(9/17/2020) “The Senate has confirmed six of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees in the past 30 hours,” tweeted Vanita Gupta, of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “These are lifetime appointments that McConnell’s pushing through instead of the HEROES Act & other crucial legislation.” Anisha Singh, of Planned Parenthood, called on the Senate to halt upcoming votes, noting that two of the latest pushed through for Illinois are threats to people’s health, rights and bodily autonomy. Her full statement is here.
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to remind [her/his] fellow legislators to get their priorities straight and pass H.R. 6800 – HEROES Act already! Americans are suffering. Americans are going hungry. Americans are becoming homeless. WHAT IS GOING ON?!? (or use black2thefuture’s terrific script here. Or do both!)
Not sure about what the Heroes Act is? Here’s a nice explainer here. (The House passed their version on May 15th and the same GOP who slipped a $135 BILLION dollar giveaway to the wealthy into the CARES Act, are embracing austerity (Hey, remember that “skinny” bill?) for the rest of us.
RBG was a fierce champion of justice and equality on the Supreme Court. We owe her an enormous debt of gratitude, and we must fight hard to uphold the ideals of equality and justice she dedicated her life to.
Join us in honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life. We are holding a candlelight vigil at the Ventura County Government Center at 8pm this evening. Corner of Telephone and Victoria. Facebook link to share: https://www.facebook.com/events/3477983085599848/
In honor of her dissent of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Shelby v. Holder decision that reversed part of the Voting Rights Act, we will also have a voter registration table.
Please bring safe forms of illumination.
Masks are required and we’re enforcing the 6′ social distancing rule.
By participating in this event, you agree (i) not to engage in any act of violence or violation of any applicable law, (ii) to obey the orders of authorized event marshals and law enforcement authorities, and (iii) that event organizers and sponsors will not be responsible for any injury or damage to your person or property resulting from or occurring in the course of your participating in the event, and you agree to release and forever hold harmless event organizers and sponsors, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents from liability for any such injury or damage.
Refresh GOP senators’ memories with their own words – on postcards!
(Share!: tinyurl.com/postcards-to-hypocrites) In the days leading up to her death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dictated this statement to her granddaughter: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
Let’s help! An amazing person compiled a collection of quotes from various GOP legislators that were used in 2016 to deny Merrick Garland a Supreme Court seat. Now, you can put them on postcards, with the addresses she’s gathered. It also helps the USPS, so it’s a two-fer! (Feel free to mix it up on the non-quoted sections of the message!)
Senator Lindsey Graham
God, this is like taking candy from a big ‘ol corrupt baby…
In 2016, you said: “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait to the next election.” Those are your words, sir. Keep your word. SCOTUS nomination hearings should not start until 2021.
Address: 290 Russell Senate Office Bldg.,Washington, DC, 20510
Senator Mike Lee
In 2016, you said: “We think that the American people need a chance to weigh in on this issue, on who will fill that seat. They’ll have that chance this November and they oughta have that chance.” So, it’s 2020, and the shoe still fits. Please don’t be a hypocrite: do the right thing by delaying SCOTUS nomination hearings until 2021.
Address: 361 A Russel Senate Office Bldg.,Washington, DC 20510
Action #1 – Write a quick comment to the county to add wildlife crossings into their new freeway work.
Mountain lions and other wildlife attempt to cross Hwy #101 and many times their journey ends in death. The project to create a “greenway” over the road is now underway at Liberty Canyon. (The image is an artist concept of what the finished overpass will look like.)
With fires raging through our future, our first thought was that animals will be trapped in fire areas, with no escape. But that’s just a one part of the issue. Collisions with animals on the highway are also dangerous for humans. About 200 people die every year from animal collisions and the incidence is increasing. Wildlife bridges have been very effective in helping avert these tragic and expensive incidents and to preserve endangered species. (Lots of information about animal crossings in this National Geographic article.)
Jim Hines, from the Sierra Club is working to get more of these bridges created, but he needs our help!. Here is his letter to us.
“Good Morning Ventura County Friends: The County of Ventura and CalTrans are in the very early stages of planning a 101 freeway widening project which would extend from Thousand Oaks to the City of Ventura. And I would like during the construction process to have CalTrans construct a wildlife overpass over the 101 in the Conejo Grade area. The Conejo Grade is a known wildlife crossing and the National Park Servivce has documented a number of cases where mountain lions and other wildlife have crossed the 101 freeway in the Conejo Grade area. I have joined the efforts of Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks in urging people to comment in favor of a 101 Conejo Grade wildlife overpass to be constructed during the 101 widening process.
This is the study area information here. Click on “PUBLIC IMPUT” at the top and make a comment in support of a “greenway” bridge.
Example comment: While CalTrans is planning a freeway widening project, please have them include a wildlife crossing in the Conejo Grade area, is many mountain lions and other animals try to cross there.
Action #2 – Call Newsom to sign AB 1788 and save the lives of our wildlife.
HE STILL HASN’T SIGNED, and there’s opposition from both the companies that make these products and those that use them. He needs to hear from us!
Up in the Santa Monica Mountains, P-47 was just going about his job. The mountain lion, studied by researchers since he was 4 weeks old, was part of an ecosystem that keeps rodent populations under control. However, due to eating prey animals dosed with anticoagulant poisons, internal bleeding caused him to die a slow and painful death.
(from original post on 7/8/19) AB 1788 – Pesticides: use of anticoagulants. Anticoagulant rodenticides (rat poison) indiscriminately destroys ecosystems and poisons native wildlife such as bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, owls and hawks. These rodenticides are also one of the top ten pet toxins, injuring or killing household pets who eat either affected rodents or the bait itself. In addition, more than 4,400 children under age 6 were poisoned with these long-acting toxins in 2016, which disproportionately harmed those from low-income families. (More information from Project Coyote and Marilyn Krieger’s article “Rat Poisons Aren’t Selective” here.) We can do better.
UPDATE: After a two-year fight, this bill was finally placed on Governor Newsom’s desk at 3:00 pm yesterday! Now we need him to sign it!
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I would like Governor Newsom to sign YES on AB 1788. the bill that limits the use of anticoagulant rat poison, which is poisoning native wildlife and destroying ecosystems.
More script if you want it: Wildfires are already stressing our wildlife by destroying habitat. Please remove these toxic substances from the many dangers they are now facing.
Since the beginning of our country, immigrants have risked everything to find safety and a better life for their families within our borders. Yesterday, however, a whistleblower came forward with allegations of violent abuse against immigrants at an ICE detention center in Georgia that only adds to the crimes against humanity that shame us all. Beyond refusing to test and treat patients for coronavirus, the complaint described a doctor who was performing hysterectomies on detained women, effectively sterilizing them, with little to no explanation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats have already demanded an investigation.
“When I met all these women who had had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp. It was like they’re experimenting with our bodies,” a detainee said.
“No woman should be forced into life altering surgery. No one should be forced to sign a paper they don’t understand, when they’re informed in a language they’re not comfortable with.“ Kimberly Aponte of @GLAHR_ on mass forced hysterectomies at Irwin Detention Ctr #ShutDownIrwinpic.twitter.com/if3feqw5Tt
Up in the Santa Monica Mountains, P-47 was just going about his job. The mountain lion, studied by researchers since he was 4 weeks old, was part of an ecosystem that keeps rodent populations under control. However, due to eating prey animals dosed with anticoagulant poisons, internal bleeding caused him to die a slow and painful death.
Stop the poisoning of our wild critters. Tell Newsom to sign AB 1788!
(from original post on 7/8/19) AB 1788 – Pesticides: use of anticoagulants. Anticoagulant rodenticides (rat poison) indiscriminately destroys ecosystems and poisons native wildlife such as bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, owls and hawks. These rodenticides are also one of the top ten pet toxins, injuring or killing household pets who eat either affected rodents or the bait itself. In addition, more than 4,400 children under age 6 were poisoned with these long-acting toxins in 2016, which disproportionately harmed those from low-income families. (More information from Project Coyote and Marilyn Krieger’s article “Rat Poisons Aren’t Selective” here.) We can do better.
UPDATE: After a two-year fight, this bill was finally placed on Governor Newsom’s desk at 3:00 pm yesterday! Now we need him to sign it!
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I would like Governor Newsom to sign YES on AB 1788. the bill that limits the use of anticoagulant rat poison, which is poisoning native wildlife and destroying ecosystems.
More script if you want it: Wildfires are already stressing our wildlife by destroying habitat. Please remove these toxic substances from the many dangers they are now facing.
(It looked like this.) Sign this petitionto demand that CA Secretary of State Alex Padilla safeguard this election by requiring LA County to fix several serious problems with their voting system and by requiring that the source code be publicly released as mandated by California election law.
Why is this so important? Los Angeles has the largest number of voters in the nation, higher than the individual population of more than 30 states. Their system is the nation’s first publicly-owned voting system with ballot marking devices (BMDs), and it may be spread across the country, flaws and all.
What are the flaws that need to be fixed?
For LA County voters using “ballot marking devices: Let’s start by using Ventura County as a good example. Here, voters using ballot marking devices (BMD) make their selections on a touch screen, and their ballot is then printed out on regular paper. Voters can check their choices for accuracy, and place their paper ballots into ballot boxes, which are collected and taken to the county elections division. (photo of BDM system used in Ventura Co.)
#1 – Spanish Speakers urgently needed to text Florida voters for Biden
Spanish speaking volunteers who can text or call in Spanish are urgently needed to drive up Hispanic support for Biden in Florida. Right now, the Florida race is extremely close, and Trump has gained strength among Cubans and other Latinos, who are being inundated with wild disinformation, including QAnon tropes, accusations that Biden is a communist, and that a Biden win would put America in control of “Jews and Blacks.” A paid insert in the Spanish-language version of the Miami Herald equated Black Lives Matter protesters with Nazis, and has been running anti-Semitic and racist articles for months. It’s as ugly as it gets, thanks to the GOP and far-right Spanish-language sites.
The Democratic Latino vote is critical, and we need help NOW because we could lose Florida if this continues. Upcoming Texting times are
Tue, Sep 15, 5:00pm–7:00pm EDT,
Sat, Sep 19, 11:00am–12:00pm EDT Tue,
Sep 22, 5:00pm–6:00pm EDT.
Find out more and signup here to text Spanish speaking voters in Florida. If we cannot make the dates listed, new ones will be added, so keep checking back. If you know Spanish speakers who can help, please share this info with them: link here or https://www.mobilize.us/fl2020victory/event/320226/
Action: Call your legislators! This is a gross, illegal and unethical use of our money!
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen./Rep. [___] to know that Trump calling a woman he may have raped a liar to the national press, is not part of his “official capacity as President of the United States.” We, the American taxpayers, believe he should set an example by taking responsibility for his actions and by complying with the original court’s orders. We refuse to pay for both his defense for his tawdry and bullying behavior and if he is found guilty, we refuse to have our tax dollars used to pay any judgements against him.
Contacts – Program these into your phone!:
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 (310) 231-4494, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 981-9369, SD (619) 239-3884
Trump may have been a federal employee at the time he made the scurilous comment against Ms. Carrol,but we don’t agree that insulting or threatening private American citizens, (especially those holding DNA evidence against him), comprises part of his official duties.
We also don’t agree with opening up a HUGE NEW OPPORTUNITY for our garrilous grifter-in-chief. Trump is probably, right now, trying to figure out how to insert references in press interviews to any and all his many current legal issues, as a way to bring them under Barr’s control and to transfer defense costs to our wallet.
What recently happened to the case against Trump.
E. Jean Carroll, has already “paid” for not remaining silent. She lost her longtime job as an Elle magazine writer after accusing Trump of raping her at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury New York City department store, in the mid-1990s. She then accused Trump of defamation in 2019, after he stated in a press interview that the incident never occurred as “She’s not my type.” (his type here.) A New York state court had rejected Trump’s claim of immunity from the private lawsuit. “Trump was soon going to be required to produce documents, provide a DNA sample, and sit for a deposition,” Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement.“
However, in a last minute action, Barr’s DOJ filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asking the court to substitute the “United States” for Trump as the defendant in the lawsuit and to move the case from state to federal court. He argued that Trump’s derogatory remarks were made in the performance of his official duties as president under the Westfall Act of 1988, which protects government employees “even in cases where a claim involves them being asked questions by the press that “relate to their personal activity.” Therefore, according to Barr, not only should government attorneys take over Trump’s defense, but American taxpayers should now assume all expenses, including any judgements made for Carroll.
Joseph Tacopina, a New York defense attorney who is not involved in the case stated “The DOJ was not meant to serve as the president’s personal in-house counsel, particularly on the taxpayer’s dime.”Trump calling an alleged victim of rape … a liar is not an act in his official capacity. Although ad hominem attacks on members of the regular public may be a regular occurrence in the Oval Office these days, Article II of the Constitution does not include within the functions of the presidency the role of Chief Mudslinger.”
However, Carroll’s chances of winning anything, even with a positive DNA test, would be unlikely in this new scenario. Federal officials are generally immune from charges of defamation. If the DOJ’s filing is successful, it would effectively bring her case to an end. Barr refers to Carroll’s possible loss of rights as a private citizen to sue an alleged repeat offender who publicly lied to humiliate her on a national stage as a “little tempest that is going on [the controversy over the action] …largely because of the bizarre political environment in which we live.”
Here are two statutes Barr is using to defend Trump:
The Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946 allows for lawsuits to be filed against the United States in federal court for actions taken by its employees.
The Westfall Act “accords federal employees absolute immunity from tort claims arising out of acts undertaken in the course of their official duties, 28 U. S. C. §2679(b)(1), and empowers the Attorney General to certify that a federal employee sued for wrongful or negligent conduct “was acting within the scope of his office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the claim arose.” §2679(d)(1), (2). “
#SayNOtoGEO: Help us stop the expansion by sending an email for the public comments to the Adelanto City Council.
This is not a new problem, but it’s going to get bigger soon if we don’t stop GEO from expanding. (Video from 2015) “In the summer of 2014, Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) launched the Defund Detention Campaign in Adelanto to prevent the expansion of jails and prison beds in Adelanto. Our film, “Adelanto’s 10,000 Cages” tells a story about a struggling town, a community fighting for freedom, and ultimately, how one small town in California became the epicenter of the prison industrial complex.”
Submit a comment asking their city council to approve the APPEAL TO DENY “CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT (CUP) 96-11.”
DEADLINE – Submit a letter today (Sept. 9) by 4:00 pm. Here’s a sample to work from.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 