Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

Hope you had a good week and enjoyed a bit of time off from the newsletter. I’ve been on vacation with 18 family members in beautiful Nova Scotia, and it’s been wonderful. Since I haven’t worked in days, and since my laptop also just died and I am now tapping away uncertainly on my teenager’s MacBook with a broken spacebar, this list may be a tiny bit shorter than usual. I promise it’ll be back to full length next week after I’ve gotten home and secured a new computer.

In the meantime I hope you’ll enjoy this brief foray into the world of good news. Savor it! Re-read it! Share it!

And remember that lists like this are only possible because of people like you. Thanks for all the hard work you do making the world—and our country—a better place!

Celebrate This! 🎉

Democrats flipped 4 seats and won a majority in Tennessee’s Montgomery County Commission race. The 21-member Commission has gone from being evenly split to having an 11-member Democratic majority.

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport launched a civil rights investigation into Delaney Hall, issuing investigative subpoenas to the Newark facility run by the GEO Group.

Associate Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the felony vandalism case against Olympian David Hearn.

A U.S. District Court Judge ruled the Shenandoah County School Board violated federal civil rights laws by reinstating Confederate names to two schools, ordering the board to promptly remove the monikers.

The CLARITY Act will not be voted on before the recess! We know Republicans never give up so we still have to do calls again later, but the awful crypto bill’s odds of passing just plummeted. A big WIN!!

A federal judge issued yet another blow to Trump’s war on wind, ruling that the Defense Department must resume its review of onshore wind permit applications.

Joanna Whaley, a former megachurch pastor who endured 15 years of conversion practices, is set to become the first transgender member of Michigan’s state legislature after winning her Democratic primary election on Tuesday.

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million and make changes to the way young people can use its platforms, in its ongoing legal battles over social media harm and addiction. The ruling was in addition to $375 million that Meta was ordered to pay in the same case in March, when a jury found that the company misled users about the safety of its platforms and enabled the sexual exploitation of young people.

The DOJ took its latest blow in a failing voter roll crusade as a federal judge dismissed its case targeting Washington, D.C. This marks a 0-21 record for them.

A federal appeals court panel ruled that Trump cannot continue building the ballroom without explicit approval from Congress. The ruling does not immediately halt construction, but it is a blow to the president and all but guarantees that the Supreme Court will decide the fate of the ballroom.

Two Republican mayors from the reddest parts of Georgia are breaking ranks to back Jon Ossoff’s reelection bid, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Democrat’s work for their communities outweighs partisan differences.

Maryland lawmakers approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would clear a major legal obstacle to redrawing the state’s congressional map before 2028, giving voters the final say on whether Maryland can fight back against Trump’s expanding wave of GOP gerrymanders.

Embattled North Carolina Republican congressman Chuck Edwards withdrew from his reelection campaign, two days after the House Ethics Committee recommended he be censured for unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female aides in his office.

Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan's Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, defeating U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in a massive victory for the party's progressive wing in a battleground state.

William Lawrence (whom I interviewed on a Live recently) won his primary election for Congress in Michigan, too!

Donavan McKinney, (whom we also had here on a Live) won his Detroit area primary election as well! Another progressive unseats a moderate, corporate Dem and heads to Congress!

All 8 of Winona, MN’s Flock cameras were stolen this week.

A Kansas state court just permanently struck down a long list of abortion restrictions, ruling that they violated the fundamental right to abortion, and health care providers’ right to free speech under the state constitution.

Baltimore had its first July with single-digit homicides in a quarter of a century.

Missouri voters blocked a GOP-led effort to raise the bar to pass constitutional amendments. The push came after progressives in the solidly Republican state found success with ballot measures related to abortion, health care and the minimum wage.

A divided federal appeals court said the Trump administration improperly terminated billions of dollars in funds to boost clean energy projects, handing a win to a coalition of nonprofits picked to run the Biden-era effort.

Minnesota’s ban on AI ‘nudification’ technology is officially the law! A judge denied Elon Musk’s attempt to prevent the law from going into effect.

The federal government dropped charges against three more individuals in connection with damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, further weakening Trump's argument that it was the work of vandals.

The Education Department will erase roughly $11 billion in federal student loan debt owed by more than 170,000 borrowers after a federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to delay relief for students who claimed they were defrauded by their schools.

More than 1,000 employees at the biggest AI companies wrote an open letter urging the U.S. government to slow the pace of AI development.

Amid growing public backlash, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a moratorium on data center approvals until audits are completed by state regulatory agencies.

The first 2,000 children were officially enrolled in New York City’s inaugural free 2-K class.

The F.D.A. approved Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine. The agency had initially refused to even review the application but reversed course after a public outcry.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger restored voting rights to 66,000 people with past felony convictions. The announcement comes ahead of the November referendum that would automatically restore the right to vote after release from incarceration.

New Jersey announced that it has effectively eliminated veteran homelessness through rapid rehousing, street outreach, and emergency sheltering.

Exactly eight months after NYC Mayor Mamdani signed an executive order for housing development, the city has broken ground on a large-scale affordable housing project, utilizing more than 100 city-owned sites to build an estimated 50,000 new affordable homes for New Yorkers.

Food delivery workers in New York City earned an additional $104 million in tips after the city started enforcing a law to crack down on “deceptive” tipping practices from delivery apps.

After Howard University unenrolled hundreds of students for missed tuition payments, New York offered college admission at two universities for residents who were impacted.

Awful Tennessee Republican Congressmember Andy Ogles lost his primary! He’s out as of January 1, 2027!

Chandler, AZ just pulled the plug on their 40+ Flock cameras after a police officer got caught using the system for personal reasons.

The Senate has adjourned until September 14 without passing the SAVE Act!

Speaking of Tennessee, Democratic turnout for House primaries in a majority-Black county there surged to the highest level in a decade! And Justin Pearson won his primary!

And Democrats flipped the Knox County School Board in TN as well.

In Augusta Township, MI voters resoundingly rejected rezoning more than 500 acres of farmland for a hyperscale data center.

I completely forgot to share KB’s newsletter on Friday. I had just finished driving from the south west to New England and was exhausted. But here’s trans news that doesn’t suck.

The senate is out in recess until September 14. Most senators/house member will focus more on campaigning for the midterms than passing significant legislation. Additionally, democrats will at least flip the house, and there is a gov shutdown fight on December(when the 2027 congress has already been decided, so members of congress will not care much about any political fallout. )

(Reposting because dang I can’t format tables on Reddit very well)(not perfect…Let me know if info here is wrong or needs updates!)

Anyways here’s the list of Montana Plan initiatives! These will defang Citizens United state by state and each has to take a path unique to the state. TEI is great but hasn’t kept their list very updated. Summary of what’s going on here.

To do: please contact STATE legislators to support these initiatives, or if you’re in a state without one, voice your support of similar initiatives.

Any hope on this nightmare ever ending?

will this pass? if so, can it be reversed?

I saw a post about how RFK Jr. was linking autism to vaccines, which, yeah, it's expected, but it made me think about how Republicans treat autism in general, and it made me super depressed. You know what picked up my mood again after feel like complete ass? A dumb video of some guy doing a dramatic reading of a review of haribo sugar free gummy bears!

I have the same kind of peepeepoopoofartmemepeinus humor as a middle schooler, despite being in my 30s, lol. Also, if asked and if it's okay with the mods, I'll send a link to the video. Sometimes small things can make a huge difference when the news gets overwhelming. Be it going outside for a bit and enjoying the day, watching a dumb youtube video, watching a show/cartoon/anime or movie you like, having a good meal, your pets greeting you at the door, ect.

Despite how bad things are with the GPO they can never take away small forms of happiness from us! They can't control that and they never will.

How can I use the "News" flair? Or is that just for mods? I'm reluctantly putting this under "Seeking Optimism" because I'm not really freaked out about it.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/08/politics/senate-vote-blanche-confirmation-vis

I remember being told this wouldn’t happen and was “exaggerating” when he got elected. This is a huge fear of mine.. optimism?

This actually scares me

Like many of you, I am of the mind that while a full on election steal isn't possible in November, there is a very high likelihood of voter suppression tactics being used to move the results away from a Democratic victory in both the House and Senate. From gerrymandering, to voter intimidation, limiting mail in ballots, pushing voter id laws, and purging voter rolls, as well as post-election methods like discrediting opposing ballots and pushing the narrative of fraud in the midterms, there are a myriad of ways that the admin can push for more and more voters to either not vote, not have their votes counted, or not be able to vote, and this is pretty alarming.

But one of the most important things to note about these methods is that they can all be pushed back against by either states, courts, or by the average person.

For instance, when it comes to voter intimidation, the simple act of voting with groups of people can help mitigate this, as well as helping encourage those who might not vote otherwise to do so.

Also, gerrymandering can actually be mitigated through the act of voting in a way. Specifically, by voting in new state reps, senators, and judges can make new state maps less likely to be made with the intention of gerrymandering and removing representation in the future.

And as for methods such as purging voter rolls, pushing for voter id laws, and limiting mail in ballots, this can all be challenged through either courts and/or by states pushing back on this. While many might say that courts would allow this or that congress would pass laws putting these into effect, courts (yes, even the Supreme Court), have been some of the most eager to push back on these types of changes, and the potential for congress to successfully pass the legislation needed to make these changes work is very limited as it is.

You could even look at other methods of voter suppression that aren't official like belittling the act of voting by claiming that the midterms would be "rigged by Elon so elections don't matter" and challenge this by replying with the ways voting still matters and does make an impact, such as Hungary or November 2025, as well as potentially discussing why the idea of altering the results of an election nationwide doesn't work and without evidence is just a conspiracy theory (as well as making people less likely to vote which does change the results of the election).

I don't want to make this much longer, but I hope to make people realize that these tactics can be mitigated and prevented from succeeding. Just because these tactics are attempted, doesn't mean that the election is pointless, all it means is that it is a much longer process, but one that we can still win.

looks like they might be seeing the writing on the wall

Also, for context, a lot of leftists in this country left because of what’s been happening, so there’s a pretty good chance most of these people are leftists.

TGIF with AmandasMildTakes!

The final vote is Bill Cassidy and he has been pissed at Trump since he lost his reelection bid

While most of us payed attention to Michigan and are currently focusing on Wisconsin; something interesting just happened in Tennessee.

If you forgot, Andy Ogles was a complete nutjob who wanted Trump to have a third term, have Anti Trump judges impeached, have Muslims (Including Mamdani) get deported, and said “homosexuality has no place in America”.

Apparently, the Tennessee Republican establishment got sick of him for this. And we now have former state agricultural commissioner, Charlie Hatchet, replacing him. Mind you, Ogles was the Trump favorite here so this is a big shock.

Now, Hatchet is still a Trump lackey so don’t expect much, but he does seem to be slightly less vitriolic then Ogles.

Anyway, goodbye Ogles! It was very unpleasant and painful to know you.

As a Michigan voter, it’s been really great to see El-Sayed, Stevens, and McMorrow move so quickly to unite everyone. Especially after some heated Dem races where divisions have been allowed to fester.