5/23/25 Blog: TGIF Before The Holiday Weekend, Erebody!

HAVE A WONDERFUL MEMORIAL DAY! And let's not forget why we have Monday off. Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, originated during the American Civil War as a way to honor fallen soldiers by decorating their graves with flowers. First observed in various towns across the U.S., the holiday took formal shape in 1868 when Major General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic designated May 30 as a nationwide day of remembrance. Over time, the observance expanded to commemorate all American military personnel who died in service, and in 1971, Memorial Day was established as a federal holiday observed on the last Monday in May. Today, the day is marked by parades, memorial services, and a national moment of silence at 3 p.m., while also signaling the unofficial start of summer. Memorial Day remains a solemn reminder of the cost of freedom and the enduring need to honor those who have served and sacrificed for the nation. Don't forget to take a moment to remember the sacrifices of all who gave all in the service of this great country.

IT'S THE BEGINNING OF THE SUMMER MOVIE SEASON And our pal Christian Toto has a review of the last installment of Mission Impossible and it seems it might be as much of a plot mess as the last one.

IT'S A FREE FOR ALL FRIDAY Before Ask Me Anything became a thing I used to do Free For All Friday. Which do you like better? We shall discuss.

DENVER IS BROKE And boy howdy, is Mayor Mike Johnston taking fire from all corners on this one. We've watched this man blow through hundreds of millions of dollars buying homeless hotels and housing, feeding and phoning illegal immigrants, and now the chickens have come home to roost. Yesterday he announced a bunch of cuts and layoffs as the city is out of money. Guess why the budget it busted according to the Mayor:

The city faces a $50 million gap in this year's budget, while the projected deficit is $200 million next year, Johnston told reporters on Thursday, adding a big source of the deficit is the growth of the city government, notably the number of staffers. 

Wow, who'da thunk that adding a bunch of new departments and employees and growing the size of government means it costs more. The Denver Gazette story has more:

Johnston added that the cost and growth of government over the years has contributed to the city's financial predicament, noting that about 70% of the city's total expenditures are "people."

"About 25% are contracts and services and some other internal services as a general part of high importance going forward," he said. "If you look at the growth of government over the last 14 years in city, we have increased our total employee count by about 40%, from 10,000 employees to now 15,000 employees over the last couple of years."

So weird but I remember talking about this during the Hancock administration too. Perhaps the Mayors should listen to talk radio before barreling ahead to give their friends jobs? Now people will be furloughed for a few days, Denver Police has been told NO overtime, which I'm sure will make us so much safer, but let's not forget how much money has been spent on illegal immigrants and homeless people over these last few years. This man and the City Council bear the brunt of all these furloughs and hiring freezes and no overtime for cops. Mayor Mike Johnston is not capable of leading this city. Period.

THE INTIFADA COMES TO DC A violent leftists decided to bring the Intifada to DC and ironically murdered a Christian and a Jew outside a Jewish museum. The socialist activist who shot them has already admitted he did it on behalf of the Palestinian people. Now he can rot in jail and be made a martyr by those on the Left, the same way that idiot who shot the healthcare executive has been. This part of the political left is violent and need to be treated as such. I hope all those stupid students chanting "globalize the intifada" know that their deepest wishes have come true. Read more about it here and find out more about one of the victims, who seems lovely, here. This is the best column I've seen on what happened. This is beyond not okay. This is a tragedy that I fear will be the first of many from the lunatic anti-Semitic Left. Scott Jennings on CNN reminds Democrats, who are HORRIFIED by this killing, that they have a problem.

ANOTHER SPECTACULAR DENVER RESTAURANT CLOSES And the Michelin recommended Noisette Restaurant and Bakery says their last day will be Saturday June 14th. Why are they closing?

“Unfortunately, like many in our industry, we’ve faced ongoing challenges in the current economic climate that have made it unsustainable for us to continue,” the restaurant stated on Instagram. “While we’re sad to say goodbye, we are also filled with gratitude for the memories and moments we’ve shared with our guests and team.”

Restaurants are brutal to own and operate and Denver certainly hasn't made it any easier.

TRUMP'S BATTLE WITH HARVARD IS GETTING OUT OF HAND I will not lie when I saw that when Trump said he was withholding funds from Harvard over its on campus anti-Semitism I was like...okay. But when Harvard dug in its heels I should have figured the Trump administration would dig harder and here we are. Trump has now said that Harvard may not enroll ANY foreign students because they haven't done enough to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism on campus, along with claims that Harvard is coordinating with the Chinese communist government. If he's talking about the influence of the Confucius Project he's got a point, but I think Trump ultimately loses this fight in court. Harvard is a private institution. Though they don't have a "right" to federal money, they certainly have a right to admit whomever they like, and Trump has the right to deny visas to student who are Harvard bound, but I don't think he can stop their acceptance in the first place. Read more here, but I think this is more about putting less rich institutions on notice of what might happen if THEY don't comply. I certainly agree with the aim of tamping down anti-Semitism, but using a sledgehammer to do so will only further harden the hearts of students who hold such views. This is the time to hold conversations between Jewish students and their peers worried about the Palestinians to bridge the gap, but here we are. Harvard is now suing the Trump administration over this, and I think they may win. This column on how Harvard REWARDED anti-Semitism gives a better idea of why something must be done, I just don't think this is it.

ARE YOU NOT UNCOMFORTABLE WITH TRUMP'S DEALS IN THE MIDDLE EAST? And I don't mean the diplomacy where he is trying to bring Arab but not Islamist nations into the fold to be better positioned to keep Iran in check. I mean the golf courses and hotels the Trump company is pursuing at the EXACT SAME TIME. Let's look at the projects in the pipeline. As of May 2025, the Trump Organization has expanded its business ventures in the Middle East, focusing on luxury real estate and hospitality projects. These developments are primarily licensing agreements, allowing local developers to use the Trump brand. Key projects include:

Saudi Arabia:

Trump Tower Jeddah: A 47-story luxury residential skyscraper on the Jeddah Corniche, developed in partnership with Dar Global. The tower will feature high-end residences, retail spaces, fitness centers, spas, gourmet dining, and the Kingdom’s first exclusive members-only Trump Club.

Riyadh Projects: Two new real estate projects in Riyadh are underway, also in collaboration with Dar Global. These include plans for a Trump Tower and a Trump Golf community.

United Arab Emirates:

Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai: An 80-story skyscraper in Downtown Dubai, featuring luxury residences and a hotel. This project is being developed in partnership with Dar Global.

Trump Tower Abu Dhabi: A separate project in Abu Dhabi, with development rights secured by Damac Properties.

Qatar:

Luxury Golf Resort: A new deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar, partnering with Qatari Diar, a real estate company backed by the country's sovereign wealth fund.

These projects reflect the Trump Organization's strategy of expanding its brand presence in the Middle East through partnerships and licensing agreements. While the organization does not directly own or develop these properties, the use of the Trump name allows for brand recognition and potential revenue through licensing fees. And because they are licensing projects ONLY, the Trump Company doesn't even have any financial skin in the game on these projects. Now ask yourself what if these were deals forged by Hunter Biden? Not that would ever happen because Hunter Biden is not this smart, but what if? I am not at all comfortable with the appearance that our White House is for sale and it certainly seems to be the appearance now.

OR HIS MEME COIN DINNER? Again, imagine if Biden did it. Trump hosted a dinner last night for people who had invested enough money in his cryptocoin business. They literally SPENT MONEY to have ACCESS to the PRESIDENT. WTF? I hate agreeing with Democrats, but how is this not the height of corruption? If it walks like pay for access, and talks like pay for access....

COLORADO HATES RELIGION That is the only thing I can glean from this editorial about Colorado refusing a religious exemption for a camp that literally refers to Jesus in its name. Read it here. The good news is that there is plenty of precedent, some of which is from Colorado cases overturned by the Supreme Court, to gird the church camp's case.

NO, YOU CAN'T BOOZE IT UP ON THE 16TH STREET MALL I mean unless you're a vagrant, I'm sure. Though the city is trying to create a small space on the Mall where people can drink on the street it won't extend down the entire street, which by the way is NOT a mall. Thankfully we paid a London firm 100k to make that change.

INDEPENDENCE PASS IS OPEN FOR THE SEASON And its the earliest opening in six years.

WELP, THE ROCKIES HAVE MADE HISTORY As the team with the worst 50 game record in the modern era. Yay? You have to go back to 1901 to find a worse team in baseball.

DEMOCRATS ARE NOW WORRIED ABOUT JUDGE SAFETY Which is SUPER ironic considering that they said nothing about death threats to the man they slandered to try and keep him off the Supreme Court. NOW they are worried about judge safety as they try to use the courts to stop everything the Trump administration is trying to do. I don't want any judges to get hurt ever, but this is showboating by the team that made it okay to protest outside the homes of judges so they can just pipe down.

UNIVERSALS EPIC UNIVERSE LOOKS SUPER COOL As the How to Train Your Dragon land opened this week. Watch below or click here.

THE NFL WANTS 16 REGULAR SEASON GAMES OVERSEAS And I don't know how this is going to work out but they can be credited for working hard to expand the game. Read more here, but jet lag is real, y'all, and this could become a determining factor in late season games.

ANTHROPIC'S AI SCHEMES AND CODES TO PROTECT ITSELF And if you're afraid of the Skynet takeover you may want to skip this story. Anthropics new Opus level AI is so highly advanced it's doing bad things on it's own. Like this:

In one scenario highlighted in Opus 4's 120-page "system card," the model was given access to fictional emails about its creators and told that the system was going to be replaced.

On multiple occasions it attempted to blackmail the engineer about an affair mentioned in the emails in order to avoid being replaced, although it did start with less drastic efforts.

Meanwhile, an outside group found that an early version of Opus 4 schemed and deceived more than any frontier model it had encountered and recommended that that version not be released internally or externally.

"We found instances of the model attempting to write self-propagating worms, fabricating legal documentation, and leaving hidden notes to future instances of itself all in an effort to undermine its developers' intentions," Apollo Research said in notes included as part of Anthropic's safety report for Opus 4.

ANOTHER CONSPIRACY THEORY COMES TRUE

THE FTC IS INVESTIGATION MEDIA MATTERS And the Democrat mouthpiece group is facing charges it colluded with advertisers to drive them off X. I hope they get fined into oblivion.

TIME TO SAVE YOUR PENNIES and I mean that literally, as the Treasury is going to stop making them, because it costs more to make them then they are worth.

VITAMIN D COULD SLOW AGING Read more here.

DENMARK RAISES THE RETIREMENT AGE TO 70 Because they actually index their retirement age to life expectancy. Not everyone is excited about this.

SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO DOES NOT SUFFER FOOLS OR INSULTS And this exchange is why people are talking about a Vance-Rubio ticket in 2028.

A DURANGO KANGAROO HAS COPS HOPPING MAD And I am just sharing this story so I could write that headline.

AN IDEA FOR AVS FANS This could be cool.

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AND NOW, A CORGI ON A SKATEBOARD