Tuesday, October 31, 2017

UPDATE: MoveOn's current situation (and how you can help)

The response to my email last week has been incredible so far, and really gratifying. Amazing! We're almost there.

Hi Eddie—

The response to my email last week (which is pasted below) has been incredible so far, and really gratifying. I asked for your help to raise $250,000 by the end of October—to close our first fundraising gap of the Trump era. MoveOn members have given over $180,000 so far in response to this appeal. Amazing! We're almost there.

Can you chip in $3, so that we can hit the ground running with fully funded campaigns in November?

For more details on MoveOn's current situation and how you can help close the gap, see my email from last week, below.


Dear MoveOn member,

In my three years, four months, and 10 days as MoveOn's chief financial officer, I've only emailed you a few times.

As the "numbers guy," I oversee MoveOn's finances and operations, but I'm writing to you now because I have a decision to make as I get ready to close out MoveOn's financial accounts for this quarter. And I need your help.

I'll get straight to it: For the first time in the Trump era, MoveOn is falling behind. We're coming up short this month by about $250,000, and I've cleared my desk to help my fundraising colleagues close the gap before the end of the month.

Which is why I'm asking: Will you please chip in $3 and help MoveOn close out the month without cuts to our critical work?

Here's the deal: MoveOn spent more last quarter than we anticipated. I'll tell you why in a moment (though—spoiler alert!—"Defeating Trumpcare" is a big part of the reason). But the bottom line is that our fundraising didn't keep pace with our campaigning expenses.

So either I have to help close MoveOn's financial shortfall, or I have to meet with our executive directors Anna and Ilya and propose cuts to our work over the next two months.

Eddie, my brain may be focused on stretching MoveOn's lean and mean budget, but my heart is passionate about MoveOn members' unparalleled and highly effective work for progressive change.

With major tax and budget fights in Congress on the horizon, plus the Dream Act, plus defending our health care victory, plus gearing up to take back the House in 2018, I can't see anywhere MoveOn members aren't needed to help lead the charge.

Please. Will you help close MoveOn's shortfall by making a contribution of $3 right now, so that members like you and our team can hit the ground in November with fully-funded campaigns?

You may be wondering: Why the shortfall?

As I see it, MoveOn's team and members like you have been working around the clock for more than a year, effectively responding—as a front line defense force—to the "firehose of bad," as I call it, coming from Donald Trump and the GOP.

Together—because of strategic and painstaking work on many issues all at once—we've clawed out some real victories which have made the lives of people across the country better. And I'm damn grateful for this work and so proud to be on MoveOn's team (and a MoveOn member, as well).

Here's just a short list of work we've done this year. Frankly, it gives me hope—and propels me to break out of my usual routine and ask for your help:

  • We saved the Affordable Care Act by stopping Trumpcare again and again—when so many said it wouldn't be possible.
  • With allies, we've rallied to beat back three separate versions of Trump's racist Muslim ban.
  • We've helped send corrupt people such as Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and Tom Price packing and won a special prosecutor to investigate Trump's Russia ties, despite all-out White House efforts to obstruct justice.
  • We contributed an awe-inspiring $3.5 million to hurricane relief in Puerto Rico and opened our homes across Texas and Louisiana for our neighbors seeking shelter.
  • And so. Much. More. (So much—I know, because I authorize the campaign spending, and field emails from MoveOn's team at all hours of the day and night.)

Now, we need your help to deny Trump and his cronies a tax break for the 1% and corporations. And we need your help to win a clean Dream Act—because it's the right thing to do and because the lives of 800,000 of our young neighbors depend on it.

I love MoveOn and am inspired by the dedication, grit, and sheer excellence of MoveOn's millions of members.

I want us not to give an inch. Not to falter because of a fixable shortfall. We need to rise powerfully--together--to do all of this important work. And—at the same time—we also need to start planning to take back the House in 2018!!

But we simply can't leap forward and do everything that we've planned unless we close the gap in our current budget.

Can you help by chipping in $3 right now?

The day after the election, MoveOn members organized and joined hundreds of vigils around the country, which helped spark a historic people's resistance to Trump and all that he represents. Two months later, we were part of the powerful Women's March and countless national and local actions that followed. In the months after, we denied Trump any major legislative victory. Together, we've made record-breaking numbers of calls to Congress, rallied at congressional offices, swarmed airports in opposition to Trump's racist Muslim ban, and built sharp-edged emergency response networks to help stop a Trump war before he starts one.

MoveOn members like you make this work possible. Heartfelt thanks for all you do.

–Robert Fox

P.S. I was almost tempted to write you sort of a schticky Halloween email pointing out all the ways that Trump and co. are terrifying. But I had to face facts: That's not me. I'm more of a cut-to-the-chase kind of person. And even if I could pull it off, I thought it just wouldn't be right because I trust that MoveOn members like you can hear and respond to a straightforward ask for help in a tough time. Please chip in if you can. And thanks.

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.


PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 31st, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Sign the petition re: Robert Mueller

Trump could fire Robert Mueller tomorrow, unless Congress acts now. Sign the petition to demand Congress pass bipartisan legislation to protect the Russia investigation.

Dear MoveOn member,

Today's events proved there was criminal behavior inside the Trump campaign. Now, with the threat that the White House could shut down Robert Mueller's investigation, will you click here to sign my petition asking Congress to pass a bipartisan bill preventing Trump from firing Mueller?

Two of Donald Trump's close campaign associates—Paul Manafort, who ran his campaign, and Rick Gates—have just been charged with "conspiracy against the United States" as a result of Robert Mueller's independent investigation into the ties between Trump's team and Russian interference in our 2016 elections.Another Trump former advisor, George Papadopoulos, has also pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about communications with Russian agents during the campaign.2

But Trump could fire Mueller and obstruct this investigation, unless Congress acts. That's why I started a petition, which says: 
We the people ask the Senate and House of Representatives to do everything in your power to ensure that Mueller cannot be fired or removed and that the investigation will continue regardless of Trump's attempts to stop it.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Donald Trump and his administration have found themselves in danger—and have openly talked about removing Mueller and his team for months.

The good news is, there are bipartisan bills in both houses of Congress to protect the Mueller investigation.3 Let's make sure that members of Congress see widespread, public support for them to take immediate action.

Now that Mueller has indicted former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and campaign adviser Rick Gates, we need to make sure Trump can't fire Mueller and derail the investigation. The American people deserve the truth—and no one is above the law.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

—Jane Dewing

Source:

1. Paul Manafort, Who Once Ran Trump Campaign, Indicted on Money Laundering and Tax Charges," The New York Times, October 30, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/20060?t=18&akid=192442%2E10220574%2E6QgtMq

2. "Ex-Trump campaign adviser pleads guilty to making false statement," CNN Politics, October 30, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/20064?t=20&akid=192442%2E10220574%2E6QgtMq

3. "Bipartisan House Bill Aimed At Protecting Special Counsels Unveiled," TPM Muckraker, September 15, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/20237?t=22&akid=192442%2E10220574%2E6QgtMq

You're receiving this petition because we thought it might interest you. It was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions. You can start your own petition here.

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 31st, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Destructive, obscene, and immoral

Wealth and income inequality is the great moral, economic, and political issue of our time. The wealthiest Americans—the top 1/10 of 1 percent—own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. Unbelievably, the GOP plan would make matters even worse.

Dear MoveOn member,

This summer, I went on the road with MoveOn to help defeat the Republican "health care" bill that would have thrown as many as 32 million Americans off of the health insurance that they currently have.

Now, Donald Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress are back at it. This time, they’re trying to push through one of the most horrific and destructive budget and tax proposals in the history of our country.

This budget would do incalculable harm to tens of millions of working families, women, kids, the sick, the elderly, and the poor.

It cuts Medicaid by more than $1 trillion over 10 years—which would throw some 15 million Americans off of their health insurance. Further, this budget does what the Republicans did not attempt in their previous health care legislation: It attacks senior citizens by proposing a $473 billion cut to Medicare. This Republican budget also makes enormous cuts to education, nutrition, affordable housing and transportation.

Meanwhile, while decimating life and death programs for working families, the Republican budget provides $1.9 trillion in tax breaks for the richest people in our country and the largest corporations. In fact, about 80 percent of the Republican tax breaks would go to the top 1 percent and 40 percent to the top 1/10 of 1 percent.

This Republican plan is not just unfair, it is morally obscene. Fighting against it is one of the most important battles that I have ever waged. But I won't be able to defeat this moral travesty alone. To defeat it, we need a movement as big and powerful as the one that defeated Trumpcare.

That’s why I’m asking you, Eddie: Can you help MoveOn build a movement to fight against the Republican tax giveaway to the billionaire class and save health care for tens of millions of Americans?

Click here to chip in $3 to help MoveOn stop the destructive, obscene, and immoral GOP budget and tax plan.

Wealth and income inequality is the great moral, economic, and political issue of our time. The wealthiest Americans—the top 1/10 of 1 percent—own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. Unbelievably, the GOP plan would make matters even worse.

Republicans want to eliminate the estate tax, which only applies to estates larger than $5.45 million. They want to massively reduce taxes for corporations. And they want to create an enormous loophole for businesses like Trump's. The New York Times estimates that Trump himself would get a $1.1 billion tax break from his own plan! How crazy is that!

We can stop this scheme—just like we stopped the series of attacks on health care—with grassroots energy, steadfast innovation, and total determination. MoveOn members like you, Eddie, can make the difference in defeating this awful proposal—just like you made the difference in the fight against Trumpcare. We need you, because this fight will require serious resources.

With your help, MoveOn can organize constituents across the country to make nonstop waves of phone calls, join rallies and protests, and raise their voices online in ways that Republican lawmakers won't be able to ignore.

Eddie, can you chip in $3 and join the fight?

Now is the time to demand tax reform that benefits working families and the middle class, not legislation that makes the very rich even richer.

This is the fight of a lifetime. As the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and as an American, I believe that I have a moral obligation to fight against this giveaway to the billionaire class that will come at the expense of everyday folks. And I honestly believe that with your help, we can prevail.

In solidarity,

–Senator Bernie Sanders

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.


PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Sign the petition re: 10-year-old imprisoned following life-saving surgery

Rosa Maria Hernandez is now in a child detention center, 150 miles away from her parents.

Dear MoveOn member,

This is what our country has come to: We're imprisoning little children immediately following emergency surgery. Ten-year-old Rosa Maria Hernandez is now in a detention center, 150 miles away from her parents, after Border Patrol was alerted while she was on her way to a life-saving gallbladder surgery.1

Will you sign and share my petition demanding that the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration release 10-year-old medical patient Rosa Maria? Click here to sign.

Release 10-year-old medical patient Rosa Maria immediately and stop allowing the Department of Homeland Security to target immigrants and their children in hospitals, ambulances, and other sensitive locations.

Rosa Maria is undocumented, having been brought to the U.S. when she was just three months old.2

According to The New York Times, Border Patrol agents allowed Rosa Maria's ambulence to continue to Driscoll Children's Hospital but followed it the rest of the way there, then waited outside her room until she was released from the hospital. Rosa Maria is now in a children's detention center for immigrants, over 150 miles away from her parents, who are both undocumented in Laredo.3

Sign and share this petition now to tell Donald Trump's deportation force to let Rosa Maria go!

Even for the Trump administration, this is a new low. The Border Patrol violated many of its own guidelines around avoiding sensitive places like hospitals and keeping children and families together whenever possible.

If enough of us raise our voices, Trump will have no choice but to let Rosa Maria go, and we might even be able to make changes to make sure this sort of violation never happens again.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Kyle de Beausset

Sources:

1. "Undocumented 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy detained by US Border Patrol after undergoing emergency surgery," Independent, October 26, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/19921?t=18&akid=192277%2E10220574%2E1qY-Fu

2. "10-Year-Old Immigrant Is Detained After Agents Stop Her on Way to Surgery," The New York Times, October 25, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/19922?t=20&akid=192277%2E10220574%2E1qY-Fu

3. Ibid.

You're receiving this petition because we thought it might interest you. It was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions. You can start your own petition here.

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 27th, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Thursday, October 26, 2017

MoveOn's current situation (and how you can help)

In my three years, four months, and 10 days as MoveOn's chief financial officer, I've only emailed you a few times. As the "numbers guy," I oversee MoveOn's finances and operations, but I'm writing to you now because I have a decision to make as I get ready to close out MoveOn's financial accounts for this quarter. And I need your help.

Dear MoveOn member,

In my three years, four months, and 10 days as MoveOn's chief financial officer, I've only emailed you a few times.

As the "numbers guy," I oversee MoveOn's finances and operations, but I'm writing to you now because I have a decision to make as I get ready to close out MoveOn's financial accounts for this quarter. And I need your help.

I'll get straight to it: For the first time in the Trump era, MoveOn is falling behind. We're coming up short this month by about $250,000, and I've cleared my desk to help my fundraising colleagues close the gap before the end of the month.

Which is why I'm asking: Will you please chip in $3 and help MoveOn close out the month without cuts to our critical work?

Here's the deal: MoveOn spent more last quarter than we anticipated. I'll tell you why in a moment (though—spoiler alert!—"Defeating Trumpcare" is a big part of the reason). But the bottom line is that our fundraising didn't keep pace with our campaigning expenses.

So either I have to help close MoveOn's financial shortfall, or I have to meet with our executive directors Anna and Ilya and propose cuts to our work over the next two months.

Eddie, my brain may be focused on stretching MoveOn's lean and mean budget, but my heart is passionate about MoveOn members' unparalleled and highly effective work for progressive change.

With major tax and budget fights in Congress on the horizon, plus the Dream Act, plus defending our health care victory, plus gearing up to take back the House in 2018, I can't see anywhere MoveOn members aren't needed to help lead the charge.

Please. Will you help close MoveOn's shortfall by making a contribution of $3 right now, so that members like you and our team can hit the ground in November with fully-funded campaigns?

You may be wondering: Why the shortfall?

As I see it, MoveOn's team and members like you have been working around the clock for more than a year, effectively responding—as a front line defense force—to the "firehose of bad," as I call it, coming from Donald Trump and the GOP.

Together—because of strategic and painstaking work on many issues all at once—we've clawed out some real victories which have made the lives of people across the country better. And I'm damn grateful for this work and so proud to be on MoveOn's team (and a MoveOn member, as well).

Here's just a short list of work we've done this year. Frankly, it gives me hope—and propels me to break out of my usual routine and ask for your help:

  • We saved the Affordable Care Act by stopping Trumpcare again and again—when so many said it wouldn't be possible.
  • With allies, we've rallied to beat back three separate versions of Trump's racist Muslim ban.
  • We've helped send corrupt people such as Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and Tom Price packing and won a special prosecutor to investigate Trump's Russia ties, despite all-out White House efforts to obstruct justice.
  • We contributed an awe-inspiring $3.5 million to hurricane relief in Puerto Rico and opened our homes across Texas and Louisiana for our neighbors seeking shelter.
  • And so. Much. More. (So much—I know, because I authorize the campaign spending, and field emails from MoveOn's team at all hours of the day and night.)

Now, as we barrel into the next quarter, we need your help to deny Trump and his cronies a tax break for the 1% and corporations. And we need your help to win a clean Dream Act—because it's the right thing to do and because the lives of 800,000 of our young neighbors depend on it.

I love MoveOn and am inspired by the dedication, grit, and sheer excellence of MoveOn's millions of members.

I want us not to give an inch. Not to falter because of a fixable shortfall. We need to rise powerfully--together--to do all of this important work. And—at the same time—we also need to start planning to take back the House in 2018!!

But we simply can't leap forward and do everything that we've planned unless we close the gap in our current budget.

Can you help by chipping in $3 right now?

The day after the election, MoveOn members organized and joined hundreds of vigils around the country, which helped spark a historic people's resistance to Trump and all that he represents. Two months later, we were part of the powerful Women's March and countless national and local actions that followed. In the months after, we denied Trump any major legislative victory. Together, we've made record-breaking numbers of calls to Congress, rallied at congressional offices, swarmed airports in opposition to Trump's racist Muslim ban, and built sharp-edged emergency response networks to help stop a Trump war before he starts one.

MoveOn members like you make this work possible. Heartfelt thanks for all you do.

–Robert Fox

P.S. I was almost tempted to write you a schticky Halloween email pointing out all the ways that Trump and Co. are terrifying. But I had to face facts: That's just not me. I'm more of a cut-to-the-chase kind of person. And even if I could pull it off, I thought it wouldn't be right, because I trust that MoveOn members like you can hear and respond to a straightforward ask for help in a tough time. Please chip in if you can. And thanks.

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.


PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 26th, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Sign the petition re: A real solution for the heroin, fentanyl, oxycontin, and opioid epidemic

Will you sign and share my petition demanding that the Trump administration declare a national health emergency for the opioid crisis that includes significant new, long-term funds for both prevention and treatment?

Dear fellow MoveOn member,

The opioid epidemic is hurting real people: Every 10 minutes, a mother, a child, a friend, a neighbor—or fellow American—dies from a drug overdose.1

Tomorrow, Donald Trump is finally expected to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency—more than two months after he first committed to doing so, and potentially more than 10,000 overdoses later.2

But without significant new funds for a long-term, comprehensive strategy for both prevention and treatment, the declaration alone is not likely to be successful.3 

Join with me by signing and sharing this petition demanding that the Trump administration follow up on his promise to declare a national health emergency for the opioid crisis with significant new, long-term funds for both prevention and treatment. Click here to sign.

The opioid crisis must be declared a national health emergency with significant new funds for a long-term, comprehensive strategy for both prevention and treatment so that communities can mobilize resources to fight this epidemic over the long haul.

Without new funding for a comprehensive strategy tackling prevention and treatment, a declaration of a national emergency will not be effective.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Matt Hildreth

Sources:

1. "Trump keeps kicking opioid crisis down the road," USA Today, October 17, 2017. 
https://act.moveon.org/go/19293?t=17&akid=192164%2E10220574%2EUu7bMH

2. "Trump readies opioid plan, but some worry it won't be enough," ABC News, October 25, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/19824?t=19&akid=192164%2E10220574%2EUu7bMH

3. Ibid.

You're receiving this petition because we thought it might interest you. It was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions. You can start your own petition here.

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 25th, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Re: Your personal message

Will you make sure that your message gets heard by starting a petition campaign today?

Dear MoveOn member,

Together, we're beating back some of the most dangerous parts of the Trump administration's agenda—including standing with immigrant youth after Trump ended DACA and fighting to save health care for millions of Americans by stopping the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

It's because millions of people—just like you—are using their voices to express the values that they believe in. 

Now, can you join them and make your voice louder? Click here to start a petition on an issue that matters to you.

Petitions are powerful. They are one of the oldest, most effective tools for change. They: 

  • Allow you to reach many people who support the same values or causes. MoveOn members have been winning campaigns for almost 20 years. There's no doubt: Every campaign and message needs supporters, and a petition will help you reach them.
  • Get your voice directly to the people who have the power to make your change happen. MoveOn's tools will automatically alert your petition targets to your demand and email them regular updates about your petition, including how many signatures you collect and comments from people who join your campaign.
  • Give you a base of supporters to organize for further actions. Your petition isn't just a way to collect names in support of a campaign—it's also a pathway to action. Using the tools on your MoveOn dashboard, you can send messages to your petition signers and ask them to take another step, such as calling your petition targets or attending an in-person event.

Click here to start your own petition on an issue that matters to you.

Petitions are a fundamental building block of most MoveOn campaigns. Sometimes just the act of circulating a strong petition can be transformative, driving media coverage and affecting public opinion. Other times, petitions serve as a tool in a much broader effort—the first step in a longer journey.

We'll be here to help you, from helping build support for your petition by connecting you to other MoveOn members, to reimbursing you for printing costs to deliver your petition in person, and more.

Will you create a petition now? Click here to get started.

Thanks for all you do.

–Maria, Corinne, Erica, Alex, and the rest of the team

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 25th, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Monday, October 23, 2017

Three weeks since the Las Vegas shooting

How you and hundreds of thousands of your fellow MoveOn members have helped the movement for gun safety grow stronger.

Dear MoveOn member, 

It's been three weeks since the Las Vegas, NV, shooting—in which 58 people were killed and hundreds more were injured.

In the aftermath, hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members—including gun owners—are taking effective action, mobilizing quickly to ensure members of Congress and elected officials around the country take meaningful steps to end senseless gun violence. 

As a result, we can celebrate a major victory that we helped achieve: This weekend, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted to reject donations from the gun lobby and other predatory corporate interests—after more than 20,000 MoveOn members signed a petition by Sandy Phillips—the mother of an Aurora, CO, movie theater shooting victim. Sandy's petition was delivered to the DNC by California committee member Christine Pelosi shortly before the vote.

Below are more details on this victory and on further inspiring actions led by MoveOn members and allies. Social change is not a quick or easy process, but in the wake of the Las Vegas tragedy—together—we helped the movement for gun safety grow stronger:

VICTORY: Democratic Party rejects the NRA and other predatory corporate donors

More than 20,000 people signed a petition by MoveOn member Sandy Phillips—whose daughter, Jessi, was slaughtered in the Aurora, Colorado theater massacre in 2012—asking the DNC to reject donations from the gun industry. 

And this weekendthe DNC, the governing body of the national Democratic Party—heard us and took action: They passed an official resolution rejecting donations from the gun lobby and other corporate donors that conflict with the Democrats' platform.1

Additionally, dozens of members of Congress who have received NRA campaign support are now facing pressure from thousands of MoveOn members in their districts to give back or donate NRA contributions to causes focused on gun violence prevention. Click here to find out if your members of Congress have received money and sign or start a similar petition to #RejecttheNRA. 

Battling the NRA in its home state, Virginia

We’re helping defeat the NRA in Virginia by supporting a slate of diverse progressive candidates who support commonsense gun legislation.

MoveOn members in Virginia have voted overwhelmingly to endorse Ralph Northam for governor, Justin Fairfax for lieutenant governor, along with 11 House of Delegate candidates. And while the NRA is funneling funds to the Republican candidates, we are bringing people power into Virginia, along with deploying state-of-the-art SMS tools and persuasive video content, to demonstrate that we can take on—and defeat—the NRA.

And MoveOn members around the country are making calls to progressive Virginia voters to encourage them to volunteer and—most critically—vote on November 7. Click here to help get out the vote and deliver the NRA and their Republican enablers an electoral defeat.

Delivering a strong message to Congress: Act to end gun violence NOW

The day after the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Mark Carman, a Grammy-nominated country music producer and gun owner, launched a campaign on the MoveOn petitions platform calling on Congress to take meaningful action to stop gun violence.

More than 215,000 MoveOn members from across the nation signed Mark's petition, and his impassioned video on Facebook now has 2.7 million views!

Days later, Mark traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak at a press conference and bolster the efforts of Representative Elizabeth Esty—who represents Newtown, CT, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place—to announce the introduction of the Keep Americans Safe Act, which would limit high capacity magazines.

And last week, MoveOn teamed up with Newtown Action Alliance and other groups to hold a vigil and rally outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to demand action on gun violence. 

MoveOn members were thanked multiple times and heartbreaking petition comments were read aloud, including this one from Sherry C. of Las Vegas:

"I was in attendance at Route 91 festival and am a gun owner and lifelong resident of Las Vegas. I grew up around guns, own guns, and believe in the Second Amendment. However, there is no place for assault weapons in our society outside of the military. Period. PLEASE—enough is enough."

Meanwhile, volunteers personally hand-delivered Mark's petition to all 535 offices of members of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Members of Congress are listening—and speaking out

The morning after the Las Vegas tragedy, Representative John Lewis spoke, prophetically asking: “How many dead bodies will it take to wake up this Congress?"

In the days following, incredible work from gun violence prevention allies and outrage from MoveOn members across the country has helped many members of Congress to listen and speak out.

Representative Dina Titus, who represents the area of Las Vegas where the shooting took place, recorded an exclusive video with MoveOn encouraging the public to stay vigilant in the movement to stop gun violence and hold elected officials accountable in 2018. Her colleague, Representative Ruben J. Kihuen, talked about how it’s incomprehensible that Congress is refusing to take up common sense legislation to stop gun violence.

Many members of Congress have also introduced several new pieces of legislation for commonsense gun violence prevention measures—such as banning bump stocks, the tool used by the Las Vegas shooter to convert his guns into a fully-automatic weapons.2

All of this work and progress is possible only because of your support, dedication, and heart. MoveOn members and our allies have been working to advance gun violence prevention for years, and it can seem like an uphill climb. But, when we come together, we have the power to take on the NRA and to move the needle towards commonsense gun laws.

Thank you for being a part of the MoveOn community and for joining, leading, and supporting important campaigns.

Will you start your own petition for progressive change now?

Thanks for all you do.

–Maria, Pulin, Alex, Erica, and the rest of the team

Source:

1. "DNC creates new restrictions for corporate donations," The Hill, October 21, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/19736?t=30&akid=191868%2E10220574%2EHim4V7

2. "Bipartisan lawmakers unveil bill to ban gun bumpstocks," The Hill, October 10, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/19702?t=32&akid=191868%2E10220574%2EHim4V7

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.


PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 23rd, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Get a copy of my new book (details inside)

Months before Election Day 2016, I warned MoveOn members that "... not only can [Donald Trump] win the presidency, he's got a darn good shot at it, bigger than most of us think."

Dear MoveOn member,

Months before Election Day 2016, I warned MoveOn members that "... not only can [Donald Trump] win the presidency, he's got a darn good shot at it, bigger than most of us think."

I wish I'd been wrong!

My prescient, red-alert video warning about Donald Trump was seen 2.3 million times.1 But our best efforts didn't stop Trump back then. Going forward, we need to make sure that he and his ilk can never win again.

That's why I've written a new book, "Beyond The Messy Truth." It pulls surprising, invaluable lessons from the 2016 debacle—and shows how we can turn our collective fear and anxiety into effective action—starting right now.

Want to get a limited-edition copy of my new book from MoveOn? Just click here. (Instead of giving money to a corporate bookseller, your donation will benefit MoveOn's organizers and campaigns to resist Trump and win back political power!)

After Trump's election, I went out on the road to talk to—and understand—Trump voters. And I also talked to progressives and reflected deeply on our mistakes.

This book offers a road map out of the madness. It has tough love for both parties. And it offers a host of resources to help you better understand the present moment and take action.

Looking for concrete steps to reset our national conversation and rescue democracy? Then please order my new book from MoveOn and help fuel the progressive cause!

Click here to order your limited-edition copy of my new book from MoveOn and find out how we can build an America that works for all of us.

Stay strong and resist.

–Van Jones

Source:

1. "Bad news about Donald Trump," MoveOn.org, May 11, 2016
https://act.moveon.org/go/3680?t=16&akid=191999%2E10220574%2EMbAAfb

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.


PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 23rd, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Five years ago ...

RSVP for the huge march and rally to demand climate action on the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy.

Dear MoveOn member,

Nearly five years ago, Superstorm Sandy battered our city and our communities. We've come a long way in the last five years, but communities all over—including in Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida and California, to name a few—are dealing now with the impacts of weather that keeps getting more extreme.

On Saturday, October 28th, let's mark the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy by coming together to demand local, state, and federal action for rebuilding with justice and for climate action.

Join the #Sandy5 rally for climate justice on Saturday, October 28th—click here to RSVP and get all the event info. (This link will take you to the website of another organization that is coordinating the rally.)

We know that climate change makes storms like Sandy more violent and intense, and we know that fossil fuels are to blame. Disasters like Sandy will get worse as long as our elected officials keep supporting fossil fuels, and our most vulnerable communities will be the ones who suffer the most.

The people hit hardest by Sandy were some of those with the fewest resources with which to respond—just like communities affected most by Hurricanes Maria, Irma, and Harvey in recent months. On Saturday, we'll come together to show that those impacted communities are not alone—that we stand up for each other and demand that our political leaders do the same.

The march and rally on the 28th may be the biggest climate action in NYC since the People's Climate March, with over 100 participating organizations, including MoveOn. We'll meet at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn, walk over the Brooklyn Bridge together, then rally in front of the Sandy-affected Smith Houses in Manhattan to show our strength.

RSPV today for the #Sandy5 rally for climate justice on October 28th.

Thanks for all you do.

–David, Julia, Justin, Victoria, and the rest of the team

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 22nd, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

What's Next? (Dream Act)

MoveOn members showed up in force to tell our representatives to stop delaying and sign on to pass a clean Dream Act now, and here's what we're doing next.

Dear MoveOn member, 

This week was a hopeful week, despite the onslaught of daily news in our feeds.

That's because hundreds of MoveOn members in dozens of key Republican districts showed up strong with allied organizations and immigrant youth leaders to support a clean Dream Act—helping build grassroots pressure and momentum to pass this popular, bipartisan bill that would protect hundreds of thousands of young American immigrants from deportation.

This week of action also included a new video on the Dream Act with Robert Reich, a new video with Cristina Jiminez of United We Dream, who was just awarded the McArthur Foundation "genius grant," and a torrent of calls to key Congressional offices across the country—and we're not slowing down in this critical fight. 

MoveOn members taking action

In more than 28 cities—from Anchorage, AK, to Texarkana, TX, to Syracuse, NY—MoveOn members and members of allied organizations showed up. Now is the time for representatives to show that they are listening and acting on their constituents' demand for a clean Dream Act—or begin facing the consequences. 

Here are a just a few stories from actions around the country this week—organized by members of United We Dream, MoveOn.org, NextGen America, Daily Kos, Working Families Party, Progressive Congress Action Fund, UltraViolet, and more—showing that we can be united by our dreams, rather than divided by our fears: 

  • In Texarkana, TX, local TV stations covered a rally by MoveOn members and a local pastor—a DACA recipient who led the group in prayer—at an event outside of Congressman John Ratcliffe's office.1
  • In Springfield, PA, MoveOn members and partner organizations earned media coverage as they rallied and delivered signatures in support for a clean Dream Act to Representative Pat Meehan.2
  • In Painesville, OH, MoveOn members gathered together to deliver signatures to Congressman Dave Joyce, urging Rep. Joyce to co-sponsor the Dream Act, putting pressure on a key vote whose own Republican governor has called for Congressional action.3
We've also been working with partners to produce videos to continue to make the case for a clean Dream Act.
 
Just yesterday, we released a video with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, in which he shared why the Dream Act is his fight—and why the economics are on our side. And last week, we released a video featuring Cristina Jiminez, executive director of our immigrant-led ally United We Dream, who was just honored as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Please check out and share these videos of compelling leaders who are standing up and speaking out for this critical fight.

Robert Reich speaks about the Dream Act

 

Cristina Jiminez speaks about the Dream Act

 
MoveOn members have made more than 10,000 calls demanding a clean Dream Act, and more than 250,000 members have added their names to petitions calling for a clean Dream Act, participating in a 1-million signature delivery in Washington. This effort included United We Dream, the American Civil Liberties Union, America's Voice, CREDO Action, MoveOn, the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, the National Immigration Law Center, ParentsTogether Action, People for the American Way, Presente, the Working Families Party, and the Daily Kos community.4 And we're all going to continue the work of this past week of action in the weeks and months ahead. 
 
As Trump and the hard-line wing of the Republican party continue to escalate their extreme demands on immigration, it's going to be up to each of us to make sure that Congress does not go home for the holidays until Dreamers and immigrant youth are no longer living in fear of deportation.
 
We will continue to show up for our communities and demand a clean Dream Act in ever-bolder ways, because when our dreams stand united, we cannot lose.
 
Thanks for all you do. 
 
—Corinne, David, Chris, Gabby, and the rest of the team
 
P.S. The Dream Act could be the biggest positive progressive victory since Trump became president, and there's huge momentum already. We won't stop until 800,000 young people are not faced with the horrors of mass deportation.

Will you chip in $3 and help support our major push to make the Dream Act the law of the land?

Yes, I'll chip in.

Sources: 

1. "Supporters rally in Texarkana for federal Dream Act," KTBS3, October 16, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/19593?t=24&akid=191945%2E10220574%2EoZSI7C

2. "Protesters demand justice for DREAMERS," Daily Times News, October 19, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/19600?t=26&akid=191945%2E10220574%2EoZSI7C

3. "Dreamer Advocates Plan to Petition Congressman Dave Joyce This Week for a 'Clean Dream Act'," WKSU, October 16, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/19595?t=28&akid=191945%2E10220574%2EoZSI7C

4. "'We need a clean DREAM Act, and we need it now': Advocates deliver 1,000,000 signatures to Congress," Daily Kos, September, 12, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/19596?t=30&akid=191945%2E10220574%2EoZSI7C

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 21st, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

BREAKING: The next big fight begins

Republicans in the Senate (and only Republicans) just approved a budget that envisions a grotesque future: trillions of dollars in tax giveaways to the ultra wealthy, funded by cutting trillions from Medicaid, Medicare, and other vital programs for the poor and middle class.

Dear MoveOn member,

BREAKING: Republicans in the Senate (and only Republicans) just approved a budget that envisions a grotesque future—trillions of dollars in tax giveaways to the ultra wealthy, funded by cutting trillions from Medicaid, Medicare, and other vital programs for the poor and middle class.1,2 

This vote is the starting gun for what might be the most consequential legislative fight of the Trump era: the looting of the U.S. treasury to reward billionaire GOP donors and mega-corporations, at the expense of the rest of us.

If Republicans succeed, their backers will reward them with boatloads of campaign cash—fueling their efforts to hold power in 2018 and 2020. If they fail, they'll turn on each other—opening the door toward a potential Democratic landslide. And beyond the political stakes, the human impact is vast: the acceleration of plutocracy in America and the shredding of the basic protections that tens of millions of American families depend on.

MoveOn, as part of the larger Resistance movement, is gearing up to tackle this fight with all of the urgency and relentlessness that we've brought to the battle against the Affordable Care Act repeal. Read on for a quick briefing on what's to come, but first, I need to ask you: Can you chip in $3 to help fund our fight against tax giveaways to billionaires?

Yes, I'll chip in and help defeat the Trump Republican budget.

Here's how this fight will go down:

Tonight's vote was on a budget resolution. Budget resolutions are nonbinding—they don't become law. Instead, they are moral documents—statements of priorities that shape future legislation. They have one critical function: You need to pass a budget resolution to open the door to a budget reconciliation bill, which is the only kind of tax cut bill that can't be filibustered, so it would need only 51 votes. And one of those 51 votes could be Vice President Mike Pence.

In other words, with this budget resolution in place, the GOP can shoot for a tax bill without a single Democratic vote. To defeat it, we'll need unified Democratic opposition, plus three Republicans in the Senate or 24 in the House. It's the same math that we faced with health care repeal. But winning this one will be even harder.

After the House and Senate iron out the differences between their budget resolutions (likely before Halloween), we'll enter the second stage of the battle: the fight over the tax scheme in the House.

Amidst the constant barrage of other news, the tax fight has been relatively low-profile so far. It'll probably stay that way until some time in early November, when the curtain is pulled back and the House GOP tax bill is revealed.

The public's reaction at that moment will be critical. Donanld Trump and his Republican pals will be in turbo spin mode, lying about who would benefit. (If you think that Trump has told some wild lies so far, wait until he has the chance to lie about money and a bill that would make him richer.) We can't let them get away with this. If enough of us raise our voices, together—with phone calls, protests, social media posts, letters to the editor—we can break through and make sure that the public learns what's really in the GOP bill and how it will tear at communities and hurt families around the country.

If the GOP has its way, the bill will sail through the House before Thanksgiving. But if we succeed in fighting back and make sure that it doesn't pass in November, there's a good chance that it won't pass in early December either, due to a hard deadline to pass a different, politically-complicated bill in order to avoid a government shutdown.

At some point, though, there's a good chance that this bill will pass the House. Then it goes to the Senate—the critical battlefield, where, again, three Republicans means victory.

Bob Corker of Tennessee has already said that he won't vote for a tax cut that raises the deficit by even a dime—and the GOP bill certainly does, ballooning it by at least $1.5 trillion. If Corker stands by that commitment (and we won't know until there's an actual vote), that means that we still need to secure two more Republican votes. And more if we can win them, just in case. This is our mission.

Just as with health care, we'll work in close partnership with a huge array of allies. MoveOn is a key part of two coalitions: Not One Penny—as in, not one penny in tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and wealthy corporations—and Americans for Tax Fairness. We'll partner on days of action, coordinate floods of calls to Congress, and use creative ways to channel and dramatize the public's opposition to a bill that would make an already-rigged economy much more rigged in favor of the already best-off.

And all along the way, we'll make clear who ultimately pays for these tax cuts: people who depend on Medicaid, Medicare, and other essential government services to stay alive.

The GOP knows the political stakes. As Lindsey Graham said on national television, if Republicans don't pass these tax cuts, "we're dead."3 If they can't cut taxes for the rich and repeal the Affordable Care Act, he said that "[they're] going to lose across the board in the House in 2018."4

If the GOP loses in 2018, the American people win. And that's exactly our plan. Can you help make that happen?

Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford, for our fight against the GOP tax plan.

The fight over the GOP tax bill is ultimately a fight about the moral character of our country. Are we a democracy, with government by, of, and for the people? Or are we an oligarchy, ruled by a tiny, self-serving elite? 

Win or lose, standing up for the fundamental democratic idea of America is a central challenge of our time. It's a fight that we have to take part in. It's a fight that our grandchildren will thank us for winning.

Thanks for all you do.

–Ben, Seth, Elsie, Erica, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Senate Approves Budget Plan That Smooths Path Toward Tax Cut," The New York Times, October 19, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/19404?t=4&akid=191856%2E10220574%2ENAzDgZ

2. "Republican Budget Priorities, Tax Breaks for Billionaires, Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid," Senate Budget Committee Minority Staff, accessed October 19, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/19386?t=6&akid=191856%2E10220574%2ENAzDgZ

3. "Will Congress pass tax reform? 'If we don't we're dead,' says Sen. Lindsey Graham," CBS News, October 15, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/19377?t=8&akid=191856%2E10220574%2ENAzDgZ

4. Ibid

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back towards sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.


Wednesday, October 18, 2017

This week: Join a Dream Act petition delivery near you!

Hundreds of thousands of members signed the petition for a clean Dream Act.

YOU'RE INVITED!
Rally at Peter King's District for a #CleanDREAMAct!
 
  
 
Where: Rep. Peter King's Office  (in Massapequa Park)
When: Thursday, October 19, 4:00 PM
What:

 Tell your member of Congress to support a clean #DreamActNow!


This week, MoveOn members and allies around the country are joining together for a clean Dream Act Week of Action from October 16 through October 22. Can you join the petition delivery near you?

We are urging members of Congress to support a clean #DreamActNow.

 The clock is ticking to pass this popular, bipartisan proposal that could protect 800,000 immigrant youth from the threat of deportation. 

That's why MoveOn members are delivering thousands of petition signatures to Republican members of Congress, to tell them that: 

We demand a clean #DreamActNow!

Will you join us?
 
  
A person holding a sign! YES, I'LL BE THERE! People holding signs!

By participating in this event, you agree

(i) not to engage in any act of violence or violation of any applicable law,
(ii) to obey the orders of authorized event marshals and law enforcement authorities, and
(iii) that MoveOn will not be responsible for any injury or damage to your person or property resulting from or occurring in the course of your participating in the event, and you agree to release and forever hold harmless MoveOn, MoveOn.org Political Action, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents from liability for any such injury or damage.

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 18th, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.