July 19, 2022 11:36 AM UTC
Get More Smarter on Tuesday (July 19)
1 Comments- by: Colorado Pols
Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the Aurora Theater Shootings that killed 12 people and injured 70 others. 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
► Republican gubernatorial candidate Hiedi Heidi Ganahl has had a lot of bad days in the 10 months since she announced her campaign, but Monday has to rank near the top of that terrible list. Ganahl announced her running mate and Lieutenant Governor choice on Monday; it was not an Hispanic male leader from rural Colorado, as Ganahl had been teasing for weeks. Instead, Ganahl chose “Big Lie” believer Danny Moore, a Centennial businessman with no governing experience who lives about 9 miles away from her in the South Denver Metro Area.
Most Colorado media outlets reacted similarly, which is to say that they largely panned Ganahl’s odd selection. This headline from Colorado Public Radio sums up much of the reaction.
Ganahl’s campaign was planning to hold a public event with Moore on Wednesday in Aurora until somebody realized that it was the 10th Anniversary of the Aurora Theater Shootings:
► Is Climate Change man-made? That debate is almost irrelevant at this point other than to guide potential solutions to the problem. Make no mistake — it IS a problem. As The Washington Post reports:
Has it ever, in human history, been this hot in the British Isles? Maybe not.
If you want to mark an unnatural, scary, real-world data point for climate change, it is here in Britain, right now, which saw its hottest day on record Tuesday, with temperatures hitting 40.2 Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit at London Heathrow. It’s an extreme-weather episode, a freak peak heat, not seen since modern record keeping began a century and a half ago.
And probably not since weather observation got serious here in 1659. And maybe far longer.
Hitting 40C, for British climate scientists, is a kind of a unicorn event that had appeared in their models but until recently seemed almost unbelievable and unattainable this soon.
Much of Europe is experiencing unprecedented heat waves. If nothing else, we must do what we can to prevent British men from walking around shirtless.
► Meanwhile, President Biden may be preparing to act aggressively to combat Climate Change. This from a separate story in The Washington Post:
President Biden is considering declaring a national climate emergency as soon as this week as he seeks to salvage his environmental agenda in the wake of stalled talks on Capitol Hill, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.
The potential move comes days after Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) told Democratic leaders that he does not support his party’s efforts to advance a sprawling economic package this month that includes billions of dollars to address global warming. If an emergency is invoked, it could empower the Biden administration in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions and foster cleaner energy.
In anticipation of a potential announcement, Biden is set to travel to Somerset, Mass., to deliver a speech on climate change on Wednesday.
► Republican Primary Election losers Ron Hanks (U.S. Senate) and Tina Peters (Secretary of State) will not be granted recounts from the June 28th Primary because neither campaign has the financial resources to pay for such an effort.
The recount request was silly anyway, since neither Hanks nor Peters finished anywhere close enough to their respective opponents to justify such a time-consuming and pointless endeavor. Nevertheless, some Republican activists are still discussing options for challenging the 2022 Primary Election results. These folks really need a new hobby.
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► Judge Nina Wang has been confirmed to sit on the bench in the U.S. District Court for Colorado.
► Establishment Republican leaders in Arizona are doing everything they can to prevent crazypants Trump-backed candidate Kari Lake from winning the GOP nomination for Governor.
► Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made headlines over the weekend for saying that the department she ran until 2021 “should not exist.” Guess who else wants to eliminate the Department of Education? That’s right — Republican Senate candidate Joe O’Dea.
► As Colorado Newsline reports, Democrats in Colorado seem to be doing significantly better than their Republican opponents in the fundraising department. The advantage starts at the top of the ticket:
A lack of competitive primary races helped Democrats in several of Colorado’s key congressional contests maintain strong fundraising advantages ahead of the November general election, Federal Election Commission disclosures show.
Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet led all candidates with more than $3.3 million raised from April 1 to June 30 — a larger second-quarter haul than his Republican rival, Denver construction CEO Joe O’Dea, who raised about $883,000 from donors and personally contributed another $1 million to his campaign during the same period.
But Bennet’s most significant financial advantage lies in the campaign cash he has stockpiled throughout the 2022 election cycle, and during a hard-fought GOP primary contest between O’Dea and far-right state Rep. Ron Hanks. With a total of more than $13 million raised and just over $5 million spent since January 2021, Bennet’s campaign ended June with $8 million in cash on hand.
► Xcel Energy figured out a shady way to make money off of the neighbors of people who have installed solar power installations.
► Folks in Pueblo are celebrating a milestone: The final destruction of a bunch of chemical weapons.
► Colorado wants lower basin states to cut back on their use of water from the Colorado River. From The Colorado Sun:
Water managers in the four Upper Colorado River Basin states say they have a plan to help stabilize the overtaxed river, but in a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation say any work to balance the system must include “significant actions” in the three Lower Basin states.
“The Upper Division States recognize that bringing the system into balance will require collaboration and efforts from all Basin States and water use sectors. Accordingly, we stand ready to participate in and support efforts, across the Basin, to address the continuing dry hydrology and depleted storage conditions,” the letter reads. “However, the options the Upper Division States have available to protect critical reservoir elevations are limited.”
The letter, dated July 18, comes in response to an announcement last month by Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton calling for 2 million to 4 million acre-feet in cuts in Colorado River use by the end of next year to avoid the system from reaching “critically low water levels.” The system supplies water and generates electricity for millions of users across the West.
► The Denver Post reports on Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s final “State of the City” speech:
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock will ask the city council to dedicate $2 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to a universal basic income program that would support women and families living in homeless shelters.
The modest program — it is expected to give 140 recipients $1,000 a month for a year if supported by the council — was among a handful of new efforts Hancock announced in his 11th and final State of the City address Monday morning.
Speaking in the Montbello Recreation Center gym in his former council district, Hancock took time to thank his family, allies and supporters for their help over his three terms. He also emphasized some of his administration’s past successes while focusing on carrying forward momentum and building on programs and efforts that are working.
“As an administration accountable to the people we serve, we remain committed to justice,” Hancock said. “We remain committed to leaving this city better than we found it. And while this may be my final year as mayor, I pledge to you that I will bring the same energy, creativity and intention as if it were my first.”
► Former Republican State Rep. Dave Williams, who just lost a Congressional Primary to Zombie Doug Lamborn, says the El Paso County Republican Party is in the midst of a “civil war.” The Colorado Times Recorder has more on Williams’s whiny concerns.
► Westword talks to former Republican political consultant Tim Miller, whose new book exploring how Republicans lost their marbles is gaining a lot of attention.
► The New York Times tries to figure out where the “Stop the Steal” movement that has entranced MAGA heads began. The phrase itself may have originated in Colorado:
Days after the [2016] state Republican convention [in Colorado], a couple of hundred people assembled on the steps of the State Capitol in Denver. “Stop the steal!” they chanted. “Stop the steal!” They had assembled to protest the process by which the caucuses had allotted delegates to Cruz, demanding that the state party hold a new straw poll.
Watching videos of the demonstration now is like watching a dress rehearsal for the events of four years later. Rallygoers waved a Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and sported Infowars apparel. A man in camouflage pants held up a hand-lettered sign with an apocryphal Thomas Jefferson quotation: WHEN TYRANNY BECOMES LAW, REBELLION BECOMES DUTY. The crowd chanted in call and response: “Do you want your freedom back?”
“Yes!”
► A proposal dealing with recreational marijuana has qualified for the November ballot in Colorado Springs.
► POLITICO previews the next Jan. 6 House committee hearing and explains why the committee still has a lot of work ahead.
Say What, Now?
Somebody should tell Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert that she is in Congress and therefore part of this “leadership”:
Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
► Here’s the headline of a press release from the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University:
The press release doesn’t say who named Boebert the “top speaker,” but this is sorta like being named the best-smelling septic tank.
► Former NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio ended his campaign for Congress, citing — as The Huffington Post reports — a “lack of enthusiasm” for his campaign. Ouch!
ICYMI
► The leader of the “Democrats for Heidi Ganahl” group is a registered Republican who is a big believer in all things Qanon.
► Check out the latest episode of the Get More Smarter Podcast:
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With a hat tip to Mel Brooks, who memorably used the gag in a couple of his films, I keep pushing the slogan "Republicans 'R' Revolting." I didn't really expect outright support of the concept from a State Representative who ran for a US Representative nomination.