1/2/25 Blog: I'm Back To Kick Off 2026!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I don't know about you but I feel good about 2026. I'm not "it's gonna be my year" or anything because that seems over confident after the last decade but you never know. I had a great Christmas with family and am ready for the new year ahead. Since many of you are probably still off today and not dialed totally in, let's come up with a word for 2026 to use as our guidepoint. At 6:37am as I write this I've got nothing but we'll see what I land on before noon. Here is a column on "focus words" for 2026. The other question I have is just as important: what will you not put up with in 2026?

YES, I GOT THE FLU OVER MY BREAK And I'm not the only one, but guys, I used health food store stuff and it seemed to work. I was joking for the days before I got sick (Q got it first, and then Chuck) that I was going to ward off the flu using the cocktail of witchcraft I bought at Natural Grocer but dang it seemed to lessen my version of the flu DRAMATICALLY. I took an immunity booster with elderberry, Zinc, and some other voodoo stuff in it along with a capsule of Oil of Oregano about every four hours, and I was SUPER SICK for two days, whereas Chuck and Q's version both lingered well beyond that. We are seeing a lot of people end up in the hospital right now because of the flu so I thought I'd share. Just go to the Natural Grocer near you and ask one of their amazing staff about it. This strain of the flu seems to hit older folks really hard and the current flu vaccine doesn't address this new variant very well.

ARE YOU DOING DRY JANUARY? That's where you cut out the booze for the month of January to give your liver a break from the holiday merriment. Lots more people than ever are doing it, and as a matter of fact, we are drinking less alcohol than we ever have before right now (well maybe during Prohibition but this is voluntary). Only 54% of us drink now, and I'm wondering if you've stopped and why. My relationship with alcohol has been pushed to the side as it interferes with my relationship with sleep, which is far more important. As many of my life's worst decisions have been made under the influence I'm not sad to see this, but I'm curious if we've stopped drinking and replaced it with weed.

OH LOOK, XCEL WANTS MORE OF YOUR MONEY I find myself more irritated every day by Xcel simply demanding more rate payer money and getting it. The so-called Public Utilities Commission has been captured by elite environmentalists who seem to just rubber stamp anything Xcel asks them to rubber stamp. Now Xcel wants more of your money for doing the BASIC SAFETY work they should be doing anyway. At what point does the PUC actually stand up for the public???? Jared Polis appointed a bunch of green energy cronies to the Commission and none of them have to worry about paying bills.

WATER HEATER AND FURNACE PRICES ARE SKYROCKETING IN COLORADO And I told you about this last year but now we are here. I do know that Fix It 24/7 bought a BUNCH of the old water heaters to get them through the first quarter, but you need to read this for more on how furnaces are going up in price dramatically too. Thanks, Jared Polis!

EXPECT MORE RESTAURANT CLOSURES IN 2026 As the minimum wage in Denver just went up again. Find out more here. At what point do restaurant owners just vote with their feet to the suburbs where doing business isn't so expensive? We in the suburbs would welcome them.

A FATAL MOUNTAIN LION ATTACK IN LARIMER COUNTY And I only include this because as one who loves to be in our wilderness I never forget that we share it with wild animals who can be really mean. This is why I don't wear earbuds when I'm hiking. I'm not saying this woman was, but she is now dead from an attack, the first in over 30 years. Pay attention, make yourself big, and hope for the best if you see a mountain lion.

DOWNTOWN BOULDER IS EMPTY And commercial vacancy rates are at historic highs. This story talks about how hard it is to get a business off the ground in Boulder, and how expensive office space is at the same time. Everyone has a reason and mostly that reason is government. Government in Boulder, and Denver for that matter, has always looked at business as the convenient cash cow to be milked at the will of the government. Now the cow has moved to greener pastures and Boulder (and Denver) are paying the price for their hubris. If Boulder were brave they would do a DOGE style look at how to streamline the processes for business instead of offering this:

“It's everything from finding small business assistance — so the places that don't have big lawyers or can't afford to pay for those planners can actually get in through the front door and know what they're doing — to creating new opportunities with our new city council to look at how we create a new plan for our small and bigger businesses too," Singer said. “Our Boulder Together Initiative and the Commercial Brokers of Boulder have merged with the Boulder Chamber now. So, we've got landlords and tenants working together to create these new solutions."

If you KNOW someone needs "big lawyers" to navigate the process to open a business you've identified a huge part of the problem. Just saying.

INTERNATIONAL VISITORS ARE GOING TO GET SOAKED AT RMNP As their entrance fees just got a $100 per person surcharge. You read that right, a hundred bucks just to get into the park and that is on TOP of the entrance fee. It's designed to make the parks easier to visit for Americans, but I wonder what sort of downstream effects this will have for local business. I do just want to remind you that international travelers already spend $119 per day to go to Disney, so they have the money. the question is will they pay it to visit the park?

TRUMP PUNISHES COLORADO Trump did two things this week to prove how mad he is at Colorado. He tweeted out a nastygram at Governor Polis and the REPUBLICAN DA who prosecuted Tina Peters this week. But more importantly, he vetoed a bipartisan bill to fund a water project. In the veto statement, he made valid points about the cost of the project being shoved onto federal taxpayers, and said the plan isn't viable the way it is structured. I actually agree with him that the federal government shouldn't be paying for local water projects. That being said, is he going to veto all such spending? If not, than this clearly feels like retaliation, something longtime Trump supporter Rep. Lauren Boebert is concerned about as well. He did veto another bill but that one definitely feels like retaliation against the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida, who Trump accuses accurately of trying to block his immigration detention center in the Everglades. Nothing about Trump being spiteful surprises me.

BUT TINA'S ATTORNEYS ARE AT LEAST CREATIVE And are trying to use the Whiskey Rebellion to get her freed. This is going nowhere but you can read it here.

YES, DEMOCRACY IS UNDER ATTACK IN COLORADO But it's not Trump who is attacking it. Jon Caldara writes a great column here on the quiet (because the news media isn't that interested) dismantling of democracy here in Colorado. It would be nice of the anti-Trump establishment of Colorado had the same passion to fight for democracy here. I know, I just LOLed on that too.

DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS TRY TO RIGHT THE SHIPS And these two columns are worth your time, though one is about national politics and one is about state politics. Jimmy Sengenberger writes here about the absolute albatross that Tina Peters is to Colorado Republicans, one they keep putting front and center even though the Unaffiliateds who are nearly a majority don't give a crap about it. This column talks about the Democratic National Committee doing a post mortem on their failures in 2024 and last year, but this one contains something Colorado Republicans should heed:

“Here’s our North Star: Does this help us win?” Martin said in a statement. “If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission.”

Exactly. If it doesn't help us win, it's a distraction from the core mission, and there is no bigger distraction than Tina Peters. If I'm Jared Polis, I'm THRILLED to keep Peters in prison for as long as the law allows, knowing this issue will continue to divide Republicans and make them even easier to beat.

HOW TO MAKE CHANGES THAT STICK We've all made resolutions at some point, and a vast majority of us have failed. Why did we fail? We didn't enjoy the process. Read more here.

WATCH MY YEAR IN REVIEW WITH DEB! I'm looking forward to this upcoming year for the Mandy And Deb Show, and if you aren't watching it, make this episode the one you watch!

THIS IS JUST COOL I'm sure you won't need this until our electric system collapses but just in case, here you go.

JOHN STOSSEL ON CAPITALISM VS SOCIALISM

THE MAMDANI ERA BEGINS IN NEW YORK And we need to watch this because this is the beginning of Zohran Mamdani's political arch. He gave a speech which may help you understand why he got so many votes. If you want aspirational promises that you and I both know will fail miserably, he delivers them in a very likeable way.

There are a few outcomes that can happen here. First, he could be completely stymied to by the City Council and none of his socialist plans will happen. Second, he could get his insane policies passed and probably destroy New York City. Third, he could get his policies passed and they may succeed, TEMPORARILY, which would be disaster. The last thing we need is more clowns like this one telling young people they can have other people's stuff, which is exactly what he is doing. He is THE rising star in the Democrat party so don't take him lightly.

THE KIFFNESS IS THE REAL GOAT

PROTESTS IN IRAN GIVE ME HOPE but we've seen protests before where the mullahs just killed the protesters and went about their business. There are ongoing protests about the economy, which has been trashed by sanctions, and now they are becoming bigger with calls for structural change.

DID YOU KNOW THERE IS A FAMINE IN THE MIDDLE EAST? Oh, not in Gaza, where the food is flowing again, I'm talking about the one in Yemen, where the world's third largest famine situation exists, even today. Why haven't you heard about it? Because it's Muslims fighting Muslims that's causing it and it can't be blamed on the Jews. That's what I think anyway.

CBS NEWS SETS THE TONE With a quick video by new anchor Tony Dokoupil announcing their commitment to doing journalism. He's not wrong about any of this, but we'll see how the follow up goes.

THE YEARS ARE LONG BUT THE DAYS ARE SHORT This got me good.

THIS IS A GREAT FOOTBALL STAT

JESUS IS HAVING A GREAT SEASON And my heart is warmed by these young men who don't shy away from giving God the glory.

VENEZUELA IS READY TO CHAT Now that Trump has successfully disrupted not only the drug trade but the black market oil trade the dictator President of Venezuela has signaled he's ready to talk. I bet.

COLORADO GIVES GENEROUS BENEFITS TO ILLEGALS And we also happen to be one of the state's with lax voter id requirements. I'm sure there is no connection. I'm sure.