January 9, 2025

Support for Los Angeles, weekend of service rather than angst, protecting sanctuary cities, and more!

Our hearts are with everyone suffering from the continuing wildfires in Southern California. Please stay safe.

For those in the area who might need it and anyone else who wants to help, journalist Nicholas Slayton has compiled this list of food pantries, animal shelters, mutual aid networks and others doing their best to protect whoever they can in this dangerous moment. Please consider a donation to these folks on the frontlines.

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:

• usa.gov/federal-agencies

• JOIN ”COMPASSION NOT HATE” WEEKEND OF SERVICE FOR MLK DAY
  Rather than sink into pre-Inauguration Day depression, Indivisible is urging people to plan community service actions, especially to support groups that will be targeted by the Trump Administration. People are encouraged to volunteer at an immigrant legal services clinic, start a trans kids clothing swap, host a teach-in on racial justice, organize a fundraiser for a reproductive rights group, and many other possibilities. Let’s check out their guide on what we can do, then get together with our friends and networks and make this happen!

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• THE ATTACKS ON TRANS PEOPLE ARE RAMPING UP

  After fumbling his way back into the Speakership, Mike Johnson unveiled a Rules package that outlined priority bills for the House majority. At the top of the list: keeping trans kids from playing school sports by defining sex as assigned at birth under Title IX for sports participation. (NCAA President Charlie Baker has noted that out of 500,000 women taking part in intercollegiate athletics, “about 10” are trans.) And it’s not just DC Republicans prioritizing transphobia: more than 120 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been filed at the state level ahead of the beginnings of the new legislative sessions. Trans folks are going to be a primary target for the reactionaries in the coming years, and we need to push back just as hard in their defense. Here’s where we can start:

  • Let’s reach out to our members of Congress and tell them to vote no on this proposed “priority” bill (H.R. 28), and work on real problems for all Americans instead of bullying a few dozen trans kids out of school sports.

  • Let’s check out

    Erin Reed
    ’s legislative tracker and see what anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been filed in our states, and let our legislators know we want to see them blocked.

  • Let’s check out and share the Transgender Law Center’s guide to laws and policies affecting trans folks locally and statewide.

  • If we’re attorneys, let’s consider joining the Transgender Law Center’s Attorney Solidarity network here.

  • If we’re able, let’s consider donating to DistributeAid.org’s Harm Reduction Toolkits (HRT), which provide one year of medical supplies needed for trans folks to take injection-based hormone replacement therapy

  • If we want to get even further engaged, here’s a list of local-level groups fighting for LGBTQ+ justice and survival in all 50 states we can reach out to get more involved with.

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• PROTECTING SANCTUARY CITIES FROM TRUMP’S REVENGE

  Another of Mike Johnson’s priority bills is HR 32, which would strip “sanctuary jurisdictions” of federal funds for immigrants. This is an effort to punish those communities that are willing to stand up to Trump protect their immigrant family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, and pressure them into cooperating with mass deportation – and just one of their efforts to do so, along threatening officials with arrest. Opponents have also warned that as written, the bill could go as far as banning funds for infrastructure projects along with programs like Violence Against Women Act grants, food stamps, school lunches and other education programs which do not restrict help by immigration status. Republicans pressed similar efforts last Congress which passed in the House 219-186 (12 Democrats in the yay column) and stalled in the Senate. The prospects of a president who might sign this legislation, costing “sanctuary jurisdictions” in their districts, could adjust political calculations. We can also send a message about any effort by the Trump White House to do so unilaterally. Let’s reach out to our members of Congress – especially if they’re Republicans – and tell them to say no to this effort, and that we will hold them responsible if they back legislation that hurts our communities for Trump’s revenge. We can find sample language from the League of Women Voters here.

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• A RUSSIAN ASSET RUNNING U.S. INTELLIGENCE?

  Trump’s cabinet selections include sexual predators, extremists, the wildly unqualified and multiple people who threaten the lives of Americans. Even among this rogue’s gallery, his selection of Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence stands out as unique, as there is genuine debate as to whether Gabbard is compromised by Russia. She is a longtime and frequent defender of the Putin regime and parrot for their propaganda, advocating for U.S. foreign policy towards Syria and Ukraine to take the positions Moscow would prefer. (In 2018, a Syrian dissident was wary of testifying in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee out of concern Gabbard would share his identity with the Assad dictatorship.) She is a consumer of Russian state media, despite having been advised it wasn’t credible – and they praised her nomination by Trump, referring to her as “our girlfriend.” She’s been condemned even by right wingers and national security officials from Trump’s first term. If you love our country more than you’re afraid of upsetting Trump, this is not a difficult call to make. Let’s contact our senators, especially if they’re on the Intelligence Committee, and tell them to vote no on Tulsi Gabbard. Our country cannot afford a DNI we cannot trust.

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• CLIMATE ACTION NOW… NOT IN FOUR YEARS

  Diminishing sea ice is contributing to Southern California burning as we speak. And within days we should receive word once again that last year was the hottest in recorded history – exceeding 1.5 degrees of warming post-Industrial Revolution for the first time and showing alarming signs the pace of change is heating up. This cannot be treated as business as usual, and we need to find opportunities to act. The Sunrise Movement, which organizes young people for the Green New Deal, is holding a welcome call for new people joining TONIGHT at 8:30 PM Eastern (sign up here) and has an email list with action updates for supporters over 35 years old we can join here.

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STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS

• OK – NO RENEWABLES BAN FOR OKLAHOMA

  Oklahoma stands to reap considerable economic gains from the clean energy transition – we are already the third largest generator of wind energy. But right-wing extremists more concerned with “owning the” libs than our safety or anyone’s pocketbooks want to stop green growth in its tracks. Earlier this week hundreds of people rallied at the state capitol to push Governor Kevin Stitt to issue an executive order to stop new wind and solar facilities from being built and ask the legislature to block a new wind energy collaboration with Denmark. Their supporters include potential gubernatorial candidates Attorney General Gentner Drummond and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters. This reactionary movement is gaining traction, so we must make sure these loud, destructive voices aren’t the only ones heard. Let’s contact Governor Stitt and our legislators to say that green development means good jobs and lower energy prices for Oklahoma and a more secure future for us all, and we want them to invest in it – not block it. And let’s sign up for updates from the Sierra Club’s Oklahoma Chapter to stay in the fight.

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