Posted on 2 Comments on Good News Birthday Edition

Good News Birthday Edition

This week’s Good News from the Resistance: Happy 2nd Birthday to Good News! It’s hard to believe that what started as a whisper in my ear two years ago is still going strong (albeit, a tad less frequently). What was my motivation? It’s explained in the Inaugural Issue, which featured a selfie of Yours Truly flanked by friends Marjorie and Rosalind, as we stood in line at the supermarket after scoring a family-size container of Cheetos. That night I was hosting a sign-making party for the next day’s Inaugural Women’s March. Guess what we did with the Cheetos?

This week, I re-read all 80 issues of Good News. My conclusion?  We, the Resisters, have been successful beyond my wildest dreams at staying the course and living our mission: to dilute, delay, and defeat Trump’s nefarious plans. If you don’t believe me — or don’t remember details of the last action-packed two years — jog your memory with this Good News 2 Year Birthday Recap. Rejoice. Then get back to work!

Read more Good News Birthday Edition

Posted on No Comments on Good News February 8

Good News February 8

Good News from the Resistance: This week, our Slacker-in-Chief pulled off an A+ imitation of Eddie Haskell (note to Millennials: look it up) as he read a lame, sappy speech to the nation, surrounded by powerful women and at least one snoozing namesake. Focused on a bogus “crisis” at the border, the nation’s Pretend CEO failed to address at least one real crisis: gun violence. Why? Because on that front, he had a piece of Bad News to report to his base of KKK enthusiasts, Duck Dynasty binge-watchers, Russian mobsters, and generous NRA enablers: Trump’s own Justice Department just banned bump stocks. Which is Good News for us.

There’s no denying it – the NRA is suffering from a Trump Slump. Gun sales are down, as is NRA membership revenue under its new president, Oliver North (yes, that Oliver North). NRA’s publicly available financial documents indicate it has been operating in the red for six of the last ten years; 2017’s $31.8 million deficit is the organization’s largest 10-year loss. During the midterms, for the first time in history gun control groups spent more than the belt-tightening NRA.

There’s likely to be more Good News. Gun control advocates had some big wins in the midterms, and now  stricter gun laws are a top priority for emboldened House Democrats.  We’re betting on more NRA losses.

One nagging question remains: Why hasn’t our Sycophant-in-Chief bragged about his success in pushing through the bump stock ban? Spy-girl Maria Butina is likely to know something about that. And we can’t wait to find out.

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

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

 

Posted on 1 Comment on Good News January 17

Good News January 17

Good News from the Resistance: As Good News goes to press, we’re close to a month into the longest government shut down in U.S. history, our corpulent Twitter Laureate-in-Chief is busy doing photo ops with massive piles of junk food, Mitch McConnell continues to flaunt his bonafides as the world’s largest invertebrate (apologies to the colossal squid), and Nancy Only-Kidding! Pelosi has disinvited our Pinocchio-in-Chief to deliver the State of the Union. Which is too bad, because we recently uncovered a helpful List of Terrible Things to Do Instead of Watching Trump on TV. (Keep it on hand).

And yet, kindness keeps breaking through. Restaurants across the country are proving there is such a thing as a free lunch, at least for furloughed government workers — at a brewpub on Chicago’s South Side, Poor Richard’s in Colorado Springs, at a celebrity chef pop-up cafe on Pennsylvania Ave. in D.C., and a pop-up food bank in Boston. Kudos to the Canadian air traffic controllers who sent pizza to their U.S. counterparts who are working without  pay.

Call it payback, karma, or plain ‘ole Democracy, Congress’s new committee chairs are already making our Liar-in-Chief’s life hell. House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) has hired an entire staff to investigate Putin Asset-in-Chief’s Russia connections. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) House Financial Services Committee —  which oversees Wall Street –  is stacked with members like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), who are beholden to no one, and took no corporate campaign donations. Presidential Oversight Committee chair Elijah Cummings (D-MA) has already filed over 50 subpoenas, as his team investigates family separation, former EPA chief Scott Pruitt, and so, so much more. Our Future Convict-in-Chief’s response? He’s hired 17 new lawyers.

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

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more Good News January 17

Posted on No Comments on Good News January 3

Good News January 3

Good News from the Resistance: Good riddance 2018, and Hello 2019, the year our Hopes & Dreams will come true. This year, it seems as if the most popular Christmas gift among D.C.’s ruling class was a crystal ball: There are more end-of-year 2019 predictions than there are Democrats considering a presidential run. The way we see it, there’s no upside to predicting anything about our Psychopath-in-Chief’s behavior, the downside being, of course, we will be proven wrong — as were a gaggle of overconfident pundits last year.

And yet. We may not have predictions, be we do have Hopes & Dreams. Our favorite list for 2019 predicts both Good News and Bad. Our 2019 Hopes & Dreams list contains Good News only.  It’s best to read it much the same way you’d watch the heist caper Ocean’s 8 (Sandra Bullock! Cate Blanchett! Rihanna! Mindy Kaling!) — with a bowl of popcorn, a hefty glass of wine, and a sprinkle of suspended disbelief. Here’s to 2019!

Good News from the Resistance Hopes & Dreams for 2019

Finally, in the spirit of year-end lists, here’s 2018’s Top 10 Most Clicked Good News from the Resistance Stories (see how many you remember):

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

 

Posted on 1 Comment on Good News December 17

Good News December 17

Good News from the Resistance: Since the Midterms (40 flipped seats!), the Good News has been coming at us from left (Nancy) and right (the Senate). The Swamp is being drained and relocated … to prison. The emoluments lawsuit against our Crook-in-Chief is proceeding, the Trump Organization surely cooked its books, New York’s new Attorney General is having a tough time containing her excitement over going after the entire Trump  family, the Trump Inauguration Committee is under investigation for accepting illegal payments from foreign governments looking for favors and knowingly overpaying Trump Hotels for event space (negotiated by none other than favored daughter Ivanka), and New Jersey’s Attorney General is investigating Trump’s golf course for immigration fraud.

The big news, of course, is Mueller, the best secret-keeper in  D.C. No one knows where his investigation will lead (the Middle East?) or when it will end.  While you, Good News-seekers, eagerly await more subpoenas, plea deals and perp walks, you can now keep your spirits high with song: Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off pretty much sums up our sentiments since Our National Nightmare began. We’ve taken the liberty of rewriting a few lyrics. (Our apologies to the Gershwins).

Now, listen to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, and sing along. Repeat frequently while awaiting more of Mueller’s Good News!

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off (2018 version)

Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that
Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh, we are so unmoored
You stole the election, you weren’t the one
Something must be done

You like lying and we like prying
You like denying and we like implying
Lying prying denying implying
Let’s call the whole thing off

We say Stormy you say bore me
We say horny you say adore me
Stormy bore me horny adore me
Let’s call the whole thing off

We go for Nancy and you go for panties
We call you randy and you say you’re classy
Nancy, panties, randy, classy
Let’s call the whole thing off

We like indictments you like excitement
We like impeachment you like concealment
Indictments excitement impeachment concealment
Let’s call the whole thing OFF!

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

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more Good News December 17

Posted on No Comments on Good News November 30

Good News November 30

Good News from the Resistance: When Brian Kemp, the King of Voter Suppression, beat Stacey Abrams for the governorship of Georgia, it was not Good News. But only if you’re a short term thinker. In the long term, it may turn out to be Excellent News. Why? “Because the title of governor isn’t nearly as important as our shared title — voters. And that is why we fight on,” Abrams told her supporters. Watch out, Jim Crow, because Abrams is throwing her energy and smarts into Fair Fight Georgia, intent on dismantling Kemp’s legacy of systematic voter disenfranchisement and election disinvestment. To which we say, Go, Stacey, Go!

Thanks in large part to our Cheater-in-Chief, Americans have woken up to the GOP’s smarmy voter-suppression tricks — purged registrations, capriciously canceled ballots, and hours-long lines in neighborhoods that prefer Democrats. The midterms were a good start: Florida restored voting rights to 1.5 million former felons; Trump’s pal Kris Kobach, the mastermind behind the biggest voter-suppression scheme in recent history, lost the governorship in Kansas to Democrat Laura Kelly; voters backed anti-gerrymandering measures in Michigan, Colorado, Missouri and Utah; Michigan and Nevada passed automatic voter registration. There’s been much to celebrate about the Blue Wave (yeah us!) and high voter turnout (shout out to Minnesota!). Let’s add strengthening election integrity to that list. And it’s only going to get better.

We’ll end with a Good News question: When a bad thing happens to a bad person (or organization), is it Good News? (Kind of like -2 x -2 = 4). As in: Papadopoulos is in jail; NRA donations have taken a dive; Proud Boys had to walk after being rejected by taxis and Uber; Ivanka was busted; at least 5 Democratic-led Congressional committees plan to scrutinize Betsy DeVos’s “special mix of incompetence and malevolence.” Good News, or not? You be the judge. There’s more Definitely Good News from the Resistance:

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more Good News November 30

Posted on No Comments on Good News November 15

Good News November 15

Good News from the Resistance: We did it. 317 of 435 Congressional districts are bluer today than they were on November 5. Yowza.

This week, Congressional freshmen are storming D.C. for orientation, and our class of newly-elected lawmakers looks like no class that’s come before it. Forget the “Blue Wave,” last week a Rainbow Earthquake rumbled across the country, toppling statues that have been lording over America for way too long. Replacing them will be more people who look, pray, and love like us: female, black, Latinx, Muslim, Native American, Somali-American, Palestinian-American and  LBGTQ. This is not identity politics (can we please retire that term?); this is what America looks like. Trump’s Angry White Man Strategy, followed lockstep by the GOP,  is unraveling. Our goal is nothing short of indivisible, and with justice for all.

The Rainbow Earthquake brought many big wins, but a few stood out as being particularly sweet. And so much fun. Minnesota GOP Congressman Jason Lewis, who complained about not being able to call women “sluts,” was flipped by Angie Craig. Virginia GOP Congressman Dave Brat, who whined that angry women were all up in “his grill” about saving Obamacare, was flipped by Abigail Spanberger. A GOP lawmaker in N.J. county government who asked during the first Women’s March, “Will the women’s protest end in time for them to cook dinner?” was defeated by 32-year old Ashley Bennett, who was inspired to run by his sexist remarks. And perhaps the one win that most aptly encapsulates the entire 2018 Rainbow Earthquake: In Kansas (!), Sharice Davids, a Native-American lesbian beat 4-term GOP incumbent Kevin Yoder, chair of the Congressional committee in charge of allocating funds for Trump’s border wall. To Lewis, Brat, Yoder, and all their pals, we say:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Lately, the mainstream press has been full of Good News – a rarity over the last two years — but here’s some more that you may have missed:

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more Good News November 15

Posted on No Comments on Good News Special Edition: Turn Despair to Action

Good News Special Edition: Turn Despair to Action

Good News from the Resistance: There’s no getting around it – the news this week was horrible. Three hate crimes, back-to-back: Two killed at Kroger for being black, 14 pipe bombs sent to Trump’s critics, 11 killed in a synagogue for being Jewish.

Two of these events hit close to home. I live down the block from Elizabeth Warren, and pass her house on most of my dog walks. (Quick diversion: I don’t like to brag, but I’m pretty sure my dog Becca pees on top of her dog’s pee. Top dog!). Last week there was a Cambridge police detail guarding Warren’s house 24/7, in the days before they captured the MAGA bomber. Seeing that police car for the first time was like a punch to my stomach. Becca and I changed our route.

Then came the synagogue shooting. My husband Max grew up in Squirrel Hill, his childhood steeped in the neighborhood’s strong synagogue culture. We met in Squirrel Hill, fell in love in Squirrel Hill, celebrated our engagement at his parents’ Squirrel Hill synagogue, and forty-one years ago rented our first apartment together in Squirrel Hill, a few blocks from Tree of Life. Squirrel Hill’s Jewish life is baked into my husband’s DNA.

Here’s what we did last Saturday, in the pouring rain, within an hour of learning of the shootings: We zipped up our raincoats, grabbed the sturdiest umbrellas we could find, loaded Becca into the car (she likes taking rides), and drove to the Cambridge Public Library to vote. Never have I pushed down on a black Sharpie quite so hard. Never have I cried while voting.

And yet. I’m going out on a limb here with a prediction: The next issue of Good News from the Resistance is going to be The Most Excellent Good News Ever. We are going to take back our country.

Slowly, slowly, my despair is turning to anger. And I plan to hang on to that anger for another week. Because when I’m angry I act. One week. You don’t like making calls? Then knock on doors. You don’t like knocking on doors? Then make calls. You don’t like doing either? Then make a donation.

Now, here’s the Good News from the Resistance Guide to Maximizing Your Personal Midterm Efforts:

  • Check  out The Last Weekend for volunteer opportunities near you
  • Take a Trip to Flip. You can travel by train, plane or automobile to a district that has a real shot of flipping. (Shout out to my sister Adrienne and Good News reader Leslie, who will be traveling to Virginia to help Abigail Spanberger take a seat from the Tea Party incumbent).
  • Swing Left, and stay left. This group  has been gearing up for this election for two years. They’re ready. They need your help.
  • Read Cook’s Political Report to identify Toss-Up races that need your money. Then search on ActBlue and Donate.
  • Vote.
  • Make a plan to spend Election Night with friends and/or loved ones. Or go out and do something fun. If you’re in Boston, look for me at the Elton John concert. (Which will be fabulous until he sings Rocket Man).

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

 

Posted on No Comments on Good News October 25

Good News October 25

Good News from the Resistance: Is your anxiety increasing to levels you haven’t experienced since the days before the 2016 election? Does the Little Calming Voice in your head tell you to stop obsessively checking the newsfeeds on your phone, while the Crazy-Making Voice whispers, “but the world may have just ended and I should know.”? Have you  renewed your relationship with Ben & Jerry? Take a deep breath and hold it, lift your shoulders to your ears, now drop them and exhale.

Here’s why we’re anxious: Thanks to the sustained antics of our Mean Clown-in-Chief, political coverage is out-of-control. We read the same Bad News all day. Hyperbolic Bad News headlines beget clicks, clicks beget revenue, revenue begets more Bad News. You get the drift.

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge fan of the press. (Full disclosure: Your deliverer of Good News is a former investigative journalist). I truly, deeply, madly want the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, The Atlantic (publications that have seen massive surges in on-line subscriptions since the Mean Clown took office) to keep doing what they’re doing, because Lord (and all Higher Beings) knows that the press is currently the only check on our Liar-in-Chief. But do they really need to keep sending the same damn Chicken Little-esque emails over and over again?

And we won’t even get into how the Dems are using emails scarier than any Trump Halloween mask to raise money. (Okay, just one example, recently sent by Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA): POLLS SHOW: If voter turnout is low, Republicans hold the House by one seat! Guess what happens when you click to read those polls? You land directly on the ActBlue page that provides the choice of donating between $10-1,000). No wonder we’re tense.

Good News seekers, it’s time for a bit of self-protective behavior. Here’s the plan: Let’s go on a media diet, and try to reduce our news consumption by 10-20%, at least between now and the midterms. I, for one, could stand to lose a few media outlets. And I bet you could, too.

Now let’s pull up our Big Girl and Big Boy pants and get to work. We have a House to flip! In the meantime, here’s some Good News to put a smile on your winning face while you use your newly found media-free time to make those calls and knock on doors:

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more Good News October 25

Posted on No Comments on Good News October 11

Good News October 11

Good News from the Resistance: Our Kavanaugh hangover is finally over, and we hope yours is, too. Last week, while the television networks were airing the ulcer-producing moral depravity of the GOP, behind the scenes pollsters worked the phones and statisticians crunched numbers. The story that emerged from these activities (which were decidedly less camera-ready than Lindsey Graham auditioning to be Attorney General at the expense of Christine Ford) — provides the spiritual, psychic, and emotional purification of sage. Consider this issue of Good News your personal post-Kavanaugh smudge. Here’s some of our favorite recent numeric Good News:

Trump’s approval ratings have dropped in every state since the election. His biggest plunge has been in Utah, followed by New Mexico and Arizona. GOP vs. Dem turnout numbers in primaries leading up to the midterms are astonishing. On-line donors are throwing gobs of cash into Democratic Congressional campaigns: In August alone (pre-Kavanaugh) Democratic candidates raised $36.8 million (in small increments!), $30 million more than they raised in August 2016; ActBlue, the Democratic on-line giving platform, raised $10 million on October 5 and $9 million on October 6. Democrats are leading in 69 House districts won by Trump. 12 million more people are registered as Democrats than as Republicans – and that was before Taylor Swift came out as a Democrat and produced a Swift Bump.

How’s the GOP responding to all of this Good News? Ted Cruz is sticking his head in the sand, refusing to debate Beto (watch this anti-Cruz ad, it’s a riot); the GOP super-PAC has cut funds from candidates it now thinks will lose to Dems; and the White House has created a task force to prepare for the onslaught of investigations when we take back the House.

And don’t forget: Mueller is still at it. Last week Paul Manafort made good on his plea deal, sat down with prosecutors, and talked. Yes, there’s even more Good News from the Resistance:

 Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.

Read more Good News October 11