Chop Wood, Carry Water 2/22

Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.

Abigail Adams

Hi, all! Happy Tuesday!

Hope you had a great long weekend. I’m getting this out late today, so have to be quick.

Yesterday I took my kid to Vasquez Rocks, a beautiful state park about 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles. It’s a spectacular place—full of rock formations that are stunning, fun to climb, and massive. They’re also 25 million years old.

There’s no better way to gain perspective than to spend time with something that old. It’s humbling, but motivating, too.

We’re so ephemeral, so miraculous, so tiny.

Yet —like the proverbial butterfly wing—what we do will change the course of history.

Never forget it.

Call Your Senators (find yours here)

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

I’m calling about the the New York Times’s recent reporting about Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginny. The article describes Ginny Thomas’s support of the January 6th insurrection, her efforts to overturn the election, and both her and her husband’s well-documented extremism. It makes abundantly clear that Clarence Thomas is influenced by her, and is a biased and politically motivated jurist. I want the Senator to co-sponsor the Judiciary Act of 2021 (S. 1141), which will expand the Supreme Court by four justices. Americans no longer trust the highest court in the land; expanding it to rebalance it is the only solution. Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here)

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

I’m calling about the the New York Times’s recent reporting about Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginny. The article describes Ginny Thomas’s support of the January 6th insurrection, her efforts to overturn the election, and both her and her husband’s well-documented extremism. It makes abundantly clear that Clarence Thomas is influenced by her, and is a biased and politically motivated jurist. I want the Senator to co-sponsor the Judiciary Act of 2021 (HR 2584), which will expand the Supreme Court by four justices. Americans no longer trust the highest court in the land; expanding it to rebalance it is the only solution. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Please read this Judd Legum piece about Florida’s about-to-be-passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

I also made a TikTok about it, which you can watch here (or here on YouTube).

Then consider using this resource document to write a quick email to the companies donating to the lawmakers supporting this bill. Let them know how you feel—especially considering the law’s newest amendment, which is truly sadistic.

BONUS POINTS:

Post this on social:

Want to reach out to the companies backing the politicians who back the #DontSayGay bill? (Ahem @ATT, @AnheuserBusch @UHC @comcast @DukeEnergy @GetSpectrum @PepsiCo ) Find all of their contact info—plus sample scripts—at tinyurl.com/saygay 🏳️‍🌈

[Add the link to the Judd Legum article]

Or RT mine!

Jessica Craven @Craven7Jessica

Want to reach out to the companies backing the politicians who back the #DontSayGay bill? (Ahem @ATT, @AnheuserBusch @UHC @comcast @DukeEnergy @GetSpectrum @PepsiCo ) Find all of their contact info—plus sample scripts—at tinyurl.com/saygay 🏳️‍🌈 popular.info/p/florida-poli…

popular.infoFlorida politicians behind “Don’t Say Gay” bill backed by corporations that claim to support LGBTQ rightsA bill advancing rapidly through the Florida legislature would prohibit many of the state’s teachers from discussing “sexual orientation or gender identity” in class. Under the legislation, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, parents who believe the prohibition was violated could sue schools for…

Messaging Messaging Messaging!! 📣

On Wed, Feb 23 from 4pm-5:30pm PT (7pm-8:30pm ET) learn Words that WIN!

This 75-minute webinar (organized by Words that Win) is an introduction to the basics of strategic messaging, using cutting-edge, progressive messaging frameworks. Get the tools you need to counter dog-whistle politics and disinformation, and learn how to advocate for what we want and need for a better tomorrow.

RSVP Here!

Win Races—Phonebank! 🗳

Today and/or Thursday please consider attending a guided Phone Bank to Texas organized by Center for Common Ground. THESE ARE SO EASY AND PLEASANT, AND YOU GET TO LEAVE VOICEMAILS! They do a lovely training first.

In 2021, the Texas legislature introduced a slew of voter-suppression bills targeted especially at communities of color.

To fight back, we are calling Black voters in Texas and encouraging them to take advantage of early voting.

Tuesday and Thursday, Feb 22nd and 24th, 3:00pm - 5:00pm PST.

Sign up here.

Win Races—Textbank! 💻

Movement Voter Labs has 1.5M texts to get out TODAY! They are reaching out to folks in Georgia, Michigan, and North Carolina for #VOTEPROCHOICE, and they’d love your help! Get started here.

Note that Slack is experiencing an outage, so you may have trouble accessing it.

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

[to President Biden] [H/T] [Quicksend: text SIGN PEJYZO to 50409] [Or copy and paste into the WH contact form.]

The American Rescue Plan was historically successful at fueling the economy and supporting family budgets. Now, you must go further to build an economy that works for all of us, especially for families who have been marginalized or are feeling a financial squeeze from rising costs. This means bold action like canceling student debt, and fixing outdated overtime pay rules to give millions of workers a raise. And it means using federal contracting and tax regulations to support high-road employers, reversing Trump-era giveaways to corporations to outsource jobs, dodge taxes, or violate labor laws. 

You can do this all through Executive Action. While I would love to see Congress get it done first, that’s clearly not happening until we expand our majorities. In the meantime we need you to act. Please do. Thanks.

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

Talk tomorrow.

Jess