From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
How to Help Flint
For seven years---in the late 80s/early 90s---I lived in Saginaw, Michigan, which is a 35-minute drive from Flint. I worked in radio and it was a step up from the Tri-Cities market (Saginaw-Bay City-Midland) if you got a gig in Flint. Even with its increasing troubles, it was a town we looked up to, and the broadcasters I met from Flint were great.
So I’m watching this city-wide disaster---manmade by a handful of state-level austerity freaks, led by Governor Rick Snyder---unfold with equal parts horror and disbelief. I mean, my god, when they learned that the Flint River water was leaching lead from the pipes at super-hazardous levels, Snyder shrugged and told everyone to relax and enjoy their new brown freedom juice. And even after being cornered like a rat with the facts, Snyder acted at a disinterested snail’s pace, which makes me wonder if someone should check his blood levels for lead. Every time I see him behind a bank of microphones, he looks inconvenienced---like someone just rudely interrupted his Sunday brunch.
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Besides being a holiday, it’s also a day of community service around the country. Right now in Flint that means the most basic community service possible: getting potable water to its residents. Shear distance prevents most of us from helping out in person, but last week Rachel Maddow posted this video from Melissa Mays at Water You Fighting For. It’s an update on the situation there, and also a portal for the various ways you can donate and help facilitate water deliveries to Flint:
Here’s the link to the site and there’s also a GoFundMe page for online donations called Bottles for the Babies. Over the weekend President Obama declared a federal emergency, freeing up $5 million initially. He can get more if he goes through Congress---good luck with that. So donations through volunteer organizations are still critical. If you can help out, you’ll be doing immediate, tangible good for the people of Flint who find themselves in this awful situation through no fault of their own. Thanks, and enjoy the holiday.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Note: The U.S. stock market is closed because of the holiday. You can exhale now.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Valentine's Day: 27
Days 'til the 5th annual ION Autonomous Snowplow Competition in St. Paul, Minnesota: 10
Global investments last year in solar, wind and biomass plants, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance: $329 billion
Clean energy investments by China and the U.S. last year: $110 billion, $56 billion
Number of Gitmo detainees being accepted by Oman, dropping the total prisoner population at our gulag to 93: 10
Number of Gitmo prisoners at its peak in 2003: 694
Factor by which a tech job listing is more likely to perform poorly if it includes the phrase “drug-free workplace” according to xxdr_zombiexx: 21
Totally Random NFL Score
New England Patriots 27 Kansas City Chiefs 20
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NEW Feature! “Meet Me in St. Louis”
Brought to you by the 2016 Netroots Nation Convention in St. Louis, July 14-17. A tidbit of history from the St. Louis City Plan Commission:
An English visitor to St. Louis in 1806 noted that the town had about 1,100 inhabitants, 300 houses and several mercantile stores. He commented on its favorable climate but felt that the moral standards had dropped after the arrival of Americans from Virginia and Kentucky. The town's first newspaper, the Missouri Gazette, was founded in 1808 by Joseph Charless.
Today the city’s population stands at 318,416. Wild guess: St. Louis is not the condom capital of the universe.
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Puppy Pic of the Day:
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CHEERS to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Once again we're thankful, and rather awestruck, by what he accomplished for black America---and, consequently, all of America---in his way-too-short life. He was flawed, as all humans are. But he had that stubborn 'ol dream. And come hell or high water (or fire hoses or guns or nightsticks or jail time or whatever else the bigots could throw at the movement) he refused to shut up and sit down, or match violence with violence. The yahoos occupying the federal wildlife refuge at gunpoint up in Oregon could take a page (or two or hundreds) from King:
"Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."
King and I co-existed on the Blue Planet for two-and-a-half years. Oops…there I go boasting again. Oh, and remember: there's no mail today, which also means no bills today. Thank you for that too, Reverend.
CHEERS to the war hawks’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Saturday, January 16, 2016 will go down as one of the more significant dates in Barack Obama’s presidency. It started when the White House announced that five American detainees, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, had been freed from Iranian prisons in exchange for a handful of Iranians we were detaining at the Hoboken Club Med (for violating the two-beach-towels-per-person-per-day rule). But that was just the warm-up act for this:
On January 16, 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran has completed the necessary steps under the Iran deal that will ensure Iran's nuclear program is and remains exclusively peaceful.
Before this agreement, Iran's breakout time---or the time it would have taken for Iran to gather enough fissile material to build a weapon---was only two to three months. Today, because of the Iran deal, it would take Iran 12 months or more. And with the unprecedented monitoring and access this deal puts in place, if Iran tries, we will know and sanctions will snap back into place.
In exchange, the nations involved in the agreement have lifted sanctions on Iran and freed up a bunch of their own money. So the American people are happy this morning, the Iranian people are happy this morning, and the rest of the nations involved in the pact are happy this morning. Not happy is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mainly because he has to move the scary red line on his cartoon bomb from the top to the bottom. Oh the indignity.
CHEERS to another fine little dustup. Did you catch the epic clash last night on TV? I’ll say this for them: they didn’t pull any punches. It was a struggle for dominance that’ll be talked about all day long. Dressed in their Sunday finery and bristling with moxie and intelligence, they went back and forth and back and forth, angling and scheming for the advantage in voices that sounded calm and rational, but barely disguised their personal and professional ambition. But enough about Downton Abbey. Did anyone see the Democratic debate last night?
CHEERS to spending an evening in the policy weeds. Ha Ha! Of course I watched the debate. Last night’s Democratic contest in South Carolina won’t change anyone's mind, but it proved once again that one party's candidates have the capacity to penetrate beyond the surface of an issue. As an added bonus: Lester Holt---perhaps the most underrated journalist/anchor working today---was a solid moderator. Yes, there were some sparks between Bernie and Hillary, who got the lion’s share of the time. But the winner was Martin O’Malley---the only candidate to wear a traditional American flag lapel pin. Yes, I have very high standards.
CHEERS to busting a bankster. In legal news, it was announced last week that the evil empire of Goldman Sachs has to fork over $5 billion for mortgage fraud. Holy cow---five billion. To put that in perspective, that's like two and a half Powerball jackpots.
CHEERS to Synonym Fever! Happy 237th Birthday to Peter Roget. He created the first thesaurus. For which we are thankful. Grateful. Gratified. Obliged. Contented. Indebted Appreciative. Swollen with mojo. Engorged with mokkalokkameekee. Ugglewhopped. Higginbothamed. Take your pick. I’m easy.
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Ten years ago in C&J: January 18, 2006
JEERS to Bamboozlepalooza. Those shady Republicans are at it again. House Speaker Dennis "Can You Ladle More Fudge Sauce On That, Miss?" Hastert has proposed shiny happy new ethics rules that he says would prevent undue influence from lobbyists. With one teensy weensy caveat:
According to lobbyists and ethics experts, even if Hastert's proposal is enacted, members of Congress and their staffs could still travel the world on an interest group's expense and eat steak on a lobbyist's account at the priciest restaurants in Washington. The only requirement would be that whenever a lobbyist pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a campaign contribution. Then the transaction would be perfectly okay.
Now you know why these guys are only comfortable passing bills in the middle of the night.
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And just one more…
Due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday,
today's Just One More feature is closed.
Have a tolerable Monday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
'Freedom Kids' Sing About 'Crushing' Cheers and Jeers At Trump Rally
---Talking Points Memo
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