GOOD NEWS FOR FEBRUARY 10, 2024

“JUST SAY IT, DEMOCRATS. JOE BIDEN HAS BEEN A GREAT PRESIDENT.” A former Republican political consultant proclaims Biden as not just a good president, not just a foil to Trump, but historically great. “Say it with passion backed by the conviction that it’s true.” Need bolstering? Read this by Stuart Stevens of The Lincoln Project. The New Republic

The D.C. Appellate Court rules. No president has carte blanche to commit criminal acts while in office. This is a fabulous opinion—rock solid, bipartisan, unanimous and thorough, so much so that many believe SCOTUS will not take up an appeal, that this will be the end of it. The Atlantic U.S.News

Trump must file an appeal of the immunity decision by this Monday, Feb. 12, pushing the process ahead with lightning speed. The D.C. ruling discourages tactical delays. For possible timelines of this trial, including resolution, get into the weeds here. (Lots of weeds!) Just Security

Three polls find two-thirds of Americans agree that Trump should not get immunity. PBS

The conservative group Project Veritas admits their claims of ballot mishandling in Pennsylvania in 2020 were untrue. The Erie postmaster, who voted for Trump, sued the group, his reputation and home threatened after their avowals. Project Veritas apologized publicly on Twitter. Another false accusation laid to rest. AP News

BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT CASE ENDS WITHOUT CHARGES. Just so. Politico Biden, Harris, and legal teams rebut Hur’s scurrilous insinuations about Biden’s memory. All contend Biden did well in answering questions over the course of a five-hour interview. It was the day after the Hamas attack, and the President was conducting calls with heads of state, Cabinet members, members of Congress, and meeting repeatedly with his national security team. Nonetheless, he engaged at length and pointed to flaws in the assumptions behind specific lines of questioning. Excerpted from Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter.

Fani Willis fights back. The Georgia prosecutor of Trump’s RICO trial, accused of a conflict-of-interest romantic relationship, argues, “Personal relationships among lawyers—even on opposing sides of litigation—do not constitute impermissible conflicts of interest.” She adds that there are at least two personal relationships among the defense attorneys. Seventeen ethics experts filed a motion saying the case should be dismissed. Newsweek

Texas Democratic congressman leaves the hospital in the middle of abdominal surgery to cast a deciding vote against the Majorkas impeachment. BBC

Nikki Haley’s fundraising takes off, despite naysayers. Axios

Biden criticizes Israel’s actions in Gaza. “There are a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying,” the president said in a session with reporters. “And it’s got to stop.” The New York Times

Biden rolls out aggressive border messaging. “If that [Senate] bill were the law today, I’d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.” “If you believe, as I do, that we must secure the border now, doing nothing is not an option.” If lawmakers are in a political snarl about this, Biden is clear. U.S. News

Biden is standing up to the fossil fuel industry, halting permits for new growth in liquefied natural gas export terminals. DOE will work on a new formula for granting the licenses, taking the latest science and economics into account. The Guardian

Biden is going after corporate greed in food pricing. He’s keenly aware the price of staples is too high and that companies are maintaining higher-than-usual profit margins. The administration is seeking solutions. The New York Times

Biden revokes the Trump-era Denial of Care Rule that granted health care workers the ability to deny medical treatment to patients because of personal religious beliefs. The administration has repealed the most harmful aspects of the measure. Americans United

Can we crow a little? Virginia approves a minimum wage increase, and an assault weapons ban. The State Government Citizens Campaign, supported by FridayAction, worked hard to put these lawmakers in place. This is what focused, local action can do. SGCC WDBJ7

EPA tightens restrictions on soot particles. Soot pollution is one of the most dangerous. The EPA estimates that new, tighter standards will prevent about 4,500 premature deaths a year by 2032, and prevent about 800,000 asthma-related emergency visits. NPR

“IRS says it will collect $560 billion more from rich tax cheats thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act.” The Biden legislation keeps on giving. PBS Fortune

Paul wants to share this quote with folks who follow politics avidly, who are deeply concerned, who talk passionately and don’t act.

“At the approach of danger there are always two voices that speak with equal power in the human soul: one very reasonably tells a man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of escaping it; the other, still more reasonably, says that it is too depressing and painful to think of the danger, since it is not in man’s power to foresee everything and avert the general course of events, and it is therefore better to disregard what is painful till it comes, and to think about what is pleasant.”—Tolstoy, War and Peace.