(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Good News Roundup for Wednesday, November 23, 2022 — More reasons for gratitude [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-11-23
Good news for and from Biden and Dems
Democratic support for Biden in 2024 surges after midterms; Trump takes a hit
From USA Today:
President Joe Biden's backing among Democrats to run for reelection has been significantly boosted in the wake of better-than-expected midterm results, a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds, while Donald Trump's standing among Republicans has been dented. The number of Democratic voters who believe that Biden could win the 2024 race for the White House has jumped to 71%, up by double digits from the 60% who felt that way in a poll taken in August. Now 75% of Republicans say Trump could win the next election, still a bit higher than Biden among their partisans. But that is seven percentage points lower than the 82% of Republicans who held that view of the former president before the midterms. ✂️ Biden's biggest gains since August were among voters under 35 (to 69% from 53%) and among women (to 71% from 55%).
How Biden spent his 80th birthday
Lookin’ good!
From The Hill:
President Biden celebrated his 80th birthday Sunday, becoming the first octogenarian to serve in the Oval Office. President Joe Biden jogs across the South Lawn of the White House to speak with visitors before boarding Marine One, Friday, March 18, 2022 Biden marked his birthday with a brunch hosted by First Lady Jill Biden...the day after the Saturday wedding of his granddaughter Naomi Biden on the White House South Lawn. “A perfect birthday celebration filled with so much love — and Joe’s favorite coconut cake!” the first lady tweeted, sharing a photo of the Biden family gathered around a table as the president blew out a birthday candle. x A perfect birthday celebration filled with so much love — and Joe’s favorite coconut cake! pic.twitter.com/w7005Cdtqu — Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) November 20, 2022
Warnock holds narrow lead over Walker in runoff, AARP poll finds
🎩 to M247 for posting this news in a DKos diary yesterday.
From NBC News (bolding mine):
The runoff race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican nominee Herschel Walker remains tight in Georgia, an AARP poll finds. Warnock leads Walker by four points, 51% - 47%, among likely runoff voters of all ages, a margin within the poll's 4.4% margin-of-error. Among all independent voters, Warnock leads Walker 15 percentage points, 54% - 39%. One of the only major demographic groups where Walker holds a lead over Warnock is among voters over 50, where Walker has a nine-point advantage, 53% - 44%. Walker also holds a narrow lead among voters who do not have a college degree and among white voters of all ages. Meanwhile, Warnock leads among voters under age 50 by 24 percentage points, 61% - 37%. Warnock also leads among women of all ages by 11 points, 55% - 44%.
Merkley, Bonamici, Jayapal Team Up to Introduce Legislation to Protect Consumers from Predatory Payday Lending Practices
From Pramila Jayapal’s press release:
[On November 16], Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley teamed up with Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-01) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07) to introduce the Stopping Abuse and Fraud in Electronic (SAFE) Lending Act. The SAFE Lending Act will protect consumers from deceptive and predatory practices that strip wealth from working families by cracking down on some of the worst abuses stemming from the payday lending industry, particularly in online payday lending. Under the direction of the Trump Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reversed course on national rules protecting consumers from payday loan predators. Without strong CFPB protections at a national level, state laws protecting consumers will be all the more important. ✂️ Many states have enacted tough laws to stop abusive lending, but payday predators have continued using online lending to prey on consumers by hiding behind layers of anonymously registered websites and “lead generators” to evade enforcement. Payday lenders with access to consumers’ bank accounts are also issuing the money from loans on prepaid cards, connected to those accounts, which include steep overdraft fees. When these cards are overdrawn, the payday lender then can reach into the consumer’s bank account and charge the overdraft fee, piling on further debts. Even when the lending violates the law, abusive payday lenders can empty consumers’ bank accounts before individuals have a chance to assert their rights. The SAFE Lending Act of 2022 would put into law three major principles to make the consumer lending marketplace safer and more secure: 1. Ensure That Consumers Have Control of their Own Bank Accounts ✂️ 2. Allow Consumers to Regain Control of their Money and Increase Transparency ✂️ 3. Ban Lead Generators and Anonymous Payday Lending
Democrat Kris Mayes ekes out narrow win for Arizona attorney general; beating GOP's Abe Hamadeh by 510
From Tucson Sentinel:
Democratic candidate Kris Mayes has narrowly won the race for Arizona attorney general, beating Trumpist Republican Abe Hamadeh by 510 votes as the final batches of votes were counted. The race is headed for an automatic recount of what is the closest race for attorney general in state history. Mayes was leading by 850 votes Saturday night, after a large update from Maricopa County. A final update from Arizona's largest county gave some votes to Hamadeh, but not nearly enough to close the gap. Mayes won with 1,254,612 votes across the state, with Hamadeh at 1,254,102 total votes. "We knew this race would be close," Mayes said after the final ballots were counted. "The polls showed us that. And we know we have a recount ahead." "Every vote mattered — and this race is surely a testament to that," said the Democrat, thanking her supporters. "As we head into this recount with a 510-vote lead, we feel confident that the end result will be the same, and I'm very much looking forward to being your Lawyer for the People." "Let's lead with hope and humility versus divisiveness and chaos," she said in a press release.
A 23-Year-Old Democrat Ousted A Two-Term Mayor In A Conservative Louisiana Town
From BuzzFeed News:
..in the small town of Bogalusa, which sits in a part of conservative rural Louisiana where almost 70% of voters went for Donald Trump in 2020, residents opted to elect a new mayor who made no secret that he’s a Democrat. The other surprising factor? He’s just 23. “Age was the main concern in my race. Everybody had concerns: ‘Oh, you're just 23!’” Mayor-elect Tyrin Truong told BuzzFeed News in an interview Thursday. “But like I told people on the campaign trail: I'm young, but I can get it done. Young people, we have new ideas. We have the energy to execute things that older people normally don't,” Truong added. “That was my selling point.” According to official figures from the Louisiana secretary of state, Truong received more than 55% of votes from Bogalusa’s almost 11,000 residents, besting Mayor Wendy O'Quin Perrette, who had been elected in 2014. Truong got 1,736 votes compared to the incumbent’s 605, while City Council member Teddy Drummond earned 770 votes. Both of them ran without any party affiliation, while Truong ran as a Democrat. ✂️ The fact that the small town’s murder rate is on par with that of New Orleans is what the new mayor says compelled him to run. Just the other week, Truong was among those fleeing when shots rang out at a high school football game, leaving a 15-year-old dead. “When I was in college, I always knew that I wanted to run for something, but I never thought it would be this soon,” he said. “But after constantly seeing that most of the victims are people my age, some people that I went to school with, and at that point, I was just like, you know, I have to try to do something about this.”
Anti-corporate sentiment in U.S. is now widespread in both parties
From Pew Research Center (🎩 to T Maysle for linking to this in a comment in Friday’s GNR):
The U.S. public’s views of banks and other financial institutions, as well as large corporations, have become much more negative in recent years. Today, these institutions are both held in low esteem by Americans in both parties About four-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (38%) and Democrats and Democratic leaners (41%) now say banks and other financial institutions have a positive effect on the way things are going in the country. Even smaller shares – 26% of Republicans and 25% of Democrats – say large corporations have a positive effect, according to a survey conducted Oct. 10-16 by Pew Research Center. ✂️ Republicans have also become much more negative in their opinions of technology companies. In 2019, identical shares of Democrats and Republicans (58% each) said technology companies had a positive effect on the country. While Democrats’ views are unchanged, the share of Republicans with a positive view had fallen 20 percentage points by 2021 and has changed little since then (currently 40%). Overall, Americans view small businesses much more positively than the eight other institutions included in the survey. Eight-in-ten adults say small businesses have a positive effect on the way things are going in the country, and just 18% say they have a negative effect.
Voters Strongly Support Unions and Oppose Companies’ Anti-Union Tactics
From Data for Progress (🎩 to T Maysle for linking to this yesterday):
In our survey, conducted prior to the midterm election, we asked voters whether they’d be more likely or less likely to vote for a candidate who supported unions. We find that 53 percent of voters preferred these candidates — including 74 percent of Democrats, a plurality (47 percent) of Independents, and more than a third of Republicans. Next, we tested broad support for workers’ right to form a union. We asked voters whether they think the decision to join or form a union should be left exclusively to employees, or whether employers should be able to influence workers’ decisions. We find that 73 percent of voters — including strong majorities of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans — think the decision to unionize should be left exclusively to workers, and employers should remain neutral. ... Under current law, workers are expected to unionize workplace by workplace. Forming a union across an entire industry — which would allow workers to negotiate for industry-wide wages, benefits, and working conditions — is very difficult. Voters think this should change. We find that 60 percent of voters — including 77 percent of Democrats, 55 percent of Independents, and a plurality (47 percent) of Republicans — support allowing workers to unionize across their industry.
Gas Prices Plummet Ahead of Thanksgiving as Oil Markets Turn Bearish
From GasBuddy (🎩 to T Maysle again):
For the second straight week, the nation’s average gas price has declined, falling 11.9 cents from a week ago to $3.64 per gallon today according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The national average is down 16.4 cents from a month ago and 24.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 6.7 cents in the last week and stands at $5.28 per gallon. “What an incredible turnaround in the last week. While a decline was expected in more states than last week, I didn’t expect every single state to hop on the bandwagon so quickly. But, it’s terrific news as motorists prepare for Thanksgiving travel, with tens of thousands of stations under $3 per gallon, and thousands more to join in the next few weeks, barring a dramatic turnaround,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Everyone will be seeing relief at the pump this week, with even more substantial declines on the way as oil prices plummeted last week to briefly trade under $80 per barrel. It’s not impossible that if oil markets hold here, we could see a national average of $2.99 around Christmas, certainly the gift that every motorist is hoping for. Drivers shouldn’t be in a rush to fill up as prices will come down nearly coast-to-coast into the heavily traveled Thanksgiving holiday.”
* * * * *
🍿 Repellent Republicans Rushing toward Ruin 🍿
Ron DeSantis Reportedly Waiting For Trump To 'Punch Himself Out' Of Presidential Race
From Huffpost:
Ron DeSantis (R) plans to sit back and wait for Donald Trump to “punch himself out” in his race for the presidency, a source has told Politico. The Florida governor hasn’t declared that he’s running for the GOP presidential nomination, but it’s widely expected that he will. Trump apparently views DeSantis as a contender waiting in the wings and has increasingly attacked his one-time ally. DeSantis will reportedly bide his time and avoid tussles with Trump as he awaits a hoped-for implosion by the former president. Trump’s announcement Tuesday that he’s running yet again for the presidency is “fairly irrelevant” to DeSantis, a Republican consultant told Politico.
In Blow to Trump, Supreme Court Permits House to Obtain His Tax Returns
Hahahahahahahaha! Even packing SCOTUS with your hand-picked justices isn’t saving your sorry ass, Donnie.
From The NY Times:
The Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for a House committee to obtain former President Donald J. Trump’s tax returns, refusing his request to block their release after a yearslong fight. The court’s brief order, which was unsigned and did not note any dissents, was another decisive defeat for Mr. Trump delivered by a court that had moved to the right with his appointment of three justices. The decision means the Treasury Department is likely to soon turn over six years of his tax returns to the House, which has been seeking his financial records since 2019. Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, who requested the files as the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement that his panel would “now conduct the oversight that we’ve sought for the last three and a half years.” But Mr. Neal did not say whether the committee would publish the returns. An aide on the Ways and Means Committee, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said no decision would be made until lawmakers received the files.
Missouri judge rules AG’s office under Josh Hawley ‘knowingly’ violated transparency laws
“But his emails...”
From Missouri Independent (🎩 to hpg for including this in Evening Shade last Thursday):
A Missouri judge on Monday ruled staff in the attorney general’s office, while it was being run by now-U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, used private email accounts to “knowingly and purposefully” subvert the state’s open records law. Cole County Judge Jon Beetem determined the attorney general’s office violated the Sunshine Law by taking steps to conceal emails between Hawley’s taxpayer-funded staff and his political consultants during his 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate. The attorney general’s office must pay $12,000 in civil penalties — the maximum allowed under state law — plus attorney’s fees. The emails in question were requested by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in late 2017. Hawley’s office told the DSCC at the time that it had “searched our records and found no responsive records.” But a year after the request was denied, The Kansas City Star revealed Hawley and his staff had used private email rather than their government accounts to communicate with out-of-state political consultants who would go on to run Hawley’s U.S. Senate campaign.
State officials indicate a criminal investigation is underway into [MI state] Sen. Bumstead
Watch out when a Rethug starts screaming about something — it usually means he’s guilty of whatever he’s railing against.
From Michigan Advance (bolding mine):
A state senator from West Michigan, who made election integrity a key issue in his reelection campaign, is under criminal investigation after allegations of signature fraud were made against him in late 2016, the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office has confirmed. On Nov. 7, 2016, Clerk Jennifer Badgero in Newaygo County’s Brooks Township filed a report with Michigan State Police alleging state Sen. Jon Bumstead (R-Newaygo) forged absentee ballots at least twice. Badgero is also a Republican. While the name of the individual making the complaint was whited out in a copy of the state police report obtained by the Michigan Advance, the fact that it was the Brooks Township clerk was not. When contacted, Badgero confirmed to the Advance that she did make the complaint. Bumstead won reelection Nov. 8 when he defeated state Rep. Terry Sabo (D-Muskegon). Requests for comment were made to Bumstead’s office, but were not returned.
* * * * *
The media misbehaving
My choice for the worst hot take on the midterms is this gem from the brain trust at WaPo. The fact that they changed this headline later in the day just proves that it took them much too long to see how bone-headed it was. But they didn’t change the subheading, which is even worse.
Voters veered further right in areas won by former president Donald Trump and also tacked rightward in nearly all districts won by President Biden.
A brilliant insight from 1910
The following quote was “presented without comment” in the latest Future Crunch newsletter. That it was written in 1910 is pretty stunning, considering how perfectly it nails one of the reasons why current journalism is so flawed.
It is the one great weakness of journalism as a picture of our modern existence, that it must be a picture made up entirely of exceptions.
~ GK Chesterton (1910)
Finally, credit where it’s due. On Twitter, NPR nailed the headline about tfg’s recent announcement:
* * * * *
Good news from my corner of the world
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility for Tina Kotek, Oregon’s Next Governor
Personally, I’m convinced Tina has the chops to succeed as governor, and I’m excited to see her first moves.
Click the link to read specifics on the bulleted items.
From Willamette Week:
She might be the super-Governor we need! Governor-elect Tina Kotek loves Marvel movies. Now, after a bruising election, Oregonians need her to become a superhero. ✂️ Few of Kotek’s predecessors have inherited a bigger mess or done so with less of a public mandate. Oregon’s rate of unsheltered homelessness is among the nation’s highest. Oregon is near the bottom in access to mental health and addiction services. Our high school graduation rate ranks among the nation’s lowest. Our largest private employer, Intel, is having financial woes and developing a wandering eye. ✂️ As the race tightened in the final weeks, Kotek became more specific about her blueprint for tackling Oregon’s woes. She identified five areas for immediate focus. Here’s her initial to-do list: clean up the streets and attack Oregon’s housing crisis. ...
.. expand access to mental health and addiction treatment services. ...
.. get big money out of Oregon politics. ...
.. narrow the state’s urban-rural divide. ...
.. get tough on state bureaucrats. ... ✂️ Much of what Tina Kotek proposes to do as governor could be lumped together as a pledge to spend taxpayer dollars more effectively. ✂️ Liz Kaufman, a retired longtime Democratic political consultant, agrees Kotek faces a tough task. “She isn’t going to wave a magic wand,” Kaufman says. “This is going to take a lot of hard work. But Kotek was born for these challenges.”
Gov. Kate Brown Pardons 45,000 People With Past Cannabis Convictions
Current Gov. Kate Brown does something wonderful on her way out.
From Willamette Week:
Oregon Governor Kate Brown [On Monday] , Gov. Kate Brown pardoned an estimated 45,000 people with low-level cannabis convictions—forgiving $14 million in fines and fees in the process. “No one deserves to be forever saddled with the impacts of a conviction for simple possession of marijuana—a crime that is no longer on the books in Oregon,” Brown said in a statement. The decision follows on the heels of a similar announcement from President Joe Biden in October. But Brown’s decision will have much more impact. Most possession charges were prosecuted by local authorities. The federal mass pardon affected only 6,500 people. Few if any of the people pardoned today are still behind bars or on probation. But anyone in Oregon who was convicted of a single charge of possessing 1 ounce or less of weed (and was over 21 years old at the time and whose crime had no victim) will have the record of the conviction sealed, removing it from future background checks. Prior convictions make applying for housing and job-hunting difficult. It’s a problem that disproportionately affects people of color. “My pardon will remove these hardships,” Brown said.
Five Vietnamese Americans Won Seats in the Oregon House on Nov. 8
The Vietnamese community in Portland has brought so much to our city. It’s wonderful to see them getting involved in local and state politics.
From Willamette Week:
As WW reported earlier this year, the election held out the promise that Oregon would have the nation’s largest group of Vietnamese American lawmakers in the country. Last week, it happened. The newly elected representatives are Dr. Hai Pham, a Hillsboro dentist; Dr. Thuy Tran, a Northeast Portland optometrist; Hoa Nguyen, a Portland Public Schools attendance officer; and Daniel Nguyen, a Lake Oswego restaurateur. Hoa Nguyen is also an elected member of the David Douglas School District and Daniel Nguyen is a Lake Oswego city councilor. The four newcomers will join state Rep. Khanh Pham (D-Southeast Portland), who won election in 2020, in the House Democratic caucus in January. “It’s a testament to the resilience of refugees and their children, as well as an inspiring story of the evolving meaning of what it means to be American,” Khanh Pham says of the election results. “I hope that this inspires other potential candidates who come from historically underrepresented groups to consider running, and to recruit others.” She added that it would a mistake over-generalize about the five. “Each of us have very different backgrounds—from business, to healthcare to education, and climate justice,” Khanh Pham says. “Our election wins demonstrate that Vietnamese people (as with other communities of color) are not a monolith, and cannot be reduced to a simplistic or narrow agendas. We are as broad, diverse, and complicated as any other community.”
Voters in Oregon pass health care measure
The details need to be worked out, and they’re challenging. But this is an important statement of principle.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
Oregon voters have narrowly passed a measure that decrees health care a human right. Measure 111 makes Oregon the first state in the nation to change its constitution to explicitly declare affordable health care a fundamental right. The amendment reads: “It is the obligation of the state to ensure that every resident of Oregon has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right.” It does not define “cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable,” nor does it say who would foot the bill. The Oregon Health Authority says 94% of Oregonians currently have insurance coverage and more are eligible for the Oregon Medicaid plan or a subsidy to reduce the cost of commercial insurance.
Oregon’s treasurer wants $90B pension fund to drop fossil fuels
About time.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
State Treasurer Tobias Read wants the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, a pension serving about 160,000 people and valued at about $90 billion, to stop investing in companies that emit planet-warming greenhouse gases by 2050. On [Nov. 16], Read unveiled the framework for a plan he hopes the Oregon Investment Council will ultimately embrace, leading to 50% decarbonization of the state’s assets by 2035 and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Read emphasized that the treasury’s primary responsibility of the fund, which is to maximize financial returns, would remain intact. “Nothing supersedes our responsibility to our beneficiaries,” Read said. “We’re not going to do anything to put that at risk.” But Read, who recently ran for governor, said he’s convinced divesting in companies that cause the planet to warm will be good for investors. “We’re thinking about the returns over decades, over generations and the balance that comes into that frame is to not be distracted by shorter-term ups and downs,” he said.
Waldport statue honors Black Oregon luminary
Louis Southworth’s story is amazing, especially in a state which systematically excluded Black residents for decades after its founding.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
A new statue [was] unveiled in Waldport on Saturday, honoring a prominent figure in Oregon’s Black history Louis Southworth arrived in Oregon in 1858 as a slave, but he eventually purchased his freedom. He helped to found the first public school in Waldport, and served as school board president. He was also a blacksmith, a musician and a ferry operator. Jesse Dolin is with the Oregon Coast Visitors Association. “He was just a luminary. He really was embraced by a white settler community during a very divided time in our state’s history.” The bronze statue of Southworth will eventually be installed in the new Louis Southworth Park. The sculptor, Peter Helzer, also created the Ken Kesey memorial in downtown Eugene. x YouTube Video
* * * * *
Good news from around the nation
Universal free lunch ballot measure passes easily in Colorado
Universal free lunch needs to be the norm all over the U.S.
From NPR:
Colorado voters approved a ballot measure to provide free meals for all public school students, according to a call from The Associated Press. By a comfortable 55 percent to 45 percent margin, they voted to create a program to provide those meals and help schools pay for them, according to election results. The measure will help schools pay for the meals by raising $100 million a year by increasing taxes on the state's richest residents. Those making more than $300,000 a year will see their state tax deductions limited, increasing their taxable income.
Toledo City Council approves medical debt relief legislation
I love RIP Medical Debt, one of the nonprofits to which I send monthly donations. The effect they have on the people they help is truly life-changing.
From 13ABC News:
Toledo City Council approved legislation to relieve medical debt for eligible residents on Wednesday. In a 7-5 vote, council members approved legislation to create a partnership between the city and a nonprofit group called RIP Medical Debt to relieve debt for eligible Toledo residents. Council approved $800,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the move. Lucas County Commissioners recently announced it would spend an additional $800,000, which would eliminate $160-$200 million in medical debt for Toledo residents and Lucas County residents. Council woman Michele Grim, who spearheaded the measure, said it would use less than 1% of the city’s ARPA funds. RIP Medical Debt would work with hospitals to purchase debt in bundles at a discounted rate, eliminating medical debt for many people. The longer debt goes unpaid, the cheaper it is for RIP Medical Debt to purchase. Grim said that could wipe out decades of debt. ✂️ There is still uncertainty surrounding the specifics of the move. It’s unclear which exact debt will be forgiven or exactly which people would be eligible for the forgiveness. RIP Medical Debt also has not signed a contract with any local healthcare providers at this point.
Building a Black Birding Community in Detroit
It’s always good news when another traditionally all-White activity opens up to BIPOC folks.
From GoodGoodGood:
April Campbell remembers always loving birds, even as a child — though she didn’t know what to do about this curiosity until she reached adulthood. ...Campbell, who is Black, eventually adopted birding as a hobby after she completed medical school. But she quickly learned that the local Washtenaw Audubon chapter – in liberal, affluent Ann Arbor, where she lived – lacked Black and Brown birdwatchers. “There were never any people of color, and not just African Americans, but there weren’t any Asians, no Latino — nobody,” Campbell says. “There were…usually older white people; most of them were either retired or were very well-to-do with a lot of vacation time.” According to a 2019 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report, just 6% of birders are Black. Campbell, now a retired medical doctor, realized that birding events held by her local Audubon chapter were not accessible to Black and low-income folks. ✂️ Campbell decided to leave the Washtenaw Audubon group and create her own local group for Black birders — BIPOC Birders of Michigan. ✂️ Finding a local Audubon chapter willing to work with her took a while. In Michigan, local chapters operate autonomously and are unaffiliated with each other and with the National Audubon Society. At first, Campbell hoped to work with the state chapter, Michigan Audubon, but found a good fit with Detroit Audubon. “Detroit Audubon has undergone what I would describe as a sea change in their entire philosophy of birding and outreach,” Campbell says. “And they have a number of young new people who are really dedicated to making this work.”
* * * * *
Musical break
Nifty shared some great songs about friendship yesterday, so here’s one of my favorites. I love the song and I especially love the performance!
x YouTube Video
* * * * *
Good news from around the world
UN General Assembly adopts resolution for Russian reparations to Ukraine
This is a good start.
From Meduza:
The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution to hold Russia financially responsible for invading Ukraine. The document contains provisions for creating a register of war damages, and for establishing the mechanisms of collecting reparations from Russia. 93 counties, including the U.S. and the European Union, supported the resolution. 13, including Russia and China, voted against. Among the 74 who abstained were Brazil, India, Serbia, and Kazakhstan. This is already the fifth UN resolution that condemns the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
NATO Parliamentary Assembly recognizes Russia as 'terrorist state,' calls for special tribunal creation
And this is a good start, too. It’s also a not-so-subtle message to the oligarchs that it would be good idea to dump Putin.
From The Kyiv Independent (bolding mine):
All 30 alliance members supported the propositions of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly on Nov. 21 and adopted a resolution recognizing Russia as a “terrorist state,” according to lawmaker Yehor Cherniev, head of Ukraine’s permanent delegation to the NATO PA. The resolution also appeals to set up a special international tribunal regarding Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Cherniev said. “Such a tribunal will make it possible to convict not only the direct perpetrators of war crimes but also senior Russian leadership,” he added. "The resolution names Russia the most direct threat to Euro-Atlantic security," said Tomas Valasek, head of the Slovak delegation to the NATO PA. "It states clearly that the state of Russia, under its current regime, is a terrorist one," he added. He added that Russia violated its agreements with the alliance, thus, the provision of limiting the forward deployment of troops is "null and void."
After 14 years of advocacy, the DRC president finally signs new Indigenous peoples law
There has been quite a lot of good news lately about indigenous peoples reclaiming their land and their rights.
From Mongabay:
After five months of waiting, the Indigenous pygmy peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have secured a major victory. Earlier today, the president of the DRC, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi, signed and promulgated the new law on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Indigenous Pygmy Peoples, the first legislation in the country that recognizes and safeguards the specific rights of the Indigenous pygmy peoples, such as their land rights. Earlier this year, a commission of the two chambers (National Assembly and Senate) of parliament harmonized the different versions of the legislation and the final version of the law was sent to the president for his signature and promulgation. Now, the Indigenous communities living in the tropical forests of the Congo Basin can receive the legal protections that the bill’s authors intended—and that the responsibilities of the government in enforcing these protections are clear.
While Abortion Rights Shrink in U.S., This Small Country Expanded Access
Here’s an example of the power of educating legislators about an issue. Let’s hope that could eventually make a difference in the U.S., too.
From The NY Times:
When lawmakers in the West African nation of Benin met last year to consider whether to legalize abortion, they heard shocking testimony from Dr. Véronique Tognifode, the country’s minister of social affairs, about what she had seen during her years working as a gynecologist. She recounted how she and her peers had struggled to save women who had tried to end their pregnancies by ingesting dubious pills or bleach, inserting sharp objects into their bodies or getting illegal abortions from the dangerous hacks known locally as “mechanics.” The death toll was unacceptably high, she told them: One in five maternal deaths in Benin resulted from unsafe abortions, according to the government — more than twice the average on the African continent, which is the most unsafe region in the world to terminate a pregnancy. ✂️ A year after that testimony, Benin, with a population of 12 million, mostly Christians and Muslims, has become one of the few countries in Africa where abortion is broadly available.
Germany hatched a plan to boost culture
Attracting younger audiences is a holy grail for cultural institutions everywhere, from museums to symphony orchestras to theater groups. This is an excellent way to invite them in.
From Positive News:
Now here’s a civilised idea that appears to be catching on: birthday vouchers given out by governments for people to spend on gig and theatre tickets. Germany became the latest European country to announced such an initiative this week. Its €200 (£175) ‘KulturPass’ will be offered to all those turning 18 next year. The pilot aims to boost the arts and, in the words of German culture minister Claudia Roth, “get young people excited about the diversity of culture in our country”. Some 750,000 people will turn 18 in Germany next year. The estimated cost of the KulturPass programme is around €100m. If successful, Roth suggested that it could be rolled out to other age groups. Similar schemes have been introduced elsewhere in Europe. France offers its citizens a €300 (£260) culture voucher when they turn 18. It can be spent on cinema, theatre and concert tickets, or on books, arts courses and musical instruments. Spain and Italy have their own schemes, offering €400 (£350) and €500 (£435) respectively.
* * * * *
Good news in medicine
Protein Changes in Blood Could Become New Test for Catching Breast Cancer Up to 2 Years Early
Early diagnosis makes long-term survival much more likely. This is truly ground-breaking good news!
From Good News Network:
Newly discovered protein changes in the blood could pave the way for a new test to catching breast cancer up to two years early. On Wednesday, researchers revealed they found the levels of six proteins in people’s blood changed before they were diagnosed with breast cancer. They claimed this could form the basis of blood testing to catch the disease early in those who are genetically predisposed or have a family history of breast cancer, and catching the disease early means a reduced chance of death. According to the American Cancer Society, the 5-year relative survival rate for breast cancer detected early is just about 99%, but if the cancer is detected late and spreads beyond the breast tissues, that rate falls by about 10%. These new results came from the “Trial Early Serum Test” Breast, or TESTBREAST, cancer study initiated in 2011.
CRISPR cancer trial success paves the way for personalized treatments
Personalized treatments are clearly the future of oncology. Using CRISPR is a brilliant new addition to the oncology tool box.
From Nature:
A small clinical trial has shown that researchers can use CRISPR gene editing to alter immune cells so that they will recognize mutated proteins specific to a person’s tumours. Those cells can then be safely set loose in the body to find and destroy their target. It is the first attempt to combine two hot areas in cancer research: gene editing to create personalized treatments, and engineering immune cells called T cells so as to better target tumours. The approach was tested in 16 people with solid tumours, including in the breast and colon. “It is probably the most complicated therapy ever attempted in the clinic,” says study co-author Antoni Ribas, a cancer researcher and physician at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We’re trying to make an army out of a patient’s own T cells.” The results were published in Nature1 and presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer meeting in Boston, Massachusetts on 10 November.
* * * * *
Good news in science
Scientists Have Used Mushrooms to Make Biodegradable Computer Chip Parts
More uses for the amazing Reishi mushroom, long known to be a powerful immune system booster.
From Good News Network:
As production of electronic devices continues to increase, scientists are looking to insert a bit of nature and biodegradability into common components like the microchip, and believe it or not, peeling the skin off the mycelium of a mushroom can protect chips from heat up to 392°F (200°C.) Once it’s dried out, scientists working on the project from Johannes Kepler University in Austria found that it’s not only heat resistant, but will last for years, and can withstand being bent and folded thousands of times without wearing or tearing. Ganoderma Lucidum – or Reishi The particular species of fungus is the Ganoderma lucidum [aka Reishi], which grows on dead rotting wood in European mountains. As it reaches maturity, it creates a fibrous skin to protect its own substrate (the wood in this case) which if peeled off can instead protect microchips. The substrate under a computing chip tends to be made with unrecyclable material like non-reusable plastic. The authors point out that the increase in the proliferation of electronics in modern times has not been paired with an increase in their lifespan, and throwing them away is much more economical for users than replacing individual parts. “The vast number of devices produced every day along with the decrease of their lifetime inevitably results in the generation of enormous amounts of electronic waste,” the authors write in their paper, published in Science Advances.
Oldest evidence of the controlled use of fire to cook food, researchers report
As we enter the most intense few days of cooking most Americans do all year, here’s a mind-blowing scientific discovery about how long cooking has been part of human culture — over four times earlier than previously thought!
From Science Daily:
A remarkable scientific discovery has been made by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), Tel Aviv University (TAU), and Bar-Ilan University (BIU), in collaboration with the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Oranim Academic College, the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR) institution, the Natural History Museum in London, and the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. A close analysis of the remains of a carp-like fish found at the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY) archaeological site in Israel shows that the fish were cooked roughly 780,000 years ago. Cooking is defined as the ability to process food by controlling the temperature at which it is heated and includes a wide range of methods. Until now, the earliest evidence of cooking dates to approximately 170,000 years ago. The question of when early man began using fire to cook food has been the subject of much scientific discussion for over a century. These findings shed new light on the matter and was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. ✂️ Dr. [Irit] Zohar [a researcher at TAU's Steinhardt Museum of Natural History] and Dr. [Marion] Prevost [at HU's Institute of Archaeology]: "This study demonstrates the huge importance of fish in the life of prehistoric humans, for their diet and economic stability. Further, by studying the fish remains found at Gesher Benot Ya'aqob we were able to reconstruct, for the first time, the fish population of the ancient Hula Lake and to show that the lake held fish species that became extinct over time. These species included giant barbs (carp like fish) that reached up to 2 meters in length. The large quantity of fish remains found at the site proves their frequent consumption by early humans, who developed special cooking techniques. These new findings demonstrate not only the importance of freshwater habitats and the fish they contained for the sustenance of prehistoric man, but also illustrate prehistoric humans' ability to control fire in order to cook food, and their understanding the benefits of cooking fish before eating it."
* * * * *
Good news for the environment
Pacific Salmon Will Regain Access to Hundreds of Miles of Spawning Grounds as Historic Dam Removal Gets Green Light
One of the Gnusies asked recently why dam removal is a good thing. Here’s an excellent short explanation.
From Good News Network:
It’s been twenty years of advocacy and legal challenges, but the decision was made to carry out the largest dam removal in history to return the Klamath River in California to its natural state. Led by the Yurok, Klamath, and Karuk tribal nations, the demolition of four hydroelectric dams will allow wild salmon from the Pacific to run upstream and spawn again as they haven’t done for 100 years. Last Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a license to allow the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) to decommission and remove the four dams and implement related restoration activities. These four dams deny salmon access to hundreds of miles of historical habitat, degrade water quality, and foster the spread of fish diseases. Scientific studies and dam removal efforts in other watersheds demonstrate that removing dams can reverse these trends. Demolition work is expected to begin next year, promising not only the return to ancestral ways of life for the various tribes on the Klamath River, but a robust increase in commercial salmon fishing. “The Klamath salmon are coming home,” proclaimed Yurok Chairman Joseph James. “The people have earned this victory and with it, we carry on our sacred duty to the fish that have sustained our people since the beginning of time.”
Machine Recycles Plastic Bottles into 3D Printer Filament–And the Design was Released, Instead of Patented
Win-win-win!!
From Good News Network (bolding mine):
The mission of the James Dyson Award is simple: Design something that solves a problem. No one will be surprised, then, that the Polyformer machine won a grand prize because it expertly solves two problems at once. The young co-inventors, Reiten Cheng and Swaleh Owais, designed the Polyformer to achieve two goals: to tackle plastic waste, and figure out how to turn it into low-cost filament for 3D printing, which would be a boon for developing countries. 3D printer filament can be a costly purchase for many creators and hobbyists, but this is particularly true for those who live in developing countries—where plastic waste is plentiful. Owais, who studied at McMaster University in Canada, said the cost of importing a standard roll of 3D printer filament into Rwanda was retailing for over $60, whereas the same 1kg / 2.2-lb roll can be purchased in Canada for a fraction of that price. The Polyformer machine can convert a standard 500ml plastic bottle (1/2 quart size) into 3/4 ounce of print filament (20 grams). Another fantastic part of this story is the fact that Polyformer’s design itself is an open-source project. Instead of applying for a patent, Cheng and Owais released all the CAD, code, and building instructions, offering it to the public on the team’s discord website, so anyone can put it together.
Plants use their epigenetic memories to adapt to climate change
From Science Daily (🎩 to T Maysle for mentioning this in Sunday’s Evening Shade):
Animals can adapt quickly to survive adverse environmental conditions. Evidence is mounting to show that plants can, too. A paper publishing in the journal Trends in Plant Science on November 17 details how plants are rapidly adapting to the adverse effects of climate change, and how they are passing down these adaptations to their offspring. ✂️ Because plants don't have neural networks, their memory is based entirely on cellular, molecular, and biochemical networks. These networks make up what the researchers term somatic memory. "These mechanisms allow plants to recognize the occurrence of a previous environmental condition and to react more promptly in presence of the same consequential condition," says [Federico] Martinelli, [a plant geneticist at the University of Florence]. These somatic memories can then be passed to the plants' progeny via epigenetics. "We have highlighted key genes, proteins, and small oligonucleotides, which previous studies have shown play a key role in the memory of abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, cold, heat, and heavy metals and pathogen attacks," says Martinelli. "In this peer-reviewed opinion piece, we provide several examples that demonstrate the existence of molecular mechanisms modulating plant memory to environmental stresses and affecting the adaptation of offspring to these stresses." Going forward, Martinelli and his colleagues hope to understand even more about the genes that are being passed down. "We are particularly interested in decoding the epigenetic alphabet underlying all the modifications of the genetic material caused by the environment, without changes in DNA sequence," he says. "This is especially important when we consider the rapid climate change we observe today that every living organism, including plants, needs to quickly adapt to in order to survive."
* * * * *
Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rosy, Nora, and Rascal.
Watch Stella, the Labrador Retriever Whose Leaf-pile Bombing Enthralls Us Each Fall
This video is guaranteed to make you smile!
From Daily Paws:
Some of us fancy fall for the joy it brings with sweater weather, pumpkin-flavored everything, and beautiful scenery. And then there's Stella, a Labrador retriever who loves nothing more than cannonballing into colossal piles of crunchy leaves. Known as the Queen of Leaves, the 9-year-old English Lab has gone viral over the years for her leaps for leaves and lovable personality. Her excitement for the season has earned her 433,000 followers on Instagram and 389,000 on TikTok. (Note: She also enjoys destroying snowmen in the winter.) In her videos, you'll see Stella and her doggy sister, Mabel, along with a few of their four- and two-legged besties in their happy place. Stella and her family live in Maine, which would explain the high amount of stunning fall foliage. x YouTube Video
Study Reveals That Cats Are Bonded to Their Humans Just as Much as Dogs and Babies
Another animal behavior study that proves the obvious. But good news nontheless!
From My Modern Met:
Cats are often stereotyped as being aloof creatures, but that generalization has been proven to be far from the truth. A couple of years ago, a scientific study revealed that felines actually enjoy social interaction, and additional findings have recently reported that cats care more about us than we might think. In the September 23, 2019 issue of the Current Biology journal, the article “Attachment Bonds Between Domestic Cats and Humans” shares that felines are just as strongly bonded to us as dogs or even infants are. Animal behavior scientist Dr. Kristyn Vitale and her team at Oregon State University conducted the study. They performed a test that observes bonding behavior, which is the same that has been used on canines and babies. For this experiment, scientists had the cats (79 kittens and 38 adults) and their caregivers enter a new environment. After a couple of minutes in the unfamiliar room, the humans left—a potentially stressful situation for the animal. They returned two minutes later, and researchers watched how the cats acted when their caregivers came back. Felines with “secure attachment” greeted their owners and returned to exploring. In doing so, it meant that the kitties viewed their humans as a safe spot that they could come to in an unfamiliar situation. About two-thirds of the cats (65.8%) and kittens (64.3%) in the study greeted their humans after they came back to the room, meaning that they have a secure bond with their caregiver. How does that stack up to dogs and infants? A 2018 study on canines showed 61% secure bonding, and infants have a 65% rate. So, the next time you think your cat doesn’t care about you, think again. The Oregon State University research team is now turning their attention to the cats and kittens that end up in animal shelters every year. “We're currently looking at several aspects of cat attachment behavior,” Vitale said in a statement, “including whether socialization and fostering opportunities impact attachment security in shelter cats.”
Rascal found another exciting success story about finding a bird that had long been assumed to be extinct. This is happening a lot lately, which is definitely good news!
And because there was a discussion in yesterday’s GNR about birds mimicking noises, Rascal wants you to know that he mimics the kitchen timer well enough to get me running into the kitchen if the timer has been set. He’s disappointed that he can’t fool me when I know I haven’t turned the timer on. 😉
‘Like Finding a Unicorn’: Researchers Rediscover the Black-Naped Pheasant-Pigeon, a Bird Lost to Science for 140 Years
From Audubon:
For a month the researchers had traversed slender mountain ridges, crossed and re-crossed rivers that roared through canyons cloaked in tropical forest, and endured bloodthirsty mosquitoes and leeches, all in search of something that probably didn’t exist. They had just hours left for searching before they had to leave Fergusson Island, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea. Expedition co-leader Jordan Boersma reckoned their chance of success was less than 1 percent. Winded from a climb, he plopped down on a lush hillside to catch his breath and began looking through images on the camera traps he’d just collected, not expecting to find anything. “Suddenly I was confronted with this image of what at that time felt like a mythical creature,” says Boersma, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “It was, without exaggeration, the most surreal moment of my life.” ✂️ x YouTube Video “...it feels like finding a unicorn or a Bigfoot,” says John C. Mittermeier, director of the lost birds program at American Bird Conservancy and a co-leader of the eight-member expedition. “It’s extraordinarily unusual.” The stunning late-September rediscovery could not have happened without guidance from local hunters with intimate knowledge of the island’s forests, the researchers say, demonstrating the invaluable role of Indigenous communities in ongoing efforts to relocate species lost to Western science. With its existence confirmed, the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon is almost certainly the most endangered bird in New Guinea, which underscores the urgent need to protect its habitat on Fergusson, a rugged, 555-square-mile island that, while largely undeveloped, faces pressure from logging companies.
* * * * *
Hot lynx
www.theguardian.com/…Users urged to archive tweets amid rumors of Twitter implosion. “If there’s something you care about on Twitter, now’s the time to become like a temporary expert in digital archiving measures...”
www.theatlantic.com/… The Age of Social Media is Ending — It Never Should Have Begun. A thoughtful piece about what happened when social networking morphed into social media.
www.warpnews.org/… I skipped the news — and lived to tell about it. “After a thirty-day news fast, Tomas Söderlund found his place in a lower, calmer, and more pleasant pace of information with greater positive energy - without feeling less informed. With a little distance from everything that happens, the big features stood out better.”
www.washingtonpost.com/… Let’s put the myth of the billionaire genius to rest. A smartly written opinion from Helaine Olen: “Instead of a prophet of the blockchain future, Bankman-Fried...is increasingly looking like Ozymandias 2.0.”
www.newyorker.com/… The Struggle to Unearth the World’s First Author. “Decades ago, archaeologists discovered the work of Enheduanna, an ancient priestess who seemed to alter the story of literature [...fifteen hundred years before Homer.]” Absolutely fascinating!
emergencemagazine.org/… Finding the Mother Tree. An in-depth interview with Suzanne Simard, the scientist who discovered the mycological “wood-wide web” that allows trees to share information.
* * * * *
Wherever is herd…
A tip of the hat to 2thanks for creating this handy info sheet for all Gnusies new and old!
Morning Good News Roundups at 7 x 7: These Gnusies lead the herd at 7 a.m. ET, 7 days a week:
Closing music Chris Stapleton reminding us that friendship is something we can all be very grateful for. x YouTube Video
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Thanks to all of you for your smarts, your hearts, and
your faithful attendance at our daily Gathering of the Herd.
❤️💙 RESIST, PERSIST, REBUILD, REJOICE! 💙❤️
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/23/2136962/-Good-News-Roundup-for-Wednesday-November-23-2022-More-reasons-for-gratitude
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
