Good morning, Gnusies! Everything is just as insane and out of control as it was when I wrote a GNR two weeks ago, but more and more people are seeing hope.
From Anand Giridharadas in his Substack The Ink:
Five Januarys ago, after the insurrection on the Capitol, I wrote the words below. What has happened to our country since has both tested and strengthened the convictions therein. I’m sharing them again now, in the hope that they might buoy you in yet another very dark time.
When I look down at the ground of the present right now, I feel depressed. If I lift my head to the horizon, I see a different picture.
This is not the chaos of the beginning of something. This is the chaos of the end of something. ✂️
We must understand that what we've been living through is backlash. Backlash. It's not the engine of history. It is the revolt against the engine of history. Then we might remember — just to pat ourselves on the back for a second — that what we are actually endeavoring to do right now is to become a kind of society that has seldom, if ever, existed in history. Which is become a majority-minority, democratic superpower. ✂️
To be a country of all the world, a country made up of all the countries, a country without a center of identity, without a default idea of what a human being is or looks like, without a shared religious belief, without a shared language that is people's first language at home. And what we're trying to do is awesome. It is literally awesome in the correct sense of that word.
And, therefore, that we are having insurrections on the Mall or four years of an autocratic attempt or racism oozing through the television and social media portals is both terrifying and a completely predictable, inevitable result of people in power exploiting these transitional anxieties for their own pecuniary gain.
And what we have to do is get smarter than those powerful people. Get more organized than them, and understand that there is a different story to tell those who mistakenly went to the Mall and the 12 percent of Americans who actually supported that terrorist attack, and everybody else — a story to tell them about something great we are trying to do. We will actually create a country that's better for every single person. But we have to be willing to tell that story forcefully. We have to be willing to fight those people tooth and nail, and we have to fight to win.
We are living through a revolt against the future. The future will prevail.
And from Simon Rosenberg:
Imagine If This Moment Was Not About The Ascent of Authoritarians, But About A New Birth Of Global Freedom. Just Imagine.....
I started thinking….what if the Iranian regime were to fall? If Zelenskyy were to win in Ukraine, and Putin lose? If the end of Maduro brought democracy to Venezuela not dictatorship? If Orban’s government finally was voted out of power in Hungary later this year? If the Cuban dictatorship were to fall after 67 years in power? If the new Syrian government, having overthrown a family dictatorship that lasted 53 years, was able to successfully bring democracy to the Arab world?
If were we were here in America successful in reclaiming our government from the oligarchs and Trump’s escalating authoritarianism? What if this moment became a moment, as Lincoln called it - “a new birth of freedom” - around the world and here at home rather than one of autocratic and oligarchical consolidation? What if we could look back at this year, 2026, ten years from now, not as one where freedom was lost but where it was renewed, restored and regained momentum? Where governments “of the people, by the people, for the people” did not perish from the earth……
Imagine if we were to win and Elon, and Putin, and Trump, and Orban, were to lose? Imagine……
I think this is the future we want. And thus we must start imagining it, and begin building a politics that makes it far more likely. ✂️
It is a time for courage, ambition, imagination, patriotism, and a time to reject those who market their cowardice as pragmatism. ...It is time the Democratic Party of the United States of America, heirs to the American Revolution and the Four Freedoms, showed the American people and the people of the world who we are.
Are you with me, brothers and sisters?
Opening music
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Good news in the Resistance
Amid ICE crackdown, this Minneapolis sex shop has transformed into a donation center for neighbors in need
From GoodGoodGood:
“I’m pretty sure the sluts are gonna save us,” Instagram influencer Jess Olivia Fox said in a recent video.
She is referring to the folks at Minneapolis sex shop Smitten Kitten, who have mobilized to support neighbors amid a violent and unrelenting crackdown by the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. ✂️
In the throes of political debate, and at the mercy of an occupying force across the Twin Cities — and the surrounding metro area — community members are organizing rapidly.
Smitten Kitten, located in Uptown Minneapolis, is one group leading the charge.
“Normally, we’re selling adult toys, providing sex education, and [running] a business,” Mikayla, a representative of the shop, told Substack creator and social media journalist Jolly Good Ginger.
But, now, inside the shop, volunteers are organizing canned foods, diapers, clothes, and other essentials to be distributed to vulnerable community members. “We are raising funds and supplies for families that are stuck at home because they’re scared of the ICE presence in the city or their kids are out of school because the schools are closed down,” Mikayla explained.
St. Paul restaurant turns away ICE
‘We don’t want the fear’: Clark County [WA] students walk out of class to protest ICE activity
Clark County has a large, well-established Latino community, and they’re standing up to ICE.
From The Columbian:
Fort Vancouver High School and Vancouver Flex Academy students stand along NE Fourth Plain Blvd. on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, during a walkout protesting ICE activity.
Hundreds of Clark County students walked out of class Tuesday protesting recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities.
Walkouts were scheduled at Fort Vancouver, Skyview, Columbia River, Hudson’s Bay, Union, Evergreen, Heritage, and Henrietta Lacks high schools, as well as Vancouver School of Arts and Academics and Shahala and Cascade middle schools, among others.
“We came here to protest ICE because of all the illegal (expletive) they’ve been doing in our country,” said Vancouver Flex Academy junior Colin Perlas, one of the organizers of the Fort Vancouver walkout. “I’m a patriot. I love this country. But under this administration, I can’t stand the way that ICE and federal agents are acting in our states. As the next generation, it’s up to us to show that we know how to fight back and make our voices heard.”
Vancouver Public Schools students also planned to attend the district’s school board meeting Tuesday evening to request extensions for excused absences for immigrant students or students who have been targeted by ICE or who have a detained guardian; permission to host “Know Your Rights” training sessions; stronger district “hate and bias” protocols; alerts to parents and students about ICE presence within a certain distance of a school building; and increased security, according to an Instagram post for the Vancouver walkout.
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Heres tonight's #TimelineCleanse:
I can't imagine MAGA doing anything like this.
It is so whimsical, creative & silly — an awesome way to protest.
Doesn't that look like fun?
I would have loved to have been there!
I hope we can think of something fun like that here in sunny California. 🌞 ☀️ 😎
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— Malena-PRO-CHOICE 🌊 🟦🟧Fighting Tyranny! (@malena.bsky.social) January 17, 2026 at 7:33 PM
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Good news in politics
Day One: Governor Spanberger ends Virginia’s ICE collaboration
Elections matter!
From WWBT:
On her first day as Governor, Abigail Spanberger made a decisive move: she vetoed Executive Order 47, ending Virginia’s participation in the federal 287(g) program that allowed local law enforcement to act as ICE agents.
This swift action represents a major victory for immigrant advocacy groups like CASA in Action, whose years of organizing and pressure from immigrant communities helped shape this outcome.
The decision carries particular weight given that Latino voters were a decisive force in Spanberger’s election, with the largest shifts from the 2024 presidential election occurring in Virginia’s most heavily Hispanic communities—particularly Prince William County, home to thousands of Salvadoran and Central American families.
“Today is a historic day for the Commonwealth,” said Luis Aguilar, Virginia Director at CASA in Action. “This victory belongs to the immigrant communities who organized, spoke out, and refused to be silenced. By repealing EO-47, Governor Spanberger has reaffirmed that Virginia stands for freedom for all.”
CNN Data Guru Stunned by Big Shift Among Democrats
“Democrats are more liberal now than they have been at any point in modern polling history.”
From Daily Beast:
CNN’s Harry Enten has revealed that the Democrats are more liberal now than they have been at any point in modern polling history.
The chief data analyst said Tuesday that 59 percent of Democrats identified as liberal in a new Gallup/CBS News poll, the highest since pollsters began asking the question in 1976. ✂️
Enten pointed out that the share of Democrats identifying as liberal is up sharply from 30 percent in 1976 and 29 percent in 2001.
“Look at where we are today,” Enten said, adding, “Three in five Democrats say they are liberal.” ✂️
And though more Democrats identifying as “liberal” signifies a dramatic shift in party attitudes toward the ideology, the real meat for Enten and Berman is in how many Americans are identifying as Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“That is not the only good news for liberals,” Enten said as he revealed that in the last quarter of 2025, self-identified Democrats outnumbered self-identified Republicans by 8 points, which is one point higher than when Enten tracked the number in October 2025.
Enten said that Democrats’ lead is a strong indicator that Democrats are primed to take over the House in the 2026 midterms.
“That looks nothing like what we saw going into the 2022 midterms, when Republicans had a five-point advantage, and of course, took back the House,” Enten said. “This is even better than what we saw Democrats had back in 2017, in quarter four, when they had a six-point advantage. And of course, Democrats easily took back the House then.”
Cook Political Report shifts 18 House races toward Democrats
Our chances in 2026 look better and better.
From The Hill:
The Cook Political Report on Thursday shifted 18 House races toward Democrats in the latest sign of the party’s momentum ahead of the midterms.
Citing President Trump’s unpopular polling numbers and Democrats’ winning streak in recent special elections, the nonpartisan election handicapper has projected that Democrats have “more than enough opportunities” to win a majority in the House this fall, according to analyst Erin Covey. ✂️
“If the election were held today, Republicans would need to win roughly three-quarters of the Toss Up races to keep control of the House,” Covey wrote in the analysis, assuming Cook’s ratings are correct. “Though that’s not impossible, it looks increasingly difficult.”
New Bucks County PA sheriff terminates ICE contract
Note that Ceisler ran on a platform of terminating his county’s ICE contract and won.
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BREAKING: Dan Ceisler, the new sheriff of Pennsylvania's Bucks County, just announced he has terminated his county's 287(g) contract with ICE.
Ceisler defeated GOP sheriff who'd joined the ICE program in November, & ran on quitting it; we reported then:
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— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) January 14, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Judge blocks Trump’s elections order in lawsuit by vote-by-mail states Oregon and Washington
This is a big deal for Oregon and Washington. The feds have zero authority to mess with how we run our elections!
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
[On Jan. 9th,] a federal judge...blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing most of his executive order on elections against the vote-by-mail states of Washington and Oregon, in the latest blow to Trump’s efforts to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote and to require that all ballots be received by Election Day.
U.S. District Judge John H. Chun in Seattle found that those requirements exceeded the president’s authority, following similar rulings in a Massachusetts case brought by 19 states and in a Washington, D.C., case by Democratic and civil rights groups.
“Today’s ruling is a huge victory for voters in Washington and Oregon, and for the rule of law,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said. “The court enforced the long-standing constitutional rule that only States and Congress can regulate elections, not the Election Denier-in-Chief.”
The executive order...included new requirements that people provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a demand that all mail ballots be received by Election Day. It also put states’ federal funding at risk if election officials didn’t comply. Officials in Oregon and Washington, which accept ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, said that could disenfranchise thousands of voters. During the 2024 general election, officials in Washington counted nearly 120,000 ballots that were received after election day but postmarked by it. Oregon officials received nearly 14,000 such ballots.
The judge found that Trump’s efforts violated the separation of powers. The Constitution grants Congress and the states the authority to regulate federal elections, he noted.
Reagan-Appointed Judge Says Trump Admin ‘Failed’ to Protect Constitution
A welcome statement from a conservative judge.
From Newsweek:
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution,” a federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan said Thursday.
Judge William G. Young, who was appointed in 1985, presided over a hearing related to how the court can respond to policies by President Donald Trump’s administration that Young previously said violated free speech on college campuses.
Young said he would issue an order aimed at preventing the administration from exacting "retribution" against academics who challenged arrests, detentions and deportations of non-citizen, pro-Palestinian activists on U.S. college campuses. "The big problem in this case is that the Cabinet secretaries, and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment," Young said, Reuters reported.
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Repellent Republicans and Related Reprobates Rushing Recklessly to Ruin
There are lots of items that I could put here, but I’m restricting myself to just one especially delicious one.
Karma catches up to Sen. Cassidy
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The media messing up
Good lord, CBS is cratering faster than anyone predicted. As comedian Nikki Glazer said, it’s now the place to “see BS news.”
This is sadly true...
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hard not to notice that as trump's polls crater and gop gets crushed in election after election, news orgs are not racing around hiring progressive commenters and boasting about how they're reaching out to real americans by following the will of the volk.
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat.bsky.social) January 17, 2026 at 9:58 PM
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Good news from my corner of the world
Oregon not required to give feds voter data, judge rules
Damn right.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
A federal judge tentatively ruled Wednesday that Oregon does not have to hand over personally identifiable data of more than 3 million Oregon voters to the federal government.
In an oral ruling Wednesday evening, U.S. District Court Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said he plans to dismiss the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against Oregon and Secretary of State Tobias Read. Kasubhai, appointed by former President Joe Biden, allowed that his final written decision may be different.
Read welcomed the ruling in a statement, calling it a big win for Oregonians’ privacy and the rule of law. “The federal government tried to abuse their power to force me to break my oath of office and hand over your private data,” he said. “I stood up to them and said no. Now, the court sided with us. Tonight, we proved, once again, we have the power to push back and win.” ✂️
State leaders and the nonprofit group Our Oregon, which intervened in the case, have cited concerns that the Department of Justice wants to use voter data for immigration enforcement. It’s both illegal and extremely rare for noncitizens to vote: One study of the 2016 election found just 30 incidents nationwide of suspected noncitizen voting, or 0.0001% of votes cast. ✂️
Oregon was the first state in the nation to automatically register adult citizens to vote when they obtain or renew driver’s licenses or state ID cards at the Motor Vehicle Services Division, and the number of registered voters rose to more than 3 million in the decade since that law took effect. The state also automatically restores voting rights to people convicted of felonies after they complete their sentences, while other states restrict voting rights in perpetuity or until someone convicted of a crime pays fines and petitions the government to have their voting rights restored.
Oregon also regularly leads the nation in voter turnout, though rates have declined since automatic voter registration added more voters to the rolls. Last year’s presidential election had a 75.4% turnout in Oregon, down from the 2004 peak of 86.5%, but well above the national 65.3% turnout.
Homeland Security Will Pay $125,000 to Hotel Worker Met With Gun
A small bit of justice. I’ll take whatever we can get.
From Willamette Week:
Christopher Frison
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has agreed to pay $125,000 to a maintenance worker who went to unclog a toilet at a Residence Inn in North Portland, where he was greeted by a Border Patrol agent pointing a semiautomatic handgun at his chest.
Christopher Frison settled with Homeland Security on Jan. 9 after a federal judge ruled in August that the agency had to pay him for an assault by one of its agents.
Frison’s story, first reported by WW in 2020, took place as President Donald Trump deployed federal agents to quell Portland’s protests and riots following the murder of George Floyd. Among those deployed to Portland was a DHS agent identified in court records as Joseph Jones, who was staying in room 428 of the Residence Inn by Marriott along North Airport Way.
On July 27, 2020, Frison received a maintenance request about a clogged toilet in room 428, and headed upstairs with a plunger. A federal lawsuit filed in June 2021 describes what happened next.
“Mr. Jones violently swung open the door, and with an aggressive look on his face, pointed a semiautomatic handgun at Mr. Frison’s chest,” the lawsuit says. “Mr. Frison put his hands in the air and prepared to be killed. Mr. Jones ultimately lowered his handgun and then invited Mr. Frison into his room. Mr. Frison declined the invitation, handed Mr. Jones the toilet plunger, and quickly left room 428.” ✂️
Spokespeople for DHS could not immediately be reached for comment. Neither could Frison. His attorney, Michael Fuller, took note that federal agents are once again operating in Portland streets.
“The DHS Standards of Conduct require federal agents to obey state laws,” Fuller said in a statement to WW. “Agents who fail to comply will be subpoenaed back to Oregon and put on trial in civil actions.”
What if your groceries were free? At this Cornelius mercado, they can be
The proliferation of free grocery stores in communities where people struggle to afford enough food is a very welcome development. And it can happen anywhere.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
A few blocks away from City Hall, a store window shows a hand encircled by forks, spoons and ears of corn in an intricate design. Above it, window decals spell M-E-R-C-A-D-O.
It’s 9 a.m. on a Monday, still an hour before people will arrive to browse the shelves. Gladis Vasquez unlocks the door to a small, sunlit market.
Centro Mercado is like a grocery store. There are freezers with vegetables, masa harina for tamales, cotija cheese, sweet treats and even flowers for visitors.
And that’s exactly what it looks like: a small grocery store. Shelves are stocked with canned foods and dry goods, like masa harina for making tamales and tortillas. Fridges hold fresh vegetables and eggs, and freezers feature meats and frozen burritos from a local wholesaler. A well-stocked produce section lines the back wall, there are some personal items and COVID tests in the corner, and on a shelf past the bread, near the exit: “This is where we normally put our sweet items, on this rack. Right now we have a lot of Krispy Kreme doughnuts,” Vasquez said.
And in a bucket on the floor below them are some flower bouquets. “So that’s something that’s good for the community, they get a side treat.”
It’s what someone might choose as an impulse buy… if anyone bought anything here at all. But what’s missing from this market is a checkout aisle and cash register. Everything here is free.
The Centro Mercado food pantry is a project of Centro Cultural, a Washington County Latino community organization with a 50-plus-year history in Cornelius. A sign on the wall styled like a Lotería card reads, “Centro Mercado is led and operated by Latinos living in the community.” And while the low-barrier pantry serves everyone, it specializes in stocking culturally specific foods for Latinos.
Lately, places like this have been crucial in the midst of growing food insecurity and uncertain food benefits in Oregon.
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Good news from around the nation
Mayor Mamdani Proves Progress Does Not Need To Be Slow
Qasim Rashid is always thoughtful and lucid. I especially appreciate his emphasis here on the importance of framing universal child care as “infrastructure...economic policy...workforce policy...and family policy.”
From Let’s Address This, a Substack by Qasim Rashid:
Here’s some good news for a change—and a reflection of what happens when organized people unite to beat organized money. Just eight days into Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, New York City has already delivered what corporate media and political cynics spent months mocking as impossible: a concrete, fully funded pathway to universal childcare. ✂️
[The] framing matters. Childcare is not charity. It is infrastructure. It is economic policy. It is workforce policy. And it is family policy. ...Credit is due on both sides. Mamdani built the organized demand. Hochul met it with institutional power. That is what responsive government looks like when ego takes a back seat to outcomes.
This moment is also proof of something many insist is no longer true: organized people can still beat organized power.
Corporate interests did not want this. Childcare privatizers did not want this. Political consultants told candidates for decades that universal childcare was too expensive, too risky, too ambitious. What they really meant was that it threatened a status quo built on scarcity and exhaustion. Mayor Mamdani’s movement rejected that premise. It replaced rugged individualism—the lie that families should “figure it out on their own”—with the warmth of collectivism. And government responded. ✂️
In closing, I need to call out corporate media, who spent months ridiculing this vision. They called universal childcare unrealistic. They called it unserious. They called it ideological. Now that it’s happening—with funding, timelines, and bipartisan cooperation—they have little to say. ✂️
And the best part? This is not the end of the fight. It is the beginning of a model. ✂️
And rumor has it, zero billionaires have fled New York City in protest.
VA legislature passes four important constitutional amendments on day 3 of this session
More proof that elections matter.
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The Virginia legislature today passed four constitutional amendments, all by day 3 of 2026 session:
—protect abortion rights
—repeal the same-sex marriage ban
—allow mid-decade redistricting
—greatly expand voting rights restoration.
These will all go to 2026 referendums.
— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) January 16, 2026 at 11:50 AM
125% Surge in Data Center Opposition
You love to see it.
From Data Center Watch:
TL;DR: Opposition to data centers is accelerating. In Q2 2025 alone, an estimated $98 billion in projects were blocked or delayed, more than the total for all previous quarters since 2023. As political resistance builds and local organizing becomes more coordinated, this is now a sustained and intensifying trend.
Research Timeline: Late March 2025 - June 2025.
Key Takeaways:
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Q2 2025 marked a turning point in data center development risk. In just three months, 20 projects were blocked or delayed amid local opposition, affecting $98 billion in potential investment—more than all disruptions tracked since 2023. Political, regulatory, and community opposition is accelerating in both scale and frequency.
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The rollback of tax abatements is emerging as a critical political risk for hyperscale data centers. Lawmakers are increasingly questioning the value of data center subsidies, citing concerns around energy use, fairness, and infrastructure impact. This shift has contributed to the suspension of major projects in Minnesota and South Dakota.
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Community opposition continues to grow, with 53 active groups across 17 states targeting 30 data center projects in Q2 alone, bringing the total to 188 groups nationwide. During this period, 66% of the tracked protested projects were blocked or delayed. As development expands and media attention intensifies, local groups are learning from one another. Petitions, public hearings, and grassroots organizing are reshaping approval processes—especially in Indiana and Georgia.
Buddhist Monks on Peace Walk Receive New Escort Vehicle Following Near Fatal Crash
The sweetest story this week.
From Good News Network:
Walk for Peace
A Texas small business owner donated a new car to a group of Buddhist monks crossing America on foot after their previous vehicle was destroyed in a collision.
In October, almost 20 Buddhist monks set out from Fort Worth on a 2,300-mile walk toward Washington, DC with a goal of promoting unity and compassion. They were being followed by an escort vehicle carrying donated supplies, but in the following month, the car and several of the monks were victims in a serious collision that left the former totaled, and 4 of the latter hospitalized.
A roofing company owner in Dayton, Texas, where the incident occurred, saw the news and felt compelled to help. “I saw that and I was like, ‘No, they need some help. We gotta help them. They’re walking for us — why can we not put something for them?’” said Osbaldo Durán.
Durán outfitted a fully-insured Toyota Rav4 with new tires and extra safety lights, while also going the extra mile to change the oil and fill up the tank before offering it to the monks in an act that he himself might not have known is called “Dana” in the Buddhist tradition.
Dana, meaning “charity” in Pali, the ancient Indian language the Buddha’s teachings were written in, is the act of laymen and laywomen going out of their way to offer food, clothing, shelter, or medicine to those living the holy life.
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Good news from around the world
Africa CDC confirms cancellation of US-funded hepatitis B vaccine study in Guinea-Bissau
This story has see-sawed over the past few days, with African announcements that the study will be cancelled followed by statements from the US that it won’t. I hope that this news from yesterday is final, because this study is, as someone on Bluesky noted, “Tuskegee all over again.” Truly shocking.
From The Premium Times:
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the controversy in the United States-funded study stems from public and scientific criticism of the trial’s ethical design, with many experts questioning whether it would meet US standards for research involving infants.
Critics argue that delaying a proven hepatitis B vaccine in African newborns will be unethical, raising concerns about double standards in global health research, potential harm to vulnerable infants, and the reputation of US-funded studies abroad.
These criticisms prompted scrutiny from both US and African health authorities, ultimately contributing to the study’s cancellation.
Meanwhile, Public Health observers say the cancellation of the study underscores growing scrutiny of externally funded health research in Africa and renewed calls for stronger ethical oversight, local ownership and accountability in clinical trials conducted on the continent.
The City Where Free Buses Changed Everything
It looks like Dunkirk did everything right in rolling out this program.
From Reasons to Be Cheerful:
Bus passenger numbers have increased by 165 percent since free bus travel was introduced, according to Dunkirk city hall.
In 2014, Dunkirk made the decision to get on board with free public transit. Mayor Patrice Vergriete, who has a doctorate in urban planning, pledged during his election campaign that the city would become the largest in France to drop fares on local networks. Today about 150 vehicles — labeled “100% free bus, 7 days a week” — crisscross the city and its surroundings, giving 200,000 residents free access to 18 routes.✂️
In Dunkirk, it took four years — from 2014 to 2018 — for efforts to hit the road. First, authorities publicized the program in the media and on the streets, carried out surveys with residents, simplified and reworked timetables, improved the quality of vehicles, repositioned bus stops and increased the size of the fleet. In 2015, they launched free travel on weekends as a testing period, before rolling out the service seven days a week in September 2018. ✂️
Central to Dunkirk’s strategy was reinventing the image of public buses, which were typically seen as overloaded, unclean and not particularly safe. Authorities now clean buses every day, and if a seat is broken then it is replaced within a day. Each route, they decided, should have a scheduled arrival every 10 minutes. Smartphone applications also allow passengers to track where and how full their bus is. ✂️
And just over a decade since Dunkirk kickstarted its free bus program, the policy has hit top gear. According to Dunkirk city hall, the number of bus passengers has increased by 165 percent since the initiative was introduced.
First Nation in B.C. develops prefabricated housing system from locally-sourced wood
An excellent win-win: “security not only in housing, but in economics and community longevity.”
From CBC:
Na'Kazdli Development Corp. partnered with Deadwood Innovations and researchers at UNBC's Wood Innovation Research Lab to build the home.
A home described as the first of its kind now stands in the Nak’azdli Whuten community near Fort St. James, B.C. The home is a prototype for an Indigenous-led housing system that uses low-grade locally-sourced wood to produce prefabricated housing kits for northern communities.
The concept is to take trees from the local territory, mill them locally, and then have local workers use that lumber to build panels, which are then used to construct a house in a matter of days.
“This house means security not only in housing, but in economics and community longevity,” said Nak’azdli Whuten member Elky Taylor. “We have limited economics in Fort St. James and to create a secondary industry with our timber is something that's been a long time coming and we're hoping to see success in this pilot project.”
The pilot project was born out of a collaboration between Nak’azdli Whuten Development Corp. and Deadwood Innovations, a forestry startup based in Fort St. James.
They partnered with researchers at the University of Northern British Columbia’s Wood Innovation Research Lab to develop the prefabricated mass timber panel system.
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My favorite recent quotes, memes, and cartoons
Good news in medicine
‘We were sitting with our calculator saying “we can afford that!”’ Joy for families as cystic fibrosis drug prices fall within reach
This wouldn’t have happened if the families hadn’t fought tooth and nail.
From The Guardian:
...as the new year begins [families with children suffering from cystic fibrosis have] fresh hope to offer [their children]. A “revolutionary” treatment sold by pharmaceutical company Vertex for $370,000 (£274,000) a year will be available for as little as $2,000 a year from a generic manufacturer.
The 99.5% reduction in price is the result of years of parent-led campaigning.
Cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition, causes a buildup of mucus in the lungs and digestive system, making it hard to breathe and leaving patients susceptible to infections. Until recently, most sufferers would die as young adults. New drugs, called CFTR modulators, have become available over the past decade, allowing a normal life expectancy.
But just one in four of the estimated 190,000 people worldwide with cystic fibrosis has received modulator drugs, in a combination known as ETI (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor). Researchers have highlighted “profound global disparities in diagnosis and treatment access”, despite ETI being classed by the World Health Organization as an essential medicine.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals holds the patent for ETI, sold as Trikafta or Kaftrio. The company has faced criticism for its prices, and for failing to make the drug available in many countries, even where it has registered patents. ✂️
In a conference room in Seattle last month, UK parent Gayle Pledger announced that Bangladeshi company Beximco would make Triko, a generic ETI, available from spring 2026. Triko will cost $12,750 for adults annually, and $6,375 for children, meaning 58 children treated for the cost of one with Vertex’s drug.
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Good news in science
Plants packed close enough to touch are more resilient to stress
I’m filing this fascinating research in my “all living things have more in common than we realize” folder. We handle stress better when we’re supported by others, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that plants need peer support, too.
From Science News:
[Ron] Mittler [a plant biologist at the University of Missouri in Columbia] and his colleagues grew thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) over several weeks, some in solitude and some in dense groups where the plants could touch one another’s leaves. When exposed to excess light, individual plants showed more signs of stress and damage than those in groups, the scientists report. “They seem to be more primed to deal with the stress if they touch each other,” Mittler says.
Plants communicate underground through their roots, via microbes or by forming networks with fungi. Research also suggests that aboveground communication may happen through several channels, including airborne chemicals that alert other plants to herbivore attacks or sounds that communicate stress. Plants can also pass electrical signals to each other through their leaves, forming a network connected by touch, though the effects of this on their health had previously been unknown.
Mittler and his team ran a series of experiments on wild thale cress plants grown from seedlings in a lab. ...By using genetically altered plants unable to transfer certain chemical signals, the scientists teased apart which signals were responsible for any stress acclimatization.
Just one hour after making contact, plants whose leaves touched had activated over 2,000 stress-response genes, including those that help them cope with light, cold, waterlogging, salt and wounding. Compared with plants that touched each other, isolated plants exposed to light exhibited higher levels of cell damage and accumulated more stress-related pigments.
The experiments with genetically altered plants also revealed that the transfer of hydrogen peroxide was crucial for inducing resilience in neighboring plants. Plants produce hydrogen peroxide when triggered by a range of stresses, Mittler says. But this is the first time it’s been identified as a signal passed from plant to plant. ✂️
Mittler says the findings explain why growing crops together often helps them survive in difficult conditions and could one day be used to design mixed plant communities that are more resilient to overlapping threats from climate change, such as flooding and heat. ...Even Darwin said that mixtures of plants grow better than those that are alone, ...says [Christine Foyer, a plant scientist at the University of Birmingham in England], and this could be one of the reasons why. “This [study] is just saying that plants of similar type will communicate signals,” she says. “It might be that plants of different types would use this but do it better.”
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Good news for the environment
Inspired by Asthma Attack, New Delhi Teens Recycle 2 Million Pounds of Waste Across 14 Indian Cities
Refusing to take no for an answer can result in some amazing progress.
From Good News Network:
The Agarwal brothers in India recycled a million kg of trash in 14 cities
When two teenagers in New Delhi wanted to do something to improve the city’s waste collection, age and experience would have told them that they were out of their minds. Yet just a few short years later and their nonprofit runs segregated waste collection in 14 Indian cities, and the teens picked up the International Children’s Peace Prize in honor of their work in public sanitation and environmental management.
But before they were recognized among global youth movements for staring down the problem of trash and recycling, Vihaan and Nav Agarwal were just trying to deal with asthma. Vihaan’s cough and shortness of breath was caused almost without a doubt by the Delhi air quality, which is worsened...by routine garbage burning. ...
...Vihaan realized his cough would never get better unless Delhi did a better job recycling its garbage. He and his brother started by separating waste at home into the classic categories, only to be told that their small household bags wouldn’t be taken by trash collection.
In the face of their first rejection, many would surely have conceded, but not the Agarwal brothers. They instead canvased their neighbors and created a little union of waste separation. When 15 households demanded their separated waste be taken for recycling, the authorities relented. From 15 households, their initative, OneStepGreener, now manages the segregated waste of 3,000—all of it taken to warehouses where workers ensure it’s further divided—newspapers are separated from A4 printing paper, PET plastic from polypropylene, and computer screens from keyboards. The more precise the separation, the better chance it will be recycled properly.
The initiative also plants trees in urban areas to help combat air pollution, and it recently finished recycling 2 million pounds of waste: officially the same amount as what New Delhi’s 33 million urbanites generate in a day.Nav Agarwal tells Euro News that if it can be done in Delhi, one of the largest, most polluted cities in the world, it can be done anywhere.
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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.
Bird Snuggles into Photographer’s Chest And Stayed With Her for Warmth on a Snowy Day
Rascal loves this. What a kind woman!
From Good News Network:
Robin snuggles with photographer Fay Wadsworth In England
A wildlife lover shared her heart-warming encounter with a robin last Monday.
Photographer Fay Wadsworth from Sheffield, England, was visiting a park in Doncaster when the friendly bird came over and nestled right atop her camera near the warmth of her jacket.
“I was blessed by this very friendly—and presumably cold—robin at Yorkshire Wildlife Park,” the 31-year-old explained.
She was standing by the Amur leopard enclosure waiting to photograph the new cubs when she heard a flapping.
“It was a little robin that sat on my camera… (and) it decided my hair was the perfect nestling spot.”
“Initially thinking it must’ve flown into me and got caught up in my hair, I freed his legs and opened out my hand, expecting him to fly away as quickly as he possibly could. But he didn’t; he stayed.”
“I discussed what was best to do with the rangers and followed their guidance to stay near the woodland area while he was sat with me. He eventually flew into a tree and began singing.”
How it started vs how it’s going
Looks to me like it’s going in exactly the right direction! Margot agrees.
Georgie beats the siren
We heard Rosy produce a real howl only once, and although it was powerful, it didn’t measure up to Georgie. Several commenters on Bluesky are asking when his first album is coming out.
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