Chop Wood, Carry Water 10/12 💙
Persist!
Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!
Lots going on, so I’ll be quick.
I just want to say that the last few days have given me incredible hope. Hope in our community. Hope for our country. Hope for justice.
It’s not that there’s not a ton of awful stuff happening. There absolutely is. But the reaction to it from our side has been so strong, and so smart, and so organized, and so compassionate, and so intersectional, and so determined.
The enemy is real.
But our force? Is unstoppable.
I love being a foot soldier in this army. And I will fight every day for the rest of my life, knowing I have you all at my side.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I know that a conservative court recently ruled against DACA and that its fate now rests in the hands of a right-wing judge who has previously ruled that DACA was unlawful. The courts won’t save Dreamers—Congress needs to! Please ask the Senator to push to pass S 264, the Dream Act of 2021, now!
Extra Credit ✅
Call Chuck Schumer at (212) 486-4430 or (518) 431-4070 or (202) 224-6542 and say:
My name is _____ and I live in [city, state]. I’m calling the Sentaor in his capacity as Senate Majority Leader to ask him to bring S 264, the Dream Act, to a vote immediately. Congress needs to protect Dreamers now that a conservative court has ruled against them. It’s time to act. Please do! Thanks.
Extra Extra Credit! ✅✅
Please sign this petition to Congress and POTUS from United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led community in the country, asking them to act to protect Dreamers!
Get Smart! 📚
Join Flip the Vote’s last pre-election community event, “Down to the Wire: Persuading Nonvoters to Turn Out in 2022”, on October 20 at 5:30 pm PT/ 8:30 pm ET with Make the Road Action Nevada and Georgia’s Asian American Advocacy Fund to hear how these groups are engaging low-frequency voters in their communities up to Election Day.
Register here.
Give Money!
So this 2-3 minute clip from Daniel Squadron, President of the States Project, is really worth watching. It’s from a meeting they held last night, and it made me want to turn my pockets inside out to give them more money.
Friendly reminder, I have both an Arizona and a Pennsylvania Giving Circle with the Sates Project. Others who subscribe to this newsletter have GCs, too, and they can drop links to them in the comments. Please consider making a last-minute donation of any amount if you can. You can also just give to the States Project general fund here and they’ll spend it where they feel it’s needed the most.
Amplify! 📣
Demcast has run the numbers, and based on social media data, these three US Senate races stand to benefit the most from increased amplification on social media:
Catherine Cortez-Masto (Nevada)
Cheri Beasley (North Carolina)
Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire)
The races mentioned above all have volume, reach & sentiment scores that are trending in the wrong direction. They just aren't getting as much exposure online as some of the other candidates, and the right wing social media army is clearly, actively driving the narrative. In an era where millions of Americans get their news and form their views online, this is troubling. These are must-win seats.
But the good news is, you can help!
DemCast is building a final-stretch Digital Turnout Team dedicated to reversing these trends and driving up the post volume and sentiment for these candidates and other down-ballot Democrats in Nevada, North Carolina & New Hampshire.
Are you willing to share a few posts a day about these candidates from their toolkit?
Are you willing to go interact with the candidates' social posts to give them a boost?
Are you willing to help shine a spotlight on their MAGA opponents?
If so, please join the Digital Turnout Team here. DemCast'll give you all the tools you need to help. There's no time to lose! 27 days.
Win Races—call! 🗳
Can anyone join me today at this phonebank from 2-4:30 PT? It was a REALLY fun one last week. (You can also RT this to help amplify!)
Win Races—Text! 💻
Activate America is hosting Get Out the Vote text banks into NC, NV, and WI on October 18, 25, and November 1 from 4-5 PM PT, targeting voters in key states with vote-by-mail and early voting messages.
They are using the texting platform Scale to Win. The link to set up your account will be on the confirmation email you will receive after signing up.
Technical assistance (including how to set up your account) and training will also be offered at the beginning of each text bank.
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)
[to all 3 reps] [H/T] [Quick send: text SIGN PNMSRV to 50409]
I’m writing as a constituent to ask you to support S. 4157 and H.R. 405 to ban lead on wildlife refuges.
Lead is an extremely toxic element that we've removed from water pipes, gasoline, paint, and other sources dangerous to people. Yet toxic lead is still entering the food chain through the widespread use of lead hunting ammunition and fishing tackle, poisoning wildlife and even threatening human health. At least 75 wild bird species in the United States are poisoned by spent lead ammunition, including bald eagles, golden eagles, ravens, and endangered California condors. Thousands of cranes, ducks, swans, loons, geese and other waterfowl ingest spent lead shot or lead fishing sinkers lost in lakes and rivers each year, often with deadly consequences.
S. 4157 and its companion bill H.R. 405 would begin the process of getting the lead out of National Wildlife Refuge land where it currently is permitted to threaten the health of wildlife.
A study published in February 2022 in the journal Science documented mass poisoning of eagles by lead. Fragments of lead ammunition in the remains of hunted animals that are left in the field are adversely impacting eagles and other wildlife.
The researchers determined that nearly fifty percent of eagles had “bone lead concentrations above thresholds for chronic poisoning.” According to the study, a third of eagles had “acute poisoning.”
Lead has also been the leading cause of death for California condors, and partly in response to the peril posed by lead to this highly endangered species, California completely phased out the use of lead in July 2019.
Animals that scavenge on carcasses contaminated with lead bullet fragments, or birds that ingest spent lead-shot or fishing weights mistaking them for food, often die a painful death from lead poisoning. In the United States, an estimated 3,000 tons of lead are dumped into the environment by hunters every year and 4,000 tons are lost in waterways as fishing equipment. As many as 20 million birds and other animals die each year from subsequent lead poisoning.
Despite the harm that lead is causing wildlife, the Biden Administration’s Department of Interior has opened more land and water acreage to hunting and fishing than any previous administration. This action taken in the absence of substantial limits on lead will likely compound the threat to birds and other wildlife. Legislation requiring the Department of Interior to act can solve this crisis.
Please support S. 4157 and H.R. 405 to ban lead in wildlife refuges. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess
Robert Hubbell gave us a chance to help Tim Ryan pull out an upset victory in the Ohio Senate race -- now TIED despite a lack of Dem Party support.
Hubbell and his newsletter Managing Editor Jill Bickett will interview Tim on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, at 5:30 PM Pacific / 8:30 PM Eastern.
Donate ANY amount to RSVP, and you will receive a Zoom link for the event (be sure to also register after you donate): https://secure.actblue.com/donate/na101822virtual.
Big fan here, thanks much! The only problem is financial-- I read half & it cost me a lotta $$, so I was afraid to continue ; ) go Tim & go DEMS!!