Cheers and Jeers for Monday, February 11, 2019
Scheduling Note: In about ten minutes my kicking-and-screaming carcass will be hauled off to Mercy Hospital's oncology dungeon for chemo infusion #10. Once we're done draining those bags, we'll drain another one at home for 46 hours. Side effects will include nausea, intense fatigue, cold sweats, and severe earworm as Ian Dury & the Blockheads' greatest hits play on a continuous loop in my head. (“Hit me with your rhythm stick, hit me slowly, hit me quick…”) So no C&J tomorrow and probably none Wednesday (though we'll try). We'll definitely return Thursday and Friday. If we appear six feet taller and sport a tail, you'll know something went horribly wrong in the chemo mixing room. ---Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Trump's "fixer" Michael Cohen goes to prison: 23
Days 'til the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho: 11
Percent of voters who think their personal economic situation has improved in the last two years, according to PPP: 38%
Percent of the unauthorized population in the U.S. comprised of black immigrants, according to the Black Alliance for Just Immigration: 5.4%
Percent of removal proceedings between 2003 and 2015 that involved black immigrants: 10.6%
Average number of guns confiscated per day at the nation's airports, most of which belong to owners who use the lame excuse, "Oops, I forget I put it in there": 12
Percent chance that Lindsey Vonn is the greatest American skier of all time, and it's not even close, according to FiveThirtyEight: 100%
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Puppy Pic of the Day: "If you're goingggggg….to San…Fran…Cisco…..something something flowers in your hair shooby doo..."
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CHEERS to fresh paneling. A timely reminder that time is ticking down to the February 25 deadline for panel, workshop and screening submissions for the Netroots Nation convention in Philadelphia July 11-13. Mary Rickles says the goal is to highlight hot topics in the progressive community by bringing activists, analysts, political leaders and audiences together for 90 minutes of exhilarating discussion and illumination. Here’s a closer look at what they’re looking for this year:
» Conversations about how we define and popularize an inclusive, progressive 2020 platform centered on equality, sustainability, prosperity and justice
» Case studies showcasing lessons learned from the 2018 primaries
» Sessions highlighting efforts to strengthen our democracy, from expanding voting rights to ensuring that our elected leadership is responsive to their constituents and communities
» Trainings that help newer activists grow into successful organizers and candidates
» Advanced trainings that focus on cutting-edge tools and techniques
As always, we ask you to consider inclusivity as well as how your panel will empower others to take what they've heard and use it in their own work
Submissions are judged by topic-specific panels and then by the public. The link for all the panel submission info is here. If you have a panel in mind but you want some live assistance, there are two webinars, one today at 3pm ET and one on the 20th, for which you can register at this link. Deadline is two weeks from today. Last year I attended a terrific panel called How to Promote Netroots Nation Panel Submissions in Cheers and Jeers Without Really Trying. Aced it!
CHEERS and JEERS to the precious dollarses and centses, yesssssss. As we start another week in our little padded cell of capitalism known throughout the rest of the world as The United States of WTF, here’s a quick look at some of the business headlines that have America's printing presses and corner newsies working overtime:
Amid opposition, Amazon reconsiders NYC plans
Bankruptcy ruling keeps Sears alive
Average tax refund down 8 percent
Cashless trend worries lawmakers
Walgreens tops list for illegal cigarette sales to minors
Fewer workers applying for jobless benefits
Survey: retailers fighting for survival
Trump says U.S. has the world's "hottest" economy -- he's way off
Consumer borrowing goes over $4 trillion
Massive global wealth gap grows even bigger
The US-China trade war could benefit Europe, Mexico and Japan
Southwest: fee revenue tops $600 million
Also: Nissan introduced its "future of electric cars" at the International Auto Show in Detroit. It has some cool features, including an ability to "see" cars around corners and warn you of what's goin' on with traffic up ahead. Meanwhile, I can tell you the future of any Nissan electric car that parks too close to our driveway: #!!@!$! towed.
CHEERS to a portrait in fiscal contrasts. The blue wave continues unabated here in Maine, as our new governor Janet Mills unveils her first budget. Our previous Republican meathead's plan---which he put about three seconds of thought into---boiled down to tax cuts for the rich and slashing and burning programs designed to help anyone not fortunate enough to rake in a six-figure income. Governor Mills is tossing that trickle-down bullshit right into the garbage:
Gov. Janet Mills proposed a two-year state budget on Friday that would fully fund Medicaid expansion, spend $126 million more on K-12 education and “rebuild” state government without raising taxes. […] “This budget makes concrete, responsible investments that will allow Maine to address our challenges while living within our means,” Mills said during a State House news conference. […]
The budget substantially increases health care spending, mostly by setting aside $69 million in 2019-20 and $78 million the following year to fund Medicaid expansion for about 70,000 Mainers. … Mills’ budget proposal also would provide an additional $5.5 million to combat the opioid crisis, fill dozens of vacant public health nurse positions, and increase tobacco prevention and cessation funding by $10 million over the two years.
Other proposals in Mills’ budget proposal include…an additional $126 million in state aid for K-12 funding over the two-year period, plus $18.5 million for child development services [and] setting the minimum teacher salary at $40,000 annually, up from the current $30,000 minimum set by lawmakers more than a decade ago.
On the downside: nothing about the "BrachsCare" candy corn subsidies she and I discussed in a smoke-filled back room while chomping on cigars and adding a couple zeroes to the end of my generous campaign check. No biggie. I'll just have it added when I bust in on the markup committee with my sword cane.
CHEERS to #16. We’ll be out of action tomorrow , so we’re taking this opportunity to say Happy birthday to Abe Lincoln, who turns 210. It's no surprise that he's considered by many to be our greatest president, including the 721 historians and political scientists who contributed their opinions to the book, Rating the Presidents:
Our poll rates the category of Lincoln's Character and Integrity the highest of any president's.
The poll also lauds his appointments. ... His steady leadership, rated second among presidents [after FDR], kept the Union cause alive during the Civil War's darkest days for the Union. Our experts describe this with remarks like "took America through its greatest crisis," "great moral leader," [and] "had broad strategic vision and a poet's wisdom." … He possessed qualities of kindness and compassion. Lincoln also had the wisdom of magnanimousness in victory, especially needed for the national healing after the Civil War. Many of the men reaching the august office of the presidency have lacked these simple but uncommon virtues, which play so important a part in governing a nation.
And he had a few choice words that seem aimed directly at our current occupier of the Oval Office:
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
"He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas better than any man I ever met."
"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
Pay your respects here. Tomorrow is also the 210th birthday of evolution guy Charles Darwin---aka Charles Darwin Day. The creationism crowd, which spends most of its time mocking the idea that we evolved from chimpanzees, will spend their day the usual way: picking fleas out of each other's hair and flinging poo.
P.S. Still a classic:
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JEERS to today's edition of No! Stop! This Isn’t Going to End Well!!! Courtesy of Gucci:
This has been today's edition of No! Stop! This Isn’t Going to End Well!
CHEERS to the guy who really was the brightest bulb in the box. Happy 172nd Birthday (and many blessings on your tungsten filaments) to fellow Ohio native Thomas Edison. He invented the light bulb, the phonograph, the Snuggie and the ShamWOW! (the last two during his slow descent into madness). Pay your respects here. Today is also Sarah Palin's birthday---she turns 55. Or as she likes to put it: another orbit of the sun around the earth.
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Ten years ago in C&J: February 11, 2009
JEERS to pledging to...aw, screw it, we don’t need no stinkin' pledges. Senator Susan Collins drained the life out of the recovery bill like Calamity Jane drained bottles of whiskey, and her spotlight-hogging preening will hurt a lot of Americans in the process. So let’s all take a moment to remember that this "moderate Republican" is and will always be one big smarmy liar. (Note: 2009 link no longer works, but here’s one from 2007 with same info.) This is a snip from a 2002 letter to a constituent who asked her to reaffirm her two-term pledge:
I am proud of the accomplishments I have made during my first term, and I hope to have the opportunity to serve the people of Maine in the Senate for another six years. I intend to serve only two terms as I indicated in the Sanford forum six years ago.
Again, thank you for contacting me. I appreciate havingthe benefit of your views.
Sincerely,
Susan Collins
On behalf of all sane Mainers: we deeply apologize for re-electing Little Miss Hoover.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to movin' and groovin'. Congrats to the winners last night at the Grammy Awards, including Dave Chappelle for Best Comedy Album (Equanimity and the Bird Revelation), Jimmy Carter for Best Spoken Word (Faith: A Journey for All), Willie Nelson for their Traditional Pop Vocal Album (My Way), Lady Gaga (A Star is Born)and best new artist Dua Lipa. And, thanks to Best Metal Performer High on Fire, the world finally has its first Grammy-winning song with the words…
Pack of hell from the devil's well
We take a drink or two
Sever the wrist and the blood is fixed
Worship the followless
My war has come to you
Usurp my throne & I'll sink my teeth in
Electric messiah
Thunder and fire
Electric messiah
Thunder and fire
Mark my words, DJs. That's got "wedding song" written all over it.
Have a tolerable Monday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
“Oh, Bill in Portland Maine’s a bear now! Not a dorky kiddie pool splasher with an entirely predictable midlife crisis and a sad but obvious steroid problem. No, he’s a powerful masculine bear! A grizzly! Don’t mess with BiPM! GROWL!”
---Tucker Carlson
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