Please shield your eyes and watch your step as you emerge, blinking and confused, from the 2016 Survival Shelter. Welcome to 2017. The good news? 2016 is over. The bad news? It wasn’t a dream.

However, you will notice that the shelter door has been solidly closed and locked behind you. You can only go forward. Sorry about that. Take a few deep breaths. In about, oh, let’s say twenty days, that New Year smell may start to wear off. Enjoy it until then.

Since this is a new year, we’re going to do something different on APR: a morning sing along! Yes, really. Seriously. Really, seriously. Wherever you are, listen to the song, and then start it over and sing along. While you do so, picture thousands of other DK-folk waving their morning coffee mugs and joining the chorus. If you want the lyrics, they’re right here.

Trust me. You’re gonna need this.

I am gathering the tools together. I'm preparing to do my part  

Now that you’re awake, come on in. Let’s read some pundits.

It’s mighty tempting to say good riddance, 2016, don’t let the door hit you on the way out of here. But the past 366 days weren’t a total loss. Some great things happened and we shouldn’t forget them. Here are a dozen.

• 4.4 million minimum wage-earning Americans are or soon will be making more money in 20 states and the District of Columbia. There will be a phased-in raise to $15 by 2019 in New York City, with the rest of the state on a path to that level in the future. The state’s fast-food wage board set the minimum for workers in that industry at $12 an hour for 2017. Washington state raised its minimum as of January 1 by $1.53 to $11 an hour. On the same day in Arizona, the minimum goes up by $1.95 to $10 an hour. California is raising its minimum by 50 cents in 2017 and again in 2018, and then a dollar a year through 2022 to reach $15 an hour, a rate some California cities have already set. Here are the states (plus D.C.) that are raising their minimum in 2017: D.C., Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York,  Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington.

 • In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of reproductive rights in the case of Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt. A Texas law required doctors at clinics providing abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles and that the clinics have facilities equal to a mini-hospital.  Writing for the Court majority, Justice Stephen Breyer said that “both the admitting privileges and surgical center requirements place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a pre-viability abortion, constitute an undue burden on abortion access, and thus violate the Constitution.”

• Thanks to activist efforts, the Treasury will be replacing Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. 

• For the first time in a century, the number of tigers in the wild increased. The count is now 3,820 compared with 3,200 in 2010. Nations pledged that year to double the world’s wild tiger population by 2022.

• Sri Lanka’s bold 2009 plan to wipe out malaria worked. The country is now malaria free. At the end of the nation’s devastating civil war, it was decided to try something no other country had ever done—track down every malaria case and treat the people who had it, test members of their families, and wreak havoc on the mosquitoes that carry the killer disease.

• U.S unemployment fell to 4.6 percent, the lowest level in nine years. Some of the acute problems of the Great Recession and most of the chronic problems of the economy are still with us. But seven years ago, the unemployment rate was 10 percent.

• The Cubs won the World Series.

• After 50 years of civil war, the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas signed a peace agreement.

• The Paris climate agreement came into force. It took 25 years to get a solid agreement, but in October, 55 countries representing 58.85 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions ratified the Paris pact with the goal of cutting those emissions quick enough and deep enough to keep the world’s average temperature from rising more than 3.6° Fahrenheit by the turn of the century. 55 nations generating at least 55 percent of emissions was what was needed to bring the agreement into effect. Hard work with many obstacles lie ahead, but Paris was a major hurdle overcome.

• Researchers developed a vaccine against ebola that is 100 percent effective.

• 300 West African communities pledged to end female genital mutilation. The communities are in the four countries that have the highest levels of the practice: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Mauritania. 

• U.S. gymnasts Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian won a record nine Olympic medals among them.

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 BLAST FROM THE PAST

At Daily Kos on this date in 2005—Know Your Creationists: Kent Hovind:

Kent Hovind is an old fashioned fire and brimstone operator who tours the nation tirelessly giving Young Earth Creationism pep talks and offering to debate scientists who support evolution, in a manner disturbingly similar to traveling evangelical revival-n-heal'n schemes. His distortions of science and his underhanded tactics are legendary, even among his fellow Young Earthers.

Ken Ham of the Young Earth Creationist organization Answers in Genesis (AiG) has published a point-by-point critique of Hovind, where Ham goes on to conclude that fellow creationists should avoid using Hovind's arguments as they're riddled with errors and/or dishonesty. Allow me to put that into proper context: AiG is building a museum which depicts men and women living side by side in harmony with dinosaurs "Flintstones style" 6000 years ago, and has built several large dioramas of the Ark at considerable cost as part of their research into how Noah got all them critters on one boat ... So if Ken Ham is advising people that Hovind's claims are of dubious scientific value, can you imagine how far beyond the pale Hovind must be?

I like cooking when I get a chance to do so. I started making videos of some of the dishes we make in my country of origin, Panamá. I kinda cajoled my wife into doing one.

I woke up Thanksgiving morning to a smell in the house to die for. My wife was making her bi-yearly cornbread dressing. She makes it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ve been trying to get her to do some cooking on camera for some time. She always had an excuse. “The kitchen is too messy now.” “I don’t have any makeup on.” “I don’t have the right clothes on.”

Anyone who’s seen my cooking videos knows I don’t particularly concern myself with the aesthetics. I am an engineer. Functionality, applicability, and taste is the only thing that matters. Right? Anyway, I ran to my office, got the HD camera and started recording. She finally gave in, no makeup, no tidy kitchen, no designer clothes. I finally won one. BTW, I generally never win anything.

Linda does not cook cornbread dressing with recipes at all. The picture at the beginning of the video contains all the seasoning she threw in the pot when she boiled the livers and gizzards. She also baked the turkey wings with them along with fresh onions, cilantro, garlic, parsley, and celery.

If you need any specifics, drop us a line. I am sure Linda will be happy to respond.

When I was a kid I used to watch the New Year’s ball drop in Times Square on TV. Dick Clark used to be the host. Man he was old, but I guess remembering him makes me old now, too. I remember thinking how much fun all the people there were having, at least from the looks of it. I have a sense now that maybe, just maybe, the folks in the production truck might have been making sure to not show images of people huddling, shivering, and muttering that they’d rather be home on their couches—which is exactly where I was.

I’ve been living in New York City since the end of the last century. Times Square is just a subway ride away. Yet, even before I had kids I never went. I definitely thought about it, but I never did it. I’ll never say I never will, but I have a feeling the chances of me going in the future have, shall we say, dwindled. Let’s get real. I haven’t even made it to midnight with my eyes open the last number of years.

This year, again, I’ll just have to live with seeing the spectacle virtually. How about all of you? Have you ever done New Year’s Eve in Times Square? Have you ever wanted to? Does it sound like the worst possible idea in the world? Come on in and share your thoughts and let’s celebrate together. Happy New Year!

And in that spirit, here are some great photos to enjoy from what I hope, for all of you, is a warm, comfortable spot.

Now that the Electoral College has spoken and completed the installation of President Drumpf, we need to focus on the goal of totally and completely blocking and opposing his agenda and administration, which includes but is not limited to the following items:

• His nominees for cabinet and key positions need to be vigorously opposed, exposed and blocked as often as possible.
• His policy initiatives need to be filibustered and if that’s not possible defanged.
• Current conflicts of interest, foreign lobbying and corruption by anyone including himself, his family and his administration officers—from Steve Bannon to Michael Flynn on down—need to be investigated and FOIA’d like crazy and prosecuted if necessary.
• Any holdings or business deals made by his sons, daughter and son in law—as well as any of his previous ongoing deals and assets—need to be investigated by the SEC and Federal Ethics Office for insider trading, special access, favors and gifts from foreign governments.
• If he knowingly violates the Emoluments clause, Impeachment proceedings should be considered.
• He’s needs to be incessantly called out for his ridiculous, divisive and ludicrous comments—particularly those that continue to incite and inspire racial/ethnic hate or police violence—and his judgement challenged at every opportunity.
• The potential of campaign collusion if not treason with the support of Russia needs to be seriously investigated, particular the possibility that dropping the sanctions over Crimea, while being an incredible windfall for former Exxon CEO/SOS pick Rex Tillerson may also be financial payback to Russia for their interference in our election.
• FBI collusion to hold back information about the Weiner/Abedin emails for nearly a month in order to deliberately sabotage the Clinton campaign needs to be investigated.
• He needs to be sued for each and any of his policies which are based on, or implemented bigoted results.
• His past practices and tax issues need to be publicized—from his bribery of State AG’s not to sue him over Trump U, to his links for foreign criminal organizations in his business dealings and skipping out of payments to his subcontractors—and contrasted with his practices as chief executive.

 

Today is the day the top four teams in the country vie to play in the College Football Playoff National Championship that will be held on Jan. 9. The Fiesta Bowl, the second game of the day, pits No. 3 Ohio State against the No. 2 Clemson Tigers. 

So talk about the game, discuss whether or not Ohio State even deserves their ranking, fly your football hate flag, make a new year’s resolution ... or talk about whatever else is on your mind because this is a New Year’s Eve open thread.

Christmas movies are so last week. By now, Clarence has earned his wings, Ralphie has gotten his Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle (and did NOT shoot his eye out), and Billy Mack has gone stark naked behind his guitar on live TV on Christmas Eve, distracting airport security long enough to let young Sam run to Joanna and earn a kiss on the cheek (or pick your favorite subplot of the various couples in Love Actually).

Enough. It’s time to feature some stellar movie scenes that take place on New Year’s Eve.

Many films include New Year’s Eve scenes because they provide such a handy plot device to signal that a significant change is in the works, either in the relationship between two characters or in the direction of the action. Plus, they offer an excuse to feature romance and to use lavish costumes, music, and dancing. Or revolution and murder, depending on the movie.

Many others already have compiled such lists. This one includes suggestions and clips from a range of movies, from the romantic conclusion in 1989’s When Harry Met Sally (c’mon, Sally, you know he loves you) to the creepy year-end party in 1950’s Sunset Boulevard (Joe Gillis is the only guest at Norma Desmond’s exclusive gathering, and he’s not long for this world) to the final scene of Ghostbusters II in 1989, in which the ghost-hunters get a ride from the Statue of Liberty.

This list includes some of the same examples and clips, adding Johnny Depp in 1993’s Benny and Joon paying homage to Charlie Chaplin doing a New Year’s Eve fork-roll dance in The Gold Rush from 1925. In compiling the list, the writer found no fewer than 50 movies with New Year’s Eve scenes, which he whittled down to 10 favorites.

Here’s yet another list from LA Weekly, in which the author opines, “NYE is a go-to setting for the staging of human sadness.” AMC has a list that lets viewers vote on the best scenes. Time has its own list with a few extras thrown in, including 200 Cigarettes, a 1999 indie drama set in 1981 that follows an array of people on New Year’s Eve in New York.

None of these lists includes what for me is the most memorable—and certainly the sexiest—New Year’s Eve scene. It’s from the 1989 film The Fabulous Baker Boys. 

Looking back on it now, the result of the election is even more unfathomable than when media outlets first called the race.

Thanks to a strong economy, the two-term Democratic president enjoyed an approval rating well over 50 percent—with good reason. Despite near-total Republican opposition to his health care and stimulus plans and dire GOP warnings about “job-crushing” tax increases that would “kill the current recovery,” the Democrat presided over the creation of millions of new jobs and a falling unemployment rate which dropped below 5 percent. Though U.S. troops were still in the field protecting Muslim populations, Republican attacks that the American military had “deteriorated badly” and had two Army divisions “not ready for duty, sir” were simply untrue. At a time of relative peace and prosperity, the president’s obvious successor and the clear choice of the Democratic establishment should have won a comfortable victory.

But it didn’t work out that way. The Democrat’s mistake-filled campaign could not escape an immovable media narrative that the candidate was inauthentic, aloof, calculating, and corrupt. Despite the impossible math behind his massive tax cuts for the rich, the CEO-turned-Republican nominee was instead portrayed as the guy voters wanted to have a beer with. And despite America’s clear popular vote victory for the Democrat, mere thousands of votes across key states enabled the GOP’s man to win the Electoral College and so become president of the United States. Nevertheless, in the run-up to their inauguration, the president-elect insisted he had a mandate to govern as he sees fit. As his running mate put it:

“[He] ran on a particular platform that was very carefully developed. It's his program, it's his agenda, and we have no intention at all of backing off of it. It's why we got elected.”

And in 2001, Democrats let George W. Bush pretty much get away with all of it.

Sixteen years later, their response to Donald Trump must be “not this time and never again.” It’s not just that President-elect Trump’s policies are predicted now, as Bush’s were then, to be disastrous for the country. When Democrats regained control of the White House and Congress in 2009, they were met by Republicans with an unprecedented campaign of obstruction designed to undermine not just the norms of American politics, but America itself. And then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t merely proclaim “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” but sought to sabotage the 44^th president to ensure that Republicans would not “have co-ownership of a bad economy.” As a result, Democrats should feel liberated to strike back at the times and places of their choosing with any of the tactics Republicans didn’t hesitate to use during the past eight years.

In 1947, Oscar,Tony and Grammy award-winning songwriter Frank Loesser, wrote “What are you doing New Years Eve?”’

"What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" is a popular song written in 1947 by Frank Loesser as an independent song—not written for a particular movie or musical. It first charted for The Orioles, peaking at No. 9 on Billboard's Best-Selling Retail Rhythm & Blues chart in December 1949. Other charted versions include Danté & The Evergreens (No. 107 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles in December 1960) and Nancy Wilson (No. 17 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1965 and No. 24 on the same chart in December 1967).

It has been recorded by many other artists, including Margaret Whiting in 1947, Dick Haymes & the Les Paul Trio in 1947, Spike Jones in 1956, Ella Fitzgerald in 1960, Ramsey Lewis in 1961, Lena Horne in 1966, King Curtis in 1968, Johnny Mathis in 1969, The Carpenters in 1978 (released in 1984), Gary Valenciano in 1986, Keno in 1988, Patti LaBelle in 1990, Andy Williams in 1990, The Stylistics in 1992, Harry Connick, Jr. in 1993, Carol Sloane in 1994, The Whispers in 1994, The Persuasions in 1997,^[2] Donny Osmond in 1999, Barbra Streisand in 2001, Barry Manilow and Lee Ann Womack in 2002, Clay Aiken in 2004 for his album Merry Christmas with Love, Diana Krall in 2005, Bette Midler in 2006, Mindy Smith in 2007, Ledisi in 2008, Chicago, Katharine McPhee in 2010 and Deana Martin in 2011. In 2012, Rod Stewart recorded the song as a "virtual duet" with Ella Fitzgerald for his first holiday album, Merry Christmas, Baby. The Head and the Heart recorded the song for Starbucks' Holidays Rule compilation album in 2012. Seth MacFarlane recorded the song for his 2014 Christmas album Holiday for Swing. That same year, Idina Menzel recorded a version for her album Holiday Wishes. In 2016, Kacey Musgraves recorded a version of the song for her album A Very Kacey Christmas.

Hard to make a choice from such a long list, but my pick is the R&B doo-wop by The Orioles.

Today is the day the top four teams in the country vie to play in the College Football Playoff National Championship that will be held on Jan. 9. First up is the Peach Bowl, where the No.4-ranked Washington Huskies go against the No. 1-ranked team, the Alabama Crimson Tide. 

So talk about the game, discuss whether or not Washington has a shot, say how much you hate football, share your plans for tonight ... or talk about whatever else is on your mind because this is a New Year’s Eve open thread.

Musicians say you shouldn't cover someone else's song unless you can bring something unique to it—unless you can make it your own in a sense. By that standard, in recent weeks I've heard more than a few covers of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" that really were a travesty. I'm no Mariah devotee, but hey, you gotta respect the chords.

In contrast to those flimsy reproductions, I was reminded this week of George Michael's ‘90s-era duet with Elton John covering his 1974 hit, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," which has personal resonance for me. Sometime in the mid-’70s, my mother took my brother and me to the record store and let us both pick out an LP. I was around five and chose Elton John's Greatest Hits, with the iconic picture of the singer sitting in front of a black baby grand in a white suit, fedora to match and prodigious rose colored glasses that seemed to swallow his face whole as they drew you into his mysterious world. My early album pick on little more than gut instinct was perhaps an early signal that I was queer, but it would take another couple decades before I actually had that revelation.

What I did know was that I loved that album for reasons I couldn't explain. As a kid, I bounced around to the upbeat tempos of "Crocodile Rock" and "Bennie and the Jets." But as I took to writing poetry in my teenage years, I regarded "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and "Your Song" as sheer songwriting genius, at least in so far as the lyrics went (which I believe were written by John’s collaborator, Bernie Taupin.) Unfortunately, I don't have a lick of musical ability. But I knew those lyrics by heart and would occasionally simply transcribe them into my journals as a way of expressing the sometimes piercing pain of my adolescence without having to find the words myself.

By the time the live duet of George Michael and Elton John singing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" hit No. 1 on the pop charts in Feb. of 1992, I was a senior in college and I still wasn't out—not even to myself. Technically, neither was George Michael, but his lyrics told a different story as he proclaimed his "Freedom" on his 1990 album Listen Without Prejudice, which I played on repeat. But his rendition of my early Elton John favorite was a heart stopper. He brought his full being into those  lyrics and transformed them.

Don’t let the sun go down on me...

Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see...

I'd just allow a fragment of your life, to wander free...

My name is Paul Hogarth, and I work on the activism team at Daily Kos. You may not have read my blog posts, but you probably get my emails.

As Chris Bowers explained, online petitions are essential to digital activism.

Not only can they supplement existing campaigns on the ground and pressure targets at strategic times, but they serve as a "sign-up" form for your organization—so that we can be powerful and effective at future efforts.

The bigger our email list, the more emails and phone calls we can generate to members of Congress and other decision makers, the more volunteers we recruit for campaigns, the more money we can raise for candidates.

In other words, the more powerful we can be at fighting the Trump regime.

So even a petition with no clear "theory of change" (such as Sign if you agree: Donald Trump is a fascist) is important for the progressive movement if it helps us engage more people.

I have worked on the activism team since May 2013, and over time my job has evolved so that I focus on our organic list growth. When I started, we had about 600,000 people on our email list. We finally reached 2 million this summer, where it stayed for the rest of the campaign season.

And then the disastrous election happened and people turned to us for help. This petition to elect the president by popular vote went viral, and we jumped to 2.7 million people in a week. We are now at 2.817 million email subscribers.

Everyone on our activism team is responsible for this amazing progress, but I wanted to focus today on the three channels I work on to help push our organic list growth so that we are bigger and more influential: (a) ActionSprout, (b) petition embeds and (c) the splash.