Wed. – 8/15: Don’t give a gavel to David Porter.

Action #1 – Vote “Oh, God, NO” on David Porter for the Third Circuit

David Porter is so far outside the legal mainstream, much less the 21st century, that his own state blocked him from becoming a district judge. They were worried that he wouldn’t be able to fairly judge matters of civil rights, women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, environmental protection and workers’ rights. The basics. And so are we.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “NO” on the nomination of David Porter for a lifetime judgeship on the Third Circuit federal appeals court.

Contact
Senator Feinstein: email DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
and Senator Harris: email DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884
Other Contacts: https://hq-salsa.wiredforchange.com

Well, Rachel, he’s baaaack. So, now it’s up to us to stop this guy again. Continue reading “Wed. – 8/15: Don’t give a gavel to David Porter.” →

Tues – 8/14: Mick Mulvaney can’t clone his bad self. She’s the next best thing

Action – Vote “NO” on Mick Mulvaney’s stooge – Kathy Kraninger.

Just like many GOP bill titles are actually the exact opposite of their intent, so are the administration’s candidates for any particular office. When it was determined that Mick Mulvaney couldn’t truly concentrate on gutting two agencies at once, a search went out, well, all the way down the hall at the Office of management and Budget (OMB), to find a mini-him to continue his dismemberment of the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB).

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “NO” on Kathy Kraninger becoming director of the Consumer Financial Protection Board. She is fundamentally uninterested in protecting American consumers and completely unqualified to be in such a powerful position.
Continue reading “Tues – 8/14: Mick Mulvaney can’t clone his bad self. She’s the next best thing” →

Tues – 8/14: Midterms are almost upon us.

Nonvoters helped to hand Trump the presidency. (wapo), (fortune) Let’s help them take back their power.

We are within 90 days of the midterm elections! Check your status!

That’s an important benchmark, because under current law, states can’t purge you from their roles within 90 days of an election. In CA, click here to:

Check if you are registered to vote.
Check where you are registered to vote.
Check your political party preference.
Check your language preference for election materials.
Check the status of your vote-by-mail or provisional ballot.
Find your polling place.

If anything has changed since the last time you voted – your address, your political party, whatever, re-register to vote here.
You can register for the first time if you’re 18 or going to be 18 on election day. You can PRE-REGISTER if you’re 16 or 17.
Yes, you can register and vote in the 14 days before an election or on Election Day itself in CA, but you would have to appear in person at your local elections office.

If you’re not in CA, go to www.vote.org to find your state’s election center – each state’s election information is listed. After you’ve checked your registration status, do yourself a favor and take a screen shot of it. If things go wonky at your precinct that day, it will be nice to have that information handy.

Take the 24 hour pledge!

(from Small Deeds Done) “Senator Claire McCaskill (who has described herself as “stronger than horseradish”) issued a challenge the other day, and I wanted to share it.

Continue reading “Tues – 8/14: Midterms are almost upon us.” →

Mon -8/13: This flow chart’s gonna need a lot more pink “Sorry” boxes…

Action – This is part 1 of a two-step action to protect legal immigrants from our administration.

This rule will hit the regulations.gov website soon. In the meantime, tell your legislator that you want them to protect our legal immigrants’ rights to access healthcare and benefits. With dedicated xenophobic personnel like Steve Miller, the administration is regulating us into an immigration desert, and our legislators need to step up. When and if the rule is published for comment, that will be part 2.

Minimal script: I’m calling to from [zip code] to urge Rep/Sento speak out against the Department of Homeland Security’s proposal to penalize legal immigrants for accessing non-cash public benefits. Legal immigrants pay billions in taxes, stimulate the economy, and deserve the right to access basic benefits like the earned income tax credit.

Contact:
Rep. Julia Brownley: email (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
Senator Feinstein: email DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
and Senator Harris: email DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884
Other Contacts: https://hq-salsa.wiredforchange.com

Background

Instead of solving urgent problems like health care access for all, making higher

Continue reading “Mon -8/13: This flow chart’s gonna need a lot more pink “Sorry” boxes…” →

Sat – 8/11: Saturday chores: vacuum, clean sink, STOP FRACKING IN CA…

Participation in government is no longer just a once-every-election activity…

Action: Stop oil drilling and fracking on our public lands in CA!

Comment today and often to prevent the Trump Administration from declaring open season for drillers to pollute 1.6 million acres of CA’s public lands. We’ve listed three ways to do it. Use them all!

Comment: here using the portal from ForestWatch
Email: here directly to the Federal Register.
Mail: Bakersfield Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, Attn: Bakersfield RMP Hydraulic Fracturing Analysis, 3801 Pegasus Drive, Bakersfield, CA 93308
Here is the original notice to review at your leisure.

Public pressure works! Environmental groups like ForestWatch and rural landowners stopped the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from selling off public lands for $2.00 an acre in 2006. They need the rest of us to help out now. Comment deadline is September 7th, 2018.

Continue reading “Sat – 8/11: Saturday chores: vacuum, clean sink, STOP FRACKING IN CA…” →

Fri – 8/10: End-of-the-week notices.

We know that you’re busy working on the environmental actions from yesterday, so here are some easier actions for today. And if you’re going to a movie this weekend, please check out the theater’s playlist first, before giving your money to theaters playing Death of a Nation.

Write this down in your busy social calendar for next weekend!

We’re having a community potluck/fundraiser! It’s both to talk and have fun together, and to raise funds to help migrant families post bond for their release from detention and to pay for travel that will bring families back together. It’s at Oxnard Beach Park on Sunday, August 19th, from 11-2 and the weather should be great. Bring your friends, bring your kids, bring some great food to share and let’s enjoy the day together. We’ll keep updating these links with more information. RSVP’s would be greatly appreciated so we can plan a BBQ item. (people’s action)(Facebook)

Looking for some other activities to join in?

Check out the action here. There’s instruction for every activity, so don’t worry if it’s your first time to canvass, or register people to vote. Join in, (yes, even us introverts!) Get some new skills, and meet great people. Continue reading “Fri – 8/10: End-of-the-week notices.” →

Thurs – 8/9: Pull up your sleeves, and charge up your phone. The GOP is trying to kill off the Endangered Species Act.

(Graphic from the Center for Biological Diversity’s report on “The Unprecedented Republican Attack on Endangered Species and the Endangered Species Act.” from 2015)

Action #1 – Write comments to protect the Endangered Species Act (ESA) from the GOP’s regulatory attack.

Earlier this week, we published the comments link to stop the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the NOAA Fisheries from gutting the Endangered Species Act (ESA) rules. More information here. Deadline for comments on this piece of regulatory shenanigans is Sept. 24th. Write early, write often.

Now, let’s head on to legislation, where enemies of the Endangered Species Act try to undermine it with the death of a thousand cuts. The damage these guys do in the name of oil, gas and big agriculture will be profound and irreversible.

Action #2 – Protect migratory birds from an expanded hunting season.

In 1918, the United States enacted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) to protect migratory birds, which helped restore populations of many birds from near extinction. Nearly 100 years later, our bird populations are being threatened again, from habitat loss, global warming and from really stupid pandering legislation like this: HR6013/S2942 – “Migratory Bird Framework and Hunting Opportunities for Veterans Act”. This photo-op for right-wing legislators expands the hunting season and the stress on migratory bird populations, under the guise of providing “special” days for youths, veterans and military personnel, who are perfectly capable of hunting during the regular season. No one asked for this.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. [___] to strongly oppose [Rep.-HR6013/Sen.-S2942} – “Migratory Bird Framework and Hunting Opportunities for Veterans Act”.

Continue reading “Thurs – 8/9: Pull up your sleeves, and charge up your phone. The GOP is trying to kill off the Endangered Species Act.” →

Thurs – 8/9: Thanks to all for helping to bring the Sinclair deal down!

Action #1 – Thank you for helping on this!

No action here. Just thanks for your loyal opposition to the Sinclair/Tribune merger – calling, emailing, writing and generally making a ruckus.

Action #2 – Follow up – Tell the FCC to revoke Sinclair’s broadcasting license.

In April, 2018, Ajit Pai stated that the FCC wouldn’t pull Sinclair’s broadcast license due to their distorted news coverage. Well, how about now? “As details of Sinclair’s deceptions emerge — and with other investigations underway at the Department of Justice — it’s reasonable to question whether the broadcaster deserves to hold any licenses to profit off the public airwaves.” says Craig Aaron, the CEO of the public interest group Free Press. Great idea, Mr. Aaron, as unethical behavior is one of the numerous ways to lose a broadcast license.

Minimal Script: First, I would like to thank Chairman Pai for helping to stop the Sinclair/Tribune merger. In addition, because of Sinclair’s criminally unethical behavior during the negotiations, now is the time for the FCC to stand up and revoke Sinclair’s license to broadcast.

Contact:
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: email, 202-418-2000 Continue reading “Thurs – 8/9: Thanks to all for helping to bring the Sinclair deal down!” →

Wed – 8/8: Putting on my boycott boots!

Updated 8/9/18! New theater added!

Action – Write a postcard/email to any local theater showing Death of a Nation and boycott them until this movie is gone.

Back in 1915, people protested in front of theaters showing The Birth of a Nation. Now, a terrible filmmaker has created an incidiary film that states that America needs to be saved from Democrats. Well, Democrats and those who love them don’t need to be spending money on places that that are hosting this vicious piece of white supremicist propaganda. Send a message to your local theater and to their national headquarters.

In Ventura County, there are 10 theaters. Only one, Century Riverpark 16, owned by Cinemark, is showing this movie.

This is not by random chance.
Cinemark’s chairman, Lee Roy Mitchell, was Alabama Senate candidate/alleged child molester Roy Moore’s fifth biggest campaign donor. If the name “Cinemark” seems familiar to you, it is because it was in the news as the owner of the Aurora, CO cineplex where 12 people were murdered in 2012 and whose lawyers asked shooting victims to pay them $700,000 in legal costs. In fact, use this link to find your favorite movies WITHOUT giving money to this man or his business.
Continue reading “Wed – 8/8: Putting on my boycott boots!” →

Tues – 8/7: Summer Activities for Resisters!

(Three first time volunteers who became politically active following last November’s US Presidential elections, look for addresses while canvassing on a Saturday morning in a quiet residential neighborhood in Palmdale, California, going door to door trying to register voters)

Action #1 – Have a little free time? Look at our “Events List” and join in!

Check out the action here. There’s instruction for every activity, so don’t worry if it’s your first time to canvass, or register people to vote. Join in, even us introverts. Get some new skills, and meet great people.

Action #2 – Join Indivisible’s #SaveSCOTIS virtual phonebank!

Our national Indivisible is running a national virtual phonebank to contact key voters in Arizona, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas to talk about the Supreme Court seat and help flip these crucial Senate seats in November. Join in!

Sign up here for a training webinar this afternoon (7:00 EST) for best practices for making calls and how to use their hubdialer.

Action #3 – Join in with SURJ for a webinar.

Tomorrow, August 8 at 8pm EDT, Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is hosting a webinar on “The Alt-Right and Immigration”. We can register here.

Action #4 – Help PROJECT LIFELINE.

Since the US government is either unable or unwilling to provide for basic needs of immigrant detainees – sufficient water, food, hygiene products, blankets and warm clothes, humanitarian relief organization, PROJECT LIFELINE, is declaring the crisis and taking first action to help where our government has fallen short. They are planning two caravans, one leaving from Houston and another from San Antonio and need to collect enough supplies to fill an 18-wheeler (semi) truck and 20-30 cars / trucks. We can contribute to their Amazon wishlist link then share with our friends on social media. Their Facebook page is here and their email is projectlifeline2018@gmail.com.