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Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-08
Energize An Ally Tuesday
Three years ago this month, via Politico:
A Democratic candidate recruiting group is pitching donors on an ambitious three-year program to find, train and support 5,000 candidates for local offices in charge of election administration, a sprawling national effort intended to fight subversion of future election results. The program would recruit candidates in 35 states for everything from county probate judges in Alabama to county clerks in Kansas and county election board members in Pennsylvania—all offices that handle elections and will be on voters’ ballots between now and 2024. Spearheading the effort is Run for Something, a Democratic group that launched soon after Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory to recruit candidates for local elections.
Three years later, Run for Something is making it happen, and then some. Every Monday co-founder Amanda Litman sends out a “feel-good update,” and here’s a snip from yesterday’s:
Last week’s big elections on Tuesday reminded us once again: When we run, we can win. Between the huge Democratic win over Elon Musk & Trump in the Wisconsin state supreme court race and the 14 + 15 point swings in the Florida special election districts that Trump won by 30 points each, I feel like we all needed this. 2025 is about winning for the sake of building power—and winning to practice winning and build momentum for future victories. In 2025 + 2026, we need to expand the battlefield: Recruit widely and empower as many candidates as possible to run great campaigns. (We’re on it!) We also had RFS candidates on the ballot last week. A few of our own big victories: Carl Bryan held on to his seat on the Kenosha School Board, ensuring that the GOP slate didn’t take any power in a key WI community.
Julia Matthews beat an incumbent to win a seat on the Madison Common Council — she was motivated to run by the ongoing bullshit in DC.
Ethan Reed took a seat on the Eua Claire city council, running on a campaign for affordable housing. We didn’t win every election, but we’re taking big swings and making the GOP fight for every single seat. It all matters. Your support makes it possible. Thanks.
If you can spare a few bucks, they’d sure appreciate the support—their Act Blue page is here. In their words: “In 2008-2016, Democrats and progressives lost over 1,000 state, local, and federal offices because we neglected our political infrastructure. We're determined not to repeat the same mistakes.”
Three years later countless Democratic candidates have won races and/or gained valuable experience as Run for Something compiles a huge knowledge bank of expertise for future campaigns. This is the kind of local grassroots campaigning that Democrats have been clamoring for, and I have a feeling we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Follow Run for Something on Facebook here and on BlueSky here.
And now, our feature presentation...
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Note: I spent all day yesterday weighing the evidence, interviewing advocates and opponents on all sides, making last-minute fact-finding trips to Academia, and spending time talking with regular Americans at cafes, bus stops and bars. I've made my decision: vanilla.
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By the Numbers:
3 days!!!
Days 'til the next full moon: 4
Days 'til the 89th annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival: 3
Percent chance that esteemed financial blogger Bill McKibben is now on "Recession Watch" for only the 4th time in 20 years: 100%
Number of months during which average national apartment rental prices have fallen: 19
Number of new subscribers to right-leaning You Tube channels since January 1st: 6.9 million
Number of new subscribers to left-leaning You Tube channels since January 1st: 10.1 million
Estimated amount Americans legally wagered on NCAA March Madness games this year, according to the American Gaming Association: $3.1 billion
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Puppy Pic of the Day: In Belmont, New Hampshire, the new hire arrives…
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CHEERS to Tuesday. Everything's going just great today! I got out of bed and dressed myself. I took the dog out to pee (as a bonus, she also pooped). I fixed breakfast that included—sorry if this makes me sound like an out-of-touch elitist—an egg. Then I brushed my teeth and gargled. I opened my computer and got it running without having to call tech support. Oh, and the sun rose. And the cock crowed. And I kissed my partner goodbye as he headed off to his job. Fed the squirrels (of course). Wiped down the kitchen counters. Looked out my window to make sure there were no murder victims to clear off the street with my ox cart. (Well, that's usually a Thursday thing anyway, so no surprise there.) So, yeah—just another ordinary day on the tiny blue particle of dust in space. Did I mention I also found some stray M&Ms in a drawer? It's like I hit the lottery. (You take your wins where you can get ‘em.) Nothing can go wrong now!
JEERS to everything going wrong now. We’ll file this under “information we shouldn’t need.” If you've been wondering just how bad the market has to get before the so-called "circuit breakers" kick in to keep us all from losing our retirement money in a single day, here's CNBC to the rescue:
There are three circuit breaker levels: Level 1: The S&P 500 falls 7% intraday. If this occurs before 3:25 p.m. ET, trading is halted for 15 minutes. If it happens after that time, trading continues unless a level 3 breaker is tripped up.
Level 2: The S&P 500 drops 13% intraday. If this occurs before 3:25 p.m. ET, trading stops for 15 minutes. If it happens after that time, trading continues unless a level 3 breaker is triggered.
Level 3: The S&P 500 plunges 20% intraday. At this point, the Exchange suspends trading for the remainder of the day.
And then there's Level 4: Trump's head ends up on a pike. If that happens, break out the bubbly for the remainder of the decade.
CHEERS to a fine FLOTUS. Happy Birthday to the late Betty Ford on what would be her 107th birthday. She gained fame in an era that many Americans can vaguely remember—namely, a time when the GOP had a smattering of class. But even then, she was a persistent thorn in her party's side:
Throughout her husband's term in office, she maintained high approval ratings, though some on the far-right of her own Republican Party strongly opposed her on more liberal social issues. Happy Birthday, Betty. Regards to Gerald. Betty Ford was noted for raising breast cancer awareness with her 1974 mastectomy and was a passionate supporter for the Equal Rights Amendment. Pro-choice on abortion and a leader in the Women's Movement, she gained fame as one of the most candid first ladies in history, commenting on every hot button issue of the time from sex to drugs.
Her most enduring legacy, of course, is the Betty Ford Center. Sadly, the center doesn't have a wing for candy corn addicts like me. But I'm happy to say my self-administered Kit-Kat bar replacement therapy seems to be holding. One day at a time.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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x This is an old video, but it always makes me laugh... A baby elephant named Kindani tickles a Kenyan journalist during a live broadcast 😂😂😂 🔊 Support SWT: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org — Jessi 💫 (@jessigrace.bsky.social) 2025-03-29T22:44:35.708Z
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to precious moments. Yesterday afternoon, with our last stick-to-the-ground snowflakes of the season behind us (all melted now) we began our ceremonial putting away of the snow shovels in the storage space under the back stairs, our ceremonial storing of the barrels of ice-melting pellets in the basement, and our ceremonial unpacking of the leopard-print thongs from the plastic storage bin in the closet. Also yesterday, the neighbors began their ceremonial lowering of the blinds in their windows. God bless America.
JEERS to shunning your child. Sorry to inform you of this, but as of October Windows 10 is dead to Microsoft. Without the company's supervision, anyone still using the system may experience crashes, cyber attacks, frozen screens and glitches that defy description. In other words, nothing will change.
P.S. My Windows 95 is still good to go, though. Right?
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Ten years ago in C&J: April 8, 2015
JEERS to more money down the rat hole. As if we didn’t know already, this article in the Los Angeles Times demonstrates what a colossal waste of everything "our missile defense shield" has been. But, of course, it still has its defenders, like this idiot clinging to the Dick Cheney "one-percent rule":
Henry A. Obering III, a retired director of the Missile Defense Agency, said any unfulfilled expectations for SBX and the other projects were the fault of the Obama administration and Congress—for not doubling down with more spending. “If we can stop one missile from destroying one American city,” said Obering, a former Air Force lieutenant general, “we have justified the entire program many times over from its initiation in terms of cost.”
How come we never hear any of these guys say, "If we save just one person from hunger, it will have justified the cost?" Naw, that would deprive them of another favorite rule of the maniacal overlord class: if there's just one family of poors who can be kicked, then they must be kicked.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to warm C&J welcomes. Hey, y’know what I read yesterday? I read that corrupt Israeli prime minister and Harvard-educated genocide advocate Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting our lovely country and its breathtaking scenery and culinary delights. And by golly, it’d be downright rude of me not to extend the precise welcome gesture that a man of his stature and accomplishments deserves. So welcome to America, Mr. Prime Minister, and…
..enjoy your stay, li’l fella.
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 "On a personal note, may I say, the number of you who depicted Bill in Portland Maine's mouth and face being a literal butthole is truly impressive—and much more than I asked for or needed to see." —Michael Moore
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