► The House of Representatives will send an article of impeachment targeting former President Trump to the U.S. Senate today
Colorado Newsline, Colorado Public Radio, and CBS Denver have more on Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Denver), who will be joined by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Boulderish) as House Members who will ultimately prosecute the case in front of the U.S. Senate. The Senate trial is expected to begin the week of February 8.
As The Associated Press reports in a separate story, many lawmakers are receiving threats of violence in advance of Trump’s second impeachment trial. It’s pretty hard for Trump’s attorneys to argue that he did NOT incite an insurrection when legions of Trump followers are threatening the lives of lawmakers who are considering impeachment for that very reason.
► The Denver Post examines the rise of extremist militia groups in Colorado:
Before Robert Gieswein donned goggles, grabbed a baseball bat and stormed the U.S. Capitol, he posed for photos across Colorado flashing a hand sign associated with an extremist militia ideology that he and hundreds of other Coloradans buy into.
The far-right militia movement has gained visibility in Colorado over the past year after its members appeared at protests across the state.
Men wearing patches for the Three Percenter movement as well as identifiers of other far-right groups appeared at Black Lives Matter protests in Denver last summer. Dozens of men in military-style gear provided security for a Jan. 6 rally at the Colorado Capitol for people who falsely believe President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
In 2019, Three Percenter militia members guarded a rally against Colorado’s red flag law where state lawmakers spoke. And political candidates have aligned themselves with militias, including newly-elected U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who declared, “I am the militia.”
Here’s more from a press release out of the office of Gov. Jared Polis:
Today, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (the Department) released an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN), soliciting multiple vendors to help operationalize Colorado’s Canadian Drug Importation Program including aspects such as compliance, safety and prescription drug distribution. In 2019, the Colorado General Assembly passed SB19-005, which authorized the Department to seek approval from the federal government to establish an importation program that will provide access to Canada’s lower priced drugs to Colorado employers and consumers. Since then, the Department has been working diligently on this initiative to help save Coloradans money on health care.
“The U.S. pays the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and we are sick and tired of being ripped off. Almost one in three Coloradans do not take their prescription drugs as directed because they can’t afford to,” said Governor Jared Polis. “My administration will lead the way in changing that. Safely importing prescription drugs from Canada is one of the ways we can help Coloradans save money on health care.”
Importation of certain prescription drugs was made possible through a change in federal policy in November 2020. The federal final rule implements a provision of federal law from 2003 that allows FDA-authorized programs to import certain prescription drugs from Canada to Colorado. Colorado is one of several states implementing state-led importation programs.
More political (and coronavirus) news is available right after the jump…
As Promised, More Words…
► The next time you hear a right-wing voice blaming economic woes on COVID-related shutdowns, just point them here.
► President Biden is already taking meaningful action to address our Climate Change problems. That goal is more important than any short-term local sniping.
► As Jason Blevins writes for The Colorado Sun, we’ve got some serious water problems right around the corner:
The dry 2020 and the lack of snow this season has water managers in seven states preparing for the first time for cutbacks outlined in drought contingency plans drafted two years ago.
A sobering forecast released this week by the Bureau of Reclamation shows the federally owned Lake Mead and Lake Powell — the nation’s two largest reservoirs and critical storage for Colorado River water and its 40 million users — dipping near-record-low levels. If those levels continue dropping as expected, long-negotiated agreements reached by the seven Colorado River Basin states in 2019 will go into effect, with water deliveries curtailed to prevent the federal government from stepping in and making hard water cuts.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s quarterly report was dire, showing Lake Powell at 42% of capacity and downriver’s Lake Mead at 40% capacity. And there’s not much water coming.
► Senate Republicans have a long road ahead if they are to regain majority control in the U.S. Senate in 2022. There are 20 GOP-held seats up for re-election in 2022, compared to 14 Democratic seats. And as Chris Cillizza explains for CNN, Republicans were dealt two big blows recently as they try to map out the road back to power:
Just days into their newfound status as the minority party, Senate Republicans suffered two body blows that could badly complicate their chances of retaking control in 2022.
The first came Monday morning, with Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman’s announcement that he would retire in 2022 rather than seek a third term.
“This is a tough time to be in public service,” Portman said in announcing his decision. “For many of the issues I am most passionate about, I will continue to make a difference outside of the Senate, beyond 2022.”
The Portman news comes hard on the heels of a major Republican recruiting setback over the weekend, when Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey told The New York Times he will not challenge Sen. Mark Kelly (D) next November.
► The State of Colorado isn’t done fighting to keep the HQ for the U.S. Space Force here in Colorado. From The Denver Post:
The Colorado Economic Development Commission on Thursday approved $30,000 in additional marketing dollars to help reverse the U.S. Air Force’s decision to move the headquarters of the new U.S. Space Command, currently in Colorado Springs, to Huntsville, Ala.
“We do see the door may be open to having conversations with our Congressional delegation and the (new) administration,” Michelle Hadwiger, deputy director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development told commissioners.
She added even if the effort failed, the money, which is coming out of the state’s Strategic Fund, would be well spent in promoting Colorado’s aerospace expertise to a national audience. The commission had already approved a $20,000 award in December.
Colorado was considered a front runner to host the new branch of the military given its deep aerospace and air defense expertise. In spring 2019, four of the six finalist locations were in Colorado and the provisional headquarters was given to Peterson Air Force Base. But by the spring of 2020, the Air Force reversed course and named six new finalists, with only one located in Colorado.
►Colorado Public Radio reports on Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert’s (R-Fox News) first two pieces of legislation in Congress. They’re not exactly proactive measures.
► Denver7 chats with U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Denver) about his legislative priorities.
► Concerns are growing about the conservative “Benson Center” at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
► Rudy Giulianiis being sued for $1.3 billion for making a whole bunch of baseless claims about election fraud related to Denver-based Dominion Voting Services.
► Hello there, karma. As POLITICO reports, former Trump staffers are having trouble finding employment:
It’s not been easy. Tainted by Trump’s reputation, several Trump aides described an increasingly bleak job market with virtually no chance of landing jobs in corporate America and some even having seen promising leads disappear after the rampage at the U.S. Capitol. A second former White House official said they knew of “people who got jobs rescinded because of Jan. 6.” A Republican strategist was blunter.
“They are really f—ed,” the strategist said, pointing to some top officials who stuck with Trump until the bitter end. “The Hill scramble, one of the few places where they’d be welcomed, already happened a month or so ago… They were told over and over to take their hand off the hot stove, and they didn’t want to listen.”
It’s not just the lower- and mid-level staffers getting pinched. Two people familiar with his thinking said Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who spent seven years in the House of Representatives before joining the White House, was even considering a position at the Trump Organization because of a lack of options.
► Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul STILL can’t acknowledge that the 2020 Presidential election was not stolen. As Chris Cillizza of CNN explains, this ain’t true:
It is a FACT — based on a total lack of objective evidence and the rejection of lawsuit after lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump and his legal team — that there was no widespread election fraud in the 2020 race. (Which, by the way, makes it a lot like all the other presidential elections that experts have studied in search of fraud.)
That FACT is not overridden by the opinion of Republican voters who say they don’t have faith in the process. The reason they don’t have faith in the process is that Trump — as well as his enablers like Paul — spent the last three months (and, really, the last four years) telling their supporters that the whole election system was rigged against them. So is it any wonder that so many Republicans — contra objective evidence — believe that the election wasn’t entirely above board? Of course not!
It’s important to note that the school board members in question were only being asked to wear masks DURING that particular school board meeting as a gesture of respect.
►Officials in Douglas County are once again pushing to split from the Tri-County Health Department because they are still mad that health experts were appropriately advising the county on health matters.
► Don’t miss the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast, where hosts Jason Bane and Ian Silverii lament that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Rifle) is as bad as they thought she would be:
Don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter.
∗∗∗
Your local news outlets need you! Consider making a donation to help fund continuing operations at Westword or The Aurora Sentinel
∗∗∗
Hick's for Truth, Justice, and Being Nice to Republicans. We do know what Hick is against: Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and Putting Kids in Prison.
He'll dance with the ones that brung him. But we still have to keep the pressure on, so that he'll eventually fold. He often does.
January 25, 2021 11:31 AM UTC
5 Comments
Happy “
Ok, I read the bullet point . . .
Next, I read the headline . . .
Then I read the entire article . . .
So now, I have just one question . . .
. . . does anyone out there have any idea what the Senator’s legislative agenda and priorities might be?
Doubtful that Manchin reads this blog but he might
have told Hickknow.Hick's for Truth, Justice, and Being Nice to Republicans. We do know what Hick is against: Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and Putting Kids in Prison.
He'll dance with the ones that brung him. But we still have to keep the pressure on, so that he'll eventually fold. He often does.
Rand Paul, et al. is proving democracy is a lot easier to destroy than to build.
Very punchable, that smartass.
Stephanopolous owned him. Everyone thinks so except of course, rand paul.
KY elects the worst kind of people to the Senate.