Welcome to the Sunday edition of Good News Roundup.
In case you are new, this is a place to leverage good news to offset the bad and to inspire ourselves to fight on. Our focus is on stories that are good for the resistance, the country and the world. Sometimes you have to stand on your head and squint sideways to see the potential good in the horrible inhuman behavior of the current administration.
If you believe the sky is falling or insist on crying wolf you are in the wrong place. We know your view is popular. But we aren’t you. If your intent is to disrupt this space, I’d appreciate it if you hung out at IGaveUpAndYouShouldToo.com instead of trying to hijack this space.
Don’t forget to check out oldhippiedude’s Tweets ‘o the Week later on today and tune in again tomorrow at 7AM when Jessiestaf brings us Monday’s Good News Roundup.
In addition to 2thanks’ regular resource comment, Yosef52 publishes a daily diary of ways to get involved
The Cold Open Summer Replacement Program
Colbert was on fire Thursday night. He took down Sessions’ biblical justification for cruelty with The Bible and then called on all of us to push back hard. This is what all the mainstream newsreaders (and every other newsreader in the country) should be screaming about until the separations are stopped.
The Breaking Good News
I was down most of the day Saturday with a brutal headache. As a result some of the coverage this week is sparse.
There’s movement in evangelical circles. If tRump loses any significant percentage of his evangelical support the end is nigh. The Atlantic: Southern Baptists Call Off the Culture War
It was immediately clear that change was afoot in Dallas. I’ve attended the annual gatherings of the Southern Baptist Convention dozens of times, but walking around the convention center this week, I was struck by how unfamiliar it all felt. When I was a child, the convention hall was a sea of silver combovers and smelled of denture paste. While the older, more traditionalist crowd was still present in Dallas, the younger, fresh-faced attendees now predominated.
“The generational shift happening in the SBC has thrust the group into the middle of an identity crisis,” says Barry Hankins, chair of the department of history at Baylor University and co-author of Baptists in America: A History. “The younger generation thinks differently than the old guard Christian right about culture and politics, and they are demanding change.”
To enact this change, young Baptists nominated 45-year old pastor J.D. Greear from North Carolina to be president of the denomination. In a campaign video, Greear called for “a new culture and a new posture in the Southern Baptist Convention.”
Greear has promised to lead the denomination down a different path, which, he has said, must include efforts both to repent of a “failure to listen to and honor women and racial minorities” and “to include them in proportionate measures in top leadership roles.” If the meeting in Dallas is any indication, his vision is resonating with a large number of the next wave of Baptist leaders.
tRump is getting called out for dumping traditional American values. The New Yorker: Donald Trump Goes Rogue
When President Trump walked out early from the meeting of the Group of Seven in Charlevoix, Quebec, on June 9th, he left the group’s collective statement without an American signature. It was hardly a controversial document—the language was G-7 boilerplate, affirming “our shared values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and our commitment to promote a rules-based international order.” U.S. officials had negotiated a change in that last phrase from the definite article to an indefinite one—apparently, “the rules-based international order” threatened American sovereignty. But Trump still refused to sign. A spat with Canada over steel and aluminum tariffs had fouled his mood, and as he was leaving Canadian airspace the President insulted his host, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him “dishonest” and “weak.” Air Force One flew on to Singapore, where Trump lavished time and enthusiasm on the North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un—“a very talented man” and a “funny guy” with a “great personality.”
...
Trump imagines that America unbound, shaking hands or giving the finger, depending upon short-term interests and Presidential whims, will flourish among the other rogues. After his meeting with Kim, he flew home aglow with wonder at his own dealmaking prowess, assuring Americans that they could now sleep in peace. In fact, Trump had secured nothing except the same vague commitment to dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program which the regime has offered and routinely betrayed in the past. Meanwhile, he gave up something real—joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which he called “provocative,” the language of totalitarian and aggressive North Korea. Without allies and treaties, without universal values, American foreign policy largely depends on what goes on inside Trump’s head. Kim, like Putin, already seems to have got there.
It’s become a daily occurrence. There’s another Pruitt scandal. Pruitt is just like tRump; same grafting/grifting behavior pattern, just without a dead rodent impersonating a head of hair. ABC News: Pruitt bought Rose Bowl tickets with help from PR executive for energy firms, former staffer tells Congress
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt bought tickets for himself and his family to watch the Oklahoma Sooners play in the Rose Bowl with help from a marketing executive whose firm represents energy companies, including one client with business before the EPA, a former Pruitt aide has told congressional investigators.
Former Pruitt aide Millan Hupp told the House Oversight Committee in a transcribed interview last month that Pruitt obtained tickets to the bowl game with help from Renzi Stone, a member of the University Oklahoma Board of Regents and the chairman and CEO of Saxum, a communications company that also has an energy practice, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, revealed in a new letter to Stone.
According to her testimony excerpted in the Cummings letter, Pruitt "obtained tickets from an acquaintance that works in some capacity for the university," adding that she did not know how much Pruitt paid for the tickets to one of college football's most celebrated annual championship games, held on New Year's Day.
Why can’t The Times publish stories like this? People are saying tRump is going to open a new school to teach people how to be polite to each other. The New York Post: DNY psychologist claims Trump is mentally unfit for office
An FDNY psychologist who says Donald Trump once crudely insulted her looks has diagnosed him as mentally unfit to be president.
Suzanne Lachmann claims her brief encounter with Trump — and her work treating FDNY firefighters after 9/11 — qualifies her to make the pronouncement.
Lachmann recently tweeted that she “met Trump personally,” and that her work with the Bravest to “determine who must be taken off line due to mental duress,” justifies her conclusion that the commander-in-chief must go.
Lachmann told The Post she spotted the famous developer standing alone at a Missoni fashion event — filled with models — on the heels of his 1992 divorce from first-wife Ivana.
She approached The Donald to introduce herself as “a neighbor,” and tell him she enjoyed his recent interview on the Howard Stern show.
“He interrupted me and said, ‘Why would I want to talk to you? Look at all the beautiful women in here. I wouldn’t let you s–k my d–k.’”
This isn’t good news. It’s just something else that pisses me off. I’m covering it in the roundup because it’s not ok and I’d like to help incite some more recognition that the Post Gazette’s Owner, John Robinson Block, is actively subverting the paper’s legacy. Rob Rogers is a hell of an editorial cartoonist and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is becoming a shell of its former self. I would rather see the paper die than become a right-wing rag only suitable for lining bird cages. Mother Jones: Here Are 4 Hard-Hitting Cartoons a Pro-Trump Newspaper Tried to Bury
On Thursday, veteran editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers was abruptly fired from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after a string of anti-Trump illustrations were spiked from the newspaper.
Rogers, who joined the Post-Gazette in 1993, says 19 cartoons or proposed drawings were killed by the paper over a three-month period, including six in a single week shortly before he was fired. “After so many years of punch lines and caricatures, skewering mayors and mullahs, the new regime at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette decided that The Donald trumped satire when it came to its editorial pages,” he wrote in an op-ed on Friday.
The Post-Gazette’s publisher and editor-in-chief, John Robinson Block—who boasted about joining Donald Trump on his private jet at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign—defended the decision. “It has little to do with politics, ideology or Donald Trump,” he told the Washington Post. “It has mostly to do with working together and the editing process.”
This Is the Week That Was
There was a lot of good news this last week and then there was the situation at the border.
Family Values
Systematically ripping children away from their parents is an obscene act perpetrated by a group of people openly embracing racism and xenophobia. Their lies justifying their unconscionable behavior are ludicrous attempts to twist facts well beyond the breaking point. These aren’t just crimes; these are crimes against humanity. These are crimes that would make Joseph Goebbels proud. Anyone who participates in, promotes or orders asylum seeking families to be separated belongs in jail. I don’t bear that famous camel any ill will, but I hope this is finally that straw that he’s been dreading.
Vox: The Trump administration separated 2,000 kids from their parents in just 6 weeks
Mother Jones: Protesters Blast Mike Pence for “Ripping Children From Their Families”
Rolling Stone: Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Immigration Press Conference Was Disgraceful
Photo Ops Do Not Diplomacy Make
Kim Jong Un got it wrong. tRump isn’t a dotard; he’s da turd. tRump got bupkis and Kim got legitimacy. Hell of a deal. tRump’s view isn’t just spin; it’s full blown fantasy with extra surreal bird dropping as bullet points.
Brookings: What Kim Jong-un and Trump each achieved in Singapore
The Guardian: What have Trump and Kim signed? We read between the lines
The tRump Foundation Scandal Makes a Comeback
Another lawsuit for the Glorious Bleater to rail against. I bet fear of discovery in all the lawsuits is giving him hives (at least I hope so). Rolling Stone: The Trump Foundation Will Be Forced to Face Up to Rampant Corruption Allegations
The IG Report Shows FBI Bias — Against Clinton
No surprise. Anything tRump says about the IG report is a lie. Here’s a quick summary. fivethirtyeight.com: The 500-Page Inspector General’s Report In 900 Words
And there’s push back against the liars trying to twist the report. What they are trying to do is bad. Shining a light on it is good. Media Matters: Like clockwork, right-wing media exploit DOJ IG report to call for special counsel Mueller’s removal
tRump Embarrasses All of Us at the G7
Hey let’s declare war on Canada. BBC: G7 summit ends in disarray as Trump abandons joint statement
Manafort Goes to Jail
“He only worked for the campaign for a short time.” — Donald tRump. It’s no wonder he can’t find clothes that fit. He burnt through all the pants that fit years ago and now he has to get them from Fat and Fireproof (He’s still burning through them at a prodigious rate. Fireproof pants may not be available in tRump’s size).
Mother Jones: Mueller: Manafort Used “Foldering” as Part of His “Deception”
The Atlantic: Mueller’s Warning to Trump: The Cover-Up Is Also a Crime
Rolling Stone: Paul Manafort, One of D.C.'s Most Venerable Swamp Creatures, Is Headed to Jail
Cohen Is Still in Trouble
Can you say flip? Vox: 24 hours in Michael Cohen’s many legal troubles
Giuliani Is Still an Ass
Vox: Rudy Giuliani says the Russia investigation could get “cleaned up” with pardons hours after Paul Manafort was jailed
Roundup Redux
That brutal headache eating up most of Saturday meant I didn’t manage to summarize all the roundups. My apologies.
Monday — Jessiestaf
Tuesday — Goodie
Wednesday — pr0gressivist had a lot of news for us. There was Mr. Kellyanne showing more spine than Paulie by pushing back against tRump; Cohen as the weakest link; Trump tattling on himself; Congress doing something about ZTE; Rosenstein smacking Nunes; Cynthia Nixon going to a mosque; Paul Le Page can't stop primary results; No voter purge this year in Ohio; Republicans want oversight on Korea negotiations; more IOKIYAR shenanigans; Southern Baptists face #MeToo; Medical Maryjane protected; AMA says no way to NRA; Rape charges filed on Jean-Claude Arnault in Nobel scandal; Violence decreases in Iraq; Pope Francis cleans house; Spain accepting migrants; Israel evicting (Israeli) illegals; WA going neutral on net; Solar, solar, solar, solar (4 stories); Wind efficiency research making it cheaper; FERC slamming Perry; Toxic gases captured; and IKEA banning single-use plastics
Thursday — oldhippiedude
Friday — Chloris Creator
Saturday — Goodie Part Deux
Musical Interlude
I couldn’t decide between two versions of this song. So you get them both. First from 2015
Second with a children’s choir from 2013.
On Choices
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised when a serial sexual assaulter graduates to child abuse. After all, it’s in his nature. He’s our very own scorpion riding us across the river. What should surprise us is the sheer number of republican office holders who have decided to be complicit in that abuse. Not only have the consistently shown no moral outrage at the depravities this administration is committing; for the most part they’ve been active cheerleaders. Craven, spineless, cowardly and evil are all apt descriptors for politicians who won’t stand up for children. They did it with the DACA kids; they’ve been doing it with guns and kids since Columbine; and now they are doing it with asylum seekers. They justify it by cherry-picking the same scriptural references that were used to justify slavery. It’s old and tiresome and it’s time for it to end. I implore you to speak up every chance you get and to not let your anger at this abuse dissipate until they stop doing it.
Our country is presented with a choice. We can support a serial liar who doesn’t respect anything we collectively value. We can support a traitor who betrays our allies and coddles our adversaries. We can support a wannabe dictator who uses children as hostages for his vile anti-American policies. We can support a con artist who ran a fraudulent charity and is currently busy selling out the country to the highest bidder. Or, we can support muzzling the rabid usurper of our American dream. This November we must do everything we can to kick out the enablers and put a stop to government by thuggery, chicanery, conspiracy and corruption.
Sunday Funnies
Michelle Wolf figured out what’s going on at The New York Times
Seth Meyer on tRump’s legal difficulties.
Trevor Noah on the summit.
Today’s Quote(s)
I am convinced a shared secular morality is the foundation of our resistance. I think it is the most important part of our society and the thing that the current conservative party has for the most part forgotten or perverted.
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. . . . We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. . . . We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. — Edward R. Murrow
The executive branch of this government never has, nor will suffer, while I preside, any improper conduct of its officers to escape with impunity. -- George Washington
The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the unemployed. -- Hubert Humphrey
Nathan Hale’s grand-nephew was a Unitarian minister from Boston. He was vocally anti-slavery, pro-education and pro-immigration. He also had a way with words.
I am only one
But still I am one
I cannot do everything
But still I can do something
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. — Edward Everett Hale
Furry Space
Finale
From Jerry’s final show.
Disclaimer: tRump is still a putz.