December 21, 2016 10:56 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (December 21)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Today is the first official day of Winter; apparently all of that recent cold weather was just a rehearsal. 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…

► On this day 396 years ago, the first group of colonists landed at the settlement that would come to be known as Plymouth. In less than a month from now, America will inaugurate a new President that we are told not to take “literally” when he says stuff (yes, this is a bit of a tortured segue, but just go with it).

As Dana Milbank writes for the Washington Post, plenty of Trump voters around the country are hoping His Hairness didn’t “literally” mean it when he said he wants to scrap Obamacare:

Vox senior editor Sarah Kliff wrote a poignant account last week of her visit to Whitley County, Ky., where the uninsured rate declined 60 percent under Obamacare but 82 percent of voters supported Trump. There, Kliff, a former Post colleague, found Trump voters who were downright frightened that the president-elect would do exactly — literally — what he and Republicans promised: repeal Obamacare.

Among those she found was Trump voter Debbie Mills, a store owner whose husband awaits a lifesaving liver transplant; they got insurance through Obamacare, and Mills is hoping the law won’t be repealed.

“I don’t know what we’ll do if it does go away,” Mills said. “I guess I thought that, you know, [Trump] would not do this. That they would not do this, would not take the insurance away. Knowing that it’s affecting so many people’s lives. I mean, what are you to do then if you cannot . . . purchase, cannot pay for the insurance?”

Mills, who supported Trump for other reasons, figured Obamacare repeal was just talk. “I guess we really didn’t think about that, that he was going to cancel that or change that or take it away,” she said. “I guess I always just thought that it would be there. I was thinking that once it was made into a law that it could not be changed.”

► President-elect Donald Trump lost the popular vote for President by more than 3 million votes, but he totally would have won that, too, he says. Maybe Trump should nominate someone to be his National Insecurity Advisor.

► Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Dan McMinimee appears to be on his way out after the Jeffco School Board announced that it would begin discussions on “whether to start a search process for a new superintendent.” Back in 2014, McMinimee laughably emerged as the “sole finalist” for Jeffco Superintendent under the since-recalled conservative school board. McMinimee may have torpedoed any hope at receiving a new contract a few weeks ago when he requested a bunch of silly “performance bonuses” to be included in a new deal.

► There’s a new name to learn in the potential field for Governor in 2018: Democrat Noel Ginsburg.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Ethics? Ethics? You’re worried about ethics in a Trump administration?

► Donald Trump’s Twitter Account, which may or may not be making autonomous decisions about the free world, happily makes bold declarations about foreign tragedies that have nothing to do with factual evidence. Perhaps it’s time for Trump to start accepting those national security briefings, eh?

If you’re still holding out hope that Trump will eventually pretend he is President and stop Tweeting nonsense all of the time…well, hope is good.

► North Carolina’s infamously stupid Transgender Bathroom Bill may be repealed today by state legislators…so long as they can find time in their schedules to stop kneecapping the Governor’s office.

► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is totally, possibly, maybe going to lead the way in pushing for an investigation into claims that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Or, this could just be Gardner tossing a bunch of different countries — including Iran and North Korea — into the same pot to confuse the original question.

► Former House Speaker and Donald Trump supporter Newt Gingrich says the President-elect is backing away from promises to “drain the swamp” in Washington D.C. Uh, you think?

► No job for you, Corey Lewandowski!

► Colorado has dropped to the seventh-fastest growing state in the country, as the Denver Post reports:

Thousands of new residents still flock to Colorado, but fewer thousands are flocking, according to population estimates the U.S. Census Bureau published Tuesday.

From July 2014 to July 2015, Colorado was the second-fastest growing state in the union, adding 99,171 residents, a 1.9 percent increase. From July 2015 to July 2016 Colorado was the seventh-fastest, adding 91,726 people, a 1.7 percent increase.

Check out the Post story for a deeper look inside the data.

In other Census-related news, Colorado officially has a larger population than the state of Minnesota!

► The federal government is directing millions of dollars toward Colorado for homeless housing and services programs.

► The New York Times looks at the cozy relationship between the Russian government and Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of State. Tillerson’s first big confirmation test comes on Jan. 11, when he sits before the Senate Foreign Relations committee.

As the Washington Post reports, Democrats are planning their approach to handling confirmation hearings for the ExxonMobil CEO:

Democrats do not believe they stand much chance of stopping Tillerson from being confirmed. But they plan to press the top diplomat-designate to commit to full divestiture from Exxon and detail how he would pursue a different approach to the world as secretary of state, in what one Senate Democratic aide who requested anonymity to candidly discuss strategy called a “very thorough, tough vetting.” As they have with Trump, Democrats plan to focus sharply on potential conflicts of interests deriving from Tillerson’s finances, as well as his unorthodox views on critical foreign policy matters…

…Already, the minority party is railing against Republicans for refusing to demand Tillerson produce his tax returns. [Pols emphasis] Their frustration stems from Tillerson’s response to a routine question about tax returns on the Foreign Relations Committee’s pre-confirmation hearing questionnaire. According to a Senate Democratic aide and a Trump transition team spokesman, Tillerson said he stood ready to provide only “tax return information” for his wife and himself for the previous three years. That means it’s possible Tillerson isn’t willing to provide complete returns.

We’re sure that Tillerson pays lots of “sales taxes” when he buys stuff.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The editorial board of the Denver Post hopes that Donald Trump shares a few characteristics with President Obama.

► Congressman Ed Perlmutter is promising to stand up to any attempts to cut funding for Golden’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

ICYMI

► President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet has a net worth that is greater than 70 of the world’s smallest countries.

Don’t forget to check out The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!