Author Archives: JohnInDenver

Gov. Polis has an admirer at The Bulwark

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  by: JohnInDenver March 24, 2022 at 7:17 PM MDT

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

This week, The Bulwark’s Tim Miller shares an interview teaser for an episode of Not My Party on Snapchat  (in his own style) and writes an article about Jared Polis.

In the article, the theme is “Look to the Colorado governor for a model of how you can build a coalition of the normal and decent.”

it has been Polis, more than maybe any other Democrat in the country, who has succeeded at delivering for Colorado on the central promise of the Joe Biden presidency—one that has consistently flummoxed the president himself: returning a bit of normalcy to our tumultuous partisan politics.

Polis has brought down the temperature, brought politicians from across the aisle into the fold, and governed in a way that appeals to (or at least earns grudging acknowledgement from) many Republican voters.

In a midterm year looking ugly for Democrats, Polis is running for re-election—and that normalcy is paying big dividends for him.

Interesting to read a conservative, never-Trump, political orphan gay man talking about about a not-conservative, never-Trump, gay man who is a Democratic governor.

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Sad Times for the NRA

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  by: JohnInDenver May 16, 2021 at 3:07 PM MDT

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

The most startling article I saw today was on the website The Reload: “Experts Paint Grim Picture for NRA After Bankruptcy Gamble Goes Bust”. The introduction’s 3 paragraphs:

America’s largest, most influential gun group is facing down a dark future.

The NRA is likely out of options in federal bankruptcy court after a Texas judge dismissed its case on Tuesday, experts told The Reload. The move, concocted by CEO Wayne LaPierre and outside counsel Bill Brewer, was meant to keep New York Attorney General Letitia James (D.) from getting at the group’s assets in her case in state court. But the strategy may have backfired.

“Bottom line, the gambit failed miserably, and I think it actually made dissolution more likely,” Philip Hackney, an expert on non-profits at University of Pittsburgh’s law school, told The Reload.

Next steps apparently are back to New York courts to contest with the NY Attorney General’s staff, with use of the federal court’s record, further discovery opportunities, and incorporation of the claims of a dissenting board member (and a possibility of the NRA having to pay litigation costs of those on the other side). Penalties may include orders for repayment to the nonprofit organization, fines, timed exclusions or bans of individuals serving as board members, and dissolution (though that remains unlikely).

Having considered Wayne LaPierre a smarmy, amoral, and opportunistic advocate since I first read his claims while researching for debate, I find the current spotlights on him a relatively mild karma which brings a slight smile.

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JBS USA in Colorado … Trump-aided international corruption comes home

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  by: JohnInDenver October 9, 2019 at 5:42 AM MDT

JBS USA has this to say on their webpage: “Headquartered in beautiful Greeley, Colorado, JBS® USA processes, prepares, packages and delivers fresh, further-processed and value-added beef, pork, and poultry products for sale to customers in more than 105 countries on six continents.” “Through determination, discipline, simplicity, years of hard work and a few acquisitions along the way, JBS has grown from a small, family-owned business into the world’s leading provider of quality meat protein, leather and sustainable co-products.”

You’ll no doubt notice there is nothing in their list of characteristics to hint of developing the corporation within the laws. Now, their activities have triggered some questions. According to several news sources, including New York Daily News, Colorado business JBS USA Food Company Holdings (and its corporate kin) may be getting a new level of attention.

Rubio, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relation Committee’s panel on transnational crime, urged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a letter to have his department begin a formal review of how JBS SA has been able to become one of the biggest players in the U.S. food industry, even though its notoriously corrupt owners have admitted to bribing thousands of Brazilian officials, done business with Venezuela and relied on financing tied to China’s authoritarian government.

Rubio’s letter, which was co-signed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), stressed that Mnuchin should use his authority to look into whether JBS’s American foray was illegal, since it has admitted to using illicit funds to establish its main U.S. subsidiary, Colorado’s JBS USA….

JBS, which is already under Justice Department investigation for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, has been able to expand in the U.S. with help from President Trump’s Agriculture Department,

Seems as if there are questions about the initial investments AND the $62 million in tariff bail-out subsidies. If the Treasury Department is not too busy, perhaps we’ll find out a bit more about the expansion and the character of one of our corporate citizens.

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