I would like to call people's attention to Americans for the Separation of Church and State. They are terrific. Please check them out. https://www.au.org/. They will help us immeasurably over the next four years.
Love this, Jess! Thanks for converting my letter into a ResistBot. I sent it to my new Senator (Andy Kim) thru his Senate site, and got a quick response that didn't sound canned.
In concert with the great message you shared today, I'm planning an essay on my Substack that I'll call, "Strategic Outrage." I think that should be our focus.
I refuse to refer to him with any honorific, and while I've used various appropriate sobriquets to identify him, I've settled on just using his last name in lower case letters. If I could easily put it in subscript, I'd do that instead. I've also noted that he's taken "The United" out of the acronym, "POTUS."
A very personal appeal - please, in your efforts, do not forget the transgender community. The ACLU is one of the groups at the forefront of protective actions, and there are others as well, both nationally and on the state level. Please find them and support them. The attacks on a highly vulnerable group are beyond vicious, and the most extreme - that of criminalizing affirming care - would, quite literally, mean a death sentence to a trans person. I live in New Jersey, which has some protections, but I have recently heard anti-trans garbage coming out of the mouth of a Democratic State Senator. This is the beginning of erasure.
Appreciate this letter. As a Michigan resident, I am stunned and outraged that my senators helped the Republicans. I have called every. single. one. of their DC and regional offices to let them know exactly how I feel about them being Democrats in name only and that as their base, I am outraged and disgusted by their actions. I promised to call every day because they seem to be out of touch with their constituents.
My pro-tip to you all: Add your local and federal representatives (and all of their DC and regional offices) to your speed dial contacts. It makes it easier when you don’t have to fumble around online to find the right number.
Oh absolutely! I did that back in 2016 and I’ve had them on speed dial ever since. Sometimes the names of the senators change, but the phone numbers remain the same. Works great.
Not that I agree with this strategy, but I could understand some votes if they are up for re-election in 2026 and feel this vote could be used negatively against them. However, for senators like Slotkin and Gallego, they were just elected. People will forget all about this vote by 2030.
Floridians 😎,DeSantis called for a special session of the Legislature to convene on January 27. The special session will include a proposal that would all but abolish citizen-led amendments.Under DeSantis’ plan,Floridians would have to go in person to their local Supervisor of Elections office to sign a petition or try to navigate an onerous,multi-step,mail-in process.
DeSantis especially wants to keep reproductive rights off the ballot!
Please contact your Florida legislators and let them know you do not want your voice silenced in the “freedom” state. Just say NO to any further restrictions on citizen-led amendments and NO to DeSantis’ massive misuse of our tax dollars to fund attack campaigns.
Are you familiar with Jason Garcia's/podcast newsletter Seeking Rents? I read the transcript before sending another email to my reps. IF abortion were able to meet new ballot initiative requirements, the FL Supreme Court would have opportunity to block it under a basic rights clause of the FL Constitution. It's at 3:57
Yes, and I encourage all Floridians to follow Jason’s Substack, especially when the Legislature is in session because his boots-on-the-ground reporting is essential to following all the nefarious stuff happening with our Gov/legislature.
Love this and thank you. Appreciate that you completely understand the moment and are focused on what we can do and how to stay engaged. We have to be in this for the long-haul and being in a constant state of despair and dismay will only help Team MAGA. So as always, can’t thank you enough!
Thanks for all you do and for the livestream yesterday! Regarding the ‘BREATHE’ part here is something I sent friends (the Bucks County PA Harris team I worked with) yesterday along with instructions to join your livestream, donate to a cause and celebrate MlK jr.:
If you don’t practice Breathwork now is a great time to start: 2 techniques I recommend daily are coherent breathing (scientifically shown to reduce anxiety and depression) and alternative nostril breathing (also known as the happiness hack).
As a highly sensitive, I use 4-2-7 breathing when my anxiety ramps up (breathe in to a count of 4, hold for a count of 2, exhale for a count of 7). It helps to re-regulate one’s nervous system. If the anxiety is really bad, it can take several minutes to get calm so don’t give up on it too quickly if it doesn’t help instantly.
Thank you Jessica for all you do but especially your promos and links to call our Senators and Representatives. I called Susan Colin’s office today to voice my disgust with the pardons and express how unqualified a number of nominees who I listed individually were. It was through this effort that I realized I was mistaken on when she was up for reelection , I thought 4 years out and she would figure this would all blow over by then and she could do her usual nice word nothingness cya’s. But I discovered she is up in 2026. I now know where to focus my political energies for the next two years. Finding and supporting a candidate that will beat her a—.
She should be VERY vulnerable. I remember back in 2020 that I thought there was hope in unseating her. I thought Sara Gideon ran a good campaign. But Collins still won by nearly 10 points. Ugh. I wish people would pay attention.
Oh, Jess, thank you! I really needed your perspective after reading even a limited amount of reporting about yesterday.
I also want to share this clip of Bishop Budde's brave call out to Trump to his face at the National Cathedral basically not to do any of the cruel things he's planning.
How incredibly powerful! Thank you, Terry, for sharing this with us. I, like many others, didn’t tune into any of the coronation disguised as an inauguration proceedings and so missed this courageous put down by the bishop. I loved not only her words but also seeing the front row scumbags having to listen.
Called 1 senator (warner) to scold. They didn’t answer so after 10 mins on hold, I left a voicemail. Called another (Kaine) to thank. They were VERY appreciative of the thanking call. Keep up the fight!!!
This is a wonderful column. Thank you. In addition to staying active with emails and postcards, I’ve decided to challenge myself to share something with someone else every day. I have a big garden so I can share flowers with friends. I bake so I can bake things with ingredients from my garden and share them with friends and neighbors. I can smile at people—it helps
I’m editing my studio and took materials to Mocha—the children’s art museum in Oakland. I met their wonderful director and learned about other things they can use. I’m already starting another box for them. Children need art more than ever right now. We must focus on what we can do. When we do that, not only do we not give away our joy, we increase it.
Jessica and all,
I would like to call people's attention to Americans for the Separation of Church and State. They are terrific. Please check them out. https://www.au.org/. They will help us immeasurably over the next four years.
They're great. Agree.
BJC is also terrific on the separation of church and state. See https://bjconline.org/mission-history/
Love this, Jess! Thanks for converting my letter into a ResistBot. I sent it to my new Senator (Andy Kim) thru his Senate site, and got a quick response that didn't sound canned.
In concert with the great message you shared today, I'm planning an essay on my Substack that I'll call, "Strategic Outrage." I think that should be our focus.
Excellent!
Great letter Bob. We'll see how the Missouri MAGAts respond.
Thanks for writing it! I just sent it to my two senators here in MD.
I call the felon FOTUS- name shall remain henceforth
I refuse to refer to him with any honorific, and while I've used various appropriate sobriquets to identify him, I've settled on just using his last name in lower case letters. If I could easily put it in subscript, I'd do that instead. I've also noted that he's taken "The United" out of the acronym, "POTUS."
A very personal appeal - please, in your efforts, do not forget the transgender community. The ACLU is one of the groups at the forefront of protective actions, and there are others as well, both nationally and on the state level. Please find them and support them. The attacks on a highly vulnerable group are beyond vicious, and the most extreme - that of criminalizing affirming care - would, quite literally, mean a death sentence to a trans person. I live in New Jersey, which has some protections, but I have recently heard anti-trans garbage coming out of the mouth of a Democratic State Senator. This is the beginning of erasure.
Oh I won’t forget it. My child is trans.
Appreciate this letter. As a Michigan resident, I am stunned and outraged that my senators helped the Republicans. I have called every. single. one. of their DC and regional offices to let them know exactly how I feel about them being Democrats in name only and that as their base, I am outraged and disgusted by their actions. I promised to call every day because they seem to be out of touch with their constituents.
My pro-tip to you all: Add your local and federal representatives (and all of their DC and regional offices) to your speed dial contacts. It makes it easier when you don’t have to fumble around online to find the right number.
Oh absolutely! I did that back in 2016 and I’ve had them on speed dial ever since. Sometimes the names of the senators change, but the phone numbers remain the same. Works great.
I sent a message to Elissa Slotkin, Dem from Michigan who I supported in the election. She voted Yay. Very disappointed.
She sure did. Very disappointing.
Not that I agree with this strategy, but I could understand some votes if they are up for re-election in 2026 and feel this vote could be used negatively against them. However, for senators like Slotkin and Gallego, they were just elected. People will forget all about this vote by 2030.
Floridians 😎,DeSantis called for a special session of the Legislature to convene on January 27. The special session will include a proposal that would all but abolish citizen-led amendments.Under DeSantis’ plan,Floridians would have to go in person to their local Supervisor of Elections office to sign a petition or try to navigate an onerous,multi-step,mail-in process.
DeSantis especially wants to keep reproductive rights off the ballot!
Please contact your Florida legislators and let them know you do not want your voice silenced in the “freedom” state. Just say NO to any further restrictions on citizen-led amendments and NO to DeSantis’ massive misuse of our tax dollars to fund attack campaigns.
https://www.flgov.com/eog/legislative-special-session-proposals
Are you familiar with Jason Garcia's/podcast newsletter Seeking Rents? I read the transcript before sending another email to my reps. IF abortion were able to meet new ballot initiative requirements, the FL Supreme Court would have opportunity to block it under a basic rights clause of the FL Constitution. It's at 3:57
https://jasongarcia.substack.com/p/florida-legislature-2025-the-fights?utm_source=podcast-email%2Csubstack&publication_id=687064&post_id=155025377&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=play_card_play_button&r=3z85zi&triedRedirect=true
Yes, and I encourage all Floridians to follow Jason’s Substack, especially when the Legislature is in session because his boots-on-the-ground reporting is essential to following all the nefarious stuff happening with our Gov/legislature.
Floridian here suffering just like you...
Love this and thank you. Appreciate that you completely understand the moment and are focused on what we can do and how to stay engaged. We have to be in this for the long-haul and being in a constant state of despair and dismay will only help Team MAGA. So as always, can’t thank you enough!
Thank you!
Thank you for this. I have shared this with my clients and friends.
Thanks, Julie.
Thank you for your very encouraging words that also made me chuckle a little. Humor will help get us through the next 3 years 362 days also.
Thanks for all you do and for the livestream yesterday! Regarding the ‘BREATHE’ part here is something I sent friends (the Bucks County PA Harris team I worked with) yesterday along with instructions to join your livestream, donate to a cause and celebrate MlK jr.:
If you don’t practice Breathwork now is a great time to start: 2 techniques I recommend daily are coherent breathing (scientifically shown to reduce anxiety and depression) and alternative nostril breathing (also known as the happiness hack).
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-breath-of-freedom_b_9394378
Coherent breathing is just in for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds - even repeating this for 5 or 10 cycles helps!
Here’s alternate nostril breathing (which has the added benefit of looking very amusing)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbsDBalh-EM
Much love and blessings to you all!
Thanks, Marsha!
As a highly sensitive, I use 4-2-7 breathing when my anxiety ramps up (breathe in to a count of 4, hold for a count of 2, exhale for a count of 7). It helps to re-regulate one’s nervous system. If the anxiety is really bad, it can take several minutes to get calm so don’t give up on it too quickly if it doesn’t help instantly.
Thank you Jessica for all you do but especially your promos and links to call our Senators and Representatives. I called Susan Colin’s office today to voice my disgust with the pardons and express how unqualified a number of nominees who I listed individually were. It was through this effort that I realized I was mistaken on when she was up for reelection , I thought 4 years out and she would figure this would all blow over by then and she could do her usual nice word nothingness cya’s. But I discovered she is up in 2026. I now know where to focus my political energies for the next two years. Finding and supporting a candidate that will beat her a—.
Thank You
Ben
Susan Collins really needs to be voted out. Good luck!
She should be VERY vulnerable. I remember back in 2020 that I thought there was hope in unseating her. I thought Sara Gideon ran a good campaign. But Collins still won by nearly 10 points. Ugh. I wish people would pay attention.
Thank you!! I needed this so very badly today
Oh, Jess, thank you! I really needed your perspective after reading even a limited amount of reporting about yesterday.
I also want to share this clip of Bishop Budde's brave call out to Trump to his face at the National Cathedral basically not to do any of the cruel things he's planning.
https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/1881777937235788060
Congrats on your new substack and thanks for all you do!
Blessings and much love,
Thanks for the link to this. Her voice was so calm and steady in calling out truth to power for all the world to hear.
How incredibly powerful! Thank you, Terry, for sharing this with us. I, like many others, didn’t tune into any of the coronation disguised as an inauguration proceedings and so missed this courageous put down by the bishop. I loved not only her words but also seeing the front row scumbags having to listen.
Called 1 senator (warner) to scold. They didn’t answer so after 10 mins on hold, I left a voicemail. Called another (Kaine) to thank. They were VERY appreciative of the thanking call. Keep up the fight!!!
This is a wonderful column. Thank you. In addition to staying active with emails and postcards, I’ve decided to challenge myself to share something with someone else every day. I have a big garden so I can share flowers with friends. I bake so I can bake things with ingredients from my garden and share them with friends and neighbors. I can smile at people—it helps
I’m editing my studio and took materials to Mocha—the children’s art museum in Oakland. I met their wonderful director and learned about other things they can use. I’m already starting another box for them. Children need art more than ever right now. We must focus on what we can do. When we do that, not only do we not give away our joy, we increase it.
Beautiful suggestions, Susan 🙏