Author

Quentin Young

Quentin Young

Quentin Young is the editor in chief of Colorado Newsline, part of the States Newsroom network. He was previously the opinion page editor Boulder Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado.

COMMENTARY
Woman grieving over school shooting

Gun violence is a proxy war on the American public

By: - March 30, 2023

As the riot of gun violence in America produces fresh massacres by the day, firearm fundamentalists refuse to acknowledge the blood on their hands, and their suicidal stance in the face of escalating carnage is that more guns are the answer. But it’s worse than that. Take a close look at the arguments that gun […]

COMMENTARY

Stop tolerating gun extremists. Shame them.

By: - March 3, 2023

America is a country-size arsenal. There are 20% more guns in the U.S. than people. Americans are estimated to own 393 million of the 857 million guns in the world, or almost half — 46% — of all civilian guns. And the obscene ubiquity of firearms in the U.S. explains much about why the country […]

COMMENTARY

Democracy haters aren’t going away. They’re digging in.

By: - November 17, 2022

The midterm elections this month brought widespread failure to election deniers on the ballot. The most toxic of these dishonest Republicans all went down in stinging losses. Losers included: Governor candidate Kari Lake and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem in Arizona. Secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant in Nevada. Governor candidate Tudor Dixon and […]

COMMENTARY

Their election denier is your election denier

By: - October 17, 2022

Some states are comparatively isolated from the most damaging influence of democracy haters. California, Washington, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado — they are likely to avoid the misfortune of election deniers in high office in the near future, or they operate with voting laws meant to expand, rather than restrict, voter access. But while such states act […]

COMMENTARY

Fear of reporters is fear of the truth

By: - October 7, 2022

In the weeks after he assumed office, former President Donald Trump put reporters in the crosshairs when he labeled them “the enemy of the American people.” He was following the authoritarian playbook, long consulted by the likes of Stalin and Hitler, but it was shocking to see such strongman rhetoric coming from an American leader, […]

COMMENTARY

The Webb telescope images remind us who we really are

By: - July 20, 2022

The views of the universe are gifts of perspective So much of our collective experience as a country these days involves division and strife, but this week we rediscovered our capacity for unity and awe, occasioned by a picture. Last Monday, NASA released the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope, a “deep field” photo that captures hundreds of galaxies, each containing roughly 100 million stars...

COMMENTARY

Trump is a domestic enemy. Treat him like one.

By: - June 17, 2022

The hearings of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection have already provided conclusive evidence that the effort to overturn the 2020 election was a conspiracy directed by a corrupt sitting president who knew the effort was based on lies and encouraged violence in pursuit of power. The damning testimony before the committee and […]

COMMENTARY

What I learned from watching more than 500 Jan. 6 videos

By: - February 11, 2022

I recently watched hundreds of videos from the Jan. 6 insurrection. Many of the stark moments from the attack on the U.S. Capitol are well-known — the battle at the west terrace tunnel, the shooting of rioter Ashli Babbitt, the desecration of the Senate chamber. But nothing provides the kind of granular and exhaustive understanding […]

COMMENTARY

Jan. 6 succeeded. Here’s what’s next.

By: - January 7, 2022

If the point of the Jan. 6 insurrection was to establish that a significant portion of the country is done with democracy, it succeeded. The attack on the U.S. Capitol one year ago by violent supporters of former President Donald Trump — whose lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him was the fuel […]