1/15/26 Blog: Three Ballot Initiatives Are Making Big Progress

I'VE GOT SOME BALLOT INITIATIVE UPDATES! And these ballot initiatives are about child predators, irreversible gender care, and girls sports and I hope you've already signed them. Erin Lee from Protect Kids Colorado joins me today at 1 with updates. Find out where you can sign petitions here. What are the initiatives about? Look below.

Go to the event on January 22nd (if it isn't full) by clicking here. I don't think any of them are perfect but our Legislature has done nothing on these issues.

ABOUT THOSE EXPANDED PREMIUM SUPPORTS FOR OBAMACARE Just a few months ago we were told over and over again that MILLIONS would lose their health insurance because the taxpayers would not be paying their premiums. Well the numbers are in, and that isn't quite what happened, even as CBS says enrollment sank "sharply". Is less than six percent sharply? We know now that people enrolled at 94% of last year's numbers. Did some people choose to go without coverage? Undoubtedly. But is it a complete catastrophe? Absolutely not. I'm wondering how many of those folks signed up for health insurance through work? Or if they joined Direct Primary Care practices and a health share program instead? Even just using these gross numbers I can't get concerned. The Paragon Institute did a deep dive on fraud in Obamacare and perhaps this drop (after a RECORD year of enrollment) is just some of those fraudulent fake enrollees?

DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS HAVE MUCH DIFFERENT PRIORITIES And you can see that clearly in the opening day statements of Republican House Leader Jarvis Caldwell and Democratic Speaker of the House Julie McCluskey. While Caldwell talked about parents, and spending and finding common ground, McCluskey had this to say:

“In this moment, when the White House would hold Colorado hostage, I’m reminded of a Churchill saying: ‘You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will still have war,’” House Speaker Julie McCluskie said during the opening-day ceremonies of the Colorado General Assembly.

“I fear this administration will target Colorado no matter what we do. So members, let’s do what’s right,”

Great. She thinks she's Winston Churchill. This should be good.

DEMOCRATS WORKING TO PROP UP UNIONS By upending almost a century of labor law...again. Their move to do away with a second vote currently required to unionize a workplace failed last year but they are back this year. What did they do? From CompleteColorado.com:

The two-part vote gives employees the chance to reject being forced into paying union dues. The first vote requires a simple majority in support of unionization. The second vote requires a 75% supermajority to achieve “union security” which demands every employee, even those who voted no, to pay dues.

Gov. Jared Polis vetoed it last year. They would do well to look at the results of forced unionization versus what happens in Right To Work states, which you can find here.

AFFIRM YOUR KID'S GENDER CONFUSION OR LOSE YOUR KID That is what Democrats are saying in this bill. Read this part:

In determining the best interests of the child for purposes of parenting time, the court shall consider all relevant factors, including: (XII)  Subject to constitutional limitations, whether the parties recognize the child's identity as it relates to a protected class described in section 24-34-601 (2)(a).

So if you have one parent, normally a whacked out liberal mom, who decides her child is trans, and the other sane parent says, hold on, maybe therapy will work, that can be used against them in a custody hearing to remove them from their child's life. Democrats want the State to raise your kids.

CAN POLIS SAVE US FROM THE WORST IDEAS? Jon Caldara writes about Governor Jared Polis's last year in charge of the clown show that is the overwhelmingly Democrat controlled Legislature. Now that he's fully engaged in running for President, he needs to shore up his fake libertarian credentials so maybe he will veto the worst ideas. Here's hoping he cares more about that than pissing off the progressive Dems who run the show.

TEACHERS UNIONS DO NOT EQUAL EXCELLENCE And this is a great column about what is possible when the shackles and administrative costs of having a teachers union are removed.

ABOUT TRUMP'S TARIFFS This is a very fair assessment of the impact of Trump's tariffs by a guy who doesn't seem to like Trump much but has to admit they have not had the inflationary impact that many believed would come. They have also sharply reduced the trade deficit with China.

PSPS COMING TO NORTHERN COLORADO TOMORROW As Xcel does a litigation preventing shutdown in the face of high winds. This is our new normal from our monopoly power provider because they can.

TINA PETERS HAD HER DAY IN APPEALS COURT And the court did ask some interesting questions about the Judge who sentenced her using words like "charlatan" before slapping her with a nine year sentence. I'm not going to pretend to understand all the intricacies at play here, but we'll see how they rule. It wasn't all sunshine and roses for the Prosecution, watch this exchange to see how the justices browbeat the prosecutor on why Peters was convicted of something she wasn't charged with.

ICE SHOT AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WHO VIOLENTLY FOUGHT OFFICERS And I genuinely can't muster up any outrage here. I'm sure Minnesota will, but I can't. Read about it.

BRUNO MARS ADDS A SECOND SHOW At the Air Force Academy so you can be super spendy and get tickets like Arod did. Find more here.

COLORADO'S PRO ABORTION LEGISLATORS COST US BIG As now the state has to pay the legal fees of a pregnancy crisis center who sued over Colorado's idiotic ban on abortion reversal drugs. Those drugs, given after the first dose of Plan B pills, do not further harm the mother and some women have gone on to deliver healthy babies. The judge in the case stated that as the reason for issuing a permanent injunction based on the First Amendment. I found this law to be ghoulish when it passed and I'm glad the courts saw that.

CAN MEN GET PREGNANT? That is a simple questions and it was asked of a Democrat witness in a hearing and her answer made me wonder why any thinking person would want to be on THAT side of this issue. How stupid does she appear here. Very,

WHO IS COMING TO RED ROCKS NEXT YEAR? And although my favorite classic rock bands are NOT represented here, there are some really good shows with new music on this list. I'm going to see if I can interview Cypress Hill for this show, I have a story about the last time I was involved in an interview with them 30ish years ago. I may tell it, but it would challenge your perception of me I bet so maybe not.

"I DON'T KNOW HOW HE'S ALIVE" That's the quote from RFK Jr about Donald Trump in a podcast interview where the President's diet came up. RFK went on to say that for a guy who eats a horrible diet the President is in remarkable health and has remarkable energy. This kind of made me laugh today.

ABOUT THOSE SCARY MICROPLASTICS What if they aren't so scary after all? Scientists who have spent their careers spotting weird stuff in our bodies say the "science" showing the appearance of microplastics in our brain isn't good science at all. Read it here and stop panicking about microplastics.

ONE OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST STREAMERS IS READING ONLINE Kai Cenat is very, very famous with young people. From Wikipedia.org, it says he is

American online streamer, YouTuber, and internet personality who specializes in comedic live streams and videos. As of 2025, he is the most-subscribed Twitch streamer in the world, as well as the most-followed Twitch streamer with 20 million followers. He is a member of the streamer collective Any Means Possible (AMP).

He doesn't have to do anything but what he's doing to keep making a ton of money, but he's trying to be better, and to do that, he is reading to his followers from self improvement books SPECIFICALLY to be a better speaker. GUYS, look at THIS.

I absolutely LOVE this so much I could marry it and I hope he continues to spread the word on reading and speaking better. I had never heard of this kid until today and I am a fan of this so much.

HOW DENVER GETS READY FOR THE PLAYOFFS

WHEN THINGS DON'T GET THE RIGHT NAMES

DENVER IS ORANGE AND BLUE And we're not afraid to show it.

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, MATTHEW Ooops, that is trademarked now.

MRS. ALLEN HAS SOME SPLAININ TO DO This was long before star and singer Hailee Steinfeld married Bills QB Josh Allen but still.

DON'T FORGET TO NOMINATE A MILITARY MEMBER OR FIRST RESPONDER! Maybe they will win $2,500! Find out more here.

ENTER TO WIN TICKETS TO THE BILLS GAME By following us on Instagram and following the directions here. We're also giving away a pair of tickets tomorrow at 5:30 on KOA Sports!

THE END OF GREEN ENERGY This column lays out the failure of green energy and the predictions about climate change which thrust the unreliable energy sources into the forefront. I especially love this part:

In my adopted home state of California, electricity rates have surged a staggering 80% since 2008, compared with 28% nationwide. Once a major oil producer, the Golden State now suffers the nation’s highest energy prices and is utterly dependent on foreign sources in South America and Saudi Arabia.

High energy prices most hurt those in California’s less temperate, heavily Latino interior. The crisis has driven an erosion of industrial jobs; since 1990, one-third of California’s manufacturing jobs — 1.3 million of them — have disappeared. The disparate class impacts have been confirmed recently in a study by the California Air Resources Board, which projects that these policies will result in significant income declines for individuals earning less than $100,000 annually, while boosting incomes for those above this threshold.

And this is EXACTLY what Colorado is trying to do.

DO YOU STILL GET ANY MAGAZINES? Are magazines dead? I thought of this when I saw that the Gourmet magazine brand is coming back in an online form. Gourmet was the first REAL magazine I ever subscribed to, back before the internet meant that I could actually buy the frou-frou ingredients in the recipes in the magazine. Now I get one magazine, Southern Living, as an homage to my roots and for the recipes. I was just curious if any of you subscribe to anything these days.