Hi, all, and happy Monday!
Sorry this is so late—I had a speaking engagement this morning and it delayed everything else by quite a bit.
I’ll keep it brief; I spent the weekend doing something I rarely do these days: not working! Or mostly not, anyway. My family and I hiked; we went to a picnic; we went to a birthday party; we enjoyed our new dog. It was deeply restorative.
I also, of course, did an Activism 101 where I got to see some of you! So it wasn’t all downtime. But even so, it felt nice to take it easy, and it paid off! I feel terrific today.
Of course, there’s more than one reason for that—this morning we woke up to the news that the Republicans have lost their entire advantage on the generic Congressional ballot. Also, that President Biden’s approval ratings are ticking back up. Woot! And once again I am reminded that: We. Can. Win.
We have the policies.
We have the voters.
We have the skill.
We have the creativity.
We have the high ground.
We have the youth.
We have the ideas.
We have. Every. Advantage.
Our job? To act like it. So let’s do that today, together, one more time.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
Please ask the Senator to do all they can to help confirm Gigi Sohn to the FCC. Congress passed historic legislation to address broadband affordability and accessibility for both urban and rural communities, but we still need a fully functional FCC to implement it. The delay is really frustrating. Please get it done. [H/T]
[If your Senator is a Democrat please add:] One more thing: I’m calling to ask the Democrats to not look the other way when Republicans attack, but to fight back, hard. We want to see them respond with the spirit and poise of Mallory McMorrow. Their behavior influences the public’s perception of danger and the Republicans are very, very dangerous.Your job, day in and day out, is to make sure that the public knows exactly how bad Republicans are. Please do that. Thanks. [H/T]
Call Your House Rep (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’d like the Congressmember to put out a statement calling on President Biden to sign an executive action cancelling at least $50 thousand of student loan debt before the end of the repayment pause. Nearly 45 million individuals and families—including retired people!— are unnecessarily burdened by this debt, and the President has the authority to provide them with this needed economic relief. Please speak out publicly to encourage the President to take this critical action. Thanks. [H/T]
[If your Congressmember is a Democrat please add:] One more thing: I’m calling to ask the Democrats to not look the other way when Republicans attack, but to fight back, hard. We want to see them respond with the spirit and poise of Mallory McMorrow. Their behavior influences the public’s perception of danger and the Republicans are very, very dangerous.Your job, day in and day out, is to make sure that the public knows exactly how bad Republicans are. Please do that. Thanks. [H/T]
Extra Credit ✅
Send this to President Biden via his web form or using Resistbot (text President to 50409). PLEASE personalize! [H/T]
I’m calling on President Biden to sign an executive action cancelling at least $50 thousand of student loan debt before the end of the repayment pause. Nearly 45 million individuals and families—including retirees!— are unnecessarily burdened by this debt, and the President has the authority to provide them with this needed economic relief. Please let the President know that as as someone who voted for him I think it’s very important that he take action to cancel student loan debt immediately.
Thanks!
Get Smart! 📚
Early Voting is underway in North Carolina! Want to meet our Democratic Senate candidate there?
This Thursday, join former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley for a conversation with the Center For Common Ground about her work engaging Black voters on the ground and about her experience as the first Black woman to serve as Chief Justice in North Carolina.
You’ll also learn about how you can help get out the vote in North Carolina ahead of the May 17th primary.
Thursday May 5th, 8PM EDT. Sign up here.
[If NC is your jam don’t forget to sign up for “Chop Wood, Carry North Carolina,” my once-weekly newsletter about how to help us win in the Tarheel State! Or adopt a different state here!]
Win Races! 🗳
Have I mentioned that early voting has started in NC? 🥰
🚨Well, the NC Voter Hotline is taking calls and they need volunteers to staff it! 🚨
Once trained up for the hotline you will be ready to take a shift and help voters overcome voter suppression! Election Day is May 17th. Get trained now to help!
It’s on-demand training—you’ll watch a 26 minute video—and hotline shifts are every day. Staff as many as you can.
Take the on demand training here: mobilize.us/ncdems/event/449285/
Then email Pam McAfee to get scheduled on shifts pd.mcafee@gmail.com. Tell her I sent you.
This is REALLY important, y’all. Please help if you can.
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)
[to all 3 reps] [H/T Climate Action now] [Quick send text SIGN PFBCAF to 50409]
As you surely know, cryptocurrency is taking the world by storm. What you may not know is that it is so incredibly energy-intensive that it is singlehandedly wiping out years of progress on climate change.
Bitcoin and other "proof-of-work" cryptocurrencies are designed specifically to waste energy. Right now, nearly 0.1% of the world's entire energy supply is used to solve an equation that is completely useless beyond proving that a certain amount of electricity was wasted in order to arrive at the solution.
As we speak, fossil fuel power plants are being brought back online to fuel bitcoin mining. Renewable resources are being used to power this useless number-crunching instead of the needs of our society.
If we want a future for our children and grandchildren, we must begin regulating bitcoin mining at the federal level immediately. An obscure new-age monetary system simply is not, and never will be, as important as stopping climate change from torpedoing life as we know it on planet Earth.
Please introduce and support legislation to tackle the threat bitcoin mining poses to our planet, before it's too late.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess
thank you for all your good info- I need more time!
I have been waking at night thinking we have lots of facebook- twitter- insta untapped resources to use to have maybe a "message of the day about something good that Biden had done to help get out the word-( positive vibes ) and using the phone bank/text bank idea of asking people to send it to 3 of their friends ... between you, Hubbell, and who knows it is a good group to start with.
Having said that- I do not have any of those accounts but this may be the time to start it!!I am learning so much about thru text/ phone banking etc- big learning year!! Just wanted to put it out there.
Once again, regarding student loan debt, not a word about us seniors who have been paying for well over 20 years on debts that will not be affected by $50,000 forgiveness. Same percentage of our social security checks will be taken out until we die. I am disappointed, as someone who makes the calls and fights for everyone else. No one is fighting for us.