Potent Quotables
This week's top ten…
“Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.”
—Robert Orben
"To ICE: get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety and you're doing exactly the opposite.”
—Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey
“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
—Rosa Parks
"We will transform the culture of City Hall from one of ‘no’ to one of ‘how?’ We will answer to all New Yorkers, not to any billionaire or oligarch who thinks they can buy our democracy. We will govern without shame and insecurity, making no apology for what we believe. I was elected as a Democratic socialist and I will govern as a Democratic socialist. I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical. As the great Senator from Vermont once said: “What’s radical is a system which gives so much to so few and denies so many people the basic necessities of life.”
—NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's inauguration speech
”The best way to get the sons of bitches is to laugh at them.”
—Molly Ivins
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without any thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
—Frederick Douglass
"Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice."
—President Donald J. Trump
“Last night, we made history. Our people-powered campaign showed what’s possible when we focus on the issues that matter to working families. Neighbors from across the political spectrum came together to demand a government that works for all Texans. And I’m ready to get to work.”
—Congressman Taylor Rehmet (D-TX), who last week flipped a deep-red Texas district blue
”Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills."
—Voltaire
”It’s a dog-eat-dog world and I’m wearing Milk Bone shorts.”
—Norm, Cheers
And now, our feature presentation...
Cheers and Jeers for Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Note: Georgia MAGA congresswoman who warned that Jewish space lasers caused California wildfires, threatened to shoot a former Speaker of the House, and claimed Democrats should be rounded up by the “Gaspacho Police” now says the MAGA movement may be a bit too weird for her. Film at 11.
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By the Numbers:
10 days!!!
Days 'til we turn our clocks ahead an hour: 32
Days 'til the Mumbo Jumbo Gumbo Cook-off in Manitou Springs, Colorado: 10
Portion of the country that doesn't support what ICE is doing: 2/3
Number of Black History Month events that had been scheduled at the Trump-run Kennedy Center before Trump decided to shut it down for two years: 0
Minimum number of errors The Texas Education Agency had to correct in a Bible-infused elementary school curriculum by Bluebonnet Learning approved by the state two years ago: 4,200
Number of those errors that involve stealing copyrighted images: 547
Number of Coast Guard ice breakers working in the Hudson River now to clear paths for vessels during the frigid cold snap: 3
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Mid-week Rapture Index: 176 (including 3 Satanisms and 1 sneak peek at the entrance to Hell). Soul Protection Factor 12 lotion is recommended if you’ll be walking amongst the heathen today.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Representing Las Vegas in Puppy Bowl XXII…
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CHEERS and JEERS to Wednesday morning in America. Here's what's going on as we celebrate the national holiday known as It's Not Actually A National Holiday Now Get Back To Work Day: the GOP-led House and Senate are trying to wrangle a budget extension lasting more than 15 minutes, Elon Musk is getting out of the electric car business because his fellow pedophile protector Donald Trump thinks EVs cause voltage cancer, the Tariff Wars are up and running, racism is flourishing, inflation isn't dropping, Russia and the west are still fighting a proxy war via Ukraine, whites are still projected to become the minority in the U.S. by 2045, there are six people in space, we're still killing the planet, an apple a day helps control apple overpopulation, Democrat Taylor Rehmet just destroyed a MAGA stooge in a ruby-red Texas congressional district, and I just switched your Folgers Crystals with regular coffee. You are now up to date. One lump or two?
CHEERS to saying no. I can't believe that communities across the United States, which defeated the Nazis during World War II, wouldn't welcome concentration camps inside their city limits. You are NOT TEAM PLAYERS and this WILL BE NOTED in Stephen Miller’s Naughty-or-Nice list:
A proposed ICE facility just north of Richmond, Virginia, drew hundreds of people last week to a tense public hearing of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors. "You want what's happening in Minnesota to go down in our own backyard? Build that detention center here, and that's exactly what will happen," resident Kimberly Matthews told county officials.
Asa prospective ICE detention site became public, elected officials in Kansas City, Missouri, scrambled to pass an ordinance aimed at blocking it. And mayors in Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City—after raising concerns about building permits—announced last week that property owners won't be selling or leasing their facilities for immigration detention. Meanwhile, legislatures in several Democratic-led states pressed forward with bills aimed at blocking or discouraging ICE facilities. […]
Nationally, it remains to be seen whether local governments can effectively deter ICE facilities through building permits and regulations. "We're currently in a moment where it is being tested," [law professor Danielle] Jefferis said. "So there is no clear answer as to how the courts are going to come down."
Easiest way to prevent ICE and CBP from leasing a building to house immigrants? Tell 'em it passed a safety inspection. Even faster? Add “with flying colors.”
CHEERS to #1. On February 4, 1789, George Washington—who was always “the tallest man in the room”—clinched the presidency with 69 electoral votes. Upon hearing the news, he said his feelings were "not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution." His first official act: providing all Americans equal access to quality mattresses at low, low discount prices, a fine February tradition that lives on to this day.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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From trailblazers like Jackie Robinson and Octavia Butler, to the proud historic community of Altadena, California's 28th District has a rich Black history paved by incredible leaders, past and present, who have broken barriers and changed our nation for the better.
Happy Black History Month.
— Rep. Judy Chu (@chu.house.gov) 2026-02-02T19:48:23.103Z
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to the gift that just kept on giving. Happy birthday to former Vice President Dan Quayle, who turns 79 today, and of whom Molly Ivins once said, "If you put that man's brain in a bumblebee, it would fly backwards." He certainly wasn't an evil vice president like Dick Cheney or Mike Pence, the latter of whom called him for advice on how to overthrow the government. (To his credit, Quayle said no way, no how.) But I still want to see him tried in the International Criminal Court for torturing the English language:
“If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure.”
Yes, the lamestream media was alive and well decades ago.
“One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice-president, and that one word is 'to be prepared.'”
“What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”
"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."
"[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system."
"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."
You’re still no Jack Kennedy, Dan. But you're also not your un-self-aware son who said in this campaign ad that Barack Obama was “the worst president in history” and then got booted after one sorry-ass term in Congress. So for today only—in honor of the occasion and for all the laughter ya brung us—we'll let potato have an e.
JEERS to drawing the short straw. Thoughts and prayers today to the latest victims of America's descent into fascism. After trotting out every excuse they could think of, and failing to persuade the new Federal Supreme Fatherland Council of Peace and Destruction, these two are the suckers and losers with the most embarrassing job at the 2026 Winter Olympics:
[Speedskater] Erin Jackson, who won a gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Games and bobsledder Frank Del Duca, a pilot in bobsledding who competed in Beijing, were announced as the flag bearers by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
They say they'll prepare for their dangerous trek around the track hoisting the Stupid Stars and Shitty Stripes by investing in the latest shielding technology to ward off flying rotten eggs and plates of pasta, and heavy-duty earplugs to cancel taunts of "Go back where you came from, dirty filthy criminal foreigners!" There will be no such protections for the flag itself. Nor should there be.
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Twenty years ago in C&J: February 4, 2006
CHEERS to exposing the Downing Street Memo. Really, King George the Bush? You were going to paint U.S. spy planes with U.N. colors and fly them over Iraq to provoke a war with Saddam?? Oh, that would have been silly. Bullshitting the nation and the world about non-existent WMDs was definitely the way to go.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to saving our celluloid. Twenty-five movies from yesteryear have been inducted into the 37th class of the National Film Registry. (Postponed a month because of the last government shutdown) Many of them—Glory, The Karate Kid, The Big Chill—are mainstream hits. Others are less known but significant in their own right, such as…
“The Tramp and the Dog” (1896)
A silent film from Chicago's Selig Polyscope Company, is considered director William Selig's most popular early work. Filmed in Rogers Park, it is recognized as the first commercial film made in Chicago. The film depicts a tramp who attempts to steal a pie from a backyard windowsill, only to be met by a broom-wielding housewife and her dog, who foils the crime. The film is one of the first known as “pants humor,” where a character loses (or almost loses) his pants during an altercation.
Another fine class.
“Brooklyn Bridge” (1981)
With “Brooklyn Bridge,” Ken Burns introduced himself to the American public, telling the story of the New York landmark’s construction. As with later subjects like the Civil War, jazz and baseball, Burns connects the building of the Brooklyn Bridge to American identity, values and aspirations. Released theatrically and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, “Brooklyn Bridge” marked the beginning of Burns’ influential career in public media.
“The Maid of McMillan” (1916)
Known to be the first student film on record, this whimsical, silent romance film was shot on campus in 1916 by students in the Thyrsus Dramatic Club at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Club members Donald Stewart (Class of 1917) and George D. Bartlett (Class of 1920) wrote the screenplay.
“The Loving Story” (2011)
Nancy Buirski’s acclaimed documentary gives an in-depth and deeply personal look at the true story of Richard Loving (a white man) and Mildred Loving (a Black and Native American woman), who were forbidden by law to marry in the state of Virginia in the 1960s. Their Supreme Court case, Loving vs. Virginia, was one of the most significant in history, and paved the way for future multiracial couples to marry. The movie captures the immense challenges the Lovings faced to keep their family and marriage together, through a combination of 16mm footage, personal photographs, accounts from their lawyers and family members, and audio from the Supreme Court oral arguments.
As ever, I remain hopeful that the all-time greatest movie ever—Cats and Dogs—will one day find itself nestled among the NFR's pantheon of greatness for its message of universal truth in a world gone mad: "Dogs drool, cats rule."
Have a happy humpday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
“It’s never been my intention to make the Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool the 51st state. I want to make Canada the 51st state. Cheers and Jeers will be the 52nd state. Venezuela can be 53rd.”
—President Trump
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