Welcome 😊 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
These days, many of us are a little tired. Omicron is so infectious, that nearly everyone can expect to get it. Moreover, covid will be with us for a long time, because (a) too many anti-vaxxers (although they are dropping dead) and (b) animals get covid, too, so there’s no way to eliminate it from the planet.
There’s all the other problems with the Supreme Court, and Sinema — I am so sorry, she is my senator, and I contacted her just before her crazy speech, telling her not to do what she just did — just did her worst to destroy voting rights.
But many people are working to make things better. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re in it for the long haul.
Refresh yourselves at the Good News watering hole, share any bits we did not know about, and then get ready to stampede. And remember, gnus are really good at marathons!
Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the many who are fighting to destroy our country. 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. 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.
🗽 Biden as President!🗽
Biden, Harris and their administration have been hard at work. Here are the last week’s posts at the White House briefing room.
- Thursday, January 13, 2022: Readout of White House Meeting on Software Security
- Thursday, January 13, 2022: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, January 13, 2022
- Thursday, January 13, 2022: Remarks by President Biden After Meeting with the Senate Democratic Caucus
- Thursday, January 13, 2022: President Biden Announces Key Nominee
- Thursday, January 13, 2022: President Biden Announces Key Regional Appointments for USDA and HUD
- Thursday, January 13, 2022: Statement by President Joe Biden On the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision on Vaccine Requirements
- Thursday, January 13, 2022: Remarks by President Biden at Virtual Meeting on Military Deployments Supporting Hospitals for the COVID-19 Response
- Thursday, January 13, 2022: Statement from CEA Chair Cecilia Rouse on Producer Price Index
- Wednesday, January 12, 2022: Press Briefing By Press Secretary Jen Psaki And National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, January 12, 2022
- Wednesday, January 12, 2022: Press Briefing by White House COVID-19 Response Team and Public Health Officials
- Wednesday, January 12, 2022: Statement by President Biden on the Consumer Price Index
- Wednesday, January 12, 2022: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Races to Deploy Clean Energy that Creates Jobs and Lowers Costs
- Wednesday, January 12, 2022: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Increases COVID-19 Testing in Schools to Keep Students Safe and Schools Open
- Tuesday, January 11, 2022: Remarks by President Biden on Protecting the Right to Vote
- Tuesday, January 11, 2022: Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jen Psaki En Route Atlanta, Georgia
- Tuesday, January 11, 2022: Nominations Sent to the Senate
- Tuesday, January 11, 2022: Remarks by President Biden Before Marine One Departure
- Tuesday, January 11, 2022: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Missouri Disaster Declaration
- Tuesday, January 11, 2022: Statement by NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne on the United States Providing Additional Humanitarian Assistance to the People of Afghanistan
- Monday, January 10, 2022: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, January 10, 2022
- Monday, January 10, 2022: Background Press Call by a Senior Administration Official on Ethiopia
- Monday, January 10, 2022: FACT SHEET: U.S. Diplomatic Engagement with European Allies and Partners Ahead of Talks with Russia
- Monday, January 10, 2022: Nominations Sent to the Senate
- Monday, January 10, 2022: Readout of Vice President Kamala Harris’s Call with President Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala
- Monday, January 10, 2022: Statement by NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne on National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Call with Ibrahim Kalin, Spokesperson and Chief Advisor to the President of Turkey
- Monday, January 10, 2022: Readout of President Biden’s Call with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia
- Sunday, January 9, 2022: Statement by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Iranian Threats and Provocations Against American Citizen
- Saturday, January 8, 2022: Remarks by President Biden at the Memorial for Senator Harry Reid
- Saturday, January 8, 2022: Background Press Call by a Senior Administration Official on Russia
- Saturday, January 8, 2022: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Amends Kentucky Disaster Declaration
- Friday, January 7, 2022: Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on the Administration’s Response to Recent Wildfires
- Friday, January 7, 2022: Press Gaggle by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
- Friday, January 7, 2022: Statement by President Joe Biden on the Passing of Sidney Poitier
- Friday, January 7, 2022: September 2021 Visitor Log Records Posted
- Friday, January 7, 2022: Remarks by President Biden on the December 2021 Jobs Report
- Friday, January 7, 2022: President Biden Announces Nominee for Deputy Administrator for Resilience at the Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Friday, January 7, 2022: Nominations Sent to the Senate
- Friday, January 7, 2022: Orthodox Christmas Statement
👎 Out with the Bad, In with the Good 👍
DOJ creates dedicated domestic terrorism unit Josh Kovensky Talking Points Memo
One year after the Capitol insurrection, the DOJ is building a new unit focused on domestic terrorism.
Justice Department National Security Division Chief Matt Olsen told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that the FBI was investigating more than twice as many domestic violent extremist cases as it was two years ago.
About damned time!
And this:
And this:
And another important point, especially for those who have been worried about Garland:
t, especially for those who have been worried about AG Garland:
What the Biden-Harris administration is doing to create jobs and clean energy (from a Jan 12 briefing room report):
Seven federal agencies are announcing clean energy projects and plans that demonstrate the Administration’s unwavering commitment to creating cleaner and cheaper energy, and the actions showcase President Biden’s unprecedented coordination activating the entire government to fight climate change, produce good-paying, union jobs, and accelerate America’s clean energy economy.
These actions include:
- The Department of the Interior is holding a record-breaking offshore wind lease sale, with the most lease areas ever offered, in the New York Bight off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. The upcoming lease sale is projected to generate up to 7 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy, power two million homes, and create thousands of jobs in manufacturing, construction, operations, maintenance, and service industries in nearby communities. ✂️
- A number of agencies are working together to drive the rapid build-up of offshore wind—a brand new U.S. clean energy industry that can create nearly 80,000 good-paying jobs by 2030. For example, the Department of Transportation recently announced port investments to help develop areas that will be used to build and stage offshore wind turbine components, and efforts are underway across the Departments of Commerce, the Interior, and Energy to promote biodiversity and cooperative ocean use and support innovation across the supply chain.
- The Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency are forming a new collaboration to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of reviews of clean energy projects on public lands, in order to expand solar, onshore wind, and geothermal energy, building on the Department of the Interior’s approvals over the past year of 18 onshore projects that will deliver 4.175 GW of clean energy.
- The Department of Energy is launching a new Building a Better Grid initiative to accelerate the deployment of new transmission lines—as enabled by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—to connect more Americans to cleaner, cheaper energy. This transmission buildout will make our grid more reliable and resilient in the face of intensifying extreme weather and is critical to achieving the President’s goal of 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035.
- To ensure that these benefits reach all Americans, the Department of Agriculture is creating a new pilot program to support clean energy in underserved rural communities and the Department of Commerce is awarding American Rescue Plan funds to support regional coalitions to grow new industry clusters focused on clean energy deployment and job training. And the release of a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows that the Administration’s SolarAPP+ tool is reducing permitting times for residential installations to less than one day, helping local governments fast-track rooftop solar.
💣 Republicans in Disarray 💣
tRump attacking GOPers over refusing to say if they have been boosted. John Wright, Raw Story
Former president Donald Trump on Tuesday ripped into politicians who refuse to say if they've received a COVID-19 booster shot — a group that notably includes Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I’ve had the booster," Trump told One America News Network in an interview. "Many politicians, I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ Because they had the vaccine, and they’re answering like — in other words, the answer is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless. You gotta say it, whether you had it or not, say it."
Trump's recent statements in support of COVID-19 vaccines have prompted some of his supporters to turn on him.
Such a strange hill to die on. And how weird for me to be in agreement with the orange one.
But any agreement is fleeting. Look, here’s this:
They keep attacking each other for telling obvious albeit inconvenient truths.
💙 Democrats Being Cool 💙
So much better than tossing paper towels...
California, that true-blue state, actually has a huge budget surplus. And Governor Newsom intends to use it to solve real problems. Doktor Zoom, Wonkette
California, the state wingnuts love to hate, is projected to have a tax revenue surplus again this year, making it the ninth consecutive year the state has run a surplus. And Gov. Gavin Newsom has some plans for some of the anticipated $45.7 billion in surplus revenue, about half of which can be used at the state legislature's discretion. At his annual budget presentation yesterday — it ran nearly three hours, because that man loves numbers — Newsom said his top priorities for the budget would be to address issues in five key areas: "COVID-19, climate change, homelessness, inequality, and keeping our streets safe.”
The overall budget proposal is for $286.4 billion, of which some $10 billion would be new spending. The Los Angeles Times reports that
[i]n broad terms, Newsom’s proposal to the Legislature is consistent with budgets written in recent years. Although it would direct surplus tax revenue toward the state’s cash reserves and pay down some long-term debts, there would be plenty left over for programs championed by the Democratic governor and legislators from both major parties — such as enhanced security at clinics that provide abortions and cancellation of an increase in California’s gas tax that was scheduled for July.
“We have the capacity to invest in our growth engines, invest in the future, as well as making sure that we prepare for the uncertainties that the future presents,” Newsom said at a news conference Monday.
Heh, "growth engines." What a NERD!
🎩 Maru. Massachusetts may be dyed-in-the-wool blue, but ME and VA are not.
Older story, but I just discovered it, and it is so cool. Harrison Thorp, The Rochester Voice
ROCHESTER, NH - Longtime City Councilor David Walker has requested a recount in his Ward 4 Seat A race against political newcomer Ashley Desrochers, but told The Rochester Voice on Wednesday he isn't counting on a reversal of what political observers see as the "shocker" of the Nov. 2 vote.
Walker lost his bid to continue his 26-year-long tenure on the board after losing to Desrochers by 24 votes, 387-363.
"I'm requesting the recount, but I'm clear-eyed about reversing the end result," he said, adding the intent of the recount is to not only confirm the results but check the signatures of any absentee ballots.
Someon else on the internet described how the same city counselor never spent money on anything but himself yet usually ran unopposed. Desrochers campaigned hard on helping the homeless and safety in town. And, after the recounts, she won by two more votes. (Not linking, just paraphrasing. But it shows what a difference hard work can make.)
💜 Unity? 💜
Voters want fair districting:
Voters don’t want insider trading in our politicians:
US Voters want plastic out of national parks Olivia Rosane EcoWatch
A vast majority of U.S. voters want to ban single-use plastics from national parks.
Ocean conservation group Oceana released the results of a poll Thursday that found that 82 percent of registered U.S. voters surveyed would be happy if the National Park Service (NPS) stopped selling and distributing any single-use plastic items.
“National parks have long held a special place in Americans’ hearts, and these polling results indicate that Americans, whether Republican or Democrat, want our parks to be unmarred by the pollution caused by single-use plastic,” Oceana plastics campaign director Christy Leavitt said in a press release. ✂️
The results therefore show broad support for a campaign led by Oceana and more than 300 other environmental organizations to persuade NPS to stop selling single-use plastic at national parks. The groups sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland last year asking the parks to end the sale and distribution of plastic beverage bottles, plastic bags, plastic foodware and cutlery and plastic foam products. The Reducing Waste in National Parks Act, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), would also see such a policy enacted if passed.
We all (except for the Supreme Court) want covid to go away. Some data show that although this current wave is awful, it may be short:
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
Voting rights. This may be the biggest issue threatening our democracy right now. Besides contacting your representatives at the state and federal level to do the right thing (depending on who they are), you can support and contact these organizations:
ACLU — American Civil Liberties Union
Democracy Docket — founded by Marc Elias, so important in fighting the challenges after the last election.
Fair Fight — founded by Stacey Abrams
🌱Grass roots. Biden and Harris can do the top-down stuff, but we have to support from the bottom. I don’t know how to deprogram 75 million people, but some things have been written about, such as deep canvassing, and lots of people are talking about this. If you know someone (who did not storm the Capitol), then see if you can be pleasant. Instead of trying to reason with them (logic is obviously not their strong point) distract them with something else. We need to remove the sources of lies and to take down the temperature. If we get more of the Rs to wear masks and to get vaccinated and to vote for Ds, the country will be a better place. We need to coax some of them out of the rabbit holes and diffuse the anger and the crazy.
🏃 Run for something. If you want to run for something, but have no idea what to do, these people will help you. They also like money and volunteers to help those people who are running, so even if you’re not in a position to stand for office, you can help. Note: they are especially planning to target the 57 Rs in local governments who participated in the insurrection.
👎 Defund the seditionists. This is a list with companies that sometimes have donated to the seditionists, and their current approach to supporting or not supporting the seditionists. The list is long. You will recognize many of the corporations, and you probably have a relationship with some — either you are a customer, a shareholder, or maybe even an employee. Contact them and compliment or complain, but let them know you are watching. Forward it to others.
🐍 Schadenfreude 😈
In case you missed it, lots of stuff happening this week!
A horrible man is in trouble...
So is a horrible prince!
Isn’t it nice to see these guys, who abused their privileged status, get into trouble at last? Oh, and Prince Andrew has been stripped of all sorts of privileges.
Jan 6th committee subpoenas people closer to tdfg Kyle Cheney, Nicholas Wu, Betsy Woodruff Swan Politico
The select panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is homing in on Donald Trump Jr.
The committee issued subpoenas for two close advisers, Andrew Surabian and Arthur Schwartz, to former President Donald Trump’s eldest son on Tuesday, an indication that they’re inching ever closer to the Trump family.
The panel also issued a subpoena for Ross Worthington, who helped draft the president’s Jan. 6 speech to a rally crowd at the Ellipse, near the White House.
Earlier in the week, Maddow had a special about forged documents regarding fake slates of electors to come from Arizona and Michigan and Wisconsin. Turns out, forgeries are illegal. And these appear to have been highly coordinated. Speculation below, but pretty obvious speculation.
And, others are angry with Sinema:
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️
This week let’s honor Dr. Anthony Fauci, who, despite insults and threats, has persisted in fighting to save our lives. And this week he told an inconvenient truth about one of the GOP’s liars, Sen Rand Paul.
Nice to see Paul squirm!
Another intrepid journalist:
🐀 Let’s also honor Magawa the rat, who sniffed out landmines in Cambodia, who just died at the ripe old age of 8. Lianne Kolirin CNN
(CNN)Magawa, the "hero rat" whose work sniffing out landmines in Cambodia won him a medal for life-saving bravery, has died at the age of 8.
The African giant pouched rat found more than 100 landmines and other explosives during his service, according to APOPO, the mine-clearing non-governmental organization that trained him.
His work saw him win a gold medal from the British veterinary charity the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals in 2020.
Announcing the news on Tuesday, APOPO said: "It is with a heavy heart that we share the sad news that HeroRAT Magawa passed away peacefully this weekend. Magawa was in good health and spent most of last week playing with his usual enthusiasm, but towards the weekend he started to slow down, napping more and showing less interest in food in his last days. Magawa had recently celebrated his birthday in November, reaching the grand old age of 8."
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
Nurse rescues patient’s dog. Judy Cole Good News Network
Last November, Smith got a panicked call from John Burley, one of her patients from the adult day health care program at Rome, New York’s Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. He’d been hospitalized with pneumonia, and with no nearby family to step in to help, his dog Boomer had been taken to an animal shelter.
“I came into work the Monday after Thanksgiving to the phone ringing at 7 a.m.,” Smith recalled in an interview with CNN. “John was calling from his hospital room saying, ‘Boomer is in the pound! Boomer is in the pound!’”
Aware that the 12-year-old dog he’d had since it was a pup meant the world to him, when Burley asked Smith if she would take care of Boomer, her immediate response was a resounding, “Of course, I will!”
The Schmidt Baking Company put people before profits! During the snowstorm that trapped so many on the east coast, they had a truck trapped there as well. After a suggestion from some motorists, and an OK by the CEO, the truck driver distributed bread and rolls to people stuck on that highway.
📎Odds & Ends 📎
🎩 Bluewabash. The vaccines have been saving lives: Natalie Musumeci, Business Insider via Science Alert
COVID19 vaccines saved nearly 241,000 lives in the United States and prevented more than 1 million virus-related hospitalizations in the first six months of the country's inoculation program, according to a new research model.
A research letter, published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Network Open, found coronavirus vaccinations also prevented more than 14 million COVID-19 cases from mid-December 2020 — when the US COVID-19 vaccine campaign first kicked off — to 30 June 2021.
"Our analytical model suggested that the US COVID-19 vaccination program was associated with a reduction in the total hospitalizations and deaths by nearly half during the first six months of 2021," the researchers from Yale, the University of Maryland, and the York University in Toronto, Canada, wrote
And even more since then!
💉 Quebec tax on unvaxxed getting people to vax Axios
Quebec health officials said Wednesday bookings for COVID-19 vaccine first-dose appointments have jumped — with some 7,000 residents signing up after they announced plans to tax people who are unvaccinated for non-medical reasons.
The big picture: Quebec Premier François Legault said the Canadian province would impose a health tax on residents who refuse to get their first dose in the coming weeks that would be more than $100, per CBC News.
- 90% of Quebec's population is already fully vaccinated against the virus.
The Francophones sure aren’t farting around! Loved Macron’s use of the word emmerder recently with respect to his attitude and the unvaxxed.
❤️ Pig heart working in a human University of Maryland Science Daily
In a first-of-its-kind surgery, a 57-year-old patient with terminal heart disease received a successful transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart and is still doing well three days later. It was the only currently available option for the patient. The historic surgery was conducted by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) faculty at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), together known as the University of Maryland Medicine.
This organ transplant demonstrated for the first time that a genetically-modified animal heart can function like a human heart without immediate rejection by the body. The patient, David Bennett, a Maryland resident, is being carefully monitored over the next days and weeks to determine whether the transplant provides lifesaving benefits. He had been deemed ineligible for a conventional heart transplant at UMMC as well as at several other leading transplant centers that reviewed his medical records.
Grazing livestock among the trees may help prevent wildfires Agostino Petroni Reasons to Be Cheerful
In the past few years, wildfires have ravaged lands from Oregon to Canada, Spain and Siberia. Regions of Greece and Australia have been forced to imagine entirely new ways of life. Italy has paid its toll too. According to Raffaella Lovreglio, a wildfires prevision and prevention professor at Cagliari University, climate change paired with forest abandonment helped make Sardinia’s blaze the worst wildfire in Italy of the past 40 years.
In response, scientists and conservationists around the world are trying everything from prescribed burns to aluminum wraps to save ancient trees. But farmers like the Mura brothers advocate for another method that rarely gets discussed. A few days after the fire in Sardinia, Santu Lussergiu’s agriculture counselor sent a letter to the Italian agriculture ministry asking it to revise a decades-old law prohibiting livestock from grazing where forests grow.
According to some Italian politicians, scientists, shepherds and academics, allowing shepherds to let their animals graze in the forests again could help curb future wildfires. Now, a small but growing number of communities around the Mediterranean are incentivizing their shepherds to play a role in the fight against a proliferating menace.
“We need to change our approach and give a role back to shepherds and farmers,” said Sardinian councilor Gianfranco Satta during the council to discuss the Montiferru wildfire that destroyed the Mura Brothers’ farm. “They are the ones who keep rural communities alive. The shepherds are the last custodians of the territories and their knowledge.”
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: Hunters of the Feather, a story about a thinker-linker crow who wants to save birdkind from extinction, and the sequel, Scavengers of Mind. (They’re really good! They’re really cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And Hunters is also available on Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — including a new one for lovers of Pride & Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet’s Advice to Young Ladies — and others on Greek mythology, can be found here.
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
It turns out that participation in democracy is not just an every-four-years event but requires active participation, like, whenever you can find time.
Current projects:
Look in the comments for Progressive Muse’s report on Postcards to Voters
And some other ideas:
You can relax and recharge.
You can join protests and freeway blog.
You can help register new voters.
You can smile.
You can get out the vote for special elections.
You can reach out to upset Republicans. We need to win some back.
You can share your ideas below.
🌻
💙 “Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we all are created equal and the harsh ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart. The battle is perennial, and victory is never assured.” 💙
President Joseph R. Biden
🌹 🌹 🌹
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.