Good Day, Gnusies! I hope you are all well this Tuesday. This week I am using my daffodil diary image in honor of my late father whose birthday was this past weekend. Dad loved “daffs” and this picture reminds me of his cheerful disposition and resiliency in the face of life’s ups and downs. I’ve never known anyone who could enjoy the sweet little joys of life more than he did. I think that was his secret to a good, quietly happy life.
Thinking about Dad’s approach to life reminds me that I wanted to continue to address the recurring challenge that so many of us have been coping with since 2016 (if not longer), thanks to right wing Republican mayhem.
The 2016 election was a traumatic event — genuinely — for thousands, if not millions, of Americans. And that trauma has left many of us vulnerable to anxiety, depression and a peculiar and painful loss of confidence in the wisdom of the American voters. Even though WIneRev and others have reminded us frequently that our collective “wisdom” actually has often been lacking and the perils of the current era are not unprecedented — still some of us can’t help thinking this is IT, the downfall of the American experiment is at hand.
This is a valid concern, although we need to keep it in perspective. We’ve been here before, as a country, many times in fact. In different ways, but the essential threat to democracy and to freedom and justice for all (not just for a privileged group) is something that it seems we will always have to guard against. So, I suggest that the perspective shift we should aim for is to regard these times not as uniquely threatening, but rather part of a long-standing cycle of rising authoritarianism followed by resurgent democratic rebuilding.
I found this article which I think could be very helpful to anyone who needs a framework to help keep events in perspective. The article talks about catastrophizing, but I think the tactics they mention are helpful for the understandable anxiety and fears that many of us experience as this election year unfolds.
(I’ve included quite a lot here — more than I usually would — but there is a LOT more at the link, and I only listed the tips. Please do check out the link for the details!)
Are you catastrophizing? Here’s how to stop assuming the worst. Allie Volpe, Vox, February 3, 2024.
People catastrophize in order to prepare for these worst-case scenarios. Catastrophic thinking, however, can lead to heightened anxiety, prolonged feelings of physical pain, risk aversion, and less confidence in problem-solving when big issues do arise. “If you find that you are constantly looking for what could go drastically wrong in your life, this could reflect deeper concerns about safety, security, or self-protection,” says Scott Glassman, director of the master of applied positive psychology program at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This style of thinking can emerge if you’ve experienced an unexpected traumatic event, like a loss or serious injury, or if you grew up in an environment where fears were often amplified and responded to with panic or overprotection.”
Climbing out of the spiral that is catastrophic thinking requires both in-the-moment grounding techniques and big-picture reframing. Focusing on the reality of a situation — and not the story you’re telling yourself — can help blunt the anxiety of catastrophizing, experts say. Here are more therapist-approved tactics to help you avoid catastrophic thinking.
Catch yourself in the act
Ask yourself pointed questions
Follow the negative thoughts to see where they lead
Remind yourself that you are not your thoughts
Practice grounding techniques
Pay attention when things go well ← GNR favorite!
Accept bad things when they happen
Try to problem-solve instead of searching for problems
Focus on what you can control
Keep the faith, Gnusies, and rely on the love around you IRL and here in Gnuville. Together, we are gong to hold on to the country and each other.
🎶 Opening Music 🎶
💙 Joe and the Dems 💙
Senate Dems hammered out a deal on border
Senate Dems managed to hammer out a deal with Republicans, although predictably the Rs are already threatening to tank it. Joe and the Dems are doing everything they can to solve problems with the limited power the American voters gave them. Republicans are using national security to play politics, as usual. Maybe this year, American voters will send even more Democrats to congress so that we can get even more done!
Schumer 'hopeful' Senate will pass bipartisan border bill despite opposition from GOP hard-liners, Summer Concepcion, NBC, February 5, 2024.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday expressed optimism over a bipartisan bill that seeks to impose stricter immigration and asylum laws, saying he believes it will pass the chamber despite opposition from hard-right Republicans.
“I’m confident — hopeful is the right word,” Schumer said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” when asked about the bill’s chances of passing in the Senate. “This is hard. And our Republican senators — we need a bunch of them — are under a lot of pressure from right-wing Trump part of the party.”
Senators released the text of the bipartisan bill Sunday night after months of negotiations. The $118 billion bill comes amid record-high crossings at the southern border and also includes foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. Republicans have said they would only support aid to those countries on the condition that it is paired with new policies restricting U.S. immigration.
Even if Republicans do tank this bill, the country now knows that Democrats were ready to get this done and it is Republicans who refuse to solve the border issues.
Update: As of 10 CT, it looks like Republicans are going to filibuster the bill. They’re playing for time, because they know this probably will backfire on them, but they also know that TFG will do something (WHAT?) to them if they don’t fall in line. It really is extraordinary and some day I hope we all learn what he is holding over their heads. Yes, they like the terrible things he did and how much he hurts liberals, but they also love being in power. They know this congressional disfunction they are causing is likely to cost them dearly in November, yet they do it. This isn’t only about liking the cruelty of trumpism, I feel pretty sure.
Anyway, now we will see how Joe Biden and the Dems handle this latest insane behavior by congressional Republicans. I’m betting on Joe!
Meanwhile... plot twist!
As conservatives balk, U.S. Border Patrol union endorses Senate immigration deal, Julie Tsirkin, NBC, February 5, 2024.
WASHINGTON — As conservatives in Congress have blasted the new bipartisan border agreement for not going far enough, the legislation earned a key endorsement on Monday: the labor union that represents U.S. Border Patrol agents.
The National Border Patrol Council — which represents more than 18,000 agents — said the bill would “drop illegal border crossings nationwide and will allow our agents to get back to detecting and apprehending those who want to cross our border illegally and evade apprehension.”✂️
“While not perfect, the Border Act of 2024 is a step in the right direction and is far better than the current status quo,” Brandon Judd, president of the council, said in the statement. “This is why the National Border Patrol Council endorses this bill and hopes for its quick passage.”
Haha. Unions are great. Even crummy, TFG-endorsing unions! They are still using collective action to bring pressure to bear on Republicans in congress to pass the bloody bill, already!
Stay tuned. This isn’t over.
I trust President Biden to protect women’s rights
We want better than Roe, but we’ll take restoration as a first step:
Abortion rights groups don’t want to “restore Roe” — but they won’t fight Biden on it, Rachel M Cohen, Vox, February 5, 2024.
“We need the protections of Roe v. Wade in every state. And we can do it. You can do it,” Biden stressed at the event. “Give me a Democratic House of Representatives and give me a bigger — a bigger Democratic Senate, and we will pass a new law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade, and I will sign it immediately.”✂️
The hope to go beyond Roe hasn’t disappeared. Bolstered by decisive ballot measures to protect abortion rights over the last 18 months, election wins for Democrats who campaigned heavily on reproductive freedom, and surveys that suggest voters have grown even more supportive of abortion rights since Roe’s repeal, many activists have pressed Democrats to avoid using “Roe” language at all, and even steer clear of popular “pro-choice” messaging they believe helped normalize restricting abortion over the years.
Yet with the 2024 election now closer and stakes on abortion access even higher, reproductive rights groups have decided to swallow their concerns and enthusiastically endorse the president’s reelection strategy. Vox reached out to a dozen abortion rights groups, and while many offered statements about the need to do more to protect abortion access, no organization went so far as to say they disagreed with the president on his call to restore Roe, or explicitly object to his language.
President Joe Biden is one of the most capable, effective presidents in decades. He is also a decent, good man. Let’s work to give him another 4 years.
Biden thanks hospitality workers in Las Vegas ahead of Nevada’s Tuesday primary, Darlene Superville, AP, February 5, 2024.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday congratulated hospitality workers for reaching a tentative agreement with several Las Vegas hotel-casinos and calling off a strike deadline for another, telling members of the local culinary union, “When you do well, everybody does better.”
“I came to say thank you — not just thank you for the support you’ve given me the last time out and this time, but thank you for having the faith in the union,” Biden, who is running for reelection in November to a second term, told Local 226 Culinary hospitality workers who gathered at Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas. “Thank you for continuing to push it because this really matters. It matters, it matters, it matters.”
Biden to denounce Mayorkas impeachment effort as 'baseless' and 'unconstitutional', Katherine Doyle, NBC, February 5, 2024.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday will denounce the charge to impeach Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as an "unprecedented and unconstitutional" political attack that betrays the real challenge of securing the southern U.S. border, according to a statement of administration policy shared first with NBC News.
Biden’s statement will be his most forceful condemnation of the Republican-controlled House’s push to bring the Mayorkas impeachment to the floor.
The House will vote Tuesday on the impeachment resolution, according to a GOP leadership aide. The House Rules Committee is expected to meet Monday afternoon to advance the measure.
“From his time in the Justice Department as a U.S. Attorney to his service as Deputy Secretary and now Secretary of Homeland Security, he has upheld the rule of law faithfully and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the values that make our Nation great,” Biden will say. “Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retribution that would do nothing to solve the challenges our Nation faces in securing the border.”
🎶 Music, Please! 🎶
😡😫 Republicans in Disarray 😠🥵
Oh my stars, these Republicans are just descending into chaos all over the place. These stories are disturbing, but they also point to a level of disfunction that simply cannot continue. The party is falling apart — and most deservedly so. No, they aren’t without power and haven’t self-destructed completely, yet, so yes they still pose a threat to all of us and our democracy. But this is evidence of the extinction spiral. We need to keep up our courage and endure the extinction bursts until we all finally come out the other side. Which we will.
Nancy Mace’s staff quits en masse
A Major Sign of Trouble in Nancy Mace’s Office: Total Staff Turnover, Reese Gorman, Daily Beast, February 5, 2024.
As of Monday, according to three sources familiar with the matter, Mace’s entire D.C. staff has turned over since Nov. 1, 2023.✂️
The lone exception to those eight staffers who left Mace’s office on their own accord is now-former chief of staff Dan Hanlon, who was fired on Dec. 1. Hanlon has subsequently filed to run against Mace in her South Carolina district.
As for the rest of her former staff, they all quit. That includes her deputy chief of staff Richard Chalkey, her legislative director Randal Meyer, communications director Will Hampson, a financial adviser, a staff assistant, two legislative assistants, and her military legislative assistant. And from what the departed staffers told The Daily Beast, there was good reason to leave.
That’s Joe Cunningham’s old district (gerrymandered, naturally). Too bad for the people there that they cannot get better representation.
Staffers who aren’t quitting are squabbling with each other
The Senate staffers know that Republican sabotage of national security will doom their chances of regaining control of Congress. Luckily for the country, the Senators can’t seem to help themselves!
GOP Senate aides accuse one another of 'betrayal' during tension-filled meeting: report, Travis Gettys, Raw Story, February 5, 2024.
Republican Senate aides clashed during a Monday morning meeting over the bipartisan border bill.
Communications directors for GOP senators met to discuss the deal, and staffers for Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), a strong opponent of the bill, started "yelling" at staffers for Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who is leading the talks, after they gave a presentation on the proposal, reported Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News.✂️
The Lee aide eventually left the room complaining about a "betrayal," and Desiderio reported that staffers who remained in the room "erupted into laughter" when that staffer left.
Senate Republicans agitating to oust McConnell
I’m not a fan of punchbowl news — and their headline is stupid hyperbole. There was no actual “brawl”, even if the heated rhetoric alarmed the sympathizers within the Punchbowl staff. However, it is surprising that several R senators are willing — even eager — to throw the most effective right wing extremist Senate leader they’ve ever had under the bus. As the desperation and disfunction reaches fever pitch in the Republican party, they’ll turn on each other more and more. Makes you wonder just how much they all have to lose, that they continue to careen along this path to destruction.
‘Mutiny’: Far right GOP senators start to give McConnell the McCarthy treatment, David Badash, New Civil Rights Movement via Raw Story, February 5, 2024.
"Brawl erupts in Senate GOP over border security supplemental," is the AM headline at Punchbowl News, with the news outlet reporting: "the bill’s release Sunday night was like pouring gasoline on the fire that is the Senate GOP internal war. Senators and aides publicly and privately questioned whether a majority of the Republican Conference would back it, a key metric. There were even calls for an immediate leadership change from some GOP senators and conservative outside groups."✂️
"This is worse than bad negotiation. It’s betrayal. The Senate GOP can still stop it if 41 [Senators] will stand together," Lee wrote on X, calling it a "crap-sandwich" and the "Border Capitulation Bill."
Making even more clear his desire to see McConnell replaced, Lee added: "Senate GOP leadership screwed this up—and screwed us. Even while refusing to let us see the bill they claimed to be negotiating on our behalf—for MONTHS—they were never in doubt, insisting we’d be dumb and even unpatriotic NOT to support it. This is a disqualifying betrayal.
Unsurprisingly, Sen. Lee was the one to announce, "WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP — NOW."
The tribulations of MAGA Mike
Why Mike Johnson Is Having a MAGA Meltdown Over the Border Deal, Greg Sargent, The New Republic, February 5, 2024.
The House speaker is afraid that if the Senate bill passes, the GOP will partially own the border crisis. He—and Trump—also fear the bill will work.
Johnson gave away the game on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. He falsely declared that Biden “opened the border” and “did it intentionally.” In this, Johnson hinted at his oft-expressed version of “great replacement theory,” that Democrats are scheming to convert migrants into Democratic voters. Johnson insisted that Biden “doesn’t need” a bill to fix the border; that he “has the authority right now.”
That’s baloney: Even Trump was unable to use executive authority to achieve MAGA’s goals, though he tried extremely hard. That’s why he ended up releasing many migrants too. But that aside, the rub here is that Johnson and Trump must sink the Senate compromise in order to keep arguing that Biden wants the border “open” and is “intentionally” refusing to take executive actions to shut it down. A bipartisan compromise that stabilizes the border wrecks that big lie, not to mention making the dabbling in great replacement theory—which is central to the MAGA worldview—look even crazier.
Mike Johnson's latest strategy 'further alienating' him from GOP's right wing: report, Travis Gettys, Raw Story, February 5, 2024.
"The ever-shrinking margin has forced Johnson to put some bills directly onto the floor under a procedural move known as suspension of the rules as his right flank has increasingly taken to tanking rule votes on the floor in a show of protest," the network reported. "But that strategy compels the need for a two-thirds majority to pass bills, requiring significant Democratic support, and further alienating Johnson and the right wing of his conference."
Johnson can afford to lose only three votes to pass legislation if all members are present and voting, but two Republicans – House majority leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who's recovering from a stem cell transplant, and Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), who was hospitalized last month after a car accident – have been sidelined.
A special election to replace Santos will be held Feb. 13, and Democrats have a chance to pick up another seat to cut into the GOP majority.
Even Republican cheerleaders are dismayed
House GOP is a 'car being driven at high speed by a drunk': conservative, Kathleen Culliton, Raw Story, February 5, 2024.
“I can’t quite believe I’m saying this, but I have a rooting interest in Republicans losing their majority,” Stephens told Collins. “So-called sane House Republicans are basically passengers in a car being driven at high speed by a drunk.”
Stephens condemned Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) “and his fellow clowns” who have actively fought against sending aid to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion devastated the nation and fueled economic insecurity across the globe.✂️
Stephens also lambasted House Republicans’ impeachment probe into Mayorkas, whom they accuse of “high crimes and misdemeanors” linked to his management of the U.S. southern border.
“In a season of dumb ideas, it may yet be the dumbest,” Stephens said. “If policy differences are now going to become impeachable offenses — well, two can play the game. The next Republican president can now expect that a Democratic House will return the favor.”
(nifty: he is wrong there, but nice try to both sides it, Brett)
They are of course trying to please TFG, who will never be appeased
Republicans scramble to get Trump his payback -- yet keep coming up short, Heather Digby Parton, Salon, February 5, 2024.
As usual these days, Republicans in Congress are a bubbling cauldron of chaos and dysfunction with wild hearings, inexplicable strategy and internal strife. They are all fighting among themselves trying to curry favor with their party's leader, Donald Trump, and jockeying for power. And it's an election year, which even in placid times turns politicians into preening posers desperate for money and attention. It is a combustible situation.
The budget is still not settled although they managed to extend the deadlines for a short while as they try to hammer out deals on taxes, national security and the border. And they have a lot of work to do on all the investigations they are currently pursuing, which to this point are utter embarrassments.
The big show was supposed to be the impeachment of Joe Biden, promised to Donald Trump as payback for the two impeachments he endured. That one's not looking good at the moment. ✂️
In the next few days, we should see a vote in the House of Representatives to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as part of their current election year border extravaganza.✂️
They know this is bogus, of course. It's all for effect, much like the dozen or so different Benghazi hearings in the run-up to the 2016 election.✂️
Every. Single. Time.
TFG’s behavior is utterly, completely predictable. He will destroy them all.
Trump Gives RNC Chair Unwanted Kiss Of Death, Probably Won't Get Sued For This One, Greg Legum, Wonkette, February 5, 2024.
Poor Ronna Romney McDaniel has spent the last few years absolutely abasing herself for old Donald “Bronzer Butt” Trump. And we do mean abasing herself.
She stopped using her maiden name because Trump doesn’t like her Uncle Mitt. She went full-on babbling nativist “the Messican cartels are coming to kill your children with rainbow-colored fentanyl” in public, where people could hear the words she said. As head of the Republican National Committee since 2017, she has made it clear that the GOP stands firmly behind Bronzer Butt during all his perils and tribulations: his attempted coup, his impeachment, his second impeachment, his criminal trials, his civil trials, his being a huge reason the party has gotten hammered in elections at all levels of government … we could go on, but the Internet only has but so much space.
Of course she did all this presumably knowing what everyone else on the planet has figured out by now, which is that Trump has all the loyalty of a sewer weasel. So she could not possibly have been surprised this weekend when he used a TV interview to toss her under the bus like she was one of his wives or something.
Thank Ceiling Cat they are incompetent!
Republicans Hold a Great Hand on Immigration—and They’re Blowing It, Bill Scher, Washington Monthly, February 1, 2024.
For years, Republicans have been battering President Joe Biden over immigration and accusing him of caring about Ukraine’s territorial integrity more than America’s. The strategy has worked.
In a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, Biden scored a scant 18 percent approval on his handling of immigration—the lowest rating for any president in 20 years of surveying the question. ✂️
But House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican conference appear prepared to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Instead of crowing that Biden is swallowing Republican border policies that stoke anger on the left and depress Democratic general election turnout, House Republicans are not only shunning the nascent Senate deal. They are also speeding towards a brazenly political, legally vacuous impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
No doubt saying “yes” to impeachment and “no” to legislative compromise is emotionally satisfying to the GOP’s rabid MAGA base, and putative presidential nominee Donald Trump has insisted that they kill the bill. But this strategy—and I am using the word “strategy” with extreme charity—will expose the Republican concern with the border as political, without any interest in the safety and security of average Americans.
Yes, Republican witch-hunts (real witch hunts, rather than the projection of TFG and his confederates) may come back to haunt them. Here’s hoping!
🎶 Music Time 🎶
⚖️ Legal Matters ⚖️
Like I said last week: this is not going to go away, buster!
Legal analyst warns Trump "has some explaining to do" after court-monitor flags "fraud" evidence, Gabriella Ferrigine, Raw Story, February 5, 2024.
Former federal judge Barbara Jones wrote in a 12-page letter that she had identified "certain deficiencies in the financial information that I have reviewed, including disclosures that are either incomplete, present results inconsistently, and/or contain errors," adding in a footnote that a $48 million loan Trump claimed to owe to one of his companies did not exist. Rubin described how the letter "points to improprieties in Trump's financial statements."
"One of the things that it points to, and maybe the thing that's most troubling about it, is for years it's been understood that one of the business entities in the Trump Organization loaned former president Trump personally $48 million," she said. "According to Judge Jones in a footnote in this letter, she could never find, no matter how many times she asked, documentation of that loan and was later told, essentially, that the loan didn't exist."✂️
"And you might be thinking to yourself, what's the big deal about that?" Rubin asked. ''The big deal is if that loan did not exist and it was, instead a gift, there would be massive tax consequences to that as well as some improprieties in the financial reporting that went to Trump's financial institutions and insurance companies. In essence, a continuation of that same fraud that's been going on for years and has been showing up in his financial disclosure."
Legal scholar: New Jack Smith filing exposes Trump's "frivolous" defense, Areeba Shah, Salon, February 5, 2024.
The prosecutors in the filing said that discovery requests should be grounded in specific demands directly relevant to the case, necessary for preparing the defense. They criticized Trump's team for seeking records “based on speculative, unsupported, and false theories of political bias and animus.”
“The defendants rely on a pervasively false narrative of the investigation’s origins,” the prosecutors wrote. “Their apparent aim is to cast a cloud of suspicion over responsible actions by government officials diligently doing their jobs. The defendants’ insinuations have scant factual or legal relevance to their discovery requests, but they should not stand uncorrected.”✂️
They contended that the government faced an “extraordinary situation” with a former president engaging in “calculated and persistent obstruction of the collection of Presidential records,” which belonged to the United States. The records included a “trove of highly classified documents containing some of the nation’s most sensitive information,” which the law required to be collected.
The former president is facing dozens of felony charges in a federal court in Florida, alleging the unlawful handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and impeding government attempts to recover them.
It is “commonplace” in criminal litigation that when the defense has a “weak case,” they attack the prosecutor, Bennett Gershman, a former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University, told Salon.
Explainer on the attempts to remove TFG from ballots in states
I won’t try to quote from this because it is just too long and spread out. It’s free to read at AP and it is interesting. My guess is these cases won’t result in TFG being kicked off the ballot in any meaningful way, but it points to Job 1 as soon as we get through this. We must rebuild and strengthen the guard rails so that someone like TFG can never again get near so much power.
Here’s how 2 sentences in the Constitution rose from obscurity to ensnare Donald Trump, Nicholas Riccardi, AP, February 5, 2024.
Righteous effort continues
The bad guys are not the only ones who can be relentless. We have right on our side and we won’t give up the fight for justice and democracy.
SCOTUS conservatives given 'taste of their own medicine' in new brief, Travis Gettys, Raw Story, February 5, 2024.
The non-profit Public Rights Project (PRP) filed an amicus brief on behalf of historians who argue that the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause should apply to the former president, and that the framers of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment clearly intended that the provision would not only apply for former Confederates but to leaders of future rebellions, reported The Guardian.
"The brief gives the Supreme Court’s originalists, who believe the constitution should be interpreted as it would have been in the era it was written, a taste of their own medicine," the publication reported. "Conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett are self-declared originalists while Samuel Alito has described himself as a 'practical originalist."✂️
“The evidence that we have seen and heard and watched with our own eyes over the last few years has made it quite clear that President Trump lost an election in 2020 and has spent the months and years since then trying to overturn the results of that election in a variety of ways, including people marching to the Capitol and invading the Capitol," Habig said. “It’s difficult to argue with a straight face that these activities don’t qualify for Section 3."
TFG and conservative cabal are not invincible
Yes, they have long had too much power and avoided consequences for their corruption. That’s been true of men in power for far too long. But that’s changing. And we have determined people — including ourselves! — who will keep up the dogged pursuit for as long as it takes.
I Prosecuted Donald Trump and Won. Here’s How It’s Done. Tristan Snell, Daily Beast, February 2, 2024.
Most people don’t think Donald Trump will ever face justice. Certainly his supporters don’t think so—but even among those who want to see a fair process of real accountability for Trump, there is pessimism, bordering on cynicism. Prosecutors are weak, or co-opted, or lack the courage to pursue justice wherever it leads, they say, and so Trump will get away with everything. Prominent, wealthy figures are untouchable and above the law: this is how many people feel right now.
This narrative is wrong. Donald Trump can absolutely be held accountable. I know, because I did it.✂️
The playbook for how to defeat Trump is now well-defined—and it’s being followed by many of the prosecutors who are pursuing his various alleged misdeeds.
There are several key elements: courageous leadership, a stoic refusal to be distracted or daunted by Trump’s counterattacks and diversions, dogged and comprehensive investigation, and devotion to savvy communication not only in court filings but with the media and the public.✂️
This playbook may seem simple, but it requires exceptional discipline and dedication to playing the long game, grinding it out, and eventually wearing Trump down—either winning in court, or winning a settlement. And this is the playbook that many of the current prosecutors and litigants are deploying: these cases have seemed slow, but, out of public view, they have accumulated massive amounts of evidence that they are pushing forward, every day, until the momentum is unstoppable.
Trump has mostly avoided accountability for 50 years now, floating above the law. But if the playbook is followed, those days are likely to end soon.
🎶 Music Break 🎶
🧶🧹 Bits and Pieces 🧵🏷
Decent start to the year for my city 🙂
Shootings, Homicides in Chicago Both Down at Least 25% to Start 2024, According to Police, Matt Masterson, WTTW, February 2, 2024.
Through the first month of 2024, both shootings and homicides across Chicago have fallen by at least 25%.✂️
“We are trending in the right direction,” Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said when discussing the city’s crime trends during an appearance Wednesday before the Economic Club of Chicago. “But we also understand that there are people who are still being affected, and we’re going to continue to work for those people.”✂️
According to the CPD, the number of robberies — which spiked throughout 2023 — is down 28% thus far when compared to the same time last year.
I try not to post anything from Xitter anymore (I don’t go on there anymore either — my choice, not everyone’s), but search as I might, I was not able to find this entire performance anywhere else.
EDITED TO ADD: It looks like the recording on Xitter was taken down, so here is the YouTube of Tracy Chapman’s original recording (remastered):
It’s just good for the soul to listen to such an iconic song, performed by the artist herself and backed up by another artist who has covered the song, to great success — Combs was nominated for best song, his recording went to no 2 last year and Tracy Chapman won best song for it at the Country Music Awards last November. People on the left and the right were briefly unified: everyone had to admit it was a beautiful moment. 💙 I was so pleased to learn that Tracy Chapman has earned residual royalties for Luke Combs’ cover and not only that, after the performance on Sunday night, Chapman’s own 1988 version shot to number one in song searches on various music websites. Her recording went to #6 on the charts in 1988; maybe her version will go to #1 in 2024! That would be my kind of good news — a raw, gorgeous, truth-telling song still having the power to move people!
‘Boom, Nation Healed’: Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs’ Grammy Performance Draws Bipartisan Social Media Praise, Jamie Frevele, Mediaite, February 5, 2024.
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️ We can still make a good economy much better, Oshan Jarow, Vox, January 31, 2024.
⚡️ Why Nevada has both a primary election and a Republican caucus this week, Ashley Lopez, NPR, February 5, 2024.
⚡️ What attachment styles can — and can’t — explain, Allie Volpe, Vox, February 5, 2024.
⚡️ 💝A special (easy) treat for Valentine’s Day? Yes, please! Those Cakes We Like … Are Cheesy Romantics At Heart, Wonkette, February 4, 2024.
⚡️ It’s OK to stop when you feel better: Plenty of People Could Quit Therapy Right Now, Richard A Friedman, the Atlantic, February 5, 2024.
⚡️ Despite Climate Change, Today Is the Best Time to Be Born, Maarten Boudry, Human Progress, January 25, 2024.
⚡️ These are the climate grannies. They’ll do whatever it takes to protect their grandchildren. Jessica Kutz, the 19th, February 1, 2024.
⚡️ 82% of U.S. Adults Are Hopeful About Their Own Future and Their Community’s Future, Good News Network, February 4, 2024.
⚡️ Major research suggests humans can break free from tribalism, Lucy Purdy, Positive News, February 1, 2024.
⚡️ Omigosh, I need this! How to make small talk when you hate small talk, Rebecca Jennings, Vox, August 24, 2022.
🐩💙 CG’s Picks 💙🐩
Hello Everybody, it’s me, Curlygirl!
Today, I intend to make good on a promise I made in my mind last week. I promised in my mind that I would find some nice cat videos! We have lots of Gnusies who really like cats just as much as dogs. I didn’t realize how much I write about dogs until someone mentioned last week that they would enjoy a best of cats video like the best dogs video I found. I like cats, too! I think that’s a brilliant idea! So I went looking and I found something really nice! Only one thing could be better than cats: KITTENS! 😍
For Crystaline (and all cat lovers in Gnuville):
🐈⬛ Good reasons why cats like to lie on top of the fridge!
I don’t know about yours, but all the cats in our family love to lie on top of the fridge. I figured it was because the top of the fridge was maybe warm? But that’s not the reason! Well, maybe it is a little bit, but the MAIN reason why cats like to be up there (or up anywhere high like on the tippy top of their cat tree) is called survival instinct! Cats are so cool!
Why cats love to be up high — and how to DIY a lofty spot for yours, Colleen Grablick, Washington Post, January 30, 2024.
It’s a scene familiar to most cat owners: Your fluffy friend is curled up on top of a kitchen cabinet, purring like a radiator, or sprawled on your dresser amid a sea of knickknacks they knocked over during their biiiiiig stretch.
Many domesticated cats gravitate toward high-up hangout spots, reigning above our (their?) living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. But what’s so attractive about lounging at such altitudes? Is it a show of dominance over the home — an affirmation of the commonly held human belief that cats think they’re superior?
According to cat behavior experts, not really.
“They are better than us, but that’s not why they go up high,” jokes Rita Reimers, a cat behaviorist and co-founder of the Cat Behavior Alliance.
Nearly all domesticated cat behavior can be explained by survival instinct, including their propensity to situate themselves in lofted areas. As both predator and prey, resting at a high vantage point allows cats to eye their potential dinner while avoiding becoming someone else’s (yes, this intuition persists even for house cats whose meals get delivered in a dish). “Everything a cat does is for the survival of themselves and their species,” Reimers says. It’s less about showing superiority over the home and more a way to gain the most advantageous view of their resources and environment.
🐈 A Cat-Cam!!
This is very cool! I think Mama should put one of those things on me, especially when I am playing fetch! However, the headline writer for this article kind of made a funny! 😄 They said “owner put a first person camera on their collar” and it sounds like they are saying the human owner was wearing the collar! 😂 Even so, it’s a really cool idea and the video below is a good sample (plus it has a black cat in there and me and Mama really like black cats and so does cc!):
Cat owner put a first person camera on their collar and accidentally filled the world with delight, Annie Reneau, Upworthy, February 5, 2024.
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a cat? To watch the world from less than a foot off the ground, seeing and hearing things humans completely miss, staring out the window for hours while contemplating one of your nine lives?
Well, thanks to one person, we need wonder no more—at least about what-they're-seeing part.
The TikTok channel Mr. Kitters the Cat (@mr.kitters.the.cat) gives us a cat's-eye view of the world with a camera attached to Mr. Kitters' collar. And the result is an utterly delightful POV experience that takes us through the daily adventuring of the frisky feline as he wanders the yard.
(CG says: I don’t go on tik tok, but I found this Mr Kitters video on YouTube):
🐲 Lunar New Year begins on February 10!
One of my human sisters-in-law was born in the Year of the Dragon. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? I was born in the Year of the Horse and I think that’s why Mama sometimes calls me little pony!
The Year of the Dragon could be lucky — but only if we’re kind to one another, Kimmy Yam, NBC, January 30, 2024.
The upcoming year’s dragon sign is perhaps the most popular zodiac creature, associated with a host of positive qualities such as nobility, wealth and wisdom.
The year’s dragon sign is, more specifically, a wood dragon. The element of wood is seen in Daoist tradition as a return to the natural state of being, which in the dragon’s case, points to a return to kindness. And Confucian thought interprets wood as a symbol of unlimited potential.
“I’m seeing this wood Dragon year as a year of unlimited potential in terms of prosperity. Long-term, it could also be the year in which major conflict can be resolved, if people can focus on empathy,” said Jonathan H. X. Lee, a professor of Chinese folklore and religion at San Francisco State University. “If we continue our tribal thinking and selfish thinking, we’re not going to achieve it.”
With ongoing wars across the globe and with the United States in an election year, he said, it’s important to approach contentious discussions in good faith.
“This comes from the teachings of Taoism, as well as Buddhism and Confucianism. Violence and conflict erupt and grow and fester and get even worse because of the ego,” Lee said. “If there is any kind of conflict, one is to suspend the ego and be reflective and introspective.”
🐴 The Budweiser Clydesdales are back!
Every year a super big football game happens and we like to watch the game AND the commercials! I like the ones with animals and so does Mama. Our favorites have been the ones with the Clydesdale horses and the dogs who live on the Budweiser farm, I believe. I’m not sure what they grow on that farm, but they have loads of horses and several dogs, too, and the ads are terrific.
Anyway, for some dumb reason, last year the Budweiser farm didn’t make an ad with the horses! I do not know why and cannot understand it. But lucky for everyone who likes them, this year they fixed that and are having a new ad with the Clydesdales again. YAY!
Exclusive 1st look at Budweiser Super Bowl 58 commercial with iconic Clydesdales, GMA, January 31, 2024.
"Budweiser has been synonymous with the Super Bowl for decades and the broadcast continues to be a very special moment for our brand and a core pillar of our advertising strategy," Kristina Punwani, head of marketing at Budweiser USA, said in a statement. "We knew there was no better way to show Budweiser's continued commitment to delivering for its fans than with our biggest celebrities."
Anheuser-Busch teased the new commercial with a timeless message of resilience on social media ahead of the commercial, which airs in full on game day, Feb. 11.✂️
The St. Louis, Missouri-based brewery first introduced the Clydesdales in 1933 as a symbol of quality, heritage and tradition for Anheuser-Busch following the repeal of Prohibition. That year, August A. Busch Jr. and Adolphus III surprised their father August A. Busch Sr. with the gift of a six-horse Clydesdale hitch reminiscent of the days of the traditional beer wagon, the company shared with "GMA."
🐕🦺 US Coast Guard saves dog trapped in a big box!
I can’t even imagine how scared this dog must have been. Thank goodness those Coast Guard guys found her!!!
‘It’s scratching, dude’: US Coast Guard inspectors rescue stowaway dog from shipping container, AP via the Guardian, February 3, 2024.
It was just another routine day of inspecting shipping containers at the Port of Houston for US Coast Guard officer Ryan McMahon when he and his team thought they heard barking coming from inside one of the thousands of containers that surrounded them.
“Oh, it’s scratching, dude,” one of the inspectors said on a video they recorded Wednesday morning as the team looked up at the container, stacked about 25ft (8 metres) in the air.
A crane was used to bring it to the ground, and out popped a very sweet and friendly dog.
“As soon as we opened it, we could see the little dog’s face poking out. She was right there, like she knew we were going to be there to open it for her. And she just, she wasn’t scared or anything. She just seemed happy more than anything, to be out of that dark space and in the arms of people that were going to take care of her,” McMahon, a petty officer 2nd class, told the Associated Press on Friday.
Coast Guard officials would later determine that the canine – since nicknamed Connie the container dog – had been trapped for at least eight days, with no food or water.
🦅 Eagles are very cool-but scary- birds
Here is a neat video of a pair of eagles who have built a nest high up above a valley with a lake. I wonder how someone got a camera up there? Anyway, the eagle mama and eagle papa are awaiting the arrival of their chicks. They already have the eggs — THREE of them! — and now it’s a matter of time. Eagles take turns keeping the eggs warm, so in this video we can see the papa eagle arriving from I guess a morning flying around looking at stuff and finding food. The mama eagle greets him enthusiastically and then she gets up and flies off to also go look at things and eat stuff. Then the papa eagle hops into the nest and settles down for his shift to keep the eggs warm.
💙 That’s all I have for this week. I hope you liked today’s stories! Bye for now! 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.
Donate to re-elect Joe Biden!
Oh, and don’t forget!…. Share Goody’s Boosting Biden series on social media —
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
That’s it from me and CG for another Tuesday. Remember, Gnusies, you need to take good care of yourself. You are important to the rest of us, as well as to your friends and family. Eat nutritious food, get some rest and you know I am going to add something about getting outdoors each day. But I wrote it differently today! See? I really do write it fresh every week! 😄
But seriously, do get outdoors every day if you are able. Even a few minutes for a breath of fresh air and some natural daylight can do you a world of good.
Time for me to sign off for another week. Happy Tuesday, Gnuville!