From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Monday Margaret and Helen Blogging
With the holiday season upon us, the blogosphere's celebrated "friends for 60 years and counting" make a rare appearance with a few choice words for conservative Christians and their fake piety in anticipation of the birth of Baby Jesus. In short, knock off the ho-ho-hypocrisy:
In case you are missing my point, let me spell it out for you. You can’t follow the teachings of Christ while supporting Donald Trump. Nor can you claim to be a Conservative. Those paths don’t just diverge, they were never together to begin with. You could still be a Republican, but honestly why would you? Republicans are idiots.
Ouch. That wasn’t very Christian of me. But, you know what, I’m pretty sure Jesus would think the same about Republicans. And I know for damn sure Jesus would not gladly suffer a Conservative Christian Republican. Even Jesus has his limits.
Conservative Christian Republicans think there is a war on Christmas. There isn’t. There just seems to be a misunderstanding about when to say Merry Christmas versus Happy Holidays. It’s really not that hard. […]
A Conservative Christian Republican will claim that Trump was chosen by God while completely ignoring he is an adulterous, lying, greedy, hateful…have I mentioned recently that Trump is a sack of shit? He stole from charities. He mocked a disabled man. He admitted on video to being a sexual predator and used his position in the pageant world to sneak a peak at young women changing clothes. He sexualized his own daughter on a national radio show agreeing that she was a piece of ass. Let that sink in. […]
I don’t like Conservative Christian Republicans for the same reasons I don’t like Donald Trump. They are racist, hypocritical asshats. I mean it. Really.
Read the whole thing here. And be glad, very glad, that their figgy pudding catapults aren’t aimed at your house.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, December 16, 2019
Note: NewsCenter sucks, Eyewitness News rocks. That story plus sports and weather tonight on Eyewitness News.
-
By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Democratic debate in L.A.: 3
Days 'til the Sandstone Ice Festival in Minnesota: 18
Final House Judiciary Committee vote on articles of impeachment against Trump: 23-17
Approval/disapproval of the job Gov. Tony Evers (D) is doing in Wisconsin: 50% / 38%
Percent of Mexicans who say the U.S. poses the greatest threat to their country in the future, according to Pew Research: 56%
Percent of millennials (age 23-38) who agree that religious people are generally less tolerant of others, compared to 37% of Baby Boomers: 57%
Percent of Americans who are buying a live Christmas tree this year, according to a YouGov poll: 15%
Totally Random NFL Score
New England Patriots 34 Cincinnati Bengals 13
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: Cuter than Baby Yoda? You make the call…
-
CHEERS to doing the worst thing you can ever do to a gangster: bust his balls. On Friday morning, in front of God and country, the House Judiciary Committee voted to approve twin articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump. In a nutshell, the president used taxpayer money to try and extort political favors from a foreign country, and then used every tool at his disposal to obstruct the legislative branch's constitutional duty to investigate wrongdoing after he got caught. Now the road show travels all the way over to the House floor this week, where each representative will have a chance to say a few words on what should be done about the leader of the Trump crime syndicate. I'd say this guy is spot-on:
"Please give us a chance, American people, to document what the president did. I know what people want to do with this case. I know they want to get it over with. I know many of them don’t want the president to be impeached. But I've got a duty far greater than the next election.
Some House members have said, 'I won’t vote for impeachment.' Please don’t say that until you understand what you're voting on.
Members of the Senate have said, 'I understand everything there is to know about this case, and I won’t vote to impeach the president.'
Please allow the facts to do the talking. People have made up their mind in a political fashion that will hurt this country long-term.
Do justice to the case. Don’t decide the case before the case is in. This bothers me greatly."
That's Lindsey Graham circa 1998. Today, of course, Lindsey thinks impeachment is all a sham that he's vowing to get over with quickly. But he has a very good reason that gets to the very heart of what the Founding Fathers decided was most crucial to the preservation of our democracy: that sweet, sweet 10 percent discount at a Trump resort pro shop.
CHEERS to shutting off the propaganda spigot. For nearly as long as I can remember, Sinclair Broadcasting has forced their TV stations to run right-wing "commentaries" by the likes of Mark Hyman (who famously called the French "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" during the Iraq War) and Boris Epshtyne (who famously referred to immigration as "an invasion"). The local station management, including WGME here in Portland, hated it. But employees were given no choice and, yes, many were threatened and sometimes fired for protesting. (Others quit.) But when the pushback from viewers starts affecting the bottom line, it's time to go into damage-control mode. I never thought I'd see the day:
Sinclair Broadcast Group is axing the "must-run" segments of one of its biggest stars, Boris Epshteyn, the network's chief political analyst and a former special assistant to President Donald Trump. The move is part of a company wide effort to move away from political commentary in favor of investigative journalism, the network said Wednesday. […]
A former Sinclair producer who was granted anonymity for competitive reasons, told NBC News that the change frees up producers to focus on news. "It was irresponsible and antithetical to what we were supposed to be doing as journalists.” the former Sinclair producer said. “It is surprising, but for the most part, I think our viewers were able to see the commentary for what it was.”
The telltale clue it was right-wing propaganda: Epshteyn's lips were moving.
JEERS to union jackoffs. Congratulations, Britain. You looked around and said to yourselves, "Golly, after shrinking for a hundred years, we're just not small enough yet. So let's vote to piss off Scotland and Ireland so badly that they leave us. Yeah, that's the Queen's knees! Bloody brilliant. Let's do it." And now, thanks to last week's elections, it's all over but the part where zombies roam the countryside feasting on the flesh of both upper- and lower-class twits:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a resounding election victory on Friday that will allow him to end three years of political paralysis and take Britain out of the European Union by Jan. 31.
Brexit represents the country’s biggest political and economic gamble since World War Two, cutting the world’s fifth largest economy adrift from the vast trading bloc and threatening the integrity of the United Kingdom. […] Johnson, 55, will now be able to lead Britain out of the EU by Jan. 31, 10 months after the original deadline of March 29, which was repeatedly pushed back as a gridlocked parliament failed to take any clear decisions on Brexit. […]
In his victory speech, Johnson gave no details of how he would handle Brexit after Jan. 31.
Spoiler alert: Badly.
-
-
Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
This is another edition of The One Word Answer Man. With the opening of Episode IX just three days away, the movie watchers at Rotten Tomatoes ask: Can anyone beat Star Wars at the holiday box office?
No.
Now back to Cheers and Jeers.
Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
-
-
CHEERS to the new socialist on the block. Finland got itself a new prime minister—its 46th—last week after the previous government collapsed, and at 34 she's both the youngest in the country's history and the youngest sitting world leader. Here are some facts you need to know about Sanna Marin:
» She was born on November 16, 1985.
» Graduated from Pirkkala High School in 2004, and from the University of Tampere with a Master of Administrative Sciences in 2017. She was the first in her family to attend a university.
» Member and head of the center-left Social Democratic Party.
» Raised by her mom and her mom's female partner.
» Elected to the Tampere city council in 2012 and reelected in 2017
» Supporter of labor unions, ceasing fossil fuel consumption by 2030, gender-equality, and a strong social safety net.
» One of her biggest inspirations: the band Rage Against the Machine.
» Notable campaign quote: “I have lived in a welfare state and am grateful for how society gave me support in the tough times of my life.”
» Biggest challenge: average age of her party's members is 61, and it's losing popularity. She's got a challenge ahead to repositioning it and replenish the ranks. Also: as in many parts of the world, there’s a widening divide between left and right.
Her first act after being sworn in: why, the ceremonial raking of the forest floor, of course.
CHEERS to civil disobedience...with pinky extended. Don't forget to throw a few bags of Earl Grey into the nearest body of water today, the 246th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. That was the day in 1773 when rebellious colonists dumped a few hundred chests of tea into Boston Harbor, an act of defiance against the British Crown for imposing taxation without representation. Which is exactly what the modern day "tea party"—now the Trump Party—is all about, plus racism, birtherism, secessionism, misogyny, Islamophobia, homophobia, and making the rich as comfortable as possible...but minus the taxation without representation part since they do have taxation with representation. And for those of you represented by Louie Gohmert, we have just one thing to say: thoughts and prayers.
-
Ten years ago in C&J: December 16, 2009
JEERS to a late entry in the Understatement of the Decade contest: "A less than ideal bill." Yes, folks, the Senate healthcare reform bill—once a promising and historic piece of legislation—became stinky when Joe Lieberman publicly took a dump on it and forced Harry Reid and Barack Obama to laminate it and pledge their undying allegiance to it yesterday. This is how the mighty Democratic majority fulfills its promise to the American people—like clumsy fools:
Harry Reid and other leading Senate Democrats emerged from this evening's special caucus meeting with little to say about what transpired in the closed door session and didn't take questions from reporters. But as the Senate moves toward a vote on health care reform next week, it's becoming apparent that even the most pro-reform senators are resigning themselves to a less-than-ideal bill and that the White House is keeping the pressure on to get a bill passed even if that means acceding to the demands of Joe Lieberman.
But it's not over yet, kids! Ben Nelson's up next, and he won't budge until the bill applies only to blastocysts. So... All I can say this morning is: buy stock in health insurance companies. Boom times ahead.
-
And just one more...
CHEERS to the Fabulous Ludwig B. When I was 10 (circa 1974), me and a busload of 5th grade classmates went to see the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. It was the first time I'd ever heard classical music played by a live orchestra. When the first notes of Beethoven's 6th 'Pastoral' symphony started playing, it was love at first downbeat and I've been waving my lighter and throwing my underwear on the stage at concerts ever since. Today is Beethoven's 249th birthday. In his honor, enjoy Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray in the classic Argument to Beethoven's Fifth:
-
No need for presents. Ludwig doesn’t really celebrate birthdays anymore. He’ll just spend the day quietly decomposing.
Have a tolerable Monday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-
Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
“I truly believe the best things in life are a result of being cheered and being jeered. This extends to every part of my life and nothing feels more relevant and real than this column. I’m proud to endorse Cheers and Jeers today.”
—Megan Rapinoe
-