Something, anything GOOD 2

Christmas Eve, Holland.
Every American and Canadian veteran buried here receives his own Christmas light.
We will remember, we will never forget.

Image ( https://twitter.com/mcbenaim/status/1301988006312775680/photo/1 )

- Maria Benaim @mcbenaim | 4:58 PM · Sep 4, 2020

Especially good news for this man and his family!

A Minnesota man was cutting down trees behind his home when one that fell trapped him underneath for four days, authorities said.

Jonathan Ceplecha, 59, was rescued Monday. . .(he) survived by eating plants and insects and drinking his sweat and rainwater that he collected in his clothes. . .

It took nearly two hours for authorities to extricate Jonathan from underneath the tree. He's now recovering in a hospital.

The story of his will in overcoming the agony from two broken legs and being hopelessly trapped and exposed to the elements with no means of communication is incredible.

Indonesia forces mask refusniks to dig the graves of those who die from Covid-19.

Now there's an idea whose time has come in the USA.

South Sudanese fighter for women's voices honored by U.S. peace group (Reuters)

South Sudanese activist Rita Lopidia was just a child when shells started falling in her hometown of Juba, forcing her and her family to flee the fighting in the 1990s. Her experience with years of civil war and displacement and her campaign for women’s participation in peace negotiations earned her the inaugural Women Building Peace Award on Tuesday from the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace (USIP). The award, the first of its kind bestowed by the USIP, recognises the crucial role women play in preventing conflict and forging peace and reconciliation in war-torn countries. USIP is a non-partisan federal institution set up by the U.S. Congress in 1984 that works to prevent conflict abroad...

US judge blocks Postal Service changes that slowed mail.

U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them “a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” before the November election.

Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, said he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service.

The states challenged the Postal Service’s so-called “leave behind” policy, where trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time regardless of whether there is more mail to load. They also sought to force the Postal Service to treat election mail as First Class mail.

“The states have demonstrated the defendants are involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service,” Bastian said.

Rex Chapman @RexChapman | 6:32 PM · Sep 19, 2020:

Not all heroes wear capes.
This is my America...

0:58 ( https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1307447541563359234 )
From TONY

Paul Stephenson: the hero who refused to leave a pub – and helped desegregate Britain (Guardian)

When he sat down in a pub that banned black people, Stephenson helped change Britain’s discrimination laws. He talks about organising the Bristol bus boycott, attacks from the National Front – and why Muhammad Ali composed a poem about him...

Welllll, since you asked. . .Covid-19 revelation is Trump's most liked tweet.. And, it cannot be denied, Trump has proved once and for all to his base that Covid-19 is not a hoax, either.

Both good in their own special way.

Harambee: The law of generosity that rules Kenya (BBC)

This single word unified Kenya after British rule, set the nation on a path of self-determination and forever changed the US...

Harambee didn’t just transform Kenya, it changed the world. As Kenya was on the cusp of independence, its Minister of Economic Planning and Development, Tom Mboya, wanted more members of its new government to be adequately prepared for post-colonial rule. So from 1959 to 1963, he worked alongside US president John F Kennedy and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr to transport the spirit of a harambee abroad, creating the Kennedy Airlift Program: a series of educational scholarships for Kenya’s brightest minds at American colleges. The idea was for the recipients to return to Kenya to help propel the future of the nation and give back to all Kenyans. The most memorable beneficiaries include Nobel Peace Prize recipient and social and environmental activist Wangari Maathai, and senior governmental economist Barack Obama Sr, the father of president Barack Obama. Without the spirit of harambee taking Obama from the Kenyan village of Kogelo to the University of Hawaii, the US would not have had its first black president...

Another snippet from one of those nations described by the current US president as a "shit hole".

Speaker Nancy Pelosi tests negative again for Covid-19.

Donald Trump set to leave isolation at Walter Reed to be allowed to "wander free" in a matter of minutes. No such negative Covid-19 test.

You decide which is the good news story.

Democrats Continue to Preserve Equality Under the Law

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter (pdf) to Treasury Department inspectors general asking for a “thorough investigation” of possible meddling in the audits of the president’s tax returns “due to significant concerns of potential efforts to undermine the integrity of the mandatory audit process and other audits within the IRS.”
(SNIP)
“Not only has Mr. Trump broken decades of precedent by rejecting transparency for the American people and refusing to publicly release his federal income tax returns, but he has also made numerous public statements against IRS audits, both as a presidential candidate and after he was elected,” the senators’ letter states.
(SNIP)
". . .this audit to determine the legitimacy of that ($1.4 billion refund for 2008 and 2009) is still ongoing and similarly deserves full protection from undue influence.”

Letter also cites, ". . .Mr. Trump’s decades-long tax avoidance tactics and dubious business practices." Tax problems and tax crimes, the time-tested vexations of gangsters.

A worthy UN charity, World Food Program(me) is recognized with the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Food_Programme .
Its blue containers are a familiar sight on sad TV news stories. :)

The World Food Program Has Won The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize
Ade Onibada | October 9, 2020

The World Food Program, a United Nations agency that battles hunger and food insecurity around the world, has won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.

The WFP, which feeds more than 90 million people a year, earned the highly-coveted award "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict," the Nobel Committee's chair, Berit Reiss-Andersen, said Friday.

"The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of victims of hunger in the world...In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Program has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts."

...The WFP, which is funded entirely by voluntary donations, will receive a cash prize of $1.1 million...

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adeonibada/nobel-peace-prize-world-food-pro...

Decisive Victory of MAS in Bolivia: A Blow to Anti-Indigenous and Anti-Socialist Coups in the Americas

... In Bolivia there has been a historic popular victory in which the citizens of a poor nation have succeeded, by means of an electoral process, to overcome a military dictatorship backed by the United States.

#14--that is good news. Hopefully the Biden administration leaves them alone.

>16 lriley:

Yeah... one hopes.

It's up to the USians to get their heads out of their asses and envision a different politics, both at home and abroad. Enough with the Yankee style fascism.

Voting Rights Re-restored

67,000 felons registered in Florida after Amendment 4. That's equivalent to 10,000 new voters for each of Florida's counties.

Voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 4, which was designed to restore voting rights to most felons, in 2018, but the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed a law a year later placing additional restrictions on felons seeking to register to vote.

Desmond Meade, the executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, still hailed the overall numbers and called it a “historical” moment.

“There is no doubt in my mind that there are thousands upon thousands of energized and inspired returning citizens throughout the state that will not be denied, that will be a voice, and will have an impact in determining who wins Florida,”

Democrats rejoiced; Republicans immediately looked for another dirty trick to suppress the vote, and they found it.

The law passed after Amendment 4 was approved prohibited many felons from voting. A study conducted by a University of Florida political science professor concluded that nearly 775,000 felons who qualified (to vote) under Amendment 4 — which excluded those convicted of murder or sexual offenses — owed some sort of court-imposed fees, fines or restitution.

You may remember that Michael Bloomberg who failed in his bid for the Democratic nomination for president, pledged to do whatever he could to defeat Trump in FL. We now know this about Bloomberg, like him or not, he keeps his political promises.

Meade’s group raised money to pay off court debts and received donations from a wide array of celebrities and athletes. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg also raised $16 million for the effort. . .(Meade) said they spent in excess of $25 million to pay off the debts of more than 40,000 felons.

So they could vote in the 2020 general election.

On the United Nations 75th anniversary, we asked people around the world to share their vision of #TheWorldWeWant

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres launched a global conversation on the world’s future, inviting everyone, everywhere to participate, to commemorate the United Nations 75th anniversary...

“At a time when the world faces a global pandemic and other formidable threats, we must join forces across borders and generations to work together for a better common future. This photo exhibition can help to inspire us for this collective task.” – UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

https://www.un.org/en/exhibits/page/theworldwewant

Standing up for vulnerable South Sudanese: UN woman police officer of the year (UN News)

Chief Inspector Doreen Malambo, Gender Adviser at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), has won 2020 UN Woman Police Officer of the Year Award, in honour of her work supporting vulnerable groups, such as women, girls, children, and people with disabilities. Ms. Malambo, who is Zambian, and spent 24 years with her country’s police service, has been posted with UNMISS since 2019, where her role involves participating in community consultations, and mobilization on crime prevention/reduction...

The most glorious thing you'll see today...

https://digg.com/video/john-oliver-literally-blowing-up-2020-after-cataloguing-t...

lol@Strauss

Against all odds: South Sudan's daring drive on women's football (Guardian)

The country’s FA is launching an ambitious strategy for a sport that has been considered a taboo for girls... Yet on Friday, just over a year after its women’s national team competed for the first time, the South Sudan Football Association launched a four-year strategy for women’s and girls’ football, Stars Unite, that aims to increase the number of participants by at least 70%...

Posted in one of the small obscure groups here, but deserving a wider audience.

COVID precautions presented in musical forms:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/326936

CNN's Reporter, Manu Raju Has Good News for America

US House, under Speaker Pelosi is back on track, doing the business of the nation that matters, passing bills that keep the country secure. Once again, Democrats show they can govern a democratic country properly. Republicans can't.

Breaking: The House, in a major rebuke to Trump, easily passes defense bill with veto-proof majority on a 335-78 vote with one member voting "present." Trump plans to veto the bill over his unrelated concerns that it doesn't roll back protections for social media firms.

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 8, 2020

Trump had two significant points that he wanted in the bill: First, he wanted to bar military bases from being able to change their names from Confederate generals who lost the war. Second, Trump wanted to go after social media giants, demanding that liability professions be included so that he can sue companies like Twitter and Facebook.

Trump got nothing. Pelosi and Democrats got a veto-proof majority.

Two sports stars, snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan and footballer (that's soccer on the other side of the Pond) Marcus Rashford, do their bit.

Ronnie O’Sullivan will spend Christmas Day at a food bank: ‘All you can do is do your bit’ (Metro)

Ronnie O’Sullivan is spending the festive period helping out with charity work, visiting a food bank on Christmas Day and making deliveries in the build up to 25 December...

‘I think all you can do is do your bit and stay true to what you can do. Whatever goes on goes on in the political system. I don’t know, mate, I just like to keep my head down and focus on what I can do. Hopefully they have a ripple effect. Like today, if I can change one or two people’s lives, just make them a bit better by taking them some food they wouldn’t normally have, then that’s great. On Christmas Day, if 50-100 people are eating, having a nice day and I’ve had a little impact there, then great’...

Marcus Rashford to fight for permanent rise in universal credit (Guardian)

The footballer and food poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford is to turn his focus to the social security safety net and will hold talks with the welfare secretary to discuss a £6bn-a-year boost to universal credit payments, the Guardian has learned... It reflects Rashford’s increasing interest in the underlying drivers of food poverty and his appreciation of the role of adequate welfare benefits in protecting and feeding struggling families over the longer term...

>25 John5918: Marcus Rashford is 'our kid'.

MsMixte is a Lanky Lass.

>26 MsMixte:

My mum was a Lancashire lass. We used to visit my grandparents and other relatives often in places like Newton-le-Willows, Earlestown, Warrington, Wigan, and a great-aunt in Knott-End-on-Sea. My grandparents ran a pub, the Houghton Arms in Newton-le-Willows. A couple of years ago, in nostalgic mood, my elder sister and I looked it up on Google street view. It's still there, but it looks a lot more upmarket now - it was a pretty rough pub in the 1950s and '60s!

>27 John5918: Bred and born in Swinton.

Getting back to Marcus Rashford--wish there were more people like him in the world.

Christmas Miracle

Gingerbread monolith appears in San Francisco.

Anand Sharma, the founder of Gyroscope App, tweeted photos and videos of the gingerbread structure as it appeared in the crisp city air. He said that it smelled amazing.

No one has claimed credit for the monolith and there aren't specifics on the height, but Twitter has already responded to Sharma with suggestions that it was aliens or Santa himself.

I cracked up when I saw that on the news this morning. Someone has great senses of creativity and humor.

>30 mamzel:

Depends on what one's definition of "good" is, I s'pose. Some people don't like gingerbread. Also, it's all about perspetive, isn't it? ;^)

Policeman buys family food instead of arresting them for shoplifting (BBC)

A US police officer who was called out to arrest a family suspected of shoplifting instead bought them some food so they could have a decent Christmas dinner...

When questioned, the family said they had fallen upon hard times and could not afford to pay for all the food. They had still wanted to give the children a Christmas dinner. Mr Lima served them with a "no trespass" order, but did not press charges as all the items on the shopping receipt were for food, police said. He then bought them gift cards worth $250 (£180) with his own money so the women and their two children would be able to buy food for their Christmas dinner at another shop of the same chain. "The two children with the women reminded me of my kids, so I had to help them out," Officer Lima said...

Behind the viral photo of Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) cleaning up at midnight after riots
Claire Wang | Jan. 8, 2021, 3:09 PM EST

...Rep. Andy Kim was in his office in a separate federal building when President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. So he didn’t actually see the damage live until nearly midnight, after the House had voted down the last challenge to the presidential election result.

When he finally did walk around the rotunda — his favorite and arguably the most storied room of the building — the disarray left him speechless. Water bottles, broken furniture, tattered Trump flags and pieces of body armor and clothing were strewn on the marble floor as if it were an abandoned parking lot.

“It’s a room that I love so much — it’s the heart of the Capitol, literally the heart of this country. It pained me so much to see it in this kind of condition.”

...So for the next hour and a half, he crouched down and filled a half dozen trash bags with debris. When he finished cleaning up the rotunda, he began working on the adjacent rooms, including the National Statuary Hall and the Capitol crypt downstairs.

Then he returned to the House floor to debate Pennsylvania's vote count, a session that lasted until 3 a.m. By Thursday evening, he’d been awake for more than 36 hours...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/behind-viral-photo-rep-andy-kim-clean...

>33 margd:

Nice thought, but wasn't he disturbing a crime scene and contaminating forensic evidence? Or had the police already released the site? Or were they simply not bothering to collect forensic evidence?

>34 John5918: I wondered, too. Maybe, because
legislators were returning shortly?
police are relying on cameras and phone pings?
no investigators present to direct him otherwise?

I suspect the last one... :(

But still, good on Rep. Kim, IMHO!

>34 John5918: Reflex under distress. In the 60s, I saw my little brother hit by a car. I picked him up from the street and carried him to the grass strip.

>36 2wonderY: An indelible memory from walking home as a first grader was coming across blood in gutter and upset neighbors: some little kid had been hit by a car. I can't imagine how much worse for you to see it happen to your little brother. (Hugs)
__________________________________________

Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing | 3:40 AM · Jan 12, 2021:
FANTASTIC NEWS—A potential vaccine for multiple sclerosis is now within sight on the horizon! And it’s an mRNA vaccine by BioNTech, maker of the Pfizer #COVID19 vaccine. Study in mice shows great promise for improving symptoms & stopping MS progression! https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/145.full

Image ( https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1348912741562667008/photo/1 )

Lawmakers introduce bill to award Congressional Gold Medal to hero officer
The officer, Eugene Goodman, drew praise for his quick action during last week's deadly riots at the Capitol. (2:19)
Randi Richardson | Jan. 14, 2021

A group of bipartisan House members introduced legislation on Thursday to award the Congressional Gold Medal to a Capitol police officer who deterred a mob away from the Senate chamber during last week's deadly riots.

Reps. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., credited officer Eugene Goodman for "his bravery and quick thinking during last week’s insurrection."

Goodman drew praise from many as a video of him purposefully baiting a mob to chase him, in the opposite direction of the (unguarded) Senate chamber doors, beyond which lawmakers were still hiding, went viral on social media...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/lawmakers-introduce-bill-award-congres...
---------------------------------------------------------

Photo Eugene Goodman ( https://twitter.com/18airbornecorps/status/1349561211701092354/photo/1 )
at
https://twitter.com/18airbornecorps/status/1349561211701092354

The FOX News Network has apparently lost three groups of viewers. It has lost some of the hate-filled nut jobs. It has lost the viewers who now realize that GOPers consistently lied to them to gain votes and money for its coffers. And, last but not least, it has lost the viewers who have decided it is time to feed their minds a more healthy info diet.

Sorry, America. "Julie Annie" Can't Be Trump's Impeachment Defense Lawyer

Turns out Rudy is a witness because of his incendiary remarks at the Riot Rally on the Mall.

"Due to the fact that I may be a witness, the rules of legal ethics would prohibit me from representing the President as trial counsel in the impeachment trial," Giuliani said in a statement to The Hill.

Imagine that! "Ethics" and "witness" in the same Giuliani breath. Trump and Rudy must have sat through quite a legal lecture Saturday when they met in the WH from an actual lawyer. Sent by Barr, perhaps, as a going away gift? I'd like to think so.

Think of what this means -- one less clown at the upcoming clown show. From what I hear, the Dems have an open and shut case. And a flattering, to McConnell, rumor is that he postponed the trial in the hopes that during the interval, more evidence of wrongdoing by Trump surrounding the events of Jan. 6 would emerge.

The Senate vote will be fun to watch, especially the votes of Graham, Hawley, and Cruz. If they vote to convict, that's tantamount to a confession and a vote in favor of their own guilt, should Senators choose to pursue removal of their traitorous colleagues. Now, that's good news.

NASA helicopter took a piece of the Wright Brothers' plane to Mars
NASA is gearing up for a dramatic Mars test flight of Ingenuity as soon as April 8.
Amanda Kooser | March 23, 2021

NASA has traced the lineage of its innovative Ingenuity Mars helicopter all the way back to the historic first flight Orville and Wilbur Wright undertook at Kitty Hawk in 1903. A tiny piece of fabric from the famous Wright aircraft is now in residence on the red planet, tucked under Ingenuity's solar panel.

In a NASA briefing on Tuesday, Ingenuity chief engineer Bob Balaram revealed the surprise package, which he described as being the size of a postage stamp. The unbleached muslin material, which comes from a wing covering, draws a connection between the first powered, controlled flight on Earth and what NASA hopes will be the first powered, controlled flight on another planet...

https://www.cnet.com/news/nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-took-a-piece-of-the-wright-...

Major Biden Back in the WH

A trainer reportedly worked with the president’s German shepherd in Delaware before his return to Washington.

Where he belongs. Good dog! Took a little honing of his when-to-bite skills before returning to duty as Faithful Guardian of his rescuer.

The Nation hopes that, while Major was on hiatus from the WH, his trainer sharpened his skills in smelling out rotten Trump supporters in the SS, FBI, and other security organizations surrounding the President. That he was taught advanced teeth-barring techniques to keep Mitch McConnell from entering the WH where he's NOT BEEN INVITED and menacing lip raising, fur pricking, and low rumbling growling when "Deep State" Trumpty-Dumbpties are within 100 yards of any position in the Biden government.

Atta-boy, Major!

Louvre Puts Entire Collection Online

Agence France Presse

Culture during Covid

As part of a major revamp of its online presence, the world's most-visited museum has created a new database of 482,000 items at collections.louvre.fr with more than three-quarters already labelled with information and pictures.

The new database includes not only items on public display in the museum but also those in storage, including at its new state-of-the-art facility at Lievin in northern France.

The platform also includes the Delacroix museum, which is run by the Louvre, as well as sculptures from the neighbouring Tuileries gardens and works recovered from Germany since the end of the war in 1945 that are waiting to be restored to the families from which they were looted.

Mars Helicopter (drone?)
https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/

https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/#Watch-Online
(see quick flight at 40:53)

---------------------------------------------

GIF--few-second flight of Ingenuity ( https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1384104815567855626 )

>44 margd:

Can Amazon smile box delivery be far behind? What an era the 20th and 21st Cs have been to be alive. Thinking of the Wright Brothers -- really, not that long ago in the Machine Age. Heck, thinking of Leonardo daVinci's drawings and mock-ups I saw in an exhibit decades ago in Sarasota. The Mars 'copter looks remarkably like the Renaissance genius' design, no?

>45 Limelite: And the Ingenuity team was led by Burmese-American engineer MiMi Aung--how cool for girls and immigrants!

My paternal grandmother witnessed Alexander Graham Bell's Silver Dart take off from Bras d'Ors Lake 23 February 1909, the first powered flight in Canada, if not the Commonwealth. Years later DH's college room mate, then with NASA, had the important task of containing feces in the monkey cages--the astronauts were NOT amused by all that stuff floating by. :) (Serious business, still: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/space-poop-challenge :) Just amazing--hope we can apply ourselves now to tending our own planet!

'Talk to me': A train driver asking men to open up (BBC)

As Scotland's only woman freight train driver, Heather Waugh was already a pioneer. Then a tragedy from her past inspired her to take on a new mission - getting men to talk about their mental health...

Great News! After Darkside, based in a communist like country, thoroughly confounded the capitalist gas line company Colonial Pipeline in the USA by hacking their control system a resolution has been reached. The bewildered Colonial Pipeline people agreed to raise rates to ensure an extra $10 million in profits and give Darkside $5 million. This along with an agreement for Darkside to never do this again for at least one year but before a 3 year period end.

Darkside stated they hoped Colonial had learned their lesson and to refrain from capitalist ways. ;-)

>48 DugsBooks:

based in a communist like country

...Finland?

From what I read, the hackers have never hidden their primary goal is to make money, just like your capitalist idols.

>49 LolaWalser: …Finland? National news said suspected Ruskies.

And what's "communist like" about Russia? Shouldn't listen to stoopid Yankies.

Idaho teacher disarmed school shooter and hugged her until help arrived (Guardian)

When a student opened fire at an Idaho middle school, teacher Krista Gneiting directed children to safety, rushed to help a wounded victim and then calmly disarmed the sixth-grade shooter, hugging and consoling the girl until police arrived...

“It was a little girl, and my brain couldn’t quite grasp that... And then after I got the gun, I just pulled her into a hug because I thought, this little girl has a mom somewhere that doesn’t realize she’s having a breakdown and she’s hurting people.” Gneiting held the girl, consoling her until police arrived. “After a while, the girl started talking to me, and I could tell she was very unhappy,” Gneiting said. “I just kept hugging her and loving her and trying to let her know that we’re going to get through this together. I do believe that my being there helped her because she calmed down.”

Once police got there, Gneiting told the girl that an officer would need to put her in handcuffs, and the child complied. “She didn’t respond, she just let him. He was very gentle and very kind, and he just went ahead and took her and put her in the police car,” she said... “She is just barely starting in life and she just needs some help. Everybody makes mistakes... I think we need to make sure we get her help and get her back into where she loves herself so that she can function in society.”

A case where a nonviolent response is the best response to violence. A courageous and compassionate teacher and a "very gentle and very kind" police officer.

Simone Biles, in extreme slow motion. (2:00)
https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1401010235251298309

- Timothy Burke @bubbaprog | 10:57 PM · Jun 4, 2021

---------------------------------------------------
(regular speed)

Simone Biles closes out night 1 on top of the leaderboard after a powerhouse of a performance on floor. Collision symbol
1:38 https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1400997747877199873

- #TokyoOlympics @NBCOlympics | 10:07 PM · Jun 4, 2021

This was back in the spring of 2016, but it just came to my attention. Love this judge!

North Carolina Judge Sentences Fellow Veteran to Jail – Then Goes Behind Bars With Him

https://people.com/celebrity/north-carolina-judge-sentences-veteran-then-spends-...

Video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V30hcLSRz5M

Burnley's Pastor Mick: ‘If I lock this door, he dies’ (BBC)

Pastor Mick - a drug-dealer-turned-lifesaver during Covid - who each day meets people struggling to survive... Inside Mick's church - we spent a month there on and off - there's a friendly open-door policy. Mick wants others who have had troubles to find hope - just like he has. In his 20s, Mick was a drug dealer consumed by cocaine and violence. He has now found faith and feeds the poor. The church is expanding quickly - it has its own food and clothes banks. Mick also liaises with the police, housing organisations, the local council and drug rehabilitation services. "What we are doing here is free. The hot food is free, the coffee is free, the tea is free, the counselling is free," he explains. "We are keeping people alive. Sometimes it just puts it off for another day, but it's another day of life, a lot of them die." Mick is particularly concerned about the lack of access to mental health care for the most vulnerable... "The help available is negligible, the mental health system is on its backside"... "{If} I lock this door, he dies, that's a fact - so the door has to stay open"...

Father Alex who, like Pastor Mick, we first met a year ago. In his church, St Matthew's, pews have been replaced by tables and chairs and a place to cook hot food for those in need. ..

Goodable @Goodable | 2:05 PM · May 20, 2022:
Good news when you need it the most.

After the shooting in a Buffalo supermarket, the local community had nowhere to go to get groceries.
Guess who stepped in?
Chef Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen.
They've been serving meals and fresh produce to those who have nowhere else to go.

Photos
https://twitter.com/Goodable/status/1527712151187640321/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Goodable/status/1527712151187640321/photo/2
https://twitter.com/Goodable/status/1527712151187640321/photo/3
https://twitter.com/Goodable/status/1527712151187640321/photo/4

I am enjoying watching this on Freevee ~

Bosch: Legacy
(Amazon Video series/Season 1, 10 episodes/Harry Bosch is now a PI working with Honey Chandler/
his daughter is a rookie cop in LA)

Sudan women's activist wins human rights prize (France 24)

Sudanese women's activist Amira Osman Hamed has won a Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, the organisation announced Friday. The activist and engineer, now in her forties, has been advocating for Sudanese women for two decades, and was detained this year in a crackdown following the country's latest coup. She was among defenders from Afghanistan, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Mexico who also received the 2022 award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk...

In the footsteps of British (Captain Tom?):

Calvi Leon @Calviat (London Free Press) LFPress | 12:57 PM · Jul 1, 2022:
100-year-old veteran Tom Hennessy finishes his 100-mile walk to raise money for homeless veterans on #CanadaDay. #LdnOnt
0:13 ( https://twitter.com/CalviatLFPress/status/1542915317483143168 )

Tom was beaming as he approached Dundas Street, where he was greeted by friends, family, supporters and #LdnOnt politicians during #CanadaDay celebrations.
https://twitter.com/CalviatLFPress/status/1542951646812053504/photo/1
https://twitter.com/CalviatLFPress/status/1542951646812053504/photo/2

My colleague @DanatLFPress did an awesome story on Tom’s 100-Mike Walk of Gratitude. The link is below. An updated story will be on @LFPress soon. #LdnOnt

Tom's trek: 100-year-old former RAF pilot walking 100 miles for homeless veterans
Dan Brown | Jun 12, 2022
https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/toms-trek-100-year-old-former-raf-pilot-walk...

Although this thread mainly highlights extraordinarily b good people, who are often very courageous, there are also good developments happening because people (who may or may not be courageous) are continuing to advance the project of modernity via scientific research, and good old capitalism.

For example:

https://www.today.com/health/new-drug-appears-cure-rectal-cancer-100-patients-cl...

100% of the cancer patients treated were, apparently, completely cured by a drug that uses the body's immune system to attack cancer cells. Okay, it was a very small sample size (14), the particular cancer was a mutation that is vulnerable to this line of attack ... but it shows what we might be able to do in the future. What we will be able to do in the future.

AND ...
https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/crispr-vertex-long-term-follow-up-gene-edi...

42 of 44 patients with rare blood diseases were cured, using CRSPR technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR (When I took the required course in biology in high school, we had 24 chromosomes. Apparently, a lot of progress in genetics has occurred in the last 60 years. And more will come. If we don't destroy ourselves in a big stupid war.)

Scientific research requires money. Of course, we must spend most of our money on better nuclear weapons, better biological warfare, planes that can fly backwards and shoot down other planes 50 miles away, etc.

But even the small slice of the pie that goes to medical research grows if the pie grows.

And boy, has it been growing! Capitalism is relentless.
https://www.humanprogress.org/extreme-povertys-end-in-sight/

In Africa, not so much, because of fill in your favorite bogeyman here, but even there, things are looking up, economically at least. (And they will get much better once the Chinese move in and take over.)
https://www.cato.org/economic-development-bulletin/sustaining-economic-rise-afri...

Of course, all this could go up in smoke, literally, if we have a big stupid war among the nuclear powers.

Senegal football team warmup:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1SuhEfHk_1U

This is the original, no background music except their voices.

There have been some amazing dancers lately on social media, e.g. (Nigerians?) in a dance studio.

Here is Asian kid performing--in front of a pigpen!
1:00 ( https://twitter.com/TG22110/status/1571334062383730691 )

I witnessed an extraordinary act of kindness. What if altruism is more common than we think? (Guardian)

When a virtual stranger helped my grandfather, it reminded me that for all the bad in the world, behind the scenes lie untold stories of extraordinary good...

Merry Christmas!

>63 John5918: the same John….though I usually do merry Xmas or happy holidays. The second one covers just about everybody.

My mom died on Dec. 24, 2017. She was 95 then so she had a long life. She was hoping to meet up with my dad again. I can’t say if that happened or not. I like all the living am not privy to what happens to us after we die.

A little over 4 years after that I’d just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and on Dec. 30, 2021 I sneezed and fractured my L-5 vertebra. The first of two stays in the hospital in 2021 that were locked down from visitors because of Covid. Traumatic as that was at the time among the silver linings was an appreciation later on that the days you really do have are precious and not to be taken for granted.

TRUE ANGEL IN BUFFALO 💯 A THREAD: https://twitter.com/KimberlyLaRussa/status/1607486430015811584

A local woman received a call on Christmas Eve, “Hi, you don't know me but I have your brother.” The woman’s brother’s name is Joey. He is 64 years old and mentally disabled...

Joey works at The North Park Theater so his sister believes he went there Thursday, got scared and stayed over, and then decided to walk back to his home. A woman named Sha'Kyra Aughtry heard someone crying and asking for help.

Her boyfriend Trent went outside to look and found Joey and carried him out of the snow bank and into their home. Joey was so frozen they had to cut his socks off, use a hairdryer to dry his pants that were frozen to his legs, and cut the straps of a Wegmans bag from his hands.

Sha'Kyra, a mother of three, fed Joey, cleaned him, washed his clothes, gave him warm blankets and did everything she could to make him comfortable until she could find help. Sha'Kyra had family FaceTime Joey, which he was fascinated by, to keep him preoccupied from the pain.

This is such a heartfelt story, it's almost unbelievable. Had it not been for Sha'Kyra, Joey would have died. The frostbite on Joey’s hands looked like it was turning gangrene. Helpless, Sha'Kyra posted a plea on Facebook for emergency help.

Kind strangers came to Sha'Kyra’s home and plowed and carried Joey outside wrapped in a blanket to their truck to drive him to the hospital.

Sha'Kyra took the ride with Joey to the hospital so he would feel safe. “No one is going to hurt you honey,” she said to him as they arrived and nurses took him into their care. Joey had fourth degree frostbite. He is currently in the burn unit at ECMC.

Joey’s sister says Sha'Kyra Aughtry saved her brother’s life. What she and her boyfriend did is an act of pure love. We’ve never seen a story like this before. It’s truly remarkable. God bless Sha'Kyra. @SweetBuffalo...

- Kimberly LaRussa @KimberlyLaRussa | 4:20 PM · Dec 26, 2022:
Founder of @SweetBuffalo 🦬💕

Colombian children found alive five weeks after Amazon jungle plane crash (Guardian)

Malnourished and covered in insect bites, four Indigenous children were rescued alive from the Colombian Amazon on Friday afternoon, 40 days after the plane they were travelling in crashed into the jungle. In a remarkable feat of resilience, the children survived heavy storms in one of the most inhospitable parts of the country, home to predatory animals and armed groups. “They’ve given us an example of total survival that will go down in history,” said Colombian president Gustavo Petro, calling it “A joy for the whole country!”... Although malnourished, none of the children were in serious condition, even the youngest child, who spent his first birthday in the jungle...

CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism | 7:02 PM · Jun 10, 2023

“Yesterday I was visiting my son's school.

I see a bright colored bench in the yard. I asked if this was the only place to sit.

- And he said to me, ′′ No, that's the bench of friends. When someone is lonely or can't find a play partner, they'll sit there and others invite them to play with them."

- I tell him I thought this was great, and I asked him if he used it himself?

- He says: ′′ Yes at the beginning of the year when I was new here.

I sat there and another student came to invite me to play with him. This made me happy. And now when I see someone sitting there, I also invite them to play."

What a great idea on mutual aid and kindness to implement in all playgrounds!

Photo https://twitter.com/CalltoActivism/status/1667668542207021057/photo/1

"Kindness": man offers water to skinny, thirsty camel in desert

0:17 ( https://twitter.com/ThebestFigen/status/1700857404466872602 )
----------------------------------------

Squirrel edition:
0:56 ( https://twitter.com/LifeEpoch/status/1700863134536474871 )

Philadelphia Residents Band Together to Wipe $1.6 Million in Medical Debt

https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/the-weekly-wrap-philadelphia-group-wipes-1.6-...

A group in Philadelphia teamed up with nonprofit RIP Medical Debt to raise $17,000 and purchase $1.6 million in medical debt owed by Philadelphia residents, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. RIP Medical Debt helps people purchase portfolios of medical debt from hospitals for pennies on the dollar. Hospitals typically sell off debts to creditors for small sums of money when they become delinquent. Last week’s debt cancellation will impact 1,700 Philadelphia residents, and the group raised funds from 55 people. They celebrated the debt cancellation with a symbolic debt-burning party, thrown by the “self-described gutter-pagan, mostly queer dirtbags in their early 30s,” who raised the funds, according to the Inquirer.

https://ripmedicaldebt.org/nbc-631m-in-medical-debt-were-erasing-some/

Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en | 3:58 PM · Oct 14, 2023:
Ukrainian patriot. Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Founder of the Institute of the Future. Official enemy of Russian propaganda

Kharkiv residents wish Happy Birthday to Fuminori Tsuchiko. He sold his home in Japan and moved to Kharkiv to open a cafe in the city. The cafe offers free hot meals to about 1,000 people a day.
Thank you, Sir! Happy birthday!

0:38 ( 3:58 PM · Oct 14, 2023 )
-------------------------------------------------------

Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en | 6:03 AM · Apr 21, 2023:

I posted before about Fuminori Tsuchiko from Japan who moved to Kharkiv last year and lived in the subway with Kharkiv residents, helping in any way he can.

Now he opened FuMi Caffe in Kharkiv. It serves free food to people who need it the most.
Thank you! Glory to Hero!

2:21 ( https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1649353271981535238 )

Figen @TheFigen_ | 7:45 AM · Nov 20, 2023:
PhD musicology/Teacher/Turkish woman

In life, sometimes true greatness is shown in small acts ...

From KC
0:32 ( https://twitter.com/TheFigen_/status/1726582412723781663 )

>71 margd: That's pretty cool.

My daughter and I have daydreamt about doing this, as our community is under-served.

Couple transforms rundown laundromat into community hub with free laundry days

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/couple-transforms-rundown-laundr...

Joan: The backpack nurse who changed lives of Kajiado women (Daily Nation)

She is a community health promoter cum backpack nurse. When her motorcycle roars around the village, there is hope that health messages will reach people in the nooks and crannies of Kajiado South.
The topics for the day include family planning, antenatal care, immunisation and the need for skilled delivery...

A positive story from Kenya, albeit with a sad ending in the last paragraph. RIP.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/just-in-jon-stewart-to-return-to-the-daily-show/
JUST IN: Jon Stewart to Return to The Daily Show

Jon Stewart will return to the Comedy Central’s The Daily Show next month, nine years after he retired from the program. He will be the host every Monday.

***
FANTASTIC news for this election year.

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/special_reports/amelia-earhart-search-tony-r...

Searching for Amelia Earhart
SC ocean exploration company says it has new clue in old mystery

Tired of the doom-scroll? This is how to find the kinder, more uplifting side of the internet (Guardian)

It is easy to see the world in a pessimistic light, but by tapping into our innate generosity we have the power to change it...

There’s Big Drama at the Top of Mount Everest (0:40)
Matt Stieb | June 7, 2023

...On May 18, a 30-year-old guide named Gelje Sherpa was ascending the mountain with a Chinese client when he came upon a 58-year-old Malaysian climber who was shivering and struggling to hang on to a rope. (People in the Nepali Sherpa ethnic group use the surname Sherpa.) The man, who was without a guide, was in what is known as the death zone — the altitude above 26,000 feet where the pressure of oxygen in the air collapses and the extreme temperatures {-80!} and extreme stresses on the human body can quickly kill. Gelje abandoned his summit attempt to care for the man. After wrapping him in a sleeping bag, he and another guide, Nima Tashi Sherpa, spent the next six hours taking turns strapping him to their backs and carrying him nearly 2,000 feet down the mountain. When they arrived at Camp 3 (23,950 elevation), a helicopter took him to base camp. Gelje told CNN that the rescue was the “hardest in my life.”...

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/everest-climber-blocks-sherpa-on-instagr...
0:40 (https://twitter.com/EverestToday/status/1664328611036274689 )

Mr Commonsense @fopminui | 4:29 PM · Mar 17, 2024:

A man wanting to jump off a bridge in London was talked down by absolute strangers who proceeded to hold him for an hour until help arrived to get him down safely. Look at that grip. Look at the care, compassion, selflessness, and determination shown by complete strangers to a hurting human being.
We need more of this in the world. ❤️

Photo ( https://twitter.com/fopminui/status/1769461056798069227/photo/1 )

(((Charles Fishman))) 💧 @cfishman | 8:39 AM · Mar 27, 2024:
Journalist. Author. Historian of the race to the Moon in the 1960s...

Again, a moment to pause & appreciate the cool professionalism of those in & around the Key Bridge at 1:24 am Tuesday.
Ship’s pilot radios in that ship has lost steerage & will hit bridge.
Someone (maritime control?) transmits urgent alert to Maryland/Balt police dispatch…

2/ Police dispatched with just a few crisp phrases—ship has lost steering, close the bridge to traffic—and race to do just that.
No time for confusion. No time for … ‘What do you mean, close the bridge? Who says?’
4 minutes, alert to collapse.
Bridge successfully closed…

3/ That’s amazing. Again, a system worked—a government system.
All those people just ordinary frontline workers in anonymous, sometimes invisible jobs.
Maritime radio operators. Police/fire dispatchers. Bridge police & state police.
All working 11p to 7a o’night shift.

4/ Cool, direct, urgent, successful.
Maybe not a college degree or a 6-figure salary among them—and they used their training & experience at the most critical, high-pressure moment to save lives.
All day, every day—that happens & we don’t see it.
That’s your ‘deep state.’*

5/ Just in Port of Baltimore, 45 cargo container ships come & go every 24 hours.
16,000 ships a year.
They require all this guidance all the time (and US has 8 LARGER ports).
Each ship with 5,000 containers loaded & unloaded.
Not to mention…

6/ The 8 construction workers on the bridge—patching potholes in the middle of the night, so the road stays maintained, at a time that reduces inconvenience to us (and yes, is easier for them too because of low traffic).
Every night…

7/ Every night, 5 or 6 days a wk, men & women just like them do that dangerous work on interstates & bridges in all 50 states.
Here’s the moment:
An officer who closed one of the approaches says on radio…‘Can we notify the construction workers? Can we call the supervisor?’

8/ The officer was ready to drive out & warn the workers when someone on the radio — seconds later — said, The bridge is down. The whole bridge.
That unnamed officer had been immediately thinking about how to save those guys out on the bridge—workers just like him.
Thanks.

9/ Thanks to all these folks who make the world run, and run safely 99% of the time, and work with skill, grace, clear-headedness in invisible but essential jobs.
Even as disaster unfolded Tuesday after midnight, they were at work.

* People use 'deep state' to mean 'gov't fuctionaries' & 'bureaucrats' & 'people we pay who gum things up.'
…A much broader term of indictment than 'appointed leaders.'
My intent is to underscore that we overlook when things work as we plan & design from public agencies & staff.
---------------------------------------

(((Charles Fishman))) 💧 @cfishman | 29 March 2024:
...The 1st 'event' leading up to the collision that the NTSB notes in its timeline is 1:24:59—when alarms on the bridge indicate power failure.
The ship was without electricity, engine power, lights, navigation, radio.
Dali was dark, literally & in terms of communications.

3/ The first thing the pilot did — apparently within the first 30 to 60 seconds of the ship going dark — was take out his cell phone and call harbor pilot dispatch.
He told his dispatcher: We've lost power, close the bridge. Close the bridge.

4/ This is the critical moment. The airline pilot / surgeon moment.
At the first moment disaster starts to unfold, what do you do?
In this case, with Francis Scott Key Bridge looming in the dark just a few ship lengths ahead through the bridge windows, he sounded the alarm.

5/ The pilot knew he had no radio. He didn't wait to see what would happen in the next 30 seconds. Would the engine room get power back? What systems would come online as the backup power kicked in?
He pulled his cell phone, he called dispatch, he said: Close the bridge.

... 10/ The pilot hasn't been publicly identified yet. We don't know his age, his years on the water, all his actions.
But what happened at that moment—1:24:59—was years of experience kicking in instantly. First priority: Bridge is close, we could hit it, close the bridge.

11/ The pilot needed to get power back on the ship. He needed to talk to engine room, crew on the bridge & around the ship, move fast to halt or divert the ship.
NTSB transcript says he did do those things.
But first, within seconds, he requested the bridge be closed.

12/ That's what he should have done.
Might have been unnecessary, if ship's engines came back on, if emergency measures to change course worked.
He didn't hesitate.
It's that moment that shows experience, competence, and the confidence that comes from those things...

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1773733488295882896.html

>80 margd: That was very heartwarming.

On this particular holiday weekend, I can't help but think about all the good things someone like DJT could have done via his God-given abilities if he wasn't such a narcissistic lunatic.

From Mexico to Canada, regardless of race or creed or political affiliation, millions of us together looked up, speechless, at the heavens. And no moron with a gun ruined the moment...

Sending on our used eclipse glasses for redistribution to https://astronomerswithoutborders.org seems a fitting followup to such a moment of unity. (Brazil will experience a solar eclipse this summer.)

My formal 2024 solar eclipse apology
Monisha Ravisetti | 11 April 2024

...Just as “my pictures do not do totality justice, neither do my words. It would be like trying to explain what a new color looks like, or attempting to equate a photo of a sunset to a magenta-streaked sky. I needed to see this in person because it's something that language can't quite capture; there was something out there that seemed like it should not exist. Imagine seeing the moon for the first time after decades of living under an empty night sky. It is visceral to see such a strange cosmic scene with only your eyes, as though you've traveled to an alien planet with a cold, black sun.”...

https://www.space.com/2024-solar-eclipse-apology-letter-totality-was-excellent