Which embarrassment cause policy change?

I have a little good policy news to report because, embarrassment works. But first:

At a party, a wife admonished her husband, “That’s the fourth time you’ve gone back for ice cream and cake. Doesn’t it embarrass you?”

“Why should it?” he answered. “I keep telling them it’s for you.”

Or this one:

I showed my doctor my weird bum rash. He got all embarrassed and uncomfortable. Then he asked me to go back to my table, so he and his wife could enjoy their dinner.

Independence Institute is uniquely positioned in the spectrum of Colorado’s political players. Where else could you find an organization that made Doug Bruce’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights a reality, worked with Democratic Governor Roy Romer to create charter schools, lowered income tax rates at the ballot box, and just opened the door to nuclear energy via a progressive legislature.

Progressive groups lambast us while the state GOP put us on their “RINO Hall of Shame.” So, what box do we fit in? None really. And that’s the way we like it.

This allows us to work in coalitions few others can. One such group of odd bedfellows is our “Team Transparency”. We facilitate this left/right coalition to fight the growing secrecy in Colorado’s governments.

This team successfully convinced Governor Polis to veto a bill that would make open records harder and more expensive to get.

We also sang in chorus to demand that Colorado stop being the ONLY state in the country that doesn’t live video stream its committee hearing.

That’s right. The only state that doesn’t turn on the cameras THAT ARE ALREADY THERE IN EVERY COMMITTEE ROOM for Zoom meetings. It’s amazing what a little embarrassment can do. Legislators hate transparency but hate the national embarrassment of being the only ones with committee room darkness.

I accidentally sent a picture of myself naked to everyone in my phonebook. Not only was it really embarrassing, but it cost me a fortune in stamps.

Thanks in great part to Team Transparency’s ridicule, the legislative leadership has just announced a “pilot” program to live stream committee meetings. So, thanks legislators and welcome to the early 2000’s!

And a big thanks to our partners at the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. Their leader, Jeff Roberts, is the go-to on transparency issues. Learn about the sad state of transparency in Colorado and what your rights are to see public records with my recent conversation with Jeff.

In my column below, I admit how much I’ve always wanted to kick Jeff Hunt in the back. You know Jeff, formerly of Centennial Institute and currently of 710 KNUS radio. Doesn’t he deserve to be assaulted? Well, he was, in a mostly peaceful protest of course. Jeff will be in on Monday to tape an episode of Devil’s Advocate so be on the lookout for that episode in the coming weeks.

This guy I know confided in me, “As I get older, I’ve developed an embarrassing habit of screaming loudly during a proctology exam…It makes my patients extremely uncomfortable.”

In Complete Colorado, journalist Savana Kascak covers the crowded Democratic primary field gearing-up to take on representative Gabe Evans in the 8th Congressional District.

Sherrie Peif reports on the effort to recall a Loveland council member.

Cory Gaines outlines how the progressive press in Colorado is a captive audience for Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet.

How do a few random posts on social media grow into a machine for political activism? Jessica Fenske's journey started with a few tweets as Forest Mommy.

Colorado’s anti-Trump protests borrow from the fascist playbook

By Jon Caldara

I got to know Jeff Hunt in his many years running the socially conservative Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. He now co-hosts the morning talk radio show on 710 KNUS.

He is a social conservative Christian; I’m a libertarian conservative. In other words, he’s wrong about a lot of stuff, but you know, in that oh-so-righteous way. And that’s what makes teasing him so fun.

We get into friendly brawls over moral questions like doctor-assisted suicide and end-of-life issues, where he explains God’s greatest gift to man was free will, and somehow it’s social conservatives’ job to take it away. (OK, he never said that, I did.)

Anyway, sometimes I just wanna kick him. And, oh, my lord, I’m not the only one.

Not only did he get aggressively kicked in the back a few days ago, but it was so satisfying some 9 million people needed to watch the video of it on social media.

To be clear, there is no reliable proof I put any “kick me” sign on his back.

A little context: Jeff has always had a keen sense of social media self-promotion, handy when you’re an aspiring talk-show host. He’s made it a habit of going to angry leftist rallies with a video camera and asking people straightforward questions while recording the inane answers.

Remember Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” routine? It’s like that, but instead of the people being just idiots, they’re angry and unhinged, as well. Good stuff.

At last week’s anti-ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) rally at the state Capitol, he was meandering through the crowd videotaping the mostly peaceful protest when, out of nowhere, a man viciously kicks him in the lower back. Worse than a sucker punch, there’s absolutely no way to see it coming. And yes, there was a real injury.

Being the stand-up person it takes to kick someone in the back, this young, white man runs off as the crowd is chanting, “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!”

Immigrants are welcome here. Others with different viewpoint, however, will be assaulted.

Will the real fascists please stand up

It’s worth making the small observation these protestors call Trump a fascist and carry placards of him cartooned as Adolf Hitler. Remember, it was Hitler’s followers who beat up those with opposing views. Physical assault is a fascist tactic. So, exactly who are the fascists here?

We could go on that theme all day. It was Hitler’s fascists who attacked Jews. Today, it’s pro-Palestine progressive college kids and illegal immigrants throwing Molotov cocktails attacking Jews. So again, exactly who are the fascists here?

Jeff followed and confronted his assailant on camera, who calmly responded to Jeff, “Hey pal, what are you here for?” Well, to be physically assaulted at your peaceful protest, of course. Duh.

Two interesting things followed. First, a fellow protester intervenes and advises the assailant to stop talking, obviously a criminal lawyer in the making. “Don’t talk to him, you’re going to ruin the image.”

The guy didn’t say, “Hey, we don’t do violence,” or “apologize to the man for kicking him,” but “you’re going to ruin the image.” That speaks volumes. It shows what’s important to the protestors. Imagery.

And secondly, the assailant says to this budding lawyer and public relations expert, “He pissed me off, okay.” That’s important because it shows intent. This guy was angered by Jeff, so he attacked him. That makes this a premeditated assault.

Jeff has gone to the police. The assailant is very easy to identify. So, we’ll see if this mostly peaceful protest results in criminal charges.

Jeff has covered about a dozen such protests and tells me they are growing in intensity and anger. The Bernie Sanders/Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rally drew a crowd of mellow, old Boulderites making it resemble an audience at a John Tesh concert. The latest rallies have more people covering their faces with masks and itching to brawl with police.

And unlike the earlier rallies, Jeff is now followed by his own personal entourage of antifa censors. Whenever he starts filming a conversation with a protester, these people swoop in to tell the person not to interact with Jeff, ending the interview.

Another telltale sign of fascism is clamping down on free speech.

Look for the violence and vandalism to ratchet up. These people just can’t help themselves.

Saturday, September 13, 2025

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46700 E County Road 30
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