Today is Peace Officer Memorial Day; Governor Jared Polis has ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff until sunset. 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.
Get Smarter Today About: Walmart prepares to raise prices over tariffs; Qatar buys the Trump administration; and the worst bills of the 2025 Colorado legislative session.
Warm Up Those Brains…
► The financial consequences of President Trump’s Tariff War are increasingly impacting Americans. As The BBC explains:
Walmart is preparing to raise prices in the US as soon as this month, as its own costs increase as a result of the new tariffs on imports imposed by President Donald Trump.
The plans by the world’s largest retailer come as White House announcements in recent weeks have resulted in most goods from around the world facing new import taxes of at least 10%, with products from China facing higher duties of at least 30%.
Reporting to investors on the firm’s performance on Thursday, chief executive Doug McMillon said he was grateful that the Trump administration had, for now, suspended plans for more aggressive levies.
But he said that his firm was still likely to raise prices to cover the new costs…
…Executives also warned that tariffs on countries that have received less attention such as Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru were putting price pressure on staples such as bananas, avocados, coffee and roses.
In interviews with US business outlets on Thursday, chief financial officer John David Rainey said shoppers could see higher prices in stores as soon as this month and definitely in June. [Pols emphasis]
► Colorado businesses are very worried about Trump’s on/off Tariff War. From Judith Kohler of The Denver Post:
Gail Ross welcomes the 90-day pause on the 145% tariffs on goods from China. About half of the clothes sold by Krimson Klover, the women’s apparel company where she is the chief operating officer, are made in China.
But what happens after the 90 days are up, Ross wonders. If the Trump administration re-imposes all the tariffs he announced on April 2, the total would be 46% on Vietnam, where Krimson Klover moved a third of its business when the president imposed tariffs during his first term in office.
Before President Donald Trump unveiled his so-called reciprocal tariffs, Krimson Klover, based in Boulder, was paying 7.5% on its imports from China.
In a temporary halt to an escalating trade war, the U.S. agreed Monday to slash the levy on China from 145% to 30%. China agreed to lower its tariff rate on U.S. goods to 10% from 125% while the two countries try to reach a longer-lasting deal.
“It’s great that this went down, but we’re still looking at a 30% tariff that wasn’t in our prices when set up (2025),” Ross said. “The consumer is going to ultimately pay for it.” [Pols emphasis]
► President Trump’s apparent decision to accept a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar as a replacement for Air Force One is bringing new attention to the shocking degree to which the Middle East nation has been buying access in the Trump Administration. As Mother Jones reports, FBI Director Kash Patel was paid a significant amount of money as a “consultant” for Qatar. For years, Attorney General Pam Bondi was also paid an obscene amount of money — more than six figures per month — to do equally-vague consulting work for Qatar, which is bringing up questions about why she moved so quickly to approve the country’s gift of a new airplane to Trump.
Because as David A. Graham perfectly summarized for The Atlantic, “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Plane.”
► Two Members of Congress from Colorado took opposing votes on the latest proposals to cripple Medicaid. From CPR News:
Colorado’s two members on the House Energy and Commerce committee took different views and votes on the changes Republicans are proposing for Medicaid as the party looks for cuts to fund its budget reconciliation package.
Republican Rep. Gabe Evans voted with his party to advance the changes to the federal health insurance program for children and low-income people, while Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette voted against it. The measure passed Wednesday afternoon along straight party lines, 30-24, after a marathon 26-hour mark-up session.
According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, under the Republican changes, 10.3 million people will lose coverage over the first decade it’s in effect. Millions more would lose coverage due to the Affordable Care Act changes approved by the committee.
“You can’t save $700 billion and not cut anybody off of Medicaid,” DeGette told CPR News. The CBO estimated the Medicaid changes would save $625 billion.“You’re going to have red tape and a whole bunch of people who are working fall off of Medicaid because they’ll get thrown off by the states.”…
…Upwards of 128,000 Coloradans could lose health coverage through the proposed work requirements, according to an analysis prepared by the liberal-leaning Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, both national non-profit organizations.
The Denver Post notes that Colorado would lose BILLIONS in Medicaid funding under the plan proposed by House Republicans. Colorado Newsline has more on the proposed cuts, supported by Republican Rep. Gabe Evans (CO-08), with one expert from the Colorado Fiscal Institute calling them “shameful.”
► The ongoing federal cuts from the Trump administration are impacting another important program: Antismoking programs. From The New York Times:
Experts on tobacco control said the Trump administration’s funding cuts would set back a quarter-century of public health efforts that have driven the smoking rate to a record low and saved lives and billions of dollars in health care spending. Still, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 29 million people in the United States continue to smoke.
The decimation of antismoking work follows a year of lavish campaign donations by tobacco and e-cigarette companies to President Trump and congressional Republicans. [Pols emphasis]
During budget hearings on Wednesday, lawmakers expressed concerns about the cuts to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. At least one pending lawsuit could reverse them.
So far, though, the budget reductions have sliced across several federal agencies and every state, more than 20 former federal and current state tobacco control staff members said in interviews.
► Congressman Gabe Evans (R-Fort Lupton) was the commencement speaker last weekend at his alma mater, the right-wing Patrick Henry College. Heidi Beedle of the Colorado Times Recorder reviews the remarks from Gabe-ish.
►As NPR reports, the Department of Health and Human Services has reinstated hundreds of occupational health workers.
After facing considerable pushback from labor organizations and congressional lawmakers, the Trump administration has reversed course on some of its planned layoffs at the federal health agency responsible for overseeing workplace safety.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, was slated to lose at least 900 workers, which represents more than 90% of the entire agency workforce.
But a federal lawsuit brought by a coal miner and a push among some members of Congress — including Republicans from West Virginia — appear to have prompted the Department of Health and Human Services to reinstate some critical programs.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr sat in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions on Wednesday and acknowledged that “some mistakes” had been made during his brief time in charge of the department.
► Logan Davis of the Colorado Times Recorder looks at the worst bills of the 2025 legislative session.
► Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Boulderish) continues to push for a congressional ban on stock trading:
► A national ad campaign is underway encouraging Republicans — such as Adams County Rep. Gabe Evans — to protect clean energy tax credits.
►Colorado Newsline runs down education-related bills that passed through the state legislature in 2025.
►The Denver Post provides an update on legislation signed into law by Governor Jared Polis.
►Westword lists five bills that are likely to resurface in the 2026 legislative session.
► Chase Woodruff of Colorado Newsline has more on the coming 2026 ballot battle over labor unions:
With a veto expected, supporters of SB-5 are instead turning their attention to the ballot box, where they hope to make gains on a different policy front in 2026. Initiative 43, a proposed ballot measure filed earlier this year, would require “just cause” for employee terminations, a significant change to the state’s at-will employment laws.
The measure would require private-sector employers to provide notice of 1 of 7 causes for termination, including willful misconduct, gross insubordination or “specific economic circumstances that directly and adversely affect the employer.” Fired employees who don’t believe their terminations met the just-cause criteria could file civil actions in state court seeking reinstatement or other relief.
► The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear arguments on birthright citizenship. Or not. POLITICO explains the confusion.
► As Anthony Cotton reports for Colorado Public Radio, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is standing firm against Trump administration efforts to get former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters out of the pokey:
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said Wednesday that the federal government has no standing to free former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters from jail.
“We have our own system,” Weiser said in an interview with Colorado Matters. “This is what our constitution calls federalism. We enforce our criminal laws and the federal government can’t hijack that system. They have to honor it. We are a separate sovereign.”…
…“I’m not going to be intimidated. I’m not going to be afraid. I’m going to defend the rule of law.”
►The New York Times reports on the latest infighting among Congressional Republicans that is causing problems for President Trump’s “big, beautiful budget bill.”
Say What, Now?
Congressman Gabe Evans (R-Fort Lupton) is getting hard to find when the House Energy and Commerce Committee takes tough votes:
► Quick quiz: How many times has President Trump changed tariff policies since his inauguration in January?
Hint: The number is probably a LOT higher than you would guess.
As The Washington Post reports in a new story about why Trump blinked on high tariffs with China:
Trump’s pullback reflected the core tension that has bedeviled the White House as he has tried using tariffs to remake the global economy in record time: What he seeks is virtually impossible without substantial political and economic blowback, even to constituencies the administration aims to protect.
That challenge is reflected in the sheer number of times the president has adjusted his tariff policies, at a pace economists say is without precedent. Since the inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump administration officials have announced new or revised tariff policies more than 50 times, according to a tally by The Washington Post. (A separate tally by Reed Smith, a law firm, has found about 55 such actions.) [Pols emphasis] Trump has issued more than a dozen tariff-related executive orders, or about one per week — one aimed at Mexican drugs and migration, another aimed at Canada, yet another hitting China, and several that modified previously issued executive orders, among others.
► The Jefferson County Republican Party is bringing noted killer Kyle Rittenhouse to Colorado for a fundraiser.
► Don’t miss the latest episode of the Get More Smarter Podcast for an in-depth rundown of the 2025 Colorado legislative session with Denver Post Statehouse Reporter Seth Klamann:
Insider trading is a crime for company insiders. For politicians trading on political decision making, it’s almost always just unethical but not criminal. We do need stronger government officials’ ethics laws.
THe problem I think is not trading on upcoming votes. They may be a bit more knowledgable but we all have amost as good a knowledge. It's trading on what they learn in their discussions with others, subcommittee research, etc. where they have a giant advantage.
One big one, the warnings that COVID was going to be bad were first confidential reporting to the appropiate congresspeople and committees. And they knew how credible those reports were. Giant unfair advantage.
None of these are company insiders. The lack of knowledge on this entire subject in this diary is staggering, but for a simpleminded moron like you it’s just more blathering ignorance, as usual.
Now, President Dipshit telling Congressperson Dipshit to buy or sell T**** Company stock based upon President Dipshit’s soon-to-be-announced idiocies might be illegal insider trading. Telling Congressperson Dipshit to buy or sell the market, probably not.
We do need stronger and enforceable government officials’ ethics laws.
Using federal and state law enFORCEment to try to ramp up the fear and disruption.
We can get an idea of what's next with Kristi Noem's request for help:
The Department of Homeland Security has asked the Department of Defense to provide more than 20,000 National Guard troops to participate in the administration's domestic immigration operations, two U.S. officials with knowledge of the request told ABC News on Thursday.
Redeploying military forces to free up personnel and probably expand capacity to hold those arrested — without bothering the silly heads in Congress and their "power of the purse."
Anyone keeping track of the various ways the Trump Mad!-ministration is improving the warfighting and ending the wokeness of the military?
"Over 10,000 service members are deploying / have deployed to the southern border to augment the approximately 2,500 service members already deployed supporting CBP’s southern border mission."
May 15, 2025 11:05 AM UTC
9 Comments
Today is Peace Officer Memorial Day; Governor Jared Polis has ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff until sunset. Let’s Get More Smarter! 
Liberal whining about kash and bondi earning a living before being asked to serve by the president
Insider trading is a crime, but do go on, lickspittle.
Insider trading is a crime for company insiders. For politicians trading on political decision making, it’s almost always just unethical but not criminal. We do need stronger government officials’ ethics laws.
THe problem I think is not trading on upcoming votes. They may be a bit more knowledgable but we all have amost as good a knowledge. It's trading on what they learn in their discussions with others, subcommittee research, etc. where they have a giant advantage.
One big one, the warnings that COVID was going to be bad were first confidential reporting to the appropiate congresspeople and committees. And they knew how credible those reports were. Giant unfair advantage.
"Earning a living" doing illegal insider trading, pay for play with foreign countries, and threatening to "come after" his and Trump's political enemies?
Most people know how to earn a living without committing crimes. But for the Trump cabinet, being corrupt is a feature, not a bug.
You mean like Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders. Bob Mendez Chuck Schumer.
None of these are company insiders. The lack of knowledge on this entire subject in this diary is staggering, but for a simpleminded moron like you it’s just more blathering ignorance, as usual.
Now, President Dipshit telling Congressperson Dipshit to buy or sell T**** Company stock based upon President Dipshit’s soon-to-be-announced idiocies might be illegal insider trading. Telling Congressperson Dipshit to buy or sell the market, probably not.
We do need stronger and enforceable government officials’ ethics laws.
The irony is dripping off this one….
Kid Rock's restaurant workers asked to go home to avoid rumored Ice raids
Using federal and state law enFORCEment to try to ramp up the fear and disruption.
We can get an idea of what's next with Kristi Noem's request for help:
Redeploying military forces to free up personnel and probably expand capacity to hold those arrested — without bothering the silly heads in Congress and their "power of the purse."
Anyone keeping track of the various ways the Trump Mad!-ministration is improving the warfighting and ending the wokeness of the military?