August 12, 2020 11:39 AM UTC
Get More Smarter on Wednesday (August 12)
0 Comments- by: Colorado Pols
The Glorious Twelfth! 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.
BECAUSE CORONAVIRUS…
*Colorado Coronavirus info:
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*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
► Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he has selected California Sen. Kamala Harris to be his running mate. As The Washington Post reports, Republicans are a bit confused about how to attack Harris:
At 4:45 p.m., Trump campaign aide Brad Parscale tweeted that the pick meant that the “Bernie Bros get burned,” pointing to a story about liberal resistance to her candidacy.
Around exactly the same time, though, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said something quite different. “Kamala Harris’ extreme positions … show that the left-wing mob is controlling Biden’s candidacy, just like they would control him as president,” McDaniel said in a statement.
But by late that evening, the RNC was back to making a very different case. “Liberals revolt against Biden, Harris ticket,” an RNC news release said. It pointed to Bernie Sanders supporters and others who attacked Harris as insufficiently progressive. “Even if Joe Biden’s campaign handlers gave their base the same notes they gave Biden for his video chat with Kamala D. Harris, it’s highly unlikely the left’s reception of Kamala would have gone any better,” it said. “Talk about embarrassing.”
Trump backers’ response to Harris’s selection has been somewhat dizzying. They have mostly painted her as the kind of radical that McDaniel did, even labeling her a socialist. But as with the man whose ticket Harris is joining, they have offered mixed messages by also suggesting she is a disappointment to Sanders supporters and even a tool of Wall Street.
As Annie Linskey and Vanessa Williams write in a separate story for The Washington Post, the selection of Harris was an emotional moment for many Black women in America. POLITICO takes a look at the history of selecting female running mates and why 2020 might turn out different than in the past:
Female vice presidential candidates appeared on major party tickets in 1984 and 2008, and in 2016, a woman headed the ticket. Each time, headlines heralded the historic choice; each time, for any number of reasons, the ticket lost. Those races also gave us a window into how women running for executive office are treated in the U.S.: The candidates were more likely than men to be questioned about their spouses; their attire and looks often became a part of the story; they had to make extra effort to show they were “tough” enough to serve.
Now that Senator Kamala Harris has become the third female VP candidate on a major-party ticket in history, POLITICO Magazine asked some smart female political observers to tell us: How will things be different for this VP choice, for this woman, and for this race? Or has nothing changed at all?
► There were several interesting Primary outcomes in a couple of states on Tuesday, but the biggest story is in Georgia. As POLITICO explains:
Marjorie Taylor Greene has won the GOP nomination for a deep red congressional seat in Georgia despite widespread condemnation from party leaders over her videos where she expressed racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views.
Greene, who is also a believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory, defeated neurosurgeon John Cowan in a primary runoff election on Tuesday for the deep-red Northwest Georgia district, where the GOP nomination is tantamount to a seat in the House.
A businesswoman who self-funded much of her campaign, Greene won the first round of the primary by a 19-point margin. But a week after, GOP leaders including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who chairs the House Republican campaign arm, took the rare step of disavowing her candidacy after POLITICO uncovered hours of videos where she demeans blacks, Muslims and Jews.
Greene, who has said that Black people are slaves to the Democratic Party, has been likened to longtime Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa, who lost his own GOP Primary race this year in part because of his racist past (President Trump naturally Tweeted a congratulatory message, calling Greene “a future star.”) Greene also embraces QAnon conspiracies, which will bring more attention to Colorado’s own conspiracist Congressional candidate, Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert. This whole mess should be a concern for all Republicans, writes Chris Cillizza of CNN.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar held off a well-funded Primary challenger in Minnesota. For a look at other notable outcomes, check this page from The New York Times.
► The New York Times looks at a school re-opening in Georgia, where the early COVID-19 results are not good:
Altogether, more than 900 students and staff members in the district have already been ordered to quarantine. On Tuesday, one high school closed its doors until at least Aug. 31.
While many of the nation’s largest school systems have opted in recent weeks to start the academic year online, other districts have forged ahead with reopening. In Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Indiana and elsewhere, some schools, mainly in suburban and rural areas, have been open for almost two weeks.
Their experience reveals the perils of returning to classrooms in places where the coronavirus has hardly been tamed. Students and teachers have immediately tested positive, sending others into two-week quarantines and creating whiplash for schools that were eager to open, only to consider closing again right away.
CNN has more on the problems in Georgia following its effort to reopen schools.
► There’s still no news on progress regarding a potential stimulus bill. The House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion measure in May, but Senate Republicans haven’t been able to even come up with a plausible bill of their own. As CNN reports:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol Wednesday that she doesn’t want stalled negotiations for another round of coronavirus relief to drag until the end of September, when government funds are set to expire.
“I hope not. People will die,” she said…
…Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, blamed Democrats for the stalled talks.
This is the part where we remind you, again, that McConnell ISN’T EVEN IN THE ROOM FOR NEGOTIATIONS ANYMORE. The Senate is the only Congressional chamber that has not moved forward on another relief bill; the Senate is controlled by Republicans.
As Colorado Public Radio reports, the loss of extended unemployment benefits is about to hit Colorado HARD:
An emergency federal program had been paying $600 a week to unemployed people, but it expired late last month. With the change, state economists expect that Coloradans will reduce their purchases by 6 percent — which could knock $20 million a month from the state’s tax revenues, state budget director Lauren Larson told top state lawmakers at a meeting on Tuesday.
“We’re very concerned that we need Congress to act and act quickly,” Larson said.
More political (and coronavirus) news is available right after the jump…
Now Only Partially Coronavirus-Related…
► You know that Executive Order that President Trump signed on Saturday about potentially saving people from evictions? “It means nothing.”
Colorado Public Radio wondered what Republicans in the Colorado Congressional delegation thought about Trump’s executive orders:
CPR News reached out to fellow Republicans Reps. Ken Buck and Scott Tipton, as well as Sen. Cory Gardner on Trump’s use of executive orders. None of their offices provided a comment for this story.
► As The Denver Post reports, it’s back to the drawing board after plans for a homeless camp at the Denver Coliseum didn’t work out:
The Denver Coliseum parking lot is no longer under consideration for the city’s first sanctioned homeless encampment, and no other site has been seriously proposed in its place yet, officials say.
That pushes the opening of Denver’s first legal homeless encampment back at least another month, said Cole Chandler, executive director of the organizing Colorado Village Collaborative.
Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration continues to sweep out existing encampments contrary to federal pandemic recommendations. City officials have scheduled their third and fourth “cleanups” for next week.
The collaborative and its partners withdrew zoning applications for the coliseum site after neighbors pushed back against the idea, Chandler said.
It’s an age-old problem, and one that has no easy solution. People want to help, but they don’t necessarily want the homeless camps near their homes.
► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) wants the USDA to investigate how and why the coronavirus was able to spread so quickly at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley. This issue could be a big problem for Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Greeley), who made a big deal out of supposedly securing testing for JBS employees that never materialized.
► Colorado is now accepting applications to be a member of the state’s redistricting commission.
► As The Colorado Sun notes, Republicans are very unlikely to regain majority control of the State Senate in 2020:
The party is grappling with an election year that forces them to play defense and the unpopularity of President Donald Trump, who could harm down-ballot candidates. Less than three months to the election, GOP lawmakers and candidates say they remain optimistic about their odds, but most acknowledge they are just hoping to hold control of three key swing seats Democrats want to win.
“Flipping the Senate is going to be a pretty heavy lift,” said Republican strategist Ryan Lynch. “I think the hope out there is that we’re able to maintain the status quo going into redistricting.”
We’ve been noting in this space for months that Republicans have too many problems with just trying to hold onto their own seats in 2020.
► Colorado lawmakers are considering proposals for beefing up security at the State Capitol.
► Two more people have been arrested for actions related to a brawl in Ft. Collins last weekend in which Black Lives Matter activists appear to have been attacked.
► Teachers from 8 Colorado school districts can get free coronavirus tests every two weeks.
► As Michael Roberts writes for Westword, Denver Public Schools are going to have a difficult time figuring out how (and when) to allow in-person instruction at schools this fall.
► Kudos to Haxton and Holyoke residents for being neighborly in tough times.
► Club 20 is listening to sad breakup songs in its office. Also, there is no “war on rural Colorado.”
► Democratic Rep. Joe Kennedy appears to be gaining on Sen. Ed Markey ahead of a September 1 Senate Primary in Massachusetts.
Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
► As Justin Wingerter reports for The Denver Post:
Two former Colorado Supreme Court justices have asked state investigators to look into what they claim are the fraudulent actions of a prominent Denver lawyer who is running for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire.
► Kanye West was camping with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Telluride, recently. Because of course.
►
ICYMI
► Facebook is crawling with QAnon conspiracists, according to internal company documents.
► Don’t miss the Jason Bane-packed 50th episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast:
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