Happy Wednesday Good Gnusies! It is going to be short and sweet today as I am on staycay! I have been doing lots of sorting through things, recycling, donating to my organizations thrift store and tool store and trying not to contribute to the garbage dump too much. Progress is being made, but I still cannot face the attic. When I think about it I get that sick feeling I get when I think about the orange blowhard, yuck.
Unlike NNNE and his vacay from the news, although I really want to do that but cannot because I am an addict (someone save me), I have followed the marmalade temper tantrum and I will share as little of the thing from the tangerine sea as possible. I kept getting upset yesterday because so many diarists had his glaring image for their top photo, sheesh enough already.
Anyhoo, whilst wandering around the internets I found a group of people trying to, in a sense do what we all do here at the GNR, spread some good news instead of always being barraged with all rethug nonsense and all the cruel and awful things they do. Hence the title of this post and reference to NNNE’s diary yesterday, we all need a break from this chaos and anyone who is sharing news to show us this is not the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, is good in my book.
David Byrne brings the world "Reasons to be Cheerful"
In an effort to fight cynicism, David Byrne has started a new online editorial project called Reasons to be Cheerful. It's described as a "self help magazine for people who hate self help magazines."
“It often seems as if the world is going straight to Hell. I wake up in the morning, I look at the paper, and I say to myself, 'Oh no!' Often I’m depressed for half the day. I imagine some of you feel the same.
Recently, I realized this isn’t helping. Nothing changes when you’re numb. So, as a kind of remedy, and possibly as a kind of therapy, I started collecting good news. Not schmaltzy, feel-good news, but stuff that reminded me, Hey, there's positive stuff going on! People are solving problems and it’s making a difference”!
Well I like the “schmaltzy” stuff too, but good on this. I signed up for the newsletter, the more good news the better. Someone should alert him to the GNR!
Onward!
House Judiciary Committee Finally Lighting A Fire Under Don McGahn's Ass
It's about damn time! The House Judiciary Committee has finally asked the US District Court in DC to call bullshit on the Trump administration's claim that congressional oversight is ILLEGAL because of some made up claim of "absolute immunity" that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone pulled out of his smarmy, Covington Catholic ass. And if Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson isn't willing to grant summary judgment on this legal question, perhaps she will be willing to order former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who witnessed all the obstruction of justice, to get his behind into the committee for testimony pronto, since it's considering whether to recommend impeachment and needs access to all the evidence to carry out its constitutionally mandated duty.
Yep, the committee is using the "I" word. Again. 44 times in 57 pages. Oh, it's on.
The Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena for McGahn's testimony in connection with its investigation into Presidential misconduct and consideration of whether to recommend articles of impeachment. In light of that subpoena, McGahn's legal obligation is straightforward: he must appear and testify before the Committee.
Deutsche Bank has tax returns, won't publicly say if they're Trump's
Deutsche Bank disclosed in a court filing on Tuesday that financial records requested by congressional Democrats that are related to U.S. President Donald Trump and three of his adult children include tax returns.
The bank won't publicly disclose whether those tax returns are Donald Trump's.
The illegitimate, popular-vote-losing, manifestly unfit president has famously failed to release his tax returns, and it's widely speculated that the financial documents would point the way to dirty doings he'd rather keep secret.
Susan Collins has a sad….
Susan Collins 'Sad' Voters Might Punish HER For Impending Loss Of Reproductive Rights, How Rude!
Maine GOP Senator Susan Collins has long enjoyed her reputation as America's Reasonable Republican. The kind of Republican that Democratic moderates like to look to and say "See, that is how most actual Republicans are in America! They're not stupid and evil like how everyone they elect is stupid and evil, they are just moderate evil. Just a little 'don't want to pay taxes' evil." The kind of Republican they could have a nice cup of tea with, have "reasonable disagreements with," after which they can say, "We both have the same goals, just different ways of getting there" and feel very satisfied that they are nothing like all those polarized radicals out there.
But then Susan Collins decided being moderate in temperament only is fine, and that she could reasonably get away with voting exactly like all of those wackier Republicans, so long as she was polite about it. She decided that it would probably be a good idea for her to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, even as we all begged her not to do us like that. And now the motherfucking knives are out. And also the money. So, so much money.
Yesterday, Politico published a report about Collins's fight to keep her seat in an election that is "projected to be the most expensive in Maine's history," while her approval ratings are not quite as good as they used to be. She is running against state House Speaker, Democrat Sara Gideon.
Perhaps the most telling portion of the entire article, however, was the point at which Senator Collins lamented that she probably lost some votes when she cast her vote to put Brett Fucking Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
"Have I lost some votes because of my decision to support Justice Kavanaugh? Yes, I have. And I'm sad about that because I explained in great depth my decision-making," Collins said. But "there still is an appreciation in Maine for someone who looks at the facts of an issue, votes with integrity and independence."
Aw! What's got into ya, Suzy Creamcheese? Are you sad? Sad that you are going to lose some votes here?
So sad, vote her out Mainers!
Good news for now:
Missouri’s 8-week abortion ban blocked by court
A judge on Tuesday blocked a Missouri law that bans abortion at eight weeks’ gestation, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked most provisions of the law from going into effect, according to CNN. “The legislation on its face conflicts with the Supreme Court ruling that neither legislative or judicial limits on abortion can be measured by specified weeks or development of a fetus,” the judge wrote; “instead, ‘viability’ is the sole test for a State’s authority to prohibit abortions where there is no maternal health issue.”
The decision temporarily blocks the law while the court considers the merits of the case.
There are still a lot of issues with this and the fight will be long and expensive, sigh.
Another resignation shakes LGBT Republican group after Trump endorsement
The executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans — the group’s first woman to have that position — has resigned following the group’s endorsement of President Trump’s reelection, the second official to step down in as many weeks.
“There is no world where I can sit down at the dining room table and explain to my children that I just endorsed Donald Trump for president,” Horn said. “It is contrary to everything that I have ever taught them about what it means to be a good, decent, principled member of society.”
Ya think?
In A Rare Prosecution, A Border Patrol Agent Has Resigned After Pleading Guilty To Assaulting An Immigrant
In a rare prosecution against a Border Patrol agent, an officer has resigned and pleaded guilty to charges stemming from assaulting an immigrant in US custody.
Jason Andrew McGilvray pleaded guilty to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law as part of a plea agreement that, in addition to asking for his resignation, sentenced him to one year of unsupervised probation and ordered him to pay a $25 assessment.
We take what we can get.
In reality Big Pharma needs a Big Overhaul, hopefully our new President in 2020 will kick butt.
Purdue Pharma offers $10 billion to $12 billion to settle opioid claims
Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, are offering to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits against the company for $10 billion to $12 billion. The potential deal was part of confidential conversations and discussed by Purdue's lawyers at a meeting in Cleveland last Tuesday, Aug. 20, according to two people familiar with the mediation.
Brought by states, cities and counties, the lawsuits — some of which have been combined into one massive case — allege the company and the Sackler family are responsible for starting and sustaining the opioid crisis.
The best news out of this:
The Sackler family would give up ownership of the company and would no longer be involved, according to two people familiar with the matter.
This does nowhere near make them “good guys” now, nor hurt their extreme wealth but at least it is a start.
Moving on...
Group to help Chicago clear pot arrests before legalization
A nonprofit with the technology to analyze criminal records nearly automatically will help the county that includes Chicago clear tens of thousands of convictions for marijuana possession before the drug becomes legal in Illinois on Jan. 1.
Code for America will provide a digital system to tackle the task at no taxpayer cost and in a fraction of the time it would take bureaucrats to slog through decades of cannabis arrests and convictions, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx told The Associated Press in advance of announcing it Tuesday. California is using the organization's "Clear My Record" program to erase tens of thousands of records in four of its counties, including Los Angeles County.
"From a social cost, the ability for people who we want to be taxpaying citizens to be able to find employment and housing and meaningfully contribute to society is really important," Foxx said. "And we'll use those resources (for expungement) and not for dealing with these cases elsewhere throughout the justice system."
Scientists Just Took a Big Step In the Race to Save the Northern White Rhino
Thanks to groundbreaking science, conservationists could save the critically endangered northern white rhino. Only two animals of this species remain—Najin and Fatu, both of which are female—and an international team of scientists have come together to harvest 10 eggs from the hopeful rhino mamas in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. And now scientists have successfully inseminated seven of the 10 eggs already, which means our first artificially bred northern white rhino may be in the foreseeable future.
“This is a historic day for the future of the northern white rhino and potentially many other endangered species,” Simon Jones, the CEO of Helping Rhinos, wrote in an email to Earther. “If the next stages of creating a northern white rhino embryo are successful, the possibility of using the learnings from this assisted reproduction techniques can be used to support population growth of other critically endangered species, including the Sumatran and Javan rhino.”
50-year-old man paddles his way from San Francisco to Honolulu
Antonio De La Rosa, from Spain, just paddled his way from San Francisco to Honolulu. It took the ultra-endurance athlete 76 days in his stand-up paddle boat, celebrating his 50th birthday by himself along the way.
'You might see yourself in it': behind New York City's biggest-ever mural
The mural stretches across 15-storys of the building, covering the west, east and south sides of One Times Square. It was created by a team of 25 people, including a handful of painting assistants. It’s not entirely painted however, some of the artwork is printed onto the vinyl.
Crank up your neck to read phrases, like “Life is a dream” and “Everybodydies but not everybody lives.”
“What I’m trying to say is, here is the most commercial, aggressively financial area in the planet, where people are go, go, go,” said Zapata. “You don’t pay attention to the fact that maybe you don’t need these big, huge dreams, but this combination of the little things and the details. Stop for a second and appreciate what you have. It will give you a big reward.”
“I like to send a message of positive energy, no?” says the artist. “I always say, a lot of painters make a statement of what is wrong in the world, I don’t know about politics or how to make the economy better, but I know how to make it more beautiful for people who know how to make it a better place.”
“That’s my goal,” he says.
“There’s a lot to be worried about; we can’t change our world in one day, week or year, but generationally, we can little by little,” said Zapata. “Positive energy is good, but people are used to negativity. In the news, everything is a disaster but not everything is a disaster. There are beautiful things we don’t pay attention to.”
Teen of the Day Registers Voters in Line for Popeyes
While all the buzz over the new Popeyes chicken sandwich has people lining up at franchises across the nation, one teen saw the long lines at his local Popeyes as a chance for action.
This weekend, 17 year old David Ledbetter shared photos of himself and others registering customers to vote in the drive-thru line of a Popeyes in Charlotte, local news station WCNC reported today.
While Ledbetter, who is going to be a high school senior this year, isn’t yet old enough to vote, he told WCNC that he wanted to help get more young people involved in politics.
Who needs a live-action Lady And The Tramp when you've got this farting dog and pissed-off cat?
If there’s one thing Disney loves more than taking all of our money, it’s the live-action / CGI-enhanced reboots they pump out in pursuit of said money. At last count, we’ve seen two Alice in Wonderland films, Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty And The Beast, Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King, with literally another 12 supposedly on the way. One of these upcoming entries, Disney’s “live-action” Lady and the Tramp, is set to premiere on its upcoming streaming service, Disney+, on November 12.
Okay, most of these remakes are a glaring disaster...but
Ladies and gentlemen, Farting Dog and Pissed-Off Cat.
Hahahahaha!!!
Dave Grohl’s daughter Violet joins Foo Fighters onstage to sing “My Hero”
It doesn’t matter how cool your job is—your kid is still likely to think you’re a dork, even if your dad is Dave Grohl. As the Foo Fighters played the Leeds Festival on August 23, Grohl brought out Violet, the eldest of his three daughters, to accompany her dad on the vocals for Foos classic “My Hero.”
As Grohl explains, “She told me she wanted to sing this song together. You can sing it too, but I’ll only be listening to her.” It’s a clip designed to choke up even the dorkiest parents among us.
This from our very own Kerry Eleveld:
Trump's approvals aren't just sinking nationally—they're plunging in every key battleground
Donald Trump's national job disapproval rating has been nudging upward for roughly the last month, but only by a hair, from 52.4% on July 20 to 54% today (Aug. 27) in FiveThirtyEight's aggregate. But that narrow national window obscures a much larger and more important trend in key battleground states since the beginning of Trump's tenure. Indeed, Trump’s net approval rating has plunged in states such as Wisconsin (-14), Michigan (-11), and Pennsylvania (-8)—all of which Trump won in 2016.
Read the whole thing, it will put one of those Grinch style smiles all across your face!
As always:
Your 4 weekly to-dos
- Get ready for the September funding fight by texting Defund Hate to 977-79. We’ll send you the latest updates on our plan for the Week of Action, and we’ll let you know when events are registered near you.
- Call your member of Congress right and demand that they cut funding for ICE and CBP in this September’s funding bill. We’ll give you a script and connect you directly with your representative’s office.
- Get up-to-speed using our Defund Hate website , where you can find our event planning toolkit, social media content, downloadable rally signs, and more! We’ve also got a leave-behind you can print and use to guide your conversations with your Members of Congress and their staff.
- Register for the September monthly activist call. Join us for our next activist call on Thursday, September 5 at 8pm Eastern Time / 5pm Pacific Time, to get the latest updates on Defund Hate, the 2020 race and more!
Peace!