December 08, 2020 10:33 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (December 8)

• 13 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Happy “Safe Harbor Day“; please celebrate responsibly. 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 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 

► The Associated Press explains “Safe Harbor Day”:

Other than Wisconsin, every state appears to have met a deadline in federal law that essentially means Congress has to accept the electoral votes that will be cast next week and sent to the Capitol for counting on Jan. 6. Those votes will elect Joe Biden as the country’s next president.

It’s called a safe harbor provision because it’s a kind of insurance policy by which a state can lock in its electoral votes by finishing up certification of the results and any state court legal challenges by a congressionally imposed deadline, which this year is Tuesday.

“What federal law requires is that if a state has completed its post-election certification by Dec. 8, Congress is required to accept those results,” said Rebecca Green, an election law professor at the William & Mary law school in Williamsburg, Virginia…

…By the end of the day, every state is expected to have made its election results official, awarding 306 electoral votes to Biden and 232 to President Donald Trump. [Pols emphasis]

► As The Washington Post reports, the first COVID-19 vaccination effort has begun in the United Kingdom:

It took barely a second. She rolled up her sleeve and Britain’s Margaret Keenan became on Tuesday the first person to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shot outside of clinical trials, as the first mass coronavirus immunization campaign in the West began.

The 90-year-old grandmother received her jab, as the Brits would say, at University Hospital in Coventry, England, at 6:31 a.m. local time. The nurse, May Parsons, told her to relax her arm.

“I feel so privileged to be the first,” Keenan said, adding that it meant she could “finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.”

That was one quick shot for Maggie, one giant leap for humankind.

Here in the United States, a vaccine from Pfizer appears to be days away from getting final approval for distribution. Vaccinations in Colorado could begin as soon as the end of the week.

► A group of Colorado Republicans continues to insist that there were voting irregularities in Colorado — even though these folks can’t even begin to explain the supposed problem. If State Reps. Patrick Neville and Dave Williams are involved, you know it’s a very serious and factual complaint [insert eye roll here]. Just last week, State GOP Chair Ken Buck had seemingly given up on conspiracy theories related to the election.

If you’re looking for stories about political courage, you won’t find them from Colorado’s Republican Congressional delegation. Senator Cory Gardner, Rep. Scott Tipton, Rep. Ken Buck, and Rep. Doug Lamborn have all refused to comment on whether Democrat Joe Biden is the winner of the 2020 Presidential Election.

► President-elect Joe Biden selected retired General Lloyd Austin to serve as Secretary of Defense, but that nomination has already hit a snag. As Jim Golby writes for The New York Times:

General Austin is a capable and respected former commander of Central Command, but a civilian — not a recently retired general — should lead the Pentagon.

As it is, Mr. Biden will need a Congressional waiver; the National Security Act of 1947 requires a prospective secretary to wait seven years after ending active duty as a commissioned officer and General Austin retired only in 2016. It would be only the third time a president has requested a waiver — President Harry Truman for George Marshall in 1950, and President Trump for James Mattis.

The legislators who negotiated the original security act believed only unique circumstances might dictate that a newly retired general or admiral should lead the Defense Department. They codified into law a 10-year cooling-off period (which Congress in 2008 reduced to seven years).

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

And Now, More Stuff to Read…

► How badly has the Trump administration bungled the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic? Consider this: They couldn’t even correctly purchase a vaccine. As The New York Times reports:

Before Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine was proved highly successful in clinical trials last month, the company offered the Trump administration the chance to lock in supplies beyond the 100 million doses the pharmaceutical maker agreed to sell the government as part of a $1.95 billion deal months ago.

But the administration, according to people familiar with the talks, never made the deal, a choice that now raises questions about whether the United States allowed other countries to take its place in line.

As the administration scrambles to try to purchase more doses of the vaccine, President Trump plans on Tuesday to issue an executive order that proclaims that other nations will not get the U.S. supplies of its vaccine until Americans have been inoculated.

But the order appears to have no real teeth and does not expand the U.S. supply of doses, according to a description of the order on Monday by senior administration officials.

Oh, and that Executive Order? Clear as mud, as POLITICO reports:

The chief scientist of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed was unable to explain President Donald Trump’s latest executive order Tuesday, which aims to prioritize shipment of the coronavirus vaccine to Americans over other countries.

Moncef Slaoui, who Trump tapped in May to head up the administration’s efforts to hasten vaccine development, appeared puzzled when asked to clarify the president’s order during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“Frankly, I don’t know, and frankly, I’m staying out of this. I can’t comment,” Slaoui said. “I literally don’t know.” [Pols emphasis]

► As Axios reports, Trump campaign legal genius Jenna Ellis has tested positive for COVID-19, which was probably inevitable given how much time she spends hanging around Rudy Giuliani:

President Trump’s lawyer Jenna Ellis has informed associates she tested positive for the coronavirus, multiple sources tell Axios, stirring West Wing fears after she attended a senior staff Christmas party on Friday…

…Ellis showed up to the White House senior staff party in the East Wing on Friday as the guest of Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro and was not seen wearing a mask, according to sources who attended the indoor event.

“She had the nerve to show up at the senior staff Christmas party knowing everyone was furious with her for constantly stirring Trump up with nonsense,” said a senior administration official.

The Colorado Times Recorder has more on Ellis, who is regrettably connected to Colorado.

► President Trump has apparently decided to take the rest of the year off.

► Pretty soon, you may be able to call the weed man over to your house and not have to sneak him in the back door. As The Denver Post explains:

The Aurora City Council on Monday night gave preliminary approval, by an 8-2 vote, to cannabis delivery in Colorado’s third-largest city. The ordinance will need a second vote in two weeks, and if it passes, deliveries of marijuana could begin in early 2021.

That would likely make Aurora one of the first cities in the state where consumers can place an order for recreational weed from their couch and wait for it to arrive in the comfort of their homes.

► President Trump nominated Ft. Collins developer Gino Campana to head up something called the Public Buildings Reform Board. As The Ft. Collins Coloradoan reports with a straight face:

Campana said he applied to have some role in the Trump administration.

“Not unlike in the Obama administration where I tried to pitch in where I could, working with them on sexual assault and domestic violence, I have been reaching out to the Trump administration since the beginning asking how I could help,” he said.

The Trump administration really put a priority on that application.

► As public health experts feared, coronavirus cases in Colorado are on the rise since the Thanksgiving holiday. Public health restrictions in Adams County have been extended for another 30 days.

► Officials at CHSAA announced that the winter high school sports season will not begin as planned on January 4. Sports such as basketball, wrestling, and swimming will not begin their respective seasons until at least February.

► Colorado officials are waiting for the federal government to take action so that unemployment benefits can continue to be processed.

► A restaurant in Lyons, Colorado had its business license revoked by town trustees after it was caught repeatedly violating COVID-19 health orders.

► If you needed another reason to hate this dreadful year: Colorado is on track to finish 2020 as the fifth-driest year since 1872.

► As The Associated Press reports, experts are still mystified by a mysterious illness that surfaced in India recently:

The illness was first detected Saturday evening in Eluru, an ancient city famous for its hand-woven products. People started convulsing without any warning, said Geeta Prasadini, the director of public health.

Since then, symptoms ranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness have been reported in 546 patients admitted to hospitals. Many have recovered and returned home, while 148 are still being treated, said Dasari Nagarjuna, a government spokesperson.

Teams of experts have arrived at the city from India’s top scientific institutes. Different theories have been suggested and are being tested. The most recent hypothesis is contamination of food by pesticides.

► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) and Congresswoman-elect Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert took pictures playing with toys in Buck’s office.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Texas is trying to invalidate the election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Um…what?

► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) thinks it is really important that the U.S. Justice Department devote time and resources into investigating widely-debunked stories about “Hunter Biden’s laptop.” It is truly mind boggling to think that Buck once served as the District Attorney in Weld County.

► Perhaps feeling overlooked lately, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) reminds us that he is still an incredible moron:

We need to know if @RepSwalwell‘s loyalties are with the United States or the #CCP & #Fang. https://t.co/UjFTC2377I

— Rep. Doug Lamborn (@RepDLamborn) December 8, 2020

ICYMI

► Don’t be like former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams.

► Check out the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring an interview with Sulita Sualau and Ron Ruggiero of SEIU Local 105:

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

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