Extra! Extra! 2/9 📣📣
GOOD STUFF BELOW!
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
It’s late and I’ve taken forever to pull this newsletter together. Sorry I couldn’t get it out earlier. Nevertheless here it is, at last: all the good news from this week that I could find. Despite it being another totally harrowing seven days, tons of great things did still happen. Let’s take a second to acknowledge, bask in, and celebrate them.
And please, please, share this list with others in despair. It can be hard to see any progress in a moment like this, but progress is being made. We need to know it. Because we’re the ones making it!
Read the below and tell me I’m wrong.
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 📖
A subscriber just sent me this gorgeous Annie Lamott piece. It was published in WaPo a week or two ago, but wow, does it still soothe.
An excerpt:
A few of us, approximately 75 million people, see the future as a desert of harshness. The new land looks inhospitable. But if we stay alert, we’ll notice that the stark desert is dotted with growing things. In the pitiless heat and scarcity, we also see shrubs and conviction…one thing that characterizes deserts is the stillness, until the wind blows. And, boy, when it blows, it’s like an organ.
Chills.
Celebrate This! 🎉
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the province will rip up its $100 million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink, “Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy.”
Anti-ICE protesters shut down both sides of the 101 Freeway in Downtown LA! 🪓
Another judge slapped down Trump’s spending freeze, and she didn’t mince words when she did so.
Monday morning, federal workers and others joined outside of the federal Office of Personnel Management to tell Elon Musk to “Fork Off” (a reference to the “Fork in the Road” email sent to two million feds last week urging them to take a buyout and leave government). 🪓
Monday night a big crowd gathered near New York University’s Langone Hospital to demand that it keep providing life-saving healthcare to trans kids. 1 🪓
Vermont’s one House member, Rebecca Balint, announced she will be sending out “rapid response alerts” until the crisis is over. THIS is the energy we need! (You can sign up here). 🪣
The Congressional phone system that normally sees a volume of 30-50 calls per minute had to handle 1600 calls a minute all week long! THAT’S YOU ALL! 🪓
Two federal judges blocked Trump’s executive order to deny citizenship to some people born on U.S. soil.
In Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court unanimously decided that Meagan Wolfe, chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, can keep her job. The Republican effort to remove Wolfe stemmed from lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a plan to attempt to block the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing federal payment systems that contain Americans’ sensitive personal information. James has said she will lead a coalition of states in a lawsuit against DOGE’s work. 🪣
After Trump sent Ellen Weintraub, the Federal Election Commission Chair, a letter claiming to immediately remove her from her position, Weintraub declared that she didn’t accept her firing as legal or valid. She is refusing to step down. 2 🪓
Sen. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii) has placed a “blanket hold” on all of President Trump’s State Department nominees until the administration’s attack on USAID ends. 🪣
In Minnesota, House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman announced a bipartisan power-sharing agreement that allowed the Minnesota House to finally begin conducting business!
A federal judge temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury Department payment systems and ordered the destruction of “any and all copies of material downloaded from the Treasury Department’s records and systems.”
Indivisible reports more than 250 groups showed up at Senators’ offices this week to demand an end to Musk’s coup. 🪓
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing 2,700 USAID employees on leave and ordered the reinstatement of 500 others.
The National Women’s Law Center and Public Citizen, along with more than 110 organizations, called on Congress today to swiftly investigate Elon Musk and the lawless takeover of the federal government by his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 🪓
The Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filed suit against the Department of the Treasury for sharing confidential data with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk. 🪓
There was a protest in Mississippi. In Mississippi, y’all! 🪓
A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives.
Thousands of people marched through the streets of West Houston to protest immigration policy changes recently implemented by the Trump administration. 🪓
A federal judge blocked Trump's executive order requiring transgender women to be housed in male prisons.
Unrig Our Economy is launching an eight-figure campaign highlighting congressional Republicans’ plans to give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
10,000 workers at Kroger-owned King Soopers are now on strike in Colorado, shutting down 77 grocery stores. 🪓
Minnesota Governor Walz announced new grants that will create 1,400 new child care slots across the state. 🪣
The AFL-CIO has launched a new organizing effort called “The Department of People who Work For a Living.” It welcomes all: union members and those without representation, retirees and students, people across backgrounds and races. (They’re also planning general strikes and buying blackouts, starting on February 28. Let’s all sign up with them!) 🪓
Senate Democrats held an all-night protest against Russell Vought’s confirmation as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Their efforts ultimately failed to stop his confirmation, but they were still important, as they drew loads of publicity and showed us they were finally ready to fight!
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a bill to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent — a measure endorsed by Donald Trump on the campaign trail.
New internal Democratic polling finds Elon Musk’s approval rating is upside down, 43% to 51%, and his favorability is even worse, 42% to 51%. We will exploit this!
Safiyah Jackson, a terrific candidate who ran for a statehouse seat in North Carolina in November, didn’t win her race then, but she was just sworn in to be a Wake County commissioner, filling a seat that the previous commissioner gave up to work for the governor! Some of us phonebanked for her, and the name recognition she got from that helped her secure this promotion! Good job, all. 🪓
In Southern California and across the country on Monday, dozens of businesses nationwide closed, schools reported lower attendance and families put off trips to the grocery store in observance of “A day without immigrants.” 🪓
The American College of OBGYN’s website is now hosting critical documents purged by the CDC. 🪓
A judge has awarded a historic Black church in Washington control over the Proud Boys trademark after the far-right group defaulted on a $2.8 million judgment meant for the church.
The FireAid benefit concerts in LA this week brought in more than $100 million for immediate relief efforts and long-term needs in Los Angeles. 🪓
A “remarkable” rewilding project in Scotland has led to a bumblebee population that is 116 times bigger than it was two years ago.
Hundreds of endangered fish were rescued from bodies of water damaged by L.A. fires this week.
Senator Chris Murphy announced he plans to oppose all Trump nominees until this constitutional crisis is over. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester announced she plans to oppose all Trump nominees period. 🪣
Iowa’s first hotel conversion to supportive housing for chronically homeless residents is opening next month.
Believe it or not, the 119th Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse in history. 🪣
A year into new initiative, Denver no longer has any homeless veterans living on the street.
Democrats are “locking arms” against House Speaker Mike Johnson on government funding, vowing to use the process to try to roll back many of President Trump’s efforts to upend the federal government.
A dwindling whale species just got its protections back, undoing a federal district court decision striking down a law meant to protect the North Atlantic right whale from the perils of fishing gear.
New York state moved to strengthen protections for abortion providers who mail abortion pills out of state, days after a New York doctor was indicted in Louisiana for prescribing and sending the pills to a patient in the state.
Trump’s Justice Department sued to block a $14 billion merger between two technology firms that along with technology company Cisco control 70 percent of the wireless networking equipment space. (File this under “a stopped clock” department.) 3
Trump has not prevailed even once in court over the last 18 days since he took office. 4
New York Attorney General Letitia James told hospitals to continue providing gender-affirming care for people under 19 years old, despite Donald Trump’s order to cut federal funding for the treatments.
Artists at the Grammys used the stage last night to call out Trump’s agenda, from his anti-immigration policies to his crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion. “DEI is not a threat, it’s a gift,” Alicia Keys told the crowd. “The more voices, the more powerful the sound. When destructive forces try to burn us down, we rise from the ashes like a phoenix.”5
Rebecca Solnit launched a newsletter!
This and the four items above from States United Democracy Center
This and the two above from The Lever’s “You Love to See It.”
This and the one above from Crooked Media’s “What a Day”
Jessica you are a beacon of joy. Rallied for another week!
This is so helpful and validating of so many efforts during such a trying time. Your work helps me take action and brings light to the fore. Thank you!