October 15, 2021 10:19 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (Oct. 15)

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Have you voted yet? Visit GoVoteColorado.com to check on the status of your mail ballot for 2021. 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. 

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’re just going to say it: Republican gubernatorial candidate Hiedi Heidi Ganahl is running the worst gubernatorial campaign in the entire country. Ganahl has officially been in the 2022 race for about a month…and it’s already time to start the campaign death watch.

Ganahl started the week by hosting an ill-advised forum with right-wing lunatic Dennis Prager, in which her campaign embarrassingly misspelled her first name for people interested in calling in with questions. On Wednesday, her campaign announced anemic fundraising numbers for someone who is supposed to be the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. And on Thursday, news broke that Ganahl’s campaign manager is leaving the campaign after only a month on the job, which is not something that you can even attempt to legitimately spin as being okay.

This is basically what Ganahl’s campaign looks like at the moment:

► A defamation lawsuit filed by a former employee of Dominion Voting Services in Denver is basically de-pantsing “The Big Lie.” For more on this story, check out Axios Denver, The Colorado Sun, Colorado Public Radio, and 9News, among others.

► If you’re interested in running for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in Colorado, you had better hurry up. Pretty much every Republican with a heartbeat is jumping into the field. Charles Ashby of The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel has more on the seventh Republican now running for U.S. Senate in Colorado.

► The Department of Justice is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the case of a controversial new abortion law in Texas. From The Associated Press:

The Biden administration said Friday it will turn next to the U.S. Supreme Court in another attempt to halt a Texas law that has banned most abortions since September.

It comes as the Texas clinics are running out of avenues to stop the GOP-engineered law that bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks. It amounts to the nation’s biggest curb to abortion in nearly 50 years.

The latest defeat for clinics came Thursday night when a federal appeals panel in New Orleans, in a 2-1 decision, allowed the restrictions to remain in place for a third time in the last several weeks alone.

Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said the federal government will now ask the Supreme Court to reverse that decision but did not say how quickly.

► Check out these 2021 voter guides from Colorado Newsline and The Denver Post.

Click below to keep learning stuff…

And Now, More Words…

► Today is the day that we can officially see campaign finance reports from both state and federal campaigns for Q3. Among the announcements thus far is this from the campaign of Democrat Yadira Caraveo in the new CO-08:

Today, the Caraveo for Congress campaign released its first fundraising total, with ​​$107,525 raised from over 500 individual donors. Dr. Yadira Caraveo, a full-time pediatrician and state legislator who announced her candidacy in late August, accomplished this in just 5 weeks, before district lines were finalized. Nearly all of Dr. Caraveo’s donations were raised before Colorado’s Independent Redistricting Commission passed recommended district lines for the 8th District. Over 75% of Dr. Caraveo’s donations were under $200, demonstrating the powerful grassroots support behind her campaign.

Caraveo’s first fundraising quarter won’t blow anyone away, but it’s not bad considering that she raised the bulk of that money before anyone even knew the district boundaries in CO-08. Caraveo’s Q3 is also significantly better than the full quarter fundraising performance from Republican Laurel Imer, whose campaign against Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter in CO-07 raised a whopping $30k.

► Erik Maulbetsch of The Colorado Times Recorder reports on GOP gubernatorial candidate Hiedi Heidi Ganahl’s “Colorful Campaign Finance Corporation.”

► The bizarre story of Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, “activist” Sheronna Bishop, and “MyPillow” Guy Mike Lindell just gets weirder by the day. Why are Bishop and Lindell making an appearance at a local school board meeting on the Western Slope?

@RuralCOUnited what’s the pillow guy doing with Sherrona Bishop, Lauren’s BFF….Re2 school board meeting pic.twitter.com/0Y0lC9JO1F

— DB4L (@2019CObaseball) October 15, 2021

► Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) is mad about something.

► Starkville, Colorado will get about $44 as part of its share of money from the big opioid settlement.

► A significant COVID-19 outbreak has been reported at the Jefferson County jail.

► No, employees at Denver International Airport are NOT revolting against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

► As Judith Kohler reports for The Denver Post, a steel mill in Pueblo that had long been powered by coal is now going to get its juice primarily from the sun.

► POLITICO reports on the “civil war” now taking place among Republicans in Nevada:

Republicans have been feuding for months in Nevada’s largest county after a pro-Donald Trump insurgency with ties to far-right activists threw the party into chaos.

Now the turmoil is spreading across the battleground state, consuming the GOP in a bonfire of lawsuits, counterclaims and resignations…

…“Oh my God,” said Amy Tarkanian, a former chair of the state Republican Party. “It’s really, really embarrassing, just as a whole.”

That sounds like a new slogan to us! The Nevada Republican Party: Really Embarrassing as a Whole.

► As Denver7 reports, the drought in Southwest Colorado is getting even worse.

Say What, Now?

Actual quote from Donald Trump this week: “I’m not into golden showers.”

NOBODY could make this stuff up.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► A right-wing radio host in Colorado Springs who goes by the name of “Tron” says he has been terminated for refusing to take the “Chinese COVID-19 injections.” This all checks out.

► Stephen Collins of Alma, Colorado is trying to claim that he is being discriminated against in relation to COVID-19 relief funding because he is white.

► Via The Washington Post:

ICYMI

► Former President Trump on Wednesday made a very strange threat about Republican voters walking away if the 2020 election isn’t overturned:

Greg Sargent of The Washington Post has a fascinating column that is worth reading that has some new insight into the Trumpism phenomenon. Sargent also links to this CNN story about how many House Republicans seem to be openly embracing the possibility of a Trump presidential campaign in 2024.

► This week on The Get More Smarter Podcast, hosts Jason Bane and Ian Silverii interview Evan Wyloge of The Colorado Springs Gazette for a in-depth look at the 2021 redistricting process in Colorado.

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