Energize An Ally Tuesday
As soon as it became apparent that the California wildfires were going to be a disaster of epic proportions, I knew one thing: Chef Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen would be on the ground keeping bellies full for the duration. Via email:
Our Relief Team was on the ground within hours of the fires igniting to provide immediate relief to first responders working around the clock and families forced to evacuate.
WCK teams quickly mobilized to shelters and first responder control centers to assess food and water needs. At the same time, we began coordinating with our food truck and restaurant partners to begin serving warm, nourishing meals. By the first night of our response we were providing hundreds of meals to people in need.
We have served tens of thousands of meals since first responding on Wednesday by working alongside our network of restaurant and food truck partners.
WCK is expanding meal distribution sites to serve communities impacted by the California fires. Our efforts include supporting first responder hubs to ensure firefighters have enough food and water to sustain their nonstop work.
If you'd like to provide some financial support as southern California braces for another round of gale-force winds that'll require an expansion of WCK’s relief efforts, the donation link is here. Many thanks.
And now, our feature presentation...
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Note: If you wish to return a broken New Year's resolution for a refund or credit toward a future resolution, please take a number and have a seat. Our average wait time this morning is three and a half months. Thanks for your patience. —Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
7 days!!!
Days 'til Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day: 8
Days 'til the start of NYC Restaurant Week: 7
Current U.S. unemployment rate as of December: 4.1%
Jobs added in 2024, an average of 186,000 per month: 2.2 million
Number of presidents besides Joe Biden who have overseen job creation during each month of their presidency, going back to 1939: 0
Amount "congestion pricing" is expected to raise for New York City to improve its mass transit system: $500 million - $800 million
Age of Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), who sang Soul Man, when he died over the weekend: 89
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Puppy Pic of the Day: New trick, old dog…
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JEERS to rednecks under the KKKlieg lights. [Sigh] Here we go again. Today we begin the dreaded confirmation hearings for a bunch of mostly-horrifying Trump cabinet nominees that the media have already framed as "shoo-ins." All eyes will first be on the Fox and Friends Weekend host who will be tasked with running our nation's 3-million person, $850 billion military. And Pete Hegseth's qualifications could hardly be more impeccable:
» Blackout drunk
» Enjoys crashing women's events to put roofies in their drinks
In his corner: some of his best friends.
» Loves weaseling his way into leadership positions of shady advocacy organizations, and then spending the budget on parties until he gets fired
» Top priority: restoring confederate generals' names to military bases
» Big fan of torture, including waterboarding
» Money quote: "Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military."
» So racist that he chose to have a white supremacist tattoo permanently affixed to his physical body
Democrats have more than enough damning evidence to work with. For maximum intimidation, I suggest they all dress in the same color today: Union blue.
CHEERS? to last-minute breakthroughs. Apparently there's a peace deal that's almost a done deal between Israel and Hamas. The Biden administration is working with unprecedented urgency to get it done. And you'll never guess why. Go ahead, guess:
Biden's outgoing ambassador to Israel, Jacob J. Lew, told NPR on Friday that the unpredictability of Trump, and concerns about what his administration would do if a deal is not reached, are driving the momentum.
Poo. You're a good guesser. No fun at all.
CHEERS to stopping with all the shooting and the banging and the bayoneting and whatnot. 241 years ago today, on January 14, 1784, Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris, officially ending our War of Independence:
After the British defeat at Yorktown, peace talks in Paris began in April 1782 between Richard Oswarld representing Great Britain and the American Peace Commissioners Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams.
Can you IMAGINE what this would fetch on eBay today?
The American negotiators were joined by Henry Laurens two days before the preliminary articles of peace were signed on November 30, 1782. The Treaty of Paris, formally ending the war, was not signed until September 3, 1783. The Continental Congress, which was temporarily situated in Annapolis, Maryland, at the time, ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784.
Among the other provisions we secured from Britain: recognition of our borders, repairs to all the airports they damaged, and royalty-free Benny Hill reruns.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to one of the good guys. Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota—aka Mayor of Minneapolis, LBJ's vice president, 1968 presidential candidate (great platform except for supporting the Vietnam War) and fierce advocate in the war on poverty—died 47 years ago this week much too young at 66. He was wise:
"Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism."
Humphrey in his prime.
"Behind every successful man is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law."
“We seek an America able to preserve and nurture all the basic rights of free expression, yet able to reach across the divisions that too often separate race from race, region from region, young from old, worker from scholar, rich from poor. We seek an America able to do this in the higher knowledge that our goals and ideals are worthy of conciliation and personal sacrifice.”
"Liberalism, above all, means emancipation—emancipation from one's fears, his inadequacies, from prejudice, from discrimination, from poverty."
And a special shout-out from Humphrey to the MAGA cult: "The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." Amen.
CHEERS to order in the courts. No word yet on how much of Jack Smith's reports on Trump skullduggery (stealing classified documents, trying to steal the 2020 election) will see the light of day. But one thing we do know: Fox News's big headache won’t be swept under the carpet:
A New York State appeals court on Thursday rejected a request by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation to dismiss part of a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit stemming from the broadcasting of misinformation around the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit, filed by Smartmatic, a voting technology company, is on track to proceed to trial instate court in Manhattan.
[T]he judges concluded that Smartmatic’s claims that Fox Corporation directed Fox News to promote “a disinformation campaign in the post-election coverage, along with the allegations of Fox Corporation’s active participation in Fox News Network’s daily operations in connection with that coverage” are sufficient to allow the litigation to move forward.
Hooray. Now, knowing what I know about companies run by oligarchs, we're just one trial, one verdict, 359 appeals, and 112 contempt-of-court-for-non-payment rulings away from justice. Golly, I wish I could be here to see the look on our great-great-great-grandkids' faces when the final verdict comes down on their brain chips.
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Ten years ago in C&J: January 14, 2015
CHEERS to revvin' up the intertubes. I don’t know if this is a subtle hint from FCC chair Tom Wheeler that he's going to preserve net neutrality (i.e. refuse to authorize the creation of fast lanes and slow lanes), but this sounds positive nonetheless:
In a draft proposal provided to CNNMoney, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he thinks broadband should provide minimum speeds of 25 Megabits per second. That's enough to seamlessly stream an ultra-HD 4K movie from Netflix or download an HD movie from iTunes in about 10 minutes. […]
The FCC's current standard for broadband is a minimum of 4 Mbps, which Wheeler called "inadequate for ... supporting today's high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video." The FCC says 55 million Americans (17%) don't even have access to 25 Mbps broadband service.
The national average is around 11 Mbps. To put that in perspective, that's faster than a freight train but slower than the time it takes Breitbart to gin up a new Obama scandal.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to intercepting a real cutie. There oughtta be a special circle in hell for animal traffickers. Case in point: whoever was trying to smuggle a baby gorilla from Turkey to Thailand in a tiny crate aboard an airliner. Thankfully, “Zeytin” was rescued and is now safe and sound at a zoo in Istanbul. Here’s some footage of the little guy...
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When they find the perpetrators, they should exact a harsh penalty: stuffing them in a box and making them fly on Spirit Airlines.
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
By January 14, Venus in Pisces will square off with Jupiter in the Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool, bringing a moment of passion and friction into fruition.
—Astrology.com
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