March for Our Lives Event Map Link
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From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Books? Who reads books anymore?
Move over, Michael Wolff. John Oliver’s now the one with the runaway bestseller...and he’s trolling LGBT hater Mike Pence like a pro with it:
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Bad news: they sold out the first run. Good news: they’re making more.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...[Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, March 22, 2018
Note: Since today is National Goof Off Day, I don’t have to write a note. Whee.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Earth Day: 32
Days 'til the Maryland Chicken Wing Festival: 16
Percent chance that San Francisco just became the largest U.S. city to ban fur sales: 100%
Percent of Democrats who approve of House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, respectively, according to Civiqs polling: 57%, 62%
Percent of Republicans who approve of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, respectively: 44%, 22%
Number of princes in Saudi Arabia: 15,000
Percent of the Saudi population that’s under the age of 35: 70%
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
A weekend's wallow in media coverage of the first anniversary of the end of the Iraq war netted some prize specimens of spin. On one side, fawning pro-administration journos happily reported everything is tickety-boo over there, whole thing just a glorious success (not counting 570 dead Americans and the unknown number of Iraqi civilians).
The Pollyanna Sunshine award in this category goes to William Safire of The New York Times, who reported, "Free electricity keeps air-conditioners humming, oil is flowing, schools and businesses have come back to life." I suppose the opposite pole would be the new prime minister of Spain's succinct description, "a continuing disaster."
Most of the establishment press took the "glass half-empty and half-full" route. ABC News did a "scientific" poll, my favorite kind, finding Iraqis themselves pretty much divided on the "good thing-bad thing" question. Unfortunately, a closer look at the poll shows 83 percent of the Kurds on the "good thing" side, leaving a fairly significant "bad thing" majority among both Sunnis and Shiites. Not a happy augury.
---March 2004
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Puppy Pic of the Day: She not only catches cars, she flings them into the next county…
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CHEERS to fun with numbers. Stuart Rothenberg is one of the best election watchers there is (second only to our Daily Kos Elections team). And he posted a few words yesterday about the 2018 midterms. I’m more optimistic than he is, but then again I’m just a dumb squirrel feeder and occasional blogger. So even though my forecast is more like 50-60 seats, this is still good enough for me:
Seven and a half months before the midterm elections, the combination of attitudinal and behavioral evidence leads to a single conclusion: The Democrats are very likely to win control of the House in November. […]
So, what is the current trajectory of the 2018 midterms? I interviewed a wide range of campaign professionals, including some sympathetic to the president. All insisted on anonymity, and almost all believe the House will flip.
The veterans generally expect GOP losses in the 30- to 45-seat range, far more than the two-dozen seats House Democrats need for majority control.
The burden is on Republicans---and the president---to change the cycle’s current trajectory. If they don’t, the House will flip.
We haven’t heard Paul Ryan announce he’s running for reelection yet. I’m starting to wonder if we ever will.
CHEERS to that whole “well-regulated” thing. A couple developments in the gun-control world to report: first, Republicans allowed language in their budget bill that says the Centers for Disease Control can, indeed, study gun violence. (It remains to be seen, however, whether they’ll allocate the funding for those studies.) Second, a gold star goes to You Tube for trying to make their site a little less hospitable to the “second amendment remedies” crowd:
Gun videos may be a thing of the past on YouTube, with the Google-owned company updating its policies on firearms-related content.
Videos can no longer sell guns or accessories via direct sales or even have links to sites that sell them. Videos also cannot have instruction on manufacturing firearms or associated items like magazines or silencers.
Accessories banned include bump stocks, gatling triggers, drop-in auto sears and conversion kits, as well as high-capacity magazines. Instruction on upgrading firearms to automatic or simulated automatic firing capabilities is similarly prohibited.
The news comes two days before the March for Our Lives events (over 830 of them!) that are planned for Saturday. Michael and I will join the Portland, Maine march, and we’re close to deciding what to put on our signs. I’m thinking the front of mine will read: “Gun Violence Is A Lifestyle Choice You Can Change!” The back will read: “Pray Away the NRA.” I’d like to thank the right-wing Christian anti-gay crowd’s messaging for finally coming in handy.
CH’CHING to meeting Mr. Moneybags. Yesterday Jerome Powell adjusted his green eyeshades, gave his vest a final tug, took a deep breath, strode out onto a balcony, waved to his admirers, and delivered his first comments as chairman of the Federal Reserve. After delivering a blessing upon the Almighty Dollar, he washed Wall Street investors’ feet and offered gluten-free trillion-dollar coin wafers and sips (okay, swigs) of 1869 Château Lafite for communion, but not before sermonizing that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is to raise interest rates. In the distance, the pope sought medical treatment for an acute case of eyeroll.
CHEERS to fun with math. 2 hydrogen atoms + 1 oxygen atom + the United Nations + chips ‘n dip + balloons = World Water Day party! Yes, today is the 26th World Water Day, which actually isn't so much a party as it is an opportunity to remember that if we keep fucking up our water supply we're all going to end up shriveled and stupid with a sink full of dirty dishes and a stinky bathroom. This year’s theme is “Nature for Water,” highlighting the fact that, with a little ingenuity, water preservation can eventually be as boring as watching a green roof grow. Here’s one example (pdf):
Sponge cities, China
The China Government has launched the ‘Sponge City’ initiative to improve water availability in urban settlements.
City authorities will use a combination of NBS and grey infrastructure to reduce urban water-logging, improve local ecosystems, and retain urban runoff for eventual reuse. By 2020, the 16 pilot cities will implement a range of measures, such as green roofs and walls, permeable pavements, and bioswales (constructed filtration channels) to capture water and divert it back into revitalized natural storage for irrigation and cleaning purposes during periods of drought.
The project’s objective is for 70% of rain water to be absorbed and reused through improved water permeation, retention and storage, purification and drainage, as well as water saving and reuse. This goal should be met by 20% of urban areas by the year 2020 and by 80% of urban areas by the year 2030.
Here in America, we have our own highly-efficient sponging operations. Unfortunately they’re called Super PACs and they have nothing to do with water.
CHEERS to melting snowflakes. Aw, gee whiz. Who would’ve ever guessed that a shitbag blog created by a shitbag blogger (RIP), taken over and then abandoned by shitbag billionaires, and run by a former shitbag Trump adviser who quickly got shit-canned, would end up in the shitter? Um…everyone?
Breitbart, the alt-right news site whose executive chairman Steve Bannon was pushed out in January after feuding with President Donald Trump, has lost about half its readership according to comScore, raising questions about its future. The site dropped from 15 million unique visitors in October [to] 7.8 million in February. […]
Last month was the site’s least trafficked since February 2015, four months before Donald Trump declared his candidacy for president.
Breitbart’s decline in traffic comes at the same time that its advertising base has been decimated by a boycott campaign. Its number of direct advertisers has been slashed from around 250 at the beginning of 2017 to just 17 now, according to the advertising consulting firm, MediaRadar.
Word is they’re so strapped for cash that they may have to cancel their annual Christmas Nuremburg rally.
JEERS to self-righteous knuckledragging. On this date in 1638, progressive preacher Anne Hutchinson was booted from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the Puritan leadership after being accused of "Blasphemy!" and "Lewd conduct!" Today Vice President Mike Pence will unveil a statue to commemorate the event. In honor of the Puritans.
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 22, 2008
JEERS to the government of, by and for Dick Cheney. The evil one told us all to shut our pieholes yesterday:
Cheney: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.
Martha Raddatz: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.
Cheney: So?
Martha Raddatz: So? You don’t care what the American people think?
Cheney: No.
I'm not sure if he said that before or after he commemorated the Iraq war anniversary by going fishing aboard the Sultan of Oman's 60-foot royal yacht. He's a busy boy.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the guy at the helm of the most famous bridge in space. Happy birthday to William"Kirk" Shatner, who turns 87 today but he still looks and acts like he's thirty years younger. I was looking for a clip to post, and I struck on one that hits the trifecta of bizarre history. This is from July, 2009, when Conan O’Brien was host of The Tonight Show, Sarah Palin had just given her batty farewell address and officially became known as the “half-term governor of Alaska,” and, perhaps most amazing of all, Howard Dean was filling in for Keith Olbermann on Countdown. What Shatner brings to this clip is almost superfluous, but still brilliant:
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Sarah learned an important lesson that day: don’t bring a phaser to a photon torpedo fight.
Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are youcheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Renée Zellweger as Bill in Portland Maine is uncanny
---CNN
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