January 25, 2017 11:41 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (January 25)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Today’s “Get More Smarter” is being read by more people on earth than any other website ever. EVER! It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. 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 a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Got concerns? Calling the office of Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) will only get you to a voicemail box…if you are lucky enough for the voicemail to even pick up. Senator Gardner seems rather nonplussed by the fact that his constituents can’t reach his office. Jonathan Romeo of the Durango Herald has a detailed story on the rising anger of constituents who are flabbergasted that they can’t even reach Gardner’s office.

The Denver Post has a primer on how to go about trying to contact your Congressional representatives.

► President Donald Trump is proving to be the world’s sorest winner as he continues to make completely unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2016 election. As the Washington Post explains:

President Trump plans to ask “for a major investigation” into allegations of widespread voter fraud, as he continues to claim without providing evidence that he lost the popular vote in November’s election because millions of illegal votes were cast, according to tweets posted Wednesday.

The White House has yet to provide details, but Trump said in back-to-back tweets that the investigation would cover “those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal” and “those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time).” Trump used all capitals — VOTER FRAUD — for emphasis.

“Depending on results,” Trump tweeted, “we will strengthen up voting procedures!”

So, uh, you know how people call you President Trump now? That’s because you won. You can’t win the 2016 election again.

Election officials in Colorado, meanwhile, continue to reiterate that there is absolutely no reason to suspect large-scale voter fraud.

► President Trump was set to sign Executive Orders today that would theoretically lead to the beginning of construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico that Mexico totally isn’t going to pay for in any way whatsoever. Trump is rolling out a few other immigration-related measures today.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► As the Denver Business Journal reports, two big infrastructure projects in Colorado appear on a list of priorities for work being proposed by the Trump administration. Naturally, one of the suggested projects on Trump’s to-do list is already finished:

Two Colorado highway projects appear on a priority list of about 50 proposed major infrastructure upgrades nationwide as the Trump administration prepares a push to improve the nation’s network of highways, bridges, rail lines and airports.

But at least one project on the list — the addition of a 13-mile shoulder express lane on Interstate 70 across the foothills — appears to be one that’s already been completed…

…Both the I-70 and I-25 projects included on the priority list are described as each costing $1 billion and generating 1,000 jobs. It’s not clear where those figures came from.

President Donald Trump has made infrastructure upgrades a key component of his economic platform. As a candidate, he talked often of launching major improvements and additions to the nation’s system of highways, bridges, railways and other facilities as a way to stimulate the economy and create new jobs.

► The Ft. Collins Coloradoan reports on President Trump’s new orders for the Environmental Protection Agency, and the news is not particularly good for Colorado. 

Multiple news outlets across Colorado are reporting on Trump’s EPA demands, including news that his administration has barred the agency from communicating on social media.

► Republican legislator Tim Leonard made his mark in local political history in December by becoming the first sitting legislator in at least 40 years to serve time in jail. The Evergreen lawmaker is now pushing his own bill that would eliminate some public school testing requirements — including some of the same tests that played a role in his jail sentence last year.

► Colorado Judge Neil Gorsuch appears to be one of the final two candidates to be named by Donald Trump to the Supreme Court.

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) has a long history of making contradictory statements on a variety of issues, but Coffman really outdid himself in responding to 5280 magazine about the Affordable Care Act. In consecutive sentences, Coffman literally says two completely different things:

No aspect of the ACA will be repealed without first having a replacement. We will soon vote on certain aspects of a repeal…

We will not repeal anything until we start repealing things!

► At least 24,000 low-income Coloradans will lose access to reproductive health care services if Trump and Republicans are able to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.

► Hey, look at that: We have a Greg Walcher sighting!

► Republican legislators in Colorado who balked at approving funding for suicide-prevention measures in state mental hospitals are being forced by public opinion to backtrack on their opposition.

► Brian Eason of the Denver Post reports on renewed efforts from Colorado Republicans to pass legislation that would allow people to discriminate against others based on “religious reasons.”

► Proposed legislation in Colorado would make it legal to take a “ballot selfie” the next time you vote. Whatever.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The battle to become the new Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party is heating up and already getting messy.

► Ethics? We don’t need no stinking ethics in the White House!

ICYMI

► The Get More Smarter Show is back with its first episode of 2017. Watch it twice.

Don’t forget to check out The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!