5/26/20
NATIONAL
ISSUES
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Members of Congress
(includes contact info and
links to social media)
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ESSENTIAL,
BUT UNDOCUMENTED: “The roughly
2.4 million farm workers who plant and harvest America's produce have been
deemed "essential workers" during the coronavirus crisis, which has
plunged the economy into uncertainty and raised fears about food shortages.
But the
"essential worker" label poses a dilemma for roughly half of those
farm workers, whose work is both desperately needed and illegal.” https://www.businessinsider.com/immigrant-farm-workers-deemed-essential-but-feel-expendable-2020-5 Let’s make sure that our MoCs know that we
want ALL essential workers looked after in the next COVID relief bill. We count on these workers for our food.
OPPOSE
ANOTHER ULTRACONSERVATIVE TRUMP JUDGE: Instead of focusing on the
pandemic or the economic crisis, Senate Republicans are pushing forward with
confirming more of Trump's ultra-conservative judicial nominees. Last week,
they held a hearing on the nomination of Cory Wilson to the 5th Circuit - in
spite of Wilson's record of attacking the Affordable Care Act as illegitimate, support
for restrictions on voting rights and opposition to reproductive rights. https://www.gulflive.com/news/2020/05/dems-question-moss-point-native-and-judicial-nominee-cory-wilson-about-past-partisan-remarks.html
Let's call our senators and tell them
to oppose Wilson and other extremist Trump nominees and focus on dealing with
the crisis at hand.
USDA CHAOS: The Department of Agriculture (USDA)
ignored ed the largest food distribution companies and nonprofits with
experience feeding the poor on a large scale, instead giving $107 million in
contracts to bring farm surplus to hungry Americans to a San Antonio event
planner, an avocado mail-order company, a health-and-wellness airport kiosk
company, and a trade finance corporation with little or no competence in this area;
one of these contracts has been withdrawn: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/22/trumps-signature-effort-direct-farm-surplus-needy-families-abruptly-withdraws-large-contract-amid-criticism-programs-rollout/
As milk is dumped and crops ploughed under throughout the US, we need the USDA
to fund experienced, competent organizations to distribute food to the millions
of hungry Americans in need of assistance: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/02/us-food-banks-coronavirus-demand-unemployment and https://www.vox.com/2020/5/9/21251895/food-banks-lines-pandemic Let's
contact the USDA, 1400 Independence Ave, SW, Washington DC 20250 or
202-720-2791.
YET ANOTHER
ATTACK ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD:
A fight is brewing over an award of $80 million of Small Business loans made to
Planned Parenthood nonprofits; seizing on any opportunity, Republicans now say
that these separate nonprofits are too closely affiliated with the national
organization to be eligible for PPP loans as independent entities, and they
want Barr’s Justice department to investigate: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/23/planned-parenthood-sba-ppp-loans/ or https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/abortion/499272-senate-republicans-call-on-justice-dept-to-investigate-planned
We must urge our MoCs to defend Planned Parenthood.
TRUMP
GOLFING AND TWEETING OVER MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND:
As the death
toll from COVID in the United States neared 100,000, Trump took to the golf
course over Memorial Day weekend with no more significant national plan in
place than he had in February. He also took to Twitter to foment conspiracy
theories: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/23/trump-golf-course-coronavirus
and https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/24/media/twitter-donald-trump-joe-scarborough-reliable-sources/index.html Let’s
contact Trump to say “you’re fired and ask our GOP MoCs why they continue to
stand behind our unfit POTUS.
Correction: CENSURE TRUMP FOR WITHOLDING THREAT AND
INSIST ON UNIVERSAL RIGHT TO VOTE BY MAIL: Trump is threatening to
withhold funds from Michigan and Nevada, two states with Democrat governors for
sending applications for absentee ballots to their registered voters, with the
bogus accusation of encouraging voter fraud. Several states with Republican
governors, such as Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, and West Virginia, have also sent
their voters absentee ballot applications, and Maryland, which has a Republican
governor, is actually sending everyone absentee ballots. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-threatens-cut-michigan-nevada-funding-mail-in-voting/. Let’s
call out Trump for his disgusting bullying in making voters choose between
their health and their right to vote in our local newspapers and demand that
Congress pass The Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020 (S. 3529).
And let’s contact
our own governor and ask them to follow the lead of these
states in making sure everyone who wants one has easy access to an absentee
ballot.
COPING WITH
COVID: The National Humanities Alliance would like
our feedback. The following survey “provides you an opportunity to reflect upon
your experience of the coronavirus pandemic and ways you may have drawn upon
the humanities to help you navigate the many challenges involved.” Let’s
help them hear why the humanities continue to matter — they’ll likely
be able to use what they learn to lobby for vitally needed funding from
Congress: https://nha.iad1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_71bpP6Z8IBJxpCB
POSTCARDING
OPPORTUNITY: From one of our own:
I hope you're finding little joys to savor as we travel together (but
separate) through this pandemic. One of those pleasures can be telling those in
power exactly what you're thinking right now, and I hope these write-ups can
help you with that. The online national version of the write-ups can be found
here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nFrMvaHrr8EMreoKMRFXUXOIQhQAIK6YeYuV577Utu0/edit?usp=sharing Let’s write!
ELECTION/VOTING
2020
ELECTION CALENDAR: This
resource is searchable by date and state - https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/2020-state-primary-election-dates.aspx
REMINDER: Let’s make sure to regularly check
our voter registration status. States are purging voters routinely--we
don't want to get caught off guard. Take 1 minute and check right now: I Will Vote Then, let’s check how to vote by
mail in our state. Many rules have changed due to the pandemic and we may
be able to vote with a mailed ballot. We can find our state's latest voting
rules here: How to Vote By Mail in Every State
REPUBLICAN
VOTER SUPPRESSION EFFORTS: Last
week, Trump inaccurately accused Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state of
mailing ballots to all of the state’s registered voters, falsely claiming that
this is illegal, and threatened to withhold federal funds from both Michigan
and Nevada if they expand vote-by-mail plans: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/20/nation/trump-threatens-funding-michigan-over-absentee-ballot-program/
Despite the lines in Wisconsin and the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans are
doing everything they can to stop the movement toward mail-in ballots, ramping
up their false claims of voter fraud—of which there is no evidence—and spending
huge amounts on plans to suppress voter turnout in November: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/us/Voting-republicans-trump.html or https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/18/republicans-devote-20m-and-0000-people-into-efforts-to-restrict-voting
It is crucial that we lend our support to groups who are trying to counter
this attempt to suppress the vote: one of many, many groups is Fair Fight https://fairfight.com/fair-fight-2020/
Let’s find the one we think is most effective and join!
HELP
RETURNING CITIZENS GET REGISTERED TO VOTE IN FLORIDA: A federal judge has ruled against Florida
Republicans' attempts to undermine the restoration of voting rights to the
formerly incarcerated, saying that their requirements that returning citizens
pay all fees and fines to be eligible to register to vote constituted a poll
tax. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-judge-guts-florida-law-requiring-felons-to-pay-fines-before-they-can-vote/2020/05/24/a7f553ba-9c3a-11ea-a2b3-5c3f2d1586df_story.html
or https://apnews.com/a91404d0db88bac1beb085f31d74c9df
Now the fight is on to get as much of
this formerly disenfranchised population registered as possible before Election
Day. Let's sign up to volunteer for the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition or donate to their efforts to
do so.
WOMEN
DITCH MITCH: Women’s March Action
is taking on Mitch McConnell and ditching him in 2020. Mitch McConnell has been a disaster for
the country but worse for the Women of Kentucky. This campaign & strategy will consist
of postcard writing, text banking & phone banking ALL in an effort to DITCH
MITCH! Postcard writing is the first step to reaching voters between now and
November. This Women Ditch Mitch campaign will start with postcard writing to the
2.2 million women in Kentucky. Let’s
learn more and sign up here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/women-ditch-mitch-postcards
DEMOCRATS
VOTING FROM ABROAD: “If we
are to have safe, healthy, and fair elections this year, Americans at home must
make widespread use of mail ballots, while Americans abroad must have the
ability to return their ballots securely via email or web portal.” Let’s
call our Members of Congress to ensure we can email/upload our ballots from
abroad! Script here for states that DO NOT allow emailed ballot
returns: https://www.democratsabroad.org/support_ballot_returns_by_email_or_web_portal
SEND
POSTCARDS TO RESTORE VOTING STATUS TO GEORGIA VOTERS: From one of our own: With crucial elections
coming up this year, both sides know that turnout is more important than ever.
Not surprisingly, voter suppression is in full swing, but we can help to combat
it, with a simple postcard action to help restore voting status to purged
Muscogee City, Georgia residents. We can sign up here to get a pack (25
or 50) of postcards/addresses sent to us. https://forms.gle/QWPqAXJwYKqeV4Bt9
If we need
postcard stamps, we can buy them here: https://store.usps.com/store/product/buy-stamps/coral-reefs-postcard-stamp-S_745104
Every voter
matters and every vote counts. Let’s help get out the vote today!
REACH
KENTUCKY VOTERS. Postcards to Voters'
Campaign 200: Dr. Karen Berg for State Senate (SD26) has just launched.
(Information about this special election at Ballotpedia.
More about Dr. Berg at KarenForKentucky.com) We can help get out the vote
for this June 23 election by requesting 5 addresses today.
STATE/LOCAL
ALL: VOTING RIGHTS: Demanding vote-by-mail is
not enough. Too many states have restrictive vote-by-mail rules that
disproportionally disenfranchise voters who are young, minority, and/or female.
Safe voting in a pandemic requires fair access to vote-by-mail, so we
must all demand our
state/district voting authorities to adopt these Four Pillars: https://www.democracydocket.com/2020/05/vbm-for-young-and-minority-voters/.
ME: MAINE VOTES 2020: With one of the most important election
seasons of our lives happening in the midst of a global pandemic, it is time to
be as informed and prepared as we can. Maine starts off with its primary
coming up on July 14, 2020, with the general election following on November 3.
Fortunately, Suit Up Maine has
prepared us an extensive Voter Guide, covering absentee ballots, registration,
volunteer opportunities, voter protection and more. We can click here
to see all the resources offered in our Suit Up Maine Voter Information guide,
then get ready to vote, volunteer, and share this information with our friends
on social media: https://www.suitupmaine.org/maine-votes-2020/
RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS/GROUP ACTIONS/TWEETSTORMS
ACLU
SMART JUSTICE CAMPAIGN WEBINAR: The ACLU Smart Justice campaign has decided
to host a digital day of action titled “Uniting for Pretrial Reform” in May. It
will be online, and it will be throughout the day tomorrow, May 27th.
Some of the sessions include a Q&A with ACLU staff, a tele-townhall with
multiple legislators (on the topic of pretrial reform), a storytelling panel in
the afternoon, and throughout the day there will be multiples ways to engage
our elected officials. Here’s a
registration link to sign up! https://zoom.us/webinar/register/1415859446055/WN_Wb92iZkTRGmkTJlHepNcIg We want to make sure that people feel their
voices can be heard even during this new normal phase we currently we find
ourselves in and that we advocate for the most vulnerable of us.
JOIN
PEN’S “UNITE AGAINST HATE “ONLINE DAY OF
ACTION: As the global
pandemic rages through our society, assaults and hate crimes are on the rise.
It has been painful to see a specific rise in hate crimes against Asian
Americans, as well as xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-Black
violence continue. It is time to stand up against hatred and demand a fair,
just and compassionate society for all of us. We can click here to
join PEN America and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, tomorrow, Wednesday May 27 for a day of online action to
condemn this scourge; celebrate Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander
writers; and to raise our voices to call out hate in all its heinous forms: https://pen.org/event/united-against-hate-a-day-of-solidarity/
RECLAIM
OUR VOTE SUMMIT: “Our "COVID-19
and the 2020 Elections" webinar series launches with this two-day
event that tackles what must be done to sustain momentum towards fair elections
despite the uncertainties caused by the pandemic. We believe that now,
when things are so difficult and uncertain, is when we must build unity towards
one essential goal - a fair and free election.” Let’s join Center for Common Ground’s Reclaim
Our Vote summit on May 30 and 31. More
information and sign up is here: https://actionnetwork.org/events/covid-19-and-the-2020-elections-virtual-summit
MASS
POOR PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY & MORAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON: “The Mass
Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington is going digital! On
June 20th, we will hold the largest digital and social media gathering
of poor and low-wealth people, moral and religious leaders, advocates, and
people of conscience in this nation’s history. A global pandemic is exposing
even more the already existing crisis of systemic racism, poverty, ecological
devastation, the war economy and militarism, and the distorted moral narrative
of religious nationalism. On June 20, the 140 million poor and low-wealth
people across this nation will be heard!”
We can sign up here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/rsvp-for-june-20-2020-mass-poor-peoples-assembly-moral-march-on-washington
READING/WATCHING/LISTENING
From
Camping To Dining Out: Here's How Experts Rate The Risks Of 14 Summer
Activities - https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/23/861325631/from-camping-to-dining-out-heres-how-experts-rate-the-risks-of-14-summer-activit
'Incalculable
loss': New York Times covers front page with 1,000 Covid-19 death notices - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/24/new-york-times-front-page-1000-covid-19-death-notices
Donald
Trump Is the Most Effective President Ever - https://www.theroot.com/donald-trump-is-the-most-effective-president-ever-1843607231
Putin
Is Well on His Way to Stealing the Next Election - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/putin-american-democracy/610570/
Trump
Is Brazenly Interfering With the 2020 Election - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/trump-out-open/611875/
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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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