(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Good News Roundup for Friday, June 2, 2023: We're Not as Broken as They Tell Us [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-06-02
Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
If it bleeds, it leads.
Humans are hard-wired to pay more attention to danger, which makes sense, The people in the past who ignored the rumblings of the volcano died without producing offspring. It’s basic evolution.
Because of our nature, and the fact that media companies want more clicks, they focus on extremes instead of the boring middle. So we didn’t know that most Rs did NOT want to default. And I expect this is true for many other issues.
Of course, there are many, many problems in our country. But what if we’re stronger than they’re telling us? Not as broken? And what if some of the bad guys are finally facing consequences?
Come on in, dear gnusies, and see what the good guys and our allies are doing.
Note that next week I am traveling ,so I won’t be here. Back on June 16th!
Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the many who are fighting to destroy our country. Some of us expected it: the cheating, the lying, the chaos, and yes, even the attempts to cling to power despite the clear will of the people. But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including us and our fellow gnus) who are working so hard to save our country from those very bad people. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know. Remember:
💙 There are more of us than there are of them.
💛 They are terrified when we organize. THERE IS LOTS OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE TERRIFIED!
💔 They want us to be demoralized. The best way to keep up your spirits is to fight. So, take the time to recharge your batteries, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world.
🗽 Biden as President ! 🗽
Biden, Harris and their administration have been hard at work. Here are the last week’s posts at the White House briefing room.
👎 Out with the Bad, In with the Good 👍
Teenagers in Indiana put on an LGBTQ play despite opposition Hannah, Natanson, Washington Post
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Sydney Knipp, 16, tiptoed to stage’s edge and peered around the black curtain at the nearly 1,500 people waiting for the play to start. It was the largest audience she had ever seen. In a few minutes, Sydney was supposed to stride before them, braids streaming, to deliver the opening monologue as Alanna Dale in “Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood,” a gender-bending take on Sherwood Forest’s beloved bandit. ✂️ Sydney and Fia, and their characters, were the reason for the security — the reason this play was happening not at school but at an outdoor theater in the girls’ hometown. Alanna confesses her love for a woman in the 16th scene. Much declares they are nonbinary two scenes later. The LGBTQ storylines drew complaints from parents, spurring Carroll High School to cancel “Marian” in February out of concern for students’ safety. But the cast of two dozen teenagers decided to put the play on anyway. Now, on a chilly evening in late May — after raising almost $84,000, booking Foellinger Theatre and whirling through 2½ weeks of late-night rehearsals squeezed between Advanced Placement exams and finals — it was opening night for a show adults had warned them not to do.
Note the show went really well.
Parents in Florida have had enough Greg Sargent, Paul Waldman, Washington Post
..But the real story of the night was the response. Again and again, parents and students forcefully defended teachers. They cast the right’s attacks, the censoring of educators and the removal of books as the real threats to education. “War on woke?” one student said pointedly. “More like war on your children’s future.” “It’s me and my fellow students who are feeling the effects of this,” said a second student. A third said the removal of books from classrooms is what’s really “indoctrinating students.” Things like this are happening all over. As Sarah Jones of New York magazine reports, liberal parents in states as far-flung as New York, North Carolina and Montana are organizing local groups, pressuring school boards and running for office to challenge the right’s education takeover.
Some people who were raised in religious homeschooling environments are rebelling against it Peter Jamison, Washington Post.
Home schooling today is more diverse, demographically and ideologically, than it was in the heyday of conservative Christian activism. Yet those activists remain extraordinarily influential. Over decades, they have eroded state regulations, ensuring that parents who home-school face little oversight in much of the country. More recently, they have inflamed the nation’s culture wars, fueling attacks on public-school lessons about race and gender with the politically potent language of “parental rights.” But what should be a moment of triumph for conservative Christian home-schoolers has been undermined by an unmistakable backlash: the desertion and denunciations of the very children they said they were saving. Former home-schoolers have been at the forefront of those arguing for greater oversight of home schooling, forming the nonprofit Coalition for Responsible Home Education to make their case." “As an adult I can say, ‘No. What happened to me as a child was wrong,’” said Samantha Field, the coalition’s government relations director.
Tara Reade, who claimed Biden molested her, has moved to Russia.
x HAHAHAHAHA! Tara Reade has “Defected” to Moscow. Never has the word “defect” been so accurate! Now she has to share bag of potatoes & bottle of Vodka at the FSB “Traitors Motel” with @Snowden, Steven Segal and John “BAMA” McIntyre. In the immortal words of me, “SHE’S RUSSIA’S…
https://t.co/7tdXStISZH — Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) May 30, 2023
💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes and Chaos 💣
Indiana Republican arrested for drunk driving Brad Reed, Raw Story
A controversial Republican Indiana State Representative on Wednesday morning was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and fleeing the scene of an accident. Local news station WTHR reports that Indiana State Rep. Jim Lucas, who in the past has come under fire for racist social media posts and posts that quote infamous Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, allegedly crashed his car while intoxicated on Interstate 65, and then drove the vehicle to another location where it was subsequently found by law enforcement officials. According to WTHR, Lucas is facing preliminary charges of "causing endangerment; leaving the scene of a crash; and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated."
Attorney General Ken Paxton did more than we know! BREAKING: Rusty Hardin, a Texas legal legend, has been appointed by the House to help prosecute AG Ken Paxton in the state Senate.He said allegations against Paxton are "tens times worse than what has been made public" and "it will blow your mind."
x BREAKING: Rusty Hardin, a Texas legal legend, has been appointed by the House to help prosecute AG Ken Paxton in the state Senate.
He said allegations against Paxton are "tens times worse than what has been made public" and "it will blow your mind." — Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) June 1, 2023
Looking forward to some mind-blowing deets! Well, it won’t blow our minds, because we live outside the GOP bubble.
Also, Paxton is not receiving his salary while he is suspended.
McCarthy was respectful and laudatory about President Biden: “Very professional, very smart. Very tough at the same time." This is counter to all the narratives where Biden is supposed to be a senile idiot instead of an experienced politician. It also reduces the power of the crazy House wing, and I’ve got to think McCarthy enjoyed working with professional and smart people, which I’m sure is not how he feels about the Freedumb caucus. I’ve also seen speculation that McCarthy, as part of the gang of 8, knows tRump is going down in the documents case and may feel emboldened becasuse of that.
Also, given that it took him 15 votes to get confirmed as Speaker of the House, how could the Freedumb Caucus ever expect him to do well? Besides, do well at what? That’s never been clear, except for those who really want to drive the economy over a cliff, which might be true of a few who are truly working for putin. But the others show little interest in governing, especially numbers.
Speaking of numbers:
x New @NavigatorSurvey data offers a rationale for why McCarthy and the Rs were so willing to take a deal that was so far away from their original demands:
their numbers suck, and this whole thing was hurting them. They needed it to end. 1/ pic.twitter.com/6N2ra73Xed — Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) June 1, 2023
🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚
Biden’s under-rated dealmaking prowess strikes again Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post
President Biden’s capacity to overperform after an onslaught of negative press and Democratic hand-wringing is second to none. He did it with the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, NATO solidification and expansion, and now with the debt ceiling deal. It’s hard to conceive of an outcome more favorable to Biden. Republican House Freedom Caucus making promises such as repealing much of the Inflation Reduction Act (including eliminating $80 billion in new funds for the Internal Revenue Service), capping nondefense spending at fiscal 2022 levels for a decade and blocking Biden’s $400 billion proposed student debt relief. None of that happened. ✂️ Recall where this began: themaking promises such as repealing much of the Inflation Reduction Act (including eliminating $80 billion in new funds for the Internal Revenue Service), capping nondefense spending at fiscal 2022 levels for a decade and blocking Biden’s $400 billion proposed student debt relief.None of that happened. ✂️ To sum up: Biden brushed back the litany of outrageous demands, kept his spending agenda and tax increases intact and got his two-year debt limit increase. And in making a deal with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Biden helps stoke dissension on the GOP side as the extreme MAGA wing denounces the agreement . ✂️ Moreover, Biden could not very well run to the press to tell them McCarthy wasn’t getting much of anything. The “play” here was to allow McCarthy to spin his way out of the corner that he and the Freedom Caucus had painted themselves into. Letting McCarthy boast that his great achievement was “getting Biden to negotiate” was a small price to pay for avoiding economic catastrophe and landing the best deal one could hope for in divided government.
💜 Unity? 💜
President Biden on the passage of the deal White House Briefing Room
Tonight, Senators from both parties voted to protect the hard-earned economic progress we have made and prevent a first-ever default by the United States. Together, they demonstrated once more that America is a nation that pays its bills and meets its obligations—and always will be. I want to thank Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell for quickly passing the bill. ✂️ It protects the core pillars of my Investing in America agenda that is creating good jobs across the country, fueling a resurgence in manufacturing, rebuilding our infrastructure, and advancing clean energy. It safeguards peoples’ health care and retirement security, protecting bedrock programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It protects vital investments in hardworking families that help make our country strong—from child care and education, to public safety and Meals on Wheels. It protects my student debt relief plan for hardworking borrowers. And it honors America’s sacred obligation to our veterans by fully funding veterans’ medical care.
Compliments on both sides of the aisle:
x Reciprocal: Earlier Speaker McCarthy said of Biden in the negotiations, “Very professional, very smart. Very tough at the same time."
https://t.co/QkjbvD0Dot — The Recount (@therecount) May 28, 2023
Michael A. Cohen at MSNBC
The debt limit fight has magnified a point that perhaps gets lost in the litany of genuine (and manufactured) outrages that define our political moment: Most Americans would prefer less conflict, not more. Voters will reward the politicians who turn down the heat, rather than the ones who keep throwing gasoline on the fire. That was certainly the case when Biden won election in 2020, and it arguably helped Democrats overperform in the 2022 midterms. If Biden is able to ride his positive politics to re-election in 2024, it may prove contrary to an old and oft-repeated saw. Sometimes good guys finish first.
Dancers at LA Topless Bar Unionize John Logan Talking Points Memo
🎩 T Maysle Louisiana’s coastal program unanimously approved Claire Sullivan, Louisiana Illuminator
The Louisiana Legislature has unanimously approved a $50 billion plan to protect and restore the state’s diminishing coast over the next 50 years. “We’re not just throwing money at the problem,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said Friday in a press conference lauding the plan that is updated by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority every six years. “We’re doing it in a way that really makes sense, that follows the science.” Edwards called the plan the most robust coastal effort in the country and maybe the world. The Legislature also unanimously approved the authority’s budget for the next fiscal year, which totaled an unprecedented $1.6 billion for coastal restoration and hurricane protection projects.
Let’s hope it works for the next 50 years!
🌵 I vote in Arizona. For the election in 2022, my district was gerrymandered to make it R instead of D. The guy running for the Rs, Juan Ciscomani, seemed as awful as anyone could imagine. Against abortion. Nuts about immigration. And he seemed to have a lot of money behind him, given the advertising, the push polls, the signs everywhere, and the flyers that arrived daily. He won, although he would have lost if Cochise County had gotten its way and had managed to nullify its vote as it tried to do.
So, Juan Ciscomani’s rhetoric has been as extremist as most of the GOP. However, his behavior has not. He worked with Senator Mark Kelly (D) to get a national monument upgraded to a national park (Arizona Daily Star). He’s also worked on the following bill for vets needing to get trained (Veterans Workforce Bill)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today celebrated the House passage of his first legislation. This bipartisan legislation covers the costs for veterans seeking job training in high-tech industries. H.R. 1669, the VET-TEC Authorization Act, authorizes for five years the Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET-TEC) program, which is a five-year pilot program under the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Ciscomani’s legislation passed with strong bipartisan support on the House floor by a vote of 409-9.
So, he doesn’t seem like a crazy, unlike Gosar, Biggs and Lesko. He also voted FOR the increase in the debt ceiling. Of course, I would prefer a D rep, but that’s unlikely with the gerrymandering. So this is a step better than I expected.
If you want to see how the House has voted, check the office of the clerk, US House, and click on “Votes”. Here are other bills that passed recently with huge bipartisan support:
Equal Opportunity for All Investors Act of 2023: Y — 383; N — 18; P — 0; NV — 34
Condemning the rise of antisemitism and calling on elected officials to identify and educate others on the contributions of the Jewish American community: Y — 429; N — 0; P — 0; NV 6
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
Could we turn Texas blue? Are the numbers there?
Note that Texas has gone from being the 14th easiest state to vote in, all the way down to 50th. So voting there is difficult. But maybe not impossible.
Tax-exempt organization complaint referrals. 13909. You can fill this out for the NRA and lots of other organizations. How about if some of us white folk go into some of the MAGA churches and video record what they’re saying?
Voting rights. This may be the biggest issue threatening our democracy right now. Besides contacting your representatives at the state and federal level to do the right thing (depending on who they are), you can support and contact these organizations:
ACLU — American Civil Liberties Union
Democracy Docket — founded by Marc Elias, so important in fighting the challenges after the last election.
Fair Fight — founded by Stacey Abrams
🌱Grass roots. Biden and Harris can do the top-down stuff, but we have to support from the bottom. I don’t know how to deprogram 75 million people, but some things have been written about, such as deep canvassing, and lots of people are talking about this. If you know someone (who did not storm the Capitol), then see if you can be pleasant. Instead of trying to reason with them (logic is obviously not their strong point) distract them with something else. We need to remove the sources of lies and to take down the temperature. If we get more of the Rs to wear masks and to get vaccinated and to vote for Ds, the country will be a better place. We need to coax some of them out of the rabbit holes and diffuse the anger and the crazy.
🏃 Run for something. If you want to run for something, but have no idea what to do, these people will help you. They also like money and volunteers to help those people who are running, so even if you’re not in a position to stand for office, you can help. Note: they are especially planning to target the 57 Rs in local governments who participated in the insurrection.
👎 Defund the seditionists. Defund the seditionists. This is a list with companies that sometimes have donated to the seditionists. The list is long. You will recognize many of the corporations, and you probably have a relationship with some — either you are a customer, a shareholder, or maybe even an employee. Contact them and compliment or complain, but let them know you are watching. Forward it to others.
🔎 Want to check out what’s going on with campaign contributions? Check out this diary. 👀
🐍 Schadenfreude 😈
Andrew Weissman is predicting that tRump will be charged in days and not months:
x MAL case: Trump will be charged given:
-crimes (taking/retaining USG docs, obstruction/lying to USG, & likely disseminating classified info)
-docs (Top secret SCI)
-nature of proof (tapes, multiple witnesses, inconsistent DJT statements) &
-DOJ charging those far less culpable. — Andrew Weissmann 🌻 (@AWeissmann_) June 1, 2023
The above refers to the documents case! There are so many!
Also, there are other indications that work is nearing completion in other areas:
x I had posited that by having the non-partisan IG recommend a full investigation be opened, Garland would insulate himself from politicization. It may be what he was waiting for, and it may very well protect convictions from being overturned on appeal. 5/ — Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) May 30, 2023
Drones reaching Moscow create panic Allison Quinn, The Daily Beast
The Kremlin has sought to play down a massive drone attack on the capital, reassuring Muscovites that there’s “no threat” and Russian air defenses “worked as they were meant to.” But many were quick to blame Russia’s own Defense Ministry for letting the war come to the capital. “You stinking wretches, what are you doing? You’re bastards! Get your asses out of the offices you've been put in to defend this country. You are the Defense Ministry. You didn’t do a damn thing to advance. Why the fuck are you allowing these drones to fly to Moscow?” bellowed Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in an expletive-laced rant. ✂️ “Where are the bomb shelters in Lyubertsy? There isn’t a single one. Our basement is filled with garbage,” a resident named Irina complained.
tRump’s lawyers start to wonder if one of them is a snitch Jose Pagliery The Daily Beast
As Trump’s legal troubles keep growing—with criminal and civil investigations in New York City, Washington, and Atlanta—so too does the unwieldy band of attorneys who simply can’t get along. The cast of characters includes an accused meddler who has Trump’s ear, a young attorney who lawyers on the team suggested is only there because the former president likes the way she looks, and a celebrity lawyer who’s increasingly viewed with disdain. Worst of all, now that federal investigators have turned the interrogation spotlight on some of Trump’s lawyers themselves, defense attorneys on the team seem to be questioning whether their colleagues may actually turn into snitches. ✂️ Part of the concern over lawyers turning on each other is due to the fact that the Department of Justice already has one Trump attorney’s professional notes, which could position him as a future witness against his own client, and the DOJ has another lawyer who said too much in an unrelated case and has positioned herself as yet another potential witness against her client. But much of the anger from Trump’s lawyers is directed at the former president’s right-hand man, Boris Epshteyn, who’s accused of running interference on certain legal advice from more experienced courtroom gladiators.
Biden laughs: x Biden cracks up laughing at the idea of Trump getting a pardon.
https://t.co/7kcADxRfLC — Tom Joseph (@TomJChicago) May 29, 2023 📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️ This week I want to honor Lawrence O’Donnell of The Last Word. He’s not digging up new facts here, nor is he risking his position or his life to get out accurate information. But, by using his experience in the Senate, he is saying things at odds with some of the other pundits. He knows how negotiations work, and he shares his insights with us. x x YouTube Video
O’Donnell’s so much better than the New York Times — I don’t have a link as this was from something they email me — which tried to spin this all as a Biden loss. Biden did not lose. He won, and he won handily.
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
Love is brave:
x This man just stopped a bank robbery by himself.
How did he do it?
He recognized the robber as his former neighbor, calmed him down, and gave him a hug.
Hero.pic.twitter.com/TWuVXOpWb8 — Goodable (@Goodable) May 28, 2023
📎 Odds & Ends 📎
Businesses in Florida “on strike” by closing doors to protest Ron DeSantis anti-immigrant laws CBS News
MIAMI - It's been a race against time. Activists for the farmworker's association spent Wednesday placing flyers in as many businesses as possible in Homestead. "So they can sympathize, empathize with the migrant community, we are asking people not go to work, not to consume and call their legislators and revoke the law, the new immigration law," said Yvette Cruz, from the Farmworkers Association of Florida, one of the organizations heading the labor strike. One of the local businesses who is willing to close its door is Acapulco Records and Sports. There is a sign at the door, in Spanish saying: the store will be closed June 1st.
Meals on Wheels Helps Out in Climate Emergencies Danielle Renwick, EcoWatch
When an unprecedented heat wave bore down on Portland, Oregon, in June 2021, Jonna Papaefthimiou, the city’s chief resilience officer, immediately thought of the city’s most vulnerable populations: older people sweltering, often alone, in their homes. She called Suzanne Washington, who runs the local chapter of Meals on Wheels. “That overlap of their demographic and the demographic that faces great risk from heat is almost identical,” Papaefthimiou said. Over the next couple of days, Washington and a group of staff identified their most vulnerable clients, recruited volunteers and started making calls. “We were asking, ‘Do you have a fan? Do you know this heat is coming? Are you prepared? Could you get to a cooling center? Do you know where [the nearest one] is?” Washington said. She and her team collected donated fans and air conditioners, which drivers brought with them on their food-delivery routes. They conducted wellness checks by phone and helped clients find rides to cooling centers.
A fish story:
x Woman adopts a sick 10-year-old goldfish and he changes color completely when he's feeling better 💛 pic.twitter.com/GKHG92tOaJ — The Dodo (@dodo) June 2, 2023
Giving back:
x When he graduated high school, Rehan Staton worked as a sanitation worker to support his family.
This week, he graduated from Harvard Law School.
How did he celebrate?
By hosting a banquet for the school's janitors, dining staff, and security guards. pic.twitter.com/zb3zys0lD3 — Goodable (@Goodable) May 29, 2023
In case you missed this:
I love the Swing!
I hope everyone remembers to have some fun this weekend!
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: Hunters of the Feather, a story about a thinker-linker crow who wants to save birdkind from extinction, and sequels, Scavengers of Mind and the brand-new Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’re really cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And Hunters is also available on Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — including a new one for lovers of Pride & Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet’s Advice to Young Ladies — and others on Greek mythology, can be found here. All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paid if you turn the pages.
Special offer for those with US AMAZON PRIME! Amazon has made Hunters of the Feather free — on Kindle — for a while to those who have US AMAZON PRIME! Note, this was their decision, not mine; I just agreed when they offered. So that is cool!
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
It turns out that participation in democracy is not just an every-four-years event but requires active participation, like, whenever you can find time.
Current projects:
Look in the comments for Progressive Muse’s report on Postcards to Voters
And some other ideas:
You can relax and recharge.
You can join protests and freeway blog.
You can help register new voters.
You can smile.
You can say something nice to friend or a stranger.
You can get out the vote for special elections.
You can reach out to upset Republicans. We need to win some back.
You can share your ideas below.
🌻
💙 “Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we all are created equal and the harsh ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart. The battle is perennial, and victory is never assured.” 💙
President Joseph R. Biden
🌹 🌹 🌹
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/6/2/2171731/-Good-News-Roundup-for-Friday-June-2-2023-We-re-Not-as-Broken-as-They-Tell-Us
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/
