Action Items: Week of January 9

Stop! Cabinet time!

The Senate has crammed a bunch of controversial Cabinet position committee hearings into Wednesday so that nosingle one of them can dominate the news cycle.  It also makes it harder to pit public pressure against any one nominee. 

If we can only go after one in force it should be Jeff Sessions, who was deemed too racist to be a federal judge in 1986 and should never be Attorney General.  Sessions’ record on voting rights, race, abortion, LGBTQ rights, immigration, and pretty much everything else is reprehensible; read an ACLU report here: 

More than a thousand law school professors agree.

If further voting rights erosion is allowed to occur, it will only get harder to win back seats in 2018 and 2020.  If confirmed, Sessions will almost certainly not choose to direct the Justice Department to investigate voter disenfranchisement like what we’ve been seeing in North Carolina.  The NAACP staged a sit-in at his Alabama office which resulted in arrests. 

Call members of the Senate Judiciary committee (before Wednesday).

Chuck Grassley, Chairman (202) 224-3744
Diane Feinstein, Ranking Member  (202) 224-3841

“Hi, my name is ____ and I’m calling from ______ to state my opposition to Jeff Sessions’ nomination for Attorney General.  I do not believe he will protect civil liberties or voting rights.”

Marching orders

If you want to attend the Women’s March on Washington, today is your last day to book with Kelly Tours (by 5 PM).  Get crafty,make a hat! 

If you won’t be going to Washington, consider attending the rally at the State House that day organized by the South Carolina Progressive Network:

http://www.scpronet.com/jan-21-rally

Consider joining their e-mail list; their monthly calendar of events includes events from a wide variety of groups.

You gotta fight!  For your right!  To an affordable pelvic exam!

Republicans have prioritized defunding PlannedParenthood as a part of their efforts to repeal Obamacare.  Keep in mind that no federal funding pays for abortion services; the effects of defunding Planned Parenthood would solely be to decrease the quality and availability of women’s health services, including cancer screenings, birth control, and STI testing.  The good news is, we only need to flip three Republicans to save Planned Parenthood, and if there’s one thing we have plenty of it’s Republicans.  Call your legislators (not the same day as the one where you call about the Cabinet appointments) and let them know you oppose any attempt to defund Planned Parenthood.  (If you’re in Clyburn’s district, still call him.  Can’t hurt.)

“Hi, I’m _____ calling from _____ and I want ______ to know that I strongly oppose any effort to defund Planned Parenthood.  Planned Parenthood is the only available women’s health provider for many poor women; defunding it means there are women who would not have access to cancer screenings, birth control, and many other basic healthcare services.”

You want a revolution behind your eyes.

We got to get up and organize. 

Plan to come to our meeting!  Check the Facebook page for details as they emerge; we’re still settling on a location but it will be on Sunday January 15 and we’ll be presenting the work we’ve been doing on the steering committee and deciding on some future actions!  Be there or be a rectangular thing.