Thurs 7/11: Get ready, get set…Join us at the #LightsforLiberty vigil tomorrow.

First, a little music…

Good news!

  • AB-32, CA’s bill to close private detention centers within our state passed from the Public Safety Committee, thanks to Sen. Jackson and all you callers! Now it’s on it’s way to Appropriations.
  • This just in! The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Thursday to authorize subpoenas for documents and testimony related to the “zero tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings, detention or short-term custody of children or migrant families, and “discussions about or offers of presidential pardons to Department of Homeland Security officials or employees.”

Bad news!

  • The government is searching in five U.S. cities for properties large enough to imprison up to 500 hundred kids (fortune). Properties with 20-year leases... No, guys, the Flores agreement stated 20 DAYS!
  • ICE just did what Congress told them not to do…they opened up three new for-profit immigration detention centers in the last few weeks.(mother jones)

What you can do on…Join in on Friday for the Lights for Liberty vigil.

Throw your friends and family in a car and join us! Almost 50 community groups will be participating in a  peaceful protest for LightsForLiberty, this Friday 7/12, at the ICE offices in Camarillo. Facebook post here. It’s an evening vigil,from 7-10, so bring a flameless candle (law enforcement has asked for no real flames.) Continue reading “Thurs 7/11: Get ready, get set…Join us at the #LightsforLiberty vigil tomorrow.” →

Thurs. 7/11: They are voting now. Start talking to Newsom now, phone and email.

“It’s a massive hijacking of the state of California.”
– Michael Aguirre, former city attorney of San Diego.

Action – The Assembly may have already voted. So head to Gov. Newsom’s corner and start there.

Earlier post here, includes background information and script for Limón.

Minimal script to Governor Newsom: We didn’t elect you to let PG&E’s lawyers stampede you like a newbie and lock us into a terrible energy deal. CA is supposed to lead the way on energy in this new century. This Wall St. bailout is a throwback to Enron’s energy endrun of 1996 and the corruption that followed. Stop this now. Do not sign this legislation.

Contact: Governor Gavin Newsom: CALL HIM at(916) 445-2841 and WRITE HIM at email.

(This is Indivisible Ventura’s email…Feel free to use your 6000 allowable characters in any reasonably-polite way you’d like. Use facts from our article and those of others.)

Dear Governor Newsom,
Please read our original message to our members in this link .
If AB-1054 were a good bill, it could stand the test of scrutiny. You did not give it time. You deliberately snuck it through during a holiday period, in a move that would make Mitch McConnell proud.
There were other options, if you had taken the time to clear your head from the entreaties, threats and empty promises of PG&E’s lawyers and lobbyists. Like any other bankruptcy, the company could have sold off other assets and re-organized. Legislators could have clipped off the bad bits and written good amendments. Instead, you delivered the citizens of your states to the tender mercies of Wall Street bankers, higher risks and a future of endless, unstoppable bonds.

Thurs. 7/11: Urgent! – Wall St. made a killing on the housing crash with our money. They can hardly wait for us to pass AB-1054. It’s time for us to win.

“It’s a massive hijacking of the state of California.”  

– Michael Aguirre, former city attorney of San Diego.

Action – Tell your assemblymembers the bandits are in charge of the stagecoach again and to vote “NO” on AB 1054. – Oh, and Gov. Newsom too! Voting today or tomorrow!

Governor Newsom has been cracking the whip to get AB 1054 – “Public utilities” wildfires, pushed through under “urgency” conditions. PG&E, who declared bankruptcy after the recent wildfires caused by years of their negligence, along with their lawyers and their Wall St. creditors are excited…shareholders and executives see a quick way to wriggle out of their problems. (PG&E surged 16%, the most since April 12! Edison was up as much as 2.6%!) Bad sign. We say “NO”. Too fast, no transparency, no time for amendments. This proposed legislation forces us, the ratepayers, to cover the costs of their negligence, removes safety protections, and opens us up to endless bonds with no voter input. Our legislators need to say “NO” and have the time necessary to fully examine the concepts of this bill, along with other ideas, like having PG&E sell off assets to repay victim compensation.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask the Assemblymember [___] to vote “NO” on AB 1054. This bill is a rushed second bailout of PG&E that gives them permission by default to pass liability costs on to ratepayers, rather than having to bear the costs of mismanagement themselves.

Contact: State Assemblymember Monique Limón (CA-37): SAC (916) 319-2037
Not your people?: findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.

Minimal script to Governor Newsom: We didn’t elect you to let PG&E’s lawyers stampede you like a newbie and lock us into a terrible energy deal. CA is supposed to lead the way on energy in this new century. This Wall St. bailout is a throwback to Enron’s energy endrun of 1996 and the corruption that followed. Stop this now. Do not sign this legislation.

Contact: Governor Gavin Newsom: email, (916) 445-2841

Continue reading “Thurs. 7/11: Urgent! – Wall St. made a killing on the housing crash with our money. They can hardly wait for us to pass AB-1054. It’s time for us to win.” →

Mon – 7/8: In this land of casual cruelty, the Department of Housing works to make American kids homeless. Your comment due tomorrow, 7/9.

Action – Write a comment telling HUD Sec. Ben Carson what you think of his plans. Deadline Tueday night (7/9) tomorrow at 11:59 EST.

The Trump Administration is doing what it does best… Just like the debacle of their health insurance reveal, the GOP is bankrupt of any good ideas to solve America’s affordable housing crisis. So they’re using their go-to distraction plan…inflaming the racists and xenophobes amongst us and pitting the poorest against each other, while stealing the homes and security from 55,000 American kids. All the trauma without making anything better for anybody.

Comment by Tuesday, July 9th, at 11:59 pm EST here!

  • The repetitive proposed rule is here.
    • Ben wants all non-eligible family members out. That includes DACA kids, work permit and U visa holders as well. Or the whole family.
    • He want to change the rule so that non-eligible adult can no longer be leaseholders for citizen minor children. The rule specifically says that the sole eligible member can be a minor.
    • We would like Ben to go back to buying overpriced dining tables and leave us alone. No one in the video wanted to go to the dark place of forcing ol’ Ben to explain why some kids are more American than others.
  • If you need inspiration, cruise the comment section here. However, NOTE! DO NOT COPY VERBATIM anybody else’s comment. COPIES AREN’T COUNTED.

We have two “Background” sections for you today. One is for Ben Carson’s cynical meat-toss to the administration’s base and one is why we haven’t cracked the affordable housing issue yet and a very good idea by the People’s Policy Project. Continue reading “Mon – 7/8: In this land of casual cruelty, the Department of Housing works to make American kids homeless. Your comment due tomorrow, 7/9.” →

Mon 7/8: Protect wild California! Tell Sen. Jackson to support (2) bills with (1) call!

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.

Action #1 – Stop the poisoning of our wild critters. Say “YES” to AB 1788!

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.

This bill has passed the Assembly and is now in the Senate Natural Resource and Water Committee. Senator Jackson is on it, along with Senators Stern, Jones, Allen, Borgeas, Caballero, Hertzberg, Hueso, and Monning. They’ll be voting Tuesday morning (7/9), so get your call in today. 

One call does it all! See the combo-script under Action #2 below!

Action #2 – Stop killing bobcats! Say “YES” to AB 1254

image.png
Many people saw this picture of a bobcat kitten and a fawn, who had been rescued from Santa Barbara’s 2009’s Jesusita Fire. During the mayhem, rescuers were forced to put animals anywhere they could, since they had run out of crates. The kitten ran to the fawn, and it was instant bonding

Continue reading “Mon 7/8: Protect wild California! Tell Sen. Jackson to support (2) bills with (1) call!” →

Mon 7/8: AB-32 is now in Public Safety. Call Hannah-Beth again today and tell her to keep up the fight against the private prison business.

Your calls to Senator Jackson were heard! Do it again!

“Bank of America to cut ties with companies that help run immigrant detention centers, private prisons.”  (USA Today)

“We must address the complete scope of what’s going on in these Wall Street-run corporate detention facilities. California should not be home to companies that are profiteering from the tearing of innocent children from their families. This is inhumane and goes against who we are as Californians and Americans.

“It’s time California takes a stronger stand for the humane treatment of those being detained or incarcerated in our state and be a model for others across the nation. We are better than this and we cannot and must not be silent during this inflection moment in our history.” – Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland)

Action – Call State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson TODAY and tell her to again vote “YES” on AB-32.

Last Tuesday, Senator Jackson helped push this bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee. It’s now in the Senate Public Safety Committee, and she’s on that too! Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 9th, she, along with fellow senators Skinner, Moorlach, Bradford, mitchell, Morrell and Wiener, have on opportunity to help outlaw private prisons in CA, including immigrant detention centers, and all the human misery that come with them, by voting “YES” on AB-32. Continue reading “Mon 7/8: AB-32 is now in Public Safety. Call Hannah-Beth again today and tell her to keep up the fight against the private prison business.” →

July 4th – The stakes are high…time to play Hatch Act Bingo!

Action – Play Hatch Act Bingo during the administration’s hijacking of Independence Day. (4) different cards to print out along with nifty tank markers!

card 1     card 2    card 3      card 4     card 5 (create-your-own!)

People are watching. If Trump or anyone else on stage slips into MAGA-mode, his campaign would be liable, under the Hatch Act, for reimbursing our costs. So watch along with Walter Schaub and us with your very own print-out Hatch Act Bingo cards. You get a marker if: 

  • Trump uses one of his campaign slogans: “Make America Great Again” or “Keep America Great”;
  • Trump mentions the election, his reelection, or a desire to stay in office;
  • Trump mentions election polling, his approval rating, or his fundraising efforts;
  • Trump mentions a candidate vying for a rival party’s nomination for president;
  • Trump mentions his political party or a rival political party;
  • Volunteers hand out campaign signs, banners, or flyers;
  • Other speakers on the stage mention Trump’s campaign, reelection or a desire for Trump to remain in office;
  • Other speakers on the stage mention one of Trump’s political rivals, Trump’s political party, or a rival political party;
  • Trump campaign officials are present at the event; or
  • Any other indicia of political activity.

Background

“He wants to have a parade like they have in Moscow or China or North Korea.” – RNC fundraiser 

Our President has kidnapped America’s 4th of July and is dragging it into an Continue reading “July 4th – The stakes are high…time to play Hatch Act Bingo!” →

Tues 7/2: Immigration judges and ICE are deliberately using high bail to fill up jails. Tell our legislators to stop this abuse and and have a SALE on BAIL!

Action – Ask your legislators to lower minimum bail from $1500 to $100 and to recycle that $1500 into a maximum bail cap.

Advocates say that one of the most effective ways of reuniting children and families is to pay their bail. The minimum bail to rescue a guest of our concentration camp system starts at $1500 a head per federal law and has no upper limit, reaching as high as $250,000. Under Trump, both immigration court judges and ICE officials are increasingly denying bond requests altogether, or setting them at amounts in excess of $10,000, deliberately making them unaffordable for many immigrant families. With all the overcrowding, why so much? After all, CA sets minimum bail for citizens (pg. 14) at $50 for infractions and $500 for misdemeanors. High bail keeps asylum seekers and others locked up in increasingly inhumane conditions at taxpayer expense or forces their families to use predatory bail bond companies with high upfront fees, mandatory ankle monitors and monthly charges. It also sucks away money they need to hire lawyers to help them plead their cases.  Let’s ask legislators to fix this nightmare system, reduce the minimum bail and cap the maximum, and get people back with their families.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Rep./Sen. [___] to sponsor legislation to reduce the legal minimum bail required from $1500 to $100 and institute a maximum cap of $1500 for those who pose no danger to the community and little flight risk or who comply with FreedomforImmigrants.org’s bond program requirements. Continue reading “Tues 7/2: Immigration judges and ICE are deliberately using high bail to fill up jails. Tell our legislators to stop this abuse and and have a SALE on BAIL!” →

Tues 7/2: CA Senate Judiciary Committee is voting on AB-32 at 1:30 pm today! Call Hannah-Beth this morning and tell her that we want out of the private prison business too.

“Bank of America to cut ties with companies that help run immigrant detention centers, private prisons.”  (USA Today)

“We’ve all seen the current humanitarian crisis play out along the southern border. No human being deserves to be held in the horrific conditions we’ve been seeing in these for-profit, private facilities. It’s clearly not enough to focus our legislation on prisons alone.

We must address the complete scope of what’s going on in these Wall Street-run corporate detention facilities. California should not be home to companies that are profiteering from the tearing of innocent children from their families. This is inhumane and goes against who we are as Californians and Americans.

“It’s time California takes a stronger stand for the humane treatment of those being detained or incarcerated in our state and be a model for others across the nation. We are better than this and we cannot and must not be silent during this inflection moment in our history.” – Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland)

Action – Call State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson THIS MORNING and tell her to vote “YES” on AB-32.

Today at 1:30, our Senator Jackson, along fellow members of the Senate Judiciary Committee (Senators Borgeas, Durazo, Gonzalez, Jones, Monning, Stern, Umberg and Wieckowski) have on opportunity to help outlaw private prisons in CA, including immigrant detention centers, and all the human misery that come with them, by voting “YES” on AB-32.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “YES” on AB-32.

Contact:
State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (SD-19): SAC (916) 651-4019
Not your people?: findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.

Close the Camps Protest at Rep. Brownley’s Office – On July 2nd!

When: July 2nd, 11:45am – 12:45pm
Where: Rep. Brownley’s office, 223 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.
RSVP: (and share!) https://www.facebook.com/events/2657967964429858/
Bring: Please bring a sign, your flag, and your most passionate voice!

Trump’s family-separation/detention-center regime is a humanitarian crisis — and Rep. Julia Brownley last week helped scuttle a House bill that would have put restrictions on Trump’s racist excesses. (She voted the same as Nunes and McClintock!)

Please join this protest, part of a nationwide day of action, hosted by Indivisible Conejo, demanding that Brownley stop caving in to Republicans and support legislation that places limits on Trump’s ability to cage children — and urging her to visit a detention center in the coming weeks.

We’ll be protesting outside from 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m., and a small contingent of activists will meet with Rep. Brownley from 12-12:30 p.m.

Please note that Lights For Liberty protests are still scheduled for Friday, July 12, at detention centers and on street corners nationwide.

By participating in this event, you agree to follow all applicable laws and to behave lawfully to ensure the safety of event participants. This event will be nonviolent and will not involve any civil disobedience or other violation of law. In the rare occurrence of counter-protesters, you further agree to not engage and use the “isolate and ignore” model.