Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Wednesday 8/7 CTA



Wednesday August 7
I have written too many calls to action in response to gun violence. Add today’s to the tally. I wonder how many more I’ll write before our country stops this plague of hate.

In the wake of three mass-shooting in the course of eight days, Americans are pleading again for our elected officials to do something. Instead of calling the Senate back into session to pass gun safety legislation, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has instead decided to ignore us and post pictures of gravestones, one displaying the name of his Senate-race opponent, Amy McGrath. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcgrath-blasts-mcconnell-over-photo-depicting-her-name-on-a-gravestone/2019/08/05/577362e0-b7ae-11e9-b3b4-2bb69e8c4e39_story.html
Just in case you were wondering, Mitch McConnell has received $1.6 million from the NRA to block expanded background checks https://www.politicususa.com/2019/08/05/nra-mitch-mcconnell-millions-background-checks.html
Give Senators Klobuchar and Smith a call and tell them you want them to push for commonsense gun legislation NOW.
Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, has called on state legislators to reconvene and pass gun legislation ASAP. Give your state legislators a call and tell them you support Gov. Walz’s idea. https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/government-and-politics/4053790-Walz-calls-on-lawmakers-to-take-up-gun-control-after-Texas-Ohio-shootings

Countries like Uruguay, Venezuela, and Japan are now warning their citizens against traveling to the U. S. due to our indiscriminate violence and hate crimes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/foreign-countries-warn-about-travel-to-trumps-us-can-you-blame-them/2019/08/06/c5d35792-b888-11e9-a091-6a96e67d9cce_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-h%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans



One of the best things we can do to make government work for us is to flip the Senate (state and federal!). Pick a senate race and pledge your time and efforts.
Check out https://votesaveamerica.com/ to learn more about “flippable” Senate seats, make sure your are registered to vote (at least 17 million people were removed from voter rolls between 2016 and 2018!), and donate to important democratic campaigns.

Many of the Democratic candidates have come out with gun safety proposals this week. I think Pete Buttigieg’s is particularly good. Check it out here: https://medium.com/@teampete/an-action-plan-to-combat-the-national-threat-posed-by-hate-and-the-gun-lobby-5752a68c954e

Republican Congressman Mike Turner from Dayton, Ohio has now said that he supports background checks, Red Flag legislation, as well as an assault weapons band and a limit on high-capacity magazines. https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190806/republican-us-rep-mike-turner-of-dayton-now-backs-ban-on-sale-of-military-style-weapons
Nebraska state legislator Representative John McCollister has criticized the Republican party for enabling white supremacy. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/05/politics/nebraska-lawmaker-white-supremacy-tweets-trnd/index.html
Both of these men are receiving tremendous backlash from the GOP for their statements. Let’s take a moment to thank them. They could be the crack in the GOP’s stonewalling dam.


Tucker Carlson stated on his Fox Network show that white supremacy was a hoax much like Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was a hoax. Does that make your blood boil? It should! There are still plenty of companies that advertise on his terrible show. Why not call them and lodge a complaint? I am a member of USAA (usaa.com) and I called to complain. The representative I spoke with was VERY responsive and thankful for my call. She is routing my statement to the CEO and was hopeful that other people would call to complain as well.
The grody clip and the list of companies can be found on this link here: https://twitter.com/aynrandpaulryan/status/1159054856042139648?s=12

Robert Reich has given us five responses to pro-NRA gun propaganda. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2645242238821689
Former Senator Al Franken invited healthcare wunderkind Andy Slavitt to his podcast to discuss the 2020 candidates’ healthcare plans. Check it out here. https://alfranken.com/listen/andy-slavitt-the-2020-democratic-candidates-health-care-plans

Get out and honor the victims with action! A rally will be taking place at the Capitol tonight starting at 7 pm. Get more information here: https://cd2action.com/event/honor-them-with-action/


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

Friday, August 2, 2019

Friday 8/2


Friday 8/2

Some of the most important elections in 2020 are the ones no one is talking about. 
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision last month ruling that federal courts can’t interfere with state lawmakers who draw political maps to entrench a partisan advantage lent urgency to state-level efforts, anti-gerrymandering advocates said.”
“Hope Johnson, a data scientist with the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, a nonpartisan group working against political redistricting, said the group hadn’t wanted to focus on state-level action, but the Supreme Court decision made it the best choice.”
If we want fair elections, then districting lines can’t be drawn to favor one party over another. 

In today’s news, another mass shooting is just a blip in the day. What sad times we live in. 
Four mass shootings happened in public places so far this year, compared with 10 in 2018 and seven in 2017. But 2019 saw a big increase in the number of mass killings in domestic disputes, helping to keep this year's overall numbers similar to past years.”

From Robert Reich, “Republicans' tax cuts for their billionaire donors are ballooning the deficit, so they're blaming the problem on government programs like Social Security and Medicare.
It's socialism for the rich, harsh capitalism for everyone else.”

After instituting a $1.5 trillion tax cut and signing off on a $675 billion budget for the Department of Defense, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the only way to lower the record-high federal deficit would be to cut entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”
“New Treasury Department analysis on Monday revealed that corporate tax cuts had a significant impact on the deficit this year. Federal revenue rose by 0.04 percent in 2018, a nearly 100 percent decrease on last year's 1.5 percent. In fiscal year 2018, tax receipts on corporate income fell to $205 billion from $297 billion in 2017.”
Vote Them Out!

The Senate is now on a five week recess. Some pretty awful things were passed before they left, such as 13 judicial nominees, and Kelly Craft to be the new UN ambassador to the United Nations. Senator Lindsay Graham forced a bill through the Judiciary Committee to overhaul the U.S. asylum laws yesterday. 
Graham’s bill touches on the detention of families who cross the border, as well as their possible separation, one of the most sensitive issues in politics right now.
It would increase the number of days a family can be held together from 20 days to 100 days, preventing family separations but lengthening the amount of time children can be held in custody with their parents. “ 

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