Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin
Good Wednesday Good Newsies, Gnusies, and all of you who comment or just drop by. I have a twofold purpose today. First I want to point out our ability to change and shape the future of this country and the path that will follow. I know we are strong and we are motivated. We are empowered to take this situation we are in, throw it out in the trash and bring about a better tomorrow. I believe, I trust, I know we will do it. Whatever is being forced upon on our shoulders each day is a mountain we will climb over, and I know we will meet on the other side in joy that we fought and won, even with all the evil they tried to put in front of us, goodness and righteousness will prevail.
Another point I want to make, and I will try to keep it succinct, you are truly valued here. I suppose I know no one here then again I know all of you. I know so many “names” from the comments and posts. I said I would keep it tight so I just want to say I care. I care about how you are doing and I worry if you do not post. These are trying times and we cannot always keep track of each other here. I do not have the answer to this conundrum, yet somehow I feel we must stay in touch in some way so we know you and me and we are okay.
A little break from the heavy. If you work from home and have pets this will resonate. Oh and I do...
We just ran the gamut of feelings didn’t we!
Onward!
Usually I save all this for the end but I want to spread it here right now!
Yosef 52 has many diaries about GOTV. I will copy and paste some here, but please check his posts!
Where to start? Try these links.
POSTCARDS TO VOTERS.
VOTE FORWARD’S LETTERS TO VOTERS.
TEXT OUT THE VOTE.
THE MoveOn TEXT TEAM
And don’t close the door on canvassing just yet! There are safe ways in which this can be done!
Our Target Groups: WHERE THE VOTES ARE
ID REQUIREMENTS FOR EVERY STATE, HOW TO OBTAIN VOTER IDs
1. Information from The National Conference of State Legislatures, located here. This is an excellent source.
2. Information from Ballotpedia, here. This has a wealth of detail.
3. VoteRiders will help people obtain voter IDs. Take a look here.
ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUIREMENTS
Vote.org
Absentee and Early Voting
REGISTERING TO VOTE
1. State voting requirements can be found at U.S. Vote Foundation, located here.
2. You can register people to vote at Vote.Org, located right here.
3. You can not only register to vote at this site, you can check your current eligibility, right here.
WORKING WITH DEMOCRATIC GROUPS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
1. Act Local put this guide out last year. It has plenty of good information, and I’m sure they’re already cranking up for 2020. Take a look here.
2. You want to be part of a fighting organization? Check out Indivisible, right here.
3. Check out Wave 2020, right here. Their list of local organizations is here.
4. Take a look at SwingLeft, right here.
FOR AMERICANS ABROAD AND MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY
He has much more info….We can do it!!
Of course Indivisible has the to do’s.
Your weekly to-dos
- Check out our newest video, America, on YouTube. The story of America is one of perseverance and hope — of a people whose character shines brightest in the darkest of times. Today and every day, we thank all the essential workers who are giving us hope and keeping our country going during this crisis. And don't forget to share, like, and subscribe to our youtube channel!
- Check out the first episode of our brand-new YouTube series, COVID Corruption. In this episode, our Healthcare Policy Manager, Eli Gerber, breaks down how Big Pharma has tried to cash in on the Coronavirus pandemic.
- Call your Senators and demand they pass the HEROES Act immediately. Majority Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans are already threatening to refuse to act on this bill. That’s why we need you to call your Senators and demand they pass the HEROES Act immediately and oppose any amendments that water the bill down.
- Register for our upcoming National Activist on June 4. The National Activist Call is a monthly space for Indivisible leaders, members, and other activists to hear updates and connect with one another.
- Donate to support all our work. As November gets closer and closer, we’re hard at work to elect true progressive champions up and down the ballot -- and from our ads program to our evolving voter activation plans, it’s grassroots donations that make it all possible.
Now that you have the tools to ensure we win, let us move on to the news.
First up, holy cow cool news!
NASA’s Historic New International Agreements Set Stage for Peaceful and Cooperative Future of Space Exploration
NASA, along with a number of partnering space agencies from around the world, have announced a new set of international agreements that will help to govern a “safe, peaceful, and prosperous future” of space exploration.
The recently-released “Artemis Accords” are the latest development of the Artemis Program, through which the agency vows to send the first woman—and next man—to the moon by 2024.
NASA hopes that the Accords will better allow it to work with international partners to conduct a human mission to Mars as well.
“It’s a new dawn for space exploration!” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter last week. “Today, I’m honored to announce the Artemis Accords agreements—establishing a shared vision and set of principles for all international partners that join in humanity’s return to the Moon. We go, together.”
Really, I do not know what to say except, good on them.
And now this people (keep in mind weather may make this information moot, but still)
Everything you need to know about SpaceX's historic astronaut launch
The stakes have never been higher for Elon Musk's SpaceX. On Wednesday, the company will attempt to launch two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in a mission called Demo-2.
It will mark the first time in history that a commercial aerospace company has carried humans into Earth's orbit. NASA and space fans have waited nearly a decade for this milestone, which will usher in the return of human spaceflight to US soil.
NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting Wednesday at 4:33 pt ET for liftoff from Florida's Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Florida. If bad
weather or technical issues get in the way, NASA has May 30 and May 31 down as backup days.
As of Monday evening, there looked to be about a 60% chance of favorable weather conditions. On launch day, officials will evaluate weather at six hours, four hours and 45 minutes before launch.
The rocket will take off from "
Pad 39A," a historic site that has been the starting point of missions dating back to the Apollo era, including the first moon landing in 1969. SpaceX is currently
leasing the launch pad from NASA.
I knew it was coming but I did not realize it could be today!
Okay, moving on. And the dumpster fire just keeps “winning”.
HHS watchdog vows independence amid Trump actions
The health department's top watchdog vowed to Congress on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's moves to fire or replace inspectors general — including his recent effort to effectively oust her — would not affect more than a dozen ongoing probes into the administration’s Covid-19 response.
"I personally and professionally cannot let the idea of providing unpopular information drive decision-making in the work that we do," Principal Deputy Inspector General Christi Grimm told the House Oversight Committee in a video briefing. "We are plowing ahead."
Grimm, who’s served as the acting Health and Human Services inspector general since January, detailed 14 different projects underway to track the Trump administration's response to the pandemic, including a newly announced audit into $50 billion that HHS is disbursing to health care providers.
In blow to DOJ, Supreme Court won't block order to move prisoners over coronavirus concerns
The Supreme Court declined Tuesday to block, for now, a federal judge's order requiring the government to consider moving more than 800 inmates from an Ohio prison who are at risk of catching COVID-19.
Over the dissents of Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, the court said it would not issue a stay of an April 22 order requiring the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin the process of releasing vulnerable inmates from the low-security Elkton Federal Correctional Institution near Canton. It holds roughly 2,400 inmates, and nine have died from the coronavirus.
Oh, North Carolina, you are amazing…
North Carolina throws convention threat back at Trump and GOP
President Donald Trump threatened Monday to pull the Republican National Convention out of North Carolina if state officials don’t roll out the red carpet soon.
On Tuesday, those officials put the onus on national Republicans to show they can pull off a 50,000-person event safely.
In a letter to Marcia Kelly, the president and CEO of the convention, North Carolina secretary of Health and Human Services Mandy Cohen acknowledged the president’s warning and requested a public health plan for the event
"The status of Covid-19 infections in our state and in the Charlotte area continues to rapidly evolve [so] it will be important to have several scenarios planned that can be deployed depending on the public health situation," she wrote. "[M]easured and careful planning efforts are important not only to convention-goers, but also to the North Carolinians who rely on us to protect the public’s health."
Ball, court, yours soon to be convict.
Speaking of balls:
House Republicans plan to sue Pelosi over proxy voting
House Republicans are planning to file a lawsuit against Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a bid to block a new proxy voting system, which will allow lawmakers to cast their first remote votes on the floor this week amid the global pandemic.
Pelosi dismissed the GOP lawsuit Tuesday evening.
“House Republicans’ sad stunt shows that their only focus is to delay and obstruct urgently needed action to meet the needs of American workers and families during the coronavirus crisis,” Pelosi (D-Calif,) said, adding that the procedure is "fully consistent with the Constitution."
“I think the political attacks are unjustified and will not have the effect that he wants,” Hoyer said Tuesday, noting the Senate also utilizes proxy voting in its committees but not for floor votes.
“In fact, the polls show that the Republicans right now are vulnerable in the United States Senate, I think that’s what he’s worried about — that I think we stand a good chance of taking back the majority of the United States Senate,” he said.
In crucial Florida, some senior voters cast a skeptical eye toward Trump’s reelection
Allen Lehner was a Republican until Donald Trump became his party’s nominee in 2016. The 74-year-old retiree says he couldn’t bring himself to vote for someone who lied, belittled others, walked out on his bills and mistreated women — but he also couldn’t bring himself to vote for Hillary Clinton. So he didn’t vote.
Trump has done nothing since to entice Lehner back.
Lehner, who now considers himself an independent, says he is frightened by the president’s lack of leadership and maturity amid the nation’s health and economic crisis. Several people in his gated community in Delray Beach, Fla., have gotten sick; at least one has died. He worries about his own health — he has an autoimmune disease — and also about his adult children, including a daughter who has gone back to work and a son whose pay has been cut.
He plans to vote for Joe Biden in November.
We will see more and more of the above!
None of the actions of people targeting people of color was good news today in any shape or form.
But at least there is this update.
4 Minneapolis cops fired after video shows one kneeling on neck of black man who later died
Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired for their involvement in the death of a black man who was held down with a knee as he protested that he couldn't breathe, officials said Tuesday.
The FBI is investigating the incident, which drew widespread condemnation of the officers after a video showing part of the encounter circulated on social media.
WTH, Karen, Sharon, Marron. I do not care about the nickname it is given, this crap has got to stop. Sorry had to vent a bit.
An amazing project.
The Covid-19 pandemic is taking a toll on science. Laboratories are shuttered, major field campaigns are suspended and scientists who traveled to remote parts of the globe to conduct research are struggling to return to a world in lockdown. But some research has kept going through it all, including a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–led effort to keep tabs on the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere.
NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network might not be a household name, but the agency considers its activities as essential as the work of NOAA’s National Weather Service forecasters. As a result, this global network of staffed observatories, mountain stations and remote sampling sites that collect and record atmospheric concentrations of key greenhouse gases including CO2, methane and nitrous oxide is up and running despite the pandemic. The reason is simple: If this network were to go down even for a few weeks, one of our best sources of intel on how humans are altering the atmosphere would disappear, disrupting records that have been going strong for decades.
The disruption would be very poorly timed.
Read the whole thing.
How about some awwww with me.
Since the novel coronavirus shutdowns have canceled thousands of graduation ceremonies across the country, these devoted Ohio bus drivers went above and beyond the call of duty to honor their senior high school students.
In a heartfelt display of love and affection, the Loveland High School’s transportation department arranged 22 of their buses to spell out “2020” when viewed from above.
Jim Barrett, the school’s art and photography teacher, then used an aerial drone to capture footage of the bus drivers waving up at the camera from in between the buses.
And just so you know, it is still okay to laugh.
We've all heard the popular saying, "Laughter is the best medicine." But does that type of thinking apply to something as serious as a global pandemic? Most psychologists would say yes. Humor helps people take back their sense of power in a powerless situation and it helps them connect with others—two things we have lost during this pandemic.
And although there is nothing particularly funny about what we're going through, science suggests that those funny memes, crazy TikTok videos, and snarky online quotes may be just what we need to ease the overwhelming fear,
anxiety, and
grief many of us are dealing with on a daily basis.
Even loneliness has become as crushing as the pandemic itself threatening to overwhelm people every day. Clearly, we need something to lighten the stress load we're all experiencing. And humor could be just what the doctor ordered.
So keep sharing the funnies, it helps us cope and connect.
Some music for you!
To my title: Sharing good news opens up an incredible power for us to use.
Share all the good news you find, local, national, whatever you feel gives us power over the ones who want us to shut up. We will not shut up and we will not give in!
Okay Good Newsies, that is it for me. These times have me more tired than usual, working from home is harder than I thought it would be and this week I have many reports and other items due.
You know what to do!
Peace!