Weekly Check In January 29

[tassosss]

If anyone needs a destressing breathing exercise: inhale through your nose while counting to 4, hold your breath while counting to 7, exhale through your mouth while counting to 8. It helps a little, and it's how I try to calm myself enough to sleep at night.

Okay. Here we go.

Muslim Ban

First off, to all our Muslim followers, I want to say you are welcome here. In this community, in the United States, in the world.

Picture of lawyers from last night who are at the airports working pro bono to help people get out of detention. Hope.

Airport protests happened yesterday and are happening today in most major cities. If you go to one, let us know about your experience.

Donate to the National Immigration Law Center,
via naye 
American Civil Liberties Union (the Foundation is US tax deductible; the Union is not)
American Immigration Lawyers Association (not a charity; contributions not US tax deductible)
Council on American-Islam Relations (registered charity - note: if donating from abroad, use PayPal)
Amnesty USA (registered charity)
Human Rights First (registered charity)
Alliance for Justice (registered charity)
Center for Constitutional Rights (registered charity)
Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (registered charity)
Council on American-Islam Relations (registered charity - note: if donating from abroad, use PayPal)
Amnesty USA (registered charity)
Human Rights First (registered charity)
Alliance for Justice (registered charity)
Center for Constitutional Rights (registered charity)
Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (registered charity)
- let me know of others in comments and I'll add them to the list. Matching is going on right now for the ACLU, so it's a good time to donate.

A very short list of Republicans who've come out against the ban (Vox)
This week, call your representatives and senators.
Script (source)
My name is (name). I am a voter in district #(your district). I feel strongly that Representative/Senator (name) should issue a statement opposing the unjust executive order banning Muslim immigrants to the United States. Our country was built on religious tolerance, not discrimination. Thank you.

A Stay was issued by a federal judge in New York, but it only says that people being detained can't be deported back to where they came from. (NYT)
Homeland Security is ignoring the judge's ruling. (NBC) So there's that.
Trumps ban doesn't include countries where he has business ties. (Bloomberg)

What's next on Trump-Bannon's list for foreign visitors: Asking for their social media accounts and cell numbers (CNN)

*
On to the rest.

Get involved
Tonight
Want to get involved with coordinated action? MoveOn is hosting a call in to plan items for next week. Sign up to get your phone looped in.

Sign up for a daily/weekly action alert
We've got a running list, so if you find a new one, lets us know and we'll add it.

Topics to Call About
DC Needs Your Help The city gets screwed by Congress who comes in from other parts of the country to tell it how to run itself. Highest order of hypocracy.

Science is under attack at the EPA and National Parks
How to leak around gag orders
Lessons from Stephen Harper's war on science in Canada
As of Wednesday, NASA has not been hit by gag orders

Healthcare
executrix reports out from the Families USA webinar
Leaked audio from the Republican Philadelphia retreat shows that some are nervous about repeal with out replace. THIS MEANS THE PRESSURE IS WORKING. KEEP IT UP.
The Dutch are stepping up to fund international women's healthcare, and you can donate to help them.

Confirmation hearings
Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos
Director of Office of Management and Budget: Mick Mulvaney - TWO HEARINGS
Administrator of the Small Business Administration: Linda E. McMahon
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Price - SECOND HEARINGU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: Governor Nikki R. Haley

Some of the ones below have already been confirmed
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Scott Pruitt
Secretary of the Department of Commerce: Wilbur Ross
Secretary of the Interior: Ryan Zinke
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Price
Secretary of Defense - James Mattis
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
Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin

What to do after the hearings

A little inspiration
Resisting Hate - story of Whitefish Montana coming together against the White Supremacy march


Housekeeping
We're looking for another mod to help with tagging. If anyone is interested, let us know.

Also, forgive me for not answering all comments on these posts. My pattern for self-care seems to be taking every other day or so off from looking at the news. I read all the comments, but I don't always have the capacity to answer.

How are you all doing?

Poll #17940 The week

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

View Respondents

This week

View Answers

called my one senator
9 (52.9%)

called my other senator
7 (41.2%)

called my rperesentative
3 (17.6%)

got on a reistance call
1 (5.9%)

signed uup for dailiy or weekly action alerts
7 (41.2%)

went to a protest
9 (52.9%)

got involved with a local group
4 (23.5%)

donated money
8 (47.1%)

did something else
5 (29.4%)

took care of myself
12 (70.6%)

cont

View Answers

called state senator
1 (14.3%)

called state representative
2 (28.6%)

called governor
0 (0.0%)

committed to action in the coming week
6 (85.7%)

Comments

[teaotter]

Looking at the quick protests at airports yesterday, I was just so grateful that there are so many of us in this fight together.

I'm taking a break this weekend before jumping back in on Monday, so seeing that there are enough of us that we can do that -- that we can take a break when we need to and come back so others can take a break -- that really meant a lot to me this weekend.

[sathari]

Oh, man, SO MUCH STUFF that I have been doing in meatspace. The fact that there is a thriving liberal-Democrat-queer community in my little-blue-island-in-a-red-sea county is just blowing my mind with joy and wonder and "yay, I've found my people away from the internets!" feelings, along with the "getting up and doing something is the best way not to feel helpless and terrified" (/Obama paraphrase) feelings. (In the last four days, I've done something political besides the now-daily phonecalls to reps on three of them, and I have something scheduled for tomorrow as well.) (Politics: my new fandom.)

I keep meaning to make a post here for people to comment with their women's march experiences--- maybe I will let that go for the one-month anniversary of the march, just as a way to try to help keep our spirits up over the longer term--- like, "it's the one-month anniversary of the women's marches, let's lift our spirits by remembering and sharing our experiences of that energy."

Things I've learned/am learning this week:

- If you have a local community group that's "all fired up and ready to go" (as one of the chants at my local women's march went ;) ), especially if it's newly-formed post-election, it may help to start setting some specific goals for yourselves and deadlines for achieving them. I don't want to get too specific because everyone's meatspace (and headspace) is different, but that's something really productive that I've observed in at least one group.

- If you're new to the interpersonal dynamics of existing local activist/political groups, try to find your way to someone who can act as a "field guide". (Just because we share a broad political affiliation with a group doesn't mean the internal politics thereof can't be studded with landmines.) Again, I'm reluctant to be more specific than that because everyone's meatspace and headspace is different, but it does help not to go in completely cold.