From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Netroots Nation: 15 Weeks and Counting
In 105 days (somebody check my math), proud liberal patriots will gather to---yet again---pull America's ass out of the fire by debating, planning and strategizing ways to make this more perfect union of ours more perfecter while also supporting the brewed and distilled beverage industry. Here are some quick odds 'n ends on Netroots Nation 2016 in St. Louis (July 14-17) as we approach our rendezvous with destiny and tasty box lunches:
• The panel discussions and workshops are still being finalized. This year the entries were posted online and opened up for public viewing and voting. As soon as the 90 approved panels and 45 training sessions are announced, we'll grab our Billyhorn and shout them out one at a time from a tall building unless we decide to post them here instead.
• Last year the convention made national news when members of the Black Lives Matter movement made their voices heard loud and clear during the forum with Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley. Convention organizers took the criticism they received to heart, and communications director Mary Rickles' post from December is a must-read for understanding the lessons the staff learned and what you can expect in St. Louis. A snip:
We spent weeks after the conference just listening---getting feedback from attendees, community members and movement leaders about how we can better ensure that Netroots Nation is as inclusive and safe a space as possible and that oppressed communities are welcomed and heard.
The progressive movement writ large is wrestling with how to make sure we are standing up when it comes to truly fighting alongside oppressed communities and leaders who are standing up and aggressively questioning the status quo (eg. structural racism, police brutality, the prison pipeline). And we’re asking the same questions internally as well. … We’re discussing programming ideas, direct action opportunities and outreach strategies with activists in the St. Louis area and will continue to do so in the coming months.
• This year marks the tenth anniversary of Adam B's world-famous Pub Quiz. The theme for 2016: Feel the Burma.
• According to sources, for the first time in Netroots Nation's history there will be a special landing pad on the roof of the convention hall if you're arriving via rocket shoes. Please call ahead for wind speed and weather conditions so you can stick the landing.
• Registration and official Hotel info are here and here.
• Follow Netroots Nation via Facebook here and Twitter here.
Meanwhile, Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, March 31, 2016
Note: This concludes the Let's All Pile On Crazy Susan Sarandon phase of the 2016 primary season. Let's spin the wheel and see what our new phase is: [Zzzzzinggggg clacka clacka clacka….clack…] Excellent---tomorrow we begin the Let's All Stick A Tennis Ball In Our Mouths For One News Cycle phase. Mmmpftastic!
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Free Ice Cream Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's: 12
Days 'til the Heavy Seas Island Jam in Baltimore: 11
Revised Q4 2015 GDP, up from the 1% original estimate: 1.4%
Number of signatures gathered for the petition to allow guns at the Republican National Convention (which the tyrannical anti-Second-Amendment Secret Service nixed): 50,000
Number of people who live in new fracking-industry-created earthquake zones around the U.S.: 7 million
Rank of Italy and Spain among countries that import the most Maine lobster, according to The Portland Press Herald: #1, #2
Percent chance that a growing number of coffee shops are listing the elevation at which their coffee beans are grown, according to AP: 100%
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
The American press has always had a tendency to assume that the truth must lie exactly halfway between any two opposing points of view.
Thus, if the press presents the man who says Hitler is an ogre and the man who says Hitler is a prince, it believes it has done the full measure of its journalistic duty. ... The odd thing about these television discussions designed to "get all sides of the issue" is that they do not feature a spectrum of people with different views on reality: Rather, they frequently give us a face-off between those who see reality and those who have missed it entirely.
In the name of objectivity, we are getting fantasyland
---From Who Let the Dogs In?
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Puppy Pic of the Day:
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CHEERS to fresh cracks. The brick wall holding back hearings and a confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland is starting to look a little less brickwallish, now that nearly a third of Republican senators are calling for, at minimum, a little face time:
Two weeks into the nomination fight, 16 Republican senators now say they will meet with Garland---over 25 percent of the GOP caucus---according to a running count by NBC News. […]
The list also includes Republicans in Red States, such as Oklahoma, Alaska and Kansas.
According to Garland's boosters and some GOP strategists, Republicans are abandoning opposition to meetings because it could make them appear obstructionists---or even rude. "Mitch McConnell's knee-jerk response after Justice Scalia's death is a public relations debacle for the Republican Party," said former McCain strategist Steve Schmidt.
Which makes me want to pop the question: what isn't a public relations debacle for the Republican party?
CHEERS to champions of the little guy. Happy 89th birthday to the late Cesar Chavez. He founded the National Farm Workers Association, which gave a voice to migrant farm workers. He also had a spiffy motto that might sound familiar: "Si se pueda!" (Yes we can!) Pay your respects here. Today in his honor we're boycotting lettuce and grapes.
CHEERS to taking the high road. I love Hillary Clinton’s new ad because, like Bernie’s “America” ad, it’s positive, inclusive, takes a nice swipe at the Republican frontrunner and appeals to our proverbial better angels. It’s New York-centric, but this could be adapted to any state and still feel as good. Take a look:
Today Donald Trump is expected to release his new ad. It's just 30 seconds of boxcars headed for Mexico. It'll give his orcs the shivers.
JEERS to our men and women thieves in blue. America's police officers are supposed to protect and serve. But thanks to the Justice Department, they've been given the green light---again---to also steal. Yes, the benign-sounding "Equitable Sharing Program" is running on all cylinders again, allowing cops to rifle through your stuff and just take it:
Asset forfeiture is a contentious practice that lets police seize and keep cash and property from people who are never convicted of wrongdoing---and in many cases, never charged. […]
Asset forfeiture is fast growing---in 2014, for instance, federal authorities seized more than $5 billion in assets. That's more than the value of assets lost in every single burglary that year.
"There was hardly time to celebrate the suspension of the Equitable Sharing Program before the government felt the need to put its hand back in the cookie jar at the expense of our civil rights," said Jordan Richardson, senior policy analyst at the criminal justice reform group Generation Opportunity, in a statement. "It's unjust for the government to seize assets from people who are not charged with a crime.
The Justice Department says they're putting brand-new safeguards in place to protect people from abuses of the Equitable Sharing Program. Number one: police are no longer allowed to take candy from a baby. Number two: sorry, but number two has been seized by police under the Equitable Sharing Program.
CHEERS to good omens. Fresh jobs numbers come out tomorrow from the government, and if yesterday's private-sector report is any indication, it'll be another happy-smiley report:
U.S. companies added a solid 200,000 jobs in March, buoyed by strong gains in construction, retail and shipping, according to a private survey. Payroll processor ADP says financial services firms also posted solid gains, while manufacturing employment barely rose. The figures suggest the U.S. economy is continuing to generate steady hiring, despite worries that growth slowed in the first three months of this year, held back by weak overseas growth and cautious consumers.
Okay, place your bets. I'm going to say 201,000 jobs. Then I'm going to say, "Thanks, Obama!" (Never gets old.)
CHEERS to fun in the sun. On March 31, 1917, the U.S. took possession of what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands (not to be confused with the inferior British Virgin Islands) from Denmark for $25 million. Residents there---who are considered U.S. citizens---are allowed to vote in the presidential primary but not the general election. Which is like your parents giving you a scoop of freezer-burned vanilla ice cream on your birthday while your sibings get a big bowl of Chunky Monkey with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, nuts, Oreos and gummi bears delivered by strippers. Damn. I thought I'd blotted that soul-crushing memory out. Back to the therapist we go!
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 31, 2006
JEERS to not getting it. President Bush and Mexican president Vicente Fox will meet this week to discuss how to best herd the poorest of the poor so that they cause the least damage to their administrations. And they'll have their little do-gooder chat...in the Caribbean resort of Cancun. To get the proper feel for what it's like at the U.S./Mexican border, the leaders will take turns crossing under the beach-volleyball net.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to Takesie-backsies. The pledge. The pledge. The pledge the pledge the pledge the pledge the pledge pledge ALL THINGS DEPEND ON THE PLEDGE! Without the pledge they FAIL! Without the pledge they have NOTHING! Without the pledge...oh, never mind:
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich all stepped back from their earlier pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee during Tuesday night's CNN town hall.
"All of us shouldn't even have answered that question," Kasich said of the pledge party officials asked all the candidates to sign in September. "No, I don't anymore," Trump said, when asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper if he continued "to pledge to support whoever the Republican nominee is?"
Earlier, Cruz had told Cooper when asked the same question: "I'm not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and my family."
I'm not sure what happens now. I think Reince Priebus spontaneously combusts and then the real battle begins: for his corner office.
Oh, and today is the Eiffel Tower’s 127th birthday. In its honor, climb up on your roof, light a cigarette, bite a chunk out of a baguette, and look down on your neighbors with detached bemusement as you recite the musings of Sartre. (And don’t forget the beret!) Have a nice Thursday. See ya next month! Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Anderson Cooper tells Bill in Portland Maine he argues "like a 5-year-old."
---The Week
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