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GNR - This little light of mine, I'm going to let my dumpster fire shine, Jan 29, 2025 [1]
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Date: 2025-01-29
The end of January is nigh, the polar vortex’s friends have finally come to get their drunk friend off my lawn, and we have a 5th Wednesday so here I am again.
No one here is naive we all know what is going on.
But wallowing in the dark does no one any good. There is a reason why humans have so many festival of lights of various types. There is always something to reach for. Please limit your dystopian fan-fic fantasy in the comment section as there is so many places for panic and doom, even here on DKos. Please share your good news, personal, local. national, international, interplanetary.
I’m trying to get this done early, the Democratic Women of Alamance County meet Tuesday nights and so I won’t have as much time this evening, but will try to add some late breaking good news, or will add in the comments tomorrow.
x I love this time of year because people will post something super dramatic and vague like “Nooooooo” and I can’t tell if it’s about football or *gestures outside window* all of this. — Kumail Nanjiani (@kumail.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 10:51 AM
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x As a retired therapist living in a very liberal Portland, OR retirement community people often ask me how to deal with their anxiety over what Trump is doing. I always tell them that they should do what you are doing by building a community, even if it is just a few friends, for mutual support. — Hal M. Brown (@halmbrown.bsky.social) January 26, 2025 at 11:49 AM
The NC Supreme Court Race
A Republican-led group is running ads in NC opposing the GOP attempt to throw out ballots NCnewsline link
Gosh even some Republicans seem like they are done with Griffin. May this election get certified soon, so we can move on.
Other groups are opposing Griffin’s attempts to throw out ballots, but most of those organizations are known as long-time voting-rights advocates. RightCount says its mission is helping “fortify and protect the rule of law in the tabulation of voting across the United States,” according to its website. Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, leads the RightCount chapter in North Carolina. Most of the votes Griffin is seeking to discard were cast by voters his campaign claims failed to provide a driver’s license number or a partial Social Security number on their voter application forms. He claims those voters are not legally registered. Many voters have come forward to say they provided that information when they registered but it didn’t show up in the voter database because of typos or data mismatches.
And not just Republican groups. NCnewsline Link
Emancipate NC, Common Cause North Carolina, the NC NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina
Alexia Chavis, a politically active junior at NC A&T in Greensboro, said she is diligent about updating her voter registration each time she moves. She submitted a new registration that included her driver’s license number. Still, she found her name on Griffin’s list because, she said, it had information from a previous registration. “I did everything correctly and lawfully cast a ballot,” Chavis said. “We shouldn’t have to deal with voter suppression from people we elect to protect us,” she said. “It’s not just frustrating, it’s very disappointing.”
Dogs in UK Are First to Be Trained to Sniff Out Bowel Cancer–After Nailing Parkinson’s and COVID’
Good News Network Link
Still early days in this, so we will see how well this pans out
All the bowel cancer dogs and the other pups at Medical Detection Dogs are trained to sniff out Parkinson’s disease, pseudomonas, COVID-19, Addison’s disease, and heart conditions like postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). “The charity has been investigating the odor of diseases for 15 years,” said Gemma Butlin, head of communications at the charity in Milton Keynes, 50 miles north-west of London. “The bowel cancer study is new to us, but detection is not.” The training program involved early scent training, learning the “game” in which they had to detect a disease in sample pots of urine. The sample sizes got smaller, and the dogs eventually needed to learn to sniff the disease out in samples from patients with other conditions.
Some other good dogs, wish they had picked a different one for the thumbnail.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
Talked about her last week, and there is a petition to support her. Newsweek link
Faithful America, an organization of Christians supporting social justice causes, posted a petition on Wednesday in support of Budde's sermon. The organization called the bishop's actions "courageous," but acknowledged that "confronting a man like Trump in a public forum puts a target on your back." As of Sunday morning, the petition had been signed by over 47,000 people, bringing Faithful America close to its goal of 50,000 signatures.
Being raised in the Episcopal church is what made me liberal.
Link to the petition
From yesterdays GNR, a comment by Progressive Muse
I saw a comment on social media that someone was starting a campaign to send letters/postcards of support to her. I did a search to verify the address and saw other organizations (some supporters, some haters) were using it. The address is: The Rt. Revd. Mariann Edgar Budde
Episcopal Church House
Mount St. Alban
Washington, DC 20016-5094 I’d wager that her mail has to be screened now, which is why I decided on a postcard rather than something in an envelope.
Self Care is important
Lord knows I need to be better at this, so probably why I keep posting links about it. Active Minds link.
Ideally, we all engage in regular self-care in which we do the things that make us feel taken care of mentally, physically, and emotionally. But this doesn’t always happen, and we may need to stop and take the time to remind ourselves we are important, too. Sometimes our feelings become too much and we need to distract ourselves until we are better able to cope. We can also strategically change how we are feeling when things become too overwhelming. What is self-care? Self-care is important to maintaining a healthy relationship with yourself. It means doing things to take care of our minds, bodies, and souls by engaging in activities that promote well-being and reduce stress. Doing so enhances our ability to live fully, vibrantly, and effectively. The practice of self-care also reminds both you and others that your needs are valid and a priority.
So the goal for me is to do one thing every single day to care for myself. Hopefully will be easier once my paw is fixed. I see the PT on Feb 3rd and trying to keep my personal hopes up even with all that is going on. I thought I’d battled back the thoughts of “this is the rest of my life, I can’t do this” but, “Hello darkness my old friend”.
Does retail therapy count as self care?
Fighting for Democracy
x The most common question I receive is how everyday citizens can help in the fight for democracy. My advice, take the first step, start with something small and see what works for you. Here are ten things all of us can do.
www.democracydocket.com/opinion/10-t...
[image or embed] — Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) January 26, 2025 at 10:31 AM
1. Stay engaged
2. Help Democrats
3. Don’t do Trump’s work
4. Don’t grade on a curve
5. Believe in the courts
6. Beware of false attacks
7. Support independent media
8. Use your town square
9. Prepare for a long fight
10. Don’t give up hope
One way to do that is support the Good News Roundup and other diaries that follow one or more of these 10 principles. Doomerism and Doom Scrolling is addictive, and with some mindful engagement we can keep ourselves out of those spirals and may be able to be the candle that leads someone else out of the dark.
And a Blue Sky list of what to do while there is a pause on DHHS agencies communicating.
And a reminder these pauses are not that unusual, they often don’t get attention because people don’t feel most presidents are a threat. And some of these will look familar
x Many people have asked me how can they best stay informed and protect their health while we navigate the indefinite pause on communications from NIH, CDC, & FDA. Here’s a thread on concrete steps YOU can take to protect yourself & your community. 🧵 — BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 8:53 AM
1. Take personal preventative health measures
2. Use alternative credible sources to stay informed on public health issues
3. Your state’s public health department/agency will still report what is going on locally (may vary from state to state)
4. Combat Misinformation
5. Leverage independent media
6. Engage Politically
7. Strengthen Community Resilience
8. Protect Vulnerable Populations
9. Even with the messaging vacuum, you are not powerless and doing nothing is not a viable option.
Pete Buttigieg considering a Senate run
Axios link
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is "taking a serious look" at running for the Michigan senate seat left open by the surprise retirement of Sen. Gary Peters, Axios has learned. Why it matters: Buttigieg would bring his national fundraising network to what is expected to be one of the most expensive Senate races in the country. "Pete is exploring all of his options on how he can be helpful and continue to serve," said a person close to Buttigieg.
"He's honored to be mentioned for this and he's taking a serious look." What he's saying: "Senator Gary Peters has served with great integrity, focus, and expertise. It was a pleasure working with him as Secretary to deliver good policies for our country and key transportation projects in Michigan," Buttieg posted today on X.
Scientists have a sense of humor
A lot of science folks on Blue Sky, and people often thing we are a humorless lot. But as one of my lab mates said when asked to evaluate a “lab” as a museum exhibit. Where are the cartoons, I’ve never seen a lab without cartoons.
It may be a sick and twisted sense of humor, but the universe not only inspires with awe, but also ridiculousness.
There is a lot of concern in the scientific community over all the nonsense, but we are a resilient lot, used to set backs and failures. And we bring a lot of money and benefit to so many congressional districts.
This one is actually from 2017, but making the rounds again. As a reminder to those that somehow forgot how awful the first administration was and freaking out like this has never happened before.
x You know what. I’m gonna clean my lab today. Place is 600 sq ft dump. 😂 No I don’t rely on federal funding but everyone around me does. From my research collaborators to the disabled populations I serve— everyone’s on edge. And I am washing dishes.
#statesofresistance 🧪
[image or embed] — ThePotLab, PhD (@thepotlabphd.bsky.social) January 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Goodies List
Yes I stole this from Goodie, but as I was told, repetition is good.
There are many ways to get involved. Everyone can find something that works for them.
Here are some ideas.
If you can, I strongly recommend going to an in person meeting in your area.
indivisibleproject.formstack.com/… One way is through indivisible:
Join the truth brigade! Grassroots-powered lie-stopping. Person by person; mind by opened mind
Looking for something more specific?
Want to focus on the ENVIRONMENT:
Southern Environmental Law Center
https://www.southernenvironment.org/...
https://www.southernenvironment.org/... Earth Justice
https://earthjustice.org/...
https://earthjustice.org/... Natural Resources Defense Council
https://www.nrdc.org
https://www.nrdc.org League of Conservation Voters
https://www.lcv.org
https://www.lcv.org Sierra Club
https://www.sierraclub.org
https://www.sierraclub.org Center for Biological Diversity
https://biologicaldiversity.orgw/...
Want to focus on CIVIL RIGHTS:
HUMAN RIGHTS - GENERALLY:
Physicians for Human Rights
https://phr.org/...
https://phr.org/... Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org
https://www.hrw.org The Leadership Coalition on Civil and Human Rights
https://civilrights.org
LGBTQ+:
The Campaign for Southern Equality/Trans Youth Emergency Project
https://southernequality.org
https://southernequality.org GLAAD
https://glaad.org LGBTQ+ centered news
https://glaad.org LGBTQ+ centered news Lambda Legal
https://lambdalegal.org
https://lambdalegal.org Folx Health
https://www.folxhealth.com/...
https://www.folxhealth.com/... National Black Justice Coalition
https://nbjc.org/...
https://nbjc.org/... Glad Law
https://www.glad.org
WOMEN:
National Women’s Law Center
https://nwlc.org
https://nwlc.org National Organization for Woman now.org/…
Huge thanks to DKos used dabug for help with this list.
Don’t let the options overwhelm you! Try to pick one thing and see if it calls to you. If it doesn’t find something else.
There are so many ways to get involved and help!
In conclusion
Self care in times of trouble is a revolutionary act. You don’t need to do it all, you don’t need to do something that feels huge and important. Every little thing you choose can be the light in the darkness and makes things easier for those doing the big things to get big things done.
x Hi, my name is Chester. And I love long walks along the beach and sitting on a bench while I contemplate the lake… preferably in January with a gale force wind. #DailyChester
[image or embed] — RevDaniel (@revdaniel.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 11:09 AM
x "Two Canadian men named Rob and Brandon, who were on their way to work, noticed that the back window of the car that pulled out in front of them was completely covered with snow."
#weirdnews #weird #offbeat #odd #news laughingsquid.com/canadian-roa...
[image or embed] — FunHouse Radio (@funhouseradio.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 12:35 PM
The Democratic Women’s meeting was good. Anderson Clayton was great. The amount of work going on behind the scenes against the Republicans in NC is impressive. There is a big push to get all 60,000+ people on Griffin’s list of voters to be disenfranchised as the clerical errors can be fixed, and many of the folks have been on the voter roles since the 1990’s (before the new rules) and never had to get those bits of info on their voter registration and vote all the time so may not even realize they are the people being targeted.
A bit of bad news — this stems from a federal law about voting from 2002, and apparently they were looking into doing this if Trump lost states like NC. There are a lot of these voters in other states and it could be a big thing in 2026 or 2028. So if you registered to vote before 2002 and never had to re-register because you moved, one thing you can do is check in with your board of elections in your county in the next year or so to make sure everything on your registration is accurate and complete according to the new rules in case they try to yank for for doing exactly what you had to do when you did register to vote.
And Anderson reminded us that Joy is resistance, and at least here there is a lot of work on how to build the local community connections so we can have the conversations with people for all the upcoming elections.
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[1] Url:
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