Chop Wood, Carry Water 6/21

A sigh of relief on Rahimi

Jessica Craven

Jun 21, 2024

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Hi, all, and happy Friday!

It’s a Supreme Court decision day, and this morning—thank God—we got a ruling that wasn’t awful. SCOTUS upheld a federal law that prevents people who are subject to domestic-violence restraining orders from having firearms. It was an 8-1 decision with only Justice Thomas dissenting.

As Dave Stowe of Newtown Action said, “After the catastrophic Bruen decision last session, it is refreshing to see that there are some lines that even this court won't cross.”

Indeed. It’s a sad day when you have to celebrate rulings that in any normal universe wouldn’t ever have been in question, but here we are.

The correlation between domestic violence and mass shootings is well documented and widely understood. To quote the New Yorker, (which is quoting the New York Times in a larger piece about this phenomenon):

When Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group, analyzed F.B.I. data on mass shootings from 2009 to 2015, it found that 57 percent of the cases included a spouse, former spouse or other family member among the victims — and that 16 percent of the attackers had previously been charged with domestic violence.

Here’s more from Everytown’s page on “Guns and Violence Against Women:”

The statistics on the prevalence of intimate partner violence with a gun in the United States are staggering: Every month, an average of 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner.Nearly 1 million women alive today have reported being shot or shot at by intimate partners, and over 4.5 million women have reported being threatened with a gun by an intimate partner. And beyond the daily toll of this problem, in at least 46 percent of mass shootings between 2015 and 2022, the perpetrator shot a current or former intimate partner or family member as part of the rampage.

Yet this case’s outcome was far from a foregone conclusion; many expected the ruling to go the other way. So we’ll breathe a sigh of relief that SCOTUS, for once, got something right, while also doubling down on our determination to fix this broken court the second we can.

We take our wins where we can find them, right?

Speaking of wins, WE MADE OUR MATCH for the States Project Giving Circle! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We raised about $11,000; my generous donor will now put in her $10,000. That will put us at around $62K raised in total so far—almost 3/4 of the way to our 100K goal! You folks are truly amazing. Thank you again. And by the way, there’s another big States Project matching campaign coming up next week, so if you missed your chance to give, maybe wait to do so until Monday—I’ll post the link again then.

In other good news, the White House just launched a new website compiling all of the policies the President and Vice President have put in place to lower costs. It’s terrific! Please take a look—you’ll be blown away. And share it everywhere you can.

Speaking of being blown away, have I told you recently that you’re amazing? You are. You’re history in the flesh and I’m honored to be in this fight with you.

Now let’s get to it one more time.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

I’m calling because I believe that all new American citizens should be able to exercise their right to vote. Under the INVITE Act (S. 3712), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services staff would help new citizens complete the voter registration process following their naturalization. Will the Senator cosponsor and pass this bill? [H/T]

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

I’m calling because I believe that all new American citizens should be able to exercise their right to vote. Under the INVITE Act (H.R. 7179), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services staff would help new citizens complete the voter registration process following their naturalization. Will the Congressmember cosponsor and pass this bill? [H/T]

Extra Credit ✅

Let’s contact President Biden via the White House contact form and advocate for the safety of LGBTQ and HIV-positive people in U.S. ICE detention. We can say something like:

Hello, I’m reaching out because I’m deeply concerned about the mistreatment of at-risk populations in U.S. detention facilities. CBP and ICE officials inhumanely disrupt LGBTQ and HIV-positive people’s access to justice and endanger them with medical neglect and violence. It has been going on for many years. I join with immigration rights groups in urging you to:
Use parole authority to the fullest extent for people seeking asylum.
Remove recent arrivals from the administration’s targeted enforcement priority list.
Provide transparency, accountability, and uniformity on the detention standards across CBP and ICE facilities.
Terminate contracts with facilities that fail to meet basic standards of safety and care.
Promptly issue agency guidance protecting vulnerable populations in custody.
Thanks.

[H/T Americans of Conscience Newsletter]

Get Smart! 📚

Anti-education extremists such as Moms for Liberty are attempting to brainwash kids, destroy public education, and take over our public school boards. It’s not just scary for our schools, it’s a terrifying threat to our democracy. And they’re all in on their anti-democratic strategy, pledging to invest $3 million on school board races this year.

Run for Something combats extremism in schools by recruiting and supporting young diverse candidates to rise up against these voices and take leadership in their communities.

Join them for a webinar on June 25th at 1pm ET where they will be taking a deep dive into their school board program and how their work is helping to save public education and defend our democracy.

I couldn’t be a bigger supporter of this work—please attend if you can!

Spread the Word! 📣

From Team Biden-Harris:

Monday, June 24 will mark two years since Trump “proudly” overturned Roe v. Wade, ripping away rights women held for nearly 50 years. Because of Trump, more than 1 in 3 women now live under cruel abortion bans, and doctors across the country are facing the threat of jail time for providing necessary reproductive care. Trump is the person responsible for the chaos and cruelty we are living through – and now he and his allies are pursuing an even more extreme and dangerous anti-freedom agenda.

To mark the Dobbs Anniversary, take action with us to hold Trump accountable and highlight the stakes for reproductive freedom this November:

SIGN UP FOR EVENTS + TO VOLUNTEER: Join a reproductive freedom organizing event – head to JoeBiden.com/Dobbs to sign up! Can’t join us around the Dobbs anniversary? Go to JoeBiden.com/Freedom to take action on another day.
SPREAD THE WORD ON SOCIAL MEDIA + BEYOND: Post on social media using our graphics and other resources in our Dobbs Anniversary Toolkit with the hashtag #TrumpDidThis. You can also gear up with our Reproductive Freedom T-shirt, and write a letter to the editor about the stakes of this election for reproductive freedom.
SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US: Whether your family's access to health care was disrupted by extreme abortion bans or you're simply outraged that women now have fewer rights than previous generations, we want to hear from you. Submit your story to our National Reproductive Freedom Storybank! We may follow up with you with opportunities to share your story.

Give 💰!

Come to a fundraiser for Representative Jeff Jackson (D-NC), Democratic Nominee for Attorney General of North Carolina! Moderated by Robert Hubbell!

June 25 from 8-9 PM ET

US Rep. Jeff Jackson is the Democratic nominee for Attorney General. He is running against US Rep. Dan Bishop, who authored the infamous “bathroom bill” as a state legislator. Jeff Jackson will continue current Attorney General Josh Stein’s campaign to attack the fentanyl epidemic.

He knows how to communicate his message, with 2.2 million TikTok followers and some of the most readable emails in all of politics. He will be joined by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, and the moderator will be Robert Hubbell, author of the widely-read and influential Today’s Edition Newsletter.

Donate any amount here to attend.

Win Races! 🗳

This weekend ahead of the Dobbs Anniversary, Team Biden Harris invites you to join them virtually to hear from incredible women, or “storytellers,” who have faced the devastating impacts of Trump’s abortion bans. You’ll then get trained on having effective conversations with voters about the stakes of this election for reproductive freedom. Because telling stories is hugely effective at moving voters.

Saturday 6/22 at 1pm ET: National Reproductive Freedom Friendbank with Senator Tammy Duckworth and storyteller Latorya Beasley

Saturday 6/22 at 6pm ET: Reproductive Freedom Message & Story Training with storyteller Amanda Zurawski

Sunday 6/23 at 6pm ET: Reproductive Freedom Message & Story Training with storyteller Kaitlyn Kash (select the Sunday time)

Monday 6/24 at 6pm ET: National Reproductive Freedom Friendbank with storyteller Lauren Miller (select the Monday time)