November 18, 2015 02:39 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (Nov. 18)

• 11 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Lean into the wind! It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Debate over the admission of refugees from Syria to the United States, especially Colorado, continues to dominate political discussion in our state today. The Grand Junction Sentinel’s Charles Ashby reports:

“We will work with the federal government and Homeland Security to ensure the national verification processes for refugees are as stringent as possible,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “We can protect our security and provide a place where the world’s most vulnerable can rebuild their lives.”

Those verification processes, however, are hindered by a lack of background information on individuals, said Tipton, who called Hickenlooper’s comments “naive and irresponsible.”

There is “no way to stringently vet the refugees coming from Syria because there are no databases in Syria to confirm the most basic of information, like their identities,” Tipton said, citing a comment by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. “While most of these people are innocent and victims themselves, all it takes is one ISIS terrorist posing as an asylum seeker to come to the United States and inflict harm.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper’s willingness to accept Syrian refugees after last week’s terror attacks in Paris continues to draw parallels to Gov. Ralph Carr, Colorado’s Republican governor in the early days of World War II who stood up to bigotry against Japanese-American internees. Meanwhile, today’s Republicans are exploiting fears over the refugees to the maximum conceivable extent and beyond:

Unfortunately for the fearmongers, French President Francois Hollande has announced his government will still take in the 30,000 Syrian refugees agreed upon before the attacks–making Hickenlooper look even more like a hero, and detractors from Denver to D.C. look like rank cowards hiding across the Atlantic.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► A new poll from notoriously inaccurate Quinnipiac University claims that Hillary Clinton would lose Colorado to Ben Carson, Donald Trump, or Ted Cruz. Local experts are already punching big holes in this poll’s methodology, and Q-piac’s track record in our state is nothing short of dismal. But it’s in the news.

► CD-6 Democratic hopeful Morgan Carroll picked up the AFL-CIO’s endorsement yesterday, not unexpected but certainly a help as she puts together the assets to take out Rep. Mike Coffman in 2016.

► Rep. Jared Polis of Boulder has been appointed to a congressional committee looking at reforms to the controversial No Child Left Behind law.

► A nominally bipartisan gaggle of former lawmakers wants to reform the congressional redistricting process in Colorado. Names like Mark Ferrandino and Bernie Buescher represent Democrats in what seems to be a more Republican-led effort than truly “bipartisan,” but we’ll reserve judgement until we hear more about their proposal.

► Surprise! The oil and gas industry isn’t serious about local control. On second thought, don’t act so surprised.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The feds have a new plan to protect the Roan Plateau, which has been a symbol of conflict between conservationists and the energy industry since time immemorial.

Bicycling in Fort Collins? Hack and wheeze all the way, says a new air quality study.

ICYMI

► DPS superintendent Tom Boasberg is off to Argentina for six months to learn Spanish. We’ve heard he already knows how to tango, so…

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