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Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday [1]
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Date: 2023-03-07
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Note: Do you ever have that dream where you're about to post C&J but then you realize that you don’t have a "Note" written, so you panic and make up some shit about having a dream where you're about to post C&J but then you realize that you don’t have a "Note" written? Yeah…uhhhhh...me neither. Again.
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Saturday!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til spring: 13
Days 'til the Battle of the Gumbo Gladiators Cook-off in Shreveport, Louisiana: 4
Drop in Twitter's ad revenue in December: -71%
Percent of the rural hospital closures in rural areas in the last 5 years that have been in non-Medicaid-expansion states: 82%
The most common gas price in the U.S. now: $2.99/gal.
Percent of Americans polled by AAA who say they are afraid of self-driving vehicles, up from 55% last year: 70%
Amount that Mississippi Gov Tate Reeves (MAGA) used in federal Head Start funds to print 7,500 copies of the children’s book written by his wife: $10,000
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Breakfast is served…
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CHEERS to Republicans to the rescue! When the Puritans on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and kicked the abortion can back down to the states, the MAGA cult celebrated their victory. But, as usual, they forgot one pesky little detail: in their knee-jerk efforts a dozen years ago to kill as much of President Obama's Affordable Care Act as possible, some states left the door wide open for abortion-rights advocates to walk through. And so far the courts agree:
“Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions,” reads section 38(a) of the Wyoming constitution’s Declaration of Rights, under the header “Right of healthcare access.” The provision was placed on Wyoming’s ballot by state lawmakers and approved by voters in 2012; voters saw ballot language that described the measure as preserving this right “from undue governmental infringement.” Now these anti-ACA provisions—and their broad affirmations of a right to decide—have turned into an unlikely weapon in progressives’ fight against restrictions on abortion. Reproductive rights advocates in Wyoming have sued to strike down the state’s abortion ban, saying that this “right to make . . . health care decisions” protects abortion access. A lawsuit in Ohio has made the same case using a similar provision in Ohio’s constitution that was adopted by voters in 2011. […] [T]he turnaround in these amendments’ use is a reminder of a history of unintended consequences for constitutional provisions that the right has used as well, for instance with the federal equal protections clause and affirmative action cases.
The Republican Party’s motto comes shining through again: ”There is no furniture we won’t bump into.”
CHEERS to votes of confidence. There was big election in the small (pop. 1.3 million) but reality-based parliamentary democracy of Estonia over the weekend, and I'm happy to report that the center-right Reform Party—fiscally conservative and socially liberal—had a great day, destroying the far-right and giving Kaja Kallas another term as most-excellent prime minister. Why does this matter? NPR is glad you asked:
Estonia is a key member of the eastern flank of NATO—essentially making it one of the West's front-line states facing an increasingly aggressive Russia. Estonia chose…….wisely. "The location of these countries, the pro-American, pro-European economically successful, resourceful, democratic, human rights-loving nature of the eastern flank countries is something that Russia sees as a threat to it," says Kristine Berzina, of the German Marshall Fund for the U.S., referring to Estonia and other Baltic states. "But these countries are the most loyal and most reliable allies for the United States." Berzina adds that unlike other EU members like Hungary, or even Germany, Estonia is completely in-line with the U.S. in how it sees the threat from Russia.
Congratulations to the Estonian Reform Party, a coalition so intelligent, quick-thinking, resourceful, energetic, and community-based that they're known as The Squirrel Party. Enough said.
JEERS to fire hoses at dawn. On March 7, 1965, America's ”Bloody Sunday”—a march by civil rights demonstrators, notably the late Congressman John Lewis among them—was broken up in Selma, Alabama when "state and local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas. Here's the iconic photo of Lewis nearly losing his life for the simple act of wondering if perhaps Black Americans could be equal to white ones:
And his final crossing—an achingly-poignant moment—after he passed away at 80 in 2020:
To mark the occasion, there were events in Selma, Alabama over the weekend, including a visit by President Biden. No injuries were reported beyond a few cases of banjo on the knee.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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x Where you learn that mastering mechanical vibrations is fundamental in life
https://t.co/0uioqK5rsX pic.twitter.com/7YyfdxFxqH — Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 5, 2023
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to Pa Bell. 147 years ago today, in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent—#174,465—for a new and exciting communications device, one of the features of which was the insertion of a diaphragm. Bell called it the telephone. Republicans, of course, called it a harlot.
CHEERS to today's edition of Oh, Hey, Nice Hole You've Dug Yourself Into, Vlad. Courtesy of NBC News:
Ammunition shortages that may have forced some soldiers to fight using shovels have fueled new Russian infighting and threatened to undermine what could be the Kremlin’s first major victory in months. […] The shovels are likely the same ones used to dig trenches and which have been used on the front line by Russian forces since the days of the czars. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner private military group whose fighters have conducted much of Russia's advance in eastern Ukraine, said over the weekend that "if Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse."
This has been today's edition of Oh, Hey, Nice Hole You've Dug Yourself Into, Vlad.
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Ten years ago in C&J: March 7, 2013
CHEERS to gittin' 'er done. What should have been a routine act of common-sense legislation turned into an unnecessarily protracted and vicious battle, thanks (again!) to Republican obstructionists. So today's signing of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) feels like an even landmarkier event than the landmark event it is:
Over more than two decades, this law has saved countless lives and transformed the way we treat victims of abuse. Today’s vote will go even further by continuing to reduce domestic violence, improving how we treat victims of rape, and extending protections to Native American women and members of the LGBT community. The bill also reauthorizes the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, providing critical support for both international and domestic victims of trafficking and helping ensure traffickers are brought to justice.
As the president puts his pens to paper, be sure to send a hearty "Thpppttppt!" to the 27 House Republicans who voted against it twice—both the stronger version and the watered-down version. It's the least we can do, considering they couldn’t even do the least they could do.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to Self-evident Truths—Part 340 in our 34,276-part series. There's simply no argument on this one: When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore. (Look it up!) And starting tonight you're really gonna get an eyeful. Yes, it's a rare "Apocalyptic Jazz-Hands Worm Moon” moon, and we hope you're prepared to be dazzled:
The final full moon of the winter season will appear on the nights of Monday, March 6, and Tuesday, March 7. Specifically, March’s full Worm Moon reaches peak illumination at 7:42 A.M. ET on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Of course, you don’t have to wait until the middle of the night to see the Moon! Look for the spectacularly bright Moon as it rises above the horizon on Monday evening. If your weather is poor on Monday night, try again on Tuesday! Oh no, someone put the moon in the paper shredder. I bet it was Bart in accounting again. For many years, we thought this name referred to the earthworms that appear as the soil warms in spring. […] However, more research revealed another explanation. In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver visited the Naudowessie (Dakota) and other Native American tribes and wrote that the name Worm Moon refers to a different sort of “worm”—beetle larvae—which begin to emerge from the thawing bark of trees and other winter hideouts at this time.
Usual full-moon drill: if skies are clear, get yer butt out in the back yard, look up, think of Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins (Buzz Aldrin, thankfully, is still with us), and give it a wink. (Or, if you’re a werewolf, an “Arooooooooo!!!”)
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial "I did give it serious consideration and I talked to people everywhere and I talked to my family. And it was a tough decision. But I've decided that I will not be splashing in the Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool." —Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan
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[END]
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