Good Day, Gnuville! Happy Tuesday!
Gnusies, I haven’t even gotten out of The New Republic yet, and just this one publication has given me enough juicy news to probably fill up this GNR! I hope I can get through all of my usual news sources before I run out of time, but there is so much going on (bad for TFG and MAGA, good for Biden and team democracy!), that I’ll just have to race through as best I can and get this diary out to you on time at 6AM (7ET!).
I usually prefer to start a GNR with the good things that Biden and the Democrats are doing, but this week seems like a classic “bad news for them is good news for us” week — and I am guessing people would enjoy a recap of some of the trouble brewing for TFG and confederates — so this week I will kick off with the trouble in MAGA world.
I encourage everyone to pay attention to the wider picture here — the chaos and confusion within the Republican party; the multiple avenues of legal trouble stretching in front of TFG and his confederates; the corruption and immorality underpinning them all.
This is not a picture of a winning party. It’s a picture of disintegration and dissolution. People all over the country have had it with them all, and the truth of this is dawning on more and more people who have platforms to talk about it publicly (which in turn will filter through to all the people who thought they were the only ones who had doubts about the viability of the Republican party and TFG).
Yes, they will fight like badgers to survive this and hang on to power. But seriously, Gnusies, I think we’re seeing the kind of death spiral that is usually only obvious in hindsight. Maybe the party will pull out of it, but with a malignant narcissist “leader” in his own self-destructive spiral, my guess is that they will not.
We will keep working hard to register voters, GOTV and organize organize organize for all the important work on behalf of all the important ordinary Americans who need a better deal.
But I like our chances, Gnusies. I really like our chances!
🎶 Music to Kick Off this Tuesday 🎶
⚖️ 😬 Legal Trouble for TFG & Company 🙃 ⚖️
Two excellent (and hopeful) columns from Michael Tomasky from last week and this week.
Last week:
This Will Go Down as the Week the Trump Meltdown Began, Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, January 26, 2024.
Sometimes you can just feel the conventional wisdom changing.
There was no huge sea change this week. But there’s also no question that those scripts started to flip, in two important ways.
First and most important, Trump is now the one doddering his way toward dementia. He has been for a while, but the Nikki-Nancy moment, and Nikki Haley’s subsequent attack on Trump, finally forced the media to make Trump’s mental state into a running narrative. The column I wrote Monday about this did monster traffic, which I note not to boast but by way of observing that the readership means that a lot of people were obviously thinking the same thing. ✂️
The second change, even more important albeit less fun to talk about, has to do with the reality—and the perceptions—of the economy. I won’t throw a bunch of numbers at you, but: gas prices down, Dow setting a new record above 38,000, and a great (not good—great) GDP report this week. More important still were those recent numbers showing that consumer confidence is up more over the last two months than during any two-month period since 1991. Think about that. Thirty-three years. In 1991, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were being potty-trained (though not together!), and Patrick Mahomes wasn’t born. ✂️
This is even more important than Trump’s personal meltdown because most people still vote on the economy. They form their views and reach their conclusions three to six months out from the election, which is the next few months. If these two new narratives—Trump is demented, and the economy is strong—settle into conventional wisdom, the way we talk about this election may be very different indeed by Memorial Day.
This week:
Last Week Was Bad for Trump. This Week Could Be Four, Five Times Worse. Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, January 29, 2024.
Think $83.3 million is a lot of money? Well, hold onto your hat, buster, because this week, New York Judge Arthur Engoron is supposed to announce the penalty he’s slapping on Donald J. Trump in the Trump Organization fraud case.
The case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James in 2022, accuses Trump of lying to bankers and insurers about the value of his properties. Last September, Engoron declared in a summary judgment that the evidence clearly said Trump had done so. He wrote in his ruling: “In defendants’ world: Rent regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air; a disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party’s lies. That is a fantasy world, not the real world.”
Last month, Engoron said he was aiming to announce the fine amount by January 31. That’s Wednesday. James is seeking $370 million.
Dramatically worded, but basically true; TFG faces financial ruin
Legal experts: Days after being hit with $83 million ruling, Trump faces "financial death penalty", Areeba Shah, Salon, January 29, 2024.
Judge Arthur Engoron is expected to issue his decision this week on financial penalties in the civil fraud case brought by the New York attorney general, who has asked that former President Donald Trump be banned from doing business in the state and pay $370 million for inflating valuations on financial statements for personal gain.
Engoron’s decision could deliver another major blow to the real estate mogul’s financial standing after Trump was ordered to pay $83 million last week for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019.
Trump, who has repeatedly attacked the judge and accused him of being biased against him, issued similar attacks on Sunday.✂️
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani also agreed that dissolution is “the financial death penalty” and is not common. However, he contended that isn’t a typical case and Trump and his businesses aren't “your typical defendants.”
“Engoron has already tipped his hand by granting summary judgment before the trial and I expect him to ban Trump from doing business in New York and appoint a receiver to oversee the dissolution of his entities,” Rahmani said.
In a worst case, some legal experts have contended that Engoron could decide dissolution means stripping Trump of not only his New York holdings such as Trump Tower and his 40 Wall Street skyscraper, but his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, a Chicago hotel and condo building, and several golf clubs, including ones in Miami, Los Angeles and Scotland, The Associated Press reported.
No more 20 foot high letters spelling out that jerk’s name in Chicago? 🤞🏼😣🤞🏻Make it so!
TFG Faces More Self-Inflicted Legal Peril
The one and only “good” thing about Narcissistic Personality Disorder is its utter predictability. People with this kind of disordered personality behave in predictably impulsive, destructive ways even when the behavior is not in their own best interest. That is because the rage, insecurity, envy, greed and above all impulsivity are uncontrollable. Often NPDs cannot even perceive the threat their own behavior poses to themselves, mostly because their delusions of grandeur — and their shifting self-created versions of “reality” — mean they believe they can do no wrong. They make no attempt to moderate their behavior, no matter how destructive to others (and eventually themselves). They can’t stop themselves from lashing out at perceived slights and they don’t want to, either.
TFG will not stop defaming E. Jean Carroll. He will not stop his 2020 election lies. He will not stop inciting violence, slandering people, insolently exhibiting contempt towards the law, judges, Congress, anyone and everyone he thinks is against him. He can’t help himself but what’s more he doesn’t even want to stop himself. He truly believes he is untouchable and believes he deserves to be untouchable. He is a deeply disordered human being.
But the good news is that TFG’s luck is running out. He has been protected most of his life by money and white male privilege but he has caused so much public harm in the blinding glare of public scrutiny that even he cannot get away with it forever.
Trump’s Courtroom Behavior Helped Cost Him $83 Million. Next Time Could Be Worse. Norman Eisen and Joshua Kolb, Slate, January 29, 2024.
Recall that Bragg is prosecuting Trump on 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up payments to Stormy Daniels made at the end of the 2016 election. These payments were allegedly made to avoid a potentially campaign-ending scandal days after the Access Hollywood revelations and days before Election Day. Just as with the federal Jack Smith and Georgia election prosecutions, Bragg’s case is also an election interference case—and, unlike in 2020, the evidence suggests that the 2016 interference may have actually succeeded.
Like in the Carroll case, Bragg’s proof is strong, with witness testimony corroborated by documentary proof of each of the false entries—including in Trump’s own hand.✂️
And, of course, Bragg’s defendant is the same one who so visibly could not control himself in court over the past weeks. Whether or not Trump chooses to testify in the criminal matter, we doubt, after observing him, that he will be able to refrain from the muttered comments, grimaces and walkouts that characterized his presence in the Carroll case. That clearly did him no favors with the civil jury and threatens to contribute to the same outcome in the criminal trial.
That means that both cases have one final commonality: Trump ultimately has no one to blame but himself for the box he is in.
But wait, there’s more!
Two Daily Beast reporters caught this big little footnote and somehow knew it was significant. While the news world was saturated with reporting about TFG’s loss in the E Jean Carroll case, this little tidbit might have gone unnoticed, but it was caught. And then you’d think it would have sunk below the rest the noise quickly like so many other apparently significant stories do, but it didn’t — because it broke through to TFG’s family enough that they have lashed out over it. Seems like it’s important! (and probably true, which has scared them into making a legal move to quash it and the monitor). Hmmm...didn’t Al Capone go to prison for tax evasion? 🤔
Trump’s $50 Million Mystery Debt Looks Like ‘Tax Evasion’, Roger Sollenberger, Daily Beast, January 28, 2024.
That’s where former federal judge Barbara Jones, the court-appointed special monitor in Donald Trump’s New York business fraud case, just planted a financial bombshell that legal experts say suggests Trump lied knowingly and repeatedly on his federal financial disclosures about a major loan that never existed—and may have evaded taxes on $48 million in income.✂️
“When I inquired about this loan, I was informed that there are no loan agreements that memorialize the loan, but that it was a loan that was believed to be between Donald J. Trump, individually, and Chicago Unit Acquisition for $48 million,” Jones wrote, referencing the name of Trump’s LLC that held his debt.
“However, in recent discussions with the Trump Organization, it indicated that it has determined that this loan never existed—and thus that it would be removed from any upcoming forms submitted to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and would also be removed from subsequent versions of [corporate financial statements],” Jones wrote.
If true, that would essentially be an admission from the Trump Organization that all the financial disclosures Trump has filed with the federal government listed an entirely fictional debt worth tens of millions of dollars, which Trump claimed he personally owed to one of his own companies.
Follow up Story (spoiler: It’s not going away, TFG — and the rest of that family are as bad as he is): Trumps Throw Tantrum Over Court Monitor’s Financial Bombshell, Jose Pagliery and Roger Sollenberger, Daily Beast, January 29, 2024.
In an indignant court filing Monday morning, a lawyer for the Trumps for the first time launched an all-out attack on Judge Barbara S. Jones—calling her latest report on the family company an absolute lie, a cheap attempt to justify her government-mandated job, and a last-minute ploy to bolster the New York Attorney General’s bank fraud case that just wrapped up.✂️
But the apparent proof the Trumps cite for that claim does not confirm that the loan ever existed.✂️
However, Justice Engoron is likely to view that with suspicion. He spent years forcing the Trumps to turn over evidence, has seen documented evidence of the billionaire lying about the size of a Trump Tower triplex, and has repeatedly deemed their experts and testimony as unreliable at trial. On top of that, the Trump Organization is currently in hot water for faking internal paperworkrelated to its legal work and expenses—the very reason that Trump is facing 34 felony charges from the Manhattan District Attorney over the cover-up of his alleged sexual affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels, a trial set to start in March.✂️
But with her latest report, Jones has struck a nerve—and the Trumps are quickly scrambling to cut her loose.
🎶 No Particular Reason Music 🎶
More Legal Hot Water for MAGA World — and other problems
(More) potential comeuppance for election interference? You love to see it! 😍
Pro-Trump Network OAN Sent Sidney Powell Explosive Email on Smartmatic After 2020, Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, The New Republic, January 29, 2024.
In the immediate aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot, OAN’s chief executives passed along a volatile email to Trump attorney Sidney Powell that included a spreadsheet of Smartmatic’s employees with their company passwords.✂️
Lawyers for Smartmatic related to a federal judge that the contents of the full email and its attached spreadsheet suggest that OAN executives “may have engaged in criminal activities” because they “appear to have violated state and federal laws regarding data privacy,” per CNN.✂️
OAN is already in boiling water in regard to its election denialism. The bite-size network—which has struggled financially since it was dropped by practically every cable provider, from DirecTV to Verizon—competed in a race to the bottom with Fox to seed election lies. That could put the MAGA station in the tank for a gigantic settlement payout like Fox, which last year paid out a historic $787 million settlement to Dominion for its election lies.
My Pillow Guy reportedly “losing everything”
I almost feel bad for this obviously unwell, deluded man. Almost. Then I remember how much harm he’s caused and how much more harm he tried to cause. And this woman, too, with her self-pity blubbing.
Mike Lindell ally reveals he is 'losing everything' — and then breaks down crying, Sarah K Burris, Raw Story, January 29, 2024.
Sherronna Bishop spoke to the Turning Point Action conference about the horrific life that Mike Lindell has been plagued with after he attacked large companies claiming they "stole" the 2020 election.
Bishop purported to be part of the "Lindell team," telling the audience she was
close enough to the pillow magnate that she too "was raided with the battering ram." The Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic cases are civil cases, not criminal.
Bishop* leaked personal information and voter data from Mesa County, Arizona**, and handed it over to QAnon conspiracy theorists, reported Colorado Public Radio in Nov. 2021. That alleged data theft got the FBI involved, which is why her home was searched. Her work with Lindell hasn't been the source of the “large teams of heavily armed federal agents, using a battering ram to break down doors.”
She described Lindell as "losing everything, to gain a country. That's what we're doing right now."
* Big thanks to John in Denver who posted in the comments that Raw Story got an important thing wrong in this story: it was not Bishop, but TINA PETERS who leaked the personal information and voter data in Mesa County. (**the Raw Story article also says Mesa County, AZ, but I think it is Mesa County, CO). John gave us THIS link to a story mentioning that Peters is now going to pre-trial.
Is it funny or pathetic?
A bit of both, I guess and also bat***t loony deludy. These MAGA/Q types are coming full circle: not just making stuff up to justify their violence and hatred, but now scaring themselves as their conspiracy theories come back around to their logical conclusions:
'God's Army' border truck convoy falls flat amid right-wing 'honeypot' paranoia: report, Sky Palma, Raw Story, January 29, 2024.
The “God's Army” trucker convoy that's headed to the southern borderin a "Take Our Border Back" campaign has been decimated by conspiracy theories that it's an FBI front, Vice News reported Monday.
The line of trucks that departed Virginia Beach Monday had just a few dozen participants — much less than the 700,000 organizers had promised.
According to Vice's report, the less-than-stellar turnout was likely due to theories circulating in right-wing circles that the convoy could be a “psyop” or “honeypot" trap laid by the federal government to coax people into committing violence.
directly from the Vice report:
Others are suggesting that people avoid the convoy altogether. In a YouTube broadcast on Sunday night, the channel LoveTravelAdventure, which is run by a trucking husband and wife influencer duo with nearly 100,000 subscribers, warned viewers about possible traps ahead. “You're being set up, and you’re advertising every move you’re making to the people who want to know the most,” the husband, who goes by “Red Viking,” said. “There is no 1776 happening so put that out of your mind.” ✂️
“All i’m gonna say to the people who are going to the border: don’t get caught in another January 6th event and do dumb shit to get entrapped by your corrupt government,” warned the Telegram Channel Woke Societies.
Similar suspicions have been expressed on the far-right forum Patriots.win. “Listen this is all a trap,” one person wrote. “Trump never asked for people to go to the border. He asked states to assist with guard personnel. Fed fed fed.”
Far-right commentator Charlie Kirk also weighed in. “Please do not fall for obvious traps at the border,” Kirk wrote on X. “Let law enforcement handle this. Don’t create or join some ad-hoc “citizen militia.” Don’t be a one-man hero. Learn the lessons from the last 3 years.”
The last multi-state convoy in the U.S., in Jan. 2022, was an utter disaster—in part because of infighting about federal infiltration. Inspired by a relatively more successful event in Canada, truckers and their counterparts drove across the country to Washington, D.C. to protest vaccine mandates that didn’t exist. Big promises to “barricade” or “occupy” DC were quickly revealed to be bluster, and the convoy ended up parked at the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland, just outside of the District, for over a week, before heading home.
Rudy drags TFG under the bus with himself
Try to shed a tear for Rudy (← sarcasm alert; Rudy richly deserves to be brought low). He is filing for bankruptcy and in the court documents, he claims that TFG owes him fees:
Trump Owes Giuliani For Legal Work, Rudy Suggests In Bankruptcy Filing, Josh Kovensky, TPM, January 26, 2024.
Rudy Giuliani opened up his finances to a bankruptcy court — and the world — for examination on Friday, revealing that among his assets are three New York Yankees World Series rings, dozens of watches, and a potential claim against Donald Trump.
Giuliani listed a “possible claim for unpaid legal fees against Donald J. Trump” in a schedule cataloguing his finances.✂️
Throughout, Giuliani has reportedly begged Trump to cover his legal bills. The former President has reportedly not acquiesced.
🎶 Music Break 🎶
😡🙄 Republicans in (Even More!) Disarray 🤬😬
Something Republicans can’t seem to grasp is that when you’ve invited a malignant narcissist into your midst, they create utter and complete chaos, conflict and catastrophe. It is just impossible to avoid and so the Rs are seeing the predictable result: they support TFG because they thought he was their ticket to permanent power; instead, he will be the bill that’s coming due on their own cruelty and corruption. There will be more and more conflict as they resort to fighting each other in their desperation to flail out of the web of trumpian lies and disfunction. Meanwhile, the harder they try to unravel the chaos — fighting each other all the way — the more entangled they will become. It would be sad if they weren’t such awful people.
GOP Senator Punished By His Own Party for Doing His Job on Border Deal, Amanda Yen, Daily Beast, January 29, 2024.
The Republican senator who led efforts to negotiate with the Biden administrationon a border deal was condemned and censured by his own state’s party on Saturday for the simple act of speaking with Democrats—despite the fact that the chamber has not yet voted on the measure.
Just one day later, a defiant Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) appeared on Fox Newsto defend his work in Congress—which many of his colleagues supported until former President Donald Trump came out against the measure last week.✂️
“It is interesting: Republicans, four months ago, would not give funding for Ukraine, for Israel, and for our southern border because we demanded changes in policy. So we actually locked arms together and said, ‘We’re not going to give money for this. We want a change in law,’” Lankford said.
“A few months later, when we’re finally getting to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding, I actually don’t want a change in law because of presidential election year.’”
Arizona Republicans Relentlessly Boo Kari Lake On Home Turf Following Scandal, Ben Blanchet, HuffPost, January 29, 2024.
Arizona Republicans let Kari Lake have it this weekend as they hurled boos and jeers her way at a state GOP meeting following a scandal involving her and the now-former head of the state’s party.
The brutal reaction arrived following the resignation of Arizona GOP chairman Jeff DeWit after leaked audio appeared to show him pressing Lake, a Trump-endorsed election denier running for a U.S. Senate seat, to stay out of office.
DeWit claimed that the conversation was “selectively edited” and denied that he asked her not to run for office after she lost in the state’s gubernatorial race back in 2022.
Lake, who has been rumored as a vice presidential pick for former President Donald Trump, spoke at the Arizona Republican Party meeting where she nominated the Trump-backed Gina Swoboda to replace DeWit before she got hit with a sea of boos on Saturday.
And here’s a story showing that some journalists continue to push back persistently against the BS from MAGA Republicans. And it’s starting to unnerve them! GOOD.
Flustered Republican put on spot after taking credit for bills she voted against, David Badash, New Civil Rights Movement via Raw Story, January 29, 2024.
U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) said she couldn’t remember which critical funding bills she has voted for or against, and would have to ask her staff during an interview with a local Miami reporter who repeatedly pressed her on why she keeps taking credit for legislation she voted against.
“Last month you were at FIU [Florida International University] and you presented a check for $650,000 to help small businesses at FIU,” CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede, host of Facing South Florida, told Rep. Salazar in an interview on Sunday.
“But you voted against the bill that gave the money that you then signed a check for and handed and had a photo op, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. Right? You voted against that bill.”✂️
“The money that you talk about, the $40 million that you bring back to the district, sometimes that money comes from bills that you voted against,” DeFede continued. “You voted against the CHIPS Act and yet you praised the fact that the South Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub is going to be started in Miami, right? You voted against the Infrastructure bill and you talk about all the money that comes back to the airport. So, at the same time that you’re taking credit for the money that you bring back to the district in Washington, you’re voting against these projects on party-line votes.”
🎶 More Music! 🎶
😊💙 With Democrats, Things Get Better 💙😊
Democratic leadership shifts society’s focus toward better living for all human beings, not just for a privileged few. Some examples of how our Democratic public servants work to do that below:
House Democrats will support increased child tax credit, if Speaker Johnson will allow vote
This story is yet another example of Republicans in disarray, too, but I am putting it under Democrats because if this bill goes to a vote, it will pass thanks to Democrats in congress:
WASHINGTON ― Millions of parents would get bigger tax refunds in the coming months from a bill the House of Representatives could vote on this week.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved the legislation last week by a vote of 40 to 3, with all Republicans in support.
The bill would likely pass the House in a similarly overwhelming bipartisan fashion ― but only if House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) allows the vote to happen in the face of a likely right-wing backlash.
It’s the same conundrum Johnson has faced with other legislation, such as bills to avoid government shutdowns. If Johnson allows the House to vote on something bipartisan, then far-right members of the House Freedom Caucus might retaliate against him for collaborating with Democrats.
Democratic Surgeon General directs focus to mental health
There is much that sets Murthy apart from his predecessors, but one detail stands out: he’s a high-ranking government official who insists on the importance of care, compassion and deep listening. Love, he says, is the foundation of good policies and needs to inform the nation’s public health agenda.
At first blush, this message sounds almost utopian – but Murthy’s own idealism is fortified by evidence. As he recounts in his 2020 book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, it was in the course of talking to Americans across the country that he realized the extent to which people were suffering from sadness, withdrawal and isolation.
“Loneliness,” he wrote, “ran like a dark thread through many of the more obvious issues that people brought to my attention.”
As surgeon general, he has described loneliness as an epidemic on par with tobacco use and obesity, and is at the helm of a new World Health Organization commission to address the hazards of social isolation. Not only does it undermine physical and mental health, but, in his diagnosis, it underpins many of our more pernicious ills, including violence, addiction and extremism. The antidote, he says, is human connection.
Data Don’t Lie: Biden’s Economic Record is Much Better than Trump’s, Robert J Shapiro, Washington Monthly, January 26, 2024.
Donald Trump’s prospects for a second presidential term may well rest on whether voters accept his proposition that facts no longer matter. A case in point is his narrative that the economy was stronger during his presidency than under President Joe Biden. With few reality checks from the economic media, most of the public apparently agrees: One recent survey found that voters prefer Trump over Biden on the economy by 59 percent to 37 percent.
As Trump closes in on his third GOP presidential nomination, it’s time to set the record straight: By virtually every measure, that narrative is patently false.
From growth and jobs to investment and business creation, the economy has performed substantially better under Biden than it did under Trump. Biden’s superior record holds even if we set aside the pandemic’s impact in 2020. The exception, of course, is inflation. But just as the COVID-19 pandemic led to the collapse in GDP and employment during Trump’s last year in office, it was also the main reason prices rose so much for a time here and globally, according to new analysis from the Federal Reserve.✂️
Biden’s stronger growth wasn’t by happenstance: He and congressional Democrats actively promoted it with the American Rescue Plan, the March 2021 stimulus enacted over united Republican opposition, and the November 2021 infrastructure act that Trump talked about but never delivered.
Let’s recap Dem Accomplishments
Simon Rosenberg: The Country Is Far Better Off Today, Let's Help Tom Suozzi Flip NY-3, Hopium Chronicles, January 29, 2024.
Joe Biden Is A Good President, The Country Is Far Better Off Today - While there is a lot happening now, the most important news of recent days has been the ongoing torrent of encouraging economic news. Let’s recap what we know about the US economy right now:
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Best job market since the 1960s, stock market setting records (401Ks are happy), best recovery in the G7, GDP growth 3.3% last quarter, consumer sentiment rising
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The inflation fueled by COVID/supply chain disruptions, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and OPEC price hikes has ended, and we are now in a place much closer to historic norms. Prices for many items are falling including groceries, rents and mortgage rates
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Historically elevated wage growth, new business formation and prime-age worker participation rates. In the last few months we’ve seen some of the most robust real wage growth we’ve seen in decades, and Americans at all income levels have seen sizeable increases in their overall net worth
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Lowest uninsured rate in history, record ACA signups this year
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Renewable and domestic oil production set records in 2023, US more energy independent than its been in decades. In 2023 the US produced more oil than any country has in any year in history
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The investments Biden has made will creating prosperity for America and opportunities for American workers for decades to come
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The annual deficit is trillions less than when Biden came to office
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For young people the job market is the best since the 1960s; more young people have health insurance today than ever before; the President has forgiven more than $130b in student debt; by some measure home ownership rates are higher for Gen Z than Gen X and Millennials at this point in their lives; and rising minimum wages in states and cities across the US have created higher floors for new and entry-level workers than in many years
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Crime and murder rates plummeted across the US in 2023, and remain a fraction of what they were 30 years ago.
Let’s hear from Beau:
💙 The Power of Ordinary People 💙
Of course, the first spot in this section has to go to E. Jean Carroll who would not back down in the face of threats and intimidation by a powerful man and his backers. She fought for her day(s) in court, the court and juries listened and agreed that she had been raped and defamed by TFG and consequences were (finally!) handed down. Like Stormy Daniels, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss before her, E. Jean Carroll showed that women can lead the way in bringing down these contemptible, corrupt men.
Relish What One Person Can Do To Defend The Rule Of Law, David Kurtz, Talking Points Memo, January 29, 2024.
It was a win for the ages.
A former president accused of rape and of defaming his victim by denying it.
The victim (though her strength, resilience, and aplomb defy use of that term) has now won two federal jury verdicts in NYC in the matter worth tens of millions of dollars.
Carroll v. Trump in both its iterations reaffirmed that no one is above the law, demonstrated that an experienced jurist can bring Trump to heel, and confirmed that the legal system can sternly punish those who discredit it and act with impunity to violate the law.✂️
While the gargantuan dollar figures enhance the schadenfreude, the real satisfaction is in seeing Carroll, Freeman and Moss individually striking blows for justice against a far more powerful figure and the forces arrayed behind him. It doesn’t always work that way, but it did here, and it is to their eternal credit that they bit the bullet and pursued their cases through to the end.
Texas teacher defies book bans
A secret shelf of banned books thrives in a Texas school, under the nose of censors, Neda Ulaby, NPR, January 29, 2024.
The secret bookshelf began in late 2021, when then-state Rep. Matt Krause sent public schools a list of 850 books he wanted banned from schools. They might, he said, "make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex."
That made this teacher furious. "The books that make you uncomfortable are the books that make you think," she told NPR. "Isn't that what school is supposed to do? It's supposed to make you think?"
She swung into action, calling friends to support a bookshelf that would include all of the books Krause wanted banned. Then she enlisted a student to put it together✂️
"Having these books, having these stories out there meant a lot to me, because I felt seen," (one former student) said. Especially meaningful, he added, during a fraught time when Texas lawmakers banned transition-related care for teenagers. "Because of the way the laws are going for trans people especially," he said, "it could be assumed that [my teacher is] grooming kids. And that would be terrible because that's not what she's doing at all."✂️
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals blocked part of a recently passed state bill, known as HB 900, that would have required booksellers and publishers to rate any books sold to schools for sexual content. This was seen as a victory for freedom-to-read activists, but some of them noted to NPR that HB 900 still contains dangerously vague language about material prohibited in school and no clear guidelines about enforcement.
"I do believe that book banning is going to go away," the teacher says, firmly. But for now she adds, "I intend for this library to just keep growing."
Taylor Swift uses her fame to promote democracy
OK, maybe these aren’t strictly “ordinary” people, but they started out in life regular people and they are using their earned fame for good! To the dismay of the “f*ck your feelings” crowd.
Far-Right Snowflakes Are Terrified of the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift, Matt Lewis, Daily Beast, January 29, 2024.
The new breed of culture warrior understands the power of…pop culture. They see Joe Biden as an old fart who can’t possibly defeat their celebrity, Donald Trump. But they also see the potential for Swift to have a major impact by rallying her army of “Swifties” to register to vote (in 2020, one Instagram post from Swift reportedly led to 35,000 new registered voters), and then to turn out and vote for the slightly older of the two codgers.
What is more, it is true that Swift does have a political motive—and not just because of the recent attacks she has endured. After staying out of the 2016 race, Swift endorsed Biden in 2020. It’s no secret that Biden desperately wants her involved in 2024.
And if the potential for her to utilize her mega-fame weren’t enough, Swift is now allied with one of the greatest players currently in the National Football League.✂️
Yeah, good luck trying to cast the Kelce brothers as soy-drinking “pajama boy” elites or Colin Kaepernick-like activist types.✂️
People who are predisposed to believe this will, of course, believe anything. That is dangerous enough. But just as the Kelces can’t easily be other-ized, Swift simply cannot be Hillary-ized the way a polarizing politician—as opposed to a widely beloved pop star—could be. This is a fight that the paranoid right would be wise not to pick. But, of course, they will. They have. This is what they do.
“Haters gonna hate.”
🎶 Required Music 🎶
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️ Feeling Stuck? Here are 5 ways to jumpstart your life, Christina Caron, New York Times, January 25, 2024.
⚡️ Ya think? Republicans Are Starting to Worry That They Suck at Governing, Jason Linkins, The New Republic, January 27, 2024.
⚡️ Ageism has no place in politics, Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun Times, January 26, 2024.
⚡️ Speaking of aging…cool research happening right here in Chicago! Scientists can tell how fast you're aging. Now, the trick is to slow it down, Allison Aubrey, NPR, January 29, 2024.
⚡️ Might this mystery finally be solved? Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane possibly spotted in the Pacific by exploration team, Juliana Kim, NPR, January 29, 2024.
⚡️ Thoughtful, interesting article: The 100-Year Extinction Panic Is Back, Right on Schedule, Tyler Austin Harper, New York Times, January 26, 2024.
⚡️ Demographic shift, not necessarily “Democratic” but notable, Religious 'Nones' are now the largest single group in the U.S., Jason DeRose, NPR, January 24, 2024.
⚡️ Hopeful interview: Surprise! There’s a reason to be (cautiously) optimistic about the climate. Jonquilyn Hill, Vox, January 24, 2024.
⚡️ Technical, but helpful: Unpacking the Boom in U.S. Construction of Manufacturing Facilities, U.S. Department of the Treasury, June 2023.
⚡️ Interesting, sad article about the human toll of conservative policies: The Life-and-Death Cost of Conservative Power, Paul Starr, The American Prospect, December 8, 2024.
⚡️ Long read, deep dive: American Oligarchy, Mother Jones, January 22, 2024.
🐩💙 CG’s Picks 💙🐩
Hello Everybody, it’s me, Curlygirl! Last time, I promised you that this week I will bring more stories than last time and I keep my promises! Get ready for some fun!
🐶👶🐶 Family fun with dogs and baby
First, some fun! Here is a family playing. I love how the dad is trying to get the shopping done, and can’t get a reply because mom and baby and dogs are playing. 😄 His protective instincts kick in and he wants to make sure they are all OK and then he sees on the nursery cam that they are all very OK indeed! 😄
🦆🐈 Artist paints murals of colorful animals in Chicago
There is an artist here in Chicago who paints murals on buildings and fences and stuff! I really like his work because he paints colorful animals sometimes. Last year he painted nine cats walking in a row along a fence (9 cats = 9 lives, get it? 😁) and this year, he painted a mother duck and a whole bunch of baby ducklings on the protective boards in front a building that is being renovated for a new purpose.
I really like ducks. Do you like ducks? I think even if you feel just so-so about ducks, you might still like the mural, because it isn’t just a nice picture of ducks — they are also very colorful!
Raining Cats and Ducks, Chicago Sun-Times staff, January 29, 2024.
Rodney Duran definitely got his ducks in a row.
Earlier this month, Duran painted a bunch of colorful ducks on a closed storefront in Uptown that used to be a laundromat.
Why ducks? Well, he really likes them. Besides, with Lake Michigan nearby, that seemed fitting.
Beyond that, he says: “With all that’s going on in the world, I think people are trying to get their ducks in a row. If you notice, there’s one little chick at the end by itself, trying to keep up. It’s sort of metaphor to life right now.”
He says the mural also offers “a major statement on motherhood,” with the ducklings “trying to follow her, and she’s taking care of the babies.”
And the colors? “I chose different colors of the rainbow for different types of people, diversity, just open something that can really connect with everybody,” he says.
🐕🐾🐕🦺 The Dogs of 2023 video
Do you know there is a person (or people?) who rates dogs? They like to look at pictures and videos that people post online and then they rate them. Of course, since nearly every dog ever born is a good dog, they usually rate us highly. At the end of each year, apparently, they put out a video of the years’ top dogs. Imagine how hard it must be to choose! I didn’t know about this until last week, but as soon as I learned of it, I grabbed the video for today’s GNR. Enjoy!
🦜 Parrots astonish zoo staff and visitors with salty language
I hope this story won’t embarrass my feathered friend, Rascal. But I am sure he will take the attitude I take when other dogs misbehave — not our circus! 😄 And this story taught me something new! I learned that grey parrots not only say words in just any old parrot voice but they imitate the actual voice of the human they learned a word from! How cool is that!
Foul-mouthed parrots are unlikely stars at a British zoo, Bill Chappell, NPR, January 25, 2024.
The parrots are a fount of foul language. Their habit of spouting curse words at a torrid rate has, by turns, mortified and amused the people who work with them at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in Friskney, England.
Now the family friendly animal park is trying a new plan it hopes will tame the parrots' salty language. It's integrating them into a larger flock, where they will "hopefully learn all the nicer sounds and words," Steve Nichols, the park's CEO, told NPR.✂️
He needn't have worried. As it turns out, patrons of the zoo, as well as throngs of people online, seem to be perfectly willing to accept the parrots as they are, profanity and all. The park has posted a sign near the parrots' habitat, warning that visitors should expect to hear "every common swear word" and should shepherd children away from the area.
Still, Nichols says, the park's human workers enjoy the lighter side of the birds' unique speech — and the international media attention they're getting.
🦓🐪 Circus animals rescued after truck catches fire on Indiana highway
Yikes! I was a little bit nervous when I first saw this story. First, because I was afraid for the safety of the animals on the truck and then second because I was afraid for myself and everyone else close to Indiana in case some of those escaped animals might have been lions, tigers or bears! 😱
Luckily, ALL THE ANIMALS ARE SAFE! and also luckily, NONE OF THEM WERE LIONS, TIGERS OR BEARS! 😅
Circus animals rescued after truck catches fire on Indiana highway, Chicago Sun✶Times, January 28, 2024.
Both officers were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and later released, but none of the animals were injured, he said. The truck driver, a 57-year-old Sarasota, Florida, man, was not injured. All northbound lanes of I-69 were closed until about 6:30 a.m. once the area was cleaned up and the animals were taken away by another truck.✂️
The truck was bringing the animals from Florida to Fort Wayne for four weekend circus performances in the northeastern Indiana city benefitting the Mizpah Shrine Circus, said Steve Trump, its circus director.
He said the performances are annual fundraisers for the Mizpah Shrine Circus to help pay for the upkeep of the Shrine Center in Fort Wayne to “allow us to use our other fundraisers for what we’re known best for, taking care of kids.”
I hope you liked these stories. That’s all I have for you today EXCEPT for a fun song! Luv, CG 💙🐾
💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗
Put your beautiful bleeding liberal heart into it! 🥰
Share Goody’s Boosting Biden series on social media — Boosting Biden Series
Democratic litigation hero, Marc Elias was the legal eagle behind the 60 Big Lie losses after the election. Here’s his website, Democracy Docket. You can find information about current cases he is fighting to defend voting rights around the country, as well as actions you can take to help fight voter suppression at the link!
Write to voters around the country with Postcards to Voters. Progressive Muse usually posts an update on current campaigns in the comments and you can also check out the website. It’s easy, fun and it really works to GOTV!
🎩 Also, Goody posted a great list of links a while ago. I am borrowing and adding the latest ones to it 🎩
Fight voter suppression!
What can you do?
HERE’S HOW TO CONTACT CONGRESS:
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121
* Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:* Telephone: 202-224-3121
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your member of Congress and contact him or her:
Let them know what matters to you!
Contact your Representative
Contact your Senator
And remember, all politics is local and personal! Let’s work to flip state and local elected positions Democratic! ↓
Sister District Project — organization that is working to help Dems win state legislature races.
and did I mention…. Share Goody’s Boosting Biden series on social media — Boosting Biden Series
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
That’s it from me and CG for another Tuesday! Remember, Gnusies, look after yourself! You are important not just to the fight for democracy but because you are a wonderful human being and a valued member of this Gnuville community!
Get some rest, eat nutritious food and get outdoors every day if you possibly can! It is good for your mental and physical health! Did you know even foggy, damp days are great for your skin!
arhpdx and I are switching weeks this month, so I’ll be back again next week. Until then, stay positive my friends!
🎶 Music with or without coffee (with coffee here!) 🎶