August 11, 2023
Stop Cop City, Virginia's elections, MAGA state attorneys general, and more!
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: democracy.io
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By fax: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
STOP COP CITY--PHONEBANK FROM HOME THIS WEEKEND
Momentum is building to stop the Cop City project in Atlanta, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s. daughter Bernice King and the King Center endorsing the push to put the project up for a public vote. Activists are making one last push to get the signatures they need to put the Cop City referendum on the ballot in November, hoping to get 70,000 by Monday, August 14th, and they’re asking for our help. We can sign up for a virtual phone bank today, tomorrow or Sunday to contact eligible Atlantans and urge them to sign the petition. We can also chip in here to financially support their efforts if we’re able.OHIO—YAY!!!—NEXT UP: VIRGINIA
Tuesday’s overwhelming win in Ohio is what happens when so many of us come together and galvanize voters to stand up for democracy. Let’s now do the same for the nearly 9 million Americans living in Virginia! Every seat in the Virginia state legislature is on the ballot this November 2023. It’s vital that Democrats win one or both houses to keep a check on the conservative Republican governor, and to set up a favorable situation for the state’s 2025 elections. We can begin helping right now by writing letters to underrepresented Virginia voters with Vote Forward. We can watch this short demo and then sign up here.
YES TO CAMERAS IN FEDERAL COURTROOMS
Small Deeds Done has flagged two U.S. Senate bills that would, if passed, permit presiding judges to allow media coverage of federal court proceedings. That’s important for transparency, and for the broadcast of the historic criminal cases against the former president. Let’s tell our two U.S. Senators to co-sponsor and advocate for the passage of S.833 (Sunshine in the Courtroom Act) and S.858 (Cameras in the Courtroom Act). Both bills are before the Senate Judiciary Committee, so if any of these committee members are our Senators, let’s be especially sure to contact them.
FIGHT HEALTH MISINFORMATION
It seems that misinformation is not to be scrutinized, even by the National Institutes of Health. The NIH’s acting director, Larry Tabak, has paused — maybe killed —a planned initiative called Advancing Health Communication Science and Practice aimed at exploring health misinformation and the best means of communicating accurate health information to the public. Let’s tell Dr. Tabak that we depend on information from the NIH and hope this initiative will have the agency’s full backing: @NIHDirector or 301-496-7322 or lawrence.tabak@nih.gov
HOLD REPUBLICAN AGS ACCOUNTABLE AT THE BALLOT BOX
Republican state attorneys general play a central role in the assault on our rights and freedoms. In recent weeks we’ve seen GOP AGs led by Mississippi’s Lynn Fitch push to ensure they are allowed to investigate abortions performed out of their states, AGs threatening legal consequences for Fortune 100 companies who they believe are engaged in “race-based preferences in employment and contracting practices,” AGs threatening Target for selling Pride merchandise, and the attorney general of Tennessee requiring a hospital to turn over transgender patients’ medical records as part of an investigation into medical billing. There’s no easy way to stop these efforts, but one thing we can do is send them a message at the ballot box. We can support this project with a donation to the Democratic Attorneys General Association if we’re able and by boosting the messages of and volunteering for this fall’s Democratic candidates for AG: Greta Kemp Martin, who is challenging Fitch in Mississippi and Colonel Pam Stevenson, running for an open position in Kentucky.
I don’t really understand this one. Isn’t more training for cops what we want and demand? Why is “Cop City” a bad thing?