6/23/20
NATIONAL
ISSUES
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AVOID
OVERTURNING RECENT SUPREME COURT DACA DECISION: While we can certainly celebrate the Supreme
Court’s decision upholding DACA, the basis for the decision was on *how* the
program was terminated, not the merits of the program itself. The Trump
administration has already indicated that they will resubmit paperwork in an attempt
to prove that the decision to rescind DACA was done with “adequate
justification.” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/503545-trump-signals-he-will-submit-new-paperwork-on-daca-after-supreme.
In order to fully protect Dreamers, we need Congress to act. Let’s make sure
our MoCs know that a recent poll determined that 74% of Americans support DACA protections and ask
them to prioritize passing DACA legislation before this decision faces
reconsideration.
IMPEACH
BARR: Over the weekend, after
the effort of Attorney General Barr to fire U.S. Attorney in the Southern
District of NY Geoffrey Berman, House Judiciary Committee Chairman said that
although Barr should be impeached, it is a “waste of time” given the corruption
of the Senate: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/21/881437223/house-judiciary-chair-says-barr-should-be-impeached-but-wont-be Let’s
be in touch with Chairman Nadler and our own MoC to say that Barr has made
multiple impeachable moves, that standing up for the values and Constitution of
the United States must never be viewed as a waste of time, and that rolling
over does nothing to fight corruption: https://nadler.house.gov/contact/ We can also sign here, call our MoCs and let
them know enough is enough: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-congress-impeach-bill-barr
VOTING BY
MAIL IN DANGER: The postal
service is the only government agency expected to fund itself, through the sale
of stamps, money orders, and other services, and it only is expected to set
aside enough cash to cover the cost of post-retirement health benefits for its
workers; the PO delivers medicine, food, PPE, and household necessities to
every address in the US, rural, urban, or remote—even though it threatens to
run out of money in September, just in time for November’s election. Trump has
blocked distribution of the millions earmarked for the PO in the CARE Act and
insisted, without evidence, that voting by mail results in fraud: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/politics/postal-service-new-director/index.html
and https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/why-postal-service-worth-saving/610672/ We
need to fight for our ability to vote safely by mail in the fall, given that we
can have no knowledge of the coronavirus’s future behavior. Let’s call
our MoCs and demand funding for USPS.
FIND OUR
STATES CURRENT INFECTION RATES: How is reopening affecting our infections? Who’s
up and who’s down? First wave? Second
wave? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/22/us-coronavirus-spikes-first-wave-not-over
Rt is a key measure of how fast the
virus is growing. It’s the average number of people who become infected by an
infectious person. If Rt is above 1.0, the virus will spread quickly. When Rt
is below 1.0, the virus will stop spreading.” We can check each states’
up-to-date infection rate here: https://rt.live/ Let’s share this information to help us all
keep safe.
PUBLIC
HEALTH OFFICIALS THREATENED:
“Public health workers, already underfunded and understaffed, are confronting waves of
protest at their homes and offices in addition to pressure from politicians who
favor a faster reopening. Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive of the National
Association of County and City Health Officials, said more than 20 health
officials have been fired, resigned or have retired in recent weeks “due to
conditions related to having to enforce and stand up for strong public health
tactics during this pandemic.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/amid-threats-and-political-pushback-public-health-officials-leaving-posts/2020/06/22/6075f7a2-b0cf-11ea-856d-5054296735e5_story.html
or https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/amid-threats-and-political-pushback-public-health-officials-are-leaving-their-posts/ar-BB15Q3Ip Let’s send a note of thanks and support to
our own county and state health officials. Please let them know you appreciate
good science and restrictions to save lives during the pandemic. Let’s also
tell our MOCs to encourage a slower opening of our country, support of face
masks, hand washing, and social distancing.
POLITICAL
PRESSURE TO APPROVE COVID-19 VACCINE: It would seem that in addition to not knowing that Finland is a
country or that the UK has the bomb, as John Bolton has asserted, Trump also
knows nothing about the AIDS epidemic; a week ago, he insisted not just that US
scientists are “the best, the smartest, the most brilliant anywhere” (except,
of course, those at the CDC who are "terrible") but also that
‘they’ve come up with the Aids vaccine”—a vaccine that does not yet exist.
Given his stunning ignorance and his unbridled desire to win in November, we
should be very worried about whether the FDA will come under tremendous
political pressure to approve the COVID-19 vaccine his seriously mismanaged
Operation Warp Speed seeks: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/22/trump-circle-pressure-fda-rush-covid-19-vaccine-election or https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/17/trump-coronavirus-vaccine/
Let’s make it clear to the FDA that we want a safe, thoroughly tested, and effective
vaccine, not a fast one: FDA Investigational Biologics, 240-402-8020 or
800-835-4709 or industry.biologics@fda.hhs.gov
DEMAND
CONSISTENT HEALTH-CENTERED (NOT TRUMP-CENTERED) MESSAGING ON SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
DURING PANDEMIC: While nothing
should surprise us about Trump’s continually despicable and outrageous
behavior, his leadership during the pandemic has sunk to new unimaginable lows.
Trump had the audacity to ignore the warnings of health experts, and the strong
requests of city officials, and persist in holding a campaign rally with
several thousand people in Tulsa, a place where cases a rising, in an indoor
space with no requirements for masks or social distancing. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/inside-trump-s-tulsa-rally-no-distancing-few-masks-plenty-n1231654.
Clearly, Trump would sacrifice the health of every American at the rally and
all they might come into contact with in order to get re-elected. This is
beyond immoral. In fact, Trump even went farther in suggesting that if we
slowed down testing, we’d have fewer cases, meaning he wouldn’t look as bad,
even if it meant that more people would die. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/trump-suggests-us-slow-virus-testing-to-avoid-bad-statistics/2476198/.
Let’s demand that all representatives in our government (local, state, and
federal) provide consistent, health-centered information on how to protect
ourselves and others during the COVID pandemic, and publicly censure the Trump
administration’s callous, unscientific, and immoral actions in letters to the
editor and on social media.
MARTIN
GUGINO: “Gugino remains in
hospital due to the serious head injury he received at the hands of Buffalo
police. Daloisio says that although he has left the ICU, he sustained a brain
injury, and “it’s not clear what long-term effects that will have”.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/14/martin-gugino-buffalo-police-catholic-worker
Let’s send him well-wishes in care of his attorney: Kelly Zarcone, Lipman & Zarcone PLLC, New
York Office, 5500 Main Street, Suite 201, Williamsville, NY 14221
D.C.
STATEHOOD: This week, the
House is expected to vote on legislation (H.R. 51) that would admit Washington D.C. as a state,
enabling voting and representation for the capitol city's over 700,000
residents (https://cbsn.ws/3eouirh).
While the bill is expected to pass the House, there are concerns that it will
be blocked in the Senate. Let's learn more about D.C. statehood, then contact our MoC in both
the House and Senate and ask them to support H.R. 51: Washington, D.C.
Admission Act.
STOP HATE
FOR PROFIT: For years,
Facebook, fueled by $70B in ad revenue from corporations, has refused to take
responsibility for hate, bias, and discrimination growing on their platforms.
This July, a coalition of organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change, Sleeping Giants, NAACP, Common Sense Media,
and Free Press is
asking that businesses stop all advertising on Facebook to pressure the company
to address hate on the social media platform (https://bit.ly/2VaLQzE). Three general recommendations
include: 1) Provide more support to people who are targets of racism, antisemitism,
and hate, 2) Stop generating ad revenue from misinformation and harmful
content, and 3) Increase safety in private groups on Facebook. Each
recommendation has specific actions that can be taken to achieve each
goal. Users and advertisers demand that Facebook address racism across
their platforms. North Face, Patagonia and several more companies are
pulling July ads while FB encourages the spread of hate. We can learn more, join
in, and ask more companies to sign on too: https://www.stophateforprofit.org/hit-pause-on-hate
JUNETEENTH
ACTIONS/VIGILS/PROTESTS: Juneteenth
celebrations were held all over the country.
https://thehill.com/homenews/politics-101/503538-what-is-juneteenth
If we attended a Juneteenth event, let’s take a moment to thank the
organizers and follow-through on any suggested action items from the event.
CALL FOR COVID
STORIES: The National Writers Series is a nonprofit
organization dedicated to engaging world renowned authors in meaningful
conversation. They are seeking writing
submissions from children and adults about living in a COVID world. “What we want is what you feel today as the
story is swirling around you like you are standing in Lake Michigan. You have
your space, the news is a blizzard, your friends are doing one thing, your
family is doing another, and your brain and your eyes are working overtime…
What are you seeing, what are you thinking. What would you like your
children to know about this, and how they should live through this experience,
if it happens to them years from now?” https://lifeinthetimeofvirus.org/ Let’s share our stories!
POSTCARDING
OPPORTUNITIES: From one of our own: Please use/share/distribute as you see fit.
Thank you for all you do—extra thanks if you use any of the material I provide.
I'm writing it for you! And take a moment to reflect on all the times you've
spoken out over the last 3+ years. You are heroes! Here’s this week’s list: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iG5vZeXr8jctOvrp7ckreP0Srm2ELEzw5FnS58rI1pw/edit 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-
CHECK VOTER REGISTRATION STATUS: 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
SIX
STATES HAVE ELECTIONS TODAY: Kentucky, Mississippi, New York, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia have elections today. https://www.rollcall.com/2020/06/22/6-things-to-watch-in-tuesdays-primaries-7/
If we are in these states, we need
to VOTE and get out the vote!
KY:
VOTE IN THE PRIMARY: This
voter guide for Kentucky's June 23rd primary election also shows exactly how
voter suppression works: by making it as hard as possible for people to
vote. https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article243541377.html.
Under the guise of conforming to health and safety guidelines, Kentucky
officials have drastically reduced the number of polling places on Election Day
from 3700 to less than 200. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kentucky-cuts-polling-locations-angry-mob-long-lines-georgia-election-day-disaster-confusion-a9577501.html
Those who were unable to request a mail-in ballot in time will need to find
their polling place. Beware: many of them close at 4 p.m. Here's how to find
our polling location: https://www.sos.ky.gov/elections/Pages/Polling-Locations.aspx If we have already voted, we can check
the status of our mail in ballot here: https://vrsws.sos.ky.gov/vic/
if we live in Louisville, we can vote in person at The Fairgrounds from 6-6 or
if we have an absentee ballot, we can drop it off at 701 Ormsby in the dropbox
or at the Fairgrounds. Mail in ballots must be postmarked by 6/23. Here are all
Louisville post office closing times with last time for postmarking. (Gardiner
Lane is the very last one, 9pm 6/23) https://bit.ly/Louisvillepostoffice If
we have more questions about voting in Jefferson County, we can read
this: https://louisvilledems.com/faq-voting-getting-your-ballot-june-23-election-for-jefferson-county/ Finally,
if there are any issues with voting, we can call the voter protection hotline:
833-468-6835
POSTCARDING
TO FLORIDA FOR VOTE BY MAIL: The Postcards
to Voters' campaign to reach every registered Democrat in Florida to sign
up for vote by mail continues. With over 17,000 addresses assigned by ABBY the
address bot the other day, volunteers are making short work of each of the
counties as they are loaded. Leader Tony the Democrat has stopped trying to
keep up with announcements and has promised volunteers that we still have
plenty of Democrats to reach. Let's request 5 addresses today for one
of the open campaigns.
WI: AS GOES WISCONSIN: “As
Goes Wisconsin empowers Wisconsinites to embrace how much their vote
matters. Our goal is to reach and inform
Wisconsin voters to be more educated parts of the electorate and more motivated
to head to the polls on election day….and to make them laugh in the process.” Kristin Brey’s funny, but informative episodes
are just what this election needs: https://asgoeswisconsin.com/episodes
Let’s watch and listen!
STATE/LOCAL
ALL: PROTESTOR
SAFETY: According to a 2017 study, 3% of people hit by rubber bullets die,
while approximately 15% suffer permanent injury (https://bit.ly/3dnLBaD). At
protests across the U.S., police have been seen both shooting rubber bullets
indiscriminately into crowds and targeting civilians at point blank range, with
activists, children, journalists, and photographers among those being injured. After the 2017 study was published,
Physicians for Human Rights noted the damage that can be sustained from rubber
bullets, and called on them to be "prohibited in the context of
protests," (https://bit.ly/2V4DnO8). Let's
contact our local mayors and city council members and tell them we agree with
health experts and want police to stop using rubber bullets during protests. We
can also contact our MoC and tell them that we want rubber bullets to be banned
for crowd control at the federal level as well. Finally, let's be sure to read
through and share this resource from Teen Vogue, which details what to do if
we get hit with a rubber bullet.
RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS/GROUP ACTIONS/TWEETSTORMS
VOLUNTEER
TO ADOPT A BATTLEGROUND STATE FOR 2020 VICTORY: The election may hinge on six key states and
a Vote Save America has just launched a strategy to win them. The Adopt a
State Program is brand-new remote mobilization program that will help us directly
support the work of organizers and candidates in these six key battleground
states that will be most important to winning a progressive majority on Election
Day—no matter where we live. After months working with the most effective state
parties, political strategists, and progressive organizations on the ground in
Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to find
out where we can help the most, they will only send us actions that will
make a real impact. We’ll get first rate training to become part of the best
group of digital organizers out there. This custom live
training series will include four sessions on Thursday evenings in June,
curated to help make us the most effective organizers we can be. When
we sign up, we’ll learn the messaging that works best, and the remote and
in-person opportunities that will help us make the biggest possible impact on
the outcome of its races: https://votesaveamerica.com/subscribe/
LEARN
TO WRITE AN OP-ED: "In
this hour-long webinar, we’ll look at some letters that hit the mark and others
that miss it. We’ll talk about word-length, finding your newspaper/audience,
developing a relationship with an editor and how to time your letters. Mostly,
though, the focus will be on the writing itself, the tone, the message. Every
story coming out of Washington these days is an opportunity to respond as a
Democrat. Every letter we write could mean another American abroad voting
in November." This is a workshop designed for Democrats Abroad, but is
useful for anyone who wants to help remotely. We can RSVP here for the Saturday,
June 27 (2-3 pm, EDT) event: https://bit.ly/37W6WXx
GET TRAINED
TO VOLUNTEER VIRTUALLY FOR BIDEN: The upcoming 2020 Presidential Election will be crucial in deciding the
fate of our country and our democracy. After 2016, we know we cannot be complacent,
but must do everything possible to defeat Trump and get our country back on
track. One way to start is to help Joe Biden's campaign which is looking for volunteers
right now. We can click here to join an Action Center trainings (which
will be offered 75 times between May 27 and November 1) and learn how to use our
online organizing hub to volunteer virtually for Joe: https://www.mobilize.us/joebiden/event/149561
READING/WATCHING/LISTENING
EPA
drops regulation for contaminant linked to infant brain damage - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/epa-drops-regulation-for-contaminant-linked-to-infant-brain-damage
Why
CBP’s Presence at the DC Protests Should Alarm All of Us - https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/10/cbp-protests-border-zone-312151
George
Soros conspiracy theories surge as protests sweep US - https://apnews.com/f01f3c405985f4e3477e4e4ac27986e5
Black
Lives Matter Co-Founder Alicia Garza on How to Organize and Stay Inspired
During a Crisis - https://www.theroot.com/black-lives-matter-co-founder-alicia-garza-on-how-to-or-1844085402
Rebecca
Solnit: The Slow Road to Sudden Change - https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-before-the-uprising-comes-the-work/
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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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