Happy 76th Anniversary, Jimmy and Rosalynn
Cheers to the union of two national treasures. I’m not positive about this, but I believe the traditional 67th-year gift is—[checks notes]—anything they damn well want.
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, July 7, 2022
Note: This is to inform you that today is World Chocolate Day. I think you can take it from here.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the next full "chain-smoking woodchuck" moon: 6
Days 'til the New Jersey Sandcastle Contest on Belmar Beach: 6
Americans polled by Monmouth University who believe that states imposing abortion bans should definitely include exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk: 85%
Percent in the same poll who want Congress to pass a law banning abortion: 7%
Price of a barrel of oil, the first time it's been under $100 since May: $96
Current price of a gallon of gas nationally: $4.80
Number of Medals of Honor President Biden awarded to Vietnam veterans Tuesday (one posthumously): 4
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
When Richard Nixon attacked PBS 35 years ago, the Republican chairman of CPB resigned in protest over the political interference. The impeccably Republican Ralph Rogers of Dallas led a nationwide effort to stop the malicious meddling. Where's a decent Republican when you need one?
I've read all those studies that show people on the Right lack the gift of empathy. I can see they have a real hard time imagining themselves as people on welfare or as blacks in East Texas -- that's quite a stretch even for white bleeding hearts like me. What I don't get is their inability to do the simplest exercise in elementary fairness -- how would you feel if the shoe were on the other foot?
Let's pretend Hillary Clinton wins the 2008 election. Who do you want her to appoint chairman of CPB? James Carville? Noam Chomsky? Or should she show how much she understands the importance of the independence of public broadcasting by naming an esteemed Republican, say John Danforth or Alan Simpson or Richard Lugar? How about anyone who understands that the function of journalism is not to toady to those in power but to challenge them? Is that too much to ask?
—June 2005
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Meet the pooties…
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CHEERS to great moments in getting busted. When you get subpoenaed by a House committee, you can hem and haw and drag things out to your heart's content. When you get subpoenaed by a grand jury, you're kinda screwed. What fun…
The Georgia special grand jury hearing evidence in an investigation into possible 2020 election interference by former President Donald Trump and others has issued subpoenas to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and key members of Trump's legal team, including Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, NBC News has confirmed. […]
The special grand jury was empanelled earlier this year to assist Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation into whether there were any “coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections” in Georgia.
Among the incidents Willis has said she's investigating is a November 2020 phone call Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Raffensperger has said Graham pressed him on whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, a question Raffensperger interpreted as a suggestion to toss out legally cast votes.
The article goes on to say that "Graham didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment." Hallelujah—someone finally figured out how to shut him up.
CHEERS to turning back the clock. The damage that our 45th president rained down upon us circa 2017-2021 was ginormous. Thankfully some of the most egregious actions that it took when it was in office can be un-taken. Gold star to this judge:
[U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar] on Tuesday threw out a host of actions by the Trump administration to roll back protections for endangered or threatened species, a year after the Biden administration said it was moving to strengthen such species protections. […]
The decision restores a range of protections under the Endangered Species Act—including some that date to the 1970s—while the reviews are completed.
Environmental groups hailed the decision, which they said sped up needed protections and critical habitat designations for threatened species, including salmon in the Pacific Northwest. Ryan Shannon, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group, said he was “incredibly relieved” that “terrible” Trump-era rules on endangered species were thrown out by the Oakland, California-based Tigar, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama.
Among GOD'S CREATURES who can get back to living their lives normally again: the northern spotted owl, gray wolves, and migratory birds. Thankfully, the Orange-faced Mar-A-Lago Swindler remains endangered and on the verge of extinction.
CHEERS to justice by the carton. Twenty-three years ago today, in the first class-action lawsuit of its kind to go to trial, a jury in Miami held cigarette makers liable for making a defective product that causes emphysema, lung cancer and other nasties in adults. Big Tobacco and, later, Big Vape, learned a valuable lesson from the verdict: go after the kids instead.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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JEERS to going out with a bing. Oh dear...when you're a fierce and legendary general who becomes President of the United States, it's gotta be a little embarrassing to die from eating bad fruit. But that's what happened 172 years ago this week to "#12" Zachary Taylor. I believe his last words were: "Bad cherries??? No way. Seriously, guys, this is a joke, right?" Sorry, dude—life is just a bowl of you-know-whats.
Pay your respects here. And then try to remember who succeeded him without going to the Google or the Wiki. (Hint: it wasn't Millard Fillmore. Oh, wait, yes it was. Crap...I meant to write Gerald Ford. Now you know why I’m not a professor.)
CHEERS to grown-ups in governor's mansions. With the constitutional right to "liberty and justice for all" as it relates to women's reproductive health now sitting in the Supreme Court's dustbin of history, it's up to states to protect abortion access. The blue states are moving heaven and earth to provide those services to their own residents while also shielding out-of-state patients from being branded common criminals in the eyes of their puritanical Republican overlords back home. Thankfully Maine, led by our first woman governor, is on the right side of this battle. Via the Bangor Daily News:
Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order on Tuesday to limit the reach of restrictive abortion laws in other states, boosting Maine’s liberal abortion laws in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that there is no federal right to an abortion.
The order, which follows similar efforts by governors in other states, prohibits state agencies from cooperating with another state’s investigation into a health care provider for delivering abortion care in Maine.
It also says the governor will make all legal attempts to decline extradition attempts from other states for charges related to abortion care, while directing state agencies to review laws and regulations on abortion in order to minimize barriers to accessing care. … “A woman’s right to choose is just that—a woman’s, not a politician’s,” Mills said in a Tuesday statement.
Mills is popular up here and has done a great job managing everything from the Covid pandemic to the state budget. She's up for reelection this fall in a rematch with previous two-term MAGA shitbag Paul LePage. I'm fairly comfortable in saying that I look forward to watching his concession speech on TV. In caveman with English subtitles.
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Ten years ago in C&J: July 7, 2012
CHEERS to head-on collisions. Well, knock me down and call me Einstein. 83 year-old physicist Peter Higgs was right—his boson particle really exists:
Speaking at Geneva's CERN research center on Wednesday after experimental physicists announced the discovery of a new particle, a boson much as Higgs imagined half a century ago, he confessed to Reuters he felt "rather dazed but very pleased." ... For nearly three decades, physicists at CERN and at the Fermilab research center in Illinois had tried to find what became known as the "Higgs boson" in particle colliders creating mini- explosions duplicating the big bang of 13.7 billion years ago.
To put the size of the Higgs-boson in perspective, think of it this way: it's less visible than an atom, but more visible than an anonymous SuperPAC donor.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to endurance. Just adding this to our above-the-fold pic, because they deserve more ink: best-ex-president-ever Jimmy and First Lady Rosalynn Carter have been together so long that it's impossible to think of one without thinking of the other. Today they celebrate their 76th anniversary. An amazing number, especially considering that recently Jimmy was fighting for his life against cancer. (He kicked its ass and has been cancer-free for half a dozen years now). As for the secret of their longevity, it's pretty simple, they told Judy Woodruff last year:
Rosalynn Carter: Well, I think we give each other space and we try to do things together. We're always looking for things we can do together, like birding and fly-fishing and just anything we can find to do together.
President Jimmy Carter: At the end of the day, we try to become reconciled and overcome all the differences that arose during the day. We also make up and give each other a kiss before we go to sleep still in bed. And we always read the Bible every night, which adds a different aspect to life. So, we really try to become completely reconciled each night before we go to sleep. […]
And we have had to live a quite restricted life the last year or so with the problem with the virus. But we have succeeded very well. And I think, in general, that handicap in movement has brought us even closer together. So that's one thing for which I'm thankful.
This year, as with the others, they’ll resort to tradition: robbing banks. If I may say, Rosalynn leaves a mean set of Studebaker skid marks.
Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
"Try not to compare Cheers and Jeers to Thor: Ragnarok. Judge Bill in Portland Maine on his own terms and there’s a whole lot to love."
—Vicki Jessop
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