From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
>>> 4 <<< Weeks 'til Netroots Nation Atlanta!!!
We can finally say it: America's #1 annual progressive convention begins "next month" (August 10-13 to be precise). A few odds and ends in our weekly update:
► Save FIVE HAMILTONS on your registration! After dangling Nolan Treadway over a pit of alligators for several days, me and my gangster pals finally finagled a $50 registration discount for Daily Kos readers. The offer's good through this Saturday, and you can get it by clicking here. Make sure to enter the promo code DAILYKOS at the bottom. Tell 'em Billy sent ya. They'll give you no problems.
► VIPs attending NN17 that you may find yourself rubbing elbow with: Al Gore (whose An Inconvenient Sequel opens later this month)…MLK's daughter Bernice King…Rep. Keith Ellison…Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)…Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)…Georgia House Minority Leader and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams…Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum…and civil rights advocate and scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw. For updates on future speakers and events, sign up here.
► You can check out the complete list of Netroots Nation panels and workshops by clicking here. Helluva lineup this year. And, yeah, resistance is big on the agenda.
► One of the must-sees on our list of things to must see is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s stomping grounds, including his boyhood home, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and his final resting place. All are located near The King Center. Details on planning a visit are here and here.
► If you’re a techie and you have a genius idea that can help the netroots flourish, submit it by tomorrow and you could win the Netroots New Tools Showcase. Overview here and Application here.
► AdamB's legendary pub quiz will be back this year. I asked him to sum up 2017’s event in five words or less. He responded: "This quiz contains no peanuts." But don’t be fooled---he may trip you up with questions about other assorted legumes.
► Helpful hint: If you're traveling to Atlanta by blimp, please remember you need to move it to a new mooring mast every two hours or you'll get a ticket.
► Public transportation (aka MARTA) info is here.
► Sign up for volunteer discounts and the scholarship program here.
► Official hotel room info is here.
► Follow Netroots Nation via Facebook here and Twitter here.
28 days and counting. Time to start packing the steamer trunks.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...[Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, July 13, 2017
Note: It's Thursday the 13th. It's not as perilous as Friday the 13th, mind you, but we still recommend you carry a cast-iron skillet if you plan to leave the house. There's crazy people out there. ---Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Al Gore's An Inconvenient Sequel: 15
Days 'til the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin: 7
Weeks by which Mitch McConnell is delaying the Senate's August recess: 2
Percent of respondents in a Monmouth poll who could only describe NJ governor Chris Christie's recent day at the beach with cuss words: 6%
Amount Warren Buffet donated to charity Monday: $3.17 billion
Estimated cost of employee sleep deprivation to U.S. companies, according to the Rand Corporation: $411 billion
Cost of a Zeeq pillow, which prompts, via vibrations, snoring sleepers to move into a new position: $299
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Among the Bush budget cuts affecting the lives of millions of women are cuts in Head Start and other early childhood education programs, after-school programs, K-12 education, housing subsidies, child care, career education, services for victims of domestic violence, the nutrition program for women, infants and children (WIC) and Pell grants to help pay for college.
All in all, it's kind of hard to see how Bush could convince "the ladies" that he has helped take stress out of their lives. Unless, of course, the lady is married to a guy who makes $1 million a year---then she'd have $92,000 extra a year to spend from the Bush tax cuts.
---July 2004
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Puppy Pic of the Day: If anyone could survive for nine months in the wilderness, it would be a Chesapeake Bay Retriever…
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CHEERS to evacuating the premises. Last night Lord Dampnut boarded Air Force One, whose engines sputtered and sparked as it valiantly hauled His Bloatedness over to France. Trump is there for one reason and one reason only: to get a Viagra-assisted boner while watching American military hardware on parade during Bastille Day festivities. He'll also meet with President Macron over scoops of ice cream and chocolate cake:
Thursday's meeting will mark the second between the world leaders, whose first encounter at a May summit in Brussels was characterized by a now-infamous prolonged handshake that Macron later declared was "not innocent."
Macron, who took office in May, was critical of Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, labeling it "an actual mistake,both for the U.S. and for our planet" in a video statement.
More broadly, French confidence in Trump's ability to "do the right thing regarding world affairs" is only at 14 percent, according to a recent Pew Research study.
Once Trump departs the U.S., I suggest we keep him out until we find out what the hell is going on. Anyone know how to build a 35,000 foot-high wall?
CHEERS and JEERS to the new G-man on the block. Yesterday the Senate committee in charge of tommy guns and wide-brimmed hats grilled Christopher Wray, Trump's nominee to replace James Comey as FBI director. Wray was assistant attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department under co-Presidents Bush and Cheney at the time the infamous torture authorization memos were written. He says he has "no recollection of ever reviewing, much less providing input or comments or blessing [or] approval” of the memos. Given what a stain on our nation's soul that was, I'd probably blank it out, too. But on the bright side, he talked tough on the Mueller investigation:
President Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director says he does not consider special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation a “witch hunt.” […]
Wray says attempts to tamper with a special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling would be “unacceptable.” Wray says he is “committed to supporting” the investigation “in whatever way is appropriate for me.” He added that any efforts to tamper would need to be dealt with “very sternly.” He says he views Mueller “as the consummate straight shooter. Someone I have enormous respect for.” The two worked together when Wray was in the Bush administration’s Justice Department.
Later Wray was given the standard field test: shouting "Let's do some good!" while driving a modified snowplow through the door of a moonshine operation. Other than aggravating a rotator cuff and accidentally swallowing his cigar, he did okay.
JEERS to more malpractice for the masses. Ugh---here we go again. Under cover of darkness, a new Trumpcare bill---a massive money grab for the rich disguised as a healthcare improvement---slithered out of Mitch McConnell's office this morning and into the arms of the weary bean counters at the Congressional Budget Office. Once their score comes back revealing just how many tens of millions will lose their health insurance under the plan that Trump hasn't bothered to hold a single town hall meeting or speech about, McConnell will try to ram it through the Senate with 51 votes. (He's currently at least seven votes shy based on the current bill that went down in flames two weeks ago.) Not a lot we can do until we see what's in it, but everyone stay on high alert for when the bedraggled bill’s carcass finally gets dumped on the public's doorstep. Memo to self: no matter how many free post-physical lollipops they promise---[Slap! Slap!]---stay strong, man!
JEERS to petty politicians. (Sorry, is that redundant?) Forty-five years ago today, the late George McGovern became the Democratic presidential nominee at the convention in Miami Beach. A while back some secret Nixon tapes were released, revealing #37 as that rare breed of paranoid (not unlike Trump)---the sore winner:
Several hours after the election, after 1:00am, when vote totals are known, Henry Kissinger calls Nixon to congratulate him on the landslide victory: "It's an extraordinary tribute," he said. [...] Then they go after the loser, George McGovern:
Nixon: "You know this fellow, to the last, was a prick. Did you see his concession statement?" [...] Nixon says speechwriter Ray Price urged him to send McGovern a message that he looks forward to working with him and his supporters for peace in the years ahead.
Nixon: "And I just said hell no, I'm not gonna send him that sort of wire."
I'll say this. Dick sure knew how to live up to his name.
JEERS to double standards. Yeah, this kind of thing is infuriating, and shows yet again how white privilege still holds sway in the United States of Too Many Racists:
If it's any help: PEEP!!!
CHEERS to portable suds. On this most important date in 1568, a sudserrific scientific breakthrough was made:
Dr. Alexander Nowell, Dean of St Paul's is reputed to have discovered the benefits of bottled beer by accident. According the History of the Pint, the Dean had decanted some beer into a bottle for a fishing expedition in 1568. He lost a bottle in the grass and, "when he came upon it again quite by chance a few days later, found it was still perfectly drinkable."
The news of bottled beer was hailed as a major breakthrough among the clergy. Try stashing a keg under your robe during morning prayers sometime and you'll see why.
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Ten years ago in C&J: July 13, 2007
CHEERS to tropical Maine. Just imagine: heating bills slashed in half, longer growing seasons, streets lined with palm trees, and lobsters in such abundance that you can just reach into the lukewarm Atlantic Ocean and pluck 'em out. Paradise! It's just too bad the Union of Concerned Scientists has to go and ruin everything:
[T]he effect [of global warming in the northeast] would be overwhelmingly disruptive and costly. Even under the best-case emission-lowering scenario, global warming would cause unprecedented damage to the coastline and would result in enormous expenditures to maintain and replace roads and other infrastructure. In a worst-case scenario, apple orchards would wither, and lobstermen south of Maine and cod fishermen plying the Georges Bank would lose their livelihoods.
Mr. Piss, meet Mr. Dream.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to echoes of the sweet sound of defeat. I imagine that the moment Mitt Romney decided it would be a good idea to warble through "America the Beautiful" at a campaign stop in 2012 was the same moment the Obama team knew they'd be using it to create a killer TV ad juxtaposing his patriotism with his record as a job killer. When they released it five years ago this week, it was guaranteed to be talked about for decades. In fact, it's the only campaign ad of 2012 that generated a rare public display of affection for its technical merits, especially the audio mix. For old time's sake, crank up your speakers and annoy your neighbors:
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Also for old time's sake: Obama 332, Romney 206. Oh, beautiful.
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:
CNN political analyst Ana Navarro said Monday night Bill in Portland Maine was "dropped on his head as a child."
---The Hill
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