Dear friends,
I’m frequently struck by the variety of existential threats that we face.
Nearly half a million of the 1.7 million city residents who rely on SNAP nutrition benefits are also eligible for cash assistance, and the processing of their applications has not met the benchmarks for improvement set by a federal court judge.
At the Safety Net Project, a CBO that assists both SNAP-only and cash assistance clients, advocates say they are seeing the same elevated numbers struggling with wait times that they did in the winter, according to Adriana Mendoza, the group’s benefits supervisor.
The city must clear its backlogs by March 2024, but seven months is too long to wait when there are mouths to feed.
Contact the Mayor (again) to let him know that HRA must resolve staffing issues and ensure that New Yorkers can access benefits.
The long-term solution would be no-strings basic income, so that no family would face diaper need or food insecurity.
Tell Congress you support Universal Basic Income. This quick action is from the Fund for Humanity.
The climate has raised existential threats for people across the globe. A wildfire in Spokane, Washington wiped out dozens of buildings and killed at least one person, 60 people lost their lives in flash floods in India last week, and these are not even the stories in our headlines.
We need to lift our heads from the plentiful bad climate-related news to work on the long game.
NY Renews has made a toolkit to make it easier to comment on the proposed cap-trade-and-invest system that is designed to create a fee for polluters that can generate funds to fight the climate crisis and support frontline communities. I simplified further by providing a comment you can adapt and personalize. You don’t need to be a New Yorker to comment!
Make a public comment to tell NYS lawmakers to hold corporate polluters accountable with an effective cap-and-invest system.
Robert Reich wrote this week about the current phase of Trump’s assault on democracy.
Phase three is his current attempt to discredit and undermine the criminal justice system that is seeking to hold him accountable for phase two.
Trump is smearing presiding judges, excoriating prosecutors and harassing and intimidating potential witnesses and jurors.
He’s telling another big lie: that prosecutors, grand juries, judges, potential jurors and witnesses who are prepared to try him are corrupt and partisan – engaged in a plot to prevent him from being re-elected. Like his original big lie, this one has no basis in fact.
Reich cautions us to buckle up for phase four, which undoubtedly refers to his efforts at restoration.
Chef José Andrés tweeted (x-ed?) to his enormous following earlier today to contrast the behavior of other candidates who have lost elections with that of Trump. I appreciate the clarity of his message as well as the optimism behind it.
Call on your member of Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act.
Lots of writers have commented on a recent paper by two conservative scholars who argue that Trump can already be disqualified from the coming presidential election because of the provisions of section 3 of the 14th Amendment. (I’ve linked to the first place I saw it.)
Section Three’s disqualification [of someone from public office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same”] is constitutionally automatic whenever its terms are satisfied. Section Three requires no legislation or adjudication to be legally effective….[No] prior judicial decision, and no implementing legislation, is required for Section Three to be carried out by officials sworn to uphold the Constitution whose duties present the occasion for applying Section Three’s commands.
The problem, as I see it, is that if Secretaries of State were to remove Trump’s name from state ballots, they would risk their lives and those of their families. That’s where we are.
I’m always a barrel of laughs on a Monday, aren’t I? Ah, but I am not an entertainer. I’m here to tell you how to work off your angsty feelings.
Get involved with the Environmental Voter Project, which identifies non-voting environmentalists and “converts them into a critical mass of consistent voters.”
Activating environmentalists feeds two birds with one seed, since they will be raising the profile of environmental concerns when politicians poll likely voters AND they will be showing up for the critical elections ahead of us.
I have faith in the masses of us, in spite of the frightening things that individuals do and say. Speaking of participation, take this quick action from Moms Rising so that more children can go to Head Start.
Tell Congress to fully fund Head Start programs and block the cuts that would deprive 80,000 children from participating!
with love,
L