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Patti M's avatar

I love the Rachel Cohen effort! And the Costco/Citi petition. Thank you for sharing! And thank you for being you.

Quick story. This morning was my first call to Sen Booker following his vote to advance the genius act. When I called this morning, I unbelievably got a young lady live on the phone (I was so excited. That’s so rare at his ofc). I told her I had three topics I wanted her to relay to the Senator. Topic one was the genius act. And as soon as I said that I could hear a literal groan. Lol. That told me that she’s been fielding a lot of calls from my fellow NJans about his vote last week. And that made me happy! My other two topics were the budget as well as Kilmar. It was great to have more than 60 seconds to leave a message! And she was lovely. See you all at 7 ✔️

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Jess Craven's avatar

That's amazing, Patti! Great work!

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David's avatar

Hi, While overall helpful, I think the Resistbot letters are getting waaaay too long. Are they meant to preach a sermon or be read by Congress staffers? Not looking for an argument, just seems practically speaking they should state an opinion briefly that one would like to have logged. I can't think a staffer can get through reading one of these multi-page ones, much less thousands of us sending the same thing. They're starting to sound like op-ed pieces to me rather than a bite sized concern that will be processed, counted, and hopefully influence a member of congress. Just my two cents meant to help, respectfully submitted.

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Jess Craven's avatar

Yeah, I've been using letters written by a couple of other people and they defnitely go longer than I would. I'll see if I can persuade any of them to go shorter. I agree.

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Michelle Romano's avatar

I wonder if an organization could put billboards up all over our country about the people who are disappearing off our streets due to our admin, so that the general public can keep up with what's happening with these people?

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Jess Craven's avatar

Funny you should mention that! I'll have a toolkit for you tomorrow!

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Kaaren Haldeman's avatar

Just got a rejection email from kkroslow@proskauer.com after sending my email using Rachel’s toolkit:

“A message you sent recently was REJECTED by an authorised message reviewer,

and will not be delivered. Please review the reason for the rejection and

make suitable arrangements to re-send the message (with alterations) if

appropriate.

The message information and reason for rejection follows:

Sender : kaargav@gmail.com

Intended Recipient : bruskin@proskauer.com (Ruskin, Bradley I.)

Message Subject : Call to Action: Concerns about Board Decision-making

Message Date : Mon, 2 Jun 2025 16:24:40 -0400

Reviewer : kkroslow@proskauer.com (Kroslow, Keith W.)

Rejection Reason : Message goes Against Email Policies

Rejection Narrative Follows:

Rejected by reviewer. No further details provided.”

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JoJo Pete's avatar

Please be careful NOT to conflate anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism. Follow @jewishvoiceforpeace on Instagram to clarify.

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Jess Craven's avatar

Oh I do understand the difference, thank you!

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Lynne Bishop's avatar

Thanks for all you do, Jessica.

Several email addresses in Rachel Cohen’s database are invalid: the Harvard ones and the Northwestern Law, so far.

Unsure if they’ve altered their email addresses since this campaign began or if there are technical issues. Perhaps you could let Rachel know.

Her idea is brilliant and she’s made it so easy to accomplish!

Wishing you and your kid all the best, always 💗

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Jess Craven's avatar

I will try to reach her. Thank you! Yes, a few bounced for me, too.

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Hannah Emery, PhD's avatar

Boosting the signal on this one - if anybody needs something else to politely yell at Congress about. Loyalty pledges in the hiring of federal employees? No thank you.

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/02/white-house-loyalty-trump

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Jess Craven's avatar

🤮🤮

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Karen S's avatar

That "substack live" was excellent! Helped me to better understand the issues and how to communicate with others about them. So appreciate this..

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Jess Craven's avatar

I'm so glad, Karen! Thanks!

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Susan Travis's avatar

Great work! Lots and lots to do! Better than sitting, worrying, cursing!!!

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Jess Craven's avatar

Agree. We have to stay active.

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Patricia Finley's avatar

Jess, pls take a listen to Uncanny Valley Podcast by Wired on “How Americans are Surveilled During Protests”. Options for listeners include wearing a mask and sunglasses, taking public transportation, etc.

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Trina's avatar

Thank you so much, Jess! Called my Congressfolk, signed the petition, signed up for the Divest Public Money from Elon zoom call. I'm really looking forward to that one.

The law firm letters were a bit fiddly for me and my rudimentary tech skills to get going with. I don't have a VPN but I still had to use the link in the yellow box that dropped down a menu to access the letters. And along with the first paragraphs, some of the email addresses needed a bit of editing (deleting the TO: and the CC:, etc.) But, I've got the routine down now and, yes, it's addictive!

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Jess Craven's avatar

Yeah, I would have done it a bit differently but even so, once I got used to fixing the first paragraph, etc. I found it pretty easy to get through. Thanks for sticking with it!

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Sylvia Rivers's avatar

I signed the petition. Everyone, no matter political affiliate, should be held accountable.

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Jess Craven's avatar

100%!

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Jacqueline Gleason's avatar

If anyone follows Jackie and Shadow, Ms. Sunny took flight this morning! She looked spectacular soaring through the sky!

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Jess Craven's avatar

WHAT? Wow! Amazing! I am so happy those chicks are flourishing! Do they get called chicks?

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Steve Shoptaw's avatar

Jess -

New to your substack, but remember fondly our conversation at Liz Samuel's baby shower. LOVE your focus on action. Keep up the good work. I will follow up on activities you've laid out.

Steve

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Roxanne's avatar

Thank you so much for all of your helpful newsletters!

I have been sharing them with other groups and taking the actions listed myself — but today, I just wanted to send extra thanks for sending the action by Rachel Cohen. Although I had to copy/paste each letter, instead of doing the one-click method, I sent all of the letters on both tabs. Many thanks to Rachel for compiling all of it and making it easy to do!

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Bonnie Fought's avatar

I don’t know if you are aware of this action that your subscribers could take, in addition to the wonderful suggestions I follow every day in your newsletter! The American Bar Association has a platform like Resistbot for sending letters to members of congress in support of funding for fair and humane immigration policies.

These letters (linked below) urge Congress to fund two vital programs in FY26:

1. The Unaccompanied Children Program (UCP), which ensures vulnerable immigrant children have access to critical legal services, including representation, while enhancing immigration court efficiency.

2. The Legal Orientation Programs (LOP), which provide noncitizens with essential access to legal information and assistance, relieving heavy burdens placed on the already backlogged immigration courts.

This is a way to help protect the rights of immigrants, strengthen due process in our immigration system, and enhance efficiency in our immigration courts. It takes just a minute to send letters to your Members of Congress—no ABA membership required! Every voice counts.

UCP: https://lnkd.in/edqaqJeu

LOP: https://lnkd.in/ecmYmmYm

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