Today Daily Kos has an amazing Elections Team, affiliation with Civiqs polling, dulcet-toned David Waldman and Justice Putnam on the radio, an activism and community-building arm, talented front-page and diary contributors (of note lately: Kos’s and Mark Sumner’s Ukraine updates and Joan McCarter’s laser-focus on the doings in the House and Senate), and groups within the community that focus on everything from environmental issues and labor to pooties and the day’s top comments.

We also continue to raise a ton of money and generate grassroots support for campaigns at the local, state, and federal level, not to mention over $3 million for relief agencies in Ukraine. Among our registered members: Elizabeth Warren, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, John Fetterman, Stacey Abrams, Raphael Warnock, and Stephen Colbert.

We even caught the eye of late luminaries like Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid (may they rest in a hereafter with no fucking filibuster headaches). Tonight we pour out a splash of drinkey in their honor, and all the beloved DK community members—too many, dammit—who have left us.

Despite the meta wars, sigh-inducing GBCWs, and the sheer crazy volume of information that gets posted every day, The ‘The’ “The” Daily Kos is still a vital national source of netroots-level analysis, opinion, issue-vetting, fundraising, snarking, storytelling and flying furniture. Only a fool would try to herd our breed of cats. So from all of me to all of you—especially you, Kos, our mighty Keyboard Kingpin and your “squadrons of rabid lambs”—Happy #21 from user ID #2574.  May your hearts remain progressive, and your hands always be filled with pies.

And now, our feature presentation…

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Cheers and Jeers for Friday, May 26, 2023

Note: We wish you a safe, healthy, and hammock-filled holiday weekend.  C&J will return on Tuesday, May 30.  Probably with an errant lawn dart or two stuck in our foot, thigh, chest, head or buttock region. Because we hate to break with tradition.  —Mgt.

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By the Numbers:

Weeks ’til the start of the July 4^th holiday weekend: 5

Days ’til the Beaumont Cherry Festival in California: 6

Prison sentence for Richard “Bigo” Barnett, the Jan. 6 traitor who sat in Speaker Pelosi’s chair and propped his feet up on her desk: 4.5 years

Number of songs Tina Turner had on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including her #1 hit What’s Love Got to Do with It?: 17

Rank of Delta among best airlines rated by The Points Guys based on “factors such as reliability, affordability, loyalty programs and customer experience”: #1

Year in which Congress officially declared Waterloo, New York as the birthplace of the Memorial Day holiday: 1966

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Puppy Pic of the Day: Weekend plans…

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CHEERS and JEERS to the week in review. Just a quick moment to take lightning-round inventory of our universe as we prepare to pause for an extended holiday weekend of picnics, memorials, flight delays, and lots of unexplained rashes:

» America’s #1 terrorist threat not named Donald Trump will spend the next four election cycles in prison for trying to overthrow the government. And his little sidekick, too.

»  Russia continues losing.

»  Congress’s slumber went undisturbed.

» The rumors of Covid-19’s demise were exaggerated.

» Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues huffing turpentine vapors.

»  Republicans continued their love affair with carnage and chaos.

»  Every Republican-inspired mass-murder prevention measure, up to and including funding the police, failed to prevent mass murders.

»  The Florida Man who wants to be the 47th president of the United States bumbled his rollout so badly that he’ll probably succeed.

» Daily Kos turned 21 and marked the occasion with several hours of botox injections.

» Gas prices are down. Inflation is down. Egg prices are down. Unemployment is down. Infrastructure construction is up. Optimism is up. But Biden is old so I question his competence.

»  A ruthless and scary space alien trapped the Enterprise in a tractor beam and threatened to blow it up unless its demands were met, but it turns out it was just baby Clint Howard who was easily fooled by Captain Kirk’s fake “Corbomite Maneuver.”

Oh, and NOAA released its forecast for the 2023 hurricane season, which starts next Thursday. Consensus: the gays, feminists, and pagans are still angry. Can’t say I blame ‘em.

CHEERS to multitasking. As our endorphins go wild over the prospect that our first warm-weather holiday weekend (and the unofficial start of summer) is upon us, Michael Embrich of the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs’ Advisory Committee on the Readjustment of Veterans offers up a few words for the occasion:

Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day was first observed in 1868, after the Civil War, when Major Gen. John A. Logan declared that May 30th should be a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. It became an official federal holiday in 1971 and is now observed on the last Monday in May.

It is important to remember that Memorial Day is not just another three-day weekend or an excuse to head down to the Shore and have a barbeque. It is a day to honor the sacrifice of those who have died for our freedom, and to reflect on the true meaning of patriotism.

And, as always, we pause to reflect on Dwight Eisenhower’s famous words: “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” Me, too. Minus the living it part, but I’ll take his word for it.

CHEERS to the other star-spangled banner.  Here’s a notable event to muse on this Memorial Day. On May 29, 1916, the official flag of the President of the United States was adopted by executive order. This is interesting, via the late historian David McCullough:

One morning, standing at his desk, [President Truman] presented to the press a new presidential flag … “This new flag faces the eagle toward the staff,” Truman explained, “which is looking to the front all the time when you are on the march, and also has him looking at the olive branch for peace, instead of the arrows for war …” 

Both the flag and presidential seal had been redesigned for the first time since the Wilson years, and Truman meant the shift in the eagle’s gaze to be seen as symbolic of a nation both on the march and dedicated to peace.

Four wars later, the symbolism goes on.

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BRIEF SANITY BREAK

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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK

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CHEERS to the end of the end. It was all over for Tricky Dick 49 years ago tomorrow, thanks to a 27-11 vote by the House Judiciary Committee to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Nixon who, said ABC News’s Tom Jarrell at the time, was “presumably still in his swim trunks” while on vacation in California when he heard the news.  Meanwhile, then-VP Gerald Ford just couldn’t help but play a little game of up-is-downism:

Ford: It’s interesting that every Democrat on the committee—north and south—voted for the article. … It tends to make it a partisan issue.

Reporter: Even if one-third of Republicans voted for it?

Ford: Well, the fact that every one of the Democrats voted for it, I think, uh, lends credence that it’s a partisan issue, even though some Republicans have deviated.

…said the Republican who later unilaterally exonerated the Republican crook. But, hey, what’s a little hypocrisy among friends?

CHEERS to home vegetation. Here’s some of the haps on TV this weekend, starting tonight with a pre-Memorial Day MSNBC reality check by the prime time hosts, or you can join me at 8 on the H&I Network for live-tweeting (at #allstartrek) of the classic Trek episode What Are Little Girls Made Of?  with guest Ted “Lurch” Cassidy as a very tall robot in a very puffy robot suit.

The new movies and streamers (led by Rob Marshall’s live-action update of The Little Mermaid) are all reviewed here at Rotten Tomatoes. The MLB schedule is here, the NHL Stanley Cup finals schedule is here, the WNBA schedule is here, and the NBA east finals schedule is here (Go Boston woo woo woo). Or you can catch the Indy 500 Sunday starting at 12:30 on NBC, followed by the final round of the Senior Open golf tournament (Go ghost of Ben Hogan woo woo woo).  Saturday night at 10 Sarah Silverman debuts her new standup special Someone You Love on HBO.

Sunday on 60 Minutes: an encore of the profile they did on Tina Turner. The National Memorial Day Concert airs Sunday at 8 on PBS. And beyond that you should just go outside and tiptoe through the tulips.

Now here’s your Sunday morning lineup:

Meet the Press: Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Roy Blunt (The Cult-MO).

This Week: TBA

Face the Nation: Microsoft President Brad Smith; Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee.

CNN’s State of the Union: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA); Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison; Gov. Chris Sununu (The Cult-NH).

Fox GOP Talking Points Sunday: Speaker Kevin McCarthy (The Cult-CA); Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT); Sen. Lindsey Graham (The Cult-SC). 

Happy viewing!

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Ten years ago in C&J: May 26, 2013

CHEERS to the Master of the World.  Belated C&J congrats to Sathwik Karnik, the Massachusetts seventh-grader who won the 2013 National Geographic Bee and gave King Philip Middle School good reason to cheer:

The victory was the Karnik family’s dream come true, [coach Dave] Quinn said.  This is the third year a Karnik has appeared in the bee’s final round.  …  Sathwik is a veritable triple threat. He has previously competed and placed in science and math competitions, including one at MIT, and is looking forward to competing more.

The 12 year-old Karnik won the event in the final round when he was the only contestant who was able to go to his room and locate a clean pair of socks.

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And just one more…

CHEERS to today’s pop quiz. No peeking or Googling—if you try to cheat, I’ve inserted malware that will make your computer or smartphone start playing a never-ending loop of It’s A Small World After All­, so fair warning.  Here’s the question: who was the first senior Trump official—aka rat on the sinking ship—to flee the White House six years ago this week?  Here’s a pleasant musical interlude while you’re thinking it over…

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If you said Communications Director Michael Dubke, you win!  Since that fateful day a mere 3 months after the stable genius who “only hires the best people” took the oath, the revolving door spun so fast that even Rachel Maddow gave up adding new names to her giant Departures Board. By the end of his massive fail in office, the only people left were the ones resigned to hosing him down with spray-on tan, fetching his cheeseburgers, and shoving UV lights up his tuchus. I wonder if they’re sitting at home bored with all the winning yet. On second thought, no, I really don’t.

Have a great weekend. Floor’s open…What are you cheering and jeering about today?

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