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Good News Roundup for Friday, November 24, 2023: Grateful for Experience [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-11-24  

Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!

Sometimes ignorance feels like bliss. Before the tRump era I was not aware of how many ugly Americans existed in our country. And because of that period, I can never pretend I it could not happen here.

On the other hand, I have been so cheered by the response on our side. The numbers of people who have stepped up to do the right thing, over and over. There really are more of us than there are of them.

Hard work and logic and experience can make such a difference when governing. We’re sseing it repeatedly, in things little and small. Look what Whitmer is doing in Michigan and contrast it with what Huckabee-Sanders is doing in Arkansas.

I am grateful for President Biden’s vast experience, how he has stayed the course in Israel, worked to lower student debt and to repair our roads and bridges.

I am grateful, too, for my own experience now, which has made me just a little braver — a little less likely to pull the covers over my head — in facing the problems of the world (and my own particular hurdles).

Thanks for being here, as you recover from feasting yesterday. And come in and see what the good guys are doing.

PS I am trying not to use any Xeets in this diary, but I do still use it to locate stories for you. And, because of the holiday, today may be a little lighter than usual.

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.

Tuesday, November 21, 2023: Statement from President Joe Biden on the Hostage Release in Gaza

👎 Out with the Bad, In with the Good 👍

The pause in hostilities has started and some hostages are being released Washington Post

A planned cessation of violence in the Gaza Strip went into effect Friday, according to social media reports from within Gaza. It comes after seven weeks of war. Qatar, which has acted as a mediator in the deal between Israel and Hamas, said Thursday that Hamas is set to release an initial group of 13 hostages. In total, under the terms of the deal 50 are expected to be released during a four-day pause in fighting in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. For every 10 hostages released beyond that, the pause will be extended for an additional day, Israel has said. Hamas is expected to release women and children hostages, and Israel is due to release women and teenagers detained in Israeli prisons.

Obviously this is a breaking and developing story. I know many expected it to start yesterday, and I wanted to let you know it appears to be happening today.

Remarks by VP Harris at reopening of I-10 White House Briefing Room

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Governor. Well, as one of the first in a very long time Californians to be associated with the White House and living in Los Angeles, I was acutely aware of what closure of the 10 would mean for so many people: hardworking people, families, many people who — when it was shut down, they can’t work from home — their work requires them to be present.

And so, I want to applaud the leadership of the governor, the mayor, the senator, and so many others. Caltrans — we had a chance to visit this morning the men and women there, the men and women of organized labor, the unions.

The work that happened here is extraordinary. And it really is a function of the will and the ambition of the workers on the ground who understood what closure of the 10 would mean for folks on a daily basis and their commitment as public servants, as union members to get this thing done.

And, you know, we can give the fancy speeches all day long, but we’re able to stand here and do this because they did this work on the ground — in many cases, working as many as 14 hours a day out of sheer commitment and a sense of duty and responsibility to deliver for the people of Los Angeles. So, it’s extraordinary work that happened here.

And yes — Governor, Madam Mayor, the senator — we all talked on a daily basis, practically, and the estimates were that this was going to take a long time. There were some who said that a three- to four-week estimation was ambitious. But these folks, these people who work every day on this — who are experts, who understand the specifics, who understand the detail — they didn’t listen to all that. They just did the work and they saw it through.

And on behalf of President Biden and myself and our administration, we applaud this work. And this is the kind of work, frankly, that is happening around the country — where hardworking men and women, carpenters, laborers, city workers, county workers, government workers are rebuilding America.

We have invested billions of dollars in rebuilding America’s roads and bridges, lead pipes removal, what we are doing to ensure that all families have access and can afford high-speed Internet — this is all about rebuilding America’s infrastructure. And it has been a commitment of ours from day one.

Many talked about doing it. You’ll remember “Infrastructure Week.” By the way, it never happened.

OK, the I-10 repairs were due to deliberate arson and not general improvements, but I’m so glad to see some real mention of infrastructure!

But this incident was NOT terrorism, according to the FBI Jacob Knutson Axios

Investigators of Wednesday's deadly car explosion at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing between the U.S. and Canada have not uncovered links to terrorism, the FBI and New York's governor say. The big picture: The incident on the U.S. side of the bridge killed two people and injured a booth agent, and prompted the closure of multiple border crossings, the suspension of border train services and heightened security at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport on the eve of Thanksgiving — one of the busiest travel days of the year. The latest: The FBI said late Wednesday that it had completed its investigation after no explosive materials were found at the scene.

It’s now being treated as a traffic incident. Also, I was did not know there was a Rainbow Bridge over the Niagara Falls. Is that how pets go to heaven? Is Canada pet paradise?

💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes and Chaos 💣

In case you missed it, a Moms for Liberty leader is a registered sex offender Jahan Jones, MSNBC News

Moms for Liberty, the far-right organization whose members have dubiously portrayed themselves as protectors of America’s schoolchildren, is on the defense after an outreach coordinator who works with its Philadelphia chapter was revealed to be a convicted child molester. The group of self-styled “mama bear” types has crusaded against classroom lessons about social inequality. As part of their efforts, members have fought against LGBTQ references in schools under baseless “groomer” claims. On Monday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported: Phillip Fisher Jr. is a pastor and Republican ward leader who coordinates faith-based outreach for Philadelphia’s Moms for Liberty chapter. He’s also a registered sex offender, due to a 2012 felony conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy when Fisher was 25. Fisher insists that he did nothing wrong, despite pleading guilty to one of 12 counts filed against him after an investigation by the Chicago Police Department, according to court records obtained by The Inquirer.

It’s always projection with them, isn’t it? I hope the responsible MSM does a thorough job digging into Mike Johnson.

Gaetz not so popular in Florida Nicole LaFond Talking Points Memo

Turns out grinding the government to a halt during a time of global crisis to flex power over your colleagues doesn’t go over super well with the viewers back home. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is experiencing some political repercussions for dumping gasoline on his fractured party’s descent into dysfunction when he ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for the sin of keeping the government open. While the congressman is still popular in his Panhandle home district, his standing in Florida overall is in a state of disrepair. The Florida Atlantic University Mainstreet PolCom Lab released the results of statewide polling it conducted between Oct. 27 and Nov. 11 last week. It found that 57 percent of Florida voters are unhappy with Gaetz’s job as a congressman. That means that just 21 percent of voters surveyed approved of the congressman’s performance in Washington. About eight percent were “neutral” and 14 percent indicated they didn’t know how they felt, per the poll results.

🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚

Dems are the true majority in the House Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post

Many adjectives have been deployed to describe House Republicans. Hapless. Thuggish. Clownish. Ineffective. But the most politically descriptive: Minority. After all, a minority party cannot pass major legislation its leadership deems necessary. That has happened now three times: once on the debt ceiling and twice to keep the government open. Democrats, who have fewer seats, are effectively delivering what meager results the House has accomplished under Republican speakers. At various times in the House leadership struggle, Acela-corridor pundits pleaded with Democrats to help Republicans out of their leaderless mess. Without getting anything in return, they were expected to contribute votes to a speaker who would then be deemed illegitimate by the MAGA extremists because of the Democrats’ support. Fortunately, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) resisted the foolish pleas. ✂️ So who is governing? Democrats. That is essentially what happened with the funding bill. Aside from the split timelines (an obvious gimmick intended to distract clueless Republicans), Democrats got everything they wanted in the spending bill. Republicans didn’t. No massive social spending cuts and no abortion riders or other poison pills.

💜 Unity? 💜

Support for abortion at one of the highest levels ever Nicole LaFond Talking Points Memo

A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll out today [November 20] found that about 55 percent of those surveyed believe that women should have access to legal abortion for any reason, which, in the WSJ’s words is “one of the highest levels on record since nonpartisan researchers began tracking it in the 1970s.” Support for access to the procedure was at an all time high among Democrats and Independents surveyed, with 77 percent of Democratic voters backing abortion for any reason. Back in 2016, only 52 percent of Democrats surveyed by the same group indicated as much. Additionally about one-third of Republicans back access to abortion for women who need it for any reason. Some of the Republicans who said they’re normally opposed to abortion in most cases cited their belief that the government shouldn’t be interfering in medical decisions as rationale for recent shifts. The extreme, no-exception bans we’ve seen popping up in red states around the U.S. since the Dobbs ruling were also a turn-off for some Republicans polled.

Many people were unaware of the complications of so many pregnancies. The information that has come out since Dobbs has been an education.

EU agrees to stop sending plastic waste to countries that cannot process it Cristen Hemingway Jaynes EcoWatch

European Union (EU) member states and lawmakers have reached an agreement to stop exports of certain types of waste, including plastics, to countries outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of mostly rich countries starting in mid-2026. “Exports of certain non-hazardous wastes and mixtures of non-hazardous wastes… will be allowed only to those non-OECD countries that consent and fulfil the criteria to treat such waste in an environmentally sound manner,” the European Parliament said, as reported by Reuters. Compliance with the rights of international workers will also be taken into account, Parliament added.

📥 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 😈

Egg producers WERE ripping you — and other food companies — off, jury finds Katie Aricieri, Stephen Joyce Bloomberg Law

General Mills Inc., a Kraft Heinz Co. unit, Kellogg Co., and Nestle SA for years likely overpaid for eggs because the nation’s largest producers and two trade groups conspired to restrict the supply, an Illinois federal jury decided on Tuesday. A US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois jury of nine men and three women said the two largest US egg producers, Cal-Maine Foods Inc. and Rose Acre Farms Inc., along with two egg-industry trade groups, will have to pay damages to the food companies. The same jury will decide the amount of damages in a trial scheduled to begin Nov. 29 that is expected to last two days. By law, whatever damages the jury awards will be trebled, though the jury will not be told about that statutory requirement. The case outcome in favor of the food companies could embolden other plaintiffs who are seeking to go after food producers for anticompetitive behavior.

📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️

This week we’re honoring Media Matters. Here’s some of what Wikipedia says about the organization:

Media Matters for America (MMfA)[2] is a left-leaning[3] 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and media watchdog group.[4] It was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Research Center.[5] It is known for its aggressive criticism of conservative journalists and media outlets, including its "War on Fox News".[6][7] Founding Media Matters for America was founded in May 2004 by David Brock,[8] a former conservative journalist who has since become a prominent Democratic party political operative. Brock said that he founded the organization to combat the conservative journalism sector that he had once been a part of, although some critics say he has simply adopted the tactics of his part for a new political side. Brock further explained his motives for starting the group, telling The New York Times, that "the central thrust of his group would be to closely monitor conservative commentators and journalists and, when they make erroneous or misleading claims, to point them out and set the record straight."[5] Brock said he founded the organization because conservative "monitoring groups have helped build the conservative media's influence, in part by making mainstream journalists toe a more conservative line by convincing them that they are liberally biased... The right wing in this country has dominated the debate over liberal bias. By dominating that debate, my belief is they've moved the media itself to the right and therefore they've moved American politics to the right." He added, "I wanted to create an institution to combat what they're doing."[5]

I understand Brock converted from conservatism when he discovered that the lies about Hillary Clinton were lies.

Why are we honoring Media Matters this week? It’s because their work is what has shown how X was putting ads next to the Xeets of white nationalists. Eric Hananoki, Media Matters

IBM announced yesterday that it is suspending its advertising on X (formerly Twitter) after Media Matters reported that the platform placed its ads next to content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. IBM isn’t alone in having issues when advertising on the platform: Following our report yesterday, we additionally found ads for Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal Catalyst, Action Network, and Club for Growth next to white nationalist hashtags like “KeepEuropeWhite,” “white pride,” and “WLM” (“White Lives Matter”). X’s problem with advertising comes as owner Elon Musk praised the pernicious antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jewish communities are supporting “hordes of minorities” who are “flooding” into the country to replace white people. Musk’s endorsement is just the latest example of him embracing rhetoric and conspiracy theories from the far-right fringes. Aside from his own rhetoric, Musk has opened the floodgates to hateful content by reversing bans on anti-Muslim bigots, white nationalists, and antisemites. His company has also financially rewarded extremists, including apparently paying $3,000 to a pro-Hitler and Holocaust denial account through X’s ad revenue sharing program. (Even after criticism, X has not suspended that openly antisemitic account, which has nearly 100,000 followers.)

Ads were withdrawn by many others.

Unsurprisingly, Elon Musk is suing. But Greg Sargent at the Washington Post explains why this move by Musk may backfire:

The lawsuit might get dismissed. But if not, Carusone said, Media Matters would probably pursue discovery, seeking to learn whether Musk and X executives “knew internally” that these juxtapositions were happening, what they communicated with advertisers about this, and how Musk internally discussed procedures for handling extremist content. Discovery would also seek communications about Musk’s public antisemitism, Carusone said. Musk recently endorsed a posting that some Jewish communities are pushing “hatred against whites,” resulting in “hordes of minorities flooding” into Western countries — classic white genocide theory. Carusone noted that discovery could establish whether Musk’s “seeming endorsement of the white genocide worldview” was a major reason for “advertisers to reassess.” Which brings us to a bigger point: Musk’s own antisemitic utterances — and his own website’s handling of antisemitic content — are plainly also key reasons companies are leaving. As First Amendment lawyer Ken White told me, it’s hard to imagine that the Media Matters report alone would have done this damage: “Much of the advertiser exodus resulted from Musk personally and eagerly endorsing explicitly antisemitic rhetoric.”

🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️

Pay-it-forward restaurants catch on in Ottawa Valley restaurants Ben Andrews CBC News

Diners at the Nelson Street Pub in Pembroke, Ont., are greeted by a new sight lately: a wall of receipts for meals that are already paid for. Part of a new pay-it-forward initiative catching on across the Ottawa Valley, the receipts go toward prepaid meals for those who otherwise couldn't afford them. Pub owner Cory Brumm told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that, since the initiative kicked off, plenty of patrons have spotted meals for others in need. "They just want to help out," Brumm said. "If they can come out and enjoy a meal and some people can't — it's just nice to put it up there and have people involved in the social aspect of going out for a meal."

📎 Odds & Ends 📎

Secret millionaire leaves money to his town Daniel Wu Washington Post

Residents driving through Hinsdale, N.H., would often see Geoffrey Holt sitting on a bright-orange lawn mower by the side of the road. Sometimes people waved at him as they drove by. Sometimes he waved back. That was about as much attention as Holt attracted. He preferred it that way, according to those who knew him. Holt, shy and quiet, was content to spend his days puttering around the trailer park where he lived frugally in a mobile home. He had fashioned a life so modest that he had faded into obscurity, even in a close-knit New Hampshire town of around 4,000 people. But Holt was hiding a multimillion-dollar secret. Fittingly, he chose to reveal it only after his death. When Holt, 82, died in June, he left almost his entire inheritance — a sum of around $3.8 million, accumulated in investments — to the town of Hinsdale. The news was announced to the town in September, when a stunned community discovered, as if in a children’s fable, that its most unassuming resident was also its wealthiest benefactor.

From Goodable (I’m not linking to the Xweet):

This is Kelsey, a 5-year old Golden Retriever. On New Year's Eve, Kelsey's owner Bob went outside to collect some fire logs, but he fell on the ice and broke his neck. He was paralyzed and nobody could hear him, but Kelsey came running immediately. When Kelsey realized he couldn't move, she spread herself out across his body to keep him warm. She stayed there for 20 hours, in frigid temperatures, and kept licking his face to ensure he didn't lose consciousness. She kept barking for help the entire time. When doctors eventually found Bob, they rushed him to hospital with hypothermia, atrial fibrillation, and two herniated discs which were causing his paralysis. Amazingly, he had no frostbite. Doctors say it's because Kelsey kept him warm the entire time. Kelsey is a good girl.

Trees may do more clean up than originally expected Cristen Hemingway Jaynes EcoWatch

Trees and other plants are known for their air purifying capabilities, providing oxygen to the millions of species on our planet. Planting more trees and preserving the ones we have has been one of the strategies being used to help mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. A new study using more realistic modeling suggests that plants may be capable of absorbing even more carbon dioxide produced by human activities than previously estimated. However, the researchers emphasized that their findings do not mean governments can slow down the reduction of carbon emissions in the fight against climate change, a press release from Trinity College Dublin said.

🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: 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 Hunters is also 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.

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

🌹 🌹 🌹

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