Friday 6/23 Call to Action

Friday
Well, the Senate health care bill is out. I will let Senator Al Franken explain it to you.
“After weeks spent in secret, behind closed doors, Senate Republicans have finally released their health care plan. As expected, the bill does not address the real health care issues that people are facing and would be a disaster for the economic stability and livelihood of Minnesota families. This is nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt to gift billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very richest few Americans by dismantling our health care system, fundamentally destroying Medicaid as we know it, and making life harder and more expensive for millions and millions of Americans.
Like its sibling in the House of Representatives, this is a horrible plan born of a dangerously partisan bill-making process. And now Senate Republicans want to pull one over on the American people by forcing a vote as quickly as possible—without meaningful debate, public input, or committee oversight. I will fight this plan with every ounce of strength that I have, because the livelihoods of Minnesotans are at stake. I believe we need to be directing our efforts towards working in a bipartisan way to address the actual problems that exist in our health care system, like the lack of competition in the insurance exchanges and skyrocketing prescription drug costs. We should be working to improve people’s lives, not make them more difficult.”

Want a good overview of the new health care bill? Read this:https://www.vox.com/…/senate-plan-better-care-reconciliatio…

If you have time, check out these clips from The Rachel Maddow Show. Rachel is fired up! She says “freakin” about 100 times. I think the voice in her head was probably saying a different “F” word.
http://www.msnbc.com/…/sen-murphy-now-is-the-time-to-be-hea… via @msnbc

Senator Murphy reminds us that NOW is the time to speak up against this terrible bill. http://www.msnbc.com/…/sen-murphy-now-is-the-time-to-be-hea… via @msnbc

What can we do to make noise? Our Senators are obviously against this bill as well so we can continue to call and thank them and encourage them to push back.

We can protest in public. There is an impromptu picket today in Eagan at the corner of Pilot Knob and Yankee Doodle Roads (starting at noon). This is Jason Lewis’ district. If you need to make some noise I encourage you to attend.

Next Tuesday, 6/27, Minndivisible has invited you to meet them in front of Sen. Klobuchar’s office at noon. If you know of any other protests let me know and I will edit them in here.

Now is the time to write those letters to the editor of your local paper. Don’t let this bill pass without some bad press for our elected officials.

Now is the time to call our Republican representatives and remind that we have not forgotten that they started this.

Here are some tidbits from The Rogan’s list. I really like this site! She’s a retired librarian so you know she’s smart.

The morning of the Alexandria shooting, the House was preparing to hold a hearing on a bill that would in part make it easier to buy gun silencers. They're trying to sneak this in with an unrelated bill. (http://www.politico.com/…/gun-silencer-restrictions-house-j…) This would threaten public safety and make it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs. Let's join Gabby Giffords and Americans for Responsible Solutions and send a message to our members of Congress that we want them doing more to keep us safe from gun violence, not less: http://action.americansforresponsiblesolutions.org/…/share-…

Identifying questionable, unreliable sources while we are online is difficult for all of us. Fortunately, the Self Agency LLC has developed a little gem called BS Detector, that we can use with our Chrome or Mozilla-based browsers to show us just what sources might be just that. It’s a freebie, but priceless! Check it out here: http://bsdetector.tech/

Several groups, including MoveOn.org and Indivisible, are supporting an initiative ... to celebrate the achievements of the Resistance thus far. Call it self-care, call it community building, call it networking, or whatever you like, but it's time to kick off this "Summer of Resistance" with a cookout! Check for a get-together near you, or start your own event, here: https://act.moveon.org/event/cookouts/search/

Franken-202-224-5641
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/
Governor Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/

Out and About

Sat-Sun June 24-25
2017 Twin Cities Pride Festival
Loring Park
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403, 55404
https://www.facebook.com/events/712402268933911/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2223%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D

Monday, June 26 6-8 pm
An Evening with Ken Martin and Progressive Activists
Dakota County Library
1340 Wescott Rd, Eagan, Minnesota 55123
https://www.facebook.com/events/1896672923884152/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null

Tuesday, June 27 12 -1 pm
ResistTrumpTuesdays: Protect our Healthcare, Withhold Consent
Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office
1200 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415
https://www.facebook.com/events/102547383677370/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null

Tuesday, June 27 7-9 pm
What is Take Back Your State? - Join us for an online event
Online Event (you can do this from home!!)
https://www.facebook.com/events/434294313613264/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null

Thursday, June 29 6:15-8:30
Mayoral Candidate Forum on Climate Resilience & Energy Access
Open Book
1011 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415
https://www.facebook.com/events/1681412545497458/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null

Recent protests sparks a nationwide Rise Up 5K Run/Walk on July 1. Net proceeds go to Planned Parenthood and other women's rights charities. JOIN US TODAY! RISE UP. RUN. BE HEARD. http://riseup5k.org/

Check out this event with Sen. Al Franken this Saturday.
https://medicaid.publicrep.org/feature/minnesota/