Thank You!
As of last Friday, the Daily Kos community had donated $850,000 for agencies helping with the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Let's check the tote board and see where we are this morning:
$1,161,254.00
Wow. Amazing but not surprising—that's how you lovable liberals respond when the call goes out. If you'd like to add to the total for the four chosen groups—the World Central Kitchen, Americares, the International Rescue Committee, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare—click here and ActBlue will help you take care of the rest. Many thanks to you. And, as always, many horrible itchy rashes and worse to the madman in Moscow having such a swell time thinking all this is all fun and games.
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Note: For accounting purposes, today is Wednesday, tomorrow will be Monday, and Saturday and Sunday will be combined into a single Tuesday to maximize efficiencies. Friday remains the same. Questions? Call Marge in HR. Thanks. —Gary in Accounting
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til we have to throw away all our clocks and buy new ones that are set one hour ahead, according to the National Unscrupulous Clock Sellers Association: 5
Days 'til the Orchids in Bloom Festival in Coral Gables, Florida: 4
Number of U.S. jobs created so far in 2022: 1.1 million
Expected growth in hourly earnings through the end of the year, according to Goldman Sachs: 5%
Number of new IRS workers being hired this year to deal with a huge backlog of returns, many dating back to 2020: 10,000
Not-fully-vaccinated Americans polled by The Economist/YouGov who believe, because Fox News brainwashed them about both vaccines and the elections, that “Biden did not legitimately win the election”: 64%
Age of the Iditarod, now underway in Alaska with 49 mushers: 50
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Puppy Pic of the Day: In honor of International Women’s Day, Eleanor and Fala...
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CHEERS to putting more grownups in charge of the #1 threat to humanity. No, not Russia (at the moment, at least). The #1 threat to humanity in 2022 is humanity writ large. For some reason (coughmoneycough) we're racing with Olympics-level determination and focus to see just how fast we can kill the planet. The latest U.N. report, mostly buried in the media because of Putin's demented invasion, confirms that everything is worse than we thought and getting even worser faster. So what do you do when all hope seems to be lost? You call in the cavalry…women, who are represented at this year's UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change more than ever:
The increase in women IPCC authors is a promising sign that recent efforts to bring gender parity to one of the foremost authorities on climate change are working. “Things are changing,” said Miriam Gay-Antaki, one of the survey authors. “People are realizing that attending to gender is not a nuisance but something that a lot of people actually want.” […]
When the first assessment was created in 1990 to address climate change, just 8 percent of the authors were women. In the sixth report, that number is now up to 33 percent (and 40 percent for the working group responsible for the second installment).
“One of the things about climate change science that is different, or gives us more hope than other sciences, is that it really does require understanding different perspectives,” said Gay-Antaki. “All of our social positioning will really mark and really inform what we can know and learn about this world.”
But just in case things get too bad here, I suggest we also put women in charge of developing our escape pods. (God, I hope I don’t get stuck in a middle seat.)
CHEERS to supporting the troops. Happy 80th anniversary to Blue Star Mothers of America, a dedicated non-political, non-religious group of…
"…mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, foster mothers and female legal guardians who have children serving in the military, guard or reserves, or children who are veterans.
We support each other and our children while promoting patriotism. Our organization focuses on our mission every single day and will never, ever, forsake our troops, our veterans or the families of our Fallen Heroes.
True fact: the Metthees family of Goodhue, Minnesota had the most children serving at one time: three in the Army, two in the Navy and two in the Air Force. (They all made it home safe.) I can guarantee you this: there will come a day when BSMA is no longer necessary because our country has stopped throwing our men and women into ridiculous conflicts as cannon fodder for the comfort of the well-manicured political class. That’ll be the day the earth gets absorbed into the sun in 7.5 billion years. Around lunchtime.
JEERS to today's edition of Hey, Sit Back Down, Knock It Off, And Shut The Fuck Up It’s Not Your Turn To Be The Craziest Motherfucker On Planet Earth Right Now. Via NBC News:
Analysts say recent photos taken from space show new buildings and other signs of work at North Korea’s nuclear testing facility in what they call a worrying sign that the country could be planning to resume testing atomic bombs after having claimed to have destroyed the site in 2018.
This has been today's edition of Hey, Sit Back Down, Knock It Off, And Shut The Fuck Up It’s Not Your Turn To Be The Craziest Motherfucker On Planet Earth Right Now.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to shuttle diplomacy. 168 years ago this week, in 1854, U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry finally reached Japan during his second trip there. His perilous efforts on the high seas were well rewarded: he came back with the Kanagawa treaty and a runner-up trophy from the karaoke finals.
JEERS to life on Planet Alternate Reality. Okay, let’s get this over with. A bunch of brainwashed MAGA truckers wasted their time and a lot of money driving to a Maryland speedway to share their B.O. with like-minded gamey cultists, and then, in a stroke of genius, take their big rigs to the D.C. beltway so they could get separated from each other and end up blending in with the usual heavy traffic there. Their grievances were so specific and defined that even a time-traveling Crusader was able to spell them out in detail:
My conclusion: after seeing that nutballs like these have actual licenses to drive these 18-wheel death machines on our roads, I’m trading in my Honda. For a JetPack.
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 8, 2012
CHEERS to documenting the atrocities. I can barely keep up with these guys! The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, founded by Elizabeth Warren and headed by Richard Cordray, is rockin' and rollin' as it seeks to give ordinary Americans some pushback power against our corporate overlords. Two big initiatives are taking shape: one that takes on people's complaints about bank accounts, and one that fields student loan complaints:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it expects complaints about billing, confusing advertising and collection by private student lenders. It will relay complaints about federal student loans, such as Stafford and PLUS loans, to the Department of Education. Americans owe more to student lenders than they owe to credit card issuers or any other category of unsecured lender, the CFPB said.
No wonder the other side fought tooth and nail to keep the CFPB from hanging out their shingle—Cordray seems eager to light some fires under some asses. By the way, here's their web site if ya need it. Mention my name and they'll get ya an extra pound of flesh. [3/8/22 Update: After four years of near-total neglect under the evil Mick Mulvaney, the CFPB is up and running again under Rohit Chopra, whose latest initiative is going after illegal vehicle repossessions. I hope he goes after that Emilio Estevez character. He looks shady.]
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the fairer, smarter, and less wackadoo sex. As mentioned above, today is International Women’s Day. As is my tradition, I’ll just shut up and let them do the talking…
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal."
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Rights and Sentiments (1845)
“It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union” ... “Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.”
—Susan B. Anthony
"When I'm sometimes asked 'When will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]?' and I say 'When there are nine,' people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that."
—Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation."
—Abigail Adams [Note: This is one particular Capitol insurrection I would support 100 percent. —BiPM]
“The word’s out: I’m a woman, and I’m going to have trouble backing off on that. I am what I am. I’ll go out and talk to people about what’s happening to their families, and when I do that, I’m a mother. I’m a grandmother.”
—Elizabeth Warren
"I, Kamala Devi Harris, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
—Vice President Harris, January 20, 2021
“At present, our country needs women's idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.”
—Shirley Chisholm
"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.”
—Maya Angelou
Organizers ask that you wear something purple today. If, instead, you chose to mark the occasion by running around in a red MAGA hat, no problem: please stay where you are and a complimentary purple nurple will be dispensed free of charge.
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
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that “the American people are grateful” that President Joe Biden is not like Bill in Portland Maine.
—Mediaite
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