From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Intermission
Holy Crosstabs, Ant Man! 2015 is halfway over! The second quarter ended Tuesday (nice $45 million haul, Hillary), and that means it's C&J number-crunching time. Every few months we post results of some recent C&J polls to give you a snapshot of what Kossacks (and our small but persistent band of right-wing trolls) think about this and that, while also revisiting some of the high/lowlights from the past 90-odd (or, if you prefer, 90 odd) days. The total number of votes each poll received is in parentheses:
• 97 percent of you believe that no one should give a shit what Dick Cheney says anymore. (4,744)
• 69 percent of you correctly predicted that the Supreme Court would keep the Affordable Care Act subsidies intact. (2,887)
• 91 percent of you weren't upset at all when the Patriot Act expired. (4,145)
Every C&J poll is open to
all women and most men.
• 45 percent want to see Eleanor Roosevelt as the first woman on paper currency, while 25 percent said Harriet Tubman and 17 percent chose Rosa Parks. (3,765)
• 68 percent of you have a favorable opinion of new Attorney General Loretta Lynch, while 7 percent have a negative view. (3,209)
• 80 percent hoped the Boston bomber would get life in prison and 11 percent hoped he'd get the death penalty. He got the latter. (3,820)
• In terms of intensity of approval for Bernie Sanders' presidential run, 70 percent think it's "fantastic" or "great," 15 percent think it's "good" and 8 percent think it's "fair" or "terrible." (4,468)
• 86 percent believe that Hillary Clinton is right to spend her campaign talking to local and social media instead of the major traditional media. (3.134)
• 39 percent have a favorable opinion of former Maryland Governor and current presidential candidate Martin O'Malley, versus 17 percent unfavorable and 41 percent neutral. (3,533)
• 77 percent believe that the target year of 2100 is far too long to wait for the G-7 nations to wean themselves off of fossil fuels completely. (3,473)
• 97 percent think Pope Francis is more grounded in reality on climate change than the Republican party. (3,553)
As always, thanks for participating in our C&J polls. When Daily Kos 5.0 comes out, every time you vote a Sweet Tart will come flying out of your USB port at 80 mph. The beta testers say they love it. The cats sleeping next to them, not so much.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, July 2, 2015
Note: Tomorrow's C&J will be its usual west coast-friendly edition around 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET. Join us as we take our annual trip in the wayback machine to the first C&J from July 4, 1776. It's muttontastic! Then regular C&Js will return Monday out of pure relish for literary mediocrity. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend! ---Mgt.
-
Lands today!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til Labor Day:
67
Days 'til the
Roswell UFO Festival in New Mexico:
0!
Percent of black and white respondents, respectively, who believe gun control should be a major campaign issue in 2016:
70%, 37%
(Source: Suffolk University/USA Today poll)
President Obama's current CNN-poll approval rating, his highest in two years:
50%
Number of sitting Supreme Court justices who declared for the first time this week that the death penalty is "highly likely" to be unconstitutional:
2 (Ginsburg, Breyer)
Number of Mainers who stand to benefit from President Obama's overtime-pay change:
20,000
(Source:
The Portland Press Herald)
Date on which the Ku Klux Klan will hold a rally at the South Carolina Statehouse in support of flying the Confederate flag, at which they expect up to 200 attendees:
7/18/15
-
Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
It's our birthday! And we'll laugh if we want to. Why not? How grand and glorious to be a citizen of a nation where Newt Gingrich can rise to a position of national leadership (giving hope to certified nincompoops everywhere), where we can pay more attention to the Spice Girls than to global warming, and where our government says we're all fat. […]
[H]ere's to America and Americans, both the raspberry-vinaigrette and the bottled-mayonnaise crowds. May your Fourth of July not include sunburn, heartburn or mosquitoes. May your Sousa sound out joyously; may your sparklers be lovely against the evening light; may your friends and neighbors not sprain their ankles in the softball game; may your union get you double-time-and-a-half if you have to work; and let there be brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
---July, 1998
UPDATE: Thanks in part to the Daily Kossacks who kicked in some bucks, director Janice Engel reached her $75k Kickstarter goal to raise money to finish her documentary Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins 35 days before the deadline. You people, I swear…
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: "I luvs me some stars and stripes…"
-
Ho hum. Just another historic
Barack Obama accomplishment.
CHEERS to our new digs. Obamamentum rolled merrily along yesterday as the president announced July 20 as the date on which
our embassy will open in Cuba:
"The progress we make today is another demonstration we don't have to be imprisoned by the past," Obama said.
Obama emphasized that the U.S. and Cuba have some shared interests, such as strong anti-terror policies and disaster response. But he acknowledged that the two nations still have "very serious differences" on issues like free speech. "We won't hesitate to speak out when we see contradiction to those values," the president said.
Obama wants Congress to formally end the embargo against Cuba, and urged the Republican leadership to get right on it. John Boehner and Mitch McConnell replied jointly that they'd love to, but they seem to have misplaced their only copy of
The Compete Idiot's Guide to Getting Right On It.
CHEERS to leveling the playing field. On July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill that secured "equal rights in voting, education, public accommodations, union membership and in federally assisted programs---regardless of race, color, religion or national origin." And that sure pissed off the asshole wing of the American public:
Quintessential LBJ-MLK moment.
During the debate on the bill, segregationist politicians from America's deep south expressed their disappointment and anger.
Congressman Howard Smith of Virginia called it a "monstrous oppression of the people."
How sweet to know that today's racist apples don’t fall far from the crazy tree. Even with the murders, racial profiling and church burnings, a huge swath of today's conservatives seem to believe that overt discrimination against minorities is a thing of the past, and America is now a multi-racial conga line of equality and unicorns. Yeah, I believe that, too. But only when I'm smokin' something
really good.
CHEERS to today's edition of Oh, By The Way. Oh, by the way…
LePig LePage is LePew. LePeach!
Maine Governor Paul LePage, whose budget veto was overridden Tuesday by the legislature in a massive defeat for him, might also be getting impeached and convicted, putting himself in such company as North Carolina's William Holden (1871), Oklahoma's John Walton (1923), Arizona's Evan Mecham (1988) and Illinoiz'z Rod Blagojevich (2009).
Oh, and by the way...
This has been today's edition of Oh, By The Way.
The founding choppers.
CHEERS to the right man for the right job at the right time. This week marks the 240th year since George Washington---freshly promoted to general by the constitutional mouseketeers---took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1775. He won some battles, lost some (okay, a lot) and suffered mightily, but had the courage, smarts and fortitude to keep his army together and eventually claim victory by bottling up old Butthead Cornwallis at Yorktown. And he did it all while wearing knee stockings. Suck it, Patton.
JEERS to un helpful distractions. I knew this would happen. I've been saying since the beginning that as soon as the Supreme Court approved marriage rights for same-sex couples in all 50 states, the homosexuals would shirk the hurricane-making part of their gay agenda. Sure enough, it's been less than a week and check out the latest map from the National Hurricane Center:
Peaceful. Placid. No sign of mayhem anywhere. Very disappointing. Consider this your written warning, gays: if this serenity lasts much longer, we're gonna start canceling tea dances.
CHEERS and JEERS to gettin' outta Dodge. Travel organization AAA (pronounced "Ahhhhh") is out with its July 4th weekend holiday traffic prediction. Nearly 42 million people will be trying to get to their vacation destination at exactly the same time and at exactly the same place as you. That's up from last year. The details:
"Gladys, I'm starting to think
that this toll lane isn't open."
AAA projects 41.9 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home this Independence Day, the most since 2007 and a seven-tenths percent increase from the 41.6 million people who traveled last year.
Rising income, driven by a strong employment market, is prompting more Americans to take a holiday trip this year. Despite recent seasonal increases, gas prices remain well below year-ago levels, which has helped boost Americans’ disposable income.
So if you find yourself stuck in an economic-rebound-related traffic jam this weekend, you know what to yell:
"Thanks, o-BAMA!!!"
CHEERS to summer love. The conservatives have a clown car full of candidates to follow around, and liberals have a sensible Prius hybrid full of Bernie Sanders to follow around. And in terms of attendance, our guy is wiping the floor with their guys. Check out this pic tweeted by Dan Merica from last night's rally in Madison, Wisconsin:
That's unreal. But it's not unique, because here in Portland, Maine, Bernie's upcoming Monday speech
had to be moved to a new venue that could accommodate
four times as many people (at least 3,000) as they originally expected. If our Civic Center isn’t big enough to hold everyone, we're shit outta luck because that's the biggest empty space we've got. Well, if you don’t count the space between our governor's ears. (Boom! Nailed it!)
CHEERS to open rebellion. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." And that, kids, is why we have those awesome July mattress sales.
-
Ten years ago in C&J: July 2, 2005
JEERS to the Chimp-in-Chief. As expected Bush's Tuesday speech was a ratings bomb. And now 42% of American voters say they're open to impeachment hearings if they find out Bush lied about the Iraq war. You crafty citizenry...you have been paying attention. [7/2/15 Update: Too bad the watchdogs in Congress, the White House and traditional media newsrooms chose to look the other way. He coulda been cleaning toilets with a toothbrush in the Hague right about now instead of makin' pictures of pets and Putin with a paint brush in his bathtub.]
-
And just one more…
FIRE IN THE HOLE! to lightin' them freedom fuses and firin' them warnin' whistlers. Fireworks are now a fact of life here in Maine (thank you, 2011 Republican-led legislature), but at least sales are continuing their years-long downslide. In fairness, municipalities are still free to ban fireworks, and Portland is among them (our city has burned down enough times, thanks). Suffice it to say, some of our neighbors are already firing shit off their balcony, and Grampa Billy has the cops on speed-dial. Harumph. And now please join us for our annual pre-4th C&J tradition---reminding ourselves that fireworks are most dangerous when they're in the hands of crazy-ass mannequins:
And then give a flag-wavin' cheer to our current state motto: "Maine: The Emergency Room Is Thataway."
Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-
Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"Very funny, Bill in Portland Maine. I mean, not funny 'ha ha,' but funny."
---Siri
-