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10/1/18 

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1.       This week in Congress:  The House is out of town until after the midterm elections, returning to Washington DC on November 13.  The Senate will start their week on Monday with a procedural vote to limit debate on a bill (HR302) to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), provide disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Florence, and reform the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is also expected this week. We can look at Countable for more details about the week ahead.

2.   Lest we forget in the deluge of news about the Kavanaugh nomination, the NY Times and others report that “hundreds of migrant children have been roused in the middle of the night in recent weeks and loaded onto buses” to be secretly transported to a tent city in the deserts of West Texas.  Previously housed in licensed private foster homes or shelters, where they received formal schooling and had regular visits with their lawyers, these children are now in unregulated” temporary” camps, with no schools and limited access to legal services; the average length of time migrant children spend in custody has nearly doubled, from 34 days to 59, in the past year, and their numbers have swelled fivefold to over 13,000 in the same period:  
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/nobusinesswithice  or http://www.lahuelga.com/abolishice/#copy-of-call-to-action  Let’s tell our MoCs that concentration camps for children on our borders are not acceptable.

3.      “While the Senate passed an extension of VAWA [Violence Against Women Act] through Dec. 7 as part of a larger spending bill, which the House is expected to consider, some lawmakers have been pushing for more permanent action.”  This act cover so much and could even cover more:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-life-violence-against-women-act-explainer-20180927-story.html  Let’s make sure our representatives know that we want them to pass this important legislation until it is no longer needed.

4.      Despite his Conservative convictions and continuing desire to seat a Conservative Supreme Court Justice on the Supreme Court, Senator Jeff Flake put country over party, pausing the Kavanaugh confirmation process to allow for an FBI investigation. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeff-flake-brett-kavanaugh-fbi-probe-today-elevator-protest-chris-coons-2018-09-28/ For this brave stand, he is receiving death threats, and could probably use a little encouragement now. If we would like to send him a thank you postcard, we can write to him here. We can also call his one of his offices and thank him that way too:   https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-jeff

5.      While we should thank Senator Flake (R-AZ) 202-224-4521, who is apparently receiving death threats, for calling for an FBI investigation into the allegations against Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, we also need to press upon him his pledge not to vote for Kavanaugh unless this investigation is conducted with “due diligence” (his own words to the Judiciary Committee). Disturbing reports about how Trump administration is the investigation and not including allegations brought forth by the third accuser, Julie Swetnick, or not even allowing corroboration of when Mark Judge worked at Safeway, which would allow the incident to be placed in a specific time frame, amount to just another elaborate cover up and obstruction of justice.  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/white-house-limits-scope-fbi-s-investigation-allegations-against-brett-n915061  The GOP’’s latest attempt at a cover up and needs to be front and center of our communications with everyone, and we should share it widely will all our networks. While it is in the scope of the White House’s authority, we should also contact our own Senators and the other undecided Senators, Collins (R-ME) 202-224-2523; Murkowski (R-AK) 202-224-6665; Manchin (D-WV) 202-224-3954 and Heitkamp (D-ND) (202) 224-2043 who were involved in these negotiations and tell them we are depending on them insist on a full investigation, not one that has been designed to cover up anything that might be damaging to Kavanaugh’s chances of confirmation. Let’s also make sure to reach out to our friends in these states so that they can contact their senators directly.  We can’t control Trump or his lackeys--whom Trump is said to have privately told he will hold accountable if Kavanaugh is not confirmed-- but we can hold our MoCs accountable if they allow a sham FBI investigation, and we should tell them we will.

6.      Now that the FBI investigation has been announced, Susan Collins (R-ME), a key swing vote who has been noticeably silent on the issue, has tweeted her support of it. Given her initial reluctance to even ask for this probe, we need to make sure that she is aware of the many serious reasons that Kavanaugh cannot be confirmed. Suit Up Maine has summarized their concerns following the Ford/ Kavanaugh hearings in this open letter to her. We can draw from it for our own statements or to share as is:  https://www.suitupmaine.org/kavanaugh-statement/ 

7.      We all know that it is sometimes difficult to get through on the phone lines when we want to contact our MoCs.  Here is another option for us.  StampsLicked will hand deliver our words to our lawmakers!  Here’s what they have to say:  “It's easy - just get folks to write letters to us for hand-delivery - We love giving them large stacks to deal with, harder to ignore than emails and I know folks have been having trouble getting through on the phone. Our deliveries are 4pm Monday and 12:30pm Wed (ET), so letters received by 2pm Monday and 10:30 am Wednesday will be delivered then. After that we'll be delivering as volume dictates. The link to share [for the Kavanaugh situation] is stampslicked.org/kavanaugh. We ONLY deliver from constituents, so people in, say, California can't send a letter to Collins. Only people from Maine can send to Collins.” 

 Election 2018 – General

1.       Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s takeaway from the Ford/Kavanaugh hearings is how tragic it might be if Kavanaugh can’t coach his girls’ soccer team any more. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1045707409308733440. Just one more reason we need to support Beto O’Rourke over Ted Cruz in the upcoming Senate election. We can donate directly to Beto’s campaign, which is not taking any PAC or special interest money, or we can consider contributing to the Texas Organizing Project’s efforts to get out the vote.

2.      We have a chance to flip a California congressional district with Postcards To Voters' Campaign 113: Katie Porter for Congress (CA-CD45). In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump there by over 5 points in this diverse district. Let's help Democrats with this excellent opportunity to pick up another seat in the House by writing 5 postcards for Katie Porter today. If we are new volunteers, we can sign up here.

3.      Need get-out-the-vote postcards? Postcards To Voters has added 4 new volunteer-drawn designs and every design is in stock and ready to ship!  We can check them out here

4.      The organization Need To Impeach will send us 10 addressed and stamped postcards to mail to voters across the country. All we need to do is add our handwritten personal message asking them to vote. We can request cards here and can come back for more. Let's work together to reach as many voters as we can. 

Election 2018 – By State

1.       ALL:  Upcoming voting dates and deadlines:  by date:  https://goo.gl/gjFv2u   by state:  https://goo.gl/7gTzvE

2.      ALL:  If we are not sure where to start looking for information about candidates, issues, etc., we can check out the League of Women Voters’ website:  https://www.vote411.org/

3.      CO: Currently, the state constitution says that "There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime." Amendment A would remove the last phrase, so that it reads "There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude."  Let's learn more about the amendment here, then remember to vote "yes" on Amendment A this November, to officially abolish slavery in Colorado.

Other Actions

1.       It is an understatement to say that last week was a hard week. Let’s give ourselves the few minutes of joy by nominating Dr. Christine Blasey Ford for a Profile in Courage award from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum:
https://www.jfklibrary.org/Events-and-Awards/Profile-in-Courage-Award/Online-Nomination-Form.aspx#.W64oH_5ezTo.facebook  For the question about positions held, we can mention that she is a Professor at Palo Alto University.

2.      Hey sisters and brother allies, we aren't going to sit back and let the Men's Club keep running things, are we? Well, after canvassing, phonebanking has proven to be the best way to engage voters. It might seem a bit daunting at first, but Women's March has put together a simple system for getting started (http://www.powertothepolls.com/call-your-sister.html). After signing up, they've also provided a good toolkit for getting organized and energized to get sisters to the polls! 
3.      http://www.powertothepolls.com/uploads/3/1/3/3/3133664/call-your-sister-toolkit.pdf  Oh, and we are marching on January 19th 2019 for the third year in a row!

4.      Kavanaugh's hearing was not a lynching, and it's important that we do not allow anyone to equate the two. Let's read more about the tendency for some to use this wording when powerful men are held to account at Teaching Tolerance. For the educators among us, we can also use their toolkit for teaching our students about the history of lynching in our country: https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2018/toolkit-for-a-museum-a-memorial-a-message

5.      From Grannies Respond:  Grannies Respond is looking for volunteers to go to McAllen, Texas to help at the bus station from October 9th through November 1. (Volunteering Oct. 10-31) It can be one volunteer for one week, another for the next week, etc. or someone who is available to go for all three weeks!  There are only two “amazing” volunteers at the bus stop from the Angry Tias and Abuelas group. They go there five days a week from nine to 4:30 PM on a voluntary basis. They do amazing work I can’t even describe. One of them has to go to California to see her mom for three weeks. We need a replacement for her. It can be one replacement or 20! Please respond to granniesrespond@gmail.com, or through this website to let us know if you can help. Volunteers need to speak at least some Spanish. Fluency is not required. Accommodations will likely be provided. We will try to raise funds for transportation there and back.  Thank you!  Overground Railroad project of Grannies Respond / Abuelas Responden

6.      If we believe that Judge Kavanaugh’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday violated the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, we can file a complaint of judicial misconduct against him. Here are helpful links:  http://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-conduct-disability/faqs-filing-judicial-conduct-or-disability-complaint#faq-How-do-I-file-my-complaint and  https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/home.nsf/Content/VL%20-%20Forms%20-%20Judicial%20Misconduct%20Complaint%20Form/$FILE/Form%20Revisions_June%202016.pdf

7.      Many were taken in by the female blackout over the weekend.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/allysonkapin/2018/09/30/the-female-blackout-is-spam-and-erases-women/#38b1be6b5da6  Let’s remember that this is not the time to silence our voices.  Let’s heed the advice in the article and do the suggested actions.

Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize

1.       On October 3-5, the Center for Popular Democracy, Women’s March, Housing Works, and Birddog Nation are sponsoring a We Can Stop Kavanaugh effort.  We can learn more and sign up here:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfe1qMxy2BFypszJoc5DgiH6YEz1KKsLWR_R8VwfcRqZWWPJw/viewform

2.      January 19, 2019 is the date of the third Women’s March with the main event to be held in Washington, D.C. with sister marches all over the country.  Let’s find more information here:  https://www.womensmarch.com/2019

States


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


Reading/Watching

1.       The Resistance to Donald Trump is Not What You Think by Sarah Kendzior -https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-resistance-to-donald-trump-is-not-what-you-think/

2.      Fury is a Political Weapon and Women Need to Wield It by Rebecca Traister -


4.      And, our weekly dose of Small Victories - https://mailchi.mp/peaceisloud/small-victories-we-believe-her?e=86890239c4






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