From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Election Season Reminder for America
If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people---their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties---someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a Liberal.
---John F. Kennedy
“I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.”
---Paul Krugman
"Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
---Stephen Colbert
“Today’s so-called ‘conservatives’ don’t even know what the word means. They think I’ve turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That’s a decision that’s up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right. It’s not a conservative issue at all.”
---Barry Goldwater
"Everybody knows God is nonpartisan, but I swear Jesus was a liberal---the best, the biggest, the original bleeding heart---the one who embraced the outcasts, the model for us all. Just read the stuff in the New Testament written in red."
---Molly Ivins
Please vote responsibly.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, October 24, 2016
Note: To accommodate the rise in pre-election traffic, Daily Kos has added six gerbils to the treadmill. And to answer your next question: of course they're union.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til election day: 15
Days 'til the 2016 Newberry Springs Pistachio Festival in California: 12
Average number of police killed per year in "felonious acts" (i.e. not accidental) during the 1970s, according to the FBI: 127
Number of police officers killed last year: 41
Drop in the percent of Americans with no bank account between 2013 and 2015, according to the FDIC: 7.7% to 7%
Hillary Clinton's fundraising advantage over Donald Trump's fundraising in Maine, according to The Portland Press Herald: 15:1
Percent chance that Gov. Chris Christie knew all about the closure of the George Washington Bridge as an act of political revenge, according to testimony of his former deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly: 100%
Totally Random NFL Score:
New England Patriots 27 Pittsburgh Steelers 16
World Series
The Chicago Cubs (first Series appearance since 1945) and the Cleveland Indians are tied at 0 games apiece.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Maverick gets a wagon…
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CHEERS to where things stand. Every so often during this election season, you just have to sit back and say to yourself, "Damn, what a great time to be a Democrat." We have a fine candidate to succeed President Obama running on a solidly-liberal platform…a great data-driven political operation that includes a strong ground game and terrific ads...a hapless opponent who looks like he's trying to lose while representing a party that constantly paints itself into the tiniest of corners…a Senate that looks like it'll flip back into Democratic hands…a House that, at minimum, will turn bluer…and a potential for real gains at the state level. And icing on the cake: 2016 will be the first time Democrats will have won a third presidential election in a row since FDR in 1940. As for polls, here’s a sampler from over the weekend to feast on:
President Obama's approval rating in Gallup's 3-day tracking poll: 57%
Hillary vs. Trump nationally via ABC News: 50%-38%
Hillary vs. Trump in Florida via CBS News: 46%-43%
Hillary vs. Trump in Florida via Reuters-Ipsos: 48%-44%
Hillary vs. Trump in Iowa via Reuters-Ipsos: 46%-43%
Hillary vs. Trump in North Carolina via Reuters-Ipsos: 47%-43%
Hillary vs. Trump electoral college projection via Reuters-Ipsos: 322-174
So as we head into the final stretch, take a deep breath, and as Molly Ivins says: "Don't give up on politics. Don't reject it. It's not only our responsibility to make this country work more fairly than it does now, it's also a helluva lot of fun. There are very few things more fun than raising hell for the good of the people." Except, perhaps, winning.
CHEERS to World Peace...or something like it. Happy United Nations Day! On October 24, 1945, the U.N. charter took effect. Their mission:
» To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.
» To reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.
» To establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained.
» To promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.
Which, when translated for the tea party, means: "To enact Agenda 21 when America least expects it and turn all our golf courses into gay Muslim indoctrination camps that replace our precious bodily fluids with zombie juice." And they say liberals are the stoners?
CHEERS to another Happy Hippie Hoedown. A good time was had by all at the fall Daily Kos/C&J Meetup at the Farm Bar and Grille in Kittery, Maine Saturday. In attendance to talk food, life and Trump's imminent demise were Kossacks Vacationland, JBL55, Jim, Ed Tracey, Mayim, Nautical Knots, Ruby, bjedward, Debbie in ME, 1864 House, freedapeople, northerntier, Frank, Common Sense Mainer, Bill in Portland Maine, C&J’s official pooch Haley, and our intrepid host and organizer, nhox42. The service was great, the portions were yuge, and optimism about November 8th was high. Be sure to keep an eye out for scheduled meetups in your area---or organize one of your own---via the Connect! Act! Unite! (CUA) posts. They're fun, they're foodylicious, they’re cathartic and, as always, time spent at a meetup is never deducted from your lifespan.
CHEERS to Great Moments in Saying Stuff. On October 24, 1861, the first coast-to-coast telegram was sent from Chief Justice Stephen Field in California to President Lincoln in Washington, D.C. Field's Message: "Could you find the whereabouts of Amanda Hugginkiss?" Lincoln's reply: "Nice try."
JEERS to takesie-backsies. This is so fucking petty and awful and vindictive and you can line up a whole bunch of other negative adjectives down to the corner and around the block for this. Another fine example of why you should not run government like a business, and how we promise our men and women in uniform the world when we need them as cannon fodder, but then shit on them when they come home:
Nearly 10,000 California veterans must pay back hefty reenlistment bonuses they earned a decade ago when they signed up to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has ordered.
Many of the California National Guard soldiers received more than $15,000 to reenlist in the mid-2000s, when the country was struggling to fill the force as two overseas wars raged on, the Los Angeles Times reported. […]
“I feel totally betrayed,” said Susan Haley, a former Army master sergeant who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 after she was improperly given a $20,500 bonus for her six-year reenlistment. She now pays the Pentagon $650 a month to slowly chip away at her debt. “They’ll get their money, but I want those years back,” she said.
The California Guard has asked about 9,700 soldiers and veterans to pay back their bonuses. Those who don’t will face interest charges, tax liens and wage deductions. Officials admitted the request is financially devastating for many of the veterans---but said they can’t do anything about it.
Yeah, they could do something about it, actually. Here’s a suggestion just off the top of my head: build one less tank.
CHEERS to gauzy gams. On this date in 1939, nylon stockings went on sale for the first time, in Wilmington, Delaware:
Here is how a newspaper article described the frenzy:
Customers were lined three deep at the counters most of the day. Many of them were men and many were from out-of-town, although the sale was limited to three pairs per customer and supposedly to Delaware residents.
Four thousand pair were sold the first day. Three thousand to women and one thousand to bank robbers.
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Ten years ago in C&J: October 24, 2006
JEERS to the shrugger-off'er-in-chief. Good gravy, he just doesn't care anymore. After years of saying "Iraq is not like Vietnam," President Bush suddenly agrees that it is. Meanwhile, after brainwashing America to spend every waking moment thinking "stay the course," he suddenly claims (using that fine Andover/Yale/Harvard-educated intellect of his): "We've never been stay the course!" I think I know what hell is going to be like for the Preznit: spending an eternity having to diagram his own sentences.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the wind beneath my wings. File this under "Tempus Fugits Way Too Fugity." Nine years ago today, mere days after the DKos community swarmed to make writing this column my full-time gig via voluntary donations and monthly subscriptions (our 2016 fundraiser will happen after we celebrate Hillary's landslide), the Portland Press Herald published an article about Cheers and Jeers. (It's no longer online, but that's okay because the photo they used made me look like beached whale.) The stuff about me didn’t mean diddly compared to the stuff about you, and it's always humbling to repost reporter Dieter Bradbury's take on the kiddie pool:
Cheers and Jeers resonates with its readers, who live from coast to coast and fiercely compete to be the first to post a comment in response to Harnsberger’s blogs. Most say they gravitate to Cheers and Jeers because it’s a welcoming place, free of the sniping and personal attacks that characterize many political blogs.
"It is a real community," says Mercedes McCarter [aka mcmom], who has been reading and commenting on Cheers and Jeers for two years. "People celebrate the good in others’ lives, and are there to provide support, emotional and practical, for those who are having tragedy or illness in their lives."
That part about this being a no-sniping zone was as true as ever this election cycle as the Hillary v. Bernie pie fights raged above ground. C&J is fast approaching its 13th blogiversary in December, and I'm just as proud as ever that it remains the equivalent of the FREE SPACE on a bingo card: a place where you can slip in and take a few deep breaths before you head back out into the craziness. We can't say it enough: thank you for splashing, whether daily or occasionally. And since I have your attention, let me just close by saying: Go Cubs.
Have a tolerable Monday. Oh, and President Obama is in L.A. to snarl traffic and tape an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Set your GPSs and your DVRs accordingly. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"If in the near future you hear that I got hit by a candy corn truck crossing the street or killed in a freak kiddie pool accident, you will know that I was murdered and that Bill in Portland Maine is the chief perp.”
---Roger Stone
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