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2/27/20

NATIONAL ISSUES


Contact all Federal Members of Congress
(includes contact info and links to social media)
https://www.contactingcongress.org/

Fax legislators for free:
Reps:  https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php
Senate:  https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php

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

STAY INFORMED AND TAKE ACTION ON THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:  As news and misinformation about the Cornavirus spreads, it is helpful to remember a few key points. As Heather Cox Richardson reminds us this is a “pandemic but not a deadly pandemic.” Many will get sick, but we are not all going to die from this. So, let’s carry on. Here are ways we can be smart, prepare and take action:

FUNDING FOR THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:   "For the United States, the answers are especially worrying because the government has intentionally rendered itself incapable. In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion. If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic response, the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is—not just for the public but for the government itself, which largely finds itself in the dark.”  https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/  Although it has been deemed too little, the “White House earlier this week put forward a $2.5 billion request as the virus spreads around the world and officials warn of eventual spread in the U.S. Only half of the request was new money.”  https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/public-global-health/484772-mccarthy-white-house-coronavirus-funding-request-a  Senator Chuck Schumer has released a detailed proposal for fighting this pandemic, we can read it here and learn about it here:  https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/484679-schumer-requesting-85-billion-in-emergency-funding-on-coronavirus  Let’s call our MoCs and the White House to demand that his proposal be approved and implemented  now. 

SPEAK OUT AGAINST ENCROACHING FASCISM: Trump’s ouster of National Security Director Maguire, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/21/trump-replacing-spy-chief-maguire-after-russia-briefing-stirs-uproar/4830237002/ his recent remarks that Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sonia Sotomayor should recuse themselves from any case related to his administration https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-sotomayor-ginsberg-must-recuse-themselves-cases-related-him-n1142651 along with his accusations of bias against Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who presided over the Roger Stone trial https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/23/roger-stone-judge-berman-jackson-117066 are simply exacerbating an incredibly scary pattern where those in government who disagree with the current administration is accused of disloyalty, discredited, and often in danger of losing their job. It certainly isn’t helping that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Ginni Thomas is compiling a list of “disloyal” government members. Let’s ask our MoCs what they are planning to do about this return to McCarthyist tactics and remind our Republican MoCs that their blind support of a rogue president is leading us down the road to facism. 

DISABILITY DAY OF MOURNING: From the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN): "In the past five years, over 600 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents. Every year on March 1st, the disability community gathers across the nation to remember disabled victims of filicide–disabled people murdered by their family members or caregivers." Let's use this time read through the Anti-Filicide Toolkit and learn about what filicide is, how we can prevent it, and what to do if it happens in our community. Then, for those of us who are able, let's sign up to host a Day of Mourning vigil in our area; ASAN has a guidebook to walk us through the process, step-by-step.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT THE BORDER: A new report by Physicians for Human Rights has reaffirmed what we already know: that the separation of children and families at the border constitutes torture (https://bit.ly/2TlNrRc). This torture, combined with previous trauma from their home countries and the inhumane conditions and cruel practices of concentration camps in the U.S. will impact the mental and physical health of these families for their entire lives. Let's be sure to send a copy of the report to our MoC and highlight the recommendations listed at the end of the report. Then, let's revisit this list of things we can do to help children and families at the border: 
https://www.fwd.us/news/5-ways-to-help-children-and-families-at-the-border/

THE ORGANIZERS’ ORGANIZER: We all know and work with some effective organizers and we so appreciate their worth.  Let’s take a little time to get to know one of the best and use this experience to gain some fuel for what lies ahead. As Sen. Elizabeth Warren said, “When I asked how to get organized - I was told two words. Heather Booth.” Let’s watch Heather Booth:  Changing the World on Amazon and be prepared to be wowed:  https://www.amazon.com/Heather-Booth-Changing-World/dp/B084GCM8MX/ Then, let’s share the link.

DISABILITY VISIBILITY PROJECT: Last minute call: "The Disability Visibility Project will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with a series of stories: #ADA30InColor. Disabled Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) 18 years and older in the United States are invited to submit a short pitch for an essay...Twelve submissions will be selected for publication. These 12 essays/videos (1000-2000 words or 15 minutes) will be published throughout the month of July on the Disability Visibility Project website and each selected person will receive $250 for their work." For those of us who qualify, let's check out the essay themes and guidelines on the Disability Visibility Project website here. The deadline for submissions is tomorrow, February 28th.

ELECTION/VOTING

PRIMARIES/CAUCUS CALENDAR:  https://ballotpedia.org/Elections_calendar

CORRECTION - KNOW IF YOU’VE BEEN VOTER-PURGED:  We can use Resistbot to check our voter registration status. After we do so, Resistbot will check our status monthly and alert us if our status has changed. https://resist.bot/guide Let’s activate this service by texting vote to 50409.  Then to check on voter status, enter 'check' and Resistbot will ask for your birth date, followed by asking you to verify your state and house number. 

LET'S GET READY FOR SUPER TUESDAY: Next Tuesday, March 3 is "Super Tuesday," the day when fourteen (14) states will hold their presidential primaries. (more about Super Tuesday at Wikipedia.) If we are in one of these states, let's click on link to review our relevant information at Ballotpedia. a) Alabama; b) Arkansas; c) California; d) Colorado; e) Maine; f) Massachusetts; g) Minnesota; h) North Carolina; i) Oklahoma; j) Tennessee; k) Texas; l) Utah; m) Vermont; n) Virginia.  If we have friends/family in any of these states, let's send them the link to info for their state. If we are in one of these states, let's post this information on our social media along with a site where we can re-check our voter registration: Vote.org

GOTV TEXTING OPPORTUNITY FOR SOUTH CAROLINA:  Black Voters Matter (BVM) is seeking texters to help get out the vote in Saturday’s South Carolina primary.  working on a texting workflow to share info about their Campaign Against Fear to Black voters throughout SC. We can help text by signing up at rr.team/BVM-Texting.

DEMAND MEDICAL RECORDS FROM DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: Apparently following Trump’s lead, several Democratic candidates for president are refusing to make public their full medical records—a departure from a routine that has been followed for decades by members of both parties. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-a-historically-old-presidential-field-candidates-refuse-to-release-health-records/2020/02/23/a39045f8-5407-11ea-9e47-59804be1dcfb_story.html Let’s tell these candidates that the American public deserves to be fully informed about their health and their ability to do the job, and that we do not appreciate Democrats normalizing the Trumpian practice of hiding medical records:

2020 PROM CHALLENGE: “The Prom Challenge is a program created by When We All Vote and MTV with the aim to get more students registered to vote. The program will recognize 20 high schools across the country who are integrating voter registration into their schools in the most creative and impactful ways. Schools can submit an application detailing how they are recruiting voters and winners of the competition will receive up to $5,000 for their prom.”  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michelle-obama-shares-1980s-prom-photo-igniting-promchallenge-student-voting-2020-02-18/  Let’s make sure that all our high school teacher, staff and student friends are aware of this.  More information and application here:  https://mtvprom.whenweallvote.org/

HELP FLIP KEY STATES AND REVERSE GERRYMANDERING - PART TWO: Political Charge   informs us  that this year is our chance to take control of several state legislatures, in a vitally important census year. If we control the state legislatures, we can stop Republican gerrymandering there, since whoever is in charge of state legislatures after the November election will be drawing the district maps that will be in place for the next decade. For inspiration, we can look to Virginia, which has dramatically improved voting rights since gaining control of the state government. Here are the remaining states to support.
  • NC: We broke the Republicans’ supermajority in the House and Senate in 2018, and in 2020, we have a chance to take control of both chambers. Winning four to six more seats will turn our State Legislature Blue! We can get involved with our local Democratic Party efforts to flip our State Legislatures here: https://www.ncdp.org/action
  • PA: Chipping away at the Republican majority, we are now in striking distance of flipping the House and the Senate! We can get involved with our local Democratic Party efforts to flip our State Legislatures here: https://www.padems.com/
  • TX:  With a massive effort to flip the Texas House; even Beto O’Rourke is pitching in . It’ll be competitive, but it is possible – Cook Political Report has rated this as only “Lean Republican.” So let’s go big, and turn the House Blue! We can get involved with our local Democratic Party efforts to flip our State Legislatures here: https://www.texasdemocrats.org/action/
If we’re outside of these states, we can help out by joining with the following groups that are highly focused on organizing in these states. Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, Flippable’s Target States, Swing Left Super States, Emily’s List Target States,  Sister District State Strategy and The National Democratic Redistricting Committee Electoral Targets.

DEFEND OUR MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE: Swing Left has created a House Defense Fund to support the re-election of House Democrats in swing districts who are vulnerable because they supported impeachment. Let’s support this effort by giving what we can, and/or asking others to give:   https://secure.actblue.com/donate/defendhousedems

REPUBLICANS PLAN TO MEDDLE IN SC PRIMARY: Rush Limbaugh set “Operation Chaos” in motion when he urged Republicans to vote for Clinton not Obama in the 2008 primaries; now some tea party Republicans are urging South Carolina Republicans to vote for Sanders in Saturday’s primary, on the assumption that he can best be red-baited in the general election:  https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/upstate-gop-leaders-plotting-to-meddle-in-sc-democratic-primary/article_f1e7abd2-4788-11ea-aa9f-33a1d262994c.html or https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/us/south-carolina-primary-operation-chaos.html  In 22 states at least one party holds open primaries, where party affiliation is not a requirement for participation: https://ballotpedia.org/Open_primary If we live in an open primary state, it is critical that we call on our state legislatures to close the primaries and that we make as public as possible—letters to editors or op eds in local newspapers, radio call-ins—the likelihood of primary meddling.  Like gerrymandering and voter suppression, the open primary has become an all-too-handy way to skew the vote.

ELECTION RESULTS: Postcards to Voters volunteers wrote for two campaigns in Kentucky that had special elections on Tuesday, Feb. 25. a) Campaign 189: Rachel Roberts for State House. Roberts won this seat with 64% of the vote; she will be the first woman to hold this seat! (more at WCPO/Cincinnati) b) Campaign 191: Bill Redwine for State House. Redwine did not win this seat. He received 44% of the votes to Republican Richard White's 56%. (Source: WSAZ) Thank you to all the volunteers who worked to get out the vote for these special elections.

JUST LAUNCHED: POSTCARD CAMPAIGN: Postcards to Voters' Campaign 197: Jill Karofsky for Wisconsin Supreme Court. (jillforjustice.com) This 10-year term will shape the future of Wisconsin as the Wisconsin Supreme Court will likely hear cases about gerrymandering, voting rights, women's access to healthcare, the climate crisis, and more. In addition, Donald Trump's allies want to use the state Supreme Court to rig Wisconsin for Trump in November. As Wisconsin could be the pivotal battlefield state for the whole country, it's absolutely critical to defeat Donald Trump's endorsed candidate, Dan Kelly, who has shown he is always willing to do whatever right-wing interests want. Let's request 5 addresses to support this campaign today. 

STATE/LOCAL

OR: CLIMATE ACTION—OREGON REPUBLICANS SHIRK THEIR DUTIES: As they did last year, Republicans in Oregon’s State Senate refused to show up for work, denying a quorum and preventing a vote on a state climate change bill. https://katu.com/news/local/a-sad-moment-for-oregon-gov-brown-asks-gop-lawmakers-to-return-vote-on-climate-bill A quorum is 20 members on the Senate floor—Democrats were short just one Senator. Let’s join the Democratic Party of Oregon and elect Senators who will do their job: https://dpo.org/ .

TX: LEGAL HELP NEEDED AT THE BORDER: Many Texas corporate attorneys, including some who even voted for Trump, are volunteering their services to help migrants at the border in order to make sure they have due process. Currently less than 5% are represented by attorneys. Legal help that can be done remotely is also needed. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2020/02/26/i-am-the-frontline-lawyers-from-big-firms-are-wading-into-border-chaos-to-help-asylum-seekers/ If we have legal expertise, let’s contact the Texas Civil Rights Project and find out how we can help. 

TX: #VOTEPROCHOICE VOTER GUIDE:  Texas Primary elections are on Super Tuesday, March 3, and reproductive freedom is in danger in Texas. The #VOTEPROCHOICE Voter Guide empowers voters to identify the candidates up and down the entire ballot who will champion reproductive freedom.  Let’s use and share the guide: https://www.voteprochoice.us/voter-guide  as well as the social media toolkit that accompanies it:  https://www.voteprochoice.us/partner-toolkit/

RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS/GROUP ACTIONS

#TheIdesOfTrump: On March 15, together let's make history by sending 1 million postcards to Donald Trump telling him he is fired.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBq9GTAtsyU&feature=youtu.be

Light UP America: Mark your calendar for March 15 at dusk, and follow Vigil for Democracy to stay updated: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vigilfordemocracy and Instagram.com/VigilForDemocracy and Twitter.com/vigil4democracy. This is not another march or rally. It’s a thoughtfully designed non-violent direct-action campaign, put together by seasoned activists. While you wait, read George Lakey’s book How We Win, or browse his org’s website: wagingnonviolence.org

READING/WATCHING

How to Talk to Young People About Abortion - https://rewire.news/article/2019/07/12/how-to-talk-to-young-people-about-abortion/

How to Win the Democratic Nomination if there is a Contested Convention - https://politicalcharge.org/2020/02/21/how-to-win-the-democratic-nomination-if-there-is-a-contested-convention/

Democrats, you can Defeat Trump in a Landslide - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/opinion/democratic-primary-candidates.html

How Russian Trolls Operate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psmpWVuCb8s

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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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