Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
The polls are all over the place. And we keep hearing how the rapist is winning, which makes no sense, and probably isn’t even true.
We here usually know better, even when we don’t always feel better about things. The special elections and the midterms were good for our side. Other great indications are the fundraising numbers. The DNC is in good shape, while the RNC is a hot mess.
But, whatever you feel, I ask you to get to work. Most of you are regular readers, so you know what you can do. Money. Volunteering. Postcards. Posters. Talking to friends and to young people.
It could be a tough fight. There are external evil forces that want us to lose. There are misguided Americans who don’t seem to understand how dangerous the situation is.
We need to do all we can to get ready and get set.
In the meantime, come on in, and see how the good guys are working hard and how the bad guys are getting in trouble. Tell us, too, how you are figthing!
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, the chaos, and yes, even the attempts to cling to power despite the clear will of the people. 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:
💙 There are more of us than there are of them.
💛 They are terrified when we organize. THERE IS LOTS OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE TERRIFIED!
💔 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. Here are the last week’s posts at the White House briefing room.
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: National Security Memorandum on Safeguards and Accountability With Respect to Transferred Defense Articles and Defense Services
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, February 8, 2024
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Amends U.S. Virgin Islands Disaster Declaration
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Nominations Sent to the Senate
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Statement from Senior Advisor and American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: President Biden Announces Key Nominees
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Michigan Disaster Declaration
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Readout of White House Roundtable on Clean Bus Manufacturing
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Background Press Call on Bilateral Engagements and the Trilateral Fentanyl Committee’s Fourth Meeting in Mexico
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Remarks by President Biden at a Campaign Reception | New York, NY
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Statement from Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the Visit of His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan to the White House
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on Loss of U.S. Marines in California
- Thursday, February 8, 2024: FACT SHEET: The Biden-Harris Administration Announces Historic Partnership with Major Sports Leagues and Players Unions
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024:Remarks by President Biden at a Campaign Reception | New York, NY
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby En Route New York, NY
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: FACT SHEET: Six Months After Maui Wildfires, Biden-Harris Administration Continues to Support Survivors and Impacted Communities
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Message to the Congress on the Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to the Widespread Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan and the Potential for a Deepening Economic Collapse in Afghanistan
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at a Listening Session on Women’s Health Research
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to the Widespread Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan and the Potential for a Deepening Economic Collapse in Afghanistan
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Message to the Congress on the Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to the Situation in and in Relation to Burma
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to the Situation in and in Relation to Burma
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at the Morehouse School of Medicine’s 2024 Women’s Heart Healthy Luncheon
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Nominations and Withdrawals Sent to the Senate
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: Readout of Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall’s Trip to Mexico
- Wednesday, February 7, 2024: President Biden Names Forty-Fifth Round of Judicial Nominees and One New Nominee to Serve as U.S. Marshal
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: FACT SHEET: Marking the Three-Year Anniversary of the National Security Memorandum on Revitalizing America’s Foreign Policy and National Security Workforce, Institutions, and Partnerships
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: Remarks by Vice President Harris During the “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” Tour | Savannah, GA
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: Bill Signed: S. 3427
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: Readout of White House Convening with Community College Presidents and Provosts
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: A Proclamation on National Tribal Colleges and Universities Week, 2024
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: Remarks by President Biden Urging Congress to Pass the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: On-the-Record Press Gaggle by NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: Statement from NSC Spokesperson Adrienne Watson on National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Travel to Belgium
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: FACT SHEET: The Biden-Harris Administration Advances Equity and Opportunity for Black Americans and Communities Across the Country
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: U.S.-Colombia Joint Communique: The United States and Colombia Reaffirm Their Shared Commitments to Advancing Shared Regional Goals
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024: FACT SHEET: As Affordable Connectivity Program Hits Milestone of Providing Affordable High-Speed Internet To 23 Million Households Nationwide, Biden-Harris Administration Calls on Congress to Extend Its Funding
- Monday, February 5, 2024: Readout of Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer’s Travel to Guyana and Colombia
- Monday, February 5, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on the Wildfires in Chile
- Monday, February 5, 2024: Remarks by President Biden in Press Gaggle | Las Vegas, NV
- Monday, February 5, 2024: Remarks by President Biden During Greet with MGM Resorts Management and Culinary Leaders | Las Vegas, NV
- Monday, February 5, 2024: Letter to the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148)
- Sunday, February 4, 2024: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Calls on Congress to Immediately Pass the Bipartisan National Security Agreement
- Sunday, February 4, 2024: Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on the Bipartisan Senate National Security Agreement
- Sunday, February 4, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on Bipartisan Senate National Security Agreement
- Sunday, February 4, 2024: Letter to the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148)
- Sunday, February 4, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on the Passing of Namibian President Hage Geingob
- Saturday, February 3, 2024: Statement from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Latest House Republican Bill
- Saturday, February 3, 2024: Readout of President Joe Biden’s Call with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico
- Saturday, February 3, 2024: Nominations Sent to the Senate
- Saturday, February 3, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on the Restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly
- Friday, February 2, 2024: Readout From Vice President Kamala Harris’s Convening of Faith Leaders in South Carolina
- Friday, February 2, 2024: On-the-Record Press Call on U.S. Military Operations in the Middle East
- Friday, February 2, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on U.S. Military Operation in the Middle East
- Friday, February 2, 2024: Readout of White House Domestic Policy Council and National Endowment of the Arts “Healing, Bridging, Thriving” Summit on Arts and Culture in our Communities
- Friday, February 2, 2024: Readout of White House Convening of State Legislators and Advocates on Safer States Agenda Progress
- Friday, February 2, 2024: Statement from President Joe Biden on the January Jobs Report
👎 Out with the Bad, In with the Good 👍
Ratings down for the tRump show The Economist
“It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” said Les Moonves, then head of CBS television, of Donald Trump’s presidential run in 2016. Mr Trump’s outrageous statements and the prospect of an electoral upset made for gripping viewing. Ratings surged.
The sequel is proving less entertaining. Cable news giants such as Fox, which reports quarterly results on Wednesday, have not experienced the “Trump bump” that they did in recent election year. The number of viewers tuning in to Fox’s coverage of the Iowa caucus last month was a third lower than in 2020 or 2015. Rivals like CNN and MSNBC have found the same.
Now, some may have just changed the channel. I’m sick of Kornacki, and Newsmax may have gotten some of the right-wing audience.
Veolia to build solar power at its landfill sites in France JP Casey PV Tech
French land management firm Veolia has launched a project to build 300MW of solar capacity on its landfill sites in France, as the French energy sector looks to decarbonise its operations, despite growing concerns over the availability of land.
Veolia plans to build 40 solar farms over the course of the initiative, and aims to bring the first projects online in 2027. The initiative follows in the footsteps of a similar scheme in the UK, which saw Veolia fund a 59MW solar farm on a landfill site in Essex, and considering Veolia is neither a solar manufacturer, nor developer, will likely have to partner with other firms to complete the work, as it did with REG Power Management in the UK.
💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes and Chaos 💣
Republican running for George Santos’ seat has lied less than George Santos Marcie Jones Wonkette
And because time is a flat circle, Republicans have once again gone with a fake it ‘til you make it candidate. Mazi Pilip, who currently serves in the Nassau County Legislature, is getting called out for fluffing her bio, in which she claims to have been an Israeli paratrooper. This appears to be a common delusion among members of her alleged party. But in fact, Pilip was actually only paratrooper-ish and did not jump out of planes, instead working as a gunsmith for her unit. But the part about being Jewish and an actual immigrant was true, and she doesn’t appear to have swindled a veteran out of funds for his sick dog, so … congratulations, Gippers!
There’s also the inconvenient detail that the Ethiopian-Israeli mother of seven is registered as a Democrat, but she promises to switch party affiliations if elected to the seat, so YOLO. ✂️
One can dream that Pilip, if elected, would turn out to be the Democrats’ answer to Manchin and Sinema, casting off the dreary hate and going all-in for universal healthcare, or even passing one single bill about anything at all. But given that she’s palling around and fundraising with Reps. Elise Stefanik and Mike Johnson, probably not.
At least she has some experience, serving a whopping two entire years for the 10th district of Nassau County, where she said very little and did even less, voting with Republicans on issues like redistricting, but also skipping key votes. And in typical Republican fashion, Pilip opposes the very programs she benefited from with no trace of irony, claiming that the Immigration bill — which gives Republicans literally everything they want, including WALL, and which they’re now adamantly against — “puts into law the invasion currently happening at our southern border.” (Fact check: There’s no invasion at the southern border. Most unauthorized immigrants entered legally and overstayed.) One thing members of the GOP all have in common: When reality is not looking good for you, just make up your own, and then con someone else into paying for it!
I’m assuming this is old by the time we get to Friday, but on Monday Maddow had a great segment on how the GOP is dissolving itself. It was just wonderful.
Nancy Mace’s (R, SC) complete office turnover Reese Gorman The Daily Beast
As of Monday, according to three sources familiar with the matter, Mace’s entire D.C. staff has turned over since Nov. 1, 2023.
That’s nine staffers in the span of a few short months—with all but one of those employees leaving on their own accord.
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.
Working for Rs must be so awful. Compare the turnover in the tRump administration to the turnover in the Biden administration. Also, these staffers are lucky that it’s easier to find a job in the Biden economy.
I heard on a Daily Beans podcast that Mace has been hiring the former staffers of George Santos.
🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚
Biden-Harris administration advanced opportunities for black Americans White House Briefing Room (note there’s MUCH more than I copied, but I know people have other things to do besides read the GNR)
✂️ … And this boom in wealth creation following the pandemic is helping to drive a historically equitable economic recovery. From promoting entrepreneurship to increasing access to homeownership and delivering the lowest Black unemployment rate, from proving it’s possible to reduce child poverty to historic lows to expanding access to quality affordable healthcare, from advancing voting rights and police accountability to ensuring equal access to a high-quality education with historic funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to investing in the future of Black communities.
Growing Economic Opportunity for Black Families and Communities
Through the President’s legislative victories, including the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—as well as the President’s historic executive orders on racial equity—the Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring that federal investments through the President’s landmark Investing in America agenda are equitably flowing to communities to address longstanding economic inequities that impact people’s economic security, health, and safety. And this vision is already delivering results. The Biden-Harris Administration has:
- Powered a historic economic recovery that created 2.6 million jobs for Black workers—and achieved both the lowest Black unemployment rate on record and the lowest gap between Black and White unemployment on record.
- Helped Black working families build wealth. Black wealth is up by 60% relative to pre-pandemic—the largest increase on record.
- Cut in half the number of Black children living in poverty in 2021 through ARP’s Child Tax Credit expansion. This expansion provided breathing room to the families of over 9 million Black children.
- Began reversing decades of infrastructure disinvestment, including with $4 billion to reconnect communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities by building needed transportation infrastructure in underserved communities, including Black communities.
- Connected an estimated 5.5 million Black households to affordable high-speed internet through the Affordable Connectivity Program, closing the digital divide for millions of Black families.
Helping Black-Owned Businesses Grow and Thrive
Since the President entered office, a record 16 million new business applications have been filed, and the share of Black households owning a business has more than doubled. ✂️
Increasing Access to Housing and Rooting Out Discrimination in the Housing Market for Black Communities
💜 Unity? 💜
Unanimous decision by an appeals court to reject tRump’s claim of immunity. Josh Kovensky and Kate Riga Talking Points Memo
Despite speculation given the court’s delay in issuing the ruling, all three judges on the D.C. Circuit panel joined the opinion. Some had wondered whether Judge Karen Henderson, the only judge on the panel appointed by a Republican president, was holding up the ruling by writing in dissent.
But the judges issued an opinion that was unanimous in finding that Trump has no special protections due to his status as a former president.
“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” the opinion said. “But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.”
The judges turned scathing in their recounting of the charges against Trump included in the indictment, calling them, if proven, “an unprecedented assault on the structure of our government.”
The unanimous decision emphasizes a key principle that Trump has sought to contest for the past several years: that nobody — not even the President — is above the law. The ruling doesn’t apply to Trump alone. It affirms a fundamental constitutional principle that holding executive power does not forever place you beyond the reach of criminal prosecution.
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
Tax-exempt organization complaint referrals. 13909. You can fill this out for the NRA and lots of other organizations. How about if some of us white folk go into some of the MAGA churches and video record what they’re saying?
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 😈
Texas man sentenced to 41 months for tax evasion Justice Department (I enjoy these so much!)
A Texas man was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for evading his taxes by not reporting income he earned while working overseas.
According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2013 to 2018, Peter Joseph Tignini, formerly of Cypress, Texas, worked in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, earning over $4,750,000 in income. For tax years 2013 through 2017, Tignini filed false tax returns that claimed that his income was only approximately $100,000 each year. The amount Tignini reported each year was near or below the amount that U.S. citizens who live and work abroad for most of a year can exclude from their taxable income on their U.S. tax return. Tignini did not file a return for 2018. As a result, Tignini caused a tax loss to the IRS of $1,169,348.
Following an interview with federal law enforcement, Tignini altered his employment contract and payroll documents to make it appear that his former employer, not Tignini himself, was responsible for failing to report the income and pay the tax. Tignini then caused his attorneys to provide the false documents to the Justice Department’s Tax Division and the IRS. After investigators asked a witness about the online program Tignini used to create the phony documents, Tignini attempted to delete the documents from his account.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Court Judge George C. Hanks ordered Tignini to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $1,169,348.60 in restitution to the United States.
Missouri state auditor Shad White says Brett Favre needs to repay more money Associated Press, The Score
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s state auditor filed court papers Monday renewing his call for Brett Favre to repay the state for welfare money that the auditor says was improperly spent on projects backed by the retired NFL quarterback.
Auditor Shad White’s demand of nearly $730,000 from Favre is the latest twist in a long-running legal battle over money that was supposed to help some of the poorest people in one of the poorest states in the nation.
By the way, Brett was going to hold Taylor Swift responsible if the KC Chiefs did not make it to the Superbowl.
Why does tRump want to be put in prison (for a day, not for years)? To raise money. In this clip, which is fun for other reasons as well, Beau talks about the diminishing returns of tRump’s stunts. And he needs more money...
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️
You know, at this point, my 339th GNR, I don’t remember all the people / organizations that have been honored in the truth section. So today — we are honoring Simon Rosenberg — may be a repeat.
But repetition is good, and Simon Rosenberg is valuable precisely because he has been repeating stuff, especially economic stuff, but also polling stuff. He can be a bit dry, but his message matters. Words in his Xweet: The most important, least understood story in American politics is that when Dems are in the White House we have growth, lower deficits, progress; and when Rs are in power we get recession, higher deficits, decline.
Note I am not the only one to notice the helpfulness of Simon Rosenberg’s positivity. On the Monday edition of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, he said there’s been a demand to have a regular “Simon Says” segment. People are so sick of the negativity! Demote Steve Kornacki and use Simon Rosenberg instead!
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
This week, we’re celebrating Jose Andres and the World Central Kitchen. which feeds those in need and has been dropping stuff into Gaza and helping those fighting fires in Chile.
Also the dems nominated him for the Nobel peace prize. And yes, anyone can nominate anyone for this honor, but this guy merits it!
After all, in a crisis, food is not just a necessity, it is a comfort and an act of love.
📎Odds & Ends 📎
☀️ India to incentivize solar rooftops in new budget Simon Yuen PV Tech
The Indian government has announced incentives for rooftop solar in its Interim Budget 2024-2025, offering ten million households the opportunity to obtain free solar electricity a month.
Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that free 300kWh of electricity will be provided to ten households in India every month under the rooftop solar plan. Under the plan, the beneficiaries can save up to INR18,000 (US$216.7) from free electricity and selling the surplus to the distribution companies.
🐦 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 upset 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.