Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
As I’m writing this I’m hearing that Trump is planning to sign the bill keeping the government open but still declare the National Emergency. We don’t like this. Most Republicans don’t like this. I guess Hannity likes this.
Pelosi may counter with action in the House, but McConnell probably won’t stand up to Trump in the Senate. He might, I don’t know. Everyone expects this to be quashed by the courts. It also shows that Trump really wants to be a dictator, which I think will turn more people against him.
So we are having no shutdown, but we are having another showdown. Alas, life is going to be like this for us for a while. Probably it has been like that for most people their entire lives, but I was living under a privileged rock.
They will not go quietly into the night, so we have to be ready to fight, fight, fight.
When we think we can, when we show up and try, we move mountains.
The Parkland shooting took place on February 14, 2018. In the year that passed, we’ve seen a huge change in attitudes toward gun violence, and at long last, a weakening of the NRA’s grip on many politicians. Much of this happened because of the activism of the Parkland survivors, who weren’t so jaded from the years of efforts put in by Giffords and many other groups, the efforts that seem to go nowhere. I think this happened because they were kids — most people have trouble being against kids — but also because they didn’t know how hard it was. Also, they knew they were fighting for their lives, which is a bigger motivator than fighting for a paycheck.
But it also happened because of the actions of so many over the years. From the Brady campaign, to Everytown for Gun Safety, founded by Michael Bloomberg, to the work of Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly. Their work, which must have been so frustrating for so many years, built the foundation on which the kids could stand. They already had collected the data.
And in the past year we’ve seen the favorite NRA congresscritters lose their jobs. We’ve seen businesses deciding not to sell weapons, or at least to reduce the number of weapons they sell to the public. We’ve seen the first hearings on gun violence in the House in 8 years.
And we’re seeing changes in other areas, as people are discussing: higher marginal tax rates on the super rich, wealth tax, green new deals.
So we have to keep working for what is important. We have to keep shouting in the wilderness.
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, the chaos, and yes, even the attempts to cling to power despite the clear will of the people. 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! IT IS WORKING! WE HAVE EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE DEMORALIZED!
💙 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 🐻
A little less on these matters today...
Ivanka Trump may finally have to testify
She wasn’t at the infamous Trump Tower meeting, but she sure seemed to be involved with the Moscow Trump Tower. Still not clear whether or not she’ll be asked, but the House, with so many women, won’t show the squeamishness about investigating the “first daughter” that was exhibited in the previous House.
Michael Cohen is still planning to testify
- President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, will testify before three congressional committees before he enters prison on March 6, his attorney Lanny Davis said.
- Cohen is expected to appear before the intelligence committees of both the Senate and the House, as well as the House Oversight and Government Reform panel.
🐊 Draining the Swamp 🐊
🐊 Trump’s FEMA director resigns
On Wednesday afternoon, Brock Long announced his resignation as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. Like so many Trump officials, Long faced a series of scandals during his tenure, primarily focused on his repeated misuse of government resources related to traveling.
Rather than use his own car for his personal trips home, Long would often leave Washington on Thursdays “in a caravan of government-owned vehicles with federal employees,” to travel 400 miles to his home in North Carolina, according to the Wall Street Journal. His misdeeds cost taxpayersmore than $150,000 in staff salary, travel expenses, and vehicle maintenance.
After an internal investigation, Long was forced to repay the government for his unethical behavior.
Of course, we also want to be compensated for all the crap the other cabinet members have pulled.
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
🍑 On Tuesday, Feb 19, the House is holding a “field hearing” on Voting Rights and Election in Georgia
This hasn’t taken place yet, and won’t be in DC but in Atlanta (hence field hearing). We all know there were terrible irregularities in the election which Kemp stole from Abrams. It’s being chaired by Zoe Lofgren, a representative from California.
We all know this wouldn’t be happening if the Rs still had the House.
💙 💛 💜 A bill ending US support of Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen has cleared the House
The House voted Wednesday 248-177 to end support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, setting up a duel with President Donald Trump over his administration’s complicity in the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe. The war-weary Senate will now consider the resolution just two months after passing a nearly identical bill.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the resolution’s primary sponsor, called it a “historic” moment in an interview with Mother Jones. “This signals a paradigmatic shift in American foreign policy,” he said. “It’s a fundamental weakening of executive power on matters of war and peace.”
💸 People seem to be super-pissed about their taxes. Read this.
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
😀In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers proposing millions for better water and better teeth
MADISON – Gov. Tony Evers is proposing more than $100 million in his first state budget to replace lead pipes, reduce water pollution and increase access to dental care for low-income Wisconsin residents.
The proposals come at a time when the Democratic governor also is seeking to expand Medicaid, increase funding for public schools by $1.4 billion and provide middle-class families a 10 percent tax cut.
So glad that Wisconsin finally sent Walker walking papers.
🔎 🔫 In Nevada, Las Vegas massacre survivors speaking out for expanded gun checks. And the new D governor has promised to sign legislation if passed. And it has passed the Nevada senate.
One day after a marathon committee hearing, the state Senate passed a contentious bill requiring background checks on all gun purchases.
The vote was 13-8 along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
It still has to get through the Assembly, but the new D governor (Sisolak) will certainly sign it if it reaches his desk.
🚿 Governor Kelly has a lot to clean up after the Brownback years
The issue brings to light yet another disturbing aspect of the Brownback years: the administration’s reliance on no-bid contracts. A recent review by The Star and The Wichita Eagle found that the number of no-bid contracts had skyrocketed to more than 7,300. That’s double the total from just five years ago. The Kansas Legislature should take a closer look and consider reforms.
Kelly, for good reason, has promised a crackdown. Good Government 101 advises that most no-bid contracts are just asking for trouble. They rarely result in a good deal for taxpayers — and citizens don’t trust them.
🐍 Schadenfreude 🍎
👟 Colorado sports store goes out of business after dumping Nike over Kaepernick ad
Listen, it used to be so much easier to be racist! Not so much these days. Especially the truly mindless kind of racism that most people perform. Colorado’s NBC affiliate KOAA News reports that the Prime Time Sports store is closing after 20 years. According to owner Stephen Martin, his decision to stop carrying Nike branded merchandise hurt his business, telling the news station that, “being a sports store without Nike is kind of like being a milk store without milk or a gas station without gas. How do you do it? They have a monopoly on jerseys.” That’s true, and that’s a bummer. I guess Nike used their monopoly to jack up their prices and Martin couldn’t compete?
📣🏅 Let’s Honor Truth 🏅☀️
🏅We have to honor Tricia Newbold, who was a whistleblower with respect to Jared Kushner’s security clearance
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is a permanent entity which investigates retaliation against federal whistleblowers. White House Security Specialist Tricia Newbold filed a whistleblower complaint with the OSC after her supervisor, Carl Kline, suspended her without pay for two weeks recently, after Newbold accused Kline of “repeatedly mishandling files and approving unwarranted security clearances” — one of them being first son-in-law Jared Kushner’s. NBC News:
Newbold says in the complaint that she “questioned why we were treating this individual any differently than we would any other individual.” The complaint claims Kline then shut down the discussion saying, “he would not address this matter further.”
Newbold’s complaint says she raised concerns with Kline again on the same individual, identified by sources as Kushner, on Aug. 21, 2017. The complaint states that Kline “advised I should ‘watch myself.’"
🔊We also have to honor CNN, which has been keeping track of the many times that the Trump team has been changing its Russia-involvement story. One example here:
THEN:
There was no collusion whatsoever.
Trump has said on several occasions that there was “no collusion whatsoever” between his campaign and the Russians, a blanket denial that seems to cover his entire campaign. (He has also said dozens of times that there was simply “no collusion.”) In an interview with Fox News, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said that there was no collusion between the “upper levels of the Trump campaign” and the Russians.
Now Trump himself didn’t collude.
Giuliani moved the goalposts in January 2019 in an interview with CNN. He said: “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or people in the campaign … I have not. I said the President of the United States.” These comments came shortly after unredacted court filings revealed that while Manafort led Trump’s campaign, he gave internal polling data to a Russian with intelligence ties.
Sanders said something similar in January after Trump ally Roger Stone was charged with lying about his ties to WikiLeaks, saying, “There was no collusion. There was no wrongdoing by the President.”
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
As I was writing this on Valentine’s Day, I decided to go with that theme:
💏 A story from Good Housekeeping
After a car accident caused Angela Hartung to forget the last 15 years of her life, her husband had to make her fall in love with him again. Although they had been married for 13 years at the time of her accident, she thought her husband Jeff was a mere stranger after waking up from the medically induced coma. Thanks to patience, persistence, and plenty of photographs, the couple eventually said "I do" (for the second time) in 2016.
📖 💍 And a story from Reader’s Digest
Check-out Romance
“I met my husband while I was working in a science library. He came in every week to read the latest journals and eventually decided to take out the librarian instead of the books. After a year and a half of dating, he showed up at the library and started rummaging through my desk. I asked what he was looking for, but he didn’t answer. Finally he unearthed one of the rubber stamps I used to identify reference books. ‘Since I couldn’t find the right engagement ring,’ he said, ‘this will have to do,’ and he firmly stamped my hand. Across my knuckles, in capital letters, it read NOT FOR CIRCULATION.” — Contributed by Ruth E. Chodrow
📎📎Odds & Ends 📎📎
⚡️ The Senate unanimously passes bill to make lynching a federal crime
Yeah, we reported on this a few months ago. But they had to do it again, as the House never acted on it. But Pelosi will. Gosh, Paul Ryan was both incompetent and awful, wasn’t he? How can you not pass a bill condemning lynching?
🍎 Teachers win in Denver
Denver teachers “may return to the classroom,” their union let them know early Thursday morning, after a tentative deal was announced by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and the Denver Public Schools. If it’s ratified, the strike will formally end, and the union, saying that “Denver teachers win for Denver students,” seems confident that teachers will approve it.
The teachers and district management had earlier come to an agreement on a starting salary level of $45,800, but teachers were pushing for structured raises rather than unpredictable bonuses they say hurt teacher retention. In the tentative deal announced Thursday, base salaries will increase by seven to 11 percent, but equally importantly, there will be a “transparent” salary schedule plus “The ability to use professional development units—free in-district courses offered to advance teachers’ education—to move up lanes on the salary schedule.”
🌻 Kentucky Coal-Fired Power Plant to Close Despite McConnell & Trump
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A federal utility board voted Thursday to close a coal-fired power plant in Kentucky, despite objections from President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a move the board says will save its more than 10 million customers $320 million.
🌴🌲🌳NASA reports the Earth is greener than it was 20 years ago
The world is literally a greener place than it was 20 years ago, and the data from NASA satellites has revealed a counterintuitive source for much of this new foliage: China and India.
This surprising new study shows that the two emerging countries with the world’s biggest populations are leading the improvement in greening on land. The effect stems mainly from ambitious tree planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries. In 2017 alone, India broke its own world record for the most trees planted after volunteers gathered to plant 66 million saplings in just 12 hours.
✋ A prosthetic made from Legos
While LEGO bricks are generally considered to be toys meant for fun and amusement, David Aguilar used the bricks to build his own prosthetic arms.
Due to a rare genetic condition, Aguilar was born without a right forearm. He has always loved building with LEGOs – so as a means of addressing his disability, he constructed his first prosthetic arm out of the toy bricks when he was only 9 years old.
The LEGO arm worked, but it wasn’t very strong. 9 years later, he built another model arm that was so durable, Aguilar could use it to do pushups.
💙 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.
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.