October 28, 2021 08:51 AM UTC
Get More Smarter on Thursday (Oct. 28)
4 Comments- by: Colorado Pols
Voter turnout for 2021 is pretty anemic, so get those ballots to your nearest drop box location. Visit GoVoteColorado.com to check on the status of your mail ballot or to locate a drop box near you. 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
► President Biden is on Capitol Hill trying to sell a new pared-down version of his Build Back Better plan. As The Washington Post reports:
The White House on Thursday unveiled a new $1.75 trillion package to overhaul the country’s health-care, education, climate and tax laws, muscling through a slew of policy disagreements and internecine political feuds that had stalled President Biden’s economic agenda for months.
The announcement is a critical moment in Biden’s tenure, and the president plans to visit Capitol Hill on Thursday morning to address House Democrats, many of whom have been distressed by the programs being jettisoned to cut the proposal’s overall cost. While many key lawmakers did not immediately weigh in on the new plan, the White House stressed Biden’s belief that it will attract the support of all Democrats in the Senate and pass the House.
Biden is also expected to make public remarks touting the plan as a generational boon to Americans.
Taken together, the moves reflect a decision by Biden to assume ownership of the sweeping safety-net proposal in a new way. He is investing enormous political capital in his new proposal — which follows days of intensive, secretive meetings with key lawmakers — and is essentially warning any wary Democrats that they risk damaging him and the party if they do not get on board.
The New York Times breaks down some of the key provisions in Biden’s latest proposal. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are doing what Senate Republicans do: Complaining and throwing rocks from the sidelines.
► COVID-19 case rates in Colorado are now the worst in the country, as Axios Denver reports. As Meg Wingerter reports for The Denver Post, health officials are hoping that LOCAL mask requirements can help slow the spread of the virus:
Earlier this week, the chief medical officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said the state was preparing for the possibility of new mandates if local health departments and individual businesses don’t take action to rein in the virus’ spread.
On Wednesday, Scott Bookman, the state’s COVID-19 incident commander, said decisions should happen locally, given counties are experiencing different levels of transmission. No specific point, such as the percentage of hospital beds available dipping below a certain threshold, has been set to trigger state intervention, he said.
“We still believe that local control and local orders are the best way to ensure the correct mitigation measures are in place,” he said.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are currently at some of the highest levels of the pandemic here in Colorado.
Not all the news is bad, thankfully. Children ages 5-11 could be able to get the COVID-19 vaccination as soon as next week, as Colorado Newsline reports. For the rest of you, boost that thang up!
► Colorado’s COVID-19 cases may be at an alarming level, but rocket surgeons in Colorado Springs are still debating vaccination requirements.
In related news, the Tri-County Health Department is preparing to hand over its COVID-19 response and prevention to Douglas County. You’re not alone if you think this seems like a really, really terrible time to make this change. For proof of this, look how well the discussion about masks is going in relation to the Douglas County School Board.
► Congressperson Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert is responding to a bombshell story from Rolling Stone indicating that she participated in planning for the Jan. 6 insurrection. As Charles Ashby reports for The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:
Boebert denied she played a role in the events that led up to the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol Building as alleged in an article by Rolling Stone Magazine earlier this week.
While the Silt Republican did challenge the Electoral College vote certifying Joe Biden as president, saying she believed voting irregularities occurred in multiple states, she said neither she nor anyone on her staff helped organize or participated in any rally or other event that prompted pro-Donald Trump supporters to break into the Capitol.
“Let me be clear, I had no role in the planning or execution of any event that took place at the Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C., on January 6th,” she said in a statement. “With the help of my staff, I accepted an invitation to speak at one event, but ultimately I did not speak at any events on January 6th. Now, grasping at straws, Rolling Stone is using anonymous sources and shoddy reporting to attack me.”
Blaming the media and playing the victim; this is pretty much what you would expect Boebert to say in ANY denial on ANY subject.
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And Now, More Words…
► After President Biden discusses his Build Back Better plan on Capitol Hill, he’ll jump on Air Force One for a visit to Europe. The first face-to-face meeting of G-20 countries since 2019 will be missing several world leaders.
► Philip Bump of The Washington Post breaks down a bizarre letter from former President Donald Trump that The Wall Street Journal inexplicably published on Wednesday:
The main thing you need to know about the letter, of course, is that Donald Trump is still railing against his election loss 358 days after it occurred. And that prominent institutions are still enabling his dangerous misinformation more than 358 days after they should have known better.
► A Colorado legislative committee has shelved, for now, a proposal to raise property taxes on short-term rentals in an effort to provide much-needed funding for public schools.
► Colorado Newsline reports on efforts by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Boulderish) to improve working conditions for firefighters battling wildfires:
Another bill up for a vote, the Wildfire Recovery Act, would change a cost-share cap in one of FEMA’s fire programs.
It would allow FEMA to spend more on Fire Management Assistance Grants for some devastating fires. Currently, FEMA has a 75% cost-share cap for these grants, which help pay for field camp expenses, equipment use and repair and other materials and supplies to fight fires.
Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) introduced the bill and has 38 cosponsors, including four Republicans. Witnesses at the hearing said more flexibility for the grants would help in some fire-prone areas.
Neguse also has another bill under consideration that would raise the pay for federal wildland firefighters.
► Axios Denver examines how Colorado Republicans have turned to ballot measures in an effort to accomplish something now that they can no longer seem to win General Election races against Democrats.
► Governor Jared Polis unveiled a new state service that will allow young people in Colorado to get access to at least three free mental health counseling visits.
► Colorado had the highest rate in the country of job separations — both layoffs and resignations — in the month of August.
► Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray has had just about enough of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s shit. From CNN:
“We’re not going to let one man tell all the women in this country that they can’t have paid leave,” Murray said.
What she was referring to was the apparent decision by the White House and congressional negotiators to drop a provision in President Joe Biden’s social safety net legislation that would offer four weeks of paid family and medical leave to all Americans…
…The rancor directed at Manchin by Murray stands in stark contrast to the way Biden has approached the moderate senator from West Virginia. Biden has been very careful not to name-call or express any public frustration with Manchin or Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who has also been resistant to the hefty price tag that the social safety net measure carries. At a CNN town hall last week, Biden was positive about Manchin, arguing that he’s “not a bad guy. He’s a friend.”
Murray took a different tack on Wednesday, the latest sign that his colleagues — especially those on the liberal left — are getting fed up with Manchin and his likes and dislikes when it comes to the domestic spending plan in Congress. [Pols emphasis]
► Doctor Deborah Birx says that former President Trump probably could have prevented 40% of COVID-19 deaths in the United States, but he was too distracted by the 2020 election.
► Mesa County Republicans are supporting a candidate for school board who works as a bouncer at a strip club and has a long criminal record. But at least Willie Jones probably believes the 2020 election was stolen, right?
► Facebook sucks.
Say What, Now?
Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) is basically just a well-paid right-wing troll at this point in his career:
Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
► Former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof formally announced his bid for Governor in Oregon. Kristof may have to first convince voters (and courts) that he has legitimate ties to the State of Oregon.
► Former President Trump on Wednesday suggested that he would make a major appearance in Virginia ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day, where a fierce battle is being waged in the race for Governor. Hours later, it turned out that this was all nonsense.
ICYMI
► Republican State Sen. Kevin Priola is being attacked for being insufficiently right-wing in his political viewpoints. Colorado Republicans apparently remain laser-focused on not ever appealing to average voters in this state.
► Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters is leading her own misguided rebellion in Grand Junction as the few remaining levelheaded Republicans in the area refuse to follow her down the rabbit hole.
Peters, meanwhile, is traveling to speaking engagements wherever she can find a QAnon-friendly crowd.
► This week on The Get More Smarter Podcast, hosts Jason Bane and Ian Silverii interview State Representative/Doctor/Congressional Candidate Yadira Caraveo and ask her if she plans to pick up a fourth job anytime soon.
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It’s worth reading the Sentinel’s coverage of the Willie Jones criminal record (which they previously declined to cover). I am not a fan of Willie Jones but I don’t think Democrats should traffic in half-truths and exaggeration. It’s a bad look and in Mesa County if you come out with something like this and it is shown to be immaterial I think it really turns off independents.
Got a link for that?
I think this is the one.
A variety of police encounters in the last century seem pretty immaterial if there is nothing more recent.
Seems to me the more salient issue is his point of view on the schools is likely to include the football team and sports in general, a fairly atypical "co-curricular" activity with little to do with setting policy on school curriculum, leadership, and budgets.