The CA Recall Follies – What you can do.

No matter how many signatures a petition to recall Ron DeSantis collects, the Florida governor can breathe easy – his state doesn’t allow for recalls. In fact, only 20 states have such mechanisms, and of those, eight require a serious act of malfeasance or a violation of their oath of office. CA is one that doesn’t, which makes it the easiest pathway for the GOP, whose policies and values are completely at odds with most California voters, to “rig the system and create a low turnout election where they have a better chance” to grab the governor’s office through the weird mathematics of a “simultaneous recall election.”

Action #1 – Treat this recall election as a civic emergency that it is!

  • Share this toolkit with all parts of your social media. (More videos at bottom of this post)
  • Send it to anyone who asks your opinion on the recall!
  • Use this app to send a message to your contacts. Outreachcircle.com – Code SEF710
  • Don’t assume that everyone understands the gravity of this issue!

The toolkit contains graphics and sample texts that you can add to your postings on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in both English and Spanish.

  • Aug. 30 is the LAST day to register for a mail ballot for the Sept. 14 election.
  • You can still register and vote on Sept. 14th at an in-person location.
  • Remind anyone with a criminal history who’s not currently serving a felony sentence in county, state, or federal prison, that their voting rights have been restored. Information here.

Scan through the “Official Voter Information Guide.” GOP candidates are running on platforms that include their normal mix: “starving” government, removing environmental protections, destroying public schools, rolling back gun safety laws,”freedom” from public health requirements, removing sanctuary protections, inserting religion into state business, prioritizing forced-birth policies, and the promoting antiquated solutions regarding wildfires and water issues. A debate among three of them revealed contempt for women, lack of support for a minimum wage, and at least one multimillionaire candidate who, like Trump, has to be sued to pay his bills.

If any of these unqualified candidates replaces Newsom through January 2, 2023, our state, whose economy ranks as the fifth largest in the world, will suffer a year of chaos and wasted time during a time of massive global warming and pandemic issues. A GOP governor could issue executive orders to rollback environmental protections, criminal justice reform and the social safety net, and reshape the 2022-23 budget with line item vetoes. Hundreds of bills may be vetoed by an incoming governor. And though he/she wouldn’t get any major bills passed because of a Democratic supermajority in the state legislature, they can make toxic appointments to boards, commissions and the courts, state constitutional offices and U.S. Senate seats, which would change the current balance of power in the United States Senate.

Action #2 – How should I fill in the second question?

Continue reading “The CA Recall Follies – What you can do.” →

Afghanistan falls – Now what?

  • Action #1: Press our government to speed the process and accept more refugees – both targeted women and citizens who aided our soldiers
  • Action #2 – Email action for legislators.
  • Action #3 – Email Biden
  • Action #4 – Sign this petition to Biden
  • Action #5 – Join in helping displaced Afghan citizens

As we watch this 20-year-long, two-trillion dollar ball of conflict unravel, the end of a 9/11 chain reaction that ultimately killed 6,000 Americans and wounded 20,722, we are bombarded by partisan shouting from both sides. Two great posts by historian Heather Cox Richardson help reconstruct the steps that brought us to this moment: here and here. Judd at Popular Information has a great post on how mainstream media is once again using untrustworthy narrators in assessing the withdrawal. The full details of the Taliban’s takeover, which was estimated to take 90 days, but took only ten, will be teased out over time. Meanwhile, some of that history is already being erased. (The link lauding Trump’s now-missing “accomplishment” page for his Taliban deal is here. Experts note that his “deal,” which undercut the legitimacy of the Afghan government, contained no enforcement mechanisms and included no penalties for failing to comply with its terms.)

Update: Statements from Rep. Ted Lieu, VoteVets.org.

In the meantime, here are some useful things to do.

Action #1: Press our government to speed the process and accept more refugees – both targeted women and citizens who aided our soldiers

(Action from Chop Wood Carry Water/Small Deeds Done)

“Pro-West” Afghan women are now being hunted door-to-door, but only 44 senators signed on to a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas urging the administration to to take “swift, robust action to protect and support Afghan women leaders facing unparalleled danger following the Taliban’s violent sweep across Afghanistan and seizure of Kabul.” This would include, at minimum, a humanitarian parole category specifically for these women, streamlining the paperwork process to relocate them to safety, expanding processing capacity within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, appointing an interagency refugee coordinator and increasing and supporting evacuation efforts.

Meanwhile, H.R. 3985 – “ALLIES Act of 2021″ still needs to be passed through the Senate.

Minimal script for senators who signed letter (includes Padilla & Feinstein): I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to thank the Senator for signing the letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the plight of Afghan women now in danger from the Taliban. In addition to pushing for all the actions in that letter to help these women, I want Senator [___] to support H.R. 3985 – “ALLIES Act of 2021” with a flexible higher limit as necessary to prevent a possible massacre of Afghan citizens whose actions to aid our military puts both them and their families in mortal danger.

Continue reading “Afghanistan falls – Now what?” →

The IPCC report is out. Time to make changes. (3) easy actions.

Action #1: Ventura Climate Hub action – Ask members of Congress for a climate plan with carbon pricing with their sample letter and email.

  1. Send a letter to your legislators here with 350’s handy letter writing tool. Personalize as much as possible.

Please try to find unity for a real climate plan:

Continue reading “The IPCC report is out. Time to make changes. (3) easy actions.” →

We are on fire…Tell your representative to push for these 3 climate priorities in the recovery package.

(Image from @US_Stormwatch, Aug. 4, Dixie Fire)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (#IPCC) just announced that #ClimateChange is caused by humans, and is widespread, rapid, & intensifying in every region & across the whole climate system.
(press release: https://bit.ly/WGICC2021PR, #ClimateReport: https://bit.ly/WGICC2021).

While we await for the usual “denier” arguments from the Koch-funded fossil-fuel propaganda machine – including the Heritage Foundation and the Heartland Institute, we can watch people being evacuated by ferry from Greece, the Dixie Fire flames rise over 100′ high and climate-change flooding kill people in Europe. The whole world has been invited to this party and our host has something to say.

Continue reading “We are on fire…Tell your representative to push for these 3 climate priorities in the recovery package.” →

Seriously. Can we expel her NOW?

“YES” to H.Res.260 – “In the Matter of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

One of the takeaways from the first hearing on the January 6 insurrection was no surprise – the violent seditionists believed they were attacking law enforcement officers at Trump’s behest. “…all of them were telling us ‘Trump sent us.’ It was nobody else. It was not Antifa. It was not BLM.”

These domestic terrorists were not in any doubt as to what Trump had asked them to do.

On July 23rd, after media representatives were removed from the room, Trump’s QAnon-whisperer – Marjorie Taylor Greene, suggested that Alabama residents meet their community’s “trusted messengers” – “the doctors, the faith leaders, community leaders and others who are working to get people vaccinated, save lives, and help end this pandemic” with a “2nd Amendment rights”-style” welcome.

Is there any reason to doubt that some Alabama residents will do exactly what she asked? That her words are a tragedy waiting to happen?

ALGOP chairman John Wahl was alarmed enough to put out this statement: “The Alabama Republican Party did not host or sponsor the event with Marjorie Taylor Greene, and therefore have no firsthand knowledge of the comments made.”

Hey, Mr. Wahl, the American people are tired of “hosting” her too, but there’s a constitutional solution for this.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and want Rep./Speaker of the House [___] to expel Rep. Marjory Taylor Greene per H.Res.260 for advocating for domestic terrorism. In a private “just-among-us-friends” speech on July 23rd, she suggested that “trusted messengers” going door-to-door to answer COVID-related questions from Alabama residents be met with firearms. It is no surprise that the press was deliberately removed before her speech or that the AL GOP now disavows all knowledge of her comments.

Continue reading “Seriously. Can we expel her NOW?” →

HR 1374 is a tragedy waiting to happen. Tell your senators to throw it back.

Action #1: Easy “warm-up” environmental action.

(from 350 Conejo/San Fernando Valley) Easy action to email 20 Wall Street leaders to demand they  Defund Climate Chaos by the start of the COP26 climate talks on Novermber 1st in Glasgow, Scotland. Your email will be sent automatically to CEOs and key influencers in banks, insurance companies and asset managers.

Click here to sign onto the message!

Action #2: Call your senators to say “NO” to HR 1374

Continue reading “HR 1374 is a tragedy waiting to happen. Tell your senators to throw it back.” →

This eviction issue is actually a judge issue.

  • Action #1: Thank Biden for jumping in head-first, despite all his legal advice.
  • Action #2: Tell your representative to get back to Congress and pass H.R. 4791, the “Protecting Renters from Evictions Act, of 2021.
  • Action #3: Thank Rep. Cori Bush!

The various judgements against the CDC’s moratorium by Trump appointees in lower courts and the temporary reprieve by our GOP-dominated Supreme Court signals a far more dangerous fight, i.e. the weaponization of the “nondelegation doctrine” against what far-right conservatives call “the administrative state.”

Action #1: Thank Biden for jumping in head-first, despite all his legal advice. It’s time he expanded SCOTUS.

Continue reading “This eviction issue is actually a judge issue.” →

We wrote a letter to Biden. We need you to write one too.

  • Action #1: Write to Biden. Tell him that S.1 – the For the People Act must pass.
  • Action #2: Call your own senators and tell them to stay in D.C. until S.1 is passed.

Action #1: Write to Biden. Tell him that S.1 – the For the People Act must pass.

1,057 grassroots organizations,(including Indivisible Ventura) and nonprofits from across the country signed on to a letter to President Biden, representing the voices of 3,315,520 individual members.

(Thanks to Indivisible Georgia Coalition for putting this original letter together!)

Now we’re asking you to add your voice as well.

You can copy/paste this sample email, in part or in its entirety or make your own:

Continue reading “We wrote a letter to Biden. We need you to write one too.” →

Time for some Fox-sequences. Report their COVID lies to the FTC.

Join this guy in stopping Fox News’ lies about the Covid vaccine! He’d made it really easy to help.

(From Dean Obeidallah) “This is special edition of my newsletter given the dangerous lies that many-although not all—Fox News hosts have been spewing about the Covid vaccine.

On Tuesday, July 20, I filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Fox News for possible violations of the Covid-19 Consumer Protection Act. That law, enacted in December 2020, makes it “unlawful” for a corporation or individual “to engage in a deceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce associated with the treatment, cure, prevention, mitigation, or diagnosis of COVID–19.”

My goal in filing this complaint is to prompt the FTC to investigate and bring an end to the apparently deceptive information Fox News has been selling to the consumers of its channel. Given the FTC’s expanded powers under the new Covid-19 Consumer Protection Act to protect the public from deceptive information related to the treatment or prevention of Covid-19, I believe this complaint fits squarely within the spirit of its new mandate. Fox News is a for-profit business that is selling its product — information — to the public in exchange for cable subscription fees.

The FTC is the perfect agency to protect the public from any person or entity peddling false information about Covid-19 vaccines in pursuit of pecuniary gain. I wrote in detail about the legal basis for the claim, the sources that prove Fox News hosts lied about the Covid vaccine and the need for an investigation in my new MSNBC op-ed out today that you can read HERE. 

My hope though is that YOU will also file a complaint with the FTC—it literally will take you less than five minutes. Info is below. Let’s not just get angry about the dangerous lies Fox News is spreading that is potentially killing people, let’s do something about it!

ACTION #1: File an FTC complaint:

Continue reading “Time for some Fox-sequences. Report their COVID lies to the FTC.” →

No recess until the Senate passes S.1 – For the People Act and stops partisan gerrymandering.

Today’s good news included the IRS being ordered to hand over Trump’s taxes to Congress and the public exposure of the notes taken during his attempt to bully Georgia into declaring him a winner.

But not good enough. The GOP will just patiently wait out this news cycle or even consider it a welcome distraction from the news they’re hoping we won’t notice…

On August 16, the Census Bureau will release their demographic data, the starting gun for the GOP to quietly and immediately gerrymander away six to 13 seats in the House of Representatives—more than the 5 needed to retake the House in 2022—through its control of the redistricting process in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas alone. The Republican redistricting advantage extends far beyond those four states: They’ll be able to draw 187 congressional districts, compared to 75 for Democrats, and those that elected new legislators like Lucy McBath, the first Black woman to represent old Newt’s district, will be eliminated. We already know that CA will lose a seat, while Texas, Florida, and NC will gain some.

Instead of hanging in their home districts with us, we need our senators to be pushing S.1 – For the People Act through. Some reforms could theoretically wait until after a recess period, but certain key proposals, such as prohibiting partisan gerrymandering, must be enacted now to make a difference in the 2022 elections. Without congressional action in the next few weeks, Republicans could lock Democrats out of power for the next decade, even if voters mobilize and turn out heavily in Democrats’ favor. So, the window to prevent partisan gerrymandering is closing quickly.

Yeah. That’s the real news. 

Minimal script for our own senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to stay in the Capitol to push through “S.1 – For the People Act,” especially the parts prohibiting partisan gerrymandering. I would consider leaving for summer recess a dereliction of duty, as the Census Bureau is releasing fuel for a savage GOP-redistricting on August 16. I and my friends worked hard for Sen. [___]. But unless [he/she] wants to become part of the legislative minority party again, watching helplessly as an actual minority party passes unjust bills and tries to reinstate a fascist president, [he/she] needs to get to work now and stay until it’s done. No excuses. Nothing in [his/her] district is as important as dealing with this issue.

Continue reading “No recess until the Senate passes S.1 – For the People Act and stops partisan gerrymandering.” →