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Colorado News Miner 150
Free speech and AI deepfakes, Trump targets Colorado, Marx's reptiles, gender shirts, and more.
by Ari Armstrong, Copyright © 2026
Independence Institute Tests AI Law
House Bill 24-1147 requires that AI-generated portrayals of candidates and incumbent office holders contain the disclaimer, "This (image/audio/video/multimedia) has been edited and depicts speech or conduct that falsely appears to be authentic or truthful."
I do think people should not be allowed to inaccurately present other people as speaking. I don't think legislators should receive special protection in this realm that other people do not enjoy. We're not supposed to have a privileged class in this country. So the statute undercuts equal protection.
The required disclaimer is obvious bullshit. For starters, it is inherently contradictory, because if the disclaimer is posted, then the speech does not "falsely" appear to be authentic. Government ought not require people to lie, which is what this mandated disclaimer does.
The Independence Institute (which pays me to write a column) recently released a video portraying State Sen. Kathy Kipp as working in a grocery store, where she simply pockets the change she's supposed to give to customers. This is presented as a criticism of Prop. NN, which eliminates TABOR refunds. It's a hilarious video, on point, and obviously satire. No reasonable person would seriously think that Kathy Kipp acted that way as a grocery store clerk. And the II did include a textual disclaimer to the effect that the contents were fake. So this is 100% protected speech under the First Amendment.
But Kipp is an enemy of the First Amendment as well as a pathetic whiner, so, instead of just chuckling and releasing a statement—or, better yet, releasing a reply AI-generated video of Jon Caldara (head of the II), Kipp filed a legal complaint accusing the II of violating 1147.
The silver lining is that Kipp's complaint generated a ton of earned media coverage of the video, so many times the number of people have seen it than otherwise would have. See the CBS story and related video, and share them with all your friends.
Quick Takes
Trump Targets Colorado: Sentinel: "Don't let Trump get away with illegally punishing Colorado for Tina Peters." See also Mario Nicolais, Mike Littwin, and Patricia Calhoun.
Breunlin on CMAS: Erica Breunlin offers good context on the CMAS tests. She points out that a few districts have high opt-out rates, which skews results; that schools often become consumed with testing in April; and that CMAS tests do not reflect everything important about what students know and are learning. All fair points. None of that undercuts my point that results indicate that a large fraction of Colorado students are doing poorly academically. I do think the tests should be shorter. Ideally, students would get short, frequent tests, but maybe that's unmanageable. Let's take a hypothetical free market in education. Some parents would choose schools without any standardized testing. Others would look for schools that sensibly employed quality tests to track student progress. People groan about tests, but the alternative is to have no measure of student performance.
Water Water Everywhere: I asked ChatGPT to weigh in on Matt Yglesias's article on water markets. Chat returned a very-useful reply, complete with citations. In sum, "A remarkable number of Western water rules discourage transactions." These include rules restricting water to a particular location and "use it or lose it rules." However, Chat warns, the solution is not simply to allow people to sell existing use in terms of total gallons or whatever, because one sort of use may not return as much water to the downstream flow as another. Here is a key formulation: "Making water markets work may require more state capacity in some dimensions—better meters, better hydrological modeling, clearer adjudication and standardized transferable rights—while requiring less state restriction on what owners can subsequently do with those rights."
ERBOCES: Paula Noonan explains how a multi-district coop directed state education dollars to private religious schools. But in the process of cutting off ERBOCES, the state cut off many other secular programs for homeschoolers or threw them into disarray.
Clark vs. Lee: On August 7 Erin Lee claimed, "Kyle Clark has put out stories that I am a cult leader who covers children in blood." Clark never said she was a "cult leader," and he quoted her accurately about saying she wants to "cover them [children] in the blood of Jesus." Lee objects to Clark calling her "anti-trans" and calling one of her associates a "Christian nationalist," but those terms fit. Hemant Mehta discusses.
Get 'Er Done: A CU Boulder professor used "aggressive and hostile language" by emailing, "Just get it done," according to a bias report.
Conservation Tax: The ballot measure on taxes for conservation is doubly bad: It sucks up more TABOR refunds and it unduly binds the legislature. Generally I'm for limits on what the legislature can spend but flexibility within those limits.
School Drones: Yeah, there's nothing dystopian at all about using drones in schools that can shoot pepper spray and ram people. Whatever the problem is, this is not the solution.
Punishing Businesses: Mike Krause: Colorado Chamber of Commerce head Loren "Furman says 98 large businesses have left Colorado since 2019, taking nearly 14,000 jobs with them." These are "companies relocating operations to other states, with Texas, Florida, Utah and Tennessee among the biggest beneficiaries of the Colorado exodus."
Jeffco Schools Tax: Mike Krause: "Jeffco schools asking $133 million more from taxpayers." No thanks!
Religion in Schools: The Montezuma-Cortez district adopted, and then quickly dumped, curricula with religious content. See Ann Schimke and Hemant Mehta.
Hunter Walker on Marx: TPM: "His detailed descriptions include claims that one man 'transformed' in front of him, developing 'pointy' ears and 'superhuman strength.' In another episode, Marx said a 'demonized' teenage girl 'turned reptilian' before his eyes." But Marx's delusions are not merely ridiculous; they are dangerous, especially when it comes to Marx demonizing LGBTQ people. What an embarrassment for Coloradans. Related: Hugo Chavez-Rey, Vice-Chair of the Denver Republican Party, resigned rather than support Marx.
Denver Homicides: Crime is down overall across the U.S., but homicides are up in Denver.
Governing Interest: Colorado regulates interest rates more harshly than the federal government, and the Tenth Circuit is fine with that, even when the banks are out-of-state. God forbid we have voluntary consent in such matters.
Kafer vs. Griswold Krista Kafer makes a convincing case that voters ought to vote against Griswold in the AG race. Dick Wadhams also is not a fan of Griswold.
The XX-XY Shirt: According to Wayne Laugesen, a Colorado Springs teacher wore a shirt to a meeting prior to the start of school saying "XX does not equal YY." As a matter of fact, the shirt's message is incontrovertible. But district officials hassled her over it. True, the shirt's manufacturer, XX-YY Athletics, promotes an overtly political message: "It is unfair and dangerous to allow males (XY) to compete in girls and women's (XX) sports." I happen to believe that that statement is sometimes true, depending on context. Laugesen himself promotes an anti-trans message, referring to "the false belief that humanity consists of multiple genders." His mistake is to reduce gender to chromosomes.
Gun Lawsuit: Derek Draplin: "The latest lawsuit, brought by the National Rifle Association and two out-of-state gun owners, argues that the state and city's carry laws 'together leave otherwise qualified nonresidents who travel to Denver with no lawful means to carry a handgun there for self-defense.'"
Abortion Notification Suit: Sean Beedle: "Lawsuit Challenging Parental Notification for Abortion Will Proceed." This is a difficult issue. On one hand, if I were the parent of a pregnant girl, I'd absolutely want to be notified. On the other hand, parents should not be able to commit a girl to a lifetime responsibility of parenting. Offhand I'd say parental notice is appropriate, but a minor should be able to go to a judge to override parental decisions in this matter.
Community High School: A remarkable stat from Jason Gonzales: "About 40% of Colorado’s community college enrollment is made up of high school students earning college credits."
Government-Aided Advocacy: This is remarkable. State Rep. Lorena Garcia runs the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition, a group involved in political advocacy. Sherrie Peif reports: "CSPC has raised nearly $2 million in Colorado tax-funded grants and other programs since Garcia became director." See also Jon Caldara.
Jail Visitations: Jillian Turanovic and Melinda Tasca: "The Adams County Jail, just north of Denver, does not allow in-person visits." This seems pretty obviously to violate the rights of prisoners, and it's a terrible way to reintegrate convicts back into society.