Small Daily Acts of Political Resistance - VICTORY!

[Cassie]

Sui, that video was heartbreaking.

[boy_bye]

I haven't been able to protest because my husband is at a high risk of complications from Covid, but I've been donating, writing letters, having good conversations with people, and everything else I can think of to support the cause from home. One of my favorite bloggers published a massive list of black-owned businesses and I'm going there first whenever I want to buy something.

I am SO FUCKING PROUD of the protesters and amazed by the support from around the world. Seeing Confenderate memorials coming down, a statue of a slave trader going into the sea in the UK, and Minneapolis City Council agreeing to disband the MPD and start over with community-based safety approaches -- it's so good and inspiring and makes me believe that we could actually succeed in building a world that cares more about the flourishing of human life than the accumulation of capital. 

ETA an amazing photo of two black ballerinas standing on a re-envisioned Confederate monument.

[BicycleB]

^Wow!

***

Marched with thousands at black-organized protest yesterday. Top chants:
"Say his name / George Floyd"
"Say her name / Breonna Taylor"
"No justice, no peace. Prosecute the police"

[MonkeyJenga]

Anybody have good recs for the most effective group to donate to for voting rights - improving voter access, fair voting, etc?

[diapasoun]

Anybody have good recs for the most effective group to donate to for voting rights - improving voter access, fair voting, etc?

Tagging @sui generis

[OtherJen]

Anybody have good recs for the most effective group to donate to for voting rights - improving voter access, fair voting, etc?

League of Women Voters and ACLU are two big ones that come to mind.

[Dollar Slice]

I have a hard time doing marches due to my foot problems, but I've been trying to be a good information source/emotionally supportive to my friend group during the protests. I've also been talking to my parents about it a lot. My dad is really getting upset about it. I showed him a video of the police hurting an innocent bystander and he's asked me at least a dozen times in three days if I've heard any updates about whether that person is recovering in the hospital.

I got some birthday money this week and have decided to funnel a good chunk of cash to BLM-related causes (some only tangentially related but I think they all tie in to racial justice and equality). So far I've supported the ACLU (since they'll be undoubtedly helping a lot of protesters out of legal trouble in the immediate future), an org working on prison reforms, an org supporting LGBTQ POC, and an org doing GOTV, voter registration and etc. focusing on black voters. Still have more money burning a hole in my pocket if anyone has a great one to suggest that hasn't already been inundated this week! Especially in NYC since I'd like to support the local economy in any way I can, we've been through a lot here.

[sui generis]

Anybody have good recs for the most effective group to donate to for voting rights - improving voter access, fair voting, etc?

I love ACLU and have been a monthly donor for a number of years now.  Even so (and even as a lawyer) I'm becoming more and more disillusioned by being reactive to terrible things (as you have to be in the justice system - you can only file a suit after some harm is already done) rather than proactive....before the bad thing is done.  Both are needed and I'm not unhappy with the ACLU at all.  We absolutely need them and they can only operate within the context we have.

BUT, to get ahead of the game and not wait on our hands while judges sit on their benches and decide whether they'll act on time?  I super recommend Reclaim Our Vote (https://actionnetwork.org/forms/reclaim-our-vote-signup), Black Voters Matter (one of the partners in Reclaim Our Vote; https://www.blackvotersmatterfund.org/) and I'm going to suggest two specific groups in NC, because it's a state with rampant voter suppression and yet is within reach for both the White House and the US Senate seat: You Can Vote (https://www.youcanvote.org/) and Advance Carolina (https://advancecarolina.org/).

[MudPuppy]

I donate to SPLC, but it’s not a voting specific org

[Kris]

Posting on social media that I will give five free copies of Ibram Kendi’s “How to be an Antiracist” to the first five people who respond.

It’s temporarily out of stock on Amazon in hardcover so I’m guessing it might be a bit hard to find in that format, but I can send the ebook right away.

[Dancin'Dog]

Anybody have good recs for the most effective group to donate to for voting rights - improving voter access, fair voting, etc?

I love ACLU and have been a monthly donor for a number of years now.  Even so (and even as a lawyer) I'm becoming more and more disillusioned by being reactive to terrible things (as you have to be in the justice system - you can only file a suit after some harm is already done) rather than proactive....before the bad thing is done.  Both are needed and I'm not unhappy with the ACLU at all.  We absolutely need them and they can only operate within the context we have.

BUT, to get ahead of the game and not wait on our hands while judges sit on their benches and decide whether they'll act on time?  I super recommend Reclaim Our Vote (https://actionnetwork.org/forms/reclaim-our-vote-signup), Black Voters Matter (one of the partners in Reclaim Our Vote; https://www.blackvotersmatterfund.org/) and I'm going to suggest two specific groups in NC, because it's a state with rampant voter suppression and yet is within reach for both the White House and the US Senate seat: You Can Vote (https://www.youcanvote.org/) and Advance Carolina (https://advancecarolina.org/).

Thanks for those suggestions.  We've been wanting to help here in NC.  DW's B-Day in in a couple of days, so I can make the donations extra generous to celebrate & honor her day too.  :)

[SisterX]

Messaged my mayor and city council again to ream them out because the police response to protests about police brutality has been MORE police brutality. They're still using tear gas, despite the mayor saying they wouldn't. Apparently she actually just said the regular cops wouldn't use it. SWAT is still able to throw it around willy nilly and that's what they've been doing.

They're also shooting rubber bullets at people, including clearly marked medical workers.

One on our city council is all in on protester's demands. We'll see if she's able to influence the others.

[BicycleB]

It might be minor, but - emailed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, told him he should start the NFL season by taking a knee. Next to Colin Kaepernick, suited up, who then goes on the field to play the rest of the season for "a respectable NFL team."

[Kris]

It might be minor, but - emailed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, told him he should start the NFL season by taking a knee. Next to Colin Kaepernick, suited up, who then goes on the field to play the rest of the season for "a respectable NFL team."

Good idea.

I really want the MN Vikings to sign Kaep.

[BicycleB]

^ Tell 'em!

***

Emailed A&E (Arts and Entertainment Network) to hand over to investigators the video they have of the death by traffic stop and tasing of Javier Ambler, a resident of my county whose "crime" was "didn't dim his lights." Also to cancel the show, "Live PD", that filmed it.

ETA 6/10/20: A&E was going to film another 160 episodes of LivePD, which apparently had become the highest-rated show on ad-supported cable TV. Today A&E announced it is ceasing production.

https://deadline.com/2020/06/live-pd-canceled-ae-protests-against-police-brutality-george-floyd-1202956175/

[jeninco]

 $100 to the ACLU, which was a birthday present to my aunt, topped off with $50 to Reclaim our Vote -- thanks for the recommendation, @sui generis !

Debating volunteering for Hippistan's police oversight committee. (The issue is that I am not very patient or gentle with adults who haven't thought issues through, which can be unproductive. And drives me bonkers.)

[talltexan]

It might be minor, but - emailed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, told him he should start the NFL season by taking a knee. Next to Colin Kaepernick, suited up, who then goes on the field to play the rest of the season for "a respectable NFL team."

Not the Browns, in other words?

[BicycleB]

Exactly! That would be evidence of bad faith. :)

[Poundwise]

I also signed a petition to our local electeds and police superintendents, supporting local legislation that will promote greater transparency and accountability for misbehaving law enforcement.

Results!
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-50a-repeal-police-transparency-20200614-p7qodt3gffbcdcmz5okiyrrhba-story.html

[sui generis]

I also signed a petition to our local electeds and police superintendents, supporting local legislation that will promote greater transparency and accountability for misbehaving law enforcement.

Results!
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-50a-repeal-police-transparency-20200614-p7qodt3gffbcdcmz5okiyrrhba-story.html

Congrats!

In a similar vein, I'm seeing suggestions to send this letter to local elected officials to reform police union contracts.  It was apparently drafted by a labor lawyer.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HKskmv6NldyhU0dWB7dG-LgGQ8_PI3jv9gzCUzBo9XY/edit

I believe it was written with CA in mind, so I'm not sure all state laws need to be reformed, but probably!  So it's worth checking for your state, but the language is also pretty broad.

[SisterX]

Yay, NY!! It's a step in the right direction!

Wrote to my city council AGAIN today because there was going to be a vote on use of tear gas and rubber bullets by SPD. Waiting for that meeting now, we'll see how it goes.

[MonkeyJenga]

Thank you @sui generis and @OtherJen ! I've signed up for Reclam the Vote and will likely get my Indivisible group involved.

[Dancin'Dog]

I made a couple of donations for my wife's birthday & she recommended https://represent.us/  too.  I really like their goal of ending corruption and their plan to achieve it.  Their goals are nonpartisan and appeal to voters on both sides.   I really like the idea of promoting a nonpartisan message instead of one that is automatically opposed by 1/2 the population.  Our country has become so divided and we really need to find some common ground.

[talltexan]

I'm registered as a Republican, but I made a $50 contribution to Cal Cunningham's NC Senate campaign. I don't feel as though I can send money to campaigns in other states, but--wow--do they start asking for it when your name gets onto even one list.

[Poundwise]

Tired as I am of sewing masks, I signed up to donate masks to voting registration volunteers in Georgia. Let me know if you're interested and I'll PM you the link.

[talltexan]

I'm trying to think very seriously about how I can persuade those around me to change their votes. Has anyone found any useful methods?

I'm considering a sort of "emotional stand down" approach. Assuring my conservative friends that the economy would be good, save for the pandemic, and everyone knows it. That Trump shouldn't worry, and that a protest vote for Jo Jorgenson would chasten him for those few areas that they consider problems. Thoughts?

[ctuser1]

I'm registered as a Republican, but I made a $50 contribution to Cal Cunningham's NC Senate campaign. I don't feel as though I can send money to campaigns in other states, but--wow--do they start asking for it when your name gets onto even one list.

God knows why, but google/youtube has been chasing me around for the past two weeks with Trump campaign ads and requests for donations.

It would be obvious from my IP address that I am from CT, and I bet Google would have far more invasive information on me with them.

Are they trying to flip CT now? Or is it just a play for $$ donations from CT conservatives who must be feeling oppressed??

[sui generis]

I'm trying to think very seriously about how I can persuade those around me to change their votes. Has anyone found any useful methods?

I'm considering a sort of "emotional stand down" approach. Assuring my conservative friends that the economy would be good, save for the pandemic, and everyone knows it. That Trump shouldn't worry, and that a protest vote for Jo Jorgenson would chasten him for those few areas that they consider problems. Thoughts?

That doesn't sound unreasonable.  I've been considering reading this book, The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind, which apparently rests on the idea that it's not so much about persuading people to do what you want, but identifying and removing obstacles to it for them.  If the goal is to get them not to vote for Trump, and a major obstacle is that they worry their vote is needed for him to stay in office, then relieving them of that worry may be of help.  And it seems logical that then giving them an alternate activity that is aligned with their values can redirect their actions to something less harmful (to us) that they can feel good about.  Worth a try and I'd be interested to hear how the experiment goes!

[talltexan]

I'm trying to think very seriously about how I can persuade those around me to change their votes. Has anyone found any useful methods?

I'm considering a sort of "emotional stand down" approach. Assuring my conservative friends that the economy would be good, save for the pandemic, and everyone knows it. That Trump shouldn't worry, and that a protest vote for Jo Jorgenson would chasten him for those few areas that they consider problems. Thoughts?

That doesn't sound unreasonable.  I've been considering reading this book, The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind, which apparently rests on the idea that it's not so much about persuading people to do what you want, but identifying and removing obstacles to it for them.  If the goal is to get them not to vote for Trump, and a major obstacle is that they worry their vote is needed for him to stay in office, then relieving them of that worry may be of help.  And it seems logical that then giving them an alternate activity that is aligned with their values can redirect their actions to something less harmful (to us) that they can feel good about.  Worth a try and I'd be interested to hear how the experiment goes!

Indeed I cannot pretend to convert a Trump vote into a Biden vote. But I think I can convert some Trump votes into "stay home" or Jo Jorgenson.

[Dollar Slice]

God knows why, but google/youtube has been chasing me around for the past two weeks with Trump campaign ads and requests for donations.

It would be obvious from my IP address that I am from CT, and I bet Google would have far more invasive information on me with them.

Are they trying to flip CT now? Or is it just a play for $$ donations from CT conservatives who must be feeling oppressed??

I think they are just sending Trump ads to literally everyone. I live in Harlem in a neighborhood where Trump got 3-4% of the vote, I'm female and have donated to many extremely progressive causes, am on many Democratic politician mailing lists, I donated to HRC, etc. etc. And I still get the Trump ads. I also somehow got on their mailing list in my spambox e-mail account that I use to sign up for things I don't trust that require e-mails. So they're buying bottom-of-the-barrel junk e-mail lists in addition to buying advertising to reach people who loathe him.

[MonkeyJenga]

* I've been writing postcards and letters to voters, and I'm going to start doing phone bank trainings.
* I got a Reclaim the Vote volunteer for my city to handle bulk purchases.
* Donated to Center for Common Ground, Reclaim's parent org.
* Went to another protest.
* Donated bf's old bike helmet to a protest group. (I'm in Portland, so people have been gearing up.)
* Donated to local orgs Don't Shoot PDX and Rosehip Medics.
* Donated to national org We The Protesters, which created Campaign Zero.

[Exflyboy]

God knows why, but google/youtube has been chasing me around for the past two weeks with Trump campaign ads and requests for donations.

It would be obvious from my IP address that I am from CT, and I bet Google would have far more invasive information on me with them.

Are they trying to flip CT now? Or is it just a play for $$ donations from CT conservatives who must be feeling oppressed??

I think they are just sending Trump ads to literally everyone. I live in Harlem in a neighborhood where Trump got 3-4% of the vote, I'm female and have donated to many extremely progressive causes, am on many Democratic politician mailing lists, I donated to HRC, etc. etc. And I still get the Trump ads. I also somehow got on their mailing list in my spambox e-mail account that I use to sign up for things I don't trust that require e-mails. So they're buying bottom-of-the-barrel junk e-mail lists in addition to buying advertising to reach people who loathe him.

Considering that Trump walked off stage after being challenged by a reporter for re-tweeting the drivel from the "doctor" that claims medicines are made from alien DNA (just how stupid we look right now to the rest of the World), one hopes that re-electing this bunch of goons is now inconceivable.

But then some of Trump's supporters are unbelievably stupid!

I talked to a guy the other day that thought he was the best President we've ever had!.. like WTAF?

[Dancin'Dog]

God knows why, but google/youtube has been chasing me around for the past two weeks with Trump campaign ads and requests for donations.

It would be obvious from my IP address that I am from CT, and I bet Google would have far more invasive information on me with them.

Are they trying to flip CT now? Or is it just a play for $$ donations from CT conservatives who must be feeling oppressed??

I think they are just sending Trump ads to literally everyone. I live in Harlem in a neighborhood where Trump got 3-4% of the vote, I'm female and have donated to many extremely progressive causes, am on many Democratic politician mailing lists, I donated to HRC, etc. etc. And I still get the Trump ads. I also somehow got on their mailing list in my spambox e-mail account that I use to sign up for things I don't trust that require e-mails. So they're buying bottom-of-the-barrel junk e-mail lists in addition to buying advertising to reach people who loathe him.

Considering that Trump walked off stage after being challenged by a reporter for re-tweeting the drivel from the "doctor" that claims medicines are made from alien DNA (just how stupid we look right now to the rest of the World), one hopes that re-electing this bunch of goons is now inconceivable.

But then some of Trump's supporters are unbelievably stupid!

I talked to a guy the other day that thought he was the best President we've ever had!.. like WTAF?

It seems like the Trumpers have insulated their minds from reality by swallowing the "fake news" pill.  Unless they actually see him in person walk into their homes and shoot a family member, he's innocent of any and all crimes. 


On top of that, every piece of "fake news" makes them hate us and the MSM even more.  They see everyone else as the enemy and as fools.  It's as if they are in a trance or on some kind of drug.  I think many of them would happily engage in a civil war for Trump. 


Many of them say that they'd like to see Trump's army using deadly force in Portland & Chicago.  I don't know if they really mean it, or of they're just saying it to get a rise from the Libs.  Either way, it's disturbing. 


 

[talltexan]

I've reconciled with the fact that a lot of people are just plain weird. The odds are fairly high that I am among them, given that there seem to be so many. But--despite my irrational beliefs--I want to approach the problem of removing our President with logic.

[Kris]

God knows why, but google/youtube has been chasing me around for the past two weeks with Trump campaign ads and requests for donations.

It would be obvious from my IP address that I am from CT, and I bet Google would have far more invasive information on me with them.

Are they trying to flip CT now? Or is it just a play for $$ donations from CT conservatives who must be feeling oppressed??

I think they are just sending Trump ads to literally everyone. I live in Harlem in a neighborhood where Trump got 3-4% of the vote, I'm female and have donated to many extremely progressive causes, am on many Democratic politician mailing lists, I donated to HRC, etc. etc. And I still get the Trump ads. I also somehow got on their mailing list in my spambox e-mail account that I use to sign up for things I don't trust that require e-mails. So they're buying bottom-of-the-barrel junk e-mail lists in addition to buying advertising to reach people who loathe him.

Considering that Trump walked off stage after being challenged by a reporter for re-tweeting the drivel from the "doctor" that claims medicines are made from alien DNA (just how stupid we look right now to the rest of the World), one hopes that re-electing this bunch of goons is now inconceivable.

But then some of Trump's supporters are unbelievably stupid!

I talked to a guy the other day that thought he was the best President we've ever had!.. like WTAF?

A family member I thought had better sense has apparently slid into the tinfoil hat brigade. She posted her support for that looney tunes doctor yesterday.

She has two young children, for whom I am now rather worried.

[SisterX]

Act: I emailed all of my national Congresswomen (they're all women) to complain about the slowdown in postal service. It especially effects WA, since we vote by mail. Have received one form letter in return which basically reiterated all of the points I made, but without calling DeJoy an "idiot" like I did. :)

Not sure how much good this will do, since a) they already know and b) they're all Dems, so they're likely trying to get shit fixed anyway.

@GreenEggs - I genuinely think that Trump actually wants another civil war at this point. I think they've realized he can't win again so they're opting to cause as much chaos as possible on their way out, to cover for their many crimes. Who's going to bother prosecuting them all if we're in the middle of a war with each other over over the stupidest shit imaginable?

And of course, it's not difficult to see that this is exactly what Putin (and probably Xi) want as well. Maybe that's one of the things Trump discussed with Putin when he WASN'T talking about the Russian bounties. (And OMG, don't get me started on the Trump-loving family friend who's been trying desperately to defend Trump at every turn asking, "Do we actually know that Trump knew about the bounties??!!" WTAF?)

[Exflyboy]

Act: I emailed all of my national Congresswomen (they're all women) to complain about the slowdown in postal service. It especially effects WA, since we vote by mail. Have received one form letter in return which basically reiterated all of the points I made, but without calling DeJoy an "idiot" like I did. :)

Not sure how much good this will do, since a) they already know and b) they're all Dems, so they're likely trying to get shit fixed anyway.

@GreenEggs - I genuinely think that Trump actually wants another civil war at this point. I think they've realized he can't win again so they're opting to cause as much chaos as possible on their way out, to cover for their many crimes. Who's going to bother prosecuting them all if we're in the middle of a war with each other over over the stupidest shit imaginable?

And of course, it's not difficult to see that this is exactly what Putin (and probably Xi) want as well. Maybe that's one of the things Trump discussed with Putin when he WASN'T talking about the Russian bounties. (And OMG, don't get me started on the Trump-loving family friend who's been trying desperately to defend Trump at every turn asking, "Do we actually know that Trump knew about the bounties??!!" WTAF?)

And don't forget Trump was only joking (again) when he wondered of we should delay the election.. Cus y'know all that fraudulent vote by mail thats bound to happen.. geez.

[SisterX]

I donated to a political campaign for the first time ever. Small potatoes, but a friend is running for a Borough position in Alaska and I donated. He's an incredible person, I hope he wins.

[Exflyboy]

I donated to a political campaign for the first time ever. Small potatoes, but a friend is running for a Borough position in Alaska and I donated. He's an incredible person, I hope he wins.

Cool..:)

[talltexan]

A family friend was running for Congress in my parents' area in Texas. I urged them to donate, promised to match whatever they sent in.

My dad called me up the following week to tell me that he'd sent in $1,000. I tried to imitate Kramer, saying, "Well I don't have that kind of money!" and had to welch on the deal, which I felt awful about at the time (he was running as a Democrat, and my wife insisted we didn't have that kind of money to donate to the campaign of any Democrat.

He lost 65-35, so I'm not sure it would have affected the outcome even if I'd fulfilled my promise.

[MonkeyJenga]

Does anyone have experience setting up a text banking event? My volunteer group wants to start, but nobody has experience.

[sui generis]

Does anyone have experience setting up a text banking event? My volunteer group wants to start, but nobody has experience.

Yes, I've done too many to count. I know a group that's holding one on Saturday that I can probably get you the info for, if you want to see one in action. They are based in Sacramento, but have folks from all over the country now that everything is virtual. I get the sense theirs are good, though I have to admit I haven't attended one myself.

And I'd be happy to give you further suggestions. One is that you should either do one on one basic training in advance, or have at least 1 trainer for every 3 people, if not more, so you can send small groups off to break out rooms on zoom. Zoom makes it too easy for one person to dominate the time with their particular tech challenges, while everyone else is stuck on a different step.

Your audience may be different, but that's what I suggest unless you have truly tech savvy attendees and you can be confident in their ability to keep up. Unfortunately, text banking seems to attract people that haven't heard of the refresh button and don't know how to manage tabs on their browsers. I try to set expectations about the high learning curve early. That it's not at all like texting your kids or grandkids.

Open Progress actually offers some support for textbanking, so they are worth considering going through. Otherwise, if you have concerns about the tech savviness of your group, I'd probably use Resistance Labs to get texts to send, since they don't require using Slack and that's a huge stumbling block for a lot of people.

[MonkeyJenga]

Thank you for all that information, @sui generis ! I would love to attend the Saturday event and speak to the organizers if possible. I've been to in-person texting parties, and I've text-banked remotely by myself, but never seen a Zoom one.

The easiest possible tech is a priority. If we can have organizers troubleshooting and being Slack go-betweens with questions, do you think that might work even for Open Progress? It looks like Resistance Labs also asks people to join Slack, but I don't know if that's a requirement or just an additional resource for questions.

Additional questions (if anyone else knows, please jump in!):

Texting potential volunteers through Mobilize

We have been phonebanking to contact anyone who signed up for previous events, asking if they will attend more events. Texting could clear out these lists faster. People check a box consenting to receive texts from Mobilize when they sign up for events, so could we just confirm with Mobilize that it's okay to text them for this specific purpose? I don't think we need a fancy texting app for this, people would just switch to manually texting instead of manually calling.

Texting a specific legislative district

We have adopted a district in another state for our phonebanks. The campaigns don't have text-banking set up yet. What is the ease/cost of creating a custom campaign with one of these texting tools?

[sui generis]

@MonkeyJenga just sent you a PM with details on that group.

I think that could work with Open Progress.  I've definitely done it before (again, so long as I have 1 trainer for about every 3 newbies) on zoom and it worked out.  Resistance Labs definitely doesn't require use of their Slack.  Some people use it, but it's a bit of a ghost town and if people have questions that they ask there, I'm not sure that they get answers as quickly as they do on, e.g. OP's Slack, where they have moderators for like 8-12 hours a day staffing the channel.

I think your plan sounds very fair and good re: Mobilize.  Re: setting up texting for your sponsored candidate, I'd recommend Red2Blue or Open Progress.  They run everything for you, which is great because then you don't have to learn to run the texting software yourself as an admin, and they have a lot of scripting expertise and other stuff that you can take advantage of.  Open Progress owns TextOut (their software to send texts) and I'm not sure how their pricing works, if the cost of TextOut includes the cost of their services or what.  You can learn more here: https://www.textout.io/

Red2Blue is all volunteer and their services are free, but currently they only work with one texting software, ThruText, and they can get the candidate a discount through a partnership with them. They specialize in state legislature texting and other down ballot races like county commissioners and such. This is where I refer the candidates I work with.  Check them out here: https://www.red2blue.org/for-candidates-overview

I suspect (but don't *know*) that if you want to reserve the texting for you and your fellow volunteers to actually do the sending, that OP/TextOut might be a better avenue?  I think I've seen that you can have it not go through OP itself, where their volunteers would send the texts.  Red2Blue that's not really possible.  They have their vols send the texts.  Of course, your people can get trained up with them and become "their vols" too. They can then show up when the texting is going to happen and put in requests for batches ahead of time, so it can still work for you all to do it, it's just not really *reserved* for your own volunteers. 

Hope that helps!

[MonkeyJenga]

My friends put together a Flip the Senate fundraiser that is happening Thursday, Sep 3. You'll be a on Zoom call with 4 candidates in 4 key races. If anyone is interested, please let me know and I'll send you the details privately. (Can't post publicly to prevent it getting trolled.)

[LifeHappens]

I'm continuing to textbank and write get out the vote letters. Vote Forward needs more people to write letters: https://votefwd.org/

[MonkeyJenga]

Call your reps about not allowing a floor vote on RBG's replacement until after inauguration! If their voicemail is full, text/email, then call again Monday.

https://www.indivisibleor.org/daily-actions/protect-election-security-gfbkd-dk89r-mxws6-5tffj-a8phw-gcyjn-9grzx-akpyh-2pztw-w67j3-csyjf-pmdkp-z2zsz-4j68a-wnt8k-t5lsd-f9d93-d72ew-48e2p-ygtrt-7kjt8-9b8p8-ttjgd-jhl9w-deak3-mthzc

[sui generis]

Like most, I hate phone banking.  And yet, it's 2020, and what do I hate more than phone banking?  Trump.  McConnell.  A Trump-McConnell replacement for RBG.  So I now run 3 phone banks a week for my local group and help organize/coordinate 6 more.  And I still feel like it's not enough.

If you hate phone banking a lot, too, but still want to do something that makes a huge difference and are open to stretching your boundaries during this shitty shitty time, please consider making absentee ballot chase and cure calls with the North Carolina Dems.  North Carolina was the first state to send out absentee ballots and many thousands of people (mostly Dems) have already turned in their ballots AND...already fucked them up so they won't get counted.  UNLESS they fix them in time!  The good news is, there is some time.  You can literally help individuals that desperately want their vote to count, get counted.  No trying to convince them to vote for someone or to care about issues they may or may not care about.  These are not those type of calls.  Just helping them do something they already want to do: get their vote counted, notwithstanding the shitty requirements of the state of NC.  Here's the link: https://www.mobilize.us/nc2020victory/event/314753/

Also, if you have money to give and really hate Mitch McConnell, but know his own race is likely hopeless, you can still help take away all his power by donating to the Senate races that aren't hopeless.  This page I link below is smart - notice how AZ isn't listed?  Because as they note in the text, Mark Kelly's campaign is extremely well-funded at the moment, so they are dynamically changing this to make sure it's going where it's most effective.  Here ya go, Get Mitch or Die Trying: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/getmitch 

[MonkeyJenga]

I signed up for the NC phone bank, thanks for the link! It's funny, I've phone banked a lot on previous cycles, and I help run them now, but I prefer doing the admin and training, not the actual calls.

[Proud Foot]

Call your reps about not allowing a floor vote on RBG's replacement until after inauguration! If their voicemail is full, text/email, then call again Monday.

https://www.indivisibleor.org/daily-actions/protect-election-security-gfbkd-dk89r-mxws6-5tffj-a8phw-gcyjn-9grzx-akpyh-2pztw-w67j3-csyjf-pmdkp-z2zsz-4j68a-wnt8k-t5lsd-f9d93-d72ew-48e2p-ygtrt-7kjt8-9b8p8-ttjgd-jhl9w-deak3-mthzc

Politics as usual seeing both parties totally flip their stance from 2016. That said I have reached out to my reps (R's) urging them to maintain their position from 2016 and not allow a vote on a replacement.