We just need a couple of more Tillis’s and Bacons. No pearl clutching Collins from Maine, I hope she tanks big time. The only time she votes against the president is when it’s safe to do that, when he has enough votes. Murkowski is a little bit of a sly one too, apparently she was promised some good thing for Alaska if she would toe the line.
If Murkowski actually cared about what Democrats did, she would have voted no. Hawley as usual is a big fat coward. I hope he gets voted out after voting yes so we can avoid a primary challenge. Now that would be sweet karma.
I'm honored to sign up for a paid subscription after months on the free plan. You are helping to keep me sane, Jess. Just a note: am a proud citizen of the state of Maine. I usually only contact Susan Collins a few times a week. But today it totalled 3. I couldn't resist sending this. Let's see if she listens 🤣. "I just heard about Thom Tillis. Wow! He's decided that working for the people of North Carolina and voting what's right for America is more important than running for reelection. What a great idea! Just think, you could actually stand up for the people of Maine and tell the idiot to go... Well, you know. Can you imagine the accolades you'll get? Pride from a grateful state. Food for thought, Susan."
Just did! Hint to Mainers I called the Portland office. I got an actual human being and let him know exactly how I feel about this horrible bill. I told him I hoped she still has a conscience and will know how to use it. I told him we are aware that she is a pivotal vote and that there is absolutely nothing good about this bill. Only horrible things. He acknowledged that they are getting tons and tons of calls today. If only it would work.
Love it! She is long overdue for a permanent vacation. But brace yourself for her reply that she might be 'disappointed' in your criticism! what an oblivious and out of touch fool like the rest of them.
Yeah, like she would actually read any of these herself. But we know how she reacts to actual people trying to talk to her. Scared out of her mind. Just called yet again..
The American Academy of Pediatrics has affirmed that it will continue to follow its own evidence-based childhood vaccination schedule, regardless of the recommendations made by RFK Jr.'s American Institute for Childhood Protection (AICP).
Our current situation reminds me of an out of control wildfire. There are lots of people fighting it but it’s only 1% contained. The wall of fire looks massive and insurmountable. Sometimes the fire hops the highway and new areas previously thought safe are now burning. But eventually it WILL be contained and put out. A lot of good stuff will be lost, but some bad stuff will go with it. And we’ll be left with clear fertile ground to grow something new; maybe something better and more resilient. Would it have been better if the fire never started? Absolutely. But we can’t change that now, and can only focus on putting it out and ensuring we better manage our forests in the future. The analogy is imperfect but provides me with a framework to process the situation and feel some hope for the future.
I love this. This reminds me of what Buttgieg said is that we don't want to fight to go back to what it was before all of this, there are institutions and are things that needed to change- and we need to change them.
A major win for public health Following a court order, the NIH will reinstate 900 previously withdrawn research grants, ensuring continued support for critical scientific and medical research.
The best news about Tillis not running is Roy Cooper our former Democratic Governor will hopefully run for the Senate. Unless the magas and GOP don’t suppress every Democratic vote in the state I’d say the senate seat held by Tillis will turn true blue 💙. We still have a fight ahead of us. As it stands now potentially 100,000 voters will be thrown off the voter rolls due to lack of a photo ID attached to their voter registration. Yes, the DOJ and the GOP controlled state Board of Elections are working together to suppress the vote in North Carolina. We have our work cut out for us but we will prevail. Thanks Jess for big dose of optimism, it’s been a tough week!
If this horrific bill isn’t the first situation Murkowski should consider siding with the Democrats, not sure what is. She’s just saying that to get concessions for Alaska. So over her and Collin’s.
I look forward to your "Good News" each and every week. Thank you especially in a week that has been so very rough (as you noted)-I live in MN and it has been doubly hard as we grieve the loss of an extraordinary legislator in Melissa Hortman and her husband. It was heartening to see President Biden at both the visitation and the funeral (as well as Kamala Harris at the funeral)-we were reminded of what leadership has been and could be again. Decency, compassion, working for the good of all-we are really grieving the loss of those qualities in this current regime.
After Murkowski claimed she had concerns with the big awful bill, Republicans tossed some favors her way. From the New York Times: "The latest version, which leaders hoped to begin voting on as early as Saturday afternoon, would provide a new tax exemption to fishers from villages in western Alaska. There is now an exemption from new work requirements for food assistance. And several provisions have been added that would funnel federal dollars to Alaskan health care providers.
There is even a provision that would allow certain Alaskan whaling captains to deduct more of their expenses."
Why would she caucus with Democrats? She has no reason to, as long as her threats are this effective. She went right ahead and voted to open debate on the bill. She's all in on cutting Medicaid for millions and shoveling welfare to billionaires. This is not one for the win column.
Fine job, Jessica. It's very nice to have this list of good outcomes to counter the awful things the SC and Republicans are doing! As a subscriber to The Holler and a Tennesean, I appreciate the shout out! They do some incredible reporting.
Jess, a tiny unexpected piece of uplifting news from my little corner of the world. I'm Catholic, but rarely attend mass anymore. Today my mom came home gushing about the wonderful homily given by our deacon, addressing the cruelty of ICE and our duty to stand with our immigrant neighbors. Our church uploads livestreams of all the masses on youtube, so I went and watched the video. The powerful words delivered by our deacon in his typical quiet, mild-mannered way, brought tears to my eyes. It was a balm I didn't know I needed right now.
"What would St. Peter and St. Paul say about this? Well, St. Peter, based on his teachings he might emphasize hospitality, mercy, and the Christian call to see Christ in a stranger.
And what about St. Paul? Well, he says in his letter to the Galatians that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free persons, there is not male or female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And in this modern age, St. Paul may also say that there is neither liberal nor conservative, there is not White or Black or Brown, there is neither American, Mexican, nor Middle Easterner, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
"If Jesus himself was standing here right now...I wonder what he would say about this. He who is Love. Maybe he might tell it like this...there was a rich man who built a wall around his house, saying “I have earned what I possess, and I must protect what is mine.” One night a stranger came knocking at his gate, a woman carrying a child in her arms. Cold, hungry, and afraid saying, “please let me in, I fled poverty and violence. I have nowhere to go.”
The man replied, “I do not know you. You're not from here, go away.”
And as the woman wept and pleaded, the man shut the gate and locked it.
Jesus says to the man, “I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. A stranger and you gave me no welcome. I was that stranger that came knocking at your gate, but you did not welcome me. I was a child separated from his mother, and you turned your face away. I was the father detained, the woman deported, the soul no one wanted. Whatever you did to them, you did to me.”
Thank you for that. Our (Catholic) pastor is amazing too. To be honest, I think a lot of Catholics (and our Pope) are speaking up much better than many non-denominational Christians are..
Please please please don’t use/show/forward/share anything made by AI. I’m one of the many authors whose 25 years of hard work and 60 novels (millions of words that I bled and sweated to put in exact, precise human order to tell heartfelt stories that are important to me!) were STOLEN to train AI. It is theft. Plagiarism. And when it’s visual, either stills or video, it’s theft and plagiarism that you’re sharing too. Please don’t normalize it like this. Some artists worked hard to create art that was used to train the “AI” that “created” that soulless video and those artist have not and will not be compensated.
As a retired visual artist and photographer I can't properly assess the impact of AI for authors, but it would seem that the market for casual illustration is sunk. Why would an editor pay even entry-level prices when an adequate piece could be had for the price of a short verbal prompt? All the Internet scraping in the world won't result in higher-level qualitative problem solving, but there are areas in which no one will be able to get a start. It's probably futile to try to stem this tide, but some ethical ground rules through law will be important.
I decided today to wear at least one two or three of my demonstration buttons from years past: never again; pussy power; Planned Parenthood; laws off my body; and so many more. Why wait for a demonstration when I can be my own demonstration every day? Join me! Button up, friends!
Wow. I really really needed this today.
Me TOO! Thank you Jessica!!❤️
Me too!
I think we all did! That's my reason for looking forward to Sundays!
We just need a couple of more Tillis’s and Bacons. No pearl clutching Collins from Maine, I hope she tanks big time. The only time she votes against the president is when it’s safe to do that, when he has enough votes. Murkowski is a little bit of a sly one too, apparently she was promised some good thing for Alaska if she would toe the line.
She's apparently still in play! Watch for today's email.
Thanks, I will!
If Murkowski actually cared about what Democrats did, she would have voted no. Hawley as usual is a big fat coward. I hope he gets voted out after voting yes so we can avoid a primary challenge. Now that would be sweet karma.
I’d rather have been wrong.
I'm honored to sign up for a paid subscription after months on the free plan. You are helping to keep me sane, Jess. Just a note: am a proud citizen of the state of Maine. I usually only contact Susan Collins a few times a week. But today it totalled 3. I couldn't resist sending this. Let's see if she listens 🤣. "I just heard about Thom Tillis. Wow! He's decided that working for the people of North Carolina and voting what's right for America is more important than running for reelection. What a great idea! Just think, you could actually stand up for the people of Maine and tell the idiot to go... Well, you know. Can you imagine the accolades you'll get? Pride from a grateful state. Food for thought, Susan."
Amazing! Call again she's still in play!
Just did! Hint to Mainers I called the Portland office. I got an actual human being and let him know exactly how I feel about this horrible bill. I told him I hoped she still has a conscience and will know how to use it. I told him we are aware that she is a pivotal vote and that there is absolutely nothing good about this bill. Only horrible things. He acknowledged that they are getting tons and tons of calls today. If only it would work.
Love it! She is long overdue for a permanent vacation. But brace yourself for her reply that she might be 'disappointed' in your criticism! what an oblivious and out of touch fool like the rest of them.
Yeah, like she would actually read any of these herself. But we know how she reacts to actual people trying to talk to her. Scared out of her mind. Just called yet again..
That’s fantastic!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
A little more good news:
The American Academy of Pediatrics has affirmed that it will continue to follow its own evidence-based childhood vaccination schedule, regardless of the recommendations made by RFK Jr.'s American Institute for Childhood Protection (AICP).
That’s what responsible leadership looks like.
I love the idea of them forming their own panel. I hope insurance companies listen.
Thank goodness.
Our current situation reminds me of an out of control wildfire. There are lots of people fighting it but it’s only 1% contained. The wall of fire looks massive and insurmountable. Sometimes the fire hops the highway and new areas previously thought safe are now burning. But eventually it WILL be contained and put out. A lot of good stuff will be lost, but some bad stuff will go with it. And we’ll be left with clear fertile ground to grow something new; maybe something better and more resilient. Would it have been better if the fire never started? Absolutely. But we can’t change that now, and can only focus on putting it out and ensuring we better manage our forests in the future. The analogy is imperfect but provides me with a framework to process the situation and feel some hope for the future.
Oh, this is beautiful! Thank you for this.
I love this. This reminds me of what Buttgieg said is that we don't want to fight to go back to what it was before all of this, there are institutions and are things that needed to change- and we need to change them.
And a little more:
A major win for public health Following a court order, the NIH will reinstate 900 previously withdrawn research grants, ensuring continued support for critical scientific and medical research.
https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-will-reinstate-900-grants-response-court-order
The best news about Tillis not running is Roy Cooper our former Democratic Governor will hopefully run for the Senate. Unless the magas and GOP don’t suppress every Democratic vote in the state I’d say the senate seat held by Tillis will turn true blue 💙. We still have a fight ahead of us. As it stands now potentially 100,000 voters will be thrown off the voter rolls due to lack of a photo ID attached to their voter registration. Yes, the DOJ and the GOP controlled state Board of Elections are working together to suppress the vote in North Carolina. We have our work cut out for us but we will prevail. Thanks Jess for big dose of optimism, it’s been a tough week!
May all our hopes come true. (I'm resident in NC.)
We need to work with every advocacy group we can to get the word out! I’m hoping too!
If this horrific bill isn’t the first situation Murkowski should consider siding with the Democrats, not sure what is. She’s just saying that to get concessions for Alaska. So over her and Collin’s.
Exactly
I look forward to your "Good News" each and every week. Thank you especially in a week that has been so very rough (as you noted)-I live in MN and it has been doubly hard as we grieve the loss of an extraordinary legislator in Melissa Hortman and her husband. It was heartening to see President Biden at both the visitation and the funeral (as well as Kamala Harris at the funeral)-we were reminded of what leadership has been and could be again. Decency, compassion, working for the good of all-we are really grieving the loss of those qualities in this current regime.
Sending our sincere condolences and thoughts to those who grieve for Melissa Hortman and her husband. So sorry for your loss.
So sorry for your loss.
So obvious that Trump doesn't care.
After Murkowski claimed she had concerns with the big awful bill, Republicans tossed some favors her way. From the New York Times: "The latest version, which leaders hoped to begin voting on as early as Saturday afternoon, would provide a new tax exemption to fishers from villages in western Alaska. There is now an exemption from new work requirements for food assistance. And several provisions have been added that would funnel federal dollars to Alaskan health care providers.
There is even a provision that would allow certain Alaskan whaling captains to deduct more of their expenses."
Why would she caucus with Democrats? She has no reason to, as long as her threats are this effective. She went right ahead and voted to open debate on the bill. She's all in on cutting Medicaid for millions and shoveling welfare to billionaires. This is not one for the win column.
Fine job, Jessica. It's very nice to have this list of good outcomes to counter the awful things the SC and Republicans are doing! As a subscriber to The Holler and a Tennesean, I appreciate the shout out! They do some incredible reporting.
I follow them on Instagram and they are bold, honest and definitely worth supporting.
Just.Exactly.What.I.Needed.Tonight. THX!
Jess, a tiny unexpected piece of uplifting news from my little corner of the world. I'm Catholic, but rarely attend mass anymore. Today my mom came home gushing about the wonderful homily given by our deacon, addressing the cruelty of ICE and our duty to stand with our immigrant neighbors. Our church uploads livestreams of all the masses on youtube, so I went and watched the video. The powerful words delivered by our deacon in his typical quiet, mild-mannered way, brought tears to my eyes. It was a balm I didn't know I needed right now.
The video is here, homily is from 32:05 to 47:38. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O519w7PrLQ
My favorite parts:
"What would St. Peter and St. Paul say about this? Well, St. Peter, based on his teachings he might emphasize hospitality, mercy, and the Christian call to see Christ in a stranger.
And what about St. Paul? Well, he says in his letter to the Galatians that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free persons, there is not male or female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And in this modern age, St. Paul may also say that there is neither liberal nor conservative, there is not White or Black or Brown, there is neither American, Mexican, nor Middle Easterner, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
"If Jesus himself was standing here right now...I wonder what he would say about this. He who is Love. Maybe he might tell it like this...there was a rich man who built a wall around his house, saying “I have earned what I possess, and I must protect what is mine.” One night a stranger came knocking at his gate, a woman carrying a child in her arms. Cold, hungry, and afraid saying, “please let me in, I fled poverty and violence. I have nowhere to go.”
The man replied, “I do not know you. You're not from here, go away.”
And as the woman wept and pleaded, the man shut the gate and locked it.
Jesus says to the man, “I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. A stranger and you gave me no welcome. I was that stranger that came knocking at your gate, but you did not welcome me. I was a child separated from his mother, and you turned your face away. I was the father detained, the woman deported, the soul no one wanted. Whatever you did to them, you did to me.”
Thank you for that. Our (Catholic) pastor is amazing too. To be honest, I think a lot of Catholics (and our Pope) are speaking up much better than many non-denominational Christians are..
Please please please don’t use/show/forward/share anything made by AI. I’m one of the many authors whose 25 years of hard work and 60 novels (millions of words that I bled and sweated to put in exact, precise human order to tell heartfelt stories that are important to me!) were STOLEN to train AI. It is theft. Plagiarism. And when it’s visual, either stills or video, it’s theft and plagiarism that you’re sharing too. Please don’t normalize it like this. Some artists worked hard to create art that was used to train the “AI” that “created” that soulless video and those artist have not and will not be compensated.
As a retired visual artist and photographer I can't properly assess the impact of AI for authors, but it would seem that the market for casual illustration is sunk. Why would an editor pay even entry-level prices when an adequate piece could be had for the price of a short verbal prompt? All the Internet scraping in the world won't result in higher-level qualitative problem solving, but there are areas in which no one will be able to get a start. It's probably futile to try to stem this tide, but some ethical ground rules through law will be important.
I decided today to wear at least one two or three of my demonstration buttons from years past: never again; pussy power; Planned Parenthood; laws off my body; and so many more. Why wait for a demonstration when I can be my own demonstration every day? Join me! Button up, friends!
Not interested in Lisa Murkowski caucusing with the Dems. She showed her true colors.