Welcome
End-of-the-year greetings, Gnusies and Gnewbies! As you probably know, Goodie (our beloved founder and Mayor of Gnuville), is out of the country today, so again I have the daunting task of filling in for her. Happily for all of us, she’ll return in time to do her usual Saturday roundup next week to start 2020 off for us on the right correct foot.
Today, instead of focusing on current news for this final Saturday Good News Roundup of 2019, I thought this would be an appropriate occasion on which to celebrate the many wonderful voices that bring us our daily roundups. To that end, I’ve gathered some of my favorite intros from all the GNRU writers. BeeD helped out by contributing a couple of terrific videos. Your job is to add some of your 2019 GNRU favorites – intros, stories, comments, videos and/or music – so we can all enjoy them again and be reminded of what a blessed oasis this corner of the internet is. And, of course, news nuggets are always welcome.
Note: This turned out to be a very long roundup. So you might want to take it in several bites, instead of all at once!
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But before I get to my favorite intros of 2019, I want to share an extremely perceptive statement from one of my preferred sources of good news on the internet, Future Crunch. In their year-end “99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn't Hear About in 2019” they open with a spot-on analysis of what we’re all up against these days. It illustrates better than anything I’ve read recently the reasons why our community of optimistic, heart-centered activists matters and why we make such a positive difference on Daily Kos.
We watched the news this year. Maybe you did too.
It didn’t look good. Countries on the verge of collapse, people taking to the streets, some in peaceful marches and extinction rebellions, other in violent clashes with security forces. Populism and and bigotry rearing their ugly heads, worming their way into the algorithms, power corrupting absolutely, the powerless ignored or locked in cages on the border. Trade wars, surveillance capitalism and ‘re-education camps,’ war-torn hotspots mired in conflict, a global economy seemingly incapable of fixing its excesses, the partisan battle lines hardening, the lies becoming more brazen. An entire species fouling its own nest, the emissions (still!) rising, wildfires burning and losses cascading across ecosystems.
Perhaps, like us, you willingly chose to take part in this insane, 21st century global experiment: take a nervous system that's evolved for running away from cheetahs, and give it a big glowing screen showing it all the bad things happening in the world in near real time.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the only news. There were other stories out there, stories of conservation, health, rising living standards, tolerance, peace, cleaner energy and environmental stewardship. Most of them didn’t make it onto our Facebook feeds though, and that means that what we saw on our screens in 2019 was not the world. It was a negative image of the world, in both the photographic and tonal senses.
Here’s a better picture.
I’ve never seen a better description of our relation to the internet than “take a nervous system that's evolved for running away from cheetahs, and give it a big glowing screen showing it all the bad things happening in the world in near real time.” That’s why we need to find good news, bring good news, and make good news.
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Roundup of my favorite roundups of 2019
For me, the GNRU intros that are energizing and inspiring are the best, and no one does them better than GoodNewsRoundup (aka Goodie) herself. So I’ll begin with this one Goodie wrote on November 9th:
Our beloved country can go in two directions and it is up to us to send it where it needs to be. To save our democracy, we need to win in 2020.
And not just our country; the fate of the entire world is in our hands. The beautiful experiment of government of the people, by the people, and for the people is being tested like never before. To save liberal democracy as the dominant force worldwide, we need to win in 2020.
And not just the world we have made, but also the planet we made it on. Our planet needs action, and for that action to happen, we need to win in 2020.
The fate of everything is in our hands.
And it isn’t just about defeating Trump. It means voting in a sea of change.
✂️
Trump is the logical progression of a party that has to cheat in order to win. They have to cheat because we outnumber them. To beat us, they need to keep us from voting. And they have been doing that for years.
But the shit has hit the fan (and Trump is that shit). The party of fear, cheating, and lying eventually gave way to a president who is nothing but a fear inducing, cheating, liar. He is the embodiment of every evil that Republicans have used to win.
The good news is America is waking up. We see it at on the streets in protest after protest. We see it in the voting booth in 2018 and now again in 2019. We see it in every new candidate and every new voter and every new poll.
My friends, the tipping point has come.
The time has come to either take back our democracy or cede it to authoritarianism.
All it takes to win is our never ending hard work and dedication.
Goodie also had some powerful words for us after the Mueller report debacle, March 30th. Please remember this every time we face another obstacle and the Chicken Littles start squawking again:
It’s been a week of turning off the radio, silencing people on social media, and trying to ignore the DailyKos headlines about the end of all democracy and hope.
Its been a banner week for the doom and gloomers. It’s been Eeyore week with “all is lost” echoing through the ether. It feels like someone released dementors into every liberal corner of America and we are all left facing every bad memory we have had.
The GNR writers have faced this avalanche of despair by offering encouragement, humor, snark, fresh outlooks, and, of course, good news.
Today, I have a different approach. Ready?
SNAP THE F&*& OUT OF IT!!!! I get it. It SUCKS that Barr released that biased memo with not one full sentence from the actual Mueller report. It SUCKS that Mueller didn’t march Trump out of the WH is cuffs. It SUCKS that trump and his minions feel like they won, when really all they did is rig the game again. OK?
GET OVER IT. We have work to do. No one is coming to save us except us. So we can’t mope and whine and share memes about the end of the world. That ain’t going to save us.
Need help getting over it? Here are six big reasons why you should be energized and not depressed.
Goodie, you’re simply the best. Thank you with all my heart for everything you have done and continue to do to keep us hopeful and energized.
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That March 30th intro by Goodie took me back to those dark days of hand-wringing over the reception of the Mueller report, and I remembered a brilliant editorial cartoon that I published, more or less without comment, as a stand-alone DK diary. It got 315 recs, a record for me. That cartoon is still brilliant, perhaps even more so now that we can see the full extent of Barr’s perfidy. Besides, the drawing captures him perfectly.
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First musical break
Let’s start with some music that will get us up on our feet! This video was contributed by BeeD – it’s a joyous flash mob celebration that reminds us how great it will be to celebrate victories in 2020 (if we put the work in now!!):
Wait, I feel a tug on my sleeve...it’s Martha Reeves!
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On Sundays, 2thanks brings us a weekly wrap-up, along with lots of cheer and inspiration. If Goodie is our Mayor of Gnuville, I like to think of 2thanks as our Town Crier, technical advisor, and archivist. I love the regular features of the Sunday GNRU, including his intro (this version is from October 13th):
Ruminations and Revelations
Good News: We bring it, we make it.
The Good Gnus group is a community of readers, writers, activists, supporters, community builders, and patriots. We begin gathering every day at 7 a.m. ET to celebrate national good news. Our most active members are of course a subgroup of members of Daily Kos, whose Front Pages celebrate “News, Community, Action.” However, you don’t have to be a member of Daily Kos to be a Newsie.
We are realists, not fools, idiots, or ostriches. We know we live in a world where active, nefarious, and evil decision-makers do very bad things and create stress and anxiety in us, our loved ones, our friends, our allies, and our neighbors, and who invite genocide on Kurdish allies, yet we choose to focus on the good news that people create around the country. Sometimes we ourselves create Good News. Together we’re strong and resilient. We return regularly to these pages to revitalize.
Other Sunday features include the “Who Won the Week” poll from Cheers and Jeers, Sunday Mapday (encouraging all GNRU readers to let us know where in the world they are), Tech Talk (2thanks is the best at solving DK tech problems), fun tidbits from the news, and the very best cheat sheet for activists:
How to Resist: Do Something
The Five R’s of the Resistance
- Resist: Protest on the streets, call senators and representatives, etc.
- Rebel: Run for office, GOTV (Get Out The Vote), support a progressive.
- Revolt: Change the laws, change the culture, build your communities.
- Rely: Trust that millions of others are fighting the good fight.
- Rest: Take care of yourself, we are in this for the long term.
I also have to highlight 2thanks’ February 3rd roundup, because it gave us the GNRU origin story!
The Origin Story of the Good Gnus Roundups
sweetthesound: Thanks again to the GNR writers who lit a beacon during the misery of the first months of the Maladministration. What was the date? What is the origin story?
GoodNewsRoundup: It started after the election in my local Indivisible group on FB. People seemed so down, I felt like I needed to do something to get them out from under their beds, and optimism is kinda my gig.
After a while, people wanted to share the good news I was sharing with friends outside our private group and it was hard to share from FB, so I started posting it here just as a place to put it.
I was welcomed by wee mama and embraced by 2thanks who even spoke to me on the phone to teach me how to use Daily Kos correctly. Then people started showing up and pitching in and it evolved to this amazing thing we have ALL created. *
Hahaha! Goodie republished her second diary!
From the Archives (May 17, 2017) -- Wednesday Morning Good News Roundup
It’s never too late to Recommend a diary, but apparently because the Mayor Republished an Unpublished diary, the comments there are live again! We can now comment in The Second Good News Roundup on Daily Kos!
If you missed it the first time round, the deep-state techs of Daily Kos have empowered you to take a second crack at the second Roundup.
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Mondays belong to Jessiestaf, whose format of choosing just five news stories always results in roundups that while quick to read (a pleasure on busy Monday mornings!) often feature items not found elsewhere. I also appreciate the very personal voice Jessiestaf brings to the roundups. Here’s one of my favorite intros, from March 25th:
Alright, before we start anything, I want to address the Mueller report. Which was filed this weekend and according to William Barr in a brief letter, didn’t contain enough information to prosecute Trump or prove he did anything. And of course already the usual gang of fainting wilting pearlclutching doomsayers are coming out of the woodwork to say that Trump has won and he got away with it and we’re doomed forever once again. And, you know what I’m getting tired of this. I’m getting tired of having to explain to these assholes who are willing to run about in a blind panic at the slightest setback, these precious Chicken Littles claiming the sky is falling at the first sign of rain. Its really getting to be exhausting.
The thing that galls me is that these same people were claiming all along that the Mueller Report was a waste of time are the same ones panicking now that it seems like it wasn’t all we hoped it would be. It strikes me as evidence that a lot of these Doomsayers don’t really believe that things are all that bad, they’re just saying so cause they want the attention, and its easier to predict bad things happening than good things.
So lets put things in perspective. First of all, we haven’t seen the full report yet, we got like a half a page summary from William Barr, AKA the guy who put out pardons for the Iran Contra scandal, and of course he’s spinning the report to make Trump look good, and of course Trump and company are crowing and calling this a win, ignoring that we have yet to see the full meat of the report, and that its resulted in the indictment, and jail time of numerous Trump Administration flunkies.
The fact was that Trump was always gonna get the report first, and he was always gonna get the chance to spin it first to try and make himself look good. But this report is only the beginning, there will be more investigations of crimes, and Trump can’t hide from the law forever.
Forgive me if this is coming off as a bit all over the place and rambly, its just I am getting tired of this. Not of the Trump administration, but of the constant doom saying and negativity from our side. Last week I talked about how the GOP is, in the long run doomed, because they are tired and dying and falling apart. That hasn’t changed, and we will continue to push them into irrelevance.
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Tuesdays are shared by NotNowNotEver (aka NNNE) and niftywriter. Here’s a personal favorite intro by NNNE, from May 21st:
Members of the group, formerly known as the Republican Party, have insisted on pushing wildly unpopular policies and supporting a wildly unpopular leader. They have compromised every principle they ever professed in order to pursue power for power’s sake. The have lost the moral authority to call themselves the party of Lincoln. Hell, old Abe is probably spinning fast enough to power the entire east coast. The only reason they still have any relevance is the insane stubbornness of people unwilling to admit they made a mistake and the astonishing complacency exhibited by non-voters as their rights are eroded.
I take the obvious fact that so many people don’t or won’t pay attention as a personal affront. Half of us are political slackers who can’t be bothered to participate. “I don’t have the time to care about the future I’m leaving to my children” is not a ringing endorsement of civic responsibility. It’s also a reflection of something the right wing has made a significant part of their voter suppression policies — selling the idea that government is bad. The demonization of government by the followers of Norquist, et al has earned them all a special place in the hell I hope exists just so they can go there.
In addition to the slackers, a third of the rest of us participate without paying attention. I’m increasingly convinced this group is several chromosomes short of a full set. After all, these are the folks who want to take earned benefits away from the nasty freeloaders they see in the mirror every morning. For multiple choice questions they pick the stupid answer every time. They put the ‘gull’ in gullible. Their continued belligerent willingness to vote against their own interest because they’ve bought into an obvious con is truly deplorable.
All of that is no reason to hide under the bed waiting for the Redhats to gather us up for the reeducation camps. We, the people are the government. We, the people are the electorate. And we, the people have a job to do. We need to get us more involved one voter at a time. In the immortal words of Walt Kelly, “I have met the enemy, and he is us.” Giving up is not an option.
NNNE’s lightning-quick wit and love of snark are on fine display in that intro, but you definitely shouldn’t miss the spin-off NNNE has been providing for us every day around 3:30 Eastern time: Evening Shade.
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I love how some DK handles are absolutely accurate, and niftywriter is an example of someone whose name exactly matches who they are. Definitely some of the niftiest writing on this blog! One of nifty’s great gifts, aside from eloquence, is generosity in quoting others. Here’s an example, from July 23rd:
Good Day, Newsies! I’m writing fresh off a family birthday weekend and a long flight last night, so just a wee bit tired. There’s lots of good news and I trust that there will be even more in the comments below from this community! I encourage you once again to provide one item of local good news in the comments. It not only brightens the day for others but it will really lift you up, too, to realise how much good your immediate neighbors are doing in the world! But don’t just take my word for it — RunawayRose, our most reliable bringer of local Good News had this to say recently:
This community of Gnusies really is the best. Many thanks to sweetthesound whose comments the other day were so inspiring that I lifted a phrase from one of them for my title:
Before I get to the news, I’d like to say a few words about the awful situation we are up against in this struggle to save the country. Whenever there is a setback, there is some understandable fear that the bad guys can somehow control everything. I’d like to remind you that the bad guys (ie, most Republicans and their crooked backers) are in a fight for their wretched lives; they know they have done terrible things, even illegal things — and they will do almost anything to avoid exposure and prosecution. They are not going to lie down and let proper legal procedures take their natural course. They are scared and desperate. Remember that — for many of those rotten people, their crimes would mean long prison terms, perhaps the rest of their lives. They’ll fight hard and dirty to avoid it. We need to remember that and we ALSO need to remember that there are even more of us -citizens, lawyers, congresspeople and Intelligence community — who are working just as hard and just as smart and with righteousness on our side — not to mention actual patriotism! We will fight HARD and with persistence and we will not give up until the foul criminals and their putrid networks of influence have been yanked out of our government by the roots. Then, we’ll salt that ground and keep it out!
“In your face, darkness! We are the light and we outnumber you!”
(quote via commenter “Dogs are Fuzzy” — Love this, thanks!)
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Wednesdays belong to karij, whose big heart and keen eye bring us so much joy. This intro to her July 17th roundup is a favorite of mine:
Good day Good Newsies here in our village of Gnuville. There may not be much snark and high-fiving here today. I had a rough weekend. My girl Nala passed Friday night and it has been very hard to go through the day to day motions. Her “sister” still cries and that makes it even harder. One thing I will say that has helped, and it not only relates to my feelings right now but to our whole situation these last several days, I came as a guest here and I have left here with and as a friend. The Village, PWB Peeps, and especially here at the GNR. If you are new here or you are one of the reg’s, I am speaking of the connections through our love of country and each other.
There is a lot of doomsday calls going around this site I still call my solace, but there are safe spaces and spaces where you can talk about politics and non-political issues and you will always receive support. I want to thank the many peeps here who have checked on me and supported me through this.
About that other issue this week causing us to be angered, disheartened and downright, when in the heck is it enough already. The Guardian published an editorial opinion piece and, you can read it all, but I am just going to quote the end.
Whether or not Mr Trump can actually entrench their rule is not the point. His racism has two purposes: one is to distract voters from his real intent; the other is to energise his voting base as he heads into the 2020 election. His core vote is hostile to sexual and racial minorities. Mr Trump’s calculation is that his political survival depends on inflaming those antagonisms to get his vote out. But there is evidence that such messages of hate do not resonate with the American public. As Mr Trump explodes rightwards, the public mood appears to have shifted sharply left. He wants his base to burn with anger. Americans hopefully will remain, as the polls indicate, thermostatic: when things get too hot, they’ll turn down the heat.
I have been pointing this out at some dairies, and I do not comment at many for the moment anyway, that the whole point of all of this is to divide us. Yes, they are racists and their motives are sickening, but more than anything they want us to be divided over how we address the issue, who should be the Democrat candidate, among other areas they see they can make headway to inhibit the vote, demotivate those who are, perhaps less motivated to show up, to cause infighting. We need to remain united in our goal of taking back the country regardless of minor differences or not knowing the total solution or not yet agreeing on the best candidate. If we are not united we will lose and they know that, hence the behavior.
So fellow Newsies, reg’s or newbies. Stand united and please come as guest and when you leave you will be our friend.
Onward!
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Thursdays give us a different GNRU writer for each week of the month. On the first Thursday of the month, BeeD welcomes us with a wonderful mix of eclectic news, unique finds, historical context – and goats!! Here’s a favorite typical BeeD opening (from September 5th), followed by the music he chose:
Surf’s Up!
It’s September again. Summer is waning away at last, nights are longer and cooler, schools are back in session, Congress is wandering back from their recess, and the Supreme Court will return shortly. Fall will be with us soon, and with it the beginning of the end of another year.
So another year passes that I didn’t go surfing. But yet I did. I’ll explain below.
I learned to surf back in the days when Ronald Reagan was President. I caught my first wave at Huntington Beach, California, in June 1982, and just missed hitting the pier when the wave had ideas of its own. I have never surfed long, or all that well, but I would try to stay on the board as long as I could.
I had just completed my first year of college: the world was young, my hair would turn auburn in summertime, and the beach was only two and a half hours away by my trusted ‘74 Ford Pinto station wagon.
So, why the topic of surfing this morning? It’s simple really: it’s a question of balance, and the willingness to try, despite realizing that you stand a very good possibility of wiping out and looking foolish. But at least you’re trying!
You just have to pick your wave, especially when the seas are choppy and take your chance.
Not all of us are cut out to surf the Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii. But we can all surf.
In fact, you have been surfing all along: you just didn’t know it!
It’s how we deal with the times we’re in: whether it’s marching, protesting, litigating, pestering our elected leaders, donating time and money to campaigns, putting out yard signs, canvassing, reaching out to the disaffected, blogging, putting a candle out on Friday nights, or registering voters. Oh yes, and voting too!
Those are the waves you’ve been catching and riding, while the vast majority of people who are not nearly as politically active as we are are merely dog-paddling by the shore and not daring to make the attempt. They’ll merely go with the ebb and flow of the tide.
The signs and portents indicate a bigger blue wave is coming in 2020 than the one we saw last year. If this is so, I want to be able to say I surfed it and that I did so in good company.
So, choose your wave and keep your balance! Remember, it’s the Republicans that want to put up signs that say “Locals Only.” We want to keep the beach open for everyone!
*A note about surf music: This genre of American music emerged in the early 60s, and predates the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. Purists such as Dick Dale believed that proper surf music was instrumental only, so who am I to question? It’s still cool. Also, I don’t think we’ve ever had a Good News Roundup featuring this unique bit of Americana!
Remember, all complaints in writing to the Management.
First Musical Interlude— Walk Don’t Run by the Ventures.
And of course I have to include a goat video! It’s too difficult to search BeeD’s comments for one, so this will have to do: Baby Goat Pajama Party!
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On the second Thursday of the month, Mokurai brings us the roundup. He never fails to astonish me with his encyclopedic knowledge, his boundless curiosity, and his ability to present complex issues concisely but in depth. Here’s a favorite Mokurai GNRU intro, from October 10th:
The former Confederate states are all going to rejoin the Union, willingly this time, and we are all going to come together to make it happen. This is the thesis of Bishop William Barber's book The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement, gathering arguments that he has been making for years.
The first Reconstruction briefly flourished after Emancipation, and the second Reconstruction ushered in meaningful progress in the civil rights era. But both were met by ferocious reactionary measures that severely curtailed, and in many cases rolled back, racial and economic progress. This Third Reconstruction is a profoundly moral awakening of justice-loving people united in a fusion coalition powerful enough to reclaim the possibility of democracy—even in the face of corporate-financed extremism.
"Redeemer" Democrats in the South during the first Reconstruction campaigned to Take Their Country Back and Make America Great Again. Their plan to institute Klan terror and legal Jim Crow succeeded for nearly a century. In 1876 they made a deal to vote Republican "Rutherfraud" B. Hayes in as President. In exchange Hayes made a promise to remove Federal troops from the South, and agreed to sign the Posse Comitatus Act, preventing Federal troops being used to maintain order in any state without explicit authorization from Congress. (Florida had messed up, and thrown the election into the House of Representatives.)
Racism has been in agonizingly slow decline since the Civil War. Now the decline is accelerating, as the children of the racists fall away by the millions every year, and even some of their elders are appalled by overt White Supremacism. Misogyny, homophobia, science denial, Islamophobia, nativism, and other fears and hatreds are also in slow but inevitable decline. The Republican Southern Strategy has nowhere left to go. Not that that will keep them from trying.
We have our work cut out for us. But we know what we have to do.
A majority of the US population favors Progressive solutions to all of our major problems, including gun violence and a woman’s right to make decisions with her own doctor, with no legislative bigots sticking their noses in where they are not wanted.
The only reason why these solutions have not been implemented is Republican fear and hatred, implemented as lying, cheating, stealing, gerrymandering and voter suppression. But that has just about reached its limit, except maybe in Mississippi and South Carolina and a very few other states.
Democrats are on course to win the Senate and the White House in 2020, and increase our majority in the House. We also expect to pick up more Governorships and wrest control of more legislatures from Republicans.
As with all of Mokurai’s posts, the remainder of the roundup is brilliant and packed with valuable information. I encourage you to click on the link, read it all, and bookmark it for the future (because I believe his predictions will prove true).
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On third Thursdays, oldhippiedude is back from his months-long hiatus, much to our great joy here in Gnuville. He is very beloved around here, for his wonderful way with words, his huge heart, and not least for his great taste in music. Here’s one of my favorite OHD intros, from his roundup on Valentine’s Day:
So I get to do the Valentine’s Day GNR this year. February 14 is one of my favorite holidays for several reasons, not least of which being the opportunity to fully indulge all the mushy feelings I still have for my wife after all the years we’ve shared together.
But another big reason it’s one my my favorites is because it falls when it does. For many, if not most, of you reading this February is often the very worst part of winter. By now a lot of you are tired of shoveling snow, of being constantly cold, and of not seeing the sun for days on end. And right in the middle of that comes Valentine’s Day, a celebration of the warmth and sustenance we give and get by loving someone else. When two people form a lasting, loving bond, they form a bulwark against the coldness and darkness that the outside world often presents to challenge us.
And if you are not in a romantic relationship, Valentine’s Day is for you, too. Before it came to symbolize romantic love in Chaucer’s time, St. Valentine’s Day was exclusively a religious holiday, commemorating the life of St. Valentine of Rome, a saint more of legend than reality who was honored for his work ministering to persecuted people in the Roman Empire. As such, it symbolizes the love and hope we express whenever we take a stand against a repressive government and for those oppressed by it.
Valentine’s Day is a beautiful symbol of our ability to create light and love in the middle of whatever winter we may be experiencing. It is a day to celebrate our ability to be our own good news in times of bad news.
And a classic OHD musical selection, from the same roundup, which he introduces this way:
I’ll close today with a performance that was recorded at one of the first shows my future wife and I attended. This recording was played 30 years later at our wedding.
Play us out, boys…
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On the fourth Thursday of the month, MCUBernieFan does our roundups. Here’s a favorite from March 28th, which perfectly illustrates MCUBF’s delightful perspective and sense of humor:
I'm sure at least some of you are familiar with a few comedic properties that somehow, in some way, became prognosticators: the Simpsons, for one. The Onion is another. I'd like to add a name to that list.
Beetle Bailey.
I grew up reading the funnies in the paper. My parents had a daily delivery subscription, and whether or not I decided to read the rest of it - usually I didn't - I almost always pulled out the Everyday section for my daily dose of comic strips: Calvin & Hobbes. The Far Side. Peanuts. Family Circus. A bunch more I forget the names of now. And Beetle Bailey.
Unfortunately, I spent waaaay too much time trying to find the particular strip I wanted to put here, so you'll have to bear with a description. After all, it's one of the longest continuously-run strips in existence, having started on September 4, 1950, and while I can narrow down the year to roughly...a decade...I didn't get the idea to add it here until it was too late for me to trawl through several thousand comic strips. Perhaps some of you read it too and I can jog your memory.
In any case, in this particular non-Sunday strip, Beetle Bailey is typing up requisition forms on a typewriter, as ordered, and wonders if he can still type without looking (or touch-type, as we'd call it). So he continues typing while looking out the window, almost 180 degrees from the actual paperwork. The last panel shows the General entirely unamused at the delivery of, rather than the hundreds of guns that were supposed to be ordered, a large herd of...gnus.
And it occurs to me, that with all the right-wing crazy, all the NRA nuts wanting a gun on every hip, an AK-4# in every home...what they got was us. What they got was people helping each other. Reaching out. Building bridges, not breaking them.
What they got was the public working for the Blue Wave. What they got was the consequences of that Blue Wave, still ongoing. What they got...
Not just gun control. But attention drawn to issues that had been in the shadows, half-forgotten at best. Action against - and to deal with - the onset of climate change. Ever-increasing pressure to change the system, the system that discriminates and leaves so many people behind, or out of the system entirely. The realization on the part of corporate giants that the terms "politically correct" and "social justice" may make some grimace, but the changing attitudes of the masses can no longer be ignored and swept under the rug, and it's time to get on the band wagon or get left behind (I'm looking at you, Nike. Gillette. Dick's Sporting Goods. And the rest of you waking up to the future.).
They woke a sleeping giant.
They ordered guns. They got GNUS.
And that is not a typo.
Of course, this being the awesome village of Gnuville, home of prodigious polymaths, NNNE stepped up with the original Beetle Bailey strip MCUBF had been looking for:
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Musical break
Here’s a musical contribution from me, originally from September 19th. I’m including the introduction I wrote for it:
This is my favorite musical discovery of the entire year: a lovely young member of the Mi'kmaq Nation, one of Canada’s First Nations, singing the Beatles’ “Blackbird” in her native language:
The translation and arrangement were done by Emma’s music teacher to celebrate the United Nations’ International Year of Indigenous Languages. Paul McCartney was so impressed, he invited her to come to one of his concerts and meet him before the show. Good on you, Sir Paul!
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When there’s a fifth Thursday in the month, Mokurai does the honors. Here’s a 5th Thursday gem from August 29th:
Oh, you still want to know why I call this Good News, don't you? How do I know that this will be so bad for them, and so good for us?
- Because their children, as I have been saying, increasingly see through this bushwah, and are coming over to our side by the millions every year.
- Because there are getting to be more of us and fewer of them, even leaving out those children.
- Because the public approves of our entire platform.
- Because the only reason our platform is not law is Republican electoral lying, cheating, and stealing, which we are now addressing strongly. Stacey Abrams, Bishop Barber, President Obama, AG Holder, and a multitude of others have taken on the gerrymanders, voter suppression, and other dirty tricks.
- Because the top Democratic candidates all lead Thing0 in the polls by double digits.
- Because IT is underwater all over the country.
- Because Calamity Don cannot grow his Basement of Fear and Hate, and we are growing our base with simple messaging and GOTV.
And more.
💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙
On Fridays, chloris creator does stellar GNRUs. She’s one of our most skilled writers and most powerful voices. I love how she introduces each of her roundups:
Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the very bad stuff that is happening. Some of us expected it: the cheating, the lying, the chaos, and yes, even the attempts to cling to power despite the clear will of the people. But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including us and our fellow gnus) who are working so hard to save our country from those very bad people. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know. Remember:
💚 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! IT IS WORKING! WE HAVE EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE DEMORALIZED!
💙 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.
And here’s one of my favorite chloris creator intros, from her roundup on February 8th:
This is Gnuville. The “Gnus,” in case you’re wondering, comes from a corruption of g’news… You get the point. And I’d like to make a tiny digression to remind you why Gnuville is like the community of Whoville, a community invented by Dr. Seuss.
From Wikipedia
The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who, while splashing in a pool, hears
a small speck of dust talking to him. Horton surmises that a small person lives on the speck and places it on a clover, vowing to protect it. He later discovers that the speck is actually a tiny planet, home to a community called Whoville, where microscopic creatures called Whos live. The Mayor of Whoville asks Horton to protect them from harm, which Horton happily agrees to, proclaiming throughout the book that "a person’s a person, no matter how small." ✂️
After a long search, Horton finally finds the clover with the speck on it. However, the Mayor informs him that Whoville, the town on the speck, is in bad shape from the fall, and Horton discovers that the sour kangaroo and the monkeys have caught up to him. They tie Horton up and threaten to boil the speck in a pot of "Beezle-Nut" oil. To save Whoville, Horton implores the little people to make as much noise as they can, to prove their existence. So almost everyone in Whoville shouts, sings, and plays instruments, but still no one but Horton can hear them. So the Mayor searches Whoville until he finds a very small shirker named JoJo, who is playing with a yo-yo instead of making noise. The Mayor carries him to the top of Eiffelberg Tower, where Jojo lets out a loud "Yopp!", which finally makes the kangaroo and the monkeys hear the Whos. Now convinced of the Whos' existence, the other jungle animals vow to help Horton protect the tiny community.
Fiction, of course, but isn’t it apt? We may be in Gnuville, not Whoville, but our story’s the same. We don’t know which of our efforts make a difference. Which postcard, which conversation, which phone call or email, which vote. But we have to keep on shouting, because our country and our planet depend on it.
And our efforts are making a difference. We contributed to the blue wave 🌊. What a difference, with the Democrats in just partial control! House committees are now talking about gun violence, rather than Hillary’s emails. Adam Schiff is now in control of intelligence, rather than the corrupt Nunes. And the states that have been liberated from Republicans — they can finally make progress. Alas, there’s a lot to clean up, and plenty of places that still need liberating (Georgia, Florida, Texas).
So, keep on shouting, and don’t let the monkeys boil our dustspeck! And turn shirkers into workers!
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Well, I suppose it makes sense for me to choose a favorite intro from one of my own roundups, too. The intro to my very first roundup (April 18th) is one that still feels relevant despite referencing some old news, so here it is:
Greetings to the herd!
Happy Thursday! I’m very excited to be publishing my very first Good News Roundup! 💙
First, some thoughts on destruction and rebuilding
Like all of you, I watched on Monday with shock, horror, and grief as Notre Dame burned. Those feelings reminded me of how I felt when the deplorable Resident was “elected” and how I’ve continued to feel as he and his minions have done their best to tear down the entire structure of our democracy.
By Tuesday morning, we knew that the main structure of Notre Dame would stand, and that despite some heart-breaking losses and extensive damage, people in France and all over the world were eagerly stepping up to provide the resources needed for its restoration. Brave first responders had saved so much of it, and now generous and caring people were also coming forward to help.
I think that this is also what is happening and will continue to happen in our democracy. Democrats in Congress and fair-minded judges in the courts are preventing as much damage as they can, and all the rest of us have been stepping up to do whatever we can do – from working to elect those Democrats, to speaking out in marches and letters, to providing care and protection to communities and individuals being harmed. As he so often does, President Obama said it perfectly, in a tweet Monday:
It’s in our nature to mourn when we see history lost – but it’s also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can.
And that we will do.
The work of rebuilding will take a lot of resources – not only money, but also energy, commitment, and love. But one thing we’ve learned since November 2016 is that we have the last three resources in abundance, and we’re learning how to use them ever more effectively. (And I believe that when the time comes, we’ll find the necessary money, too.) I have no doubt that once we’ve swept the criminals, traitors, and grifters out of the White House and Senate, we will rebuild America. And I believe that our democracy will emerge healthier than it has ever been.
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This is the second video BeeD contributed for today’s GNRU, originally from his extendo comment on the May 18th roundup. I definitely remember this one! As a YouTube commenter put it, “This is one of the very best videos on YouTube.”
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Hot lynx
Just a few – this has already been a looooong GNRU!
www.wonkette.com/… South Carolina Legislator Wants The State To Pay Rent On Uteruses For Forced Births
www.goodnewsnetwork.org/...Oldest Ever Songwriting Duo Releases Their First Album at 102 and 88 Years Old
aiweirdness.com/…When an AI (artificial intelligence) network is turned loose on the task of writing new Christmas carols, the results are...strange
www.goodnewsnetwork.org/...Church and Mosque Joined Forces to Feed Poor Families and Offer Free Health Screenings for Christmas
www.kgw.com/...Nutrition program delivers healthy food to hospital patients after discharge
www.positive.news/… Plastic-free paradise: The Greek island eliminating plastic waste in three years
www.thedodo.com/...Police Dog Caught Red-Handed Stealing Christmas Presents
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And one more tidbit. This is from July 18th, under the heading “My favorite recent random link.” It’s still one of my favorites.
In their Sunday feature called “Nice Things,”
Wonkette recently mentioned a Twitter site called
Poorly Drawn Cats, which I loved so much I thought others here might also enjoy it.
Heloísa, an art student in Brazil, makes simplified line drawings from cat photos, and the results are utterly charming. Do check out the site to see lots more drawings and the photos they’re based on. Some people even turn them into tattoos!!
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Final musical offering
This has been a stressful year, and next year will probably be even more so. Here in Gnuville we always encourage each other to find as many sources of calm in our lives as possible. My contribution today is a uniquely beautiful piece of music by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. This is what I listen to when I feel overwhelmed, and it always re-balances me:
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Thanks for giving me the chance to sub for you, Goodie, and thanks to each and every Gnusie for your smarts, your hearts, and your faithful attendance at our daily Gathering of the Herd.
❤️💙 RESIST, PERSIST, REBUILD, REJOICE! 💙❤️