Cheers and Jeers: Wednesday

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 20, 2024 · 4:51 AM PST

2024/11/20 · 04:51

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Potent Quotables

This week's pearls…

“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a president and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”

—Franklin Roosevelt

”We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.”

—Goethe

”I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“The last time Trump was in office, organizers fought and won to save health care for millions of Americans, take back the House, flip the Senate, and win the White House. The far right wants us to feel powerless. Extremists are counting on apathy, cynicism, and heartbreak to be their rocket fuel. They are counting on us to point fingers at each other and lose trust in our ability to make change. I absolutely refuse to give them the satisfaction.”

—Senator Elizabeth Warren

”It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you place the blame.”

—Oscar Wilde

Don’t approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side.

—Yiddish proverb

”Four years ago, we faced unprecedented crises. President Biden understood the magnitude of the challenge and used the tools of government to meet the moment, including an infrastructure package that is transforming our nation. It will be remembered as this century's Big Deal.”

—Secretary Pete Buttigieg

”Having a family is like having a bowling alley installed in your brain.”

—Martin Mull

“If you can’t say anything good about someone, sit right here by me.”

—Alice Roosevelt Longworth

”Rolls-Royce announced today that it is recalling all Rolls-Royce cars made after 1966 because of faulty nuts behind the steering wheel.”

—Walter Cronkite

And now, our feature presentation...

Poll

537 votes Show Results

Can you recall a cabinet selection process, besides the one going on now, where a main qualification to join the team appears to be engaging in, or tolerance of, sexual assault?

537 votes Vote Now!

Can you recall a cabinet selection process, besides the one going on now, where a main qualification to join the team appears to be engaging in, or tolerance of, sexual assault?

Yes

9 votes

525 votes

Not sure/No opinion

3 votes

Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 19, 2024 · 4:50 AM PST

2024/11/19 · 04:50

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Let’s Check the DK Ukraine Relief Tote Board

Yikes. It’s been a month since we last revisited the Daily Kos relief fund for Ukraine’s civilians—and their furry friends—affected by Russia’s daily war crimes. (Yeah, they’re still at it, although Ukraine finally has the green light to defend itself by lobbing heavier hardware deeper into Russia.) As of this morning, you’ve helped raise close to four million dollars. Or, to be more accurate...

$3,873,561.17

If you'd like to support the four chosen groups—the World Central Kitchen, AmeriCares, Razom for Ukraine, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare—click here and ActBlue will guide you through the rest. Can’t thank you enough.

As Ukraine’s military continues sticking to the plan, making progress with creativity, tenacity, and a deep respect for defending democracy, Putin is sitting back hoping to hell that his Washington-bound pet fascist poodle bails him out of his catastrophic blunder—and he probably will. Strange times.

And now, our feature presentation...

Poll

580 votes Show Results

The question must be asked: spuds, squash, or stuffing?

580 votes Vote Now!

The question must be asked: spuds, squash, or stuffing?

Spuds

166 votes

Squash

47 votes

Stuffing

367 votes

Cheers and Jeers: Monday

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 18, 2024 · 4:52 AM PST

2024/11/18 · 04:52

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Moving Day

Well, we finally did it. Tossed our meager belongings into the ox cart, plugged the holes in our shoes with rags, adjusted our Napoleon hat, and said goodbye to politics on Twitter without looking back. Elon Musk and his Russian trolls can officially kiss our grits. Hello, Bluesky.

With more than a million people joining every day now, including nearly all the folks I followed at the other place, this was a no-brainer. I was actually pretty good at avoiding the MAGA face eaters over there, but one wrong turn could easily uncover a cesspool of junior high-level hate and ignorance. Plus, of course, the site’s owner is pure atherosclerotic evil.

Not much to say about the sign-up process except it’s easy peasy. Took about two minutes. If you join up and want to follow boring old me, flap your wings and click here. Drop a C&J mention in my feed and I’ll follow back.

It’s kind of exciting starting over on social media. And without the garbage peddlers, all’s I can say is: so far so good.

And now, our feature presentation...

Poll

617 votes Show Results

Do you support President Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to use longer-range weapons against Russia?

617 votes Vote Now!

Do you support President Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to use longer-range weapons against Russia?

Yes

514 votes

Lean yes

77 votes

Not sure/No opinion

18 votes

Lean no

4 votes

Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Coke FRIDAY!

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday November 15, 2024 · 4:17 PM PST

2024/11/15 · 16:17

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Late Night Snark: It Begins Edition

“Since the election, internet searches for ‘how to move abroad’ are up by more than one-thousand percent. … Additionally, U.S. searches for ‘move to Canada’ increased by 1,270 percent, making this a perfect time to debut my new reality show: Who Wants to Marry a Mountie? ”

—Stephen Colbert

"They let a man with 34 felonies lead the free world and be the president of the United States? That's it, I'm listening to R. Kelly again. I already do, but I'm gonna stop pretending I don't. If white people can elect their felons, I can dance to mine."

—Michael Che, SNL

“Trump picked Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence, which is a big job. It could interfere with her other job: working for Russian national intelligence.”

—Jimmy Kimmel

x
The Department of Justice isn't within 100 feet of a school, is it? https://t.co/FYDRR2tk21
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 13, 2024

-

“Wildlife officials in Illinois recently rescued a coyote with a plastic jug stuck on its head. And this is cool: Trump nominated it for Secretary of Transportation.”

—Seth Meyers

“Kristi Noem for Homeland Security? Are you fucking kidding me? She’s supposed to get the border under control? She couldn’t even train her dog. … I will say Noem does have experience striking fear in the hearts of terrorists. Wait, I read that wrong. Terriers."

—The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper

“Melania Trump is unlikely to move into the White House full-time for Trump’s second term. When asked when she will be at the White House, Melania said: ‘Whenever my husband is at Mar-a-Lago.' ”

—Jimmy Fallon

That’s amore. And now, our feature presentation...

Poll

632 votes Show Results

Who won the week?

Our new Democratic Senators: Adam Schiff (CA), Elissa Slotkin (MI), Ruben Gallego (AZ), Angela Alsobrooks (MD), Andy Kim (NJ) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE)

The LGBTQ Irish on Staten Island, as the St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee votes, for the first time in 60 years, to allow gay and lesbian groups to march in the annual parade

The Democratic governors and AGs led by Govs. J.B. Pritzker (IL) and Jared Polis (CO) who formed Governors Safeguarding Democracy, a blue-state movement to push back against Trump's delusions of dictatorship

The Democrats who won their House races, including Shomari Figures in the new Alabama district and Cleo Fields in the new Louisiana district

The Louisiana parents who persuaded a federal judge that the new forced-Christianity law requiring the 10 Commandments in classrooms is—in the judge's words—"facially unconstitutional in all applications"

Coup de graces, as control of shitbag Alex Jones' InfoWars empire is bought out as part of a court settlement by The Onion, with funds going to the families of Sandy Hook massacre victims

Portland Maine, as the bustling seaside hamlet is named the most livable metro area in the United States by RentCafe.com, based on "a perfect balance between good living and location."

Karma, as Trump’s hand-picked candidate for Senate Majority Leader, Rick Scott, gets only 13 stupid votes from the dimmest bulbs

632 votes Vote Now!

Who won the week?

Our new Democratic Senators: Adam Schiff (CA), Elissa Slotkin (MI), Ruben Gallego (AZ), Angela Alsobrooks (MD), Andy Kim (NJ) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE)

70 votes

The LGBTQ Irish on Staten Island, as the St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee votes, for the first time in 60 years, to allow gay and lesbian groups to march in the annual parade

9 votes

138 votes

The Democrats who won their House races, including Shomari Figures in the new Alabama district and Cleo Fields in the new Louisiana district

5 votes

92 votes

Coup de graces, as control of shitbag Alex Jones' InfoWars empire is bought out as part of a court settlement by The Onion, with funds going to the families of Sandy Hook massacre victims

269 votes

Portland Maine, as the bustling seaside hamlet is named the most livable metro area in the United States by RentCafe.com, based on "a perfect balance between good living and location."

15 votes

Karma, as Trump’s hand-picked candidate for Senate Majority Leader, Rick Scott, gets only 13 stupid votes from the dimmest bulbs

34 votes

Cheers and Jeers: Thursday

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 14, 2024 · 4:49 AM PST

2024/11/14 · 04:49

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

A Word About the Future

FDR, 1944. Swap out Germany with MAGA Land…

YouTube Video

With Republicans having gone full fascist, all I can say is, gird thy loins and prepare to hold the line.

And now, our feature presentation...

Poll

506 votes Show Results

Hey, did you know that thanks to Bidenomics the cost of Thanksgiving dinner is going to be lower again this year?

506 votes Vote Now!

Hey, did you know that thanks to Bidenomics the cost of Thanksgiving dinner is going to be lower again this year?

Yes!

235 votes

No...but I do now, so change my vote to Yes!

271 votes

Cheers and Jeers: Wednesday

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 13, 2024 · 4:51 AM PST

2024/11/13 · 04:51

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Wednesday Morning Vonnegut Blogging

Monday was author, lecturer, and humanist Kurt Vonnegut’s 102nd birthday. Wrote Dinitia Smith in her New York Times obituary:

Like Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut used humor to tackle the basic questions of human existence: Why are we in this world? Is there a presiding figure to make sense of all this, a god who in the end, despite making people suffer, wishes them well? […]

Not all Mr. Vonnegut’s themes were metaphysical. With a blend of vernacular writing, science fiction, jokes and philosophy, he also wrote about the banalities of consumer culture, for example, or the destruction of the environment.

In his memory, some bits of rhetorical Vonnegoodness, of which he left us a bountiful harvest:

✌ Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies—‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’

✌ When things go well for days on end, it is a hilarious accident.

Happy 102nd, Kurt, wherever ye be.

✌ “If you keep up with current events in the supermarket tabloids, you know that a team of Martian anthropologists has been studying our culture for the past ten years, since our culture is the only one worth a nickel on the whole damn planet. You can forget Brazil and Argentina. Anyway: They went back home last week, because they knew how terrible global warming was about to be. Their space vehicle wasn’t a flying saucer. It was more like a flying soup tureen. And they’re little all right, only six inches high. But they aren’t green. They’re mauve.”

✌ "I love science. All Humanists do. I’m particularly fond of the Big Bang Theory. It goes like this: There was once all this nothing, and it was so much nothing that there wasn’t even such a thing as nothing. And then all of a sudden there was this great big BANG, and that’s where all this crap came from. Forget the Bible. Any questions? You know what they should put over the entrance to the Physics Department? Just that one word: BANG! ”

✌ Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.

✌ “A show of hands, please: How many of you have had a teacher at any stage of your education, from the first grade until this day in May, who made you happier to be alive, prouder to be alive, than you had previously believed possible? Good! Now say the name of that teacher to someone sitting or standing near you. All done? If this isn’t nice, what is?”

✌ “Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.”

✌ "There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Mafia.

And, of course, my personal adopted motto:

✌ I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.

Happy Birthday, Kurt. And now, our feature presentation...

Poll

561 votes Show Results

How often do you use crypto currency to pay for stuff?

561 votes Vote Now!

How often do you use crypto currency to pay for stuff?

Often

1 vote

Sometimes

0 votes

Rarely

4 votes

Never

556 votes

Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 12, 2024 · 4:50 AM PST

2024/11/12 · 04:50

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Did You Know?

Who followed up Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? Democrats.

Who brought you federal protections that guarantee insurance companies can’t engage in pre-existing condition abuse? Democrats.

Who made sure the insurance companies can't shut off the spigot to your health care just because their bean counters think you've had enough? Democrats.

Who made sure preventive, aka “essential” services like checkups and colonoscopies are included in your monthly premium at no extra cost? Democrats.

Who brought you the right to keep your kids on your health insurance policy until they're 26? Democrats.

Who made sure every state has the ability to expand Medicaid, giving the poorest residents affordable access to health insurance, many for the first time in their lives? Democrats.

Who headed up the first state governments to expand Medicaid? Democrats.

Who expanded the ACA to make it even better? Democrats.

Who still wants to abolish all of the above? Republicans.

Who is going to fight tooth and nail to prevent them? Democrats.

When does the 2025 ACA federal exchange enrollment period end for coverage starting January 1? December 15.

Where is the official site? Healthcare.gov.

Where can I find my state exchange, if it has one? Here.

Any questions?

And now, our feature presentation...

Poll

576 votes Show Results

How long do you think it will take the next administration to loot the Treasury?

576 votes Vote Now!

How long do you think it will take the next administration to loot the Treasury?

Less than 24 hours

204 votes

More than 24 hours but definitely less than 48

321 votes

Not sure/No opinion

51 votes

Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Coke FRIDAY!

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday November 08, 2024 · 4:16 PM PST

2024/11/08 · 16:16

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

A Dark and Stormy Night in the Kiddie Pool

It's a highlight of my year—plopping my ass down in a Victorian wingback with a frosty beverage and basking in the brilliant badness of the winning entries in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest—named after Edward “It was a dark and stormy night” Bulwar-Lytton as "a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels." The Class of 2024 was announced recently by the English department at San Jose State University, and after the week we just had I needed this. A sample:

However unlikely an event, Lucy’s flight had made a water landing, and as she clutched her seat cushion, which was useable as a flotation device, she waited patiently for the lifeboats to pick up first the Plutonium-class members, active service personnel, parents traveling with small children, and those passengers with special needs.

—Joel P., NJ (Adventure)

On an otherwise fine spring morning, Helga Tottentanz learned in an exceptionally hard way that, whatever they might’ve told you in hospitality school up in Cologne, as a serving wench in Mainz’s finest inn in 451 A.D., you don’t greet a battle-weary and obviously stressed general named Attila, fresh from crossing the Carpathians at the cost of ten thousand or so men, with an overly cheery “Hi, Hun.”

Evenin’, Eddie.

—G. Andrew L., Los Angeles (Historical Fiction)

Staring unblinkingly into the pleading, tear-filled eyes of yet another dame looking for me to solve all her problems, I sighed, stretched, scratched my whiskers, stuck my hind leg in the air and bent my spine at a 45-degree angle to reach down and lick my butt clean, then donned my fedora—Taco, Cat Detective, was officially on the case.

—Gwen S., France (Crime & Detective)

Minnie was a short order cook with big ties to organized crime and sought respect within the Family, hoping to impress the Godfather, Don Knotz, with her signature dish, a succulent filet mignon, but the meat was stored on the top shelf of the massive walk-in freezer and, in the end, the steaks were just too high.

—Donald H., New Jersey (Vile Puns)

It was a dark and stormy night, which makes perfect sense when you realize we’re on Neptune, with a mean distance from the Sun of 4.5 billion kilometers (or 30 astronomical units), and winds that howl at 100 meters per second, composed of mostly hydrogen and helium (and only trace amounts of methane), which is way better than Uranus, which stinks to high heaven.

—Jon B., Portugal (Dark & Stormy)

Fighting injustice in the Southwest Italian dairy cow farming region fell to the cheese-rind masked man of mystery, the Provolone Ranger.

—Mark M., Texas (Western)

You can read the full list, including the grand prize winner, right here. Preferably while a dog barks in the distance.

And now, our feature presentation…

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 07, 2024 · 4:46 AM PST

2024/11/07 · 04:46

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, November 7, 2024

Note: A quick heads-up that there will be no C&J Monday. Back Tuesday after a weekend under intense klieg lights to profess that Donald Trump is my Lord and savior now and forever and anyone who disagrees will get pooped on, believe me, believe me LONG LIVE HANNBAL LECTER! —Mgt.

By the Numbers:

Days 'til Veterans Day: 4

Days 'til the Atlanta Chili Cook Off: 9

Number of Boeing employees going back to work after their 7-week strike ended: 33,000

Number of Atlantic hurricanes that will have formed this season, including Rafael: 11

Expected time on Sunday that Rafael will hit the Louisiana coast if it maintains its current track: 1pm

Year-over-year increase in new home prices as of September: 3.4%

Number of Grammy nominations and wins, respectively, that Quincy Jones earned before he died Sunday at 91: 80 / 28

Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:

So, fellow progressives, stop thinking about suicide or moving abroad.

Want to feel better? Eat a sour grape, then do something immediately, now, today. Figure out what you can do to help rescue the country—join something, send a little money to some group, call somewhere and offer to volunteer, find a politician you like at the local level and start helping him or her to move up. Think about how you can lend a hand to the amazing myriad efforts that will promptly break out to help the country recover from what it has done to itself. Now is the time. Don't mourn, organize.

—November 2004

Puppy Pic of the Day: Rockin’ the dock...

CHEERS to just another Thursday. A quick inventory: Partner of 31 years? Check. Haley, C&J's rescue lab mix of 12 years and pootie Fantom of 15? Check. Unruly squirrels on the porch roof? Squeak. Friends? Check. Job? Check. Health? Check. Residence in a state that voted 53-45% for Harris? Check. Ability to laugh at poop and fart jokes? Phhhhhh... (that was an SBD “check”). So...what else can I say? We keep on keepin’ on.

JEERS to the bottom line about Tuesday’s election result. There have been many wave elections throughout our nation’s history. 2024 saw the first weave election. And I can honestly say that I hope it’s the last.

CHEERS to a spot of good news. In states both red and blue, voters at least got seven ballot measures right:

Seven states passed ballot measures to expand or enshrine the right to an abortion: Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York.

And since Lord Trump promised that he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban into law, we peasants (check the bulletin board...we’re peasants now) don’t have to worry about a thing. What a happy country we live in now YES WE DO YES WE DO YES WE DO TRUMP KNOWS BEST AND HE SAYS WE DO!!! Sorry about that...just practicing to be a good little soldier.

P.S. More good news:

Dem Rep. Elissa Slotkin Wins Michigan US Senate Race https://t.co/OmEp74lIPz pic.twitter.com/9ysYvmG7kp
— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) November 6, 2024

Her first job: mastering the art of shooting spitwads at Cruz.

JEERS to promises unkept. Sixty years ago today, back in 1962, Richard Nixon announced that he was leaving politics with the immortal words, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." Relive the smarm…

YouTube Video

We did, in fact, have him to kick around some more. Then Ford kicked us by un-kicking him with a pardon. That was mean.

CHEERS to blessed silence. Can you hear it? That's the sound of no more campaign ads. Now we can get back to normalcy—ads for drugs, Medicare Advantage plans, reverse mortgages, and penis pills. Yee haw!

Ten years ago in C&J: November 7, 2014

CHEERS to diversity between our ears. Researchers at Virginia Tech say they've discovered that there's a big difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to brains. The biggest difference: Democrats have them.

That’s all I got for today. Have a tolerable Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?

Cheers and Jeers: Wednesday

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 06, 2024 · 4:49 AM PST

2024/11/06 · 04:49

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Mailbag

Dear Benjamin Franklin,

This letter concerns our republic. We regret to inform you that, despite your most fervent wishes, we were unable to keep it.

Sorry. We tried.

Best to you and the other Founders,

We The People

And now, our feature presentation...

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 05, 2024 · 4:50 AM PST

2024/11/05 · 04:50

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

Molly Ivins’ Appeal to Us All from the Great Beyond

Actually from her classic 2004 column:

Look at it this way. Voting whitens your teeth, sweetens your breath and perks up your sex life. Voting is new and improved, stops the heartbreak of psoriasis and improves your gas mileage. Voting makes you feel virtuous, is your patriotic duty and entitles you, absolutely free, to four years of guilt-proof gritching about what's wrong with the country. Those who do not vote forfeit the right to complain.

Voting causes fat to disappear. Poof! Up to 10 pounds gone in just one trip to the polling place. Standing in the voting box improves your IQ, restores short-term memory and enables you to think of witty responses at the very moment you need them. Besides, if you don't vote, it will all be your fault. [...]

Politics is not a picture on a wall or a television program you can decide you just don't care for. Our entire lives are set into and written by the warp and woof of politics. Political decisions affect your life every day in thousands of way—whether the food you eat is safe, what books your children read in school, how deep you will be buried when you die, if the lady who dyes your hair is competent, how safe your money is in stocks or banks, whether you have a job, whether your kid has to go fight in a war, who is qualified to prescribe your eyeglasses—that's all politics. [...]

"We believe these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ... That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it ..."

After 200 years, that statement is still so revolutionary people all over the world are willing to die for it. They died in South Africa, they died at Tiananmen Square, and they're dying today in Myanmar. A lot of Americans have died to preserve those ideas: Don't throw them away out of boredom or cynicism or inanition.

Any questions?

And now, our feature presentation...

Poll

1090 votes Show Results

Let's take the temperature in the room. Who are you voting for to be the next President of the United States?

1090 votes Vote Now!

Let's take the temperature in the room. Who are you voting for to be the next President of the United States?

Kamala Harris

1077 votes

Donald Trump

1 vote

One of the third-party dolts

4 votes

Abstain

8 votes

Cheers and Jeers: Monday

Bill in Portland Maine

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 04, 2024 · 4:51 AM PST

2024/11/04 · 04:51

Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.

???????

In the English language, the question mark (?), also known as an interrogation point, interrogation mark, question point, query, or eroteme, is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence. The question mark character is also often used in place of missing or unknown data.

Lynne Truss attributes an early form of the question mark to Alcuin of York. Truss describes the punctus interrogativus of the late 8th century as "a lightning flash, striking from right to left". ...

In the early 13th century, when the growth of communities of scholars (universities) in Paris and other major cities led to an expansion and streamlining of the book-production trade, punctuation was rationalised by assigning Alcuin's stroke-over-dot specifically to interrogatives; by this time the stroke was more sharply curved and can easily be recognised as the modern question-mark.

This has been your latest Election '24 update. Now back to our regularly-scheduled blogging already in progress...

Poll

723 votes Show Results

Does it surprise you that we now know Jeffrey Epstein is on tape boasting that he's Donald Trump's "closest friend"?

723 votes Vote Now!

Does it surprise you that we now know Jeffrey Epstein is on tape boasting that he's Donald Trump's "closest friend"?

Yes

9 votes

705 votes

Not sure/No opinion

9 votes

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