Good Day, Gnuville! I’m pressed for time so I won’t stop to chat in this introductory paragraph — just going to leave this tweet here (which is advice I took, thank the stars!! CAN NOT take Republicans grandstanding!). In due course, Judge Jackson will be confirmed and that is all that matters. I’m going to save my sanity and not get caught up in the usual R-drama.
OK, except for this story — I mean, you have to hand it to Sen. Leahy for stinging Rafael Cruz by referring to him as “the junior senator from Texas” 🤣):
Democratic senator throws treatment of Merrick Garland in the faces of Republicans whining about Kavanaugh, Sarah K Burris, Raw Story, March 22, 2022.
"I was going to respond to something the junior senator from Texas said yesterday," said Leahy. "He suggested Democrats exacted a political agenda by opposing the nominations in Judge [Neil] Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. I kind of chuckle at that because along with others, others repeatedly and clearly stated substantive concerns with Justice Gorsuch's nomination."
"There's no political agenda. I contrast that with Republicans' treatment of Judge Merrick Garland. We're still waiting for the substantive concerns with Merrick Garland. They blocked him for over a year and wouldn't even allow a vote on his nomination. apparently because of a politically driven agenda."
🎶 Opening Music for a Weary World 🎶
Let’s Check Out Good News from States
california
While the US Senate grills the woman who may become our first black female Associate Justice, another woman is making a first in California:
Judge Patricia Guerrero Confirmed As 1st Latina On California Supreme Court, Brian Melley, AP via HuffPost, March 22, 2022.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A San Diego appeals court judge who is the daughter of Mexican immigrants was confirmed Tuesday as the first Latina to serve on the California Supreme Court.
Justice Patricia Guerrero was approved by a 3-0 vote of the Commission on Judicial Appointments to fill the vacancy left by Associate Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, who stepped down last year. ✂️
“Justice Guerrero is phenomenal on multiple levels,” said Stella Ngai, chair of the commission. “She is universally lauded for her superior intellect, clear writing, judicial temperament, work ethic and compassion.” ✂️
Newsom has made diversity on the bench a priority. In 2020, he nominated the first openly gay justice, Martin Jenkins, who is the third Black person to serve on the court.
still California, plus washington and oregon!
The fact that Roe V Wade is likely to be overturned this year by the most extreme activist conservative SCOTUS in recent memory is not good news. At all. More than half of US states will immediately ban abortion outright, or impose draconian restrictions. The good news here is that Democratic-led states are already preparing for the reality that thousands of women will be facing in the not too distant future. In anticipation of increasing numbers of out of state patients coming for abortion care, Democratic led states are getting ready to help:
California governor signs law making abortions cheaper, Adam Beam, AP, March 22, 2022.
That would force lots of women to travel to other states to get abortions, prompting Democratic-led states like California to propose and pass new laws to prepare for them. Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law aimed at banning legal action against people who aid or receive an abortion, a measure responding to a law in Texas that lets people sue abortion providers or those who assist them.
Oregon lawmakers included $15 million in their state budget to help pay for people to travel to the state to get abortions. California has a similar bill, one of 14 proposals aimed at expanding and protecting access to abortion in the nation’s most populous state. The bills were inspired by a report from the Future of Abortion Council, a group Newsom convened last year to advise him on how to respond should Roe v. Wade be overturned.✂️
California already requires health insurance companies to cover abortions. But insurers often charge things like co-pays and deductibles that can add an average of $543 to the cost of a medication abortion and $887 to the cost of a procedural abortion, according to an analysis by the California Health Benefits Review Program.
Here in Illinois, we also have strong protection in place for reproductive Rights.
Illinois
Chicago joins bandwagon of cities divesting city funds from fossil fuel companies, Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun✶Times, March 22, 2022.
This is our city’s flag. Isn’t it pretty?
Even before the groundbreaking vote by the City Council’s Joint Committee on Finance and Environmental Protection, City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin got a running start and “divested all applicable funds” from the “top 225 fossil fuel companies.” ✂️
Conyears-Ervin said it’s high time Chicago divest from fossil fuels and join “some of the most forward-thinking and forward-acting cities in the world … that do not invest in fossil fuel companies that fail to protect our planet from climate change.”
Cities taking similar steps include New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Austin, Boston, New Orleans and Philadelphia, as well as a host of cities large and small worldwide.
They’re among “roughly 1,500 institutions representing $39 trillion in assets” that have committed to “some form of divestment,” alderpersons were told.
Michigan
🎩 to T Maysle for this great news from Michigan:
🏳️🌈 States Feeling pushback on LGBTQ Rights 🏳️🌈
Utah and Indiana
The recent spate of ugly, bigoted anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ laws seems to have been brought to a screeching halt this week. The governors of Indiana and Utah both vetoed their states’ vicious bills and the pressure is rising in Florida as DeSatan is expected to sign his state’s version of the hatred laws. This pressure and the fact that some governors are backing away from codifying hatred into state laws is GOOD NEWS:
Utah governor becomes latest to veto transgender sports ban, Lindsay Whitehurst and Sam Metz, AP, March 22, 2022.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed a ban on transgender students playing girls’ sports on Tuesday, becoming the second Republican governor this week to overrule state lawmakers who have taken on youth sports in a broader culture war over how Americans view gender and sexuality.
Cox joins Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who vetoed a statewide ban on Monday. Holcomb said Indiana’s Legislature had not demonstrated that transgender kids had undermined fairness in sports.
Cox, for his part, referenced the potential effects on transgender youth.
“I struggle to understand so much of it and the science is conflicting. When in doubt however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion,” Cox wrote in a letter to Utah legislative leaders.
I appreciate Gov. Cox’s default to the “side of kindness, mercy and compassion” and I also wonder if this moment in history — this time of the ferocious push from the right to roll back recently-won rights (eg. for women and other marginalized people) and to forcibly re-establish white male Christian dominance over everyone else — may actually be faltering. After all, the vast majority of us want to continue to progress socially and civically. Perhaps even some of these right wing governors have recognized reality and decided to try to ride with it.
Florida
Meanwhile in Florida: Disney in balancing act as some workers walk out in protest, Mike Schneider and Brendan Farrington, AP, March 22, 2022.
Throughout the day, pockets of employees staged demonstrations at various sites across the country, including near Orlando’s Walt Disney World and Walt Disney Animation Studios in California. According to a Disney official, there had been no interruptions in any operations.✂️
The debate forced the company into a balancing act between the expectations of a diverse workforce and demands from an increasingly polarized, politicized marketplace.
On one side are LGBTQ advocates and Disney employees calling for the walkout in protest of CEO Bob Chapek’s slow response in publicly criticizing Florida legislation that opponents dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The legislation awaiting the governor’s signature bars instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. ✂️
Disney has long been influential in Florida politics, tending to support Republicans who have been in control of Tallahassee, the state capital, for two decades, but also being more open on social issues, said Patricia Campos-Medina, co-director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University. “That’s why people felt surprised that they wanted to stay quiet on this issue,” she said.
Walkout organizers maintain that withholding political contributions isn’t enough.
Re Disney — even though the numbers of protesting employees were small, the company is clearly feeling the heat and were moved to post statements on their social media claiming to oppose “any legislation that infringes on basic human rights” and stands “in solidarity” with LGBTQ employees “who make their voices heard today and every day.”
More here: Disney’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Problem Keeps Getting Worse, Kate Briquelet, Daily Beast, March 22, 2022.
A timely perspective on “women’s sports”
A major argument from the right (and even some progressives) is that sport is an area where maybe trans women do not belong, because it “won’t be fair” to cis girls and women competing. That claim has given many sincere people pause.
So, here is a perspective on “women’s” sports that I thought was illuminating and important food for thought. I understand that some gnusies prefer not to go to twitter to read things, so I will post the whole thread here It is well worth reading (if you cannot see these embedded tweets for some reason, you can read Dr. Bekker’s remarks in blog form at Holding Space.:
NiftyNote: (from Dr. Bekker’s blog: re — Exhibit B1: women are beating men in ultra-endurance racing ‼️(particularly fascinating is the story of Jasmin Paris who won the Spine Race and smashed the record held by a man by 12 hours, all whilst breastfeeding her young child). ‼️👀‼️
That insert has words cut off on the side, so here it is:
Women’s sports is not a defensive structure from which men are excluded so that women might flourish. It is, in fact, the opposite of this: it is, potentially, a radically inclusive space which has the capacity to destroy the public’s ideas about gender and gender difference precisely because gender is always in play in women’s sports in ways that it is not in men’s sports (with a few exceptions — eg. figure skating). Because men have been so committed to the “end of women’s sports” for so long, women’s sports thrives in the zone of destruction. It has its own character thanks to the gender trouble at its origin. If women’s sports has one job that really is different from men’s sports, it is the destruction of sex/gender difference. Men’s sports (with a few exceptions which prove the rule) reinforce ideologies of gender difference. Women’s sports destroy them.
March is women’s history month.
🎶 Timeless Music for Women 🎶
Democrats Deliver
Rep. Gerry Connolly hasn’t given up on EVs for the USPS: Can Congress Stop Louis DeJoy’s Plan to Buy a Fleet of Gas-Guzzling Trucks? Abigail Weinberg, Mother Jones, March 22, 2022.
CG likes this picture to represent the USPS.
This month, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) introduced a bill that would prohibit the United States Postal Service from moving forward with a contract for a new fleet of mail trucks unless 75 percent of those trucks are electric. ✂️
The USPS, with its generally short routes and designated nightly parking spots, ought to be a perfect use case for electric vehicles, but it’s been hampered by bureaucracy, billions of dollars of made-up debt, and a postmaster general seemingly averse to spending and risk. ✂️
In early March, Congress passed a bill with overwhelming bipartisan support to overhaul the USPS’s finances. So Connolly doesn’t buy DeJoy’s argument that an electric fleet would be too expensive. Plus, he said, “with gas prices as high as they are right now, there’s a real opportunity to save money both at the operational level and with this capital investment.”
Republicans in Disarray
Here’s hoping all the infighting will help Democrats in Missouri!
Greitens’ Ex-Wife Stands By Her Allegations As Greitens Complains That McConnell Wants To Sideline Him, Summer Concepcion, TPM, March 22, 2022.
Sheena Greitens, the ex-wife of Missouri Senate GOP candidate Eric Greitens (R), said Tuesday that “I stand by my sworn statements” alleging domestic abuse against her ex-husband as he continues to deny her claims — and to claim the abuse allegations are simply part of a conspiracy to oust him from the race driven by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). ✂️
The Tuesday statement combats her ex-husband’s bizarre public claims that the allegations are part of a political hit job meant to topple his career — and led by none other than the minority leader.
During an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast hours after news of the allegations broke on Monday, Eric Greitens denied his ex-wife’s allegations. He also vowed to oppose McConnell’s speakership if he wins the GOP primary and general election in the fall, landing himself in the Senate.
Pot, meet kettle 🤣
Seditious fist-pumper Josh Hawley has thoughts about vicious abuser Eric Greitens:
‘You Belong in Handcuffs, Not the United States Senate’: Josh Hawley Calls on Fellow Republican to Drop Out of Senate Race, Michael Luciano, Mediaite, March 21, 2022.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) called on disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens (R-MO) to quit his U.S. Senate campaign in light of a recent court filing by the latter’s ex-wife.
Greitens resigned as Missouri governor in 2018 after he admitted to having an affair with his hairdresser. The woman alleged that Greitens was physically and sexually abusive toward her and took compromising photos without her consent in an effort to blackmail her. He has denied the allegations.
On Monday, the Washington Post reported that Greitens’ ex-wife Sheena Greitens, said in a court filing as part of a custody battle that the former governor was physically abusive toward her and their children. ✂️
Hawley, Missouri’s other senator, called on Greitens to quit the race shortly after publication of the Post article, which he tweeted.
From the FAFO File
This disaster will finish Putin. Bad for him, good news for the world.
As Russia Stalls in Ukraine, Dissent Brews Over Putin’s Leadership, Anton Troianovski and Michael Schwirtz, New York Times, March 22, 2022.
In January, the head of a group of serving and retired Russian military officers declared that invading Ukraine would be “pointless and extremely dangerous.” It would kill thousands, he said, make Russians and Ukrainians enemies for life, risk a war with NATO and threaten “the existence of Russia itself as a state.” ✂️
In Russia, the slow going and the heavy toll of President Vladimir V. Putin’s war on Ukraine are setting off questions about his military’s planning capability, his confidence in his top spies and loyal defense minister, and the quality of the intelligence that reaches him. It also shows the pitfalls of Mr. Putin’s top-down governance, in which officials and military officers have little leeway to make their own decisions and adapt to developments in real time.✂️
The lack of progress is so apparent that a blame game has begun among some Russian supporters of the war — even as Russian propaganda claims that the slog is a consequence of the military’s care to avoid harming civilians. Igor Girkin, a former colonel in Russia’s F.S.B. intelligence agency and the former “defense minister” of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, said in a video interview posted online on Monday that Russia had made a “catastrophically incorrect assessment” of Ukraine’s forces. ✂️
The failures in Ukraine have started to create fissures within Russian leadership, according to Andrei Soldatov, an author and expert on Russia’s military and security services. The top Russian intelligence official in charge of overseeing the recruitment of spies and diversionary operations in Ukraine has been put under house arrest along with his deputy, Mr. Soldatov said. Even Russia’s defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, who vacations with Mr. Putin and has been spoken of as a potential presidential successor, has suffered a loss of standing, according to Mr. Soldatov’s sources.
Abramovich could face US sanctions after hedge fund links revealed, Edward Helmore, the Guardian, March 22, 2022.
Abramovich, who is believed to be in Moscow, has not been placed on US sanctions lists, despite what is reported to be a frantic effort by him to sell funds via Concord on the secondary market since at least late February.
One of his yachts, the 533-foot Eclipse, equipped with two swimming pools, helipads and a mini-submarine, is currently docked in New York. ✂️
But the Biden administration has identified his Gulfstream G650ER jet, considered one of the most prestigious in private aviation, for apparent violations of US export controls after it broke sanctions by flying to Moscow in recent weeks.
Despite Abramovich not being named by the US, a number of US-based hedge funds have reportedly agreed to freeze his assets under guidance from the UK.
“Currently, accounts attributed to Roman Abramovich are blocked from transacting. As such, any distributions, redemptions or payment cannot be made and no subscriptions or contributions can be accepted,” fund administrator SS&C Globe Op wrote.
(Psst! You can help oligarchs who FA,FO!) The US is offering to pay rewards of up to $5 million for information about Russian oligarchs' yachts, mansions, and other assets, Sarah Jackson, business insider, March 19, 2022.
The US government wants your help getting ahold of stolen assets held by Russian oligarchs — and it's willing to pay a pretty penny for it.
The Treasury Department is offering rewards of up to $5 million for information about Russian elites' yachts, mansions, private jets, and other property through an effort known as the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program.
Through the program, rewards are given for information leading to the restraint, seizure, forfeiture, or repatriation of stolen assets in an account at a US financial institution, that enter the US, or that come into the possession or control of a US person.
The Treasury is after assets "linked to corruption involving the government of the Russian Federation," the Department said on its website.
'Ominous warning sign': Here's how 'Cowboys for Trump' founder's conviction bodes ill for MAGA rioters, Matthew Chapman, Raw Story, March 22, 2022.
"What message does this send to other defendants?" said MacFarlane. "I asked Griffin if he might recommend other defendants seek out a bench trial, due to the fact that he was found not guilty on one count, and he told me, I don't know, it's like putting your eggs in one basket as opposed to twelve. And he was, at one point in the courtroom, shaking his head no as he heard the judge issue his ruling, and in the courtroom was trying to console or comfort the members of the 'Cowboys for Trump' and other supporters who were in the front couple rows of the courtroom after the verdict was issued. And then outside, he held court with a group of people filming him with cell phone cameras, talking about all kinds of things like federal vaccine mandates, talking about Prince Andrew, talking about the Holocaust."
"He's going to be sentenced in June, facing up to a year in prison," said McFarlane. "We'll see if any of his comments impact him at sentencing. But there is a message sent to the hundreds of other defendants who will eventually face at least the prospect of trial. There have been two cases that have gone to trial, and gone to verdict. And so far, there have been two convictions."
Cyber Ninjas ex-CEO — and his wife — lose court effort over release of public documents: report, Bob Brigham, Raw Story, March 22, 2022.
Remember the bogus “audit”?
"A Maricopa County Superior Court Judge on Thursday said The Arizona Republic can name the former CEO of Cyber Ninjas and his wife as directly responsible for public records the news organization has tried to obtain for nearly a year," the newspaper reported. "Arizona Senate President Karen Fann contracted with Cyber Ninjas to conduct a review of the 2020 Maricopa County election, and the company led a team of contractors that sorted through ballots last summer at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum."
The company has refused to turn over the documents, losing multiple times in court in a consolidated case filed by the newspaper and the left-of-center watchdog group American Oversight.
"When Cyber Ninjas refused to comply with court orders, a judge in January hit the company with sanctions of $50,000 a day until the records are released. Those sanctions now top $2 million, yet former CEO Doug Logan has given no indication he intends to comply, stating during a contentious deposition he is waiting for clearer orders from the court," the newspaper reported. "Logan also claimed he was dissolving Cyber Ninjas amid financial troubles, which prompted The Republic in February to ask the court's permission to name Logan and his wife, Meghan, as defendants."
A Guy Calling Himself ‘Ricky Bobby’ Is Tearing the MAGA Trucker Convoy Apart, Mack Lamoureaux, Vice, March 22, 2022.
A tailgate party invitation, offered by a man using the name of a legendary Will Ferrell character, resulted in a threatening and chaotic morning for the protesting trucker convoy. ✂️
In a rambling speech, Murphy eventually invited attendees over to a tailgate party that he and a streamer named Jersey Jay would be having at the “back 40” for folks to air their many grievances. Murphy also mentioned something about knowing the group's next location and promised it would have "indoor bathrooms" and spoke about how the trucker organizers aren't allowing some attendees to have a say.
This didn’t sit well with the trucker brass watching his speech. When the mic was finally handed off, a convoy organizer, clearly upset, began raging about how Murphy didn’t speak for the convoy and urged those in attendance not to be “led astray.” But Murphy had an extra hooked-up mic on him. So when he talked back to the organizer—saying “If you don’t want the people to have a voice, I can’t support this"—it was amplified. This pushed the top brass and their supporters over the edge. ✂️
“It’s going to get really ugly, really fast,” one guy said to him. “Take your speakers and get out,” a wide-eyed older man yelled. Finally, after some mediation, the situation quieted down and the group prayed together— their third prayer of the morning.
Texas QAnoners 'falling apart' amid accusations of donations theft and threats of violence: report, Tom Boggioni, Raw Story, March 22, 2022.
According to a report from Vice News, the group headed by authoritarian leader Michael Protzman has seen its numbers dwindle from approximately 100 members down to two dozen as followers have left the group and gone back to their lives or have formed splinter groups that are battling with their former comrades.
As Vice's David Gilbert is reporting, "Protzman’s predictions have torn families apart, leading husbands to divorce wives and children to disown parents. Followers have also been left destitute after donating all their money to the group. Protzman has claimed that a coming “global reset” will wipe out all their debts," adding that now "cracks are beginning to appear."
"The group has dwindled in size from over 100 to just over a few dozen, and in recent weeks the group has split into at least three factions, with each splinter group making wild allegations against the others...According to an open-source researcher that has been following the group, who goes by the name of "Karma," the end is nigh.
🚨 Irony Alert
Zachary Petrizzo continues with his wry reporting on the lol “convoy”:
I’m not wishing severe illness on anyone, and am sending tots and pears for all the members of that clown convoy. I’m sure they’ll be okay, and hopefully the misery of a bad spring cold will encourage them to go the hell home out of it.
🎶 Music for Decent People thinking about MAGA 🎶
🐩💙 CG’s Picks 💙🐩
Hi Everybody! It’s me, Curlygirl! Today I have WONDERFUL news!! Poodles are now back in the top five favorite dog breeds in America! Apparently, we were pretty popular in the middle 20th century, too, but some dog named Puppy Longstocking (or something like that) won a big contest and then everybody wanted puppies from him and so everybody got their dogs to have puppies with that Puppy Longstocking dog and pretty soon just about every poodle in North America was descended from that dog and well, that is NOT GOOD. When dogs are too closely related, the breed starts to have health issues and behavioral issues and that’s what happened to poodles. Yikes! BUT, then smart breeders like my breeder (who is a vet!) started to work really hard to bring genetic diversity and rigorous health testing back and now responsible breeders make sure their dogs are health tested and genetically tested before breeding. My poodle mama was four years old before she had me and my littermates — we were her very first litter! — and so was our papa! This is because it takes years for dogs to be old enough to have all the testing to ensure that known health issues and genetic weaknesses are not present. I am glad that my breeder was so smart and has helped my breed thrive and return to good health!
Poodles pop in popularity, but Labs still No. 1 US dog breed, Jennifer Peltz, AP, March 15, 2022.
I am not just pretty — I am healthy, too!
NEW YORK (AP) — Labrador retrievers are still tugging hardest on U.S. dog lovers’ heartstrings, but poodles just strutted back into the American Kennel Club’s top five most popular dog breeds for the first time in nearly a quarter-century.✂️
After Labs, the top 10 are: French bulldogs, golden retrievers, German shepherds, poodles, bulldogs, beagles, Rottweilers, German shorthaired pointers and dachshunds. ✂️
Poodles historically were water retrievers, and they remain athletic animals renowned for their smarts, not to mention their allergy-friendly coats. Hinds-Athan’s poodles have made therapy visits in hospitals and compete in obedience. Other poodles work as guide dogs for the blind, hunt or compete in agility or other dog sports.
Mama and I really like foxes. Did you know that foxes are members of the dog family? I may be related to some of them! But what I want to know is — if foxes are in the canidae family, how come their babies are called kits? 🤔 Anyway, here is a video about some nice humans who help some baby foxes and then they put them in an open box so their mother can find them and take them to a better den. And boy does she! Just as quick as a wink!
Mama and I also really like deer and especially little fawns (that’s what baby deers are called — which makes more sense than baby foxes being called kits, if you ask me). Anyway, here is a nice little story about a baby deer fawn who lost his mother and he tried to get a lady in the woods to be his mother, but the lady thought she had better not separate him from his real mother (she thought his mother might have left him alone on purpose — although Mama and I have seen plenty of does and fawns together all day long — so I don’t think they make it a habit to leave babies alone all day long) and the lady thought the same thing after a while and she couldn’t stop thinking about the fawn so she and a friend went back and found him! Then they took care of him until they found a nice place where they look after baby animals who have no mothers and he lived happily ever after! The end. 🥰
That’s all the stories I have for you today. Bye for now! Love, CG 💙🐾
⚡️ Lightning Roundup ⚡️
⚡️ Meditation Can Be Used To Calm Your Mind And Help You Sleep. Here’s How. Katie Camero, BuzzFeedNews, March 22, 2022.
⚡️ Helpful: How to become news-resilient, Oliver Burkeman, Positive News, March 21, 2022.
⚡️ R&R: Five Books in Which Romance Sneaks Up on You, Carole V Bell, the Atlantic, March 22, 2022.
⚡️ Four reasons to be hopeful about the planned global plastics treaty, Elizabeth Kirk, Positive News, March 22, 2022.
⚡️ If you’ve been vexed by the CDC, you may find this longish article interesting: We’re Expecting the Wrong Things From the CDC, Tim Requarth, Slate, March 21, 2022.
⚡️ This is really encouraging: Xi, Putin and Trump: The Strongmen Follies, Thomas Friedman, New York Times, March 22, 2022.
⚡️ Not just a “puff piece” 😁: Putin's puffy coat and Zelenskyy's T-shirts show the power of fashion in war, Fernando Alfonso lll, NPR, March 22, 2022.
⚡️ A Nation Worth Fighting For, David Frum, the Atlantic, March 22, 2022.
⚡️Highly recommend baking! I tried one of Dolly Parton’s new cake mixes, and it got me out of my 9-to-5 funk, Emily Heil, Washington Post, March 22, 2022.
⚡️Important questions (for other justices) but I am glad Judge Jackson will not be asked them. They have nothing to do with her qualifications: Opinion: If only Ketanji Brown Jackson had a chance to answer these questions, Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, March 22, 2022.
⚡️ Democratic senator throws treatment of Merrick Garland in the faces of Republicans whining about Kavanaugh, Sarah K Burris, Raw Story, March 22, 2022.
💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗
Put your beautiful bleeding liberal heart into it! 🥰
Democratic litigation hero, Marc Elias was the legal eagle behind the 60 Big Lie losses after the election. Here’s his website, Democracy Docket. You can find information about current cases he is fighting to defend voting rights around the country, as well as actions you can take to help fight voter suppression at the link!
Write to voters around the country with Postcards to Voters. Progressive Muse usually posts an update on current campaigns in the comments and you can also check out the website. It’s easy, fun and it really works to GOTV!
🎩 Also, Goody posted a great list of links and I am going to borrow it because it’s great! 🎩
The only way they can win is by keeping people from voting. They are working like heck to make that happen and we need to do all we can to keep 2022 from being a year when they grab the Senate and House back from us.
How do we do that? Fight voter suppression!
What can you do?
HERE’S HOW TO CONTACT CONGRESS:
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121
* Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:* Telephone: 202-224-3121
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your member of Congress and contact him or her:
Let them know what matters to you!
Contact your Representative
Contact your Senator
And remember, all politics is local and personal! Let’s work to flip state and local elected positions Democratic!
Sister District Project — organization that is working to help Dems win state legislature races.
Finally, whenever you feel your hope fading, read this again:
The 3.5% rule: How a small minority can change the world — and recall that we are a majority.
Also check this out:
The Albert Einstein Institution’s 198 Methods of Non-Violent Action
There’s a multitude of people all over this country — in both so-called “red” states and “blue” — who feel just as strongly as you do about this world and its future. We can do this!
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
That’s it from me and CG for another Wednesday. Remember to take good care of yourself — try to get enough rest, eat nutritious food and get out in the fresh air every day if you are able to.
I’ve got to dash, so here is a little relaxing music for you! Happy Wednesday, Gnusies!