Energize An Ally Tuesday
The moment one of Donald Trump's legal stooges would file a lawsuit trying to steal the 2020 election from Joe Biden, one guy was always right there—Bam!—to fight back and win. And win. And win. And win. If the name Marc Elias sounds familiar, it's because he was that guy. An election lawyer who seemingly never slept as he beat back the forces of evil in court.
Marc's organization is called Democracy Docket, and he’s still at it, focusing now on state election laws that the MAGA party shamelessly use to stick their thumb on the scales in future elections. As is his way, the second the red-hatted cult tries to do pull a fast one, Marc is faster than a Jeopardy! champion’s clicker thumb in announcing “We’ve just filed papers in court to stop this.”
Continued...
This morning Democracy Docket is in our Energize An Ally spotlight because Manchin and Sinema, along with their Republican cocktail-circuit buddies, stabbed us all so hard in the back on voter rights and election reform that it’s up to individuals like him, and groups like his, to save our asses in the midterms and beyond.
Marc will continue spending whatever time it takes to do his part to save our democracy. In addition to court filings, that includes post-election analysis and lessons that can be applied to defang the MAGA orcs and their suppression tactics.
C&J is happy to cough up a donation from our snow shoveling money for Marc, and we encourage you to add to the pot if you’re willing and able. The donation link is here. You can also follow Marc Elias for updates on the evil Twitter here. Many thanks.
And now, our feature presentation...
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Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Note: People who work from home should get snow days, too. Get on it, Biden.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Groundhog Day: 9
Days 'til the Cordova Ice Worm Festival in Alaska: 4
Number of people killed by U.S. law enforcement in 2022, the deadliest year for police violence since 2013: 1,176
Firearm sales in Maine last year, down 17% from 2021: 114,000
Number of days Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in Africa to rebuild economic relationships there: 10
Year during which Joe Biden's predecessor called African nations "shithole countries": 2018
Current worldwide box office gross for Avatar II: $2.024 billion
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Puppy Pic of the Day: In Evans, Georgia...SAVED!!!
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CHEERS to a helluva run. Political pundits are a dime dozen (down from a quarter, thanks to improvements in the supply chain), but one of the few that I'd always stop and listen to on MSNBC was Ron Klain. He was the former chief of staff to both Vice President Gore and Biden, and he really knows his stuff. So I was looking forward to watching him juggle the entire universe around him as White House chief of staff, and he hasn't disappointed. In fact he made it look easy. And in a firm rebuke to his predecessor, he lasted longer than any of Trump's four hapless clowns. But apparently Ron's decided to move on in a few weeks, and Biden has another blocker-and-tackler lined up:
Jeff Zients, who ran President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response effort and served in high-ranking roles in the Obama administration, is expected to replace Ron Klain as the next White House chief of staff, according to three people briefed on the matter. […]
While Zients is not viewed as a political operator, his deep experience inside two administrations and his reputation for technocratic skill would likely serve as assets at a time when both are viewed as critical for what Biden faces in the year ahead. … [T]his stretch of Biden’s presidency will focus on implementing the legislation enacted in his first two years, and Zients is seen internally as a “master implementer,” one source said.
Biden is so thorough that he makes his job applicants submit to an MRI? Tough boss. (But at least he spares ‘em from a colonoscopy.)
JEERS to America: land of the guns, home of the gun nuts. What happens in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown Aurora Binghamton Tucson Santa Barbara Charleston Lafayette Roseburg Kalamazoo Orlando Alexandria Las Vegas Parkland Benton Pittsburgh Thousand Oaks Aurora Poway Highlands Ranch Virginia Beach Gilroy El Paso Dayton Midland/Odessa Fresno Milwaukee Atlanta Boulder Colorado Springs Chicago Buffalo Uvalde Tulsa Highland Park Colorado Springs again etcetera etcetera Monterey Park, California (11 dead, another 10 injured) is depressingly predictable: The community will grieve. Gun control advocates will wisely suggest that this might be a good time to review our federal and state firearms policies so that our nation's shameful record of gun violence might be improved upon. The right-wing gun nuts and media machine will claim it’s “just a lone wolf,” then blame Democrats (and their movies and video games and abortion and drag queen story hours and, of course, George Soros) for the carnage and urge every living soul and their pets to arm themselves to the teeth, and the NRA will insist it's "too soon" to talk about gun control as they continue scaring politicians into looking the other way by informing them that, "We'll be scoring you on your response." Like I said, predictable. Depressingly. Again.
CHEERS to great moments in traction. On January 24, 1899, Humphrey O’Sullivan patented the rubber heel. That’s nice, but we’re partial to the steel-tipped toe (and the exposed Republican shin).
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to sports shorts. The world of football is all excited this week, as the Division Something Something competitors won or lost their games last weekend and will now do the Division Something Something semi-finals and swimsuit competition this weekend in search of the crown that will green-light them to take part in the Something Something Bowl. So it'll be the 49ers of San Francisco versus the Eagles of Philadelphia, and the Chiefs of Kansas City versus the Bengal Tigers of Cincinnati. As usual, I'm putting all my money on whichever team Secretariat is on.
CHEERS to the dumbest game of Clue ever. Thanks to a jury's verdict, we now know the latest idiot who tried to murder democracy in America. It was… [Opens envelope.] … "Bigo", in Nancy Pelosi's office, with an American flag and a stun gun. And the motive was I'm an idiot…
An Arkansas man who was photographed during the Jan. 6 riot with his feet on a desk in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, was found guilty on all counts Monday after brief jury deliberations.
Richard Barnett faced eight charges stemming from the insurrection, including theft of government property. … Barnett appears in images from the riot reclining in a chair in the speaker's office, with his feet propped up, and what the government referred to as a “stun device” tucked in his pants. […]
Barnett, who a day earlier had said he would apologize to Pelosi, D-Calif., if she were in court, admitted during cross-examination that when a police officer told him he needed to leave her office he replied: “You need to give up communism.”
And now the anti-Communist Barnett, who will be sentenced in May, will likely spend years behind bars in a classless system in which private property is nonexistent or severely curtailed. Even karma is like, "Whoa, I really am a bitch."
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Ten years ago in C&J: January 24, 2013
JEERS to the Republican't party. Yesterday House Republicans, riding on the crest of their 27%-approval wave, broke their blood oaths to never (ever!) raise the debt ceiling ever (ever!) again without cuts in spending by effectively raising the debt ceiling without any cuts in spending. The extension lasts only until May 1, so I wasn't sure how to feel about it. Then Lawrence O'Donnell told me last night that Rush Limbaugh called the deal a "puke fest." So I'm good.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the pre-the-envelopes-please envelopes, please. The Academy Award nominations will be announced this morning. It’s another weird year, given that the pandemic still affected movie theaters and a lot of the movies expected to win nods are protected by streaming service paywalls. So we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, we've just received this breaking news from the C&J anchor desk:
It was definitely not all quiet on the western front. Black Adam and the Banshees of Ishinerin were noisier and rowdier than the crowd watching Elvis play to a packed auditorium in Babylon.
Everyone and their avatar was there: the Batman, the Fabelmans, the good nurse, the woman king… Hell, we even saw the whale hangin' out with Black Panther and Maverick. (That was a real triangle of sadness.)
It just seemed like it was everything everywhere all at once here in the multiverse of madness—this bullet train of life. So after we bought a bucket of tar, we took the Studebaker to the Glass Onion Café to check out the menu.
Weird. But it's a living. Unless it's a death on the Nile. But one thing we can always count on: Halloween ends.
Film at 11.
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
Mulvaney Gets Salty When Burnett Asks Why He Wanted a Clean Cheers and Jeers Kiddie Pool in 2019 But Not Now: ‘That’s How Bill in Portland Maine Works’
—Mediaite
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