Welcome 😄 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
I’m expecting today to be a little lighter in terms of news, because lots of places are closed and plenty of journalists are taking a well-deserved break.
I’m thankful for the GNR, and I am so grateful to all of you. We are making a difference. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, because the evil guys never seem to stop, but we will stop them. We just have to keep at it. Our actions inspire others to act. Shouting that truth matters and love matters — both good phrases for the holiday season — helps others to make them matter too.
Everything was said better by the folks at Indivisible, when Leah sent this out on Thanksgiving:
Ezra and I came up with a lot of bad ideas that just didn’t fit. Great Society. Four Freedoms. Then I thought about the Pledge of Allegiance. I had an idea. I tried saying it out loud: “Indivisible.”
It gave us both goosebumps. One Nation, Indivisible. It was more than a word -- it was a promise. Because in this moment, with Trump poised to take power, when our democracy and our neighbors would be under attack, we would need to fight together, indivisible. That was the only way we’d make it through.
A couple weeks later, Ezra tweeted out a link to a Google Doc: “Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Resisting the Trump Agenda.” Within an hour, the traffic on the doc was causing it to crash. And that very night, we started getting emails from folks all over the country who were angry and scared and organizing. People who would pick up the charge, start leading this movement, and help change the course of American history. People who would soon start calling the groups that they had formed “Indivisible” groups.
Yes, the Trump administration has been as damaging and cruel as we could possibly have imagined. But in response to something so incredibly evil, and dark, and corrupt, Indivisibles have responded with love, light, and determination.
It hasn’t always been easy, but we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last year, we were a part of the Blue Wave that brought dozens of new progressives into office nationwide. This year we’ve had victories in places like Virginia and Kentucky. And in just the last few weeks, we’re finally getting real movement towards impeaching Trump and holding him and his cronies accountable for their crimes.
Hope you had a good meal yesterday. We ate chicken at home, because pneumonia forced me to cancel travel plans (but we got full refunds by sending the diagnosis to the airline), and a turkey would have been too much. But I am truly on the mend, and I hope you are well too.
Can’t find the GNR sometimes? Follow me and the other authors (see the regular welcome message in the comments) and you will find the diaries in your activity stream.
Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the very bad stuff that is happening. 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. We have to keep demoralizing them. Name, blame and shame! IT IS WORKING! WE HAVE EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE 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.
💙 Toxic 🍄 Trump Matters 👎 & Russia, Russia, Russia 🐻
Trump has been frauding for years Intelligencer
Last month, ProPublica found huge discrepancies between the figures Trump has cited for the profitability of two Manhattan buildings given to lenders and what he reported to city tax authorities. As you might guess, Trump tells lenders he’s rich and tells the government he’s poor. An accounting professor called it “versions of fraud.”
ProPublica has another report today, showing that Trump has run the same scam for Trump Tower. In 2011 and 2012, Trump told a lender that his rooms were 98.7 percent and 99 percent occupied, but told the city it had just an 83 percent occupancy rate.
This isn’t being clever, finding a complicated tax shelter, or taking full advantage of what the law allows. It’s just, by all indications, straight up fraud. What these figures can’t settle is whether Trump is defrauding his lenders, cheating on his taxes, or both. Both of those forms of fraud are crimes. None of the experts contacted by ProPublica could formulate an innocent explanation. And as Congress decides whether it should deem Trump’s abuses of power to be high crimes, surprisingly little attention has been given to the fact that Trump’s entire career leading up to the presidency has consisted of habitual criminality.
More problems for Giuliani Mother Jones
Rudy Giuliani is in danger of being charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer for possible crimes including violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, reports say. And on Wednesday the Washington Post reported that Giuliani negotiated earlier this year to be paid $200,000 to represent Ukraine’s top prosecutor at the same time the two were working together to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and other matters. His firm also stood to make $300,000 for repping Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice. The talks went far enough for the parties to create draft retainer agreements, according to the Post and New York Times.
These negotiations were in early 2019—not long before Giuliani put the prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, in touch with John Solomon, a right-leaning US journalist then at The Hill. (Giuliani described connecting Lutsenko in an interview last week with far-right pundit Glenn Beck.) Solomon publicized Lutsenko’s claims, many of which Lutsenko later withdrew, winning the prosecutor attention from Trump’s circle. Lutsenko used that access to influence US policy toward Ukraine, helping to force the ouster of Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, who was critical of Lutsenko; his cultivation of top Trump administration officials may have also been part of his effort to hang onto his job after President Volodymyr Zelensky’s election in April. (Underscoring the legal danger to Giuliani, Lutsenko is reportedly the unnamed official described in the indictment of two Giuliani associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, as directing a plot to oust Yovanovitch.)
Some background on Giuliani Talking Points Memo
After he left the mayoralty at the end of 2001 Giuliani made tens of millions of dollars on his reputation as “America’s Mayor” and a 9/11-based terrorism and security expert under the shingle Giuliani Partners. In the nature of things that rep was more valuable abroad than at home. He cashed in big time. That went on for about 15 years with a brief timeout for his failed 2008 presidential bid. He also had his own law firm Bracewell Giuliani, before leaving the firm to join Greenberg Traurig in 2016. ✂️
In the nature of the things, by 2015 and 2016, the 9/11 juice, for lack of a better word, was getting thin. Donald Trump’s election and his close association with Giuliani turbocharged Giuliani’s ability to make money abroad from mobsters, plutocrats, foreign governments, plutocrats closely allied to dictators. In the great majority of these cases, Giuliani was selling services he had no clear ability to provide. Either he subcontracted the work, the work was actually influence peddling or possibly there was no work at all. When he became the President’s “private lawyer” his saleability skyrocketed. ✂️
According to Josh [Kovensky], Giuliani had been doing business in Ukraine long before Trump’s ascent to power. We’re now learning the full measure of his work there in the last two years. There’s what he did for Trump, which we’re learning a fair amount about. But as we’re learning at each stage in the process he was also trying to set up “consulting” deals with almost everyone whose path he crossed. As we know, these included oligarchs with notorious ties to organized crime, crooked pols, Ukrainian-American con-men. Even on the basis of what is currently known publicly it’s difficult to imagine him not facing extension federal corruption charges. It’s simply hard to play in the domain he was operating in without committing lots of felonies. And he doesn’t seem to have been concerned about doing so.
🐊 Draining the Swamp 🐊
Climate change professor can sue the National Review Wonkette
Yesterday, the Supreme Court denied a cert petition in Competitive Enterprise Institute and National Review v. Michael E. Mann, letting a DC Court of Appeals order allowing the lawsuit to go forward to stand.
And I don't know about y'all, but I can't wait to see the bros over at the National Review go in front of a DC jury.
When this Supreme Court refuses the opportunity to jump in to both protect the bootlickers at the National Review AND try to debunk climate change, you know someone done fucked up.
💙 Democrats Are Great 🌊
Republicans 🐘 Got Nothing 👎
Andrew Gillum is working to deny Florida to Trump Yahoo News
“The president knows as well as anybody how critical Florida is,” Gillum, the former mayor of Tallahassee, Fla., and the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor in the state, told Yahoo News, referring to the 2020 presidential election. “We are the only state on the map right now that could deny Donald Trump single-handedly a second term. So the president’s campaign manager nationally has relocated to the state of Florida. His national Hispanic outreach effort is based out of Miami, Fla., and now he has moved to the state of Florida as a way to further shore up his support.”
“People are going to see through those kinds of antics,” he added. “Florida is a highly competitive state, and I've committed that my job between now and November 2020 is doing everything that we can to flip Florida blue in the presidential race and in all the races below.”
Note that Postcard to Voters has a campaign going on encouraging Dems to sign up for Vote by Mail.
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
💙 Maine aims to step up its game in climate crisis The Hour
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s governor has signed an executive order requiring the state to step up investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy and emissions reductions.
Democrat Janet Mills’ order signed Tuesday is her latest effort to make the state a national leader in combating climate change.
Her order requires prioritizing energy and fuel efficiency for buildings and vehicles; reducing travel; and installing renewable energy generation. Mills already installed solar panels outside the Blaine House.
💙 Kansas governor working to fix flawed foster-care system hd news — from the governor
Over the past several years, the state failed. The deliberate dismantling of foster-care services by the past administration put many at-risk children in harm’s way. As a state senator, I was first to bring attention to the shocking revelation of the Department for Children and Families not knowing how many foster-care children were missing on its watch.
The system clearly was overwhelmed by children and families in need, yet resources were stripped from DCF — even as the number of children in foster care had risen 36 percent from 2012 to 2017. ✂️
In January, as governor, I called for swift and meaningful change to a ravaged system that was failing vulnerable children.
My first act was to appoint a Secretary with decades of high-level human services work in Kansas. No one is more committed, or better prepared to tackle the monumental challenge of fixing the foster-care system than DCF Secretary Laura Howard.
I directed Secretary Howard to rebuild DCF and implement short- and long-term strategies to protect children and strengthen families.
She immediately hired more than 40 social workers to work with children and their families. As for the commitment to long-term programs and services needed to deliver realistic remedies to family problems, we’re now using Family First Prevention Services proven to keep children out of the foster-care system. ✂️
This new set of services has produced encouraging results. The number of missing or runaway children in foster care has steadily declined and we now have measures in place to enhance transparency on this issue that was lacking in the prior administration.
DCF also created a special response team to not only find missing children, but also help identify the appropriate services they need to put them on a positive life trajectory.
💛 Utah to ban conversion therapy for minors American Independent
After a long struggle to reach an agreement, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert announced Tuesday that his administration will ban harmful anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy on youths. Utah will become the 19th state with such a ban.
Herbert, a Republican, said he has directed the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing to file a new rule that will ban conversion therapy on minors in the state.
"The stories of youth who have endured these so-called therapies are heart rending, and I'm grateful that we have found a way forward that will ban conversion therapy forever in our state," he said. The rule will apply to "all licensed therapists practicing in Utah."
💜 Texas Republican party 2020 strategy somehow gets to Democrats Dallas News
AUSTIN -- In a bizarre political blunder, a document laying out the Republican Party of Texas’s election strategy for the 2020 elections has ended up in the hands of Texas Democrats. Attacking Democratic candidates through websites and mitigating “the polarizing nature” of President Donald Trump are part of the plan.
The document — called a draft for initial discussion by the Texas GOP Party chair — was titled “Primary/General Election 2020 [Draft]” and began showing up in Democratic emails Monday evening. ✂️
“Starting after the Primary, the RPT will generate microsites for negative hits against the Democrat candidates in our twelve target race—we expect each microsite to be roughly $500,” the document reads. “We will then begin rolling out these websites, prioritizing the races that were within 4% in the 2018 election.”
So, how are all these things getting leaked? Do we have moles in the R party? Or are some Rs just so sick of what their party is up to that they’re sending this stuff out? Or do we have hackers in the D party?
🐍 Schadenfreude 🍎
Bevin lost the vote of his own Lt. Governor Talking Points Memo
Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton said that she voted for the Libertarian candidate over Gov. Matt Bevin (R) in his unsuccessful reelection bid against state Attorney General Andy Beshear (D).
“I did not vote for him. I didn’t,” Hampton told local radio station WDRB. “It was his to lose, and he lost it. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. He lost my vote. I’m really sad to say that.”
Her vote doesn’t come as much of a surprise after the two had a very public falling out beginning last January.
First, Bevin abruptly dropped Hampton from his reelection ticket in favor of state Sen. Ralph Alvarado.
FOX News not doing so well with impeachment DailyKos
The numbers for the month of November tell a tale of woe for Trump's media minions. Year to year, Fox News viewership for the total day in the all-important 25-54 year old demographic declined 11%. That compared to MSNBC's rise of 5%. Fox's daytime ratings in the demo declined 5% (MSNBC was up 19%). And Fox's primetime schedule featuring Trump-fluffers Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity, dropped 12% (MSNBC was up 8%).
MSNBC's strong performance was once again driven by Rachel Maddow. Her program handily beat Hannity with an average audience of 572,000 a night. Hannity, Fox's top rated program, trailed with only 554,000. But she wasn't alone. Chris Hayes, Lawrence O'Donnell, and Brian Williams all notched highs for the year in their time periods. Williams ranked No. 1 in his timeslot among adults 25-54. On the dayside, Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace was the most-watched cable news show at 4:00pm for the third straight month.
Dick’s Sporting Goods crossed the NRA. Now Dick’s has to deal with the best sales figures ever Daily Kos
After the Parkland shooting, the CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ed Stack, promised the kids to stop selling all assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. (There is no reason for anyone outside the military to have these.) But he went further. He worked with Everytown for Gun Safety, he signed a letter endorsing gun safety legislation, hired lobbyists to push Congressional action, and even destroyed $5 million worth of unsold assault rifles. He made it clear that he was standing with the students against the NRA.
The fair and balanced media tried to do what they always do, and warned everyone that Dicks’ awoke a sleeping giant. Oh no, the NRA is going to boycott!! Those always work! The NRA promised that they would ensure that Dick’s sales would plummet. Sure enough, the NRA geniuses were out in force with dozens of YouTube videos blowing up $300/$1000 Yeti coolers ---that they had already paid for---to, you know, “own” the libs.
The promised backlash was intense, for about two weeks. After all, Dick’s caters to hunters and outdoorsmen, who tend to be the target audience for the NRA. It was a bold stand. Then something amazing happened: Dick’s found their sales growing significantly, quarter after quarter after quarter. Their stock skyrocketed, and they have consistently doubled Wall Street expectations this year.
And now?
The Pittsburgh-based chain posted its best quarterly sales result in six years Tuesday, with same-store sales up 6% in the company's third quarter. That comes on top of a better than 3% increase in same store sales in the second quarter, executives noted.
"We saw increases in both average ticket and transactions, as well as growth across each of our three primary categories of hardlines, apparel and footwear,” said Edward W. Stack, chairman and chief executive officer. “As we head into the holiday season, we remain very enthusiastic about our business."
I don’t buy much sporting equipment, but the next time I need something, I’ll go to Dick’s. And this should be of good cheer to all the politicians who are afraid of the NRA.
📣🏅 Let’s Honor Truth 🏅☀️ ️
This week I want to honor Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson of Washington, for her 118 page opinion blasting the pretense of executive privilege. Washington Post
U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of Washington found no basis for a White House claim that the former counsel is “absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony,” setting the stage for a historic separation-of-powers confrontation between the executive and legislative branches of the government. ✂️
The Justice Department’s claim to “unreviewable absolute testimonial immunity,” Jackson wrote, “is baseless, and as such, cannot be sustained.” ✂️
“However busy or essential a presidential aide might be, and whatever their proximity to sensitive domestic and national-security projects, the President does not have the power to excuse him or her from taking an action that the law requires,” Jackson wrote in a 118-page opinion. “Fifty years of say so within the Executive branch does not change that fundamental truth.”
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
I found this really touching. And yes, I want to cry as well.
📎📎Odds & Ends 📎📎
Giant-leafed tree declared its own species Ecowatch
At the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil, a framed exhibit of a massive dried leaf has been a local attraction for decades. But the complete identity of the tree it belongs to remained unresolved — until now.
Researchers have known that the tree is a species of Coccoloba, a genus of flowering plants that grow in the tropical forests of the Americas. Botanists from INPA first encountered an individual of the unknown Coccoloba tree in 1982 while surveying the Madeira River Basin in the Brazilian Amazon. They spotted more individuals of the plant over subsequent expeditions in the 1980s. But they couldn't pinpoint the species at the time. The individual trees weren't bearing any flowers or fruits then, parts that are essential to describing a plant species, and their leaves were too large to dehydrate, press and carry back to INPA. The researchers did take notes and photographs.
In 1993, botanists managed to finally collect two large leaves from a tree in the state of Rondônia, which they then framed for public viewing at INPA. "The species became locally famous, but due to the lack of reproductive material it could not be described as a new species for science," Rogério Gribel, a researcher at INPA, told Mongabay in an email.
The leaves can grow as long as 8 feet (thinking of BeeD as I type this). Here’s a picture:
Oh, and this was seen in Montana:
Plain talkers, those folks in Montana…
And this is interesting:
💙 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. However, given that we have taken back the House, the tactics moving forward need to be different. Indivisible has ideas to share.
Indivisible 2.0
This Guide is for what comes next. The 2016 Indivisible Guide was about using constituent power to defend our values, our neighbors, and our democracy. This Guide is about using our constituent power to go on offense.
Offense is exciting, but it’s more complex than defense. We have the opportunity to use congressional oversight to hold Trump and his cronies accountable. We can set the legislative agenda with a bold progressive vision rooted in inclusion, fairness, and justice. But none of this is automatic — we have to demand it of Congress.
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 get out the vote for special elections.
You can reach out to upset Republicans. Remember, a lot of them crossed over in the midterms! Get them to feel good about being blue.
You can share your ideas below.
🌻
🍀 “My experience has been that work is almost
always the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.” 🍀
Eleanor Roosevelt
🔥 If you’re going through hell, keep going! 🔥
Winston Churchill
🌹 🌹 🌹
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.