Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Things are getting better. There’s lots to celebrate. Expansion of NATO. Ukraine is doing serious damage to Russia. CHIPS, PACT, Kansas, the DOJ, and today, I think, the House votes on the Inflation Reduction Act. So much good stuff, that I can’t list it all.
Moreover, polls are looking better than ever for team blue for the midterms.
We can win this.
We can do so much.
The screaming, as Mokurai said yesterday, is a sign of all the winning. Still, the magats aren’t going away without threats and violence. However, they were threatening us with violence anyway. CPAC was open about it; they’re domestic terrorists. However, in the long run, if we fight back, they will fight less. And right now they’re angriest with the FBI, which is a pretty hard target. The FBI must be pretty pissed-off at the moment.
I always believed Merrick Garland was reliable. He showed that this week. Remember, he has experience with the Oklahoma bombing, the unabomber, the Olympic bombings in Atlanta, and more. He’s also disciplined. Releasing the warrant, and all the leaks about nuclear stuff, will only bite the Rs in their butts. We’ll learn later if the Rs take this opportunity to use an off-ramp to get away from tRump, or if they double down.
Garland is not our only competent ally. Biden. Pelosi. Schumer. Around the world there’s Zelenskyy, even some Russians. So many are doing what they can do — far many more than I can list here — and many are doing it well.
So, let’s support them by doing what we can do.
To fortify your can-do attitude, come on in, gnusies, and enjoy what’s been put out for the good news breakfast buffet, what others both can and are doing. Feel free to add your own dishes, then go out and do what you can do.
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, August 11, 2022: Remarks by Vice President Harris During Press Call on Investments in Tribal Broadband
- Thursday, August 11, 2022: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Brings High-Speed, Affordable Internet to Tribal Communities
- Thursday, August 11, 2022: Readout of Deputy Secretary Don Graves’ Meeting with Puerto Rico Governor Pedro R. Pierluisi
- Thursday, August 11, 2022: Statement by NSC Spokesperson on National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Phone Call with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Ahmad al-Nawaf al-Sabah
- Thursday, August 11, 2022: Statement from CEA Chair Cecilia Rouse on Encouraging Economic News
- Thursday, August 11, 2022: Readout of Vice President Kamala Harris’s Meeting with Nevada State Legislators and Advocates on Reproductive Rights
- Thursday, August 11, 2022: Press Briefing by White House Monkeypox Response Team and Public Health Officials
- Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Remarks by Vice President Harris During Roundtable With Nevada State Legislators To Discuss Reproductive Healthcare
- Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Remarks by Vice President Harris at the United Steelworkers Constitutional Convention
- Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Remarks by President Biden at Signing of S. 3373, “The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promises to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022”
- Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Bills Signed: S. 3373
- Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Statement by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Iran’s Continued Targeting of U.S. Citizens
- Wednesday, August 10, 2022: President Biden Intends to Appoint Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as Director of the National Cancer Institute
- Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Statement by President Biden on the Ten-Year Anniversary of Austin Tice’s Captivity
- Wednesday, August 10, 2022: FACT SHEET: President Biden Signs the PACT Act and Delivers on His Promise to America’s Veterans
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Minnesota Disaster Declaration
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: Memorandum on Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: Remarks by President Biden at Signing of H.R. 4346, “The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022”
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: Remarks by President Biden at Signing of the Instruments of Ratifications for the Accession Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty for Finland and Sweden
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: Memorandum on Delegation of Authority Under Sections 102 and 106 of the CHIPS Act of 2022
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Announces Key Actions and Implementation Plan to Increase Vaccine Supply
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: President Biden Names Twenty-Fifth Round of Judicial Nominees
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: President Biden Announces Three to Serve as U.S. Marshals
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: Readout of President Biden’s Call with Prime Minister Andersson of Sweden and President Niinistö of Finland
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: Letter to the President of the Senate on the Accession of the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Tuesday, August 9, 2022: Bills Signed: H.R. 4346
- Monday, August 8, 2022: Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre En Route Lexington, KY
- Monday, August 8, 2022: Remarks by Vice President Harris Before Roundtable Discussion with University Presidents
- Monday, August 8, 2022: Readout of Vice President Harris’s Call with Prime Minister Holness of Jamaica
- Monday, August 8, 2022: Memorandum on the Delegation of Authority Under Section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
- Monday, August 8, 2022: Remarks by President Biden Before Air Force One Departure
- Monday, August 8, 2022: FACT SHEET: U.S. STRATEGY TOWARD SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
- Sunday, August 7, 2022: Remarks by Vice President Harris In Press Gaggle Following the Senate Vote on the Inflation Reduction Act
- Sunday, August 7, 2022: Statement by President Biden on the Ceasefire in Gaza
- Sunday, August 7, 2022: Statement by President Biden on Senate Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act
- Sunday, August 7, 2022: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Amends Kentucky Disaster Declaration
- Sunday, August 7, 2022: Letter from Dr. Kevin O’Connor: President Biden SARS-CoV-2 Update
- Saturday, August 6, 2022: Letter from Dr. Kevin O’Connor: President Biden SARS-CoV-2 Update
- Saturday, August 6, 2022: Statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the Indiana Abortion Ban
- Friday, August 5, 2022: Readout of Vice President Kamala Harris’s Meeting with Latina State Legislators on Reproductive Rights
- Friday, August 5, 2022: Readout of the National Security Advisor to the Vice President’s Meeting with Leadership of the Partnership for Central America
- Friday, August 5, 2022: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, August 5, 2022
- Friday, August 5, 2022: Remarks by Vice President Harris Before a Roundtable Discussion With Latina State Legislators
- Friday, August 5, 2022: Remarks by President Biden on the July Jobs Report and Signing of Anti-Fraud Bills
- Friday, August 5, 2022: Bills Signed: H.R. 7334 and H.R. 7352
- Friday, August 5, 2022: Letter from Dr. Kevin O’Connor: President Biden SARS-CoV-2 Update
- Friday, August 5, 2022: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Protect Places of Worship
- Friday, August 5, 2022: Statement by President Joe Biden Marking Ten Years Since the Attack on the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin
👎 Out with the Bad, In with the Good 👍
Just to wake you up — your reminder that you should not get involved in a manatee orgy.
Newly released CDC guidance ushers in new normal re covid Leanna S Wen Washington Post
The newly released CDC guidance that eases covid-19 precautions in schools has it mostly right: At this point in the pandemic, the emphasis must shift from universal mandates to individual decisions to minimize the disruption of in-person learning.
Previous guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was appropriate for the last school year, but it is out of step with the situation today. It referenced social distancing and separating kids into cohorts, which posed practical difficulties for many schools. It urged masking at schools in communities with high levels of covid transmission, which is the case for more than 40 percent of the United States.
Masks and distancing are mitigation measures that
were needed before vaccines became widely available for school-age children. That’s no longer the case. Everyone 6 months and older can be vaccinated, and those 5 years old and above can be boosted. Moreover, the vast majority of children have been exposed to covid. A CDC study found that
as of February 3 out of 4 kids have had the coronavirus. That was before the BA.2 and BA.5 omicron subvariants became the dominant strains. By now, most children, and most of the general population, are well-protected from severe illness as a result of vaccination, prior infection or both.
💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes and Chaos 💣
US Attorney General Garland called the bluff of the GOP that has been screaming about the raid at MAL. He has filed for the release of the search warrant.
Apparently they’re not going to oppose the release. Still, Garland’s approach surprised tRump.
And it seems clear that the documents included nuclear secrets. I believe it’s possible those have already been sold — Kushner received 2 billion and Mnuchin 1 from the Saudis — but maybe not?
Nuclear secrets Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Perry Stein, Shane Harris Washington Post
Classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence on Monday, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Experts in classified information said the unusual search underscores deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and potentially in danger of falling into the wrong hands.
The people who described some of the material that agents were seeking spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. They did not offer additional details about what type of information the agents were seeking, including whether it involved weapons belonging to the United States or some other nation. Nor did they say if such documents were recovered as part of the search. A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.
There’s chaos in tRump world — who told the feds about the boxes at MAL and where to find them? Could it be Jared? Sarah K Burris, Raw Story
Substitute host John Heilemann noted that the folks at the Lincoln Project tend to be plugged into GOP strategies, and the psy-ops of Donald Trump and Trumpism. Their ad hit asking who sold Trump out and hours later Axios was reporting that Trump world was trying to hunt down who sold out the former president. It prompted Heilemann to ask, who was the person who gave information to the feds about Trump?
"I think there were a lot of stories a few weeks ago about Jared and Ivanka trying to back away from Trump and trying to start their own brand, essentially break off from Trump and pulling away from the Trump orbit," said Wilson. "I think Jared Kushner has a great paranoia for reasons to do with his family's past. He doesn't ever want to ever go to jail. I suspect that the FBI and folks have a persuasive argument there that he should talk." ✂️
Other than Kushner, Wilson said that there are a lot of other suspects because Trump treats people so horribly.
"And he knows that -- they know they're imminently ready to be thrown under the bus," said Wilson. "So, it could be any one of them. Which is kind of the point we were making. And look, I could have made a longer spot than 60 and told a more complete story. But, look, they're always like crabs in a bucket down there in Mar-a-Lago. They're always fighting with each other. They're always competing with each other and they're always looking to protect themselves. So someone is protecting themselves in a pool right now."
After all, lots and lots of people in the tRump WH have gone to speak to the J6 committee. They could talk to others, too.
For once, CPAC is honest about who they are. But attacking the FBI is not going to help them. Or their followers. The FBI is not a soft target.
This 42 year old man is dead because he believed the lies.
This is satisfying!
Perhaps some of the GOPers can learn:
Remember, many of them are just fools living in silos, with inadequate education.
And, in AZ (Kari Lake and Mark Fincham):
Sue their socks off!
💙 Democrats Deliver 💙
You know, we usually uptalk Nancy Pelosi — and she is a badass — but I think it’s time to recognize Majority leader Chuck Schumer, who managed to get all the Ds to yes on the IRA. Matthew N Green Washington Post
Early Sunday, in one of the biggest political surprises of the year, the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which would cut carbon emissions, reduce the deficit and cap prescription drug costs. Because Republicans unanimously opposed the bill, the IRA needed all 50 Senate Democrats’ votes to pass. When one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), announced in July that he could not support the measure, it seemed all but dead.
But secret negotiations between Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) — and follow-up conversations between Schumer and another undecided senator, Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) — resurrected the bill. Those negotiations could easily have failed. But they shared key features that history tells us help to engineer legislative bargaining. ✂️
Schumer was central to the final negotiations over the IRA. Not long after Manchin walked away from the bill in mid-July, he reached out to Schumer, who quickly took the opportunity to restart discussions with Manchin over the measure. Schumer was also the main negotiator with Sinema and is credited with quickly getting her to an agreement.
And from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
🌵 Something that pleases me:
I hope the rest of the Ds do just as well in AZ and elsewhere.
⚡️ The unexpected triumph of Joe Biden Edward Luce Financial Times
🎩 hpg
And got vaccinations out to many, many millions… rejoined Paris Climate Accord … so very much more.
Which is why we see this, which is cool, and another reason to feel better going into the fall:
💜 Unity? 💜
UN declares humans have a right to a safe, sustainable environment Joel E. Correia EcoWatch
The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on July 28, 2022, to declare the ability to live in “a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” a universal human right. It also called on countries, companies and international organizations to scale up efforts to turn that into reality.
The declaration is not legally binding – countries can vote to support a declaration of rights while not actually supporting those rights in practice. The language is also vague, leaving to interpretation just what a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is.
Still, it’s more than moral posturing. Resolutions like this have a history of laying the foundation for effective treaties and national laws.
⚡️ Bipartisan act designed to make things easier for Afghan refugees Gabe Ortiz Daily Kos
There are many more of us than there are of them. We CAN DO this.
And, workers standing up for other workers
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
DONATE TO GNR SAVES DEMOCRACY!
newish!!! Tax-exempt organization complaint referrals. 13909. You can fill this out for the NRA and lots of other organizations. How about if some of us white folk go into some of the MAGA churches and video record what they’re saying?
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 😈
It’s not just the raid at MAL. This is an impression after the NY AG grilled him.
Of course Biden did not inform tRump. tRump deserves nothing.
The article says that Obama and Bush were notified after the strike, but before it was announced pubicly. Of course, tRump deserves nothing. Except prison and poverty.
Joe Arpaio loses again (but refuses to concede) Jacques Billeaud Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — Joe Arpaio, the 90-year-old former Arizona sheriff who was a once powerful figure in Republican politics but was ousted nearly six years ago amid frustration over his headline-grabbing tactics and legal troubles, was defeated Wednesday in a race for mayor of the affluent suburb where he has lived for more than two decades.
His defeat in the mayor’s race in Fountain Hills against two-term incumbent Ginny Dickey marks Arpaio’s third failed comeback bid since his 2016 loss after serving 24 years as the sheriff of Maricopa County.
Even though election officials say all votes in Maricopa County have been counted, Arpaio said Wednesday evening that he wasn’t conceding the race and instead was going to consult with an attorney to explore whether to challenge the results.
Another J6er gets a long sentence. LOCK THEM UP!
The sanctions are working. The Russians are having a hard time. Click on the picture to make it larger so you can read it.
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️
📣 This week I want to highlight an editorial from a prisoner in Russia, who has been opposing putin’s war. Vladimir Kara-Murza Washington Post. He writes about oppression under putin’s dictatorship:
In such conditions, it is nothing short of remarkable that thousands of Russians — more than 16,400, by the latest count from human rights groups — have defied official bans and the threat of prosecution to stage antiwar demonstrations. But many more have expressed quiet opposition. Before my arrest in April, not a day would go by without people approaching me on the street or in a cafe to shake my hand and say “thank you.” Even more telling, stickers with the letter Z, the emblem of support for the war in Ukraine, are seen almost exclusively on official vehicles. (The police van in which I was driven on the day of my arrest had a large Z across the back window.) You would be hard-pressed to spot one on regular private cars on the streets of Moscow.
Growing opposition to the war among Russians received unexpected official confirmation thanks to a leaked poll conducted by the main government pollster. Publicly released polls invariably show overwhelming support both for Putin and for the war, but their reliability is about as high as the 99 percent official results for the Communist Party in Soviet “elections”; I continue to be amazed by Western analysts who take these polls seriously. ✂️
But sometimes the Kremlin actually wants to know what Russian society thinks, and this is why it recently commissioned a survey about the war to the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center. The question was phrased carefully: Instead of a direct “yes” or “no,” the respondents were asked to select their “preferred option” between continuing the war and starting peace talks with Ukraine. The results were not meant for public consumption, but were leaked and published by the Bell, an independent online journal. According to government pollsters, the invasion of Ukraine split Russian society down the middle: The options of continuing the war and of starting peace talks received 44 percent each (a further 12 percent “declined to answer” — almost certainly belonging to the second half). Notably, a strong plurality both in Moscow and in St. Petersburg opted for peace talks, as did a large majority of all Russians below the age of 35. ✂️
Instead of generalizing and painting all Russians as enemies, as some shortsighted Westerners seem to be doing, it is important to find ways to start a dialogue with that part of Russian society that wants a different future for our country. If I can do this from prison as I pick up my daily stack of letters, it should certainly be possible for everyone else.
🐶 ☀️ A second medal goes to watchdog groups Kaila PhiloTalking Points Memo
The ongoing congressional investigations into the Jan. 6 riot have unfolded alongside a parade of fresh stories of potential cover-ups: Everything from a seven-hour gap in the President’s call logs to his efforts to destroy documents by flushing them down the toilet.
A particularly eyebrow-raising set of recent discoveries has opened a new line of inquiry into the events surrounding the attack. And it came not from investigative journalists or the Jan. 6 committee’s fact-finding efforts, but thanks to the dogged pursuit of two watchdog groups.
The groups — Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and American Oversight — have separately helped to unearth the fact that text messages from around Jan 6 were expunged by multiple departments and agencies. POGO worked with whistleblower(s) from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office to publicize the issue. For its part, American Oversight filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Defense Department that revealed missing texts there, too.
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
I’m a cat person...
📎Odds & Ends 📎
Bacteria, the green revolution, sweat and electricity University of Massachussetts Amherst Science Daily
AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced that they have figured out how to engineer a biofilm that harvests the energy in evaporation and converts it to electricity. This biofilm, which was announced in Nature Communications, has the potential to revolutionize the world of wearable electronics, powering everything from personal medical sensors to personal electronics.
“This is a very exciting technology,” says Xiaomeng Liu, graduate student in electrical and computer engineering in UMass Amherst’s College of Engineering and the paper’s lead author. “It is real green energy, and unlike other so-called ‘green-energy’ sources, its production is totally green.”
That’s because this biofilm—a thin sheet of bacterial cells about the thickness of a sheet of paper—is produced naturally by an engineered version of the bacteria Geobacter sulfurreducens. G. sulfurreducens is known to produce electricity and has been used previously in “microbial batteries” to power electrical devices. But such batteries require that G. sulfurreducens is properly cared for and fed a constant diet. By contrast, this new biofilm, which can supply as much, if not more, energy than a comparably sized battery, works, and works continuously, because it is dead. And because it’s dead, it doesn’t need to be fed.
I’m always resenting the steps my FitBit doesn’t give me credit for because it’s recharging.
The NBA honors Bill Russell:
Pakistan’s mangroves a model of coastal conservation Marcello Rossi Reasons to Be Cheerful
Just two decades ago, the waterfront of Miani Hor, a swampy lagoon along the Arabian Sea coastline in Pakistan’s western province of Balochistan, was no more
than a barren strip of land nearly devoid of vegetation. Today, it is awash with lush thickets of velvety green mangroves, their signature aerial roots poking through the lagoon’s brackish water.
The return of mangroves to Miani Hor is part of a vast ecological revival taking hold across Pakistan — one with huge implications for climate change. Hugging tropical and subtropical coastlines, mangroves are trees and shrubs that tolerate salt, thrive in wetlands and rank among the most endangered habitats on earth. More than a third of the earth’s mangrove area has been lost since 1980, destroyed for coastal development, chopped down for timber, or poisoned by industrial pollution. And although the rate of loss is slowing, mangroves are still disappearing three to five times faster than land-based forests — especially in Asia, where deforestation has massively increased over the past 30 years.
But Pakistan stands out as a notable exception. After losing as much as three-quarters of its mangrove forest over the past century, in the early 1990s the South Asian nation began restoring its mangroves. What began as a series of small, piecemeal efforts eventually grew into one of the most ambitious reforestation campaigns in the world. Now, under a nationally coordinated effort, Pakistan has restored vast swathes of degraded mangrove habitat and become one of the few places to have experienced a net gain in mangrove area in recent years.
More rewilding, but in Scotland:
Working together on the plastic crisis Libby Leonard EcoWatch. A long article about a few companies (Work and Thread) working with local people in various parts of the world to deal with the plastic crisis.
Now their endeavors encompass 700 families across Haiti.
As for plastic, they’ve since diverted more than 6 million pounds of plastic waste from landfills and oceans, with more than 130 million plastic bottles recycled into useful products while helping people earn a dignified income.
While other similar initiatives have also taken place in Haiti, none have been so intimately involved with the families, and mostly incentivized waste picking with money.
However, there have been a lot of setbacks in the last few years, part of which involved COVID, which put a halt to Run Across Haiti, one of their largest fundraisers, and forced them into layoffs. They were eventually able to hire everyone back after the company pivoted to making personal protective equipment for frontline healthcare workers.
Then there was the assassination of the Haiti’s president last July, which has made things complicated and dangerous for the waste collectors and their other families, but they are enduring and figuring out systems amidst the chaos anyway, said Luk.
Wow! Wow! note this story needs verification...
Giving back bits of land to nature doesn’t hurt crop yields and is great for nature Good News Network
Contrary to what some people will say, nature-friendly methods of farming can significantly increase biodiversity without damaging food production, a long-term research project has found.
In the post-Brexit era, the Johnson government in England had focused a lot of its farming and nature policies on creating a situation where farmers and landowners would be rewarded for increasing biodiversity by returning some land to wilder states.
Now, after a massive study, it’s been shown that giving some land on the farm back to nature does not decrease the amount of food produced—and provides huge benefits to nature.
🐦 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. All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paid if you turn the pages.
💙 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.