From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Yesterday First Lady Michelle Obama flew back from her trip to Japan and Cambodia (and boy are her arms not tired because, duh, she works out so much), where she promoted the new Let Girls Learn campaign:
62 million girls around the world---half of whom are adolescent---are not in school. These girls have diminished economic opportunities and are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, early and forced marriage, and other forms of violence. Yet when a girl receives a quality education, she is more likely to earn a decent living, raise a healthy, educated family, and improve the quality of life for herself, her family, and her community. … Let Girls Learn will elevate existing programs, including in areas of conflict and crisis, and leverage public and private sector partners. It will also look to build more partnerships and challenge other organizations and governments to commit resources to lift up adolescent girls across the globe.
A few pics from her trip:
First Lady Michelle Obama talks with Taiko drummers
during a tour of Fushimi Inari Shinto Shrine in Kyoto.
At the 12th century Angkor Wat temple
complex just outside Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Mount Fuji from the First Lady's plane.
More pics and recaps of the First Lady's trip in her
travel journal and via the Obama Diary
here and
here. I'm sure I'm not the first to say this, but: Michelle2016.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, March 23, 2015
Note: If you're new to this site, welcome! Please use the proper pronunciation of Daily Kos: "DEE-ah-EYE-lee Kawz." Otherwise you might sound silly.
-
12 days!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til Palm Sunday, which means palm-strip sword fights in the reception hall after the service:
6
Days 'til the 4th annual
Fort Pierce Oyster Festival in Florida:
12
Percent of Americans who have no idea that the Supreme Court heard arguments for dismantling the ACA:
53%
Percent of those same people who believe that striking down subsidies for people who get coverage via healthcare.gov will hurt the country:
63%
(Source: Kaiser Family Foundation poll)
Total revenue at the University of Texas Athletic department, making it the richest of all the NCAA college teams:
$141 million
Total profit turned by the Louisville Cardinals' men's basketball team:
$24 million
(Source: Bloomberg News)
Percent of U.S. homes that subscribe to a video streaming service like Netflix or Amazon Instant Video:
40%
(Source:
The Washington Post)
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: Today is National Puppy Day. All together now: Squeeee!!!
-
JEERS to the Manchurian candidate. The GOP gets its first official top hat tossed into the ring today. Rafael Eduardo Cruz is a communist plant who was parachuted into Canada by the Castro regime and then tunneled into the United States, where he relied on a secret network of spies to house him, feed him, clothe him, forge a Harvard degree, and teach him the ways of deception. Today, when he opens his eyes in his man-crib, his mother will hold up the queen of diamonds as he wakes and then smother her "good boy" in forehead kisses, thus beginning a cascade of events that will lead to his
declaration of candidacy for President of the United States. And then the conservative billionaires will feast upon his soul. His bumper sticker slogan: "Repeal EVERYTHING!" Catchy.
CHEERS to poking the 47 mutineers in the ribs with a sharp stick. The war-with-Iran fantasy of Tom Cotton and his merry band of GOP hawks in the senate took a hit over the weekend:
The United States and Iran reported significant progress Saturday toward a nuclear agreement, with the Iranian president declaring a deal within reach. America’s top diplomat was more reserved, leaving open whether world powers and Tehran would meet a March 31 deadline. […] "The talks “have made substantial progress,” Kerry told reporters, “though important gaps remain.” Talks with Iran resume [this] week.
In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was more optimistic. “Achieving a deal is possible,” he said. “There is nothing that can’t be resolved.”
He added, "Outside of the workings of your freakishly weird Congress, that is."
JEERS to the shrieking of the paranoids. Last week Hillary Clinton said she wants adults to go to camps to overcome our deficit of fun in this country. The hard-right crazies had a cow, although for different reasons. The conspiracy theorists freaked out because she was promoting "camps" and the evangelical puritans freaked out because she was promoting "fun."
CHEERS to nerds and geeks in all their glory. Today the White House will be teeming with problem-solving student inventors for the fifth annual Science Fair…
This kid's marshmallow cannon is still
the best science fair project ever.
President Obama will host the [event], welcoming more than 100 students from across the country to share their projects and celebrate their extraordinary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) achievements at the White House.
This year’s exhibit lineup includes a diverse array of projects, from patented inventions being brought to market, to innovative apps coded from the ground up, to award-winning rockets and robots, to pollution-powered batteries, 3D-printed wheelchair parts, and plans to protect honeybees.
My sole contribution to science was the physics project whereby I flicked pencils into the air so they'd stick into the drop ceiling while Professor Stillwell had her back turned. And to this day I wait by the phone for that call from the Nobel committee.
CHEERS signin' significant stuff. Five years ago today, one letter at a time, President Barack Obama signed his name to the Affordable Care Act, making it the law of the land and fulfilling a promise he coincidentally made eight years ago this week:
[W]e recognize that every four years we hear somebody’s got a health care plan. Every four years, somebody trots out a white paper---they post it on the web. But the question we have to challenge ourselves: Do we have the political will and the sense of urgency to actually get it done? I want to be held accountable for getting it done. I will judge my first term as president based on the fact on whether we have delivered the kind of health care that every American deserves and that our system can afford.
That poor law's been so battered and bruised since then that you hope to god it has a gold Obamacare plan. But it's working pretty darn well. In fact, last week in Cleveland
Obama said, “Every prediction that was made about it turned out to be wrong. It’s working better than even I expected." Or as Joe Biden says now: "It's a BIGGER fuckin' deal!"
Starts May 24 in D.C.
CHEERS to the W-I-N-N-E-R. It's spelling bee season again, and here in Maine the state competition---all 90 rounds of it---was held Saturday. Bryce Morales from Berwick Academy was the
last kid standing and now heads to the national event in late May. The word that put him over the top: "estanciero." The dictionary says the meaning is, "the owner of a South American cattle ranch." Iowa Congressman Steve King says the meaning is, "Them illegals is even takin' over our spellin' contests now!"
CHEERS to Sergeant Rubberbutt. On March 23, 1944 RAF Sgt. Nickolas Alkemade survived a jump over Germany from his Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute. Other than some cuts and a twisted knee, he was fine. Of course, it helped that he landed on Sergeant Schultz in the middle of a strudel binge.
-
Ten years ago in C&J: March 23, 2005
JEERS to Dad's army. What do you do if you're the U.S. Army and you don't meet your recruiting goals? Raise the upper enlistment age for the Guard and Reserves to 39, of course. New recruits will each get two holsters. One for their sidearm, and one for their jumbo tube of BenGay.
-
And just one more…
CHEERS to showing a young'un how it's done. As the FBI swarms over the last tattered remnants of Congressman (until the end of the month) Aaron Schock's reputation as the future of the Republican party, here's a quick parting lesson in political optics. If you want to cast yourself as a rugged he-man in a frozen climate, don't do it like spoiled-brat-on-spring-break Congressman Aaron Schock with his Vidal Sassoon haircut and knapsack filled with caviar and brie …
Instead, do it like Maine's badass Senator Angus King with his shit-eating grin, reading glasses and fully armed and operational attack sub:
Also: don’t be an unethical dick. Here endeth the lesson.
Have a tolerable Monday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-
Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Cheers and Jeers Had A Great Run, But It’s A Shadow Of Its Former Self
---Walt Hickey
-