Contact Federal Government Officials
Find senator’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/RLiotu
Find representative’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/5i7SXC
********************************
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.
Unless
Congress passes an omnibus spending bill to fund the government through
September or passes a short-term bill by this Friday, the government will shut
down. However, many issues are still left
hanging. https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2018-01-12/democrats-have-a-shutdown-conundrum-over-daca-and-chip and https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/01/14/after-touring-puerto-rico-mass-congressional-delegation-calls-for-more-post-hurricane-aid/a4RJiDH0QnD3o4B0jgweDL/story.html Let’s
make sure our MoCs know that we do not want them to sign on to a bill unless it
includes A) a clean Dream Act to save the DACA program, B) the re-authorizing
of the CHIP program, and C) a solid helpful financial plan to get Puerto Rico
back on track physically and fiscally.
2.
This
week in Congress: the House will be
considering fifteen (15) bills this week starting Tuesday. Let's
check out the Majority
Leader's Schedule to
see what's coming.
3.
Today,
members of Congress will engage in the annual ritual of tweeting out praise of
the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Tomorrow, many of those on the
Republican side of the aisle will return to ignoring their opportunity to
defend that legacy. Civil rights leaders like Rep. John Lewis have been calling
for Congress to restore the Voting Right Act since the day it was gutted by the
Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder, only to be blocked by Republican
leadership (https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-06-22/house-democrats-move-to-restore-key-provisions-of-the-voting-rights-act). Securing this legislation was one of Dr.
King’s great victories. Let’s contact our reps and let them know that if they
are serious about honoring his memory, they should take action to re-strengthen
its protections.
4.
The
federal courts have always been a crucial front in the battle to guarantee
civil rights for all Americans. Donald Trump’s judicial nominees are set to
make that fight much more difficult. He wants to give lifetime appointments to
people like Thomas Farr, a North Carolina lawyer with a record of defending
racist voter suppression laws and even actively participating in an effort to
drive African-American voters away from the polls (http://www.businessinsider.com/thomas-farr-modern-white-supremacist-black-civil-rights-leaders-say-2017-12). Let’s contact our senators and tell them
we want them to commemorate Dr. King’s birthday by announcing they will oppose
Farr’s confirmation, along with any other nominee who cannot be trusted to
stand up for the right to vote.
5.
The
Senate convenes on Tuesday at 4:30 pm to resume
consideration of the House message to accompany S.139, the vehicle for the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Reauthorization bill. Let's
recall that last Thursday, the House passed this bill and forwarded it to the
Senate without any amendments to protect Americans from surveillance. We can
read more about FISA at Fortune. If we have not already done so, let's
tell our Senators that we want protections for Americans added to FISA before
they reauthorize it for six (6) years.
6.
Hawaiians,
and the rest of us, have now seen how easily an “accidental” nuclear war might
begin: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hawaii-missile-alert-test-goes-wrong-terrifies-state-n837551 Trump,
however, wants more “low-yield” nuclear weapons, or so a leaked draft of the
Nuclear Posture Review, a roadmap for US nuclear strategy published every four
years, suggests. These, the president thinks, could be more readily
deployed since they would kill only about 100,000 people at a time: http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-posture-review-trump-huffpost-draft-report-2018-1 Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Sen. Ed Markey
(D-MA) have sponsored H.R.
669/S.
200,
requiring a Congressional declaration of war before nuclear weapons can be
used. Given what we know, it is imperative that we get our MoCs to co-sponsor
this bill. We can call, fax, tweet, or Win Without War will help us write
to them: http://act.winwithoutwar.org/sign/dont-let-trump-tweet-us-war/
7.
“Trump
has pledged to marshal federal government talent and resources to address the
opioid crisis, but nearly a year after his inauguration, the drug policy
office, known as ONDCP, lacks a permanent director.” After seven appointees
have departed, Taylor Weyeneth, a 23-year-old with no drug experience and a
resume riddled with “mistakes” who campaigned for trump rose to the position of
deputy chief of staff. “The story of his appointment and remarkable rise
provides insight into the Trump administration’s political appointments and the
troubled state of the drug policy office.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/meet-the-24-year-old-trump-campaign-worker-appointed-to-help-lead-the-governments-drug-policy-office/2018/01/13/abdada34-f64e-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html?utm_term=.248a7056b5a5 We
can’t address the opioid crisis with inept and inexperienced leadership. Let’s
demand that our Representatives call on Trump to appoint an experienced
candidate to head the Office of the National Drug Control Policy.
8.
From Postcards
for America: The
U.S. Department of the Interior manages America's vast natural and cultural
resources. The department employs some 70,000 people, including
expert scientists and resource-management professionals, in 9 bureaus. For
purposes of this PC2A, I have chosen 3 sections which I believe may be having
some of the most difficult times. Let’s thank them and boost their morale!
Without career government employees, the US Government will cease to function.
We need them in place when we get our country politically back on the
right track! Here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IRSSFv7Tbrlg7p9Df2oMCuSHzSr2le8H_4ShG0hLlPs/edit
9.
“The same
Russian government-aligned hackers who penetrated the Democratic Party have
spent the past few months laying the groundwork for an espionage campaign
against the U.S. Senate, a cybersecurity firm said in a
report Friday.”
https://apnews.com/9a6888c2163f43a7913c808e8cf9bc6e Let’s contact our MoC to ask what
they’re doing to protect US entities from hackers.
10. The Education Department has awarded a
contract to a debt-collection company with ties to the Secretary of Education,
Betsy DeVos.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/368930-company-with-devos-ties-awarded-education-dept-debt-collection Let’s contact our MoC to ask them to
look into potential conflicts of interest in the way that the Education
Department awards contracts.
11.
Trump’s
“s***hole” comment earned our nation an understandably rebuking letter from all
55 African nations: http://thehill.com/policy/international/368866-african-union-trump-shithole-remarks-dishonor-american-creed Let’s be in touch with our MoC to say
that our country needs to be better than this and that we are looking to them
to stand up as leaders.
12. Although in the room when Trump made his
disparaging remarks, both Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and David Perdue (R-GA) “do
not recall” him saying them, in spite of several consistent accounts of the
situation: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/368745-gop-senators-say-they-do-not-recall-trump-referring-to-shithole Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that
it was "unfair" to call Trump a racist http://nbcnews.to/2AZ9VfO Let's contact these senators and let
them know what we think about them defending Trump's blatant racism. Senator
Tom Cotton: 124 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202)
224-2353 Senator
David Perdue: 455 Russell Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-3521 Senator Rand Paul: 167 Russell Senate
Office Building Washington DC, 20510 Phone: (202) 224-4343
13. While starving the EPA and the Census Bureau,
not to mention the Departments of Labor, Education, Interior, and Housing &
Urban Development, Trump has apparently ensured that Immigration & Customs
Enforcement (ICE), like the military, can have all the resources it
wants. Enough, this week, to raid 98 Seven-11 stores in 17 states so as
to arrest 21 workers suspected of illegal employment: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/11/577271488/ice-targets-7-eleven-stores-in-nationwide-immigration-raids We must strenuously object to this
allocation of our taxes while vital federal functions languish for lack of
funding. Let’s tell the White House and the Acting Director of ICE Thomas
Homan at 1-888-351-4024 or U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, 500 12th St., SW, Washington DC 20536
14. In a stealth attack on our future, Trump
plans to appoint Tom Brunell, who literally wrote the book on Gerrymandering,
to oversee the census. Redistricting, elections, the balance of power and
social programs are all in jeopardy from this blatantly partisan pick. Ben
Wikler of MoveOn explains why this pick is so dangerous, what we can do and
gives us a script for calling Congress:
Election 2018 -
General
1.
Despite
having more registered Democrats than Republicans, Florida, because of
gerrymandering, has a Republican-controlled state house. But 2018 might herald
a new era. This year, Florida’s district maps are fairer, thanks to a
constitutional amendment and court order. Let’s help Sister District’s efforts
to elect Democrat Margaret Good (FL-72) in a special election to be
held February 13, 2018, by participating in a get-out-the-vote postcard
campaign. https://www.sisterdistrict.com/margaret-good-florida-72/ ; https://www.sisterdistrict.com/programs/postcards/ . We can sign up here and find and find
a postcard campaign near us: https://www.sisterdistrict.com/
Election 2018 –
By State
1.
IA: Iowa House of Representatives District 6 special election
on Tuesday, January 16. Vote for Democrat Rita DeJong, https://www.ritaforiowa.com/
2.
SC: South Carolina House of Representatives
District 99 special election on Tuesday, January 16. Vote for Democrat
Cindy Boatwright, https://www.cindyboatwrightforsc.com/
3.
WI: Upcoming special elections on Tuesday,
January 16 in A) Wisconsin State Senate District 10. Vote for Democrat Patty
Schachtner, https://www.pattyforsenate.com/, B) Wisconsin State Assembly District 58.
Vote for Democrat Dennis Degenhardt,
https://www.degenhardtforassembly.com/, and C) Wisconsin State Assembly District
66. Vote for Democrat Greta Neubauer, www.votegreta.com/
Other Actions
1.
For the
educators among us, the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance has
some helpful resources for teaching Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. First,
let's check out the "Do's and Don'ts of Celebrating MLK Day" http://bit.ly/2B0KIS4 Then, let's use this advice not just on
Dr. King's birthday, but also throughout the year, as we connect it to current
movements, like Black Lives Matter https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/from-mlk-to-blacklivesmatter-a-throughline-for-young-students
2.
Over the
weekend, former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele, tweeted,
“As we take this weekend to reflect on the leadership and the moral strength
that girded the actions and the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, I want to
share his example with those in my Party who have not yet found the strength
they need.” With his tweet he shared a
meme with this quote from MLK: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.” https://twitter.com/MichaelSteele/status/952029131956539392 The
leadership of the RNC has been woefully silent during the growing concerns
about Trump, Russia, and leadership issues.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/01/10/where-republican-outrage-trump-turns-america-into-banana-republic-gabriel-schoenfeld-column/1015009001/ Let’s
contact the RNC and ask them about their commitment to American values and
their silence on the matter.
Contact: ecampaign@gop.com, or 310 First Street SE, Washington,
DC 20003, or 202-863-8500 or tweet the current Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel
@GOPChairwoman
3.
While we
talk and hear a lot about “collusion”, Instead, we need to start using the
words that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is probably using:
"conspiracy" and "coordination." https://www.usnews.com/opinion/thomas-jefferson-street/articles/2018-01-11/retire-collusion-from-national-vocabulary-on-trump-campaign-and-russia Let’s
work on using those two words instead of collusion.
4.
Andy
Slavitt, who ran Medicare, Medicaid & ACA for President Obama, is doing his
best to keep us updated on what is happening, and can happen in the healthcare
arena. We can sign up for his updates here to help stay aware and find out how we can
help.
5.
As we
continue our activism, we have so much to learn from the Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Let’s tap into his wisdom by taking a look at these wonderful
resources: A) The Martin Luther King,
Jr., Papers Project, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/about-papers-project, B) Letter from a Birmingham Jail,
http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/kingweb/popular_requests/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf, C) Selected Bibliography from The King
Center, www.thekingcenter.org/books-bibliography, and D) A great resource to find books for
children about black history, ideas for teaching the values of MLK to children,
online quizzes to test your knowledge of MLK and more: https://www.familyeducation.com/entertainment-activities/martin-luther-king-day
6.
Long
before the current need, the Syracuse Cultural Workers has been “speaking for
justice --giving voice to resistance since 1982”. Check out their selection of relevant
postcards: https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/products/type/card/card-type/Postcards While
on their site, check out all the other items, too!
7.
On Dec.
4, 2017, fifty (50) years after the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. launched his
Poor People's Campaign, the Rev. William J. Barber II and the Rev. Liz
Theoharis summoned Americans to a new Poor People's Campaign: A National Call
for Moral Revival. The Campaign intends to challenge the evils of systemic
racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s
distorted morality. We can read more about it at the Albany Times-Union and at the Poor People's Campaign website. Let's consider joining the campaign.
8.
One way
to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday and his commitment to poor and
working people is to school ourselves in the effects this administration has
had on them. Only by understanding these can we effectively fight the
inequality we see around us. Here's a place to begin: the Economic Policy
Institute (EPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include
low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions, has published a
list of ten actions that have hurt workers during Trump’s first year: http://www.epi.org/publication/ten-actions-that-hurt-workers-during-trumps-first-year/ Let’s
read this and use it to help our community.
9.
Over
30,00 Syrian refugees are suffering, starving, in Idlib, the last Syrian
Province not under Assad’s control. Now as new bombings are planned,
a major humanitarian crisis is about to get much worse. Crammed into
tents in the harsh winter cold, awaiting more bombings, with little hope of
protection or escape, these people need our help. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/13/syria-idlib-refugees-assad-migration-rebels We
can click here to find prewritten tweets, raising awareness, showing the damage
that has already been done, and demanding the that the UN takes action. With
just a few clicks, we help raise awareness and hopefully save some lives. Click to tweet links available here: http://j.mp/2mBHzDS
10. "Zeta Global inherited a hate speech
problem late last year when they acquired Disqus. We're calling on the
leadership to enforce Disqus' hate speech policies by cutting ties with
Breitbart. Emails: David Steinberg, Co-Founder & CEO: dsteinberg@zetaglobal.com Steve Gerber, President &
COO: sgerber@zetaglobal.com Template: Hi David/Steve, I'm reaching
out to ask if you're aware that your business is now powering Breitbart's hate
speech via your recent acquisition of Disqus. Over 3700 advertisers have
already cut ties with Breitbart since last year. As a member of the Sleeping
Giants campaign, I'm calling on you to do your part and end your business
relationship with Breitbart. For your consideration, I'm including a few
screenshot examples with this email. Thanks, [Your Name]" Screenshots for
the e-mail can be found on the Sleeping Giants Facebook page:
11.
Celebrate
MLK Day with a commitment to social justice, and set up a recurring monthly
donation to the NAACP. This org has been crucial in getting out the vote in
special elections throughout 2017.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/despite-the-obstacles-black-voters-make-a-statement-in-alabama/548237/ A monthly donation can help the NAACP continue
to support and mobilize the most disenfranchised voters throughout 2018. https://donate.naacp.org/page/contribute
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to
attend/organize
1. On
January 18 at 7pm CT/8pm ET, Organizing for Action,
in partnership with the National Democratic Redistricting Committee
(NDRC), led by President Obama's former Attorney General, Eric Holder, will be
conducting a webinar to teach us how to host a training about the effects of
gerrymandering. We need to educate our
communities and this training will give us everything we need to start a
conversation with family, friends, and neighbors. We can register for the
training here: http://bit.ly/2myS6Qc
2. The
national Women’s March will be held in Las Vegas this weekend and we can
register here: http://www.powertothepolls.com/rsvp.html If we can’t make it there, there are a
growing number of sister marches being planned.
Let’s check for one close to us and attend: http://www.powertothepolls.com/anniversary.html
States
1. Various: Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR), is attempting to prevent a fourth young immigrant from
obtaining an abortion http://bit.ly/2D4rD6F The
ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, but eleven state attorneys
general have filed a brief in support of the Trump administration http://bit.ly/2Dpj0S1http://bit.ly/2zkYfXg If
our attorney general is one of those who signed, let's be sure to contact them
and tell them that we do not support the violation of constitutional rights,
nor do we condone forced pregnancy.
2. FL: All hands on deck: Florida is one of only
four states that permanently deprives people of the right to vote because of a
past conviction. A state ballot initiative to restore the vote to 1.6 million
disenfranchised Floridians needs more than 35,000 citizen signatures in the
next 18 days to get on the ballot in 2018. Whether or not we live in Florida,
let’s visit this page and find out how we can help: https://florida.ourstates.org/
Reading/Watching
1.
“Data
point to a new wave of female political activism that could shift the course of
US politics” - https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/01/10/a-new-wave-of-female-political-activism/
2.
“Heartland
Democrats to Washington: You’re Killing Us” - https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/11/terry-goodin-rural-democrats-indiana-216273
3.
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 is the longest weekly list so far, and contains
historic moments. Senator Dianne Feinstein released 300 pages of Fusion GPS
testimony on the Steele dossier ... Trump’s “shithole” countries statement
prompted worldwide condemnation and questions of whether he is eroding US moral
authority — while concerns about his
fitness for office continued to swirl." Let's review Amy
Siskind's list week 61.
4.
And, as
usual, our weekly dose of Small
Victories: http://mailchi.mp/peaceisloud/small-victories-know-your-rights?e=86890239c4
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