Let’s Check the DK Ukraine Relief Tote Board
It’s been a couple weeks since we peeked at the Daily Kos relief fund for the Ukrainian civilians (and animals) affected by Russia’s daily acts of terrorism and war crimes. As of this morning, you’ve contributed over $20k more since we last checked:
$2,722,351.14
If you'd like to support the five chosen groups—the World Central Kitchen, AmeriCares, the International Rescue Committee, Razom for Ukraine, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare—click here and ActBlue will help you take care of the rest. By the way, tomorrow Ukrainians will mark their the 31st Independence Day. But instead of a Soviet-style parade, they’re “lining the route with the burned-out husks of Russian military equipment.” I think I’ll toss in a few extra bucks this week for that bit of A+ trolling.
As always, thanks for your continued support for Ukraine, and your continued middle fingers for Putin.
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Note: If there is a sudden loss of cabin pressure in the C&J kiddie pool, an oxygen mask will fall from the overhead compartment. But only one, so you'll all have to fight over it. (What, you think we're made of money?) —Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Labor Day: 13
Days 'til the 9th annual Knoxville Asian Festival in Tennessee: 5
Number of states that have unemployment rates at or below 3 percent, a record-high: 22
Percent of new Pennsylvania voter registrations that have been submitted by women in the wake of the repeal of Roe v. Wade: 56%
Percent of them who registered as Democrats and Republicans, respectively: 62%, 15%
Share of total TV consumption viewed via streaming services, 23% higher than last year and exceeding both broadcast and cable for the first time: 34.8%
Year that Saint Elmo Brady became the first Black American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry: 1916
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Puppy Pic of the Day: A butterfly flapping its wings in Indonesia on March 11, 1544 made what you are about to witness on August 23, 2022 inevitable…
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CHEERS to a day of ballot-to-ballot combat. Yeaahhhhhh!!! Now this is the real excitement today: actual voting. It's primary day in three states, and believe me, bub, by the time it's over there's gonna be plenty of teeth and/or dental bridgework on the floor in Florida, New York, and Oklahoma. Keep your eye on Daily Kos all night, as our world-famous Elections Team HQ will be a flurry of carrier pigeons with up-to-the minute results amid clouds of birdseed, cigar smoke, and Cheeto dust. I'll be standing by to fire the confetti cannon every time an update is posted. I've strategically aimed it at the house of the old lady across the street. Because, darn it, I've got to get her engaged in politics somehow.
CHEERS to free and fair elections. Remember a few weeks ago when the Kansanians went to the polls in huge numbers to weigh in on a referendum on abortion rights, and they overwhelmingly—repeat, overwhelmingly—voted to preserve them? Naturally, the losing side—aka the MAGA cult—got all pissy and demanded a recount because "voter fraud"? Yeah, well, the results are in…again:
A decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights in traditionally conservative Kansas was confirmed with a partial hand recount, with fewer than100 votes changing after the last county reported results Sunday.
Nine of the state’s 105 counties recounted their votes at the request of Melissa Leavitt, who has pushed for tighter election laws. A longtime anti-abortion activist, Mark Gietzen, is covering most of the costs. Gietzen acknowledged in an interview that it was unlikely to change the outcome.
Said the beleaguered election workers who got it right the first time: "Yeah. We know."
CHEERS to ticking off that dude in curlers. On August 23, 1775, King George III got all pissy and accused the colonies of being in "an open and avowed rebellion" and asked "our obedient and loyal subjects to use their utmost endeavours to withstand and suppress such rebellion, and to disclose and make known all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which they shall know to be against us." And we were all, like, "Huh? Are you referring to little old us? Why, we’re just grubby ol’ farmers and fussy old shopkeepers—we wouldn’t hurt a fly!" Then we declared independence and kicked his ass. Psych!
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to diversity in government. Yes, it's depressing that the red state legislatures and state houses have been a cesspool of anti-LGBT hate even more than usual lately. Seems they can't pass bills punching down on a historically-oppressed minority hard enough or fast enough because it keeps their cult-member base riled up and writin' those campaign checks. But whether they like it or not, the American public overwhelmingly supports LGBT rights, and one way of showing it is with their votes:
More than 1,000 elected officials in the U.S. openly identify as LGBTQ+, new data shows, the most on record and up nearly 6 percent from one year ago. […]
“Despite the fact the LGBTQ community has never had equitable representation in government—and we still have a long way to go—there are clear signs of progress,” Annise Parker, the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s president and chief executive, said Thursday in a statement. “They represent the strength and diversity of not only who we are as a society now, but also the America we aspire to build for future generations.”
There are more candidates on the ballot in this year's midterms, and my peoples and I make this promise to you, straight America: get us up to 2,000 electeds on November 8th and we'll turn back one Atlantic hurricane in 2023. (We can do that. Just ask the ghost of Jerry Falwell.)
CHEERS to The Right Stuff: Class of 2022. In the immortal words of Buzz Aldrin when he first stepped onto the moon: “Oh, goody goody gumdrop!!!” A fresh slate of NASA astronauts was formally announced last week for the next mission in the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which is our spiffy new way of getting to the Space Station. Meet the new heroes and sheroes who will be responsible for our next lump-in-the-throat moment late next month aboard SpaceX Crew-5:
NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, commander; Josh Cassada, pilot; and mission specialists Koichi Wakata, of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina will lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft – on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket—from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for no earlier than Sept. 29.
This marks the fifth crew rotation mission of the company’s human space transportation system, and its sixth flight with astronauts, to the space station for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Crew-5 will fly to the space station in Dragon Endurance, which previously flew the agency’s Crew-3 mission to and from the orbiting laboratory.
If all goes according to plan, a fifth astronaut will be added to the lineup. Ted Cruz will be the “honorary” solo pilot of the first and only mission of a catapult-fired space pod named Quick Climb In Here Ted There’s Free BBQ Ribs And Don’t Forget To Shut The Door Behind You.
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Ten years ago in C&J: August 23, 2012
CHEERS to another dose of economic reality. An interesting analysis of the Bush Great Recession reveals the depth of the 2008 meltdown and a glimpse into why voters are cutting President Obama some slack for dealing with what he inherited:
Credit, the fuel that powers economies, evaporated after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008. And a 30 percent drop in housing prices erased trillions in home equity and brought construction to a near-standstill. So any recovery was destined to be a slog.
"A housing collapse is very different from a stock market bubble and crash," says Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It affects so many people. It only corrects very slowly."
I think people understand, not without frustration, just how deep the hole was that Bush allowed to be dug and how heavily the cards were stacked against the current president when he took office. Given that, plus the way the GOP is scaring people by showing what they really stand for, my prediction of an Obama landslide still stands. You might say it'll be a "Declaration of Independents." Because you're clever, and I respect that. [A reminder: Obama—65,915,795 votes. Romney—60,933,504 votes. Not that we’re counting.]
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And just one more…
CHEERS to your Tuesday morning wake-up call. We avoided mentioning anything about the raid on You-a-Know-Wherego because, well, this jerk beat us to it. And he’s got four more Emmy nominations than I do, so who am I to question his journalistic chops? Enjoy...
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Randy’s currently on tour. Florida this week. Our advice: watch out for snakes and Ron DeSantis. Pardon our redundancy.
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
"Bill in Portland Maine to be going through a mid-life crisis. He's so hung up on his masculinity that the whole kiddie pool has taken on the cheeseball stench of an AXE deodorant ad."
—David Rothkopf
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