(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Cheers and Jeers: Thursday [1] [] Date: 2023-06-08 A Few Thursday Words of Wisdom for 2023 Grads “No graduating class gets to choose the world into which they graduate. Every class enters the history of a nation up to the point it has been written by others. But few classes, once in every several generations, enters at a point in our history where it actually has a chance to change the trajectory of the country. You face that inflection point today, and I know you will meet the moment.” —President Biden at Howard University “For every graduating class, there is a choice to be made. It’s the same option for all grown-ups who have to decide to be one of three types of Americans: those who embrace liberty and freedom for all, those who won’t, or those who are indifferent. Only the first do the work of creating a more perfect union. A nation indivisible. The others get in the way.” —Tom Hanks at Harvard Continued... "Internally, knowing your limits keeps you humble, motivated, and focused on a goal to point your finger toward. Externally, knowing the limits that are set for you by others gives you a place to point a different finger—I am talking about the middle one." —Actress Michelle Yeoh at Harvard Law School “If we have learned anything from Covid, it is that an invisible organism without a brain managed to cause upheaval across the planet and overtake a presumably smarter species because it does not care about color. It does not care about nationality or immigrant status or gender or sexual orientation or national borders or passports. Covid sees all humans for what we actually are: one interconnected and interdependent species. It sees what we have in common if humans don’t see it themselves. We are all in this together and it is time we started to act like it.” —Journalist/author Isabel Wilkerson “In just a few moments, you will take an oath—not to a person, not to a political party, but to the Constitution. You will take an oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America’ and, by extension, to support and defend our most sacred ideals: freedom, democracy, and rule of law. All across the world, the soldiers of the United States Army defend these ideals. And as Vice President, I have seen it firsthand.” —Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to address the graduating class of West Point "What do you have to do? What do you want to do? Tomorrow is not promised. Make plans anyway." —Lin Manuel-Miranda at Hunter College "I'm certain you, as your forefathers did, will continue to lead the free world and this century will be our century, a century where freedom, innovation and democratic values reign. A century where tyrannies that repress their own and seek to enslave their neighbors will vanish from earth once and for all." —Volodomyr Zelenskyy, speaking remotely to Johns Hopkins University Congrats and happy world changing. And now, our feature presentation... - Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, June 8, 2023 Note: Chef Billy's secret for the perfect 1-minute omelet: Cook an omelet in one minute and eat it. Try it this weekend. I think it’ll become a cherished family favorite. - By the Numbers: 7 days!!! Days 'til summer: 13 Days 'til the Cranberry Blossom Festival in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin: 7 Percent of Democratic and MAGA adults, respectively, polled by Pew Research who are against teachers leading prayers in K-12 schools: 63%, 39% Percent of Dems and MAGAs, respectively, in the same poll who say they believe the legacy of slavery still affects the position of Black people in society today: 70%, 24% Percent of American adults polled by Yahoo News/YouGov who think it's fine if Trump serves as president again even if he's convicted of a “serious” crime: 23% Procedural House vote on a (very silly) bill to ban the prohibition of gas stoves, which went down in defeat as a way for the GOP crybaby caucus to "revolt" against Kevin McCarthy for supporting the debt ceiling bill: 206-220 Age of the movie Battle for the Planet of the Apes as of this month: 50 - Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment: Another splendid example of how not to handle a problem was set by our Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Mr. Manners himself. The Iraqi National Museum was looted by thieves after the DOD ignored pleas from archaeologists who had repeatedly warned of just that danger. At which point, any civilized government would say, "What a terrible thing: We're so sorry that happened. Even though it was not our fault, we--like all civilized people--regret and mourn the irreplaceable loss to the history of civilization." That's all that was needed. Instead, Rumsfeld became defensive and then sarcastic, trying to belittle the loss. "My goodness," he said, affecting astonishment, "were there that many vases? Is it possible there were that many vases in the whole country?" Is that what one says about the loss of artifacts from 7,000 years of civilization? Is this really the face of America we want to show the rest of the world? […] Worst Idea of the Month: Fundamentalist Christian missionaries are now salivating over the prospect of going to Iraq to convert the hapless heathen. This is guaranteed to make America as popular as the clap. —June 2003 - Puppy Pic of the Day: Brush brush here, brush brush there….. - JEERS to moments we did not need to be shared with us. You might want to prop a toothpick in your eyelids to keep 'em open during this, but dammit we're here to document history so that's what we…Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…oops, sorry about that…intend to do: Former Vice President Mike Pence, who certified the 2020 election results under threat from supporters of then-President Donald Trump, kicked off a bid for the Oval Office on Wednesday. […] Pence family portrait Less than three years ago, Pence hid as a mob spurred on by Trump ransacked the Capitol. Some in the crowd, angry over his refusal to block the certification of the 2020 defeat of the Trump-Pence ticket, chanted, "Hang Mike Pence!" His campaign slogan: Feel The Love. CHEERS to panic on the right. We take you now to the broadcast booth at Fox News, where producers are speaking through the earpieces of the Fox and Friends anchors as they try to find a new boogeyman with which (or whom) to scare viewers now that the debt ceiling crisis ended in a decisive win for President Biden and the Democrats: "Quick! Talk about inflation!" "But inflation's down!" "Quick! talk about egg prices!" "Egg prices are down!" "Quick! Talk about gas prices!" "Gas prices are down!" "Quick! Talk about illegal immigration!" "Illegal immigration is down!" "Quick! Talk about the baby formula shortage!" "Baby formula is back on shelves!" "Quick! Talk about unemployment!" "Unemployment is way down!" "Quick! Talk about gas stoves!" "Nobody cares about gas stoves anymore!" "Quick! Talk about chaos in the housing market!" "The housing market is stabilizing!" "Quick! Talk about gay marriage!" "Over 70 percent of the public supports it!" "Quick! Cut to commercial!" Saved by the capitalism. JEERS to the latest crisis. As if we don’t have enough stuff (war, pestilence, bald tires) to freak out about, here comes the latest calamity that's expected to roil the markets by generating uncertainty. Caution: graphic content advisory… Taylor Swift had to shake it off when she accidentally inhaled a bug on stage during a recent Eras Tour show. “I swallowed a bug, I’m so sorry,” she said. “It’s totally fine, it’s just stupid,” Swift said, joking that the bug was “delicious.” Out of an abundance of caution, she was admitted to Johns Hopkins to swallow a spider to catch the fly. If that doesn’t work, she'll move on to, in order, a bird, cat, dog, goat, cow and, as a last resort, a horse, after which she'll be dead, of course. I call dibs on her espresso machine. - BRIEF SANITY BREAK - x Artist known as lito_leafart brings leaf art to a whole new level with his intricate designs. He meticulously carves out entire scenes onto the delicate, green surfaces [read more: https://t.co/lMQwrinNW2] [Instagram: https://t.co/te6sg8CeL3] pic.twitter.com/oB5Ugqh4mu — Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 6, 2023 - END BRIEF SANITY BREAK - CHEERS to great moments in dust busting. Ives McGaffey of Chicago patented the first mechanical ("whirlwind") vacuum cleaner on this date in 1869. It was a crude device—the butler sucked on a hose. CHEERS to family reunions. Fascinating new discovery in South Africa's "Cradle of Humankind," where archaeologists are piecing together more evidence that our thinking brains may have evolved a lot earlier than we thought: Researchers have uncovered evidence that members of a mysterious archaic human species buried their dead and carved symbols on cave walls long before the earliest evidence of burials by modern humans. The brains belonging to the extinct species, known as Homo naledi, were around one-third the size of a modern human brain. [...] In related news, researchers have uncovered their strongest evidence yet of reverse-evolution. During the work to identify the cave burials, the scientists also found a number of symbols engraved on the cave walls, which are estimated to be between 241,000 and 335,000 years old, but they want to continue their testing for more precise dating. The symbols include deeply carved hashtag-like cross-hatchings and other geometric shapes. Among the hashtags: #ElonMuskSucks. Smart indeed. - Ten years ago in C&J: June 8, 2013 JEERS to things your government spies with their little eyes. Lefty blogger Glenn Greenwald has shaken the nation with his revelation that the attacks of 9/11 prompted members of Congress to leap into action, flex the withered remnants of their aged biceps, and allow a giant hose to be connected from your communications devices to the Borg-like entity known as the NSA which, in turn, sucks on your data like Dick Morris sucking on a hooker's tootsies. This development is absolutely shocking, folks. I have rarely seen anything like this. The nation is actually listening to a lefty blogger! [6/8/23 Update: Glenn later fled to Brazil, swallowed the red MAGA pill, and today coughs up conspiracy hairballs from his mountaintop retreat. Sad.] - And just one more… CHEERS to bipedal mammalian biological unit identification. Lost in all the hoopla about trivial issues like book bans, the debt ceiling, and climate change last month was the most pressing issue of the day: what parents are naming their spawn. So allow me to terminate the suspense: the most popular girl and boy names of 2022 were: Girls Olivia Emma Charlotte Amelia Sophia Even with Ron DeSantis running for president, a child has yet to be named Puddingfingers. Boys Liam Noah Oliver James Elijah The most hilarious reveal is that "Donald" has dropped like a stone over recent years and is languishing down at #676. Meanwhile “Joe/Joseph” is still a Top 40 hit at #30. True story: I went through a period of confusion when I was young, thanks to my mom and dad. For the first eighteen years of my life I thought my middle name was Billy and my first name was Dammit. Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today? - Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial Nikki Haley’s CNN Town Hall Audience Down 80 Percent From Bill in Portland Maine Event —Mediaite - [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/8/2173716/-Cheers-and-Jeers-Thursday Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/