June 28, 2018 10:22 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (June 28)

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

If you still have a ballot sitting on your kitchen table, you should recycle it or something. 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… 

► Republican leaders have confirmed that they will push for a quick confirmation hearing of a new Supreme Court nominee after Wednesday’s news that Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire. As the Washington Post explains:

The vacancy promises to play a prominent role in the midterm elections, with leaders in both parties seeking to energize their voters by promoting the nomination fight as one with dramatic consequences for the country. Even if Kennedy’s replacement is confirmed before voters head to the polls in November, strategists in both parties said the intense focus on the court pick will be a galvanizing issue.

“Nothing less than the fate of our health-care system, reproductive rights for women and countless other protections for middle-class Americans are at stake,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a floor speech, calling the Kennedy vacancy the “most important . . . in at least a generation.”

Republicans are pitching the opening as an opportunity to lock in a reliably conservative majority after years of decisions that hung on which way Kennedy would vote. Referring to the court opening and rulings on issues such as the president’s entry ban, unions and abortion, Josh Holmes, a longtime adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said, “For anybody who is right of center, this entire week has been five straight Super Bowls.”

There is a strong likelihood that Roe v. Wade could be overturned within 18 months depending on how the new SCOTUS nomination plays out. This is not hyperbole.

Politico breaks down five key issues where a new Supreme Court Justice could portend major changes in the United States for generations to come.

► President Trump is preparing for an in-person meeting in Helsinki next month with Russian President Vladimir Putin by once again trying to discount the idea of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. From CNN:

President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on US intelligence assessments that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential contest, just as his aides announced details of his upcoming summit talks with President Vladimir Putin.

“Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!” Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday morning. He went on to question why US law enforcement agencies weren’t investigating other perceived influences on the election, which he has repeatedly said was rigged for his opponent Hillary Clinton.

“Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!” he wrote.

The President’s tweet was sent roughly a half hour before the White House announced the two leaders will meet on July 16 in Helsinki, Finland, where they will “discuss relations between the United States and Russia and a range of national security issues.”

Make America Russia Great Again!

► Check out our list of Winners and Losers from the 2018 Colorado Primary Election. Two tight statewide races were unofficially concluded on Wednesday when Phil Weiser captured the Democratic nomination for Attorney General and Brian Watson emerged victorious in a Republican Primary for State Treasurer. Democrat Joe Salazar is not conceding the race for Attorney General, but the math is not on his side.

According to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, more than 1.17 million people cast a ballot in the Primary.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Yuma County Sheriff Chad Day reportedly added billionaire Robert Mercer and friends to a list of volunteer “posse” members in exchange for a new pickup truck and some tasers. Yuma County voters took exception to this and booted Day out of office on Tuesday.

► Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has absolutely zero problem with his own hypocrisy.

► President Trump boldly claimed earlier this month that Americans would no longer need to fear a nuclear attack from North Korea. As CNN reports, Trump got snickered:

New satellite images show North Korea has made rapid improvements to the infrastructure at its Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center — a facility used to produce weapons-grade fissile material, according to an analysis published by 38 North, a prominent North Korea monitoring group.

Captured on June 21, the photos reveal modifications to the site’s plutonium production reactor and the construction of several support facilities — long-planned upgrades that were already underway before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump met in Singapore earlier this month.

When contacted by CNN about 38 North’s analysis, the Unification Ministry said they “cannot confirm the report” and are “watching it closely.”

The report states that “continued work at the Yongbyon facility should not be seen as having any relationship to North Korea’s pledge to denuclearize,” but the photos suggest that Pyongyang continues to proceed with business as usual when it comes to maintaining its nuclear sites following the summit.

► The Supreme Court probably killed public-sector labor unions on Wednesday. Here in Colorado, teacher’s unions may see less of an impact because they had been preparing for this day for years.

► The University of Colorado is reaffirming its commitment to accepting international students in the wake of President Trump’s “Muslim travel ban.”

► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) wants President Trump to select Colorado judge Alison Eid to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

► Colorado lawmakers are looking at legislation to prohibit the flying of drones over wildfires.

► The Colorado Independent breaks down the Primary Election with a bunch of numbers and graphs and stuff. 

► Congressional Republicans can’t figure out a way forward on legislation to address immigration reform.

► This is not good timing as President Trump prepares for a summit with Russia.

► Puerto Rico wants to be the 51st state.