Rough days for me, rough days for us. Some days are dark, we know that. Some days we get triggered, our sisters get triggered, our friends get triggered. Some days we think we might not get to the other side of the river. Maybe we wouldn't have the courage to cross the river by ourselves. Maybe we need to bump shoulders with others like us who are not just Gnusies but snowflakes starting an avalanche.
We meet every day at 7 a.m. ET. You can find us here. We gather to rest, recuperate, renew. We energize each other.
This Week’s Rumination, by GoodNewsRoundup
- This was not the ending to the Kavanaugh nomination that I predicted, and it was not the ending that I wanted.
- I am so, so sorry that it ended that way.
- My heart is with each and every one of you today.
- It is devastating.
- I really hoped that Collins would listen to the people of her state and do the right thing.
- It is maddening that so few people have so much power.
- It is also a reminder, for each and every one of us, of what we need to do between now and November 6th. We have a month, you guys, just a month.
- Perhaps the most important month of our lives.
- Get working. Do something. Do more. (Yesterday)
I list a few action steps below.
Now for a little Good News …
Third quarter 2018 fundraising total: $385,176,557! More than $385 million!
I’m a white guy, and we need to reduce police killing of black people. Convicting such killers will help.
The Week in Review
Once again I’ve borrowed the following list from Friday’s Cheers and Jeers with homage to Bill in Portland Maine. He posts a Who Won the Week? poll on Friday evenings in his left-coast-friendly edition. You can still vote in this poll, which has over 2400 votes so far. C&J archive and future editions here. (Thanks, Billeh!)
- Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan, for ruling that congressional Democrats have standing to sue President Trump for violating the emoluments clause in the Constitution banning favors from foreign governments for personal enrichment
- The Nobel Prize winners, including Frances Arnold for chemistry, Donna Strickland for physics, and Peace prize co-winners Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad
- The New York Times, for destroying Trump's "I worked my way up from nothing" mythology with its bombshell expose on his family's mafia-like criminal enterprise that was fraud on steroids
- The jury that found Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder and battery with a firearm in the 2014 shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald
- California Gov. Jerry Brown, for signing into law a tough net neutrality bill, new restrictions on gun ownership, and a requirement that women must be represented on boards of public CA-based corporations
- NASA, for 60 years of Ooohs and Ahhhs in space
- Ryan Lizza at Esquire magazine, for reporting on traitorous Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and his family dairy that was secretly moved to Iowa, with labor provided mostly by undocumented-immigrants
- The millions upon millions of Americans calling, writing and protesting against the confirmation of unstable alcoholic sex offender and world-class perjurer Brett Kavanaugh
- The MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" winners, including Rev. William Barber Jr. and investigative journalist Ken Ward Jr.
- Karma, as several of the rudderless, emotionally-stunted Nazis who took part in the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville are charged with rioting
On Expanding the Good News Roundup
In last week's Roundup, we discussed a possible temporal rift in the space-time continuum expansion of Roundups into the evening. Last Saturday’s poll indicated most readers and members approve the 7 a.m. ET posting time. The Sunday poll indicated that 70% would participate in both Roundups if we publish an evening Roundup. Just to be clear, no one is proposing a complete separation into two completely different groups. People who only choose to read diaries on the Rec list would be able to find our evening diaries when the early morning diaries have disappeared off the Rec list.
IMHO, 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) would be the best time for a second edition of our Roundup. Posting at this time would allow many left coasters to participate in Roundups soon after they get off work, and it would allow right coasters to participate before bedtime.
Regarding a name for an evening post, a phrase that would appear in the title of every evening Roundup, I’ve seen the following mentioned. I’m sure there are others:
- Evening Good News Roundup
- Evenin’ Good News Roundup
- Evening Good News
- Evenin’ Good News
- Good News Addendum
- Good News Roundup Annex
- Good News Annex
I’d argue against the last two (no offense, Mrmuni12!), because in a roundup, one gathers a herd close into a circle for overnight closeness and rest, and an annex connotes an inanimate and rectilinear building.
- Roundup: (1): the act or process of collecting animals (such as cattle) by riding around them and driving them in, (2): the cowboys and ranch personnel engaged in a cattle roundup, b: a gathering in of scattered persons or things, a roundup of all suspects, 2: a summary of information.
- Annex: something annexed as an expansion or supplement: such as, a : an added stipulation or statement : APPENDIX, approved the annex in the treaty, b : a building that is attached to or near a larger building and usually used as part of it : WING. (With thanks to my friend Webster.)
Please participate in today’s poll. — 2thanks, the Sunshine Coordinator
To GoodNewsRoundup’s list above, I add only this:
What are you doing for the Resistance?
I’ll go first. I’ve planned a series of diaries in support of the progressive candidate, Haley Stevens, for a nearby US congressional district. I posted my first diary of the series on Friday night: I'm angry about Kavanaugh, and so are you - Express it! - Give to Haley Stevens, and take the House.
The district Haley Stevens wants to represent is MI-11, currently represented by the execrable Dave Trott, who heartlessly harvested millions off the backs of people struggling with mortgages in Michigan.
So far, we’ve crowd-sourced $30 toward our $250 goal. Here’s the ActBlue page that I requested from her campaign. I’d welcome your donation. Haley’s opponent is a typical whacked-out worshiper of the Russian puppet in the White House. Using this ActBlue page to donate to Haley allows me to track donations crowd-sourced specifically from Daily Kos. Please use it.
“All the gnus that’s fit to print”
As you may know, I choose to create a potluck style of Roundup due to family commitments. I therefore ask you, my friends: Please bring your national Good News to this Sunday potluck.
May I suggest that you pop in later or several times today, to see the gnus our commenters have herded to this Roundup.
“Hope in the face of darkness is an inherently courageous act.” (Jeremy Moses).
How to bring your Good Gnus here
- What’s your take on Good News for the nation?
- What are you doing to turn your rage and frustration into action?
Power with, not power over,
2thanks