Especially these days. Grad school's already taken its toll on my ability to blog with any regularity, but you throw in Voldemort and the alien from Men In Black getting elected as President and Shadow President, respectively, and a lot of my internet time goes towards upkeeping Do The Thing.
This has been mildly frustrating, because I think this blog's been a useful outlet for me to organize my thoughts. Particularly, writing forces you to take a bunch of feelings and put them down on paper in a way that's somewhat coherent. I like it when my internal voices are somewhat coherent.
Oh, also, been posting a bunch on Facebook, which is frustrating too because it's up to The Facebook whether anyone sees your post, whether it sticks around, whether you can even go back and dig it up if you try... For writing text on pages, give me web 1.0 any day.
In order to preserve some of the weirdness that have been my thoughts over the last few months, thoughts which have been shifting from "pondering things every so often" to "activist mode, go!", I'm going to try to copy paste some of my facebookery here. So this will be long, and maybe not so useful to you.
Oct 26: Kraynick's Bike Shop!
Raising enough money on Gofundme to buy a building is... ambitious. But Kraynick's is a Pittsburgh treasure, the place that taught me the most about bike parts, a great place to get back on the road if you're not real rich, and the kind of diverse hangout that I see less and less often.I'd always wondered what would happen when Jerry wanted to retire, and the answer is apparently this. Sounds like Rocky's going to keep the magic going, which is super exciting.
(Kraynick's fundraiser)
If you donate (any amount), let me know and I'll throw in another $10 per friend. Keep it goin'!
Nov 2
Hey. Canvassing in Pittsburgh. Saturday 10:30-2pm. 4250 Murray Ave (I think that's the greenfield giant eagle?).Edit: not this particular canvass, instead signing up at 9am and noon (and maybe 3?) Talk to Aaron Tarnow, he can sign you up.
Mostly because 538 is freakin me out, doing something helps reduce anxiety, and I'd hate not to do whatever I can. Join me?
Nov 4
Hey, if you're in a safe state and voting Hillary, or in a swing state and voting third party... Consider vote trading? https://apps.trimian.com/nevertrumpStill send your signal of "I don't like them" but make it less likely to accidentally vote in Trump along the way.
Nov 5
Knocked on 175 doors for Hillary todayNov 8: Vote a lot, y'all goons
And vote for the only presidential candidate remotely qualified to run for presidentAnd your local Democratic congressers, because i guess that's the only way we're ever allowed to do anything again
(PS. I canvassed two more batches, in Ohio this time! "Be humble when you do good deeds"- Jesus or something. "Nope I'm braggin', sorry"- me)
Nov 8
et tu, pennsylvania?Nov 10
Nov 10
just now, rando on street to lady: keep smiling!me to rando: hey, don't tell her to smile!
rando: huh?
me: what's it matter if she smiles or not?
rando: I said, "keep smiling!"
me: uh (as that doesn't make any sense, and I hadn't really thought this far ahead, I walk away. clearly, I've got to practice this.)
I was surprised to learn that I guess this is a thing I do now. sharing not to boost myself, but to suggest you can do this too. if the wave of mini-trumps (people emboldened to be mean by one lar
ge meanman) is gonna happen, well, so is the wave of mini-anti-trumps.
(+ long interesting discussions! Kind of sad Facebook isn't saving those.)
Nov 11
If there's one good thing about all this, it's that I see more people getting more active online. More people than I've ever seen (in my circles) were phone banking, canvassing, vote volunteering, talking about local elections. Maybe we're not going to change anyone's mind by posting to our filter bubble. But if we can collectively use our filter bubbles to encourage each other to get active, and stay active, well... we've got a lot of power here.In other words, in an increasingly scary world, we all gotta do politics now. And if you used to do Level 1 Politics, now you do Level 2 Politics, and so on.
Now let's keep it up, for four years or more. Do good things. Stop bad things. Talk about it. Support each other.
Nov 11
Why is "Smile!" bad? (It's not the Political Correctness police)Nov 12
Got no phone till the 18th! (soonest the replacement battery can come in, if you'd believe it, even in the age of Amazon.)This'll be interesting. I'll still get your texts and stuff when I get to my computer, but don't expect a quick response. (as if you were anyway :P)
Nov 14
How and why to contact your congress people:http://www.house.gov/ has a nice "find your rep." Mine (most of SF) is Nancy Pelosi. Look on her site for her district office's phone number (I've heard that's better than the DC office). Hers is (415) 556-4862.
http://www.senate.gov/index.htm has a nice "find your senator." In CA ours are Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. Their numbers are (510) 286-8537 and (415) 393-0707.
(They've also got email links, but phone makes for a better chance to listen, according to an internet thing going around.)
Anyway, call them all the time. Make them sick of hearing you. Right now I'm calling to get them to fight the appointment of Steve Bannon, the admittedly anti-semitic head of fact-free garbage fire Breitbart News. (tbh, I'm not even sure if they can do anything. If you've got better ways to fight this, let me know.)
Pittsburghers: your rep is Mike Doyle (412) 390-1499 and your senators are Bob Casey (412) 803-7370 and Pat Toomey (412) 803-3501.
Westlake Ohio folks: your rep is Jim Renacci (412) 803-3501 and your senators are Sherrod Brown (216) 522-7272 and Rob Portman 216-522-7095.
(edited to add Clevelanders and to get everyone's local numbers in there.)
Nov 14 Anti-Steve-Bannon call to action (<10 h4="" min="">1. Call your congress people!
SF: Rep. Pelosi (415) 556-4862, Sen. Boxer (510) 286-8537, Sen. Feinstein (415) 393-0707.
Pgh: Rep Doyle (412) 390-1499, Sen. Casey (412) 803-7370, Sen. Toomey (412) 803-3501
Tell them Bannon's a dangerous white supremacist who runs an irresponsible conspiracy theory website and deeply unqualified. (Even Glenn Beck agrees, FWIW.)
2. Call Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (202) 225-0600 and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (202) 224-2541, tell them the same thing.
3. If you're Jewish, call AIPAC at 202-639-5200. Dial 2 for a live person & then 2 for legislative affairs. Tell them you're an American Jew who won't stand for an anti-Semite in the White House and demand AIPAC speak out. (thanks Henry Kraemer! NB. he and I don't condone AIPAC as a whole, esp on Palestine; this is a subset from his post.)
4. Remember: this is step 1 in the million step march back to a reasonable country.
(disclaimer: I'm making this up as I go. let me know if there's a better way to do any of this.)
Nov 15 Step 2/1000000 back to a more reasonable country: elect Foster Campbell in Louisiana.
He's a moderate Democrat senator in a last-minute runoff race (Dec 10), and electing him would push the senate from 52R-48D to 51R-49D.
How does this help "win the senate"? Well, right, Dems can't "control the senate", but in a time when every congressperson votes party line so often, needing only two moderate Republicans instead of three is a big difference.
Why do we need the senate? Well, the House is suuuper Republican, so the senate is kinda the last line of defense to stop crazy Trump idea number N.
Can we win this? Heck yeah. It's historically a low-turnout thing, so a little more voter turnout can turn it.
I'm still trying to figure out what to do. In the meantime I threw some money at him and signed up to phone bank. Here's more about him and here's his website
Nov 16 Step 3/1000000: back Planned Parenthood.
Because who knows what'll happen to their funding. And who knows what'll happen to women and their rights in this administration. Yesterday, I set up a recurring monthly donation. You probably have room in your budget to do so too.
ps. hate abortions? fine; you should back planned parenthood too. via birth control and education, they're probably stopping more abortions than any grandstanding "ban abortions!" politician.
pps. "dan, why send money to PP instead of malaria bed nets?" "fair question, dan; donating to where it can do the best good is usually the best call! I haven't quite figured this out yet, but two things: 1. I might not have the luxury of time to figure this out, and 2. this isn't coming out of my bed nets money."
Nov 17 Step 4/1000000: back the Southern Poverty Law Center.
https://www.splcenter.org/ You can hit "donate" in the top right. They seem to be one of the leading voices stopping hate crimes and protecting rights of marginalized groups.
I suggest this today because I wanted to post something more like this: http://joshuafoust.com/this-is-not-normal/
... but that's not a concrete thing to do. But, I mean, read that essay.
Trump is not a normal president-elect. Look, conservative friends and family (if you're still with me here on facebook, and if so, thank you), I grumble plenty about republicans, but if you wanted to swap out Trump for Kasich/Rubio/Romney/McCain, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Those guys are normal politicians I tend to disagree with, but they wouldn't start World War 3 or Japanese Internment Camps 2 (Muslim Version).
Read also Sarah Kendzior, i.e. this tweet: https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/798904511054094336
She's a PhD anthropologist and journalist who's studied authoritarian regimes and sees us on exactly the same path.
Don't let anyone convince you this is normal now. Don't let anyone tell you to "give Trump a chance"; he's had a chance to talk to us ad nauseam for 12 months and he's given us a stream of consciousness of authoritarianism and hate.
Nov 18: Step 5/1535 (days until Jan 20, 2020): Call your congresspeople again.
Bookmark this list. (thanks to Stacey for bringing it to my attention.) Do the Weekly Call to Action.
B-side of this post: don't get distracted arguing about exactly what are all the problems with a Trump presidency and how big each one is. In particular, stop arguing how racist Trump himself is or isn't. Like this.
Trump's certainly got a real racist campaign. Is it 60/100 or 95/100 racist? Is he a 58% racist populist who mistakenly attracted David Duke and the KKK, or a 99% racist who's cloaking his words until he can finally ban all Muslims? Who cares! Bouie's right to say that racism and economic populism are intertwined, so the simple "well, we're with him on the jobs, but not on the racism" is a nice sentiment but doesn't make a ton of sense.
Agree with this. But don't let it stop you! Trump is a disaster in so many ways! And while you've been arguing about who gets a scarlet R stitched on their shirt, dude's nominating this guy for National Security Advisor (in addition to the rest of these ding dongs), straight-up making up facts, and one of his people has threatened to criminalize any kinda mean ol' protest that stops us from the sacred act of shopping
More at SSC
C-side of this post: These next four years are going to demand holding a lot of balances in your mind and body. You're going to have to be angry enough to take action, but not so depressed that you shut down. You're going to have to be outraged along with black/hispanic/Muslim/female/LGBT friends, while not blowing up at white/white/Christianish/male/straight friends who are still learning and saying stuff that's on the right track but sorta missing a point. Patient and educating, and not patronizing. Confident enough to take action, but open to learning from people with more lived experience than you. It'll be emotionally hard work. Make sure you have the support you need, and be kind to those who are fighting the same fight in a slightly different way than you.
Ok, get back to it. Did you call your congresspeople yet?
Nov 19 Step 6/1535: back the ACLU.
I guess the congresspeople are out of the office today. I'm wondering what's the best thing to do on weekends - send them emails/website messages? do they even read those?
In the meantime, the ACLU does good work, and will be ever more necessary as our civil rights (and especially more marginalized people's) become more infringed under the autocrat-elect.
I'm recurring-donating. Give 'em what you can. If you're my facebook friend, you can probably afford another recurring donation. (don't worry, this won't become a habit.)
Nov 20: Step 7. Folks, we're almost 0.5% of the way there.
Here's a concrete thing you can do today: Trump's got a survey about what we want him to prioritize in his first 100 days. Naturally, most of the options are terrible. But if you vote "Not Important" on most of them and "Highly Important" on the couple semi-palatable ones, maybe he'll get busy with some medium-bad (or maybe even good) things and hold off on doing the worst of the worst? Here's the ones that to me sound not-terrible on their face: 9, 12, 20, 25, 26. If you want to stretch, 5 and 6 maybe wouldn't be as awful as immediately.
(My reasoning, which you can skip if you want: 9 and 20. Congressional term limits and bans on then becoming lobbyists for 5 years - sounds fine to me? 12. Deducting childcare and eldercare from taxes - like, I don't really like complicating the tax code _even more_ to do what we want, but it seems harmless enough. 25 and 26. Sure, help vets. Guess we can all agree on that. 5. his tax plan is basically "a lil tax cut for the middle class and a big tax cut for the rich like me" but seriously, get him busy with taxes and not banning Muslims. 6. "infrastructure" probably means "more roads for more cars", but like it might not?)
Thanks to Cole for pointing this out to me. Meta-question coming (in a separate post): should I make this series of "daily things to do" a blog or something more permanent?
Nov 20 Would you like me to start a daily blog of something you can do to fight Trump?
I've been posting for a week now, every day, a little step you can actually do. Emphasis on: action, kinda-quick things, specificity to my social circle (so like I'll post particularly PA and CA congresspeople), contribution from y'all, 80/20 benefit kind of things, large number of people doing a little bit things.
I'm thinking about making it a blog or other daily thing to keep that WTF fire going after our initial anger subsides.
Questions for you, and you can respond in comments or emoji/reactions (edit: oh hell you can only do one reaction, whoops, I'll try to edit descriptions so reaction-responses make sense. edit edit: "like" is overloaded - you might just read the first sentence and hit "like" - so now "I like this but I'm not sure if I'd subscribe" = "haha"):
- do you think I should do this, but you're not sure if you'd subscribe? (do a "haha" if so.)
- do you think I should do this, and you would subscribe? (do a "heart" if so.)
- blog or daily email newsletter?
- what platform? I think the couple of quick features I'd like are the ability to queue up posts (in case I'm traveling or something) and easily crosspost to facebook.
- should I not do this because it's obnoxious or self-aggrandizing? (feel free to do an "angry"/"sad" if so; promise not to look at who posted those, and if I accidentally see them, I honestly value your input.) I want to keep my ego very much out of this, and I'd even make it fully anonymous, unless my identity can help (b/c I know y'all, or because of my personal privilege and connections w/ privileged people).
- do you think this is a great idea, and you'd like to be part of a small "feedback group" where I'd bug you more often for help making little decisions about details of it? (do a "wow" if so; "heart" is in that case implied.)
Nov 21: 8/1535. Ok, your daily Thing To Do, and sorry it's so late: call again about the barrage of conflict-of-interest scandals.
What to do: pick three people from this list:
https://oversight.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/
I called Mike Turner (OH) (937) 225-2843
Brendan Boyle (PA) (215) 517-6572
Ted Lieu (CA) (323) 651-1040
(I would say call the House Oversight Committee 202-225-5074 and Rep Jason Chaffetz at (801) 851-2500 but their voice mails are full. Which outrages me on a different level, of course.)
Script:
I'm ---- ----- , a constituent calling to let the commitee know that I support Rep. Elijah Cummings's call for a bipartisan review of Trump's “financial arrangements” for potential conflicts of interest before he’s sworn in as president. Please ask Chairman Chaffetz to immediately begin conducting a review to ensure that President-elect Trump does not have any actual or perceived conflicts of interests. I want the Committee to make sure Trump and his advisors comply with all legal and regulatory ethical requirements.
(end script, but you can continue if you want.)
More context: Trump, who campaigned on "draining the swamp" and "crooked Hillary", either doesn't know or doesn't care about conflicts of interest between being president and running his business. In the last week, he's:
- Telling foreign diplomats to stay at his hotel
- Badgering Argentina to let him build a hotel
- Sending his business to his kids in a not-blind-trust, while his kids are on his transition team
- Meeting with Indian business partners about expanding his business, with his kids
This is defunct-government kleptocracy stuff.
Bonus points: call Paul Ryan 202-225-3031, press 2 for the Obamacare poll, and listen to a long spiel, and press 1 to say you support Obamacare.
(It's a real thing... AND the bill he's trying to pass to stop Obamacare also freezes funding to Planned Parenthood for a year. h/t Mark T. Tomczak)
Nov 22: 9/1535. Call your reps again. Protest Trump's transition team.
Remember how "Trump might not be that bad, because he'll surround himself with the best people?" Not at all happening.
Call your reps.
SF:
Dianne Feinstein (415) 393-0707
Barbara Boxer (510) 286-8537
Nancy Pelosi (415) 556-4862
Pittsburgh:
Bob Casey (412) 803-7370
Pat Toomey (412) 803-3501
Michael Doyle (412) 390-1499
(Reading from elsewhere? let me know.)
I made up this script myself.
"I am calling to ask that Rep/Sen _______ refuse to work with the Trump transition team until Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions are removed from his staff.
Steve Bannon is a white supremacist who runs a fake news site.
Jeff Sessions is the most virulently anti-immigrant and anti-civil-rights congressperson, and immigrants are what make our country great.
In addition, we'd like to oppose the nepotism and brashness that's leading Trump to nominate Mike Pompeo and Michael Flynn. They're both unqualified and dangerous.
(for senators) Finally, I'm asking you to sign on to Jeff Merkley's letter against Bannon.
"
More on Sessions
Pompeo
Flynn
I remember reading an article about why concretely Pompeo and Flynn are train wrecks, but I don't remember details well enough to put em in the script. Let me know if you do.
Nov 23: 10/1535: ok bear with me, I don't think this is too foil-hat, but let me know
Please take one minute and call/email the DOJ - Department of Justice: 1-800-253-3931 (press 5) or 202-353-1555 (leave message) or email: voting.section@usdoj.gov and tell them to audit the vote.
Like, it's _possible_ (I'd give it 1%?) the election was hacked. (sci-fi stuff? well... we've had Russian hackers openly influencing the election (Podesta) already.) Halderman's article below explains how.
And if it were, the results are enormous. So call it a low (but not ultra-low) probability, high-effect action. (and like, auditing voting results isn't super expensive. why not?)
There'd be a huge fit if it turns out Clinton actually won and Trump isn't inaugurated. Riots. But I'd rather have riots now than four years of insanity.
(does the DOJ care? uh, that's unclear too.)
more
Nov 24 It's now officially thanksgiving, so I'll post 11/1535.
It's a day you might spend with family and/or friends. That's cool. Your congresspeople will not be at work, so no need to call. Instead, take this opportunity to:
- listen to "that uncle", if you get a chance. You can listen thoroughly without agreeing. Listen harder. Listen for their feelings. They don't honestly care about Benghazi or private emails. Listen for what's making them say that, and try to understand that.
- but do not give in, and do not agree! Trump is not normal. Trump is not "just another president" you disagree with, as everyone in your life until now has been. After you listened _so hard_, they will do some listening to you. (usually.) They will probably respect some of the arguments you make, especially if you can distance from "politics as usual." (Make it clear that you'd swap for a Romney or McCain in a heartbeat.)
- and, like, take a break a bit? We're in it for the long haul, not the sprint, so the occasional breather is probably healthy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/opinion/no-trump-we-cant-just-get-along.html
Nov 25 DAY 12 OF 1535 days until we get sane again: Call your reps again.
Is it a holiday? I don't even know! Leave a message. (technically this post is for Friday but I'll be gone most of the day so I'm posting early.)
First, your House rep. Urge them to support and speak out about Katherine Clark's HR 6340, the Presidential Accountability Act. Makes the President and VP stop doing business that they would benefit from while in office (as is the case for every other elected official.)
SF: Nancy Pelosi (415) 556-4862
PGH: Michael Doyle (412) 390-1499
Others: http://usecalltoaction.com/
While you're at it, get in a jab on Jeff Sessions. Because he's the gosh dang worst: “As sworn testimony revealed, Mr. Sessions had referred to the N.A.A.C.P. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as “un-American” and “Communist inspired.” He had joked that he thought the Ku Klux Klan was “O.K.” until he discovered some of its members smoked pot, and had accused a white attorney who supported voting rights of being a race traitor.”
Then call your senators and tell them to oppose Sessions too.
"I'm (name), and I'm calling to ask (senator's name) to denounce and oppose the appointment of Jeff Sessions, because he's a terribly racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-civil-rights congressperson."
SF:
Dianne Feinstein (415) 393-0707
Barbara Boxer (510) 286-8537
Pittsburgh:
Bob Casey (412) 803-7370
Pat Toomey (412) 803-3501
Interested to do more, maybe call the following senators to oppose Sessions too? They're on the Judiciary committee but not terribly pro Trump.
Senator Jeff Flake (R — AZ): (202) 224–4521
Senator Lindsey Graham (R — SC): (202) 224–5972
Senator Michael S. Lee (R — UT): (202) 224–5444
Finally, bonus points (unlikely to matter but super easy), click all these
Nov 26 Hey! Here is a thing to do for day 13/1535.
The simplest What To Do:
Call your senators
CA:
Dianne Feinstein (415) 393-0707
Barbara Boxer (510) 286-8537
PA:
Bob Casey (412) 803-7370
Pat Toomey (412) 803-3501
And tell them to pass an omnibus appropriations bill instead of a continuing resolution. This will ensure the funding for at least another year for important programs like the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Family Violence Prevention Services Act (FVPSA) and Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).
But much more context in the thorough post below. Thanks to whoever brought it to my attention, and sorry I don't remember who it was! I will keep better track of your recommendations in the future.
Nov 27 ok y'all, 14/1535: Call about Trump appointees.
This time, shout out Bannon again, because dude definitely has to go. Another person to suggest your reps fight is Kris Kobach, hard-line anti-immigrant lawyer who keeps writing laws that get struck down as unconstitutional. He's not up for any job in particular yet but Trump's been meeting with him, so look out.
Nov 28
ello friends. it is day 15/1535 until Jan 20, 2021. (I'm not sure if my math is quite right.)
Today's task: give Foster Campbell some money. (Link below.)
He is the democrat senate candidate in Louisiana, and they're having a special runoff election in 2 weeks. If he wins, senate is 51R-49D. If not, it's 52-48. 51-49 means we only need to get two Republicans to change their mind on any ridiculous Trump thing, which is way easier than getting three.
If you want me to make even one more decision for you: give him $25. (If that is too much, no worries, give less.) I already gave him some money but I today gave him some more money.
Anyway, it's day 15/1535. I'm not sure if my math is quite right, but we are about 1% of the way there. It's like being at mile 0.26 of the marathon. We have a long way to go, but celebrate getting this far.
Nov 29 16/1535: it's Conflict Of Interest Day!
What to do:
1. email siggerudk@gao.gov, minellit@gao.gov, congrel@gao.gov.
Subject: Support Sen. Warren's Audit
Text:
Dear Ms. Siggerud and Mr. Minelli,
My name is (name), I'm a US citizen (or omit if appropriate; I don't know if this matters but I figure it must?), and I'm writing in support of Senator Elizabeth Warren's request for an audit of our incoming President Elect's finances, to prohibit conflicts of interest that would prevent him from carrying out the responsibilities of the office without corrupt influence.
Thank you very much,
Name
2. That was just an email, you're not getting off that easily. Pick someone on this list: http://www.foreign.senate.gov/about/committee-membership (I picked Flake. I think I'm gonna get to be good buddies with Flake.) and say:
My name is [NAME] and I am calling to let the Senate Foreign Relations Committee know that I support Senator Cardin’s resolution to ensure that our president-elect’s foreign dealings do not violate the US Constitution. Trump’s financial dealings could pose a threat to our national security.
3. Call the House Judiciary Committee at (202)225-3951 and say:
Hi, my name is [NAME]. I'm calling to express my strong concern about President-Elect Trump's many conflicts of interest. House Bill 6340 would require him to address these conflicts of interest. I strongly urge you to support this bill. Thank you.
4. pat yourself on the back and post a Haha or a comment! you have taken one tiny step towards fighting the ridiculous corruption that steps into the white house when Trump takes office. (Again, this is not a Republicans vs Democrats thing. Trump is _already_ trying to boost his hotels with the presidency, the kind of thing that happens in undeveloped kleptocracies. It's never been like this here.)
Shout out to Stacey K's Weekly Calls group, Natalya from said group, and Rebecca Solnit.
Nov 29
hey, do you think mainstream culture imposes a double standard on whites, and puts us in impossible situations where anything we might say or do is wrong?
if so, I propose a trade for you: read this, by a much better writer than me: https://weeklysift.com/2016/11/28/should-i-have-white-pride/
and I'll read an article of your choice.
Nov 30 17/1535: Two things.
1. ah geez keep calling about all the frickin trump appointees. today, the following three:
Tom Price, Sec of Health: http://gizmodo.com/trump-s-pick-for-health-secretary-is-tot…
Steven Mnuchin, Sec of Treasury. http://www.vanityfair.com/…/steven-mnuchin-foreclosure-mach…
Betsy DeVos: http://networkforpubliceducation.org/…/tell-your-senator-t…/
Your Senators:
SF:
Dianne Feinstein (415) 393-0707
Barbara Boxer (510) 286-8537
Pgh:
Bob Casey (412) 803-7370
Pat Toomey (412) 803-3501
Script I just made up:
Hi, my name is (name) and I'm a constituent living in (city). I'd like to ask senator (X) to oppose Trump appointees Tom Price, Steven Mnuchin, and Betsy DeVos. Price consistently votes against women's rights and will lead to millions losing health coverage, Mnuchin is a Goldman Sachs banker who ran a foreclosure machine OneWest (which is particularly frustrating given Trump's promise to "drain the swamp"), and DeVos is an enemy of public education who will further defund our already-hurting public schools. Thanks.
2. Read (at least part of) this article by George Lakoff. (You may know him from his book "Don't think of an elephant.") If you only have a moment, jump to the end, where he provides three new terms we can converge on to discuss Trump smartly:
- Loser/Minority President
- Betrayer of Trust
- Corrupt
Republicans always (at least in my lifetime) do memes better than Democrats. (god, even just think of "crooked hillary", when by _any_ measure Trump himself is wayyyy more crooked.) We've got to start fighting back as smartly as they fight. Loser, Betrayer, and Corrupt are three solid memes that
Dec 1 18/1535: phone bank for Foster Campbell.
(the democrat Louisiana senator who's got a runoff election in 9 days, and who could tip the senate from "very very difficult to stop anything trump does ever" to "just very difficult".)
Try this link http://action.lademo.org/…/711064…/60a8ee7f/2092074282/VEsH/
and if we're lucky, it'll connect you to their campaign on this crazy online speed-dialing thing. Apparently you just do the talking and that's it. Seems like a super rapid-fire way to call a lot of people and maybe pick up a few votes. Just do it for 5 minutes.
If that link doesn't work, sign up on http://www.fostercampbell2016.com/volunteer for "digital phone bank."
Disclaimer: I am sad to say that this is the first day I didn't (yet) do the thing I'm telling you all to do, because I don't have a phone, because of this dumb three week saga of companies failing at things. Long story. As soon as I get a new phone, though, I'll make up for it by doing 10 minutes.
Your moment of hope: it's no longer November 2016. November has been The Worst Month I can remember: we apparently elected a corrupt minority president, we got bedbugs, and to top it off I grew this awful mustache goatee thing for Movember. Shout out to all of you dealing with prostate cancer, or dealing with someone who has it; also, shout out to it not being the Worst Month anymore. Clean shaven again and looking to a better December.
Dec 2 19/1535: Gotta get up early tomorrow so I'm posting this one early. How about trying a letter to the editor?
For example, to the Cleveland Plain Dealer
or the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Here's the crummy janky letter I came up with on the spot. I include this although it makes me cringe, in order to encourage you. You don't have to be a Shakespeare to write a letter. Just keep it short and not crazy. Today I tried out writing about corruption, because under Trump there'll be a lot of it.
Letter for the Plain Dealer
President-elect Trump will enter office with a monumental stream of conflicts of interest. As just two examples, he's got a $950M loan with the Bank of China and a party by the Kingdom of Bahrain at his hotel. In the meantime, he's not selling his business interests or putting them in a blind trust, he's giving them to his children.
I've lived in Cleveland most of my life and know that this city won't stand for this kind of corruption. Please call Sen. Portman at 216-522-7095 and Sen. Brown at 216-522-7272 and urge them to support Ben Cardin's resolution, "Urging Trump to Comply with Constitution by Truly Severing Relationship with Private Business", and the Presidential Accountability Act.
Dec 2
Finally got my phone back. Finally #krabbin again, for great justice.
Dec 3 20/1535 (early post for Saturday): Phone bank for Foster Campbell (Louisiana senator) again.
Just another 5 minutes. I finally got a phone so I did it today. It's kind of hard, because I dislike bugging people, but kind of fun. The system handles a lot of the nitty gritty of dialing. OR if you really can't bring yourself to phone, donate another $5. Why today? Because it's the last day of early voting in Louisiana. (Why is there a gap between Early Voting and Actual Voting? beats me.)
Yeah, it's one tiny piece of one race, which is one tiny piece of the Senate. But it's something, and you're doing it today, and that's awesome. In addition, it's a tangible thing for a real race; enjoy it, we won't have that again for a while.
We're about due for a Call Your Reps again, but it's a weekend, and anyway I'm trying to figure out how best to contact your reps. I'm wondering if calling the ones who agree with you all the time is the best way to do it. Also trying to figure out if it matters if you call someone where you don't live. I guess your congresspeople are only supposed to listen to their constituents, but... unless they ask (and some do ask) how do they know?
Anyway, if any of you have ever worked in a congressperson's office, or know someone who has (besides Emily Ellsworth's excellent tweet-series going around), let me know.
Dec 4 21/1535. Call A Republican Congressperson Day!
Call Pat Toomey at (814) 453-3010 and urge him to pressure Trump to clean up his conflicts of interest, and oppose Donald McGahn in particular. McGahn is the recent appointee for White House Counsel, and one would think he'd be the one to keep Trump as minimally corrupt as possible, but if you read a bit about him, you'll understand why I'm dubious that will happen.
OTOH, call Rep Justin Amash ("a-mosh") (R-MI) at (616) 451-8383 and thank him for being one of the rare Republican dissenters who's not falling in line behind everything Trump does. He's been at least speaking up against Trump's more egregious mistakes. Thank him for speaking up about issues like Trump's conflicts of interest and not imposing arbitrary penalties on flag burning, and urge him to translate his tweets into action.
(and before you say it, yep, Amash has flaws! But he's doing one thing right, and that's a start.)
Link 1 Link 2
No scripts, you can go it alone!
Dec 5 22/1535: hey I made a mailing list. Go sign up.
Also made a website: http://www.dothething.info
Daily conflict of interest mess: call General Services Administration Administrator Denise Roth at 202.501.0800 and Inspector General Carol Ochoa at 202.501.0450 to ask them to end their business relationship with Trump and his family, because of the $180 million lease he's got on the Old Post Office Pavilion.
(does this seem like small potatoes? like, what's $180 million when he's got the entire $trillions US budget to deal with? well, I figure, he's going to try to direct those trillions to increase his millions, and that's going to hurt us all.)
More info and a list that looks good to sign up for
bonus points: sign a petition
Dec 6 23/1535: We're gettin' into the weeds again, but...
Write a polite letter to a member of the electoral college that's pledged for Trump, and ask them not to vote for him. Conveniently, here's a list of the Pennsylvania electors and their addresses. Conveniently also, there's no law in PA against "faithless electors", so they can legally vote how they want.
For the ones with "@pagop.org" addresses, you can imagine they probably won't vote for Hillary. But perhaps you can appeal to them to vote for John Kasich or someone else. If we get them under 270, I guess the House decides who's president, and I mean a Kasich/Rubio/whoever presidency wouldn't be great, but it'd be better than this clown.
I just hand wrote three gosh darn letters, and it is a rough day when you've got me writing paper letters. Don't let me down here.
Bonus points: reserve tickets to Trump rallies so there are empty seats (More)
Also: sign up for the mailing list at http://www.dothething.info!
Dec 7 24/1535: Climate day
First of all, sign up for this mailing list: http://www.dothething.info
and get these posts as email. I'll be out of town for the weekend so might not facebook-post for a few days but I've got some good stuff queued up, so make sure to get the email to continue doing the thing.
Back to the main story:
One thing I want not to focus on is daily news blah. Especially in the Trump era, where he can tweet "Donuts are good!" and then the day's news is preempted by thinkpieces, polls, and hot takes about whether donuts are actually good. (Some recent examples include Hamilton and Air Force One.) We've got to stay on top of what's more important.
With that in mind, get back on the phone. Call your reps and ask them to promote this letter from 800 scientists and Scientific American asking Trump to take climate change seriously.
Or you can summarize:
- publicly acknowledge human-caused global warming is happening and is a big threat to avoid being the only world leader denying it
- promise not to renege on the Paris climate agreement
Dec 8
Another day, another KRABBY, bringing the spirit of Pittsburgh to SFO
Dec 9 25/1535: Phone bank for Foster Campbell again
Reminder: Louisiana has a funny election where there's one more runoff vote for senate on Dec 10. Foster Campbell, democrat, might win the last senate seat up for grabs. That would be a good thing.
Sign up for their mailing list, selecting "Digital phone bank", and you'll get an email with instructions (probably today but maybe tomorrow?). It's pretty easy and like kind of fun. Do it for 5 minutes, or 10.
(Want this as an email with links? Subscribe at http://www.dothething.info)
Dec 10
For the Rodriguez-Rozas-Botran wedding, or "Boda RRB", I figure an appropriate thing is to post a k(RR)a(B)y. Congrats Cristina y Juanma!
Dec 12 29/1535: wait Russia meddled with our friggin elections
ok, so the CIA says "yep it was Russia who leaked Hillary's campaign manager's emails" and Trump's like "I dunno, that CIA, they're probably biased."
I try to highlight things where I think the GOP and Dems should agree, and this seems like one of them. ("but you would say that, b/c you're a democrat" -- I kinda wish it was the Democrats who'd gone bonkers so I'd be more credible here. let's be clear: if Russia had gotten Hillary elected, that'd be just as terrifying.)
What do we do about this? I don't know, and that's part of the reason it took me so long to get out today's post. I think this is the most important news that came out over the weekend, but not super actionable.
I guess, call:
Sen Lindsay Graham (R-SC) (864) 250-1417
Sen John McCain (R-AZ) (520) 670-6334
Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (502) 582-6304
and say something like "Thanks for pointing out that it's important that Russia meddled in our elections. The influence of any other country in our most sacred of institutions should not be tolerated. Please continue to push Trump on this. Also, please reject Rex Tillerson, Exxon Mobil CEO and official friend of Russia, because his ties to Russia and Putin would have dangerous effects on our democracy."
Bonus points: Lamar Smith, chair of House Committee on Science etc, has a survey about "What should our priorities be?"
click "Other" and type "Climate change mitigation" (thanks Caitlin!)
Dec 13 30/1535: Michael Flynn, Security Advisor and Conspiracy Theorist
(reminder: http://www.dothething.info if you want to get more of these in your email - and I may stop posting them on facebook at some point)
Anyway, Flynn is Trump's pick for National Security Advisor. He keeps spreading rumors of "Shariah Law" spreading throughout the US, which sounds scary but is absolutely false. More about the guy: seems ok with torture, friend of Russia, fired from the DIA.
(ok, I lied. if you read the first article I linked, turns out _his son_ is the worst. Flynn Jr is a fan of obnoxious conspiracy site Infowars, recently tweeted to spread rumors of Pizzagate, which led to someone shooting an assault rifle at a pizza place based on ridiculous conspiracy theories that Hillary and friends were running a child sex ring from said pizza place.) (seriously!) (the podcast Reply All has an entertaining recap of it) (Flynn Jr is no longer officially working with their transition team, though, so feel free to disregard this paragraph if that seems more fair.)
Flynn Jr's Pizzagate or Flynn Sr's Shariah, this kind of thing is particularly worrisome because believing in nutty conspiracy theories undercuts any other logical thinking. If you're Trump and your advisors are whispering how half of Florida and Texas and Michigan are all under Shariah law because of the creeping influence of "Radical Islamic Terror", how can you possibly make sane choices? How can you avoid being crummy to US Muslims and starting another war with ISIS or the brown-skinned enemy du jour?
Sadly, this position doesn't require Senate confirmation. Still, there's resistance to him, which I guess means something. Add to that resistance, I suppose, by calling your folks.
Dec 14: 32/1535: Become an Editor of Do The Thing
Hi friends! I'm noticing a problem in my research for Do The Thing: the well of actionable, useful, bipartisan-ish, easy-to-find things to do is only so deep. This is likely because I'm trying to read all the news, so I don't get much depth into any particular issue. I could use your help to develop that depth.
You can help by becoming a co-editor. This would mean:
You take one day of the week and one big issue. (for example: corruption, authoritarianism, climate change, racial justice, women's rights, international relations, you name it.)
We all get access to this Mailchimp account and you log in whenever and post one thing a week.
Try to follow the guidelines on the website under "What's in a Do The Thing email" but even those are just guidelines. (and you're not limited to the topic you pick.)
For your weekly time commitment, I'm thinking no more than 2 hours, and it's totally whenever you have spare time and an internet connection. Plus, if it turns out you can't do it after a couple months, no worries, we just find a replacement.
We've got over 62 people in 15 states subscribed and doing stuff now, and it keeps steadily growing. Help keep this group's awesome momentum going and level up to a Level 2 Activist yourself.
(still could use two more, and most topic areas are pretty open!)
Dec 17
Hey I guess install this browser extension to help stop fake news a little bit. Not gonna fix the problem but it seems likely to help sort of.
(By the way, did I mention sign up for http://www.dothething.info?)
Dec 19
On a less political note, I finished a new bike. Details
But remember: everything in our government is still on fire! Sign up for this: http://www.dothething.info
(now written by not just me but also 7 people who are smarter and better writers than me)
Dec 20 We wish you a KRABBY Christmas
Dec 21 Scene: in airport, killing time.
Dan: oh there's a Brookstone, we can go look at some useless stuff!
Tati: what's a Brookstone? What do they sell?
Dan: like I said, useless stuff.
Tati: like what?
Dec 22
Trump again, and I'm tryin' to be bipartisan again. (I'm a lefty and I'm worried that he's gonna kill Obamacare and our public schools and etc., but whatever.)
I'm more worried about World War 3.
http://reverbpress.com/politics/biggest-threat-trump-presidency-need-start-preparing/
He could bungle China into war (seeing as his current stance is "who needs diplomacy?"), allow another 9/11 ("who needs intelligence briefings?"), bungle Iran into war (seeing as he and his folks all hate anything less than bullying Iran into submission), or let the next Russian land grab turn into a NATO-splitting war. If/when any of those happen, please don't fall for it.
(how'd I do on bipartisan? does it matter? is anyone who disagrees listening?)
Dec 27
Ok, so I'm all out of Trump voters on my newsfeed, it seems, so back to rallying our friends instead of trying to convince the few outliers.
The first thing I'm most afraid of in Trump's America is blundering into World War 3. But the second thing I'm most afraid of is a broad campaign of moving goalposts. Remember: it wasn't Obama causing "gridlock." A "climate contrarian" is a climate change denier. The "alt-right" are white supremacists. We are all in bubbles, not just one "liberal bubble." Those of us who sometimes pay four dollars for coffee are not the "elites."
But Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says it better than me. Read her article instead.
Dec 28
Feeling Beatley today. Also feeling, as always, KRABBY.
Dec 31 Semi-contrarian news sources: who do you like?
I like the following:
The Economist, which I just started Paying Dollars For, which seems centrist to the point of boring, sometimes mildly conservative, sometimes what we in the US would call "liberal" and what most of Europe would call "centrist."
Slate Star Codex, the wonderful blog of Scott Alexander, who talks about important issues in depth AND understands statistics. Sometimes I disagree with him. Sometimes I start off disagreeing with him and end up agreeing with him! Or at least, realizing that I might be wrong. Here's a sampler on vouchers vs public schools. SSC reminds me that, yeah, I generally believe the standard US liberal position on most things. But some things very strongly (climate change is real and we should work hard to stop it now) and some things kinda weakly (having good, well-funded public schools seems like the best way? but I am not very sure of that.)
Chris Arnade at the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/chris-arnade
Guy gives a great view into "the forgotten corners of the US", where it did indeed seem like America needed to be "made great again."
I like to read sources like this. I am not inclined to just "read Breitbart or Fox or some right wing news so you know what the right wing is feeling", because, I mean, you won't learn what I'm thinking by reading Daily Kos. But if you've got some smart news sources that make you occasionally think "yeah, huh, maybe I'm wrong here", let me know. (bonus points if they're RSS-able!)
Jan 3
The only thing making me hopeful this morning is turning on facebook and seeing that you all are sharing this too: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/with-no-warning-house-republicans-vote-to-hobble-independent-ethics-office.html
This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a series of unsexy but ruthlessly effective bureaucratic maneuvers.
(by the way CALL YOUR HOUSE REP NOW and tell them to vote against this abomination: "My name is (name) and I live in your district in zip code (zip) and I want Rep (name) to vote against the Goodlatte (pronounced "good-let") amendment, because it would weaken ethics oversight in the house. Independent watchdog groups have warned against this move, and we need to keep an independent Office of Congressional Ethics." or make your own script.)
(find your rep: http://www.house.gov/)
Jan 3
Hey SFers. These guys seem to have their stuff together. And they're running for Democratic party delegates, and we go vote on Sunday morning at 10am in the Mission. And it's a tiny lil election so nobody will be there. But I'll be there at 10. Or maybe like 10:30. Let me know if you can join me!
Jan 3
Ok, 2017! Starting off strong!
There are still many things bad about this story (Trump getting credit for saving the OCE when he really said "guys let's gut the OCE later", for one), but I'm counting this, where Americans rose up en masse and said "yes we like ethics and will fight corruption," as a good sign.
We did this! If you "wasted" an hour this morning calling a bunch of congressers, you did this! (I know I did.) Calling your people works; keep it up!
(and subscribe to http://www.dothething.info - now with 84% less me and 600% more wonderful other people posting!)
Jan 7
First of all, this is the best (warning: it is loud, and the best): https://youtu.be/Y-dMSstLDqM
Second of all, a topical KRABBY.
Jan 9
Trump's team is causing ethical problems. Again.
This time they did this:
- nominate a bunch of rich people for cabinet (most of whom haven't served any government office before)
- not send all the required disclosure forms to the Office of Government Ethics
- try to rush through confirmation hearings before the OGE can properly vet them
This is unprecedented. And if it sounds like procedural blahblah, these procedures are there for a reason. We wouldn't want to, for example, put in a Sec of Agriculture, and later find out that they own a large portion of Kraft or McDonald's. (or, more likely, find out they own a portion of some megafund that owns a chunk of some offshore bank which owns a chunk of some supplier to some company that owns a chunk of Kraft - point is, conflicts of interest are Bad, and we should know about them.)
Call your senators! If your senators are democrats, you might still call them anyway; you can also try the following, who were pretty friendly:
Johnny Isakson (R-GA) (770) 661-0999 (Senate Select Committee on Ethics chair)
Christopher Coons (D-DE) (302)736-5601 (SSCE vice-chair)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ) 602-840-1891 (I dunno, I've just been calling him a lot)
Each call takes literally less than ninety seconds. You can do 3 calls in 5 minutes. You can use the script in Sheila's post below. Do ittttttttt.
(More info)
Jan 9
also, hey: you are a person who goes to rallies now. you're a person who shows up, in person, to fight authoritarianism and corruption, to fight the downfall of our democracy, to fight for America to be better for all its people.
here is one: Bernie's hosting rallies for health care on Sunday. here is a page you can find the closest one. I'll be at SF city hall. See you there.
edit: and apparently one about climate change today at 5pm at Feinstein's office in downtown SF?
http://www.350bayarea.org/day_against_denial_170109
I'm a person who goes to rallies now, if only to be a warm body to boost counts of "N,000 people showed up to fight climate change denial."
Jan 9
Hey yo. Here right by Feinstein's SF office with the local 350.org folks, telling her to reject Tillerson, Pruitt, Zinke, and Perry.
Of *course* I have some misgivings: isn't Feinstein already against them? These signs yelling about "Big Oil" - when you say "Big (Noun)" I automatically think you're a nut, right? Should we actually ban fracking everywhere?
But, as one of my mom's co-workers would say, it's directionally right. Someone just said "we're going to be doing this a lot over the next 4 years." And that's what I'm here for. Step 437 of 73848858 for the resistance.
Jan 13
Havin' a change of mind on whether you should call reps who don't represent you. I guess the answer is no. https://www.thefourfiftyone.com/episodes/2017/1/9/episode-4-never-give-up-never-surrender
In addition to having a basically-zero effect, you might also be hurting locals by tying up the phone lines. If Senator Montana does a dumb thing, and I call Senator Montana, they will be polite and listen to me for my 30 seconds or whatever, and then hang up and do nothing. In the meantime, an actual Montanan might get a busy signal.
I know you guys have already been telling me this. Ok, I guess you're right. I think I didn't believe it because I didn't want to believe it. It seems so unfair that I can't do anything to influence Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, or really any republican congressperson, especially given how the Republican majorities are doing a ton of stuff that affects all of us. But I guess we should just try to affect them in different ways.
(or, maybe we should call them and just lie about our addresses? or bend the truth? that seems like it would come back to bite us. but I also don't want to be facing an election in four years, after the Republicans run rampant with voter suppression, abolishing ethics offices, etc, and going "well we can't possibly win any election ever again in our new one-party state, but at least I didn't call the wrong congressperson." eh. I'm leaning towards "don't do this", but I'd be interested in your opinions too.)
Jan 15
Here at a rally with Nancy Pelosi at SF city hall to ... Not take away millions of people's health care. Vote more - get out in the streets!
Edit to add hashtag: #ourfirststand
Jan 16
Ohio friends:
Sen Rob Portman (R) has been expressing doubts about repealing the Affordable Care Act (aka the ACA, aka Obamacare). Call him to tell him to keep it up, and fight repeal of the ACA. Tell your personal story (briefly) about how the ACA has helped you, if possible. (202) 224-3353
Your phone call matters. I could call him, but because I don't live in Ohio, my phone call doesn't matter. Please make this phone call in my place.
(please call even if you didn't like Obama. the ACA is not perfect, but if it is repealed, a lot of people will die; the GOP slogan is "repeal and replace", but they have no replacement in mind so they'll let you pay through the nose, or die, while they durdle about it forever.)
Jan 19
Hi friends in SF and nearby! I have to get some people for some studies in order to do a thesis and maybe graduate someday, so if you could help me out I'd really appreciate it. I will make it as convenient as possible for you. (As well as pay you $15, though I know your time is worth more than that, but it's all I can pay :-P)
Do you like traveling, neighborhoods, and learning about new cities? Wish there was a better way to learn about a place before visiting it?
Give us feedback on our Neighborhood Guides website and earn $15 for 1 hour. This site aims to bring together social media, photos, maps, and statistics to help you get a sense of a neighborhood before you visit.
Book a session here: (link) or contact Dan at (email).
This site is being created as part of research in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Participants must be at least 18 years old.
Jan 19
also if any of you need an android phone, I've got a Nexus 5x I'm looking to sell. (it broke, I sent it for repairs figuring it wouldn't get fixed... and then they fixed it 2 months later, but I had already bought a new phone.) let's say $150.
Jan 21
SF friends: if you are looking for friends to march with, Tati and I are meeting at Four Barrel coffee (14th and Valencia) at ~4, leaving around 4:30, to catch the end of the rally/start of the march. Join us!
(I will have my phone but can't rely on having cell service, so apologies in advance if I don't respond)
Jan 21
So cool to see everyone marching, here and in other cities all over Facebook today. We ARE the majority, and this is the kind of stuff we need to do.
"The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice, even if you sometimes get these nasty power grabs from corrupt goons." - MLK, or something
Jan 22
Trump's main strategy is "just lie." It's important that we recognize this and call it as such.
And it's important to pull out completely-verifiable claims and thoroughly debunk them, so that we have a baseline estimate of who we can trust: not the president. Especially if it becomes a battle of "the press vs. the prez" - Trump actively wants you to mistrust the press, but they are way more reliable than he is.
That's why estimates of crowd sizes matter. (Politifact)
Don't all politicians lie? Sure, but to a different extent. If Obama said something, we could assume that it's, eh, half true. If Trump says something, our baseline assumption should be that it's false. Not "semi-weaselly political spin"; _completely false_.
(by taking medians of their fact-checked statements.)
Why bother now? Why not wait until it's a lie that matters?
See Klein's post, and this.
Jan 22
A SKRUB is a KRAB who thinks he's fab
Jan 25
Hey! I only know a couple people in these states, but Cheryl Saffles and Jonathan II are, and you probably know better than I do what's wrong with DeVos - so get all y'all's friends and call this guy:
Richard Burr (NC) 336.631.5125..&..202.224.3154..&.. 910.251.1058..&..828.350.2437
(and just say "I hope Senator Burr will vote no on Betsy DeVos.")
More info:
We are 3 votes away from denying confirmation to Betsy DeVos!!!
If you live in any of these states, or know someone who does, *please please please* call your Senators. If it's busy, keep trying, because phone calls are the most effective.
Susan Collins (ME) 207.622.8414..&..202.224.2523
Lamar Alexander (TN) 615.736.5129..&..202.224.4944
Lisa Murkowski (AK) 907.586.7277..&..202.224.6665
Johnny Isakson (GA) 770.661.0999..&..202.224.3643
Orrin Hatch (UT) 801.524.4380..&..202.224.5251
Richard Burr (NC) 336.631.5125..&..202.224.3154..&.. 910.251.1058..&..828.350.2437
Michael Enzi (WY) 202.224.3424
Dr. Bill Cassidy (LA) 202.224.5824
Pat Roberts (KS) 202.224.4774
Tim Scott (SC) 202.224.6121
Rand Paul (KY) 202.224.4343
(Copy/paste rather than click the share button so more people see it)
Jan 29
Hell yes SF. Heard that everyone being detained was released. These great American people, including me, will keep protesting as long as this kind of thing keeps happening. #sfoprotest
Jan 31
Your moment of hope: even Fox News viewers are on our side. (See poll answers) http://nation.foxnews.com/poll/index.html
Liberals and conservatives both: this is Bannon and Trump vs all of us.
---
ok gosh this was exhausting. not planning on doing this regularly, but I thought it was interesting to look through.
SF friends: if you are looking for friends to march with, Tati and I are meeting at Four Barrel coffee (14th and Valencia) at ~4, leaving around 4:30, to catch the end of the rally/start of the march. Join us!
(I will have my phone but can't rely on having cell service, so apologies in advance if I don't respond)
So cool to see everyone marching, here and in other cities all over Facebook today. We ARE the majority, and this is the kind of stuff we need to do.
"The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice, even if you sometimes get these nasty power grabs from corrupt goons." - MLK, or something
Trump's main strategy is "just lie." It's important that we recognize this and call it as such.
And it's important to pull out completely-verifiable claims and thoroughly debunk them, so that we have a baseline estimate of who we can trust: not the president. Especially if it becomes a battle of "the press vs. the prez" - Trump actively wants you to mistrust the press, but they are way more reliable than he is.
That's why estimates of crowd sizes matter. (Politifact)
Don't all politicians lie? Sure, but to a different extent. If Obama said something, we could assume that it's, eh, half true. If Trump says something, our baseline assumption should be that it's false. Not "semi-weaselly political spin"; _completely false_.
(by taking medians of their fact-checked statements.)
Why bother now? Why not wait until it's a lie that matters?
See Klein's post, and this.
Hey! I only know a couple people in these states, but Cheryl Saffles and Jonathan II are, and you probably know better than I do what's wrong with DeVos - so get all y'all's friends and call this guy:
Richard Burr (NC) 336.631.5125..&..202.224.3154..&.. 910.251.1058..&..828.350.2437
(and just say "I hope Senator Burr will vote no on Betsy DeVos.")
More info:
We are 3 votes away from denying confirmation to Betsy DeVos!!!
If you live in any of these states, or know someone who does, *please please please* call your Senators. If it's busy, keep trying, because phone calls are the most effective.
Susan Collins (ME) 207.622.8414..&..202.224.2523
Lamar Alexander (TN) 615.736.5129..&..202.224.4944
Lisa Murkowski (AK) 907.586.7277..&..202.224.6665
Johnny Isakson (GA) 770.661.0999..&..202.224.3643
Orrin Hatch (UT) 801.524.4380..&..202.224.5251
Richard Burr (NC) 336.631.5125..&..202.224.3154..&.. 910.251.1058..&..828.350.2437
Michael Enzi (WY) 202.224.3424
Dr. Bill Cassidy (LA) 202.224.5824
Pat Roberts (KS) 202.224.4774
Tim Scott (SC) 202.224.6121
Rand Paul (KY) 202.224.4343
(Copy/paste rather than click the share button so more people see it)
Your moment of hope: even Fox News viewers are on our side. (See poll answers) http://nation.foxnews.com/poll/index.html
Liberals and conservatives both: this is Bannon and Trump vs all of us.
