Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
One of the things our side has been legitimately worried about is cheating with respect to the election system. I admit that I have been concerned about it. It’s not like the Republicans are above cheating (too many instances to list here). And they show remarkable indifference to election security.
What actually gives me hope is how much they are talking about how they expect to lose (possibly even the Senate). Because if they were expecting to win, even by cheating, they wouldn't talk that way, would they?
This doesn't mean we can relax. By no means! And we have to be vigilant, because we’ve seen so many examples of cheating already. But their great expectation that they’re going to lose — the huge wave of retirements — means the fix is not in the bag.
On to Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; 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 (please save that click-bait bad for other diaries). 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, yes, there’s lots of bad news out there — the Republican party is so amazingly nasty, racist, and corrupt — and Trump’s deeds will take a lot of work to undo. But little of it is surprising, at least not surprising on what the bad guys are doing or are trying to do (at least not to us). What has been surprising is the outpouring on our side. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know. And you know what? Anger and fury are pretty good motivators, and are reasons that a blue wave is predicted for November.
💚 There are more of us than there are of them.
💛 They are terrified when we organize. THERE IS LOTS OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE TERRIFIED!
💔 They want us to be demoralized. We have to keep demoralizing them. Name, blame and shame!
💙 The best way to keep up your spirits is to fight. So, take the time to recharge your batteries, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world.
💙 Russia, Russia, Russia 🐻
— and Other Toxic 🍄 Trump Matters
💰 Investigators seem to be following the money
The June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower has become one of the most famous gatherings in American political history: ✂️
But secret documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News reveal a previously undisclosed aspect of the meeting: a complex web of financial transactions among some of the planners and participants who moved money from Russia and Switzerland to the British Virgin Islands, Bangkok, and a small office park in New Jersey. ✂️
Now, four federal law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News, investigators are focused on two bursts of transactions that bank examiners deemed suspicious: one a short time after the meeting and another immediately after the November 2016 presidential election.
I tip my virtual hat to WineRev, whose comment alerted me to this.
🔨 Manafort accepts plea deal
ABC News is reporting that Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort has agreed to a plea deal rather than go ahead with a second trial. At this point it’s not clear that this deal includes any form of agreement with federal prosecutors. Manafort’s legal team will appear in court on Friday to enter the plea.
In making this plea, Manafort avoids the expense of a trial that looked to be longer than the first. Coming off eight convictions on fraud and tax evasion in his first trial, and facing hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence submitted by the prosecution for this second trial, Manafort may have decided to simply avoid the stress and expense. In any case, at 69, Manafort may be counting on a deal or a pardon from Trump to avoid spending the remainder of his life in prison.
To quote Goodie: “Flip! Flip! Flip!” Evidently Manafort isn't ready to do that yet, and I’ve seen stuff about it going either way. For some more speculation, especially that Manafort has something YUGE, here’s a link to Wonkette. Talking points memo Josh Marshall thinks that it’s Manafort locking in his pardon.
Still, it means that MANAFORT IS PLEADING GUILTY. Can’t look good for Trump.
🐻 House Republicans block Democrats on Putin-Trump meeting
House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans have rejected Democrats' request that the State Department turn over documents that would explain what President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed in their July one-on-one meeting in Helsinki.
Why it matters: Lawmakers and Americans still don’t know the substance of what was discussed during Trump’s meeting with Putin, but there is no momentum from the Republican majority on Capitol Hill to compel those details from the administration. A previous Democratic motion to subpoena the interpreter in the room was blocked by Republicans as well.
Not exactly good news, but I think this will be very interesting when it comes out. Republicans — what do you have to hide
🔨 72% of Americans want Trump to testify in Mueller probe
Trump’s lawyers are desperately try to keep him out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s hot seat — but the vast majority of Americans think Trump needs to explain himself under oath.
According to a new poll from CNN, 72 percent of Americans say Trump should testify under oath to Mueller, versus only 23 percent who say he should not. ✂️
Even among those who approve of Trump, 38 percent say he should testify.
🐊 Tales from the Swamp 🐊
🚗 FEMA guy being investigated for inappropriate use of vehicles
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long is the target of an ongoing Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigation into whether he misused government vehicles during his commutes to North Carolina from Washington, according to three people familiar with the matter, including current and former administration officials.
The actions by Long, the U.S. government’s lead disaster official as the country braces for Hurricane Florence, have been called into question by the inspector general over whether taxpayers have inappropriately footed the bill for his travel, an issue that has tripped up a number of current and former top Trump administration officials.
🐊 Something strange is going on with the Kavanagh fiasco ✉️
A constituent letter to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), which she has shared with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) having something to do with Brett Kavanaugh has been referred to the FBI, Buzzfeed reports. ✂️ The contents of the letter are indeed hazy, but the referral to the FBI suggests they are significant and troubling. The FBI isn't commenting at the moment, nor is the White House. Kavanaugh certainly isn't.
When you show you’re serious about fighting, others join in….
🐊 Kavanaugh’s finances are very suspicious
Before President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, he had a lot of debt. In May 2017, he reported owing between $60,004 and $200,000 on three credit cards and a loan against his retirement account. By the time Trump nominated him to the high court in July 2018, those debts had vanished. Overall, his reported income and assets didn’t seem sufficient to pay off all that debt while maintaining his upper-class lifestyle: an expensive house in an exclusive suburban neighborhood, two kids in a $10,500-a-year private school, and a membership in a posh country club reported to charge $92,000 in initiation fees. His financial disclosure forms have raised more questions than they’ve answered, leading to speculation about whether he’s had a private benefactor and what sorts of conflicts that relationship might entail.
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
🌊 Following the blue wave metaphor, Republicans worried about a shipwreck ✊ 🚢 ✊
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday sounded some of the most doubtful notes of Trump’s presidency that Republicans will keep the upper chamber of Congress, telling reporters, “I hope when the smoke clears, we’ll still have a majority.”
His comments came as Republican strategists and officials fretted over a fresh round of private polling on the Senate races, while public polls registered further erosion in Americans’ approval of Trump. “Shipwreck” was how one leading strategist described the situation, adding an expletive to underscore the severity of the party’s problems.
🗽 NY Democrats are demanding that Democrats lead
New York State, despite being “blue,” has been in Republican control for example in the Senate, thanks to bizarre agreements between the IDC and the Republicans. This is not going to continue.
Today, Daily Kos congratulated Democrats John Liu, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie, Robert Jackson, and Alessandra Biaggi on their victories in primaries in state Senate Districts 11, 13, 20, 31, and 34, respectively, against former members of the turncoat Independent Democratic Conference (IDC). Daily Kos was proud to endorse these progressives against fake Democratic incumbents, and the Daily Kos community contributed over $93,000 to the effort in small-dollar grassroots contributions.
Cuomo won his primary against Cynthia Nixon, but the challenge was good for him.
Also, there was huge turnout on the Democratic side, which might be evidence of the fact that the gubernatorial primary race was more exciting than usual, but it also shows that Democrats these days are seriously engaged. More evidence of the blue wave. 😄
🌵 Simena is leading McSally in a FOX News poll
Sinema is up three percentage points over McSally (47-44 percent), according to a Fox News poll of Arizona likely voters. Sinema’s advantage is within the poll’s margin of sampling error.
The candidates hope to fill the open seat of retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.
Sinema bests McSally by 15 points among women. She’s also ahead by wide margins among voters under age 45 (+19) and non-whites (+32).
This is important to me because McSally is currently my representative and she is AWFUL.
And, of course, if we win AZ we have a much better chance of taking the Senate!
🌽 Midwest abandons Trump
It appears Donald Trump's unhinged, combative style of governance isn't going over well in the Midwest, where a new NPR/Marist poll shows support for Congressional Republicans collapsing.
In that poll, the generic ballot trended upward for Democrats to a 12-point advantage (50-38 percent), building on their 7-point advantage in July (47-40 percent). NPR and Marist attribute that shift largely to Trump's change in standing in the Midwest, as earlier polling from NBC suggested this summer.
🌊 Back to the blue wave prediction
Get Over Your Election-Needle P.T.S.D.: The Blue Wave Is Real, and It’s a Monster. All the fundamentals are pointing to a Democratic tsunami rumbling offshore, even if we’re being too careful about saying it. As with most elements of Trump’s presidency, the most obvious thing is usually true. And what’s staring us in the face is a big blue Democratic takeover in Washington.
🐍 From the Schadenfreude Files 🍎
🐍 If Trump fires Sessions, he’ll have a hard time getting another AG
Senate Republicans suspect that only a sitting senator who is unconditionally loyal to President Donald Trump and respects Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe could get both chosen and confirmed if Trump fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
But none of them want the job.
🐍 California Republican candidate refused to pay vendors, so they shamed him
Cole Harris was a self-funded candidate for California lieutenant governor before failing to make the cut for the state’s top two general election runoff contest. Despite his self-professed personal wealth, his campaign racked up seven figures in debt that he is now refusing to repay.
For months, the political firms that worked for Harris had tried to recoup the funds they were owed. But at the end of August, Harris’ legal team let it be known that the campaign wouldn’t be forking over an additional cent.
And so Majority Strategies, a prominent Republican consulting firm that helped run Harris’ digital operation, took action. Using administrator access that it retained from the campaign, the firm changed Harris campaign’s website and social media pages to advertise Harris’s alleged refusal to make his campaign vendors whole.
🐍 Ann Coulter thinks Jared Kushner is behind that Anonymous Op-Ed
Kushner is Coulter’s top candidate as the anonymous author of last week’s New York Times op-ed by “a senior administration official” claiming to be a secret member of the insider resistance protecting the country against Trump’s worst excesses.
“Because he and Ivanka are going to have to go back to the Upper East Side and go to the Hamptons,” Coulter explains. “They’re probably worried that Trump will be removed within the next few years. They had just gone to the McCain funeral, and [the op-ed] was right after Labor Day, so they were probably feeling wistful for the Hamptons. And the only way they can get back in is if they can say, ‘Don’t worry, we’re the ones who stopped the wall.’”
I don't agree with Coulter (I don't think Kushner was the author), but I do love how she is deliberately sowing mischief among the Trump family.
🔄 Instead of Mexico paying for the wall, US will pay Mexico to keep immigrants out…?
President Trump has promised for years that Mexico would pay for a vast border wall, a demand that country has steadfastly refused. Now, in the Trump administration’s campaign to stop illegal immigration, the United States plans instead to pay Mexico.
In a recent notice sent to Congress, the administration said it intended to take $20 million in foreign assistance funds and use it to help Mexico pay plane and bus fare to deport as many as 17,000 people who are in that country illegally.
The money will help increase deportations of Central Americans, many of whom pass through Mexico to get to the American border.
I’m sure Joy Reid (she often reminds people of Trump’s promise that Mexico would pay for the wall) will enjoy this over the weekend.
📎📎📎 Odds and Ends 📎📎 📎
⚡️ Receivers kneel and visit troops in hospital afterwards
I find it weird that the Rs can spin kneeling — a sign of submission — into something disrespectful.
⚡️ Democratic congresswoman starts Medicare-for-All PAC
⚡️ 👟 Louisiana mayor walks back his Nike ban
Fun fact: Nike is the Greek goddess of victory. Also: naming, shaming, blaming works!
🍃 Environmental group pledges $60 million to green candidates
💰 Bezos pledging $2 billion fund to homeless and pre-schools
🌻 🎍 China and California plan to work together to combat climate change
🌴 Man plants one tree per day for forty years 🎍
Jadav Payeng is the Indian man who has nurtured 1,360 acres of forest on what was once a barren landscape devastated by erosion.
A father of three, he lives on Majuli, the world’s largest river island. As a teenager, he was mortified after witnessing hundreds of animals dying from drought amid the dwindling greenery on the island, so he resolved to plant one sapling every day.
He started with simple botanical powerhouses, such as bamboo and cottonwood. After almost four decades of growth, his forest is now inhabited by hundreds of elephants, Bengal tigers, rhinos, boars, deer, reptiles, and birds. Payeng says that he has lost count of how many trees he has planted – but he believes there are now hundreds of thousands of trees providing shade and shelter to the wildlife.
This story was posted about a month ago, but I bet most of us haven't seen it. And that’s because it’s the story of someone deciding to do something simple about a problem, day after day after day, nothing dramatic, when looking at it on a single day, but absolutely critical. Payeng, unlike Bezos, is not the richest man in the world, but he has made a huge difference to an ecosystem. (However, Wikipedia claims that despite Majuli’s claim to be the largest river island — that is, an island in a river — a couple of other islands are actually larger.)
🌻 And another man has been making a difference to the butterflies
Tim Wong may work as an aquatic biologist during the day, but when he is back on terra firma he tends to other wildlife: raising endangered butterflies in his backyard. ✂️
When he first learned of the predicament of the pipevine swallowtail, the 28-year-old swooped in to help by creating a screened backyard enclosure with ideal environmental conditions for the insect.
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
This is a marathon, not a sprint, but this is the time to ratchet up our efforts.
Donate to ActBlue
Donate to Swing Left
Send postcards to voters in other districts
Sign up to go door to door in your district
Sign up to drive people to the polls
Find your local Democratic Party and volunteer!
FreewayBlogger
Plus! Check out Yosef 52's diaries, posted daily, full of ideas and links!
🍀 “My experience has been that work is almost
always the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.” 🍀
Eleanor Roosevelt
🔥 If you’re going through hell, keep going! 🔥
Winston Churchill
🌹 🌹 🌹
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.