Justice and judges are not blind in America. Good judges remove barriers to equality. Bad ones make them. Good overview of history and laws leading up to Loving v. Virginia.
UPDATE 6/11: Justin Walker just got cloture. Up for vote Friday or Monday. We need 4 GOP senators to vote against him. Call your friends and family in RED states!
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pronounced himself “appalled” by the killing of George Floyd. and intends to hold hearings on policing, racial discrimination by police and police/community relations. Frankly, we don’t want to hear him prattle on about the causes of police officers casually administering capital punishment in our streets. We know what causes it – racism – embedded in every layer of our public life. Organizations such as the Marshall Project, Campaign Zero, Movement for Black Lives and the Sentencing Project have been analyzing this issue for years and the House has already put together a bill. The almost all-white, GOP-controlled Senate is hoping we’ll get too distracted by something else to notice that they won’t pass it.
Updated 6/5/2020
Some may resolve themselves before you get to them. That’s OK. We might be adding more in. Just try to do an action for justice every day!
Contact information for representatives and senators at the very bottom….
Continue reading “Mon/Tues 6/1-2: “Walk with us!” vs. “Light ’em up!” Oh, there is so much to do.”
The “White House Proclamation on Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2020,” states “As we pay tribute to the lives and legacies of these patriots on Memorial Day, we also remember that they sacrificed to create a better, more peaceful future for our Nation and the world. We recommit to realizing that vision, honoring the service of so many who have placed love of country above all else.”
We’re confident Trump has never read this, as he spent last weekend driving his golf cart over the “better, more peaceful future” with racist and misogynistic tweets and refused to mention, much less “honor the service” of our nation’s latest sacrifices – the front line “warriors” drafted into an army of necessity and economic convenience. He only lowered the flag for them after being publicly shamed. On Sunday, a White House spokesman stated: “President Trump’s prayers for comfort and strength are with all of those grieving the loss of a loved one or friend as a result of this unprecedented plague, and his message to this great nation remains one of resilience, hope and optimism.”
He didn’t read that either, but the NY Times gave our pandemic “warriors’ their proper due. “More Americans have died of the coronavirus in the last 12 weeks than died in the Vietnam and Korean Wars combined and nearly twice as many as died of battle wounds during World War I. The death toll has nearly matched the number of people killed by the initial blasts of the world’s first atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In terms of American deaths, it is the equivalent of 22 Iraq wars, 33 Sept. 11 attacks, 41 Afghanistan wars, 42 Pearl Harbors or 25,000 Benghazis.” Continue reading “Tues 5/26: You really want to honor ALL the “warriors,” Mr. Trump? 2 actions.”
OMG, this seems like so long ago…We miss you all and hope to see you soon. Stay well.
Indivisible Chicago Alliance is reaching out to voters in both Wisconsin and Michigan. We asked to join in, for whichever state they needed the help for more. We just received 2500 cards for Michigan, hopefully the first of many thousands to arrive there by way of concerned citizens in Ventura County
If you’ve already received cards from us, you are on our nifty new spreadsheet and we’ll be sending your orders out shortly.
If you haven’t received cards from us, please send us an email to indivisibleventura@gmail.com with “SEND ME POSTCARDS!” in the subject line. Please include your name, your full mailing address, your phone number in case we have questions, how many postcards you want and whether or not you also need stamps.
UPDATE 5/22/2020: Thanks to all who called! Trump is finally going to order flags at half-staff, possibly just for the Memorial Day weekend, after a letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) was made public. In April, Joe Biden (D) made the same request, stating “We’ve lost more people to this virus in the last several months than we lost in the entire Vietnam War.”
STILL NO AUTHORIZATION FOR FEMA TO HELP FUND BURIALS…
“The people of our country are warriors.” (Trump)
Or we’re cannon fodder.
How can we tell which? By the respect given to our dead, which, by today’s count, is closing on 94,000.
“The frame of war allows the president to call for the collective sacrifice of laborers without taking the measures necessary to ensure their safety, while the upper classes remain secure at home…The president’s language of wartime unity is a veil draped over a federal response that offers little more than contempt for those whose lives are at risk.”
And nowhere is that contempt more obvious than for the victims of this pandemic – Trump hasn’t bothered to lower the White House flag, a gesture to honor the dead which would cost him nothing, nor has he let FEMA help families with burial costs.
Continue reading “Wed 5/20: National Day of Mourning for our “Warriors.””
Trump’s quote in response to whistleblower Rick Bright.
“In context, the war on inspectors general is the third and final front in Trump’s war on any kind of check on the executive branch. In the past few months alone, the White House has argued that Congress doesn’t have the right to oversee the executive branch. It has sought to convince courts that matters of oversight shouldn’t be decided by the judicial branch, either. And in going after inspectors general, an accountability mechanism embedded in the executive branch, it is staking a simple but sweeping claim: No one has the right to check the executive outside of quadrennial elections.” (Atlantic)
Inspectors general serve at the pleasure of the president, a fact few of us ever thought about until Trump took office. He’s fired an unprecedented number of these public guardians, including the one tasked with oversight of the $2 trillion COVID-19 relief funds, almost half the size of the entire annual federal budget. Daniel Meyer, who led the Whistleblowing and Source Protection Program at the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General until he was fired in March 2018, stated:
“It is not rocket science what the President is doing here. He has said publicly that he is the oversight authority and the IGs work for him.“ Continue reading “Tues 5/19: Eliminating the witnesses… “Yes” on H.R. 6668 – Inspectors General Independence Act”
Join 60+ grassroots organizations including dozens of Indivisible groups nationwide! Urge the Senate to fully fund $3.6 billion to help states shift to Vote by Mail, and $25 billion to save the United States Postal Service!
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to pass HR 6800 – Heroes Act. Please let all Americans exercise their right to vote safety by investing $3.6 billion dollars to shift all states to vote-by-mail and funding our post office with $25 billion and protecting it from poison-pill laws!
Contact
Senator Feinstein: email, DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
and Senator Harris: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (310) 231 – 4494, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884
Who is my representative/senator?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com Continue reading “Mon 5/18: Join the #VirusFreeVoting Virtual Rally, TODAY! 1-3pm PT.”
“The government’s taxing power should not be wielded to oblige Muslims to bankroll temples, or to coerce Jews to subsidize Christian and Catholic churches, or to force Christians to fund mosques, or to compel the nonreligious to support any of the above. One of this country’s first religious freedom laws warned that taxing citizens and giving the money to churches is “sinful and tyrannical.” The right to be free from that compulsion is the bedrock of religious liberty.” – Andrew Seidel, author of The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American
Watch their video interview here. Many will recognize these awesome local professionals and how lucky Ventura County is to have them.
Continue reading “Wed 5/13: Ventura County’s Mask & Gown Brigades update and related news.”
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 