May 22, 2019 was Hunger Action Day, with over 400 advocates and community members from across California converging on the State Capitol in Sacramento for a day of meetings and joint action with our state legislators. The goal of Hunger Action Day is to make sure our elected officials know the reality of hunger and hardship in California, and to use their voices to help end it.
Indivisible East Bay member Ward Kanowsky attended the event along with several other representatives from the Alameda County Community Food Bank; IEB has been partnering with ACCFBfor the past two years and this is the second year in a row IEB members have attended the event. Ward was part of two teams meeting with the staff of State Senator Steve Glazer (7th Senate District) and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (16th Assembly District) to discuss and ask for support on the following legislative priorities:
Increase state funding of Supplemental Security Income so the grant is above the federal poverty level: Budget ask and AB 1434
Protect adults harmed by the federal 3-month time limit to SNAP/CalFresh: AB 1022 (introduced by AD-15 Assemblymember Wicks)
End exclusion of taxpaying, immigrant workers with Individual Taxpayer IDs from the California Earned Income Tax Credit: Budget ask and AB 1593
Increase funding for the CalFood Program for California’s 41 food banks: Budget ask from California Hunger Action Coalition, of which ACCFB is a member.
Participants received some good news the following day — two of these bills, AB 1022 and AB 842 passed through the Assembly, their originating house, and moved on to the Senate.
ACCFB regularly participates in Hunger Action Day. One of ACCFB’s core values is that food is a basic human right, and this value was included in the message we delivered to legislators during meetings. The Food Bank serves one in five Alameda County residents; two-thirds of these are seniors and children. ACCFB works towards a stronger, more nourished Alameda County, where no one worries where their next meal will come from.
Ward Kanowsky is co-lead, with LeAnn Kanowsky, of the Indivisible East Bay CA-15 Team.
Photograph: ACCFB outside Senator Steve Glazer’s office on Hunger Action Day 2019, by Brittany Paris
There’s strength in numbers. (Go Warriors!) Every vote matters, and we need to do everything in our power to combat voter suppression. Restoring voting rights to Californians who are on parole is a critical step, and although we can’t do this in time for the 2020 election, there’s a path to achieve this goal in the near future. And your help is needed.
Almost 50,000 Californians on parole are disqualified from voting, even though they have served their sentences and been released from prison. The right to vote is a pillar of citizenship, and people on parole for felony convictions are still citizens who pay taxes and have an overriding constitutional right to have their voices heard on political issues. As Assemblymember Bonta explains:
After paying their debt to society, people have a right and obligation to contribute to society. Part of building a productive life includes becoming civically engaged and exercising the fundamental right to vote.
African Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested; once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, and they are more likely to experience lengthy prison sentences.
In other words: Black Americans are more likely to lose their voting rights, and to lose them for longer. To add insult to injury, prisoners are often counted as residents of largely white rural areas where prisons are located for the purposes of redistricting, leading to “prison-based gerrymandering.”
Felony disenfranchisement is a shameful reminder of California’s Jim Crow laws, enshrined in our Constitution. As a matter of fundamental fairness, we must amend the Constitution to restore the right to vote to people with convictions. Restoring the right to vote helps people leaving prison reintegrate into the community. Successful reintegration reduces recidivism and increases public safety. As Secretary of State Padilla commented: “Civic participation is foundational to a sense of community—and it can play a major role in reducing recidivism.”
California has already begun to reform its felony disenfranchisement policies. In 2016, voting rights were restored to people convicted of a felony offense who had been sent to county jail, but not those sent to state or federal prison. ACA 6 and AB 646 will advance this effort by ensuring that people on felony parole who have served their sentences will be treated equally regardless of the facility in which they were incarcerated.
This is an idea whose time has come. An increasing number of states have passed legislation eliminating or modifying felony disenfranchisement. It’s become a topic of discussion for Democratic Presidential hopefuls and other bigwigs and has entered the discourse on social media. California is lagging behind in this national movement to advance democracy.
What you can do:
1. Call your state representatives, now and every day.
If you’re a constituent of Assemblymember Bonta, thank him; if you’re a constituent of Assemblymember Wicks or Bauer-Kahan, call and encourage them to support ACA 6 & AB 646. Yes, call even when your representatives have taken good positions on an issue! The other side is calling, and you need to make your voice heard.
My name is _______, my zip code is ______, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. I want _______ to co-author and support Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6, which restores voting rights to Californians on parole after they have been released from prison. I also want _______ to support AB 646, the companion bill to ACA 6.
For Assemblymember Bonta:
My name is _______, my zip code is ______, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. I want to thank Assemblymember Bonta for coauthoring ACA 6 and supporting voting rights for Californians who are on parole after they have been released from prison. I strongly support ACA 6 and AB 646.
2. Come to Sacramento on May 20 for the 2019 Quest For Democracy Advocacy Day
Join IEB and community partners at this event at the Capitol in Sacramento, where participants will meet to strategize, train, and then advocate directly to legislators. A bus will leave for the event from Fruitvale and West Oakland BART stations in Oakland on the following schedule on May 20:
Can you help work on these critical issues with the Indivisible East Bay Voter Rights & Election Integrity team? Email: info@IndivisibleEB.org, or join the #voting-issues channel on IEB’s Slack. For an invitation to join Slack, email: info@IndivisibleEB.org
Rosemary Jordan and Katie Cameron contributed to this article
Thousands of people nationwide at more than 300 events on April 4 took to the streets to send a LOUD & CLEAR message to Attorney General William “Cover-up” Barr that we demand the immediate release of the full Mueller report and all supporting evidence. The previous night’s news that some of Mueller’s investigators believed Barr’s brief letter misrepresented their findings, and that the findings were more troubling for Trump than Barr stated, energized our resolve for full and immediate disclosure.
Indivisible East Bay members joined several local protests, and several IEB’ers organized the events in El Cerrito and Alameda.
El Cerrito Shows Up to Demand: Release the Full Report Now!
By Heidi Rand
Nearly 200 people waved signs, chanted, and got rousing honks and fists raised in solidarity from rush-hour drivers at a busy intersection in El Cerrito. IEB member George read Chair Adam Schiff’s “I Don’t Think It’s Okay” speech as a very moving call and response. Schiff’s statement was a fiery retort to calls for him to resign by GOP members of the Intelligence Committee.
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People from West County, Berkeley, Richmond and beyond lined all four corners of the intersection; many arrived with signs made at home, some created their masterpieces on the spot. Favorites included: We Want Action, Not Redaction!; We Demand the Truth!; What is Trump Afraid Of?; None Of This Is Okay!; Corrupt, Compromised, Immoral & Unpatriotic; We paid for it!; Not Exonerated!; No Cover Up; and Barr: Show Us Your Papers!
Alameda Island Joins National Demands For Release of Mueller Report
By Katie Cameron
Joining nation-wide rallies to pressure for release the Mueller report, several local organizations held a rally in front of Alameda City Hall on April 4. About fifty people attended, including members of MoveOn, Indivisible East Bay, All Rise Alameda, and Alameda4Impeachment. Rosemary Jordan, representing all of those organizations, convened the rally.
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Jordan kicked it off by summarizing recent developments: the completion of the Mueller report two weeks ago; the peculiar distillation of the report into four pages written and released by Attorney General Barr; the subsequent declaration of full exoneration by Donald Trump; and the Constitutional crisis we face as the report remains hidden from even Congressional view. “This is yet another case of obstruction of justice – this time by the Attorney General,” Rosemary pointed out.
Following her remarks, Ed Hilton with guitar treated the rally to some folk songs, including “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” and “I Once Was a Union Maid.” Katie Cameron led the crowd in chants provided by MoveOn, to an enthusiastic roar of response. Quite a few attendees stepped up to the mic to give their own short remarks on the state of things – some sad, some angry, and some delightfully humorous.
One attendee read aloud portions of Rep. Adam Schiff’s now-famous statement to his Republican colleagues itemizing a long series of presidential infractions, with the refrain: You might think that’s okay. I don’t!
To cap off the participation, Kitty Von Braskat-Crowe, attired in gorgeous purple hues, stepped away from her walker and belted out an amazing rendition of an old gospel song from the Civil Rights days. She was most definitely the star of the show!
Rosemary Jordan held the megaphone while Kitty Von Braskat-Crowe belted out a Civil Right gospel song. Ed Hilton sat behind on the steps, with guitar. Photo by Katie Cameron
To wrap up the rally, Assemblymember Rob Bonta (AD 18) gave us all words of encouragement and hope. He made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he shares our concerns about the Mueller report, the behavior of the President, and the importance of the Rule of Law. In the late afternoon chill, the crowd had dwindled a bit, but Bonta didn’t care a bit. He spoke with passion, and thanked every one of us for standing up for the Constitution.
Whether or not you made it to one of the protests, there’s much you can do! Public pressure is working, and we must keep it up. All of our Members of Congress have spoken out strongly on this issue, BUT THEY STILL NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU – they are hearing from the other side, and if you don’t call they won’t know that you support them and that this issue is important to you!
What you can do NOW:
Tell your Members of Congress that we demand transparency and complete disclosure of the Special Counsel’s report and investigation. Every day that passes without the full truth, Individual-1 and his minions continue to use the self-serving Barr letter to target and try to silence the people who are speaking out and investigating him. Take action, and keep reading below the call to action for more info & background.
What to say:
My name is ______________, my zip code is ______, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. I want to thank _________ for supporting disclosing the Special Counsel’s report to the American people. I want _______ to insist that Attorney General Barr immediately give the full Special Counsel’s report and all underlying investigatory materials to Congress. The full report and materials also have to be made public. I also want Congress to continue investigating Trump beyond the scope of the Mueller investigation.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: (email); (415) 393-0707 • DC: (202) 224-3841
Sen. Kamala Harris: (email); (415) 981-9369 • DC: (202) 224-3553
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier: (email); (510) 620-1000 • DC: (202) 225-2095
Rep. Barbara Lee: (email); (510) 763-0370 • DC: (202) 225-2661
Rep. Eric Swalwell: (email); (510) 370-3322 • DC: (202) 225-5065
For more info & background, and to learn what actions we’ve been taking for over a year, read our past articles:
Katie Cameron is a member of the Steering Committee of Alameda4Impeachment. A retired social worker who spent her career in state government in Washington State, Katie now devotes most of her time to defeating the Trump administration and the corrupt forces that got him elected.
Rosemary Jordan is Co-Founder of Alameda4Impeachment, a registered Indivisible group and a partner in the Citizens Impeachment Coalition, which includes representatives of cities, towns and counties nationwide (including four in the East Bay) that have passed local Impeachment resolutions. Rosemary also serves on the Steering Committee of All Rise Alameda and is co-leader of the End The Tampon Tax In California campaign. She has over 20 years of professional experience in healthcare and aging.
Deadline: ASAP and every day until the complete report is released –
Update Monday April 1: The national Trump Is Not Above the Law coalition is moving forward with the #ReleaseTheReport day of action on this April 4. If you haven’t already, find and RSVP to attend a Nobody Is Above the Law rapid response rally near you. You’ll get info and alerts if/when a response is called by your local organizers.
Find and RSVP to attend a Nobody Is Above the Law rapid response rally near you. You’ll get info and alerts if/when a response is called
No local protest? Sign up to host one. And spread the word by sending the link to everyone you know
Tell your Members of Congress that we demand transparency and complete disclosure of the Special Counsel’s report and investigation. Every day that passes without the full truth, Individual-1 and his minions continue to use the self-serving Barr letter to target and try to silence the people who are speaking out and investigating him. Take action, and keep reading below the call to action for more info & background.
What to say:
My name is ______________, my zip code is ______, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. I want to thank _________ for supporting disclosing the Special Counsel’s report to the American people. I want _______ to insist that Attorney General Barr immediately give the full Special Counsel’s report and all underlying investigatory materials to Congress. The full report and materials also have to be made public. I also want Congress to continue investigating Trump beyond the scope of the Mueller investigation.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: (email); (415) 393-0707 • DC: (202) 224-3841
Sen. Kamala Harris: (email); (415) 981-9369 • DC: (202) 224-3553
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier: (email); (510) 620-1000 • DC: (202) 225-2095
Rep. Barbara Lee: (email); (510) 763-0370 • DC: (202) 225-2661
Rep. Eric Swalwell: (email); (510) 370-3322 • DC: (202) 225-5065
For more info & background, and to learn what actions we’ve been taking for over a year, read our past articles:
Indivisible East Bay members and fellow activists got rousing honks and fists raised in solidarity from drivers at the March 27 El Cerrito Shows Up, where we waved signs and talked to passers-by about our demands that the full Special Counsel report be released to the public! If a rapid response event is called, we’ll meet at the same location. You can RSVP for the El Cerrito event here.
El Cerrito Shows Up March 27 2019 Release the Mueller Report
El Cerrito Shows Up March 27 2019 Release the Mueller Report
Update March 28: Special Counsel Robert Mueller completed his report, but Congress hasn’t seen the full report with underlying documentation yet and neither have we. Attorney General William Barr delivered his supplemental letter, a highly truncated summary of the Special Counsel’s report on March 24, but the letter raises more questions than it answers. Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer’s joint statement in response said, in part:
Congress requires the full report and the underlying documents so that the Committees can proceed with their independent work, including oversight and legislating to address any issues the Mueller report may raise. … The American people have a right to know.
On March 26 the DOJ reported that Barr will make a “version” of the report public in weeks. We’re not buying it! We didn’t fall for Barr’s first whitewash, his four-page Cliffs Notes letter, and we won’t accept any “version” Trump’s Cover-up Attorney General is selling, other than the full Special Counsel’s report.
We have a right to know: we demand to see the full report, and all underlying investigatory materials not subject to legitimate privilege. Every day that passes without the full truth, Individual-1 and his minions will continue to use the self-serving Barr letter to target and try to silence the people who are speaking out and investigating him. Take action, and keep reading below the call to action for more info & background.
What you can do:
1. Tell your Members of Congress that we the people demand transparency and complete disclosure of the Special Counsel’s report and investigation.
What to say:
My name is ______________, my zip code is ______, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. I want to thank _________ for supporting disclosing the Special Counsel’s report to the American people. I want _______ to insist that Attorney General Barr immediately give the full Special Counsel’s report and all underlying investigatory materials to Congress. The full report and materials also have to be made public. I also want Congress to continue investigating Trump beyond the scope of the Mueller investigation.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: (email); (415) 393-0707 • DC: (202) 224-3841
Sen. Kamala Harris: (email); (415) 981-9369 • DC: (202) 224-3553
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier: (email); (510) 620-1000 • DC: (202) 225-2095
Rep. Barbara Lee: (email); (510) 763-0370 • DC: (202) 225-2661
Rep. Eric Swalwell: (email); (510) 370-3322 • DC: (202) 225-5065
2. What else you can do:
Even though the report is complete, there’s still a danger that we’ll need to mobilize. Some of the original red lines that would trigger a mass protest are still in place, and particularly important are these new ones added in September 2018:
[A protest would be set in motion if:] The Mueller investigation releases findings showing significant wrongdoing by Donald Trump. Or Congress or the administration blocks the public from seeing Mueller’s findings.
Find and RSVP to attend a Nobody Is Above the Law rapid response rally near you (900+ events are pre-registered in case a response is called). Attorney General William Barr has until Tuesday, April 2, to send the full Mueller Report to Congress. That’s the deadline set this week by six House committee chairs, after which they’ll consider Barr to be non-compliant and will issue a subpoena. We’ll know by the following morning, Wednesday, whether he has met that deadline or is refusing to make it public. If Barr misses the deadline to make the Mueller report public, shielding the Trump administration from public accountability, the Nobody Is Above the Law rapid-response network will likely be activated on Wednesday morning, calling for a national day of action the following day, THURSDAY, APRIL 4, at 5 p.m. local time.
No local rally? Sign up to host one. And spread the word by sending the link to everyone you know
On March 22, Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report on the Trump-Russia investigation to Attorney General William Barr. Barr has committed to transparency, but it’s up to us to make sure Barr forwards the complete, original Special Counsel’s report and all underlying investigatory documents to Congress. And after Congress receives the materials, they must be made public, with appropriate redactions for legitimate national security reasons.
Democrats are speaking out, and demanding full disclosure. Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer put out a joint statement calling for Barr to make the full report public, and to provide the underlying documentation to Congress. Our Representatives had already voted for disclosure: on March 14, 2019 the House passed, by a vote of 420-0 (yes, that’s a ZERO), a resolution calling on the Department of Justice to make the special counsel’s findings and full report public and available to Congress. Our own CA-11 Representative Mark DeSaulnier led the debate on H. Con. Res 208. Our Senators both spoke out in favor of disclosure, but Republicans blocked a vote on the bill in the Senate.
In addition, shortly after news about the report hit, DeSaulnier posted a tweet, ” … The AG should send the report to Congress expeditiously & abide by Congressional intent to make the findings public. The American people deserve transparency & accountability.” And Rep. Eric Swalwell tweeted: “Show us the report. Now. The American people spoke loudly, and clearly last November: we choose a balance of power over abuse of power. #MuellerReport.“Representative Barbara Lee also spoke out.
In an email statement, Senator Kamala Harris said: “You have my commitment that I will not rest until the truth is delivered publicly and in full.” She included a petition, which reads: “Americans deserve to know the truth now that the Mueller report is complete. The report must be released immediately and Attorney General Barr must publicly testify under oath about the investigation’s findings. We need total transparency here.” Senator Dianne Feinstein has previously spoken out strongly in favor of release.
While we mobilize to make sure the complete report isn’t hidden from Congress, or us, we should prepare to understand what it’s likely to have in it. AG Barr and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein have indicated that the Special Counsel’s report probably won’t touch on anyone who hasn’t already been indicted. And since the Department of Justice may be following its policy that a sitting president may not be indicted (there’s disagreement about that), Mueller’s report likely won’t include information detailing criminal wrongdoing by Individual-1. He’ll call that a win, but — it hardly needs saying — don’t believe him: this just means that his wrongdoing can’t be detailed in Mueller’s summary of his investigation. All the more reason that we need Barr to disclose all of the underlying investigatory documents, to ensure 45 is held fully accountable. Barr himself has said that the place for the president to be held accountable is in Congress; thus, Congress must get the entire Mueller report and investigatory materials. The White House has been stonewalling the House Democrats’ investigations, so we must continue to support our Representatives who are standing up in their search for the truth.
For more historical background, and to learn what actions we’ve been taking for over a year, read our past articles in reverse chronological order:
Last November hundreds of thousands of us, mobilized by the Nobody is Above the Law (NIATL) network (begun by MoveOn and now made up of a coalition of many other groups), hit the streets to stand up for the rule of law and protect the independence of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation.
The NIATL network’s red lines that would trigger another mass protest include some original ones: if Trump fired Mueller, pardoned key witnesses, or took another action that prevented the investigation from being conducted freely. Other red lines have been formulated as Trump and his GOP enablers have repeatedly tried to denigrate, obstruct, or shut down the investigation. These red lines were added in September 2018:
[A protest would be set in motion if:] The Mueller investigation releases findings showing significant wrongdoing by Donald Trump. Or Congress or the administration blocks the public from seeing Mueller’s findings.
Attorney General William Barr is now overseeing the investigation. Barr was cagey during his confirmation hearing, indicating he might not make the entire report public, and saying he’d “provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law.” There have previously been incorrect reports that the investigation was wrapping up, and apparently the articles coming out on February 20 (a mere week after Barr’s appointment) are true, that he was preparing to announce the completion of the investigation as soon as the following week, and that he plans to submit a summary of Mueller’s report to Congress soon after, are also incorrect. One analyst had predicted this, writing that it likely would not have been THE confidential report dictated by the Special Counsel regulations, but rather a partial report.
Regardless of the timing, we should take steps NOW to make sure the report is released to the public. Senators Blumenthal and Grassley have introduced S. 236, the Special Counsel Transparency Act of 2019, a bipartisan bill that would require the Mueller investigation findings to be made fully available to Congress AND the public. Neither Senators Feinstein nor Harris have cosponsored.
What to do NOW:
Let your Members of Congress know that the investigation must be protected, and that whenever it’s ready, the entire report should be released to the public.
My name is ______________, my zip code is ______, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. Please do all you can in Congress to hold Trump accountable and protect the Mueller investigation. Only Mueller should decide when his investigation is complete. And when he’s done, the public should see his full report. Please support and cosponsor the Special Counsel Transparency Act.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: (email); (415) 393-0707 • DC: (202) 224-3841 Sen. Kamala Harris: (email); (415) 981-9369 • DC: (202) 224-3553
What to say to Representatives DeSaulnier, Lee and Swalwell:
My name is ______________, my zip code is ______, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. Please do all you can in Congress to hold Trump accountable and protect the Mueller investigation. Only Mueller should decide when his investigation is complete. And when he’s done, the public should see his full report.
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier: (email); (510) 620-1000 • DC: (202) 225-2095 Rep. Barbara Lee: (email); (510) 763-0370 • DC: (202) 225-2661 Rep. Eric Swalwell: (email); (510) 370-3322 • DC: (202) 225-5065
What else you can do:
Find and RSVP to attend a Nobody Is Above the Law rapid response rally near you (900+ events are pre-registered in case a response is called)
No local rally? Sign up to host one. And spread the word by sending the link to everyone you know
Update 2/25/19: On Tuesday Feb. 26 the House is scheduled to vote on H.J. Res 46, Representative Joaquin Castro’s resolution to terminate Trump’s national emergency declaration. All of the East Bay representatives have cosponsored the Joint Resolution.
Thousands of people nationwide took to the streets on He’s Not Our President Day, February 18, to protest the fake president’s fake national emergency. Indivisible East Bay members joined local protests, and IEB’s CA-11 team organized the El Cerrito action, where nearly 200 people showed up to chant and flash their great signs.
Hitting the streets was our first step – now we fight Trump’s unconstitutional power grab in Congress and with lawsuits brought by states and other groups.
Sponsor and support the Protecting Disaster Relief Funds Act, companion bills in the Senate and House that would prohibit Trump from taking funds granted to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or the Army Corps of Engineers in recent appropriations, and using those funds to build a physical barrier on the border. Senator Harris is an original cosponsor of S 534; please thank her, and ask Senator Feinstein to sign on. As of February 19 none of our East Bay representatives has cosponsored the House bill, HR 1214; ask your Rep to sign on.
What to say:
For Senator Harris:
My name is ____, my zip code is ____, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. Trump abused his power to declare a fake emergency and Congress must do everything in its authority to stop this antidemocratic move. Thank you for cosponsoring Senate bill 534, the Protecting Disaster Relief Funds Act. Please also support a joint resolution of termination to end the emergency status under the National Emergencies Act.
For Senator Feinstein:
My name is ____, my zip code is ____, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. Trump abused his power to declare a fake emergency and Congress must do everything in its authority to stop this antidemocratic move. I want Senator Feinstein to cosponsor Senate bill 534, the Protecting Disaster Relief Funds Act, and to support a joint resolution of termination to end the emergency status under the National Emergencies Act.
For Representatives DeSaulnier, Lee and Swalwell:
My name is ____, my zip code is ____, and I’m a member of Indivisible East Bay. Trump abused his power to declare a fake emergency and Congress must do everything in its authority to stop this antidemocratic move. I want Representative ______ to cosponsor House bill 1214, the Protecting Disaster Relief Funds Act, and to support a joint resolution of termination to end the emergency status under the National Emergencies Act.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: (email); (415) 393-0707 • DC: (202) 224-3841
Sen. Kamala Harris: (email); (415) 981-9369 • DC: (202) 224-3553
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier: (email); (510) 620-1000 • DC: (202) 225-2095
Rep. Barbara Lee: (email); (510) 763-0370 • DC: (202) 225-2661
Rep. Eric Swalwell: (email); (510) 370-3322 • DC: (202) 225-5065
2. Thank California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for leading a coalition of 16 states in filing a federal lawsuit on February 18 to block Trump from diverting money that Congress designated for other purposes, in violation of constitutional separation of powers. Call AG Becerra at (800) 952-5225, or send an email.
See our prior article for more info and background. We’ll update this article or post a new one as this fast-moving situation develops, so check back!
Featured photograph by George McRae; slideshow photos by Heidi Rand
Trump’s February 15 declaration of a national emergency to build his vanity wall is a flagrant attack on our democracy: an illegal, anti-democratic power grab rooted in racism. We’re coming together to defend our democracy and immigrant communities from Trump’s fake crisis and racist deportation force.
We won’t let Trump get away with this. Together we’re stronger than his racist, anti-immigrant, hateful agenda. There is no emergency, and we’ve got to let every single member of Congress know they MUST FIGHT BACK! See below for what you can do right now. Then on Monday, February 18 (Not My President Day) at noon (some locations may vary start times), take your energy to the streets to join the mass mobilization organized by MoveOn – along with Indivisible, Win Without War, CREDO, and other activists and groups.
What to do:
Find a Monday Feb. 18 event near you! Enter your zip code at this link, and RSVP for more details
Call your Members of Congress and tell them to reject Trump’s fake emergency. Congress has an obligation to check Executive Branch abuses, and there is a clear path for them to do this. They need to act to protect our democracy by passing a resolution to terminate this phony emergency and protect the people (the majority of which reject Trump’s vanity wall).
“The president’s national emergency declaration is based on falsehoods about immigration and the Southern border. There’s simply no crisis that necessitates a military response. The president acknowledged as much in his remarks when he said he ‘didn’t need to do this’ but wanted to build the wall ‘faster.’
Senator Kamala Harris is circulating on online petition reading: “The President’s decision to declare a national emergency in a blatantly political attempt to build his vanity project. (Note that signing the petition leads to a request for donations.)
Before Trump issued his declaration Representative Mark DeSaulnier said, “Should President Trump declare a national emergency when he signs this legislation, we stand ready to fight it at every turn.””
Please keep checking this website – we will update this article or post new actions as we learn more!
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: (email); (415) 393-0707 • DC: (202) 224-3841
Sen. Kamala Harris: (email); (415) 981-9369 • DC: (202) 224-3553
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier: (email); (510) 620-1000 • DC: (202) 225-2095
Rep. Barbara Lee: (email); (510) 763-0370 • DC: (202) 225-2661
Rep. Eric Swalwell: (email); (510) 370-3322 • DC: (202) 225-5065
Learn more; here’s some info and background from MoveOn:
The only crisis on the US-Mexico border is the one caused by the Trump Administration’s cruel policies towards families and children seeking asylum—ripping kids from their parents, locking them in jails, changing the rules and criminalizing the legal right to seek asylum, and tear-gassing women and children.
This budget deal already expanded Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, and the National Emergency declaration only deepens the threat to immigrant communities, refugee communities, Muslim communities and our democracy. A National Emergency declaration gives Trump exceptional powers to undermine the foundations of our democracy and continue attacking marginalized communities.
This is an undemocratic power grab from an unhinged man unhappy with a Democratic Congress that will not indulge his temper tantrums.
The National Emergency is Trump’s second attempt to force his racist wall against the will of Congress and the American people. Workers have still not recovered from the #TrumpShutdown, which was the longest government shutdown in history at 35 days. Over a million federal workers and contractors went without pay and crucial government services like tax refunds were set back months by the closure. Congress finally stood up to his temper tantrum, and we need them to act immediately again.
Trump’s fraudulent national state of emergency and unhinged government shutdown flies in the face of the will of the American people. In the 2018 election Trump and his Republican allies ran on a platform of building a wall – and lost by millions of votes.
Republicans were negotiating for the budget in bad faith all along—and Congress failed by not choosing to stand up to Trump and oppose his racist agenda. The failure of Congress to stand up to Trump’s tantrum and allow him to once again threaten funding for the government and 800,000 workers paychecks hostage in an effort to fulfill his campaign promise on the wall’s funding is shameful—and created a real crisis for 800,000 working families and their communities.
Are you a CalPERS member or beneficiary? A California taxpayer? Someone who cares about the future of our planet? If so, please join Fossil Free California in Sacramento on March 18, 2019, when we’ll tell the Board of Directors of the CalPERS pension plan, the largest pension plan in the U.S., to divest from fossil fuels! On that day, the CalPERS board will meet to update its sustainable investing program – and we will be there to hold them accountable, for CalPERS beneficiaries, California taxpayers, and future generations.
Anyone can can speak for up to three minutes during the public comment period. See the list below of some of the many reasons for divestment. While the CalPERS board has a fiduciary duty to act on behalf of its beneficiaries, as public officials they also have a responsibility to act in the best interest of all Californians.
Please join us at 9 AM on Monday March 18, at the CalPERS Auditorium, Lincoln Plaza North, 400 Q Street, Sacramento, CA 95811. The Board needs to hear a broad spectrum of voices, including yours.
To join us on March 18, or for more information, including about car pools, please contact STheiss@ffca.org
Divestment is a social and political strategy as well as an economic one. It is a deeply moral issue. It’s wrong to wreck the planet as well as profit from the wreckage.
We’re almost out of time and we need to act NOW. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we must make “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” within the next 12 years, to hold global warming to moderate levels and avert climate catastrophe. If we don’t act immediately, we know we’ll see impacts far worse than the droughts, wildfires, floods, and rising seas we are already experiencing here in California.
Portfolios with renewable energy are outperforming those with fossil fuels.
Over $8 trillion has already been divested from fossil fuels. New York City, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Ireland are just three of the 1,000-plus jurisdictions and organizations that have committed to divestment. CalPERS needs to join the divestment movement now, before it’s left holding stranded assets.
Sara Theiss decided to focus on climate issues after retiring from the California Office of the State Public Defender in 2017, and now volunteers with Fossil Free California (FFCA) to end financial support for the fossil fuel industry. She is a CalPERS retiree and leads FFCA’s campaign on CalPERS divestment.
Sunday, January 27, 2019 was a beautiful day in the East Bay, and Indivisible East Bay held its monthly All Members Meeting. Oh, and also – Senator Kamala Harris kicked off her Presidential campaign in her native Oakland. Several IEB members skipped the AMM for the historic event; we bring you their impressions.
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A preliminary note: So far, IEB’s only position in the Democratic primary is that we will support whoever wins it and do all we can to elect a new president in 2020. If you are interested in participating in a discussion about how we engage with the primary with that as our ultimate goal, please add your email to this list and we will contact you sometime in the coming months about next steps. We are also committed to creating an environment in which our members feel comfortable supporting the primary candidate of their choice regardless of what we do as an organization.
As all agreed, it was a massive crowd – news reports estimated 20,000, which all attendees agreed seemed extremely low. Unfortunately, entry to the event was apparently poorly organized, with huge lines thronging the streets near Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza, so people reported waiting for a couple of hours. (The good news, as one said, was that the delay meant they only got to listen to Kamala’s speech, and not any of the warmup acts!)
On the other hand, IEB Governance Committee member and Senator Team co-lead Amelia Cass had a different experience:
Due to IEB’s relationship with the senator’s Congressional office, I was invited to the rally by her campaign. I see this as a good sign that the senator respects our organization and is interested in appealing to IEB and the rest of the Indivisible movement, and so we have a great chance for us to influence both our own representative and the national discourse. (And as a side benefit for me, I got to watch the rally from the “VIP” section behind the stage, standing just two people over from, as it happened, Rep. Barbara Lee.)
Despite the delays, everyone agreed that the crowds were happy and enthusiastic and the mood, electric. “Clearly a sense of history in the making,” as one IEB-er put it. All reports noted the diversity of the “deliciously Oaklandish” crowd: “So many moms with their kids.” “The racial, age, and gender diversity was obvious, but there were also clearly lots of non-binary and queer folk.”
At least one IEB-er appreciated Harris’ comment that she was born just a few blocks from the rally site, which he understood as an indirect swipe at the outrageous birther conspiracy that has already sprung up against her. As the press has reported, she never mentioned Trump by name, but almost every sentence was directed at him. “The crowd went WILD when Harris said a hostile power was infecting the White House like malware,” as one IEB-er put it. As for policy: Harris began with criminal justice reform and her experience taking on corporations, corruption, and criminals “for the people” of California as Attorney General – perhaps a little surprising since those are also the aspects of her career as a prosecutor that have faced the most criticism (though some have pointed out that both then and now, she has been held to a different standard as a Black woman). She also discussed Medicare for All, legal status and a path to citizenship, election security, and nuclear proliferation. The biggest applause for a policy item was probably her promise to act on climate change “based on science fact, not science fiction,” with her call for a “middle class tax cut” to be paid for by repealing the tax scam a close runner-up.
Still, although Harris’ speech incorporated many of IEB’s priority policy areas, it was light on commitments to take specific actions. And she did not come across, like some of her rivals, as bursting with big new ideas about how to make our country better. But what it lacked there, it made up in moral force and smart and determined personality. And toward the end of her speech, she turned to an Obama-style theme of a united America familiar to anyone who has heard her speak over the last few years, but with new nuance and thoughtfulness about the meaning and implications of unity that, in Amelia’s words, “I think our movement would do well to consider during a contentious primary.” Although some of those attending the event – including Amelia – say they “weren’t persuaded to vote for her,” they were all impressed. “I think she’d make a formidable opponent,” summarized one IEB-er.
Top photo: Crowd on 14th Street waiting for Kamala Harris, with view of video showing the crowd in the Plaza.
