Monday, March 23, 2020

Call to Action: Week of March 23, 2020

Call to Action: Week of March 23, 2020

I hope this finds all of you healthy. Keep up the social distancing and stay home if you are able. We need to flatten the curve. 
We are facing a global crisis and a federal emergency that calls for strong, clear, unified action. Without immediate steps to mitigate and suppress the spread of COVID-19 our health care system will collapse. Millions will die, not just from COVID-19, but from cancer, strokes, heart attacks, and other illnesses. Traumas won’t get the treatment they need because beds and space will be unavailable, medical equipment will be unavailable. Medical staff will be unavailable or overwhelmed and under-protected and could become sick themselves. It’s not COVID-19 that is going to collapse our economy and our healthcare, but the inaction from our federal government. If citizens are doing their part by social distancing, then Congress needs to protect our nation by providing for and protecting healthcare workers, freezing costs for essential foods and services and medical supplies, putting a moratorium on mortgage and rent payments, providing free mass testing and healthcare, providing expanded unemployment benefits, housing, food stamps, and mental health resources. Asylum seekers need to be released from detention centers, along with non-violent inmates from incarceration. Small businesses need support. Essential workers such as grocery store employees, truck drivers, caregivers, janitors, garbage collectors need hazard pay, sick leave, healthcare, masks and gloves.  We need The Defense Production Act, which was designed for exactly what we are living through now. It gives the federal government the power to compel plants and factories to switch to producing critical supplies, set the pricing, and distribute where needed. It’s designed to prevent profiteering, to keep states from having to compete for life-saving supplies, to make sure there are no shortfalls, and to use federal taxpayer money instead of bankrupting hardest hit states.
Hospitals say that they need Trump to invoke the law to ramp up production of protective gear for health workers that is running dangerously low. They say the normal channels on the private market are sold out.”

Do you sew? Our healthcare workers need you to sew masks.If you agree to make 100 masks, Providence St. Joseph Health will supply materials and directions on how to make them. These masks will not be resold for profit but will be given directly to healthcare staff to use. 

Coronavirus is hitting restaurants hard. 7 million people have already been laid off and millions more will be affected. We need Congress to help restaurants before it’s too late.

My Representative put all this information together for Businesses: 
𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝟭𝟵 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀
𝗨.𝗦. 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗦𝗕𝗔) 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲!!
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone in our economy, but we know small businesses have been particularly hard hit.
That’s why Governor Walz requested an Economic Injury Disaster Loan declaration from the SBA earlier this week.
𝗡𝗼𝘄, 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘁𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁:
A few more details:
This program can provide low-interest loans of up to $2 million to small businesses and private non-profits.
These loans can go toward working capital to meet needs including payroll, accounts payable, and fixed debt payments that can’t be paid due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The current interest rate is 3.75% for small businesses. The non-profit rate is 2.75%.
These loans have long-term repayment options, up to a maximum of 30 years.
For more information visit the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan web page:
Need help?
Download the three step process for disaster loans information sheet:
The SBA is doing webinars THIS WEEKEND to explain the program in more detail, which you can sign up for here:
Sunday, March 22, 11 a.m.
Register:
Additional Resources:
SBA disaster loan information:
Information for small businesses affected by coronavirus:
All coronavirus-related federal government resources:
DEED’S COVID-19 information and resources for businesses COVID-19 update page:
Questions? Contact:
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development · 332 Minnesota Street Suite E-200 · Saint Paul, MN 55101 · (800) 657-3858


Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Call to Action: Week of 3/16/2020

Call to Action: Week of March 16th, 2020
This stuff is getting real, really fast. I am guessing you have had your fill of information about COVID-19. If not, please refer to a reputable, scientific source. The Minnesota Department of Health is a great place to start. https://www.health.state.mn.us/disea…/coronavirus/index.html
So hopefully you are following guidelines and keeping yourself and your family at home. Here are some things to keep you busy in the interim.
Activism in the age of corona:
People will be hurting for food to eat. If you are able, please consider donating to your local food pantry. Here are some other options
• Churches United https://app.givingheartsday.org/#/charity/183
• 360 Communities Minnesota FoodShare https://360communities.org/get-involved/mnfoodshare/…
• The Sheridan Story https://www.thesheridanstory.org/our-commitment-to-childr…/…
• Meals on Wheels https://meals-on-wheels.com/
• Radio station FM107.1 is matching donations to The Sheridan Story and Meals on Wheels https://www.mytalk1071.com/help-feed-seniors-kids/
Don’t forget, we are still in the middle of the most important election of our lives
• Moms Demand Virtual Advocacy Day of Action, Wednedsay March 18th. Support background checks and red flag bills at the Minnesota Capitol without ever leaving your house! https://www.facebook.com/events/244294719942419/
• League of Women Voters (not just for women)- voting in a time of coronavirus https://www.lwv.org/blog/voting-time-coronavirus…
• Send Letters to Voters https://votefwd.org/…
• Most senior living centers are on lockdown. Consider sending a letter or a card to a resident at your local center, or you can send one to mine. Regina Senior Living 1008 1st Street, Hastings MN 55033.
• Americans of Conscience weekly checklist https://americansofconscience.com/03-15-2020/…
• Send a postcard to a voter in a swing state. https://www.postcards2wi.com/
• Get your census form completed so fewer workers need to knock on doors. Go to https://my2020census.gov/
• Pick a local politician to support. There is so much work to be done! https://www.buzzfeednews.com/…/what-to-do-if-youre-democrat…
• 20 books to read while you are stuck at home. https://lamodeexpose.com/…/coronavirus-20-books-to-read-w…/…
Schools are closed until March 30th (though my guess is that they will be closed for the year). Here are some resources for those of you with children
• Over 30 virtual field trips: https://docs.google.com/…/1SvIdgTx9djKO6SjyvPDsoGl…/preview…
• Scholastic’s learn from home website: https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/…/learnathome.html
• Children’s book illustrator (and Minnesota native!), Nina Crittenden, has free, printable coring pages http://www.ninacrittenden.com/hey-kids.php…
• Let an astronaut read a book to your kids in space! https://www.scarymommy.com/astronauts-story-time-in-space…/…
• Here’s a ton of online school resources for kids. https://docs.google.com/…/1iGo1xk7D-7uWWwHE_tqXnI9…/preview…
• Here’s another site with more online options. http://www.amazingeducationalresources.com/
• Metropolitan Opera is offering a nightly Met Opera series. https://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-to-offer-up-nigh…/…
• Parent Aware can help you find reliable childcare: https://www.parentaware.org/…
• Here’s a list of MN restaurants offering food for school-aged children. (Note: I am not sure how the recent closing of restaurants will affect this) https://kstp.com/…/list-of-restaurants-offering-f…/5674954/…
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1.800.799.7233 or on Twitter @ndvh.
Whatever you do, most importantly STAY AT HOME, wash your hands and figure out how not to touch your face.
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Sunday, March 8, 2020

Call to Action Week of March 9th

The Power of Many Call to Action

We made it through Super Tuesday last week. Ever since the election in 2016 I have nerves going to the polls, and not in a good way. I hope that that gets better after the 2020 election. It’s important we beat Trump in 2020, but it is just as important to keep the House and flip the Senate, both nationally and here at home. 
Are you wondering who is running for the Minnesota Legislature? My state senator is retiring this year and my congresswoman is running for her spot. I want to make sure we keep those seats blue. Here is some information put together by MinnPost on who is running state-wide. 
Fresh off of defeating Republican state Sen. Karin Housley by more than 10 points in 2018, Sen. Tina Smith must again run for her seat in 2020. Smith was appointed after the resignation of Sen. Al Franken, and won election in 2018 to fill out his term. Now she's running for a new, six-year term. Smith may face former Republican Rep. Jason Lewis, a convserative talk radio host who lost his seat in the Second District to Rep. Angie Craig in 2018.”
Jason Lewis is going to rely on rural voters in his hopes to oust Senator Tina Smith. Many of you lived through Lewis being in office and he did absolutely nothing for CD2. He is a mini Trump through and through. 

One of the reasons it is so important to flip the Senate and put McConnell out of his job is so that we can have election security. Senator Klobuchar sponsored the Honest Ads Act back in October of 2017 and it sits on McConnell’s desk with hundreds of other bills. Might be a good time to let Congress know that this bill is still important to us.
If anyone thought 2016 was bad enough with Russia meddling, they certainly haven’t let up. 
“Some strategies and tactics for election interference were the same as before. Russia’s trolls pretended to be American people, including political groups and candidates. They tried to sow division by targeting both the left and right with posts to foment outrage, fear, and hostility. Much of their activity seemed designed to discourage certain people from voting. And they focused on swing states.”
Nothing will get done about this without safe-gaurds in place. Sadly those safe-gaurds will not be instituted until we have people in office who care about this. 

“I think the future also will not belong to those who are cynical or those who stand on the sidelines.” -Paul Wellstone


Keep tabs on all the great things going on in CD2 here: https://cd2action.com/
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
Smith (202) 224-5641
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121


Monday, December 9, 2019

12/9 Call to Action

Setting aside the exciting national news, briefly, 2019 comes to a close in 22 days.  Make sure to make a donation ($50 as an individual, $100 as a married couple) to a political candidate or party, that Minnesota will refund.
  • Qualified candidates for:
    • Minnesota Legislature (state House or Senate)
    • Minnesota governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general
    • Minnesota secretary of state
    • Minnesota state auditor
  • Qualified Minnesota political parties 


Keep tabs on all the great things going on in CD2 here: https://cd2action.com/
https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2020-debate-schedule/2020-democratic-debate-schedule/
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
Smith (202) 224-5641

House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/

Governor Walz https://mn.gov/governor/

Monday, November 25, 2019

11/25 Call to Action

I haven't written one of these for awhile, since we're a bit between elections.

But today, I think our representatives and senators could use a bit of encouragement.  And while the odds of removal might be low, a quick note to our elected officials might streamline the process a bit.

"But remember that conservative Republicans stuck with President Richard Nixon in 1974 … right up until they didn’t. Trump’s seemingly unanimous support right now is similar to the backing that Nixon had even as his original cover-up collapsed in early 1973"

...

"That suggests Nixon’s support was never as solid as it seemed. Which in turn suggests we just can’t know how firm Trump’s support is among congressional Republicans this time. Perhaps they’re prepared for the worst and determined to stick with the president no matter what. But history tells me that we don’t know for sure — and that it’s quite possible that they don’t know for sure what they’ll ultimately do."https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-11-25/don-t-buy-the-conventional-wisdom-on-donald-trump-s-impeachment


Keep tabs on all the great things going on in CD2 here: https://cd2action.com/
2020 Democratic Debate Schedule https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/…/2020-democrat…/
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
Smith (202) 224-5641

House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/

Governor Walz https://mn.gov/governor/

Monday, October 21, 2019

Monday 10/21 Call to Action

I am going to contact my Senators and Representatives today to ask that they continue to investigate the president and his abuse of office.  It's critical as many people as possible call.  I don't have a Republican Congress-person, but I hope you will call if you have one.

I'm not interested in getting Republicans to flip from vocally supporting the president to vocally opposing him; the goal is to move each member of Congress a bit toward impeachment -- to get Trump's defenders to stop defending him, to get those who don't say much to take a symbolic vote, to get those who do criticize him to vote for impeachment, etc.


Keep tabs on all the great things going on in CD2 here: https://cd2action.com/
2020 Democratic Debate Schedule https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/…/2020-democrat…/
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
Smith (202) 224-5641

House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/

Governor Walz https://mn.gov/governor/

Friday, October 11, 2019

Friday 10/11 Call to Action


Friday 10/11

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Meade
So proud of all of you who were able to show up and peacefully protest Trump’s visit and hate rally yesterday. Yesterday was a great day for democracy and standing up to hate. 

Last night at Trump’s rally he spent over a hundred minutes railing against his critics, attacking Somali refugees, showing how unfit he is to serve this country, and vowing to win and flip Minnesota to red in 2020. He only lost this state by 1.5% in 2016 and spent $30-$40k. Tens of millions of dollars are moving into this state to try and flip it. And the Minnesota DFL doesn’t take money from foreign interests! We need to raise the alarm and organize hard for the 2020 elections. 
If not electing jerks is important to you, and if you’re able to give, you can donate here.

Everyday more and more corruption is coming to light about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and Russia. Our representatives need to continue to hear that we support this impeachment inquiry. Trump only serves himself, not this country. 
Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged two associates of President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani with a sprawling scheme to oust the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine by funneling foreign money into the campaign coffers of Trump and an unnamed congressman believed to be former Republican Rep. Pete Sessions.”
“"These allegations are not about some technicality, a civil violation, or some error on a form. This investigation is about corrupt behavior, deliberate lawbreaking," William Sweeney, assistant director in charge at the FBI's New York field office, said Thursday during a press conference detailing campaign finance charges against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.”
“The two men were arrested Wednesday evening at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. as they were waiting to board a one-way flight to Frankfurt, Germany.”

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is expected to testify next Wednesday before the House committees investigating President Trump and Ukraine, despite being blocked by the State Department from appearing at a closed-door deposition this week, 4 congressional sources tell Axios.”

Fiona Hill, who was until recently President Donald Trump’s top aide on Russia and Europe, plans to tell Congress that Rudy Giuliani and E.U. ambassador Gordon Sondland circumvented the National Security Council and the normal White House process to pursue a shadow policy on Ukraine, a person familiar with her expected testimony told NBC News.”

The KRG released a statement on Tuesday noting it was "deeply concerned by the United States' decision to withdraw from the safe zone in northeastern Syria." It warned that the imminent offensive would "undermine the progress made against ISIS, including jeopardising the secure detention of terrorist fighters."”

Senator Klobuchar needs to know that Steven Menashi is a big fat no for a lifetime seat on the federal bench. They will be voting on him soon. 
Steven Menashi, President Donald Trump’s judicial nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, began his writing career at the Dartmouth Review, the campus conservative publication that incubated professional trolls such as Laura Ingraham and Dinesh D’Souza. Menashi used this platform to denounce LGBTQ rights groups, mock “Take Back The Night” marches protesting campus rape, and defend a fraternity that threw a “ghetto party.””

Keep tabs on all the great things going on in CD2 here: https://cd2action.com/
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
Smith (202) 224-5641
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121