First, a bakery. Now a kids’ summer camp?

Re: “Christian summer camp says state will shut it down over gender policy,” May 20 news story

A Christian summer camp near Bailey could be shut down over state regulations pending a magistrate’s ruling, according to The Denver Post. Camp IdRaHaJe, derived from the hymn “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” was founded in 1948 when common sense was still in vogue. In those days, most people could distinguish right from wrong, and children went to summer camps without fear of government intervention.

“The government has no place telling religious summer camps that it is ‘lights out’ for upholding their religious beliefs about human sexuality,” said Andrea Dill, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom.

The State of Colorado has a long history of anti-Christian animus. Unsuccessful in its bid to shut down a local bakery, the government is now threatening to put a Christian summer camp out of business for refusing to comply with its woke ideology. Who would have thought it would come to this?

Brian Stuckey, Denver

Keeping up the good fight to find the truth

Re: “As scientists we dedicate our lives to a method; fraud could cost us everything,” May 22 commentary

Many thanks to D. Scott Schmid for his firm support of the scientific method. The standard applies to all fields. As a psychologist in private practice for almost 40 years in the Denver area, many of my colleagues were well-versed in the emerging science in our field. It wasn’t easy.

Fads, pet ideas and downright lying about what we know and don’t know were part of the struggle to be the best we can be for our clients. I worked in the interface between law and psychology, doing court-ordered evaluations in high-conflict divorce matters. These cases often involved complex, difficult family matters. Most of the lawyers and psychologists I worked with did their best to find the truth. Humility was part of our DNA because much of the emerging science was incomplete and clear answers were years away. Still, rigorous use of reason, systematic data collection and existing science gave us an approach that helped families at a difficult time.

Sadly, there were a few who put their pet ideas to the forefront. They exaggerated scientific data, misled others, or flat-out lied in order to prevail and win their case. I retired almost three years ago in part because of that creeping pattern similar to the Trump administration’s disregard for experts and the knowledge they can provide. It is left to those who remain to carry the torch of reason and the scientific method.

Bill J. Fyfe, Denver

The gift that will cost taxpayers

Re: “U.S. accepts plane from Qatar for president’s use,” May 22 news story

The 747 from Qatar will require $1 billion to upgrade and is unlikely to be finished by the time President Donald Trump leaves office. The plane is then to be de-commissioned to sit next to Trump’s presidential library. A billion-dollar ornament for a library is hardly a way to save taxpayer dollars. If that isn’t a “white elephant,” what is?

William A. Deibel, Thornton

The unparalleled reach of presidents’ sons

Re: “Trump family bitcoin company plans to go public,” May 13 commentary

So, the latest Trump bitcoin endeavor, in the family’s never-ending quest to profit from Dad being in the White House, has Eric Trump promoting family ties and listed as a “strategic amplifier” who “drives brand equity and institutional visibility through unparalleled network reach.”

Didn’t Hunter Biden get into a little dustup for being a “strategic amplifier” and using “unparalleled network reach” in some of his business dealings?

Steve Gould, Aurora

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No one should be surprised that Denver is scaling back hiring and spending for 2025 and 2026.

The city has been living high on the hog for more than a decade, growing city government services and hiring hundreds, if not thousands, of new employees. Like a majority of Denver taxpayers, The Denver Post editorial board has supported much of the spending (as both investment in our city and as a way to recover from the dark days of COVID).

We’ve also opposed some of the more outlandish pet projects that we feared frittered away the city’s sales tax revenue. It’s too late now to rededicate those millions of dollars in sales tax increases to the city’s general fund operations.

Almost two years after taking office, Mayor Mike Johnston will oversee a reduction in staff and services for the first time since the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis and Great Recession. Sales tax revenues will be down $50 million this year from projections and down $100 million in 2026 from 2025 levels. That represents about a 7.5% reduction in revenue, not accounting for anticipated increases in costs for inflation and city growth.

Layoffs, furloughs coming for Denver employees amid budget crisis, mayor says

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Given that bleak outlook, we are disturbed that up until last week, the city was considering hefty raises for staffers in upper management positions. City Council smartly sidelined that proposal from the mayor’s office, and in sharp contrast, Johnston’s furloughs will be graduated, so lower-income employees will take two days unpaid, and higher-income employees will take up to seven days unpaid.

The cuts will come at a terrible time – reductions in staff from President Donald Trump have left thousands of federal employees who live in Colorado out of a job, and the state of Colorado is slowing the pace of growth in accordance with TABOR spending limits. Luckily, private-sector hiring has remained strong across the U.S., according to the most recent jobs report, cutting the risk of a possible recession.

Johnston is correct, however, to make adjustments now in the budget.

Certainly, this could just be a mini-downturn that could be weathered with a combination of discretionary spending reductions, contingency funds and rainy day funds. But federal policy is causing uncertainty, to put it mildly, and that can have disastrous consequences.

Consumer confidence is extremely low, meaning more people are spending less across the country, including downtown Denver, where the majority of the city’s sales tax revenue is generated. Big cities like Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Houston, New York, Miami and San Francisco are also being hit by the effects of vacant office buildings. Cities across the nation are cutting their budget.

In Denver, office buildings are selling for far less than they did even 10 years ago, and vacant office space means fewer commuters spending their dollars in the city. Add on top of that a false perception that Denver is unsafe or that it is filled with homeless encampments, and you’ve got a perfect storm.

Getting Coloradans and tourists back to the city, and spending their money, is a key part of recovery for the city. Recovery is also crucial for our small businesses, especially retail stores, restaurants and bars. No one can patronize businesses that aren’t open.

Johnston has a plan to bring people back downtown. Some of those plans are immediate – finishing the 16th Street project and increasing the presence of police and other security services. Some of those plans are ongoing — Johnston has already cleaned up the homeless encampments in downtown, leaving not a single tent in the urban core as the city has provided housing options to more than a thousand people. The city will continue to spend millions on the program so the camps don’t just spring right back up.

Most of the city’s capital improvement projects are funded with dedicated bonds paid for by property tax mill levies. That revenue stream is still growing despite the sharp decline in commercial real estate evaluations. The increase is  driven by the continued growth in residential home values.

These are strange economic times, and even top economists are finding it hard to predict what will happen next.

In such days, fiscal conservatism is prudent. Hiring freezes, furloughs and layoffs may seem dramatic for a city that only a few short years ago had 16% fiscal reserves, but taking action today will forestall more dramatic cuts should the economy take a turn for the worse.

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This saddening news of President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis has added fuel to questions about his health during his presidency.

No one wants to see the former president and long-time senator facing a serious illness, and I hope that his treatment is effective.

This announcement was made the same week of the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s explosive book Original Sin. This deeply reported book is based on interviews with over 200 people — many of them Democratic operatives and insiders — and details the astonishing lengths to which President Biden’s team and the broader Democratic establishment went to conceal the president’s cognitive and physical decline from the public.

Original Sin exposes one of the most cynical political cover-ups in modern American history, and it explains why Democrats have a trust issue with the American public. This well-earned lack of trust has led to questions about whether Biden may have hidden his prostate cancer too, although there is no evidence to support that he did.

Based upon recent revelations, there can be no question that Republicans and many others, including myself, were justified in sounding the alarm about Biden’s fitness to serve during the re-election campaign.

At the time, Biden’s team hit back with performative outrage and engaged in kabuki theatre.

His team dismissed concerns about his age and acuity as dirty politics. But those close to Biden knew they were handling a president who was no longer fit for office. According to accounts of Original Sin, his team choreographed nearly every aspect of Biden’s life — including limiting unscripted interactions, scripting meetings down to the minute, and escorting him to and from Air Force One helicopter to prevent a potential, devastating fall. They even contemplated putting Biden in a wheelchair after the election.

The cover-up extended to his cognitive decline too. Biden reportedly forgot key names, including major celebrities like George Clooney and even senior members of his own team. Cabinet secretaries were sidelined, and staff members devised elaborate strategies to avoid placing him in situations that might expose his decline.

Just this past week, audio from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s October 2023 interview with President Biden was released. Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland was held in contempt by the U.S. House of Representatives for refusing to release them. In February 2024, Biden and his covert operations team were apoplectic about Hur’s decision that it would be difficult to prosecute Biden in the classified documents matter because Biden was a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and it would be difficult to prove the mental state of willfulness. Biden angrily responded that his memory was fine and his team exalted that this was a “partisan hit job”.

The audio proves otherwise as the recordings show Biden was confused, rambling, and couldn’t even remember when his son Beau died.

Biden’s team continued to trot out his disingenuous talking points, insisting that he was sharp and physically fit.  Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates asserted that “not only does the president perform around the clock, but he maintains a schedule that tires younger aides, including foreign trips into active war zones.”  Apparently, however, Biden had difficulty functioning outside of a 6-hour window between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Like the man behind the curtain in Oz, Biden’s team spun a grand illusion, staging a show of leadership while concealing Biden’s fragility, more devoted to self-preservation and power than being honest.

Here’s where the culpability deepens, Democratic leaders knew. They saw the same signs the public saw and in many instances saw it firsthand and acknowledged it privately. Yet instead of standing up, they continued to vouch for Biden’s fitness.

A month before his disastrous debate with Trump, I wrote a column calling President Biden unfit for office.  At that time two-thirds of voters had little or no confidence that Biden was physically fit to be president.  Anyone who has watched a family member or close friend decline with senility, dementia or physical ailments had all of the evidence they needed when they watched even his composed public appearances provide clear and unsettling clues with his often incoherent rhetoric and gaffes, confusion and instability.

And, following his disastrous debate performance, Biden’s team tried to convince us that it was simply a bad night, blaming the debate preparation team for his poor performance. And, in the days following the debate train wreck, Democratic leaders were conspicuously silent, failing to speak out publicly. My column calling for him to withdraw just a few days after the debate, was one of the very first of its kind in the country and published well before any major Democratic leader called on him to publicly step aside.

And, the longer they failed to speak truth to power made it more unlikely the Democrats would win in November.  When they finally did, Biden had no choice but to step aside, but behind closed doors, in classic backroom style, Democrats had already crowned his successor, Vice President Kamala Harris.

This isn’t just a Biden problem that can be conveniently swept under the rug. It’s a Democratic Party problem — a failure of leadership, transparency, ethics and accountability.

The result? Democrats lost national trust and the party’s favorability rating stands at 29%, a record low. To be fair, that isn’t simply about the cover-up and lack of leadership. It also reflects a party in the wilderness, confused about their values, and unable to muster the leadership to meet Americans where they are on key issues. It is no wonder that only 35% of surveyed Democrats are very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party.

Democrats would love nothing more than to move on — to refocus on President Donald Trump and reframe the midterm elections as a battle for democracy. But its not that simple. They can’t claim hindsight when they bear collective responsibility for the outcome of the 2024 election.

Until Democrats acknowledge the cover-up, they undermine their own credibility and won’t be able to regain public trust.

It will surely be impossible for them to authentically critique Trump’s mental acuity and fitness.

Doug Friednash grew up in Denver and is a partner with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck. He is the former chief of staff for Gov. John Hickenlooper.

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When a malnourished and dehydrated 7-year-old died in Grand County with deadly levels of sodium in his blood, the response from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office was to send an investigator and an assistant county coroner to assure the child’s parents that the investigation would go no further and that documents surrounding the death would never be made public.

A Colorado boy likely died from drinking too much olive brine. Grand County tried to make the suspicious case disappear.

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Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin made good on the 2020 promise to Isaiah Stark’s parents. This year, he refused to release to The Denver Post any documents and videos related to the investigation, saying it would be “contrary to the public’s interest.” Schroetlin is hiding behind bad laws to prevent public scrutiny of how his department, the coroner and the district attorney handled the death investigation.

The public’s interest in this case is more than justified. Anytime a child dies under suspicious or questionable circumstances, there must be an investigation. The records The Post was able to obtain from other, less obstructionist sources cast serious doubt on whether a thorough investigation ever took place, despite the fact that records also show officials received reports that the boy had been forced to drink olive brine, which is high in sodium content, as a punishment.

Fortunately, Colorado’s child protection ombudsman and the state’s Child Fatality Review Team have not allowed Stark’s 2020 death to slip silently into history, unmarked and uninvestigated. The Post’s Sam Tabachnik used records obtained from both to produce an in-depth news story that was published last Sunday. Unfortunately, the review team did not release all the documents from its investigation, something they can and should do immediately in the name of transparency.

We need these watchdogs digging for the truth. Isaiah Stark’s tragic death was likely preventable, and the adults in this state tasked with protecting children had multiple opportunities to intervene to help Isaiah. Records show his mother repeatedly asked for help, and that there were warning signs missed. It is too late to save Isaiah Stark, but right now, somewhere else in this state, another child is suffering. Public scrutiny of our systems could be what saves that child.

The ombudsman, Stephanie Villafuerte, told Tabachnik, “We have many unanswered questions, and those responsible for giving these answers are unwilling to do so.”

The Child Fatality Review Team praised Grand County and Jefferson County health officials for compiling reports about the familys’ interactions with their human services teams, but concluded in its report: “It was a systemic gap that there was a lack of accountability for the child’s death, which the team believed was needless and could have been prevented, had the child received appropriate monitoring and intervention from the medical and mental health professionals.”

Unacceptable.

We know that the coroner ruled conclusively what had killed Isaiah — hypernatremia or too much sodium in the blood. We wouldn’t even venture to guess at what undiagnosed medical conditions or maltreatment could result in such an unusual death.

But we are horrified that the public officials in positions of power have failed to do the basic investigative work required to find out what happened in the days and weeks leading up to Isaiah’s death.

We call for three basic things to happen in response to what the public now knows about Isaiah’s death:

First, Schroetlin can release all records his department holds related to the investigation, including body-worn camera footage of interviews.

Second, lawmakers can undo a horrible mistake they made in 2018 when they shielded children’s autopsy reports from the Colorado law requiring records to be open for public scrutiny. As we noted at the time, Senate Bill 223 prevents public scrutiny of questionable child deaths. The Post has used child autopsy reports historically to cover the lapses in our child welfare systems that can result in child deaths.

Third, the findings by the Child Fatality Review Board should be heeded and changes made. According to the report, “The team identified a systemic gap in services when the family decided to cease all services as soon as the child’s adoption was finalized. This created a scenario where there were no longer professionals watching out for the child. Prior to the finalization of the adoption, the family had the option to access family therapy and other family preservation services.” The Colorado Department of Human Services and lawmakers can make more resources available to ensure that children are still getting care and review even after their adoption. Known as post-permanency services, adoptive parents and adopted children, even in the most stable home environments, benefit from additional contact with professionals and experts. Especially in rural parts of the state, that contact can be difficult to obtain or cost-prohibitive.

Colorado officials failed Isaiah both before and after his death, but taking these three small steps will help make amends.

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Hall needs to check its hypocrisy

Re: “Lifting Hall of Fame ban on Pete Rose, ‘Shoeless’ Joe came decades late,” May 15 commentary

I have long believed that the Baseball Hall of Fame has excluded a number of outstanding players for arbitrary reasons. Pete Rose is a notable example, as pointed out in the commentary. However, there are several others, and as a result, I think the relevance of the Hall of Fame is diminished.

Rose’s gambling violations had nothing to do with his performance as a player. The fact is that he was one of the greatest hitters in history. He exceeded Ty Cobb’s record for career hits. That should be enough to put him in the Hall. It is sad that this didn’t happen while he was alive. Whatever you may think about Rose as a person, clearly he should be celebrated in the Hall of Fame. If they want to put a footnote on his plaque (e.g., that he gambled when he was a manager), that’s fine, but excluding him was always phony.

And while they’re at it, add other outstanding players: Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and Shoeless Joe Jackson, to mention a few. Without those names, the Hall of Fame is a mockery. If we’re going to have character tests for entrance to the Hall, we should eject some players.

I would also like to point out the incredible hypocrisy of Major League Baseball regarding gambling. They excluded Rose for gambling on his team to win, but now a primary sponsor of MLB is the sports gambling industry. Every time I see a gambling ad during a game, I think about Pete. If gambling is wrong for players, it is wrong for MLB.

James W. Craft, Broomfield

Shocking provision in budget bill

Re: “Trump’s clash with the courts raises prospect of showdown,” May 19 news story

Did I read this correctly? In Monday’s Denver Post, buried more than 20 paragraphs into the article, The Associated Press’ Nicholas Riccardi writes, “The provision in the Republican budget bill would prohibit courts from enforcing contempt citations for violations of injunctions or temporary restraining orders — the two main types of rulings used to rein in the Trump administration — unless the plaintiffs have paid a bond.”

I’m no lawyer, but I take this to mean that if the GOP-ruled Congress wants to pass a bill/law that essentially allows them to do any illegal thing they want, the courts would be virtually powerless to stop them. If the government can violate the rule of law and the Constitution with impunity and flout any legal ruling without fear of restraint or consequence, then it has ceased to be a government and has become a criminal enterprise. Is this what the American people want?

Flint Whitlock, Denver

Cartoon spreads false narrative

The cartoon on the May 17 opinion page spreads a false narrative that Democrats want to free MS-13 gang members, rapists and murderers.

Here’s the truth: Democrats protesting at the ICE facility in New Jersey did not demand that the government free the immigrants detained there. Democrats (and other ethically-minded people) simply want to have the Trump administration use due process to determine which detainees should be deported, which should be tried for crimes, and which have the right to remain in the USA. Democrats are not clamoring to have gang members, rapists, and murderers turned loose.

Democrats are opposed to the rendition of legal residents of the United States, which seems to be the policy of the Trump administration.

People like cartoonist Dana Summers are keen on spreading the lie that Democrats are pro-criminal and against law and order. Of course, making them look unhinged in the cartoon only helps to widen the divide between MAGA and the rest of the political spectrum. While Summers has the right to spew this propaganda, I am disappointed to see The Post helping to spread it and further inflame this divisiveness.

Jay Miller, Lafayette

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Corn ethanol, also known as grain alcohol, has been burned in gasoline engines and human stomachs since before Henry Ford was born. It’s hard on both, so until 35 years ago it never caught on much, at least not for engines.

But in 1990, Congress amended the Clean Air Act, requiring gasoline to be spiked with an oxygen-containing compound to reduce carbon monoxide. With the help of corn-belt farmers and public officials, the oxygenate of choice became corn-based ethanol. Now, most gasoline sold in the United States contains at least 10 percent ethanol, also called “gasohol.”

Fifty ethanol plants produced 900 million gallons of ethanol in 1990. In 2024, 191 ethanol plants produced a record 16.22 billion gallons. From the corn belt, ethanol production has spread West. Today, ethanol is produced in Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona and California.

Though it is hyped as an elixir for what ails the earth, ethanol has long been a disaster that we can’t seem to remedy. Calling it wasteful and inefficient doesn’t begin to list its drawbacks: It costs more to produce than gasoline, reduces mileage, corrodes gas tanks and car engines, pollutes air and water, and, by requiring more energy to produce than it yields, increases America’s dependence on foreign oil.

While gasohol releases less carbon monoxide than gasoline, it emits more smog-producing volatile organic compounds. And ethanol plants produce more pollutants than oil refineries, including high levels of carcinogens, thereby routinely violating already relaxed pollution permits. In 2007, under industry pressure, ethanol plants were exempted from the EPA’s most stringent pollution regulations.

Of all crops grown in the United States, corn demands the most massive fixes of herbicides, insecticides, and chemical fertilizers, while creating the most soil erosion. Producing each gallon of ethanol also results in 12 gallons of sewage-like effluent, part of the toxic, oxygen-swilling stew of nitrates, chemical poisons and dirt that gets excreted from corn monocultures.

From Kentucky to Wyoming, this runoff pollutes the Mississippi River system, harming aquatic animals all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, where it expands a bacteria-infested, algae-clogged, anaerobic “Dead Zone.” In 2024, this Dead Zone was about the size of New Jersey.

Thanks to billions of dollars in tax credits, rebates, grants and other subsidies pumped into corn ethanol production, farmers are motivated to convert marginal ag land to corn plantations. Some farmers even drain wetlands, the most productive of all wildlife habitats.

Cornell University professor David Pimentel, who died in 2019, was the first agricultural scientist to expose ethanol production as a boondoggle. While his data are old, they provide a snapshot of our current situation and a valuable model for groups like the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit “holding polluters and government agencies accountable under the law,” as it digs out the real costs of gasohol.

Without even factoring in the fuel required to ship ethanol to blending sites, Pimentel found that it takes about 70% more energy to produce ethanol than we get from it. Then, figuring in state and federal subsidies, he found that ethanol costs $2.24 a gallon to produce, compared with 63 cents for gasoline.

Pimentel determined that allocating corn to ethanol production also raises ethical questions: “Abusing our precious croplands to grow corn for an energy-inefficient process that yields low-grade automobile fuel amounts to unsustainable, subsidized food burning.”

And Pimentel chided the U.S. Department of Agriculture for taking planting and yield data only from states with the best soils and productivity. The Department also didn’t fully take into account fossil-fuel expenditure for the operation and repair of farm machinery or for the production of fertilizers made from natural gas.

What stymies reform? Agricultural communities have built valuable support from the bottom up — from local agricultural communities and regional politicians to U.S. presidents such as Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The beneficiaries of America’s ethanol addiction have become behemoths that get bigger and hungrier with each feeding.

If President Trump really wants to cut wasteful and inefficient spending, decrease our dependence on foreign oil and prove that he wants America to have “among the very cleanest air and cleanest water on the planet,” he needs to end what now amounts to government-forced gasohol use.

Ted Williams is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a longtime environmental writer.

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“Dumbgerous,” a word coined by a 13-year-old friend, is a handy term for something both stupid and harmful. Not only should it be added to the English lexicon, Dumbgerous Awards should be bestowed on an annual basis. It’s only May, but there are strong contenders for 2025.

Last week, a divided Colorado Supreme Court decided to let a lawsuit by local government officials proceed against Suncor and ExxonMobil, accusing them of causing global warming and harming the city and county of Boulder. If the suit ultimately succeeds, it will raise the price of gasoline. That’s partly the purpose, an attorney for the plaintiffs admitted. It also sets a bad precedent.

In the words of the dissenting justices: “Boulder is not its own republic … it has absolutely no right to file claims that will both effectively regulate interstate air pollution and have more than an incidental effect on foreign affairs.” Courts have wisely dismissed similar suits in several states.

Besides, if Boulder can sue gas companies over CO2 emissions why should they stop there? Businesses that operate machinery or technology consume energy and release greenhouse gases. Drivers are guilty of the same, homeowners and renters, too. In fact, anyone breathing should pay up. Animals and the dead also emit CO2, so don’t let them off the hook either.

That’s not the only frivolous lawsuit being paid for by taxpayers. Democratic attorneys general, including our own, launched a lawsuit against President Trump’s temporary pause on new permits for wind turbines on federal land. Normally suits are dry reading but this one has melodramatic flair. For full effect read it aloud and hyperventilate a little. Trump is “jeopardize[ing] the continued development of a power source critical to the States’ economic vitality, energy mix, public health, and climate goals,” it frets. Sounds cataclysmic doesn’t it? The suit fails to mention the majority of windmills are on private, state, and local government land, not federal.

It’s hard to compete against lawfare for a Dumbgerous Award but state legislators did their best this session. House Bill 1277 could have been written by the satirists at The Onion. It would have forced gas stations to put climate change warnings on gas pumps. Sponsors said warning labels would inspire drivers to change their wicked ways. We can test that hypothesis. How many House members who voted for the bill then ran out and bought a $60,000 electric vehicle or suddenly started taking the bus? House Bill 1277 would do little more than raise the price of transportation when gas stations passed on the cost to comply. Fortunately the Senate killed the bill.

Not all bad bills died before adjournment, however. While the most onerous sections of HB 1312 were excised, the bill still, in the words of Senator Paul Lundeen, “creates a system where schools and state agencies become the arbiter of deeply personal family decisions. By mandating inclusive name policies, enforcing gender neutral dress codes, enlisting the (Colorado Civil Rights Division) to police speech, this bill risks transforming schools and courts into areas where the state overrides parental authority.” If this bill is signed into law, it’s only a matter of time before the courts schooled Democrats on the 1st Amendment. Constitution 101: the government cannot coerce speech.

Before we can award any of these nominees a Dumbgerous Award, however, we must consider an outstanding entry from a state university. The taxpayer subsidized University of Colorado Boulder and an abortion clinic planned to host a “Sex Ed Summer Camp” for incoming 5th through 8th grade students this July. Why teach 10 year olds to canoe and make s’mores when you can, according to the promotional materials, introduce them to “gender & sexuality, media related to sex, sexy feelings, and pleasure”?

After a little national outrage, the Boulder Valley Health Center canceled the camp. We probably haven’t seen the last of it, however. While every study says delaying sexual activity until emotional and physical maturity is the healthy way to go, targeting the young makes good business sense when grooming future clientele.

These are certainly not the only competitors for Dumbgerous Awards. There will be more. But with the sex camp called off, the legislature adjoined, and election season still a year out, the river of homegrown award-worthy ideas may slow to a trickle. But fear not, Congress and the Administration have already begun to take up the slack.

Krista Kafer is a Sunday columnist for The Denver Post.

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Virtue signaling: City council costs residents $300K

Re: “City Council rejects $25M contract with Suncor,” May 7 news story

How arrogant and misguided is Councilwoman Shontel Lewis who said she would vote no on the asphalt contract because Suncor is a major contributor to ongoing environmental justice problems in North Denver. As if this has anything to do with getting our roads paved for a reasonable price.

The Commerce City refinery will make asphalt. It is what they do. Asphalt is a (small) percentage of every crude oil barrel. The crude oil barrel also includes other refinery products such as gasoline and jet fuel. Suncor’s crude oil comes from the tar sands in Canada, which are heavy oils and have higher residue (asphalt), and the local Denver-Julesburg Basin crude, which is a sweet, honey-like domestic crude. So, to get the valuable products like gasoline and jet fuel, the refinery will make asphalt.

Now, however, the residents of Denver get to pay an additional $300,000 over the life of the contract for the Denver City Council’s arrogance.

Bill Koch, Broomfield

The alarming threat of Medicaid cuts

Cutting Medicaid benefits for millions of Americans who are disabled, retired, caregivers, between jobs, or working but not making enough to afford other health care is cruel and unnecessary. It is not about saving money but increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. Many Americans will die or become homeless because of these cuts.

We need to keep opposing these attacks on our safety-net programs as loudly as we can.

Cheryl Kasson, Denver

To some of us just-getting-by families, it’s just another push down. Funding is cut to the people who need it the most. They rely on it to stay alive. Party affiliation means nothing when it comes to a cry for help from citizens. We’d all like to enjoy our lives and care for our children without additional burden.

This program should never be tampered with until you come up with something that would curb hospital costs and provide coverage that benefits humans equally.

Robert Auerbach, Centennial

Keep resources available to nurture our young talent

Re: “CU reporting that 54 research awards have been terminated or been halted,” May 8 news story

With great alarm, I read the May 2025 CU report that 54 research awards have been terminated or halted. America’s young adults, who are striving to develop careers and families for our future, are facing the greatest economic challenge in decades. Especially brutal are the thousands of DOGE and Trump-era cuts to tuition assistance and the slashing of internships and research grants in the science, medical and engineering fields.

I have encountered dozens of people who have informed me of canceled government funding sources that are demolishing career prospects for many who do not have family or other monetary safety nets.

Reaching back to the early 1970s, had I not had an engineering college co-op program job with U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base providing funds for tuition and even my basic living needs, my long engineering career in nuclear and aerospace might well have been extinguished. Let’s get more tax contributions from the ultra-rich and not smash the formation of young talent for our future.

Ronald L. Puening, Centennial

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Due process “dismissed as the refrain of woke liberals”

Re: “Trump’s bid to free Tina Peters shows disrespect for due process,” May 11 commentary, and “Officials target habeas corpus” May 11 news story

I think columnist Krista Kafer sees quite clearly that the GOP is completely derailed. When I was in grade school, during conservative Cold War times, my teachers would lecture us on the contrast between the Soviet Bloc and our American system. Due process was always described to us as a pillar of the American way. We were protected from “the knock at the door,” they’d say to us kids. The government can’t make you simply disappear.

But that whole culture is absent in current conservatism. Due process is now dismissed as the refrain of woke liberals.

Trump has learned from the past. He’s not again sprinkled his cabinet with as many patriots (i.e., Mark Esper) as loyalists. The military brass, the intelligence services, and the DOJ are now curated exclusively to the right wing. We can reasonably anticipate the next phase. He’d like to expand the denial of due process to include full citizens.

Scott Newell, Denver

Blame sanctuary policies or immigration policies?

Re: “Trump’s suit against Colorado ‘sanctuary laws’ starts with a lie and only gets worse,” May 11 editorial

The Post’s editorial is an exercise in misdirection and missing the point. It defies common sense to claim that Colorado’s well-known status as a sanctuary state (who needs a sanctuary city when the state legislature will do it for you?) didn’t make us a preferred destination for immigrants coming to America illegally, whether criminals or not. Indeed, the “revisionist history” is yours, not the Trump administration’s.

Of course, once the damage is done and law enforcement has to find, arrest, and prosecute those who have harmed our cities and our state, they will do so. The contrary is not the claim being made by people frustrated with our state and city policies. Rather, it’s that law enforcement may not work to deport criminal illegal immigrants, thus allowing them to remain as predators among us.

But again, your editorial seems intentionally to miss the point: The burden of proof is on those who claim that sanctuary policies do not attract the people they are designed to shield. Of course they do, and of course some of those people will have bad intentions.

Ross Kaminsky, Denver

Bravo! Good for you! Well done on placing “sanctuary laws” in the proper context! For far too long the federal government has shirked its responsibility to establish a clear and effective immigration policy (and the means to effectuate it), choosing rather to blame the states and local municipalities for their refusal to act as the unofficial/official enforcement arm of their lame system, and in effect, imposing an unofficial and unfunded mandate.  Hopefully, the feds will scrape together the political will to come up with a solution to their own self-inflicted problem.

Larry Ciferno, Denver

There is misplaced but formidable compassion for illegal immigrants in the USA, especially for ones who have woven themselves into the fabric of our society, economy and legal system. This allows for taking advantage of the game put in place by the former presidential administration, where due process restrictions were not placed at illegal entry but are now requiring the current presidential administration to observe constitutional protections to prevent anything remotely resembling a justifiable and expedited deportation response.

Too many citizens view immigration mostly in terms of the immigrants themselves and neglect the larger view of the net cost. Immigration is a tool to improve our country, and the legal process allows us to determine which applicants would most likely help in that regard. The previous presidential administration implemented a deliberate campaign to significantly increase the flow of illegal immigration. The motivations for this action are likely varied and certainly include the aforementioned misplaced compassion, but it ran largely afoul of existing law.

How is it that a previous president was allowed to ignore existing law with an open-door policy that overtly invited illegal immigration, while the current president is held to the letter of the law and being forced to give everyone here illegally their day in court?

Douglass Croot, Highlands Ranch

The real economics of oil and gas in Colorado

Re: “Oil and gas: Industry rebuffed by local boards,” May 11 news story

Thanks to The Denver Post for covering the efforts of local lawmakers to represent their constituents and stand up to oil and gas. It’s telling to read the industry response from Lynn Granger, who refers to democratic decision-making as “political grandstanding.”

The Post is quick to remind readers of the $2 billion in tax revenue and 303,000 jobs from Colorado Oil and Gas Association statistics. But please also remind readers of just how profitable it is to subject Coloradans to a toxic industry: Suncor posted over $22 billion in profits for 2024. The Denver Business Journal reports that the top 5 oil and gas companies headquartered in the Denver metro area made $39.1 billion in revenue for 2023. So the idea that we are losing out economically pales in comparison to what this industry makes off our backs.

Christina Foust, Denver

 Some say derangement, some say denial

Re: “Trump derangement syndrome in the opinion pages,” May 11 letter to the editor

The letter writer must be squinting through rose-colored glasses. Even if I liked every one of his policies, President Donald Trump’s actions are those of a 10-year-old, and a revengeful, hateful, greedy person is enough of a disqualifier for me to say no thanks. A Dem doing this would get the same response from me. If a Dem had been doing these same things as Trump, there would be conservatives with pitchforks and torches in the streets. Remember when former President Barack Obama was criticized for wearing a brown suit? Ah, for the good old days when we only had to worry about fashion in the White House.

Mark Risner, Englewood

The author suggested that all of the negative Trump letters in the Open Forum came from people who suffered from TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome). My concern is that he and his MAGA devotees suffer from a much more serious illness. The Truth Denial Syndrome!  My hope is that a cure is very quickly found!

Theo Davis, Phoenix

Regarding the letter writer’s comments on The Post’s seemingly anti-Trump position, the writer must not be paying much attention to what this corrupt administration is doing. Ignoring court orders, undermining Congress, creating chaos in the market and illegally firing federal employees. Of course, inflation would go down (for now), of course gas prices will fluctuate (price of crude) and, of course, egg prices would eventually come down (although still around $8 a dozen), but these things have nothing to do with Trump or his policies. Listening only to Trump’s lies (like gas at $1.98 a gallon) most likely gives his supporters reason to hold him in high regard. They are deaf and blind to the truth, refusing to believe anyone who speaks unfavorably of him. It’s unfortunate that the media, which we so desperately need, is reduced to “fake news” or called biased because of Trump’s lies.

Valorie Manzi, Lakewood

Donald Trump has become so confident and so brazen that he does not even try to hide the fact that he is taking bribes (cryptocurrency scheme) and committing extortion (law firms) every single day, yet his MAGAs keep writing into this paper and contacting other media outlets accusing them of TDS and biased reporting.  While I understand the effort to present differing viewpoints, I don’t feel it is necessary to publish these letters, the writers of which are not capable of seeing what is right in front of them.

Rochelle Davis, Denver

Cooking traditions: Feeling wrapped up in a mother’s love

Re: “A mother’s love, a family’s traditions,” May 11 features commentary

Thank you for your article in Sunday’s Denver Post. I share many of your family experiences, especially those around food. My daughter organized a family reunion in January, centering around a pierogi party and recreating the Wigilia (Christmas Eve) meal.

What a pleasure to read this Mother’s Day.

Dziękuję bardzo!

Diana Sadighi, Boulder

Thank you for a wonderful piece on your mom and Polish traditions. I’m 80 years old, so I can remember the old days and simpler times. I grew up in a Polish neighborhood (Kosciusko Street, etc.) with a very connected Polish family. We did all the same things as in your piece.

Kathleen Skrynski Morrison, Castle Rock

Rooting against the Valor Christian model

Re: “Valor Christian grapples with discontent,” May 11 sports story

I can see Valor Christian High School from my front porch. Well, almost. And to be honest, I take some pleasure in every one of their losses. Among other reasons, for years the football team pummeled opponents that didn’t have the widespread “recruiting” pool that private Christian high schools here in Colorado and around the country enjoy.

The article presents the athletic department as a near-professional atmosphere of extraordinarily high-ended achievement that somehow invokes God as an assistant coach.

“God has great plans for our football team”? It’s more likely that God has better things to do than to get involved with the X’s and O’s at a school positioned behind a grocery store.

And another thing, Valor pushed out two gay teachers, which seemed, what? Rather non-Christian.

Did I smile when I saw the outcome of the Valor-Mountain Vista football game on Oct. 4? Ear to ear.

What does it say? “Whoever brings trouble on their family will inherit the wind.”

Craig Marshall Smith, Highlands Ranch

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Colorado lawmakers vacated the state Capitol more than a week ago, having done extraordinary bipartisan work with the state’s tightening budget. But Gov. Jared Polis’ vetoes have kept some of the Democrats’ more ambitious goals in check.

On Friday, Polis struck down an attempt to make Colorado more union-friendly, a bill that would have undone decades of compromise between big businesses and big unions in this state. The veto preserved Colorado’s middle-of-the-road Labor Peace Act, but Polis’ decision is one of the most controversial vetoes in recent history. We had joined Polis in calling for a compromise that respected the importance of organized labor and also the importance of keeping union dues and fees in check. Unfortunately, a compromise could not be found, and Polis was right to veto Senate Bill 5.

The entire process of Senate Bill 5 proves that Colorado’s functioning legislative system is good for this state. While Congress refuses to act — on immigration, on the national debt and deficit, on any number of critical measures — Colorado’s General Assembly is having healthy debates and nuanced policy conversations.

The disagreement on Senate Bill 5 came down to a few percentage points, illustrating just how important compromise was. Instead, the issue will head to the ballot box. Colorado voters will likely see competing measures on the ballot this November, asking whether to make the state more pro-business and more pro-union.

Also, in sharp contrast to Congress, Colorado lawmakers were able to balance the budget, despite having to return millions of dollars collected to taxpayers through the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refunds. We were disappointed to see that after cutting proposed spending levels, lawmakers dipped into the state’s Unclaimed Property Trust Fund to pay for unfunded projects. While the projects were worthy — funding for safety-net hospitals and fire districts — the move continues a dangerous precedent. Already, the state owes about $700 million to the trust — an unfunded liability.

Polis said he was comfortable signing the two bills because the additional amount — $100 million — is relatively small and the claims on the unclaimed property fund are predictable and steady, meaning it is highly unlikely for the fund to become insolvent in the future. This would be one place we would have liked to see Polis use his veto.

Lawmakers must stop pulling from this fund, unless it is to make loans that are low-risk and present a return on investment to begin paying off the liability. One such proposal was killed this year and would have given homeowners low-interest loans for solar panels.

Aside from our wish for vetoes on those spending bills, we were disappointed in Polis’ veto of Senate Bill 86. The veto rejects reasonable regulation of social media companies, instead allowing Facebook, X, Snapchat, TikTok and others to continue their failure to regulate users who engage in illegal activity like selling drugs or sharing child pornography. The Senate voted to override the veto but the effort to revive Senate Bill 86 died in the House.

The governor was also right to strike down an ill-advised attempt to slow public records access for everyone except “real journalists.”

Colorado lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis had a good, albeit imperfect, year.

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