(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-05-14 Let’s Check the Ukraine Relief Tote Board It’s been a few weeks since we checked in on the Daily Kos relief fund for the Ukrainian civilians affected by dicktator (see what I did there?) Vladimir Poopin’s (see what I did there, too?) stupid land grab. As of this morning, very impressive: we’re rapidly nearing the four-million mark… $3,769,488.81 If you'd like to add to the total for the four chosen groups—the World Central Kitchen, AmeriCares, Razom for Ukraine, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare—click here and ActBlue will help you take care of the rest. Many thanks—they need the help now more than ever. Oh, and one more quick thing for Mr. Putin: I noticed that you didn’t include me on your latest list of Americans banned from Russia. You really should. When you wake up tomorrow and look under your covers you’ll know why. (It’s very fresh and comes courtesy of a very good dog.) And now, our feature presentation... Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, May 14, 2024 Note: Another sign that spring has finally arrived in Maine: the kitty caught her first housefly of the year. But she’s old so she doesn’t de-wing them anymore. She just shakes ‘em down for a withdrawal from their cryptocurrency accounts. They grow up so fast. - By the Numbers: 3 days!!! Days 'til Astronomy Day: 4 Days 'til the New Jersey Seafood Festival in Belmar: 3 Average tax refund this year, up 75 bucks from last year: $2,852 Number of times (a record) Sherpa guide Kami Rita has scaled Mount Everest: 29 Amount Trump requested from the fossil fuel companies in exchange for letting them finish off the planet for good if he wins in November: $1 billion Number of the Maine legislative session that just ended: 131st Age of legendary director/producer Roger Corman when he died last week: 98 - Puppy Pic of the Day: George takes his first walk… - CHEERS to order in the court. Michael Cohen, whose role as Donald Trump's "fixer" meant he had to blast out threats and intimidation with all the force of a fire hose to anyone—from journalists to contractors—who didn't give in to the orange dotard's demands, testified against his former boss yesterday during the election-interference trial in New York. A brief summary of what happened, courtesy of the C&J news team: Testimony resumes today. Good luck cleaning that up, defense lawyers. JEERS to arranging the deck chairs on the Moskva. It's rarely a good sign when you have to fire your defense minister in the middle of a war you started. After all, as Bush-era defense guy Donald Rumsfeld (now rotting in Hell, and east, west, south, and north somewhat) famously said: "You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time." But in Russia, it's apparently time to change horses midstream as the banana dictatorship's coffers continue dwindling as a result of its war with Ukraine: Andrey Belousov, a civilian who served as former first deputy prime minister and specializes in economics, was appointed to the top defense post, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday. Peskov tried to downplay the move, but the reshuffle comes amid speculation about infighting at the highest echelons of power. Yes. Russian President Vladimir Putin, bored with all the winning, showed his defense minister the door. Because apparently they couldn’t get him to stand close enough to a window. CHEERS to getting outside in the fresh air—back when we had fresh air. 220 years ago today, Lewis and Clark set off from their camp in Illinois to go explore just what the hell kind of territory we'd acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. Their first words when they got back: "Somebody needs to invent GPS, and somebody needs to invent GPS now. " Added the welcome committee: "And deodorant." - BRIEF SANITY BREAK - - END BRIEF SANITY BREAK - CHEERS to naming rights. Lost in all the hoopla about trivial issues like Israel-Palestine, abortion bans, and Republican attempts to throw America into the toilet and flush, is the most pressing issue of the day: what parents are naming their spawn, of course. So allow me to terminate the suspense. The most popular baby names of 2023 were, according to the Social Security Administration: Liam and Olivia have for a fifth year together topped the list of baby names for brand new boys and girls born in the U.S. in 2023. And Mateo joins the top 10 baby names list for the first time. When I was a baby I thought my parents had named me Toughshitkid. The Social Security Administration annually tracks the names given to girls and boys in each state, with names dating back to 1880. The agency gathers the names from applications for Social Security cards. After Liam, the most common names for boys are, in order: Noah, Oliver, James, Elijah, Mateo, Theodore, Henry, Lucas, and William. And after Olivia, the most common names for girls are Emma, Charlotte, Amelia, Sophia, Mia, Isabella, Ava, Evelyn and Luna. The Social Security Administration’s latest data show that 3.58 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2023. Hit the link for the full list. Interesting that there's no Donald, Don Jr., Ivanka, or Eric in the bunch. I suspect they'll be showing up on 2024's list of baby name trends under the first-ever heading: Inmate Numbers. CHEERS to today's mea culpa. During Friday night's C&J, I was reminded that the 2024 WNBA season starts tonight all around this great nation of ours, and I promised that I would remember to let everyone know about it this morning. Sadly, despite tying a string around my finger, posting reminders all around the house, setting an alarm on my phone, and completing Kevin Trudeau's Mega Memory home study course (on long-play cassettes) three times over the weekend, I totally spaced it out. Sorry. I can only hope that you hear the news from someone more reliable than me. I am very bummed about this. I even had a schedule of tonight's games ready to post and everything. Billeh, Billeh, Billeh…what am I going to do with me? - Ten years ago in C&J: May 14, 2014 JEERS to stirring up trouble. Someone broke into President James Garfield's tomb the other day and made off with a spoon collection. This reaction is priceless: "We were like, 'Really? They took spoons?' " said Katherine Goss, president and chief executive of Lake View Cemetery, which houses the Garfield tomb. … The 13 silver spoons had practically no monetary value, according to Goss. They were "flimsy little things" from Garfield's inauguration and have his face engraved in the handles and what Goss believes might have been an image of his Ohio home on the teaspoon itself. No one knows why the spoons were taken from the ostentatious resting place of #20. But experts agree on one thing: until the utensils show up, no soup for him. - And just one more… CHEERS to the original Jedi Master. George Lucas turns 80 today—I believe that's 459 in Yoda years. Yes, I wish he hadn't messed around with the first three movies years later. And, yes, I wish the second and third trilogies had been better. But, good lord, he also gave us Indiana Jones, American Graffiti, and the creepy classic dystopian-future thriller THX 1138. Plus he recently poked his NIMBY zillionaire neighbors in the eye by financing a 224-unit affordable housing complex. Besides all that, his little space opera encouraged some hilarious parodies, including the one he reportedly liked best. Hardware Wars, which is now finally on Blu-Ray: - My gift to George, as always: about half of my lifetime earnings in movie tickets, action figures, trading cards, soundtracks, DVDs and comic books since 1977. May the winning lottery tickets be with me. Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today? - Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial “If there’s an order for Ebola that’s being ordered by the CDC in Atlanta, that’s great. But if we get an order for Ebola to be shipped to the Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool, we won’t do it.” —James Diggans, Director of Twist Bioscience - [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/5/14/2240372/-Cheers-and-Jeers-Tuesday?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web 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/