From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
More Headlines You Won’t Read Today
Trump Surges in Polls, Rakes in Cash
Hillary Clinton Campaigns on Platform of Fear, Paranoia
Scandal Explodes in Obama Administration
Cleveland Shrugs at Cavaliers Championship Win
Speaker Paul Ryan Takes Bold, Principled Stance
Maine Declared Least Scenic State in America
Budget Emphasizes Schools Over Military
Chris Christie Eats None of Trump's Fries on Way Back from McDonald's Run
Republicans in Congress Demand Vote on Full Equality for LGBT Americans in Wake of Orlando Massacre
Cliven and Ammon Bundy Spend Father's Day Out on Range Roping Cattle and Bonding
Scientists Announce Breakthrough: Zika Virus Dies After Exposure to Slim Whitman Yodeling
And a real one: Summer Price Drop For Live Lobsters May Come Early This Year. Yum.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Note: Nostradamus predicted that a note would appear at this very spot at this very moment. I'm still waiting. What a fraud.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til LGBT Pride weekends in San Francisco, St. Petersburg, Omaha Cincinnati, Houston, Minneapolis, Nashville, NYC, St. Louis and Flagstaff: 4
Days 'til the New Castle County Ice Cream Festival in Wilmington, Delaware: 4
Growth in U.S. gross domestic product between Q1 of 2008---its pre-recession peak---and Q4 2015, according to The Wall Street Journal: 10.8%
GDP of the Eurozone and Japan, respectively, during the same period: 0.6%, 0.1%
The last time a sitting British lawmaker was murdered: 1990
Percent chance that the last time Cleveland won a major sports championship was 1964, the year I was born: 100%
Date on which I created my very first blockquote in C&J: 6/21/05
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
Like a moth to a flame, I can't avert my eyes from the comment sections at breitbart.com. Let's see how they're enjoying Speaker Paul Ryan's on-again, off-again, on-again, whatever-again relationship with Donald Trump…
"Ryan, you Socialist boot licking Obliviot. You make Hillary look honest. Damned you to hell, chump."
"Every other day this puke RINO has a new spin on this. First he cant support him, then he can…Is it any wonder he can't stand for anything when he doesn't even know his own damn mind? Primary this nit wit Wisconsin. A.S.A.P. Trump 2016!"
"One has to wonder about the people of Wisconsin who elected this amnesty-loving, globalist RINO. I vote for moving all immigrants to Wisconsin."
"Ryan why don't you find the tallest building in DC and jump off of it!"
All together now: 1…2…3… Classy!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: With the first full day of summer comes our annual reminder for the dimwitted who walk among us: don’t leave your dog in the goddam car.
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CHEERS to a wise decision. The eight-member Supreme Court sent a clear message yesterday to the NRA and anyone else who demands that weapons designed solely to kill other humans should be handed out willy-nilly: you lose.
The Supreme Court declined Monday to review bans on a lengthy list of firearms that Connecticut classified as “assault weapons,” the latest example of the court’s reluctance to be drawn into an emotional national debate on gun control.
The justices decided without comment not to review a lower court decision that upheld the laws; Connecticut’s was enacted shortly after a gunman used one of the military-style semiautomatic weapons on the list to kill 20 students and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in 2012. … Like other laws, Connecticut’s ban includes semiautomatic guns and high-capacity magazines, and covers popular weapons such as AR-15s and AK-47s. […]
“Because the prohibitions are substantially related to the important governmental interests of public safety and crime reduction, they pass constitutional muster,” a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled.
The "Don’t Tread On Me" flag wavers are gonna be plenty pissed today. So if you see any NRA members in your vicinity, give 'em a wide berth. Actually, that's good advice any day. Those people fling too much spittle.
P.S. Once again, in the wake of another horrible mass shooting, the United States Congress mustered its immense legislative power as the most influential governmental body in the world yesterday and, in a display of its awesome dedication to keeping Americans safe here at home…did nothing. Gee, I hope they didn’t break a nail.
JEERS to a hive of scum and villainy. Question: where do the worlds of the NRA and the conservative Jesus hypocrites intersect these days? Answer: In Donald Trump's universe. Yes, the Bible Belt's finest---gun lovers one and all---are meeting today in that den of sin known as New York City for some heavy-duty grifting, Obama hating, vein popping and power-brokering with The Donald and his tongues-to-English translator Dr. Ben Carson:
One of the largest gatherings of evangelical leaders in a generation will take place Tuesday here under the veil of a media blackout.
The event at the Marriott Marquis has some wondering whether the daylong program, titled “A Conversation About America’s Future with Donald Trump and Ben Carson,” offers what looks to some involved like the first glimpse of a possible 2016 GOP presidential ticket, as the presumptive nominee meets with as many as 900 Christian conservative leaders, including James Dobson, Ralph Reed, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, American Values President Gary Bauer and many megachurch pastors.
Many of those invited to the gathering were not early supporters of Trump. Some have still not endorsed him.
Oh, but they will. Once Carson dunks him in the baptismal vat of Crisco and errand boy Chris Christie hauls in the platters of McDonald's for his master, they'll be eating out of Trump's hand. Which explains why they've allowed an extra hour for lunch---those hands are tiny.
P.S. Today's event among the gun-free-zone-hating Angry God freaks will be held entirely in a gun-free zone, and not one attendee is complaining about having to leave their pocket cannons at home. Oh lordy, lordy, the hypocrisy is thick with this crowd.
CHEERS to making it safe to eat Butterballs. 234 years ago, Congress approved the bald eagle over the turkey as the U.S. symbol. They decided it just didn't taste as good with mashed taters and cranberry sauce.
JEERS to rats on sinking ships. Donald Trump fired his campaign manager yesterday. As you can see, it was for purely professional reasons:
Wow---who woulda guessed that a guy whose job is to control the stuff coming out of Trump’s mouth would fail? Quite the stunner there. And how nice to see by the tweet above that the Trump campaign is basically a 2016 reboot of Dynasty. I can’t wait to see the look on everyone’s face when they find out that Corey Lewandowski has been replaced with Alexis Carrington. (She pushes people off cliffs!)
JEERS to today's not-so-comforting words…from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. In the case of Utah vs. Strieff, a majority of Supreme Court justices ruled that "errors in [a police officer's] judgment hardly rise to a purposeful or flagrant violation of someone's Fourth Amendment rights.” Over to you, Sonia:
“The Court today holds that the discovery of a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket will forgive a police officer’s violation of your Fourth Amendment rights.
Do not be soothed by the opinion’s technical language: This case allows the police to stop you on the street, demand your identification, and check it for outstanding traffic warrants---even if you are doing nothing wrong.”
[The] ruling implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged.”
And since this ruling will have a disproportionately negative impact on people of color, the conservative justices (and Breyer? WTF?), could’ve just released their verdict with a hashtag: #BlackLivesMatterLessNow. So thanks a lot, court. You shouldn't have. Seriously. You shouldn’t have.
CHEERS to Great moments in agriculture! On this date in 1834, Cyrus McCormick got his patent approved for the first reaping machine. The public reaction: "Sow what?"
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Ten years ago in C&J: June 21, 2006
JEERS to Pentagon logic. Let me get this straight: Under the don't ask, don't tell policy, gays are allowed to serve in the military. But we just learned that the military manual says gays are mentally defective. Therefore the U.S. military is riddled with mentally defective troops. No wonder the cheers are so loud whenever Bush shows up on a base toting a fake turkey.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to Meetup Fevuh! This is the last call to RSVP for the annual Maine meetup at Mayim's cottage by the lake about an hour northwest of Portland. It's coming up this weekend---Saturday, June 25 from roughly noon 'til whenever:
Same deal as other years:
I’ll gladly cook and have beer and assorted non-alcoholic beverages. Lake should be warm enough for fun if anyone wants. We have a canoe, a kayak, and plenty of rocks to swim to (and to scrape knees on....). Dogs (well-behaved....) welcome, but Hobbs and Penn prefer to be the only kitties ;-) If anyone wants to spend Friday and/or Saturday night (for fun, or because it's a long drive…), I've got room for several, plus some tenting space.
For more info or to RSVP: click on nhox42's post here. Or email him at nhox42 [at] yahoo.com or send him a kosmail here. Michael and I (and Haley the Wonder Dog) will be there along with other Kossacks from near and far, and we hope you'll be able to join us. Plus I think it's the law now.
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:
Setting a Cheers and Jeers Kiddie Pool Fireworks Display on Fire Is a Spectacularly Stupid Thing to Do
---Gizmodo
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