Happy Tuesday, Gnusies. Writing today’s GNR was an unexpected challenge, to say the least. I’ve had annoying technical problems which gobbled up most of the evening when I should have been writing. I think the fire I was planning to bring to it might have got a little out of control there or something! 🔥
Unfortunately with losing a couple of hours of writing time, I am now scrambling to get the good news out so my editorializing is not going to be as polished as I had hoped to make it. Sorry!
Here’s the deal: Dumpy and his enablers do NOT have the level of support that they want us to think they have. Most of it is bots and astroturf. Yes, there’s money backing them, but not the hordes of voters they want us to believe they have. Yes, they’ve got that core “base” but it’s not 45%. And it’s not enough to win this election, even with gerrymandering and voter suppression. Just as it wasn’t enough in 2018. Democrats are the favorites to win in 2020 and we need to start acting like it!
Republicans (and their backers) know they are going to lose everything in November and so they are pulling out all the stops to distract and upset us to try to prevent us from organizing and getting out the vote. Everything they do — the so-called “owning the libs” — it’s a ploy! To make us angry or afraid. To weaken us and terrify us. Because THEY are weak and terrified. And their only way to survive this election is if we are even more afraid and fail to organize effectively to win.
We must come to grips with this psychological operation and understand that the only way we can be defeated in November is if we fall for the scam and defeat ourselves. Dumpy is a bullshitter. He is a constant liar and his technique is to lie so brazenly that regular people figure he must be telling the truth because no one could lie so much or so openly. If it sounds crazy, don’t accept that it’s true, understand that it is bullshit! Part of the PTSD around 2016 was the stunned shock everyone felt at the realization that half of their fellow citizens had voted for that man. But it was a lie — nearly half of our fellow citizens didn’t vote at all! That was stupid beyond belief, but it is not the same as half the country being MAGAts. And the shock was that part of us KNEW it wasn’t true, but yet here was the apparent proof. It made us look at the country differently, falsely. It made us doubt reality. Talk about gaslighting. It caused millions to literally experience PTSD.
Dumpy’s natural narcissistic defense also happens to be the method behind the current political psychological campaign. The Republicans are in deep trouble. Dumpy is in deep trouble. Their backers and their hangers on and their mob paymasters and all the rest of the despicable criminal cabal are in deep trouble. So what do they do? They bullshit — just like Dumpy has done all his life. They pretend they have hordes of supporters — while they pay astroturfers to go around stirring up trouble (and the cable infotainment channels dutifully give them plenty of coverage). They pay for data collection and target voters with a blizzard of ads, creating an impression of wide support and popularity. Likewise, they pretend to have large followings on social media — but the bulk of those are bots.
Republicans and their backers stoke division to cause fear because fear confuses and paralyzes. Every day a new “story” excites everyone and the word “terrifying” is used constantly. STOP being “terrified” by these bastards! Some of the stories are planted and some are genuine and all are amplified by regular people (who are understandably upset), by bots and by shit-disturbers. That’s how this kind of psychological manipulation works. It is group psychology and it works, if people let it work. It takes effort to break out of the spell, but we can do it. All those people we think just aren’t “getting it” — media, for instance — they do! Most of us can see the truth, yet we doubt it — because the cacophony of fear-mongering riles us up and the gaslighting makes us doubt reality.
Then, a general alarm rises and people begin to feel anxiety bordering on panic. “It’s hopeless!”, they wail. “The bad guys are too evil, too powerful, too numerous! It’s the end of life as we know it!”, they cry. “Democracy is doomed, the American experiment is failing, civil war is imminent!”, they sob. And while some of the fears that are stoked are legitimate (gun-toting terrorists, criminals in the executive branch), what use is a response of petrified panic? What good is it to weep and wail and spread even more fear? Will crying and warning and cowering stop the violent fringe from doing whatever they will do? No, it will embolden them. Like it or not, we are stuck with this problem right now and crying about it won’t help or protect us. We will have to confront it and I believe when we face it head on, the danger will be diminished. Much of that swaggering gun-fondling bravado is bullshit, too. An atmosphere of fear makes them feel more powerful. Take that atmosphere away and most of the bravado will deflate.
Learning from 2016, we need to hold on to the knowledge that most of what we are hearing is meant to shock and frighten us. We are meant to fear that the Republicans and the Russians and the Barrstards of the world hold all the cards, have 45% MAGAts behind them and the country is going to hell in a handbasket. It is all in illusion. Like the wizard of Oz behind that green curtain, this is a failing, crooked group doomed to electoral defeat in November unless they can convince people to either not vote or to vote with the apparent “winners” (which, as Teri Kanefield points out below, is the authoritarian tendency). So they create a fantasy of being that party of winners — of being too powerful to defeat — but it’s a lie. They also try to dissuade us from voting by convincing us our votes won’t matter — by sowing doubt about the election process.
Our job is to stop falling for the lies. And to stop devouring messages of fear and panic. We’ve got to get a firm grasp on reality here and never let go of it. We already know the Rs will not go down without a fight — a vicious, unethical and possibly illegal fight — and we will need to be strong and focused and never ever lose sight of reality. This is the fight of our lives, of our era, and we are up to the challenge. We see the weak, fading party for what it is and recognize that if we stay strong and we GOTV, we will win in November. We will win in a landslide — White House, Senate and House. I’m not kidding, we can win 6, 8 maybe more Senate seats. Increase our House majority, win the White House by 10%.
People want better — yes, even in so-called “red” states. People are better, no matter how the Republican party has tried to pit us against one another. An enormous, cleansing blue tsunami is very possible. In fact, once we snap out of it and stop being pulled in to the Republican/Russian psychology game, it is not only possible but probable. And it is time to spread THAT truth far and wide, loudly and with conviction. SHOUT it and change the atmosphere. That’s how group psychology works. We’ve been letting the bad guys control it for too long. Let’s change the zeitgeist.
Check out Teri Kanefield’s thread on this, it is much better written and clearer (I chose to embed midway because I wanted to highlight the bit about how panic is counter-productive):
Our own WIneRev sketches out our future — and Gnusies, my GNR today is merely tapping gently into the zeitgeist, leaning in with the doppler, laying it on the pulse of humanity to record the distant but swiftly growing roar of righteous anger that is rushing like a wave, ahead of the justice that will flow down like a thundering river… these are exciting, promising times. Yes we have to work hard and never let up but there is a better future coming and we have to be brave and fight for it.
WineRev: “If this IS a re-aligning election, then at the Presidential level you’ll see a landslide for Biden (10 point margin, minimum) with all of the tossup states going Blue. But the real thunder will be down ballot. You’ll see the Senate change hands, and not by some lousy 51-49 thing but with surprises and upsets all night long across the country (as in, the Maine, South Carolina and 2 Georgia seats for openers, all the way to a late-night, far West timezone surprise coming out of Alaska.) Despite many gerrymanders the Dems will INCREASE their seats in the House.
If its a re-alignment, you will see Democratic ‘trifectas” at the state level, and legislative chamber flips everywhere. Even in rock-ribbed GOP states you’ll see reduced majorities and hairbreadth wins and losses. This means that the maps used for 2022 and the rest of the decade will be far more neutral/anti-gerrymander, which will again INCREASE the number of Democratic House seats, both in Congress and at the state lege level.
THEN, starting January 21st, with the filibuster dead!, repeal the 2017 tax cut and the three GOP ones before that too, all in one bill, under the slogan, “Back to Reagan!” Pass all 400 House bills from this session that McConnell has stacked up in his broom closet, along with Elizabeth Warren’s entire platform (which conveniently is already in legislative language form on several points.)
AND, take Machiavelli to heart:
“A ruler has the necessity of inflicting pains and the opportunity of granting boons upon his people. He should inflict all the pains immediately, but the boons he should grant little by little, to great applause. That way the pain will fade in memory but the boons will continue to be noted and appreciated.” (Not a quote, but my paraphrase.)
Shalom.”
sensible americans are the majority — by a huge margin
If half of the country were rabid MAGAts, then surely half the country would be clamoring to do the pretender’s bidding, right? But no, that’s not the case at all (see the smart xkcd cartoon below which is reliably sourced). And the reason why is that it is not true that half the country is MAGA. That is a mirage, smoke and mirrors — a fiction made possible by voter apathy, bolstered by bots and trolls on social media and given “legitimacy” by dark money astroturfed “protests” in real life — and all magnified by a complicit corporate infotainment industry who are in the business of profit, not the news.
In Case you need a reminder that people are good:
Whenever you start to believe that the bad in people is more prevalent than the good — maybe even the default mode of human beings — consider stories like this:
The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months, Rutger Bregman, The Guardian, May 9, 2020.
I first read Lord of the Flies as a teenager. I remember feeling disillusioned afterwards, but not for a second did I think to doubt Golding’s view of human nature. That didn’t happen until years later when I began delving into the author’s life. I learned what an unhappy individual he had been: an alcoholic, prone to depression; a man who beat his kids. “I have always understood the Nazis,” Golding confessed, “because I am of that sort by nature.” And it was “partly out of that sad self-knowledge” that he wrote Lord of the Flies. ✄
The kids agreed to work in teams of two, drawing up a strict roster for garden, kitchen and guard duty. Sometimes they quarreled, but whenever that happened they solved it by imposing a time-out. Their days began and ended with song and prayer. Kolo fashioned a makeshift guitar from a piece of driftwood, half a coconut shell and six steel wires salvaged from their wrecked boat – an instrument Peter has kept all these years – and played it to help lift their spirits. And their spirits needed lifting. All summer long it hardly rained, driving the boys frantic with thirst. They tried constructing a raft in order to leave the island, but it fell apart in the crashing surf.
Worst of all, Stephen slipped one day, fell off a cliff and broke his leg. The other boys picked their way down after him and then helped him back up to the top. They set his leg using sticks and leaves. “Don’t worry,” Sione joked. “We’ll do your work, while you lie there like King Taufa‘ahau Tupou himself!”
I am not religious anymore, but I know many Gnusies are, and this is an insightful thread that might renew your faith in the potential power of left-wing, social justice theology to counteract cruel right- wing theology:
One final word on this psychology business:
Remember, kids, always be skeptical of breathless reports of “scary, uncontrollable forces” that just might be arrayed against us. They are usually much smaller, much weaker than they pretend to be or are even nonexistent.
🎶 Shout It, This Country is Going Blue! 🎶
⚖ Justice ⚖
Today will be an important day on a couple of fronts. Most important will be the SCOTUS arguments re: the subpoenas congress issued for Dumpy’s financial records. This is one of the reasons why he was having the meltdown on Sunday.
From Tim O’Brien, author of TrumpNation, who was sued (unsuccessfully) by Dumpy:
I've Seen Trump's Tax Returns and You Should, Too. Timothy O’Brien, Bloomberg News, May 11, 2020.
Deutsche Bank AG, one of the firms Trump’s lawyers are trying to stifle in their arguments before the Supreme Court, also turned over documents in my case — including its own assessment of Trump’s wealth that pegged his fortune at $788 million in 2004, well below the $3 billion he told them he had at the time. Deutsche is the only major global bank to have continued doing business with Trump since the early 1990s and is conversant with his financial comings and goings since then.
Mazars USA is Trump’s outside accounting firm. Trump’s lawyers will argue before the Supreme Court that it too shouldn’t comply with subpoena requests for documents. Mazars, which boasts a history ProPublica recently described as “colorful,” turned over documents in my litigation with Trump as well (through a predecessor company with which Mazars later merged). That trove included a financial statement Trump routinely used to substantiate his claims to fabulous wealth. The document, it turned out, was drafted without regard for standard accounting practices or other factors that might have diminished the future president’s claims.
If all of this information from Trump’s taxes, bankers and accountants was good enough for me over a decade ago, it’s certainly good enough for Congress and the Manhattan district attorney today. It’s also good enough for the American people. If we’ve learned one thing from the Trump presidency it’s that it’s no longer enough to rely on tradition when it comes to the Oval Office and financial transparency. Financial transparency should be a requirement for all presidents going forward — and the Supreme Court would do well to help pave the way.
We can pay attention to more than one important thing at a time, so let’s do that!
Secrecy of Trump's taxes, financial records on the line in Supreme Court arguments, Pete Williams, NBC News, May 11, 2020.
In one of the most closely watched disputes of the court's term, the cases will test the justices' independence and could yield major rulings on the power of Congress to demand documents from a sitting president — or the authority of a president to refuse.
The court will hear the two separate cases by telephone conference call with each justice taking a turn to ask questions, a process that began May 4 and for the most part has worked smoothly, despite a toilet flushing faux pas. It has, however, tamed the normal back and forth of oral argument, and the questioning has been less aggressive. Live audio of the argument will be available on C-SPAN.
Whichever way the court rules, the decisions — there will be one for each case — will be a blockbuster. The rulings will probably be released by late next month.
And Always remember:
Barr is corrupt, but NOT the careerists in the DOJ. There are thousands of us in the DOJ and in other branches of the civil service. Can’t say it any better than Glenn Kirschner:
Twisting the truth is what Bill Barr does...though not for much longer:
Welp! There goes the rationale underpinning the motion to drop the case against Flynn!
Bill Barr Twisted My Words in Dropping the Flynn Case. Here’s the Truth. Mary B. McCord, New York Times, May 10, 2020.
At the direction of Attorney General Bill Barr, the Justice Department last week moved to dismiss a false-statements charge against Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser. The reason stated was that the continued prosecution “would not serve the interests of justice.”
The motion was signed by Timothy Shea, a longtime trusted adviser of Mr. Barr and, since January, the acting U.S. attorney in Washington. In attempting to support its argument, the motion cites more than 25 times the F.B.I.’s report of an interview with me in July 2017, two months after I left a decades-long career at the department (under administrations of both parties) that culminated in my role as the acting assistant attorney general for national security. ✄
But the report of my interview is no support for Mr. Barr’s dismissal of the Flynn case. It does not suggest that the F.B.I. had no counterintelligence reason for investigating Mr. Flynn. It does not suggest that the F.B.I.’s interview of Mr. Flynn — which led to the false-statements charge — was unlawful or unjustified. It does not support that Mr. Flynn’s false statements were not material. And it does not support the Justice Department’s assertion that the continued prosecution of the case against Mr. Flynn, who pleaded guilty to knowingly making material false statements to the FBI, “would not serve the interests of justice.”
And So…
2,000 former DOJ, FBI officials call on Barr to resign over Michael Flynn case, Pete Williams, NBC News, May 11, 2020.
Nearly 2,000 former Justice Department and FBI officials on Monday signed an open letter strongly critical of Attorney General William Barr's decision to abandon the prosecution of Michael Flynn, calling the action "extraordinarily rare, if not unprecedented."
If anyone else who is not a friend of the president "were to lie to federal investigators in the course of a properly predicated counterintelligence investigation, and admit we did so under oath, we could be prosecuted," the letter said.
The letter calls on Barr to resign and encourages Congress to formally censure Barr over "his repeated assaults on the rule of law in doing the President’s personal bidding rather than acting in the public interest."
Yer Wonkette, DIsBarr Edition
Usually, I drop yer Wonkette in the Lightning Roundup, but this one was too good for that:
Everybody Hates Bill Barr And His Stupid Sh*t-Mouthed Face, Evan Hurst, Wonkette, May 11, 2020.
These former officials — did we mention it is TWO THOUSAND of them? — close by encouraging Judge Emmet Sullivan, who just adores Michael Flynn and his batshit Fox News emoji warcrime lawyer, to actually hold an evidentiary hearing on DOJ's bullshit FLYNN TOTALLY EXONERATED!11! filing, and if it turns out to be as bullshit as it obviously is, deny their motion and sentence the motherfucker…
They note that they called for the fucker to resign last time, and that he should still do so. Moreover, they are calling on Congress to hold Barr accountable for his "abuses of power."
It is a good letter. Read it.
(there’s LOTS more in the full link)
✔️ How You Like Your Election Chances, Republicans? ✔️
The strong economy didn't make Trump, but coronavirus collapse could break him, John Harwood, CNN, May 10, 2020.
The last time an incumbent president lost reelection -- George H.W. Bush, in 1992 -- an "it's the economy, stupid" campaign theme took him down. Unemployment then was hovering around 7.5%.
Those staggering measures of economic suffering do not guarantee that
President Donald Trump will meet the same one-term fate as Bush, who lost to Bill Clinton. But they underscore the uphill fight Trump faces, and explain his abrupt shift from coronavirus containment to economic reopening.
And Democrats are taking the lead:
Inside House Democrats' whopping $1.2 trillion+ coronavirus relief proposal, Alayna Treene, Axios, May 10, 2020.
Details: The legislation, which is still being drafted and is subject to change, is expected to include:
- Roughly $1 trillion for state and local governments. They want to split this money into separate revenue streams to ensure each community can access it.
- More money for hospitals and COVID-19 testing.
- Roughly $25 billion to keep the U.S. Postal Service afloat.
- Expanded nutritional benefits, Medicaid funding and unemployment insurance.
- Another round of direct payments to Americans.
The truth is Democrats are in a strong Position that is getting stronger
Morning DIgest: Flipping the Senate is within reach as three key race ratings shift towards Democrats, Daily Kos Elections, DKos Staff, May 11, 2020.
Race Ratings: As the battle for control of the Senate grows more competitive, Daily Kos Elections is moving a trio of contests in the Democrats’ direction, though all three Republican incumbents very much remain in the fight. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s race moves from Likely to Lean Republican, while Maine Sen. Susan Collins' and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis’ seats have gone from Lean Republican to Tossup.
With these changes, we now rate three Republican-held seats as Tossups (the two above plus Arizona) and one as Lean Democratic (Colorado). If Democrats can sweep these races and retake the White House, they'll win back control of the Senate even in the likely event that Alabama Sen. Doug Jones loses his bid for re-election.
Trump trails Biden across the six states, four of which he won in 2016. Hart Research Polls, April 2020.
And Republicans are, as usual, in disarray
“Trump’s Feeling Is, ‘Why Are We Losing Everywhere?’”: With Advisers Feuding and Numbers Plummeting, Trump Eyes Campaign Shake-up, Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair, May 11, 2020.
With the coronavirus death toll surpassing 80,000 and the unemployment rate at Great Depression-era levels, there is a growing consensus among senior Republicans that Donald Trump’s reelection is slipping away. Recent internal polls show Trump trailing Joe Biden in six swing states, a data point that augurs a landslide loss in November. “The swing state polls are horrific,” a prominent Republican briefed on the numbers told me. The White House’s COVID-19 outbreak is only the latest headline that reinforces the narrative that Trump can’t get control of the pandemic. “This is what should worry the campaign: Biden is in his basement and he’s beating Trump,” a former West Wing staffer told me. “If I were Biden, the lesson I would learn is: Shut the fuck up and let Trump go out there and destroy himself.”
Seeking to change the trajectory of the race, Trump is now discussing a shake-up to his campaign leadership, three sources close to the White House told me. Two sources said Trump has told people he wants to install 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a senior role. “Trump’s feeling is, ‘why are we losing everywhere?’ The president is sick of it,” another former West Wing official said. According to a source, Lewandowski has told Trump that the RNC doesn’t grasp how dire the polls are. “Corey thinks the GOP isn’t solid on fundamentals. He says the campaign and the party spend time sending out press releases bragging about how well they’re doing,” the former official said. (Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, said in an email, “literally none of this is true.”)
Trump’s interest in Lewandowski has sparked conflict with Jared Kushner, two sources said. “There’s a battle over personnel,” a former West Wing official said. Kushner is strongly opposed to Lewandowski joining the campaign, sources said. Kushner led the effort to force out Lewandowski in 2016, and has since successfully kept Lewandowski on the outer edge of Trump’s orbit. According to two sources, Kushner is trying to recruit Mike Pence’s former chief of staff Nick Ayers to take a senior campaign role. In 2018, Kushner recruited Ayers to replace John Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff. Ayers turned down the offer, and sources said he has no interest in joining the Trump campaign. One person close to Ayers told me he’s aligning himself with Nikki Haley to lead her potential 2024 campaign. “He views Haley as the right train to be on,” the source said.
(Ayers did not respond to a request for comment.) ← 👀 lol
I can’t stop saying this:
Drum it into your mind until you know this as surely as you know your own name: you are not alone, we are the majority — by a lot — and we have legions of patriots working hard to save this country in the face of unprecedented betrayal. We will have their backs, we will stand up and speak out through volunteering, supporting GOTV initiatives, writing postcards and letters to voters and standing ready to stand up, speak out and save our country. No superhero is coming to save us, and that is OK. We live in reality, not in fantasyland and we are going to save ourselves. Then we are going to elect a president who will take swift action to begin to repair the damage caused by the Republicans again — and he will be aided by the Democratic congress we will also elect!
Biden Is Planning an FDR-Size Presidency, Gabriel Debenedetti, New York Magazine, May 11, 2020.
But in the space of just a few months, COVID-19 and the disastrous White House response appeared to have dramatically widened Biden’s pathway to the presidency, making the matter of moderation and electability seem, at least for the time being, almost moot. They also changed his perception of what the country would need from a president in January 2021 — after not just four years of Trump but almost a full year of death and suffering. The pandemic is breaking the country much more deeply than the Great Recession did, Biden believes, and will require a much bigger response. No miraculous rebound is coming in the next six months.
Biden will presumably spend that time developing a detailed map of what will be necessary come Inauguration Day. Long before the pandemic, he described a range of actions he’d take on day one, from rejoining the Paris climate agreement to signing executive orders on ethics, and he cited other matters, like passing the Equality Act for LGBTQ protections, as top priorities. Already his recovery ambitions have grown to include plans that would flex the muscles of big government harder than any program in recent history. To date, the federal government has spent more than $2 trillion on the coronavirus stimulus — nearly three times what it approved in 2009. Biden wants more spending. “A hell of a lot bigger,” he’s said, “whatever it takes.” He has argued that, even if you’re inclined to worry about the deficit, massive public investment is the only thing capable of growing the economy enough “so the deficit doesn’t eat you alive.” He has talked about funding immense green enterprises and larger backstop proposals from cities and states and sending more relief checks to families. He has urged immediate increases in virus and serology testing, proposing the implementation of a Pandemic Testing Board in the style of FDR’s War Production Board and has called for investments in an “Apollo-like moonshot” for a vaccine and treatment. And he floated both the creation of a 100,000-plus worker Public Health Jobs Corps and the doubling of the number of OSHA investigators to protect employees amid the pandemic. If he were president now, he said in March, he would demand paid emergency sick leave for anyone in need and mandate that no one would have to pay for coronavirus testing or treatment. As the crisis deepened, he said he would forgive federal student-loan debt — $10,000 per person, minimum — and add $200 a month to Social Security checks. ✄
“I think it’s probably the biggest challenge in modern history, quite frankly. I think it may not dwarf but eclipse what FDR faced,” Biden told CNN’s Chris Cuomo last month. “The blinders have been taken off because of this COVID crisis,” he said to a group of 68 donors who gathered on Zoom for a fundraiser a few weeks later. “I think people are realizing, ‘My Lord, look at what is possible,’ looking at the institutional changes we can make, without us becoming a ‘socialist country’ or any of that malarkey.”
(Reprising this for tljdk who enjoyed it a lot last time I posted it!)
Roar
I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess
So I sit quietly
Agree politely
I guess that I forgot I had a choice
I let you push me past the breaking point
I stood for nothing
So I fell for everything
You held me down but I got up
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake the ground
You held me down but I got up
Get ready ’cause I’ve had enough
I see it all, I see it now
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter
Dancing through the fire
‘Cause I am a champion
And you’re gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
‘Cause I am a champion
And you’re gonna hear me roar
You’re gonna hear me roar
🎶 Musical Roar 🎶
Meanwhile, from the schadenfreude file...
Health department orders closure of Castle Rock restaurant that packed in Mother’s Day crowd despite coronavirus, The Colorado Sun via AP, May 11, 2020.
The Tri-County Health Department has ordered the closure of a Castle Rock restaurant that opened on Mother’s Day to in-person dining in defiance of Colorado rules banning in-person dining.
Gov. Jared Polis’ administration has also suspended the restaurant’s license indefinitely. ✄
“It is disheartening that this restaurant has chosen to move ahead of the public orders and not even consider implementing best practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” Dr. John M. Douglas, executive director of Tri-County Health Department, said in a written statement. “It is not fair to the rest of the community and other business owners that are following Safer at Home and doing their part. We sincerely hope that C&C will choose to cooperate with the rules under which they are allowed to operate so we can lift this closure order.”
The Mayo Clinic and that group of CEOs in Iowa maybe were caught by surprise, but people are wising up now and are saying NO:
Trump visit to Pennsylvania factory that produces PPE materials was scuttled after plant officials expressed concerns about health risks, Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post, May 11, 2020.
President Trump was pushing to get out in the public eye in recent weeks and tout his leadership during the pandemic, and White House staff thought they had hit on the ideal event: a presidential visit to thank the Pennsylvania factory workers who had recently taken herculean steps to ramp up U.S. supplies of protective equipment.
White House officials pressed to hold an event at the Braskem factory, initially scheduled for last Friday. But after extensive back and forth, factory officials ultimately asked to postpone, worried that a visit from Trump could jeopardize both the safety of the workers and the plant’s ability to produce special material for masks and other medical gear, according to two people familiar with the decision and documents reviewed by The Post.
Rosie O’Donnell is helping Michael Cohen write ‘spicy’ Trump tell-all, Lee Brown, Page Six, May 10, 2020.
Rosie O’Donnell has confirmed she is helping former nemesis Michael Cohen write a “spicy” tell-all about his years working for President Trump, as previously revealed by Page Six.
O’Donnell told the Daily Beast that she visited the then-jailed lawyer in prison for six hours and agreed to help with his memoir, an unlikely partnership Page Six first revealed at the beginning of March.
“It’s pretty spicy,” she promised of the book.
“He’s in the midst of writing it, and is nearly done writing it, and hopes that it’ll be out before the election,” she told the site.
🎶 From Michael to Donny 🎶
⚡️Lightning Roundup ⚡️
🔗 Helpful Links 🔗
Good News: You can still help save the world in self-isolation!
Here’s a bunch of links to help you stay involved at home:
Act Blue — fundraising for Democratic candidates in one easy site.
Vote Forward — currently organizing an effort to encourage voter registration, including providing addressees with voter registration forms! This is one of several “do it at home” projects through which many of us can really make a difference. Voter to voter initiatives have a track record of increasing voter turnout. The Vote Forward letter system is ideal for those who want to contribute but can’t write too much. The letter templates are provided and all you do is put in a line or two of your own and make sure the letters get to the voters on your list!
Postcards to Voters — Our own gnusie, Progressive Muse posts most days with information about PtV and updates on current campaigns and progress. This is the ideal “do it at home” contribution especially suited to those who enjoy getting a little creative and connecting with fellow voters around the country.
Fair Fight — Stacey Abrams’ initiative which has already made a difference in several elections! Find out how you can help out at this link.
Spread the Vote — wonderful organization which works hard to help eligible voters obtain valid ID so they can register and vote.
From Kat at Spread the Vote:
There are a few ways you can help from home (please stay home!!!!!):
- Buy an item or two from our AMAZON WISH LIST. These items are going to our partners on the ground (shelters, food banks, etc.) who are still serving our clients and communities.
- Donate to Spread The Vote so that we can keep working today and, most importantly, have the funds we need to hit the ground running when this crisis is over.
- If you live in one of our 12 states, sign up to volunteer! We’ll be hosting regular training sessions and we’re moving up our bi-annual Volunteer Virtual Summit so that everyone is ready to go on day one.
- If you don’t live in one of our states, follow us at @spreadthevoteus on all of the social media channels and help spread the word about how this pandemic is affecting the most vulnerable people in the country.
I can’t thank you enough for always standing by us and I really really beg you to please stay home, #flattenthecurve, and watch as much Netflix as humanly possible. We will get through this together.
And finally, for one-stop all-purpose voter information:
Everything you need to know to vote — This site covers everything any eligible voter needs to know, from how to register, how to check that you are still registered, how to obtain an absentee ballot and what to do if your right to vote is challenged or you are stopped from voting.
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
This week, we are celebrating three years of Good News Roundups. Happy Anniversary to all of us Gnusies! We’ve cheered each other up, comforted each other, and encouraged each other for three long years. Now we are in the home stretch of the illegitimate pResident, and new challenges are in front of us. We will get through those together, too.
I’d like to say thanks to Goody, the original GoodNewsRoundup whose wonderful, surprising and encouraging posts brought me here in the summer of 2017. And thank you to Wee Mama who originated the Good News group. Many thanks as well to 2thanks, who keeps everyone organized and in touch, and to all the GNR writers who each bring their own voices and specialities to their Good News diaries. What a community! How thankful I am to be a part of it!
I wish I had a great recipe for booze pie (NNNE has been bringing them to his Evening Shades), but maybe this chocolate cake recipe will be worthy of the occasion!
Enjoy the cake and then — back to work! We have an election to win and a country to rebuild — better than before!
Happy Tuesday, Gnusies!
🎶 So Good, Here’s an Encore 🎶