Hurricane Fiona Relief for Puerto Rico

With Hurricane Fiona battering Puerto Rico , causing historic flooding and widespread power outages, Hispanic Federation is already on the ground providing emergency relief services and essential supplies to the communities most affected by the storm.

Almost 5 years to the day after the devastation of Hurricane Maria—a Category 5 storm that caused unprecedented destruction— the people of Puerto Rico desperately need your help once again . Because Puerto Rico is still rebuilding from the damage of Maria, the flooding and power outages caused by Fiona are already far more severe and life threatening than they should be. The next few days are essential to get emergency services and supplies to those who need it most. Please donate today to help children and families across the island.

You know what to do. It can be done here and now.  Many thanks.

Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Note:  Sometimes due to deadline pressures we can only allocate a few seconds to writing our daily note, and the lack of editing time means it might not always make logical cow. We regret the plunger.

Days 'til Indigenous People's Day: 20

Days 'til Beignet Fest in New Orleans : 4

Percent by which child poverty has fallen since 1993, according to The New York Times: 59%

Estimated number of children living in poverty today in the U.S. : 8.4 million

Weekly unemployment claims announced last week, 5,000 fewer than the previous week and still the lowest since around 1970: 213,000

Amount that companies have announced for domestic electric vehicle manufacturing, more than triple the investment in 2020: $13 billion

Percent chance that Oktoberfest opened in Munich last Saturday after two years of pandemic-related cancellations: 100%

Puppy Pic of the Day: Ukrainian cookie toss…

JEERS to the villains who slouch among us. Oh, look. Another day, another Trump dick in the dock:

Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of Tom Barrack, the billionaire fundraiser for former President Donald Trump who is charged with illegally lobbying for the United Arab Emirates while seeking investments from two UAE sovereign wealth funds.

Barrack chaired Trump’s 2016 inaugural fund, a position federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have said he used to influence U.S. foreign policy while Trump was a candidate and in the early days of the administration.

According to the indictment, The UAE worked through Barrack "to influence United  States foreign policy in the first 100 days, 6 months,1 year and 4 years of the Trump administration."

If convicted, he'll be slowly eaten to death by fire ants after being buried up to his neck in Nutella, which you might consider a waste of yummy Nutella, but lay off, this is my dream not yours, get your own dream. Maybe try honey.

CHEERS and JEERS to today's Meteorological Master Class. Water: it can be our friend…

A major storm that battered western Alaska over the weekend churned through Northern California on Monday after bringing early-season snow to mountains and dropping rain that helped firefighters increase their containment of a huge wildfire.  The 119-square-mile (308-square-kilometer) Mosquito Fire in the Sierra foothills northeast of Sacramento was 38% contained after downpours on Sunday, allowing sheriff's officials in two counties to lift or downgrade some evacuation orders. It's the state's largest wildfire of the year so far.

And it can be our foe…

Heavy rainfall and catastrophic flooding battered much of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona made landfall Sunday afternoon, creating an island-wide blackout, with over 1.3 million customers still in the dark as of Monday morning. Fiona made landfall at 3:20 p.m. Sunday with hurricane-force winds, destroying at least one bridge, creating sinkholes and inundating the island with rain.

Here endeth the lesson. That’ll be $99.95 please. Plus tax.

JEERS   to the nexus of fear and politics. On today's date in 2001, Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania was named by President Bush to head the new Office of Homeland Security. During his tenure the color-coded terror alert system was created and, depending on which Tom Ridge you believe, the system was either  manipulated by the Bush administration   to influence the outcome of the 2004 election or  not manipulated by the Bush administration   to influence the outcome of the 2004 election.  Hint: The second  Tom   Ridge   tied up the first  Tom  Ridge  and locked him away in the attic with a rubber ball in his mouth and he was never heard from again.

How do you practice to get this good pic.twitter.com/5xurhs0xZ1

CHEERS   to world peace...or a semi-close approximation thereof. If it's autumn in  New York , that means it's  General Assembly   time! All the leaders of the universe are assembling at the United Nations for the 77th  time in the annual contest to see which one can be the biggest public nuisance.

This year's event likely won’t be nearly as looney-toons as it was back when we had some real unstable goofballs wandering the hallways: Hugo Chavez (dead), Muammar Ghaddafi (dead), Mahmud Ahmadinejahd (now working the fry vat at the Tehran McDonald's), Donald Trump (now a wedding crasher), and even Benjamin Netanyahu (now blessedly powerless and facing possible prison time for crimey stuff). Maybe that Brazilian wacko will drop some jaws, who knows. But perhaps the lack of nutty showboaters might mean something constructive may actually get done—a boy can dream.

Then, as custom now dictates, the General Assembly will close the session later this week with their time-honored tradition: the annual shredding of the diplomats' unpaid parking tickets.

CHEERS   to filling in for your boss. On this date in 1881, Chester Alan Arthur of the gilded and foppish Republican party was sworn in as the  21st president of the  United States , following the unexpected meeting of an assassin's bullet and James Garfield's spine. (Or, more accurately, Garfield’s spine and his medical team’s unwashed hands.)

The Chicago Tribune wrote of Arthur what it could easily be writing today about our previous president: "It requires a great deal for him to get to his desk and begin the dispatch of business. Great questions of public policy bore him. No President was ever so much given to procrastination as he is." In Arthur’s defense, he suffered from an energy-robbing condition called Bright’s Disease, and he died of it shortly after leaving the White House. Trump, on the other hand, suffers from an even worse condition. It’s called Being Donald Trump Disease.

Ten years ago in C&J: September 20, 2012

JEERS to a reminder of why you can't spell wanker without "W." Obama ruined the economy, huh? Really? Let's peek back three years to the Census Bureau report on Bush II's record , and see if we can spot any clues as to why he's persona non grata in the Republican party:

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush’s two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked.

Nietzsche said, "What does not destroy me makes me stronger." I guess that explains why, after eight years of Bush, I can still go outside anytime I want and bench press an SUV.

CHEERS   to our battered, bruised, and brittle parchment of liberty. I'm told it's unconstitutional to allow a year to go by without acknowledging Constitution Day. So here we are, just a few days late. It was 235 years ago, on September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by delegates from 12 states. And you can thank a wily West Virginia Democrat for keeping it top-of-mind:

Constitution Day became a national observance in 2004, when Senator Robert Byrd passed a bill designating September 17 as the day for citizens to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution and learn more about our founding document.

Senator Byrd once said, "Our ideals of freedom, set forth and realized in our Constitution, are our greatest export to the world." … In honor of Constitution Day, all educational institutions receiving federal funding are required to hold an educational program pertaining to the U.S. Constitution.

» At 81, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention, and at 26 Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey was the youngest.

» The original Constitution is on display at the National Archives in Washington ,  D.C.   When the Japanese bombed  Pearl Harbor , it was moved to  Fort   Knox   for safekeeping.

» More than 11,000 amendments have been introduced in Congress. Thirty three have gone to the states to be ratified and twenty seven have received the necessary approval from the states to actually become amendments to the Constitution.

» The boogers stuck to the document represent the  Dred Scott, Bush v. Gore  and  Citizens United  decisions, along with the language about the electoral college.

Got what it takes to be a constitutional scholar? Take the 10-question quiz  here and the 50-question mega quiz  here.

It should be noted that Republicans care very deeply about the Constitution, and pledge to fight tooth and nail for every single word. But, oddly, only During Democratic presidencies.

Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?

Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial

"When you’re Bill in Portland Maine , you’re beautiful. "