Oppose Ryan Bounds The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted along party lines to advance Oregon Assistant Attorney Ryan Bounds for full senate approval to confirm his lifetime appointment to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. His home state senators have objected to his nomination, which traditionally has always prevented an appointment from going ahead, but under Trump, these objections are overridden. Like other Trump nominees, Bounds espouses extreme right-wing views and leaves behind him a wake of racist and sexist speech and behavior. Action: Contact your Senators and ask them to: a) oppose the nomination of Ryan Bounds to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; and b) insist that the “blue slip” system be honored; the Senate Judiciary Committee should not consider the nomination of a candidate whose home state senators do not return blue slips of approval.
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Something nice for Sunday: http://vimeo.com/249111753 Reform of Marijuana Laws Yesterday, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced bipartisan legislation, The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act of 2018, which would allow states to freely regulate the production and sale of marijuana within their borders without threat of federal intervention and prosecution. Among other provisions, this Act would exempt marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act in those states who choose to reform their laws and would allow cannabis businesses to obtain regular banking services, from which they are at present barred. Similar bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House by Representative David Joyce (R-OH) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Action: 1. Contact your Senators and ask them to support the legislation introduced by Warren and Gardner. 2. Contact your Member of Congress and ask them to support the legislation introduced by Joyce and Blumenauer. Ban Bumpstocks The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives is accepting comments from the public on a proposed rule which would classify bumpstocks as machine guns under the National Firearms Act, with all the restrictions which apply to machine guns. Action: Comment on the ATF page: www.regulations.gov/comment?D=ATF-2018-0002-0001 State your conviction that bumpstocks and other “conversion devices” that enable semiautomatic weapons to mimic automatic fire should qualify as “machineguns” under the National Firearms Act. Demand Oversight of Housing for Immigrant Children Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) attempted to visit a facility housing hundreds of children who have been forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S./Mexico border. The Senator was barred entry. It is absolutely essential to monitor the treatment of these children who are being unjustly punished by the U.S. government. Action: 1. Call the Office of Refugee Resettlement and demand that their facilities be open to inspection by our congressional representatives: (844) 241-1141. 2. Contact Senator Merkley and thank him for attempting to inspect the living conditions of these children. Demand Oversight Hearings Two members of the House Oversight Committee - Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) have requested a hearing to investigate the DHS policy of separating families at the border. In addition, Congress must conduct oversight hearings into the history of abuse and neglect of detainees by Border Patrol. Action: Contact your MoC and ask that they support Maloney and Cummings’ request for a hearing to investigate DHS and also that they call for oversight hearings into the abusive and neglectful actions of Customs and Border Protection. Brutal, Inhumane, Unnecessary We just acted on this a few days ago, but the DHS’s action in separating children from parents who cross the border illegally is shocking and brutal behavior on the part of a nation which considers itself to be “civilized,” and we cannot let it stand. The New Yorker recently published an article describing how this descent into barbarism came about. It’s worth reading, and shows how callousness can grow, standards can slip - until we are perpetrating acts that at one time would have been unthinkable. Action: 1. Sign the ACLU’s petition to Homeland Security. Share the petition on social media if that's something you're comfortable doing. 2. Donate to the ACLU. 3. Call your Senators to protest this horrible behavior. |
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November 2019
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