Welcome back friends to the Monday Good News Roundup, that time of week where your intrepid GNR Newsroom (Myself, Killer300, Bhu, and the fine folks at the GNR Discord) bring you good news stories, music, cute animals and cartoons to start your week off right.
Now if you visit the GNR Discord, you know that some of our friends there are having a rough go of it; they are constantly seeing the bad news and the doomers, and listening every time one of the GOP opens their mouth and says how much they wish they could do awful things to us, and today they straight up asked me how I manage to cope with all of it.
And to be honest, I don’t really have a good answer for that. Like, in 2016 Trump winning destroyed me, I was wrecked emotionally. I fell into a deep depression, I was having panic attacks, For basically three whole months I was completely inconsolable.
And then eight years later, 2024 rolls around, and Trump wins again, and I am… Upset? Definitely. Annoyed? Surely? I was worrying I would fall into another deep pit of despair again but strangely it never happened. And for the life of me I can’t tell you why.
It could be that I had just gotten tougher in the eight intervening years. It could be I’ve already survived one Trump administration so I knew what to expect. It could be that the message board I frequent had put a moratorium on US politics discussion to prevent this sort of thing from happening so I was able to digest the goings on as it happened. It could just be that 2024 was a pretty shitty year for me personally altogether, Losing my apartment and other woes, so I actually had...I wont say real problems but I had more immediate problems, so politics was a secondary concern. But whatever the reason I just do not have it in me to lose my shit over this jackass anymore.
Not to say the news of Trump trying to dismantle our Government or mass deport people or talking about getting a third term isn’t alarming or worthy of concern, but at the same time I have to look at Trumps success record and shake my head.
Because to be clear, Trump is not the first shitty president we have had: I’ve said this before but other presidents have done far more damage to our democracy; Nixon, Reagan, Dubya, all of them terrible, terrible presidents and the damage they caused to us is still being felt today (Especially Reagan holy shit).
Trump is not special or different from any of them except in three regards: One, he’s utterly incapable of hiding his intentions. Like Reagan and Dubya were monsters, but they were able to at least fake being personable and likeable and charming, Trump can’t even do that. Two. We have a vast social media network giving us live updates of everything as it happens, so its way harder to ignore all the awful stuff Trump is doing whereas with Nixon or Reagan we may have missed the horrible shit they did. And Three, Trump is really, really bad at this. Like I am certain there are paths Trump could take to get what he wants, but he lacks the patience, the skill and the intelligence to do so, instead relying on Executive Orders. He just wants to pretend he’s a king and just give commands from on high. Well he’s not a king he’s a president, and he has to play by the same rules any other president does, and trying to game the system so far has not worked out well for him.
And in True GOP fashion, every time they lose they stick their hands in the pocket, kick the dirt, pout, and talk about how things would be better if they could just lock up the judges who are stopping them. Just the sourest of sour grapes.
I think the point I am making this this: Shit sucks right now, but we’ve been here before, and we will deal with it, the only way to get out is to go through it. We just have to hold on tight for four years and Trump is gone forever. I’m not saying its gonna be fun or easy, but its doable. So just buckle up gang.
Okay, lets get on with the news. But first some music: Everybody have fun tonight! Take it away Wang Chung!
Two Justice Department officials were denied access to the Library of Congress on Monday, causing a brief standoff on Capitol Hill.
The two officials—Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general, and Brian Nieves, a deputy chief of staff and senior policy counsel—were seeking access to the U.S. Copyright Office but were denied entry at around 9 a.m., sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The New York Times.
The pair had brought a letter from the White House declaring that they were going to be serving in two top positions at the library under Todd Blanche’s leadership and recommendation. Blanche, the deputy attorney general, was named acting librarian of Congress by President Donald Trump on Monday—an appointment that would have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Ha! I love to see this. Never resist in advance. (Also I was Binging the Librarians TV series when the election happened, so you know, don’t mess with librarians).
A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship is helping launch an initiative to assist other immigrants facing deportation in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody.
Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on 30 April. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a “substantial claim” that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees.
As you can see, the resistance is alive and well.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Pro-European Union candidate Nicusor Dan on Sunday won Romania’s closely watched presidential runoff against a hard-right nationalist who modeled his campaign after U.S. President Donald Trump. The victory marked a major turnaround in a tense election that many viewed as a geopolitical choice for the former Eastern Bloc country between East or West.
The race pitted front-runner George Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the hard-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, against Dan, the incumbent mayor of Bucharest. It was held months after the cancelation of the previous election plunged Romania into its worst political crisis in decades.
Good news out of Romania.
The U.S. DOGE Service arrived at the Social Security Administration this year determined to slash staff and root out what it claimed was widespread fraud and wasteful spending - a mission Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team has pursued across the government.
But as of this week, many of the major changes DOGE pushed at Social Security have been abandoned or are being reversed after proving ineffective, while others are yielding unintended consequences and badly damaging customer service and satisfaction. The problems come as the agency struggles to cope with a record surge of hundreds of thousands of retirement claims in recent months.
Good riddance, We may be stuck with Trump for at most four more years, but we need to boot Elon out of Washington yesterday.
The Trump administration is doing its best to scare Americans, so when powerful people call out the intimidation tactics, it matters. This time it’s Pedro Pascal, who urged Americans to “fight back” and “don’t let them win.”
Pedro Pascal used a Cannes press conference for a film with a strong anti-MAGA message to say, “F*ck the people who try to make you scared.”
Wise words to be sure.
Last week, following the death of Pope Francis, Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was named pope by his peers at the Vatican. He took the name Pope Leo XIV — widely seen as a reference to Pope Leo XIII, a pontiff remembered for his reforming spirit and for his encyclical on the rights of workers.
The new Pope Leo also shares Francis’s commitment to the rights of migrants. Like Francis, he has criticized the Trump administration in general and JD Vance in particular for their cruel anti-immigration policies.
In short, the new pope, like the old pope, does not support MAGA’s christofascist nationalism. MAGA, confronted with the fact that they do not control everything or everyone, responded in their usual fashion — by wailing and gnashing their teeth.
Yeah I’m liking the new Pope.
A federal court held the very first hearing on President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging, so-called Liberation Day tariffs on Tuesday, offering the earliest window into whether those tariffs — and potentially all of the shifting tariffs Trump has imposed since he retook office — will be struck down. The case is V.O.S. Selections v. Trump.
It is unclear how the three-judge panel that heard the case will rule, but it appears somewhat more likely than not that they will rule that the tariffs are unlawful. All three of the judges, who sit on the US Court of International Trade, appeared troubled by the Trump administration’s claim that the judiciary may not review the legality of the tariffs at all. But Jeffrey Schwab, the lawyer representing several small businesses challenging the tariffs, also faced an array of skeptical questions.
I wonder what will happen if they forbade Trump from making Tariffs. Like that has been his big power move this time around, take that away what’s he got?
A surge of support from Latino voters helped Donald Trump to win last year’s election, but new data finds that those same voters are now souring on his presidency amid his heavy-handed immigration crackdown.
A new poll from the Democratic group Equis Research, conducted in conjunction with Data for Progress, shows deep cracks in the so-called multiracial coalition the GOP hoped to build. And if the trend holds, Trump won’t just be bleeding support—he’ll be dragging down his party with him.
Among Latino voters who backed former President Joe Biden in 2020 but flipped to Trump in 2024, a staggering 64% now say Trump has gone too far with deportations and is targeting immigrants who strengthen the U.S. That’s in line with the share of overall Latino voters (66%) who think that. And only 29% of Latino voters overall agree with the idea that the pain inflicted by deportations is a “price to pay to ensure our safety.”
I’m not gonna lie I’m amazed any Latino person would EVER vote for Trump. Like you guys remember how he opened up his political career right? Calling immigrants criminals and rapists? Like does no one remember the first Trump term? (Apparently not because they ELECTED HIM AGAIN). Ah well, something something Leopards blah blah at least they are turning on him now.
Trump wants us to believe he is all-powerful. He wants us to believe that opposing him is futile or worse. He wants you to accept that there’s nothing you can do to limit his ability to harm our country and our democracy. But that simply isn’t true.
In truth, Trump is quite weak and afraid.
His greatest weakness is elections. He fears their outcome. That’s why he issued an illegal and unconstitutional executive order to try to seize control of them.
There are things every one of us can do in our daily lives to help ensure free and fair elections — and, in doing so, limit Trump’s power. Some actions are small — so small that you might dismiss them as unimportant. Don’t. Every important journey begins with a single step, and the first is no less important than the last.
Like I said, things are rough now, but don’t lose hope, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Now for a musical break: MC 900: If I only had a brain
Conservative and liberal judges across the country this week ruled against President Donald Trump in at least 11 different lawsuits challenging his administration’s immigration, elections and anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
The flurry of anti-Trump rulings suggests that, for now at least, the courts are mostly holding firm as a bulwark against the administration’s authoritarian power grab.
Once again, the courts are stemming the tide of Trumpism.
Republicans on the House Budget Committee sank President Donald Trump's signature piece of legislation on Friday, with a quintet of hard-line Republicans voting it down in committee because the legislation doesn't make big enough cuts to Medicaid and food stamps.
The “One Big, Beautiful, Bill” was before the committee so that Republicans could meld together all of the other GOP committees’ portions of the legislation, a critical step before it could go before the full House for a vote.
I don’t know if I’m amused or horrified by the fact it failed because some Republicans decided it wasn’t horrible enough, but you know what sometimes you have to take the win.
Los Angeles lawmakers have advanced a measure that would make the city home to the nation's highest minimum wage, approving a plan to raise hourly pay to $30 for tens of thousands of tourism workers by 2028, the year the city is set to host the Olympic Games.
The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-3 on Wednesday to approve the proposal, which applies to hotels with more than 60 rooms and businesses operating at Los Angeles International Airport.
Holy shit this is awesome. Give me some of that please.
Now, I have hoped against hope that I didn’t have to do something like this. However, there still are people that are just into the fact trying to say that America is an autocracy already. Let’s put this out of the way right now. If we were in an autocracy right now…we wouldn’t even have any protest going…all of our media would be as Russian media…everything we have would have been censored, and so-on. So the question I need to ask, is why are people mistaking a weak man like Trump for a strong-man? That’s a projection. We know he is weak, and he’s not intelligent, nor cunning, nor talented.
Too many of y’all, even on social media…still haven’t gotten this point yet. Trump is a coward, and would prefer if anybody else did the work for him. He is a wannabe mob boss, who has made a mess of how things are supposed to go. Also let’s keep in mind that things haven’t gone Trump, or the GOP’s way at all. If anything much of their wish list hasn’t been able to come to fruition. Also keep in mind that they made angry the wrong people.
This is an article that has kept a friend of mine on discord going through the hard times. Hope it helps you too.
- Billionaire Microsoft co-founder speeds up donation plan
- Gates says his foundation will spend around $200 billion by 2045
- Foundation has already given away $100 billion
- Urges governments, wealthy people to help world's poor
Bill Gates is kind of alright. See this is what tech Bro billionaires were like when I was growing up, not losers like Elon.
Antarctica was in the news this week in a surprising way: it was gaining ice, rather than losing it.
While Antarctic ice sheet loss has averaged around 147 gigatons per year for the period between 2010 and 2020, a remarkable reversal occurred at the opening of this decade.
Writing in China Earth Sciences, researchers at Tongji University, led by Dr. Wei Wang and Professor Yunzhong Shen, reported that East Antarctica’s Wilkes Land and Queen Mary Land region recorded 108 gigatons of average ice sheet mass gain per year from 2021 to 2023.
1 gigaton is equivalent to 1 billion tons, and 108 gigatons is the equivalent weight of 1.5 million of America’s flagship aircraft carriers, to use a silly bit of context to aid the reader in their imaginings.
This is surprising and good news. Nature is healing.
I think that’s a good ending point for this week. Time for Pokemon
And now, the cute corner.
And last but not least, the organizing spotlight, showing you how you can fight Trumpism.
Why building inspiring alternates is necessary to counter authoritarianism
Congress: Protect the right to dissent
Demand your rep vote no on the nonprofit killer bill
And that does it for this week, see you guys next time.
