Contact
Federal Government 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. Yesterday,
on the eighth anniversary of former Rep. Gabby Gifford’s near-death shooting, House
Democrats, as promised, introduced legislation that would require universal
backgrounds checks for gun sales. The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019,
when passed, will save lives. http://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/house-democrats-target-private-gun-sellers-new-background-checks-bill Since most Americans agree with this, let’s
tell our reps that we certainly expect them to support this bill. Let’s also use this tool from Everytown for Gun Safety: https://act.everytown.org/letter/ask-congress-strengthen-background-checks
2. As
Rep. Joseph Kennedy III tweeted yesterday, “He has lied about who’s paying for
it. You are. He has lied about who’s arriving at our border. Asylum seekers
& terrified families. He has lied about who supports it. No former
presidents. He has lied about why we need it. We don’t. Tonight will be no
different.” The live fact-checking from
last night’s speech, which confirms Rep. Kennedy’s thoughts, can be found
here: https://apple.news/ABjNZFz93RLe2voTaDsCy4w We all know that Trump’s self-made, politically-driven
border crisis is something that he can undo immediately. The speech was an orchestrated diversion from
the Manfort
and Supreme
Court news of today which do
not bode well for Trump. Let’s tell our
MoCs that we support all their efforts to open as many parts of the government as
they possibly can through legislative means bypassing the White House.
3. Several
Senators are considering a strategy of blocking all legislation until Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brings forth a bill passed by the House that
would re-open the government. https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/will-democrats-stop-senate-legislating-government-shutdown-ends Let’s make sure our Democratic Senators know
that we want them to pursue this strategy. If our Senators are Republicans,
let’s tell them that it’s time to put country before party and stop kowtowing
to the president. We can remind them that the Senate passed the same bill
unanimously before Trump refused to sign it, and a veto can be easily overridden,
if Congress stands up and does their Constitutional duty as an equal form of
government.
4. After
years of decreasing carbon emissions, the U.S. saw a sharp increase of 3.4%
directly related to Trump administration regulation rollbacks. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/08/carbon-emissions-trump-agenda-climate-change Most of our MoCs believe in science. Let’s ask them what they are going to do
about this to get back on track.
5. The
Trump administration has issued new Title IX regulations that would make
it harder for students who are sexually assaulted to report the assaults.
We can speak out against this by making public comments opposing the new
rules by Jan. 28. We can then ask our Representatives to support 3 bills
in the House that protect Title IX. Suit Up Maine has more information for
us here: https://www.suitupmaine.org/protect-title-ix/ We
can also join Enough is Enough in advocating for survivors by completing
handwritten postcards telling DeVos to keep her #HandsOffIX. When we
click this link, we’ll get a toolkit with postcards and scripts here: https://bit.ly/2EcRrxv
6. Last
Thursday, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) introduced a
bill, HR51,
that would make Washington, D.C. the 51st state. Let's read more at The Hill. The
bill now has 155 co-sponsors.
Let's check this list for our own representatives. If they are already
co-sponsors, let's contact them to let them know they have our support. If they
have not yet signed on, let's contact them to ask that they do so.
7. One
of the bills that has been debated by the new Congress this week is S1, Strengthening Middle East Security in
the Middle East Act. This bill would condone
various state laws that would allow states not to do business with any company
or individual that participates in a boycott against Israel. https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-a-week-into-new-u-s-congress-tense-debate-erupts-over-anti-israel-boycotts-1.6822237.
Regardless on our position on Israel or the boycott, this is a dangerous
precedent that limits free speech, as pointed out by the ACLU.
Let’s make sure our Senators know that we do not see a position against this
bill as anti-Semitic, as proponents are claiming, and we expect them to make a
strong stand for free speech.
8. We
know that Trump doesn't care about good governance or the Constitution, but the
rest of us sure do! The Constitution requires, as an explicit and
deliberate check on presidential power, that cabinet officials be confirmed by
the Senate, so the "greater flexibility" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/06/trump-acting-cabinet-members-give-him-more-flexibility Trump gets by keeping unconfirmed
officials in an "acting" role is exactly a power that he does
not, and should not, have. Every MoC must condemn this abuse of power in
the strongest terms, so let's remind them of that!
9. From
Indivisible: “If you’ve got a Democratic Senator, thank them for standing
strong against Trump’s continued tantrum over the wall funding. We’ve got a call script here ready for you
to call! When you’re done calling, let us know
how it went by filling out the 'report the call' section on the form and
hitting submit.” And if you’ve got a
Republican Senator, tell them to tell McConnell enough is enough -- that he
should put the House-passed legislation to a vote in the Senate. Here’s a script to help you make your call
10. Should
we need yet another reason to urge our MoCs and the White House to end the
government shutdown, we need only look at Native American Lifelines: (http://www.nativeamericanlifelines.org/),
an outreach and referral service that is part of the government-funded Urban
Indian Health Program; like many others, this group will run out of money
for providing care. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/08/683144164/shutdown-impacts-native-americans-ability-to-get-health-services
11. From
Chop
Wood/Carry Water: Sign this letter,
(courtesy of Climate Hawks Vote)
asking the leaders of the House Judiciary and Oversight committee to
investigate the election fraud in North Carolina's 9th district. Mark Harris
shouldn't be seated, and the board that would have investigated his illegal
activities in North Carolina has been dissolved. Congress must act!
Election/Voting
Other
Actions
1. Follow-up: On Monday, Tennessee’s governor
granted an early release to Cyntoia Brown, who was a 16-year-old victim of
sex trafficking in Tennessee in 2004 when she fatally shot Johnny Mitchell
Allen, a 43-year-old real estate agent who solicited sex from her. Brown’s
planned release date is Aug. 7. We can read more at Tennessean.
Thank you to everyone who called and wrote to Gov. Haslam asking for clemency
for Cyntoia. Now, let’s thank
him: Governor Bill Haslam 1st
Floor, State Capitol Nashville, TN 37243
2. RAICES, ACLU SoCAL and Brooklyn Defender
Services are working hard to help immigrants at the border, and they're asking
for our help. First, we can sign their petition, which "demands a universal
right to counsel in immigration proceedings" -- currently not the law.
Small children are being forced to represent themselves in court, which is
unforgivable. We can also support the "While They Wait" fund they
just started, which "will help pay for necessities and fees like
employment authorization applications, while enhancing [migrants'] access to legal services." We can
do both, and learn more about what's really going on at the border, here:
3. For over twenty years, there have been
allegations of abuse, sexual assault, and child pornography against singer R.
Kelly (https://bit.ly/2HLT3R1, https://n.pr/2H47v7R).
During that time, multiple women have come forward, some of whom were girls at
the time of the abuse. This eventually led to the creation of the #MuteRKelly campaign in
2017, and a docu-series that
was just released on Lifetime. However, the results of the campaign have paled
in comparison to the #MeToo movement; the singer continues to be carried by his
label, and venues continue to book him. It is hard to deny the fact that when
the victims of abuse are black women, the country does not listen to and
support them. Let's change that. We can join
UltraViolet, an organization which works towards gender
equality, in asking RCA Records to support women and drop R.
Kelly: Phone: 212-930-4000 Address: 550 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022
Twitter: @RCARecords
4. The latest teacher strike is likely to begin
Thursday in the nation’s second-largest school system, Los Angeles, where 82%
of students are from low-income households, which has the highest percentage of
English learners of any public school system, and which spends far less per
capita on students than other blue states; United Teachers LA is demanding a
significant reduction in class sizes, the hiring of enough nurses, librarians,
and counselors to “fully staff” campuses, an end to unnecessary standardized
testing, and the “common sense regulation” of charter school
growth: https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-last-negotiations-teachers-strike-20190106-story.html We
can follow the negotiations here: https://www.facebook.com/UTLAnow/
We can contact Austin Beutner, once investment banker, now school
superintendent, at LA Unified School District, 333 South Beaudry Ave., LA 90017
or 213-241-1000 to let him know that we support these demands. Then, let’s get involved in our own schools
and work toward the same kind of improvements.
5. A new study from Yale shows us the truth about
race and fairness in American society. We were surprised, too. Every
resister/activist should read this. "How can you solve a problem if you
can’t see it? A recent study by Yale researchers compared beliefs about racial
economic equality with the reality estimated by economic population data. They
found that Americans think our society is much fairer in terms of how wealth
and income are shared across racial groups than what the numbers indicate.
These overly optimistic perceptions may help explain why the wealth and income
gaps persist."
6. They are not a panacea for correcting the
injustices of mass incarceration, but community bail funds can prevent
devastation to individuals and their families by keeping them out of prison
while they await trial. This excellent article explains: https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2018/12/27/pretrial-detention-bail-amy-couture Let’s
check this list to see how we can help provide community bail funds in our
state: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory
7. After the 2016 election, we built strength to
push back against Trump and his Republican enablers—and, in many ways, it
worked. As this new year begins, and as we look to ending this regime in 2020,
let’s renew our strength by, if we are able, renewing our membership with the
ACLU, re-subscribing to our newspaper of choice or donating to NPR or ProPublica,
and donating to our local Resistance group or a group like Indivisible, Swing
Left, Sister District, or Flippable.
State
Actions
1. ALL: Leaders of the bipartisan National
Governors Association are urging President Donald Trump and congressional
leaders to end the partial government shutdown, telling them “a federal
government shutdown should not be a negotiating tactic as disagreements are
resolved.” The group’s chairman, Montana Democrat Steve Bullock, and vice
chairman, Maryland Republican Larry Hogan, sent the letter on Monday.” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/governors-call-for-end-to-government-shutdown?fbclid=IwAR3pWpIxZj5C_oXlh9OBDJ8UOt46qsWtQ2XFfwubQh81dpIsPEn7O7XEyHk Let’s call our Governors, check if they are
asking for the #trumpshutdown to end. Contacts: https://www.usa.gov/state-governor
2. FL: Thanks to the passage of Amendment 4, starting
January 8, Floridians with past convictions who have completed their full
sentences can register to vote. Let’s help people get registered by urging them
to connect with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, https://floridarrc.com/jan8/
3. FL: Voter Registration Drive & Family Fun Day
is January 12, 2019, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Miami Carol City Park, 3201 NW 185th St,
Miami Gardens, FL 33056. Sponsored by the ACLU of Florida and the City of Miami
Gardens.
https://www.aclufl.org/en/events/miami-voter-registration-drive-family-fun-day Let’s
go—and bring friends, family, and neighbors to join us!
4. MI: In November, Michigan voters overwhelmingly
approved Proposal 2 designed to amend “the Michigan Constitution to move
redistricting out of the Legislature and to a commission.” http://www.michiganradio.org/post/redistricting-proposal-passes-michigan In the lame duck Congress, however, “House
Bill 6595 was signed into law, becoming Public Act 608. This unconstitutional
law puts unfair and unnecessary restrictions on citizen ballot initiatives and
referendums by making it more difficult to collect signatures from Michigan
voters. This law is a direct attack on our right to direct democracy and
ability to petition our government.” Voters
Not Politicians, the group behind the successful Proposal 2 petition drive is working
on how to strike this law down via a referendum. If we are willing to help this group and
collect signatures, here is where we can volunteer: https://www.votersnotpoliticians.com/volunteer2019
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms
to attend/organize
1. As stories of the recent harrowing California
Wildfires fade from the public eye, many survivors are still in need, seeking
to recover, to rebuild their homes and their lives. We can help them by joining Action Together
Network’s Twitterstorm to raise awareness of their plight, share information
about resources and suggest further actions to take. The storm takes place this Sunday, January 13, from 8-9pm EST. To join in,
we can click here for more information and access to prewritten tweets we can
send out with just a few clicks: https://www.facebook.com/events/2230916840510426/
2. The Indigenous Peoples March will be held on
Friday, January 18, in Washington, D.C.
We can find more information here:
https://indigenouspeoplesmovement.com/
3. Another Women’s March is coming up. Whether we align ourselves with 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 Saturday, January 19, 2019. Let’s check with our favorite organization or
local group and find out how we can help.
Reading/Watching
1. What
Happened When A Trump Supporter Challenged Me About the Wall (An
argument against Trump’s border wall using only conservative sources) - https://medium.com/@vickyalvearshecter/what-happened-when-a-trump-supporter-challenged-me-about-the-wall-e54e86a5edd1
2. "Making the future tangible is only one of
the psychological barriers that have made climate change into an elusive
problem...But it’s still possible to train your brain to get over these
hurdles. Here’s how." How your brain stops you from taking climate
change seriously: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-your-brain-stops-you-from-taking-climate-change-seriously
3. What the
President Could Do If He Declares a State of Emergency: From seizing control of the internet to
declaring martial law, President Trump may legally do all kinds of extraordinary
things - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/presidential-emergency-powers/576418/
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