Hi, all, and happy Monday.
Last night I sent my “Extra! Extra!” newsletter out with no mention in it of the atrocities that had happened over the weekend in Texas. It wasn’t a deliberate decision—I was, at the moment of publishing, trying to finish up a lot of work at the end of what had been a long and busy weekend and I simply forgot. Afterwards, however, I wished I’d mentioned it.
No one has criticized my omission, but I nevertheless regret it.
Having said that, perhaps it was a relief to some of you to receive a list of only good news with no mention of the awful stuff happening around it. Perhaps we’re too aware of that awful stuff already.
Whatever the case, we’ll spend the day making calls and continuing to push for better—or any—gun laws.
On that note: I know it feels we’re making no progress, but I believe that something is, in fact, shifting. The image that keeps coming to my mind is that of a wall which we’re trying to push down with our bare hands. One of us pushes. It won’t give. Two of us push. Nothing. Ten of us push. Still nothing. The wall is strong, and won’t give.
But as more and more of us join the throngs pushing on it pure physics dictate that at some point it will—all of a sudden—come tumbling down. One moment it will be there; the next it won’t. It’s just the way relentless pressure works.
This will happen with an Assault Weapons Ban. It has to. We will make it happen.
And the more of us line up at the wall and throw our shoulders into the work the sooner that’ll be.
So let’s take some deep breaths and get to pushing one more time.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling to ask whether the Senator has yet co-sponsored S. 25 the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2023. [Even if you know the answer please use this script. They don’t know that you know, and they need to be asked over and over again.]
[If yes:] Wonderful. Please thank the Senator for me. Are they also co-sponsoring S 173 Ethan’s Law? If so please ask them to prioritize getting these bills passed. Americans are heartbroken, we’re terrified and we’re angry that our lawmakers haven’t acted to stop the carnage.
[If no:] I really wonder how the Senator can justify that at this point? How much more carnage is s/he willing to co-sign before s/he will change course? Americans are heartbroken, we’re terrified, and we’re angry that our lawmakers won’t act. I, for one, will work to vote out every lawmaker who puts the NRA before my wellbeing and that of my loved ones.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m calling to ask whether the Congressmember has yet co-sponsored HR 698, the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2023. [Even if you know the answer please call. They don’t know that you know, and they need to be asked over and over again.]
[If yes:] Wonderful. Please thank the Congressmember for me. Are they also co-sponsoring HR 660 Ethan’s Law? If so please ask them to prioritize getting these bills passed. Americans are heartbroken, we’re terrified and we’re angry that our lawmakers haven’t acted to stop the carnage.
[If no:] I really wonder how the Congressmember can justify that at this point? How much more carnage is s/he willing to co-sign before s/he will change course? Americans are heartbroken, we’re terrified, and we’re angry that our lawmakers won’t act. I, for one, will work to vote out every lawmaker who puts the NRA before my wellbeing and that of my loved ones.
Extra Credit ✅
Let’s call Chuck Schumer in his capacity as Senate Majority Leader and say:
[TW: this script is graphic but it’s the one the Newton Alliance is asking us to use, albeit slightly shortened. Find the full script and lots more ways to help here.]
Hi, My name is _______ and I’m calling from [zip.] I am a (gun violence survivor/student/gun owner/veteran/faith leader/educator/practitioner/law enforcement family member/parent/etc).
In just the past week, the bodies of dead mothers have been rolled off of the surviving children they protected from AR15 bullets in not one but two mass shootings.
This Mother’s Day, mothers across the country don’t want cards or flowers. They want a Federal Assault Weapons Ban. And I join them in calling on Majority Leader Schumer to repeatedly call a vote on the Assault Weapons Ban until it passes.
Can America’s mothers count on Majority Leader Schumer to protect their children so they don’t have to die for them?
Extra Extra Credit ✅✅
Let’s call Dick Durbin in his capacity as Senate Judiciary Committee Chair and say:
Hi, My name is _______ and I’m calling from [zip.] I am a (gun violence survivor/student/gun owner/veteran/faith leader/educator/practitioner/law enforcement family member/parent/etc).
In just the past week, the bodies of dead mothers have been rolled off of the surviving children they protected from AR15 bullets in not one but two mass shootings.
This Mother’s Day, mothers across the country don’t want cards or flowers. They want a Federal Assault Weapons Ban. And I join them in calling on Chairman Durbin to mark up and pass the Assault Weapons Ban in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Can America’s mothers count on the Chairman to protect their children so they don’t have to die for them?
Get Smart! 📚
There are two Simon Rosenberg events worth attending tomorrow, Tuesday May 9th:
At 10 AM PT / 1PM ET come hear a new and updated version of his core presentation,With Democrats Things Get Better. With Dems takes 30-35 minutes, and I promise you will leave the presentation proud of your party, proud of your President, and prepared to go out and help us win the big economic debate with Republicans this year. You can RSVP here for the live showing.
At 5 PM PT / 8PM ET come hear Simon talk about how North Carolina is essential to “getting to 55%” in 2024. As he says, “If we have one thing we can do, one expansion state, we can flip NC.” This event is co-sponsored by Carolina Forward, All In for NC, Lean Left VT, Left of Center, Swing Blue Alliance and Together We Elect. I’m excited. Register here. (Also, if you’re into NC stuff, please save the date for Tuesday May 23rd at 7:30 PM ET, when All in For NC will be hosting a North Carolina fundraiser keynoted by Jamie Raskin, and at which I’ll also be speaking!)
Spread the Word! 📣
Indivisible talked to some top messaging people about how best to frame the debt ceiling situation. Here’s what they learned:
Always keep the focus on what’s at stake: defaulting on the debt. The technical mechanism for preventing a default is “raising the debt ceiling,” but if we just ask people whether or not they want to raise the debt ceiling, we lose the debate. People generally don’t know what that means, and it sounds vaguely bad -- like you’re agreeing to wasteful spending. But if we instead frame the issue as a choice between raising the debt ceiling or defaulting on the national debt, we win the debate handily. So always remember: This is about default on the debt. We don’t want to; the other side is threatening to.
Slashing funding for teachers and schools, and cutting Medicaid for disabled kids and seniors. Of everything in the GOP bill, the two least popular things are cuts to education and healthcare. The GOP bill eliminates 108,000 teachers’ jobs, taking away educational support for 32 million kids in the country. It would also put healthcare of 21 million people in jeopardy by slashing Medicaid, including seniors in nursing homes and children with disabilities. These should be our leading arguments against this proposal -- we should repeat, repeat, repeat until they become as well known as the earlier attempt to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Win Races! 🗳
TEXTING: Tonight from 7 – 8:30pm EDT Color of Change PAC has texting into Allegheny County PA for the 5/16 election. Please sign up—they will train you!
CALLING: I’m calling into PA with Swing Blue Alliance today from 2PM-4PM PT. Join me!
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[to all of your representatives] [Excerpted and adapted from this statement] [Quick send: SIGN PPQPQZ to 50409]
As we embark on a landmark week on immigration policy, I’m writing to ask all members of Congress to reflect on the humanity and real lives affected by policies at our southern border. Not doing so, as we have already seen, will have terrible consequences.
Dehumanizing rhetoric directed at migrants puts a target on the backs of this vulnerable population. Early reports offer the troubling possibility that the tragedies in Allen and Brownsville in Texas will join El Paso, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Charlottesville as locations forever linked to hate-filled violence.
Hateful conspiracy theories and dehumanizing rhetoric used to be limited to the fringes of the internet. Now, many elected officials and right wing media have helped to mainstream and platform these conspiracies - even after the many incidents of violence linked to dehumanizing hate.
The DHS has issued repeated memos, including one in December of last year, about threats to migrants and border infrastructure. They warned in particular about the threats in the context of the end of Title 42. That means that this week could see more tragedies, unless Congressmembers speak out forcefully.
There is an urgent need for those with the power and megaphones to immediately cease their dehumanizing rhetoric and vocally denounce racist and antisemitic conspiracies about an invasion and replacement. I expect you to do so. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Jessica - about your comment re hands helping bring down something and never knowing exactly when that might happen.....that is can be here one minute and gone the next....we need to remember back to 1989. In that one year communism was weakened so much it brought down the then Soviet Union. And a new president won election in South Africa that led the way to the end of apartheid in the next year. Finally, the Berlin Wall came down on 11/9/89. Each one of these events was a surprise. Yes, people had been working on them for years, and people were aware that certain events were happening, but no one expected each of these things to topple with the speed and completeness that occurred when they finally did. In the greater scheme of things they were literally here one day and gone the next.
Jessica, I very much appreciated your Extra good news. Thanks for keeping my heart from becoming just too heavy.