August 24, 2021 10:27 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (August 24)

• 3 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Happy “International Strange Music Day.” Please celebrate strangely. Let’s Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter. 

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website 

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 

*Coloradans can now get a COVID-19 vaccine at one of six locations without a prior appointment. 

► Here’s an unfortunate headline about Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert from Salon.com:

On the subject of Boebert’s, uh, gas problem, the activist group Rural Colorado United is calling on the freshman Member of Congress to release her tax returns in the interest of transparency so that her constituents can see any potential conflicts with her elected job.

► If you ever find yourself hiding from investigators for whatever reason, our only advice to you would be that you NOT tell “MyPillow Guy” Mike Lindell about your whereabouts. Lindell can’t seem to keep his mouth shut about “missing” Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, who is being investigated by the Colorado Secretary of State, the Mesa County District Attorney, and the FBI for her role in a serious security breach of the Mesa County election systems.

Meanwhile, someone might want to tell the small band of Peters’ supporters about the bill they’re about to get stuck with:

Well, it looks like Tina Peters’ stunt is going to cost Mesa County nearly $100,000. 🤦🏻‍♀️💸

— Heidi Beedle (@HeidiBeedle) August 23, 2021

Charles Ashby of The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel has the latest on the Peters saga, which includes the first known public comments from the Mesa County Clerk:

In her first public comments since going into hiding nearly two weeks ago, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters said “a liberal” has been named to replace her as the county’s designated election official.

Naming her predecessor, now Mesa County Treasurer Sheila Reiner, the embattled Republican told My Pillow guy and voter-fraud conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell on his online show on Sunday that she didn’t trust her to take over elections in Mesa County.

Peters either didn’t know, or didn’t say, that the Mesa County Board of Commissioners had named former Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican, instead…

…“I am the designated election official (but) I’ve been replaced with a liberal designated election official, and my staff and I are not even allowed into my elections office,” Peters told Lindell when she appeared on his online show, “The Lindell Report,” which can be seen at lindelltv.com. “That’s how bad this has gotten.”

Peters is playing the only card she and her fellow Trumpians know to play: Victimhood.

► The COVID-19 pandemic is back atop the list of concerns for Americans, as a new poll from Gallup explains:

Two months ago, amid positive news about the state of the pandemic in the U.S. and optimism about the future, COVID-19 had fallen to its lowest point (8%) since the beginning of the pandemic. By July, with cases on the rise and concerns about the delta variant growing, 12% of U.S. adults named COVID-19 as the nation’s top problem. Since then, COVID-19 mentions have risen 14 points to today’s 26%.

► Democratic State Rep. Yadira Caraveo is the first established politician to announce a bid for Congress in the as-yet-undrawn Eighth Congressional District.

In a related story, The Colorado Sun has the latest updates on the redistricting process.

Click below to keep learning stuff…

And Now, More Words…

► U.S. Capitol Police officials say that an officer was justified in the shooting death of Ashli Babbit, one of the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

► What in the f*** is Adams County doing?

NEW: Adams County Board of Commissioners votes 3-2 to opt out of the Tri-County Health Department’s order to require masks for kids ages 2 to 11. #copolitics

— Liam Adams (@liamsadams) August 24, 2021

And, yes, the Adams County reporter for Colorado Community Media is named “Liam Adams.”

► A high school volleyball coach says he was forced out of a job at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch because he is gay.
 

► As The Colorado Sun reports in its “Unaffiliated” newsletter (if there was an available link, we’d share it), the dark money group “Unite for Colorado” could be facing the largest fine in state history for a campaign finance violation.

The “Unaffiliated” also checks in on former Senate President Kevin Grantham, who acknowledges that he is a potential Republican candidate for State Treasurer (as mentioned by Colorado Pols last week).

► The Washington Post reports on the latest efforts to secure a new budget deal in Congress:

House Democrats scrambled to stave off a potential political embarrassment on Tuesday after a stalemate among the party’s own lawmakers stalled a vote on $3.5 trillion budget that forms the centerpiece of President Biden’s economic agenda.

The standoff stemmed from a bloc of nine moderate Democrats, who have threatened to vote against the tax-and-spending plan out of concerns about the process — a move that would ensure its temporary defeat. Even after calls and meetings that stretched into the early hours of the morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her Democratic allies still did not appear to have a final deal in hand.

The uncertainty loomed large as Democrats met hours later Tuesday to discuss their next steps. Centrist lawmakers have held up the budget to force the House to debate another Biden priority, infrastructure reform, in a move that has pit the party’s factions against each other over their shared political goals.

One potential solution under discussion would see Democrats proceed as planned on the budget while guaranteeing a vote by September 27 on fixes to the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections, according to two people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to describe the private talks.

POLITICO, meanwhile, reports that a deal could be imminent.

► Westword has more on former President Trump’s weekend brag that he singlehandedly decided to move the HQ for U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Alabama.

► Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Boulderish) gets a re-election endorsement from Democracy for America. 

► Denver7 reports on a Monday panel between environmentalists and local leaders to address Climate Change concerns.

► Colorado’s COVID-19 cases reached their highest levels since April.

► Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has a new name that is typical of ridiculous pharmaceutical nomenclature: “Comirnaty.”

► New polling data from Republican-leaning firm Magellan Strategies shows that Coloradans are split along partisan lines on the non-partisan issue of wearing masks in public schools.

► The Denver Post looks at what to expect on the November ballot if you are a Denver voter.

► Aurora Mayor “Homeless” Mike Coffman gets shut down, again, in his effort to enact an urban camping ban.

Say What, Now?

Cool story, “Q*Bert,” but Joe Biden WAS NOT THE PRESIDENT ON JANUARY 6, 2021:

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Doctors in Florida have had enough of your anti-vaxxer bullshit.

► Vice President Kamala Harris is postponing a planned trip to Vietnam as new concerns arise about a strange health risk (and potential weapon) known as “Havana Syndrome.”

ICYMI

► The non-official Twitter account for Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley) deleted a ridiculous post on Monday that was full of typical Buck gibberish.

► So, uh, who’s gonna plug these wells?

► This week on The Get More Smarter Podcast, Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-Jefferson County) returns to discusss some of the big local projects being funded with federal dollars in Colorado…so long as your Member of Congress is a Democrat, apparently. 

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