A lot went right this week,so with much joy in my heart I bring you another edition of What Went Right.
1. The creepy tweeter had a terrible, no good, very bad week. Comney, testified before Congress that there was no evidence to support the tweet that Trump Tower was “wire tapped” and that there is evidence of Trump/Russian collusion in the election and the FBI is investigating. His former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, is wanted for questioning for crimes in the Ukraine. He fell 220 places on the Forbes list of the richest people. His approval rating sank to a new low of 37%, according to the latest Gallup Poll (the lowest in polling history of any president this early in their presidency). Oh, and just in case you missed it, his Trumpcare plan to repeal and replace Obamacare failed because the republicans didn’t have enough votes and withdrew it. Our voices were heard – activism works.
2. Even red states can do the right thing. Charlottesville’s City Council approved a resolution calling on Congress to reject the military-heavy federal budget proposed by the White House. Arkansas passed a law ending the state’s celebrating of Gen. Robert E. Lee on the same holiday as Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrating General Lee has been downgraded from a state holiday to a day with a state proclamation. The law also requires schools to expand what’s taught to include more emphasis on civil rights leaders such as King.
3. The U.S. Supreme Court expanded the scope of students’ special education rights, ruling unanimously that schools must do more than provide a “merely more than de minimis” education program to a student with a disability. Chief Justice Roberts wrote “When all is said and done, a student offered an educational program providing ‘merely more than de minimis’ progress from year to year can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all.”
4. The Justice Department entered into a settlement with a large pizza chain that violated immigration law by demanding foreign-born legal resident workers produce green cards as proof of employment eligibility, but did not require similar document from U.S. citizen workers. The pizza chain will pay a civil penalty of $140,000 and face monitoring.
5. Google has made it easier for advertisers to limit their ad placements from appearing on hate sites and expanded their definition of hate speech after large brands halted advertising on Google and YouTube over concerns about offensive content.
6. Ivanka Trump’s company was hit with a class-action lawsuit by a California-based retailer claiming her company gets an unfair advantage over other retailers because of its association with the president and are seeking a restraining order preventing her line from being sold in California. The NCAA gave NC an ultimatum to repeal the anti-LGBTQ bathroom bill HB2 by next week or face being blackballed from hosting collegiate athletic championships until 2022.
7. The assistant U.S. Attorney who led public-corruption prosecutions under Preet Bharara was hired by the NY state Attorney General as a senior enforcement counsel, focusing on issues relating to the White House and public corruption in general.
8. Fox News has benched legal analyst Andrew Napolitano because of his unfounded (ie. fake) claims on TV that President Barack Obama used British intelligence officials to spy on Trump Tower.
9. Democrat contender Kim Weaver, in Iowa raised $100,000 in 4 days to unseat republican Congressman Steve King (r) after he made racist tweets giving her a jumpstart in her second bid for the seat. Consider supporting her on ActBlue.com. Beth Fukumoto, who was ousted last month as the Republican leader of Hawaii’s House of Representatives after publicly criticizing the tweeter-in-chief, resigned from the party and is seeking membership as a Democrat. She says a poll of her constituents shows 75% support her decision.
10. I missed this story last week, but felt it important to include even if older. Without the fear of guns being taken away since the election, people aren’t stockpiling guns, so gun sellers aren’t selling as many, which has resulted in gun makers in the US laying off workers at US gun factories (including Colt and Remington), and the stock value of the companies has dropped significantly. Fewer gun makers is always a good thing.

If you feel inspired after reading this, post a comment with one action, big or small, you will try to do this week to help bring about progressive change to your local community, state, or country. One easy step is to sign up for www.dailyaction.org.