December 01, 2015 11:38 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (Dec. 1)

• 1 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

There are 24 shopping days left until Christmas. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missedsomething important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► The gunman accused of killing three people and injuring nine others in a terrorist attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs made his first court appearance on Monday. As Jordan Steffen reports for the Denver Post, investigators still aren’t saying much regarding the case against Robert Lewis Dear:

The 57-year-old showed little reaction as he answered 4th Judicial District Chief Judge Gilbert Martinez’s questions. Dear, who appeared via a closed-circuit video, spoke three times during the hearing: “Yes,” “Yes” and “No questions.”

Investigators also declined to release information about the investigation, including the type of weapon used, Dear’s motivations or a timeline of events. Search and arrest warrants in the case were sealed at prosecutors’ request.

While law enforcement officials are still sifting through evidence and other information, it is becoming increasingly difficult for anti-choice politicians and commentators to try to conclude that the attack at Planned Parenthood was not motivated by rhetoric about abortion and the mythical selling of “baby parts.” From promoting false stories that the attack was really a bank robbery (Rep. Kit Roupe of Colorado Springs) to bizarre theories that the alleged terrorist was a “transgendered [sic] leftist activist” (Texas Sen. Ted Cruz), the absurdity train is about to run off the rails.

Governor John Hickenlooper, meanwhile, continues his call for politicians to end their dangerous “inflammatory rhetoric.” Reporters and investigators are also busy trying to piece together more information about Dear’s background and how he ended up in Colorado.

Your Republican Congress, ladies and gentlemen, proving once again that there is never a bad time to do the wrong thing.

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Republicans in Congress shouldn’t get all the bad press, because State Sen. Kent Lambert (R-Colorado Springs) is as tone-deaf as they come. As the Colorado Springs Gazette reports:

Despite the recent fatal shootings at Planned Parenthood, a Colorado Springs senator plans to ask a series of pointed questions about Planned Parenthood and “fetal tissue trafficking” at a budget hearing Tuesday for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“These are questions that were submitted well before anything happened on Friday,” Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, said. “I think without full examination and answering some of the very, very specific questions we’ve been asking for months, that could have a detrimental affect on the funding for that department, if we don’t have answers.”

The Joint Budget Committee is responsible for crafting the proposed state budget and holds hearings with each department before making funding recommendations. The CDPHE has a budget hearing scheduled for Tuesday and Lambert, vice chair of the committee, submitted several questions in writing.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate at all,” said Rep. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, chair of the budget committee. “What we try to do is keep focused on budgetary matters, not political agendas. … We need to be sensitive to what recently happened, tragically, in Colorado Springs, and our questions need to be focused on budgetary matters.” [Pols emphasis]

Senator Lambert is certainly well within his rights to ignore all sense of common decency. But just because he can…

► Former President Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to speak at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood on Dec. 7.

► Colorado casinos are raking in the cash. Gross proceeds for Colorado gaming establishments are up 7 percent from last year and have the industry off to its best start to a fiscal year since 2007.

► Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton outperformed Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic caucuses in Pueblo, although Obama would end up winning Colorado fairly easily. The Pueblo Chieftain takes a look at whether Pueblo Democrats will back Clinton once again, or throw their support to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

► Congress has just a few weeks left in 2015 to pass a truckload of legislation. Jake Sherman of Politico examines the likelihood that this infamous “do-nothing Congress” might actually do something:

As the calendar turns to December, Congress is about to encounter a legislative avalanche, ensuring the next 18 days will be filled with action on issues from education to transportation, from taxes to refugees.

And as if on cue — and seemingly out of nowhere — Capitol Hill is snapping into action. Bipartisan compromises are set to hit the floor. Hopes are flickering that a bottleneck of stalled nominations will finally open. And crises are likely to be averted, at least if Republican leaders in both chambers have their way.

Top lawmakers and aides are bullish about avoiding calamity: A government shutdown looks unlikely, they say, and the debt ceiling is already off the docket thanks to John Boehner.

► The Washington Post counted more online traffic in October than the New York Times. Media pundits are busy trying to find a deeper meaning to this news.

► Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has fired the head of the Chicago Police Department after video surfaced of another officer-involved shooting of a black teenager.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is expected to appear in a McKinney, Texas courtroom today as he battles felony charges of defrauding investors.

► The newly-elected mayor of Juneau, Alaska was found dead in his home on Monday.

ICYMI

► Republican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio is working hard to “massage” his message on abortion.

► “Colorado Gives Day” is just one week away, but you probably knew that already if you checked your email in the last 24 hours. Visit ColoradoGives.org for more information.

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