We publish the Good News Roundup every day, seven days a week, early in the morning. Just about every day, someone comes in and accuses us of looking on the bright side of life. They would be correct—for the space of the article and comments. No-one of us is ignoring the bad news. The problem is that the bad news crowds out the good news, like sucking the oxygen out of the room. The Good News Roundup is our breath of fresh air, so that we can keep resisting.
Aside: many of us are devastated by the news from Puerto Rico. The bright side of this is that our government can no longer minimize the disastrous effects of Hurricane Maria, and by shining a light on this tragedy, we can fight to have our government do what is right.
On to a whole lot of good news!
Mueller has a new thread to follow:
Mr. Trump, who had told aides that he needed a loyalist overseeing the inquiry, berated Mr. Sessions and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request. Mr. Sessions refused. The confrontation, which has not been previously reported, is being investigated by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as are the president’s public and private attacks on Mr. Sessions and efforts to get him to resign. Mr. Trump dwelled on the recusal for months, according to confidants and current and former administration officials who described his behavior toward the attorney general.”
Trump claims Mexico will pay for wall, Mexico claps back:
“President @realDonaldTrump: NO. Mexico will NEVER pay for a wall. Not now, not ever. Sincerely, Mexico,” Pena Nieto said on Twitter.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump criticized Mexico for not helping to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States, and repeated his election campaign promise that Mexico would pay for his planned wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Official ignores Trump:
President Donald Trump repeatedly promised to stop giving federal money to cities that refuse to cooperate with U.S. agencies trying to enforce immigration law.
But his embattled homeland security secretary recently awarded nearly $1.7 billion in grants, some related to immigration, to states and localities across the nation, including so-called sanctuary cities, according to three people with knowledge of the grants.
But Tim Judson, executive director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an activist group, called Miller's involvement in the bailout request the ultimate "Washington swamp" situation.
"We have a special-interest appeal by FirstEnergy, a top lobbyist dining with the president, and that same lobbyist is raising money for a pro-Trump super PAC and asking for 'emergency action' from someone whose presidential campaign he ran," Judson said.
Miller registered as a lobbyist in Washington in February 2017, just after Trump took office. He was hired by FirstEnergy in July 2017. Lobbying disclosure records show he was paid to target the highest levels of American government: the White House — to include the offices of Trump and Pence — and Perry's Energy Department. Miller has earned $330,000 from FirstEnergy since last year, making him one of the company's highest-paid outside lobbyists.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said last week’s briefing, convened by the Justice Department under pressure from Trump, convinced him even further that the FBI’s information-gathering steps were appropriate. ‘I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got,’ he said in an interview on Fox News. He added that the information also suggested that the effort had ‘nothing to do with Donald Trump.’
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police generally cannot enter private property to search a motor vehicle without first obtaining a warrant.
The 8-1 decision overruling three lower courts was written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Samuel Alito dissented, calling a Virginia police officer's actions reasonable when he walked up a private driveway to confirm that a motorcycle had been stolen.
Rudy isn’t popular:
Rudy Giuliani won’t soon forget his latest Bronx cheer.
Fans forcefully booed the former New York City mayor Monday afternoon at Yankee Stadium in commemoration of his 74th birthday. The funny moment happened in-between innings when the public address announcer asked fans to wish Giuliani a happy birthday.
You can no longer be a racist publicly and get away with it:
Roseanne Barr went on an extended apology offensive Tuesday night after ABC canceled her hit sitcom "Roseanne" over a tweet in which Barr referred to a former adviser to President Barack Obama as an "ape."
[…]
Also on Tuesday, Viacom announced that its cable networks, Paramount Network, TV Land, and CMT, will be pulling syndicated reruns of the old "Roseanne" from their schedules as of Wednesday.
And Barr's talent agency, ICM, also said it would no longer represent her.
Nor can you abuse women and get away with it:
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens resigned Monday, saying he won't allow his legal battles to continue to "cause pain and difficulty for the people I love."
His resignation is effective 5 p.m. Friday
Nor can you profit by simulating school shootings:
Facing harsh criticism from families of mass shooting victims as well as an online petition and negative press reports, Valve, Inc. has decided to pull the Active Shooter video game from its online gaming store, Steam. It has also removed content from publisher ACID and its game developer.
Nor can you declare yourself an unofficial ICE agent:
A flight school pilot, along with his assistant, allegedly kidnapped and tried to deport one of their Chinese students in California last week.
[…]
The police report says Shi went with the couple to Redding Municipal Airport after they "battered him."
Shi's brother in China who had been trying to call Shi tipped off Redding police, who arrived at the airport and arrested the pair for kidnapping.
Colombia to enter NATO:
On Friday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced his nation’s intentions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize after brokering peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, started his nation down this road by establishing a formal partnership with the alliance in May of last year. Although Colombia is eyeing a spot as NATO’s 30th member state, it will remain in “global partner” status, which means they will be fully accredited within the alliance but may not have to participate in NATO military endeavors.
Swedish orchestra trolls the troll:
There's no better troll than a classical music orchestra troll.
Last month, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden received a piece of homophobic hate mail after the orchestra performed music by LGBTQ composers. Instead of tearing the hate mail up, however, the orchestra decided to turn the letter into a beautiful cantata.
"I had no hesitation when Rickard Söderberg suggested that I should set it to music. By considering the text as an opera libretto, we were able to scrutinize the emotions that the anonymous sender was seeking to express. And at the same time, we are doing exactly what an artistic institution should be doing; we are reflecting our times in our art,” Osterling said in a post.
Despite tariffs, a whole lot of good solar news here.
Solar PV manufacturing plant to open in Georgia:
Hanwha Q CELLS will build a PV module manufacturing plant in the US with a capacity that “will exceed 1.6GW”.
The company said construction in Whitfield County, Georgia will begin this year and is expected to be completed in 2019. The PERC modules will be used to supply the US solar rooftop and ground-mount segments.
Arkansas opens PV project:
State and local leaders joined executives from NextEra Energy Resources and Entergy Arkansas this morning to celebrate the commissioning of the Stuttgart Solar Energy Center.
Located approximately seven miles southeast of Stuttgart, Ark., the 81 MW project spans 475 acres and features more than 350,000 PV panels. Construction lasted eight months and generated a significant economic boost to Arkansas County and the state by creating hundreds of construction jobs and stimulating the purchase of regional goods and services from more than a dozen local vendors, according to NextEra.
Our neighbors to the north have a great idea:
Vancouver has become the first major city in Canada to ban plastic straws, polystyrene foam cups, and takeout containers! The Single-Use Item Reduction Strategy, part of the city’s Zero Waste Strategic Plan to eliminate the disposal of solid waste by 2040, will prohibit distribution of the targeted single-use plastics starting June 1, 2019.
The Zero Waste 2040 plan was passed unanimously by the Vancouver City Council. As explained in a statement following the decision, the strategic plan includes “forward-looking policies and actions” that are to help Vancouver successfully achieve its zero waste goal – some of them can be implemented right away, while others will lay the groundwork for progress that requires more time.
Get your toxic chemicals while they last:
Lowe's plans to stop selling paint-removal products with toxic chemicals that have been blamed for killing dozens of people, the home improvement store announced Tuesday.
The company said it will phase out paint-stripping products that include methylene chloride and N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone, also known as NMP, by the end of the year.
And for coffee-drinkers, more good news:
As I've explained previously, a huge meta-analysis of 127 scientific studies strongly suggests that coffee is the ultimate superfood. Coffee repairs your DNA, calms your body, and helps prevent cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson's disease. As a result, coffee-drinkers live longer, healthier lives than those who abstain, especially when you drink it at the right time of the day.
That's all good news, of course, but now there's even better news. A pair of scientific studies conducted at the University of California and the University of Ohio have identified an additional benefit to drinking coffee. According to the Journal of Psychopharmacology:
"consuming a moderate amount of caffeinated coffee prior to indulging in a group activity enhances an individual's task-relevant participation in the group activity."
This finding is clearly important to anybody who works in a business environment where teamwork--and the ability to keep meetings on target--is crucial to success. And that's pretty much everywhere, I think.
Y’all, that’s all the good news I have time for today as it’s coming up on publish time. Keep up the resistance and follow 2thanks’ instructions in every day’s comments section to keep Good News coming to you every single day! Have a great one!