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The Return of the Good News Report
[Not only was I out on a much needed vacation last week, but I also couldn't find any good news on FB or my other sources while I was out. It didn't pop up on my news feed until yesterday and today. (I'm thinking my sources took a break for Mother's Day?)
It was quite distressing, not helped by Mother - who likes to watch CNN, ABC News, and occasionally FOX to see what a lot of her friends and neighbors are digesting news wise and to try and understand them better. Mother is 82, and an information junkie. She and my father spent most of their dates debating politics in bars to the wee hours of the night while they were in college. Every time I'd try to be optimistic or bring up good news, Mother would discount it and play devil's advocate, mainly because she watches CNN, Fox, NPR, ABC News, and all their discussions of it. I read it - in the Atlantic, New York, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. Although now, I'm overwhelmed with magazines. So not reading as many articles as I'd like. I'm trying to support a free press. Not everybody has one - after all. And I'm not taking mine for granted.]
That's clearly not necessarily good news? Or it is depending on one's perspective? Good news much like beauty and humor is more often than not in the eye of the beholder.
Good News from the American Resistance and It's Global Allies
[As always this is in the eyes of the beholder.]
1. Supreme Court extends block on some Alien Enemies Act deportation flights. Go Here.
The gist:
Supreme Court rules 7-2 AGAINST Trump on Deportations.
No, they cannot deny due process
No, they cannot remove these people under Alien Enemies Act.
And of course Alioto and Thomas were the dissenting votes. [Sigh.]
"The Supreme Court extended its order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from swiftly deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members being detained in portions of Texas, chastising the administration for not giving them more due process.
Over the dissents of conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the emergency decision prevents authorities from removing the migrants under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a legal challenge proceeds, a win for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is suing on the migrants’ behalf. " [I'd wish the two idiotic dissenting Justice's gone, but the devil you know and all that. But I do feel validated for donating to the ACLU.]
2. The GOP suffered a stunning election loss in Omaha, Nebraska, where Democratic candidate John Ewing Jr. will go on to win defeat the longest serving incumbent Republican mayor in the United States former Mayor Jean Stothert. The election swung 20 points over to the Democrats.
3. New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signs a law that will require fossil fuel companies to pay for climate damage repair. The new state law requires the companies responsible for the bulk of emissions produced between 2000 and 2018 to pay out roughly $3 billion a year for the next 25 years. State Senator Liz Krueger, a co-sponsor of historic bill, called it a “shot that will be heard ‘round the world.” “Too often over the last decade, courts have dismissed lawsuits against the oil and gas industry by saying that the issue of climate culpability should be decided by legislatures,” she stated. “Well, the Legislature of the State of New York — the 10th largest economy in the world — has accepted the invitation, and I hope we have made ourselves very clear: the planet’s largest climate polluters bear a unique responsibility for creating the climate crisis, and they must pay their fair share to help regular New Yorkers deal with the consequences,” she went on. This makes New York the second state to pass a law like this behind Vermont. Due to New York’s massive economic, cultural, and political influence this will have far-reaching effects. GO HERE.
4. A federal court denies the Trump administration’s request to stay an injunction blocking its ban on transgender military service members. [Source: Lambda Legal & Human Rights Campaign.]
5. US District Court mandates that ICE restore 133 international student visas and halts deportation proceedings. Go HERE
6.ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero is named to the TIME100 list for his commitment to America’s civil-liberties tradition. Go HERE
7. ProPublica wins 2025 Pulitzer for Public Service for reports on deaths of pregnant women in abortion-restricted states. Ann Telnaes, who quit The Washington Post in protest, wins the 2025 Pulitzer for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. The Pulitzer Prize board soundly rebuked Jeff Bezos by awarding the former Washington Post cartoonist who quit after her cartoon was scrapped. Book on Soviet dissidents wins Pulitzer Prize. "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" by Benjamin Nathans won a Pulitzer Prize on May 5. Percival Everett won the award for fiction for his novel James, a powerful re-imagination of Huckleberry Finn. [Oh lovely, Wales gave me that book for my birthday (at my request), looking forward to reading it after Parable of the Sower.]
8.The Associated Press wins reinstatement to White House events after a judge rules that the government cannot bar its journalists. Go HERE
9.In a win for voters, North Carolina settled with voting rights groups and the DNC to permanently block part of a law that required officials to reject some voters' ballots due to address verification issues and offered no remedy to fix the problem. Go HERE.
10. Harvard refuses to comply with a list of extraordinary demands from the Trump administration, asserting its academic independence and constitutional rights.
11.More than 150 former state and federal judges have signed a letter to Pam Bondi, the attorney general, condemning the Trump regime’s escalating battles with the judiciary and calling the recent arrest of a sitting state court judge in Milwaukee an attempt to intimidate. Go HERE.
12. In an extraordinary stretch of just over two weeks, three former presidents have taken to the public stage to sound the alarm against the current occupant of the White House, despite the tradition that former presidents generally refrain from publicly criticizing their successors. Go HERE (They are admittedly Biden, Clinton and Obama..so..hardly surprising. Regan is dead. HW Bush is dead. Carter is dead. And I don't know what happened to Bush Jr. )
13.Maine Governor Janet Mills famously told Trump, “See you in court,” after he threatened to withhold federal nutrition funding over Maine’s support for transgender athletes. Mills can now proudly say SHE WON: the USDA has dropped its lawsuit, and Maine’s school meal funding is secure. Her bold stance paid off, ensuring that 170,000 Maine children will keep getting the meals they need, regardless of political pressure from Washington. [I feel like I've reported this before? If so...sorry for the repeat?]
14. A Trump-appointed judge blocked the administration from further deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, ruling that Trump’s invocation of a wartime power to summarily deport Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador was “unlawful.” Go HERE
15. Former Vice President Mike Pence rebuke Trump over tariffs and his wavering support for Ukraine. He said Terrabis are not a win for the American people and predicts public pressure will grow. [Source: Guardian.] [Okay, Pence of all people...Pence!?]
16. The European commission is trying to diversify the bloc’s trade partnerships, in the wake of trumps tariffs. In the case of Africa, that means a new push to encourage countries to ratify economic partnership agreements with the EU, many of which have been on the table for several decades. Go HERE
17. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, have been removed from their positions. Making it worse for Walz, he got nominated to be UN Ambassador instead. This is a Senate-confirmed position. He can now, therefore, be grilled under oath about Signalgate by Democrats.
Go HERE
18.Great things happening with Ranked Choice Voting:
Multnomah County, OR details successes, lessons, and next steps in the county’s ongoing implementation of ranked-choice voting.
Oxford College elects members to its student government association using ranked-choice voting, a first in Emory University’s history.
Maine lawmakers vote to keep statewide ranked choice voting in effect.
Go HERE and Go HERE and well:
* https://www.themainewire.com/2025/04/maines-effort-to-repeal-ranked-choice-voting-defeated-along-nearly-partisan-lines/
*https://fairvote.org/mayors-of-big-cities-embrace-ranked-choice-voting/
19.Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri released after ICE detention in Texas.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/14/us/judge-rules-to-release-badar-khan-suri
20.Trump Judges Strike Down Alabama Congressional Map as Racially Discriminatory.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-judges-strike-down-alabama-congressional-map-as-racially-discriminatory/
21. SOCIAL HOUSING WON IN SEATTLE, DESPITE A FLOOD OF BIG TECH MONEY
Voters chose to provide a new social housing development authority with the funding it needs to succeed—despite opposition from the mayor and tech corporations.
https://shelterforce.org/2025/04/21/how-social-housing-won-in-seattle-despite-a-flood-of-big-tech-money/
22. Judge strikes down Michigan abortion restrictions. A Michigan judge has granted a permanent injunction against three of the state’s remaining abortion restrictions, declaring they violate the Reproductive Freedom for All constitutional amendment voters passed in 2022.
The court’s ruling affirms the amendment established even broader reproductive rights for Michigan citizens than they had under Roe v. Wade, and eliminates a 24-hour mandatory waiting period, a mandatory informed consent form, and a ban on advanced practice clinicians performing abortions. The court had previously granted a temporary injunction against these three restrictions last year.
The ruling did, however, uphold the legality of one of the laws challenged by the plaintiffs, Northland Family Planning Centers and Medical Students for Choice: a law requiring abortion providers to counsel and screen patients for “coercion to abortion,” and requiring clinics post notices that it’s illegal in Michigan to coerce someone to have an abortion.
Abortion rights supporters argued the restrictions were medically unnecessary and intended to create barriers to abortion.
It’s about time that these unnecessary and stigmatizing barriers to care are finally thrown out for good. Patients no longer have to worry that they may not be able to get the time-sensitive care they need. These restrictions are an insult to the patients, who know what’s best for themselves.
*https://www.michiganpublic.org/health/2025-05-13/edit-judge-strikes-down-michigan-abortion-restrictions
*https://www.michiganpublic.org/health/2024-02-06/some-of-michigans-remaining-abortion-restrictions-challenged-in-court
23. Mayor Johnson’s ‘Green Social Housing’ Plan Passes City Council
The measure will create a city-run nonprofit that partners with developers to build environmentally friendly housing with at least 30 percent affordable units. Good news for Chicago.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/07/mayor-johnsons-green-social-housing-plan-passes-city-council/
24.The Episcopal Church steps up. [Basically they ended their refugee resettlement ministry partnership with the Federal Government in Protest to the Trump Administration's decision to treat "white" South Afrikaners as refugees seeking asylum but not the people who are actually refugees. (Yes, this is the world we live in - in which it is good news when the Episcopal Church stops helping refugees because they are rich privileged racist whites from Africa.)]
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/letter-from-presiding-bishop-sean-rowe-on-episcopal-migration-ministries/
"I am writing today with some significant news about Episcopal Migration Ministries, the organization that leads The Episcopal Church’s refugee resettlement ministry.
Since January, the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down. Virtually no new refugees have arrived, hundreds of staff in resettlement agencies around the country have been laid off, and funding for resettling refugees who have already arrived has been uncertain. Then, just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.
In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step. Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.
I want to be very clear about why we made this decision—and what we believe lies ahead for Episcopal Migration Ministries’ vital work.
It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years. I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country. I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.
As Christians, we must be guided not by political vagaries, but by the sure and certain knowledge that the kingdom of God is revealed to us in the struggles of those on the margins. Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and we must follow that command. Right now, what that means is ending our participation in the federal government’s refugee resettlement program and investing our resources in serving migrants in other ways."
25. Australia’s centre-left prime minister, Anthony Albanese, won a second term with a crushing victory over the opposition. Meanwhile rightwing leader Peter Dutton ended up losing his own seat. [Well, Australia can thank the US for that. Trump has basically flipped everyone else to the center or left.]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/03/australia-election-anthony-albanese-labor-party-peter-dutton?CMP=us_threads#Echobox=1746289124-1
26.“May Day” protests: hundreds of thousands of people came together in every U.S. state to protest against what organizers called a “billionaire takeover.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/01/may-day-protests-trump-musk-billionaires/83362729007/?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
27. Republicans predicted that the law would make millionaires flee the state. The number of people making $1 million or more annually in Massachusetts has actually increased by nearly 40% since the state’s “millionaire’s tax” went into effect. Meanwhile the added revenue from the tax surpassed projections, generating $2.46 billion in 2023 alone.
https://www.masslive.com/politics/2025/04/so-are-millionaires-really-fleeing-mass-a-new-report-says-theyre-staying-and-paying.html
[I think we should tax all the billionaire's. I really have no problem with them all leaving the US.]
28.Publisher Penguin Random House has introduced a “book ban” clothing line. 100% of the profits will benefit libraries.
https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/penguin-random-house-book-ban-clothing-collection
29.The all-Black female WWII unit, the "Six Triple Eight," was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that Congress can bestow upon a civilian.
[BTW - you can still watch a series about this on NETFLIX or it may be a movie, not sure which. I need to check it out myself. Too many television shows, not enough time.]
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/04/30/six-triple-eight-congressional-gold-medal/83362260007/?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
30.In contrast to Trump, US spy agencies don't believe maduro regime directs Venezuelan gang. But the Intel memo notes the FBI found some Venezuelan officials did facilitate gang members moves into the US. The regime of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro is "probably not directing" the criminal gang Tren de Aragua's movement into and operations within the U.S., according to a partially declassified intelligence memo.
https://www.axis.com/en-us
31. More pressure mounts for accountability, with bipartisan calls for an investigation after national security officials shared sensitive military details in a Signal chat.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3r8d7q0200o
32. At town halls across the U.S., voters are holding lawmakers accountable, demanding transparency and opposing unpopular spending cuts.
https://theconversation.com/trumps-job-cuts-are-causing-republican-angst-as-all-parties-face-backlash-252940
33.South Carolina’s state-owned power utility, Santee Cooper, has introduced a new electricity rate for energy-intensive operations, including data centers, to make sure that their ballooning power costs don’t fall on other customers.
https://www.levernews.com/you-love-to-see-it-watt-you-use-is-watt-you-owe/
34.A federal judge permanently blocked an executive order from Trump targeting the law firm Perkins Coie, declaring it unconstitutional.
https://archive.ph/UvYya
35.The Pentagon inspector general has expanded an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sharing of military plans to a second Signal chat that included his wife and brother.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/pete-hegseth-signal-chat-wife-pentagon-investigation-b60457db?mod=hp_lead_pos5&lctg=27193028
36.Another Texas result! Voters in the 'greater Fort Worth' region have ousted a conservative member of the Grapevine-Colleyville school board, Tammy Nakamura. She was part of the board's majority when they passed a policy to let schools reject kids’ preferred pronouns—even when parents approved them.
37.Target’s CEO Brian Cornell got a 45% pay cut. Maybe because foot traffic has been down there for 11 straight weeks now? (Costco’s is up for its 16th straight week.)
* https://www.startribune.com/target-ceo-brian-cornell-executive-pay-compensation-down/601342128
* https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2025/04/22/target-foot-traffic-down-for-11th-straight-week-after-caving-on-dei
38. Bulgaria has agreed to provide water to Greece for the next five years. The water from the Arde river is critically important for agriculture in northern Greece. (delver.it)
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Bulgari+agreed+to+supply+water+to+Greece
39.Planned Parenthood of AZ announces the continuation of gender-affirming care services after a brief pause to assess Medicaid funding threats.
https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/041525_ppaz_trans_care/planned-parenthood-az-resumes-transgender-care-after-pause-over-trump-funding-threat/
40. MI’s Supreme Court holds that mandatorily sentencing people under 21 to life without parole is unconstitutional under the state’s constitution.
https://www.sentencingproject.org/press-releases/michigan-supreme-court-finds-mandatory-life-without-parole-sentences-for-people-under-21-years-old-unconstitutional/
41. Microsoft has dropped a law firm that settled with the Trump administration in favor of one that is fighting it. [Okay, Microsoft and Apple - are safe, Amazon (iffy) and not sure about Google any longer. But since I used mainly Apple and Microsoft products this makes me happy.]
https://archive.ph/ubY6p
42. We got great Texas school board results: Conservatives lost 2 critical school board seats they held in Fort Bend, Texas. In elections for the Katy school board, in the greater Houston area, voters ousted the board's ultra-conservative president, who had championed a policy against trans students. In Mansfield, three conservative incumbents lost reelection. [Source: Bolts]
43. In a double win for Pennsylvania voters, one judge dismissed a far-right challenge seeking to purge over 277k voters from the rolls, and the 3rd Circuit rejected a GOP bid to reject ballots for minor errors.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/a-double-win-for-voters-in-pennsylvania/
44. The Spokane, WA City Council passed an ordinance that ensures equitable protections for the LGBTQ community and affirms the right to seek gender-affirming care.
https://my.spokanecity.org/news/releases/2025/04/29/council-votes-on-ordinance-approving-protections-of-lgbtqia2s/
45.The Los Angeles Times lost roughly $50 million last year as its Trump-supporting billionaire owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong forced the paper rightwards and alienated huge numbers of subscribers.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-billionaire-leads-la-times-to-lose-50-million/
46.A congressional watchdog agency is investigating Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/29/politics/cfbp-cuts-gao-investigation/index.html
47. Connecticut’s attorney general has sent his second warning in a month to the low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines, telling the startup it has jeopardized tax breaks and other local support by agreeing to conduct deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
https://www.propublica.org/article/avelo-airlines-ice-air-connecticut
48.NYC: A two-year experiment with heat pumps in public housing has yielded excellent results, cutting bills in half and decreasing energy usage by 87 percent.
https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/02/27/nycha-electric-heat-pumps-housing-energy-queens/
49. In the wake of nationwide disasters, more healthcare providers are building solar microgrids to ensure power delivery.
https://dailyyonder.com/in-the-wake-of-disasters-rural-health-could-end-up-running-on-sunshine/2025/04/08/
50.WA becomes the first U.S. state to pass landmark legislation expanding access to hormone therapy.
https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-alliance-advocates/press-releases/washington-house-of-representatives-passes-landmark-bill-expanding-access-to-hormone-therapy
51.A new tribal national park in North Dakota’s Badlands is opening a little-seen area of the dramatic landscape to hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts.
https://apnews.com/article/north-dakota-park-badlands-tribe-6c541f02c3c81c50e5ab563f0b22776f
52. Even rural voters—once part of Trump’s base—are waking up. A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll shows his approval among rural voters has dropped a staggering 19 points since February. [I'm assuming 19 points in polling is a big deal? ]
https://newrepublic.com/post/194791/shock-poll-core-part-trump-base-abandoning
"Rural voters are rapidly souring on the president, thanks in large part to his decision to tank the economy for no reason. "
53. Plan to Dismantle Head Start: The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups have sued the Trump administration over what they say is a plan to illegally dismantle the federal program that funds early education for America’s youngest and poorest children.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/us/politics/trump-head-start-lawsuit-aclu.html
54.Harvard’s Lawyers: Harvard has hired lawyers connected to conservative Supreme Court justices and Trump himself to fight its case against the government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/us/harvard-trump-conservative-lawyers.html
55.A coalition of labor unions, nonprofits and local governments including Chicago, Baltimore and Harris County, Texas, has mounted the broadest legal challenge yet to Trump's massive overhaul of the federal government. In a lawsuit filed last week the plaintiffs charge that actions taken by the president, Elon Musk and the heads of nearly two dozen federal agencies to dramatically downsize the federal workforce violate the Constitution because Congress has not authorized them.
Three months into this Administration, there can be no real doubt that impacted federal agencies are acting according to the direction being given by Trump through DOGE, OMB, and OPM," the lawsuit states, referring to the government efficiency team that Musk oversees, as well as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
"Over and over, newly appointed agency heads have explained that they are reorganizing, eliminating programs, and cutting thousands upon thousands of jobs, because the President directed them to and because DOGE told them how much and what to cut."
The plaintiffs include some of the same unions and nonprofits that sued the Trump administration over its mass firing of probationary employees in the same federal court in San Francisco. In that case, U.S. District Judge William Alsup found that OPM illegally directed six federal agencies to terminate recent hires and those newly promoted into new positions. Alsup ordered more than 16,000 fired workers reinstated. The Supreme Court later vacated the reinstatement order but has not yet considered whether the firings were illegal.
The new complaint goes further, arguing that Trump's Feb. 11 executive order "Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Workforce Optimization Initiative" and actions taken since by his administration to implement it "usurp" Congress' authority under the Constitution.
The argument dives into history, noting that "since the founding of the nation, federal courts have recognized that the federal agencies are not created by the President," but by Congress, which has the sole authority to undertake the kind of wholesale transformation Trump has ordered, the plaintiffs argue.
Citing irreparable harm, the plaintiffs have asked the court to vacate Trump's executive order, along with accompanying memos to agencies issued by OMB and OPM on how to implement the order. They have also asked the court to void agencies' "reduction in force" or RIF plans, arguing that the compressed timeline — only a matter of weeks — set forth by the Trump administration for submitting those plans for approval could not have allowed for proper compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. The lawsuit takes direct aim at Musk's DOGE, which is installing representatives in agencies across the government to direct workforce reductions. Noting that unlike with OMB and OPM, Congress has not granted DOGE any kind of statutory power, the plaintiffs write: "DOGE has no authority at all to dictate to the agencies created and governed by Congress any level of staffing cut or spending reduction.”
https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AFGE-et-al-v-Trump-et-al-001-Complaint.pdf
56. Because of all the pushback he got, Trump has been forced to reverse on:
1. his AI image of him as the pope
2. threats to impose a 100% tariffs on movies not produced here
3. changing the meaning of Veterans Day.
57. Indivisible VT organized a “We Love Canada” car caravan at the border. A Canadian who saw it sent them a thank you note on Reddit.
Go HERE and
HERE
58. Conservatives from across the country fill a ballroom near the White House to discuss how the U.S. is abandoning the ideals that forged the nation.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-opposition-principles-first-076bf16a73a9c66f10ad3a2fbc0df1c1
59.A growing number of House Republicans defy party leadership and the president to oppose a harmful budget plan, signaling cracks in unified support for deep federal cuts. (Those opposing it - are MAGA and extreme right, by the way. He tried to bully them into it on Truth Social and at the White House - he didn't get very far, partly because they've kind of ganged up on him.)
"Dozens of House Republicans are undecided or outright opposed to rubber-stamping a Senate-approved budget blueprint for the GOP’s domestic policy megabill, and an all-out whip effort from Johnson and his leadership team — including a private meeting Tuesday between Trump and key holdouts — has only produced modest gains. If Johnson and Trump can’t flip most of them in the next 48 hours, lawmakers will start to board flights for a two-week recess, denying the president a show of legislative progress as financial markets wobble over his tariffs."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/08/trump-house-republican-mutiny-budget-vote-00279964
60. In Charlottesville, VA, an empty chair town hall for representative John McGuire was attended by 1,000 people! "During a town hall in Charlottesville, VA organized by Indivisible in the absence of GOP Rep. John McGuire, concerned participants plea for answers from their absentee congressman as fear and uncertainty builds up due to the rampant Trump administration. "
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/what-are-you-going-to-do-empty-chair-town-hall-pleas-for-answers-from-no-show-gop-congressman/vi-AA1DJ4qy
61.Abbe Lowell is launching a new law firm that aims in part to represent those who he says have been "unlawfully and inappropriately targeted" by the Trump administration.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/newly-launched-law-firm-represent-inappropriately-targeted-trump/story?id=121396758
62.The Maryland Department of the Environment, Chesapeake Bay Trust, and Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott announced $1.7 million in grant funding for 21 environmental justice projects.
https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/1-7-million-grant-funding-environmental-projects-wastewater/
63.WY: A judge blocks new abortion laws, clearing the way for a Casper clinic to resume services.
A state judge Monday halted enforcement of Wyoming’s two new abortion laws, clearing the way for the state’s lone abortion clinic to resume offering those services after a nearly two-month pause.
The laws — a set of new, more stringent regulations and a mandatory ultrasound requirement — “affect a fundamental right expressly provided for by the Wyoming Constitution,” District Judge Thomas T.C. Campbell wrote in his 10-page decision.
https://wyofile.com/judge-blocks-new-wyoming-abortion-laws-clearing-way-for-casper-clinic-to-resume-services/
64. MN: Lawmakers block a bill that would have given millions of dollars in funding to anti-abortion so-called “crisis pregnancy centers.”
Minnesota House Democrats blocked a Republican-backed bill that would have given millions to “crisis pregnancy centers” that discourage patients from getting abortions.
Read more at: https://www.albertleatribune.com/2025/04/funding-for-crisis-pregnancy-centers-and-maternity-homes-fails-to-pass-at-mn-capitol/
65.Construction begins on a 3-acre Aquaponics Farm & Training Center to train formerly incarcerated and other East Oakland, CA community members in aquaponic farming, nursery and orchard management, and culinary arts.
https://plantingjustice.org/blogs/all/2025-aquaponics-farm-training-center-capital-campaign
66.The Trust for Public Land acquired two properties in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, which will lead to the expansion of Saguaro National Park by 47 acres.
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/saguaro-national-park-expands-by-nearly-50-acres-after-land-acquisition?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
67.Britain and the European Union are set to sign a formal declaration committing to “free and open trade” in defiance of Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-eu-defy-trump-free-open-trade-declaration/?lctg=27193028
68.Iowa House candidate Angel Ramirez clinched a victory with the biggest overperformance by a Democrat in a Special Election this year.
And the top three have all come in Iowa, where the Republican governor just unexpectedly announced her retirement.
"Ramirez's win will make her the first Latina to ever serve in the state legislature. Iowa Democrats, however, remain in a deep hole, with Republicans still holding a 67-33 supermajority in the House following Ramirez's election and a similar 34-16 edge in the Senate.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, in neighboring Minnesota, Republican Keri Heitzeman defeated Democrat Denise Slipy to hold the vacant 6th Senate District, winning by a 60-40 margin. That showing also represented a Democratic overperformance, however, since Donald Trump won the district by a 63-37 spread in 2024.
Altogether, in 19 special elections, Democrats are running ahead of the presidential margins by an average of 11.6 points. Ahead of Trump's first midterm, Democrats outperformed during the 2017-18 election cycle by 10.6 points in aggregate, according to historical data compiled by The Downballot."
https://www.the-downballot.com/p/democrats-just-turned-in-the-biggest?publication_id=2418217&post_id=162564548&isFreemail=false&r=2fku&triedRedirect=true&lctg=27193028
69.Multiple polls released in the last weeks all tell the same story: Trump is the least popular president at this stage of his presidency in U.S. history. [And he does have some stellar competition...]
Speaking of which, a new poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Latino voters believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, with 70% of them holding Trump responsible.
https://unidosus.org/press-releases/nearly-two-thirds-of-hispanic-voters-believe-country-is-headed-in-the-wrong-direction-70-percent-hold-president-trump-responsible/
70. Americans hold over 2,085 peaceful public protests in February 2025, doubling the number of protests that occurred in February of 2017 during the current president’s second month in office. [That was just in February. It's increased.]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/protest-research-trump-musk
71.Trump wants to erase Black History. These digital archivists are racing to save it. Donald Trump’s executive orders are attacking everything from the Smithsonian to Black sports history, but grassroots organizers are launching a resistance.
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-wants-to-erase-black-history-these-digital-archivists-are-racing-to-save-it/?utm_brand=wired&utm_mailing=WIR_Daily_050325&bxid=5cbcfd35bf00817b7b6b0b70&cndid=57054730&hasha=e4651edc098a8134ea9254ffa5b649ad&hashc=dfbb5214f7973a11b75d6eb7e02dbd2f482ae8fff76518280ad5eeb109bc3320&esrc=MARTECH_ORDERFORM
[Apparently he doesn't understand the internet? Because it's kind of impossible to erase anything from the internet. See, Hitler could do that in 1930s Germany, because no internet. But we have the internet, folks.]
***
Note from the source: "Lots of illegal and unconstitutional and cruel things are coming out of this Republican Administration. Rather than feeling hopeless and falling into despair, more and more people are speaking up, are showing up, are pushing back, and their efforts are paying off. The administration was forced to reverse so many things already. Even among his supporters, and even among his Congressional Republicans, we are starting to see people remember their oaths, or fearing their angry constituents and not going along with blind obedience.
The resistance is growing. Trump is losing in court right and left.
If things were hopeless, their propaganda would be unnecessary.
We each have agency and we can each find a way to stand up for what we think is right."
This is actually true. This week Robert DeNinro, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, and various others have spoken out against the administration at huge venues, and at concerts, in front of millions. And so has various judges, representatives, former presidents, etc.
Sometimes "peacefully" rising up, resisting and fighting for our freedom and each other against an evil leader or government regime is more transformative than any leader or following one. Leaders come and go after all.
Also watched Firing Line - a Conservative News Discussion Platform on PBS, hosted by Margaret Hoover, the granddaughter of Herbert Hoover (one of the former Presidents of the US), she's a libertarian, and a fiscal conservative, also a strong supporter of gay rights. She did not support Trump, and actually voted against him. And had conservative economic historian Nial Ferguson on - who stated that Trump had overreached, and he strongly believed that if the Senate flipped, he had done enough so far to get himself impeached this time around. The third time is the charm.
As always, good news is in the eye of the beholder.
Hope you found something to smile about or to relieve anxiety. I know I did.
It's late, off to bed. Have a good night. Or Good Night and Good Luck - Edward R. Murrow (historic newsman during the McCarthy Hearings in the 1960s, who reported against the Blacklist and the McCarthy Hearings.)
Also, here's another pretty picture...
It was quite distressing, not helped by Mother - who likes to watch CNN, ABC News, and occasionally FOX to see what a lot of her friends and neighbors are digesting news wise and to try and understand them better. Mother is 82, and an information junkie. She and my father spent most of their dates debating politics in bars to the wee hours of the night while they were in college. Every time I'd try to be optimistic or bring up good news, Mother would discount it and play devil's advocate, mainly because she watches CNN, Fox, NPR, ABC News, and all their discussions of it. I read it - in the Atlantic, New York, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. Although now, I'm overwhelmed with magazines. So not reading as many articles as I'd like. I'm trying to support a free press. Not everybody has one - after all. And I'm not taking mine for granted.]
That's clearly not necessarily good news? Or it is depending on one's perspective? Good news much like beauty and humor is more often than not in the eye of the beholder.
Good News from the American Resistance and It's Global Allies
[As always this is in the eyes of the beholder.]
1. Supreme Court extends block on some Alien Enemies Act deportation flights. Go Here.
The gist:
Supreme Court rules 7-2 AGAINST Trump on Deportations.
No, they cannot deny due process
No, they cannot remove these people under Alien Enemies Act.
And of course Alioto and Thomas were the dissenting votes. [Sigh.]
"The Supreme Court extended its order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from swiftly deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members being detained in portions of Texas, chastising the administration for not giving them more due process.
Over the dissents of conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the emergency decision prevents authorities from removing the migrants under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a legal challenge proceeds, a win for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is suing on the migrants’ behalf. " [I'd wish the two idiotic dissenting Justice's gone, but the devil you know and all that. But I do feel validated for donating to the ACLU.]
2. The GOP suffered a stunning election loss in Omaha, Nebraska, where Democratic candidate John Ewing Jr. will go on to win defeat the longest serving incumbent Republican mayor in the United States former Mayor Jean Stothert. The election swung 20 points over to the Democrats.
3. New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signs a law that will require fossil fuel companies to pay for climate damage repair. The new state law requires the companies responsible for the bulk of emissions produced between 2000 and 2018 to pay out roughly $3 billion a year for the next 25 years. State Senator Liz Krueger, a co-sponsor of historic bill, called it a “shot that will be heard ‘round the world.” “Too often over the last decade, courts have dismissed lawsuits against the oil and gas industry by saying that the issue of climate culpability should be decided by legislatures,” she stated. “Well, the Legislature of the State of New York — the 10th largest economy in the world — has accepted the invitation, and I hope we have made ourselves very clear: the planet’s largest climate polluters bear a unique responsibility for creating the climate crisis, and they must pay their fair share to help regular New Yorkers deal with the consequences,” she went on. This makes New York the second state to pass a law like this behind Vermont. Due to New York’s massive economic, cultural, and political influence this will have far-reaching effects. GO HERE.
4. A federal court denies the Trump administration’s request to stay an injunction blocking its ban on transgender military service members. [Source: Lambda Legal & Human Rights Campaign.]
5. US District Court mandates that ICE restore 133 international student visas and halts deportation proceedings. Go HERE
6.ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero is named to the TIME100 list for his commitment to America’s civil-liberties tradition. Go HERE
7. ProPublica wins 2025 Pulitzer for Public Service for reports on deaths of pregnant women in abortion-restricted states. Ann Telnaes, who quit The Washington Post in protest, wins the 2025 Pulitzer for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. The Pulitzer Prize board soundly rebuked Jeff Bezos by awarding the former Washington Post cartoonist who quit after her cartoon was scrapped. Book on Soviet dissidents wins Pulitzer Prize. "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" by Benjamin Nathans won a Pulitzer Prize on May 5. Percival Everett won the award for fiction for his novel James, a powerful re-imagination of Huckleberry Finn. [Oh lovely, Wales gave me that book for my birthday (at my request), looking forward to reading it after Parable of the Sower.]
8.The Associated Press wins reinstatement to White House events after a judge rules that the government cannot bar its journalists. Go HERE
9.In a win for voters, North Carolina settled with voting rights groups and the DNC to permanently block part of a law that required officials to reject some voters' ballots due to address verification issues and offered no remedy to fix the problem. Go HERE.
10. Harvard refuses to comply with a list of extraordinary demands from the Trump administration, asserting its academic independence and constitutional rights.
11.More than 150 former state and federal judges have signed a letter to Pam Bondi, the attorney general, condemning the Trump regime’s escalating battles with the judiciary and calling the recent arrest of a sitting state court judge in Milwaukee an attempt to intimidate. Go HERE.
12. In an extraordinary stretch of just over two weeks, three former presidents have taken to the public stage to sound the alarm against the current occupant of the White House, despite the tradition that former presidents generally refrain from publicly criticizing their successors. Go HERE (They are admittedly Biden, Clinton and Obama..so..hardly surprising. Regan is dead. HW Bush is dead. Carter is dead. And I don't know what happened to Bush Jr. )
13.Maine Governor Janet Mills famously told Trump, “See you in court,” after he threatened to withhold federal nutrition funding over Maine’s support for transgender athletes. Mills can now proudly say SHE WON: the USDA has dropped its lawsuit, and Maine’s school meal funding is secure. Her bold stance paid off, ensuring that 170,000 Maine children will keep getting the meals they need, regardless of political pressure from Washington. [I feel like I've reported this before? If so...sorry for the repeat?]
14. A Trump-appointed judge blocked the administration from further deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, ruling that Trump’s invocation of a wartime power to summarily deport Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador was “unlawful.” Go HERE
15. Former Vice President Mike Pence rebuke Trump over tariffs and his wavering support for Ukraine. He said Terrabis are not a win for the American people and predicts public pressure will grow. [Source: Guardian.] [Okay, Pence of all people...Pence!?]
16. The European commission is trying to diversify the bloc’s trade partnerships, in the wake of trumps tariffs. In the case of Africa, that means a new push to encourage countries to ratify economic partnership agreements with the EU, many of which have been on the table for several decades. Go HERE
17. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, have been removed from their positions. Making it worse for Walz, he got nominated to be UN Ambassador instead. This is a Senate-confirmed position. He can now, therefore, be grilled under oath about Signalgate by Democrats.
Go HERE
18.Great things happening with Ranked Choice Voting:
Multnomah County, OR details successes, lessons, and next steps in the county’s ongoing implementation of ranked-choice voting.
Oxford College elects members to its student government association using ranked-choice voting, a first in Emory University’s history.
Maine lawmakers vote to keep statewide ranked choice voting in effect.
Go HERE and Go HERE and well:
* https://www.themainewire.com/2025/04/maines-effort-to-repeal-ranked-choice-voting-defeated-along-nearly-partisan-lines/
*https://fairvote.org/mayors-of-big-cities-embrace-ranked-choice-voting/
19.Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri released after ICE detention in Texas.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/14/us/judge-rules-to-release-badar-khan-suri
20.Trump Judges Strike Down Alabama Congressional Map as Racially Discriminatory.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-judges-strike-down-alabama-congressional-map-as-racially-discriminatory/
21. SOCIAL HOUSING WON IN SEATTLE, DESPITE A FLOOD OF BIG TECH MONEY
Voters chose to provide a new social housing development authority with the funding it needs to succeed—despite opposition from the mayor and tech corporations.
https://shelterforce.org/2025/04/21/how-social-housing-won-in-seattle-despite-a-flood-of-big-tech-money/
22. Judge strikes down Michigan abortion restrictions. A Michigan judge has granted a permanent injunction against three of the state’s remaining abortion restrictions, declaring they violate the Reproductive Freedom for All constitutional amendment voters passed in 2022.
The court’s ruling affirms the amendment established even broader reproductive rights for Michigan citizens than they had under Roe v. Wade, and eliminates a 24-hour mandatory waiting period, a mandatory informed consent form, and a ban on advanced practice clinicians performing abortions. The court had previously granted a temporary injunction against these three restrictions last year.
The ruling did, however, uphold the legality of one of the laws challenged by the plaintiffs, Northland Family Planning Centers and Medical Students for Choice: a law requiring abortion providers to counsel and screen patients for “coercion to abortion,” and requiring clinics post notices that it’s illegal in Michigan to coerce someone to have an abortion.
Abortion rights supporters argued the restrictions were medically unnecessary and intended to create barriers to abortion.
It’s about time that these unnecessary and stigmatizing barriers to care are finally thrown out for good. Patients no longer have to worry that they may not be able to get the time-sensitive care they need. These restrictions are an insult to the patients, who know what’s best for themselves.
*https://www.michiganpublic.org/health/2025-05-13/edit-judge-strikes-down-michigan-abortion-restrictions
*https://www.michiganpublic.org/health/2024-02-06/some-of-michigans-remaining-abortion-restrictions-challenged-in-court
23. Mayor Johnson’s ‘Green Social Housing’ Plan Passes City Council
The measure will create a city-run nonprofit that partners with developers to build environmentally friendly housing with at least 30 percent affordable units. Good news for Chicago.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/07/mayor-johnsons-green-social-housing-plan-passes-city-council/
24.The Episcopal Church steps up. [Basically they ended their refugee resettlement ministry partnership with the Federal Government in Protest to the Trump Administration's decision to treat "white" South Afrikaners as refugees seeking asylum but not the people who are actually refugees. (Yes, this is the world we live in - in which it is good news when the Episcopal Church stops helping refugees because they are rich privileged racist whites from Africa.)]
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/letter-from-presiding-bishop-sean-rowe-on-episcopal-migration-ministries/
"I am writing today with some significant news about Episcopal Migration Ministries, the organization that leads The Episcopal Church’s refugee resettlement ministry.
Since January, the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down. Virtually no new refugees have arrived, hundreds of staff in resettlement agencies around the country have been laid off, and funding for resettling refugees who have already arrived has been uncertain. Then, just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.
In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step. Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.
I want to be very clear about why we made this decision—and what we believe lies ahead for Episcopal Migration Ministries’ vital work.
It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years. I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country. I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.
As Christians, we must be guided not by political vagaries, but by the sure and certain knowledge that the kingdom of God is revealed to us in the struggles of those on the margins. Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and we must follow that command. Right now, what that means is ending our participation in the federal government’s refugee resettlement program and investing our resources in serving migrants in other ways."
25. Australia’s centre-left prime minister, Anthony Albanese, won a second term with a crushing victory over the opposition. Meanwhile rightwing leader Peter Dutton ended up losing his own seat. [Well, Australia can thank the US for that. Trump has basically flipped everyone else to the center or left.]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/03/australia-election-anthony-albanese-labor-party-peter-dutton?CMP=us_threads#Echobox=1746289124-1
26.“May Day” protests: hundreds of thousands of people came together in every U.S. state to protest against what organizers called a “billionaire takeover.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/01/may-day-protests-trump-musk-billionaires/83362729007/?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
27. Republicans predicted that the law would make millionaires flee the state. The number of people making $1 million or more annually in Massachusetts has actually increased by nearly 40% since the state’s “millionaire’s tax” went into effect. Meanwhile the added revenue from the tax surpassed projections, generating $2.46 billion in 2023 alone.
https://www.masslive.com/politics/2025/04/so-are-millionaires-really-fleeing-mass-a-new-report-says-theyre-staying-and-paying.html
[I think we should tax all the billionaire's. I really have no problem with them all leaving the US.]
28.Publisher Penguin Random House has introduced a “book ban” clothing line. 100% of the profits will benefit libraries.
https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/penguin-random-house-book-ban-clothing-collection
29.The all-Black female WWII unit, the "Six Triple Eight," was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that Congress can bestow upon a civilian.
[BTW - you can still watch a series about this on NETFLIX or it may be a movie, not sure which. I need to check it out myself. Too many television shows, not enough time.]
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/04/30/six-triple-eight-congressional-gold-medal/83362260007/?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
30.In contrast to Trump, US spy agencies don't believe maduro regime directs Venezuelan gang. But the Intel memo notes the FBI found some Venezuelan officials did facilitate gang members moves into the US. The regime of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro is "probably not directing" the criminal gang Tren de Aragua's movement into and operations within the U.S., according to a partially declassified intelligence memo.
https://www.axis.com/en-us
31. More pressure mounts for accountability, with bipartisan calls for an investigation after national security officials shared sensitive military details in a Signal chat.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3r8d7q0200o
32. At town halls across the U.S., voters are holding lawmakers accountable, demanding transparency and opposing unpopular spending cuts.
https://theconversation.com/trumps-job-cuts-are-causing-republican-angst-as-all-parties-face-backlash-252940
33.South Carolina’s state-owned power utility, Santee Cooper, has introduced a new electricity rate for energy-intensive operations, including data centers, to make sure that their ballooning power costs don’t fall on other customers.
https://www.levernews.com/you-love-to-see-it-watt-you-use-is-watt-you-owe/
34.A federal judge permanently blocked an executive order from Trump targeting the law firm Perkins Coie, declaring it unconstitutional.
https://archive.ph/UvYya
35.The Pentagon inspector general has expanded an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sharing of military plans to a second Signal chat that included his wife and brother.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/pete-hegseth-signal-chat-wife-pentagon-investigation-b60457db?mod=hp_lead_pos5&lctg=27193028
36.Another Texas result! Voters in the 'greater Fort Worth' region have ousted a conservative member of the Grapevine-Colleyville school board, Tammy Nakamura. She was part of the board's majority when they passed a policy to let schools reject kids’ preferred pronouns—even when parents approved them.
37.Target’s CEO Brian Cornell got a 45% pay cut. Maybe because foot traffic has been down there for 11 straight weeks now? (Costco’s is up for its 16th straight week.)
* https://www.startribune.com/target-ceo-brian-cornell-executive-pay-compensation-down/601342128
* https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2025/04/22/target-foot-traffic-down-for-11th-straight-week-after-caving-on-dei
38. Bulgaria has agreed to provide water to Greece for the next five years. The water from the Arde river is critically important for agriculture in northern Greece. (delver.it)
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Bulgari+agreed+to+supply+water+to+Greece
39.Planned Parenthood of AZ announces the continuation of gender-affirming care services after a brief pause to assess Medicaid funding threats.
https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/041525_ppaz_trans_care/planned-parenthood-az-resumes-transgender-care-after-pause-over-trump-funding-threat/
40. MI’s Supreme Court holds that mandatorily sentencing people under 21 to life without parole is unconstitutional under the state’s constitution.
https://www.sentencingproject.org/press-releases/michigan-supreme-court-finds-mandatory-life-without-parole-sentences-for-people-under-21-years-old-unconstitutional/
41. Microsoft has dropped a law firm that settled with the Trump administration in favor of one that is fighting it. [Okay, Microsoft and Apple - are safe, Amazon (iffy) and not sure about Google any longer. But since I used mainly Apple and Microsoft products this makes me happy.]
https://archive.ph/ubY6p
42. We got great Texas school board results: Conservatives lost 2 critical school board seats they held in Fort Bend, Texas. In elections for the Katy school board, in the greater Houston area, voters ousted the board's ultra-conservative president, who had championed a policy against trans students. In Mansfield, three conservative incumbents lost reelection. [Source: Bolts]
43. In a double win for Pennsylvania voters, one judge dismissed a far-right challenge seeking to purge over 277k voters from the rolls, and the 3rd Circuit rejected a GOP bid to reject ballots for minor errors.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/a-double-win-for-voters-in-pennsylvania/
44. The Spokane, WA City Council passed an ordinance that ensures equitable protections for the LGBTQ community and affirms the right to seek gender-affirming care.
https://my.spokanecity.org/news/releases/2025/04/29/council-votes-on-ordinance-approving-protections-of-lgbtqia2s/
45.The Los Angeles Times lost roughly $50 million last year as its Trump-supporting billionaire owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong forced the paper rightwards and alienated huge numbers of subscribers.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-billionaire-leads-la-times-to-lose-50-million/
46.A congressional watchdog agency is investigating Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/29/politics/cfbp-cuts-gao-investigation/index.html
47. Connecticut’s attorney general has sent his second warning in a month to the low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines, telling the startup it has jeopardized tax breaks and other local support by agreeing to conduct deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
https://www.propublica.org/article/avelo-airlines-ice-air-connecticut
48.NYC: A two-year experiment with heat pumps in public housing has yielded excellent results, cutting bills in half and decreasing energy usage by 87 percent.
https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/02/27/nycha-electric-heat-pumps-housing-energy-queens/
49. In the wake of nationwide disasters, more healthcare providers are building solar microgrids to ensure power delivery.
https://dailyyonder.com/in-the-wake-of-disasters-rural-health-could-end-up-running-on-sunshine/2025/04/08/
50.WA becomes the first U.S. state to pass landmark legislation expanding access to hormone therapy.
https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-alliance-advocates/press-releases/washington-house-of-representatives-passes-landmark-bill-expanding-access-to-hormone-therapy
51.A new tribal national park in North Dakota’s Badlands is opening a little-seen area of the dramatic landscape to hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts.
https://apnews.com/article/north-dakota-park-badlands-tribe-6c541f02c3c81c50e5ab563f0b22776f
52. Even rural voters—once part of Trump’s base—are waking up. A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll shows his approval among rural voters has dropped a staggering 19 points since February. [I'm assuming 19 points in polling is a big deal? ]
https://newrepublic.com/post/194791/shock-poll-core-part-trump-base-abandoning
"Rural voters are rapidly souring on the president, thanks in large part to his decision to tank the economy for no reason. "
53. Plan to Dismantle Head Start: The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups have sued the Trump administration over what they say is a plan to illegally dismantle the federal program that funds early education for America’s youngest and poorest children.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/us/politics/trump-head-start-lawsuit-aclu.html
54.Harvard’s Lawyers: Harvard has hired lawyers connected to conservative Supreme Court justices and Trump himself to fight its case against the government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/us/harvard-trump-conservative-lawyers.html
55.A coalition of labor unions, nonprofits and local governments including Chicago, Baltimore and Harris County, Texas, has mounted the broadest legal challenge yet to Trump's massive overhaul of the federal government. In a lawsuit filed last week the plaintiffs charge that actions taken by the president, Elon Musk and the heads of nearly two dozen federal agencies to dramatically downsize the federal workforce violate the Constitution because Congress has not authorized them.
Three months into this Administration, there can be no real doubt that impacted federal agencies are acting according to the direction being given by Trump through DOGE, OMB, and OPM," the lawsuit states, referring to the government efficiency team that Musk oversees, as well as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
"Over and over, newly appointed agency heads have explained that they are reorganizing, eliminating programs, and cutting thousands upon thousands of jobs, because the President directed them to and because DOGE told them how much and what to cut."
The plaintiffs include some of the same unions and nonprofits that sued the Trump administration over its mass firing of probationary employees in the same federal court in San Francisco. In that case, U.S. District Judge William Alsup found that OPM illegally directed six federal agencies to terminate recent hires and those newly promoted into new positions. Alsup ordered more than 16,000 fired workers reinstated. The Supreme Court later vacated the reinstatement order but has not yet considered whether the firings were illegal.
The new complaint goes further, arguing that Trump's Feb. 11 executive order "Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Workforce Optimization Initiative" and actions taken since by his administration to implement it "usurp" Congress' authority under the Constitution.
The argument dives into history, noting that "since the founding of the nation, federal courts have recognized that the federal agencies are not created by the President," but by Congress, which has the sole authority to undertake the kind of wholesale transformation Trump has ordered, the plaintiffs argue.
Citing irreparable harm, the plaintiffs have asked the court to vacate Trump's executive order, along with accompanying memos to agencies issued by OMB and OPM on how to implement the order. They have also asked the court to void agencies' "reduction in force" or RIF plans, arguing that the compressed timeline — only a matter of weeks — set forth by the Trump administration for submitting those plans for approval could not have allowed for proper compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. The lawsuit takes direct aim at Musk's DOGE, which is installing representatives in agencies across the government to direct workforce reductions. Noting that unlike with OMB and OPM, Congress has not granted DOGE any kind of statutory power, the plaintiffs write: "DOGE has no authority at all to dictate to the agencies created and governed by Congress any level of staffing cut or spending reduction.”
https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AFGE-et-al-v-Trump-et-al-001-Complaint.pdf
56. Because of all the pushback he got, Trump has been forced to reverse on:
1. his AI image of him as the pope
2. threats to impose a 100% tariffs on movies not produced here
3. changing the meaning of Veterans Day.
57. Indivisible VT organized a “We Love Canada” car caravan at the border. A Canadian who saw it sent them a thank you note on Reddit.
Go HERE and
HERE
58. Conservatives from across the country fill a ballroom near the White House to discuss how the U.S. is abandoning the ideals that forged the nation.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-opposition-principles-first-076bf16a73a9c66f10ad3a2fbc0df1c1
59.A growing number of House Republicans defy party leadership and the president to oppose a harmful budget plan, signaling cracks in unified support for deep federal cuts. (Those opposing it - are MAGA and extreme right, by the way. He tried to bully them into it on Truth Social and at the White House - he didn't get very far, partly because they've kind of ganged up on him.)
"Dozens of House Republicans are undecided or outright opposed to rubber-stamping a Senate-approved budget blueprint for the GOP’s domestic policy megabill, and an all-out whip effort from Johnson and his leadership team — including a private meeting Tuesday between Trump and key holdouts — has only produced modest gains. If Johnson and Trump can’t flip most of them in the next 48 hours, lawmakers will start to board flights for a two-week recess, denying the president a show of legislative progress as financial markets wobble over his tariffs."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/08/trump-house-republican-mutiny-budget-vote-00279964
60. In Charlottesville, VA, an empty chair town hall for representative John McGuire was attended by 1,000 people! "During a town hall in Charlottesville, VA organized by Indivisible in the absence of GOP Rep. John McGuire, concerned participants plea for answers from their absentee congressman as fear and uncertainty builds up due to the rampant Trump administration. "
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/what-are-you-going-to-do-empty-chair-town-hall-pleas-for-answers-from-no-show-gop-congressman/vi-AA1DJ4qy
61.Abbe Lowell is launching a new law firm that aims in part to represent those who he says have been "unlawfully and inappropriately targeted" by the Trump administration.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/newly-launched-law-firm-represent-inappropriately-targeted-trump/story?id=121396758
62.The Maryland Department of the Environment, Chesapeake Bay Trust, and Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott announced $1.7 million in grant funding for 21 environmental justice projects.
https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/1-7-million-grant-funding-environmental-projects-wastewater/
63.WY: A judge blocks new abortion laws, clearing the way for a Casper clinic to resume services.
A state judge Monday halted enforcement of Wyoming’s two new abortion laws, clearing the way for the state’s lone abortion clinic to resume offering those services after a nearly two-month pause.
The laws — a set of new, more stringent regulations and a mandatory ultrasound requirement — “affect a fundamental right expressly provided for by the Wyoming Constitution,” District Judge Thomas T.C. Campbell wrote in his 10-page decision.
https://wyofile.com/judge-blocks-new-wyoming-abortion-laws-clearing-way-for-casper-clinic-to-resume-services/
64. MN: Lawmakers block a bill that would have given millions of dollars in funding to anti-abortion so-called “crisis pregnancy centers.”
Minnesota House Democrats blocked a Republican-backed bill that would have given millions to “crisis pregnancy centers” that discourage patients from getting abortions.
Read more at: https://www.albertleatribune.com/2025/04/funding-for-crisis-pregnancy-centers-and-maternity-homes-fails-to-pass-at-mn-capitol/
65.Construction begins on a 3-acre Aquaponics Farm & Training Center to train formerly incarcerated and other East Oakland, CA community members in aquaponic farming, nursery and orchard management, and culinary arts.
https://plantingjustice.org/blogs/all/2025-aquaponics-farm-training-center-capital-campaign
66.The Trust for Public Land acquired two properties in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, which will lead to the expansion of Saguaro National Park by 47 acres.
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/saguaro-national-park-expands-by-nearly-50-acres-after-land-acquisition?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
67.Britain and the European Union are set to sign a formal declaration committing to “free and open trade” in defiance of Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-eu-defy-trump-free-open-trade-declaration/?lctg=27193028
68.Iowa House candidate Angel Ramirez clinched a victory with the biggest overperformance by a Democrat in a Special Election this year.
And the top three have all come in Iowa, where the Republican governor just unexpectedly announced her retirement.
"Ramirez's win will make her the first Latina to ever serve in the state legislature. Iowa Democrats, however, remain in a deep hole, with Republicans still holding a 67-33 supermajority in the House following Ramirez's election and a similar 34-16 edge in the Senate.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, in neighboring Minnesota, Republican Keri Heitzeman defeated Democrat Denise Slipy to hold the vacant 6th Senate District, winning by a 60-40 margin. That showing also represented a Democratic overperformance, however, since Donald Trump won the district by a 63-37 spread in 2024.
Altogether, in 19 special elections, Democrats are running ahead of the presidential margins by an average of 11.6 points. Ahead of Trump's first midterm, Democrats outperformed during the 2017-18 election cycle by 10.6 points in aggregate, according to historical data compiled by The Downballot."
https://www.the-downballot.com/p/democrats-just-turned-in-the-biggest?publication_id=2418217&post_id=162564548&isFreemail=false&r=2fku&triedRedirect=true&lctg=27193028
69.Multiple polls released in the last weeks all tell the same story: Trump is the least popular president at this stage of his presidency in U.S. history. [And he does have some stellar competition...]
Speaking of which, a new poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Latino voters believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, with 70% of them holding Trump responsible.
https://unidosus.org/press-releases/nearly-two-thirds-of-hispanic-voters-believe-country-is-headed-in-the-wrong-direction-70-percent-hold-president-trump-responsible/
70. Americans hold over 2,085 peaceful public protests in February 2025, doubling the number of protests that occurred in February of 2017 during the current president’s second month in office. [That was just in February. It's increased.]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/protest-research-trump-musk
71.Trump wants to erase Black History. These digital archivists are racing to save it. Donald Trump’s executive orders are attacking everything from the Smithsonian to Black sports history, but grassroots organizers are launching a resistance.
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-wants-to-erase-black-history-these-digital-archivists-are-racing-to-save-it/?utm_brand=wired&utm_mailing=WIR_Daily_050325&bxid=5cbcfd35bf00817b7b6b0b70&cndid=57054730&hasha=e4651edc098a8134ea9254ffa5b649ad&hashc=dfbb5214f7973a11b75d6eb7e02dbd2f482ae8fff76518280ad5eeb109bc3320&esrc=MARTECH_ORDERFORM
[Apparently he doesn't understand the internet? Because it's kind of impossible to erase anything from the internet. See, Hitler could do that in 1930s Germany, because no internet. But we have the internet, folks.]
***
Note from the source: "Lots of illegal and unconstitutional and cruel things are coming out of this Republican Administration. Rather than feeling hopeless and falling into despair, more and more people are speaking up, are showing up, are pushing back, and their efforts are paying off. The administration was forced to reverse so many things already. Even among his supporters, and even among his Congressional Republicans, we are starting to see people remember their oaths, or fearing their angry constituents and not going along with blind obedience.
The resistance is growing. Trump is losing in court right and left.
If things were hopeless, their propaganda would be unnecessary.
We each have agency and we can each find a way to stand up for what we think is right."
This is actually true. This week Robert DeNinro, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, and various others have spoken out against the administration at huge venues, and at concerts, in front of millions. And so has various judges, representatives, former presidents, etc.
Sometimes "peacefully" rising up, resisting and fighting for our freedom and each other against an evil leader or government regime is more transformative than any leader or following one. Leaders come and go after all.
Also watched Firing Line - a Conservative News Discussion Platform on PBS, hosted by Margaret Hoover, the granddaughter of Herbert Hoover (one of the former Presidents of the US), she's a libertarian, and a fiscal conservative, also a strong supporter of gay rights. She did not support Trump, and actually voted against him. And had conservative economic historian Nial Ferguson on - who stated that Trump had overreached, and he strongly believed that if the Senate flipped, he had done enough so far to get himself impeached this time around. The third time is the charm.
As always, good news is in the eye of the beholder.
Hope you found something to smile about or to relieve anxiety. I know I did.
It's late, off to bed. Have a good night. Or Good Night and Good Luck - Edward R. Murrow (historic newsman during the McCarthy Hearings in the 1960s, who reported against the Blacklist and the McCarthy Hearings.)
Also, here's another pretty picture...
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Also: love the photo! So restful.
(I miss the ocean.)
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May I give you a small piece of advice? Try taking a few days off from the news — give your mental health some information hygiene.
This summer, the situation is likely to stay the same. Maybe by autumn, something more positive will appear, but for now, there’s no special reason to expect that.
In the meantime, I’d like to share a song with you — something that brings me back to a calmer place, a feeling of home, without stress or noise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1davKgBYM
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Thanks for the song rec - I've listened to Time in a Bottle a lot in my lifetime. Very soothing.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXaMT5pX12w
I belive you will enjoy it, and You can find out the good songs from it)
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Thank you so much for your hard work to put a little joy in our lives. Though I agree with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fox_in_me: prioritize your health!
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