Chop Wood, Carry Water 3/28

Hi, all, and happy Tuesday.

I’m on Simon Rosenberg’s call, so forgive me if I keep this brief. Writing while listening has never been my strong suit.

Yesterday was a tough day. I cried when I called my Congressmembers— I know some of you did as well. But, as I said to my husband last night, I think it’s really important for our elected representatives to hear the emotion in our voices—to hear how all of this mayhem is impacting us. NRA members are loud; they are volatile. They are strident. THEY are unapologetically emotional. I don’t want us to become like them, but I think we can take one page from their playbook—the one that says that calm, reasoned speech doesn’t always get our representatives’ attention the way that thunderous, impassioned speech does.

So let your reps hear your sorrow. Let them feel your rage. Let them experience your fulllthroated fury. We always want to be courteous to the person answering our calls, but we want to communicate to them that we have had it.

I want to say one more thing. By three o’clock yesterday I was spent—I’d been at a bunch of meetings, made two Tiktoks, done this newsletter, and more. I’d cried quite a bit. I wanted to call it quits early.

But I had signed up to make calls into Wisconsin. And I knew that winning this election could actually help with gun violence—if Janet Protasiewicz wins Democrats will challenge Wisconsin’s unfair maps and they will almost certainly be overturned and redrawn, at which point Democrats will gain two Congressional seats there. This will go a long way towards flipping the House, which we need to do if we’re ever going to pass more gun laws.

So I showed up. And there were almost 90 people there! It was a wonderful shift—I talked to so many people who were planning on voting, and even persuaded one woman who usually sits out judicial elections to go out and make her voice heard. It was beautiful.

I left the phonebank deeply heartened. It was yet another reminder that, when hope seems utterly lost, action will always help me find it. I was so grateful for the opportunity to “cure” my sadness by doing something productive.

And when we win I’ll know I was part of it.

If you haven’t yet tried it, please do. It’s a design for success—for joy, for relief, for progress—that really works.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

I am calling about S. 316, “A bill to repeal the authorizations for use of military force against Iraq.” I urge the Senator to vote NO on all poison pill amendments and to pass a clean repeal. It’s very important to me that we repeal the Iraq war authorizations. It is now 20 years after the start of the disastrous invasion of Iraq. Please pass this repeal as quickly as possible. Thanks. [H/T]

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

I’m calling to urge the Congressmember to vote NO on HR1. I find it infuriating that Republicans are trying to pass a bill to make oil and gas companies MORE profitable when they’re already making record profits off of American consumers. Meanwhile our planet is burning, extreme weather is endangering Americans and costing taxpayers billions. We need to being doing more—not less—about it.

Congress needs to maintain the Inflation Reduction Act’s investments in environmental and climate justice and focus on a rapid and equitable transition off of fossil fuels to clean energy. Put people and the planet over polluters and their profits. Vote no on HR1. Thanks. [H/T]

Extra Credit ✅

Yesterday, police in Atlanta, Georgia, raided the Weelaunee Forest in an attempt to clear protesters who have camped in the area for months. Earlier this month, 23 individuals in Atlanta were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism for speaking out against the construction of a huge police training facility, known as Copy City. 

We need a massive outpouring of support.

Let’s send a message to the insurers of this project now and tell them to Stop Cop City. I edited the letter quite a bit—otherwise they will ignore it.

And if you want background on this fight listen to today’s The Daily podcast episode about it.

Get Smart! 📚

As Secretary Mayorkas heads to Congress, Republicans are expected to once again try to pin the fentanyl crisis on immigrants, despite clear evidence to the contrary.

For a more complete understanding on why the GOP’s fentanyl argument is inaccurate, read the America’s Voice blog, Debunking the GOP’s Fentanyl Narrative - A Short Resource Guide. It’s really important to have this information at your fingertips, as this is something even our side gets wrong a lot.

Spread the Word! 📣

This is SO IMPORTANT TO AMPLIFY! Remember: YOU are the messenger.

Please find talking points, resources and stories to lift on the President’s visit to North Carolina today and the launch of the Investing in America tour.

• Today, President Biden is kicking off a three-week long, Administration-wide Investing in America tour with a visit to Wolfspeed, a manufacturer of semiconductors, that recently announced a $5 billion investment to expand their North Carolina operations and create 1,800 good-paying jobs.

• Over the next three weeks, President Biden and members of his Cabinet will fan out to over 20 states to highlight how President Biden’s economic agenda is unleashing a manufacturing boom, strengthening U.S. supply chains, creating good-paying jobs, and expanding economic opportunity across America.

• During the visit, President Biden will announce that over $435 billion in private sector manufacturing commitments have been made since he took office. That includes over $200 billion in clean energy, electric vehicle, and battery investments, over $200 billion in semiconductors, and about $15 billion in biomanufacturing investments. 

  • In February, there was the equivalent of a major new private sector clean energy announcement every business day.

  • And, in 16 states, companies announced the single largest private sector investment in that state’s history since President Biden took office.

• The Investing in America tour will also highlight what’s at stake if MAGA Republicans in Congress get their way and repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and slash funding for manufacturing, research, and innovation to give tax breaks to the super wealthy.

NEW White House map of private sector manufacturing investments: whitehouse.gov/invest

Win Races—en Espanol! 🗳

Unidos Llamando, the DNC Spanish Call Crew, is looking for bilingual Spanish speakers to get out the vote in the Wisconsin Election. They have a shift today from 4-6PM PT / 7-9 PM ET and also shifts on Thursday and Saturday. WE HAVE ONE WEEK LEFT!

If you’re a Spanish speaker you can help where few others can. PLEASE sign up for a shift.

Win Races—Join the Party! 🥂

WisDems has call shifts in English all day every day between now and next Tuesday. I went yesterday—there were 90 people there! Don’t miss out on the fun—sign up for a shift here.

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

You may not oppose the TikTok ban, but I do. If you’re with me please send the below to all 3 reps. [Quick send: Text SIGN PEMIMW to 50409]

I understand that Congress wants to ban Tiktok because it’s an “urgent threat to national security.” If this is the standard by which we are going to ban technology platforms I just want to make sure that Congress also intends to ban Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter —all of which are known to have been infiltrated by foreign agents who are actively using these platforms to harm our country. These platforms are also havens for white supremacists, whom we know right now present the most serious terror threat to the US. And if Congress is worried about Americans being spied on, I expect them to also ban DHS, who is running a covert program gathering intelligence on Americans that many of its own employees think is illegal. And you should throw in google and Amazon, who are unabashedly spying on millions of Americans every day.

Will Congress be banning all of the above? Because otherwise this Tiktok ban will do nothing to protect Americans from real threats. Thanks.

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

Talk soon.

Jess