Chop Wood, Carry Water 9/20

Hi, all, and happy Tuesday!

I have to make this quick, as I am about to hop onto the 24 Hour Activism zoom—I hadn’t realized until this morning that the schedule was in Eastern Standard time. Whoops! I thought I had three more hours!

It’s National Voter Registration Day. Take the time, please—even if you already have—to check your voter registration. Also, use this excellent tool from Vote Riders to check the ID requirements in your state.

Then remind everyone you know to do the same. And remind them of what Reverend Raphael Warnock said:

“Voting is a prayer for who we want to be.”

For that matter, so is action. So let’s do some “praying” right now.

Call Your Senators (find yours here)

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

I understand that the Senate will vote this week on S 443 the DISCLOSE Act, which would require super PACs and certain other groups to disclose donors who contributed $10,000 or more during an election cycle. Getting dark money out of our elections should be a top priority for everyone in Congress. I hope the Senator will vote yes.

Also, I hear that the Senate will be voting this week on whether or not to ratify the Kigali Amendment. Please do! This Amendment is an extremely important step in reducing future HFC emissions and should be fully supported and implemented. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Canada’s Enbridge corporation has requested a permit to build an oil tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is taking public comments on the scope of their Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for this project, called Line 5. 

Please visit this page (https://www.line5tunneleis.com/comment-here) to tell USACE what you think they should include,

You can find a sample comment here—it’s very long but does exactly fit into the 1000 character limit. Still, I’d advise personalizing it. They tend to reject duplicates.

Get Smart! 📚

JOIN RED WINE & BLUE TONIGHT FOR ECON 101: HOW TO TALK ECONOMY WITH VOTERS

Tuesday, September 20, 2022 7:30 PM –  8:30 PM ET

The economy is always in the news and is a top issue going into the election. What to do you need to know about the state of our economy, how is it impacting families, and what do you need to know to talk about it with friends and family when it comes to voting? Join Red Win & Blue to hear from Amanda Weinstein, economist and co-host of the Suburban Woman Problem podcast.

Sign up here.

[H/T Small Deeds Done]

Register Young People! 🗳

NexGen has a youth voter registration phonebank happening all day today. You can hop onto any shift you like, and you may well see me there! Please do even a half hour of calls. Let’s get our young folks registered!

It’s National Voter Registration Day today…and every day if we want to survive.

Sign up here.

Win Races—PHONE! 📲

From reader Kate O. Can we help her out?

I’m volunteering in NM – District 2 to elect Democrat Gabe Vasquez gabeforcongress.com who is running against Trumpist Yvette Herrell (who is funded by the fossil fuel industry and is a good buddy of seditionist Couy Griffin, recently barred from office per the 14th amendment).

The DCCC considers this seat to be one of the 5 most flippable House of Representative seats.

Gabe has a very real chance to win but is getting VERY little national attention and could really use some phonebank volunteers. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Sign up for phonebanks, now scheduled 6 days a week:

https://www.mobilize.us/nmdemocrats/event/501485/?

Win Races—TEXT! 💻

Do you want to help turn out the critical youth vote? Here's a great opportunity for text-banking with Voters of Tomorrow - every Tuesday and Sunday for the next 6 weeks. Sign up here!

[H/T subscriber HH]

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

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

Trump’s Postmaster General Louis DeJoy just ambushed the postal workers union with his plan to shutter as many as 200 post offices and USPS facilities. This is not OK.

DeJoy’s Great Consolidation of postal facilities will likely cost good union jobs. He already announced his plan to cut 50,000 Postal Service positions over the next decade. The job loss from shuttering facilities will only add to that number.  

Closing facilities will also compromise the ability of the Postal Service to carry out its essential functions — like delivering ballots safely and bringing life-saving prescriptions to seniors and rural communities.

USPS funding is a major equity concern. The postal service is the lifeblood of much of rural America, where people rely on the USPS to deliver goods and transmit information. In areas without internet access, US mail is absolutely essential.

And there’s another problem with DeJoy’s plan: it reinforces the idea that USPS should be managed like a business. That’s absurd. USPS is a public good. 

Instead of slashing postal workers, we should be taking advantage of the huge opportunity USPS offers for our country. USPS should expand its services for rural and low-income communities even further by looking into offering banking services, internet access, and more.

As my representative in Congress I want you to work to stop DeJoy from closing 200 postal facilities and cutting 50,000 USPS jobs. While you’re at it, please pressure President Biden to appoint USPS Board members who will vote to fire DeJoy. He’s got to go! Thanks.

---

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

Talk tomorrow.

Jess