Welcome!
Whether intentionally or by accident, you’ve landed in one of the few happy news spots on the internet – Good News Roundup. If you’re unfamiliar with who we are and what we do, here’s an explanation by one of the leaders of our Gnus herd, 2thanks:
Good News: We bring it, we make it.
The Good Gnus group is a community of readers, writers, activists, supporters, community builders, and patriots. We begin gathering every day at 7 a.m. ET to celebrate national good news. Our most active members are of course a subgroup of members of Daily Kos, whose Front Pages celebrate “News, Community, Action.” However, you don’t have to be a member of Daily Kos to be a Newsie.
We are realists, not fools, idiots, or ostriches. We know we live in a world where active, nefarious, and evil decision-makers do very bad things and create stress and anxiety in us, our loved ones, our friends, our allies, and our neighbors, yet we choose to focus on the good news that people create around the country. Sometimes we ourselves create Good News. Together we are strong and resilient. We return to these pages day after day to replenish.
I’m one of several roundup writers who are standing in on Thursdays for one of our most favorite Gnus, oldhippiedude, aka OHD. He had to relinquish his regular Thursday roundup during a period of recuperation, and now he’s feeling like taking a more active role – talk about good news! He’s contributing today’s introduction to the news, all the musical selections (always a highlight), and some stories here and there (he’ll indicate which sections he contributed, and the others will be from me). So without further ado, “Ladies and gentlemen, Old Hippie Dude!”
I just want to pop in briefly and note that the main reason I am here with you today is a recent private outpouring of support I received from GNR—the Goddess of Good News—and no fewer than 30 fellow gnusies. It was no surprise to me that you are such strong, wonderful folks, although it came as somewhat of a shock that you would take the time and go out of your way for me. It will never be forgotten, and I’ll do my best not to let y’all down.
That expression of support taught me a lesson about the movement that we are all a part of. I have long been convinced that we are on the winning side because of the long progressive tendency of history and the strength and tenacity of those who move history in a progressive direction. But another reason for the success of progressivism is the collective and supportive nature of progressives.
Victory in any struggle can only come to those who act as a group, but a group is only as strong as the individuals who comprise it. What I experienced was a manifestation of our belief that we as a group are diminished whenever any member of our group is taken out of the fight, and that we are as strong as our support and caring for each other.
Support and caring are, of course, qualities that are traditionally associated with women rather than men. So it seems clear that the strength and resilience of our movement grows out of the prominence that women have in the progressive movement and from progressive men’s acceptance of feminist principles (even if most progressive men are still struggling with the consequences of their toxic upbringing). No one on our side is going to tell an ailing compatriot to “walk it off” or, worse, to “man up.” And one will never witness a sorry spectacle among us like the Trumpanzees’ current frantic rush to throw each other under the bus.
Always remember that you are all very special people. And remember that, no matter how long it may take, we will prevail because we work with and for each other rather than merely alongside one another.
And now, to celebrate the good news that my corner of the world is getting some desperately needed precipitation at last, how about a song about rain?
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Thank you, OHD! You embody so much of the heart and soul of this community of powerful progressives. I’m so delighted you’re contributing to this roundup!
Now onward to news, more music, and some this ‘n’ that.
Good news from my city, with wider implications
Gordon Sondland
Some background first. Most of the hotels Sondland built his fortune on are in Portland, OR, and he and his wife live here. So we Portlanders are quite intrigued by the unfolding story of Gordo’s adventures as an over-reachingly ambitious political appointee. Here’s what I think is the best, most concise history of same:
From Raw Story, Tuesday:
EU ambassador Gordon Sondland faces pressure from his wife to turn on Trump
The longtime Republican donor got what he wanted after donating $1 million to Trump’s 2016 campaign, and was named the U.S. ambassador to the European Union — but he may be forced to testify against the president to save his marriage and his business, reported the Washington Post.
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Current and former U.S. officials say Sondland, who once said Trump offended his — “personal beliefs and values on so many levels” — hoped that he might take over for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross if he helped Trump get damaging information against Joe Biden from Ukraine.
“He spent a year trying to prove that he wasn’t anti-Trump,” said a former White House official. “He got into the position [of ambassador], and he had an opportunity to prove it. Trump knew that he wanted to prove his loyalty.”
But now he faces another loyalty test — from his wife of 26 years...Katherine Durant, a real estate investor and registered Democrat, [who]fears her husband’s ties to Trump and the Ukraine scandal will hurt the hotel company he built.
The piece goes on to say that at least one local business has cut ties to Sondland’s Provenance Hotels and that Congressman Earl Blumenauer has called for boycotting Sondland’s hotels in Portland until he “cooperates fully” with Congress. The rest of the piece consists of Durant whining that “We live in a world right now where there’s no upside to supporting someone like Gordon who is working for Trump … It’s a mob.” Awwww, so sad… /s
Sit for a moment with the cognitive dissonance of Sondland feeling “offended” by Trump, then spending a year trying to prove his loyalty to him, ending with being willing to participate in the Ukraine/Giuliani clusterfuck. Sounds like ambition “trumping” ethics, right? Sorry, Gordo, you get no sympathy from me.
For more evidence of Sondland’s descent into arrogant assholery, here’s a tidbit from a Charles Pierce piece in Esquire on Fiona Hill’s testimony:
At one point, she confronted Mr. Sondland, who had inserted himself into dealings with Ukraine even though it was not part of his official portfolio, according to the people informed about Ms. Hill’s testimony. He told her that he was in charge of Ukraine, a moment she compared to Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr.’s declaration that he was in charge after the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt, according to those who heard the testimony.
According to whom, she asked. The president, he answered.
Uh-huh. Sure.
BTW, according a poll on Monday in the online version of the Portland Business Journal, 60% of the respondents said they would support the Provenance boycott. Yes, it’s a totally unscientific poll, and yes, Portland is a very blue city. But the Biz Journal’s readers are almost all business owners, investors, and such, so I think this poll may be an intriguing indication that pResident Evil is losing those folks.
And more:
Portland impeachment protestors send message to Sondland
From KOIN News, Monday:
The local [impeachment] rally was just one of dozens of marches that were organized across the country. However, the Portland march paid special attention to a hotel connected to Gordon Sondland—a US Ambassador to the Europeans Union, and one of the key players set to testify in Washington in the coming week.
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“Gordon Sondland is a local businessman,” said Kate Sharaf, a leader with Stand on Every Corner PDX, before the rally on Sunday. “He is caught in the very center of the impeachment inquiry, and is a key witness, and is implicated in Trump’s crimes in this developing corruption scandal that we are learning about with Ukraine.”
“We are marching today past Sondland’s Heathman Hotel to tell him clearly and loudly that Oregonians demand he come clean and tell the truth in his testimony next week,” said Sharaf.
So where’s the good news in all this?? It’s that Sondland got caught and will face consequences for his greed, incompetence, and over-reaching. Let’s hope those consequences turn out to be severe.
Mercy Corps workers embrace, applaud sex abuse survivor: ‘You matter so much’
This is a long, sad story. Tania Culver Humphrey was sexually abused throughout her childhood by her father, Ellsworth Culver, co-founder of Mercy Corps. She attempted several times to reveal the abuse to Mercy Corps but was rebuffed each time. Thanks to a 10-month-long investigation by the Oregonian newspaper, she is now being vindicated, and some of the men who suppressed her testimony are paying a belated price for their indefensible behavior. Robert Newell, who took part in the initial questioning of Humphrey, stepped down from Mercy Corps’ board and then resigned from his law firm. Barnes Ellis, senior legal counsel for Mercy Corps, also resigned. And then CEO Neal Keny-Guyer resigned after a large delegation of Mercy Corps employees confronted him in person and demanded his resignation for not re-opening an investigation into Humphrey’s accusations when they were brought to him last year. He chose to believe that the original investigation had been sufficient and impartial, which of course it hadn’t been. But his resignation leaves Mercy Corps without a leader at a time when their humanitarian outreach efforts are needed more than ever, so it’s sad that they’ve become collateral damage in this.
NOTE: Several Oregonian readers complained that the photos and video in the story below were not spontaneous and should have been labeled as having been set up in advance. (I later heard from in an email from the writer that the presence of media had been carefully arranged with Ms. Humphrey and was to a degree at her own request, though I don’t feel that excuses the absence of a head note explaining this.) Although this was bad journalistic practice, the emotions on display are entirely genuine, as is the healing that speaking out has apparently brought to both Humphrey and the Mercy Corps staff.
From the Oregonian:
Tania Culver Humphrey dropped her daughter off at school Friday morning, then drove to Mercy Corps. She wanted to see for herself the messages of support that employees had written in chalk on the sidewalk and courtyard in front of the humanitarian agency’s headquarters.
“Tania, we believe you.” “We stand with Tania.” She knelt and touched the letters.
A couple of women who work at Mercy Corps, people Humphrey had never met, came out of the building. They hugged Humphrey, holding her in a long embrace.
Then, one after another, more employees began streaming out of Mercy Corps to join Humphrey in the courtyard.
By the end, more than 75 people, some with tears running down their cheeks, formed a semi-circle around Humphrey.
Good muckraking journalism gets results (there’s another example of this farther down in this diary), and it’s always the right decision to stand up and speak out against injustice. “Cover our ass” does not belong in any organization’s mission statement.
It’s my hope that as our culture becomes more enlightened about sexual abuse and every other version of “might makes right” there will be less and less ass-covering and more and more courageous speaking out. It’s interesting to me that so far in the Congressional hearings it’s women who are doing the speaking out – e.g., Marie Yovanovitch and Fiona HIll. I hope that more men will follow their lead.
Good news from my state
Drive to recall Gov. Kate Brown fails for lack of signatures
This story was mentioned briefly in a comment in the GNRU sometime in the last couple of days, but now I can’t find the comment. First, here’s the story from the Oregonian, then a little more background.
Organizers of the Oregon Republican Party’s drive to recall Gov. Kate Brown conceded Monday that they did not manage to gather the necessary 280,050 valid voter signatures to put the recall on the ballot.
Party Chairman Bill Currier did not return phone calls to The Oregonian/OregonLive, but he said on Monday’s Lars Larson Show that “we did come up short. Not by a lot but we did come up short” ahead of Monday’s deadline.
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Thomas Wheatley, a paid political adviser to Brown, said in a statement, “Recalls should be used only when an elected official has committed a crime, not when someone disagrees with the policies of the governor or another elected official. The extremists pushing reckless recalls want to overturn the will of the voters who elected Democrats by wide margins. In rejecting this recall, the public has sent a clear message: Oregonians don’t want to waste their tax dollars on a reckless recall.”
You may remember from back in June the mess (very embarrassing for us Oregonians) when Oregon Rethuglican State Senators walked out to prevent a vote on Brown’s progressive carbon cap policy. More embarrassingly, they succeeded to the extent that the vote was never taken. Then they hoped to make sure the policy was truly dead by recalling Brown, who has promised not to back down and has said she might use her executive powers to institute the policy. But it turns out that not a lot of Oregonians agree with the Rethugs. Too bad, so sad – for them.
Oregon schools get a taste for local tamales
From Ecotrust:
Recently in Oregon, a new high watermark was set for farm to school funding. With the passage of HB 2579, a record $15 million was allocated for farm to school activities in the state, including purchasing support for schools interested in working with Oregon food businesses and producers.
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...at the 2018 Local Link Vendor Fair, Lucy [de Léon, owner of a 20-year-old Mexican restaurant in Portland] was presented with an opportunity she couldn’t refuse: Portland Public Schools had recently lost a vendor and needed to fill an order for tamales in a pinch.
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[Now] Lucy’s school lunch-friendly tamales are a hit outside Portland, too, with schools in Beaverton, North Bend, and Umatilla placing orders.
Says Umatilla School District Child Nutrition Director, Rikkilynn Starliper: “I did a tasting with the four different kinds of tamales that Lucy offers and had the kids vote on their favorite ones. They absolutely love them. I’m planning on serving them every month and I’m pretty sure if I skipped a month, I would hear about it.”
Good News From My State (by OHD)
Vicious Infighting Among Texas Republicans
Facing a tough fight against a revitalized Democratic party in a state that is slowly moving to the left, the Texas Speaker of the House has decided to target fellow Republicans who are not far enough to the extreme right.
During a June conversation at the Texas Capitol, Republican House Speaker Dennis Bonnen urged hardline conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan to target members of their own party in the 2020 primaries and suggested he could get Sullivan’s group media access to the House floor, according to a secret recording of the conversation released Tuesday.
The recording of the conversation essentially features the Speaker offering extremist activist Sullivan media credentials to the House floor—something he’s not actually able to do—in exchange for attacking incumbent Republicans in next year’s primaries. Speaker Bonnen is offering a defense which has become common among GOP politicians of late.
On Tuesday, after Sullivan's recording was released, Bonnen said in a statement that he had repeatedly called for the audio to be made public "because it will be immediately clear that no laws were broken."
The Texas Rangers, however, are investigating the conversation.
I’m not sure that moderate Republican legislators—or voters—will be satisfied with “You got nothin’ on me, coppers” as a defense, but this is a gift to unified and motivated state Democrats.
Major Texas Newspapers Come Out Against Extreme Anti-Tax Proposition 4
Early voting begins in Texas next Monday, and election day is November 5th. Among issues to be voted on is Proposition 4, a constitutional amendment which would prohibit the state from ever imposing an income tax. But besides fixing a “problem” that doesn’t really exist (chances are practically nil that an income tax could pass here), the amendment is worded in such a way that current taxes on businesses could be abolished, eliminating a huge amount of state revenue while helping the rich get richer.
Fortunately, newspapers in Corpus Christi, Dallas, Ft. Worth, and Austin have editorialized against this extreme measure, and it’s to be hoped that in a low-turnout off-year election enough same people can be mobilized to defeat it. Add to that the probability that some anti-tax troglodytes will see the word “tax” and automatically vote “no,” and we might be able to beat this.
Here’s an excerpt from the Austin American-Statesman’s editorial on this.
The laws on the books already make a state income tax a very distant possibility. It would take a majority of lawmakers to put the question to voters, and a majority of voters to approve it, according to the state constitution. Such support is unfathomable. Seven out of 10 Texans opposed creating a state income tax, a February poll by the University of Texas/Texas Tribune found.
Prop 4 would raise the bar even higher, requiring support from two-thirds of lawmakers to put a state income tax question to voters. Sounds harmless enough — until you read the Legislative Budget Board’s bold-lettered warning that this proposed amendment to the state constitution “could result in a significant loss of state franchise tax revenue, depending on potential future legal decisions.”
That’s because Prop 4 describes those exempt from an income tax as “individuals.” In some cases, courts have interpreted “individuals” to mean a group of people acting as a single entity, such as a corporation. If companies persuaded Texas courts to adopt such a reading of Prop 4, they could get a break from having to pay the franchise tax — the state’s primary tax on businesses, estimated to generate $8 billion in the 2020-21 budget cycle.
Voters should reject Prop 4. Texas is at no risk of adopting a state income tax anytime soon. Lawmakers who want to further strengthen an income tax prohibition in the Constitution should come back in the 2021 session with laser-focused language to do that without putting existing revenue streams at risk.
If you’re reading this from the Lone Star State, be sure to vote this year, and help others realize that every election, including this one, is important.
Now here’s some Texas music for y’all, then I’ll turn it back over to arhpdx.
Good news from around the nation
On the same day voters in Montgomery AL elected their first black mayor, the same thing happened in another Alabama city!
Alabama man, Tim Ragland, makes history as youngest and first black Mayor of Talladega, AL
From the Atlanta Black Star:
Timothy Ragland, 29, defeated incumbent Jerry Cooper by a margin of just 24 votes, WBRC reported Oct. 8. And given that Ragland is still under 30, his win also makes him the youngest mayor in Talledega history.
“It speaks to [the fact that] we’re not just a city that’s … stuck in the past. It’s 2019,” he told WVTM 13 Wednesday of his historic win. “It speaks to how much that we’re together. I’m standing on the shoulders of giants.”
The giants Ragland cited included John Lawrence Taylor, who was the first African-American elected to city office. He served two terms as councilman from 1975 to 1983 and had remained on the city’s water board until he died in 1985, according to WRBC. Ragland also noted the first African-American woman elected to City Council in the late Edythe Sims.
No one should doubt that newly-energized black voters are making – and will continue to make – profound positive changes in this country. You can help protect the black vote by making donations to Spread the Vote and Fair Fight 2020.
The best way to get someone to leave a bad job is to offer them a better one.
Never Again launches career services site for ICE agents
From Common Dreams:
ICE agents looking for a change have a new, secretive resource, thanks to immigration rights activists who on Monday [Oct. 7] launched a career services program intended to help [them] find other work.
"If you work for ICE, you can get help to quit," actor and activist Rob Delaney said on Twitter Monday.
The Atlanta branch of Never Again Action, the advocacy group that fights against President Donald Trump's war on immigrants in order to avoid a repeat of genocide like in the Holocaust, announced the website "Quit ICE" on Monday as "a new initiative to encourage Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees to quit their jobs by offering them free and confidential career advice from professionals."
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"You want people to stop being complicit? Make it possible," tweeted Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg.
According to Never Again Atlanta organizer Emily Baselt, the site has has already received two requests, and she said "Based on the two people who reached out to us, there are definitely people there who don't want to be there.”
The article also quotes The Daily Beast on plummeting morale at ICE and CBP:
Morale in U.S. immigration agencies is reportedly low and sinking, likely a side effect of the Trump administration’s aggressive policies. Though President Donald Trump signed an order purporting to end a policy of family separations at the border last year, the separations reportedly continue under a loophole. The recent deaths of at least seven children in Customs and Border Patrol centers highlighted inhumane conditions, and an August ICE raid on Mississippi chicken factories became the largest workplace mass arrest in at least a decade.
Obviously, there are still way too many people willing to get paid to do That Thing’s dirty work, but it’s encouraging that an increasing number appear to be tired of abetting torture.
Another example of good muckraking journalism getting results.
In Memphis, Methodist Le Bonheur erases debts of more than 6,500 patients it sued
From Medium:
The city’s largest nonprofit hospital system has erased the debts owed by more than 6,500 patients it sued for unpaid hospital bills, less than two months after announcing an overhaul of its debt collection processes.
The dramatic shift was prompted by an MLK50-ProPublica investigation that revealed that Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare filed more than 8,300 debt lawsuits from 2014 through 2018, including against its own employees. Methodist had doggedly pursued low-income defendants who had little ability to pay, often garnishing their meager paychecks.
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For now, it appears that Methodist is no longer using the courts as a collection agency, a practice that was roundly criticized by health care experts, some elected officials and members of the United Methodist Church, with which Methodist is affiliated. Since July 3, the hospital has not filed any new debt collection lawsuits or garnishment attempts.
Methodist’s turnaround elated defendants and consumer advocates.
Fishermen pull 11,000 pounds of metal from Spokane River and donate proceeds to help special-needs kids
This is a win-win-win: for the environment, for kids, and for the magnet fishing club that may set a Guinness record. BTW, “magnet fishing” is not a thing I knew about...
From The Week:
Since June, the H20 Magnet Fortunes group has pulled 11,000 pounds of metal from the Spokane River, KXLY reports. The magnet fisherman have spent their weekends at the river, hooking everything from manhole covers to cell phones. They will now turn in the metal for recycling money, with all proceeds going to SOAR, an organization that provides in-home care and therapy for children with autism and special needs. H20 Magnet Fortunes founder Paul Swanson said they'll continue to go magnet fishing until the river is clean. To give SOAR an added boost, a local recycling facility will pay double the usual price for prepared iron, and Swanson said he's contacted Guinness World Records, as this is likely a record for most metal collected by a magnet fishing club.
Some smart commentary
Charles Pierce on Fiona Hill’s testimony and Bolton
I do love Pierce.
From Esquire:
I mean, I knew John Bolton believed in regime change, but I always assumed he meant overseas.
The mustachioed crazy person who spent about 11 minutes as the national security adviser to El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago—until this administration* became too crazy even for Bolton, a philosophical concept that scholars will still be discussing when we first land on Neptune—was the star in absentia of the testimony given Monday by Fiona Hill, the former Russian expert in the employ of Camp Runamuck.
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Bolton is no hero. You will note that we only know about this exchange through Hill's testimony, and not through anything Bolton has said or done in service of the ongoing impeachment inquiry. He remains a dangerous monger of war who should be kept out of government for the same reasons we keep wolverines out of meat lockers. But even someone like Bolton recognizes the importance of, well, coherence in running a government.
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Sondland's turn on the perch will come later this week, but the canary chorus is beginning to sing in harmony now. Careers are becoming endangered, and the president* is running out of both people who'll protect him and people whom he can blame, although he does have something of a gift for turning people from the former group into people in the latter. Giuliani's already on the spit, rotating ever so slowly. The two mooks with whom Giuliani did business do not look like stand-up guys. And there's nobody in this whole episode between Giuliani and the president*. Somewhere, behind his mustache, and perhaps out of sheer self-preserving serendipity, John Bolton did us all a favor.
Conservatives finally have a leader who lives by Ayn Rand’s selfish philosophy — and he’s an embarrassing clown
Raw Story published this opinion piece by Amanda Marcotte of Salon. It thoroughly demolishes the bogus philosophy underpinning contemporary conservative “thought” by showing that The Orange Embarrassment is its logical outcome.
[For Rand’s first novel, which she eventually scrapped, she] got to work sketching a protagonist ... with a “wonderful, free, light consciousness” resulting from “the absolute lack of social instinct or herd feeling” and having “no organ for understanding, the necessity, meaning, or importance of other people.”
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...most historians argue that she reworked her idea of the individualistic, contemptuous hero into her later novels, “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged.” These two books, and Rand’s writings on her selfishness-oriented philosophy she deemed “Objectivism,” have become the backbone of modern conservatism, a pseudo-intellectual rationalization — beloved by Republicans such as former House Speaker Paul Ryan or Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — for a reactionary movement that rose up to reject the feminist and antiracist movements of the 20th century.
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The question that haunts that novel is, “Who is John Galt [Rand’s hero]?” Now we finally have the answer: Donald Trump.
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Despite the high-minded rhetoric, the lived reality of selfishness as a philosophy is less like the fictional figures of Howard Roark and John Galt, and more like the incoherent, small-minded sociopathy of Donald Trump. The great man of the Objectivist imagination has always been a silly fantasy. But it’s particularly rich and satisfying that now that the Ayn Rand fanboys finally have a leader who lives out their supposed ideals, the result is the comic, pathetic and catastrophic figure now disgracing the White House.
Shower Cap nails it, as usual:
From Monday’s American Madness Journal:
Redactor General William Barr has had it with you kids and your rock music and tide pods, excuse me, I mean “tight pants.” Your horrible, “secular,” values of tolerance and equality are an existential threat to his belief system, which is mostly centered around the controversial “Donald Trump should be allowed to commit all the crimes” doctrine, initially put forth by St. Nobody of Neverfuckingexisted.
Mike Pompeo offered his own boorish musings on “being a Christian leader,” with darkly hilarious timing, even as his administration’s actions led to the slaughter of women and children and the resurrection of an apocalyptic terror army. Anyway, I took a quick spin through the Bible over the weekend, and I couldn’t find anything like “And then Jesus spake unto his disciples, and told them to go among the people and collect from them a tax, which shall then be presented to a serial sexual assaulter, that he may play golf at his leisure.” Maybe I missed something, I was skimming.
Barr and Pompeo are a regular theocrat Tweedlegoon and Tweedlethug, aren’t they? It’s a neat little grift the religious right has worked out with Team Treasonweasel; 100% of the sneering sanctimony of the performatively pious, without any of that pesky “being a good person” shit.
It would be worth reading if only for “Tweedlegoon and Tweedlethug,” but every bit of it is brilliant. Do yourself a favor and let Cap channel your outrage – it really is cathartic. Plus, if you don’t read it, you’ll miss gems like this:
Matt Gaetz, having apparently escaped his crate, wandered into the room where Fiona Hill was testifying before three House Committees, arguing that there was insufficient Mouth-Breathing Stooge representation in the room, whining that Schiff was a big ol’ meaniepants for not allowing him to sit in the back, flinging poo while shouting things he read on InfoWars.
Now back to some news that’s actually good!
Good news from around the world
Ecosia making progress in planting trees in drought-stricken areas
I learned about Ecosia from a comment in a Good News Roundup (sorry, I can’t remember who posted it), and since selecting it as my browser, I’ve become a confirmed fan. Each time you do a search on Ecosia, you support their tree-planting projects around the world. They just posted a video about their efforts, and it’s very encouraging:
All over the world, innovative solutions to climate change are cropping up (pun intended!).
Drought-proof “cooling houses” use saltwater and cardboard to grown tons of healthy produce in the desert
From the Good News Network:
Researchers from the UK-based Seawater Greenhouse company have discovered a drought-proof way to farm fruits and vegetables simply by using solar power and saltwater for irrigation and cooling.
The company has launched plantation projects in arid regions such as Australia, Abu Dhabi, Somaliland, Oman, and Tenerife. Despite the harsh climate of these locations, the plantations are able to grow thousands of pounds of produce simply by making “cooling houses” out of thick walls of dampened cardboard.
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The design of the corrugated cardboard panels helps to cool down the wind coming from the outside of the structure. At the same time, a small solar-powered pump dispenses seawater at the top of the panels so that it can trickle down through the walls of the cardboard for evaporation.
Here’s a video with a full explanation of this surprising project:
Australia’s Future Crunch is a favorite site of mine for good news nuggets rarely found elsewhere. Here’s their latest:
Good news you probably didn't hear about
Australia's per capita levels of clean energy are the fastest growing in the world. Between 2018 and 2020, Australia will install 220 watts per person per year - nearly three times more than the next fastest country, Germany. The Conversation
Sicilian Mafia has been brought to its knees and is now a ghost of its former self. Guardian
Abortion is now legal in every state in Australia, Oaxaca has become the second state in Mexico to give women autonomy over their own bodies and in the US, abortion rates have reached their lowest level since Roe vs. Wade in 1973. CNN
In 1990 the global annual death rate for children under the age of five was 82 for every 1,000 live births. In 2018, it was 37 per 1,000 live births. WaPo
A new report on the social performance of 149 countries in the last five years, using indicators like nutrition, shelter, safety, education, health, rights and inclusiveness, says only four countries have regressed overall since 2014. [Spoiler: the U.S. is one of the retrograde countries. We’ll change that in 2021!] First Post
China's tree stock rose by 4.56 billion cubic meters between 2005 and 2018, deserts are shrinking by 2,400 square kilometers a year, and forests now account for 22% of land area. SCMP
...a service station in Maryland has become the first in the US to convert from petrol pumps to electric chargers. WaPo
Scientists have unveiled an algae bioreactor the size of a fridge that can sequester as much carbon as an acre of trees. Inverse
Here’s a heartening story about kindness where you might not expect it.
Arab plumbers refuse to charge Israeli woman after learning she is a Holocaust survivor
From the Times of Israel, via Good News Network:
When two Arab brothers found out that one of their clients was a Holocaust survivor, they insisted on performing their services free of charge.
According to a recent online report from the Times of Israel, Simon and Salim Matari are two Israeli plumbers who were called to fix a broken pipe in an elderly woman’s home in Haifa earlier this week.
The house belonged to 95-year-old Rosa Meir. As Simon fixed the leaky plumbing fixture, Salim chatted with the woman about her life and learned that she was a Holocaust survivor.
After fixing her broken pipe, the brothers refused to charge Ms. Meir for their work – which totaled $285 – and instead left a note saying “Holocaust survivor, may you have health until 120 [years old], from Matari Simon and Matari Salim.” Then they added that if she ever needed any more plumbing work, they would be happy to do it for free.
Random holiday heads up for October 17: National Black Poetry Day
From National Day Calendar:
Black Poetry Day is observed annually on October 17. This is a day to honor past and present black poets.
Black Poetry Day celebrates the importance of black heritage and literacy and the contributions made by black poets. It is a day to appreciate black authors.
Jupiter Hammon, the first published black poet in the United States, was born in Long Island, New York, on October 17, 1711. In honor of Hammon’s birth, we celebrate the contributions of all African Americans to the world of poetry.
I did some internet research and found this wonderful poem by black poet Lucille Clifton (1937-2010) –
won’t you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
Of course, there are lots of other great black poets. Do yourself a favor and look them up.
OHD here again. When you decide to explore black poetry, be sure to check out the amazing Audre Lord, Derek Walcott, and, of course, the immortal Langston Hughes, who wrote these lines.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
And don’t forget the great Gil Scott-Heron.
Movie review
I mentioned in a comment on Sunday that I was planning to see “Fantastic Fungi” and that I would let y’all know if you should try to see it. The answer is a loud “Yes!” It’s a fascinating lesson on the vital role of the mycelium that literally covers the earth beneath our feet, and the cinematography is exquisite. It also celebrates the amazing discoveries made by Paul Stamets, a logger-turned-mycologist who proves that amateurs can out-do academic scientists by thinking outside the box of accepted wisdom. It turns out that fungi can accomplish feats as varied as digesting oil spills and helping people cope with PTSD. Here’s a link to the write-up on Rotten Tomatoes (where it has a 100% positive rating!) and here’s the trailer (I chose this version with Spanish subtitles because it was the longest one):
October beauty
Four lovely autumn plants which I photographed while walking my dog. And, no, I don’t know what they are, except for the dahlia. I’m a horticultural ignoramus, sadly. If any of you can identify them, please do!
OldHippieDude here again. arhpdx has graciously allowed me to have the last word today. I guess all that’s left to say is to remember that as long as we stay strong we will wrest our country back from the fascists and the racists and the bigots. And our strength lies in our ability to support, care for, and love each other and all struggling people, and to act with unity and resolve against those who would seek to harm any of us or hold any of us back. I’ve never been more proud to be a part of this fight with all of you.
And if that’s not enough good news for you, go out and make some of your own.
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See y’all again real soon.