Congress now has full U.S. Indigenous representation!
"For the first time in 230 years, Congress has full U.S. Indigenous representation." @kylegriffin1
Hannah Schoenbaum, AP News: President Joe Biden’s top environment official visited what is widely considered the birthplace of the environmental justice movement Saturday to unveil a national office that will distribute $3 billion in block grants to underserved communities burdened by pollution.
Forty years after a predominantly Black community in Warren County, North Carolina, rallied against hosting a hazardous waste landfill, Michael Regan, the first Black man to serve as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced he is dedicating a new senior level of leadership to the environmental justice movement they ignited.
The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights — comprised of more than 200 current staff members in 10 U.S. regions — will merge three existing EPA programs to oversee a portion of Democrats’ $60 billion investment in environmental justice initiatives created by the Inflation Reduction Act. The president will nominate an assistant administrator to lead the new office, pending Senate confirmation.
“In the past, many of our communities have had to compete for very small grants because EPA’s pot of money was extremely small,” Regan said in an interview. “We’re going from tens of thousands of dollars to developing and designing a program that will distribute billions. But we’re also going to be sure that this money goes to those who need it the most and those who’ve never had a seat at the table.”
This Week in Gnuville
In celebration of great authors, great commenters!:
Things are really crumbling for the former guy: Saturday's GNR
GoodNewsRoundup
A few months ago, I set up a fund for 38 seats that could decide this election. Because you all are so amazing, we raised over $2000 for EACH of those seats. We raised over $80,000 for 38 tight House races.
Since we started that effort, with numbers shifting left (and more primaries happening) we have 22 more candidates for Congress who could keep the House blue! Let's support those new 22!
Remember, we lose the House Kevin McCarthy takes over the gavel and holds wall to wall hearings on Hunter Biden and passes zero good bills.
So lets fight for this group that includes Katie Porter’s seat! We need way more Porters and way fewer Boeberts. This fund will get us there.
I’d love nothing more than for us to also raise $2000 for each of these candidates. We are over half way there!!
Can you donate?
C’mon, it’ll make you feel good. You can donate here:
"Hope makes a great place to visit" - Friday, September 23 Good News Roundup
niftywriter
Happy First Day of Autumn, Gnusies! I am sitting in for chloris creator today as she is traveling.
Buckle up! There’s a ton of news again this morning! I love to see it!
But first, another guest intro! I love the perspective he brings to these unsettled times: Waiting out the storm in the UP, Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun✶Times, September 21, 2022.
I sat on the beach and watched the waves roll in. Odd thing about a wave — it doesn’t arrive all at once, but rolls along the shoreline, the crest breaking in endless sequence. Even as it rushes in, the undertow is pulling back, in this complicated simultaneous advance and retreat, which probably is applicable to our political world as well. Some tumble forward into the future while others draw back into the past. It’s still the same lake. New room has to be made somehow for the next wave coming in.
Before sunset Saturday, a storm boiled up over the lake. Ugly roiling clouds, rushing in from the north. An end-of-the-world sky. And then it blew right past us and was gone. I don’t want to suggest our current gales will just fly past — I believe we haven’t even gotten to the Really Bad Part yet. But there is an underlying natural world that carries on no matter who is in office, from the wheeling of the cosmos to the cycles of nature. Optimism is certainly premature, but like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, hope makes a great place to visit and forget about all this toxic cacophony for a while.
Good News Roundup Thursday, 9/22/22: Searching for a Better Us
MCUBernieFan
One of the many things I’ve enjoyed over the several years since GoodNewsRoundup (Hi Goodie! *waves*) started these is watching how our writers, as a group, (and to a lesser extent our commenters), has grown and changed over time. How all of us bring different perspectives, foci, musical tastes, etc. I’ve been introduced to so many artists and efforts through the GNR that I would have otherwise never heard of, and been reminded of those I’ve long forgotten, or found versions I would have otherwise missed.
Like Play for Change — a group? movement? something I’d never heard before seeing the videos here in the roundup. And more specifically, their version of U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.
I hit play so I could listen while reading the GNR on Tuesday, and listening to the lyrics through the lens of current events practically broke me (in a good way).
The what I’m looking for isn’t God, as a cursory search on the interwebs states the original meaning of the song was intended, or those many, many people who’ve gone missing, as the Play For Change’s version was dedicated to the International Day of the Disappeared.
I’m looking for a better future. A better society. A better humanity, one we are all, I should hope, collectively (for the most part), working towards.
I’ve talked more than once about how we as humanity — individually all the way up to globally — are traveling this road together. We’re fighting for a better tomorrow. A more fair, more just, compassionate and empathetic society. A society that lifts up the least of us, and holds everyone to the same standards of justice regardless of wealth or position.
We still haven’t found what we’re looking for. We’ve won many battles. We’ve hit obstacles and fought over, under, around, through — reached out to those in need, sheltered those who are lost.
And so I bring you yet another version of that song, one a collaboration of two acapella artists I’ve only discovered since starting my own journey here writing a monthly Good News Roundup. Enjoy the music, and the Good News!
"In the end, the country will get past Donald Trump."- Good News Roundup, Wednesday, September 21
niftywriter
Good Day, All! Busy day here at Chez Nifty — lucky for me, though (and you!) someone else wrote a great intro so I will just quote them right here.
Former federal prosecutor: A "day of reckoning" is coming for Trump — but he's not going to jail, Chauncey Devega, Salon, September 19, 2022.
McCallion explains the approach that Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice will likely take in prosecuting Trump for the government documents he stored at Mar-a-Lago and the events of Jan. 6. Any such prosecution will require both overwhelming irrefutable evidence and a simple and direct story to tell a jury about Trump's misdeeds. McCallion also says that contrary to some media reports, Trump can definitely still be prosecuted even if he announces he is running for president.
Toward the end of this conversation, McCallion outlines a likely scenario for the final disposition of such a prosecution. He believes that Trump may be brought down by a litany of civil lawsuits that will cripple him financially, not by a high-profile criminal case in which the former president is "perp-walked" in handcuffs and then sent to prison. ✂️
Q: But what message is sent if the Department of Justice makes a deal with him? If Trump is not convicted and put in jail, what does that mean for the future of the country?
Keeping Trump from the White House again is a real benefit to the country. He'd have to agree to that in any plea deal. Trump would have to explicitly promise not to run for public office again. Will he continue to agitate and attempt to grab
The Moral of the Story - GNR for Bluesday, September 20th
NotNowNotEver
A big part of the socialization process we hopefully went through as children was to learn about and accept the moral compact at the core of our national identity. Truth, justice, fair play, and opportunity feature prominently. We haven’t always managed to live up to the soaring rhetoric, but we’ve generally spent the last couple of hundred years moving closer to our ideal.
What republicans are engaged in today is a repudiation of our historical shared moral vision. Selfishness and bigotry have supplanted compassion and unity as tenets of republican political and religious philosophy. Practically speaking, any republican angels have exchanged their wings for horns and cloven hooves.
We are not talking about moral bankruptcy or moral decrepitude. Both of those descriptors imply at least a scintilla of moral fiber to begin with. Any group of people who can justify kids in cages would not recognize a moral choice if it was laser etched into the empty place where their souls are supposed to dwell. The safe containing all those bills of soul sale must be stuffed beyond capacity by now.
When historians sit down to write the story of the decline and fall of the republican party, we’ll be able to trace it to the 1960s and their embrace of racism and general divisiveness. Before that their main downside was being lackeys of the obscenely wealthy.
Let’s take a peak at the current republican roster: bottom feeders, predators, thieves, bigots, hatemongers, hypocrites, zealots, bullies, racists, misogynists, homophobes, and other assorted assholes. It just doesn’t get any sleazier.
A synthesis of blatant hatred, divisiveness, and deceit is neither reasonable nor viable as a governing strategy. Previous attempts have ended badly for the haters — The Third Reich, The Confederate States of America, and The Soviet Union come immediately to mind.
As we’ve watched the performance of the Russian army in their war of unwarranted aggression, I wonder whether it’s possible for a bullshit factory to culminate. At some point does the cumulative total of all that smoke blown up our collective ass result in a reactive eruption strong enough to burn all the hair out of their noses and blow them into the irrelevance they so richly deserve?
Regardless as to whether you describe them as immoral, amoral, deranged, or simply evil, we can accelerate their removal from our political stage by vigorously contesting their lies and inspiring our fellow citizens to get to the polls this November.
GET OUT THE VOTE!
We have the power. We have the ability. We can and we will do this.
Slava Ukraini!
Remember the Children
Screw you, Samuel Alito
From the GNR Newsroom: It’s the Monday Good News Roundup
Jessiestaf, Bhu, and Killer300
Alright, time once again for the Monday Good News Roundup. I got a lot of stories this week so lets cut the preamble and get right into the action. Once again thanks to my newsroom of Killer300 and Bhu for putting in the work getting all these stories for me.
✂
According to the survey, 60% of voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, up from 55% in March. Another 29% said it should be illegal, except in cases of rape, incest and when the woman’s life is endangered, compared with 30% in March. And 6% said it should be illegal in all cases, down from 11% in March.
Good News ☼ Sunday Roundup of Roundups ☼ WineRev! ☼ 2 Polls: WWtW? AND Are you boosted?
2thanks
T Maysle, Sep 18, 2022:
Across 19 advanced economies
focused mostly on Europe, Asia and North America,
a median of 65% say they have a favorable view of the UN.
There are also significant differences by age in eight of the countries surveyed, with those ages 18 to 29 expressing particularly positive views about the UN.
In the United States, the UN gets generally favorable reviews, with 61% of Americans offering a positive opinion.
Eight-in-ten liberals rate the organization favorably
four-in-ten conservatives say the same.
WineRev’s Good and Goofy Notes
After WineRev posts his G&G comment, I’ll post a link here. His G&G comments are small but worthy Good News Roundups with a welcome, a good-news tidbit, another bold-faced and centered welcome, and his this-day-in-history notes. You can find all his comments here, in case you have a hankerin’ and missed one. Meanwhile:
WineRev, last Sunday:
Good morning, 2thanks, and welcome one and all to the Sunday Gnuville Breakfast Brunch and Cot Testing Shop. That will be me over there in the Cot Shop; I have been battling a bug and am feeling it this morning, so the wit may only be half present. (There are those who of course will ask whenever that was NOT true, but this morning I’m only feeling a quarter-wit, so its a steep climb.) I’ll go with Mom’s recipe: tea and toast but all of you, please, dig right in at the steam tables. Lots of Good News casseroles, elegant eggplant souffles, deep-fried Desantis and Abbott strips on a stick to be chewed over THOROUGHLY. (And don’t forget that the forced migration/human trafficking/ crapola is (deliberately?) serving to distract the public and voters from the abortion/Dobbs decision…….to try to dampen the election enthusiasm of “throw the bums out” for November.)
Science
Please share good science news with us!
(Especially JSWT, health, environment.)
Need more good news?
… arhpdx posted a list of good news sites toward the top of a recent Roundup, or you can find that same list in my comment: Good News Sources. Thank you, arhpdx and Mokurai!
[On a desktop, you could open that comment in a new Tab by clicking the timestamp, and then you could Bookmark that page or save it to your Favorites.]
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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.
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Tech Talk for Kosacks
- New this week: Try this "one neat trick" to clear your browser cache (on Daily Kos or elsewhere) [Updated] by peregrine kate for Daily Kos Announcements:
- There are […] four different levels of clearing site data from your browser.
- Page refresh
- “Hard” page refresh
- Empty cache → the minimum step needed now
- Delete site data
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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. For instance, we do not welcome grammar-police comments in Roundups.
Sun-High Good News Roundup: 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 a midday oasis post a Good News Group diary regularly at about that time, please let me know via kosmail. The team will support you. 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. Find Evening Shades here or on the Trending List.
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 or on the Trending List.
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 …
For those who can and care to, GoodNewsRoundup’s 2 fundraisers to Save the House Majority:
Some of our Good News writers regularly post a panoply of fantastic action steps in every one of their Good News Roundups. If you don’t see a way to become active that suits your personality, your funds, or your time, please review their most recent diaries for many different options to volunteer and/or donate:
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?
- How are you supporting Democratic candidates?
- Please let’s stick to Good News today, no mews or databases.
In the comments of all Roundups, we do not welcome Grammar Police or Debbie Downers.
Top Image: A detailed sketch of a gnu drawn in brown, green, and black on white. A happy and dynamic gnu dances on its left hind leg in a classic heraldric rampant stance. Joyful letters prance above and behind the mane: “Happy Dance.” Signature: Nick Korolev, 2021. — Thank you, Starhawk, for creating the top image of a dancing gnu and for giving it to us Gnusies!
A Little Bit About Me
A friend in the county Democratic Party dropped off voter guides for me to deliver to people who live near me. I’ll probably distribute them tomorrow. Voters will be receiving absentee ballots soon. Encouraging Michiganders to vote for both of the candidates nominated to the Supreme Court by the Democratic Party is important: Bernstein is an incumbent, but Kyra Harris Bolden is running for the first time. Bernstein and Bolden, back of the ballot!
I am going to be busy prepping for and passing out campaign literature to my neighbors today. I’ll drop by when I can. Fortunately for me, you all know what to do! ❤
To my Jewish friends and family: Shanah Tovah!
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)