Tuesday 2/20 Call to Action

Tuesday

1. Sensible Gun Control
Is now finally the time when our elected officials will take the steps to provide sensible gun control laws? It seems like our children may be leading the way towards effective change. If you haven’t already, watch this moving speech by Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. She calls out politicians who take money from the NRA. https://www.cnn.com/…/florida-student-emma-gonza…/index.html
Wow.

#NoNRAMoney has a website that allows voters to pledge to oppose any candidates who take NRA money. It also allows candidates to publicly reject the NRA. https://www.nonramoney.org/
The survivors of the Parkland shootings are organizing a march on Washington D.C. on March 24, to demand action on gun violence. http://abcnews.go.com/…/florida-teen-shooting-surviv…/story…

The Network for Public Education is calling for action on April 20th, the anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings. They encourage us all to plan and participate in acts of protest in our own school communities. Learn more here: https://networkforpubliceducation.org/…/join-us-day-action…/
And here: https://twitter.com/schoolwalkoutUS Or here: https://www.facebook.com/nationalhighschoolwalkout/
Check out this spreadsheet that lists all the activities planned for April 20th. Create your own and add it to the list.
https://docs.google.com/…/1fbpir2Mz83LiOkDV75iL6QKv72…/edit…

Check out Moms Demand Action’s “Throw Them Out: An action plan to kick out lawmakers beholden to the gun lobby”.https://everytown.org/throwthemout/…

2. Local Gun Legislation
Minnesota’s state legislators get back to work today. Check out this list of pending gun legislation. (Thanks, S.K. from Indivisible Minnesota Local)

Stand Your Ground ( HF0236, SF0292): This bill allows you to shoot and kill a felon even if there are non-lethal options available.

No Permit Needed to Carry a Concealed Gun (HF0188, SF0650): This bill eliminates the need for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Gun Violence Protective Orders Authorized (HF1605, SF1262): This bill would allow law enforcement or a family member to petition a court to prevent a dangerous individual from possessing a gun.

Universal Background Check Required for Private Gun Sales (HF1669, SF1261): Currently, there are no laws in Minnesota requiring background checks for private gun sales.

Bump Stocks Outlawed (HF2781): This bill would outlaw devices that turn semi-automatic weapons into automatic ones.

Call you state legislators today. Welcome them back and let them know that Minnesota wants action.

If you would like to follow what is happening locally I recommend getting to know these two groups.
Minnesota Indivisible Local http://indivisibleminnesotalocal.org/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MinnesotaIndivisibleLocal/

Watch Your Reps MN https://watchyourrepsmn.tumblr.com/

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 Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/

Lissie - Best Days (Live on The Current)

Lissie performs the song "Best Days" from her forthcoming album, "Castles" (out March 23, 2018), live in The Current…

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Monday 2/19 Call to Action

If you tuned out over the weekend, the Department of Justice indicted 13 Russian Nationals and one American Friday afternoon.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-19/trump-blames-fbi-as-mueller-pushes-ahead

1. Dovetailing with the indictments (and from Rogan's list):

Trump has declined to impose sanctions on Russia." Clearly, it's up to Congress to do something about it, so  "Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chris Von Hollen (D-MD) recently introduced the Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Red Lines Act (“DETER”). The DETER Act would automatically impose severe sanctions on Russia if Putin interferes in our elections." Let's tell our Senators to sign on to this bipartisan bill.

2. The 2020 Census is coming up in, well, 2020.

"But California, other Democratic-majority states and immigrant advocates see a more sinister purpose: to reduce census participation by intimidating undocumented immigrants and their families, and thereby lowering population counts that are the basis for determining the number of a state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives."

We need to ask for the appointment of a census director, and that the census not include a question on citizenship.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/nation/article/US-wants-to-add-citizenship-query-to-census-but-12623708.php

3. We need to be as committed to gun reform as the right is to gun rights.  Consider joining the following organizations.

Protect Minnesota and Moms Demand Action
https://protectmn.org/
https://momsdemandaction.org/

4. Local Politics
The Minnesota State Legislature 2018 session is just getting started. If you would like to follow what is happening locally I recommend getting to know these two groups.

Minnesota Indivisible Local http://indivisibleminnesotalocal.org/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MinnesotaIndivisibleLocal/

Watch Your Reps MN https://watchyourrepsmn.tumblr.com/

Check out this new website for active activists in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district. https://cd2action.com/
Here’s a great way to keep track of Rep. Jason Lewis’ actions in Congress. http://mn02congresswatch.org/
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 Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/

Friday 2/16 Call to Action

Friday

1.Vote them Out
Another mass shooting. More senseless loss of life. Complete and total inaction from our GOP leaders who are beholden to the NRA. Nothing will change until we VOTE THEM OUT. If you are feeling angry and frustrated, channel your energy toward getting responsible people to represent you. Pick a campaign and dedicate yourself to helping them win.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/…/opin…/the-nra-can-be-beat.html…

Last fall, constituents in Virginia used the voting booth to send a clear message to their elected officials. The Virginia Grassroots Coalition has created a document of “lessons learned” from the 2017 election season. Let’s read it and apply the knowledge to campaigns here in Minnesota.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/…/opin…/the-nra-can-be-beat.html…

Check out Moms Demand Action’s “Throw Them Out: An action plan to kick out lawmakers beholden to the gun lobby”.https://everytown.org/throwthemout/…

Unbelievably, a week and a half after 17 kids were gunned down, the congressman from district 2, Jason Lewis, will be the guest speaker at an event celebrating the 2nd amendment. The title of the event is, “How Gun Control Hurts The Most Vulnerable”. Obviously, he needs to lose his seat in November. In the meantime, consider attending a vigil outside of the event on Friday, February 23rd in Lakeville starting at 6 pm. Keep in mind, this will be a peaceful protest. Stay tuned for more information.
Check out the event here: http://www.mnsd56.org/LottEvent
Here is a Facebook event for the vigil. https://www.facebook.com/events/1611913975513045/

2. DACA
Four Immigration bills were presented in the Senate. All four bills failed to pass. The future of the Dreamers looks grim. Read more about it here: https://www.vox.com/…/senate-immigration-daca-bill-vote-fai…
Call your members of Congress and ask them why Dreamers are being left behind. In November, let’s vote for better leaders.

3. Local Politics
The Minnesota State Legislature 2018 session is just getting started. If you would like to follow what is happening locally I recommend getting to know these two groups.

Minnesota Indivisible Local http://indivisibleminnesotalocal.org/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MinnesotaIndivisibleLocal/

Watch Your Reps MN https://watchyourrepsmn.tumblr.com/

Check out this new website for active activists in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district. https://cd2action.com/
Here’s a great way to keep track of Rep. Jason Lewis’ actions in Congress.http://mn02congresswatch.org/
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 Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/

I've had enough

From The Who's Quadrophenia album

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Thursday 2/15 Call to Action

Thursday 2/15

1. Gun Control

I cannot put into words my sadness and frustration for the acceptance this country has for this mass murder epidemic. It is February 15th and thus far we have lived through:

*18 school shootings

*29 mass shootings

*1,796 total gun deaths 

*3,059 total injuries

When is enough enough? It doesn’t seem to matter to Congress that innocent people are being killed by guns at concerts, universities, movie theaters, and churches. It doesn’t matter to Congress that our children in schools are being sacrificed to the NRA because no one wants to stand up and not take their money. If Congress does not have the courage to go against the NRA now, we need to make sure that we vote for those that will in 2018 and and for the rest of time.

If you are calling your MoC about what they plan to do about banning mass murder weapons, we should be asking about what they think of the FBI probe on Russia funneling money through the NRA and boosting Trump’s campaign. The elected who accept money from the NRA have blood on their hands. 

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html

There are so many bills relating to guns. We've called our Representatives in the past after shootings about bills that may be different then what is listed below. These are just some of the bills that have been introduced. In my opinion we just need gun control. The government recalls lettuce if it makes people sick. Why are we not doing more about guns?

Assault Weapons Ban/Large Capacity Feeding Device Ban, S. 150, HR. 437-113, S. 691-113

https://www.countable.us/bills/s150-113-assault-weapons-ban-of-2013

https://www.countable.us/bills/hr437-113

https://www.countable.us/bills/s691-113

Bearing Arms, "Articles in this series examine the gun industry’s influence and the wide availability of firearms in America."

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/bearing-arms-series.html

Check out the Minnesota chapter of Moms Demand Action. https://give.momsdemandaction.org/team/150970

Join MDA’s Facebook page to see events that are happening in your area. https://www.facebook.com/MomsDemandActionMN/

2. Low-Income heating programs on the chopping block

"For the second consecutive year, Trump is proposing to eliminate the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Weatherization Assistance Program, two programs that help low-income residents pay for heating costs, furnace repairs and energy-efficiency upgrades. Despite the programs being on the chopping block in Trump's budget last year, Congress appropriated about $3 billion for the Energy Assistance Program, but has yet to appropriate any funding in fiscal year 2018 for the Weatherization Assistance Program."

Both of our Senators are in support for inclusion of funding for these programs. You can thank them for this. No one should have to choose between heating their home vs other basic necessities.

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/government-and-politics/4403815-low-income-heating-programs-chopping-block

Check out this new website for active activists in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district. https://cd2action.com/

Here’s a great way to keep track of Rep. Jason Lewis’ actions in Congress.http://mn02congresswatch.org/

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 Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/

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Wednesday 2/14 Call to Action

Wednesday

1. Election Interference
Yesterday, the nation’s top intelligence chiefs met with the Senate Intelligence Committee and what they had to report was alarming. The consensus was that Russia will continue to make efforts to disrupt our elections, including the 2018 midterm elections.
Disappointingly, the government is doing little to combat Russia’s meddling. Democrats on the committee raised concerns that Russia will continue to use propaganda, false personas and social media to undermine the upcoming election.
If we want to change the face of our government, this issue needs to be on the top of our priority list. The Republicans in charge have no incentive to change. We must be the squeaky wheel that propels them to act.

Luckily, our own Senator Amy Klobuchar is on our side. She has been vocal in the effort to secure our elections against Russia’s interference. She cosponsored the Secure Elections Act (https://www.congress.gov/bi…/115th-congress/senate-bill/2261) designed to take the first steps towards safeguarding our elections.

Senator Klobuchar has also been working on a bill that would require social media groups (i.e., Twitter, and Facebook) to disclose who is paying for political ads on their sites.

Today, lets call Senator Klobuchar and give her our support and ask her what we can do to secure our elections.

Read more about the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/f3e4c706-105f-11e8-9570-29…

Read more about the Secure Elections Act here: https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/…/klobuchar-lankford-harri…

Learn more about social media transparency here:https://www.usatoday.com/…/senators-introduce-bi…/780250001/

2, Budget Proposal
Trump unveiled his proposal for 2019 and just like the tax bill, it’s a boon for the wealthiest Americans and a big middle finger towards those at the bottom. The new budget plans to cut $1.7 trillion from Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs. It will also push for stricter work requirements for welfare and proposes a change in the type of food available in the SNAP program.

Here’s an overview of what’s included in the cuts: https://www.usatoday.com/…/trumps-budget-what-he…/331147002/

Read about the work requirements here: http://www.bostonglobe.com/…/yyZgEmuINUIpCCwQ1s…/story.html…

Read about the SNAP food program here: https://www.vox.com/…/snap-trump-budget-food-stamps-food-bo…

The budget will also significantly increase defense spending and put money aside for the border wall.
All in all, the proposed budget will increase the deficit by $7 trillion!
https://www.nytimes.com/…/…/white-house-budget-congress.html
This budget is a big NO and we need to let our members of Congress know that loud and clear.

Check out this new website for active activists in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district. https://cd2action.com/
Here’s a great way to keep track of Rep. Jason Lewis’ actions in Congress.http://mn02congresswatch.org/

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 Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/

Wings 'Silly Love Songs' [Original 1976 Music Video]

'At The Speed Of Sound' out now: http://smarturl.it/PMwatsos…

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Tuesday 2/13 Call to Action

Tuesday

1. Special Election 2018
Yesterday, special elections were held in Minnesota. Karla Bigham won the state Senate seat in district 54. Unfortunately, the state House seat in district 23B went to the Republican candidate, Jeremy Munson. Both Karla Bigham and Melissa Wagner should be proud of their positive campaigns and the time and sacrifices they gave towards their goal. Their abridged campaigns were a good warm up for the work that needs to be done this year to get quality leaders into our government. Let’s all commit today to helping out with local campaigns. What happens in 2018 will impact our community for years to come.
https://www.twincities.com/…/minnesota-special-elections-2…/

2. H.R. 620 ADA Education and Reform Act
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits public places from discriminating against people with disabilities. If a person with disabilities encounters a barrier that prevents him/her from accessing a business they can speak with the business, file a complaint with the Department of Justice, or file a lawsuit.
This bill, (co-sponsored by Rep. Jason Lewis) would make it much more difficult to file a lawsuit. In order to do so, a person must first notify the business of the violation including specific details of the violation including what parts of the ADA were violated, then wait 180 days for compliance or substantial progress towards compliance. The concern is, reporting violations will become so difficult that people will become overwhelmed and give up.

Read more about it here: https://www.aclu.org/…/hr-620-myths-and-truths-about-ada-ed…
Or here: http://mn02congresswatch.org/h-r-620-ada-education-and-ref…/

3. Michigan Gerrymandering
Here’s some good news and a great example of what can be accomplished when a community works together. The group, Voters Not Politicians collected 425,000 signatures from Michiganders demanding that redistricting should be on the ballot later this year. The people of Michigan have taken back the power to choose who represents them. Way to go!
https://www.freep.com/…/gerrymander-redistrictin…/962509001/

Check out this new website for active activists in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district. https://cd2action.com/
Here’s a great way to keep track of Rep. Jason Lewis’ actions in Congress.http://mn02congresswatch.org/

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 Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/

Geggy Tah - Whoever You Are

Geggy Tah just want to appreciate that you allowed them to transfer between pathways on this massive mazey melange of…

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Monday 2/12 Call to Action

There was a bit of a Friday news avalanche.  Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand is leaving.  Trump wouldn't release Democrat's memo rebutting the Nunes memo.  A second White House official is leaving amid abuse allegations ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/second-white-house-official-departs-amids-abuse-allegations-which-he-denies/2018/02/09/72ba47e6-0d0d-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html )

And a deputy chief of staff is quitting: http://www.cnn.com/2018/02/09/politics/jim-carroll-white-house-national-drug-control-policy/index.html

1. On Friday, we found out Assistant AG Rachel Brand is quitting.  She was one of the higher hurdles between Trump and Mueller.  Let's call to ask Congress to protect Mueller.

See details here on the order of succession.

https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/will-whoever-fires-bob-mueller-please-turn-lights

Consider attending or creating an event to protect Mueller, such as this one.

https://www.facebook.com/events/149405035744606/

2.  A solution for Dreamers was not included in the budget deal. Starting next week, Congress will hopefully start negotiations on a bill that will create a plan for these young, undocumented immigrants that have been waiting since September for protection against deportation.
Call to remind our members of Congress to pass a clean DACA bill for once and for all.

3. There is still time to help with local elections!  There are two of them today.  Karla's district went 53/47 or so for a Democrat, so it's not guaranteed.

Karla Bigham is running for the state Senate seat in district 54.
Melissa Wagner is running for the state House seat in district 23B.

http://www.karlabigham.com/events.html
https://www.facebook.com/events/180492566058189/


Check out this new website for active activists in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district. https://cd2action.com/
Here’s a great way to keep track of Rep. Jason Lewis’ actions in Congress.http://mn02congresswatch.org/
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 Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/