Dear friends,
Momentum matters. Sports fans believe this, and even sports-averse yogis like me understand that energy moves. This week’s good news falls into the category of energetic shifts.
Today, Biden will speak about the need to ban assault weapons. Having signed the first gun control measure to pass Congress in three decades, Biden is apparently pushing forward. This is no accident and there are lots people organizing to get this done.
Send a message to Congress to demand an assault-weapons ban. This 15-second action comes from Brady PAC.
President Biden has had more federal judges confirmed at this point in his presidency than anyone since JFK. This is of great importance, in part because the judges he nominated are the most diverse in US history.
He is also redressing a troubling partisan imbalance. The last president placed more than 200 federal judges on the bench, and this tipped the court to the right. That imbalance has already had alarming implications and threatens climate action, reproductive rights, and so much more.
It’s good to see the Democrats in motion.
Contact Chuck Schumer and tell him to push the pace on judicial confirmations!
As a student of nuance, I know that good news includes those events in which the folks with the weak argument are on the defensive. We on the left spend too much time on our heels while occupying the higher ground. This is a recipe for falling on one’s ass.
I would like to celebrate moments when the balance favors justice and action.
While I generally ignore popularity contests, it was fun to read that Joe Manchin is the least popular political figure in the US right now. This matters right now because the left is pushing hard to prevent Joe Manchin’s side deal from becoming law.
As you may recall, one of Manchin’s demands in exchange for his support for the Inflation Reduction Act was a separate bill to speed along the permitting process for fossil fuel projects like pipelines.
Tell Congress that we don’t want to fast-track fossil fuel projects. This quick action is from Th!rd Act.
While we gather our strength to fight the permitting legislation, we need to keep up our vigorous efforts to stop fossil fuel projects, one by one.
Canadian company and climate villain, Enbridge, has been fighting in court to keep an aging, leaking pipeline operational through the Straits of Mackinac that join Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, even though Governor Whitmer of Michigan ordered the pipeline to be shut down.
The defensive posture from Canada comes as the Bad River Band, an Indigenous tribe in northern Wisconsin, argues that Enbridge no longer has the right to cross its land after its easement expired.
Enbridge is seeking new permits for its Line 5 oil tunnel, and we need to add our energy to that of Indigenous and environmental groups who are working to protect the region and the people who live there.
Send a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today to demand to a meaningful Environmental Impact Statement. This action is from EarthJustice.
Contact Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and members of the legislature to demand a special session to rewrite a law that threatens the lives of people seeking health care during pregnancy.
Last week’s primaries yielded some encouraging results.
Maxwell Alejandro Frost, age 25, won the Democratic primary for a House seat (FL-10). Frost is a multi-racial and multi-ethnic gun control activist and arts advocate. He is a bonafide breath of fresh air.
The NYS Senate primaries also showed which way the energy is flowing:
Kristen González, a democratic socialist from Elmhurst, defeated Elizabeth Crowley in the contest for NY State Senate in district 59. González was outspent by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Crowley was endorsed by the mayor. This was a triumph of organization and popular support for the left.
Jabari Brisport held his State Senate seat in North Brooklyn, in spite of the mayor’s support for his challenger, and Gustavo Rivera in the Bronx fended off centrist challengers funded by real estate and charter school groups.
Sotomayor has authority to act on matters arising from New York and some other states. (I didn’t know that was a thing!)
Finally, it appears that the momentum in the Russian war against Ukraine is shifting.
[I]n the past few weeks, Ukraine has started to take the initiative. A key factor has been Ukraine’s ability to target the Russian army’s supply chain — what Simon Schlegel, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Ukraine, describes as its “Achilles’ heel.”
Today, the Ukrainian military appears to be on the offensive in southern Ukraine.
Have a great day!
with love,
L