A Few Words On Freedom Bombing Weekend
"Trump's best foreign policy? Not starting any wars. He has my support because I know he won’t recklessly send Americans to fight overseas."
—J.D. Vance, 2024
"Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He’s weak and he’s ineffective."
—Donald Trump, 2011
“You know what Donald Trump is saying? When he is president, we will bring about peace and avoid war.”
—Marco Rubio
“Little Marco to the podium, please. The chairman of the Board of Peace got his hand stuck in the flower vase again.”
“Kamala = WWIII Trump = Peace”
—Stephen Miller
”The U.S. should not engage in regime change in Iran.”
—Kristi Noem, 2025
"No war with Iran."
—Tulsi Gabbard, 2020
“Should the U.S. get involved in Israel's war with Iran?”
No—90%
—Charlie Kirk poll, 2025
"Glenn Greenwald praises Trump for opposing DC 'orthodoxy' of pursuing endless wars that benefit few. “
—Fox News chyron, 2024
"Iran's nuclear facilities have been obliterated—and suggestions otherwise are fake news."
—The White House, just 8 months ago
"Vote the pro-peace ticket. Vote Trump-Vance."
—Republican National Committee, 2024
Phew. Good thing we elected Trump again, or we’d really be in a mess.
And now, our feature presentation...
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, March 2, 2026
Note: If you're new to this site, welcome! Please use the proper pronunciation of Daily Kos: "DAH-IH-lee Kawz." Otherwise you might sound silly.
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By the Numbers:
4 days!!!
Days 'til spring: 19
Days 'til the New England Craft Brew Summit in Portland, Maine: 4
Current Polymarket odds of Democrats winning back the House in November: 86%
Minimum number of student loan borrowers who remain enrolled in the SAVE plan that lowers their tuition payments, after a judge blocked Trump's attempt to kill it: 7 million
Cases of measles reported during Biden's last two years: 346
Cases of measles reported 1 year and 1 month into Trump's second term: 3,390
Miles from Portland, Maine to Tehran: 5,844
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Puppy Pic of the Day: On Long Island during the blizzard…Saved!!!
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CHEERS to March! Highlights of the month that will soon erupt into madness: coming in like a lion and hopefully going out like a Lamb, although our new adventures in Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran threaten to put the kibosh on that. Putin's rusty prisoner-powered meat grinder continues churning out destruction as Ukrainians continue deciding they prefer their country without him, thank you very much. And stateside, the MAGA cult continues blaming inflation, crime, disease, and the deficit on immigrants and Black people with their insatiable perpetuation of our nation's original sin: racism against white people. Tariffs, while much lower and shakier than before the Supreme Court beat Trump with the “No!” stick, will continue to be imposed on American taxpayers until America is great again.
Soon!
Plus: Daylight Saving Time (the 8th), Peanut Month (Caution: these 31 days may contain peanuts and/or peanut products), Women's History Month (has the White House canceled it yet?), Caffeine Awareness Month (I'm aware! I'm aware!!!), St. Patrick's Day, Girl Scout Day, Worship of Tools Day (tool tools, not human tools like Trump’s cabinet), Something-on-a-Stick Day, International Women's Day (the 8th, or will Trump be canceling that, too?), Maine’s 206th birthday, a full "cold moon” and total lunar eclipse tomorrow, SPRING!!!, and the infamous Ides that coincides with the Oscars ceremony (shortened to a week and a half this year).
World nations and stateside journalists continue digging through the Epstein files, and more rich and famous male humanoids with terrible judgment continue resigning and/or getting arrested.
You can peruse the slate of new movies that'll pop up in theaters and the 23,398 available streaming services here. Meanwhile, the idiots in charge of the government will continue making us believe we’re living in a very bad movie. (Dumb & Dumber & Dumbest, Part II: The Ultimate Dumbing.)
And you’ll want to take note of this and leave a reminder on your fridge to shine up your marchin’ shoes:
Plus: as of today we've made it through one-sixth of 2026. Slap another gold star on your tuchus and give yourself a high-five.
JEERS to Democrats denied. On March 2, 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was handed the 1876 win over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though the latter won the popular vote by 250,000 votes. Here's how it went down (via Anything for A Vote by Joseph Cummins):
The struggle over the twenty remaining electoral votes lasted from November 8, 1876 to March 2, 1877. Republican-controlled "returning boards" (groups in each state who tallied electoral votes) simply threw out enough Democratic votes to swing Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina to Hayes. Democrats cried foul, officials of both parties flocked to the south, and President Grant sent federal troops, just in case.
It didn’t help that Hayes was accused of hiding over 3,000 Tilden ballots in his beard.
In the end, an Election Commission was established, consisting of five U.S. senators, five congressmen, and five Supreme Court Justices, all of whom split along party lines. With the commission tied at 7-7, the Supreme Court justice who had the deciding vote resigned—and a Republican justice took his place. Hayes was voted into office with 185 electoral votes to Tilden's 184.
And 2000 Ralph Nader was like, "Hey…don't look at me. I'm not even born yet."
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to bustin' outta this taco stand. On today's date in 1836, the Republic of Texas—bless their ten-gallon hearts—formally declared its independence from Mexico. Then on March 2, 1861, Texas joined the Confederacy after declaring independence from the Union. Today, Texas's current governor and his tea party orcs talks openly about re-declaring independence from the United States. Because you know what they say: If at first you do secede, try try again. Why they say that I have no idea.
JEERS to idiots at the helm. Speaking of idiots at the helm: Donald Trump. He promised to tame inflation on Day 1 of his second term, which was over 400 days ago. I'll let CNBC tell you how that's going, although I think you can correctly guess yourself:
Wholesale prices rose at a faster-than-expected pace in January, countering hopes that inflation was easing, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
QUIT HOGGING ALL THE TOILET PAPER, JERK!
The core producer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.8%, more than the 0.6% gain in December and well ahead of the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 0.3%. […] For the full year, core wholesale prices accelerated 3.6%, while the headline index posted a 2.9% gain.
Both figures are well ahead of the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation goal and suggest that rising prices are still a factor for the U.S. economy.
To put his economic performance in perspective: if Trump had attempted a career as a lion tamer, his head would've been pooped out of Mufasa's butt a long time ago.
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 2, 2016
CHEERS to Super Saturday. Big elections in Iran over the weekend, and the news is good! The not-nutso factions of the ruling elite made big gains, and that bodes well for the stickiness of the nuclear agreement as well as the slow but steady warm-up in our relations with the country. As always when it comes to Iran, I seek out University of Michigan professor Juan Cole's perspective. You can read his latest report here. But the best summary of what went down is here:
The significant improvement of the situation for pragmatists (many independents will vote with them) reflects President Obama’s successful diplomacy and the consequent popularity of President Rouhani, who got international sanctions lifted by accepting limitations on Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities.
In contrast, when Mohammad Khatami was elected president in 1997-2005, the Clinton and Bush White Houses more or less stiffed him. Since he had nothing to show for his pragmatic outreach, in 2005 the voters chose as his successor the quirky and far rightwing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The lesson? Diplomacy works.
The above explains why John McCain spent the weekend wandering around looking for cats to kick. [3/2/26 Update: Oh, never mind.]
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And just one more…
CHEERS to notes notes. I got so distracted by the afterglow of Groundhog Day that I didn’t even notice that the latest batch of nominees vying for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced last month. They are...
The Black Crowes
Jeff Buckley
Mariah Carey
Phil Collins
Melissa Etheridge
Lauryn Hill
Billy Idol
INXS
Iron Maiden
This fugly thing has ruined the neighborhood.
Joy Division/New Order
New Edition
Oasis
P!nk
Sade
Shakira
Luther Vandross
Wu-Tang Clan
The inductees will be announced this spring. The link for online voting is here. As usual, I'll be casting a daily write-in vote for Hampton the Hampster and his groundbreaking The Hampster Dance. Because, c’mon…won’t we all?
Have a tolerable Monday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
“This committee has now set a new precedent about talking to Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool splashers and former kiddie pool splashers. And we’re demanding immediately that we ask Bill in Portland Maine to testify in front of our committee and be deposed in front of Oversight Republicans and Democrats, and that should happen immediately.”
—Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA)
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