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Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday [1]

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Date: 2023-12-12

I'm Telling You for the Last Time (This Year) Just a quick above-the-fold reminder that if you get your health insurance through the healthcare.gov portal, the sands in the hourglass will run out at midnight Friday if you want your 2024 coverage to start January 1st.

But if you can't make this deadline, our current not-an-asshole-like-the-previous-guy president will give you until January 15th to enroll for coverage starting February 1st. I mean, come on, people, we can't mollycoddle you forever or you might start thinking socialistic thoughts, which would require you to undergo socialist conversion therapy, and of course that's a totally out-of-pocket expense down at your local mega church. But I digress.

Continued...

I did some shopping around—I use the Maine exchange, which Governor Mills set up a couple years ago—and discovered I was perfectly fine with the quality of my current plan, which will cost me a bit more than last year but is still affordable thanks to the premium support. (Thank you, Democrats.) Many people can find a plan for a low or even no-cost premium, and that ain't bad. So if you need coverage, get coverage. If ya got coverage, help yourself…

It’s okay. Obamacare also covers type-2 diabetes.

And now, our feature presentation...

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Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Note: As of this week you may now officially start walking in a winter wonderland. Wear sturdy shoes, always pass slower walkers on the left, and watch out for Parson Brown and his "grabby hands." —Dept. of Public Safety

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By the Numbers:

Ends December 31st.

Days ‘til Christmas: 13

Days 'til the end of Gardens Aglow at the Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor, Maine: 19

Public approval for the Affordable Care Act, according to Navigator Research, its highest favorable level ever: 61%

Number of Sears stores still open in the continental U.S.: 12

Number of Sears stores that quietly reopened recently: 2 (Burbank, CA and Union Gap, WA)

New York mayor Eric Adams’s approval rating, according to a Quinnipiac poll, the lowest ever recorded for a New York City mayor: 28%

Ages of Norman Lear and Ryan O'Neal when they died last week: 101, 82

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Puppy Pic of the Day: Wakey wakey…

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CHEERS to jobs, jobs, and more jobs. The numbers aren't eye-popping relative to some of the blockbuster months of the recent past, but the November jobs report released Friday wasn't half bad: 199-thousand new jobs. Some details from Bill McBride at Calculated Risk:

Leisure and hospitality gained 40 thousand jobs in November. At the beginning of the pandemic, in March and April of 2020, leisure and hospitality lost 8.2 million jobs, and are now down 158 thousand jobs since February 2020. So, leisure and hospitality has now added back about 98% all of the jobs lost in March and April 2020. x Economic forecasters said it couldn’t be done, but we’re proving them wrong. pic.twitter.com/nDz9nrxFAY — President Biden (@POTUS) December 8, 2023 - Construction employment increased 2 thousand and is now 425 thousand above the pre-pandemic level. Manufacturing employment increased 28 thousand jobs and is now 200 thousand above the pre-pandemic level. The unemployment rate decreased to 3.7%. Another solid employment report.

The response was predictable. Democrats’ reaction to the good jobs report: “Yay!” Republicans’ reaction to the good jobs report: “Booooo!”

CHEERS to getting you up to speed. If you just woke up from a several-months-long nap, here's the big story of the moment: The terrorists of Hamas kidnapped and butchered a bunch of innocent Israeli civilians. Then Israel struck back, killing many terrorists but also a bunch of innocent Palestinian civilians. Everyone blamed Joe Biden for this mess, and all the presidents of all the American universities were forced to resign in disgrace because Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) forced them to give a yes-or-no answer to a question that was way more complicated than a simple yes or no. So now everybody hates everybody else, Donald Trump is poised to return as Hitler, and the only person who can clean up the mess is Taylor Swift, but she's dating a football player. You are now up to date. We suggest you resume your nap.

CHEERS to the Crossroads of America. Happy birthday to the home of 6.7 million clean-cut, "basketball ring"-dunking patriots in the heartland.

Also in Indiana’s “plus” column: the first openly-gay presidential candidate from a major party to win a primary or caucus (Iowa), and current Secretary of Transportation, is a Hoosier.

On December 11, 1816, Indiana (or as we say in Maine: "Indianer") became our nation's 19th state. I grew up next door in Ohio, so naturally I'm legally obliged to look down my designer reading glasses at you "Hoosier types" because I’ve been indoctrinated to believe that your corn is inferior and you stole our state bird, the cardinal. (I still say the Buckeye State should build a big, beautiful border wall and make Kentucky pay for it.) But I'll give you this: any state that produces David Letterman (Indianapolis), Eugene V. Debs (Terre Haute), Kurt Vonnegut (also Indy), Larry Bird (West Baden Springs), Florence Henderson (Dale), and all these other VIPs can't be all bad. But we do have three somber words for the folks in Columbus, where Mike Pence cultivated his lifelong obsession with Puritanism as a lad: “Thoughts and prayers.”

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BRIEF SANITY BREAK

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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK

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CHEERS to great moments in feeling good. On December 11, 1844, laughing gas was used by a dentist for the first time. They don’t use it as much these days. They achieved better results by putting TVs on the ceiling tuned to Fox News.

JEERS to today's edition of This Cowardly Crook Is More Predictable Than The Sunrise. Courtesy of CBS News:

Former President Donald Trump has decided he will not testify as planned on Monday in his New York civil fraud trial.

This has been today's edition of This Cowardly Crook Is More Predictable Than The Sunrise.

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Ten years ago in C&J: December 12, 2013

CHEERS to a first peek under the radioactive hood. International Atomic Energy inspectors started—oh, what's the word?—inspecting some of Iran's nuclear facilities Sunday. There's good news and bad news. First the good news:

The increased transparency is the result of a thaw in relations between Iran and the West that culminated in a deal struck last month under which Tehran is to curb its nuclear program in return for some easing of sanctions. It was the first time in more than two years that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been allowed to go to the Arak heavy water production plant, which is designed to supply a research reactor under construction nearby.

The bad news: turns out the entire Iranian nuclear program is under the supervision of Ibrahomer al Simpson.

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And just one more…

CHEERS to a peace-full moment. Somber yet defiant accolades over the weekend to this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Narges Mohammadi, whose family accepted her award on her behalf Sunday in Oslo, Norway:

Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has denounced a “tyrannical and anti-women religious” government in Iran in an acceptance speech read by her children in the Norwegian capital. Narges Mohammadi Her 17-year-old twins Ali and Kiana, both living in exile in France since 2015, received the award on her behalf on Sunday, delivering a speech she managed to smuggle out of her cell. “I am a Middle Eastern woman, and come from a region which, despite its rich civilisation, is now trapped amid war, the fire of terrorism and extremism,” she said in her message. “The Iranian people will dismantle obstruction and despotism through their persistence.”

She received the Nobel Peace Prize on International Human Rights Day, which passed the usual way: plenty of humans on Planet Earth, but not enough rights.

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 ”This was a masterpiece of dog shit. I really don’t know how to describe Cheers and Jeers” —Will Hardy

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[END]
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