Events to Know

Congressional Tug-o-War. At the time that I write this, we’re still firmly embroiled in Congressional back-and-forth, to the extent anybody is thinking about impeachment anymore at all.  Nancy Pelosi isn’t sending along the articles of impeachment, which frankly seems pretty understandable given the week we’ve had, and Mitch McConnell has made it clear that he won’t proceed without them.  But he also won’t call witnesses, even as John Bolton offers to testify.  Meanwhile, the federal case about, among other things, whether officials can be forced to testify is the one thing that is moving forward, so we’ll want to keep an eye on that for sure.

Key links:

1. Washington Post – Schumer Says Senate No Closer To Setting Rules For Trial; Mcconnell Says Chamber Will Continue With ‘Ordinary Business’
2. Speaker.gov – Pelosi Statement On Urgency For Fair Senate Trial
3. Politico – Judges Spar With Democrats, DOJ In Impeachment Doubleheader

Aggression Against Iran. Bear with me, because this one isn’t remotely my area, but it’s important so I’m going to try to unpack it. In the day or two leading up to New Year’s, unrest grew around the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, with pro-Iran protesters setting fire to the reception building on the compound and trying to overtake it. Trump blamed Iran for the whole thing, and by Thursday evening had ordered an air strike on the Baghdad airport, intentionally causing the death of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and at least 25 others. This attack was a really big deal, because attacking a sitting general can be considered an act of war, and Nancy Pelosi says that Trump didn’t give any notice to Congress ahead of time. (He did provide a notification after, for whatever that is worth.)

Key links:

1. NBC – Iraqi Protesters Withdraw From Perimeter Of U.S. Embassy, Building Now Secured
2. Associated Press – US Kills Iran’s Most Powerful General In Baghdad Airstrike            
3. Washington Post – Why Soleimani’s Killing Is Different From Other Targeted Attacks By U.S.
4. New York Times – White House Notifies Congress Of Suleimani Strike Under War Powers Act

Congress and SCOTUS. Two different Congressional groups approached the Supreme Court this week, and both of them are a bit nerve-wracking. A group of Democrats have decided to cut to the chase and ask for a quicker ruling on the Affordable Care Act, creating a more certain scenario by the close of the term.  This actually makes total sense in context–it would be worse to leave the insurance market uncertain indefinitely, and SCOTUS would weigh in eventually either way–but I’m pretty anxious about it anyway. Meanwhile, a GOP group filed an amicus brief on the case to overturn Roe v Wade, which will be heard in March; it’s a move both unnecessary and frankly terrifying, because they know as much about reproductive health as potatoes know about yoyos.  

Key links:

1. New York Times – Democrats Ask Supreme Court for Quick Decision of Healthcare
2. Axios – 39 GOP Senators Sign Brief Asking Supreme Court To Revisit Roe V. Wade

Recent Resilience

Cease-Fire in Afghanistan. The Taliban agreed to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan this week, which is a relief against the larger backdrop of this week’s foreign policy news. If it’s finalized, this would be the first step towards a more permanent peace in Afghanistan, and though that’s certainly not my area of expertise it seems pretty good to me.

Key links:

1. Associated Press – Taliban Council Agrees To Cease-fire In Afghanistan

Things to Watch

Fire in Australia. Australia is currently fighting a totally unprecedented set of bush fires, which have already claimed 24 lives and set over 63 thousand square miles ablaze.  Experts agree that the disturbing conditions are worsening because of climate change, particularly because the fires happen as a new study concludes that climate change is changing weather patterns everywhere.  This type of devastation is hard to watch, and it has global implications. We’ll have suggestions for how to help below.
Key links:

1. CBS – Australia Fires: Pictures From The Deadly Wildfires
2. NBC – Fire Clouds And Ember Attacks: How Australia’s Fires Are Creating Rare Weather Phenomena
3. Nature – Climate Change Now Detectable From Any Single Day Of Weather At Global Scale

Tensions High with Iran. The subsequent attempts at deescalation went about as well as you might expect from an administration that pretty much hates diplomacy, has half a State department, and thinks Twitter counts as a form of Congressional notice.  Iran announced it would end its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal. Then Trump threatened to bomb 52 Iranian sites, including cultural centers, which would be a violation of international law and a war crime.  Though Secretary of Defense Mark Esper thankfully walked that back, on Tuesday, Iran fired missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq from inside Iran’s borders.  Trump was surprisingly sanguine in response, likely because it’s believed there were no U.S. casualties, and hasn’t taken any retaliatory action yet.  So we seem to be paused for now, but we should all definitely keep watching this situation.
Key links:

1. Washington Post – Flouting War Powers Act, Trump Claims His Tweets are Sufficient Notice to Congress That U.S. May Strike Iran
2. Politico – Iran Abandons Nuclear Deal Over Slaying Of General
3. New York Times – Pentagon Rules Out Striking Iranian Cultural Sites, Contradicting Trump
4. New York Times – Iran ‘Concludes’ Attacks, Foreign Minister Says
5. CNBC – Trump responds to Iranian attacks: ‘All is well!’

Earthquake in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico suffered a severe earthquake on Tuesday–the second in two days–and the island was still suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Maria when it happened.  In the immediate earthquake aftermath, over 300,000 homes and businesses are left without water.  Folks over there are in a bad way, and know from their previous experiences that their crisis won’t be appropriately handled by this administration.  We’ll have suggestions for how to help below.
Key links:

1. NBC – 6.4-magnitude Quake Strikes Puerto Rico, Killing At Least 1 Amid Heavy Seismic Activity
2. CNN – A Deadly Earthquake Has Most Of Puerto Rico With No Power, No Water And Residents Fear Tremors Will Bring More Destruction

Actions for Everyone

There is always so much happening in our country and our world that feels outside of our control, and that’s usually because it is. However, between personal behavioral changes that slow down Climate Change, or turning your focus towards your community, there is always work to be done. Good luck out there!

Register to Vote: Since it’s an election year, and states are pulling all sorts of crazy moves that might have negative effects on whether you’re still registered to vote, it’s time to check now. Like, right now. You got a few minutes? Go to Vote.Org to find out if you’re registered, to register online, to get an absentee ballot, as well as several other convenient options. We’ll be posting a reminder to register every issue from now until the Presidential election.

Support Safe Working Conditions for Sex Workers (and internet freedom): Somehow in the fog of impeachment (that still hasn’t lifted) as well as the buzz of the holidays, theres been some movement around SESTA/FOSTA. A group of Democrats on the Hill introduced The SAFE SEX Workers Study Act, which calls for the government to conduct a wide-ranging study into the experiences of sex workers, emerges in response to evidence that a sex trafficking bill signed into law last year has dismantled vital online ecosystems for people engaged in consensual and often life-sustaining work in the sex industry. This study is a good thing. The passing of SESTA/FOSTA in 2018 came with an amendment to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which minimized the autonomy we have as individual internet users, making websites and social media platforms accountable if third parties post ads for prostitution, including consensual sex work.

This all might be okay if we had a culture that supported sex workers and offered them health care and safe working conditions, but instead SESTA/FOSTA buries sex work to the dark reaches of the web, instead of bringing it to light.

So, call your senators, and tell them that you support the new SAFE SEX Workers Study Act and hope it sheds light on the fallibility of SESTA/FOSTA.

Iran Action: Given the current activity in the House, this is a time when it really is helpful to call your representatives. As always, Celeste Pewter has helpful insights as well as scripts, and Indivisible has a page that helps connect you to your rep if you need it. You can also check out the work of groups like Win Without War and the Indivisible National Day of Action on Thursday, January 9.

Help During Natural Disasters: Not two years after Hurricane Maria and the US’s horribly misconducted recovery plan for the island, Puerto Rico is being plagued by earthquakes and warnings of tsunamis. Australia needs help with their giant fires as well.  For both of these issues, donations really help, though please note that donating cash is more helpful than donating supplies at this time. CNet has a good list of places you can donate for Australia if you live outside of the outback, with lots of in-depth information about who is doing what and why; several other outlets have lists as well.  The Hispanic Federation is taking donations for Puerto Rico, and the Chefs for Puerto Rico team run by World Central Kitchen can use help getting people fed as well.  If you live in Australia, WIRES also has good information about wildlife rescue on the ground in the area, and the NSW Office of Emergency Management has information about community recovery assistance opportunities.  I’m hoping to have even more information for you all soon on how you can help, and in the meanwhile, wanted to tell you about Peace Corps Response. It’s a three – 12 month program, which is a significantly shorter commitment than the 2 year Peace Corps service, and might better fit in your current life. Check it out!

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It’s a quieter news week this time, especially compared to last week’s impeachment news. Frankly, I think we all needed a quiet moment, so I’m not sad about the calm–hopefully it’s not heralding a bigger storm.
 

Events to Know

Trump Twitter Tampering. If the House Democrats were hoping for more obstruction of justice evidence, Christmas came more-on-less on time for them in the form of Trump’s twitter account.  Over the week, his account featured everything from asking why the House was ‘allowed’ to impeach him to insulting Nancy Pelosi to retweeting a bot account sharing a December 3 Washington Examiner article claiming to out the whistleblower’s identity.  (I will not be sharing any publications that include the article, by the way, because outing a whistleblower is not the AN way.)

Key links:

1. Hill Reporter – Trump Questions Why The House Should ‘Be Allowed’ To Impeach Him In Christmas Night Tweets                                                                                                                            
2. The Hill – Trump Goes After Pelosi In Early Morning Tweets Complaining About Impeachment                                                                                              
3. Associated Press – Trump Retweets Post Naming Alleged Whistleblower

Antisemitic Violence. Five people were stabbed in a rabbi’s home on Saturday in what appears to be a hate crime, the latest in a really rough time in the area for antisemitic violence.  It has been a difficult year for antisemitic sentiment in general, in fact, with national incidents rising at an alarming rate since the Tree of Life shooting in late 2018.  That said, I would be remiss if I did not address a statement issued by a Department of Homeland Security official, who complained that the perpetrator is “the U.S. citizen son of an illegal alien.”  While violence generally has absolutely nothing to do with immigration status, and immigrants in fact commit crimes at lower rates than citizens, this type of statement connecting antisemitism to people of color and especially high-profile immigrants of color has seen a lot of use from the far right in the past few months–even in instances where the speaker is stating simple facts.  It is compounded by recent high-profile antisemitic crimes involving perpetrators of color, which emboldens unfair targeting of other populations.  The threat of violence against Jewish people is real, but using it to target immigrants of color is not acceptable, and we need to condemn that practice.

Key links: 

1. New York Times – 5 Wounded In Stabbing At Rabbi’s Home In N.Y. Suburb                                                                                                                  
2. USA Today – We’ve Already Seen 780 Anti-semitic Incidents This Year And It’s ‘Horrifying,’ Group Says                                                                             
3. Cato Institute – Illegal Immigrants And Crime – Assessing The Evidence            
4. Daily Beast – What’s Behind The New Wave Of Anti-semitic Hate?

Immigration Updates. Despite being a relatively slow news week, we still saw immigration news. News broke that ICE is already reopening Dreamer deportation cases, despite the fact that the Supreme Court only heard the DACA case last month and probably won’t issue a decision for another six months.  This is horrifying, because DACA is still in effect while the opinion is pending, and literally the entire point of DACA is a promise of no deportation for its recipients.  CNN also reports that a record number of immigration judges are quitting because the administration keeps trying to force them to enact bad policies.  Given the rate this administration is going, those judges probably can’t expect a new approach anytime soon.

Key links: 

1. CNN – Ice Reopening Long-closed Deportation Cases Against Dreamers                
2. CNN – Immigration Judges Quit In Response To Administration Policies

Recent Resilience

Recent School Resilience. A district in Virginia became the first school district in the nation to give students one day off per year for civic engagement, which given our current political environment is likely very appreciated. The process involves filling out a form two days ahead of time, to discourage random skiving, and was inspired by student action after the Parkland shooting and the international climate change walkout. If done responsibly, it’s an excellent learning opportunity, and I hope more districts consider adopting it!

Key links:

1. NPR – Virginia School District To Give Students One Day Off Per Year For ‘Civic Engagement’

Things to Watch

Democrat Planning Sessions. As the cold war between Pelosi and McConnell stretches out another week, Democrats are coming up with contingency plans, and some of them are more out there than others.  On the more traditional side, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer took one look at the giant pile of incriminating emails released last weekend and announced that he wants more of the House records released–and given how much obstruction we’ve seen already, it’s reasonable to assume he might not get witnesses.  Meanwhile, counsel for the House in the Don McGahn case is raising the specter of a second impeachment, saying we might do this all over again if the case creates more incriminating evidence of obstruction of justice.  (Presumably this is also a general Plan B if Mitch McConnell successfully kills the Senate trial, but honestly we’re so far off the rails already that it’s hard to even know.)
 

Key links:

1. New York Times – Officials Discussed Hold on Ukraine Aid After Trump Spoke With Country’s Leader                                                                               
2. Politico – House Counsel Suggests Trump Could Be Impeached Again
    

California Privacy Tango. You may have seen several websites email you about new privacy policies this week and wondered what was up–when I got the same email from Groupon, Spotify, Patreon, Paypal, and Mailchimp, I certainly did. It turns out that there’s a new privacy law in California that goes into effect January 1, which ostensibly will let consumers see what data is collected and stop companies from selling it. But since it’s basically the first law of its type and also has been amended several times, nobody’s quite sure what it requires. So we may see some growing pains in nation-wide companies on this issue.  
 

Key links:

1. Slate – The Big Change Coming to Just About Every Website on New Year’s Day                                                                                                          
2. New York Times – What Does California’s New Data Privacy Law Mean? Nobody Agrees
    

GOP Unease. As the week went on, we saw some interesting murmurings from the GOP side side of the aisle.  GOP senator Lisa Murkowski went on the record as “disturbed” by Mitch McConnell’s cavalier coordination with the White House on the White House’s own impeachment.  Some pundits and at least one Senate Democrat seem to think that where there’s disgruntled smoke, there’s concealed fires of discontent.  And even Lindsey Graham appeared to walk back some of his deep-throated support of the White House in the past week, looking at recent articles about Rudy Giuliani’s sketchy back channels and publicly worrying that his information might be “Russian propaganda.”  But it’s a giant jump to go from that to the idea that some GOP Senators would defect if they were allowed to vote in secret, particularly when Trump still wields so much power in the GOP itself.  The GOP are like jockeys racing a rabid horse because the rabies makes it go faster–in the stable they may say, “This horse has a contagious disease and keeps trying to eat the stone floor,” but on the racetrack all we get is “Excuse me, how dare you inquire about Mouth Foam.”
 

Key links:

1. BBC – Trump Impeachment: Lisa Murkowski ‘Disturbed’ Over Co-Ordination                                                                                                             
2. Daily Kos – Senate Democrat: Five To 10 Republicans Have ‘Severe Misgivings’ About Mcconnell’s Impeachment Plans                                                
3. Atlantic – The Senate Impeachment Trial Could Use A Little Secrecy                 
4. New York Times – Fear And Loyalty: How Donald Trump Took Over The Republican Party                                                                                                                                                 

Actions for Everyone

We made it! New decade (o not?), new year, more chances to change the world for the better and keep fighting the good fight. You have any resolutions this year? One of mine is to become more daring and politically active. There are two issues that are keeping my fire burning, the inhumane treatment of immigrants in detention camps and the fight against climate change. Make this year one filled with resilience, action and victories. Happy New Year ya’ll!  

Help Australia – Australia is currently on fire. Summer has started over in Australia and the heat wave, drought and strong winds have created a tragic situation. Around 12 million acres have burned, with 15 known deaths, 17 missing persons and an estimated half a billion wildlife deaths, Australia needs the world’s help. How can you help?

Donate to:

The Red Cross: They have a special emergency fund for bush fire victims.

Koalas In Care: Lots of wildlife has been affected by the fires, including the already endangered koalas.  This non-profit helps to safe and rehabilitate affected koalas. 

NSW Rural Fire Service: Donate to the Rural Fire Service, the government cut their budget (ironic) and they need help to be able to fight these fires and stay safe.

You can read this LifeHacker article for more info and other donating options. 

Supreme Court could be revisiting abortion laws – Earlier on Thursday morning, Todd Ruger, a reporter tweeted about a possible revisiting of the two main abortion laws, Casey and Roe v. Wade. This story is still developing but he did share a list of representatives that support the revision. 

Check if your representatives are here and call them to let them know we will fight for our right to choose.

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As predicted, this week was ten pounds of misinformation in a five-pound bag–the NNR will be a bit longer than normal to unpack it all. There’s a fair amount outside impeachment, though impeachment is definitely moving forward as well, and a lot of it is no fun at all to read. As always, I’m here if anybody needs anything. 

Events to Know

Timeline of Impeachment Launch. So much happened so quickly this week that it can be helpful just to have a timeline!  Kicking off the week, the Intelligence Committee released their official report on Tuesday afternoon (as well as a completely bananas and unofficial Republican version, but I’m giving that one the consideration it deserves).  The report focused on both the Ukraine scandal itself and the administration’s attempts to stall the impeachment investigation.  This was quickly followed by the first Judicial Committee hearing on Wednesday, an official instruction by Nancy Pelosi on Thursday to draft impeachment articles, and a final Judicial Committee hearing on Monday.  At the time that I type this on Tuesday evening, the Judiciary Committee has officially released their articles of impeachment–nine pages on ‘abuse of power‘ and ‘obstruction of Congress’ that follow the same basic format as the House Intelligence Committee report.

Key links:

1. NPR – Read: Impeachment Inquiry Report By House Intelligence Committee                                                                                                          
2. New York Times – Key Takeaways From House Intelligence Committee’s Impeachment Report                                                                                          
3. Washington Post – The Articles Of Impeachment Against President Trump, Annotated

Judiciary Kangaroo Court. The Wednesday and Monday hearings were, simply put, pretty nuts–so it’s not surprising that Judiciary Committee head Jerry Nadler only put up with two sessions before he stuck a fork in his own arm and called the whole thing done.  The important big picture highlights:  a) Three out of four legal experts (and later by letter, another 500 more) agreed that Trump had committed impeachable offenses; and b) Democrats provided a large bevy of evidence to support this conclusion.  Among the GOP’s bad faith parade: a) Insisting nobody let Trump launch a defense, despite the administration’s refusal to do exactly that–twice; b) A completely made-up controversy that accused one of the legal experts of attacking Barron Trump because she said that Trump was allowed to name his son ‘Barron’ but not make him nobility under the Constitution; c) Repeated statements that there was no evidence despite the giant pile of evidence presented on Monday; and d) some of said evidence involving Devin Nunes, who was among those conducting the investigation on the House Intelligence Committee.  It’s not a coincidence, by the way, that the nonsense in this paragraph is way longer than the actual hearing summary–the committees have a very clear-cut case and this laundry list of distraction is how the GOP is choosing to counter that. 

Key links: 

1. Washington Post – More Than 500 Law Professors Say Trump Committed ‘Impeachable Conduct’                                                                                        
2. New York Times – Impeachment Hearing Takeaways: Democrats Allege ‘Brazen’ Trump Scheme While Republicans Lament ‘Unfair’ Process                   
3. Reuters – White House Says It Will Not Participate In Wednesday’s Trump Impeachment Hearing                                                                                        
4. The Guardian – Impeachment Hearing Joke Referencing Barron Trump Draws Angry Response – Video                                                                           
5. NPR – In Impeachment Hearing, Democrats Argue Trump Actions Are ‘Clear And Present Danger’                                                                                   
6. Politico – Impeachment Investigators Will Present Evidence At Judiciary Hearing Next Week

Fake Spying Claims Aftermath. As predicted, a Department of Justice inspector general report was issued this week finding that the FBI properly opened an investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia without evidence of political bias.  (That said, the report also found a lot of procedural missteps that were apolitical in nature, resulting in a call for more FISA oversight.)  A lot of people, myself included, were prepared to declare this report the new “water is wet” and call it a day.  But the report has spawned an ongoing misinformation campaign that is truly staggering.  First William Barr discredited his own IG before the report even dropped, and doubled down on that criticism once we finally had a report.  White House lawyers started literally claiming the report said the opposite of what it actually said.  And then Barr graduated to accusing the FBI of ‘bad faith’ and ‘gross abuses’ (again, despite a lengthy report saying the exact opposite) around the same time that Trump started started attacking the head of the FBI, going so far as to call him ‘the current Director’ (which is not exactly a great sign for Wray’s political health).  This type of attacking people for accurately reporting obvious facts is disconcerting, and it appears to be the current GOP strategy for just about everything.

Key links: 

1. Washington Post – 4 Takeaways From The Horowitz Report On The Russia Investigation                                                                                             
2. Politico – Watchdog Report Rips FBI Handling Of Russia Probe                                              
3. NBC – AG Barr Condemns IG Report’s Finding That FBI Probe of Trump Campaign Was Justified                                                                                       
4. CBS – Bill Barr Blasts FBI For “Inexplicable Behavior” And Claims Russia Probe Based On “Bogus Narrative”                                                                      
5. CNN – Trump Lashes Out At FBI Chief Wray For Embracing Watchdog Report

Recent Resilience

Recent Congressional Resilience. We had some significant Congressional resilience in both the House and the Senate this week, and they were developments entirely separate from the impeachment circus. The Democratic-controlled House passed a bill that would restore several components of the Voting Rights Act and preserve racial integrity in voting. And on the Senate side, we passed a bill to fund historically black colleges and universities.

Key links:

1. AP – House Passes Bill To Restore Key Parts Of Voting Rights Act
2. CNN – Senate Passes Bill To Permanently Fund Historically Black Colleges And Universities

Things to Watch

Impeachment Next Steps. Now that we have existing articles of impeachment, the Judiciary Committee will vote whether to release them to the House for a final floor vote–which may happen before Christmas.  We also may or may not see them make adjustments, such as folding in official response to Giuliani’s trip to Ukraine, which inexplicably happened this week while all of this was going on.  Either way, next week is likely to be another whirlwind of activity, as Congress scrambles to get this locked down before the break.  After that, the articles go to the Senate, where Mitch McConnell wants a rocket-fast trial but Trump wants a full dog-and-pony show.  It’s kind of anybody’s guess what happens from there.  
 

Key links:

1. New York Times – Trump ‘Ignored and Injured’ the National Interest, Democrats Charge in Impeachment Articles                                                     
2. Washington Post – As Impeachment Tide Swirls Around Trump, Giuliani Drops Anchor in Ukraine                                                                                            
3. CNN – Growing Divide Between Trump And Mcconnell Over Impeachment Trial
    

Painful Policy Updates. The Trump administration announced this week that it is finalizing changes to our national food security benefits, properly called ‘SNAP benefits’ but commonly known as ‘food stamps,’ to eliminate access for about 700,000 current recipients.  The proposed change, which will go into effect on April 1, would require able-bodied adult recipients to work 20 hours per week in any state that has lower than 6% unemployment, rather than allowing states to seek waivers (as is the current rule).  Then, as if to punctuate the point, the Supreme Court followed up by declining to hear arguments on a Kentucky law that requires women to get an ultrasound and listen to their fetus’s heartbeat before permitting an abortion.  Both of these are part of much larger-picture issues, so it’s worth keeping an eye on them–they won’t be the last word in either conversation.
 

Key links:

1. New York Times – Hundreds of Thousands Are Losing Access to Food Stamps                                                                                                                   
2. NPR – Nearly 700,000 SNAP Recipients Could Lose Benefits Under New Trump Rule                                                                                                          
3. NBC – Supreme Court Leaves In Place Kentucky Abortion Law Mandating Ultrasounds
    

2020 Election Updates. Election news is trending weird/bad this week, but there’s still a lot of it: 1) Kamala Harris dropped out of the 2020 race, leaving no candidates of color qualifying for the December debates; 2) Joe Biden called a member of the crowd a “damn liar” and challenged the man to an IQ test on his own campaign trail in Iowa; 3) Mike Bloomberg had to apologize for calling fellow 2020 candidate Cory Booker “well-spoken”; 4) Pete Buttigieg turned out to have worked for three years for the McKinsey group, a conservative consulting firm recently in the news for helping engineer current deportation policy; and 5) Joe Biden telling Republican voters to ‘stay a Republican,” because “no party should have too much power,” which is a truly startling thing for a member of the Democratic Senate minority to say in 2019. 
 

Key links:

1. Washington Post – Kamala Harris Roared Into The Presidential Race With An Electrifying Rally. She Didn’t Make It To The First Vote.                                
2. The Hill – Biden Gets In Testy Exchange In Iowa: ‘you’re A Damn Liar’                   
3. CBS – Mike Bloomberg Apologizes For Calling Cory Booker “Well Spoken”                                                                                                                
4. CNN – Buttigieg Releases Descriptions Of Mckinsey Projects In Face Of Criticism                                                                                                                           
5.  Rolling Stone – Biden, Ignoring Three-quarters Of His Vice-presidential Tenure, Says Sharing Power With Republicans Is A Good Thing

Actions for Everyone

I love the smell of impeachment in the morning. It’s the Holidays gift we all wanted. But in other news…

Content Warning: sexual assault and rape

Environmental Review Policy under attack – The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a 50 year old law that requires the federal government to consider the environmental impacts of its actions could be facing changes that would significantly weaken it. Last November, a letter representing over 30 industry groups was sent to the White House, calling for changes in the NEPA that would expedite the review process for projects like pipelines, road expansions and other infrastructure. 

“By targeting this law, Trump and his team will likely weaken these regulations—allowing his cabinet and corporate pals to unilaterally sidestep communities, public health, worker safety, and environmental protections. In addition to damaging Americans’ access to clean air and water, these proposed changes have the potential to be the most significant action the Trump administration takes to limit the government’s response to climate change.” You can read the full article here. 

Since these news are still in development, let’s keep our eyes and ears open, so we can act accordingly when changes are brought forth. 

SNAP benefits taken away to 3.1 million recipients – Last week, the USDA decided that it will tighten the eligibility of able-bodied adults to receive Food Stamps (Officially known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Even though Congress went against this decision and didn’t include it in the 2018 Farm Bill, the administration decided to go with it anyway against the people’s will. 

Call your reps and let them know you are against this decision. If the country has trillions of dollars to spend on war and imprisoning migrant children, then they have money to feed the few who need help get food on their plates. 

Helping survivors of sexual assault – I recently came upon a social media post that explains the process a survivor of sexual assault or rape has to go through when they go into the hospital to assess their wellbeing and also gather up evidence. Most people have to give up their underwear and some even all of their clothing. Some of the survivors have to leave the hospital without their clothing, in hospital gowns. If you want to help, you can donate clothing and specially new underwear to your local Forensic Nursing team, rape crisis center, or domestic violence shelter.

You can use this website to find where to donate. 

Here are the Things That Made Me Smile this week: All of these animals that were endangered and are now thriving! 

Mexican Wolf 

Bukhara Deer

Humpback Whale

This past week’s public hearings were absolutely bonkers, and much of the created fallout was no less chaotic. The next few weeks are likely to be a wild ride that requires our careful attention–we’ll keep folks posted as new developments occur!

Events to Know

War Crime Pardon Press (cont). Trump’s sketchy war crimes pardon party from last week continues to pay miserable dividends, with Trump insisting that the Navy cannot remove SEAL qualification from one of the men who was pardoned.  Since the Navy isn’t especially noted for being chill about pictures with corpses, and they’re also supposed to be in charge of their own qualification system, they did not take kindly to this interference.  Eventually this standoff culminated in Secretary of Defense Mark Esper firing his own Navy Secretary because the man wouldn’t cede the call to Trump.

Key links:

1. Reuters – Trump Pardons Army Officers, Restores Navy Seal’s Rank In War Crimes Cases
2. New York Times – Navy Is Said To Proceed With Disciplinary Plans Against Edward Gallagher
3. Axios – Navy Secretary Fired Over Handling Of Eddie Gallagher Case

Stopgap Bill Shuffle. Congress passed another stopgap bill via CR this week, funding our federal systems and staving off a government shutdown for now.  Since Trump signed the bill on Friday, that’s November sorted.  Unfortunately, the bill only lasts until 12/20, so we’ll be back here again this time next month.  If this year goes anything like last year, we’re not out of the woods just yet; I’ll keep folks posted on what happens when the next deadline rolls around.

Key links:

1. The Hill – Senate Approves Stopgap Bill To Prevent Shutdown
2. Defense and Security Monitor – Stopgap Spending Bill Keeps U.S. Government Running Through December 20

West Bank and Bibi Blues. Current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement this week saying that Israeli settlements in the West Bank somehow don’t violate international law, which reverses over four decades of official U.S. policy.  Several outlets are referring to this statement as “a gift to Netanyahu,” which is both accurate and particularly galling when Netanyahu became the first sitting Prime Minister to be indicted for corruption in the same week.  So essentially, we have a guy likely under investigation for corruption (more on that below) reversing four decades of established policy to give another guy under investigation for corruption the green light to violate an international treaty.   Regardless of your opinion of Palestinian occupation, this type of lawlessness erodes our institutions, and it’s not okay.

Key links:

1. Washington Post – Pompeo Says Israeli West Bank Settlements Aren’t Illegal. What Does This Mean In Practice?
2. Al-Monitor – Pompeo’s Gift To Netanyahu Might Bring About New Israeli Annexation
3. Associated Press – Israel’s Netanyahu Indicted On Corruption Charges

Recent Resilience

Recent Court Resilience. We had some awesome court cases this week, I’m happy to report.  The retrial of Scott Warren, who faced criminal charges for giving food and water to migrants at the southern border, ended in another not guilty verdict–gosh, can’t imagine why juries keep refusing to convict the guy for his humanitarian aid.  Meanwhile, a federal judge issued an emphatic opinion that White House attorney Don McGahn must be compelled to testify, noting that “absolute immunity . . . simply does not exist” and “Presidents are not Kings.”  (The House Oversight and Reform Committee has already filed a lawsuit using the McGahn case as precedent.)  And on the subpoena end, Rudy Giuliani’s firm is being investigated as part of a much broader corruption probe in Manhattan.

Key links:

1. Intercept – Humanitarian Volunteer Scott Warren Reflects On The Borderlands And Two Years Of Government Persecution
2. NPR – In Blow To White House, Federal Judge Rules That Don Mcgahn Must Testify
3. Politico – Oversight Panel Sues William Barr, Wilbur Ross Over 2020 Census Documents
4. CNBC- Rudy Giuliani Consulting Firm Eyed In Federal Subpoenas, Report Says

Things to Watch

Impeachment Updates.  By the end of last week, the impeachment inquiry had crystallized into an extremely strong case for several impeachable offenses, and the Intelligence panel has chosen to move forward with drafting the final report (despite stonewalling from several would-be witnesses).  Once the Intelligence Committee findings have been summarized, the resulting report will go to the House Judiciary Committee, which will begin drafting articles of impeachment.  (The latter has already announced that their first hearing will be next week.)  Meanwhile, chaos abounds as everybody tries to prep for the inevitable articles–in the Senate, both sides of the aisle are thinking about how to plan the trial, which has the White House weirdly jazzed because they hope to turn it into a kangaroo court and make Joe Biden testify.
Key links:

1. Washington Post-  Schiff Says Democrats Will Press Forward Despite Lack Of Testimony From Key Impeachment Witnesses
2. New York Times – The Impeachment Witnesses Not Heard
3. CNN – Republican Senators Discuss With White House Would-be Parameters Of An Impeachment Trial
4. Reuters – Trump Wants Senate Trial, Expects Joe Biden To Testify: White House

Nunes News and Pompeo Press. Giuliani associate and all-around sketchball Lev Parnas flipped to the side of impeachment this week. In the process, he disclosed that ranking Intelligence Committee member Devin Nunes was apparently involved in the Ukraine scandal his committee’s been investigating–so that was a quick trip to an ethics investigation. As one Twitter user put it, “So through weeks of hearings, while Rep Nunes sat there getting increasingly sullen and cranky and sad sack in his public statements he in fact was part of the effort the committee was investigating.”  Meanwhile, an ethics group released documents further implicating Mike Pompeo, who apparently had repeated direct contact with Rudy Giuliani during the whole affair.
Key links:

1. Vanity Fair – Spurned By Trump, Giuliani Crony Lev Parnas Flips On Impeachment
2. CNN – Exclusive: Giuliani Associate Willing To Tell Congress Nunes Met With Ex-Ukrainian Official To Get Dirt On Biden
3. NBC – Documents Released To Ethics Group Show Giuliani, Pompeo Contacts Before Ukraine Ambassador Ousted

2020 Election News. Well, 2020 election news remains chaotic and strange, but at least it makes good SNL fodder.  Wednesday’s debate came and went, with no obvious upsets afterwards (though of course that could change at any time).  Afterwards, Mike Bloomberg finally announced his candidacy, bringing us back up to 18 Democrat candidates–which we can probably all agree is way too many less than a year before the actual election.
Key links:

1. New York Times – 5 Takeaways From the November Democratic Debate
2. Washington Post – Mike Bloomberg enters Democratic campaign for president
3. New York Times – Who’s Running for President in 2020?

Actions for Everyone

I’ll give thanks this week for all the great activism work we’ve been doing together for the past three years! If you’re sharing a meal with a group of friends or family this year, please be sure to acknowledge the native land you’re on. I’m sending you all the strength to have hard conversations with certain family members this Thanksgiving – it might be the year we have a break through with Uncle Bob.

End Gun Violence: According to Wikipedia, there have been 370 mass shootings so far in 2019. With that in mind, I want to share the group Moms Demand Action and Everytown. While both groups have initiatives worth reading up on, I especially want you to know that Moms Demand Action is organizing a rally on Monday, December 2nd in front of the Supreme Court of the United States in support of gun safety. Sign up for both groups to receive updates, and donate if you’re able.

Get Registered to Vote: It’s never too early to make sure you’re registered to vote. Have you moved? Get yourself a piece of mail, an ID with an updated addresses, or whatever your state’s regulations instruct you to do. 2020 is a biiiiiiig year and we need everyone who is elegible to vote to make it to the polls. Vote.Org promises it’ll take two minutes to register. If you know you’re already registered, make it a goal to get one unregistered person to over to Vote.Org or your registration process of choice.

Things that make me smile: I pinched a nerve in my neck, and needed a heating pad, but I don’t have a microwave to heat up the one I made. These simple directions for an oven-heated towel have been saving me. As has, Billy on The Street.

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It was Halloween this week, and most of the news was appropriately scary to mark the occasion.  Also, like that one type of Halloween candy you hate, impeachment news is turning up on every corner.  (Seriously, there has been so much impeachment news that I had to triple-check to make sure I wasn’t somehow missing some regular news.  It’s impeachment turtles and decoy policies all the way down.)

Events to Know

Goodbye, New York. Trump went ahead and declared himself a resident of Florida this week, saying the quiet part out loud as he did so and insinuating that it was for tax reasons.  New York’s governor responded by publicly tweeting, “He’s all yours, Florida” and noting that it was “not like [Trump] paid taxes here anyway.”  As if to punctuate the point, the Second Circuit decided shortly after that yes, Trump does have to surrender tax documents to Manhattan’s District Attorney.  It will be interesting to see what Trump does from here.

Key links:

1. New York Times – Trump, Lifelong New Yorker, Declares Himself a Resident of Florida
2. Business Insider – ‘Good riddance’: New York’s governor responded to news that Trump, a lifelong New Yorker, declared himself a resident of Florida
3. NBC News – Trump loses appeal in New York tax case, must hand over returns

California Wildfires Rage. Trying to stay ahead of the dangerous dry season, California planned electricity shut-offs for a million of its residents.  Unfortunately, this didn’t prevent massive wildfires, which firefighters are struggling to contain particularly in the northern part of the state.  Throwing, well, gasoline on the fire, Trump is now threatening to cut federal aid to the state–because when there’s a natural disaster, you can definitely fix things by just refusing to do anything to fix it.  Not one to take that sitting down, California’s governor promptly replied: “You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation.”  (Given that Trump just formally announced we’re withdrawing from the Paris Accords, I can’t say I blame the governor here.)

Key links:

1. CNN – Millions of people in California are starting to lose power as PG&E tries to prevent more wildfires
2. Los Angeles Times – PG&E warns it could cut power to more than 2 million people beginning Saturday night
3. ABC News – Trump threatens to cut off federal funding for California wildfires
4. Washington Post – Calif. governor hits back at Trump over wildfire criticism, threat to cut aid
5. NPR – U.S. Formally Begins To Leave The Paris Climate Agreement

Election Aftermath. Tuesday brought elections many places on the local and state level, and we saw some pretty interesting results!  One of the biggest changes happened in Virginia, where Democrats now control all three state branches of government for the first time in over twenty years.  In state elections in general, suburbs went much more blue than is traditional in many parts of the country.  We also had two gubernatorial elections:  Kentucky elected a Democrat governor, though the current governor is refusing to concede, and Mississippi stuck with a Republican ticket for their own gubernatorial race.

Key links:

1. Washington Post – The Daily 202: Republicans get blown out in the suburbs – again – in off-year elections
2. New York Times – Virginia Election: Democrats Take Full Control of State Government
3. CNN – Kentucky Live Election Results

Recent Resilience

Recent Court Resilience. It may have been a strange week, but it was a decent one for court cases. The ACLU successfully curtailed an Alabama law that would fully ban abortion this week, making the procedure again legal in all 50 states. (This is a mixed blessing, since the pro-life strategy at play involves getting the case before the Supreme Court, but it’s still better than leaving the law in effect.) Relatedly, a federal judge also blocked a ‘conscience rule’ that would have permitted medical discrimination for religous reasons.  A North Carolina court ruled that the gerrymandered maps cannot be used in the 2020 election, following the blueprint set by Justice Kagan in her SCOTUS dissent as they did so. And a federal court blocked the Trump rule that predicated visas on health insurance, forcing the administration to pause implementation of the new rule for at least a month.

Key links:

1. CNBC – Federal judge halts Alabama abortion law deemed the strictest in the nation
2. Slate – North Carolina’s Congressional Gerrymander Is Dead
3. Washington Post – Judge temporarily blocks Trump order requiring would-be immigrants to prove they have health insurance
4. New York Times – Judge Voids Trump-Backed ‘Conscience Rule’ for Health Workers

Things to Watch

Impeachment Inquiry Updates. The top of the week featured damning firsthand testimony by Alexander Vindman, a military official who was on the infamous Ukraine call–most notably, Vindman was adamant that the official ‘transcript’ left things out and added things, and that his attempts to correct it were unsuccessful.  We also received confirmation from him that the phone call was improperly moved to a highly restricted server.   Tim Morrison, who was a top Russia official of the National Security Council, stepped down ahead of his own testimony, which corroborated much of Taylor and Vindman’s.   On the same day that ambassador to the EU Gordan Sondham’s initial testimony became public, he also issued a “supplemental declaration” that reversed his earlier claim of no quid pro quo, asserting that the testimony of the others had “refreshed his recollection.”  And the House is also trying to get John Bolton to testify, but he indicated this week that he won’t do it without a subpoena.
Key links:

1. Washington Post – Vindman offers a firsthand account of critical episodes in alleged quid pro quo
2. The Hill – Vindman says White House lawyer moved Ukraine call to classified server: report
3. CNN – Impeachment deposition: NSC official corroborates testimony linking Ukraine aid to investigations
4. New York Times – Sondland Updates Impeachment Testimony, Describing Ukraine Quid Pro Quo
5. NBC News – John Bolton invited to testify in House impeachment inquiry

Administrative Anger Synopsis. This week saw yet more poor behavior on the GOP side, and it’s getting hard to separate the misconduct of the administration from the bad behavior it causes in others.  The early lowlight was definitely a smear campaign against Vindman, which insinuated that he was a double-agent due to his familial ties to Ukraine.  But that got overshadowed quickly by bonkers Nunes news, which featured one of his aides feeding Trump Ukraine-related information without authorization, another aide trying to out the whistleblower, and Nunes himself calling reporters ‘assassins.’  Meanwhile, a canny aide to John Bolton filed a lawsuit asking the court to tell him whether to answer House subpoenas, and several more White House officials just straight-up refused to testify.  Then Trump accused Schiff of altering transcripts, and a number of Senate Republicans have started taking the demonstrably false stance that quid pro quo isn’t illegal.  That last bit probably happened, by the way, because Trump started bribing GOP senators with campaign funds contingent on their impeachment messaging.
Key links:

1. Washington Post – A new witness is about to damage Trump. Fox News is already smearing him.
2. Politico – House could act on impeachment before suit over former Trump aide’s subpoena is resolved
3. ABC News – White House officials skip impeachment depositions, as Democrats plan to press forward
4. Independent – Trump ‘invents insane conspiracy theory’ in wild impeachment outburst
5. News Week – TRUMP IS COMMITTING ‘FELONY BRIBERY’ BY GIVING FUNDRAISING CASH TO GOP SENATORS AHEAD OF IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: EX-BUSH ETHICS LAWYER

Adoption Discrimination Rule. The Trump administration released a proposed rule this week that would permit adoption agencies to refuse to serve LGBT families, effectively rolling back protections put in place by the Obama administration.  The proposal has already been implemented in South Carolina, who got a waiver granted back in the spring, and the ACLU filed a lawsuit around the same time.  (A federal judge tossed out a similar ‘conscience’ rule that protected doctors who discriminate only yesterday, by the way, so this lawsuit is worth watching.)  Since the proposed rule will be subject to a comment period once it officially publishes, which could be as early as next week, now seems a fine time to remind folks that anybody can submit public comments and we’ve seen them have a real effect on other policies in the past year.
Key links:

1. New York Times – Adoption Groups Could Turn Away L.G.B.T. Families Under Proposed Rule
2. Bloomberg – Trump Sued Over Plan to Let Adoption Agencies Reject Gay Couples
3. Washington Post – Trump’s ‘conscience rule’ for health providers blocked by federal judge

Actions for Everyone

I hope everyone had a great Halloween, sadly, it’s still scary out there. But we the witches are powerful and mighty!

First things first: Impeachment.

The House voted last week in favor of the impeachment resolution, formalizing the inquiry and establishing the process.

Two Democrats voted against it; Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Collin Peterson of Minnesota . If you are part of their constituency, let them know you don’t agree with their move that sides with a corrupt President.

All of the GOP sided with Trump but we can’t stop nagging them. Impeachment is a long and tedious process and much more information will be made clear as investigation continues. We may start to see GOP members come to terms with the reality. Let’s be there to pressure them into coming to the other side. Let’s call them!

As Congress is, very rightly so, preoccupied with the Impeachment inquiry and its hearings, we can’t forget that the wheel keeps turning and there is much to be done.

Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act – This law, which provides funds to women’s shelters, advocacy groups and law enforcement, expired last February. The reauthorization bill passed in the House last April but the Senate has not acted on it. (Surprise! It’s Mitch McConell’s fault again.) I know he calls himself the “Grim Reaper” of bill but this bill is actually a law that could mean life or death for victims of abuse.

This law would also make it illegal for men who have been convicted of abuse to possess a firearm. The NRA opposes this bill.

We obviously need this bill to pass in the Senate, so call your representatives and also call Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConell’s office. 

Paris Agreement – Last Monday our government officially announced the United State’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, leaving us as the only country that isn’t taking part of this accord. Even though the intentions to pull out were already mentioned before by the President in 2016, we couldn’t legally withdraw from it till last Sunday. The withdrawal won’t take effect until 2020 so we still have time to not look like complete idiots for going against the entire world, science and common sense. Come the 2020 elections, the President can apply again to be part of the Agreement.

So, what do we do?

VOTE. If Donald Trump stays in power, we are going to keep moving backwards.

Get involved in your local government, environmental organizations and contact your State representatives. Even though the US as a nation can withdraw from the accord, that doesn’t mean States can’t take the pledge to lower emissions, become less reliable in fossil fuels and fight climate change. Many States are already doing so!

Here are the Things That Made Me Smile this week:

This AMAZING post of an entomologist reviewing emoji ants.