Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Wow! When it rains, it pours! All that faith and hope we’ve been putting into the Mueller investigation seems to be justified. Isn’t it great to see Trump rage?
There is LOTS going on, so I may have missed some stuff. Still, we have to remember that the fight is far from over, and these cretins will not go quietly into the night.
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As regular readers know, I keep harping on TRUTH and LOVE, both of which are under attack in the current regime. But many people are speaking up for truth, and many people engage in kind and loving deeds. As I think it’s important to honor truth tellers and to celebrate the kind, I have added two new sections to my roundups — Let’s Honor Truth and Let’s Celebrate Love (feel free to kosmail me links for future stories), or to put more into the comments.
Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the very bad stuff that is happening. Some of us expected it: the cheating, the lying, and yes, even the bombs and the guns —(although I never thought anyone would tear gas toddlers). But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including us and our fellow gnus) who are working so hard to save our country from those very bad people. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know. Remember:
💚 There are more of us than there are of them.
💛 They are terrified when we organize. THERE IS LOTS OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE TERRIFIED!
💔 They want us to be demoralized. We have to keep demoralizing them. Name, blame and shame!
💙 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.
💙 Toxic 🍄 Trump Matters 👎 & Russia, Russia, Russia 🐻
⚖️ Michael Cohen has a plea deal with Mueller
If the Russia investigation went quiet in the run up to the midterm elections, it’s not quiet now. On Thursday morning, the focus turned back to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. ABC News is reporting that Cohen is making a surprise appearance in federal court, where he will plead guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had a previous plea deal with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York which apparently complicated efforts to make a broader agreement with the special counsel’s office. However, after more than 70 hours of testimony before prosecutors and Mueller’s team, it appears that Cohen has reached an arrangement that satisfies both sides.
Also: Michael Cohen admits he lied to Senate Intelligence committee… lots of contacts with Russia, including the Moscow Trump Tower. The fact that he is in trouble for lying to Congress signals problems for others who have lied to Congress — we’re looking at you, Don Jr! And we’re also looking at the Republicans in Congress (especially those who remain) who unquestioningly swallowed those lies and said yeah, sure, we’ll perform a cover-up for these criminals (presumably because they’re criminals themselves).
Back to Don Senior: There is a lot coming out about this right now, coming at us fast and furious. Trump lied about no contacts with Russia, and no contacts with Putin. In fact, he apparently offered Putin an apartment in the Moscow Trump Tower, a gift bribe of about $50 million.
President Donald Trump’s company planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the company negotiated the luxury real estate development during the 2016 campaign, according to four people, one of them the originator of the plan.
Two US law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News that Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, discussed the idea with a representative of Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary.
The Trump Tower Moscow plan is at the heart of a new plea agreement by Cohen, who led the negotiations to bring a gleaming, 100-story building to the Russian capital. Cohen acknowledged in court that he had lied to Congress about the plan in order to protect Trump and his presidential campaign.
I’ve been listening to news shows on this subject matter today. This seems to be the motive, the bait that Putin used to lure in Trump. And from Talking Points Memo
Former prosecutors say Thursday’s news provides even more evidence that Cohen provides the thread connecting all of the matters imperiling Trump’s presidency: Russia, hush money payoffs, and the Trump Organization’s sketchy finances. Already, according to ABC News, he has provided more than 70 hours of testimony to Mueller’s team.
Looks like Manafort threw away his plea deal for nothing. They’re going down the 🚽.
💣 More evidence Trump was in the know
There was point in communicating with the Russian-loving 🐀 Devin Nunes, but we’ve now got Adam Schiff! It’s not just Mueller now but the House-in-waiting. The House-in-waiting isn’t just waiting; it’s already on the go.
☎️ Mueller looking into late-night calls between Stone and Trump 🔍
Special counsel Robert Mueller is taking a look into late-night phone calls between President Trump and his former campaign adviser Roger Stonethat were made in 2016, The Washington Post reported late Wednesday.
Trump and Stone spoke in a “series” of phone calls during the campaign, people familiar with the phone records told the Post.
Mueller's interest in the calls comes as he probes whether Stone coordinated between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks while WikiLeaks was publishing hacked Democratic emails.
Oh, and Corsi seems to be confessing every hour on the TV.
😲And Trump has cancelled a meeting with Putin (?!)
President Trump on Thursday abruptly canceled a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at this weekend's Group of 20 (G-20) summit, citing Moscow's military tensions with Ukraine.
The announcement, which Trump made on Twitter, came roughly an hour after the president told reporters the meeting would “probably” go ahead as planned. ✂️
The Kremlin said it did not receive advance notice of the cancellation, with Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling Russian news outlets they learned of the news from Trump's tweets.
I wonder who had the ability to talk him out of it? Kelly? Ivanka? Or maybe they are pretending to be falling out, and like the Manafort-Trump connection and will sneak off and meet anyway, as this Wonkette piece postulates? Or maybe Trump is failing and does not want to be reprimanded. Or to risk being served polonium tea. Or maybe Trump won’t meet with anyone, because he’s too depressed, and he’s just being more polite to Putin by letting him know. Speculate away!
💰 Deutsche Bank has been raided!
Deutsche Bank headquarters has been raided by German authorities as part of a probe into money-laundering allegations. Bloomberg News reports police pulled up to Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt office shortly before 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) in an operation involving about 170 officers. They targeted two unidentified bank employees aged 50 and 46 who are alleged by Germany’s public prosecutor to have helped clients launder money from criminal activities. Other Deutsche offices in the city were also raided. Prosecutors are investigating if Deutsche Bank helped clients set up offshore accounts to transfer money from illegal activity—a probe sparked by the 2016 Panama Papers, which exposed an enormous amount of dubious financial information.
Why does this belong here? I’ll give you three reasons:
- After all other banks refused to do business with Trump, Deutsche Bank stepped in with enormous loans.
- Trump himself is a money launderer
- The son of recently retired Justice Kennedy works at Deutsche Bank and some of us suspect shenanigans with Kennedy’s retirement and the installation of beer-lover Kavanaugh.
👍 But wait, there’s more! Alderman Edmund Burke has been raided!
Federal agents were seen at Chicago Ald. Ed Burke's offices at both City Hall and in the 14th Ward Thursday morning. The glass doors to Burke's City Hall office were papered over, while the purpose of the visits was unclear.
A witness reported seeing at least a dozen, possibly as many as two dozen, federal agents dressed in dark suits taking the elevator to Burke's office on the third floor of City Hall. ✂️
Burke runs a law firm specializing in property tax appeals, and had previously worked for President Donald Trump on lowering taxes for his namesake Chicago tower. His firm, Klafter & Burke, stopped representing Trump earlier this year.
Maybe this has nothing to do with Trump… yeah, right.
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
🐮 Well, this is weird. Trump supporter Cliven Bundy — remember the Nevada guy who refused to pay his cattle-grazing fees? And then one of his sons caused a ruckus in Oregon? — Cliven Bundy has gone on the record criticizing Trump.
“I really question his doctrine ever since he started it about building a wall,” Bundy, 72, told the Guardian on Wednesday. “I don’t like walls. I think we oughta be able to get along with neighbors … Trump’s wall never did sit very good with me.”
The Bundy family is getting renewed attention this week as unexpectedcritics of the president’s anti-immigrant agenda after the US fired teargas at migrants, including children, at the Mexico border. The objections of the Bundy men – who were jailed for nearly two years and are celebrated by anti-government militias – add to the list of rightwing voices condemning Trump for his attacks on migrants seeking asylum.
Gee, Trump, if you’ve lost Cliven Bundy, maybe planning to shut down the government over this stupid wall is not such a good idea. Of course, Trump’s entire goal is to shut down the US government, so he probably won’t take advice from Cliven. But maybe Bundy will give the Republicans the courage to stand up to Trump.
💙 California Democrat declares victory in last uncalled House race 🌊
On Wednesday, Democrat TJ Cox declared victory over GOP Rep. David Valadao in California’s 21st Congressional District after the final ballots out of Fresno and Kings Counties took his lead from 436 votes on Monday evening to 529 votes now.
Valadao, who held a lead until Monday, has yet to concede, but his prospects are looking incredibly grim.
💙 From listening to conversation between Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell, I want to make the following points:
- The Ds may have lost races in Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and Texas in the mid-term, but they came much closer than they usually do. This means that the Rs can no longer take these states for granted and will be forced to spend lots of money to defend.
- The big blue wave has liberated some senators a little. That helped 14 Rs cross over and vote with the Ds against Trump’s support of Saudi Arabia.
💙 And this article from Mother Jones highlights the gains made in Texas
Hopeful is not how Democrats usually end election night in Texas. But if O’Rourke didn’t sound much like a losing candidate, it was because in some ways he wasn’t one. Buoyed by his campaign, and by a deep bench of down-ballot candidates, Texas Democrats had their best election in decades. They solidified control of the state’s largest cities, ended the Republican stranglehold on the suburbs, and flipped more than 100 local offices. O’Rourke may have lost, but he helped foment a Democratic awakening that could have a long-term impact on the state’s political makeup.
🌵 And this is what campaign strategists for McSally have to say, doing the post mortem on her failed Senate campaign
The memo, which was published by the Washington Post, explains McSally’s narrow loss to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in part by citing internal polling indicating that Trump is not popular among Republicans — particularly women — in a state that will be crucial to his 2020 hopes.
“A significant segment of the AZ GOP was hostile to the President,” it says. “In internal polling during the primary, President Trump never broke 80% favorability among Republican voters. A certain segment of AZ Republicans was outright hostile to President Trump, and was against the Kavanaugh appointment. This segment of moderate Republicans, especially woman [sic], proved very difficult to bring home to a Republican candidate that supported President Trump and the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh.”
🐍 Schadenfreude 🍎
We try to be nice here, but some folks really don’t deserve it, especially those promoting violence or hatred — or those promoting violence and hatred. So don’t feel guilty as you snicker at their “pain” — they’ve earned it.
📺 🔫 NRA TV has been letting people go… 🍎
Shortly after the blue wave hit on November 6th, reports came out that the NRA had already begun implementing austerity measures throughout the organization, that included taking away free coffee and water at their Fairfax, Virginia headquarters. Subsequent IRS filings show that the firearm organization reported a $57 million drop in their revenue last year. Trace, a non profit that reports on all things gun control related, is now reporting that NRA TV personnel seems to be experiencing the austerity pinch.
🐍 The Proud Boys (a violent alt-right group) have accidentally doxxed their elders 🍎
Anyway, remember the part about the “member names redacted?” The Smart Boys fucked it up. In the section about the “Elder Chapter,” the names of the chapter members are highlighted in black in the public document but it turns out if you just highlight them with your cursor they show right up:
Oh, and you can see their by-laws, too, which state that Proud Boys not to masturbate more than once per month (who checks this?), and that Proud Boys are not supposed to have sex with each other’s ladies.
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️
Some of this news has been reported before (including by me), so I’ll keep those items brief. But I want to honor those who are demanding honesty in both word and deed.
🌻 Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe does tweet thread against the WH climate change deniers.
🔎 North Carolina delays certifying an election result. They haven’t said a lot about this but it seems that they don’t want to rubber stamp wrong doing.
🔨 Stacey Abrams and her group’s lawsuit challenging how Georgia runs its elections.
Fair Fight Action says officials "grossly mismanaged" the midterm election this month, depriving Georgia voters, and particularly black and minority voters, of their right to vote. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Atlanta.
Above you see someone speaking the truth to counteract lies, a group deciding to do what is correct (we presume) and a third demanding that honesty be put into the system.
More examples? Put in comments or kosmail me.
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
🌹 Kidney swap forever links three families (thanks to niftywriter; I am including her comment from yesterday’s GNR)
My piece of good news this morning is local to my city. It just made me so happy and shored up my faith in humanity: First, a man who wanted to donate a kidney to his father received the bad news that he is not a donor match for his dad. Meanwhile, another man who also needed a kidney had been matched with his old high school buddy who was willing to donate for his friend. A doctor came up with a brilliant idea. He saw that the first man (who was not a match for his own father) WAS a match for the second man, and the third man was a match for the first man’s father! So he approached them all and suggested a “donor swap”. And everyone agreed. Now they are all friends and their kids are facebook friends too. Oh, and the icing on the cake? The first man is latino, the second man is African American and the third man is white. And one of the men’s name is “Sweet”! How sweet is that?
📎 📎📎Odds & Ends 📎📎📎
⚖️ Apparently the single black Republican senator thinks Thomas Farr is a judge too far:
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the Black Republican in the Senate, has declared his opposition to the nomination of Thomas Farr to be a district court judge in North Carolina. Along with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), that means there are enough No votes to end this nomination.
I hate to report this as a sure thing, because, you know, Flake, but I think it’s also evidence that the blue wave has shaken McConnell’s grip on his people.
⚡️ Tree kangaroo not extinct!
⚖️ 15 State Attorneys General join Amicus brief to remove the Fake Attorney General
✊ 🌈 💰 Patagonia giving money to fight climate change
Patagonia, the outdoor retail company, announced that they will be bucking the trend set by other big businesses. Instead of pocketing their Republican-tax breaks, they will be putting that money to good use—for everybody.
Of course, Patagonia’s customers probably care a lot about the environment, so this makes sense financially, too. But still it’s the right thing and they didn’t have to do it.
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
It turns out that participation in democracy is not just an every-four-years event but requires active participation, like, whenever you can find time. However, given that we have taken back the House, the tactics moving forward need to be different. Indivisible has ideas to share.
Indivisible 2.0
This Guide is for what comes next. The 2016 Indivisible Guide was about using constituent power to defend our values, our neighbors, and our democracy. This Guide is about using our constituent power to go on offense.
Offense is exciting, but it’s more complex than defense. We have the opportunity to use congressional oversight to hold Trump and his cronies accountable. We can set the legislative agenda with a bold progressive vision rooted in inclusion, fairness, and justice. But none of this is automatic — we have to demand it of Congress.
And some other ideas:
You can relax and recharge.
You can join protests and freeway blog.
You can help register new voters (especially if you are in Florida).
You can smile.
You can get out the vote for special elections.
You can reach out to upset Republicans. Remember, a lot of them crossed over in the midterms! Get them to feel good about being blue.
You can share your ideas below.
🌻
🍀 “My experience has been that work is almost
always the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.” 🍀
Eleanor Roosevelt
🔥 If you’re going through hell, keep going! 🔥
Winston Churchill
🌹 🌹 🌹
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.