Chop Wood, Carry Water 10/10
One day at a time, we ACT.
Hi, all, and happy Thursday!
Hope those of you in Florida are safe after Hurricane Milton passed through. It looked awful, although fortunately not quite a bad as we feared.
As for the rest of you, how are you holding up? I know you’re working hard, and that the media environment is deafening. We’ve had two natural disasters in two weeks, the Trump team is taking unhingedness to a whole new level, and the polls—even though we know we should ignore them—are still tight. It’s a lot to take, so I want to remind you once again to take lots of deep breaths, eat well, and hug your loved ones often.
Also, read this. It was exactly what I needed today.
Then simply keep taking the actions.
Remember: today we’re OK. Today we’re strong. Today we’re ahead. We can worry about tomorrow tomorrow.
Today, instead of reading polls let’s write some letters or postcards.
Today, instead of arguing with the voices of anxiety in our head let’s get on the phone and talk to voters.
Today, instead of googling “housing prices in Canada” let’s take our spare money and give it where it’s most needed.
Today, instead of shutting ourselves in to watch MSNBC nonstop let’s get up, get out, and go knock on some doors!
Remember: action is the antidote to anxiety. It’s also how we change outcomes! If you feel worried, walk away from the source of the worry—your social media feed, your television, or your occasionally-overanxious acquaintance—and DO SOMETHING! You’ll be amazed at how much better you’ll feel.
And the world will be amazed when we win.
One last thing: many of you were interested in the webinar about the costs of a mass deportation effort and its potential effects on the U.S. economy. You can now watch a recording of it here. SO GOOD.
Extra Credit ✅
From Climate Action Now’s “Daily Dose of Climate Hope”newsletter.
The Interior Department just announced $236 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for vital wildfire resilience work across America. Yay!
Let’s use this form—making sure to personalize it at the top—to ask Congress to sustain BIL wildfire resilience funding!
Get Smart! 📚
Rupert Murdoch’s Global War on Democracy and Climate
On Wednesday October 16, 8pm ET the Media and Democracy Project will be interviewing Malcolm Turnbull, former Prime Minister of Australia, who knows the harms and impacts of Rupert Murdoch on Australian and world democracies.
Turnbull has tangled with Murdoch for decades and speaks with a clarity that no American politician or movement leader has done against the harms and threat of Murdoch to democracies and the future of planet earth.
Join them via Zoom. Register here.
Spread the Word! 📣
Here are some great talking points about the gangbusters economy under Biden-Harris, courtesy of subscriber David Beaulieu:
Spread the Word About the Third Party Threat!
Jill Stein is a dangerous spoiler candidate—she’s horrifying and deeply dishonest. The folks who are voting for her are being scammed. Please read this fact sheet listing all the ways she’s lying to her supporters. Then share, share, share!
Give 💰!
Abortion is on the ballot everywhere this year, and to ensure that abortion rights are protected, we need to flip the House from Red to Blue. Moderate women in rural, small-town, and suburban communities are the key to victory. Join Airlift on Thursday, October 17, 5:00 PT / 8:00 ET, to learn how Galvanize Action motivates these women through research-backed messaging to vote their Blue values on issues like abortion, healthcare, childcare, and other aspects of the “care economy.”
Winning back the House goes through California, and three of those flippable districts are in the Central Valley. That’s why we’re thrilled to also hear from leaders of Airlift Partner Communities for a New California (CNC), which mobilizes Latina women there to vote Blue using person-to-person, values-driven outreach on abortion and pocketbook issues. CNC knows the power of these women as leaders in their families and communities to flip the House and so much more. Help CNC thwart the GOP’s extremist agenda, including their determination to control what women can do with their own bodies.
Sign up here.
Although this is a fundraiser for CNC, you need not make a donation to attend.
Win Races—PA! 🗳
WITH CORRECTED LINK!
Join Red2Blue phone bankers and reach out to Pennsylvanians—especially young first-time voters - to encourage them to check that their registrations are in order and urge them to vote early by mail-in-ballot. Our auto-dialer, Scale to Win, is easy to use, there’s plenty of training for inexperienced callers, and our phone banks are friendly and fun! Best of all, the people we call appreciate our help.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Phone banks will include training through October 20, after which we begin our intense get-out- the-vote phone banks that will run through Election Day! Signup HERE to phone bank—training included through October 20!
Win Races—Write Working America Letters!
We're in the final stretch-just 1 week left until the beginning of the mailing window! There's still time to reach Working America members.
You can start mailing letters on 10/15 but you can also continue to request and write letters up until October 22nd! Every letter is a connection with a member who cares deeply about how the affordability of and access to health care will continue to affect them, their families, and their communities. This election and these issues are too important to let up now.
Let's make this final push count!
Win Races—Become a “Late Help” Volunteer in a Swing State!
The Harris-Walz campaign is looking for “Late Help” volunteers—folks who can spend the last two weeks, or one week, or even four days volunteering in a swing state full-time remote or in-person).
Sign Up Form Here! You should receive outreach from the campaign for a 15 min call.
Win Races—Help Dan Osborn win in Nebraska!
ACTION ALERT: Phone Bank for Dan Osborn (Independent for Nebraska Senate)
🗓️TODAY, Thursday, Oct 10
⏰6:00 pm EDT
💻Sign up HERE
Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥
Over the past year, Green America worked with Rivers and Mountains GreenFaith to create the Climate Smart Insurance Directory of companies that:
Offer home, renters, and auto insurance
Do not insure fossil fuel projects (per publicly available information)
Have no indication of direct investments in the fossil fuel industry (Grade A) or have investments under $200 million (Grade B)
Have a rating of A- or above for financial stability in AM Best
If you don’t want to use an insurance company that’s underwriting fossil fuel projects check it out!
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: all 3 reps] [H/T] [Text SIGN PJWSBT to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]
As your constituent, I am urging you to increase critical funding for disaster relief programs.
Communities are struggling to recover from Hurricane Helene and now Hurricane Milton is right on its heels. According to weather reports, Hurricane Milton—with storm surges that are expected to be as high as 15 feet—has the capacity to be one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in history.
The need for disaster relief will only increase as we continue to deal with the impacts of the climate catastrophe. There will be much more to do to help communities rebuild―families need access to safe and affordable housing, quality health care, and investments that prioritize equity including HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, which provides flexible grants to help cities, counties, and states recover from disasters and rebuild affordable housing and other infrastructure after a disaster, especially in low-income areas.
We must address the climate crisis―and that can include eliminating tax breaks for fossil fuel companies when Congress takes up tax legislation next year, which would also increase revenue by almost $110 billion over 10 years to make much-needed investments.
Helping communities recover is a critical role of the federal government. FEMA is carrying out its responsibilities now, but will need more funds soon. We know that the communities that will be most impacted by hurricanes and natural disasters include communities of color, people with disabilities, and rural and low-income communities.
We cannot sacrifice the most vulnerable in our society due to partisan squabbling or outright lies about what FEMA disaster relief funding is being used for.
Please work with your colleagues to increase disaster relief funding in FY 2025 appropriations and speak out to refute the false assertions that FEMA disaster relief funds are being diverted to other purposes.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Speaking of polls. (sorry .... ) the Quinnipiac poll of blue wall states that has people freaked out shows Trump ahead by ten (10) points with 18-29 year-olds ( ... or 18-34 can't remember the upper end) in Michigan in early October.
Yet the SAME EXACT POLL just three weeks ago showed HARRIS up EIGHTEEN (18!!) with the same age group. How can there be a 28 point swing in Trump's favor in the past three weeks in Michigan?
There is something very weird about the polls. Go read Tom Bonier's substack post from yesterday (he hardly ever posts on Substack but when he does, it's worth reading). I posted a link to it here yesterday. He's a rock star. Along with our Jessica Craven and Simon Rosenberg. The title is "How Trump wins (and how we stop him") or something like that, so it's catchy.
Just donated to Jeff Jackson, the Democrat in NC most likely to pull more Democrats to vote. Love, Doc