7/30/20
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REJECT GOP
SENATE RELIEF BILL AND PASS THE HEROES ACT: The COVID relief bill proposed by the GOP-led Senate, the HEALS Act
(not yet numbered), cuts unemployment, doesn’t protect renters from evictions,
has no money for state and local governments, and does not have enough funds
for schools to re-open. While there’s no extra money for food stamps either,
the bill does include a tax credit to expense business lunches and limits business
liability from lawsuits that could relate from unsafe COVID practices and
contains fund schools, fund cities and towns. In short, it’s a disaster. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/509300-gop-relief-bill-hits-wall-in-talks-with-schumer-pelosi.
Here are some ways the House and
Senate bills differ: https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/tax-compliance/news/21148145/comparing-the-senate-and-house-covid-stimulus-bills Let’s
tell our Senators that we want them to pass the HEROES ACT (H.R. 6800),
which was already passed by the House in May, and that we’re tired of an agenda
that focuses on businesses rather than on workers and consumers. Let’s also
insist that any COVID relief bill include funding for COVID-safe voting, so
that people don’t have to risk their lives to exercise their Constitutional
right to vote.
DANGERS IN
SENATE COVID RELIEF BILL: Not only does the Senate HEALS Act not
support those directly affected by COVID, there are additional questionable
parts of the bill that do not seem in the spirit of helping our citizens. For example, the bill “proposes billions of
dollars for the military, including hundreds of millions to restore funding
shifted from the Defense Department to pay for President Donald Trump’s Mexican
border wall.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-defense/u-s-coronavirus-relief-bill-would-restore-defense-funds-taken-for-trump-wall-idUSKCN24T2RO
and https://apnews.com/f14ef99ec7939f44860e6026624be38f?fbclid=IwAR3z9q1gRyjolrfR0bowIfhNZ34Z33lsSOXQm19DVOZZp9sOHv1CErgC2Is
It also includes money for a new FBI building.
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/28/896372953/senate-gop-balks-at-white-house-push-for-new-fbi-hq-in-covid-relief-bill It also includes a plan to “fix” Social Security
that may not be really helpful to those who rely on it. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/heals-act-may-include-controversial-plan-to-fix-social-security-funds.html
In addition, there is a nasty provision that provides businesses immunity from
lawsuits from employees who are sent back to work as it “could take away a
recourse for workers who return to an unsafe workplace as the pandemic spreads
around the country.” https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/28/coronavirus-stimulus-updates-mcconnell-defends-liability-protections.html
.
This is not the time to be kowtowing to special and corporate interests. The next bill needs to help improves lives of
regular citizens. Let’s tell our senators that we want a
COVID-relief bill that will provide relief to people who have taken the biggest
hits
U.S. TROOPS
LEAVING GERMANY: “Defense
Secretary Mark Esper said on Wednesday that the United States would pull nearly
12,000 troops out of Germany, starting in the coming weeks, ostensibly to beef
up U.S. deterrence against Russia. Immediately after, Esper was undercut by
U.S. President Donald Trump, who described the troop withdrawal as a reprisal
against Germany for not meeting its defense-spending targets.” “Behind the
scenes, however, the decision has frustrated some U.S. and European officials
who see the move as harmful to U.S. interests in Europe and fear it will
undercut NATO’s activities aimed at deterring Russia from the alliance’s
eastern flank. They also said the decision was made in haste, without a proper
interagency review, and without sufficient consultations with European allies.”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/29/pentagon-trump-troop-withdrawal-germany-punishment/ This is being viewed as a “gift to Russia”. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/07/29/us-troops-leave-germany-following-trump-demands-costly-move/5534462002/
Let’s tell Secretary Esper that we do not think this is a good move at this
time: https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/u-s-department-of-defense,
then let’s tell our MoCs the same thing.
ATTORNEY
GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: On
Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr testified before the House Judiciary
Committee and made clear that it is not his intention to work on behalf of the
people of the United States: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/barr-testimony-live-updates-ag-faces-questions-2020/story?id=72029139
Let’s take a moment to call for his resignation (1-202-514-2000 then press 4
to leave voicemail at Department of Justice) or https://www.justice.gov/contact-us and
then let’s ask our Congressperson to seek his impeachment.
TELL
CONGRESS: DON’T APPROPRIATE MONEY FOR DHS WHILE FEDERAL TROOPS ARE INVADING
CITIES: While there is hopeful
news that Federal troops may be starting to leave Portland, the situation is
far from over, and both Trump and DHS Director Chad Wolf are continuing to take
an aggressive stance in asserting their right to intervene in protests. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/509566-oregon-governor-says-federal-officers-are-leaving-portland.
The feds’ actions, which have included tear-gassing the mayor and kidnapping
protesters without due process and shoving them into unmarked bans have
exacerbated violence, which was minimal before they arrived, and much of which,
across the country, has been committed by White Supremacist organizations
trying to incite violence to discredit the movement, not by members of Black
Lives Matter and their allies. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53579099.
Trump is also still threatening to send the feds to other cities. Let’s tell
our MoCs this is completely illegal and unacceptable, and they must completely
eliminate funding for DHS during this year’s appropriations process until there
are safeguards that the agency is not making war against its own
citizens.
TEACHER
“SAFETY STRIKES”? On
Tuesday, Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers, announced a
resolution saying the AFT would back its members if they went on strike to oppose
unsafe school openings; the president of the nation’s largest union, the
National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen García, likewise declared that
educators are ready to do “whatever it takes” to ensure safe schools and are
“not ready to take any options off the table”: https://apnews.com/4e8a446186df3c1962137dbe9faf7f38 or https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/28/aft-strikes-school-reopening-384133
or https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/07/28/teachers-may-walk-out-safety-strikes-if-forced-into-unsafe-schools-union-leader/ The
Republican version of the latest coronavirus relief bill includes vastly
insufficient aid to help schools open safely, as the Council of Chief State
School Officers laments in its letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander: https://ccsso.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/HELPLetterFinal.pdf
(Millions, nonetheless, are included for Trump’s long-sought replacement of FBI
headquarters: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/28/896372953/senate-gop-balks-at-white-house-push-for-new-fbi-hq-in-covid-relief-bill)
Meanwhile, the White House and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos continue to
insist that federal funds are contingent on opening in-person schools,
regardless of which viral hot spot they might be in. It is incumbent on us
to make it clear to both Trump and DeVos (betsydevos@ed.gov or 202-401-3000 or 400 Maryland
Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20202) that we are unwilling to put children,
teachers, staff, and families at risk for their political aims--and to offer
our support to teachers if they strike.
SCHOOLS AND
CORONAVIRUS RELIEF: The National Education Association (NEA), with its 3
million members is urgently asking us to contact our senators and reiterate
their demands for the next coronavirus relief package: 1) At least $175 billion
to help public schools reopen safely and equitably (regardless of if instruction
is online, in-person, or a hybrid); 2) No conditions on reopening to access
funds; 3) No vouchers or carveouts for private schools; and 4) No liability
shields. If safe and responsible
school reopening is our priority, let’s join them: https://educationvotes.nea.org/covid-call/
JOIN LOCAL
REFUSE TO RETURN GROUP TO DEMAND SAFE SCHOOL REOPENING: The virus rages uncontrolled and the next few
weeks could make it even worse as the school year is about to begin. We have
just seen in Israel, which went from only 10 new cases a day to a 499%
increase of infected citizens, that schools can be primary mega infectors.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/second-wave-covid-hits-israel-162129002.html Despite
this and other evidence of the dangers of in person instruction, many districts
are planning to reopen, even though teachers, parents and students have grave
concerns. Now educators are fighting back. Refuse to Return, a group
of safety minded educators, refuses to return until schools are safe with no
new COVID-19 cases in their communities for 14 consecutive days. New chapters
springing up all over the country. If we are teachers, parents or
concerned community members, we can click here to see if there is a local group
for us to check out: https://www.facebook.com/101898574927837/posts/128571202260574/
They also
have templates of letters about this to send to local officials here:
https://www.facebook.com/101898574927837/posts/119036329880728/ and
other supportive actions on their Facebook page as well: https://www.facebook.com/refusetoreturn/
PPE NEED IN
THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY: In response to PPE shortages for health care
workers, National Nurses United
(NNU) is calling for Senators to support a relief bill with two essential
clauses. First, the government must uphold an OSHA emergency temporary standard
to protect workers. Second, Congress needs to support the creation of a
comprehensive and transparent medical supply chain system that includes the
full use of the Defense Production Act to scale up domestic production of PPE. We can support the demands of National
Nurses United by calling our Senators about these two measures. Both of these
demands are included in the HEROES Act (which has now been on Senator Mitch
McConnell’s desk for over 70 days!). NNU has developed a script for you to use
while on the phone with your Senators. Read the script and start dialing! (h/t)
“FLOOD ICE”
BY SUBMITTING A FAKE APPLICATION TO ATTEND ICE’S CITIZEN TRAINING ACADEMY: Never Again Action is organizing people to submit
fake applications for ICE’s upcoming citizens training academy in Chicago,
which is a propaganda program to teach “awareness and appreciation” for ICE’s
deportation work, and train them on “firearms familiarization and targeted
arrests.” This toolkit will take us through the steps, which
includes writing a statement of disgust about ICE’s human rights abuses,
posting our message as an application, and then sharing on social media. ICE
will then need to download all these “applications” and perhaps might have less
time to round up hard-working undocumented residents of our country. Let’s
consider doing this by their requested deadline, which is today, July 30.
DACA UNDER
ATTACK, AGAIN: Never one
to admit defeat, legal or otherwise, Trump and his lackeys are yet again going
after DACA; DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf—himself holding office illegally
well past his 210-day limit under the Federal Vacancies Act---acted in
violation of a Maryland court order that required the Trump administration
restore DACA to its status in September 2017; Wolf and the White House claimed
his memo refusing new DACA applications and limiting renewal to one, not the
customary two, years is an "intervening action" that makes the
Maryland decision moot: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/28/896334928/trump-administration-will-reject-new-daca-applications-administration-official-s
The Supreme Court ruling is, apparently, not worth even noting. Let’s tell
DHS what we think of flouting the decisions of two courts: Chad F. Wolf,
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528 or 202-282-8495.
HELP
REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS: The Refugee and Immigrant Center for
Education and Legal Services (RAICES) is a non-profit "that promotes
justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant
children, families, and refugees." In other words, much of what they do is
the hard, on the groundwork of trying to help immigrants/refugees being
detained by ICE and DHS. For those of us who would like to help, there
are now more options than donating. Let's check out their "Take
Action" website, which has options for us whether we have just a few
minutes, a bit more time, or whether we're "up for everything!" https://www.raicestexas.org/take-action
REPORT
DISINFORMATION ABOUT BLACK LIVES MATTER: As support swells for Black Lives Matter, it has become an even bigger
target for disinformation, and not enough has been done to stem the tide of
false accusations. https://time.com/5863026/facebook-groups-criticize-black-lives-matter/ Now, Black
Lives Matter has asked us to step up and help. We can click here to
report suspicious websites, stories, ads, social media accounts and posts about
Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatter.com/help-us-fight-disinformation/
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
VOTER
TURNOUT: Indivisible
has launched the Windivisible campaign, which focuses on electing Joe Biden,
flipping the Senate, and keeping the House blue. The campaign uses peer-to-peer
contact through phone calls, text messages, and letters, to encourage voter
turnout this November. We can participate by signing up here, or if we have
not phonebanked or textbanked before, or if we just want to brush up on our
skills, we can sign up to attend the 2020 Bootcamp training on August 8: https://indivisible.org/2020-bootcamp-registration
DEMAND
PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER:
Trump has suggested that he won’t accept the results of the 2020 election if he
loses: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-ready-commit-election-results-loses-71872508 .
Jennifer Rubin, an opinion writer at the Washington Post, has written a column
called “How to Minimize 2020 Election Chaos,” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/26/how-we-minimize-2020-election-chaos
Let’s act on some of her suggestions:
- Check our voter registration status,
and, if necessary, register to vote or update our voter registration
at https://turbovote.org/
- Learn how we can vote by mail in our
state, https://www.aclu.org/voter/
- Ask our governor https://www.usa.gov/state-governor ,
secretary of state https://www.nass.org/membership , and state
legislators https://www.congress.gov/state-legislature-websites
to pledge to publicly respect the results of the election and refuse to
delay certification of the vote based on spurious accusations.
- Send a link to Rubin’s column to our
newspaper editors and news networks (use a search engine for contact info)
and tell them that we expect them to report election results responsibly. That
includes informing the public that it may take several weeks to get final
accurate vote counts in the 2020 election. It also includes explicit
skepticism when reporting Trump’s claims of fraud.
STUDENTS
AGAINST VOTER SUPPRESSION NIGHT OF ACTION: “If you are a high school or college student passionate about
fighting voter suppression in this year’s US Senate races and enacting
structural change, join young Reclaim Our Vote activists from all around the
country to call young voters of color in six states who are at risk of having
their right to vote suppressed.” There is a Night of Action every Thursday
night from 6PM to 7PM ET from now until election day. Let’s sign up and
spread the word: https://actionnetwork.org/campaigns/students-against-voter-suppression-action-nights
GET
ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS TO THE POLLS—The Environmental Voter Project is looking for volunteers to textbank
and phonebank to get voters who care about environmental issues to the polls in
key swing states. Let’s get trained, and then, let’s get to work:
https://www.environmentalvoter.org/events
MAKE A
PLAN TO VOTE—The safest way
to vote during the coronavirus pandemic is to vote by mail. The Voter
Participation Center offers us a way to check whether we can vote by mail in
our state. Let’s use it so that we can know whether we will be voting
by mail, early voting, or voting on Election Day in November: https://www.voterparticipation.org/vote-by-mail/
STATE/LOCAL
MI:RACIAL JUSTICE/DISABILITY RIGHTS: A Michigan child,
Grace, has been incarcerated since May because she did not complete her online
school work (https://bit.ly/2X9cg5H, https://bit.ly/3feuqch).
Grace has ADHD and an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), a legally protected
learning plan for students with disabilities. Judge Mary Ellen Brennan ruled
that Grace had violated her probation by not submitting school work, and
has denied a motion for early release, defending her decision
to continue incarcerating Grace as a means of having the child complete a
"treatment program." Activists have been rallying to #FreeGrace,
which has moved Oakland County officials and some members of Congress to
get involved. Let's reach out to our state legislators and ask them to
do everything they can to get Grace back home immediately. We can also contact
Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter and tell him that Judge Brennan's
decision was unconscionable, rooted in racism and a profound misunderstanding
of disability, and should not stand: Phone: 248-858-0480, Mailing
Address: 2100 Pontiac Lake Road, Building 41W, Waterford, MI 48328
RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS/GROUP ACTIONS/TWEETSTORMS
JOIN
ANTI-RACIST, FEMINIST WEBINAR: UltraViolet,
partnering with Women's March, Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America,
MomsRising, Supermajority, and the United State of Women (USOW) is offering a
webinar series on anti-racist feminism. Today, July 30, at 5 p.m. ET/ 2
p.m. PT, speakers will cover a brief history of how white people became white,
where white feminism diverged from Black feminist practice, and the bright
spots of white women organizing, such as poor women, Southern organizing,
Jewish organizing, and LGTBQ+ organizing. We can find out more and sign up
for the webinar here:
https://womensmarch.zoom.us/webinar/register/5815958170545/WN_lLnO-hNoQbCnXZArCCoyvg
https://womensmarch.zoom.us/webinar/register/5815958170545/WN_lLnO-hNoQbCnXZArCCoyvg
LEARN
DIGITAL ORGANIZING BASICS: The
Campaign Workshop is offering
a series of free workshops this summer, starting with Let's Get Digital w/
Sophie Thurber today, July 30. In this workshop, we will learn digital
fundamentals and find creative ways to engage with our targeted groups, using
different platforms, creating a strong online presence and integrating digital
communications into our strategies. We can learn more and sign up for the
Campaign Workshop’s Digital Organizing webinar here:
BALLOTS
OVER BROADWAY: If we love music and/or want to help register
thousands of Democratic voters by November and/or want to support incredible
Black women running for office, we can join this amazing event next Friday
night, Aug. 7! It's a night of incredible music and fun featuring Tony
winners, Broadway legends, American Idol and Voice finalists, and shero
Representative Katie Porter, all to benefit Field Team 6 and Higher Heights for
America. Saving our country doesn't get much easier than watching an
amazing show from your couch.
Tickets
start at just $25. Join us and please spread the word!!! We can get tickets here: ft6.us/broadway
TRAINING
TO WIN 2020: “Got Covid
Blues? Ready to pivot to virus free, online electoral action? Training to Win
2020 has got you covered. We're here to help you navigate pandemic-induced challenges
in traditional grassroots and field organizing, to boost the total number of
voters reached and volunteers recruited in 2020.” We can learn more and sign up for this August 1st (10:00am to 1:00pm PDT) free
virtual training here: https://www.mobilize.us/training2win2020/event/287118/
READING/WATCHING/LISTENING
John
Lewis: Love in Action
- https://onbeing.org/programs/john-lewis-love-in-action/
How to
Spot Misinformation Online -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE9dFM4Bs0k
Anti-fascists
linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/us-rightwing-extremists-attacks-deaths-database-leftwing-antifa
‘It’s a
tax on being Black in this country’ — 5 ways racism is embedded in the housing
industry - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-a-tax-on-being-black-in-this-country-5-ways-racism-is-embedded-in-the-housing-industry-2020-07-24
We Are
Tracking What Happens to Police After They Use Force on Protestors - https://projects.propublica.org/protest-police-videos/
The
$600 unemployment bonuses did not lead to people working less, Yale study shows - https://www.businessinsider.com/600-unemployment-bonus-payments-dont-cause-less-work-yale-2020-7
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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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