(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . 5 Reasons a Blue Wave is a growing possibility - June 18 GNR [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-18 Good Day, Gnusies! Happy Tuesday! I’ve got some good stuff for you today, but two things first… Many thanks to chloris creator for subbing for me on June 4th. I was out of town attending my daughter’s convocation, and cc allowed me to focus on family on that special occasion. I am grateful! 🙏🏼 And — Today is a special day because it is my eldest son’s birthday. In his honor, I am going to use several songs from his birth year (1992) starting with one of my favorites, which I used to hum to him as he nodded off to sleep in my arms that first year. First, the music, and then the 5 reasons I think a blue wave is increasingly likely in November! 🎶 Opening Birthday Music 🎶 1. Joe Biden is the best president we have had in decades — and he is a fighter We are not alone in our efforts to save democracy, our president is leading the fight. Goody reminded us yesterday that Joe Biden is a man of character — a genuinely strong man — who doesn’t feel the need to be a bullying “tough guy”. The president is an empathetic, warm and stable human being who is not afraid of softer emotion. Joe is also a fighter. And there is nobody more persistent and determined. Think about all of his “impossible” achievements (bi-partisan ones in particular) that people said wouldn’t/couldn’t happen: the American Rescue Plan, The (bi-partisan) Infrastructure Act, The Chips and Science Act, The Clean Energy/Inflation Reduction Act, student debt relief, stopping junk fees and lowering exorbitant drug prices, and leading/uniting a fractious world through multiple crises including two hot wars. The Biden-Harris record is impressive. Joe Biden moves mountains because he’s a fighter and he doesn’t give up. He won’t give up on Build Back Better, either; he won’t give up on rebuilding the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, he won’t give up on us and he won’t give up on democracy. Biden hit the campaign trail early and has been criss-crossing the country, touting his excellent record and pulling no punches when it comes to his criminal opponent: Biden Campaign Ad Calls Attention to Trump’s Felon Status, Reid J Epstein, New York Times, June 17, 2024. President Biden’s campaign on Monday began its most aggressive effort to brand former President Donald J. Trump a felon, with the introduction of a new television advertisement that focuses on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s criminal conviction. The campaign said the ad would be part of a $50 million investment in battleground states in June. A growing number of Democrats have been urging the president to become more aggressive in branding Mr. Trump with his criminal conviction. “We see Donald Trump for who he is,” the ad’s narrator states. “He’s been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault and he committed financial fraud.”✂️ “This election is between a convicted criminal who is only out for himself and a president who is fighting for your family,” the ad’s narrator states. x x YouTube Video Biden Takes Aim At Felon Trump And Out-of-Control Supreme Court, David Kurtz, Talking Points Memo, June 17, 2024. President Biden used a big fundraising event in LA to place the Supreme Court at the center of the campaign. Among Biden’s comments: Trump getting to appoint a predicted two more justices is “one of the scariest parts” of Trump II presidency. “He’s going to appoint two more [justices] flying flags upside down.” “This has never been a court that’s so far out of step.” Biden is making the economy work for more Americans and people are taking notice Below you will find a link to a good article on both the failures of past (Republican, mostly) governments and the successes of the Biden administration approach in making the economy more fair for ordinary Americans. I’m just going to highlight one section, and even so I could not do it justice. Just go read it: Taming the Pricing Beast, Bilal Baydoun, The American Prospect, June 14, 2024. Beyond mergers, the FTC has tools to address anti-competitive practices. Last November, the FTC challenged improper patent listings in the FDA’s Orange Book—a tactic used by some companies to prolong the monopoly status of their drugs. This challenge not only disrupts monopolistic practices but also accelerates access to affordable alternatives. It has already led to inhaler manufacturers withdrawing those patent listings and dropping their prices to $35 a month. FTC chair Lina Khan has also signaled that the FTC will treat algorithms no differently than human agents that facilitate collusion. Algorithmic price-fixing technologies can distort prices in sectors ranging from retail to specialized services, and the FTC’s proactive stance highlights its commitment to adapting antitrust tools for the digital age. On March 1, the FTC and DOJ filed a joint brief on addressing allegations against landlords using Yardi Systems’ pricing algorithms to artificially inflate rental prices in violation of the Sherman Act. Last September, the DOJ sued Agri Stats, Inc., for allegedly organizing a scheme that facilitated the exchange of competitively sensitive information among major meat processors, thereby manipulating market prices and output levels. And there are always straight-up monopolization cases, as is expected soon by the DOJ against event ticketing monopolist Live Nation, perhaps the nation’s biggest purveyor of junk fees. The collaboration between the FTC and state attorneys general has also intensified, enhancing the capacity to enforce antitrust laws effectively. This partnership is crucial in marshaling the necessary resources and expertise to tackle complex antitrust cases, including those involving intricate corporate maneuvers designed to circumvent competitive constraints. These decisive actions tackle the core issue of excessive market power, which can lead to predatory practices such as unjustified price increases. Through their efforts to keep the market diverse and competitive, the FTC and DOJ are not just preventing price hikes; they’re also fostering an environment where companies continue to innovate and improve. This kind of vigilance is crucial for protecting consumers and ensuring a healthy, competitive market. And the President’s leadership is energizing Democrats in Congress Last month, Biden’s statements of support for contraception and IVF backed up the Senate Majority leader, who forced a vote on these issues, to expose the Republicans’ position. This week, once again, Joe Biden told reporters he will sign a bill to ban bump stocks (something a large majority of Americans wants), spurring Chuck Schumer to lay plans for a vote on that very thing, once again putting Republicans in the hot seat: Schumer planning bump stock ban vote, Lauren Sforza, The Hill, June 17, 2024. Majority Leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is planning to hold a vote on legislation to ban gun bump stocks this week, after the Supreme Court invalidated the Trump-era ban. “The Senate can help restore this public safety rule, and next week, it will try. As majority leader, I have the ability to allow a unanimous consent vote, and we’ll see just what Republican MAGAs do: Will they allow it to go forward, or will they cower to MAGA and hurt the American people?” Schumer said in a Sunday press conference, shared by CBS News.✂️ President Biden said he would sign a bill banning gun bump stocks “immediately” if Congress passed one. “Today’s decision strikes down an important gun safety regulation. Americans should not have to live in fear of this mass devastation,” Biden said in a statement after the Supreme Court ruling. 🎶 Music for Democratic Potential 🎶 x YouTube Video 2. TFG will continue to self-destruct I’ve talked about the nature of TFG’s severe personality disorder many times before, so I won’t belabor the point again today. The important takeaway is to remember that this person is incapable of rising above his petty grievances and his insatiable need for admiration. His behavior is predictably self-interested, but not in the strategic ways many of us seem to fear. The self-interest for TFG is nearly always much smaller and far pettier than anyone can quite believe. Yes, he will lose everything just to lap up some flattery from some loser or other who for whatever reason seems powerful to the biggest loser. Or he will torpedo his own support because he simply cannot resist insulting other people, refuses (for petty reasons) to work with people who could be helpful to him and sucks up to the worst people at the expense of his own best interests — because they flatter him. Most people still cannot quite believe that this is true, but it is. He will cause his own downfall and with a bit of luck, he will take down the Republican party with him. Trump says Biden should take a cognitive test like he did, but can't remember doctor's name, Nandika Chatterjee, Salon, June 16, 2024. During his speech at a convention of Turning Point Action in Detroit this weekend, Donald Trump suggested that Joe Biden should take a “cognitive test,” which would have been quite the jab if he hadn’t confused the name of the doctor who’d administer the test in his very next sentence. A big part of preemptive GOP nominee Trump’s campaign has been playing up President Biden’s age — 81 years — as a hindrance to effectively performing his duties for a second term. But now it seems it is Trump — who just celebrated his 78th birthday on Friday —who is the one fumbling his words. The doctor who the former president was trying to refer to in his speech is Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson , a White House physician who was part of Trump’s presidency — referred to with his characteristic conviction as Doctor “Ronny Johnson.”✂️ “Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history. So I liked him very much indeed, immediately.” Krugman: Trump’s Mental State Is Visibly Getting Much More Alarming, Greg Sargent, The New Republic (podcast), June 17, 2024. This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s new book comes out, and it contains a disturbing chapter about Donald Trump’s ignorance, explosive rage, and megalomania during the coronavirus pandemic. We think this should be covered as a loud, clanging alarm bell about the dangers of a second Trump term. So we talked to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who has written a series of recent columns on voter amnesia about Trump’s 2020 performance, about the horrors unleashed on the country by his unfitness for the presidency—and why recent events suggest he’s gotten much, much worse. Listen to this episode here. TFG creating chaos and discord inside his own party — because he just can’t stop himself Trump’s war on cities backfires: Attack on Milwaukee may be too far for MAGA, Austin Sarat, Salon, June 17, 2024. 'Civil War primary': Rift over controversial Trump snub threatens to tear MAGA apart, Kathleen Culliton, Raw Story, June 17, 20204. Former President Donald Trump has created a civil war within his own MAGA movement amid a crucial election year that could decide whether he ends up in the White House or the big house, the New York Times reported Monday. His controversial endorsement snub of Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) has divided his loyal MAGA backers — known for their allegiance to the Trump party line — in a critical swing state in the upcoming election. “It shows the weakness of MAGA and the Trump coalition,” political scientist David Richards told the Times. “There are a lot of egos trying to leverage Trump to their advantage. If that’s all you have going and you don’t have a big policy difference, that’s going to lead to some really weird splits.” 🎶 Music for the BLOAT 🎶 3. People are rediscovering their power You may recall the union vote in Chattanooga, the UAW victories last autumn, the news about how the wealth of ordinary Americans has increased under the Biden administration. All of these facts point to a shift in society from top-down power and control to a more egalitarian and just division of wealth, power and resources. Read on for an impressive story about people working together to fight against a powerful opponent for fairer wages. It’s Public Radio, so I am quoting more than usual from the article, but Gnusies, this is a long and fascinating story detailing the machinations of corporations and how it all works — as well as the blueprint for how we the people can overcome these entrenched systems of economic oppression. I encourage you to go to the link and read the whole thing! Uber and Lyft are fighting minimum wage laws. But in this state, the drivers won, Dara Kerr, NPR, June 17, 2024. It all started in a small coffee shop in Minneapolis. In the summer of 2022, ride-hail driver Eid Ali gathered with about 20 Uber and Lyft drivers to talk about low pay, safety concerns and other issues that come with the job. Ali is a father of five and the sole provider for his family. Before he started driving for Uber and Lyft in 2014, Ali was a taxi driver and had done some organizing. He says this helped him and the other drivers come up with a game plan. The first step was to recruit more drivers. Ali and the others went to shopping malls and airport parking lots to speak with drivers. They also went to mosques — the majority of ride-hail drivers in Minneapolis are immigrants, according to state data, with many from East Africa, especially Somalia. The drivers coalesced in a group called Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, or MULDA, and Ali became the president.✂️ (go to the link to read the long, twisting road to the happy ending ↓) On the night of May 19, the state passed a new bill giving drivers the minimum wage rate of $1.28 per mile and 31¢ per minute. Even though it was slightly lower and preempted the Minneapolis ordinance, Wonsley and the council backed it. Frey says he was opposed to the preemption, but that he ultimately supported the bill too since he says it was “nearly identical” to what he proposed months earlier. It was a major win for the MULDA drivers. After the bill's passage, in a moment of jubilation in the Capitol’s hallways, they hoisted one of the state legislators in the air and chanted “MULDA” over and over. The legislator, Sen. Omar Fateh, who was instrumental in getting the bill passed, said, “It was Uber and Lyft versus MULDA and MULDA won.” The crowd erupted in cheers.✂️ The driver McGlory says MULDA has heard from drivers in other states who have been watching Minnesota over the past year and a half, waiting to see what happened. “I'm doing this not just for drivers in Minneapolis. I'm doing this for the drivers in Nashville, Tenn. I'm doing this for drivers in Jackson, Miss.,” McGlory says, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Because when we educate ourselves, when we organize ourselves and we mobilize ourselves, we can win.” “Like my favorite physics teacher said, ‘We have to become an unstoppable force that meets an immovable object.’” In Virginia, people “take agency over their own lives” and unionize! 27,000 Virginia Teachers Win Historic Union Election with Presidential Election Implications, Mike Elk, PayDay Report, June 10, 2024. This morning, it was announced that Virginia Education Unions, a joint coalition of Virginia-based AFT and NEA locals, had won a historic union election to represent over 27,000 teachers and school staff in Fairfax County, Virginia. 97% of all teachers voted to unionize and 81% of all support staff voted to unionize. “Today marks the culmination of a 47-year-long fight to win collective bargaining at Fairfax County Public Schools. The reason our campaign was successful was because we all took agency over our own lives,” says David Walrod in a statement. ✂️ The union election is the result of decades of organizing. For decades, collective bargaining has been outlawed for public employees on Virginia. However, as the state of Virginia began shifting more Democratic, unions began to heavily push the Democratic Party in Virginia to allow collective bargaining rights. In 2020, former Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Norrham signed a bill allowing municipalities to grant collective bargaining rights to public employees in Virginia. Since then, tens of thousands of public employees across Virginia have joined the labor movement, making it the fastest growing state for unions in the country. 🎶 Music for People Power 🎶 4. Global tumult is bending toward progress Dire predictions of a neo-fascist takeover in Europe appear to be exaggerated. It’s important to remember — at home and abroad — that there are always progressive, liberal populations — majorities, even! — even if conservatives seem to be all the media talks about. A good recent example is France. The reactionary vote in the EU election alarmed people who seemed to see it as a sign that the tide in Europe was shifting irrevocably toward right wing nationalism. But the only thing it really points to is some disorganization amongst progressive groups (as we all know, keeping liberals united is like trying to herd cats. It is the downside of that “free-thinking” which is essential for continued freedom and progress). As it turns out, the alarums and panic-mongering were probably overwrought. Macron’s decision to call that snap election after the extreme right wing gains in the recent EU elections seems to have been a smart one: The French Left Arises From the Dead, Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, June 14, 2024. But then something quite unexpected happened. Macron’s move caused the dispirited French left—Socialists, Communists, Greens—to put aside their differences and resolve to run on a common program as a New Popular Front. It now looks as if the left could be more unified going into the June 30–July 7 snap elections than at any time since the presidency of François Mitterrand, whose first government in 1981 included both Socialists and Communists. A couple of preconditions were necessary for these stars to align. The far-left leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a highly divisive figure, had to fade. And the Socialists, who were all but wiped out in the last parliamentary elections, had to come up with an attractive new leader. As our colleague Harold Meyerson has reported, they have done so with the charismatic Raphaël Glucksmann. It’s still early, but polls show that Le Pen’s party is likely to get 30 or even 40 percent of the seats in the National Assembly. The left will place second with at least 30 percent. Macron’s party will get 20 percent or more, and minor parties will get the rest. As frosting on the cake, Macron’s move has caused the neo-Gaullist right to splinter, after the leader of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, called for an alliance with Le Pen. All of this means that even if Le Pen’s party gains votes, she will not get enough seats to name the prime minister. Then it becomes the left’s turn to try. Leaders of other countries respect Joe Biden And those who have been in high level meetings with President Biden are confident that he will win in November. Biden knows ‘exactly what he is doing’ and will likely win election, says German chancellor, GISELLE RUHIYYIH EWING and JAN PHILIPP BURGARD, Politico, June 15, 2024. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated strong support and confidence in U.S. President Joe Biden’s leadership amid mounting concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and the specter of former President Donald Trump’s return to office. In an interview with Axel Springer media outlets on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy on Saturday, Scholz made assurances that Biden “knows exactly what he is doing,” and can provide critical leadership as the group of global leaders faces a complex web of issues, including multiple conflagrations and hotly-contested elections that threaten to upend the international status quo. POLITICO is owned by Axel Springer. “I think that Joe Biden is someone who is very clear, who knows exactly what he is doing and who is one of the most experienced politicians in the world, especially when it comes to international politics,” Scholz said, praising the president’s presence at the G7 conference. “In a difficult situation like this, where a war is taking place right here in Europe, after Russia invaded Ukraine, where many, many other conflicts are raging around the world, this is an asset, a good thing, and therefore I can only say that this is a man who knows exactly what he is doing.” Our global allies continue to rally behind Ukraine (thanks to Biden’s leadership) One-Two Punch From the Skies Is a Massive Blow to Putin, Marcel Plichta, Daily Beast, June 17, 2024. Ukraine’s military has spent the last two years chronically short of planes. Its prewar stocks were already small in number and mostly dated from the Soviet era. When NATO and other countries sent help, they focused on either sending the same older models or keeping existing aircraft in the air through maintenance and spare parts. Russia, meanwhile, has a larger and often more advanced air force. However, new planes are on the way to help Ukraine. For nearly a year, countries like the Netherlands have promised limited numbers of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets. Recently, Belgium also committed to sending 30 F-16s from its own stocks.✂️ Donating F-16s touches on a major ongoing debate among Ukraine’s partners: whether to allow Ukraine to use their weapons against Russian territory. Some U.S. policymakers worry that letting Ukraine use their weapons in areas other than occupied Ukrainian territory will trigger escalation with Moscow. The Biden administration has nonetheless OKed strikes in limited circumstances. Others, notably in Britain, do not consider this escalatory and argue that Russia can take advantage of restrictions by keeping parts of its military in Russia, where Ukraine has less ability to hit them. Ukraine does have some long-range weapons of its own, such as its one-way attack drones, but these are limited in stock and less effective against well-defended targets than the traditional missile or artillery systems provided by Western partners. 🎶 Music for Allies Supporting Each Other 🎶 x YouTube Video 5. A historic victory in November is possible The Overlooked (But Real) Possibility of a Big Democratic Win, Russell Berman, the Atlantic, June 16, 2024. Biden’s deficit in the polls is much smaller than the party’s panic suggests and has narrowed since Trump’s felony convictions. Democrats need to flip only a few seats to recapture the House. Holding the Senate won’t be easy, but thanks to the retirements of a pair of maverick Democrats, even a small majority could open a path to substantial legislative achievements such as the passage of a comprehensive voting-rights bill, a federal guarantee for abortion rights, lower drug prices, and an expanded social safety net.✂️ Of course, campaigning on a vision is one thing; executing it is another. And that’s as true for Republicans as it is for Democrats. Democrats currently have 51 seats in the Senate; even if Biden wins, they are all but certain to lose at least one, that of the retiring centrist Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. But if they can hold 50 seats with a Biden victory, they will retain the vice president’s tie-breaking vote. And then they won’t have Manchin, or retiring Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, there to block Biden’s most ambitious proposals and filibuster reform. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who took office last year, and Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who could replace Sinema, have each expressed much more support for Biden’s economic policies and are open to curtailing the filibuster. “I’m hopeful that we’re not going to see these roadblocks getting in the way of popular reforms that majorities want to pass,” Representative Chris Deluzio, a Pennsylvania Democrat in his first term, told me. More effective voting Plenty of people bemoan our 2 party dominated democracy in the USA, but the reality is that attempts to get third parties or independent candidates elected nationally almost always leads to a diffusion of one side’s vote, resulting in loss for them and victory of the the party that they forgot was their true opposition. Any American version of a functional multi-party system is a long way off (if it ever evolves). Understanding that reality, is there a way to avoid the pitfalls of third party spoilers? What Is “Fusion Voting”? Just a Way to Save the Country, That’s All, Daniel Kantor and William Kristol, The New Republic, June 15, 2024. There is a way out, or at least a beginning of a way out. And the good news is that this path isn’t that complicated. We don’t need to invent something brand new. We need to revive fusion voting, which was commonplace in America throughout the nineteenth and into the early twentieth century. Fusion voting is the practice of a third party cross-nominating a candidate of one of the major parties. This candidate appears on the ballot under two different labels, with the votes tallied separately but then added together—fused—to determine their total. Let’s vote strategically and wisely in 2024 In a fusion system, minor parties are both independent and relevant. They retain a “threat of exit” should neither major party nominate an acceptable candidate. More commonly, fusion parties will push or prod a major-party candidate to be better on a few key issues, and in return will nominate them. This is more constructive for the polity and more satisfying to the voter than a spoiler or wasted vote. “Vote for the candidate you prefer,” says the fusion party organizer, “under the party label closest to your values.” Fundamentally, fusion voting produces more choices for the voter—but it’s more parties, not more candidates. The path out of the two-party doom loop runs not through eliminating or weakening parties but rather through a system that encourages and rewards coalitions between parties. Once legal in every state, fusion voting is now largely forgotten. But there’s little doubt that fusion parties have played a constructive role in American history. Nearly all of the efforts to expand the meaning of “We, the People,” whether by abolitionists, farmers, workers, suffragists, prohibitionists, freedmen, silverites, or populists, involved fusion parties. Fusion allowed them to demonstrate that their views enjoyed meaningful support among the voters, which in turn allowed them to negotiate with their major-party ally. Democrats are competing down ballot DNC invests $2M in 11 non-battleground state parties, targeting down-ballot races, Isabella Murray and Tae Axelrod, ABC, June 10, 20204. The Democratic National Committee announced Monday it will give nearly $2 million to state parties in 11 non-battleground states in the months ahead of elections in November -- first-of-its-kind investments in on-the-ground organizing, data infrastructure and voter-turnout efforts specifically targeting certain places that aren't at the heart of the presidential or congressional battlefield. This spending in Maryland, Texas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Washington will target high-profile races like the U.S. Senate contest in Maryland, but also do things like get out indigenous voters in places such as South Dakota and mobilize residents of apartment buildings in Minnesota. According to an announcement shared first with ABC News, the new investments are meant to "strategically" leverage the party's sizable war chest in order to boost Democratic victories in down-ballot races across the country ahead of November -- contests that come in tandem with the 2024 presidential election. Florida probably won’t flip, but we could see unexpectedly robust gains Democrats See Glimmers of Hope in Florida. Are They Seeing Things? Lisa Lerer and Patricia Mazzei, New York Times, June 17, 2024. Donald J. Trump and Ron DeSantis remade Florida into the red-hot center of the Republican universe, transforming the state into a bastion of power for their party. But now, recent surveys showing a tightening presidential race in Florida have given some Democrats glimmers of hope that they could begin to claw their way back into contention in what was once the most contested of all the battleground states.✂️ On Saturday, the state Democratic Party announced that it had candidates contesting every state legislative seat for the first time in three decades — a recruiting win that the party attributed to pushback against conservative “extremism.” “It’s a record-breaking accomplishment for the Florida Democratic Party and a stark contrast to the party we inherited after 2022 — a party Republicans declared ‘dead’ just one year ago,” Nikki Fried, the party chairwoman, said. “Now, we have the momentum.”✂️ Few Democrats deny that they are facing significant structural disadvantages: a moribund Democratic state party, a deep disadvantage in voter registrations and continued disinvestment from the national party. Some Democratic strategists in the state say that the chatter amounts to little more than a head fake. “It’s a state that both sides want you to think is in play, but in reality, it’s not,” Fernand R. Amandi, a Democratic pollster in Miami, said. “We will be able to safely say that Florida is a swing state again after Democrats win multiple statewide elections.” Toward the goal of returning Democrats to the winning column in Florida, Wisconsin and North Carolina: 🎶 Motivational Music 🎶 🐩 💙 CG’s Picks 💙 🐩 Hello Everybody! It’s me, Curlygirl! Did you miss me? I missed you and I missed doing my section for the GNR! Today, I am going to give you three stories not about dogs or cats or other domesticated animals but about WILD animals! Not only that, these stories are all special because they seem like they have an extra special message for everybody as the humans all around me are busy working on some very important work! So, let’s find out about some lions, a bison and a beaver! 🦁 A true story allegory for our time, Mama Says Everybody knows that this reporter dog will report fearlessly about all sorts of animals — and lions are no exception! (although as you also know, I am a little bit afraid of lions). The truth is, I didn’t actually find this story because when I saw the word “lion” on the top of the story, I flipped the page to look for something safer better different. But Mama caught the edge of the paper and exclaimed, “Look CG! This would be a wonderful story for your section of the GNR. It is almost like an allegory for our time!” Now, I have to admit that I am not quite sure what an allegory is, but since it has “gory” right there in the word and the story is about lions, I have a sneaking suspicion it fits and I won’t like it! 😱 But no. Mama (who was an English major in university) told me it means a story which is about one thing but which kind of points to a much bigger idea. So, I am including a gift link to this story because it has some AMAZING photos and short videos (from a safe distance, I promise) of the lions swimming across a really wide waterway. Apparently, they had a seemingly impossible challenge in front of them (one of the lions even has a missing limb!) and they had to try and try, and there were enemies trying to get them and lots of danger. But they persisted and they succeeded! Scientists thought big cats swimming that far couldn’t be done and they had never recorded such a thing being done. But lo and behold! They did it! Mama says “we-bleeding-heart-liberals are going to do what seems impossible this November, too”! 🌊 Just like these lions! Why a 3-Legged Lion and His Brother Swam Across a Crocodile-Filled River, Anthony Ham, New York Times, June 14, 2024. African lions (not Jacob and Tibu, but I like these, too!) On a dark night in February, two male lions stood in the shallows of the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park, in Uganda, and looked across the water. Nearly a mile away was the shore on the other side. Hippos and 16-foot crocodiles inhabit the channel, which can be 20-feet deep in places. Barely 12 hours earlier, the two males had lost a battle for territory and were lucky to still be alive. Remaining on this side of the channel was dangerous, and they could probably hear the roars of female lions in the distance. As with many cat species, lions don’t like to swim. And one of the lions, known as Jacob by researchers, has only three legs. He lost a limb in a poacher’s trap in 2020. But neither Jacob nor his brother, Tibu, were deterred. The two big cats set out for what the researchers call the longest-recorded swim ever taken by lions. The scientists describe their findings in a paper that has been accepted for publication in the journal Ecology and Evolution. The lions struggled on their first three tries to cross. During the second attempt, the drone that was tracking them picked up a large thermal signature that may have been a crocodile or a hippo in pursuit; the two male lions split into a Y formation before hurrying back to shore. Less than an hour after their first attempt, the two set out again for a third time. The path seemed clear and they kept going until they crossed the channel. 🦬 A white bison baby born in Yellowstone! I feel like this is some sort of thing that Mama would call a literary allusion or something like that. A metaphor, maybe? Anyway, I hear tell from the human friends who come by to visit that this could be a really big and really special and really historical year in our United States of America! And so, I think the arrival of this white baby bison is a perfect symbol for this year. It is a harbinger of positive change and hopefulness. That’s how we feel around here! Native Americans see omen in Yellowstone's rare white bison, Max Matza and Madeline Halpert, BBC, June 15, 2024. An incredibly rare white bison calf has been photographed in Yellowstone National Park, exciting Native American tribes who view it as a religious sign heralding major change. It was spotted in the Lamar Valley area, and is the first white bison to be born in the last wild herd in the US, according to modern records. Other recent white bison births have happened in captivity and from parents that contained cow DNA. Tribes consider a wild birth more religiously significant.✂️ The birth of a white buffalo is a sacred event for many Native tribes of the Great Plains, including the Lakota people, who believe that it relates to a time around 2,000 years ago when food was scarce and the bison were rarely seen. The Lakota legend tells of a beautiful woman who appeared and delivered the gifts of a sacred pipe and bundle to the people. The woman told them she would return to restore harmony in a troubled world, and then rolled on the ground four times, changing colour each time before becoming a white buffalo calf. Her departure led the bison to return, and white buffalos are now seen as a sign that prayers are being heard and that change is coming. x YouTube Video 🦫 Given half a chance… 😅 Mama and I did not know that beavers would try to build dams inside a house! And that they sound like little human babies! 🥰 This is such a nice video and the little beaver will be able to return to the wild when she is old enough, too! 🐶🐱🐴 That’s all that I have for today. I’ll have more cats and dogs next time! Thanks for reading! Luv, CG 💙🐾 ⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️ ⚡️ 8 pieces of life advice from dads, NPR, June 13, 2024. ⚡️ Hot off the presses! NPR staffers pick their favorite fiction reads of 2024, Megan Collins Sullivan and Beth Novey, NPR, June 17, 2024 ⚡️ And for lovers of non-fiction (👋🏼): Here are the nonfiction books NPR staffers have loved so far this year, Megan Collins Sullivan and Beth Novey, NPR, June 17, 2024. ⚡️ Under the heat dome, some advice: 8 mistakes to avoid if you're going out in the heat, Allison Aubrey and Carmel Wroth, NPR, June 6, 2024. ⚡️ Dignity Wraiths, Resilience and Democratic Character, Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, June 17, 2024. ⚡️ The secret to modern friendship, according to real friends, Allie Volpe, Vox, June 4, 2024. ⚡️ Interesting profile: The Queen Bee of Bidenomics, Farah Stockman, New York Times, June 17, 2024. ⚡️ A really good essay by a former Republican: The Motivated Ignorance of Trump Supporters, Peter Wehner, the Atlantic, June 16, 2024. ⚡️ Of course 🙄: Paper caper: Red state voting ballots aren’t what Republicans expected, John A. Tures, Raw Story, June 17, 2024. ⚡️ It’s fraught but we must grapple with weaponized faith: What a fool believes: Donald Trump and America's bogus respect for "faith", Mike Lofgren, Salon, June 9, 2024. ⚡️ Excellent video (knowledge is power): How Putin’s Propaganda Works in the West, Vlad Vexler, June 16, 2024. ⚡️ It can be done. It’s time to stop using women’s unpaid labor as society’s “safety net”: American Women Are at a Breaking Point, Elliott Haspel, the Atlantic, June 13, 2024. 💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/18/2244654/-5-Reasons-a-Blue-Wave-is-a-growing-possibility-June-18-GNR?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/