Extra-Read All About It!

This is yesterday’s newsletter, but I just got to it, so here it is:

Extra! Extra! 3/9 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 by Jessica Craven

Read on Substack

Found in Jay Kuo’s always excellent “Just for Skeets and Giggles.”

Hey, all, and happy Sunday!

Hope you’re enjoying your weekend. To give you a bit more enjoyment, here’s all the good news I could find from the week that just ended. I’m certain there was more, but the below is a good sampling. As awful as things are right now—and they are awful—there’s much good happening as well.

Enjoy this list, read it a few times, and share it with friends. It is not by staring relentlessly at what’s wrong that we will prevail, but in lifting up what’s working and celebrating it. Really!

Let’s do that. Then tomorrow we’ll get back to work making new victories.

Read This 📖

Here’s a great pep talk on the power of our growing movement, courtesy of Framelab!

Celebrate This! 🎉

Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win an Oscar for best costume design, and Zoe Saldaña became the first American of Dominican origin to win an Oscar at all.

A petrol giant in Norway has announced a ban on fuel sales to all US forces following Trump’s treatment of President Zelensky at the White House.

MeidasTouch, an independent news network that is consistently critical of Trump, surpassed Joe Rogan’s podcast to take the top podcast ranking.

Mike Johnson has instructed his members to stop having Town Halls because of their constituents’ anger.

1,400 people showed up to Indivisible Northern NV’s protest in front of their Republican Congressman Mark Amodei’s office on Saturday. WOW!

Despite political headwinds for the U.S. offshore wind industry, global installations are expected to rebound to a record-high 19 GW this year.

Starbucks workers at the S. Dale Mabry & Neptune location in Tampa, FL just won their election to become the 550th union Starbucks store in the US!

The Trump administration has rescinded its decision to cut off legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children. You sent letters about that! Bravo!

After a public outcry, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs has resumed the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, lowering energy bills for thousands of Alabamans.

The Supreme Court lifted its hold on a lower court order compelling the Trump administration to resume nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funding from USAID. HUGE!

Senate Dems all voted against a bad anti-trans bill.

Over the weekend after Trump and Vance’s meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office supporters like you donated $2,597,908 to UNITED24, the Ukrainian government’s official fundraising website. Wonderful!

Los Angeles County sued Southern California Edison over its role in the devastating Eaton fire.

According to one of the organizers, over 200K people watched the “State of the People” livestream that was offered as counterprogramming to Trump’s SOTU.

In Minnesota, House Republicans brought House File 12 to the Floor, legislation that would prohibit trans and non-gender conforming youth from participating in girls’ sports in Minnesota schools and subject all women and girls to inappropriate scrutiny about their bodies. Democrats defeated it!

Rep. Al Green, was ushered out of Trump’s address to Congress by security guards after raising his voice about Medicaid. THAT is resistance!

Jackie and Shadow, two famous bald eagles, finally hatched two chicks after years of trying to become parents.

Campaign Legal Center filed a new lawsuit challenging the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). They claimed Elon Musk’s and DOGE’s actions are unconstitutional.

The African Development Foundation is putting up a fight and denying DOGE and Pete Marocco — the State Dept official dismantling USAID — access to their building.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey just commuted the death sentence of Robin Dion “Rocky” Meyers.

Electric vehicles made up 64% of all new cars sold in Denmark in January — up from 35% last year.

The stock market’s negative reaction to Trump’s tariffs caused him to withdraw them.

More than 34,000 Vermonters attended Rep Rebecca Balint’s town hall the night of the SOTU —she was joined by Sen Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch. Wow! (You can view a recording on Facebook.)

Utility-scale clean energy installations soared to 49 GW in the U.S. last year, with Republican states seeing the fastest growth.

The U.S. built a record 10.9 GW of utility-scale battery capacity in 2024, mostly in California and Texas, and that figure could surge to 18 GW this year.

More states are adopting mandates for reporting lost or stolen guns.

A federal judge extended a nationwide preliminary injunction on Trump’s executive order to end federal funding for gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth.

Jail voting soared in Colorado in November of 2024—this after the state mandated polling places in County jails.

The White House pulled the expected signing of the executive order to dismantle the Department of Education

A federal judge ruled that the head of the Office of the Special Counsel, who is responsible for protecting whistleblowers, must be able to continue in his role through the duration of his term.

With time running short to avoid a shutdown at the end of next week, Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are urging Republicans to accept a stopgap bill that would keep federal dollars flowing at current levels through the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Alabama’s parole rate more than doubled in 2024. The board released 20 percent of prisoners last year compared to just eight percent in 2023. One lawmaker credited the boost to increased scrutiny from journalists.

A trans woman who was fired from McDonald’s after being harassed won a $900,000 lawsuit against the company that runs the restaurant.

A crowd hundreds strong gathered near the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association campus in Boulder on Monday to protest cuts made to the agency last week as part of the Trump administration’s effort to downsize the federal government.

The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) reinstated about 5,600 probationary USDA employees that had been terminated by the Trump administration.

Wisconsin is joining a multistate lawsuit against the Trump admin over the mass firings of federal workers.

Tesla shares tumbled 5.6% in trading Thursday and are now down 45% from their December peak. Just since Trump took office and Musk began wielding power they have lost 38% of their overall value.

Target’s online traffic dropped during The People’s Union USA Economic Blackout on Feb. 28, according to data from website analytics platform Similarweb. Costco’s went up.

Across the country on Friday—in at least thirty localities—protests were held in support of science.

U.S. government employees who have been fired in the Trump administration’s purge of recently hired workers are responding with class action-style complaints.

“Hamilton” is canceling plans to perform next year at the Kennedy Center, citing President Trump’s moves to impose his values on the venue. “We’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center,” said its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Couldn’t love him more.

Virginia lawmakers unanimously passed a bill to educate the public about common menstrual disorders like endometriosis and PCOS.

Educators in New York City are embracing rather than restricting discussions of race in schools. Leaders have said they’ll do so whether the Trump administration approves or not.

This year’s count of endangered Mexican gray wolves shows their recovery is inching forward.

Parents in Britain will be granted a right to bereavement leave after suffering a miscarriage as part of Labour’s workers’ rights reforms.

Black churches across the country were awarded more than $8 million in grants by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, part of an effort to preserve buildings that played significant roles in Black history.

Researchers have created an eco-friendly alternative to plastic Mardis Gras necklaces.

Stanford University chemists have developed a practical, low-cost way to permanently remove atmospheric carbon dioxide, the main driver of global warming and climate change, using rocks.

A federal judge ordered the reinstatement of Democratic NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, whom Trump fired to eliminate the board’s quorum.

Almost everything Trump and Musk are doing is wildly unpopular with Americans.

Dicks Sporting Goods doubled down on its commitment to DEI.

CBS has filed a motion to dismiss Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit over former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview last year, calling the suit an “affront to the First Amendment without basis in law or fact.”

Ontario will charge 25% more for electricity shipped to 1.5 million Americans starting Monday in response to Trump’s tariffs, Premier Doug Ford said Thursday.

In Las Vegas, the Culinary and Bartenders Unions have reached an agreement with Fontainebleau Las Vegas, and for the first time in the 90-year history of the strip every establishment is totally unionized.

Bernie Sanders’ ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ campaign is continuing to draw massive crowds in red districts across the US.

Production workers at Walt Disney Animation Studios officially have a first union contract.

Ukraine supporters unfurled the world’s largest 🇺🇦 flag on the White House ellipse this weekend.

In Oklahoma, the Senate Education Appropriations subcommittee nixed a $3 million request by the state Education agency to place Bibles in classrooms.

In Montana, powerful speeches by the state’s two transgender lawmakers helped flip 29 Republican lawmakers’ votes and kill two anti-trans bills.

Thanks to the ballot measure passed in the state in November, Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban has been permanently blocked!

A Federal judge in Rhode Island entered a preliminary injunction that indefinitely blocks Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans, saying the Trump Administration “put itself above Congress.” This lawsuit was brought by Democratic state Attorneys General, led by New York AG Letitia James.

Watch This! 👀

Warning, this is slightly risque. But if you saw the weird AI-generated video about “Trump Gaza” that Trump reposted last week, you have to see this. (Full disclosure; I have not watched it. No time for videos today unless it’s one of you people here. Also, the scene shown has ruined my lunch. -A)

Rev. Barber Still Out Here Working

Bishop William Barber: GOP Tax Cuts “Mathematically Impossible” Without Gutting Medicaid and More

Story March 07, 2025 (Watch and/or listen on the page, linked just above.)

Republicans in Congress are pushing forward budget plans that would cut trillions in federal spending and give trillions more in tax cuts that disproportionately benefit corporations and the ultra-rich. This week, hundreds of faith leaders gathered on the Christian holy day of Ash Wednesday on Capitol Hill to voice their opposition. “There’s no way you can do the kinds of cuts they’re talking about — it’s mathematically impossible — without touching Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” says Bishop William Barber, one of the participants. Barber also reflects on the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when civil rights marchers were brutalized in Selma, Alabama, and stresses that economic justice was always at the heart of the movement alongside ending segregation and winning voting rights.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

House Republicans narrowly adopted a budget proposal last week to cut as much as $2 trillion in spending over a 10-year period, in part to fund Trump’s tax cuts. A new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office shows the proposed budget would require massive cuts to Medicaid spending. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has warned the U.S. government will go bankrupt without his Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, which is working to slash a trillion dollars from the deficit.

This week, hundreds of faith leaders gathered to mark the Christian holy day of Ash Wednesday on Capitol Hill and to protest the impact the proposed cuts could have on the poor and the vulnerable. This is Bishop William Barber speaking at the protest Wednesday.

BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER II: If an unelected technocrat can delete the financial commitments of a government established for the people and by the people, and we don’t say anything, we betray our moral commitments to liberty.

AMY GOODMAN: Faith leaders also shared findings of a new report Wednesday called “The High Moral Stake: Our Budget, Our Future,” which details how President Trump and the Republican Party are taking more essential services and money away from working people while cutting taxes for the wealthiest. It was authored by Institute for Policy Studies, the Economic Policy Institute and Repairers of the Breach.

For more, we’re joined from North Carolina by Bishop William Barber, president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach, national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He’s co-author of the new book White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy.

Bishop Barber, welcome back to Democracy Now! on this 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when voting rights activists marched — tried to march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, led by John Lewis, and were beaten down by Alabama state troopers. Five months later, the Voting Rights Act would be signed by President Johnson. Your thoughts on putting history and this moment together, and what you were demanding on Wednesday?

BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER II: Well, thank you so much, Amy.

As I was listening to that song, “We Shall Overcome,” there’s another line that says, “We are not afraid.” And I want to thank Representative Green for his courage and showing the way of courage. He’s a dear friend of mine. He’s exactly right: You cannot wait until a dictator is in charge. You must challenge the way toward that dictatorship.

And we must remember, on this day 60 years ago, we did see that Bloody Sunday, but for nearly 40 years, Amelia Boynton, who was also beaten that day, a woman that John Lewis held in his arms, they have been working against voter suppression in that particular city. They also connected the issues of voter suppression and voter denial to economic injustice. Remember, the voting piece was supposed to be a part of the Civil Rights Act of ’64 along with raising the minimum wage to a living wage, and those things were gutted out of the ’64 Civil Rights Act, which made the ’65 march and the ’65 Voting Rights Act necessary.

At the end of that march, when they finally did reach Montgomery, Dr. King gave an amazing sermon. And he chose not to just talk about voting rights, but he chose to connect voting rights to economic injustice. And in that sermon, he said that the greatest fear of the greedy oligarchs in this country was for the masses of Black people and poor white people to join together and form a voting bloc that could fundamentally shift the economic architecture of the nation, and that every time this possibility becomes possible, the forces of extremism and the forces of division sow that division to keep it from happening.

I think we see that here today, what’s going on with this Congress. And it’s amazing to me, for instance, that they would censure Representative Green. They didn’t censure our sister out of Georgia. They didn’t censure the man who called Obama a liar on the floor. It’s a strange time that — the cheering, the applauding. But I think we are in a crisis of civilization, really, not just a crisis of democracy. It’s going to call people to have to stand, regardless of where they are.

So, what we’re dealing with right now, Amy, before I even talk about the specific policy, is this immoral philosophy that’s at work. Number one, they are operating off of the deliberate attempt to use executive orders as a way of intentionally violating the Constitution, thereby creating enough confusion to distract people from what’s going on in the Congress, because what happens in the Congress has the weight of the law, and EO doesn’t have the weight of law.

Number two, we are seeing the tyranny of technology and the dehumanization of people.

Number three, we’re seeing the attempt to make people justify their existence, which has its roots in racism, apartheid and Nazism.

Number four, we’re seeing the denial of equality on every front.

Five, we’re seeing the outright violation of freedom of speech, due to the process — due process and equal protection under the law for all persons, and an attempt to end birthright citizenship.

Number six, we are seeing the outright betrayal of liberty.

Number seven, we are seeing the idolatry of the certainty of white supremacy, that some people can decide who’s in, who’s out, who’s right, who’s wrong.

And number eight, we’re seeing the misuse of religious Christian nationalism in an attempt to falsely claim that their immoral actions are moral.

This is what is underneath, if you will, what we see going on. It is dangerous. It leads us to dictatorships and worse. And we must be courageous in this moment. I think that what you saw happen with Representative Green is just the tip of the kind of pushback we’re going to see as the weather gets warmer and as people see more and more the kind of damage that’s being suggested by this current budget and this current Congress. (snip-MORE; watch/listen on the page)

Peace & Justice History for 3/10

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymarch.htm#march10

The American Tariff War And Paying The Price For King Trump

Let’s See How This Goes-

Growers Who Rely on Climate Data Sue USDA for Cutting Off Access

MacKenzie Scott, Philanthropist

And no, she didn’t “earn her money in the divorce”; she built Amazon into what it is/was. She earned her money by working. It’s important to note because of opposition comments about her.

MacKenzie Scott Nice Time Update! by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Turns out that the way she gives money is a really good way. Read on Substack

Marcie Jones Mar 04, 2025

green plant in clear glass vase — There’s like no photos of MacKenzie Scott. Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

And now let us check in with breath-of-fresh-air MacKenzie Scott, the heart-of-gold billionaire who spun her share of her divorce from Jeff Bezos after he cheated on her into philanthropy and Yield Giving, a foundation that has so far given out almost $20 billion in unrestricted gifts for social justice, human services (like abortions and health care), education, LGBTQ+ services, playgrounds, historically Black colleges and universities, a total of 2,450 excellent causes that happen to be the ones that piss off Elon Musk and other right-wing chuds the very most!

Turns out, according to a three-year-analysis by the Center for Effective Philanthropy of 800 of the donations her foundation has made, the no-strings-attached way she gives out money is quite effective!

When Scott started handing out unrestricted gifts in 2019, the world of philanthropy got shook. The usual way to go about doling out large sums of cash with a foundation is to give restricted gifts, like for eradicating the rockin’ pneumonia, but not the boogie-woogie flu, or a scholarship fund for sensitive boys with at least a 3.0 who play the flute, or constructing the Phineas Q. Oilman Center for Fracking Studies.

Donors like to direct exactly where their money goes. And they like to have their names on stuff, like etched on a plaque, or a “thank you” in the opera program. Also naming rights are a way to encourage ongoing involvement. Don’t you think dear departed Grandpa Oilman would have wanted his heirs to make sure that his building has plenty of money in trust to keep the center’s roof repaired?

And foundations usually give out grants in response to proposals. This usually starts with announcing the grant: The Betsy VonThundersnatch Foundation For The Arts intends to award $5 million to bring drag brunches to underserved populations. Then nonprofits that work in that area respond with a proposal that assesses the need, lays out project with objectives, includes a step-by-step timetable, detailed budget estimate for renting a van, buying wigs and champagne etc., a pitch of why their organization is the most capable one to meet the need, what the benchmarks for measuring success will be, and so on.

Then after a grantee gets the money, they’re usually required to regularly report back the details of their benchmark-hitting to a board. What some might call micromanaging and others might call responsible stewardship helps foundations and charities solicit gifts, because donors want to know exactly where their money is going and be reassured that it’s not going to get blown fast. Which makes sense! But all of that takes time, and wig money. It can be many months and sometimes even years between when a grant is announced and an awardee can cash a check, and charities have to pay overhead for people to look for grants to apply to, and write the proposals.

But MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Foundation does the opposite of this! They skip the solicitation-and-proposal part entirely, quietly and secretly researching organizations’ track records. And then the foundation cuts a surprise check, with no spending-timetable or strings attached, and lets the nonprofit roll with it. It is bold! It is brave! It is trusting!

And here’s the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s report on how it’s going: The grantees are actually not blowing all of the money. Most are using it to shore up longer-term stability and plan to spend it within two to five years. Some have been able to pay debt, and have reserves and health insurance for their employees for the first time, and they are able to provide more services and expand their missions.

Like the South Texas Food Bank. They were able to give their employees free health care, and also nearly doubled the amount of food they distributed to eight counties and one tribal nation in south Texas with the $9 million Scott’s foundation gave them. Also Kaboom! They build playgrounds, and with Scott’s $14 million they have quadrupled the size of their playgrounds, and have gotten into advocacy too, pushing for elimination of the use of toxic chemicals on playground surfaces.

Eighty-five percent of nonprofit recipients said that Scott’s gifts have helped them improve or expand their programming, and 52 percent reported a greater capacity to respond to the needs of the communities they serve. The organizations that received awards from Scott had double the amount of cash reserves as comparable nonprofits, which is vital for the long-term stability of any organization that depends on the kindness of strangers in a volatile economy.

Ninety-three percent reported that Scott’s grant moderately or significantly strengthened their ability to carry out their mission, and 90 percent said the gift bolstered their financial positions. More than 60 percent said they used the grant to establish credibility with other funders, though 53 percent were concerned that other funders might withdraw their support, believing that recipients didn’t need additional funding. But the other side to that is Scott’s foundation has already done the research, so her endorsement could also encourage more donations. How that will pan out in the end for charities remains to be seen.

And, though the grants don’t require them to, 70 percent of the recipients are tracking the impact of the money, some say even better than they actually were before, because now they have better capacity to do that. Said one, “This grant has allowed us to focus more deliberatively on our metrics and impact to better equip us to answer this question/tell our story/show our impact.”

And what an impact! Samples from the survey: 33,521 loans for a total of $1.26 billion to low-income households to buy homes, start or capitalize businesses, and address their financial needs. Health care for 100,000 new patients. Legal orientation for more than 12,000 refugees, and 200 unaccompanied immigrant minors re-unified with their families, and millions of meals served in the US and other countries.

And her freewheeling gifts are having an impact on other foundations also. More than half of foundation leaders surveyed said that they now thought that their foundations should consider giving out large, multiyear, unrestricted support, too. Which is not simple, because foundations are staffed, structured and budgeted to do things the way they’ve always done them, and it’s hard to get boards to agree on lunch, much less to a complete overhaul on how they do everything, and possibly to re-write of all of their bylaws. But now they have a fine example to follow, and success to point to.

That MacKenzie! She is so humble, it is hard to find pictures of her anywhere, unless they’re from her as Bezos’ plus-one in the old days. And while her ex is out here kissing Trump’s behind, whoring out the newspaper he bought and swanning around Aspen with his affair partner, she is making a difference in a good way. And still the 5th-richest woman in the world.

It’s all lovelier than a drag brunch in June.

OPEN THREAD. (We’ll have something up later too, you know what time.)

(snip)

Christopher Titus Armageddon clips

Peace & Justice History for 3/2

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymarch.htm#march1 (Note: if you click through from here, scroll down a bit for 3/2. P&J’s 3/2 link goes to 3/30.)

Liberal Redneck – On Gutting Medicaid and Food Stamps to Cover More Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

Yes I am desperately trying to get things done so I can work on my own video posts. Ron has been sleeping for nearly 3 hours. So enjoy this informative post while I try to finish the few dishes we managed to dirt last night. Damn my back aches. Standing at the sink seems to be the worst. Hugs.

Surprise surprise, the GOP is trying to railroad millions of regular Americans for rich-dragon-people-hoarding-tax-gold purposes. Ain’t that just the way.