From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Kimmel on Comey
“A few hours ago, [Trump] fired James Comey, the director of the FBI. Which is kind of like O.J. firing Ito halfway through the trial….This is the kind of thing dictators do.”
Love this line: “One reason they gave for firing Comey is he mishandled the Hillary Clinton email situation. Which is hilarious, because that would mean Trump fired James Comey for making him president.”
Stay plastered on Daily Kos for Day 3 of our government coup-in-progress. Plus Angie with the weather highlights and Chet on sports.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...[Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, May 11, 2017
Note: This is National Etiquette Week, so remember to follow Miss Manners' #1 rule: always use brass knuckles with pinky extended.
-
By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea: 274
Days 'til the Empire Asparagus Festival in Empire, Michigan: 8
Minimum number of scientists who have been dismissed from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Board of Scientific Counselors for being too gosh-darn scientific: 5
Syrian immigrants accepted into Canada since late 2015: 40,100
Percent of Canadians who believe immigrants helps the economy, according to the Environics Institute for Survey Research: 78%
Rank of Colorado, Utah, Washington and Oregon among states whose 50+ residents engage in the most physical activity, according to CDC: #1, #2, #3, #4
Rank of Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and Oklahoma among states whose 50+ residents engage in the least physical activity: #1, #2, #3, #4
-
Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Here in Newt's America, we all know that government regulation is bad, bad, bad.
If I had a nickel for every speech I've listened to by every public official talking about the evils of government regulation, I'd be richer than H. Ross. We're hell-bent on downsizing government here in the Republican Revolution, where marketplace mysticism is the faith of the day. Deregulation, free-market fundamentalism, unleash capitalism, greed-is-good, cut taxes, cut spending, cut welfare and make the poor folks read Milton Friedman. And then some plane in the deregulated airline industry crashes in the Everglades, and there's hell to pay because the Federal Aviation Administration didn't prevent the accident.
God forbid that anyone should suggest that the FAA needs a lot more money, more inspectors and more training. This is the Republican Revolution, and the only thing we want more of is profits.
---May, 1996
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: Giddyup…
-
CHEERS to little leave-behinds. By now you know that Trump fired FBI director Comey, leaving the agency's investigation into Russiagate in a bit of chaos. As Democrats publicly (and Republicans privately, so courageous are they) called for an independent investigation, Comey apparently fired off one final tweet and I'm treating this as real because…well, because:
Coming soon to pay-per-view near you. I hope.
P.S. This was classy:
So. The Russians have conquered the White House. And they didn’t even have to burn the place down. Neat trick.
CHEERS to fuzzy math. Well, at least fuzzy mathematicians. Einstein's theory of relativity ("The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity" to be precise) was presented 101 years ago today in front of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. His later words:
"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."
Or sit with a member of the House freedom caucus for a second and it seems like forever. THAT'S eternity.
CHEERS to delicate balancing acts. Imagine being the new leader of a fairly democratized country like South Korea and yet surrounded by lunatics and human rights violators on all sides. That's the conundrum new South Korean president Moon Jae-in finds himself in, with Trump, Kim Jong Un and China all breathing down his neck. But he's a liberal, so he knows what to do: stay cool…
South Korea’s newly elected president vowed on Wednesday to play a more assertive role in resolving the North’s nuclear crisis through dialogue, saying that he was willing to meet with its leader, Kim Jong-un, if the circumstances were right.
President Moon Jae-in also pledged to strengthen the alliance with Washington, expressing an eagerness for an early summit meeting with President Trump, whose military posturing and diplomatic overtures toward the North in recent weeks have both rattled and confused South Koreans.
But Mr. Moon also hinted at balancing diplomacy between the United States and China, his country’s largest trading partner, over the contentious deployment of an American missile defense system here.
And then, a light lunch.
CHEERS to the sedentary Don. It's not just Watergate-level corruption that welds Trump and Richard Nixon at the hip. They also had an aversion to physical exercise. And Trump's rationale for it is just gilded-age bizarre:
In a remarkable New Yorker story this week about how Donald Trump could realistically be removed from the presidency, Evan Osnos writes: “Other than golf, he considers exercise misguided, arguing that a person, like a battery, is born with a finite amount of energy.”
The Trump “human body as non-rechargeable battery” theory was first detailed by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher in their 2016 book, Trump Revealed. […]
There was a time when doctors would have concurred with Trump on this. That was the Victorian era. Back then, people worried a physical activity could cause everything from exhaustion and heart palpitations, particularly in women.
What else can we say? Don’t run, Trump! Don’t run!
CHEERS to getting outside in the fresh air---back when we had fresh air. 213 years ago this week, Lewis and Clark set off from their camp in Illinois to go explore just what the hell kind of territory we'd acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. Their first words when they got back: "Somebody needs to invent GPS, and somebody needs to invent GPS now!" Added the welcome committee: "And deodorant."
CHEERS to going hurdling over curdling. What a joy to live during the dawning of the age of adairyus. First we got the news that butter isn’t bad for you. (Pass me the steamed lobster and a bib, please.) Now we get some news about cheese that's sure to please…
While it may not be the healthiest thing in the world, a new study claims that full-fat dairy products is not as bad as once thought. Eating full-fat cheese, milk or yogurt does not increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke,according to a study published in European Journal of Epidemiology, via Guardian.
The study was an in-depth analysis of 29 prior studies that looked at the link between dairy products and risk of cardiovascular disease or heart problems.Their findings were such that these dairy products have a “neutral” effect on those areas.
“This meta-analysis showed there were no associations between total dairy, high- and low-fat dairy, milk and the health outcomes including all-cause mortality,coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease,” the report reads.
Y'know what I say? Grate!
-
Ten years ago in C&J: May 11, 2007
JEERS to mixed signals. President Bush's fantasy---"We're fighting the terrorists over there so we don’t have to fight them over here---is a bit at odds with FBI director Robert Mueller's reality check:
Homegrown amateur terror groups such as the Fort Dix Six have supplanted Al Qaeda to pose the most immediate security threat to the U.S., FBI Director Robert Mueller said yesterday. ..."For some time now, we've been concerned about the growth of homegrown groups," Mueller said at a breakfast with reporters.
Thankfully the bomb squad was there to defuse the ticking sausage links.
-
And just one more…
CHEERS to merry meetups. I'm grateful for many things in life. The top 5, in order: my partner Michael, ice cream, municipal drainage systems, the fez, and May 11, 1969. That's the day that John Cleese and Graham Chapman (RIP) met Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones (sadly now battling dementia), and Michael Palin, and began plotting their collective assault on British stiff-upperlippyness, which debuted a few months later as Monty Python's Flying Circus. For your viewing pleasure:
The Ministry of Silly Walks
The Dead Parrot Sketch
Upper Class Twit of the Year
And...Spam! (Which, coincidentally, was trademarked by Hormel on this date in 1937, making it younger than John McCain by a year.)
Later, in The Meaning of Life, they were positively prescient about the way the financial collapse of ‘08 would play out. P.S. "Nee!"
Oh, and 36 years ago today, Bob Marley died much too young at 36. New evidence is emerging that he, in fact, shot the deputy, not the sheriff. But why quibble? Let's get together and feel alright, anyway. Have a great weekend. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-
Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool lobster buoy floated 2,500 miles, ended up in France
---Bangor Daily News
-