ERA, Amendment 28, now law. ☼ Sunday Good News ☼ 2 Polls: Bill in Portland Maine's + ERA

Ruminations, Revelations, and Reflections

Good News: We bring it, we make it.

We are fully clothed in patriotism, no specious garb for us.  

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.

“The Equal Rights Amendment Has Been Ratified. It Is the Law”: U.S. House Resolution Declares ERA 28th Amendment 🎩  T Maysle

Carrie N. Baker, Ms Magazine: In an opinion issued on Wednesday, Jan. 26, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) helped clear the way for the Equal Rights Amendment, according to leading ERA advocates. In January of 2020, under Trump, the OLC issued an opinion arguing that Congress had no power to remove a seven-year timeline for ratification in the preamble of the ERA and that therefore three recent state ratifications were invalid. The OLC opinion issued by the Biden administration strongly affirms the power of Congress to remove the deadline. The opinion follows the overwhelming consensus among constitutional law scholars.

According to a recent amicus brief authored by former Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan and signed by Laurence Tribe, Dorothy Roberts, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Catharine MacKinnon and 11 other top constitutional scholars:

“The language of Article V is mandatory: an amendment to the Constitution ‘shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states.’ Nor does the text of Article V envision a role for an executive branch officer to assert his discretion regarding the validity of the amendment. The text requires no additional action by Congress or by anyone else after ratification by the final State.”

✂

“Two years ago, the final state, Virginia, ratified the amendment. The amendment says two years hence, it is law. And that’s today,” said [Representative Jackie] Speier [on January 27, 2022] . “The ERA is fully ratified, no question about it.”

A whisper, not a bang. 

Please see many the comments by radarlady, who counters the arguments of the nay-sayers and provides useful information. I agree with her — I’d like to see women become fully human under the law.   

Poll #1: Who Won the Week?

Gnusie Bill in Portland Maine lets me repeat the results of his research. He arrayed the following items in his popular Who Won the Week? poll in Friday’s Cheers and Jeers. Many people already voted in that poll. Please enjoy Bill’s on-point analysis and wit, vote in his poll, Rec his diaries, get on his bandwagon, send him a donation, and earn his blessing.

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!
 

• Amy Schneider, who ends her 40-game reign on "Jeopardy!" with over $1.3 million and national admiration as a role model for the trans community
   
• Federal judge Mark Walker, for ruling that 3 University of Florida political science professors can give expert witness testimony in a lawsuit challenging a new state election law
   
• Neil Young: for standing up to Spotify, which he says has become “the home of life-threatening Covid misinformation,” by pulling his music from the service
   
• The federal court that struck down Alabama’s newly drawn congressional map because it's viciously racist against Black voters
   
• The Arizona Democratic Party, for censuring turncoat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, whose approval there among Democrats is now around 8 percent
   
• The French National Assembly, for criminalizing "ex-gay" therapy, a quack science that claims to "cure" LGBT people. Said President Macron: "There is nothing to be cured"
   
• President Biden: $15 min. wage for fed employees, circles NATO wagons, smooth mask/test rollout, & gets chance to make mark on the Supreme Court. (Choose wisely, you son of a bitch.)
   
• Guerrilla warfare, as people from around the country clog Virginia Republicans' "snitch line," created for GOP-cultist parents to rat out teachers teaching truth about American history
   
• The Democratic party, for promoting economic policies on behalf of everyday Americans that resulted in 5.7% GDP in 2021, the biggest economic expansion since 1984
   
• Federal Judge Rudolph Contreras, for invalidating a huge gov't oil/gas lease sale for 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico because it didn't factor in the impact on climate change
   

Bill’s Friday poll is here.

Which item did you vote for? Why?

Who made a winning move after Bill's deadline on Friday?

Intel, GM Investing Big Time In US Manufacturing, What Was That About Biden's Terrible Economy?

Doctor Zoom, Wonkette: The Biden-Harris administration took a moment last week to tout a great big investment in US manufacturing by the Intel corporation, which plans to spend some $20 billion to build the world's largest semiconductor factory in New Albany, Ohio, a suburb of the state capital, Columbus. The White House statement said the deal reflects its commitment to reenergizing US manufacturing, particularly in solving the computer chip shortage that has hindered the recovery from the pandemic recession and contributed to inflation. (The statement points out that a full third of the annual increase in inflation last year was due to higher car prices, which were driven by the lack of microchips that go into everydamnthing in modern cars.)

✂

President Joe Biden is also urging Congress to pass legislation to strengthen US research and development, in semiconductors and other parts of the supply chain, specifically, the "US Innovation and Competition Act," which passed in the Senate last June but is currently still being discussed in a House-Senate conference committee. It's expected to get a vote soonish.

"Tiny Donald for scale": Mueller, She Wrote

Biden versus Trump: First Year GDP:

Trump (2017): 2.3%
Biden (2021): 5.7%

The Biden Boom is fueling our economic recovery. See the difference?

tiny donald for scale pic.twitter.com/gt9Xpyh8jz

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) January 27, 2022

2.3% rounds to 2. 5.7% rounds to 6.

Biden’s first-year economy was 3 times better than tdfg’s! Boom!

7 days in Gnuville

The president needs more power. Let’s go out and get him some: Saturday's Good News
GoodNewsRoundup

Good News Roundup for Friday, January 28, 2022: A Break from Doom and Gloom
chloris creator

Good News Roundup for Thursday, 1/27/31: Cool things, new things, future things.
MCUBernieFan

Good News for Wednesday January 26
Andrew F Cockburn

Mindlessness Is a Curse on Our Nation - GNR for Bluesday, January 25th
NotNowNotEver

From the GNR Newsroom: The Monday Good News Roundup
Jessiestaf

Sunday Good News ¤ 2 Polls: Bill in Portland Maine's AND Grading Joe's Achievements
2thanks

If you think a story or section from a Good News Roundup needs to be repeated, uplifted, elevated, please comment! 

Science

“There are three stages in scientific discovery. First, people deny that it is true, then they deny that it is important; finally, they credit the wrong person.”  ~ Bill Bryson

EPA head Michael Regan unveils environmental justice actions building off 'Journey to Justice' tour

April Siese, Daily Kos Staff: Last fall, EPA head Michael Regan took a tour of communities on the front lines of the battle for environmental justice. Regan made his way through Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas on a mission to make good on repeated promises that he would not only take environmental justice seriously but meaningfully address it. On Wednesday, Regan built off of his “Journey to Justice” tour with the announcement that the EPA would be moving forward with a series of actions aimed at holding polluters accountable as well as boosting infrastructure that provides clean water.

“In every community I visited during the ‘Journey to Justice’ tour, the message was clear—residents have suffered far too long and local, state, and federal agencies have to do better,” Regan said in a press release. “The pollution concerns have been impacting these communities for decades. Our actions will begin to help not only the communities I visited on this tour, but also others across the country who have suffered from environmental injustices.”

EPA acts to curb air, water pollution in poor communities

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency announced a series of enforcement actions Wednesday to address air pollution, unsafe drinking water and other problems afflicting minority communities in three Gulf Coast states, following a “Journey to Justice” tour by Administrator Michael Regan last fall.

The agency will conduct unannounced inspections of chemical plants, refineries and other industrial sites suspected of polluting air and water and causing health problems to nearby residents, Regan said. And it will install air monitoring equipment in Louisiana's “chemical corridor” to enhance enforcement at chemical and plastics plants between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The region contains several hotspots where cancer risks are far above national levels.

Sunday, Mapday: Pin Dropping 

Our map of Gnuville: 709 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. The maps indicate the approximate locations of members of the Good News Roundup community in 2019 and 2021. The lower map contains many more blue pin-markers than the upper map. Upper image: A map of Gnuville from February 15, 2019 with about 50 Gnusie pins. Lower image: A map of Gnuville from March 21, 2021 with 582 pins across our orb.

If you join us regularly, are you Following us? More than 400 Kosacks Follow us.

Tech Talk for Kosacks and users of Spotify

• How to export a Spotify playlist to another platform: 
  • See instructions and/or videos here or here. 
• 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. The “Load More” option also resets the user back to the display of the old-style, React comments. [I’ve had to do this several times recently.  ~2t] 
• Got a Daily Kos tech question? Let us know.
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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: Mokurai the 1st, 2nd, and 5th (when there is one), WineRev the 3rd, MCUBernieFan the 4th.
• Fridays: chloris creator. Regular links to the White House Briefing Room.
• Saturdays: GoodNewsRoundup, the one and only!
• 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.

Your name here: It’s a long, dry trek between 7 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET. About half way between is noon or 1 o'clock. If you'd like to create an oasis post a Good News Group diary regularly at about that time, please let me know via kosmail, even if you need mentoring. If morning is a better time for you, Mokurai says he can trade times.

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.

1. Refresh and Rest: Take care of you, the hero: Eat well, exercise, and rest.
2. Resist: Protest on the streets, call senators and representatives, etc.
3. Rebel: Run for office, GOTV (Get Out The Vote), support a progressive.
4. Revolt: Change the laws, change the culture, build your communities.
5. Rely: Trust that millions of others are fighting the good fight.
6. Rejoice: Joy promotes resilience and gives rise to hope.

How to Resist: Do Something …

From chloris creator:

Indivisible has created a Truth Brigade to push back against the lies.

Propaganda, false characterizations, intentionally misleading messages, and outright lies threaten our democracy and even our lives. We can effectively combat disinformation, despite the well-funded machines that drive it. They may have money, but we have truth and we have people. People believe sources they trust. When we share and amplify unified, factual messages to those who trust us, we shift the narrative. When we do this by the thousands--we’re part of the Indivisible Truth Brigade, and we get our country back. Join us.️

Our own Mokurai is a member. You can see his diary on the California recall here.

From GoodNewsRoundup

• Run for something!  Seriously?  Why not you?
• Get involved with the Democratic party.  We aren’t perfect, but they are fucking evil.
• Get involved with Swing Left.  They are working on races right now!
• Get involved with Postcards to voters! Influence voters in key areas from the comfort of your own home!
• Donate to the AMAZING Florida Rights Restoration!  They are taking buses around Florida to empower returning citizens, remove financial barriers to voting, and increase public safety.  They are really amazing
• Make phone calls FROM YOUR OWN HOME to protect voter rights.  There are phone banks on Wednesdays and on Saturdays.
• The ACLU plays a key role in filing lawsuits that often stop voter suppression.  Get involved with them at this link.  
• The League of Women Voters work year-round to combat voter suppression through advocacy, grassroots organizing, legal action and public education.   You can get involved with them at this link
• Volunteer with Black Votes Matter at this link.   They have on the ground work in 10 states and people from other states can write postcards, phone bank, fundraise, and text.
• Spread The Vote works to get voters IDs before voting begins.  You can volunteer with them at this link.  
• Sign up at Democracy Docket to stay informed about the fight against voter suppression and the fight for voter rights.

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:

• Postcards to Voters: Watch for comments by Progressive Muse.
• Yosef 52: Great ideas. Many diaries.
• Mrmuni12: Popular comments in Roundups as well as diaries.
• The Black Kos Community posts diaries on Tuesdays and Fridays at 5 p.m. ET. Diaries here. This white guy is very, very grateful to the Editors and commenters of The Porch!
• How to find Kosacks near you: The persistent mettle fatigue provides: Where the Daily Kos Groups Are: Links to Daily Kos’s 280+ Local, In-Real-Life, Political, and Geographic Groups, Organized by State and Beyond, 2011-2020 

Looking at you, listening for your comment. On the horn of a dilemma? (Click here for huge image)

… Say Something

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.

Our 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 4 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)