There was a great article in the NYT yesterday by the amazing Michelle Goldberg about how Democracy Grief Is Real. She writes:
The entire Trump presidency has been marked, for many of us who are part of the plurality that despises it, by anxiety and anger. But lately I’ve noticed, and not just in myself, a demoralizing degree of fear, even depression. You can see it online, in the self-protective cynicism of liberals announcing on Twitter that Trump is going to win re-election. In The Washington Post, Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush and a Never Trump conservative, described his spiritual struggle against feelings of political desperation: “Sustaining this type of distressed uncertainty for long periods, I can attest, is like putting arsenic in your saltshaker.”
This is a normal reaction. Watching the behavior of the Republicans and Trump is distressing. The added stress of the shifting norms about prejudice and hatred are demoralizing, stressful, and exhausting. It is truly awful.
But at the same time, there is a beauty that comes out of living in this time.
Yes, a beauty.
It is the same beauty I feel every year in December as the days before darker and darker and colder and colder and I realize that:
- In me, there is a light that shines regardless of what the sun is doing
- In me, there is a fire that warms me, even when the outside is cold.
- Around me, there are others bringing candles and blankets and love, keeping one another warm until the tide turns.
- And the tide will turn — every single year, spring comes again. Summer comes again. Longer and warmer days come back.
I like the feeling of days getting shorter and colder and tougher because I know that around the corner is the time when things get warmer and brighter and better. And I know that those sweet, fresh, warm days of spring will feel even better because I will have had to fight my way to them. I know that struggling right now will make the easy days that much sweeter.
And a fire in me stays lit because of that knowledge.
Spring will come for us too. Spring will come in our fight for our nation. How am I so sure? Because I know certain things for sure and they are:
- Our nation and our world have been through awful, difficult, and scary times before and we have made it through.
- We are the majority.
- We are motivated to take back our country like you wouldn’t believe.
- Every election since 2016 has shown our power and dedication: 2018 and 2019.
- We will make it through this as well.
And when we do, we will never take our representative democracy for granted again. We will protect it and revel in it like that precious spring day when the birds are back and the ice is melting and the air is crisp and bright and just a little bit warm.
That day is coming. Here is what you do to make sure of it. We have less than a year. What will you do first (click on each link for more information) It all depends on us.
Looking for something to do this coming week? There are over 400 “Nobody is Above the Law” Impeach & Remove Events on Tuesday (Impeachment eve). Find one in your area at this link and show up!
Now on to the good news:
Great 2020 news
Trump's approval dips among independent voters amid impeachment
all of this polling is kind of BS because we have seen great economic news come along with this impeachment information. So we can’t know what is really causing what. But even with all that great economic news:
Trump’s approval rating dipped among independent voters as Democrats move forward on impeachment, according to the latest Hill-HarrisX poll released Tuesday.
The survey shows 39 percent of independent voters approve of Trump’s job performance, while 56 percent said they disapprove.
The new approval rating among independent voters is down from 44 percent in early November.
Trump's job approval rating also saw a dip among Republican voters, dropping 3 points to 85 percent compared to the previous poll.
The survey comes amid the release of articles of impeachment against Trump.
Polling this is also kind of hard because these aren’t things that will make more people say they like or dislike the things he is doing (in particular when they are matched by good economic signs) but they are going to make people TIRED of this shit. They are going to make them want stability and fewer fireworks in a President and that is good. If there is one thing Democrats can bring, it is a lack of fireworks! 😆 and I mean that in mostly the best way.
More signs of things going our way:
House ratings changes: A dozen races shift toward Democrats
Combination of self-inflicted wounds, slow recruiting and suburbs continuing to shift against Trump diminish GOP chances
Democratic chances of winning have improved in a dozen House races. Those rating changes include:
- Arizona’s 6th District (David Schweikert, R) From Solid Republican to Likely Republican
- California’s 25th (Vacant) Likely Democratic to Solid Democratic
- Illinois’ 6th (Sean Casten, D) Leans Democratic to Likely Democratic
- Illinois’ 13th (Rodney Davis, R) Tilts Republican to Toss-up
- Iowa’s 2nd (Open; Dave Loebsack, D) Toss-up to Tilts Democratic
- Iowa’s 4th (Steve King, R) Leans Republican to Tilts Republican
- Michigan’s 8th (Elissa Slotkin, D) Tilts Democratic to Leans Democratic
- Michigan’s 11th (Haley Stevens, D) Leans Democratic to Likely Democratic
- Minnesota’s 1st (Jim Hagedorn, R) Leans Republican to Tilts Republican
- Minnesota’s 2nd (Angie Craig, DFL) Leans Democratic to Likely Democratic
- New Hampshire’s 1st (Chris Pappas, D) Leans Democratic to Likely Democratic
- Virginia’s 2nd (Elaine Luria, D) Tilts Democratic to Leans Democratic
One race shifted toward the GOP:
those shifts are great news that have not been covered much in this avalanche of impeachment news
Remember, the huge number of retirements was the first sign that 2018 would be a banner year for us.
Every Democrat is tied with Trump in the state he must win
It’s widely assumed that the 2020 voting in Wisconsin will go a long way toward determining whether President Trump serves a second term. And a new poll finds that every single leading Democratic candidate is roughly tied with him in the state.
if Trump loses in Wisconsin, it’s all but certain he’ll lose Pennsylvania and Michigan as well, and with them the election.
the article plays this off like a good news/bad news thing but I see it as more good than bad. Trump needs the upper Midwest to win in 2020 because he isn’t going to GAIN any states that he didn’t have last time. He has done nothing to win more votes.
We have other paths to beat him, but he doesn’t have much chance without those states. And I think we have a good chance there.
Relatedly, if you are from Wisconsin or a neighboring state, DO THIS:
And the Senate is a longshot, but also totally within our reach:
Poll finds Graham with just 2-point lead on Democratic challenger
A Change Research-Post and Courier poll released Friday shows that longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has just a 2-point lead on his Democratic challenger.
In the left-leaning poll, 47 percent of likely general election voters said that they would vote for Graham, 45 percent said that they would vote for Democratic challenger Jamie Harrison and 9 percent said that they were undecided.
Graham did not poll exceptionally high in favorability, with 38 percent of respondents viewing him very or somewhat favorably, and 53 percent of respondents viewing him very or somewhat unfavorably.
The poll had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Democrats are amazing
‘We ate their lunch’: Democrats claim legislative victories with dealmaker Trump
The revised trade agreement with Canada and Mexico won the enthusiastic support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Tuesday, with the union’s backing signaling to many Republicans that the trade deal was perhaps not in their favor. On Monday, lawmakers unveiled a White House-backed defense bill that includes 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal workers, despite the additional government spending that the new benefits would entail.
Pelosi told other House Democrats during a closed-door meeting Tuesday that “we ate their lunch,” referring to multiple changes White House officials made to the trade deal in recent weeks to win the support from labor groups.
another thing that we didn’t hear much about but is really good. Nancy got us a TON in that deal and that is wonderful
Kentucky governor restores former felons' voting rights
Newly sworn-in Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear restored voting rights for over 140,000 former felons in the state through an executive order, his office announced Thursday.
"My faith teaches me to treat others with dignity and respect. My faith also teaches forgiveness and that is why I am restoring voting rights to over one hundred forty thousand Kentuckians who have done wrong in the past, but are doing right now," Beshear, a Democrat, said in a statement. "I want to lift up all of our families and I believe we have a moral responsibility to protect and expand the right to vote."
Beshear also lamented the state's voter access issues, asserting that Kentucky has the third highest voter disenfranchisement rate nationwide with nearly 10% of people, and nearly 25% of African-Americans, in the state not being allowed to vote.
The House Judiciary Committee, in a historic vote that fell along party lines, on Friday approved articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, charging he abused his power and obstructed Congress.
"Today is a solemn and sad day," Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said after the vote in brief remarks to reporters. "For the third time in a little over a century and a half, the House Judiciary Committee has voted articles of impeachment against the president for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The House will act expeditiously."
The measures, which will likely be voted on by the full House on Wednesday, were passed by the committee after weeks of damaging testimony about Trump's alleged conduct from past and present diplomats and other government officials, as well as legal scholars. They asserted the president had improperly withheld security aid to Ukraine for political reasons, including seeking an investigation of the Bidens.
New York attorney general intensifies investigation into the NRA
The New York attorney general's office is intensifying its investigation into the National Rifle Association, recently issuing a new, wide-ranging subpoena to the gun rights organization that offers hints at where the high-profile probe is moving, a person familiar with the document told NBC News.
Cracks are showing
Houston police chief slams McConnell and Texas senators on gun violence
Houston Police chief Art Acevedo slammed Republican senators, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, during a news conference Monday for inaction on gun violence.
“I don't want to see their little smug faces about how much they care about law enforcement when I'm burying a sergeant because they don't want to piss off the NRA. Make up your minds, whose side are you on?"
Sinclair drops political commentary segments by former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn
Sinclair (SBGI) Broadcast Group, an influential owner of TV stations across the country, will no longer require stations to carry political commentary segments.
This means that Boris Epshteyn,
a former Trump aide, will no longer be showing up with pro-Trump talking points during evening newscasts from Baltimore to Seattle.
The "Bottom Line with Boris" segments were controversial both inside and outside the company, with some Sinclair journalists frustrated about the mandate to give up local news time for Fox-style right-wing opinion.
A pro-Trump county rebuked the president. It deserves our gratitude.
There was little reason for the people of Burleigh County, N.D., to debate whether they would continue welcoming refugees in their communities. President Trump largely made that decision for them by reducing the number of refugees admitted to the United States to historic lows.
Nevertheless, more than 500 Burleigh residents trudged to a middle school cafeteria Monday night despite frigid temperatures, then waited in line for hours so they could offer their thoughts on the matter. In doing so, they persuaded their elected officials to continue allowing a small portion of the Earth’s poor, huddled masses into their corner of America.
Great Legal News
Federal judge blocks Trump plan to spend $3.6 billion in military funds on border wall
A federal judge in El Paso on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s plan to pay for border barrier construction with $3.6 billion in military funds, ruling that the administration does not have the authority to divert money appropriated by Congress for a different purpose.
Multistate voter database suspended in lawsuit settlement
A much-criticized database that checks whether voters are registered in multiple states has been suspended “for the foreseeable future” until security safeguards are put in place as part of a settlement of a federal lawsuit, a civil rights group said Tuesday.
The Interstate Crosscheck program was the subject a class-action lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas on behalf of 945 voters whose partial Social Security numbers were exposed by Florida officials through an open records request.
Judge rejects government’s motion to toss suit over missing Trump-Putin meeting notes
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to toss out a lawsuit over missing notes documenting President Donald Trump’s face-to-face meetings with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
American Oversight and Democracy Forward, a pair of left-leaning watchdog groups, sued Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the State Department, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the archivist of the United States in June over the missing notes. The groups charge that Pompeo violated the Federal Records Act by allowing Trump to reportedly confiscate meeting notes prepared by State Department employees and for failing to preserve them.
The order by McFadden, a Trump appointee, means that the lawsuit will be allowed to move forward and gives the government until Jan. 10 to say whether Pompeo complied with federal records law or show why he was not obligated to do so.
State Department limited release of Pompeo contacts with Giuliani. A judge wants more
A federal judge ordered the State Department on Friday to expand its search for records of communication between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, regarding Ukraine policy.
and if you are freaking out about the SC taking on the Trump appeals, please take a deep breath and remember:
and:
so there is no “sure thing” to show that the SC will side with trump. Every justice except for Alito has shown at least some independence in this last term. Gorsuch has actually shown more than anyone else. So this is NOT a done deal… it is just going to take a little longer
AND this means that if we win (which I think we have a good chance of doing) this will come to a head right around June, which is damn good timing from our perspective.
Great News From Around The World
Hong Kong demonstrators see a massive turnout on the 6-month anniversary of protests
Protest groups say 800,000 people participated in pro-democracy demonstrations Sunday, the latest in a series of anti-government protests that began in June.
A Holocaust Survivor Received Anti-Semitic Threats, So Thousands of Supporters Rallied Around Her
A Holocaust survivor who has been put under police protection due to anti-Semitic threats was escorted Tuesday evening through the center of Milan by hundreds of Italian mayors and thousands of ordinary citizens behind a banner reading: “Hatred has no future.”
The World Solved the Ozone Problem. It Can Solve Climate Change.
The same tools that fixed the ozone hole — science, innovation and international action — can address it.
The bottom line is that the world, confronted with two dire threats to the earth’s fragile atmosphere, found two planetary responses with positive outcomes. The ozone layer is healing. That’s worth remembering as we struggle, often despairingly, to find common ground in the battle against climate change. Compared with the manifold complexities of global warming, dealing with ozone depletion was, in fact, relatively simple. But the key point is that it happened, and it’s worth asking why the world has not responded with similar resolve in dealing with the main global warming gases like carbon dioxide, about which we have known a lot for a long time.
Are there reasons now to hope for serious action? Yes: a trifecta of frightening reports in the last year from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the need to act before things spin out of control, on deforestation and other damaging land-use practices, on dying reefs and rising sea levels. Plus: a cascade of natural disasters, including catastrophic wildfires and hurricanes. Plus: the dramatic drop in the cost of producing carbon-free energy like wind and solar power. Plus: well-publicized concerns on the part of every contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, and equally well-publicized efforts by state and local officials, to fill the global leadership vacuum left by President Trump.
What David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, calls a “one-two punch of irrefutable science and irrefutable experience” has clearly raised public awareness and, perforce, the political temperature. To all this should be added the experience of Montreal and Kigali, and the catastrophe that did not happen.
That is it for today. Lots to be hopeful about and lots to keep us energized.
Still feeling anxious after all this good news? Check out this great advice from our own Jeremy Moses:
Remember that your anxiety is part of their scheme. They are trying to make you lose hope. It’s the same thing that McConnell pulled with Blasey Ford: Don’t bother coming to us with the truth, because no one will listen anyway. Remember that, while Kavanaugh was confirmed, it fired up Progressives like mad. And that was why McConnell wanted her (and us) to lose hope— because behind his assholery, he was frightened of that outcome. He doesn’t actually want to hold a trial, even a sham one, that will force his members to go on record for their indifference to trump’s corruption and criminality. That’s a bad look, bad for those members’ chances in their re-election races. It won’t win them any more support from their base… but it will cost them dearly among the moderates and independence whom they plan on lying to for their votes. You know how the Republican standard election strategy is to trust the base while pretending to be more moderate than they actually are to try to win others over? They won’t be able to do that after the vote to acquit trump. So McConnell wants us to give hope and forget about impeachment. Don’t give him what he wants.
I’ll be traveling for the last week of this month so I won’t be here next Saturday or the Saturday after. arhpdx is kindly going to fill in for me. Karij was kind enough to let me fill in for her on January 1st, so I will be here to ring in the new year with you all. Going to be a very exciting, often stressful, but really promising year!!! ❤️ I can’t wait to be here on the first day of it ❤️
Happy holidays everyone ❤️ Get some rest, we need to all be firing on all cylinders in 2020. BIGGEST. YEAR. EVER.
and finally: