Extra! Extra! 1/26

A surprisingly long list of wins for the week!

Jan 27, 2025

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

So here’s a surprising thing: It’s been a God-awful week, but I still have a ton of good news for you! I don’t know how it’s possible, but this list is every bit as long as any other week, and possibly a bit longer.

Remember, as evil grows more prominent, so, too, do the forces of good working to counteract and defeat it. Are we seeing a dismaying amount of cowardice and appeasement? Yes, we are. But we’re also seeing people, groups, and corporations take courageous stands and fight back in new and surprising ways. I am certain that this trend will continue. This evening—and every Sunday going forward—we’ll focus on THAT. Because boy, does it matter. And wow, is courage contagious!

Remember, what we focus on—and applaud, and amplify, and share, and dwell on— grows. So let’s do all of that with the below news items, and if you notice I’ve missed something please drop it in the comments!

As usual, I’ve popped an 🪓 next to every item that everyday activists like you helped make happen, and a 🪣 next to every one that got done by lawmakers or administrations that we helped elect.

Read This 📖

This is a must-read, must-share, and must-return-to, all year long. Thanks so much to the subscriber who sent it to me. Truly inspiring words.

A quote for you 🗣️

Dan Savage said this this week, and I couldn’t agree more:

The next four years are gonna suck. But they’ll suck worse if we let the news cycle — and the man who dominates it — drain the joy from our lives. We need to pay attention and we need to stay in the fight. Because of course we do. But we should spend as much time as we possibly can over the next four years with friends and lovers doing things that bring us joy. Anyone who tells you that making time for joy — however you define it — is a distraction or a betrayal has no idea what they’re talking about. During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for. It didn’t look like we were going to win then and we did. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to win now but we could. Keep fighting, keep dancing.

Celebrate This! 🎉

“In just under two-and-a-half minutes, Bishop Mariann Budde, combining a clear empathy for both Trump and the vulnerable innocents he’s viciously targeting, fully comfortable in her own skin and righteously firm in Christ’s teachings, did more to challenge Trump than the whole of American political media in the past ten weeks.” Great piece by Charlotte Clymer; great moment in history. Bishop Budde is an American hero. 🪓

Public Citizen filed a lawsuit claiming that DOGE is an "advisory committee" which is meant to be “fairly balanced" and "operate transparently" but is "most definitely not." Bravo! 🪓

Speaking of DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy is gone!

On his last morning in office President Biden pardoned Leonard Peltier! 🪓 🪣

Brittany Watts—the Ohio woman wrongfully prosecuted for ‘abuse of a corpse’ after miscarrying—has brought a lawsuit against the hospital where she was ‘treated,’ the police officer who interrogated her as she awaited surgery, the doctor who denied her care, and the nurses who turned her in despite having done nothing illegal. 🪓

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced that he’s stockpiling abortion medication. 1 🪣

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up an appeal filed by Montana Republicans against their state court’s decision to strike down state laws that restricted voting rights. The Montana GOP had hoped to revive the independent state legislature doctrine, which says state courts shouldn’t second-guess lawmakers when it comes to election law. The fact that SCOTUS rejected them is a big deal.

This month, the legalization of same-sex marriage takes effect in Thailand and Lichtenstein.

The Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police condemned Trump’s pardoning of about 1,500 people convicted for their involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Flames made it to within six feet of the Getty Museum, an art museum located in Los Angeles famed for its encyclopedic collection of art, but it sustained no damage.

Indie rock icon Lucy Dacus pledged to donate $10,000 in $500 increments to help trans people who need money to receive surgery. 🪓

Humanitarian supplies are pouring into the Gaza Strip at an unprecedented rate, as foreign governments and aid groups race during a pause in the fighting to bring much needed relief to the beleaguered population. 🪓

Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid empire paid an eight-figure sum and fully apologized to Prince Harry.2

Virginia’s Democratic-led Senate passed constitutional amendments on abortion and voting rights, as well as a resolution repealing a now-defunct ban on same-sex marriage. The Democratic-led Virginia House of Delegates passed similar legislation on all three issues earlier this month. 🪓 🪣

Michael Bloomberg and other U.S. philanthropists announced they will cover the U.S.’s financial obligations to the UN Climate Framework after Trump’s call to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. 🪓

The Supreme Court of North Carolina rejected GOP candidate Jefferson Griffin's emergency petition — to throw out over 60,000 votes and overturn the state Supreme Court race — saying they'll wait for his lower court challenges to go through the normal process. The power grab there isn’t defeated yet, but this was a good step.

Here’s a statistic from the States Project I thought would make you happy: Compared to Trump’s first term, where Democrats had seven state-level trifectas (that’s majorities in the state house and senate plus the governor’s mansion), today, Democrats hold 15 trifectas as well as either a chamber or the gubernatorial seat in 12 states — governing power that represents 59% of the population, 63% of the United States GDP, 70% of all state-level spending. A big deal, and YOU helped make it happen! (P.S. Please support the States Project!) 🪓

Only 21% of Americans support withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, with 52% opposed [AP + NORC] Voters also support ending subsidies for oil and gas companies by a 48%-29% margin [Navigator]

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has just barred Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and his allies from entering the U.S. Capitol without permission.

Mexico denied a U.S. military plane access to land Thursday, at least temporarily frustrating the Trump administration's plans to deport immigrants to the country.

Grizzly bears are retaining their Endangered Species Act protections thank to a proposed update by the US Fish and Wildlife Service which will help ensure these iconic bears can be protected from threats and recovery efforts can continue across the nation.

Heat pumps look almost certain to have outsold gas furnaces in the U.S. in 2024 — and by a bigger margin than ever. 🪣

A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked Trump’s administration from enforcing an executive order ending the right to automatic birthright citizenship. PHEW.

California just had a groundbreaking year for solar and battery storage, shattering the myth that renewables can’t be reliable sources of energy.

Oregon is poised to host the nation’s largest solar and battery facility, extending across nearly 9,500 acres and providing enough energy for 800,000 homes each year.

This week when federal employees were encouraged to report coworkers supporting DEI in the workplace, concerned citizens began flooding the email inbox with everything from song lyrics to pornography to the Bee movie script, making it impossible to navigate. (Action on this in tomorrow’s newsletter.) 🪓

The Minnesota Supreme Court handed Republicans a major defeat by striking down their illegitimate power grab. The Court ruled that a quorum in the Minnesota House of Representatives requires 68 members. The court’s ruling effectively invalidates every action Republicans took since the first day of session on January 14, 2025.

The Rev. Al Sharpton led a “buy-in” with over 100 National Action members at the Costco location in Harlem, NYC to show support for the company’s strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). 🪓

‘Emilia Pérez’ star Karla Sofía Gascón became the first openly transgender actor to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Brazil appointed a veteran climate diplomat with no direct ties to the fossil fuel industry to be the next COP president. COP30, the UN’s annual climate change conference, will be hosted in the Amazon, and for the first time in 3 years, its president (who plays a crucial role in shaping the agenda and brokering deals) will not hail from the fossil fuel sector.3 🪓

Pamela Hemphill, who served prison time for actions she took on Jan. 6, refused Trump’s pardon and stated that she and other supporters were “wrong” for storming the Capitol four years ago.

The Lancaster County Board in Nebraska just approved a permit for what could become the largest solar farm in the state, generating 304 megawatts of clean energy — and Chelsea Johnson, who Climate Cabinet helped elect last year, cast the decisive "yes" vote! Amazing! 🪓

For the first time in decades STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) rates are dropping!

Moderna has been awarded approximately $590 million from the federal government to help speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine.

Flavor Flav launched a fundraiser to help Black families displaced by the fires. 🪓

Fifteen gray wolves were released in Colorado as part of an ongoing population restoration plan.

Japan just rolled out the world’s first toilet paper made from used disposable diapers.

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court ruled that coastal marine ecosystems have rights of nature, including the right to restoration. 4

Massachusetts’s bill officially prohibiting elephants, lions, tigers, primates, giraffes, and bears from being used in traveling circus environments just went into effect. 🪣

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman made history as the first Black head coach to make it to the college football national championship as his team takes on Ohio State.

Springdale, a city in Arkansas, just voted to honor Martin Luther King Jr. by renaming a bridge in his honor.

In a move to help close the pay gap between men and women in college sports, the NCAA will now pay Division I women's basketball teams who play in March Madness games starting this year.

Tesla's sales across Europe are plummeting.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation on school safety that was introduced after a deadly shooting that killed four students at Oxford High School but took lawmakers more than three years to approve. 🪓 🪣

Twin Cities Pride, Minnesota’s second largest festival, is removing Target from its June LGBTQ+ celebration. 🪓

The Air Force said today that videos about the famed Tuskegee Airmen and a unit of pioneering female aviators would be restored to the basic training curriculum for new recruits beginning tomorrow. This is largely due to “public backlash—” that’s people like you! 🪓

Speaking of the fires, it rained in Los Angeles this weekend! FINALLY! In fact it’s raining here right now! ☔️☔️🥳🥳

Watch This! 👀

A wonderful, much-needed, and true reminder from content creator Jamyl Cannon.

Chop Wood, Carry Water

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