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10/25/19

NATIONAL ISSUES




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TRUMP PLANS TO VETO “ILLICIT OFFERS” BILL: “The White House on Wednesday said President Donald Trump would veto a bill requiring federal election campaigns to report “illicit offers” of campaign assistance from foreign governments and their agents.” The House has already passed the Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy Act (SHIELD) (H.R. 4617) which will do just that. https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/white-house-threatens-to-veto-bill-requiring-campaigns-to-report-illicit-offers-from-foreign-governments/  Let’s tell our senators that we want them to support this bill to get foreign money out of our politics.

COMPLAIN TO FLORIDA BAR CONGRESSMAN MATT GAETZ'S BEHAVIOR: On Wednesday Mr. Gaetz led a group of 40 Republican Congressmen into a closed-door meeting where a deposition was about to occur of Laura Cooper, a Pentagon official. He was not a member of the body deposing this witness, and he was not invited to this Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF) chamber. He also brought his cell phone into this secure facility against protocol, past a posted sign prohibiting recording, & tweeted “from inside the SCIF hearing room.” His trespass constitutes a violation of 18 USC 1512, tampering with a witness (or attempting to do same). Let's launch a formal complaint to the Florida Bar Association against Matthew Gaetz, Florida Bar member #48962, 1721 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515.  Phone: 202-225-4136 | Fax: (202) 225-3414. 

QUESTIONS FOR THE NEXT DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE DEBATE:  NBC is asking us what questions we’d like the candidates to answer.  Let’s tell them:  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/do-you-have-question-2020-candidates-what-would-you-ask-n1068196

WHEN DACA KIDS GROW UP:  She came to the U.S. when she was five.   She’s finished college and wants to give back and teach at the same elementary school that welcomed her as a child.  However, she cannot because state law says that teacher certification only goes to citizens.  https://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/american-dream-elusive-for-muhlenberg-woman  Let’s double our efforts in asking our MoCs for a path to citizenship for our DACA young people.  They have so much to offer and this is their home. 

STUDENT VOTER SUPRESSION:  From one of our own:  Republicans are actively suppressing the votes of multiple constituencies, including young people and students, with targeted strategies in multiple states, which makes it particularly challenging to combat, because each state is different.   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/voting-college-suppression.html Let’s take action with these great orgs that are working to promote the student vote and provide voter ID solutions in places with suppressive voter ID laws: The Andrew Goodman Foundation (https://andrewgoodman.org/act/) and  Vote Riders (https://voteriders.org/)

ELECTION/VOTING

UPCOMING 2019 ELECTIONS:  In order to keep track of upcoming elections, we can use this from Ballotpedia:  https://ballotpedia.org/Elections_calendar

LINK CORRECTION:  NC: MAKE SURE STUDENT ID GETS APPROVED AS PHOTO ID TO VOTE:   Postcards for America reminds us that many North Carolina colleges have not yet had their student IDs approved as photo IDs needed to vote. The deadline for private colleges is THIS SATURDAY, OCT 26.  We can check here to see if our schools has not yet applied: https://democracync.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Student-ID-Non-Compliant-Did-Not-Apply.pdf  And if they have not, demand our school administrators submit this form: bit.ly/32C9Ugf so students can use their student ID to vote.  We can find out more about this at Postcards for America’s Facebook page:   https://www.facebook.com/postcards4USA/posts/2487259778054886  IN Virginia, a crucial seat was decided (and lost) by a coin toss! ONE vote would have saved the day. Every vote counts! Let’s make sure ours does!

VOLUNTEER FOR A PRO CHOICE WOMAN’S CAMPAIGN: As women’s right to choose are at risk like never before, electing more Pro-Choice women becomes even more important. We can make that happen when we check out this article and find Pro-choice women to volunteer for. If we are thinking about running for office ourselves, this is also a good way to see how a campaign works:  https://medium.com/how-to-help-a-woman-run/pro-choice-democratic-women-you-can-volunteer-for-2d3e59e42fdd

STATE/LOCAL

MANY:  ENDING PARTNERSHIPS WITH ICE:  Las Vegas/Clark County has ended its 287(g) partnership with ICE.  “The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is suspending its controversial partnership with federal immigration enforcement officials in light of a recent court decision and questions about whether the collaboration leads to unconstitutional, warrantless arrests.”  https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/metro-suspending-controversial-287g-collaboration-with-ice  We can learn more about 287(g) here: https://www.ilrc.org/national-map-287g-agreements  Let’s try to work on getting more jurisdictions to sever their relationships with ICE. 

MANY: CITIZENSHIP WORK AROUND:  Since Trump could not get a citizenship question on the decennial census, the administration is trying another tack.  However, gathering the information via driver’s license records is not very successful either.  “As of Wednesday, the vast majority of state motor vehicle agencies had not agreed to share their records with the bureau, according to an Associated Press survey of the 50 states. The effort over the past couple of months has alarmed civil rights groups, which see it as part of a backdoor move by the Trump administration to reduce the political power of minorities.”  https://www.apnews.com/9cd7dfdfbff34a21a478629ba9fdc9bf  Let’s check with our own state and let them know that we do not want this information shared with the federal government for them to use to target people:  https://dmvnv.com/50_state_dmv_list.html

RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS

IMPEACHMENT/NOVEMBER RECESS: From November 2nd thru the 11th, the House will be on recess, with many representatives back in their home districts. Just like we did during their October recess, let's make sure to make impeachment a focal point during townhalls and in-person meet ups with our representatives. We can find a townhall or event near us here, or if there isn't one yet, we can register one here. Whether we are able to attend an event in-person or not, let's also be sure to call our reps and ask them one question: Do you think it's OK to ask a foreign power to interfere in our elections? Then, let's take note of their response and share it on social media. We can find more information and toolkits at https://www.impeachnow.org/

IMPEACHMENT VOTE RALLIES: “The night before the House of Representatives takes a historic vote to impeach Trump, we'll head to every congressional office and public square to declare that Nobody Is Above the Law as representatives finalize their positions and senators look on.”  The coalition behind this effort is impressive.  Let’s click here to learn about events, how we can create one, materials to use, and more:  https://www.impeach.org/event/impeach-and-remove-attend/

READING/WATCHING

Former alt-right member on how hate groups get people to join: 'It was presented as wholesome' - https://abcnews.go.com/US/alt-member-hate-groups-people-join-presented-wholesome/story?id=66424149



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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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