(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
GNR for Friday, September 12, 2025: FAFO and TACO [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-09-12
Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
My word, what a week!
A week of FAFO for those supporting GOP positions and policies: the felon’s birthday letter to the most notorious sex trafficker ever turns out to be real (of course it was real); guns do kill people (no shit); and the felon is tanking the American economy (no surprise there). Yes, tariffs are paid by Americans, either the corporations or the consumer.
First, a few words about the Kirk assassination and the reactions on the left and on the right.
There’s been some Schadenfreude on the left, but team blue’s politicians have mostly said the most appropriate things possible: they’ve decried all political violence and sent prayers to Kirk’s friends and family. I was impressed by the tone and the consistency.
The right is calling for our blood; they want to declare war on the left (and, at least as I write this, we still don’t know the motives of the shooter). Does that make you feel afraid? If so, their words are working.
But that’s what the right has been trying to do in every instance: make us feel afraid. They want us to surrender in advance. That has been the felon’s position on everything. That’s why he sent troops into LA and DC and threatened to send them to Chicago. That’s why he was planning to declare WAR!!! on Chicago.
Eventually something was going to happen to let them make this cry. Kirk is just an excuse.
But — as we are seeing — the felon is apparently backing down on sending troops into Chicago.
Why? Because Chicago stood up to him. Remember, TACO (trump always chickens out) also applies to whatever they are planning next. We just have to continue standing up to him and the vile maladministration.
TACO also applies to most of the GOP, and as they are more afraid of the felon than of their constituents, they continue contorting themselves into Gordian knots in order to defend the indefensible (although amazingly, a few have stood up to the felon).
Although we can never count on the GOP, there are many signs that our fellow citizens are waking up.
We still have far too much hatred and dishonesty and just stupidity in the country, most Americans are caring and good and many of them are bright.
And, my friends, we ARE making a difference.
Come on in, Gnusies, and see what the good guys are doing. As always, share more good news if you’ve got it.
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 🗽
the felon appears to be backing down on sending troops to Chicago Alex V. Hernandez Block Club Chicago
Good news for Chicago! Bad news for another city — or maybe not? Remember, the felon never actually delivers anything, especially when there’s pushback.
Still, Governor Pritzker is not convinced that the felon is truly backing down, so we need to put a pin in this.
🚗 ICE agents forced to retreat — slowly, I guess — after their tires get slashed by protesters Martha McHardy, Newsweek
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were forced to retreat from a roofing job site in Rochester, New York, on Tuesday after protesters slashed the tires of a Border Patrol SUV during a tense standoff that lasted hours. ✂️ The incident in Rochester comes as confrontations between immigration agents and protesters have been intensifying nationwide, prompting President Donald Trump's administration to send National Guard troops to cities including Los Angeles. The New York Times reported last week that officials are preparing a broader enforcement surge and have signaled plans to "crack down" on sanctuary cities, which bar local police from aiding federal immigration authorities.
I loved this:
x Holy shit…You can’t make this up: a plane is circling Soldier Field before the Bears home opener with a banner that reads— “HEY ICE, MASKS ARE FOR CUCKS.” Also the trolling is incredible for those that told us to stop wearing masks during the pandemic. — Adam Parkhomenko (@adamparkhomenko.bsky.social) 2025-09-09T00:18:06.211Z
And, let’s not forget Boston, which has also been threatened:
x Other cities get the National Guard. Boston is getting an army of lawyers. Trump is afraid of Mayor Wu. www.wcvb.com/article/depa... — TriSec XX (@trisec.bsky.social) 2025-09-05T09:10:04.427Z
Apparently the left and the right in Boston are (mostly) uniting against this, but the article was in the Boston Globe and it’s paywalled. If anyone here has a subscription, it would be great to see this in the comments.
💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes, Chaos and Cowardice 💣
My apologies for showing the felon’s face, but I think we may see evidence here of why the felon disappeared from the public for about a week:
x The right side of Trump's face was drooping during a 9/11 commemoration today (Getty) — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-11T19:28:08.346Z
I can’t contort my mouth that way even if I try.
In the meantime, we see, the felon is not popular in DC!
x To prove streets of DC are safe Dumbo just had himself driven in an armored limo to a point where - surrounded by hundreds of secret service agents and cops, and barricaded by a solid wall of secret service SUVs - he could walk ten yards into the entrance of a fancy restaurant. And everyone booed! — Tacoma Mike (@mgb5000.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T01:32:02.043Z
Of course, not being popular in DC is hardly a surprise, but it’s still satisfying. As is the fact that the felon was recently booed at the US Men’s Open in Flushing, NY.
But those are blue or purple areas.
Now, look at this! He’s not even popular in Texas?!!?!!? (This is from X but I couldn’t get it to embed, so I took a screenshot — however, here’s the link to the texas politics website with a lot more information.)
Hmm, if this holds, the gerrymandering in TX may not help the GOP the way they think it will.
Cawthorn gets arrested again! I guess the law is for thee and not for me.
x Former Congressman Madison Cawthorn was arrested today. — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yasharali.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T02:55:11.846Z
Rs are cowards (TACO applies to them as well, most will yield to the felon)
x "'I'd respect you more if you told me you actually believe in this crap and that's why you were supporting the bill. But to tell me you don't believe in this stuff, you think it's going to hurt your own constituents, and vote for it anyway, that's cowardice.'" — George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 (@gtconway.bsky.social) 2025-09-07T14:13:15.820Z
But there are a few who have been brave with respect to the Epstein files:
x Rep. Ro Khanna: "It's about protecting children. I admire Congressman Massie's courage. I admire Nancy Mace's courage, Marjorie Taylor Greene's courage, Lauren Boebert's courage. They are standing with survivors...Let's get a vote this month and get the files released." — The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-09-07T16:52:01.427Z
In the meantime, others are using their abilities to make progress on this. Way to go, Bloomberg!
x NEW: We got access to Jeffrey Epstein’s personal Yahoo inbox — more than 18,000 emails. It shows Epstein’s world in his own words: an unfiltered look at how his operation worked, who enabled it, and how Ghislaine Maxwell stayed at the center of it all. — Dhruv Mehrotra (@dmehro.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T10:35:56.329Z
I know more will come out as people go through these messages.
Also, the letter from the felon to the sex trafficker was really illuminating. The fact that it was clearly the sketch of a girl and not a woman is evidence of the rape of children. It’s clear the felon knew all about the sex trafficker’s business was clear.
🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚
Look! Senator Schumer is using his power!
x ! Chuck Schumer just filed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requiring the Justice Department to release the Epstein files within 30 days — same as the Massie/Khanna bill, per his office: “The Senate will now have to vote on releasing the Epstein files.” — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T15:39:15.857Z
The amendment failed 51-49 but Rs are now on record as voting for an Epstein cover-up.
Team blue does well in Virginia! Increases blue margin considerably.
x Accept no imitators! This is the one and only special elections Big Board from The Downballot! There are still a few votes left in #VA11 but the vast majority have been tallied. Dem James Walkinshaw is winning by 50 in a Harris+34 district, so a 16-point overperformance—right at the average. — The Downballot (@the-downballot.com) 2025-09-10T00:43:14.108Z
And — wow — a couple of special elections in Florida! (This is from Sept 3, but I don’t recall seeing it, and anyway, repetition is good)
x Two democrats won special elections in Florida last week. Even Floridians are done with republicans. www.newsweek.com/democrats-sp... — Caroleeena (@caroleeena.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T04:20:16.478Z
Note these are not flips but they are overperformances. From the Newsweek (Kate Plummer, September 3rd) link in the bluesky post above, we get:
Young, a legislative staffer and former NASA engineer, won with 75 percent of the vote in House District 40. This is 8 percent more than the 67 percent Harris got there in 2024. Meanwhile, Bracy Davis, who previously represented House District 40 in the state legislature, won Senate District 15 with 73 percent of the vote. Sixty-one percent of voters went for Harris there in November.
Overall, team blue is doing much better than team red at the moment:
x A ton of effort goes into tracking special elections on our Big Board, so we're always grateful when people cite us by name and link us. This data—especially the presidential results, which we calculate by hand—doesn't grow on trees! Ds now running 15.7 pts ahead of 2024. In 2017-18, it was D+10.6. — The Downballot (@the-downballot.com) 2025-09-10T15:49:38.095Z
A new candidate for Senate, and in Texas!
x State Rep. James Talarico, whom Joe Rogan urged to run for president this summer, is seeking to become the first Texas Democrat elected to the Senate since the late Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. He faces a competitive primary before he can focus on breaking this long streak. — The Downballot (@the-downballot.com) 2025-09-09T14:12:28.595Z
💜 Unity? 💜
This was good (I stole it from yesterday’s APR):
x In a display of unity across the political aisle, the Young Democrats of Connecticut and Connecticut Young Republicans have issued a joint statement offering prayers for Charlie Kirk and condemning political violence: pic.twitter.com/YpB0WFCmTS — Mike Cerulli (@MikeCerulliCT) September 10, 2025
I really appreciated the above, and more places need to do that. I’m not in a position to organize anything like that myself, but it would be GREAT for cooling off the temperatures.
And for once I need to give credit to Speaker Mike Johnson:
x Mike Johnson decries political violence after Charlie Kirk shooting. www.politico.com/live-updates... — Politico (@politico.com) 2025-09-10T20:39:36.114Z
Most people do not like the National Guard being in DC Alex Horton Washington Post
“Trending videos show residents reacting with alarm and indignation,” a summary from Friday said. “One segment features a local [resident] describing the Guard’s presence as leveraging fear, not security — highlighting widespread discomfort with what many perceive as a show of force.” ✂️ Friday’s assessment highlights “Mentions of Fatigue, confusion, and demoralization — ‘just gardening,’ unclear mission, wedge between citizens and the military.” ✂️ In another update, the Guard indicates troops “continue efforts to restore and beautify public spaces across the District” and have “cleared 906 bags of trash, spread 744 cubic yards of mulch, removed five truckloads of plant waste, cleared 3.2 miles of roadway, and painted 270 feet of fencing.” Those statistics may be among the most consequential takeaways of Trump’s use of the military in D.C., Dempsey said, and should prompt scrutiny of whether this mission was ever necessary in the first place. “That is such a suboptimal use of military training that we should all be asking, ‘Why are they here?’” Dempsey said. “If they’re picking up trash, they’re not here for a security emergency. There’s no clearer metric than that.”
The article covers how both the residents (fear) and some of those in the National Guard (shame) feel about it.
🚽 SCOTUS denies South Carolina’s emergency request to enforce anti-trans bathroom policy Josh Gerstein, Politico
The Supreme Court has declined South Carolina’s request for an emergency order allowing the state to enforce a law aimed at barring transgender students in state-funded schools from using bathrooms of their choice. The justices rejected the state’s emergency appeal by an apparent 6-3 vote Wednesday. The high court’s one-page order provided little insight into the reasons behind the ruling.
The dissenters were the usual:
Three of the court’s conservatives noted their dissent: Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch. None detailed his views on the issue.
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
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 Goodie said lots and lots of people are signing up for this!!!)
👎 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.
🐍 Schadenfreude 😈
Bolsonaro gets 27 years in prison for trying a coup in Brazil:
x Brazil’s supreme court finds Bolsonaro guilty of plotting military coup — The Guardian (@theguardian.com) 2025-09-11T19:06:12Z
This is from the link in the bluesky post above (author is Tom Phillips) :
Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a military coup and seeking to “annihilate” the South American country’s democracy. Justices Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha and Cristiano Zanin ruled on Thursday that Bolsonaro – a former paratrooper who was elected president in 2018 – was guilty of seeking to forcibly cling to power after losing the 2022 election, meaning four of the five judges involved in the trial had found Brazil’s former leader guilty. ✂️ Delivering her decisive vote, Rocha denounced what she called an attempt to “sow the malignant seed of anti-democracy” in Brazil – but celebrated how the country’s institutions had survived and were fighting back.
Good insults are powerful - I like this one
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️
I feature truth and love sections every week, because I think they matter and they should matter. But the other side deals in lies and hate, and we have to recognize they are powerful too. To win, we need to fight better. We have to deal with people as they are, and not as they should be. Here’s a diary I did on Rachel Bitecofer’s book, Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy By Beating Republicans At Their Own Game. Because Ds, as everyone says, are actually pretty bad at messaging. Truth doesn’t win unless we promote it.
This week we honor Justice Sonia Sotomayor:
Note she didn’t “respectfully dissent” — the other side deserves no respect.
Want more from her? Here she is, being interviewed by Stephen Colbert (note this isn’t the only video associated with this interview):
*
This was so apt about truth these days that I had to include it here.
x That’s exactly what this feels like! — George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2025-09-06T19:20:42.799Z
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
🚗 I admit, when I think of cancer treatments, I don’t think about parking fees. But it can be a challenge. This woman is giving back. Sheena Goodyear, CBC Radio
Krystyna Locke decided to celebrate her 63rd birthday in a very familiar place — the cancer clinic at her local hospital. The London, Ont., lymphoma survivor spent the last year fundraising to cover cancer patients' parking fees, one of the many out-of-pocket costs related to health care that can add up over time and become a burden. On Tuesday, she set up near an entrance at the London Health Sciences Centre with a stack of parking vouchers and a banner that reads: "Happy birthday to me. Your parking is free." "Today, I received hugs. I received kisses on the cheek. I shared tears with people. I shared laughter. There was joking. It just completely lightens the mood," Locke told As It Happens guest host Aarti Pole. "They're walking very heavy because they're carrying a burden, right? And when they saw my sign, they would walk up to me and, right away, a big smile on their face and they were so thankful."
Locke had a long, long journey with cancer treatments. And note this is Canada, so her health insurance was never in question, but even Canadians experience expenses when they have cancer.
📎 Odds & Ends 📎
🚗 Cheerful music may help people get over motion sickness Good News Network
Listening to happy tunes helped study participants with motion sickness get over their predisposition and recover better, according to new research. Motion sickness is a common condition that happens when you’re moving while sitting still, such as riding in a car. It occurs when our eyes, inner ear and body send conflicting messages to the brain, resulting in nausea, headaches, or breaking out in a cold sweat. Now, Chinese scientists studying ways for improving the condition have published a study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience showing that playing different types of music may help people recover more effectively.
As someone who has thrown up on many trips, but who doesn’t like how Dramamine knocks me out, this is really interesting!
Community gardens where refugees are putting down roots Kaja Seruga, Reasons to Be Cheerful
On a warm morning in June, dozens of people have gathered in a community garden in Traiskirchen, a small town just outside Vienna best known for its refugee center, which is the largest in Austria. The Middle Eastern breakfast, freshly prepared every Saturday in the open kitchen, has become a staple in the town’s social calendar. There’s fresh falafel, generous portions of flatbread, hummus and baba ghanoush, and crisp slices of bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers from the organic garden. Colorful canopies above the tables offer some much-needed shade, and a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” mixes with the squealing laughter of children running around. In the garden, people from the refugee center next door are tending to the neat rows of herbs, vegetables and fruit with the help of head gardener Ahmad Makhzoum. The harvest is split equally three ways — a third is sold at the garden’s vegetable stall to support the project, a third is donated to the town’s sozialmärkt, or social market, a non-profit supermarket that caters to people on lower incomes, and the remaining third is freely available to those working at the garden. ✂️ Today, the International Gardens of Göttingen have expanded to three gardens with almost 90 members from 23 countries. Over 400 other gardens around Germany have followed in their footsteps, supported by the nonprofit Anstiftung, led by Dr. Müller. “A garden is a good place to create reciprocity, exchange ideas and focus on the resources that people already bring with them,” she says. The idea has also caught on in the U.S.: At Global Gardens Chicago, 42 refugee families started a garden in 2021, while a University of Michigan student who came to the U.S. as a child refugee started The Freedom Garden in cooperation with the university in 2022. Across the U.S., the International Rescue Committee’s New Roots program, which started in 2006, has so far helped devel
🏊 Chicago River, like the Seine, now swimmable Andy Corbley Good News Network
One day, a book will be written about the 21st century, and the topic will be how the denizens in the world’s largest cities cleaned up the rivers which flow through them. Whether that’s the Yangtze, the Seine, the Mersey, or the Chicago River, humans have well nigh decided that having a clean, odorless, swimmable, and living river is worth the loss in convenience of dumping and polluting. Even though it turns green every year to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, that was about the only thing ‘green’ about the Chicago River for the longest time. But following the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act, things began to change. It’s now about to welcome swimmers back into its course for the first time in over a hundred years, and many different people, activities, and initiatives have gone into reaching this historic moment.
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. Newest offerings: Messing with the Myths — two books so far in this series. Older offerings: the Crow Nickels (chronicles), about crows who want to save birdkind from extinction (Hunters of the Feather). Mysteries based on Jane Austen’s novels, such as The Meryton Murders. Others based on history and Greek mythology, e.g., Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus. All titles also available through Kindle Unlimited. Want to support me but not interested in my books? Buy one and donate to a library.
💙 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.
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:
We need just 3 seats to take back the House. GoodNewsRoundup (a.k.a. Goodie or Madam Mayor) has put together a page for donations via ActBlue. Note you can opt out of emails.
We need just 3 seats to take back the House. GoodNewsRoundup (a.k.a. Goodie or Madam Mayor) has put together a page for donations via ActBlue. Note you can opt out of emails. bilboteach has another fundraiser: Win the Majority 2026 – and here you can also opt out of all those fundraising emails.
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.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/12/2342238/-GNR-for-Friday-September-12-2025-FAFO-and-TACO?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
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/
