Tues 5/12: “Would you rather?” game – Wall v. “Warrior” edition.

Money follow values: The GOP are signalling that they’ve skimmed all they can with their $2.3 trillion 2017 tax scam and that sneaky $170 billion tax break for the rich in the CARES Act and they are now SERIOUS about deficit spending. (If you haven’t called your legislators on the tax-break travesty yet, go here.) While corporations and CEO’s are pocketing millions of our dollars, the GOP and White House officials are figuring out how to make us regular folks pay for their grift. Ideas for the next relief package include triggers for automatic spending reductions in safety net programs, as well as a proposal for desperate Americans to cannibalize their own Social Security benefits. No free lunch for those who’ve never had a free lunch. (Note: No government proposals yet for the wealthy to use their own savings to pay employees…)

The dollar numbers being thrown around are so large, it’s easy to lose track of what’s at stake. For this round of “Would you rather?,” we’re issuing you $500 million dollars to spend. This represents the low bid to paint Trump’s wall black, or a rough estimate for FEMA burial funds for 100,000 applicants. Further explanation of your choices are below in “Deeper Dive.” If you’re the people we think you are, this script will work for your legislators.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and want Rep./Sen. [___] to know that I don’t want any of my tax dollars wasted on painting Trump’s border wall. I would also like to know why FEMA hasn’t been cleared to help families of COVID-19 victims with funeral costs. Or their Disaster Legal Services program.  Like we were actually a civilized country suffering from a disaster. Continue reading “Tues 5/12: “Would you rather?” game – Wall v. “Warrior” edition.” →

Mon 5/11: Worst “National Nurses Week” ever… Make it up to them by calling your CA state senators to approve AB 664.

Screenshot: Twitter

Action – Want to really “celebrate nursing?” Call your legislators and tell them “YES” on AB 664. 

This isn’t just the worst National Nurses Week ever, (May 6th-May 12th), it’s also the worst “National Nurses Month” and the worst “Year of the Nurse and Midwife,” – calendar events to “expand opportunities to elevate and celebrate nursing.” Along with caring for patients, nurses are having to join protest lines to publicize their lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), to remind the public that medical personnel are endangered, and to keep protestors from blocking ambulance access. Nationwide, more than 9,000 healthcare workers have comfirmed positive for COVID-19 with over 80 deaths. In CA there are over 3,155 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases of nurses and health care workers, and four fatalities.

Last Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that presumes front line workers who contracted COVID-19 were infected on the job (Yes, unbelievably, hospitals assume otherwise) and are therefore entitled to workers’ compensation. Although this order covers more workers than similar ones in other states, it requires a positive diagnoses when testing is still are to get and lasts for just 2 months. Continue reading “Mon 5/11: Worst “National Nurses Week” ever… Make it up to them by calling your CA state senators to approve AB 664.” →

Fri. 5/8: Update – Standing indivisible with Ahmaud Arbery. Keep calling – this isn’t finished.

Quote from #irunwithmaud

Update 5/8/2020 – The Third Man: Thanks to the huge public reaction to the cellphone video of a young black man being murdered-while-jogging, the two men involved have finally been arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault.  We are waiting on whether the man who filmed the incident, William Bryan, will be charged, as well.

We also now know that the former attorney for the Gregory and Travis McMichaels, Alan David Tucker, was the one who released the video on Tuesday.

Continue reading “Fri. 5/8: Update – Standing indivisible with Ahmaud Arbery. Keep calling – this isn’t finished.” →

Thurs 5/7: Join in – Day of Action to support the Essential Workers Bill of Rights!

Today, May 7th, millions of people and over 50 national organizations, including Indivisible, will take online action and demand Congress support an Essential Worker Bill of Rights. This Bill of Rights would cover nurses, health and home care workers, domestic workers, truckers, janitors, grocery workers, farm workers, warehouse workers child care workers and transit workers. If we’re loud enough, we can help ALL #ProtectEssentialWorkers. Join in!

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞!

Action #1 – Call your House Rep.

Minimal call scripts to House members: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Rep. [___]  to release a bold & comprehensive relief bill that includes an Essential Workers Bill of Rights that includes fair compensation. This would include hazard pay, real job protections, paid sick leave, child care workplace protections, health care, and that these protections be given to all working people, no matter their immigration or contractor status. Continue reading “Thurs 5/7: Join in – Day of Action to support the Essential Workers Bill of Rights!” →

Wed. 5/6: Standing indivisible with Ahmaud Arbery. Two actions.

Quote from S. Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Arbery family.

This post has been updated. Please go here for latest information and actions. 

Update 5/8: Thanks to the huge public reaction to the cellphone video of a young black man being murdered-while-jogging, the two men involved have finally been arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault.  We are waiting on whether William Bryan, the third man who followed Arbery, filmed the incident, will be charged, as well.

We also now know that the former attorney for the Gregory and Travis McMichaels, Alan David Tucker, was the one who released the video on Tuesday.

For all of you who took the time to sign the petition below and make calls and emails to protest this injustice, thank you. We shouldn’t have to ring phones off the desks, but we will.

Action – Sign the petition.

73 days ago, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25 year-old black man, left his mom’s home for his daily jog. He was chased down and killed by well-armed two white men, a retired police office and his son. Because of the lockdown constraints on local protests, Ahmaud’s family and friends worried that his brutal murder would go unnoticed and that no one would be held to account. But we have phones and computers and we, along with many others, have noticed. (Warning – the video below shows an innocent person being murdered. Skip over and go straight to the actions as necessary.)

Continue reading “Wed. 5/6: Standing indivisible with Ahmaud Arbery. Two actions.” →

Tues – 5/5: Mitch the Moocher is busy pushing his right-wing judicial candidates. Tell your legislators to say “NO” to Justin Walker and Cory Wilson.

Action #1 – Call your senators and tell them to vote “NO” on Justin Walker and Cory Wilson.

Why worry about judges?: This video came out in Oct. 2019, after Walker’s first successful judicial nomination to a Kentucky District Court. The host makes it clear that those sitting out fighting against his next step, a lifetime appointment on a federal bench, or sitting out voting in the 2020 election because “both the Dems and the GOP are the same,” need to realize that ignoring the GOP takeover of the judicial branch will end up badly for people of color, the LGBTQ community, religious minorities, women’s ability to control their own bodies, public education and anyone who needs clean water or air. Worth the time, even with the commercial breaks.

“McConnell made clear in an interview last week that resuming rapid-fire confirmations of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees will be the Senate’s top priority when it reconvenes Monday, despite the desperate need for additional relief for frontline workers and the unemployed as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause mass layoffs across the nation.” (CommonDreams). Justin Walker and Cory Wilson would be dream candidates for far-right extremists in our country…not so good for the rest of us.

Update: Forty pro-democracy and civil rights groups today joined in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, urging them to halt the process of federal judicial nominations and confirmations at this time, including Indivisible. (League of Conservation Voters letter here, Alliance for Justice   letter here.)

Update: The chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has called for an inquiry as to whether McConnell committed ethical improprieties in the creating of a conveniently timed opening on the federal bench for his protégé.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “NO” to Justin Walker and Cory Wilson. They are proven enemies of civil rights, women’s rights, unions, public education, the environment and health care.

More script if you want it: Also, please stop voting for any judicial nominations who are members of the far-right Federalist Society. The extremist views of this group – just 4% of the legal community but more than 80% of Trumps’ nominees, do not reflect those of most Americans.

Continue reading “Tues – 5/5: Mitch the Moocher is busy pushing his right-wing judicial candidates. Tell your legislators to say “NO” to Justin Walker and Cory Wilson.” →

Mon 5/4: Ventura County’s Mask & Gown Brigades update and related news!

Taking our medical professionals’ lives for granted…

Some of Ventura County’s amazing health care workers took time out last Friday to remind us what’s at stake here. None of the hundreds of protesters raging about “Freedom!” could replace any one of those four doctors on the median in a medical emergency. Across America, over 9,200 health care workers have tested positive for coronavirus and at least 27 have died. Health-care providers are literally risking their lives to save ours. What if they just stopped showing up?

Although the Health Care Foundation for Ventura County has organized an incredible volunteer task force, including the Mask and Gown Brigades, and those who provide meals, temporary shelter and equipment, every one of us has a role in stopping COVID-19 and protecting our medical professionals – simply by following the social distancing and shelter-in-place orders from our county and state public health experts. For the impatient, “Stage 2” of reopening CA businesses starts this coming Friday. Worldwide COVID stats here.

A “thank you” to volunteers,  and how you can join in…

  • Do you want to help make gowns? Go here.
  • Do you want to make masks for Ventura County’s essential workers? Go here.
  • Volunteer opportunities and equipment needed in Ventura County: here.

Continue reading “Mon 5/4: Ventura County’s Mask & Gown Brigades update and related news!” →

Fri 5/1: This year, celebrate International Workers’ Day by calling your legislators.

Action – Call for a real “People’s Bailout” on May Day!

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Yesterday we wrote about the corporate looting taking place under our so-called “rescue” plan – the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. FAIR describes it as a “robbery in progress”.

But the GOP isn’t through yet. Sen McConnell (Senator of the 5th most federally dependent state!) is demanding liability protection for businesses and hospitals in the next round of stimulus legislation.

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GOP-controlled states are actively forcing people off unemployment, and back into underpaid and/or dangerous workplaces for which our Labor Dept. has refused to order basic safeguards. Dozens of workers, including meat cutters, supermarket greeters, airport screeners, transit workers and bus drivers have died as the disease has spread. Many health care workers are being forced to treat patients without PPE and even being disciplined, even fired, for calling out their employers’ failure to follow proper safety measures.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. [___] to know that our pandemic crisis has made the unfairness of our economic system very clear and we need [him/her] to fight harder for us. Continue reading “Fri 5/1: This year, celebrate International Workers’ Day by calling your legislators.” →

Thurs 4/30: Shock therapy: We are being cheated in three ways! Follow the money and demand it back.

Quote from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

…wait for it…wait for it….BOOM! There it is! 

Headline – “Conservative Republicans say COVID spending must consider growing debt.“

The GOP who gave us a ruinous 2017 tax plan now senses that they’ve wrung as much money for their wealthy donors as they can from the previous “stimulus” bills and it’s time to invoke the the specter of “runaway deficit spending” again. Sen. McConnell casually threatened states and cities with bankruptcy instead of the aid they desperately need, and his compatriots are foreshadowing their plans to destroy safety nets for regular people, like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, to pay for their COVID-19 giveaways to corporations and the rich. Just in time to thwart another stimulus bill aimed at helping us non-millionaires, our election system and the USPS weather this pandemic.

But we know where to find some money…We need to take it back.

Action #1: STOP the GOP’s $170 billion hand-out to the wealthy.

In our 3/31 post, we asked legislators to take back one of the most corrupt aspects of the CARES Act, a $170 billion tax break giveaway for millionaires. Over 80% of this multi-year benefit would go to 43,000 wealthy hedge fund managers and real estate speculators, gifting each of them an average of $1.6 million for 2020 alone. (Details of this boondoggle here.) Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) are now trying to get this handout rescinded, along with 178 groups, including Indivisible.

Continue reading “Thurs 4/30: Shock therapy: We are being cheated in three ways! Follow the money and demand it back.” →

Tues 4/28: Ventura County’s Mask & Gown Brigades rock!

(Photo of homemade gowns in action! Ventura County has an amazing group of volunteers creating PPE, including masks, face shields and gowns, as well as community members who’ve donated equipment to keep our frontline workers safe. Those workers want you all to know how much they appreciate your efforts! Information below from Amy Towner, CEO – Health Care Foundation for Ventura County from 4/23)

Dear Brigades,

Our nurses, doctors and staff wanted to thank the brigades for their sewn masks so I have been collecting video.  I put out a call on Facebook and asked if someone would make them into a video and my friend Hugo Zamora Camilha Contreras put this  together as a donation to show the circle of love of our community.

Continue reading “Tues 4/28: Ventura County’s Mask & Gown Brigades rock!” →