From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize An Ally Tuesday
Fourteen days out and progressives are making creepy turncoat DINO fossil Dan Lipinski (IL-03) squirm. From The Washington Examiner:
It's [two] weeks out from the March 20 primary and Lipinski is in the fight of his career. [...]
Those rallying behind [Marie] Newman, argue that Lipinski doesn’t represent the district’s views on a variety of policy issues. In his time representing the solidly blue district, Lipinski has voted against LGBT rights, abortion rights, the Dream Act, and the Affordable Care Act. […]
“Marie Newman and the organizations that have endorsed her have shown tremendous courage to stand up to that [Democratic] machine,” [Justice Democrats’ Waleed] Shahid said. “If Marie Newman wins it will send a big shock wave and there will be more of this stuff happening.”
We’re all excited at the very real prospect of celebrating the ouster of Lipinski and the arrival of the Democratic candidate endorsed by Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Emily’s List, SEIU Illinois State Council, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and the mighty Daily Kos: Marie Newman...
Check out Marie on the issues here (you’ll be impressed) and her ads on You Tube here. As we do with all the candidates and progressive organizations on which we shine our “Energize An Ally” spotlight, the BiPM household is kicking in $25 to the Newman campaign. If you have a few bucks handy, we hope you’ll follow suit. The ActBlue donation link is here. Follow her on Facebook here and on Twitter here.
By the way, you might be interested to know that Lipinski calls us “the tea party of the left.” Oh, hey—[smooch smooch]---we love you, too, Cryptkeeper Dan.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Note: As of today, there are only 300 days left in the year. Please plan your 2019 New Years resolutions accordingly. Just in case we make it that far.
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By the Numbers:
Weeks 'til the special election in PA’s 18th congressional district between Conor Lamb (D) and “Trump Before Trump Was Trump”: 1
Days 'til the 10th annual Cherry Blossom Festival in San Diego: 3
Favorability of the NRA in 1989, according to Gallup: 58%
Favorability of the NRA today, according to a YouGov poll: 36%
Rank of California and Russia in terms of the world’s largest economies: #6, #13
Percent of Americans who are cremated these days, up from 5 percent in 1980: 50%
Percent chance that March was named for the Roman god Mars, who was depicted as a little green man with antennae growing out of his head and a ray gun, according to a reputable Russian bot: 100%
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Oh dear. The chauffeur’s late...
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JEERS to double booking. When we scheduled our New England Kossack meetup for March 24th,we didn’t realize that the March For Our Lives was being booked for the same day, and I have to say: shame on those Stoneman Douglas High School students for not calling us up on our red blinking rotary phone to check our schedule first. [Sigh]
No biggie---there are over 400 rallies planned in D.C. and all over the country (including Portland, Maine), and all of us should turn out to hoist a giant national middle finger at the NRA and their pet politicians. So our meetup is now scheduled for Saturday, April 14 at noon. Same place: The Snow Squall Restaurant at 18 Ocean Street in South Portland. To RSVP or get more info: email Kossack nhox42 at nhox42[at] gmail.com. Please join us. We’ll eat, we’ll drink, we’ll swap march stories and, most important, we’ll start the 30-day countdown ‘til spring arrives in Maine. (Don’t forget to wear your daffodil hoodie.)
CHEERS to great moments in gravity defiance. While you were sleeping, another Falcon 9 rocket blasted into the heavens just after midnight---the 50th launch for SpaceX. It was carrying a six-metric-ton satellite the size of a bus that will be used to bring broadband, TV, and “other telecommunications solutions” (translation: porn) to Europe, North Africa and America for the next 15 years. Here’s the highlight reel:
Sorry to say the payload didn’t include a Tesla Roadster this time. But if it’s any consolation, thanks to new photos from the Hubble telescope, we now know Gladys the cleaning lady’s lost dentures are about six weeks away from establishing an orbit around Saturn.
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.
CHEERS to putting America’s #1 voter suppressor on trial. Keep your eye on Kansas today, where half a dozen residents are taking Secretary of State and Trump “voter fraud” point man Kris Kobach to court over the state’s currently-on-hold proof-of-citizenship law. The plaintiffs claim that Kobach is violating the Voter Registration Act by making the process much too hoop-jumpy, especially considering that voter fraud is not…a…problem:
The case, which will determine whether Kansas can continue to block tens of thousands of people from registering to vote if they can’t prove their citizenship, hinges on the question at the center of the national debate over voting restrictions: Is there enough evidence of noncitizens registering to vote to justify a law that imposes a substantial hurdle to registering?
Kobach has long been one of the loudest voices arguing that widespread voter fraud is a problem, a claim that several studies and investigations have debunked. […]
Dale Ho, the director of the voting rights project at the ACLU, which is representing the plaintiffs, said it was “not an accident” that Kobach was at the center of the lawsuit. “This could really be in a lot of ways the case where we really put the evidence of fraud on trial in this country,” he said. “You have the nation’s chief purveyor of fraud talking about this. Well now he’s going to have to try and prove it in court, not on Fox News.”
For all practical purposes, someone else will be on trial tomorrow: Donald Trump, who’s all-in on any voter suppression tactic Republicans can think of, and who has yet to prove, as he claimed, that 3-5 million people voted fraudulently in 2016. Sadly, we’ll have to wait ‘til his treason trial to actually see him in an orange jumpsuit. Or in his case, they’ll just take a Sharpie and draw buttons and pockets on his skin.
JEERS to dodging the graft (charges). Speaking of crooks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House yesterday. He really wants you to focus on what he said about the blah blah blah and the blah blah blah. But he really doesn’t want you to think about this:
Netanyahu arrived at the White House early Monday afternoon, just hours after reports from Israel said a former media adviser and confidant has turned state’s witness in a far-reaching bribery case. […]
[P]olice recommended indicting Netanyahu in two cases---Case 1000 and Case 2000 in police parlance. According to the police notes, Case 1000 involves gifts of cigars and jewelry amounting to more than $280,000 that the prime minister and his wife are suspected of receiving from billionaire benefactors such as Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Australian business executive James Packer.
So remember: don’t think about that.
JEERS to humans behaving badly. It was 72 years ago this week that, prompted by the shenanigans of Josef Stalin (who died this week in 1953) in post-World War II Europe, Winston Churchill introduced the new "Iron Curtain" in a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. Or, as Bed Bath & Beyond later called it: "our worst-selling curtain ever."
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 6, 2008
JEERS to midair mayhem. Southwest Airlines and managers in the FAA were busted for blowing off safety inspections of their aircraft. (Naturally, no one has actually been fired yet even though 44 planes have since been grounded). Whistleblowers said their first clue was when the airline purchased a hundred thousand rolls of duct tape.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to a furry four-legger's best friend. Can’t let the day to go by without sending out a heartfelt “meow” in honor of Tricia Wyse LeFevre---aka Daily Kos's beloved animal rights activist and "Pootie Queen"---who died two years ago yesterday. Tricia was the driving force behind the daily "pootie diaries" (and, for canine aficionados, "Woozle Wednesdays"), a lengthy strip of LOL pics that served (and still serves, thanks to her litter of a“mew”sing surrogates) as a welcome oasis on the Rec List amidst all the pie flinging and Trump insanity. Kossack bfitzinAR said it best in her diary that broke the news:
It’s hard to even start on how and why she was so important. …
She created a space where people could bring their joy in their pets, their questions about pets, and their sorrow at the loss of their pets. She created a safe space where we could come when the stresses of our personal lives became overwhelming. She loved our community, kept track of us, let everyone know when one of us needed help or sympathy---and putit on the top of every diary that she would defend the Peeps under any circumstances.
One of the nicest things this community did for Tricia was to pay her way to attend the Netroots Nation convention in Providence in 2011. Michael and I were there when she arrived at the hotel---yes, wearing her leopard-print cat ears (above)---and until the moment she left five days later she was treated like the royalty she was. Fair to say that was a highlight of what was a very challenging life for Trish. So, in her honor today, we’re serving up a giant tub of Fancy Feast Liver & Giblet casserole in the C&J cafeteria. And as soon as you finish eating it, we’ll unlock the door and let you leave. Would you prefer a fork or a spoon?
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"Nothing was around before the Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool."
---Stephen Hawking
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