Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!
Deep breaths. We are living through trying times. But to every challenging or anxiety-provoking news item we can find a corollary in the actions of decent people working their hearts out to remedy what’s broken.
Take the shooting in Michigan last night. The relentless drum of these massacres is enough to challenge the mental health of even the most stoic among us. However, we can derive some minute satisfaction in knowing that, because of your hard work, the new Democratic trifecta in Michigan will not take this event lying down. They are, as we speak, rushing a “strong gun violence prevention package” through the state legislature. It will pass swiftly. It will save lives.
Democrats deliver. Truly. This isn’t simply a slogan. It’s a fact, and it should make you proud to be fighting for them.
We cannot bring back the countless Americans—so many of whom were young people!—lost to this heartbreaking and preventable scourge. But we can comfort ourselves somewhat in the knowledge that work we have done, money we have donated, postcards we have written, calls we have made, and doors we have knocked may yet save lives.
What comfort do Republican voters have? None at all. They are living in an endless dark night of the soul, and it will only get worse, no matter how loudly they deny it.
I’d rather be us than them. And I’d rather fight until my dying day than betray my country the way their leaders have.
If you feel the same let’s get to work!
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
[Here are the Democratic and Independent holdouts on the Assault Weapons Ban Act. Here are the GOP holdouts. Here are the Dem & Independent holdouts on Ethan’s Law. Most Republicans oppose. ]
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling after yet another mass shooting to say that I want Congress to do something about gun violence in this country NOW. [Say something personal about how this is affecting you.] We have excellent bills just waiting to be passed—S. 173 Ethan’s Law and S. 25 the Assault Weapons Ban Act are two I particularly support. What is the Senator’s position on these bills? Will s/he fight to get them passed? [Thank or chide as appropriate.] *
*Want to take more action to help pass these bills? Register for Monday’s noon Lunch & Lobby Zoom with the Newton Alliance HERE. Can’t make it? Join their After Hours Lobby event Monday NIGHT at 7:30 EST.]
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling after yet another mass shooting to say that I want Congress to do something about gun violence in this country NOW. [Say something personal about how this is affecting you.] We have excellent bills just waiting to be passed—HR 660 Ethan’s Law and the Assault Weapons Ban about to be introduced in the House are two I particularly support. What is the Congressmember’s position on these bills? Will s/he fight to get them passed? [Thank or chide as appropriate.]
Extra Credit
New York Times contributors are circulating this very good letter in response to the paper’s “biased coverage of transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people.”
If, like me, you have been disgusted by this anti-trans slant in the Times’s coverage, please sign on (you can do so as a reader, a subscriber, a media worker, or an NYT contributor if you are one):
The NYT is doing real harm, just as it did to gay folks in the 1980s, and hate groups are using its coverage to persecute people through our courts.
Here is a tweet about it as well:
Extra Extra Credit ✅✅
Let’s use More Perfect Union’s tool to write to Norfolk Southern’s President & CEO, Alan Shaw, and demand that the railroad pays the East Palestine well more than the $1 million (!!!) currently allocated to assist with recovery efforts. If the rail carrier can afford $5 billion in stock buybacks for its executives and shareholders, certainly it can afford more than $1 million to assist a town that it just devastated.
Sign here. Please personalize.
Get Smart! 📚
Tomorrow the wonderful Movement Voter Project is having a deep dive and Q&A with Reema Ahmad, their Wisconsin State Advisor, about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 4! This is the most consequential election of 2023 — with implications for 2024 and beyond. Please come hear all about it from some of the smartest folks I know. (More MVP opportunities below.)
Thursday, February 16th, 4:30-5:30 PM ET. Register here.
Spread the Word! 📣
This Thursday, Georgia Judge Robert McBurney will release parts of a report from a special grand jury investigation into the actions of Donald Trump after he lost the 2020 election. This will include an enumeration of concerns about witnesses lying under oath to protect Trump.
The Research Collaborative has some excellent messaging guidance for us to consider as we wait for what could be big news to break. Check it out here.
Give 💰!
Y’all! The Movement Voter Project has launched a Wisconsin fund! All proceeds will go to grassroots orgs working to educate and turn out voters for this critical State Supreme Court election! If you or anyone you know just wants to give money towards winning this election and be done with it, this is an EXCELLENT place to do so. MVP is the gold standard.
Win Races! 🗳
I’ll be running my weekly phonebank into Wisconsin today—the primary is in 6 days!!! We really need more folks calling and educating voters about what’s happening. I’m telling you, they are VERY grateful for the info.
The phonebank is from 3:30-5:30 PM PT today and every Wednesday. Sign up here. I will train you!
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[to President Biden] [Quick send text SIGN PDPZMH to 50409]1
I’m writing with deep alarm about the horrific train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
I understand that Donald Trump rescinded an Obama-era rule requiring special brakes--called ECP brakes--on trains transporting flammable liquids. These brakes can stop most derailments, and would have made this one far less catastrophic.
I also understand that Norfolk Southern and the Association of American Railroads, a lobbying group that represents Norfolk Southern and other railroad companies, fought Obama's rule because installing such brakes required them to take a small cut in their profits. In fact they have fought all common sense safety regulations— including one that would have expanded the definition of high-hazard flammable trains—while simultaneously cutting staff and adding more cars to trains. This is a formula for disaster, and that’s exactly what it has produced.
Meanwhile, in March 2022, Norfolk Southern announced a plan to spend $10 billion on stock buybacks. The year before that their CEO James A. Squires received $14 million in total compensation.
In short, the horrific train derailment and subsequent environmental disaster happening in East Palestine was caused by a lack of regulation due to the leverage of corporate lobbyists. Railroad barons are getting rich, railway employees are getting pushed to do an increasingly dangerous job, derailments are increasing, but safety protocols? Bad for profits!
This is unacceptable! I am asking you to:
Demand that the DOT require ECP brakes on all trains carrying hazardous materials
Expand the definition of high-hazard flammable trains
Insist that rail companies stop cutting costs at the expense of safety and workers’ wellbeing
To quote Grady Cothen, a former safety official at the FRA who spent nearly four decades at the agency, “The price for not moving forward…will be more derailments, more releases of hazardous materials, more communities impacted.”
We need to see a far more proactive and less industry-assuaging approach from you, Secretary Buttigieg, and the DOT. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Sources Popular Info 2/15 and The Lever 2/10
Another day, another great CW,CW. Thanks, Jess!
Yesterday I personalized my letter to Norfolk Southern’s President & CEO, Alan Shaw, by starting off with:
"Private Greed over Public Good: We're Norfolk Southern."
(And yes, I used More Perfect Union's tool. At the time I sent mine, there were over 2,000 letters sent. Good!)