Open Letter to Chris Hinds (Denver City Council - District 10)

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Mr. Hinds,

As a resident of Capitol Hill, I have been closely watching the footage of the protests, and the Denver metro area's police response. In that coverage, I happened to see a brief conversation between you and (I think) Noel Brennan on 9News last night (Saturday May 30th). 

In the conversation and on your Twitter feed, it seems like you have quickly turned away from discussing excessive force, systemic racism, and the murder of black men and women - to the property damage that is being caused by a very small group. It is right - and important - to call out the possibility that people who do not represent the protests at large are the ones causing the violence and distorting the message, but you are then stopping short of clearly speaking on what the protest at large does represent. 

As your constituent, I would like to see you speaking just as loudly on what you can and will do as our elected representative on the city council to ensure that our police department quickly makes the necessary changes to move away from military-style tactics to counter peaceful protests (especially when those same tactics were not on show a few weeks ago when the protests were about masks and staying at home), and how we ensure our police are protecting black lives and holding accountable those among them that do not.

More concerning to me than the damage of property in and around the capitol are the stories of police firing rubber bullets and pepper spray at bystanders and the tear gar canisters being flung toward crowds of peaceful protesters. Additionally, it seems Chief Pazen has been focused on pushing any violence and destruction away from the empty capitol building and central business district, without any regard for those of us who live in the warpath.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Kind regards,

Justin Clark

Medicare for All and Reproductive Health

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I like the idea of Medicare for All or some other system that ensures that everyone in the country has access to affordable healthcare. But I also worry a lot about the implications of turning our healthcare coverage over to the legislature.

Today, because of the Hyde Amendment, Medicare can only cover abortion services in cases of rape/incest or danger to the life of the person who is pregnant (https://www.medicare.org/articles/does-medicare-cover-abortion/). While a Public Option or Medicare for All bill should definitely try to repeal the Hyde Amendment putting healthcare coverage under control of the legislature while we have a 5-4 conservative Supreme Court would make it relatively easy for Republicans to eliminate coverage for abortion services (or addiction counseling or HIV care) nationally.

Leaving reproductive healthcare in the hands of private insurance and making people pay extra to have that coverage isn't something I like either - at all - but a system that at least allows for supplemental insurance for abortion services would hold off the ability to completely legislate abortion out of the US. Under a Medicare for All system, where the only available private insurance is for “luxury” services (cosmetic surgery) and reproductive healthcare seems like a market that ends up unaffordable to the people who need the coverage or possibly just non-existent.

I honestly don’t know where I fall on this, but I’m interested in people’s opinions.