drop an anvil on Todd Blanche, President Donald J. Trump’s nominee for attorney general, unless Blanche killed what Democrats called Trump’s Revenge Fund. The Left instantly denounced Trump’s patriotically branded $1.776 billion allotment for victims of weaponized government. Predictably, Democrats deployed their rustiest cliches: Trump arranged bonuses for his “loyalists” and those involved in “January 6.”  Democrats predictably cough up the same exhausted lines. They are malicious, brain-d...
One-party rule, one-way press access in Colorado
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

One-party rule, one-way press access in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Complete Colorado Republicans in Colorado have, at best, a ”fraught” relationship with liberal local news media. Given this history, it’s probably not surprising that when Republicans refuse to talk to the progressive press, they enthusiastically spill ink over it. To wit, journalism professor Corey Hutchins, in a recent edition of his media newsletter, noted how Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx denied some media outlets access on the night of the GOP primary, saying that his campaign chose not to rely on legacy media to tell its story. Think what you will about the maturity of Republicans or the news media, their squabbles hide something more important, especially given Colorado is run almost entirely by Democrats. Many Dem...
Jade’s escape: From a government-assigned school to a Jesuit work-study education
Wayne's Word, Approved, Commentary, State

Jade’s escape: From a government-assigned school to a Jesuit work-study education

By Wayne Laugesen | Commentary, Wayne's Word A quiet war rages in Colorado classrooms. The casualties are almost always the children of the poor, ethnic and racial minorities. For decades, defenders of our state’s public education monopoly have built a fortress around zip-code budgeting. They tell low-income parents to wait for the next tax hike or bureaucratic restructuring. But a young Denver girl named Jade didn’t have time to wait. Her childhood—her prime learning years—was ticking away. Trapped by GeographyJade grew up in a low-income household where ambition ran high but financial options ran dry. In her government-assigned school, she faced a system designed for uniformity rather than excellence.Wealthy families simply write a check for private tuition. For Jade’...
Did illegal immigration drive up housing prices? A cautious yes with caveats
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, National

Did illegal immigration drive up housing prices? A cautious yes with caveats

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Does an influx of immigrants (illegal or otherwise) drive up house prices? The answer to that question, as with many things in life, is complicated. A guarded, and cautious “yes” with plenty of caveats would be how I’d characterize it; if you introduce millions of people into a place, how can their presence not up demand? This is all the more so for a commodity like housing which has much higher connections to regulation and government than, say, cellphones. Simply looking at the spike in immigration post-COVID ought to convince any reasonable person that demand for housing would increase. See screenshot 1 (from the first link below) for a time series graph. In order to look into this question myself, I di...
New Study Finds Government Taxes and Fees Add Tens Of Thousands To Colorado Home Prices
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

New Study Finds Government Taxes and Fees Add Tens Of Thousands To Colorado Home Prices

By Peter Lifari | Commentary, The Denver Gazette Colorado’s economic competitiveness is slipping, and housing affordability is one of the most important reasons why. Policymakers have more control over this than they might think.   A new report from the Common Sense Institute details tens of thousands of dollars in housing-construction costs created not by land or water scarcity, labor costs, materials costs, market conditions or interest rates — but by nothing more than policy.  Housing affordability is as much an economic development and competitiveness issue as it is a social one. That matters in a state tracking business establishment losses and domestic migration losses.  This is a relatively new development for Colorado. For years, the ...
Davidson: The lockdown was an assault on the Bill of Rights
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National

Davidson: The lockdown was an assault on the Bill of Rights

By Jay Davidson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Fauci's testimony is evidence of how the Bill of Rights works now. In this referenced article, Jeff Tucker points out that the personification of the lockdown, Fauci, successfully used the Fifth Amendment to protect his freedom, writing, "It's actually quite inspiring to see how the Bill of Rights works in a case of such significance." But how did the breakdown in individual rights manifest? Was intent behind the panic or did certain people in power jump at the chance to use a crisis to gain control? Perhaps it was simply mass hysteria and no one was behind it and no one amplified it. The fact is much simpler: The pandemic led to massive loss of individual rights and enormous disruption of business transactions. Jeff ...
The Discernment Weapon: Three Blind Mice
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Discernment Weapon: Three Blind Mice

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Three blind mice! Three blind mice! See how they run! See how they run! I don't know about three blind mice, but I do know one thing: if three mice ever came running through our house, Sherrie might suddenly experience a miraculous recovery. I've never met anyone more afraid of mice than my wife. And I mean afraid. Sherrie has been confined to bed since last November, and these days it takes quite a bit of help to get her up and moving. But I'm fairly convinced that if a mouse scampered across the foot of her bed, she'd leap out, run downstairs, and leave me behind to deal with the mouse. I'm not recommending this as a therapeutic technique, mind you. But it does make me smile when I think about those three blind mice!  ...
Why the manufacturing comeback is going unreported
The Daily Signal, Approved, Commentary, National

Why the manufacturing comeback is going unreported

By Steve Cortes | Commentary, The Daily Signal U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 18, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Beneath the cacophony of media noise, an important untold story emerges: A manufacturing boom is unfolding across America right now, and especially so in the geographic center of the country. This developing boom represents an epochal shift because investments in factories and tangible production involve the stickiest kind of capital expenditures. The commitment to production involves a macro “bet” on a yearslong cycle, not a near-term wager on the latest fad or concerns about the price of gasoline next week. As such, this mostly hidden story deserves to be studied and amplified, both for the economic benefits and also for ...