Links to activism for January 2018

[Brian]

World Beyond War and Roots Action have combined to promote a petition asking all nations to abstain from war and military exercises for the weeks before, during and after the Winter Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, from February 2 to March 4, as suggested by the United Nations:

act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=13181

[anni]

Their goal was 10,000. Currently 14,081, including me.

[anni]

Progressive Democrats of America just put up a customizable letter to write to your representative and senators, asking them to please vote now for a full disaster relief authorization from FEMA, a renewal of the Jones Act waiver and for debt forgiveness for the American colony of Puerto Rico:

actionnetwork.org/letters/help-puerto-rico

[anni]

Another year has gone by since that photo was taken. On the 16th anniversary of the opening of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture offers this petition to Defense Secretary James Mattis:

org.salsalabs.com/o/2162/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=22641

[Brian]

I'm squeamish about this government shutdown because I remember how I felt when Republican Congresses did it to Democratic presidents in 1995-96 and 2013.  Dianne Feinstein's decision to join Kamala Harris in requiring that DACA to be included in the fourth continuing resolution in the fourth month of this fiscal year with no budget tells me that the minority party in the Senate had no other choice.  Mitch McConnell held up a freaking Supreme Court nomination throughout 2016, and he blocked consideration of all Democratic amendments to bills in 2017 despite his frequent blatherings on the floor about restoring "regular order."

I sent Code Pink's form letter, which was the best online action in the e-mail flurry I got this weekend, to Senators Feinstein and Harris:

www.codepink.org/dreamers?utm_campaign=dreamer_2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink

[anni]

I'm dreaming with Code Pink, too!

[Sharon W]

Doesn't it seem like the color is off in that photo? It looks more like Code Salmon or Apricot to me!

[anni]

Yes, but Medea is right there in front...and she defines pink, IMHO.

[Brian]

No link today, just my follow up after the government shutdown.

Don't count me among the progressives angry at Chuck Schumer and those Democrats who helped to pass the latest continuing resolution on Monday.  I'm glad that my legislators Feinstein, Harris and Schiff voted no, bless them, because DACA wasn't included.  But I think that the shutdown would have backfired on Democrats -- and hurt the chance to renew DACA -- if it had lasted more than one weekday.  Instead, the world got lots of great advertising for the Dreamers all weekend:  their impeccable cause, our government's betrayal of the contract they signed and the terrible consequences they all face if deported.

Schumer made a deal with McConnell for the Senate to vote on a bill for the Dreamers, one that Schumer likes, right before the government could shut down again if another continuing resolution isn't passed.  Last Friday at the White House, he offered funding for a border wall as a compromise with Trump and his fellow demagoguing racists in the Republican Party, if only the president would restore DACA.  Trump agreed for about two hours.  Because Trump reneged, Schumer now says that the wall is off the table.

I say give them some funding to try to start building their wall if we take care of the young people who are already here, especially if there is a path to citizenship in the bill, as I'm hearing.  The proposed $20 billion is nothing compared to the hundreds of billions that the Pentagon wastes every year.  More importantly, it will never be built.  An actual, physical wall will be resisted by the majority of people who live and work nearby, and ultimately their red state representatives on Capitol Hill as well, as reality sinks in.