From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize An Ally Tuesday
And the hits just keep on comin’. One week from today, state Democrats have yet another chance to flip a seat from red to blue. This time the spotlight swings back to Pennsylvania, where Helen Tai is running for a seat in state House district 187. That’s Berks County (home of Daniel Boone) and Lehigh County (home of the National Canal Museum) if you’re from away. What’s happened was, Republican Scott Petri ran off to run the Philly Parking Authority, so a special election was called to fill out the rest of his term. Daily Kos Elections’ Carolyn Fiddler, who announced the site’s official endorsement last week, explains the big picture:
Pennsylvania Democrats need to win 21 seats this fall in order to undo the GOP’s 120-81 majority (which, like their congressional advantage, also is due to an extreme gerrymander).
But Democrats everywhere are as energized as we’ve ever seen, and Republicans are in the dumps. No fewer than 18 Republican incumbents are retiring from the Pennsylvania House this year---they know a blue wave is coming.
This special election represents Democrats’ first opportunity to flip a state-level legislative seat in Pennsylvania since Trump was elected. A pickup here would be a strong indication that there will be more to come in November---both in Pennsylvania and around the country.
As Joe Biden said in his endorsement: "State legislatures have a direct and substantial impact on our daily lives and we need to make sure we are paying just as much attention to the action in the State House as we do to the chambers of Congress."
So let’s give Helen Tai some Daily Kos lovin’. You can read up on her issue positions here. (You’ll love ‘em.) And if you have a few bucks to spare for the final stretch, click here to go to the Act Blue donation page. Remember: any support you can give has a multiplier effect. The more we pitch in the more we win, and the more we win the more majorities we take. And Democratic majorities are the name of the game.
Follow Helen Tai on twitter here and on the evil Facebook here. Let’s win this. Be Best!
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Note: Last brain cell in Rudy’s head please remember to turn out the lights.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Meghan and Harry’s royal wedding: 10
Days 'til the official 2018 season opening of Funtown-Splashtown USA in Saco, Maine: 4
Number of times Trump has golfed as president: 111
Number of indictments after the four-year investigation into Benghazi and the two-year investigation of the Clinton emails: 0
Number of indictments one year into Trump’s collusion investigation: 23
Days it took for Avengers: Infinity War to make $1 billion worldwide: 11
Percent chance that Europe’s largest insurer, Allianz, will no longer insure coal-fired power plants and mines: 100%
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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. I was thinking about what the Louisiana state flag looked like, so I leapt to the first web site that popped into my head to get my flag facts fix: The Cajun Grocer, of course, where we learn there have been at least 10 state designs before the current one:
Originating from an 1800’s design, today’s state flag displays a solid blue background with an Eastern Brown Pelican mother, in white and gold. She is shielding three chicks in their nest and tears at her flesh to feed them. Below her is the motto---“Union, Justice and Confidence”---printed in blue on a white and gold banner. The outstretched wings of the pelican resemble the fleur-de-lis of France, honoring the French influence on the original colony, and now is a common Louisiana symbol.
Louisiana chose the pelican as its symbol for a state seal back in 17th century. Even further back, people believed that pelicans would feed blood to their starving chicks symbolizing self-sacrifice and dedication to progress. A well-known source, Mark Shields, who reports everything we need to know about pelicans says that the birds would never do that and would, instead, likely abandon the chicks.
And then, no doubt, eventually end up on Jerry Springer.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Saved by the drone. (Although many are questioning its authenticity. What do you think? Puppy looks awful dry to me.)
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CHEERS to jumping ship. After it became clear that Trump had declared war on the health of our planet, French president Emmanuel Macron initiated a flanking maneuver by offering to pay U.S. scientists a minimum of $600,000 via his “Make Our Planet Great Again” initiative. Happy to say that the Climate Justice League is still being assembled, and here are some of the selected superheroes:
The selected researchers include some of America’s brightest scientific talents: Alexey Fedorov, a Yale professor and Guggenheim fellow, and James Clark, a Duke University climate expert, according to a press release Wednesday from France’s Ministry of Higher Education and Research. […]
The applicants’ projects, covering a range of topics including Arctic climate change and improving air quality, are expected to last three to five years. Germany is now jointly supporting the initiative.
The first group of 18 scientists…included 13 researchers from U.S. universities, including Camille Parmesan, a professor at the University of Texas and U.K.’s University of Plymouth who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for her work as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
When asked what she was working on that would go the furthest toward mitigating the effects of climate change, Parmesan responded: a ray gun that turns Republicans into Democrats. Biggest obstacle so far: finding rays strong enough to penetrate their skulls.
JEERS to interesting campaign tactics. The Republican West Virginia senate primary is today, and various contenders are trying to out-pucker each other in the Trump ass-kissing contest in hopes of winning the honor of getting thrashed by Democrat Joe Manchin in November. And guess who’s surging? Yup---the guy who wears his racism on his sleeve, accuses the Republican leader of the chamber he wants to join of having ties to a cocaine smuggling operation, and---this is real dog whistle stuff for the uninitiated---stands there just like a stone wall. Get it? Like a stone wall…Jackson??? Hero of the confederacy? Verrry sneaky…
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Fearless prediction you can put all your chips on: “Stonewall” Blankenship will do poorly among the pro-cocaine-smuggling Republican “Chinaperson” vote. You can trust me---I’m clenching a pipe between my teeth.
JEERS to today’s edition of Dear God, Please Make It Stop. Headline courtesy of ABC News:
Sen. John McCain showing 'maverick' spirit even as he battles brain cancer
This has been today’s edition of Dear God, Please Make It Stop.
CHEERS to "Give 'Em Hell Harry." And happy 134th birthday to #33, the former haberdasher who said "I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me" when he became president after FDR died in 1945. Back when he had some shred of relevance, George W. Bush liked to cling to the notion that his legacy would be vindicated over time, as Truman's was. Or perhaps not: when Bush came into office, the country was enjoying virtually unprecedented peace and prosperity and he led us straight into depression and war. Truman's situation was a bit different. From the book Rating the Presidents, in which over 700 historians and political gurus rank Truman #7:
Ahead of him was the task of leading a nation worn out from almost sixteen years of depression and war.
Truman paid heavily for the mood of the people and the troubles of the times. Contemporary opinion polls gave him terrible ratings. He was reviled, the endless butt of jokes like, "To err is Truman."
In later, calmer years historians and political scientists assessing his standing consistently ranked him among America's ten best presidents. Our poll participants give him high rankings in all categories, never dropping him lower than ninth and in the Accomplishments and Crisis Management categories ranked him sixth.
But, golly, it sure sucked when Dewey defeated him. Titter titter.
CHEERS to real "Mission Accomplished" moments. And speaking of Truman, World War II---which got started in 1939 when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked a kerosene lantern into Adolf Hitler's crotch (source: Altrightopedia)---officially ended in Europe 73 years ago today. Truman famously said: "The flags of freedom fly all over Europe." And the head of the House cafeteria famously said: "Hooray---we can finally change 'freedom veal' back to 'wienerschnitzel.'"
JEERS and CHEERS to bad news/good news. The bad news: the new NRA president, announced yesterday, is Oliver North. The good news: it’s not Ted Nugent. The bad news: Wayne LaPierre, who I thought was president (he’s CEO and executive vice president), will still be dishing out hate and paranoia among the NRA faithful. The good news: that means he won’t be fulfilling his post-NRA dream of retiring to Maine to dish out Jack-booted Thug Swirl from his own ice cream parlor anytime soon. The bad news: He will eventually. The good news: we’ve already started building a border wall.
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Ten years ago in C&J: May 8, 2008
JEERS to vicious (not to mention asinine) circles. Ben Stein is making the rounds, plugging his anti-science documentary called...um...shucks, I already forget the title. Anyway, last week he said that "Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people." Funny thing is, believing shit like that leads you to...Ben Stein.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to Rudy in the hot seat. Trump’s shoot-from-the-lip lawyer, whose job seems to be getting his client in as much legal doo-doo as possible, finds himself flailing again, this time under the withering gaze of Randy Rainbow. Warning: many Rudy eyeball-bugouts ahead...
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As of this morning, Rudy is still in Trump’s inner circle. And Michael Avenatti is still smiling.
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:
Sometimes, I think Markos Moulitsas’ job is to pull the string in the back of Bill in Portland Maine’s neck so he can speak.
---Charles Pierce
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