Good day, Gnusies!
Pour a cup of coffee (or, you know, a soda, an afternoon tea or a beer- depending on your time zone!) and settle in because there is a lot of good news today!
First, I just want to say that while we still have to fight like hell to get these jerks out of our government, protect our elections, stop gerrymandering, ensure a true census and much more (phew!), the tide has most definitely turned and we are about to see wave after wave of justice wash over the land.
Yes, Dumpy is going down and so are his co-conspirators and probably a lot of other people we haven’t even got on the impeachment radar yet. It’s all coming. And if you know people who cannot enjoy a piece of very good news without throwing down a mournful “but what if…?” or an agitated, “but then we get far worse...we get P...p...p...ence!” (eta: full disclosure: I’ve been there, too, so I get it...but snap out of it!), then may I direct you to the best, most succinct and simply glorious “snap out of it” I’ve read since oldhippiedude’s legendary intros from the summer of 2018:
arhpdx:
Re: all the hand-wringing here about the increasing possibility of Pants running in 2020, please take a deep breath. Did you forget that it was Manafort who brought him on board? And that he's up to his shifty eyeballs in the grifty intrigues of this mal-administration? We'd squash him like the spineless worm he actually is. Don't buy into the myth of Rethug invincibility — remember that Everything Trump Touches Dies, and all the Rethugs have his grimy little (excuse me, liddle') fingerprints all over them.
So have a joyful Monday, Gnusies!!
💙💙💙💙💙🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊
And a joyful Tuesday, too! 😄 Thanks, arhpdx!
I entitled today’s Good News Roundup with part of a quote by the late and sadly missed Rep. Elijah Cummings. Thanks to tljdk for pointing us toward this obituary written by former GOP chair, Michael Steele for the Hill, where I saw the quote:
The legacy Elijah Cummings has given to us is a lesson in bending down and helping others. From the home of a sharecropper he learned hard work, humility and perseverance. When he was at the University of Maryland School of Law, he learned the power of the rule of law and the importance of “justice for all.” On the streets of Baltimore, he learned what happens when a community is forgotten and justice is rare. But the most important lesson he would learn is what it meant to be a servant, and a leader.
The Gospels were a core part of Rep. Cummings’s story. It was how he did his job each day — to be of service to others and to “be not afraid,” especially in the face of those who would ridicule him and the work he did on behalf of his community. He would often remind us of the simplicity of his mission: “I want justice, oceans of it. I want fairness, rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”
✂️
Rep. Cummings made certain to put first the best interests of both the community he represented and the nation he loved. Today, so many of us stand taller because Elijah Cummings bent down; today we are stronger because Elijah Cummings uplifted a new generation of men and women who have been cut from the hem of his coattail.
Justice and fairness — oceans and rivers of it — will come with progressive, love-based governance and we are going to make sure that happens for our country. We’ve got this.
Let’s go, Gnusies!
🎶 Let’s start off with a little mood music 🎶
🌊 Impeachment Inquiry 🌊
It’s coming, Gnusies. A wave of justice, an ocean of it, is gathering and our California Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, knows very well how to ride that big beautiful blue wave.
House Will Vote To Formalize Impeachment Procedures In Ongoing Inquiry, Susan Davis, NPR News, October 28, 2019.
The resolution will outline the terms for public hearings, the disclosure of deposition transcripts, procedures to transfer evidence to the House Judiciary Committee and due process rights for Trump.
Senior Democratic aides said the resolution will be released on Wednesday, with a House vote on Thursday.
"We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump Administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives," Pelosi wrote.
More here: Pelosi Just Announced a Full House Vote on Impeachment Proceedings, Abigail Weinberg, Mother Jones, October 28, 2019.
And Dumpy and the Sycophants are freaking out because they know they’re going down:
The White House’s Final, Desperate Bid to Stanch the Flow of Impeachment Witnesses, Michael Stern, Slate, October 28, 2019.
On Oct. 8, 2019, the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, sent a highly controversial letter to the speaker of the House and several committee chairs, contending that the House’s impeachment inquiry is “constitutionally invalid and a violation of due process.” Accordingly, the letter informs the House that “President Trump and his Administration cannot participate” in the inquiry. It suggests, without quite saying so, that current and possibly former administration officials would be instructed not to cooperate with the House’s investigation, and it asserts that such officials cannot be punished for obeying instructions “not to appear or not to provide particular testimony before Congress based on privileges and immunities of the Executive Branch.”
In little more than two weeks, however, some “nine key figures have testified” before Congress, apparently unconcerned by the Oct. 8 letter. These include mostly career State Department and Pentagon officials, a former White House staffer (Fiona Hill) and a current political appointee (Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland). Several other administration officials either have agreed to testify or are considering testifying in upcoming days. And one former White House staffer (Charles Kupperman) has taken the extraordinary step of interpleading Congress and the administration in federal court to determine whether he should comply with a congressional subpoena or the president’s instructions not to appear in response to the subpoena.
These are presumably not the results Cipollone expected when he sent his letter, but in retrospect they seem fairly predictable. To begin with, the administration has little leverage over many of the witnesses in question. This is most obvious with respect to former employees. As a practical matter, it is not clear what the administration could do to these individuals even if there were a plausible basis for believing they had a legal duty not to cooperate with Congress. Moreover, it does not appear that the administration is even claiming that such a general duty exists.
🎻 Womp Wooommmpp 🎻
Pity the poor, poor Republican enablers and assk*ssers! Sounds like selling their souls to DemonDumpy is just horrible. Who could have predicted that? 😇😈
‘It feels like a horror movie’: Republicans feel anxious and adrift defending Trump, Robert Costa and Phillip Rucker, Washington Post, October 28, 2019.
Republican senators are lost and adrift as the impeachment inquiry enters its second month, navigating the grave threat to President Trump largely in the dark, frustrated by the absence of a credible case to defend his conduct and anxious about the historic reckoning that probably awaits them.
Recent days have delivered the most damaging testimony yet about Trump and his advisers commandeering Ukraine policy for the president’s personal political goals, which his allies on Capitol Hill sought to undermine by storming the deposition room and condemning the inquiry as secretive and corrupt.
Those theatrics belie the deepening unease many Republicans now say they feel — particularly those in the Senate who are dreading having to weigh their conscience against their political calculations in deciding whether to convict or acquit Trump should the Democratic-controlled House impeach the president.
In hushed conversations over the past week, GOP senators lamented that the fast-expanding probe is fraying their party, which remains completely in Trump’s grip. They voiced exasperation at the expectation that they defend the president against the troublesome picture that has been painted, with neither convincing arguments from the White House nor confidence that something worse won’t soon be discovered.
🚢 More and more Rs are abandoning the trumptanic 🚢
The GOP Exodus Continues: Rep. Greg Walden Announces Retirement, Cristina Cabrera, Talking Points Memo, October 28, 2019.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) will not run for reelection in 2020, the Republican lawmaker’s office confirmed to TPM on Monday.
In a video sent to TPM, Walden said he’s “confident” that he would’ve won another term and that he’s “optimistic” that Republicans will win back the House.
“But I also know that for me, the time has come to pursue new challenges and opportunities,” he continued. “So, I will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, nor election to any other office, but instead I will close the public service chapter of my life, thankful for the friends I’ve made and the successful work we’ve done together.”
The NRA and its former advertising Firm are at each others’ throats and I am here for it!
Do you want another reason to feel hopeful and even confident that this nightmare is going to end, the bad guys will be brought down and the good guys (Us! And our Democratic representatives) will win? Consider the NRA. We haven’t heard much about them lately — and don’t forget that they were the conduit for Russian money and influence that spread its tentacles all over the country, buying R representatives and senators everywhere. They were a huge organizing/financing operation for RW nutjobbery. Now they are self-destructing, so they are too concerned with their own imminent demise to help the Rs out of their self-induced disaster. That wasn’t supposed to happen to Rs.
It’s another piece of the dominoes game that they didn’t imagine they’d lose so spectacularly. But they have. The NRA is a shadow of its former self in power and influence as it is mired in tearing itself apart. Who could have imagined this 3 years ago? It seemed they were everywhere and invincible. Kind of like RW nutmedia. LIke the NRA, few of us can imagine Faux and Sincliar and all the poisonous RW hate radio being taken down a peg or two. But it happened to the NRA. I’m just saying, keep that in mind!
The NRA just called its own video network “distasteful and racist”, Jane Coaston, Vox, October 28, 2019.
A new complaint in a lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association against its former advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen, alleges that the firm engaged in “a stunning pattern of corruption, fraud, and retaliation” that nearly topped the organization’s CEO. ✂️
In response, Ackerman McQueen argues — as its executive vice president Bill Powers did in an email to me — that the complaint is only an effort to hide the fact that the NRA is “self-destructing.” Ackerman McQueen accuses the NRA of committing fraud itself and of covering up a vast number of misdeeds, including allegations of sexual harassment. ✂️
And the consequences for both sides could be dire. For Ackerman McQueen, allegations of fraud and double-billing could sink an 80-year legacy in advertising. But for the NRA, the lawsuit and the increasingly embarrassing allegations that court filings have revealed about the organization have already proven to be a dangerous distraction.
A finding against the NRA in court could put the group’s very existence at risk. If it were to lose the suit — and its tax-exempt status — it would be subject to not just the cost of losing the suit, but also the cost of annual income taxes (and back taxes as well.)
L👀k over here, Republican senators are reeeeall nervous
And you know how some nervous nellies have been declaring with absolute certainty that even if the House impeaches, the Senate will not convict and so Dumpy will claim exoneration and yada yikes! yada hopeless! yada….bippity boppity boo hoo! Looks like Rs are not quite sure about that… they are worried that the Chief Justice may not be sufficiently partisan (!), and perhaps might ...what? Allow a fair trial in the Senate? Let the evidence influence R senators to convict? They are worried about something, and it is not, in fact, a sure thing that Dumpy would never be convicted in the Senate.
Trump Supporters Want John Roberts to Recuse Himself From Impeachment Trial, Abigail Weinberg, Mother Jones, October 28,2019.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts wrote last year in a statement released by the court’s public information office. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
For [rw radio host]Cardillo, these comments are apparently disqualifying. “There is already a crisis of confidence among the American people that we have a fair system of justice,” he said, according to the Times. “When you have a chief justice of the Supreme Court overtly making comments that are derogatory to the president of the United States, take all speculation out of the process.”
The framing of the article suggests the Times is taking Cardillo’s argument seriously, though the story does make clear that constitutional law experts roundly reject Cardillo’s reasoning. Orin Kerr, a scholar at UC Berkeley, called the argument for recusal “weak” and “hard to square” with the Constitution.
Isn’t it interesting how often a completely neutral remark about fairness or justice or legality or statesmanship or whatever is interpreted by Dumpy and his supporters as “derogatory” toward him? They tell on themselves. Every time.
🎶 Time for a seasonal, strangely suitable, song! 🎶
🔍 More On The Ukraine Affair 🔎
There will be interesting testimony today and, by all accounts, the witness is going to deliver some preeeetty blockbuster remarks, including some which contradict the testimony of Gordon Sondland, the Trump appointee who “served” as Ambassador to the EU, and was involved in the Ukraine shakedown. As arhpdx said above, ETTD, and all the 1% toadies who thought they’d cash in on all that sweet Republican ricoing will be among the first to drop. So sad. 🎻
👞 More Blockbusting testimony coming today 👞
Army officer reported concerns over Trump's Ukraine call, will testify before House on Tuesday, Benjamin Siegel, ABC News, October 28, 2019.
White House Official Who Listened To Trump Call Repeatedly Passed Concerns To Superior, Nick Visser, HuffPost, October 28, 2019.
The top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council was so concerned about President Donald Trump’s demands that the country investigate former Vice President Joe Biden that he repeatedly reported his objections to a superior, he will tell lawmakers on Tuesday, according to a copy of his prepared remarks obtained by HuffPost.
Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a veteran of the Iraq War, plans to share his concerns when he speaks to lawmakers as part of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Vindman is notably the first administration official to testify who listened in on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which sparked a whistleblower complaint that set off the impeachment inquiry.
Vindman’s prepared remarks contradict the testimony of Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, who spoke to House lawmakers earlier this month. The Army officer said during a meeting Sondland “emphasized the importance that Ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma.” Vindman said he confronted Sondland at the time, saying such remarks were “inappropriate.”
🐍 Senate’s stupidest senator sucked into swamp 🐍
I’ve been waiting for news like this about Johnson to turn up. I don’t buy for a minute that he legitimately defeated Russ Feingold, a popular 3-term Wisconsin politician and senator — probably not in 2010 (even with that reactionary R wave) and especially not in 2016 when Feingold led Johnson in every poll for a year before the election — often by double digits. We all know that there was Russian interference in the 2016 election, and that WI, along with MI and PA were the most intensely targeted states, and it looks like investigations are starting to get closer not only to Dumpy’s impeachable activity in Ukraine and with Russians, but also getting closer to uncovering the equally sketchy activity of his co-conspirators and enablers. Good. They all need to go down.
Sen. Johnson, ally of Trump and Ukraine, surfaces in crucial episodes in the saga, Elise Viebeck and Dalton Bennett, Washington Post, October 28, 2019.
Sen. Ron Johnson met in July with a former Ukrainian diplomat who has circulated unproven claims that Ukrainian officials assisted Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, a previously unreported contact that underscores the GOP senator’s involvement in the unfolding narrative that triggered the impeachment inquiry of President Trump. ✂️
More significantly, testimony from two blockbuster witnesses in the impeachment probe places Johnson at episodes that will be critical in assessing whether Trump was withholding nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated military aid to Ukraine in exchange for political favors. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky faced pressure to announce investigations into the Bidens and the debunked conspiracy theory that a hacked DNC server was taken to Ukraine in 2016 to hide evidence that it was that country, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.
Johnson’s knowledge of key events could make him a person of interest to House impeachment investigators, as well as complicate his role as a juror in a trial by the Senate, if one occurs. There are no rules forcing senators with possible conflicts of interest to recuse themselves during impeachment proceedings, and Johnson, through a spokesman, declined to comment on what he would do.
For some helpful background on Johnson, here is an article of interest. Johnson was one of the eight Republican senators who celebrated Independence Day in Moscow in 2018, remember that? Hmm.
A top Republican senator shocked his colleagues when he suggested, after returning from a trip to Moscow with fellow GOP lawmakers, that U.S. sanctions targeting Russia were not working and the Kremlin’s election interference was really no big deal.
Now, the senators who joined him for the series of meetings with senior Russian officials are sharply disputing not only Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) conclusions—but also his account of what went on behind closed doors in Moscow
“I think the sanctions are hurting them badly both in terms of their pocketbooks and in terms of their status in the world,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who joined the congressional delegation last week, said in an interview. “I don’t want to over-state this, but these were very tense meetings.”
Johnson is in this all the way up to his nincompooping neck. It is all going to come out, too: the stolen election, the Russian attack on our country (and the democratic “western” world) and the Ukraine affair, and much more. Justice, oceans of it!
⚖ SPeaking of Justice ⚖
In case you are concerned about this, Jeremy Stahl breaks down the Friday ruling and shows how poor the DOJ argument is:
The DOJ’s Latest Effort to Run Out the Clock on Impeachment Should Fail, Jeremy Stahl, Slate, October 28, 2019.
On Friday, a federal district judge issued a devastating blow to the Department of Justice’s efforts to bury the remaining redacted elements of the Mueller report, ruling that the House impeachment inquiry is legitimate and ordering the DOJ to turn over to House Judiciary Committee investigators those Mueller materials by Wednesday.
D.C. District Court’s Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell dismantled the government’s argument in her blistering 75-page opinion. On Monday, though, the DOJ appealed that decision and asked for a stay of the Wednesday deadline. The DOJ insists that it has “strong arguments” on appeal and will be irreversibly harmed if Congress gets the materials it’s seeking. In reality, the department is transparently trying to wait out the clock as it runs further interference for President Donald Trump. In requesting a stay on Monday, the Department of Justice argued that there is little urgency in this matter and that the House of Representatives does not need the entirety of the Mueller report to fulfill its constitutional duty.
Democrats have reportedly been pursuing impeachment on an urgent timeline, with a presidential election looming and an inquiry focused on efforts by the president to allegedly use the powers of his office to cheat in that election. House investigators seek material directly relevant to what the president knew about Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and his continued motives for obstructing the investigation of that interference, one of the central looming questions in the ongoing Ukraine matter. Given the issues at stake—decades of precedent allowing Congress to complete a thorough investigation of the president, in addition to the ongoing threats to the next election—it is incumbent on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seek to resolve this case as quickly as possible.
Three key portions of Howell’s opinion unpacked the DOJ’s dissembling for the DC Circuit’s benefit, however.
And here’s yer Wonkette take on the same opinion: Badass Judge Tells Idiot Trump DOJ To FORK OVER The EVERYTHING, Evan Hurst, Wonkette, October 28, 2019.
Meanwhile, New York City’s Bar Association is calling on William Barr to recuse himself from the Ukraine matter:
NYC Bar Association: If AG Barr Doesn’t Recuse Himself From Ukraine Matter, He Should Resign or Be Removed
The New York City Bar Association has called on U.S. Attorney General William Barr to stand down and recuse himself from any further review by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of issues related to the Trump Administration’s massive and snowballing Ukraine scandal.
In a statement, the organization blasted Barr’s continued presence.
The DOJ “has a unique role in safeguarding the rule of law under the Constitution,” the statement’s summary begins. “Barr has undermined that role,” by failing to recuse himself from the Ukraine controversy.
The statement continued in blistering terms:
To help remedy that failure, the New York City Bar Association urges that Mr. Barr recuse himself from any ongoing or future review by DOJ of Ukraine-related issues in which Mr. Barr is allegedly involved. If he fails to do so, he should resign or, failing that, be subject to sanctions, including possible removal, by Congress.
📰 Nifty’s Call For Local Good News 📰
Hey Gnusies, back in the spring I encouraged everyone to please share a single piece of local good news in the comments each day. A few people have tried from time to time, and one Gnusie, RunawayRose has faithfully posted good news from Quad Cities nearly every day since!
⭐️ ⭐️ Thank you, RunawayRose! ⭐️ ⭐️
Thanks to RunawayRose, we all now know what good stuff is happening in Quad Cities — every day there is another good news story from there! Wouldn’t we all like to live in such a thriving community? Well, here’s the thing: every one of us DOES live in just such a community. And local good news would prove it to you! The truth is, the more you look for the good news, the more you become aware of just how much of it there is, right in your own neighborhood! And when you show others what’s going on in your neck of the woods, everyone else starts to realise they aren’t alone in this mess, and will begin to notice the good news in their neck of the woods, too. That’s how we will rekindle our national warmth, our trust in each other and our pride in American ideals. Because that warmth, pride and trust are still out there, even if they’ve been overshadowed by the horrible stuff emanating out of the White House and Senate. So please, look for local good news and post it in the comments!
Here’s mine (plus snark 😆):
Gov. Pritzker backs bill to let collegiate athletes make money, Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune, October 28, 2019.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker backed legislation Sunday that would allow college athletes in Illinois to make money from endorsements, but House Republicans convening this week in the fall veto session are likely to oppose it.
“Student athletes are the backbone of the college sports industry, and they deserve the same opportunity as everyone else to earn compensation based on the use of their name and their image and likeness,” Pritzker said on WGN AM-720.
Pritzker is backing legislation filed by state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, that would put the state in line with California, which has a similar law. ✂️
The bill would prohibit colleges and universities from taking away a student athlete’s eligibility if he or she earns compensation from an endorsement deal. It also would prevent student athletes from making money off a contract that conflicts with a team’s endorsement contract. Athletes would have to reveal their endorsement deals to the school under the measure.
Oh, and the IL House R leader Durkin, bless his liddle heart, sez: “I just have this problem with the commercialization of undergraduate and collegiate sports. I still believe in the concept, even though it seems to be waning, of the scholar athlete,” The “scholar athlete” indeed — pressured to perform for the glorification and profit of college associations everywhere, while coaches and athletic departments rake in millions off the backs of their cash-strapped “scholar athletes”. But starry-eyed idealist, Republican leader Durkin, doesn’t want collegiate sports commercialized?
Give me a freakin’ break. 😏 No one is buying that bull pucky, Jim, least of all our kickass Democratic governor.
“Fairness, rivers of it” will come with the blue wave, and Illinois, along with California and New York, is the leading edge of that wave. Please keep it up, Gov. Pritzker. 👏
🎶 Time for some fun — another thing we’ll get back when we dump Dumpy and the Rs! 🎶
🇺🇸 Good News For Fair Voting 🇺🇸
Court Orders North Carolina To Redraw Its District Map In Time For 2020, Cristina Cabrera Talking Points Memo, October 28, 2019. (follow link to read the ruling).
In a big victory for anti-gerrymandering activists, a panel of three judges ordered North Carolina’s state legislature on Monday to draw up new U.S. congressional maps in time for the 2020 elections.
The ruling was decided by the same panel that had struck down Republican-drawn state legislative maps for North Carolina’s Senate and General Assembly last month.
Though the judges didn’t establish a hard deadline, the panel warned that it would delay the 2020 primaries if new maps haven’t been drawn up by then.
Yes we can stop voter suppression!
🇺🇸 Good News — Public Pressure Works! 🇺🇸
Yeah, it’s unbelievable that any such plan was ever hatched, but people power stopped it!
Trump Administration Drops Plan To Crack Down On D.C. Protests, Lydia O’Connor, HuffPost, October 28, 2019.
President Donald Trump’s administration announced Monday that it’s backing down from an attempt to drastically limit protests near the White House and National Mall, bowing to pressure from members of the public who deemed the plan unconstitutional.
The announcement came from the National Park Service, which oversees the White House grounds and the National Mall, home to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and several other iconic spots that have served as a backdrop to some of the nation’s most historic demonstrations.
The agency is backing down after receiving more than 140,000 comments about the protest crackdown. That’s a big win for the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped lead the drive for public comments.
“The National Mall is the place where we, as a nation, go to speak directly to our government,” ACLU senior legislative counsel Kate Ruane said in a statement. “President Trump might not like having protesters on his doorstep, but the First Amendment guarantees us the right to be there.”
☮ Good News For Justice ☮
‘First-of-its-kind’ community restorative justice hub opens in California, Lucy Douglas, Positive News, October 28, 2019.
The Restore Oakland centre, which opened in July, is a partnership venture between the Ella Baker Centre for Human Rights, a non-profit organisation, and Restaurant Opportunities Centres United, a group working to improve wages and conditions in the restaurant industry. It will also serve as a base for local non-profit groups that work in restorative justice.
“I increasingly see [Oakland] dividing along economic and racial lines. Strong communities need strong, community-centred organisations,” said Zachary Norris, Restore Oakland co-founder and executive director of the Ella Baker Centre. “We hope that our centre serves as a model for other cities as a place where folks impacted by prisons and punishment can unite, access restorative justice services to resolve conflict, and create opportunities rooted in healing.”
♀ Good News For Equality ♀
Polls indicate that the Virginia legislature is likely to be controlled by Democrats after November’s elections. That’s huge good news for women’s equality, among so many other things a D leg would bring to VA. We only need one more state to ratify the ERA, and some Democrats in VA pledged to do so if they win control of the legislature.
Go Virginia! Democrats Poised to Take Over Virginia Legislature, Poll Shows, Brad Kutner, Courthouse News, October 28, 2019.
With just over a week left until Virginia voters cast their ballots, a new poll reflects a highly energized, anti-Trump electorate ready to flip both of the state’s legislative chambers blue for the first time in nearly two decades. ✂️
“We see significant advantages for Democrats, [a] double-digit advantage on generic ballots and for control of the General Assembly,” Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy, said in an interview.
A new Wason Center poll released Monday morning shows Democrats with a 14-point “enthusiasm advantage” over Republicans, 63% to 49%, and the disdain for President Donald Trump is chief among the reasons voters feel so strongly.
And in New YOrk
Hard to believe there hasn’t been a single statue of a famous woman in Central Park until now, but that omission will soon be rectified.
New York’s Central Park to erect first sculpture honoring women, AP via the Guardian, October 21, 2019.
“This statue conveys the power of women working together to bring about revolutionary change in our society,” said Pam Elam, president of the monumental women not-for-profit of volunteer advocates, historians and community leaders, which has gained key support from the Manhattan borough president, Gale Brewer.
✂️
The bronze work by artist Meredith Bergmann will join statues of men including Christopher Columbus, Alexander Hamilton, William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott. The Public Design Commission, which reviews artworks on city-owned property, granted approval Monday for Bergmann’s design chosen from 91 competing submissions.
“My hope is that all people, but especially young people, will be inspired by this image of women of different races, different religious backgrounds and different economic status working together to change the world,” Bergmann said after the vote.
🔥 Meanwhile, From the Schadenfreude File, This Assh*le🔥
Imagine a president so incompetent, so ignorant, so indiscreet, imprudent and imbecilic that major networks publish news headlines describing the behavior of the leader of the USA as cringeworthy. Before Dumpy, such a thing was unimaginable. But here we are and the orange buffoon’s idiocy is broadcast far and wide, the ultimate humiliation for the egomaniacal former tv personality.
“Sir”ves him damn right.
Officials cringe as Trump spills sensitive details of al-Baghdadi raid, Kourtney Kube and Carol E. Lee, NBC News, October 28, 2019. (No, it’s not the Onion, though lord knows it oughta be!)
A "beautiful" and "talented" dog got injured. A robot had been on standby to aid in the hunt for al-Baghdadi if needed. U.S. Special Operations Forces arrived in eight helicopters and were on the ground for about two hours. They entered al-Baghdadi's compound within seconds by blowing holes in the side of the wall. They chased al-Baghdadi into a web of underground tunnels — many of them dead ends — that they already knew existed. Before the U.S. forces left for the 70-minute, "very low and very, very fast" helicopter ride back along the same route from which they arrived, they captured some of al-Baghdadi's henchmen and seized "highly sensitive material and information" outlining the origin of ISIS and plans for future plots.
A few of those colorful details were wrong. Many of the rest were either highly classified or tactically sensitive, and their disclosure by the president made intelligence and military officials cringe, according to current and former U.S. officials. ✂️
"We agonized over what we would put in his briefings," one former senior White House official said, "because who knows if and when he's going to say something about it."
"He has no filter," the official added. "But also if he knows something, and he thinks it's going to be good to say or make him appear smarter or stronger, he'll just blurt it out."
Of course, it isn’t just people who are forced to work with the mango mussolini who voice their disdain. Regular Americans are speaking up, loud and clear:
Enjoy These Deeply Satisfying Clips of Trump Getting Booed at the World Series, Inae Oh, Mother Jones, October 28, 2019.
And today in Chicago: President Trump Came to Chicago With Insults. For Chicagoans, the Feeling Was Mutual.Julie Bosman, New York Times, October 28, 2019.
He called the values of Chicago’s police superintendent, Eddie Johnson, who had pointedly skipped the president’s address, a “disgrace.” He criticized the city’s open stance toward immigrants. He said Chicago was notorious around the globe for its violence. “It’s embarrassing to us as a nation,” Mr. Trump said. “All over the world, they’re talking about Chicago.”
In Chicago, where Mr. Trump won less than 13 percent of the vote in 2016, residents responded with equal contempt, gathering by the thousands outside his curvy skyscraper on the river downtown, where he later attended a private fund-raiser.
Protesters hoisted rainbow-colored letters spelling “Resist” with the famous corncob-shaped Marina City towers standing in the background. Some in attendance wore red, the color representing Chicago’s public schoolteachers, who have been on strike for eight days in a dispute with the city administration. One man held a small sign to his chest that simply read “Go away.”
I think we can expect protests to grow, all over the country. Booing at the World Series, network news headlines stating the bald truth, people refusing to cower before the bully in chief — the public sentiment and resolve is building. We are going to get this bumbling puppet out of our White House and his enablers out of our government.
🎶 Here’s a little music to reflect the national mood 🎶
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️ You’ve Got Your Troubles, I’ve Got Mine: European Union Grants New Brexit Deadline of Jan. 31, Cain Burdeau, Courthouse News, October 28, 2019.
⚡️ Do tell!: Giuliani in position of giving Trump 'bad advice,' says former Homeland Security adviser, Chris Vlasso, John Santucci and Kathryn McQuade, ABC News, October 29, 2019.
⚡️ Lawyerly thought experiment: United States of America v. Rudolph W. Giuliani, Barbara McQuade and Joyce Vance, Just Security, October 24, 2019.
⚡️ Lies, lies, lies: How Trump's fiction gets more dramatic over time, Daniel Dale, CNN, October 27, 2019.
⚡️ Trump Impeachment Inquiry: A Guide To Key People, Facts And Documents, Dana Farrington, NPR, October 28, 2019.
⚡️ THE GOP IS GETTING DESPERATE . . ., Teri Kanefied, Blog, October 24, 2019.
⚡️ DEAR CONGRESSMAN MCCARTHY. . ., Teri Kanefield, Blog, October 28, 2019.
⚡️ A terrific in-depth look at oil industry and the fraud case: Exxon and Oil Sands Go on Trial in New York Climate Fraud Case, Nicholas Kusnetz, Inside Climate News dot org., October 17, 2019.
⚡️ Re Weinstein matter: An untouchable Rachel Maddow busts her bosses at NBC News, Eric Wemple, Washington Post, October 28, 2019.
⚡️ Haha! Wonkette, I ❤️ U: Senate's Dumbest Republican Up To Ass In Trump-Ukraine Scandal, Evan Hurst, Wonkette, October 28, 2019.
⚡️ An excellent explainer of the conservative mindset: Republicans' fantasy Constitution: Trump and the "phony emoluments clause", Paul Rosenberg, Salon, October 28, 2019.
⚡️Great piece on an ordinary hero: The Ransomware Superhero of Normal, Illinois, Renée Dudley, ProPublica, October 28, 2019.
🎃 RoundUp WindDown 🎃
That’s it from me for today. I want to remind you, as always, to take care of yourself and your loved ones. This is a long road, and we have come so far. There’s still far to go, but now we can see the oceans of justice in the distance and we are walking along a path that follows the rivers of fairness. We are going to be OK, Newsies. We are going to have a republic to pass on to our children and grandchildren.
I ran out of time to gather good news about the climate crisis and that’s ironic because all last week it was what I planned to focus on today! Greta Thunberg led a climate strike march of young people in Vancouver last Friday, by the way, and those young peoples’ marches are just growing and growing. Those kids are going to put pressure on governments and change environmental policy. That’s good news! I encourage everyone to put environmental news in the comments to make up for my lapse today. Thanks!
Please read the comments for loads of great wit and wisdom, more good news and tips on how you can help save the country and the world. And please add your own local good news and any other good news that I have missed. There is so much good news out there!
Another Tuesday roundup is creaking to a close — or maybe that’s a skeleton or a ghost or is it the writer that’s creaking? Yes, it is, and it’s time for me to get some shuteye! I will leave you with my all-time favorite classical piece to play for Hallowe’en.
Happy Tuesday, Gnusies and Happy Hall 🎃we’en!