Chop Wood, Carry Water 2/24

Stand with Ukraine.

Feb 24, 2022

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.
Alice Walker

Hi, all, and happy Thursday.

Ugh. Tough days. Remember to breathe, eat, hug your loved ones. If you have family or friends in Ukraine send them our prayers. What an excruciating moment for all concerned.

Speaking of which, you’ll notice I don’t have any Ukraine-related actions below. That’s for a couple of reasons: a) I’m not a foreign policy expert, b) I haven’t received any calls to action from my sources, other than making sure to not spread Russian propaganda, and c) Biden seems to be doing an excellent job.

And that last part is really important to stress.

Biden is doing an EXCELLENT job.

As awful as everything seems right now, please remember how much worse it would be if Trump were still president, and/or if we hadn’t won control of the Senate. Thank GOD we have a calm and steady hand at the wheel as we navigate a terrifically scary and historic moment. Thank GOD we have control of Congress. Thank God smart folks are working hard to find solutions.

Actually, thank US. Because we did that. And we can do it again in November.

We must.

Because this week demonstrates, once again, the stakes of getting the right leadership elected. There are enough madmen in power as it stands. Everything we do must be towards ensuring that not one more gains traction.

And, of course, holding those already in power accountable.

So let’s do that one more time.

Call Your Senators (find yours here)

See more critical info below! This is a really important vote!

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

I want the Senator to push the nomination of Gigi Sohn for FCC chair NOW! She is the perfect person for the job—a very strong advocate for net neutrality and personal and data privacy—issues important to every American. I’m also asking the Senator to make a public statement of his/her support. This vote is very important to me.

[The Committee on Commerce and Transportation will vote on this first—as soon as Friday. It is CRITICAL that all Senators—but especially members of this committee— hear from you today. They are:

DEMOCRATS: Cantwell (202) 224-3441; Sinema (202) 224- 4521; Hickenlooper, (202) 224-5941 ; Blumenthal (202) 224-9673; Schatz (202) 224-3934 ; Markey (202) 224- 2742; Klobuchar (202) 224-3244: Tester (202 224-2644; Rosen (202) 224- 6244; Lujian (202 224-3370; Baldwin (202 224-5653; Duckworth (202) 224-2854;Warnock (202) 224-3643; Peters (202) 224-6221

REPUBLICANS: Wicker (202) 224 6253; Cruz (202) 224- 5922; Sullivan (202)224-6501; Lee (202) 224- 5444; Scott (202) 224-5274; Blunt (202- 224-5721 Moran (202) 224-6521; Young (202) 224-5623; Capito (202) 204-6472; Thune (202) 224-2321; Fischer (202) 224-6551; Blackburn (202) 224-3344; Johnson (202) 224-5323; Lummis (202) 224-3424]

Call Your House Rep (find yours here)

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

I’m calling to ask the Congressmember to support a few bills. They are as follows:

First, H.R. 556, the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act to advance global gender equality by providing stability for family-planning NGOs.

Second, both H.R. 336: the TRUST in Congress Act and H.R. 6490: the Banning Insider Trading in Congress Act. Congress MUST stop using privileged information to profit off of the stock market. Thanks. [H/T]

Extra Credit ✅

Some kind soul looked up the email addresses of the media/investor relations departments at all 5 of the biggest companies in Texas. So I made it really easy for you to write to them about Greg Abbott’s new trans policy!

Please MAKE SURE TO EDIT/PERSONALIZE and add your name and hometown at the end. They will disregard emails that look copied and pasted.

One-click email to American Airlines here.
One-click email to HP here.

One-click email to Oracle here.

One-click email to Dell here.

One-click email to AT&T here.

Bonus points: post the below on social media or in an email to friends and family (if you have the space I’d attach an article like this explaining what’s happening—for twitter you won’t have room)

If you want to email @Dell @HP @Oracle @ATT or @AmericanAir & ask them to speak out on Abbott's attack on trans kids, click below:
tinyurl.com/writeaa
tinyurl.com/writehp
tinyurl.com/writeoracle
tinyurl.com/writedell
tinyurl.com/writetoatt
#TransRightsAreHumanRights

Win Races! 🗳

Apparently new Republican polling is showing Jessica Cisneros in the lead in her Texas race, and Greg Casar (another fantastic climate candidate) within reach of winning as well. Please, can you join a Climate Hawks Vote phone bank in the next few days? Election Day is Tuesday! GOTV phone calls are SO FUN! You’ll be calling known supporters, so it’ll be quite pleasant.

Thursday, 2/10: Jessica Cisneros (TX-28): co-hosted with Indivisible, United for Respect, Climate Hawks Vote & Green New Deal Action Network!
Thursday, 2/17: Jessica Cisneros (TX-28) and Greg Casar (TX-35)
Thursday, 2/24: Greg Casar with Vets for the People! (TX-28)
Saturday, 2/26: GOTV 2 Shifts Jessica Cisneros (TX-28)
Sunday, 2/27: GOTV Jessica Cisneros (TX-28)

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

[to President Biden] [H/T] [Quick send text SIGN PYGPUG to 50409]

I’m writing to express my strong support of Ganesh Sitaraman for Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the OMB. I urge you to nominate him swiftly and to push for his quick confirmation.

The Administrator of OIRA is a critically-important position, given that OIRA reviews regulations across an astonishing range of issues, including transportation, environmental, labor, and health and safety. Over the past year, however, this role has gone unfilled, without even a nominee for the position. While I recognize that the Administrator position is a demanding one, I believe that Ganesh Sitaraman is eminently and uniquely qualified for this position.

As a law professor at Vanderbilt University, Sitaraman teaches and writes about regulation, administrative law, constitutional law, and economic policy. He is a prolific scholar, who has authored or co-authored four books in addition to articles in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, and other academic journals. His work is wide-ranging as well—covering administrative law, foreign affairs, trade, antitrust, constitutional history, and many different areas of public policy. His extraordinary ability to understand and analyze issues across such a broad range, and with scholarly depth and insight, uniquely qualify Sitaraman to be Administrator of OIRA, where he will confront a wide range of topics.

With less than three years left in your first-term, the work of reviewing agency regulations will only get more demanding. I urge you to move swiftly to nominate Ganesh Sitaraman as OIRA Administrator and to support his quick confirmation. Thanks.

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

Talk tomorrow.

Jess

Chop Wood, Carry Water