From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
What Senator Susan Collins Will Claim To Be “Troubled By” Today
The president's actions in Syria
Rampant corruption in the White House
The acrimony and the tone
The jellyfish infestation along Maine's coast
The vaping epidemic
Her party's denial of the climate crisis
Her party's belief that Russia should rig our elections
The lack of enough parsley bits in her chowder
The spread of Trump-supporting domestic terrorists
That her finances will only support her until she’s 250
Her party's fanatical devotion to lying and gaslighting
Refugee children thrown in cages
People finding out her nose honks when you squeeze it
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What Senator Susan Collins will Actually Be Troubled By Today
PPP’s newest Maine poll finds that Susan Collins is in trouble for reelection…and that she’s likely to find herself in more trouble no matter what side of impeachment she comes down on.
When we ask voters who they would choose if Collins opposed impeachment, her 76-12 deficit among Clinton voters grows even further to 83-8 and she goes from a 3 point deficit against a generic Democratic opponent for reelection to a 7 point deficit at 47-40.
Collins faces defeat from a different angle if she supports impeachment though. … When we ask voters about the Republican primary, if Collins supports impeachment there’s a 35 point net shift from supporting [her] by 15 points at 53/38 to opposing [her] by 20 points, with just 35% still wanting to nominate Collins if she supports impeachment to 55% who prefer someone else
[T]he issue of impeachment seems to have the potential to cause her to lose in the general election if she chooses one path and to lose in the primary election if she chooses the other path, leaving her with no good options.
Aww. Looks like she’s screwed either way. We really should chip in and buy a card and some flowers. For Nancy Pelosi.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...[Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Note: Today is the start of Rub Your Shoes On The Carpet And Then Touch Your Cat's Nose With Your Finger season. Or as emergency rooms call it: finger reattachment season.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Election Day 2019: 20
Days 'til the Gilfeather Turnip Festival in Wardsboro, Vermont: 9
Homes in Japan that lost electricity because of Typhoon Hagibis: 376,000
Percent chance that Trump was lying to the nation when he proclaimed an amazing, beautiful deal with China: 100%
Trump's approval among women in the latest Quinnipiac poll: 35%
Number of workers just laid off by Uber: 350
Amount Augusta, Maine medical librarian Jessica Garsed recently won during her four-game stint on Jeopardy!: $53,199
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Mid-week Rapture Index: 184 (including 5 Global Turmoils and 1 instance of papal blasssssphemy!). Soul Protection Factor 24 lotion is recommended if you’ll be walking amongst the heathen today.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: And the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing does not go to…
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CHEERS to brevity. I watched the Democratic primary debate at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio last night (did I mention yet that it’s my alma mater...besides the twenty-thousand other times I mentioned it this week, I mean?), and am now the proud owner of several rolled-up reams of paper filled with my instant reactions to the event that archaeologists of the future will refer to as the Dead Billeh Scrolls. If you'd like to read them, please send me a self-addressed, stamped crate that can hold 300 pounds, along with $1 million for processing and handling. Or, if you'd just like the free CliffsNotes version, you cheap bastard, here you go:
> Anderson Cooper has morphed into a villain from a DaVinci Code movie. When did that happen?
> All the candidates agree that Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time. This makes our party at least twice as capable as the Republican party.
> Bernie's right index finger needs to stop sucking down Red Bull before these debates.
> The theme of this debate was "Warren's the front runner! Get Warren!" So how did she defend herself so well against the slings and arrows? By whispering "shields up!" into her lapel as needed.
> Great job on the Syrian situation. I've never heard a field sound so strong and sure-footed on foreign policy.
> Tulsi Gabbard says she's not a Russian asset. I'm just passing that along. Do with it what you will.
> Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg especially came ready to rumble. They stood out, and in a field of twelve and that's saying something. Cory Booker was the peacemaker.
> All those brilliantly-smart candidates on the stage and not one thought to warn Ohioans not to eat buckeyes because they’re poisonous and can cause weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, paralysis and death. Squandered opportunity. Don’t eat buckeyes. Don’t even look at them.
> I can't support Andrew Yang. I just can't. Sorry. Not until I get my first monthly $1,000 check. And it clears.
> All these candidates keep criticizing Warren, but then they keep asking her to join them. That's some passive aggressive shit right there, bub.
> No notable gaffes or stumbles. All the major issues got vetted except—you guessed it—climate change and Puerto Rico. (Oh, CNN. You'll always be you.) It was…fine. If the needle moves an inch for any of the candidates I'll be surprised. But it was fine.
The next debate is November 20th in Georgia, and eight candidates have already secured a spot behind a lectern. I think it should end in a giant peach pie fight. Watch this space.
CHEERS to brevity. Are you keeping up with all the shoes dropping on Lord Dampnut’s head? Ha Ha Ha, rhetorical question—no one can keep up with all the shoes dropping. (Or dominoes falling, booms lowering, curtains closing, birds singing, or rats squealing.) In the interest of preventing our heads from exploding, we’ll just dole out the what’s and wherefores in a bite-size chunk:
And while that bit of rampant corruption (one of many) is damaging to Trump on the home front, overseas an absolute clusterfuck of his unilateral making is the worst international blunder since...well, since the previous Republican clusterfuck-producer stunk up the oval office:
Simply the worst.
CHEERS to girls with grenades. Twenty-one years ago today, the dedication of the Women In Military Service Memorial began with a candlelight march starting at the Lincoln Memorial and moving across the Memorial Bridge to Arlington National Cemetery. It was well-received when it officially opened a few days later…
The vast majority of critics highly lauded the Women in Military Service for America Memorial.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said it "breaks new conceptual ground in paying tribute to U.S. military personnel, much like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial did in 1982." Gail Russell Chaddock, writing for the Christian Science Monitor, said it was nothing like any other memorial or monument in the city, and singled out the computerized database of women veterans as its greatest strength.
Benjamin Forgey of The Washington Post called it a "resounding success" that "enhances an already splendid setting in a number of ways". Its greatest strength, he said, was the way in which it was "insistently respectful" of the [existing 1932] Hemicycle and Arlington National Cemetery. He also singled out the "serious," "uncomplicated and unostentatious" interiors. His lengthy review concluded that the memorial was "a brilliant, sensitive design" and "a memorable public place."
The memorial is dedicated to women who serve in the Armed Forces in times of war. But also in times of peace, if on the off chance we’re lucky enough to ever have any more of those.
CHEERS to the number crunchers who walk amongst us. The Nobel Prize for economics was awarded Monday to a deserving trio of poverty fighters, including—are you sitting down?—a rare human with lady parts!
This year’s Laureates have introduced a new approach to obtaining reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty. In brief, it involves dividing this issue into smaller, more manageable, questions—for example, the most effective interventions for improving educational outcomes or child health. […]
In the mid-1990s, Michael Kremer and his colleagues demonstrated how powerful this approach can be, using field experiments to test a range of interventions that could improve school results in western Kenya. Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, often with Michael Kremer, soon performed similar studies of other issues and in other countries. Their experimental research methods now entirely dominate development economics.
The Laureates’ research findings—and those of the researchers following in their footsteps—have dramatically improved our ability to fight poverty in practice.
In addition to the iconic gold medal, the recipients win a cash award of $1.1 million. Next year I expect to be singled out for submitting my own innovative and surefire way of getting out of poverty in four words: win a Nobel Prize.
CHEERS to the wheels of justice. Rusty as they are when it comes to police brutality against our black neighbors, at least they're finally turning in this awful Texas case:
The Texas police officer who on Saturday fatally shot Atatiana “Tay” Jefferson was arrested and charged with murder Monday, according to Tarrant County jail records. Officer Aaron Dean…shot Jefferson though a window of her home after a neighbor requested a wellness check at the residence. […]
Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney representing Jefferson’s family, said Monday that the family “is relieved” about Dean’s arrest and murder charge. “We need to see this through to a vigorous prosecution & appropriate sentencing,” Merritt tweeted. “The City of Fort Worth has much work to do to reform a brutal culture of policing.”
Body camera video released Saturday appeared to show Dean entering the backyard of the house, turning left, then grabbing for his gun and pointing it at the window. He then can be heard shouting, “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” before immediately firing one round through the screen window at roughly 2:30 a.m.
Now-former officer Dean contends he's being treated unfairly, and that the body cam will show he clearly said "please" as he was pulling the trigger. They don’t send polite people to jail, do they?
CHEERS to notes notes. The latest batch of nominees vying for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was announced yesterday, and they are:
Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, The Doobie Brothers, Motörhead, The Notorious B.I.G., Soundgarden, T. Rex, Thin Lizzy and Whitney Houston are up for the honor for the first time.
Returning nominees are Depeche Mode, Judas Priest, Kraftwerk, MC5, Nine Inch Nails, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, and Todd Rundgren.
The RRHOF Class of 2020 is decided by an international body of more than 1,000 voting members, but fans can impact the vote: Starting Oct. 15 and running through 11:59pm ET on Jan. 10, 2020, fans can go to Google and search “Rock Hall Fan Vote” or any nominee’s name plus “vote” to cast a ballot with Google, vote at RockHall.com, or at the Museum itself in Cleveland.
Dang. I'd love to vote in person, but my Hammacher Schlemmer blimp is still in the shop. But the Google link for online voting is right here, so you can do it that way. As usual, I'll be casting a daily write-in vote for John Williams for his Grammy-winning (not kidding) disco version of the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Because…well, duh.
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Ten years ago in C&J: October 16, 2009
CHEERS to travelin' south. When folks in New Orleans heard the president was coming to visit, they immediately started packing their bags and fleeing the city for their lives. When they were reminded that the president was no longer George W. Bush, they ran back and started putting up WELCOME MR. PRESIDENT WE [HEART] YOU!!! signs. Our fearless prediction: lots of Kodak Moments. [10/16/19 Update: Yup. And here’s one by the great White House photographer Pete Souza...]
His successor will be remembered for throwing children in cages.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to battling to a back beat. Can't let today go by without looking back seven years to the night Mitt Romney got pummeled by both President Obama and his own clumsy self. Who can forget "binders full of women," "Please proceed, Governor" and "Can you say that a little louder, Candy?" Enjoy what even George Will called "immeasurably the best debate in 50 years"…songified:
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That was the moment when Republicans got up from their chairs, opened their windows, and quietly switched places with Democrats on building ledges across America. Somewhere overhead, a pigeon's bowels rumbled.
Oh, and because today is October 16th it’s Dictionary Day by definition. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
The View hosts to Ronan Farrow: How Does Bill in Portland Maine Still Have His Job?
—Mediaite
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