Cuts to national parks would be “the worst idea we ever had”

In 1983, author and historian Wallace Stegner wrote, “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”

Efforts are currently underway in our government to destroy our system of national parks. This is the worst idea imaginable.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is proposing a reduction in the park operating budget of $900 million. Current funding for the National Park Service stands at $3.1 billion. The effects of such a reduction would be catastrophic.

To address the effect of such a reduction, the secretary is proposing some parks be categorized and managed as state parks.

Staffing reductions have already been made. Some 1,700 of the over 20,000 employees have already been removed with some 1,500 more possibly to be cut under the provisions of a reduction in force expected to be announced later this month.

Congress almost sold off 500,000 acres of Western public lands. What could that mean for Colorado?

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Such actions cannot be absorbed by the National Park Service without a dramatic effect. The National Park Service, as we know it now, will be decimated.

Over 300 million people visited the national parks in 2024. Visitor spending in communities near national parks provides a benefit of over $55 billion to the nation’s economy and supports over 415,000 jobs. Why destroy an agency that provides such a benefit to our economy, to say nothing of the value it brings in preserving our nation’s heritage?

We cannot let America’s best idea be replaced with America’s worst idea!

Donald Falvey, Lakewood

Editor’s note: Falvey has served as the superintendent of Zion and Badlands National Parks and in various positions at the Denver Service Center in Lakewood for several years, beginning in 1972.

Public lands sell-off would set the stage for sweetheart deals

Re: “GOP pushes to sell off public land,” May 8 news story, and “Congress almost sold off 500,000 acres of western public land,” May 23 news story

In the late of night, Republican corporate cronies in the U.S. House of Representatives added a public lands giveaway provision to their sweeping tax cut package for the rich. It would have mandated the sale of thousands of acres of our public lands to big business. Make no mistake; this would just have set the stage for future mass sweetheart deals to sell off huge tracts of our national forests, wildlife refuges, and national monuments to mining, drilling, logging and wealthy land developers.

Donald Trump and his cowardly cronies in Congress are doing all they can to hand over our public lands with little oversight. These lands belong to all of us and should not be given away to pad corporate bottom lines.

This scheme follows up on Trump’s recent horrendous order to eliminate environmental safeguards on more than half of the nation’s national forests, opening up 59% of our forests for clear-cutting and logging.

Maga Republicans proclaim they are conservatives. Conservative of what?  Certainly not our environment, public lands, wildlife and clean air, and water. They are clearly more concerned about conserving huge profits for greedy corporations and the wealthy.

Jessica Talbot, Arvada

Track your grocery prices at checkout

Re: “‘Secret shoppers’ challenge pricing,” May 16 news story

Even in ancient Rome, the advice to shoppers was caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). It does not matter whether the overcharging of customers at King Soopers is the result of understaffing — which does not allow the store to post accurate prices — or a deliberate policy to try to increase profits; the result is the same.  Just as it was 2,000 years ago, it is up to the customer to make sure that they are receiving the advertised price.

When shopping at King Soopers, I make a habit of using my smartphone to take an image of the shelf price of “specials.” Then I use the self-checkout line to ensure that the amount charged matches the shelf price. If it doesn’t, I ask for assistance. The staff at King Soopers has always adjusted the price when they see the image on my smartphone.

Some may say that this should not be necessary. In an ideal world they would be correct. But bear in mind that your local grocery stocks tens of thousands of items. Even the best system will produce errors. It is up to you to catch them. It’s your money, so be careful with it.

Guy Wroble, Denver

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Watching recent events unfold at the U.S. Air Force Academy is like having front row seats to a slow-motion train wreck. The Air Force Academy’s new superintendent, Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind, arrived in August of 2024 and immediately embarked on his own personal shock and awe campaign.

According to reports from The Colorado Springs Gazette and other news outlets, Bauernfeind is planning on reinventing the Air Force Academy in the spitting image of the Special Operations Command in Florida, which he just left. This small, specialized unit represents only about 6% of the regular Air Force.

The first phase of this campaign is a massive reduction in the number of civilian faculty. Behind the scenes, a plan is being implemented to replace these civilians with active-duty officers who have little or no teaching experience. The general predicts that this would somehow increase the number of cadets wanting to attend pilot training. It would be amazing if senior Air Force leaders are actually on board with the idea of reassigning mission-ready pilots to teach entry-level academic classes at the Academy.

Winning wars on the battlefields of the future is increasingly dependent on developing entirely new weapons and technologies. The current focus is on dominating space (via the newly created Space Command), computer cyberwarfare, and the use of less expensive force multipliers, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that don’t need pilots at all — to name just a few. It’s not just about traditional air power anymore.

Despite all this, the general seems to have found a receptive ear in the “cut twice and measure later” bazaar of ideas that is alive and well in the nation’s capital. Selling a plan to reinvent the Academy as a solution to the ongoing pilot shortage is exactly the kind of quick fix that plays well in D.C. when politically expedient.

Unfortunately for him, this kind of high-level top cover can be remarkably fickle and quickly shift allegiances when risky programs like this don’t bear fruit immediately or they become an unexpected political liability.

Excellence of Air Force Academy’s educational programs at risk if civilian faculty cuts continue (Opinion)

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With minimal institutional support, zero buy-in from Academy graduates intent on protecting the institution, and no real backing from the Colorado Springs community at large, one really must wonder if his vision is just a house of cards.

Blunting the “tip of the spear” by stealing away busy warfighters from operational units already stretched thin seems like a monumental waste. Do we really want to start pulling flyers out of the cockpit to teach Chemistry 101?

If reducing spending is your thing, know that Gen. Bauernfeind’s plan will cost more than what is traditionally spent on the faculty. An unbiased study by the highly regarded RAND Corporation bears this out, concluding that we would save money by hiring more civilian educators, not the other way around!

The Academy has always attracted the best and brightest students from around the nation. Now, many parents are questioning whether or not they should encourage their sons and daughters to apply at all. They are rightfully concerned about the foundational changes being hammered through. This is not hyperbole – the number of qualified students accepting an offer to attend the Air Force Academy for the Class of 2029 has already decreased significantly compared to prior years, according to internal Air Force memos.

It certainly did not escape notice when the word “educate” was unceremoniously dropped from the Air Force Academy Mission Statement this year. This thoroughly vetted document has always embodied the deeply held core values of the Academy. So now, out of the blue, educating our future Air Force leaders is no longer even a core value?

Presently, only the Air Force Academy is being targeted for such crippling cuts. West Point and Annapolis are not yet on the political chopping block. If the Air Force Academy falls, it’s likely that the other service academies will quickly suffer the same fate.

If we’ve learned anything from the devastating wildfires in California and Colorado, it’s that what we value most can be destroyed in a fraction of the time it took to build.

Kent Murphy, M.D., is a head and neck surgeon and a retired Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He practiced at the Air Force Academy hospital for almost 15 years. He graduated from the Academy in 1980 ( the first class to admit women). He remains very closely involved with the academic mission of the AFA, serving as a volunteer civilian premedical advisor for the past 6 years.

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The pros and cons of PBS content

Re: “Make public broadcasting great again by shaking it up,” May 18 commentary

I agree with Adam Clayton Powell III, quoted by Llewellyn King, that “some of the old rigor about [PBS and NPR] being even-handed may have ‘fallen away,’”

Full disclosure: I raised my kids on Mr. Rogers, am a nightly watcher of “NewsHour,” and love British drama. My Friday nights are devoted to PBS; the car radio tunes in NPR.

However, I am also a Democrat for Life — a position I see as seeking middle ground in the abortion tug-of-wars. While I’d love to see NewsHour present a more centrist position, they continue in their all-or-nothing pro-abortion stance. Lately, this includes digs at Catholic hospitals.

That said, I can’t help but also notice their increasing concern to zero in on humiliating aspects of the Catholic Church. While the “CBS Evening News” with John Dickerson showed actual enthusiasm for the historic election of Pope Leo XIV, the NewsHour Team was quick to direct interview questions to priestly sexual abuse — serious, yes, but hardly appropriate to bring out at a time of celebration.

There is guilt and innocence on both sides among the many groups making up our population, and so, no need to demonize some at the expense of others.

While King makes a good point suggesting more original creative material from public broadcasting, our present material could be made fairer and more attractive by presenting a greater range of our population in a more sympathetic light, thus drawing back previously alienated viewers, whose support could enable new programming.

Frances Rossi, Denver

Surely, I will not be the only person writing about Mr. King’s commentary on PBS needing to be shaken by its lapels.

Yes, most of the wonderful scripted dramas come from the BBC or ITV. However, what about “NewsHour,” “Frontline,” and “Nature?” Plus, PBS airs “NOVA,” “Antiques Roadshow,” all of Ken Burns’ specials, “Finding Your Roots,” and “The American Experience.” The list goes on.

I would rest my case, except all organizations can get better. So a little lapel shaking can’t hurt, but to compete with the big guys like Prime and Netflix to produce wonderful scripted dramas is probably asking for more shaking than PBS could tolerate. Sometimes, it is best to stay in one’s own lane, especially when it is done so well.

Judith Pettibone, Denver 

Remembering the good ol’ GOP days

Congress is debating the budget bill, and some Congress members are unhappy with the bill. It is tax cuts and increased spending. Negotiations seem to be adding more to the debt — a Republican bill that is adding to the debt, and Moody’s has already downgraded our standing.

Does anyone remember when Republicans would always try to pass a balanced budget amendment? It appears we no longer can call a Republican conservative; they are now the big spenders.

Written by an R. who still likes to balance a budget.

Norma Anderson, Lakewood

Editor’s note: Anderson is a former state senator.

Don’t saddle immigrants with ‘blatant distortions’

Re: “Blame sanctuary policies or immigration policies?” May 18 letter to the editor

Ross Kaminsky misses the whole reason for sanctuary cities. In our government, there has been little to rectify our lack of clear laws by either of the parties over the years. Immigration comes up when they want to use it as a football to blame each other while real humans seek a better life.

The reason for sanctuary cities is protection! Protection from the games, lies, and harassment while they go through the inefficient process we use as a path to citizenship. Some take more than 10 years. We all know this country depends on immigrant labor. It’s not a political punchline; it’s reality. The fact that President Donald Trump’s main argument against sanctuary cities is that we are harboring criminals doesn’t bear out in real numbers. Fear sells. Masked ICE agents kidnap people off the streets without transparency, due process, or proof that they need to be deported.

Strong-arming innocent people isn’t a strong American value. After the first four years of his administration, Trump used the tried and true repetition method of convincing his followers using blatant distortions, racism and outright lies. Trump cannot point to crime stats; in fact, they would prove the opposite to his immigrant-crime claims.

Both Kaminsky and Trump lack credible crime statistics that prove all the drama and torture people are going through. I’ve seen Trump sidestep that, and his believers will post their gullible opinions again, without proof. Come on, if you have good evidence of criminality, post the proof!

Sue Cole, Centennial

Denver needs to finish what it has started

Re: “Soccer stadium, Park Hill open space move forward,” May 13 news story

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s announcements about a women’s soccer stadium and the Park Hill Golf Course acquisition are exciting developments. But while the city celebrates these high-profile and high-priced projects — with Park Hill alone projected to cost up to $300 million — it continues to neglect long-standing commitments to other neighborhoods.

At a time of tightening budgets, Denver will be asking voters to approve another general obligation bond, even as projects from the 2017 and 2021 bonds remain incomplete. Communities like the parkless University Hills North have waited for years for a simple 1.9-acre park. These residents, who lack a political spotlight, have been consistently overlooked.

Equally troubling is the disrepair of the historic Wellshire Golf Course clubhouse. With its 100th anniversary approaching in 2026, it deserves restoration, not neglect. These are not optional improvements; they are long overdue and must be honored.

City leadership cannot continue to shift focus to flashy new developments while sidelining past commitments. Denver’s strength lies in all its communities, not just the ones with media buzz or political capital.

I urge the mayor and City Council to prioritize equity, accountability, and follow-through. Deliver on what’s been promised. Reinforce public trust. Finish what’s already been started before launching the next big thing.

Kendra Black, Denver

Editor’s note: Black is a former Denver City Council Member for District 4.

Review Polis’ credentials as he focuses on his next run

Re: “Polis’ vetoes hit and miss in a session marked by compromise,” May 18 editorial

In vetoing newly passed union-friendly legislation, Jared Polis’ fat-cat libertarian roots are showing. Upon leaving state government, his ambitions for political life are national, most likely a 2026 run for Michael Bennett’s Senate seat as Bennett seeks to be the next governor, or perhaps a bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028. Colorado Democrats need to view his credentials for either closely.

Robet Porath, Boulder

Cheers to protecting and restoring our forests

Re: “Bill aims to mitigate wildfires,” May 19 news story

What could trade wars and wildfires have in common?

There’s been a movement in Canada to buy less American-made whiskey. But there’s another threat to the whiskey industry, and that’s the depletion of white oak, which is a key component of the barrels from which a good ol’ draw of Bourbon comes.

Enter the Fix our Forests Act. While it won’t stop any trade wars, it can at least lay the foundation for saving our beloved white oaks. Of course, future-proofing America’s bourbon industry isn’t the sole purpose of the act. The act lays plans for the reforestation of our aging (and frequently burning) forests and performing prescribed burns as well as establishing firesheds to assess risk areas.

Our forests currently offset about 12% of our pollution, but that’s likely to decline as our forests age and/or get caught in the latest blaze. This bill would cut the red tape around protecting our forests, enabling a more robust and fire-resilient green belt to protect the communities we live in.

Our very own Sen. John Hickenlooper is already co-sponsoring the bill, but more support is needed if we’re going to protect our aging forests.

With careful planning and stewardship, we could secure future generations of beautiful trees of all types, including the white oak. I say cheers to that!

Bridger Cummings, Aurora

Expectation of honesty from all White House press secretaries

Re: ” ‘Did she say that with a straight face?’,” May 18 commentary

Interesting and amusing is Kevin Manahan’s article charging White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with telling lies, lies and more lies. I don’t remember him writing an article about Karine Jean-Pierre and her many lies about former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity, inability to lead and other age issues. Everyone in the world saw it — except for the media and naive people. Those protecting Biden and surrounding him had to have known — especially when the world knew. It was very embarrassing and even cruel.

Kay Robbins, Denver

In case Kevin Manahan’s commentary was missed, I hope readers will look it up and read the truth of what is happening instead of thinking they are hearing the truth from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. She is either deceived herself or is deliberately deceiving the public regarding the actions of Donald Trump, whose visit to the Middle East was fraught with blatant corruption.

Carol Carpenter, Denver

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Apparently, it’s “No Mow May.” Keeping up with these new “official” additions to the yearly calendar is hard. I struggle to remember the usual holidays. Fortunately, No Mow May is a no-brainer for me. Every month is a holiday away from mowing because several years ago, I removed my lawn and replaced it with plants that do not need to be mowed. Better yet, they require less water and fertilizer than grass.

Even with a large drip-irrigated vegetable garden, fruit trees, and a small pond, I use substantially less water than I did when I had a lawn. The year I rid myself of the last of the grass, I sold off my lawnmower and leaf blower. I not only save on my water bill, but also on my electricity bill.

A few other advantages of reducing or eliminating turf and replacing it with water-wise plants: more visiting birds and butterflies; no need for energy-consuming, ozone-producing lawnmowers, edgers, and blowers, and greater curb appeal. Also, since Japanese beetle grubs eat grass roots, I’m no longer feeding the spawn of Hell.

A few of my favorites are larkspur, yucca, blanket flower, sunflower, sea kale, Artemisia, Colorado four o’clock, poppy, potentilla, sage, spirea, salvia, downy serviceberry, cactus, California mallow, honeysuckle, wine cup, and sedum. All of these are perennial or reseeding annual plants.

Don’t take my word for it. Learn more about plants suited to Colorado’s climate by visiting the websites of Colorado State University, the Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Water and other city utilities, Oasis West Wash Park, Wild Ones Front Range, Resource Central and the Colorado Native Plant Society.

Additionally, several of these organizations also provide grants to help with the cost of buying new plants. These grants are supported by funds authorized by the General Assembly and requested by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB). This year, legislators authorized $1.4 million for urban turf replacement programs. The money does not come from the state’s general fund. Rather, it is generated through severance taxes, sports betting revenue, and interest on CWCB loans.

When shopping at garden centers look for the Plant Select label. These plants were developed by the Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado State University and other professional horticulturists and partner organizations to thrive in high desert conditions. This is the time to get new plants into the ground before it gets hot. The higher the temperature, the more difficult it is for plants to acclimate and thrive in a new environment.

Want to keep some lawn but still use less water?

Two decades ago, Resource Central, one of the above-mentioned organizations, launched a Slow the Flow program to provide on-site sprinkler system evaluations to optimize use and reduce waste. Last year, they found that 99% of home sprinkler systems had correctable efficiency issues. Resource Central estimates that by optimizing water use, they have saved more than 200 million gallons of this precious resource over the past 20 years. That’s another way to lower the water bill.

After all, why spend money on water and energy when you don’t have to. There are better uses for that hard-earned income. National Donut Day is just around the corner.

Krista Kafer is a Sunday columnist for The Denver Post.

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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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