Tag: Indivisible Ventura

+150 political scientists sent a warning to Congress…Democracy is on a deadline.

(Statement in Support of the Freedom to Vote Act)

  • Action #1: Call your senators! Every day.
  • How to program your phone for fast calls to your legislators!
  • Action #2: Write your reluctant senators an email/letter. (Yes, Dianne, we’re looking at you.) Pile it on!

In keeping with the racist origins of the filibuster, the only Senate bills that are currently still subject to it remain civil and voting rights bills like the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Meanwhile, without these federal-level restrictions, the GOP are busy eroding rights on a state level, using new voter restrictions, partisan election audits, and state-level efforts to sabotage future elections. And now they’re destroying the last line of defence – the courts. GOP legislators in 35 states proposed over 153 bills in 2021 to limit state courts’ power or independence or to make them more partisan. At least 19 have become law across 14 states. We’re running out of time.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is using Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as D-Day for democracy, a war against an opposition that’s already on our own shores, and even embedded within our own party. (His letter here.) Please, call your senators every day, especially those of us with reluctant ones, like Feinstein.

Action #1: Call your senators – updated message for use EVERY DAY!

Minimal script for SEN. FEINSTEIN:

Continue reading “+150 political scientists sent a warning to Congress…Democracy is on a deadline.” →

Fast Action! DEADLINE TODAY for last call to stop the toxic neighbors next door!

Tell Gov. Newsom that you support a 3200 foot setback between homes, schools, businesses, prisons and healthcare facilities and new & EXISTING oil and gas operations.

  • Action #1: Call Gov. Newsom
  • Action #2: Email Newsom and CalGEM at the same time with this nifty form!

Today is the LAST DAY to send public comments to California oil & gas regulators in support of 3200 foot setbacks between drilling and sensitive sites.

Action #1: Call Gov. Newsom

Minimal script for a call: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Governor Newsom and CalGEM to take the following three actions:

  • Support a 3,200-foot setback for new wells
  • Demand that the setback applies to existing wells
  • Demand an emergency response to ban all new permits within the setback until the final rule is in effect

CALL: Governor Newsom (916) 445-2841 

Action #2: Email Newsom and CalGEM at the same time with this nifty form!

EMAIL BOTH NEWSOM AND California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM): Here! https://secure.foodandwaterwatch.org/act/no-drilling-where-were-living

Sample script for an email: (NOTE: Mix it up and make it yours. It doesn’t have to be as long as this. Talk about your own issues of living next to these installations or that of your family and friends.)

Continue reading “Fast Action! DEADLINE TODAY for last call to stop the toxic neighbors next door!” →

The CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is trying to burn down solar.

Quote here.

Action #1: Stop them!

Just as the Biden Administration is working to catch up to CA’s ambitious climate plan, our own California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), wants to slam the brakes and impose the harshest penalty fees on solar users of any state.

They moan that the solar panel owners are forcing others to pay more than $200 a year in additional costs to maintain the network. Their answer to solving this issue? Helping EVERYBODY get access to solar panels?

Hahahahahaha, no!

Their solution is to make solar users pay an average of $57 per month, nearly $700 per year, taking solar energy out of reach of the low-income consumers they pretend to care about. Meanwhile, no one’s utility bills will go down, we’ll be left more vulnerable to climate-change power interruptions and pollution, the solar industry will implode AND utility interests will make a huge profit! Business as usual for an agency repeatedly accused of corruption and mismanagement. Here’s how we fight back!

The CPUC’s proposal is a near-carbon copy of what PG&E and the other utilities have pushed for months. If Gov. Newsom doesn’t step in, these changes will be finalized by January 27th and go into effect this spring. More details are below.

ASK #1: Please call Governor Newsom’s office today (9 am – 5 pm weekdays). Even if you already made a call, do it again and get your friends to phone tree this baby. We need to flood his office with calls this week.

Sample script: My name is ___ and I live in ____. I am against the proposed Solar Penalty Fee and I’m against slashing the value of rooftop solar 80%! Nobody should pay a penalty for putting solar panels on their roof and our climate-change driven fires, blackouts and pollution show that California should be doing more, not less, to promote rooftop solar. Say no to the utilities’ profit grab, and yes to actively assisting millions of our working and middle class residents to access solar technology for their homes.

Continue reading “The CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is trying to burn down solar.” →

Advent calendar for democracy – Demand that the Senate include the “Billionaires Income Tax” in the Build Back Better Act.

This is from 2014, but the points are still accurate.

Action – Call/email your legislators every day! Today’s pick is the “Billionaires Income Tax.

MInimal script: I’m calling from [zip code]. First, I want Sen. [___] to delay any holiday recess until they pass legislation essential for our continued democracy: the Freedom to Vote Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). I also expect [him/her] to carve up the filibuster for these foundational bills, just as the Senate somehow managed to do for the debt ceiling.

Then I want the senator to pass the Build Back Better Act, including a true building block of a healthy and just economy, the “Billionaires Income Tax. That this tax can raise $557 billion in 10 years from only 700 people, demonstrates a level of wealth inequality not seen since the Gilded Age of robber barons. According to the UN, this issue is destabilizing democratic societies around the world, ours included, stagnating wages, eroding trust and paving the way for authoritarion and nativist regimes. Their time-tested solution is what we’re asking Sen. [___] to do – increase social safety nets, protect workers’ rights, and actively redistribute extreme wealth for a more stable and just society for all.

Continue reading “Advent calendar for democracy – Demand that the Senate include the “Billionaires Income Tax” in the Build Back Better Act.” →

A message from Ventura County on gun violence

Action #1: Share this important message from Susan Schmidt-Orfanos.

“Most of you don’t know me. Our son Telemachus Orfanos, was murdered in the Borderline mass shooting on Nov. 7, 2018. Our lives were and continue to be shattered. The pain, the anguish and the rage are often uncontrollable. My family continues to work with a number of gun safety organizations to find ways to finally end gun violence. So that no more families experience this horror.

We need your help.

On December 2, devastated by the school shooting in Michigan, Manuel Oliver, who lost his son Joaquin at the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida flew to Washington D.C. to demand a meeting with President Biden in order to urge him to prioritize gun violence reduction. (UPDATE: Message from Manuel at the bottom of this post)

Manny is not leaving. Then-candidate Biden promised all gun violence survivors he would use all his powers to mitigate gun violence. We are all still waiting.”

Contact the White House: 202-456-1111 || 202-456-1414.,
email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code][state] to ask President Biden to meet with Manuel Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was killed in the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland Florida. He’s flown to Washington D.C. to personally ask the president to pledge that he’ll announce a plan of action for reducing gun violence at his State of the Union address.

Continue reading “A message from Ventura County on gun violence” →

Trump left behind a ticking health care bomb that will allow Wall Street to destroy Medicare. Most legislators have no idea this is coming.

Update 03/01: Our pressure is scaring them! They’ve been forced to re-brand “direct contracting” (Say hello to “ACO REACH!”) and added a few crumbs for the poor, but PNHP states that it’s still “direct contracting in disguise” – putting profit-driven middleman that no beneficiary ever asked for into traditional Medicare.

(Note to self: Any privatization program that requires “Accountable” as its first word is in trouble out the door.)

  • Action #1: Sign a petition to HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra that asks him to exercise his power to end this dangerous program.
  • Action #2: Call your representative to fight against Trump’s privatizing of Medicare and to support H.R.3. – the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act .
  • Action #3: Seriously Joe. What are you thinking? Keep your word!

However, Rep. Katie Porter is sounding the alarm! We need to educate Congress — and soon.

In May of 2021, four members of the U.S. House of Representatives (Reps. Mark Pocan, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Lloyd Doggett, and Katie Porter) sent a letter to Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra expressing concern about Medicare Direct Contracting, and calling for an immediate freeze of the program.

Action #1: The Biden administration has the power to stop this program in its tracks. Sign a petition to HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra and ask him to exercise his power to end this dangerous Medicare privatization program.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (lead sponsor of H.R. 1976, the Medicare for All Act) sent a sign-on letter to every member of Congress (read the letter here) addressed to HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra, asking him to immediately end the Medicare Direct Contracting pilot program.

Thousands of doctors and other advocates have already signed a petition demanding that Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra halt the DC program, provide real oversight of CMS’ Innovation Center, and protect Medicare for future generations. (One-page fact sheet: pnhp.org/DCEFactSheet)

Now it’s our turn.

Sign the petition here: https://pnhp.salsalabs.org/dcepetitionseptember2021/index.html

Continue reading “Trump left behind a ticking health care bomb that will allow Wall Street to destroy Medicare. Most legislators have no idea this is coming.” →

Senate: Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act Now!

(Source on birth injuries, permanent disability and mortality)

  • Action #1: Tell your senator to pass S.1975 – Women’s Health Protection Act NOW!
  • Action #2: Demand that SCOTUS Justice Amy Coney Barrett and other Catholic justices “recuse” themselves on abortion cases.
  • Action #3: Share information on how to find abortion pills, how to use them safely and to make the information common knowledge.

Action #1: Tell your senator to pass S.1975 – Women’s Health Protection Act NOW!

(This action is based on both CA senators having already cosponsored this bill.)

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to thank Senator [___] for supporting S.1975 – Women’s Health Protection Act and to ask that [he/she] carve out the filibuster to protect the 65 million women who will immediately lose access to complete reproductive health care if Roe v. Wade falls. I also want the senator to demand that the Senate Judiciary Committee look into the omission of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from Dobbs v. Jackson on the basis of her own 1998 law review article where she stated that she’d be unable to rule objectively on death penalty or abortion cases due to her religious convictions.

Contact:

Action #2: Demand that SCOTUS Justice Amy Coney Barrett and other Catholic justices “recuse” themselves on abortion cases.

Continue reading “Senate: Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act Now!” →

Why are we taking so long to deal with these two?

Stop the normalization of blatant lies and anti-Muslim rhetoric by radicalized legislators.

  • Action #1: Flood House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s phone lines
  • Action #2: Email/Call your legislators and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to censure Reps. Boebert and Greene.
  • Action #3: Email Parag Agrawal of Twitter.
  • NEW – Action #4: Tell your senators to pass H.R.5665 – Combating International Islamophobia.

Update: More than 400 Hill staffers demand House leaders act after Boebert’s anti-Muslim remarks

Why is this taking so long? We’ve seen the damage that Trump’s toxic rhetoric has caused. We rushed in to tell Congress that Gosar’s taxpayer-funded snuff film featuring AOC and President Biden wasn’t acceptable.

Now we need to stand behind Rep. Omar (D-MN) who is the target of Rep. Lauren Boebert’s repeated racist and anti-Muslim lies. Boebert, a serial liar and possesor of a surprisingly long rap sheet, joins Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in the bloodsport of smearing progressive lawmakers of color with derogatory and dangerously inflammatory terms like “Jihad squad” and “terrorist.”

What Boebert and Greene are doing is the essence of stochastic terrorism – “the use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.” The stochastic terrorist may deliberately incite violence or simply be indifferent to its possibility. In either case, the danger posed is very real, if somewhat intangible (until it is too late).”

Psychologist Valerie Tarico provides a succinct formula for stochastic terrorism, a pattern we are already well acquainted with by having a practitioner as our last president:

  • Demonization – a figure with a platform targets a person or group to be blamed for real or imagined ills.
  • Dehumanization – with repetition of the demonisation, the target loses their personhood in the eyes of the audience, becoming a monster or symbol of evil and depravity.
  • Desensitization – violent language and imagery is used in discussion of the target, and while no direct calls to use violence are issued, violent speech becomes an accepted part of the discourse.
  • Denial – when violence occurs, the stochastic terrorist denies any responsibility, pointing to their lack of direct involvement or instruction.

(Watch the video at the bottom for an example of how the rhetoric of Trump and his right-wing media pets created a terrifying reality for a temporary election worker in Georgia.)

Action #1: Flood House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s phone lines.

Continue reading “Why are we taking so long to deal with these two?” →

+150 political scientists sent a warning to Congress…

(Statement in Support of the Freedom to Vote Act)

  • Action #1: Call your senators!
  • Action #2: Write Feinstein an email/letter. Pile it on!

Action #1: Call your senators.

Minimal script for SEN. FEINSTEIN (not a cosponsor):

I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Sen. [___] to cancel any holiday recess plans in order to push through both S.4 – the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act” and S.2747 – the “Freedom to Vote Act,” nationwide minimum standards to protect the rights of voters and to strengthen our democracy while we still have one. We’ve read that she may now be willing to support bypassing the filibuster rule to enact these bills. Please convey to the senator that her active and enthusiastic cooperation with such an effort is the basic minimum or we will be ASKING FOR HER RESIGNATION.

Continue reading “+150 political scientists sent a warning to Congress…” →