From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
I love water. On a hot day in a tall glass filled with ice, nothing quenches thirst like it.
I hate water. It reminds me that the Bush administration tortured prisoners in our name by waterboarding them, and Trump wants to bring the practice back “and worse.” Goodbye, moral high ground. Nice knowin' ya,
I love water. A Super Soaker is a great way liven things up during a slow Bingo night down at the Elk's lodge.
I hate water. If it doesn't show up when and where it's needed, it causes droughts. The earth splits open and everything dies. Scientists call it the "Steve Bannon Effect."
I love water. I have yet to find a way of washing the car without it. I'd say the same thing about dishes, but we have a dog for that.
I hate water. Because it is a fickle bastard: "Around 5% to 6% water loss, one may become groggy or sleepy, experience headaches or nausea, and may feel tingling in one's limbs. With 10% to 15% fluid loss, muscles may become spastic, skin may shrivel and wrinkle, vision may dim, urination will be greatly reduced and may become painful, and delirium may begin. Losses of greater than 15% are usually fatal." And how was your day, dear?
I love water. Because it is amazing: "The unique qualities and properties of water are what make it so important and basic to life. The cells in our bodies are full of water. The excellent ability of water to dissolve so many substances allows our cells to use valuable nutrients, minerals, and chemicals in biological processes."
But today water is on my shit list. If you can spare a buck or two….
GlobalGiving
Houston Food Bank
Americares
Texas Diaper Bank
Texas SPCA
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, August 28, 2017
Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I am paid to write C&J to promote an agenda. This month’s agenda has been freedom to let birds poop on Republicans. So take it from me, America: birds pooping on Republicans is a sacred American value. Morning, noon or nighttime, it’s always birds-pooping-on-Republicans time!
-
By the Numbers:
Days 'til the start of the Labor Day weekend: 4
Days 'til the Washington State Fair: 4
Percent of voters who believe Trump is mentally unstable, according to a new Morning Consult poll: 55%
Number of U.S. counties with zero insurers offering coverage in 2018 on the insurance marketplaces set up under the Affordable Care Act, according to FiveThirtyEight: 0
Approximate cost of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8: $945
Portion of the 85 million Americans who have high blood pressure and don’t realize it, according to the American heart Association: 1-in-6
Dollars returned in economic activity for every dollar we invest in our national parks: $10
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: Click….
-
CHEERS to previews of coming wipeouts. Fresh polling from PPP (a reliable outfit) came out last week, and we thought you might want a li'l peek. Among the notable results: voters give Lord Dampnut 40 percent approval, want confederate statues moved to museums (58%), and in another sign that Trump voters feel it's safer than ever to show their true feelings, 45% say they'd prefer having Jefferson Davis as their president over Barack Obama (20%). Meanwhile, the outlook for the midterms is still more sunny than cloudy for Team D:
Things are continuing to look good for Democrats in 2018, as they lead the generic Congressional ballot 49-35. [...]
While Clinton voters say they'll vote Democratic for Congress next year 90-4, Trump voters say they will vote Republican by only a 74-13 margin. Part of the reason Republicans have done better than expected in 2014 and 2016 is they were divided earlier in the cycle and came together by the end---we will see if that trend continues in 2018.
A big part of the division among Republicans is being caused by extreme unhappiness with their Congressional leaders, perhaps driven by Donald Trump's attacks on them. Both Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell now have the worst numbers we've ever seen for them.
We need 24 pickups to reclaim the House. It's no sure thing, so if I was Nancy Pelosi I wouldn’t be polishing my Speaker’s gavel with Pledge just yet. But it might not hurt to give it a little once-over with a Swiffer.
JEERS to the false-prophet-in-chief. Y'know all those executive orders Lord Dampnut put his illegible signature to at the beginning of his term? Remember the one that he claimed would cancel out the Johnson Amendment and allow church leaders to endorse candidates from the pulpit? Remember how the right-wingers swooned to the news? Well, they got a bucket of cold holy water dumped on their heads last week…by Trump's own lawyers:
On Tuesday, Department of Justice attorneys defending the so-called “religious liberty” order argued in court that it doesn’t change any existing laws or alter any policies to benefit churches or clergy. Rather, they said, it merely tells the government not to take any punitive action against religious groups that it wouldn’t take against other tax-exempt organizations. […]
“It’s irrelevant, it’s offensive, it’s ignored by churches anyway,” conservative Christian scholar Robert P. George of Princeton University told The Washington Post after the signing ceremony in May. “He got enthusiasm in return for getting nothing.”
In another indication of the order’s apparent weakness, the American Civil Liberties Union, normally an aggressive litigant in church-and-state cases, decided not to challenge it in court.
In other words: a policy as thin as his piety. Lord have mercy.
CHEERS to happy coincidences. Fifty-four years ago today, on August 28, 1963, an intimate crowd of 200,000 people watched as Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech (watch it here) from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And nine years ago tonight Barack Obama echoed the words of King (among them: "The fierce urgency of now") when he spoke to a packed stadium in Denver as the first African-American presidential nominee in the history of the universe. This for me is still King's money quote:
"I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character."
Or as modern day Republicans call it: a nightmare.
JEERS to the good dying much too young. Speaking of civil rights, today is the 62nd anniversary of the abduction and lynching of 14 year-old Emmett Till---a shocking and disgraceful act that helped spark the civil rights movement in 1955. Till's original glass-topped casket (his remains were exhumed and re-buried in 2005) was restored and went on display at the Smithsonian's Museum of African American History and Culture last year. We hope his killers---who confessed after they were acquitted and never showed remorse before they died in 1980 and 1994---are currently in the process of feeling a certain burning sensation for eternity.
CHEERS to the Daily Kos community. Man, this crazy blogger community is swarming with budding Nostradamuses. In our C&J poll a week ago today, we asked which oddball Nazi Trump adviser was going to get booted from the White House after Steve Bannon---Stephen Miller or Sebastian Gorka. By a five-to-one margin you predicted Gorka would go first and…he did! Lest we forget:
Gorka, a faux terrorism expert whose educational background turned out to be little more than pure fiction, was integral to tearing down programs meant to fight white supremacists.
He supported anti-Semitic militia, was protected by Trump when he failed to pass a basic security clearance,and leveled false charges against against Susan Rice.
He was known for “teaching” about Islamic terrorism in a way that ignored regional and religious factions, painting all Muslims as the same and providing information that even casual students found to be uninformed and bigoted.
Swell guy. For predicting his departure with such pinpoint accuracy, America wins our grand prize: one less Nazi in the White House, of course.
CHEERS to history not repeating itself. On August 28, 1968, police and anti-war demonstrators made a giant clusterfuck of things in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert Humphrey. In the wake of the fracas all the parties came together and instituted a new rule that has served conventions well ever since: Decaf,Decaf, Decaf.
-
Ten years ago in C&J: August 28, 2007
CHEERS to Ben's new threads. The U.S. Treasury is giving the one hundred dollar bill---which is the most widely counterfeited U.S. currency---a high-tech makeover:
It combines micro-printing with tiny lenses — 650,000 for a single $100 bill. The lenses magnify the micro-printing in a truly remarkable way. Move the bill side to side and the image appears to move up and down. Move the bill up and down and the image appears to move from side to side.
And if it stands perfectly still, that's your cue to find a designated driver.
-
And just one more…
JEERS to National Bow Tie Day. Knowing that they're championed by George Will and Tucker Carlson makes me nauseous, so pardon me if I don't celebrate. On the other hand, this one's kinda purty...
On the other other hand, looking at it makes me realize how small and insignificant I am---a pimple on a gnat's ass's pimple on a gnat's ass after being zapped by a sub-atomic miniaturization ray gun. So, yeah, like I said. Not a fan.
Have a tolerable Monday. Oh, and keep up to date on the progress of the Women’s March from Charlottesville to D.C. here at their twitter feed. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-
Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says that he's "100 percent confident" that the Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool will be drained in September amid President Trump's recent claims that GOP leadership dropped the ball in not draining it before the August recess.
---CBS News
-