[mpen-dayton] FW: "Make Mitch McConnell's life hell" & "Sign to support single-payer health care" & "BREAKING: CNN (about voter Fraud Panel)" and more

FYI. Best, Munsup

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• FW: Federal ethics chief who clashed with White House announces he will step down
• FW: Cincinnati Mayor Cranley Endorses Ohio Drug Price Relief Act
• FW: Inaugural Health Literacy Committee Meeting - Access to Care Coalition
• FW: [Info] July 4, 1969 - "Give Peace a Chance"
• FW: We can't let them get away with this
• FW: Make Mitch McConnell's life hell
• FW: Sign to support single-payer health care
• FW: Trump Wanders Around Looking for Limo After Deplaning (from Daily Kos)
• FW: BREAKING: CNN (about voter Fraud Panel)
• FW: Handmaids (a la Margaret Atwood) in the States' houses, protecting reproductive rights from national assault

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Federal ethics chief who clashed with White House
announces he will step down

The director of the independent Office of Government Ethics, who has been the federal government’s most persistent critic of the Trump administration’s approach to ethics, announced Thursday that he is resigning nearly six months before his term is scheduled to end.

Walter M. Shaub Jr. repeatedly challenged the Trump administration, publicly urging President Trump to fully divest from his business empire and chastising a senior Trump adviser for violating ethics rules. His outspokenness drew the ire of administration officials and earned him near-cult status among Trump’s opponents. Fans started a Facebook page in his honor, and his name has occasionally appeared on posters at anti-Trump protests.

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Shaub made no reference to those clashes in a resignation letter he submitted Thursday indicating he will step down July 19. Instead, he praised the work of federal ethics officials, pointedly noting their commitment to “protecting the principle that public service is a public trust, requiring employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private gain.”

In an interview, Shaub said he was not leaving under pressure, adding that no one in the White House or the administration pushed him to leave. But the ethics chief said he felt that he had reached the limit of what he could achieve in this administration, within the current ethics framework.

“It’s clear that there isn’t more I could accomplish,” he said.

Shaub is set to take a new job as senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy group founded by Trevor Potter, who served as a Republican appointee to the Federal Election Commission. Shaub said he hopes to find bipartisan solutions to strengthening government ethics programs at the federal and state levels.

“In working with the current administration, it has become clear that we need to strengthen the ethics program,” he said.

Created in 1978, the ethics office is designed to promote and protect laws intended to prevent conflicts of interest by government officials. The office offers ethics guidance and training for government officials and oversees employees’ annual disclosure of personal finances, but it has limited enforcement authority.

Directors are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to five-year terms — a length of time intended to give the office independence by ensuring director’s terms overlap presidential administrations.

Upon Shaub’s departure, the ethics office’s chief of staff, Shelley K. Finlayson, is expected to assume the role of acting director, although Trump could appoint another senior OGE official to serve temporarily until he chooses a permanent replacement. In 2014, Shaub described Finlayson as “a tireless advocate for OGE’s mission” and praised “her reliably cool judgment.”

Shaub, who before his appointment had served in other roles at OGE and as a lawyer at other federal agencies dating to 1997, was named OGE’s director by President Barack Obama in 2013 and had been scheduled to serve until January.

Shaub’s willingness to challenge the Trump administration was apparent even before Inauguration Day.

The first sign that he would be outspoken with his concerns came on the morning of Nov. 30, when the official OGE Twitter account erupted in a storm of nine tweets sent over three minutes that appeared to mimic Trump’s bombastic tweeting style, urging the president-elect to separate himself from his business.

“.@realDonaldTrump OGE is delighted that you’ve decided to divest your businesses. Right decision!” read one tweet.

“.@realDonaldTrump OGE applauds the ‘total’ divestiture decision. Bravo!” read another.

Trump had in fact made no such decision. The tweets appeared designed to use Trump’s own tactics of praise and flattery to urge him do so. Internal OGE emails later released through public information requests showed that Shaub himself had drafted the notes and directed that they be sent.

When Trump announced on Jan. 11 that he would retain ownership of his business, merely transferring management to his adult sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., Shaub aired his concerns in an unusually public address at the Brookings Institution. He denounced the plan as “wholly inadequate” and insisted Trump should place his assets in a fully blind trust over which his family would have no control, to prevent him from making money from decisions he enacted as president.

“The ethics program starts at the top,” he said. “We can’t risk creating the perception that government officials will use their positions for personal profit.”

In March, Shaub chided the White House over its failure to discipline senior aide Kellyanne Conway after she urged viewers on Fox News to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff,” a reference to the apparel line owned by the president’s daughter. Federal law prohibits government employees from endorsing brands or products.

The White House said Conway had been speaking in a “light, off-hand manner” and was unlikely to violate the rule again. In a letter, Shaub responded that failing to take action against a senior official risked “undermining the ethics program.”

More recently, Shaub has clashed with the White House over his efforts to gather data about former lobbyists and other federal appointees who had been granted waivers to ethics rules allowing them to interact with their former employers while serving in the White House or at federal agencies.

The Office of Management and Budget had tried to block Shaub’s request for copies of the waivers, prompting him to pen a scathing 10-page letter refusing to back down, writing that the OGE expected federal agencies to comply with the request. “Public confidence in the integrity of government decision making demands no less,” Shaub wrote.

Ultimately, the White House released the documents as Shaub had demanded. They showed 17 appointees had been granted waivers to ethics rules to allow them to serve in the White House, including four lobbyists.

But Shaub has continued to agitate over the issue, particularly an undated and unsigned waiver allowing all White House officials to interact with the news media. The ruling means that chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon can communicate with editors at Breitbart, the conservative publication he used to run.

“There’s no such thing as a retroactive waiver,” Shaub said last month, promising to keep pressing the White House on the issue.

Shaub said Thursday said that his new post at the Campaign Legal Center would provide a platform to work on improving ethics rules in a nonpartisan environment, adding that he did not want to lose the opportunity by waiting until the end of his term.

In a statement, Potter said that it is imperative to “sustain a culture of high ethical standards in our government” and that Shaub would help the group “protect and improve our democracy.”

 

 

From: David P. Little; Southern Regional Director, Ohio Taxpayers for Lower Drug Prices
Subject: Cincinnati Mayor Cranley Endorses Ohio Drug Price Relief Act

The release from Ohio Taxpayers for Lower Drug Prices announces the endorsement of our campaign by Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley.

For Immediate Release                                                                                   July 6, 2017

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley Endorses Ohio Drug Price Relief Act
Yes Vote Lowers Drug Prices for 4 Million Ohioans

CINCINNATI—Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley today endorsed the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act, urging the voters in Cincinnati, and across the state, to vote ‘YES’ to save Ohio taxpayers millions of dollars.

“I support this measure because it will lower drug prices for 4 million Ohioans, including 164,000 children, and save taxpayers $400 million per year. Life-saving drugs are too expensive, and Ohioans should not have to choose between paying for rent or food and the drugs that can save their lives,” Mayor Cranley said. “That’s just unacceptable. The residents of Cincinnati deserve affordable medication that doesn’t put a burden on their budget. The Ohio Drug Price Relief Act is the first step in holding greedy pharmaceutical companies accountable for their price gouging.”

“We are so grateful for the support of Mayor Cranley, and we look forward to working with him,” said Dennis Willard, Spokesperson for Ohio Taxpayer for Lower Drug Prices.

The Ohio Taxpayers for Lower Drug Prices is a broad-based, bi-partisan coalition. More than 200,000 Ohio voters signed petitions to put an amendment on the ballot in November that will lower drug prices for over 4 million Ohioans, including 164,000 children, save taxpayers millions of dollars, reduce healthcare costs for everyone and teach greedy drug companies and their CEOs a lesson.

You can learn more by visiting ohio4lowerdrugprices.com or following us on Facebook and Twitter.

                  
For more information contact: Dennis Willard, 614-209-8945, dennis@precisionnewmedia.com

 

 

From: Emily Fisher; Access to Care Steering Committee
Subject: Inaugural Health Literacy Committee Meeting - Access to Care Coalition

We are so excited to be kicking off the Access to Care Coalition's Health Literacy sub-committee next week!

When it comes to health literacy, here are some important points to keep in mind.
    

• Even people with good literacy skills prefer materials that are easy-to-read and many find health care information a challenge to understand.
• It's often difficult to understand medical vocabulary, and the context and concepts in health and medicine are unfamiliar, such as how the body works or how to navigate the health care system.
• Stress and anxiety, which impairs the ability to listen, learn and understand, is high in healthcare settings.
• Health information and the healthcare system are ever increasingly complex, and therefore more difficult to understand.

If you are interested in learning more on your own before the meeting, check out these links:
    

• Department of HHS: Quick Guide to Health Literacy
• CDC: What is Health Literacy?
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Health Literacy Measurement Tools

Meeting details are below:
   

Health Literacy Sub-Committee Meeting: Wednesday, July 12th, 2017 9:00AM-10:00AM Columbus Public Health, Room 119E RSVP: eefisher@columbus.gov

General Body Meeting: Thursday, July 20th, 2017 9:00AM-10:30AM Columbus Public Health, Room 119C RSVP: eefisher@columbus.gov

 

 

From: carl bunin
Subject: [Info] July 4, 1969 - "Give Peace a Chance"

July 4, 1969

"Give Peace a Chance" by the Plastic Ono Band was released in the United Kingdom. The song was recorded
May 31, 1969, during the "Bed-In"

John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal as part of their honeymoon.

John and Yoko stayed in bed for 8 days, beginning May 26, in an effort to promote world peace.

Some of the people in the hotel room who sang on this were Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary,
Allen Ginsberg, and Petula Clark. Smothers also played guitar.

This event promoting peace received a great deal of media attention.

---------------------------------------
www.bit.ly/PeaceGiveItAChance

There's more Peace and Justice history this week here or access the whole year
Only liberal and progessive items here...Start a conversation. See all our buttons order with PayPal or send email

 

 

From: Rob Booth; National Field Director, Represent.Us
Subject: We can't let them get away with this

When politicians finished repealing America's first Anti-Corruption Act in South Dakota, they rubbed it in the voters' faces. They went to an ice cream social hosted by lobbyists, took photos of themselves mocking their constituents, and tweeted about golfing with lobbyists.

Now it's our turn to fight back. We have a chance to bring comprehensive anti-corruption laws back to South Dakota with an Anti-Corruption Amendment in 2018, but first we need to get it on the ballot – and we need to raise $28,000 by July 15th to fund volunteer training events.

Will you give $5 to the campaign before July 15th? If we raise $7,000 by July 15, a longtime Represent.Us supporter has agreed to TRIPLE-MATCH the campaign with a gift of $21,000.

Represent.Us members are planning to kick off eight volunteer training events across the state on the weekend of July 15th and dozens more in the weeks to come.

For each event, we need:
   

• $25 to feed eight volunteers who just spent hours collecting signatures
• $50 to reserve space for volunteer trainings
• $116 to pay a volunteer coordinator to train new recruits on how to gather signatures – if you do it wrong, the signatures don't count!
• $130 to fund printing and postage costs for petition signature sheets

Click here to make a $5 donation to the campaign. If we raise $7,000 before July 15th it will be triple-matched to become $28,000.

This is our chance to have the final victory over the corrupt political establishment that trashed America's first statewide Anti-Corruption Act. And when we win, we'll win for good – because in South Dakota, Amendments can't be repealed by politicians, and our Amendment makes it impossible to repeal future voter-approved laws without consulting the people.

Passing Anti-Corruption laws state by state may be the only way to win for good in Washington, DC. It's a strategy that's worked time and again, and with your help, it will work for us, too.

Paid for by Represent South Dakota, P.O. Box 189, Vermillion, SD 57069

 

 

From: Irna Landrum, Daily Kos
Subject: Make Mitch McConnell's life hell

Mitch McConnell is struggling to secure enough votes to pass Trumpcare. He's tried coercion, bribes, and even pressuring the CBO to change its Trumpcare score and pretend this bill is less deadly than it is.

Trumpcare is a disaster and McConnell and Senate Republicans are running scared, refusing to engage constituents about their plans to rob millions of Americans of health insurance.

While senators are home for the July 4th recess, let them know they can run but they can't hide. We need to jam their phone lines and overwhelm their staff with calls opposing Trumpcare.

Here are the phone numbers for the local offices of Sen. Rob Portman: (614)469-6774, (513)684-3265, (216)522-7095, (419)259-3895

Please call your GOP Senator(s) at the phone numbers above and leave a message. Here's a sample script:

Hello, my name is Munsup calling from zip code 45431. I oppose Trumpcare and I urge you to oppose it, too. It is dangerous and no tweaks are going to stop the harm it will do. Reject Trumpcare. Entirely. Thank you.

If you can't reach the first number, try another one until you can get through. Then click here to tell us how the calls went.

Can't call or couldn't get through? Click here to sign and send a message to your Republican senator(s): Reject Trumpcare.

McConnell is desperate to get the votes he needs and he keeps coming up short because of us. Our loud and unrelenting opposition is working, but we can't stop until Trumpcare is defeated.

 

 

From: Nicole Regalado; Campaign Manager, CREDO Action from Working Assets
Subject: Sign to support single-payer health care

It is time for Democrats to fight back. We need Medicare for All. The petition to congressional Democrats reads: “It is time for Democrats to go on the offensive and take bold, decisive steps toward a health care system that puts people over profits. The majority of the country supports single-payer health care. Join Sens. Sanders, Merkley and Warren and Rep. Conyers to support legislation that would make Medicare available to all Americans." Add your name:   Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have delayed their Trumpcare push thanks to the massive grassroots pressure that you helped build.1 Now is the time for Democrats to go on the offensive with a real solution to our health care crisis that provides universal health care for all. The last few months have made it more than clear that right-wing Republican extremists are going to be relentless in their attempts to steal health care from millions of people in order to give tax breaks to millionaires. Every version of their cruel and immoral Trumpcare bill threw women, low-income children, families and seniors under the bus.2 Republicans are already revising their deadly bill, and there is no doubt that they will try to ram it through again. To fight back, Democrats cannot just resist Trumpcare. They must unite behind a bold and clear alternative like Medicare for All, also known as “single-payer” health care. Early this year, Rep. John Conyers introduced a Medicare for All bill in the House. And recently, progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley and Elizabeth Warren called on Democrats to push for a national single-payer health care system.3,4 Now, we must show just how many Americans support this simple and commonsense alternative. Help us build momentum now so Democrats know exactly what we expect them to do. Tell Democrats: It is time to fight back. We need Medicare for All. Click here to sign the petition Massive grassroots support for Medicare for All would shine an even harsher light on Republicans and their cruel, heartless bill. Unfortunately, Democrats are divided when it comes to a national single-payer system. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer have so far dodged discussions about making Medicare available to all Americans. Recently, Leader Pelosi encouraged supporters of single-payer to focus on state options instead.5 In contrast, while McConnell was trying to ram Trumpcare through the Senate, Sen. Warren was out barnstorming in her home state urging Democrats to embrace single-payer.6 Progressives know that we could solve today’s health care crisis by expanding a program that is already up and running – and working. It is important to be clear: The problems with health care in America are not because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). American health care costs so much and heals so little in part because predatory insurance companies and Big Pharma stand between people and their doctors and use monopoly power to rob us blind. The ACA made modest but still life-changing reforms that we should defend against Republican attacks. Millions of people have already been helped – people with pre-existing conditions, young adults who get to stay on their parents' plan, beneficiaries of the Medicaid expansion and those who would have faced lifetime caps on coverage. Now we need to expand the ACA’s reforms. Medicare for All would leave the medical system in place, but replace the for-profit insurance companies that drive up costs without making us any healthier. So it’s no wonder that most Americans – including 41 percent of Republicans – support Medicare for All.7 We need to put pressure on Democrats to be bold and put Republicans on the record opposing a single-payer health care plan with broad support. Tell Democrats: It is time to fight back. We need Medicare for All. Click here to sign the petition Medicare already covers 40 million Americans over the age of 65, providing quality care at prices that are much lower than the private market. If we start by lowering the Medicare eligibility age, it will provide competition to bloated predatory insurance companies and bring us closer to the day when people are covered from birth. Medicare and Medicaid are our nation’s most effective and efficient health care programs, but right-wing Republicans have long had their sights set on dismantling our social safety net. Their ultimate goal has been to end Medicare as we know it and cause skyrocketing premiums and loss of coverage for nearly 57 million of us. We cannot fight back with half-hearted, corporate solutions. We need to show the millions of Americans who love Medicare that progressives have an alternative vision to make it available to all. If we want want to make health care for all a reality for the entire country, we must make sure Democrats take decisive steps toward a national health care system that puts people over profits. Now is the time for Democrats to put the full weight of their caucus behind Medicare for All. Tell Democrats: It is time to fight back. We need Medicare for All. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/dems_medicare?t=8&akid=23944.1004336.5DMD1F Add your name: References: Thomas Kaplan and Robert Pear, “Vote Delayed as G.O.P. Struggles to Marshal Support for Health Care Bill,” The New York Times, June 27, 2017. Tim Dickinson, “Trumpcare Takes From the Poor to Give to the Rich,” Rolling Stone, June 26, 2017. Robert Reich, “It’s Time for Medicare for All,” Common Dreams, June 28, 2017. Taylor Link, “Elizabeth Warren: It’s time for Democrats to run on single-payer health care,” Salon, June 27, 2017. Marissa Lang, “Pelosi, Speier greet hundreds at Balboa High town hall meeting,” SFGATE, March 26, 2017. Igor Bobic, “Elizabeth Warren Calls For Democrats To Embrace Single-Payer Health Care,” HuffPost, June 27, 2017. Philip Bump, “Poll: Most Americans want to replace Obamacare with single-payer – including many Republicans,” The Washington Post, May 16, 2016.

 

 

From: Larry Turyn
Subject: FW: Trump Wanders Around Looking for Limo After Deplaning (from Daily Kos)

Dementia and/or exhaustion in the year 2017

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/7/4/1677888/-Trump-Wanders-Around-Looking-for-Limo-After-Deplaning?detail=emailclassic
Trump Wanders Around Looking for Limo After Deplaning

Here he is returning to Washington and having to be directed towards the limo after getting off the plane.
Dementia has been mentioned in the past; looks like these incidents may become more frequent and harder to cover.

 

 

From: AlterNet
Subject: BREAKING: CNN (about voter Fraud Panel)

The following sponsored email was sent to you by AlterNet on behalf of DCCC: BREAKING: 45 states REFUSE to give certain voter information to Trump commission -- CNN   ADD YOUR NAME: Condemn Trump’s bogus voter fraud panel immediately >>   Are you watching CNN?! 45 states just rejected the Trump Administration’s request for voter information. States say Trump’s request is illegal. It’s because Trump’s bogus voter fraud panel endangers Americans’ privacy -- and it’s just another Republican tool for voter suppression. Condemn Trump’s sham panel now >> Sign Your Name >> We’re outraged. The Trump administration wants to make your Social Security number public -- just to indulge Trump’s lie that he won the popular vote. THAT’S. NOT. OKAY. We’re grateful that 45 states and DC have already rejected Trump’s ludicrous request for voters’ personal information. But we can’t let up until this investigation is shut down. Listen -- Trump’s voter fraud panel is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars and another Republican attack on voting rights. That’s why grassroots activists NEED to stand up today.   DON’T STAY SILENT: Demand Trump closes his voter fraud panel >> Paid for by the DCCC | 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 | (202) 863-1500 | www.dccc.org | Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

 

 

From: Andrew Tierman
Subject: Handmaids (a la Margaret Atwood) in the States' houses, protecting reproductive rights from national assault

see http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/here-s-why-women-keep-dressing-handmaids-statehouses-n775206?utm_medium=email&utm_source=dlcc&utm_content=2&utm_campaign=em070217_s1_b1_1a&source=em070217_s1_b1_1a&refcode=em070217_s1_b1_1a

 

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