Thurs 2/28: Say “NO” to Andrew Wheeler, the once and future coal lobbyist nominee for the EPA.

Action Update – Let’s use our power of oversight to hem this guy in.

He’s in, on a basic party-line vote with only Sen. Collins crossing the aisle. Our EPA, as well as the GOP itself, are now completely owned by the fossil-fuel industry (read “Background” below). So where do we go now? RESIST, of course! We propose a serious email to all your legislators.

New minimal email:

“Until we are in a position to remove Andrew Wheeler, coal-industry mole and climate-change denier, from his new position at the EPA and repair the damage he’s causing, we want you to commit to using our power of Congressional oversight to investigate the following issues:

Corruption: Wheeler, after it was first rumored he would be considered for the EPA last March, raised funds for Republican senators on the committee that makes the preliminary decision on confirming appointments to the agency. (intercept)

Continue reading “Thurs 2/28: Say “NO” to Andrew Wheeler, the once and future coal lobbyist nominee for the EPA.” →

Wed 2/27: H.R. 1384 – Medicare For All Act of 2019. It begins.

Action #1: Call your Representative if they aren’t a “YES”. Thank them if they are.

UPDATE 2/28: The bill is listed here, still without the text, and cosponsors are up here.

Here’s the list of cosponsors for every state. Check for your representative.
Read about the bill here and here..

Minimal script for reps: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep. [____] to know that I voted for [him/her] to put H.R.1384 – “Medicare For All” on the map, just like Social Security in 1935, and Medicare in 1965.

Minimal script for senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [____] to cosponsor the matching version of HR1384 – “Medicare For All”.

Contact
Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email. (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
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 (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884
Who is my representative/senator?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com

Action #2: Join us in a Medicare4all Crowd Canvass at the AIDS Walk on March 2nd!

Continue reading “Wed 2/27: H.R. 1384 – Medicare For All Act of 2019. It begins.” →

Wed – 2/27: Congress – take your power back now!

Quote from this great essay by Captain John Byron, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Action: Block Trump’s Ability to Unilaterally Wage War in Venezuela, Iran and Yemen, and anywhere else…

In the nationwide daily Civics 101 class we now live in, it took the border wall debacle to remind Congress that they are in charge of the nation’s purse. It’s also time for them to take back their power of declaring war, both to halt our current 18-year run of continuous undeclared combat, and to stop Trump’s plans to distract us from Cohen and Mueller with new armed traumas against Venezuela, Iran and Yemen. Rep. Barbara Lee came so close in 2017 to stopping this runaway executive-branch war machine, only to have her legislation stripped from the Defense Department spending bill by now mercifully former-House Speaker Paul D. Ryan. Let’s help her out now.

Continue reading “Wed – 2/27: Congress – take your power back now!” →

Mon – 2/25: They’re voting on H.J.Res. 46 – #FakeNationalEmergency tomorrow!

We marched and rallied all across the country on President’s Day and most of our congressmembers heard us! (KEYT)(VC Star)(VCStar)(VC Star images)

Action #1 – Thank our legislators for stepping up!

Our Reps. Brownley and Carbajal are two of the 225 legislators cosponsoring Rep. Joaquin Castro’s (D-TX) H.J.Res.46 – “Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019”. Thank them for doing the right thing!

(Note: If your legislator isn’t on the list, call them and tell them to sign.)

Contact
Rep. Julia Brownley: email
or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email.
Not your representatives?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com

Action #2 – Call your friends and family in Red states & ask them to call their legislator’s offices.

Continue reading “Mon – 2/25: They’re voting on H.J.Res. 46 – #FakeNationalEmergency tomorrow!” →

Weekend wonkery… Help us choose state bills to follow!

Action – Help nominate bills for CA StateStrong to push through to the finish line!

The Indivisible coalition “CA State Strong” is choosing important grassroots bills to follow and promote through our state’s complicated legislative process and Indivisible Ventura has the opportunity to send in 10 of our favorites for consideration. Check here for this year’s crop of new legislative proposals. Email your picks to indivisibleventura@gmail.com by end of day Monday, 2/25 (if you have an explanation why a bill is so important to you, send that too) and we’ll send them in. Yes, even for the perpetual civics class we now live in, this IS an extremely wonky activity.

You know who you are… Continue reading “Weekend wonkery… Help us choose state bills to follow!” →

Fri 2/22: Immigration Friday! Email your legislators and get ready for Sunday’s “Swap Meet Justice.”

**“Far from the public eye, the Trump administration is strangling the naturalization process.”**

– Steven Choi, National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), a coalition of advocacy groups that is pushing to offer naturalization workshops and legal services to would-be citizens

Action #1 – Ask our legislators to stop the paperwork war on those who would be citizens.

The Trump administration is sneakily interfering with the citizenship process. While the 750,793 people who have applied for citizenship since last June is a normal number (Nine million immigrants are eligible to become citizens), the rate at which their applications are being processed is the lowest in a decade. On top of the $725 immigrants must pay to apply for citizenship, the wait for naturalization is now twice what it was two years ago, ranging from ten months to 31 months in some places, with no legitimate excuse to explain the slowdown. Lawyers claim that the Citizenship & Immigration Services has become “a third immigration enforcement component of DHS.” More green card holders are being deported under harsher Trump-rules too, with their information being shared with ICE. The NPNA states that the Trump administration is creating a “second wall” of barriers to citizenship and resultant voting rights, with:

Continue reading “Fri 2/22: Immigration Friday! Email your legislators and get ready for Sunday’s “Swap Meet Justice.”” →

Thu – 2/21: Keeping on the pressure.

Thanks to the over 200 protesters who showed up Monday, Presidents’ Day! (KEYT)(VC Star)(VCStar)(VC Star images) You were amazing! And we were not alone!

Action #1 – Call your friends and family in Red states & ask them to call their legislator’s offices.

Why should we have all the fun? Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) introduced a joint resolut ion of termination to end Trump’s national emergency declaration and already has 92 cosponsors. So these are the rules: If this passes in the House, the Senate has to vote on it within 18 days. If the resolution passes both chambers and the president vetoes it, then a two-thirds majority is necessary to override it. So how do we get from here to there?

In the House, Democrats have a 235-197 majority . For a veto-proof 2/3rds vote with all members present, we would need 53 Republicans to join in.
In the Senate, Democrats/Independents are down by 47 to 53. We would need 4 Republican votes to pass and 22 Senators who’ve relocated their civic duty to be veto-proof.

Who are the most persuadable?
For senators, those listed below are the best bets, but try them all. Really, all they want is to get re-elected, so have your family and friends prove to them that they are active voters.

“Oppose” -At least eight GOP senators have said they oppose the national emergency declaration – which doesn’t guarantee a vote but it’s a start. They are: Sens. Lamar Alexander (TN), Collins (MN), Murkowski (AK), Paul (KY), Rubio (FL), Sasse (NE), Thom Tillis (NC) and Toomey (PA)

Continue reading “Thu – 2/21: Keeping on the pressure.” →

Wed – 2/20: New “Courage Scores” for our state legislators! Click & Thank!

(CA Indivisible leaders just got back from a Summit meeting in Los Angeles, and we’re sharing some of the great information we talked about.)

Action – Thank our state legislators for voting for us. It’s easy!

Today, 2/20, is the rollout of the latest Courage Scores for our state legislators (2018). This gives us a chance to see how our Democratic representatives are translating our progressive values into votes. Lucky us, ours are “A” legislators! Some, however, are voting like Republicans, and have been awarded Hall of Shame “F” status. (No actual Republicans are counted in this process.)

(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.

Continue reading “Wed – 2/20: New “Courage Scores” for our state legislators! Click & Thank!” →

Tues – 2/19: 4 civil rights activities – learn, join in!

Tonight – Meeting – “Police and White Supremacy” Panel

Hosted by Showing Up for Racial Justice – SURJ Ventura County and TheLAB
Facebook link, 7 PM – 8:30 PM (see note below for new attendees),
11137 Azahar St, Ventura, California 93004

Continue reading “Tues – 2/19: 4 civil rights activities – learn, join in!” →

Tues 2/19: Buzz through this action on bees…

Action – Email your legislators to ask them to stop the EPA’s policy of granting large exceptions for the spraying of apicidal pesticides.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported last week that in 2018 it issued so-called “emergency” approvals to spray sulfoxaflor—an insecticide that scientists as well as the agency itself consider to be “very highly toxic” to bees—on more than 16 million acres of crops known to attract bees.

Read this article here. The video below shows one aspect of what is happening to the bees when exposed to these types of chemical pesticides.