On Tuesday, we asked people to comment on a proposed rollback of CA’s Clean Car Standards (Due 10/26), reminding us that even during the distractions of this election season, the Trump administrations’ efforts to push all of our environmental protections through a regulatory shredding machine, continues without pause. We need to gather our wits, our computers and smartphones, and keep fighting on this moving battle line.
Wed. 10/24: The GOP would like y’all to use the restroom that matches your birth certificate…Sure. No problem.
This is a photo of Jake Miller, better known by his stage name Buck Angel. He is an transgender American adult film producer and amazing motivational speaker. Because he started out life as a baby named “Susan“, proposed federal regulations might soon force him to use women’s restrooms and suffer various other indignities. All because the GOP, the party of “smaller, less intrusive government”, just released this inhumane and unscientific pronouncement…
“The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence.”
– Department of Health and Human Services memo, according to the New York Times.
Not only does this effectively erase the existence of the 1.4 MILLION transgender American citizens, who, often from early childhood, have struggled with being born into the “wrong” body, but it’s going to make the lives of the 1-in-1500 babies born with intersex conditions much more complicated too. Twenty-first century, people!
Tues – 10/23: They’re coming for our air. Deadline – Oct. 26.
LOS ANGELES: Downtown highrise buildings are shown cloaked in dirty air shortly after sunrise September 11, 2002 in Los Angeles, California. Although air quality in Los Angeles has improved in recent decades, smog levels remain among the nation’s worst. Numerous wildfires in the region have also contributed to Los Angeles’ air pollution problem. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
While Congress is out, the lights are off in D.C., and our president is distracting us before the election with “scary migrants” and imaginary “middle-class tax cuts”…one type of GOP destruction is continuing to roll off the chutes with machine-like efficiency – the removal of rules protecting us and our environment from the rapacious greed of his new regime.
Action – Stop Trump’s proposed rollback of CA Clean Car Standards – Deadline Oct. 26, (this Friday) 11:59 ET
“There is no safe level of air pollution.” (Newsweek) (BusinessInsider) (LATimes) Continue reading “Tues – 10/23: They’re coming for our air. Deadline – Oct. 26.”
Mon – 10/22: Last day to register and some of this week’s amazing activities. Join in!
Keep checking for new additions here.
Oct. 22 – Today! Ask every person you see – “Are you registered to vote?”
Then help them get registered. On your phone, or theirs. Share this with young people, even if they hate the term “millennials”.
Sat/Sun – 10/20-21: Reach out and inspire someone to vote – How to canvass
First of all, you’re not alone if you’ve never canvassed before. You will be partnered up with someone more experienced and you’ll have a script you can refer to. Once you get the hang of it, it’s actually weirdly fun, even for introverts. Check out opportunities here.
But for those who want more preparation to get started, here’s some resources.
New article from Indivisible on canvassing here.
Continue reading “Sat/Sun – 10/20-21: Reach out and inspire someone to vote – How to canvass”
Fri – 10/19: Today’s Action Prescription
Action #1 – Understand this meme. In CA, it’s true for REGISTERED voters ONLY!
If you are actually registered, but your polling place doesn’t have the correct information to determine that fact, or there is conflicting information about your registration, you will be given a provisional ballot on Election Day. You will be allowed to vote, given a tracking number to follow your ballot and your vote will be counted just like any other. Issues that require a provisional ballot include:
- Voter’s name is not on the current roster.
- Voter’s name is on the roster and HAS moved.
- Vote-By-Mail Voter who does not have a Vote-By-Mail ballot to surrender. (giving them another ballot at the polling place would mean two ballots were issued to them. Despite what Trump says, we don’t issue people extra ballots.)
- Voter is marked in register as “see ID” and has no ID. (first time federal voter)
- Voter selects a ballot other than their listed party or selects an unauthorized party (primary only – doesn’t apply for this election)
You may also be at the wrong polling place. (See Action #4)
Wed – 10/17: Today’s Action Prescription
We regularly hear that people are stressed out and discouraged by the constant stream of bad news as our government drifts further into authoritarianism and fascism. For many of us, this is our first dive into active resistance and are panicking because we can’t see the bottom of the pool. But drowning is not an option and for people of conscience, neither is hauling ourselves out and leaving. How did the women’s suffrage movement survive for almost a hundred years? How have POC and our Native American communities maintained sustained resistance efforts over a long time? How do we develop resiliency right now?
Action #1 – Watch this video. Really.
Tues -10/16: Today’s Action Prescription
Action #1 – Help the North Dakota Native Americans get their vote back
(from Small Deeds Done) Last week the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision that the North Dakota voting law will stand, even though it requires voters to provide an ID with an actual street address. Many tribal members have only post office boxes, which wasn’t an issue in earlier elections. However, the GOP, so focused on disenfranchising these people over a technicality, seems to have forgotten something…
Because tribes are sovereign nations, they can create their own damn street addresses. Continue reading “Tues -10/16: Today’s Action Prescription”
Mon – 10/15: Today’s Action Prescription.
Action #1 – Make another comment on this! We have until 11:59 EST
The president has asked Zinke to clear all of us off his lawn… The number of comments has risen from the low 700’s to over 36,000.
However, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people marched in DC for the first Women’s March on January 21, 2017! We can do better. Please social media the heck out of this.
Click here!
Action #2 – If you got your ballot, or a sample ballot in the mail…
Time to start becoming familiar with the issues and candidates.
Indivisible Ventura has put out our own voting guide here, and it has links to a lot of others.
Action #3 – Sign up for Jen Hofmann tele-class on The Art of Perseverance – Part 1 starts today at 4:00 pm.
Sign up here. If you missed this one, catch up here.
00:00 First class intro and what to expect
10:27 Grounding strategy 1: Breath.
15:08 Focus strategy 1: Vision.
25:52 Decrease overwhelm strategy 1: Healthy boundaries with the news
38:16 Inspiration strategy 1: Gratitude
41:31 Assignment review and next steps.
Class 1 assignments
- Practice taking three deep breaths and exhalations this week when you feel stressed.
- Work on narrowing your vision to 3-5 words. “The kind of world I want to create is…”
- Notice how you consume news and make a change to your habits that decreases overwhelm.
- Write a note expressing gratitude for the many things you appreciate about one person.
- As you try these four things, notice if they contribute to increased feelings of well-being.
Action #4 – New postcard or poster design donated by Mary Engelbreit.
Click here to download and print out as postcards or as large as 11×17 inches.
Action #5 – Read this. Pass it on.
I’m Dying. Here is what I refuse to accept with serenity – Ady Barkan
Sat – 10/13: Trump has asked his guard dogs to shoo us off “his” lawn… Protect our right to freely assemble at our nation’s capital. Deadline THIS MONDAY – 10/15
(This action originally published 8/17)
SWAMP THEM WITH COMMENTS THIS WEEKEND!
Action #1 – WRITE to protect our right to freely assemble at our National Mall! Deadline Oct 15 at 11:59 PM ET
While Trump is personally attacking critics of his administration with revocations of their security clearances, his administration has quietly lobbed an assault on the free speech of the rest of us. A new proposal has just appeared in the Federal Register originating in the National Park Service, headed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. This proposal would CHARGE PROTESTERS for demonstrating in the nation’s Capital!
We’ve stopped their attacks before!
We derailed the imposition of exorbitant fees at our national parks, another Zinke-Production, by flooding them with comments. “I want to thank the American people who made their voices heard through the public comment process on the original fee proposal...”
We can do it again! This time it’s a first amendment right, not a parking fee.
Here’s an idea. Instead of paying millions for a parade at our capital to show off our military, how about protecting our first amendment rights to freely protest there to show off our democracy?
Link here for the proposed rules change.
Comment here
Look at other comments for inspiration here. DO NOT COPY COMMENTS EXACTLY. Exact duplicates will be culled.
Comment sample: I strongly oppose these proposed changes as they will unnecessarily inhibit the public’s right to freedom of assembly under the First Amendment.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 