Good News Roundup for Friday, April 5, 2024: Try this one weird trick – Daily Kos

A while back I read an article with ways on how to get someone to fall in love with you. You would think that doing something nice for someone would be key, but here’s something that works even better: getting them to do something nice for you.
I know, it’s weird, but getting someone to do something nice for you is more effective at eliciting affection than being nice to them (although that is good too). 
I bet this can be extended to relationships that are not romantic. 
Get someone to do a tiny thing for you or for team blue, and that will get them interested in you and, by extension, in team blue.
Come on in, gnusies, and see what the good guys are doing!
Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the many who are fighting to destroy our country. Some of us expected it: the cheating, the lying, the chaos, and yes, even the attempts to cling to power despite the clear will of the people. But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including us and our fellow gnus) who are working so hard to save our country from those very bad people.  We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know.  Remember:
💙 There are more of us than there are of them.
💛 They are terrified when we organize.  THERE IS LOTS OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE TERRIFIED!
💔 They want us to be demoralized. The best way to keep up your spirits is to fight. So, take the time to recharge your batteries, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world.
Biden, Harris and their administration have been hard at work. Here are the last week’s posts at the White House briefing room.
We are NATO. 🇦🇱🇧🇪🇧🇬🇨🇦🇭🇷🇨🇿🇩🇰🇪🇪🇫🇮🇫🇷🇩🇪🇬🇷🇭🇺🇮🇸🇮🇹🇱🇻🇱🇹🇱🇺🇲🇪🇳🇱🇲🇰🇳🇴🇵🇱🇵🇹🇷🇴🇸🇰🇸🇮🇪🇸🇸🇪🇹🇷🇬🇧🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/3hUFxqREOP
👍 Simon Rosenberg, who is really positive about our prospects at Hopium, made it into the New York Times. And that’s important, because the NYT has been annoyingly negative. This is from the email Rosenberg sent out on Thursday.
Hopium In The NYTimes – Why I Am So Optimistic About Winning This November – A few days ago I did a long interview with Adam Nagourney of the New York Times. It dropped in the digital version of the paper yesterday afternoon. I hope you will read it, let me know what you think and share it with others in your networks. It’s a fun read, and does a good job capturing the core arguments I make here at Hopium.
👎 Enid, Oklahoma voters kick a white supremacist off their city council Brandy Zadrozny NBC News
ENID, Okla. — Voters in Enid decided by a nearly 20-point margin Tuesday to remove a City Council member over his ties to white nationalist groups.
Judd Blevins lost his seat on Enid’s six-member City Council by 268 votes, according to unofficial results from the Oklahoma State Election Board. Nearly 1,400 people turned out, about a quarter of Ward 1’s registered voters and hundreds more than voted when Blevins was first elected last year.
First, I asked Gartner whether he perceived any difference between the cognitive ability of Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Absolutely, he replied. “It’s like comparing apples and rotten oranges.” It’s not just a case of two old men roughly the same age, both showing signs of diminishing sharpness of the mind, Gartner stressed. There’s a huge difference between the two, he said. He could not have put it more clearly: “Biden is aging. Trump is dementing.”
As a mental health professional, Gartner’s been observing Trump for years, I noted. Has he seen any diminishment in mental acuity, I asked. Totally, he replied. When he first wrote about Trump in 2017, Gartner was talking about intermittent examples of mental collapse. “Now,” he said, “he is getting worse. He can’t get through a whole rally without revealing himself. And, because this is a progressive illness, he will continue to get worse. And if he is like most patients like this, at some point, he is literally going to fall off the cognitive cliff and he will be completely incapacitated.”  
“Do you think he’s close to the edge?” I asked. And here’s where Gartner stunned me. “I am certain that if he is reelected,” Gartner said, “he will become cognitively incapacitated. There’s no way at the rate of deterioration that he’s showing that he can make it through four more years without falling off the cliff.”
👍 Dems take control of Green Bay, Wisconsin city council Jeff Bollier, Green Bay Press Gazette
GREEN BAY – Political newcomer Joey Prestley on Tuesday ousted incumbent Steven Campbell by 15 votes to win a two-year term on the Green Bay City Council, according to unofficial results.
Prestley garnered 355 votes to Campbell’s 340 in the race for the District 6 seat. Prestley, a communications specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, became the only challenger to beat a City Council incumbent in the 2024 spring election. But he will be joined by three other, new voices on the council, nonetheless.
15 votes is not a lot, but according to the Meidas Touch Network, winning this seat gives the Ds a 7 to 5 majority. Which is also not a lot, but is better than it was.
👎 No Labels decides not to field a presidential candidate
You’re WELCOME, America.https://t.co/X1s3X5aVVa

🌵 Arizona GOP admits financial disaster Mark Alesia Raw Story
Party officials acknowledged having “a shortage of cash-flow and donations up until the end of 2023,” according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission this week that Raw Story reviewed.
The Arizona GOP also told federal regulators that “rent for multiple months of 2023” wasn’t paid until January of this year.✂️ 
The Arizona GOP voted last month to sell the $1.9 million Phoenix headquarters it bought nine months ago.
They also have serious personnel problems, but we don’t have room to cover all the AZ GOP woes.
Trump’s RNC struggling with campaign offices Sophia Cai Axios
The Trump-led Republican National Committee is scrambling to boost staffs and give loyalty tests in seven battleground states at a time when several GOP state parties are plagued by dysfunction and disarray.
Why it matters: Less than eight months before the Nov. 5 election, significant parts of the RNC’s get-out-the-vote operation in states likely to decide the election are playing catch-up after Trump’s team ousted 60 staffers in its recent takeover.
The other side: President Biden’s team has been bringing on experienced staffers to lead efforts in swing states — which also include Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
On March 28, 2024, we had the three presidents and Stephen Colbert. Even though it was 8 days ago on Thursday, I didn’t link to it in last week’s listing (I didn’t take a screen shot, but I couldn’t find it, so maybe they snuck it in later, or maybe I just missed it). I don’t think there’s a full video, but there is a complete transcript now. Here’s an excerpt:
MR. COLBERT:  President Obama and President Clinton, is there anything you — you’d like to add to that sense of urgency?
PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, I — I think it’s worth adding that — (applause) — it — it’s not just the negative case against the presumptive nominee on the other side; it’s the positive case for somebody who’s done an outstanding job in the presidency.  (Applause.)  
Well, it — it’s — sometimes we — we forget where we started and where we are now.  You’ve got record-breaking job growth.  You’ve got an unemployment rate — (applause) — that is as low as it has been — for African Americans, by the way, the lowest on record ever.  (Applause.)  You’ve got extraordinary progress building off the work we did — first, Bill Clinton passing the Children’s Health Insurance Act, we passed the Affordable Care Act.  (Applause.)
Joe Biden takes the baton.  He’s now expanded coverage; made sure that seniors are seeing big discounts in their prescription drugs, capping — (applause) — insulin drug prices — capping the price of insulin at 35 bucks, where it used to cost them up to $400 — (applause); you know, helping young people go to college — (applause); the record-setting investment in clean energy that’s going to transition us to the kind of future that our children and grandchildren deserve.  (Applause.) ✂️
PRESIDENT CLINTON:  No, it’s true.  I listened — I listened to him [tRump] tell us how terrible the American economy was all during 2016.  And then, by January of 2017, after the inauguration, it had become wonderful — (laughter) — miraculously, overnight.  (Laughter.)
Well, what happened was, actually, job growth under President Trump was slower than it was under President Obama in his last term.  (Applause.)  But people didn’t feel it.  It takes a while to feel it.
So, then he claimed credit for everything.  Then, all of a sudden, Joe Biden comes along and creates roughly twice as many jobs in three years as he did.  (Applause.)
And so, I believe in keeping score.  (Laughter.)  And not in a vindictive way but in a positive way.
He’s been good for America, and he deserves another term.  And democracy around the world needs him.  (Applause.) ✂️
PRESIDENT CLINTON:  I know there are many other things we need to talk about tonight, but I believe that this is one of the most important reasons to reelect President Biden.  (Applause.)  And I’ll explain why.
Because he genuinely cares about preserving the existence of Israel, which Hamas doesn’t.  (Applause.)  And he genuinely cares about giving the Palestinians a decent state, self-governance, and the support they need for self-determination.  (Applause.)  And you’ve got to do both.
Look, this — the world we live in is hard, because you have to keep two apparently conflicting ideas in your head at the same time.  But don’t forget, those of you who — particularly if you’re younger and all you know is Israelis’ government is denying the rights of the Palestinians.  Perhaps my closest friend among other world leaders was Yitzhak Rabin — (applause) — who got himself killed standing for a Palestinian state. ✂️
After being asked about Jan 6, 2021
PRESIDENT BIDEN:  And I decided I couldn’t remain silent.  So, what I did was I made a speech about January the 6th — what was happening.  And I said there was an insurrection underway and it must be dealt with.  And I pled with the President to stop and do his job, call these people off.
He sat there in the dining room off the Oval Office for several hours and watched.  Didn’t do a damn thing.
And that’s why I felt obliged — even though I wasn’t sworn in yet; I was president-elect — that I went out and said, “This is what we should be doing,” and laid it out.
 
🚋 Protecting trains and protecting people from trains. Secretary Pete Buttigieg: We just finalized a rule saying major railroads can’t unilaterally decide to run a 2-mile-long freight train with only one crew member on board. It’s as common-sense as it gets – yet the railroad lobby just came out and called this “overreach” by USDOT. I am not making this up.
We just finalized a rule saying major railroads can’t unilaterally decide to run a 2-mile-long freight train with only one crew member on board.

It’s as common-sense as it gets – yet the railroad lobby just came out and called this “overreach” by USDOT. I am not making this up.
Governor Evers in Wisconsin urges the newly liberal state Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the court’s previous conservative majority and restore the use of ballot drop boxes in the state.
NEW: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) urges the newly liberal state Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the court’s previous conservative majority and restore the use of ballot drop boxes in the state.https://t.co/8pWWEUu59u

Sarah Longwell: “Courage can be contagious. … We’re running this campaign with … Republican voters who make these testimonials explaining why they … refuse to vote for him again … If they can do that … these people who served with Donald Trump can do that.”
.@SarahLongwell25: “Courage can be contagious… We’re running this campaign with…Republican voters who make these testimonials explaining why they…refuse to vote for him again…If they can do that…these people who served with Donald Trump can do that.” pic.twitter.com/ajcGqqZniM
Also, I know that many, including some here, think there’s no point in reaching out to those who voted for tRump. They dismiss the maga crowd as completely lost. But the above shows that some of these people can be reached. Remember, many are in silos. Others are just going along with their tribes, often their churches. And some may just not be that bright. (And yes, there are plenty of misogynistic racists and evil kleptocrats.)
Now, not all of us have the stomach to reach out to these people. But some, such as President Biden, do. And the more we can turn, the better for the country.
Tax-exempt organization complaint referrals. 13909. You can fill this out for the NRA and lots of other organizations. How about if some of us white folk go into some of the MAGA churches and video record what they’re saying?
Voting rights. This may be the biggest issue threatening our democracy right now. Besides contacting your representatives at the state and federal level to do the right thing (depending on who they are), you can support and contact these organizations:
ACLU — American Civil Liberties Union
Democracy Docket — founded by Marc Elias, so important in fighting the challenges after the last election.
Fair Fight — founded by Stacey Abrams
🌱Grass roots. Biden and Harris can do the top-down stuff, but we have to support from the bottom. I don’t know how to deprogram 75 million people, but some things have been written about, such as deep canvassing, and lots of people are talking about this. If you know someone (who did not storm the Capitol), then see if you can be pleasant. Instead of trying to reason with them (logic is obviously not their strong point) distract them with something else. We need to remove the sources of lies and to take down the temperature. If we get more of the Rs to wear masks and to get vaccinated and to vote for Ds, the country will be a better place. We need to coax some of them out of the rabbit holes and diffuse the anger and the crazy.
🏃 Run for something. If you want to run for something, but have no idea what to do, these people will help you. They also like money and volunteers to help those people who are running, so even if you’re not in a position to stand for office, you can help. Note: they are especially planning to target the 57 Rs in local governments who participated in the insurrection.
👎 Defund the seditionists. Defund the seditionists. This is a list with companies that sometimes have donated to the seditionists. The list is long. You will recognize many of the corporations, and you probably have a relationship with some — either you are a customer, a shareholder, or maybe even an employee. Contact them and compliment or complain, but let them know you are watching. Forward it to others.
🔎 Want to check out what’s going on with campaign contributions? Check out this diary. 👀

For the past few weeks, I was following the gofundme that was allegedly collecting money to pay off the tRump fine of 454 million dollars owed to NY state. The donations were diminishing, then, when he couldn’t pay, the donations went back up for a bit, and now that the bond is “only” 175 million, they have almost stopped.
But the bond may not be that secure. According to MeidasTouch: WOW: NY AG Letitia James is questioning Trump’s $175M bond surety after the subprime bond company appears to be overleveraged without enough cash to cover the judgment.
WOW: NY AG Letitia James is questioning Trump’s $175M bond surety after the subprime bond company appears to be overleveraged without enough cash to cover the judgment. https://t.co/npdPJlhtJD
Also, the price of his stock dropped 5.45% yesterday. 
People should have better sense than to go into business with tRump. Law & Crime: Trump sues ‘opportunistic’ Truth-Social co-founders he once fired on ‘The Apprentice,’ says their ‘severe mismanagement’ shuts them out of financial windfall. 
Trump sues ‘opportunistic’ Truth Social co-founders he once fired on ‘The Apprentice,’ says their ‘severe mismanagement’ shuts them out of financial windfall https://t.co/JhxrDh9Fhu
Lawyers should also have more sense than to work with tRump. Eastman argues to delay disbarment because he’s broke. Dan Ladden-Hall The Daily Beast
Former Donald Trump lawyer John Eastman is asking a judge to pause his disbarment so he can continue to work and earn income as an attorney while legal fees mount in his criminal case connected to his attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 election. ✂️ 
If it isn’t, they wrote, “Dr. Eastman would lose his ability to make a living as an attorney at a time when other matters arising out of his representation of the former President of the United States […] have already caused him to incur more than $1 million in legal fees.”
No, the point of disbarment is to stop him from earning money as a lawyer! Also, he represents Gaetz and Greene.
Bad news too for Clark, who was acting attorney general almost. Disbarment in action.
NEWS: Bar discipline authorities say Jeff Clark violated his professional duties in his bid to help Trump derail the transfer of power in 2020.

Bar investigators say they intend to seek his disbarment. https://t.co/lF9c8ibYMd pic.twitter.com/qEfqrBuq0V

tRump’s messaging against mail-in voting means many Rs won’t use this Natasha Korecki, Matt Dixon, Abigail Brooks and Emma Barnett NBC News
When Donald Trump held a rally last year in Erie County, an important area in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, the top Republican official there went one by one to the 11,000 people waiting in line to ask one question: Would you like to vote by mail?
It did not go well.
What happened in Erie County is emblematic of the ongoing feud within the GOP over one of the most fundamental elements of elections: how to vote. And it reflects a strain at a critical time for the party, when national and battleground polling has shown the 2024 presidential election could be won at the margins.
Of course, the reason tRump tried to go against mail-in votes was so he could steal the election, either by throwing them out or by stopping the count. Now it’s going against him and the rest of the GOP. And they deserve it.
Alex Murdaugh gets 40 years for financial crimes Juliette Arcodia and Erik Ortiz, NBC News
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A federal judge sentenced convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh to 40 years in prison Monday for stealing millions of dollars from his legal clients — a punishment that can be served at the same time as a 27-year state sentence previously imposed for related crimes.
The stakes had been raised in an otherwise routine sentencing hearing after federal prosecutors said in a filing last week that Murdaugh, 55, failed a polygraph test that he agreed to undergo as part of a plea deal. In addition, they said, they identified 11 new financial victims and $1.3 million more in stolen money.
I know, the above is not political news but it’s good to see a crooked lawyer getting punished. The only crime he denies still are the murders, but I think it’s obvious he did them. Why? Because, not only was he there, but he arranged for his wife and younger son to be there, too.
On Tuesday, there was a Daily Kos diary (ARodinFan) linking to an editorial by Chris Quinn at The Cleveland Plain Dealer. It’s important, and a good instance of fighting for the truth.
This is a tough column to write, because I don’t want to demean or insult those who write me in good faith. I’ve started it a half dozen times since November but turned to other topics each time because this needle hard to thread. No matter how I present it, I’ll offend some thoughtful, decent people.
The facts involving Trump are crystal clear, and as news people, we cannot pretend otherwise, as unpopular as that might be with a segment of our readers. There aren’t two sides to facts. People who say the earth is flat don’t get space on our platforms. If that offends them, so be it.
Dogs are simply full of love. And this one is a hero.
A 61 year old man got trapped in the mud in Alberta, Canada, and his dog stayed with him for two days.

During that time, he kept his owner warm and even fought off coyotes. He eventually found police and led them to his owner.

The best part?

The dog’s name is Hero. pic.twitter.com/1Aed2UQwwJ
Note: usually you should leave a service dog alone, but if one comes up to you, generally you should follow it. Its human may be in trouble.
☀️ Virginia’s utility regulator OKs enough new solar to power 200,000 homes Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch
Utility regulator the Virginia State Corporation Commission has approved more than a dozen new solar projects in the state with 764 megawatts (MW) of total electricity capacity — enough power for nearly 200,000 homes during peak output, a press release from Dominion Energy said.
The projects include four solar facilities with 329 MW of capacity that Dominion Energy will own or acquire, as well as an additional 435 MW provided by independently owned solar projects, reported Reuters.
“These projects deliver on our promise of reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy for our customers,” said Dominion Energy Virginia President Ed Baine in the press release. “Through our investments in offshore wind, battery storage and solar, Virginia continues to make progress on its clean energy transition.”
🌵 Phoenix passes ordinance protecting workers from extreme heat Cristen Hemingway Jaynes EcoWatch
A historic new law in Phoenix, Arizona, will provide thousands of outdoor workers in the hottest city in the country with protections from extreme heat.
In a unanimous vote, the Phoenix City Council passed an ordinance requiring that workers have easy access to rest, potable water and shade, as well as training to recognize signs of heat stress, a press release from the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) said. Vehicles with enclosed cabs must also have access to air conditioning.
“People who work outside and in hot indoor environments in Phoenix suffer unacceptably during our deadly summers, with too few protections,” said Katelyn Parady, a Phoenix-based expert on worker health and safety with National COSH, who assisted unions and local workers in advocating for the new extreme heat protection measures, in a press release from National COSH. “This ordinance is a critical first step toward getting workers lifesaving protections and holding employers accountable for safety during heat season. It’s also a model for how local governments can leverage their contracts to protect the workers who keep their communities running from climate change dangers.”
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: the Crow Nickels (chronicles), a trilogy about crows who want to save birdkind from extinction: Hunters of the Feather, Scavengers of Mind and Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’re really cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And Hunters is also available on Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — such as The Meryton Murders — and others based on history and Greek mythology, such as Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus, can be found here. All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paid if you turn the pages.
It turns out that participation in democracy is not just an every-four-years event but requires active participation, like, whenever you can find time.
Current projects:
Look in the comments for Progressive Muse’s report on Postcards to Voters
And some other ideas:
You can relax and recharge.
You can join protests and freeway blog.
You can help register new voters.
You can smile.
You can say something nice to friend or a stranger.
You can get out the vote for special elections.
You can reach out to upset Republicans.  We need to win some back.
You can share your ideas below.
💙 “Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we all are created equal and the harsh ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart. The battle is perennial, and victory is never assured.” 💙
President Joseph R. Biden

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