January 30, 2019 09:15 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (January 30)

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• by: Colorado Pols

At least you don’t live anywhere East of Kansas, where temperatures are cooler than a penguin’s refrigerator. Let’s warm up with “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 is taking another crap on U.S. Intelligence agencies, as the Washington Post reports:

President Trump lashed out at U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, calling them “extremely passive and naive” about the nuclear danger posed by Iran and pushing back on their assessments of the Islamic State and North Korea during a congressional hearing.

In tweets, Trump offered what amounted to a rebuttal of testimony on an array of global threats provided to the Senate on Tuesday by a panel of top officials from his administration.

Trump was most pointed in his pushback on the assessment of Iran. During testimony, officials said that Iran was not trying to build a nuclear weapon and was in compliance with an agreement forged during the Obama administration from which Trump subsequently withdrew the United States…

…“Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!” the president added.

Panelists at the Senate hearing included Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, so this wasn’t exactly the “C” team doing the talking.

► According to a new poll of Colorado voters, most people don’t support a border wall, President Trump, or Sen. Cory Gardner.

As Politico notes in a new poll about another potential government shutdown, voters have no appetite to support President Trump’s threats:

Only 31 percent of voters support shutting the government down again to force Congress to appropriate money for the wall, while nearly twice that many, 58 percent, oppose another shutdown. If the government does shut down again, a combined 54 percent would blame Trump and congressional Republicans, while just 33 percent would blame Democrats in Congress.

Trump has suggested that he could declare a “national emergency” to avert a shutdown but still build the wall — but that, too, is unpopular. A narrow, 51 percent majority opposes declaring an emergency, which is supported by 38 percent.

► Contract negotiations between Denver Public Schools and the teacher’s union are expected to resume on Thursday.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Surely a company with the name “Trump” on its masthead would be careful about hiring illegal immigrants, right? As the Washington Post reports:

President Trump’s company plans to institute E-Verify, a federal program that allows employers to check whether new hires are legally eligible to work in the United States, in every one of its golf clubs, hotels and resorts, following a Washington Post report that its club in Westchester County, N.Y., employed undocumented immigrants for years.

“We are instituting E-Verify on all of our properties as soon as possible,” Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said Tuesday, acknowledging that the company currently uses the program only at some locations. “We’re starting with the golf properties, and we are going to be doing all of them.”

The move is the first acknowledgment by the president’s private business that it has failed to fully check the work status of all its employees, despite Trump’s claims during the 2016 campaign that he used E-Verify across his properties. At the time, he called for the program to be mandatory for all employers. [Pols emphasis]

► Whenever the temperature drops, some idiot is ready to fire off a stupid line about “global warming.” And sometimes, that idiot lives at the White House. CNN’s Chris Cillizza debunks the nonsense.

► Sufferers of chronic pain are protesting the idea of too-strict regulations on opioid medications, urging lawmakers to consider a different side of the issue.

► California Sen. Kamala Harris seems to be picking up support among Democratic voters.

► As The Hill reports, a full one-third of Republican voters want someone NOT named Donald Trump at the top of their ballot in 2020:

One-third of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents would prefer someone other than President Trump to be party’s 2020 presidential nominee, according to a poll released Tuesday.

According to the Washington Post–ABC News survey, 65 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters want Trump to run for another term.

Overall, 56 percent of Americans surveyed said they would “definitely not vote for” Trump if he is the GOP nominee.

► As the Aurora Sentinel explains, the City of Aurora decided not to make it illegal to smoke or vape at bus and transit stops:

Smoking and vaping at bus and transit stops will not be a crime in Aurora, like it is in several other cities along the Front Range. A measure to ban the acts failed among Aurora City Council members 3-6 Monday night. 

The measure, which was sponsored by Councilman Charlie Richardson, originally carried a fine of up to $2,650 and up to one year in jail. Richardson attempted to lower that to just a maximum $500 fine with no jail time, but that failed, with council members Bob Roth, Angela Lawson, Crystal Murillo and Nicole Johnston voting against the proposal. 

“It’s a confined space… and I don’t think we should have our smoking activities taking place there,” Richardson said of the bus stops and train platforms throughout the city.

Some members who voted against the measure cited problems with enforcing the proposed law. Lawson said police officers have told her they already have a hefty workload. 

► Colorado Public Radio looks at how national parks in Colorado are trying to get things back to normal following the government shutdown.

► State Rep. Hugh McKean (R-Loveland) will have to kill his own bill because it would violate federal law if passed. That probably wasn’t likely, since McKean’s idea was to reverse the order of stoplight signals.

► State Sen. Vicki “Just One” Marble is back to babbling on the Senate floor about issues she clearly doesn’t understand. Marble is misinterpreting the data from citizenship records in Texas to back up her fears that tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are voting every two years (hey, that rhymed!) Despite Marble’s protestations, the State Senate passed legislation that would mandate Colorado’s electoral votes go to the winner of the national popular vote in the race for President.

► Colorado Public Radio tries to understand how former Gov. John Hickenlooper can use an image of a political moderate in a field of Democratic Presidential candidates moving increasingly leftward.

► Colorado lawmakers are once again looking at legislation that would theoretically make it easier for convicted felons to find work upon their release from prison.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Indeed, they go great with whey.

► Environmental Racism, y’all!

That’s Fracked: Can a Colorado School Combat Environmental Racism? – The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Video Clip) | Comedy Central https://t.co/9qwn5S0cdR

— 350 Colorado Springs (@350ColoSprings) January 30, 2019

ICYMI

► No shit, Sherlock.

► $3 Billion dollars. That’s what the #TrumpShutdown cost the American economy. 

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