Good morning, Gnusies! Well, once again I started this GNR worrying that I wouldn’t find enough good news to fill it and instead found more than one GNR can hold. A good problem to have, right?
So grab a big mug of your favorite morning beverage, settle into your comfiest chair, and let’s dig in.
Good news in politics
I think it’s a good sign that most of my good news today is political. The Resistance is rising, elected Democrats are stepping up, the mal-administration is tripping over its own clown shoes, and I for one am feeling ever more hopeful that we’re going to kick the kakistocracy to the curb.
The Republican anti-tax coalition is beginning to disintegrate
This op-ed was written by David Sirota, Arjun Singh, Ariella Markowitz, and Natalie Bettendorf of The Lever, an investigative news outlet, which is releasing “a new miniseries Tax Revolt, on the 50-year history of the anti-tax movement now culminating in the Trump tax cuts.”
From The Guardian:
In recent weeks, polls have shown Republican voters becoming far more skeptical of across-the-board tax reduction proposals. Reflecting that shift, GOP lawmakers are now trial-ballooning a proposal to increase some taxes on the wealthy. ...All of this has the Washington swamp’s old-guard Republicans in a panic...
So what happened? Why is the anti-tax argument losing its unifying power among Republicans? As the Lever’s new investigative audio series Tax Revolt details, the answer may lie in that movement’s key revelation a half-century ago. ✂️
[In the late 1970s, Republicans were convinced to] reimagine tax cuts not solely as a means to demonize government, but also as a way to court the working class with promises of life-bettering benefits. ...High-income tax cuts became the Republican party’s economic policy priority – and depicting such gifts to the wealthy as a boon to the working class became the GOP’s political strategy. ✂️
As Trump’s legislative agenda hits Congress, opposition to more high-income tax cuts is strong not just among Democrats and independents, but also among Republicans. Morning Consult reports that 70% of GOP voters believe “the wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes” – a whopping eight-point jump from six years ago. Moreover, “roughly 7 in 10 voters, including 2 in 3 Republicans, support proposals to raise taxes on earners making more than $400,000.”
Republican leaders are responding with the previously unthinkable: proposals to raise some taxes on the rich. Indeed, Trump reportedly floated the idea and some GOP lawmakers are considering creating a new top tax bracket.
This has touched off an intraparty civil war… [The] old guard believes Republicans can still get away with depicting billionaire giveaways as populism, and vilifying tax hikes on the rich. … On the other side are newfangled Maga voices...[who] sense political peril in Republicans presenting themselves as populists while their party enriches billionaires and corporations. ✂️
...the long-term politics of taxes are in flux. Running the same tax play would show a Republican president siding with oligarchs against the preferences of his own party’s rank and file… That’s a new and unpredictable dynamic – one that may finally begin weakening the anti-tax movement’s grip on power in the years ahead.
Pritzker: GOP cannot know a moment of peace. [Calls for “mass protests”]
More of this, please!
From The Hill:
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Sunday called for mass protests against the Trump administration and blasted “do-nothing Democrats” who have failed to mount a stronger opposition to the Republicans in control of the federal government.
“Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now,” Pritzker said in his keynote address at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner.
“These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,” he continued. “They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have.”
“We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box,” he added.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Cory Booker host a sit-in on Capitol steps over the GOP budget plan
Thank you, Hakeem and Cory!! This needs to happen daily, with lots more Dem senators and reps in attendance.
BTW, Schumer, where were you??
From NBC News:
A crowd listens during a livestreamed conversation with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Sen. Cory Booker D-N.J., on the steps of the Capitol on Sunday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., hosted hundreds of supporters at the Capitol on Sunday, sitting on the steps in protest of Republicans’ upcoming push to pass a budget reconciliation bill they hope will cut $1.5 trillion in federal spending.
“That bill, we believe, presents one of the greatest moral threats to our country that we’ve seen in terms of what it will do to providing food for the hungry, care for the elderly, services for the disabled, health care, health care for the sick and more,” Booker said at the beginning of the sit-in.
Democrats have for months warned that House Republicans’ budget blueprint would lead to over $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, a federal program that provides health insurance for low-income families.
Booker and Jeffries spoke at the beginning of the sit-in, which began around 6 a.m., about their religious upbringings, saying they would usually be attending services on Sunday morning but instead were hosting the conversation on the Capitol steps. “Martin Luther King said, ‘Budgets are moral documents,’ and that’s the spirit we come here with this morning,” Booker said before he urged supporters to join the two men online or in person.
Rep. Garcia returns from El Salvador with a sliver of hope for deported gay hairdresser
Jessiestaf mentioned this in yesterday’s GNR, but I thought you’d like more details.
From the LA Times:
Garcia, the Long Beach Democrat, and his colleagues (Democratic Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon and Maxwell Frost of Florida) weren’t allowed to see Abrego Garcia.
But they did deliver a small bit of hope for the family and lawyers of another man stuck in the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT — the promise from the U.S. ambassador in El Salvador to look into the case of Andry José Hernández Romero, another deportee who has vanished into the black hole of this foreign prison. ✂️
Garcia said he raised the case of Romero directly with the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, William Duncan, and received confirmation Tuesday from the embassy that they would make an official request for information on Romero.
“For the first time since Mr. Romero has been essentially kidnapped and sent to this prison, the embassy did acknowledge the actual case, and they did agree that they are going to actually inquire about his health and wellness, which no one had done up to that point,” Garcia said.
More than 75% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy, new poll finds
The more the Orange Outrage continues to crash the economy, the better our chances look for the midterms. The issues that gave him his greatest support were always the economy and immigration, and he’s burning them both to the ground.
From USA Today:
[In] a recent survey of more than 900 voters conducted by the New York Times and Siena College Research Institute, around 54% of participants said they disapprove of the president's handling of the economy, immigration, foreign trade and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The poll reported that 56% of participants said Trump has "gone too far" with changes from enacting tariffs, advancing immigration enforcement and cutting the federal workforce. ✂️
Though confidence in Trump's ability to manage the economy was a key selling point to many voters in the November election, 76% of participants said they disapprove of how he's handling it, the survey said. While 45% said their personal finances are in good shape, 44% expect to be hurt personally by his economic policies.
Inspector General Probes Whether Trump, DOGE Sought Private Taxpayer Information or Sensitive IRS Material
Good for the Treasury IG!!
BTW, Pro Publica is one of the news sources I’m happy to support with a monthly donation. They do very thorough and courageous work.
From Pro Publica:
A Treasury Department inspector general is probing efforts by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to obtain private taxpayer data and other sensitive information, internal communications reviewed by ProPublica show.
The office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has sought a wide swath of information from IRS employees. In particular, the office is seeking any requests for taxpayer data from the president, the Executive Office of the President, DOGE or the president’s Office of Management and Budget.
The request, spelled out in a mid-April email obtained by ProPublica, comes as watchdogs and leading Democrats question whether DOGE has overstepped its bounds in seeking information about taxpayers, public employees or federal agencies that is typically highly restricted.
The review appears to be in its early stages — one document describes staffers as “beginning preplanning” — but the email directs the IRS to turn over specific documents by Thursday, April 24. It’s not clear if that happened.
Democrat Jordan Wood announces 2026 bid to unseat Sen. Susan Collins
This story has been covered on DK, but I haven’t seen Jordan’s debut political ad posted. He has a perfect campaign slogan to use against Collins: “Courage, not concern.”
DNC Chair Ken Martin Launches “People’s Cabinet” to Fiercely Counter Trump Administration Chaos and Lies
This happened several weeks ago, but I think it’s worth highlighting.
From Democrats.org:
[On April 4th], DNC Chair Ken Martin announced the launch of the “People’s Cabinet,” a new project from the DNC
The People’s Cabinet will include a wide array of national, state, and local experts on the economy, health care, working families and communities, public safety, national security, and foreign policy.
In order to reach the American people, the Cabinet will conduct briefings with media and coalition partners, speak directly with Americans across the country
produce digital content to reach Americans across the platforms where they get their news
“what I hear over and over is that Americans want us to challenge Trump’s unimpeded lies, confront his reckless agenda, and offer a better alternative,” said DNC Chair Ken Martin.
“The People’s Cabinet is made up of experts, leaders, and everyday Americans from across the country who will equip communities with the reliable, accurate information they need to fight back against the worst of the Trump and Republican agenda.”
“Mike Johnson, you pissed off the wrong generation”
I love Voters of Tomorrow!
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Gen Z showed up🔥🔥🔥
Santiago Mayer brought the fire on the Capitol Steps, speaking for millions of young people suffering under MAGA Republicans but fighting back for their futures.
Mic drop: “Mike Johnson, come 2026, you’ll realize a simple truth—you pissed off the wrong generation.”
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— Jennifer ✨Get In Good Trouble (@thejenniwren.teamlh.social) April 27, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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The media — MSM failing, independents winning
WHCA keeps embarrassing itself
This next bit is hardly good news, but I think it’s important for us all to see just how deep the rot is in U.S. legacy media. Brian Stelter, so-called “media analyst” for CNN, approvingly posted these snippets from a speech given by Alex Thompson, national political correspondent for Axios, at the vestigial White House Correspondents dinner on Saturday. WHCA gave Thompson won an award for “overall excellence” for his coverage of President Biden’s “decline.” The “error” Thompson acknowledges isn’t that he savaged Biden — it’s that he didn’t savage him soon enough and hard enough. Clearly he’s addressing the audience of one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
And this is the perfect comment, by Max Berger (@maxberger.bsky.socia)l:
If members of the press are worried they didn’t give enough coverage to the cognitive decline of a sitting president, they have an amazing opportunity to make up for it right now.
Now some good media news:
Trump's Plan To Kill NPR Takes A Big Loss
From Politics USA:
One of the ways that Trump and his party have been attempting to delegitimize and, in the case of NPR and PBS, defund media that they believe are biased against them is to file complaints with the Federal Election Commission. Trump filed an FEC complaint accusing The Washington Post of in-kind contributions to Kamala Harris, and conservatives filed a complaint against NPR that claimed that NPR was controlled by the Democratic Party and advocated for former VP Harris during the 2024 election.
NOTUS reported:
The bipartisan Federal Election Commission has unanimously dismissed a complaint from conservative activists who alleged NPR is controlled by Democratic Party and “clearly and unmistakably” advocated for 2024 presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
The 4-0 ruling, released Monday evening, affirms what the FEC has previously established: that NPR is a legitimate news organization exempt from election laws governing political committees and candidates.
Anti-Trump Network Becomes Fastest-Growing Political Channel on YouTube
From Newsweek (!):
The MeidasTouch Podcast, which has topped the charts since the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term, has held firm as the country's most-listened-to show. Prior to its rise, the medium was dominated by conservative or pro-Trump voices—with the likes of Joe Rogan, Shawn Ryan and Ben Shapiro frequently topping the charts.
Trump himself appeared on a number of these popular shows while eschewing traditional media outlets in his 2024 bid for reelection—a strategy many say contributed to his political victory.
According to YouTube data captured between January 1 and April 1, MeidasTouch is the fastest-growing political and political-adjacent YouTube channel by net new subscribers. It beat out Fox News, MSNBC and Joe Rogan after gaining 1,080,000 new subscribers this quarter. Another entry to the top 10 was Adam Mockler, who hosts MeidasTouch's Gen Z news channel.
MeidasTouch—a media organization founded by brothers Ben, Brett and Jordy Meiselas—is a "pro-democracy news network," according to its website. The organization began by creating viral videos and political ads in opposition to Trump and in support of Democratic candidates.
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🍿 Repellent Republicans Rushing toward Ruin 🍿
Drumpf’s approval craters with Independent and Hispanic voters
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Pew poll has Trump at 27% approval among Hispanics
CNN poll has Trump at 28% approval among Hispanics
This is a complete collapse among what was the fastest growing group of GOP supporters. Trump is now where he was before the 2018 wipeout.
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— Mike Madrid (@mikemadrid.bsky.social) April 27, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Who’s not making deals?
This video made me laugh.
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Good news from my corner of the world
Back from El Salvador, [OR Rep. Maxine] Dexter not ‘fearful of being loud’
Dexter is my new Rep, having won Earl Blumenauer’s old seat. She’s turning out to be a fighter.
From KOIN:
Oregon Rep. Maxine Dexter returned to Portland Tuesday after a whirlwind trip to El Salvador to demand the release of a Maryland man who the Trump Administration admitted was deported by mistake to a maximum security facility.
In remarks at PDX after she arrived, Dexter talked about the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and said he should be brought back to the US. The freshman congresswoman blasted the Trump Administration and its larger deportation efforts and said due process is being thrown out the window. ✂️
Dexter did not actually meet with Garcia while she was in El Salvador, but her delegation talked with human rights groups, the ambassador and others. She said his family is deeply concerned about Garcia’s safety and health.
“What happened to these people is a nightmare. It’s not just these families’ nightmare. It’s a constitutional crisis,” Dexter said. “This must concern, if not outrage, each and every one of us. I refuse to be fearful of being loud.”
Oregon weighs expanding Indigenous student grants as colleges face federal funding threats
Support like this from the states is going to be crucial in preserving our educational system during the next few years.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
The Oregon Tribal Student Grant is designed to help a student demographic that has been historically underrepresented in colleges and universities in the U.S. And state officials are hoping to grow the program, even as higher education institutions face unprecedented federal pressures to ban diversity initiatives.
Officials in Oregon have pushed back on federal actions — through written statements, court filings and by continuing to press ahead with education priorities that preceded the Trump administration.
And as interest in the grant to support Indigenous students continues to build, tribal education leaders throughout the state say it’s been transformative for many of its members. “It’s opened up a lot of opportunities for students who are realizing they don’t have to take out a bunch of loans [to attend college],” said Jemiah Wassman, director of education for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians. ✂️
Wassman said education from birth to adulthood has always been a high priority for tribal leadership. But the price tag of college — which includes costs beyond tuition like housing, food and transportation expenses — is often a financial barrier for many families. The tribal grant is beginning to tear that barrier down, providing funds for students to pay for those other college-related costs. “The immediate impact that I see is that we had 26 more enrollees from last year to this year receive the grant,” Wassman said. “That’s significant — that’s a 57% increase in one year.”
Eligibility requirements for the grant are simple: Students must be enrolled members of any of the state’s nine federally-recognized tribes, attend a college or university in Oregon and be working towards an associate, bachelor’s or graduate degree. Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission administers the grant.
‘What I feel now is fear’: how migrants are preparing for Trump’s immigration enforcement
Despite the downer headline, this is a good news story. Migrants in Oregon are finding solace together and learning how to protect themselves from ICE.
At a tiny church in Cornelius [a farming community in the Willamette Valley near Portland], nearly a dozen people pass a candle as they share their names, how they feel and what they’d like to emotionally jettison. Most in the group, which includes undocumented immigrants, say they’re fearful. They’d like to be relieved of uncertainty. ...The fear? La migra. La chota. La verde. La perrera. ICE.
The group gathered at the church last week not in search of spiritual enlightenment but, instead, to learn about their constitutional rights and what to do if confronted by immigration agents. The Defensa del Barrio workshop, or defending the neighborhood, provides much of the same information as traditional know-your-rights trainings. But the workshops embrace a grassroots model, with fewer participants, more intimate locations and invites that often spread through word of mouth.
Organizers of such events say they’re particularly valuable at reaching people who might not attend larger educational trainings. And they’ve taken on added importance in immigrant communities since President Donald Trump returned to office and his administration launched an aggressive deportation campaign. Advocates are aware of only targeted arrests in Oregon by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent months. No large raids have been reported. But advocates say the community must be prepared because no one knows what could happen, or when.
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Good news from around the nation
Colorado Gov Jared Polis signs law that mandates adoption of test animals before euthanasia
I hope this law gets attention and is put in place by other states.
From The Denver Post:
A new Colorado law will require health-related research facilities that use dogs and cats as test subjects to try adopting out the animals before euthanizing them. Health-Related Research Test Subjects, or Senate Bill 85, was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday.
“From now on, dogs and cats that are subjects to scientific research in Colorado will be valued for their service and given the opportunity to find a forever home,” Polis said in a statement.
The law requires facilities “to offer a dog or cat to an animal shelter or a pet animal rescue for the purpose of adoption before euthanizing the animal,” or to find them homes through an internal adoption program.
Research facilities will also be required to report how many dogs and cats they send to animal shelters or adopt out through internal programs every year.
City issues 2.5K compost tickets in first 10 days of new law — as landlords slam new garbage-sorting rules as ‘blackmail’
Go, NYC Sanitation Department!
Jessica Craven mentions in her intro to this story that in the second week of the enforcement of the new law, “A record-breaking 3.8 million pounds of compost was collected...a number so overwhelming that the city is opening a new site dedicated to the ‘black gold’.”
From the New York Post:
The [NYC] Sanitation Department has doled out...at least 2,462 fines for “failing to recycle organic waste”...since April 1, when new laws ordered apartment buildings to sort their food scraps from the regular trash or be slapped with a monetary fine.
The added pressure led to 2.5 million pounds of food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard waste being collected in the first week alone. That’s a 240% increase from the 737,000 pounds of compostable material that was collected a year prior when organic recycling was encouraged in the five boroughs but not mandated.
“This works. New Yorkers have been clamoring for years for a curbside composting program that’s NORMAL. No special rules, no off-days, no starts and stops — not a niche program where we act like they’re doing us a favor by participating, but a regular, easy-to-use Sanitation service. Past administrations talked a big game about composting, but none of them had the guts to get it done,” Vincent Gragnani, a spokesperson for the Sanitation Department, told The Post.
“These numbers prove that just making this a normal service, with normal rules and – yes – normal enforcement actually gets RESULTS to get the rat food out of landfills and put to beneficial use. Who would’ve thought?”
Old Reformatory Prison Turned into Sunny New Apartment Complex
This is a wonderful re-use of a no-longer-useful building.
From Good News Network:
The Lorton Reformatory was opened at the dawn of the 20th century during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Built with the intention that prisoners wouldn’t feel they were incarcerated, it suffered from a checkered operating history. Fairfax County spent $4 million to buy the 2,343-acre prison site back in 2002, just a year after it was closed down. Real-estate developer The Alexander Company came on the county project in 2008 with the goal of turning it into apartments.
Now known as ‘Liberty’ Crest Apartments, they opened in 2017 after $64 million in breathtaking renovations worthy of a prime-time HGC television show. ...Totaling 165 units, 44 are set aside for those making less than 50% of the median household income for the county. 84 are one-bedroom units, and 81 are two-bedroom, with rent ranging from $1,370 to $2,700 a month.
Prison transformation into Liberty Apartments
Rather than a giant square or series of squares filled with squares containing prisoners shut up into tiny squares arranged in square blocks—in other words, instead of a normal correctional facility that’s dark and thick with minimal lighting, the Lorton Reformatory was built of handsome Virginia clay bricks with plenty of light (hence the ‘reform’ part of reformatory.’)
That being the case, it provided a better atmospheric backdrop for a place to build a home. Even still, and even considering the quantity of amenities, such as shopping, a pool, and green space, it seems difficult to imagine any realtor in the country being 100% sure that renters would rush to sign a lease on what was a prison cell that had historically seen mistreatment and overcrowding of prisoners. But that’s exactly what happened, and they’ve remained at capacity ever since. The campus also includes a dentist’s office, restaurants, gym, yoga studio, and community century, and a preschool.
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Good news from around the world
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals win election
Great news! As of last night, it wasn’t clear whether the Liberals had enough seats to form a majority government or would need to form a coalition government. But Carney remains Prime Minister.
From The Guardian:
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won Canada’s federal election. The victory Monday capped a dramatic turnaround for the Liberals fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Canada’s economy and sovereignty.✂️
What to know:
- Who won? Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won Canada’s federal election.
- What was on the ballot? Voters elected their local representative to the House of Commons. No other contests will appear on the ballot. Voters did not directly cast ballots for Prime Minister.
- Do Liberals have a majority? It’s not yet clear whether the Liberal party will be able to form a majority government. The leader of whichever party wins a majority of seats in the House of Commons will form a new government and serve as prime minister. If no party wins a majority, a party — usually the one with the most seats — can form a minority government but must rely on support from some opposition members. In rare cases, two or more parties might reach a formal agreement to form a coalition government together.
UK and EU to defy Trump with ‘free and open trade’ declaration
Who knew Drumpf would bring the UK and EU back together?
From Politico:
Britain and the European Union are set to sign a formal declaration committing to “free and open trade” in defiance of Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.
A leaked draft seen by POLITICO promises a “new strategic partnership” between London and Brussels based on “maintaining global economic stability and our mutual commitment to free and open trade.” It comes as Keir Starmer’s U.K. government is locked in negotiations with the Trump administration to try to get a carve-out from the U.S. president’s new tariffs.
The draft U.K.-EU agreement, dated April 25, is one of several being drawn up ahead of a May 19 summit, which is seen as a key moment in resetting post-Brexit relations. Officials are also negotiating U.K.-EU agreements on defense and security, fishing and energy, as well as a “common understanding” of which topics will be covered by intensive Brexit reset negotiations this year.
EU ambassadors are set to meet on Wednesday in Brussels to review progress on talks.
Pope Francis’s heartfelt connection to Gaza
Although I’m no fan of organized religion, I did love Pope Francis for his compassion, humility, good humor, and lifelong devotion to helping others. It wasn’t until after his death that I learned about his daily FaceTime conversations with the parish in Gaza. This video brought tears.
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every day since the Gaza genocide began Pope Francis made sure to call the parish there to check with them and lift their spirits amidst the Israeli mass indiscriminate bombing, starvation, torture and killing. He did this even as he became ill recently:
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— Paul Eric Scannell (@pauleric70.bsky.social) April 21, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Pope Francis’s funeral illustrated inclusion
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The final honor guard for Pope Francis included migrants, prisoners, transgender people, the homeless and others selected by the Vicariate of Rome as a symbol of the late pope’s mission of inclusion and outreach.
Read more from the funeral: wapo.st/3YdDGqM
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— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) April 26, 2025 at 5:07 AM
The Syrian flag now flies at the UN
Activate climate’s ‘silent majority’ to supercharge action, experts say
89% of the world’s population wanting stronger action on the climate crisis is huge. Yes, we definitely need to use this!!
From The Guardian:
A huge 89% majority of the world’s people want stronger action to fight the climate crisis but feel they are trapped in a self-fulfilling “spiral of silence” because they mistakenly believe they are in a minority, research suggests. Making people aware that their pro-climate view is, in fact, by far the majority could unlock a social tipping point and push leaders into the climate action so urgently needed, experts say.
The data comes from a global survey that interviewed 130,000 people across 125 countries and found 89% thought their national government “should do more to fight global warming”.
It also asked people if they would “contribute 1% of their household income every month to fight global warming” and what proportion of their fellow citizens they thought would do the same. In almost all countries, people believed only a minority of their fellow citizens would be willing to contribute. In reality, the opposite was true: more than 50% of citizens were willing to contribute in all but a few nations.
The global average of those willing to contribute was 69%. But the percentage that people thought would be willing was 43%. The gap between perception and reality was as high as 40 percentage points in some countries, from Greece to Gabon. ✂️
Research has also found that politicians suffer from serious misperceptions. ...In the US, almost 80% of congressional staffers underestimated people’s support for limits on carbon emissions, sometimes by more than 50 percentage points. ...
Substantial evidence exists that correcting mistaken beliefs about the views of others can change people’s views on many subjects, from opinions on immigrants and violence against women, to environmental topics such as saving energy. This is because people are instinctively drawn to majority views and are also more likely to do something if they think others are doing it too.
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My favorite recent quotes, memes, videos, and cartoons
A friend sent this gem to me:
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Good news in medicine
A £5 blood test could help prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes, study finds
Another in a long line of inexpensive medical innovations. Not all tests need to cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
From Optimist Daily:
A modest £5 ($6.30) blood test could be the key to preventing thousands of heart attacks and strokes, according to new research that could reshape the way doctors assess cardiovascular risk.
Funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the study highlights how testing troponin levels, a protein released when the heart is damaged, can offer vital clues long before a heart attack strikes.
While troponin tests are currently used to diagnose heart attacks after they occur, the research suggests their value could be even greater when used proactively.
“Troponin, even in the normal range, is a powerful indicator of silent heart muscle damage,” explained Professor Anoop Shah, lead author of the study and professor of cardiovascular medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “As such, the test provides an extra layer of information that we can use to boost our accuracy when predicting people’s risk.”
The study analyzed data from over 62,000 individuals across Europe and the United States. Researchers measured troponin levels alongside conventional risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, smoking status, age, and history of diabetes. Participants were followed for a decade to track incidences of heart attacks and strokes.
Adding troponin levels to traditional risk algorithms—currently based on factors like cholesterol alone—boosted their predictive accuracy by up to four times. In practical terms, this means clinicians could better identify patients most in need of preventative care, especially those who fall into a gray area of risk.
Teens Win 2025 Earth Prize for Refrigerator That Runs on Salt – 200 are Headed to Hospitals to Preserve Medicine
This is really clever and desperately needed.
From Good News Network:
...three teen inventors [in India] were looking to improve rural healthcare by creating a portable fridge that needed no electricity or coolant fluids. The result of their inspiration is a small, salt-cooled fridge that needs neither a power outlet nor a battery, but rather cools down passively as the salts dissolve in water.
Calling it “a fridge to bridge the world,” the Thermavault can use different combinations of salts to keep the contents at temperatures just above freezing or below it. Some vaccines require regular kitchen fridge temps, while others, or even transplant organs, need to be kept below freezing, meaning this versatility is a big advantage for the product’s overall market demand.
(left to right) Dhruv Chaudhary, Mithran Ladhania, and Mridul Jain
Dhruv Chaudhary, Mithran Ladhania, and Mridul Jain are all children of physicians or medical field workers in the state of Indore. Seeing how difficult it was to keep COVID-19 vaccines viable en route to countryside villages hours outside city centers in tropical heat, they wanted to create a better, portable solution to keeping medical supplies cool.
Because salt molecules dissolve in water, the charged ions that make up the salt molecules break apart. However, this separation requires energy, which is taken in the form of heat from the water, cooling it down. ✂️
[The most successful combination of salts turned out to be] barium hydroxide octahydrate and ammonium chloride. The ammonium chloride alone, when dissolved, cooled the water to between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius (about 35 to 43 degrees Fahrenheit) perfect for many vaccines, while a dash of barium hydroxide octahydrate dropped that temperature to below freezing. ✂️
Designing a prototype, the teens have already tested it in local hospitals, and are in the process of assembling another 200 for the purpose of testing them in 120 hospitals around Indore to produce the best possible scope of use and utility data for a product launch. Their ingenuity and imagination won them the 2025 Earth Prize, which came with a $12,500 reward needed for this mass testing phase.
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Good news in science
Scientists developed a superbug-busting paint
This should help prevent norovirus outbreaks in hospitals and nursing homes — and cruise ships.
From Positive News:
Keeping surfaces free from bacteria is an ongoing challenge in hospitals, but a new superbug-killing paint is poised to make the job easier.
Scientists at the University of Nottingham’s School of Pharmacy, England, trialled the paint-on resin, which incorporates chlorhexidine, a disinfectant used to treat mouth infections and for pre-surgical cleaning. It was found to be effective at eliminating bacteria and viruses, including difficult to kill species such as MRSA, flu and Covid-19.
Dr Felicity de Cogan, who led the research, said the paint had “excellent efficacy”. “It also doesn’t spread into the environment or leach from the surface when touched,” she added.
The paint can be applied to a range of plastic and hard non-porous surfaces to provide an antimicrobial coating, researchers said. Their findings were published in Nature.
Walking on two legs may explain human musicality and language, argues research
Fascinating!
From Phys.org:
The fact that humans walk on two legs is likely the reason we have developed our rhythmic, musical, and linguistic abilities, suggests new research by physician and researcher Matz Larsson. Together with Dean Falk, professor of anthropology at Florida State University, Larsson has published a study in the journal Current Anthropology discussing how the transition to walking on two legs rather than four is likely to not just have changed the way humans move—but also the way we think and communicate.
"Bipedal footsteps create rhythmic and more predictable sounds of movement, in comparison with the way in which our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, moves on all fours, with irregular steps among rustling tree branches." ✂️
Already in the womb, the unborn baby is affected by the woman's rhythmic footsteps. Rocking up and down to the beat of the woman's footsteps activates the baby's hearing, balance, touch, and ability to sense its own position and movements, also known as proprioception. A normal walking pace is around 120 steps per minute, which is the same tempo as many pieces of music.
Our heartbeat has a different rhythm, around 70 beats per minute, and the heartbeat only stimulates hearing, says Larsson. "This means that footsteps create a significantly more music-like experience. Babies are soothed by being rocked. Perhaps it's because it simulates when the mother was walking around during pregnancy?"
Larsson's co-author Falk has long researched "baby talk," that is, the way adults speak to babies in a rhythmic and almost musical fashion. When humans started walking upright, babies could no longer cling to the mother's fur and maintain bodily contact. "That's how baby talk arose—as a substitute for the physical connection between babies and parents, according to Falk's research. This may have stimulated the evolution of music and language," says Larsson.
Brilliant green comet makes rare appearance—and it won’t return for 1.4 million years
I’m going to try to see it with binoculars tomorrow evening, when our sky is predicted to be clear.
From Optimist Daily [photo from NASA]:
Every so often, the cosmos offers a rare spectacle that feels timeless yet brand new. This spring, that spectacle is comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) —a brilliantly green cosmic visitor currently visible in the early morning sky for those in the Northern Hemisphere. ✂️
Comet SWAN was first spotted in late March by amateur astronomer Michael Mattiazzo, who noticed it in images captured by its namesake, SWAN (Solar Wind ANisotropies), a camera aboard the SOHO spacecraft. Ukrainian astronomer Vladimir Bezugly also independently discovered it. Since then, astrophotographers have been quick to capture its dazzling presence.
What makes this comet particularly striking is its emerald glow. According to astrophotographer Mike Olason, “The green coma [the comet’s dusty glow] is the result of diatomic carbon being ejected from the comet’s surface. Sunlight destroys the diatomic carbon in the comet’s coma, which is the reason one never sees a comet with a green tail.” ✂️
Comet SWAN is currently en route to its perihelion, the closest point to the sun in its orbit, which it will reach on May 1. As it moves closer, astronomers expect the comet to brighten. ✂️
For those eager to see this once-in-a-lifetime event, now is the time. According to Space.com’s Joe Rao, Northern Hemisphere skywatchers with binoculars or small telescopes can spot the comet shortly before sunrise along the northeast horizon until around April 25. After that, it shifts to the west-northwest horizon and will be visible after sunset until roughly May 5. Southern Hemisphere observers should have their chance beginning around May 4.
And once it’s gone, it’s truly gone—at least for us. C/2025 F2 (SWAN) completes an orbit around the sun only once every 1.4 million years. So if you miss it this time, there won’t be a second chance.
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Good news for the environment
The Goldman prize revealed its winners
The Goldman prize winners are always very inspiring — they’re great examples of the power of passionate individuals.
From Positive News:
Ordinary people who took extraordinary actions to protect the planet from mining giants, plastic companies and energy firms are among the winners of this year’s Goldman environmental prize, dubbed the ‘Green Nobel prize’.
This year’s recipients included Batmunkh Luvsandash (below), who was instrumental in creating a vast protected area in Mongolia’s Dornogovi province. It now forms an important bulwark against Mongolia’s mining boom.
Batmunkh Luvsandash
Also honoured were Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika (below), who campaigned to protect the Vjosa River in Albania from a dam development. The waterway was subsequently designated a national park…
Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika
The other winners were: Laurene Allen, who got a toxin-leeching plastic plant closed down in New England, US; Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari, who won a landmark rights of nature court decision to protect Peru’s Marañón River; Semia Gharbi, who challenged a corrupt waste trafficking scheme between Italy and Tunisia; and Carlos Mallo Molina, who helped halt construction of a port that threatened a marine protected area in the Canary Islands.
“In these difficult times for environmental activists, these seven individuals serve as powerful reminders of what is possible through determination, resilience and hope,” said Jennifer Goldman Wallis, vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation.
Man Revives Iconic Indian Lake by Converting Lake Weed Infestation into Organic Fertilizer Business
Here’s a great win-win.
From Good News Network:
View of an island in Dal Lake, Srinagar
Dal Lake in [India]’s northerly city of Srinagar is surrounded by palaces, temples, fog-cloaked forested hills, and is iconic in the country for its houseboat culture. Yet for all its natural and historic beauty, Dal Lake was sick—sick with lake weeds.
“These aquatic plants had accumulated near Dal Lake over the years, creating an unsightly mess and posing a threat to the local ecosystem,” [said] Maninder Singh, ...founder of Clean ‘Effen’ Tech (CET), a local-government partner company that harvests thousands of tons of those lake weeds every year, dries and enriches them, then grinds them into fertilizer to sell to local farmers.
...Having already launched an IT startup in his native Uttar Pradesh, Singh would eventually change his focus to creating a social enterprise to tackle the challenges of our age. The sight of the lake weed marring Dal Lake’s beauty immediately came into his head, and he began an 8-year process to construct a value chain that would see the lake, the local ecology, the global ecology, the local economy, and his own economy, all flourish together. ✂️
Local workers harvest the lake weed using large machines and transport it to CET’s production plant. There the lake water is drained and treated for heavy metals and other pollutants before it’s released.
The lake weed is dried, shredded, enriched, and pulverized before being sold for 25% less than chemical fertilizers imported from other states like UP and Haryana, saving more emissions from transportation.
Local farmers have benefited… Harvests are up, as are soil nutrient concentrations.
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rascal and Margot, and the beautiful spirits of Rosy and Nora.
A swan couple reuniting
Rascal loves this sweet video.
In 1975, a Cat Co-Authored a Physics Paper
In the absence of recent cat news, Margot unearthed some fascinating feline history. Here’s the story as told in Slate:
Jack H. Hetherington was a professor of physics at Michigan State University in 1975 when he finished what would become an influential and often-cited physics paper. The academic writing, entitled, Two-, Three-, and Four-Atom Exchange Effects in bcc 3He, was an in-depth exploration of atomic behavior at different temperatures. ...
Chester, aka F.D.C. Willard
He was all set to send it to Physical Review Letters, which today describes itself as “the world’s premier physics letter journal.” However, before he dispatched it, ...he ran into a strange problem. Hetherington had used the royal “we” throughout the paper..., [and] Physical Review Letters generally only published papers using plural pronouns and adjectives like “we” and “our” if the paper had multiple authors. ...in 1975, Hetherington couldn’t have simply done a find-and-replace to correct the offending articles. In fact, the whole paper had been produced on a typewriter.
In the 1982 book More Random Walks in Science, Hetherington gave other reasons for not wanting to add another human authors, including the fact that the compensation for a published piece is changed with each additional author, that a scientific writer’s reputation is tied up in what they publish, and that prestige can take a hit when multiple authors are involved. [He] wrote that after giving the issue “an evening’s thought,” he decided the paper was so good that it required rapid publishing. Unwilling to go back and replace the plural voice in the document, he did the next best thing and just added a second author: his Siamese cat, Chester. Of course just listing “Chester” as a co-author probably wouldn’t fly, so he invented the name F.D.C. Willard. The “F.D.C.” stood for “Felix Domesticus, Chester.” Willard had been the name of Chester’s father.
Portraying F.D.C. Willard as one of his colleagues at Michigan State, Hetherington submitted his paper, and it was published in issue 35 of Physical Review Letters. ✂️
After the paper was published, it didn’t take long for Willard’s true identity to come to light. The first time anyone outside of Hetherington’s close colleagues learned of the cat scientist was when a visitor to the college came looking for the authors. Hetherington was away. As quoted in a piece on Today I Found Out, Hetherington said, “Everyone laughed and soon the cat was out of the bag.”
‘Worked perfectly’: how wildlife team finally caught Valerie the dachshund after 529 days on the lam
Rosy and her dachshund predecessor Mimi would have adored this adventure tale with its happy ending.
From The Guardian:
Valerie
Exhausted and relieved, the Kangala Wildlife Rescue team have revealed precisely how they finally caught Valerie the dachshund, after 529 days on the run in Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The Kangala directors, Jared and Lisa Karran, were excited to share the news that Valerie had been secured, but they were also extremely careful not to let the small dog escape from a specially designed cage. ✂️
Valerie on the run
The Kangaroo Island-based wildlife rescuers designed a special cosy trap – complete with a webcam and remote trigger system – to lure Valerie in. Kangala described it as “like her own little room with her toys and bed from home, mum’s clothing, hidden food and challenges to keep her entertained”. Over about a fortnight, they gradually added familiar items, starting with Valerie’s toy. ...Later, they added “more and more” strips of a T-shirt worn for 12-hour shifts by her owner, Georgia.
Once Valerie was comfortable coming in and out of the trap, it was just a matter of waiting for her to return and be in the right position, Jared said. “We finally got that opportunity.” The tiny 4kg dog came in and rummaged around for hidden food stashes, eventually ending up in the back corner of the cage. At that moment, Jared pressed the button and remotely dropped the door. “Thankfully it all worked perfectly.”
He said Valerie handled her capture well, she “took it in her stride”. And, after initially running around, trying to find ways out, she went into her crate and took a nap. “She just curled up and went to sleep.” ✂️
Valerie’s owners, Georgia and Josh, were said to be “over the moon” when they heard the news their dog was secured and would be home soon. First, there would be at least a week on the island for Valerie to decompress. “We want to return her to her beautiful owners the best way possible, and not cause her any more trauma or stress. Because undoubtedly out there in 16 months she would have gone through a lot.”
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Art Break
This gorgeous image is like something in a dream. It’s one of the winners of the photography competition for Remembering Wildlife, a photography book series created by British wildlife photographer Margot Raggett MBE, dedicated to raising awareness for endangered animals. The 20 winning images from the competition will all feature in the next book – the 10th and biggest one yet – due to launch on 6 October 2025.
Go to BBC’s Discover Wildlife website to see more stunning images.
Leopard enjoying morning sun break: “After three days of heavy downpour this leopard took the opportunity to enjoy the first morning sun break," says photographer Ifham Raji. Taken at Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka.
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