December 02, 2022 10:06 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (Dec. 2)

• 11 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

The United States Men’s soccer team faces Netherlands on Saturday in the World Cup Round of 16, but you’ll have to wake up early to watch the game (8:00 am MST). Now, 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.

FIRST UP…

► Fox 31 News is heavily promoting an interview with Rep. Lauren Boebert that will run on its Sunday political show. During the interview, Boebert doubles-down on her vile comments about the LGBTQ community and then makes a completely absurd statement about Colorado’s “Red Flag” laws that proves — once again — that Boebert has no grasp whatsoever of any policy issues:

The suspect in the Club Q shooting did have a past run-in with law enforcement in Colorado Springs. The suspect’s mother called police after she was threatened with a homemade bomb in 2021. Many, including Boebert, questioned why Colorado’s red flag law wasn’t used.

“Why did this (person) have a firearm if we have red flag laws in the state of Colorado?” Boebert said. “I’m not in favor of red flag laws. It’s just pointing out the hypocrisy of using this against law-abiding citizens, having this law on the books, which is completely unconstitutional. But then where it could have potentially matter, it wasn’t used.” [Pols emphasis]

Why wasn’t the “Red Flag” law used in Colorado Springs? This isn’t a mystery. It wasn’t used because Republican officials in El Paso County, including District Attorney Michael Allen and Sheriff Bill Elder, openly admit that they refuse to abide by the law.

► Meanwhile, elected officials in Colorado who actually DO understand what is happening in our state continue to discuss potential new gun safety measures. From The Colorado Sun:

A host of changes to Colorado’s gun laws, from a ban on so-called assault weapons to tweaks to the existing red flag law, are already being considered by Democrats at the state Capitol in response to the shooting last month at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.

“Pretty much everything is on the table,” said Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat. “The question now is: What seems like a priority?”

Democrats will return to the Colorado Capitol in early January with expanded majorities in both the House and Senate and facing pressure to act after the state’s latest mass shooting. Five people were killed and more than a dozen others wounded in a Nov. 19 attack on Club Q allegedly carried out by a 22-year-old shooter armed with a semi-automatic, AR-15-style rifle.

Gun policy could be the first big test of Democrats’ expanded majorities at the Capitol next year. Memories of the 2013 recalls of Democratic lawmakers over tougher gun regulations adopted in the wake of the Aurora theater shooting certainly remain, but Colorado is a different state politically than it was a decade ago, and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are almost guaranteed until January 2027. [Pols emphasis]

► The U.S. economy just won’t die, despite what Republicans told you for the last 10 months. From The New York Times:

America’s jobs engine kept churning in November, the Labor Department reported Friday, a show of continued demand for workers despite the Federal Reserve’s push to curb inflation by tamping down hiring.

Employers created 263,000 jobs, even as a wave of layoffs in the tech industry made headlines. That was only a slight drop from the revised figure of 284,000 for October.

The unemployment rate was steady at 3.7 percent, while wages have risen 5.1 percent over the year, more than expected.

The labor market has been surprisingly resilient in the face of successive interest rate increases by the Fed, adding an average of 323,000 jobs for the last six months.

Some economists are still fretting about particular aspects of the labor market, but finding things to be nervous about is sort of a requirement for an economist.

► Remember when Weld County rancher/oil and gas development land owner Steve Wells made headlines for promising to spend $11 million of his own money to defeat Democratic Gov. Jared Polis?

That was all nonsense.

As The Colorado Sun reports:

Steve Wells, the deep-pocketed Weld County rancher and oil and gas booster who made waves over the summer when he dedicated $11 million toward a longshot effort to unseat Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, ended up spending only about 30% of the money.

Wells has refunded himself about $7 million from the super PAC, Deep Colorado Wells, he formed to defeat Polis and support Republican candidates, leaving about $850,000 in the committee’s coffers for future political spending. [Pols emphasis]

Wells said he always intended to spend the full $11 million but that he stopped at $3.3 million about a month before Election Day after he realized other GOP donors weren’t going to open their wallets in Colorado and as he saw how much money Polis, a wealthy self-funding candidate, was dedicating to his reelection bid.

Sure thing, Steve. We all totally believe you.

Click below to keep learning things…

Check Out All This Other Stuff To Know…

► As Dennis Webb reports for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Bureau of Land Management is formally supporting the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act:

The measure would protect more than 68,000 acres of public lands in Dolores, Montezuma and San Miguel counties. It would include a national conservation area on more than 45,000 acres of BLM-managed land and a special management area on more than 15,000 acres of national forest land.

Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., introduced the measure in the Senate, and Bennet on Thursday pointed to its bipartisan backing. Earlier this year, U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert, Doug Lamborn and Ken Buck, all three of Colorado’s Republicans in Congress, introduced identical legislation in the House of Representatives.

Bennet on Thursday told the committee the canyon carved by the river is renowned across the country “for its majestic red rock walls that tower over the ponderosa pines.”

He added, “The Dolores River is not only a critical source of water for southwest Colorado, it is central to the region’s farming, ranching, outdoor recreation, and way of life.”

► You can add State Sen. Bob Rankin to the list of Republicans who no longer want anything to do with the rest of the Colorado GOP. 

Who wants to hang out with a bunch of “whores” and “asswipes” anyway?

Anyone?

► Proving yet again that her only loyalty is to herself, Congressperson Lauren Boebert says she has not committed to supporting California Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. McCarthy traveled to Colorado in the fall of 2020 to host a fundraiser for Boebert’s first congressional campaign.

► Oh, look: Health insurance companies are whining about The Colorado Option because they don’t like when it’s harder for them to gouge consumers.

► Environmentalists say it is time that Coloradans ditch gas-powered lawn and yard maintenance equipment. 

► While former President Donald Trump has been mildly criticized by other Republicans for having dinner with Nick Fuentes, an outspoken white supremacist who has been called “the new David Duke,” The Daily Show put together a compelling video showing how Fuentes’s vile opinions are commonly shared by Fox News:

► Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post makes a strong case against the Constitutional legal theory of “Originalism” favored by the most conservative members of the Supreme Court.

► Wily President Joe Biden is finding creative ways to help Democrats such as Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock. From The Associated Press:

Days before polls close on Tuesday, Biden still has no plans to visit Georgia. Instead he’ll aim to help Sen. Raphael Warnock’s reelection campaign from afar with appearances Friday at a Boston phone bank and fundraiser.

They mark the culmination of Biden’s support-from-a-distance strategy that he employed throughout the midterms and that his aides credit with helping his party beat expectations in key races…

…Aides said that the Boston trip was requested by Warnock’s campaign, and that Biden obliged, reflecting his promise to go wherever Democratic candidates wanted him in 2022.

“The President is willing to help Senator Warnock any way he can, however the senator wants him to get involved,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week. As often as not, that also meant not going where he was not wanted.

Ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms, Biden avoided wading into key Senate races in states like Georgia, Arizona and New Hampshire, where his approval ratings have trailed below his numbers nationally.

► Colorado Public Radio looks at the latest plans in Colorado to deal with the “woofs.”

► As POLITICO explains, “Chief Twit” Elon Musk is no longer pretending not to be a Republican.

► As Heidi Beedle reports for the Colorado Times Recorder, Republicans can’t stop their anti-trans hate:

The Colorado Parent Advocacy Network (CPAN) is the latest addition to a group of conservative, anti-LGBTQ, pro-charter school activist groups in Colorado that include the Independence Institute, FAIR [Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism], and FEC United…

…CPAN officially launched Nov. 13, holding an event in Douglas County that recognized Douglas County School District Superintendent Erin Kane and a number of prominent conservative voices, including conservative radio hosts Deborah Flora and Kim Monson, and Pam Benigno, the director of the Independence Institute’s Education Policy Center.

According to reporting from the Douglas County News-Press, during the event, “Flora later railed against schools for supporting trans students and suggested schools were encouraging students to transition.”

Monson’s website regularly publishes transphobic screeds warning of the dangers of “transgenderism.”

► As The Denver Post reports, the availability of public funds for municipal candidates is contributing to the fact that every third person in Denver is running for Mayor.

► Schools in Jefferson County are changing start times for the 2023-24 school year, reflecting long-understood research that teenagers need more sleep than younger students.

► The Pentagon is unveiling its new stealth bomber…or is it?

Say What, Now?

Congressperson Lauren Boebert spoke on the House Floor on Thursday so that she could chastise House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and accuse President Biden of being “at least compromised by 10%” because of Hunter Biden’s laptop, or something.

Coming in 2023: The 10% impeachment of President Biden!

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Rat czar? 

► Republicans placed a massive bet on Kanye West (er, “Ye”) that is now blowing up in their face. 

► Um…

As The Kansas City Star reports:

Bud Marty May, a candidate who lost his bid for South Dakota’s House of Representatives, has been arrested on a charge of rape, jail records show. May, a Republican, was one of four candidates vying for two District 27 seats and ran against his mother, Elizabeth May, and Democrats Peri Pourier and Norma Rendon. May earned roughly 22% of the vote in a relatively close race, but his mother and Pourier ultimately held onto their seats.

On Nov. 13, just days after May’s loss, he was booked into the Pennington County Jail on a charge of rape by means of force, coercion or threats, records show.

A Republican candidate and alleged rapist who tried to unseat his own mother from the state legislature. Yay South Dakota!

ICYMI

► Tina Peters moves ever closer to a new apartment — the kind with bars instead of windows.

► Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was found guilty on Tuesday of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. As The New York Times reports, “The last successful sedition prosecution was in 1995 when a group of Islamic militants was found guilty of plotting to bomb several New York City landmarks.” 

Fun fact: Current State Republican Party Chairperson Kristi Burton Brown was the President of a militia group before being elected to her current post in March 2021.

► Talking Points Memo takes a long look at how the Republican Party became the party of perpetual victimhood.

► Don’t miss the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring an interview with Congresswoman-elect Brittany Pettersen providing a look behind the curtain about how newly-elected Members of Congress get acclimated to Washington D.C..

Don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter. Check out The Get More Smarter Podcast at GetMoreSmarter.com.