Welcome back to the Monday Good News Roundup, where your intrepid GNR Newsroom brings you all the good news to start your week off right. Me, Killer300 and Bhu got a lot of great stories this week so lets get right to it.
The media narrative with respect to the Trump lawsuits will be what it has been, except on steroids: Trump’s legal woes only help him. That’s true with respect to Republican voters. But there are a lot of reasons to think that that piece of conventional wisdom will be dead wrong when it comes to other voters.
First of all, New Hampshire may well prove this point. Independents can vote in New Hampshire primaries and have a history of being cranky and unpredictable. Now let’s assume that Trump doesn’t win the Granite State handily—he wins it narrowly or maybe even loses. If that happens, Haley will be succeeding on the strength of those independent voters. And that will constitute a big and important switch that’s worth paying attention to.
In 2016, independents made up 42 percent of the electorate in the state’s GOP primary, and Trump cleaned up among them: He got 36 percent of the independent vote, while his closest competitor, John Kasich, got 18 percent.
If Trump loses independents in New Hampshire to Haley—even if he still wins overall—that will be a big sign that the Trump show isn’t playing well beyond the MAGA base. We’d have to wait until the results to see what these voters say about why they didn’t vote for Trump. But it’s hardly a stretch to think that Trump’s legal problems have to be part of the story.
The media aren’t paying attention to this at all. Case in point: Last week, there was a Washington Post/University of Maryland poll that got a lot of attention. In its write-up, the Post highlighted the fact that three years after January 6, Republicans were if anything more loyal to Trump, not less. The rest of the media largely followed that lead, so the story of that poll became yet another “Trump can get away with anything” story.
But other results from the poll that got a lot less attention told a different story. The survey asked people if the Justice Department, in charging Trump for insurrection, was holding him accountable as it would anyone else or was targeting him unfairly. A comfortable majority, 57 percent, said he was being treated fairly. That’s the exact percentage of independents who said the same, compared to 90 percent of Democrats and 20 percent of Republicans.
In other words: The Republican base, as is so often the case in these kinds of polls, is a total outlier that distorts the overall results. What does this tell us? I think it’s clear. As the primary “drama” winds down, and as the courtroom drama heats up—and both of these are likely to happen in early March—we’ll see the trials start to take more of a toll on Trump. If the Jack Smith insurrection trial proceeds as originally planned on March 4 (that’s now in abeyance pending resolution of a Trump appeal), Trump’s remaining and mathematically meaningless primary wins are going to get a lot less attention than what’s going on in that Washington courtroom.
Don’t buy the narrative that none of this hurts Trump. It will. He’s not being persecuted. He’s a scumbag who did lie about his property values, who did rape Carroll, who did lead an insurrection, who did take classified documents (he doesn’t dispute this—he just says he was allowed to do anything he pleased), and God knows what else. Republicans may not care. But I think real Americans do.
Of course the media narrative on Trump is wrong. They want their horse race, even when it jeopardizes our Democracy. Of course I don’t know how much being in jail will help Trumps chances.
Kentucky’s largest utility has built what it says is the state’s first utility-scale wind turbine in an effort to test the potential of wind energy.
The wind turbine, which Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities (LG&E and KU) constructed at the end of last year with its parent company PPL Corporation, stands at 165 feet on the site of the utility’s E.W. Brown Generating Station in Mercer County. The site is also home to a coal-fired power plant unit, a 10-megawatt solar installation, several gas-fired turbines and a hydroelectric plant.
Welcome to the club Kentucky, we’re happy to have you.
Last month, utilities in New York state submitted plans for 13 pilot projects meant to replace fossil-gas pipelines with infrastructure that can power clean, carbon-free heat pumps.
These underground thermal networks range from dense midtown Manhattan commercial centers to low-income housing, and from neighborhoods in the Hudson Valley to the upstate town of Ithaca, N.Y.
But the projects, spurred by a 2022 state law that puts New York on the cutting edge of a decarbonization strategy now being explored by a growing number of states, share a common goal: to cut fossil fuels and carbon emissions out of the gas utility business, while still carving out a role for those utilities in the decades to come.
That work will still involve digging trenches, laying pipelines and installing equipment — the same kind of capital investments that earn gas utilities long and stable rates of return today. But instead of flammable and planet-warming gas, those pipes will carry water or other liquids that transfer heat from underground — or from other buildings and sources in the network — that can be used by heat pumps to keep buildings warm.
Sounds neat, I wonder when it will reach my neck of the woods. Ithaca is only two hours away from where I live.
Happy Tuesday folks. I am writing today from DC’s first snow day in many years. We got more snow than expected last night, and the federal government and schools are shuttered, kids are sledding and the great dig out has begun. If you are in for the day try to catch my discussion about polling and the 2024 elections with Molly Jong-Fast for her podcast, Fast Politics. It was a terrific conversation, and very relevant to our current moment.
And if you have time please make some GOTV calls for Tom Keen today. It’s election day, and while the early vote has been promising we need to close strong on a day with lots of happy news for Florida Republicans. He needs our help - can you grab a shift of calls today?
While we got more snow than expected, last night Republicans saw a lot less voters show up than expected. Turnout in the Iowa Caucuses last night was 115,000, down from 186,000 in 2016. Another election, another GOP struggle, another GOP underperformance - what we’ve been seeing again and again post Dobbs in election after election, in all parts of the country, for more than 18 months now.
I think the GOP has been struggling since Dobbs because this MAGA, Trumpy party is deeply unattractive even to many Republican voters. Trumpy candidates in the 2022 battlegrounds saw their party splinter, Republicans vote for Democrats and they lost, some times by enormous margins. Democrats then took away important things from Republicans in 2023 due to this ongoing GOP electoral struggle - a SCOTUS seat and outrageous gerrymandering in WI; Colorado Springs and Jacksonville - two of the largest GOP held cities in the country; the six-week abortion ban in Ohio; the state House and the hope of the 15 week abortion ban as a safe heaven in VA; and cities, city councils, state legislative seats and school board races across the US.
The GOP is lagging behind this year, and Biden is stronger than ever.
C. Parvati was born and raised in Bangalore, but she never had the opportunity to visit the temples and tourist sites because she could not afford to spend money on such recreational activities. “Now, I am able to take my children and show them these places even within my budget when school has holidays,” says Parvati.
What changed? She’s been able to save money since the Karnataka state government made public transportation free for women in June.
Karnataka is one of several Indian states that have recently implemented a free bus pass for women. The initiative is called Shakti, which in Hindi means “strength.” In 2019, Delhi was the first place in the country to provide women with complimentary tickets printed on pink paper, and earlier this year, the state administration reported that more than one billion have been used thus far. Other states that have launched similar programs include Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Telangana.
The purpose of such policies is to bring more women into the workforce by lowering the cost and simplifying the process of working and traveling. According to the World Bank, India has one of the lowest rates of female labor participation in the world, with less than 25 percent of women over the age of 15 employed as of 2022, a decrease from 27 percent in 2012. In India, men frequently restrict the financial options available to women. And although these same men may object to their wives working outside the home, free travel gives women a choice that they did not have previously. Though women are free to work, if their commute is too expensive or unpredictable, they frequently choose not to. The governments that have put the program into place say that it has been successful and they intend to extend it.
I love buses, and its glad to see other people benefiting from them as well.
That measurement of time in which someone is more likely to walk or bike rather than drive a car to an errand has been the subject of much discussion among urbanists. Thirty years ago, the New Urbanism first proposed a neighborhood of a quarter-mile radius. The five-minute walk “pedestrian shed” became the basis for an alternative to suburban sprawl by proposing a walkable scale (120-160 acres) for building or rebuilding community and a sense of place. More recently, the “15-minute city” has received much attention, and it has given the concept of sustainable community design renewed vigor. It reinforces the importance of improved access within existing urbanism. New urbanists have participated in the discussion, identifying the need to define the mode of mobility; fifteen minutes by car will take you to a destination five or more miles away; a 15-minute walk will cover ¾ of a mile – still a reasonable walk to a school, train station, or even shopping.
At either the 5- or 15-minute scale, the guiding principle of a walkable, diverse urban environment remains a guidepost for amenable, sustainable, and resilient communities. The pandemic experience showed us that walkable proximity is more desirable than ever. As stay-at-home work became increasingly common, the surrounding context took on a new importance. In walkable neighborhoods, retail thrived. The walking and biking that prevailed during the lockdown boosted outdoor activity and a sense of community by being on foot.
But what about the still-sprawling suburbs? Should their residents be excluded from the enjoyment and advantages of walking to destinations? Recently, the reality of suburban distances to retail and community amenities has inspired a new term: the “20-minute suburb.” The concept is an evolution of the 15-minute city, focusing on transportation reform, zoning reform, and strategic residential and commercial densification. New Urbanism “sprawl repair” projects acknowledge that the single-family residence, so prevalent in the built environment, and so important to American society, can be maintained and refocused by mixed-use, walkable redevelopment of commercial sites.
Lets make cities livable again.
The FTC just secured a big win in its IQVIA/Propel case, the agency’s fourth blocked merger in as many weeks. This string of rapid-fire victories quieted a reactionary narrative that the agency is seeking to block too many deals and also should win more of its merger challenges. (“The food here is terrible, and the portions are too small!”) But the case did a lot more than that.
Blocking Anticompetitive Deals Is Good—Feel Free to Celebrate!
First and foremost, this acquisition, based on my read of the public court filings, was almost certainly illegal. Blocking a deal like this is a good thing, and it’s okay to celebrate when good things happen—despite naysayers grumbling about supporters not displaying what they deem the appropriate level of “humility.” Matt Stoller has a lively write-up explaining the stakes of the case. In a nutshell, it’s dangerous for one company to wield too much power over who gets to display which ads to healthcare professionals. Kudos to the FTC caseteam for securing this win.
Judge Ramos Gets It Right
A week ago, the actual opinion explaining Judge Ramos’s decision dropped. It’s a careful, thorough analysis that makes useful statements throughout—and avoids some notorious antitrust pitfalls. Especially thoughtful was his treatment of the unique standard that applies when the FTC asks to temporarily pause a merger pending its in-house administrative proceeding. Federal courts are supposed to play a limited role that leaves the final merits adjudication to the agency. That said, it’s easy for courts to overreach, like Judge Corley’s opinion in Microsoft/Activision that resolved several important conflicts in the evidence—exactly what binding precedent said not to do. This may seem a little wonky, but it’s playing out against the backdrop of a high-stakes war against administrative agencies. So although “Judge Does His Job” isn’t going to make headlines, it’s refreshing to see Judge Ramos’s well-reasoned approach.
The IQVIA decision is also great on market definition, another area where judges sometimes get tripped up. Judge Ramos avoided the trap defendants laid with their argument that all digital advertising purveyors must be included in the same relevant market because they all compete to some extent. That’s not the actual legal question—which asks only about “reasonable” substitutes—and the opinion rightly sidestepped it. We can expect to see similar arguments made by Big Tech companies in future trials, so this holding could be useful to both DOJ and FTC as they go after Meta, Google, and Amazon.
The Pendulum is starting to swing away from big business and back towards us. A new age of unionizing and monopoly busting has begun.
Cement and concrete are essential building blocks of modern society — and they’re both extremely carbon-intensive to produce. In recent years, startups across the country have begun devising novel ways of making low-carbon construction materials, including by using methods that mimic coral reefs, recycle industrial waste or replace fossil-fueled kilns with electricity.
Now, many of those companies are banding together to try to rapidly expand the market for low-carbon cement and concrete, Canary Media exclusively reports.
On Wednesday, 10 startups formally launched a first-of-its-kind initiative that aims to accelerate the adoption of cleaner building materials within the $1.8 trillion U.S. construction market. The Decarbonized Cement and Concrete Alliance (DC2) says it will advocate for policies that push the public sector in particular to buy low-carbon products for buildings and infrastructure projects.
Great news for our planet. We are decarbonizing on every possible front.
Friends, got a few things for you today:
Tom Keen Wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - A big win last night. Home of Trump and DeSantis the day after they place 1-2 in Iowa. Dems outspent 2-1 in a GOP seat. Outspent, hostile territory, GOP seat and we flipped it! Congrats everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know many of you donated and worked on the race - thank you. What a great way to start this critical election year.
We can win in Florida. We can flip Florida.
Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as president of Guatemala Monday after conservative leaders attempted for months to disqualify Arévalo’s landslide victory in August’s runoff presidential election by claiming election fraud and persecuting his progressive Semilla party up until the final hours before his inauguration. Arévalo is the son of the country’s first democratically elected president, who implemented a series of revolutionary reforms from 1945 to 1951 before a CIA-backed coup ousted his successor and ushered in decades of authoritarian rule. Many supporters see Arévalo’s presidency as a new spring for Guatemala. We discuss the battle to defend his election, the pro-democracy protests in the country and what Guatemala can expect from his leadership with three guests: Andrea Villagrán, Guatemalan congressmember with Movimiento Semilla; Lucía Ixchíu, exiled K’iche Indigenous leader; and Frank La Rue, Guatemalan human rights activist, lawyer and a member of the election observation team.
Good news out of Guatemala.
Renewable energy didn’t just grow last year — it expanded at a pace not seen in years.
An estimated 507 gigawatts of renewable electricity were added to grids around the world in 2023 — a new record, and an almost 50 percent year-over-year increase from 2022. That’s the fastest growth rate renewable additions have seen in over two decades.
Great news for our future.
And now its time for something we have not done in a while, a GNR Lightning round
What could go right? When the culprit is data
Poland to halt logging in 10 ancient forests
Iceland to tunnel into volcano for geothermal power
new procedure will let heart repairs to grow with children
portable x ray machines are helping remote patients
new materials found by AI can reduce lithium in batteries
Electric school buses breath of fresh air for children
US Murder capital now homicide free
That does it for this week, I think we don’t have anything else to cover…. *checks ear piece* Yes, Yes I understand. BREAKING NEWS THIS JUST IN. HOT OFF THE GNR PRESSES:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was hailed for much of last year as a rising Republican star, is ending his presidential campaign after he failed to overtake rival Donald Trump in polling or in the early vote of the 2024 race.
DeSantis made his announcement in a four-and-a-half-minute video posted to X on Sunday with less than 48 hours until voting in New Hampshire's primary, the second state in the nominating race.
"We don't have a clear path to victory," he said in the video, which he said was filmed in Florida.
His exit now leaves the primary battle as essentially a one-on-one contest between Trump and Trump's former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who continues to trail Trump in polling and placed a distant third in the Iowa caucuses where DeSantis came in second (with 21%) to Trump's first-place finish with 51%.
And thus ends DeSantis’ presidential aspirations, to the surprise of no one. Hopefully this will be the end of DeSantis’ political aspirations in general. Good bye and good riddance to an awful, awful man.
That does it for this week, have a good week everyone.