1/16/20
NATIONAL
ISSUES
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(Including Emails & Twitter)
Fax
legislators for free:
Or use Resistbot: https://resist.bot/
Or use StampsLicked to
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White
House contact: https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/white-house
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DEMAND A
FAIR IMPEACHMENT TRIAL IN THE SENATE: Impeachment has been transferred to the Senate where the historic trial
should begin next week. https://apnews.com/3ff484c069f314f03dfb4e15e8d85c67 and https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/impeachment-managers-announced-resolution-approved-schiff-nadler-lofgren-jeffries-demings-crow-garcia/
We know that McConnell is working with the White House to bypass or inhibit
this process. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478369-mcconnell-makes-case-for-trump-acquittal-ahead-of-trial and that he has severely limited press
coverage of the trial.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478258-senate-restrictions-on-impeachment-press-coverage-draw-backlash Although the Republicans would like to push
for a quick whitewash of Trump’s impeachable offenses, there is no reason to
make this easy for them. Here’s what
happens now: https://politicalcharge.org/2020/01/15/how-will-the-senate-impeachment-trial-work-your-questions-answered/ We can
call our Senators and demand a fair trial, with open press coverage and witness
testimony from Bolton, Giuliani, Mulvaney, Perry and Pompeo. In light of the
latest developments about stalking and threats to Ambassador Marie
Yovanovitch’s safety, perhaps others should also be called. Let’s remind our senators that they are the
only ones that can keep this process fair and open.
CORRECTION: CALL KEY SENATORS TO DEMAND WITNESSES AT
SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: Yesterday, Lev Parnas “submitted the contents of
his cellphones to the House Intelligence Committee” and new information may be
forthcoming. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-investigators-contents-giuliani-associates-cell-phones-lawyer/story?id=68247740 With
yet another blow-back, the Trump Administration believes at least four
Republican Senators will vote to call witnesses in the Senate Impeachment
trial. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/impeachment-trial-white-house-expects-republican-defections-on-calling-new-witnesses-in-the-senate/
While this is encouraging news that our
efforts may be working; we should expect that pressure on these Senators to
abandon a fair trial will increase exponentially in the next few days. Therefore,
we must continue to call, write and tweet to these key Senators, especially if
we are constituents. We can call
(202) 224-3121 to reach Senators Lamar Alexander (TN), Susan Collins (ME),
Cory Gardner (CO), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Rand Paul (KY), Mitt Romney (UT) and
demand they insist on calling witnesses in the Senate to insure a fair impeachment
trial. If we are on Twitter, we can also
tweet at them and tag these high circulation media outlets for their states: Sen. Alexander: The Tennessean @Tennessean, Sen. Collins:
Bangor Daily News @bangordailynews, Sen. Gardner: Denver Post @denverpost ,
Sen. Murkowski: Anchorage Daily News @adndotcom, Sen. Romney: Salt
Lake Tribune @sltrib
CORRECTION: TRUMP’S ATTACK ON WORKERS CONTINUES: On
March 16th, a new Department of Labor “joint employer” rule will go into
effect, potentially making it much more difficult for the 14 million people employed
by temp firms, contractors and franchises to hold companies. like McDonalds,
for instance, liable for labor law infractions, like wage theft; under this new
rule, a company is a joint employer and thus liable for violations committed by
a franchisee only if it either hires and fires employees OR supervises the
employees and controls their schedules OR determines their pay OR manages their
employment records. The old rule took into account the real degree of
dependence of workers on the “upstream” company, like whether it provided
facilities and equipment for workers, etc.: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2020-01-12/new-labor-dept-rule-clarifies-joint-employer-standard or https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/12/business/economy/labor-rule.html
In addition to urging our MoCs to provide legislative protection for
workers, we must let Trump’s Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia, know what we
think of this rule and its willful ignorance of the economic realities of the
labor market: 202-693-6000.
PARNAS
DOCUMENTS: On Tuesday night, a
trove of documents was released by the House Intelligence Committee after a
court ruling gave Lev Parnas and his lawyer permission to share the
information. It would be difficult to overstate how shocking the revelations
were in the released texts and notes – up to and including that Giuliani, and
it is reasonable to wonder if also Trump, seems to have been involved in a plot
to assassinate US Ambassador to Ukraine Maria Yovanovich: https://apnews.com/708b81d4c77038eb0b751c30f72ff315 Let’s
try to get ourselves out of this John Le Carre novel by: 1) Calling the White
House to demand Trump’s resignation: 1-202-456-1111, 2) Calling our Senators to
demand that the impeachment trial be run fairly with witnesses and that this
information be considered: 1-202-224-3121, and 3) Ask our friends and family to
be in touch with their Senators to share the same message.
PROTECT
TRANSGENDER ASYLUM SEEKERS: A
group of House Democrats is writing a letter asking the Department of Homeland
Security to release all transgender asylum seekers from detention. According to
their letter, which is based on documented accounts of individuals who were
formerly in detention, “transgender individuals have been documented to be
significantly more vulnerable to sexual harassment, solitary confinement,
physical assault, and medical neglect.” https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/477954-lawmakers-to-call-on-ice-to-release-all-transgender-detainees.
Let’s ask our House Rep. (Democrat or Republican) to sign this letter and
let’s ask our Senators to start a similar letter in the Senate.
EQUAL
RIGHTS AMENDMENT: Yesterday, Virginia became the 38th state to
ratify the Equal Rights Amendment meaning the required number of states have
done so. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/15/796754345/virginia-ratifies-the-equal-rights-amendment-decades-after-deadline
Unfortunately, the Dept. of Justice has
ruled that the vote was way passed the deadline, so it is too late to pass the
amendment. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/doj-says-its-too-late-to-pass-the-equal-rights-amendment/2198111/ American
women should stand legally equal to American men. Let’s contact our MoCs and ask them to
revive this effort however they can.
EXAMINE
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES’ POLICIES ON IMMIGRATION: This article from Medium looks in-depth at how the Biden,
Buttgieg, Sanders and Warren campaigns would handle various immigration issues
from treatment of asylum seekers, legal immigration, enforcement policies at
the border, visa reform, etc. Let’s make sure to read this carefully and
then push our candidates in the areas in which they are failing to advocate for
a just and humane immigration policy.
“REMAIN IN
MEXICO” PROGRAM TO BE INVESTIGATED:
On the first anniversary of the end of child separation, the House Judiciary
Committee announced an investigation into Homeland Security's Migrant
Protection Protocols (MPP), which have this past year forced 57,000
asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed; in a letter
to the most recent DHS acting Secretary, Chad Wolf, asserting that these
protocols are illegal, committee chairman Jerrold Nadler and immigration
subcommittee members, including Reps. Veronica Escobar and Sylvia R. Garcia of
Texas, Zoe Lofgren and Lou Correa of California, Pramila Jayapal of Washington,
Joe Neguse of Colorado, and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida, point out that
"the State Department explicitly advises Americans against travel [to
Mexico]. It is difficult to understand why this administration is sending
children and families to areas where they will face certain harm." https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/judiciary_objections_to_mpp.pdf
or https://thehill.com/homenews/house/478156-house-to-investigate-trump-remain-in-mexico-policy or https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/us/politics/mexico-asylum-investigation.html
Hard to understand, indeed. Let’s help in this effort to end the illegal MPP by contacting Chad Wolf ourselves: 202-282-8495 or Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C. 20528
Hard to understand, indeed. Let’s help in this effort to end the illegal MPP by contacting Chad Wolf ourselves: 202-282-8495 or Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C. 20528
ELECTION/VOTING
2020 ELECTIONS: If we are looking for 2020 Election information
or if we have some to share, we can check out Equal Vote Local’s BlueWave
Database 2020. We can click here to find information about candidates,
voting and more arranged by state. This editable document also allows us to add
our groups and any candidates running for office: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ir8YGs1F0Lfayl6T7XR7tklnYrEk4VcEzTkPumLVWAI
ELECTION WATCH: KENTUCKY. With Campaign
186, Postcards To Voters' volunteers wrote postcards to help get out the
vote for State Senate candidate Andrew Bailey. We'll be watching for
the results of this Tuesday, Jan. 14 special election.
GET OUT THE VOTE: TEXAS. We can now request 5 addresses
for Postcards To
Voters' Campaign 188: Anna Eastman for Texas State House. This district is in the
Houston area and the runoff election will be held Tuesday, Jan. 28. We can read
more about Eastman at VoteAnnaEastman.com
STATE/LOCAL
ALL: HELPING OUR
CITIES AND TOWNS ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE:
From
Small
Deeds Done: For the past two years, a partnership of local leaders and
government have thought though the problems they are facing … and considered
how to solve them. They’ve shared their plans in a new website: https://www.climatereadymissoula.org The
site and plan address vulnerabilities in sectors like agriculture, tourism, and
building use. It’s thoughtful. It’s comprehensive. It’s amazing. You should totally check it
out. And then you need to share it with
the leaders of YOUR city, or county, or your state representatives. Because
this is the kind of thoughtful analysis that I’m sure they’d like to do – they
just haven’t seen examples of it.
Well, if you share this with them? They’ll see what’s possible. And Missoula might just give them a roadmap to follow…
Well, if you share this with them? They’ll see what’s possible. And Missoula might just give them a roadmap to follow…
MI: LINE 5: Oil & Water Don't Mix is
hosting a day of action on Monday, January 27th at the state Capitol, to urge
Governor Whitmer to shut down Line 5. We can read more about Line 5, then let's learn more about the day
of action here. For those of us who cannot make it to the event, let's
be sure to contact Governor Whitmer to ask her to decommission the pipeline:
Mailing address: Governor Gretchen Whitmer P.O. Box 30013 Lansing, Michigan
48909, Phone: 517-335-7858, or online:
TX: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT: Governor Greg Abbott
announced that he is opting Texas out of the refugee resettlement program (https://bit.ly/2NrbmN0).
Governor Abbott is now the only governor to deny refugees, out of over 40 who
have responded to Trump's executive order requiring states to provide written
consent to receive refugees. Refugees go through a rigorous vetting process that takes years to complete,
and Texas has been able to pride itself in being one of the states to receive
the most refugees. Let's contact Governor Abbott and tell him that
denying safe haven for refugees is not only ethically wrong, but economically shortsighted as well, and that we want
him to reverse his decision: Mailing address: Office of the Governor P.O. Box
12428 Austin, Texas 78711-2428, Phone: (512) 463-2000, Twitter: https://twitter.com/GovAbbott
RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS
CLIMATE CRISIS SUMMIT FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND MIDDLE
SCHOOL STUDENTS: The Sunrise Movement
is holding a youth summit, February 15-17, 2020, in Washington, D.C. Student
activists from across the country will meet each other and learn important
organizing skills like recruitment, communications strategy, action planning,
fundraising, building partnerships, and more. Let’s encourage
interested high school and middle school students to apply—deadline is tomorrow
January 16 at 11:59 p.m. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGlcpVyT_ch7Y6MPLdbuUCycrQfNSZdrvffGVmNP-pyGSnYA/viewform
2020 Women’s March: January 18, 2020 in Washington, D.C.
and sister marches worldwide. Click
here for more information: https://womensmarch.com/home2020
and here to find or host a sister march:
http://womensmarch.com/sister-march
LAUNCH PARTIES FOR THE GREEN NEW DEAL—The Sunrise
Movement, a youth-led anti-climate change organization, https://www.sunrisemovement.org/ ,
is giving us a way to recruit millions of young people and their allies to
gather momentum for the passage of the Green New Deal. Let’s consider
organizing a 2020 launch party on January 29—we can sign up here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/our-plan-to-win-the-gnd-2020-launch-parties
READING/WATCHING
Winning
Is Everything - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx8ElbvOFQQ&feature=youtu.be
Talking
to Your Kids About Natural Disasters, War, and Violence: https://www.scholastic.com/parents/family-life/global-awareness/talking-to-your-kids-about-natural-disasters-war-and-violence.html
The
great dismantling of America's national parks is under way - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/10/us-national-parks-dismantling-under-way
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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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