11/26/18
Contact Federal Government Officials
Find elected officials: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
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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
1. This week in Congress: The House will
consider twenty-nine (29) bills this week with 8 votes scheduled for Tuesday
and the balance on Friday. Let's review the Majority Leader's Schedule so we know what's coming. On
Monday, the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Stephen
Alexander Vaden, of Tennessee, to be General Counsel of the Department of
Agriculture. We can read more about Vaden at ProPublica. We can check the Senate calendar daily for updates on what's is coming
the next day.
2. Despite his own naysaying and retreating from
the Paris Agreement, The Trump administration dropped their climate change
report the day after Thanksgiving – presumably with the hopes that its message
would be lost in the hubbub of leftovers and holiday shopping. The 1600-page National Climate Assessment
report--produced by 13 federal agencies and 300 scientists, at the request of
Congress, confirms that climate change is “affecting every sector.”
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/24/670581501/backed-by-national-report-climate-change-is-affecting-every-sector-of-our-lives
We can read the report here: https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/
The message is dire as was to be
expected. Let’s let our MoC (particularly the GOP ones) know that we have seen
the information and expect immediate action before it is too late. The report calls on us to take aggressive
action to mitigate future catastrophes. USCAN, the US Climate Action Network (https://www.usclimatenetwork.org/member-organizations),
provides a list of local and regional groups as well as national ones focused
on climate change; let’s get to work!
3. Our own authorities are using tear gas on
refugees who want to file for asylum in the US.
https://www.apnews.com/72efa4f1822241c2817a2fb6aa191fb4
Let’s ask our MoCs what they are doing about this inhumane approach to
desperate people.
4. Trump is continuing to insist that the Crown
Prince of Saudi Arabia was not involved in ordering the killing of Jamal Khashoggi,
despite findings to the contrary from the CIA. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/25/trump-khashoggi-murder-saudi-arabia-1013997. Khashoggi’s daughters have written a
powerful and poignant editorial for The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/we-are-jamal-khashoggis-daughters-we-promise-his-light-will-never-fade/2018/11/23/8be7d4f2-ef36-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html?utm_term=.59c17c33a3f3 Let’s let our MoC know that we
cannot tolerate Trump’s propensity for cozying up to murderous dictators and
that this US resident deserves justice. We
need to speak up now and insist that our MoCs overstep the president and impose
serious sanctions on the Saudis, starting with the withholding of funds and
arms (like our allies have done: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/11/24/jamal-khashoggi-finland-denmark-germany-arms-sales/2101874002/) that have resulted in a humanitarian crisis in
their war against Yemen. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/26/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-war-yemen.html. We can also take a small step to safeguard
journalists across the globe by donating money to the Committee
to Protect Journalists.
5. “An estimated 85,000 children under the age of
five have starved to death over the last three years as a result of Yemen’s civil war, a report from Save the Children has found, as the charity urged an
immediate ceasefire to prevent more loss of life.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/21/yemen-young-children-dead-starvation-disease-save-the-children
Let’s tell our A) senators to support S. J. Res.
54, and our B)
representatives to support H. Con. Res. 138 to end the United States role in the war in
Yemen. This is the worst humanitarian disaster with over 500,000 mostly
civilians killed, young children starving to death, and 14 million people at
risk of famine. The U.S. should not be a part of this war along with Saudi
Arabia.
6. Fight
for the Future is reminding us that there is still time to
overturn the FCC’s decision on net neutrality.
We can use their tool to contact our MoCs: https://www.deadlinefornetneutrality.com/
7. From Network Lobby: The
Trump Administration's proposed public charge rule would drastically redefine
who we welcome as immigrants to the United States by putting a higher value on
affluent immigrants. This rule is wrong and violates our faith teaching to
recognize the dignity of all people. Help
the faith community reach our goal of 100,000 comments submitted! It is very
important that you take the time to personalize your comment: https://networklobby.org/publiccharge/
8. From one of our own: This week’s list of public comment needs - a
couple of updates. DeVos Title IX proposal still not posted. The most alarming
things weren't in regulations, though there's a telling amount of US steel
importers who make car parts requesting tariff exemptions. I didn't check other
kinds of exemptions. Comment period open on oil drilling in Alaska federal
waters. https://drive.google.com/open?id=13jWbKRQhuImKyXUyOX_cw6deG4KRvAvd
9. In September, the Department of Interior refused
to challenge a ruling which took away the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's
jurisdiction over their own reservation (https://bit.ly/2zmTID1, https://bit.ly/2PWKtUr). Right now, there is legislation in both
the House and Senate, which would reaffirm the status of the Mashpee's
reservation: the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act (S. 2628/H.R. 5244). Let's stand with the Mashpee and call our
MoC in the House and Senate to demand that they support these bills. We can
also read more from the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe website, which includes more
information about what is at risk without this legislation, as well as phone
numbers, sample letters, and PDF's and a video we can share to help spread the
word on social media: https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/standwithmashpee/
10. “Toms,
the shoe company that donates a pair for every pair purchased, just added
another cause to its bottom line: ending gun violence. Blake Mycoskie, the company’s founder,
announced a $5 million donation campaign to end gun violence while a guest
on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Monday night. Fighting
back tears, Mycoskie explained how he was personally affected by the recent
shootings in Thousand Oaks, Calif., which prompted him to take action.” http://fortune.com/2018/11/20/toms-launches-campaign-to-end-gun-violence-with-5-million-donation/ Let’s click here and send a message to our
representatives: https://www.toms.com/
11. Ronald D. Vitiello, an architect of Trump’s
family separation policy, has been nominated to run ICE and is undergoing
Senate confirmation hearings. In his testimony, he has indicated that family
separation is still a policy option. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/417210-number-of-immigrant-children-in-us-custody-reaches-all-time-high Let’s tell our Senators that Vitiello
is unfit to lead ICE and to vote against his confirmation.
12. Flouting
ethics laws, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have failed to file their annual
financial disclosures. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/months-after-deadline-financial-disclosures-for-mnuchin-devos-ross-still-not-public/ Let’s tell our MoCs that we expect
them to exercise their oversight responsibilities on this, and let’s tell them
it’s time that they strengthen our ethics laws so that they have real
enforcement consequences.
13. In
a move that has set off a lobbying frenzy and shocked some experts on
healthcare, Trump has just invited the healthcare industry to assist in
rewriting the federal kickback and self-referral rules now governing doctors;
the existing rules are aimed at preventing improper influence over choices of
doctors, hospitals and prescription drugs for Medicare and Medicaid
beneficiaries, 100 million people who account for more than a third of all
health spending: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/move-to-relax-rules-that-ban-health-care-kickbacks/
We need to tell the White House that the healthcare industry has already proven
itself so predatory and corrupt that it must be barred from any participation
in such rule-writing.
Election/Voting
1. Georgia has Runoff Elections coming up next week
on Tuesday, Dec. 4. We can help get Georgia's Democratic voters to
the polls with Postcards to Voters'
Campaign 138: John Barrow and Lindy Miller, for Secretary of State and Public
Service Commissioner respectively. Tomorrow (Nov. 27) is the last day to get
postcards out in time for this campaign. We can all help by writing 5 cards
today. Meanwhile, volunteers will be awaiting results of this Tuesday's Special
Election for US Senator in Mississippi. (Campaign 137: Mike Espy.) More special and runoff elections will be
coming so let's stay engaged. We can sign up as new volunteers for
Postcards to Voters here.
Other Actions
1. In
this tweet, Senator Sherrod Brown (OH-D) wrote, “As Secretary of State, I asked
McDonald's to print a million voter registration forms on their tray liners. To
this day, if you go to the Board of Elections, you’ll find registration forms
with ketchup and mustard stains We should be making it easier—not
harder—to vote.” Click here to see a photo of one of the tray liners: https://twitter.com/SherrodBrown/status/1064700426543669249 Let’s write to McDonald’s corporate
headquarters and ask them to do this all over the country: Steve Easterbrook,
President, CEO, 2111 McDonald’s Drive, Oak Brook, IL 60523; @SteveEasterbrk
2. In
the vein of the old “anti-coloring books”, Coloring Without Borders Coloring Book
provides users the opportunity to finish coloring pages with” Illustrations
from over 80 professional artists from around the world.” https://store.familiesbelongtogether.org/products/coloring-without-borders-coloring-book All proceeds go to Families
Belong Together to support
their work “to permanently end family separation and detention, seek
accountability for the harm that's been done, and to immediately reunite all
families that have been torn apart.”
3. In
a tweet earlier this month, the NRA told "anti-gun" doctors to "stay in their lane"
after a series of research papers about firearm injuries and deaths was
published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, including new recommendations to
reduce gun violence. In addition to caring for gun-related
injuries and their long-term consequences, "we need rigorous research to
better understand the crisis, test solutions, and learn how best to implement
and sustain those that work," they wrote. "To date, the ability to
study important questions that might help reduce firearm-related injury has
been hampered by a lack of funding and a worry among researchers that studying
anything related to guns could put their research careers at risk. This needs
to be fixed," they wrote. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/19/health/nra-stay-in-your-lane-physicians-study/index.html To
support doctors, we can “like” and retweet many of the tweets in this article.
We can “like” the FB page for American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction
in Medicine - “Affirm” and keep up on progress.
4. From
one of our own: Everything you could
possibly need to promote Open Enrollment for the ACA in one post (including
printable PDF's for posters for all 50 states and DC in both English and
Spanish): https://www.facebook.com/groups/2468746626684978/permalink/2563901430502830/
5. Democratic
candidate for governor of Georgia, Stacy Abrams, may have given up on
contesting the election results, but she made it clear that she would not stop
fighting against the serious and unconstitutional voter suppression efforts
that have plagued voting rights in the state. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/politics/stacey-abrams-concession/index.html. In addition to planning a major federal
lawsuit, Abrams is launching an organization called Fair Fight Georgia, which
aims to fight back against voter suppression. We can find out more on how to
donate money or get involved here.
6. While
the northern California Camp Fire is now contained, so much as been lost. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/25/670652466/northern-california-camp-fire-contained Postcards for America has a guide to how we can help: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15TciVMPv2u5Sm-eXBTBe6gJeDuF0latYiiGI-P1F1FA/edit
7. Suit
Up Maine’s pre-election
work was second to none. Let’s revel in
their good news and then follow them on Facebook: https://www.suitupmaine.org/goodnews-bluewave-edition/
8. "Crooks
have found a new way to steal your mail. They're exploiting a free service from
the United States Postal Service (USPS) that offers an early look at what's
coming in the mail." https://local12.com/news/nation-world/sign-up-your-address-for-usps-informed-delivery-before-scammers-do Let's sign up for this service to
protect our mail: https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action
9. “Trump
thrives in areas that lack traditional news outlets,” Politico reports, based
on its analysis of subscription data and election results.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/08/news-subscriptions-decline-donald-trump-voters-505605 Our democracy depends on a free,
independent press. If we are able, let’s renew our newspaper subscriptions, and
consider giving subscriptions as gifts this holiday season.
State Actions
1. MI: State senator Tom Casperson has
introduced Senate Bill 1197, which would authorize the construction of
a utility tunnel between the upper and lower peninsulas, under the Mackinac
Bridge Authority. This would make it much more difficult to prevent Enbridge
from constructing yet another pipeline in our Great Lakes, something which
is already in the works between Enbridge and Governor Snyder.
Let's be sure to call our state senators, and especially for those of us in the
37th district, let's be sure to contact our senator, Wayne Schmidt, who
has voiced his support of
the tunnel in the
past. We can find more information and talking points at Oil & Water Don't
Mix.
2. MI: The Michigan
League for Public Policy is
gathering support during Michigan's lame duck session to push for the
bipartisan Raise the Age legislation. Right now, Michigan is one of only four
states who automatically prosecute 17-year-olds as adults. Let's read through MLPP's
article on why we need
to push this legislation through, then head over to Raise the Age to read through talking points and see
which legislation is included in the 18-bill Raise the Age package that is
sitting in the House Law and Justice Committee. Then, let's be sure to contact
our representatives and ask them to support this important legislation.
3. MI: When Republicans in the state
legislature passed legislation to increase minimum wage for tipped workers and
provide paid sick leave, there was concern that they were doing so in order to
remove the proposals from the November ballot, and then to amend the
legislation after the election (https://www.freep.com/story/news/2018/09/05/minimum-wage-michigan/1202620002/). Those concerns have borne out; Senator
David Hildebrand has introduced Senate Bill 1171 (http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2018-SB-1171), which would eliminate the provision that
ensures tipped workers receive the same minimum wage as other, non-tipped
workers. Let’s call these 5 Senators on the Michigan Senate Government
Operations Committee and ask them not to pass S.B. 1171 out of committee:
Chairman Arlan B. Meekoff: (517) 373-6920, Geoff Hansen: (855) 347-8034, Mike
Kowall: (517) 273-1758, Jim Ananich: (517) 373-0142, Morris W. Hood III: (517)
373-0090.
4. NY: Now that New York state is a
Democratic trifecta, let’s push for voting reforms like early voting, automatic
voter registration, pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and voting
rights for people on parole. Let’s get involved at Let NY Vote: https://letnyvote.org/ .
5. VA:
Virginia could be the 38th state out of 38 states needed to ratify the
Equal Rights Amendment, which would finally provide a Constitutional guarantee
of equal rights for women. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/18/669036449/virginia-could-be-the-state-to-give-women-equal-rights-nationwide. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers has
come on board to press the issue, but this still must be brought to the
legislature for a vote. Let’s make sure to contact our state legislators and express our support for ratifying the
ERA.
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize
1. If
we are interested in Electoral Politics. Movement Technology. Grassroots
Organizing. Digital Strategy. Capacity Building, we can check out Roots
Camp, where all of these facets of our movement meet. Held from
November 27-December 2 in Baltimore
MD, it’s a chance to be a part of an “unconference” where
participants design all sessions and leaders from all parts of the
movement – organizers, campaigners, data directors, have a dynamic
exchange of ideas. This year, they’re looking at how to practice a more
inclusive politics and thinking about ways that we can transform our democracy
so that our people win and collectively thrive. They’re interested in
expanding understandings of what justice looks like for all our people, and
equipping our leaders with the skillsets, tools, and frameworks to take this on
and thrive. We can learn from one another, dream up new ideas, make
lasting connections, and strengthen our networks. The conference aims to be
inclusive, and there are several ways to defray the cost of attending. If
we would like to find out more, including information about travel stipends, or
volunteering in exchange for admission costs, we can check it out
here: https://www.wellstone.org/events/rootscamp-2018
2. EmpowerandHelp and The
Swell Collective have
gotten planning underway for a wellness and community engagement retreat for
community organizers in April of 2019,
venue and location TBD. The retreat will give those of us in need an
opportunity for a weekend away to focus on resilience building activities,
personal intention and goal setting, and “in real life” collaborative social
networking with others in the movement. We can sign up here to stay in the loop
or get involved: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYVFWZy-t1N0OcKknDdwegFnUpt-RQWzE7jrNpL74Nuj0Wew/viewform
Reading/Watching
1. 13 Dire
Impacts Outlined in the New Climate Report - https://politicalcharge.org/2018/11/24/13-dire-impacts-outlined-in-the-new-climate-report/
2. After
Years of Taking Up Too Much Space, Trump Is Finally Small - https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/donald-trump-lies-clinton-comey-investigation.html
3. New
American Nazis: Inside the White Supremacist Movement That Fueled Pittsburgh
Synagogue Shooting - https://www.democracynow.org/2018/11/20/new_american_nazis_inside_the_white
