9/22/20
Do you know why I ‘m certain the republic will
survive? Because I know what you are capable of. You are going to rise to this
challenge. You are going to do things you never expected you’d do. You will
vote. You will volunteer. You will contribute. You will march. You won’t stop.
(Walter Schaub, former director of the United
States Office of Government Ethics)
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1308584865382780928
NATIONAL ISSUES
JUSTICE FOR BREONNA: Months after Breonna Taylor was murdered in her
home by police officers conducting a no-knock raid, a Kentucky grand jury has
decided against any indictments over her death. https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/09/23/914250463/breonna-taylor-charging-decision-to-be-announced-this-afternoon-lawyer-says)
Instead, one officer has been indicted for endangering three people in a
neighboring apartment with stray bullets. Let’s be sure to follow the lead of
local organizers, particularly Black Lives Matter Louisville, in their six
demands: 1) Immediately fire and revoke the pensions of the officers that
murdered Breonna, ). Divest from LMPD and invest in community building, 3)
Immediate resignation (or impeachment) of Mayor Greg Fisher, 4) Metro Council
ends use of force by Louisville Metro Police Department, 5) A local, civilian community police
accountability council that is independent of the mayor’s office and LMPD with
investigation and discipline power, and 6) The creation of policy to ensure
transparent investigation processes. We can find more details, along with
contact information here (click “Read more” on the page for details): https://action.justiceforbreonna.org/sign/BreonnaWasEssential/# For
those of us with the means, let’s also contribute to the Louisville Community
Bail Fund to help support local activists: https://afgj.salsalabs.org/louisvillebailfund/index.html
RUSSIA, RUSSIA,
RUSSIA: As Laurence Tribe, American legal scholar who
is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at the Harvard Law School, tweeted on
Tuesday, “The meticulously reported works by Michael
Schmidt and Peter
Strzok make clear that Trump has succeeded in preventing any real
investigation of what Putin has on him and how he became Putin’s useful idiot —
a Russian asset in the Oval. Reelecting Trump would put Putin in control.” We always knew it was Russia and we are
gaining a greater insight into what has happened over the last four to five
years: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-22-2020
Let’s make sure our MoCs know that we will work to get those who support
this out of office as soon as possible.
Correction: PUBLICLY REMIND GOP SENATORS ON TWITTER OF
WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT THE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE NOMINATION IN 2016: Yesterday we published a Google doc featuring what
key Republican Senators said in 2016 about why a Supreme Court Justice
shouldn’t be confirmed so close to the election. Here’s an updated document
with more Senators’ comments and their Twitter handles. Let’s remind
them on Twitter of exactly what they said, call them out for their hypocrisy,
and demand that they delay the nomination until 2021 in order to let the
American people decide through their vote who gets to nominate the next Supreme
Court Justice, just as they claimed was the only fair course of action in 2016.
Let’s also share this document widely with our networks and post it in public
places so the entire country is aware of their hypocrisy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nnuQNpD4vPB4hjcpGDf_h-dYd0iVgR41DzJUs1frEQQ/edit?usp=sharing
CHAD WOLF
CONFIRMATION: Earlier this month
the GAO determined that Chad Wolf was serving illegally in his position as
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/14/gao-chad-wolf-ken-cuccinelli-ineligible-dhs-395222 Trump
has now put forth Wolf as the nominee for the position. Let’s
remember that under Wolf’s leadership ICE has been continually reckless and
harmful to so many immigrants in detention. He is the one who sent
federal officers to Portland to quell the situation. Now we’ve
learned that he and other DHS officials have tried to influence
intelligence. Wolf is not the kind of person needed in that
position. After not showing up at his scheduled hearing last
week, he showed up yesterday and, not surprisingly, backed his DHS. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/acting-department-homeland-security-secretary-chad-wolf-set/story?id=73173301
Trump appointees are notorious for saying one thing and doing another. Let’s make sure our Senators and know we
oppose him.
CONGRESS NEEDS TO
HELP HUNGRY CHILDREN: “A
critical tool for fighting child hunger is set to expire at the end of the
month, despite persistent need among millions of children due to the pandemic.
. . According to research from the Brookings Institution, the program led
to a 30 percent drop in food insecurity among low-income children in the week
following the disbursement of benefits, reaching an estimated 2.7 million to
3.9 million kids.” https://thefern.org/ag_insider/while-congress-fiddles-a-critical-tool-to-address-child-hunger-is-about-to-expire/ Unless Congress extends this before the end
of the month children in the USA will starve needlessly. Let’s let all our MoCs know that this,
along with a passage of a substantial COVID-relief bill for regular citizens,
not corporations or the wealthy, is a much better use of their time than
in-fighting.
TELL COLLINS AND
MURKOWSKI TO USE INFLUENCE TO SWAY GOP SENATORS: Susan Collins likes to play the moderate when her
vote isn’t needed, but let’s not forget she voted for Kavanaugh and voted against
impeachment. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/20/murkowski-opposes-moving-forward-with-supreme-court-nomination-418910.
Let’s tell Murkowski (202) 224-6665 and Collins (202) 224-2523 that it’s not enough for them to take
a personal stand against the ethics of choosing a Supreme Court Justice so
close to the election. They should do everything in their power to publicly
persuade their Republican colleagues that pushing through a successor less than
50 days before a presidential election, especially since they refused to
confirm a vacancy that had been open 8 months before an election last time is
hypocritical, unethical, and reflects badly on the Republican party.
ENCOURAGE MORE
WHISTLEBLOWERS TO COME FORWARD IN DOCUMENTING ICE ABUSES: Last week, nurse Dawn Wooten blew the whistle,
alleging that women in ICE detention center in Irwin County Georgia are being
sterilized without their consent. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/16/913398383/whistleblower-alleges-medical-neglect-questionable-hysterectomies-of-ice-detaine.
Never Again Action and RAICES have teamed up on a campaign to encourage more
employees who work for ICE to come forward and blow the whistle on nationwide
abuses of inmates. Let’s check out their toolkit and get involved.
SHOW UP AT SENATORS’
LOCAL OFFICES ON FRIDAY AND DEMAND THEY POSTPONE THE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
PICK: Indivisible is asking
groups to mobilize this Friday, September 25 and show up at senators' local
offices to demand senators not vote to confirm a new justice until after
Inauguration Day. We can check out their event toolkit, and their website to attend
a local event on Friday and participate in other useful SAVE SCOTUS
actions.
COVID FUNDS MISUSED: Despite an ongoing shortage of PPE,
apparently the Pentagon used taxpayer money from the CARES Act intended for
masks, swabs, and other medical supplies to pay instead for jet engine parts,
drones, body armor, and military uniforms; moreover, they often directed this
money to large corporations already receiving Payroll Protection Program money
from the federal government: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/22/covid-funds-pentagon/ or https://abc17news.com/politics/national-politics/2020/09/22/washington-post-pentagon-used-funds-for-coronavirus-response-supplies-for-jet-engine-parts-body-armor/
Let’s tell Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and the undersecretary in charge
of DoD acquisitions what we think of this misuse of funds during a pandemic
that has now killed 200,000 people in this country: 1-844-872-4681 or Dr.
Mark T. Esper, Secretary of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC
20301-1000 and Ellen M. Lord, Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition,
Technology and Logistics), 3010 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-3010
A TRUMP NOMINEE, ANY
NOMINEE: Sen. Mitt Romney
(R-Utah) announced Tuesday that Trump should get to choose a replacement for
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, regardless of whether he wins in November: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/22/mitt-romney-supports-holding-a-vote-on-trumps-supreme-court-pick-this-year.html
Despite his words to the contrary in 2016, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has
likewise fallen into line with Mitch McConnell’s plan to hold a hasty--maybe
lame duck--confirmation vote in the Senate: https://www.postandcourier.com/news/despite-2016-vow-lindsey-graham-supports-trump-choosing-ruth-bader-ginsburgs-successor/article_89725b3e-fa8d-11ea-bc2a-a742a921ff9d.html We
have yet to hear that any Republican vote might be effected by WHO the
particular nominee is. Let’s remind our senators that evaluating the
credentials of a SCOTUS nominee, not acquiescing to a presidential preference,
is their job.
IMMIGRATION/FORCED
STERILIZATION: On September
14th, Dawn Wooten, a nurse at an ICE concentration camp in Georgia, filed a
whistleblower complaint alleging forced sterilization among detained
individuals (https://n.pr/3cpzkn7).
This is yet another means of exacting genocide on immigrants in
the United States, as defined by the United Nations. For those of us who
have not yet done so, let's call our members of Congress, and tell them that we
want them to contact the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland
Security and urge him to conduct an investigation immediately. We can also ask
the Inspector General directly: Mr. Joseph V. Cuffari, Inspector General,
Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, Washington, DC
20528. Phone: 202-981-6000. Let's also learn about how we can support
organizations on the ground in Georgia, and contribute to the safety of Dawn
Wooten as she has taken great risk in filing her whistleblower
complaint: https://bit.ly/3kIkHhS
NEW “SPOT THE TROLL” QUIZ: Two professors
have come up with a quiz that helps us more clearly see how to identify troll accounts
on social media. “Spreading wrong or
deliberately false information online often starts with fake accounts. A post
is then shared by real people who feel the posts speak to their personal or
political beliefs. Linvill and Warren have identified millions of such posts
since the 2016 election where U.S. officials uncovered efforts by Russians to
sow disinformation on social media.” https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/story/can-you-spot-the-troll-how-to-beat-clemsons-quiz Let’s take the quiz and learn: https://spotthetroll.org/
ELECTION/VOTING
ELECTION - GET OUT THE VOTE (GOTV)
CA—FOR DISPLACED VOTERS: California has prepared a Displaced Voters
Fact Sheet for those displaced by wildfires or other emergencies. Let’s
consul it and share so everyone can vote: https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/pdfs/votesafe-displaced-voters.pdf
VOLUNTEER NOW! There are so many ways we can help achieve the four top
priorities of the 2020 election: (1) to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to
the White House, (2) to flip the US Senate to Democratic control, (3) to keep
and expand the Democratic majority in the US House, and (4) to end extreme
Republican gerrymandering in the states. Let’s sign up with one or more
of the following and get to work:
ENGAGE ONE MILLION YOUNG VOTERS: The youth environmental activists at the Sunrise Movement have a postcard
campaign to get one million young voters in key swing states to go to the
polls. Generous donors have made it possible for us to order 100 postcards and
stamps on a pay-as-you-can basis. Let’s order our postcards today and
start writing to get out the youth vote! https://postcards.sunrisemovement.org/
WRITE VOTER TURNOUT LETTERS—Vote Forward’s The Big Send is a campaign to
send letters to Democratic-leaning voters in key states and urge them to
vote. The goal: 10 million letters! Let’s sign up and start writing
from the comfort of our own homes: https://votefwd.org/bigsend
WRITE POSTCARDS TO GET DEMOCRATS TO THE POLLS: “Postcards to Voters
are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving
Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast.” https://postcardstovoters.org/ This
is something easy and impactful we can do from home. Let’s sign up and
start writing: https://postcardstovoters.org/volunteer/
SPLC POWER HOUR: Southern Poverty
Law Center (SPLC) will continue to sponsor virtual phone banks weekly on
Thursdays giving us the ability to encourage voters in the South get out the
vote, recruit people to work the polls and to register to vote. Scripts are provided. We can read
more and sign up here: https://www.splcenter.org/splc-power-hour
ELECTION - SUPPORT CANDIDATES
GET INFORMATION MATERIAL TO SUPPORT DEM CANDIDATES IN EVERY STATE: If we are looking for
information on good candidates to support, Postcards for
America https://www.postcardsforamerica.com/ has
all the information we need on Democratic Candidates for House, Senate,
Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State for all fifty states. With
prewritten tweets, Facebook posts, website and donation links, and colorful
postcards, there is much we can use to get our candidates over the finish line. We
can click here for links to follow and support Democratic candidates and
download printable postcards for each one as well: https://www.postcardsforamerica.com/all-dem-candidates-postcards-tweets--posts.html
DIY BIDEN SIGNS: From one of our
own: Here is the link to high res
files, so you can have your own 24x18 yard signs made: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nugIA7lGejlKyS7e4CPrmwWY0MeTER9I
TEXT FOR JAMIE HARRISON IN KEY MONEYBALL WINNABLE SC SENATE RACE: If we are looking for a
race where our efforts can have a big impact, we can check out Jamie Harrison’s
South Carolina Senate race against Lindsey Graham. South Carolina is a “Moneyball
State”, where flipping a small amount of voters Blue in a tight race can lead
to a Democratic Senate, according to calculations by the Princeton Election
Consortium. https://election.princeton.edu/2020/08/09/whats-more-important-than-a-presidential-probability/ We can check out Harrison’s campaign
here. https://jaimeharrison.com/then sign up to text, and get the detailed information and help we need
to be effective here. https://demvolctr.org/resources/textbanking/textbanking-harrison/ Let’s get busy and turn the Senate Blue!
2020 SENATE PRIORITY RACES: From Your
Weekly Pep Talk & Action List -“Jonathan Zucker, first CFO and second
CEO of ActBlue and founder of It Starts Today (www.itstarts.today), has assembled n incredibly helpful
list of 2020 Senate Priority races, based upon a combination of electoral
chances and current support. If you want to support candidates but are
trying to figure out which races you should focus on, this is your resource!
Check it out here: https://contribute.itstarts.today/2020_priorities/contribute Important: if/when you donate via the 2020 Priorities, your donation will go to the nominee.”
MORE DIRTY TRICKS: Regardless of how one feels about the Green
Party, in particular, or third parties, more generally, it is clear that the
Republicans are at work trying to split the Biden vote in November’s election
by working to get the Greens on the ballot: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/us/politics/green-party-republicans-hawkins.html
It is equally clear that the Democrats want the Greens off the ballot and that
they hope third party candidates will have less impact than they did in
2016: https://apnews.com/477f1db3b18163a429ab4b3f418f60d4
Before we assume, like last time, that Biden will inevitably win, so a
doomed third party vote is inconsequential, let’s think twice and consider both
the voting statistics from 2016 and the arguments put forward by 170
environmentalists who urge us not to vote Green this time: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-letter-green-voters-diane-maceachern
REPUBLICANS FOR BIDEN: "In an era when voters are increasingly skeptical
of national politicians and media, your voice matters more than ever. From now
until Nov. 3, help us place 500 op-eds in local papers across America written
by Republicans who support Joe Biden. If you want to write an op-ed, we can
help you through the writing process/ show you how to submit it to your local
paper. If you've already written an op-ed, we want to help amplify it!"
Let's get the word out about this fantastic initiative. We can sign up to
write an op-ed, here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQqxlPcwnH_zyMmzGTXDnTg-r27d1PZYLKQxLtt3BcGCVSNQ/viewform
ELECTION - REGISTERING VOTERS
HELP TO GET PEOPLE REGISTERED TO VOTE: “The act of voting is
a centerpiece of our American democracy. But before you can vote, you must be
registered to vote. A conservative
estimate from the Pew Charitable Trusts indicated that just over 1 in 5
eligible Americans are not registered to vote. The way we will win elections is
by getting our candidates more votes. So the first place to start is by helping
fellow Americans get registered.” Let’s
see how we can help: https://politicalcharge.org/2018/03/10/15-ways-you-can-help-get-more-people-registered-to-vote/
ELECTION - OTHER
DONATE: Giving to the Biden/Harris campaign https://joebiden.com/ is
obvious—and definitely important!—but we have many options for applying our
donations impactfully this election season. Let’s check out these
campaigns and consider donating what we can:
POLL WORKERS: Power to the Polls is working on getting 250,000
healthy, low-risk people signed up to be poll workers this election. Currently,
poll workers are disportionately over 60 years old, placing them at greater
risk during the pandemic. Let's join Power to the Polls to not only
take this burden off of older individuals, but also become more engaged
citizens and work to decrease long wait times on Election Day. We can learn
more about being a poll worker, and sign up here: https://www.powerthepolls.org/about
TAKE OR ANALYZE PHOTOS OF PRECINCT RESULTS TO PROTECT THE VOTE: With so much at stake
in the next election, many of our votes need protection from hacking and
interference with voting equipment. If we are looking for ways to help defend
election integrity, we can check out the Protect Our Votes (POV) Photo
Finish project, which will publish and compare election night precinct tallies
with the final results. At the end of election days, precincts print their
results on poll tapes and post them on doors or windows for all to see. To help
preserve the integrity of these results, we can take their photos, then post
them on POV website. If we don’t take photos, we can still help by comparing
these pictures with the final counts. POV will publish this info and any
significant differences on their Photo Finish Results page. This kind of
transparency will help shine a bright light on possible tampering. We can sign up to photograph poll tapes or
to compare them to the final results here, then share this information with our
friends on social media: https://www.protectourvotes.com/photo-finish/
DEMOCRACY CARE PACKAGES: Many of those we know are feeling very stirred up
and motivated following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg but don’t know how or
where to get started. With their permission, let’s deliver democracy
care packages… 10 stamped postcards, 10 addresses for Postcards To Voters, and
instructions/deadline for the campaign being written for (greatly simplified
from what is sent by PTV: like “write this exact text…”). We can also include
phone numbers for our Congressional Reps and an inspiring RBG quotation.
SUPPORT WISCONSIN DEMS AND WATCH A REPLAY OF VIRTUAL PRINCESS BRIDE: Many of us may have missed the live virtual
Princess Bride last week, but now we can “chip in any amount to get access to
an exclusive replay of The Princess Bride Reunion with a
script read by the original cast, special guests, and a wonderful Q&A
session hosted by Patton Oswalt! Anything
you donate will be used to ensure that Trump loses Wisconsin, and thereby the
White House.” Let’s do this and have
some fun, too: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/princess-bride-reunion-replay
STATE/LOCAL
ISSUES
FL – RACIAL INJUSTIC LEGISLATION: Florida governor Ron DeSantis has proposed
legislation, the “Combatting Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement
Protection Act,” that, if passed in the next legislative session, would impose
draconian (and possibly unconstitutional) punishments on both cities and
individuals involved in the struggle for racial justice: https://www.flgov.com/2020/09/21/governor-ron-desantis-announces-the-combatting-violence-disorder-and-looting-and-law-enforcement-protection-act/
and https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/09/21/watch-live-gov-ron-desantis-speaks-from-polk-county-sheriffs-office/
It is crucial that those of us who live in Florida make it clear to our
state legislators that their support of this act will lose them our vote.
RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS/GROUP
ACTIONS/TWEETSTORMS
SCOTUS NATIONAL
ACTIVIST CALL: “Indivisible
is hosting an emergency SCOTUS National Activist Call when Trump announces his
Supreme Court nominee. This is your chance to hear from Indivisible
leadership and our policy experts on how we are preparing to fight back against
Trump and his Republican enablers once they push through a SCOTUS pick in the
wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's passing.”
Let’s sign up here to keep up to date and informed: https://act.indivisible.org/signup/scotus-emergency-natl-call/
ACTIVISM 101
WEBINAR: Jess Craven, of Chop
Wood Carry Water, is continuing her Activism 101 sessions! Activism 101 is
a free, one-hour (ish) webinar for folks who have very little to no experience
with activism and/or political action. It’s a survey course with one goal: to
give those who are furious and sickened by the state of our, bite-sized actions
they can take to help vote Trump out, flip the Senate, win a bunch of
down-ballot races, and basically make good things happen in November and
beyond. Workshop will be led by Jessica Craven who is a mom, veteran activist,
elected member of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party Central Committee,
legislative chair of her Moms Demand Action chapter, and the author of daily
actions email “Chop Wood, Carry Water.” Let’s grab a few friends
and inquire about times: cwcwdailyactions@gmail.com
WOMEN’S MARCH ON
OCTOBER 17: “The Women’s
March organization is planning a nationwide protest next month [Oct. 17] opposing President
Trump and his move to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court.” https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/517603-womens-march-planned-for-october-to-protest-trump-filling Let’s sign up and be part of this
action: https://act.womensmarch.com/signup/march-october
READING/WATCHING/LISTENING
Majority of
Americans, including many Republicans, say wait for election to replace
Ginsburg - Reuters poll - https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN26B0TN
Democrats Need a
Plan. Fast. - Here’s how they can apply maximum pressure, brand the
process as the illegitimate farce it is and lay the groundwork for desperately
needed reform - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/opinion/ruth-bader-ginsburg-senate-democrats.html
Trump Preached
White Supremacy in Minnesota, America Barely Noticed - https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-white-supremacy-racehorse-theory-1064928/
Sustaining Police
Free-Schools Through Practice- https://issuu.com/ggenyc/docs/gge_police-free_schools_toolkit__formatted
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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
