A Few Words from Some of March’s Birthday Kids
Continued...
If you celebrated or have yet to celebrate a birthday in March, we wish you many blessings on your camels. And now, our feature presentation…
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Note: C&J is moving! Starting next week, we’ll be posting exclusively in the diaries, just like the days of old, when chamber pots and hoop skirts were considered technological marvels. So watch for the C&J logo on the “recent” list M-Th mornings around 7:50 ET (and Friday evenings, as usual, at 7:20). Then come on in and splash in the pool. The algae thickness will remain exactly the same. —Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
4 days!!!
Days 'til Easter: 5
Days 'til the Brew Woo Craft Beer Festival in Worcester, Massachusetts: 4
Year-over-year drop in the mortgage delinquencies in February: -3.34%
First-time unemployment claims announced last week, down 2k from the previous week: 210,000
Number of defections House Republicans can now afford when passing legislation after last week's resignation by Mike Gallagher (R-WI) left them with only a 217-213 majority: 1
Number of states in which measles cases have been brought back from Florida, the current measles capital of the country: 3
Years until GM plans to be selling only electric vehicles: 11
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Happy tails, happy bellies…
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CHEERS to throwing sand in the gears of a sand-worthy political machine. I can't say I was familiar with the "county line" feature on New Jersey election ballots, but apparently it's a way for Democratic party bosses to put their thumb on the scale so that their candidates have a greater chance of winning. Not this time! In the primary race to replace indicted Senator Bob Menendez, the party bosses' centrist choice just dropped out in favor of great progressive candidate (and current congressman) Andy Kim, county lines be damned. From the Daily Kos Elections Team:
Spoiler alert: he'll succeed.
CHEERS to protecting the vote. More good news out of Wisconsin, a state that came within a whisker of becoming a permanent Republican dictatorship not too long ago. (Hi, Scott Walker, you big [expletive deleted]!) Thanks to recently-reelected Democratic Governor Tony Evers, two more voting rights laws are now in place:
But if an election worker slaps a jumbo-sized "I Voted" sticker across a MAGA cultist’s mouth for not shutting up about ballots laced with bamboo fibers and nanobots, they won’t get slapped with a felony. They’ll get a handshake and probably a plate of cookies.
CHEERS to walkin' the walk. 59 years ago this week, in 1965—a few weeks after "Bloody Sunday" during which police set upon peaceful civil rights marchers with fire hoses, clubs and dogs—Martin Luther King, Jr. led thousands of marchers to the State Capitol in Montgomery for a rally. It looked something like this (that's the late Congressman John Lewis second from the left):
The marchers got three things out of it: Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a permanent place in civil rights history and, much less publicized, aching arches.
CHEERS to makin' up and makin' nice. Forty-five years ago today, on March 26, 1979, Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat signed a historic peace agreement that is still holding up today:
Said Sadat of Democratic mediator President Jimmy Carter, who is still with us at 99: "[He is] the man who performed the miracle. Without exaggeration, what he did constitutes one of the greatest achievements of our time." Yeah, we're kinda fond of him ourselves.
JEERS to today's edition of I'm Shocked, Shocked, To Find Gambling Going On In This Establishment, Round Up The Usual Suspects. Courtesy of HuffPost:
This has been today's edition of I'm Shocked, Shocked, To Find Gambling Going On In This Establishment, Round Up The Usual Suspects.
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 26, 2014
JEERS to one helluva slippery slope. The Supreme Court hears arguments in the cases of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga v. Sebelius today. The issue is whether or not, to step into the mouth of Mitt Romney for a moment, "Corporations are people, my friends, and the CEO is an invisible bearded old man in the sky." The Alliance for Justice concludes:
If the court approves it, I'm going to start up my own business and object on religious grounds to my employees breathing, and then fire 'em for being slackers when they pass out. I'll probably go bankrupt pretty fast, but it'll be fun while it lasts. Repeat after me, everyone: “OSHA is Satan!”
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the best science officer in the galaxy. This guy:
YouTube Video
Happy 93rd birthday, Leonard Nimoy, wherever you are. (And Happy Leonard Nimoy Day in Boston.) We could really use some of your logic down here right about now.
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Continued...
"My favorite line belongs to an old Irish woman taxi driver in Boston. Flo Kennedy and I were in the backseat talking about Flo’s book, Abortion Rap, and the driver turned around and said, 'Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.' I wish I’d gotten her name so we could attribute it to her.”
—Gloria Steinem
"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
—Albert Einstein
"Nixon is the kind of guy who, if you were drowning twenty feet from shore, would throw you a fifteen-foot rope."
—Eugene McCarthy [Also applies to every Republican in 2024]
The birthday Speaker Emeritus says it all without saying a word.
"When I was 40 and looking at 60, it seemed like a thousand miles away. But 62 feels like a week and a half away from 80. I must now get on with those things I always talked about doing but put off."
—Harry Belafonte, who passed last year at 96
"When I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court], and I say, ‘When there are nine,’ people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that."
—Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“We’re at the tipping point, we haven’t got time to wait 30 years and argue about a few billion dollars. Burying your head in the sand another instant about global warming and the destruction of the planet is suicide for all of us.”
—William Shatner, 93, following his 2021 Blue Origin space flight
"If Attila the Hun were alive today, he'd be a drama critic."
—Edward Albee
“Who hasn’t had a weight issue? If not the body, certainly the big head.”
—Aretha Franklin
If you celebrated or have yet to celebrate a birthday in March, we wish you many blessings on your camels. And now, our feature presentation…
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Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Note: C&J is moving! Starting next week, we’ll be posting exclusively in the diaries, just like the days of old, when chamber pots and hoop skirts were considered technological marvels. So watch for the C&J logo on the “recent” list M-Th mornings around 7:50 ET (and Friday evenings, as usual, at 7:20). Then come on in and splash in the pool. The algae thickness will remain exactly the same. —Mgt.
-
By the Numbers:
4 days!!!
Days 'til Easter: 5
Days 'til the Brew Woo Craft Beer Festival in Worcester, Massachusetts: 4
Year-over-year drop in the mortgage delinquencies in February: -3.34%
First-time unemployment claims announced last week, down 2k from the previous week: 210,000
Number of defections House Republicans can now afford when passing legislation after last week's resignation by Mike Gallagher (R-WI) left them with only a 217-213 majority: 1
Number of states in which measles cases have been brought back from Florida, the current measles capital of the country: 3
Years until GM plans to be selling only electric vehicles: 11
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Happy tails, happy bellies…
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CHEERS to throwing sand in the gears of a sand-worthy political machine. I can't say I was familiar with the "county line" feature on New Jersey election ballots, but apparently it's a way for Democratic party bosses to put their thumb on the scale so that their candidates have a greater chance of winning. Not this time! In the primary race to replace indicted Senator Bob Menendez, the party bosses' centrist choice just dropped out in favor of great progressive candidate (and current congressman) Andy Kim, county lines be damned. From the Daily Kos Elections Team:
Unlike in every other state, where candidates are listed on ballots by the office they're seeking, New Jersey allows its counties to group contenders based on whether they've earned an endorsement from the local Democratic or Republican party.
The iconic photo of Rep. Kim helping clean up after the 2021 Trump insurrection.
This system allows parties to give preferential ballot placement to their preferred candidates, putting endorsees in a prominent location while relegating others to less visible spots known as "ballot Siberia." […]
But Kim experienced considerable success in counties that held conventions open to a large number of delegates and allowed participants to cast a secret ballot. Kim's prominence—and the high-profile nature of the race—likely diminished the value of the county line, which was always most potent in obscure races. … If he succeeds, Kim, the son of Korean immigrants, would become the state's first Asian American senator and the first Korean American senator in U.S. history.
Spoiler alert: he'll succeed.
CHEERS to protecting the vote. More good news out of Wisconsin, a state that came within a whisker of becoming a permanent Republican dictatorship not too long ago. (Hi, Scott Walker, you big [expletive deleted]!) Thanks to recently-reelected Democratic Governor Tony Evers, two more voting rights laws are now in place:
But if an election worker slaps a jumbo-sized "I Voted" sticker across a MAGA cultist’s mouth for not shutting up about ballots laced with bamboo fibers and nanobots, they won’t get slapped with a felony. They’ll get a handshake and probably a plate of cookies.
CHEERS to walkin' the walk. 59 years ago this week, in 1965—a few weeks after "Bloody Sunday" during which police set upon peaceful civil rights marchers with fire hoses, clubs and dogs—Martin Luther King, Jr. led thousands of marchers to the State Capitol in Montgomery for a rally. It looked something like this (that's the late Congressman John Lewis second from the left):
The marchers got three things out of it: Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a permanent place in civil rights history and, much less publicized, aching arches.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to makin' up and makin' nice. Forty-five years ago today, on March 26, 1979, Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat signed a historic peace agreement that is still holding up today:
The Egypt-Israel peace treaty was a direct result of the Camp David Peace Accords, signed in September 1978. President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize later that year.
Took ‘em three hours to get their hands untwisted.
Under the accords, Israel agreed to withdraw troops from the Sinai Peninsula in return for Egypt's recognition of the state of Israel. Palestinians were also granted the right to some self-determination.
Said Sadat of Democratic mediator President Jimmy Carter, who is still with us at 99: "[He is] the man who performed the miracle. Without exaggeration, what he did constitutes one of the greatest achievements of our time." Yeah, we're kinda fond of him ourselves.
JEERS to today's edition of I'm Shocked, Shocked, To Find Gambling Going On In This Establishment, Round Up The Usual Suspects. Courtesy of HuffPost:
This has been today's edition of I'm Shocked, Shocked, To Find Gambling Going On In This Establishment, Round Up The Usual Suspects.
-
Ten years ago in C&J: March 26, 2014
JEERS to one helluva slippery slope. The Supreme Court hears arguments in the cases of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga v. Sebelius today. The issue is whether or not, to step into the mouth of Mitt Romney for a moment, "Corporations are people, my friends, and the CEO is an invisible bearded old man in the sky." The Alliance for Justice concludes:
If the court approves it, I'm going to start up my own business and object on religious grounds to my employees breathing, and then fire 'em for being slackers when they pass out. I'll probably go bankrupt pretty fast, but it'll be fun while it lasts. Repeat after me, everyone: “OSHA is Satan!”
-
And just one more…
CHEERS to the best science officer in the galaxy. This guy:
YouTube Video
-
Happy 93rd birthday, Leonard Nimoy, wherever you are. (And Happy Leonard Nimoy Day in Boston.) We could really use some of your logic down here right about now.
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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