Here’s a story that’ll get your endorphins pumping, courtesy of Politico, especially if you’ve been following how Democrats have gone ker-splat when it comes to protecting our elections and voting rights at the federal level:
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.
If you’d like to help ’em with their efforts, we’ve got that info below the fold…
More from Politico:
The program will include every state where election administrators are themselves elected by voters. It represents one of the boldest organized attempts to put Democratic-backed candidates in these positions, in response to Trump’s endorsement for various election positions of followers who subscribe to conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen.
“Helping Democrats build sustainable power for the long-haul.”
Win or lose—and I’m betting a lot more of them will win than we expect—these Democrats will gain valuable experience while 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 that they could succeed beyond all expectations.
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.”
Follow Run for Something on evil Facebook here and soon-to-be evil Twitter here.
And now, our feature presentation…
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Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Note: Ow! I just stabbed myself in the cheek with my pipe. Good thing I have supplemental elitist insurance. Thanks, Snobcare!
Unemployment claims last week, the lowest since 1968 and vs. 547,000 a year ago: 184,000
Amount allocated by the Biden administration for clean water projects: $55 billion
Percent of American adults who are estranged from a family member, according to a Cornell study: 27%
Percent chance that Portland, Maine just received Standard and Poor’s highest rating—AAA—that will result in millions of $$$ in savings on our debt service (and, presumably, free towing and jump-start service): 100%
CHEERS to Victory! The armed shock troops, beholden to a madman, swept in with invasion on their minds and delusions of replacing the memories of the democratic majority with far-right ideology. Everyone expected the armored column and their fanatical commanders to conduct a scorched-earth campaign with ruthless efficiency, sending women and children scattering for shelter and the political class fleeing for their lives. Happy to report they got stopped. Stopped cold. Cold and runny. By children. Children with eggs:
On Friday afternoon, the small convoy of semitrucks, pickup trucks, minivans and other cars drove to Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ East Bay [San Francisco] home to protest her support of an abortion rights bill. As they honked and used bullhorns in the quiet residential neighborhood, neighbors gathered to heckle them right back, yelling at the truckers to get off their street.
If only all the orcs could be stopped this easily.
[The truckers drove] onto busy, one-lane College Avenue on the Berkeley-Oakland border. There, slowed down by the usual Friday afternoon traffic, they were sitting ducks outside the Safeway. A large group of kids, armed with eggs purchased atthe grocery store, began pelting the convoy. […] Furious truckers then drove out of town, heading back on the highway toward their base in Sacramento.
But anyway. Anyone hear how things are going in Ukraine?
CHEERS to liberté, égalité…andall that jazz! In an absolutely unacceptable outcome to American observers, French President Emmanuel Macron received the overwhelming share (59%-41%) of the votes in Sunday’s elections, and just like *that* the country handed him the victory. No electoral college certifications. No audits by partisan outside groups with no experience. No screaming and yelling about how the whole thing was rigged. No holding every ballot under black light to detect bamboo fibers. No threats against election workers. No storming of the French Capitol. Wow—what a sloppy and unimaginative way to run a country, huh? Low energy! But at least the “Hitler in stilettos,” who borrowed millions from Russia to fund her campaign, didn’t win.
» “Let us face it, there is no Planet B” in pushing for a stronger approach to addressing the impacts of climate change. “I am sure one day the U.S. will come back and rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement.”
» The west’s policies towards Iran “should never lead us to war in the Middle East. … We should not abandon [the Iranian nuclear deal] without having something substantial and more substantial instead.”
» “Human rights, the rights of minorities and shared liberty are the true answers to the disorders of the world.”
» We must heed the words of the great American Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
» The bust of Martin Luther King Jr. in the U.S. Capitol “reminds us of the inspiration of African American leaders, artists and writers who have become part of our common heritage.”
» The #MeToo movement is an inspiring thing, and we respect it in France as much as you do in America.
Europe dodges another bullet, denying the barbarians access through the gates. Vive le resistance.
CHEERS to Charles Richter. It’s the 119th birthday of the late seismologist who invented a scale to measure the strength of earthquakes (I forget what it’s called). Go here and pay your respects…if you feel so moved. But please don’t blame him for causing all the recent tremors. They’re not his faults.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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The Green Dragontail Butterfly (Lamproptera meges), found in South and Southeast Asia. 🦋 Credit: Kazuo Unno pic.twitter.com/QSSeToSvGT
JEERS to having to address the elephant with glistening deltoids in the room. Sorry to do this, but since C&J will one day be the preeminent go-to source for recorded history among blogaeologists, I have to make note of this. Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn, who sets off the heterosexual Christian manliness alarms just by batting his titanium eyelids with a stern ka-chunk, would like you to know that this is now acceptable manly heterosexual Christian behavior:
Also: Jim Beam is now replacing wine as the blood of Christ. Please drink Him responsibly.
He cautions, however, that if your muscle bra fastens with Velcro instead of a metal clasp made from the sharpest steel shavings that cut into you like the nails did to the body of Christ, you are either a woman who doesn’t know her place or a deviant homosexual groomer who, by definition, works for Disney. Here endeth the lesson.
CHEERS to the apple of CBS’s eye. Happy 113th birthday today to CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow.
Murrow’s old news network—CBS—just hired Mick Mulvaney. Sad.
He had more journalistic integrity in his pinky than many of today’s journalistic misfits (too many of whom call CBS News home) have on their entire resumes. He was a fighter for journalistic independence free of the entertainment side of television, and his clipped and unemotional delivery only added to his gravitas. Adding: one reason I respect Rachel Maddow so much is that she, like Murrow, builds her arguments piece by piece, fact by fact, before tying them up with a damning bow. Unfortunately chain-smoking snuffed out his life prematurely at 57. Hear excerpts of his W.W. II and McCarthy hearing reports here. And, hey, don’t smoke.
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Ten years ago in C&J: April 26, 2012
CHEERS to the words we’ll never hear: “I, Newton Leroy Gingrich, do solemnly swear…” Yeah, Mr. Moon Colony is signaling the end of his campaign. (But he won South Carolina! He shoulda been the contenduh!) But I have to admit I’m feeling kinda sad this morning. I had a blast watching the triumphant return of vaudeville in the form of the Republican primary season. Now that Romney has been crowned king of the (very small, selfish and crabby) hill, I’m going through withdrawal pangs. No more 999 (Cain). No more corn dogs (Bachmann). No more Sarah Palin scene stealing. No more Mandarin proverbs (Huntsman). No more “Can’t…sorry…oops!” (Perry.) No more libertine lectures. (Santorum.) And now…no more Newt. [Sigh] Who will the penguins bite now?
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the power of brevity. One of the most memorable moments from the 2008 presidential campaign happened 15 years ago today during the April 26, 2007 Democratic debate hosted by Brian Williams. Silly question, great answer:
Williams: Senator Biden, words have in the past gotten you in trouble—words that were borrowed and words that some found hateful. An editorial in the Los Angles Times said, “In addition to his uncontrolled verbosity, Biden is a gaffe machine.”
Can you reassure voters in this country that you would have the discipline you would need on the world stage, Senator?
Sen. Joe Biden: Yes.
[Long pause]
Williams: Thank you, Senator.
You can watch the clip (this link seems to be the only one still working) here. Fifteen years later Joe is, against all odds, a virtually gaffe-free President of the United States. Are we impressed so far? “Yes.”
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 is not your father’s Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool.”
