Chop Wood, Carry Water 9/27

Friday FIRE-UP! 🔥🔥

Download and share this and other awesome memes here.

Hi, all, and happy Friday!

First, and most importantly, I want to say that I’m thinking about everyone in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and the surrounding areas today. Helene sounds like a truly hellish storm; the damage she’s left in her wake looks horrific. Please know that the entire CWCW community is sending love and prayers your way.

Second, and on a completely different note, it’s time for our Friday Fire-up! Please—assuming you aren’t in a storm-impacted area right now—leave a comment about what you’re doing this weekend to help Democrats win! I’ve got ten Vote Forward letters to finish and then fifty Working America letters to get done, plus a phonebank into Michigan on Sunday. I’m thinking about canvassing in CA-27 tomorrow, too. Oh, and tomorrow night I’m going to the AMAZING Ballots Over Broadway here in L.A.—it’s in the Larchmont area and there are still a few tickets left. “Ballots” is a musical fundraiser for Field Team Six and DemocraSHE. Rachel Bloom will be hosting, and the musical acts are SUPERB. I’ve been to many of these now, and every year they’re an absolute highlight. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

So that’s me. Now what about you?

Whether you’re writing one postcard or holding a postcarding party for 50, talking to one on-the-fence friend or canvassing with ten friends, making a $5 donation to Movement Voter PAC or a $5,000 donation to Run For Something, doing ten minutes of phonebanking or ten hours of voter protection calls, let us know what you’re doing! We want to be able to cheer you on!

Because while the other side devolves into more fear, hatred, racism, and vitriol, let us continue to rise. Rise into love, rise into community, and rise into action.

That’s how we thrive. It’s how we stay calm. It’s also how we’ll win.

Have a great weekend!

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

I understand that Senator Ron Wyden has introduced a new bill, called the Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act, that would increase the size of the Supreme Court, make it harder for the justices to overturn laws, require justices to undergo audits, and remove roadblocks for high court nominations, among other things. I strongly, strongly support this legislation. The Supreme Court is widely distrusted by Americans, and for good reason. The only way to restore its legitimacy is through the reforms laid out in this bill. Will the Senator sign on as a co-sponsor? Thanks.

Call your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

I’m calling to say that we need to do more to address the climate emergency. Hurricane Helene is absolutely devastating the South—twenty people have died so far, and the economic costs will be incalculable. This storm is bigger than past ones because the oceans are getting warmer—it’s basic science, which we ignore at our peril. President Biden has done a great job creating a new clean energy economy, but we still need, among other things, permitting reform, an end to fossil fuel subsidies, and more support for sustainable farming practices. We are running out of time and the consequences are getting dire. Please make climate action a top priority. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Take the EducateUS Sex Ed Voter Pledge! 

When you take the pledge, EducateUS will make sure you know when and where your school board elections are happening (in many places around the country, they happen in November, but in some they do not!), and how to know who to vote for.  Many school board elections are decided by hundreds or even dozens of votes, so voting in them can make a huge impact. 

Sex ed is under attack in school districts across the country. And sex ed is isn't just a repro justice issue, an LGBTQ+ freedom issue and an anti-sexual violence issue -- it's a democracy issue. A good sex ed curriculum increases empathy and respect across differences, teaches young people how to resolve conflict peacefully, and teaches critical thinking. Plus school board races attract lots of first-time candidates, so when we elect more progressives to school board we’re also helping to build the candidate pipeline for higher office.

So let’s take literally a minute right now and take the pledge, and then let’s go win some school board races! 

Get Smart! 📚

Join a thought-provoking discussion with historian Heather Cox Richardson as she examines Vice President Kamala Harris’s newly unveiled policy agenda, "A New Way Forward." Drawing on her deep knowledge of American political and economic history, Richardson provides insights into Harris’s vision for an "opportunity economy," which aims to strengthen the middle class, safeguard fundamental freedoms, and foster broad economic opportunity. She will also explore how women across the nation can help chart this new path forward, shaping a future of shared prosperity and opportunity.

Register by clicking here.

Spread the Word! 📣

Post this on your social media!

This November, Americans will be voting for more than our next president. 

• Eleven states will choose governors.

• 44 states will choose 80% of the country’s state legislators. 

• 10 state and local ballot measures will ask voters whether to codify the right to abortion (AZ, CO, FL, MD, MO, MT, NE, NY, NV, SD).

• Six states will enact or repeal ranked-choice voting (AK, CO, DC, ID, NV, OR)

• Four states could raise the minimum wage (AK, CA, MA, MO)

• At least one might end partisan gerrymandering.

You can choose a president, but have you decided how you’ll vote on the rest of the ticket?

Build your ballot in advance by using BlueVoterGuide.org

[H/T Americans of Conscience]

Give 💰!

Every State Blue's fundraising deadline is TODAY! Their last disbursement for Blue Ohio, Blue Tennessee, and Blue Missouri will be based on their fundraising totals as of tonight. I know you know just how impactful these funds are.

Over all of their projects (Blue Missouri, Blue Tennessee, and Blue Ohio) they have already raised and distributed over $525,000 this cycle. WOW!

• In Ohio, they are funding 56 Democratic nominees and have created a funding floor for nominees of $11,087.30. 

• In Missouri, they are funding 43 nominees and have created a funding floor of $6,458.96. 

• In Tennessee – which they just launched a few months ago – they are already funding 11 nominees and have created a funding floor of $1,567.33.

And they're obviously not done! With one disbursement left they have the potential to make an even bigger impact. Can you help?

Link for Missouri.

Link for Tennessee.

Link for Ohio.

Win Races—Attend the World’s Biggest Postcarding Party! 📬

Do you live in Los Angeles or have friends who do? This Sunday Activate America is going to try to break the Guinness World Record for most postcards written in one day to voters! 

They’re shooting for 10,000 postcards! 

They'll be writing to Democratics in CA-27 to get them to vote early for George Whitesides - say goodbye to MAGA Mike Garcia! This is a MUST FLIP race!

Sign up here (so they have a headcount).

Sunday September 29, 2024 from 1:00 - 5:00 pm - come for some of it, come for all of it! It’ll be at the Silver Lake JCC at 4214 Effie Street, LA CA 90029

Win Races—make calls with the Harris-Walz campaign! 🗳

Here’s your list of awesome weekend phonebanks for Harris-Walz!

SATURDAY: 

🏮 AANHPIs for Harris-Walz Final Stretch Mobilizing Call

💐 Progressives & Grassroots for Harris-Walz Weekly Phonebank

✊🏾 Black Voters for Harris-Walz Phonebank

❤️‍🔥 Latinos Con Harris-Walz: Weekly National Phonebank

SUNDAY:

💃🏻 LGBTQ+ Latinos Con Harris-Walz

🏗️ Labor of Love! Union Member Phonebank

🕍 Jewish Voters for Harris-Walz Phonebank

🩷 Women for Harris-Walz Phonebank

🫡 Young Voters for Harris-Walz Phonebank

Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥

With Hurricane Helene ravaging the South it’s a good time to remind people that Trump’s Project 2025 “calls for [the] demolition of NOAA and National Weather Service.”

Why? Because, according to MAGA climate deniers like Trump, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes agencies like the National Weather Service, is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

Not climate change. Climate change alarm. Because THAT’s the problem. Sigh.

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

[To: all 3 reps] [H/T] [Text SIGN PLBLBO to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]

As a constituent who is deeply concerned with criminals targeting households with the lowest incomes, I urge you to support the replacement of participants’ stolen Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, Congress authorized the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to replace stolen SNAP benefits through September 30, 2024. The Continuing Resolution which will be voted on soon will temporarily extend replacement benefits to December 20, 2024. It is critical that we support households that rely on SNAP to put food on the table by ensuring they have access to those benefits to buy that food. To date, over 195,000 households have been impacted by criminals stealing their benefits. Should the benefit replacements expire before a permanent fix is legislated and implemented by all states, then SNAP households will be in danger of increased food insecurity at a time when USDA reports that food insecurity is rising.

Therefore, I urge you to take the following actions:

- co-sponsor the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act (H.R. 7585/S. 3893) and support measures to improve EBT security, and

- co-sponsor the Fairness for Victims of Skimming Act (H.R. 6005/S. 3089) and support the extension of replacement benefits and full replacement of stolen benefits for SNAP participants.

I urge you to protect tens of thousands of people who participate in SNAP in our state and to secure their benefit replacements should they be stolen. Thanks!

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

Talk soon.

Jess