Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - May 12, 2017

I'm a Poll Man:

A new NBC News/Survey Monkey online poll --conducted Wednesday and Thursday-- says that 54-percent of Americans say it was not appropriate for PRESIDENT TRUMP to fire former FBI Director JAMES COMEY earlier this week.Thirty-eight-percent say it was the proper thing to do.
Forty-six-percent also said they believed Trump dismissed Comey because of how he was handling an investigation into possible Russian ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as alleged Russian interference in last November's election. Twenty-four-percent said they thought Comey was fired over how he handled HILLARY CLINTON's email mess. (Pacelli)

Mother's Day Background:

Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908 at a church service in Philadelphia, PA. ANNE JARVIS had the service done for her mother, who'd told her when she was much younger that she'd hoped there would be a day to commemorate all mothers --everywhere.
So, two years after her death, Anne and her friends began a national letter-writing campaign to get a holiday honoring mothers, and in 1914 Congress passed legislation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

Where to go on Mother's Day:

No matter how pinched the household budget, we're still going to do our best to keep Mom out of the kitchen for Mother's Day. Restaurants still expect it will be the busiest day of the year, according to the National Restaurant Association --about 38 percent of all Americans will dine out that day. In fact, many will dine out twice, celebrating with different people: The NRA reports that 59 percent celebrate at dinner, 51 percent at lunch or brunch, and 22 percent at breakfast. (Kaye)

Mother's Day by the numbers:

Motherhood may be a thankless job (at least that's what they say), but someone's gotta be grateful for all the bucks that get spent on it. This Sunday, America's kids, husbands, and grandkids plan to spend billions upon billions of dollars thanking the moms in their lives.
Here, a few more of the numbers behind Mother's Day:
--$186.39: The average amount American consumers will spend on mom for Mother's Day 2017
--77.9: Percentage of buyers who will pick up a greeting card for Mom
--68.5: Percent of buyers who will get flowers for Mom
--35.5: Percent of Mother's Day shoppers who are planning to splurge on jewelry, spending $5 billion
--45: Percent of Mother's Day shoppers who will give mom a gift card, spending more than $2.5 billion.
--37: Percent of Mother's Day shoppers who will give mom apparel and clothing items, spending more than $2.1 billion