January 6, 2025
Defending democracy on January 6th, protect bodily autonomy under Trump, organized labor and immigrant solidarity, and more!
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: Congress.gov
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By fax: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
JANUARY 6TH AND THE SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Today marks the fourth anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by insurrectionists aiming to overturn the election and illegally install Donald Trump as president, one that ultimately cost U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick his life and may have contributed to the deaths by suicide of USCP officer Howard Liebengood and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers Kyle DeFreytag, Gunther Hashida and Jeffrey Smith. It will also feature Congress certifying Donald Trump’s reelection. The peaceful and legitimate return to power of a president who attempted a coup is a bitter pill to swallow, and it is an unconditional and terrible loss for our nation. But it is not a final defeat unless we choose to let it be, and we are going to fight back. Today is a good opportunity to make sure our elected officials know that those of us horrified and outraged by January 6th are going nowhere, and that we are calling on them to fight back, too. Let’s reach out to our members of Congress to remind them the election results did not make the Trump coup any less of a crime and many of their constituents still demand they defend our constitutional values. Let’s let our senators in particular know that how they handle Trump nominees who were part of the conspiracy and those who threaten to further degrade democracy and the rule of law, like FBI director nominee Kash Patel, is a test we expect them to pass.
LAST DAY FOR GOTV IN VIRGINIA
The first special elections of the next cycle are upon us! Tomorrow, Virginia will vote to replace two state senators and one delegate, with Democrats needing to hold the current blue seats to maintain majorities in each legislative house and preserve our pathway to constitutional amendments codifying abortion access and marriage equality. We are looking to Delegate Kannan Srinivasan to defend SD-32, where he will face Republican Tumay Harding, and Loudoun County School Board vice chair JJ Singh to try to keep Srinivasan’s seat in HD-10 against Republican Ram Venkatachalam. We can sign up for phonebank shifts today and tomorrow here.
GRATITUDE FOR A CARTOONIST WHO WON’T BE SILENCED
Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist
resigned from the Washington Post after the newspaper refused to publish her cartoon criticizing Post owner Jeff Bezos and other media billionaires for currying favor with Trump. This is insult-to-injury, following the Post’s decision to kill an editorial board endorsement of Kamala Harris and stop endorsing presidential candidates altogether, which prompted at least 250,000 subscribers to cancel their subscriptions. With so many in journalism folding in the face of the challenge of Trump, we need to acknowledge those who refuse to yield. Let’s read and share Telnaes’s blog post explaining why she quit the Post, send her a message of gratitude and subscribe to her newsletter to show our support. If we’re really motivated, let’s urge our major regional newspaper to hire her—list here.
TELL DOCTOR AND HOSPITAL ASSOCIATIONS: PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND PREGNANT PEOPLE IN ABORTION-BAN STATES
Doctors in abortion-ban states are failing to provide women and pregnant people with the emergency abortion care they need—and are entitled to under federal law—resulting in unnecessary deaths and serious injuries, the Senate Finance Committee reports. The report makes a number of recommendations for hospital and medical associations that could helps save lives. Let’s share the report and this ProPublica article with the following individuals and tell them to implement its recommendations:
Dr. Bruce A. Scott, President, American Medical Association, Bruce.Scott@ama-assn.org
Dr. Madelyn E. Butler, Member, Board of Trustees, American Medical Association, Madelyn.Butler@ama-assn.org
Dr. Pratistha Koirala, Member, Board of Trustees, American Medical Association, Pratistha.Koirala@ama-assn.org
Richard J. Pollack, President and CEO, American Hospital Association, rick@aha.org
Chad Golder, General Counsel and Secretary, American Hospital Association, cgolder@aha.org
Ashley Thompson, Senior Vice President, Public Policy Analysis and Development, American Hospital Association, athompson@aha.org
Claire M. Zangerle, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Officer, American Hospital Association, czangerle@aha.org
UNIONS AND IMMIGRANTS UNITED
The internal MAGA debate over H-1B visas has produced some extremely ugly commentary portraying immigrant workers as a threat to the economic status of native-born Americans. In fact, studies suggest immigration has a net-positive effect on the wages of native-born workers and fuels our economic growth, and voices within the labor movement are urging us to recognize that an injury to one is an injury to all. Labor Notes will be holding a national call TONIGHT at 8:00pm Eastern with rank-and-file union members on building solidarity to support immigrant workers as the threat of mass deportations loom. We can sign up to join here.
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
WA – BENEFITS FOR STRIKING WORKERS
We are now faced with a federal government aligned with the billionaires and against organized labor, and we need to be looking for opportunities to empower unions against the corporations wherever we can. In the upcoming legislative session, Democratic Rep. Marcus Riccelli is planning on proposing legislation aimed at allowing union workers to receive unemployment benefits while on strike, easing the financial pressure of staying out on the picket line and strengthening their hand in negotiations. Let’s contact our legislators and urge them to support this effort.
We will turn this around by building something for which people will vote: a solid, broadly beneficial platform that is sold by a charismatic candidate. We have approached it as candidate only. The platform became a meaningless afterthought. I would leave it there for 2024. Talk about sucks. We had a charismatic candidate sans platform. We must turn this around. We must build a platform that lifts, fires up, and arms the strongest movement of our lives. Otherwise YOU bequeath your children and grandchildren their inherited, voiceless servitude to a dictatorship. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/start-our-movement?r=3m1bs 
My email to the “ama “ email address for Bruce Scott was rejected. I went to the AMA website and it is the correct email. Anyone have a similar experience or good email?