by Editorial Board | Oct 20, 2025 | Editorials
Editorial —
Comrade Polis
One of the keys to progressive left policies is to make sure people do not have any alternatives. When the Soviets imposed their form of communism on East Germany, it had to build the Berlin Wall to prevent the masses from escaping the workers’ paradise to West Germany. The progressives of North Korea attempted to prevent its citizens from escaping not only to South Korea but also to slightly less oppressive China.
Denver has decided it loves maximum density and a minimum number of cars. Afraid that not all Coloradans may want to live in Denver’s “affordability paradise,” the state legislature, as well as Governor Polis, have begun imposing Denver inspired restrictions and mandates on towns and counties across Colorado.
As a practical matter, progressives intensely dislike single family homes and, for that matter, nuclear families. The new law (HB 24-1152) prohibits local jurisdictions imposing mandatory owner occupancy laws and specific minimum square footage for residencies. No more single-family homes with those lots potentially becoming mini apartment buildings with streets jammed with cars. Since progressives can’t just say they hate nuclear families, they say what they are doing is make housing more “affordable” and fighting against “climate change.”
Housing will undoubtably become more affordable due to the legislature’s and the governor’s actions as fewer people will want to live in Colorado. The price of what were once called single family homes will plummet.
Next the state legislature adopted HB24-1313 which prohibits municipalities from adopting or enforcing parking requirements within a quarter mile of various transit stops. The legislature mandated that municipalities allow high density high rises near transit stops. The urbanization of Denver suburbs will, if successful, overwhelm infrastructure, strain schools, and destroy community character. In Polis’ mind what is there not to like?
Unfortunately, the proletariat outside of Denver have not been enamored by the Polis vision. Many communities refused to implement the necessary ADU regulations/ordinances. Moreover, six cities — Glendale, Greenwood Village, Arvada, Aurora, Lafayette, and Westminster — sued the state to stop the implementation of the legislation.
Polis’ vision of what suburbs in Colorado should look like.
Watching the peasant revolt, Governor Polis looked to President Trump’s authoritarian tactics for inspiration. Polis elected to issue an executive order that the rebel cities either comply or face losing out on $277 million in housing grants. Of course, there is nothing in the State Constitution or state statutes giving him the power to do so, but then again where does Trump get the authority for many of his executive orders.
The rebel cities in their lawsuit rely on the over century-old Article XX, Section 6, allowing home-ruled cities to operate free of state control on matters of local concern including zoning and land use. There are no exceptions for affordability and/or climate change. While on the surface the rebel cities appear to have a slam dunk case, Polis knows he has appointed many of the judges who will hear the case at the district court level and on appeal. Colorado courts have already largely gutted large parts of the citizen adopted constitutional amendment called the TABOR amendment. The Colorado Supreme Court was also happy to try to deny Republican voters the right to vote for Trump for President until the U.S. Supreme Court intervened. As a result, few people these days have any trust in the Colorado courts to fairly adjudicate the meaning of the state Constitution or Colorado laws.
It is well known that Polis is seriously looking at running for U.S. president in 2028. He would appear to be a worthy successor to the power-hungry Donald Trump.
— Editorial Board
by Ashe in America | Oct 20, 2025 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
Paul Weiser
The 2026 Gubernatorial campaign is going to be wild, and a big part of that prediction is the Democrat front runner’s detachment from reality.
Earlier this month, Attorney General Phil Weiser posted to X, “In Colorado, we know what responsible governance looks like — and our leadership on the opioid crisis is a stellar example. As Governor, I will take our tradition of collaborative and innovative leadership to meet the range of challenges facing our state.”
In the post, he includes a link to an article that he wrote, in which we find his source for the “stellar” leadership:
“On his national TV broadcast, John Oliver had a lot of say about how other states have failed on their opioid response; he also called out Colorado an
d North Carolina as setting the gold standard for how transparent we have been in how we’re spending these funds.”
Praise and affirmation of Weiser’s leadership is so low that he’s quoting a red-coated, failed comedian whose “national TV broadcast” is watched by 0.057% of the target demo, per September 2025 Nielson data.
Look at demographic breakdowns. P2+ in ratings refers to the total number of viewers aged 2 and older — it’s a broad demographic metric that captures the overall audience size, including adults, children, and anyone else (i.e., everyone in a Nielson house.)
Weiser cites this comedian(?) — the one reaching 61,000 people in a 107.5M person national demo — as an authority on Colorado leadership.
That’s enough for the AG. But should it be enough for Colorado voters? Setting aside what the foreign comedian says, what story does the data on lawfare, crime, and fentanyl say about Weiser’s performance?
As of mid-2025, the Attorney General of Colorado, Phil Weiser, has filed more than 20 lawsuits against President Trump and/or the federal government. He’s doing this in his official capacity, and using Taxpayer dollars, while citing the lawsuits as a campaign accomplishment.
While Weiser’s attention is focused on his campaign and portfolio of Trump-deranged lawfare (at your expense), his job performance — as the head of the justice department in the Centennial State — is stunning.
In 2022, the year of Weiser’s reelection, Colorado was ranked 4th highest nationally for overall crime (combining property and violent crime), according to FBI data, as reported by Common Sense Institute.
According to USAFacts, in 2024 Colorado’s violent crime rate was about 476 per 100,000 — placing it 7th highest among all states. That same source shows the state’s property crime rate at 2,593 per 100,000, ranking it 2nd highest among states in 2024.
In July, the Denver Gazette reported that Colorado was the “second most dangerous state” in the US, behind only New Mexico. But let’s get even more specific.
Weiser cites the state’s “stellar” leadership on the fentanyl crisis — but from 2018 (Weiser’s election) to 2023 (one year after Weiser’s reelection), fentanyl overdoses in Colorado increased by 900%, according to preliminary data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, as reported by KKCO 11 News. 900%!
In 2023, the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division — a federal agency — seized a record 2.6 million fentanyl pills and an additional ~425.6 kilograms of fentanyl seized in 2023 in Colorado. In fact, Colorado is tied for second highest fentanyl seizures, according to Newsline’s assessment of the 2023 Colorado data. Despite these outcomes, the fentanyl crisis cost taxpayers an estimated $16 billion in 2023, about 3% of Colorado’s GDP, around $2,200 per taxpayer.
No wonder the campaign needs to rely on foreign storytellers to rebrand and spin Phil Weiser as a “stellar” leader and viable candidate.
Weiser is desperate for Colorado voters to imagine him expertly navigating the new, more powerful job of Governor while convincing them to forget his abysmal performance in the current AG spot.
But that strategy requires voters not believing their own eyes. And Colorado voters notice the examples of Phil’s stellar leadership all around them. Check out @dobetterDNVR on X for plentiful examples.
Alternatively, perhaps when Weiser claims “stellar leadership” in fentanyl, he means that Colorado is leading the nation in expanding illicit fentanyl access, use, and addiction. That’s certainly the story of leadership that the data tells.
Regardless of what he means by his words, electing Weiser for Governor will see Colorado continue the way things are right now. We’re living Weiser’s policies, positions, and politics right now. He’s literally bragging, right now, about almost nabbing the spot for worst performance in the nation on fentanyl. From his standpoint, it’s all “stellar.”
If you want Colorado to change, you must fire those making it stay the same.
Start with the guy who decriminalized crime.
Ashe in America is a writer and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Peter Boyles | Oct 20, 2025 | Blasting with Boyles
Blasting With Boyles
OPINION
We’re now facing a Supreme Court decision on a Colorado law that we should see the answer to sometime in June. The case is called Chiles vs Salazar. Kaley Chiles is a licensed Christian counselor and argues that the 2019 ban on conversion therapy for minors infringes on her freedom of speech. The Court isn’t quite certain about conversion therapy if it’s speech or conduct.
Now let’s get into the way-back machine. I challenged everyone of our intelligentsia that reads our publication, can you recall the name of the first girl you kissed or the first boy who kissed you? I was playing baseball summer of 1956 on a team of older guys. And when the game was over there was a young woman, her first name to protect her, if she’s still alive, was Judy. And Judy let all the boys kiss her. I can remember the players on the entire team. I had no desire to kiss Terry Martin the third baseman or Chuckie Neff who played short stop. I only wanted to kiss Judy, and my entire life changed on that spot.
Now these Christian counselors believe that they can take a young gay boy or girl and make them straight. So, if it works one way it’s got to work the other. Do you think if a bunch of people threatened you with exorcism, making you stand in front of a congregation and confess your sins, wear a dress, boys only, and in some severe cases electroshock therapy was used, they would have changed you? You could have done all of those things, including putting a gun to my head, and I wouldn’t be gay.
Why does anyone in their right mind think that you can take a burgeoning young gay boy or girl and embarrass them into being straight. This pseudo-science has been outlawed in much of the known world. So, this really truly is insanity. Twenty-three states in our Union have outlawed this form of child torture. The civilized world also has turned this back. I would urge you to go to Doctor Google and read faith-based and religious practices, psychological techniques, physical and medical “physical intervention techniques” that these people want to perpetrate on age of awareness young Colorado boys and girls.
I never had a choice. I’ve talked to at least a dozen gay friends who also never had a choice.
Ask yourself this. Who would choose to be belittled, beaten up, made fun of, and in high school …choose it?
I know my uncle didn’t have a choice and his life was miserable. My life has also been miserable because I didn’t have that choice. God knows there were a couple of times in my life where I would have chosen gay. It would have made a lot of things easier and doubled my chances for a date on Friday night. But I was stuck with heterosexuality. And it’s very expensive, through divorce. I’m 0 for 2.
But for everything that you hold dear, logical thought, why would anyone allow this to be done to their children? And I’m beginning a study of the life of Jesus. Jesus never said anything about being gay. So, my advice to the Chistian therapist is go hit somebody else over their head with your Bible and leave these kids alone.
— Peter Boyles
by Valley Gadfly | Oct 20, 2025 | Valley Gadfly
Once our days start to get shorter and sleepless nights get longer, we know the leafless, frostbitten, and dreary days of November have come. No sun, no moon, nor proper time of day.
The very heart and hearth of the month is Thanksgiving, which stimulates the travel economy. Folks stream back to hometowns and family, boosting grocery store spending.
It’s the traditional food holiday between Halloween and Christmas. Here are our turkey trot choices for shopping, dining, and entertainment to make this a November to remember:
See the most beloved opera of all time, Verdi’s La traviata playing at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Nov. 1-9. It’s the story of a 19th century Paris courtesan’s passionate love affair with a young nobleman. Information: 720-865-4220.
Singer Mende Harston and the Queen City Jazz Band do jazz and blues numbers from WWI to the 1930s at Dazzle Nov. 3, 6:30 p.m. Information: 303-839-5100.
Hear the music of violinist and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird playing with the Symphony at Boettcher Hall Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-623-7876.
Hungry or thirsty? Sam’s No. 3 in Glendale offers a full menu — literally more than 100 items — for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Or, just stop by to relax and enjoy a cold beer, cocktails, or milkshakes with neighbors. Information: 303-333-4403.
Planning a new build, remodel, or home addition? Marlena Design Group helps design, select, specify, and manage interior-exterior finishes. They work with homeowners, builders, and investors on projects. Information: 720-335-8202.
Participate in a full day of banjo workshops and concerts at Swallow Hill Music’s annual BanjoFest Nov. 15, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Information: 303-777-1003.
Canadian singer and music producer Bryan Adams who has sold 75-100 million records entertains in the Ball Arena Nov. 24, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-405-1100.
Lead vocalist Justin Pierre and Minneapolis rock band Motion City Soundtrack plays the Fillmore Auditorium Nov. 29, 6:30 p.m. Information: 303-623-7876.
Attend the Denver Heart Ball at Wings Over the Rockies November 12, 6 p.m. This fun night of fundraising will help people to live longer, healthier lives. Sponsors will be celebrated, and heroes will be honored. The evening will include a live auction, live music, and lots of fun living’. Information: 303-801-4633.
The last full month of fall, November bids us to appreciate the transition from fall to winter. As Sir Walter Scott put it, “November’s sky is chill and drear; its leaves red and sear.”
The eleventh month of the calendar year, November begins the changeover from fall to winter. It is the month of calm before the storm of winter, Christmas, and New Year’s plans.
November has come, no shade, no shine, no leaves, no flowers, just turkey, talk, and tangy weather. How did the turkey get home for thanksgiving? It took the gravy train.
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com
