Energize An Ally Tuesday
I earmarked this post by Wisconsin Boy Wonder Ben Wikler with the goal of re-upping it after the convention. Wisconsin teetered so close to falling into a permanent MAGA majority-ruled state, and Ben’s tireless work as Democratic Party chair has started turning things around to everyone’s relief. Now another major task on Ben’s to-do list has less than three months to be completed. So take it away, Ben...
Great Democrats are running in all eight of Wisconsin’s Congressional districts—and we aim to flip some seats, and flip the House.
The Democratic Congressional field is dynamite.
You can boost these terrific candidates by donating to WisDems, where your dollars go toward spreading the word about Wisconsin’s coming blue wave. Chip in here.
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Click on the link at the top and you can get to know the eight Democrats running for House seats from the Badger State. And if you feel so inclined, give ‘em a few monetary units to help ‘em win. Many thanks and EAT WISCONSIN CHEESE.
And now, our feature presentation...
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Note: Starting September 1, Cheers and Jeers will employ the use of specially trained pumpkin spice-sniffing dogs. Leave it at home, people. It’s the law. —C&J Security
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By the Numbers:
3 days!!!
Days 'til the start of autumn: 26
Days 'til the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw in Prairie Du Sac: 3
Number of states that'll have abortion-related ballot measures in November: 10
Amount donated to Democratic candidates and organizations via ActBlue during the Democratic convention: $100,859,990
Percent chance that San Francisco's reaction to Twitter leaving the city is "good riddance": 100%
Winning bid at auction for the jersey Babe Ruth wore when he called his shot during the 1932 World Series, hitting a home run to center field: $24 million
Rank of brown, blue, and hazel among most common eye colors: #1, #2, #3
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Somebody call Triple-A...
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CHEERS to welcome replacements. One of the questions I kept asking myself as all those statues of confederate generals and assorted slaveholders were removed was, what'll they be replaced with? Great question, Billy—you get a gold star. The answer, happily, is that…
Four years after momentum kicked in for removing Confederate monuments in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in May 2020, historians and families of prominent national and Black figures have started permanently memorializing their histories, signifying a shift in who gets honored.
The new Sojourner Truth memorial in Akron, Ohio.
The monuments honoring states' first Black politicians, veterans, or other Black pioneers are popping up across the country. Significant statues stand tall in Wisconsin, Virginia, Mississippi, and Oregon, praising Black people for their accomplishments and how they've helped shape American history.
"It's honoring the extraordinary and the ordinary or the extraordinary and the everyday," said Salamishah Tillet, a professor of creative writing and Africana studies at Rutgers University-Newark.
Totally appropriate. Long overdue. And if I may make a suggestion of my own (being the equality-minded American patriot that I am): let’s change the name of the infamous bridge where late Congressman John Lewis was attacked by police on Bloody Sunday. I recommend "The John Pettis Was A Dirtbag Bridge." Wouldn’t that look nice in a souvenir snow globe.
CHEERS to an important date to put on your calendar. Like it or not, Covid-19 is going to be with us for the duration. So testing and vaccination will remain a part of our lives—say it with me—for the duration. But have you seen how much those dang (pardon my language) Covid tests cost? They're like ten million dollars each! But thanks to Joe Biden, you can get four free ones—a $40 million value—for free starting at the end of next month. So mark September 30th on your calendar to remind yourself to go to the HHS Covid-19 testing page and order yours. May your Control line be visible, and your Test line…not. Be.
CHEERS to fresh numbers. The convention is over and now all anyone can think about is POLLS POLLS POLLS POLLS POLLS!!! Who's up? Who's down? Who got more smiles? Who's got more frowns? Who's more liked? Who's more the opposite of liked? Who's better on the issues? Who's nose needs more tissues? Who would you rather have a beer with? Who would you rather have a Runza with? And of course, the usual who, what, when, where, and why? Well the latest numbers dropped early this morning, and we can report:
Favorability of almonds: 95%
Favorability of walnuts: 82%
Favorability of pistachios: 60%
Favorability of peanuts: 12%
Survey of 12 squirrels on the porch roof taken 8/27/24. MOE = 0% because unlike humans they're not all wishy washy on stuff. BiPM Research. All rights reserved.
So. Anyone hear anything about the presidential race?
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to bubblin' crude. Oil, that is. Black gold...Titusville tea. My, how time flies when you're polluting the planet. 165 years ago today, in 1859, "Colonel" Edwin Drake's newfangled drilling technique (ramming a pipe in the ground so the hole wouldn't clog) paid off when his employee, "Uncle Billy" Smith, struck oil 69 feet down in a spot near Titusville, Pennsylvania. And a few years later solar and wind power completely replaced it as the world's primary energy source and everyone lived happily ever after with tons of sex, booze, fistfuls of thousand-dollar bills, universal health care and — [POOF!!!] — well, that was a fun dream while it lasted
CHEERS to purty scenery. As the world zigs toward the 2024 elections, Ukraine’s counteroffensive, and climate disasters left and right, C&J will ever-so-briefly zag as we note that the National Park Service turns 108 this month. Here’s a soul-cleansing vista hand-selected by C&J. Consider it a deep-tissue massage for your ocular nerve as another week hurtles down the tracks:
Grand Teton National Park
You can see more breathtaking pics of some of the amazing places that define our geography and historic sites, click here and/or click here. We now rejoin our regularly-scheduled mayhem already in progress.
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Ten years ago in C&J: August 27, 2014
CHEERS to picking up the pieces but JEERS for having so many pieces to pick up. Who rules the planet? The planet rules the planet. And over the weekend Planet Beneath Our Feet sent a 6.0 nastygram to Napa and points north, east, west and south somewhat. But from what I hear, no one died and the cleanup will be a simple matter of people + time + effort. For the record, the Napa earthquake wasn't the work of the gays, feminists and pagans. Due to budget cuts we can only afford to do hurricanes. I think earthquakes are Pat Robertson's baby now.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the "Lion of the Senate." As time goes on, fewer and fewer of us 'Muricans will remember that Ted Kennedy owned that title for much of his 47-year career there. So I'll keep bringing it up, especially on his birthday and also this week—15-year years since his passing from brain cancer at 77. With a little assist from President Obama, who said at Ted's funeral:
"The world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy; a champion for those who had none; the soul of the Democratic Party; and the lion of the United States Senate—a man who graces nearly 1,000 laws, and who penned more than 300 laws himself."
To mark the occasion, a couple snips of vintage Ted:
On the Iraq war: "There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud."
On health care reform: "This is the cause of my life—new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American—North, South, East, West, young, old—will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege."
And one of my favorite pics, from 2009 when Ted was one of Barack Obama’s biggest supporters. The grizzled veteran passing on wisdom to the newbie...
Obamacare is now in full effect for the long haul (and is getting expanded under #44’s former VP, now known as #46), and I imagine that card-carrying 5-digit UID Kossack Ted would be pleased over the numbers, but also impatient to improve it and furious at Republicans for trying to gut it over and over so they can give their billionaire buddies more tax cuts. For the first 45 years of my life Ted Kennedy was always in Washington, "voice bellowing through the Senate chamber, face reddened, fist pounding the podium, a veritable force of nature" (Obama's words again). He was both a battering ram and a master of jiu jitsu. (Watch him tear into Donald Rumsfeld here.) And also a guy you'd never turn down having a beer with. Even though I'm not from Massachusetts, he still felt like "my" senator. His "vim and vigah" are sorely missed. Cheers, Ted. And say hi to your brothers up there—they were pretty good, too. Wish we could say the same about your Trump-humping nephew down here.
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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—Dr. Dustin Portela
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