February 19, 2024

Russian aggression, tracking deaths in custody, gun industry accountability, 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:

• usa.gov/federal-agencies

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• UKRAINE FUNDING URGENTLY NEEDED

  While Russia pushed into Avdiivka in Ukraine, the Ukrainian military retreated due to lack of ammunition.  There is a Senate-passed bill for Ukrainian funding, but the House is on vacation and Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to bring it up for a vote.  For some background, Heather Cox Richardson explains how we got here and why it is important that this funding go through.  The House has an option to override Johnson’s decision by using something called a discharge petition.  Lawmakers can "discharge" legislation that's been sitting in committee if 218 members, a majority of the lower chamber, sign a petition to do so, effectively bypassing the speaker to bring a bill before the full House for a vote.  There is reason to believe that there are enough Republicans who want this funding to be passed that this could be a realistic solution, and perhaps moreso in the wake of recent revelations about fears Russia will nuclearize space.  Let’s contact our representatives and tell them to get back to work, introduce a discharge petion, and get this passed.  

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• ASK THE WHITE HOUSE TO INITIATE MANDATORY TRACKING OF DEATHS IN CUSTODY
  According to reports released by the Department of Justice and the Government Accountability Office, from 2001-2019 suicides while in custody increased 85% in state prisons, 61% in federal prisons, and 13% in local jails, and 70% of these deaths were missing information required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act. A new effort to make sure these deaths are being appropriately tracked has been launched by a coalition of activists led by the Hip Hop Caucus, who are asking that the CDC provide a checkbox on all death certificates that asks whether or not the death occurred in custody. Better tracking is likely to lead to increased data that can be used toward reforming the system to save lives. Let’s ask the White House to require the CDC to make this small change on the death certificate form, which can hopefully lead to significant steps towards reforming our carceral system.

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• STOP RANDOM DETENTION OF IMMIGRANTS WHO HAVE NO CRIMINAL RECORDS
  According to data from Transactional Records Clearing House, as of the end of January 38,498 immigrants are being held in detention. Of these, 67.5% have no criminal record, and many more of the remaining have only minor offenses like traffic violations to their names. As rhetoric about the border increases, and Congress continues to struggle over hammering out policy that’s palatable to both sides of the aisle, let’s advocate for putting our money into the immigration court system to adjudicate asylum cases more quickly, rather than into unnecessary detention that has caused so much trauma to innocent families. This short video, “Caged Dreams,” illustrates the profound mental health impact that detention causes, even after people are released. Let’s share these facts with our MoCs and make it clear that large scale detention is not the answer to managing asylum-seekers at the border.

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• DEMAND GUN INDUSTRY ACCOUNTABILITY

  As gun deaths and the pain they cause keep piling up, let’s remember one of the reasons this keeps happening. In 2005, the Republican-majority Congress and Republican President George W. Bush passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). This law grants firearms manufacturers, sellers, and marketers broad immunity from ordinary Americans seeking to hold them legally accountable for wrongdoing. According to Jason Kander, since PLCAA was passed, gun deaths in America have risen by 59%. Let’s join Jason Kander in calling on our Members of Congress to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, and let’s tell our state legislators that we want them to enact robust statutes countering gun industry immunity now. (info). h/t States United to Prevent Gun Violence

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• TALKING POLITICS
  Non-profit Building Bridges for America is hosting several virtual training sessions so we can better learn how to talk with others about politics: "learn to understand and break through to people who may disagree or not care. Get the skills to build up the muscles to keep your cool and have effective conversations. This session and accompanying workbook will give you the practice you need so you can connect with all voters." We can sign up for one of these free sessions (including one this Thursday) here.

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STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS

• CA: GET READY FOR OUR PRIMARY ELECTION MARCH 5 - REGISTRATION DEADLINE TOMORROW

  We have a primary election coming up on Tuesday, March 5th, so let’s make sure we’re ready to go!

  • We can check our registration status here: voterstatus.sos.ca.gov.

  • We have until tomorrow, Tuesday the 20th, to register to vote. We can do that here: registertovote.ca.gov.

  • For most of the state, in-person early voting starts this Saturday, February 24th. As the time draws nearer, we can check here to find where we can vote early: caearlyvoting.sos.ca.gov.

  • If we have more questions, or if we’d like to sign up to be poll workers, we can check this page from the League of Women Voters.

  • Once we’re ready to vote, we can share this information with our friends on social media too. Every vote counts!

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AND FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS

• LAST WEEK’S WINS

  It may not always feel like it, but our work is making a difference every day. Our friend Jessica Craven at

  Chop Wood, Carry Water
  outlines a few ways how in her run-down of last week’s victories, including yet another expansion of the White House’s cancellation of student debt, equal pay for people with disabilities in Kansas, and multiple wins and encouraging performances in special elections.

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