(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Good News Roundup for Friday, September 29, 2023: The ignored majority v. the power of the audience [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-09-29 Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News! I get pretty mad at the media. They wonder why no one knows how well the economy is doing, when they all they are doing are talking about the last president’s court cases and how Lauren Boebert misbehaved in public. Yet President Biden is doing great things. Ds are winning special elections. Unemployment is historically low, and the US is respected again on the planet. These things need to be repeated, until they sink into the audience. Now, let’s talk about the power of the audience. We recently learned the power an audience sometimes has. Let’s look at Fox. A large reason why they kept lying about the election is because their audience wanted them to. Well, we can make the same sort of demands, except I don’t want lies, but I do want optimism and a different focus. In fact, I have been making demands to MSNBC, and I have been happily surprised by listening to Joe Scarborough (who I still consider a blowhard) explaining why a poll with tRump ahead was nonsense. Maybe they are waking up. A whole bunch were saying, “Truthful, not Neutral”. And, speaking of the audience, look what happens when Taylor Swift encourages hers! All those new voters! Well done (see the Odds and Ends). In a world where so many want attention, the audience has a lot of power. Let’s use ours. Come in, dear friends, and see what the good guys are doing. 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, the chaos, and yes, even the attempts to cling to power despite the clear will of the people. 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 from those very bad people. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know. Remember: 💙 There are more of us than there are of them. 💛 They are terrified when we organize. THERE IS LOTS OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE TERRIFIED! 💔 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, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world. 🗽 Biden as President ! 🗽 Biden, Harris and their administration have been hard at work. Here are the last week’s posts at the White House briefing room. 👎 Out with the Bad, In with the Good 👍 Students across US launch Green New Deals for schools Cristen Hemingway Jaynes EcoWatch Students at more than 50 high schools across the United States are launching a Green New Deal for Schools campaign, with the hope of getting climate policies enacted that will require school districts to add climate education to their curriculums and plan for climate disasters. The ultimate goal of the initiative, organized by the youth climate justice organization Sunrise Movement, is for federal legislation to be enacted to implement climate education policies in schools nationwide. “The Green New Deal for Schools will transform public schools in America to face the climate crisis and ensure all students receive safe and high-quality education – no matter their zip code or the color of their skin,” said 17-year-old Adah Crandall, one of the heads of the campaign, as reported by The Hill. “Our generation is on the front lines of this fight and it’s time for our school districts to take real action.” Isn’t it nice to read about how a course may be coming in, instead of going out? Wouldn’t this go well with the Climate Corps, feeding right into it? And it also demonstrates the audience trying to take over, but with great ideas. New stained-glass windows at the National Cathedral, with an emphasis on freedom and not slavery Marisa Iati, Washington Post (an example included below) His paintings sometimes sell for millions. This one went for $18.65. Kerry James Marshall, whose works have adorned the walls of national galleries and celebrities’ mansions, couldn’t imagine charging Washington National Cathedral his usual fee to replace its Confederate-themed windows. Instead, he requested a commission symbolizing 1865, the year the nation’s last enslaved African Americans were liberated at the conclusion of the Civil War. “It’s a full payment that I can accept as a completely free individual, able to make decisions about myself and the things I do and who I do it for,” Marshall said. “I’m completely free. And that’s what the end of the Civil War represents on a lot of levels.” x Washington National Cathedral unveils new stained glass windows to replace Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson with BLM protestors. Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/nLn0OGEi8Z — AF Post (@AFpost) September 25, 2023 At last! The audience has had enough. 💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes and Chaos 💣 I’m spending a little less time on this this week, in part because I’m tired of giving the Rs so much attention. The Rs had a meaningless debate, which I did not watch, and I told MSNBC I did not pay attention to their analysis. The Rs are trying to shut down the government. They’re fighting with each other. The Rs are kowtowing to tRump and they’re lying. They won’t condemn indicted corruption (tRump, Santos, and in a bit of self-serving consistency, Menendez) but they will try to create corruption in President Biden. Same old, same old, same old. Republicans’ star witness pours cold water on impeachment hearing Josh Fiallo The Daily Beast Republicans’ long-shot attempt to impeach President Joe Biden got off to a rocky start Thursday, with their star witness, legal expert Jonathan Turley, outright saying he doesn’t see any evidence to support impeachment. “I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment,” he testified. Ex-GOP candidate slapped with felony charges Josh Fiallo The Daily Beast Omar Navarro, the MAGA internet personality who repeatedly failed to oust Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) from Congress, was slapped with a whopping 43 federal charges on Wednesday for allegedly spending his donors’ money to fund trips to Las Vegas, California’s wine country, and more. Navarro, 34, is accused of he funneling tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations back to himself—sometimes through a friend and his mom, who are also caught up in the scandal. 🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚 AOC is damned good — here she is debunking some of the lies at the sham Biden impeachment hearing (and if you can’t do tweets, you can see it here) x AOC is kicking the living shit out of Biden’s accusers in this sham impeachment hearing. She’s exposing altered evidence and making each witness admit there is no evidence to impeach Biden for. Rs are getting steam rolled.pic.twitter.com/0aJi3gP5lg — Tom Joseph (@TomJChicago) September 28, 2023 Then there was Representative Crockett out of Texas: x YouTube Video Jennifer Rubin’s response: x I dont think Ds have ever fielded a better group of committee people to run circles around Rs. It's almost beautiful to behold. — Jennifer Truthful, Not Neutral Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) September 28, 2023 😄 Hey, let’s do our own cherry picking! Some of the polls are good! x The new, large sample Economist/YouGov poll has Biden up 5 points over Trump 45-40. The new, large sample CNN poll of NH has Biden up over Trump by 12 points, 52-40. In dozens of specials across US this year Dems are outperforming 2020 by 8 pts. Have a nice day. pic.twitter.com/m5SSK2jXyw — Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) September 27, 2023 How a little-known group is making a difference in the states Nick Corasaniti New York Times (hope the gift link works) For decades, Republicans have outmaneuvered and outspent Democrats in state legislatures, gerrymandering them into the minority in both red states and political battlegrounds. ✂️ . Now Democrats are trying to put themselves on even footing. An increasingly prominent player in this liberal push is a little-known group called the States Project, which was founded in 2017 and made a financial splash in state legislative elections last year, pouring $60 million into races in five competitive states: Arizona, Michigan, Maine, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Ms. McClinton recalled inviting the States Project to hold a seminar for her caucus in 2021, when her party was still out of power in the chamber and she had just become the minority leader. The group’s presentation included a sweeping list of liberal policy goals, including investments in public education, paid family leave and measures to combat climate change and institute equal pay. When Democrats unexpectedly took narrow control of the House in last year’s elections, she said, they had a running start. Even with the Senate still in Republican hands, Democrats managed to pass a state budget with a $567 million increase in school funding, including free breakfast for all public school students. 💜 Unity? 💜 🌵 Remarks (some of them) made by President Biden honoring John McCain: White House Briefing Room While in Hanoi, I visited a marker depicting where John — what John — where John had endured all the pain. Imprisoned five and a half years. Solitary confinement for two years. Given an opportunity — an opportunity to come home if he just said a couple things. He was beaten, bloodied, bones broken, isolated, tortured, left unable to raise his arms above his shoulders again. As I stood there paying my respects, I thought about how much I missed my friend. And it’s not hyperbole. I — from the bottom of my heart, I mean this. I thought about something else as well. I thought about how much America missed John right now, how much America needed John’s courage and foresight and vision. I thought about what John stood for, what he fought for, what he was willing to die for. I thought about what we owed John, what I owed him, and what we owe each other — we owe each other — we owed each other as well — and Americans as well. You see, John is one of those patriots who, when they die, their voices are never silent. They still speak to us. They tug at both our hearts and our conscience. And they pose the most profound questions: Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? What will we be? For John, it was country first. Sounds like a — like a movie, but it’s real with John: honor, duty, decency, freedom, liberty, democracy. And now, history has brought us to a new time of testing. Very few of us will ever be asked to endure what John McCain endured. But all of us are being asked right now: What will we do to maintain our democracy? Will we, as John wrote, never quit? Will we not hide from history, but make history? Will we put partisanship aside and put country first? x The media spent the last 32 months pretending there were no voters who actually liked Joe Biden and they finally accidentally stumbled on a whole bunch of them on the UAW picket line today. https://t.co/fdoyRX6xYK — It's Biden AND Harris 2024. Deal with it. (@What46HasDone) September 27, 2023 Remarks by President Biden at the picket line WH Briefing Room Folks, look, one thing is real simple — I’m going to be very brief — the fact of the matter is that you guys, the UAW — you saved the automobile industry back in 2008 and before. You made a lot of sacrifices. You gave up a lot. And the companies were in trouble. But now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well too. It’s a simple proposition. (Applause.) Folks, stick with it, because you deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits. Let’s get back what we lost, okay? (Applause.) We saved them; it’s about time for them to step up for us. Thank you. 📥 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. Biden and Harris can do the top-down stuff, but we have to support from the bottom. I don’t know how to deprogram 75 million people, but some things have been written about, such as deep canvassing, and lots of people are talking about this. If you know someone (who did not storm the Capitol), then see if you can be pleasant. Instead of trying to reason with them (logic is obviously not their strong point) distract them with something else. We need to remove the sources of lies and to take down the temperature. If we get more of the Rs to wear masks and to get vaccinated and to vote for Ds, the country will be a better place. We need to coax some of them out of the rabbit holes and diffuse the anger and the crazy. 🏃 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 😈 You heard about the woes of tRump in New York. Now, I know people won’t have much sympathy for banks and insurance companies, and certainly most of them had enough smarts to know tRump was lying. But it still matters, because — and this is more true for banks than for insurance companies — large companies get bailed out by the government. By us. Taxpayers foot the bill for their risk taking, while the honest companies suffer because they don’t get the big rewards. So happy to see this: ⚡️ Hunter Biden is suing Rudy and his attorney, Robert Costello, for violating his privacy CNN ⚡️ Robert Costello is suing Rudy Giuliani for bills not paid CBS News 💙 American Express cuts Mike Lindell’s credit line by 90% Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit American Express has slashed the credit line of Mike Lindell’s MyPillow by a staggering 90%. This comes after a 15-year partnership between the two companies. Lindell revealed this startling news in an interview with Steve Bannon, where he also discussed the broader implications of this action on his business and the conservative movement at large. “Steve, we really need everybody’s help right now,” said Mike Lindell. According to Lindell, American Express reduced MyPillow’s credit line from a million dollars to a mere $100,000 without any prior notice or explanation. This abrupt decision has severely impacted the company’s operations, particularly its online marketing and shipping activities. “American Express -I wasn’t going to say this- we’ve been with them for 15 years, and we do all of our online marketing and all our shipping with them. Out of the blue, they took our credit line from a million dollars down to $100,000. Just crippled my pillow. No reason, no explanation. Just dropped it down last Tuesday,” said Lindell. 📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️ Let’s honor Judge Arthur Engoron, who ruled against the tRump financial lies this week. His ruling was clear and straightforward, and he’s in charge of the non-jury trial starting on Monday. x Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump continually lied on his financial statements and was able to get favorable loan terms and lower insurance premiums as a result. Trump's legal arguments defending the statements are based in "a fantasy world, not the real world." https://t.co/Xc1wUWAZqQ — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 26, 2023 I also want to re-honor Cassidy Hutchinson, who is currently on a book tour, revealing more of what she witnessed and experienced during her days in the tRump White House. Some people are saying she should not be honored. There are diaries about this. I’m not linking. But she risked it all when the older white males would not. She risked her financial future. She risked her physical safety. She has been insulted and threatened. She risked her tribe. Without her, the DOJ might not have made so much headway into the investigations against tRump and the other coup plotters. x To all those who would discount Cassidy Hutchinson because she adored trump at one point: We can NOT scream at trump supporters to change, and then give them no grace to do so. We need to be a safe place for them to land. PERIOD. — Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) September 27, 2023 Yes, she is silly to think she is still a Republican, but one step at a time. She was young when she was in the White House Even if you don’t feel for her, let’s be practical. Our country will do better if more of us support democracy and the Ds. So, at the very least, let’s not call her names. There are lines I do draw. I don’t mind Bill Barr telling the truth about the election, but he enabled tRump (and lots of others) to do lots of damage to our democracy. I will never honor him. Even Michael Cohen, who has been doing a lot to redeem himself, only turned against tRump because tRump turned against him. Cassidy Hutchinson moved against tRump because she felt what he was doing was wrong. 🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️ Sometimes little acts of kindness can make a huge difference. I looked up suggestions of what we can do — I know many here do many of these things — and although there was some overlap, it was not complete. So here are some ideas, just a sampling: Random Acts of Kindness (2/17 is the official day) Pay it Backward: buy coffee for the person behind you in line. Compliment the first three people you talk to today. Send a positive text message to five different people right now. Post inspirational sticky notes around your neighborhood, office, school, etc. Donate old towels or blankets to an animal shelter. Giving Tuesday Have an old cellphone? Give it to a homeless person. It can be a lifeline. Donate your old laptop or computer to a STEM school or nonprofit. Organize a school supply drive for a local low-income school. Goodgoodgood.co Random acts of kindness Sign up to donate blood. Hold a door open for someone. Donate $10 to a charity you believe in. Pay off someone’s medical debts. (We recommend RIP Medical Debt ! 📎 Odds & Ends 📎 🚚 Real world test shows all electric big rigs go further, charge faster Andy Corbley Good News Network An industry research non-profit has found that battery-electric big rigs have doubled their range and charging speed numbers in just 2 years of operation. In conducting a real-world test on 21 freight trucks for three weeks, North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) found this lighting-fast innovation occurring across the market for battery-electric big rigs This includes models from Ford, Daimler, Tesla, Volvo, and General Motors. ✂️ The exciting part of the data is the range and charging times were bang in the zone of what Roeth told Canary Media is known as the “sweet spot in… medium regional haul return-to-base,” and represents the largest part of trucking routes within states and encompasses around 300 miles of movement. Thanks, Taylor! And this data is a bit old, so by now the numbers may be better! 😄 x Taylor Swift’s new post urging her followers to register to vote has led to record-breaking voter registration numbers. At least 157,041 eligible voters visited the registration site in one day, including a 115% increase in 18-year-old registrations.https://t.co/GzLxLzFjuL pic.twitter.com/0ULCaQgo4x — No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) September 25, 2023 ☕️ Coffee grounds make concrete stronger Good News Network Engineers in Australia have found a way of making stronger concrete by utilizing coffee grounds, giving the roast a “double shot” at life and reducing waste going to landfills. The RMIT University team developed the technique that makes concrete 30% stronger by adding waste coffee grounds after it is turned into biochar using their “low-energy process”. Globally, 11 million tons of spent coffee is generated annually. Disposing of organic waste poses an environmental challenge because it emits large amounts of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, which is 21 times worse than CO2 for the climate. Furthermore, concrete used in construction projects around the world requires 50 billion tons of natural sand mined every year. Coffee biochar can replace a portion of that sand, which is a finite resource, explained research team leader Professor Jie Li. 🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: Hunters of the Feather, a story about a thinker-linker crow who wants to save birdkind from extinction, and sequels, Scavengers of Mind and the brand-new Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’re really cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And Hunters is also available on Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — including a new one for lovers of Pride & Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet’s Advice to Young Ladies — and others on Greek mythology, 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. Current projects: Look in the comments for Progressive Muse’s report on Postcards to Voters And some other ideas: You can relax and recharge. You can join protests and freeway blog. You can help register new voters. You can smile. You can say something nice to friend or a stranger. You can get out the vote for special elections. You can reach out to upset Republicans. We need to win some back. You can share your ideas below. 🌻 💙 “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.” 💙 President Joseph R. Biden 🌹 🌹 🌹 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/29/2195238/-Good-News-Roundup-for-Friday-September-29-2023-The-ignored-majority-v-the-power-of-the-audience 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/