From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize an Ally Tuesday
When I saw that the crew at CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) had gotten under the Trump administration's skin over their emoluments-related lawsuit against Lord Dampnut, I thought to myself: good for them, they're hittin' a nerve:
The administration's argument is a response to the lawsuit filed in January in the Southern District of New York by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
The suit claims Trump is violating the Emoluments Clause whenever foreign entities book rooms at the Trump D.C. hotel or lease Trump office space. [...] CREW is asking the court "to stop Trump from violating the Constitution by illegally receiving payments from foreign governments" with ties to Trump business interests.
Somehow I suspect the plaintiffs aren't exactly intimidated, given the human firepower CREW assembled...
...including Richard Painter, ethics adviser to President George W. Bush; Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe; Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine; and Supreme Court litigator Deepak Gupta.
In terms of fulfilling its ongoing mission, their lawsuit is right in the strike zone:
CREW uses aggressive legal action, in-depth research, and bold communications to reduce the influence of money in politics and help foster a government that is ethical and accountable.
We highlight abuses, change behavior, and lay the groundwork for new policies and approaches that encourage public officials to work for the benefit of the people, not powerful interests, in accordance with the principles of ethical government the founders set out in the Constitution. CREW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization composed of a small but nimble group of lawyers, researchers, and communicators. … CREW has achieved major successes since 2003 in holding accountable those who abuse the system, compelling the government to be more open and transparent, and driving secret money and influence into the light.
For fighting the good fight, especially in the Age of #Resistance, we proudly shine the spotlight on CREW as this week's ally worth energizing. If you'd like toss in a few bucks to help 'em keep up the pressure (we sent $25 on behalf of C&J), click on their donation link here. May they succeed in knocking the walking conflict-of-interest down a giant peg. Or two.
Follow CREW on twitter here and on Facebook here.
Meanwhile, Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold…
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Note: What's better than summer in Maine? A summer Kossack meetup in Maine! If you're going to be in the vicinity of the western part of the state on Saturday, June 24, Kossack Mayim invites you to her cabin on the lake. For more info, see her diary here. To RSVP, email her via kosmail or at killearnan@gmail.com. Michael and I will be there with bells water wings on. Hope to see you there!
-
By the Numbers:
Weeks 'til the special election in Georgia's 6th District: 1
Days 'til the Electric Forest Festival in Rothbury, Michigan: 9
Net seat loss among conservatives and net seat gain among Labour candidates in last week's British election: 13 / 32
Turnout for the British election (versus 58% for our 2016 election): 69%
Percent of Americans who select "None" as their religion of preference, according to the Public Religion Research Institute: 25%
Percent who chose Catholicism or white evangelical: 21%, 16%
Age at which Batman's Adam West was called to the Gotham City in the sky: 88
-
Stanley Cup Finals
Pittsburgh Penguins WIN the Stanley Cup 4 games to 2
NBA Championship
Golden State Warriors WIN the Giant Ball Thingy 4 games to 1
-
NEW Tuesday Feature! "Georgia On My Mind"
Brought to you by the 2017 Netroots Nation Convention in Atlanta August 10-13. With an average summer temperature of 90, we wouldn’t blame you a bit if you chose to spend a few hours at the Georgia aquarium, which sounds like quite the showplace for all critters aquatic:
It is the largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere, housing thousands of animals and representing several thousand species, all of which reside in 10 million US gallons (38,000 m3) of marine and salt water.
It was the largest aquarium in the world from its opening in 2005 until 2012, when it was surpassed by Marine Life Park in Singapore. The Aquarium's notable specimens include whale sharks, beluga whales, bottlenose dolphins, and manta rays. […]
After 27 months of construction the aquarium opened on November 21, 2005, with 60 animal habitats. ...The aquarium is part of the Smithsonian Affiliations program. According to founder Bernard Marcus, the aquarium's conservation and environmental mission is just as important as its status as an attraction.
Their website is here, and you can explore some of their coolest exhibits via webcam here. (Although I really wish them fish would put some clothes on. Children an' all…)
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: Police dog fail…
-
CHEERS to rapid reversals. After canceling an appearance at an open hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee over the weekend, it looked like the only grilling that Confederacy General Jeff Sessions would get was in the Senate Intelligence Committee today behind closed doors. But in a stark takesie-backsie, it was revealed that today's hearing would actually be an open session (starting at 2:30). Hooray! Here's what's goin' down:
A lot of questions for Sessions cropped up after Comey's testimony last week. Senators from both sides want to know why Sessions was involved in the FBI director's firing, reports CBS News' Nancy Cordes. […]
On"Face the Nation" Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ran through the questions he wants answered by the attorney general. "Did he interfere with the Russian investigation before he recused himself? The president said Comey was fired because of Russia. How does that fit in with his recusal?" Schumer said. […] Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation over three months ago, after admitting he had not disclosed two meetings with the Russian ambassador in 2016.
Fearless prediction: every Sessions answer will sound something like, "I do believe, I say I do believe I cannot comment on this mattuh in such a compromised setting as this open session, suh. Puh-haps we, I say puh-haps we should discuss this over juleps under the cone of silence ‘neath the Elm trees at my Plantation, Caucasian Manor." Accompanied by odd clucking noises for reasons no one will be able to explain.
CHEERS to leaving a little shoe leather behind. As She usually does, God provided sunny skies and a light breeze for hundred thousand or so attendees at the Equality March in D.C. (and cities around the country) Sunday. It was just the latest public display of mass dissatisfaction (but with lots of singing, dancing and sashaying) with the Trump regime, and we deem this among the top signs of the day:
So we've had the women's march, "release the tax returns" march, science march, health care march, environment march, and now the LGBT march. I'm not positive but I think this is the last one on the calendar for awhile. So everyone take your summer off and repeat after me: "Oh, my aching bunions."
P.S. Guess which news network’s websites contained no stories for most of yesterday about the one-year anniversary of the massacre of 49 LGBTers at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando? If you said Fox News, Bzzzzt!!! Wrong. Fox actually had two back-to-back stories on both the Equality March and the Pulse anniversary. CBS, CNN (hands-down the best coverage), and ABC also covered it. It was "liberal" NBC News and MSNBC that failed to post about it. Up is now down. And I am confused.
CHEERS to timely reminders. With Donald Trump's presidency in a death spiral of incompetence, intolerance, repugnance, malfeasance and aberrance, it's worth looking back and reminding ourselves---as political cartoonist Pat Bagley does---just how deep in it the previous president was at this point in his first term:
I remember those dark yellow days. Such an ugly impeachment. Obstruction of catsup. The republic was saved.
CHEERS to the anti-Clarence Thomas. On June 13, 1967, in an act of equal parts courage and smarts, Lyndon Johnson nominated Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. His 24 years on the bench worked out very well for America, and his previous work wasn't chopped liver, either:
After amassing an impressive record of Supreme Court challenges to state-sponsored discrimination, including the landmark Brown v. Board decision in 1954, President John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
In this capacity, he wrote over 150 decisions including support for the rights of immigrants, limiting government intrusion in cases involving illegal search and seizure, double jeopardy, and right to privacy issues. [...]
In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson appointed Judge Marshall to the office of U.S. Solicitor General. Before his subsequent nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1967, Thurgood Marshall won 14 of the 19 cases he argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government. Indeed, Thurgood Marshall represented and won more cases before the United States Supreme Court than any other American.
And no one ever---ever---found a pubic hair on his Coke can.
CHEERS to wise decisions wisely decided. Speaking of judges, a second appeals court has determined that Trump's Muslim travel ban still exceeds his authority under the law:
The decision, from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, was the latest in a string of court rulings rejecting the administration’s efforts to limit travel from several predominantly Muslim countries. […]
The new ruling affirmed a March decision from Judge Derrick K. Watson, of the Federal District Court in Hawaii. Judge Watson blocked major parts of the revised order, saying they violated the Constitution’s ban on a government establishment of religion. Judge Watson wrote that the statements of Mr. Trump and his advisers made clear that his executive order amounted to an attempt to disfavor Muslims.
This new ruling comes on the heels of last month's decision by the Fourth Circuit that said, no, you can't target a religion for exclusion just because you hate it with every fiber of your being. That earlier case is on its way to the Supreme Court, where Trump will argue that he doesn’t, in fact, hate all Muslims. Just the non-Saudi-royalty-with-giant-glowing-orbs kind. Totally legit.
JEERS to today's edition of We Coulda Told You That! Our brilliant sleuth for today's WCTYT is Ana Swanson at The Washington Post:
Global tax evasion is likely much more prevalent than previously thought.
This has been today's edition of We Coulda Told You That!
-
Ten years ago in C&J: June 13, 2007
CHEERS to Dead Man Testifying. While Dr. James Holsinger's nutty ideas about reparative therapy for gays make his nomination as Surgeon General doubtful,another story could be the nail in his coffin: he neglected veterans under his care:
[H]is tenure as chief medical director of the Veterans Health Administration under President George H.W. Bush...brings into doubt whether Holsinger can be "America’s doctor."
The GAO investigator "found serious problems at every one of six VA hospitals she visited, and that a broader examination of records found 30 VA hospitals had high numbers of patient complications and other indicators of substandard care."
Holsinger’s response: "Our system is obviously not perfect." True, but only because people like you keep getting hired.
-
And just one more…
CHEERS to crack for headline writers. The new Tom Cruise movie tanked at the box office last weekend. And---surprise---the media had a field day with the clichés when the receipts were counted:
• ‘The Mummy’ awkwardly stumbles into Dark Universe
• ‘The Mummy’ Buried by Wonder Woman
• Tom Cruise Can't Keep 'The Mummy’ From Unraveling
• Tom Cruise's 'Mummy' Crumbles On Opening Day
• 'The Mummy' Stays Asleep at the Box Office
• Why 'The Mummy' Turned Crummy At The Domestic BO
• Weekend Box Office: 'The Mummy' Entombed With $32M US Debut
• ‘Wonder Woman’ puts ’The Mummy’ to rest
Not quite Sticks Nix Hick Pix caliber. But 'A' for effort.
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-
Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
The beach patrol for the Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool has been told not to bother women who go topless, WJZ-TV reports. Those guidelines were sent to employees in a memo from C&J Beach Patrol Capt. Bill in Portland Maine.
---CBS News
-