The Power of Many - Minnesota

Friday, September 8, 2017

Friday 9/8 Call to Action

Friday
1. Clean Energy
As a special treat for Friday, let’s start with some good news. Clean Energy Economy MN released the results of a survey that reports that clean energy jobs are a growing in Minnesota. In fact, Minnesota’s clean energy sector has grown almost four times faster than any other area of Minnesota’s economy. (Hive five!) See? You can make profits and be good to the environment. (Donald Trump)
Minnesota’s current goal was to have 25% of its energy come from renewable sources by 2025. Since we are almost there in 2017, state Senators Karin Housley (R) and Nick Frentz (D) would like legislators to increase it too 50% by 2030.

We need to encourage our federal and state members of Congress to keep this ball rolling. This is a great opportunity to reintroduce yourself to your state representative and senator. This initiative seems like a win-win, no matter what side of the aisle you rest your bottom. Clean energy is a great way to create jobs and grow our economy.

If you haven’t already, sign up to use wind energy in your home.https://www.xcelenergy.com/…/rene…/windsource_for_residences

2. Betsy DeVos
In another chapter of “How do you live with yourself?”, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will rescind a sexual assault directive created by President Obama by rolling back guidelines of Title IX.
Title IX is best know for ensuring equal treatment of male and female athletes, but is also provides protections against sexual harassment, sexual assault, and creates protections for transgender students. DeVos has already rescinded protections for transgender students. Now she wants to make the investigation process for college sexual assault more difficult by decreasing transparency, and cutting resources and funding for victims.
DeVos’ main concern is the “Dear Colleague Letter”, a guidance created in 2011 by the Obama administration that increases punishment for public schools that did not protect their students from sexual harassment, assault, and/or rape. The letter also lowered that standard of proof for campus hearings and criminal trials. Is DeVos truly concerned that this guidance is overreaching or is this just another example of the Trump administration’s quest to get rid of every Obama accomplishment.

Our dear Senator Franken has already spoken out against this. Feel free to call him and thank him for being awesome. Encourage Senator Klobuchar to fight this as well.

3. Don’t Forget your Republican party job evaluation.
Do you have a Republican elected official working for you (state or federal)? Today is your chance to evaluate their job performance!
https://www.change.org/p/chair-mngop-com-mn-republican-part…

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/

Congressional District 2 residents: Check out this website for information about groups and events in your area. mn02progressiveactionnetwork.com

Out and About
For those of us who missed the Burnout and Sustainability Training for Activists webinar last Saturday, the video is now available on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2wfVcwl We can also check out host Aditi Juneja's Self Care Sundays podcast and make sure that we're taking care of ourselves https://www.selfcaresundayspodcast.com/

September 8-10
The Energy Fair-St. Paul
Harriet Island Regional Park
200 Dr Justus O'Hage Blvd, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55107
http://TheEnergyFair.org/

September 10th 2:30-3:45 pm
ATTC Learn & Take Action (September): Fake News - note new venue
Southdale Public Library
Edina, Minnesota 55435
University of Minnesota Journalism Ethics Professor Chris Ison will discuss the historical context of today's "fake news" crisis and share practical strategies for sustaining quality journalism.

September 12th 6-8 pm
Journalism: Facts Matter
University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management
321 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Join us for a discussion on the role of journalism in the current political climate. Don Shelby's work as an investigative journalist earned two Peabody awards and three Emmys before his retirement from CBS's WCCO in 2010.

ATMOSPHERE - SHHH VIDEO

www.rhymesayers.com www.fifthelementonline.com

YOUTUBE.COM

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Thursday 9/7 Call To Action

Does it feel like it’s been longer than 9 months of resisting to anyone else? I hope you all are taking care of yourselves as we get through this together.

1. ACA. This is a code red as McCain has flipped on the ACA deal. “The repeal effort doesn’t seek to solve the problem of covering more people or making healthcare more affordable for American families. If assessed by the Congressional Budget Office, it will surely show many millions losing coverage and higher costs for millions more. Instead they are dividing the country into winners and losers (or losers and bigger losers) to achieve a more straightforward goal — finding the 50 Republican votes that, along with Vice President Pence as the tiebreaker, will give them a Senate win.” Much of this draft from Graham-Cassidy-Heller look the same as the first repeal and replace that were rejected. “But it’s not Graham-Cassidy-Heller’s unpopular policies that are expected to make a repeal effort successful. The secret weapon is a cynical redistribution of federal money from mostly urban, blue states that have expanded Medicaid to rural, red states that did not.” You can read about it below.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/09/06/health-care-smackdown-last-ditch-aca-repeal-drive-threatens-bipartisan-fixes-andy-slavitt-column/634207001/

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/349462-mccain-backs-graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal-effort

2. DACA. 15 states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump to end a program that protects young immigrants from deportation. NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has said that Trump is motivated by prejudice, especially targeting Latinos. Let’s call our own Attorney General and ask her to join this lawsuit and stand with DREAMers.

http://www.startribune.com/15-states-sue-trump-on-rollback-of-immigrant-protections/442910313/

3. Continue to fight for Mueller. It looks as though Facebook has come clean about Russia spending money on divisive political ads during the campaign. .

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/09/06/facebook-gave-special-counsel-robert-mueller-data-on-russian-ads-report-says.html

4. Don’t Forget your Republican party job evaluation.

Do you have a Republican elected official working for you (state or federal)? Today is your chance to evaluate their job performance!

https://www.change.org/p/chair-mngop-com-mn-republican-part…

Franken-202-224-5641

Klobuchar-202-224-3244

House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Attorney General Lori Swanson-651-296-3353

MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators

Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/

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

Congressional District 2 residents: Check out this website for information about groups and events in your area.mn02progressiveactionnetwork.com

Out and About

For those of us who missed the Burnout and Sustainability Training for Activists webinar last Saturday, the video is now available on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2wfVcwl We can also check out host Aditi Juneja's Self Care Sundays podcast and make sure that we're taking care of ourselves https://www.selfcaresundayspodcast.com/

September 8-10

The Energy Fair-St. Paul

Harriet Island Regional Park

200 Dr Justus O'Hage Blvd, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55107

http://TheEnergyFair.org/

September 10th 2:30-3:45 pm

ATTC Learn & Take Action (September): Fake News - note new venue

Southdale Public Library

Edina, Minnesota 55435

University of Minnesota Journalism Ethics Professor Chris Ison will discuss the historical context of today's "fake news" crisis and share practical strategies for sustaining quality journalism.

September 12th 6-8 pm

Journalism: Facts Matter

University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management

321 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Wednesday 9/6 Call to Action

Wednesday
There is too much happening all at once in America right now. I feel like I am spinning plates on an episode of Circus of the Stars. There are too many spinning plates! I only have an hour to write this so I suppose I will have to triage. gerrymandering, voter suppression, Russian hacked election machines, North Korea, scary judicial nominees, sabotaging the ACA are all so important but let’s focus on a few things we can work on today. Whew.

1. DACA
When I called my representative’s office yesterday the staff member who answered sounded harried. I suspect they received wave after wave of calls about DACA. Good job everyone. Let’s keep it up today. Many elected officials made public statements about DACA yesterday. Let’s encourage them to take some action today.
I think many GOP members of Congress want to feign concern about Dreamers then push off legislation in hopes that we forget about it in the current melee of events. (remember the plates?) Legislation for this has been written and is ready to go. Congress just needs to pass it. What if they paired DACA legislation with Hurricane Harvey relief? It’s an idea Senator Dianne Feinstein supports and it may be a way to get help for Dreamers ASAP. Read about it here: http://thehill.com/…/349335-feinstein-dems-could-bundle-dac…
Or check out this thread from Angel Padilla, Policy director for Indivisible:https://twitter.com/angelrafpadil…/status/905235152997154817
Want a refresher on the different immigration legislation that is already written? This NPR article is a good resource: http://www.npr.org/…/here-s-how-congress-could-act-to-save-…
To make your calls to members of Congress easier, follow this script from Indivisible: https://www.indivisibleguide.com/…/tell-senator-defend-dac…/

2, Robert Mueller’s Investigation
Things must be heating up in the Russia/Trump investigation. GOP members of the House are trying to sabotage Mueller’s investigation. Last week we discussed Representative Ron DeSantis’ proposed amendment that would cut off funding for Mueller’s investigation after six months and prevent him from investigating anything that Trump may have done before June 2015.
Now GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee have subpoenaed the FBI and the Justice Department for documents relating to Christopher Steele’s dossier. Representative Trey Gowdy is heading up this endeavor. The concern is that he is trying to discredit why the FBI decided to start the Russia/Trump investigation in the first place. Keep your eye on this one. It smells awfully fishy.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-hou…/…/2633466…

3. From Rogan’s List: “Several factors have conspired to make Hurricane Harvey so destructive in Texas, and warming temperatures are likely part of the problem.” And now, Irma is becoming a threat, too.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/…/hurricane-harvey-clim…/ Let’s let our MoCs know that it is time to start being serious about our approach to climate change again.

4. Don’t Forget your Republican party job evaluation.
Do you have a Republican elected official working for you (state or federal)? Today is your chance to evaluate their job performance!
https://www.change.org/p/chair-mngop-com-mn-republican-part…

Congressional District 2 residents: Check out this website for information about groups and events in your area. mn02progressiveactionnetwork.com

September 8-10
The Energy Fair-St. Paul
Harriet Island Regional Park
200 Dr Justus O'Hage Blvd, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55107
http://TheEnergyFair.org/

September 12th 6-8 pm
Journalism: Facts Matter
University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management
321 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Charlie Callas Spinning Plates

Charlie Callas spinning plates. www.charliecallas.com

YOUTUBE.COM

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Monday
The August recess is over and our members of Congress will be getting back to work. The August recess was anything but quiet and relaxing. I hope you are ready for even more excitement.
1. DACA
One thing at which Trump seems to excel is being awful. This was galvanized yesterday when it was reported that Trump plans to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that allows almost 800,000 people, who were brought to America illegally as children, to live and work in the U. S. without fear of deportation. DACA was created by President Obama in 2012 by executive order which means Trump can get rid of it without Congress. I cannot imagine the stress and turmoil DACA children (known as Dreamers) must be experiencing right now. Many know no other life outside of America. The Center for American Progress estimates that the loss of DACA workers could reduce the U. S gross domestic product by $433 billion over the next 10 years.

It is now up to Congress to come up with a law to help the Dreamers. One way for them to get started is to support The BRIDGE Act. This act would allow individuals in the DACA program to work and live in America for up to three years. Learn more about it here: https://www.nilc.org/issues/daca/faq-bridge-act/

Here are the House and Senate Bills:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/496
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/128

This is a temporary fix, but a better option would be to support the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act would create a path for citizenship for those in the DACA program. Learn more about it here: https://www.nilc.org/…/drea…/dream-act-2017-summary-and-faq/

Here is the Senate Bill:
https://www.congress.gov/…/115t…/senate-bill/1615/cosponsors

Some House Republicans are saying that they are willing to make a DACA program law in exchange for funding for Trump’s Wall. That is a crappy deal. Today, let’s call, write, and or text our members of Congress and tell them to find a way to keep Dreamers in America.

Want to do more? Attend a rally tonight in front of the Republican Party headquarters from 4-7 p.m. Learn more here: http://defenddaca.com/

2. Controlling the Message
Take some time today to read this important article by Caroline O. about How Russian & Alt-Right Twitter Accounts Worked Together to Skew the Narrative About Berkeley. This article was an eye opener to me about how Russia is able to influence Americans through social media.
https://arcdigital.media/how-russian-alt-right-twitter-acco…

3. Dont Forget your Republican party job evaluation.
Do you have a Republican elected official working for you (state or federal)? Today is your chance to evaluate their job performance!
https://www.change.org/p/chair-mngop-com-mn-republican-part…

4. Rogan’s List: If you are looking for a way to lend financial support to the people struggling with the effects of Hurricane Harvey in Texas (in addition to supporting the Red Cross), NBC has put together a list of charities working in the region: https://www.nbcnews.com/…/hurricane-harvey-how-help-storm-v… Let’s give as generously as our circumstances allow.

Congressional District 2 residents: Check out this website for information about groups and events in your area. mn02progressiveactionnetwork.com

September 8-10
The Energy Fair-St. Paul
Harriet Island Regional Park
200 Dr Justus O'Hage Blvd, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55107
http://TheEnergyFair.org/

September 12th 6-8 pm
Journalism: Facts Matter
University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management
321 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

I have posted this song before but I think it bears repeating.

The Hamilton Mixtape: Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)

Official music video for Immigrants (We Get The Job Done) by K'naan featuring Residente, Riz MC & Snow Tha Product Donate $10 to Lin-Manuel’s Immigrants: We ...

YOUTUBE.COM

Friday, September 1, 2017

Friday 9/`1 Call to Action

Friday
1. Voting Rights Advancement Act (S1419)
https://www.congress.gov/…/115th-cong…/senate-bill/1419/text
In 2013, the Supreme Court voted to invalidate key provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The VRA’s was designed to protect minority voters and ensure that they have equal opportunity to vote in elections. Without the VRA protections, states can make changes to voting rules without submitting those changes for federal review. Now states can change voting district boundaries, voter identification requirements, and polling locations with little notice. This is already happening all over the country. Just look at North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Texas to name a few.
The Voting Rights Advancement Act was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Teri Sewell (D-AL) on June 21, 2017 and in the Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on June 22, 2017. Here’s a list of the protections the VRAA will provide:
1. Modernizing the VRA’s pre-clearance formula to cover states and localities with a pattern of discrimination;
2. Ensuring that last-minute voting changes do not adversely affect voters by requiring jurisdictions to publicly disclose all voting changes that occur 180 days before an election;
3. Expanding the Attorney General’s authority to send federal observers to any jurisdiction where it is believed there is a substantial risk of discrimination at the polls on election day or during an early voting period; and
4. Improving the voting rights for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives.

Both Sens. Klobuchar and Franken support this bill. Let’s call and give them a telephone high-five for protecting our right to vote.

2. ACA Sabotage
The Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land but that has not stopped Trump from trying to sabotage it. The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will gut the budget that was used to promote enrollment into into the ACA and aid to help consumers sign up for coverage. The deadline for enrollment has also been moved up. Read more about it here: http://www.msnbc.com/…/trump-administration-takes-aca-sabot…

If we can’t rely on our government to do the right thing we will just have to do it ourselves. Check out this Indivisible ACA Sign Up Project. By using social media, we can help spread the word about the ACA enrollment period.
https://www.thunderclap.it/projec…/61147-aca-signup-reminder

Congressional District 2 residents: Check out this website for information about groups and events in your area. mn02progressiveactionnetwork.com

Events for Labor Day weekend. Check out what’s happening in your neck of the woods.
http://www.mnaflcio.org/up…/2017-minnesota-labor-day-events…

Trump and Putin: The Art of Deal

Robert Reich explains how Putin stands to gain from Trump's presidency.

YOUTUBE.COM