January 14, 2021 10:10 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (January 14)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Happy “Feast of the Ass.” Please celebrate responsibly. 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.

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*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 

► We witnessed history on Wednesday when Donald Trump became the first President in American history to be impeached TWICE — thereby cementing his place as the worst President we’ve ever had.

Congress has voted to impeach three different Presidents, but none with as bipartisan a vote as occurred on Wednesday. Chris Cillizza of CNN looks at one of the more surprising YES votes from the GOP caucus:

When Tom Rice voted “yes” on the impeachment of Donald Trump over the President’s role in inciting the riot that led to the storming of the US Capitol, most close congressional watchers assumed he had made a mistake.

After all, there was little to indicate that the reliably conservative South Carolina Republican would join nine other colleagues in breaking with the President (and the party) to back impeaching Trump. Unlike Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois), Rice hadn’t been an outspoken critic of Trump. And unlike Reps. John Katko (New York) and David Valadao (California), Rice doesn’t represent a swing district.

“Compared to the often raucous members of the state’s congressional delegation, Rice has been more low-profile and focused on his legislative work,” wrote the Almanac of American Politics of Rice, who has represented eastern South Carolina’s 7th district since 2012.

But Rice hadn’t made a mistake or accidentally pressed the wrong button. His vote to impeach was real — and without question, the most surprising of the 10 Republicans who bucked the President.

Dana Milbank of The Washington Post ponders the thought process of the 10 Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment.

You probably don’t need us to tell you how Colorado’s Congressional delegation voted on impeachment. The four Democrats voted YES, while the three Republicans voted NO. We double-checked that Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley) voted NO, since he seems to change his mind on a topic at least once every 24 hours.

► Trump’s impeachment trial now moves to the U.S. Senate, where it won’t likely be taken up until late next week at the earliest. As The Washington Post and others have reported, outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled that he might support impeachment, if only to expedite the process of removing Trump’s presence from the Republican Party.

► 9News reports on local law enforcement efforts to secure the area around the State Capitol building in advance of planned “protests” in the next week.

► If you thought Colorado Republicans might have learned a lesson from their second consecutive drubbing at the polls in 2020…well, they didn’t. Led by new House Minority Leader Hugh McKean, House Republicans tried a bunch of pointless shenanigans on Wednesday as the state legislature briefly gaveled into session before a recess until Feb. 16 for coronavirus safety precautions.

As Alex Burness of The Denver Post notes:

Way out of power and largely irrelevant when it comes to actually setting policy, the CO House GOP in Nov. chose a new leader who’d supposedly change course. On Day 1 of session, they bucked tradition by protesting the formality of electing a Dem speaker. New year, same caucus. https://t.co/W3tjLPYUXg

— Alex Burness (@alex_burness) January 14, 2021

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

As Promised, More Words…

► John Eastman, a “visiting scholar” at the University of Colorado, is facing calls for his ouster after it was reported that he advised President Trump and Vice President Pence (erroneously) that the latter had the legal authority to deny Democrat Joe Biden his 2020 Presidential victory. As The Denver Post reports, Eastman’s classes at CU-Boulder were not exactly a hot ticket for students.

► Since we’re on the topic of the University of Colorado, the school announced that it will re-open dormitories for students in February.

► Congresswoman Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert (R-Rifle) remains quite the curiosity in Washington D.C. as she speaks with a loud and largely uninformed voice. Boebert was briefly blocked from using her personal Twitter account on Wednesday before the social media company unlocked her account.

Meanwhile, a letter signed by 68 elected officials in CO-03 is urging Congressional leaders to investigate Boebert’s actions leading up to last week’s attack on the Capitol. For more on Boebert’s controversial first week in Congress, check out this in-depth story from The Colorado Sun.

► Boebert is also fighting back against the use of metal detectors outside of the House chambers because of freedumb, or something.

► Speaking of Q*Bert, The New York Times looks at her pointless brand of partisan politics.

► Remember when former U.S. Senator Cory Gardner ran a bunch of 2020 campaign ads touting that he brought the HQ of U.S. Space Command to Colorado? As it turns out, he did not.

► The Denver Post has more on a Colorado man who traveled to Washington D.C. last week with the intent of doing harm to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…only he arrived too late for the siege:

A Colorado resident who threatened to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week and drove to Washington, D.C., intending to take part in the riot at the U.S. Capitol was armed with an assault rifle, handgun and 2,500 rounds of ammunition when he made the threat, according to federal court documents filed Wednesday.

Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr. was charged last week with making the threat and illegally possessing a gun and ammunition, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Meredith missed the riot at the Capitol because he had to stop for car repairs during the drive from Colorado, according to authorities.

He arrived in Washington late on Jan. 6, and in a text message the next day, wrote that he wanted to “put a bullet in (Pelosi’s) noggin,” among a variety of other threats, according to the complaint.

Seems like a pleasant fellow.

► A former Olympic swimmer who has been living in Colorado Springs faces three separate charges for attending last week’s Capitol siege. Klete Keller was a tad conspicuous in his “U.S. Olympic Team” jacket.

► Jenna Stapleton, wife of former Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton, says she is leaving the Republican Party after last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.

► As The Denver Post reports, Colorado is about to get more COVID-19 vaccinations:

Colorado’s weekly allocation of coronavirus vaccine could increase significantly — maybe even double for a time — under the Trump administration’s plans to make more supply immediately available by no longer withholding doses to ensure people get their second shots, Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday.

But the specifics of when and how states will receive those additional doses still are unknown, in part because the administration will transfer power to President-elect Joe Biden next week.

“Until we actually know we’re getting the vaccine, it’s hard to plan for it,” Polis said in an interview with The Denver Post, adding, “They haven’t said how they’re going to do it, but they are holding on to about three to four weeks supply.”

The prospect of more doses is welcomed news to the state, which two weeks ago moved essential workers and people 70 and older up higher in priority, but has struggled to meet the high demand the change created for the shot. The addition of the two groups added 1.19 million people to Phase 1, including 562,000 people 70 and older.

Meanwhile, Colorado officials have now verified at least five cases of COVID-19 infections featuring a more aggressive strain of the virus. The state is also seeing a record number of infections among children.

► Pitkin County (home to The City of Aspen) is moving back to Level Red as it struggles to control the COVID-19 outbreak.

► Colorado approved a plan from Xcel Energy to create more electric vehicle charging stations in the state.

► President-elect Joe Biden wants former South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison to run the Democratic National Committee.

► A new report digs into the damage from the Cameron Peak Fire, the largest wildfire in Colorado history.

► Among 2020’s other problems, it was tied for the warmest year on record.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► He’s not wrong:

COVID has gotten entirely lost, even though it’s killing 4,000 a day. We’re talking about Lauren fucking Boebert and Jim Jordan instead of Joe Biden. It’s still all Trump, all the time. Tell you what, the lunatics are running the asylum.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2021

► No Snaps for you! Snapchat has permanently banned Donald Trump from its platform.

► President Trump has the sads.

ICYMI

► Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner wouldn’t let Secret Service agents use any of their bathrooms.

► Don’t miss the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring an exclusive interview with Rep. Jason Crow (D-Aurora), who takes us through a minute-by-minute account of the attack on the Capitol:

Don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter. 

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