Rocky Mountain Voice

There’s a lot to celebrate this Independence Day, as we mark the 249th anniversary of our national divorce from Great Britain and the abuses of King George III. Yet under the flags and fireworks, the hotdogs and hamburgers, and the checkered tablecloths camouflaged in red, white, and blue, lies an uncomfortable, ironic truth: You’re not as free as you think. This may sound absurd, inappropriate, even unpatriotic. How could this be, in “the land of the free”? The fact is each of us is shackled by invisible economic, regulatory, and civil chains. Hidden in plain sight is a tangled, ever-expanding web of federal, state, and local taxes, programs, regulations, spending, and debt-the overwhelming majority of which unjustly constrain and violate our God-given natural rights.

The fight over deductions for state and local taxes almost sunk President Trump’s megabill, which is headed to his desk with a new $40,000 cap on the deductions, up from $10,000. The megabill also lets some business owners continue to dodge the cap on deductions for state and local taxes, or SALT. The cap became a point of contention among Republicans, with House representatives from high-tax states such as New York and California arguing for a higher cap. GOP senators, who don’t represent the highest-tax states, had pushed for a lower limit.

There’s been a lot of attention in the media regarding rising crime within Colorado Springs. As someone who works closely with public data, I always try to avoid sensationalism and instead ask: What’s driving this, and how do we compare to the U.S. and other cities? When you look at U.S. trends overall and specific comparison cities, there are, indeed, some alarming trends. Crime rates in the U.S. between 2018 and 2024 are virtually identical. However, the state of Colorado and the city of Colorado Springs have both seen double-digit increases in the rate of violent crimes per 100,000 population.

I remember the day truth found me, normative truth that is, and it wasn’t in a church pew or quiet devotional moment. It was on a drill pad, surrounded by hundreds of Airmen at Lackland Air Force Base, standing at attention in full formation. I was in Basic Military Training, still full of fight, pride, and the need to prove myself.  When the Training Instructors (TIs) clocked out for the day, I’d go looking for a different kind of training, one that involved fists, not formation. I would stir up fights in the dorms, trying to dominate the other guys in our squadron.  In other words, I thought I was all that and a bag of Doritos with a Mountain Dew on the side, so much so–that I thought I was getting away with it.

(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A lawsuit has been filed in El Paso County District Court against the City of Colorado Springs and Mayor Yemi Mobolade over alleged TABOR and constitutional violations. The lawsuit by Preserve Pine Creek Village, LLC, alleges that the City violated multiple provisions of the Colorado Constitution, including the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), which requires voter approval before creating multi-year government debt. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a $40 million Private Activity Bond (PAB) issuance approved by the City Council on May 27. Tim Lewan, who lives in the Pine Creek Village area, says he donated to the legal fund because he’s been against the development of these apartments from the start.