From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
TWO Weeks 'til Netroots Nation St. Louis!
Two weeks from today, Kossacks and other lefties from a who's who of progressive organizations will start descending on St. Louis for the annual activism party that is the Netroots Nation convention. The grapevine tells me that the official hotels are near full up and Missouri's Democrats are ready to welcome one and all with open arms and beer. Here are a few recent newsy bits from Raven Brooks and company:
► Must-see special session on the intersection of climate change and environmental justice.
This keynote conversation is scheduled for Friday, July 15 and features NextGen Climate president Tom Steyer, NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program director Jacqui Patterson, Green for All Executive Director Vien Truong; and Anthony Rogers-Wright of Environmental Action discuss what needs to happen to stem the effects of climate change for our most vulnerable communities.
► Join us at the Connect-Unite-Act/C&J Pre-convention party at Mango (a block from the convention center). To add your name to the RSVP list (now over 80 people), email Navajo and then circle Wednesday, July 13 on your calendar. Starts at 5:30. We can't guarantee a pie fight will break out, but then again we can't guarantee that one won't break out either. In any case it's a safe bet that if one does break out we'll be hurling mango pies.
► Other notable panelists you'll see at NN16 include (and this is just scratching the surface) Marcy Wheeler, L. Joy Williams, John Nichols, Adam Green, Jessica Byrd, Chris Reeves, Stan Greenburg, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Zephyr Teachout, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Asha Noor, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Daniela Ramirez, Joel Silberman, Zack Ford, Lizz Brown, Chris Savage, RL Miller, Max Blumenthal, Josie Duffy, Sabrina Stevens, Greg Palast, Allyse Heartwell, Sayu Bhojwani and Nan Aron. For the full list of panels at the convention, click here. The screening series events here for more info.
► Grammy nominated rapper and hip hop producer Warren G is headlining the Addicting Info Party for all Netroots Nation badge holders on July 15 at the Old Rock House. And Tef Poe---the St. Louis rapper and co-founder of HandsUpUnited---will open for Warren G.
► Hotel rooms going fast! The reduced-rate rooms at two of the three official hotels are sold out. There are still some available at the Marriott, but NN16 organizers say "Book now." Official hotel info is here.
► Public transportation info is here.
► Registration info is here.
► Link to download the NN16 app is here.
► Follow Netroots Nation via Facebook here and Twitter here.
Next week: big news! Meanwhile, Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, June 30, 2016
Note: As for the C&J schedule, we'll post tomorrow as usual, followed by our traditional July 4th post on Monday, no C&J Tuesday, back Wednesday through Friday, and then we're off the following week to suffer the wedgies and purple nurples of Netroots Nation. Please panic in an orderly fashion. ---Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Bill Clinton's 70th birthday: 50
Days 'til the Taste of Buffalo festival: 9
Percent of patients who get tonsillectomies, wisdom teeth extractions or abortions, respectively, and suffer complications from them according to a University of California study: 9%, 7%, 2%
Percent of abortion procedures that result in severe enough complications to require surgery or blood transfusions: 0.2%
Revised GDP for the first quarter, up from the original 0.5% estimate: 1.1%
Percent of Democratic and Republican Mainers, respectively, who believe the main cause of heroin abuse is a "moral failing" according to a Portland Press Herald poll: 7%, 20%
Estimated size of the underground fresh water reserve that was just discovered by researchers in California, most of it less than 3,250 feet deep: 2,700 billion tons
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Happy birthday, America! Ye Olde Fourth of July rolls around again and finds the Great Nation in, frankly, a somewhat pissy mood. Lots of blame game, name-slinging and general unpleasantness. But there's always an upside. The vice president reports that if you go ahead and let fly with the f-word, it makes you feel better. Anything to get that fun Dick Cheney back to his usual sunny self, I always say.
True, we seem to have had more halcyon national natal days, but if we ignore I--q for the weekend, we should be able to celebrate our national heritage without punching each other in the eye.
So let's salute all that makes America special, starting with us, the people. Here's to all the musicians from country to hip-hop to rock to classical to jazz to folk to be-bop tonorteno to polka to reggae, and to all the fusion forms thereof. Here's to all the artists who get no respect---the washboard players and lute strummers, harmonica blowers and banjo pickers. Here's to their endless generosity in playing special benefits for retired musicians who are ill and have no health insurance, all over America, every night. And here's to the great Ray Charles, bless his heart. May we all hear his version of "America the Beautiful" this holiday.
---July 2004
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Warm welcome…
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CHEERS to spending a little getting-along time with your buds. When was the last time you could seriously call the leaders of North America "The Three Amigos"? Now that Harper and Bush are gone, it's actually possible now. Yesterday's triumphant triumvirate starred U.S. President Barack Obama, Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto and Canada's Justin Trudeau. And their overall message appeared to be: fuck Brexit and Trump, let's save the planet and be nice...
The leaders of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico put forward a united front against growing concerns over the rise of protectionism and anti-immigrant sentiment at home and abroad as they concluded their North American Leaders Summit. […]
Trudeau said he had friendly but "frank" talks with U.S. President Barack Obama and Enrique Pena Nieto, as they agreed to align their respective climate and energy policies and work on resolving border issues at the so-called Three Amigos gathering. "This partnership will see our countries stand side-by-side as we work toward the common goal of a North America that is competitive, that encourages clean growth, and that protects our shared environment now, and for generations to come."
Trudeau said there were other issues on the agenda, such as the worst mass shooting in Orlando, Fl., earlier this month. "One of the first items we discussed was our common respect for diversity, and our firm support for LGBTQ rights," Trudeau said, adding that the three leaders were "unanimous" in their belief that North America has a responsibility to lead on the issue.
I can't say this with certainty quite yet, but Obama's speech in the standing-room-only Canadian Parliament yesterday sure sounded to me like one that'll be talked about for years---such a perfect encapsulation of the way life on the blue marble should be, delivered by an expert orator in his freakin' prime. Watch it here. Kinda cool to walk the earth at the same time as this guy. And I especially like the D after his name.
CHEERS and JEERS to gettin' outta Dodge. AAA (pronounced "Ahhhhh") is out with its July 4th weekend holiday traffic prediction. Nearly 43 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:
AAA projects nearly 43 million Americans will travel this Independence Day weekend. This represents the highest fourth of July travel volume on record and five million more travelers compared to Memorial Day weekend.
“Spurred by the lowest gas prices since 2005, more people than ever are planning to travel this Independence Day weekend,” said Marshall Doney, AAA President and CEO. “Whether they’re traveling by car, plane, train, or cruise ship, it will be exciting to see so many Americans celebrating our nation’s freedom with their friends and family over the long holiday weekend.”
“This trend is welcome news for the travel industry and a sign that Americans are taking to our nation’s highways and skies like never before.”
So if you find yourself stuck in an economic-rebound-related traffic jam this weekend, you know what to yell: "Thanks, o-BAMA!!!"
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Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
This is another edition of The One Word Answer Man. Conservative Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker, who is clearly put off by Donald Trump but still feels compelled to try and prop up his campaign while holding her nose, asks: “With Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, did Donald Trump just win the presidential election?”
No.
Now back to Cheers and Jeers.
Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
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CHEERS to getting the final word. When Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were murdered in a diplomatic compound in Libya in 2012, Republicans huddled together before the bodies were even cold and hatched a plan to use the tragedy to derail President Obama's re-election. They failed. Then they used it to try and derail Hillary Clinton's prospects in 2016 and they failed again. Now that the nine(!!!) Benghazi investigations are over and done with, and it turns out the only smoking guns belong to the murderers, the family of Ambassador Stevens---via his sister Anne---wants America to know this:
"I do not blame Hillary Clinton or Leon Panetta. They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world.
And their staffs were doing their best to provide what they could with the resources they had. The Benghazi Mission was understaffed. We know that now. But, again, Chris knew that. It wasn’t a secret to him. He decided to take the risk to go there. It is not something they did to him. It is something he took on himself. […]
We all recognize that there’s a risk in serving in a dangerous environment. Chris thought that was very important, and he probably would have done it again. I don’t see any usefulness in continuing to criticize [Secretary Clinton]. It is very unjust. […] With the many issues in the current election, to use that incident---and to use Chris’s death as a political point---is not appropriate."
So guess who's flipping the middle finger at the victims' families in a new TV ad running in swing states to score political points? The fucking NR-fucking-A. Try not to break your finger clicking on today's C&J poll. Trust me---it hurts.
JEERS to Cheeto Jesus in Vacationland. Yesterday Donald Trump troweled on his usual three pounds of pancake, snapped his hairs into place using technology developed by Lego, and jetted up to Bangor, Maine for a stop on his "Aaaaah, I can't rememberrr!" Tour. He gave the fact-checkers their usual heart palpitations, ticking off all the reasons why destroying the things that make America great will make America great again. I'll spare you the details, and instead sum up the event in six brief seconds, courtesy of longtime conservative Boston radio host Howie Carr, who was the warm-up act:
Now you know why you see his photo when you look up the word “Masshole” in the dictionary.
CHEERS to he who is laughing last. On June 30, 1520, Montezuma II was murdered as Spanish conquistadors fled the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Today he gets his "revenge" by inflicting a certain embarrassing malady on tourists who visit Mexico and drink the water. Now pay attention, class:
When you're slidin' into first and you feel something burst---Diarrhea! Diarrhea!
When you're slidin' into third and you lay a juicy turd---Diarrhea! Diarrhea!
When you're slidin' into home and your shorts are filled with foam---Diarrhea! Diarrhea!
When you're sitting in your Chevy and your pants are wet and heavy---Diarrhea! Diarrhea!
Look at that: history, sports, biology and industrial engineering. At C&J, school's always in session.
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Eleven years ago in C&J: June 30, 2005
CHEERS to the gay takeover of the world. First Canada...now Spain has approved same-sex marriage. Said Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero: "We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last." No...that honor will go to US. [6/30/16 Update: Hey...happy to be wrong!]
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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 have been sliding downhill as the novelty wears off. 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---featuring the latest Consumer Product Safety Division video set to relaxing muzak---of 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. Sorry, but I won't be able to post any more C&Js until next month. Get it? Get it???
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Self-Pouring Liquid Behaves Like It's From Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool
---Gizmodo
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