Chop Wood, Carry Water 1/24
Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!
I’m on the Galvanize call right now—I hope some of you are, too, because boy is it inspiring. It’s also distracting, though, so forgive me if this newsletter is a bit more muddled-sounding than usual.
Earlier today I was on a call with a coalition working on Supreme Court reform. I’m always on calls, my friends.
And there are two themes I’m hearing in every one:
DANGER: We are facing the most dangerous moment our country has faced in generations—likely since the Civil War. It’s bad on every front. It’s dark, it’s frightening, and it’s seemingly getting worse. New Hampshire was just more confirmation.
SOLUTIONS and DETERMINATION: BUT—and this is a huge but—there is a solution. There is hope. There is a way out. And vast numbers of people are determined to get us there. Smart people in huge numbers are organizing. They are innovating, they are streamlining, they are strategizing. In some cases the solution is straightforward. In others it will require time and a lot of effort. But in every case there is a way out, we know how to get there, and we are already working towards it. We simply need more help from folks like you.
So is this a sobering moment? Absolutely, yes. Scary, too. It’s hard to accept that our country has become so broken. We are hitting bottom, indeed.
But anyone who’s in recovery knows that you can’t get better until you’ve done just that.
Today, we’re in the bottom.
Tomorrow, we start to recover. We need only resolve to not quit before the miracle.
So let’s do that.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
As the budget negotiations continue I want the Senator to support and fight for increasing funding for WIC and SNAP in the budget negotiations, and to please, please fight to support the expanded Child Tax Credit. We must care for the neediest among us, especially when they are children.
Also, I strongly support funding for Ukraine and want to see it passed immediately. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
First, I’m calling in support of the Vote By Mail Tracking Act (HR 5658)—a bipartisan bill to increase transparency by requiring the Postal Service to provide a tracking code on all U.S. mail-in ballots. The bill was passed out of committee in the last Congress, but never brought to the floor. Please work to get it re-introduced and passed. [H/T
]Also, please ask the Congressmember to support increasing funding for WIC and SNAP in the budget negotiations, and the expanded Child Tax Credit, too. We must care for the neediest among us, especially when they are children. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
The Media and Democracy Project is spearheading an effort to get the NYT to bring back the Public Editor. Read why here, then join me in contacting the Times using this link.
Say something like this (I basically stole big chunks from the MDP email then added a bit):
I am writing to ask the Times to please bring back its Public Editor position.
A public editor’s newsroom role, as I’m sure you’re aware, is “to be responsible for supervising the implementation of proper journalism ethics at that publication. These responsibilities include identifying and examining critical errors or omissions and acting as a liaison to the public.”
As I’m also sure you’re aware, many of your long-time subscribers—including this one—are extremely unhappy with the Times’ failure to adequately cover, raise the alarm on, and call out the rise of fascism in our country. As for the unique danger posed by another Trump term? Nope. We mostly hear about Biden’s age. It’s a dangerous and breathtakingly irresponsible omission, and it happens almost every day.
The New York Times has over 10 million subscribers. By bringing back an independent Public Editor position you can uplift proper journalism ethics, reinvigorate meaningful, responsive communications with subscribers, and reset the news industry standard. Please hear us and reinstate this position now. Otherwise I fear you will no longer be “the paper of record,” but rather just another casualty of the Trump era. Thanks.
Get Smart! 📚
TONIGHT Join the Media and Democracy Project with special guest Margaret Sullivan for a conversation, "How journalism can help save democracy. An exploration - and an action plan!" (Sorry for the late notice._
Current Guardian journalist, former Public Editor of The New York Times, media critic, and author of Newsroom Confidential and Ghosting the News, Margaret Sullivan joins MDP on January 24, at 7 pm ET, to discuss her experiences in media and tell you how you can support pro-democracy media and journalists (FREE).
Sign up here.
Spread the Word! 📣
Help Get the Word Out:
When special prosecutor Jack Smith asked America to Read the Indictment of Donald Trump, Jim Trengrove of Partners 4 Democracy did just that. Then he asked 85 others across the country to read it with him.
On January 25th, at 7pm (ET) join a Partners 4 Democracy Special Event, as they premiere "Read the Indictment". Learn more here. Sign up for the event HERE.
Newsletter Recommendation!
Worked up about the Supreme Court?
Then get excited about United For Democracy’s new free Substack,
! UFD, of course, is a coalition of powerful groups working on Supreme Court reform. The new newsletter will come out once a week. It’s got great articles about various SCOTUS cases, excellent action items, good reading recommendations, and more. Highly recommend subscribing.
Win Races! 🗳
I’ll be at my weekly Swing Left Tom Suozzi phonebank today, from 2:30-4:30 PT / 5:30-7:30 ET. We could use more callers—won’t you join us? We’re on a dialer now so it’s fast and awesome!
Can’t come to this one? Find another way to help Suozzi—and there are TONS—here.
Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥
Read this Heated post about the former fossil fuel exec advising President Biden on Liquified Natural Gas. Then please, if you live in the DC area and can do it, consider attending any one of three days of civil disobedience at the beginning of February to stop the approval of several HUGELY polluting LNG exportation projects.
Sign up or just get more info here.
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: ] [H/T] [Text SIGN PMZNNF to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]
As your constituent, I am writing to urge you to oppose the cruel immigration policies that are currently being proposed and negotiated.
We can have a secure border and humane immigration and asylum policies that keep vulnerable people out of harm's way. Please work with the Biden administration to:
- Increase Funding for the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), the new grant-making body that supports cities, localities, and non-governmental organizations assisting newly arrived migrants. These funds are often described as a “life line” supporting the provision of food, clothing, basic medical aid, legal information, and transportation support for people recently released from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody.
-Sufficiently fund the Office of Field Operations: It’s essential OFO receives increased funding to screen and process people as they arrive at the border to seek asylum and other forms of protection.
-Increase funding for Employment Authorization and Other Application Processing, Backlog Reduction, and Integration Funding: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the agency responsible for employment authorization and houses the Asylum Corps, who conduct asylum interview screenings and adjudications.
-Increase funding for Legal Representation, Child Advocates and Post-Release Services for Unaccompanied Children: The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement needs additional appropriated funds for legal services, to prevent unaccompanied toddlers and children from continuing to appear in U.S. immigration courts without a lawyer.
It’s time for humanitarian policies that welcome asylum seekers and provide them with the care and resources they need for their safety and stability. They deserve protection because their lives literally depend on it. I urge you to work with colleagues to provide the necessary resources―without enacting harmful permanent immigration policy changes. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
No matter what the media pundits are saying about the "horse race", we can be confident that a Biden-Trump rematch is very good for Democrats and a tragedy for what was the GOP. First, Biden is starting this race with an 81 million to 74 million voter lead over Trump. The click bait media can spin the race and spin the polls however it likes. The key question is which candidate will pick up votes and which will shed votes? Biden with a truly American policy agenda or Trump with a personal revenge agenda and no articulated policies? Biden with four years of solid gains for the American people or Trump with four years of chaos, a tax cut for the wealthy and clownish behavior? I'd sure bet on Biden. Second, as Simon continues to point out, which candidate has a super energized and growing grassroots movement behind them? Trump surprised the world in 2016 with the fervor of his unrecognized grassroots supporters. But it's looking more and more like that fever has passed, especially among independent voters. Biden's grassroots supporters are just starting to flex their muscle. The 2022/23 interim elections wins are the leading indicator of what the majority of Americans believe. The current Trump/MAGA GOP is on the minority side of so many key issues like gun rights, women's reproductive choices, affordable health care and so on that it will become increasingly clear where the energy driving victory in 2024 is coming from. Us! Third, if we need an another presidential election as an analog, in which good policies for the American people ran against a narrow minded, mean spirited GOP agenda, consider the 1964: Johnson-Goldwater election. Goldwater ran on restraining the Federal government, cutting New Deal benefits, using American power, including nuclear weapons, to protect the country from innumerable enemies. Johnson ran on an American agenda of expanding voting rights, improving infrastructure and national anti-poverty programs. The result? Johnson won in a 61%-38% landslide!
Thank you Jess! Will be doing all the action items especially the extra credit. We cancelled our 30+ year NYT subscription in Oct 2020 bc we could no longer support the lack of journalistic integrity and complete failure once again to report on reality to its millions of readers.