From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
“Hello, Barack...”
I caught this on my 6-inch hospital room TV when I was recovering from abdominal surgery last week. Not the best time for a belly laugh. Damn you, Conan...
But I’ll forgive you.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...[Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, March 23, 2017
Note: "You got your wire tapp in my chocolate!" "Well you got your wire tapp in my peanut butter!" [Nuclear buttons are pushed, world ends, humanity discovers Heaven has a decent salad bar. The End.]
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the big Earth Day March for Science in D.C.: 30
Days 'til the Maryland Chicken Wing Festival: 9
Percent of adults age 18-30 who consider Trump an illegitimate president, according to a GenForward poll: 57%
Trump's job approval rating among that age group: 22%
Minimum number of U.S. cities---including NYC and Chicago---working jointly with the auto industry to negotiate the purchase of 114,000 electric municipal vehicles (cop cars, trash haulers, etc.) at an investment of $10 billion: 30
Percent of all plug-in vehicles sold last year that this joint purchase would represent: 72%
Amount Russian media paid disgraced former Trump administration National Security Adviser (and retired American general) Michael Flynn to kiss Putin's butt via speeches and other cheerleading activities in Moscow in 2015: $68,000
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
As a general rule about Bush & Co., the more closely a policy is associated with Dick Cheney, the worse it is.
Which brings us to energy policy---remember his secret task force? In the long history of monumentally bad ideas, the Cheney policy is a standout for reasons of both omission and commission. Dumb, dumber and dumbest.
Ponder this: Next year, the administration will phase out the $2,000 tax credit for buying a hybrid vehicle, which gets over 50 miles per gallon, but will leave in place the $25,000 tax write-off for a Hummer, which gets 10-12 mpg. That's truly crazy, and that's truly what the whole Cheney energy policy is.
---March 2005
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Happy happy happy…
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CHEERS to signin' significant stuff. Seven years ago today, one letter at a time, President Barack Obama signed his name to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, making it the law of the land and fulfilling a promise he coincidentally made ten 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 over the last seven years that ya hope to god it has an Obamacare gold plan sealed in a titanium shell. But, by god, it's working (the number of Americans without insurance has dropped to a record-low 8.8 percent, for one thing) and could be a model for the rest of the world with some minor fixes. (Okay, as pointed out in the comments, major fixes would be required to accomplish that. Point taken. --BiPM) But fixing things isn’t part of the Republican skill set, so tonight they'll try and complete their seven year vow to repeal it “root and branch,” and toss in the destruction of Medicaid as an added bonus.
Speaking selfishly, the timing couldn't be worse. This is my third year as a contented ACA enrollee on the federal exchange, and the Trump-Ryan-McConnell axis of evil is tossing their grenade one week after emergency surgery and a cancer diagnosis. (Gee, thanks, guys.) If there's a deity up there somewhere, the bill will suffer the same fate in the House today as Icarus's little tango with the sun. There's certainly a shitload of opposition, including my surgeon who said without missing a beat when I mentioned Trump Care during my Tuesday follow-up appointment: "Now there's an oxymoron." Yup. Emphasis on moron.
P.S. Now more than ever: “Thanks, Obama.”
P.S.S. Not a good sign for the axis of evil. This is a Republican:
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JEERS to Arrogance McSmugpants. Here's a partial transcript of yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for judge and apparent Franklin Graham-Tom Bergeron love child Neil Gorsuch:
Senator: Is Roe v. Wade settled law?
Gorsuch: Yes, but.
Senator: How about the Obergefell marriage ruling?
Gorsuch: Yes, but.
Senator: How about…
Gorsuch: Yes, but.
Senator: I haven’t finished my quest…
Gorsuch: Yes but yes but yes but yes but BALLS AND STRIKES JIGGERY POKERY APPLESAUCE CORPOR….ations…..rrrrrrrr……peeeeeple….[fzzzzzt].
Fortunately a techie from the Federalist Society was there to unscrew Gorsuch's head plate and solder his loose Honesty Blocker 5000 unit back to his motherboard.
JEERS to more mayhem. Exactly as we knew they eventually would, some terror-minded jackass staged an attack yesterday---this time in London, killing three and injuring thirty. And we pull the checklist out of the drawer:
1. Tend to the victims, assess the situation.
2. Worldwide condemnation for those responsible, universal support and love for the afflicted country.
3. Clean up, rebuild, track down any accomplices, grieve for the victims.
4. Refuse to be terrorized, get on with life.
5. The terrorists lose.
It's a good list to keep handy. We will certainly need it again.
CHEERS to Sergeant Rubberbutt. On March 23, 1944, RAF Sgt. Nickolas Alkemade survived a jump from his Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute. Other than some cuts and a twisted knee, he was fine. The Nazi he landed on...not so fine.
CHEERS to bragging rights. The numbers are finally in from the 2016 election, and…okay, okay, Minnesota came out on top in voter turnout with an impressive 75 percent. Congratulations. But Maine was nippin' at the Gopher State's heels:
Maine had the second-highest voter turnout in the country for last year’s presidential election.
A new report says 72.8 percent of Maine’s voting-eligible population cast ballots in the 2016 election. … The nonprofit VOTE and the US Election Project compiled the numbers. Maine ranked sixth in the nation in the 2012 election. Maine adopted same-day voter registration in 1974, an option offered by many of the other states with high turnout.
Kudos also to Colorado, Virginia and New Hampshire for making it into the 70+ club. (You can see how your state ranked here.) Some say that Mainers flooded the voting booths because in addition to the presidential ticket we had some provocative ballot questions, including marijuana legalization, a minimum wage hike, and ranked-choice voting that will prevent Paul LePage-type nutcases from becoming governor again with only 38 percent of the vote. Perhaps so. But I prefer to believe it was the irrepressible sense of civic duty that bubbles like a cauldron of patriotic clam chowder in the lobster shack of our collective souls. Sounds better.
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 23, 2007
CHEERS to the Maines event. I never cared for the Dixie Chicks' music much because Natalie's voice tends to have the same effect on my eardrums as sandpaper. (Please don’t ask me why I use sandpaper on my eardrums---it’s a secret cult ritual thing I’m not at liberty to discuss unless you’d like to join.) But after seeing the group's artistry and courage taking on the country music industry in the movie Shut Up and Sing over the weekend, I downloaded Not Ready to Make Nice and some other tunes. Love ‘em. For the record, I'm not ashamed George Bush is from Texas. From America, yes.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to a silver-glitter lining in our unfolding national nightmare. Trump will, of course, claim these are fake numbers. But like it or not, our 45th and klutziest president will have to deal with the FACT that his first major accomplishment in office was to single-handedly---and inadvertently---spark a revolution in an area he despises. Namely, creativity…
The week before the Women’s March on Jan. 21 in cities across the United States, protesters who were making signs helped fuel increased sales of poster boards by 33 percent and foam boards by 42 percent compared with the same week last year, the consumer research group NPD reported recently. […]
Sales of the materials used to make the messages on the posters also increased that week: Specialty markers were up by 24 percent; permanent markers, 12 percent; glue, 27 percent; and scissors, 6 percent. Sales of fabric paint the week before the [January 21 women's march] were at least three times higher compared with the other weeks in January, Ms. [Leen] Nsouli wrote. […]
Brendan Orsinger, an organizer for Showing Up For Racial Justice DC, said his members had such a difficult time finding art supplies that they went to hotels and got discarded bed sheets and pillowcases to serve as canvases for their messages.
Which brings us to Billy's Surefire Stock Tip of the Week: turn back time 70 days and then sink all your money into art supply stocks. Trust me---it's a winner!
Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
BREAKING: God holding a press conference in which he distances himself from Bill in Portland Maine
---Thistallawkwardgirl
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