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Surviving and thriving in chaotic times, plus a poll! - March 25 GNR [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-25
Good Day, Gnuville. I’m going to say straight off — I’ve been struggling with things this week. I’m worried about the country. I’m worried about the world. I’m worried about innocent people being targeted by this benighted regime. I’m worried about my family (and myself), scattered between the USA and Canada. It’s a lot.
I know you have all sorts of worries, too.
Living in interesting times STINKS, and hoo boy are we living in interesting times. 😬😖😢
Whenever I find myself struggling, I look for ways to regain my equilibrium and restore some reasons to be hopeful. No matter how dark the times, there are always reasons to be hopeful. Humanity is capable of such awfulness, and humanity is also capable of such heights of altruism, kindness and heroism.
Heather Cox Richardson said the only thing stronger than the siren call of hatred and division is...inspiration. Human inspiration. So I figure it is both our balm and our duty to look for examples of it.
First up, I am going to give you some info that was top of mind for me this week — on surviving this sh*tshow and even letting in some joy while we’re about it. Then, I will give you lots of stories that will hopefully help to restore you.
☺️ 💙 How to Maintain your Sanity and Your Joy 💙 😊
10 WAYS TO STAY GROUNDED DURING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM, Daniel Hunter, Sojourners, Jan/Feb 2025.
I’ve taken the liberty of posting all 10 subheadings, but I urge you to go to the Sojourners (or waging nonviolence) website to read the full article. It is well worth your time (it’s not too long):
1. Trust yourself: Trust-building starts by trusting your own eyes and gut. This means being trustworthy — not just with information, but with emotions. If you’re tired, rest. If you’re scared, make peace with your fears. If you need to stop checking your phone compulsively, do it. If you don’t want to read this article now and would rather take a good walk, do it. Start with trusting your inner voice. Trust in self is foundational for a healthy movement life. 2. Find others who you trust : Constant attacks on social systems turn us away from leaning on each other and toward ideologically simple answers that increase isolation. Find people you can regularly touch base with. 3. Grieve : … Ultimately, this helped us believe it — so we didn’t spend years in a daze saying, “I can’t believe this is happening in this country.” Believe it. Believe it now. Grief is a pathway to acceptance. (← This harkens back to Goody’s advice from February 22) 4. Release that which you cannot change 5. Find your path: (so many good ideas at the link — go read the full article! ) 6. Do not obey in advance; do not self-censor: Put simply: Use the political space and voice you have. 7. Reorient your political map: A Trump presidency reshapes alignments and possibilities. How we position ourselves matters: Are we only interested in maintaining ideological purity and preaching to our own choir? Even if you don’t want to engage, we all must give space to those who do experiment with new language to appeal to others who don’t share our worldview. 8. Get real about power: Power will need to emerge from folks no longer obeying the current unjust system. This tipping point of mass noncooperation will require convincing many people to take huge personal risks for a better future. 9. Handle fear, make violence rebound: (go read — it’s a tough read but true) 10. Envision a positive future: Practicing future thinking gives me some hope and some strategic sensibilities. On the days when I can’t imagine good political possibilities, I zoom out to the lifespans of trees and rocks, heading into spiritual reminders that nothing lasts forever. All the future is uncertain. But a more hopeful future is more likely if we keep thinking of creative solutions.
🎶 Music for grieving and accepting reality 🎶
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And there are reasons to hope
🎩 Hat tip to jessiestaf for this link from yesterday. I am going to quote more of it. Go read the whole thing as he expands on each item:
Eight Reasons Why I Insist on Keeping a Positive Attitude, Chris Bowers, wolves and sheep, March 23, 2025
1. Trump's approval rating is quickly declining 2. Republicans are backing away from cuts to the safety net 3. Trump is getting clobbered in court 4. Republicans are showing weakness in special elections 5. The Democratic vote is now effectively insuppressible 6. It is now almost impossible to out fundraise Democrats 7. There will be free and fair elections in 2026 8. The record of the party out of power in midterm elections is excellent
💙 🐩 Personal Note: How Nifty Keeps Calm and Carries On 🐩 💙
I thought I would share a little bit of a personal note. Regular GNR readers probably know that I am a pretty optimistic person. I am the kind of person whose baseline mood is pretty sanguine. I’m lucky that I rarely get down and when I do, I don’t stay down for long.
Sent this bunch off yesterday
But like most people I have found this past few months pretty daunting.
Some ways that I have been coping with the chaos of the trumpist era are:
I stay in touch with my far-flung family and friends. It is essential to do it even — especially — when I just want to lie low and avoid people. It’s like the advice from that psychologist above says — we need our people.
I write postcards to voters as much as I can. I’ve written about 50 so far this month for Judge Susan Crawford in WI. Every time I start to feel overwhelmed by bad news, I go to request Abby and get 10 more addresses. I found all kinds of cool postcards online for a change of pace (I have used the etsy ones by PTV for the past several years, but I was ready for a change — also my son who lives in Georgia receives multiple postcards every election, and I realized that something a bit different might be welcome to voters in swing states who get a lot of them).
I had to painstakingly unravel several rounds on this sweater after I made a stupid mistake. Hundreds of stitches to undo one by one. Talk about patience!
Finally, I like to work on something creative that also has a practical purpose, so I knit. Sometimes I will listen to a book or podcast or music while I knit, or sometimes I just knit in blessed quiet.
Knitting is an activity which helps me to slow down and appreciate what I can achieve with patience and persistence. I often make mistakes, because I am just a self-taught knitter, but the silver lining is that I have realized just how patient I am — which is an inner strength I didn’t know I had.
I encourage everyone to find some activity that gives you a break from this insane world, and give yourself some time to do it each day if possible. If it also teaches you or reveals in you some talent or strength of character you didn’t think you could possess, so much the better!
We are all going through this hellish time together. We can find inner strength through restorative activities, and interconnected strength through spending time with each other.
I am thankful for the GNR community and that’s probably the best way of all that I have for coping with these times. 💙
🎶 Music For Resilience 🎶
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☼ ☀️ Rays of Light ☀️ ☼
Political and Legal Good News
Republicans Are Secretly Panicking Over Trump’s Elon Musk Obsession, Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, The New Republic, March 24, 2025.
GOP strategist Alex Conant told The Hill Friday that there’ll be “political costs” to empowering Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency if Republican voters don’t hear about the “benefits” of DOGE—and soon. “What Republicans should be concerned about is Musk’s effectiveness,” Conant said. “If DOGE actually breaks things that people care about and rely on, there’s gonna be political costs to that.” Republican strategist Doug Heye predicted that Musk’s involvement in the White House would result in “real job losses” in the coming weeks and months. “And where that has an impact, especially in specific communities … that makes their life harder for the reliable voter, typically, for Trump,” Heye told The Hill. “That kind of slow burn, I think, could have an impact.”
⚖️ Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to landmark press freedom case, April Rubin, Axios, March 24, 2025.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case seeking to challenge the 1964 precedent that protects news outlets from litigation for publishing critical information about public figures. Why it matters: Conservative justices have called for the Supreme Court to revisit New York Times v. Sullivan, which determined that a plaintiff must demonstrate "actual malice" in defamation lawsuits against the press. In Sullivan, the court determined that the First Amendment protects news outlets from liability, even when they publish false statements, as long as the outlet did not do so knowingly and recklessly — without seeking to determine its accuracy.
⚖️ Andrew Tate and brother Tristan return to Romania for court appearance, Ashoka Kassam, the Guardian, March 23, 2025.
Andrew, 38, a former professional kickboxer, and Tristan, 36, remain under judicial supervision in Romania. Last month, authorities in Romania said the brothers were obliged to return for a court appearance on 24 March or potentially face “a higher custodial measure”.✂️ Their return to eastern Europe comes nearly a month after the brothers’ travel ban was lifted. Soon after, the brothers announced that they had flown on a private jet to Florida. They swiftly found themselves entangled in another criminal investigation, this time launched by Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier. “These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world,” said Uthmeier.✂️ Four British women have also accused Andrew Tate of sexual violence and physical abuse, launching a civil suit in the UK after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him. Last March, authorities in the UK said they had been granted a warrant over accusations of sexual aggression dating back to 2012, meaning the brothers would be extradited once the legal proceedings in Romania were completed. The brothers have also denied these allegations.
🪑 Voters Rage at “Empty Chair” Town Halls as Republicans Won’t Show Up, Malcolm Ferguson, The New Republic, March 24, 2025.
Maryland, Ohio, South Carolina, Arkansas, New York, California… people were out in these and other states railing against their Republican congress members — who were , of course, no shows.
A dozen town halls over the last week have featured angry voters yelling at a picture of their no-show Republican lawmaker. Hundreds railed against Andy Harris in Maryland on Saturday, where Representative Jamie Raskin stepped up in his absence. “What’s interesting is that the people who are showing up are not paid protesters, but the people who are not showing up are paid politicians,” Raskin said while organizers showed a giant “MISSING” milk carton ad with Harris’s face on it. “If your name is on the ballot, your face should not be on the milk carton.”
🪧 Bernie Sanders, AOC rally against ‘oligarchy’ on the Front Range, Molly Cruse, Kevin J. Beaty, Alejandro A. Alonso Galva, and Kiara DeMare, CPR News, March 21, 2025.
More than 34,000 people filled Denver's Civic Center Park for a rally with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Friday evening. The rally was the largest in a week that saw Democrats host various events and town halls across the state. It also marked the largest crowd for Sanders in his career, including previous presidential campaigns. "The American people are saying loud and clear, we will not accept an oligarchic form of society," Sanders told the crowd on the University of Northern Colorado campus. "We will not accept the richest guy in the world running all over Washington, making cuts to the Social Security administration, cuts to the Veterans Administration, almost destroying the Department of Education—all so that they could give over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest 1 percent." "We need to show up, show up in force," Mary Brown of Lakewood said at the Denver rally. "The more people, the more the government will realize we're not happy with what's currently happening and we want changes."
Check out cc’s diary, too! Rally Roundup: Dems are fighting! And people are showing up!
🎶 People Power Music 🎶
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📰 More Good News 🗞️
💉 Reporter's notebook: 8 theories why fentanyl deaths are plummeting, Brian Mann, NPR, March 24, 2025.
Over the past six months, I've been tracking something really cool and mysterious happening on American streets. For the first time in 30 years, drug deaths are plunging at a rate that addiction experts say is hopeful — but also baffling. In the past, even the most ambitious, well-funded efforts to slow drug deaths only helped a little bit. Reducing fatal overdoses by 8% or 9% was seen as a huge win. But now, deaths nationwide plunged more than 26% from the peak in June 2023, according to the latest preliminary data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means roughly 30,000 fewer people a year are dying. Many states are seeing even bigger improvements of 30% to 50%. In some states, progress has been sustained since 2021 and 2022, which suggests this isn't a temporary blip.
📡 Czech Republic to rescue Radio Free Europe after Donald Trump funding cuts, Raphael Minder, Financial Times, March 22,, 2025.
The Czech government has pledged to step in and support Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty after US President Donald Trump’s administration cut funding to the broadcaster, which has been countering the propaganda of autocratic regimes such as Russia and Iran. The Prague-based media outlet is reliant on US federal grants and was initially set up to communicate beyond the iron curtain during the cold war. The funding cuts were part of an effort by Trump to curtail foreign aid, and to shut down Voice of America, a federal broadcaster launched during the second world war. ‘‘We will do everything that we can to give them the chance to continue in this very important role,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told the Financial Times, adding that he had listened to Radio Free Europe in his youth. ‘‘I know what it meant for me in Communist times.” Fiala called for “a coalition of states for a European solution”. He said he felt “very proud” to host RFE/RL and hoped it would stay in Prague, where it has been based since 1995.
🕊️ Wildlife Is Reclaiming Territory at Swallow Cliff Woods After Successful Campaign to Keep People Off DIY Trails, Patti Wetli, WTTW (PBS), March 21, 2025.
It’s not often that a forest preserve district wants to brag about decreased trail usage. But in the case of Swallow Cliff Woods in Cook County’s Palos Preserves, ecologist Kristin Pink is thrilled to reveal that an effort to keep people off “unofficial” trails has succeeded. While it’s “natural that people want to explore,” Pink said, the issue of people carving out their own paths at Swallow Cliff had become unsustainable for the preserve’s rare ecosystems, prompting the Cook County forest preserve district to launch a campaign in 2023 to encourage visitors to stick to marked trails.✂️ “Plants naturally are growing back and reclaiming territory,” she said, and once the unofficial paths have disappeared, barriers will be removed. The pilot campaign at Swallow Cliff Woods has been so well received, the forest preserve district will be expanding it in 2025 to keep people off unofficial paths in a pair of neighboring preserves: McClaughrey Spring Woods and Teason’s Woods. While it’s not necessarily feasible to close off every unofficial trail in Cook County’s vast holdings, special attention is being paid to the Palos Preserves due to their ecological importance and the potential for irreparable harm. “It is, in a sense, our national park,” Pink said of the Palos system’s 15,000 acres. “We’re in the second most populous county in the nation and we have these huge natural areas, protected. They’re filled with rare plants and animals, rare natural communities, all here in Cook County. It is incredible.”
🌬️ Chart: These states get more power from clean energy than coal, Dan McCarthy, Canary Media, March 21, 2025.
The U.S. hit a major energy-transition milestone last year: For the first time ever, it produced more electricity from wind and solar than from coal. Over half of U.S. states now get more power from breeze-blown turbines and sun-soaked photovoltaic panels than they do from polluting, planet-warming coal, according to a new report from think tank Ember.✂️ Two decades ago, the country got about half of its electricity from coal-fired power plants. Today that number is just 15%. Wind and solar have ascended over the same time period. Together they now produce 17% of U.S. electricity, and solar is set to lead power capacity additions again this year.
🌳 Potawatomi to Reclaim Tribal Land in DeKalb County, Peter Hancock, WTTW, March 24, 2025.
SPRINGFIELD – More than 175 years after their reservation in Illinois was illegally sold at auction, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is now in line to get their land back. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation Friday authorizing the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to hand over to the tribe the ownership title to Shabbona Lake State Park, a 1,500-acre tract in southern DeKalb County that largely overlaps the tribe’s original reservation. “This moment reflects the power of collaboration and the shared desire to build a future rooted in justice and respect,” Prairie Band Potawatomi Chairman Joseph ‘Zeke” Rupnick said in a statement. “Illinois has shown true courage and vision by leading the way in the Land Back movement, demonstrating that healing and reconciliation are possible.” Although ownership of the land will revert back to the tribe, visitors to the park should not notice any difference, at least not for now. Senate Bill 867, sponsored by Sen. Mark Walker, D-Arlington Heights, also requires the tribe and DNR to enter into a land management agreement that will keep the land open for public recreation.✂️ “This legislation puts Illinois on the right side of history — fostering a partnership with indigenous communities and returning what was wrongfully acquired,” Walker said in a statement. “I have worked with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation on this bill since 2018, and today we celebrate this achievement together.”
🎶 Music Time 🎶
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️ How people power can beat MAGA money and meanness, Mark Jacob, Stop the Presses, March 24, 2025.
⚡️ Elon Musk Is Demolishing the Rationale for Citizens United, Matt Ford, The New Republic, March 24, 2025.
⚡️ John Roberts has created a monster — and he knows it, Sabrina Haake, Raw Story, March 23, 2025.
⚡️ The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans, Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic, March 24, 2025.
⚡️ Six Short Thoughts on the Most Insane Trump Story of All Time, Garrett Graff, March 24, 2025.
⚡️ Believe it and move past it: "I don't regret the vote": Why most Trump voters stand by him, even as he ruins their lives, Amanda Marcotte, Salon, March 21, 2025.
⚡️ The Blue State Power Index, Prospect Staff, The American Prospect, March 24, 2025.
⚡️ What America Can Learn From Tulsa, Richard Florida, Washington Monthly, March 23, 2025.
⚡️ How to Use Your Power, David Dayen, The American Prospect, March 24, 2025.
⚡️ How to Save the Climate Despite Everything, Quico Toro, Persuasion, March 23, 2025.
⭐️ New Section! — Lightning Podcast/Video Roundup ⭐️
🎧 Heather Cox Richardson on Trump, Democracy, and American History, The Hometown Holler, March 23, 2025.
🎧 Democratic Senator on FIGHTING Back Against Trump | The Enemies List, Resolute Square, March 24, 2025.
🎧 Jon Ossoff’s Fiery Speech Hits Trump Where It HURTS, Tim Miller, Sam Stein, The Bulwark, March 24, 2025.
🎧 The trick to stopping Trump’s chaos, How to Fix It with John Avlon, March 23, 2025.
🎧 Superb, far-ranging interview: David Frum: Trump is malignant, surrounded by weirdos and ‘suspects’, Times Radio, March 19, 2025.
🎧 Europe can crush Putin with their military and economic power | Lt General Ben Hodges, Times Radio, March 19, 2025.
🎧 Why Trump CAN'T Stop Russia's Economic Collapse, Paul Warburg, YouTube, March 24, 2025.
🎧 How to stop the economy from collapsing, Gary’s Economics, March 16, 2025.
🎧 Worth The Hassle (feat. Lizz Winstead), Daily Beans (news), MSW Media, March 24, 2025.
🐩 💙 CG’s Picks 💙 🐩
Hello Everybody, it’s me, Curlygirl!
What a busy week we have had here. I have done my best to help Mama with all that postcard writing and knitting — I lie under her chair so she can keep her feet warm and scritch my belly at the same time. This is not only helpful, but fun!
Sometimes I help Mama out by trying on something she knits so she can take a picture for somebody. Not my favorite chore, but somebody has to do it.
Mostly, I help Mama by taking her for longish walks. We don’t go running and jumping and playing fetch any more because I have a dumb arthritis in my hind leg, but we still take good walks and we love it!
Mama helps me, too. She gives me good food to eat, plenty of fresh water, medicine for that dumb arthritis and lots of love.
What I am trying to say is that we help each other.
Anyway, now I want to help YOU by bringing you some animal stories!
🐈 Therapy Cats, Perhaps?
Me and Mama know a few cats and they are super cool. Also, everyone who knows cats knows they are as helpful to humans as dogs are. In their own way, of course. 😊
Washington State University researchers explore potential of therapy cats in the US, Libby Dowsett, KGW8 (NBC), March 23, 2025.
WASHINGTON, USA — A study co-authored by a Washington State University professor found some cats may have the "purrfect" personality to be therapy animals.✂️ Pendry said researchers in Belgium assessed hundreds of cats and found successful animal assistance cats must possess certain behavioral traits — much like assistance dogs — to be able to connect with people. "Cats that were involved with animal assisted intervention tended to be more social, both with humans as well as other cats," she said. "They were more attention-seeking and more tolerant of being handled." According to the National Institutes of Health, positive interactions with animals have shown to reduce stress, pain and anxiety. One study alone involving college students showed service pets led to a reduction in the students' heart rate, blood pressure and stress hormones. Here are two cats we know! Apollo and Artemis We call them the A Team!
🐴 Horses and humans helping each other
I am always interested in animals helping humans with PTSD. That’s what I was trained for, too! I have found a few stories over the years about equine therapy, but this next story is not just about humans with PTSD but also horses with PTSD.
This story is good for humans and for animals. I wish people and animals didn’t have such a hard time that they got PTSD, but I am glad they have found each other!
Wyoming's Wild Horses And Military Veterans Ease Each Others’ PTSD, Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily, March 23, 2025.
Most humans spend a lot of time thinking about the past and worrying about the future. But for a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the percentage of brain power that’s devoted to that task becomes all-consuming. To the point it becomes hard to function at all.✂️ Alexander is an Army veteran with 20 years of service, including tours of duty in Afghanistan, who now lives near Lusk. After he was diagnosed with PTSD, he tried everything the VA had to offer. That included programs about “being present and grounded” as well as medications to help with anxiety. But his big breakthrough didn’t come from a VA program at all. It came from a horse. And not just any horse. A wild horse. A horse that had never trusted a human in its very young life.
🐩 Funny poodle sketch
Me and Mama laughed and laughed at this short sketch. And just so you know — Mama does not get those laser eyes if someone mistakes me for a doodle! 😂
🐶 And more dogs!
💙 Thanks and Good-Bye!
That’s all I have for you this Tuesday. Bye for now! Luv, CG 💙🐾
🚧 🩷 ❣️ How Can You Help Build a Better World? ❣️ 🩷 🚧
I’m going to share some of the excellent links and suggestions from GoodNewsRoundup and chloris creator. Repetition is good!
🎩 GOODNEWSROUNDUP:
There are many ways to get involved. Everyone can find something that works for them.
Here are some ideas.
🎩 CHLORIS CREATOR:
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 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.
Other Actions
‼️ Check your voter registration ‼️ ← Seems obvious, but super important.
Postcards I have written for Wisconsin SC election 📞 Call your Congress critters and register your concerns!
(202) 224-3121 is the main switchboard number for Congress. They will ask for your city and state or your zip code and connect you with your representatives. It’s easy and it does make a difference.
Jessica Craven at Chop Wood, Carry Water provides scripts to help you if you worry about what to say.
📪 Write postcards to help Democratic candidates and progressive judges get elected: Postcards to Voters
3️⃣ Check out Third Act Actions page — there might be something there that you can do.
⚖️ Support the ACLU! 🧵 Share your favorite news sites, podcasts or vloggers in the comments! The GNR comments section is a bonus reason to read GNR every day!! 💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙 That’s it from me and CG for another Tuesday! I hope you are all feeling well and hanging in there emotionally. Remember, it is OK to take breaks to restore your spirits so that you can carry on. But do stay in touch with your people. Get enough rest. Eat nutritious food. Get outdoors as much as humanly possible. Take good care of yourself because you are precious and you are the strength of this nation. The strength of this world. Along with all of your like-minded humans in their millions both here in the USA and around the world. Together we will face whatever we need to face and we will save the world. I’ll leave you with some more music and wish you a happy Tuesday!
Bach’s birthday is next week on March 31, but I’m not writing next week, so here ya go!
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