Hi, all, and happy Tuesday!
I’ve got another shorter-than-usual newsletter for you as I attempt to get back up to speed after yesterday’s long travel day.
We have important primaries today in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Carolina, Connecticut, Alabama and Vermont, so if you’re in any of those states happy Election Day and please go vote!
Both the Senate and House are on recess now, and will be for the rest of the month (unless Trump forces lawmakers to come back and vote on the SAVE Act), so one thing we should all do is find out whether our lawmakers are having town halls this month. If so let’s try to attend and, depending on whether or not we’re satisfied with the job they’re doing, push them or praise them as appropriate. Remember, in-person contact with representatives is extremely powerful, so when we have a chance to say something to their faces we should always take it if we can.
Although our representatives are out of office, furthermore, their staffers are not. They are still taking calls and tallying our thoughts to share with their bosses in daily reports. So we’re going to keep calling to let them know how we feel, what we’re mad about, and what we want to see more of.
Simultaneously we will double down on election work, because we are now less than ninety days out from the midterms. It’s happening, folks! If you’ve been promising yourself that you’d start to help after the summer, the time is nigh! So let’s all push ourselves to sign up for letter writing, postcarding, phone banking, door knocking, and more as election season bears down on us.
Remember, the many are more powerful than the money…but only when the many show up.
So let’s do that!
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲 and Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I’m a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling to find out when the Congressmember/Senator is having a town hall this month, and how I can attend. I have a lot I want to ask about.
[If no town halls are scheduled]: I’m really disappointed to hear that. Our country is in crisis and voters like me are extremely upset. I want the Congressmember/Senator to schedule a town hall right away, please. It is part of their job to be responsive to their constituents, and they can’t do that if they’re not hearing from us. Please let us know when that is set up. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
On August 6, Senate Republicans on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to hold 85-year old public health patriot Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.
The Republicans on the Senate panel referred the contempt resolution to the Justice Department without a full-Senate vote—a likely illegal act.
Stand Up for Science published a Stand Up for Fauci Petition to Congress to rescind the contempt referral to the Justice Department immediately.
Get Smart! 📚
There are more than 120,000 ALPR cameras around the country, and local police and federal agencies are using them to do things like help ICE target immigrants, profile innocent people, track the movements of women seeking reproductive care, and more.
So much for safety. But we can fight back. Understanding what we’re up against is the first step, which is why Red, Wine and Blue has invited computer scientist and privacy researcher Jen Golbeck to talk about this new technology.
Don’t miss Flock Cameras 101: The Threat to Privacy and How to Fight Back next Tuesday, August 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
(This is taking place during the Stop Flock week of action! More on that below!)
Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣
Factocracy, an all volunteer-run group, has created a way to place powerful, simple, clear, inexpensive pro-Democrat and anti-MAGA lawn signs anywhere in the country. The signs are a great way to communicate with people who don't think like we do, and at the same time show them that their neighbors support Democrats. MAGA used signs like these, with the opposite message, extremely effectively in 2024—I remember seeing them all over Charlotte, NC when I canvassed there!
Combined with neighborhood organizing and canvassing, these signs can help us shift community opinion in red and purple places ahead of the midterms. You can see the full array of excellent messages and place an order on the Factocracy website. The signs can also easily be posted on social media.
Give 💰!
Factocracy is also currently fundraising for signs in Iowa and North Carolina, two states with flippable Senate and House seats. Help fund these signs via ActBlue. Factocracy is fully self-funded, so every dollar donated is spent exclusively on delivering signs. You can give here.
Get in the Streets! 🪧
We’re getting very close to the Flock week of action! It runs from August16-22. Go here to search the map and find out whether one or more of the hundreds of events across the country are near you!
Win Races! 🗳
Ready to phonebank to help flip the Senate and/or House? Grassroots Dems HQ has choices!
Sign up to phone Bank for Alaska here
Take Back the House 2026 California Phone Banks are here
Phone Bank with the DCCC to Flip the House here!
Phone Bank for North Carolina here!
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: all 3 reps] [H/T] [Text SIGN PZXCZX 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 urge you to support a comprehensive tax framework for the corporations, billionaires, and massive data centers driving the artificial intelligence boom.
AI could create extraordinary wealth, but the current tax code is designed to concentrate those gains among corporate owners and wealthy investors. Workers pay taxes when they receive wages, while billionaires can accumulate enormous stock-market gains without paying income taxes on that wealth as it grows. Large corporations also benefit from tax breaks and deductions that can make investments in automation more financially attractive than investments in workers.
The American public has helped make the AI industry possible. AI systems rely on publicly supported research, educated workers, electric grids, water systems, roads, land, and other infrastructure. Communities should not be forced to supply those resources while corporations privatize the profits and transfer the economic and environmental costs back onto the public.
Congress should raise taxes on large corporations and capital gains, close loopholes used by billionaires, strengthen the corporate minimum tax, and establish a reasonable excise tax on the energy consumed by the largest AI data centers. The companies generating the greatest profits and consuming the most public resources should contribute the most.
Revenue raised from the AI boom should support affordable health care, unemployment insurance, education, apprenticeships, good-paying jobs, public infrastructure, and communities affected by data-center development and automation.
Please act now to tax AI, make Big Tech corporations and billionaires pay their fair share, and ensure that technological progress benefits the entire country.
OK, you did it again! You’re helping to save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
I signed the Stand Up for Science petition right away. I cannot believe how Dr. Fauci is being treated by these imbeciles; I'm sure his family is affected too.
Thank you so much for keeping us up to date about how each of us can do our part!