There are 101 days left until 2022. 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.
► Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says that Republicans will vote for the United States to default on its debt obligations. As The New York Times reports:
The House is expected on Tuesday to pass legislation that would keep the government funded through early December, lift the limit on federal borrowing through the end of 2022 and provide about $35 billion in emergency money for Afghan refugees and natural disaster recovery, setting up a clash with Republicans who have warned they will oppose the measure.
The bill, which Democrats released on Tuesday just hours before a planned vote, is needed to avert a government shutdown when funding lapses next week and avoid a first-ever debt default when the Treasury Department reaches the limit of its borrowing authority within weeks. But it has become ensnared in partisan politics, with Republicans refusing to allow a debt ceiling increase at a time when Democrats control Congress and the White House.
In pairing the debt limit raise with the spending package, Democrats hoped to pressure Republicans into dropping their opposition. But few, if any, Republicans are expected to support it.
And the prospects for passage in the 50-50 Senate appeared dim amid widespread opposition by Republicans, who have said they will neither vote for the legislation nor allow it to advance in the chamber, where 60 votes are needed to move forward.
This is the part in our story where you might say, But Democrats voted to prevent a government shutdown when Donald Trump was President. If you’re saying that, then we would remind you that Mitch McConnell DGAF.
►President Biden took the stage in front of the U.N. General Assembly today for the first time as President. As NBC News reports:
Biden used his biggest moment so far on the international stage at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to call on global leaders to take stronger action on Covid-19 and climate change, as he sought to re-establish America’s alliances and role in the international community.
Looking to signal a break from his predecessor’s isolationism, “America first” policies, he repeatedly pledged to work with other nations and to establish the United States as a leader in tackling the challenges facing the planet.
“We will lead, we will lead on all the greatest challenges of our time from Covid to climate, peace and security, human dignity and human rights, but we will not go it alone,” Biden said. “We will lead together with our allies and partners and in cooperation with all those who believe, as we do, that it is within our power to meet these challenges, to build a future that lifts all of our people to preserve this planet.”
The speech, his first as president at the meeting, was at a gathering very different than those in the past, with many world leaders opting to deliver their remarks virtually.
► With a deadline to finish drawing new district boundaries just around the corner, The Colorado Sun looks at where things stand with Colorado’s independent redistricting commissions.
► A new book on the end of the Donald Trump administration lays out some damning information about the degree to which former CU visiting professor John Eastman plotted to literally overthrow American democracy in order to keep Trump in the White House. This is likely to become a significant issue for CU Regent Heidi Ganahl as she campaigns for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
► Attorney General? Nope. State Treasurer? Nada. Secretary of State? Crickets.
► As Dana Milbank writes for The Washington Post, election denial is the new religion for Republicans:
Trump has alleged fraud against Democrats in 2016, 2018, 2020 and now 2021, but he once did the same to a Republican. In all cases except for Cruz (who did attempt to mislead voters), the charges were grounded in nothing but self-interest. . For Trump, it’s binary: Heads I win, tails you cheated — except in 2016, when he alleged massive fraud even in victory.
Yet this flimsy fallacy has consumed the Republican electorate. A CNN poll released a week ago found that fully 59 percent of Republicans agreed that “believing that Donald Trump won the 2020 election” is either somewhat or very important to “what being a Republican means to you.” It may be sickening that a democracy-killing lie has become core to Republican identity, but it shouldn’t be surprising. Republican officeholders routinely echo Trump’s fraud fictions — and Trump never stops, as last week illustrated…
► Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a mixed night as Canadian parliamentary elections gave his Liberal Party the most seats of any party but not enough to form a majority.
► The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution sponsored by Rep. Jason Crow (D-Aurora) to rename a new VA clinic in Aurora after veteran Tuskegee Airman John Mosley.
► As Charles Ashby reports for The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Mesa County Commissioners are trying to explain to embattled Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters that she can’t just invent her own laws:
One can’t simply write on a document saying it isn’t subject to government open records laws, give it to an elected official and then claim that document isn’t open to the public. Doing so is antithetical to a democracy, county officials and open government experts said Monday.
But that’s exactly what Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and her supporters did when they claimed that an anonymous report that falls far short of showing that the 2020 general election was somehow compromised that Peters gave to commissioners Friday was not subject to the state’s open records laws.
In the title to a cover letter to that report from Peters to Mesa County Commissioners Janet Rowland, Scott McInnis and Cody Davis, the embattled clerk who is facing possible criminal charges and a lawsuit to remove her as the county’s election chief wrote: “Confidential Legal Documents Exempt from Colorado Open Records Act.”
In an email to commissioners two days later and after the report was mentioned in an article in The Daily Sentinel, Peters admonished the commissioners for turning it over to the newspaper.
►POLITICO profiles weirdo Republican donor Peter Thiel and tries to figure out what he is trying to accomplish with all of his donations.
► More than 1,000 Denver Public Schools students walked out of class on Monday to demand the resignation of Denver school board member Tay Anderson. As The Denver Post reports:
More than 1,000 students walked out of Denver Public Schools classrooms across the city Monday to call for the resignation of school board member Tay Anderson, who was censured by his colleagues last week for “behavior unbecoming of a board member.”
Friday’s vote by the DPS board to publicly reprimand Anderson followed the release of a third-party investigation into allegations of sexual assault against the 23-year-old elected official.
The months-long investigation did not substantiate any of those claims, but did conclude Anderson had flirted online with a 16-year-old student this summer before knowing her age, and made coercive and intimidating social media posts during the investigation.
The students who walked out Monday morning assembled outside the school district’s downtown headquarters, chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Tay Anderson has got to go,” and “Women’s rights are human rights.” City public safety officials estimated 1,000 to 1,200 students gathered outside the district offices, a DPS spokesman said.
For his part, Anderson is refusing to resign.
►Jeffco Public Health is suing several local private schools that keep refusing to comply with COVID-19 prevention requirements.
Hot take from the man who is probably the dimmest bulb in Congress:
Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
► Former President Trump wrote a letter to the Georgia SOS last week demanding (again) that the 2020 election results are overturned. Rolling Stone has more on this very sad letter from a very sad man.
►The creator of the popular animated show Family Guy has had enough of the anti-vaxxer bullshit from Fox News:
► Dave Perry of The Aurora Sentinel reacts just like everyone else to the Heidi Ganahl for Governor kickoff:
She burned her own nascent campaign for Colorado governor to the ground on Day 1 Tuesday by admitting that she regularly erases old social media posts as a “business” practice and refused to tell 9News Political Reporter Marshall Zelinger if she still believes in Donald Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election being rigged or rife with fraud.
She brushed away Zelinger’s congenial but determined queries, saying that Colorado voters don’t care about such trivialities. She ignored the astonishing coincidence — that her odd “business” habit of deleting old tweets, as a public official who’s Twitter account was aflame with fiery political opinions — occurred the same time she made official she was running for governor. She insisted to Zelinger that what voters only care about is the “rampant” rate of murders and teen suicides that she says Gov. Jared Polis is responsible for.
The performance was so off key it was painful to watch.
22 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Tuesday (September 21)”
Raffensperger was on MJ this morning and I’m pretty sure his take on the letter and his thorough debunking of every allegation levied by the Monarch of Mara Lago tightened the sphincter of more than one member of the Republican caucus.
"Hot take from the man who is probably the dimmest bulb in Congress:"
Once upon a time, that may have been true but since Lamborn arrived in DC, Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, MTG, and Q-bert have displaced him as the dimmest bulb.
Texas Right to Life is upset with the two lawsuits filed to date against abortion providers, according to Yahoo News. Their complaint is that neither plaintiff is interested in “protecting innocent lives.” One is trying to test the law’s constitutionality and the other guy is mostly in it for the money.
Addendum: both plaintiffs are in it for the money, but one not so much. One is a disbarred lawyer on home confinement.
Intelligent people could have explained this to Texas Right to Life prior to their jihad in the Texas legislature.
This is a fascinating abstract. Seeing something like that happening before science had been able to explain how it happened would be enough to make me a devout believer in an angry God. The good news (except for Pew Pew)? Maybe we will see normal again before Jesus decides to make a visit.
In recent weeks, Perry and several other Eastern Kentucky counties have posted some of the nation’s top-10 highest rates of COVID-19, according to a New York Times database.
Physician John Jones said the Appalachian region’s higher incidence of chronic disease from diabetes to lung ailments is “what makes this a bloodbath here.”
Manchin is serving his constituents. He would do far better to assist in phasing out coal in favor of wind and solar. Some still consider natural gas as a bridge fuel, which makes some sense.
The current issue of the right leaning Washington Examiner magazine has a good story on Manchin and what makes him tick, so to speak. I consider him a reliable brake on the spendthrift madness of the House Progressive Caucus.
Pre-pandemic West Virginia had the 6th highest poverty rate in the US. I’m making a guess the soft investments in the $3.5T package would be a huge benefit to the 16% West Virginians that live in those conditions (as well as the 84% who don’t)? The New Green Deal would give the state an opportunity to join a post-coal world in some capacity.
Michael: I have concerns about the $3.5 trillion bill as proposed. I don’t think it has been carefully thought out. A big issue is how to pay for it. And, unless the filibuster is ended, it won’t go anywhere in the Senate. Plus, McConnell is again playing “chicken” with the debt ceiling.
I don’t like the idea of my tax dollars paying for free community college for the kids of millionaires. I haven’t heard of any means test.
The progressives talk about more jobs in the bill. The late Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) was interviewed on CBS’ 60 Minutes some years ago. His staff had identified 87 different job training programs within the federal government system. We need more?
The climate stuff is important. But remember that West Virginia coal miners chose in 2016 to listen to Trump’s lies about coal coming back instead of Hillary’s plans to remake their economies.
. . . but CHB clearly has a point, and that would be that that was the old Ivy League, before the irresistible allure of socialist free community college destroyed all those millionaires' free-market incentives to send their kids there!
Given the $3.5T is a 10 year investment plan my concerns aren’t probably as strong as yours (I think they could do better in the way they frame the discussion).
I have zero issues with cancelling student debt (particularly given the fact we cancelled a trillion dollars in future taxes for about 600 billionaires under the last Sadministration) and transitioning our public education from P-12 to P-14.
I really like the idea of transitioning our local P-12 to a P-13 and let the kids (those who choose so) have the benefit of home, busing and school meals to get their first year of college under their belt. We just spent $30-some million building a new complex in Wray (thank you Andrew Romanoff) – let’s fully utilize these investments.
Kids at 18 are often eager to get away from home. But college costs are so staggering — $65k a year for tuition room and board at Trinity College where my son is chair of the philosophy department — that shaving room and board alone for a year or two is a tremendous saving.
Many two-year degrees can be upgraded to a ba. But also many two year vocational degrees can lead to fine jobs.
I am a huge fan of community colleges. P13 is a new idea to me but a place like Wray feeding to njc or fort morgan could be a great deal.
September 21, 2021 10:06 AM UTC
22 Comments
Raffensperger was on MJ this morning and I’m pretty sure his take on the letter and his thorough debunking of every allegation levied by the Monarch of Mara Lago tightened the sphincter of more than one member of the Republican caucus.
"Hot take from the man who is probably the dimmest bulb in Congress:"
Once upon a time, that may have been true but since Lamborn arrived in DC, Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, MTG, and Q-bert have displaced him as the dimmest bulb.
Sad, and unfortunately, true statement.
The race to the bottom is fierce and goeth not always to the lame born.😕
Ridicule favors the feeble-minded.
👍👍
Texas Right to Life is upset with the two lawsuits filed to date against abortion providers, according to Yahoo News. Their complaint is that neither plaintiff is interested in “protecting innocent lives.” One is trying to test the law’s constitutionality and the other guy is mostly in it for the money.
Addendum: both plaintiffs are in it for the money, but one not so much. One is a disbarred lawyer on home confinement.
Intelligent people could have explained this to Texas Right to Life prior to their jihad in the Texas legislature.
This is a fascinating abstract. Seeing something like that happening before science had been able to explain how it happened would be enough to make me a devout believer in an angry God. The good news (except for Pew Pew)? Maybe we will see normal again before Jesus decides to make a visit.
A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea
While Nero fiddles with the debt ceiling, Appalachia burns…
'It never stops': In a US COVID-19 hot spot, a viral surge tests one Appalachian clinic
Renewable energy deployment is growing exponentially as costs fall…maybe fast enough to slow down climate change. Consumers would benefit.
And of course, Joe Manchin, Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is trying to put the brakes on.
Manchin is serving his constituents. He would do far better to assist in phasing out coal in favor of wind and solar. Some still consider natural gas as a bridge fuel, which makes some sense.
The current issue of the right leaning Washington Examiner magazine has a good story on Manchin and what makes him tick, so to speak. I consider him a reliable brake on the spendthrift madness of the House Progressive Caucus.
Pre-pandemic West Virginia had the 6th highest poverty rate in the US. I’m making a guess the soft investments in the $3.5T package would be a huge benefit to the 16% West Virginians that live in those conditions (as well as the 84% who don’t)? The New Green Deal would give the state an opportunity to join a post-coal world in some capacity.
Michael: I have concerns about the $3.5 trillion bill as proposed. I don’t think it has been carefully thought out. A big issue is how to pay for it. And, unless the filibuster is ended, it won’t go anywhere in the Senate. Plus, McConnell is again playing “chicken” with the debt ceiling.
I don’t like the idea of my tax dollars paying for free community college for the kids of millionaires. I haven’t heard of any means test.
The progressives talk about more jobs in the bill. The late Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) was interviewed on CBS’ 60 Minutes some years ago. His staff had identified 87 different job training programs within the federal government system. We need more?
The climate stuff is important. But remember that West Virginia coal miners chose in 2016 to listen to Trump’s lies about coal coming back instead of Hillary’s plans to remake their economies.
Are you really worried about millionaires sending their kids to community college CHB? That's why God created the Ivy League.
Ok, Ivy League . . .
. . . but CHB clearly has a point, and that would be that that was the old Ivy League, before the irresistible allure of socialist free community college destroyed all those millionaires' free-market incentives to send their kids there!
Right, CHB?
Read Thorstein Veblen on conspicuous consumption. The whole point of sending your kids to the Ivy League is that most folks can’t afford to.
The same idiots drive super expensive jaguars instead of ultra reliable Hondas.
Given the $3.5T is a 10 year investment plan my concerns aren’t probably as strong as yours (I think they could do better in the way they frame the discussion).
I have zero issues with cancelling student debt (particularly given the fact we cancelled a trillion dollars in future taxes for about 600 billionaires under the last Sadministration) and transitioning our public education from P-12 to P-14.
I really like the idea of transitioning our local P-12 to a P-13 and let the kids (those who choose so) have the benefit of home, busing and school meals to get their first year of college under their belt. We just spent $30-some million building a new complex in Wray (thank you Andrew Romanoff) – let’s fully utilize these investments.
Kids at 18 are often eager to get away from home. But college costs are so staggering — $65k a year for tuition room and board at Trinity College where my son is chair of the philosophy department — that shaving room and board alone for a year or two is a tremendous saving.
Many two-year degrees can be upgraded to a ba. But also many two year vocational degrees can lead to fine jobs.
I am a huge fan of community colleges. P13 is a new idea to me but a place like Wray feeding to njc or fort morgan could be a great deal.
Manchin is serving his donors, and perhaps a shrinking small sliver of his constituency, and the ghosts of WV's past . . .
He’s very Gardneresque in the way he consumes Koch-aine.
That’s a very salient op-ed, Dio. The history of the redneck has always fascinated me.