Action #1: Share this important message from Susan Schmidt-Orfanos.
“Most of you don’t know me. Our son Telemachus Orfanos, was murdered in the Borderline mass shooting on Nov. 7, 2018. Our lives were and continue to be shattered. The pain, the anguish and the rage are often uncontrollable. My family continues to work with a number of gun safety organizations to find ways to finally end gun violence. So that no more families experience this horror.
We need your help.
On December 2, devastated by the school shooting in Michigan, Manuel Oliver, who lost his son Joaquin at the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida flew to Washington D.C. to demand a meeting with President Biden in order to urge him to prioritize gun violence reduction. (UPDATE: Message from Manuel at the bottom of this post)
Manny is not leaving. Then-candidate Biden promised all gun violence survivors he would use all his powers to mitigate gun violence. We are all still waiting.”
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code][state] to ask President Biden to meet with Manuel Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was killed in the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland Florida. He’s flown to Washington D.C. to personally ask the president to pledge that he’ll announce a plan of action for reducing gun violence at his State of the Union address.
Update 03/01: Our pressure is scaring them! They’ve been forced to re-brand “direct contracting” (Say hello to “ACO REACH!”) and added a few crumbs for the poor, but PNHP states that it’s still “direct contracting in disguise” – putting profit-driven middleman that no beneficiary ever asked for into traditional Medicare.
(Note to self: Any privatization program that requires “Accountable” as its first word is in trouble out the door.)
Action #1: Sign a petition to HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra that asks him to exercise his power to end this dangerous program.
Action #2: Call your representative to fight against Trump’s privatizing of Medicare and to support H.R.3. – the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act .
Action #3: Seriously Joe. What are you thinking? Keep your word!
However, Rep. Katie Porter is sounding the alarm! We need to educate Congress — and soon.
In May of 2021, four members of the U.S. House of Representatives (Reps. Mark Pocan, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Lloyd Doggett, and Katie Porter) sent a letter to Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra expressing concern about Medicare Direct Contracting, and calling for an immediate freeze of the program.
Action #1: The Biden administration has the power to stop this program in its tracks. Sign a petition to HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra and ask him to exercise his power to end this dangerous Medicare privatization program.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (lead sponsor of H.R. 1976, the Medicare for All Act) sent a sign-on letter to every member of Congress (read the letter here) addressed to HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra, asking him to immediately end the Medicare Direct Contracting pilot program.
Thousands of doctors and other advocates have already signed a petition demanding that Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra halt the DC program, provide real oversight of CMS’ Innovation Center, and protect Medicare for future generations. (One-page fact sheet: pnhp.org/DCEFactSheet)
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to thank Senator [___] for supporting S.1975 – Women’s Health Protection Act and to ask that [he/she] carve out the filibuster to protect the 65 million women who will immediately lose access to complete reproductive health care if Roe v. Wade falls. I also want the senator to demand that the Senate Judiciary Committee look into the omission of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from Dobbs v. Jackson on the basis of her own 1998 law review article where she stated that she’d be unable to rule objectively on death penalty or abortion cases due to her religious convictions.
Rep. @Ilhan Omar plays a chilling recording of a death threat she received following Lauren Boebert's threatening post against her – the person accuses her of being a terrorist while actually being a terrorist. pic.twitter.com/2CUkXW56DY
Now we need to stand behind Rep. Omar (D-MN) who is the target of Rep. Lauren Boebert’s repeated racist and anti-Muslim lies. Boebert, a serial liar and possesor of a surprisingly long rap sheet, joins Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in the bloodsport of smearing progressive lawmakers of color with derogatory and dangerously inflammatory terms like “Jihad squad” and “terrorist.”
What Boebert and Greene are doing is the essence of stochastic terrorism – “the use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.” The stochastic terrorist may deliberately incite violence or simply be indifferent to its possibility. In either case, the danger posed is very real, if somewhat intangible (until it is too late).”
Demonization – a figure with a platform targets a person or group to be blamed for real or imagined ills.
Dehumanization – with repetition of the demonisation, the target loses their personhood in the eyes of the audience, becoming a monster or symbol of evil and depravity.
Desensitization – violent language and imagery is used in discussion of the target, and while no direct calls to use violence are issued, violent speech becomes an accepted part of the discourse.
Denial – when violence occurs, the stochastic terrorist denies any responsibility, pointing to their lack of direct involvement or instruction.
(Watch the video at the bottom for an example of how the rhetoric of Trump and his right-wing media pets created a terrifying reality for a temporary election worker in Georgia.)
Action #1: Flood House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s phone lines.
Update! We, along with 68 other CA groups, made the national news!
(theHill)“A coalition of nearly 70 California progressive grassroots groups urged Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) either to call for the “swift passage” of both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act by the end of this month or to resign.“ (Letter attached at the bottom of this post.)
Action #1: Dear Senator Feinstein, it’s time to drop the filibuster for the “Freedom to Vote Act” and the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act.” And postpone your holiday until AFTER the BBB Act is passed.
Action #2: Dear Governor Newsom, We need you to step up for solar…
Action #3: Write a comment to protect DACA recipients – DEADLINE November 29 at 11:59 pm EST
We’ve just had another infuriating episode of #WhiteTearsWin. Kyle “Property over People” Rittenhouse walked away with 2 dead and one permanently damaged body in his wake, along with what Anthony Huber’s parents stated is “the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street.” Hopefully his victims’ families will be able to sue him for damages in a civil trial, but that’s cold comfort. If an action comes from this, we will bring it forward.
Meanwhile, we need to take a moment to focus on some wins (see our header above), and the work we need to do next. Some of these you can do during business hours today or Monday, and all have an component you can do this weekend.
Action #1: Dear Senator Feinstein, it’s time to drop the filibuster for the “Freedom to Vote Act” and the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act.” And postpone your holiday until AFTER the BBB Act is passed.
We know from early on in our Indivisible movement that Feinstein will move if enough people flood her office with comments. (Yes, she was ready to rubber-stamp that horrid Jeff Sessions as Attorney General before we’all found out.) So make her phones ring in every office, it really only takes minutes to contact them all and say the short phone script. (Program your phone to save time! “MOC” = “Member of Congress”) Then fill up her email box over the weekend and make ourselves HEARD!
(Note: Thanks to all those who came out for the picture. Special callout to the awesome squad from Santa Barbara!)
Action #1: Write Feinstein an email/letter
Action #2: H.R.4064/S.2155 – Prevent Election Subversion Act – Protect Election Workers from harrassment and intimidation.
Action #3: Call your senators.
Action #4: Call the White House
Action #5: Email Joe.
Stacey Abrams nails it: “This isn’t about which party wins elections, it’s about whether Americans get to participate in choosing the government that will lead them.” #GiveUsTheVote
Sample email/letter: You are welcome to use as much or little as you want. Speak from your heart. There’s a lot of good material here too. (Other senators to worry about: Manchin (WV), Sinema (AZ), Jon Tester (MT), Coons (DE), Carper (DE), King (MN) Hassan (NH), Cardin (MD))
Dear Senator Feinstein,
[We gathered last Saturday at our county government center/I’ve called you/I’ve written you] to ask you to be brave. To publicly state that you’ll carve up the filibuster to enable the “Freedom to Vote Act.” To state that you’re willing to overthrow decorum of long practice for the far more urgent need of democracy itself.
Action #1: California residents – Send in a comment to Newsom to tell him we agree with his draft resolution on drilling!
Action #2: Sign a petition/send an email to Gov. Newsom to protect rooftop solar.
Action #3: Comment on super-emitter SoCalGas facility near EP Foster Elementary in W. Ventura. DEADLINE: Monday, November 15
Action #1: California residents – Send in a comment to Newsom to tell him we agree with his draft resolution on drilling!
(vision-ca.org) Right now, more than 2 Million Californians are living and breathing the toxic health impacts of oil and gas drilling sites in their neighborhoods. An end to chronic asthma and cancer in our neighborhoods is in sight. Just last month, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a draft regulation to stop new drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, hospitals, schools, and other sensitive receptors.
Now, a 60 day comment period allows the public to raise our voices to to be heard over the thundering voice of Big Oil familiar to us in Ventura County!
The Jan. 6 House select committee voted unanimously on criminal contempt charges for Trump White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon for ignoring their subpoena. The House then certified their vote, requiring Attorney General Merrick Garland to “bring the matter before the grand jury for its action,” Any individual who is found liable for contempt of Congress is then guilty of a crime that may result in a fine and between one and 12 months imprisonment.”
OK, then, get started! The House select committee just issued 16 new subpoenasover two days to possible insurrection co-conspirators eager to follow in Bannon’s obstructionist footsteps, since he appears to be unfettered by any actions from Garland for now. Light a fire under this man!
Email Attorney General Merrick Garland
Sample script to Attorney General Merrick Garland:
Sir, the facts are clear. Bannon was duly subpoenaed by Congress and refused to appear. Both the Jan. 6 Select Committee and the House voted to charge him with criminal contempt. To deny putting him in jail right now is sending a message to the long list of subpeonaed high-level co-conspirators that they too can refuse to cooperate, hoping to stall justice until an election might allow them to walk free, unlike us mere mortals, who’d face a minimum of 6 months for similar charges.
What happened on Jan. 6 was an organized crime against democracy, and Bannon’s public statements indicate that he was a witness to the planning of it, and possibly an active co-conspirator. By delaying your decision, you risk harming the work of the Jan 6 Select Committee and interfering with a basic function of Congress.
Stop the normalization of violence by radicalized legislators.
Update 11/11/21:20 Democratic members of Congress introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Gosar. Not as good as expulsion but it could remove him from his committee seats. Added script!
Update 11/10/21:Rep. Gosar has removed his tweet! Taxpayer-funded snuff films are still NOT ACCEPTABLE, thanks to alert citizens like you! We have adjusted the scripts accordingly.
Action #1: Flood House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s phone lines
Action #2:Email Jack Dorsey of Twitter.
Action #3:Email Attorney General Merrick Garland.
NEW!!! Action #4:Call/Email your legislators to join censure action and add committee removal to the mix.
The GOP has a history of telling women to “relax” when violence is done to them. Back in 1990, Texas GOP gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams shared an analogy while preparing for a cattle roundup…”He compared the cold, foggy weather spoiling the event to a rape, telling ranch hands, campaign workers and reporters around a campfire, ”If it’s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.” Meanwhile, AOC, the designated villain in a violent anime Gosar’s staff posted on Twitter and Instagram, is already working under near-constant death threats. Says Yale historian, Joanne Freeman, “Threats of violence lead to actual violence. They clear the ground. They cow opposition. They plant the idea. They normalize it. They encourage it. They maim democracy. And run the risk of killing it.”
Action #1: Flood House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s phone lines.
Minimal script: I’m calling as a voter of [California] to to tell Rep. McCarthy, in his role as House Minority Leader, that I do not want my taxpayer dollars used in the creation of violent materials threatening legislative opponents or the President. Not only was Rep. Gosar’s tweet a gross abuse of public funds, making a video depicting the killing of a coworker in any other job in America would result in firing and a call to the police. That the tweet is gone now makes zero difference. Tell Rep. McCarthy that he needs to join House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in calling for an both Ethics Committee and law enforcement investigations into Gosar’s actions. At minimum, he should be removed from his committee assignments, as Rep. Margerie Taylor Greene was, and officially censured. At best, he should be expelled.
More script if you want it: Rep. McCarthy seems unable or unwilling to control the increasingly unhinged behavior of GOP House members. Maybe, it’s time he steps aside for someone who can maintain some semblance of law and order.
Contact: Ring his phone off the hook at 202-225-2915
Action #2:Email Jack Dorsey of Twitter. Ask him to kick Gosar off Twitter
Nothing showing a man killing a woman is in the “public interest.” Women already know they live surrounded by male violence – their lives are shaped by that reality 24/7. Additionally, prominent congresswomen like AOC have to somehow manage to live and work under the reality of multiple death threats, which now includes the possibility of violent films from fellow legislators, facilitated by platforms like yours. That Gosar’s tweet, which you admit violates your own rules on “hateful conduct” remained easily available for his followers because he is a powerful man, just made it worse for her.
I understand that after a flood of condemnation, Gosar took down his tweet. Apparently, America is not ready to “relax” over taxpayer-funded snuff films. However, I’m asking you to do better, since he is unable to. If you are truly interested in issues of “public concern,” you would permanently ban Rep. Gosar from your platform as the stochastic terrorist that he is.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 