Happy Tuesday, Gnusies! Welcome to the Good News Roundup!
It’s been quite a year so far, hasn’t it? Many of us thought January was never going to end, but it did. We got through a sham senate trial and tonight we will endure a likely sh*tshow of a SOTU. And do you know what? It is all wearing on the Republican party, grinding them down and destroying them bit by crumbling bit. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving confederacy of traitors.
The eventual outcome for the Republican party has been set in motion through their own perfidy and they cannot stop it now. It will be our job to make sure that the collateral damage — to ourselves and others — is as limited as humanly possible, by working together hard for justice, for human rights, for voting rights and for a renewed democracy. It won’t be easy — these are definitely times that try our souls, to paraphrase Tom Paine — and there will be more shocking moments before we finally come out the other side of this long, dark night of conservative extremism, but we will get there.
We are sometimes falsely accused of being cock-eyed optimists of the most foolish kind, so I’m going to depart from the guidance of Pres. Obama and VP Biden who say don’t become cynical. Go ahead, BE CYNICAL! A healthy measure of cynicism won’t stop us from working toward our ideals; cynicism will protect us from the rw spin machine’s unending gaslighting, gish galloping and psychological manipulation. Be the most cynical cynic this cynical world has ever seen. Side eye every claim, query every person purporting to know the answers, reserve judgement and stay skeptical of MSM news reports, FB stories and tweets.
Save your love and trust for those who have earned your love and trust. For the rest, it’s OK to be cynical. If you like a witty or clever Never Trumper, fine! Just remember that they were all enthusiastic participants in the leadup to this awful epoch in American history. It is the criminality and brazenness they reject, not the racism, sexism, inequality, voodoo economics, militarism and all the rest of reactionary conservatism. It’s fine to enjoy their input, but let them prove they are worthy of your trust.
Question everything, especially news you read or hear or see on TV. There will be truth in MSM (because the truth will always out, so the facts will usually be covered), but these corporate media conglomerates’ interests are aligned with Republicans, so the “fake” will be in the spin: burying ledes, beating the drum of crudely hyped flaws (butterymails), refusing to cover important stories that threaten them or their political benefactors. Be aware, take in the news and don’t fall for the spin.
We are going to win this war that Republicans have waged on our country. Not today or next week and not as soon as we want, but perhaps sooner than we think. It may happen slowly or it may happen like a dam bursting, but it will happen. Tyranny always falls and it will fall here, too. Americans have had the longest run of democratic self-government of any nation in history.* That history is one reason why we are NOT rioting in the streets. We have confidence in ourselves and our Constitution and although both are being sorely tried right now, they will hold. America invented modern democratic republicanism — our gift to ourselves and to the world. We managed to do that under 18th century tyranny and in a world that had never seen such a thing before. We invented government of the people, for the people and by the people, with no earlier example to guide us or to give us hope that we could succeed. We invented it! out of dreams and idealism.
That dream and that idealism persists and for all the imperfect, messy, unequal and sometimes brutal reality of this American experiment, it is still the best form of government humans have ever created. Like any human creation, our democracy was vulnerable to attack and abuse and like any human endeavor, it can be made better. Let’s get back to work!
🎶 Opening Music 🎶
🍑 Impeachment is Forever 🍑
Regarding the SOTU tonight, it’s important to remember a few things.
One: Impeachment is forever. Whatever Dumpy claims and whatever he does tonight or at any time, he is impeached. Forever.
Two: Resign yourself right now to the fact that Dumpy will claim exoneration and also possibly gloat over Democrats’ inability to convict him (due to being outnumbered in the Senate by sycophants, not due to having a poor case against him). You know he’s going to do it — and Republicans will still applaud him — so work through the anger/sadness now. That way you will be prepared and not brought low by the inevitable ugliness.
Three: Realize that by being himself — unable to resist the urge to lie, gloat and rant — Dumpy will make things worse — for himself and even moreso for the R senators who hope to slink away quietly and leave this sham trial in the “all-to-quickly-forgotten” file where most news cycles wind up these days thanks to the right wing’s 24/7 gish gallop of awfulness. And this time it will not work! Because the drip drip drip of damning evidence will continue, keeping Dumpy’s guilt and Republican complicity in the public consciousness constantly.
Moscow Mitch may have hoped to constrain the resident’s behavior tonight by withholding acquittal until Wednesday, in the vain hope that the delay would force Dumpy to avoid claiming exoneration prematurely so that R senators would be protected from exposure in the national spotlight. If that’s the strategy, McCONnel is in for a big disappointment. Dumpy will be Dumpy — his behavior is as predictable as the sunrise. The only question is how bad it will be. Rs are sweating today. That’s bad news for the Republican party and good news for truth and justice!
🎩 Hat tip to hpg who linked this in yesterday’s comments:
This is why Bolton is on Dumpy’s sh*t list
John Bolton’s Book Is Making Fools Of Trump’s Republican Enablers, John Cassidy, The New Yorker, January 29, 2020.
Speaking to reporters after Donald Trump’s lawyers completed their opening arguments in his impeachment trial on Tuesday, Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, could barely conceal a smile. “I hope we have just four Republicans. All we need is four,” he said. At another press conference, Adam Schiff, the leader of the House managers, said it was clear that the President’s lawyers were “still reeling from the revelations of John Bolton’s book.” John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, said on Monday that he believed Bolton’s claim, first reported in the Times, that Trump told his former national-security adviser that he wouldn’t release military aid to Ukraine unless the Ukrainian government pursued an investigation of the Bidens. Schiff called this “extraordinary.”
That term also describes the pickle in which Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and the rest of Trump’s Republican enablers now find themselves. “Mortifying” is another word that could be used. Rarely, if ever, has a political blood oath—in this case, a pledge to acquit a crooked President regardless of the evidence against him, and without even bothering to call any witnesses—rebounded so horribly, publicly, and spectacularly. Like Trump, when the whistle-blower’s complaint originally emerged, McConnell and his colleagues have been caught in the act. And it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bunch.
Schiff’s description was off in one respect. Trump’s lawyers aren’t the only ones who are reeling from the news about Bolton’s book; the entire G.O.P. ecosystem is frazzled. On his show on Monday night, the Fox Business channel’s Lou Dobbs, whose on-air encomiums to Trump have earned him special treatment from the White House, was reduced to putting up a picture of Bolton, a veteran Republican hawk who has served in the Administrations of four G.O.P. Presidents, with the label “A TOOL FOR THE LEFT.” Next, Dobbs will be telling us that John Kelly is a member of the Fourth International and Mitt Romney, who has called on Bolton to testify, is a closet Bernie Sanders supporter.
🎶 Time for a musical intermission! 🎶
Democrats Making us proud
Even with the sham Impeachment trial going on, Democrats can handle more than one thing at a time. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made time to recognise Black History Month:
He’s a fence sitter, but he’s our fence sitter!
Joe Manchin Calls For Senate To Censure Trump, Paul Blumenthal and Elise Foley, Huffington Post, February 3, 2020.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) called on the Senate to vote to censure President Donald Trump for his effort to coerce Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden since it will not vote to remove the president from office.
“I must be realistic: I see no path to the 67 votes required to impeach President Trump and haven’t since this trial started,” Manchin said Monday on the Senate floor. “However, I do believe a bipartisan majority of this body would vote to censure President Trump for his actions.” ✄
Manchin said removing the president would “further divide our deeply divided nation” and “further poison our already poisonous political atmosphere.” At the same time, he called out “the false claim that the president can do no wrong, that he is above the law, and if it’s good for the reelection of the president, then it’s good for our country” ― a reference to an argument made by Trump’s defense team.
“That is simply preposterous,” Manchin said. “No one, not even the president, is above the law,” he added later.
History will revere Adam Schiff
And finally, here is a speech which will go down in history. The speech of a patriot, a warrior for justice. This is our Democratic leadership. Be proud. Don’t let anyone convince you that it’s only words and the Democrats were unable to oust Trump. We always knew that the Rs would acquit. But this stuff matters. Appeals to the people work. It may not be apparent immediately, but these are the moments in a country when the hearts and minds of the people are stirred.
“Is there one among you who will say ‘Enough’?”
🌃 Local Good News 🌃
Speaking of Democrats making us proud...I’ve got to tell you, I am pretty pleased these days with my local and state government. Especially our new Governor, J B Pritzker. Talk about delivering on promises! In year one of his term, he basically ticked off everything on his campaign promise list and much more. Elections matter so much, my dear Gnusies, and local/state elections may matter the most. Vote in every election! Vote for school boards, vote for city councils, vote for freakin’ dog catcher! GOTV!!
Illinois’ democratic governor:
In his state of the state address last week, Gov. J B Pritzker, touted his many successes and initiatives which will improve the lives of Illinoisans in measurable ways, such as:
— Legalization of marijuana and pardons for over 11,000 people convicted of minor marijuana offences (plus their records expunged AND a pathway to seek relief of harm due to previous conviction once the legalization of recreational cannabis became official on 1/1/20).
— Approval of a spending budget which will focus much more on the needs of working class and low income Illinoisans, passage of a bill guaranteeing that our state minimum wage will be $15/hr by 2025 (see next section below for how Chicago is leading the way on minimum wage).
— Signing into law Illinois’ Reproductive Health Act, the most progressive reproductive health care legislation in the country:
Entitled the Reproductive Health Act, the law repeals the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975. It eliminates felony penalties for doctors that perform abortions, removes waiting periods and removes the requirement that a married woman get consent from her husband.
The bill establishes the “fundamental right” of a woman to have an abortion and states that a “fertilized egg, embryo or fetus does not have independent rights.” The law also requires that the cost of an abortion be treated like any other medical procedure for insurance purposes.
All that and a great deal more in the first year, Gov. Pritzker wasted no time in fulfilling his campaign promises for Illinoisans. For year two, he has declared that his focus will be on corruption:
Pritzker: State needs to “root out purveyors of greed and corruption”. Jamie Munks, Dan Petrella and Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune, January 29, 2020.
Pritzker’s attack on corruption ran counter to a generally upbeat speech that focused on his first-year successes that included a balanced state budget and a massive infrastructure program.
But his focus on corruption set the tone for his second legislative session. Pritzker is seeking voter approval in November of a graduated-rate income tax to replace the state’s current flat-rate tax. Republicans have used the federal investigations as a weapon against the tax change and giving more taxpayer money to Springfield.
Pritzker said he looked forward to a bipartisan commission on ethics to issue its recommendations.
But he made clear that ethical reforms were needed in the General Assembly.
“It’s time to end the practice of legislators serving as paid lobbyists. In fact, it’s time to end the for-profit influence peddling among all elected officials at every level of government. Disclosure of conflicts of interest and punishment for breaching them must be included in any package for us to truly clean up government,” Pritzker said.
And Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, has not been idle, either:
Minimum wage: Chicago will lead the way in bringing minimum wage up to the state mandated $15/hr before the state’s target date of 2025. We brought in the New Year with a minimum wage of $13/hr which will be raised to $14/hr by July 2020 and to $15/hr by July 2021; our so-called “sub-minimum wage (think restaurant servers and other tipped workers) will be raised from $6.40/hr to $8.40/hr by 2021 and will be raised annually as the standard minimum wage increases with the rate of inflation. For comparison, our state minimum wage for tipped workers is currently 4.65/hr. I have no doubt JB and Juliana are working on raising that, too.
Housing and Business Equity: Mayor Lightfoot joins Fifth Third Bank to announce new partnership for investment in Opportunity Zones
☑️ Election/Primary News ☑️
Last night’s Iowa caucuses (I’m hoping to know the outcome before I put this GNR in the queue). There are lots of valid criticisms of the outsized power that a sparsely populated and fairly homogenous state like Iowa wields as first in the country to hold their primary (not to mention the unwieldy and difficult caucuses), and yet today I choose to accept this take on it:
Update: lol well that was fun! Except for the predictable “dems in disarray” braying on the various media platforms, this Iowa caucus chaos is not entirely shocking. It’s a loose, unpredictable format already and the mistake was creating an expectation of results quickly at all. Not sure what was up with that app, but maybe we don’t need results in minutes requiring glitch-prone, operator-error prone smartphone apps? Or maybe it is time to drop caucuses altogether and go to hand-marked paper ballots, counted by human beings or offline counting machines with hard copy tallies that are all saved in case a recount is needed? Just saying…
Anyway, Iowa is a small state and part of the influence is because everyone has been champing at the bit to get this election show on the road at last. Most likely their muddled results will be yesterday’s news by this time next week as everyone gears up for the next states to vote.
🎶 How About Some More Music? 🎶
Some dirty tactics thwarted
Next, some very good news from YouTube. So-called “deep fake” videos are likely to be a major disinformation tactic this year, so kudos to YouTube for getting out in front of it:
YouTube says it will ban 'deepfakes' and 'birther' videos ahead of 2020 election, Associated Press, February 3, 2020.
YouTube clarified its rules ahead of the Iowa caucuses Monday. The company is mostly reiterating content guidelines that it has been putting in place since the last presidential election in 2016.
Its ban on technically manipulated videos of political figures was made apparent last year when YouTube became the first major platform to remove a doctored video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But the announcement Monday further clarifies that it will take down any election-related videos that are technically altered to mislead people in a way that goes beyond simply taking clips of speech out of context. The company also said it would remove doctored videos that could cause "serious risk of egregious harm" — such as to make it appear that a government official is dead.
Senate Gain CHances gradually increasing
Doug Collins’s entry into the Georgia Senate race to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson seems to have shaken things up, and diminished Rs stranglehold on the senate seat:
Georgia Senate Special Election Moves From Likely to Lean Republican, Jessica Taylor, Cook Political Report, January 31, 2020.
"The shortsightedness in this decision is stunning. Doug Collins' selfishness will hurt David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler, and President Trump. Not to mention the people of Georgia who stand to bear the burden of it for years to come. All he has done is put two senate seats, multiple house seats, and Georgia's 16 electoral votes in play," National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Kevin McLaughlin said in a statement.
An expensive and brutal primary that now will span nine months is exactly what national Republicans wanted to avoid. But Collins getting in has long seemed all-but-certain given the increased visibility he gained during the House impeachment hearings as the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. The four-term congressman emerged as one of the most ferocious defenders of President Trump during contentious witness testimony. That's one of the reasons Trump and his allies had pushed for Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to appoint Collins, a pastor, military chaplain and lawyer to the seat after the well-liked Isakson announced he'd step down at the end of 2019 due to health concerns.
election wonkery
Here’s an interesting bit of data. It’s helpful to remember (as Mrmuni12 reminds us in almost every GNR Annex) that it is likely we have a skewed view of Democratic support — an undercount — and the window through which we look for supporters may be a porthole, so we may be missing a great deal of support out there in the diverse and vast blue wave around us!
The in-depth analysis is quite useful and will be helpful in countering negative messaging from gloom/doomers. It mentions the fears of Democrats (and important to know what we have to help people overcome) and also the high enthusiasm and diversity of our party. Here’s the Pew Research Center article → As Voting Begins, Democrats Are Upbeat About the 2020 Field, Divided in Their Preferences, Pew Research Center, January 30, 2020.
⚖ Justice ⚖
The Mueller Report is Still Resonating
It is true that no one person is going to “save us” from our current predicament, but it is equally true that Robert S.Mueller did perform an investigation that continues to send shockwaves across the political landscape and will probably figure quite prominently in the eventual story of the downfall of the Republican authoritarian regime. BuzzFeed News and CNN sued the federal government under FOIA for the right to see the work of the Mueller investigators that has been kept hidden from the American public, and eventually, it will all come out:
Mueller Memos Part 5: Hundreds of Pages of FBI Witness Interviews Declassified, Jason Leopold, BuzzFeed News, February 3, 2020.
The Mueller report was the most hotly anticipated prosecutorial document in a generation, laying out the evidence of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s attempts to obstruct the investigation. But at 448 pages, it reflected only a tiny fraction of the primary-source documents that Mueller’s team amassed over the course of its investigation.
Last May, BuzzFeed News, and later CNN, filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuits against the FBI and Justice Department to gain access to the thousands of pages of interview summaries of all the witnesses who spoke to FBI agents and investigators.
BuzzFeed News is now pursuing five separate lawsuits to pry loose all the subpoenas and search warrants that Mueller’s team executed, as well as all the emails, memos, letters, talking points, legal opinions, and financial records it generated. In short, we are seeking all communications of any kind that passed through the special counsel’s office. We also requested all the documents that would reveal the discussions among Attorney General William Barr, former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, and other high-ranking officials about whether to charge Trump with obstruction.
Remember Roger Stone?
It looks like Judge Amy Berman Jackson has not forgotten about Roger Stone’s insolence toward the court and the disrespect for the law last year. That’s good news for justice! Stone is due to be sentenced on February 20 for his conviction on 7 felony counts last year. Today, the judge issued a minute order requiring the attorneys for Stone and the DOJ to include in their sentencing memoranda any arguments they want to make about Stone’s behavior flouting the gag order Judge Berman Jackson issued at the time of his trial:
North Carolina Racial Justice Case will finally be heard
We ended race discrimination at the lunch counter; now let’s ban it in the jury box, Robert S. Chang, News&Observer, February 2, 2020.
Sixty years ago this February, four black men sat down at a Greensboro lunch counter and asserted their right to be served. Today, we take it for granted in America that no person should be denied a seat in a restaurant — or a seat on a bus — because of their race.
Yet, black citizens are still fighting for equal rights to occupy a far more important seat, one which allows them to control the levers of power in North Carolina’s justice system: a seat in the jury box. ✄
The first step toward solving any problem is to acknowledge its existence. On February 3, the North Carolina Supreme Court has a chance to finally do that. It will hear arguments in two cases of alleged jury discrimination. The court can and should find discrimination in these cases.
The North Carolina Supreme Court also can, and should, go further, just as other state courts have begun to do. For years, my home state of Washington had never enforced its law against jury discrimination. But beginning in 2013, Washington began enforcing stronger civil rights protections. Our high court convened task forces to propose solutions to racial bias in jury selection and criminal prosecutions. In 2019, we were joined by the Connecticut Supreme Court, which formed a similar commission. And just this week, the California Supreme Court announced it will form its own work group to study the need for stronger protections against racial discrimination in jury selection.
And maybe there was some poetic justice on superbowl sunday?
I like San Francisco and California, but the NFL? Not so much, anymore. After Superbowl Sunday, maybe the San Francisco 49ers regret not signing Kap. Maybe not. But it looks like Colin Kaepernick spent his day in a way he won’t regret, and once again we are all better for his presence in our society:
COLIN KAEPERNICK...Serves Up Meals, Clothes For The Needy, TMZ, February 3, 2020.
Colin Kaepernick didn't spend his Super Bowl Sunday watching his old team lose the big game, instead, he gave back to the less fortunate.
Kaepernick went to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem on Sunday, spending over an hour with employees and touring the building. From there, he went over to the SCO Family Shelter in Jamaica, Queens where he teamed up with Eric Reid and 100 Suits for 100 Men. ✄
After that, Colin helped serve meals at the Shelter with some help from the LES Girls Club and Know Your Rights volunteers.
🎶 Now I’m Back in a Chicago Mood 🎶
🌍 World News 🌎
Journalists in the UK, faced with a situation similar to what happened to the NPR reporter on Pompeo’s plane last week, decided to take a stand. Bravo. More of this, please:
Political journalists boycott No 10 briefing after reporter ban, Rowena Mason and Andrew Sparrow, the Guardian, February 3, 2020.
Political journalists have boycotted a briefing at No 10 Downing Street after one of Boris Johnson’s aides banned selected reporters from attending.
The walkout took place after a confrontation inside No 10 in which Lee Cain, Johnson’s most senior communications adviser, tried to exclude reporters from the Mirror, i, HuffPost, PoliticsHome, Independent and others.
Reporters on the invited list were asked to stand on one side of a rug in the foyer of No 10, while those not allowed in were asked by security to stand on the other side.
After Cain told the banned journalists to leave, the rest of the journalists decided to walk out collectively rather than allow Downing Street to choose who scrutinises and reports on the government.
And the connections are leaking out
At least two reporters I follow on twitter have said in the past that trump/Russia and Brexit are the same crime. Recent leaks suggest this may be proven true, eventually. The good news is that the leaks are happening, both in the UK and here in the USA. It will all come out in the end and they will all be brought down.
Leak: Man Who Bankrolled Brexit Boasted of WikiLeaks Backchannel, Nico Hines, the Daily Beast, February 3, 2020.
The man who bankrolled the campaign for Britain to quit the European Union boasted about a backchannel to WikiLeaks after Brexit leader Nigel Farage’s secret meeting with Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, according to private Twitter messages that have been leaked online.
The messages hacked from Farage’s biggest financial backer, Arron Banks, also raise legal questions over the involvement of Cambridge Analytica in the Brexit referendum, undeclared lobbying efforts in the U.S. on behalf of a foreign power, and a breach of data-protection law by pro-Brexit campaigners.
🌱 Environmental News and Science 🌱
(🎩 Hat tip to Mokurai for pointing to the first two stories here)
Talk about a double win! Fresh water from an abundant source (desalinated Indian Ocean water) that is processed in a solar-powered plant. Three cheers for Kenya and GivePower, the nonprofit organization that launched the project:
After Five Years of Drought, Kenyan Region Finally Gets Clean Water Thanks to Solar-Powered Saltwater Plant, McKinley Corbley, Good News Network, December 10, 2019.
For the last five years, this Kenyan region has been suffering from debilitating drought—but they have finally been given the gift of clean water thanks to a new solar-powered desalination plant.
Prior to the plant’s launch in the town of Kiunga, villagers had completely run out of clean drinking water and had instead resorted to using dirty well-water and saltwater from the Indian Ocean.
Now, the solar water farm produces enough clean drinking water for more than 35,000 people every day. Not only that, the water has been shown to be even cleaner than typical desalination plants.
British Carbon Tax Leads to Whopping 93% Drop in Coal-Fired Electricity
This is a subject that others have touched on and I’m including a newer article on the subject. Hooray for new ways to harvest renewable energy!
Anti-Solar Cells: A Photovoltaic Cell That Works at Night, Andy Fell, Science and Technology via UCDavis, January 29, 2020.
“A regular solar cell generates power by absorbing sunlight, which causes a voltage to appear across the device and for current to flow. In these new devices, light is instead emitted and the current and voltage go in the opposite direction, but you still generate power,” Munday said. “You have to use different materials, but the physics is the same.”
The device would work during the day as well, if you took steps to either block direct sunlight or pointed it away from the sun. Because this new type of solar cell could potentially operate around the clock, it is an intriguing option to balance the power grid over the day-night cycle.
Breakthrough in Autism Research
There has been a significant discovery in autism research. Scientists believe that autism spectrum disorders may be caused by problems with myelin production. The team that discovered the connection — reported this week in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience — mention that myelin production doesn’t “start in earnest until the first year or two of life” which is when most autism becomes apparent. The sudden change in behavior in a seemingly “normal” child has been one of the most vexing puzzles for doctors and the cause of great anguish for parents, leading some to the incorrect conclusion that vaccines given around that time cause the ASD.
Researchers Link Autism To A System That Insulates Brain Wiring, Jon Hamilton, NPR News, February 3, 2020.
The team found that in both mouse and human brains affected by autism, there's an abnormality in cells that produce a substance called myelin.
That's a problem because myelin provides the "insulation" for brain circuits, allowing them to quickly and reliably carry electrical signals from one area to another. And having either too little or too much of this myelin coating can result in a wide range of neurological problems.✄
The finding could help explain why autism spectrum disorders include such a wide range of social and behavioral features, says Brady Maher, a lead investigator at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and an associate professor in the psychiatry department at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
"Myelination could be a problem that ties all of these autism spectrum disorders together," Maher says. And if that's true, he says, it might be possible to prevent or even reverse the symptoms using drugs that affect myelination.
😄 Enjoy A Few Laughs 😄
The best and worst of Super Bowl ads, Mae Anderson AP via News&Observer, February 3, 2020.
Boston accents got poked. “Groundhog Day” got – surprise – resurrected, complete with Bill Murray. Google pulled out tears, and Cheetos and Doritos danced.
All to the tune of $5.6 million for 30 seconds — to reach 100 million people with your product.
During advertising’s biggest night, Super Bowl Sunday, marketers battled it out to bolster their brands. Some got it exactly right. Some didn’t. Here’s your Monday morning quarterbacking rundown.
Since I’m the writer today, I get to pick my favorite to post! A longer and even funnier version than showed during the Superbowl — Yay! (thanks to AKALib for posting about this in Sunday’s comments!)
⚡️ Lightning Roundup ⚡️
⚡️If you can only read one lightning link today, make it this one: How this year’s Super Bowl reminded me of what America needs to do, Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post Opinion, February 3, 2020.
⚡️ Yer Wonkette: J.Lo, Shakira Deliver Super Bowl Halftime Show Worthy Of All Kansas Cities Everywhere, Stephen Robinson, Wonkette, February 3, 2020.
⚡️ Bonus Wonkette! Oh No All The Nazi Website People Are Getting Laid Off, Robyn Pennacchia, Wonkette, February 3, 2020.
⚡️ Bitter (essential) tea: Why Democrats share the blame for the rise of Donald Trump, Robert Reich, the Guardian, February 2, 2020.
⚡️ Truth serum from recovering R: The GOP doesn’t deserve to survive this debacle, Max Boot, Washington Post Opinion, February 1, 2020.
⚡️It’s about time!: Women Make Gains in the Workplace Amid a Rising Demand for Skilled Workers, Rakesh Kochhar, Pew Research, January 30, 2020.
⚡️ Pure poetry. Why Iowa, indeed! Why Iowa? Dan Zak, Washington Post, January 30, 2020.
⚡️Media wrong about Ds, as usual: Most Democratic voters aren’t bothered by Iowa’s, New Hampshire’s place in the primary process, Andrew Daniller,Pew Research Center, January 30, 2020.
⚡️ Always look on the bright side:: The problem with impeachment is that the Constitution is working, Charles Lane, Washington Post Opinion, February 3, 2020.
⚡️ How Zombies Ate the G.O.P.’s Soul, Paul Krugman, New York Times Opinion, February 3, 2020.
⚡️ Whatever you think of him, Rahm knows politics: How impeachment could flip the Senate, Rahm Emanuel, Washington Post Opinion, January 29, 2020.
🔗 Helpful Links 🔗
Act Blue — fundraising for Democratic candidates in one easy site.
Vote Forward — currently organizing an effort to encourage voter registration, including providing addressees with voter registration forms! This is one of several “do it at home” projects through which many of us can really make a difference. Voter to voter initiatives have a track record of increasing voter turnout. The Vote Forward letter system is ideal for those who want to contribute but can’t write too much. The letter templates are provided and all you do is put in a line or two of your own and make sure the letters get to the voters on your list!
Postcards to Voters — Our own gnusie, Progressive Muse posts most days with information about PtV and updates on current campaigns and progress. This is the ideal “do it at home” contribution especially suited to those who enjoy getting a little creative and connecting with fellow voters around the country.
Fair Fight — Stacey Abrams’ initiative which has already made a difference in several elections! Find out how you can help out at this link.
Spread the Vote — wonderful organization which works hard to help eligible voters obtain valid ID so they can register and vote.
And finally, for one-stop all-purpose voter information:
Everything you need to know to vote — This site covers everything any eligible voter needs to know, from how to register, how to check that you are still registered, how to obtain an absentee ballot and what to do if your right to vote is challenged or you are stopped from voting.
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
When you’re feeling the weight of current events getting you down, remember that millions of people all over the world are working hard every single day to bring about progressive change — politically, socially and environmentally. Remember that millions share your urgent desire to preserve democracy. Think of the countless career public servants whose loyalty to the Constitution has not wavered. Remember the men and women who have been quietly working so hard on the investigations and prosecutions. Think of the people behind the scenes who realised the danger that Marie Yovanovitch was in, and hurried her to safety. These people are everywhere and they — like you — are working tirelessly to save the country, western democratic alliances and the world.
You are not alone. You are a member of the majority. Many of the progressive values that we share are shared by the majority of Americans and on guns and abortion it’s not even close. The myriad reasons why our government has been perverted to the extent that it has so that so-called representatives of the people are not representing us are being exposed at last. I will not ever be “thankful” for the trainwreck caused by the stolen 45th presidency, but I acknowledge that it may well end up being the vehicle in which we tow our battered Republic onto a better path forward.
So, have faith in us, in the progressive majority. It won’t happen overnight, but if we keep our eyes on the goal — a better, stronger, more just and equal society — and keep working and fighting for it, we will not fail.
We’ve got this, Good Gnus.
As always, I encourage you to take good care of yourself and those you love. Eat nutritious food, get outdoors if you are able and allow yourself some down time each day to decompress. Then, think of one thing you can do today to make a difference — phone your members of congress, write a postcard or letter to voters, contribute to a campaign. Action is the best antidote for all sorts of concerns.
Turn off your tv tonight if you want to — you’ll hear all about the SOTU soon enough. It’s OK to deprive Dumpy of the ratings. You won’t miss a single worthwhile thing. I mean, we already know what it’s going to be like, right? →
Tune in after Dumpy has left the House to see Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan give the Democratic response to the State of the Union speech.
That’s it for me, my friends. It’s after 2 am and still no Iowa results, so I am turning in.
Have a good day, Everyone! I’m so glad to be facing this challenge with you!
*Edited sentence: previously “Americans have had the longest run of freedom and self-government...”.