🍿 Repellent Republicans Rushing toward Ruin 🍿
Beau nails what’s happened to the Republicans and why it’s time for anyone who isn’t in the MAGA cult to abandon them. He also has a great metaphor to explain why appeasing and “compromising” with the extremists doesn’t work: “You don’t turn a tiger into a vegetarian by continuing to feed it steak.” Do watch the whole thing — it’s spot on.
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Spurned by moderates and MAGA: How DeSantis’s coalition has deflated
We knew this would happen, but it’s nonetheless satisfying to see it. Republicans still can’t see that there’s no path to satisfying both moderates and MAGAs — an impossible situation for which they have no one to blame but themselves.
From The Washington Post (gift link):
Some moderate Republican voters here recoiled at ads that Ron DeSantis’s allies started running last month broadcastingthe Florida governor’s vows to use deadly force at the southern border. “I don’t like the fact that we’re going to start murdering people,” said Becki Kuhns, 71, who is eager for an alternative to Donald Trump and brought up the commercials unprompted.
Down the road at a cigar bar in Nashua, where regulars talk politics and watch debates together, a different DeSantis problem came into focus: Trump supporters were unmoved by DeSantis’s pitch that he’d deliver the former president’s agenda more effectively. ✂️
DeSantis began the year widely viewed as the Republican with the best chance to build a winning coalition against the former president — the Trump alternative who could entice Trump critics yet was also in many ways a continuation of Trump’s “America First” platform. But DeSantis’s support has shrunk dramatically since then, eroding on both ends of the party spectrum, interviews with dozens of early state voters, as well as pollsters and strategists, show. ✂️
DeSantis’s average support in national polls of the GOP primary dropped from more than 30 percent in March to 24 percent in May, when he officially joined the race, to 14 percent today.
Kevin McCarthy gets MAGA primary challenger
Karma never sleeps.
From The Hill:
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is getting a primary challenger in his reelection race for his House seat representing the state’s 20th congressional district.
David Giglio, who previously lost a congressional bid for the state’s 13th District, is running as an “America First Republican” who will “fight alongside President Donald Trump in 2024 as he WAGES WAR against the corrupt uniparty,” according to Giglio’s campaign website. ✂️
Shortly after his removal as Speaker, McCarthy shot down reports that he would vacate his seat early, saying he planned to run for reelection. “I’m not resigning. I got a lot more work to do,” McCarthy told reporters.
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The media misbehaving
As Republicans embrace theocratic authoritarianism, the political media is tongue-tied
This piece nails the cowardice and wobbly moral compass of the MSM.
By Dan Froomkin in his Press Watch blog:
Corporate media seems to lack the vocabulary to accurately describe the modern Republican Party.
The latest example, of course, is the election of a new Speaker of the House: Mike Johnson, an insurrectionist anti-gay right-wing extremist Trump proxy. Those words accurately describe the little-known congressman from Louisiana. In fact, they’re quite restrained. It would be even more accurate to call him a bigoted Christofascist member of the Trump cult willing to end democracy as we know it.
Any of those descriptions, of course, are way too blunt for the dignified editors of our top newsrooms — all of whom believe in balance more than accuracy. But consider how poorly the words they choose describe the reality of the Republican Party and its current leadership. In their lead stories, Johnson’s political views were summed up with words like “staunch conservative,” (AP) “conservative hardliner” and “religious conservative” (New York Times), and “lesser-known conservative” (Washington Post). ✂️
Johnson, like the party he now represents, is an extremist and a reactionary. By calling him a conservative – a “staunch” one at that – the mainstream media coverage normalizes him. It even glamorizes him.
Here are some terms that accurately describe Johnson and the modern Republican Party (in alphabetical order):
- Anti-democratic
- Authoritarian
- Bigoted
- Christofascist
- Cultish
- Dictatorial
- Fascist
- Know-nothing
- Misogynistic
- Nationalist
- Racist
- Reactionary
- Theocratic
- Totalitarian
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Good news from my corner of the world
GOP senators’ challenge to walkout penalties lands before Oregon Supreme Court
I have a good feeling about this case. It’s based on the kind of absurd twisting of language that the Rs love to indulge in. And all seven of the justices were appointed by Democratic governors.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
The Oregon Supreme Court has accepted a legal challenge by five Republican senators who say they should be allowed to seek reelection despite walking away from the Legislature for six weeks this year.
The decision, announced [October 24], means one of the more pressing legal questions in Oregon politics will be taken up by the state’s high court, rather than working its way through the appeals process. Impacted lawmakers – and those thinking of running for their seats – should have clarity before the March 12 deadline to file for office.
At issue is the actual meaning of Ballot Measure 113, the popular 2022 proposal that created new consequences for lawmakers who accrue 10 or more unexcused absences during a legislative session. [The measure was approved by 68% of Oregon’s voters.]
In news coverage, promotional materials and an official explanatory statement, the measure was touted as barring lawmakers who walk away to block legislative action from seeking reelection. That’s the meaning that state elections officials have chosen to adopt. In a rule issued earlier this year, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced that 10 conservative senators who walked away from this year’s legislative session would be prohibited from seeking reelection.
But five of those senators...have objected. In a legal challenge to Griffin-Valade’s ruling, they argue that the convoluted wording of the measure contained a loophole that went unnoticed last year. That wording, they believe, allows them to be reelected for one more term before penalties kick in.
Oregon's new bee-themed license plate celebrating pollinators set to debut
Hooray for pollinators and the people who fight for them!
From The Statesman Journal:
A new license plate will soon be available to Oregonians, designed by a 16-year-old bee enthusiast. The plate, through Oregon State University's Extension Service, will be available Nov. 1 to purchase through the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division of Oregon Department of Transportation.
The artist, Marek Stanton, of Estacada, was tasked with designing the Pollinator Paradise plate over a year ago through OSU's Master Melittologist program, according to the OSU Extension's website. The final product shows a honeybee and a native bumble bee hovering over a field of red clover with a mountainous blue sky backdrop.
The specialty plate has a $40 specialty surcharge when initially ordered, along with the regular title, registration and plate fees. To give back to OSU's research of pollinators like the honeybee and yellow-faced bumble bee, $35 of the surcharge will go toward the extension's Pollinator Health Lab and Honey Bee Lab programs. ✂️
Stanton is the youngest ever participant in the Master Melittologist program, which trains participants to become volunteers to identify the state's more than 600 bee species. He hopes to major in biology with an emphasis on entomology in college.
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Good news from around the nation
Three Young Activists Who Never Worked in an Auto Factory Helped Deliver Huge Win for the UAW
One of the lessons here is that widespread publicity works. I hope Democratic leaders are paying attention to that!
From MSN:
In hard-nosed negotiations, the United Auto Workers in recent weeks shocked Detroit automakers with public swipes at CEO pay, a renewed focus on the rank-and-file and a bold plan for sudden strikes. The aggressive strategy was driven by a band of young outsiders—who have never clocked in a day of work at an auto factory.
The three 30-something labor activists were brought in by new UAW President Shawn Fain to remake the union into a more independent, media savvy and creative challenger to car companies.
They included a communications specialist who helped craft campaigns for Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York labor attorney who once wrote on progressive labor issues and a former reporter who later would help win major concessions from the New York Times for the NewsGuild of New York. ✂️
Fain, a former electrician who made an unexpected ascent to the top role this spring, and his team deployed a pugnacious strategy that hit directly at criticism that the UAW has long been too chummy with carmakers. “I thought it was important to bring in people that weren’t ingrained in the system,” Fain told The Wall Street Journal in August. ✂️
New communications director Jonah Furman, 33, coordinated a publicity campaign to make Fain and coverage of the strike ubiquitous in the media. Fain shared details of the contract talks on weekly livestream updates, a tactic that stunned auto executives accustomed to behind-closed-doors discussions.
Huge growth in Black and Hispanic business ownership
From Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium Chronicles:
Look at this new data — huge growth in Black and Hispanic business ownership in recent years. So encouraging.
The latest data on crime from the FBI
🎩 to Future Crunch for these graphs. As FC says in their intro, “There are a lot of people with very large microphones still talking about the US crime wave. Somebody should probably show them the latest data from the FBI. Homicides in 2022 were down 6.1%, and the murder rate is now below 2020 levels. The violent crime rate fell by 1.7% last year, reaching it's lowest level since 2014.”
California’s newest law will make it easier to delete personal online data
This is a great idea that I hope takes hold around the country. If you want to read the full text of the bill, here it is.
From The Verge:
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Delete Act [on October 10], making it possible for Californians to either ask data brokers to delete their personal data or forbid them to sell or share it, with a single request. Right now, Californians have similar rights under a 2018 state law, but they had to ask each company individually, and that’s a tall order given the almost 500 data brokers operating in the state.
The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) must create a way for people to make this request by January 1st, 2026. The CPPA was established in 2020 by the California Privacy Rights Act.
By August 1st, 2026, data brokers will have to check for and honor new requests every 45 days. After removing the data as requested, brokers can still gather data but will have to delete it at the same 45-day interval. However, since people in the state can make a persistent request to have their data deleted or kept private, they won’t be able to sell the data without permission. Starting January 2028, independent audits every three years will verify brokers’ compliance.
Philadelphia becomes safe haven for trans people seeking gender-affirming healthcare
This needs to happen in more cities with Democratic leadership.
From Pink News:
On [Tuesday October 17], mayor Jim Kenney signed an executive order at City Hall, giving anyone who goes to the state access to treatment.
The executive order prohibits the local government from using any resources to assist states seeking to investigate or punish people for providing or receiving gender-affirming care in the Pennsylvanian city, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Ahead of signing executive order 4-23, Kenney said: “We won’t help those who seek to discriminate against trans people.”
Sultan Shakir, the president and executive officer of the Mazzoni Center, a not-for-profit LGBTQ+ health care provider in Philadelphia, said patients visiting the centre want to be treated in a way that allows them to live their authentic lives. “Today’s executive order also sends a message that we respect and value our medical providers here in Philadelphia,” Shakir said.
Other Democratic-led cities have adopted similar protections for trans people.
Bill banning 'gay/trans panic' defense advances in Michigan
Another legislative idea worth copying.
From Yahoo News:
Michigan is closer to outlawing the use of a person's sexuality or gender as an excuse for harming them.
A bill banning the "gay panic" or "transgender panic" defense is advancing in the Legislature. Currently, a person accused of a crime can claim a victim's sexuality, gender expression, or gender contributed to the crime.
This could include a suspect saying that they acted in self-defense after receiving unwanted advances from an LGBTQ+ person.
House Bill 4718 states that knowing or discovering this about a person "is not a justification for using force against them and does not meet criteria necessary for the act to be considered voluntary manslaughter (as opposed to murder) or to raise a defense of insanity." This includes when a victim makes "an unwanted nonforcible romantic or sexual advance" toward the suspect.
The House passed the bill along party lines earlier this week, with Democrats voting for it and Republicans voting against it.
This bill now heads to the Senate.
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Good news from around the world
Decrease in wildlife crime: Malaysia's OBK operation nets 175 arrests and millions in seizures
This is definitely not sufficient, but it’s an important step in the right direction.
From New Straits Times:
In this year's nationwide operation codenamed Khazanah Integrated Operation (OBK) from January to September, authorities arrested 175 people, including poachers, and seized wildlife and items worth approximately RM40.28 million. ✂️
Last year, from January to September, [Federal police Internal Security and Public Order Department director Datuk Seri Hazani Ghazali] added that 206 cases led to the arrest of 243 individuals and the seizure of wildlife and forest products valued at RM85.9 million.
"The Customs Department also confiscated RM50 million worth of elephant tusks at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. These seizures aim to raise awareness about ongoing poaching activities threatening endangered wildlife. Since the inception of OBK until September this year, 56 investigation papers were initiated, 53 cases were resolved, and three cases remain under investigation," Hazani explained during a post-OBK meeting press conference...✂️
The OBK, which has been conducted in several phases since September 2019, aims to combat activities such as encroachment, illegal logging, theft of national forest products, wildlife hunting, and other offences under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010. Hazani noted that eagles, parrots, elephant tusks, tigers, magpie bird stones, leopard cats, and forest products such as agarwood were among the wildlife seized during these operations.
One of Europe's most polluted cities wants to ban cars from its centre
Cheers to Milan — and to Stockholm and Paris!
From EuroNews:
Milan, one of Italy’s busiest cities, has proposed banning cars from its centre. ✂️
Milan is one of Europe’s most polluted cities. It has poor air quality due to the volume of fine particles, the pollutant which poses a risk to human health. The maximum level considered safe by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is a long-term average of no more than 5 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre). Milan’s levels are almost four times the safe amount, at 19.7 μg/m3.
As part of a push to tackle the dangerous emission levels, Milan’s authorities have proposed a ban on private traffic in the city centre. ...To enforce the ban, cameras will be installed along the Corso Venezia to record traffic and prevent entry to private cars.Residents with a garage, anyone accessing car parking, taxis and public transport are exempt from the ban. Those caught accessing the area unauthorised face a fine, though the mayor did not specify the sum.
The move will make some of Milan’s busiest areas more pedestrian-friendly, including the elegant Fashion Quadrilatero where many of the city’s high-end boutiques are located. ✂️
Milan is not the first European city to consider a car ban. Earlier this month, Stockholm announced plans to block petrol and diesel cars from entering the city centre. The measure hopes to slash emissions and reduce pollution. The new rules will come into force on 31 December 2024. Paris is also hoping to eliminate private vehicles from its historic centre by early 2024 ahead of the Olympic Games. The move could see as many as 100,000 cars taken off the French capital’s roads daily.
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Photo of the week
This is hilarious.
Whatcha lookin’ at??
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Good news in medicine
Breakthrough Research Sheds Light on Aggressive Breast Cancers in Black Women
Black Americans, especially Black women, have been routinely overlooked in medical research, so this is very good news.
From BOTWC [Because of Them We Can, a positive Black news site], published in The Skanner:
Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center are spearheading a pioneering study to unravel the biological underpinnings of aggressive breast cancers in Black women. Led by Dr. Harikrishna Nakshatri, a breast cancer researcher at the IU School of Medicine and a key researcher at the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, the investigation holds promise for targeted treatments that could significantly reduce disparities in breast cancer outcomes among Black women.
While breast cancer incidence is now considered lower among Black women, they face significantly poorer outcomes, often developing more aggressive triple-negative breast cancers at a younger age. ...Nakshatri’s lab has been dedicated to uncovering the influence of genetic ancestry on the biology of normal breast tissue and its implications for developing aggressive breast cancers.
Women of African descent had more PZP cells in their normal breast tissue than women of Caucasian descent, according to a previous study under Nakshatri’s direction. Notably, PZP cell numbers increase when Caucasian women develop breast cancer, while they are naturally more abundant in Black women. Adding to this, Nakshatri and his team showed that PZP cells have a significant effect on how cancer cells behave and grow, especially when they interact with epithelial cells, which is where breast cancer usually starts. ...“When these PZP cells interact with epithelial cells, they trigger the production of a crucial protein called interleukin-6. This prompts distinct behavior in the epithelial cells and activates a signaling pathway known as STAT3,” Nakshatri explained. “This is what makes tumors originating from the epithelial cells more aggressive.”
The findings have laid the foundation for an upcoming clinical trial led by Kathy Miller, MD, a prominent figure in oncology at IU School of Medicine.
Scientists discover how brain cells die in Alzheimer’s
This is a story from September, but it’s an important one that I don’t think has appeared here before.
From BBC:
It is the loss of brain cells, called neurons, that lead to the symptoms of Alzheimer's, including memory loss. And if you look inside the brains of people with the disease you'd see the build-up of abnormal proteins called amyloid and tau. But scientists have not been able to join the dots between these key traits of the disease.
This is what the researchers - at the UK's Dementia Research Institute at University College London and KU Leuven in Belgium - now think is happening.
They say abnormal amyloid starts to build up in the spaces between neurons, leading to brain inflammation, which the neurons do not like. This starts to change their internal chemistry. Tangles of tau appear and the brain cells start producing a specific molecule (it's called MEG3) that triggers death by necroptosis. Necroptosis is one of the methods our bodies normally use to purge unwanted cells as fresh ones are made. The brain cells survived when the team were able to block MEG3.
"This is a very important and interesting finding," researcher Prof Bart De Strooper, from the UK's Dementia Research Institute, told the BBC. "For the first time we get a clue to how and why neurons die in Alzheimer's disease. There's been a lot of speculation for 30-40 years, but nobody has been able to pinpoint the mechanisms.” ✂️
Prof De Strooper says the discovery that blocking the MEG3 molecule can hold off brain cell death could lead to a "whole new line of drugs development". However, this will take years of research.
Good news in science
This is the largest map of the human brain ever made
🎩 to Future Crunch for linking to this exciting research.
From Nature:
Researchers have created the largest atlas of human brain cells so far, revealing more than 3,000 cell types — many of which are new to science. The work, published in a package of 21 papers [on October 12] in Science, Science Advances and Science Translational Medicine, will aid the study of diseases, cognition and what makes us human, among other things, say the authors. … Researchers have previously mapped the human brain using techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging, but this is the first atlas of the whole human brain at the single-cell level, showing its intricate molecular interactions...
The research is part of the US National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative — Cell Census Network (BICCN), a collaboration between hundreds of scientists. The programme’s goals include cataloguing brain cell types across humans, non-human primates and mice to improve understanding of the cellular mechanisms behind poorly understood brain disorders. ✂️
Neurons — cells in the brain and nervous system that send and receive signals — varied widely in different parts of the brain, suggesting different functions and developmental histories. The mix of neurons and other cell types also differed across each region; some cells were only found in specific locations. The brainstem — a relatively under-studied structure connecting the brain to the spinal cord — harboured a particularly high number of neuron types, says study co-author Sten Linnarsson, a molecular systems biologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. “One of the big surprises here is how incredibly complex the brainstem is.” ✂️
Other studies drilled into the mechanisms of gene regulation and expression in different cells. ...Pinpointing the switches that activate or block gene expression in brain cells could be useful for diagnosing brain disorders and developing tailored treatments… ✂️
The researchers uncovered links between certain brain cell types and neuropsychiatric disorders, including bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia. ...The next step for the BICCN team is to sequence more cells from all parts of the brain
Chicken Feathers Can Replace ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Renewable Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Lowering Cost
I love stories about discovering novel uses for everyday items. And they’re even better when they’re win-wins like this, transforming things that are hard to dispose of into things we desperately need.
From Good News Network:
Hydrogen fuel cells can generate both emissions-free energy and a portable fuel similar to diesel, but at the moment they are manufactured with so-called “forever chemicals” that are toxic in certain quantities and don’t biodegrade in any way.
On the other hand, chicken is an invaluable part of the food supply but comes with 40 million metric tons annually of feathers that are incinerated as a waste product that produces CO2 and other problematic gases as well.
This is where the team at ETH in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has come up with a brilliant solution of using the feathers instead of the chemicals, thereby sparing the environment on both ends in two different ways, and potentially lowering the cost of hydrogen adoption. ✂️
Fuel cells create hydrogen fuel by separating the hydrogen from the oxygen in water. At the heart of the fuel cell lies a semipermeable membrane that allows protons to pass through but leaves electrons behind to escape via an external circuit from the negatively charged anode to the positively charged cathode: thereby creating a current that can be harnessed for electricity.
Chicken feathers are made up of 90% keratin, a protein in our hair and fingernails that [the researchers] converted to ultra-fine fibers called amyloid fibrils by breaking the feathers down in an environmentally friendly way. The fibrils can be used to make the membrane between the anode and cathode of the fuel cell three times cheaper than synthetic materials. But better still, this fibril membrane can also be used to create pure hydrogen (as in H without the 2 and the O) which doesn’t exist on Earth naturally but which can be used like diesel fuel to power heavy machinery like planes and trains.
Surgical robot can peel, puncture, and repair a quail egg
This is just mind-blowing.
From Future Crunch:
What you're looking at in the video below is a surgical robot, controlled by a human surgeon, delicately removing the outer shell of a raw quail egg while preserving the integrity of the egg's contents. The egg is then punctured and skilfully sealed up. Technology isn't something that exists outside of us. It is us.
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Good news for the environment
EU bans microplastics added to consumer products
About time! C’mon FDA and EPA, we need to do the same!
From Deutsche Welle:
From the depths of ocean trenches to the peaks of the highest mountains, from our food and water to human blood and stool, there are few places microplastics have not been found. Indeed, the United Nations estimates there is more of it in our seas than there are stars in our galaxy. Spread through the air, water and soil, once microplastic is in the environment, it doesn't biodegrade and can't be removed, meaning it stays there for centuries, posing a threat to wildlife and ultimately making its way into the food chain and the human body.
Microplastics are used as abrasive particles in toothpaste or exfoliants, or as binders that change the consistency of liquids. Currently an estimated 42,000 tons of these tiny pieces of plastic, intentionally added to products, are released in the EU annually. Yet their effect on human health remains unknown. "That's why it is so important to stop the stream of release into the environment," said Johanna Bernsel, spokesperson for the European Commission. ✂️
The new ban, which covers all synthetic polymer particles less than five millimeters that are organic, insoluble and resist degradation, will impact a vast array of products including cosmetics, detergents, glitter, fertilizers, plant protection items, toys, medicines, medical devices and artificial sport surfaces.
Not affected are construction materials that contain microplastics but do not release them and products used at industrial sites. However, manufacturers will have to report their estimated microplastic emissions annually and will have to provide instructions on how to use and dispose of products to prevent microplastics escaping into the environment.
The ban not only applies to products manufactured in the European Union but also to those imported from abroad.
Home countries of major rainforests agree to work together to save them
This is a crucial first step to saving what remains of the world’s most important rainforests. As the article notes, follow-up work is needed.
From Reuters:
Countries that are home to the world's three major rainforests agreed on Saturday to cooperate to overcome deforestation and safeguard biodiversity but fell short of a concrete alliance to protect the vital carbon sinks.
The announcement came on the final day of the Congo Republic-hosted Three Basins summit, which brought together presidents, NGOs, technical experts, and finance sector officials to strengthen governance and preservation of the Amazon, the Congo basin, and forests in Southeast Asia. ✂️
"We've realised that joining forces is an absolute necessity, and we've recognised that the initiative to unite the three basins is part of an inevitable dynamic," said Republic of Congo environment minister Arlette Soudan Nonault. ✂️
On the sidelines, Congo Republic signed a roadmap for a forest partnership with the European Union that aims by 2030 to increase the amount of its protected, restored or sustainably managed forests, create more forest-related jobs, and curb the rate of forest loss.
Environmental organisations said governments must go further than Saturday's agreement. "More efforts will be needed to enhance concrete collaboration between the three regions to foster real action to halt deforestation," the World Wildlife Fund said in a statement.
For Indian Farmers, Artificial Glaciers Are a High-Altitude Antidote to Drought
Paying attention to nature — like noticing the slow melting rate of stalagmites — can yield creative solutions to environmental problems.
From Reasons to Be Cheerful:
...in Ladakh, a remote valley sandwiched between the Greater Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Northern India, [farmers] prepare for the harvest of wheat, potatoes and barley in fields flanked by snowy peaks and glaciers. In the summer and autumn, these melt and provide much-needed water for drinking and irrigation downstream. But in the spring, when Ladakhi farmers sow their summer crops, many face an acute water shortage: the glaciers high above them are still frozen, and the region is a high-altitude desert that receives only about 11 centimeters of precipitation annually. ✂️
In 2013, Ladakhi educator and inventor Sonam Wangchuk came up with a surprising way to relieve this seasonal problem. He had noticed that ice stalagmites remained solid long after horizontal ice around them had melted. Was it possible that when frozen vertically, ice took longer to melt than when it lay flat on the ground? ...
Wangchuk began experimenting with building ice into pyramids in winter to see how long they took to melt. Because they looked similar to the conical Buddhist stupas — shrines that contain relics of holy men and women, or even sacred mantras, ubiquitous across the Ladakhi landscape — they came to be called ice stupas. Their recognizable shape would, Wangchuk surmised, blend seamlessly with their surroundings and make people identify with them more easily.
Wangchuk and his team built a seven-meter-high structure, without using any electricity and with minimal labor. They piped water from a height of over 60 meters uphill, calculating that it would rise like a fountain an equal distance up from the ground when piped downstream. Sub-zero winter temperatures would do the rest. ...[Wangchuk] says, “We’d hoped the prototype would last till 1st May, but it did better than that!” It finally melted on May 18...
[But the] farmers themselves were initially skeptical. ...“We thought, why not train people to build their own ice stupas in their villages?” says Wangchuk. In 2018, ...he spearheaded an annual ice stupa making contest in which teams from across Ladakh participated for cash awards ranging from US $2,500 to $6,000. Thus far, five statewide contests have each attracted around 15 teams, all vying to build the tallest ice stupa that stores the maximum amount of water. “This way, we’ve engaged with over 45 villages in the state,” Tiku says, “and trained over 500 stakeholders to build ice stupas and experience their benefits.”
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rosy, Nora, and Rascal.
Rock star Bret Michaels adopts hero stray dog also named Bret Michaels
Here’s a two-fer from Rosy in memory of Nora: dog saves kitten!
From The Washington Post (gift link):
A rescue husky dog named Bret Michaels has been adopted by the human rock star Bret Michaels. Michaels, 60 — frontman of the glam rock band Poison — first heard the story of his namesake pup when the Nebraska Humane Society shared a Facebook post about the canine, whose blood was used to save a month-old kitten. ✂️
The kitten — who was later named Thorn, after Poison’s 1980′s hit power ballad “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” — was suffering from major blood loss, which caused him to develop anemia. To survive, he needed a blood transfusion. “Feline blood is very particular, as far as typing goes, and we didn’t have time to figure out what type the little guy was and find a suitable donor,” explained Alec Rose, a digital marketing manager at the shelter. “That process would have taken longer than he actually had.”
The shelter’s vet came up with a backup plan called xenotransfusion, which involves transfusing blood from one species into another. In this case, it was...Bret Michaels to Thorn. The dog had recently undergone a full vet exam and bloodwork, and he was deemed a viable donor candidate. ...“It ended up working out really well. After 15 minutes, he was doing great,” [said Rose]. ✂️
Two days after sharing the [Facebook] post, the shelter received a private Facebook message from Bret Michaels’s official account, as well as a public comment. “Hi — Team Bret reaching out to you about this. What an absolutely amazing story!” the comment said. “We wrote you a private message as well — Bret would like to explore adopting Bret Michaels (the dog).” ...Then Michaels himself called Rose to hear more about husky Bret Michaels’s story. ✂️
...it was “definitely meant to be,” Rose said, adding that Michaels told him that one of his three German shepherds died a few weeks ago. “So many things aligned for this to happen.”
A woman in Mexico City turned her apartment into a hospital for hummingbirds
Rascal chirps loud applause for this generous bird-lover!
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Art break
A Sculpture Gifted to Couple Who Gave [the Artist] Shelter During a Storm 68 Years Ago Sells for $100,000
Back to our theme of kindness — you never know where a simple act of kindness will lead.
From Good News Network:
One rainy day in Bedfordshire, England, Peter Richards and his wife noticed a pair of lads shivering under the eaves of their country cottage after getting a soaking.
Inviting them inside to dry off and have some tea, one of the two young men would eventually give Richards a ceramic sculpture of a black and white cat, which looked similar to their pet “Moggy” at the time, as a way of repaying the kindness from that day.
Now, that child-life sculpture has sold for a small fortune, because its maker was none other than Sir David Hockney, the most celebrated English artist of the 20th century.
David Hockney and his friend Norman Stevens from Bradford College of Art were hitchhiking to London to visit exhibitions at the time of the fateful encounter.
Hockney went on to have a long-lasting friendship with the Richards.
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Hot lynx
www.theatlantic.com/… America Is Lucky Biden’s in Charge. A perceptive and concise overview of Biden’s strengths by Michael McFaul.
www.theatlantic.com/… Stop Asking Americans in Diners About Foreign Aid. I love this Tom Nichols piece. “Americans don’t understand foreign aid. Instead of relying on misinformed citizens, we should demand better answers from national leaders who want to cut aid to our friends and allies and imperil American security.”
www.motherjones.com/… The Rise of the Abortion Cowboy. A profile of Dr. Aaron Campbell, “part of a growing cadre of abortion providers traveling great distances to provide care.”
www.motherjones.com/… Stop Messaging Me, a Black Journalist, About White Irish “Slaves”. A Black journalist and a Black history professor talk about race and misreading history. Interesting and enlightening.
www.opb.org/.… ‘Killing salmon to lose money’: A costly, questionable plan on the Willamette. If you’ve ever doubted that the Army Corps of Engineers has its head up its ass, please read this appalling article.
www.theatlantic.com/… Capitalism Has Plans for Menopause. A hilarious and spot-on piece by one of my favorite Atlantic staff writers, Helen Lewis. “[Menopause] has always been taboo, because it is that lethal combination of having to do with women’s bodies (ugh) and with aging (ugh).” However, “Capitalism has gotten its hooks into menopause and wants to shake it until money falls out.”
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Where Ever is Herd
Morning Good News Roundups at 7 x 7: These Gnusies lead the herd at 7 a.m. ET, 7 days a week:
As noted last week, our lineup has changed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Thanks again to niftywriter for holding down truth and justice on Wednesdays!
- The Monday GNR Newsroom (Jessiestaf, Killer300, and Bhu).
- Alternating Tuesdays: through November, Dr. Strange and arhpdx. After that…??
- Wednesdays: 2nd MCUBernieFan, 3rd WineRev, 4th karij. 1st and 5th: lemay50, Andrew F Cockburn, DoctorStrange.
- Thursdays: Mokurai.
- Fridays: chloris creator. Regular links to the White House Briefing Room.
- Saturdays: GoodNewsRoundup, the one and only!
- Sundays: 2thanks. A brief roundup of Roundups, a retrospective, a smorgasbord, a bulletin board, an oasis, a watering hole, a thunder of hooves, a wellness, a place for beginners to learn the rules of the veldt. For instance, we do not welcome grammar-police comments in Roundups.
hpg posts Evening Shade diaries at 7:30 p.m. ET every day! After a long day, Gnusies meet in the evening shade and continue sharing Good News, good community, and good actions. Find Evening Shades here or on the Trending List.
For more information about the Good News group, please see our detailed Welcoming comment, one of the first comments in our morning diaries.
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Good News Sources
🎩 to Mokurai for putting our old lists of sources together in alphabetical order!
NOTE: I have removed Warp News from our list of good news sources. The site founder and author has adopted some positions that I vehemently disagree with, so I am no longer recommending the site.
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Do Some Good!
There are more and more opportunities to take action. You won’t be able to do them all, so choose the ones you care about most and be assured that others will do what you can’t. 💙
Sadly, war and climate change are creating more and more devastating events like the situation in Israel/Palestine, the hurricane in Mexico, the Morocco earthquake, and the floods in Libya. Our ability as individuals to make as many donations as we would like will be stretched thin, but not our compassion.
How to help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza
There is need on both sides of this terrible conflict. This article has descriptions of the work of each of the helper organizations it lists — I have room only to list them by name. I urge you to click the links and make some donations.
From NPR:
As the world watches, many people may be looking to support humanitarian efforts on the ground. Below are some of the organizations doing that work.
First, a quick word of caution: Social media is awash with misinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict, so it's especially important to verify that your money is going to organizations that are legitimate as well as effective. … To maximize the impact of your donation, prioritize giving to organizations that already have a presence on the ground and will stay involved in the long-term, experts told NPR.
[These are the NGOs already on the ground in the region, in alphabetical order:]
And Rashida Tlaib sent an email on Friday asking for donations to Zaman International, which is delivering medicine and medical supplies to Gaza:
How to help the victims of Hurricane Otis in Mexico
It’s still almost impossible to get to Acapulco and the surrounding impoverished villages, so hardly any aid has reached the desperate survivors. But World Central Kitchen is already managing to help by dropping supplies by helicopter. The need is urgent!
WCK responding in Mexico after Hurricane Otis:
WCK’s Relief Team was on the ground in Mexico hours after Hurricane Otis made landfall over Acapulco. Arriving in Mexico City, we quickly procured sandwiches and water, loading them onto multiple helicopters to distribute as we scout impacted areas by air. More WCK staff and resources are heading to the region to make sure we can scale up quickly to meet the need. ✂️
Donate to help the victims of the Morocco Earthquake
Global Giving will direct your donation to the Morocco Earthquake Relief Fund, which provides both “emergency relief and long-term support to affected communities.”
Donate to help flood victims in Libya
Again, I recommend Global Giving as a safe way to make sure that your donation goes directly to local emergency responders on the ground and to programs that will provide long-term support as Libyan communities attempt to rebuild.
Donate to on-the-ground relief efforts on Maui
As reported on Hawaii News Now, “Nearly three months after the devastating fires on Maui, there are still thousands of people depending on donated food, water and other supplies.”
Here’s a link that allows you to donate to five Hawaii-based relief organizations:
Donations benefit the Maui Community Power Recovery Fund—which includes the groups listed below—and the Hawaiian Humane Society.
Maui Community Power Recovery Fund groups include:
- Our Hawai’i is organizing a grassroots political movement to create a Hawai‘i that puts local working kama‘āina and Kānaka Maoli families first.
- ‘Āina Momona is a community organization dedicated to achieving environmental health and sustainability through social justice and restoring Hawaiian sovereignty.
- Hawai'i Funder Hui partners community organizations with philanthropists to deliver equitable, community-led funding of non-profits in Hawai’i.
- Kākoʻo Maui is a Native Hawaiian led relief effort directing 100% of funds to Maui organizations, hosted by the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement which enhances the cultural, economic, political, and community development of Native Hawaiians.
- Onipa‘a Maui works to ensure that local elected officials work on behalf of Maui’s people and environment, not special interest lobbies.
Donate to David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve
David Hogg, one of the heroes of the Parkland shooting, has started a political action fund. Here’s how he describes their mission:
Young Progressive candidates face systemic barriers. At every level of government, the average politician is older than the average American. Our political system is stacked against young people – in favor of those who are older, wealthier and white. In 2020, Millennial and Gen-Z individuals only held 21% of State Legislative seats despite representing 45% of the electorate.
Leaders We Deserve is a grassroots organization dedicated to electing young progressives to Congress and State Legislatures across the country to help defeat the far-right agenda and advance a progressive vision for the future. Our mission is to identify and elect more trailblazers – youthful, audacious, and charismatic leaders who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. We pledge to stand with them, equipping their campaigns with the tools to succeed: from fundraising and messaging to scheduling and budgeting. We’ll raise the banner of their cause, rallying funds online and in person.
Reminder: Goodie has set up a Biden donation page just for Gnusies!
We’ve raised $6,551 as of yesterday, 65% of the $10,000 goal. Can we get to 70% today??
Goodie introduced the fundraiser with this statement:
Let’s get Biden re-elected!
In the wise words of Chris Jackson:
Thanks to @POTUS @JoeBiden, we now have an unemployment rate lower than Trump's, an inflation rate lower than Reagan's, and a NATO alliance more united than ever in world history.
He has achieved all of this despite a daily onslaught against him and his family and with a press that flatly refuses to cover anything remotely positive happening in our country.
He never whines or complains; he just wakes up every day and does his job with honor, character, and competence.
If you are a Democrat, be proud of this record! Republicans almost unanimously stand behind a twice indicted man who had a record of failure. Surely, we can unite behind this good and decent man who is achieving more than any Democratic president has in half a century!
When people you talk to bring up the president's age, you bring up his record. The job of president is to get things done, not score style points. We can't turn back.
That is exactly why we need to do all we can to help him win next November!
We have set up an ActBlue so that we, as a good news community, can pool our money and get Biden re-elected!
Reminder: Bilboteach has set up a donation page for the new Dems in Congress
$2,256 raised as of yesterday, 45% of the $5000 goal. Can we make it 50%??
Here’s bilboteach’s intro to this fundraiser:
New Faces in Congress is a diary series meant to highlight our new and diverse members of Congress in the Democratic Party. These 36 House freshmen range from political neophytes to seasoned legislative veterans. The series will run every Sunday morning, bright and early.
Reminder: Donate to “24 in 24” — House races we can win and take back the House!
$7,318 raised as of yesterday, 73% of the $10,000 goal. Let’s get to 75% today!
Let's take back the House by targeting the 6 most vulnerable CURRENT Democrats and the 18 districts that Biden won in 2020 that have R reps! That brings us 24 in 24!
Donate to Voters of Tomorrow
I just took a fresh look at their website, and I’m delighted to report that they now have chapters in 20 states and a volunteer presence in all 50!
From student activist Will Larkins’ description of their initiative:
I'm Will Larkins, a 18-year-old student organizer from Orlando, Florida, an LGBTQ+ youth activist, and a proud member of Voters of Tomorrow. ...
We’re registering as many first-time voters as we can because our generation’s future is at stake, and if our leaders don’t protect us, we’ll vote them out. It’s that simple.
But we’re in high school and college. We’re ONLY grassroots-funded and we need your help to fuel our efforts!
Write with Postcards to Voters
🎩 to Progressive Muse for the following info, from a comment yesterday:
Postcards To Voters update: [Yesterday was] the final day for most volunteers to write and mail for the New York and Ohio campaigns. However, if you live in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania, you can write and mail through today for the New York campaigns; if you live in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, or Michigan, you can write and mail through [today] for the Ohio campaign. (You have the normal three days if you want to write to Florida Democrats about Vote By Mail.) Here’s the menu:
1 - Addresses for Dave Calone in NY
2 - Addresses for Reproductive Rights in OH
3 - Addresses for Manny Nneji in NY
4 - Addresses for FL Vote By Mail - Volusia County ✂️
Returning Postcards To Voters writers can use these methods to request addresses:
•Email (if you have trouble with the linked address, you can use Postcards@TonyTheDemocrat.org instead, which will be answered by a human)
•Slack.com
If you are new to Postcards To Voters, you can get set up by emailing:
•Email
Get postcarding supplies
I like to buy my cards from PtoV because that’s one more way to support them. Here’s my favorite, which costs $18 for 100 cards:
And FWIW, these are my favorite pens — not too thin, not too thick, don’t bleed through: Stabilo Pen 68 Felt-Tip Pen. Even though the ink is water-based, once it’s dry you can get it wet and it doesn’t run.
How you can fight the climate crisis in your own yard
🎩 to Gardening Toad for this encouraging list of ways we can fight the climate crisis:
Join us in building a resilient, regenerative, and equitable culture. No one is stopping us!
Encouraging mass action
Mass action begins with you
A roadmap to climate resilience
The crucial tipping point
Examples of what our world could look like:
Beautiful inspiration video
Another one
Learn
🎩 to alamancedem for this very important link: 21 day anti-racism challenges. Challenge yourself to learn more, bring it to your workplace, share it with friends and colleagues. We can all benefit from sharpening our awareness of racism.
Abortion assistance
Here’s an easy action you can take RIGHT NOW:
Donate to two organizations providing support to people in no-abortion states who need assistance getting abortions.
National Network of Abortion Funds
The Brigid Alliance
Both of these organizations provide help with transportation, medical fees, hotel stays, etc., for those who have to travel out of state for an abortion. NNAF is a central clearing house for that assistance, The Brigid Alliance does that work directly.
And here’s another resource for women seeking abortions which I discovered only recently: Women on Web. They provide abortion pills worldwide for women who need to use them immediately and also for women who want to keep a supply on hand. You can make donations on their website to further their work.
And please pass this info along to anyone you know who may become pregnant (from the National Network of Abortion Funds):
Misinformation is an anti-abortion tactic designed to already confuse people who are trying to get an abortion. In addition to pointing people to abortion funds, you can help by sharing accurate and important resources with your community:
- If/When How's Repro Legal Helpline is a free legal resource for people seeking abortions who have questions about their legal rights. Helpline attorneys and advocates can be reached at reprolegalhelpline.org or 844-868-2812.
- People need to know their rights when interacting with the health care system. If/When/How and Physicians for Reproductive Health created this simple guide with everything you need to know about talking to a healthcare provider after a miscarriage or abortion.
Get the truth out
Indivisible has created a Truth Brigade to push back against the lies.
Propaganda, false characterizations, intentionally misleading messages, and outright lies threaten our democracy and even our lives. We can effectively combat disinformation, despite the well-funded machines that drive it. They may have money, but we have truth and we have people.People believe sources they trust. When we share and amplify unified, factual messages to those who trust us, we shift the narrative. When we do this by the thousands--we’re part of the Indivisible Truth Brigade, and we get our country back. Join us.️
Our own Mokurai is a member. You can see all of the diaries in the Truth Sandwiches group on DK here.
Call out tax exempt organizations whose political stance violates IRS regulations
A suggestion from chloris creator:
Tax-exempt organization complaint referrals. 13909. You can fill this out for the NRA and lots of other organizations. How about if some of us white folk go into some of the MAGA churches and video record what they’re saying?
Goodie’s action steps
Most important: DON'T LOSE HOPE. This is a giant and important fight for us but, win or lose, we keep fighting and voting and organizing and spreading truth and light. We never give up.
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❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Thanks to all of you for your smarts, your hearts, and
your faithful attendance at our daily Gathering of the Herd.
❤️💙 RESIST, PERSIST, REBUILD, REJOICE! 💙❤️