Hi all,
Today, necessarily, is a sobering day. Incredulity is not enough. We must act and engage others to act.
A year ago, we were celebrating the Senate victories in Georgia. My January 6 post also included this:
When the dust settles, I hope that there will be a proper reckoning for the so-called lawmakers who decided that, lacking evidence to challenge the validity of elections, they should instead refuse to certify the electoral count. No one has been expelled from the Senate since the Civil War, but Lindsey Graham deserves expulsion. While the maggots who are staging today’s circus are reprehensible, it was Graham’s call to Raffensperger earlier in the post-election season that led the Georgia Secretary of State’s staff to record Trump’s call. Allegedly, Graham called to pressure Raffensperger to toss some of the mail-in ballots. Graham has denied doing this, and there’s a lack of hard evidence, but the Senate could take a powerful stand against criminality by expelling Graham. Now you know what I dream about.
Update from a Georgia insider:
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is contemplating a call for a special grand jury to determine the charges against the former president for his furtive phone call to Secretary of State Brian Raffensperger, and potentially against U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina for a similar call.
On January 7, I published definitions of coup d’etat, impeachment, incite, mob, riot, sedition, and treason, and I celebrated Representative Cori Bush, who called for the expulsion of the Congressional Republicans who incited a domestic terror attack by their attempts to overturn the election.
Among those are the 147 members of Congress who voted not to certify the election results. This ignominious group includes Nicole Malliotakis. She must lose her seat. Note: you can check the Insurrection Index to learn more about the other 1010 people known to have been involved.
Max Rose, the centrist Democrat who lost the seat (NY-11) to Malliotakis, is running again. I am calling on you to support the candidacy of Brittany Ramos DeBarros.
I spoke with Brittany last week. She is pursuing the Working Families Party endorsement and looking to engage the Asian community in her South Brooklyn/Staten Island district. It will be a heavy lift to win this district AND I believe we need to be in this fight.
NY-11 has almost half million eligible voters — 64% are White, 15% Latino, 12% Black, and 8% Asian, according to Wikipedia. The district went for Trump both times (55-44 in 2020) AND they are still New Yorkers. Almost 30 percent are immigrants.
Support Brittany Ramos DeBarros to unseat Nicole Malliotakis. Consider volunteering for her campaign.
Three in five Americans believe that Trump’s seditious behavior caused the January 6 insurrection and 40 percent of Republicans approve of the work of the Jan 6 committee. But the January 6 committee alone can’t save us.
Stephen Marche, author of The Next Civil War, is concerned that we are too complacent.
Stack the supreme court, end the filibuster, make Washington DC a state, and let the dogs howl, and now, before it is too late. The moment the right takes control of institutions, they will use them to overthrow democracy in its most basic forms; they are already rushing to dissolve whatever norms stand in the way of their full empowerment.
A filibuster work-around, like requiring forty Senators to vote against bringing a measure to a vote, is going to force a few hands, I hope. Mitt Romney? Mike Lee? These guys are on the record defending the filibuster, and I believe they can’t bring themselves to vote against a vote on voting rights.
Phonebank with Common Cause to get West Virginia and Arizona voters on the phone with their senators.
Sign this petition from the ACLU to protest voter suppression.
I’ve been beating the drum for DC statehood for a while. As I’ve noted, because the admission of states is not a legislative issue, it is eligible for another kind of filibuster work-around, as has been done with judicial appointments.
Contact your US Senators and demand that they move on DC statehood. I’ve updated the message, so send it again!
If we’re letting the dogs howl, we might as well push for Puerto Rican statehood, as well. Marche points out that
According to a University of Virginia analysis of census projections, by 2040, 30% of the population will control 68% of the Senate.
We need a sense of urgency AND a long view.
Contact your congressional representative and urge them to support the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act. I made it easy.
In the category of urgency: there are vigils planned around the city and online today, to acknowledge January 6 and the crisis it represents.
Turn up outside Nicole Malliotakis’s office OR find a vigil online or elsewhere. Rise and Resist will be protesting with Patience and Fortitude.
We must continue to call for functional government action.
Sign this petition reminding the Senate to pass Build Back Better; Paid Family Leave has never been more important. This action is from Ayanna Pressley.
Yesterday, Governor Hochul made her first State of the State speech. I joined a watch party with folks from NY Caring Majority. Hochul led off with a promise to invest $10 billion to increase the state's healthcare workforce by 20 percent in the next five years, and she stressed the idea of providing care for New Yorkers in their homes.
Hochul promised that
the days of governors disregarding the rightful role of this legislature are over.
Fair Pay for Home Care (A06329A/S05374A) has sponsorship from a majority of legislators in both houses AND it needs a push from the public to keep it at the top of their agenda.
If you click on the links for bills in the Senate and Assembly, you can determine easily if your state legislators are among the sponsors. If they are, we thank them; if they’re not, we urge them to get on board.
Contact your legislators about Fair Pay for Home Care! Messages are ready-made!
Use this social media toolkit to spread the message that #HomeCareIsHealthCare and to call for #FairPayForHomeCare!
The governor covered a lot of other ground, including the excellent news that she’s called for an Environmental Impact Statement for the Interborough Express Railway to connect Brooklyn and Queens AND the restoration of tuition assistance for people who are incarcerated.
The COVID surge is nothing to sneeze at. Hospitalizations are up more than 150 percent in the last two weeks in NYC; nationally, hospitalizations are up 58 percent.
Chicago schools are closed for the second day in a row, as the mayor has refused to heed a demand for a short-term remote option. Albany schools have gone remote, in spite of the governor’s exhortation to keep them open.
Tens of thousands of new COVID cases have been reported among students and staff in NYC schools since schools reopened on Monday. There was a sick-out of 80 percent of the teachers at one Brooklyn school building.
City-wide, attendance is somewhat improved since Monday AND there are real concerns about community spread, given low rates of vaccination among 5 - 17 year olds (under 45 percent!).
Contact the mayor and your city council rep to let them know what you think about a short-term remote option for the public schools.
We are sober, not somber. Thanks for staying with this long post. Have a good day!
with love,
L