Chop Wood, Carry Water 10/3 🇮🇷

Hi, all, and happy Monday!

Hope you had a great weekend. I did, and here’s why:

On Saturday morning my kid and I went down to Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles to attend a protest for the killing of Mahsa Amini. I thought it was right to support such a cause, and MJ, who’d listened to the Daily Podcast episode about Amini, was eager to go.

Little did we know it would be one of the most powerful marches we’ve ever attended—and we’ve been to a lot. Los Angeles has an enormous Iranian population, and it felt like all of them were downtown on Saturday—old people and young, women and men—all waving Iranian flags and chanting without pause. Everywhere signs read: “Woman! Life! Freedom!”

Upon arrival I at first worried we shouldn’t have come—we seemed to be some of the only non-Iranians in the crowd. But as people came over and thanked us for showing up we relaxed and just treated it like any other protest. Eventually thousands of us marched through the downtown area, chanting, calling Mahsa’s name, and clapping.

It was deeply, deeply inspiring.

And the reality is of course we belonged there. Because we’re all in the same struggle—even if the details are different. The continuum we’re on is the same. The Iranian people are further down the road, but if we’re not careful we’ll end up where they are now.

As MJ so aptly put it on the drive home, “They are playing defense. We’re playing offense.”

Exactly right. Let none of us forget it. Iran’s struggle is ours.

“Woman, life, freedom” indeed. Let’s get to work.

Call Your Senators (find yours here)

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.

I’m calling to ask the Senator to cosponsor S.J.Res.10 and vote to repeal the 2002 Iraq AUMF (Authorization of Use of Military Force.) The Saddam Hussein regime was overthrown in 2003 and a formal end to the U.S. war in Iraq was declared at the end of 2011. The 2002 AUMF is no longer relevant. This outdated war authority is unnecessary for ongoing military operations, but as long as it remains, it can be used and abused by this or future administrations. Thanks. [H/T]

Call Your House Rep (find yours here)

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

I’d like the Congressmember to support the Public Lands and Waters Climate Leadership Act (HR 8802) and consider co-sponsoring it. This legislation is critical to reduce public health and climate impacts from oil and gas leasing on public lands. [H/T]

Extra Credit ✅

Just read this, and do what Moore suggests, please! So good! And thanks to Terry and Pete for sending it. If we all commit to doing this simple thing, and get friends to do it, we will win!

Mike’s Midterm Tsunami Truth #6

Get Smart! 📚

Please consider attending: “You and the 34%” on Saturday October 8th, 12-2PM PDT

I’ve posted about this training before, but I just keep hearing how wonderful it is, so I’m posting about it again—this is the final one before the Midterms. Hope you can attend!

In 2020, 34% of eligible voters didn’t vote. In this training, you’ll learn how to make “I don’t vote” the beginning of the conversation, not the end. Dr. Jacqueline Tulsky and Elizabeth Chur share stories of success, and give you tools drawn from Motivational Interviewing to help you draw out “high-potential voters,” elicit their desires for change, and turn them into voters. Whether you’re new to canvassing and phone-banking or have been doing it for years, this interactive training is designed for you.

Speakers:

Jacqueline Tulsky, MD, an HIV primary care and addiction medicine specialist and Motivational Interviewing trainer.

Elizabeth Chur, an experienced phone banker and canvasser who trained hundreds of volunteers in 2020. Her workshops have included Phone Bank Training for Introverts and Spanish for Phone Banking.

Sign up here.

Protect Voters!

Voter hotlines are up and running in PA. Mail-in ballots have been sent out, and voters are calling with questions about the process. In 2020, the PA hotline was the busiest in the country. Want to sign up as a volunteer Voter Assistance Hotline helper? You can do it from anywhere!

Come to a voter assistance hotline training this week.

Win Races! Phonebank! 🗳

I have two great phonebanking options for you today:

1. Michigan Absentee Voter Virtual Phonebank

   TODAY Monday, October 3 @ 4 – 6 pm EDT
   Join pro-democracy volunteers in Michigan as they kick off their get-out-the-vote effort. There will be a brief orientation and training, then you’ll jump right in and start making calls. Most of those targeted are like-minded voters so organizers are expecting a friendly reception. The goal is to get voters to return their ballots ASAP! Sign up here.

2. Prefer to call into CA or NV? Join me at 3PM at Activate America’s phonebank! I’m going to make calls for Adam Grey in CA but you can choose from a few different campaigns. They’ll train you, and they have a great dialer. Sign up here.

Win Races! Postcard! 📮

From Activate America:

We have just three weeks left to request addresses to send postcards to voters. Three weeks to save American democracy, one stamp at a time.

While many opportunities exist in all of our priority states, I wanted to highlight our brand new postcarding actions in Arizona.

We just launched new postcarding campaigns to re-elect Arizona Rep. Tom O’Halleran and elect Jevin Hodge and Kirsten Engel to the House of Representatives. All three are in hotly contested races, and the forecasters are telling us that the Democrats’ chances are improving in all three races, ranging from pure “Toss Up” in the case of Hodge to “lean Republican” in the case of O’Halleran and Engel.

With Republicans nominating unhinged extremists from the top to the bottom of the ticket, and with the Arizona Supreme Court recently upholding an 1864 abortion law that makes abortions now illegal in Arizona in almost all circumstances, we’re optimistic that voters are waking up to the need to elect Democrats to clean house. Your postcards could make a big difference.

Ready to make an impact? Sign up for some AZ postcard lists today.

Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)

[to your Senators] [H/T] [Quick send text SIGN PSHRYJ to 50409]

This October marks 5 years since the largest mass shooting in America, when a shooter fired assault weapons into a crowd of Las Vegas concertgoers. He murdered 58 people and injured 422 others. 

Too many Americans are being senselessly gunned down in public spaces in towns and cities across the nation.

On July 29, 2022, the House of Representatives passed HR 1808 to ban assault weapons in response to the heartbreaking mass shooting tragedies in Highland Park, Uvalde, Tulsa, and Buffalo. President Joe Biden is ready and willing to sign the bill into law. It’s the Senate’s turn to pass it now, as S 736. I want you to do so.

Military-style semi-automatic assault weapons are designed to efficiently kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time available. There is absolutely no reason for assault rifles, assault pistols, and assault shotguns to be sold on the civilian market.

Congress did not take action after Aurora, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, Pittsburgh and many other devastating mass shooting incidents and the scope of death and destruction caused by gunmen with weapons of war is growing.

Your thoughts and prayers are not enough. The Senate must act now to stop the carnage with an effective federal ban on the civilian use of these weapons. NOW is the time to act! Thanks.

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OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.

Talk tomorrow.

Jess