August 27, 2020 10:52 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (August 27)

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Happy Banana Lovers Day. Please keep that celebration to yourself, whatever it is. 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:
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 Trump will accept the Republican nomination for President tonight in an address from (gag) the South Lawn of the White House. As POLITICO reports, Trump plans to blame Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden for pretty much anything that went wrong in the last 50 years:

“We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years. At the Democrat convention, you barely heard a word about their agenda. But that’s not because they don’t have one. It’s because their agenda is the most extreme set of proposals ever put forward by a major party nominee.”

While Republicans have spent this week going after Biden, the president’s aides contend that the media has filtered the convention and hasn’t adequately highlighted criticisms of Biden’s policies. Over the course of this week, additional policy attacks have been added to Trump’s speech.

This is the part where we remind you that the Republican Party quite literally DOES NOT HAVE A PLATFORM FOR 2020.

Vice President Mike Pence spoke on Wednesday evening and assured convention-watchers that everything is totally cool with the coronavirus.

► As The New York Times reports, the director of the CDC is (sorta) backing off of controversial new coronavirus testing guidelines issued this week:

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has scaled back the agency’s recommendation advising some people not to get tested after exposure to the novel coronavirus, now saying “testing may be considered for all close contacts of confirmed or probable Covid-19 patients.”

The statement by Dr. Robert R. Redfield was issued to some news outlets late Wednesday, and more broadly Thursday morning, after a storm of criticism over the new C.D.C. guidelines — involving potentially asymptomatic people — which were the product of the White House Coronavirus task force and not the C.D.C.’s own scientists. Dr. Redfield made the statement in an effort to clarify the new policy, an official said. However, the guidelines issued earlier this week remained on the C.D.C.’s website as of Thursday morning, and it appears unlikely that the agency will change them…

…The clarification is unusual. Public health experts say clear, consistent communications are essential to fighting an infectious disease outbreak, and Dr. Redfield’s comments may further confuse things.

► Dear Leader Trump is fleecing American taxpayers, as The Washington Post reports:

Trump has now visited his own properties 270 times as president, according to a Washington Post tally — with another visit planned for Thursday, when he is scheduled to meet GOP donors at his Washington hotel.

Through these trips, Trump has brought the Trump Organization a stream of private revenue from federal agencies and GOP campaign groups. Federal spending records show that taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $900,000 since he took office. At least $570,000 came as a result of the president’s travel, according to a Post analysis.

Now, new federal spending documents obtained by The Post via a public-records lawsuit give more detail about how the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service — a kind of captive customer, required to follow Trump everywhere. In addition to the rentals at Mar-a-Lago, the documents show that the Trump Organization charged daily “resort fees” to Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Pence in Las Vegas and in another instance asked agents to pay a $1,300 “furniture removal charge” during a presidential visit to a Trump resort in Scotland.

► Hurricane Laura came ashore in Louisiana on Wednesday as one of the strongest storms to hit the United States in recorded history. Fortunately, the storm is slowing significantly as it moves northward.

► It’s long past time to do something about army-playing militia members bringing assault rifles to protests in hopes of picking a fight.

More political (and coronavirus) news is available right after the jump…

Now Only Partially Coronavirus-Related…

► President Trump apparently believes that Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden is taking performance-enhancing drugs. Totally normal stuff.

► Debra Johnson has been selected as the new CEO of the Regional Transportation District (RTD). Good luck with that.

► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley), who moonlights as the State Republican Party Chairman (or vice-versa) is opposed to legislation in the House of Representatives that would help fund the postal service. From The Colorado Times Recorder:

Buck has made national headlines after an interview with Fox News to vocalize his opposition against the House Democrats’ recent bill, the Delivering for America Act, which would provide $25 billion in additional funding to the U.S. Postal Service, designed in part to prevent restrictions and delays in Postal Service operations…

…“The Postal Service has been bleeding money for 40 years,” Buck told Fox News. “We are sending less and less snail mail now and more and more email–communicating with Facebook and other social media platforms. So there is less mail in the system.”

► As The Colorado Sun reports, President Trump’s approval ratings in Colorado are shit.

► As Marianne Goodland reports for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman, Sen. Cory Gardner’s recent environmental ad is patently false on its main claim:

The ad doesn’t identify the parties of the two who endorse Gardner in the ad but implies it, both in the ad’s title and by using the color red with one person and blue for the other. Both people featured in the ad are not only registered Republicans but tied to prominent GOP politicians and organizations: Alexandra “Allie” Killey is a legislative aide to Monument Republican Sen. Paul Lundeen, and the other is Larry Kramer, a former president of the Foothills Republicans in Jefferson County.

Kramer has a particularly dodgy past; he was ousted from the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife after a number of questionable expenditures appeared on his watch.

Meanwhile, Gardner is up with a new television ad that talks about how he likes beer. As we wrote on Wednesday, Gardner has run out of things to say in support of his re-election…though there’s no shortage of issues he COULD address.

► The Eagle County Republican Party is somehow attracting a stream of wacko speakers to talk to the partisan faithful.

► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) doesn’t understand how BLM Interim Director William Perry Pendley is still doing any directing whatsoever.

► The editorial board of The Washington Post points out that Republicans are flat-out lying about Joe Biden and hoping voters don’t notice. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign will be trolling President Trump during The Big Orange Guy’s Republican nomination acceptance speech tonight.

► President Trump has finally conceded that he can’t have any more big MAGA rallies in the middle of a pandemic.

► Players for the National Basketball Association (NBA) will resume playoff games after sitting out Wednesday’s scheduled matchups in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.

► House Minority Leader Patrick Neville has started a new lawsuit fundraiser in opposition to mask mandates from the State of Colorado. If you plan on making a donation, you best get a receipt.

► As The Denver Post reports, Colorado schools are already reporting positive cases of COVID-19.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) is even dumber than you could have imagined. 

► Republican congressional candidate Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert loves herself some Twitter. Logic? Not so much.

ICYMI

► Vox.com looks at why vulnerable Republican Senators have been nowhere near this week’s Republican National Convention.

► An initiative to establish paid family sick leave in Colorado has qualified for the November ballot.

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