April 09, 2019 10:00 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (April 9)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Temperatures in Colorado could reach a high near 80 degrees; tomorrow it might snow as much as 7 inches. Please note that this does not give you the right to say things like, “That’s Colorado weather for ya!” It’s time “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 a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► It seems clear that the Trump administration is in the midst of a calculated leadership purge within the Department of Homeland Security. As the Washington Post explains:

President Trump continued to dismantle the leadership of the nation’s top domestic security agency Monday, as the White House announced the imminent removal of U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph D. “Tex” Alles, the latest in a series of head-spinning departures from the Department of Homeland Security.

A day after Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to step aside following a White House meeting with Trump, senior DHS officials remained in a fog about the fate of their agency’s leaders, expecting more firings as part of a widening purge.

“They are decapitating the entire department,” said one DHS official, noting that the White House had given no cause for Alles’s removal.

As Politico reports, Congressional Republicans are at a loss for words in trying to understand what the White House is doing:

President Donald Trump’s congressional allies are alarmed by his purge at the Department of Homeland Security — urging him not to fire more top officials and warning him how hard it will be to solve twin crises at the border and the federal agencies overseeing immigration policy.

The president’s frantic four days of bloodletting at DHS and other agencies blindsided senior Republicans who are already fretting about difficult confirmation battles ahead. Some are worried about the rising influence of top White House aide Stephen Miller. And after November elections in which suburban voters rejected Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda, the president is once again making it the centerpiece of the GOP’s platform.

“It’s a mess,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, summing up the dynamic on the border and in Washington.

Chris Cillizza of CNN looks at the list of administration officials who said “No” to the big orange guy and subsequently lost their jobs.

► Attorney General William Barr said today that a redacted Mueller report will be delivered to Congress and the American public “within a week.” The New York Times has more details, including news that special counsel Robert Mueller did not review a four-page summary of the report that Barr announced last week. Elie Honig of CNN wonders how much of the report will end up blacked-out:

In the interest of transparency and public confidence in the Department of Justice, Barr should put away his redaction pen and disclose as much of Muller’s report as possible. Anything less will raise one big question: What is Barr trying to hide?

► These three sentences from Tyler Silvy of the Greeley Tribune tell you everything you need to know about the recall effort to oust Rep. Rochelle Galindo:

Former Weld County GOP Chairwoman Stacey Kjeldgaard, who is leading the recall effort, in a phone interview Sunday went further when it comes to oil and gas — and the potential negative economic impact of SB 181 — being the reason for the recall.

“That’s our big thing; that’s our only thing,” Kjeldgaard said.

But then there’s this: When asked whether she would be working to recall Galindo if she had voted “no” on SB 181, Kjeldgaard said, “Absolutely.” [Pols emphasis]

Recalling a freshman Democratic Representative is about a lot of things — Galindo’s sexuality, Republican anger at getting drubbed in the 2018 election, and the enormous grift opportunity it presents for numerous right-wing political operatives, to name a few — but it ain’t about how Galindo voted on SB-181.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► New York City has declared a public health emergency and ordered mandatory vaccinations after a significant measles outbreak. As the Washington Post reports:

At least 285 people have contracted measles in the city since September, and the order covers four Zip codes in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood where the vast majority have originated, de Blasio (D) said at a news conference.

The mandate orders all unvaccinated people in the area, including a concentration of Orthodox Jews, to receive inoculations, including for children over 6 months old, the AP reported. Anyone who resists could be fined $1,000.

“This is the epicenter of a measles outbreak that is very, very troubling and must be dealt with immediately,” de Blasio. “The measles vaccine works. It is safe, it is effective, it is time-tested . . . the faster everyone heeds the order, the faster we can lift it.”

Colorado has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, and experts warn a similar measles outbreak could happen at any time. This is utter lunacy.

► Legislation to reform the cash bail process in Colorado is on its way to the desk of Gov. Jared Polis. From the Denver Post:

The poorest of Coloradans would no longer sit in jail for sleeping on a park bench or drinking in public because they can’t afford to pay bail for minor offenses if the governor signs a bill that cleared its final legislative hurdle Monday.

The law would ban judges from setting monetary bail for traffic offenses and petty crimes unless a defendant chooses to pay instead of waiting for a bond hearing. The state Senate voted unanimously Monday to pass the bill, following a unanimous vote from the House last month.

Proponents said the law, if adopted, would reduce the number of people sitting in Colorado’s often-crowded jails and keep people from sitting in jail for days or weeks before they have been convicted of any crime.

“Not every low-level offender or traffic violator has the means to pay their way out of jail,” Sen. Pete Lee, a Colorado Springs Democrat who co-sponsored the bill, said in a statement. “This bill will help reduce incarceration among Coloradans who have not yet been found guilty of anything.”

► Speaking, er, writing about Sen. Pete Lee, the editorial board of the Colorado Springs Gazette printed a ridiculous un-endorsement on Monday.

► Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren will make a campaign stop in Aurora next week.

►  Israelis are voting today in one of the more consequential national elections in that country’s history. Vox.com breaks down the ballot.

► Robert Schentrup, whose sister was killed in the 2018 Parkland High School shooting, pens an opinion piece for the Colorado Sun in support of so-called “red flag” legislation recently approved by the Colorado legislature.

► As the Washington Post reports, Treasury Department lawyers consulted with White House officials about House Democratic efforts to gain access to President Trump’s tax returns. As the Post notes, this is not how things are supposed to work:

The process is designed to be walled off from White House interference, in part because of corruption that took place during the Teapot Dome scandal in the 1920s.

► President Trump pressed officials to close the U.S. border in El Paso as recently as a few weeks ago.

► Colorado is one step closer to its own Net Neutrality regulations, and that’s a very good thing indeed.

► Democrat Danielle Kombo is no longer a candidate for U.S. Senate. In other news, Danielle Kombo was once a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► “America is full.” President Trump may be channeling former Congressman Tom Tancredo, but he’s not speaking for the rest of the country.

► The Trump administration really, really wants to challenge the scientific consensus about Climate Change. The rest of the federal government is not interested in playing along. The U.S. military, meanwhile, is actively planning for dealing with Climate Change.

ICYMI

► The Colorado Republican Party appears to have completed its journey from #NeverTrump to #OnlyTrump, as Justin Wingerter writes for the Denver Post.

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