A Brief Moment of Meta Madness….Madness, I Tell You
Happy 19th blogiversary to the persnicketiest band of muckrakers and misfits in Blogger Land. It all started when a dirty effing hippie named Markos Hemp Flower Rainbow Moonbat Moulitsas emerged from his deep-state law school cocoon, flapped his tie-dye wings on May 26, 2002, and proclaimed: “I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies.” It's been all high-quality blah blah blah ever since.
"The" Daily Kos percolated for several months before I discovered it (via the Dean for America blog) and got addicted to the weekly 2004 primary “cattle calls” (which were revived for 2020, delighting audiences around the globe). After that, all hell broke loose and it's been a sprint for world domination ever since. (Latvia signed its surrender papers yesterday and, in keeping with our time-honored custom, we ransacked the presidential palace and used the spoils to buy several tons of arugula and chardonnay.)
Continued...
Today we have an amazing Elections Team, affiliation with Civiqs polling, dulcet-toned David Waldman and Justice Putnam on the radio, an activism and community-building arm, amazing front-page and diary contributors (of note: Mark Sumner's Covid updates and Joan McCarter's laser-focus on the doings in the Senate), award-winning cartoonists who regularly draw a crowd, and groups within the community that focus on everything from environmental issues and labor to pooties and the day's top comments.
We also continue to raise a ton of money and generate grassroots support for campaigns at the local, state, and federal level. (And new for 2021: defending ourselves from a lawsuit by—[checks notes]—Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.???)
Among our registered members: Elizabeth Warren, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Stacey Abrams, Howard Dean, and Stephen Colbert.
Despite the meta wars, sigh-inducing GBCWs, and the sheer crazy volume of information that gets posted every day, The 'The' "The" Daily Kos is still a vital national source of netroots-level analysis, opinion, issue-vetting, fundraising, snarking, storytelling and flying furniture, and only a fool would try to herd our breed of cats. So from all of me to all of you—especially you, Kos, our mighty Keyboard Kingpin and your “squadrons of rabid lambs”—Happy #19 from user ID #2574. May your hearts remain progressive...and your hands always be filled with pies.
And now, our feature presentation…
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Cheers and Jeers for Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Note: C&J's customer service department will be closed on Memorial Day. Just like it is the other 364 days of the year. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please continue to hold...
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the start of Pride Month: 6
Percent of the economy that is back to pre-pandemic levels, according to the CNN/Moody's "Back to Normal Index," up from a low point of 57% in April 2020: 90%
Percent of Americans who said they're satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. this month, the third consecutive month above 30%, and up from a pandemic-era low of 11%: 36%
Cost of dealing with weather and climate-related disasters last year, according to the White House: $100 billion
Years since online chatter about Donald Trump has been as low as it is today: 5
Percent chance that his new blog page saw fewer estimated visitors than Petfinder or Delish last week: 100%
Age of Bob Dylan as of Monday: 80
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Mid-week Rapture Index: 188 (including 5 nuclear nations and 1 "Mouthpiece of God" begging to be mocked). Soul Protection Factor 12 lotion is recommended if you’ll be walking amongst the heathen today.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Stay tuned for the shocking twist…
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CHEERS to my first FU: Biden Justice Department Edition. Oh, this is so exciting. And it only took four months. Our illustrious new attorney general, the exalted Saint Merrick Garland, is now officially getting sloppy-wet-kissy with Bill Barr. And while you're trying to wash that image out of your mind, I'll let CNN explain:
The Justice Department is partially appealing an order to publicly release a pivotal 2019 memo about whether then-President Donald Trump obstructed the Russia investigation.
The appeal means some sections of the nine-page memo will likely remain secret for the time being, while litigation continues. The Justice Department released some portions of the memo on Monday, though the freshly unredacted sections did not provide many new details on the decision by then-Attorney General William Barr that Trump should not be charged with any crimes. […]
In the court filings Monday, arguing that most of the memo should remain out of public view, Garland's department defended some of the actions taken by the department under Barr.
So, here we go. This is for you, Mr. Garland (and I reserve the right to issue a mea culpa should one be necessary if this turns out to be some kind of 11-dimensional chess): [Clears throat] F…U. There—I'm sure I just singlehandedly changed the course of human history. It's a gift.
JEERS to inaction on steroids. While we're on the subject of disappointment, a little pre-holiday checklist of the legislative accomplishments of the Democratic party since late January. Remember, we were promised all of these things:
Pandemic relief bill? Yep.
Election reform/Voter rights reform? Nope.
Immigration reform? Nope.
Equality Act? Nope.
Infrastructure bill? Nope.
January 6 insurrection commission? Nope.
D.C. statehood? Nope.
Police reform? Nope.
Gun violence reform? Nope.
Preventing GOP terrorists like Marjorie Taylor-Greene from getting to the House floor with guns? Nope.
Climate change? Nope.
Thank God people of color in Georgia crawled over broken glass to get Ossoff and Warnock elected, huh. If you need a tube of aloe to treat your victory windburn, we now have it on sale at a 90 percent discount in the C&J gift shop. For reasons that elude us, it's just not flying off the shelves at the moment.
CHEERS to looming leisure. The summer season officially starts in 48 hours, and the #1 way to kick it off is, of course, by battling traffic. This weekend’s forecast from AAA is back to “Horn Honky”…
More than 37 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home, an increase of 60% from last year when only 23 million traveled, the lowest on record since AAA began recording in 2000. … With 34 million Americans planning Memorial Day road trips, auto travel is expected to increase 52% compared to 2020.
“As more people get the COVID-19 vaccine and consumer confidence grows, Americans are demonstrating a strong desire to travel this Memorial Day,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president, AAA Travel. “This pent-up demand will result in a significant increase in Memorial Day travel, which is a strong indicator for summer.”
Whether you are vaccinated or not, remember masks are required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations.
If you're planning an excursion to the beach or the mountains or the vaccinated in-laws (lucky you), please drive with care and be sure to flip people off responsibly.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to sweet libation. 91 years ago, in 1930, the Supreme Court ruled that buying liquor does not violate the Constitution. Afterward they reached for the flasks strapped to their shins and toasted their fine work.
CHEERS to the birthday legislator. Happy birthday to reliably progressive congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois' 9th District, who turns hrffhrrf years old today. She won her first election in 1999 and has landslided (landslode?) her pitiful opponents to re-election ever since. Last week she joined fellow Reps. Barbara Lee and Pramila Jayapal to introduce a resolution calling for "a bold Third Reconstruction, which demands that the U.S. fully address poverty and low wages from the bottom up."
This legislation was endorsed by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign.
“In the richest nation in world, we make choices with every piece of legislation we vote on. Enriching the rich is a choice. Crumbling schools are a choice. Hunger is a choice. Homelessness is a choice. No access to health care is a choice,” said Congresswoman Schakowsky. “I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of this resolution, because this Congress can make the choice to end poverty.”
This legislation draws on the history of the First Reconstruction following the Civil War and the Second Reconstruction of the civil rights struggles of the 20th century and addresses the converging injustices of systemic racism, poverty, public health inequity, militarism, white supremacist nationalist extremism, and aims to lift our society and economy from the bottom up.
Today in the C&J cafeteria: Chicago-style deep-dish birthday pizza...and, of course, not a knife and fork in sight.
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Ten years ago in C&J: May 26, 2011
CHEERS to Erin Go 'Bama. I'd almost forgotten what a Barack star the president is. Holy mackerel, did you see the crowds that greeted him yesterday when he visited his ancestral home in Moneygall and then spoke in Dublin? It was a time to put the cynicism on hold and just feel the love. Obama and Michelle drank a pint in a pub, planted a tree and hugged cheering well-wishers. (No dancing of jigs that we saw, but who knows what goes on in the limos?) In return, people tried to imitate the president's campaign slogan:
As Irish actor Brendan Gleeson put it…"Bloody sure we can!"
Um… Close enough.
P.S. Today in London: air guitar with the Queen. Loser buys the crumpets.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to seeing red. I'm going to take a wild guess that you didn’t set your alarm so you could get up and gaze yonward at the Super Flower Blood Moon eclipse that happened a few hours ago. New England didn’t have much to see, anyway—just a sliver, I'm told—but most of the country caught at least a partial one, with west coasters getting the full deal for the first time in over two years. Believe it or not (I choose not to), someone in New Zealand caught an image of it on film and just got it back from the Fotomat:
A lunar eclipse, of course, is what happens when the Earth gets between the sun and the moon. Or, according to the latest Texas Board of Education science textbook: a lunar eclipse is when Jesus gets so mad that He orders Mr. Potato Head to make the moon disappear as a reminder that the Democrat party is coming for your guns and your bibles. More study is needed.
Have a happy humpday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
Every American must do their part to help get us through today's Cheers and Jeers. If you haven’t already, splash in the kiddie pool as soon as possible.
—The White House
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