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July 08, 2020 11:10 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (July 8)

  • 6 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Happy birthday to retired Chinese basketball player Wang Zhizhi! 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

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 

 

► The United States has surpassed 3 million coronavirus cases.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling today that will finally make right-wing Republicans happy. From The Washington Post:

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration may allow employers and universities to opt out of the Affordable Care Act requirement to provide contraceptive care because of religious or moral objections.

The issue has been at the heart of an intense legal battle for nine years, first with the Obama administration sparring with religious organizations who said offering contraceptive care to their employees violated their beliefs, and then with the Trump administration broadening the exemption, angering women’s groups, health organizations and Democratic-led states.

Wednesday’s decision greatly expands the ability of employers to claim the exemption, and the government estimates that it could mean that 70,000 to 126,000 women could lose access to cost-free birth control.

And the Trump campaign wonders why female voters are abandoning him in droves.

There should be another big Supreme Court announcement on Thursday — whether or not congressional committees and a New York prosecutor should be allowed to see Trump’s personal financial records.

 

► President Trump says that any hesitancy to re-open schools in the fall is about trying to make him look bad, or something. Now he’s threatening to cut off federal aid for school districts that don’t just open up regardless of the health risks. Chris Cillizza of CNN thinks this is a bad move for Trump:

Via CNN (7/8/20)

“We don’t want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons,” said Trump. “They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed. No way. So we’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open.”

The “why” here is simple: Trump’s poll numbers — and chances at winning a second term this fall — have taken a huge hit as the country has turned on how the President and his administration have handled the ongoing pandemic. (Trump’s job approval was at just 38% in a new Gallup poll released earlier this week.) He desperately wants to kickstart the economy and needs people to feel as though they are returning to “normal,” and getting kids back to school is, he believes, one of the best ways to do just that.

The problem is that Trump is so focused on his political imperatives that he is losing sight of the bigger picture here: Forcing — or pressuring — schools to fully reopen will jeopardize the health of teachers and could well boomerang back on him from both a public health and political perspective.

Attempting to “force” schools to open could have a cascading effect that ends up “forcing” schools to close altogether:

…if a USA Today/Ipsos poll conducted in May is any indication, plenty of teachers will walk away from the profession rather than risk their health. That survey showed that 1 in 5 teachers said they would not return to the classroom if schools reopened in the fall, a number that could well cripple any attempts to reopen schools anyway.

The reality is that school opening decisions are made by governors and local officials, not the President of the United States. And, even if schools do reopen, it’s not at all clear that enough teachers will show up to make it feasible.

Earlier this week, Florida’s Education Commissioner announced that he would require all schools to be open for in-person learning five days a week.

 

Sticking with the subject of education, international students in Colorado are facing more questions than answers about resuming classes in the fall. From The Denver Post:

International students at Colorado universities are worried about their educational futures following a new directive from federal immigration officials that would require them to change schools or leave the country should their institution revert to full online learning this fall.

The new guidance is meant to encourage schools that closed their campuses and moved online due to the pandemic to physically reopen, Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a CNN interview Tuesday.

“If they don’t reopen this semester, there isn’t a reason for a person holding a student visa to be present in the country,” Cuccinelli said. “They should go home, and they can return when the school reopens.”

Tanya Roussy, a University of Colorado Boulder graduate student from Canada who is researching physics, said Tuesday that she felt it was “pretty clear with this government that cruelty is the point.”

 

You’re going to be reading a lot about businesses that received PPP loans from the federal government now that data has been made public. The list of businesses that received loans of at least $1 million is…frustrating.

Irony? Yeah, there’s that, too.

 

If you’re looking for political news that isn’t about Coronavirus, it’s available right after the jump…

 

Now Only Partially Coronavirus-Related…

 

► President Trump’s “law and order” message probably isn’t resonating in the manner he would have hoped.

 

 As POLITICO reports, Members of Congress still aren’t saying much about reports that Russia offered bounties for the killing of American soldiers.

 


More bad polling news for the Big Orange Guy:

 

Who ya gonna believe? President Trump or the nation’s foremost expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci? You can read the rest of the comparison over at CNN.

 

 

Colorado Public Radio has more reporting on Colorado companies that received federal PPP money.

 

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman cast the deciding vote against a proposal to allow more people to live together in single-family homes during the coronavirus pandemic. From The Aurora Sentinel:

Aurora won’t oblige a request from Gov. Jared Polis that local governments temporarily allow more unrelated people to live in a single family home to ease economic burden during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a tie-breaking vote by Mayor Mike Coffman, the body decided against a temporary allowance of six unrelated people to occupy a housing unit. The limit in Aurora is four.

 

As The Washington Post reports, some Republicans are growing worried that President Trump’s constant attacks on mail voting are going to disproportionately harm…Republicans:

In several primaries this spring, Democratic voters have embraced mail ballots in far larger numbers than Republicans during a campaign season defined by the coronavirus pandemic. And when they urge their supporters to vote by mail, GOP campaigns around the country are hearing from more and more Republican voters who say they do not trust absentee ballots, according to multiple strategists. In one particularly vivid example, a group of Michigan voters held a public burning of their absentee ballot applications last month.

The growing Republican antagonism toward voting by mail comes even as the Trump campaign is launching a major absentee-ballot program in every competitive state, according to multiple campaign advisers — a delicate balancing act, considering what one strategist described as the president’s “imprecision” on the subject.

“It’s very concerning for Republicans,” said a top party operative, who like several others interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid drawing Trump’s ire. “I guarantee our Republican Senate candidates are having it drilled into them that they cannot accept this. They have to have sophisticated mail programs. If we don’t adapt, we won’t win.”

The president, however, has been arguing the opposite.

 

As Jon Murray reports for The Denver Post, the U.S. Senate race is already in full swing following last week’s Primary Election.

 

Republican congressional candidate Lauren “Yosemite Samantha” Boebert is saying quite a lot since her upset of Rep. Scott Tipton last week — including her belief that Sen. Cory Gardner and Rep. Ken Buck (also the State Republican Party Chair) are excited to campaign alongside her.

Boebert also announced new campaign staffers on Tuesday. Apparently, her campaign will be run “by committee” instead of having a traditional campaign manager. WCGW?

 

State Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet represents the home district of Elijah McClain, who was killed last year in a controversial encounter with Aurora police officers. Michaelson Jenet has received tens of thousands of emails about the case.

 

Governor Jared Polis again extended a disaster declaration for Colorado related to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Local governments and health departments are considering a new mask requirement in an effort to fight off the COVID-19 virus.

 

Colorado is suing Juul, a leading vape-products manufacturer, over its deceptive marketing strategies targeting younger people.

 

 The State of Wyoming is considering purchasing a large plot of land that extends into Colorado. You’ll have to read this story from The Associated Press to understand why this is even possible.

 

So much for “draining the swamp.” As POLITICO reports, more than 80 former Trump administration officials have registered as lobbyists.

 

 

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

The “pee tape” is real. It’s gotta be, right?

 

Casper Stockham, rocket surgeon.

 

► A new tell-all book from President Trump’s niece alleges that Trump paid someone to take his SAT test so that he could get admitted to the Wharton School of Business. This might be the most believable story about Trump we’ve seen in quite awhile.

 

ICYMI

 

President Trump is a racist. Period. Let’s call it like it is.

 

Every time House Minority Leader Pat Neville opens his mouth, something terrible comes spilling out.

 

Don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter

 

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Comments

6 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Wednesday (July 8)

  1. Need to sigh a goodbye to Dudley Brown, who resigned as Exec. Director of RMGO.  Alas.  Elections and court cases didn't work out so well for him. 

      1. A Neville, a Boebert and a Fudd walk into a bar. The bartender looks at 'em and says, "Y'all get the hell outta here."

         

        . . .

         

        . . .

         

        . . .

         

        . . .

         

        . . .

         

        That's it.

        (Props to George Wallace, the comedian as opposed to the racist sociopath.)

    1. Apparently, 1996-2020 was enough for Dudley.

      D Post story says Brown will continue as President.  Somebody named Taylor Rhodes, who has been a lobbyist for the RMGO, is taking over as ED.

       

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