Weekly Check In July 15

[tanaqui]

While the Orange One has been spreading his unique brand of "diplomacy" in Europe, the focus this week in the comm has been on action around abortion rights and GOTV. We've still got plenty of ongoing actions as well.

New Actions

GOTV Resources from Organising for Action
Comment on Trump’s reinstatement of the domestic gag rule on abortion (Deadline: July 31)

Ongoing Actions -- Immigration

NILC Webinar on Immigration Issues
Family Separation
RAICES fundraiser on Facebook (This post also includes a link to a Google Doc where you'll find lots more resources and ideas for action if you scroll down.)
#Families Belong Together Recess Toolkit

Ongoing Actions -- Elections

Make a difference in the 2018 Midterms - organization organizing for all levels of elections
District funds for the mid-terms
Support progressive Congressional candidates in competitive rural districts
Information on State Primary Dates and list of pro-NRA Republicans who are vulnerable

Ongoing Actions -- General

Indivisible's Save SCOTUS strategy
Call your Reps about the Census
Protect the Americans with Disabilities Act -- Call your senators
Action: SNAP benefits -- the comment period is closed, but you may still want to contact your reps about this to help move it up their agendas.
Planning Ahead in Case of Mueller Firing
Information and organizing to end police violence
Racial Justice Toolkit (see comments for a shorter link)
Information on the Poor People's Campaign, an anti-poverty campaign.

Housekeeping (the usual stuff)
Reminder that we now have a Friending Meme and a (locked) post where you can connect with others with live in the same area. We hope you find both of these posts useful!

We also have a suggestion post if there’s a topic that you’d like to see discussed but would like to ask the mods to look into. This can be anything from general information, or a how-to-do-a-thing, or something you may want to discuss as a community. Folks are welcome to post directly to the comm as always, but if you’re not comfortable/don’t have spoons, we can help too.

As we don't always get the time to pull things out of the suggestions post into their own separate posts, it may be worth checking every week (or tracking the post) to see if there's any new information you're interested in.

Also if you need help with tags, PM redbird, who is our tag guru. Both tassosss and I are very grateful for the help.

So, what have you all been up to in the last week or are planning to get involved in next week?

Poll #20224 The Week

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11

View Respondents

This week, I...

View Answers

called my one senator
5 (45.5%)

called my other senator
4 (36.4%)

called my representative
1 (9.1%)

called my governor
1 (9.1%)

called my state reps
0 (0.0%)

sent a postcard/email/letter/fax
3 (27.3%)

attended a town hall
0 (0.0%)

donated money to a cause
6 (54.5%)

attended an in-person activist group
2 (18.2%)

participated in phone/online training
2 (18.2%)

went to a protest
0 (0.0%)

signed up for alerts
0 (0.0%)

took care of myself
2 (18.2%)

not a US citizen but worked in solidarity in my own community
1 (9.1%)

did something else
3 (27.3%)

committed to action in the coming week
2 (18.2%)

Comments

[rydra_wong]

I can say I DEFINITELY worked in solidarity in my own community this week, as a LOT of us (I haven't seen reliably-sourced numbers but it looks like well over 100,000) did and are doing in the UK.

I went on one of the London protest marches, and can recommend to US folks that you scroll through the hashtags and enjoy the signs (and the Angry Trump Baby blimp) -- there are some gems, and I hope it's morale-boosting for you to know that we are shouting in angry solidarity and support.

Twitter hashtags seem to include #TrumpUKVisit, #TrumpProtest, #TrumpProtests, #BringTheNoise, and #ScotlandAgainstTrump .

A few random links to get you started:

https://twitter.com/HillaryPix/status/1017776984124882945
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpbtVUtk32k

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b5747fc8ada65df35dad55b3d0264f08345c739a/0_59_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?w=620&q=20&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&dpr=2&s=dd3ce7b975e36d07940f1959706aacc8 -- Trump Baby aloft over Parliament Square

https://www.thedailybeast.com/feed-him-to-the-corgis-tens-of-thousands-of-brits-protest-trump
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/the-funniest-and-most-british-anti-trump-signs-at-the-carnival-of-resistance_uk_5b4899bde4b022fdcc587e14

Some of the drag contingent -- I saw them, they were so awesome, look at the BLACK LIVES MATTER running through the pattern in their clothes:

https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/07/13/17/drag-trump-protest.jpg
http://www.epa.eu/politics-photos/citizens-initiative-recall-photos/drag-against-trump-protest-in-london-photos-54487777

The legendary Southall Black Sisters had a gorgeous banner:

https://twitter.com/SBSisters/status/1017706543612088320
https://twitter.com/DebatINQUEST/status/1017777158050152449

Some fine use of language:

https://twitter.com/flair4thevisual/status/1017819645200478208/photo/1
https://twitter.com/iamdrewtnyc/status/1017776928219164672

THE MEMES ARE COMING:

https://twitter.com/07lycg/status/1017894607542243329

Sadly, I have not seen a photo of my favourite sign, which read: "Spoiler: this visit doesn't look good in the history books."

Naturally, the Trump Baby blimp has its own Twitter account: TrumpBabyUK

And is continuing to crowdfund so it can follow Trump round the world: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/trump-baby

I would obviously advise focusing your donations on voter registration and abortion funds and strategic litigation and so forth, but if you happen to have spare [small amount of currency] left over which it would be morale-boosting to spend on sheer gleeful spite, this seems like as good a cause as any.

Especially since we now know that a) news photographers love Trump Baby, and b) it genuinely gets under Trump's skin.

[teaotter]

One of my friends has been asking people for the list of candidates they're donating to/otherwise supporting in the upcoming midterms. Then he puts together an ActBlue page that will allow people to make a single donation that goes to everyone on the list.

Basically, he's putting together sets of recommendations for people who want to help, but won't if they have to do all the research themselves or sign up for a bunch of different donations. Once he has them posted, I'll post about it here in the comm.