dailykos--2020-05-19--Chopping Down the Wingnut Tree - GNR, Bluesday May 19th, 2020

The republican party is a lot like one of those ancient dead trees towering over town halls all around the country .
The tree has historic significance and the town fathers don ’ t want to cut it down .
But the branches are falling off and the whole thing is likely to fall over at any moment crushing the town hall on its way down .
Rather than bring in a tree service to bring it down safely and plant a sapling to replace it , the republican party is lining up to watch it topple over right onto @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what this November is all about .
We are the tree service .
They are an old tree devoid of just about every vestige of their founders except the name .
Today ’ s republican party is rotten from root to crown and trunk to leaf .
Concepts like humanity , compassion and the greater good have been replaced with bigotry , selfishness and “ all for me and none for you.
” They are moribund and should be in hospice care .
Instead , they try to cling to power , damaging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death throes .
Giving up is not an option .
Staying discouraged is not an option .
Voting like our live depend on it is our only option .
Because they do .
John Oliver on Sports during the time of the # tRumPandemic caused by the # tRumpVirus .
The Marble Runs segment still has me smiling .
And it ’ s on to the news , There are lots of different kinds of good news .
One that we tend to focus on is the “ Bad news for them is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes us optimistic about November .
Every emerging scandal or extended dance of the idiots adds to the stockpile of “ I can ’ t believe they did that ” stories .
The danger is that the electorate gets overloaded with all the fiascos and discounts them as unimportant .
I don ’ t think that ’ s likely as the more they screw up to the more adversely they touch the lives of individual Americans .
This week , I ’ ll try to distinguish between different kinds of news stories so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t want to bother with .
The Ugly ( for everyone ) The true ugliness of the tRump administration bubbles over constantly with their overt racism .
It ’ s tough to look at , but it is a source for motivating voters to get out and remove these festering sores on dignity and equality from the national stage .
Equating redlining loans for black Americans trying to buy houses with banks not underwriting potential environmental catastrophes is like equating Mother Teresa and tRump .
Have we ever seen a more self-centered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us ?
Well , yeah we have , and they have a lot in common besides Roy Cohn .
The New Yorker : David Remnick : What Donald Trump Shares with Joseph McCarthy On January 6 , 2017 , at around 8:30 a.m. , Donald Trump undoubtedly had serious matters on his mind .
In just two weeks , he would come into possession of the nuclear codes , attempt to fill out the upper ranks of the federal government , and assume responsibility for the course of American policy at home and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phone and began to tweet an assessment of his replacement on “ The Celebrity Apprentice ” : Wow .
The ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got “ swamped ” ( or destroyed ) by comparison to the ratings machine , DJT .
So much for .
.
.
being a movie star—and that was season 1 compared to season 14 .
Now compare him to my season 1 .
But who cares , he supported Kasich & Hillary .
In the years to come , Trump ’ s social-media goals expanded .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ come at a fevered rate of more than a hundred a day , provide real-time talking points for right-wing media outlets , and are absorbed as doctrine by millions of faithful constituents .
As President , Trump takes to Twitter to declare who is “ pathetic ” and who is “ dopey , ” who is a “ total nut job ” and who is a “ low class slob.
” He fires staff and touts the dimensions of his “ Nuclear Button.
” The tone is so consistently devoid of empathy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even “ HAPPY MOTHER ’ S DAY ” sounds like a threat .
I guess Joe is trying to make up for helping put the Orange Ass in the Oval Office .
He still has a long way to go , but every little bit helps .
This story is about the Weijia Jiang incident during one of those excruciating campaign rall/press conferences where tRump let his racist flag fly .
Washington Post : Joe Scarborough : Trump ’ s racism will bring his party down with him The Bad ( for them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Flynn is a pleasure to watch .
The Atlantic : Flynn ’ s New Argument Is Constitutional Nonsense Predictably , the lawyers for Michael Flynn , President Donald Trump ’ s former national security adviser , are unhappy about the refusal of U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to immediately green-light dropping his prosecution .
The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure permit the Justice Department to withdraw the Flynn indictment only “ with leave of court.
” In considering such leave , Sullivan has decided to allow independent groups and legal experts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Presumably yet more upsetting to Flynn and his counsel , Sullivan has appointed a former federal judge , John Gleeson , to oppose the Justice Department ’ s request and to examine whether Flynn may have committed perjury .
In a court filing from before the Gleeson appointment , Flynn ’ s lawyers assert that the intervention of third parties would be unconstitutional .
They write : “ A criminal case is a dispute between the United States and a criminal defendant … For the Court to allow another to stand in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violation of the separation of powers.
” This is constitutional nonsense .
Neither the parties filing briefs , nor the retired judge advising Sullivan , are “ stand [ ing ] in the place of the government.
” They are , rather , providing information and counsel .
But there is more here at stake : In monitoring the integrity of Flynn ’ s prosecution , Sullivan is also working to preserve the integrity of the court system he represents .
In doing so , Sullivan ’ s effort to protect the integrity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that prosecution is an executive function , but it ’ s a judicial one too .
The # tRumpVirus is not going away and tRump will not escape blame , no matter how much he tries to play the innocent lackwit .
Vox : Ezra Klein : The president ’ s job is to manage risk .
But Trump is the risk .
A few months ago , I had dinner with a friend who argued that it was time to rethink Donald Trump ’ s presidency .
After all , the economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ended up in a nuclear war , and the tough posture toward China was paying some trade dividends .
Maybe the madman routine was working .
Maybe it really was just a routine , and Trump was managing the presidency well enough .
Wasn ’ t it time for critics like me to rethink their most dire warnings ?
Wasn ’ t it time to admit we ’ d gotten him wrong ?
There were , even then , obvious rebuttals , and I made some of them .
The lethal mismanagement of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But there was a power to the argument .
The worst hadn ’ t happened .
Didn ’ t that require a reckoning ?
And then the novel coronavirus came , and President Trump did nothing for week after week , month after month .
We sit , still , in the void where a plan should be , forced to choose between endless lockdown and reckless reopening because the federal government has not charted a middle path .
Instead , we wake to presidential tweets demanding the “ liberation ” of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crying when the most powerful man in the world suggests we study the injection of disinfectants .
Trump has let disaster metastasize into calamity .
The feared collision of global crisis and presidential recklessness has come , and it is not close to over .
You would think the Muttonhead-in-Chief would learn when to drop a debunked medical theory .
But hey , he has one go to move and it ’ s to double down .
Maybe he has malaria , or got it confused with melania ?
Rolling Stone : Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But He Also Lies Daily Trump is all-in on hydroxychloroquine , a drug he has touted without proof as a miracle cure for those afflicted with COVID-19 .
The president told the press he has been taking the controversial drug — which he has touted despite scientists finding it does not help treat COVID-19 — for the past “ couple weeks.
” “ A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy .
A lot of good things have come out , ” Trump said at a White House event on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surprised at how many people are taking it .
I happen to be taking it… I ’ m taking it hydroxychloroquine , right now.
” The president added that he was prescribed the drug by the White House physician , who told him it was “ fine to take.
” “ I asked [ the White House doctor ] , ‘ What do you think ?
’ He said , ‘ Well if you ’ d like it.
’ I said , ‘ Yeah I ’ d like it .
I ’ d @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people are taking it , a lot of frontline workers are taking hydroxychloroquine , ” Trump claimed , later adding , “ So , I ’ m taking the zinc and the hydroxy .
And all I can tell you is , so far I seem to be okay.
” The ( R ) senator from Wisconsin in need of a drool pail harness to go with his mask .
He ’ s getting spittle all over himself .
Wonkette : Senate 's Dumbest Republican Knows Why Trump Fired State Department IG @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We don ’ t expect much from the tRump spawn .
But , holy jumping jacks , this one is not just missing a few cards , he threw away the deck .
One school of thought says that Amash would have taken votes away from Biden by giving the tRump averse republicans somewhere else to go .
So him going away is good news .
Mother Jones : Rep. Justin Amash Announces He Won ’ t Be Running for President Looking out for some of our most vulnerable citizens is a noble @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Are Installing Portable Hand-Washing Sinks for the Homeless in Cities Across the US Charles Pierce is worth reading just because he ’ s Charles Pierce .
He was away for a bit and I ’ m glad he ’ s back .
Esquire : Last Call with Charles P. Pierce : The State of Unreality THIS IS N'T THE 2020 I ANTICIPATED IN DECEMBER .
As one decade prepared to lap over into another , I planned to split time between Washington , where the president was being impeached , and Iowa , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his hands off the national executive would face their first real contest .
I would have some happy holidays—I was a new grandfather—and get right into another campaign , with the third impeachment of a U. S. president as a kind of constitutional lagniappe .
I cracked two lumbar vertebrae and got twenty staples in my head and spent Christmas and New Year ’ s flat on my back .
I watched the deliberations of the House Judiciary Committee from my hospital bed , doped to the gills and wondering whether Congressman Louie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sat through much of the run-up to the Iowa caucuses and didn ’ t return to actual reporting until I went to Washington to cover the impeachment trial in the Senate , gimping around the Capitol at the conclusion of an exercise that was as fixed and foregone as any professional-wrestling match .
I adore Andy Borowitz .
He had two reports out yesterday .
I am so jealous .
The New Yorker : Satire from The Borowitz Report : New Test Indicates Hydroxychloroquine Causes Delusions The New Yorker : Satire from The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Start Picking Up Pompeo ’ s Laundry I get lost in the lead vocals from 82-year-old Teté Garcia Caturla .
At some point WineRev ’ s history comment will appear hear rescued from being buried in the comments .
So lem me get this straight .
When Native peoples stand unarmed to defend our land & all human life , we get answered with militarized force , jail , prison .
When white folks knowingly disregard human life during a health pandemic , not a single arrest .
pic.twitter.com/xEpnDLrqxP Ã¢ÂÂ tara houska Ã¡ÂÂÃ¡ÂÂ³Ã¡ÂÂÃ¡ÂÂ´ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 Mel Gibson is a straight white man who hates women and Jews and has no political experience which means he has a good shot at being president someday .
Ã¢ÂÂ The Volatile Mermaid ( @ OhNoSheTwitnt ) May 19 , 2020 From my friend Susan , I don ’ t know where she got it For as long as I can remember , I have loved math tricks .
This one really works !
It will take you only about-ten-seconds and amazingly , it will reveal your all-time favorite movie .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I did it in my head , then on paper , and finally on a calculator just to confirm my mathematical calculations .
Each time I got the same answer , and sure enough , it IS my very favorite movie ...
EVER !
DO NOT cheat .
DO YOUR math , THEN compare the results on the list of movies at the bottom .
You will be AMAZED at how scary true and accurate this test is : • Your total will be a two digit number .
Add the first and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movie ( of all time ) in the list of 17 movies below : • Gone With the Wind • The Good , the Bad , and the Ugly .. Now , is n't that something ?
The return of the Hamburgler .
If you leave it laying around on the table like that , I ’ m going to take it .
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will , and the other from a strong won ’ t .
— Henry Ward Beecher Though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you may see me cry– I ’ ll be dogged , sweet baby , if you gon na see me die .
— Langston Hughes Perseverance is not a long race ; it is many short races one after the other .
— Walter Elliot A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn .
— Helen Keller

The republican party is a lot like one of those ancient dead trees towering over town halls all around the country. The tree has historic significance and the town fathers don’t want to cut it down. But the branches are falling off and the whole thing is likely to fall over at any moment crushing the town hall on its way down.
Rather than bring in a tree service to bring it down safely and plant a sapling to replace it, the republican party is lining up to watch it topple over right onto their adoring faces.
That’s what this November is all about. We are the tree service. They are an old tree devoid of just about every vestige of their founders except the name. Today’s republican party is rotten from root to crown and trunk to leaf.
Concepts like humanity, compassion and the greater good have been replaced with bigotry, selfishness and “all for me and none for you.” They are moribund and should be in hospice care. Instead, they try to cling to power, damaging the rest of the planet with their death throes.
November is important.
Giving up is not an option.
Staying discouraged is not an option.
Voting like our live depend on it is our only option. Because they do.
We’ve got this. Stay Strong!
Up the Resistance!
John Oliver on Sports during the time of the #tRumPandemic caused by the #tRumpVirus. The Marble Runs segment still has me smiling.
x YouTube Video
The Lincoln Project is smacking tRump hard.
x YouTube Video
And it’s on to the news,
There are lots of different kinds of good news. One that we tend to focus on is the “Bad news for them is good news for us” construction which makes us optimistic about November. Every emerging scandal or extended dance of the idiots adds to the stockpile of “I can’t believe they did that” stories. The danger is that the electorate gets overloaded with all the fiascos and discounts them as unimportant. I don’t think that’s likely as the more they screw up to the more adversely they touch the lives of individual Americans. This week, I’ll try to distinguish between different kinds of news stories so you can skip over stuff you don’t want to bother with.
The Ugly (for everyone)
The true ugliness of the tRump administration bubbles over constantly with their overt racism. It’s tough to look at, but it is a source for motivating voters to get out and remove these festering sores on dignity and equality from the national stage. Equating redlining loans for black Americans trying to buy houses with banks not underwriting potential environmental catastrophes is like equating Mother Teresa and tRump.
Axios: Trump’s energy chief: Banks are "redlining" oil and gas investments
Bank restrictions on the financing of oil and gas drilling in the Arctic are akin to past practices —known as redlining — of not loaning to communities of color, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told Axios in an exclusive interview. The big picture: A decades-long battle over Arctic drilling is suddenly escalating even as the world grapples with a pandemic. Five of America’s six biggest banks have recently announced they won’t finance oil and gas development in the Arctic, prompting conservative and industry backlash. "For years and years and years, banks would not lend money, insurance companies would not write policies in minority areas in the country. Redlining is the term used all throughout those debates. We didn’t want banks redlining certain parts of the country. We don’t want that here. I do not think banks should be redlining our oil and gas investment across the country." — Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette
Have we ever seen a more self-centered attention whore pandering to the worst among us? Well, yeah we have, and they have a lot in common besides Roy Cohn.
The New Yorker: David Remnick: What Donald Trump Shares with Joseph McCarthy
On January 6, 2017, at around 8:30 a.m., Donald Trump undoubtedly had serious matters on his mind. In just two weeks, he would come into possession of the nuclear codes, attempt to fill out the upper ranks of the federal government, and assume responsibility for the course of American policy at home and abroad. So he picked up his phone and began to tweet an assessment of his replacement on “The Celebrity Apprentice”: Wow. The ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got “swamped” (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT. So much for . . . being a movie star—and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary. In the years to come, Trump’s social-media goals expanded. His tweets and retweets, which can come at a fevered rate of more than a hundred a day, provide real-time talking points for right-wing media outlets, and are absorbed as doctrine by millions of faithful constituents. As President, Trump takes to Twitter to declare who is “pathetic” and who is “dopey,” who is a “total nut job” and who is a “low class slob.” He fires staff and touts the dimensions of his “Nuclear Button.” The tone is so consistently devoid of empathy, good faith, or good will that even “HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY” sounds like a threat.
I guess Joe is trying to make up for helping put the Orange Ass in the Oval Office. He still has a long way to go, but every little bit helps. This story is about the Weijia Jiang incident during one of those excruciating campaign rall/press conferences where tRump let his racist flag fly.
Washington Post: Joe Scarborough: Trump’s racism will bring his party down with him
President Trump can’t help himself. The former reality-TV host was warned by White House staff, his campaign team, financial contributors and Republicans on Capitol Hill that his afternoon news conferences were causing political damage. But after a weekend of tweeting out conspiracy theories about former presidents and insults aimed at cable-news pundits, the president was at it again Monday. And, true to form, Trump burned himself. His coronavirus “update” ended abruptly after he hurled a bigoted remark toward an American journalist who grew up in West Virginia. When CBS News’s Weijia Jiang asked Trump about his misleading testing comments, the president blurted out: “You should ask China.” Jiang’s family emigrated from China when she was 2. For what it’s worth, Trump’s own mother immigrated to the United States when she was 18, and his wife, Melania, gained an “Einstein Visa,” reserved for those of “extraordinary ability,” in 2001. After Trump’s snarling China comment, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pressed Trump until he abruptly retreated from the presidential podium.
The Bad (for them)
The judicial pushback on the exoneration of Flynn is a pleasure to watch.
The Atlantic: Flynn’s New Argument Is Constitutional Nonsense
Predictably, the lawyers for Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, are unhappy about the refusal of U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to immediately green-light dropping his prosecution. The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure permit the Justice Department to withdraw the Flynn indictment only “with leave of court.” In considering such leave, Sullivan has decided to allow independent groups and legal experts to submit briefs on the issue. Presumably yet more upsetting to Flynn and his counsel, Sullivan has appointed a former federal judge, John Gleeson, to oppose the Justice Department’s request and to examine whether Flynn may have committed perjury. In a court filing from before the Gleeson appointment, Flynn’s lawyers assert that the intervention of third parties would be unconstitutional. They write: “A criminal case is a dispute between the United States and a criminal defendant … For the Court to allow another to stand in the place of the government would be a violation of the separation of powers.” This is constitutional nonsense. Neither the parties filing briefs, nor the retired judge advising Sullivan, are “stand[ing] in the place of the government.” They are, rather, providing information and counsel. But there is more here at stake: In monitoring the integrity of Flynn’s prosecution, Sullivan is also working to preserve the integrity of the court system he represents. In doing so, Sullivan’s effort to protect the integrity of the prosecution is an important reminder that prosecution is an executive function, but it’s a judicial one too.
The #tRumpVirus is not going away and tRump will not escape blame, no matter how much he tries to play the innocent lackwit.
Vox: Ezra Klein: The president’s job is to manage risk. But Trump is the risk.
A few months ago, I had dinner with a friend who argued that it was time to rethink Donald Trump’s presidency. After all, the economy was fine, we hadn’t ended up in a nuclear war, and the tough posture toward China was paying some trade dividends. Maybe the madman routine was working. Maybe it really was just a routine, and Trump was managing the presidency well enough. Wasn’t it time for critics like me to rethink their most dire warnings? Wasn’t it time to admit we’d gotten him wrong? There were, even then, obvious rebuttals, and I made some of them. The lethal mismanagement of the Hurricane Maria response, for instance. But there was a power to the argument. The worst hadn’t happened. Didn’t that require a reckoning? And then the novel coronavirus came, and President Trump did nothing for week after week, month after month. We sit, still, in the void where a plan should be, forced to choose between endless lockdown and reckless reopening because the federal government has not charted a middle path. Instead, we wake to presidential tweets demanding the “liberation” of states, and laugh to keep from crying when the most powerful man in the world suggests we study the injection of disinfectants. Trump has let disaster metastasize into calamity. The feared collision of global crisis and presidential recklessness has come, and it is not close to over.
You would think the Muttonhead-in-Chief would learn when to drop a debunked medical theory. But hey, he has one go to move and it’s to double down. Maybe he has malaria, or got it confused with melania?
Rolling Stone: Trump Says He’s Taking Hydroxychloroquine, But He Also Lies Daily
Trump is all-in on hydroxychloroquine, a drug he has touted without proof as a miracle cure for those afflicted with COVID-19. The president told the press he has been taking the controversial drug — which he has touted despite scientists finding it does not help treat COVID-19 — for the past “couple weeks.” “A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy. A lot of good things have come out,” Trump said at a White House event on Thursday. “You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it. I happen to be taking it… I’m taking it hydroxychloroquine, right now.” The president added that he was prescribed the drug by the White House physician, who told him it was “fine to take.” “I asked [the White House doctor], ‘What do you think?’ He said, ‘Well if you’d like it.’ I said, ‘Yeah I’d like it. I’d like to take it.’ A lot of people are taking it, a lot of frontline workers are taking hydroxychloroquine,” Trump claimed, later adding, “So, I’m taking the zinc and the hydroxy. And all I can tell you is, so far I seem to be okay.”
The (R) senator from Wisconsin in need of a drool pail harness to go with his mask. He’s getting spittle all over himself.
Wonkette: Senate's Dumbest Republican Knows Why Trump Fired State Department IG, But SHHH IT'S A SECRET
Johnson retreated to the super worn-out reasoning the GOP has trotted out for everything from Trump firing Jim Comey to the firing of Andrew McCabe to Trump's retaliation against Alexander Vindman and Gordon Sondland for testifying about Trump's impeachable (and impeached) Ukraine extortion: JOHNSON: [T]hey serve at the president's will. And that is true of every inspector general. Tapper pointed the hypocrisy of this statement by playing the world's easiest "what if" game: TAPPER: Well, no one questions whether or not he has the authority to do so. But I really have to say, I find it hard to believe that, if President Obama had gotten rid of four inspector generals -- inspectors general in six weeks, that you would have the same attitude that you seem to have right now. Johnson looked for legitimate sounding reasons for Trump to have fired this IG, and then it got weird: TAPPER: Well, what was their reasoning?Because all the public knows is that this acting inspector general was investigating whether or not Secretary of State Pompeo was misusing a political appointee to do personal errands for him. That's according to Democratic aides on Capitol Hill. And then a senior administration official has said Pompeo asked Trump to remove this inspector general investigating him, and President Trump did so.What are they telling you that makes you feel like you understand their reasoning?
JOHNSON: Again, I'm -- I'm -- I'm not going discuss my private conversations with senior administration officials. But my guess, this will all come out. Congress will be able to do what oversight it choose to do. I'm sure the Democrats in the House will call in Mr. Linick, and he will be able to testify, and he will be able to tell his story. And my guess, the administration will hopefully have an opportunity to tell their side of the story as well. I'm not crying big crocodile tears over this termination. Let's put it that way. Oh, so it's a super secret squirrel reason! Well, calm down everyone. It's just a gentle secret between Trump and Senator Johnson. I mean, they've both been so upfront and honest before. Why shouldn't we take their word?
We don’t expect much from the tRump spawn. But, holy jumping jacks, this one is not just missing a few cards, he threw away the deck.
Rolling Stone: Trump’s Son Pushes Dimwitted Rigged Election Conspiracy: Virus ‘Will Magically Go Away’ After November 3rd
President Trump’s son Eric wants people to believe that the Democrats are in the midst of a concerted effort to stop America from reopening so his dad can’t hold arena rallies, all in an attempt to hurt his reelection chances. On Saturday, Eric Trump told Fox News host Jeannine Pirro that following November’s presidential election, the “coronavirus will magically… disappear and everybody will be able to reopen.” Because, you know, the Democrats will make that happen. “They think they are taking away Donald Trump’s greatest tool, which is being able to go into an arena and fill it with 50,000 people every single time,” he said. “You watch, they’ll milk it every single day between now and November 3. And guess what, after November 3, coronavirus will magically all of a sudden go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen.”
The Good
One school of thought says that Amash would have taken votes away from Biden by giving the tRump averse republicans somewhere else to go. So him going away is good news.
Mother Jones: Rep. Justin Amash Announces He Won’t Be Running for President
Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a former Republican, just announced on Twitter that he’s will not be running for president this year. The move comes just weeks after he officially become a Libertarian and launched an exploratory committee, setting up a White House bid as his new party’snominee. In a Twitter thread, Rep. Amash cited social distancing measures, the turmoil of the pandemic, a lack of access to the media, and polarization among the two major parties for his decision.
Looking out for some of our most vulnerable citizens is a noble thing.
Good News Network: People Are Installing Portable Hand-Washing Sinks for the Homeless in Cities Across the US
Portable sinks are being installed across the United States as a means of helping homeless people wash their hands amidst the novel coronavirus outbreaks. Over the course of the last two months, Love Beyond Walls—a Georgia-based nonprofit dedicated to helping the homeless—has been setting up dozens of hand-washing stations in areas popularly visited by rough sleepers. Terence Lester, the founder who had been homeless himself as a teenager, told Katie Couric on her new YouTube show, The Bright Side, that he started the “Love Sinks In” campaign with the hopes of supporting neglected people living in poverty during the pandemic.
The Trenchant
Charles Pierce is worth reading just because he’s Charles Pierce. He was away for a bit and I’m glad he’s back.
Esquire: Last Call with Charles P. Pierce: The State of Unreality
THIS ISN'T THE 2020 I ANTICIPATED IN DECEMBER. As one decade prepared to lap over into another, I planned to split time between Washington, where the president was being impeached, and Iowa, where the Democratic candidates seeking to pry his hands off the national executive would face their first real contest. I would have some happy holidays—I was a new grandfather—and get right into another campaign, with the third impeachment of a U. S. president as a kind of constitutional lagniappe. Then I got hit by a car. I cracked two lumbar vertebrae and got twenty staples in my head and spent Christmas and New Year’s flat on my back. I watched the deliberations of the House Judiciary Committee from my hospital bed, doped to the gills and wondering whether Congressman Louie Gohmert was a hallucinatory event. I sat through much of the run-up to the Iowa caucuses and didn’t return to actual reporting until I went to Washington to cover the impeachment trial in the Senate, gimping around the Capitol at the conclusion of an exercise that was as fixed and foregone as any professional-wrestling match.
The Funny
I adore Andy Borowitz. He had two reports out yesterday. I am so jealous.
The New Yorker: Satire from The Borowitz Report: New Test Indicates Hydroxychloroquine Causes Delusions
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A new test of the drug hydroxychloroquine suggests that it may cause delusions, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned on Monday. In a conference call with reporters, Fauci indicated that his findings were based on a preliminary test involving one white male subject in his seventies. “It’s too early to be definitive about this, but the evidence suggests that, if you are already prone to delusions, paranoid fantasies, and a generalized detachment from reality, taking hydroxychloroquine may only make those symptoms worse,” he said.
The New Yorker: Satire from The Borowitz Report: Trump Orders Pence to Start Picking Up Pompeo’s Laundry
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In an effort to dampen the controversy over Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s alleged use of a State Department employee to run personal errands, Donald J. Trump has ordered Mike Pence to start picking up Pompeo’s laundry, effective immediately. In addition to his new laundry duties, Pence will be solely responsible for walking Pompeo’s dog and for what the White House described as “light housework.” Reportedly, Pence has already hit the ground running in his new role and is in talks with Pompeo about how he likes his shirts done.
Musical Interlude I get lost in the lead vocals from 82-year-old Teté Garcia Caturla. x YouTube Video WineRev’s History Lesson At some point WineRev’s history comment will appear hear rescued from being buried in the comments. And here it is: Good Morning NotNowNotEver! A FINE RoundUp of encouraging stories. So good and so many I’ll simply add one nugget from the political front and one math trick. >>>Pompeo got Trump to fire State Dept. Inspector General Linick b/ of dog walking (Nahhh!). flagrant datebook keeping (nope!), Pompeo is trying to run $8bil worth of guns to the Saudis in contravention of the law so that Trump can either make a buck or have a Saudi loan to him erased? So its a short list. Trump pulled the trigger on Friday, observing all the forms for this sort of thing…..NOT. He CAN’T do the Apprentice Redux “You’re fired.” He had to send a formal letter to the House and Senate giving them the info that Linick would be leaving in 30 days (as per law.) The list of reasons for firing an IG is quite short and QUITE specific. Well Speaker Pelosi got the letter and send it on to the Foreign Affairs Comm. (from whence will come some hearings.) But also, the President Pro Tem of the Senate got his copy and sent it Chuck Grassley…..Fence Post Chuck. And Grassley, GRASSLEY is now saying out loud the White House needs to send a better letter, specifically citing which of the specific reasons they want Linick to go. (“You have to choose one of the boxes!”) And folks, when even Chuck Freakin’ Grassley is on the White House’s case, well, in its twisted way these days, THAT counts as Good News! >>» Math trick with our Arabic numerals. Take any number, 2 or more digits (4,619), Reverse all the digits (9164). Subtract the smaller number from the larger number (9164- 4619 = 4545). The result is always evenly divisible by 9. FWIW. BELOW: Some rather meaty entries today; that’s the way the cookie crumbles/how the pickle drips/like sands through the hourglass so pass the May 19ths of our lives….. May 19ths and all the Good and the Goofy that Happened in Them to Give us a Lift and a Ponder 1616 Stuttgart, Germany Birth of Johann Jakob Froberger, composer, keyboardist. (And nope, I didn’t know him either before this.) Composer of a very rich set of pieces for almost anything with a keyboard: organ, harpsichord, clavichord, early pianos. Only two of his works published in his lifetime (at his own insistence) but hand-copied versions of his works circulated from Italy to Paris to England and Germany. Paved the way for Handel, Bach, Pachelbel; even Mozart copied out Froberger as part of his studies. 1780 New England’s Dark Day. A mysterious darkness enveloped much of New England and part of eastern Canada in the early afternoon, lasting several hours. The cause remained a mystery for decades; finally determined to be caused by a massive forest fire in Canada, started by lightning. Wind currents carried the smoke east and through an odd twist, concentrated it over a large area so that it cast a heavy shadow without a burning smell. 1848 After perhaps America’s most-imperialistic war, Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American war. Mexico ceded California, Nevada, Utah and pieces of 4 future US states; gets $15million for the deal. (As General Santa Anna once lamented, “Alas, poor Mexico. So far from God, and so close to the United States.”) Maybe not the best News for a Good News site, but Peace is Peace and we have Gnusies living for generations in these places (just like the rest of us who aren’t 100% Native American are living on land that once belonged (if that is the right word) to someone else.) 1857 Boston. Dr. William Francis Channing (son of Unitarian leader William Ellery Channing) and Professor Moses G. Farmer were granted the first patent for an electric, telegraph-based, fire alarm system that covered a fair swath of the city of Boston. Channing graduated Harvard at age 19 (!) and U Penn as a medical Doctor in 1844. After the Civil War, was part of several researchers working with Alexander Graham Bell toward the invention of the telephone. Author of a book on the use of electricity on the human body to treat medical issues and wrote an article, ‘The Story of the Telephone’ for an 1883 issue of Popular Science Monthly (which was already around!) Dr. Farmer was an electrical engineer, one of the first superintendents of a telegraph company. Apart from his work with Channing, invented and demonstrated a small scale electric locomotive (moving 2 passengers on a 18” wide track)….in 1847 (!) Invented a platinum filament lightbulb in the 1850s (and patented a different form of bulb…..which Thomas Edison bought up the rights to) and an electric dynamo (generator) to provide current. In 1859 lived for a year in a house in Salem, MA which he wired, connected to a dynamo/generator and use to illuminate the inside with 11 bulbs, the world’s first electrically-lit home. (Man, the stuff I learn doing these; I’d never even heard of either gentleman before.) 1879 Danville, VA Birth of Nancy Witcher Langhorne, 8th of 11 children of a railroad president. Married at 18 to Robert Gould Shaw II, cousin of the Civil War colonel. An unhappy marriage that ended in divorce 4 years later in 1903. She toured England, fell in love with the country and moved there with 2 of her sisters (one the wife of Charles Dana Gibson, the designer of ‘the Gibson Girl’ style; his wife was one of his models). Charming, witty and well-liked in high circles, she re-married in 1906, oddly enough to an ex-patriate American like herself, Waldorf Astor (of the Astor fur trade fortune) who was now a peer so she became the Lady Astor . Got involved in politics and in 1919 became the first woman to sit in the British House of Commons. Served until 1945. Several spats with Winston Churchill. A) Churchill asked her what he might wear as a disguise to a masquerade ball. Astor replied, “Why don’t you come sober, Mr. Prime Minister?” B) In a 1930s debate in Parliament Astor angrily told Churchill at one point, “Sir, if I were your wife, I’d put poison in your coffee.” Winston instantly replied, “Madam, if I were your husband, I’d drink it.” 1886 London. Premiere of French composer Camille Saint-Saens' 3rd Symphony. Very well received and popular. Taking a leaf from Beethoven (whose 9th Symphony is nicknamed “Chorale” because the final movement includes a choir) Saint-Saens’ #3 calls for a major part in the final movement to be played on the “Organ”, giving it a nickname as well. 1903 Columbus, OH (I was born in Toledo but raised in Columbus, my hometown. And yes, I’m a Buckeye, and very proud to bring you…) Birth of Ruth Ella Moore, scientist and bacteriologist. An Ohio State grad, she stayed for her Master’s and, in 1933, became the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in a natural science field. Became professor, and then head of Department of Bacteriology at Howard University , Washington, DC. Research in tuberculosis, immunology, and the impact of antibiotics on gut bacteria (which we NOW know is a THING, and that doctors are careful about…..because of Dr. Moore.) 1962 New York City. In Madison Square Garden, a birthday salute to U.S. President John F Kennedy. (Back in the day when we liked and admired our Presidents.) Several entertainers offered their talents on stage, but the show-stopper was Marilyn Monroe, singing the President “Happy Birthday.” The dress she wore that night sold at auction in 2016 for $4.8million. 1963 Alabama. Rev. Martin Luther King had been arrested for leading a march in Birmingham. Today the press published his thoughts from his cell, “A Letter from the Birmingham Jail” defending himself racism and segregation and making his case for non-violent resistance to both. A core text of the Civil Rights Movement. 1974 Hungarian Erno Rubik, professor of architecture and sculptor, finished inventing a three-dimensional puzzle what would later be marketed as the Rubik's Cube. (No, it is NOT possible this happened 46 years ago; it happened awhile back, a few years ago, but still…..it couldn’t be…..nahhhh…….really?......) May all your News be Good, comforting and inspiring. Shalom. Light(ish) Notes x So lemme get this straight.
When Native peoples stand unarmed to defend our land & all human life, we get answered with militarized force, jail, prison.
When white folks knowingly disregard human life during a health pandemic, not a single arrest. pic.twitter.com/xEpnDLrqxP Ã¢ÂÂ tara houska Ã¡ÂÂÃ¡ÂÂ³Ã¡ÂÂÃ¡ÂÂ´ (@zhaabowekwe) April 19, 2020 x Mel Gibson is a straight white man who hates women and Jews and has no political experience which means he has a good shot at being president someday. Ã¢ÂÂ The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) May 19, 2020 From my friend Susan, I don’t know where she got it A Math Trick For as long as I can remember, I have loved math tricks. This one really works! It will take you only about-ten-seconds and amazingly, it will reveal your all-time favorite movie. I'm pretty good at math, so I did it in my head, then on paper, and finally on a calculator just to confirm my mathematical calculations. Each time I got the same answer, and sure enough, it IS my very favorite movie...EVER! DO NOT cheat. DO YOUR math, THEN compare the results on the list of movies at the bottom. You will be AMAZED at how scary true and accurate this test is: Pick a number from 1-9. Multiply that number by 3. Add 3. Multiply by 3 again. Your total will be a two digit number. Add the first and second digits together to find your favorite movie (of all time) in the list of 17 movies below: Movie List Gone With the Wind E.T. Blazing Saddles Star Wars Forrest Gump The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Jaws Grease The Donald Trump Resignation Speech Casablanca Jurassic Park Shrek Pirates of the Caribbean Titanic Raiders of the Lost Ark Home Alone Mrs. Doubt fire .. Now, isn't that something? Required Pet Photo The return of the Hamburgler. If you leave it laying around on the table like that, I’m going to take it. Today’s Quote(s) The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t. — Henry Ward Beecher Though you may hear me holler, and you may see me cry– I’ll be dogged, sweet baby, if you gonna see me die. — Langston Hughes Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other. — Walter Elliot A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn. — Helen Keller Closing Notes


dailykos--2020-05-19--We Just Won't What We Won't

We Just Won't What We Won't

People really are their worst enemies .
And the one thing that kills societies more certainly than famine or plague is distrust - not always earned , not always unearned , but distrust nonetheless .
Only social groups *at any level* which have the trust , the skills , and the resources to successfully pull together in crisis survive that trial .
And not all of them survive , either .
Sometimes , bad things happen to ethical , functional , prepared people.Yet they 're the only ones who have a chance to survive the really tough contests .
Insufficiently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , families , co-ops , neighborhoods , boroughs , cities , counties , states , nation-states , empires , civilizations , sentient species ( sample size : 1 ) - do n't even get that roll of the dice .
They just ... .end .
And even those societies we lionize , that had a good run - a century here , a century there , pretty soon you 're talking about real time - invariably fell prey to accumulated internal dissensions and distrust .
And along comes some adventurer to save their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or some barbarian horde or new pestilence shows up to wipe out a nation that long since stopped being one .
Or a financial setback hits a family that has n't had any obvious slip-ups , or a radical change in life habits reveals how much the peace of a household depended on a far greater amount of social distance than a mere six feet can provide .
Or it becomes a bit too obvious for comfort how dependent we as a society are on 'the help ' continuing to work , at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them , under intentionally awful conditions , and receiving gratuitous abuse for their compliance .
Also a source of distrust .
In the end , bad things happen to good people , too .
Yet at the moment , we ca n't even agree that a bad thing is happening to us .
Not , not `` ca n't '' - we *won't* .
Because that would mean trusting each other .

People really are their worst enemies. And the one thing that kills societies more certainly than famine or plague is distrust - not always earned, not always unearned, but distrust nonetheless.
Only social groups *at any level* which have the trust, the skills, and the resources to successfully pull together in crisis survive that trial. And not all of them survive, either.
Sometimes, bad things happen to ethical, functional, prepared people.Yet they're the only ones who have a chance to survive the really tough contests.


dailykos--2020-05-20--Don't Panic, It's Just The Collapse Of Neoliberalism:  Yochai Benkler at Harvard

Robert Faris , and Hal Roberts for more ] Back before the world changed , on February 26 , 2020 , I went to the Harvard Kennedy School to hear Yochai Benkler talk about “ Do n't Panic , It 's Just The Collapse Of Neoliberalism.
” You can see the full talk at https : //youtu.be/9tvD2vxAKac Benkler is a legal scholar and a media researcher who , I believe , is really really smart , does his homework and just may be wise too .
In this talk , he described some of his findings and examined social media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ notes : His team analyzed 4 million stories before and after the 2016 election to explore disinformation [ Editorial Comment : seeby Benkler , Media ecosystem is split in two - right and all the rest , not right versus leftThrough Limbaugh and Fox , the right has 20 years of experience beyond the left in the outrage industry and there is now no market on the right for straight news ( since the end of the Fairness Doctrine in 1988 ) [ Editorial comment : and the Fairness Doctrine is not going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 20 year headstart on stoking outrage means perhaps the alternative shouldn ’ t compete on the basis of outrage .
I ’ d go for practical mutual assistance through voluntary association but that ’ s just me . ]
Comey 's announcement of a new Clinton investigation overwhelms all other news just before the election .
Benkler finds that Russian efforts happen after the initial news from domestic sourcesConservatives trust Fox , Hannity and Limbaugh on radio more than anyone else .
They are the targets and the propagators of false `` news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ Editorial Comment : there are many different others — countries , corporations , individuals , groups… . ]
Neo-liberalism removes power from the state to give to the market and there has been a consequent erosion of trust in institutions since the 1960s , especially in the 1970s .
Wages have stagnated since 1973 in the USAThe problems in the media landscape and public discourse are not due to the technology alone .
The information threat is designed to produce over-reaction .
[ Editorial Comment : another indication that competing on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way to go . ]
A study of the Gilets Juanes , the Yellow Vests from France , shows that the main indicator of participation is someone coming from a mid-sized town that lost its bakery/butcher within the last 5 years '' Nothing we can do is both practical and Constitutional ...
I 've given up on the 20 % in the Conservative bubble ... Neutrality in the face of active propaganda is complicity .
`` Social science 1 - effort to look at what 's happening in social media

Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation and Radicalization in American Politics
Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts for more]
Back before the world changed, on February 26, 2020, I went to the Harvard Kennedy School to hear Yochai Benkler talk about “Don't Panic, It's Just The Collapse Of Neoliberalism.” You can see the full talk at https://youtu.be/9tvD2vxAKac Benkler is a legal scholar and a media researcher who, I believe, is really really smart, does his homework and just may be wise too. In this talk, he described some of his findings and examined social media and politics. Below are my telegraphic notes:His team analyzed 4 million stories before and after the 2016 election to explore disinformation [Editorial Comment: seeby Benkler,Media ecosystem is split in two - right and all the rest, not right versus leftThrough Limbaugh and Fox, the right has 20 years of experience beyond the left in the outrage industry and there is now no market on the right for straight news (since the end of the Fairness Doctrine in 1988) [Editorial comment: and the Fairness Doctrine is not going to come back. Additionally, a 20 year headstart on stoking outrage means perhaps the alternative shouldn’t compete on the basis of outrage. I’d go for practical mutual assistance through voluntary association but that’s just me.]Comey's announcement of a new Clinton investigation overwhelms all other news just before the election. Benkler finds that Russian efforts happen after the initial news from domestic sourcesConservatives trust Fox, Hannity and Limbaugh on radio more than anyone else. They are the targets and the propagators of false "news" (by Russians and others) [Editorial Comment: there are many different others — countries, corporations, individuals, groups….]Neo-liberalism removes power from the state to give to the market and there has been a consequent erosion of trust in institutions since the 1960s, especially in the 1970s. Wages have stagnated since 1973 in the USAThe problems in the media landscape and public discourse are not due to the technology alone. The information threat is designed to produce over-reaction. [Editorial Comment: another indication that competing on the basis of outrage may not be the way to go.]A study of the Gilets Juanes, the Yellow Vests from France, shows that the main indicator of participation is someone coming from a mid-sized town that lost its bakery/butcher within the last 5 years"Nothing we can do is both practical and Constitutional... I've given up on the 20% in the Conservative bubble... Neutrality in the face of active propaganda is complicity."Social science 1 - effort to look at what's happening in social media


dailykos--2020-05-20--Good News Roundup for May 20, 2020

Good News Roundup for May 20, 2020

Greetings to all you Gnusies , Gnewbies , occasional drop-ins , silent regulars , and first-timers !
Come inside our virtual salon/saloon to find and share messages of hope and to celebrate all the ways good people are triumphing over the evil-doers in power .
Today , I ’ ve been inspired by the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mt .
St. Helens to look at the surprising ways nature rebounds after what appears to be total devastation .
The parallels with our current political and public health situation are obvious .
As always , this roundup is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contribution in the comments , which we consider to be The Best Comment Section on the Internet™ .
On May 18 , 1980 , Mt .
St. Helens erupted .
The force of the blast released 24 megatons of thermal energy ( equivalent to 1600 Hiroshima-size atomic bombs ) and triggered a collapse of the north face of the mountain , the largest known debris avalanche in recorded history .
The blast zone covered almost 230 square miles , flattening trees to the ground , killing 57 people , nearly 7,000 large animals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , and an estimated 12 million fish .
It destroyed or extensively damaged over 200 homes , 185 miles of highway and 15 miles of railway .
It was the the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history .
Here ’ s a photo showing the eruption in progress .
( For more photos , including a fascinating time-lapse slide show , check out this article from The Atlantic . )
My husband and I saw the eruption about an hour after it began .
We had planned to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to have Sunday brunch at the home of a couple of friends , and after the news of the eruption broke , we of course debated whether it was safe to make the drive .
We decided to go ahead , though we quickly had to change our route when we heard that Interstate 5 had shut down .
We saw a sight very like this photo ( but much farther away ! )
from the side of Highway 30 when we pulled our car over to get a good view of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that there was lightning inside the boiling ash clouds .
It truly looked like a vision of hell .
We and our friends in Longview were spared the worst of the ashfall , since the winds pushed the ash cloud east .
But cities in the path of the cloud were covered with up to five inches of fine ash , and people had to wear masks to avoid inhaling it .
The ash traveled as far as the east coast – my sister-in-law in Massachusetts found ash on the railings of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At the time , it seemed impossible that the blast zone would ever recover .
One of the most beautiful spots in the Northwest , Spirit Lake , located at the foot of Mt .
St. Helens , was buried under 300 feet of mud and debris , an image that haunted us .
No one who had ever camped next to the lake , as we had , could ever forget the way the clear , still water reflected the perfect snow-topped cone of the mountain .
But nature ’ s drive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extinguished , and today there is new life everywhere in the blast zone .
In an excellent DKos diary by OceanDiver on Monday , funningforrest commented with a quote from the book Volcano by Patricia Lauber : And there is even a new Spirit Lake .
Not as clear and deep as it was , and not surrounded by lush forest , but very much alive , and beautiful in its own way .
The 40th anniversary of the Mt .
St. Helens eruption , coming as it does in the midst of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidency and the coronavirus pandemic , has encouraged me to think about what we might learn from recovery in the blast zone .
Here are some random observations : Some things will never return to the way they were .
There will be painful losses ( favorite restaurants and shops , for example ) but there will also be positive changes , many of which we ’ ve already been talking about here in Good News Roundups .
I like the way Obama put it in his speech to the HBCU graduates : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just discovered should be attributed to the poet June Jordan ) puts it , “ We are the ones we have been waiting for.
” I think more and more people all around the world are going to take that seriously .
Some changes will be rapid and easily visible , and some will be slow and difficult to see .
Again using the blast zone as a metaphor , think of the rapid settling and sinking of the ash , the emergence of the new Spirit Lake ( visible in photos as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first signs of new life .
But as Patricia Lauber ’ s quote points out , some of the most important changes were happening so close to the ground they were invisible to us .
I think that ’ s true in our current crisis as well .
We can see nature rebounding where we ’ ve stopped impeding it , we can see political activity and humanitarian efforts large and small .
But we can ’ t see the slow , unspoken transformations in people ’ s minds and hearts – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ greatest impact in the long run .
Recovery will take a long time .
This means we ’ ll need to balance urgency and acceptance .
For example , the need to restore ( or create anew ) the social safety net is urgent and has to be pursued relentlessly .
But other progressive priorities like free college may have to wait , because there will be less money available across the board .
There will be beauty and much to celebrate at each step of the recovery .
Beauty emerged quickly in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the top ) .
For all of us right now , the slow pace of life is allowing many of us to rediscover the beauty in nature that we overlooked when we were mired in the rat race .
And of course there are daily celebrations on the news and on social networks of the good things that good people are doing to help .
These gifts will continue for a long time .
So what are you seeing ?
Let us know in the comments !
Portland Art Museum put together @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and because we can no longer visit in person , they put it online .
Here are a couple of my favorite pieces from the exhibit .
It was a delightful surprise to learn that Ursula LeGuin was a talented amateur watercolorist .
She could see the mountain from her home and loved to paint it .
Here are two of her paintings , the one on the top before the eruption , the one below afterwards : Do yourself a favor and open the link to the entire exhibit , if only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re extraordinary .
Now on to the news !
Federal Judge Rules Lawsuit Against Trump Corporation Will Go Forward Oh , yes !
Bring it on !
!
Women run for the House in record numbers And 62 % of them are Democrats !
Trump baffles everyone by announcing a ‘ super-duper missile ’ — and no one knows what he meant The more the *Resident reveals what an idiot he is , the better it is for us .
The use of the word “ groundbreaking ” to describe this tax measure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed forward by an unlikely coalition of nonprofits and business groups , including the Portland Business Alliance .
Portland architect firm envisions look of workplaces following pandemic The coolest part of this story is that the firm has made their re-design planning guide free for anyone to download .
Protesters Held a “ ReOpen the Coast ” Rally in Seaside Today [ May 16 ] .
Barely Anyone Showed Up .
Good news from around the country 64 % of Americans Have Experienced Transformative ‘ Eco Wake-Up Calls ’ During COVID Crisis From @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comfortable going over the fair use limit here because GNN ’ s paragraphs are mostly single sentences . }
More awesome accomplishments from José Andrés and World Central Kitchen Is The National Enquirer in Its Final ‘ Death Spiral ’ ?
Good news from around the world Thousands of Young Adults Are Volunteering to Catch COVID-19 to Save Others in the Future Hundreds of Cities Worldwide Make Streets into Cycling and Pedestrian Walkways—With Plans to Stay That Way And there are similar plans throughout France , in Budapest , and in several U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ African slums as gangs join forces to hand out coronavirus aid This story is somewhat out of date , but I like it so much I wanted to include it .
What an ingenious idea !
Who knew penguins could be art critics ?
!
Thumbs up for Caravaggio , “ meh ” for Monet .
An artist having fun during lockdown A very creative friend of mine sent me a series of photoshopped images she made of the “ walking man ” traffic logo engaged in various activities .
Here are my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discussion about grammar in yesterday ’ s GNR comments .
Here are some further ruminations on the use of a particular word by Finnish comedian ISMO : I guess we should have warnings on all those baking videos ...
If you haven ’ t been following Andrew Cotter ’ s sports commentary on his dogs Olive and Mabel , you ’ ve been missing out !
Cotter is a Scottish sports commentator who ’ s been sidelined by the lack of any sports to cover , so he began producing commentary on his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : If you ’ re born Italian , you ’ d better learn early how to talk with your hands !
ohs.org/ ... Footage of the Mount St. Helens Eruption and Aftermath .
If you would like to see how the eruption was covered on local news at the time , check out this compilation of video clips from the Oregon Historical Society .
www.livescience.com/ ... Scientists have discovered 3-foot-long saber tooth anchovies !
Fortunately only in fossil form… www.boredpanda.com/ ...
Photographer Spends Eternity Waiting For Museum Visitors To Match Artworks And The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ photos are truly amazing !
www.nytimes.com/ ... Can Genetic Engineering Bring Back the American Chestnut ?
This is a long piece , but fascinating .
www.theatlantic.com/ ... Trump Has Lost the Plot .
This deep dive by David Frum is excellent and contains the best quote ever : “ Trump , the [ former White House ] official said , is not playing “ ... three-dimensional chess ... More often than not he ’ s just eating the pieces.
” Thanks to each and every Gnusie for your smarts , your hearts , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gathering of the Herd .

Welcome!
Greetings to all you Gnusies, Gnewbies, occasional drop-ins, silent regulars, and first-timers! Come inside our virtual salon/saloon to find and share messages of hope and to celebrate all the ways good people are triumphing over the evil-doers in power. Today, I’ve been inspired by the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens to look at the surprising ways nature rebounds after what appears to be total devastation. The parallels with our current political and public health situation are obvious.
As always, this roundup is a pot-luck, so please share your own contribution in the comments, which we consider to be The Best Comment Section on the Internet™.
After devastation, new growth
On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted. The force of the blast released 24 megatons of thermal energy (equivalent to 1600 Hiroshima-size atomic bombs) and triggered a collapse of the north face of the mountain, the largest known debris avalanche in recorded history. The blast zone covered almost 230 square miles, flattening trees to the ground, killing 57 people, nearly 7,000 large animals (deer, elk, and bear), and an estimated 12 million fish. It destroyed or extensively damaged over 200 homes, 185 miles of highway and 15 miles of railway. It was the the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history.
Here’s a photo showing the eruption in progress. (For more photos, including a fascinating time-lapse slide show, check out this article from The Atlantic.)
My husband and I saw the eruption about an hour after it began. We had planned to drive from Portland to Longview, WA, to have Sunday brunch at the home of a couple of friends, and after the news of the eruption broke, we of course debated whether it was safe to make the drive. We decided to go ahead, though we quickly had to change our route when we heard that Interstate 5 had shut down. We saw a sight very like this photo (but much farther away!) from the side of Highway 30 when we pulled our car over to get a good view of the volcano. Our most vivid memory is that there was lightning inside the boiling ash clouds. It truly looked like a vision of hell.
We and our friends in Longview were spared the worst of the ashfall, since the winds pushed the ash cloud east. But cities in the path of the cloud were covered with up to five inches of fine ash, and people had to wear masks to avoid inhaling it. The ash traveled as far as the east coast – my sister-in-law in Massachusetts found ash on the railings of her porch about a week later.
Spirit Lake before the eruption, with the iconic reflection of Mt. St. Helens.
At the time, it seemed impossible that the blast zone would ever recover. One of the most beautiful spots in the Northwest, Spirit Lake, located at the foot of Mt. St. Helens, was buried under 300 feet of mud and debris, an image that haunted us. No one who had ever camped next to the lake, as we had, could ever forget the way the clear, still water reflected the perfect snow-topped cone of the mountain.
Spirit Lake in 2015, 35 years after the eruption.
But nature’s drive to survive and grow refuses to be extinguished, and today there is new life everywhere in the blast zone. In an excellent DKos diary by OceanDiver on Monday, funningforrest commented with a quote from the book Volcano by Patricia Lauber:
The healing of the slopes started with many small forms — bacteria, fungi, hardy weeds and seeds, insects, spiders, pocket gophers. Linked together, they formed a base that made possible the return of other kinds of life.
And there is even a new Spirit Lake. Not as clear and deep as it was, and not surrounded by lush forest, but very much alive, and beautiful in its own way.
The 40th anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption, coming as it does in the midst of the double devastation of tRump’s presidency and the coronavirus pandemic, has encouraged me to think about what we might learn from recovery in the blast zone. Here are some random observations:
Some things will never return to the way they were. There will be painful losses (favorite restaurants and shops, for example) but there will also be positive changes, many of which we’ve already been talking about here in Good News Roundups. I like the way Obama put it in his speech to the HBCU graduates:
“More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing...”
As the famous quote (which I just discovered should be attributed to the poet June Jordan) puts it, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” I think more and more people all around the world are going to take that seriously.
Some changes will be rapid and easily visible, and some will be slow and difficult to see. Again using the blast zone as a metaphor, think of the rapid settling and sinking of the ash, the emergence of the new Spirit Lake (visible in photos as early as October 1980), and the first signs of new life. But as Patricia Lauber’s quote points out, some of the most important changes were happening so close to the ground they were invisible to us. I think that’s true in our current crisis as well. We can see nature rebounding where we’ve stopped impeding it, we can see political activity and humanitarian efforts large and small. But we can’t see the slow, unspoken transformations in people’s minds and hearts – and I believe those will have the greatest impact in the long run.
Recovery will take a long time. This means we’ll need to balance urgency and acceptance. For example, the need to restore (or create anew) the social safety net is urgent and has to be pursued relentlessly. But other progressive priorities like free college may have to wait, because there will be less money available across the board.
There will be beauty and much to celebrate at each step of the recovery. Beauty emerged quickly in the blast zone (see the photo at the top). For all of us right now, the slow pace of life is allowing many of us to rediscover the beauty in nature that we overlooked when we were mired in the rat race. And of course there are daily celebrations on the news and on social networks of the good things that good people are doing to help. These gifts will continue for a long time.
So what are you seeing? Let us know in the comments!
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Volcano art
Portland Art Museum put together a terrific exhibit on the eruption, and because we can no longer visit in person, they put it online. Here are a couple of my favorite pieces from the exhibit.
Paul Marioni’s blown glass bowl made entirely of Mt. St. Helens ash
Here’s the artist’s statement:
I made this vase from pure volcanic ash collected on the day of the big eruption. As soon as we heard about the ashfall, Rob Adamson and I drove to eastern Washington and collected a barrel of the stuff. That night, we melted it and I blew the vase. It looked black, but was actually a very dark green. The iridescent color came from a metallic fuming agent. This piece is the only one blown from pure ash that I know of.
It was a delightful surprise to learn that Ursula LeGuin was a talented amateur watercolorist. She could see the mountain from her home and loved to paint it. Here are two of her paintings, the one on the top before the eruption, the one below afterwards:
Do yourself a favor and open the link to the entire exhibit, if only to see the photos. They’re extraordinary.
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Now on to the news!
Good political news
Federal Judge Rules Lawsuit Against Trump Corporation Will Go Forward
Oh, yes! Bring it on!!
From Newsweek:
A federal judge ruled Monday that a lawsuit alleging President Donald Trump engaged in fraud by promoting a pyramid scheme will not be delayed. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield ruled that the class action lawsuit can move forward despite Trump's legal counsel requesting a stay. The lawsuit, led by four anonymous plaintiffs, claims that the [sic] Trump and his children Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump are guilty of fraud, false advertising and unfair competition for their dealings with multi-level marketing company ACN, although federal racketeering and conspiracy charges were dismissed last year. Schofield's decision came after Trump's lawyers launched interlocutory appeals in the case—a type of legal appeal filed while a case is ongoing rather than it after it has finished. The judge cited Trump's unsuccessful bid to force the case into arbitration "despite the absence of any written agreement" as a reason why an appeal was unlikely to be successful. Other factors in the decision included how much harm a stay would inflict on either party, along with what decision would be in the best interest of the public.
Women run for the House in record numbers
And 62% of them are Democrats!
From The American Independent:
As of Tuesday, 490 women had filed paperwork to run for the House of Representatives, breaking 2018's record of 476 female candidates, the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University reported. "This is a sign that the momentum isn't letting up," Debbie Walsh, the center's director, said in a press release, adding that this year's number appears to confirm "the emergence of a new normal" that began in 2018. Democratic voters in the last round of midterms elected a record number of women to Congress, even as the number of Republican women in the House dropped from 23 to 13. More than 295 women have filed to run for House seats as Democrats; 195 have filed to run as Republicans.
Trump baffles everyone by announcing a ‘super-duper missile’ — and no one knows what he meant
The more the *Resident reveals what an idiot he is, the better it is for us.
From Alternet:
President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon said the U.S. military is developing a “super-duper missile” that can go 17 times faster than any existing rocket, earning him ridicule from critics. “We have, I call it, the super-duper missile,” said Trump. “And I heard the other night—17 times faster than what they have right now, when you take the fastest missile we have right now.” ✂ Breaking Defense reporter Paul McLeary said on Twitter that he had not yet received confirmation from sources at the Pentagon indicating any knowledge of what the president was talking about. paul mcleary ✔ @paulmcleary So far two DoD officials who would likely know about this sort of thing have told me they have no idea what the president's "super duper missile" that goes 17x faster than any other missile might be. Critics on social media roundly mocked the president’s terminology….“It is obvious our president is beyond incompetent,” tweeted California political activist Eric Garcia, “but how do the people who work for him not bust out laughing at his ridiculous statements.”
PBS finds no support for Tara Reade’s accusations
From Washington Monthly, via Alternet:
[PBS] identified and “tried to contact nearly 200 former staffers.” They ultimately interviewed 74 people, including 62 women, who worked for Biden over the years. Some were mere interns, others system administrators, and some were senior aides. Their experience spanned from his first run for Senate in 1972 all the way to his time as vice-president. Twenty of them worked for Biden in the early 1990s, at the same time as Reade. No one corroborated her primary accusation or offered anything that could reasonably be described as supporting information. ✂ We’re talking about something that is alleged to have happened almost 30 years ago, so all appropriate caveats apply. Reporters can only do so much to investigate the charges. In this case, they cast the widest possible net to find any possible corroboration. They investigated the supposed crime scene. Nothing they discovered adds credence to Reade’s story. They did find someone who said she was fired for cause and others who said she was justifiably reprimanded for dressing inappropriately, which is at odds with her story. She said she was ordered to serve drinks at a reception, and this was directly contradicted by veterans of Biden’s staff who said he always asked men to perform that task. She said this occurred at a fundraiser, but the general consensus was that staffers were consistently banned from attending fundraisers or doing campaign work. There are many other questionable things about Reade’s past that I could mention, but my interest isn’t in trashing the alleged victim. I just want to highlight that some laudable reporting occurred here, and what they found should help put people’s minds at ease about the possibility that Biden is some kind of sexual predator like the current occupant of the White House.
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Today’s pandemic musical parody
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Good news from Portland
BREAKING: Portland Region Voters Approve a Tax on Wealthy Households to Fund Homeless Services
The use of the word “groundbreaking” to describe this tax measure is definitely justified, since it was pushed forward by an unlikely coalition of nonprofits and business groups, including the Portland Business Alliance.
From Willamette Week:
By a sizable margin in early returns, regional voters appear to have passed a groundbreaking three-county tax on high-income households and businesses to fund services for homeless people. Before the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the Portland economy, Measure 26-210 was projected to raise $2.5 billion with a 1 percent marginal tax on couples earning more than $200,000 and a 1 percent tax on profits for large businesses. Business groups and nonprofits that serve the homeless became unbeatable allies, first in forcing the regional government to refer the measure, even after they were initially rebuffed, and again when the Metro Council appeared poised to refer a more modest measure. Even in the face of the pandemic, the region was filled with lawn signs that read "We are all here together." ✂ This measure is designed to fund addiction treatment and mental health services as well as pay rent subsidies. It's not clear yet how much will be spent on which items. Those decisions lie ahead in the three counties where voters passed the tax: Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas.
Portland architect firm envisions look of workplaces following pandemic
The coolest part of this story is that the firm has made their re-design planning guide free for anyone to download.
From KGW:
A Portland-based architect and engineering firm is helping businesses adapt and remodel for a post-COVID world. "The trend in recent years is to push for more collaborative work spaces and higher density, so we're having to rethink those and look to reconfigure and spread people out," said Dietrich Wieland, president of Mackenzie Architectural, Engineering and Design. The firm just put out a COVID-19 design guide available for any business to download. "This design guide is meant to boil it all down to a really simple easy to understand resource," Wieland said.
Good news from Oregon
Oregon middle schooler challenges other kids to grow victory gardens
From The Oregonian:
...in her time away from Lake Oswego Junior High, [7th grader Melanie] Gabriel, 12, has been researching topics that interest her. One of those subjects? Gardening. “While I was Google searching,” Gabriel said, “I came across an article on victory gardens also known as war gardens. I decided to start a COVID-19 victory garden in my backyard.” ✂ Gabriel, who is also a Girl Scout, decided she wanted share what she’s learned and also help out her community. So she chose to take the money she has been saving for a trip to Japan and give it away all while encouraging other kids to grow gardens and make food for their families. Her plan is to hold a victory garden contest.
Protesters Held a “ReOpen the Coast” Rally in Seaside Today [May 16]. Barely Anyone Showed Up.
Oregonians aren’t taking the “freedumb” bait.
From Willamette Week:
The right-wing demand to immediately lift all stay-home orders traveled across Oregon today without seeming to gather any momentum. A small group of conservative activists held a sleepy protest in Seaside, Ore., on Saturday called "ReOpen the Coast," equating public health shutdowns with tyranny and seeking the attention that has followed similar rallies nationwide. "I would rather die a patriot than a coward," said Haley Adams, one of the event organizers and an associate of a violent men's group called the Proud Boys. ...Adams spoke to a crowd of roughly 50 demonstrators... Across the state, in Medford, a somewhat larger crowd attended a "Faith and Freedom" rally that appeared to attract a wider base of support. But the crowds did not expand from the May 2 rally at the Oregon Capitol, and any prospect of a Willamette Valley political fight spilling into small towns did not seem to have materialized. Perhaps the small turnout in Seaside was a result of Saturday's dreary weather. But it might also indicate the increasing irrelevance of the "ReOpen" movement.
Good news from around the country
64% of Americans Have Experienced Transformative ‘Eco Wake-Up Calls’ During COVID Crisis
From Good News Network [I’m comfortable going over the fair use limit here because GNN’s paragraphs are mostly single sentences.}
A poll of 2,000 Americans revealed 64% have had a moment since the pandemic started wherein they realized they needed to be more eco-friendly. This might be a result of paying closer attention to their lifestyles—70% said being home more due to COVID-19 made them more aware of their eco-unfriendly behaviors. These eco wake-up calls included becoming more aware of wasting food (44%), using paper products more sparingly (43%) and being more careful about where they buy meat (38%). While these behaviors might have been influenced by the pandemic, however, they aren’t going away when COVID-19 does. Commissioned by Avocado Green Mattress and conducted by OnePoll, the survey found 81% of respondents plan to keep their newfound eco-friendly habits. The top way they’re doing this is by continuing to recycle more often (55%), followed by continuing to reduce the amount of paper products they use (44%). Furthermore, 42% of those surveyed plan to work from home one day per week, instead of commuting, in order to reduce their carbon footprint. In fact, another survey found that working from home has so many benefits, that 48% of workers would even take a pay cut to continue indefinitely. More than that, respondents also plan to continue composting more often (37%) and take public transportation more frequently (35%). Those aren’t the only habits respondents are picking up right now: One-third (32%) plan to continue wearing a face mask even after receiving the “all-clear” from the CDC.
More awesome accomplishments from José Andrés and World Central Kitchen
From WCK.org:
Working alongside local leaders in the Navajo Nation across New Mexico and Arizona, WCK began this week in Rough Rock, supplying families with ingredient boxes to cook healthy meals at home. With little initial support from the Federal Government, the Navajo Nation struggled to keep COVID-19 from spreading and now has the highest rates of infection and deaths from the virus per capita. WCK is focusing on reaching families in rural communities, which have little access to food due to restricted travel and quarantine orders. ✂ WCK is now working with over 1,500 eateries across the country and has already put more than $18 million directly into the hands of restaurants. Through our Restaurants For The People commitment and with your continued support, we will keep feeding seniors, children, and other vulnerable populations, while also keeping restaurant staff employed and the businesses open.
Is The National Enquirer in Its Final ‘Death Spiral’?
From Daily Beast:
There are...countless reasons why the once golden fortunes of the Enquirer and American Media Inc., the weekly tabloid’s parent company for the past two decades under the thrall of accountant-turned-celebrity publisher David Pecker, have suffered their painful reversal. “Now, given the importance of newsstand sales for AMI, the impact of the virus has got to be disastrous,” said media consultant Peter Kreisky, who has known the 68-year-old Pecker since they worked together at CBS’s now-defunct magazine group in the 1980s. “This is a plague that is devastating the publishing industry.” As for the Enquirer, among other AMI titles, “I don’t hold out much hope for its long-term survival, frankly,” Kreisky said. Indeed, a supposed $100 million sale of the Enquirer to Hudson News impresario Jimmy Cohen—announced with great fanfare more than a year ago—has yet to happen, and many industry observers are skeptical that it will. “It’s the last of the dinosaurs,” Kreisky said. “It’s past its sell-by date—not only from the point of view of its content but also its style, which is a throwback to the past. So the question is, is it a dinosaur or a cockroach—a cockroach that will survive the end of time?”
Let’s hope it’s a dinosaur.
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Good news from around the world
WHO launched apps to support health workers
From Positive News (UK):
The World Health Organization launched two apps this week: one to support health workers during coronavirus and the other to keep the public informed. The WHO Academy app provides health workers with up-to-the-minute guidance, training and virtual workshops to help them care for Covid-19 patients and themselves. “With this new mobile app, the WHO is putting the power of learning and knowledge-sharing directly into the hands of health workers everywhere,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general. The other app, WHO Info, was launched to keep the general public informed.
Thousands of Young Adults Are Volunteering to Catch COVID-19 to Save Others in the Future
From Good News Network:
The “1 Day Sooner” campaign is an initiative that is rallying for healthy, low-risk adults to participate in a “human challenge trial” (HCT) for developing a novel coronavirus vaccine. Typical medical trials test the safety and efficacy of a vaccine by administering the treatment to several thousand people and comparing the outcomes to a control group of patients who have not received the treatment. “In these traditional trials, after receiving the treatment, participants return to their homes and their normal daily lives so as to test the treatment under real world conditions,” reads the 1 Day Sooner website. “Since only a small proportion of these participants may encounter the disease, it may take a large number of participants and a good deal of time for these trials to reveal differences between the vaccine and placebo groups.” An HCT trial, on the other hand, could only require 100 participants to willingly contract the infection so that researchers can immediately begin to test the vaccine’s efficacy. In the past, HCT trials have been conducted on treatments for typhoid fever, cholera, smallpox, dengue, and Zika. ✂ “...study participants would be isolated in highly controlled environments under constant observation,” reads the campaign website. “If infection is detected, they would be provided with excellent medical treatment. Hopefully, pharmaceutical treatments will also be available by the time a study is conducted.” Adults who have signed up as volunteers for the 1 Day Sooner campaign are not currently bound to any legal obligation to follow through on their offer—but the initiative has already been flooded with support. Since 1 Day Sooner began searching for potential volunteers, almost 24,000 adults across 102 countries have expressed interested in an HCT trial. ✂ Earlier this month, the World Health Organization released new guidance on how an HCT trial could be ethically justified in the case of a global pandemic. The guidelines emphasize that the participants would have to be thoroughly informed of the risks involved in the trials.
Hundreds of Cities Worldwide Make Streets into Cycling and Pedestrian Walkways—With Plans to Stay That Way
From Good News Network:
The World Health Organization says walking and cycling are considered the safest means of transport to reduce exposure to COVID-19. So cities around the world have been building new cycling paths and scaling up their car-free street initiatives. Now, it looks like many of these environmentally-friendly changes will be permanent. Bogotá, Colombia had...an existing tradition, called la Ciclovía, where it closed its main roads to cars every Sunday. Mayor Claudia López decided to scale the program up, and according to one report, “within days, Bogotá opened nearly 47 miles of new temporary bike routes, adding to 340 miles of paved protected paths, and converted almost 17 miles of automobile lanes to bike routes overnight.” ...Paris...is building 650 kilometers (about 400 miles) of new “corona cycleways.” Mayor Ann Hidalgo has said many of these will be made permanent. ✂ In Italy, the city of Milan has announced that over 20 miles of newly installed cycling infrastructure will be kept in place after the quarantine has been lifted.
And there are similar plans throughout France, in Budapest, and in several U.S. cities.
Unprecedented truce in notorious South African slums as gangs join forces to hand out coronavirus aid
From The Telegraph (UK):
It is being hailed as a miracle. In the face of a common enemy some of South Africa’s most violent gangs have put down their knives and are working together to help their rivals cope with the coronavirus crisis. The gangs, until recently at each other’s throats fighting for control of scarce resources in the poverty stricken suburbs of Cape Town, have begun to hand out food parcels to their former enemies. Organised by an investment banker turned church pastor, the initiative has seen the likes of convicted murderer Preston Jacobs, 35, distributing aid parcels in the deprived suburb of Manenberg, including to members of rival gangs.
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Animal news
This story is somewhat out of date, but I like it so much I wanted to include it. What an ingenious idea!
Tokyo aquarium asks public to FaceTime shy eels under lockdown
From NBC News:
A Japanese aquarium is calling on members of the public to play a virtual game of peek-a-boo with its community of about 300 eels to help prevent the creatures from getting shy under lockdown. Spotted garden eels at the in Tokyo are accustomed to streams of people looking into their tanks, but officials said...that appears to be changing since the facility closed its doors due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 1. ✂ "It seems like the spotted garden eels are getting used to a non-human environment and have forgotten about people. When the staff pass in front of them, they start hiding in the sand," according to a statement in Japanese. The eels' instincts pose a challenge to their care at the facility. Staff are finding it harder to conduct daily health checks on the animals because they're increasingly burying themselves in the sand at the sight of aquarists and zoologists. The aquarium has proposed a "face-showing festival" on May 3 through 5 where the public can video call the facility on their Apple devices to see the eels and the eels can see the callers.
Penguins visit an art museum
Who knew penguins could be art critics?! Thumbs up for Caravaggio, “meh” for Monet.
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Goats gone wild!!
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An artist having fun during lockdown
A very creative friend of mine sent me a series of photoshopped images she made of the “walking man” traffic logo engaged in various activities. Here are my favorites:
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A few laughs
We got into a lively discussion about grammar in yesterday’s GNR comments. Here are some further ruminations on the use of a particular word by Finnish comedian ISMO:
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I guess we should have warnings on all those baking videos...
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If you haven’t been following Andrew Cotter’s sports commentary on his dogs Olive and Mabel, you’ve been missing out! Cotter is a Scottish sports commentator who’s been sidelined by the lack of any sports to cover, so he began producing commentary on his dogs. Here’s my favorite:
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If you’re born Italian, you’d better learn early how to talk with your hands!
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Hot links
ohs.org/...Footage of the Mount St. Helens Eruption and Aftermath. If you would like to see how the eruption was covered on local news at the time, check out this compilation of video clips from the Oregon Historical Society.
www.livescience.com/...Scientists have discovered 3-foot-long saber tooth anchovies! Fortunately only in fossil form…
www.boredpanda.com/...Photographer Spends Eternity Waiting For Museum Visitors To Match Artworks And The Result Is Worth The Wait. These photos are truly amazing!
www.nytimes.com/...Can Genetic Engineering Bring Back the American Chestnut? This is a very long piece, but fascinating.
www.theatlantic.com/...Trump Has Lost the Plot. This deep dive by David Frum is excellent and contains the best quote ever: “Trump, the [former White House] official said, is not playing “...three-dimensional chess... More often than not he’s just eating the pieces.”
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Closing music
Stay safe! Stay home!!
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❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Thanks to each and every Gnusie for your smarts, your hearts, and your faithful attendance at our daily Gathering of the Herd.
❤💙 RESIST, PERSIST, REBUILD, REJOICE!💙❤


Strengthening Labor Unions

The need to fight for worker power has never been stronger .
Because of inadequate worker power , our economy @ @ @ @ @ are all in trouble .
In the US , the decline of the middle class @ @ @ @ @ decline of American labor union membership .
The reason America was far more equal in @ @ @ @ @ 1960 ’ s is because unions were stronger then .
That gave workers bargaining power @ @ @ @ @ of the economy ’ s gains – and unions helped improve wages and working conditions @ @ @ @ @ membership .
I will be a Congressman who listens to Labor , supports Davis-Bacon , @ @ @ @ @ strengthen Kentucky ’ s Labor Unions .

The need to fight for worker power has never been stronger. Because of inadequate worker power, our economy, democracy and social cohesion are all in trouble. In the US, the decline of the middle class is nearly identical to the decline of American labor union membership. The reason America was far more equal in the 1950’s and 1960’s is because unions were stronger then. That gave workers bargaining power to get a fair share of the economy’s gains – and unions helped improve wages and working conditions for everyone regardless of union membership. I will be a Congressman who listens to Labor, supports Davis-Bacon, supports collective bargaining and helps strengthen Kentucky’s Labor Unions.


dailykos--2020-05-21--Fully Fund the Veterans Association

Fully Fund the Veterans Association

As your congressman I will fight to fully fund the VA , and hold the VA system to the highest @ @ @ @ @ work closely with our veteran service organizations ( VSO ) to ensure veteran ’ s @ @ @ @ @ Our returning service members deserve access to educational opportunities , employment , first-class healthcare and @ @ @ @ @ up short on its promises to care for our veterans .
We must do better @ @ @ @ @ to improvement of the care administered by the VA , including upgrading IT systems , @ @ @ @ @ improving healthcare access for our female veterans .
And , as your representative in Congress @ @ @ @ @ veterans in our community have top-notch constituent services to help navigate the federal benefit systems @

As your congressman I will fight to fully fund the VA, and hold the VA system to the highest of standards. I will work closely with our veteran service organizations (VSO) to ensure veteran’s voices are being heard. Our returning service members deserve access to educational opportunities, employment, first-class healthcare and rehabilitation.
Washington has come up short on its promises to care for our veterans. We must do better. We need to commit to improvement of the care administered by the VA, including upgrading IT systems, expanding telehealth services, and improving healthcare access for our female veterans. And, as your representative in Congress, I will make sure veterans in our community have top-notch constituent services to help navigate the federal benefit systems.