June 15, 2021 10:37 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (June 15)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Happy Global Wind Day; please celebrate responsibly. 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 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 

*Coloradans can now get a COVID-19 vaccine at one of six locations without a prior appointment. 

► New information is emerging showing the depths to which former President Trump and his minions sank in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. As The Washington Post explains:

President Donald Trump’s staff began sending emails to Jeffrey Rosen, the No. 2 at the Justice Department, asking him to embrace Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election at least 10 days before Rosen assumed the role of acting attorney general, according to new emails disclosed by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in advance of a hearing to probe the causes of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

On the same day as the electoral college met to certify the election results — which was also the day Trump announced that William P. Barr would be stepping down as attorney general — his assistant sent Rosen an email with a list of complaints concerning the way the election had been carried out in Antrim County, Mich.

The file included a forensic analysis of the Dominion Voting Systems machines the county employed, alleging they were “intentionally and purposefully” calibrated to create fraudulent results, and “talking points” that could be used to counter any arguments “against us.”…

…The claims were false.

The email — one of several previously undisclosed records released by the Oversight Committee Tuesday morning — sheds light on the type of pressure Trump was putting on the Justice Department to take up his crusade against Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

The good news here is that DOJ official seem to have responded to Trump’s demands with the appropriate level of dismissal:

Then-Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen forwarded one of Meadows’ emails linking to a YouTube video about the Italy conspiracy to senior official Richard Donoghue, who responded: “Pure insanity.” https://t.co/c9rgHJrY5j

— Axios (@axios) June 15, 2021

► As The New York Times reports, the Biden administration is putting together plans for combatting domestic extremism:

The Biden administration is aiming to bolster information sharing with technology companies, potentially expand hiring of intelligence analysts and improve screening of government employees for ties to domestic terrorism as part of a much-anticipated plan expected to be released on Tuesday detailing how the federal government should combat extremism.

President Biden ordered the review of how federal agencies addressed domestic extremism soon after coming into office, part of an effort to more aggressively acknowledge a national security threat that has grown since the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

The 32-page plan synthesizes steps that have been recommended by national security officials — including bolstering relationships with social media companies and improving information sharing among law enforcement agencies — into one blueprint on how to more effectively identify extremists in the country after years of heightened focus on foreign terrorists.

► Things are getting weird(er) in Grand Junction, as COVIDiots come out to yell at the Mesa County Commissioners.

► Governor Jared Polis is holding bill signing ceremonies in Northern Colorado today, with stops in Longmont, Greeley, and Ft. Collins on the schedule.

Click below to keep learning stuff…

And Now, More Words…

► A group called “Hold Them Accountable PAC” is running this ad targeting Congressperson Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert:

► Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says that he will refuse to allow President Biden to advance a new SCOTUS nominee if Republicans return to majority control in the Senate. This is the same guy who has been complaining about a lack of bipartisanship in Congress.

► Republican members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation are ready to wage war against the unemployed, for some reason.

► The New Republic looks at serious concerns of inaction on Climate Change from Western Republican Senators:

The American West currently faces interlocking drought and wildfire threats of unprecedented scale. And Republicans in the West are caught in a disturbing cognitive dissonance. Of the seven Western Republican senators (not including the two from Alaska), Romney is the closest to acknowledging the urgency of climate change: The others range from casual apathy to outright denial of human-induced global warming. The question that will face the West for every election—and wildfire season—from here on out is how long the region can survive while empowering a party blocking the policies that could help address the crisis.

► Georgia Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde has filed a lawsuit trying to get rid of metal detectors at the U.S. Capitol. 

► The Denver Post reports on efforts led by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Boulderish) to ban the use of ketamine during arrests. The legislation is inspired in part by the 2019 death of Elijah McClain in Aurora.

► The House Ethics Committee has decided not to advance further with an investigation into the actions of Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

► Restaurants and bars in Colorado can avoid paying state sales taxes through August under legislation signed by Gov. Jared Polis.

► The newly-named head of Denver International Airport is under investigation for public corruption in Los Angeles.

► John Aguilar of The Denver Post reports on a successful NIMBY effort in Arvada to reject a new Amazon warehouse after AN EIGHT-HOUR CITY COUNCIL MEETING:

The Arvada City Council turned down a controversial plan by Amazon to build a delivery hub on the city’s west side, voting 5-2 early Tuesday to reject an annexation request by the online behemoth.

The council’s vote came after a nearly eight-hour meeting that focused exclusively on the proposed project, which would have placed a 112,000-square-foot delivery warehouse and more than 1,000 adjoining parking spaces on a 36-acre site at the corner of Indiana Street and West 66th Place.

For several council members, it came down to the traffic — hundreds of delivery vans moving on and off the property every day — that would end up on on already heavily traveled roads.

 

► POLITICO previews Wednesday’s summit meeting between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

► Unemployed workers in Indiana are suing the state government for prematurely cutting off federal unemployment benefits.

Say What, Now?

► America’s dentist:

pic.twitter.com/3CCx2QeenP

— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) June 13, 2021

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► This is very on-brand for a politician more interested in her minor celebrity status:

Wannabe celebrity @laurenboebert will sell you her signature for $20.

Act now and you’ll receive a FREE BUMPER STICKER

Guess she’s doing this cause she can’t get any bills signed. Sad! #copolitics pic.twitter.com/gz5UhYVsC2

— Rural Colorado United (@RuralCOUnited) June 15, 2021

► A U.S. Olympic hopeful has been banned from competition for four years because of what she claims was a “tainted burrito.”

ICYMI

► Yeah, THIS is going to work.

► This week on The Get More Smarter Podcast, hosts Jason Bane and Ian Silverii discuss explain why Republicans should stop trying to make “Gerrymandering” a thing in Colorado:

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