1/22/17 links roundup

[snickfic]

I've been doing links roundups on my DW for a while, and tassosss suggested I start crossposting them here. Please be aware that I'm not vouching for the authority or opinions of any of the stuff I link; I just link things that catch my eye. You can find old linkspams under my politics tag, here.

Women's March
* link to spreadsheet estimating total Women's March participation (Twitter.) As of now, estimate is between 3.6 and 4.5 MILLION in US.

* To my fellow white women: no one was arrested today because we showed up in numbers. This is why we need to continue to show up. (Twitter)

Activism / resources
* "So you just got home from your local Women's March. Now what?" (Twitter)

* Call the Halls: Contacting Your Representative the Smart Way - by the gal whose initial "how to call your reps" tweets went viral two months ago.

* Find a local League of Women Voters - I knew this group did a ton of voter education and informed voting work, but I did not know until yesterday that their local branches hold forums and otherwise engage heavily with local issues, as opposed to just national ones. I am 100% going to be checking out some of these educational forums near me in the next while.

News / analysis
* Analysis of game Trump is playing with press. Really scary stuff. (Twitter)

* Tons of links/explanation for what Trump's inauguration day executive order is and means (Twitter)

* Sen. Tomes' protester bill met with criticism (Indiana Courier Press). This was the Indiana "clear roadways of protesters by any means necessary" bill. Sounds like it's dead in the water.

* At the Last Minute, Trump Asks Nuclear Safety Administrator to Stick Around After All (Gizmodo). WELL, GOOD.

* Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-WA) gets shouted down at MLK event by angry constituents (ThinkProgress)

* Governor Cuomo Announces Decisive Actions to Secure Access to Reproductive Health Services in New York (ny.gov)

Organizers Call evening of January 22

[executrix]

https://act.moveon.org/survey/indivisible?source=indivisible&link_id=2&can_id=8a862b6f2873206cd5111e31602e9c90&email_referrer=organizers-call-tonight-with-indivisible-moveonorg-working-families-party&email_subject=organizers-call-tonight-with-indivisible-moveonorg-working-families-party

Call-in for organizers from Indivisible and other organizations--planning for a coordinated action of contacting Senate offices on Jan. 24.

Weekly Check in January 22

[tassosss]

Happy day after the Women's March! I had a picture picked out to share but Photobucket isn't cooperating, so sadly no picture.

Women's March
Did you go to a march? How was it?

I was at the one in DC and it was incredible. If you've seen this picture of attendees (scroll down to second one), I just want to point out that the National Park Service Camera DOES NOT capture the moshpit of people on Independence Avenue that ran from 3rd (near the Capitol) to 15th (just before the Washington monument). It's a road that's hidden by the museums on the right side of the picture and people could literally not get to it because there were so many people. They moved the marching part to the other side of the Mall because nearly the entire march route was a filled with people standing on each others' toes. The estimate the media is reporting is 500,000 people for the march, but I personally think that is incredibly conservative. The Park Service doesn't do estimates, and DC is restricted airspace so aerial photography is difficult to impossible. One of the March marshals we saw said that their estimate was 1.2 million. I don't have anything to back that up, but the sheer masses of people everywhere you looked from Independence Ave, the Mall, then up Constitution Ave where we did march and north for 5 city blocks by 10 city blocks long - I could believe it. Every time you thought you were getting out of the crowds and into some breathing space you just ended up in another crowd.

It was really good to go out a see all the people who are upset and motivated to make the world a better place. I'll do a post write up about it soon. If you want to share your experience on the comm, please do. I think it's an important piece of inspiration.

ETA: saw this via snickfic * link to spreadsheet estimating total Women's March participation (Twitter.) As of now, estimate is between 3.6 and 4.5 MILLION in US.

What's Next
tielan linked us to "So you just got home from your local Women's March. Now what?" and we'll be putting together a post this week to round up sources and try to help folks get organized on that front.

Immediate Action
Organizers Call evening of January 22 - THIS IS TONIGHT! An info and training session run by MoveOn.org, Indivisible, and Working Families about getting organized for making tons of calls on Tuesday Jan 24. If you want to participate there's a sign up on the website. This is something to put on your calendar.
Virtual "call parties"? - Want mutual support to make those calls? Find your people here!

Events that happened
Indivisible Weekly - about Inauguration week
NYC Rally Jan. 19
Huffington Post Nationwide List of Inauguration Protests

Confirmation Hearings
U.S. Senate business meetings to vote on nominations
Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin

Last week - you can still call your Senators about these people
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: Governor Nikki R. Haley
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Scott Pruitt
Secretary of the Department of Commerce: Wilbur Ross
Secretary of the Interior: Ryan Zinke
Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Price
Secretary of Defense - James Mattis
Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development: Dr Ben Carson
Secretary of the Department of Transportation: Elaine Chao
Director of CIA - Mike Pompeo
Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson
Confirmation Hearings - Secretary of Energy: Rick Perry

Healthcare
Action: ACA Wavering Republicans

Things to read, places to donate
Effective protest signs
NARAL state-by-state infographic on anti-choice laws
Is it treason yet? - About Russia
US Politics: Discussion: Divestiture Is a Non-Partisan Issue
Effects of any ACA repeal will be huge

Hope Lives - Obama's new website

Resources
Downloadable Posters
Tips for Writing Editorials and Letters to the Editor
Oldie But Goodie: How to Protest Safely and Legally

Inspiration
Inauguration Day - in which our community shares inspiring quotes and songs and actions

Poll #17912 Inauguration week

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 23

View Respondents

This week I

View Answers

called my senator
8 (34.8%)

called my other senator
6 (26.1%)

called my representative
7 (30.4%)

called my state representative
2 (8.7%)

called my state senator
1 (4.3%)

called my governor
0 (0.0%)

MARCHED!
20 (87.0%)

took care of myself
10 (43.5%)

went to a local action group
3 (13.0%)

commited to one action in the coming week and put it on my calendar
4 (17.4%)

did something else not listed
6 (26.1%)

I still haven't made badges - are there folks out there who want to help out with that?

Confirmation Hearings - Director of Office of Management and Budget: Mick Mulvaney - TWO HEARINGS

[tanaqui]

Budget: Hearing to Consider Nomination of Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) to lead OMB

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Nomination of Hon. J. Michael Mulvaney to be Director, Office of Management and Budget

When: Tuesday 24 January from 10.30am (Budget) AND Tuesday 24 January from 2.30pm (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs)

( Committee Members, what the committees should be concerned about and calling script )

Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.

Confirmation Hearings - Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Price - SECOND HEARING

[tanaqui]

Hearing to Consider the Anticipated Nomination of The Honorable Tom Price to be Secretary of Health and Human Services

When: Tuesday 24 January from 10.00am

There is a second hearing into the nomination of Tom Price to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. This one is in front of the Finance committee, which is responsible for funding healthcare programs under the Social Security Act, including Medicare and Medicaid.

This is particularly important, as one of Trump's first acts on inauguration day was to sign a (very unclear) Executive Order giving the Department of Health and Social Services a lot of latitude for unwinding ACA and other healthcare programs without legislation. Read this link (provided by snickfic in the 22 Jan roundup) for a full explanation.

We've already laid out the reasons the committee should be concerned about Tom Price in this post for the hearing last week in front of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. Please check the comments, where j00j provided some additional information on Price's insider trading, together with an excellent revised script.

( Committee Members )

Confirmation Hearings - Administrator of the Small Business Administration: Linda E. McMahon

[tanaqui]

Nomination of Linda E. McMahon to be Administrator of the Small Business Administration

When: Tuesday 24 January from 10.00am

( Committee Members and what the committee should be concerned about )

Suggested action:McMahon is a fairly weak candidate, lacking experience in making and implementing policy and probably with a fairly narrow perspective of how to achieve business success, as she only seems to have founded and grown one business (which was based on her husband's existing family business). She also appears to be the sort of woman who likes to view herself as promoting other women but is very quick to throw them under the bus when her personal friendships or own interests are threatened.

However, Senator Blumenthal, who probably knows her quite well from Connecticut political and business circles, seems to think she is more realistic and moderate in her economic outlook than most of Trump's picks (although I would expect her to be on board with Trump's efforts to reduce regulation). I didn't see any evidence that there's any strong reason to oppose her, so it's probably not worth calling about this one. But please let us know in comments if there are strong reasons the committee should reject the nomination.

Housekeeping note: This is the last of the confirmation hearings currently scheduled for the coming week, but I'm sure more will be added for later in the week. Especially as Trump has apparently only nominated 28 out of 690 posts that require senate confirmation. Enjoy this article about why that's so damn scary….