From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
A Word, Please?
2016's words of the year are looking like a depressing bunch. First we got this from Oxford:
Then Dictionary.com weighed in:
Now Merriam-Webster appears poised to announce a similarly lousy word reflecting our current State Of Lousiness. But they're at least giving us a heads-up that it's not too late to change the outcome:
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Quick: everybody go here and search for “unicorns.” A thousand times.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, December 1, 2016
Note: Trump administration calls for a return to slavery "until we can find out what the hell is going on." Film at 11.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til inauguration day: 50
Days 'til the Army-Navy game: 9
Donald Trump's current favorability rating, according to Gallup: 42%
Percent of America's economic activity that's generated in the counties that Hillary Clinton won, according to the Brookings Institute: 64%
Average increase in U.S. incomes in October, the best showing since April according to the Commerce Department: 0.6%
Years since American consumers were as thrilled with the U.S. economy as they are now, according to a pre-election survey by the Conference Board: 9
Estimated number of British retirees living in Spain and Spanish retirees living in Britain, respectively, according to FiveThirtyEight: 70,000 / 62
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
[I]f a dictator took over, the NSA "could enable it to impose total tyranny." Then we always get that dreadful goody-two-shoes response, "Well, if you aren't doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about, do you?"
Folks, we KNOW this program is being and will be misused. We know it from the past record and current reporting. The program has already targeted vegans and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals---and, boy, if those aren't outposts of al-Qaida, what is? Could this be more pathetic?
This could scarcely be clearer. Either the president of the United States is going to have to understand and admit he has done something very wrong, or he will have to be impeached. The first time this happened [during Watergate], the institutional response was magnificent. The courts, the press, the Congress all functioned superbly. Anyone think we're up to that again? Then whom do we blame when we lose the republic?
---December 2005
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Puppy Pic of the Day (h/t to Kossack simple): The power of the puppehz…
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CHEERS to December. The year's glorious, sparkling, musical, snow-bedecked, bell-ringing, Norman Rockwellesque grand finale! Bring on the swans a'swimming, sharpen your dreidel tips and polish your Festivus pole. Bring on the Ku Klux Klan’s Trump victory parade (tomorrow in North Carolina)! Bring on Darth Vader and the death star in the new Star Wars spinoff (15 days and counting)! Bring on the Grammy nominations! Bring on the winter solstice! Bring on C&J’s 13th anniversary! Oh, and check the expiration date on the eggnog that's been sitting in the back of your fridge since 1997 before you take a swig. (If it's turned semi-solid, you can still use it to patch potholes in your driveway.) And settle your differences with 2016 because in 30 days it is out the door and ain't comin' back. I believe I speak on behalf of everybody here when I say: "Good!!!"
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JEERS to December. The year's stress-filled, bone chilling, dark-by-3, be-cheerful-or-else, and oh-here comes a-giant-blizzard grand finale. The Harry Simeone choir will make curmudgeons' ears bleed, and you just know there are even more beloved mega-celebrities who will inconvenience us by dying this month. (The supermarket checkout counter "In Memoriam” magazines are gonna be six inches thick this year.) Also the Pearl Harbor anniversary. The wise among us will forgo candy canes and instead hang holiday-themed Prozac dispensers. And remember the usual Republican mantra this holiday season: You can't spell Noel without "No!!!”
CHEERS to grrrrl power. Despite having the cover of a secret ballot, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio failed to persuade enough of his colleagues to deny former Speaker Nancy Pelosi another term as House minority leader yesterday. In fact, it wasn't even close, as Pelosi scored 68% of the vote in a landslide:
The vote sent a message that a majority of Democrats consider the long experience of the current leadership team---combined with Pelosi's celebrated reputation for uniting the caucus---as indispensable assets in the legislative fights to come.
Pelosi was nominated by fellow California Rep. Adam Schiff (D), with seconding speeches by members representing a spectrum of caucus constituencies, including Reps. Joaquin Castro (Texas) of the Hispanic Caucus and Gwen Moore (Wis.) of the Black Caucus. "No one is a better tactician than Nancy Pelosi," Schiff said, according to an aide in the room.
But she's also acknowledged the party's internal unrest, particularly among junior members frustrated by the lack of leadership opportunities, and several proposals she introduced to empower younger lawmakers were also expected to be adopted by the Democrats during Wednesday's meeting.
Meanwhile, a bit of history was made yesterday when Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA) was voted vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus…the first woman of color elected to a leadership post in a congressional caucus. She gets a key to the executive restroom, a better parking spot, and is now third in line to yell "You lie!" during Trump's next speech to Congress.
CHEERS to parking your keister for equality. On December 1, 1955, black seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama public bus. The bus driver, James Blake, said he was just doing his job when he ratted her out. But history reveals his job apparently also included being a dick:
Once, after she had paid her fare at the front, he had ordered her to board the bus at the rear and then, before she could do so, driven off. On other occasions he had ostentatiously driven past the stop at which she was waiting.
As for Parks, she wasn't the first black American to challenge the discriminatory rules of public transportation. But in this case, her arrest and the ensuing boycott of the bus system---led by budding activist Martin Luther King, Jr.---became a signature event of the civil rights protest movement. I don’t like to play the game of "What If," but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts she'd be rooting for the Black Lives Matter movement. Yeah---going out on limbs is one of my strong suits.
CHEERS to hitting a very magic number. There was no jumping up and down for joy on November 8th, but there sure will be when the corrupt and generally disgusting Pat McCrory finally admits defeat in his bid to win re-election as North Carolina's billionaire-bootlicker-in-chief. Happily, his velvet-covered nuts appear to be firmly caught in an ever-tightening vise:
As of Wednesday afternoon, [Roy] Cooper's lead had grown to more than 10,000 votes for the first time, past the threshold for McCrory to ask for a recount.
"Governor McCrory, it's over. Governor-Elect Roy Cooper's lead is more than 10,000, and it's time to accept the will of the people," North Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Patsy Keever said Wednesday. "We congratulate Governor-Elect Cooper again on a hard-fought victory, and we look forward to working with him to build a better North Carolina."
First item on Democrat Roy Cooper's agenda: drain a can of Lysol into every inch of the governor's office to get rid of that giant asshole smell.
CHEERS to laughing in the face of fear. Today around 5-6 o'clock, the president will lead America in hoisting a pine-scented middle finger to the bad people. Like the Whos in Whoville, Americans will gather in a circle and hold hands and sing as Barack Obama lights this baby up the darkness:
And we'll be happy and, yes, gay as we party down with Santa and rock around the Christmas tree. And nothing in the world can stop us from celebrating peace on earth and goodwill to all. You hear me, ISIS crazies and anti-abortion wackos? Nothing! Well...maybe traffic. But it’s freedom traffic, bub.
CHEERS to America's cleaning service. On December 1, 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency was born during the reign of that shameless Marxist commie Richard "Hitler/Mao/Stalin" Nixon. Under his orders, government "life panels" were created to ration environmental care by putting competent bureaucrats between you and your polluter under the guise of collectively "protecting human health and the environment." It was just one more way the Republicans tried to take power away from the individual and use it to advance their radical socialist agenda. Today, thoroughly embarrassed by their un-American blunder, Republicans are champing at the bit to abolish the EPA as they try and erase any connection between themselves and promotion of America's general welfare. Because, as their current bumper sticker slogan says: "Clean Air Promotes Lazy Lungs."
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Ten years ago in C&J: December 1, 2006
JEERS to spiking your own cannon. Bill O’Reilly---the culture warrior who couldn’t shoot straight---continues to run the worst defense of Christmas since the Baby Jesus’s first fart in the manger. This time he called for a boycott of Crate & Barrel because of a supposed "No Merry Christmas" rule toward customers. The only problem: they have no such rule. I see a presidential medal of freedom in this guy’s future.
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And just one more…
CHEERS (because it's important) and JEERS (because it's still necessary) to World AIDS Day. This year marks 35 years since the first published scientific account of the virus that would decimate the gay community and spread to the straight community with equal viciousness. Today more than 36.7 million people around the world live with HIV or full-blown AIDS. A minimum of 35 million have died from it. But UNAIDS says the 28th anniversary of World AIDS Day brings with it more optimism than ever:
The world has committed to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. We are seeing that countries are getting on the Fast-Track---more than 18 million people are on life-saving HIV treatment and country after country is on track to virtually eliminate HIV transmission from mother to child.
We are winning against the AIDS epidemic, but we are not seeing progress everywhere. The number of new HIV infections is not declining among adults, with young women particularly at risk of becoming infected with HIV.
With access to treatment, people living with HIV are living longer. Investing in treatment is paying off, but people older than 50 who are living with HIV, including people who are on treatment, are at increased risk of developing age-associated noncommunicable diseases, affecting HIV disease progression.
The success we have achieved so far gives us hope for the future, but as we look ahead we must remember not to be complacent. We cannot stop now. This is the time to move forward together to ensure that all children start their lives free from HIV, that young people and adults grow up and stay free from HIV and that treatment becomes more accessible so that everyone stays AIDS-free.
By the way, the last time the 54-ton AIDS quilt could be displayed in its entirety was 1996, and if laid out today it would cover more than 1,293,300 square feet. Not coincidentally, this is also Give A Virus The Finger Day. Knock yerself out.
Have a tolerable 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 keeps kiddie pool swampy
---CNN
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