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GNR for Friday, March 21, 2025: Don't Wait for Permission [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-21
Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
Spring started yesterday (at least in the Northern hemisphere). I hope it shows up where you live. I’ve been watching leaves come out on bushes and trees. It’s a reminder that, no matter how bad things are, life persists.
But others are celebrating the season in other diaries, so we’re going to talk about something else: not waiting for permission.
Too many times, we obey in advance. We wait for permission to do things.
Now, I’m OK with looking before leaping. Please, fasten your seatbelt. Don’t run red lights. If your actions could impact your loved ones, maybe talk to them about it first.
But, if you always wait for permission, especially permission from the other side, the side that wants to destroy the country and the planet, you may be giving up your power.
That’s a lesson we can learn from the enemy. They don’t wait for permission.
It’s not just that doing something takes effort. Stopping someone from doing takes a huge amount of effort as well.
Protesting is risky, sure. But so is not protesting.
You don’t need to wait for permission.
So, come on in, gnusies, to see how people are protesting, persisting, and not waiting for permission, despite the dark stupidity of these times.
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, and the chaos. 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 and the planet from those very bad people. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know.
Remember:
💜 Although they lie all the time, reality matters. And our goals — based on reality — are more popular.
💙 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, make sure to protect yourself, your family and your friends, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world.
🗽 Reports on Resisters 🗽
x BREAKING: Judge orders Elon Musk & DOGE to restore access of USAID employees, including those on administrative leave, to USAID computer systems. Judge Theodore Chuang, Obama appointee, also bars DOGE from actions related to USAID shutdown. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... — Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein.bsky.social) 2025-03-18T18:50:09.431Z
And this
x BREAKING: A federal judge in Maryland has just barred DOGE from accessing Social Security, saying the group is on a "fishing expedition" that jeopardizes people's personal data. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2025-03-20T20:00:20.328Z
💪 Get Ready to Fight 💪
Defend the courts — Democracy Docket letter from Tuesday
One of the best pieces of advice I received when I started a law firm in 2021 was to focus on “the shark closest to the boat.” When you feel overwhelmed, step back and focus on the threats that pose the most immediate risk. Donald Trump’s “flood the zone” strategy is designed to overwhelm us. He wants us to be paralyzed by fear and hopelessness. He wants us to feel abandoned — like we are alone in a small boat, surrounded by sharks. In some sense, we are. Since Trump was elected, we have searched for institutions that would protect us from his authoritarian impulses. Legacy media was among the first to signal it was not up to the task. The wealthy and business elite followed, capitulating almost entirely. Republicans in Congress made clear they would not stand in Trump’s way on anything. Meanwhile, the executive branch has been packed with Trump loyalists, while nonpartisan civil servants are being purged. I could list the familiar reasons why the courts are not ideal protectors of democracy right now, but let me focus on two key weaknesses Trump is exploiting. First, for courts to act, they need skilled lawyers willing to challenge government actions. These cases are often highly technical and require expertise in specialized areas of law. That expertise is concentrated among a relatively small number of lawyers, and historically, large, multi-office law firms have been a critical source of legal resources. Since taking office, Trump has targeted individual lawyers with specialized skills — such as security clearances and experience representing whistleblowers — through intimidation and government action. He has not only demonized them but also imposed sanctions, revoking security clearances and barring them from entering government buildings, making it difficult for them to represent clients in these areas. More recently, he has begun issuing executive orders targeting entire large law firms and their thousands of employees. The impact of these orders extends beyond those firms, creating a chilling effect across the legal profession. Trump hopes these tactics will discourage lawyers and firms from taking on cases that challenge him and his administration. Sadly, it’s working. A palpable chill has settled over the legal community. Large law firms are staying silent, backing away from representing clients or causes Trump disfavors. While smaller law firms and nonprofit legal groups remain active, sidelining much of Big Law will undoubtedly prevent some plaintiffs from securing legal representation. Those counsel willing to take on these cases will be more isolated and at even greater risk of retribution. If enough lawyers and law firms are targeted or too afraid to act, this alone could be the shark that sinks the boat. The other grave risk to democracy is that the Trump administration may simply begin ignoring court orders altogether. I’m not talking about the disgraceful cat-and-mouse game we’ve grown accustomed to, where Department of Justice lawyers feign confusion or make bad-faith arguments that a ruling was unclear or more limited than it was.
💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes and Chaos 💣
tRump’s DOJ is short-staffed
x Why on earth would a government agency be short staf... oh. — Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.bsky.social) 2025-03-20T19:01:04.334Z
tRump is not popular
x #GVerse via @democraticwins.bsky.social #NotMyPresident In a stunning announcement, CNN Senior Data Analyst Harry Enten just announced #OrangeBuffoon has the lowest approval rating on handling the economy at this point in his Presidency. This is huge. Repost!!! — 𝕲𝖆𝖊𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖔 (@gmf1369.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:06:34.848Z
Alas, many Ds aren’t that popular, either.
🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚
People are concerned that Ds aren’t doing enough. Well, apparently they are working on raising their game. This is from Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles
Dems Are Raising Their Game - I go into depth on this topic in my new interview with DNC Vice-Chair/ASDC President Jane Kleeb but a few highlights. House Dems have created a new task force led by Rep. Joe Neguse and Rep. Jamie Raskin to fight Trump’s assault on our government and the Constitutional order more effectively; they have filed their first amicus brief in a key legal challenge to Trump and held their first shadow hearing; they held a national organizing event with the DNC that involved more than 100,000 people and fought the partisan Republican CR.
The DNC did this prototype YouTube organizing event with the House Dems. Along with the House Dems and State Parties the DNC has launched an ambitious 50 state “People’s Town Hall” program that kicked off last Friday in Iowa. They are pouring resources into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race; started a new social media rapid response channel called FactPost news; started a new grassroots oriented Substack, The Blue Print; and as Jane discussed will soon be opening up a true 24/7/365 War Room.
🎩 T. Maysle The Filibuster is working — you just can’t see it Bill Scher Washington Monthly
The same Dems who argue to keep the filibuster ‘for when we need it’ do not use it when we need it,” posted Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. The New York Democrat’s complaint followed Senate passage of the House Republican “continuing resolution”—aided by 10 Senate Democratic caucus members who supported cloture—that kept the government open without restraining President Donald Trump’s unconstitutional attempts to impound congressional appropriations. ✂️ Does Ocasio-Cortez’s larger point—that the filibuster is useless for Democrats because Democrats don’t use it when it counts—have merit? Still, no. The filibuster is not impotent and dormant. It’s very much alive, constraining the GOP legislative agenda every day, even if it doesn’t feel that way during Donald Trump’s tumultuous second term. Provocative bills that have reached the Senate floor have mostly been filibustered (as Sinema pointed out during a snarky X exchange with Ocasio-Cortez this month). Two weeks ago, Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would have banned schools that receive federal funding from allowing transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams. In January, they derailed a bill that would have put doctors performing emergency late-term abortions at risk of criminal penalties, as well as a bill that would have sanctioned International Criminal Court officials for issuing an arrest warrant to the Israeli Prime Minister. Filibustering those bills was not without political risk for Democrats, but they did so anyway.
Some governors are speaking truth:
x Beshear: When I vetoed the nastiest anti-LGBTQ+ bill during my election year, I explained why I did it. My faith teaches me that all children are children of God. I wanted those children, who were being hated on, to know their governor cares for them… my faith tells me that’s my job — Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2025-03-18T20:53:47.307Z
💜 Unity? 💜
Everyone hates putin and Russia. Even most of maga! Evan Hurst Wonkette
… Anyway, we said there was a poll! It is from NBC News, and it finds that, despite all Trump’s tongue baths and fawning, America still thinks Putin and Russia are fucking gross and evil and responsible for the war. It’s almost like Americans (this one time) can remember as far back as three years ago and can identify who is the invader and who was just sitting there minding its own business when it got invaded. Some findings: Sixty-one percent of registered voters choose Ukraine when asked which of the two countries has their sympathies more, while just 2% say Russia. Another 35% say they are more sympathetic to neither side, while 2% are not sure. When asked where they believe Trump’s sympathies are, 49% choose Russia, 40% say they think Trump favors neither side, and 8% choose Ukraine. Another 3% say they are not sure. It sounds like Trump has a lot of his moron voters trained to believe him when he says he’s on “nobody’s” side besides the side of making the best Art of the Deal. (Digging deeper into the poll, you find that among Republicans, more less/poorly educated voters believe this, whereas Republican voters with a college degree are more likely to understand what everybody else understands. This is why Trump is trying to ban education in America.) Literally nobody thinks he’s on the side of the innocent victim, or our actual ally, though. That’s perceptive, even for MAGA. The pollster finds all this kind of strange: “I cannot recall a moment in history when American public opinion and voters’ views of a president, as to which country they are more aligned with, have been more in conflict with each other,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the survey along with GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.
Macron doesn’t think they need to wait for permission.
x ⚡️West can send troops to Ukraine without Russia's permission, Macron says. "Ukraine is sovereign – if it requests allied forces to be on its territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or reject it," French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with Le Parisien. — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) 2025-03-16T19:15:49.379Z
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
One thing I did during the past week was sign up to partake in YouGov surveys. So far they haven’t asked anything political, but they may get to it at some point, and I want to be in the group driving the poll numbers. They also pay (a tiny amount). If you want to participate, you can check it out here.
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. Join with local communities to make a difference. It could be your local Dems. It could be your school board or your library. Reach out to people. We all need each other these days.
🏃 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 😈
x “Tesla investors are having another rocky day, with shares down as much as 7%. “The stock is headed for a ninth-straight weekly loss, and now sits 53% below the all-time highs reached in mid-December.” — George Conway (@gtconway.bsky.social) 2025-03-18T18:47:24.774Z
There’s also this:
We can snicker, but in this case we should hope Roberts continues in this direction. Yes, he bears a lot of responsibility for the current situation, in allowing tRump immunity and in letting him run again after committing leading an insurrection. And it is the classic “I don’t care until it happens to me” that we see with too many Rs. But it either means that he is absolutely terrified — or that he is feeling emboldened. The second would be interesting.
x “I never thought the leopard would eat *my* judiciary” thehill.com/regulation/c... — Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.bsky.social) 2025-03-18T17:41:15.417Z
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️
I want to honor Rachel Maddow for coming back out of retirement to help us through these days. I hope she finds a way to stick around longer.
x "Congressman Jack Bergman would like to think that outsiders are funding the groundswell of opposition to his unquestioning support for Trump, Musk, and MAGA... But voters around his district are fed up with him, and they want him to know it." www.traverseticker.com/news/local-i... — Rachel Maddow (@maddow.msnbc.com) 2025-03-20T19:57:44.811Z
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
Yay! I did it! Three-year-old braves his fear of the dark to rescue his great-grandmother Andy Corbley Good News Network
Sharon Lewis, a 77-year-old great-grandmother with mobility problems, fell on a concrete step, suffering a serious concussion. She knew she needed to call 911, but had left her phone in the car. All alone that evening with her little 3-year-old great-grandson Bridger, he was her only hope. Bridger came and found his “G.G.” (short for great-grandmother) lying on the ground bleeding from her head. “I said, ‘So Bridger, you’re going to have to be a big boy and go out to the car and get G.G.’s phone,’ And he said, ‘It’s really dark, G.G.,'” Lewis recounted. “I said, ‘It’ll be OK. Jesus will help you. Don’t be afraid.'” Home security footage shows Bridger walking determinedly into the garage, saying to himself “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared,” before opening the car door and finding the phone. ✂️ Despite his fears, he celebrated finding the phone, with the camera picking him up saying “Yay, I did it!”
This is also really sweet:
x When 10-year-old Hunter was bullied for his rainbow glasses, his mom asked for a few cars and trucks to drive by their home to cheer him up. Instead, 1,500 vehicles showed up—along with 1,500 new friends. Kindness always wins. #GoodNews #Good — Goodable - Good News Just For You! (@goodable.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T23:56:15.413Z
📎 Odds & Ends 📎
One of the world’s smallest cat, but still protected by Big Cat Rescue.
x Breaking: Researchers in Purulia forest spot the world's smallest wild cat—the rusty-spotted cat! 🐱🌿 A rare and magical encounter. Join Big Cat Rescue in conserving these hidden treasures. bigcatrescue.org/conservation... #WildlifeConservation #RustySpottedCat — Big Cat Rescue (@bigcatrescue.bsky.social) 2025-03-05T17:16:45.799Z
I’m still watching the Big Bear Eagle Cam. One of the chicks — probably the one that hatched first — did not survive a winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow on the nest in California. The parents first moved the little corpse out of the nest bowl, and the next day, the mother eagle flew off with it. She showed this respect to her dead chick, despite all the other corpses — mostly unlucky fish and hapless coots — whose remains litter the nest. Fortunately eagles have a terrible sense of smell.
The other two chicks are doing really well, although they are not especially nice to each other.
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. Newest offerings! Messing with the Myths: The Maxotaur and Messing with the Myths: The Book of the Living. Older offerings: the Crow Nickels (chronicles), a trilogy about crows who want to save birdkind from extinction: Hunters of the Feather, Scavengers of Mind and Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’re really cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And all available on Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — such as The Meryton Murders — and others based on history and Greek mythology, such as Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus, can be found here. All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paid if you turn the pages.
💙 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.
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.
I know it’s tough to see the path forward. And I can’t guarantee that there is a path forward. But people who are smarter and braver than I have seen ways to move ahead.
Their (the fascists’) plans really are dark, but many of them are also dumb, in the sense that they don’t make sense. So many of them cannot succeed.
Here are some quick hits.
Stay involved. Yeah, that’s tough. I want to look away too, but by taking simple actions you can make a difference. Keep contacting your representatives, both in DC and at home.
Support causes that will fight. Send money if you can. Also, spread their news with clicks and conversation.
Slow them down. Oppose and block at every turn.
Make tRump unpopular. Doing this weakens him. And it should not be that difficult. The GOP made a lot out of Biden is old and eggs cost too much. Well, tRump is older than Biden was at the beginning of his term and tRump has no policies that are going to bring down inflation. And a host of other problems, like he’s a convicted felon.
Divide the GOP from each other. They are a coalition based on contradictory promises, so there’s plenty to work with.
Keep telling the truth and showing love.
Make sure to pace yourselves in this marathon and to practice self-care.
Current projects:
Look in the comments for Progressive Muse’s report on Postcards to Voters
And Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny Lessons:
(1) Do Not Obey in Advance; (2) Defend Institutions; (3) Beware the One-Party System; (4) Take Responsibility for the Face of the World; (5) Remember Professional Ethics; (6) Be Wary of Paramilitaries; (7) Be Reflective if You Must Own a Gun; (8) Stand Out (this means, speak up, even when others do not); (9) Be Kind to Our Language; (10) Believe in Truth; (11) Investigate; (12) Make Eye Contact and Small Talk; (13) Practice Corporeal Politics; (14) Establish a Private Life; (15) Contribute to Good Causes; (16) Learn from Peers in Other Countries; (17) Listen for Dangerous Words; (18) Be Calm When the Unthinkable Arrives; (19) Be a Patriot; (20) Be as Courageous as You Can
🌻
💙 President Joseph R. Biden: “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.” 💙
Sir Winston Churchill: When you’re going through hell, keep going.
🌹 🌹 🌹
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.
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