Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
Another difficult week is behind us. And while awful, awful things continued to happen, a huge number of really encouraging things did as well. Here’s a list of many of them. Please feel free to add more in the comments—I’m certain I left some important things out.
Remember, we can’t keep fighting without maintaining morale, so make sure you share this list with everyone you know who needs a lift. Remind them that action taken—even in the face of hopelessness—lifts our spirits; it also leads to wins like the ones below. We don’t wait to feel optimistic to act. We act, then feel optimism surge back into us as our actions create change.
I think after reading this list you’ll agree
Enjoy. See you tomorrow when we get back to work.
Read This 📖
The West Ada School District made national headlines recently when administrators ordered a school teacher to remove signs containing welcoming messages from her classroom. Read about what happened next—you’ll feel better about humanity.
Celebrate This! 🎉
A federal judge blocked Elon Musk’s DOGE from accessing people’s private data at the Education Department, the Treasury Department, and the Office of Personnel Management.
The Social Security Administration abruptly backed off planned cuts to phone services for disabled and some elderly Americans applying for benefits amid an uproar from advocates.
A D.C. federal judge rejected the Trump administration's request to lift his previous order preventing the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds to a Salvadoran labor prison without due process. The block remains in place.
More than 175 years after their reservation in Illinois was illegally sold at auction, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is now in line to get their land back.
New Hampshire Republicans staged a hasty retreat on their plans to shutter the New Hampshire State Library after a wave of outrage and anger from constituents.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration has implemented two standing orders allowing approximately 500,000 eligible Massachusetts residents to obtain free over-the-counter birth control pills and prenatal vitamins.
A Republican bill to allow guns on college campuses (known as campus carry] FAILED in the Florida Senate. Two Republican colleagues were absent from the meeting, and another voted no with Democrats.
The American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers are suing the Trump administration on behalf of their members for "unlawfully cutting off $400 million in federal funding" to "force Columbia University to surrender its academic independence."
Education advocacy groups and unions filed two lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump's executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.
A federal judge ruled that a Columbia University student who took part in campus protests against Israel's military offensive in Gaza cannot be detained as she fights orders for her deportation.
FLIP! In South Carolina Peter Smith, Jr. won a special election for Dorchester County Council District 1 in a solid Trump district BLUE!
FLIP! Democrats won TWO special elections in Pennsylvania—one they were expected to win and one, a State Senate seat, in a R+23 district! WOW!
To help protect shrinking coastal wetlands, a new conservation effort is preserving two salt marshes in Nova Scotia.
The village of Pinecrest in Florida has launched an effort to convert food scraps into nutrient-rich compost that will be delivered to the Miccosukee Tribe in the Everglades which, for starters, plans to use it in a community garden.
In an exciting new announcement, the New Zealand Electricity Authority predicted that their electricity grid will be 100% renewable by 2040.
California added more than 26,000 EV chargers in the last six months.
The UK announced plans to plant 20 million trees, creating 2,500 hectares of new woodland area.
Yellowstone's iconic bison herds have merged into a single entity after 100 years of wandering the park.
A federal judge temporarily blocked Texas A&M University System from enforcing a ban on drag shows being held at its special event venues.
The most innovative companies in corporate responsibility—like Cisco, Land O’Lakes, Delta, Toyota, and even the board game Catan—are finding ways to make new advances in business for good. Very encouraging!
Renewable energy capacity around the world surged last year — particularly in the U.S. and China. New data shows that renewables, such as wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power sources are growing at far faster rates than traditional power sources such as coal and natural gas.
The Supreme Court upheld Biden-era federal regulations on “ghost guns.” Huge.
James Boasberg, the judge Trump and Republicans are trying to impeach, was assigned to the Signal-gate case.
Trump got ridiculed for demanding that a portrait of him hung in the Colorado statehouse be taken down because he thought it was unflattering.
Protests and boycotts are working. Tesla's sales are plummeting world-wide. Also? Target has lost 5 million customers, while COSTCO has gained 7 million. Keep up the pressure.
The government watchdog group American Oversight is suing Pete Hegseth and several other top Trump officials, claiming their use of Signal's disappearing messages function is a clear breach of the Federal Records Act.
A new Navigator poll finds that views of Trump’s tariff plan are becoming increasingly negative, with tariffs being a top driver for those disapproving of Trump's economic handling.
In related polling news, ratings of Trump’s overall job approval and handling of the economy are now both underwater, with a majority of Americans disapproving of his economic handling for the first time.
There are Indivisible groups now in Dublin, Ireland, and Ottawa Canada! WOW!
Airline travel between Canada and the US is “collapsing” amid Trump’s tariff war, with flight bookings between the two countries down by over 70%, newly released data suggests.
Three high profile law firms, Keker, Van Nest & Peters, Jenner and Block, and Wilmer Hale, are finally standing up to Trump.
A federal judge said he will order the Trump administration to preserve records of a text message chat in which senior national security officials discussed sensitive details of plans for a U.S. military strike against Yemen’s Houthis.
The federal judiciary has established a task force to consider how to protect judges targeted by Trump after they issued rulings against the administration. It is operating under “the direction of the Judicial Conference, a policymaking body led by Chief Justice Roberts.”
Republicans withdrew the nomination of GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations because they’re afraid of losing her seat—and maybe even seats in Florida!
Senator Susan Collins has joined Democrats in the Senate to challenge Trump's cuts to congressional spending.
California State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and 57 Democratic Assemblymembers announced that they would stop communications from official state accounts on X.
A local official in New York rejected Texas' effort to enforce a $100,000 judgment against a New York doctor accused of sending abortion pills to the state.
The Vancouver Auto Show broke attendance records after banning Tesla.
U.S. officials went door-to-door in Greenland to find anyone who wanted to be visited by the Vances. They found no one.
A federal judge ordered a Colorado school district to return 19 banned books to libraries.
Local library patrons, with help from the ACLU, are suing officials in South Carolina’s most populous county for systematically purging literature by and about LGBTQ people from its public library collection.
From December to now, consumer confidence in Trump’s ability to bring down energy costs dropped by 9 points.
Residents of Paris voted to pedestrianize 500 more streets in the city as part of the local government’s efforts to reduce the use of cars and improve air quality.
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking efforts to shut down the CFPB.
Florida Congressional candidate Gay Valimont went on Fox News to talk outside of the bubble about why Republican voters should support her.
Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz held three Town Halls and was roundly booed and jeered in all of them.
There were four Republican-backed extreme constitutional amendments on the ballot in Louisiana yesterday. The voters REJECTED them all (in a state Trump won by 22 points in November).
Beto O’Rourke teamed up with Tim Walz to have a town hall meeting in the Houston, Texas area.
Watch This! 👀
Here’s footage of the Tesla Takedown I—and many of you!—attended in Old Town Pasadena. It was a blast, with 500-600 people there, and there were hundreds and hundreds of other ones all across the country! Amazing!
Jessica thank you for all you do! When we are passed the madness, you need to run for office!
As you leave your home with a little protest sign, remember you are not alone.
With the anticipated thousands [million+?] of heroic protestors on April 5th (actually any and all days, including Women's March) here's an updated partial list of those fighting back every day [as of 3-30-25). I'm also adding courageous law firms who haven't caved. Besides upstanding lawyers, and law-abiding honorable (present and former) judges (including James Boasberg, chief judge, D.C. District Ct.), here's a growing list of Profiles in Courage men, women, and advocacy groups who refuse to be cowed or kneel to the force of Trump/Musk/MAGA/Fox "News" intimidation:
I'll begin (again) with Missouri's own indomitable Jess[ica] (à la John Lewis's "get in good trouble") Piper/"The View from Rural Missouri," then, in no particular order, Francie Garber Pepper (1940-2025), Heather Cox Richardson/"Letters from an American," Joyce Vance/"Civil Discourse," Bernie Sanders, AOC, Gov. Tim walz, Sarah Inama, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Jasmine Crockett, Ruth Ben-Ghait, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Hayes, Ali Velshi, Stephanie Miller, Gov. Janet Mills, Gov. Beshear, Gov. JB.Pritzker, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Michelle Wu, Jim Acosta, Jen Rubin And the Contrarians, Dan Rather, Robert Reich, Jay Kou, Steve Brodner, Rachel Cohen, Brian TylerCohen, Jessica Craven, Scott Dworkin, Brett Meiselas, Joy Reid, D. Earl Stevens, Melvin Gurai, Dan Pfeiffer, Anand Giridharadas Anne Applebaum, Lucian Truscott IV, Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Sheldon Whitehouse, Adam Schiff, Jon Ossoff, Elyssa Slotkin, Tristan Snell, Delia Ramirez,Tim Snyder, Robert B. Hubbell, Ben Meiseilas, Rich wilson, Ron Filpkowski, Jeremy Seahill, Thom Hartmann, Jonathan Bernstein, Simon Rosenberg, Marianne Williamson, Mark Fiore, Jamie Raskin, Rebecca Solnit, Steve Schmidt, Josh Marshall, Paul Krugman, Andy Borowitz, Jeff Danziger, Ann Telnaes,͏ ͏Will Bunch, Jim Hightower, Dan Pfeifer, Dean Obeidallah, Michel Zeitgeist, Liz Cheney, Adam Kimzinger, Cassidy Hutchinson--
American Bar Association, 23 blue state Attorney Generals, Indivisible. FiftyFifty one, MoveOn, DemCast, Blue Missouri, Third Act, Democracy Forward, Public Citizen, Democracy Index, Protect Democracy, DemocracyLabs, Fred Wellman/On Democracy, Hands Off, Marc Elias/Democracy Docket, Public Citizen, League of Women Voters, Lambda Legal, CREW, CODEPINK, ACLU, The 19th/Errin Haines, Working Families Party, American Oversight, Every State Blue, Run for Something, Jessica Valenti/Abortion Everyday, The American Manifesto, The Dr. Martin Luther King Center, Bulwark Media
And, as Joyce Vance says, "We're in this together"--or via Jess Piper, from rural Missouri: "Solidarity." FIGHT BACK! WE ARE NOT ALONE! (Latest addition h/t , Robert B. Hubbell: Law firms, see below). All suggestions are welcome.
* Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling have resisted Trump, fighting back with the help of other courageous firms like Williams & Connolly. Per The ABA Journal, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, representing fired inspectors general. (Law.com)
Hogan Lovells, seeking to block executive orders to end federal funding for gender-affirming medical care. (Law.com)
Jenner & Block, also seeking to block the orders on cuts to medical research funding. (Law.com, Reuters)
Ropes & Gray, also seeking to block cuts to medical research funding. (Law.com)
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, representing the Amica Center for Immigrants Rights and others seeking to block funding cuts for immigrant legal services. (Law.com)
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.
Wilmer Hale
Keker, Van Nest & Peters
Southern Poverty Law Center
Perhaps I should add our nation's motto--and on our Great Seal--the phrase "E pluribus unum" (out of many, One ). Ii's 13 letters makes its use symbolic of the original 13 Colonies which rebelled against the rule of the Kingdom of George III . . .And now we protest together against King Donald. As my rural MO. indomitable Jess Piper always says: "Solidarity"