(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . GNR for Saturday, April 1 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-01 Spring is sprung. Scamp and Buster approve. I’m pinch-hitting for Good News Roundup who had something else to do this morning. To celebrate April Fools Day, let’s start with a message from the huuugest fool in the country: Aldous Pennyfarthing reports on the non-events this has spawned: The rabid pro-Trump protests we feared are not materializing. Looks like his whine has not aged well Conspicuously absent in the wake of this announcement, however, is a Jan. 6-style groundswell of support from the MAGA rank-and-file. Oh, they’re no doubt angry and disappointed, but so far, they appear more interested in storming their beer coolers than the hallowed halls of Congress. Predictably, the stock market crashed on the news of the indictment as investors panicked over the turmoil facing the country. Never mind. When they came for Donald Trump, did you speak out? I am not going to try to summarize any of the news about this subject. By the time this is published there will be another dozen diaries up. Feel free to gloat, crow, rejoice, celebrate, exult, relish, and exhilarate in the Comments. He isn’t going to return to power, he isn’t going to avoid prosecution, and he isn’t going to enjoy the fruits of his crimes. The defeatists who claimed he was never going to face justice have been proven wrong. Which brings us to: Activism vs Doomerism We need the right kind of climate optimism (h/t to Meteor Blades) To understand what sort of thinking does drive positive change, we can imagine a framework for how people conceptualize the future and their ability to shape it... My framework has two axes. On one axis, we have “level of optimism,” spanning from optimistic to pessimistic. People who think the future will be much better are on one end, and those who think it will be much worse are on the other. On the other axis, we have “changeability.” This reflects how much people think the future can be shaped by the decisions we make today. People who think the world is changeable believe they have an agency to mold it, while those who think it’s unchangeable believe we’re on a predetermined path and that trying to shape the future is futile… This gives us four quadrants — but only one really matters for our purposes. The “optimistic and changeable” box is where people who move the world forward fall. We need more people in there. None of the other quadrants are effective. This is the quadrant where the GNR lives. Here is another similar take from my alumni newsletter: Interview: Ramit Debnath, Caltech Postdoc, on Social Networks and Sustainability In dealing with climate change, we often have to balance creating a sense of urgency about the problem with a need to avoid hopelessness or despair. What did you learn about this tradeoff – are there ways to use social media to spread the "right" kind of message that might generate action rather than frustration? This is always challenging with social media-driven climate communication, as echo chambers are designed to create polarisation and misinformation. Our study showed that reactiveness is driven mainly by a rise in negative sentiments (sadness, anger) following high-level policy events by IPCC and UNFCCC. However, social media can spread the right message in various ways. For example, greater emphasis on online climate science communication from research and governance institutions can help get the 'right' message out there. Emphasis should be placed on getting facts out while countering misinformation and designing pre-bunking strategies to immunise the public from misinformation. Moreover, sensitising people that climate change is real and caused by human activities is crucial. This must account for the diversity and inclusion criteria to enable broader communication. No, It Really Was Russia I get the Intercept email newsletter. About half the articles are interesting alternative takes on non-mainstream stories and half are paranoid fever dreams. Lately it has featured conspiracy theories about how Biden, the CIA, NATO, et al were responsible for breaching the Nord Stream pipelines. Nord Stream Deep Dive Finds Putin’s Fingerprints A recent flurry of articles published in international media about the sabotage of Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines in September has left readers with more questions than answers. Accusations that the UK, the US, or a Ukrainian-linked group had blown the pipelines were fairly easily shown to be impractical speculation (each of the three explosions required support ships and hundreds of kilos of explosives) or Russian propaganda. The widespread initial assumption — that Russia did it — has largely fallen by the way. Yet a more careful review of the evidence suggests that the Nord Stream sabotage was in fact the culmination of a long string of events that started the previous year to serve Russia’s war plans against Ukraine. In other words, Russia probably did it after all. Cannabis Good News From a NORML email: It’s been a huge week for cannabis law reform! This week, marijuana gained major momentum in the Mid-Atlantic when the Delaware and Maryland legislatures approved legislation to legalize and regulate retail sales of adult-use marijuana… In the Bluegrass State, the Kentucky General Assembly on Thursday sent a medical cannabis access bill to the Governor, which he signed into law earlier today. Kentucky is now the 38th state to enact comprehensive medical marijuana access! In Washington, lawmakers advanced legislation prohibiting employers from administering pre-employment drug tests for marijuana. The Governor will sign the bill into law – making it the eighth state to end workplace discrimination against cannabis consumers. And in Utah, the Governor has signed legislation into law providing funding to establish the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research within the University of Utah. Even in the reddest states an overwhelming majority favors legalization for adult use. Of course the elected officials in red states don’t give a damn about what the majority wants (I live in WV so know what I am talking about). Eventually we will win, though. Disney Princess Clause Explained Chloris Creator covered the Disney masterstroke against DeSantis in Friday’s GNR. I found the details of what they did fascinating. First, the agreement with the old Reedy Creek Improvement District was finalized in an open public meeting and it was posted on the RCID website. None of DeSantis’ goons noticed. Here is a fun twitter stream about that: x The clause about King Charles III is absolutely real. The agreement — from the 2/8/23 Reedy Creek board meeting — can be found on https://t.co/6ZQMDUaVME. It appears to have been posted days after @GovRonDeSantis signed the law he says was “ending the Corporate Kingdom”. 5/ pic.twitter.com/CT9hYyIr28 — Mike DeForest (@DeForestNews6) March 29, 2023 But why did they go with the descendants of King Charles? The Royal Lives Clause has been commonly used in British trusts to dodge perpetuity prohibition. Members of the royal family tended to live longer than commoners because of better nutrition and health care so the clause would last longer. Disney thought it was funny to link their control to a princess, of course. Fighting For Abortion Access Last fall the WV Legislature passed and the governor signed one of the most restrictive anti-abortion bills in the country. The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, the only remaining abortion provider in the state, has been forced to cancel that service. So now they are opening the Women’s Health Center of Maryland. This will be in Cumberland (far western Maryland) which will be able to help pregnant people from across the border in WV. Abortion is also legal in two other bordering states, Pennsylvania and Virginia (and somewhat in Ohio), but this center will be focused on serving non-local people. We also have the option of using Aid Access, which provides telemedicine and mailed abortion drugs anywhere in the US. Epilogue Buster, Scamp, and Missy leave you with this song: [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/1/2161319/-GNR-for-Saturday-April-1 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/