Good Day Good Newsies!
My title today is really a nod to all of you here who participate, be it to write, to read, to comment, whether every day, every week or whenever you can fit it in. We may not have thousands of voices yet but we have many and together we are telling the story of our future and how to fight for it. Sometimes the news is tough, sometimes it is amazing, sometimes it is hilarious and unfortunately sometimes it is sad. But we come together here to share our voices, regardless, so that we can continue on in this crazy world.
The orange blowhard is overseas causing us the usual extreme embarrassment and the rethugs are doing their usual see no evil, hear no evil denialism. Yet we go forward. It may seem some days there is little good news to share but there is always a light to shine.
Onward!
Really, an explainer from Wonkette, in case you heard this news and thought, uh oh, not so fast:
Wait, WHAT NOW With Those Trump Financials Subpoenas?
Last Monday, DC District Court Judge Amit Mehta kicked Trump's ass and told him to STFU with those made-up legal theories about why it is ILLEGAL for Congress to investigate the president's financials. Trump's longtime accountants at Mazars, LLP could hand over Trump's records immediately, and the court was not going to impose a stay. Then, on Wednesday, Judge Edgardo Ramos in the Southern District of New York agreed that Donald Trump doesn't get to psychoanalyze Congress's reasons for conducting oversight and block it if their motives are "impure."
SO, WE CAN HAZ DOCUMENTS? Well, no, we're not getting Trump's docs yet. Sorry. But before we all launch into another dozen choruses of DEMS ARE JUST SOFT, perhaps a little lawsplainer on what happened here might come in handy.
The losing party -- that would be Loser McLoserman Donald J. Trump -- has the right to ask for emergency stays of Judge Mehta's ruling from the DC Circuit and of Judge Ramos's ruling from the Second Circuit. He could also ask for a stay from the Supreme Court, and Trump is extremely fond of muddying the waters by asking SCOTUS to jump in before the appellate courts have had a chance to rule. If one of these courts agreed to stop the clock to litigate the propriety of a stay, it would likely delay the inevitable appeal on the issues themselves.
In both the Mazars and Deutsche Bank cases, all parties have agreed to skip the intermediate "stay round" and go directly to an appeal on the issue of congressional oversight.
Get it? This is a calculated decision to give up a small chance of getting the documents now to avoid a big risk that Congress won't get them at all before the election. Agree or disagree with the math, but don't say this is Democrats being too chickenshit to take on Trump. Because that ain't it, chief.
Then there is this:
Democrats claim victory as Trump gets battered in court
President Trump took a beating in federal court last week, losing a pair of lawsuits aimed at hindering House Democrats' investigations into him and his administration.
The decisions indicated that Trump will ultimately lose the fights: Both judges in the subpoena cases issued their rulings swiftly and decisively, underscoring the weakness of Trump's legal arguments.
But the court victories are providing Democrats with momentum as they accelerate their Trump investigations - and providing fodder for party leaders to argue impeachment proceedings aren't necessary as they make legal headways.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), whose subpoena for Trump's financial records from the accounting firm Mazars was upheld in D.C. court, said that the judge had found Democrats' arguments "a slam dunk."
Believe me, they will get Sharty Mcfarty’s financials...one way or another.
Trump Financials Now Targeted by Democrats Suing Over Emoluments
Congressional Democrats told a Washington federal judge they want to examine President Donald Trump’s finances and revenue sources as they pursue their claim that he is being enriched by foreign governments without their consent, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
The disclosure came Tuesday in a filing outlining how the Democrats and the Justice Department see the 2017 lawsuit playing out. Justice Department lawyers representing Trump told U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan they want the case put on hold, at least until he decides whether to let them appeal his refusal to throw out the lawsuit.
The nearly 200 Democratic lawmakers led by Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal aren’t having it, arguing that any hold on the proceedings will enable the president to avoid accountability.
I wonder if there is a record number of lawsuits with this arse in OUR House, any one have the data?
Civil rights groups sue Trump administration over 'conscience protection' rule
A coalition of civil rights groups on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a federal judge to strike down a recently issued "conscience protection" rule that allows health care providers to refuse to provide care on the basis of their religious beliefs.
The suit, filed in coordination with Santa Clara County in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues the rule is unconstitutional.
According to the groups, which include Lambda Legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, the rule will result in "mass confusion among health care providers and is completely infeasible to implement."
I know, I really have a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to James Comey but…
Comey Goes Off on Trump’s ‘Treason’ Claims in Fiery Op-Ed: ‘The President is a Liar’
Former FBI Director James Comey penned another op-ed today blasting President Donald Trump, this time going off on his “dumb lies” about the Russia probe.
He says he can’t just ignore Trump “when the president is a liar who doesn’t care what damage he does to vital institutions.”
“We must call out his lies that the FBI was corrupt and committed treason, that we spied on the Trump campaign, and tried to defeat Donald Trump. We must constantly return to the stubborn facts,” he writes.
Okay, there is this new book coming out. I know what you are thinking not another one. How else are these folks going to pay their bills? Just being funny. Now I am not saying I completely believe the allegations but it would be HILARIOUS, no?
Senior White House Official to CNN’s Acosta: ‘The President’s Insane’
CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta writes in his upcoming book — a first-hand account on Donald Trump‘s war with the press titled, Emeny of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America — that a former White House official suggested staffers were unsure if the president was being controlled by the Kremlin.
Acosta also writes about a “senior White House official” personally admitting to him that “the president’s insane”.
Please forgive me for quoting from an article that states the “president has been cleared of wrongdoing”. Sigh.
Now I know there was a fair amount of disheartening news today BUT there really is good news too.
Supreme Court leaves Pennsylvania school transgender student bathroom policy in place
The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place a lower court ruling in favor of a Pennsylvania school district policy that allows some transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity.
This case is a challenge to a Pennsylvania's school district's policy that allows some transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. The plaintiffs are students who say the policy violates their privacy rights and constitutes sexual harassment in violation of Title IX, a federal law that bars discrimination based on sex in educational institutions that receive federal funds.
Lawyers for the school district say that they made the decision to allow transgender students to use facilities that aligned with their gender identity because the district "Believes that transgender students should have the right to use school bathroom and locker facilities on the same basis as non-transgender students."
AOC is a champion:
AOC will wait tables in support of federal ‘Raise the Wage Act’
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will return to waiting tables.
The New York Congresswoman will don her waitress apron in support of the federal "Raise the Wage Act."
She also wants to abolish the below-minimum wage for the tipped workers in New York State.
The Daily News says AOC will take orders at a restaurant in the Bronx on Friday as part of an event organized by Restaurant Opportunities Centers.
This really resounds with me. I was a waitress and bartender for about 10 years in my 30’s. It was a heck of life not knowing what you would really make on any given shift. Good on her.
Texas Dem’s are doing the right thing:
Texas Voting Chief Who Led Botched Voter Purge Resigns
Texas Secretary of State David Whitley, who was behind the botched effort to remove alleged noncitizens from the state's voter rolls, resigned Monday as the Texas Legislature's session came to a close.
Whitley, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in December, needed a two-thirds vote from the state Senate to be permanently confirmed to the position, but voting-rights groups put pressure on Texas Democrats to stop the confirmation following his voter purge efforts.
In the final days of the session, a coalition of voting-rights groups, civil rights groups and immigrant-rights groups sent a letter to Texas Democrats urging them to "turn the page on the Whitley purge scandal by continuing to remain united against Mr. Whitley's confirmation."
Too bad, so sad...not.
Elections matter!
Illinois House passes one of the nation’s most liberal reproductive health bills
llinois set itself apart from the slew of states that recently passed anti-choice laws, instead opting to pass a progressive measure that would rescind state abortion restrictions.
The state House on Tuesday advanced the Reproductive Health Act by a vote of 64-50 after a weekend of fierce debate in the assembly. The legislation is one of the most progressive of its kind in the country, repealing the state’s anti-choice Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Illinois Abortion Act of 1975, removing criminal penalties for providers who perform abortions, and requiring insurance companies to pay for abortions.
“[The bill] treats abortion care just like any other health care because, quite frankly, that’s what it is,” bill sponsor, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D), said on the House floor prior to the final passage vote. “Reproductive health is about the full spectrum of care… This is not just about abortion.”
Colorado governor signs bill expanding drivers’ license access to undocumented immigrants
Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed a bill on Tuesday that would give all state residents access to driver’s licenses and identification cards, regardless of their immigration status.
Under the Colorado Road and Community Safety Act, also known as SB 139, driver’s licenses will be made available to all state residents at ten Department of Motor Vehicles offices by July 2020.
Expanding licenses to nearly a dozen more DMV offices would allow thousands of undocumented immigrants who work and raise families in Colorado to live out of the shadows.
San Francisco officials push to offer universal mental health care
San Francisco officials are pushing to ask voters in November to weigh in on a measure that would offer mental health care to any resident in need in the city.
The city's residents would then have a say on the initiative in November. If the measure is approved, San Francisco would be the first city in the country to guarantee mental illness and addiction are covered for every resident.
The ballot measure would create a program called Mental Health SF, borrowing from the Healthy San Francisco program, a 12-year-old program that ensured medical care for nearly every city resident.
“San Francisco has the opportunity to lead, to say, ‘This should be a right for everybody.
Wow right, we have to keep our focus, great things are happening and the tangerine tool in his imaginary kingdom will not destroy us or our country. I am feeling better this week. :)
Other good news:
Teen Girls Have Raised Over $1.5 Million for Clean Water Simply By Embracing Their Love of Origami
Two teenage girls are responsible for providing clean water to thousands of people simply by pursuing their love of origami.
Isabelle and Katherine Adams are the masterminds behind Paper for Water: a nonprofit dedicated to funding clean water projects around the world by making and selling their paper creations.
The 15- and 12-year-old girls were first inspired to begin their labor of love in 2012 after they learned about how many young women in developing countries are unable to get an education because they are forced to collect clean water every day.
Though origami ornaments may seem like a small way to fight such a worldwide problem, the teen sisters have managed to raise over $1.5 million in water project funding since they launched their nonprofit seven years ago.
I say it all the time, the youth will save us, they are emboldened and fierce!
Amazing!!
Smithsonian Institution Appoints First African-American Leader
Lonnie G. Bunch III has been named as the Smithsonian’s new secretary, making him the first African American to lead the 173-year-old institution. Bunch was the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in Washington, D.C., three years ago. He is considered a giant in the museum world, and will also become the first Smithsonian director to ascend to the secretary’s post in 74 years.
This could have saved some of my family members. Science is great. Can the heartless party ever figure that out? Nah, anyhoo, this is awesome news:
Scientists Use New ‘Holy Grail’ Gene Therapy to Heal Damage Caused By Heart Attacks and it Could Save Millions
In a world first, researchers from King’s College London believe they may have found a new therapy that can induce heart cells to regenerate after a heart attack.
At present, when a patient survives a heart attack, they are left with permanent structural damage to their heart through the formation of a scar, which can lead to heart failure in the future. Fish and salamander, on the other hand, can regenerate the heart throughout life.
In a new study that was published last week in Nature, however, the team of investigators delivered a small piece of genetic material, called microRNA-199, to the heart of pigs, after a myocardial infarction – and the treatment resulted in the almost complete recovery of cardiac function one month later.
Late breaking links, for me anyway:
DOJ agrees to make Mueller court activity public, with some redactions
Court again denies Roger Stone's attempt to get a new judge
I did not get the weekly to do’s from Indivisible this week, I am assuming because it was a holiday. But you can follow Yosef52. He has some amazing diaries and ideas for winning in 2020 and beyond!
My hubby and I have been watching Chernobyl on HBO Now. We have gotten to episode 3. At the end of that episode there is a statement made that I actually tried to write down from memory but then had to “Google” it:
What is the cost of lies? It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth.The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all. What can we do then? What else is left to abandon even the hope of truth and content ourselves instead with stories? In these stories, it doesn't matter who the heroes are. All we want to know is: "Who is to blame?"
Let us not let the lies win, let the truth win. We know who is to blame, but does that matter? I do not think so. Asking who is to blame just distracts us from our goal. And our goal is to win, to take back what is ours, and to do it together. Our strength is in our numbers and we have them.
Note: I have a special event at work today and may not be around much. I will try, but you know what to do!
Take us out:
Peace!