Chop Wood, Carry Water 3/14
Well done is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin
Hi, all, and happy Monday!
Still trying to dig my way out of my email backlog (taking 3 days away from my laptop does have its downsides) so I’ll make this short.
Times are very tough, but we are tougher.
Know what will makes us tougher still?
More actions.
So let’s breathe in calm, breathe out fear, and do a few quick things to help build the wall of love, democracy and justice that will truly protect this country from destruction.
Well done is better than well said, indeed. Especially when it’s well done together.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
First, I'm calling to urge the Senator to support the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court. Thank you.
Second, oil companies have made the biggest quarterly profits in eight years, and yet gas prices continue to rise. I am angry that they are using the Ukraine invasion as a pretext to gouge customers. I want Congress to pass a windfall profits tax right now—Bernie Sanders has started pushing for it and so should the Senator. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
Oil companies have made the biggest quarterly profits in eight years, and yet gas prices continue to rise. I am angry that they are using the Ukraine invasion as a pretext to gouge customers. I want Congress to pass a windfall profits tax right now—Bernie Sanders has started pushing for it and so should the Congressmember. Thanks.
Extra Credit
Call Nancy Pelosi at (415) 556-4862 or (202) 225-4965 and say:
My name is _____ and I’m from ____. I’m calling Congressmember Pelosi in her capacity as Speaker of the House to urge her to bring up a vote on HR 3617 the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act. This bill would decriminalize marijuana on a federal level and make essential improvements to how our country regulates cannabis. The bill has a history of success, having passed on a bipartisan 228-164 vote in the previous session of Congress.
At a time when a supermajority of Americans support legalization, now is the time to pass the MORE Act. Thanks. [H/T]
Get Social ✅
Please post the below on social (you’ll have to add the link to the article separately. I can’t stop it from creating a thumbnail here.)
.@POTUS it's time to invoke the Defense Production Act to build heat pumps--lots of them! Fast! It could help make Europe far less vulnerable to Putin in a matter of months & help with the climate emergency.
We can make a huge difference. Please act now.
Get Smart! 📚
No matter how Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine ends, the repercussions are enormous and will be felt for years—perhaps decades—to come. What will be the consequences of a more united and militarized NATO? How will the reshuffling of energy markets affect global politics? Has this destroyed the prospects for nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament? Will there be a stronger Russia/China alliance? How will the Global South be affected?
Tomorrow Code Pink and Massachusetts Peace Action will discuss these questions and many more with two of the greatest global analysts on the left: Dr. Gerald Horne, history professor at University of Houston, and Walden Bello, co-founder of Focus on the Global South, academic, and lifelong human rights and peace campaigner.
Tuesday, March 15th, 5-6 PDT / 8-9 EDT. Register here.
Win Races! 🗳
Early voting for Georgia’s House District 45 Special Election begins this Monday, March 14th for the April 5th election, followed by the statewide General Primary in May. And Fair Fight, as always, is ON IT, with phonebanks starting today and going straight through! Most of them will be focussed on helping voters navigate the Republicans’ new voter suppression laws, so they need lots of folks to help.
These conversations are fun, easy and their phonebank system, Hubdialer, does most of the hard work for you! Please sign up to phonebank with Fair Fight HERE as soon as possible; phonebanks start Wednesday, March 16.
Never phonebanked before, never used Hubdialer or want a refresher on the platform? Join one of their phone bank trainings before your phonebank shift to make sure you feel comfortable with Hubdialer! If you aren’t able to attend a phonebank training ahead of time, there will be a chance to go over this material at the start of the phonebank but they recommend attending a training if possible.
[Want to “adopt” Georgia this year, and make it the state you give extra love to? I’ve got an adopt Georgia email list and accompanying master doc. Go here to subscribe and check out the doc here.
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)
[to all 3 reps] [H/T] [Quick send: text SIGN PBZVQB to 50409]
Two years into the biggest national health crisis in recent history, U.S. billionaires’ wealth continues to soar: as of March 10, their collective wealth has shot up by $1.7 trillion, or 57%, since the pandemic emergency was proclaimed in mid-March 2020.
Infuriatingly, under current law, none of that wealth gain—essentially income—will likely ever be taxed.
This is why I strongly support the Billionaires Income Tax introduced by Senator Ron Wyden. It would tax billionaire wealth gains every year, just as workers’ pay is now. Tax on the increased value of easy-to-price assets—such as the publicly traded stock that makes up the bulk of billionaire wealth—would be collected annually. Tax on the rise in value of tougher to appraise assets like closely-held businesses, fine art and private jets would be collected once the item was sold and a value established, with interest charged to make up for any missed annual payments.
The BIT would raise $557 billion over a decade from about 700 taxpayers. That’s enough to pay for all the climate-crisis-response and other environmental investments in President Biden’s Build Back Better framework.
It’s fair, it’s easy, and it’s got to happen. Please support the Billionaire’s income Tax now, and use it to save us from a climate catastrophe. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess