Extra! Extra! 3/23 🎈🎈

Seen at a TeslaTakedown protest this weekend in Milford, CT. H/T subscriber Beverly E.

Hi, all, and happy Sunday.

Here it is—your good news roundup for the week we’ve just finished! It’s been an atrocious seven days in nearly every way, and yet there were still victories and small steps forward everywhere.

Since what we focus on tends to grow, let’s take a few minutes to enjoy and even bask in the news that wasn’t bad. Call it “joyscrolling,” if you will.

And then share this list with a friend, so that they, too, can get a needed lift.

Remember, we won’t be able to keep at this unless we lift our spirits from time to time. This list will do just that. So lift away, and enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Thanks for all you do—and all you will do in the future. It’s because of you that we’ll win.

Read This 📖

Read this new Rebecca Solnit essay, then consider subscribing to her newsletter. Solnit’s quite literally the best, and you’ll feel much better after reading her EVERY time.

An excerpt:

Here's what I think is true but only our actions can prove: the Trump regime is a Cybertruck, meant to look aggressive and intimidating, a bully car, but also one sloppily made to low standards, one that falls apart as it goes, with pieces that can be yanked off by hand. It shouts that it's strong, but it's weak. It shouts that we're weak but we can be strong, together.

YES!

Celebrate This! 🎉

In Minnesota, a Republican-led effort to recall 29 DFL state representatives failed after the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed the recall petitions “for failure to allege specific facts that, if proven, would constitute grounds for recall.”

After Democracy Forward sued, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from removing some immigrants from the United States using the Alien Enemies Act.

Ireland announced it was donating over $16 million to Brazil’s Amazon Fund.

Harvard announced that tuition will be free for students from families with annual incomes of $200,000 or less starting in the 2025-26 academic year.

In the first week of March alone, Texas’ ERCOT power grid, which supplies nearly the entire state, set three records: most wind production, most solar production, and greatest battery discharge.

Justice Roberts slapped back at Trump. Finally.

Wired, one of the best tech outlets covering DOGE, dropped its paywall for all articles based on public records.

A federal judge in Maryland determined that Musk overseeing the Trump administration’s attempted takeover of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways.”

The California Heat Pump Partnership announced the nation’s first statewide blueprint to achieve the state’s ambitious goals for deploying heat pumps, a critical tech for decarbonizing buildings and improving public health.

A federal judge has denied the DOJ’s attempt to apply Trump’s blanket pardon for members of the Jan. 6 mob at the Capitol to one defendant’s conviction for possessing illegal guns hundreds of miles away, at his Kentucky home.

A judge blocked Trump’s attack on transgender military members.

The astronauts who were stuck in space about 278 days longer than they intended have finally made their journey back to Earth.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld Florida’s law prohibiting individuals under 21 from buying firearms, affirming that age restrictions on firearm purchases are constitutional. A big deal!

Tesla had to recall more than 46,000 of its Cybertrucks due to an exterior trim panel that it said can “delaminate and detach from the vehicle,” increasing the risk of a crash.

A coalition of more than 200 North Carolina jurists, attorneys, state government officials, bar leaders and legal educators signed on to a letter to Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin to end his effort to overturn the results of the 2024 election.

More than 400 Olympic athletes have urged the next president of the International Olympic Committee to prioritize tackling climate change, describing it as a “current and growing harm to the sports we love”.

Conservationists and fishing industry groups in South Africa just agreed to implement no-fishing zones around six major breeding colonies of critically endangered African penguins.

The Maryland Department of Transportation created a free online museum to help people learn more about where Harriet Tubman lived in her formative teen years.

A federal judge broadened the scope of a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from removing immigrants from the US using the Alien Enemies Act. The ruling extended the order to everyone in danger of removal under the act and granted class certification.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum officially recognized Palestine as a state.

The DNC is investing in Florida’s Special Elections in CD-1 and CD-6.

The DNC launched a new billboard campaign urging voters to call out their Republican representatives for refusing to face their constituents. The campaign will run in the same districts where Democrats are hosting “People’s Town Halls.” Check out the full list here.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team from getting access to personally identifiable information from the Social Security Administration.

Attorneys general from California, Illinois, Maine, and Minnesota filed a lawsuit against the U.S. EPA and Citibank, accusing them of illegally withholding funds from state green bank programs.

Just in the last week, according to Indivisible founder Ezra Levin, more than 100 new Indivisible groups formed all over the country. Indivisible’s new group numbers continue to smash records—this month they’ve gained more than any month so far!

Somewhere between 30,000 and 36,000 people (depending on who you ask) showed up to Bernie Sanders’ and AOC’s rally in Denver on Friday. And they’ve had massive crowds elsewhere all week! The projected crowd size was about 2,000 for the Bernie/AOC rally in Tempe. 15,000 people showed up. Then almost 24,000 showed up in Tucson on a projected size of 3,000.

In Maryland’s District 1, GOP Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the House “Freedom” Caucus, was invited to speak at a town hall just down the road from his home in Cambridge, MD. But, like most of his Republican colleagues, “AWOL Andy” didn’t show up. Rep. Jamie Raskin did, however, and it was standing room only. Nice work Cambridge Indivisible!

Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, vowed that the Trump administration would not defy court orders stemming from legal challenges over its invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport undocumented migrants from the US. Trump also seems to be backing off of invoking the Act.

The number of Tesla owners trading in their cars surged to a record high in March.

Since the first day of his second term Trump’s net approval rating has declined by 13.8 points. This whole post about his approval numbers, in fact, will make you feel a bit better.

Trump’s administration said in court filings that it is working to rehire nearly 25,000 fired federal workers at 18 different agencies after federal judges in California and Maryland ruled their terminations were illegal.

In another judicial win against Trump’s dismantling of the federal government, a judge on March 18 blocked the EPA from rescinding grants issued as part of a $20 billion climate funding program initiated by Biden.

Two members of Utah’s all-Republican congressional delegation fielded boos and calls to “Do your job!” at a town hall on the University of Utah campus. There were also angry town halls in Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Wyoming. Even Alabama Republican voters are getting upset!

Tesla stock is down nearly 25% this month alone.

Physicians at Idaho's largest health system will continue to be shielded from criminal prosecution for providing abortion care in an emergency after a federal court judge issued a new protection order in a lawsuit over the state's abortion ban.

A group of Voice of America journalists have sued Kari Lake and the Trump admin — alleging their shut down of the network was unlawful and unconstitutional.

Used Teslas are depreciating at three times the rate of other automakers.

The Friday after Chuck Schumer caved on the Continuing Resolution was one of Run For Something’s single biggest candidate recruitment days EVER.

J.D. Vance’s favorability is worse than any new vice president in the history of polling.

In Pennsylvania, constituents from around the region asked a stuffed chicken questions about major social issues outside U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick's Scranton office, since he won’t schedule a Town Hall. There was a similar empty-seat Town Hall for Scott Perry in PA.

George Glezmann, an American airline mechanic, was released by the Taliban, more than two years after being abducted by the group while visiting Afghanistan.

A Chinese company has unveiled a new fast-charging system that could make charging an EV as fast as filling up a gas tank, alleviating one of the key barriers to EV adoption.

A new report shows nearly 10% of all spending on clothes was secondhand last year.

A survey of over 100,000 Germans revealed that 94% won’t buy a Tesla vehicle.

The Vermont senate unanimously voted to protect the rights of its transgender and nonbinary citizens.

In Chair Ken Martin’s first month leading the DNC, they had their largest February grassroots fundraising haul on record: over $9 million.

Amazing news: The National Park Service is now authorized to reinstate all 1,000 probationary park staff who were terminated on February 14. They were originally authorized to reinstate only 400 previously terminated probationary employees, while placing the remaining previously terminated staff on administrative leave.

Elon Musk’s trans daughter is now trolling him—hard—online.

Watch This! 👀

The ‘world's biggest anti-Elon Musk protest’ was staged on a beach in Wales by a group called Led By Donkeys.