Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you had some love and laughter with friends and family.
I’m grateful that President Biden is still president, and that he got so much done (although the legacy media hardly paid attention). Much of this will be hard to undo, such as investments, especially in the purple and red states.
We all are going to have to do a lot, so I ask you to take care of yourselves, and to stand up for truth and for love, because they make our lives so much better.
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, and the chaos. 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:
💜 Although they lie all the time, reality matters. And our goals — based on reality — are more popular.
💙 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, and yes, Biden is still President . Here are the last 11 days’ posts at the White House briefing room. (last week I swapped with nifty, so it is more than the usual time)
- Thursday, November 28, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on Russia’s Attack on Ukraine
- Wednesday, November 27, 2024: Background Press Call on Venezuela
- Wednesday, November 27, 2024: A Proclamation on Thanksgiving Day, 2024
- Wednesday, November 27, 2024: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Puerto Rico Major Disaster Declaration
- Wednesday, November 27, 2024: Statement from National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard on October 2024 PCE and Third Quarter 2024 GDP
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Kentucky Major Disaster Declaration
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Major Disaster Declaration for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: Remarks by President Biden Announcing Cessation of Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: Joint Statement from President Biden of the United States and President Macron of France Announcing a Cessation of Hostilities
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: Background Press Call on the Ceasefire Deal Between Israel and Lebanon
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda’s Growing Durability and Popularity
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: The Biden-Harris Administration Has Catalyzed $1 Trillion in New U.S. Private Sector Clean Energy, Semiconductor, and Other Advanced Manufacturing Investment
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: Press Gaggle by Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates En Route Queens, NY
- Tuesday, November 26, 2024: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Takes Latest Step to Lower Prescription Drug Costs by Proposing Expanded Coverage of Anti-Obesity Medications for Americans with Medicare and Medicaid
- Monday, November 25, 2024: Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at a Friendsgiving Event | Staten Island, NY
- Monday, November 25, 2024: Press Release: Bills Signed: H.R. 599, H.R. 807, H.R. 1060, H.R. 1098, H.R. 3608, H.R. 3728, H.R. 4190, H.R. 5464, H.R. 5476, H.R. 5490, H.R. 5640, H.R. 5712, H.R. 5861, H.R. 5985, H.R. 6073, H.R. 6249, H.R. 6324, H.R. 6651, H.R. 7192, H.R. 7199, H.R. 7333, H.R. 7423, H.R. 7777, S. 1510, S. 2143, S. 2274, S. 3126, S. 3267, S. 3419
- Monday, November 25, 2024: On-the-Record Press Gaggle by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby
- Monday, November 25, 2024: Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at the 2024 Christmas Tree Arrival Ceremony
- Monday, November 25, 2024: Statement by President Joe Biden on the Occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
- Monday, November 25, 2024: Remarks by President Biden at Pardoning of the National Turkey
- Monday, November 25, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden Congratulating Yamandú Orsi as President-elect of Uruguay
- Monday, November 25, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on $1 Trillion in Private Sector Investments Under the Biden-Harris Administration
- Sunday, November 24, 2024: Statement by NSC Spokesperson Sean Savett on the Murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the UAE
- Saturday, November 23, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on Conclusion of COP29 Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan
- Saturday, November 23, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden Remembering the Holodomor
- Friday, November 22, 2024: Press Release: Notice to the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to the Situation in Nicaragua
- Friday, November 22, 2024: Letters to the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to the Situation in Nicaragua
- Friday, November 22, 2024: Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Meeting with Executives from the Telecommunications Sector
- Friday, November 22, 2024: A Proclamation on National Family Week, 2024
- Friday, November 22, 2024: Readout of President Biden’s Call with President Macron of France
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: FACT SHEET: Delivering for the International Development Association
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: Remarks by President Biden Honoring the 2024 NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on Warrants Issued by the International Criminal Court
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: Press Release: Bill Signed: H.R. 7189
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: Press Release: Nominations and Withdrawals Sent to the Senate
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: President Biden Announces a Presidential Emergency Board, Names Members
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: Executive Order on Establishing a Second Emergency Board to Investigate a Dispute Between New Jersey Transit Rail Operations and Its Locomotive Engineers Represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: President Biden Announces Nominees
- Thursday, November 21, 2024: Statement from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Further Sanctioning Russia’s Use of the International Financial System
- Wednesday, November 20, 2024: Memorandum on Delegation of Authority Under Section 614(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
- Wednesday, November 20, 2024: Statement by President Joe Biden on Transgender Day of Remembrance
- Tuesday, November 19, 2024: A Proclamation on National Child’s Day, 2024
💪Get Ready to Fight💪
I wish I could say all is good, but we know it is not. We have battles before us.
First, if you are at all down in the dumps, I encourage you to watch this from Politics Girl. It’s about 30 minutes, but instead of being mostly about politics, it’s mostly about how she survived one of the darkest news anyone can receive:
As mentioned earlier, we are going through Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny. I think it’s important for all of us to have some background in fundamentals, so that when something bad pops up, we (a) recognize it and (b) already know what could work.
3. Beware the One Party State
In case you don’t want to watch, here’s a summary: the one party state exists only to perpetuate power and does not care about people, especially people who may disagree.
That means, support your local Democratic party!
4. Take responsibility for the face of the world
In case you don’t want to read, here’s my quick take. We need to do what we can to fight lies and hate and to spread truth and love in our circles, our communities, and our world.
There are so many things one can do! Support honest journalism with money and clicks and likes. Tell people the truth and that you love them.
Here’s an example of some who are preparing to fight: Los Angeles is taking steps to protect people from mass deportation Jaime Ding, Associated Press, November 19
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a so-called “sanctuary city” ordinance that bars city resources from being used for immigration enforcement and city departments from sharing information on people without legal status with federal immigration authorities, in anticipation of potential mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump.
Councilmembers voted unanimously on the measure, joining more than a dozen cities across the United States with similar provisions. Sanctuary cities or states are not legal terms but have come to symbolize a pledge to protect and support immigrant communities and decline to voluntarily supply information to immigration enforcement officials. Advocates say they are havens for immigrants to feel safe and be able to report crime without fear of deportation.
The measure will come back to the council for a second vote as a formality. Mayor Karen Bass, who has the power to veto it, has said she supports the ordinance.
💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes and Chaos 💣
Rs may only get a one-seat margin Benjamin Siegel and Tal Axelrod ABC News
Overnight Wednesday, one of two outstanding races in California tipped toward Democrats, giving Adam Gray a roughly 182-vote lead over GOP Rep. John Duarte in the inland 13th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. In California's 45th Congressional District, anchored in Orange and Los Angeles Counties, Democrat Derek Tran has a roughly 600-vote lead over Republican Rep. Michelle Steel.
In Iowa, GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is up by 800 votes in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, though a recount is unlikely to change the result in the competitive district. Miller-Meeks first won her seat in 2020 by six votes.
If these results hold, the House will start with a 220-215 GOP majority, even thinner than the current Congress' margin.
Republican ranks, however, drop to 219 with former Rep. Matt Gaetz's resignation. It could fall further to 217 depending on the timing of the resignations of Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who are set to join the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to United Nations and national security adviser, respectively.
🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚
The clean energy is happening, and it will be nearly impossible to stop. The Biden-Harris administration has catalyzed investment in clean energy, in blue and red and purple states. The following is from the WH Brieffng Room The Biden-Harris Administration Has Catalyzed $1 Trillion in New U.S. Private Sector Clean Energy, Semiconductor, and Other Advanced Manufacturing Investment
The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda is making strategic public investments in American manufacturing, infrastructure, and clean energy to revitalize the nation’s manufacturing leadership, help drive steady and stable economic growth across the country, and address the climate crisis. The President’s approach revives a powerful tradition of public investment which has now positioned the United States to be competitive in key industries of the future. This government-enabled, private-sector-led approach contributed to the economy defying economist expectations and is crowding in private capital to critical sectors. New data released this week show that since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, announcements of private sector investments in clean energy and manufacturing in the United States have now surpassed $1 trillion (Figure 1). NoteI am only reproducing figure three
Big cities’ homicide rates keep plunging Russell Contreras Axios
Homicides continued to decline in major U.S. cities — by more than 40% in some communities — during the first nine months of the year, according to new data that show the COVID-era crime wave evaporating.
Why it matters: The stats are the latest signs that violent crime in America is starkly different from what President-elect Trump described in the recent campaign, when he falsely asserted that immigration was sparking rising crime nationwide.
Gosh, wish they had talked about this more.
💜 Unity? 💜
The Rs, in my opinion, have only done as well as they have through their complete focus on message. They buy TV stations rather than TV ads. They lie all the time, so much so that most people don’t realize crime has come down and many, many other things. And they appeal to people as they are, as opposed to as we think they should be (like that rational consumer in economics who does not really exist). They push buttons, while we try reasoning with people. (And they do voter suppression)
But, as I said, many of our positions are popular. Like access to health care, especially women’s reproductive health care. Raising the minimum wage. Lower inflation. And so on.
An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire was largely holding Wednesday in Lebanon, potentially bringing an end to more than a year of cross-border strikes and months of a full-scale war that has killed thousands.
The deal stipulates a 60-day halt in hostilities, which negotiators have described as the foundation of a lasting truce. In that time, Hezbollah fighters are expected to retreat 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Israel border, while Israeli ground forces should withdraw from Lebanese territory.
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
I want you all to protect yourselves and your loved ones. tRump is threatening insane tariffs on Mexico and Canada, so if you get much from them, stock up now! I know, one can only do so much with fresh produce.
Chop Wood, Carry Water is absolutely great, with good news stories and simple actions one can take to protect democracy. Please, please, subscribe and you will be happy that you did.
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. Defund the seditionists. This is a list with companies that sometimes have donated to 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.
🔎 Want to check out what’s going on with campaign contributions? Check out this diary. 👀
🐍 Schadenfreude 😈
Russian ruble tumbles Brendan Cole NewsWeek
The Russian currency, the ruble, has plunged to its lowest rate against the U.S. dollar since the start of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as sanctions continue to hurt his country's economy.
After two months of depreciation, the ruble dropped on Tuesday to 107 against the dollar for the first time since March 2022, just after the start of the war that prompted Western-led sanctions, an exodus of companies from Russia and financial turbulence.
The ruble is expected to weaken further with the beginning of the winter holiday season as companies import more goods to meet consumer demand.
"The Russian ruble is weakening significantly as a result of the escalating conflict in Ukraine," Grzegorz Dróżdż, market analyst at Invest.Conotoxia.com, told Newsweek on Tuesday. "The currency's bad condition weakens the country's purchasing power."
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️
This week we honor the leaker(s) to ProPublica about the women in Georgia who died because they could not get life-saving abortions Chris Walker TruthOut
A commission of health experts in Georgia was disbanded earlier this month following national reporting on its findings that two state residents died because they were denied access to an abortion.
Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Health, dismissed every member of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which is charged with examining and determining the causes of pregnant people’s deaths in the state. The dismissal was reported late last week.
The decision to dismiss the board’s membership was prompted by reporting from ProPublica, Toomey explained in a statement, which had published an article in September about the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, two pregnant women who died as a result of Georgia’s abortion ban. After failing to determine whether any member of the board had provided ProPublica with the details of those individuals’ deaths, Toomey said she made the decision to disband the board completely.
Said Toomey:
Confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outside individuals. Even though this disclosure was investigated, the investigation was unable to uncover which individual(s) disclosed confidential information. Therefore, effective immediately the current MMRC is disbanded, and all member seats will be filled through a new application process.
We honored ProPublica more than once here, but we also need to honor those who tell them what needs to be known. They are paying a price, but the price to Georgia women is greater. I hope ProPublica can still get data and information.
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
I have been using Xitter much less — no tweets and no likes — but some sources have not yet moved to bluesky. Goodable: An 8-year old and her mom were driving when they saw a group of bikers get into an accident. The mom, who was a nurse, ran to help to treat the victims.The next year, the girl opened a lemonade stand.This is how the bikers came to say thank you.
And if you don’t want to click, it’s just a large bunch of guys coming to buy lemonade, with a bunch of bikes parked in the background.
📎Odds & Ends 📎
☕️ ❤️ Our favorite hot drinks — coffee, tea, cocoa — appear to boost heart health. Danny Gutmann and Maria Ortega SurreyLive
A new study has found that some of our favourite hot drinks could have a surprising impact on our health.
A group of scientists from the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy have said that they might have found a connection between consuming high-caffeine drinks including coffee, tea and hot chocolate and a reduction in the chances of heart disease.
Sardinia village welcomes tRump refugees! Kathleen Wong, USA Today
A rural Italian village on a Mediterranean island is welcoming Americans looking to relocate abroad following the 2024 presidential election.
Located in the countryside of Sardinia, the ancient town of Ollolai recently launched a "Live in Ollolai" initiative offering affordable homes – some as cheap as a cappuccino – for Americans who are "worned (sic) out by global politics" and "looking to embrace a more balanced lifestyle," according to the village's website.
"Of course, we can’t specifically mention the name of one U.S. president who just got elected, but we all know that he’s the one from whom many Americans want to get away from now and leave the country,” Mayor Francesco Columbo told CNN. "We have specifically created this website now to meet U.S .post-elections relocation needs."
Sensible of them. We’re hard working caring people. Immigrants usually help communities, they do not drain them.
🧆Olive oil prices expected to halve Doloresz Katanich EuroNews
One of the most difficult periods for the industry is coming to an end and will be driving prices down to half of their all-time high in the coming months, according to Spain's Deoleo.
The world's largest olive oil producer is predicting cooling prices after the industry saw record prices at the start of the year due to the mixed impact of climate change-related drought on the harvest and high interest rates and inflation in the value chain.
In the EU, olive oil prices were up by 50% year-on-year in January and in the UK they jumped by 150% compared with the end of 2021.
In Spain, home to almost half of the world's olive oil production, two consecutive years of drought limited olive harvests, causing a hike in prices worldwide.
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: the Crow Nickels (chronicles), a trilogy about crows who want to save birdkind from extinction: Hunters of the Feather, Scavengers of Mind and Familiars of the Flock (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 — such as The Meryton Murders — and others based on history and Greek mythology, such as Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus, 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 say something nice to friend or a stranger.
You can get out the vote for special elections.
You can reach out to 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.
