July 28, 2016 12:38 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (July 28)

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

World War I began on this day 102 years ago. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. 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 a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► President Barack Obama stole the show in his final appearance as President at a Democratic National Convention. As Politico reports from Wednesday:

Obama’s convention speech in Philadelphia framed the 2016 election in a very Obama way: the audacity of hope over the politics of fear, optimism over darkness, solutions over slogans, togetherness over division, a supremely qualified public servant in Hillary Clinton over an amateur-hour con artist in Donald Trump. America, he declared, is already great, and Clinton will make it greater.

The president gave a stirring but fundamentally defensive speech, fighting back against the Republican convention’s dystopic vision of America as a crime-infested, porous-bordered, militarily weak, economically stagnant hellscape that only Trump can fix. Where Trump sees chaos and decline, the president said, “I see engineers inventing stuff.” Trump may see a strongman in the mirror, but Obama scoffed, “We don’t look to be ruled.” Obama reprised the themes of the speech that catapulted him to fame at the 2004 convention, contrasting his vision of a unified America that rises above red-against-blue with Trump’s rhetoric of fear.

Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will formally accept her Party’s nomination tonight as the DNC in Philadelphia comes to a close. Clinton is scheduled to speak at about 8:00 pm (MT).

Two Colorado politicians, House Democratic Leader Crisanta Duran and Gov. John Hickenlooper, will also speak on the main stage earlier this evening.

► The campaign of Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump continues its systematic blockade of journalists who have not pledged to produce only positive press for His Hairness. As “The Fix” explains:

Jose DelReal is one of a small team of people who covers Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for the Post. On Wednesday, he was in Milwaukee to cover an appearance by Trump running mate Mike Pence.DelReal was barred from covering the event as a reporter, in keeping with Trump’s long-standing ban on the Washington Post.  DelReal then tried to enter the event as a citizen. He was told no one could enter with a phone and a computer. He put them in the car and again tried to enter. He was refused — again — and patted down. “I don’t want you here. You have to go,” the security official told him.

That should scare the hell out of you.

It’s easy to let this whole episode fall into a partisan trap. He deserved it!, Trump allies will argue.  Reporters at mainstream outlets are biased against Mr. Trump!  Maybe if you told the truth sometimes, he would let you in!

Righto.

Here’s the thing: If we start banning citizens — like Jose or me or Michelle Malkin or Rachel Maddow or anyone else — from attending public events for one of the two people who will be our next president, we are sliding down a slippery slope to a future reality that is a very, very bad thing for our country.

► Donald Trump is coming to Colorado tomorrow for a fundraiser in Colorado Springs and public events in the Springs and in Denver. The Colorado Republican Party will not benefit from the Trump fundraiser because His Hairness is still angry at the State GOP.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Whether or not Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) shares the exact same views on LGBT rights as Donald Trump, the bottom line is still the same: Coffman is certainly no friend of the LGBT community.

You can change your website, but not your voting history.

► Congressman Scott Tipton continues his “just say no to everything” political policy, as The Durango Herald reports:

Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, joined 56 other members of Congress on Wednesday in signing and sending a letter to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell asking her to withdraw the Bureau of Land Management’s new methane venting and flaring rule.

Led by House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the letter requests that the rule, which limits the amount of natural gas that can be vented and flared on federal lands, be revoked.

The rule, first proposed in January, attempts to limit the amount of gas escaping into the air during venting and flaring because of its negative environmental effects, including the contribution of greenhouse gases.

► Donald Trump continues to take heat for public comments essentially asking Russia to continue to produce information from hacking email accounts connected with the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton.

► Homeland Security Head Jeh Johnson spoke out forcefully against dangerous political rhetoric at an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum.

► Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Virginia Senator (and former Governor) Tim Kaine, poked fun at Donald Trump’s recent comments that Kaine was a terrible governor for New Jersey. From Politico:

“Yesterday he said I was a lousy governor of New Jersey. And he’s right. I wasn’t even ever governor of New Jersey,” Hillary Clinton’s running mate told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday…

…”But look, basic civics, 50 states. You have to give a guy a break who’s only into politics the last few months and not that well-informed,” the Virginia senator quipped.

► Is Colorado still a top swing state? We’ve been saying for awhile in this space that the answer to this question is no longer clear. Apparently others agree (but why, oh why, is anybody still treating Ryan Frazier as a credible “political analyst?” All he does is lose races — by wide margins).

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The Colorado Statesman takes a deeper dive into SD-26, the Greenwood Village-area Senate district that is universally considered to be one of the most crucial State Senate battles of 2016.

► Doug Bruce was scheduled to sit before a parole board today to ask for an early release from prison. This is the guy who is responsible for TABOR.

ICYMI

► The DEFENDING SUPER BOWL CHAMPION Denver Broncos opened training camp today in preparation for the 2016 season.

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