Life Lessons & Other Bon Mots from January Birthday Kids
“Speak truth to power. It’s the right thing to do! When Trump does something abhorrent, we’ve got to call it out, even when it's exhausting. I won re-election in my swing district even as I called out Trump and pushed for bold change, because voters knew I called out BS and fought for them.”
—Katie Porter
“Don't misinform your Doctor nor your Lawyer.”
—Ben Franklin
“Butterflies are like women—we may look pretty and delicate, but baby, we can fly through a hurricane.”
—Betty White
"Becoming who we are is an ongoing process, and thank God—because where's the fun in waking up one day and deciding there's nowhere left to go?"
—Michelle Obama
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”
—J.R.R. Tolkien
"When we see you we see ourselves, and we see ourselves as intelligent and beautiful and proud. You turn on your television and the news comes on and you see us marching and peaceful, you see the peaceful civil disobedience, and you see the dogs and see the fire hoses, and we all know they cannot destroy us because we are there in the 23rd century."
—Martin Luther King, Jr., as quoted by the late Nichelle Nichols. Dr. King convinced Nichols to continue as Lt. Uhura on Star Trek after she’d told creator Gene Roddenberry she was leaving the show.
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“A Conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward. A Reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards. A Liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest—at the command—of his head.” —FDR
"I've had heartaches, headaches, toothaches, earaches, and I've had a few pains in the ass, but I've survived to tell about it."
—Dolly Parton
"Negroes aren't seeking anything which is not good for the nation as well as ourselves. In order for America to be 100-percent strong—economically, defensively and morally—we cannot afford the waste of having second- and third-class citizens."
—Jackie Robinson
“Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. I am the first man to piss his pants on the moon.”
—Buzz Aldrin, still with us at 95
"Huffhrrrrr duhrtrr gurrrburr! Aqua Buddha loves horsey paste!"
—Rand Paul
To all of the above and those in our Daily Kos community who made another trip around the sun this month: happy birthday and many blessings on your camels.
And now, our feature presentation...
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, January 23, 2025
Note: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a baby how to type in the nuclear launch codes and you’re really asking for trouble. DON’T GIVE BABIES LAUNCH CODES!
—Corinthians 54-3:2:1
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By the Numbers:
4 days!!!
Days 'til spring: 56
Days 'til Triangle Restaurant Week in Raleigh North Carolina: 4
Number of states currently suing the administration for shitting on birthright citizenship: 22
Number of homicides in Maine in 2024, down from 53 in 2023: 35
Percent chance that the Bathynomus vaderi sea bug recently discovered in the South China Sea was named after Darth Vader: 100%
Age of keyboardist Garth Hudson, the last surviving member of The Band, when he died this week: 87
Year The Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: 1994
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Many citizens of progressive political persuasion are finding that, soulwise, these are trying times.
To be a liberal in the Reagan era—not to mention being a lefty, pinko, comsymp—strikes most of us as damned hard cheese. Duty requires the earnest liberal to spend most of his time on the qui vive for jackbooted fascism, in a state of profound depression over the advance of the military-industrial complex, and down in the dumps over the incurable nincompoopery of a people addicted to The Newlywed Game.
Beloveds, fear not, neither let yourselves despair. Rejoice. I bring you good news. As a lifelong Texas liberal, I have spent the whole of my existence in a political climate well to the right of that being created by Ronald Reagan and his merry zealots. Brethren and sistren, this can not only be endured, it can be laughed at. ... All you need in order to laugh about Reagan is a strong stomach. A tungsten tummy.
—March 1986
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Maine's competitor in Puppy Bowl XXI is Tula…
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CHEERS and JEERS to moolah matters. As the week rolls on towards its inevitable conclusion (tomorrow's the Rapture, so get packing), let’s check in with some recent economic headlines we plucked off the money tree to find out if we should start moving our cash from the secret hole in our back yard to the secret hole in our basement. Caution: possible whiplash ahead:
» Rosy December for small business sales…
» …but restaurants are left out
» Trump's embrace of meme coin faces crypto world backlash
» Netflix raising prices as subscribers surge
» YouTube TV again hiking its price
» Jamie Dimon on tariffs: “get over it”
Nearly a decade after Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said it was a sure thing, you can now forget about the Tubman 20 appearing anytime soon. Thanks a lot, voters.
» Dollar hits two-week low
» Trump announces up to $500 billion in private sector AI infrastructure investment
» Elon Musk bashes $500 billion 'Stargate' deal between OpenAI and SoftBank backed by Trump
» Egg prices may rise 20% by the end of the year
» Beef prices expected to rise again
» Oil prices drop
» Maine’s only Cracker Barrel closes in South Portland
» Moana 2 tops $1 billion, extending Disney’s box office domination
And this just in: Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn says crypto has reached the “fartcoin” stage of the market cycle. Well, It’s about damn time. Put me down for a thousand crypto SBDs.
CHEERS to fightin' words. Unfinished business from the inaugural prayer service: it appears that a—[checks notes]—Right Reverend Marann Edgar Budde decided to bark out a message of such twisted, evil, and (let's just call it what it is) Satanic intent, that the entire congregation gasped out loud and soon took to writhing on the cold stone floor as their ears began—along with all the portraits of the Virgin Mary—to bleed incessantly as the children wailed and a herd of demon sheep trashed the rectory. I publish a portion of the bishop's words here now, but I warn you they are blasssssssssssphemy!!!
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” said Budde, who was looking directly at the president. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families. Some who fear for their lives.”
“Lock her up! Lock her up!”
"They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues."
Thankfully Franklin Graham followed after and gave the sermon that set things right: "God loves guns, Big Macs, and cruelty!!!" The dictatorship endures.
CHEERS to timely retro-advice. Twenty-nine years ago today—oh, this is so cute—Bill Clinton delivered a State of the union speech in which he told Republicans that they had to pinky-swear…
"...never, ever shut the federal government down again.
What a mixed bag this guy was in office.
On behalf of all Americans, especially those who need their Social Security payments at the beginning of March, I also challenge the Congress to preserve the full faith and credit of the United States—to honor the obligations of this great nation as we have for 220 years; to rise above partisanship and pass a straightforward extension of the debt limit and show people America keeps its word."
Read that out loud to a Republican on the hill. They'll stand there all day waiting for the rimshot.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to meeting the press. Sixty-four years ago this week, in 1961, President Kennedy gave the first press conference that was broadcast live on both TV and radio. Not having done it before, the early moments were a bit awkward:
"I want to assure you that I will, with great vigah, endeavuh to ahnsuh your questions thoroughly and completely…
Just not in the bahthroom while I am taking my, uh, showuh."
Things went better when they moved it to the press room.
CHEERS to the pre-the-envelopes-please envelopes, please. The Academy Award nominations will be announced this morning. I have no idea who the leading contenders are—none whatsoever—so we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, we've just received this breaking news from the C&J anchor desk:
Not long ago, around September 5, the Nickel Boys called Emilia Perez and Anora to see if it would be A Real Pain to form a Conclave and, by chanting "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice," decide if The Substance they'd formulated with help from The Wild Robot was too Wicked even for A Complete Unknown like Babygirl. Ultimately, having grown sequel-fatigued after watching Inside Out 2, Gladiator 2, Dune 2, Smile 2, Joker 2, and Moana 2, they decided instead take The Brutalist down to the music store to watch The Last Showgirl take The Piano Lesson.
Film at 11.
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Ten years ago in C&J: January 23, 2015
CHEERS to fresh 'puter gerbils! Microsoft Windows 10 was unveiled yesterday. On the plus side: it has an expanded start menu, new snazzy browser, integrated Xbox capabilities, and if you have Windows 7 or 8, you can download it FREE starting after the Super Bowl. On the downside: it's Microsoft Windows.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to our beloved feud food. Today is the high holy day here at Daily Kos. Yes…it's National Pie Day. (Not to be confused with Pi day on March 14th.) Let us enter the arena now and get it on:
“David Axelrod is the most annoying Democratic pundit!” [Splot!] “James Carville is the most annoying Democratic pundit!” [Splot!]
"Love the Daily Kos Load More Comments feature!" [Splot!] "Hate the Daily Kos Load More Comments feature!" [Splot!]
"Ideological purity!" [Splot!] "Practical centrism!" [Splot!]
"We must reach out to white working Americans!" [Splot!] "White working Americans must reach out to us!" [Splot!]
"Your polls are weighted wrong!” [Splot!] “The only error in your polls is...your polls!” [Splot!]
"Ginger!" [Splot!] "Mary Ann!" [Splot!]
"Threads!" [Splot!] "BlueSky!" [Splot!]
“The Republican party is nuts!” [Brief cease fire as everyone nods in agreement]
"Woozles!" [Splot!] "Pooties!" [Splot!]
"Three point one four one five!" [Splot!] "That's pi, not pie, you idiot!" [Splot!]
[Ding dong!] "Hello! I'm Mike Lindell and I’m here to introduce you to my new line of fine MyPillow products!" [Splot! Splot! Splot! Splot! Splot! Splot! Splot! Splot! Splot! Splot! Splot!]
Well done. Until next year, my brothers and sisters: pies be with you. (And also with you.)
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
According to Daily Kos, the Bill in Portland Maine Kiddie Pool Experience is 30 minutes long and includes:
- A guided behind-the-scenes tour of the blogger habitat's indoor pool.
- Wading into the water near Bill, with a safe barrier in between.
- Potential opportunities to feed Bill.
- Learning more about blogger behavior and containment from a DK team member.
—USA Today
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