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The Brexit And Political discussion Forum

Brexit may have begun but it is not over, indeed it may never be finished.

Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Coke FRIDAY!

Brexiter

Active member
A Trip in the Wayback Machine

On July 15, 1948, President Harry Truman accepted the nomination for another term at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. And, man, talk about sounding like a broken record—his words expressed a frustration at Republican obstruction that could've been sounded by any Democratic president in the 74 years since:

On the Labor Department, the Republican platform of 1944 said, if they were in power, that they would build up a strong Labor Department. They have simply torn it up. Only one bureau is left that is functioning, and they cut the appropriation of that so it can hardly function.

I recommended an increase in the minimum wage. What did I get? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Continued...

I suggested that the schools in this country are crowded, teachers underpaid, and that there is a shortage of teachers. One of our greatest national needs is more and better schools. I urged Congress to provide $300 million to aid the States in the present educational crisis. Congress did nothing about it

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Spoiler Alert: He won.

Time and again I have recommended improvements in the Social Security law, including extending protection to those not now covered, and increasing the amount of benefits, to reduce the eligibility age of women from 65 to 60 years. Congress studied the matter for 2 years, but couldn't find time to extend or increase the benefits. But they did find the time to take Social Security benefits away from 750,000 people, and they passed that over my veto.

I have repeatedly asked the Congress to pass a health program. The Nation suffers from lack of medical care. That situation can be remedied any time the Congress wants to act upon it.

The GOP: grand old pricks since forever.

And now, our feature presentation...

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Cheers and Jeers for Friday, July 15, 2022

Note:
88888888888888888888888888888 Sorry about that. Had to clean some nacho cheese off my 8 key. All better now. —Mgt.

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By the Numbers:

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8 days!!!

Days 'til Space Exploration Day: 5

Days 'til the Summer Brewfest in Denver: 8

Percent by which the number of filings for union elections is up this fiscal year compared to 2021, according to the NLRB: 56%

Average gas price, down from $5.01 a month ago: $4.62

Amount of his fortune Bill Gates is donating to his foundation to "fund innovations and causes that prevent pandemics, reduce childhood deaths, eradicate diseases, tackle climate change and achieve gender equality": $20 billion

Number of TV shows eligible for Emmys this year: 754

Minimum number of mushroom species that glow in the dark: 70

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Puppy Pic of the Day: Weekend plans…

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CHEERS to putting the gun makers over a barrel. If Republicans can deputize ordinary citizens to go after abortion seekers in red states, then Democrats should be able to use similar measures to go after the firearms industry in blue states. And in California, that's what they're doing:

[Gov. Gavin Newsom] signed a bill that establishes a new code of conduct for gun manufacturers and distributors and allows private citizens―as well as the state and local governments―to sue the firearms businesses if they’ve caused them harm.

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These are the gunmakers’ balls under California’s new gunmaker-accountability law. Any questions?

“It’s well known that nearly every industry is held to account when their products cause harm or injury, except one: the gun industry,” Newsom said upon signing the bill. “California is going to change that. […]

Under [the] rules, industry players must establish “reasonable controls” that keep guns out of the hands of people most likely to cause harm. Such controls include enacting protocols to prevent the sale of firearms to straw purchasers, gun traffickers, anyone legally prohibited from owning a firearm and anyone whom the business has a reasonable concern might unlawfully harm themselves or others.

Fascinating: no response from the gun companies. Only from the NRA. Or as it's better known: the gun companies.

CHEERS to border family values. Anything that reins in America's Gestapo—the jackbooted thugs known as ICE—gets a gold star in my book. So file this, yet again, in our burgeoning cabinet labeled "Elections Have Consequences." Sometimes good ones:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were instructed Thursday to begin taking additional steps to ensure that they are not unintentionally separating parents from their children at the southern border or when making arrests inside the country.

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The new procedures are the latest in a series of steps the Biden administration has taken to ensure that the separation of migrant families, which was done systematically by the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018, does not happen again.

Over 5,000 parents were separated from their children under then-President Donald Trump’s 2018 “zero tolerance” policy.

Unfortunately, executive branch decisions can be undone the next time a MAGA cultist becomes president. So this calls for immediate and comprehensive immigration reform by the Senate. [Long pause.] That was the punchline.

JEERS to Vatican vitriol. 817 years ago this week, in 1205, Pope Innocent III stood up and decreed that Jews would be doomed to perpetual servitude and subjugation because they killed Jesus. His pronouncement was immediately followed by: "Ow! Who threw that?!!"

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BRIEF SANITY BREAK

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have a balloon sir pic.twitter.com/RllhoKzHpq

— ᴘᴀᴠʟᴏᴠ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏʀɢɪ (@PAVGOD) July 10, 2022

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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK

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CHEERS to lighting one helluva candle. Today is the 53rd anniversary of the liftoff of Apollo 11, when we sent three biologically-active bags of water into the cold and unforgiving void known as “space” in a tin can filled with blinking lights and Tang for a week or two. Cronkite's understatement: "Oh, boy, What a moment." Watch it on the way back machine…

YouTube Video

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The mission would fulfill a vision set forth by President John F. Kennedy eight years earlier to put a man on the moon before decade's end, and would climax with Neil Armstrong's immortal words four days later: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for... Mmmm! Hey guys, it’s cheddar!"

CHEERS to home vegetation. A quick roundup of some of the eyestuff that may end upon your TV this weekend. Chris Hayes and the gang lead things off with live coverage of What The Hell Happened Today on MSNBC. And that's it, really, for tonight, so you might want to dive into something streaming via whatever looks good at Rotten Tomatoes.

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The windmill hole at the British Open dashes a lot of hopes.

Sports: MLB schedule here and the WNBA schedule here. And even if you don't give a caddie's p'tootey about golf, chances are you'll take an occasional cursory look at the leader board for the 150th British Open (7am tomorrow on NBC, with highlights at 5pm for us sleeper-inners), happening at St. Andrews, home to the dreaded Welsh rarebit traps and lakes of flaming haggis.

On 60 Minutes: encore reports on Rwanda’s mountain gorillas and a profile of the creative director at Gucci. And now here's your Sunday morning lineup:

Meet the Press: Hooray! Thank you, British Open, for knocking Chuck Todd and his evil goatee off the airwaves for a week. Platters of flaming haggis for everyone!

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Also Sunday: these discarded lamps get into a heated debate over tort reform.

This Week: White House Covid Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha; House Jan. 6 Committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).

CNN's State of the Union: House Jan. 6 Committee member Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA); National Economic Council director Brian Deese; Paul Begala; Gov. Doug Ducey (The Cult-AZ).

Face the Nation: House Jan. 6 Committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); Mayor Muriel Bowser (D-DC); Senior Advisor for Energy Security at the State Dept. Amos Hochstein; former FDA guy Scott Gottlieb; former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers Jason Furman.

Fox GOP Talking Points Sunday: Sen. Rick Sssssssscott (The Cult-FL).

Happy viewing!

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Ten years ago in C&J: July 15, 2012

JEERS
to taking the bait. Last night a headline appeared on The Drudge Report intended to distract the media from Mitt Romney's Bain Capital catastrophe (Baintastrophe?) by suggesting that someone who has no chance of being his running mate is a front-runner to be his running mate. And as of this afternoon, this was the lead sentence of the lead story at Yahoo News:

The Drudge Report ran a blaring headline late Thursday night reporting that sources within Mitt Romney's presidential campaign say Condoleezza Rice, who served as secretary of state and national security adviser under President George W. Bush, is a "front-runner" for the running mate slot.

Which brings me to today's analogy: Drudge is to mainstream media as laser pointer is to cat.

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And just one more…

CHEERS
to angels playing with beach balls. The Emmy nominations for excellence in TV-makin’ skills were announced this week. (No host announced yet for the awards show, which will air on September 12th.) A few notables:

» Leading the pack: HBO's Succession with 25 nominations, followed by Ted Lasso and White Lotus with 20.

» Barack Obama is nominated for his narration in the Netflix series Our Great National Parks.

» The best musical parodist of the modern era, Randy Rainbow, notched his 4th Emmy nod, for Best Short-form Comedy or Variety Series.

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“Wheeeee! I caught the beach ball!”

» Last Week Tonight, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Daily Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Stephen Colbert’s Late Show—all of whom contributed some of the best political humor and, specifically, cut-to-the-bone MAGA mockery, got nods for Best Variety Talk Series. Full Frontal With Samantha Bee got a nod for best short form nonfiction or reality series.

» One of Portland, Maine's most noted students, Tony Shalhoub (University of Southern Maine), earned his 13th Emmy nomination, for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

» The World According to Jeff Goldblum should win for best hosted nonfiction series or special because of the part of the title that says Jeff Goldblum.

» One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga should win for best variety special because of the part of the title that says Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.

You can check out the full list here. Snubbed again: the two local blue-hair ladies who sing gospel tunes with the aid of a $25 karaoke machine at 3am every weekend on our public access channel. May God smite the academy with a bad case of something itchy.

Have a great weekend. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?

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