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Guns Just when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier …. Senator John “let ‘em wear kevlar” Cornyn of Texas has introduced a bill into the Senate to allow concealed-carry reciprocity across the nation. In other words, if you come from a benighted state like Texas which allows concealed carry and are permitted so to do there, then you’d be able to do so in all states. This bill joins another piece of homicidal legislation introduced by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC): HR 38, Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. Today’s action:
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Cacerolazo/People’s Address Protest A cacerolazo protest is a protest where you bang together POTS and PANS and make a LOT OF NOISE. They are being held across the country today and tonight (Tuesday) to coincide with 45’s address to Congress. You can find out if there is one in your area by clicking here. (At the one in DC, Rosie O’Donnell will be speaking!) Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to go to one of these protests. Which will take more than 10 minutes, so you can take the rest of the week off if you want. If you can’t make it to a cacerolazo/People’s Address, or if there isn’t one in your area, here’s your task: if you’re not already hooked up with Indivisible, go to Facebook, and in the search bar put “Indivisible” plus the name of your state, or your nearest town or city, and see what comes up. For example, if I put “Indivisible Harrisburg,” I find there is no specific group with that name, but I find plenty of Indivisible action in the Harrisburg area, e.g. a “Tune-In Toomey” march on April 1st. If you do find any local Indivisible groups on FB, ask to join them, and if you see any events or activities you could participate in - put them on your calendar and gird up your loins. If you’ve already accomplished all of the above, and you have Twitter, tweet as many things as you can in ten minutes about 45 and his minions - and be sure to mention @realDonaldTrump and use #ResistTrump in your tweets. If you’re tweeting about the wall or immigration, also use the hashtag #NoBanNoWallNoRaids, and if you mention Bannon, use #BanBannon. I’m sure there’s a hashtag for everything. If not, you can start it. They tell me Twitter is influential, so you might want to cave in and get it. And an action for those without Twitter or those who have a few minutes left, call the following numbers to be put through to your Senators and Congressional representative to again demand a full investigation of Trump’s conflicts of interest: Senate 866-985-2543 House 866-948-8977 Boycott
Public pressure lead Nordstrom to drop Ivanka’s line of clothing and convinced Uber’s CEO to quit trump’s economic advisory council and donate money to a legal fund for drivers affected by the Muslim ban. There are a number of other corporations who could be persuaded that backing trump is bad for business. The website below has information about companies who have supported trump in various ways - selling his family’s products, advertising on his show, or even endorsing his candidacy (e.g., sorry to say, the owner of Yuengling Brewery). For today’s action, bookmark this site, and check it out to see which products or services you use regularly. Write - call - Tweet - comment on their Facebook pages - let these companies know that their support of trumpdom is unacceptable; and - if possible - boycott them. https://grabyourwallet.org/ Please spread the word on social media about this most excellent website and invite your friends and family to join in the sanctions. There’s also a phone app called Boycott Trump. It doesn’t have as much information as Grab Your Wallet, but it’s portable. So if you’re out and about and can’t make up your mind whether to have a Blue Moon or a Guinness, this’ll help you decide. Today’s action: Press the members of the House Judiciary Committee to support Congressman Nadler’s Resolution of Inquiry calling for an investigation into Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest and ties to Russia. Please ask the members to vote in support of this Resolution. Below are listed all the Republican members of the committee. If you click on their names, you’ll be taken directly to a page at Fax Zero where you can send a message (for free) to that representative. Names in green don’t accept faxes, and the link will take you to their House page, where you can find telephone, email, and mail contact information. Written cards are also good if you feel like looking up addresses for more reps. Listed below are the 23 Republican members of the Committee - let’s say if your birthday is 1st -10th, take the first column, if it’s the 11th-20th, take the second column, and if it’s the 21st - 31st, take the third column. If you see your own representative, of course, contact them. And how about everyone send a thank-you message to Jerrold Nadler via his House contact form. Andy Biggs (R AZ-5) Matt Gaetz (R FL-1) Raul Labrador (R ID-1) Ken Buck (R CO-4) Louie Gohmert (R TX-1) Tom Marino (R PA-10) Steve Chabot (R OH-1) Bob Goodlatte (R V6) (Chair) Ted Poe (R TX-2) Jason Chaffetz (R UT-3) Trey Gowdy (R SC-4) John Ratcliffe (R TX-4) Doug Collins (R GA-9) Darrell Issa (R CA-49) Martha Roby (R AL-2) Ron Desantis (R FL-6) Mike Johnson (R LA-4 Jim Sensenbrenner (R WI-5) Blake Farenthold (R TX-27) Jim Jordan (R OH-4) Lamar Smith (R T-21) Trent Franks (R AZ-8) Steve King (R IA-4) Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D NY-10) ACA As you’ve probably heard, Boehner came out and said Republicans are going to give up on their repeal-and-replace approach to the ACA and instead settle for tweaking it. Now’s the time to reinforce this and to insist that coverage be extended and be made more affordable. Add any other comments you’d like.
Three postcards Postcards Nos. 1 & 2 - to your each of your senators: Ask them to OPPOSE Senate Bill 370, introduced by Ted Cruz (R-TX), which seeks to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Here’s a copy of the bill. Postcard No. 3 - to your congressional representative: Ask him or her to call for an independent commission or a bipartisan select committee to investigate the ties between Russia and the president and his associates. There are Republican panels looking into this issue, but we want to call for an independent or bi-partisan investigation. First Action The White House phone lines are open again! Store the number in your phone! Call them every day! (202) 456-1111. The lines are open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Second Action: Ask your senators via phone, fax, and/or postcard to co-sponsor S.54 Protect American Families Act, a bill which would prevent the creation of a registry for Muslim immigrants. Here’s information about the bill and who its co-sponsors are. If one of your senators is a co-sponsor, then your message should be one of thanks. Third Action: Ask your senators via phone, fax, and/or postcard to co-sponsor S.291 Strengthening Oversight of National Security Act of 2017. This act was introduced in response to Bannon’s appointment to the NSC; it seeks to codify the requirements for membership in the NSC and the procedure for appointments so that crazy people can’t just kick out the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and throw in their Breitbart bffs instead. Here’s information about who introduced the bill, etc., and again if one of your senators co-sponsored or introduced the bill, they get a thank-you message. Optional Extra Action: Sign up to receive updates about legislation you’re concerned about at https://www.congress.gov/account/register. Apologies from the Management - we forgot that yesterday was Presidents’ Day. Guess it just slipped our mind that a President could be something to celebrate. Today, the Capitol and district offices will be open again and possibly answering calls. So today’s action is to do whatever of yesterday’s action you couldn’t complete because of the holiday. Also: Paul Ryan is in the process of unveiling the new health care plan. The press and the wonks are in the process of digesting the information, and there will be a lot to read in the days to come. This is going to be a major issue for many people. Try to read something like this article in the NY Times. And if you want to read Mr. Ryan’s plan in his own words, try this. Then when you’ve read enough to formulate a concern, keep that concern in your mind -- we’ll present these questions to our congressional representatives later in the week. For instance, the NY Times article brings up the question: how are low-income people going to make up the difference between the tax-credit allotted to them and the actual cost of health insurance? If anyone comes up with some good questions, please share them in Comments. Thanks! This week is Congressional recess, and all our beloved Senators and Congressfolk are supposed to be back in their home districts communicating with and listening to their constituents - that would be US. Some of these individuals are AWOL - they’re afraid of holding town hall meetings as they have heard Scary Stuff About Paid Crazy Left Wing Anarchists Throwing Things. I actually spoke to my own congressman. He’s actually scared. First Action Go to your representatives’ home pages at www.senate.gov and www.house.gov to find out if they’re holding town hall meetings. When I go to my congressman’s page, I find that he is hosting a telephone town hall, as he feels this is safer. If there’s nothing on his/her page, call and ask about home events planned for recess. Second Action If your rep is one of the good guys and is actually holding a town hall, please publicize the details on social media and encourage your friends to go. (Can’t ask you to attend as that’s more than ten minutes; however, if you really want to go …) Third Action If your rep is one of the fraidy cats, please: a) write/email your local newspaper to complain; and b) check out this webpage. You can enter your zip code to see if there is an alternate town hall meeting in your area - some groups are organizing with-or-without-you town halls and inviting the press. Again, if you find out about one of these events, publicize on social media and attend yourself if you wish. There are many issues and many concerns, but there is one ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, and it’s name begins with T and rhymes with chump. (Or does it begin with B and rhyme with cannon?) The White House is currently not accepting phone messages or faxes - only submissions on their email form, which I imagine nobody reads. So -- I don’t know about y’all, but my postcards and postcard stamps arrived, so let’s start sending solid physical written messages to Mr. Trump, stating what we want. There are 188 members of this group now. If each member sends five postcards today, that’s 940 postcards arriving on the doorstep of the WH. Here are five issues to address - send five different postcards, a separate one for each issue. If there are different issues you are concerned about, feel free to substitute. 1. We call upon Trump to resign from the presidency. 2.. We call upon Trump to cease and desist from attempting to reintroduce the “Muslim Ban.” 3. We call upon Trump to rein in I.C.E. and cease and desist from wholesale deportations. 4. We call upon Trump to give up his Wall plan - a huge useless squandering of taxpayers’ money. Plus it’s very rude. 5. We call upon Trump to keep the ACA, and to improve it so that it truly is “affordable.” Send your cards to: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500 |
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November 2019
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