February 15, 2023
No more East Palestines, protect against school shootings, beat Lauren Boebert, 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:
SAY NO MORE EAST PALESTINES AND DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY
The unfolding disaster after a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio is finally getting the attention it deserves, and we’re learning more about exactly what went wrong in the lead-up to this accident and in its aftermath. Lever News has outlined how railroad industry lobbyists successfully pushed the Obama Administration into limiting the reach of trains carrying non-oil hazardous materials and how the Trump Administration rescinded an Obama effort to require railroads adopt modern braking systems. Further, many have raised concerns about Norfolk Southern Railroad, which just spent $5 billion on stock buybacks, offering the people of East Palestine extremely limited financial support for the recovery. Let’s contact the White House and tell them to pass a new rule expanding the definition of high-hazard flammable trains and requiring the wide adoption of electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, and let’s join More Perfect Union in writing Norfolk Southern’s President and CEO and demanding they pay their fair share to support the people they’ve hurt.ADOPT PLANNED SHOOTING TIPLINES
The Say Something Anonymous Reporting System, developed by the anti-gun violence group Sandy Hook Promise, has prevented at least 13 planned school shootings and more than 100 acts of on-campus violence, and has helped more than 400 children contemplating suicide, according to the Washington Post. Yet only 950 out of 13,000 school districts across the country have signed up for this free program. Let’s tell our local school boards (look up) that we want them to sign our schools up for the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System.
DEFEAT LAUREN BOEBERT
She may be the elected representative for a rural district in Colorado, but Lauren Boebert prefers getting national attention to helping her constituents. Adam Frisch, who was short only 546 votes in what became the closest race in the country in 2022, yesterday announced he will challenge her again in 2024. Let’s show him some support by sharing his announcement video and following him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and consider a donation if we can.
PASS A SUPREME COURT CODE OF CONDUCT
Last week, the American Bar Association passed a resolution urging the Supreme Court to "adopt a code of judicial ethics." The Supreme Court justices are the only judges in the U.S. who do not have a code of conduct, and their behavior has proven this to be an issue: attending partisan fundraisers, failing to recuse themselves from cases that are conflicts of interest, making partisan statements in the media, and more specifically, Ginni Thomas's involvement in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Since the justices have failed to establish a code of ethics themselves, Congress has introduced legislation (H.R. 926/S. 359) to provide a code of conduct. Let's contact our members of Congress in the House and Senate, and ask them to support these bills.
CALL OUT “ANTI-RACIST” CORPORATIONS FOR BACKING DESANTIS
Amazon, Disney, Walmart, AT&T, Comcast, and other major corporations have been cited for their hypocrisy in a report by the Center for Public Accountability. On the one hand, they have spoken out publicly against racism; on the other, they contributed to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s re-election campaign. Let’s call out these corporations for supporting a man who has spearheaded book bans, the gutting of an African-American studies course, and voter suppression by writing letters to the editor and refusing to buy their products and services. And let’s publicize this information on our social media and activist networks so that others learn of their duplicity.
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
MICHIGAN: PASS GUN CONTROL NOW
There was another mass shooting on Monday evening on the campus of Michigan State University where three students were killed and five were seriously injured. Most people agree that gun violence is getting out of hand, and something needs to be done. While the Justice Department is sending $200 million to states to help address gun violence as part of the bipartisan gun legislation passed last summer, it is not enough. It’s been said that the Republicans in the Michigan state legislature are not hearing from their constituents about the need for gun safety legislation, even after the sad and terrible shooting at MSU. Let’s contact our Michigan state senators and representatives and let them know that we want more and better gun safety legislation and fast.
Thanks! Excellent list today.