Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's elephants and "personhood". Thinking about Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street. Last ditch reminder: Go and vote. And don't forget the CO State Supreme Court!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's elephants and "personhood" update.

I have written a few times about both the "personhood" movement (for both animals and geographic features like rivers).  If you want the context and backstory, links 1 to 3 below give you my earlier newsletters on both appointing guardians to a river in Nederland along with the legal effort by animal rights activists to make the elephants in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo into persons in the legal sense.

The fourth link below is the latest update on this story.  Apparently the animal rights people want to take this all the way.  They recently ended up in front of the Colorado Supreme Court for oral arguments on their effort.

One wonders if failure here will result in a trial at the Federal level.  I'm not a lawyer, but I know that's a common path for lawsuits to tread; you must exhaust all your remedies at the state level before going federal for some cases.

Colorado's not the first state to host this effort, but it is not coincidental that the animal rights people are doing this here.  It's our uber-liberal judiciary

The same judiciary that tried to get Trump off the ballot draws the kinds of lawsuits that try to make elephants into people with legal rights.  It's judge-shopping:  you go to the state where you think you'll have the best chance of getting your policy done.  Gotta get a victory or two in the easy places before mounting a bigger effort.

The case recently went through oral arguments, with a verdict expected next year.  

Things like this are all the more reason to carefully consider whether or not you want to just automatically check "Retain" on judges.  

With the political makeup of this state, we'd still get a liberal, but not retaining (or even a good showing of do not retain votes) would be a strong signal about what people think about the courts.

https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/who-sets-common-sense-first-they?utm_source=publication-search

https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/no-polis-the-migrant-influx-isnt?utm_source=publication-search

https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/denvers-5-year-plan-on-climate-means?utm_source=publication-search


https://www.cpr.org/2024/10/24/elephants-personhood-human-rights-argument-cheyenne-mountain-zoo/

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Thinking about Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street.

I usually steer clear of Federal issues and national-scale social issues, but I had a reader send me the blog post below and found it intriguing.

I thought it would make a good one to put up on a Fall/Winter Sunday, something to read with that extra cup of coffee (since there's fewer outside things to do).

Differing people will have differing levels of knowledge about the issue, but there is a fair bit of concern over the agendas and power of the three investment firms mentioned above.

The main idea being that they are pushing a radical social agenda and are concentrating so much power in the stock market as to be able to force their will on corporations.

The author's take below is related, but the thing that I liked about it was that it's a more thorough take than simply BlackRock = Bad.

Worth a read and some thought.

https://ofdollarsanddata.com/vanguard-blackrock-state-street/

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Last ditch reminder:  Go and vote.  Tell your friends to do the same.

Oh, and vote to NOT retain judges for at least the Colorado Supreme Court.**

I don't care whether you do it in person or by mail or by drop box, go and vote.  While you're at it, call up a friend and tell him or her to do the same.

There is not race, no ballot issue that is sewn up.  No one has won anything yet.  Remember that elections are not done until election day.

If you are thinking of skipping because you figure things will turn out the way you wanted them to, I would remind you of all the upset victories that have happened in history.  

One last thing.  Give serious thought to voting to NOT retain any judges at or above the appellate level.

**Want one of the many reasons for saying this?  Check out the Gazette article below.

https://denvergazette.com/colorado-watch/coverups-colorado-judicial-department/article_033f5a04-9312-11ef-a992-73c7d22207fa.html#main-page-container