Hi, all, and happy Monday.
Honetly, the news is brutal right now. I’m back to using my old “breathe in faith, breathe out fear” mantra. It really works. I’m not a religious person, but I have a deep faith in a power of good I don’t fully understand. I know it’s capable of amazing things.
And I know it’s present in all of you.
Together, we embody the best of what that power can do.
So let’s breathe it in, and then breathe it out and make some calls.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m very concerned about Senate Republicans’ use of the filibuster to block the For the People Act from passage. I know they plan to do the same thing with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and it really upsets me.
[If Dem:] That’s why I’m asking Democrats to pass both bills by whatever means necessary -- including fixing the filibuster and ending recess early. We can’t let Republicans hold our democracy hostage.
[If GOP] The Senator should pressure their caucus to reverse course and stop these attacks on voters of color and on our democracy. Otherwise I’ll do everything in my power to make sure they lose their next election. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I am deeply concerned with the ways that ‘technology neutral’ energy legislation, including the CLEAN Future Act (H.R. 1512), have proposed to define ‘clean’. The flawed concept of ‘technology neutrality’ has been used to provide greenwashing-cover for dirty energies and it enables polluters to skim funding away from renewable energy.
Considering the seriousness of both the climate emergency and the environmental injustices embedded in our current energy systems, I urge the Congressmember to ensure the CEPP program does not provide incentive payments--and instead, penalizes utilities--for the generation of electricity from fossil fuels and false solutions.
[optional add, if you’re using Resistbot:] This includes: fossil gas with and without carbon capture and storage and other fossil-based technologies; waste incineration and other combustion-based technologies; bioenergy including biomass, biofuels, factory farm gas, landfill gas, and wood pellets; hydrogen; nuclear; and new, large-scale and ecosystem-altering hydropower, and all market-based accounting systems like offsets. Thanks. [H/T]
Sign Up With this Great Group!
The folks from Vote Save America, who did some of the most effective GOTV work I saw last year, have started a new organization called No Off Years, which will be sending volunteers infrequent but EXCELLENT opportunities to help build and/or maintain our democracy in 2021. Their efforts will be focused on three things: increasing voter registration, passing voting rights legislation, and winning in Virginia.
I can’t urge you enough to sign up. If we can channel even half of 2020’s activist energy into the above 3 goals we’ll run circles around the GOP in 2022…and help save our country! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Extra Credit
Please post this on your social media.
Did you know the deadline to register to vote in the upcoming Recall election is TODAY? 😬
Check your voter registration at https://www.vote.org/
Already registered? Vote by mail TODAY or by Drop Box: http://locator.lavote.net/locations/vbm
Visit vote.ca.gov for more! ☀️
Let’s Triple Some Votes!
[H/T Robert Hubbell]
On September 2nd at 4:00 PM Pacific/7:00 PM Eastern there’s a customized training on a technique called “Vote Tripling” led by an organization called, fittingly, VoteTripling. This is a relatively new campaign tactic that focuses on the power of personal connections to motivate turnout. It is THE MOST EFFECTIVE form of campaign outreach there is. Vote tripling is based on the premise that a non-voter is more likely to vote if a friend asks them to do so. It works spectacularly well. And it can and should be done by folks living anywhere, provided they know someone who lives in CA.
To register for the Zoom meeting, click on this link: Focus for Democracy - Stop the Recall.
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here!)
[to your Senators] [H/T]
I’m writing to strongly support the confirmation of Jennifer Sung, President Biden’s eminently qualified judicial nominee for the Ninth Circuit.
A graduate of Yale Law School, Ms. Sung clerked on the Ninth Circuit itself and has extensive litigation experience in courts across the country. She currently serves with distinction on the Oregon Employment Relations Board where she is known as a fair-minded and unbiased adjudicator who consistently demonstrates the thoughtfulness and temperament needed to be an exceptional federal judge.
Moreover, Ms. Sung’s professional background and legal expertise as a labor and employment lawyer would bring much needed professional diversity to the federal bench.
Please vote yes and speed her confirmation along in any way you can. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess