Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Another 9-11. The 9-11 in 2001 — terrorists flying our airplanes into buildings — shocked the nation and the world. About 3000 souls died and we freaked out about having been attacked and invaded. Much changed after that, and the nation united (which unfortunately enabled W to lead the country into endless wars).
19 years later, we have also been attacked and invaded and we are looking at about 200,000 dead, with no indication that Americans will not continue to die. Our country has not been this divided for many decades.
And the attack is different from attacks before. There are some guns, but mostly the war is rhetoric. The bad thing is that it has been enabled by those who should protect us, people who welcomed the invaders.
This battle is also different because it is a battle in which nearly everyone — including the elderly and the frail — can participate.
And we need everyone to participate. The good news is that lots, yes, lots of Americans are heeding the call (and I know you are too).
Welcome, dear Gnusies, and enjoy some helpings of what people are doing to save our country.
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 👎
Have you been frustrated by the last four years? Of course you have. We all have. Most frustrating has been things like the impeachment, where tRump’s criminality and treachery were exposed to all and yet the Rs (except Romney) didn’t do a damned thing.
For a while it seemed like a wasted effort. It turns out it may have been brilliant. Because by exposing tRump’s schemes to lie about Biden in order to bring him down back in January, lies about Biden may be having a harder time of sticking. Especially if there is an “October surprise,” as promised by Barr. Daily Kos
Impeaching The Man Who Lost The Popular Vote was incredibly important, and not only because it was the right thing to do. Yes, he committed crimes and abused the power of his office, and yes he deserved to be impeached and removed from that office—the record of every Republican Senator other than Mitt Romney will be forever stained by their votes to acquit. History will remember their cowardice.
Beyond the morality, impeachment has had a clear, long-lasting political benefit, one that will pay dividends for Vice President Joe Biden this November. Thanks to impeachment, everyone knows that the charges Trump leveled against Joe and Hunter Biden on Ukraine—the ones he tried to blackmail that country’s president into investigating, or least announcing an intention to investigate—are utter malarkey.
It turns out tRump knew about the severe problems of the virus. He told Woodward so in a series of 9 hours of interviews! Axios
President Trump, who rails about anonymous sources, is suddenly confronted with an extensive, unsparing, on-the-record account of his thinking about America's virus and race crises — and he's the source. Instead of "Rage," Bob Woodward could have called his book: "Undeniable." ✂️
Woodward was allowed to record all the on-the-record sessions. Audio snippets were released yesterday along with extensive excerpts from the book, out Tuesday.
We know Trump likes to talk to famous people — he complained publicly after he wasn't interviewed for Woodward's brutal 2018 Trump book, "Fear."
And we know Woodward is seductive. "Every president does a Bob Woodward book ... and then later comes to regret it," Karl Rove told Fox News.
And lordy, lordy, there are tapes.
We have been hearing a lot about the military and tRump. Here’s part of an op-ed by Joseph Kander, D, a former Secretary of State of Missouri. The Kansas City Star
In March, when Dr. Jill Biden joined me on a tour of Veterans Community Project here in Kansas City, she correctly referred to the Bidens as a military family, a reference to the late Beau Biden’s deployment to Iraq with the U.S. Army. That really means something, by the way. Not since the Eisenhowers has America had a first family who knows what it’s like to hug a child one final time before they head off to war. ✂️
This all brings me to the real reason our troops prefer Biden to Trump, because, in reality, it’s much simpler than the indictment I’ve laid out above. In the military, leadership is more than just a buzzword. It’s at the foundation of everything we do, which is why that same Military Times poll reported roughly 3 out of every 5 military officers to have a “poor view” of the president.
Our troops — no matter how deep their ancestral Republican roots may be back home — know bad leadership when they see it, and they see it plainly in Donald Trump. In Joe Biden, they see a steady leader who has confronted challenges in his life more difficult than elections, and — even if they don’t always agree with his politics — that’s something they can respect.
So no, the military doesn’t support Trump’s campaign. The troops are hoping we relieve their commander in chief and give them one worth following.
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
This is an improvement of 6 points in very few days:
And the Biden campaign is planning to keep working on it
I am thrilled that they are finally bringing up the Social Security issue.
In the meantime, the tRump campaign has stolen burned through something like 800 million of 1.1 billion dollars and has been going dark in multiple battleground states. I say “something like” because these guys never tell the truth, especially about money. By the way, here are the numbers (again, alleged, because we cannot believe tRump). Daily Kos
The Trump campaign finally released their fundraising numbers. Or at least what they claim is their fundraising numbers, to Fox News.
Not a disastrously bad haul, but still $150 million behind the Biden campaign. The two campaigns were only separated by around $5 million in cash-on-hand at the end of July, so that gap will have been massive at the end of August. (We’ll know the exact numbers when fundraising reports are filed, and that’s soon.) That dramatic disparity in spending now means that the Trump camp can’t keep pace with Team Biden—not a place they want to be when lagging so far behind in the polls.
How is this for symmetry?
Of course, tRump has killed many more Americans than Osama bin Laden.
Look who is planning to work with Biden!
Thanks, hpg:
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
So, my friends, if you sent off FL VBM postcards (I sent off at least two hundred) take a look at this information:
Here’s another story, which I may have seen in one of the GNRs, but which is so wonderful that I want you to have a second chance to read it. Someone in Alaska was complaining about the stealth group turning out absentee Ds Must Read Alaska
POSSIBLY ILLEGAL [sic, not illegal at all!] CAMPAIGN OF UNSOURCED POSTCARDS
The Alaska Democrats far outperformed their usual absentee vote turnout, and some politicos wondered what they did to add 9,000 Democrat absentee ballots to the primary tally, when in the past Democrats have not made the effort to get those absentee ballots, preferring the “vote early” method.
There may have been several factors, but one is an unseen that is likely the efforts of a third party like the Lincoln Project. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of handwritten postcards landed in the mailboxes of Alaskans from people out of state, from Connecticut to Hawaii.
Many of the messages were similarly worded: “Vote for Al Gross for Senate”. “Vote for Alyse Galvin for House.” “They’re independent but they’ll caucus with the Democrats.” “They will fight for affordable health care.” “They’ll end the hatred in politics.” And they all gave the web addresses of the campaigns they supported as a way to get an absentee ballot. Many of them use the same postage stamp pattern.
But none of the messages indicated that the letter-writing was paid for by any entity. There was no legal disclaimer, as required by law, even though there is evidence of a coordinated campaign that spent money on stamps, and possibly paid postcard writers: How else would these random people around the country get the addresses of undeclared and Democrat voters?
Of course, as all P2V participants know, we pay for our own postcards and donate our time. Anyway, the reporter was too lazy to do any real research (P2V is not a secret stealth organization) and several commenters let her know what was going on. But it isn’t it nice to see that we’re making a difference, and also that Rs can’t imagine any situation which (1) doesn’t break laws and (2) where people care so much that they actually volunteer?
And, from Pennsylvania Politico
Even more concerning for Republicans, Democrats who didn't vote in 2016 are requesting 2020 ballots at higher rates than their GOP counterparts. The most striking example is Pennsylvania, where nearly 175,000 Democrats who sat out the last race have requested ballots, more than double the number of Republicans, according to an analysis of voter rolls by the Democratic firm TargetSmart.
tRump can’t have his covid rally in Nevada Wonkette
Donald Trump desperately wants to keep having his campaign Klan-bakes. They remind him of a simpler time when his negligence and lies hadn't resulted in the deaths of almost 200,000 Americans. He scheduled a couple hate rallies in Nevada this weekend, both at airports, where he presumably believes COVID-19 can't get past security.
However, the 5,000 idiots expected to attend Trump's Saturday rally at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport would violate Gov. Steve Sisolak's emergency directive limiting public gatherings to no more than 50 people who enjoy living. Tina Iftiger, senior vice president and chief commercial officer at the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, sent a letter to the company that leased the airport hangar to Trump's campaign. She politely explained to Hangar 9, LLC all the reasons why Trump can't have his superspreader event at the airport.
Claude Cognian, a manager at Hangar 9, issued a whiny response Wednesday, conceding defeat by science.
"Based on our conversation yesterday that, if we were to proceed we will be in violation of our lease with the RTTA and create a default and, we would found ourselves with no hangar for the aircrafts in the future," Cognian wrote. "Then, this leave us with no other option than to communicate to President Trump and his campaign that we cannot help him/them and we are withdrawing the offer to use the hangar."
🐍 Schadenfreude 🍎
I am still getting a kick out of this:
📣Let’s Honor Truth ☀️
The first medal for the week goes to Jeffrey Goldberg, who did that fantastic reporting on tRump calling much of our military Losers and Suckers. I won’t repeat it here as you have certainly seen it. the Atlantic
The second, tarnished version of the medal goes to Bob Woodward, who reported in excerpts of his book being printed in the WaPo how tRump, back in January, February and March, was well aware of the dangers of the coronavirus. I am angry with Woodward for not having mentioned this months ago. Woodward said he needed to verify, but why? Woodward has recordings of tRump saying these things, so I have to think that ought to be sufficient.
On the other hand, it is useful to have this information come out now, and I am not a journalist, so I cannot be sure what i’s need to be dotted and what t’s need to be crossed. It also appears that Woodward recorded a lot of other information that is coming out. At any rate, Woodward ought to be recognized for his decades of prying out truths about various White Houses.
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
This couple donated and served their wedding feast to the homeless Good News Network
Wedding Reception 101: Celebratory toasts are made. A meal is served. The cake is cut. The bride and groom share their first dance as a married couple, soon to be joined by anyone who feels like kicking up their heels. As the event draws to a close, the bride tosses her bouquet and the couple heads off for their honeymoon—all to the accompaniment of endless picture taking.
Then COVID-19 arrived and changed all the rules.
This past July, when Tyler and Melanie Tapajna of Parma, Ohio decided to opt out of their plans for traditional nuptials in light of coronavirus concerns, they came up with a creative alternative that was truly inspired.
The Tapajnas contacted their caterer, Betty’s Bomb Ass Burgers, but rather than looking for a refund, they asked owner Lena Brown if it would be possible to take the money from their reception and turn it into meals at a local homeless shelter instead.
📎📎Odds & Ends 📎📎
Two great stories about education:
Hormel to pay for the college education of its employees’ kids Good News Network
Hormel Foods announced last week that it will begin offering two years of free college tuition to all the children of their American employees beginning next year.
Not based on achievement in test scores or GPA, the new program is a way to create equality in education admissions—and the company hopes many who take advantage of the offer will be first-generation college students in their families.
Many of us have been wondering why Bloomberg hasn’t been making a greater contribution to the Biden/Harris campaign. However, they don’t seem to need the money, and now we know Michael Bloomberg donates $100 million to add to number of black doctors. Good News Network
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced a new financial gift in support of four historically Black medical schools to increase the number of Black doctors in the U.S.
The money will significantly reduce the debt burden of approximately 800 medical students, many of whom face increased financial pressure due to COVID-19.
Sorry if I am a little light today; other things in the world have been demanding my attention. 💙
I do a lot of other writing. Most recent offering: Hunters of the Feather, a story about a thinker-linker crow who wants to save birdkind from extinction. (It’s really good! It’s really cheap! Buy it!) My less recent stories, based on Jane Austen novels and others on Greek mythology, can be found here.
💙 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.