Chop Wood, Carry Water 6/6
Unity over hate.
Hi, all, and happy Friday.
Well, yesterday was eventful, wasn’t it?
Look. As fun as it was to watch Trump and Musk trade swipes at each other all day, it is important to remember that, as one Bluesky author put it, they’re mostly just arguing about how best to go about screwing working Americans over. So while it’s entertaining on one level to see their “divorce” play out in real time, it’s also vulgar, embarrassing, and less pleasant when you remember how utterly awful they both are, and how much harm they’re doing to our country.
How will this battle royale play out? It remains to be seen. Either way our mandate remains the same: to keep calling about Republican abuses, keep trying to stop ICE’s Gestapo tactics, keep working to hold the Trump administration accountable for its corruption and lawbreaking, and keep trying to vote out every Republican—everywhere—that we can.
One piece of really good news? Kilmar Abrego is coming back to the US! The Trump Administration says they’re bringing him back to face federal charges, accusing him of “transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S.” I’m skeptical that that’s true, but either way Abrego Garcia will receive a fair trial, and that’s what we’ve been demanding the whole time. GOOD! Due process wins!
OK, all. I’m horrendously late today so I’m sending this out with an abbreviated opening. Thanks for all you’re doing! Let’s gooooo!
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I wanted to know the Senator’s position on the provision in the budget bill that prohibits state-based regulation of AI for 10 years. That’s a federal overreach that I’d expect the Senator to oppose. Can you tell me what her/his position is on that issue? [pause]. Thanks – I hope the Senator will vote against this bill, and do everything s/he can to remove this prohibition from what ultimately gets passed. For that matter the entire bill stinks and I expect the Senator to vote no. Thanks. [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’m appalled by social media videos I’m seeing of ICE officers in face coverings grabbing people off of the streets, arresting them in courthouses, or seizing them from their homes. They refuse to present warrants or IDs and they are terrorizing our communities. They are out of control and I want Congress to do something. They must be forbidden from wearing face coverings, they must show ID, and they need to have warrants signed by a judge. Otherwise this isn’t legal and Congress needs to stop it. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
Lawyers Defending American Democracy and a broad coalition including Democracy Defenders Fund, Lawyers for the Rule of Law, distinguished former judges, and prominent ethics professors and lawyers have filed a detailed Ethics Complaint against Attorney General Pamela Bondi in Florida, where she is admitted to practice.
The 23-page complaint seeks an investigation by The Florida Bar and sanctions for unethical conduct. As the complaint alleges, on Ms. Bondi’s first day in office, she sent a memorandum to all Department of Justice employees that placed lawyers who work for the DOJ in an untenable position – possibly violate their own ethical obligations or comply with her directive.
Read the Complaint against Attorney General Bondi here.
Then please sign in support of this complaint and show your support for the fundamental principle that the Attorney General of the United States cannot demand that government lawyers abandon their ethical obligations to advance the agenda of the administration.
Get Smart! 📚
Trump thinks he can disappear people. We’re building a movement to prove him wrong.
In America, the government doesn’t get to grab people off the streets, skip the courtroom, and send them straight to a foreign prison. That’s not who we are. But that’s what happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Rui Marras, Juan Maldonado Zuniga, and so many others.
Join Not Above the Law on Monday, June 9 at 8:00 PM ET for a mass organizing call to learn why this moment matters, how sheriffs play a central role in this crisis, and what you can do to push back — starting in your own community.
You'll hear from movement leaders, legal experts, and impacted individuals who will lay out the stakes: how this administration is undermining the rule of law, how local law enforcement is being pressured to comply, and how people like you can help expose and resist these abuses on June 26 and beyond.
Get Smart on SNAP! 📚
FRAC did a webinar last week exploring the far-reaching consequences of proposed federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—and what these cuts mean not only for families and children, but for local economies, and state and municipal budgets. It brought together a distinguished panel of experts in economic policy, municipal finance, and public sector equity. You can watch the webinar here!
Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣
Here’s new state-by-state and congressional district data from the Joint Economic Committee Democrats with estimates of health insurance coverage losses and the impact of rollbacks to energy tax cuts. Please share!
Also, check out this bank of infographics that illustrate the human impact of proposed Republican budget cuts, state by state.
Get in the Streets! 🪧
I’ve had TWO readers write me this week urging me to stress the importance of reclaiming the American flag.
Milo wrote:
There is a huge activism and messaging opportunity on June 14 which is “No Kings” national day of action. It's also Flag Day - and Trump’s birthday and will be his grotesque unAmerican military parade in DC. It’s a tragedy that many non-MAGA Americans associate our American Flag with insurrectionists and Trump. It’s time to fight back. We need to fight to reclaim it.
HOW TO RECLAIM OUR FLAG:
Remind individuals - to bring an American flag to protests/rallies.
Groups - Invest in larger flags 3’x5’ feet or larger - and bring to your events. Bring free extra flags for fellow activists - remind them to help Reclaim Our Flag. “Who’s flag?” - Our flag!”
Event leaders - Organize a "we the people Flag corps" volunteers who bring large flags and position them at the front of marches, on stages, near the podium. Indoor events hang a flag on the wall (blue/stars top left). ReclaimOurFlag.org has best practices
Always share on Social Media. Our Flag is photogenic. #ReclaimOurFlag
And Paul Loeb wrote a terrific blog post about it. An excerpt:
Flags have long been part of the protest tradition, and may have even more impact when those speaking out are being marginalized or attacked. American labor activists from the radical IWW union carried them at the Lawrence Textile “bread and roses” strike. They fly next to Martin Luther King in photos from the 1963 March on Washington, and his talks at antiwar rallies. This year, demonstrators who helped defeat South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s dictatorial power grab waved South Korean flags along with their signs.
Some recent anti-Trump rallies have featured them. But they need to become protest staples to help take the flag back. And when people fly them at home alongside signs or flags indicating where they stand on Trump and America’s direction, they amplify that message as well.
Win Races! 🗳
New Jersey, New York, and Virginia—three populous states that are electing hundreds of state and local officials this year—are holding their primaries over a busy 15-day period in June.
From Bolts:
In the highest-profile elections, Democrats are choosing their nominees to replace New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. In Virginia, both major parties already know their nominees for governor, but Democrats will select other statewide candidates.
Also on the menu? Anthony Weiner is mounting a comeback. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg faces voters roughly a year after he oversaw the trial against Donald Trump. And in a California beach town, librarians are pushing back against conservative efforts to police book access for youth.
And this Saturday, San Antonio is voting for its mayor, in a runoff between Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democrat who worked in the Biden administration, and Rolando Pablos, a Republican who’d been appointed Texas secretary of state by Governor Greg Abbott back in 2017.
Please check out Bolts’ monthly guide to the major elections you should be watching. Then return on and after each Election Day as they will update this page as the results are known. (Bolts is amazing, by the way. Highly recommend subscribing.)
Stop the Big BS Bill!
Activate America has an ongoing postcarding campaign asking voters to call their Republican members of Congress on issues including Medicaid cuts and Trump’s tariffs. Currently, they have campaigns in AZ, CA, IA, NE, NY, OH, PA, and WI.
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: your Senators] [H/T] [Text SIGN PPHXVX to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]
(Note that for the most effective RESISTBOT it’s best to personalize this text. More about how to do this here. But if you’re short on time just send it as is using the above code.)
I am urging you to stop the attacks against immigrant communities that are included in the House-passed budget reconciliation bill. These provisions aren’t there to help keep us safe; they are included to inflict pain and suffering on vulnerable communities.
The version that passed the House excludes 4.5 million citizen or legal permanent resident children from receiving the Child Tax Credit if one parent does not have a Social Security number, cuts legal immigrants off from Medicare benefits that they’ve paid into for a decade or more, penalizes states for using their own money to provide health care for immigrants, demands thousands of dollars in new or drastically increased fees from immigrants seeking legal status or trying to reunite with unaccompanied children, and does this all while funneling hundreds of billions of dollars into the administration’s mass deportation machine.
These provisions are cruel and harmful; as your constituent, I urge the Senate to reject any budget reconciliation package that cuts Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and SNAP, and that attacks immigrants and other vulnerable communities.
OK, you did it again! You’re helping to save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Flags are really important, but I think we need songs, too. I think of English football and the singing in stadiums, as well as past protest movements. It's good to have a playlist, but I think it's better to have a few songs that have meaning to people, that everyone can sing along to. I think it makes you feel part of the movement, and it provides courage should that be needed.
Thank you Jess for all you do. I find your newsletter one of the best especially for offering issues to act on. Being on a limited income I can’t offer financial support but I pass on your newsletter and ideas often. I hope that helps. BTW we civil rights, Vietnam War etc. protesters can’t believe we’re doing it again. But here we are sad and angry but still fighting.