Chop Wood, Carry Water 4/2

Back in action!

(Notice the sticker.)

Hi, all, and happy Tuesday!

I’m high above the Atlantic ocean, winging it from Amsterdam to Boston on the first part of our two-leg journey home. I’m so glad to be back with all of you!

Which isn’t to say that it wasn’t exquisite to take a break, because it was. Truly. We had a spectacular trip, and packed an unbelievable amount of stuff into the ten days we were in Europe: the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, the Keukenhof and the Mauritshuis Museum in the Netherlands, L’Orangerie and the Musee De La Chasse et de la Nature (a personal favorite) in Paris, and the city of Bruges in Belgium, which may be the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

There’s much more, of course. We rarely stopped! It was magnificent; it was terrific to see old friends and family; it was inspiring; it was restorative.

But vacation is officially over. It ended abruptly last night, in The Hague, just before bedtime. I’d grabbed my phone one last time, to make sure it was on silent, and saw the breaking news alert about Florida’s Supreme Court ruling. My first reaction, of course, was nausea; we’ve known for months that this conservative court would likely rule to allow DeSantis’s 6-week ban to go into effect, but even so it was infuriating and painful to see the headline come in.

When I read the sub-heading, though, I felt a surge of, if not excitement, then at least contained relief. For right after issuing their ruling essentially ending abortion rights in one of the last Southern states to have them, the Florida Supreme Court, amazingly, announced they’d allow Amendment 4—which, if passed, would restore Floridians’ ability to access most abortion care in the state—onto the November ballot. Whoo!

We’ve known all along that should the voters get to decide on this referendum it would be a huge turnout driver. We couldn’t, however, have crafted a better turbocharger for that already likely-to-be-strong turnout than the enactment of a six-week abortion ban right before the election.

But that’s what we got.

So as much as I grieve for the pregnant people who will suffer under Florida’s draconian ban—and I do—I am grimly pleased at the likely whopping we’re going to give Republicans there in November as a result of their repugnant overreach. Not only can we restore abortion rights there, but suddenly a US Senate seat is in play, countless downballot races, and, of course, even Florida’s Electoral College votes. Really. Anything is possible now. Not easy—but possible.

Remember, we didn’t choose this fight; Republicans did. But it’s a fight we absolutely can, must, and will win, and it just became conceivable that we’re going to win it in the Sunshine State.

So yes, vacation is over. That’s OK. One can only eat so many chocolate croissants anyway. The stakes in the U.S. are getting higher by the day and I’m ready to get back to work. I hope you are, too.

You’ll find lots of ways to do so below. So let’s get to it!

P.S. — Please forgive all typos. My contact lenses don’t do well on airplanes so I can barely see what I’m writing.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

I understand that the company that owns the ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge has filed an action in federal court using the Limitation of Liability Act, an antiquated law from 1851, to argue that the damages it owes for the crash should be capped at $43 million. That’s outrageous. The Limitation of Liability Act has been used for 175 years to protect wealthy owners from having to pay for damages their ships caused. It needs to be repealed. Grace Ocean Private Limited and other companies like it must be made to pay what they owe.

In the meantime, I fully support the federal government’s covering the cost of rebuilding the bridge and hope the Senator will as well. Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

I understand that the company that owns the ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge has filed an action in federal court using the Limitation of Liability Act, an antiquated law from 1851, to argue that the damages it owes for the crash should be capped at $43 million. That’s outrageous. The Limitation of Liability Act has been used for 175 years to protect wealthy owners from having to pay for damages their ships caused. It needs to be repealed. Grace Ocean Private Limited and other companies like it must be made to pay what they owe.

In the meantime, I fully support the federal government’s covering the cost of rebuilding the bridge and hope the Congressmember will as well. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

We all know that traditional news organizations like ABC, CBS, CNN, and the NYT haven’t adapted to the open threat of an American authoritarian movement. They’re still focusing on "horse race" coverage and the false-equivalence of "both sides" instead of calling out candidates and enablers who advocate for violence and imperil elections, election workers and democracy. 

Please join the Media and Democracy Project to help advocate for more pro-democracy political coverage by signing on to their Open Letter to media executives and newsrooms' leadership. No need to fill out the “Organization” line—you can just sign as an individual. Read the letter first—I think you’ll find it’s excellent.

Then please amplify and distribute it to your communities.

Get Smart! 📚

Friendly reminder that on Thursday at 7PM ET I’ll be moderating a Food Waste Action Party with the wonderful folks at Climate Action Now. We’ll have great speakers, an excellent presentation, and some easy actions for you to take!

Register here. And please invite a friend.

Spread the Word! 📣

As incredible as it sounds, very few Americans actually hold Trump responsible for gutting abortion rights. Even fewer truly understand that we will lose them nationwide should he win this November. In light of that, even a simple ad like the new one below from the Biden campiagn can be hugely effective. So please share it!

You can accompany it with a caption that reads something like this (I’m largely quoting from Kamala Harris’s recent statement on the Florida SC decision):

The Florida Supreme Court’s decision to allow a 6-week abortion ban to go into effect means that millions of women in Florida and across the Southeast will live in a cruel reality where they face a choice between putting their lives at risk or traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to get care. Doctors will continue to be threatened with criminal prosecution for doing their jobs, and women may be barred from getting the health care they need in the event of rape or incest.

Donald Trump created this health care crisis, and he has no plans to stop now.

Please make a plan to vote for the only person who trusts women to make their own reproductive decisions—President Joe Biden.

Give 💰!

Here’s another Mind the Gap recommendation for STRATEGIC giving:

The Center for Voter Information (CVI) mobilizes voters through rigorously tested, highly cost-effective mail campaigns. CVI’s target voters include white suburban, college-educated voters in presidential battleground states who need a little extra encouragement to get to the polls. CVI applies partisan filters so that mobilization efforts focus squarely on voters who are most likely to cast a vote for Democrats. The program can adjust its targeting dynamically to increase turnout where it is needed most as we get closer to Election Day. The mail campaigns motivate voters in swing states/districts to cast a ballot by reminding them how closely decided their elections are, that their neighbors are voting, and how to navigate ever-changing voting rules. Click here to make a contribution of any amount. Contributions are not tax-deductible.

Win Races! 🗳

In Florida we now have a chance to not only pass an abortion rights ballot measure, but possibly to elect Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and oust Rick Scott, thereby flipping a Senate seat, and even, in a long-shot-dream-world scenario, win the state for Biden. And yes, I think it’s possible.

For an excellent summary of how the various FL Supreme Court rulings may affect the outcome in November I highly recommend this Jay Kuo piece.

After you’ve read it here are a couple of things you can do to help:

1. Sign up to volunteer with and/or donate to Floridians Protecting Freedom, the coalition working to pass Amendment 4. Even with enormous voter enthusiasm this ballot measure will be hard to pass, as it requires a 60% majority to succeed (rather than 50% +1 as we had in Ohio). 

2. Sign up to volunteer for and/or donate to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign.

3. Sign up to volunteer for and/or donate to the Florida Democratic Party—they have excellent leadership now; I think they’re well worth supporting.

Also, if you want to be kept apprised of ways to help us win in Florida feel free to sign up for my Chop Wood, Carry Florida newsletter!

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

[To: all three reps ] [H/T] [Text SIGN PCHOVF to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]

I’m writing to ask you to oppose any attempts to weaken or repeal President Biden’s pause on Liquefied natural Gas (LNG) export permits by the US Department of Energy. The LNG export pause is a win for our climate, communities, and US consumers. And Republican-led efforts to undermine the pause, including linking an end to the pause to aid for Ukraine, are misguided and shortsighted.

Taking time to do a true assessment of whether continuing to increase LNG exports is in the public interest is common sense. The US is already supplying more than enough LNG to our allies in Europe. Recent reports from EU partners and Ukrainian allies show a rapid transition to distributed renewable energy and heat pumps, with demand for gas decreasing for the last few years.

LNG exports harm frontline communities already overburdened with air pollution and toxic extraction. They also raise prices for US consumers at a time when American families are already struggling with inflation. And, exporting fossil fuels will make it impossible to meet President Biden and the Congress’ climate goals as established in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Please fight all attempts to repeal the LNG export pause this year.

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

Talk soon.

Jess