Fri 8/24: Get ready for your Kava-never weekend…

Sunday, Aug. 26th is National Women’s Equality Day!

The United States Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women full and equal voting rights on this day in 1920.  In 1971, Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY) sponsored the resolution and every year since, each president declares this day as Women’s Equality Day.

This should be interesting… The Center for American Progress put out this great list in 2017 of 100 ways the Trump administration is feverishly working to harm the rights of women and families. It should be substantially longer by now, including a threatening gag rule on doctors, attacking the UN’s resolution supporting breastfeeding, attacking SNAP,  and gutting the asylum categories most used by women.

We have work to do!

Action #1 – Join in at the “Write For Your Rights” event!

Continue reading “Fri 8/24: Get ready for your Kava-never weekend…” →

Thurs 8/23 – Kavanaugh-t Thursday. Just say “NO” to Trump’s “get-out-of-jail-free” card.

Would Kavanaugh protect Trump from the Mueller investigation? Oh, yes.

A sitting president has never been indicted. Yet. Can it happen? Well, that would be a question that the Supreme Court would decide. Which is why we’re including Brett Kavanaugh’s opinions on this subject as a reason to call your senators and urge them to vote against this nominee.

His past writings make it clear that he would side with Trump if the president were indicted or subpoenaed. He has argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations or even questions from a prosecutor or defense attorney while in office. But what if a president ascended to his position illegitimately? Or is unable, due to an unremittingly malign character, to fulfill his oath of office to support and defend our Constitution? We need to stop this nomination process now.

Continue reading “Thurs 8/23 – Kavanaugh-t Thursday. Just say “NO” to Trump’s “get-out-of-jail-free” card.” →

Wed 8/22: CA legislative update. The deadline for ALL bills is close!

It’s the home stretch for the California state legislature who will be voting on all bills on the floor of both chambers between now and the deadline of August 31st.

(For those unfamiliar with how bills are passed in CA, here is a description of each stage on a bill’s little red and green flow chart, found under the “status” tab. Here is the main page link for CA legislation.)

Our top priority bills:

Police reform:

  • AB 3131 (police demilitarization) – Read second time. Ordered to third reading in the Senate. Jackson was a “YES” in committee) We did an posting on this here. and Indivisible did this one on all three of these bills.AB 3131

  • AB 931 (deadly use of force policy) Re-referred to Com. on RLS in the Senate. Jackson was a “YES” in committee. We did a posting here.AB 931

  • SB 1421 (police misconduct records) Read second time. Ordered to third reading in the Assembly. Jackson was a “YES” in the Senate, Limón not recorded. We did a posting here.
    SB 1421

Miminal script for state senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to [continue to] vote “YES” on AB 3131, and AB 931. Continue reading “Wed 8/22: CA legislative update. The deadline for ALL bills is close!” →

Tues 8/21: Call Dianne and ask her to fix the “Secure Elections Act” bill.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 8/22/18 , the Senate Rules Committee will deliberate on the Secure Elections Act [S. 2261]. It certainly will provide a more secure infrastructure against cybersecurity threats than our current state, but it is missing two of the most important and effective ways to secure elections; paper records to detect and quickly correct for cyberattacks and automatic risk limiting audits to ensure that such detection actually happens. Otherwise this bill is like going on a picnic with buns, condiments, and napkins, and then realizing you left the burgers at home.

Action – Call your committee members and ask them to amend the bill!

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to demand that the Committee amend S. 2261 – “Secure Elections Act” to require states to give voters the option to mark their ballots by HAND, or provide a voter-verifiable paper trail and to conduct “Risk Limiting Audits”.

(Check here to see if your senator is on the committee. Dianne Feinstein is a member.)

Contact your Legislator
Senator Feinstein: email DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
Other Contacts: https://hq-salsa.wiredforchange.com

Background

Continue reading “Tues 8/21: Call Dianne and ask her to fix the “Secure Elections Act” bill.” →

Tues 8/21: Kavanaugh-t Tuesday – The fifth vote for more Citizens United nonsense.

This quote by Bernie gets corporate knickers in a twist, but it clearly expresses what most voters want – a Supreme Court Justice who will limit corporate money in politics, not someone who will abolish abortion or gay marriage. Kavanaugh, if confirmed, will continue the line of decisions that created Citizens United, further demolishing the principle of political equality, limiting our ability to combat corruption and encouraging the bizarre spectacle of for-profit, secular corporations suing to avoid laws due to their “religious values“. The Hobby Lobby win, which was dependent on Citizens United ruling, opened a Pandora’s box of religious divisiveness. It immediately allowed secular corporations to deny women access to any contraceptives that they found “theologically objectionable“.

Action #1 – We need to start reversing Citizens United…

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [__] to closely question Brett Kavanaugh on his record and views regarding the Citizens United and Hobby Lobby decisions and similar actions. Agreement with these decisions is grounds for a negative vote. Continue reading “Tues 8/21: Kavanaugh-t Tuesday – The fifth vote for more Citizens United nonsense.” →

Mon – 8/20: Your Monday Kavanaugh-t – Follow the paper trail…

A right-wing extremist minority is within one SCOTUS seat of erasing the progressive gains of the last 50 years.

Senator Feinstein’s staff met with Indivisible East Bay recently and told them that they aren’t hearing from us, her constituents, opposing Kavanaugh’s nomination. Fewer than 33,000 people have called her office opposing the Kavanaugh nomination, in comparison to the hundred thousand contacts opposing Neil Gorsuch by the time of his 2017 Judiciary Committee vote. This is strange because polls indicate only 37% think the Senate should vote to confirm Kavanaugh, making him “the least popular SCOTUS pick in decades”.

But our legislators are Blue! They already know what we want! WHY DO I HAVE TO CALL?!?

Our members of Congress (MoCs) staff tally numbers of contacts per zip code per issue every day and give those numbers to the Senator. They use those numbers to justify actions they take and how strongly they push. And if we don’t call, you can bet they’re still hearing from the other side, like NRA members and forced-birthers. Emails are fine, too. Get your phones set up for fast calling, and try the less popular offices like Fresno and San Diego, first. If the lines are busy, set a timer for a half-hour and call back.

Every day, we will present a new aspect of what we’re fighting for.

Action #1 –  We want transparency. Cough up the paperwork.

Continue reading “Mon – 8/20: Your Monday Kavanaugh-t – Follow the paper trail…” →

Sun – 8/19: Everyday morality in five acts.

We are not powerless against this government.

Our outrage over the administration’s inhumane policy of separating families became a living force. Regular people resisted this moral wrong in every way possible, writing letters to the editor, making calls, rallying, marching, blocking streets and ICE facilities, witnessing arrests – that energy was translated into actions by our legislators, our state attorneys, and organizations like the ACLU. Together we stopped this destructive administration in its tracks.

But damage as been done. And the opposition is regrouping. Here are some important things you can do.

Action #1 – Take a moment to gather energy with your community.

Join us today, Sunday, 8/19, for our potluck/fundraiser for the Immigrant Legal Defense Center. We’ll have chicken and hotdogs, a piñata for the kids. And we’ll share ideas on the battles ahead and how we can better work together.

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Then, from Monday on, back to the business of resistance.

Action #2 – Call on these bills (you can take a couple of days, and repeat)

Continue reading “Sun – 8/19: Everyday morality in five acts.” →

Fri – 8/17: Protect our right to freely assemble at our nation’s capital.

Action #1 – WRITE to protect our right to freely assemble at our National Mall! Deadline Oct. 15.

While Trump is personally attacking critics of his administration with revocations of their security clearances, his administration has quietly lobbed an assault on the free speech of the rest of us. A new proposal has just appeared in the Federal Register originating in the National Park Service, headed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.  This proposal would CHARGE PROTESTERS for demonstrating in the nation’s Capital!

We’ve stopped their attacks before!
We derailed the imposition of exorbitant fees at our national parks, another Zinke-Production, by flooding them with comments. “I want to thank the American people who made their voices heard through the public comment process on the original fee proposal...”

We can do it again! This time it’s a first amendment right, not a parking fee.
Here’s an idea. Instead of paying millions for a parade at our capital to show off our military, how about protecting our first amendment rights to freely protest there to show off our democracy?

Link here for the proposed rules change.
Comment here
Look at other comments for inspiration here.

Hardcopy: Mail or hand deliver comments referencing “National Park Service” and “RIN 1024-AE45” to National Park Service, National Mall and Memorial Parks, 900 Ohio Drive SW, Washington, DC 20024, Attn: Brian Joyner.

Action #2 – CALL/EMAIL: Tell our legislators to preserve our right to free protest demonstrations and rallies at the National Mall.

Continue reading “Fri – 8/17: Protect our right to freely assemble at our nation’s capital.” →

Fri – 8/17: Come join us this Sunday at the beach!

Come get your feet wet, eat some food, make some new friends and help us raise money for the Immigrant Legal Defense Center (ILDC).

When: Sunday, August 19, between 11 AM and 2 PM
Where: Oxnard State Beach Park, Pavilion 2,  1601 Harbor Blvd, Oxnard
Bring: Bring your family, friends and a side dish – we’ll be providing hotdogs! We’re also going to have about 20 pounds of marinated barbequed chicken that will need your close attention. Kids welcome. There will even be a piñata!
More info: Facebook link, flyer to print out below

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Thurs – 8/16: A “war economy” is a “system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to sustain the violence.”

– Quote by Philippe Le Billon.
“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”  – Major General Smedley Butler

We last published an action on Yemen on 3/15/18. Back then, Trump had just tweet-fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and proposed CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a Tea-Party conservative, torture-supporter and relentless anti-Muslim bigot, in his place, and Yemenis were starving and dying of cholera. (Background from that column included at the bottom.) That’s still happening.

This is where we are now:

  • Children were targeted: Last Thursday, a U.S.-backed Saudi airstrike killed 44 children. In a school bus. On the way home from field trip.
  • Business as usual: This was just one of more than 50 airstrikes THIS YEAR. The Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT) has only admitted Saudi error in 2 of 75 incidents involving civilian casualties.
  • Hitting civilians is a feature, not a bug…: Strike rates on civilian, non-military targets average 33%.
  • Hey, we better go check on this: US Defense secretary, James Matti sent a US 3-star general to inspect the bus bombing because…
  • It’s now the law…: The defense spending bill Trump just signed includes a clause that Pompeo must certify that Saudi Arabia and UAE aren’t targeting civilians or lose our help refueling their warplanes. Trump has raised objections to 52 provisions of the new law, including that measure. 
  • Too late, we’re already complicit in war crimes!: Specifically Article 14 of Additional Protocol II and customary international laws that prohibit warring parties from attacking indispensable civilian resources and/or using starvation as a weapon of war. Also from hindering humanitarian aid and workers.
  • Nothing to see here: Trump hasn’t mentioned this attack, nor has Pompeo after talking to the Saudi crown prince.
  • Nothing to see here – part 2: Saudi Arabia is the biggest single buyer of arms from the US and the UK. Raytheon is currently lobbying to sell 60,000 precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia in a multi-billion dollar deal. Maybe that’ll help them get ALL the kids next time.
  • Making new friends everywhere we go!: Said the father of one of the survivors who escaped with a broken leg. “America is the head of evil, as well as the Saudi regime and the mercenaries of the Saudi regime.”
  • Update 8/17/18: It is confirmed. It was our bomb, made by Lockheed Martin. It was similar to the one used in the funeral hall bombing in October 2016 that led President Obama to ban selling the Saudis precision-guided military technology. Trump overturned the ban in March 2017.

Action  – Do what we did before, but LOUDER!

Continue reading “Thurs – 8/16: A “war economy” is a “system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to sustain the violence.”” →