From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize An Ally Tuesday
Riddle me this, Batman: what's better than one Democrat winning a Republican-held House seat in a special election (as Jon Ossoff appears well-positioned to do in Georgia's 6th District, where early voting is now underway)? How about two Democrats winning Republican-held House seats in special elections!
Yupper, kiddos, with Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke plucked by so-called "president" Trump to be his Secretary of Interior Decorating, on May 25 we have a chance to deliver another shocker to Republicans, and make it that much tougher for them to push through their scorched-earth agenda. And that's why we're proud to put Democratic candidate Rob Quist in this week's C&J Energize An Ally spotlight. As Daily Kos senior campaign director Michael Langenmayr writes:
The contrast here is as clear as they come: Rob Quist is a progressive populist born and raised in Montana. And Republican Greg Gianforte is an ultra-wealthy businessman who ran a failed campaign for governor last year, and once sued the state to block public access to a river along which he owned property---this in a state where reverence for hunting and fishing is paramount.
This will be a very tough race, but it's the perfect match-up of populist outsider vs. out-of-touch one percenter. Trump won here by 20 points last year, but Democrats have had success winning statewide in Montana---including beating this very Republican in November.
You can read up on Rob's succinct positions on the issues here. Very impressive. If you can spare a few bucks to help his campaign organize and get the word out, here’s the donation link.
Personally, I think he could be a phenomenal congress member, and here’s why: Rob's a professional, award-winning artist in the music business. And I seem to remember that the last time a performing artist was sent to Washington---a certain comedian we now call Senator Al Franken---no one on Team D regretted it for a second. But the other side sure did. Go get 'em, Rob!
P.S. Follow Rob Quist on twitter here and Facebook here.
More Cheers and Jeers and a fresh pot 'o java below the fold...
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Note: Today is Weed Appreciation Day. Relax, Colonel Beauregard Sessions. Not that kind.
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By the Numbers:
Weeks 'til the special election in Georgia's 6th District: 3
4 days!!!
Days 'til the Texas VegFest in Austin: 4
Estimated year during which Flint, Michigan will have 20,000 water pipes replaced to fix the lead-poisoning crisis caused by the Rick Snyder administration in 2014: 2019N
Number of lines replaced so far: less than 800
Compound annual rate by which the marijuana industry is expected to grow in North America through 2021, according to Arcview Market Research: 27%
Percent of voters who say the government shouldn’t enforce federal anti-marijuana laws in states that have approved it for recreational/medical use, according to a Quinnipiac poll: 71%
Number of refugees who have settled in the United States since 2001, according to Smithsonian: 895,000
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Biden meets Biden…
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Loony liberal Chellie Pingree has this CRAZY notion that you, not the telcom vultures, should be in control of your personal internet data. Pffffffft!
JEERS to Big Brother's little helper. Republicans---always boasting that they're the party of small government right up until they're not. Today the House is planning a vote to overturn Obama-era FCC rules that protect your personal data online by requiring your consent before they start selling your soul to the highest advertiser. The alarming part is that the Senate has already OK'd the move, so this is the last stand before the dam breaks. My congresswoman Chellie Pingreee is going to rattle the chamber rafters with her "No!"
“It is unconscionable that the House and Senate leadership have chosen to make repealing broadband consumer privacy rights a top legislative priority in Congress when there is so much to be done to bring broadband access to Americans,” Pingree said via email.
“I do not support this invasive resolution and strongly believe that internet service providers should not be given a blank check to collect data on their customers just to help companies boost their advertising.”
If you suspect your congress critter is either in favor of, or undecided on, the vote, you know the drill: make that call and give him or her polite holy hell. (If you don’t have the number on speed-dial, the Capitol switchboard---202-224-3121---will connect you.) As we know from the recent efforts to gut ethics rules and the ACA, raising an informed ruckus does wonders as a GOP spine softener.
CHEERS to making lub, not whoa-wuh. Surprising numbers out from the University of Maryland, whose button-down Program for Public Consultation discovered that Americans across the board are sick and tired of being the planet's biggest killing machine. Or, more likely, scared to death that the planet's biggest killing machine is now under the control of a narcissistic cuckoo-maniac who pines for a parade of mobile missile launchers to go by his office window every day at noon:
President Trump wants to boost the military’s budget by billions of dollars. But given the chance, the public---even fellow Republicans---would do just the opposite, according to a new poll out this week. […]
America’s current mood.
[T]he typical voter would cut defense spending by $41 billion. All told, that adds up to a nearly $100 billion gap between what the public wants to spend on defense, and what Donald Trump wants to spend on it.
Perhaps more surprisingly, not even Republican voters wanted to see a big defense hike. The typical Republican respondent opted to cut defense spending by $5 billion. Democrats would cut it by a whopping $81 billion.
The bloated golf-addict (13 rounds since inauguration day) with the Napoleon complex will, of course, dismiss these as fake numbers and charge ahead with his plan to scrap beloved domestic programs in favor of the carnage industry. Okay then. See ya at Waterloo, pal.
Good thing Ike’s not around to see what’s happened to his party. It’d kill him. Again.
CHEERS to the Ikey we likey. We're surprised that Dwight Eisenhower hasn't been branded a traitor yet by the right-wingers because he had the audacity to expand Social Security and raise the minimum wage. Plus, on the eve of his exit from the White House he warned America of the dangers of expanding the “military-industrial complex” that loose cannons like Trump could exploit. In short, his crap crapped bigger ones than the current crop of GOPretenders. But his heart finally gave out and he died on this date in 1969. Pay your respects here. These days a good Republican is damn near impossible to find.
CHEERS to getting duped by the Big Guy Upstairs. To much rejoicing, Trumpcare went down in flames on Friday night. But that certainly wasn't the plan according to Pat Robertson, who looked into the camera the day before and boasted of his status as the "chosen one" with the direct phone line to God. This pronouncement should've been prognostication gold:
"The Lord is going to give Trump victory. God is using the president to do great things. They’re going to get it. Mark my word: it will pass. They will get those extra votes. It will go through. They’re going to work together to give us tremendous health care.”
Oops! So much for that. In hindsight, Robertson should've suspected something was wrong when he only saw one set of footprints in the sand as he took his walk on the beach Friday morning. It was God sending him another message: "I read the bill. B’bye."
CHEERS to today's edition of Don’t Let The Door Hit Ya Where The Good Lord Split Ya. Keep in mind that Maine's idiot teabagger governor is saying this because last November voters resoundingly approved a 3-percent surcharge on the filthy rich in our state to help maintain and improve our public school system. Having said that, let us proceed…
Gov. Paul LePage…suggested the tax hike and other ballot initiatives could drive him out of Maine after leaving office.
“I want to see Maine prosper and I would love nothing more to retire here in Maine, but the way things are going with Maine People’s Alliance and all of these referendums that come up, I am going to be forced out of the state like everybody else,” LePage said during his weekly appearance on a Bangor radio station.
This has been today's edition of Don’t Let The Door Hit Ya Where The Good Lord Split Ya.
CHEERS to the United States Senate. Wow...they finally stood up and nailed the President for overstepping his authority, and he was pissed. Sure, the move is a symbolic "slap on the wrist," but he needed it. So mark this date in your history books: March 28, 1834. The day Andrew Jackson got his old hickory ass censured, baby! Maybe we can do it again someday soon for old time's sake. But for the current occupant, only impeachment will do.
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 28, 2007
JEERS to"Things That Go Boom" for $400, Alex. The General Accountability Office (Motto: "You did what??!! You are so grounded!") makes it official: we're much, much better than Iran when it comes to arming the insurgents in Iraq who want to kill us:
The U.S. military's faulty war plans and insufficient troops in Iraq left thousands and possibly millions of tons of conventional munitions unsecured or in the hands of insurgent groups after the 2003 invasion---allowing widespread looting of weapons and explosives used to make roadside bombs that cause the bulk of U.S. casualties, according to a government report released yesterday.
Some weapons sites remained vulnerable as recently as October 2006...[and] the unguarded sites "will likely continue to support terrorist attacks throughout the region."
The Pentagon responded swiftly with a new leaflet drop: "Insurgents! Please place the weapons you stole in the nearest mailbox. Return postage is guaranteed."
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And just one more…
CHEERS to good spellin'. Over the weekend eighth-grader Naomi Zarin of Gray won the Maine State Spelling Bee in the 42nd round. The winning word: "Copal."
In the round that felled her three nearest competitors, Zarin received “optimum.”
Artist rendering of Saturday night’s Maine State Spelling Bee.
In earlier rounds, she resorted once to finger-writing on her arm for “accommodate” – “It wasn’t that hard, but the consonants, whether they’re double or not, I have to visualize that” – and had some anxious moments with “Backstein,” a German cheese.
She said she has never been to Washington, and is particularly looking forward to visiting the Spy Museum.
Zarin will now start cramming for the National Spelling Bee in D.C. that'll take place in late May. And for those of you wondering, the definition of "Copal" is: your other pal. Like, duh.
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:
“There’s more fecal bacteria in the Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool than there is in a flushed toilet. That’s why dogs drink out of the toilet.”
---University of Arizona microbiologist Charles Gerba
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