Chop Wood, Carry Water 4/26
What a week.
Hi, all, and happy Friday.
Good Lord. I’m exhausted. You too? This week has been something—three massively important SCOTUS cases, Trump on trial, historic student protests, vile behavior by bad actors, the Biden administration’s astonishing string of climate and labor policy announcements (you’ll see them all in “Extra! Extra!”), Harvey Weinstein’s conviction overturned...I could go on, but you know the litany. It’s been a lot.
I very much hope you’ve built some rest and rejuvenation into your weekend plans. This much stress isn’t good for anyone. On that note, I want to send a special thought out to my Jewish readers—I know this week has been harder on you than the rest of us can imagine. We are with and behind you. The instances of antisemitism we’re seeing on the news are repugnant, heartbreaking, and unacceptable.
Having said that, I do believe that many of the protestors are raising their voices appropriately, and I’ve been appalled at the draconian responses unleashed on them. I have been trying to find an action we can take, but things are moving so quickly, the details are so complex, and so much of the reporting is conflicted that I’m honestly stymied. If anyone comes across something they feel might work please send it to me.
I’ll continue, of course, to address the situation in the Middle East more directly in the other newsletter, although I wish I had time to do so more frequently. Bandwidth, to my great frustration, is in ever shorter supply here these days; I simply can’t get to it as often as I’d like to.
Finally, I got a question from a reader I thought I’d share with you in case you have the same one. She wrote:
Sometimes we don’t read the newsletter immediately. Is there a general rule of thumb for the ending day of a call your rep recommendation? Or could you add something like “call your rep this week”, or “call your rep by____? We don’t want to miss opportunities. Many many thanks!
Great question! My response to her was as follows:
Unless I’ve specified in the newsletter that a vote is imminent most of these calls are good for a week or longer—sometimes much longer. We call on some bills for years! If a vote is coming up soon I try to include that in the script by saying something like “I know the House is about to vote on XYZ.” If that’s not in there it’s likely not time-sensitive.
Hope that helps! Sending so much love to all of you amidst the frenzy that is our current news environment.
Just remember: you’re shaping history. YOU. The story will be different—and better—because of what you’re doing. The arc of history has your fingerprints all over it, friends. It’s bending faster and further because of you.
Thanks for that.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
Has the Senator yet co-sponsored the Shrinkflation Prevention Act of 2024 (S 3819)? It would allow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to crack down on corporations who deceive customers by not informing them when they’ve reduced the size of a product, yet continue to charge consumers the same price for it. If s/he hasn’t signed on to co-sponsor it yet I’d like him/her to right away. Thanks. [H/T
]Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
Has the Congressmember yet co-sponsored the Shrinkflation Prevention Act of 2024 (HR 7825)? It would allow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to crack down on corporations who deceive customers by not informing them when they’ve reduced the size of a product, yet continue to charge consumers the same price for it. If s/he hasn’t signed on to co-sponsor it yet I’d like him/her to right away. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
United For Democracy kicked off its “Stop The Relentless Power Grab” campaign this week. This campaign will communicate with voters across the country the cause and cost of the MAGA Supreme Court justices’ power grab and amplify our collective voice at a time when we have lots of leverage to hold our Members of Congress accountable. If you missed their panel discussion, by the way, it was phenomenal. You can see it here.
But there’s more! They sent out the below list this morning—in it there are many actions you can take as your “Extra Credit” today:
Website: RelentlessPowerGrab.Com is a one-stop-shop for the latest on the campaign — from messaging what’s at stake to tools to translate urgency into action (including forms to email and tweet at Congress).
Toolkit: This toolkit makes spreading the word to engage your network easy. Find downloadable door hangers, brochures, postcards, LTE templates, call scripts, and ready-to-share social media content.
Video: Who’s to blame, what’s at stake, and what can we do about it — all in 60 seconds. Watch and share now!
Storefront: Shop shirts and yard signs to let your community know you are all in on this fight.
Majority Opinions Issue #5 Power [Back] to the People: The latest issue of our newsletter is dedicated to uplifting key voices and their perspectives on how and why they believe we should use our power to ensure the MAGA Republicans who built this broken and corrupt Supreme Court are held accountable in ways that will make a real difference this year, next year, and beyond.
Get Smart! 📚
Grassroots Dems HQ's free happy hour series is back!
If we hope to restore Roe vs. Wade's protections, expand healthcare coverage, fight climate change, strengthen our democracy, and so much more, we MUST defend our Senate majority this fall.
Join GDHQ next Wednesday, May 1 at 5:30pm PT / 8:30pm ET for The Road to 50 (Or More!) to learn what we need to do to keep at least 50 Senate seats blue.
Spread the Word! 📣
ASO Communications, Way to Win, We Make the Future Action, and Gutsy Media have announced the launch of their 2024 election messaging and digital content program, Amplify.
They’ve launched their efforts by sharing their first video of the year, “Doomscroll.” This video scores incredibly high on every metric in terms of moving the voters we need to move. So please watch it, share it (they have sharing tools on the website) and keep an eye out from more from this top messaging team by signing up to be on their mailing list (at the bottom of the web page).
Give 💰!
Sister District has announced their first wave of endorsed candidates for 2024! These progressive candidates are running for strategically chosen state legislative seats in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin! Support the entire candidate slate through the link here.
Sister District is one of the organizations I list on my smart donations page—they’re vetted, terrific, and I vouch for their extraordinary effectiveness with my whole heart.
Win Races! 🗳
Read this inspiring piece and then please sign up for this shero’s phonebank. WOW!
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: POTUS and all 3 reps] [H/T
] [Text SIGN PKVISI to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]Elon Musk has used his immense power to aggressively and increasingly propagate antisemitism, white supremacy, transphobia, and other hateful lies and conspiracies. Yet at this moment, his companies remain massive U.S. government contractors.
Our nation is uniquely and increasingly reliant on Musk-controlled corporations for our national security, space program and infrastructure, in spite of Musk's record of intensifying bigotry, labor law violations, unsafe working conditions, racial and sexual harassment, and perhaps most terrifyingly, purposely sabotaging the military operations of a U.S. ally.
The reaction of the federal government to his actions has been alarmingly limited. The process of decoupling from Musk will be incredibly difficult, but it will only become more so if we do not begin it as soon as possible.
I would like to know what specifically your office is doing to ensure that Musk's companies are fulfilling the responsibilities of any government contractor with regards to equal opportunity, labor law and worker treatment; to hold him accountable for his efforts to undermine U.S. foreign policy and to ensure that such events are not repeated; and to develop public capacity and decrease our reliance on resources a single billionaire with their own agenda directly controls.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk on Sunday!!
Jess
Y'all, the number of the HOUSE bill is wrong--thanks to the reader who pointed it out. It's HR 7825, NOT 7285. Should've checked before I posted.
Again, correct number is HR 7825.
My daughter graduated from Emory University last May and I am just so shocked that the president of Emory called in the Georgia State police. The video of the cop wrestling a professor to the ground after all she did was yell "What are you doing?" which is understandable considering they had a student facedown on the grass in zip ties is something I will never forget. I think it was a terrible decision and I hope he resigns.