What Have Dems Done for Us Lately? GLAD YOU ASKED! – Good News Roundup, April 20 – Daily Kos
Good Day, Gnuville! Today, I’ve decided to do a bit of repeat good news that may have gotten lost in the barrage of war news PLUS a bonus section of new good news. 😁 I’ve pulled just 10 of the amazing items from Goody’s epic list of 100 accomplishments of the Biden administration in just one year — because we need to celebrate and remind people of just how much better things are now, thanks to the Democratic sweep in the 2020 elections (and the Georgia runoff).
Come on in and read all about how great Joe and the Democrats are!
For instance…
Yes, please! ✔️
If you can’t remember another year when so many people went to work in this country, there’s a reason: it’s never happened before.
Last year was the biggest year for job growth in our history.
6.4 million jobs created in one year: a new record
Unemployment rate drop from 6.2% to 3.9%: a new record
This was the greatest jobs growth year in modern American history, and it’s not even close.
But wait! There’s more!
U.S. added 467,000 jobs in January despite omicron variant surge, Eli Rosenberg, Washington Post, February 4, 2022.
The U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January even as the omicron variant spiked to record heights, showing that the resilient labor market had enough momentum to power through one of the pandemic’s biggest surges. ✂️
“America is back to work,” President Biden said Friday at the White House. “Our country is taking everything that covid has had to throw at us, and we’ve come back stronger. … America’s job machine is going stronger than ever.” ✂️
In addition to the robust January, the Labor Department also more than doubled its tabulations of jobs gains for November and December. The U.S. economy added 647,000 in November, not the 249,000 the agency had earlier estimated. And the economy added 510,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department said, not the 199,000 initially forecast. That means there were some 700,000 more jobs added at the end of last year than previously estimated, with employers working aggressively to draw in workers across a range of industries.
‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This!’ CNBC Absolutely Loses It Over Blockbuster Jobs Report Showing Half-a-Million New Jobs https://t.co/kJYDaTQ5gs via @mediaite pic.twitter.com/9kPctYqvvp
Today, the nation’s unemployment rate fell to 3.9%.
That’s the sharpest one year drop in unemployment in U.S. history.
Take a minute to consider how significant this is. Before the Rescue Plan, we were on track to have unemployment above 4% all the way until 2026.
Now, it’s here — already. https://t.co/dyfPIralEG
The history books will tell the story of how Democrats saved our economy from COVID/Trump damage. This was step one.
Democrats held strong on the COVID relief bill
Many cynically expected (I expected!) Democrats to capitulate to Republican demands like they did while negotiating the 2009 health care bill when they eliminated the public option for no fucking reason. But they didn’t. Senator Chuck Schumer, emboldened by either the majority leader’s gavel or fear that he’s about to be primaried by somebody who New York voters find more appealing, has stood up to Mitch McConnell, stood up to bad faith negotiating by Republicans. What may have been an opportunity for Democrats to blame Republicans for watering down COVID relief became an opportunity for Democrats to show strength.
President Biden & Democratic leaders deserve tremendous credit for not letting the Collins gang water down the aid package. Hard to overstate what a watershed that could be. It was never a foregone conclusion & sticking to their guns took a lot of guts. Now lets play it forward.
🚨🚨Poorest 20% of Americans estimated to see ~20 percent boost in income from Biden relief plan, particularly due to stimulus payments & CTC, per new Tax Policy Center analysis
Richest 1% to receive income boost of 0%, analysis sayshttps://t.co/2WmwjszTSo
Protect the 99%? ✅
Execute order designed to protect workers
It is focused on protecting federal workers and contractors, in part by restoring collective bargaining power and worker protections by revoking measures that President Donald Trump had signed. It also eliminates Schedule F, a class of worker that Trump had established that stripped many federal civil service employees of job protections.
It asks agencies to take a look at which federal employees are earning less than $15 per hour and come up with recommendations to get them above that wage.
Biden Ousts All 10 of Trump’s Union Busters From Powerful Labor Panel
On Tuesday, Joe Biden demanded the resignations of all 10 of Donald Trump’s appointees to the Federal Service Impasses Panel, a powerful labor relations board, in a major victory for federal unions. Eight members resigned, and two were fired after refusing to step down. Trump’s appointees—a group of partisan anti-labor activists—had hobbled federal unions for years, sabotaging their ability to organize and bargain collectively. Biden’s clean sweep, which was first reported by Government Executive’s Erich Wagner, marks a crucial step toward ending his predecessor’s campaign of federal union busting.
Biden’s support for unions is almost unprecedented
President Joe Biden made a historic statement in favor of workers’ right to organize and against employer intimidation of workers in a video released Sunday evening. “I made it clear when I was running, that my administration’s policy would be to support unions organizing and the right to collectively bargain,” he said. “I’m keeping that promise. You should all remember the National Labor Relations Act didn’t just say that unions are allowed to exist, it said that we should encourage unions.
“So let me be really clear: It’s not up to me to decide whether anyone should join a union,” Biden continued. “But let me be even more clear: it’s not up to an employer to decide that either. The choice to join a union is up to the workers—full stop. Full stop.”
Biden’s video came days after a group of progressive organizations called on him to support the Amazon workers’ effort. Labor historians and worker advocates hailed the video as a major step beyond those Biden’s predecessors took.
“It’s almost unprecedented in American history,” Erik Loomis, a labor historian at the University of Rhode Island, told The Washington Post. “We have the sense that previous presidents in the mid-20th century were overtly pro-union, but that really wasn’t the case. Even FDR never really came out and told workers directly to support a union.”
”We haven’t had this aggressive and positive of a statement from a president of the United States on behalf of workers in decades,” said Faiz Shakir, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager and the founder of More Perfect Union. “It is monumental that you have a president sending a message to workers across the country that if you take the courageous step to start to unionize you will have allies in the administration, the NLRB, and the Labor Department. It means a lot.”
Protect the 99%? ✅
More than 1 million unionized workers who were poised to lose their pensions will now receive 100 percent of their promised retirement benefits for at least the next 30 years
the $86 billion is a taxpayer bailout for about 185 union pension plans that are so close to collapse that without the rescue, more than a million retired truck drivers, retail clerks, builders and others could be forced to forgo retirement income.
The bailout targets multiemployer pension plans, which bring groups of companies together with a union to provide guaranteed benefits. All told, about 1,400 of the plans cover about 10.7 million active and retired workers, often in fields like construction or entertainment where the workers move from job to job. As the work force ages, an alarming number of the plans are running out of money. The trend predated the pandemic and is a result of fading unions, serial bankruptcies and the misplaced hope that investment income would foot most of the bill so that employers and workers wouldn’t have to.
Protect the 99%? ✅
Biden executive order takes steps to require federal contractors pay $15 minimum wage
Biden plans to sign an executive order that will expand protections for federal workers, including putting federal agencies on a path to require a $15 minimum wage for contractors.
This Sunday, almost 70,000 federal workers will start earning a $15 minimum wage. And 300,000 employees on federal contracts will start to see a raise to $15 an hour over this year.
When @POTUS talks about promoting the dignity of work, he means it.https://t.co/btS8yGdm3f
So many of my favorites fit into one theme: making life better from the 99% of Americans that Republicans don’t care about.
Extend foreclosure and eviction moratoriums
Biden directed key agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Department of Agriculture; the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to extend the current pause on federal evictions and foreclosures
Biden extends eviction ban amid fears of ‘horrific crisis’
The Biden administration unveiled a raft of measures to prevent people who lost income during the pandemic from losing their homes on Thursday, including by extending nationwide eviction and foreclosure bans until July 31.
The White House and other federal agencies sprang into action amid growing concerns that state and local governments were not prepared to protect renters if the federal eviction ban expired next Wednesday. More than six million renter households are behind on rent, according to a recent survey by the Census Bureau.
The Biden admin is trying to prevent evictions from public housing:
Under a new HUD rule, tenants in HUD-subsidized public housing cannot be evicted for nonpayment without providing 30 days’ notice and info about available emergency rental assistance. https://t.co/PUncNzliYn
Protect the 99%? ✅ This is an area where A TON has been done and it is all amazing.
Historic increase in food stamp benefits starts in October
Food stamp recipients will see their monthly payments go up in October thanks to a major update to the program, even though a special pandemic boost has now expired.
Biden Effort to Combat Hunger Marks ‘a Profound Change’
With more than one in 10 households reporting that they lack enough to eat, the Biden administration is accelerating a vast campaign of hunger relief that will temporarily increase assistance by tens of billions of dollars and set the stage for what officials envision as lasting expansions of aid.
The effort to rush more food assistance to more people is notable both for the scale of its ambition and the variety of its legislative and administrative actions. The campaign has increased food stamps by more than $1 billion a month, provided needy children a dollar a day for snacks, expanded a produce allowance for pregnant women and children, and authorized the largest children’s summer feeding program in history.
“We haven’t seen an expansion of food assistance of this magnitude since the founding of the modern food stamp program in 1977,” said James P. Ziliak, an economist at the University of Kentucky who studies nutrition programs. “It’s a profound change.”
President Biden to increase federal food benefits among executive actions aimed at stabilizing U.S. economy
Biden is asking the Department of Agriculture to allow states to increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits — commonly known as food stamps — and to increase by 15 percent benefits awarded through a school meals program for low-income students started during the pandemic, according to Biden administration officials. That could give a family of three children more than $100 in extra benefits every two months, officials said.
Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters on a call Thursday night that the measures are meant as only partial solutions, as the administration kicks off negotiations with Congress on its $1.9 trillion relief economic proposal.
Biden’s order attempts in several ways to address the surge in hunger in America during the pandemic, with approximately 50 million people, including 17 million children, considered food insecure.
Perhaps the most significant change in this executive order is a reassessment of the USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan, the basis for determining SNAP benefits. Lisa Davis, senior vice president of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, said the metrics are out of date with the economic realities most struggling households face. The president will ask the USDA to consider beginning the process of revising the Thrifty Food Plan to better reflect the modern cost of a healthy basic diet.
Biden Quietly Preparing for Food Stamp Increase Without Congress
The Biden administration is quietly laying the groundwork for a long-term increase in food aid for tens of millions of Americans, without going through the ordeal of a fight with congressional Republicans.
The instrument is an obscure U.S. Department of Agriculture shopping list used to determine food stamp benefits, known as the market basket.
A review of the so-called Thrifty Food Plan, ordered by Biden two days after he took office, could trigger an automatic increase in benefits as soon as Oct. 1, a day after expiration of a temporary 15% boost in food stamp payments that Biden included in his $1.9 trillion Covid-relief package.
Today, we also announced a state-by-state breakdown of funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, this is the largest amount ever for LIHEAP – more than double a typical year. More details here: https://t.co/3PnxRwxlqH
It’s a Biden Boom—and No One Has Noticed Yet
Based on the data, President Biden and the Democratic Congress are set to preside over the strongest two-year performance on growth, jobs, and income in decades—so long as the current cycle of inflation eases, and the Omicron variant does not trigger another round of shutdowns. The future paths of inflation and the pandemic are large and important unknowns—but if they break right, everything else points to a Biden boom through 2022.
Over the first three quarters of this year, real GDP increased at a 7.8 percent annual rate—that’s adjusted for the current inflation. The Federal Reserve expects real growth of 5.9 percent for all of 2021, followed by another 3.8 percent increase in 2022. By any recent standard, these are extraordinary gains. From 2000 to 2019, real GDP grew at an average annual rate of 2.2 percent and never reached 3 percent. Investors have noticed: From January 20 to December 7, 2021, the S&P 500 Index jumped 21.7 percent.
Strong growth usually means healthy income gains, and the disposable income of Americans grew 3 percent after inflation over the 10 months from January to October. That far outpaces the gains of only 0.5 percent for the comparable period in 2019 and 1.7 percent in 2018. Wages and salaries comprise nearly all of most households’ incomes, and those earnings also are rising much faster than normal. From January through October, all wage and salary income paid by private businesses increased 2.4 percent aft
If the current high levels of economic, job, and income growth continue, the 2022 midterms could look different than most are predicting.
The above items and links came from Goody’s amazing One Hundred Things Biden and the Democrats Did in One Year! GNR. They’ve already achieved more great things — in Democratic led states and on a federal level.
Do you know of local, state or federal initiatives that everyone should know about? Please share them in the comments! Links would be a very welcome bonus!
Fmr staffer to Madison Cawthorn has filed an explosive complaint against him, alleging illegal and “immoral” acts, that he doesn’t care about constituents, there’s more liquor than water in his district office, and he is a “habitual liar” and “bad person.”https://t.co/mOqUuQXbKx
Opinion: Mike Lee has some explaining to do, Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, April 18, 2022.
On Jan. 4, he seems to effectively confess to pressuring state legislatures to send an alternate slate no matter what the factual basis (again, no fraud has been found):
In short, “something” from the legislatures, in Lee’s mind, would make this “legitimate.” The will of the voters? That’s no longer under discussion. This is plainly an extra-constitutional grab. Lee ultimately gives up because the alternate slates — which he has been pushing for — don’t come through.
“Every good lawyer — and Mike Lee is a good one — knows that there are limits to the arguments that you are allowed to make and serious consequences if you go beyond those limits,” former House impeachment counsel Norm Eisen tells me. “This one was way over the line: because there was no fraud, there was no factual basis to claim that the state legislatures could step in and there was no legal basis. I think the new evidence shows a betrayal of his duty as an attorney and his oath as a senator.”
Legal effort to remove Greene from Ga. ballot can proceed, judge rules, Eugene Scott, Washington Post, April 19, 2022.
A federal judge ruled Monday that a group of Georgia voters can proceed with their legal effort to disqualify Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from running for reelection because of her alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group, filed the challenge in March with the Georgia secretary of state’s office, alleging that Greene, who has built a reputation as one of former president Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters, helped facilitate the violent insurrection aimed at preventing Congress from confirming Joe Biden’s win. ✂️
Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, told The Washington Post that the organization has also filed cases against Republican congressmen Paul A. Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
Republicans are sweating bullets and wish TFG would just go away already. Hahaha, for once the attention-thirsty megalomania may have a mildly positive effect on national affairs:
TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT OF J.D. VANCE WORRIES ADVISERS WHO FEAR HE’S BACKING LOSERS, Charlotte Klein, Vanity Fair, April 17, 2022.
(TFG) kicked off the weekend by announcing his pick for another high-profile GOP primary, on which he is betting his own political capital. A week after the former president reportedly stunned some advisers and deepened intra-party tensions by endorsing celebrity physician Mehmet Oz for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat, Trump doled out yet another controversial endorsement, this time to Hillbilly Elegy author, venture capitalist, and Twitter provocateur J.D. Vance in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary. Vance’s rivals, including former state treasurer and MAGA convert Josh Mandel, were among the swath of Ohio Republicans who tried to persuade Trump to choose differently amid reports that he was leaning toward Vance, whose hard-right pivot has been complicated by his history of criticizing Trump. The Hail Mary was to no avail.
At least 50 people have testified in Georgia probe into Trump’s effort to overturn 2020 election: report, Sky Palma, Raw Story, April 19, 2022.
A Georgia investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to illegally overturn the state’s 2020 election results has seen over four dozen people voluntarily testify, Newsweek reports.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at least 50 people have already testified and there are about another 60 people her team is waiting to interview. She added that she will try to subpoena an additional 30 other people who have turned down interview requests.
“The probe into Trump launched 14 months ago after the former president called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and told the fellow Republican to ‘find’ votes in order to overturn the election results,” Newsweek reports. “Earlier this year, Willis was granted approval for a special grand jury by a judge, and she has requested backup protection from the FBI, citing the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as a reason for added security during the investigation.”
Oath Keepers Needed To ‘Protect’ ‘Critical’ Trump Doc Rep. Ronny Jackson On January 6 WHY Exactly? Liz Dye, Wonkette, April 19, 2022.
The latest data set is a 337-page cache placed on the federal docket by Ed Vallejo, one of the 11 Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy for his part in the attack on the Capitol. Vallejo is hoping to sweet talk US District Judge Amit Mehta into releasing him from jail pending trial. It’s not clear whether this gambit will work — Vallejo is, after all, the guy who babysat the weapons cache in Arlington and was preparing to drive it in to DC if shit got heavy. But he’s probably not endeared himself to his fellow Oafs by putting all this stuff out there on record.
The biggest detail from this document dump, first flagged by Politico, is the reference to Rep. Ronny “Dr. Feelgood” Jackson.
“Ronnie Jackson (TX) office inside Capitol – he needs OK help. Anyone inside?” someone texted to the Oath Keepers group chat at 3 p.m. on January 6 as the insurrectionists were inside the Capitol and Congress was preparing to evacuate the chamber.
“Dr. Ronnie Jackson – on the move. Needs protection. If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect,” reads another message at 3:08.
“Help with what,” responded head Oaf Stewart Rhodes. “Give him my cell.”
We have questions.
Even monstrous regimes are not all-powerful. Doom and gloomers talk like they are, and as if these dictators and autocrats will ride roughshod over their enemies/victims/us — always outmaneuvering, always outsmarting — and that is irrational fear talking. Yes, these remorseless war criminals are dangerous and vicious almost beyond belief. But they are not omnipotent nor omniscient.
Despite Putin’s claims that the West’s ‘economic blitzkrieg strategy didn’t work,’ Moscow’s mayor says the city is about to lose 200,000 jobs. https://t.co/PtcLzAv4yq
Discovery today of a new immune cell type that is frailty-specific https://t.co/LkGLes8TfU @NatureAging via systematic single-cell sequencing of ~115,000 cells ranging from newborns to people of advanced age
Moderna says trial results suggest redesigned vaccines can better protect against variants, Sharon LaFraniere, New York Times, April 19, 2022.
Moderna announced preliminary results Tuesday from its study of a coronavirus vaccine intended to protect against variants, saying the findings show it can design a vaccine that offers better, longer-lasting protection than its initial product.
But the company said it was also testing another version of the vaccine that it expected would do even better, with results expected in late May or early June. ✂️
Moderna said its research showed the promise of a so-called bivalent vaccine, even against other variants besides the two versions of the virus specifically targeted. In this case, researchers combined the existing vaccine with one designed to attack the Beta variant, which was first detected in late 2020. They found the combination provided a stronger defense not only against those forms of the virus, but also against the Delta and Omicron variants, the company said.
New CDC team: A weather service to forecast what’s next in pandemic, Lena H Sun, Washington Post, April 19, 2022.
A new team of federal health scientists officially embarks Tuesday on a mission to provide what has often been absent from the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic: better, faster information about what’s likely to happen next in this public health emergency and in future outbreaks.
“We think of ourselves like the National Weather Service, but for infectious diseases,” said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist and associate director for science at the initiative, run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 100 scientists will analyze technical data and communicate policy options to decision-makers and the public about how the virus is behaving and who is most at risk — in user-friendly terms.
SCOOP w @adamcancryn: Biden is planning to imminently scrap another Trump-era health policy: a rule allowing health workers to refuse to perform services if they have a moral/religious objection, which advocates worried would impact abortion/trans/HIV care https://t.co/7Tz2WQTuUw
Biden restores climate safeguards in key environmental law, reversing Trump, Dino Grandoni and Anna Phillips, Washington Post, April 19, 2022.
The new rule will require federal agencies to scrutinize the climate impacts of major infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, a 1970 law that required the government to assess the environmental consequences of federal actions, such as approving the construction of oil and gas pipelines.
In 2020, Trump introduced major changes to the law’s implementation, saying the government would exempt many projects from review and speed up the approval process. His administration also said federal agencies would not consider “indirect” climate impacts. Trump and allies in the business community said the move would reinvigorate infrastructure projects across the nation.
Under the rule finalized by the Biden White House this week, regulators will now have to account for how government actions may increase greenhouse gas emissions and whether they will impose new burdens on communities, particularly poor and minority neighborhoods, that have already faced disproportionate amounts of pollution.
Huge fuel cell news: finding a cheap alternative for the expensive and rare platinum catalyst needed to generate electricity was the “holy grail” and it appears scientists have found it.
This will make it much easier for FCEVs to scale up production.👍https://t.co/Kwvxw58uUo
Clean energy is buried at the bottom of abandoned oil wells, Neel Dhanesha, Vox (recode). April 19, 2022.
In case you missed it, our planet is in trouble. The UN climate report from early April makes clear we’re on a path that will careen past the climate goals set in the Paris Agreement, and we need to cut carbon emissions — fast. But while solar and wind power are important (they are, after all, key parts of the Biden administration’s climate plan) they’re the kind of thing we’ve seen plenty of before, which means they’ll only get us so far. What we need, the UN report says, is new solutions. Which is why a pilot program recently detailed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) is particularly intriguing. If it works, it could help solve multiple problems at once, using an often-overlooked solution: geothermal energy.
Geothermal energy works on a simple premise: The Earth’s core is hot, and by drilling even just a few miles underground, we can tap into that practically unlimited heat source to generate energy for our homes and businesses without creating nearly as many of the greenhouse gas emissions that come from burning fossil fuels. However, drilling doesn’t come cheap — it accounts for half the cost of most geothermal energy projects — and requires specialized labor to map the subsurface, drill into the ground, and install the infrastructure needed to bring energy to the surface.
But the US, in the wake of an oil and gas boom, just so happens to have millions of oil and gas wells sitting abandoned across the country. And oil and gas wells, it turns out, happen to share many of the same characteristics as geothermal wells — namely that they are deep holes in the ground, with pipes that can bring fluids up to the surface. So, the DOE asks, why not repurpose them?
Hello Everybody, it’s me — CurlyGirl! Today, I have a two dog stories for you (and a story about another animal). I like this first story because I love puppies and this Mama dog has puppies! Also, I know just how she feels at the start of the video — stressed out! When I am stressed out, my nose drips, too! I am so glad that nice human helped this dog and her puppies!
It took 2 days to rescue this smart dog in 122-degree heat — turns out she was hiding all her babies 💛 @HopeForPaws pic.twitter.com/wByMQta6Sp
Mama and I both like Golden Retrievers. I don’t think we have ever met a cross Golden! The clever fellow below has decided to go under cover with a flock of sheep. I bet he will be able to learn all their secrets! I told Mama, I could do this, too! But I’d just need a flock of black sheep!
Stay calm and just blend…😏😂🦮🐑 pic.twitter.com/8h2jnihyYi
This next one has two of my favorite things! Foxes and the beach! How perfect can it get!
Omgggg!!! 😍 BB OCEAN FOXES!!! 🦊🦊🦊🦊 These cape kits were so cute! Their den must be under this little porch. Mama was no where to be found and we were so lucky they let us watch them play! pic.twitter.com/7GeHv5nqBR
That’s all for now! See you next time! Love, CG 🐩💙🐾
⚡️ Yes, We Should Apply Today’s Moral Standards to Past Behavior, Tim Wise, Medium, April 19, 2022.
⚡️ HOW DIVERSE DEMOCRACIES CAN PROTECT THEIR CITIZENS, Yascha Mounk, the Atlantic, April 19, 2022.
⚡️ Voting Rights: “There Is Reason to be Optimistic as Well as Alarmed”, Anna Seen, Washington Monthly, April 18, 2022.
⚡️ And a hearty “Hell No” to accepting conventional “wisdom” about midterm elections: MAGA Nazis Running For Local Election Positions! Hey What If Democrats … RAN AGAINST THEM? Evan Hurst, Wonkette, April 19, 2022.
⚡️ Ominous title, but encouraging article: Putin can’t take much more of this: What lies ahead, defeat or apocalypse? Lucian K Truscott lV, Salon, April 16, 2022.
⚡️ On the unsung, sustained work of social change: How to Make Change, Slowly, Gal Beckerman, the Atlantic, April 19. 2022.
⚡️ Author Colin Clarke on Russia’s disaster in Ukraine — and what happens next, Chauncey DeVega, Salon, April 19, 2022.
⚡️ Trump, Putin and their kind are still dangerous — but their time is almost up, Brian Karem, Salon, April 14, 2022.
⚡️ REPORT: TRUMP’S TRUTH SOCIAL IS AN EVEN BIGGER HUMILIATION THAN HIS OTHER BUSINESS FAILURES, Bess Levin, Vanity Fair, April 4, 2022.
⚡️ Sadness and Loss Are Everywhere. Books Can Help. Margaret Renkl, New York Times, April 17, 2022.
⚡️ Good advice here: The Curse of Availability, John Pavlovitz, April 7, 2022.
⚡️ The answer is 7500: How many steps a day do I really need? Jen Gunter, the Vagenda, April 19, 2022.
⚡️ YUM! One Good Thing: Garlic, a perfect food, Alissa Wilkerson, Vox, April 18, 2022.
⚡️ Interview: Tony Kushner on the Republican ‘Fantasy’ of a Nation Controlled by ‘Straight White Men’, New York Times “Sway”, April 18, 2022.
⚡️ Opinion: Democrats have found a line of attack against the GOP. It’s a start. Jennifer Rubin, April 19, 2022.
Put your beautiful bleeding liberal heart into it! 🥰
Democratic litigation hero, Marc Elias was the legal eagle behind the 60 Big Lie losses after the election. Here’s his website, Democracy Docket. You can find information about current cases he is fighting to defend voting rights around the country, as well as actions you can take to help fight voter suppression at the link!
Write to voters around the country with Postcards to Voters. Progressive Muse usually posts an update on current campaigns in the comments and you can also check out the website. It’s easy, fun and it really works to GOTV!
🎩 Also, Goody posted a great list of links and I am going to borrow it because it’s great! 🎩
The only way they can win is by keeping people from voting. They are working like heck to make that happen and we need to do all we can to keep 2022 from being a year when they grab the Senate and House back from us.
How do we do that? Fight voter suppression!
What can you do?
Most important: DON’T LOSE HOPE. This is a giant and important fight for us but, win or lose, we keep fighting and voting and organizing and spreading truth and light. We never give up.
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121
* Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:* Telephone: 202-224-3121
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your member of Congress and contact him or her:
Let them know what matters to you!
Contact your Representative
Contact your Senator
And remember, all politics is local and personal! Let’s work to flip state and local elected positions Democratic!
Sister District Project — organization that is working to help Dems win state legislature races.
NEW!! Goody set up this place to donate to elect Democrats in tossup House and Senate races:
Did you donate yet? C’mon… it’ll make you feel great! 😁
Finally, whenever you feel your hope fading, read this again:
The 3.5% rule: How a small minority can change the world — and recall that we are a majority.
Also check this out:
The Albert Einstein Institution’s 198 Methods of Non-Violent Action
There’s a multitude of people all over this country — in both so-called “red” states and “blue” — who feel just as strongly as you do about this world and its future. We can do this!
That’s it from me and CG for another Wednesday. We’re wishing everyone a happy day!