Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Today is May 1st, also known as May Day. It’s a day that used to be celebrated, not exactly as the first day of spring, but mostly as a day when you could count on no more backslides into winter. Lots of flowers, dancing with ribbons around a maypole — a primitive form of tetherball — with the prettiest lass picked as the May queen.
It’s also International Workers Day, the “labo(u)r day” celebrated in many other countries, which is usually much more focused on workers (who are often now “essential” workers) than our version of Labor Day in September.
May Day is also what some you’re supposed to yell when you’re in trouble at sea or in airplanes. This is a mild corruption of M’aidez, which means “Help Me!” in polite French, because the expression evolved back when French was still the lingua franca.
Regular readers may wonder if they’ve wandered into a WineRev comment. I will halt this bit and simply say May Day can be celebrated many ways.
Now for today’s thoughtful nugget. POWER.
The Rs and especially tRump have specialized in being bullies, in order to demoralize and to stop us from exercising our power. But many of us have claimed back our power, and we have been working to increase our power.
We are fighting back. We are fighting back at the ballot box, in our consumer choices, in our refusal to harm others. We are fighting back for the children, for the environment, for ourselves and for others.
We are fighting for Truth. We are fighting for Love.
We — most of us anyway; my heart 💔 breaks for the tens of thousands of lives cut short — will get through this and we will work to make this world a better place.
I’m not alone in my view.
*
Are you worried about engagement on our side? I’m not. I have been receiving lots of phone calls from eager Ds encouraging me to vote, to support a particular candidate, to sign up for vote by mail, and so on. This has not happened in previous elections, so it’s a really good sign. Of course, we can’t afford to become complacent.
Come in and see how some of our allies are working to improve our world!
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 👎
The media is refusing to show wall-to-wall tRump:
Actually, as tRump’s so f-— awful, less exposure might help him.
We have been learning just how badly tRump screwed up — how many warnings he received and ignored. Washington Post
The first mention of the coronavirus in the PDB came at the beginning of January, focusing on what at that point were troubling signs of a new virus spreading through the Chinese city of Wuhan, and the Chinese government’s apparent efforts to conceal details of the outbreak.
In the ensuing weeks, U.S. intelligence agencies devoted additional resources and departments to tracking the spread of the coronavirus. At the CIA, the effort involved agency centers on China, Europe and Latin America, as well as departments devoted to transnational health threats, officials said. ✂️
The warnings conveyed in the PDB probably will be a focus of any future investigation of the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, in early April called for the formation of an independent commission analogous to the one created to investigate the Sept, 11, 2001, attacks.
I have to imagine the remaining members of the intelligence community are really, really pissed, because tRump has been telling lies about them for years. Anyway, the truth is coming out, both through leaks and through investigations. These people will be working on determining the nature and extent of some of the screw ups.
💜 Amazing !!! that there needs to be a poll on this, but there is:
For once, Ds and Rs agree on something! Don’t drink bleach! As for the other 2%, who knows? I choose to believe that, although 2% of the Rs might seriously consider tRump’s advice, 2% of the Ds simply could not take the pollster seriously.
This is weird. I guess Pence’s I-don’t-need-a-mask stunt didn’t go over so well. But the only people the Pences need to fool are Fox News viewers, so they have that going for them.
Apparently Pence was shamed into doing something sensible, or maybe he’s sensible enough to realize he was risking — not just the lives of Americans — but his own.
tRump is losing his mind over reports he’s losing his mind Vanity Fair
Donald Trump has never been the picture of mental stability, but over the last few weeks he’s appeared to crank up the crazy from about a 45 to a 337. From seemingly proposing intravenous Lysol as a coronavirus cure to claiming the United States is close to testing 5 million people a day for COVID-19—a number so completely absurd that he might as well have said we’ll soon be running 8 billion tests a day—to reportedly threatening to sue his campaign manager over a dimming 2020 outlook, the president has well and truly lost whatever remaining shred of sanity he once had on reserve.
That people have had the audacity to point out how having a full-fledged lunatic in charge of the country during an unprecedented crisis is not exactly ideal has of course not gone over well in the Oval Office, whose inhabitant believes he’s the most reasonable, compos mentis person on earth (just ask him—he’ll tell you). After claiming in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that he simply doesn’t “believe the polls” showing his reelection prospects circling the drain, the president—who is working so hard to overcome the pandemic that he sometimes only has 10 minutes for lunch—proceeded to tuck in for roughly 12 hours of screeching in a pitch only dogs can hear, tweeting and retweeting more than 56 times on everything from “DIRTY COP JAMES COMEY” to the wisdom of forcing meatpacking plants to stay open without worker protections to a plot by Democrats to “steal” the election. Mostly, though, he trained his fire on various journalists reporting his blowup with campaign manager Brad Parscale, sounding like a guy explaining to his cellmate at the asylum that this is all a big mix-up, he was framed, and he doesn’t actually belong here. ✂️
So anyway, the president is clearly well beyond the point where, were he not president, he would have been dropped off by his kids at a nice facility for “some rest.” Only in this case, we’re just letting him carry on running the country.
I admit I don’t mind.
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
Every single piece of data aligns against tRump Washington Post
Polls in battleground states show the same thing. Trump trails Biden in GOP-leaning — but senior citizen heavy — Florida by more than 3 points. He trails in two of the last three polls taken in purplish North Carolina, and he’s behind in the pivotal state of Arizona by more than 4 points. He’s also behind in the trio of states that propelled him to presidency — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Every single piece of data aligns: Trump is behind and dropping.
McConnell has been so bad at this coronavirus stuff that Rubin is wondering if he’s trying to lose Washington Post
McConnell’s indifference to the burgeoning train wreck in state and local government, we see in poll after poll, is out of sync with voters’ desire for more government involvement and federal aid. The latest Morning Consult poll shows that "74 percent of registered voters, including 84 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of Republicans, agreed that the federal government should be responsible for providing financial support to states during the coronavirus pandemic.” Note, that’s 65 percent of Republicans.
It’s not clear this is even popular in Kentucky, where McConnell is standing for reelection. The University of Kentucky is already laying off and furloughing employees, and the state assembly is cutting libraries and forgoing raises for public K-12 teachers. In Louisville, which faces a $115 million budget shortfall, “The mayor said businesses losing money are not paying the amount of tax expected, many employees have also been laid off or furloughed which takes a cut at the largest portion of budget revenues. ... If no solution is worked out by October 1, the mayor said they will have to consider [laying] off about 1,000 city employees which equals about 20% of all city workers.”
The Rs are in disarray. Here’s some sweet, sweet evidence. Of course, Romney is persona non grata among tRump sycophants:
Some people (even here) have been worried that Biden has assaulted a woman. I don’t believe it. Read about Reade here. Daily Kos
After extensive interviews with Tara Reade, The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow and the New York Times’s Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey — all of whom won Pulitzer Prizes for their meticulous coverage of the 2017 Harvey Weinstein investigation — refused to report on her story, because there were too many inconsistencies and claims which could not be substantiated.
And if you need more assurances, look at this opinion in USA Today. Lots of reasons for doubt given by someone who has prosecuted many sexual assault cases.
►People who contradict Reade’s claim. After the alleged assault, Reade said she complained about Biden's harassment to Marianne Baker, Biden’s executive assistant, as well as to top aides Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman. All three Biden staffers recently told The New York Times that she made no complaint to them.
And they did not offer the standard, noncommittal “I don’t remember any such complaint.” The denials were firm. “She did not come to me. If she had, I would have remembered her,” Kaufman said. Toner made a similar statement. And from Baker: “I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct (by Biden), period." Baker said such a complaint, had Reade made it, "would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and as a manager.”
►Missing formal complaint. Reade told The Times she filed a written complaint against Biden with the Senate personnel office. But The Times could not find any complaint. When The Times asked Reade for a copy of the complaint, she said she did not have it. Yet she maintained and provided a copy of her 1993 Senate employment records. ✂️
Reade’s distaste for America closely tracked her new infatuation with Russia and Putin. She referred to Putin as a “genius” with an athletic prowess that “is intoxicating to American women.” Then there’s this gem: “President Putin has an alluring combination of strength with gentleness. His sensuous image projects his love for life, the embodiment of grace while facing adversity.”
Hmm, maybe Reade is intoxicated!?! (She said it first!) There’s also this DailyKos piece on the same USA Today editorial. The USA Today link was very annoying, so you may prefer that.
Instead, consider this — a much more likely story:
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
GOP-Led NC County Tries to Rebel, then Backs Off Talking Points Memo
It took only hours for the Republican commissioners of North Carolina’s Gaston County to back off their announcement that county businesses could reopen Wednesday evening despite Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) stay-at-home order.
Earlier Wednesday morning, the commissioners came out guns blazing with their green light for businesses, including gyms, dine-in restaurants and sporting venues, to open at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, despite the fact that Cooper’s order lasts until May 8.
A few hours later, the commissioners issued a revised order highlighting that the county was still subject to the governor’s executive order.
This is happening all over the country, because the locals (Rs and Ds) don’t want to go back to work if it means a much greater risk of death.
Jaime Harrison 💙 just snagged a top donor to Lindsey Graham Daily Kos
H/T to hpg:
Democratic primary voters gave a Buckye boot to an Ohio sheriff who cooperated with ICE DailyKos
Democratic primary voters in Cincinnati, Ohio on Tuesday gave the boot to a Trump rally-attending sheriff who collaborated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by wrongfully holding immigrants for deportation, The Appeal reports. Challenger Charmaine McGuffey, who will become Hamilton County’s first openly gay sheriff should she win the general election, ousted her former boss Jim Neil by a “resounding” 70% to 30%.
Immigration “loomed large over this sheriff’s primary,” The Appeal said. “Neil has long faced protests against his relationship with ICE. He honors ICE’s warrantless requests (detainers), which enable the agency to continue detaining certain people at the local jail beyond their scheduled release. McGuffey told the Political Report in March that she would no longer honor detainers if elected.”
GOP senators — in Georgia! — are worried about keeping their seats CNN
(CNN)Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican up for reelection and a close Trump confidant, issued a blunt warning to GOP activists during an off-the-record conference call this week: Democrats are in position to turn his state blue and take the Senate.
"Here's the reality: The state of Georgia is in play," Perdue said Monday, according to an audio recording of a call with "Women for Trump" obtained by CNN. "The Democrats have made it that way."
The stark warning from a GOP senator -- who is not considered among the most vulnerable Republicans this election cycle -- illustrates the fear among Republicans that Democrats' chances of taking back the Senate continue to grow.
tRump threatens to sue his own campaign manager New York Magazine
Here are a few known facts about Donald Trump:
1. He cares a lot about his poll numbers.
2. His polling is very bad right now.
3. He never accepts responsibility for any problem he faces.
4. He frequently threatens to sue people, lack of merit notwithstanding.
Given the above, it may not sound completely implausible that, during a recent tirade, Trump threatened to sue his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, according to CNN and the Washington Post.
We can assume this suit won’t proceed, but it’s great evidence the tRump campaign is in trouble. And here’s some speculation from an opinion in the Washington Post
There’s something unusual in the story of Trump reacting so strongly to this “grim” polling data from his advisers. For the entirety of the primary campaign, in trail heats Trump has run behind not only Biden but the other Democrats who ran for president as well. Him trailing Biden would not be news to his campaign, or even to Trump himself, despite his ample powers of denial. Which means that those polls must have been really bad for Trump.
The most hilarious part of the story is that in order to make amends, Parscale later came to the White House with “polling numbers that were more positive for Trump, and the president seemed in a far better mood.” The most powerful person on earth is essentially a toddler whose volatile moods need to be carefully managed by those around him. Perhaps Parscale also brought him a lollipop to soothe his tender feelings.
📣🏅 Let’s Honor Truth 🏅☀️
I will follow the lead of the Pulitzer committee and honor David Fahrenthold, whose reporting has unburied so many facts. ️You are a noble writer indeed! Independent
The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold has won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting, which included the revelation that Donald Trump had made false claims about his charitable fundraising as well as breaking the news of the tape in which the tycoon bragged about groping women.
During the US election campaign last year, the reporter investigated the President’s philanthropic works over his business career, revealing that Mr Trump had made his fundraising seem more impressive than it actually was.
Following Mr Fahrenthold's reporting, the New York Attorney General opened an inquiry into the Trump Foundation fundraising practices, and ultimately issued a “notice of violation” ordering the foundation to stop raising money in New York.
I think it’s important to follow the reporters without borders.
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
23 Organizations Eliminating Food Waste During Pandemic Ecowatch
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has upended nearly every aspect of modern society, but especially the food system. Farmers are being forced to discard unprecedented amounts of food surplus because of the closure of schools, restaurants, and hotels. And, because of the complex logistics of the food supply chain, diverting food supply away from wholesalers directly into the hands of consumers can be costly. Experts like Dana Gunders from ReFED are concerned that more food waste will be produced in 2020 than in previous years.
Despite these challenges, organizations around the world are working to reduce food waste. In honor of Stop Food Waste Day on the 29th of April, Food Tank is highlighting 23 organizations and companies trying to eliminate pandemic-fueled food waste. ✂️
Brothers Produce is the largest Texas-based food and beverage distributor, supplying goods to retailers in Texas and Louisiana. In response to the pandemic, Brothers Produce has developed a new business model where boxes of fresh produce are sold directly to customers instead of companies. This ensures that food surplus that would otherwise be thrown away is redistributed and helps to keep the business afloat.
📎📎Odds & Ends 📎📎
Oxford endowment ditches fossil fuels Ecowatch
At the behest of student activist raising awareness about the climate crisis, universities around the world have recently been pulling their investments from the fossil fuel industry.
The University of California pulled all $84 billion in its pension and endowment funds from gas, coal and oil in the fall. Sustained pressure from Georgetown University Fossil Free successfully persuaded the school to divest from fossil fuels and boost its investments in renewable energy earlier this year.
The latest school to commit to a fossil-free future is the renowned British institution the University of Oxford, which also asked its fund managers to show evidence of net-zero business plans, as the BBC reported. The school, which has more than $3.7 billion in its endowment fund, made the announcement on Monday.
Pakistan hires laborers to plant trees Good News Network
Although the novel coronavirus pandemic has driven thousands of workers into unemployment, the Pakistani government has found a way to provide jobs to their citizens while also reforesting the nation.
According to Reuters, Pakistan has created more than 63,000 jobs for unemployed day laborers by relaunching the nation’s ambitious 10 Billion Tree Tsunami campaign.
The 5-year initiative, which was started by Prime Minister Imran Khan back in 2018, was temporarily shut down in mid-March as a result of the country’s quarantine. With thousands of agricultural workers facing unemployment amidst the lockdowns, however, the program was relaunched earlier this month.
And, because we need a reminder that we share experiences with our ancestors:
How on earth did they get the mask on the cat?
💙 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 Republicans who are distressed. 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.