Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
It seems to go on and on, doesn’t it? No end to their lies. No end to their hatred. No bottom to the depths of their corruption. But there’s good news out there too. We now know that Mueller has to be as disgusted with Barr as we are. So are many others.
In the meantime, we have to keep on plugging. Later I’ve got a bit on an amazing documentary, Knock Down the House, which will show you ways in which we can do this.
We may not win every battle. But if we keep fighting, and we must and we will, we will win this war.
Here are some quotes for inspiration.
"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run." --Babe Ruth
"One man with courage makes a majority." --Andrew Jackson
“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile." --Roger Staubach
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." --Eleanor Roosevelt
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." --Albert Einstein
"Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." --Teddy Roosevelt
"Champions keep playing until they get it right." --Billie Jean King
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 🐻
📝Mueller’s letter to Barr: here it is
Dear Attorney General Barr:
I previously sent you a letter dated March 25, 2019, that enclosed the introduction and executive summary for each volume of the Special Counsel’s report marked with redactions to remove any information that potentially could be protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e); that concerned declination decisions; orthat related to a charged case. We also had marked an additional two sentences for review and have now confirmed that these sentences can be released publicly.
Accordingly, the enclosed documents are in a form that can be released to the public consistent with legal requirements and Department policies. I am requesting that you provide these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time.
As we stated in our meeting of March 5 and reiterated to the Department early in the afternoon of March 24, the introductions and executive summaries of our two-volume report accurately summarize this Office’s work and conclusions. The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office’s work and conclusions. We communicated that concern to the Department on the morning of March 25. There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations. See Department of Justice, Press Release (May 17, 2017).
While we understand that the Department is reviewing the full report to determine what is appropriate for public release—a process that our Office is working with you to complete—that process need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation. It would also accord with the standard for public release of notifications to Congress cited in your letter. See 28 C.F.R. § 609(c) (“the AttorneyGeneral may determine that public release” of congressional notifications “would be in the publicinterest”).
Note that the letter was released by House Democrats to the public, which means (a) I can include the full text and (b) hooray, House Democrats!
Also, from listening to discussions on O’Donnell’s The Last Word, and TRMS, it’s clear that Mueller has been fighting for us all this time. I believe others are as well.
📺Networks air Barr’s empty chair
Cable news outlets opted Thursday to show an empty chair where Attorney General William Barr would have sat for the morning's House Judiciary Committee hearing.
CNN, Fox News and MSNBC all featured split-screens of Judiciary Chairman
Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and the empty chair that Democrats had set aside for Barr despite his no-show.
Barr refused to appear at the hearing after Democrats insisted that staff attorneys be allowed to ask the attorney general questions. The Justice Department said Democrats put
"unprecedented" conditions on his testimony.
What is interesting is that apparently even Faux News went along with this approach.
My opinion, however, is that there is no point in calling Barr to testify, as all he does is lie for Trump. Rachel Maddow is also of this opinion. And here is what Speaker Pelosi says about Barr.
And the public isn’t buying the R claims of Trump innocence. From the Maddow Blog:
The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll found, for example, that while there's broad skepticism about presidential impeachment, most of the country concluded the Mueller investigation did not clear the president of wrongdoing. The same results showed a majority of Americans also determining that Trump lied about the Russia scandal.
A new Quinnipiac poll pointed in the same direction. On the one hand, the public rejects Republican claims about the president's innocence ...
American voters say 57 - 28 percent that Donald Trump committed crimes before he became president, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today. In today's survey, 46 percent of voters say Trump committed crimes since he became president and 46 percent say he did not commit crimes. [...]
Voters say 51 - 38 percent that the Mueller Report did not clear President Trump of any wrongdoing. American voters also say 54 - 42 percent that Trump "attempted to derail or obstruct the investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 election."
💰 Deutsche Bank 🕵️♀️
Lawyers for the bank have spent months cooperating with investigators from two Democratic-controlled congressional committees, which issued what one lawmaker called a “friendly subpoena” to the bank in mid-April. The bank could end up sharing decades of his personal and corporate financial records.
So, there’s more stuff to come… 😄
⚖US begins extradition case against Assange
Julian Assange has declined a chance to consent to his extradition to the US at a
court hearing in London where the American government started pressing its case to take him across the Atlantic.
Appearing by videolink from Belmarsh prison, Assange said: “I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many, many people.”
Ben Brandon, counsel for the US government, presented details of the US case against Assange at Westminster magistrates court. He said that the charges related to one of the largest compromises of information in the history of the US.
Actually, I don’t want Assange being imprisoned in the US at the moment. Trump would be too tempted to give him perks and/or a pardon. But it’s interesting that Assange is fighting it, because that means it’s not necessarily a good thing.
🐊 Drain the Swamp 🐊
Sometimes we can just prevent the Swamp from getting bigger. Trump’s Federal Reserve pick Stephen Moore has withdrawn his nomination
Crackpot conservative "economist" Stephen Moore won't be getting a spot on the Federal Reserve board. According to Trump, he's out.
That may be news to Stephen Moore himself: Only 30 minutes prior to Trump's announcement, Moore told reporter Joshua Green that he had no plans to withdraw.
Moore's nomination was controversial not only because of Moore's inexperience and uniformly catastrophic past economic prescriptions, but also because of personal and legal troubles and a history of past misogynistic writings that he attempted to pass off as "humor."
Herman Cain withdrew his nomination in April, which means that Trump is having trouble getting his nominees through Republican senators. Why? Because one thing Republican senators don’t want is Trump screwing up the economy, the way he is screwing up everything else.
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
The House, now that we have Dems in charge, is doing a lot. For example:
🕵️♀️Countering a resurgent Russia (May 1)
The Honorable Victoria Nuland
Nonresident Senior Fellow – Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution; Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and Former United States Permanent Representative to NATO
The Honorable Daniel Fried
Distinguished Fellow, Future Europe Initiative and Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council; Former State Department Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Former United States Ambassador to Poland
General Jack Keane, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Chairman, Institute for the Study of War; Former Acting Chief of Staff and Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army
🕵A hearing on protecting the right to vote
PURPOSE: The hearing will examine election practices that: (1) maximize access to the ballot for eligible voters; and (2) disenfranchise eligible voters or increase obstacles to voting.
🐔 Also more on Barr’s no-show —
House Democrats are not happy after Attorney General William Barr refused to appear before them Thursday morning, and Rep. Steve Cohen has made his point in the most delicious way possible. As he arrived at the House Judiciary Committee hearing that Barr refused to attend, he carefully laid out some props on his desk—a big bucket of KFC and a rubber chicken.
And why was Barr so scared? Because he kept uttering impeachable sentences on Wednesday. For which we should thank a whole bunch of D Senators.
Finally I’m linking to a diary with a speech by Nancy Pelosi, where she draws the connection between McConnell, Trump and Russia … and what especially McConnell is doing to democracy.
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
🎓Governor Tony Evers makes first slate of appointments to University Wisconsin Board of Regents
It just announces the people, but these three will replace Scott Walker appointments, so that’s got to be good, right?
I kept finding good stuff in Maine:
🦀 Governor Janet Mills (ME) is keeping her council focused on climate change
🦀Maine becomes latest state to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day
🦀Maine first US state to ban styrofoam containers
And, elsewhere...
🗽New Mexico has become an Ellis Island
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - State and City of Albuquerque officials have announced that Expo New Mexico will provide temporary housing to "asylum-seeking migrants."
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham made the announcement Tuesday along with Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller.
Officials say migrants will be brought to Expo New Mexico in the next few weeks. They will be staying in existing dorms that will serve as an interim stopping point before the migrants move on to be with their host families.
The pictures look a lot better than the horrid cages.
🐍 Schadenfreude 🍎
❎Federal Reserve snubs Trump by refusing to lower interest rates
The US Federal Reserve snubbed Donald Trump’s call for a cut in interest rates on Wednesday as the central bank noted economic activity was still rising at “a solid rate”.
After a two-day meeting the Fed board unanimously decided to hold rates steady at a range between 2.25% and 2.5%.
The decision follows months of unprecedented public criticism of the Fed from Trump who has called its decisions “crazy” and discussed firing the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell.
📣🏅 Let’s Honor Truth 🏅☀️
On Thursday I watched Knock Down the House, a documentary that shows the hard work of four women during the primaries of 2018. It’s a great celebration of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the only one of the four who won. Here’s the description in Wikipedia:
Knock Down the House is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Rachel Lears.[1] It revolves around the primary campaignsof Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin, four progressive Democrats endorsed by Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress running for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections.[2][3]
But the medal of truth goes to Rachel Lears, the woman who directed the film:
The day after Donald Trump's election, Rachel Lears began working on her new documentary film.[8] She reached out to organizations such as Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats to pay "charismatic female candidates who weren't career politicians, but had become newly galvanized to represent their communities."[8] The search led her to four female candidates: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezof New York, Amy Vilela of Nevada, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Paula Jean Swearengin of West Virginia.[8] Lears raised $28,111 for the project through Kickstarter.
The film is currently on Netflix. Everyone here should watch this film. See what it’s like to take on the Machine from Queens and to win. And the heart-breaking losses in other races. However, AOC points out that, out of a hundred who try, only one gets through. So we need many thousands trying.
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
Do you remember Philando Castile? He was one of many men of color who was unjustifiably murdered by the police. He also worked in a school cafeteria, where he was beloved by many of the students.
🥘🥙🍲🥪His legacy lives on:
I hadn’t seen any mention of this on DKos yet, and I felt this deserves recognition- Philando Castile’s Mom Donates $8,000 to Settle Lunch Debt Preventing HS Seniors from Graduating:
Three years after beloved cafeteria supervisor, Philando Castile, was killed by a police officer, his mother is keeping his legacy alive by continuing the work he cared about.
Last Thursday Valerie Castile presented administrators at Robbinsdale Cooper High School with a check for $8,000 from the Philando Castile Relief Foundation. The donation settles the debt of all senior students whose ability to graduate was jeopardized due to a lunch money balance. Thanks to the Castile family, the path has been cleared for the students to graduate worry-free.
“This is something that Philando held near and dear to his heart,” Valerie Castile told CBS Minnesota.” She continued “He’d pay for children’s lunch meals out of his own pocket instead of letting a child go hungry that day he would pay it himself.”
What an amazing woman Valerie Castile is.
📎📎Odds & Ends 📎📎
⚡️ Burger King plans to roll out “Impossible Whopper” nationwide by end of year
⚡️ Maine Gun Safety coalition organizes gun give back day on May 11
⚡️ This woman is saving snow leopards in Mongolia
⚡️ United Health Care forced to pay for prostrate cancer treatments
Proton beam radiation therapy has been an accepted cancer treatment method since the 1980s, according to the Washington Post, but United Healthcare denied the treatment to Miami-based attorney Richard Cole on the grounds that it was “experimental,” Cole said. Although Cole was able to afford his medical care, he filed the lawsuit on behalf of the potentially thousands of others who had been denied treatment as well. ✂️
The judge went on to rebuke the insurance company for denying patients care. “It is undisputed among legitimate medical experts that proton radiation therapy is not experimental and causes much less collateral damage than traditional radiation,” Scola wrote. “To deny a patient this treatment, if it is available, is immoral and barbaric.” ✂️
On Jan. 1, shortly after United Healthcare denied Cole’s final appeal for reimbursement of medical expenses, it revised its policy to acknowledge proton beam radiation as a proven treatment method. According to Cole’s lawsuit, this proves that the company’s previous policy was “arbitrary.” Now, Cole wants justice for those who were denied coverage in the past.
🍃 NYC passes legislation for green roofs
The new Climate Mobilization Act, which was passed on April 18th, contains six climate measures intended to help the city reach carbon neutrality and 100% clean energy by 2050.
One of the notable provisions in the bill requires all new residential and commercial buildings to cover their rooftops with plants or renewable energy sources such as solar panels. ✂️
According to research published by the National Research Council of Canada, a green roof can cut a building’s daily energy demand for air conditioning by up to 75%. This is particularly significant because the bulk of New York City’s CO2 emissions come from its buildings.
Seems like the people in NYC should visit the next story (also in karij’s Wednesday roundup, but worth repetition)
🍃 Rooftop panels of tiny plants can clean air better than trees
Scientists have succeeded in developing the world’s first “biosolar leaf” technology to cleanse polluted city air with shocking efficiency.
Researchers say that the new BioSolar Leaf system uses photosynthesis to purify the same amount of air as 100 trees – all while taking up the same amount of space as a single tree.
Now, some bird music for your morning (or day). When I played this on Thursday, it really confused some birds in a tree just outside my office.
💙 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.