A Couple of Solid Posts At Colorado Pols

Colorado Pols has a couple of solid posts up, both related to Colorado Springs.

One post examines the decisive win of a mayoral race by a non-Republican Nigerian immigrant in the conservative stronghold of Colorado Springs which is increasingly not decisively Republican. It also quotes GOP Attorney General candidate George Brauchler concluding that just possibly, lots of people in Colorado no longer agree with the Colorado Republican Party's agenda.

The other post examines President Biden's indication that the headquarters of the Space Force will not be moved from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama. There are multiple reasons for that. The decision to move it to Alabama was a spur of the moment nakedly political decision by Trump in the first place. Biden's administration denies it, but some commentators have pointed to Alabama's anti-abortion laws. And, then there's the junior U.S. Republican Senators from Alabama, Tommy Tuberville. "Tuberville has been blocking military promotions for months[.]"

Why?

Tuberville is facing backlash for remarks he made about white nationalists in the armed forces in an interview about his blocking of military nominees…

…The first-term senator from Alabama made his initial remarks in an interview last week with WBHM, an NPR affiliate. He suggested that the Biden administration’s efforts to expand diversity in the military were weakening the force and hampering recruitment, though the Army has said that the real problem is that many young people do not see enlistment as safe or a good career path.

“We are losing in the military so fast. Our readiness in terms of recruitment,” Tuberville said, according to the station’s transcript of the May 4 interview. “And why? I’ll tell you why. Because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe in our agenda.”

When asked if he believed white nationalists should be allowed in the U.S. military, Tuberville responded, “Well, they call them that. I call them Americans.”

Open Carry Law Delayed Response In Colorado Springs Shooting

Witnesses watched in horror as Harpham picked his victims off. One of them, the bicyclist, pleaded for his life before being killed.

"I heard the (young man) say, 'Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me!' " Naomi Bettis, a neighbor who witnessed the killing, said Monday.

Bettis said she recognized the gunman as her neighbor — whom she didn't know by name — and that before the initial slaying she saw him roaming outside with a rifle. She called 911 to report the man, but a dispatcher explained that Colorado has an open carry law that allows public handling of firearms.

"He did have a distraught look on his face," Bettis said. "It looked like he had a rough couple days or so."

After Harpham shot the bicyclist, Bettis said she watched him walk toward Platte Avenue. She then heard more gunfire.

From here.

We Get Letters

A read writes, in response to my post-election reflections, with some discussion of Colorado Springs. In that post, I said:

Republican support was overhwelmingly rural, non-resort (an attitude that is still a part of Grand Junction, despite its metropolitan area status), exurban, or coming from the Colorado Springs area with its ties to religious conservatism, the defense industry, and the correctional system. . . . There are policy disconnects in the geographic breakdown as well. . . . Colorado Springs, likewise, isn't particularly notable for its economic slump. Its core industries have not been lagging, and the city is in a growth phase.

The response makes the point that the economy isn't as good in Colorado Springs, or at least is not perceived to be as good, as I had portrayed it to be, and also makes an important point about the relationship between the local government's revenues and the faltering construction industry. Here is the response, restated below with some minor editing, which was authorized by the reader:

I thought I'd pass on a little perspective concerning the view of the recession from Colorado Springs, where I live and long for, at least, a two party system. Colorado Springs does not fully recognize its economic advantages at present, nor the cushion that all that defense spending provides against the broad economic crisis. Poor conditions are relative, eye of the beholder to some extent. Compared to the out of control boom of just a few years ago, economic activity in Colorado Springs is significantly reduced. Houses have lost some value, and sell very slowly. Construction, which was spread out all over the plains three years ago, building and selling middle class palaces as quickly as the contractors could get to them, came to an abrupt halt, apart from Lewis Ranch, a huge development tract on the east side, which had been annexed by the city, in one of the usual cozy development arrangements between city and private construction speculation. Lewis Ranch just filed for bankruptcy protection. A good part of city revenues were based on licensing fees and taxes from construction sales (including some illegal funding of operating costs). No one asked questions as long as bills were being paid. The sharp contraction of construction has led to serious shortfalls in local government revenues, as in most of the US now. Services have been slashed. Fees have been increased. But not taxes. The one bright spot for the local housing construction industry has been the current expansion of Fort Carson. There is new construction in the southern end of town, mostly of units for single soldiers and young families. Of course, the hugely diminished construction activity means people in that industry are out of work, or doing something else, less well paid; people are spending more time between jobs; and, by the multiplier effect, there is significantly less money circulating in the economy. For Colorado Springs the problems are more those of dislocation and temporary disruption than the dismal prospects elsewhere in the country. Nevertheless, people here are less well off than they were 3 years ago, and less optimistic too. Of course, the Republican majority here believes in small government, no regulation except in the area of personal morality and sex, cutting government spending, and minimal taxes; the usual catechism. The fact that Colorado Springs' economy is driven by a hugely disproportionate share of federal defense spending in the local economy seems to present no troubling contradictions. Of course, anything denoted as "national security" is sanctified. Ours not to reason why - it's a good and important military tradition. Just not, to me, a good citizen's tradition. It must be as you say, people choose sides with their hearts not their heads; they find their comfort zone. Policy positions are a gloss or a belief system, not an analysis. In any case, my point about Colorado Springs is that, in its way, it very much feels the recession. Which is a little different than what your blog's post suggests. Hope this is makes enough sense to shed a little light.

I appreciate the insight and always value what someone with first hand information about what is going on has to say. I should also note that the two party system isn't entirely dead in Colorado Springs. Democrat John Morse (who holds the number two position of Majority Leader in the Colorado Senate) was elected to the state senate by a narrow margin to a second four year term from a district notable in central city Colorado Springs and and nearby Manitou Springs on Tuesday. His sucessful election and then re-election even in the face of a strong Republican tide this election cycle, has defeated conventional wisdom that Colorado Springs was monolithically Republican.

Colorado Springs Earns Reputation

The The Colorado Springs Gazette supports systemic forced polygamous marriage for underaged girls in Texas.

If Texas authorities are on a crusade against statutory rape, they have far greater concern than the Yearning For Zion Ranch, where pregnant girls live under the supervision of their parents in a state that allows minors to wed adults with parental consent.

And who cares about polygamy laws? They should carry no more weight than laws against homosexual marriage. Eighteen states, including Texas, have statues or constitutional bans against homosexual marriage and they're almost never enforced. Imagine cops smashing down the doors of a Texas home to arrest two women living in marital bliss.

It is worth noting that one has to be age sixteen and voluntarily entering into a monogamous marriage supported by a marriage license application for a parent approved marriage to be valid in Texas (or for it to serve as a bar to statutory rape -- Colorado similarly prohibits minors from entering into common law marriages).

Likewise, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional laws banning private, non-commercial homosexual sex between consenting adults in Lawrence v. Texas even though states are not required to grant the full privilege of marriage to those relationships.

Decades olders married men impregnating multiple thirteen and fourteen years olds who are strongly encouraged and pressued by their parents and community to do so is apparently right in line with the Colorado Springs values of the The Colorado Springs Gazette. Who knew that pimping was a family value?

There are also, of course, no cases in which two women living together in marital bliss have produced an unwed teen pregnancy, and I can think of any such relationships that have been coerced into being by parents or a religious community.

Then there is what Colorado House Republican leader Mike May has to say about the Republican State Representative from Colorado Springs:

Douglas Bruce might be the worst legislator in the history of Colorado.

Reagan's Eleventh Commandment is dead and gone too, or maybe it has a Doug Bruce exception.