Never Give Up, Never Surrender

The focus this week has again been on immigration and family separation, with rallies across the country. If you were able to attend a rally and would like to talk about your experiences in the comments, we'd love to hear about them.

The conversation widened to cover the Muslim Ban, which was upheld in the Supreme Court -- just one of several 5-4 decisions in the last few weeks that have also rolled back rights for many Americans. Which was all topped off by the news that Justice Kennedy is resigning, giving the Orange Menace another Supreme Court pick. SCOTUSblog has a round up of coverage of the main events involving the court in the last week, if you want to dig a little deeper into the cases and the implication's of Kennedy's decision.

What's next? It's been quiet in the comm, but we still have lots of ongoing actions relating to these issues and to the vital mid-term elections.

Ongoing Actions -- Immigration

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

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 )

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

https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?id=4C678FA3-F7A5-42FF-B8B5-D7ED4DD1F3CB

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and 31 of her colleagues have introduced legislation to keep immigrant families together by preventing the Department of Homeland Security from taking children from their parents at the border.

The Keep Families Together Act was developed in consultation with child welfare experts to ensure the federal government is acting in the best interest of children. The bill is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Children’s Law Center, Young Center for Immigrant Rights and the Women's Refugee Commission.

A list of the senators co-sponsoring the bill is included at the link, as well as more background on the legislation.

Contact your senators to thank them for supporting the bill or to ask them to support it.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai is expected to unveil his plans for rolling back net neutrality in the next few weeks (although net neutrality apparently isn't one of the issues that the FCC will be voting on in November).

Meanwhile, some of the ISPs (Verizon and Comcast, from what I've seen) are trying to get the FCC to rule that states can't set their own local net neutrality rules.

Various groups are currently organising a push to contact Members of Congress and encourage them to kill the FCC plan.

Information and ideas for ways to help (in addition to calling) at Battle for the Net.

Find out if your Member of Congress is holding a session where you can drop in to talk about net neutrality

Donate to the campaign

From watersword in a comment in our suggestions post:

Rep. Ted Lieu (D - CA) has introduced a bill to ban conversion therapy (aka abusing queer people to make them not-queer) nationwide: HR.2119 - Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act of 2017. There's a companion bill in the Senate, S.928 - Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act of 2017. People can contact their reps or senators to thank them for co-sponsoring (the list of cosponsors is available at those links), or urge them to vote for the bills if and when they get out of committee.

The latest attempt to repeal the ACA (which is designed to placate the Freedom Caucus) is now being opposed by some of the more moderate Republicans who were on board with the first attempt. With the House Republican leadership trying to figure out how to proceed next week, here's a target list of representatives who need to be contacted today or Monday to let them know you oppose ACA repeal.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/857975457106538497

The Army Is Accepting Your Comments On The Dakota Access Pipeline

The Standing Rock Sioux are calling on members of the public to let the government know exactly how you feel about the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Department of the Army is accepting public comments leading up to its environmental impact statement in connection with Dakota Access’ request for them to grant an easement for the pipeline to cross North Dakota’s Lake Oahe. The comment period is open until Feb. 20, according to the document.

You can send a letter or an email.