Action Items: Week of April 3

1.  Call your state reps about "constitutional carry".

H 3930 would allow South Carolinans who are legally allowed to purchase firearms to carry them concealed or openly without a concealed carry permit.  This "Constitutional carry" bill will be debated Tuesday, and debate will be limited to two hours because of a Republican cloture vote.  Call your state representatives and ask that they vote against this bill.  You can look them up at scstatehouse.gov (at the lower left corner of the page).

"Hi, I'm ______ and I'm Representative ________'s constituent from _______.  I'm calling to oppose H 3930.  I feel that gun owners need to have training to safely and appropriately carry concealed weapons in public, and I object to open carry in general.  Please vote against this bill for my safety and the safety of my family."

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article142135294.html

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/query.php?search=DOC&searchtext=3930&category=LEGISLATION&session=122&conid=8486372&result_pos=0&keyval=1223930&numrows=10

2.  Keep up with Amy Siskind's Authoritarian List

If you're not following Amy Siskind's enormously focused work in documenting things that are not normal, you should be.  This week in particular has a lot of items that were underreported.  (I, for example, completely missed the removal of LGBT people from the upcoming census.)  Read it, and then go back and read previous lists for things you've already forgotten about; so many things have already become normalized.

https://medium.com/@Amy_Siskind/week-20-experts-in-authoritarianism-advise-to-keep-a-list-of-things-subtly-changing-around-you-so-d73e7ecbb05b

She also posts these lists on Facebook, if that's easier to keep up with.

3.  South Sudan is officially experiencing famine

This story has been relatively under-reported.  Actually, Sudan, Yemen, Nigeria, and Somalia are all facing famine now.  "Famine has a very specific definition. It must meet three criteria before it can be declared: four out of every 10,000 children die each day, one in five families do not have enough food to meet basic human nutrition requirements, and one in three people are acutely malnourished to the point that they are too weak to go to school or work."  The human cost here is immeasurable.  Please consider donating:

International Rescue Committee: https://www.rescue.org/country/south-sudan

Oxfam: https://www.oxfam.org/en/countries/south-sudan

UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/southsudan/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/ian-wishart/south-sudan-is-officially-in-famine-this-is-what-that-means/

4.  Call your senators to oppose the nuclear option for SCOTUS hearings

There is concern that Republicans in the Senate could call for the "nuclear option", which would kill the filibuster in the Senate and allow confirmation of Gorsuch with a simple majority.  Call your senators and demand they refrain from doing this.  I took and edited down this script from Indivisible:

Senator Lindsey Graham
DC Office: (202) 224-5972
Midlands Office: (803) 933-0112

Senator Tim Scott
DC Office: (202) 224-6121
Midlands Office: (803) 771-6112

"Hi, I'm ______ and I'm a constituent of Senator _______'s from ______.  I'm calling to ask the Senator to publicly pledge that Judge Gorsuch will only be confirmed to the Supreme Court if he receives a filibuster-proof majority (60 votes) in the full Senate.  Please let the Senator know that I expect him to uphold the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. In the history of our country, every single justice to sit on the Supreme Court has received the approval of a filibuster-proof majority. This is a vital check-and-balance in our democracy, and an important function of the United States Senate. Supreme Court Justices enjoy lifetime terms, and they should not be selected on the temporary whims on on political party or the other."

The Indivisible script is longer and invites more discussion with the staffer on the line; you may want to use that instead.


https://www.indivisibleguide.com/resources-2/2017/2/7/combat-donald-trumps-arch-conservative-scotus-pick