Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
No one here is naive; we are aware of the very bad stuff that is happening. But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including ourselves) who are working so hard to save our country from those very bad people. Because sometimes the good news, which can be incremental, gets lost in the deluge of the click-bait bad. Because we need to fortify ourselves before returning to the fight. Because we sometimes get ideas about how to fight while here. And also — because we’re a community 💙 ❤️ 💙 — we like to be here.
And there is a lot of good news, my friends. I’m sure I did not catch everything.
💙 Russia, Russia, Russia 🐻
— and Other Toxic 🍄 Trump Matters
💙 Maddow has been helping to connect the dots between the Trump campaign and Russia. But if you don’t like video, here’s some stuff from the 6/6 transcript:
First we discover that Ivanka has stepped in it
According to “BuzzFeed”, details on Ivanka Trump’s interactions with this Russian have been scrutinized by the Senate Intelligence Committee and by Robert Mueller’s investigators at the special counsel’s office. It’s not clear where that might be going, but at the very least, quote, the contacts reveal that even as her father was campaigning to become president of the United States, Ivanka Trump was connecting Michael Cohen with a Russian who
offered to arrange a meeting with one of the U.S.’s adversaries in order to help close a business deal that could have made the Trump family millions of dollars.
and
I mean, what that means when we found out that Cambridge Analytica reached out to WikiLeaks and said hey, can we
help? What that means is, we’ve got a Russian intelligence operation under way to illegally influence the U.S. election in Trump’s favor, and we’ve got the data firm paid by the Trump campaign offering operational help to that effort.
So, that was – that was a big deal when we got that revelation last year, that Cambridge Analytica offered to help WikiLeaks index and distribute the stolen Russian documents. That’s a big deal. That shows somebody working for the Trump campaign trying to help the Russians in their influence operation.
Well, today, “The Guardian” newspaper in Britain reports that those contacts were more extensive, and it went on for longer than previously known. “The Guardian” reporting today that a senior executive at Cambridge Analytica met with Julian Assange from WikiLeaks, which is the entity that distributed the documents that Russia had stolen. She met with him in February of last year at the embassy in London where he’s been holed up, trying to fight extradition, and “The Guardian” reports that in addition to
that meeting, she’s total numerous people that she also surreptitiously arranged payments to WikiLeaks. She arranged cryptocurrency payments to WikiLeaks in addition to this newly reported meeting at which she says they discussed the U.S. election.
So, again, it’s easy to just sort of, you know, see the trees instead of the forest here, right? It’s easy to sort of follow each little detail,
new report that’s from each day. But step back for a second. Russian intelligence steals Democratic documents, gives them to WikiLeaks to distribute in ways that will inflict the most damage on Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The data firm working for the Trump campaign offers to help with that work, and then holds at least one in-person meeting with WikiLeaks and then secretly funnels them money.
💛 Wow. Even Paul Ryan thinks Trump should not pardon himself. What happened? His owners don’t like the tariffs? Or the chaos? Or is he terrified of Mueller?
☎️ Muller reportedly wants witnesses in his investigation to hand over their phones. ☎️
Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team want witnesses in the Russia investigation to hand over their personal phones, CNBC reported Wednesday, in order to find out whether they’re using encrypted messaging apps to talk to people close to President Donald Trump.
Speaking of Russia 🐻, a friend of mine who has spend time there has been creating a blog on current affairs, and she had some insight into what scares Putin:
It has been remarked that Putin’s is an authoritarian regime that is, despite its name, sensitive to issues that could cause upheaval among the populace. It has been speculated that Putin has a fear of a mass uprising based on his experience in Dresden, East Germany, after the Berlin Wall fell, and an angry crowd surrounded the KGB headquarters, where Putin worked.
This is the reason we have to keep fighting, folks! When we fight, we win!
Oh, and Stormy Daniels has filed a lawsuit against her old attorney and Michael Cohen.
So while the Trumps and their organization are doing horrible things (no denying it) be aware that we have them on the run. Keep running!
🐊 Tales from the Swamp 🐊
🍄 Scott Pruitt has worn out his welcome at the WH lunch counter!
There’s no such thing as a free lunch right? Well, not if you are professional grifter Scott Pruitt! The exclusive White House mess hall is open to White House staff and cabinet members, but EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was enjoying the free and discounted food just a little too frequently. According to this report from Politico, they had to ask him to stop coming there to every. single. day.
Remember that the people — lobbyists! — he was staying with in DC had to change the locks of their house! In this piece, he’s called the Kato Kaelin of Capitol Hill.
And it’s always neat when it’s clear these creeps can’t stand each other. And here’s another story about how much Pruitt is annoying the Republicans, with his unending controversies. I guess he’s reminding everyone (that is to say, the public and especially the voters) just how corrupt the Trump party is.
FOX News (a part of the Swamp) seems to be having its share of woes
A former news analyst 💛 from FOX has called it a propaganda machine
Ret. Lt. Col. Ralph Peters isn’t done taking his former employer to task. A few months after he quit his position as military analyst at Fox News in dramatic fashion—calling the network a “propaganda machine”—he appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night and went even further in his condemnation
💚 Kurt Eichenwald thinks that, thanks to the Stormy Daniels lawsuit, Sean Hannity will be put under oath.
You know, I’m not into porn, but if someone can tell me about a PG rated film of Ms. Daniels, will gladly buy it. And … do you think Hannity can tell the truth under oath? If he does, will that get him in trouble with his audience? If he doesn’t, will he go to prison for perjury?
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
They really do have nothing to run on. They were going to run on the tax plan, but polls show that ain’t working.
There was a congressional special election in Pennsylvania a few months ago that Republicans expected to win. After all, the race was in the state’s 18th district, which Donald Trump had carried the year before by 20 points.
What’s more, going into the March election, the GOP and its allies believed their recently passed tax cuts would give the party an added boost, and the month before voters went to the polls, Republicans blanketed local airwaves with ads touting the GOP tax plan.
But as Pennsylvania’s special election drew closer, Republicans abruptly switched gears – because they discovered the commercials about tax breaks weren’t working. The Democrat ended up narrowly winning the race.
The piece goes on to point out that this is not an isolated incident.
💜 🐘 We sometimes feel as if the Democrats suffer from too much in-fighting — but the Republicans suffer from it too. Perhaps arguments can be made about privatization and regulation, but some of them can’t stomach Trump.
Martha Roby took a stand, and now she’s paying the price. Not long after the publication of the Access Hollywood tape in October 2016, the Alabama Republican congresswoman announced that she could not vote for an admitted sexual predator for president—even if he was her party’s nominee. Voters in her district responded by waging a write-in campaign that nearly cost her re-election. ...
What Roby is encountering is happening in races across the country. In some cases, candidates have been targeted for their Never Trump stance during the general election. Other Republicans have been branded as turncoats for criticizing Trump during the presidential primary, when a sizable contingent of party regulars was still holding out hope for someone else. And some committed no crime other than supporting Ted Cruz.
💙 😄 🌻 New Poll has Dems up by 10 points!
Trumps numbers are up BUT voters want a check on Trump by a large margin.
HERE is Greg Sargent on the NEW WSJ / NBC POLL.
Thanks for finding this, hpg!
My prediction is that when more of the 💩 hits the fan — that is to say, when more of Trump’s misdeeds become known, that the discrepancy will be greater. I don’t think the country is full of secret Trump lovers. I think the country is full of former Trump lovers, who feel jilted and betrayed but are too proud to tell people publically.
Or maybe a lot of this has already happened:
On a related note, the same poll found that 48% of voters are more likely to support a candidate who'll "provide a check" on Donald Trump, as opposed to 23% who say they're less likely to back such a candidate. In swing districts, it's 52% to 19%.
Of course, not all polls are this optimistic, but let’s enjoy it. And keep on fighting!
And Tuesday night proved that Democrats are not in disarray!
After months of hand-wringing by progressives (and the media) that Tuesday night’s crucial primaries in eight states could end in disaster, the Democratic Party escaped mostly unscathed as they head to November when they hope to retake the House and win scores of governors' seats
Despite what it sometimes feels like — that we are herding 🐱 🐱 🐱 — if we try, we can make it!
📎📎📎 Odds and Ends 📎📎 📎
Evidently Trump’s biggest beef with living in the White House is that he cannot watch porn. Wouldn’t it be better to let him watch porn and stop watching FOX? Or better, yet, Trump, why not resign? That way you can leave the White House!
The US Postal Service is trying to reduce its environmental footprint. 🍃
A judge has ruled that Pruitt must provide evidence for climate change denial. 🌻
Feel as if you don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done? The moon is doing its part. By drifting away, the moon is making the Earth rotate more slowly 🌑 — meaning that days are literally growing longer, as in more minutes, not just more minutes with sunlight ☀️.
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
This is a marathon, not a sprint. We have to win back the offices — and despite the predicted blue wave 🌊 , this will be an uphill battle in some places -- and then we have to reverse the evil that has been wrought. This requires tremendous effort from all of us. (And working on it will make YOU feel better, too.) Some suggestions:
Browse Yosef52's Diary for lots of ideas and links. Note that he has a lot about getting out the vote, and the first step is registration. Read somewhere that a lot of potential black voters in Georgia are not registered. Boy is this an opportunity.
Call or write your representatives!
Write postcards! Here’s the link to the PostcardstoVoters site.
Put up signs! WHY DOES THIS MATTER? Because you’re reaching people outside of our bubble! Freewayblogger explains how to do this. This is great and much easier than you think and you’re not likely to get in trouble. And in this diary he explains how it’s both a Constitutional right and duty to protest in troubled times:
But I talked to my lawyer about this and he said if the President even just appears to be a traitor, I’m allowed to put up a sign on public property that says “Our President appears to be a traitor.” In fact, he said I can put up a hundred of them! How crazy is that? He was really animated about it too — said stuff like the First Amendment being created precisely for situations like the one we’re in now, and that they made the First Amendment intentionally broad so people could speak out as loud as they wanted — particularly when the nation was in peril. In fact, he said they kind of expected us to do it.
2thanks usually has a whole bunch of suggestions.
Tell people. Write comments to online articles. When you speak, you encourage others to speak as well. You may even change some minds.
What you do matters. You know the gazillion movies, where the stars are battling it out — but they wouldn’t make it, if it weren’t for the distractions and the support of the rest of the cast? Well, most of us are the rest of the cast. If you can be a star, that’s great too, but if not, you can still be a hero, even if your song is not as loud.
And if you have any other ideas, please put them in the comments!
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.
💙 🌻 🌹 💜 🌹 🌻 💙