December 14, 2016 09:48 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (December 14)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Canada has lost a great thespian; RIP Alan Thicke. 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…

► A judge ruled against a request by some Colorado electoral college representatives that might have allowed them to cast votes for someone other than Hillary Clinton, who captured Colorado’s nine electoral votes in November. As John Frank reports for the Denver Post:

Colorado presidential electors who do not vote for Hillary Clinton as the winner of the state’s vote risk criminal charges after a Denver judge delivered the second setback in two days to an effort to block Donald Trump from winning the presidency.

Denver District Judge Elizabeth Starrs ruled that state law requires members of the Electoral College, when the body meets at noon Monday, to vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates who received the most votes in Colorado.

The order also granted authority to the Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican, to replace electors who violate the law — essentially ending Colorado’s role in the “Hamilton Electors” movementto keep Trump from the White House.

Two of Colorado’s electors have filed an appeal to the federal judge’s ruling.

► President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he has selected ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to serve as Secretary of State. Tillerson’s nomination could face a stiff challenge from the U.S. Senate, where Republicans such as John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Marco Rubio have all expressed serious concerns about Tillerson’s close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) will get an early crack at making a decision on Tillerson; as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Gardner will vote on Tillerson’s nomination before he is considered by the full Senate. It is expected, however, that Gardner will just do whatever the oil and gas industry tells him to do.

► Donald Trump’s choice for National Security Advisor has been less than secure about handling classified information. As the Washington Post reports:

A secret U.S. military investigation in 2010 determined that Michael T. Flynn, the retired Army general tapped to serve as national security adviser in the Trump White House, “inappropriately shared” classified information with foreign military officers in Afghanistan, newly released documents show.

Although Flynn lacked authorization to share the classified material, he was not disciplined or reprimanded after the investigation concluded that he did not act “knowingly” and that “there was no actual or potential damage to national security as a result,” according to Army records obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

Well, that’s awesome. In the meantime, perhaps somebody in the Trump administration could convince the President-elect to actually listen to security briefings at some point.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► President-elect Donald Trump has made a LOT of promises. The Washington Post takes a look at five specific promises from Trump that have still not materialized: 1) Holding a press conference, 2) Making his tax returns public, 3) Details about Melania Trump’s immigration to the United States, 4) Lawsuits against women who accused him of sexual assault, and 5) Explaining his “plan” to defeat ISIS.

On the last item on that list, Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, has said the following: “He certainly has a plan. I’ve heard it.”

Donald Trump’s Twitter Account, which may or may not be making autonomous decisions about the fate of the free world, insists that Trump is definitely going to do some of these things he promised to do at some point.

► The editorial board of the Denver Post doesn’t mince words in making its case for Congress to thoroughly investigate concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 elections:

What an extraordinary time for our nation that there would even be a debate over whether Congress should investigate allegations that another nation attempted to influence our presidential election.

After months of warnings from President Barack Obama and the nation’s top spies that Russia sought to make a mess of things, we learn that CIA officials believe that Russian-backed hackers worked to help push Donald Trump to his surprise victory over Hillary Clinton. Perhaps predictably, President-elect Trump says that’s all bunk and that further investigation would be a waste of time. For added measure, the blustery New York billionaire dismissed America’s premiere intelligence agents as hacks in their own right, and politically motivated bumblers at that.

Either way, shouldn’t Americans be granted the opportunity to learn the truth?

Elsewhere, former Independent Presidential candidate Evan McMullin insists that Republican Members of Congress knew all about Russia’s efforts to interfere with our elections but chose to do nothing about the problem. As the Washington Post reports, Russia’s success at interfering in U.S. elections was due in part to institutional failures regarding online security.

► Hate speech crimes continue to be a problem in places such as Aurora, where residents have reported at least nine “biased-related crimes” since the election. Police officers are increasing patrols in local areas as a result.

► President-elect Trump has selected former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to serve as Energy Secretary, which is odd considering that Perry has twice run for President pledging to eliminate the Department of Energy.

► A ceasefire collapsed in Syria, putting more than 50,000 civilians in Aleppo at serious risk. Syrian-Americans in Colorado are pleading with the federal government to do more to prevent a wholesale slaughter in Aleppo.

► As the Longmont Times-Call reports, Longmont’s city council approved a “non-bullying, anti-fear resolution” on Tuesday despite opposition to the measure.

► President Obama signed the “21st Century Cures Act,” legislation co-sponsored by Denver Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Denver) intended to “modernize” biomedical research.

► Repealing Obamacare could increase the number of uninsured in Colorado to more than 588,000, according to a new study. That number is more than the entire population of Jefferson County.

► All is not well inside Donald Trump’s transition team. As Politico reports:

Insiders paint a picture of constant score-keeping and simmering suspicion within Trump world — one even called it “vitriolic.” And they foresee incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, the party stalwart, and chief strategist Steve Bannon, the populist firebrand, headed for an inevitable clash.

► Boulder County Commissioners have extended a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the county, as the Denver Business Journal reports. Nearby, residents of Broomfield are up in arms over a proposal to create some 100 new oil and gas drilling sites.

► As Bruce Finley reports for the Denver Post, there is growing opposition to a plan from Colorado Parks and Wildlife intending to kill mountain lions and bears in order to prevent them from killing too many deer…at least until hunters can shoot them.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Every couple of years the same story emerges about former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway as a potential Republican candidate for Governor of Colorado. Elway, of course, never makes any movement toward running for political office, but that doesn’t stop the story from being written. Here’s the latest version from Peter Marcus at the Colorado Springs Gazette.

► Colorado Springs City Council Member Keith King wants to use thousands of dollars from his taxpayer-funded expense account to finance a series of editorials he wants to write about his time on the council. Colorado Springs has been dealing with serious budget constraints for years, which makes King’s request all the more ridiculous.

ICYMI

► Did Donald Trump “win” the state of Michigan…or did Hillary Clinton “lose” it through campaign gaffes?

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