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.
Last
evening, the House of Representatives passed a bill. H.R.
38, known as the Concealed Carry Reciprocity
Act of 2017, in a 231-98 vote that would required states to recognize the
concealed gun carry permits of visitors from other states. “A resident of Kansas,
for example, which lets people carry concealed guns without any permits, could
travel with a gun to New York City, where gun laws are much stricter, if this
bill passes the Senate and is signed into law.”
http://www.newsweek.com/gun-laws-looser-concealed-carry-reciprocity-740469 Time to work on our senators to get this bill
stopped. The number of gun deaths in
this country is already unacceptable.
This law will certainly cause even more.
2.
While
we’ve managed to win a number of legislative victories over Trump’s agenda, there
is one area where the reactionary right has quietly made a great deal of
progress: getting the Senate to confirm extremist judges. Senate Judiciary
Chairman Chuck Grassley is pushing for votes on a set of TEN nominees for
lifetime appointments in a committee meeting tomorrow. These include a
number of judges hand-picked by the hyper-conservative Federalist Society, like
Don Willett (http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/28/politics/fifth-circuit-nominees-willett/index.html).
Let’s contact our senators and let them know that we are paying attention and
we want them to do everything they can to stop Trump’s judicial nominees. And
for those of us represented by
members of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
let’s tell them we want them to stop the rush to judgment and give the people
enough time to get a full sense of just how outrageous these picks are. (We can
find talking points on four key nominees from People for the American Way here.)
3.
There
has still been no legislation protecting DACA recipients. Democrats have refused
some suggestions for bundled bills from Republicans, because they are pushing
for a Clean Dream Act: a bill protecting Dreamers that does not use them as
bargaining chips for other measures to harm immigrant communities. https://www.nilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Clean-Dream-Act-1pg-2017.pdf While
they may not agree with Democrats on how the legislation should look, there
were nevertheless 34 House Republicans who sent a letter to House Speaker Paul
Ryan yesterday saying that “We must pass legislation that protects DACA
recipients from deportation and gives them the opportunity to apply for a more
secured status in our country as soon as possible...Reaching across the aisle
to protect DACA recipients before the holidays is the right thing to do.” https://rodneydavis.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20171205110110668.pdf We
couldn't agree more. Why don't we call our Republican House Reps, particularly
those in swing districts, and ask them why they won't sign onto this
letter, if they haven't already?
4.
Have
our MoC taken the Dreamer Pledge, vowing to only vote for the spending bill if
it has a clean DREAM Act? We need to make it clear to our MoC that voting for
the spending bill, without the DREAM Act, is a vote to deport MoC. It's that
simple. Let's check the list of Dream Killers, and if our MoC is on there,
let's give them a call and urge them to take the Dreamer Pledge and become a
Dream Hero https://www.dreamerpledge.org/dream-killers-1/
5.
With
the resignation of long-serving senator John Conyers, we have entered a new
phase of the struggle against sexual harassment/misconduct. Social norms are
finally shifting, and many good people are trying to find the way forward, to
examine how best to think about the victims, the offenders, and the harms inflicted
on society https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/upshot/sexual-harassment-response-legal-system-guidelines.html
As the article suggests, a blend of the criminal and civil legal viewpoints
could be a useful way to frame the issue, but really what we need to do is
start having the tough conversation about it. Congress, because it is currently
in the sexual misconduct spotlight and because it creates the rules of its own
governance, could actually help us by debating/devising a code of sexual
conduct for itself. Such a code could become a model for other workplaces (or
at least serve as a goofy prototype), so let's tell our MoCs to start acting on
this through the House Committee on Ethics and the Senate Select Committee on
Ethics.
6.
Now
that experts have had time to look over the pending tax bill in all its
complexities, there are many issues that will be trouble for many if not
resolved. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/06/tax-plan-glitches-mistakes-republicans-208049 After reading this, let’s let our MoCs know
that we are counting on them to make this tax reform a good deal for workers,
too.
7.
In the
midst of all the tax issues and its providing cuts for large corporations and
the wealthy, “House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday said
House Republicans will aim to cut spending on Medicare, Medicaid and welfare
programs next year as a way to trim the federal deficit.” http://thehill.com/homenews/house/363642-ryan-pledges-entitlement-reform-in-2018 It is time to tell Mr. Ryan and ALL our MoCs
that we do not want the federal deficit to be on the backs of our most
vulnerable, particularly when there are so many tax loopholes for the rich and
large corporations are still unfixed.
8.
In
July, Trump warned that he wouldn’t be happy if Mueller looked into his
personal banking records. Now that Mueller has subpoenaed Trump’s records from
Deutsche Bank, Trump has all the more reason to try to fire Mueller. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-05/deutsche-bank-is-said-to-have-received-subpoena-on-client-trump and https://nypost.com/2017/07/19/trump-warns-mueller-not-to-probe-into-his-finances/ Let’s
contact our MoC to ask them to proactively protect Mueller’s investigation and
then make plans for demonstrating should Mueller be dismissed (https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response-events/search/).
9.
“Facing
a surge of pressure from his fellow Democrats, Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
(D-MI) stepped down from Congress on Tuesday over mounting
allegations of sexual harassment.” http://thehill.com/homenews/house/363282-conyers-announces-retirement-amid-sexual-misconduct-allegations
And, it appears that Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) will also. So why is Blake
Farenthold (R, TX) still in the House after costing taxpayers $84,000 in
taxpayer money?
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-blake-farenthold-settled-sexual-harassment-claim-84-000-n825696 Let’s
contact our MoC and ask them to speak up on this issue.
10. The Minnesota's Economic Rights (MINER)
Act, H.R.
3905, passed 216-204 last week, with nearly all
Republicans in support and nearly all Democrats opposed. The Obama
administration’s decision, made the day before former President Obama left
office, blocked mining for two years in an area of the forest near the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in an effort to protect those waters from
potential mine waste output. The bill would also require the Forest
Service to renew two-decades-old mining leases for sulfide ore in the forest
that had gone unused before Obama declined to renew them in
2016. “This bill undermines bedrock environmental and public land
management laws in order to create a perpetual lease for a foreign-owned, toxic
mine,” said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.). We can read the story
at The Hill.
If our Senator is a member of the Senate
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
let's call them to tell them to protect Minnesota's boundary waters by opposing
H.R. 3905. If our Senators are not on the committee, let's send emails
and postcards of opposition to the MINER Act, H. R. 3905.
11.
An
Ohio State professor is taking a stand against the head of the Environmental
Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, after he banned scientists who receive
EPA funding from serving on any of the agency’s 22 advisory
boards. Despite receiving an email Nov. 3 implying her
resignation, Robyn Wilson, an associate professor in the School of Environment
and Natural Resources, has refused to give up her EPA funding and her
membership on the Science Advisory Board, a position she began in 2015 during
the Obama administration. Wilson is defying Pruitt’s new policy because
she doesn’t believe it’s legal to stop a member from serving on the board if
they receive funding. We can read more at The Lantern.
Let's thank Robyn Wilson for taking a stand. Robyn Wilson, The Ohio State
University, School of Environment and Natural Resources, 210 Kottman
Hall, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus OH 43210. Everglades
National Park in Florida remains the most endangered natural world heritage
site in the United States, a new report says. According to a World
Heritage Outlook released last month by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the outlook for the Everglades is
"critical" and is the only site of 11
sites assessed in the United States to be designated as
such. "Natural resources protected by Everglades National Park
provide key ecosystem services to the regional human population including
water storage and recharging of the aquifer, buffering against the impacts of
tropical storms and hurricanes, as well as economic benefits associated with
tourism, including recreational fishing, and the commercial fishing
industry," the report says. Let's read more at The Weather Channel.
The Everglades for the Next Generation Act, House bill HR2691/Senate
bill S1234, amends
the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 to provide for expedited project
implementation relating to the comprehensive Everglades restoration plan.
House bill HR2691 is currently with the House Subcommittee
on Water Resources and Environment. Senate bill
S1234 is currently with the Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Let's check the members of both committees for our own MoC's. If they are
members, let's tell them we support the Everglades for the Next Generation Act
and want to see them keep moving it through committee. Let's work together to
restore the Everglades.
12. When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created its goal was to what its
name implied: protect consumers in
financial matters and has returned nearly $12 billion to 29 million people
wronged by financial institutions. But,
once again, Trump has named someone, Mick Mulvaney, who is trying to undo the good. In fact, Mulvaney is already pulling back on
some cases in progress. https://www.bna.com/mulvaney-puts-early-n73014472800/ Let’s remind
our MoCs to safeguard this bureau that is designed to protect us and not allow
corporations to bilk us.
1.
Republican
Senator Jeff Flake made a donation to Doug Jones’ Senate campaign in Alabama
and wrote “country over party” on the memo line of the check:
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/363402-flake-donates-100-to-doug-jones-campaign-country-over-party It
is not too late for us to support Jones’ campaign as well: https://dougjonesforsenate.com
2.
The
Alabama Senate is still too close to call, so we must make sure that Democratic
voters make it to the polls. Just this week, the Atlanta mayoral election was
won by 759 votes, so we know how much each vote matters. It is vital to get the
vote out. To do that, we can join Red2Blue
in texting voters in Alabama on behalf of their local, trusted elected
officials. We'll be letting voters know these officials are voting for Doug
Jones -- and encouraging them to do the same. The official launch
is Friday, but if they can start sooner, they will! We can sign up here http://bit.ly/R2B-Alabama and
then join the Open Progress Texting Slack, #red2blue channel. And we can still help the NAACP phone bank to
turn out African-American voters at http://ppldemand.nationbuilder.com/phonebanks
State
Actions
1.
States
along the Ohio River: Climate change will push the Ohio River and its
tributaries into uncharted waters, setting off economic and
environmental crises like never before across a 13-state region. That's
the conclusion of a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report. It
found that flooding, drought and power failures could become more frequent in
Kentucky and Indiana — and the rest of the Ohio River basin.The study makes the
case that a healthy Ohio River is essential to the United States for industrial
manufacturing, power generation, drinking water supplies, transportation
of goods through a network of locks and dams, recreation and maintenance
of the natural world. The document is intended to help the 27
million people who live in 2,400 urban and rural communities across
204,000 square miles understand that the Ohio River and its tributaries
will not escape climate disruption. Let's read the full story at the Courier-Journal.
If we are among the 27 million people affected, let's contact our state and
local representatives to find out what they are doing to mitigate climate
change disruptions in our communities.
Other
Actions
1.
The
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a far-right, corporate-funded
political group, which is, according to their website, "dedicated to the
principles of limited government, free markets and federalism." ALEC has consistently
pushed back against environmental protections and legislation, and even caused
Google to stop funding the organization because of ALEC's consistent climate
change denial
http://bit.ly/2nwX2Ie Senators Warren and Whitehouse have
written a great op-ed in the Washington Post, explaining how ALEC works, and
calling out UPS and Pfizer for funding such a dangerous organization http://wapo.st/2jlRw6T While UPS has publicly acknowledged
the dangers of carbon emissions, and committed to reducing carbon pollution
within the company, their support for ALEC runs completely contrary to this
stance. Let's contact UPS and let them know that they cannot claim to care for the
environment, yet use their money to support a political group that works to end
environmental protections. We can reach UPS via Twitter @UPS, via mail: UPS
World Headquarters 55 Glenlake Parkway NE Atlanta, GA 30328, the corporate
office by phone: 404-828-6000 or CEO David Abney via e-mail: dabney@ups.com
2.
Part
of fighting back against a culture that fosters sexual harassment and abuse, is
relying on allies to call out misbehavior when they see it. John Oliver did
exactly this during the Tribeca Film Festival, against Dustin Hoffman, who has
a long history of sexual misconduct http://wapo.st/2ARsZk9 http://bit.ly/2AdwMsq Oliver did more than simply call out
the behavior, he called Hoffman out for inadequate responses and Oliver was
clear in his support of believing victims. Let's give John Oliver a huge thank
you and a shout out for his considerable support, and for being a true ally. We
can send a tweet to @iamjohnoliver or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/iamjohnoliver/
4.
We
should celebrate and cherish the freedom of press and speech we still enjoy in
the US, and here's a great way to do it. Why not reach out to a writer or
journalist in another country who has been imprisoned for expressing points of
view regarded as controversial by their government? "This December, PEN
America is collecting messages of solidarity to be delivered to a writer of
your choosing by mail, email, or through our extensive network of
contacts. This annual PEN America tradition has for decades brought hope
to writers at risk, many of whom keep and share the notes they receive long
after they’ve been released, or the threat is over." We can find out more
here: https://pen.org/you-are-not-alone-2017/
5.
We all
remember the Pulse nightclub tragedy in Orlando last June when 49 people were
killed while enjoying themselves. The
hero of that day, Officer Omar Delgado, who was credited with saving lives, is
being dismissed from his job at the end of the month due to his on-going PTSD
which he has suffered from since the event.
This is six months short of the time he would have been vested in his
job and to qualify for a pension. http://abcnews.go.com/US/pulse-nightclub-hero-dismissed-police-department/story?id=51613661 Let’s write and ask that this decision be
reconsidered: Eatonville Police
Department, 11 People Street A, Maitland, FL 32751 or http://www.townofeatonville.org/police_contact/ Let’s also contact the Eatonville Town
Council: http://www.townofeatonville.org/council/ We
can also contribute to a GoFund me effort on Delgado’s behalf: https://www.gofundme.com/2gv6zp8c
Petitions
1. Let’s sign our name to this Petition to Senate Democrats: "Do
not collaborate with Donald Trump and Trump Republicans to deregulate big
banks. We need to finish the job of Wall Street reform and end a dangerous and
rigged system that puts our economy at risk, not roll back the reforms already
in place." https://act.credoaction.com/sign/warren_sanders_dodd_frank
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms
to attend/organize
1.
Today
is the day that the Net Neutrality protests are taking place at Verizon stores
across the country: http://verizonprotests.com
We can check out this handy guide on how the protest should go http://bit.ly/2AYN4oR
Here is why it is so important to keep Net Neutrality: https://www.facebook.com/janayafuturekhan/videos/10155905474878119/ Let’s
join in if we are able and let’s also take 15 seconds to call the office of FCC
Chairman Ajit Pai to say that we support Net Neutrality (if voicemail: just
leave name, city, state, and very brief statement stating support for Net
Neutrality): 202-418-1000
Reading/Watching
1.
The
#metoo movement has been selected as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year: http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers-choice/
2.
What everybody gets wrong about misogyny: Sexism
and misogyny are not the same — and the difference matters: https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/12/5/16705284/misogyny-trump-sexism-patriarchy-weinstein
3.
We can
learn about the science of climate change–from what greenhouse gases are to how
they warm the Earth–and hear from people whose work helps us understand our
changing planet. The PBS Learning Media collection
"Clue Into Climate" explores
the causes of climate change, its impacts on freshwater and ecosystems, and
strategies for curbing and adapting to climate change. Let's check out the
educational videos available to us.
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