MPEN – Page 102 – Minority People's Email Network

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0204

From: Munsup @Siscom Seoh
Subject: FW: Asian Registry? No drilling on sacred Native lands; How to spot ‘Fake News’ with a corollary and …; and more

FW: As I See It: Stop Massachusetts from creating an unconstitutional ‘Asian Registry’
FW: NYT Today’s Headlines:
(1) Abuse Case Exposes Fissures in a White House in Turmoil
(2) Kelly Says He’s Willing to Resign as Abuse Scandal Roils White House
(3) Kentucky Rushes to Remake Medicaid as Other States Prepare to Follow
FW: Oppose Senator Rubio’s proposal that could lead to Social Security benefit cuts
FW: Sign if you agree: No drilling on sacred Native lands
FW: How to spot ‘Fake News’ with a corollary and Trump Shows Us the Way

From: SB WOO
Subject: FW: As I See It: Stop Massachusetts from creating an unconstitutional ‘Asian Registry’

WE must stop such a legislations, and don’t let it spread from MA to other states. – SB Woo

Please sign the petition here:
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-bill-h3361-profiling-people-based-on-race-and

As I See It: Stop Massachusetts from
creating an unconstitutional ‘Asian Registry’

A controversial Massachusetts bill, the Asian Data Disaggregation Act (H.3361), is under consideration by the state legislature. If enacted, it would require “all state agencies, quasi-state agencies, entities created by state statute and sub-divisions of state agencies” to identify Asian American, and only Asian American, people based on their country of origin or ancestry.

Continue reading by clicking one of these links:

From: New York Times
Subject: Today’s Headline: (1) Abuse Case Exposes Fissures in a White House in Turmoil
(2) Kelly Says He’s Willing to Resign as Abuse Scandal Roils White House
(3) Kentucky Rushes to Remake Medicaid as Other States Prepare to Follow

Abuse Case Exposes Fissures in a White House in Turmoil
By PETER BAKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN
Aides to President Trump said they remained confused and upset over the handling of the accusations against Rob Porter, the staff secretary who stepped down.

Kelly Says He’s Willing to Resign as Abuse Scandal Roils White House
By MAGGIE HABERMAN, JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
A resignation by the chief of staff, John F. Kelly, was not considered imminent, but his suggestion reflects the turmoil engulfing President Trump’s staff.

Kentucky Rushes to Remake Medicaid as Other States Prepare to Follow
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
The state will require many people to work, volunteer or train for a job to qualify for coverage — and to prove it with frequent documentation.

From: MARGARET PETERS
Subject: Oppose Senator Rubio’s proposal that could lead to Social Security benefit cuts

I just signed a petition to urge Congress to reject a new proposal from Sen. Marco Rubio that could lead to Social Security benefit cuts. I hope you will sign and share it:
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/ss-trump-rubio?sp_ref=385260781.4.185850.e.597870.2&referring_akid=27205.1920731.Ysj_H4&source=mailto_sp

From: Josh Nelson, Deputy Political Director, CREDO Action from Working Assets
Subject: Sign if you agree: No drilling on sacred Native lands

No drilling at Chaco Culture National Historical Park

The petition to the Bureau of Land Management reads:
“Protect one of our nation’s most significant cultural and historical Native sites. Stop the proposed fossil fuel lease sales near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.”

Add your name: Sign the Petition

If the Trump regime’s war on public lands wasn’t already dangerous enough, Big Oil is now set to destroy one of the nation’s most significant cultural and historical sites if we don’t stop them.

On the heels of Donald Trump’s reckless decision to slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, Trump and his fossil fuel regime are ready to hand over drilling rights near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, threatening more than 1,000-year-old Puebloan artifacts and structures of immense cultural, historical and tribal value.

Public lands enemy Sec. Ryan Zinke, who oversees the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), plans to put these lands up for lease to the fossil fuel industry this March. We must act now to prevent these sales from moving forward.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: No drilling across the Greater Chaco Landscape. Click here to sign the petition.

The areas in and around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park contain the threatened ruins of Chaco Canyon – what some have referred to “as close as the U.S. gets to Egypt’s pyramids and Peru’s Machu Picchu” – as well as “the remnants of great houses, kivas, ancient roads and sacred places built a millennium ago by an indigenous people who became proficient in architecture, agriculture, astronomy and the arts.”^1,2 Today, the Navajo people rely on the Chaco Landscape to sustain their livelihoods and traditional practices, and modern New Mexican Pueblos, the descendents of Chaco culture, still consider these sites sacred.³

In response to massive backlash by the public and Native people to potential drilling and fracking in the region, the BLM promised tribal leaders and lawmakers that it would delay lease sales inside a 10-mile radius of the park until 2020, when the agency could complete a full assessment to determine the impact drilling would have on ancient sacred sites and public health.

But last summer, the BLM reversed course, and in accordance with Sec. Zinke’s plan to rapidly open up public lands for fossil fuel drilling, put up nearly 4,500 acres of land in Greater Chaco for sale, some of which lay within the buffer zone, potentially endangering sacred sites.⁴

Right now, progressive activists and tribal leaders are organizing protests on the ground to resist this wholesale giveaway of sacred Native lands to the fossil fuel industry.⁵ We must have their backs and demand that the Trump regime back down from these lease sales immediately.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: No drilling across the Greater Chaco Landscape. Click the link below to sign the petition:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no_chaco_drilling?t=7&akid=27217%2E1004336%2Es7wdkh

Add your name: Sign the Petition

Elizabeth Miller, “‘As close as the US gets to Egypt’s pyramids’: how Chaco Canyon is endangered by drilling,” The Guardian, Nov. 8, 2017.
Richard Moe, “The Treasures of Chaco Canyon Are Threatened by Drilling,” The New York Times, Dec. 1, 2017.
Sen. Tom Udall, “Udall, Heinrich, Luján Urge Secretary Zinke to Defer All Leases on Land Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park,” Sept. 6, 2017.
Rebecca Moss, “N.M. leaders urge feds to protect Chaco from oil and gas encroachment,” The Santa Fe New Mexican, Sept. 8, 2017.
Rebecca Moss, “Over 100 protest BLM plans to lease land near Chaco Canyon for fracking,” The Santa Fe New Mexican, Jan. 17, 2017.

From: Eric Kramer
Subject: How to spot ‘Fake News’ with a corollary and Trump Shows Us the Way

How to spot ‘Fake News’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7eCB2F89K8
with a corollary:

https://thedailybanter.com/2018/02/study-shows-trump-supporters-now-basically-unreachable/

and Trump Shows Us the Way
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/10/opinion/sunday/trump-shows-us-the-way.html?smid=fb-share

We want a president who understands that sexual and physical abuse are wrong. As a more lucid Trump tweeted in 2012 about Rihanna getting back together with Chris Brown, “A beater is always a beater.”
We don’t want a president who bends over backward to give the benefit of the doubt to neo-Nazis, wife beaters, pedophiles and sexual predators — or who is a sexual predator himself. We don’t want a president who thinks #me is more important than #metoo.

and Trump Gives Wife Beater Praise He Usually Reserves for Child Molesters and Nazis
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-gives-wife-beater-praise-he-usually-reserves-for-child-molesters-and-Nazis

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0203

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: FW: Sound familiar??? Sign the petition against ‘Military Parade’; MoveOn official vote results on “Launch ‘Resist and Win’?”; and more

FW: Sound familiar???
FW: Schumer Agrees to Give up Shutdown Fights for Two Years, in Deal That Would Deprive Senate Democrats of Power
FW: ** Official vote results on “Launch ‘Resist and Win’?” **
FW: Sign the petition re: Military parade
FW: This U.S. Senator just tore Trump to pieces
FW: Nancy Pelosi is NOT backing down [read before dinner!]
FW: I just signed this petition telling governors not to collaborate with Trump to end Medicaid.
FW: Happening now: Resist Trump’s racist, xenophobic plan to rip apart families.
FW: One of History’s Foremost Anti-Slavery Organizers Is Often Left Out of the Black History Month Story
FW: Just received this: THIS IS WORTH THE FEW MINUTES IT TAKES TO READ AND DIGEST!

From: Eric Kramer
Subject: Sound familiar???

From the physician’s medical diagnosing coding guidebook. Sound familiar???

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: Schumer Agrees to Give up Shutdown Fights for Two Years, in Deal That Would Deprive Senate Democrats of Power l Truthout

Schumer Agrees to Give up Shutdown Fights for Two Years,
in Deal That Would Deprive Senate Democrats of Power

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43483-schumer-agrees-to-give-up-shutdown-fights-for-two-years-in-deal-that-would-deprive-senate-democrats-of-power
Thursday, February 08, 2018 By Sam Knight, The District Sentinel | News Analysis

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer make their way to the Senate floor after announcing a two-year deal on the budget earlier in the day on February 7, 2018. (Photo: Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call)

No ads, no subscription fees — instead, Truthout is fueled by generous donations from readers. Want to support our work? Click here to donate.

Senate Democrats look poised to relinquish significant leverage — the threat of withholding government funding — well into the next Congress.

Leaders from the Senate Majority and Minority said Wednesday that they agreed to a budget deal that would roll back short-term funding norms spearheaded by Congressional Republicans during the Obama administration.

The agreement would eliminate so-called sequestration caps created by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The spending limits were agreed to by Congress after Tea Party Republicans threatened to shutdown the government.

The compromise would hike spending on defense and domestic programs by $300 billion, and it would keep the government funded through October 2019.

“After months of legislative logjams, this budget deal is a genuine breakthrough,” said Chuck Schumer (D-NY) from the Senate floor. “After months of fiscal brinkmanship, this budget deal is the real first sprout of bipartisanship, and it should break the long cycle of spending crises that have snarled this Congress and hampered the middle class.”

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also hailed the agreement. Speaking just before Schumer, he said: “For the first time in years, our armed forces will have more of the resources they need to keep America safe.”

The Pentagon, which received $700 billion this year, would see funding increase by $169 billion.

According to Schumer, the deal would boost spending on healthcare programs, infrastructure and higher education. The agreement would bolster community healthcare grants, while extending funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by four years until 2027.

It would also deprive Senate Democrats of a tool they could use to stymie the Trump administration, which has been plagued by repeated accusations of Executive Branch abuses, including unprecedented nepotism and conflicts of interest, and obstruction of justice in the FBI inquiry into alleged election meddling in 2016. Republicans have the majority in both houses of Congress, but need Senate Democrats to guarantee that budget legislation won’t be filibustered.

Schumer said the deal was hammered out “without a great deal of help from the White House,” but Presidential aides praised the development. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that it would offer “certainty” and a “much needed” boost in defense spending.

The House might have other plans, however. Influential hardline conservatives look set to oppose the agreement. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), chair of the Freedom Caucus, came out early against the proposal, according to NBC News.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also said that she won’t back the deal, according to The Hill.

Pelosi repeated demands for a government funding agreement that includes consideration of Dreamers — 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children. The cohort had been granted protections from removal proceedings under the Obama administration. Last year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the program would expire in March

In his floor speech on Wednesday, McConnell said that the Senate would soon have an open debate on immigration legislation. He said there would be a “level playing field at the outset,” and that the Majority and Minority would “alternate proposals for consideration and for votes.” According to Reuters, the debate is expected to occur next week.

Before backing the Senate deal, Pelosi is asking House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) to schedule similar deliberations.

“Without a commitment from Speaker Ryan, comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support,” she said on Wednesday.

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Sam Knight is a reporter, editor and cofounder of The District Sentinel, a news co-op reporting on Washington and federal policy for the left.

From: Ilya, Stephen, Maria, Marie, and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Political Action
Subject: ** Official vote results on “Launch ‘Resist and Win’?” **

The votes are in: MoveOn members have voted 91% to 9% for MoveOn to run the biggest midterm elections program in our history, so today we are taking a big leap and launching the program.

And this decision comes not a moment too soon, because the past week has brought a spate of troubling headlines from the nation’s top election experts, such as “What Happened to the Democratic Wave?” and “The Last Two Weeks of Polls Have Been Great for Republicans. Do They Signal a Shift?”^1,2

The New York Times put it this way: “Last month it seemed that Democrats might ride a giant tsunami to control of the House and Senate. Now, some are wondering whether there’s a Democratic wave at all.”³

If we needed evidence that winning big in November is not a foregone conclusion, we have it. So we are getting to work right now systematically putting the pieces in place to win in November.

But launching a campaign of this size is a huge leap of faith, because it will require a substantial and consistent flow of funds between now and November in order to succeed. And our funding comes from you, our members, not billionaire donors. So to pull off this $15 million campaign, we need your support.

Can you start a monthly donation to MoveOn today to help power our campaign to win big at the ballot boxes this November?

Donate monthly or make a one-time gift

So what’s behind headlines like these today from CNN and The Washington Post: “Republicans are suddenly more optimistic about the midterms” and “Improving poll numbers give Republicans hope that the midterms might not be so bad”?^4,5

Polls are swinging toward Republicans. Donald Trump’s approval rating is the highest it’s been in nearly a year.⁶ And the Democrats’ large advantage on the “generic ballot”—polls that ask people which party they would support in upcoming congressional elections—has evaporated to only a small lead.⁷

Here’s our best understanding of what’s happening: Corporate America has teamed up with Republicans in Congress and their billionaire donors to boost public opinion on the new tax law, touting and shining attention on companies announcing meager, one-time bonuses for some workers rather than the multibillion-dollar windfalls showered on the top 1%. And it’s working.

Public opinion of the new tax law is shifting, even though the reality is that the vast majority of tax giveaways benefit billionaires and big corporations. And a majority of voters now say they approve of how Trump is handling the economy—and that Trump, not President Obama, is primarily responsible for the economy’s health.⁸

That’s why the road to winning in November begins now. Together, we’re launching our largest midterm campaign ever, a $15 million effort to end Republican control of the House, win key Senate races, support 100 strong, diverse, progressive candidates for state and local office, and mobilize voters in every corner of the country. And we need to start right now if we are going to have enough funds to sustain us through November.

Click below to start your monthly donation today to help fund this critical grassroots election campaign.

Donate monthly or make a one-time gift

We’ve resisted mightily this past year. Sometimes we’ve even succeeded against all odds.

And now it’s time to electoralize the Resistance. November is coming. Let’s resist—and win.

Thanks for all you do.

P.S. Here’s our elections plan in a nutshell:

We’ll work to support 100 candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives to end Republican control of Congress—so we can expand the map, support a slate of progressive challengers, hold incumbent Republicans accountable for their votes, and put an end to attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, give handouts to massive corporations, and continue countless attacks on our communities.

We’ll endorse progressive candidates in key Senate races and support 100 diverse, dynamic, fierce down-ballot candidates to build up progressive power at the state and local level around the country.

We’ll build on the grassroots organizing tactics and technology that we developed and tested in 2017—tactics in the areas of recruitment, training, voter persuasion, mobilization, organizing, social media, mobile tools, tech, analytics, and video. For example, last year with our partners, we led a series of Ready to Resist mass mobilizing calls that regularly engaged tens of thousands of activists, and we also organized a Resistance Summer training program that supported 1,000 MoveOn members across the country as they developed powerful organizing skills. We will mobilize these members and train even more to lead this year.

We’ll run a campaign that stands shoulder to shoulder with the communities most impacted by GOP attacks and policies—including Muslims, immigrants, LGBTQ folks, and people of color. These communities have been consistently used as scapegoats to mobilize Republican voters during elections. We will push back on candidates of either party who throw vulnerable communities under the bus to win elections, and we’ll elevate candidates who authentically channel the voices of the diverse American electorate.

We’ll scale our innovative social media persuasion testing and delivery technology that proved effective at persuading and turning out thousands of voters in both Virginia and Alabama last year. MoveOn’s tech and mobile teams developed a new peer-to-peer messaging platform, Spoke, that has already been responsible for mobilizing 60,000 grassroots actions. We will put all of these tools to work in service of our electoral objectives in 2018.

We’ll fund this work with hundreds of thousands of small-dollar contributions from MoveOn members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. And, if necessary, we will launch a Super PAC to enable us to collect more resources to maximize the power of MoveOn members. (The Super Pac would be time-limited, we’d disclose the names of donors giving over $200 publicly to the FEC, and we’d shut it down after the close of the election.)

It’s a big, ambitious plan, but it will be possible only with your support. Will you start a monthly donation now?

Donate monthly or make a one-time gift

Sources:

“What Happened To The Democratic Wave?” FiveThirtyEight, February 1, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33484?t=8&akid=198521%2E1195276%2EXONrks
“The Last Two Weeks of Polls Have Been Great for Republicans. Do They Signal a Shift?” The New York Times, February 2, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33485?t=10&akid=198521%2E1195276%2EXONrks
Ibid.
“Republicans are suddenly more optimistic about the midterms,” CNN, February 8, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33486?t=12&akid=198521%2E1195276%2EXONrks
“Improving poll numbers give Republicans hope that the midterms might not be so bad,” The Washington Post, February 8, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33487?t=14&akid=198521%2E1195276%2EXONrks
“Trump’s Approval Rating Is the Highest It’s Been in Nearly a Year, Poll Finds,” Time, February 3, 2018
http://act.moveon.org/go/33488?t=16&akid=198521%2E1195276%2EXONrks
“Are Democrats Winning The Race For Congress?” FiveThirtyEight, last accessed February 8, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33104?t=18&akid=198521%2E1195276%2EXONrks
“Republicans are suddenly more optimistic about the midterms,” CNN, February 8, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33486?t=20&akid=198521%2E1195276%2EXONrks

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump’s agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation’s pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Donate monthly or make a one-time gift

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

From: Stephen Miles, Win Without War
Subject: Sign the petition re: Military parade

Donald Trump wants a massive demonstration of military power in Washington, D.C. A war parade would be a waste of our taxpayer dollars, would not do anything to keep our country safe, and would not honor the men and women in uniform. Its entire purpose is to let Trump play dictator for a day, further eroding democracy, and pushing our country even closer to authoritarianism.

Sign the petition calling on D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council to reject Trump’s plans for a military parade through our nation’s capital.

Trump’s war parade must not be treated as normal.
Prevent Trump from holding a dangerous war parade in Washington, D.C.

Sign Stephen’s petition

Trump wants to send tanks, troops, and guns down the streets of Washington, D.C. This is the kind of parade that dictators around the world use to try and intimidate their enemies and, more importantly, their own citizens.

The truth is the money wasted on feeding Trump’s desire to see tanks and missiles paraded past his luxury hotel is money our nation desperately needs turning the lights back on in Puerto Rico, providing treatment for the opioid epidemic, making college affordable, and countless other needs Trump seems to have no interest in meeting.

This is not democracy.

Urge Washington, D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Council to act immediately and shut down Trump’s war parade by refusing to issue permits, allocate resources, or otherwise cooperate with such an outrageous idea.

Click here to stop Trump’s war parade, and then pass the petition along to your friends.

From: Important! Progressive Takeover Update
Subject: This U.S. Senator just tore Trump to pieces

SIGN YOUR NAME: [24 hr deadline]
Stand with Tammy Duckworth to take down Donald Trump >>

Tammy Duckworth just took Trump to task for being a DICTATOR:

Yes Tammy!! We’re so grateful that she’s speaking truth to power — so we’re asking 5,000 Democrats to stand with her.

If you want to take down Donald Trump, sign your name right now:

SIGN YOUR NAME >>

Trump’s bruised ego is undermining our democracy. He’s certainly not a dictator of an authoritarian regime (even if he might act like it):

But Senator Tammy Duckworth won’t have any of it.

We think Tammy is so right! Donald Trump ALSO took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. It’s high time he started doing so!

Let’s stop Trump’s dangerous nonsense in its tracks!

We need just 5,000 Progressives to sign on by midnight tomorrow.

SIGN YOUR NAME >>

From: BREAKING [SIGN THIS PETITION by PROGRESSIVE TAKEOVER]
Subject: Nancy Pelosi is NOT backing down [read before dinner!]

SIGN NOW: [12 hour deadline]
Sign to STOP Republicans from deporting Dreamers>>

We’re working on borrowed time.

We only have just hours to force Republicans to do the right thing — and pass a budget that PROTECTS Dreamers.

So we’re sending a massive grassroots petition to Washington.

If we don’t get enough signatures — 800,000 Dreamers could face deportation.

There’s NO time to spare. Sign to STOP Republicans from deporting Dreamers:

SIGN THE PETITION >>

Trump is playing games with our immigration system and threatening ANOTHER government shutdown if he doesn’t get his way.

Even with a new bipartisan bill on the table, Trump continues his racist rhetoric to dismantle President Obama’s efforts to defend Dreamers.

Demand Congress take action NOW to protect Dreamers.

SIGN THE PETITION >>

It’s time we settle this once and for all. Dreamers are American in every way, but one. Congress must act before time runs out.

Click the link below to sign our petition:

https://act.progressivetakeover.org/go/Protect-Dreamers-Now

From: MARGARET PETERS
Subject: I just signed this petition telling governors not to collaborate with Trump to end Medicaid. I hope you will sign and share it.

I just signed this petition telling governors not to collaborate with Trump to end Medicaid. I hope you will, too.

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/trump_medicaid?sp_ref=384670421.4.185477.e.596332.2&referring_akid=27171.1920731.8MVmQR&source=mailto_sp

From: Monique Teal, Daily Kos
Subject: Happening now: Resist Trump’s racist, xenophobic plan to rip apart families.

Yesterday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took to the House floor to share stories of young undocumented people who have been put in peril by Trump and Republicans in Congress. She bore witness to their struggle for a little more than eight hours.

She spoke of people like Denea, who has lived in the U.S. since she was seven and now as an adult is a community organizer. She shared stories of sisters like Alex, a 19-year-old college student, and Daniela, a 24-year-old small business owner. She uplifted patriots like Zion, who is currently enlisted as a reservist cargo specialist in the U.S. Army.

Immigrant youth are in a fight for their lives. We need Republican members of Congress on board to get a floor vote for the Dream Act. Please, make a call today.

Call Representative Michael R. Turner at (202) 225-6465. Demand he support a floor vote for the Dream Act ASAP.

Hi, my name is _______ from ___________ in city ____________. I am calling to urge Representative Michael R. Turner to demand a floor vote on the Dream Act. Immigrant youth are already losing their DACA protections. We can’t wait for Congress to work out a massive immigration overhaul and it’s cruel to leave immigrant youth in limbo. Enough is enough. Please demand a vote on the Dream Act TODAY. Thank you for your time.

Once you’ve placed the call, click here to tell us how it went. We are keeping a running tally of calls.

Finished your call or can’t get through? Sign and send a petition to Representative Michael R. Turner: Immigrant youth can’t wait. Pass the Dream Act NOW!

ADD YOUR NAME

As Pelosi was speaking, immigrant youth took over the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress finally pass the Dream Act, legislation that would protect them from deportation and provide a pathway to citizenship, provided they fulfill a laundry list of requirements.

Donald Trump and his racist, xenophobic administration are demanding an extreme, sweeping immigration overhaul in exchange for protecting immigrant youth. But his deal would rip families apart, further criminalize people of color, and cut legal immigration by half. It’s a non-starter for anyone with a conscience.

Eighty-one percent of Democrats, 51 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of independents support providing legal status to immigrant youth. There is no reason for Republicans to continue holding immigrant youth hostage.

Representative Michael R. Turner needs to feel the same urgency as Leader Pelosi and immigrant youth. Tell them to reject Trump’s racist, anti-immigrant plan. Pass the Dream Act now.

Call Representative Michael R. Turner at (202) 225-6465. Demand he support a floor vote for the Dream Act ASAP.

Hi, my name is ______ from ________ in the city of ________. I am calling to urge Representative Michael R. Turner to demand a floor vote on the Dream Act. Immigrant youth are already losing their DACA protections. We can’t wait for Congress to work out a massive immigration overhaul and it’s cruel to leave immigrant youth in limbo. Enough is enough. Please demand a vote on the Dream Act TODAY. Thank you for your time.

Once you’ve placed the call, click here to tell us how it went. We are keeping a running tally of calls.

Finished your call or can’t get through? Sign and send a petition to Representative Michael R. Turner: Immigrant youth can’t wait. Pass the Dream Act NOW!

ADD YOUR NAME

From: Wahls, Myron DDS Detroit [mailto:Myron.Wahls@ssa.gov]
Subject: FW: One of History’s Foremost Anti-Slavery Organizers Is Often Left Out of the Black History Month Story

I thought you would be interested in this story I found on MSN:
One of History’s Foremost Anti-Slavery Organizers Is Often Left Out of the Black History Month Story
http://a.msn.com/01/en-us/BBIPVi2?ocid=se

From: Jedith
Subject: Just received this: THIS IS WORTH THE FEW MINUTES IT TAKES TO READ AND DIGEST!

A woman dies at age 65 before collecting one benefit check. She and her employer paid into the system for almost 50 years and she collected NOTHING!

Keep in mind all the working people that die every year who were paying into the system and got nothing! And these governmental morons mismanaged the money and stole from the system, so that it’s now going broke. BEAUTIFUL! and they have the audacity to call today’s seniors “vultures” in an attempt to cover their ineptitude. DISGRACEFUL! The real reason for renaming our Social Security payments is so the government can claim that all those social security recipients are receiving entitlements thus putting them in the same case as welfare, food stamp recipients.

THIS IS WORTH THE FEW MINUTES IT TAKES TO READ AND DIGEST!

F.Y.I. By changing the name of SS contributions it gives them a means to refute this program in the future. It’s free money for the government to spend under this guise.

The Social Security check is now (or soon will be) referred to as a *Federal Benefit Payment*? I’ll be part of the one percent to forward this. I am forwarding it because it touches a nerve in me, and I hope it will in you.

Please keep passing it on until everyone in our country has read it. The government is now referring to our Social Security checks as a “Federal Benefit Payment.” This isn’t a benefit. It is our money paid out of our earned income! Not only did we all contribute to Social Security but our employers did too. It totaled 15% of our income before taxes.

(This should be enough for you to forward this message, If not read on.)

If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that’s would make your Social Security investment close to $180,000. If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social security ($375/month, including both you and your employers contributions) at a meager 1% interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you’d have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved! This is your personal investment. Upon retirement, if you took out only 3% per year, you’d receive $39,318 per year, or $3,277 per month. That’s almost three times more than today’s average Social Security benefit of $1,230 per month, according to the Social Security Administration. (Google it – it’s a fact). And your retirement fund would last more than 33 years (until you’re 98 if you retire at age 65)!

I can only imagine how much better most average-income people could live in retirement if our government had just invested our money in low-risk interest-earning accounts. Instead, the folks in Washington pulled off a bigger *Ponzi scheme* than Bernie Madoff ever did. (Lyndon Johnson) They took our money and used it elsewhere. They forgot (oh yes, they knew) that it was OUR money they were taking. They didn’t have a referendum to ask us if we wanted to lend the money to them. And they didn’t pay interest on the debt they assumed. And recently they’ve told us that the money won’t support us for very much longer.(Isn’t it funny that they NEVER say this about welfare payments?) But is it our fault they misused our investments? And now, to add insult to injury, they’re calling it a *benefit*, as if we never worked to earn every penny of it.

Just because they borrowed the money, doesn’t mean that our investments were a charity! Let’s take a stand. We have earned our right to Social Security and Medicare.. Demand that our legislators bring some sense into our government. Find a way to keep Social Security and Medicare going for the sake of that 92% of our population who need it.

Then call it what it is: Our Earned Retirement Income.

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0202

From: Munsup @MPEN Seoh
Subject: FW: Breaking: Trump ordered tanks in D.C.; NYT Today’s Headlines; Paul Ryan ridiculed for bragging…; and more

FW: Breaking: Trump ordered tanks in D.C.
FW: Petition updates
FW: Several Eagles players already refusing to celebrate Super Bowl win with Trump
FW: Today’s Headlines:
(1) Thousands of ISIS Fighters Flee in Syria, Many to Fight Another Day
(2) As F.B.I. Took a Year to Pursue the Nassar Case, Dozens Say They Were Molested
FW: Everything Terrible The Trump Administration Has Done So Far
FW: House Republicans Rush To Get In On The Big Obstruction Of Justice Party
FW: House memo states disputed dossier was key to FBI’s FISA warrant to surveil members of Team Trump
FW: Paul Ryan ridiculed on social media for bragging about secretary’s tiny raise under GOP tax cut

From: Stephen, Cassandra, Amy, and the Win Without War team
Subject: Breaking: Trump ordered tanks in D.C.

Urgent: Trump just ordered a massive military parade in D.C.
Tell D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to shut it down immediately >>

Last night, the Washington Post broke the story that Donald Trump has ordered a giant military parade with tanks, guns, and troops taking over the streets of our nation’s capital. [1] This is the kind of parade that dictators around the world use to intimidate their enemies and, more importantly, their own citizens.

This is what authoritarian dictatorships look like.

But Trump can’t change the fact that we still live in a democracy — which means Washington, D.C.’s local government gets to have a say before Donald Trump’s tanks roll down its streets. If we put immediate pressure on Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, we can force her to step in and shut down Trump’s blatant warmongering. So it’s up to us to spark a massive response from coast to coast: NO WAY, NOT NOW, NOT EVER.

Please, act now to demand Mayor Bowser stop Trump’s brazen war parade.

[1] Trump’s ‘marching orders’ to the Pentagon: Plan a grand military parade.
(Munsup’s Note: He has seen the imagination many times when he was in Korea under late President Park.)

From: Maria, Pulin, Alex, Iram, and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Civic Action
Subject: Petition updates

Our aspirations and hopes for the nation are reflected in what MoveOn members and partners do—locally and nationally.

In the past few months, we’ve been busy fighting against the Trump agenda, working to rebuild progressive power, and laying the groundwork for victories in 2018. We supported the electoral wins in Virginia and Alabama, took on a fierce fight against the GOP corporate tax giveaway, continued work in solidarity with Dreamers and immigrants under attack, and are organizing to defend the Mueller investigation—including a rapid-response network of more than 700 events and 220,000 participants ready to spring into action if Trump fires Mueller.

Many times, the catalyst for change is a MoveOn member, like you, who starts a petition or signs on to support an issue that’s important to them.

With all that we are doing, it’s important to reflect on the progress this movement is making, so let’s take a look at what MoveOn members and partner organizations have been up to on our petition platform in the past couple of months.

Standing with families threatened by Trump’s cruel deportation regime

After grassroots support from her community, including more than 10,000 signatures on a MoveOn petition, Connecticut resident Nelly Cumbicos will be allowed to stay with her family instead of facing deportation. While it’s great news for her family, hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members are still fighting for a Dream Act, equality for same-sex couples, and ending cruel deportations, which destroy many other families. As ICE becomes more emboldened and given extra powers by the Trump administration, it will take all of us to stand up to protect families from being torn apart.

If you know people or communities who are being attacked by the Trump administration’s policies, launch a petition now.

Ensuring that Net Neutrality is not dead

Nearly 100,000 MoveOn members have signed Demand Progress’ petition to overturn the FCC’s repeal of Net Neutrality. And thanks to a groundswell of support, the campaign is on the verge of winning a bipartisan victory in the Senate—50 senators have already signed on, and there’s a real chance your additional support will help win this battle by persuading Republicans who are currently undecided.

You can start a petition asking your senators to commit to protecting Net Neutrality or other issues important to you.

Protecting the integrity of the Mueller investigation

Trump and the Republicans stepped up their attacks on the Mueller investigation. They’re taking extreme measures against the FBI and Department of Justice and leveraging the so-called “Nunes Memo,” which is simply a piece of propaganda designed to undermine the rule of law. More than 140,000 MoveOn members are demanding Speaker Ryan remove Rep. Nunes from this investigation and the House Intelligence Committee.

Start your own petition against government corruption now.

Holding Trump accountable for sexual abuse and harassment

A petition asking the Department of Justice and Congress to investigate Trump’s history of sexual assault and harassment continues to gain massive support. We teamed up with UltraViolet and CREDO to deliver more than 500,000 signatures to Senate Minority Leader Schumer and House Minority Leader Pelosi this week. We’ll keep the pressure up until Congress takes these allegations seriously.

It’s empowering to start your own petition to hold people in positions of power accountable for their destructive actions.

Spotlight: 11 campaign updates you don’t want to miss

Lawyers for Cyntoia Brown, imprisoned for killing one of her abusers in self-defense, filed paperwork appealing her sentence and seeking clemency. More than 480,000 MoveOn members who signed a petition are hoping for good news in the days ahead.
Trump confirmed that he plans to keep the current trophy hunting ban in place after animal advocates, including 180,000 MoveOn members, denounced his administration’s plans to lift it.
Nearly 40,000 people signed a petition which asked Congress to release testimony from Fusion GPS as part of the investigation into Russian interference in U.S. elections. After massive public pressure, the transcript was released by the House panel.
120,000 of us signed on to a petition from Karine Jean-Pierre—an immigrant, Haitian, and former White House aide who is now a national spokesperson and senior adviser at MoveOn. Her petition called on Congress to condemn Trump’s racist comments about people from Haiti and Africa.
MPower Change took the lead on a petition asking Twitter to delete Trump’s account. Over 50,000 people signed, because we agree it’s reprehensible for Trump to use the platform to threaten international nuclear war with North Korea, disseminate hateful anti-Muslim videos, condemn a free press, and attack civilians.
After Trump cut tens of millions of dollars in funding for refugees, nearly 20,000 of us signed a petition from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), demanding Trump continue supporting “education, healthcare, social services, and emergency protection to refugees in need.”
Bill Nye (yes, the Science Guy) was at the State of the Union as a guest of anti-science Rep. Jim Bridenstine, who is under consideration to head NASA and looking for ways to boost his reputation. Petitions started by Climate Hawks Vote and other allies asking Nye to skip the address drew widespread support and media attention.
Shannon Watts petitioned CNN to feature a State of the Union response from women in the Resistance. Despite 50,000 signatures of support, CNN denied her request. Inspired by the momentum, Shannon and allies decided to stream their own programming!
The House introduced the Marijuana Justice Act to accompany a Senate version of the bill. This issue received a great deal of support on multiple petitions, because if passed, it will decriminalize the use of marijuana on the federal level.
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Power 4 Puerto Rico continue to push Congress to provide relief to the island months after a deadly hurricane hit. Their petition has 209,000 signatures and is growing every day.
In New Hampshire, a MoveOn member and organizer delivered hundreds of petition signatures asking the NH Democratic Party to reduce superdelegates by 60% in time for the 2020 primary cycle during the state party’s meeting last week. It drew loud applause from attendees.

Our core values and institutions are under unprecedented attacks, and while it may not seem that petitions will make all the difference, we’re here to inspire each other each day. Resistance doesn’t always lead to immediate victory, but it’s an important step to take to get our nation headed in the right direction.

Thank you for being an inspiration to us as we continue to move ahead into a crucial 2018 year of opportunity, organizing, and victories!

Will you start your own petition for progressive change now?

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

From: Evan, Rashad, Arisha, Brandi, Jade, Johnny, Future, Corina, Chad, Mary, Saréya, Eesha, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
Subject: Several Eagles players already refusing to celebrate Super Bowl win with Trump

Join me in thanking Chris Long, Torrey Smith and Malcolm Jenkins of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles for taking a stand against Donald Trump’s bigotry and white supremacy.

One year into Trump’s presidency and we’ve already seen his racist and nativist rhetoric come to life in devastating ways: ripping apart families through deportation, increased violence by white supremacists, and the attempted destruction of the middle class through his horrendous tax policy. It’s usually customary for the winning Super Bowl team to visit the White House, but this isn’t a normal president. Chris Long, Torrey Smith and Malcolm Jenkins of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles have publicly rebuked Trump and his policies by boycotting the traditional White House visit.

By refusing to visit the White House, these players continue to take a bold stance against this illegitimate President and the racist, xenophobic, and sexist policies he stands for. They are risking the alienation of their teammates, coaches, and fans in order to stand up for their principles.

Let’s show these Eagles’ players just how much we support their bold stand. Thank Chris Long, Torrey Smith and Malcolm Jenkins for standing against Trump.

The quiet national anthem protests begun by Colin Kaepernick two years ago turned into a firestorm this year with more and more athletes taking a stand, Kaepernick continuing to be blackballed, as well Trump’s and some NFL owners’ racist comments about these athletes. While this will mark the second year in a row that Chris Long has boycotted the White House after a Super Bowl win, it’s not the first time athletes have turned their back on the former Apprentice host.

Last spring, Steph Curry announced that he and the championship Warriors wouldn’t visit Trump’s White House and numerous teams from the NBA, NHL, and MLB have taken to boycotting Trump hotels.¹ ² They’re following in a long tradition of athletes taking a stand for Black lives and rights, from Muhammad Ali to Tommie Smith and John Carlos giving the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics, to NBA players invoking the legacy of Eric Garner by wearing “I Can’t Breathe” shirts on the court. These are athletes who demand that America live up to its values of liberty and justice for all.

Join me in thanking Chris Long, Torrey Smith and Malcolm Jenkins for standing up against Trump.

We’re in a pivotal moment when everyday Americans and public figures with shared values of justice and equity are using their powerful voices to say enough is enough–no more racism, no more anti-Muslim bigotry, no more misogyny, and no more Trump! We need to continue to support the athletes that are risking their livelihoods to stand up for justice.

Thank Chris Long, Torrey Smith and Malcom Jenkins for standing with Black communities.

References:

“Donald Trump rescinds White House invitation to Stephen Curry, Warriors.” 23 September, 2017. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/17556?t=10&akid=9041%2E239715%2EwAH4-K
“Sports teams are deserting Trump’s hotels, and it’s hitting his wallet hard.” 12 October, 2017. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/17557?t=12&akid=9041%2E239715%2EwAH4-K

Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change.
Help keep our movement strong.

From: New York Times
Subject: NYT Today’s Headlines: Thousands of ISIS Fighters Flee in Syria, Many to Fight Another Day

Thousands of ISIS Fighters Flee in Syria, Many to Fight Another Day
By ERIC SCHMITT
As some militants go into hiding and others slip into Turkey, the flow risks tarnishing American declarations that the Islamic State has been largely defeated.

As F.B.I. Took a Year to Pursue the Nassar Case, Dozens Say They Were Molested
By DAN BARRY, SERGE F. KOVALESKI and JULIET MACUR
The agency was seemingly slowed by jurisdictional issues, and athletes went unwarned that a potential child molester was in their midst.

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: FW: Everything Terrible The Trump Administration Has Done So Far

https://paperspaperspapers.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/the-everything-terrible-the-trump-administration-has-done-so-far-omnibus/

The “Everything Terrible The Trump Administration Has Done So Far” Omnibus

Here’s a list of all the awful things done the Trump Administration has done so far. It can be to used as a quick reference source in arguments against anyone who tries…

From: MARGARET PETERS [mailto:mpeters0312@sbcglobal.net]
Subject: FW: House Republicans Rush To Get In On The Big Obstruction Of Justice Party

On Saturday, February 3, 2018 7:38 AM, The Pen <theteam@activist149.peaceteam.net> wrote:

We know we don’t have a lot of Republicans on our distribution list. But for the ever diminishing minority, if they’re following any of this out there, hurry, hurry, you too can get in on the big obstruction of justice party.

If it turns out that Nunes, so close to Trump he was on the transition team, conspired with the White House, exactly like he has before, in any way to cook up a slimy and deceptive attack on the FBI, solely intended, and already admitted as such, to pave the way for aborting the Mueller investigation, Nunes will be doing the perp walk himself before long.

For those Republicans who claim they are just going after some supposed bad apples at the top, while still supporting the rank and file, guess what? The rank and file, the FBI Agents Association, is standing strongly behind FBI director Wray.

Trump was caught on a hot mike promising release of the memo before anyone would admit that he had even read it. It literally represents rendering a verdict before even a due consideration of the facts, with Nunes himself never having read the material underlying the one-sided memo he is pushing, and with Republicans on the so-called Intelligence Committee vetoing the idea of even being briefed by the FBI before their rush to publish.

There are rumblings from the inside the White House that the whole thing is just big fat dud, and that all this is just about the handling of the investigation into Carter Page. What’s the scandal the Republicans are ranting about, that a known Russian asset, albeit an inept one who even the Russians thought was an idiot, was kept under surveillance?

Nixon was desperate to stop the Watergate investigation, and couldn’t. But at some point he stopped committing additional crimes of obstruction of justice to do so. Trump seems determined to make the special counsel’s case for him, missing no opportunity to pile on additional evidence of his intent.

As we predicted, Trump will never voluntarily submit to any kind of Mueller interview, let alone testify. His attorney released a statement asserting the Mueller had not met the so-called “high bar” required to question an Oval Office occupant.

Unfortunately, there is no bar too low for Trump himself to slink under.

But you can raise the bar again, with any of our Lock Trump up message gifts.

Trump, YOU’RE Fired caps: https://www.utalk.us/?g=2:Y
Lock Him Up Trump popcorn boxes: https://www.utalk.us/?g=5:PB
Dump Trump bumper stickers: https://www.utalk.us/?g=1:SU
Trump the Fraud bumper stickers: https://www.utalk.us/?g=1:SF
Custom Trump Resistance bumper stickers: http://www.peaceteam.net/custom_trump_sticker.php

Or if you’d just like to make a valiant contribution to support these insights of truth, you can use this page, and you can even make it recurrent by checking the option box for that now.
Donations: https://www.utalk.us/?p=donate
And here is the mailing address if you would prefer to send a check.
The People’s Email Network, PO Box 35022, L.A., CA 90035
Contributions to The People’s Email Network or ActBlue are not tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes.

You may forward this message to any friends who would find it important.
If you would like to be added to our distribution list, go to http://www.peaceteam.net/in.htm

From: CLG_News
Subject: House memo states disputed dossier was key to FBI’s FISA warrant to surveil members of Team Trump

News Updates from CLG on 03 February 2018, http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here: http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

House memo states disputed dossier was key to FBI’s FISA warrant to surveil members of Team Trump | 02 Feb 2018 | A much-hyped memo that shows alleged government surveillance abuse during the 2016 campaign has been released to the public and cites testimony from a high-ranking government official who says the FBI and DOJ would not have sought surveillance warrants to spy on a member of the Trump team without the infamous, Democratic-f-nded anti-Trump dossier. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released the memo Friday. The White House responded by saying the memo “raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the government’s most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens.”

Republican memo: What you need to know about alleged FBI and DOJ abuses | 02 Feb 2018 | The four-page memo compiled by the GOP Chair of the House Intelligence Committee accuses the FBI and DOJ under the Obama administration of securing a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign based on the notorious ‘Steele dossier.’ Declassified by President Donald Trump and published by the committee Friday over strong objections by Democrats, the DOJ and the FBI, the memo lays out the origins of the warrant to spy on Trump adviser, Carter Page, in the dossier f-nded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The so-called Steele dossier “formed an essential part” of the FISA probable cause order obtained by the FBI from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) on October 21, 2016. The warrant was extended three times, also on the basis of the Steele dossier. [See also: 370598711 House Intelligence Committee Report on FISA Abuses.]

GOP-Nunes memo released alleging FBI cover-up [and FISA surveillance improprieties] | 02 Feb 2018 | The House Intelligence Committee on Friday made public a Republican memo that raises questions about the FBI surveillance of one of Donald Trump’s campaign aides, acting after the president declassified the entire document, which he says shows the law enforcement agency was biased against him. The disclosure came despite the opposition of the FBI, which feared it would reveal investigative methods bias and illegalities, and the Justice [sic] Department. The three-and-a-half-page memo was prepared by the intelligence committee’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and is a critique of the FBI’s application for surveillance authority that was presented to the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court.

Read the full transcript of the GOP memo | 02 Feb 2018 | This is the 3.5-page memo prepared by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. It is derived from the FBI’s application for surveillance authority before the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court. The memo was released Friday after President Donald Trump decided to declassify it in full, White House spokesman Raj Shah. Purpose: This memorandum provides Members an update on significant facts relating to the Committee’s ongoing investigation into the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and their use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) during the 2016 presidential election cycle. Our findings, which are detailed below, 1) raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), and 2) represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abused related to the FISA process.

Donald Trump says FBI memo ‘totally vindicates me’ | 03 Feb 2018 | Donald Trump says a controversial memo alleging FBI surveillance abuse “totally vindicates” him but added the “Russian witch hunt goes on and on”. He approved Friday’s release of the congressional memo which claimed the FBI and Department of Justice were biased against him while investigating alleged collusion between his 2016 election campaign and Russia. The US President said the inquiry had found nothing and “collusion was dead”. In the tweet posted on Saturday, he wrote: “This memo totally vindicates ‘Trump’ in probe. “But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. “Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!”

‘A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that’: Furious Trump says FBI and DOJ heads should roll as explosive memo is published | 02 Feb 2018 | President Donald Trump signaled Friday that he expects heads to roll at the Department of Justice after reviewing a classified memo alleging FBI misconduct. Trump said ‘it’s a disgrace what’s happening in our country’ as he formally announced his decision to declassify the document that quickly made its way into the hands of news outlets. ‘A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that,’ he added during a meeting with North Korean defectors in the Oval Office. Asked directly if he wanted Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gone, Trump would only say, ‘You figure that one out.’ CNN reported that Trump read the memo along with his advisors. According to a summary of the memo, it concludes former FBI deputy director McCabe confirmed that the bureau would not have sought a surveillance warrant without information in the dossier of information compiled by ex British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, the Washington Examiner reported.

New FBI messages reveal agents sought way to evade federal record requirements | 01 Feb 2018 | There’s an important but little-noticed subtext in the revelations about alleged FBI misconduct in the investigations into Hillary Clinton’s email practices and Donald Trump’s Russia associations. It’s the light they shine on what has come to be routine obstruction of public records laws by federal officials. The records that federal agencies generate while in our employ aren’t owned by faceless bureaucrats or political officials who can choose to withhold or disclose at their discretion and convenience. The records are owned by us: the public. That includes text messages.

Justice Department says Mueller probe lawful | 03 Feb 2018 | The U.S. Justice Department has backed Special Counsel Robert Mueller over a lawsuit filed against him by Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, and argued that the case should be dismissed. Manafort sued Mueller on Jan. 3, saying his office’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 presidential election exceeded its legal authority. The civil lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accused Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, of exceeding his legal authority to “grant Mr. Mueller carte blanche to investigate and pursue criminal charges in connection with anything he stumbles across.”

Trump team setting up legal defense fund for Russia probe – report | 02 Feb 2018 | President Trump’s campaign has reportedly hired a law firm to set up a legal defense f-nd for costs incurred by staffers ensnared by the special counsel investigation or other legal f-es. A document from the Wiley Rein LLP law firm posted on the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) website describes the “Patriot Legal Expense F-nd,” which would provide financial support to any individual who “was an employee, consultant, f-ndraiser or volunteer” of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Russian Su-25 jet downed in Syria, pilot killed – Defense Ministry | 03 Feb 2018 | A Russian Su-25 jet has crashed in Idlib province in north-western Syria, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed, adding that it was probably shot down by MANPAD. The pilot ejected but was killed by militants on the ground. Preliminary data showed the Su-25 plane was downed by a man-portable air-defense system (MANPAD), the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The attack took place when the jet was flying over the Idlib de-escalation zone on Saturday. The pilot parachuted down into the area controlled by Al-Nusra terrorist group, the statement said.

US uses ‘routine’ aerial incidents to stir up Russophobia, avoids dialog – Moscow | 01 Feb 2018 | The US deliberately “fusses” over ordinary plane encounters to accuse Moscow of aggression, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, responding to the latest incident over the Black Sea. Moscow notes Washington’s “repeated attempts to make a fuss over what has in fact become routine episodes of escorting each other’s planes,” the ministry said in a statement. It regards this approach as nothing but a desire to “stir up Russophobic sentiments in the media and to accuse Russia of aggressive actions.” …Moscow and Washington signed an agreement – which particularly addresses and regulates such incidents – more than 30 years ago, the statement reminded. It went on to point out that Russia has repeatedly suggested further refining this document, but “the US side has always avoided professional dialog” on the matter.

Another US antiballistic missile test fails, officials say | 31 Jan 2018 | A test of an American missile defense system failed early Wednesday morning in Hawaii, two U.S. defense officials tell Fox News. It’s the same type of antiballistic infrastructure the Pentagon depends on to shoot down intermediate-range North Korean ballistic missiles. It was the second failure of an SM-3 antiballistic missile interceptor since June. “We’re now one for three,” a U.S. official with knowledge of the test told Fox News…A spokesman from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency only would acknowledge a test took place, but refused to reveal the results.

N. Korea would see blanket ban of oil supplies as declaration of war – Russian envoy | 31 Jan 2018 | Imposing a total ban on oil exports to North Korea would mean a full blockade and will be considered as a declaration of war by Pyongyang, Russia’s ambassador to North Korea has cautioned. The UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously approved a new round of sanctions on the North in December last year, slashing the country’s oil and petroleum imports. Russia’s envoy to North Korea Alexander Matsegora warned against cutting oil supplies to the country any further.

Up to 7,000 ISIS fighters in Afghanistan – Russian diplomat | 01 Feb 2018 | Some 7,000 fighters and thousands of reservists of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS [but still I-CIA-SIS]) currently reside in Afghanistan, Russian special presidential envoy Zamir Kabulov said on Thursday. The Taliban fighters’ number in Afghanistan currently stands at around 60,000 or 70,000, according to Kabulov, who is also director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asia Department.

Air Force general behind 5G memo leaves White House | 03 Feb 2018 | The author of a memo arguing for a government takeover of development of the nation’s [deadly] 5G m-bile network has been removed from the National Security Council staff. The memo’s unauthorized release this week caused uproar in the telecom community and created embarrassment for the White House. A senior administration official confirmed that Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding is no longer serving as NSC senior director for strategic planning. Spalding was not fired, according to the official, who said his detail had ended and was not renewed. His last day as a White House staffer was Jan. 31.

Lethal radiation detected at Fukushima nuclear plant –42 sieverts per hour of radiation also detected outside foundations of reactor | 01 Feb 2018 | The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has released the results of its latest probe of the site. A remote-controlled inspection of the Unit 2 reactor containment vessel last month detected a maximum of 8 sieverts per hour of radiation. Experts say exposure to such radiation for about an hour would be fatal. Officials from Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, released the results on Thursday. The finding shows that nearly 7 years after the meltdowns, radiation levels remain so high that they present a major challenge to decommissioning work.

Regulator urges Tepco to release radioactive water from damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the sea | 11 Jan 2018 | A decision should be made sometime this year over whether to release into the sea water containing radioactive tritium from the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the chief of Japan’s nuclear regulator said Thursday, emphasizing it would pose no danger to human health. [!?!] “We will face a new challenge if a decision (about the release) is not made this year,” Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa told Naraha Mayor Yukiei Matsumoto, referring to the more than 1 million tons of [radioactive] coolant water and groundwater that has accumulated at the crippled facility. Naraha is located close to the Fukushima No.1 plant.

Judge orders release of Las Vegas shooting autopsy reports; coroner refuses to comply | 30 Jan 2018 | A District Court judge on Tuesday ordered the Clark County coroner’s office to release the autopsy reports of Stephen Paddock and the 58 people he [allegedly] killed in the Oct. 1 Las Vegas massacre. But as of late Tuesday, Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg had not complied with the order. He indicated he wouldn’t release Paddock’s autopsy report until it was “finalized.” “I don’t believe this is consistent with what the court ordered,” said Las Vegas attorney Maggie McLetchie, who represents the Las Vegas Review-Journal and The Associated Press in their November action demanding the release of the reports.

Rep. Trey Gowdy to leave Congress, becoming latest high-profile committee chairman to retire | 31 Jan 2018 | South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, announced Wednesday that he is retiring from Congress at the end of his term, becoming the latest high-profile committee chairman to opt against re-election. Gowdy said in a statement. The former federal prosecutor was elected to Congress in 2010…The 53-year-old Gowdy, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has been outspoken about the FBI’s investigations into 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s email practices, as well as the Russia probe involving President Trump and his aides. Most recently, he has been a proponent of publicly releasing the House Intelligence Committee memo on alleged government surveillance abuses.

Trump expected to approve release of memo following redactions requested by intelligence officials | 01 Feb 2018 | President Trump is expected to approve the release of a controversial congressional memo alleging surveillance abuses by the FBI, after the White House agreed to some redactions at the bureau’s request, but the document may not be made public before Friday, according to senior administration officials. The redactions were the result of a review of the memo’s classified contents by White House and intelligence community officials. The memo, which has created a political firestorm, suggests that the early origins of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into [alleged] Russian interference in the 2016 election were tainted by political bias.

GOP case: FBI probe based on tainted evidence linked to Clinton | 01 Feb 2018 | Congressional Republicans are seeking to make the case that the FBI’s investigation into President Trump’s campaign and possible collusion with Russia was based on flawed or politically tainted evidence connected to partisans loyal to Hillary Clinton. The House Intelligence Committee memo spearheaded by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) that is the talk of Washington will be at the center of the argument. The release of that four-page memo is expected as early as Friday. Another document — an eight-page criminal referral filed with the Justice Department by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — is also part of the GOP case.

Dow closes down more than 660 points | 02 Feb 2018 | U.S. stocks slumped Friday, pulling down the Dow Jones industrial average by more than 660 points and placing the market on track for its worst week in two years. The Dow ended the day at 25,520.96, down 665.75 points or 2.54 percent.

‘Deplorable’ NYU prof slaps university, colleagues with lawsuit –The New York University professor made popular by his undercover ‘Deplorable NYU prof’ Twitter account is now suing his colleagues for defamation. | 31 Jan 2018 | The New York University professor [and CLG Founder] who launched an undercover Twitter account to attack identity politics on his campus is suing four colleagues and his school for defamation. Michael Rectenwald revealed in October that he was the professor behind the growing “Deplorable NYU Prof” account on Twitter, which claimed to expose the “viral identity politics of academia and its destruction of academic integrity.” Rectenwald contends that “all hell broke loose” soon after, alleging in his lawsuit that he was unfairly forced to take a medical leave of absence, and that he was the subject of numerous “false” claims made in email threads among university staffers…Rectenwald told Campus Reform that the cumulative damage has nearly destroyed his academic future at NYU.

Disabled US Army veteran’s service dog found shot in head, dumped near railroad tracks | 02 Feb 2018 | A disabled Army veteran’s service dog was found this week shot in the head and dumped by railroad tracks in Boone County, Ky. The dog, Gunner, had belonged to Bryan Vallandingham, a 14-year U.S. Army veteran in Richwood, Ky., who relied on the service animal for safety, Cincinnati’s Fox 19 reported. Gunner would alert Vallandingham’s family members whenever the disabled veteran was having a seizure. The family said Bryan wasn’t doing well after learning of Gunner’s death, and has been having repeated seizures.

*****
CLG needs your support: http://www.legitgov.org/donate.html
Or, please mail a check or m*ney order to CLG:
Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG)
P.O. Box 1142, Bristol, CT 06011-1142
Contributions to CLG are not tax deductible.

Feel free — and CLG encourages you — to forward this newsletter to your lists and friends!
Those who wish to be added to the list can go here: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clg and add your name.
CLG News Editor-in-Chief: Lori Price. Copyright © 2018, Citizens for Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: Paul Ryan ridiculed on social media for bragging about secretary’s tiny raise under GOP tax cut

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/paul-ryan-brags-woman-tiny-raise-gop-tax-plan-article-1.3797130

Paul Ryan ridiculed on social media for bragging about secretary’s tiny raise under GOP tax cut

Paul Ryan brags about woman’s tiny raise under GOP tax plan
BY Megan Cerullo, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Saturday, February 3, 2018, 7:41 PM

House Speaker Paul Ryan was ridiculed on social media Saturday after he tweeted, then deleted a post citing a woman’s tiny raise as an accomplishment of the GOP tax cut.

Ryan was responding to an Associated Press story about the controversial tax overhaul’s effect on Americans’ paychecks.

He highlighted Julia Ketchum, a secretary earning an additional $1.50 a week under the new withholding guidelines from the IRS following the passage of the bill.

“A secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, PA, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week …she said [that] will more than cover her Costco membership for the year,” read Ryan’s tweet.

Ryan was responding to an Associated Press story about the controversial tax overhaul’s effect on Americans’ paychecks.
(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Ketchum will see her pay increase by $78 a year, which she said she will put toward her membership at warehouse club Costco, according to the Associated Press.

The richest 1%, meanwhile, will earn an extra $51,000 per year, according to the Tax Policy Center.

Ryan’s Democratic opponent, Randy Bryce, used the blunder as a fund-raising opportunity.

“Moments ago, @PRyan deleted this tweet after we told him just how out of touch he was. Show Paul Ryan what you think of his tax bill. Chip in $1.50 now to help us repeal and replace Ryan permanently this November.” He linked to a fund-raising page that suggests a $1.50 donation to his campaign.

Social media users and Democratic lawmakers blasted Ryan over the since-deleted tweet.

Speaker Paul Ryan on Saturday deleted this tweet about a Pennsylvania woman whose paycheck increased by $1.50 a week because of the recently passed GOP tax bill.
(Twitter)

“$1.50 doesn’t even buy you a pack of gum,” one Twitter user responded to a screenshot of the tweet.

“We’ll work an extra 2 mins a day for our $1.50/wk. Can we have our 1.5 TRILLION back now?” another wrote.

“If only he would delete himself,” said another.

Earlier this week, Republicans attacked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) when she called the payouts after the tax bill “crumbs.”

“If you’re going to say that $1,000 is crumbs, you live in a different world than I’m living in,” Vice President Mike Pence said.

Ryan preserved a second tweet in reaction to the AP story quoting a man saying, “I have heard time and time again that the middle class is getting crumbs, but I’ll take it!”

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0201

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: FW: Ohio Redistricting – Outside Game; The truth about Trump’s war; If Trump fires Mueller…; and more

FW: Remove Devin Nunes
FW: CA 22nd HR district – running against mr. obstruction-nunes is….
FW: NYT Today’s Headline: Trump Issues Appeal for Unity in First State of the Union
FW: The truth about Trump’s war
FW: The Hacking of the American Mind: Pleasure vs. Happiness
FW: Trump signs executive order to keep Guantanamo Bay prison open
FW: This billionaire raped his staff
FW: Idaho Insurers Ignore Obamacare?; Ousted Professor Speaks; Sheriffs Starve Prisoners in ‘Bama; William J. Barber
FW: If Trump fires Mueller …
FW: The Nunes memo
FW: U.S. commerce lobby to wage war on Elizabeth Warren

rom: Aimee Martinez, Common Cause
Subject: Remove Devin Nunes

Remove Representative Devin Nunes

Rep. Nunes must be removed from participating in the Russia investigation, so we can get the answers we deserve.

Sign Aimee’s petition

The FBI just challenged the accuracy of the so-called “Nunes memo”—a document that was drafted at the direction of the House Intelligence Committee’s GOP chairman and Trump crony, Rep. Devin Nunes.¹

This memo is just the latest in a long string of attempts by Republicans in Congress to undermine and smear Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump and his team’s connection to Russian efforts to meddle in U.S. elections.

Rep. Nunes’ attacks on the integrity of the Mueller investigation are a shameful partisan stunt. Click here to sign and share my petition pressuring Speaker Paul Ryan to remove Nunes from participating in the Russia investigation completely.

We can’t allow Rep. Nunes to continue spreading unfounded innuendo about the Russia probe to undermine its credibility. Last year, Rep. Nunes had said he’d remove himself from this investigation due to conflicts of interest, but instead has sought to misdirect the committee’s investigation and disrupt Mueller’s work.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Source: 1. “FBI raises ‘grave concerns’ about GOP intelligence memo, warns against its release,” Los Angeles Times, January 31, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/32726?t=18&akid=198084%2E1195276%2E62h01o

You’re receiving this petition because we thought it might interest you. It was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions. You can start your own petition here.

From: Andrew J. Tierman; Saginaw MI
Subject: FW: CA 22nd HR district – running against mr. obstruction-nunes is….

Devin Nunes, Republican US Congressman from the 22nd House District of CA, has been the leading Trump co-conspirator in obstructing justice, impugning the FBI in concert with the President’s attempt to thwart investigation into wrongdoing by himself and his cohorts.

Andrew Janz is the Democrat running against Devin Nunes next November. I have given, and will give further small contributions to Andrew Janz’ campaign in order to help replace Nunes, who is an advocate for obstruction, with a Representative who will serve the people of his District, and thereby serve all Americans in promoting a U.S. Congress that works for the people and under the law, rather than against both. Perhaps others receiving this mail list may wish to contribute as well.

The website for House Candidate Andrew Janz is http://andrewjanzforcongress.org/

From: New York Times
Subject: Today’s Headlines: Trump Issues Appeal for Unity in First State of the Union

Trump Issues Appeal for Unity in First State of the Union
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and MICHAEL D. SHEAR

The president asked Democrats to join him in overhauling immigration and rebuilding infrastructure as the Russia investigations are intensifying.

From: Stephen, Michelle, Cassandra, and the Win Without War team
Subject: The truth about Trump’s war

Tonight, Trump invited Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean refugee, to his State of the Union speech. He talked about North Koreans like Seong-ho “yearning to be free.”

If Ji Seong-ho had tried to enter the United States this year, Trump’s travel ban would have blocked him.

Make no mistake — human rights abuses in North Korea are terrible, and we must work to end them. But Trump’s war will not end human suffering in North Korea — it will only put millions more people in harm’s way.

Trump’s sudden apparent concern for the North Korean people follows a year full of reckless threats, childish name calling, and other dangerous moves. He has brought both countries to the brink of a deadly war that would kill millions. Trump’s speech tonight is yet another tactic to drag us into a war of choice with North Korea.

We need to act without delay to ensure the media and Congress aren’t fooled by Trump’s crocodile tears for North Korea.

Chip in $6 to help jam on the brakes before Trump starts a war with North Korea

Fifteen years ago, another president stood before Congress, talking about a “madman” with dangerous weapons harming his own people, claiming the only thing that could save us was military might. We’re still living with the horrors unleashed by President Bush’s disastrous war of choice in Iraq. We can’t afford to let another president bluff our country into an even more deadly and catastrophic war with North Korea.

Donald Trump is playing with nuclear fire. And it’s up to us to stop him.

Will you give $6 to reverse course on Trump’s reckless slide into war with North Korea?

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: “The Hacking of the American Mind: Pleasure vs. Happiness” l Forbidden Knowledge TV

https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/the-hacking-of-the-american-mind/

The Hacking of the American Mind: Pleasure vs. Happiness

I’d been trying to figure out what might be peculiar about American culture that was driving the opioid, obesity and depression crises. Then a longtime subscriber sent me a video with Dr. Robert Lustig, who’s totally on the case. He’s cracked the neurochemical-cultural and economic codes of the country where “Happiness” is legally enshrined as a foremost right in the founding document.

Lustig is a professor of endocrinology at UCSF, where he specializes in neuroendocrinology and childhood obesity. He’s the author of The Hacking of the American Mind, in which he reveals a massive conflation that exists in American ideology (and in the American consumerist ideals that have propagated throughout the planet) between pleasure and happiness, which Lustig explains are completely different:

“Pleasure is short-lived, happiness is long-lived; pleasure is visceral, happiness is ethereal; pleasure is taking, happiness is giving; pleasure can be achieved with substances; happiness cannot be achieved with substances; pleasure is experienced alone; happiness is experienced in social groups. The extremes of pleasure all lead to addiction, whether they be substances or behaviors, yet there’s no such thing as being addicted to too much happiness.

“Finally and most importantly: pleasure is dopamine and happiness is serotonin.

“These are two neurochemicals that the brain makes and uses to communicate between one brain cell and another. It turns out dopamine excites the next neuron and when they’re excited too much, too frequently, they tend to die, so the neuron has a defense mechanism against that. What it does is it reduces the number of receptors that are available to be stimulated, in an attempt to try to mitigate the damage…that process is called down-regulation and a lot of different chemicals in the body do that. You get a hit, you get a rush. The receptors [get down-regulated]. Next time, you need a bigger hit to get the same rush because there are fewer receptors to occupy – and then you need a bigger hit and a bigger hit and a bigger hit – until finally, taking a huge hit to get nothing is called ‘tolerance’. Then, the neurons start to die. That’s called ‘addiction’.

“Serotonin, however is inhibitory. It’s not excitatory. It inhibits its receptor to provide contentment, to Zen-out, if you will. You can’t overdose the serotonin neuron…it binds and doesn’t activate the process beyond the receptor. It basically slows down those neurons instead of causing them to fire up and in so doing, you end up with the process of contentment, that feeling of oneness with the world, if you will, that thing we call ‘happiness’.

“But there’s one thing that down-regulates serotonin: Dopamine.

“So, the more pleasure you seek, the more unhappy you get – and Las Vegas, Madison Avenue, Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Washington DC have very specifically and in a coordinated fashion confused and conflated the term ‘happiness’ with the term ‘pleasure’, so that you can ‘buy happiness’, so that they can sell you their junk. It’s called the American economy and it’s based on hedonic substances, substances that drive pleasure, rather than happiness. In the process, we have become most decidedly unhappy and the problem is, you can’t fix a problem unless you identify what the problem is.”

Dr. Lustig prescribes simple things which support serotonin: sleep, mindfulness and exercise, all of which work to reduce cortisol (which acts against serotonin) and a diet low in fructose (which depletes serotonin), high in L-tryptophan (a serotonin precursor) and high in omega-3 to support serotonin transmission, aka “real food.”

From: Legitgov On Behalf Of CLG_News
Subject: Trump signs executive order to keep Guantanamo Bay prison open

News Updates from CLG on 31 January 2018 (http://www.legitgov.org/)

All links are here: http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

Trump signs executive order to keep Guantanamo Bay prison open | 30 Jan 2018 | U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order announcing his intent to keep the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay open, the White House announced Tuesday. Trump made it clear during his 2016 campaign for president that he wanted to keep Guantanamo open…The order says the U.S. maintains the option to detain additional enemy combatants at the detention centre in Cuba, when necessary. It requires the defence secretary to recommend criteria for determining the fate of individuals captured by the United States in armed conflict, including sending them to Guantanamo Bay.

Trump pledges to ‘make America great again for all Americans’ | 30 Jan 2018 | President Donald Trump sought to infuse his maiden State of the Union address with an undercurrent of optimism, declaring Tuesday the nation was thriving a year after he took office. “Let us begin tonight by recognizing that the state of our union is strong because our people are strong,” Trump said inside a crowded House chamber. “Together, we are building a safe, strong, and proud America.” “Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve,” Trump said. “We have gone forward with a clear vision and a righteous mission — to make America great again for all Americans,” he said.

State of the Union 2018: Read the full transcript | 30 Jan 2018 | President Donald Trump gave his first State of the Union address on Tuesday. Read the President’s speech as prepared for delivery and released by the White House.

Read Joe Kennedy’s full Democratic response to the State of the Union | 30 Jan 22018 | Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III is delivering this year’s Democratic response to the State of the Union. Read his remarks as prepared, or watch here.

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe stepping down | 29 Jan 2018 | FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who has been attacked by President Donald Trump, stepped down Monday, multiple sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. McCabe will remain on the FBI payroll until he is eligible to retire with full benefits in mid-March, the sources said. One source said McCabe was exercising his retirement eligibility and characterized his decision as “stepping aside.”

(Read more by clicking here!)

*****
CLG needs your support. http://www.legitgov.org/donate.html or please mail a check or m*ney order to CLG:
Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG)
P.O. Box 1142, Bristol, CT 06011-1142

Contributions to CLG are not tax deductible. Feel free — and CLG encourages you — to forward this newsletter to your lists and friends!
Those who wish to be added to the list can go here: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clg and add your name.

From: Nita and Shaunna, UltraViolet
Subject: This billionaire raped his staff

Last Friday, news broke that billionaire casino mogul, Trump ally, and former Republican National Committee (RNC) finance chairman Steve Wynn, has been sexually abusing his employees for over a decade.¹

Dozens of women, who worked in positions such as manicurists and massage therapists in his hotels, recounted stories of Wynn exposing himself to them and pressuring them to perform sex acts. These women feared the power he wielded in Las Vegas and worried about losing their jobs. Some even reported he would trap them in a confined office with his German shepherds, trained to respond to commands in German.²

Over the weekend, Wynn was forced to resign as RNC finance chair and his company’s stocks continue to fall. The board of Wynn Resorts could fire him–but they haven’t yet.³ An accused rapist should not be allowed to continue running a company. If we make this call now, we can add to the growing pressure and the Wynn Resorts board will be forced to oust him to save face. Can you add your name to demand the board fire Wynn?

Tell the Wynn Resorts board: “Fire Steve Wynn
for his history of assault and harassment.”

Sign the petition

The Wall Street Journal reported, “Former employees said their awareness of Mr. Wynn’s power in Las Vegas, combined with the knowledge that the jobs they held were among the best-paying available there, added up to a feeling of dependence and intimidation when Mr. Wynn made requests of them,” and added “Most of those who spoke to the Journal about Mr. Wynn said they worried that doing so could hurt their ability to work elsewhere because of his influence in the casino industry and the state.”⁴

Wynn is one of the worst examples we’ve seen so far of a powerful man abusing his role in an industry notorious for high rates of harassment that’s disproportionately impacting women of color.⁵ In fact, the hospitality industry made up the largest portion of sexual harassment claims filed to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 14.2%, from 2005 to 2015, but only makes up about 7.2% of total workers.⁶

In a recent survey, 58% of hotel workers and 77% of casino workers said they had been sexually harassed by a guest–and 65% of casino cocktail servers said a guest tried to touch them without permission.⁷ Abuse of hotel workers has gotten so bad that some cities are working to mandate panic buttons for workers to carry with them.⁸

If we can force Wynn out of his own company, we’ll shine a bright spotlight on the pervasive abuse all hotel and hospitality workers face.

Will you add your name to demand Wynn is fired?

Sources:

Casino Mogul Steve Wynn Accused of Sexual Harassment and Assault, Time, January 26, 2018
Dozens of People Recount Pattern of Sexual Misconduct by Las Vegas Mogul Steve Wynn, Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2018
Harassment Claims Add to History of Issues With Wynn Board, Bloomberg, January 29, 2018
Dozens of People Recount Pattern of Sexual Misconduct by Las Vegas Mogul Steve Wynn, Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2018
Women of color in low-wage jobs are being overlooked in the #MeToo moment, Vox, December 19, 2017
These are the industries with the most reported sexual harassment claims, Vox, November 27, 2017
‘He Was Masturbating… I Felt Like Crying’: What Housekeepers Endure To Clean Hotel Rooms, HuffPost, November 20, 2017
Maids to ask Las Vegas hotels for panic buttons, CNBC, January 26, 2018

Want to support our work? UltraViolet is funded by members like you, and our tiny staff ensures small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

From: Thomas Scott
Subject: Idaho Insurers Ignore Obamacare?; Ousted Professor Speaks; Sheriffs Starve Prisoners in ‘Bama; William J. Barber

From: David, Brian, Jo, Karine, and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Civic Action
Subject: If Trump fires Mueller …

Donald Trump tried to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the only independent federal probe into Trump’s Russia ties.¹ And though Trump was stopped last summer, we have every reason to believe that his administration and some Republican members of Congress continue to actively lay the groundwork to discredit and remove Mueller and now Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller’s investigation.

That’s why MoveOn members and allies have been signing up by the hundreds of thousands for rapid-response actions to defend the Trump-Russia investigation.

Will you RSVP now to one of our more than 700 events around the country so that you’ll be notified of an action near you if Mueller is fired? (And if there isn’t an event near you, will you consider signing up to host?)

Thus far, a stunning 200,000 people have signed up to hit the streets in over 700 actions to defend our democracy should the Trump-Russia investigation be threatened, successfully signaling to national media and congressional Republicans that the American people demand that truth and that the rule of law will prevail.

Here’s a little more background on what’s been moving over the past 72 hours and why this is both an urgent and perilous moment. GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Representative Devin Nunes, just voted to release a memo which many believe will set the stage for the dismissal of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Special Counsel Robert Muller and is overseeing Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation.²

Congressional opponents have blasted the memo, saying it’s “profoundly misleading” and dangerous.³ The Department of Justice called Nunes’ plan to release the memo “extraordinarily reckless” and a threat to national security.⁴

That’s why, especially today—just hours from Donald Trump’s State of the Union address—MoveOn and our allies are doubling down to strengthen the “Nobody Is Above the Law” network and expand its ability to defend our democracy against these escalating attacks. And we need you to help sound the alarm.

Please. Will you take five minutes and sign up to defend the Mueller investigation?

You can read on to see MoveOn’s email from last month for more context.

Sources:

“Trump Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House Counsel Threatened to Quit,” The New York Times, January 25, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/32646?t=16&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36
“House Intel Committee votes to release Nunes memo on FBI,” CNN, January 30, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/32647?t=18&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36
“Nadler calls GOP memo criticizing FBI ‘profoundly misleading,'” Politico, January 23, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/32648?t=20&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36
“In letter, DOJ tells Devin Nunes releasing memo would be ‘extraordinarily reckless,'” CBS News, January 24, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/32649?t=22&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36

————————————–

Donald Trump, Fox News, and the GOP are coming for Special Counsel Robert Mueller—looking to upend the federal criminal investigation into possible collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential election, and subsequent efforts to cover it up.

That’s why MoveOn members and our allies from 25 major national organizations are out in force, preemptively planning “Nobody Is Above the Law” rapid-response actions across the country, ready to deploy if Trump fires Mueller.

This collective organizing is a powerful signal to Trump and the GOP that people in cities and towns across the nation are paying attention to the attacks on Mueller and are ready to defend our democracy and the rule of law. And the actions are already earning national media attention with headlines such as “Americans Will March in the Streets in 48 U.S. States If Trump Fires Robert Mueller.”¹

There are more than 600 actions nationwide—now in all 50 states.² Let’s double the number of possible attendees, and let’s make sure there are actions to defend the Mueller investigation all across the nation.

Click here to find an action in your local area, and if you don’t see one, please consider signing up to host. (MoveOn’s team will be with you every step of the way.)

Six months ago, when Mueller was put in charge of the Trump-Russia investigation, Republicans were glowing about his record and fitness for the task. But now that the investigation has landed its first guilty pleas, attacks on Mueller and the investigation are coming from all parts of the GOP message machine.³

And despite his recent comments to the contrary, Trump himself has thrown a relentless barrage of insults and threats at Mueller and the investigation.⁴

Trump’s lawyers have even called for an absurd second special counsel to investigate the investigation.⁵ And right-wing pundits on Fox News have been acting as wingmen, creating scandals out of thin air and casting doubt.

As Mueller digs deeper and deeper into Trump’s finances and possible obstruction of justice, the risk that Trump will take unilateral action only increases.⁶

So here’s the plan: If Trump fires Mueller before 2:00 p.m. local time on any given day, MoveOn members and our allies will be in the streets at 5:00 p.m. local time the same day. If news breaks later in the day, we will rally at noon the following day.

Our response in the hours following an authoritarian move to put Trump above the law will help drive the national media narrative and could certainly help determine whether we’re able to make sure Congress holds Trump accountable.

Click here to find a “Nobody Is Above the Law” action in your local area. And if you don’t see one, please consider signing up to host.

MoveOn members have been a first line of defense against Trump’s corruption for more than a year, helping to win Steve Bannon’s removal, force Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Trump-Russia investigation, and shine a relentless light on Republican hypocrisy.⁷

By packing congressional hearing rooms and generating hundreds of thousands of petition signatures and tens of thousands of calls, we’ve also ensured that Democrats in Congress know we’ll have their backs when they step up to fight Trump’s corruption and demand the truth about Trump-Russia that our nation both deserves and desperately needs.

Most recently, we’ve helped champion bipartisan legislation in Congress to prevent Trump from firing Mueller. And we’ll continue to do this kind of dogged, proactive work, so that we hopefully never have to respond to a firing of the team investigating the president. But with the stakes this high for our country, we need to simultaneously prepare for the kind of constitutional crisis that would occur should Trump fire Mueller.

Together, we’re saying through our actions—again and again—that no one is above the law and that we’re prepared to defend our democracy—for as long as it takes.

Sources:

“Americans Will March in the Streets in 48 U.S. States If Trump Fires Robert Mueller,” Newsweek, October 30, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/20258?t=27&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36
“Nobody Is Above the Law—Mueller Firing Rapid Response,” MoveOn.org
www.trumpisnotabovethelaw.org
“Fox News v. Robert Mueller,” The New York Times, December 12, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/27539?t=30&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36
“Nearing the end game: The 6 phases of Trump’s plan to fire Robert Mueller” Salon, December 12, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/27540?t=32&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36
“Trump lawyers want second special counsel appointed now,” Axios, December 12, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/27541?t=34&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36
“Focus on Flynn, Trump timeline suggests obstruction is on Mueller’s mind,” NBC News, December 11, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/27542?t=36&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36
“Trump Leaderboard,” TrumpTruthHiders.com, accessed December 14, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/9977?t=38&akid=198027%2E1195276%2E-j_J36

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

From: Ben Betz; Digital Advocacy Director, People For the American Way
Subject: The Nunes memo

Add you name if your agree that Rep. Devin Nunes must be REMOVED from the Intelligence Committee and that the committee should not be used as a propaganda arm of the Trump administration>>

House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes has reliably been Trump’s biggest sycophant in Congress — and that’s saying something, considering the stiff competition he has from other members of the GOP.

For months, he has abused his authority as the Chair of this powerful committee to serve as Trump’s personal henchman and, now, along with his fellow Intelligence Committee Republicans, he is in the process of crossing a dangerous line.

Last night, the Intel Committee voted along strict party lines to release a memo by Nunes alleging supposed misdeeds by the FBI in the Russia investigation. According to Democrats on the Committee, the memo contains cherry-picked, misleading information that amounts to a set of propaganda talking points to undermine the investigation and mislead the public in an effort to cover for the Trump administration.

Nunes has proven repeatedly that he cannot be trusted to be privy to or handle classified information, to provide a check on Trump or his possible abuses, or to serve the public interest if it’s in conflict with the personal interests of Donald Trump.

While Trump wants the Nunes memo — which his friends at Fox News have been promoting and Trump clearly sees as “good for him” — released, his own Department of Justice has warned against its release due to the danger of potential sensitive, classified information in it being made public. Meanwhile, Democrats on the Committee, led by Ranking Member Adam Schiff, have written their own counter memo to put the information into context and refute the disinformation reportedly contained in the Nunes memo.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has the power — and the responsibility — to get HIS GOP majority in order; to rein in corruption among his own party leadership and stop a flagrant betrayal of checks and balances and of the American people.

Sign the petition: Tell Speaker Ryan to REMOVE Devin Nunes from the Intelligence Committee and, if Nunes’s memo is released, to allow for the release the Democratic counter memo>>

Thank you for standing up! After you sign, please share the petition so we can get as many voices speaking out as possible.

From: AlterNet on behalf of Team Warren
Subject: U.S. commerce lobby to wage war on Elizabeth Warren

The following sponsored email was sent to you by AlterNet on behalf of Elizabeth for MA:

Dear Friend,

Elizabeth Warren just introduced a bill with Mark Warner that would hold credit reporting agencies like Equifax accountable for data breaches – like the hack that left millions of Americans vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.

Surprise, surprise: Equifax’s right-wing corporate lobbyist friends at the US Chamber of Commerce are declaring war. They compared Elizabeth to Nazi sympathizer Steve Bannon – and encouraged other outside groups to pour money into Massachusetts to defeat Elizabeth in 2018.

As the Boston Herald columnist wrote:

“Warren herself has a campaign war chest of nearly $13 million, according to the latest reports, but outside groups are likely to at least match that if they feel she is vulnerable this year.”

Our team has been fighting at every turn to build the strongest grassroots force that the Senate has ever seen. But all of that could go away if these outside groups decide to cut a few checks to buy the Massachusetts Senate seat this November.

If we want to fight off attacks from outside groups and their deep-pocketed corporate allies, we must show them the strength of our grassroots support. Will add your name to stand with Elizabeth Warren?

The US Chamber of Commerce isn’t the local, friendly Chamber of Commerce that promotes the small businesses in your neighborhood. No, this is the largest conservative lobbying group in the country – spending tens of millions of dollars to rig the rules for giant corporations and fund right-wing candidates who will help them. When Elizabeth says that Washington works for the big guys who can hire armies of lawyers and lobbyists, the picture next to it should show the US Chamber of Commerce.

They don’t want giant corporations to be held accountable when they put millions of working Americans at risk. They want to get away with it – or even profit off of it, just like Equifax did.

The US Chamber of Commerce won’t stop Elizabeth Warren from going after them with everything she’s got. Elizabeth never, ever backs down from a fight. No matter how big, rich, or greedy her opponents are, she’s going to fight for working people in Massachusetts and across the country.

But if a few billionaires and giant corporations decide to pour money into Massachusetts in 2018, it’s going to become our biggest and most important fight yet. While Elizabeth is fighting for us in the Senate, we need to have her back in this campaign.

The best way to stop the billionaires and outside groups is to show them that Elizabeth Warren’s grassroots support is stronger than ever.

Add your name to join our grassroots team and help Elizabeth Warren fight back.

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0109

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: FW: Hearing for Single Payer Bill; Trump ordered the firing of Mueller; No drilling on sacred Native lands and more

FW: Today’s Headline: Every One of the World’s Big Economies Is Now Growing
FW: NY Times: Trump ordered the firing of Mueller
FW: Burger King explains net neutrality..
FW: Call Sen. Portman: Save net neutrality
FW: MSU’s president is out!
FW: Stop President Trump from … threatening 1,000 year old Pueblan artifacts and structures of immense cultural, historal and tribal value
FW: Sign if you agree: No drilling on sacred Native lands
FW: FW: Disgusting. Just Ban It.
FW: One year after the Muslim ban

From: New York Times
Subject: NYT Today’s Headline: Every One of the World’s Big Economies Is Now Growing

Every One of the World’s Big Economies Is Now Growing
By PETER S. GOODMAN

For the first time since the global economic downturn, there is a wave of expansion that is creating jobs, lifting fortunes and tempering fears of popular discontent.

From: Ben Betz; Digital Advocacy Director, People For the American Way
Subject: NY Times: Trump ordered the firing of Mueller According to the New York Times, Trump ordered the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller just one month after Mueller was tasked with heading the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump gave the order for the firing, through White House Counsel Don McGahn, who refused to carry it out and threatened to resign because he knew it would be crossing a bright red line.

Of course, Trump denies that this happened, despite multiple sources corroborating the story, calling the Times report “Fake News” and saying that he has no intention of interfering with Mueller’s investigation.

But this is a stark reminder of how urgent it is that Congress protect the investigation — and the Republic itself — by passing the bipartisan legislation that has already been introduced to do just that.

Please add your name now to demand that Congress protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation!!>>

Even if you’ve already taken action to protect the investigation, please add your name here to make sure Congress keeps hearing from the American public about the urgency of protecting the investigation!

When Trump tried to have Mueller fired back in June, his supposed reason was that Mueller had conflicts of interest due to things like a previous dispute over his membership at a Trump golf club and his working for a law firm that had done some past work representing the Kushner family. It would have been a major stretch — truly laughable — and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who would presumably have been the one tasked with actually firing Mueller, would most likely have refused the order. That could have triggered a scenario similar to Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre,” in which Nixon’s attempts to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox led to the resignations of the DOJ’s top officials, who refused to carry out that order.

Even IF Trump was successful in having Mueller fired on those “conflict of interest” grounds, then it wouldn’t have stopped the investigation. A new special prosecutor would have been appointed. Would Trump have kept concocting reasons to fire each special prosecutor one after another?

Last night’s New York Times report further clarifies a picture of a president who has zero regard for the law, zero regard for our democratic institutions, and zero regard for justice. Congress must act without delay.

Sign now: Tell Congress to protect the investigation!>>

From: Andrew J. Tierman
Subject: Burger King explains net neutrality..

or the loss of net neutrality rather.

see https://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2018/01/24/burger-king-net-neutrality-whopper.cnnmoney/video/playlists/atv-trending-videos/

From: Brandy Doyle, Campaign Manager, CREDO Action from Working Assets
Subject: Call Sen. Portman: Save net neutrality

Call the Senate: Save net neutrality

Trump’s FCC voted to kill the open internet, but Congress has the power to overrule it. Fifty senators have already signed onto a resolution of disapproval that would overturn the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality. We need just one more, and Sen. Rob Portman has not yet signed on to save the internet. Call now.

Click below for a sample script and the number to call:

Take Action

Fifty senators signed on to the resolution of disapproval to overturn the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and save net neutrality.¹ We need just one more.

If Sen. Portman signs on, the resolution will pass the Senate and move on to the House.

Call Sen. Rob Portman: Support the resolution of disapproval to save net neutrality. Click here to make your call.

When Trump’s FCC voted to kill the open internet, they ignored millions of Americans and gave big cable companies control of what we say and do online.

But this fight isn’t over. Congress has the authority to overturn the FCC’s vote. Congress can use a “resolution of disapproval” to reverse this disastrous decision and restore the rules that protect the open internet.²

Thanks to the Congressional Review Act, Congress can review new regulations (in this case, the FCC’s Orwellian-sounding “Restoring Internet Freedom” rule) and overrule them by passing a joint resolution of disapproval. Republicans in Congress used the process last year when they repealed important broadband privacy protections. And in the Senate, even the minority party can force a resolution of disapproval to a vote – making every senator go on the record for or against net neutrality.

Trump’s FCC chair has shown that he is in the pocket of Big Telecom companies. But unlike the FCC, our senators are elected and they must answer to us.

Call Sen. Rob Portman: Support the resolution of disapproval to save net neutrality. Click the link below to make your call:

https://act.credoaction.com/call/call-NN-CRA/?t=7&akid=26976%2E1004336%2EWhFHwR

Click below for a sample script and the number to call:

Take Action

References:

Brian Fung, “The Senate’s push to overrule the FCC on net neutrality now has 50 votes, Democrats say,” The Washington Post, Jan. 15, 2018.
Kate Conger and Dell Cameron, “Wait, Can Congress Stop the FCC From Trampling Net Neutrality?” Gizmodo, Dec. 14, 2017.

From: Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Karin, Adam, Holly, Kathy, Susan, Anathea, Audine, Shannon, Emma, Pilar, Natalie, Melody, Pam, Lindsay, and Ryan, the UltraViolet team
Subject: MSU’s president is out!

Yesterday was a huge milestone for sexual assault survivors–Larry Nassar, former Michigan State University (MSU) employee and team doctor for USA Gymnastics, was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison after a week of powerful testimony from over 150 women he abused. Hours later, in advance of a planned Friday demonstration and under pressure from MSU students, Michigan leaders, survivors, and UltraViolet members like you, MSU President Lou Anna Simon resigned for her complicity in Nassar’s abuse.¹

Thank you for standing with survivors and pushing MSU to hold an enabler of abuse accountable. After only a week, hundreds of calls and tweets, and tens of thousands of petition signatures, Simon is out. This is what we can accomplish when we take action together.

Source: 1. MSU president quits over Larry Nassar case and says ‘tragedies are politicized’, Guardian, January 24, 2018

Want to support our work? UltraViolet is funded by members like you, and our tiny staff ensures small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

From: MARGARET PETERS
Subject: Stop President Trump and his friends from handing over drilling rights in Chaco Canyon, threatening 1,000 year old Pueblan artifacts and structures of immense cultural, historal and tribal value

President Trump and his fossil fuel friends are about to hand over drilling rights near Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, threatening 1,000-year-old Pueblan artifacts and structures of immense cultural, historical and tribal value. That’s why I just signed an important petition to stop Trump and Big Oil from drilling near these sacred Native lands. I hope you will sign the petition and encourage others to also sign it.

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no_chaco_drilling?sp_ref=381911015.4.185534.e.596531.2&referring_akid=27001.1920731.3PP6eS&source=mailto_sp

From: Josh Nelson, Deputy Political Director, CREDO Action from Working Assets
Subject: Sign if you agree: No drilling on sacred Native lands

No drilling at Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Add your name: Sign the Petition

On the heels of Donald Trump’s reckless decision to slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, Trump and his fossil fuel regime are ready to hand over drilling rights near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, threatening 1,000-year-old Pueblan artifacts and structures of immense cultural, historical and tribal value.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: No drilling at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Click here to sign the petition.

The areas in and around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park contain the threatened ruins of Chaco Canyon – what some have referred to “as close as the U.S. gets to Egypt’s pyramids and Peru’s Machu Picchu” – as well as “the remnants of great houses, kivas, ancient roads and sacred places built a millennium ago by an indigenous people who became proficient in architecture, agriculture, astronomy and the arts.”^1,2 Today, the Navajo people, whose land surrounds the park, regard the Chaco region as culturally important, and a number of New Mexican Pueblos consider these sites sacred.³

But last summer, the BLM reversed course, and in accordance with Sec. Zinke’s plan to rapidly open up public lands for fossil fuel drilling, put up 4,800 acres of land near Chaco for sale, some of which lay within the buffer zone, potentially endangering sacred Native sites.⁴

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: No drilling at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Click the link below to sign the petition:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no_chaco_drilling?t=7&akid=27001%2E1004336%2E3Ug0GV

Add your name: Sign the Petition

Elizabeth Miller, “‘As close as the US gets to Egypt’s pyramids’: how Chaco Canyon is endangered by drilling,” The Guardian, Nov. 8, 2017.
Richard Moe, “The Treasures of Chaco Canyon Are Threatened by Drilling,” The New York Times, Dec. 1, 2017.
Sen. Tom Udall, “Udall, Heinrich, Luján Urge Secretary Zinke to Defer All Leases on Land Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park,” Sept. 6, 2017.
Rebecca Moss, “N.M. leaders urge feds to protect Chaco from oil and gas encroachment,” The Santa Fe New Mexican, Sept. 8, 2017.
Rebecca Moss, “Over 100 protest BLM plans to lease land near Chaco Canyon for fracking,” The Santa Fe New Mexican, Jan. 17, 2017.

From: Andrew Tierman
Subject: FW: Disgusting. Just Ban It.

I want to make sure you see this.

We recently teamed up with award-winning filmmaker, Jon Bowermaster, to create a video that exposes Big Oil, large food corporations, and the legislators who have allowed food that is sold across the country be grown with toxic oil wastewater.

Together with the help of our partners, we’ve already caught the attention of the Wonderful company after sending over 130,000 petition signatures last year. We need to keep building on this pressure.

Watch the video today and take our pledge to get Wonderful to BAN this dangerous practice!

We won’t let them get away with this.

Onward together,

————————-

Dear Andrew,

Our country’s multi-billion dollar food industry is getting away with growing our food with toxic oil wastewater from polluting corporations like Chevron.

This practice has been happening for too long with little to no regulation. These companies are exploiting consumers like you and the farmworkers who grow the crops — all to profit off putting our health at risk. It’s time that we expose Big Oil, large agribusinesses and the politicians who have enabled this practice!

Check out our video on oil wastewater irrigation made by renowned filmmaker Jon Bowermaster, then sign our petition to ban the practice!

In a scheme to get rid of and save money on oil wastewater disposal, oil companies are selling billions of gallons of it to irrigation districts in California for cheap.

We’re putting pressure on Wonderful, a large food company known for popular brands sold across the country, such as Halos, POM Wonderful juice and Wonderful Pistachios, by asking YOU to pledge to stop buying their products until oil wastewater irrigation is banned!

Watch our video and tell Wonderful: I pledge to stop buying your products until you Stop Tainting Our Produce.

Wonderful owners, the Resnicks, are huge players in California water politics who donate to several electoral campaigns every year — as a stakeholder, they can and should use their influence to call for a ban on this practice.

We’ve already caught their attention after sending them over 130,000 pledge signatures last year.

In response, their website claims that the oil wastewater is “carefully treated, tested and approved for agricultural use.” Meanwhile, our research shows that there is no regular testing or reporting required, which means the water used in this highly unregulated practice could contain toxic chemicals linked with cancer and reproductive harm.

Together we can build on the pressure that we’ve already started and get Wonderful to BAN this dangerous practice!

In solidarity,

Luz Hernandez; Online Organizer, Food & Water Watch

From: Iram, Robert, Ilya, Jo, and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Political Action
Subject: Trump’s attempt to keep Black and brown people out

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s first Muslim Ban—an early manifestation of Trump’s infuriating campaign promise of a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims from entering the country” and his ongoing white supremacist agenda.¹

Right now, Trump’s Muslim Ban 3.0 is in effect and is indefinitely blocking people from five majority-Muslim countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen—while placing restrictions on a sixth majority-Muslim country, Chad.²And just yesterday, Trump also released a proposal to cut immigration by 50%, including ending major portions of the family reunification program that allows people to sponsor their siblings, parents, and other close family members.³ Meanwhile, the livelihoods of over 800,000 DACA recipients and millions of others with post-natural disaster temporary protected status are still uncertain, because Trump is using them as a bargaining chip to get his border wall and pass more inhumane immigration policies.⁴

Make no mistake: These policies exemplify Trump’s and the GOP’s willingness to cater to white supremacists, inhumanely tear apart families, and keep Black and brown immigrants out of the United States.

Despite this, MoveOn members have stood strong in resistance against Trump’s policies—and we can be proud of our work, drawing a clear moral line in the sand. Since Trump’s election,

MoveOn members took his campaign promise to implement a Muslim registry seriously and worked with our allies at DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), the ACLU, and many partners to proactively shut down a Bush-era Muslim registry program so Trump wouldn’t be allowed to use it;
when the first Muslim Ban was released, thousands of MoveOn members showed up to airports across the country to stand with Muslim communities, and tens of thousands more hung signs in their neighborhoods reading, “No Muslim Ban. No Border Wall. Our Cities Stand Tall”;
our Video Lab team made 22 videos around the Muslim Ban and combating Islamophobia that garnered over 15 million views—including a video that told the powerful story of Areej Ali, a green card holder, who was detained during the first Muslim Ban;
we released a timely guidebook to progressive members of Congress, allies, and organizations on how to speak about the Muslim Ban while avoiding talking points that would harm Muslim communities;⁵
we took the opportunity to contribute over $250,000 to many organizations on the front lines of Trump’s attacks—including those working on immigrant rights;
tens of thousands of MoveOn members have also added their signatures to petitions calling on Facebook and Twitter to take hate speech and the incitement of violence seriously on their platforms;
and so much more!

While MoveOn members have focused during the past year on defending communities on the frontlines of Trump’s attacks, in 2018, we’re going on the offense, taking up the long-term fight against anti-Muslim racism along with allies in Muslim communities.

The fight against the Muslim Ban is far from over. And we know, from all the systemic ways Muslim communities have been targeted through surveillance, Guantánamo, wars, and law enforcement, that we need some serious change to shift the narrative and build pro-immigrant political power before it’s too late.

We’re also at an unprecedented moment where there is an opportunity to drastically shift the conversation around Muslim communities and get Democratic candidates, along with progressive organizations, the right tools for the 2018 elections. We already started the process by looking into existing research on Islamophobia and planning out our video persuasion tests to find the right messaging. If this is the year Democrats win big, we need to make sure they are clearly standing with Muslim communities against the anti-Muslim hate we will inevitably witness during an election year.

As we continue to stand against anti-Muslim racism, click here to watch and share Areej’s powerful story of being detained during the first Muslim Ban to remind people of the ways Trump’s policies are tearing families apart—and that these policies have real consequences on the lives of many.

Sources:

“Donald Trump Calls for Barring Muslims From Entering U.S,” The New York Times, December 7, 2015
https://act.moveon.org/go/32204?t=16&akid=197799%2E1195276%2EDzdb8n
“Muslim Ban 3.0 Is Heading to Court — Here’s What You Need to Know Right Now,” ACLU, October 13, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/32317?t=18&akid=197799%2E1195276%2EDzdb8n
“Trump’s ‘chain migration’ obsession: The Nazis thought of it first,” Salon, January 17, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/32318?t=20&akid=197799%2E1195276%2EDzdb8n
“A New Clock Starts for a DACA Deal, but Time’s Already Running Out,” The Nation, January 23, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/32319?t=22&akid=197799%2E1195276%2EDzdb8n
“No Muslim Ban Ever: How to Be a Progressive Ally,” MoveOn, December 5, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/32436?t=24&akid=197799%2E1195276%2EDzdb8n

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

From: Dina El-Rifai; Communities Against Islamophobia, AFSC
Subject: One year after the Muslim ban

Photo: Sarah Jane Rhee

One year and three versions later, President Trump’s Muslim ban is still discriminatory, Islamophobic, and one of the most shameful examples of this Administration’s racist attacks on the liberties of Muslims and immigrants in the United States.

On Jan. 27, seven days after Trump was sworn into office, he signed the Muslim ban as part of a larger slew of racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-Black executive actions. Communities across the U.S. responded immediately as people were blocked from entering the country—staging mass airport protests, organizing teach-ins and know-your-rights workshops, plastering posters across their cities, and signing petitions to stand against this immoral policy.

AFSC’s Communities Against Islamophobia (CAI) project was launched to help change the dominant narrative about Islam that feeds racist policies like the Muslim ban. Since its inception, CAI has trained more than 700 people in five U.S. cities to become informed and active allies. Participants have taken part in mobilizations and educational events in support of the Muslim community.

Despite the Trump administration’s changes to the ban over the past year, its original intent remains the same: barring Muslims from entering the country. It’s still discriminatory and immoral.

Last week, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear Hawaii’s challenge to the current version of the ban, and a ruling is expected by June. In the meantime, the ban is in full effect, effectively barring 150 million immigrants and visitors—the vast majority of them Muslim—from Iran, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and other countries from entering the U.S.

For numerous individuals from these countries and their families here in the U.S., the impacts of the Supreme Court decision will be severe and far reaching. As a member of the Muslim community, I have seen firsthand the devastation of a mother repeatedly being denied a visa to travel to the U.S. to be with her dying daughter.

All of us deserve to feel safe from hatred and to live and pray in peace. The Muslim ban has no place in our society—not now, not ever.

For more resources about how you can oppose Islamophobia—and engage others in our efforts—explore our Communities Against Islamophobia resources.

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0108

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: FW: Press Conference: Ohio redistricting advocates oppose Republican lawmakers’ plan & FW: Increase Immigration from Norway

FW: NYT Today’s Headlines: (1) Wall Is ‘Off the Table,’ Schumer Says,
as Progress on Immigration Unravels
(2) Trump Says He Is Willing to Speak Under Oath to Mueller
FW: The “states’ right” to purge voters may soon be affirmed by the SCOTUS
FW: Sign if you agree: No compromise when it comes to Dreamers
FW: Why companies are giving big bonuses
FW: Increase Immigration from Norway
FW: #TrumpShutdown ends, DREAMers need protection now!
FW: This cover-up is horrifying

From: New York Times
Subject: NYT Today’s Headlines: (1) Wall Is ‘Off the Table,’ Schumer Says, as Progress on Immigration Unravels (2) Trump Says He Is Willing to Speak Under Oath to Mueller

Wall Is ‘Off the Table,’ Schumer Says, as Progress on Immigration Unravels
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MAGGIE HABERMAN

With emotions still hot over the government shutdown, Senate negotiators found themselves back at Square 1 in their efforts to strike an immigration deal.

Trump Says He Is Willing to Speak Under Oath to Mueller
By MAGGIE HABERMAN and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

President Trump said he was willing to speak under oath to the special counsel, appearing to conflate

From: Eric Kramer
Subject: The “states’ right” to purge voters may soon be affirmed by the SCOTUS

“America’s Trump-run FBI/KGB/Savak apparatus may now have the power to silently and invisibly remove enough potential voters to elect and re-elect whoever it wants.”
http://columbusfreepress.com/article/are-supremes-about-give-trump-second-term

From: Murshed, Nicole, Brandy, Carly, Elizabeth, Heidi, Jordan, Josh, Kaili, Mark, Mark and the rest of the CREDO team, CREDO Action from Working Assets
Subject: Sign if you agree: No compromise when it comes to Dreamers

Tell Democrats: No compromise with Trump’s racism

Tell Senate Democrats:
“Use the Feb. 8 government funding deadline to enact a clean DREAM Act and protect Dreamers without a single compromise to Republicans’ racist anti-immigrant agenda.”

Add your name:

Sign the Petition!

Sen. Chuck Schumer is the worst negotiator in Washington – even worse than Donald Trump. Unfortunately he is also the leader of Senate Democrats.

Yesterday, Sen. Schumer caved to the white supremacist base of Trump’s Republican Party and led the Senate Democrats to a total surrender – during the heat of the the Trump shutdown – that did nothing to protect Dreamers.¹ As a result of Sen. Schumer’s sellout on the Senate floor, 33 Democrats gave away all their leverage and helped embolden the nativist extremists who run Trump’s racist regime.

We now have until Feb. 8 to force the entire Senate Democratic caucus to come together with one goal: using the next government funding deadline to protect Dreamers without compromising one bit with Republicans’ racist anti-immigrant agenda.

Tell Senate Democrats: Find your spines and use your power. No compromises with Trump’s racism. Click here to sign the petition.

Schumer is justifying his appalling decision by saying he got a promise from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – a serial liar and unrepentant bigot – for a vote on a bipartisan bill to make permanent the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. But we know that even a career compromiser like Schumer would never have agreed to a deal if he thought he’d be alone – moderate, cowardly Democrats had his back.

That means that – despite months of passionate and intense organizing from our allies in the immigrants rights and progressive movements, and after a weekend when millions again took to the streets for women’s marches to protest Trump’s dangerous agenda – 33 Democrats, in a misguided attempt to protect themselves electorally, decided to sacrifice Dreamers. Their craven calculus puts more immigrant families at risk of separation and exposes even more Dreamers to Trump’s racist deportation force. It also lays the groundwork for a DACA compromise that would include unacceptable capitulation to the extreme anti-immigrant wing of the Republican Party.

Yesterday, 16 Democrats said no to Schumer’s deal.² Right now, we need to put massive pressure on the Democrats who caved to make sure they stand with the Democrats who showed their solidarity with Dreamers when the next deadline arrives. Can you add your name today?

Tell Senate Democrats: Find your spines and use your power. No compromises with Trump’s racism. Click here to sign the petition.

A year ago, and again this weekend, we were marching in the streets, rushing to the airports and gathering in our local communities to stand up and speak out against Trump. When we said #NoBanNoWall and #ImmigrantsAreWelcomeHere, we meant it. And we thought Democrats, who were desperately trying to claim the mantle of the resistance, meant it as well.

But last week, Schumer offered to give Trump all the funding he needs to build his racist border wall.³ And the current compromise in the Senate, from Sens. Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham, is rumored to not only fund border security and interior enforcement, but also help Republicans advance racist right-wing immigration reforms that would prevent immigrants from reuniting with their families and keep Black and Brown people out of the country.⁴

Democrats cannot to give an inch when it comes to enabling Trump’s dangerous racism. Click here to sign the petition.

Some Democrats, and even some progressives, seem to think that the wall is no big deal, or that it’s OK to give in a little to Trump and Republicans in order to save Dreamers. But we cannot ever forget that Trump’s entire campaign – from calling Mexicans rapists to promising to build the wall – was a public expression of a white supremacist fantasy. That ugly fantasy has seeds in Trump’s challenge to President Obama’s citizenship and Republicans’ refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of the first Black president.

That white supremacy fuels Trump’s immigration agenda, which aims to make America whiter by walling off Black and Brown people from “shithole countries” in detention centers and at the borders. It drives the inhumane racism of Trump advisors, from Steve Bannon to Stephen Miller to Jeff Sessions, who see whiteness and white privilege under such threat that they are willing to use any means necessary to maintain white majorities and white power.

We can never accept, normalize or legitimize even a shred of this white supremacist fantasy. And right now, time is of the essence. If Sen. Schumer and the Democrats who voted with him this week do not face massive pressure from the progressive community, they will continue to compromise. Democrats’ inability to do anything but surrender will be a fatal sign of weakness to Trump and congressional Republicans who will look for even more opportunities to spiral our country further into racist xenophobia.

Click the link below to tell Democrats to use the Feb. 8 government funding deadline to protect Dreamers without a single compromise to Republicans’ racist anti-immigrant agenda:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Democrats_Backbone?t=9&akid=26955%2E1004336%2EdBljLE

Add your name:

Sign the Petition!

References:

Will Drabold, “‘They folded immediately’: Progressives fume at Dems over deal to reopen government,” Mic, Jan. 22, 2018.
Melanie Schmitz, “These 16 Democrats voted against reopening the government without protections for DREAMers,” ThinkProgress, Jan. 22, 2018.
Bob Bryan, “SCHUMER: I put ‘the wall’ on the table in my meeting with Trump, but he backed out of the deal

From: LinkedIn
Subject: Why companies are giving big bonuses

Why companies are giving big bonuses

Corporate American workers continue to reap the benefits stemming from a recent corporate tax cut. Disney, American Airlines, Boeing, AT&T, Wells Fargo, Comcast, Bank of America and Walmart are just some of the companies that have announced one-off payments to employees late last year and early this year, while dozens of other firms have followed suit. Apple recently said it will give $2,500 worth of restricted stock units to most of its employees. But why give bonuses rather than simply salary raises? The Washington Post explains that salary bumps drive up fixed costs for companies; how workers are compensated is also changing, with discretionary bonuses becoming an increasing share of compensation. • What do you make of the current bonus bonanza? Join the conversation.

From: Thomas Scott
Subject: Increase Immigration from Norway

From: Katie O’Connell; Digital Communications Coordinator, , PFAW
Subject: #TrumpShutdown ends, DREAMers need protection now!

The three-day Trump shutdown ended today with a very disappointing deal that neglected to protect vulnerable DREAMers.

Although this delay means that more DREAMers will be deported, we need to make sure that this is just a delay and not the end.

Tell Congress to pass the bipartisan DREAM Act without delay!

There is no more time for excuses on passing a clean DREAM Act, and every time that Congress fails to act more young people are deported and families torn apart.

Sign now to demand Congress passes the DREAM Act!

It has been 139 long days since Trump ended the DACA program, upending the lives of hundreds of thousands of DREAMers and their families across the country. Trump has also ended protected status for Haitian and Salvadoran immigrants, another part of his all-out anti-immigrant assault.

This is no longer an immigration policy debate… passing the DREAM Act is a moral imperative for Congress.

Sign the petition NOW to demand your legislators pass the DREAM Act>>

Every single member of Congress needs to decide which side they are on: the side of divisiveness, racism, white supremacy, and hate or the side of American values of freedom and equality for all. The DREAM Act as it exists is a bipartisan bill, and there is no reason for Republicans to be wasting time and playing politics with young peoples’ lives.

This fight is about who we are as a country. It’s about our values. And it’s about every person who could be deported from their home because of the nativists and white supremacists in the White House and Congress.

News broke last week that at least 14 university officials at Michigan State University–where serial child molester and doctor Larry Nassar worked–knew and ignored reports of Nassar assaulting young female athletes in his care.¹

While at MSU, Nassar also worked as the team doctor for USA Gymnastics. He sexually abused at least 150 girls over three decades, including gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney–and it could have been stopped years ago.²

The complicity at MSU goes all the way up to the university president, Lou Anna Simon, who kept Nassar on even after he was fired from USA Gymnastics for abuse and has since done nothing to hold officials who knew accountable.³

Now, elected officials in Michigan are calling on Simon to step down.⁴People who cover up sexual abuse must be held accountable. If we can add national pressure today, we can force Simon out. Can you add your name now?

Tell the Michigan State University Board of Trustees: “Remove President Lou Anna Simon immediately.”

Sign the petition

The reports from young girls and women about the pattern of abuse hidden in plain sight are truly heartbreaking. Nassar used his position of trust and authority at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University to assault girls he claimed to be healing.⁵

This story finally came to light in 2015 thanks to the persistence of brave survivors. But according to recent reports, Nassar has been abusing women and girls through his job since at least the early 1990s.⁶ That shows a clear failure by the people who should have been protecting these girls.

The good news is university officials have been held accountable before for this kind of complicity. Last year, Penn State University’s president, vice president, and athletic director were all sentenced to jail terms and fines for failing to report the abuse of dozens of boys by assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.⁷

Survivors around the world are watching to see if decades of cover-up will go unpunished–we can’t let that happen.

Can you add your name to demand Simon goes immediately?

Sources:

What MSU knew: 14 were warned of Nassar abuse, Detroit News, January 18, 2018
Victims Continue Confronting Larry Nassar With Stories of Abuse on Second Day of Sentencing, Sports Illustrated, January 17, 2018
Victims confront Larry Nassar in court: ‘Little girls don’t stay little forever’, CNN, January 16, 2018
Michigan State hasn’t faced consequences for enabling the biggest sex abuse scandal in U.S. sports, ThinkProgress, November 27, 2017
Lawmakers call for MSU’s Simon to resign, Detroit News, January 18, 2018
Gymnasts Share Stories of Abuse at Doctor’s Sentencing Hearing, New York Times, January 16, 2018
Nassar surrounded by adults who enabled his predatory behavior, ESPN, January 16, 2018
Three ex-Penn State officials get jail in Sandusky child sex abuse coverup, Reuters, June 2, 2017

Want to support our work? UltraViolet is funded by members like you, and our tiny staff ensures small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0107

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: FW: Government Remains Shut Down; Join a #TrumpShutdown action near you; Comcast + Trump = disaster; and more

———————————————————-

FW: Today’s Headlines: Bitter Bickering Muddies the Path to Ending the Government Shutdown
FW: Government Remains Shut Down
FW: Join a #TrumpShutdown action near you
FW: BREAKING: #TrumpShutdown
FW: [SHUTDOWN] How did this happen?
FW: Take Action: Stand With Dr. Laurie Rubel at Brooklyn College
FW: Comcast + Trump = disaster
FW: Speaking up about injustice is a good thing. No elected official should threaten our right to do so.

———————————————————-

From: New York Times
Subject: NYT Today’s Headline: Bitter Bickering Muddies the Path to Ending the Government Shutdown

Bitter Bickering Muddies the Path to Ending the Government Shutdown
By THOMAS KAPLAN and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

With the government shut down and the two parties faulting each other, senators from both parties were looking for an agreement to end the crisis.

From: Jedith
Subject: Government Remains Shut Down

U.S. government shuts down after Senate talks fail
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/government-shutdown-likelihood-grows-amid-senate-standoff-n839301?cid=eml_nbn_20180120
Republicans Just Lost The Midterm Election As Trump Gets The Government Shutdown That He Wanted
http://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/19/trump-causes-government-shutdown-republicans-couldnt-get-together-avoid-shutdown.html
A List of Everyone Who Will Be Screwed by a Government Shutdown
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/01/a-list-of-everyone-who-will-be-screwed-by-a-government-shutdown/
What Will Happen if the Government Remains Shut Down
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/19/us/politics/government-shutdown-employee-effects.html

From: Katharine, Elsie, Ben, Jackie, and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Civic Action
Subject: Join a #TrumpShutdown action near you

Donald Trump and his GOP Congress just shut down the federal government.¹

Our National Parks are closing down.

9 million kids who depend on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) still have their coverage unfunded.²

And 800,000 Dreamers are without the protections they were promised under DACA.

All because Donald Trump and the GOP chose to shut down the government rather than give up their reckless and racist policies, including billions in funding for a border wall.

Trump is tweeting up a storm to pass blame for his shutdown off onto Democrats because they stood strong for Dreamers and resisted his radical agenda. But we won’t stand for it—and MoveOn members and our allies are going to show up at speak-out actions across the country this next week to demand that the GOP end the #TrumpShutdown and get back to work to pass the Dream Act and fund CHIP.

Click here to host or join an urgent speak-out this week to demand Congress end the #TrumpShutdown and protect Dreamers—find and RSVP for an event near you, or start a new one! (If there isn’t an event near you yet, hosting one is easy! MoveOn staff and volunteers will support you every step of the way and even recruit other MoveOn members and partners in your area.)

Yesterday marked exactly one year since Trump’s inauguration—and one year of the resistance to Trump’s administration. In the past year, so many of us have stepped up our civic engagement in ways we may never have expected. We’ve been vigilant in defending health care coverage, standing with communities bearing the brunt of Trump’s attacks, and resisting the Trump agenda as we’ve mobilized to win key elections and lay the groundwork to rebuild progressive power.

And we’ve had incredible impact! We’ve been able to defeat horrible Republican policies and support leadership from Democrats who have stood strong—even now, the fact that the Democrats are so united in their opposition to Trump’s and the Republicans’ cruel legislative games is a testament to the power of the Resistance, which has stiffened the spines of Democrats and showed we’ll have their backs in a moment like this.

And now it’s critical to make sure Republicans feel the pressure—to get back to work, pass Dream, fund CHIP, reopen the government, and reject Trump’s racist agenda and reckless actions.

MoveOn and our allies are organizing a national wave of protests to end the #TrumpShutdown, beginning Monday and lasting through Wednesday (unless we can win before then!).

Can we count on you to join or host a speak-out event in your area to end the #TrumpShutdown?

Republicans have shut down the federal government before, and they suffered a political cost from holding our country hostage to their extreme agenda. If we all come together to stand up to this egregious negotiating tactic, we can win public opinion, help secure a deal that protects Dreamers, and emerge as a stronger country. It all starts with what we do next.

Thanks for all you do.

P.S.: One year ago, the day after the Women’s March, MoveOn and our allies held the first Ready to Resist call—and broke the Guinness World Record for the largest conference call in history. Tonight, Sunday January 21, we’re marking that anniversary with another Ready to Resist call, live from the Women’s March in Las Vegas and featuring leaders of the Women’s March, where we’ll focus like a laser on urgent steps to stop the #TrumpShutdown.

Sources:

“The government has officially shut down,” Vox, January 20, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/31180?t=17&akid=197431%2E1195276%2ExlND84
“9 million kids get health insurance under CHIP. Congress just let it expire,” The Washington Post, October 19, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/30949?t=19&akid=197431%2E1195276%2ExlND84

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

From: Nancy Treviño; Reform Immigration FOR America
Subject: BREAKING: #TrumpShutdown

Somehow, the Republicans have managed to shut down the government. Again.

How could this happen? The GOP has complete control of the House and Senate, not to mention their President sitting in the Oval Office. The DREAM Act has bipartisan support and remains overwhelmingly popular with a majority of Americans. They’ve also had a full year to pass the budget and ensure CHIP was reauthorized.

It seems that, in their unwillingness to govern outside of their white nationalist agenda, Trump and the GOP derailed the process of creating permanent protections for DACAmented youth.

The new reality of American politics is that racism has a seat at every table. So, what now?

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors will lose pay
Vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid, social security, and veterans services will experience significant delays
Trump and his GOP allies will place the blame everywhere but where it actually belongs: on themselves

Don’t be silent. Take action right now by tweeting or posting:

Instead of acting as POTUS for all Americans, @realDonaldTrump has doubled down on his racist agenda & caused a government shutdown to appease the white nationalists he really works for. And the @GOP let it happen. #TrumpShutdown #RacistinChief

Last week, Trump sent a clear message with his shameful “s—hole” comment: that he and the extremists in the Republican party intend to support their white nationalist agenda, no matter the consequences.

The most powerful tool we have in this fight is our collective voice. We can’t let Trump, the white nationalists who control him, and the spineless GOP use this moment to further attack immigrants and people of color.

From: MARGARET PETERS on behalf of Dorian Warren, CCCAction President
Subject: FW: [SHUTDOWN] How did this happen?

…”Instead of acting as POTUS for all Americans, @realDonaldTrump has doubled down on his racist rhetoric and the GOP let it happen.”…Dorian Warren, President, Center for Community Change Action
—————————————————-
Somehow, the Republicans have managed to shut down the government. Again.

Despite their majorities in the House and Senate, not to mention their President sitting in the Oval Office, the Republicans have failed. How could this happen?

Incompetence? Obviously. The GOP has been in control of every branch of government for an entire year, and has failed to pass a budget, reauthorize CHIP, or take the necessary steps to pass a bipartisan DREAM Act.

Ideology? Sure. After all, Republicans are the anti-government (and apparently, anti-governing) party. Many of them have dreamed about a shutdown – Trump even encouraged the idea just months ago.

But really, it all goes back to white nationalism. The new reality of American politics is that racism has a seat at every table.

Trump, the white nationalists who control him, and this spineless Republican leadership are using this moment, and the budget, to prioritize attacks on immigrants and people of color:

Threatening a “wall” that will cost billions of taxpayer dollars
Terrorizing immigrant communities with gestapo-like raids
Emboldening racists to spread their vitriol online, in our communities, and in our government

Don’t be silent. Take action right now by tweeting or posting:

The shameful “s—hole” comment heard around the world wasn’t a slip – it was a clear and direct signal to every American: the Presidency has been compromised by the white nationalist agenda of Trump and the extremists in the Republican party. The question now is whether the rest of the GOP-controlled Congress will fall in line.

From: Munsup @MPEN Seoh
Subject: Take Action: Stand With Dr. Laurie Rubel at Brooklyn College

I thought you might want to sign on to the petition by the AAUP excerpted below:

Together with the Brooklyn College chapter of the Professional Staff Congress, we stand in support of Laurie Rubel, professor of mathematics education, who has become the latest “click bait” for the right-wing media’s outrage machine. Dr. Rubel’s recent article in the Journal of Urban Mathematics Education was caricatured and decontextualized by Campus Reform, an online “watchdog” outlet seeking to curb academic freedom.

To sign and read more, click here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/stand-with-dr-laurie-rubel?source=email&

It probably took you only a second to open this email. Those days may soon be over, as big internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon just got a green light to mess with your internet access.

Internet service providers (ISPs), with the backing of Trump’s Federal Communications Commission, are about to implement a plan to create fast and slow lanes on the internet–and we’ll all pay the price.¹ No matter how fast your internet is, ISPs will be able to decide which sites to slow down or even block. That could get in the way of paying bills, searching for urgent medical care, streaming Netflix, using Facebook, even just Googling information. And websites that big telecom companies don’t agree with–like news articles or advocacy sites critical of them or Trump–could be blocked entirely.²

Fortunately, due to the outcry, all 49 Democrats and independents, along with Republican Senator Susan Collins, support a bill to overturn the FCC rules. Under Senate rules, because it has the support of 50 senators, the Majority Leader is forced to bring it up for a vote. Now we just need one more vote to pass it. History shows that when telecoms mess with our internet access, Congress listens closely.³ That’s why we’re joining our allies at Free Press to demand the Senate take action. Can you sign the petition?

Tell Congress: “Reinstate net neutrality. Save our internet.”

Sign the petition

A free and open internet is essential not just to our everyday browsing, but also to our work together on behalf of women’s equality. Just think about what would have happened if the New York Times story about Harvey Weinstein’s years of abuse broke when millions of AT&T customers could not read it, or Verizon customers could not sign UltraViolet’s successful petition to get him fired, or Comcast customers had to pay a fee just to share the petition on Facebook.

In fact, for years, net neutrality has helped UltraViolet members win rapid social change. Think of the lightning fast and enormous outcry to the outrageous sentencing of Stanford University rapist Brock Turner. Placing a huge volume of calls to successfully protect the Affordable Care Act last year through all the rapid twists and turns in Congress–news we learned about quickly through the internet. Forcing the termination of Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly after we organized a petition and protests outside Fox’s headquarters.

None of this would be possible without an internet that emphasizes quality and importance of news and ideas over the ability to pay. Net neutrality has been baked into the internet since it was invented–and we cannot allow companies like Comcast to act like gatekeepers and pick winners and losers in the online marketplace of ideas. Simply put, the ability of advocates fighting for justice depends on net neutrality, as does the power of the internet to make our lives better and easier. That’s why this petition is so important.

Sign the petition demanding the Senate save our internet.

Sources:

Senate Dems searching for one last vote to revive FCC’s net neutrality rules, CNBC, January 16, 2018
Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know Now, Free Press, accessed January 19, 2018
Five Lessons From the SOPA/PIPA Fight, Slate, January 20, 2012

Want to support our work? UltraViolet is funded by members like you, and our tiny staff ensures small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

From: Sarah Hogg, Daily Kos
Subject: Sign if you agree: Speaking up about injustice is a good thing. No elected official should threaten our right to do so.

Sign the petition: Denounce GOP Senator Tom Cotton for sending cease and desist letters to constituents.

SIGN THE PETITION

In the year since Trump was inaugurated, activists have been heating up White House and Congressional phone lines, demanding accountability and ethics from their elected officials.

But apparently one Republican—Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton—can’t handle his constituents exercising their First Amendment rights.

Cotton recently sent letters to local community activists demanding they cease and desist ALL communications with the Senator’s office. If they don’t comply, Cotton’s office will report them to the U.S. Capitol Police.

It is outrageous that activists who were calling Senator Cotton’s office to express grave concerns about his support of the Trump administration will now be met with police action if they try to speak up again.

This is not okay. Click here to IMMEDIATELY sign the petition denouncing Senator Cotton for trying to silence his constituents.

IMMEDIATELY SIGN THE PETITION

By signing this petition you will receive periodic updates on offers and activism opportunities from Daily Kos. You may unsubscribe at any time. Here’s our privacy policy.

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0106

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: FW: Fox News deliberately misleads about MLK; #MeToo is coming for Trump; and more

FW: “the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism”
FW: my brother Martin Luther King Jr.
FW: Fox News deliberately misleads about MLK
FW: Hang your beliefs … in your window 😍
FW: #MeToo is coming for Trump
FW: Sign the petition: Allow Jorge Garcia to return to his family

From: Michael Keegan; Presiden, People For the American Way
Subject: “the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism”

Last year, I sent a Martin Luther King Day message that referenced a 1967 speech by Dr. King. The speech was about the Vietnam War but it discussed what Dr. King called “the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism” and it seemed particularly timely in the days leading up to Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Unfortunately, one year later, it hits even closer to home.

Those “triple evils” — especially the first two, so far — have defined the Trump presidency.

Racism: We thought Trump’s campaign was bad, but in his first year of office Trump has:

Defended Nazis and called them “fine people” in wake of Charlottesville violence
Staffed his White House with white nationalists
Tweeted anti-Muslim propaganda from far-right English hate group
Pursued a policy agenda, especially at the Justice Department, that criminalizes communities of color
Attacked diversity admissions at colleges and universities through the Department of Justice
Attacked immigrant communities by rescinding DACA, stepping up deportations, ending protective status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who sought refuge here due to disasters in their countries of origin, and pursuing undue restrictions on legal immigration
Showed profound — and offensive — ignorance about the history and achievements of African Americans (“Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more.”)
Attacked NFL players for exercising their right to free speech to raise awareness about police brutality and other oppression
Inspired other Republicans to use his campaign playbook of racial division
Inflamed fears about violence committed by immigrants — particularly Latinos and Muslims

Economic Exploitation: The tax scam passed by Trump Republicans in Congress with zero Democratic support is a massive redistribution of wealth to the very top, with corporations and the 1% lining their pockets at the painful expense of middle-class and low-income Americans. In addition, we’ve seen:

An aggressive deregulation agenda that has removed protections for workers, consumers, and the environment
Dangerous deregulation of the financial sector, including multiple efforts to neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Ongoing attempts to rip lifesaving health care away from tens of millions of Americans and drive up health care premiums
Political brinksmanship regarding the funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, imperiling the health care of 9 million children
Legislation to explode the deficit and create the excuse to try to shred safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

Militarism: We’ve seen this no more clearly than with Trump’s posturing and Twitter antagonism regarding North Korea. Trump’s “tough talk” has been aimed at some other countries as well, and his brand of militarism actually includes a very new dynamic in American foreign affairs — isolating the US with reckless hostility towards international agreements and norms, as well as our own alliances like NATO. Thankfully, Trump’s penchant for vindictive lashing out has not led us into an actual war yet, but obviously there is cause for concern and he has certainly demonstrated hawkish impulses with his public — and oftentimes confusing — chest thumping.

Today, it’s important to remember and celebrate Dr. King’s vision and the rights and values he died defending. But it’s also important to stay mindful of how drastically at odds King’s vision and fight are with the Trump presidency and right-wing Republican rule.

This year, we’ll be fighting — as always — to advance the values Dr. King championed and, with your support, we have the chance to do it big time at the ballot box this November.

Thank you so much for all you do. And Happy Martin Luther King Day.

From: Congressman John Lewis
Subject: my brother Martin Luther King Jr.

Not a day goes by when I don’t think about my brother Martin Luther King Jr.

He was our moral compass — he inspired and represented the best of America.

And today, millions of Americans will celebrate his life and honor his legacy.

I think if he were still with us today, he would tell us to keep dreaming.

I need you to help me continue his legacy today by completing my Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Survey:

I marched with Martin and spoke at rallies with him. Together, we fought tirelessly to make our country a more fair and tolerant place.

His work helped to liberate us from the evils of segregation and hate.

But he was taken from us before he ever had the chance to see the results of his life’s work. He was silenced indefinitely.

But that’s why it’s up to you and me to keep his legacy alive.

Do your part today to help keep his legacy alive by answering a few short questions:

http://go.johnlewisforcongress.com/MLK-Legacy-Survey-2018

From: The team at Democracy for America
Subject: Fox News deliberately misleads about MLK

This morning, Fox News marked the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday by publishing a ridiculous article with the headline “Please stop politicizing Martin Luther King Day. It’s a day for national unity, not political division.”

They are deliberately lying to Americans about what this day means — and what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for and actually believed. He knew that his life and the work of racial and economic justice were inherently political.

With Donald Trump in the White House, working with Fox News to reinforce white supremacy and attack Black protest, it’s worth remembering exactly what Dr. King said about racial justice, economic justice, and politics. We thought we’d share a few key ideas Dr. King said or wrote during his life and invite you to reflect on them.

“First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.”

Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” — Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 1963

“We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power… this means a revolution of values and other things. We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together… you can’t really get rid of one without getting rid of the others… the whole structure of American life must be changed. America is a hypocritical nation and [we] must put [our] own house in order.” — Report to SCLC staff, May 1967

“Why is equality so assiduously avoided? Why does white America delude itself, and how does it rationalize the evil it retains?

The majority of white Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class Utopia embodying racial harmony. But unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity…

Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn. The reality of substantial investment to assist Negroes into the twentieth century, adjusting to Negro neighbors and genuine school integration, is still a nightmare for all too many white Americans…These are the deepest causes for contemporary abrasions between the races. Loose and easy language about equality, resonant resolutions about brotherhood fall pleasantly on the ear, but for the Negro there is a credibility gap he cannot overlook. He remembers that with each modest advance the white population promptly raises the argument that the Negro has come far enough. Each step forward accents an ever-present tendency to backlash.” — “Where do we go from here?” August 1967

“Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shore, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it. Our children are still taught to respect the violence which reduced a red-skinned people of an earlier culture into a few fragmented groups herded into impoverished reservations.” – “Why We Can’t Wait, 1963”

If you’ve read this far in the email, why not take a moment to scroll back up and re-read these quotes again. And once you have, please join your fellow Democracy for America members in making a personal commitment to taking actions and fighting for racial justice and economic equality.

That is just one of many ways to make today a meaningful day. And you’ll also help show Fox News you won’t let them smear Dr. King’s legacy — or stop this country from working to achieve the justice for which he gave his life.

Paid for by Democracy for America, http://www.democracyforamerica.com and not authorized by any candidate. Contributions to Democracy for America are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.

From: Anna, Jo, Shari, Justin, and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Political Action
Subject: Hang your beliefs … in your window 😍

As we mark one year of Donald Trump in the White House, we know that at this moment especially, we need to be loud, committed, and unwavering about the values we hold dear.

And we need to declare these values in public both as a rejection of the Trump agenda and as a visible promise about the world we’re working to build together.

That’s why MoveOn’s millions of members are partnering with Here We Believe—a project that has created a compelling and memorable lawn sign popping up everywhere across the country, in blue states and red, in small towns and urban centers.

Ready to recommit to the Resistance—and want an uplifting and lasting way to mark one year of Trump?

Just click here to get your sturdy, weather-resistant, union-printed sign (pictured below).

“We’ve always proudly worn our progressive beliefs on our sleeves, but after Trump’s election, we felt that we had to be louder,” said Camm, part of the husband/wife team behind the Here We Believe sign.

After Election Day, Camm and his wife, Becky, felt an unstoppable urgency to make sure there were tangible signs of resistance—and love—in the world. They wanted physical signs that represented what they call “positivity.” Symbols of hope, in an otherwise troubling time, to galvanize and inspire their wider community. With messages such as: No human is illegal. Black lives matter. Women’s rights are human rights.

Now, thanks to a partnership between Here We Believe and MoveOn, MoveOn’s millions of members across the country can help build this visible and inspiring network of joyous resistance, love, and hope in cities and towns across the nation.

Simply click here to get your sign.

Camm and Becky use their sign—personally—to signal to their community that they’re intent on being proud, progressive change agents. It’s a way for them to share beliefs that are important to them and to start a dialogue with their neighbors at this pivotal moment for our country.

Positivity—or what we’re for—is at the heart of what motivates and inspires many MoveOn members, like Camm and Becky, to keep resisting the Trump agenda, to keep working for a better future for ourselves and our families.

That’s why MoveOn has teamed up with Becky and Camm—to make sure MoveOn members in every community in the U.S., like you Munsup, have a chance to get your own Here We Believe sign.

It’s easy to order. Simply click here.

Let’s say out loud together: Here we believe love is love. Science is real. Water is life. And kindness is everything. Everything. Everything.

———————————–
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump’s agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation’s pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us? Donate monthly or make a one-time gift

When Donald Trump addresses the nation in the State of the Union this month, women of both houses in Congress plan to wear black to protest sexual harassment and assault, including by the predator-in-chief.¹

This comes after women like Oprah Winfrey and Nicole Kidman grabbed every headline last week by wearing black during the Golden Globes to protest harassment and sexual assault.² The movement to demand accountability continues to grow–and it’s coming for Trump.

Together with allies at MoveOn.org and CREDO, more than 300,000 people signed the petition demanding Congress investigate Trump’s history of sexual harassment and assault. More than 100 members of Congress are calling for an investigation.³ But if we’re to get more members of Congress to support an investigation, we have to reach their constituents. That’s why we made this image about the very women who survived harassment and abuse by Donald Trump. Can you share it with everyone you know?

Click here to share it on Facebook.

If you’re not on Facebook, you can also click here for more sharing options.

Sources:

Democratic women plan all-black fashion statement for State of the Union, NBC News, January 9, 2017
Oprah, Barbra, Elisabeth, Nicole: Women in black take over the Golden Globes, Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2018
Democratic Congresswomen Call For Investigation Into Trump Sexual Misconduct Allegations, Huffington Post, December 12, 2017

Want to support our work? UltraViolet is funded by members like you, and our tiny staff ensures small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

From: Sharon Lafitte
Subject: Sign the petition: Allow Jorge Garcia to return to his family

Jorge Garcia—a Michigan man who had lived in the U.S. for 30 years since he was 10 years old—has a story like so many immigrant stories: one filled with hard work, strong ties to his community, and love for his family. He has cooperated with the government, paid taxes, and has no criminal record.

Yet, another tragic story is unfolding. On Martin Luther King Day, ICE agents escorted Jorge onto a plane bound for a country he barely knows, away from his wife and two children—who are all U.S. citizens.¹

Will you sign and share my petition calling on Congress to stop separating families and demand Jorge Garcia be returned to his family in Michigan? Click here to sign.

Stop separating families! Allow Jorge Garcia to return to his family in Michigan and pass the Dream Act now.
Sign Sharon’s petition

We have been hearing stories like Jorge’s over and over again.

This must stop. When immigrants arrive as children, attend our schools, and grow up as Americans, they should be allowed, when adults, to make the decision to stay or return. It should be their choice! This is a humanitarian issue.

Last week, a group of senators reached a bipartisan deal to pass the Dream Act, which may have protected Jorge from deportation. But Donald Trump rejected that deal, pushing our government closer to a shutdown as our members of Congress are forced to decide if they will fall in line with Trump’s racist policies or support for immigrant youth.²

It’s more important than ever that we speak up and demand that Congress keep families together and pass a clean Dream Act now.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Sources:

“After 30 years in U.S., Michigan dad deported to Mexico,” Detroit Free Press, January 16, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/30365?t=17&akid=197218%2E1195276%2EDUJmtl
“House Republicans mull funding extension; ‘Dreamer’ deal not set,” Reuters, January 17, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/30386?t=19&akid=197218%2E1195276%2EDUJmtl

You’re receiving this petition because we thought it might interest you. It was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions.
You can start your own petition here.

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0105

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: FW: NYT Today’s Headlines; ‘American Is an Idea, Not a Race’; unhinged racism; “$#1%hole countries” by abagond; and more

FW: NYT Today’s Headlines: (1) Trump Alarms Lawmakers With Disparaging Words for Haiti and Africa
(2) A Senior Republican Senator Admonishes Trump: ‘American Is an Idea, Not a Race’
FW: The Surprising Story Behind This Shocking Photo of Martin Luther King Jr. Under Attack
FW: unhinged racism
FW: Obama’s stern warning for Trump (Opinion)
FW: “$#1%hole countries” by abagond
FW: “Trump’s racist comments trigger international condemnation”
FW: The #RacistinChief has done it again
FW: PETITION: Tell Congress to pass the DREAM Act now
FW: Join me? I just signed this petition: Tell Democrats: Skip Trump’s State of the Union.
FW: Small Enough to Jail – an injustice against Asian Americans

From: New York Times
Subject: NYT Today’s Headlines: |
(1) Trump Alarms Lawmakers With Disparaging Words for Haiti and Africa
(2) A Senior Republican Senator Admonishes Trump: ‘American Is an Idea, Not a Race’

Trump Alarms Lawmakers With Disparaging Words for Haiti and Africa
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and THOMAS KAPLAN

President Trump demanded to know at a White House meeting why he should accept immigrants from Haiti and African countries rather than people from places like Norway.

A Senior Republican Senator Admonishes Trump: ‘American Is an Idea, Not a Race’
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

The president’s racially charged comments threaten an emerging agreement to project some undocumented immigrants, which risks bringing a government shutdown.

From: Margret Peters

Subject: The Surprising Story Behind This Shocking Photo of Martin Luther King Jr. Under Attack – news – att.net

Please read and share this story. So many stories focus on the struggle in the South. The struggle continues.
http://start.att.net/news/read/category/news/article/time-the_surprising_story_behind_this_shocking_photo_of-rtime#.Wltbvx1F4Yo.email

From: Michael Keegan; President, People For the American Way
Subject: unhinged racism

This is a long email, but I hope you’ll read it through. There are important updates to share below, but I have to address the most recent news first.

Once again, the top story in the country is our president’s unhinged racism.

This time, Trump ranted against protections for immigrants from “shithole countries” countries, referring to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations, while lamenting that we didn’t have more immigration from countries like Norway.

The reports came near the end of a week in which Trump’s ignorance and petulance were glaringly on display.

In response to the release of Fire and Fury, a book that seriously challenges his fitness for office and ability to do the job of president, Trump held a meeting with lawmakers from both sides to discuss immigration which was clearly nothing more than a PR stunt to convince the press that he was up for the job … afterwards, Trump talked about how the meeting and, more specifically, his performance in the meeting received great “reviews” by the press as “incredibly good,” and said that he’d received letters from news anchors calling it “one of the greatest meetings they’ve ever witnessed.”

And as the House of Representatives was gearing up to vote on the extension of government surveillance powers, Trump tweeted his disdain for the bill, which his White House actually supports, citing it as the basis for supposed Obama administration spying on the Trump campaign — itself another wild Trump claim that has never been backed up by any evidence.

Quite simply, what we are witnessing from this president is truly terrifying. But perhaps even more terrifying is that as Trump continues to shock the country by sinking to new lows, the loyalty of his core supporters seems unshakable. The sentiments expressed by Trump supporters last night and today around the Internet, in response to the “shithole” comments, all seem to hit the same notes:

Trump is only saying what “REAL Americans” are all thinking…
At least he’s honest, which is better than typical politicians…
Trump is just telling the un-sugarcoated truth and shunning political correctness…
Hillary would still have been way worse, and is guilty of worse…
The immigrants from those countries are not contributors to the US — they only suck up tax-funded services and are hostile to our values…

We’re seeing the dangerous impact of a president that openly demonizes immigrants and communities of color — even the countries their ancestors came from … the policies of the Trump administration and the Department of Justice under Jeff Sessions are disastrous enough, but when the president is so reckless with his words, it emboldens and gives license to potentially violent racists and hatemongers.

We’ve already seen what happened in Charlottesville and elsewhere, and some might wonder how it is possible that Trump has not learned his lesson by now. But that’s the thing, Trump has learned … when the president disparages immigrants, calls Nazis “fine people,” or tweets Islamophobic propaganda from far-right hate groups, these are not gaffes or mistakes — they’re his true beliefs and his strategy.

We have so much work to do. But the good news is, we’re doing it … and this year we have the chance to rein in Trump Republicans’ assault on the American Way. 2018 can be the year we turn this all around.

Some updates:

VOTING RIGHTS

Trump’s sham ‘election integrity’ commission — the true goal of which was voter suppression — has been disbanded! This is a big win for PFAW members who were true leaders in exposing and fighting back against the commission’s voter suppression agenda.

Right-wing commission members have since told the press that they plan to continue the commission’s work in advisory roles with the Department of Homeland Security and the White House, however those claims that have not been substantiated. We will remain vigilant and be ready to fight back if we see DHS or other government bodies using the data collected by the commission or advancing the agenda of the commission’s infamous vote suppressors like co-chair Kris Kobach.

In other voting rights news, we saw two lower court decisions this week on an issue that is in front of the Supreme Court right now: partisan gerrymandering.

From the New York Times:
On Tuesday, three federal judges in North Carolina threw out the state’s congressional map because it was “motivated by invidious partisan intent.” On Wednesday, another panel of judges in Pennsylvania upheld that state’s map, with one arguing that such a political issue was none of the courts’ business.

A case about another voting rights issue was in the Supreme Court on Wednesday when the Court heard oral arguments in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, a challenge to Ohio’s aggressive voter roll purge process. This case is one to watch closely — the result could be a big win for protecting voters or it could spark a wave of purges by other states. It’s also one more reason to keep an eye on what happens with the data from Trump’s voter suppression commission, which could be potentially be used by states to purge voters from their rolls. Our affiliate PFAW Foundation filed a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request with the DOJ over the department’s rare reversal of its position in that case — something that was asked about specifically by Justice Sonya Sotomayor during Wednesday’s arguments.

Finally, of particular note in the fight to protect voting rights is our campaign to defeat one of Trump’s judicial nominees, Thomas Farr. Farr was the chief legal defender of North Carolina’s racist voter suppression law that was overturned in court due to its targeting African American voters with what the court called “surgical precision.” Farr also seems to have played a role in a voter intimidation campaign, aimed at Black voters, by then-Senator Jesse Helms — something Farr LIED about to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing last year. Stay tuned to PFAW for more about how you can help stop Farr’s confirmation.

RIGHT WING WATCH

In 2017, we had Roy Moore… but 2018 looks like it could be a record-breaking year in terms of the number of dangerously extreme far-right candidates. This is just one more reason that the work of PFAW’s Right Wing Watch to track and expose right-wing figures is so vital.

We already have rabidly anti-immigrant former-Sheriff Joe Arpaio running for Senate (to support Donald Trump) in Arizona. Arpaio abused prisoners and flagrantly violated court orders, for which he was convicted, before being pardoned by Trump. PFAW helped defeat Arpaio in his last election for sheriff with a Spanish-language ad by our Latinos Vote! campaign.

And Michele Bachmann is asking God whether or not she should seek Al Franken’s senate seat. Right Wing Watch broke that story, which got tremendous press pick up last week.

In addition, Right Wing Watch continues to cover the Right Wing’s most influential leaders, their bigoted motives, and their tactics. One good example is a recent post about right-wing leader Linda Harvey’s assertion that conservatives must “re-horrify people about the sin of homosexuality.”

For more, visit RightWingWatch.org, where you can also follow Right Wing Watch on social media and sign up for weekly “Best of the Blog” emails.

Thank you so much for all of your dedication and activism. With your continued support, 2018 is going to be a big year for progressives, and we can turn the tide against Trump Republicans’ attacks on our rights and values.

From: Eric Kramer
Subject: Obama’s stern warning for Trump (Opinion)

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/01/13/opinions/trump-comment-and-our-tolerance-zelizer-opinion/index.html

From: Thomas Scott
Subject: “$#1%hole countries” by abagond

https://abagond.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/shithole-countries/

“shithole countries”
Friday January 12th 2018 by abagond

New York Daily News, January 12th 2018.

“Shithole countries” is what the US president calls countries of Black and Brown people.

On January 11th 2018 President Trump said:

“Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They’re shithole countries … We should have more people from Norway.”

and:

“Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.”

“Shithole” is a vulgar term for anus.

Trump reportedly believes all Haitians have AIDS and that most if not all Nigerians live in huts.

The New York Times said Trump’s remarks were:
“the latest example of his penchant for racially tinged remarks denigrating immigrants”

The Daily Stormer, a racially-tinged neo-Nazi website:
“This is encouraging and refreshing, as it indicates Trump is more or less on the same page as us with regards to race and immigration.”

Twitter user Educating Liberals (@Education4Libs) said:

“Trump just has the balls to verbalize what all of us think.”

Mia Love was the only elected Republican, so far as I know, who immediately condemned Trump:

“This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation … The president must apologize to both the American people and the nations he so wantonly maligned.”

She noted that his remarks were:

“unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation’s values.”

Her parents come from Haiti.

Stephen Colbert on late-night television:
“Sir, they’re not [bleep] countries. For one, Donald Trump isn’t their president.”

The United Nations called Trump’s words “racist”. But they do not seem to be well-informed: they also called them “shocking”.

Memory lane: Donald Trump, on the very first day of his campaign for president, said:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

White people in the US voted for Trump by a landslide. Not just the working class, not just rednecks who frequent bars, not just racist uncles, but across the board: rich and poor, well-educated and ill-educated, aunts, uncles and cousin Joeys. They chose him as their leader with their eyes wide open. The same goes for Republicans in Congress who continue to kiss up to him, and for Fox News which continues to lie for him.

Immigration: Trump’s comments make crystal clear that his concern for immigration has little to do with “making America safe” or anything like that, and has everything to do with racism. It is a dog-whistle issue just like “law and order” and “terrorism”. It dresses itself up as some Serious National Issue but it is just raw racial bigotry.

People from those “shithole countries” built the US for little or nothing – and gave their lives to defend it. How many soldiers buried at Arlington came from “shithole countries”? Colin Powell’s parents came from a “shithole country” – and while he was fighting in Vietnam, Trump was where? Fighting chlamydia.

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: “Trump’s racist comments trigger international condemnation” l World Socialist Web Site
[Former Mexican President Vicente Fox describes Donald Trump perfectly. This article pulls no punches as it reminds us of how we got to this point….]

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/01/13/inte-j13.html
Trump’s racist comments trigger international condemnation
By James Cogan on 13 January 2018

The already battered international standing of the US government has been dealt a further blow by the revelation that President Trump labeled some of the most oppressed and impoverished nations as “shithole countries.” Disgust and anger over the openly racist comments the US president made at a meeting with congressional leaders on Thursday have only been intensified by Trump’s belated and obviously dishonest attempts to deny that he said what has been reported by multiple sources, including some who were at the meeting.

The remarks were made at a White House conference with Democratic and Republican lawmakers on immigration policy. In response to a discussion on “temporary protected status,” which allows people from countries ravaged by natural disasters or war, such as Haiti and El Salvador, to live and work in the US, Trump said: “What do we want Haitians here for? Why do we want all these people from Africa here? Why do we want all these people from shithole countries? We should have more people from places like Norway.”

Trump’s rant was leaked to the Washington Post and made public. International denunciations soon followed.

The United Nations human rights’ spokesperson, Rupert Colville, told a press conference: “There is no other word one can use but racist. You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes,’ whose entire populations are not white, are therefore not welcome.”

The government of Haiti, from which hundreds of thousands of people have migrated to the US to escape intractable poverty and political repression, issued a statement declaring that it “condemns in the strongest terms these abhorrent and obnoxious remarks.” The country’s ambassador to the US has demanded a public apology.

Other political leaders also felt obliged to issue statements. The president of El Salvador tweeted that Trump had “struck at the dignity of Salvadorians.” Last Monday, the Trump administration stripped over 250,000 people from El Salvador who have been living for decades in the US of their protected status, giving them 18 months to pack up and leave or be deported.

Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, tweeted to Trump: “Your mouth is the foulest shithole in the world.” During the 2016 election, Trump slandered millions of Mexican immigrants to the US, asserting: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

The African National Congress government in South Africa labeled the remark as “extremely offensive.” The country’s media was full of denunciations and ridicule of Trump. One news outlet, the Daily Maverick, wrote that an event at the White House “is soon to include [Ku Klux Klan] hoods and tiki torches at this rate.”

The government of Botswana called the remarks “reprehensible and racist” and reportedly summoned the US ambassador to ascertain if the country was considered a “shithole” by Washington. Across Africa, Trump was condemned and the imperialist powers, including the United States, declared to be responsible for the continent’s legacy of poverty and backwardness.

Not surprisingly, there have been no strong statements of condemnation by European governments or by Japan or Australia. The policies of all the imperialist powers are discriminatory against people from the poorest regions of the world.

The European Union is seeking to seal its borders to block refugees from Africa and the Middle East, leading to thousands of people losing their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean. Immigration to Japan is effectively impossible from most countries. Australia maintains a black list of dozens of states whose citizens are routinely denied even tourist visas. While they may not be officially labeled as “shithole countries,” that is how their populations are treated.

In much of the world, however, officials of the Trump administration have been left to desperately try and contain the diplomatic fallout. The State Department and embassies have issued reassurances that the United States values its relations with African and Central and South American countries.

The damage nevertheless extends internationally, as indicated by the announcement by the White House yesterday that Trump is canceling a February visit to the United Kingdom. There is no doubt he would have been met by even larger demonstrations than were expected due to the popular revulsion in Britain over his comments. In fact, wherever in the world Trump travels, the American ruling class faces the prospect of its head of state being greeted by mass opposition to his presence.

After less than one year in office, Trump is arguably more reviled than “weapons of mass destruction” fabricator and war criminal George W. Bush. The American president is viewed by billions of people as an unstable warmonger, racist and liar. In the American working class, one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse on the planet, growing opposition to Trump’s racist immigration policies and fascistic outlook is intersecting with mounting anger over falling living standards, failing infrastructure and police-state repression.

The reaction of the American political and media establishment to Trump’s remarks has had an air of despair. There is a degree of recognition in the capitalist class and its representatives that, with the Trump administration, the protracted loss of US authority and credibility, on both the world arena and at home, has reached a breaking point.

Summing up the sentiment in the corridors of power, Idaho Republican Mike Simpson told the Associated Press: “This a big deal. America’s influence and power in the world has really been about our ability to persuade because of our leadership, and he’s just destroying that.”

At the same time, the condemnations of Trump are laced with hypocrisy, especially on the part of the Democratic Party and its supporters. In the final analysis, Trump simply gave crude expression to how the Obama administration viewed and treated migrants from the nations that have been labeled as “shithole countries.”

Under Obama, at least 2.5 million people were deported—at least 1,000 per day—particularly from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. If Hillary Clinton had been elected in 2016, the brutal persecution of so-called “illegal” immigrants would have continued unabated.

The aim of the recriminations against Trump in the American establishment is to try and present the current president as a mere aberration, a blemish on an otherwise healthy and democratic body politic. Every effort is being made to promote the conception that if a new figure was installed in the White House, things would return to “normal.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. Trump is the product of a decades-long process, characterised by a steep decline in the global economic position of American capitalism and the immense growth of class antagonisms and social inequality within the US.

The Cold War lies and propaganda that US imperialism stood for “liberty,” “democracy” and “human rights” have been thoroughly exposed over the past 25 years. Washington engages in intrigues or outright invasions of countries and inflicts death and destruction so American banks and corporations can plunder resources and dominate markets. Within the US, the living standards of the working class have been devastated to protect and increase the wealth of a tiny proportion of the population—the capitalist class and its upper-middle class periphery.

It is within the degenerated political environment produced by these processes that Trump was able—through demagogic appeals to the immense alienation of sections of the population, and the political vacuum left by the right-wing, anti-working class policies of the Democrats—to win the presidency. His administration has proceeded to pursue the interests of the capitalist oligarchy through massive corporate tax cuts at home and stepped-up militarist intrigues internationally.

Trump is the noxious expression of the decline and decay of American capitalism and its ruling class. The presence at the pinnacle of state power of an outright racist, who gives open and crude expression to the reactionary content of US foreign and domestic policy, undermines the ability of American imperialism to cloak its aggression and plunder around the world in the mantle of “democracy” and “human rights.”

Anti-immigrant xenophobia, racism and nationalism are the inevitable corollary to militarism and deepening attacks on the working class. In every country, it is how the capitalist class is seeking to divide and disorientate the masses and defend its ownership and control over society’s wealth and productive capacity.

The response of the working class to racism and chauvinism must therefore be developed in complete opposition to the capitalist system and all its political parties and defenders. In the United States and around the world, it must be answered with the fight for the international unity of the working class in the common struggle for world socialism.

From: Nancy Treviño, Reform Immigration FOR America
Subject: The #RacistinChief has done it again

Yesterday, President Trump lowered the bar even further. During a discussion in the Oval Office with members of Congress about a potential immigration deal, he referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as “s—hole countries.”

Once again he’s reaffirmed his anti-immigrant sentiments rooted in white supremacy. These comments are not only racist, but reject the American values many of us hold close to our hearts. Our families and our country deserve better than a racist-in-chief whose ethnic cleansing policies continue tearing families apart. We must denounce his hateful words and stand up to his hate.

Here are two ways to fight back right now:

Sign this petition to demand Trump apologize for his racist remarks.
Share your reaction to President Trump’s hateful comment about immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations using #RacistinChief.

Stand with the thousands of people who have been fighting to demand a solution for immigrants. Together, we will let Trump know that our love for our families, our community, and our country will always Trump hate.

P.S. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to catch the latest on the DREAM Act fight, and text JUSTICE to 69866 to keep updated by text message with opportunities to take action.

From: Katie O’Connell; Digital Communications Coordinator, People For the American Way
Subject: PETITION: Tell Congress to pass the DREAM Act now>>

Sign now to demand Congress passes the DREAM Act!

It has been 131 long days since Trump ended the DACA program, upending the lives of hundreds of thousands of DREAMers and their families across the country. Trump has also ended protected status for Haitian and Salvadoran immigrants, another part of his all-out anti-immigrant assault.

This is no longer an immigration policy debate… passing the DREAM Act is a moral imperative for Congress.

Sign the petition NOW to demand your legislators pass the DREAM Act>>

From: Munsup @SISCOM
Subject: Join me? I just signed this petition: Tell Democrats: Skip Trump’s State of the Union.

On Jan. 30, Trump will deliver his State of the Union address. If Democrats attend, they will be standing up for a racist and turning their backs on everyone he threatens. Not a single one of them should attend.

Here’s the link to sign CREDO’s petition urging them to do the right thing:
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/No_SOTU?sp_ref=377836848.4.185352.e.595824.2&referring_akid=26815.1004336.QbwMq8&source=mailto_sp

From: S. B. Woo; President and a volunteer for the past 18 years, 80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc,
Subject: Small Enough to Jail – an injustice against Asian-Americans

Small Enough to Jail –An Outrageous Injustice Against An Asian-American Bank
(If you own a business, view the documentary & worry!)

Abacus Bank, a small bank operated by the Sung family in NYC, was the only U.S. bank to be charged after the Great Recession of 2008.
The bank ultimately prevailed, but it took all they had to fight against the unfair accusations.

The story was recorded in a documentary by Steve James, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. It was Broadcast on PBS Frontline in 2017. The prosecutor spent 5 years and reportedly $10 million on prosecuting the bank for larceny. In the end, the bank and all its employees were found not guilty on all 80 charges. Deservedly, the documentary is now shortlisted for an Oscar.

Click here to watch it. I was enraged by the injustice but inspired by how one of the daughters, who was a lawyer, quit her job to help her father in his hour of need. It was such a touching illustration of our Asian-American family values. I was also elated to learn that, at the end, the good guys won.

This documentary deserves an Oscar to show that justice still prevails in the U.S., at least in this case. The Oscar will greatly publicize worldwide the immense injustice caused by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.

The Misdeeds of Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.

No sense of justice: He accommodates the strong and takes campaign money from their attorneys:

Excerpts from Cyrus Vance Jr. – Wikipedia “Vance also drew controversy for deciding not to press criminal charges against public figures accused of crimes, including Harvey Weinstein, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr., after which he received campaign contributions from their attorneys.”
Adding insult to injury to a weak minority:
Another excerpt from Cyrus Vance Jr. – Wikipedia: “In an effort at grandstanding, Vance’s office orchestrated a show by parading ex-employees of the bank in a chain, handcuffed to each other, in front of reporters. Nevertheless, Cyrus Vance stated in an interview that the decision to exhibit the non-violent ex-employees was due to “security issues.” Click here to watch the documentary. How humiliating! Vance was humiliating powerless citizens to advance his political career. How cruel!

Please forward to your friends in NYC so that his constituents will know about his misdeeds. He was a good D.A. back in 2010, when first elected. However, power corrupts, he seemingly has become callous and careless. Will the people of Manhattan County still want him, if and when “Small Enough to Jail” wins an Oscar? This could exemplify the immense power for good of arts.

DONATE
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/index.php

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

MPEN e-Newsletter No. 2018-0104

From: Munsup @MPEN Seoh
Subject: FW: Small Enough to Jail; NYT Today’s Headlines; My Insane Year Inside Trump’s White House; I just signed these – will you? and more

FW: Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele and the “dossier” got you a little confused?
FW: Gerrymandering, turbo-charged. Petition
FW: Small Enough to Jail – an injustice against Asian Americans
FW: NYT Today’s Headlines
FW: Trump just ended protections for 200,000 Salvadorans
FW: Help immigrant families who fled violence and disaster!
FW: We aren’t done fighting
FW: Yesterday, I was told to leave the United States.
FW: The Increasing Unfitness of Donald Trump
FW: Ghost of the Deepwater Returns; Companies … are now laying off …; Why Michael Wolff’s Book Is Good News
FW: Michael Wolff: My Insane Year Inside Trump’s White House
FW: AFSC among human rights orgs barred from Israel
FW: [JVP] commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Nakba
FW: Reply from Senator Sherrod Brown about our nation’s tax code
FW: I just signed these – will you?

From: Eric Kramer
Subject: Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele and the “dossier” got you a little confused?

Here’s a little help from an actor/friend, back in Chicago. Thank you, Kevin Theis. – E

———————————————————
So…Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele and the “dossier” got you a little confused? Here’s a brief summary:

Back when Donald Trump first announced his candidacy for President, a conservative website, The Washington Free Beacon (financed largely by Paul Singer, a top Republican donor who had opposed Mr. Trump), hired a company called Fusion GPS to look into Trump and his business dealings and provide “opposition research.”

Remember that. That little nugget is of paramount importance. This whole thing began with a CONSERVATIVE investigating Trump.

Then, after Trump became the Republican nominee, Singer and the Beacon backed away from the investigation…and the Democrats took over instead. The law firm Perkins Coie, on behalf of the Democratic National Committee, hired Fusion GPS to continue the work they had begun for the Beacon.

Then, in June of last year, the DNC was hacked and the whole investigation took on more urgency. Emails stolen from the DNC began to appear online and it became apparent that the Russian government was behind the hack.

At that time, the head of Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson, reached out to a former British spy named Christopher Steele, whose specialty was Russian intel. Steele began coordinating with contacts he had within Russia to investigate Russia’s involvement in the DNC hack, and…things started to get bizarre.

Steele started to learn of odd contacts between Trump and Russia. Multiple contacts between Trump campaign officials and contacts in the Russian government. And one very memorable (and as yet unsubstantiated) story about Russian prostitutes defiling a bed in a hotel room where the Obamas had stayed.

In time it began to look as if the Russian government had enough dirt on Trump to actually blackmail him. They appeared to have the ability to make demands of one of the candidates for President of the United States (and, should he win, the leader of the free world).

So what did Steele and Fusion do with this information? Did they simply share it with the DNC and leak it to the press?

Nope. They went to the FBI. They compiled the memos that Steele had been producing (which later came to be known as “the dossier”) and informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation that one of the Presidential candidates could potentially be blackmailed by Vladimir Putin.

What’s more, the information that Steele had compiled in the dossier appeared to match some information that the FBI had already dug up in their own investigation of Russian meddling in the election.

Remember that, too: The dossier did NOT begin the FBI investigation. It simply confirmed what the FBI had already learned.

And, eventually, the dossier leaked out. The press caught wind of it. And Buzzfeed went whole-hog and published the entire dossier itself in January, revealing all of Steele’s investigations to the wider world.

Final note: Nothing – NOTHING – in the dossier has been proven false. The only things that are in the dossier that have been fully investigated and about which we know the truth…have shown Steele’s work to be accurate.

So DO NOT let anyone tell you that Hillary Clinton invented the dossier (which is full of lies) and illegally leaked it to smear Trump and that Fusion GPS or Steele or anyone else is criminally liable or any of that nonsense.

None of that is true. What’s true:

Is that Trump is knee-deep in one of the biggest scandals in American political history.

Please: Send all doubters and haters my way, if you would. Thanks.

From: Andrew J. Tierman
Subject: FW: Gerrymandering, turbo-charged. Petition

Trump Administration is trying to skew the 2020 census by asking about citizenship. See attached from Common Cause. – Andrew
—————————————————
Andrew,

We need your help to stop the Trump Administration from rigging the 2020 Census.

Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice wants to add an unnecessary and politically motivated question on citizenship status to the upcoming Census.

The Census is required to count every person who lives here, whether or not they’re a citizen. But the Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric carries a real risk that people might refuse to participate in the Census for fear of targeting or retaliation — skewing the final count.

The 2020 Census will shape our nation’s democracy, public policy and economy for a decade. We simply can’t afford to get it wrong — or let this partisan stunt distort its outcome.

We must speak out now and urge Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to REFUSE this request — sign our petition today! TAKE ACTION

The Trump administration has already dramatically underfunded the upcoming Census, and is trying to put a professor who provided “expert testimony” to defend North Carolina’s racial gerrymandering in charge of it. Now, they’re stepping up their efforts with a formal request to add a question on citizenship status in 2020.

The Census is supposed to count everyone who lives in the United States regardless of citizenship status. This unnecessary question could discourage people from completing the survey and skew the final count, leaving communities who have been historically underrepresented with even less access to resources and representation — like racial gerrymandering already does, but turbo-charged.

We already know that people of color, particularly Black and Latino communities in both urban and rural areas, are at an especially high risk of being undercounted by the Census. Adding a question on citizenship will only further discourage people from participating — which means less representation and resources for those communities.

That’s why we must speak out NOW to prevent this deliberate attempt to rig the Census to undercount communities of color. We need an accurate and fair Census that counts everyone who lives here — not this partisan political attempt to twist the results.

Please sign our petition to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross today, and tell him to reject any Census question on citizenship or immigration status.

TAKE ACTION

From: S. B. Woo; President and a volunteer for the past 18 years, 80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc,
Subject: Small Enough to Jail – an injustice against Asian-Americans

Small Enough to Jail –An Outrageous Injustice Against An Asian-American Bank
(If you own a business, view the documentary & worry!)

The Misdeeds of Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.

No sense of justice: He accommodates the strong and takes campaign money from their attorneys:

Excerpts from Cyrus Vance Jr. – Wikipedia “Vance also drew controversy for deciding not to press criminal charges against public figures accused of crimes, including Harvey Weinstein, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr., after which he received campaign contributions from their attorneys.”
Adding insult to injury to a weak minority:
Another excerpt from Cyrus Vance Jr. – Wikipedia: “In an effort at grandstanding, Vance’s office orchestrated a show by parading ex-employees of the bank in a chain, handcuffed to each other, in front of reporters. Nevertheless, Cyrus Vance stated in an interview that the decision to exhibit the non-violent ex-employees was due to “security issues.” Click here to watch the documentary. How humiliating! Vance was humiliating powerless citizens to advance his political career. How cruel!

DONATE
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/index.php

From: New York Times
Subject: NYT Today’s Headlines:
(1) Trump Sidesteps Question on Mueller Interview
(2) Trump Appears to Endorse Path to Citizenship for Millions of Immigrants
(3) Kushner’s Financial Ties to Israel Deepen Even With Mideast Diplomatic Role
(4) Trump, Defending His Mental Fitness, Says He’s a ‘Very Stable Genius’

Trump Sidesteps Question on Mueller Interview
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and NICHOLAS FANDOS
The response was a marked change from June, when President Trump said he would be “100 percent” willing to give a sworn statement to the special counsel.

Trump Appears to Endorse Path to Citizenship for Millions of Immigrants
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
President Trump said he would be willing to “take the heat” politically for a sweeping immigration deal, which could alienate some of his supporters.

Kushner’s Financial Ties to Israel Deepen Even With Mideast Diplomatic Role
By JESSE DRUCKER
An Israeli insurance company’s previously undisclosed $30 million investment in Jared Kushner’s family company could fuel the perception of conflicts of interest.

Trump, Defending His Mental Fitness, Says He’s a ‘Very Stable Genius’
By PETER BAKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN
Mr. Trump, seeming to respond to revelations in a new book, issued an extraordinary defense of his fitness for office.

From: Kathryn Johnson; Policy Impact Coordinator, AFSC
Subject: Trump just ended protections for 200,000 Salvadorans

Tell Congress: Save TPS Holders!

Yesterday, the Trump administration announced that it is terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for El Salvador—another cruel attack on immigrants in the U.S. that will tear apart our families and hurt our communities. The decision rips legal status from almost 200,000 people.

Congress must act now to protect TPS holders from deportation. TPS holders from El Salvador have been in the U.S. since the TPS was granted to the country after two devastating earthquakes in 2001.

AFSC and our allies are calling on Congress to enact a permanent solution that provides lawful permanent residency and a roadmap to citizenship for the more than 300,000 TPS recipients and millions of other immigrants in the U.S.

Join us by calling Congress today to demand a solution.

Tens of thousands of Salvadoran TPS holders live in and around my city of Washington, D.C. And I know the devastating impact that this decision will have on us here, as well as cities and towns across the U.S. For years I’ve watched my neighbors worry every 18 months about whether their status will be extended and whether they’ll be forced to return to a country that they haven’t seen in over 16 years.

TPS is designed to protect people from being returned to harm. But I’ve heard from our staff in El Salvador how ill-prepared the country is to reabsorb hundreds of thousands of people and how not extending TPS places countless people at risk of deportation back to life-threatening situations. In addition to acute shortages of food, water, and housing, gang violence has reached unprecedented levels—El Salvador still suffers from the highest murder rate in the world.

The decision also separates families—including approximately 192,000 U.S. citizen children who have a Salvadoran TPS-holder parent, devastates our economy, and will hurt regional security.

Congress failed to act last year when the Trump Administration terminated TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, and Haiti, potentially tearing 60,000 people from our communities. Help us call on them now to provide a permanent solution for all TPS holders.

Call your representative today to tell them to stand up for human rights and save TPS.

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: Help immigrant families who fled violence and disaster!

I signed a petition to The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate which says:

“The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program allowed me to stay in the United States to seek safety from violence from in El Salvador where I was born. As a working mother of four children who were born in the United States, I am calling on Congress to find a permanent bipartisan solution to protecting the 320,000 immigrants with TPS. Please sign my petition to ensure families like mine are not ripped apart and sent back to nations devastated by disasters and genocide.”

Will you sign this petition? Click here: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/save-tps-dont-let-congress?source=s.em.mt&r_by=4513377

From: Nancy Treviño, Reform Immigration FOR America
Subject: We aren’t done fighting

Members of Congress are back in Washington and so are we. In December, Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike failed to do their job and protect undocumented youth before leaving for holiday recess. Now Congress has until January 19 to ensure that the DREAM Act is included in a new bill to fund the government.

Over the next 9 days, immigrant youth and allies are meeting with members of Congress to tell them that the DREAM Act must be included in ANY spending package and they need you to add your voice.

Join us TODAY for a National Call-In Day to tell Members of Congress that Americans want an immediate, permanent solution to ensure young immigrants live their lives without constant fear of arrest, detention, and deportation.

There is only one thing you need to do: Call 1-888-778-6856, and when you’re connected to your representative’s office, say:

Hi, I’m [your name] from [your city], and I want my representative to pass a DREAM Act that keeps immigrant youth together with their families and does not include money for more interior enforcement, detention beds, the border wall, or cuts to legal immigration channels.

With each passing day, 122 immigrant youth lose their DACA status and become vulnerable to deportation. We must continue our fight to keep immigrant youth together with their families and in their communities!

Call your representative at 1-888-778-6856, and tell them to pass the DREAM Act now.

Stand with the thousands of people who have been fighting to demand a solution for young immigrants. Together, we will let Congress know that we are not backing down until our community is safe and can live the lives they have created away from the shadows.

P.S. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to catch the latest on the DREAM Act fight, and text JUSTICE to 69866 to keep updated by text message with opportunities to take action.

From: Gabriela P.
Subject: Yesterday, I was told to leave the United States.

Yesterday, I was told to leave the United States. The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program has allowed me to stay in the United States to seek safety from violence in El Salvador where I was born, but the Trump administration announced it will not renew protections for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans, including me.¹

As a working mother of four children who were born in the United States, I may be forced to rip my family apart and return to a nation devastated by a horrific and violent civil war. And I’m not alone.

That’s why next week I’ll be delivering this petition to Congress along with MomsRising and other organizations, calling on senators and representatives to find a permanent bipartisan solution in order to protect the hundreds of thousands of immigrants with Temporary Protected Status. Will you help me reach as many people as possible by signing and sharing this petition immediately? Click here to sign.

I am calling on Congress to find a permanent bipartisan solution to protecting immigrants with TPS. Please sign my petition to ensure families like mine are not ripped apart and sent back to nations devastated by disasters and war.

Sign Gabriela’s petition

Taking away TPS or letting it expire has thrown families such as mine into chaos, as mothers and fathers lose their legal status to stay in the country. We could be forced to decide whether to divide our families or to take our children to dangerous and unfamiliar situations.

Congress needs to act before hard-working families have their lives torn apart. Click here to sign and share my petition before I personally deliver it next week.

TPS recipients are mothers, neighbors, caregivers, business owners, and community members. We are parents to children who have lived in the United States their whole lives and know no other home.

Removing TPS recipients from the country is inhumane, and it also makes no economic sense. It could cost the U.S. economy $164 billion over 10 years!²

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Sources:

“Trump administration ends protections for more than 200,000 Salvadorans,” CNN, January 9, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/29881?t=18&akid=196761%2E1195276%2ExHcbwE
“RELEASE: U.S. Would Lose $164B in GDP Over 10 Years If TPS Holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti Were Removed from Labor Force, Finds New CAP Analysis,” Center for American Progress, October 20, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/29882?t=20&akid=196761%2E1195276%2ExHcbwE

You’re receiving this petition because we thought it might interest you. It was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions. You can start your own petition here.

From: Eric Kramer
Subject: The Increasing Unfitness of Donald Trump | The New Yorker

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/the-increasing-unfitness-of-donald-trump

From: Thomas Scott
Subject: Ghost of the Deepwater Horizon Returns; Companies … are now laying off their workers; Why Michael Wolff’s Book Is Good News

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: [Keystone Kops in the White House] “Michael Wolff: My Insane Year Inside Trump’s White House” | Hollywood Reporter

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-wolff-my-insane-year-inside-trumps-white-house-1071504

From: Joyce Ajlouny; General Secretary, AFSC
Subject: AFSC among human rights orgs barred from Israel

Yesterday the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was included on a list of 20 organizations whose staff may be denied entry to Israel because of their support for the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Motivated by Quaker belief in the worth and dignity of all people, AFSC has supported and joined in nonviolent resistance for over 100 years. We answered the call for divestment from apartheid in South Africa, and we have done the same with the call for BDS from Palestinians who have faced decades of human rights violations.

Throughout our history, we have stood with communities facing oppression and violence around the world. In 1947 we were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in part for our support for Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust. We will continue our legacy of speaking truth to power and standing for peace and justice without exception in Israel, occupied Palestine, and around the world.

All people, including Palestinians, have a right to live in safety and peace and have their human rights respected. For 51 years, Israel has denied Palestinians in the occupied territories their fundamental human rights, in defiance of international law. While Israeli Jews enjoy full civil and political rights, prosperity, and relative security, Palestinians under Israeli control enjoy few or none of those rights or privileges.

The Palestinian BDS call aims at changing this situation, asking the international community to use proven nonviolent social change tactics until equality, freedom from occupation, and recognition of refugees’ right to return are realized. AFSC’s Principles for a Just and Lasting Peace in Palestine and Israel affirm each of these rights. Thus, we have joined others around the world in responding to the Palestinian-led BDS call.  As Palestinians seek to realize their rights and end Israeli oppression, what are the alternatives left to them if we deny them such options?

Quakers pioneered the use of boycotts when they helped lead the “Free Produce Movement,” a boycott of goods produced using slave labor during the 1800s. AFSC has a long history of supporting economic activism, which we view as an appeal to conscience, aimed at raising awareness among those complicit in harmful practices, and as an effective tactic for removing structural support for oppression.

The 17th century Quaker abolitionist John Woolman spoke to the spiritual foundation of this work when he said, “May we look upon our treasures, and the furniture of our houses, and the garments in which we array ourselves, and try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions.”

The ban on entry to Israel for activists who support the Palestinian-led BDS movement is part of a larger effort by the Israeli government to silence and constrain human rights and anti-occupation activists. In recent months, more Palestinian activists have faced arrest, death threats, and imprisonment without charge or trial in response to nonviolent activism for human rights. In addition, organizations inside Israel have been denied funding and access to event venues and have faced threats of trial and imprisonment.

At a time when the Israeli government is moving to expand settlements, redefine Jerusalem, and annex portions of the West Bank, support for nonviolent activism that seeks freedom, equality, and justice is critical.

Therefore, as long as these and other human rights violations persist, we will continue to support Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions efforts as effective nonviolent tools for realizing political and social change. We hope one day to see Israelis and Palestinians live together in peace. This will only happen when the human rights of all are recognized and respected.

From: Rebecca Vilkomerson; Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Subject: [JVP-NewsAndUpdates] commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Nakba

lots of current events this week, so no better time to think and learn about one of the most fundamental things that underly them all:

This spring JVP will join with Palestinians and others in commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (Arabic for “the catastrophe”)—the forced displacement of approximately 750,000 Palestinians that began with Israel’s establishment in 1948. As part of our commitment to grappling with that history and its contemporary reverberations, we are proud to make available our seven-part curriculum, Facing the Nakba. We encourage you to use it, including as you plan your Nakba commemorations.

A guide for group workshops as well as a rich archive of resources accessible to individuals, Facing the Nakba is a flexible, multimedia curriculum that can help fill in the information that is often elided in accounts of Israel’s creation, strengthening our understanding of history (especially how the injustices Palestinians face began long before the 1967 occupation) and galvanizing our organizing today.

The Facing the Nakba website offers an in-depth guide for those who wish to facilitate group study as well as recommended tracks—for groups in synagogues or on college campuses, among organizers or high school students. We want the curriculum to work for you. The FTN library contains scores of materials — historical analyses, personal testimonies, NGO and governmental documents, maps, photos, and other materials.

Facing the Nakba, developed by a team of JVP members, draws from the pioneering work of the Israeli organization Zochrot (“Remembering” in Hebrew), which published a study guide in 2008 called “How do you say Nakba in Hebrew?” to promote acknowledgment and accountability within Israel for the ongoing injustices of the Nakba. Facingthe Nakba also maintains close partnerships with Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights and with the Participatory Action Research Center (PARCEO) to further develop our materials and broaden our reach.

The journal Radical Teacher featured Facing the Nakba in its recent issue on public pedagogies. We hope you will be part of the public that uses and expands this essential tool of our activism.

Please feel free to contact Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark (mkneimark@gmail.com) and Donna Nevel (denevel@gmail.com) if you would like to discuss the curriculum, or reach out to JVP staff for additional support.

From: Senator Sherrod Brown
Subject: Reply to Munsup from Senator Sherrod Brown about our nation’s tax code

Thank you for getting in touch with me about our nation’s tax code.

I support reforming our tax code to provide greater certainty and simplicity for workers, families, and small businesses. I also believe tax policy should ensure that Ohioans who work hard and play by the rules can get ahead and achieve economic security. Unfortunately, the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act failed to meet this standard.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – passed on party-line vote with no bipartisan input – was not drafted with middle-class workers or families in mind. The proposal that became law will raise taxes on 9 million middle class families in 2019. By 2027, that number will rise to 38 million. That is unacceptable, and it is the opposite of a “middle class tax cut.”

In addition, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is filled with tax breaks and giveaways to corporations that outsource American jobs, hedge funds, the oil industry, and other special interests. These are highly-profitable industries that don’t need massive tax cuts, yet many of my colleagues are focused on helping them rather than providing relief to middle-class Ohioans.

If we want to cut taxes for workers, we should actually cut taxes for workers. Throughout this process, I have offered two pieces of legislation that would give direct tax cuts to middle-class workers and families and provide tax benefits for companies that keep jobs in the United States and invest in their workforce. These proposals have been ignored, and instead, Congressional leaders have doubled-down on the debunked theory that tax cuts for corporations and the rich will “trickle-down” to workers.

I am skeptical that this legislation will produce much, if any, economic growth. And I am extremely concerned that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will balloon our deficit and lead to further calls for cutting vital social insurance programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. I oppose cuts to these programs.

I assure you that I will continue fighting for workers, families, and small businesses across our state and I will advocate for real, commonsense middle class tax relief. Thank you again for writing me.

From: Munsup @SISCOM Seoh
Subject: I just signed these – will you?

I just signed a petition telling all Democrats to commit to repeal and replace the Trump Tax Scam, and I think you should, too.
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/repeal_replace_trumptaxscam?sp_ref=375858424.4.185166.e.594658.2&referring_akid=26719.1004336.gKy2q2&source=mailto_sp
Support Automatic Voter Registration Act: With Republicans attacking voting rights at the state and federal level, we need to do everything we can to fight back, including making it easier to vote. The Automatic Voter Registration Act would require states to automatically register eligible voters when they interact with certain state and federal agencies and help put up to 50 million new voters on the path to the polls. Here’s the link to sign CREDO’s petition urging Congress to pass it:
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/AVR?sp_ref=376158105.4.185145.e.594592.2&referring_akid=26758.1004336.Rk2TR5&source=mailto_sp
Tell Democrats: Commit to repeal and replace the Trump Tax Scam:
I just signed a petition telling all Democrats to commit to repeal and replace the Trump Tax Scam, and I think you should, too.
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/repeal_replace_trumptaxscam?referring_akid=a300125791.1004336.QS5P-S&source=conf_email&aktmid=tm57770185.2Z3Lke&akid=a300125791.1004336.QS5P-S&t=2

End of MPEN e-Newsletter