The Only Thing Susan Collins is Troubled By
Her reelection.
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42 percent approval last fall. 37 percent approval now. Happy Monday, everyone.
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, April 20, 2020
Note: Don’t stand. Don’t stand. Don’t stand so close to us. —The Police
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By the Numbers:
15 days!!!
Days 'til Batalla de Puebla: 15
Percent of Americans in the Navigator tracking poll who trust their state/local governments and the Trump administration, respectively, for information and action on the coronavirus situation: 69%, 22%
Percent chance that vote-by-mail benefits one party over the other, according to a major study published in The Washington Post: 0%
Percent of Americans surveyed by ABC News-Ipsos who expect "a return to normalcy" by June 1 (and will be sorely disappointed): 31%
Number of Florida's unemployed, out of 825,000 applicants, who have been sent unemployment checks by the DeSantis (R) administration since mid-March: 33,623
Percent chance that Joe Biden now has the endorsement of Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, which is apparently significant: 100%
Odds of being injured by a toilet, according to the CDC: 1-in-10,000
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Puppy Pic of the Day: When this lockdown ends…
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JEERS to keeping count. Since this pandemic is going to go on awhile, we've decided to maintain at least a weekly benchmark of the pandemic awfulness for the C&J historical record, and Monday seems like the appropriate day to do it. Let’s check the worst tote board in the world with all due reluctance:
3 Weeks Ago: 288,000 confirmed cases. 7,000 deaths.
2 Weeks Ago: 337,000 confirmed cases. 9,600 deaths.
Preemptive thoughts and prayers to your infected families, you dead-end cultist f*cks.
1 Week Ago: 560,000 confirmed cases. 22,000 deaths
This Morning: 764,000 confirmed cases. 40,500 deaths.
This week will also be very bad, judging by our primary metric: Trump is still in charge.
JEERS to Trump's god squad. Let's check in with Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Franklin Graham, who are huddled with their topless pool boy (It's not what you think!!!) reading, page by agonizing page, the New York Times expose titled "He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus" that has permanently enshrined one of the worst presidential failings into the history books:
"Mulligan…mulligan…mulligan mulligan mulligan…[Turns page]…Oh, that's definitely a mulligan…mulligan, mulligan…fetch us a couple more daiquiris, Ramone…HOLY MOTHER OF GOD MULLIGAN MULLIGAN!!!....mulligan, mulligan, mulligan…"
Truly a president chosen by God.
JEERS to gun nuts going gun-nutty. The Columbine High School massacre took place 21 years ago today as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold—who, yes, went bowling that morning—killed 12 classmates and a teacher and wounded 26 others. (If you feel so inclined, you can donate to the upkeep of the Columbine Memorial here.)
The Columbine massacre memorial
Normally I’d express my usual pessimism about anything getting done to stop American human bodies from being used so frequently as convenient ammo receptacles. But those darn Parkland kids grabbed the NRA and its supporters by their blood-soaked lapels and yelled, “No more!” And whaddya know—legislation is getting passed in several states (most recently in Virginia), gun nuts got beat in a slew of 2018 elections, and even the NRA is watching its influence circle the drain, beset by infighting, lawsuits, laying off virtually its entire staff (thanks in part to the coronavirus, but still) and shuttering NRA TV. A couple years back President Barack Obama wrote an essay in tribute to them in Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” issue, and it's worth revisiting:
[B]y bearing witness to carnage, by asking tough questions and demanding real answers, the Parkland students are shaking us out of our complacency.
President Obama signs 23 gun-safety executive orders in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre of children in Newtown, Connecticut. Back when we had a president who cared.
The NRA’s favored candidates are starting to fear they might lose. Law-abiding gun owners are starting to speak out. As these young leaders make common cause with African Americans and Latinos---the disproportionate victims of gun violence---and reach voting age, the possibilities of meaningful change will steadily grow.
Our history is defined by the youthful push to make America more just, more compassionate, more equal under the law. This generation—of Parkland, of Dreamers, of Black Lives Matter---embraces that duty. If they make their elders uncomfortable, that’s how it should be. Our kids now show us what we’ve told them America is all about, even if we haven’t always believed it ourselves: that our future isn’t written for us, but by us.
The NRA will mark today’s anniversary the usual way. By cowering in their basement.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to gravity defiance. Heyyyyyy….here's some good news from mission control. Thanks to the groundwork laid—Layed? Lain? Lied? Layeth'd?—set down by President Barack Obama circa 2012, NASA is finally ready to make the announcement to Russia's Rent-A-Soyuz Emporium: "So long, and thanks for all the borscht…"
NASA and SpaceX are targeting May 27 for the launch of Demo-2, the first launch of NASA astronauts from the U.S. since 2011 and the first crewed launch for Elon Musk’s space company. […]
Hooray. Something in May worth looking forward to.
“We need access to the International Space Station from the United States of America. Commercial Crew is the program that’s going to make that happen. It’s essential for our country to have that capability,” [NASA administrator Jim] Bridenstine said. NASA has awarded SpaceX more than $3.1 billion under the Commercial Crew program to fund development of the capsule, with the company also contributing hundreds of millions of dollars of its own funds when needed.
It would be happening sooner, but first they have to move all the seats six feet apart and retrofit the cup holders to fit cannisters of Clorox wipes. The times we live in, folks.
CHEERS to the keepers of the great orange overnight flame. It’s an act of courage and/or audacity to commit to writing a daily series here at Daily Kos (or anywhere, for that matter), but it’s downright Herculean when you look in the rear-view mirror and see that your series has passed the baker’s dozen-year mark. So please join me in wishing the team (Neon Vincent, Magnifico, side pocket, Chitown Kev, maggiejean, annetteboardman, Interceptor7, jck, and Besame) responsible for publishing the Overnight News Digest—first posted on April 19, 2007—a happy 13th blogiversary.
Happy blogiversary #13!
Having done my share of overnight shifts at various radio stations, I know there’s a real appreciation for having a gaggle of regulars to engage with while most people are catching their forty winks. So we salute the OND crew for keeping the Great Orange Satan’s lights on into the wee hours for so long. If you're burning the midnight oil or dealing with a bit of insomnia, stop by for a cuppa chamomile with a splash of Dewar's and some good conversation. But as I said back in 2007: keep the noise down or I’m calling the cops.
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Ten years ago in C&J: April 20, 2010
CHEERS to getting grounded. After a delay due to iffy weather (for which we blame the gays, feminists and pagans), the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery is, as you read this, stowing their carry-on bags in the overhead bins, turning off their portable electronic devices, returning their seat backs and tray tables to their original upright positions, and otherwise preparing for their 9:08 landing on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center. Meanwhile their luggage has already arrived safe and sound. On Venus.
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And just one more
Ben in his favorite weed shirt.
CHEERS to the mellowest national holiday ever. Today is 4/20 Day, and that means it’s also Ben Masel Day! Ben was a cantankerous, beloved Kossack (User ID 3982, joining one day before the debut of C&J in December, 2003), perennial attendee at our Netroots Nation conventions, and a good-trouble causer on behalf of legal pot, free speech and privacy rights whom the folks in Madison, Wisconsin will never forget.
Read John Nichols’ 2012 tribute to him here. He was the template for the dogged activist, and he’d be loving the rise of the resistance, from the Freeway Bloggers to the pre-pandemic sit-ins in Congress and state houses, to the historic marches, and especially the now-rapid acceptance and legalization of the demon weed.
In his honor, we plan to twist up a fattie as we watch The Wizard of Oz with the sound turned down and replaced with Dark Side of the Moon. And miss ol’ Ben. A lot.
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
Judge Says Bill in Portland Maine’s Cheers and Jeers Kiddie Pool Was Built on Sand, Rejects Motion for Chlorine Tablets
—Law & Crime
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