October 20, 2020 10:28 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (October 20)

• 1 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Today is 10/20/20! Is that a thing? 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 learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

CORONAVIRUS AND VOTING INFO…

*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 

*Register to vote or get other election-related information:
GoVoteColorado.com

► Be careful out there, Colorado! New cases of COVID-19 have hit a record high in our state, as The Denver Post reports:

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 6,722 cases of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday, more than triple the most recent low of 2,016 in the last week of August. Three times last week, the state recorded more than 1,000 new infections in a single day.

Last week’s total was the highest since the state has had reliable data, though it’s likely there were more cases in the virus’s initial surge in March and April that weren’t found due to lack of testing at the time.

“These numbers are definitely a concern for us. We need everyone to follow public health guidance to control disease transmission and ensure that health care and public health capacity isn’t strained,” Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist, said in a statement. “We also want Coloradans who may have been exposed to COVID-19 to get tested.”

► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) doesn’t have a Donald Trump problem; he has a Cory Gardner problem.

► Today is the self-imposed deadline for Congress to reach a deal on another coronavirus aid package. As CNN reports, it’s probably not happening:

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said Tuesday that the “window is closing” on a potential deal for a stimulus package, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s deadline arrives for Democrats and the Trump administration to resolve policy differences if they want to pass a bill before Election Day.

“I think there’s still an outside chance something will get done before the elections. But the window is closing,” the South Carolina Democrat told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day.”
Pelosi said Sunday that she and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin must reached an agreement by end of the day Tuesday, the last feasible date to get a bill passed through both chambers of Congress by November 3. The two sides have been divided for months on the topline figure as well as what should be in the bill…

…Clyburn, who is the No. 3 ranking Democrat in the chamber, accused Republicans of not being willing to compromise with Democrats and argued that Pelosi “is trying to stand up for people who are being left out of this deal.”

As we’ve written repeatedly in this space, the real hangup in all of these stimulus talks has been SENATE REPUBLICANS.

► According to Republican polling outfit Magellan Strategies, which regularly tracks ballot returns in Colorado, roughly one-third of Colorado voters have already returned a ballot. Turnout in Colorado is heavily tilted toward Democratic voters at the moment, with some 35% of registered Democrats having returned their ballots as of this morning. Total ballot returns are at 921,342 (for comparison, more than 2.85 million votes were cast in Colorado in 2016).

The Denver Post has more on Colorado’s massive voter turnout numbers.

► Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden addressed Colorado’s wildfires on Monday as part of a warning about Climate Change. As Colorado Public Radio reports, Colorado’w wildfire season in 2020 is unusual…and ominous:

All told, they add up to a fire season that is longer than most on record for the state, the result of extended drought conditions, high temperatures and a monsoon that just never arrived.

“We haven’t gotten any rain. We haven’t got any snow,” said Jennifer Balch, director of the Earth Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder and a fire researcher. “Coupled with hotter temperatures, you’ve essentially got a hairdryer blowing at Colorado right now that’s making our fuels incredibly dry for very long periods of time.”

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates, precipitation in the state over the past 30 days has been less than 10 percent of normal. Colorado did not receive the usual monsoon rains or snowfall that’s common in the fall.

That kind of weather typically prevents large, destructive wildfires from starting, Balch said and dampens those still burning from the summer like the record-breaking Cameron Peak fire. She said just a dozen wildfires over 1,000 acres have begun in October in the past 35 years.

► Can you speak something OUT of existence? President Trump is sure trying. According to CNN, which is keeping track, Trump has claimed at least 38 times that COVID-19 will just “disappear.”

More political (and coronavirus) news is available right after the jump…

Now Only Partially Coronavirus-Related…

► For months, Fox News has dutifully repeated President Trump’s baseless warnings about mail ballot fraud. As Greg Sargent writes for The Washington Post, this misinformation has worked…on Republican voters who watch Fox News. D’oh!

► The U.S. Supreme Court will consider another case about whether or not President Trump can fiddle with the U.S. Census count.

► Republican State Senate candidate Lynn Gerber says that she is not a QAnon believer. She just happens to support QAnon conspiracy theories.

► Remember Referendum C? It’s still working.

► Still searching for a reason to vote for President Trump? How about dishwasher water pressure?

► High school students in Aurora won’t return to in-person learning for at least another month because of COVID-19 concerns. Elementary school students in Douglas County, meanwhile, are back in class.

► A cement plant in Florence, CO may be the first in the country to use a new carbon-capture technology on a commercial scale.

► It’s been true for decades: As goes Jefferson County, so goes Colorado. That’s bad news — again — for Colorado Republicans in 2020.

► This could be the best Tweet of the 2020 election cycle in Colorado:

Donald Trump said it best: Cory Gardner has been with him 100%.

Need I say more? pic.twitter.com/6c7reeX25p

— John Hickenlooper (@Hickenlooper) October 19, 2020

► As The Denver Post reports, the City of Aurora appears to be the first in the state to ban “no knock” search warrants:

The City Council voted 7-3 to prohibit police from forcibly entering a property without first identifying themselves as officers of the law. The measure was brought forward by Councilwoman Angela Lawson following the death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot in March by police as she slept in her own home.

There is an ongoing dispute as to whether — and how clearly — police identified themselves before entering Taylor’s Louisville, Ky., home.

Mark Silverstein, legal director of the ACLU of Colorado, said his organization has long raised red flags about no-knock warrants and the dangers they pose to not only occupants of a targeted home but the police officers themselves.

► As Tim Alberta writes for POLITICO, we may be overthinking the race for President: People just plain don’t like Donald Trump. 

► The final Presidential debate is scheduled to take place on Thursday. New rules will make it harder for President Trump to be President Trump.

► How do you piss away $1 billion in campaign cash? Just follow the example of President Trump’s re-election campaign.

► The U.S. Justice Department has filed a gigantic lawsuit against Google.

► House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy may just hold on to his leadership post after all.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Do you wish that you could always smell bacon? Well, now you can.

► Senator Cory Gardner will stand up for Colorado and protect…the Grand Canyon?

ICYMI

► Both the Greeley Tribune and the Pueblo Chieftain endorsed Democrat John Hickenlooper for U.S. Senate. That’s a big shift from 2014, when both newspapers backed Republican Cory Gardner.

► Don’t miss the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring interviews with health care activist Laura Packard and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

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

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