From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
THREE weeks 'til Netroots Nation 2016 St. Louis
With the liberal event of the year only 21 days away, we hope your to-do list (get haircut…pull tuxedo tank-top from bottom of laundry pile…memorize sum of all knowledge for Adam B's pub quiz…vacuum interior of blimp) is getting pared down. This week's update is chock full of netrootsiness:
► Keynote Panel Friday, July 15 leaders on the front lines of the 21st century movement for racial justice and civil rights will talk about the role of technology in building and/or reinforcing social movements. Panelists are Color of Change’s Rashad Robinson, Linda Sarsour of MPower, Shanelle Matthews of Black Lives Matter, Joe Torres of Free Press and Malkia Cyril from the Center for Media Justice. The same day there’s a just-announced environmental panel that will feature Tom Steyer and others. For the full list of panels at the convention, click here.
► Grammy nominated rapper and hip hop producer Warren G will perform at the Addicting Info Party, the official Friday night party. And Tef Poe---the St. Louis rapper and co-founder of HandsUpUnited---will open for Warren G. The event is open to all Netroots Nation badge holders and will be held July 15 at the Old Rock House.
► The Netroots Nation Screening Series has been announced. It includes full movie showings and previews/discussions of upcoming flicks. Submissions this year have some big names attached, including Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame), Greg Palast, Mark Ruffalo and Jon Bowermaster. Click here for more info.
► RSVPs have jumped to 80+ Kossacks for the DKos/Connect-Unite-Act/C&J Eat-'n-Greet at Mango, a block the convention hall. To add your name to the RSVP list, email Navajo and then circle Wednesday, July 13 on your calendar. Starts at 5:30. Some people have said in the past that they're a little intimidated about going because of all the brainpower in the room. Please don’t let this stop you---my brain will be in attendance, which will cut the room's overall IQ by many points.
► Hotel rooms going fast! Eric Thut tells me that the reduced-rate rooms at two of the three official hotels are sold out. There are still some available at the Marriott, but Eric says "these will sell out too. The deadline to book a room in the NN16 special reduced-rate block is tomorrow, June 24. You may still be able to get a room in one of the official hotels after that date, but you won't be guaranteed our group rate." Official hotel info is here.
► Registration info is here.
► Beer is here.
► Follow Netroots Nation via Facebook here and Twitter here.
Meanwhile, Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, June 23, 2016
Note: The Pulse nightclub victims fund is now $5.9 million towards its $7 million goal. If you'd like to chip in, here's the link.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Please Take My Children to Work Day: 4
Days `til the Moxie Festival in Lisbon Falls, Maine 15
Percent of Americans who have enough emergency reserves to pay six months of expenses, a six-year high according to CBS News: 28%
Estimated number of Americans who would lose their jobs if Donald Trump gets to enact his economic plans, according to Moody's Analytics: 3.5 million
Percent of Floridians who support the kind of bills that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) voted against Monday, according to PPP: 93%
Portion of people who believe that businesses bear as much responsibility as governments do for “positive social change” according to Harper's Index: 2/3
Percent of Republicans in North Carolina and West Virginia, respectively, who disapprove of Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, according to PPP: 65%, 75%
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
When, in the future, you find yourself wondering, "Whatever happened to the Constitution?" you will want to go back and look at June 8, 2004. That was the day the attorney general of the United States---a.k.a. "the nation's top law enforcement officer"---refused to provide the Senate Judiciary Committee with his department's memos concerning torture.
In order to justify torture, these memos declare that the president is bound by neither U.S. law nor international treaties. We have put ourselves on the same moral level as Saddam Hussein, the only difference being quantity. Quite literally, the president may as well wear a crown---forget that "no man is above the law" jazz. We used to talk about "the imperial presidency" under Nixon, but this is the real thing. […]
Is this what we have come to? Is this what we want our government to do for us? Oh and by way, to my fellow political reporters who keep repeating that Bush is having a wonderful week: Why don't you think about what you stand for?
---June, 2004
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Saved by the UPS driver…
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CHEERS to unleashing a sitstorm. Wait a minute. Democrats can do a sit-down protest on the floor of the House? Really? They can do that??? Well, knock me down and call me Twinkletoes…
Led by civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Democratic members of Congress literally sat on the House floor on Wednesday to demand action on gun control. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) responded by ordering the cameras off and abruptly ending the session.
John Lewis and friends “We have lost hundreds of thousands of innocent people to gun violence,” Lewis said on the House floor during Wednesday’s morning session. Dozens of Democratic members of Congress stood beside him, before they all took a seat on the floor.
“Tiny little children. Babies, students, and teachers. Mothers and fathers. Sisters and brothers. Daughters and sons. Friends and neighbors,” Lewis said. “And what has this body done?”
You should check out Congressman Lewis's twitter feed. It makes me wish he'd been able to tweet during the iconic civil rights moments of the 1960s. But if nothing else, watch him thunder and pound the lectern in righteous indignation on the House floor with his Democratic colleagues standing behind him…and us:
And so they literally sat on the floor of the House, much to the chagrin of their backsides. Of course, nothing concrete will come of this, but between Chris Murphy's Senate filibuster and this sit-in, it's achieving Lewis's goal of "making some noise" and getting Americans to notice which party is looking out for them. On that score: we win.
JEERS to the dick move of the week. Radical conservative Senator Marco Rubio hates the LGBT community. Hates it. He's never lifted a finger on their behalf and has shown nothing but contempt for their efforts to become as equal in the eyes of the law as straight people like him. If every LGBT citizen disappeared off the face of the earth tomorrow, he wouldn’t bat an eye. As if to underscore his contempt, Rubio has chosen to exploit the Orlando massacre of 49 mostly LGBT nightclub patrons as the "in" he needed to break his promise not to run for reelection:
Rubio has told his friend, Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, who is seeking to replace him in the Senate, that he feels compelled to continue his public service in light of the June 12 shooting, which was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history and the deadliest terror attack since 9/11.
Sadie Weiner, the communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, admonished Rubio for using the shooting in Orlando to his political advantage. "He is cravenly using the deadliest mass shooting in American history as the springboard to go back on his word and further his political career,” Weiner said in a statement.
And now I'm told that Rubio, who hates being a senator, never shows up for work, misses votes constantly, and whose only contribution to public policy was to champion immigration reform until he totally un-championed it, has a good chance at being rewarded with another six years. Or perhaps not: his current approval rating according to PPP is 30 percent. All I can say is, may the Cantor Effect be strong with this one.
CHEERS to 1-900-CLARENCETHOMAS. Hey, who's up for some SCOTUS hilarity! On this date in 1989, the Supreme Court refused to shut down the dial-a-porn industry, saying that indecent speech is not the same thing as obscenity, and is therefore protected. Interestingly, all the justices in the majority had cauliflower ears. Coincidence, I'm sure.
P.S. Clarence Thomas turns (only) 68 today. You'll find a little, um, "present" on your Coke can this morning, sir. We all chipped in.
CHEERS to living in a blue city. Portland, Maine's city government, while not perfect, is still pretty darn good at getting stuff done. Two notable votes over the past couple weeks: passing bills that remove transgender health insurance exclusions and raising the smoking age to 21. It's almost enough to make us forget we have an asshole Republican teabagger as our governor. Almost.
CHEERS to one helluva life flight. It took 'em a couple days to complete the 3,000-mile rescue via a pair of Canadian-owned Twin Otter planes, but two American workers from a research station in Antarctica have made it to a hospital in Chile after getting sick:
Normally planes don’t go to the polar outpost from February to October because of the dangers of flying in the pitch-dark and cold.
The first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere was Monday---the sun will not rise at the South Pole till the first day of spring in September. Steve Barnet, who works with a University of Wisconsin astronomy team at the polar station but is in the U.S. now, lauded the rescue crew. “The courage of the pilots to make the flight in extremely harsh conditions is incredible and inspiring,” Barnet wrote in an email.
The extreme cold affects a lot of things on planes, including fuel, which needs to be warmed before takeoff, batteries and hydraulics, according to West. The Twin Otter can fly in temperatures as low as minus 103 degrees (minus 75 degrees Celsius), he said.
Doctors are still conducting tests, but they believe the workers were suffering from an acute case of Oh My God We Just Found Out Via Carrier Pigeon That Donald Trump Is A Nominee For President Syndrome.
CHEERS to Things That Go Clackety-Clack for $200, Alex. On June 23, 1868, Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for his "Type-writer," the first to have the famous QWERTY sequence on its upper keys. Today bloggers who can't think of anything for their subject line typically go south for the edgier and more mysterious "asdf." And the day someone decides to drop down to "zxcv"? Well, don’t tell anybody, but I believe that's the day the nukes leave the silos.
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Ten years ago in C&J: June 23, 2006
JEERS to living in poverty for another year. Message from Senate Republicans to poor people: SCREW YOU! Hahahahaha!!! A minimum-wage hike proposal submitted by---no surprise---our team died in the Senate yesterday. A gaggle of Republican jerks (Trent Lott, Ted Stevens, John Cornyn, etc.) think tax cuts for the rich are more important than helping the poor keep the lights on and some cat food in their stomachs. It's good to be the kings.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to U.S. Minty freshness. Paaartay!!! Forgive my irrational numismathusiam, but a new "America the Beautiful" series (honoring our national parks) state quarter was released this month, representing this famous West Virginia spot:
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is proud to be one of over 400 units of the National Park System preserving decades of American history and stunning landscapes.
At the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, you encounter a compelling history in our American narrative. George Washington chose Harpers Ferry as the site for a US Armory and from there early manufacturing innovations fueled the Industrial Revolution.
It was here that abolitionist John Brown struck a blow against slavery that ignited a Civil War, trapping the town between the North and the South. In the wake of the war’s devastation, legendary Civil Rights leaders met at Storer College and “claimed every single right that belongs to a freeborn American.”
The design on the back of the quarter shows John Brown's fort, where he made his last stand during his raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory in an effort to lead a slave revolt. May it burn a hole in every racist southerner's pocket.
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:
Bill in Portland Maine Got Stuck In A Barney Head And Firefighters Had To Save Him
---Buzzfeed
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