Dear friends,
Perhaps you saw this good news: the Biden Administration canceled some oil and gas leases in Alaska.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland’s decision to protect “one of the most sensitive landscapes on earth” — where caribou migrate to when they give birth — is based on the legal flaws in the original sale, made in the last days of the Trump Administration.
The Indigenous Gwich’in people are calling on Congress to repeal the oil and gas program permanently.
Tell your Congressional delegation that you support Indigenous communities and bold action to stop oil and gas leasing.
There's a mass meditation event against climate destruction on Monday in midtown. I'm planning to go and I thought it would be a great way for some more contemplative folks to get out into the streets.
Join the No Faith in Fuels Mass Meditation on Monday, September 11.
There are a lot of artists in the wiffij community (that’s us. . .wfhfj), so I went looking for art builds: these are community events to make signs and banners for the upcoming climate march. Emma from Fridays for the Future wrote back quickly and let me know about 8(!) upcoming art builds at 352 Troutman Street in Bushwick.
Come to an art build this Saturday or Sunday, from 2pm - 8pm. The building continues every evening until the march, from 5pm - 10pm (M 9/11- Sa 9/16).
There’s been a lot of news about presidential polls and I suspect it’s agitating for all of us. Robert Reich offers some good advice for how to spare yourself needless churning and take effective action instead. I made his excellent list even shorter.
[T]ake time to become more directly politically involved — up to and including getting out the votes in critical swing states.
Counter lies with truth. When you hear someone repeating a Trump Republican lie, correct it. This will require that you prepare yourself with facts, logic, analysis and sources.
Do not tolerate bigotry and hate. Denounce it. Demand that others denounce it, too.
Do not resort to violence, name-calling, bullying or any of the other tactics that Trump followers may be using.
Be compassionate toward hardcore followers of Trump, but don’t waste your time and energy trying to convert them. Use your time and energy on those who still have open minds.
Don’t gripe, whine, wring your hands, and kvetch.
Organize people who don’t normally vote to vote for Biden. Mobilize get-out-the-vote efforts in your community. Get young people involved.
Take action with The Civics Center to get young people involved!
A few annotations on Reich’s list: I hate whining, too AND a bit of private kvetching among friends can be cathartic.
Also, while I don’t expect there are violent bullies who read the wiffij, I know that some folks get witty with name-calling. I advise against it. We discourage children from name-calling for good reason.
Charles M. Blow makes a good case for speaking up about the dangers of Trump’s efforts to undermine democracy. Once Hunter gets indicted, I will write to Biden to tell him to talk openly and often about the crimes that the two men are accused of and to point out his own unwillingness to become involved in the prosecution of either one.
Here’s more good news that didn’t fit in Tuesday’s post: without a clear explanation, Medicare spending, per beneficiary, has nearly leveled off over more than a decade.
The numbers are astonishing; the difference between projected spending and actual spending is about $3.9 trillion. The link to any policy decision is unclear.
Just last week, the Biden Administration named the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiations between Medicare and and pharmaceutical companies. The list includes drugs for diabetes, heart failure, and blood clots. The drug price negotiation program is part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Talk about Biden’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices!
The lawsuits against the Administration from drug makers and trade associations were filed almost immediately. White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden expressed confidence that the suits will fail:
“What the pharmaceutical companies are doing [is] going to the courts to ensure that they can charge any price they can get away with, and that is wrong.”
It is wrong. It will be hard for the so-called deficit hawks in Congress to defend the price gouging by pharmaceutical companies when it raises federal health care spending and burdens people who can least afford it.
RIP Medical Debt announced that it has relieved nearly 6.8 million American families of more than $10 billion of medical debt. In their email, they noted that purchasing medical debt at a discount with donor dollars is not the long-term play.
We look forward to paving the way for systemic change and ending the medical debt crisis through public policy, action research, and strategic partnerships.
The RIP Medical Debt model does, however, offer families burdened by crushing debt an opportunity to look up and to recenter their lives on health and family.
Consider a contribution to RIP Medical Debt!
Below is a repeat action to help make some system change; if you remember the issue, skip the explanation.
A recent study of medical debt in NYS found that the burden of medical debt falls most heavily on rural people of color. Medical debt ruins people financially and among the things we can agree on in the US is that needing health care should not ruin people.
The NYS legislature passed the Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act, which prohibits consumer reporting agencies from collecting medical debt of any amount. It also prevents medical debts from inclusion in a consumer debt report.
Tell Governor Hochul to sign the Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act. This quick action is from End Medical Debt.
I’m toying with a twice-a-week schedule as I increase my time in classrooms and in the streets. We’ll see what happens!
with love,
L