Tues 4/2: Penny-wise & pound foolish, the GOP keeps trying to snip SNAP. Comments by tonight, Tuesday, 4/2.

Graphic depiction of the percentage of all food stamp costs (not just workers without children) compared to our entire federal budget.

Action – Stop this back-door attack of the 2018 Farm bill. Comments due by 4/2 Tuesday night, 11:59 pm EST.

We asked our legislators to pass the 2018 Farm Bill with the food stamp aid for millions of SNAP/CalFresh recipients intact. They did! But, now the Administration is using the Dept. of Agriculture to use a back door regulation process to impose work requirements on unemployed and underemployed people without dependent children, limiting their food aid benefits to three months.  The proposal takes away states’ ability to waive SNAP’s time limits in areas that don’t have enough jobs and it could potentially disqualify 755,000 beneficiaries. There are a lot of reasons that people can’t get work that satisfies the government’s requirements, but there is one clear result of removing people from a cost-effective food supplement program – increased health care costs in our nation’s clinics and emergency rooms, costs that will dwarf any possible SNAP savings. 

So tell the USDA to butt out. Leave a public comment on the Federal Register website in opposition to the proposed rules on work requirements for SNAP benefits (food stamps). Comment here.

Deadline Tues, April 2nd (TONIGHT), 11:59 pm. EST.

Talking points for SNAP

Continue reading “Tues 4/2: Penny-wise & pound foolish, the GOP keeps trying to snip SNAP. Comments by tonight, Tuesday, 4/2.” →

Mon 4/1: No, this is not a joke! The GOP wants to make fools into judges in two hours or less.

What’s old is new again…!

Action: Tell your senators to vote “NO” on S.Res. 50. 

The full title of the GOP’s S.Res.50 – “A resolution improving procedures for the consideration of nominations in the Senate.” is almost longer than the resolution itself, In the GOP’s haste to pack our courts, they want to truncate nomination deliberations from 30 hours to two. This is certainly more convenient for senators, but they get paid to protect us, so bring a cushion, snowflakes! The bill’s text doesn’t even bother to justify how rushing through inappropriate candidates for extremely powerful positions would be an improvement for us, the people.

Actually, after reading the short bios of the three nominees below, an actual improvement might be to expand hearings from 30 to 40 hours, – better to root out and expose the extremists, the ideologues, the unqualified and the incompetents that clog the GOP’s wish lists.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “NO” on S.Res. 50 and strenously object to this disintegration of our court system. I also want her to vote “NO” on nominees Collins, Bress and Lee as being inappropriate additions to our justice system. Continue reading “Mon 4/1: No, this is not a joke! The GOP wants to make fools into judges in two hours or less.” →

Fri 3/29: Assemblymember Limón got an “A+” AND a great new anti-predatory loan bill – AB 539!

Action/ Update – Call/Email to support AB 539 – California Financing Law: consumer loans. 

Yesterday, we presented Assemblymember Monique Limón with an almost-life-size poster to celebrate her CourageScore, (see her report card here) a desk-size version, brownies, and some new great bills we hope she’ll support this year. She discussed how bills can be altered on their journey to become laws, and we know we’ll be revising this list as new information comes in.

We asked her about legislation that was important to her and she described her bill AB 539. It targets predatory lenders that entrap families in unaffordable loans that they can’t repay quickly, “expos(ing them) to the risks of devastating financial consequences, including damaged credit, wage garnishments, bank account levies, and car repossessions.”

Similar bills failed in previous years because of industry lobbyists, so let’s turn up the heat. It’s in the Committee on Banking & Finance now (Limón is the chair. Members are Phillip Chen (Vice Chair), Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Autumn R. Burke, Sabrina Cervantes, Steven S. Choi, Ph.D., Jesse Gabriel, Timothy S. Grayson, Melissa A. Melendez, Mark Stone, Shirley N. Weber, Buffy Wicks) but drop a quick email to your legislators that this time, it needs to pass.

Minimal script for Limón/supporters: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to thank Assemblymember [___] for supporting AB 539 – California Financing Law: consumer loans.

Continue reading “Fri 3/29: Assemblymember Limón got an “A+” AND a great new anti-predatory loan bill – AB 539!” →

Sunday 3/31: “Swap Meet Justice!” citizenship fair! Come join us!

Note: We are rescheduling the Medicare4all door-to-door canvassing.

Action #1 – THIS Sunday, 3/31 – Come join us at “Swap Meet Justice!” and help spread the word!

You do not need to be a lawyer. You do not need to speak another language. However, all volunteers with bilingual skills are appreciated.

Every last Sunday of the month!

When: 8am-3pm,  3/31, 4/28, 5/26, 6/30, 7/28, 8/25, 9/29, 10/27, 11/24, and 12/29. You may come for a shorter amount of time, but please come at 8:30 for new volunteer orientation. We also don’t start new applications after 1:30 or 2:00, so we can finish in time for the marketplace’s closing.

Where: Oxnard College Marketplace & Swap Meet (Map below, more information, hand-outs and posters for printing all here.)

Action #2 – THIS Sunday, 3/31 – Door-to-door Medicare4all canvassing activity to be rescheduled. Stay tuned.

We will be updating with new date/time soon.

Continue reading “Sunday 3/31: “Swap Meet Justice!” citizenship fair! Come join us!” →

Sunday 3/31: 2 activities!!! “Swap Meet Justice!” citizenship fair & Medicare4all neighborhood canvass!

Action #1 – THIS Sunday, 3/31 – Come join us at “Swap Meet Justice!” and help spread the word!

You do not need to be a lawyer. You do not need to speak another language. However, all volunteers with bilingual skills are appreciated.

Every last Sunday of the month!

When: 8am-3pm,  3/31, 4/28, 5/26, 6/30, 7/28, 8/25, 9/29, 10/27, 11/24, and 12/29. You may come for a shorter amount of time, but please come at 8:30 for new volunteer orientation. We also don’t start new applications after 1:30 or 2:00, so we can finish in time for the marketplace’s closing.

Where: Oxnard College Marketplace & Swap Meet (Map below, more information, hand-outs and posters for printing all here.)

Action #2 – THIS Sunday, 3/31 – Medicare4all neighborhood canvass!

While we’re at the Oxnard Swap Meet doing our normal “Swap Meet Justice!” immigration clinic and voter registration fair, we will be coordinating clipboards of volunteer materials for Medicare4all volunteers. Map to find us is below.

Continue reading “Sunday 3/31: 2 activities!!! “Swap Meet Justice!” citizenship fair & Medicare4all neighborhood canvass!” →

Thurs 3/28 (Today!): Our Assemblymember Monique Limón got an “A+”! Come join us to celebrate!

Action #1 – Come join us at her Ventura office today at 5:00 pm for the presentation of her “People’s Report Card.”

We’re be giving her one of those oversized cards, and some new great bills we hope she’ll support this year. And there will be cookies!

(From CourageScore) “Courage Scores grade California state legislators on their political courage, revealing how well they stand up for their constituents over corporate lobbyists that exploit Californians, particularly the poor, disadvantaged, or communities of color. Our assemblymember, Monique Limón, did really well. See her report card here.

Continue reading “Thurs 3/28 (Today!): Our Assemblymember Monique Limón got an “A+”! Come join us to celebrate!” →

Tues 3/26: This is our kids’ brains on chlorpyrifos. State & federal actions.

The colored parts of the image above, prepared by Columbia University scientists, indicate where a child’s brain is physically altered after exposure to this pesticide.

Action #1 – CA isn’t waiting for the EPA to ban chlorpyrifos. 

SB 458 (Durazo) will ban the use of Dow’s highly profitable pesticide chlorpyrifos (klaw-pir’-uh-fos) in California, its biggest market, because the EPA will no longer do its job. In 2016, the agency’s own scientists and the Dept. of Pesticide Regulation determined that there was no safe level on food crops and prepared to completely ban its use. After the election, however, the new and now-disgraced EPA director Scott Pruitt reversed course. Therefore, Californians are still being exposed to a neurotoxin that can cause serious, irreversable harm to adults, children, as well as fetuses, through residue on food which cannot be washed or peeled off, water pollution, or drift from 1/2 mile away. Everyone is at risk. The bill is co-sponsored by CPR allies/members: the United Farm Workers, the American Academy of Pediatrics-California and Earthjustice.

Earthjustice is currently presenting its case against the EPA reversal in court, but the agency can draw this out for years. Meanwhile, activists who are pushing for state and local bans to speed up the process of protecting their communities. Hawaii has already banned this toxin. We can too.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to vote ‘YES” on SB 458 – the “Protect Children from Brain-Damaging Chlorpyrifos Act of 2019.”

Continue reading “Tues 3/26: This is our kids’ brains on chlorpyrifos. State & federal actions.” →

Mon 3/25: YES on SB 307, Stop Cadiz Inc.! Email tonight, call first thing Tuesday morning!

Please take quick action today to let Senator Jackson know to vote in support of this bill!

Tomorrow, Tuesday (26th), the California State Senate Natural Resources committee, which includes our Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, will vote on SB 307 to stop the Trump administration’s deregulation of Cadiz, Inc., a water mining company that wants to extract and sell 16 billion gallons of hexavalent chromium-tinged groundwater each year from beneath Mojave Trails National Monument, one of the driest places in North America.

It’s a ridiculous plan that jeopardizes the desert’s national parks, monuments and wildlife that depend on the water. The Trump administration, with Cadiz’s former lobbyist David Bernhardt now Acting Interior Secretary, eliminated the required federal review of the project in order to silence federal scientists who don’t support the project.

The California legislature is pushing back. SB 307, legislation by Senator Richard Roth (D-Riverside), would subject the Cadiz project to review and permitting by the State government, restoring safeguards.

Minimal Script: I calling from [zip code] and urge you to support SB 307 to stop Cadiz groundwater mining and protect our fragile, Mojave desert ecosystem. The Trump Administration gave the green light to the Cadiz project without ensuring the necessary environmental reviews were completed, and it’s California’s responsibility to do the right thing for our state’s desert ecosystems and protected national parks. Continue reading “Mon 3/25: YES on SB 307, Stop Cadiz Inc.! Email tonight, call first thing Tuesday morning!” →

Mon 3/25: “Does not exonerate” is just the starting gun. 3 fast actions!

Action #1 – Release the Mueller Report, complete and un-redacted.

On Friday, March 22, Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report on the Trump-Russia investigation and headed home for the weekend, leaving a shambles of half-known facts and rumors behind.

Minimal script: I am calling from [zip code] and I demand a full release of the Mueller Report to the Congress and to the public.  A summary of its conclusions by Attorney General Barr is not acceptable. We have a right to know the whole truth. Continue reading “Mon 3/25: “Does not exonerate” is just the starting gun. 3 fast actions!” →

Mon – 3/25: A medieval wall has medieval enemies. Explain how catapults and cannons work to your GOP legislators. Veto-override vote tomorrow (Tues).

“They’re launching drugs not five feet from the wall, or 10 feet from the wall, where a transparent wall would help. They’re launching it 100 feet over the wall, 150 feet over the wall. No amount of transparency is going to help you in that context.” – Brandon Behlendorf , SUNY-Albany homeland security expert

UPDATE (3/16/19): Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed H.J. Res 46 , and Trump vetoed it. The House is scheduled to hold a veto override vote on Tuesday, March 26, which will require a 2/3rds majority to pass.

Action – We are watching you. We not interested in wasting money on this boondoggle.

Mitch has already starting musing on cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security at the same time the GOP wants to waste billions of dollars on a project that can be defeated with some pieces of timber and a heavy rock. Or a cannon. Or a shovel. For those who remember we’re in the 21st century, the first drug-smuggling drone was found in 2015.

Minimal Script. I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. [___] to support an override of Trump’s veto of H.J. Resolution 46, the resolution to terminate Trump’s national emergency declaration. militarizing the border.

More script if you want it: I want the Congress[man/woman]/ Senator to know that in budget upcoming negotiations, we want four essential things: NO WALL FUNDING, NO taking border funding from any domestic or social safety net programs, NO cuts or blocks to legal immigration, refugee or asylum programs, and NO wasting our troop’s time, morale and readiness for real emergencies by marooning them at the border.

Continue reading “Mon – 3/25: A medieval wall has medieval enemies. Explain how catapults and cannons work to your GOP legislators. Veto-override vote tomorrow (Tues).” →