Good morning everyone, and Happy Thursday! And an especial good morning to oldhippiedude, whose metaphorical chair I am currently, albeit temporarily, keeping warm this week.
I am, I believe, the first self-admitted Thurgood, a portmanteau (or possible Newspeak) word describing myself and my worthy doubleplusgood counterparts arhpdx, MCUBernieFan, and WolverineForTJatAW who are covering the weekly Thursday Good News Roundups until OHD resumes his usual and customary place here.
This Is How Things Get Out of Hand—
One Man’s Overreach And The Dos De Mayo.
Today is the 211th anniversary of the 2nd of May uprising in Madrid in 1808. Napoleon had invaded Portugal through Spain in 1807, and after occupying Spain with his troops forced Spanish King Carlos IV to abdicate in favor of his son Ferdinand VII. Both of them were then being held prisoner by Napoleon in France, because Napoleon had plans to put his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne.
A French attempt to remove other members of the Spanish Royal Family to France sparked a popular riot against the French by the Madrilenos which was brutally crushed by the French Army, inspiring two famous paintings by Goya.
The rising in Madrid led to the a revolt of the Spanish Army against their French occupiers, and the outbreak of the Peninsular War between France and Spain, allied with Portugal and Great Britain. This war lasted from 1808 to 1814 and resulted in the French being ejected from Spain, which helped contribute to the fall of Napoleon.
The regular war between the armies, and the excesses of the French occupation also led to the start of partisan warfare in Spain, the little war, or guerrillo, from which our modern word guerilla comes. That was very nasty.
The guerrillo was so pervasive in Spain that it got to the point where French messengers had to escorted by entire cavalry regiments merely to get from one French-held city to another.
In the realm of unintended consequences, the Dos de Mayo started a process which eventually led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Spain, the independence of the Spanish colonies in the continental Americas (becoming sixteen independent nations), and the adoption of the Monroe Doctrine by the United States, which in essence told the European powers to keep their mitts off the Americas.
That’s a whole lot lot of effect caused by one big riot.
But the most important lesson, and one Napoleon forgot, or never learned, was that ordinary people, those who are otherwise ignored, oppressed, bullied, or tyrannized, will rise given provocation.
And Now, Some Actual News.
May Day Across the World:
Yesterday was, of course, May Day, an international holiday commemorating workers and their fight for rights.
The first May Day was marked on May 1, 1890 after its proclamation by the first international congress of socialist parties in Europe on July 14, 1889 in Paris, France, to dedicate May 1 every year as a the "Workers Day of International Unity and Solidarity."
From the Associated Press, via US News and World Report:
“Police have briefly clashed with protesters in Goteborg, Sweden's second-largest city, and in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, as May Day rallies were being held.
In Sweden, protesters threw cobblestones and fireworks at police as they were being kept away from reaching a rally by a neo-Nazi movement that had received official permission to march.
In Copenhagen, helmeted police circled their vans around a group of hooded people in black who were shouting anti-police slogans, trying to keep them away from other May Day demonstrations.
A handful of people were detained in both countries.
The heaviest May Day clashes in Europe took place in France, where police clashed with stone-throwing protesters as tens of thousands of people started marching in Paris on Wednesday under tight security. More than 200 arrests were made.”
And from Bloomberg:
“Authorities in Russia said about 100,000 people took part in a May Day rally in central Moscow organized by Kremlin-friendly trade unions on Red Square. Opposition activists said more than 100 people were detained in several cities, including for participating in unsanctioned political protests. In St. Petersburg, police arrested over 60 supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Some of them carried signs saying "Putin is not immortal," in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been at the helm of the country since 2000.”
Julian Assange Becomes A Guest of Her Majesty
From the BBC:
“Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.
The 47-year-old was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act last month after his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy.
He took refuge in the London embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.
In mitigation, Mark Summers QC said his client was "gripped" by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.”
If he serves his entire sentence, he should be out of circulation until March or April of next year.
Barr on The Grill.
From Politico:
“Attorney General William Barr spent five hours Wednesday attempting to lay waste to the central findings of special counsel Robert Mueller's 22-month investigation, taking cutting — sometimes personal — swipes at the man he once described as a friend, and cementing his alliance with President Donald Trump.
"If, in fact, a proceeding was not well-founded, if it was a groundless proceeding, or based on false allegations, the president does not have to sit there constitutionally and allow it to run its course," Barr told lawmakers. "The president could terminate the proceeding and it would not be a corrupt intent because he was being falsely accused."
Barr's commentary framed the debate on Capitol Hill over Mueller's recently released report on links between the Trump campaign and Russia's interference in the 2016 election, as well as whether Trump attempted to obstruct the probe. Mueller concluded that he lacked evidence to charge any American with conspiring with Russia but that he had substantial evidence that Trump attempted to thwart the investigation. He indicated, though, that Justice Department rules prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president precluded him from making a decision on obstruction, since Trump would not have the ability to clear his name in court.”
Among prominent Democrats calling for either Barr’s resignation or impeachment are Senators Mazi Hirono, Kamala Harris, Richard Blumenthal, Sherrod Brown, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, and Elizabeth Warren as well as Representatives Maxine Waters, Ro Khanna, Ted Lieu and Kathleen Rice.
Barr has announced he will not appear in front of the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow.
If you have a chance, take a look at Charles Pierce’s Politics Blog at Esquire on yesterday’s Kabuki Dance. No one does it better.
One Less Embarrassment? Trump Might Not Address Parliament in June.
From the Guardian:
“Donald Trump is unlikely to address parliament when he visits the UK next month over fears that the Commons Speaker’s opposition to the idea could cause an embarrassing row.
UK and US officials are yet to discuss the US president’s full itinerary for the state visit, which will take place from 3 to 6 June to coincide with D-day commemorations.
The Commons speaker, John Bercow, told parliament in 2017, after the offer of a state visit was first made by Theresa May, that he would oppose Trump addressing parliament. Addresses have been made by Trump’s predecessors Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.
However, government sources suggested that although no final decision had been made, a request was unlikely to be put forward on this occasion because it would probably be turned down and could potentially embarrass the Queen.
Heisei Era Comes to an End; Reiwa Era Begins in Japan
Japan’s Emperor Akihito abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne Tuesday to be succeeded by his son, 59 year old Naruhito, who formally became Emperor of Japan at 12:00 midnight Wednesday morning.
From the Japan Times:
“On the last day of his 30-year reign, Emperor Akihito on Tuesday said he “sincerely thanks” the Japanese people for their support of him as the symbol of the state, paving the way for the nation’s first abdication in around 200 years and Crown Prince Naruhito’s accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne at midnight.
“Today, I am concluding my duties as the emperor,” he told a nationally televised ceremony marking his abdication.
“Since ascending the throne 30 years ago, I have performed my duties as the emperor with a deep sense of trust in and respect for the people, and I consider myself most fortunate to have been able to do so.
The outgoing emperor’s remark followed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement announcing his abdication. Abe lauded the emperor for how he always “shared the joys and sorrows” of the people and gave them “courage and hope” by staying close to them in difficult times of natural disasters.”
Each reign is distinguished by a specific name. Akihito’s reign was called Heisei, or “Achieving Peace” era. Naruhito’s accession begins the Reiwa, or “Beautiful Harmony” era. The change of Emperors in Japan has been celebrated by a ten-day holiday which started April 27th and will run until May 6th.
The formal coronation ceremony will be held on October 22nd.
Volkswagen Makes Deal for Key Component in Electric Cars.
From the Local (Germany):
“German car behemoth Volkswagen said on Friday it had secured 10 years' worth of lithium for electric car batteries from Chinese manufacturer Ganfeng, ensuring supply of a key ingredient for the vital components.
With harsh EU emissions limits set to bite from next year and toughen further by 2030, the sprawling 12-brand company plans some 70 new electric models by 2028.
As it emerges from the shadow of its painful "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal, VW aims to sell around 22 million electric cars over the coming decade to escape fines from Brussels.”
L.A. Planning Its Own New Green Deal!
Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles has laid out a plan which sets up the second-largest city in the country to have a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.
From Huffpost:
The city’s Green New Deal would require all new city-owned buildings and major renovations to be entirely electric, effective immediately. The plan also hopes to phase out styrofoam and to plant 90,000 trees by 2021, and to end plastic straws and single-use containers by 2028.
The initiative also includes Los Angeles recycling 100% of its wastewater by 2035 and building a zero-carbon electricity grid with the goal of reaching an 80% renewable energy supply by 2036.
By 2050, the city hopes to create 400,000 green jobs, have every building become emissions-free and halt sending trash to landfills. By then, the city’s plan is expected to save more than 1,600 lives, 660 trips to the hospital and $16 billion in avoided health care expenses every year.
A Permanent Flu Vaccine?
From the Environmental News Network:
“If the virus that causes flu were an ice cream cone, then the yearly vaccine teaches the immune system to recognize just the scoop – chocolate one year, strawberry the next. As the virus changes each year, so too must the vaccine.
A new approach that teaches the body to recognize the cone portion of the virus – which stays the same year-to-year – could shake up that yearly vaccination ritual and protect people against pandemic flu like the one that killed 40 to 50 million people in 1918. The team working on this new approach, led by Stanford biochemist Peter Kim, has shown early signs that their technique works in lab animals. They warn that they still need to make their vaccine more specific and show it works in much larger studies before testing it in people.
“We think it could be very generalizable,” said Kim, who is the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig professor of biochemistry and the lead investigator of the infectious disease initiative at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. “It could be important for coming up with a universal flu vaccine that would protect against pandemic flu, as well as for HIV.”
More Good Electric News: It’s All About the Storage!
From Politico: Something Red and Blue States Can Both Get Behind!
“Electricity storage will reshape the grid in many ways, but the most important is its potential to accelerate the already explosive growth of renewable energy—and that will have political implications. Of the 21 states with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita, Trump won 20 of them, and the lone exception, New Mexico, just passed a law committing to 100 percent clean power by 2045. By contrast, Hillary Clinton won the eight states with the lowest emissions per capita. But that carbon divide is not necessarily permanent. Eighty percent of the wind power installed during Trump’s presidency has been built in states he won, and the five most wind-dependent states were all Trump states. And while the storage boom started in blue states like California and Hawaii, it is taking off in Texas, Florida, and
the rest of Red America as well. Polls suggest “clean energy” is now popular throughout the country, even though “climate action” is not, and there are now more than 3 million clean energy jobs in America, versus only 50,000 coal-mining jobs. The president’s fossil-fueled rhetoric no longer reflects the reality on the ground. And the politics of energy might become less partisan in a world in which renewable power becomes much more common.
Now grid storage is poised to grow at a faster pace than the electric cars that made it cost-effective, and even faster than the renewables it will help to accommodate on the grid. Last year, Florida Power & Light completed a 10-megawatt grid battery hailed as the largest of its kind in the world; last month, FPL announced a battery project more than 40 times larger. Republican regulators in Arizona recently approved more than twice as much power storage in their state as the entire country installed last year; Hawaii is building more than three times as much, and California nearly five times as much.”
Let’s do the math. Three million jobs in clean energy. Fifty thousand jobs in coal-mining. Is there something I’m missing?
On This Day in History:
1536. Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, is arrested and taken to the Tower of London, where she is charged with treason, adultery, incest, and witchcraft. She is later tried, convicted, and executed. England’s divorce laws eventually become rather more civilized.
1670. King Charles II grants the Hudson’s Bay Company a charter to trade. The company’s stores are still open across Canada and have the coolest blankets. I have a dress overcoat that I bought from the Victoria BC store in 1988, and it’s still in fabulous shape!
1780. William Herschel discovers first binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris. Less than a year later he spotted Uranus. Bad jokes ensue.
1863. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson is shot and wounded by his own men. Dies on May 10th. North Carolina has never lived this down.
1908. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" registered for copyright. Still sung during the seventh inning stretch at some baseball games, I think.
1925. Kezar Stadium opens in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. This 50,000 seat stadium was the first home of both the San Francisco 49s and the Oakland Raiders. The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship play there some time later as well.
1927. U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Buck v. Bell, permits forced sterilizations of various “unfit” by states’ authorities where such surgeries are practiced for eugenic purposes. Famous for Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes phrase “Three generations of imbeciles is enough.” Virginia and California still have to live this down.
1945. World War II: Battle of Berlin ends as the Soviet army takes Berlin and General Helmuth Weidling surrenders the city to General Vasily Chuikov. Germany surrendered to the Allies five days later on May 7, 1945.
1957. Senator Joseph McCarthy dies in Bethesda Naval Hospital, Washington, DC at the age of 48. He set the tone for other American demagogues for decades: Lies, Lies, and more Lies. Republicans may live this down someday… maybe.
1972. J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI since 1924 dies. Despite rumors to the contrary, Fredrick’s of Hollywood does not go into mourning.
1986. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. There was once a government which lied to its people worse than our current president lies to us. They don’t exist anymore, and they will never live this down.
1989. Hungary removes border restrictions with Austria allowing East Germans to defect to West Germany. This becomes known as the famous “Trabi Trail” from East Germany through Czechoslovakia and Hungary to Austria and West Germany.
The Trail was named after the Trabant, a particularly horrible little car made in the D.D.R., and pretty much banned everywhere else because of its exhaust emissions.
The Berlin Wall would be opened six months later on November 9th.
2011. Osama bin Laden killed by a US Navy Seal Team in Pakistan.
2017-Present. On each May 2nd since his inauguration, President Trump has said or will say something stupid or infuriating.
There Will Be No Test Tomorrow. Relax.
N.B. There are 551 days until the November 3, 2020 General Election. What Are You Doing?
Yes, Some Goat News Too:
This is low. I first found this at the Miami Herald, with the full story at the Ladysmith Chemainus Chronicle (British Columbia):
A “snuggle” day event at a farm in British Columbia, Canada, turned to tears Saturday when Yellow Point Farms owners discovered a 12-week-old Nigerian dwarf goat had gone missing, The Canadian Press reported.
“We were like, there’s no way someone would steal a goat,” said Rebecca Dault, the Ladysmith Chemainus Chronicle reported. “But after looking for hours and hours, there really is no other explanation. There’s no sign of him.”
“He is only 12 days old and needs his mama’s milk,” Dault wrote on the farm’s Facebook page. “She has been crying for him and it is breaking our hearts.”
I’ll be following this story as it develops, and hope to be able to report some good news soon.
Remember, We Work for You!
Aside from the fact that it’s fun, our Good News Roundup writers and contributors look for stuff daily to keep our diaries fresh.
We seek the best material we can find, not just political stories, but those stories that are entertaining, inspiring, or moving as well. And we try to present it to you in our own individual styles.
2thanks and I had a short thread in the Tuesday GNR comments discussing various sources of information. I can only speak for myself, but I wander through news sites and other interesting places across the world to find things that you might appreciate, and pass on what good news and interesting stuff I can find out there.
I know all the other writers also cast their nets as wide as possible so we can bring you our best.
Good news, like gold, is always out there. All we have to do is look for it!
Have a great day, everyone and thanks for reading! And please keep your eyes open for any wandering goats!
“The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it.”
― Samuel Johnson
P.S. Yermo Stands!