Weekly Check In March 12

[tassosss]

Housekeeping
Huge thank you and shout out to redbird  who will be helping with tagging.

Reminder that we 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.

Get Involved
Did anyone participate in the ACLU's training on Saturday? Let us know how it went
Call Congress about the Republican Healthcare plan

Upcoming Protests
April 1: March for Health
April 15: Tax Day March
April 22: March for Science

News to know
Confirmation Hearings
Secretaryof Labor: Alex Acosta

Immigration / Dreamers
Update on Dreamers and the Muslim Ban

Healthcare
Link Roundup: on the Republicans Healthcare bill
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Get Educated
Link Roundup: Republicans vote to get rid of fair pay and safe workplace rules, tax hikes in Kansas, vulnerable democrats, science on opioids, detransitioning trans people in Wisconsin
Link Roundup: flippable state governments, healthcare, in memory of Sandra Bland, restrictive voting laws, anti-Trump resistance, ACLU grassroots
Trump Trackers - following up on regulatory and administration changes

How is everyone doing out there?

Poll #18085 This week

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

View Respondents

I

View Answers

called my one senator
7 (53.8%)

called my other senator
5 (38.5%)

called my representative
3 (23.1%)

called my state representatives
0 (0.0%)

called my governor
0 (0.0%)

sent a letter/email/postcard
7 (53.8%)

donated money to a cause
7 (53.8%)

went to an in person activist group
5 (38.5%)

participated in an online training/call
3 (23.1%)

went to a protest
4 (30.8%)

.

View Answers

signed up for daily action alerts
3 (27.3%)

took care or myself
6 (54.5%)

committed to action in the coming week
5 (45.5%)

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

did something else
5 (45.5%)

Comments

[redbird]

First: I have added a bunch of tags in the course of tagging old posts, but feel free to ask for more, including state:$your_state if that seems appropriate.

I went to a local meeting to watch the ACLU livestream and discuss future actions. I was hoping for more on taking it to the streets, and a lot of this was either inspirational or asking us to work to make the cities or towns we live in freedom cities. "Freedom cities" seems to be basically the same as "sanctuary cities," with a specific list of policies/rules we're supposed to ask for; the name change is (per the livestream) because ACLU leadership thinks that term is "tainted" (which I think means the administration will stomp on anyone using that, but I think they'll catch on to this one pretty fast).

(I posted about this in my own journal, but it digresses into the personal: https://redbird.dreamwidth.org/2705673.html.)

[executrix]

I agree with Redbird--I think the "freedom cities" flyer has some interesting info (I live in Jersey City, which is a sanctuary city, and the mayor and the city council president turned up at a different resistance training program last week). But I was turned off by the list of exercises we were supposed to do, and by the discouragement of groups in the same city working together--each separate group is supposed to seek separate meetings with legislators. I suppose the point is to tie them up with four meetings instead of one, but it seems pointless not to work together.

On a personal level I was really discouraged because there were at least 25 people there, and only two had heard about the resistance meeting DOWN THE BLOCK the next day.

[sathari]

First: THANK YOU for taking on the tagging! That's a lot!

Second: re: the ACLU livestream, which I also attended local-to-me, what kind of "taking it to the streets" ideas were you looking for versus what we got? (NGL, I was left with the impression that we got a lot of practical advice that we could put into action, both in terms of the technicalities of how to protest legally and in terms of what to do about this issue specifically, and what I'm hearing you say sounds like the opposite. Which suggests to me that you're a more experienced political activist than are a lot of us, myself included!)

(FWIW, I think the "rebranding" is actually kind of smart on the part of the ACLU because a) the whole concept of branding is demonstrably important to the current administration {snerk} and b) "freedom" is a word/concept that's harder to argue with than "sanctuary" in the context of American political discourse, at least IMO.) (And would you rather that I comment on your post on your journal over there or here? I have a thought or two about the "grassroots/national" piece.)

[redbird]

I think I am more experienced, though most of my protest experience before last December was many years ago. I have taken a chartered bus to Washington for a protest, a couple of times—I would be starting from scratch on arranging for the buses. So you may be right that I was just not the intended audience here.

I was expecting something about how to organize a protest, get people to attend, or about how to arrange for a permit as well as why, or an announcement of one or more planned protests, or similar. Calling the chief of police to ask for a meeting might be valuable, but it feels like the same kind of thing as calling my senators about a bill (if more difficult), or going to nominating caucuses the way some of my Minnesota friends do, rather than like in-the-streets activism.

[sathari]

*nod* Yeah, there are so, so, so many people who are very new indeed to any kind of protesting, me included. (Frankly, and I've said it before on here--- we're sort of lucky that the other side jumped when they did, because we've still got people from John Lewis on down to more "everyperson" protesters who remember things like Vietnam and the civil rights movement who are there to show the new generation how to roll.)

I admit I kind of liked that they started with the idea of feeling out local law enforcement to find out where you and they actually stand with each other on the issue in a very direct way--- and possibly, if you've got a friendly "top cop" finding out ways that "we the people" can support them (which may or may not include getting in the streets). The group I watched with definitely felt like conversations with local law enforcement and other related local agencies/actors had the potential to bear at least a little fruit, so it's almost certain to vary by community.

I was also left with the sense that we might be working our way up to kind of a "dichotomous key" in the trainings, where the next round may involve one training for people whose law enforcement is amenable (on ways to and one for... well, doing the kinds of in-the-streets activism you're talking about, in situations where local authorities need, hmm, a little persuading, shall we say? ;) (And... frankly, if I'm going to be gloom-and-doom about it... a third possibility for the "next step" is that in situations where local law enforcement is less than persuadable, it's better to keep heads down and provide local safe spaces for vulnerable people under the radar than to have your faces splashed all over the local news. That's a doomsday scenario and I try to avoid those, but it's not impossible either.)

thinking aloud, again

[redbird]

First: yes, we may well need the underground end of things, and I've probably already disqualified myself from that. I suspect that's going to be organized more quietly, not on a nationwide website open to anyone who expresses interest and will provide an email address.

Second, it feels like there are a couple of different shapes of protest around here. One are the more "establishment" kinds of things, which may be called at short notice, but involve significant elected officials, like a rally against hate organized by the Anti-Defamation League back in December (the first time I was in the streets after the election), which got a few hundred of us standing outside the Statehouse but had speakers including state legislators. The mayor of Boston has been at a lot of these, and he and Sen. Warren both spoke at the 24 hours' notice rally in Boston against the Muslim ban. Then there are things that are more trying to get the attention of those sympathetic officials, and/or let people generally know which side we're on, like the rally for trans* youth I went to a few weeks ago, where the only elected official was the first trans* member of the state Democratic committee.

At some point it may be useful for Senator Warren to be able to tell her colleagues "it's not just me, it's two million Americans last weekend" as well as for us to be telling our trans* immigrant neighbors that they're not alone.

[executrix]

BTW the regular Sunday resistance call had a segment on self-care, including breathing exercises and suggestions for people with PTSD. The speaker was from an organization called Dignity & Power Now. The whole call will be posted soon but in the meantime their twitter is @powerdignity and their hashtag is #300problematic. (Their main issue is civilian oversight of LA sheriffs.)

[sathari]

...okay, I'm embarrassed that I had literally ONLY JUST found out about the Sunday "Ready to Resist" calls--- Sunday's was my first one (and it is EXACTLY what I was looking for in all my faffing about "how do I prioritize my activism?"--- MoveOn has me covered, I see). And, I mean, I'm morally certain that our awesome mods and members had posted about it, and for that matter that I'd gotten emails from MoveOn itself about it, but somehow it just did not register with me until last week when I signed up.

On which note, and also in order to avoid comment-spamming you, I'm going to piggyback onto your other comment that you were discouraged that the people at your ACLU event hadn't heard about another event--- I just had a similar experience at a couple of local events (not to mention that, you know, despite being in this comm and on a bunch of progressive/liberal mailing lists I myself didn't know about something significant, see above)... but honestly it's kind of heartening to me that there are all these little organic pockets of resistance coalescing with each other over time.

I mean, let's face it, the four months since the "Hellection" not to mention the two since the "Sinauguration" do indeed feel like years, but it's not actually been that long in real time, and we've already had some successes (e.g. Pudzer stepped off--- that one alone straightens my spine and puts a dance in my marching step!--- and Sessions recused himself on Russia and the first Muslim ban went down in flames). So it's going to take a bit of time for us to connect with each other--- but we're doing it, little bit by little bit. And the fact that there are even more people out there who care, who are on our side about these shenanigans, is amazing--- it means that our ability to use the tools of democracy, of "we the people", is only going to grow. (I'm thinking, for example, of the last woman who called in to the Sunday call talking about how alone she'd felt in her community and Amanda Johnson was all like, "Here, let me hook you up with like three local groups that I personally know of in your area." That's just kind of how we're gonna be rolling for a bit--- finding each other, getting connected.*)

There's also the possibly-even-more-heartening possibility that at least some of the people we've both met at any given resistance action who didn't know about other activities are newly motivated to resist--- to go full Star Wars, "these are [their] first steps"... in other words, we're not just getting the pre-existing progressive/liberal/otherwise-never-Trump crowd, we're getting new people, first-timers, as it were. So they're just beginning to network/connect with existing groups--- and I daresay we can help with that. ;)

*Can I just take a moment to point and laugh at the whole idea of an organized, coordinated "deep state", whether led by Obama or anyone else, that the current administration is trying to put out as being the origin or root of the opposition to them? For heaven's sake, we're liberals, we don't herd well! If we liked hierarchy and being told what to think, we'd like the current administration... and on the other hand, if we were that coordinated and organized, we'd have won the election.

This is the opposite of a top-down conspiracy; it's a bottom-up grassroots groundswell--- we're a whole bunch of little voices that started whispering "No, no, no," on 11/9 (or before)--- and gradually, bit by bit, we're hearing one another, and those whispers, that may have started as denial or despair... are turning into a roar of... well, democracy.

[executrix]

This is what democracy looks like...being all up in the grill of our (dubiously) elected legislators!

I don't know if it's true, but last month the Wall Street Journal reported that the Democratic National Committee is being taken over by Sanders-nistas, which *I* found very heartening.

If you go to something billed as a Movement event in Jersey City, it's almost guaranteed that the mayor will show up, and in NYC there's a good chance that the mayor will. Rallies nationwide are frequently headlined by US Senators--a level of opposition among elected officials that took a DECADE to build in the struggle against the Vietnam War.

[sathari]

This is what democracy looks like...being all up in the grill of our (dubiously) elected legislators!

PREACH. We're citizens, they're our public servants--- up in their grill is just our natural habitat!

I don't know if it's true, but last month the Wall Street Journal reported that the Democratic National Committee is being taken over by Sanders-nistas, which *I* found very heartening.

That wasn't the impression I got attending the DNC meeting, which was heartening to me, since I'm very much NOT a Bernie-fan and much prefer a more centrist "there is room in our camp for everyone who's concerned about the foundations of our system of governance and/or their personal well-being under the current administration" kinda critter. (But I'm even less a fan of starting a fight with an ally, much less in the political equivalent of a burning house, so I'll stop there. ;) )

If you go to something billed as a Movement event in Jersey City, it's almost guaranteed that the mayor will show up, and in NYC there's a good chance that the mayor will. Rallies nationwide are frequently headlined by US Senators--a level of opposition among elected officials that took a DECADE to build in the struggle against the Vietnam War.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D This is joy and wonder. *dances* Better than that, this is what democracy looks like. (I've been reading all the Watergate stuff all of it, and it's freaking hilarious how much both Haldeman's The Ends of Power and Woodward and Bernstein's All the President's Men look uncannily like the current administration.)

[executrix]

There was a best-selling work of fiction, by Ira Levin, "The Boys from Brazil" that posited a bunch of youthful Hitler clones running around. Possibly some of Nixon's cells were scavenged for some unholy experiments...

A rising tide lifts all the boats, and Trump is managing to make *Nixon* look good.

ETA: Unfortunately, though, they don't really work for us--they work for the corporate donors. To an extent, we're trying to use the Tea Party weapons of showing up for everything, constantly hassling elected officials, and being obstructionist about everything *against* them. But it's important to remember that the Tea Party is less grassroots than AstroTurf--*we* don't have billionaires funding us.

[sathari]

I'm cackling at unholy experiments with Nixon's cells. And, yeah, seriously, this man does indeed make Nixon look good. Hell, I've had kind words for GWB in the past few days, and I've been known to call his administration "Bushreich." Must the Republican Party keep lowering the bar for itself? (Also, there is something downright Kafkaesque about the fact that someone mentored by a good buddy of Joe McCarthy's now has ties to Russia. Like, we could probably replace fossil fuels with the energy from a turbine powered by the spinning that McCarthy is doing in his grave.)

And, yeah on the tactics--- though honestly, I've been doing a little general historical poking, and frankly I'm increasingly convinced that it's less that those tactics belong to the Tea Party and more that that's just kind of what Americans are supposed to be doing with our elected officials in general--- politics is sort of supposed to be, if not our favorite fandom, then at least second-favorite (or our favorite hatedom, depending ;) ). Because when you get down to it, we've done rather a lot of this sort of thing in our history, clear back to the nation's founding.

[executrix]

Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue, and there used to be a lot more gestures toward respect and collegiality. I mean, Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland was "let's all cooperate and be friends!" tantamount to bringing a plastic butter spreader to a gunfight. With somebody who hunts rabbits with an assault rifle. And the Republicans didn't even come up with some bogus reason for not confirming him, they wouldn't even vote.

[tassosss]

So I think one thing we'll try to do here is at the very least put upcoming trainings in the weekly round up in a more calendared way. The ACLU training snuck up on me too even though rydra_wong had posted here about it. It got lost in the scroll back.

[sathari]

That is fantastic! I really appreciate everything you are all doing to keep us informed!

Now, This is some Quality Trolling

[executrix]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/13/1642899/-Texas-state-rep-introduces-bill-to-fine-men-for-masturbating-as-act-against-an-unborn-child?detail=email&link_id=1&can_id=8a862b6f2873206cd5111e31602e9c90&source=email-texas-state-rep-introduces-bill-to-fine-men-for-masturbating-as-act-against-an-unborn-child&email_referrer=texas-state-rep-introduces-bill-to-fine-men-for-masturbating-as-act-against-an-unborn-child___181945&email_subject=steve-king-is-perfectly-okay-with-his-racism-and-wants-you-to-know-it

Re: Now, This is some Quality Trolling

[tassosss]

Nice.