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10/31/18 

Contact Federal Government Officials


Find elected officials: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

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1.       Trump is throwing scary shiny objects at the midterms as he gets more desperate to please his base with blatant racism. His newest effort is claiming that he wants to remove birthright citizenship, protected by the 14th Amendment, with an executive order which is unconstitutional:  
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/413803-gop-lawmaker-blasts-trump-birthright-citizenship-is-protected-by-the  Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) responded by saying that he would introduce Congressional legislation to outlaw birthright citizenship. https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/413832-graham-to-introduce-legislation-ending-birthright-citizenship.  Amidst our Get Out The Vote efforts for the midterms, let’s let our MoC know that we will not stand for this authoritarian garbage.

2.      Called a “political stunt” by a former Customs & Border Protection chief and a “fear war” by others, Trump will deploy 5200 more troops to join National Guard members at the Mexican border—bringing the total to more than the number of US troops currently in Syria and Iraq, the Wall Street Journal notes; these are ostensibly to protect us against the ever-dwindling “invasion” of poor people traveling in caravan from Central America, who are currently 1000 miles from the US border and not likely to arrive there for several weeks: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46026050 The post-Civil War “posse comitatus” measure bars the US military from using its capabilities to enforce US domestic laws — including immigration laws — unless Congress specifically authorizes it to do so, but these soldiers will be armed and they will cost us, the taxpayers, hundreds of millions of dollars to purportedly  “harden” the border against these dangerous "invaders": 
https://www.vox.com/2018/10/29/18026646/military-border-caravan-immigrants-trump-caravan.  Let’s tell Trump and Kirstjen Nielsen that we see through their clumsy, if expedient, fear-mongering: 202-282-8495 or Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20128. Let’s also understand that this, too, is an empty, pandering to his base prior to next Tuesday’s election.

3.      “Most members of the migrant caravans come from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – three countries devastated by violence, organised crime and systemic corruption, the roots of which can be traced back to the region’s cold war conflicts.  Experts say that alongside those factors, climate change in the region is exacerbating – and sometimes causing – a miasma of other problems including crop failures and poverty. And they warn that in the coming decades, it is likely to push millions more people north towards the US.”   
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/migrant-caravan-causes-climate-change-central-america   Climate change is a factor in the caravan.  Our own citizens in some coastal areas are already seeing rising seas and will be forced to move inland. We must encourage congress to create hard laws to combat climate change. Laws that can’t be changed by executive orders.  Let our Reps know.

4.      If we didn’t know before, we certainly know now—from Trump himself, no less—that the US is fueling Saudi Arabia’s military, enabling it to starve children and kill civilians in Yemen.  https://www.newsweek.com/us-has-enabled-saudi-crimes-years-could-jamal-khashoggis-murder-change-1180842   Before the devastation reaches the threatened "biblical" proportions, we need to plead with our MoCs to support the Yemen War Powers Resolutions, H.Con.Res. 138, and S.J.Res.54,. These privileged resolutions, which will come before Congress in the next weeks, would end U.S. military involvement in the Saudi and UAE-led war in Yemen.  

5.      If the House version of the Farm Bill is passed by the U.S. Senate later this fall, 155 local governments across the country would have their local laws restricting the use of pesticides overridden by the federal government. This is a ban on bans – to benefit the pesticide industry. Let's read more at WYPR (an NPR station). We can read more of the Farm Bill itself and its amendments at the Senate Agriculture Committee. Let's contact our Senators to let them know that we object to the ban on pesticide bans in the Farm Bill and want that language removed.

Election 2018 – General

1.       Link correction:  President Obama speaking in Detroit last week:  https://www.clickondetroit.com/michigan-elections/president-obama-speaks-at-democratic-rally-in-detroit

2.      Today (Wednesday, Oct. 31) is the last day to mail in-state postcards to get out the vote. The final three Postcards To Voters' campaigns launched for the Midterms are:  1) NY: Campaign 132: Jim Gaughran for State Senate. 2)FL: Campaign 133: Gillum and Taddeo 3) ND: Campaign 134: Heidi Heitkamp for Senate. Other campaigns are still open as well. Let's request 5 cards if any of the remaining campaigns are in our own states and we can get them out today. Writing with Postcards to Voters is not just a midterm activity. New campaigns for up-coming special elections will be launching. If we've been postcarding for the midterms, let's make a plan to keep up the habit throughout the year. 

3.      As we come to the mailing deadline for Postcards To Voters campaigns, let’s turn our attention to what can be done before Tuesday: local honk and waves for candidates in our districts, phone banking, text banking, canvassing, one to one connection with friends and family, driving people to the polls, etc. Resources from The Last Weekend can help focus our energy: https://thelastweekend.org

4.      Young people nationwide are going to walk out of class on November 6th and head to the polls to vote en mass. We can promote and support this effort by using the hashtag #WalkOutTheVote in our social media posts and encouraging our friends and family members to spread the word! www.walkoutthevote.org

5.      The American Association of People with Disabilities (AADP) has a Voter Resource Center to help get out the disability vote. Let’s take a look and share it: 

6.      If we’re in the Washington, DC, area, we can be volunteers to staff a voter hotline to assist voters across the country. The Democratic National Committee is hosting the hotline and provides training. Let’s click here for more info and to sign up:  https://events.mobilizeamerica.io/protectthevote/event/37972/

7.      Mad Libs for the election:  https://madlibs.headcount.org/

8.    In a glimmer of good news, there is a chance to get avowed White Nationalist Steve King out of his Congressional seat in Iowa as his opponent, JD Scholten, closes the gap in the week before the election: 

9.      North Carolina needs phone bankers and we can help out from home. All the materials we need are right here to make the phone calls that can make a *HUGE* difference in these critical races to break the Supermajority in North Carolina. When we click on this link, we will get instructions on how to use the Virtual Phone bank link, along with information on the candidates and a access code to get us started:   https://sites.google.com/openprogress.com/texttroopwiki/home/texters/NCIP

10.  Florida Needs Help!  756,000 Democrats received Vote By Mail ballots and we need to call or text to remind them to get those ballots turned in asap. Sign up to text:  https://goo.gl/forms/FgngcJc8HINM4now1 or to sign up to make phone calls, email rita@arccd.com for instructions.

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 this out:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NCYjsm3xKb79z19Gx7PWt5Zs9lkLiTqglHBHYs9mlX8/edit

Other Actions

1.       The president’s response to the recent shooting in Pittsburgh that was clearly motivated by anti-Semitism was to blame the media for being the true enemy of the people. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/29/donald-trump-pittsburgh-reaction/1804708002/. Even if we were to put aside the numerous ways his statements have fueled the flames of racism, to make this comment at this time, rather than putting his focus on expressing heartfelt sympathy for the victims and loudly and definitively denouncing white nationalism, a move he refused to make both directly after Charlottesville and on its one year anniversary.  https://www.vox.com/2018/8/11/17679108/donald-trump-unite-the-right-nazis-white-suppremacy. Over 30,000 people signed an open letter published by Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish organization that is working for justice for all, telling the president he was not welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounced white nationalism https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/10/29/he-is-not-welcome-here-thousands-support-pittsburgh-jewish-leaders-calling-trump-denounce-white-nationalism/, but in his usual display of callous insensitivity, the president is going anyway. Let’s honor the victims of the Pittsburgh shooting by joining with or donating money to Bend the Arc, which is sponsoring a number of ways to take action. We can find out more here.

2.      As a reminder, the New York Times is counting on us to help them identify pre-election mis-information:  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/technology/disinformation-tipsheet.html

3.     Another little glimmer of good news for those of us rage eating carbs – Ben and Jerry’s has a new flavor honoring resistance: 

4.      Now, with our electoral system and voting rights under constant attack, it is important to know who our allies are. For over 50 years, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has used legal advocacy, litigation, and education to protect elections and extend voting rights to traditionally disenfranchised populations. Let's help one of the country's staunchest pro-bono organizations to keep helping us:   https://lawyerscommittee.org/project/voting-rights-project/

 Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize

1.       Tonight, we can join in Equal’s Twitterstorm in support of the student walkout the vote effort.   When we click on the following link, we will find prewritten tweets to send out with just a few clicks.  https://www.facebook.com/events/2109903992671921/?ti=cl

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


2.      The labor market is booming, why aren’t your wages? - https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/10/26/the-labor-market-is-booming-why-arent-your-wages/

3.      What Will Conquer Hate? What Will Combat Trump, and Trumpism? - https://markinreport.com/2018/10/28/what-will-conquer-hate-what-will-combat-trump-and-trumpism/




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