From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize an Ally Tuesday
Anyone who wondered how the Trump administration was going to treat the press got their answer Saturday night when some thick-necked hothead stomped up to the podium and started spewing a toxic brew of obvious lies and over-the-top venom at the assembled journalists.
They weren't worth the pain of the mother that bore them, he bellowed, because they refused to peg the inauguration attendance at eleventy billion. And even if there were fewer people---which there weren't, damn you all!---it was because of magnetometers and white tarps being used for the first time! (False.) I never thought God would curse America with a press secretary worse than Ari Fleischer, but here we are.
That's why this week's Energize an Ally organization is the one brought to our attention by goddess Meryl Streep a couple weeks back at the Golden Globes: the Committee to Protect Journalists.
CPJ is made up of about 40 experts around the world, with headquarters in New York City. When press freedom violations occur, CPJ mobilizes a network of correspondents who report and take action on behalf of those targeted. CPJ reports on violations in repressive countries, conflict zones, and established democracies alike. A board of prominent journalists from around the world helps guide CPJ's activities.
Concerns over press freedom aren't new in the U.S., but the arrival Trump has taken it to a whole new, dare I say, Putinesque level: banning press from rallies, threatening their safety, encouraging his unstable crowds to hate on them, and now making their intimidation official Executive Branch policy.
As CPJ says: "Journalism plays a vital role in the balance of power between a government and its people. When a country's journalists are silenced, its people are silenced. By protecting journalists, CPJ protects freedom of expression and democracy."
If you're able and so inclined, here's the CPJ donation page. As Streep said at the Golden Globes: "I…ask all of us in our community to join me in supporting the Committee to Protect Journalists, because we're going to need them going forward, and they'll need us to safeguard the truth." Or, to put it more bluntly in my own words: fuck Sean Spicer and his boss. Period.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Note: January is Bath Safety Month, and it’s your duty as an American citizen to remember the #1 bath safety tip: keep a loaded firearm hidden under your bubbles. (And don’t forget to scrub behind those ears, patriots.)
---Your Friends at the NRA
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Mardi Gras: 35
Days 'til the annual Reelfoot Lake Eagle Festival in Tennessee: 10
Estimated amount by which individual insurance premiums will rise if the Affordable Care Act is gutted, according to the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation: 32 million
Estimated number of Americans who will be priced out of the affordable health insurance market altogether if the ACA is repealed: 18 million
Size of the first phase of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind farm in southern Wyoming, which was approved by the pre-Trump U.S. Bureau of Land Management: 500 turbines
Tons of marbles that spilled onto I-465 in Indianapolis Saturday: 19
Amount by which God makes Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway's face sag every time she tells a lie: 1mm
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Your blanket's wagging…
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CHEERS to wolves throwing pity parties for themselves in the henhouse. Poor, poor Mitch McConnell. He just can't understand why Democrats would slow down confirmation of Trump's shockingly unqualified and/or corrupt cabinet nominees because they haven't cleared the basic vetting stage yet:
Here's Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) talking to reporters on Thursday:
“Let me be clear, Democrats will allow the confirmations of and vote for nominees who would not have been chosen by our party, but what we will not support are nominees who are so extreme in the viewpoints or their noncompliance with the ethics laws and practice that they have demonstrated themselves to be unfit.”
That has Senate Republicans incredibly frustrated.
“We need to, sort of, grow up here and get past that,” McConnell said on CBS's “Face the Nation” earlier this month. “We need to have the president’s national security team in place on day one.”
Yeah! Grow up, Democrats! Take a bath! Get a job! The grown-up party's back in charge! Y'know…these guys:
Republicans have used the filibuster to an unprecedented degree during Obama’s presidency.
By 2013 Republicans had made sure that more of Obama’s executive nominees had been filibustered to a far greater extent than those of his predecessor, with Texas Sen. John Cornyn bragging, “There is a 60-vote threshold for every nomination.” (Sixty votes is the number of votes required to break a filibuster.) Republicans have also blocked Obama’s legislation at more than twice the rate of any previous Congress.
Block on, Schumer. Block on.
CHEERS to messing with Texas. Yesterday the eight-member Supreme Court let stand (for now) a lower court ruling striking down the Lone Star State's voter ID law. The Justice Department under Trump will no doubt reverse the Obama Justice Department's course and fight to reinstate it, but for now…
“I am extremely pleased that the justices recognize that this case does not merit review at this time," said Gerry Hebert of the Campaign Legal Center, which had challenged the law.
"Now Texas, which ranks poorly in voter participation, should work to ensure that every eligible voter in the state is able to cast a ballot going forward.” […]
The Texas case and another challenge to North Carolina's array of voting restrictions remain the leading contenders among many voting rights cases to get to the Supreme Court as early as next fall, when the justices could define what types of voting changes are allowed and prohibited under the Voting Rights Act. The North Carolina also was struck down and has been appealed to the high court.
If our team can prevent a ninth Supreme Court justice from being seated---as we should, because the people decided in November by a 2.9 million vote margin that they wanted the Democrats to have that honor---then the voter suppression laws will be roadkill. Always a hoot being able to tell the Texas GOP to stick it in their ballot box and shove it.
CHEERS to great moments in traction. On January 24, 1899, Humphrey O’Sullivan patented the rubber heel. That’s nice, but we’re partial to the steel-tipped toe (and the exposed Republican shin).
JEERS to erasing history with extra-thick Wite-Out. A little item from last week that we'd like to note for the record: my state’s governor, Paul LePage is a racist idiot. On Tuesday he decided to come to damsel-in-distress Donald Trump's defense after Congressman John Lewis---he of 60's civil rights legend---announced he was boycotting the inauguration. LePage insisted that "the blacks" are claiming that a) black people believe "all whites are racists" b) “Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant fought against Jim Crow laws" and c) black people were saved by the white people and "The NAACP should apologize to the white people, to the people from the North, for fighting their battle.” Allow me to correct the record one item at a time: a) Oh my god, you divisive prick b) Oh my god, you history-mangling ignoramus and c) Oh my god, you arrogant bastard. PolitiFact rates me: Awesome.
P.S. Speaking of revisionist historians, this (by ilustrator Tim O’Brien, to answer the question below) goes out to you, Kellyanne Conway:
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CHEERS to great moments in disappearing. Following previous similar experiments, a fresh crew of six scientists are sequestered in a dome structure for eight months to simulate conditions on a manned mission to Mars:
They will have no physical contact with people in the outside world and will work with a 20-minute delay in communications with their support crew, or the time it would take for an email to reach Earth from Mars. […]
The team members on the dome project include engineers, a computer scientist, a doctoral candidate and a biomedical expert. They were selected from 700 applicants who were subjected to personality tests, background checks and extensive interviews.
The dome they're staying in is located on a Hawaiian volcano. So there's a slight chance they may get to Mars a bit ahead of schedule.
CHEERS to the suds of our lives. On January 24, 1935, canned beer made its debut in Richmond, Virginia:
In partnership with the American Can Company, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company delivered 2,000 cans of Krueger's Finest Beer and Krueger's Cream Ale to faithful Krueger drinkers in Richmond, Virginia. Ninety-one percent of the drinkers approved of the canned beer, driving Krueger to give the green light to further production.
Which reminds me: I just finished reading Atlas Chugged, and I've taken its message to heart. Tonight I'll ditch the rum and Coke and "go malt."
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Ten years ago in C&J: January 24, 2007
CHEERS to historic firsts. The classiest moment of President Bush’s State of the Union speech actually put a lump in my throat:
Tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own---as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker. Maryland, saw Presidents Roosevelt and Truman at this rostrum. But nothing could compare with the sight of his only daughter, Nancy, presiding tonight as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Congratulations.
Just this once, my snark gun remains holstered.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to naked men dipped in gold. The Oscar nominations are going to be announced momentarily. (We'll update this space momentarily with the major categories.) Before I make my prediction for the best picture nominees, here's some breaking news: Rogue One, full of 20th Century Women, Moana, and some mysterious Hidden Figures, departed from La La Land by Moonlight on a mission of Finding Dory but somehow ended up touching down in Manchester By the Sea, and on its Arrival they were greeted by a Lion, The Lobster and other assorted creatures who were visiting from Zootopia; but come Hell or High Water---or even Fences---they were determined to locate The Founder and engage in some serious Loving. Film at 11.
Update: Here ya go...
Picture
ARRIVAL
FENCES
HACKSAW RIDGE
HELL OR HIGH WATER
HIDDEN FIGURES
LA LA LAND
LION
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
MOONLIGHT
Director
ARRIVAL---Denis Villeneuve
HACKSAW RIDGE---Mel Gibson
LA LA LAND---Damien Chazelle
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA---Kenneth Lonergan
MOONLIGHT---Barry Jenkins
Actress
ISABELLE HUPPERT---Elle
RUTH NEGGA---Loving
NATALIE PORTMAN---Jackie
EMMA STONE---La La Land
MERYL STREEP---Florence Foster Jenkins
Supporting Actress
VIOLA DAVIS---Fences
NAOMIE HARRIS---Moonlight
NICOLE KIDMAN---Lion
OCTAVIA SPENCER---Hidden Figures
MICHELLE WILLIAMS---Manchester by the Sea
Actor
CASEY AFFLECK---Manchester by the Sea
ANDREW GARFIELD---Hacksaw Ridge
RYAN GOSLING---La La Land
VIGGO MORTENSEN---Captain Fantastic
DENZEL WASHINGTON---Fences
Supporting Actor
MAHERSHALA ALI---Moonlight
JEFF BRIDGES---Hell or High Water
LUCAS HEDGES---Manchester by the Sea
DEV PATEL---Lion
MICHAEL SHANNON---Nocturnal Animals
Nice to see people of color this year. But no Annette Bening for 20th Century Women? That’s robbery.
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:
It's official. STAR WARS: THE LAST C&J KIDDIE POOL is the next chapter of the Skywalker saga.
---Star Wars
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