June 16, 2025

next steps after marching

Hi friends,

NPR reports that an estimated 5 million people turned out to protest, with huge crowds in NY, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and other cities.

Demand that Congress support public media! This quick action is from the American Coalition for Public Radio.

The turnout was a necessary show of strength, according to Paul Krugman:

We saw a body blow to Trump’s image of invincibility and a demonstration that millions of Americans are willing to stand up for democracy.

The Hindustan Times published a picture of an eight-foot statue of Trump on a toilet, crafted by a Maryland resident for a protest in DC.

The statue depicted Trump wearing a blue coat and red tie, perched on a toilet,… summing up the mood of a demonstration aimed squarely at mocking the spectacle of the former president’s birthday parade.

A second article in the same paper called the military parade in DC

a national embarrassment.

It noted the “sparse crowds [and] muted enthusiasm,” as well as the sleepy appearance of the president, the first lady, and some of the guests. The paper has a daily readership of 8.6 million people.

I’m so grateful to everyone who got out to protest this weekend, especially in light of the terrifying political violence — the assassinations in Minnesota, the vehicular violence in Virginia and elsewhere, and the troubling messages from people like the god-forsaken Ron DeSantis, who told Floridians that

“if you are driving on one of those streets [where people are protesting] and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety. And so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that's their fault for impinging on you."

I don’t understand the lack of humanity.

Last night, the suspect in Minnesota was apprehended and charged.

Demanding good government is not all standing in the rain with witty signs or, in the case of some protesters, getting tear-gassed.

Today, we are back to the dull-but-necessary business of trying to get elected and appointed officials to look out for the interests of the people.

In a disturbing effort to interfere with medical care for veterans, VA officials have issued new guidance allowing VA hospitals to refuse to treat unmarried veterans and Democrats, citing the president’s 30 January executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

The new rules also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.

Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law.

So much for the celebration of the army.

Call your members of Congress to demand to know what they’re doing to protect access to health care and vaccines. I made it easy.

This is not the only assault on health care, of course. In addition to the wholesale efforts to cut Medicaid, RFK Jr ousted all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control.

Kennedy already took the unusual step of changing COVID-19 recommendations without first consulting the committee — a move criticized by doctors’ groups and public health advocates.

The research favors vaccinations as a protection from permanent organ damage due to Covid infections, which may affect children as well as adults.

Complications from a Covid infection can harm the heart, brain, lungs and kidneys. A new study finds that patients hospitalized for Covid were less likely to suffer severe kidney damage if they were vaccinated.

Demand that the CDC reinstate vaccine programs now. This quick action is from the National Campaign for Justice.

The state legislative session is also winding to a close, with lots of unfinished business.

There are four environmental bills that the Assembly needs to pass. The most prominent is the revision of the NY HEAT Act, a compromise bill.

The Customer Savings and Reliability Act would address the massive utility rate hikes driven by $5 billion in new infrastructure required under existing NYS gas service mandates. The legislation would create regional flexibility, which will protect difficult-to-electrify businesses, while still saving all ratepayers billions of dollars and providing cleaner heating options.

The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act will reduce plastic packaging by 30 percent over the next dozen years and shift the costs of managing packaging waste to producers.

There’s also the PFAS Discharge Disclosure Act, which would require testing for PFAS discharges to public waters, and the Beauty Justice Act (aka the Safe Personal Care and Cosmetics Act) which would significantly reduce the adverse health impacts of exposure by banning

the most dangerous toxic chemicals from the majority of personal care and cosmetic products sold in the state.

Email your Assembly member today to urge the passage of these four bills. This takes just a minute!

The IDF killed at least 40 people today, half of whom were approaching an aid distribution site operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Medics said at least 20 people were killed and 200 others wounded near an aid distribution site in Rafah, the latest in daily mass shootings that have killed hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food since Israel imposed a new distribution system after partly lifting a near three-month total blockade.

We cannot look away.

Tell your member of Congress to end starvation as a weapon of war. This action is from People Power United.

with love,

L