Good News for Women!
Time Magazine chose the women brave enough to stand up to their harrassers as “Person of the Year” over the man accused of being a harrasser himself. Which is great!
However, as we learn more about the #MeToo movement, it is disappointing to learn that the actual original author, Tarana Burke, who started it as part of her work with young harrassment and assault survivors more than ten years ago, wasn’t included on the cover. Our thanks and congratulations to her.
In related news – Taylor Swift, one of the women featured on Time’s cover, won her case against the radio DJ who groped her.
Summer Zervos is persisting. Trump has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct against him, calling his accusers liars and threating to sue them, but now Zervo’s lawyer is facing off with Trump’s lawyer in court over defamation charges from before he took office. Her suit now has the potential to open the records of more than a dozen suits against our Sexual-Harasser-in-Chief.
The women who have publicly accused President Trump of sexual misconduct are uniting for the first time, sharing details of their allegations and demanding that Congress to investigate their charges at a press conference on Monday. Streamed/watch here or video below.
Bernie Sanders says Trump should resign because of those allegations.
In related news, Sen. Al Franken heeded the call of his Democratic colleagues to resign but he’s not doing so quietly. “There is some irony that I am leaving while a man who bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who preyed on young girls runs for Senate with the full support of his party,” he said, referring to President Trump and candidate Roy Moore of Alabama. Republican Sen. Tom Tillis is calling for a misconduct investigation of Roy Moore if he wins.
A new poll from Quinnipiac found that 70% of Americans believe that Donald Trump should be investigated for the sexual harassment and assault allegations leveled against him.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Board has created new standards of conduct for it’s members, emphasizing that “There is no place in the Academy for people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates recognized standards of decency. The Academy is categorically opposed to any form of abuse, harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, age, religion, or nationality.”
Iceland’s new prime minister is a 41-year-old anti-war feminist and environmentalist.
Goodbye, Charlie Rose. Hello Christiane Amanpour!
Lindsey Vonn will be representing the American people at the 2018 Winter Olympics, not our President. Pretty clear on that.
Utah’s Rep. Mia Love has called for Texas GOP congressman Blake Farenthold to resign. Her Stop Taxpayer Obligations to Perpetrators of Sexual Harassment Act would make it illegal for federal legislators to pay sexual harassment settlements with taxpayer money. Farenthold has pledged to pay back the $84,000 settlement.
Senator John Conyers, D-Detroit, retired after 53 years in office amid sexual harrassment claims. The Congressional Black Caucus group, although expressing strong support for his victims, think white politicians accused of similar misconduct like Blake Farenthold, Al Franken, Roy Moore and Donald Trump get a “benefit of the doubt” that black politicians don’t enjoy.
A running list of predators. So hard to keep up!
Good News in Elections!
A Democratic victory in Georgia’s state Senate election on Tuesday put an end to the Republican’s two-thirds supermajority. Emily’s List candidate, Democrat Jen Jordan beat out fellow Democrat Jaha Howard in a runoff election for Georgia’s 6th state Senate district Tuesday night, according to the Cobb County Courier.
Atlanta Democrat Nikema Williams beat out fellow Democrat Linda Pritchett for a seat in the state Senate with 51% of the vote. Kim Schofield has defeated fellow Democrat De’Andre Pickett for a seat representing parts of metro Atlanta in the General Assembly. Bee Nguyen on Tuesday defeated fellow Democrat Sachin Varghese in a runoff for the House District 89 seat. Nguyen garnered about 52 percent of the vote.
In California, labor activist and former undocumented immigrant, Wendy Carrillo won a seat in the state Assembly. As she said in her victory speech, “You don’t need to wait to get tapped on the shoulder for someone to tell you it’s your turn. You have to fight.”
Fingers-crossed Department #1: A Maryland GOP official is requesting a refund of his donation to the Moore campaign.
Fingers-crossed Department #2: John Weaver, a former strategist for Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) and Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign said Wednesday that he donated to Alabama Democratic Senate nominee Doug Jones, along with Senator Jeff Flake.
Fingers-crossed Department #3: Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones will use excerpts of Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) saying he cannot support Republican candidate Roy Moore as part of a new robocall ahead of Tuesday’s special election in Alabama, CNN reported on Sunday.
“An advisory panel that is examining hurdles people face when they want to vote in Louisiana spent several hours at the State Capitol on Wednesday discussing the state’s registration requirements, locations of polling places and ways to aid disadvantaged communities.”
Volunteers from Voters not Politicians succeeded in adding an anti-gerrymandering proposal to Michigan’s 2018 ballot—by collecting over 400,000 signatures in just three months.
Volunteers for the group Postcards to Voters handwrote a postcard to every registered Democrat in Alabama, urging them to vote for Doug Jones in Tuesday’s election. Indivisibles Ventura, Ojai Valley and Grassroots Ventura joined in.
A word from our former President, Barack Obama…”The danger is “grow(ing) complacent,” Obama said. “We have to tend to this garden of democracy or else things could fall apart quickly. That’s what happened in Germany in the 1930s, which despite the democracy of the Weimar Republic and centuries of high-level cultural and scientific achievements, Adolf Hitler rose to dominate. “Sixty million people died,” Obama noted, “so, you’ve got to pay attention. And vote.”
Interesting news on the Mueller investigation
Legendary Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein said Sunday that Fox News is “abetting a cover up” in the White House tied to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into ties between President Trump and Russia.
Mueller has subpoenaed a bunch of bank records from Deutsche Bank. Guess who’s?
Manafort ghost-wrote an easily tracked mash note to himself in the form of an op-ed while under house arrest. Mueller was not impressed.
“Donald Trump was just 11 minutes into his presidency last January when his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, texted a former business associate from the steps of the Capitol that an American plan to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East with Russia was “good to go.” His associate’s response? “This is going to make a lot of very wealthy people.”
Great News for LGBTQ rights!
Kim Davis denied David Ermold and his future husband a marriage license and now he’s running against her.
Australia just legalized same-sex marriage.
Good News for Civil Rights!
After the NAACP issued a warning to passengers about flying on American Airlines, the company is making anti-racism training mandatory for every employee beginning in 2018.
On Tuesday night, activist and professional football player Colin Kaepernick was presented with the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. The presenter was Beyonce, who thanked him for his “selfless heart” in his fight against racial injustice and police brutality.
Michael Slager, the former South Carolina police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in federal prison, a decision the Scott family said gave it a “sense of justice.” Great video by L. Chris Stewart, lawyer for the Scott family.
A judge found the NYPD in contempt of court after they failed to turn overundercover surveillance footage of Black Lives Matter activists.
Good News for Immigrants!
German commercial airline pilots have refused to fly 222 deported asylum seekers out of Germany.
A group of 34 House GOP members is asking Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for a vote before year’s end on legislation to protect recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The community of South Bend, Ind. is telling a proposed privately run ICE detention facility that it’s not welcome in their town.
These fabulous ladies meet every Monday outside their courthouse to inform people that ICE agents target courthouses. Its’s a great idea that we should get involved in.
Thousands of people rallied in DC and across the country to demand a clean Dream Act—and Dreamers and allies from Our Dream were arrested after occupying Congressional offices and the Capitol steps. #NoDreamNoDeal#DreamActNow
Good News for the Media!
This man’s got game. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) on Sunday fired back at President Trump’s assertion that the media is a “stain on America,” responding that a free press is “the essence of America.”
Teen Vogue has been taking names and kicking a**! A year ago, the magazine’s website garnered nationwide attention for publishing a column that went viral titled “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America” by Lauren Duca. That was the warning shot from an unexpected corner that it wasn’t business-as-usual at the teen-focused magazine.
There’s actually some good news regarding the #TrumpTaxScam
California is not completely screwed yet. “…legislative staffers and tax law experts are already gaming out ways to adjust the state’s tax code to offset the loss of those deductions and counter other changes to federal taxes.”
Since the tax plan was released, Congress has received over 650,000 calls. We’re just getting warmed up.
People also visited their reps and gave them a piece of their mind.
Maine: https://twitter.com/WGME/status/938950299053674497
Pennsylvania: https://twitter.com/taxmarch/status/937398654998138880
North Carolina: https://twitter.com/indivisibleteam/status/937538211655700480
People are fighting against the proliferation of concealed weapons.
100 families and gun violence victims held a DC vigil to oppose dangerous gun legislation.
Good News in Education!
Brown University will officially replace loans with scholarship funds in future financial packages after completing an initial fundraising campaign, the school announced Thursday.
Good News for the Environment!
Patagonia, the Najavo Nation and four other American Indian tribes have filed suit against Trump’s cuts to Utah’s Monuments.
Patagonia’s “The President stole your land” campaign has so upset the House Committee on Natural Resources that they’re using your tax dollars to fight against it, which kind of looks like a violation. Here are the committee members. If any of the GOP members belong to you, you know what to do.
Good News for Veterans!
In response to pushback, HUD reverses course on cutting homeless vet housing.
Interesting things to ponder…
A senior Palestinian official in President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah party said on Thursday that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, due to visit the region later this month, “is unwelcome in Palestine.” Pence had asked to meet (Abbas) on the 19th of this month in Bethlehem, but such a meeting will not take place, Jibril Rajoub said.
I noticed in our local newspaper that during the last Olympics, women’s achievements were almost always related to back pages, while men’s contests, even those where the US lost, were on the front. This woman has made that connection with racism in the newpapers. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/alexandra-bell-public-artwork-965666
This has been a very hard week in California!
If you need help, or can offer it to our fire victims, or just need information, click here.
This is the gofundme site for Indivisible Ventura’s co-director Veronica James, who, along with her husband, lost everything they owned while they were out of the country working. She is who makes this whole this tick and any assistance you can give would be much appreciated.
Holiday gifts for the resistance.
Swing Left Impeachment Holiday cards.
This holiday season, pre-order the Women’s March book, Together We Rise, as a gift for a reSister in your life. The book offers an unprecedented, front-row seat in organizing one of the most galvanizing movements in American history and a roadmap for how we move forward.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 