Welcome everyone to Saturday’s Good News! I’m filling in for Goodie today and I hope you take the time this morning to dive in and see what’s going on in the world. So, without further ado and rambling on my part, let’s just get right to it, shall we?
Unions continue to grow. Even in the South?
Shawn Fain’s UAW has gone to war, and in any war you have victories and defeats. Mercedes was a defeat. But given organized labor’s many past failures below the Mason-Dixon line, the victories are much more newsworthy. They will remain so until they become routine, as I believe they will. It took three tries for the UAW to win last month at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant. The Mercedes vote was the first. It won’t be the last; the next vote could come as early as next year. In the meantime, on to Hyundai’s plant in Montgomery, Alabama. As I’ll explain in a moment, other union news out of the South isn’t as dismal as some reports suggest.
Like everything else, Unions won’t win every battle but it’s encouraging to see how far they’ve come in the past few years.
ICC seeks to arrest Netanyahu and Hamas leaders
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes.
Karim Khan KC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the day of Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October onwards.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the group's military chief Mohammed Deif, are also wanted for arrest.
ICC judges will now decide whether they believe the evidence is sufficient to issue arrest warrants - something which could take weeks or months.
More fallout from the Harrison Butker debacle
After Harrison gave his speech, it not only garnered a direct response from the NFL stating that Harrison's views were not those of the NFL as an organization but also widespread backlash from people across the country. But while a lot of people have vocalized their disgust about the commencement address on their own personal social media accounts, women have begun to leave sarcastic comments about their "abilities as a woman" directly on the Kansas City Chiefs's Instagram account — and they're brutal in the best way possible.
Please click this link and read some of these comments. Freakin’ hilarious. Man, what a shit show this guy is.
Eddie Vedder also has some thoughts on Butker
Vedder then took direct aim at Butker, telling the crowd: “The irony was that the football player — well, kicker … You see the kicker doesn’t have the pads because he doesn’t tackle anybody or get tackled — but he started telling men, ‘Don’t forget to puff up your chest and be more masculine. Don’t lose your masculinity.’ The irony was that when he was saying that, he looked like such a fucking pussy.”
“There’s nothing more masculine than a strong man supporting a strong woman,” Vedder said as the audience roared with applause and cheers.
Of course Fox News and the right wing media fell over themselves defending Butker and grabbing every MAGA loving female they could find so that they could run headlines like “Women defend Butker’s speech!” Yeah, ok. Keep telling yourselves that.
MN Dems have had enough of Repubs delay tactics
DFL leaders, claiming to be fed up with GOP delay tactics, placed many of the remaining bills into one massive bill — 1,430 pages worth — and passed it in less than 10 minutes in the House and 15 in the Senate. Ignoring shouts of objections from Republicans, as well as attempts to be recognized for debate or motions, House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate President Bobby Joe Champion moved both bills to passage before the midnight deadline for regular session actions.
In a word, good! Thanks to WineRev for this story.
MA millionaires tax a big success!
The “millionaires tax,” which went into effect for the first time last year, is set to bring in billions.
State officials announced Monday that the surtax on high earners had generated more than $1.8 billion in revenue this fiscal year, with three months left to go, according to the State House News Service.
This means state officials could have millions of dollars to spend on transportation and education initiatives.
Excellent! More of this please.
Biden forgiving even more student loan debt
The Biden administration said on Wednesday that it would forgive $7.7 billion in student loans for more than 160,000 borrowers, its latest effort to reduce the burden of education debt on households.
The relief is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s improvements to its income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
“The Biden-Harris Administration remains persistent about our efforts to bring student debt relief to millions more across the country,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement.
More great news in the cancer fight
Oxford University scientists have discovered proteins in the blood that could warn people of cancer more than seven years earlier than currently possible.
In two studies, they identified 618 proteins linked to 19 different types of cancer, including 107 proteins in a group of people whose blood was collected at least seven years before diagnosis.
The research team discovered that the proteins could be involved at the very earliest stages of cancer, when the disease could be prevented.
It is such a relief to see so much progress being made to fight cancer. I’m sure we all know people who have had to deal with it or have passed from it. It’s about time that we are starting to see some real progress.
Fanis Willis wins primary!
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Fulton County district attorney who filed a series of historic indictments last year against former President Donald Trump easily defeated a challenge from within her own Democratic party on Tuesday.
Fani Willis defeated Christian Wise Smith in Georgia’s general primary, setting up a Nov. 5, 2024, race against Republican Courtney Kramer. Willis was declared the night’s first winner by the Associated Press, which called the race shortly after 7:30 p.m.
“We’re in this fight for the long haul,” Willis said in a Tuesday night victory speech. “This election is bringing into focus very important matters.”
Surprising SC win for trans rights in a red state
COLUMBUS- In a victory for transgender Ohioans and their families, the Supreme Court of Ohio has rejected a request by the state to narrow a temporary restraining order granted by a lower court blocking the state from enforcing its ban on gender-affirming medical care for trans youth.
On Wednesday, April 24, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Ohio, and the global law firm Goodwin Procter filed a motion to intervene in the mandamus case, Yost v. Judge Holbrook. The legal organizations, representing two Ohio families whose children are at risk of losing critical life-saving medical care, urged the Ohio Supreme Court to deny the state’s emergency request that Judge Holbrook, of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, drastically narrow the scope of the temporary injunction he placed on House Bill 68.
The fight continues and we’ll lose some of these but we also must celebrate the victories. Especially in red states!
And now, this:
That does it for me, folks! Now I’m off to spend the day in Nantucket. Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. Have fun and be safe. Strange out.