Chop Wood, Carry Water 4/18

Link to digital version is here.

Hi, all, and happy Tuesday!

I awoke to the excellent news that an Op-Ed of mine—actually, a Resistbot letter that got submitted as an Op-Ed—was published in the Los Angeles Times this morning! With the delightful title, “Chief Justice, Stop the Rot!”

It is, in fact, the same letter almost 500 of you have sent to Chief Justice Roberts using the Resistbot code “sign PNWDHO.”

As you can imagine, I had no expectation that this letter would be published. I’ve agreed to let Resistbot submit my letters to the editors of local papers many times before, with no result. I was as surprised as anyone to see it in hard copy this morning—but it’s a good reminder that when we take action the results can sometimes be far better than we expected. It’s at least feasible that John Roberts himself will see it. If he does, I hope it burns him up plenty. Maybe he’ll actually do something about his problem!

The point is, our actions can feel fruitless; they’re not. So let’s keep taking them. And for goodness sakes, try writing a letter to the editor of your local paper! Or let Resistbot submit one for you. Heck, submit one of mine. I don’t care! You never know when something may, in fact, get published.

We have all the tools we need to make a difference. Our job is simply to use them. So let’s do that one more time.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

First, I’m calling to ask the Senator to confirm Julie Su as Secretary of Labor without delay. She is the most qualified candidate and the best choice. [H/T]

Second, the Supreme Court is facing a legitimacy crisis, which has been made much worse by Clarence Thomas's continuos scandals. The Senate needs to launch an investigation into Thomas and take steps to pass legislation requiring strong ethics for our Supreme Court. Americans won’t let this go. Do something now. 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 say that I’m frustrated and unhappy to hear Republicans talking about cutting programs millions of Americans rely on—like SNAP, Medicaid, and Medicare—while simultaneously refusing to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires even a cent. First, we need a clean debt ceiling increase and we need it now, and second we need to raise taxes on the mega-rich to pay for the programs Americans rely on. It’s a wildly popular idea—we want Congress to get behind it now. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Want to take a bite out of Fox News?

Spectrum/Charter, Infinity/Comcast and Cox are in negotiations with Fox Corp. about the carriage fees charged for Fox. (These are fees that everyone with cable, regardless of whether or not they watch, is paying for Fox.) The channel is already way overpriced and Fox will be pushing to increase its fee to be even more exorbitant. If you subscribe to TV through one of these companies, join Media Matters' NoFoxFee campaign to push back on having to increase your subsidy of a network you'd rather not support at all.

(Spectrum/Charter subscribers can go a step further and take advantage of TV Choice, which allows them to go completely Fox-News-free.) [H/T]

Extra Extra Credit!

Resistbot just launched a Substack! Let’s sign up! It’s a great way to support them and also keep an eye on trending topics!

Get Smart! 📚

On April 26th at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET Swing Blue, 31st Street Swing Left, and several other grassroots groups are presenting an event that should be great:

Fight Against MAGA Media with hosts Dan Pfeiffer and Tara McGowan.

These thought leaders will introduce you to a growing number of media projects designed to reach priority voters to combat disinformation. We all care about this! Hope to see some of you there!

Sign up here.

Spread the Word! 📣

DNCWarRoom: While MAGA Republicans can't agree on what they're threatening to hold our nation's full faith and credit hostage over, let's not forget they supported debt ceiling increases multiple times under Donald Trump — all while adding trillions to the deficit. [WATCH] 

Win Races! 🗳

Movement Labs is looking for volunteers to send texts into Kansas encouraging folks to run for office. The fact that so many Republicans run unopposed is a HUGE problem. We must recruit candidates everywhere!

You can get started here.

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

[to all 3 reps] [H/T] Quick send: text SIGN PMNVCF to 50409]

Congress must protect Medicaid, an essential program that 88 million people in the U.S. rely on for their healthcare, including 54 million aging adults, children, military members, veterans, and disabled people.

The proposed cuts to Medicaid would risk healthcare coverage for eight million aging adults, cut coverage for more than three million children of active military members and veterans, as well as children of low-income families. It would threaten health coverage for millions of disabled people with severe mental and physical disabilities. Plans to impose work requirements to restrict access to Medicaid would also be incredibly harmful to people in poor health, disabled people, and older people ages 50 to 65, for whom there are few job opportunities. Meeting basic life-sustaining needs should not be contingent on meeting a work requirement.

Reducing access to Medicaid would only hurt – not help – people in this country. Instead of taking healthcare away from people, Congress should protect Medicaid. If Congress really wants to cut the deficit, they should make the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.

---

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

Talk soon.

Jess