r/optimistsunitenonazis

https://www.forbes.com.au/news/innovation/is-ai-quietly-killing-itself-and-the-internet/

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-are-reportedly-shredding-millions-of-books-to-train-models-tech-giants-outsource-to-middlemen-to-secretly-buy-up-books-for-training-material

https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2026/aug/13/ai-music

https://kotaku.com/twitch-is-now-using-your-content-to-train-amazon-ai-models-and-has-hidden-the-option-to-opt-out-2000723891

It just seems like the internet is going to be unfixable in the future from all the AI slop, various websites and companies shoving AI down our throats, ID verifications, and slowly shrinking privacy. At this point, I don't even think the AI bubble is ever going to pop. I know the internet has done a lot of damage, but it also allows people to be connected and to information about what's happening around the world to be more accessible. I'm also worried about tech companies destroying the art community, books, and film-making. I know this is a first world problem but is there any hope for the internet and the bubble popping?

Also, I would like to apologize for the many posts asking for debunking, I'm just struggling to stay optimistic with everything going on

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

I’m glad to be able to get this out to you from home, on a working computer, and in plenty of time for you to read it today! It’s important to me that I set you up for your week right.

Here’s the TLDR: Lots of good stuff happened this week, and much of it can be directly traced back to the work of people like you, so please enjoy this list of our recent wins, share it widely, and give yourself a pat on the back for being part it.

Remember, none of us has to do everything to save democracy, but if each of us just does something, wins like these will keep happening.

Enjoy! And thanks for your support!

Celebrate This! 🎉

6-year-old Martina is out of ICE detention — YOUR CALLS MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE! I got this text from one of my sources: “It’s kind of a big deal to have a GOP member of congress work to get a kid out. He absolutely wouldn’t have if he wasn’t so badgered by everyone. All the calls and tags worked.” AMAZING! 🙌🏼

A federal judge ruled Idaho must allow abortions when necessary to protect a woman’s health - not only when her life is at risk.

In a win for Michigan voters, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump DOJ's request to reconsider a ruling from a three-judge panel in June that denied its demand for the state's unredacted voter data.

A federal court in Nevada became the latest district court to reject the Trump administration’s floundering campaign to force states to turn over their unredacted voter rolls. For those keeping count, that makes their record 0-22.

Home battery installations are growing despite the Trump administration’s eliminating the tax credits for them.

Amanda Janoo won the Democratic Primary for Governor of Vermont! She came out of nowhere to win the hearts and minds of Vermonters.

Two Republican-backed amendments were roundly defeated in Missouri. One would have toughened the rules for approving citizen-led changes to the state constitution, and the other would have phased out Missouri’s personal income tax and raised other sales taxes to offset the lost revenue.

Kansas voters have rejected a plan to fundamentally remake the Kansas Supreme Court — a longtime priority for Republican lawmakers who placed the constitutional amendment proposal on the ballot and framed the urgency of its passage in dire terms.

Seattle Public Schools will begin free meals at all of its schools this fall.

Federal prosecutors said Andrew and Tristan Tate should remain in jail while their extradition proceedings play out, citing the brothers’ own social media posts as evidence they are flight risks and a danger to the community.

A Nebraska court rejected the RNC’s lawsuit seeking to block certain U.S. citizens abroad from voting in the state, handing the national GOP another major loss in its escalating legal campaign against overseas voters.

SpaceX’s earnings show that Elon Musk wiped out two-thirds of Twitter’s ad business.

Florence Pugh hosted a "Together for Palestine" concert in London. It sold out and raised $2 million in relief money for Palestine.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced the state has successfully met or surpassed nearly all of its pollution reduction targets set under the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

Flock contract cancellations or rejections have now hit 28 states.

A federal judge threw out the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard University, a blow to the government’s efforts to force the university into a settlement.

The Trump administration abandoned its effort to obtain sensitive medical records from transgender young people who received gender-affirming care at a Pennsylvania hospital.

A federal judge again blocked ⁠the USPS from implementing part of Trump’s executive order that aims ⁠to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections.

Anthropic says it will put an invisible watermark on Claude-generated text and images in an effort to comply with European rules for AI transparency.

After years of decline, Mexico’s overwintering monarch numbers were 64% higher this past winter.

Arizona erased more than $1 billion in medical debt for nearly 671,000 residents through Undue Medical Debt.

For the first time, solar power was Portugal’s main source of electricity in July.

Over 30 students occupied the lobby of OpenAI’s new office near Capitol Hill for two hours, unfurling banners reading "Stop Stealing Our Future" and "OpenAI bought my Senator."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is getting transparent about freezing her eggs, documenting the process on social media to normalize the experience and give other women a behind-the-scenes look at her decision. It’s actually amazing.

The Ohio Association of Professional Fire Fighters, which leans red, endorsed Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate.

Trump’s net approval rating has fallen to -27, a new record low in the Economist/YouGov tracking poll.

Following an overwhelming turnout of passionate residents at Tuesday’s city council meeting, officials in Panama City Beach, FL voted to keep physical books on their library’s shelves rather than clearing them out to make room for other municipal projects.

Russia released Robert Gilman, an American who had been held in prison for more than four years.

South Africa’s Constitutional Court has permanently halted Shell and Impact Africa’s controversial oil and gas exploration off the pristine Wild Coast. HUGE!

The DNC reversed course on its decision to eliminate Ranked Choice Voting in Democratic primaries!

California’s electric grid is cleaner today than it has ever been, thanks to renewable energy sources like solar power.

Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults (72%) say they are "very likely" or "absolutely certain" to vote in the November 2026 general election for congressional and state offices, according to a new Marquette Law School Poll.

Minnesota made history when its voters chose to advance all women candidates for the first time in each of the major party primaries for governor and U.S. senator.

New research finds that companies that resisted the pressure and kept their DEI practices after Trump threatened to target them, including Costco, Apple, and Delta Air Lines, performed just as well as their competitors who pulled back.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation announced that the state will begin phasing out paraquat, a powerful weedkiller associated with birth defects, thyroid issues, and other serious health problems.

A judge ordered the Kennedy Center to pay a musician more than $250,000 in legal fees after dismissing a lawsuit the center had filed against him for backing out of a concert late last year, in protest of Trump’s name being added to the institution.

A 41,000-person Facebook group is leading the fight against data center proposals in Pennsylvania.

Karoline Leavitt is leaving. Good riddance.

Canada ended sperm donor restrictions for gay and bisexual men, a “precedent-setting” move toward “ending decades-long discrimination.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a plan to give 2,000 free Broadway tickets to high school students in the city.

New Jersey passed a new “big tech” law to regulate kids’ social media use. The law will limit social media platforms’ use of children’s data, restrict algorithmic content recommendations to minors, block notifications during school hours, and more.

In a victory for voters, a Michigan judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the RNC that sought to make it easier for partisan poll challengers to dispute voter eligibility and interrupt the state’s ballot-counting process.

A new study shows that across the globe, solar energy is projected to supply about 61% of the world’s electricity by 2050. Also, the world just passed a huge solar milestone: three trillion watts of power.

Democrats overwhelmingly outvoted Republicans in several key primaries on Tuesday: Wisconsin governor by +301k, Minnesota U.S. Senate by +291k, and Minnesota governor by +272k.

Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy, lost his primary in Minnesota.

Candidates from local to statewide races who took stances against data centers prevailed in Michigan’s primary elections!

A new fund called the Phoenix Species Project will pump $200 million into efforts to pull 100 animals and plants back from the brink of extinction.

Sarah George, a progressive prosecutor in Vermont, secured another term.

New Mexico’s clean-energy transition is emerging as a success story in a state long associated with fossil-fuel production. In just five years, solar, wind, and batteries overtook fossil fuels. And electricity prices remained cheaper than average.

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million for an abatement fund to address the harms it has done to the state’s youth.

An appeals court in San Francisco found that Meta, along with Google, TikTok, and Snapchat, had to face more than 3,000 lawsuits against the social media platforms charging them with being addictive to young users.

Ford says it has hired back some human engineers after AI failed to match their skills and experience. (This one is from June but I missed it back then and think it’s worth sharing.)

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill lifting the restriction on abortion at or after 24 weeks, making the state’s abortion law one of the broadest in the country.

New research from the Civics Center shows that many more 18-year-old Americans are registered to vote in this year’s midterm elections than at this point in 2022.

Main activists held the second stop on the “Retire Susan” recess tour, this time at Senator Collins’ office in Portland, where they highlighted her failure to protect Mainers’ reproductive rights.

4 years ago, Ken Paxton stole someone's $1,000 pen. This week, Ken Paxton’s pen victim endorsed James Talarico in a new ad.

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.