Daily Democratic Action, Wednesday, February 1, 2017

First things today: call your reps and tell them to vote "No" on Jeff Sessions as Attorney General... before 10:30am Eastern Time (that's 7:30am on the west coast)! Use the DC numbers for your Senators and get on the horn ASAP. The Senate is scheduled to meet about a number of topics, including Jeff Sessions' confirmation, at 10:30 this morning, so jump on it if you can.

That, and/or...

Before the meeting that is scheduled at 10am (again, Eastern Time, which means 7am West Coast), hit up these Senators to encourage them to maintain the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. They are scheduled to meet at 10 to discuss, and I quote, the "Obamacare Emergency: Stabilizing the Individual Health Insurance Market." Here are the ranking Republican, then Democratic Senators sitting on this committee. Call em, get a person, and encourage them to maintain the facets of this, while obviously not perfect, massively beneficial program (subsidies, using the penalties to fund said subsidies, etc).

Republicans
Lamar Alexander (TN)
Richard Burr (NC)
Rand Paul (KY)
Bill Cassidy (LA)
Orrin Hatch (UT)
Lisa Murkowski (AK) - who also opposes the immigration ban! Tell her thanks!
Michael B Enzi (WY)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
Susan Collins (ME)
Todd Young (IN)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Tim Scott (SC)

Democrats
Patty Murray (WA)
Robert P Casey, Jr (PA)
Michael F Bennet (CO)
Tammy Baldwin (WI)
Elizabeth Warren (MA)
Maggie Hassan (NH)
Bernie Sanders (VT)
Al Franken (MN)
Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
Christopher S Murphy (CT)
Tim Kain (VA)

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Then, this from "Your Daily Action"

Today's Daily Action is to call the Customs and Border Protection office at a randomly selected US airport to demand that they follow the law of the land (the Immigration and Naturalization Act) and fully comply with all of the judicial orders that have been issued about the recent executive order banning the entry of Muslims and refugees into the United States. 

Ask the officers point-blank if they are currently detaining any travelers.
Ask them if they have anyone in custody who does not have access to a lawyer (and report back on what you hear). 

They are probably used to fielding calls about package deliveries from FedEx and DHL—but let them know that there will be NO BUSINESS AS USUAL with so many lives as well as our core freedoms and values at stake.

To sign up for Daily Action alerts, text the word DAILY to 228466 today! To make calls without subscribing, just dial 844 241 1141 to be connected.

at_dulles_airport_trump_s_customs_and_border_protection_officers_are_accountable.html

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Senators’ Contact info

(Remember, calling is key! Emails and mailings are not as effective. Call until you reach a human being, and only call about one topic at a time. The calls are logged by topic, so keep the confusion low, even if that means calling repeatedly about different topics. I suggest saving these numbers, and your House Representative’s number, in your phone. A brilliant activist suggested making all of their last names “Reps” so that you can search them all together and go right down the line when calling.)

CA Senator Diane Feinstein

http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/

Washington DC 202.224.3841

Los Angeles 310.914.7300

San Francisco 415.393.0707

San Diego 619.231.9712

Fresno 559.485.7430

CA Senator Kamala Harris

https://www.harris.senate.gov

Washington DC 202.224.3553

Los Angeles 213.894.5000

Sacramento 916.448.2787

San Diego 619.239.3884

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Other Resources:

Your Daily Action

Daily suggested phone calls to make and actions to take to defend our Democracy

https://www.facebook.com/YourDailyAction/

Committee Meetings and Hearings Schedule

Super important! This is where to find out what the Senate will be doing NOW. 

https://www.senate.gov/committees/committee_hearings.htm

Pending Nominations in Committee

Find out what appointment nominations are still waiting for confirmation hearings and votes here

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nom_cmtec.htm

Active Legislation the Senate will be acting on

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/active_leg_page.htm

Committee Meetings and Hearings Schedule

Super important! This is where to find out what the Senate will be doing NOW. 

https://www.senate.gov/committees/committee_hearings.htm

Daily Democratic Action Comin' Atcha!

Well... I didn't ever intend for this blog to become a political page, but here we seem to be...

After three individual conversations today with teachers and performers who are, like many of us are, overwhelmed by the quantity and magnitude of problems being thrown at us by the new administration in the White House and who, due to this overwhelming tidal wave of executive orders, nominations, and confirmations, are frozen in confusion and fear, I realized that I might be able to help. At least one tiny bit.

So here's what's comin atcha!

I'm going to try to post something here every day. At least once. If there's an actionable item that we can do something about, it'll be here. Subscribe to get notified, share the links, etc. I'm going to keep things streamlined and focused to reduce the barrage to a stream so that we can try to dam up whatever we can before things get any worse than they already are.

I'm also going to consistently share some particularly helpful links (like "Daily Action" and anything the ACLU might be throwing our way).

Oh - one other thing - I'm going to be focused on California since that's my state, but I'll do my best to include other resources for other states as much as possible.

Tune in tomorrow morning for some resources and action items for Wednesday, February 1, 2017!

(In the meantime, I'll be posting the following at the end of every post for ease of access to resources.)

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Senators’ Contact info

(Remember, calling is key! Emails and mailings are not as effective. Call until you reach a human being, and only call about one topic at a time. The calls are logged by topic, so keep the confusion low, even if that means calling repeatedly about different topics. I suggest saving these numbers, and your House Representative’s number, in your phone. A brilliant activist suggested making all of their last names “Reps” so that you can search them all together and go right down the line when calling.)

CA Senator Diane Feinstein

http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/

Washington DC 202.224.3841

Los Angeles 310.914.7300

San Francisco 415.393.0707

San Diego 619.231.9712

Fresno 559.485.7430

CA Senator Kamala Harris

https://www.harris.senate.gov

Washington DC 202.224.3553

Los Angeles 213.894.5000

Sacramento 916.448.2787

San Diego 619.239.3884

——

Other Resources:

Your Daily Action

Daily suggested phone calls to make and actions to take to defend our Democracy

https://www.facebook.com/YourDailyAction/

Committee Meetings and Hearings Schedule

Super important! This is where to find out what the Senate will be doing NOW. 

https://www.senate.gov/committees/committee_hearings.htm

Pending Nominations in Committee

Find out what appointment nominations are still waiting for confirmation hearings and votes here

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nom_cmtec.htm

Active Legislation the Senate will be acting on

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/active_leg_page.htm

Committee Meetings and Hearings Schedule

Super important! This is where to find out what the Senate will be doing NOW. 

https://www.senate.gov/committees/committee_hearings.htm

We DID vote!

After the election, when many Americans were violently and sexually assaulted to the chanting of "Trump! Trump! Trump," were harassed in their places of work and in the classroom with screams of "build the wall" and "go back to where you came from," were told that their religion would not be tolerated by the American government or many American people because of the actions of a few, TRUMP. SAID. NOTHING.

Yesterday, when around 750,000 people marched against him in LA, over 500,000 people marched against him in D.C., and more than 600 "sister marches" sprang up around the globe in over 70 countries to oppose his assault on Planned Parenthood, his disregard and disdain for the LGBTQ community, his denial of the empirical problems we face as a species as a result of our impact on the global climate and everything else, TRUMP. SAID. NOTHING.

Today, after the pitiful crowd at his inauguration was dwarfed by the Pussyhatted protests yesterday, he finally had something to say. And the only thing he had to say was, well, "why didn't these people vote?"

Let us not forget this-
Let us not allow this to go unnoticed-
Let us not let this fact go unsaid-

WE. DID. VOTE.

2.23 MILLION MORE AMERICANS DO NOT. WANT. YOU. IN OFFICE. DONALD.

And those 2.23 million Americans VOTED.

The evidence is there.

Clinton won the popular vote.
Russia hacked the DNC to sabotage Clinton and help Trump win.
The Electoral College's decision does not reflect the American public's choice for Commander in Chief.

So, Donny, when you say that you are "transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People," remember something:

YOU. STOLE. IT. FROM. US. IN. THE. FIRST. PLACE.

The fact that you are in-office is the largest assault to American civil liberties, freedoms, and equality for all in recent history.

So don't you DARE sit there and stay silent while your supporters attack and harass people... Don't you DARE stay silent and ignore the million-plus people in America and around the globe who oppose you... Don't you DARE demean and disregard the people you claim to be so graciously giving this country back to while your ACTIONS REFUTE IT.

Where is the LGBTQ page that was on whitehouse.gov three days ago? Where's the Climate Change page? Where's your replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act that has given over 20 million Americans healthcare for the first time in years and which you're already dismantling? How exactly do you think you're going to force Mexico to pay for this great white wall of yours?

We are holding your greedy, petty, and entitled ass accountable while you LITERALLY sit in your tower, Donny. 

Inauguration-eve 2017

When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, I remember the night almost moment-for-moment. The streets of Seattle were filled with elated and uplifted celebration. Black and white, man and woman, brown and whatever-the-hell else came together and shared a drink, shared a hug, shared a high five, and when the cops told us to disperse, we did. And we picked up our trash on the way out.

When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I remember less of the night. Tequila helped me through it, I'm only slightly ashamed to admit. But the truly upsetting thing was that the very next day, America woke up to actively violent assaults against LGBTQ, black, female, Mexican, and Muslim people... basically anyone not white and male, set to the ACTUAL chanting of "Trump! Trump! Trump!" [Just as a side note, this is not anecdotal. I was a part of those celebrations in Seattle and more than a handful of my personal friends were violently assaulted by people chanting "Trump! Trump! Trump!" within 48 hours of his election.]

This fascist, misogynistic, racist, dangerous card from the discard pile of humanity's deck was raised in privilege, has run countless companies into the ground on a whim, and has actively incited violence against the people of this country. He has sexually assaulted women. He has disparaged nearly every group of American society (aside from white men, of course). And he ran on a platform of building a wall around our country (cool idea, Berlin - I mean China - I mean Trump) and Muslim Registry (great plan, X-Men {the first film} / Nazi Germany). And he has threatened to use nuclear force against rebel and terrorist factions, most of which are impossible to precisely locate.

Tomorrow, this uncaring, unsympathetic, ignorant, volatile, childish, thin-skinned, child of privilege takes the keys to the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. This man who does not believe in scientific evidence... This man who can look at a video of himself speaking and immediately deny that he ever said those words... This man who has consistently lied to his constituents, has bought his way out of every lawsuit pending against him for fraud, sexual assault, and whatever else, this man who has done seemingly everything in his power to divide this country... will take control of it. With a no-conflict-of-interest clause to boot.

So whatever happens... Whatever shitstorm this brings down... However many people are hurt, put out of work, taken off of their healthcare, are murdered in hate crimes, are put in camps, or whatever else might happen... WHATEVER happens in the coming months or years before we can remove this tyrannical puppet-of-Russia from office... WE. HAVE. TO. BE. BETTER.

Those of us who get it.

Those of us who are "woke."

Those of us who are brown, black, female, queer, etc.

Those of us who don't buy in to the manipulative and impossible rhetoric.

Those of us who understand what legal fallacies are.

Those of us who are up on our Aristotle.

Those of us who know what EMPATHY is and who feel it.

Those of us who often don't fight for ourselves, but will fight for the "other."

Those of us who have given up on optimism and are barely holding on to hope...

WE. HAVE. TO. BE. BETTER.

We lost.

We lost this country.

We lost our safety.

We lost our peace of mind, our faith, and our trust in the Constitution that's doing its best to protect us.

But we have NOT. LOST. EACH OTHER.

We will not go quietly into the night. We will not give in without a fight.

Hold the line. Stay with me.

And now, my watch begins.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Pussyhat to finish knitting.