April 14, 2020 10:52 AM UTC
Get More Smarter on Tuesday (April 14)
1 Comments- by: Colorado Pols
Happy Pan American Day; please celebrate responsibly. Now, let’s 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 an audio/visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show or The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.
BECAUSE CORONAVIRUS…
*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website
*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov
*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com
► Damage control! Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) and President Trump are both attempting to re-spin last week’s version of coronavirus pork barrel politics, in which Trump approved 100 ventilators for Colorado only after receiving a personal call from Gardner (and after Gov. Jared Polis said the federal government snatched up 500 ventilators that Colorado had already ordered). Click here to read more.
► President Trump held a 2 1/2 hour press conference on Monday afternoon/evening in which he mostly talked about what a great job he was doing as Commander in Chief and denigrated the media in general; one CNN story called it a “Presidential tantrum.” Ashley Parker of The Washington Post has a great rundown of Trump’s horrendously self-serving diatribe. Chris Cillizza of CNN breaks out 39 of Trump’s most ridiculous statements, including his early foray into media bashing:
“Now, with that, I have a couple of interesting — we have a few clips that we’re just going to put up. We could turn the lights a little bit lower. I think you will find them interesting.”
At this point, the President of the United States ran a propaganda reel/campaign ad touting how great he has done on dealing with the coronavirus. It ran on the White House grounds while Trump was in his official role as President of the United States. If you don’t have a problem with that, you aren’t paying attention.
Trump also made sure to mention that he has the sole authority to “reopen” the country regardless of the input of state governors. This is not true. At all.
“The authority of the president of the United States having to do with the subject we’re talking about is total.”
It just isn’t. Trump cannot rescind executive orders made by governors in states related to school closures or stay-at-home orders. Also, isn’t Trump a Republican? And didn’t Republicans build their party on a limited federal government and expansive state governments? Doesn’t anyone notice this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
Governors across the country are pushing back on Trump’s 10th Amendment ignorance.
► Last week Wisconsin held a shaky Primary Election after the conservative-majority State Supreme Court overruled the Governor’s request to delay voting on account of coronavirus. In a remarkable bit of karmic electoral magic, a Democrat managed to knock off a Republican running for re-election on the very same State Supreme Court. As The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
Dane County Circuit Judge Jill Karofsky won the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court, narrowing the conservative majority after a tumultuous election conducted in the midst of a global pandemic, according to unofficial results released Monday.
Karofsky’s victory marked the first time in a dozen years that a Supreme Court challenger beat an incumbent — and just the second time in more than half a century. Her win over Justice Daniel Kelly will shift conservative control of the court from 5-2 to 4-3.
Appearing by video conference from her home with her son and daughter behind her, Karofsky thanked her family and supporters and decried the decision to hold the election during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Look, we shouldn’t have had the election on Tuesday,” she said. “It was an untenable decision (on whether to vote), but the people of the state of Wisconsin rose up.
If you’re looking for political news that isn’t about Coronavirus, it’s available right after the jump…
SERIOUSLY, THERE WILL BE NON-CORONAVIRUS NEWS MOMENTARILY…
► Governor Jared Polis had some good coronavirus news on Monday. From Denver7:
Polis on Monday said officials feel “very good” about the available hospital capacity in Colorado as social distancing measures have helped slow both the spread of COVID-19 and the rate of hospitalizations not related to the virus.
“Overall, we’re doing fine in regard to hospital capacity,” Polis said.
The lack of elective procedures — operations such as knee replacements or back surgery that can be delayed, as well as non-emergency procedures — has also helped free up hospital capacity.
Polis is also asking hotel and motel owners to consider providing temporary shelter to Colorado’s homeless population. A homeless shelter at the National Western Complex in Denver is over capacity.
► Oh, good: Most of the coronavirus relief money earmarked for corporations comes with no strings attached whatsoever. And then there is this, from a separate story in The Washington Post:
More than 80 percent of the benefits of a tax change tucked into the coronavirus relief package Congress passed last month will go to those who earn more than $1 million annually, according to a report by a nonpartisan congressional body expected to be released Tuesday.
The provision, inserted into the legislation by Senate Republicans, temporarily suspends a limitation on how much owners of businesses formed as “pass-through” entities can deduct against their nonbusiness income, such as capital gains, to reduce their tax liability. The limitation was created as part of the 2017 Republican tax law to offset other tax cuts to firms in that legislation.
Suspending the limitation will cost taxpayers about $90 billion in 2020 alone, part of a set of tax changes that will add close to $170 billion to the national deficit over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the nonpartisan congressional body.
► A couple of anti-vaxxers are behind the idiotic #FireFauci efforts.
► Congressman Jason Crow (D-Aurora) offered some clarity on expanded unemployment insurance benefits available as a result of coronavirus stimulus packages.
► Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Denver) wants President Trump to lift a ban on fetal tissue research as part of efforts to find a treatment/cure for COVID-19.
► State data shows that COVID-19 is statistically more prevalent in racial minority communities in Colorado.
► As 9News reports, the Denver City Council is asking Governor Jared Polis to put a hold on rent and mortgage payments — which Polis says is beyond his legal authority.
“No governor, no president has the legal ability to suspend the sanctity of contract law,” Polis said. “It’s common law. No state has done that.”
► The JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley is closing for two weeks after a coronavirus outbreak spread among employees.
► We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Be very glad that Republican Ron DeSantis is the governor of Florida and not Colorado.
HERE IT IS: POLITICAL NEWS THAT IS (MOSTLY) NOT ABOUT CORONAVIRUS…
► Former President Barack Obama officially endorsed his old VP for President on Tuesday. From Vox.com:
“Choosing Joe [Biden] to be my vice president was one of the best decisions I ever made, and he became a close friend,” Obama said in his address. “And I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now.”
The message was an in-depth endorsement from the former president, whom the country has not heard much from in the past year and who stayed on the sidelines in the middle of a competitive Democratic primary.
Obama’s endorsement comes one day after former Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders formally backed Biden. Here is the full video of Obama’s endorsement of Biden:
► Democrats in CO-3 will conclude voting today on the question of which candidate will gain topline status on the June Primary ballot: James Iacino or Diane Mitsch Bush.
► Republicans love to allege that mail balloting leads to increased voter fraud, but there is no evidence to support this claim. In fact, a new study from UCLA/University of New Mexico/Union of Concerned Scientists debunks the voter fraud myth altogether.
► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) joined a letter with other Senate Democrats asking the Trump administration to hold off on any more big rulemaking decisions that are unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak.
► As the Associated Press reports, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on several key cases via teleconference.
► We’re #11! Colorado is doing pretty well at returning U.S. Census forms.
► D’oh!
Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
► Let’s go back, again, to Chris Cillizza of CNN going through President Trump’s marathon Monday press conference:
“I think I took — I think I took my own advice on the ban. I don’t know.”
I am absolutely going to start saying “I think I took my own advice” when someone asks me how I arrived at a decision.
► A Denver Post reporter tries to understand if anglers should still be out in Colorado despite widespread stay at home orders. We’d summarize the answer, but we got bored reading a personal ode to fishing.
ICYMI
► The United States is the best at coronavirus. So much winning.
► Please don’t ignore social distancing guidelines.
For more political learnings, check out The Get More Smarter Show or The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter.
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This video ought smoke our little troll-on-the-gubmit-dole out of his hole this morning: