Good Day, Newsies! It’s good to be writing a GNR again. I’ve been out of state for two big family events (my son’s wedding in one state and my daughter’s new baby in another state even farther away) and so I’ve been out of the loop. I’m still spending nearly every waking minute gazing adoringly at my grandchild, but I was also thrilled to read the daily GNRs and can’t wait to gather up some more good news and write about it!
I had a very pleasant moment this morning that reminded me forcefully that even here deep in the heart of west Texas, the spirit of progress is alive and well. In the garden giving the dog a few minutes of fetch, I heard a voice in the distance, which grew louder as a man approached in the back alley. He was singing a capella in the most beautiful voice, “Waiting on the world to change”, the glorious sound punctuated by the sound of the trash bins being dumped. We couldn’t see each other over the high fence, and the dogs (ours and neighbors’) started barking. He just kept singing, even more beautifully, kind of in time with the dogs 🐶😄🐶 — and when the dogs quieted down, I could not resist. I called out “Good Morning! You have a beautiful voice!”. There was a momentary silence, and then the bins being dumped again accompanied by his voice soaring louder, more joyfully and with some cool improvisational coloratura. It was a beautiful moment and the start of a beautiful day.
Here’s hoping you all have had a nice start to your day and to help with that, here is the Good News Roundup:
Patriots Standing Up All Over The Country
John Brennan’s former colleagues have his back
The Pretender’s petty revocation of John Brennan’s security clearance last week was not the autocratic victory he was hoping it would be (it’s weird and predictable how fundamentally delusional the orange menace can be). There was a general outcry from most respectable people, a letter released almost immediately by 15 former national security officials denouncing the move, another letter released on Friday by 60 more well-respected national security people and on Monday, a third letter was published, signed by 177 former national security officials denouncing 45’s barely concealed fascist move. You can read the letter via the article quoted below:
The list includes Democrats and Republicans. More than 10 former ambassadors and more than 20 former U.S. attorneys signed on. Anthony Lake, a national security adviser to President Bill Clinton, and Bill Burns, a top State Department official for many years, were among those who took part.
As with the two earlier letters, the former officials said their show of support does "not necessarily mean that we concur with the opinions expressed by Former CIA Director Brennan or the way in which he expressed them."
But they added: "The country will be weakened if there is a political litmus test applied before seasoned experts are allowed to share their views."
Another Wave Of Ex-National Security Officials Criticizes Trump, Greg Myre, NPR News, August 20, 2018.
More on this story here: Trump revoked a former CIA director’s security clearance: Here’s who has spoken out, Youjin Shin, Washington Post, August 20, 2018.
Microsoft Thwarts Russian CyberAttacks
This is a late addition, hot off the presses:
The Russians tried to hack the Senate and conservative think tanks, Microsoft says, Donie O’Sullivan, CNN, August 21, 2018.
“Parts of an operation linked to Russian military intelligence targeting the US Senate and conservative think tanks were thwarted last week, Microsoft announced early Tuesday.
The company said it executed a court order giving it control of six websites created by a group known as Fancy Bear. The group was behind the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee and directed by the GRU, the Russian military intelligence unit, according to cybersecurity firms.
The websites could have been used to launch cyberattacks on candidates and other political groups ahead of November's elections, the company said.
Among the websites a judge in the Eastern District of Virginia granted Microsoft control of were those with domain names designed to resemble sites used by congressional staff. They include "senate.group," and "adfs-senate.email."
Other domains were designed to look like they were related to the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, and the
International Republican Institute, whose board includes six serving senators, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Gen. H.R. McMaster.”
The Nuns on the bus are back — and heading for Mar-A-Lago!
The “radical feminists” 😉 led by Sr Simone Campbell are launching a 21 state tour this fall to directly target Republican congress critters, and in particular those who voted for the terrible tax scam. Go Sisters!
““We’re going on the road to hold members accountable for their votes,” said Sister Simone Campbell, the executive director of the NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice and a member of the Sisters of Social Service. “When Republicans in Congress passed their tax plan into law last fall, we knew it was rooted in the fallacy of trickle-down economics. Now, we’ve seen the results of structuring tax policy to favor the biggest corporations and the wealthiest individuals in our nation.”
Among the GOP members targeted by the tour is Rep. Martha McSally, who is likely to be the Republican nominee in Arizona’s hotly-contested Senate race; California Rep. Mimi Walters, who is facing a challenge from law professor Katie Porter, a protege of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman; Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo; Iowa Rep. Rod Blum; Illinois Reps. Peter Roskam and Mike Bost; Michigan Rep. David Trott; Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon; Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock and New York Rep. Claudia Tenney, a top Trump ally.
🌊 Election News 🌊
Outgoing GOP Guvs Just Not That Into you, Republican nominees...
LOL, four term-limited Republican governors can’t even fake enthusiasm for the Republican nominees hoping to replace them in November. It’s good that our side is fired up and enthusiastic about the election (let’s keep that going and growing!), and it is GREAT news that even the most prominent Republicans in some states cannot hide their indifference to their own party’s candidates:
“In Nevada, Gov. Brian Sandoval, who broke with much of his party to oppose the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, has said he will stay neutral in the November election between Republican Adam Laxalt and Democrat Steve Sisolak. In Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder has declined to endorse Bill Schuette, who defeated Snyder’s lieutenant governor to win the GOP nomination.
“I’m focused on being governor of Michigan,” Snyder told reporters this month when asked when he’d endorse Schuette. “Less politics, more governing.”
Two other Republicans have hinted that their support for the party’s gubernatorial nominees will be limited. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who, like Sandoval, opposed the repeal of the ACA, said that Republican nominee Stevan Pearce was “the best candidate” in the race but demurred on whether she’d campaign for him. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has defended the state’s Medicaid expansion from some Republican criticism, has endorsed GOP nominee Mike DeWine, but did so only after DeWine clarified that he would not undo the policy.”
In four swing states, Republican governors sound unenthused about their party’s nominees, David Weigel, Washington Post, August 20, 2018.
...While prominent Democrats are 100% behind their nominees
Hillary Clinton steps back into the fray to fundraise for Democrats this fall, Heidi Przybyla, NBC News, August 20, 2018.
Hillary Clinton is stepping back into the limelight before the November midterm elections, helping to raise money for the Democratic National Committee in a series of fundraisers, NBC News has learned.
The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee will headline three events — in San Francisco, Chicago and New York — for the DNC this fall to boost the party’s chances of seizing control of the U.S. House and Senate.
Billed as “intimate dinners with discussion,” the first invitations were set to go out Monday night for a September event in San Francisco.
Barack Obama weighs in on Illinois governor race, cuts video for Democrat J.B. Pritzker, Mike Riopell, Chicago Tribune, August 20, 2018.
Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker’s campaign on Monday unveiled a web video featuring Barack Obama, marking another foray into his home state’s politics for the former president.
In the 90-second spot, Obama speaks to the camera about Pritzker’s work with nonprofits and technology incubator 1871 Chicago.
“I know J.B. I trust J.B. And that’s who he is, someone who is always thinking about how he can make a difference,” Obama said.
Beto O’Rourke is Scaring Ted Cruz — Good!
Since I’m in Texas for these few weeks, I’m claiming the right to continue my.. uh..(checks notes) almost unbroken string of fan mentions of Beto O’Rourke. This Democrat has a real chance of winning Ted Cruz’s Senate seat in November. Even in deepest west Texas (apparently Lubbock is considered the “reddest” city in Texas, if not the country), there are a few Beto signs, a few bumper stickers, a faint whiff of change in the air (although that could just be more red dust, I’m not entirely sure) and his most recent town hall here on July 31 was filled to capacity with overflow crowds.
“People packed into the aisles, lined the staircases and poked their heads in from the outside lobby to catch a glimpse of the Democratic candidate in the conservative town of Lubbock as he challenges Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in the November election. It was O’Rourke’s seventh visit to the Hub City since announcing his candidacy last year, and he noted during his speech in Downtown Lubbock Tuesday that each visit seems to be drawing a bigger crowd.”
O’Rourke draws crowds in tour through Lubbock, West Texas, Matt Dotray, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, July 31, 2018.
Beto also established a campaign office in Lubbock earlier in the summer, and that is significant, Newsies! 😀 As oldhippiedude pointed out a while ago, Texas Democrats have fielded candidates in every Texas congressional district this year. Right now he is doing a month-long road trip around the state prior to the upcoming debates that he finally shamed (and scared!) Cruz into doing. This Senate seat might truly be in contention! Here is an excellent roundup of week one of O’Rourke’s state road trip, with a really helpful description of the voting patterns, demographics, geography and other items of interest about the stops on his tour:
“When O’Rourke speaks on the stump, he punctuates his points by moving his left hand up and down, like he’s directing traffic. His voice isn’t particularly melodic; he’s Lincoln-lanky; he lacks the preacher’s cadence that marked former president Obama’s speeches. But O’Rourke’s energy is palpable, infectious; his sweat is the physical evidence of that energy leaving his body. And it seems to be working. Even as he struggles with a continued lack of name recognition, in a state that has consistently voted Republican for the past three decades, recent polling places O’Rourke just two to six points behind Cruz. Among volunteers, there’s cautious yet barely contained glee: Could O’Rourke pull off an upset that, just six months before, seemed impossible?
By the time O’Rourke reaches the peaks of his stump speech in Kerrville — advocating for better treatment of Texas’s teachers, arguing for universal health care, and decrying family separation at the border — his shirt is full-on stuck to his back, and the crowd feels ready to ignite. When he announces that he hasn’t taken any money from PACs, instead raising $10.4 million (with an average donation of $33) to Cruz’s $4.6 million over the last quarter, the audience explodes.
Afterward, an endless line forms to meet and take selfies with the candidate. One man makes small talk with O’Rourke’s communications director, Chris Evans, who’s filming the entire thing — as he does every town hall — for Facebook Live. “You’ve got to get that man another shirt,” the man says. “He knows he only gets one shirt for the day,” Evans responded. “He sweat through this one early.”
A politician’s stump speech has the same effect as a good sermon. For those who already believe, it re-energizes the faithful. But a truly great stump speech also appeals to the skeptic — and provides moments of near-spiritual conversion. That’s what a Beto O’Rourke speech does. It makes people believe: believe that the country doesn’t have to feel the way it does right now, that people who think differently can still have a conversation, that you can be conservative and vote for a candidate without an “R” beside their name.”
Beto O’Rourke Could Be The Democrat Texas Has Been Waiting For, Anne Helen Peterson, BuzzFeedNews, August 19, 2018.
Whatever happens in the Texas senate race in November, Beto O’Rourke is someone who is going to make his mark on American politics. He is a proud born and bred Texan, and his authenticity is something his fellow Texans can feel and relate to. The fact that he has made this senate seat competitive is already wonderful good news!
Meanwhile, From The Schadenfreude File, This Assh*le
Sitting Senator Cruz Holds Event for “Crowd” of 100 — Count ‘em: 100! supporters! 😂
lol It turns out that even in Texas, nobody likes Ted Cruz. Judging by the size of the “crowds” he attracts to his campaign events, the incumbent senator may not easily cruise 😉 to victory in what should have been smooth sailing to re-election (his senate seat is considered “safe Republican” and even though he wasn’t the first place winner in the primary (he won in an eventual runoff with only 8.5% turnout of probably the most hard right voters) Cruz eventually won the seat by a margin of nearly 16 points. It’s important to take note of these facts, because the Texas of 2018 is not the Texas of 2012, just as the country is no longer the same. The most extreme fraction of the primary electorate put Ted Cruz on the safe train to the Senate, while in the general over 40% of Texans who voted chose the Democrat. Cruz is worried because he has very good reason to be. Not only might his senate seat not be so safe in Texas anymore due to the general resistance to the current Republican regime, but it may very well be that Cruz himself has directly turned Texans off. We won’t know until November, but the “safe seat” narrative is not as cut and dry as it has sometimes made out to be. This article from the Guardian slyly points to how paltry Cruz’s enthusiastic support is compared to Beto O’Rourke’s:
“Since Beto O’Rourke is a politician, and a relatively unknown Texas Democrat at that, this gig was far from politics as usual. And that sense of upending norms is perfectly on-brand for the 45-year-old in his underdog bid to eject Ted Cruz from the US Senate in November.
There was the location: a conservative suburb west of Houston. The crowd size: about 600 people in a private school’s auditorium and several hundred more watching on a screen in an overflow room. Afterwards a line snaked past classrooms and the dining hall to the main staircase as 200 people queued for a photo-op with O’Rourke.
...
Two days before O’Rourke’s event, Cruz gave a lunchtime speech and Q&A session at a barbecue joint near Houston called Big Horn. About a hundred supporters chewed on brisket and choked on the idea that Texas might elect a man who, Cruz said, is “running hard, hard left like Bernie Sanders”.
To isolated gasps, Cruz also floated the idea that O’Rourke is even further left than Sanders or the Massachusetts senator and rumoured 2020 contender Elizabeth Warren: “If you want a big government, gun-grabbing liberal, well, the Democrats are giving you one,” Cruz said. “You cannot find a race in the country with a starker difference”.
lol, so true, “Ted”, and in November, you just might be surprised to learn that many Texans recognize the stark difference between an authentic Texan (who radiates all that is big, bold and beautiful about the state) and a faker (who oozes insincere smarm and is funded by outside PACs).
And this assh*le: Rudy the Red-Faced Gaslighter
If he wasn’t such a malicious, mendacious malefactor, Rudolph Giuliani might provide hours of entertainment with his astonishing media gaffes. The latest — the “truth isn’t truth” gaffe — is no exception. It was, surprisingly, a bridge too far for the apparently unembarrassable Giuliani, however, and he tried to walk it back on Monday with some further gaslighting by saying essentially that he did not utter the crackpot words he uttered, but was instead illustrating the classic “he said, she said puzzle” and that what he actually meant was that “sometimes further inquiry can reveal the truth other times it doesn’t”. Sure, Rudy. 😏
Giuliani made waves on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, responding to a New York Times report that the president's outside legal team was not aware of the extent to which White House counsel Don McGahn cooperated in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation during the 30 hours of interviews he sat for.
Giuliani told "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd that the president should not sit for an interview with Mueller because he could end up trapped in a lie and charged with perjury.
“When you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry, well that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth. Not the truth,” Giuliani told Todd.
“Truth is truth,” Todd responded.
“No, no, it isn’t truth,” Giuliani said. "Truth isn't truth."
His words, taken in the vein of counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway's much-mocked "alternative facts" argument from last year, quickly caught fire online. A day later, Giuliani sought to clear the air.
Giuliani walks back 'truth isn't truth' comment, Stephanie Murray, Politico, August 20, 2018.
And this Assh*le, too
Two Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation late last month aiming to hold Pruitt accountable for his ethical lapses. Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the Ensuring Pruitt is Accountable Act ― the EPA Act ― to compel the agency’s inspector general to continue its investigations into the former chief and to temporarily suspend any proposed rulemaking signed by Pruitt until they are complete.
“His actions cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged, and at the very least, these destructive moves must be put on hold until the numerous investigations into Pruitt’s activities have concluded,” Merkley said last month. “It’s time to restore an EPA that actually acts to protect our clean air and clean water rather than protecting the profits of powerful polluters.”
Scott Pruitt Made Just 1 Phone Call To White House From His $43,000 Booth: Report, Nick Visser, Huffington Post, August 20, 2018.
⚡️ Lightning Roundup ⚡️
⚡️ LOL, ORLY?: Poll: Most Americans think Trump doesn't 'hire the best people', Caitlin Oprysko, Politico, August 20, 2018.
⚡️ Good environmental activism news: Activists Have A New Strategy To Block Gas Pipelines: State's Rights, Jeff Brady, NPR All Things Considered, August 20, 2018.
⚡️ Quelle surprise!: Fired White House staffer’s association with white supremacists confirms a big concern about the presidency, Eugene Scott, Washington Post, August 20, 2018.
⚡️ Good riddance: University of North Carolina Students Topple Confederate Monument, Dominique Mosbergen, Huffington Post, August 20, 2018.
⚡️ Inspiring profile of President Jimmy Carter with great photos: The un-celebrity president, Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan, Washington Post, August 17, 2018.
⚡️ Boy, this is good news! It could be a game-changer: NYU Makes Medical School Tuition Free, Susan Adams, Forbes, August 16, 2018.
⚡️ More thoughts on why above is such a big deal: Column: NYU medical school students are getting free tuition. But everyone will reap benefits, Eli Cahan, PBS Science, August 18, 2018.
⚡️ Nice profile of Murphy from the always entertaining Wonkette: Chris Murphy Ready To Win Second Senate Term, Take Your Guns, Single-Payer Your Healthcare. Doktor Zoom, Wonkette, August 19, 2018.
⚡️Incoming freshmen are not putting up with your sexist shit: Students Walked Out After A Comedian Allegedly Sexually Harassed A Student During A Show At Purdue University, Nidhi Prakash, BuzzFeedNews, August 19, 2018.
⚡️ Another humorous take on the news from ShowerCap: Trump, Rudy, Rand, Cohen, Huck…the News is Like a Box of Crayons…64 Shades of Asshole. ShowerCap’s Blog, August 20, 2018.
Action Roundup
Please don’t forget the families who were forcibly separated by this evil so-called *administration*. Check out oldhippiedude’s action list here.
The ActBlue link is an easy way to contribute to 14 organizations, including the ACLU, who are working to help these families.
Also:
Donate to ActBlue
Donate to Swing Left
Send postcards to voters in other districts
Sign up to go door to door in your district
Sign up to drive people to the polls
Find your local Democratic Party and volunteer!
Plus! Check out Yosef 52's diaries, posted daily, chockerblock full of ideas and information.
And FreewayBlogger
Roundup Winddown
That’s it from me today, Newsies. Remember to take some R&R when you need it — every one of us is important in this effort to rescue our country. Wishing you all a very happy Tuesday.
ETA: My response time to comments might be really slow. Big day full of appointments today. Apologies in advance. Nifty.