From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize An Ally Tuesday
With Trump's selection of dyed-in-the-white-sheet racist Jeff Sessions, who never met a "coloreds only" drinking fountain he didn’t wish was still functional, as attorney general, civil rights groups need all the help they can get to put up a strong resistance. Stop-and-frisk on a national scale, increased voter suppression and harsher prison sentences are just the Cliff's Notes version of what Sessions and his shadow KKKabinet (David Duke says hey, y'all) have in store. It's going to be ugly. That's why we're picking the NAACP as today's C&J Energize An Ally organization. Says president Cornell William Brooks:
Senator Sessions’ record suggests that he will carry on an old, ugly legacy in this country’s history when civil rights for African-Americans, women and minorities were not regarded as core American values. While Lady Justice may be said to be blind, we need an Attorney General with 20-20 vision in seeing racial injustice. Whether Senator Sessions, with decades of failing grades on the NAACP’s report card, possesses a racial vision and commitment to justice is in serious question.
We need to move forward, not backward. Our nation needs federal action to protect basic voting rights, to reform outrageous abuses and racial profiling by police departments in Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago and across the country, and to protect rights for LGBT Americans and other vulnerable populations in an era of rising hate and in the face of an administration threatening to wage war on basic civil liberties.
Through Congress, our membership and by every means available, the NAACP will continue to stand against the regressive and intolerant views that Senator Sessions espouses.
If you're able and willing, here’s the NAACP’s donation page and the membership page. As you consider that, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, Attorney General Sessions won’t, like John Ashcroft, be throwing a tarp over the Spirit of Justice statue to cover up the boobs. The bad news is, I won’t be surprised if he throws a tarp over the Martin Luther King, Jr, statue to cover up the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Note: If you need an angry drunk relative for Thanksgiving, take an angry drunk relative for Thanksgiving. If you have an angry drunk relative for Thanksgiving, leave an angry drunk relative for Thanksgiving.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Golden Globe and Oscar nominations: 63 / 20
Days 'til the Monument Square Tree Lighting in downtown Portland, Maine: 3
Number of working hours per week that have been shown to maximize memory and information processing in middle-age workers, according to the University of Melbourne: 25
Percent chance that Trump "should consider getting a presidential hairdo rather than the hair of a hotel lounge pianist in 1959" because "it's distracting to watch a man talk about national security, looking like he may suddenly burst into Volare,” according to Garrison Keillor: 100%
Number of times Martin Sheen has been arrested at political protests: 66
Temperature the inner thigh of a turkey (and stuffing, if used) must reach to be deemed safe to eat, according to federal guidelines: 165 degrees
Temperature the inner thigh of a turkey must reach to be deemed safe to eat, according to federal guidelines after Trump takes office and changes them in order to reduce cook time and "make Thanksgiving great again": 85 degrees
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Furry and balanced…..
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PFFFFT! to the dead-orange-cat-on-his-head bounce. The first post-election poll measuring Oberfuhrer Trump's approval is out, and he already needs scuba gear. The Politico-Morning Consult poll shows that he went from an underwater 37 percent to a slightly-less-underwater 46 percent. (For contrast, Obama’s favorables were in the mid-60s.) Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton's vote lead over draft-deferment Drumpf stands at nearly two million votes---larger than the size of our massive U.S. Armed Forces. Conclusion: if Trump has a mandate, I'm a productive member of society with a superior combination of intellect, wit and street smarts. (Conclusion for those of you who don’t know me very well: Trump doesn’t have a mandate.)
JEERS to squeezing the press. Prominent members of the establishment media were summoned like obedient puppy dogs to Trump's master boardroom at his castle in the sky, and word is he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name…at the top of his lungs as he screamed at them over their perceived unfairness to him in what one witness described as "a fucking firing squad." On the bright side, Trump let them go without activating the trap door above his pit of alligators this time, although he did demand that they toss one anchor out the window as a token of apology. They unanimously chose Brian Williams. (He’ll be fine. Turns out he bounces.)
CHEERS to gettin' outta Dodge. Thanksgiving is looming like a 20-pound platter of mashed potatoes, and Triple-A predicts that 48.7 million travelers will scream, curse and smell kinda gamey between now and next Tuesday---the highest level since 2007. (Thanks, Obama!) So if you're going by plane prepare for lots of seat-back kicking. Meanwhile Triple-A also says more of us will be on the roads compared to last year, with a little under 42 million expected to venture at least 50 miles from home:
This year’s increase in Thanksgiving travel is spurred by improvements in the economy during the second half of the year, including rising wages, increased consumer spending and overall strength in consumer confidence.
“One million more Americans than last year will carve out time to visit with friends and family this Thanksgiving,” AAA President and CEO Marshall Doney said. “Most will travel on the tried and true holiday road trip, thanks to gas prices that are holding at close to $2 per gallon. Others will fly, take the bus or set off on a cruise to celebrate with their loved ones.”
Today’s national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.16, 11 cents more than the average price on Thanksgiving last year ($2.05). Most U.S. drivers will pay the second-cheapest Thanksgiving gas prices since 2008, when the national average was $1.85.
If you'll be among the road-trippers, please be safe and practice proper driving etiquette: the right hand is for texting and the left hand is for flipping the bird.
CHEERS to November 22. Lots of good things happened on this date in history: pirate Blackbeard's reign of terror ended when he was caught. (The government terror Threat Alert Level was lowered from "Skull and Crossbones" to "Peg Leg and Pint of Grog"); Ravel's ravishing Bolero was performed for the first time; the Germans were surrounded at Stalingrad; Margaret Thatcher retired; Billy Jean King, Rodney Dangerfield, Hoagy Carmichael, Mark Ruffalo, Terry Gilliam and Jamie Lee Curtis were born; the Humane Society set up shop on behalf of pooties and woozles; Denver was founded; The Beatles released The White Album; steel-shaft golf clubs were patented; and Toy Story premiered. Nothing else happened on November 22, according to SelectiveAmnesiapedia. And I'm inclined to go along with it.
CHEERS to dialing back the guilt. "Get an abortion and you'll go to hell, sinner! Get an abortion and you'll go to hell, sinner! Get an abortion and you'll go to hell, sinner!" So hath the Vatican drumbeat bangeth'd incessantly for, oh, however longeth it's been. So kudos to Pope Francis---and the god he has direct contact with via the flashing red phone in his papal sock drawer---for dialing it back a notch:
Pope Frances has extended indefinitely power of Catholic priests to forgive abortions, making the announcement in an apostolic letter released Monday.
It continues a special dispensation granted last year for the duration of the Year of Mercy -- which finished Sunday---which gave all priests, rather than just bishops and specially designated confessors, the power to absolve the sin of abortion. […] That said, the Catholic Church's stance on abortion has not changed -- it is still viewed as a "grave sin." But it makes it easier for women who have had abortions to be absolved for their actions, and rejoin the church.
So now it's more like, "Get an abortion and you won't go to hell, if you jump through these hoops, say these magic words (many times!) and perhaps toss a wee contribution in the collection plate, sinner." Still sounds ridiculous to me, but there's one unmistakable sign it's a step forward: when he heard the news, Old Man Benedict had to toss an extra nitroglycerin tablet under his tongue.
CHEERS and JEERS to Ma Nature's 2016/2017 playbook. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center says that yes, Virginia, there will be a winter this year. (I can doubly vouch for this, seeing as we got our first sticky snowfall yesterday morning.) Their latest forecast:
Above average precipitation in the northern Rockies, around the Great Lakes, in Hawaii and in western Alaska. Drought will likely persist through the winter in many regions currently experiencing drought, including much of California and the Southwest
Above average precipitation across the entire southern U.S. and southern Alaska
Above average temperatures across the southern U.S., extending northward through the central Rockies, in Hawaii, in western and northern Alaska and in northern New England.
Below average temperatures across the northern tier from Montana to western Michigan.
The rest of the country falls into the “equal chance” category, meaning that there is not a strong enough climate signal in these areas to shift the odds.
As usual, some predictions are harder to make than others. For example, there's a zero-percent chance of knowing actual snowfall amounts this far out, but there's a 100 percent chance of knowing that climate-change deniers will scream "Global cooling!" every time a flake sticks to the pavement. C&J recommends you start assembling your winter management kit: shovel, ice-melting pellets, blankets, candles, and earplugs.
P.S. Speaking of weather, Fukushima, Japan dodged a bullet yesterday when a huge tremor triggered a tsunami warning, which soon after was downgraded to an advisory. But the amazing thing about it is…get ready to have your mind blown: according to The Japan Times, it was an aftershock from that huge 2011 earthquake that caused the catastrophic tsunami. Guess it overslept.
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Ten years ago in C&J: November 22, 2006
JEERS to Glenn Beck. Wednesday night on his CNN "show" (shot, I believe, in the basement of the house used in Wayne's World), the unlovable loser started his interview with Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress, by calling him a terrorist:
I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."
Call him Rush-lite. Minus the intelligence, wit and charm. [11/22/16 Update: Beck appears to have had some kind of come-to-Jesus, saying now that President Obama “made me a better man” and repudiating the dangerous brand of white-power conservatism that gave Trump the keys to the White House. Better late than never, I guess, but the fact will always remain: he helped build that.]
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And just one more…
JEERS to our stupid media. But cheers to SNL for so deftly channeling the worthless pundits on CNN's panels of shame (which could be swapped out for any other panel on any other cable news network or Sunday morning show) and their assigned roles in the endless circle of derp:
I'm sure the corporate-media pundits were very embarrassed by SNL’s spot-on parody of their content-free blather-fests. Right up until the moment their corporate-media paychecks hit their bank accounts.
Have a nice Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Bill in Portland Maine thinks artists owe him respect. They don’t.
---Alyssa Rosenberg
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