Netroots Nation 2021 “At Home” Starts Today
My, how time flies when you’re in the resurgence of a pandemic that would've ended months ago if the gullible red-hatted cultists weren’t addicted to propaganda spewed by fully-vaccinated Axis Sallys at Fox News telling them that vaccines and masks are the same as the holocaust. But here we are—it’s Day 1 of the online Netroots Nation convention, co-sponsored by Daily Kos. It’s got everything you’ve come to expect from the largest grassroots progressive gathering in the country (this is the 16th year), but this time from the comfort of your own covid-free home. That’ll free up a little extra coin for drinkies and snackies as you join in for the panels, keynotes, pub quiz and...more on all that below:
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Netroots Nation 2021: The Checklist
★ Over 60 panels and training sessions are set to go, on issues like voter suppression, the GOP war on women, tackling white supremacy, and which brand of handcuffs are best when the time comes to haul the Trump family off to jail.
★ Keynoters include Sen. Tina Smith, Rep. Mondaire Jones, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Wisconsin Lt. Gov, Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, and state Attorneys General Keith Ellison (MN), Dana Nessel (MI), Josh Stein (NC) and Maura Healey (MA).
★ There are opportunities to collaborate and socialize, including virtual coffee meetups, happy hours, and even a morning yoga session led by MoveOn's Reggie Hubbard.
★ Saturday at noon ET, The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead is back at Netroots with a special sneak peak of her no-holds-barred feminist comedy talk show Feminist Buzzkills Live! Along with co-hosts Moji Alawode-El and Marie Khan, this weekly YouTube show breaks down the news from patriarchy’s evil trilogy of misogyny, white supremacy and anti-abortion extremism.
★ Adam B's annual Pub Quiz is happening this evening at 7pm ET. You can form your own team or join an existing one.
★ Everyone who registers will receive an official NN21 T-shirt.
★ To participate virtually: you’ll use their mobile or desktop app and website (they’ll send you login instructions).
★ You can check out the FAQ page on Virtual NN21 here.
★ To secure your online access to the event just click here and register.
★ You can also follow Netroots Nation on Twitter here and on the evil Facebook here.
Enjoy the show. And now, our feature presentation…
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Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, October 7, 2021
Note: Oh dear. Over in Salem, Marlena's possessed by the devil again. [Sigh] Clumsy, clumsy.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Halloween: 24
Days 'til the 50th Amherst Apple Harvest Festival in Virginia: 9
Democrats and Republicans, respectively, surveyed by Monmouth University who believe the government should do more to reduce activities that contribute to climate change and sea level rise: 92%, 30%
Women and men, respectively, surveyed by PBS/NPR/Marist who support laws that allow private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who assists a woman in getting an abortion: 14%, 23%
Rank of South Dakota among dubious tax havens in America, according to the newly-published Pandora Papers: #1
Percent chance that the 45th president just fell off of Forbes' list of the richest 400 Americans for the first time since 1996: 100%
Per-bottle price of La Moutarde Vin, a limited-edition "celebration" of the white wine used in Grey Poupon mustard: $30
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Republicans in Congress are stacking up a record of election-year folly so gross it staggers even veterans of legislative debacles.
First, they let the assault weapons ban lapse, despite the fact that 70 percent of the American people want it kept in place. They had to pass a simple $5 billion corporate-tax plan because we are in violation of tariff laws. This has bogged down in a $150 billion pork-off, while American products are losing billions of dollars in retaliatory sanctions.
Even worse, Congress passed a $145 billion extension of tax cuts. To cover the resulting debt, we are borrowing money from the Bank of China, to be paid off by our children. Showing a fine sense of fiscal restraint, the R's declined to extend minimal credits for millions of children in working-poor families. Instead, they gave another $13 billion in tax cuts to the corporations. Remember when Bush told us cutting corporate taxes would result in a mighty flood of new jobs? But, hey, they're in favor of protecting marriage and against burning the flag, so your life should get dramatically better.
—September 2004
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Love this Subaru ad…
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CHEERS to cool science. The Nobel Prize-a-palooza continued yesterday with the chemistry medallions (which are a bit tougher than veal medallions, but still tasty with enough ketchup). And the winners are…would you believe nerds?
Two scientists won the Nobel Prize for chemistry Wednesday for finding an “ingenious” new way to build molecules that can be used to make everything from medicines to food flavorings.
Benjamin List of Germany and Scotland-born David W.C. MacMillan developed “asymmetric organocatalysis”—work that has already had a significant impact on pharmaceutical research, said Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The tool has also made chemistry “greener,” the judges said. […]
List, of the Max Planck Institute, and MacMillan, of Princeton University, independently reported that small organic molecules can be used to do the same job as big enzymes and metal catalysts in reactions that “are precise, cheap, fast and environmentally friendly,” she said. “This new toolbox is used widely today, for example, in drug discovery and in fine chemicals production."
To reward them for their work, both recipients will receive a check good for ten-million molecules. As for the rest of the week, the coveted Peace Prize gets awarded tomorrow, but not before today's medal for Outstanding Blogger with Candy Corn Addiction is announced. I'm really excited about my prospects. For the talent portion I played Bach's Toccata and Fugue on a flaming cello while juggling chainsaws and two of the judges winked at me.
CHEERS to the energizer vaccine. As U.S. deaths from the coronavirus surpass the population of our 19th-largestcity (Denver—pop. 715,000), there's good news and bad news out this week on Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, which Yours Truly has coursing through his veins:
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine remains 90% effective at reducing a person's risk of hospitalization from the virus six months after it is administered, a new study has found.
This is true even in the face of the delta variant as well as if the person has not received a booster shot. Still, when it comes to preventing infections, the vaccine's effectiveness wanes rapidly as time passes, the study found. After five months, it is just 47%effective at preventing infection. […]
The new data is particularly timely given that the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC recently authorized Pfizer vaccine booster shots in people who fall into certain risk categories---many of whom are over six months past their first dose.
Meanwhile, research is back from the lab showing that the worst-performing treatments for the virus remain, in no particular order: horse-deworming paste, fish tank cleaner, bleach taken orally or intravenously, iodine milkshakes, UV light up the bunghole, screaming at doctors and nurses, coughing on people and/or grocery-store produce shelves, leaving it in the hands of Jesus, and fully-vaccinated Fox News hosts telling you not to get vaccinated because it’s the same as the holocaust. For the life of me I can't believe those brilliant ideas didn't pan out.
JEERS to Bovines of Mass Destruction. During this week in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire broke out after Joe Biden kicked over a lantern onto a pile of bamboo fibers in Mrs. O'Leary's barn to try and incinerate damning evidence proving that George Soros created the Deep State to steal the 2020 election. Or, if you prefer the non-Breitbart News version: it was a cow. Despite the horrific damage and loss of life, there was a bright side: the T-bones were excellent that night.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to bringing back a good idea…finally. For over half of the 1900s, the U.S. Postal Service offered small-bore banking services to help low-income Americans and immigrants who didn’t have formal bank accounts. Today those folks often have to rely on unscrupulous check-cashing services that charge an arm and a leg. But thanks to pressure from Democratic lawmakers, the USPS is getting back into the game:
The pilot program is operating at USPS retail locations in Washington, D.C.; Falls Church, Virginia; Baltimore; and the Bronx, New York, the spokeswoman said.
[It] allows customers to use payroll and business checks to purchase gift cards, and is aimed at providing an alternative to traditional check cashing, the USPS spokeswoman said. The gift cards have a limit of $500, and checks larger than $500 won't be accepted, she added. […]
About 7 million Americans are unbanked, meaning that no one in their household has a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union, the FDIC found in2019.
As the rollout continues, Postmaster Louis DeJoy says he'll be popping a letter in the mail explaining the new postal banking program to Americans. And under his new postal delivery program, it should arrive sometime in the next 3-5 years.
JEERS to Groundhog Day: Gridiron Edition. 105 years ago, on October 7, 1916, the Georgia Tech Engineers scored a touchdown against the Cumberland University (Tennessee) Bulldogs. Then they scored another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. By the time they were done, the scoreboard read 222-0—the most lopsided game in college football history. When asked by their coach why they didn't execute any of the plays they'd spent three months practicing, the Cumberland players responded: "You didn't say please." It's always the little things.
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Ten years ago in C&J: October 7, 2011
JEERS to gouging your customers for fun and profit. The big banks are at it again, rewarding taxpayers for bailing their asses out by imposing new debit card fees. Bank of America, for example, will charge you three bucks per month just to use your card. Here are some other charges now in effect:
Using your debit card as an ice scraper for your windshield: $2.00
Jimmying the lock on your home or hotel room door: $3.00
Jimmying the lock on a safe containing cash and/or other valuables that you're stealing: 50/50 split of the spoils
Using card to remove "Christie 2012" sticker from vehicle: $2.50
Scraping together clean lines of cocaine on a living-room table: FREE if you let an authorized banking executive take a snort
Pouring out your troubles to the holographic eagle image on the front of your debit card while drunk: $4.00
Heartless bastards.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to living saints. Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and all-around amazing human being, turns 90 today. (If you feel so moved, you can make a donation to the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation here.) A few reasons why we love him:
"If you want to make peace, you speak to your enemy. You don’t shoot him or her. You don’t raise your voice; improve your argument, my father would have quite correctly advised."
“I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I would much rather go to the other place.”
"I've been married for 56 years and Leah has been very good at keeping my head the right size. Once I was driving and when I looked at her she looked slightly more complacent and self-satisfied than usual. When I wondered why, she showed me this bumper sticker that said: Any woman who wants to be equal to a man has no ambition.”
"As a young priest I traveled to the United States to meet leaders of the civil rights movement, and rejoiced in their victories over prejudice and discrimination. Today, I battle to reconcile that joy with the disproportionate number of African Americans in prison and being shot in the streets."
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
"Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are."
"I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, `Now is that political or social?' He said, ‘I feed you.'"
Or, as translated by America's right-wing religious grifter class that excuses every daily act of immorality perpetrated by their so-called “Christian” leaders: "Blah blah blah..."
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
“You know, Bill in Portland Maine is so wounded. His soul is so damaged, and I feel that on some level, this beautiful kiddie pool resonates with what remains of the window into whatever soul he might actually have.”
—Betty Buckley
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