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Homeschooling Update
Complete Colorado published my column about my family’s homeschooling journey. Here are some excerpts:
. . . If public school isn’t working well for your child, you too might consider homeschooling. There are lots of possible reasons for this: Your child is getting bullied, your child is either bored or behind, the quality of education is poor (test scores indicate it often is), your child has unique needs not met by the school, your child wants more autonomy, you want to spend more time with your child, you want a more-flexible schedule for your family, or you’re sick of all the school politics. . . .
Given its importance, we work on math for around an hour nearly every morning. Avoiding long breaks means that we can keep moving forward, rather than waste time reviewing what he’s forgotten. Working in short durations at the start of the day means that he can stay focused rather than grow tired and inattentive. . . .
The main thing I didn’t expect, going into homeschooling, is how well I’d get to know other homeschool families. . . . Homeschoolers tend to be members of vibrant communities. . . .
Housing Updates
Boulder changed its zoning codes to allow five, as opposed to only three, unrelated people to cohabitate in a house. Congratulations to “Bedrooms Are for People” for promoting this pro-liberty change. As the Post indicates, many people flouted the unjust restrictions anyway.
Axios: “New Denver homes are popping up and selling quickly, but supply still can't match demand. . . . Some builders are offering smaller, more affordable houses. . . .”
Post: Fort Collins has its own batch of NIMBYs. I guess it’s easy to be against housing development when you already own a house.
Even Krista Kafer is calling out (some of) the NIMBYs.
Check out Sam Deutsch’s article, “The Case for Progressive YIMBYism.” Although I’m very nervous about getting government involved in building housing, I’m generally on board with Deutsch’s agenda.
On August 16, Jared Polis attended a New Liberals event in Denver to pitch zoning reform to expand housing. I also attended. Shown in this photo are Christian Fong, Tobin Stone, James Flattum, and Polis.
Quick Takes
Approval Voting: Apparently former Democratic legislator Ron Tupa wants to run an unaffiliated campaign against Brittany Pettersen. This would be a blessing for Republicans. Democrats should join the movement to adopt approval voting—vote for as many candidates as you want—to resolve the problem of diverted votes.
Pride: A group of men stood to disrupt a Douglas County PrideFest. The men wore shirts reading “Stand to protect children”—as though the people putting on the PrideFest endanger children. Clearly these men are bigoted jerks. However, what counts as speech versus disruption can be murky. Even on public property, once a particular group gains permission to use that space at a specific time for a specific purpose, disrupting that event violates the speech rights of that group. However, these men merely stood and eventually cleared the way. So I would say that, although they acted like jerks, they also acted within their rights. Here is a test: If leftist protesters had acted similarly at a “White Pride” event, would other leftists have cheered the protesters? Obviously yes. Indeed, leftists often cheer the obvious disruption of events they don’t like.
Journalism: Kyle Clark: “People who traffic in misinformation are counting on the cowardice of journalists to not call a lie, a lie.”
Police: An Arvada police officer shot and killed a pregnant woman as she drove away. The PD said, “The Arvada Police Department was responding to a robbery, not shoplifting. The officers had reasonable suspicion to believe that [the woman] may be involved in the robbery, and they were justified in contacting her during the investigation of a felony offense. [The woman] unfortunately chose to engage in conduct that the officer reasonably believed posed an imminent threat to the life of another officer. Therefore, he chose to use deadly force to stop that threat.” On one hand, I doubt the officer in question should be criminally charged. On the other hand, the officer had no reason to suspect that the person was armed with anything other than her vehicle, so it seems like police could have stopped her in some other way than by killing her.
Police II: CPR: “The Aurora police department now says an armed man killed by an officer early Wednesday was trying to stop a man from taking his backpack at a bus stop. . . . According to police, as the officers approached the struggle, they radioed in that one of the men had a gun. A few seconds later, they reported shots fired. Police say the 21-year-old man who was shot later died at a hospital.” This seems like a case of police shooting someone without good cause to do so. Morally and legally, police don’t just get to shoot people because they are holding a gun. We’ll see how the details play out.
Police III: Axios: “Colorado's largest law enforcement training center is being cited by state authorities for a second time regarding hazing, abusing and injuring of cadets.” I’m just spit-balling here, but . . . perhaps police academies ought not promote illegal and rights-violating behavior?
Police IV: Joe Rubino: “The Denver City Council is expected to approve a $4.7 million settlement Monday to compensate protesters for the Denver Police Department’s response to the racial justice demonstrations in the summer of 2020. . . . The verdict and portions of that lawsuit, which include now-state Rep. Elisabeth Epps as a plaintiff, are still under appeal by the city. . . . Earlier this year, in March, the council signed off on a combined $1.6 million in payments to settle suits filed by seven people injured by police during the Floyd protests.”
Drive-Throughs: Some Golden busy-bodies want to restrict them.
Vandalism I: Someone smashed a rock through the front door of the Independence Institute (which publishes Complete Colorado, where I write a column).
Vandalism II: After Westminster (I assume it was) commissioned a lovely mural on a tunnel under Wadsworth, some punks ruined it. A nearby tunnel now is painted a dull grey where once it featured a beautiful paintings. Vandals suck.