Marla Felcher

Good News from the Resistance:  Last week we learned about a new piece of Trump’s immigration policy — he dreamed of building a border moat, and filling it with alligators and snakes. His aides got cost estimates. The Good News? After three years, our Clown-in-Chief still has the ability to make me laugh so hard I fell off the couch. The Really Good News? This was just one of a litany of reminders of the childish ineptness of the current Administration. To quote my friend Billy Shore, who leads a national anti-hunger organization, “(their) incompetence has worked in our favor.” To which I say, Praise Ye Incompetence!

Our Reality TV star-in-Chief made a lot of campaign promises, yet after close to 1,000 days in the White House, he’s failed to deliver. Thanks to his stunning incompetence, and a bit of help from his loyal and corrupt henchmen and dangerously clueless family, he’s been unable to: ban all Muslims from entering the U.S.; remove Syrian refugees; create a Commission on radical Islam; build a wall (or a moat) and make Mexico pay for it; end birthright citizenship; cancel federal aid to sanctuary cities; expand fast-track deportation; add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census; change the vaccination schedule for children; or bring back waterboarding. Obamacare still stands, Mt. Denali has not be renamed Mt. McKinely, Medicaid is not funded through block grants to states, and $20 billion has not been invested in “school choice.” Praise Ye Incompetence!

But that’s legislation; our Grifter-in-Chief ran on a “this country needs a businessman who knows how to run things!” platform. How’s he doing with that?

Our  Bankrupter-in-Chief already — with a year to go —  holds the record for both Cabinet and White House turnover; he’s lost more Cabinet heads to ethics violations and corruption than any president in U.S. history, and underlings who don’t buy what he’s selling (Comey, Scaramucci, McCabe, Shulkin, Sessions, Omarosa, Bolton) are dismissed by the boss with his signature phrase, “You’re fired!” Which is why White House morale is so low (former WH chief-of-staff John Kelly said, “working for Donald Trump was the worst fucking job I’ve ever had”), that we, the taxpayers, are footing an $18,000 bill for a White House executive coach. (Good luck with that). Let’s hope the coach continues to be unable to control the gut-bustingly funny mistakes and retributive leaks. Praise Ye Incompetence!

And yet. While our Baffoon-in-Chief continues to outdo his own mendacity, unlikely fixers are stepping up.  Auto manufacturers are fighting Trump’s relaxed air pollution and emissions rules. Walmart is filling a void on gun policy. Greta has mobilized young people across the world, and she will not stop. Cities like L.A. are out in front on electric vehicle adoption. Amazon just ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans; FedEx ordered 1,000 more.

Note to our National Clown: This is how you run a thriving business. Praise Ye Competence!

Yes, there’s even more Good News from the Resistance:

• Laugh at Andy Borowitz’s Civil War podiatrist joke
• Be amazed that the $70 billion U of California pension fund is now fossil-free
• Know that Cleveland paid anti-Trump protestors almost $1 million for wrongful arrests
• Plan to visit this NYC arts center dedicated to immigrants
• Applaud New Mexico for making college free
• See history being made with this ocean clean-up
• Wonder how Trump feels about paying ACLU & immigrant rights groups $6.6 million+
• Be impressed by Warren’s pinky promise
• Use this impeachment diagram to keep track of shady Ukraine players
• Take Action: Find an #ImpeachNow march, and take to the streets Sunday, Oct. 13

Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up. 

Read more In Praise of Incompetence!

Good News from the Resistance: Maine has the oldest and second whitest (Go Vermont!) population in America. So when 400+ asylum-seekers landed in the state this past summer, mostly from the Congo and Angola, many — including Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling — recognized an opportunity. “If we have discovered the magic wand that will bring young families to Portland to help us build the next generation, why would we want to stop that, especially when it costs us so little money?” the mayor said.

Why Maine? No one knows exactly. Some recent arrivals said they’d heard through the grapevine that Portland was a safe, aging city that needed more workers. Others had heard there was a strong safety net.

After making their way by air to Brazil, then by foot and bus through Mexico to the Texas border, what the migrants found in Portland was a welcoming community. When the city set up hundreds of cots in the Portland Expo and school gyms, 1,200 residents volunteered to help. In Cape Elizabeth, there was a Welcome! 4th of July picnic. The Portland City Council voted to allocate $900,000+ of private donations for the new arrivals’ housing and basic needs. Non-profits like the New Mainers Resource Center helped find the migrants more permanent housing in Portland and nearby towns; Prosperity Maine – whose executive director Claude Rwaganje was born in the Congo — provides financial education, “the first step to achieving your American dream.”

Last week, Luc Mpangaje flew from his home in Texas to Portland, to thank members of the First Parish Church for helping him in 2010 when he’d been an asylum seeker fleeing Burundi, where he’d been jailed and beaten by police for his political views. He’d arrived in Portland with $80, speaking no English, without his family. Now a U.S. citizen living in Dallas, and reunited with his wife and 10-year old son Malcolm and 13-year old daughter Yasmine, Mpangaje works as an airport shuttle driver. He’s saving to move his family back to Portland.

“If you do something good for me, you’ll always stay in my heart,” Mpangaje said. “That’s why I keep coming back here – because I feel like I owe something.”

Mainers, listen up! Ditch Susan Collins, and you’ll soon be topping another list: Best State in the U.S. 

Yes, there’s even more Good News from the Resistance:

• Know that the Democrats are building armies of 2020 volunteers
• Remember (or learn about) the good ‘ole days of Dan Quayle
• Wish you’d been on this cruise
• Understand why the situation will improve in N. Carolina
• Buy this new Ben & Jerry’s flavor
• Thank Montana for its leadership
• Break bread at this yummy event in Oakland, CA
• Applaud the recent fundraising success of Green Groups 
• Be impressed by this simple act of resistance (you can do it, too)
• Take Action: Relax and have a good laugh with Randy Rainbow

Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up. 

Read more Let’s Move the Statue of Liberty to Portland?

Good News from the Resistance: Have you been keeping track of all the culprits the Occupant of the White House (OWH) has blamed for the recent mass shootings? Here’s a quick recap: the mentally ill (specifically, a shortage of institutions to house them), racist Hollywood, fake news, video games, the internet and social media.

And what about the looming recession? That’s a conspiracy between people who want to see the OWH lose in 2020, selfish Democrats, the media, and his own “clueless” Fed Chair– who said he won’t leave if the OWH fires him. Further demonstrating the boundless fantasy-based derangement of the party of Bullets & Blame, Ohio GOP state rep Candace Keller blamed homosexual marriage, drag queen advocates, legalized marijuana, parents who defend misbehaving students in school, and Obama for the Dayton mass shooting. And while we’re on the subject of Obama, guess whose fault it is that the White House air conditioning system isn’t up to par? Bingo! You got it!

Good News Trivia Quiz: Who remembers the 1970’s jazzy disco song, Pick Up the Pieces? It’s mostly instrumental, except for, “Pick up the pieces!,” being shouted a couple of times throughout it. Why is it that a song I never really liked, and certainly haven’t thought about in 40+ years, is now playing an infinite loop in my head? Because it so aptly explains what so many are doing in response to the non-stop barrage of OWH-created tragedies.

After the Mississippi ICE raid, a pizza shop, pastors, and several hundred outspoken Latinx marchers picked up the pieces. In Chicago, neighborhood volunteers are picking up the pieces by accompanying undocumented immigrants wherever they go. NFL players picked up the pieces in L.A., by posting $50,000 bail for a student who had been jailed by ICE for three months. Lady Gaga picked up the pieces in Dayton, Gilroy and El Paso; The King of Sitcoms, Chuck Lorre, picked up the pieces with yellow IMAG hats; California professors picked up the pieces with see-saws; Brunswick, Maine picked up the pieces by hiring a cultural broker.

Democrats, listen up! We’ve got a campaign slogan and theme song for our presidential nominee: Imagine this playing as thousands of balloons are released from the ceiling at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The Good News? The band that sold over 1 million copies of Pick Up the Pieces is still touring. The Bad News? Average White Band is in serious need of a name change. Guys, you’ve got 11 months to do it. 

Yes, there’s even more Good News from the Resistance:

• Chuckle over The Tiny Pricks Project
• Applaud the creativity of the duck protest
• Revel in the jealousy this must unleash in Trump
• Plan a trip to NYC to celebrate this street-renaming
• Watch this video of #MoscowMitch’s reception at Fancy Farm
• Be grateful that the top Daily Stormer anti-Semite was forced to pay his Jewish target
• Visit Boston to see this powerful public art
• Wonder what you would have yelled at Cruz had you been at LAX
• Know that Blue is the new Orange in Reagan’s old stomping grounds
• Be amazed that the National Cathedral said to Trump, “Have we no decency?“
• Take Action: Learn which organizations are helping immigrants. And donate.

Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more It’s Obama’s Fault!

Good News from the Resistance: Take this quiz: Name 5 Trump-related dramas (typically Twitter-induced) that got extensive press coverage the first half of July. Hard to do, right? There are just too many stories, changing too quickly. Yet, there’s one sticky issue that won’t go away: immigration. Our Racist-in-Chief is relentless in his efforts to rid the U.S. of all non-white immigrants. The white ones? He’s okay with those. Our forward-thinking Sexual Predator-in-Chief doesn’t want to limit his dating pool once Melania leaves him.

Here’s the thing: Contrary to predictions made after the 2017 Women’s March, we have not become inured to “the new normal” of racism and hate. Spiteful Executive Orders and callow Tweets still rouse us to action. In a weird way, the object of our resistance is protecting us from resistance fatigue, by handing us such a diverse menu of options. Does the mental health crisis in immigrant detention centers get you to call your member of Congress? If not, then perhaps the spike in children being separated from their parents at the border will. Do the threatened ICE raids motivate you to have that conversation with your neighbor about why she should register to vote? If not, then maybe the vitriol he’s lobbed at The Squad will. Our resistance has not fizzled. Rather, it’s become more creative, targeted, and diverse. It’s now big enough and strong enough so that when some of us need to take a break to recharge, others are ready to jump in and carry the torch.

Yes, we’re still showing up. At the beginning of July, tens of thousands of us rallied across the U.S. to #ClosetheCamps, and two weeks later we showed up again, at 600+ Lights for Liberty events protesting ICE detention centers. Japanese-Americans who were interned during WWII and #JewsAgainstICE are showing up in force with the message, “never again.” Latter-day Saints are protesting poor treatment of immigrants, whom they consider like-minded “pioneers”; a 90-year old nun got arrested in D.C., along with 70 of her Catholic colleagues. And during the World Cup, a group of French soccer fans joined the resistance by chanting “F*ck Trump” during a live Fox TV broadcast.

In Iowa, 50 moms took over Senator Joni Ernst’s office to protest the treatment of immigrant kids. In Phoenix, an abandoned school was turned into a Welcome Center for asylum-seeking families.. In Nashville, when ICE showed up for a father and his 12-year old son, their neighbors formed a human chain to protect them. Kindness keeps breaking through.

What do we have to show for our work? A recent poll shows Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as the country’s most disliked Senator, followed closely by Susan Collins (R-ME). In 2020, McConnell will have a strong opponent, and Collins just announced she may be retiring. States are passing laws ensuring voting rights and immigrant rights. ICE’s highly publicized sweep that was intended to roundup 2,100 undocumented immigrants netted 35 people. Lawmakers representing the RNC’s host city passed a resolution condemning Trump’s “racist and xenophobic” language, adding that it will not be tolerated in the city. And critics of the Administration’s immigration “policies” are winning the on-line messaging fight.

At the same time, large swaths of Trump’s immigration agenda are being held up in courts. This week, a judge issued a preliminary injunction against new restrictions that would have stopped most asylum-seekers coming into the U.S. via Mexico. His attempt to deny bail to asylum-seekers who have been jailed was quashed. And don’t forget –  the Supreme Court ruled not to allow a  citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Trump was ready to fight that, too, but ultimately backed down. Public pressure is likely to have had something to do with his decision. That’s you, that’s me, that’s us.

Yes, there’s even more Good News from the Resistance:

• Picture Donald and Melania winning this contest
• Wonder if you’d go this far to battle climate change
• Know that public outrage kept this mass-poisoner from a Harvard fellowship
• Tune in to The Dogwood and Front Page Live
• Wish you’d been at the board meeting when this charity decided to hire strippers
• Hope that this young Latina’s friends follow her lead
• Try to kick the Home Depot habit
• Hope that the GOP is correct in worrying about NRA’s turmoil
• Love Obama even more, for sending this letter
• Take Action: Learn about International Refugee Assistance Project and sign up

Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more We’re Still Showing Up

Good News from the Resistance: It’s been a horrible few days for Good News Seekers. Which means it’s time, once again, to turn to one of our favorite philosophers for insight: Mr. Rogers, who told us, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You always find people who are helping.'” Now’s the time for each of us to step up to be a Helper. Our voices matter.

This morning we reached out to Congressional aides to ask what we can do. Our immediate course of action is simple: 1) Send a message of support or call everyone on The Squad to say thank-you, we’ve got your back, 2) Call or send a message of support to the 13 GOP lawmakers who condemned the Racist-in-Chief’s remarks, and 3) Call or send a message of outrage to the 13 GOP lawmakers who supported the Racist’s remarks.

Don’t have time to send 30 notes or make 30 calls? Then check the lists to see if there is a lawmaker from your district, and contact them. If not, figure out what you feel most strongly about — supporting The Squad, thanking the 13 GOP Lawmakers with a Spine, or condemning the 13 Super Duper Extra Special Evil Racists. Just do something.

We’ve made it easy. Click on the link of the person you want to contact, and all the info you need will be there.

To send a message of support to each member of The Squad: (Note: Preferred method is to send a postcard or letter unless you live in the Congresswoman’s district; staff answering phones and email are being overwhelmed).

Ayanna Pressley; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Ilhan Omar; Rashida Tlaib

To send a message of support to GOP lawmakers who condemned Trump’s remarks:

Kelly Armstrong (R-ND); Troy Balderson (R-OH); Tom Cole (R-OK); Joni Ernst (R-IA); Mike Gallagher (R-WI); Bill Huizenga (R-MI); Will Hurd (R-TX); David Joyce (R-OH); Lisa Murkowski (R-AK); Pete Olson (R-TX); Rob Portman (R-OH); Marco Rubio (R-FL); Michael Turner (R-OH)

To send a message of outrage to GOP lawmakers who supported Trump’s remarks:

Ralph Abraham (R-LA); Jim Banks (R-IN); Bradley Byrne (R-AL); Dan Crenshaw (R-TX); Steve Daines (R-MT); Sean P. Duffy (R-WI); Lance Gooden (R-TX); . Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC); Andy Harris (R-MD); James M. Inhofe (R-OK); Jim Jordan (R-OH); Ralph Norman (R-SC); Scott Perry (R-PA)

Extra Credit: Forward this post to family and friends, especially those who live in districts represented by GOP lawmakers listed above. Politicians care first and foremost about getting re-elected. They need to hear from their constituents.

Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Good News from the Resistance: There’s nothing our Baby Blimp president hates more than losing. So while he’s readying for our nation’s 243rd birthday by trotting across the globe tickling the palms of dictators, we’re celebrating the 4th by highlighting a few of his notable losses.

So let’s get patriotic, and make a game of this. Which of the following losses do you think provoked the most spirited Impotus Temper Tantrum? Losing … a) his Hollywood star; b) the ability to keep his financial records a secret; c) large swaths of his Wall in Arizona, New Mexico and California; d) his presence on Ravelry (a popular knitting site); e) big media’s attention; f) his Suckup-in-Chiefette; g) his truth-telling pollsters; h) the NRA’s political director, i) his whip-carrying Chief of Protocol; j) private vetting documents detailing dirt on his talented staff; k) the opportunity to meet Megan Rapinoe; l) immigrant detention centers run by his private sector cronies; m) his faith in baby boy Trump Jr. being able to drink safely; n) a defense secretary who claimed his son was acting in self-defense when he beat his mother unconscious with a baseball bat.

Extra credit: Which of these losses do you imagine our Racist-in-Chief took hardest? a) A “very fine person,” a.k.a. the Charlottesville neo-Nazi murderer, being sentenced to life in prison; b) 72 Philadelphia police officers taken off street duty for writing racist Facebook posts; c) Richmond renaming an iconic boulevard after Arthur Ashe.

Which is all to say, when bad things happen to bad people, it’s all good.  Yes, there’s even more Good News from the Resistance:

• Know that this 13-year old has a bright future
• Buy Highlights Magazine. (Yes, it still exists)
• Thank the residents of Portland, ME for welcoming these new asylum-seekers
• Applaud this Texas Bishop’s creative protest
• Smile when you learn what this Pink Floyd guitarist is doing with 126 of his guitars
• Consider going back to school with a new major if the unthinkable happens in 2020
• Be impressed by these DIY young women who are exposing sexual predators
• Wish you’d had tickets to this Ariana Grande concert
• Take Action: 20 actions you can take now to help immigrant children

Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more Let’s Get Patriotic!