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7/9/18 

Contact Federal Government Officials


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Many newspapers, including New York Times and Washington Post require subscriptions, but without one we can see a few articles each month.  We can also check with our local libraries to find out how to get online access through them.

1.       This week in Congress: The House will be considering twenty-one (21) bills and resolutions per the Senate Majority Leader's Weekly Schedule. No votes are expected on Monday. Let's review the schedule so we know what's coming.  The Senate begins its Monday, July 9 session at 3pm (Source: Senate Executive Calendar) by resuming consideration of the nomination of a) Mark Jeremy Bennett, of Hawaii, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit; b) Brian Allen Benczkowski, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Attorney General. Democrats are opposed to Benczkowski because of his past work for a Russian bank with ties to President Vladimir Putin (Politico); and c) Paul C. Ney, Jr., of Tennessee, to be General Counsel of the Department of Defense. For these nominees, the Republican administration is waiving mandatory quorums. The Senate will also proceed to executive session for the consideration of the nomination of James Blew, of California, to be Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, Department of Education. Blew has worked for nonprofits that advocate for vouchers. He spent nearly a decade as the director of K-12 reform for the Walton Family Foundation. (Source: Americans United) We can contact our senators about the nominees we oppose.

2.      As noted, “The Senate is expected to vote on the final confirmation of Brian Benczkowski the week of July 9th. Brian Benczkowski has been nominated to lead the Department of Justice Criminal Division, which is responsible for enforcement of all federal criminal law. His nomination is highly concerning given his history with Alfa Bank, the Russian bank under investigation by the FBI for potential connections to the Trump organization. “ Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) tells us more:  https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1014886384660832257.html  Let’s use 5 Calls to tell our senators to oppose this nomination:  https://5calls.org/issue/oppose-benczkowski-doj

3.      ".... The Trump administration said Saturday it’s freezing payments under an “Obamacare” program that protects insurers with sicker patients from financial losses, a move expected to add to premium increases next year.... Major insurer groups said Saturday the administration’s action interferes with a program that’s working well...."  http://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2018/07/trump_administration_takes_another_swipe_at_obamacare  Let’s tell our MoCs that they need to help get healthcare back on track and improved for everyone.

4.      The fact that the government is now needing DNA tests to comply with a court order to reunite separated children from their parents indicates they never planned to otherwise.  No significant records were ever appropriately kept at the point of separation.  It turns out that the number of children involved is closer to 3000 than 2000.  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/u-s-has-nearly-3-000-separated-migrant-kids-will-n888986  Let’s tell Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who chairs the Senate HELP Committee which oversees HHS, that we are past due for a Senate hearing on this tragic matter.  Let’s also ask our MoCs to support a hearing and ask what they are doing so that this will never happen again.

5.      Trump campaigned on bringing back the coal industry.  A study released last week “found that for every 2 to 4.5 coal mining jobs the plan protects, there would be 1 human death due to emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides over the next two years.”  By using an old law, “the study found that the policy would help coal miners by supporting 790 coal mine jobs each year.” http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/395647-propping-up-coal-mines-could-lead-to-1-death-for-every-2-jobs-kept  Let’s tell our MoCs that it is time to move away from coal and into renewable energy sources that can provide more jobs and fewer corresponding deaths.

6.      In yet another move that places industry profit over science and well-being, the US, in a UN World Health Assembly forum, sided with the makers of baby formula over breastfeeding when Ecuador introduced the resolution, then bullied Ecuador into dropping the resolution.  We relented when Russia made the same resolution.  https://www.bustle.com/p/the-us-rejected-a-pro-breastfeeding-resolution-threatened-the-country-that-introduced-it-9692738   Let make sure our MoCs, most of whom know that breastfeeding is best whenever possible, know that this is what happens when non-science people take over the government and that our votes in November will be pro-science. 

7.      This headline is jarring: “Kids as young as 1 in US court, awaiting reunion with family”:
https://apnews.com/4cb60fc06ca34160bf7445fdc1f47eed  Let’s let our MoC know that we are not losing focus on the human rights abuses being perpetrated in our name at the border and that they need to take action as the trauma deepens.

8.     If we have been wondering whether North Korea would “Lucy the football away” from Trump, they have since called the historic summit “regrettable”:  
https://apnews.com/805d302b95704d2e8644f28876ac1be8  Let’s let Secretary of State Pompeo know that propping up our unfit president is not going to lead to security in our nation: U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20520 or on Twitter @SecPompeo

9.      From Colorado Foothills Action Alliance:  Please call/email our senators to oppose Kathy Kraninger for head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  Trump’s modus operandi is to appoint inexperienced people who eviscerate the agencies they run (e.g., Scott Pruitt), and Kraninger is another.  She has never held public office or run a government agency.    
(http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-trump-cfpb-nominee-kraninger-20180618-story.html#.)  She worked as an aide to several Republican senators and bounced around other government posts before joining the Office of Management and Budget in 2017.  (Her LinkedIn profile lists her OMB job as her only job.)  She is widely seen as a proxy for Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s OMB chief, who is determined to destroy the CFPB.  And who else backs Kraninger’s nomination?  The American Banking Society – the very people the CFPB was created to oversee. (https://www.aba.com/Press/Pages/kathy-kraninger-cfpb-nomination.aspx.)  The CFPB is too important to be handed to a political hack who will need on-the-job training in consumer protection, financial regulation and running a government agency, at taxpayer expense – if she wants to actually do her job.

Election 2018 – General

An election guide from Postcards for America:  In this Google doc (updated regularly), each State shows ALL Democratic Candidates running for Congress, Governor, Lt Gov, Attorney General, Secretary of State (if applicable) with links to their websites and Twitter. Each has a link to a Twitter Thread, a Shareable Facebook Post and a Document. For most States, there are also Info & Links for Voter Registrations, Absentee Ballots, Early Voting & Voter ID, Age Requirements and being a Poll Worker.  Let’s check this out and use and share it:  

1.       Postcards To Voters harnessed the power of 500 volunteers over a few hours this weekend for "proof of concept" Campaign 94 for Kentucky's Amy McGrath. (Here's Amy's website.)This time postcarders wrote to invite voters to McGrath's new Lawrenceburg office's open house!  Volunteers are still needed to write get-out-the-vote cards for Campaign 93: Danny O'Connor for Ohio. Is all this postcarding helping? New evidence says "yes!" Let's read more at DemWritePress. We can sign up to be a Postcards To Voters volunteer here

2.      We need to turn outrage against Trump's cruel, hateful policies into votes at the ballot box. We've got our next chance to flip a House seat in a special election for the Ohio 12th Congressional District on August 7th, where young county official Danny O'Connor is the Democratic nominee against Republican Troy Balderson, a longtime member of the extremely conservative state senate (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/ohio-special-election-emerges-democrats-next-best-chance-stun-gop-n883916). Let's do what we can to help! Postcards to Voters is also writing postcards to get out the vote for Danny O'Connor, and we can sign up to help here. We can also make calls with the campaign to help them identify their voters - the virtual phone bank is linked here, and instructions and scripts can be found here.

Election 2018 – By State

1.       Upcoming voting dates and deadlines:

July 9
Michigan
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary
July 9
Ohio
Voter Registration Deadline
Special congressional-cd 12
July 9
Washington
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary
July 10
Delaware
Filing Deadline
July 10
Ohio
In person absentee voting begins
Special-Aug 7 congressional dist 12
July 12
New York <state level>
Filing Deadline
July 12
Hawaii
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary
July 13
Tennessee
Early Voting begins
Primary
July 15
Wisconsin
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary (postmark)
July 17
Kansas
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary
July 17
Alabama
Election date
Runoffs
July 17
North Carolina (FED ONLY)
Election date
Runoffs
July 20
Louisiana
Filing Deadline
July 22
Alaska
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary
July 23
Georgia
Early voting ends
runoffs
July 24
Minnesota
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary
July 24
Georgia
Election date
Runoffs
July 28
Tennessee
Early Voting ends
Primary
July 30
Arizona
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary
July 30
Florida
Voter Registration Deadline
Primary
July 30
Arkansas
Early Voting begins
State Senate Dist 8
July 30
Hawaii
Early Voting begins
Primary
July 31
Kansas
Early Voting begins
Primary
(source:  by date:  https://goo.gl/gjFv2u by state:  https://goo.gl/7gTzvE)

Other Actions

1.       Today, Donald Trump will announce a Supreme Court nominee to fill the pivotal Kennedy seat. Activist groups from Indivisible, Demand Justice, NARAL, MoveOn, PCCC and more are coming together for a national week of action.  (https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/03/trump-justice-liberal-activists-693561). Let's get involved. We can find Indivisible's full #SaveSCOTUS site here, find protests scheduled near us here, check out a toolkit for planning our own here, and sign up to help flip the Senate here.

2.      Today, on one of our darkest days, we have a chance for hope, a chance for change, a chance to make a commitment. We can join Act 100, a group committed to taking 100 actions in the 100 days before the midterm elections! This group will share and build strategies for people committed to ensuring a blue wave in November. We don't despair, we act. 100 actions > 100 days > Election 2018 #Act100.  We can check it out and join in here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/100Acts100Days/

3.      The #WalkAway movement is starting to show itself as seeming to be some dissatisfied Dems walking away and into the GOP.  This is a Russia-backed effort with Russia-bot amplification.  “The primary functional goal of an astroturfed campaign like this one is to manipulate public opinion by gaming online algorithms to amplify certain content and push it onto people’s social media feeds and to the top of search engine results.”  https://arcdigital.media/pro-trump-russian-linked-twitter-accounts-are-posing-as-ex-democrats-in-new-astroturfed-movement-20359c1906d3  They also have a Facebook presence in these three groups, too, A)  https://www.facebook.com/WalkAwayCampaign/, B)  https://www.facebook.com/usminority/, and C)  https://www.facebook.com/groups/OFFICIALWalkAwayCampaign/ Let’s report these groups as spam and fake news.  Let’s also read the article and know that times are very different, and we need to recognize this for what it is, a concerted effort to distract and sever our ranks.  Ignore this movement and be aware that there will be more of this kind of foreign-sponsored propaganda as the mid-terms draw closer. 

4.      Kristin Mink, while having lunch last week, took the opportunity to speak on behalf of us all to Scott Pruitt who was lunching at the same restaurant.  She asked him to resign.  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kristin-mink-confronted-scott-pruitt-resignation-cbsn-interview-today-2018-07-05/  Whether he request had anything to do with his subsequent resignation is unknown, but let’s thank Kristin for using her privilege:  Kristin Mink, Sidwell Friends School, 3825 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016.  Let’s also challenge ourselves to take risks for our country.

5.      Lawyer Moms of America is now open to everyone. “We are founded by Lawyer Moms and welcome everyone with a heart and conscience who wants to fight for separated migrant families.”  https://www.facebook.com/groups/lawyermomsofamerica/  Let’s join and see how we can help.

6.      Protesters arrested in San Diego for dropping banners to push back against Trump's cruel immigration policies are still facing criminal charges (http://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/jul/02/hundreds-protest-trump-immigration-policies-downto/). Mijente is organizing folks to call San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan at 619-531-4040 to demand the charges be dropped. Let's join them. ​We can also donate to a bail fund for protesters from Southerners on New Ground at this link.

7.      “ICON [Immigrant Connection Project], a partnership between the Vera Institute of Justice and New America, is a resource for parents who have been separated from their children due to the administration’s zero tolerance policy—as well as for the attorneys for these parents—to locate and connect with the legal service providers (LSPs) working with their children. ICON also seeks to ensure due process for these separated children and their families.”  Let’s learn more and see how we can help:  https://www.vera.org/projects/immigrant-connection-project

Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize

1.       Monday, July 9 at 8pm EDT, Organizing for Action will host its July volunteer call.  They hold these calls on the first Monday of each month.  We can RSVP here:  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_z1H4hjhcTYSG9Mcf-RcSwg  Let’s take the time to learn more about their work.

2.      The Parkland/March for Our Lives students are still on tour” to get young people educated, registered, and motivated to vote.”  This week they are in TX, NM, CO, and UT.  Let’s meet up with them.  Here are their July dates and locations:  https://marchforourlives.com/tour/

3.      July 22 at 3pm EDT, Issue Voters of Northern Nevada will be presenting a webinar on “Voter Mobilization:  Strategies and Best Practices”.  Here is the event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/191292124873267/ We can register here:  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vEbS2tQKQKyrs-yoroJ2qA

4.      The immigrant-led activist group Cosecha is calling for us to take the next step, with a national day of action to end cooperation with ICE on July 31st, demanding cities, counties, companies and all institutions stop working with them. Let's get involved. We can check out the #WeWillNotBeComplicit Action Guide at this link.

States


Find elected state officials: https://openstates.org/


1.       ALL:  The Department of Education has decided to postpone an Obama-era rule, Equity in IDEA, which would have required states to go through a more consistent process to determine how school districts treat minority students and students with disabilities (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2018/06/special_education_bias_rule_postponed.html)  This is a disappointing setback, however, let's still contact our own state boards of education and encourage them to utilize the methodology that is recommended in the Equity in IDEA rule.

2.      CA:  Great News! Thursday, SB 822 author Scott Wiener, SB 460 author Senator Kevin de León, and Assemblymembers Miguel Santiago and Rob Bonta announced an agreement to restore California's SB 822 as the strongest net neutrality bill in the nation! Now the real fight begins. We can sign this petition to demand our legislators work for us, not Big Telecom, and get SB 822, the “Gold Standard of Net Neutrality” passed into law.  SIGN PETITION for SB 822:  https://bit.ly/2ue6EHV

3.      MI: The ACLU of Michigan has reached a settlement with the Detroit City Council, which will allow qualifying homeowners who are facing foreclosure auctions to purchase their homes for $1,000 (https://detne.ws/2KXLeWG). "The United Community Housing Coalition, which helps residents avoid foreclosure, said it so far has about 100 clients it believes will qualify. The nonprofit has been holding foreclosure workshops to qualify owners since April." For those who think they may qualify, let's urge them to contact the United Community Housing Coalition in Detroit. Per the article, "Residents have to be approved by July 13 and should call the group at (313) 963-3310, ext. 339, to start the process as soon as possible." 

Reading/Watching

1.       Experts in authoritarianism advise us to keep a list of things subtly changing around us, so we’ll remember.  Amy Siskind is keeping that list for us.  Amy writes: "This week Russia was front and center as a delegation of seven Republican Senators traveled to Moscow, without any Democrats or U.S. media along, for what was described as “conciliatory” meetings with their Russian counterparts. The meetings took place on the same day the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee released a report saying Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the intent of helping Trump win."  Let's review Amy Siskind's list week 86

2.      The youth in the March for our Lives’ Road to Change tour show us how to change hearts and mind:  https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1015963508641619969.html

3.      As usual, our summer bi-weekly dose of Small Victories:  https://mailchi.mp/peaceisloud/small-victories-to-moral-clarity-and-a-moral-revival?e=86890239c4




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