10/17/19
NATIONAL
ISSUES
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KURDISTAN REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATION: As suggested by a tweet: the Kurdistan
Regional Government Representation is the Kurds’ diplomatic mission in the
US. Let’s send them postcards to let them know that Trump's cowardly
betrayal does not represent the values of most Americans. Let’s show them the solidarity and the
honorable nature of the American People. Address: Kurdistan Regional Government
Representation, 1532 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20036
HOUSE PASSED
RESOLUTION TO OPPOSE TRUMP’S SYRIA MOVE: “Despite stark divisions over Democrats' Trump impeachment inquiry,
Democrats and Republicans banded together and approved a nonbinding resolution
by 354-60 vote.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-overwhelmingly-votes-bipartisan-condemnation-trump-withdrawal-u-s-troops-n1067586 and https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/16/house-opposes-trump-move-to-pull-forces-from-northern-syria.html Our trusted,
experienced advisors: military, diplomatic,
and Congressional were not aware this was happening and did not want it to
happen. Erdogan and Putin did as it furthered their goals,
not ours, nor our allies. Many
Republicans voted in favor of the resolution, but 60 did not. Let’s find out if ours voted against it (here:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll560.xml) and then call and ask why they approve of the
resulting atrocities: https://www.businessinsider.com/atrocities-in-turkish-incursion-may-point-to-war-crimes-2019-10
IMPEACHMENT SUPPORT: Some
folks are getting surveys from their Republican MoCs asking for thoughts on impeachment. Perhaps they are taking the pulse of the
country. Some say that there are many Republican
MoCs who are reluctant to voice their support.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/there-are-plenty-of-anti-trump-republicans-you-just-have-to-know-where-to-look/ Let’s continue to keep contacting our
MoCs, especially the GOP members and if we get a survey about impeachment, let’s
make sure to fill it out and send it back!
CLIMATE CRISIS
IGNORED IN DEM DEBATE: For
three full hours on Tuesday night, Democratic candidates for the presidency
debated policy differences, without being asked ONE SINGLE question about the
climate crisis by their CNN and NY Times interlocutors. Admittedly, a few
candidates mentioned climate change spontaneously (and in passing) but
otherwise not a word was expended on climate policy—though this week alone,
Japan faced a devastating typhoon, power was cut to almost a million in
California out of fear of wildfires, and the Amazon goes on burning. The
DNC has made it abundantly clear that it wants no debate about the fate of our
planet, but we must loudly tell the news media that it is not sufficient to
fawn over Greta Thunberg while ignoring climate policy in political
debates: CNN at 404-827-1500 or comments@cnn.com or https://www.cnn.com; NYT at 844-NYTNEWS or nytnews@nytimes.com or
620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
CALL OUT SHELL
AND EXXON FOR INCREASING OIL PRODUCTION DESPITE THE CLIMATE CRISIS: Despite warnings from climate scientists that
this move will escalate global warming to catastrophic levels, Shell, Exxon
other major oil companies are planning to increase oil production by more than
35% over the next twelve years. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/10/oil-firms-barrels-markets.
Let’s share this article widely with our friends and neighbors and call out
these companies on Facebook and Twitter.
CA TRAINS HEALTH
PROFESSIONALS TO PREVENT GUN DEATHS:
“The state of California will pay $3.85 million to researchers at the
University of California, Davis, to develop the nation’s first program to train
health care professionals to help their patients reduce firearm-related injury
and death, university officials announced Tuesday. In addition to training
physicians, Wintemute said, UC Davis will continue its rigorous search for
specific gaps in knowledge and structural barriers that prevent society from
being able to reduce the threat of gun violence.
Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article236257503.html#storylink=cpy Health Care Professionals, the first responders to our gun crisis are dealing with gun issues that the GOP senate refuses to do. Please call your senators, tell them to ask Mitch to put those bills before the senate and demand that they pass safe gun laws now.
Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article236257503.html#storylink=cpy Health Care Professionals, the first responders to our gun crisis are dealing with gun issues that the GOP senate refuses to do. Please call your senators, tell them to ask Mitch to put those bills before the senate and demand that they pass safe gun laws now.
IMMIGRATION: BORDER
POLICIES: Even Kevin McAleenan,
who recently resigned as the Acting Director of the Department of Homeland
Security, who recently resigned is saying that Trump’s border policies “went
too far” and expressed concern of the impact of zero tolerance on immigrant
families. https://americanmilitarynews.com/2019/10/dhs-chief-criticizes-trump-border-policy-went-too-far-not-worth-it/.
Let’s ask every single one of our MoCs to take a public stand against child
detention and family separation and ask them what legislation they are
supporting to make sure this travesty comes to an end.
CALL OUT REPUBLICANS
FOR PURPOSELY DISCREDITING THE IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATION: The latest Republican strategy against the
impeachment inquiry is to blame Democrats for focusing their energy on
impeachment rather than legislation. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/464941-gop-adopts-slow-down-strategy-to-stifle-inquiry.
They are trying to frame Trump’s blatant requests for a foreign government to
interfere in the election as the story of a government “being held hostage” by
liberal activists who have it in for the president. Let’s make sure than any
of our Republican MoCs like Rep. Lee Zeldin
(R-N.Y.) know that their job is to protect the Constitution, not defend the
president’s criminal actions. We can also remind them that House Democrats have
passed many legislative bills that have simply ended up in Mitch McConnell’s
graveyard, and that impeachment vs. legislation does not need to be an
either/or. Let’s also Tweet Rep. Zeldin and some of the other outspoken leaders
in this effort and publicly shame them for being traitors to democracy.
MEDICAL CLINICIANS
NEEDED TO AID MEXICAN REFUGEE CAMP: There are nearly 2000 asylees living in tents in
Matamoros Mexico, at least 20% of whom are children. Global Response Management
(GRM), an NGO that delivers emergency medical care and humanitarian relief in
high-risk areas is seeking volunteer clinicians to provide them medical
care. If we are clinicians interested in this providing medical care we
can read the description here
Then, if we decide to
volunteer, we can sign up on this Google doc:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTg3uA4DlciU5n3Qcg9E4Qzz9TmLKpLJjVoAj8g_G6F8FHzg/viewform?usp=sf_link
RESIST
AUTHORITARIANISM—The Political
Charge blog lists the 15 signs of authoritarianism, and, inspiringly, the 20
ways to resist it. Let’s read the post and act upon it, https://politicalcharge.org/2019/10/15/what-to-do-as-authoritarianism-knocks-on-americas-door/ ,
and while we’re there, let’s subscribe to Political Charge.
MASS INCARCERATION: On Monday, October 28th, Voters
Organized to Educate, a grassroots organization dedicated to educating and
mobilizing to end mass incarceration, will be hosting Justice Votes 2020: A
Presidential Town Hall at Eastern State Penitentiary for the Democratic
presidential primary candidates (https://bit.ly/2VvnWNY). The town hall, led by formerly
incarcerated people, will focus on criminal justice reform and the impact that
mass incarceration has on not just the people who have been incarcerated, but
on their families and community as well. Let's watch this video to learn more about the organizers and the
significance of this town hall, then let's be sure to watch the live stream on
October 28th: https://votetownhall.org/
CLIMATE CHANGE: With only 11 years left to prevent
catastrophic global climate change, and with no country yet meeting its
obligations for doing so, we need to consider the possibility that our present
frameworks of law, commerce, and civil society are not up to the task of
protecting us from this existential threat. If we believe what climate science
is telling us about our likely future, then breaking some rules of those
frameworks, in order to make them perform at a level matching the
crisis, makes sense (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/16/i-aim-to-get-arrested-climate-protesters). Let's
think seriously about what we're willing to do with our time, money and, yes,
even our personal liberty, to protect ourselves and our children. https://rebellion.earth/act-now/local-groups/, https://www.sunrisemovement.org/volunteer
ELECTION/VOTING
UPCOMING 2019 ELECTIONS: In
order to keep track of upcoming elections, we can use this from Ballotpedia: https://ballotpedia.org/Elections_calendar
LET'S GET OUT THE VIRGINIA VOTE. All 140 seats in the Virginia legislature
are up for grabs, and a new survey out today suggests that Republican control
of both the House of Delegates and Senate is in danger of slipping away. (More
at WTOP.) If we are Virginians, we still have time to write to
our in-state fellow voters with Postcards For Virginia. In-state postcards should be
mailed on Oct. 22. (If we've written postcards for Virginia from out-of-state,
our cards should already be in the mail.) Let's all make a plan to vote
in our local Nov. 5 elections.
KY: HELP ELECT ANDY BESHEAR GOVENOR:
Our
Governor’s election is coming up soon on November 5th. According to the latest
Mason Dixie Poll, the race has tightened to a tie, and Trump is coming
here to rally support for Bevin. It’s time to go all out for Andy
Beshear! We can find out where to volunteer to elect Democrats Andy
Beshear and Jacqueline Coleman as our Governor and Lieutenant
Governor when we click this link: https://www.mobilize.us/
SCIENCE OF ELECTIONS: From one
of our own: I’m a social scientist and data analyst. I also
regularly do political campaign training. This presentation is the Science
of Elections. It's packed with studies, polls, and the latest research on
everything from partisanship, messaging, increasing donations, endorsements,
timelines, and more. The front end is setting up background and laying out a
foundation while the back end goes into more specifics, including when to do
things and how much $$ to expect certain things to cost. Let’s click here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dzL2OzVixO8AWKrUtYz89ixY6fZkbxX6WlwqMEbmj-Q/edit
VOTER PURGES—As it prepared to remove 235,000 “inactive” voters from
its voter registry, Ohio did something unusual: it allowed advocacy groups to
review the list of those to be removed in advance. Advocates found that 40,000 people were wrongly included on the
list, including 20,000 from a heavily Democratic county.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/us/politics/ohio-voter-purge.html and
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2019/10/16/ohio-tried-to-purge-40000-eligible-voters/
Let’s tell our state’s secretary of state http://www.e-secretaryofstate.com/ and
our state legislators https://openstates.org/ that
we want our state laws and regulations to ensure that any voter role purges be
done with maximum transparency, and provide for public review before a purge
can go forward. This is especially important if we are in FL, GA, NC,
OH and TX—battleground states that regularly purge their voter rolls.
JOIN RANKED CHOICE VOTING CALL TODAY:
The
largest Ranked Choice Voting campaign in U.S. history is happening right now —
but it will only win if our entire movement in all 50 states gets involved. RepresentUs is all in on passing Question 1 in
New York City, and the campaign is relying on the power of volunteers from
across the country to get out the vote in NYC. We can join Yes
On 1 Field Director Kicy Motley for a national strategy call this
Thursday, October 17 to hear directly from the campaign and learn what we
need to do to get this over the finish line:
https://www.mobilize.us/rankthevotenyc/event/139233/
MONTGOMERY ALABAMA ELECTS FIRST BLACK MAYOR. In case we
missed it, earlier this month Montgomery County Probate Judge Steven Reed
defeated David Woods and will make history as the city’s first black
mayor. (More at USAToday.) Congratulations to Judge Reed. We can
see what's possible when we all turn out to vote.
CALIFORNIA VOTERS: IN 2020, WE CAN REGISTER TO VOTE ON ELECTION DAY AT
ANY POLLING PLACE. New legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week will be a
potentially significant step toward boosting turnout in key contests next year.
We can read more at LATimes. Let's be aware of this important upcoming
change and let other California voters know. We can thank Gov. Newsom
for this legislation here.
GET READY TO BRING THE WIN IN 2020—To win in 2020, the Democratic presidential
nominee will need an army of volunteers to make phone calls and knock on doors
to identify supporters and get them to the voting booth. Who are those
volunteers? In a word, us. We can practice getting good at this work, starting
now. Let’s volunteer with Swing Left: https://swingleft.org/ and
Sister District: https://sisterdistrict.com/ and
join their down-ballot phone-calling and canvassing efforts—and then bring our
newfound skills with us when we phone-call and canvass for the Democratic
presidential nominee.
VIRGINIA SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION! POSTCARDING OPPORTUNITY. Two years ago,
Postcards To Voters' volunteers wrote for Karen Keys-Gamarra for Fairfax County
School Board in Virginia as its 8th campaign. 170 campaigns later, Campaign
178: Karen Keys-Gamarra seeks to help her as she runs for re-election.
Fairfax County is Virginia’s largest public school system and the country’s
10th largest with over 180,000 students. Let's request 5 addresses for
this campaign today.
STATE/LOCAL
ALL (except CA): BAN PRIVATE PRISONS
AND CIVIL DETENTION CENTERS: California
has become the first state to ban private prisons and civil detention centers. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-california-bans-private-prisons-and-detention-centers-law-signed-today-2019-10-11/.
Let’s ask our state
legislators to pass similar laws where we live.
RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS
IMMIGRATION CONFERENCE: From Justice
for Our Neighbors: Families separated at the border, threats of
increased deportations and ICE raids, enormous historic backlogs in
naturalization applications and all-time-lows in refugee admissions: All of
these issues and so many others will be at the forefront of topics
@nationalimmigrantintegrationconference this October 20-22, 2019 in
Detroit, Michigan. Let's learn more and register here: https://niicnewamericandreams.org/
READING/WATCHING
The most
important document you may ever read - https://www.rollcall.com/news/opinion/the-most-important-document-you-may-ever-read
Trump Is
Complicit in Erdoğan’s Violence
- https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/what-trump-should-have-said-erdogan/600091/
The Struggles of
Being Neurodivergent in Social Justice Spaces - https://themighty.com/2019/09/neurodivergent-in-social-justice-spaces/
Three Generations
Of Women From The Same Family Took On Three Dictators Over Half A Century - https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tamerragriffin/sudan-protests-omar-al-bashir-women
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We can stay up to date
on Congress by checking out their schedules. a) The House publishes a
weekly schedule at The Weekly Leader (published and dated Friday)
as well as daily schedules at The Daily Leader. b) The Senate updates
their schedule daily at the Senate Floor Schedule
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