Welcome 😄 to Tuesday’s Roundup of Good News!
Greetings! I’m subbing for niftywriter, who helped me out when I was sick a little while ago.
Dealing with dishonesty/corruption/all the bad stuff
And before I get to the usual stuff, I want to do a little ranting and/or philosophizing. Most of us have been horrified by the sheer pervasiveness of the Republican lying, corruption and dishonesty. How on earth do we stop it? How do we change back the norms?
Some people will lie/steal/do bad things all the time (for example, Trump). People like him simply need to be stopped and put in jail. Others will lie/steal/do bad things if they think they can get away with it, such as Chris Collins. He also needs to be stopped and put in jail — but people like him might not do such things if they think they cannot get away with it.
Then there are those whose impulses are more to the good, but if they think the whole world is cheating — for example, they are in some athletic contest where all the contestants are doping, then doping is sort of the “norm” and you will certainly lose if you do not — then these people will do what they perceive the norms to be. If they think the whole world is cheating, then they will cheat. If they think the world is mostly honest, then these people tend to be honest.
That is why the shaming, the calling them out, the protests are all so important. We’ve gotten some of the evil dudes to quit. It’s also the reason the “Unite the Right” rally was such a dud, and why the #MeToo and the #NeverAgain movements are having so much impact. We have to keep demanding.
The flip side is important, too. We have to make sure to praise and to encourage and to honor those who are doing the right things. Because enough of this makes a difference and changes the norms.
I could give more examples, but the important thing is to encourage everyone here to keep up the pressure.
Now to the regularly scheduled programming...
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the very bad stuff that is happening. But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including ourselves) who are working so hard to save our country from those very bad people. Because sometimes the good news, which can be incremental, gets lost in the deluge of the click-bait bad (please save that click-bait bad for other diaries). Because we need to fortify ourselves before returning to the fight. Because we sometimes get ideas about how to fight while here. And also — because we’re a community 💙 ❤️ 💙 — we like to be here.
And, yes, there’s lots of bad news out there — just how corrupt is the Republican party? — and Trump’s deeds will take a lot of work to undo. But little of it is surprising, at least not surprising on what the bad guys are doing or are trying to do (at least not to us). What has been surprising is the outpouring on our side. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know. And you know what? Anger and fury are pretty good motivators, and are reasons that a blue wave is predicted for November.
💚 There are more of us than there are of them.
💛 They are terrified when we organize.
💔 They want us to be demoralized. We have to keep demoralizing them. Turns out that shame works!
💙 The best way to keep up your spirits is to fight. So, take the time to recharge your batteries, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world.
Note that there is more good news out there, but the sample here should remind you that lots of people are fighting and it does make a difference.
💙 Russia, Russia, Russia 🐻
— and Other Toxic 🍄 Trump Matters
🔨 Another judge (Trump appointed) rules Mueller probe constitutional
Judge Dabney Friedrich, appointed by President Trump to the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C., ruled Monday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia is constitutional, reports Politico.
Why it matters: This is the fourth federal judge to strike down efforts to invalidate Mueller's probe. The latest appeal was leveled by Russian company Concord Management, which was indicted for funding the social media "troll farm" known as the Internet Research Agency.
🔨 Here’s some analysis of the Manafort trial
I am here to reassure you that rumors of the demise of the Virginia prosecution against Paul Manafort have been greatly exaggerated. And that the heated confrontations between Judge Ellis and prosecutors — to the extent they happened in front of the jury — are just a foretaste of what the defense is likely to get when it starts to lay its cards on the table.
So far, all jurors have seen is one side of the case. And when it’s time for Manafort’s legal team to mount what Politico describes as “mission impossible,” it may consist of no more than attempts to paint its client as a victim, a highly sophisticated lobbyist who didn’t know better, or simply someone who was too busy working for Ukrainian interests to mind the minutiae of reporting his offshore taxable income or true liquid assets when he procured outsize bank loans the moment his political fortunes ran dry. A man too wealthy to keep good track of his own money or its whereabouts, if you will. Good luck with that.
Prosecutors have rested their case now.
🔎 Mueller is apparently zeroing in on Roger Stone 👀
Special counsel Robert Mueller appears to be narrowing his focus on Roger Stone in his investigation into Russian interference in the election, prompting widespread speculation that the longtime adviser to President Trump is likely a target in the probe.
Stone has long been subject to public scrutiny as a result of his connections to WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, the hacking persona that Mueller’s team now alleges was a front for Russian intelligence officers.
❓ Wonkette wonders what the Russians have on Senator Lindsay Graham 😓
We have been worried about genteel Southern bachelor Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina for quite a while now, y'all. During the Republican primary, he wasn't scared to call Donald Trump a "kook." By the end of the first year of Trump's presidency, Graham was carrying Trump's balls on the golf course and crying to the media that everybody was acting like Trump is some sort of "kook." What kind of Lindsey Graham would say such an unkind thing about Lindsey Graham's best friend?…
What the fuck is wrong with Lindsey Graham? Did the Russians hack his emails and WikiLeak them to Donald Trump? What did they find? Stuff that's been rumored in Washington since, oh, FUCKING FOREVER? Because trust us, that would not be the finest kompromat the Russian intelligence services ever did, if so. "GUCCIFER SAY GUCCI-WHAAAAAAAT?" That is what Wonkette would say about that, definitely.
I mean, are we going to learn that he’s gay? I’d be about as surprised as when Joel Grey emerged from the closet. As in, not at all. Or could it be something else?
But seriously, we have to remember that the Russians did not hack just the Democrats, but the Republicans as well. And that many of them are terrified. In fact, I bet that’s what is behind a lot of the retirements.
📣 Lordy, Lordy, there are tapes!
In an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman discusses the recording of a phone call she says she received from the president, as well as a recording of White House chief of staff John Kelly firing her. Newman said she recorded the conversations to “protect” herself, telling Savannah that “there are a lot of corrupt things going on in the White House.” She also says there are is a 3-minute audio tape of Trump using the N-word when referring to African Americans during the course of “The Apprentice.”
Even if you put no stock in Omarosa Manigault Newman, tapes are tapes. Could be interesting.
🐊 Tales from the Swamp 🐊
💙 Nancy Pelosi tells Paul Ryan to tell Chris Collins to resign 👎
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urged Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to press Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., to step down from his post after he was arrested by the FBI and charged with insider trading.
“Speaker Ryan must call on Congressman Collins to resign,” Pelosi said in a statement. “No person is above the law, not the President nor his first supporter in Congress.”
I ❤️ Pelosi! In this simple statement she reminds everyone how corrupt the Rs are, how spineless Ryan is, and ties Collins to Trump.
🐶 Watchdog flags Wilbur Ross and some of his assets. 🐊
A campaign finance watchdog filed a complaint Monday alleging Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross could have violated the law by holding stock in companies that may have been affected by Trump administration directives.
Why it matters: Add this to the list of questions Ross has faced over his assets — a month ago the U.S. Office of Government Ethics warned him his "actions, including... continued ownership of assets required to be divested in [his] Ethics Agreement and... opening of short sale positions, could have placed [him] in a position to run afoul of the primary criminal conflict of interest law.”
The big picture: Former HHS Secretary
Tom Price and former EPA Administrator
Scott Pruitt departed the administration after facing months of questions over similar legal and financial issues.
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
💜 Retiring Republican congressman’s son donates max to Democratic opponent
Congressman Bob Goodlatte’s son posted on Twitter that he was donating the max amount to the Democrat vying to succeed him, mental health professional and working class candidate Jennifer Lewis.
And that’s not all. The son is disgusted with his father and his antics:
A top-ranking House Republican, Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, is getting a lot of heat for his conduct as the chair of the House Judiciary Committee in the lead-up to FBI agent Peter Strzok’s firing — including from his own son.
Goodlatte’s son Bobby Goodlatte, a venture capitalist based in San Francisco, blasted his father for his role in ruining Strzok’s career on Twitter Monday, one day after announcing his support for the Democrat running in Goodlatte’s congressional district.
“I’m deeply embarrassed that Peter Strzok’s career was ruined by my father’s political grandstanding. That committee hearing was a low point for Congress,” Bobby Goodlatte tweeted. “Thank you for your service sir. You are a patriot.”
💛Another prominent R plans to vote D in the fall 💙
A lifelong Republican and former aide during the Kenneth Starr investigation into President Clinton said he will be voting for a Democrat in a federal election for the first time in his life.
PaulRosenzweig told CNN’s Matt Berman on Monday that his decision comes after theRepublican Party's “abdication of responsibility.”
Apparently, the deciding factor was the Nunes tape, in which he declared that his fealty was to Trump and not the USA.
And these are the guys who are coming out and talking about it!
💛 Vulnerable Republicans include some of the up-and-coming leaders
If a blue wave materializes this fall, it could not only wipe out the GOP’s majority in the House, but could also knock out some of the party’s top Republicans.
GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the highest-ranking female in Republican leadership, is locked in a highly competitive race in her traditionally red district in eastern Washington state, which was just rated as a “toss up” by one election handicapper this week.
Two other members of lower leadership — Reps. Pete Sessions (Texas), chairman of the House Rules Committee, and Mimi Walters (Calif.), the sophomore class representative — are also fighting to hang on to their seats in competitive races.
📜 GOP candidate claimed a degree she doesn’t have 🎓
Melissa Howard, who is running for the Republican nomination in Florida's 73rd district, has been accused of falsifying her degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Howard recently posted a Facebook photo of herself and her mother with a diploma to clear her name.
However, Claire Webster, director of university news and communications for MU, told WTSP that Melissa Marie Fox – Howard’s name before she married – does not have a degree from the college, though she was enrolled at the school.
Webster pointed out other discrepancies with the diploma seen in the photo… The photo has since been deleted from Howard's Facebook, and her Twitter account has been deactivated.
It’s fun to click on the link and see all the mistakes made in the forgery. Reminds me of when Manafort and Gates were trying to falsify documents to get illegal loans from banks.
🔇 Oh, and Donald Trump Jr posted, then deleted, a poll claiming his dad’s more popular than Obama.
💙 💰 Dem megadonor to spend lots on getting out the vote
Democratic megadonor Tom Steyer said Monday that he will pump an additional $10 million into a new get-out-the-vote campaign ahead of the November midterm elections.
... he billed the GOTV effort as a necessary step to reclaim Washington from a Republican Congress that has given Trump a blank check.
🐍 From the Schadenfreude File 🍎
🐟 Alaska fishermen worry that Trump tariffs will hurt them
Alaska fishermen are worried President Trump's tariffs will be "devastating" to the seafood industry, according to a new Reuters report.
Fishermen in Alaska told Reuters that retaliatory tariffs from Beijing are hurting their industry, as China is the state's top export market for seafood. China last month imposed a 25 percent tariff on seafood from the Pacific Northwest, Reuters reported.
Well, gosh, next time don’t vote for a con man!
🚲 Harley-Davidson in Wisconsin also in trouble, thanks to Trump tariffs
Donald tRump just dealt a blow to Wisconsin Republicans on the eve of the primary election.
This is the 115th anniversary for Harley Davidson, a brand that began in a West Allis, Wisconsin garage. Despite the influx of foreign made motorcycles, they’ve done well until the Trump Tariffs hit.
They’re the brand of motorcycle that evil Governor Scott Walker rents during his campaigns to demonstrate that he’s “a man of the people”. Pretending he's a Harley rider every 4 years seems foolish, but the sheeple eat it up every time. Frankly, his staff have to dress him for Harley riding and he looks ridiculous every time.
Well with Harley conceding defeat and moving manufacturing away due to tariff concerns, Scott Walker and his band of not-so-merry Republicans have a serious choice: stand up for a Wisconsin corporation and Wisconsin jobs or break with Pre*ident tRump.
Why on earth did anyone trust Trump?
Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange’s embrace of all thing Trump has lost him an ally
A botched power play by Julian Assange has led to a split within a key organization supporting whistleblowers and leaves the WikiLeaks founder more isolated than ever among his core constituency of radical transparency activists.
Assange has grown furious at a one-time ally with substantial moral authority within their movement: the journalist and activist Barrett Brown.
📎📎📎 Odds and Ends 📎📎 📎
🌻 The Parkland students plan a lot for this fall
This fall, the students plan something even bigger: a get-out-the-vote drive that will leverage their vaunted influence on social media, especially Twitter.
- But at event after event, apart from the traveling students themselves, there appeared to be far more adults than their 18-and-older intended audience.
- Registration of voters 18-29 this year has barely budged from the pre-Parkland average, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Be smart: The young organizers are going all-in on a strategy of not changing votes, but turning non-voters into voters.
❤️ Unions, fired up by their win in deep red Missouri, are totally psyched
Unions are looking at their recent lopsided ballot measure win in deep red Missouri as a watershed moment, and a sign of victories to come.
The Missouri vote last week to overturn a "right-to-work" law restricting unions follows a string of successful red-state protests on teachers wages in recent months.
Now, after years of political decline, unions are eyeing new initiatives in an environment that has proved unexpectedly fertile.
I think some credit should go to all the teachers 🍎 who marched and striked in the last years.
💛 White supremacists draw about two dozen (in masks) to their big rally
The organizers of the white supremacist riot that led to the murder of Heather Heyer last year could only muster a handful of supporters for their much-publicized second “Unite the Right” rally in Washington, DC this weekend.
A group of only about 20 to 30 protesters, led by Charlottesville organizer Jason Kessler, showed up for the “Unite the Right 2”rally in Washington, DC, on Sunday, the Washington Post and DCist report.
And that handful of white supremacists was dwarfed by thousands of anti-racist counter-protesters.
And this article points out how the few supremacists even snuck out of their own rally.
Some people may have found love in their hearts. Or others have been impressed by the lost jobs and the shaming. We have to keep up the pressure.
📰 The press is pressing back
More than 100 newspapers across the US will publish coordinated editorial responses to president Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the media on Thursday.
The campaign has been organised by the Boston Globe, whose editorial staff approached news outlets across the country asking them to write an editorial denouncing the president’s hostility to the media.
🔫 14-year-old designs foldable bullet proof wall to protect kids during school shootings
Audrey Larson, a 14-year-old inventor from Connecticut has designed a foldable bulletproof wall to protect students during school shootings.
“It’s a foldable two-panel barrier that comes out of the wall for kids to hide behind in the event of a lockdown and, ultimately, in the event of a school shooting,” Larson said Monday on Good Morning America.
💻 I’m not sure this is good news, but it’s about another impressive young girl named Audrey who hacked the FL machines
The 11-year-old, named Audrey, told BuzzFeed News that it was easy and once inside she could do just about anything she wanted. Florida’s secretary of state gave a statement to BuzzFeed reiterating that the website was not connected to the voting machines in any way.
🌱 Greens, Beets & Tomatoes turned around a historically black church
A few years ago, the Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III, the pastor of Baltimore’s historically African American Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, noticed a problem in his congregation: Many of the members were suffering from diet-related diseases. The problem is larger than just Pleasant Hope: About 13 percent of African American adults have diabetes, and an astonishing 40 percent experience high blood pressure. …
So in 2011, he planted a vegetable garden on his church property and gave away the harvest to his congregants. Right away, churchgoers reported that they enjoyed cooking with fresh fruits and vegetables and were feeling healthier, and Brown noticed that attendance at his Sunday services improved. “Initially I thought it was because people finally were recognizing what a great preacher I am,” he jokes. “But it had nothing to do with the preaching and more so to do with the greens, beets, and tomatoes.”
The idea has expanded into the Black Church Food Security Network.
😄 I know what I want for Christmas! An RBG action figure!
A company that created a successful Kickstarter campaign to make a Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg action figure says it is planning to ship the products in October.
Fctry, a product incubator based in Brooklyn, N.Y., initially hoped to raise $15,000 to create the “Notorious RBG” superhero but instead raised over $613,700 on its Kickstarter crowdfunding page.
🌺 I found this great story dated from Earth Day 2018 — sometimes the stuff we dig up isn't from the last day or two — but it’s still relevant. It’s got 11 reasons to feel positive about the environment, including: (1) Pakistan planning to plant 1 billion trees 🌲🌳 by 2018 (they’ve done most already); (2) Honeybee 🐝 populations on the rise; (3) Evidence that the ozone hole over Antarctica ❄️ is recovering; and a whole bunch of other stuff. 😄
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
👍 Here’s a link to Yosef52’s diary. 💙 Lots of suggestions there.
I personally can’t keep up the outrage. So I work on rescuing our country — through these diaries, by contacting my reps, by donating to worthy groups and by doing postcards and posters when I am in the US — and then I continue with my own work.
🍀 “My experience has been that work is almost
always the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.” 🍀
Eleanor Roosevelt
🌹 🌹 🌹
As I write this I see that Aretha Franklin is gravely ill. I have no idea what is going on, so I do not even know what to hope for. But in her honor, I’m including a musical interlude, a reminder that we cannot expect respect to be given to us (even when we give it to others) but we have to earn it and demand it.
🌻 TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS. 🌻
But TRUTH and LOVE only matter if WE make them matter.