7/9/18
Contact Federal Government Officials
********************************
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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
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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