The NRA is busy in our county today. The Brady Campaign has sent out this notice…
This is an FYI notice for next Saturday for a NRA-sponsored GOP fundraiser for Ronda Baldwin-Kennedy, who’s running against Jacqui Irwin (D) in the November election for State Assembly District 44.
Continue reading “Saturday 9/22: County-wide news and notices in brief: Events happening today!”
One last hurdle stands before AB 3131 becomes the first Indivisible-sponsored law in the country: Governor Jerry Brown’s signature.
AB 3131 is a commonsense measure that allows the community to have a seat at the table before military weapons (e.g. tanks, grenade launchers, etc) are brought into our neighborhoods by requiring law enforcement to hold an open public hearing prior to acquisition of any such equipment.
Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Governor Brown to sign AB-3131 to make all of us safer.
Contact the Governor: 1-833-522-8923
Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) want to merge into one huge Catholic church-controlled conglomerate whose religious strictures threaten women’s lives and access to reproductive health care, along with gender-affirming care, and services for low-income communities. In Ventura County, this “Ministry Alignment Agreement” would effect St. John’s Regional Medical Center and St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital, removing what little leeway they have left in providing services within religious strictures. The two Catholic hospital systems have to get approval from our state attorney general before they can proceed with the merger. Let’s say “NO”.
Ventura County’s public meeting is today, Thursday, September 20, 2018, beginning at 1:00 p.m., at Oxnard College, Performing Arts Building Conference Center, 4000 S. Rose Avenue, Oxnard, CA 93033. Spanish notice here. RSVP here.
In 1991, Professor Anita Hill testified at Clarence Thomas’s nomination hearings regarding his pervasive sexual harassment. The questioning she was subjected to by that committee was designed to ridicule and humiliate her. We need to do better this time. Professor Hill has suggested some changes to the process that would make it better and less partisan. You can read her entire op-ed here.
Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want the Judicial committee and Senator [___] to take Dr. Ford’s allegations seriously by selecting a neutral investigative body with with experience in sexual misconduct cases that will investigate and present its findings to the committee. Continue reading “9/19 – Wed: Drive this home.”
Brett Kavanaugh has stated that he never assaulted Christine Blasey Ford. That he’ll repeat that claim under oath on Monday is expected, but of no importance, as he no longer has a reputation as an honest man to defend. With more information coming to light, testimony from his current hearing, as well as from his 2004 and 2006 hearings, have been re-cast as bald lies, alongside many statements that have been perjury-adjacent or “evasive”. He has been outed on the national stage as what he really is – a highly partisan political operative, and not the even-handed dispenser of impartial justice Americans deserve. His perjury under oath should immediately disqualify him from SCOTUS contention, as well as the federal bench he currently serves on.
Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to do four things to prevent Brett Kavanaugh from ascending to the Supreme Court.
Continue reading “Tues 9/18 – Judges shouldn’t lie under oath. Period.”
“The Supreme Court in 2016 ruled unanimously that “representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote,” and the Constitution makes clear that the census has a clear purpose: to count all U.S. residents, regardless of background, as the basis for the apportionment of political power. The Census Bureau spent most of this decade responding to this mandate, leading painstaking research, technology development and question testing. With their belated interference, Trump and Sessions are upending this meticulous preparation.
The harm from this decision, if it’s not reversed, will be expensive and long- lasting.” (wapo)
Brett Kavanaugh authored a dissent in a case that upheld a semi-automatic weapons ban, arguing that the assault weapons ban was unconstitutional. In an excerpt from Judge Kavanaugh’s dissented in Heller v. D.C. (2011) “In Heller, the Supreme Court held that handguns – the vast majority of which today are semi-automatic – are constitutionally protected because they have not traditionally been banned and are in common use by law-abiding citizens. There is no meaningful or persuasive constitutional distinction between semi-automatic handguns and semiautomatic rifles. Semi-automatic rifles, like semi-automatic handguns, have not traditionally been banned and are in common use by law-abiding citizens for self-defense in the home, hunting, and other lawful uses.”
Maybe he missed the fact that a 10-year ban on assault weapons had been enacted, starting from 1994 through 2004 under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Even though that ban had some huge loopholes that limited its effectiveness, like grandfathering in semi-automatic weapons and large capacity magazines made before 1994, statistics show that a total of 16 mass shootings took place during the ban in the U.S., with an average of 20.9 people shot in mass shootings each year, as compared with 154 mass shootings this year alone with 11,000 deaths due to gun violence. We’re on track to match 2017, with its total of 346 mass shootings. Continue reading “Fri 9/14: Gun action Friday – Tradition!”
