Mon 11/11: FLIP 20! Public impeachment hearings start Wed. Call your friends & relatives in RED states and other actions!

Action #1: Stop saying “quid pro quo”. There is power in language. Say the real names of his crimes.

Does “quid pro quo” always equal a criminal act or can it apply to normal political horse trading? Mick Mulvaney gave us an object lesson in the slipperiness of this Latin phrase when he both confirmed that the administration had withheld aid to further Trump’s election campaign, while declaring it merely an instance of normal “political influence in foreign policy.” Luckily, our own language has unequivocal terms for the possible crimes Trump committed during his “perfect” phone call. So, go basic “Law & Order” and call them out by name. Here are the most powerful charges:

Bribery/Extortion: Trump didn’t just ask for a personal favor from a foreign government, which is illegal by itself. He tied badly needed foreign aid to the tail of his request. So, bribery or extortion? According to Patrick Cotter, a former New York prosecutor who helped bring down the mobster John Gotti, that issue depends on whether the person being asked for a payout is closer to being an accomplice, or a victim. If the person is being threatened, then it may be extortion.
- That we are even having this discussion about “bribery or extortion” in regards to our president shows what trouble we are in.
- For those Thanksgiving guests/facebook friends who think colluding with foreign powers for private gain is no big deal, send them this video. Trump is why our founding fathers added impeachment to the Constitution.

Continue reading “Mon 11/11: FLIP 20! Public impeachment hearings start Wed. Call your friends & relatives in RED states and other actions!” →

Sunday 11/10: Two fun activities! Say “HI!” to Don Jr. or celebrate Food Forward’s 4th anniversary!

Action #1 – Food Forward’s 4th Annual Ventura County Branch Out – 1:00 today!

(from their Facebook event) Join Food Forward on Sunday, November 10th as we celebrate 7 great years of harvesting food and fighting food insecurity in Ventura County!

Agricultural abundance is a signature characteristic of Southern California, and it’s what makes Food Forward’s work possible still today. That’s especially true in Ventura County, where our organization has flourished over the past 7 years, redistributing over 1.5 million pounds of surplus produce across the county and serving over 65 agencies with support from community partners like you.

Where better to celebrate our Ventura community than at the soon-to-be opened Topa Topa Brewing Co. on Colt Street?!

Depending on weather, we’ll either be outside in the beer garden or inside in the brewery itself. Topa Topa will be slinging amazing brews all afternoon and donating a portion of sales back to Food Forward! We’ll have live music playing good tunes and delicious food for purchase from one of Ventura’s finest food trucks. Plus, we’ll be bringing back our exciting raffle that’s made possible by our generous Ventura County sponsors and throwing in a silent auction to boot!

Be sure to RSVP via Eventbrite so that we know you’re coming. This event is very family friendly. See you there!

Action #2 – The president’s pouting progeny is peddling preposterous pulp-fiction in our proximity! 3:00 today!

donnie junior

Continue reading “Sunday 11/10: Two fun activities! Say “HI!” to Don Jr. or celebrate Food Forward’s 4th anniversary!” →

Fri 11/8: The GOP is big on forcing people to work. Except for asylum seekers. They can just starve. Comment today by 11:59 pm EST.

Action – Write a comment to stop this mean-spirited rollback of protection for asylum seekers.

A new Trump Administration regulation rollback could leave asylum seekers without work authorization or the ability to attain social services needed to survive. Currently, asylum seekers must wait 150 days after filing their asylum applications to be eligible to apply for work authorization, after which, the USCIS must process their applications for work authorization within 30 days after applying. This regulation that’s been in place since 1994. However, they has regularly failed to adhere to this deadline, often delaying adjudication of applications for months at a time. This delay can cause severe hardship for asylum seekers, many of whom are left in precarious situations with no ability to legally work while their applications are pending. In July 2018, a judge ordered USCIS to comply with the 30-day timeline. The Trump administration’s proposed regulation change would remove the 30-day requirement altogether.

There are already a lot of comments from the other side, most of which can be summed up by one anxious citizen here…

“Secure our boarder’s.”

Yes, your comment matters. We need your help to stop this rule from taking effect!

Comment here.
Read their proposal here.
Read other comments here for inspiration. No “cut and pastes” – identical comments are removed. Channel all your high school creative writing classes!

Continue reading “Fri 11/8: The GOP is big on forcing people to work. Except for asylum seekers. They can just starve. Comment today by 11:59 pm EST.” →

Thurs. 11/7: Unbridled capitalism looks a lot like “depraved indifference”. Tell your legislators to rein in drug companies with H.R. 3, by phone and at this week’s town halls.

“Three people died in 2017 while rationing their insulin. Three more died in 2018. Four died in 2019, so far.” (rightcarealliance.org)

Talk to your legislators about how drug prices affect you and your family and ask them to support and strenthen H.R. 3. – “Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019″ – 2 actions below.

(from Indivisible) Drug prices are higher in America than anywhere else in the world, and as a result, 1 in 5 people won’t fill a prescription, and 1 in 10 skip doses or cut pills in half. This kind of rationing can lead to complications for untreated conditions, which cause increased healthcare costs such as hospitalization, surgery, or emergency medical care. Rationing critical drugs like insulin, marked up as much as 5000%, can also kill people. H.R. 3 – Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 is a good start to lowering drug prices because it directs the government to expand its immense buying power to negotiate lower drug prices for more than just Medicare patients. But the bill needs to be stronger. Here are things it’s missing… Continue reading “Thurs. 11/7: Unbridled capitalism looks a lot like “depraved indifference”. Tell your legislators to rein in drug companies with H.R. 3, by phone and at this week’s town halls.” →

Tues 11/5: It’s Election Day! How to help from here.

Action #1 – Do you know people who live in these states? – CALL THEM!

Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi are voting themselves new governors. Voters in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia can elect a whole new slate of state lawmakers or a governor and other statewide executives or all of the above. (Ventura Co. residents – you have a local action to do today too. Click here.)

The NAACP created a “Power of Five” campaign for the 2018 elections to empower voters to take leadership of their own spheres of influence. The charge is simple: reach out to 5 people you know and get them involved in voting. That’s a powerful organizing principle that you can use today.

If you know one person, or five or more in these states with big elections… Call them today. Ask them if they’ve already voted or if they haven’t, how they plan to get to the polls. If they have transportation issues, help them find a ride. (See “Ride Information” below.)
If they don’t think their vote matters, share the video above with them.
Ask them to contact 5 people they know around them and repeat the same process with them. If they have a car, ask them to offer rides to people they know with transportation issues.
Are they confused? Do they have questions? Here are some great links collated by Political Charge.
- Find your polling location: I W ill Vote
- Check that you have the correct ID: ID requirements state by state
- Is your name not on the voter rolls? Cast a provisional ballot
- Running into other troubles at your polling location? Call 866-OUR-VOTE or text “OUR VOTE” to 97779

Action #2 – There’s still time to help Virginia!

Continue reading “Tues 11/5: It’s Election Day! How to help from here.” →

Tues 11/5: Help protect Ventura County’s Water! Urge the Board of Supervisors to extend the ban on new oil wells! Meeting today at 3:00 pm.

(Food & Water Watch) A U.S. Geological Survey report earlier this year revealed petroleum-related gases near flammable levels in Oxnard’s and Camarillo’s water supply. The people living closest to the current and proposed oil wells are already overburdened with the highest rates of pollution in all of California, according to the California EPA.

Ventura County Supervisors did the right thing and voted for a temporary ban on new oil and gas wells near drinkable water. So far there haven’t been any new findings, but the temporary ban expires soon. And there are potential fossil fuel projects in the pipeline for Ventura County, so the industry isn’t going to give up easily.

Action #1 – Go to the meeting, speak out and/or write a comment card.

Ventura County Supervisors are scheduled to vote on whether to extend the ban for a year, today, November 5th at 3:00 p.m.

Despite Big Oil’s efforts and millions of dollars spent, people like you have spoken out and Ventura County supervisors have voted twice now to protect our water.

Action #2 – Whether or not you can make the meeting, send in a message. Food & Water Watch has made it easy.

Tell the Ventura County Supervisors to extend Ventura’s oil and gas moratorium to protect our drinking water! Write a comment here!

Continue reading “Tues 11/5: Help protect Ventura County’s Water! Urge the Board of Supervisors to extend the ban on new oil wells! Meeting today at 3:00 pm.” →

Mon 11/4: Hello, light bulb industry! You may have noticed our climate crisis. No “relaxing” for you. Comment TODAY by 11:59 pm EST.

Proposed Rule Rollback: “Relaxing energy-efficiency standards. Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for General Service Incandescent Lamps.” Yes, they actually use the word “relaxing”! The proposed changes would eliminate requirements that most light bulbs sold in the United States — not only the familiar, pear-shaped ones, but several other styles as well — to be either LEDs or fluorescent to meet new efficiency standards. The rules to increase light bulb efficiency started in 2007 under President George W. Bush and if the new rule were to start in 2020 as planned, inefficient incandescent bulbs would largely be eliminated. “The light bulb standards are far and away the biggest energy efficiency saver of any standard — aside from vehicle — that the government has ever issued,” said Andrew deLaski, executive director of Appliance Standards Awareness Project.

This rollback proposal is dangerous for our environment, expensive for our pocketbooks and hazardous for our health, and therefore we declare it to be an un-American action.

Comment here.
Proposal here.
Inspiration: read other comments here. Please, do not submit an identical comment, as it will be culled. Channel your creative writing classes.

Why do we need this?

Continue reading “Mon 11/4: Hello, light bulb industry! You may have noticed our climate crisis. No “relaxing” for you. Comment TODAY by 11:59 pm EST.” →

Fri 11/1: Write a comment to protect kids’ access to food. Why do we even have to write a headline like this in America? Deadline TONIGHT! 11:59 pm EST.

(Steven Singer, a veteran National Board-certified teacher, author of Gadfly on the Wall blog, Quotes on image above from Mashable)

The Trump Administration would like you to agree that it’s a great idea to shave $90 million dollars off the federal budget by taking free lunches away from a half a million “food insecure” kids. They don’t care that one in six children live with hunger in America today, and how hunger makes it harder for kids to learn and makes them sicker, both as kids and as adults. Adequate nutrition is so tied to kids’ academic success, studies have shown that end-of-grade reading and math tests vary depending on how much time has elapsed since the family’s SNAP (food stamps) benefit arrived, with scores peaking between two and three weeks after benefits were received. And now the GOP wants to take that support away. For $90 million dollars. How much is $90 million dollars anyway? Is it enough to risk the futures of a half million kids?

It’s about $20 million dollars LESS than the approximately $110,000,000 dollars Trump has cost taxpayers for his golf weekends…so far…
It’s about $30 million dollars LESS than the $120,000,000 taxpayers were billed for Melania’s extended stay in New York after the 2016 election. (Why didn’t the billionaire head of the party of “personal responsibility” pay for this family matter himself?)
Here’s a graph for us visual learners to understand the pettiness of this proposal:

Continue reading “Fri 11/1: Write a comment to protect kids’ access to food. Why do we even have to write a headline like this in America? Deadline TONIGHT! 11:59 pm EST.” →

Wednesday – 10/30: It’s Halloween tomorrow in the Senate! – Horrifying judicial candidates that will haunt us for a lifetime. VOTE THURSDAY!

Corrupt Judiciary on the Bench, artist – Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, Jan. 27, 1872

Action : Call your senators and tell them to vote “NO” on these four nominees!

Minimal script for Democratic Senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “NO” on the following judicial nominees.

Sarah Pitlyk: Not only has she been judged unqualified by the American Bar Association, but this religious ideologue has already proven that she can’t be an impartial judge.
Steven Menashi: His nomination is a threat to the civil rights of women, POC, students, the LGBTQ community, immigrants as well as to the environment.
Halil S. Ozerden: – we do not need another corporatist judge, who ignores the rights of consumers and workers, and who sides with police abuse.
Lawrence VanDyke: The ABA states he “is arrogant, lazy, and an ideologue.”
Federalist Society: Also, please stop voting for any judicial nominations who are members of the Federalist Society, an extremist far-right group. Their members, who are just 4% of the legal community but more than 80% of Trumps’ nominees, do not reflect those views of most Americans.

Minimal script for GOP senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “NO” to Sarah Pitlyk, Steven Menashi, Lawrence VanDyke and Halil S. Ozerden. That your party destroyed the “blue slip” system, and no longer seems to care if candidates are qualified or even marginally impartial, will result in rulings that will harm your own constituents. Your support for these candidates implicates you in a corrupt system that will need to be cleaned out at the ballot box. Do the right thing.

Continue reading “Wednesday – 10/30: It’s Halloween tomorrow in the Senate! – Horrifying judicial candidates that will haunt us for a lifetime. VOTE THURSDAY!” →

Tues 10/29: Don’t shoot the messengers! Write a comment to protect sea lions from our own folly by 11:59 pm EST tonight!

Embed from Getty Images

Comment: Killing sea lions is a man-made solution to a man-made problem.

Now, we’re seeing a marine version of shooting our way out of a problem. (Land version here.) Sea lions are being blamed unfairly for the declining population of salmon. The regulation we’re writing about today wants to allow up to 1,100 a year to be slaughtered to keep them from feeding on salmon and steelhead crowded together at “pinch points” at dams of the Columbia River, an man-made buffet opportunity that did not exist when the river was free-flowing. The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), passed in 1972, outlawed the killing of any marine mammal, with exemptions for limited sport and commercial hunting and culls of “nuisance” animals. Fishing vessels were also allowed to shoot at sea lions as a deterrent from fouling their gear. Now a number of tribal groups are requesting authorization to kill California and Steller sea lions near the main stem of the Columbia River between or in any tributary to the Columbia River that includes spawning habitat of threatened or endangered salmon or steelhead.

If there was a chance that sea lions were the right target, and that sacrificing some of them would protect an endangered fish species, we might agree with them. But they’re not. We’re the ones who ruined salmon habitat by damming up their rivers, which, in turn, created the concentrated fishing spots for the sea lions, an animal smart enough to be trained by the U.S. Navy for underwater searches. We want to save salmon? Pull down the dams. Let the rivers run free again and let the fish skip past their hunters. (This video is about the Snake River, which has 15 dams. The Snake River and Yakima River join the Columbia River in the Tri‑Cities population center. Today the main stem of the Columbia River has 14 dams, of which three are in Canada and 11 in the US. )