Chop Wood, Carry Water 5/29

Hope with a track record

Download this graphic here.

Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!

First of all, thanks so much to those of you who gave to the Go Fund Me to help cover my D.C. travel expenses yesterday. The goal set by my very kind subscriber was met (and slightly exceeded) in hours, and I am deeply grateful for it. My flight and room will both be covered—my cabs, too. Amazing and so, so appreciated. I will carry all of you into the hearing room with me on Tuesday!

I will also carry you to the American History Museum, to which I am determined to make it this time. And the National Museum of African American History and Culture, too! In fact, I will carry you with me everywhere in D.C., because it’s now your trip as much as mine.

Anyway. Yesterday a friend sent out an activism e-mail containing this quote:

 Faith is hope with a track record.

—Anne Lamott

I was grateful to see it. Hope, after all, feels in short supply right now. But faith—that we can win despite our feelings of overwhelm, fatigue, and even fear—is something we can summon, because we do have a track record. That record shows us, over and over again, that when we fight we win. It reminds us that it doesn’t matter how we feel about the future—it’s what we do in the day that matters.

And when we do what we know to do? We win elections. We defeat MAGA. We defeat Trump. Experience has borne that out.

So let’s trust in our experience, not in our fears.

On that note, let’s grab our phones, our laptops, and our courage, and get to work. This is tough, but remember, we’re tougher. And together we absolutely can’t lose.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have displayed a disturbing level of corruption and bias, with Alito openly sympathizing with insurrectionists. I ask that the Senator call on Senator Durbin and the Judiciary Committee to investigate them, and do everything in his/her power to make it happen. We can’t let this go—our democracy is riding on it. Please push for investigations. Also please ask the Senator to call for both Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves from the two January 6-related cases. Thanks. [H/T]

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

I understand that Republicans are seeking large cuts to SNAP as well as to climate-related funding in the farm bill that’s currently being negotiated. I strongly oppose such cuts. Taking food away from needy people is barbaric. And doing anything to cut back on climate progress as the crisis worsens dramatically is just ignorant. We need to do more, not less on climate. So no cuts to SNAP or to climate funding, please. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

YOU GUYS. The Dump Alito website has been such a hit—with thousands and thousands of you clicking on the link to submit a formal request against him—that its creator Alden (whom I mistakenly called Aiden in a previous post—sorry!) has doubled down and added a way to lodge a formal complaint against Aileen Cannon, too!

Go get her! And spread the word!

Get Smart! 📚

[H/T

Healthcare Advocacy

newsletter]

The Kaiser Family Foundation has put together an online course about healthcare policy. It’s free — here is the link to their course page. Below is the table of contents; each item is a link to that chapter. What a great resource!

Chapters

• Introduction

• Medicare

• Medicaid

• The Affordable Care Act

• Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

• The Uninsured Population and Health Coverage

• Health Care Costs and Affordability

• The Regulation of Private Health Insurance

• Health Policy Issues in Women’s Health

• Race, Inequality, and Health

• International Comparison of Health Systems

• The U.S. Government and Global Health

• Congress, the Executive Branch, and Health Policy

• The Politics of Health Care and the 2024 Election

Spread the Word! 📣

As the New York election interference trial goes to jury deliberation—!!!—here are key talking points and a social toolkit with videos & graphics from DemCast! Use them to understand how to message this moment.

There’s also a movement call on the Trump NYC trial starting soon—it’s w. Norm Eisen, Christian F. Nunes, Rep. Holtzman & Ruth Ben-Ghiat. They’ll be talking about messaging, too. It starts at 3:30 ET — sign up here.

Give 💰!

I know I’ve already asked for your generosity this week but I have to do so again: I need your help on my Run For Something fundraising campaign. As you may remember I have a 10K matching donor, and we’ve raised a great deal of our goal, but not all of it—we’ve been stuck at 9k for awhile.

If anyone can give to bring us over the top this week I’d really appreciate it. I’ve never failed at a matching campaign before and I’m feeling 😬 about it. Give here. And if you’re new to RFS you can read their 2024 strategic goals here. They are one of the three organizations I consider my top “give to” targets—your money virtually can’t be better spent.

Win Races! 🗳

If you plan on knocking doors—or even phonebanking—to help a Democrat win this year there’s a concept that you should know about: it's called Deep Canvassing.  Deep Canvassing means engaging voters in longer conversations, using scripts that help you do that, and making enough of a meaningful connection that you can actually change their opinion or their behavior. And it’s VERY effective.

An organization that teaches this is holding one-hour information sessions, and I encourage you to attend one. Here are links to sign up. Theirs is not the only method of deep canvassing, but according to the folks at Swing Blue Alliance it's pretty effective. Check it out!

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

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

I am writing to urge you to protect the $19.5 billion in climate-smart agriculture and conservation funding allocated through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as Congress works to pass a farm bill.

This funding is crucial for supporting farmers in adopting sustainable practices and addressing the climate crisis while supporting clean water, wildlife habitat, and soil health. Diverting these funds or removing the “climate-smart” requirement would undermine the purpose of this investment.

Please stand firm in defending the IRA’s climate-smart agriculture funding. Investing in sustainable agriculture and conservation is essential for mitigating climate change, protecting our agricultural sector, and safeguarding our food supply and natural resources for future generations.

Thank you for your leadership on this critical issue.

---

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

Talk soon.

Jess