From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Netroots Nation Reminder: Panel Submissions Deadline This Month
Morning. Hope your weekend was decent. The grand poobahs behind the Netroots Nation convention (Atlanta, August 10-13) wanted me to remind you bright and early today that there's an important deadline coming up this month: submissions for panel-discussions and training sessions are due in a few weeks. Says Mary Rickles:
As always, our goal is to highlight the great work being done by activists around the country, from national campaigns to local issue organizing, as well as to shine a light on what’s happening in the Atlanta area. You can submit on any topic, but here are a few things we’re looking to highlight this year:
- Panels highlighting resistance efforts both nationally and locally
- Discussions that challenge us to think long-term about the movement and building grassroots power
- Trainings that help new activists grow into successful organizers
- Advanced trainings that focus on cutting-edge tools and techniques
The deadline to submit your panel idea is March 30. If you have questions, please feel free to email us at panels [at] netrootsnation.org.
The link for all the panel submission info is here. And if you're in town the evening before the convention starts (Aug. 9), please join us for the Daily Kos/Connect-Unite-Act/C&J welcome party (details TBD). You can RSVP by sending Navajo a kosmail.
157 days and counting. Not that we're counting.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, March 6, 2017
Note: As of today, there are only 300 days left in the year. Please plan your 2018 New Years resolutions accordingly. Just in case we make it that far.
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By the Numbers:
Weeks 'til spring: 2
Days 'til the 10th annual Cherry Blossom Festival in San Diego: 4
Amount that 57 non-U.S.countries kicked in to compensate for Trump pulling $500 million in funding for groups linked to abortion services: $190 million
Amount kicked in by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $20 million
Percent of Americans who believe Trump should spend over two hours watching TV per day, according to PPP: 6%
Growth in sales of almond milk from 2011 to 2015 in the U.S., according to FiveThirtyEight: 250%
Percent chance that March was named for the Roman god Mars, who is most famous for inventing the Snickers bar, according to Zeus: 100%
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Daisy gets a second chance…
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CHEERS to the best seven seconds you'll see all day. Man, she can't get her face back into her phone fast enough after this A+ trolling:
A star is born.
JEERS to our precious little dictator. After pitching an epic hissy fit at his inner circle because it let the Jeff Sessions perjury debacle extinguish the glow from his Tuesday "I can read off a teleprompter good" speech to Congress, Donald Trump flew to Mar-A-Lago Friday night, after which he fired out a bunch of tweets accusing President Barack Obama of personally wiretapping Trump Tower. He presented no evidence, yet claimed it was "fact," adding "This is Nixon/Watergate," and then labeling Obama a "Bad (or sick) guy!" The ton of bricks that came down on Trump was instantaneous, with intel expert Malcolm Nance providing the money quote: "This is what happens when a target starts getting buggy, because he knows that he's caught. … If he thinks his phones were tapped, then he believes we know everything." Meanwhile, Maine's most famous resident responded:
Trump's press secretary, no doubt horrified by the genie his boss had let out of the bottle, put on his game face and issued a "nothing to see here, please move along" statement yesterday. Might have been more convincing if he'd issued it without the tear stains.
JEERS to bait and switch: heavy metal edition. He promised. He promised, he promised, he promised. Suckers:
The Keystone XL oil pipeline won't have to use American steel in its construction, despite what President Donald Trump says.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that's due to language in a presidential directive Trump issued in January. The directive applies to new pipelines or those under repair. Sanders said it would be hard to do an about-face on Keystone because it's already under construction and the steel has been acquired. […]
Trump said as recently as last week that Keystone and the Dakota Access pipeline must use American steel "or we're not building one."
And you'll never guess who's gonna benefit from all that non-U.S. steel: a Russian oligarch who owns one-third of the company making it. Fearless prediction: by the time the next U.S. pipeline gets built, he’ll own one-third of all U.S. steel companies, too. MAGA!
CHEERS to anticipation. I’ve spent the last 60 hours keeping an eye on April the giraffe, who is due to drop her fourth young'un any old time now at New York’s Animal Adventure Park. Here, take over the watch for a minute cuz I really gotta go pee...
Thanks. I was moments away from a very unpleasant explosion.
JEERS to an unsatisfactory conclusion. On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott case. Their brilliant conclusion: slaves aren’t citizens, according to their strict interpretation of the Constitution:
[I]n the opinion of the justices, black people were not considered citizens when the Constitution was drafted in 1787.
According to [Chief Justice Roger] Taney, Dred Scott was the property of his owner, and property could not be taken from a person without due process of law.
In fact, there were free black citizens of the United States in 1787, but Taney and the other justices were attempting to halt further debate on the issue of slavery in the territories.
The decision inflamed regional tensions, which burned for another four years before exploding into the Civil War.
Chief Justice Taney---with political pressure from none other than President Buchanan---thought the decision would settle the issue of slavery. I think enough time has passed that I can say with reasonable confidence: what a dope.
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 6, 2007
CHEERS to the new up-armored Nancy. The Speaker and other House Democrats are attaching a measure a military spending bill that would pull our troops out of Iraq by September, ’08, and redeploy them to that other war---what’s it called again?---oh yes, the war on terrorism. The plan was, of course, blasted by Republicans who called it "failure at any cost." And they, of course, knoweth of what they speak.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to previews of coming attractions. Courtesy of SNL comes this stirring trailer for a movie about the Republican who saved us from the worst excesses and abuses of the Trump-Putin empire. There’s just one little thing missing...
Opens nationwide on [TBD].
Have a tolerable Monday. Floor's open...What are youcheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
FYI,That Silk Shirt You’re Wearing Is Made From Bill in Portland Maine Spit
---Huffington Post
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