Here’s an honest answer: Part of my role is drawing out voices that deserve to be heard and shedding light on generative possibilities and robust goodness. Not goodness on a pedestal but the messy drama of goodness that makes it riveting and also means it’s not just for saints. I talk about hope being a muscle. It’s not wishful thinking, and it’s not idealism. It’s not even a belief that everything will turn out OK. It’s an imaginative leap, which is what I’ve seen in people like John Lewis and Jane Goodall. These are people who said: “I refuse to accept that the world has to be this way. I am going to throw my life and my pragmatism and my intelligence at this insistence that it could be different and put that into practice.” That’s a muscular hope. So, to your question, I don’t always feel robustly hopeful. Depression is something I’ve struggled with. I’ve found the world an unbearable place for months at a time in the last two years. But at the same time I don’t feel like there’s a place in my work for my despair.
This is how I feel about the GNR. None of us can maintain our good spirits constantly — especially in turbulent, worrying times — but we can try to step up and present the evidence that there is reason for hope. That there are people — many people! — in the world who are doing the hard messy work of trying to make the world a better place, step by tiny step. Reading about it, taking that reality into our minds and spirits, is the work of building the kind of muscular hope that has sustained us so far and will sustain us through the challenges ahead.
Some perspective on the SCOTUS EPA opinion
Here are a few threads that break down what that awful EPA opinion can and cannot do. Yes, it’s a red flag and a sign that we have to fight hard to get the SCOTUS reformed, but No, it is not (yet) a catastrophe:
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There’s a lot of bad, apocalyptic reporting about yesterday’s SCOTUS ruling on @EPA CO2 regs for power plants. Please, read up on the actual findings and potential impacts. Good starter thread here from @drvolts.
— EPA can still regulate leakage from oil and gas production — Doesn’t limit the considerable powers of states and cities — Doesn’t limit the massive buildout of wind, solar, and transmission that we need — Doesn’t limit the essential work of improving energy efficiency
I am kind of enjoying spending an hour or so going around the country looking for at least one item of good news from as many states as I can. Here’s today’s sample:
Arizona
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Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against the State of Arizona Over Restrictive Voter Registration Requirements | OPA | Department of Justice https://t.co/zK0tmERXW6
California will be the first state to guarantee free health care for all low-income immigrants who are living in the country illegally, a move that will provide coverage for an additional 764,000 people at an eventual cost of about $2.7 billion a year. https://t.co/Hch3pGqmQE
You might recall that ProPublica story back in June about how rightwing activists in Georgia mobilized a bogus panic over “critical race theory” to drive a Black woman, Cecelia Lewis, out of an administrative job with the Cherokee County School District last year. Lewis had never actually heard of the rightwing moral panic over CRT at the time she took the job. But the position had “diversity, equity and inclusion” in the job title, so clearly, the astroturf groups insisted, Lewis had to be a communist trying to brainwash little white kids into hating America and themselves. Lewis resigned before even starting the job. ✂️
And now, the Nice Time we promised you with our headline: Three of the white people who’d organized to force Lewis out of her jobs lost their election bids in Georgia’s June 21 primary runoffelections. Two lost elections for seats on the Cherokee County school board, and a third finally sort-of conceded Saturday that she’d lost a run for the Georgia House of Representatives, although she insisted the local board of elections had cheated her by not allowing a recount, even though she claimed to have evidence of serious “discrepancies” in the vote.
ProPublica reports that the two Cherokee County school board candidates, Sean Kaufman and Ray Lynch, were “defeated by wide margins” after running as part of a four-candidate slate that promised to make the school board much more conservative. (The other two members of the “4CanDoMore” slate lost their primary runs outright May 24, without getting enough votes to force a runoff against the incumbents.)
Illinois
My guv isn’t mincing words:
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And 100% of mass public shootings happen with guns.
As Governor, on behalf of the people of Highland Park — leave us the hell alone. https://t.co/biBV75pWxA
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) July 6, 2022
Over the last two centuries, the state has lost more than 99 percent of its tall-grass prairie and 90 percentof its wetlands.
How Iowa got its otters back
By the late 1800s, North American river otters — one of 13 species of otters worldwide — were extinct throughout most of state, following decades of fur trapping and severe habitat loss. But in the 1980s, Iowa wildlife officials saw an opportunity to bring them back.
At the time, state officials in Kentucky were looking to stock up on wild turkeys, which Iowa had plenty of to trade. In return, Kentucky officials turned to an otter supplier in Louisiana named Lee Roy Sevin, who was selling the mammals for a few hundred dollars each. The two state struck up a deal: Kentucky would buy otters from Sevin and then give them to Iowa in exchange for wild turkeys. ✂️
The deal went through, and in 1985, a truck full of river otters arrived in Iowa. State wildlife officials released them at a large lake not far from Des Moines, kicking off what would become a 20-year reintroduction campaign. (The state later bought otters outright, partly with donations from fur trappers.) Ultimately, more than 300 of Sevin’s otters were released in streams and wetlands across the state, including a lake about 30 minutes from Fairfield.
It didn’t take long for them to spread. While otters were likely still rare around Fairfield when I was growing up, there were roughly 4,000 of them in Iowa by the turn of the last century. By 2006, there were as many as 12,000, and the state opened up a trapping season (the very activity that drove them toward extinction in the first place).
Note: that trapping season — or at least some kind of humane annual cull or contraception — may be necessary to protect other kinds of wildlife (notably fish). Sometimes a wildly successful recovery of a species in a degraded habitat can have unintended consequences! Still, hooray for the otters!
Michigan
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1/ We’re proud to share that we have completed the rollout for our One Day project with @MichiganHHS —all MDHHS offices are now using an updated process to make same-day determinations possible for benefits delivery across the state’s five largest public benefits programs. pic.twitter.com/I1vhg1Xwff
NEW: Minnesota Republicans just accidentally legalized edibles statewide. One Republican lawmaker say he didn’t realize what the bill was going to do when he voted for it and is now calling to roll it back— but Democrats aren’t letting him. https://t.co/P6SbVrC7Wc
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) July 1, 2022
Missouri
One really good thing that has come out of Missouri this week (and here’s hoping that Jason Kander will one day return to politics, if he is interested):
New Jersey
More good news from New Jersey:
New York
New York passes constitutional amendment codifying abortion rights in the state:
The University of Texas project, known as TxCOPE, is one attempt to solve a problem exasperating officials nationwide who are trying to lower the record number of drug deaths: getting an instant, accurate picture of both nonfatal and fatal drug overdoses. Community groups are now using TxCOPE’s data dashboards and heat maps to see where overdoses are spiking and then target those hot spots with prevention efforts such as naloxone training and supplies, said Christopher Bailey, project coordinator at Project Vida, a health center in El Paso.
It is one of the few projects in the U.S. pooling crowdsourced overdose data from harm reduction groups in a systematic way, according to Leo Beletsky, a public health law expert at Northeastern University. Such projects compensate for the lack of an accurate picture of the decadeslong overdose crisis. “It’s scandalous,” Beletsky said. ✂️
Privacy is a key feature of the TxCOPE project — people need to be able to share overdose information without fear of consequences, Claborn said. Texas passed a law in 2021 intended to shield from arrest people who call emergency services during an overdose, but it’s narrowly tailored. People who have a felony drug conviction, for example, don’t qualify. And someone is protected from arrest only once. TxCOPE has a federal certificate of confidentiality that protects it from court orders, and Claborn doesn’t share raw data with the state. ✂️
Researchers and harm reduction groups say this nebulous data is better than what they’ve had in the past. Even though the project’s anecdotal data isn’t thoroughly vetted, the step toward timeliness is great, Stein said.
🎶 Musical Shoutout for DOJ and J6 Committee 🎶
January 6 Investigation
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“There are those in this country who thirst for power but have no love or respect for what makes America great: devotion to the Constitution, allegiance to the rule of law, our shared journey to build a more perfect Union.” – Chair @BennieGThompson
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) July 3, 2022
🚨 Heads up!
If you’d like to have all the information and updates about the January 6 Hearings in one place, well, this is the link for you! January 6 Clearinghouse, Just Security.org
Welcome to this all-source repository of information for analysts, researchers, investigators, journalists, educators, and the public at large.
Now that Pat Cipollone, Donald Trump’s last White House Counsel, has received a subpoena for testimony from the January 6 Select Committee, he faces two key decisions. He must first decide whether to appear at all. If he does appear, he must then decide whether he should refuse to answer certain questions by asserting legal privileges. In my view, Cipollone has no valid legal basis to refuse to appear—and once in the witness chair, there are no valid claims of privilege that would permit him to refuse to answer questions relating to matters the committee is investigating.
Starting with the first decision, there is no proper basis for Cipollone to refuse to appear. Given the nature and gravity of the offenses that the January 6 committee is investigating, a failure to appear would rank as a disgraceful dereliction of duty. That is particularly true in light of the extraordinary testimony offered by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Under oath, she stated that Cipollone warned his colleagues that if the mob marched to the Capitol, “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable.” The committee has the right to explore whether he made this comment just to a relatively low-level staffer—which seems unlikely-or whether he similarly warned Trump and his close associates. The committee has also heard testimony that Cipollone described a proposed letter from Jeffrey Clark (initially supported by Trump) as a “murder-suicide pact” that would “damage everyone who touches it.” Because Cipollone’s own conduct is squarely at issue—and because he had unique access to Trump throughout the fraught period under investigation—the committee can very easily establish a legitimate and legally compelling basis to obtain his testimony.
From a professor of criminology and criminal justice:
After the first five public hearings held by the House select committee investigating the organized and coordinated activities of Donald J. Trump and his allies to steal the 2020 presidential election, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, it seemed apparent that Attorney General Merritt Garland would not prosecute Trump for two likely federal crimes: “obstructing an official proceeding” and engaging in a “conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
But the sixth hearing, and the dramatic testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — the proverbial “fly on the wall” — was truly a game-changer. Knowing that Trump welcomed the armed weapons and the assault on the Capitol was certainly no surprise to most people who have been paying attention. ✂️
The impending criminal charges to be filed against Donald Trump by the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, and the U.S. Department of Justice are both very different from the thousands of previous lawsuits in Trump’s career. Those civil cases, both past and present, have always been about money. The soon-to-be criminal cases will be about Trump’s personal freedom — and whether he will be wearing an orange jumpsuit for the next several years.
⚖️ Other Legal Trouble for TFG & Associates ⚖️
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Things just got a lot worse for Donald Trump in Fulton County, Georgia.
The Grand Jury investigating Trump for criminal interference in the 2020 election just subpoenaed Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesbro, Jenna Ellis and others.
The Fulton County special grand jury investigating potential criminal interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections has subpoenaed key members of former President Donald Trump’s legal team, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, according to copies obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In addition to Giuliani, those being summoned include John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis, all of whom advised the Trump campaign on strategies for overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s wins in Georgia and other swing states.
The grand jury also subpoenaed U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s top allies, along with attorney and podcast host Jacki Pick Deason.
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NEW: here are the subpoenas filed today in Fulton County special grand jury investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn 2020 election today – Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Jacki Pick Deason, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro #gapolhttps://t.co/E2NctTpPYQ
A Georgia judge has ordered an attorney from former President Donald Trump’s campaign team to testify in a special grand jury investigation about efforts to overturn the 2020 election. ✂️
Chesebro allegedly had a role in organizing an “alternate” slate of electors that would elect Trump instead of Joe Biden. On December 14, 2020, the group assembled at the state capitol to cast their illegitimate votes for Trump.
“The court’s order said he was involved in the ‘coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 individuals meet at the Georgia State Capitol on December 14, 2020 to cast purported electoral college votes in favor of former President Donald Trump, even though none of those 16 individuals had been ascertained as Georgia’s certified presidential electors by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp,'” (Joe Henke of) 11Alive reported. ✂️
The House Select Committee on Jan. 6 and the Justice Department have also subpoenaed Chesebro.
What’s particularly bad for Fox, she noted, is that Dominion asked the network to stop disseminating the lies and correct the record, yet “Fox persisted in spreading misrepresentations about the voting machine company.”
A particularly intriguing development could be the exposure of text and email messages among the Trump White House, Fox News personalities, and even Rupert Murdoch.
“I think once you start to pull the discovery material, what you’re going to find is there was a lot of communication between the Trump people both internally and externally about pushing very specific lies and narratives,” Angelo Carusone, chief executive of Media Matters for America, told The Guardian.
🎶 Musical Shoutout to TFG and Republican Enablers 🎶
BOSTON (CN) — Expectations that Republicans will win control of the U.S. Senate in November, like the apocryphal reports of Mark Twain’s death, may have been greatly exaggerated.
Republicans face an uphill battle and could very easily lose seats, despite political winds in their favor with President Biden’s approval rating hovering near 40% and as many as three-quarters of Americans telling pollsters that the country is on the wrong track.
“Right now I’d say the Democrats are very slightly favored” to hold the Senate, said David Niven, who teaches American politics at the University of Cincinnati.
“Based on the fundamentals, you’d rather have the Republicans’ hand this year, but when you look at it race by race, the Democrats are not in bad shape,” agreed Stephen Medvic, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College.
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It is no more written in the stars that Ds will lose in November because of incumbency that it is that Rs are bound to lose because failed coups and brazen judicial overreach have consequences. Everything depends on political exertion.
Ultimately all Johnson’s crimes boiled down to the same offence, a near total disregard for the ethics and integrity of high office. Everyone who worked for him was tainted by association Finally two cabinet ministers have had the gumption to say enough https://t.co/ab9QQ3nhuf
— robert shrimsley (@robertshrimsley) July 5, 2022
What took them so long? The chancellor and the health secretary have gone. Others may have jumped before the ink is dry on this, kicking themselves for not taking the lead as this cabinet of accomplices finally calculates that loyalty is doing their careers more harm than good. Late, too late, they conclude that protecting Big Dog for one more catastrophic Today programme interview will finish off their chances for good.
Are these the end of days for the prime minister? The party may yet need to prise his fingers off the cliff-face before he crashes to the Tarpeian rock. Health secretary Sajid Javid was first off the mark, so chancellor Rishi Sunak was pipped to the post by a few minutes. Javid writes that the country needs a “strong and principled Conservative party”. Yes indeed, but the country needed this through every scandal that has engulfed Boris Johnson.
Sunak echoed those words with an equally empty sentiment: “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously.” Yes indeed, but the country needed that before the Conservativesknowingly selected the most unfit man in their clan to lead them.
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Sunak, Javid and every Conservative MP knew who Boris Johnson was when they backed him only weeks ago.
The problem isn’t just Boris Johnson. It’s the whole Conservative Party.
They are out of ideas, out of steam and out of touch. They are unfit to govern.
Toynbee (author of the Guardian article above) was prescient when she said, “others may have jumped (ship) before the ink is dry on this”.
With all of these dominoes falling so fast, it’s hard to imagine how Johnson survives even another day, though he will of course try to hang on:
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Losing track. This evening #BorisJohnson has lost: Javid (Health & Social Care) Sunak (Chancellor) Murrison Saqqib (PPS) Crosbie (PPS) Richards (PPS) Afolami (Vice Chair) Gullis The numbers are going up quicker than petrol & Lurpak costs… pic.twitter.com/ltPrtJJZFX
The move further increases Russia’s strategic isolation in the wake of its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February and military struggles there since.
“This is truly a historic moment for Finland, for Sweden and for NATO,” the head of the alliance, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, said.
The 30 ambassadors and permanent representatives formally approved decisions made at a NATO summit in Madrid last week, when the leaders of member nations invited Russia’s neighbor Finland and Scandinavian partner Sweden to join the military club.
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BREAKING:
All 30 NATO member states have just signed off on the accession protocols for Sweden & Finland.
All 30 national parliaments will now have to ratify it for 🇸🇪🇫🇮 to become members.
(CN) — The European Union’s top 5% wealthiest people earned nearly five times as much as the bottom 5%, but its statistics agency found social transfers — including social assistance and sickness benefits — reduced income inequality by nearly 60%. Analyses of health care and child benefits published by Eurostat on Monday reveal parallels between a strong social safety net and lower income inequality. ✂️
The EU’s boost in benefits followed increased spending on allowances, childbirth income maintenance and child care.
“The rise in expenditure on child day care is perhaps unsurprising given that EU employment policy has strongly encouraged the importance of affordable child care in allowing parents to work (if they want to) while raising a family,” the report explained.
Ukraine Rebuilding Plans take shape
🐩 💙 CGs Picks 💙🐩
Hello Everybody, it’s me, Curlygirly! Look at this little animal tasting an almond for the first time:
Mama used to have a different dog than me. The older dog was a bichon frise and she was the dog who came into the family when Mama didn’t even have all of her human children yet! And that little dog lived to be 17½ years old and when she went over the Rainbow bridge, Mama and all my human siblings were so sad! Mama said she would never ever have another dog. Never. Ever.
BUT! After a couple of years, and a lot of changes in her life, Mama changed her mind and she started to dream about her dream dog — ME! And then she decided to look for me, and she found me! I am SO GLAD that Mama decided to bring me into her life! And Mama says she is even gladder! 🥰💕🐩 Here is an article that I think is perfect:
Everyone must take a summer break from the relentless negativity of the news, which unfortunately reflects the relentless negativity of reality. So let me introduce you to Jack.
Jack is a puppy I picked up last week, eight months after the death of my much-loved Havanese, Latte. As soon as I brought Jack home — a powder puff of black and white, curvetting in the grass, all fluff and playful fury — I was reminded of the quandary and question that greets dog owners: Why do we take new dogs into our lives, knowing we will be decimated by their deaths? ✂️
In human relationships, the transforming presence of love is worth the inevitability of grief. Can dogs really love? Science might deny that the species possesses such complex emotions. But I know dogs can act in a loving fashion and provide love’s consolations. Which is all we really know about what hairless apes can manage in the love department as well. ✂️
Why do we take in new dogs? Because their joy for living renews our own.
Haha I think this sheep is very funny! And the cow is like me when a puppy races toward me to bonk me on the nose! 😂
That’s all the bits I have for you today. Bye for now! Luv, CG 💙🐾
💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗
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.
The League of Women Voterswork year-round to combat voter suppression through advocacy, grassroots organizing, legal action and public education. You can get involved with them at this link
Volunteer with Black Votes Matterat this link. They have on the ground work in 10 states and people from other states can write postcards, phone bank, fundraise, and text.
CALL YOUR SENATORS and let them know that voting rights are at the top of your agenda!
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.
HERE’S HOW TO CONTACT CONGRESS:
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121 * Website: http://www.house.gov/
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!
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
That’s it from me and CG for another Wednesday! Remember Gnusies — you don’t have to do everything, just do the things you can do. And always keep in mind that you must take good care of yourself. You are needed in the ongoing work of building a better world, and even more to the point, you are important!
So, eat nutritious food, get some rest and I really mean this — if you can get outdoors for a few minutes each day, do it! It can help restore perspective.
I will be long gone by the time this diary goes live because I am driving from Chicago to Atlanta today on family business. So, unfortunately I won’t be able to respond to comments (but I will definitely be reading them when I reach my destination and won’t that be fun for me! 😃).
