Welcome 😊 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Some weeks, the GNR is harder to write than others. Some of the news this week has been awful. A new variant of covid, possibly more infectious than the other variants. The signaling by the Supreme Court that women’s heartbeats no longer matter. Another school killing. And the gerrymandering.
It’s pretty hard to give these pieces of news any positive spin, but I write a lot of fiction, so I can do it, and sometimes even make it seem plausible. Perhaps omicron will get more people to vaccinate, or perhaps it’s less lethal. That’s speculation. However, what is certainly true is that we have the tools to fight this new variant, tools we know how to use. We may not like the drill, but we understand it. Most of us have masks. Most of us know how to social distance.
Perhaps the expected SCOTUS ruling will make more women finally get involved politically. Taking away rights is a lot less popular than giving them, so there’s a chance this will wake up some people. Also, much of the world has moved on in the meantime — Mexico! Ireland! — so the backwardness of the expected SCOTUS ruling will stand out like a sore thumb. What I think we need to do is to talk much more about so many of the situations in which women got abortions. There’s the assumption that this is all due to “sluts” when it is most certainly not. When people came out of the gay closet, then the attitudes changed.
There are no good spins to school killings or gerrymandering. With respect to gerrymandering, however, it’s not over until it’s over, so lobby your local officials, your representative and your senators, to take action in the way that’s appropriate.
Do not give up. We are in it for the long haul, for our sakes, for the sake of poor women, for the sake of the generations coming after us. It may feel like the problems are insurmountable. They feel that way until we surmount them. Remember what Gandhi said: “The future depends on what you do today.”
Come in, rest your spirit for a while, and see some of the great things that are being done by good people, sometimes solving problems that you may have not realized exist.
💙 Also, I must give thanks to the Daily Kos Help Desk, which — unlike so many “help desks” — has been so helpful lately. Not only have they assisted with a few issues, they reached out afterwards to thank me for bringing these issues to their attention. 💙
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.
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Remarks by President Biden During a Menorah Lighting in Celebration of Hanukkah
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Remarks by President Biden to Commemorate World AIDS Day, Launch the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, and Kick Off the Global Fund Replenishment Process
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, December 1, 2021
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: A Message to the Congress on the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America, the Government of Australia, and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Remarks by President Biden on the Nation’s Supply Chains
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Statement from White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients on First Case of the Omicron COVID-19 Variant in the United States
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Executive Order on the National Space Council
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Background Press Call by a Senior Administration Official on World AIDS Day 2021
- Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Fact Sheet: The Biden-Harris Administration Marks World AIDS Day 2021 With Renewed Commitments to Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic by 2030
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: Remarks by President Biden on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jen Psaki
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: Press Briefing by White House COVID-19 Response Team and Public Health Officials
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: Statement by NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne on National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Call with Romanian Presidential Security Advisor Ion Oprisor
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: Remarks by President Biden at Signing of Veterans Bills
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Build Back Better Virtual Rally
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: Bills Signed: S. 769, S. 894, S. 1031, and S. 1095
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: FACT SHEET: Virtual Engagement with Indigenous Women Leaders in Preparation for the Fourth Convening of the Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: President Biden Announces Defense Acquisition Nominee
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: A Proclamation on World AIDS Day, 2021
- Tuesday, November 30, 2021: A Proclamation on National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, 2021
- Monday, November 30, 2021: Remarks by President Biden During Meeting with CEOs of Companies to Discuss the Holiday Shopping Season and His Administration’s Work to Move Goods to Shelves
- Monday, November 30, 2021: President Biden Hosts Roundtable with Leading Retailers About Holiday Shopping, Stocked Shelves and Overcoming Supply Chain Challenges
- Monday, November 30, 2021: Remarks by President Biden Providing an Update on the Omicron Variant
- Monday, November 30, 2021:Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, November 29, 2021
- Sunday, November 28, 2021: Readout of President Biden’s Meeting with COVID-19 Response Team on the Omicron Variant
- Sunday, November 28, 2021: Statement by President Joe Biden on Hanukkah
- Friday, November 26, 2021: Remarks by President Biden in Press Gaggle
- Friday, November 26, 2021: A Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting Coronavirus Disease 2019
- Friday, November 26, 2021: Statement by President Joe Biden on the Omicron COVID-19 Variant
- Friday, November 26, 2021: Statement by NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne on National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Call with Head of Presidential Office Andriy Yermak of Ukraine
According to the CDC, 83% of US adults have had at least one jab, as of December 2, 2021.
👎 Out with the Bad, In with the Good 👍
The rest of the Mueller report may get released!
Meadows’ book may have undermined his claims of executive privilege Summer Concepcion Talking Points Memo
Jan. 6 committee members on Thursday told Politico that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows may have poked holes in his argument for withholding his contacts with former President Trump on the day of the deadly Capitol insurrection by revealing selected details in his book set to be released next week.
“It’s … very possible that by discussing the events of Jan. 6 in his book, if he does that, he’s waiving any claim of privilege. So, it’d be very difficult for him to maintain ‘I can’t speak about events to you, but I can speak about them in my book,’” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), one of the panel’s nine members, told Politico.
The timing may be really good for this
Also, Nevada plans a health insurance surcharge on the unvaxxed Axios
Nevada's Public Employees' Benefit Program Board voted Thursday to charge workers enrolled in public employee health insurance plans a surcharge of up to $55 a month if they're not vaccinated against COVID-19, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
Why it matters: Nevada is the first state to announce such a move, per AP.
The big picture: The surcharges for Nevada workers and adult dependents on the plans are due to take effect in July 2022.
💣 Republicans in Disarray 💣
Ohio Rs sue their party chairman for missing funds. Susan Tebben Ohio Capital Journal
Members of the Ohio Republican Party are suing the leader of their party and accusing him of being responsible for $3 million in “missing funds.” ✂️
Plaintiffs said they became aware of “potential financial improprieties, potential inaccurate financial reporting, the lack of an official audit … over more than a decade and unauthorized support of unendorsed candidates,” according to court documents.
“The millions of Republicans across our state deserve accountability and we are demanding it on their behalf,” said Rosenberger in a statement. “The Ohio Republican Party needs to be saved from within.”
Meadows and China? Zachary Petrizzo The Daily Beast
Far-right radio personality Stew Peters ambushed Mark Meadows this week on his nightly internet program, asking the ardently pro-Trump former chief-of-staff why he has allegedly been hanging around “Chinese communists.”
The unexpectedly antagonistic questioning came as the ex-Trump official made his rounds in right-wing media to promote his new book, titled The Chief’s Chief.
“Back on November 19th, this show discovered a really concerning report,” Peters stated while citing a claim made by far-right website The National File. Meadows has “very close connections with Chinese communists through the ridiculously named Humpty Dumpty Institute as well as the CCP-tied Taihe Institute,” the host continued.
The interview then turned awkward: “What were you doing with these Chinese communists, exactly?” Peters pointedly asked.
💙 Democrats Being Cool 💙
There’s this:
And there’s this:
And there’s this:
💜 Unity? 💜
Senate passes bill to fund the goverment Tony Romm and Mike DeBonis Washington Post
House and Senate lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill to fund the federal government into early next year, narrowly averting a shutdown after some Republicans sought to seize on the imminent fiscal deadline to fight President Biden over his vaccine policies.
The two successful evening votes spelled an end to a brief yet tense period that would have brought Washington to a halt come Saturday morning, a development that Democrats had described as irresponsible and dangerous in the middle of a deadly pandemic.
The new agreement, which awaits Biden’s signature, covers federal spending until Feb. 18. At that point, lawmakers must adopt another short-term measure or complete work on a dozen long-stalled appropriations bills that fund the government for the remainder of fiscal 2022, which ends in September.
If the Rs did not take a stand on the vaccine policies this week, they won’t do it later. With the 83% of adults with at least one jab, this is a losing issue. Especially as so many of their unvaxxed constituents are dying, you know, of covid.
💉 Progress being made on a universal vaccine Emma Beteul Daily Beast (members only, sorry)
One approach scientists are considering is creating a universal vaccine that will ideally fight off any COVID variant that might arise (or even better, any type of coronavirus in general, like those that cause the common cold).
“The dream of a universal coronavirus vaccine is that it’s a one-and-done intervention,” Anna Bershteyn, a public-health expert at New York University, told The Daily Beast.
Despite how much we’ve still yet to learn about how coronaviruses behave, a universal vaccine appears to be possible, and some even argue that one or more could be rolled out in time to combat Omicron. That hope is tempered by the fact that universal vaccines have a checkered history (we’ve yet to develop a universal flu vaccine, for instance) and could face major challenges in development—some scientific, others related to funding and public interest.
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
Contact your senators and tell them to protect Roe v. Wade! Indivisible
Also contact them about voting rights
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. This is a list with companies that sometimes have donated to the seditionists, and their current approach to supporting or not supporting 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.
🐍 Schadenfreude 😈
lawsuit against liars Travis Getty Raw Story
Two election workers in Georgia have sued a right-wing conspiracy website that falsely accused them of manipulating ballots to ensure Donald Trump's loss in the state.
Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss sued the Gateway Pundit website, which is run by twin brothers Jim and Joseph Hoft, after they were targeted with death threats, unwanted pizza delivery orders and racist harassment after the website pushed debunked claims that the two women “pulled out suitcases full of ballots and began counting those ballots without election monitors in the room," reported the New York Times.
“I want the defendants to know that my daughter and I are real people who deserve justice, and I never want them to do this to anyone else,” Freeman said in a statement.
Powell and Wood should be in prison, but this is a start. Note these are not the CO sanctions, but the MI sanctions.
tfg’s Irish golf course lost money Russ Choma Mother Jones
The global COVID-19 pandemic dealt former president Donald Trump’s golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland a heavy blow last year, with the resort, which has never been profitable, doubling its losses in 2020. According to a local news report based on required Irish annual corporate filings that are not yet available electronically, the complex lost just over $4 million in 2020. That red ink is likely a good indicator of just how poorly Trump’s broader, hospitality-focused business empire has fared during the pandemic.
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️
This week we’re honoring Justice Sonia Sotomayor NBC News
Justice Sonia Sotomayor used her questions during a Supreme Court hearing Wednesday on abortion rights to urge her conservative colleagues to follow precedent and not politics in deciding the case.
She noted that the sponsors of the 2018 Mississippi abortion law, which would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, had said they were pushing ahead with the legislation and a court challenge "because we have new justices" on the Supreme Court. ✂️
Sotomayor, who was nominated by then-President Barack Obama, said that tossing out the landmark rulings establishing abortion rights would tarnish the court's reputation and open the floodgates to other challenges to well-settled law.
“Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? I don’t see how it is possible," she said, while questioning Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart.
And there are the doctors who continue to work despite obstacles Emily Wax-Thibodeaux Washington Post
The New York physician was on her monthly commute to South Bend — an 800-mile trip across four states — to perform abortions. She is among about 50 doctors who travel regularly to 20 states, logging hundreds of miles, crisscrossing time zones to provide abortions in places where patients would otherwise not have access, according to Mary Frank, director of strategic initiatives at the National Abortion Federation, an association of providers. The doctors are paid by the clinics they serve.
Shah and other doctors who do such work say that their services have never been needed more — and that their commitment has never been stronger, with the nation at the most significant moment for abortion rights since Roe v. Wade made the procedure legal in 1973. Abortion opponents are optimistic that Roe will be overturned when a newly conservative Supreme Court rules next year on a Mississippi abortion ban, following arguments heard Wednesday. A Texas law that bans nearly all abortions after six weeks — the strictest in the country — is also being reviewed by the high court.
But even if Roe v. Wade is upheld, abortion rights advocates worry there will not be enough doctors to perform the procedure. That fear is part of what drives Shah.
“The commute is exhausting, of course, but I’ve seen firsthand how this care is so important to a patient’s autonomy over their own body,” said Shah, 38.
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love 💙
Wrong number leads to flowers and friendship️ Antonia Noori Farzan Yahoo News
More than 20 years ago, Mike Moffitt started getting a lot of calls from a Florida phone number.
The older woman on the other end of the line was trying to reach her daughter, who lives in Maryland. But she kept dialing area code 401, instead of 410 — and getting Moffitt instead.
Finally, "I said, 'Hey, what's your name?'" Moffitt told The Providence Journal last week. "And we started hitting it off."
The woman's name was Gladys, and as time went on, she became a steady fixture in Moffitt's life. But the two had never met — until recently, when Moffitt showed up to surprise her with flowers on the day before Thanksgiving.
📎Odds & Ends 📎
Lots of ocean stuff today. Hey, they cover 70% of the planet, so it makes sense.
Singing to fish Reasons to Be Cheerful
A recent research paper rounds up the evidence that the sounds of a healthy reef system can attract fish, helping to bring the coral back to life. In one 2017 experiment, scientists played recordings taken at one Great Barrier Reef site before cyclones and bleaching events devastated the area. Twice as many fish returned to the sites where the sounds were played. “We found that we could actually start to rebuild the reef community,” said one of the researchers.
The reason it works is simple: a noisy ocean is a healthy ocean. As Hakai writes: “fish whistle and grunt, sea urchins scrape food from the seabed, dolphins squeal.” These sounds signal to other marine life that the area is a good place to live, a tactic that has also worked with seabirds, as Hakai also recently reported. “The acoustic world underwater is critical for the survival of most animals,” said one of the researchers. “We are starting to see the world from their perspective in a way that we don’t, really, when we simply swim around with our eyes open.”
That garbage patch is now a home to many coastal species Olivia Rosane EcoWatch
The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, or the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” stretches for more than 610,000 square miles between California and Hawai’i. The gyre hosts around 79,000 metric tons of microplastics, nets, buoys and bottles. And, in a surprising turn, coastal life.
Scientists writing in Nature Communications Thursday have found coastal animals like anemones, hydroids and shrimp-like amphipods living on plastic collected from the open ocean.
“Floating plastic debris from pollution now supports a novel sea surface community composed of coastal and oceanic species at sea that might portend significant ecological shifts in the marine environment,” the study authors wrote.
Hey, when you have losers, you also have winners, and in this case it is the anemones. I still think we should get rid of the plastic, but evolution is always at work.
The tides will always turn — so use ‘em! Andy Corbley Good News Network
If there’s plenty of sky, but little sun; plenty of wind, but little land, where can the Faroe Islands look for renewable energy?
The answer is obvious, owing to their Viking origins: Sea Dragons.
The Sea Dragon is a unique form of kinetic energy generated by the movement of the tides. 40 meters below the surface, they are underwater kites or gliders that have a 16-foot wingspan and swim in a figure of eight position along with the tide, generating enough energy to power 50-70 homes.
Honduras elects first female president Axios
Former Honduras first lady Xiomara Castro is set to become the country's first female president, after the ruling party conceded defeat in the country's elections on Tuesday night, per AP.
Why it matters: The democratic socialist and her Libre Party have broken a 12-year run for the conservative National Party, which U.S. prosecutors alleged fostered a "narco-state," note Axios Latino's Marina E. Franco and Russell Contreras. ✂️
What they're saying: Secretary of State Tony Blinken congratulated Castro soon after Asfura conceded the election.
Ever think of a new way to freeze food? This method could save oodles of energy — and preserve food better, too Science Friday
Have you ever pulled a long-anticipated pint of ice cream out of the freezer, only to
find the strawberries crunchy and the normally creamy substance chalky and caked with ice? Freezer burn, a phenomenon caused by water in food crystallizing into ice inside the ice cream or fruit or meat during freezing, is a menace to taste buds, a driver of food waste, and even damages some of the nutritional benefits of food. And it’s always a risk as long as food preservation relies on very cold temperatures. Even flash-freezing, which works much faster, can still create small ice crystals.
But United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) food scientists, working with a team at the University of California-Berkeley, have a method that could help solve this problem. Normal food freezing, called isobaric, keeps food at whatever pressure the surrounding air is. But what if you change that? Isochoric freezing, the new method, adds pressure to the food while lowering temperature, so the food becomes cold enough to preserve without its moisture turning into ice. No ice means no freezer burn. And, potentially, a much lower energy footprint for the commercial food industry: up to billions fewer kilowatt-hours, according to recent research.
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: Hunters of the Feather, a story about a thinker-linker crow who wants to save birdkind from extinction, and the sequel, Scavengers of Mind. (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 — including a new one for lovers of Pride & Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet’s Advice to Young Ladies — and others on Greek mythology, can be found here.
💙 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 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.