From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Netroots Nation Fall Auction Phase I: The Gathering
Next Tuesday, Netroots Nation Development Director Karen Kolber will open a briefcase handcuffed to her wrist in an undisclosed location, push the blinking red button, and launch the Netroots Nation Fall Online Auction. Between now and then, they're gathering items from the netroots community---hey, that's us---for the annual fundraiser to help offset the costs of the now-legendary convention (in Atlanta next August) that got its humble beginnings here at Daily Kos.
To donate an auction item: make a note (a notepad works great for this purpose, but not the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 as it tends to cause sudden volcanic eruptions) to rifle through your stuff and find things that'll make people go "Oooh." and/or "Ahhh." (Do not go through other people's stuff unless you're absolutely sure you probably won’t get caught.) Think political memorabilia, books, clothing, pink flamingos, jewelry, trips, services (must be legal in at least a handful of states), games, pet goodies, electronics, chocolate and other foodies, small islands, gold bullion, etc. Cheers and Jeers will be tossing some cool shiny objects onto the auction block.
Then click on this link to easily upload details about your donation. You'll be asked to provide information and, if you have them, pics. Netroots Nation will send a confirmation once they've reviewed your items.
If you'd prefer to have Netroots Nation do it for you, or if you have any questions, just e-mail Karen Kolber at: Karen [at] netrootsnation.org. Then, when the auction starts, let your friends know via Twitter, Facebook, text, email, odd grunting sounds that only they can understand, and/or banners pulled by migrating geese and/or blimps.
Thanks for lending a hand. Which reminds me: please, no body parts.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Note: Don’t forget that you can follow me on twitter at @BillinPortland. And, more important, don't forget that you can un-follow me on twitter at @BillinPortland.
-
By the Numbers:
Days 'til Halloween: 47
Days 'til the Dallas, Texas Pride Parade: 4
Percent chance that we're "about to see a bunch of kids born with microcephaly" because of the zika virus, according to CDC director Tom Frieden: 100%
Amount Republicans in Congress have agreed to release for zika-related funding to the CDC: $0
Average price of gas at the moment: $2.17
Year by which Ford says it'll start selling "driverless" cars to the public: 2025
Percent of Americans who say Donald Trump is biased against women and minorities, according to the latest ABC News/WaPost poll: 60%
-
Mid-week Rapture Index:
187 (including 5 gogs and 1 secret flood-producing government weather weapon). Soul Protection Factor 8 lotion is recommended if you’ll be walking amongst the heathen today.
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: Police dog gets his morning puppuccino…
-
CHEERS to bringing a bazooka to a knife fight. Hillary Clinton is absolutely right: the modern-day Republican party is deplorable. It's a mess from top to bottom: a bunch of fearful conspiracy nuts living in their own reality and led by a bunch of power-mad liars going to increasingly-desperate lengths (voter suppression, wholesale obstruction, massive propaganda campaigns) to stay relevant…and having to appeal to increasingly-deplorable segments of the right just to keep their numbers up. Look no further than Donald Trump, the craziest of the "deep bench" of GOP candidates and the winner of the nomination in a walk. Kudos to Team Clinton for helpfully pointing out that Hillary's "basket of deplorables" comment is spot-on. To coin a phrase, Republicans built this:
It is no stretch, nor should it be controversial to say: the Republican party is rotten. From the bloated orange head on down.
CHEERS to more money in the pockets of the people who need it most. The Census Bureau released its annual poverty report yesterday, and things are moving in the right direction. Credit for this goes entirely to Democrats, who had to work twice as hard to overcome the Republican economic suicide bombers and their scorched earth, blow-everything-up-to-make-Obama-look-bad strategy that---thank god---failed:
Median household income in the United States in 2015 was $56,516, an increase in real terms of 5.2 percent from the 2014 median income of $53,718. This is the first annual increase in median household income since 2007, the year before the most recent recession.
The nation’s official poverty rate in 2015 was 13.5 percent, with 43.1 million people in poverty, 3.5 million fewer than in 2014. The 1.2 percentage point decrease in the poverty rate from 2014 to 2015 represents the largest annual percentage point drop in poverty since 1999.
The percentage of people without health insurance coverage for the entire 2015 calendar year was 9.1 percent, down from 10.4 percent in 2014.
These findings are contained in two reports: Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015 and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2015.
Despite the improvement, Democrats still want to take more steps to reduce poverty in America, like increasing the minimum wage, preserving the food stamp program, extending unemployment insurance, and creating robust public works programs to improve the jobs picture. Republicans say they've got their own foolproof plan for shrinking the numbers to zero: eliminate the Census Bureau's annual poverty report.
CHEERS to shining a bright light into a dark corner. Hot off the press: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is taking a look under the hood of the Trump Foundation, which appears to be a pretty scummy operation, thanks to the intrepid reporting of David Fahrenthold:
“My interest in this issue really is in my capacity as regulator of non-profits in New York state.
And we have been concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety from that point of view,” Schneiderman told host Jake Tapper. “And we’ve inquired into it and we’ve had correspondence with them. I didn’t make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference. We have been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York.” […]
A Washington Post story published over the weekend cited tax records showing that Trump had not donated to his own foundation since 2008, and had among other allegations had "spent $20,000 of money earmarked for charitable purposes to buy a six-foot-tall painting of himself.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee want U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to take a peek at Trump's multiple bribes to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in exchange for dropping an investigation into the Trump University scandal down there. That's all we know at the moment. Generally speaking.
JEERS to getting Second Amendmented. On this date in 1901, our 25th president, William McKinley, died from an assassins bullet at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Last year, Ohioans and conservatives in general went nuts when current President Obama granted native Alaskans their wish to revert Mount McKinley back to its original name, Denali. A popular question asked by proponents of the move was, "What did McKinley do that was so great he warranted his own iconic mountain?" I had to think for a bit, but I managed to come up with a doozy: he picked a helluva vice president.
CHEERS to the smell of gubernatorial toast in the morning. Thanks to the brilliant leadership of their Republican-led legislature and a governor who always looks like he's trying to eke out another letter or two on an eye chart, North Carolina has taken yet another economic and PR hit in the wake of passage of its "HB-2" law codifying the second-class status of its LGBT residents. If this doesn't sink Pat McCrory, nothing will:
The response from North Carolina's red-faced Republicans: "I genuinely look forward to the NCAA merging all men's and women's teams together as singular, unified, unisex teams. Under the NCAA's logic, colleges should make cheerleaders and football players share bathrooms, showers and hotel rooms." Wow---for a bunch of homophobes, they sure do make convincing drama queens.
JEERS to bad medicine. In what must be generating a wave of facepalms across the membership of the American Medical Association, today Donald Trump will sit down with a doctor who sold his soul to daytime TV to discuss his medical condition. The show will actually air tomorrow, but you can expect spoiler alerts aplenty from audience members when it’s over:
Trump said he would soon release records proving his supposed perfect health and that he would discuss the results, including "very, very specific numbers" from a recent physical exam, on Oz's program. […]
Doctors and medical experts, however, have questioned whether the daytime show is an appropriate venue for Trump to discuss his medical history. […] One critic, American Council on Science and Health President Hank Campbell, said Trump's scheduled appearance on the show amounted to a "fantastic public relations stunt by both Trump and Dr. Oz." Oz is "unqualified to ask any critical questions" of Trump, said Campbell, who did not sign the letter but said he agreed with its content.
Another prominent academic physician who has followed Oz's work carefully, who did not want to be identified, told the Daily News Tuesday that "having Oz review and comment on Trump's health records is like having Bernie Madoff review Trump's financial records."
Then again, it makes perfect sense that a guy with no brain, no heart, and no courage would seek an audience with a charlatan named Oz.
-
Ten years ago in C&J: September 14, 2006
CHEERS to the pork-busters. USA Today wrote a lengthy article on bloggers who are helping expose the often-frivolous earmarks Congresscritters vote on. The verdict on this "trend":
More light is being thrown on Congress, not just by the media and public interest groups, but in the "blogosphere" where Internet users meet "It's probably biggest expansion of government oversight that we'll ever have,"says Thomas Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste, one of the groups pioneering the effort. "It will turn every American into a watchdog."
Nice of you to notice.
-
And just one more…
CHEERS to the most important story of the day. After taking a year off, South Park returns tonight for its 20th season. A quick NSFW recap of the previous nineteen:
At 10pm I'll channel my inner Cartman and say: Screw you, cable news channels, ahm goin' to Comedy Central.
Oh, and Rachel Maddow is on Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight. Yay. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-
Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Cheers and Jeers remains the top national kiddie pool according to the annual U.S. News & World Report 2017 Rankings.
---USA Today
-