Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Happy ❤️ Day to all of you!
I have my own personal valentines out in the real world, but love comes in many forms, and I genuinely love those who write, comment, and generally support the GNR. I have also felt virtual love and appreciation from so many of you.
The GNR has kept me from being down during the bad times and has helped me to contribute to improving our political situation — and, I believe, to improving our world.
Usually I focus a little more on Truth in these diaries, but Love is just as important. Love empowers us, and makes each day worth living. Love give us our direction. Love may be quiet, but Love is strong.
Even if you feel alone, if you are here and you wish us good will — then know you are loved.
Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the very bad stuff that is happening. Some of us expected it: the cheating, the lying, the chaos, and yes, even the attempts to cling to power despite the clear will of the people. But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including us and our fellow gnus) who are working so hard to save our country from those very bad people. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know. Remember:
💚 There are more of us than there are of them.
💛 They are terrified when we organize. THERE IS LOTS OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE TERRIFIED!
💔 They want us to be demoralized. We have to keep demoralizing them. Name, blame and shame! IT IS WORKING! WE HAVE EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE DEMORALIZED!
💙 The best way to keep up your spirits is to fight. So, take the time to recharge your batteries, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world.
💙 Toxic 🍄 Trump Matters 👎 & Russia, Russia, Russia 🐻
I believe many people on our side have been a little low recently, and one reason has been the barrfaced interference by Barr on behalf of Roger Stone. Here’s a piece that should make you feel a little better.
Roger Stone can’t be saved Rolling Stone
At least some justice has come for Fort Lauderdale’s most prominent Penguin cosplayer and sleaze-ball boulevardier already. Trump left his former confidant hanging for two years, reducing Stone to penury in a one-bedroom apartment. Even if Trump pardons him, Stone will never work in politics again at any serious level — not that he did anyway.
He’ll never get out from under his legal bills. His speaking circuit appearances at local Republican clubs in Florida often bring in tens of dollars, and it’s gonna take longer than Stone has on this Earth to catch up. His days as a provocateur are over. He may get a hit or two on Infowars or OANN, but he’ll never be in the big green rooms again. His days without having the mark of “felon” — pardoned or not — branding him are over.
For Stone, one of the tragedies is that the world of campaigning has moved on from dumb, dirty tricksters like him; Trump will likely never allow him back into even his outer circle because Stone brings nothing of value to a modern campaign. He will never sit at the high table of the Orange King with his old status. Even a man of Stone’s unlimited chutzpah will never be able to wink and nod his way to convincing any but the most slack-jawed Trump fans he still has the confidence of the president.
The attention he craves will, on its best days, come as a form of pity. Stone’s last whisper of power and influence is gone, and no matter what happens next week, he’s going to bear the lifelong stain of a man who spent time in prison for crimes he gleefully committed.
Long sentence or short, everything Trump touches dies — even his most loyal henchman.
Bolding above is mine. How nice to read a piece by Rick Wilson! His articles for The Daily Beast are almost always behind a paywall. And how nice to know that Stone’s life will not be so pleasant even if he spends little time in prison. Anyway, I nearly put the above in the Schadenfreude section, but felt it needed more prominence.
It has been a frustrating couple of weeks, watching the emboldened criming going on by tRump and his cronies. But we still have great, absolutely great people on our side.
Remember the impeachment? We the people, in general, are not buying what the Rs are selling.
And our side is still doing the needed work of oversight.
House Democrats ask Secret Service for documents Washington Post
The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday asked the Secret Service to provide a full accounting of its payments to President Trump’s private company — after The Washington Post revealed that the Secret Service had been charged up to $650 per night for rooms at Trump clubs.
In a letter to the Secret Service, signed by chair Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) and member Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), the committee asks for any records of payments to Trump properties, and copies of any contracts between the Secret Service and Trump clubs.
Last week, The Post reported that the Secret Service had been charged up to $650 per night for rooms at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, and charged $17,000 a month for a cottage that agents used at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, N.J. President Trump still owns his companies. These payments show he has an unprecedented — and largely hidden — business relationship with his own government.
In the meantime, the Rs are placing all their eggs in an increasingly demented basket.
tRump’s rallies have been getting shorter, and he is uttering more nonsense at them. And by nonsense I don’t mean the easily disprovable lies, which are a feature, not a bug, of tRump-speak. I mean the garbled utterances — usually accompanied by a spasm of his shoulders — that are sometimes mispronounced words, and sometimes bear no resemblance to English words at all.
And this:
And this as well:
🐊 Draining the Swamp 🐊
Trump’s Trophy Hunting Council Disbanded — Ecowatch
The DOI told a federal judge on Friday that the International Wildlife Conservation Council (IWCC) had ended its charter in October and would not be renewed. The IWCC was created to boost trophy hunting and to relax federal regulations around importing heads and hides of exotic animals like African elephants, rhinos, lions, and other threatened wildlife, according to The Associated Press.
"The Council will not meet or conduct any business again, it can no longer be renewed, and there [is] no plan to establish another committee with a similar mission or scope in the future," the DOI explained in a court filing Friday, according to NPR.
The lawyers for the DOI argued that since the council had been disbanded, the judge should dismiss a lawsuit from environmental groups looking into the "formation, composition, ethics provision, or meetings" by the IWCC, as NPR reported.
"The IWCC's disbandment is a huge victory in the fight against the Trump administration's illegal advisory bodies," said Democracy Forward senior counsel Travis Annatoyn, in a statement. "But the fight isn't over."
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
Some people may be worried by the uncertainty in the D race. However, the reason there’s uncertainty is because we have a deep bench.
There are a lot of Democrats in NH. Now, of course one can argue that the Rs had plenty of reason to stay home, because tRump was gonna win the Rs, and the Ds had an active contest going on in NH, so it makes sense that the votes of the Ds more than doubled the Rs. Still, we have plenty of Ds in NH.
This article looks at why tRump is beatable in 2020 Axios
Why it matters: Amid record-high stock markets and record-low joblessness, Trump trails almost every 2020 Democrat nationally, and is in a statistical tie in swing-state polls.
- Yes, he has a big early edge in raising money and gaming Facebook to target voters. But Michael Bloomberg is willing to spend $2 billion (some say twice that) to easily level things — and will spend big even if he's not the nominee.
The data points: ✂️
- In most swing-state polls, Trump is within the margin of error — and often well below 50% — despite a booming economy. In many cases, he trails most of the top-tier candidates.
- Bloomberg has more money than Trump ever did, and unlike the president, plans to spend it, either on himself or the party’s nominee. Republicans would have no answer financially if he dumps several billion into ads and manpower. ✂️
- Even Bernie Sanders, whose socialism establishment Democrats fear could tank their chances, looks strong against Trump in relevant polls.
Bloomberg is already outspending the tRump campaign on Facebook. Given that money has power, I’d love it if he used that to make sure that ads on Facebook only tell the truth (I sent a message to his campaign, making that suggestion).
And, women’s rights are human rights.
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
Beshear plans to protect natural lands WFPL
Kentucky’s last three budgets have swept millions of dollars from the state’s primary source for funding the protection and management of natural lands, leaving less money for the preservation of historical sites, pristine habitats and rare and endangered species. ✂️
Following years of sweeps under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Beshear’s proposed budget restores the full funding for the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund.
“What this land conservation fund does is to ensure that we preserve that natural beauty that both makes Kentucky the special place that it is, but also is that huge economic driver for tourism,” Beshear said.
Virginia House passes bill to give electoral votes to popular vote winner CNN
(CNN)Virginia's House of Delegates passed a bill on Tuesday that would award the state's electoral votes to the national winner of the presidential popular vote.
The measure,
HB 177, would look to incorporate Virginia into the
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement established by each participating state's laws to put its electoral votes toward the winner of the national popular vote, instead of the state's own popular vote.
"This idea that some American citizens should have more power than other American citizens to choose the president of the United States, I, frankly, find profoundly offensive," Del. Mark Levine, the sponsor of the bill, told CNN over the phone.
North Dakota Native Vote Daily Kos
I’m thrilled to announce that on Feb. 5, 2020, North Dakota Native Vote launched a permanent organization. You, the Daily Kos Community, helped build this much-needed group with your incredible contributions of more than half a million dollars in October 2018.
Here’s the background piece I wrote at the time about how North Dakota tried to suppress the Native vote and how the Daily Kos community reacted.
Less than a month before the midterm 2018 elections, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Native American Rights Fund’s (NARF) emergency application to stop North Dakota from implementing a discriminatory law requiring that a physical address be listed on each voter’s ID. In the primary election, Natives were able to use their tribal IDs, most of which use a post office box as an address.
Many reservations across the United States are very rural, meaning homes are far apart on long gravel or dirt roads off the main drags. The post office won’t deliver to many of these residences, so a significant number of Natives must rely on P.O. boxes. The new law was a deliberate attempt by North Dakota Republicans to suppress the Native vote, which gave Democrat Heidi Heitkamp the narrow margin for her victorious Senate race in 2012.
Plenty more in the diary — can’t include it here or you’ll be scrolling forever.
🐍 Schadenfreude 🍎
Jim Jordan is in for some more embarrassing times… he sure deserves it!
📣🏅 Let’s Honor Truth 🏅☀️
We still have honorable people in the government … at least for now.
Note that, as far as I know, the four prosecutors quit the case, and one of them completely quit the DOiJ (department of injustice).
And it’s not just the prosecutors, but the jurors — which means the population is generally with us, too:
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
I tried to get a video to embed. Alas, I failed, but here’s a link. So instead here’s part of the transcript, when last week, Lawrence O’Donnell talks about Love in his show, The Last Word — and how tRump doesn’t have any idea what Love is.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: We begin tonight with the single most important word that Donald Trump does not understand. Donald Trump has the most limited vocabulary than anyone in the history of the presidency. And so there are many words Donald Trump does not understand. But the single most important word Donald Trump does not understand is one we all understand. It's a concept preverbal babies understand, even before they can say the word, because babies can feel this thing that Donald Trump so obviously does not feel. And very sadly for him, it's possible that he has never felt this in his entire life.
Love.
Love is the single most important word that Donald Trump does not understand, and he proved that today, more than once, in the most perverse possible public displays of ignorance by a President of the United States. We have never seen anything like this in our history. I know we've said that before, but we mean it tonight.
Donald Trump is the most irreligious man in the history of the presidency and currently the most irreligious man in Washington. And he used the National Prayer Breakfast to attack Mitt Romney, who is probably the most religious man in Washington. Donald Trump, who has said he's never prayed for forgiveness for anything, used the National Prayer Breakfast to attack Nancy Pelosi for praying. Most of you probably already know that because that has been well reported today. What has not been as well reported is what Donald Trump listened to right before he got up to speak. Harvard professor Arthur Brooks was the speaker before Donald Trump, and his theme was how to communicate with people who you disagree with politically.
[video clip] ARTHUR BROOKS: If you want to persuade them, which you should, you can only do it one way, and that's with love. It was not an applause line. Thank you. Finally. The applause I've been waiting so long for. [end clip]
O'DONNELL: Like most people in that room, Arthur Brooks is a conservative, a political conservative. And he was talking about the concept of Christian love, which is why he expected to get applause for that line. But he didn't because everyone there was probably very nervous about how uncomfortable that line made Donald Trump, and then everyone realized they're going have to applaud for Christian love at the prayer breakfast, and so they did. But one person didn't -- Donald Trump. He didn't just not applaud the concept of "loving thy neighbor," he had to physically turn around from the man who was saying it. There was more.
[video clip] BROOKS: Ask God to give you the strength to go against your human nature, to follow Jesus' teaching. You believe Jesus' teaching? Act like it, me too. To love your enemies. Ask God to take political contempt from your heart. And sometimes, when it's just too hard, ask God to help you fake it.
O'DONNELL: Love your enemies. Donald Trump doesn't know that that was Jesus Christ's idea. Take contempt from your heart. What would be left in Donald Trump's heart if there were no contempt? And if that's too hard to do, then fake it. Donald Trump has faked a lot of things, but he couldn't fake that not even today at a prayer breakfast where the speaker right before him suggested to him, urged him to at least try to fake being a good person for once, at least try to fake that he understood the Christian concept of love your enemies. It was as if Arthur Brooks was giving that speech to that audience-of-one sitting to his right, and Donald Trump definitely heard the speech. He was listening enough to give his opinion. He was listening enough to ad-lib his reaction to Arthur Brooks' concept of Christian love when he got up to speak.
[video clip] DONALD TRUMP: Arthur, I don't know if I agree with you. But I don't know if Arthur's going to like what I'm going to say.
O'DONNELL: We can be very sure that Arthur didn't like what Donald Trump had to say. But what Donald Trump didn't understand was that he wasn't disagreeing with Arthur brooks. He was disagreeing with Jesus Christ. Arthur Brooks was only quoting Jesus Christ, saying love your neighbors, love your enemies. Everyone in the room knew that except Donald Trump. Donald Trump got up at the National Prayer Breakfast today, and the very first thing he did was disagree with Jesus Christ. And he proved how much he disagrees with Jesus Christ when he let his hatred of Nancy Pelosi flow and his hatred of Mitt Romney flow.
[video clip] TRUMP: I don't like people who use their faith as just a justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say 'I pray for you' when they know that that's not so.
O'DONNELL: Stunned silence. That was the reaction in that room full of religious people who pray every day, all of whom know now that Donald Trump doesn't know what prayer is, that Donald Trump was never taught to pray for his enemies as Nancy Pelosi was when she was a little girl growing up in a Catholic church in Baltimore. It seems Donald Trump was never taught anything about love because later at the White House when he spent an hour raging against his impeachment enemies and praising his impeachment allies, Donald Trump said one of the saddest things he has ever publicly said, he was praising his Republican ally, Congressman Steve Scalise, who was shot by a deranged man with a gun during a practice session for the annual Congressional baseball game. And Donald Trump described encountering Steve Scalise's wife at the hospital.
[video clip] TRUMP: He got whacked. He got whacked, my Steve, right? I went to the hospital with our great first lady that night, right, honey? And we saw a man who was not going to make it. He was not going to make it -- he was -- the doctor -- and told him his wife, I said she loves you and why did you say that, because she was devastated. A lot of wives wouldn't give a damn. A lot of wives -- a lot of wives would have said, hey, yeah. I said 'how's he doing,' she couldn't talk, she was inconsolable. Most wives would say 'not good. I'm going home.'
And this...
📎📎Odds & Ends 📎📎
We do need to be concerned about the coronavirus. Still:
💉 Most coronavirus cases are mild Washington Post
Though the virus was identified just six weeks ago, some of its characteristics are becoming clear. For the elderly and those with underlying heart disease, diabetes or other conditions, the disease can be quite severe. They are the ones dominating the ranks of the dead, often after pneumonia or other respiratory problems that lead to organ failure.
Others are not suffering nearly as much. Healthy, younger adults seem to do better, and there have been few fatalities among children, for reasons that have caused much speculation among experts. ✂️
“All the patients in the U.S. haven’t required tons of excessive care and actually, right now, they’re actually all improving,” said Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Based on the U.S. experience, and based on the experience of other countries outside China, a lot of these patients seem to be doing okay.”
🌻 UK Teens tired of waiting for climate education so they drafted a law to require it Wonkette
The "Teach the Future" campaign was launched by 17-year-old Joe Brindle, who the Guardian reports "is preparing for his A-levels in Devizes, Wiltshire" — which we believe has something to do with graduating from wizarding school. Brindle's motivation is pretty straightforward: He says he's "angry about the injustice that is allowing the most vulnerable people in the world to suffer from the actions of the richest and most powerful."
Isn't that just typical of the selfishness of youth? Not a single bit of empathy for investors in fossil fuel companies.
But, what with kids these days being incredibly smart and able to network like crazy, the climate education bill that Teach the Future put together isn't just some little let's put-on-a-show-in-the-old-barn petition signed by angry teens. Hell nah. The group ran a successful crowdfunding campaign to hire a "professional parliamentary draftsperson," which is how legislation gets written in countries that don't have the Koch brothers (or brother, we guess) and ALEC to block climate legislation.
Brindle told the Guardian it's all about presenting a serious proposal and being taken seriously:
"We didn't want our demands to be half met, so we thought we'd show them exactly what we want," says Brindle. Hiring an experienced drafter was a nifty move to quash any notion that young people's ideas are unworthy of serious consideration. Brindle hopes the bill will be taken forward by the government, "or it could be a private members bill".
🌻 CO2 Emissions Flatlined in 2019 Good News Network
An exciting new study calculated that, contrary to expectations, global carbon dioxide emissions did not continue their increase in 2019, but actually flatlined as renewable energy sources, efficiency, and other factors, chipped away at worldwide CO2 levels.
The research, conducted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and published earlier this week, found that global emissions were unchanged at 33 gigatons in 2019 even as the world economy expanded by 2.9% over 2018.
🌻 Los Angeles City-Owned Buildings to Go Carbon Free Ecowatch
Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti on Monday committed all new or substantially rehabilitated buildings owned by the City of Los Angeles to be 100 percent carbon free — and to use less carbon-intensive building materials in the process. His executive directive not only has Los Angeles leading by example on ways to reduce building emissions, it breaks new ground.
The announcement follows a growing trend of leading cities, such as Seattle, San Francisco and Pittsburgh, in committing new government building stock to be all-electric or become 100 percent emissions free.
Los Angeles also will become the first local government to adopt the state's Buy Clean California Act, requiring carbon emissions reductions from construction materials, including steel, flat glass and insulation beginning in 2021 for buildings such as fire stations, civic centers and libraries.
This executive directive is the latest step in L.A.'s sustainability efforts.
☀️ 🌊 Solar device converts seawater to fresh water Ecowatch
An international team of scientists has developed a cheap way to provide fresh water to thirsty communities by making seawater drinkable without using electricity.
So long as the sun is shining, they say, their device will produce enough high-quality potable water to cover a family's needs, at a cost of around $100.
🐦 Everyone, even those who can fly, likes sledding.
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
It turns out that participation in democracy is not just an every-four-years event but requires active participation, like, whenever you can find time. However, given that we have taken back the House, the tactics moving forward need to be different. Indivisible has ideas to share.
Indivisible 2.0
This Guide is for what comes next. The 2016 Indivisible Guide was about using constituent power to defend our values, our neighbors, and our democracy. This Guide is about using our constituent power to go on offense.
Offense is exciting, but it’s more complex than defense. We have the opportunity to use congressional oversight to hold Trump and his cronies accountable. We can set the legislative agenda with a bold progressive vision rooted in inclusion, fairness, and justice. But none of this is automatic — we have to demand it of Congress.
And some other ideas:
You can relax and recharge.
You can join protests and freeway blog.
You can help register new voters.
You can smile.
You can get out the vote for special elections.
You can reach out to upset Republicans. Remember, a lot of them crossed over in the midterms! Get them to feel good about being blue.
You can share your ideas below.
🌻
🍀 “My experience has been that work is almost
always the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.” 🍀
Eleanor Roosevelt
🔥 If you’re going through hell, keep going! 🔥
Winston Churchill
🌹 🌹 🌹
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.