December 16, 2016 10:44 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (December 16)

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• by: Colorado Pols

You’re down to just eight shopping days until Christmas. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. 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 a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► President Obama is scheduled to hold a news conference this afternoon during which time he is expected to announce some sort of decision related to Russia’s tampering in the 2016 election. Early reports indicate that Obama will discuss some form of retaliation against Russia.

President-elect Donald Trump has recently been trying to spin a tale that allegations of Russian interference only emerged after the election, which of course is not at all true. But as the Washington Post notes, Trump sent out a Tweet on Friday that basically undermines his entire argument by referencing hacking intrusions on the Democratic National Committee and others:

And so, by referring to this episode, what Trump is inadvertently revealing here is that, yes, the complaint about Russian hacking to hurt Clinton did in fact precede the election, and this was widely and publicly known. Of course, there is ample other evidence that Trump is fully aware of this. The intel community had publicly declared it weeks before the election. Trump had reportedly been privately briefedon it by U.S. officials. Trump was confronted with evidence of the hack at a debate with Clinton that was watched by tens of millions of people. At the debate, he cast doubt on the notion that Russia had hacked the materials to hurt Clinton. And yet, as Mark Murray points out, Trump himself widely referenced the material dug up in the hacks at rallies, where he used that material to — wait for it — try to damage Clinton.

► The Republican Party is on the brink of another Cold War…but this battle is of the internal nature. As CNN reports today:

The party of Reagan is fast lurching into a mini-Cold War with itself — this time over working with Russia rather than against it.

President-elect Donald Trump’s affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his denials that the Kremlin hacked the 2016 election are unleashing a feud in the GOP, which sees its hawkish history on Moscow and triumph over the Soviet Union as one of its defining achievements…

…The idea that Russia may not pay a price for the startling allegation of seeking to undermine American democracy with a series of cyber breaches is infuriating some senior Republicans, and putting even those less hostile to Trump in a tough political spot.

“I can’t imagine I would vote for anybody that believes that we should not sanction Russia, given the fact that they did in fact interfere in our election,” South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on the “Situation Room” on Wednesday.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► In November, Colorado voters approved moving to a more “open” Primary voting system, and now it’s up to local elections officials to figure out how to implement the changes. As Peter Marcus writes for the Colorado Springs Gazette:

The bipartisan Election Advisory Committee met on Thursday to begin implementing propositions 107 and 108, which voters backed last month to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in presidential and non-presidential primary elections.

But fears over cost and how to design the system are worrying county clerks and the secretary of state’s office ahead of the 2018 election, when unaffiliated voters will first participate in non-presidential elections…

…Estimates for the new system fall between $5 million and $7 million.

The biggest concern, beyond cost, is how to implement the tabulation system to account for unaffiliated voters participating in upcoming primary elections.

The open Primary is not the only new election-related change from 2016; officials are also trying to figure out how to implement the “raise the bar” changes for getting “citizen” initiatives onto the ballot.

► A group now calling themselves “Hamilton Electors” continues to push forward with attempts to upend the Electoral College. As Brian Eason reports for the Denver Post:

A group of Colorado Democratic electors seeking to vote against Hillary Clinton in defiance of the state’s popular vote are asking the Colorado Supreme Court to set aside a Denver judge’s ruling allowing the Secretary of State to replace them.

The petition, filed with the state Supreme Court on Thursday, is the latest legal maneuver to arise from the group known as the “Hamilton Electors,” a movement aimed at blocking Republican businessman Donald Trump from the presidency by forcing an Electoral College deadlock.

On Tuesday, the Denver District Court dealt a blow to the movement, ruling that state law requires electors to vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates who received the most votes in the state. Denver District Judge Elizabeth Starrs also ruled that the Colorado Secretary of State can replace any elector that violates that law.

In Thursday’s filing, the group’s attorney, Jesse Witt, argued that the state district court had no jurisdiction to tell federal electors how to vote, because the Electoral College is a function of federal law.

We may finally have some resolution on this battle on Monday, when Colorado’s Electoral College representatives are scheduled to meet to officially cast their votes for President.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Wayne Williams is getting pretty riled up about these “rogue electors.”

► The House State Affairs Committee is meeting today to discuss the SMART act. Republican Rep. Tim Leonard is not in attendance…on account of the fact that he is still in jail.

► Colorado Democratic strategist Ted Trimpa talks Democratic politics on conservative talk radio.

► The Jefferson County School Board is contemplating making a change at Superintendent. The current head of Jeffco Schools is Dan McMinimee, who got the job thanks to a conservative school board that was recalled in 2015. McMinimee probably isn’t helping his case by trying to get a bunch of nonsense “performance bonuses” inserted into his contract.

► Some influential Republicans and top donors are trying to smooth the road to Senate confirmation for ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who is Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State. The focus at this stage appears to be on appeasing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who had indicated earlier in the week that he is not a fan of Tillerson for SOS.

► President-elect Donald Trump is confident that he will totally be, like, the best President ever, but a vast majority of Americans don’t share that belief. From Politico:

A CBS News poll out Thursday shows just 34 percent of Americans believe Donald Trump will be a “good” or “very good” president, a much lower rating than either President Barack Obama or former President George W. Bush received as incoming presidents.

A full 36 percent of respondents say the president-elect will be a “poor president,” though those results are largely split along party lines, with 60 percent of Democrats, 35 percent of independents and 8 percent Republicans giving that assessment.

In December 2008, Obama came into office with 63 percent of Americans saying he’d make a good or very good president. At about the same time in 2000, less than half of respondents said Bush would be a good or very good president.

Furthermore, some 41% of respondents say they disapprove of Trump’s picks for top cabinet and administration posts.

► Colorado already has a couple of “official” candidates for Governor in 2018. As the Loveland Reporter-Herald explains:

Registered Republican JoAnne Silva, 71, has lived in Loveland since 2003, and she filed her paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office declaring her candidacy this week.

Silva and her husband, a veteran, moved to Colorado, she said, to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren.

Silva joins three other candidates looking to replace Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is term-limited: Green Party candidate Veronique Bellamy of Longmont, Democratic candidate Adam Garrity of Hayden and Democratic candidate Moses Homes of Colorado Springs.

► From Fox News to the National Security Council.

► A Fort Collins resident is concerned about family members trapped in Aleppo, Syria.

► Trustees for the University of Denver are considering pulling investments related to oil and gas companies. As the Denver Post reports, the O&G industry is already fighting back:

Colorado’s energy industry went on the offensive Thursday before an expected decision by University of Denver trustees about whether to pull investments from oil, natural gas and coal companies.

The university is the latest to take on the issue of divesting its endowment of fossil fuels, pushed by students concerned about climate change.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America‘s forum in Denver marked the kickoff to a national social media campaign — a counterattack on 350.org, a New York-based climate-activist organization focused on persuading institutions to purge fossil fuel investments.

► Donald Trump’s Twitter Account, which may or may not be making autonomous decisions about the free world, continues to throw punches at anyone and anything that dares speak negatively about the President-elect. As Politico reports, even some of Trump’s top staffers are at a loss to explain why their boss is so obsessed with Twitter warfare.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Donald Trump is an outspoken critic of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. Most of Trump’s top economic advisors, however, actually support TPP. This might not end well.

► Donald Trump’s choice for Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, may be open to allowing oil and gas drilling on millions of acres of public lands.

ICYMI

► Super Mario finally comes to a handheld device near you.

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