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 Gnusie.
We are realists, not fools, idiots, or ostriches. We seek the truth. 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 neighbors, and our allies, and destroy people and systems we hold dear. However, we choose to focus on the good news that people create around the country.
Sometimes we ourselves create Good News. Together we are strong and resilient. We return regularly to these pages to revitalize.
In a Good News Roundup, the weight of bearing good news is not borne by the author alone: Gnusies can be counted on to adorn the comment section with good news. Often commenters create three times as many comments as Recommendations! If you cannot linger with us for hours, I recommend you return in the mid or late afternoon, learn who your favorite commenters are, and Find their names on return visits. We count on certain favorite Gnusies to bless us in the comments with humor, hope, history, and analysis every day.
We bring good news, and we create good news.
Biden signs sweeping anti-trust executive order to make life fairer for American workers, consumers
Joan McCarter, Daily Kos Staff: President Joe Biden announced a sweeping new antitrust executive order Friday intended "to promote competition in the American economy, which will lower prices for families, increase wages for workers, and promote innovation and even faster economic growth."
Biden wants to start breaking down monopolies, fight corporate consolidation, and give small businesses and start-ups a better shot at competing in the marketplace. It's broadly aimed at monopolies and concentrated markets in industries including agriculture, airlines, broadband, banking, and health care. "The heart of American capitalism is a simple idea: open and fair competition," Biden said in remarks on Friday afternoon. "Capitalism without competition isn't capitalism, it's exploitation."
Image: US President Joe Biden smiles prior to signing three Congressional Review Act bills into law during a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, June 30, 2021. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
By Myah Ward of Politico: President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a [previous] administration appointee, after he refused to resign from the post.
The move follows a tension-filled two-year tenure as congressional Democrats and elderly and disability advocates pushed for the president to oust Saul, who was known for his staunch anti-union stance that became increasingly controversial as the executive agency dealt with federal employee unions amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats also blamed Saul for delaying stimulus checks sent out earlier this year.
Vaccine Rollout — Good News
Andy Slavitt’s Tweet: Biden’s accelerated vaccine rollout has saved over 1 million people from being hospitalized & hundreds of thousands of lives based on a new Yale study. More work to do but vaccines save lives.
95% drop in Covid deaths since February
Peter Baker’s Tweet: Such a remarkable change: In February, COVID deaths in the US topped 5,000 on the worst day. Yesterday, with two-thirds of adults at least partially vaccinated, it was 250, a 95% drop.
By Zarrin Ahmed, UPI: On the six-month anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, U.S. Capitol Police on Tuesday announced a number of departmental changes that it says will better protect officers and members of Congress -- and offer new therapeutic support, including two wellness dogs. Acting USCP Chief Yogananda Pittman announced the updates in a statement titled, "After the Attack: The Future of the U.S. Capitol Police."
Tuesday's update detailed many changes developed or implemented since radical supporters of [the yellow foghorn] attacked the Capitol in a bid to disrupt Congress' certification of President Joe Biden's electoral victory.
Pittman noted changes in eight main areas -- expanded wellness services, member protection, training, critical incident response planning, law enforcement and operational planning experts, equipment and technology, communication, and recruitment.
By Ellie Silverman and Jasmine Hilton, The Seattle Times:
The metal fencing and concrete barriers that encircled the Capitol after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the complex on Jan. 6. gave way Saturday to an open plaza filled with families lounging on picnic blankets, dogs on leashes and visitors in sunglasses and hats. The sidewalks where soldiers once stood holding their guns in protection of the complex now filled with walkers with strollers and bike riders.
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Emily Durham, 22, and Colleen Calhoun, 23, both residents of the District, said that they heard the fences were coming down and knew they had to stop by.
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“Now that it’s down and we’re able to walk around this beautiful day … it almost feels like normal again,” Durham said as she tugged at the leash of Harris, a black dog named after the vice president.
Kerry Eleveld for Daily Kos: New polling from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist released late last week found that just 47% of Americans think the nation is headed in the right direction while 49% say it is not. On their face, the numbers don't seem particularly positive, while also not being overwhelmingly negative. But in actuality it’s pretty good news for President Joe Biden and Democrats for a couple of reasons.
First is the fact that the numbers represent a dramatic improvement from January, when the same poll found that just 20% of respondents viewed the nation as on track in the days following the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. At the time, fully 75% of respondents said the country was heading in the wrong direction.
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So sitting around 42% or higher on the “right track” measure is actually pretty good territory.
As the United States prepares to pull the last of its troops from Afghanistan, most recently abruptly turning over Bagram Airfield to Afghan authorities, the journey the U.S. has taken from the beginning of its longest war to what appears to be its end is one that many Americans would just as soon forget.
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The U.S. poured $2 trillion into trying to rebuild the country in the image of a Western democracy, but public opinion surveys now indicate a clear majority of Americans back President Joe Biden’s decision to leave Afghanistan. More than one in three say they believe the war there cannot be won.
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The tone of Biden’s comments when he announced the troop withdrawal was far from triumphalist: “We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal, and expecting a different result," he said. "I’m now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.”
Nikole Hannah-Jones Issues Statement on Decision to Decline Tenure Offer at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and to Accept Knight Chair Appointment at Howard University
Sherrilyn Ifill: If you read nothing else on this platform [NAACP Legal Defense Fund] today, take a moment and read the entire statement from @nhannahjones on her decision not to take the Knight Chair at UNC, and to teach instead as a tenured professor at @HowardU.
Another week of Gnusies out standing on the veldt
- GoodNewsRoundup, Saturday: Fifty Great Things Biden Has Accomplished in less than half a year in office
- chloris creator, Friday: Do the next right thing
- Mokurai, Thursday: R Bogosity vs. D Cluosity—Oh, Yeah, Have We Got This!
- niftywriter, Wednesday: Joe and the Democrats are Hitting Their Stride
- Arhpdx, Tuesday: Good News Roundup for Tuesday, July 6, 2021
- Jessiestaf, Monday: From the GNR Newsroom: Monday Good News Roundup
7 a.m. ET, every day.
Poll #1: Who Won the Week?
Cheers and Jeers archive and future editions here. Way, way more than 2 thanks to The One, our Wicked Wizard of Wit and writer of Who Won the Week, Willhelm von kosland!
- President Jimmy and First Lady Rosalynn Carter, for celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary
- Howard University, after dithering over tenure by UNC results in Pulitzer-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones accepting a position there...with tenure
- NASA's Vanessa Wyche, who becomes the first Black woman director of a space center (Johnson Space Center)…and Janet Petro, now the first female director of Kennedy Space Center
- The American patriots who chased the racist "Patriot Front" marchers in their little Nazi costumes out of Philadelphia
- The medical personnel and essential workers who helped New York City through the COVID-19 pandemic, as New York City throws a ticker tape parade to thank them
- Team Biden-Harris: opens White House for July 4th BBQ to thank COVID responders; economic recovery humming; announces 8/31 end of Afghanistan misadventure; issues anti-trust executive order
- Chile, whose constitutional assembly held its first convention to create the world’s first constitution drafted by an equal number of women and men
- Zaila Avante-garde, 14, the first African American winner of the National Spelling Bee (and the first winner from Louisiana)
- The war on cancer, as the latest data show death rates falling in men, women, and all racial/ethnic groups, led by a drop in melanoma and lung cancer
- Karma, as Rudy Giuliani is suspended from practicing law in both New York and DC
Bill’s Friday poll is here.
Who won the week for you? Who made a winning move after Bill's deadline on Friday?
Science
Science gives us the headlights to let us see the risks along our road. Recent findings may be deeply troubling. However, they give us hope because they show us how to fix things.
World's Most Advanced Autonomous Research Vehicle Completes Ocean Crossing from San Francisco to Hawaii
Over 80% of Earth's oceans remain unmapped. Saildrone intends to map the world's oceans in the next 10 years:
The uncrewed, autonomous, Saildrone Surveyor will arrive in Hawaii today after a groundbreaking maiden voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu.
While ocean crossings are nothing new for Saildrone's autonomous surface vehicles, the Saildrone Surveyor is a new, much larger class of vehicle optimized for deep-ocean mapping. During the 28-day voyage, the Saildrone Surveyor sailed 2,250 nautical miles and mapped 6,400 square nautical miles of seafloor.
Using renewable wind and solar energy for its primary power source, the Saildrone Surveyor is the only vehicle in the world capable of long-endurance, uncrewed ocean mapping operations. The valuable data it collects will help address issues impacting our world including climate change, offshore renewable energy, natural resource management, and maritime safety.
Here are the topics in today’s diary:
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Neuroscience and a Dose of Emotional Intelligence Reveal a Simple Trick to Learn More With Less Effort
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New Shazam for Birds Will Identify That Chirping for You
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Dinosaurs Nested in the High Arctic
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Comet strike may have sparked civilisation shift
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Napping at this time of day has shocking value
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A cave nestled in the Russian mountains could solve an ancient human mystery
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Stephen Hawking's black hole theory proved right
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The biggest problem with eating insects isn’t the “ew” factor
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Alzheimer’s Disease and Brain Injury Disrupt Microtubular Meshes to Trigger Nerve Cell Death
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‘Planting trees "doesn't make any sense" in the fight against climate change say experts’:
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The ‘Planting trees’ article is contested by many in the comments in this Roundup (chloris creator, Mokurai, and especially DocGonzo) and in the Overnight News Digest (Besame, Nonlinear, Paz3, and Marsanges). In summation, those are excellent refutations of the linked article, considering the content, the source, and the lack of links in the ‘Planting trees’ article.
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A dry California creek bed looked like a wildfire risk. Then the beavers went to work
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Three projects for citizen scientists
Again, find last night Overnight News Digest here.
Open access to scientific papers allows for quick and free spread of new scientific discoveries and rapid collaboration between scientists.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is pleased to announce a two-year transformational open access (OA) pilot agreement between Jisc and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The “Publish-and-Read” agreement will allow corresponding authors at participating institutions in the United Kingdom to publish OA articles in PNAS without incurring article page charges. Researchers at participating Jisc institutions will also be able to access all PNAS content, dating back to 1915, free of charge. This is the first such agreement between PNAS and a national consortium; Jisc consists of 156 UK universities.
Our map of Gnuville: 645 of us have shared our global locations!
To leave your mark, please Reply in the comments to tljdk or silverfoxcruiser. Please include your city and state only, NOT street number and street. (Please persist, we are volunteers.)
Image: Two maps of the United States, one above the other. Both maps indicate the approximate locations of members of the Good News Roundup community. The lower map contains many more blue pin-markers than the upper map. Upper image: A map of Gnuville from February 15, 2019 with fewer than 50 Gnusie pins. Lower image: A map of Gnuville from March 21, 2021 with 582 pins across our orb. [Thanks Kluger2!]
If you join us regularly, are you Following us? Almost 400 Kosacks Follow us.
Tech Talk for Kosacks
- On a desktop or laptop, to banish the Daily Kos “Load More” buttons, click this link, which opens the main Daily Kos page and shuts off the Load More buttons at the same time. After that, you’re good to go.
- Got a Daily Kos tech question? Let us know.
- Solved a tech question recently? Please feel free to repeat in the comments.
Where Ever is Herd
Morning Good News Roundups at 7 x 7: These Gnusies lead the herd at 7 a.m. ET, 7 days a week:
- The Monday GNR Newsroom (Jessiestaf, Killer300, and Bhu). With their five, we survive and thrive.
- Alternating Tuesdays: NotNowNotEver and arhpdx.
- Wednesdays: niftywriter.
- Thursdays: pucklady the 1st Thursday, Mokurai the 2nd, oldhippiedude the 3rd, MCUBernieFan the 4th, and Mokurai the 5th (when there is one).
- Fridays: chloris creator. Regular links to the White House Briefing Room.
- Saturdays: GoodNewsRoundup. Heart-stirring and soul-healing introduction and sometimes memes to succumb to.
- Sundays: 2thanks. A brief roundup of Roundups, a retrospective, a smorgasbord, a bulletin board, an oasis, a watering hole, a thunder of hooves, a wellness, a place for beginners to learn the rules of the veldt.
hpg posts Evening Shade diaries at 7:30 p.m. ET every day! After a long day, Gnusies meet in the evening shade and continue sharing Good News, good community, and good actions. In the words of NotNowNotEver: “hpg ably continues the tradition of Evening Shade.” Find Evening Shades here.
oldhippiedude posts Tweets of the Week on Sundays at 6 p.m. CT. Our second evening Gnusie hangout zone! In search of a TOTW diary? Look here or here.
For more information about the Good News group, please see our detailed Welcoming comment, one of the first comments in our morning diaries.
The 6 R’s of the Resistance
Joe Biden is now our President. However, we continue to stay vocal and active, we continue to pull Joe to the left, and we continue resist the GQP.
- Refresh and Rest: Take care of you, the hero: Eat well, exercise, and rest.
- 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.
- Rejoice: Joy promotes resilience and gives rise to hope.
How to Resist: Do Something …
Once again, from Good News Roundup:
Want to help us win in 2022? We need you!
Here are some things you can do:
Most important: DON'T LOSE HOPE. This is a giant and important fight for us but, win or lose, we keep fighting and voting and organizing and spreading truth and light. We never give up.
On Daily Kos:
We welcome comments in Roundups every day regarding:
- National or local Good News.
- Links, stories, music, videos, quotes, tweets. (No tweets or images of the saffron chlamidiot, please.)
- Your resistance activity.
In my Sunday smorgasbord Roundups, I especially welcome the following types of comments:
- Who won YOUR week?
- Questions about Daily Kos tech issues or our map.
- Good News Roundups and you.
- How are you resisting?
Top Image: Starhawk created this diary’s top image of the rampant gnu and gave it to the members of the Good News Roundup group (Gnusies)! Thank you, Starhawk! This is a quite detailed sketch of a gnu drawn in brown, green, and black. A happy and dynamic gnu dances on its left hind leg in a classic rampant heraldric pose. Joyful letters prance above and behind the mane: “Happy Dance.” Signature: Nick Korolev, 2021.
The Roundup is almost open!
Thank you for fighting for truth and justice with all us Gnusies! 40% of our Readers don’t visit every day, 50% of us do, and 10% are here for the first time! We all do what we can. For 3-1/2 years, we’ve shared positive news, laughed, organized, resisted, rebelled, revolted without being revolting, relied, rested, mentored, created, crossed rivers, chewed our cud, puffed methane out both ends, and laughed. Here’s looking at you, kid, and standing upwind!
As always, please share more Good News than I can find or provide.
This is a group diary, and by my power I declare this Good Gnus Salo(o)n open! Let the good-news sharing and community building begin!
Power with, not power over ❤️ ✊ ❤️
2thanks (he, him)