August 29, 2017 11:06 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (August 29)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Texas residents need your help. It’s time to 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 a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► President Trump has arrived in Texas to tour some of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Harvey. As the Washington Post reports, record rainfall is now spilling over from Texas into Louisiana:

The remnants of deadly Hurricane Harvey spun toward Louisiana on Tuesday with more potentially disastrous flooding and emergency evacuations, while a reservoir west of downtown Houston spilled over for the first time in its history due to record-shatteringrainfall.

President Trump headed to Texas on Tuesday to survey the ongoing devastation, while storm clouds continued to drench the region with an unprecedented deluge that has already dropped more than three feet of rain on parts of the city. Trump’s visit, following his pledge of swift action by the federal government to provide relief to states affected by Harvey, comes on the 12th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in Louisiana…

…Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Tuesday that officers in the city have rescued more than 3,500 people so far amid Harvey’s flooding and devastation. Still, the full scope of the disaster remained unclear, as the Houston mayor said officials are “still trying to assess” how many people are missing.

Rain totals in the Houston area could soon surpass 50 inches. Houston residents are being urged to “get out now” after the breech of a key levee west of the downtown area. There are now new concerns that Harvey could make landfall in Texas once more.

► Congressional Republicans from Texas — including Sen. Ted Cruz — are facing calls of hypocrisy as they push for federal relief funding to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Cruz and his fellow Republicans have regularly voted against requests for federal funding from delegations in other states dealing with natural disasters. As the Huffington Post explains:

Money to help those in need from a lawmaker’s homestate isn’t a particularly tough vote. At this point, no Texas Republican has declared any sort of condition for their support of an emergency aid package. But when it was New York and New Jersey hit hard by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, all but one Texas Republican in Congress ― Rep. John Culberson ― voted against a $50.5 billion package to help people in those states.

That was no surprise. The Texas delegation tends to speak with one voice, and there’s little political repercussions for its members to vote against government largesse for another state.

► Colorado Republicans are waiting for the official word from State Treasurer Walker Stapleton on his presumed 2018 candidacy for Governor. Barring any late surprises, Stapleton will likely be the frontrunner for the Republican nomination next June.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Tuesday morning that traveled over Japan. From the Washington Post:

In Japan, the prime minister was visibly agitated by North Korea’s actions. “A missile launch across Japan is an outrageous act that poses an unprecedented, grave and serious threat, and significantly undermines the peace and security of the region,” Shinzo Abe said after an emergency national security council meeting.

Japan’s upgraded missile response system swung into action, sending emergency alerts through cellphones and over loudspeakers shortly after 6 a.m., warning people on the potential flight path of the threat and advising them to take cover.

► Colorado politicians had strong reactions to the news late Friday that President Trump had pardoned former Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

► Evidence of potential collusion with Russian officials in the 2016 election continues to pile up against the Trump administration.

► The local vs. federal battle over immigrant rights continues to play out at high volume in the Denver area. As Jon Murray reports for the Denver Post:

An elevated immigration policy stance approved Monday night by the Denver City Council boils down easily: Don’t ask about anyone’s status, don’t share it and don’t help federal authorities with enforcement.

But that simplicity carried serious meaning for dozens of people who filled the council’s chambers for a public hearing…

…The new ordinance is packed with many details, including several exceptions, but the message that rang through the council’s chambers during a hearing Monday night was clear: In an age when the Trump administration has intensified a crackdown on illegal immigration, Denver and its city leaders should stand publicly with the immigrants who face a constant risk of deportation.

The council approved the measure, called the Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act, on a 10-0 vote.

► The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering moving its headquarters from Washington D.C. to Denver.

► The Aurora City Council is pondering a move to scrap a 2017 ballot measure that would ask citizens for more money for an “entertainment district” and a NASCAR race track.

► State Senator Ray Scott (R-Grand Junction) is trying his best to downplay a story from the Grand Junction Sentinel about Scott’s potential misuse of office relating to a gas fireplace business. As the Denver Post reports:

A top Republican state lawmaker appeared to suggest wielding his political influence to help or harm a business partner in an email exchange that led up to a lawsuit now pending in federal court, but he says his words have been taken out of context.

Ray Scott of Grand Junction, currently the No. 4 Republican in the state Senate, made the remarks in 2012 as part of a dispute with Montigo Del Ray Corp., a custom fireplace company, about its decision to remove his business as a regional representative for states including Colorado, Utah and Wyoming…

…Luis Toro at Colorado Ethics Watch said Scott’s emails raise serious questions about use of power — ones that may merit a criminal inquiry regarding possible extortion or blackmail. But he also acknowledged that this situation may not rise to that level because there’s no indication Scott followed through on his statements.

“This may very well fall under the rubric of ‘unethical’ even if it isn’t illegal,” he said.

► It looks like Denver Democrats will be in for a crowded primary race in SD-34 next summer as more candidates are emerging to run for the seat being vacated by term-limited Senate Democratic Leader Lucia Guzman.

► Steve Bannon, a former top adviser to President Trump, is promising a full-scale right-wing barrage in Alabama to help elect former Judge Roy Moore to the U.S. Senate. Trump is backing interim Sen. Luther Strange for the job.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► In an Op-Ed for the New York Times, Jim Lyons — a name many Colorado politicos will remember — writes about the misguided rush to develop more land for oil and gas drilling:

Imagine the businessman Donald Trump putting his real estate up for sale when the market was near the bottom. That’s the equivalent of what President Trump is doing with the oil and gas on our public lands. His misguided move to increase production in a soft energy market is bad for government revenues, not necessary for national security and likely to damage natural resources that millions of Americans use and enjoy…

…Global oil and gas supplies are so abundant that these fuels are being produced on less than half of the approximately 27 million acres of public lands under lease to energy companies. Through the 2015 fiscal year, a record 7,950 drilling permits on federal leases were not being used. And last year, the industry bid on less than one-third of the federal acreage offered for lease by the B.L.M., even though the industry identified most of the lands auctioned for energy exploration. What’s not sold can be bought by energy developers at bargain-basement prices — $2 an acre for the next two years.

Even so, federal onshore oil production increased by more than 70 percent from the fiscal years 2006 to 2015, and the number of producing leases on federal land has never been higher. The facts are that the United States already has abundant oil and gas available, the industry has chosen not to drill on leases they already own and is not even bidding on what the government is offering.

► Is it a cover-up??? No…it’s just not true.

ICYMI

► President Trump is now losing significant support from his own political base.

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