Chop Wood, Carry Water 8/22 🔥

ᑕᕼᑌᑎK @chunkled

Hi. I love you. (sound up)

Hi, all, and happy Monday!

The video above is so great that I’m posting it in here—usually I save stuff like this exclusively for the Extra! Extra! newsletter (my extremely uplifting bonus newsletter for paid subscribers—highly recommend 😁!) I figure everyone deserves to see a dancing Biden video that’s gone viral. Enjoy!

The fact of this video’s popularity is yet another cultural indication—along with good polls, more upbeat articles, and a shift in the MSM narrative—that Democrats are picking up steam. I’m glad; we deserve to. Remember, our side supports policies that are almost universally popular. We’re running phenomenal candidates. We’re organized. Our messaging has improved dramatically. Biden is doing his job superlatively.

The wind is at our backs.

But that doesn’t mean we should sit back and enjoy the ocean view, as it were. Quite the contrary. It means we should take a deep breath, pick up the oars again, and row harder than we ever have before.

Wind comes and goes, after all.

Pure effort, sweat, elbow grease? THAT is a constant. It’s also what wins races. Both in the water and on shore.

Call Your Senators (find yours here)

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

I’m calling in support of the S 420 the PRO Act, which has been awaiting a vote in the Senate for some time now. Helping workers to form unions is a top priority for me, and it should be for the Senator, too.

Also, please ask the Senator to urge Senate leadership to attach S. 445, the bipartisan Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act (the “MAT Act”) to the continuing resolution that the Senate will pass in September. In the midst of a deadly and accelerating overdose crisis, the MAT Act is a common-sense solution that will prevent overdoses, increase access to treatment, and reduce stigma. Thanks. [H/T and org sign on letter]

Call Your House Rep (find yours here)

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

Now that we are back in the climate fight with the Inflation Reduction Act, it's time to tackle the next massive threat to our planet: fossil fuel expansion. A recent investigation in the Guardian reveals that, far from participating in the green transition, Big Oil is planning multi-billion dollar "carbon bombs.”

These 195 huge new drilling projects would eat up our entire carbon budget for keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees, dooming us to irreversible climate devastation. They must be stopped, and only governments like ours can do it.

Please ask the Congressmember to do everything in their power to reign in the fossil fuel industry, prevent them from setting off these "carbon bombs", and force a transition to a clean, fossil-free future. Thanks. [If you speak to a live person ask them if you can email the article linked above to their energy/environmental policy staffer.] [H/T Climate Action Now app]

Extra Credit ✅

Please sign this organizational letter to Deb Haaland asking her to stop the disastrous Willow Project. Takes two seconds. Don’t have an org? Choose whichever activism/climate org you affiliate with most closely. Or say “Climate Action Now,” (from which fantastic app I got this action.)

Extra Extra Credit! ✅✅

Here’s a great short quiz to show how much you know about the upcoming midterm elections. It was written by a political consultant friend of mine. Take it and drop your score in the comments! And share it with friends! I think you’ll find it’s quite educational.

Get Smart! 📚

If any of you are interested in attending my one-hour, free workshop Activism 101, which covers all the ways volunteers like you can help us win in November, I’m giving one on Sunday, August 28th at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. All (civilized folks) are welcome. Register here.

Help Voters Vote!

Did you know that the telephone remains a primary communication tool between election offices and the customers they serve—America’s voters?

The importance of providing fast, efficient, and accurate election information is critical to our democracy. The National Voter Assistance Hotline exists to answer voters' questions that cannot be easily answered online. Through comprehensive training and support from experts, volunteers will be prepared to help field voters' questions including those pertaining to felon disenfranchisement, voter purging, poll worker misconduct, voter machines, accessibility, and more. 

There is no better way to ensure every eligible voter exercises their right to vote. Please sign up for a training here! [H/T Big Tent]

Win Races! 🗳

Y’all. I believe we can win in Texas. Here are two ways you can help us do just that:

First, this Thursday, August 25th, at 6 pm CT (7 PM ET / 4 PM PT) Vote Riders needs volunteers to write letters to the 25,000 Texas voters whose ballots were rejected in the state's March primary election. Please join them if you can and deliver crucial ID information and assistance to voters whom they’ve identified as needing it most. Let's help them cast a ballot that counts this time! Sign up here.

Second, Beto’s camping is picking up momentum! Please consider signing up as a volunteer here. You can textbank, phonebank, write letters, or even do data entry. Channel that rage at Greg Abbott into action, y’all!

Finally, if winning in Texas is your jam, please consider signing up for my occasional “Chop Wood, Carry Texas” newsletter here. You’ll get an occasional email with fun volunteer opportunities, as well access to my Texas Resource Doc, which has every way I could find to help out in the Lone Star State.

Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)

[to all 3 reps] [H/T] [Quick send:text SIGN PLMSIV to 50409]

Louis DeJoy is destroying the USPS. Period. He needs to go!

DeJoy’s list of scandals and misdeeds is jaw-dropping, even by the standards of the Trump administration:

He donated nearly $700,000 to Trump’s Republican National Convention before being rewarded by Trump with the postmaster general job. During his tenure, on-time mail delivery declined from 92% to 61% while postal rates went up. He’s under investigation for campaign finance law violations and conflicts of interest. Delivery slowdowns delayed ballots during the 2020 presidential election, and similar problems are being reported in this year’s midterm primaries. He announced plans to buy 50,000 gas-guzzling mail trucks despite rising gas prices and in defiance of the Biden administration’s climate plan. He agreed to increase the number of electric vehicles only after facing multiple lawsuits.

I could go on.

This December, President Biden will have the chance to replace two DeJoy loyalists with pro-postal nominees. He must. The USPS board cannot continue to rubber-stamp the destruction of this precious American institution.

I am asking you to put pressure on the President to appoint two strong Board members who will vote to fire DeJoy. Americans are furious about this situation. Firing him will be immensely popular. Please, please use whatever channels you can to pressure President Biden to do this. Thanks.

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OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.

Talk tomorrow.

Jess