From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize An Ally Tuesday
It’s election day in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. A Trump Republican is facing a common-sense Democrat in a bid to replace disgraced Rep. Trent Franks (R), who bolted from the scene when he got busted in a creepy sex scandal. Everybody send your positive vibes in Dr. Hiral Tipirneni’s direction today:
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Tipirneni is running a tough race by putting in the necessary work. She’s out-raised her opponent, has a strong ground game and, although it’s a red district, the polling shows her within striking distance if all the stars align today. Funny thing about the stars in the age of Trump: they have this strange habit of lining up when you least expect them to.
Needless to say, if you live in AZ-08 and you haven’t voted yet, get your hiney to your nearest voting booth. Polls close at 7 pm Mountain time (9 ET), and the Daily Kos Elections crew will post results on this here blog as they come in.
Follow Hiral on Twitter here and on evil Facebook here. And may the best doctor win.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...[Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Note: The world did not end yesterday. A mixed blessing.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the start of the Memorial Day weekend: 31
Days`til the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival in Louisiana: 10
Percent of Democrats and Republicans who are concerned about climate change, according to a new Gallup poll: 91%, 33%
Percent of Republicans who think most scientists believe climate change is real, down 11 points from 2017: 42%
Number of guests who will attend Trump's first state dinner with France’s president: 150
Numberof people on Obama's first state dinner guest list: 350
Amount Rudy Giuliani ended up spending in order to get a single delegate in the 2008 Republican presidential primary: $40 million
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NEW Tuesday Feature: “I Love New Orleans!”
Brought to you by the 2018 Netroots Nation Convention in New Orleans, August 2-4. According to Mental Floss, there are 25 things---no more, no less---that you should know about New Orleans. And according to Cheers and Jeers, there is one thing you should know about Mental Floss’s list: we have plucked five of their things and posted them here:
1. Yes, you can drink in the streets. The city allows for the possession and consumption of alcohol in public areas such as the French Quarter.
2. Several of the city’s more historic homes have a unique feature: floor-level mirrors, which women once used to ensure their ankles weren’t showing.
3. According to the National Register, The Crescent City has 20 historic districts---more than any other city in the United States.
4. When residents ask “Where y’at?” they’re asking about your state of mind, not your physical location.
5. The city's official motto is "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" ("Let the good times roll!")
And then, of course, there’s the city’s secondary motto: “Roll me back to my hotel, I can’t stand up.”
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Life imitates ad…
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CHEERS to our budding bud bud. You may have heard that Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer came out as a proponent of marijuana late last week, announcing that he had legislation prepared to decriminalize it at the federal level and also fund medical research into it. Here you have it, folks---the most powerful Democrat on Capitol Hill yet to see the writing on the wall: pot legalization is not only good policy, it’s good politics. And he’ll tell that right to your face…
And just like that, in the blink of a red eye, Big Snack Food becomes the #1 fan of the Democratic party.
JEERS to Boomerang Boy. That President Trump, what a genius. He done whacked them Chinese peckerheads with tariffs on steel and aluminum, and there is pain and suffering and wailing aplenty now. Just one problem: that pain and suffering and wailing is happening on our side of the Pacific garbage patch:
President Trump’s tariffs on imported aluminum and steel are disrupting business for hundreds of American companies that buy those metals, and many are pressing for relief. […]
“It sure seems like Commerce is just drowning in exclusion requests and will struggle to burn through them,” says David Spooner, a partner at the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg and a former U.S. trade negotiator. In addition, companies that want exemptions are finding that the request forms are “confusing, complex and full of traps for the unwary,” says Richard Chriss, president of the American Institute for International Steel, which opposes the tariffs.
Even companies that buy only made-in-America steel complain that rising prices are squeezing their businesses.
But other than the financial losses, soul-choking red tape, exposure of trade secrets, and also knowing that this is the guy running Commerce…
…what’s not to like!
CHEERS to throwing a little sand in Mr. Sure Thing’s gears. Mitt Romney jumped into the Utah senate race (to replace Orrin Hatch) with the expectation that he would sail into the chamber as easily as the emperor’s shuttle into the death star docking bay. Not so fast, says them pesky Utah voters at the state GOP convention…
After 11 hours of political elbowing and shoving at the Utah Republican Convention---held appropriately at a hockey arena---delegates forced Mitt Romney into a primary election against state Rep.Mike Kennedy in the U.S. Senate race.
In fact, Kennedy---a doctor and lawyer---finished in first place at the convention with 51 percent of the vote to Romney’s 49 percent. The former GOP presidential nominee fell far short of the 60 percent needed to clinch the nomination outright.
Oops. Sucks when your popularity isn’t just the right height.
JEERS to more mayhem. Exactly as we knew one (or more) eventually would, some terror-minded jackass staged an attack yesterday---this time in Toronto with a van, killing ten and injuring over a dozen more. And we pull the checklist out of the drawer:
1. Tend to the victims, assess the situation.
2. Worldwide condemnation for those responsible, universal support and love for the afflicted country.
3. Clean up, rebuild, track down any accomplices, grieve for the victims.
4. Refuse to be terrorized, get on with life.
5. The terrorists lose.
So it goes.
P.S. Also...
They caught the white Waffle House terrorist alive. Very politely, I bet.
CHEERS to a big eye in the sky. 28 years ago today, the Hubble space telescope was placed into orbit by the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery. And instead of birthday cake and ice cream, the nerds at NASA have served something a little more tasty: the Lagoon Nebula...
When the first photos were revealed to we Earthlings, Democrats saw the wonder of an evolving universe and the hope of discovering intelligent life one day and harnessing our collective strengths for the good of the cosmos. Republicans saw potential oil fields and the hope of discovering millions of new suckers on which to foist reverse-mortgages and payday lenders. Eh. Potato, Puhtahto, right?
CHEERS to easy layups. Today is “National Pig in a Blanket Day.” Or, as it's also known: “Donald Trump 16 Hours a Day Day.”
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Ten years ago in C&J: April 24, 2008
CHEERS to the wisdom of John and Jane Q.Public. Talk about living in historic times. President George W. Bush is now---and shall forever be---the least-liked president ever. If you don’t count the few weeks in 1910 when William Howard Taft's popularity dropped to twelve percent after he accidentally sat on a basket of puppies. (4/24/18 Update: Wow. We elected someone worse than Bush. Mommy, is this Hell?)
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And just one more…
JEERS to the end of an era. A big door slammed shut last week when Nabi Tajima died in Japan at 117. With her demise, there are now no non-zombie humans walking the earth who were born in the 19th century. (Her birth date: August 4, 1900---the 20th century started in 1901.) I'm a fan of perspective, so here are some of the haps and whatnot from the last moments of the 19th century:
> The Galveston hurricane makes landfall
> The 56th Congress is in session
> Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and Aaron Copland are born
> America’s population: 70 million
> The first auto show opens in Madison Square Garden
> William McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan
> The first hamburger is produced
> Premium chocolate = 20¢ per pound
Tajima's official cause of death was listed as an acute case of 117itis. But I still say it was murrrrrder.
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
The Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool sits squarely over a giant, active volcano. This requires attention.
---The Chicago Tribune
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