Chop Wood, Carry Water 4/22

Lots to celebrate!

Download this and lots of other great Earth Day and Green Economy content here.

Hi, all. Happy Monday, happy Earth Day, happy opening arguments day, and Chag Pesach sameach to those of you who celebrate Passover!

I hope you had an excellent weekend. I did, especially after the House passed the foreign aid package. While there are parts of it with which I’m displeased, the Ukraine funding is a minor miracle and I’m celebrating it as such. I’m also thrilled we’re getting more aid to Gaza.

On a related note, I received some pushback for “treating Mike Johnson like a hero” on Friday. I even had a reader suggest I was losing my sanity!

I assure you, my sanity is as intact as it’s ever been, which is to say…largely? I don’t believe I referred to Johnson as a hero. I said he was displaying heroism, and I’ll stand by my statement. Why? Because if we want inherently cowardly people to act in courageous ways we need to offer them an incentive to do so. Giving such outliers an “attaboy” when they do the right thing is such an incentive. Averring that they’re just doing their jobs and don’t deserve praise? Less so.

Look. It is vanishingly rare for a Republican lawmaker to stand up to Trump and the MAGA right. When they do I think they should be lauded. I understand many disagree. That, as they say, is what makes horseraces.

Having said all of that, does this mean I like Mike Johnson now? No. I think he’s odious—a dangerous fanatic who would still vote to take away my nonbinary teenager’s bodily autonomy and force them into conversion therapy if he got the chance. And that’s just for starters. I oppose everything he stands for.

But I’m glad he did this one very right thing.

Now, because so many of you seemed to enjoy hearing about what some of my other subscribers are up to, I’ve got another great comment to share with you, this one from Sandra “Sam” W. in Florida.

Sam wrote:

Just last night I completed Zoom training on the Reach app with the Florida Democratic Party. It’s a powerful communications and relational app.  I now have the tools and all the information my Supervisor of Elections has, so I can canvass anywhere in Florida. I’m going to start by telling my neighbors who were signed up for Vote-by-Mail about the changes in Florida’s Vote-by-Mail Ballot laws. Basically, in January, every voter has been purged from the Vote-by-Mail list and must request a Vote-by-Mail Ballot every election cycle. The Reach app also gives me the power to help voters register to vote, and then follow up with them. I don’t have to wait for an organized canvassing event. I can put boots on the ground anytime and let the Party know when I’ve effectively communicated with my neighbors to get out the vote!

Fabulous, right? Talk about actual heroes!

Remember, you, too, can do voter outreach using the Reach app. If you live in Florida, Kristellys Estanga is the Director of Voter Registration for the state Democratic Party and her email address is kris@floridadems.org. I’m sure she’d love to help get you set up on their account.

If you want to join the DNC’s Reach Team, furthermore, you can click HERE to do so. They provide a steady stream of social media content, trainings, and the relational organizing and voter registration tools Sam spoke of.

What can I say? With a team like ours—and the occasional help of a “stopped clock” Republican—we can’t lose! I am so incredibly proud of the work you’ve done to get us to this point, folks.

Now let’s keep it up. Because we’re on a roll!

P.S. — Sorry there are no climate-related actions in today’s newsletter. I’m not much for tying actions to national-days-of-whatever. We need to be thinking and advocating about climate and the environment every day, and so, in general we do. But if you’re wanting to share something relevant today my Chop Wood, Save the Earth one-pager is always a good place to start!

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

First, I just want to make sure the Senator is going to vote yes on the Ukraine funding bill tomorrow? Please ask him/her to.

Second, it’s now abundantly clear that several members of Congress are working for or at least with the Russian government. I’m glad we have finally gotten past their obstruction to pass Ukraine funding, but what is Congress going to do to root out this malign foreign influence? If we can’t allow it in our social media apps we surely can’t allow it in our own government. Does the Senator agree? And if so what are they doing about it? Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

It’s now abundantly clear that several members of Congress are working for or at least with the Russian government. I’m glad we have finally gotten past their obstruction to pass Ukraine funding—how did the House member vote on that, by the way? [Thank if they supported. Express disappointment if they did not].

Anyway. What is Congress going to do to root out this malign foreign influence in our governing body? If we can’t allow it in our social media apps we surely can’t allow it in the U.S. Congress. Does the representative agree? And if so what are they doing about it? Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

As many of you know, our Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is aggressively implementing a 10-year plan at the USPS that will continue to slash jobs, close sorting centers and raise prices.

Under DeJoy, mail is slower today than it was in 2020. Prices are higher too. 

Nearly half of the votes cast in 2020 were by mail. In 2022, it was more than a third. Now, with the 2024 election rapidly approaching, it is not the time for added slowdowns from network consolidations. Yet DeJoy hasn’t announced any safeguards to protect vote by mail -- while continuing to march full steam ahead with changes that put it at risk.

The USPS Inspector General, the Board of Governors, and the Postal Regulatory Commission must step in and protect voting by mail from Louis DeJoy now. The Save the Post Office Coalition has a letter you can sign asking all of the above to act now to protect vote by mail from Louis DeJoy!

Please personalize and send the letter here!

Get Smart! 📚

On Thursday, April 25th at 12:00PT ET, Big Tent USA is thrilled to host Pulitzer Prize–winning author and esteemed historian Anne Applebaum in conversation with award winning journalist Katie Couric.  They will dive into the critical issues of our era: the global rise of authoritarianism and the evolving landscape of American democracy. Sounds fascinating!

🗓️ RSVP HERE FOR ANNE APPLEBAUM

Spread the Word! 📣

[H/T Swing Left San Gabriel Valley]

Too many people have no idea what President Biden has accomplished in the first three years of his Presidency. And we all know how difficult it’s been to break through the right-wing echo chamber that distorts so much of our political discourse. Even Democrats and Progressive voters may not be well-informed about what the Biden Administration has achieved. 

That’s why now is the time to close the information gap on the Biden Administration’s accomplishments and pass that knowledge on to friends and family. Check out the below three resources and share them with family and friends. The latter two are new to me and they are AMAZING!

Amplify is an opt-in messaging bulletin created by Activate America. It includes talking points on key issues in the news, social media you can share and additional ways you and others can take action to help elect Democrats this election cycle.

Facts to Counter GOP Misinformation, created by Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, highlights one FACT each week which can change the GOP misinformation narrative.

How To Talk to Voters is a messaging library developed by the Bay Area Coalition (BAC) using the 3V framework: values, villains and vision.

Give 💰!

I know there’s a lot of good stuff happening at the same time on Thursday, but here’s another great event!

Galvanize Action, the only national organization developing messages proven to move moderate white women in swing states towards progress, has been selected by Focus for Democracy to be featured on Thursday, April 25 at 5pm PDT/8pm EDT.  Focus for Democracy rigorously evaluates and selects a few groups who they determine are the best investment for democracy. If you value rigorous research and evaluation, please register by clicking on this link. 

(Galvanize Action is also a top recommendation of David Callahan's Blue Tent.  This endorsement is another validation of their importance.)

Win Races! 🗳

In Pennsylvania, Democrats have lagged behind Republicans in registering new voters for years. Registering likely Democratic voters is critical at this point in the election cycle, and there’s no time to waste. Join one of Swing Blue Alliance’s trips to Montgomery County, PA, to help people who likely lean Democratic register to vote.

Here’s an opportunity to catch up to the Republicans’ “new registered voters” count a bit, and to meet and work with local Dem volunteers. They'll provide training prior to the trip, and while you're there.

Please consider joining SBA on one or more of these dates to move the needle!

What I’m Reading 📖

I’d forgotten to put one very important newsletter on my recommended reading list—what an omission! So I’m featuring it here: for healthcare-related advocacy (including everything Medicare For All) Alan Unell’s

Healthcare Advocacy

is amazing.

Check it out and/or subscribe here: Healthcare Advocacy | Alan Unell Ph.D. | Substack

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

[To: all 3 reps] [H/T] [Text SIGN PESFXZ to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]

I am a constituent who believes the failure to control wasteful Pentagon spending makes it harder to meet our country’s needs. The U.S. spends more on the military than any other country in the world, yet we repeatedly fail to spend the required amount of funds on food, housing, health care, and education that our communities need.

Recently, the DoD failed its audit for the sixth time in a row when it failed to account for $1.9 trillion―half its $3.8 trillion budget.

The Department of Defense is the only federal agency that has never passed a full audit and they didn’t even complete audits until 2018.

As your constituent, I am asking you to cut wasteful Defense spending in FY 2025 government funding bills.

Federal dollars that go to wasteful Department of Defense contracts are funds that do not go to meet human needs. One-third to one-half of the Pentagon budget goes to corporate military contractors that drastically price gouge the DoD by as much as 40%.

Trillions of dollars spent―and unaccounted for―undermine our security by preventing us from investing in the shared prosperity that comes from more housing, climate and public health protections, ending hunger, and more education.

Please cut wasteful Pentagon spending and invest that money in vulnerable communities.

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

Talk soon.

Jess