Contact
Federal Government Officials
Find
elected officials: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
Fax legislators
for free:
Or use Resistbot: https://resist.bot/
Or use StampsLicked to have messages
hand-delivered to our own legislators: https://stampslicked.org/
White House
contact: https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/white-house
1. Savanna’s
Act (S.1942),
a bipartisan bill that would make it easier to track murders and abuse of
Native American women, 84% of whom experience violence in their lifetime, is
being blocked by House Judiciary Chair, Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), after passing by
a voice vote in the Senate. https://www.westfargopioneer.com/news/government-and-politics/4543588-heitkamp-house-member-playing-petty-politics-blocks-savannas.
Rep. Goodlatte, has not given a reason for blocking this relatively
non-controversial measure that aims to substantially increase protections for
Native Americans, and if the bill does not pass the House by the end of the
year, it will have to be introduced all over again in the next Congress. Let’s
contact Rep. Goodlatte (202-225-5431) and also tell our own MoCs to put pressure
on him to stop blocking this bill.
2. A
group of bipartisan Senators is trying to inject language in a must-pass
spending bill that would make it a crime for U.S. companies to participate in
anti-Israel boycotts. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/421945-israel-boycott-fight-roils-democrats-in-year-end-spending-debate
Regardless of our positions on the
Middle East, the right to engage in boycotts should not be a decision that is
dictated by the government, and any law that attempts to challenge this is a
dangerous threat to our human rights. Meanwhile, Bahia Amawai, a speech
pathologist in the Texas public school system has just lost her job because she
refused to sign an oath pledging not to boycott Israeli products. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/texas-speech-pathologist-fired-sign-israel-palestine-pledge-anti-bds-intercept-a8688031.html.
Let’s tell our MoCs that we are against this ploy to sneak a controversial
issue into a must-pass bill, and we want them to insist this language be taken
out of any impending spending bills. Let’s also contact the Pflugerville
Independent School District (512-594-0000) and ask that Ms. Amawai be
immediately reinstated.
3. Although
no African American student has been implicated in any high-profile school
shooting, Trump’s “school safety” commission formed after the Parkland, FL high
school massacre--headed by Ed Secretary Betsy DeVos and including Acting AG
Matthew Whitaker, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, and Homeland Security Secretary
Kirstjen Neilsen--will formally recommend that the Trump administration rescind
"groundbreaking" Obama-era policies that aimed to prevent
disciplinary discrimination against students of color on the grounds that these
make students less safe; no gun control provisions are recommended:
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/12/trumps-school-safety-commissions-strange-focus-on-discipline/578455/
Let’s tell these officials that we are not fooled: if “school safety” is really
their object, they should disarm shooters, not permit the wildly
disproportionate disciplining of students of color: DeVos 800-872-5327;
Whitaker 202-353-1555; Azar 877-696-6775; Nielsen 202-282-8495.
4. The
Brennan Center for Justice has identified more than 100 emergency powers that
“the president can invoke with the stroke of a pen.”
https://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/president-has-extraordinary-authority-under-emergency-declarations-have-gone-unchecked Some
of these powers “allow the president to shut down or take over radio stations
and even suspend a law that prohibits government testing of chemical and
biological weapons on unwitting human subjects.” Let’s join the Brennan Center
in calling on our Members of Congress to review these powers and pass
legislation to eliminate those that are not needed and to pass reforms to
prevent their abuse.
5. This month, the UN adopted the Global
Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular
Migration (GCM). Although nonbinding, they include important commitments to
uphold the human rights of refugees and migrants, support best practices, and
work to end harmful ones. https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2018/11/19/ensuring-that-the-global-compacts-on-refugees-and-migration-deliver As a first step, governments must demonstrate
political will by stepping up with funding to begin implementing the compacts’
commitments, and that requires action in Congress, so let's tell our MoCs to
get busy writing and sponsoring funding legislation to support the GCR and GCM.
6. As
the Mueller investigation continues to heat up and the Congressional session
winds down, let’s take a moment to send holiday wishes to a MoC who has been
serving admirably or an activist or journalist who helps keep us going.
Election/Voting
Other
Actions
1. As migrants like Jakelin Caal Maquin and her
father make their way north through Mexico, they face constant danger from
dehydration and exhaustion. Organizations like the Border Angels do
their best to aid those arriving at the border through monthly water drops
along common migrant routes and with free counseling and support for those who
have recently crossed into the United States. If you have the resources to go
to the border, or know someone who can, the coming months are the time to do
it; the organization is looking for volunteers to
help with water drops and lead tours of Friendship Park, where residents of the
United States and Mexico can meet in person. We can read more about Jakelin's
story here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/17/guatemalan-girl-jakelin-caal-maquin-death-crossing-us-border
2. "Without a functional democracy in which
everyone is included and represented, we can’t achieve any of our other priorities.
All the issues we care about deeply: health care, immigration, ending wars,
racial justice, climate change — fixing these things requires a democracy that
is responsive to the people, not the powerful and wealthy." That's why
House Democrats chose to make democracy reform the goal of their very first
legislative act, H.R.1, and why Indivisible is working so hard to help us
understand and demand that our MoCs support it. Let’s read and understand:
3. From one of our own: Her death was not only
preventable - it was predictable.
http://time.com/5480503/jackeline-caal-death-dhs/
I have done enough work as a physician advocate with immigrants in detention -
including children and dependent adults - to see this for what it is - a
profound and ongoing humanitarian crisis. One that Flores Class Counsel has
been litigating since the 1990s. This is NOT hyperbole. Our appeals will
continue to fall on deaf ears unless we escalate. Instead of a women’s
march, would physicians, faith leaders, and other friends be willing to engage
in a coordinated sit-in at in district congressional offices around the country
in January? The ask could be a triage nurse and state licensed physician on
call (by telemedicine) or on site at every CBP/ICE facility (whether government
run or subcontracted) where any immigrant is incarcerated for over 24 hours. If
we feel we can be helpful, let’s contact Dona Kim Murphey on
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/dunkindona or
Twitter: @dunkindona
4. While Cyntoia Brown is in the news right now as
the governor of Tennessee considers clemency for her case, there are so many
others in similar positions around the country who have been punished for
trying to save themselves from an abuser.
Survived
& Punished is a national project
to end the criminalization of survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Here’s a case in Wisconsin: http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/defense-seeks-evidence-victim-in-homicide-was-under-investigation-for/article_39689544-b283-5b99-9025-5cfd75245c95.html There
are so many in New York that Survived & Punished has a petition asking “Governor
Cuomo to immediately use his clemency powers to free all criminalized survivors
of gender violence who are currently held in New York state prisons”. Let’s sign it: https://campaigns.organizefor.org/petitions/demand-gov-cuomo-free-criminalized-survivors-of-gender-violence Let’s be on the look out for these types of
situations and see how we can help.
5. From one of our own: Although the
Twitterstorm is over, we can still tweet from this Save Yemen
tweetsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/196H-IKh1r2gp80vpMfiewasjm3ZvDRHHa6x7EQptKZw/edit?fbclid=IwAR1vbsKPKXAuqjtngDRuZaK6rDYmMsj4Z7AZCOFOH1b_wM_hLGoqDeWgoZg#gid=0
6. Trump's new campaign ad asks that people to call
and thank him for helping to make America great again (and then asks for a
donation).
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-2020-ad-claims-he-achieved-more-any-president-history-urges-1262708
Instead of watching the ad, let's just call the number (800-684-3043) and tell
him what's on our minds.
7. On Monday, two reports to the Senate’s
intelligence committee were revealed; they show that Russian online
propagandists aggressively targeted African Americans during the 2016 election
campaign, using social media to “confuse, distract, and ultimately discourage”
black people and other pro-Clinton blocs from voting. The reports claim
that the Russian social media campaign, conducted on Facebook, Twitter, Google,
and others, was meant to inflame anger about skewed rates of poverty, incarceration
and the use of force by police among black Americans in order to “divert their
political energy away from established political institutions”; both fault
social media executives who “misrepresented or evaded” and “dissembled” in
their Congressional testimony and failed to turn over data: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/17/russian-propagandists-targeted-african-americans-2016-election
We, the users, must pressure the social media giants to take responsibility for
their sites: Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043 or
650-253-0000 or FAX 650-253-0001; Facebook Board of Directors,
Corporate Secretary, 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 or
650-308-7300; Twitter, Inc., Corporate Secretary, 1355 Market St., Suite
900, San Francisco, CA 94103 or 415-222-9670
8. A growing number of “advertisers have now
dropped “Tucker Carlson Tonight” after the Fox News host said in a show last
Thursday that immigrants to the United States made the country “poorer” and
“dirtier.”” https://www.thewrap.com/tucker-carlson-dropped-advertisers-sponsors-immigrant-flap/ Let’s support those companies that no longer
advertise there: Pacific Life, Indeed,
Bowflex, SmileDirectClub, NerdWallet, Minted, Ancestry.com and Jaguar. Then,
let’s start asking other advertisers on the show to stop: https://www.foxnewsadvertisers.com/2018/10/22/top-tucker-carlson-advertisers-3q2018-quarterly-summary/
9. From one of our own: Michigan Support Circle is
trying to raise rent for a very young family reunited in Michigan. Let’s learn more about this family and see if
we can help: https://www.gofundme.com/fredy-and-family
10. Indivisible.org has
accomplished a lot in the past year and is looking to continue the good work of
helping regular folks hone their activist skills. They’d like to expand the
number of organizers they have on staff so that the number of local chapters
can continue to grow. If we can, we can help them increase their staff by
donating here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2019-orgteam
11. The Dutch-based organization "De
Correspondent" provides an ad-free antidote to breaking news for more
than 60,000 members, making it one of the largest and fastest growing member-funded
journalism platforms in Europe. Now, the American version, "The
Correspondent", will launch in mid-2019. Media critic Jay
Rosen discusses "The Correspondent", his work to bring it to
English-speaking audiences and the benefits of member-funded journalism with
Comedy Central's Daily Show host Trevor Noah here. We
can contribute to its success by choosing what we pay for a one-year
membership to their ad-free site at The Correspondent.
Let's support quality in-depth reporting.
State
Actions
1. NY:
Governor Cuomo’s 2019 legislative agenda calls for improvements to
representative democracy, including allowing voting by mail, enacting early
voting, instituting same day and automatic voter registration, synchronizing
federal and state elections, and making Election Day a state holiday. In
addition, Cuomo is proposing campaign finance reforms, including closing the
LLC loophole, banning corporate campaign contributions, overhauling the
campaign finance system, and ending outside income for lawmakers. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-unveils-agenda-first-100-days-2019-justice-agenda If
we’re in New York, let’s tell Gov Cuomo (https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form)
and our state legislators (https://openstates.org/)
that we want these reforms enacted into law.
2. VA:
VA ratify ERA is
working to collect petition signatures to show that there is support by Virginians
for the ratification of the ERA. Here’s
how we can help: https://varatifyera.org/toolkit/collect-petition-signatures/
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms
to attend/organize
1. Lifting Hands International, a small grassroots
refugee aid 501c3, operates a refugee center in northern Greece, next to a
municipal camp of Yazidi refugees (all survivors of genocide). Recently the
population almost tripled and now the camp is way over capacity and
experiencing shortages. We can help Lifting Hands clothe, shelter and succor
these refugees when we join this Twitterstorm TODAY, Wednesday, December 19, at 8pm Eastern Time
to spread the word. Action Together Network’s Twitter Warriors have put
this together and made it easy for us to join in. When we click on this
link, we will find prewritten tweets that we can send out with just a few
clicks. Every tweet counts, so let’s get busy!
2. Whether we align ourselves with the Women’s March, or March On, or
Women’s March Alliance,
or WoMen
for All, or with no group at all, we have an
opportunity to make history and march once again on January 19, 2019. Check with
your favorite organization or local folks to help or to find out what is
happening.
Reading/Watching
1. Quoting
'The Lorax,' Court Pulls Permit For Pipeline Crossing Appalachian Trail - https://www.npr.org/2018/12/14/676950106/quoting-the-lorax-court-pulls-permit-for-pipeline-crossing-appalachian-trail
2. A Complete Guide to All 17 (Known) Trump and
Russia Investigations - https://www.wired.com/story/mueller-investigation-trump-russia-complete-guide/
3. Our
Government Is Deliberately Inflicting Suffering on Asylum Seekers -
https://sojo.net/articles/our-government-deliberately-inflicting-suffering-asylum-seekers
4. What We
Now Know About Russian Disinformation - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/opinion/russia-report-disinformation.html
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.