From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
"Fighting over bathrooms is the oldest play in the prejudice playbook"
Seth Meyers takes a closer look:
"When conservatives claim that trans people are preying on children and that they shouldn’t be allowed to use the bathroom they want to use, it's not a response to an actual problem. It's an age-old scam used to mobilize people against a vulnerable minority group. […]
The idea that trans people are a dangerous presence in bathrooms [and] a threat to our children is a lie. And worse, it's not even a new lie---it's the oldest lie in the book."
The good news this morning: the Charlotte City Council still knows that.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Note: Only two more days to take advantage of a special $50 Daily Kos discount on registrations for Netroots Nation '16 in St. Louis (July 14-17). When you go to the page, just pick the registration level you want and then click "Apply" at the bottom where you see the promo code DAILY KOS. Click here to claim your discount. Offer ends Thursday. Unless the world ends Wednesday.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the 4th of July: 41
Days 'til Fairport Canal Days in New York: 10
Percent of women with an unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump, according to an AP-GfK poll: 70%
Minimum number of days last week during which Portugal powered its electric grid with solar, wind and hyrdo, according to The Guardian: 4
Percent by which Nevada's Lake Mead is currently full, according to CBS News: 37%
Age of Maggie the orangutan when she died Saturday at the Brookfield (IL) zoo: 54
Age of the only living orangutan (at a Tokyo zoo) believed to be older than Maggie: 61
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
Commenters at the Daily Caller react to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin's (R) veto of the bill that would've made abortion a felony:
"She's a traitor."
"If you vote for progressives with an 'R' next to their name then you really can't complain when this happens."
"Making liberal baby killers happy"
"I might go have unprotected sex, just to have an abortion."
All together now: 1…2…3… Classy!
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Puppy Pic of the Day:
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe got a new pooch. Say hello to Guinness…
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CHEERS to POTUS on the go. I still can't quite wrap my head around our thawed relationship with Vietnam. As a kid growing up in the 60s and 70s, it wasn't even so much a country's name in my mind as much as it was a hellish generic word that meant bombs, death, chaos, chemicals raining from the sky, terrifying jungles, frightening imagery on Uncle Walter's evening newscasts, and a sense that the commies were on our doorstep itching to bayonet us in our sleep. Even though Obama is the third president to visit since the war ended, it's still jarring to see this happening:
Our death-by-boom-booms industry is gonna be thrilled to hear that---but I’ll believe Vietnam’s commitment to human rights when Amnesty International gives ‘em the thumbs-up, not before. As usual, The Obama Diary has excellent photo-rich coverage of Obama's visit. As for today's agenda:
The President will meet with Embassy personnel and families and members of Vietnam's civil society.
In the afternoon, the President will deliver remarks on U.S.-Vietnam relations at the National Convention Center.
Following his remarks, the President will depart Hanoi en route Ho Chi Minh City, where he will tour the Jade Pagoda. Following this visit, he will tour the DreamPlex Coworking Space and deliver remarks at an event focused on entrepreneurship and opportunity for the Vietnamese people.
Oh, and for the you right-wing Obama haters: he hopes you enjoyed seeing his subtle bow-like gesture when he greeted Vietnam’s president. That was a special gift for you. Because he knows you’ll miss seething over it when he’s gone.
CHEERS and JEERS to black lives mattering…or not. Yesterday saw a pair of court rulings that were, in order of appearance, discouraging:
A Baltimore judge has found a Baltimore police officer not guilty on all charges in connection to the death of Freddie Gray. …
Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams revealed his verdict in the case against Officer Edward Nero shortly after court began at 10:30 a.m. on Monday.
Tessa Hill-Astin, the president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP was…disappointed in the verdict. "I'm not satisfied with the verdict, but I have to accept it," Hill-Astin said. "We wanted to see more justice for Freddie Gray. (Nero) got off because he proved he wasn't properly trained. What does that mean for the commanding officers charged in the case? There will be five more trials and five more opportunities to get justice for Freddie Gray."
And encouraging…
The Supreme Court ruled Monday morning in favor of a death row inmate in a case concerning race discrimination in jury selection.
Timothy Tyrone Foster, an African-American, is on death row in Georgia for the 1987 murder of an elderly white woman, Queen Madge White. The jury that convicted him was all white. Twenty years after his sentence his attorneys obtained notes the prosecution team took while it was engaged in picking a jury, including marking potential jurors who were black had a "b" written by their name.
"The focus on race in the prosecution's file plainly demonstrates a concerted effort to keep black prospective jurors off the jury," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.
It was a 7-1 decision. Or maybe it was 7-2. The lone dissenters, who apparently approve of such blatant discrimination against black people, were Clarence Thomas and his new ventriloquist dummy Antonin the Magnificent.
CHEERS to the original texter. On today's date in 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the first telegraph message: "What hath God wrought." On the upside: the telegraph went on to become an indispensable communications device that wowed the world. On the downside: no camera, no apps, and it took six months to play one screen of Angry Birds.
CHEERS to today's edition of Whew, Austria. providing today’s sigh of relief is Dan Savage:
This has been today's edition of Whew, Austria!
CHEERS to Monsters of Mass Deception. On May 24, 1933 the Loch Ness Monster was "sighted" for the first time. For 83 years no one has ever been able to provide definitive proof that it actually exists. It’s like the Republican Obamacare replacement of sea monsters.
JEERS to the “small hands, small tent” party. I'm Bill in Portland Maine and I approved this letter to the editor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald by Jeremy Smith of Old Orchard Beach. Let's hope it's not lost on voters this fall:
Does anyone else remember a few months ago, when Republican pundits were crowing from every fence post and tree stump about the “diversity” of the Republican presidential candidates? …
They crowed that they had an African-American brain surgeon, a female former CEO, an Indian American and not one, but two, Hispanic-Americans. Sure, the other 10 candidates were all white men, and all candidates professed Christianity, but hey, this was “diversity”!
So, after the dust settled, who did Republican voters overwhelming choose as their standard bearer? (You recall the “big tent” Republicans who, pundits claimed, had turned a corner and embraced diversity? See also: demographic reality.) A 70-year-old European-American Protestant born-rich billionaire named Donald Trump.
So, yes. There is a “big tent.” You’ll find it on the grounds of a Hamptons estate, and the only way 99 percent of us would ever get in would be dressed in white, serving silver platters of hors d’oeuvres and ordered not to make eye contact or conversation with the guests.
You know who else wouldn’t allow “the help” to make eye contact with him? Herbert Hoover. File this under “bad omens.”
CHEERS to jump-starting the jalopy. 116 years ago, the first auto repair shop opened in Boston. Followed soon after by the first auto repair bill-induced cardiac arrhythmia.
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Ten years ago in C&J: May 24, 2006
JEERS to TIME magazine. They actually wrote this copy for their latest cover:
Radical Chicks: They criticized the war and were labeled unpatriotic. Now the Dixie Chicks are back, betting their careers on a whole new style.
Is America ready?
Noooo! I'm not ready! Go slower! I can't handle this little disc with songs on it! Duct tape!! Code Orange!! Mommy!!
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And just one more…
CHEERS to Robert Allen Zimmerman. You know him better as Duluth-born Bob Dylan, and today we wish him a happy 75th birthday. No one in my conservative family listened to Dylan when I was growing up (it was classical, showtunes, Bread, John Denver and The Carpenters in our house, which is why I think I'm somehow related to Ned Flanders), and I don’t remember anyone playing him when I went to college in the early 80's. So, Dylan never made it on my mix tapes, sorry to say. But I'm smart enough to know a living legend when I see one. And judging by his summer tour schedule (he’s coming to Portland, Maine in July), he ain’t slowin’ down any. Here he is in Newport a month before I was born:
His Wikipedia entry is like a museum---you could get lost in it. Many blessings on your camels, Bob. And thanks for Blowin' in the Wind. Best fart song ever.
Have a nice Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Marco Rubio Proposes Bill in Portland Maine Statue At The U.S. Capitol
---Huffington Post
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