[mpen-dayton] FW: Call Rep. Turner & Sen. Portman to pass the Dream Act now; NYT Today's Headline; Trump threatens NUCLEAR WAR, and more

MPEN e-Newsletter, 2018 No. 0102

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• FW: Congress failed in 2017. Call Rep. Turner and  Sen. Portman to pass the Dream Act now
• FW: Cleveland civil rights group waffles on support for coal, nuclear
• FW: NYT articles: (1) Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump's Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation
                                 (2) As Flow of Foreign Students Wanes, U.S. Universities Feel the Sting
• FW: Trump threatens NUCLEAR WAR
• FW: Sign this: Homeland Security to actively take on voter suppression
• FW: Facing a significant number of years in prison
• FW: Help us stop Trump from starting a war
• FW: Tell the DSCC and DCCC: Defund Democrats who voted to deport Dreamers

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From: Corinne, Justin, Jo, Chris, and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Civic Action
Subject: Congress failed in 2017. Call Rep. Turner and Sen. Portman to pass the Dream Act now

It's a new year, but Republican members of Congress are returning to many of the same problems they didn't tackle before heading home for the holidays—including the civil rights crisis facing Dreamers across America.

More than 14,000 Dreamers have already lost their legal protections since Donald Trump declared an end to DACA—with hundreds of thousands more facing uncertainty and the threat of deportation from the only country they've ever called home. Yet Congress keeps delaying any action on an obvious solution: the popular, bipartisan Dream Act.

Today, House and Senate leaders from both major parties are meeting at the White House to discuss a comprehensive spending deal in advance of the current January 19 deadline. The failure of Republican leadership to hold a vote on the Dream Act has left Dreamers facing fear and uncertainty while more lose legal protections every day. It's up to every Republican to do what's right to end this crisis.

Call Representative Michael R. Turner and Senator Rob Portman today and say: "No Dream, no deal! You are failing the Dreamers. Please insist that the Dream Act be included in any spending deal—without funding for a border wall, more aggressive ICE enforcement, or giving in to Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. A majority of Americans—including Republicans—support the Dream Act!"

Here's where to call: Rep. Turner - (202) 225-6465   and   Sen. Portman - (202) 224-3353

Click here for notes on what you can say and to let us know how the call went—this also helps us know how many MoveOn members are calling to express their commitment to this fight.

It might be a new year, but we have reason to expect the same obstruction from the Republican-led Congress—that didn't pass the Dream Act, failed to fully authorize CHIP which provides health care for nine million children, and has still refused to provide meaningful relief to Puerto Rico. Republicans need to hear from us that we expect better in 2018.

So please call Rep. Turner and Sen. Portman now and make sure they hears you loud and clear: Make sure the Dream Act is part of any budget deal without making it a bargaining chip for Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.

Here's where to call: Rep. Turner - (202) 225-6465   and   Sen. Portman - (202) 224-3353

Click here to let us know how the call went.

We have just over two weeks until the next budget deadline—and this is our moment to make sure Democrats and Republicans hear that we expect them to do their jobs and stop putting more and more Dreamers at risk.

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? Donate monthly or make a one-time gift

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

 

From: Thomas Roberts, President, Ohio Conference NAACP
Subject: FW: Cleveland civil rights group waffles on support for coal, nuclear
    

Analog Kid / Creative Commons
The General James M. Gavin coal plant in southeast Ohio.

http://midwestenergynews.com/2018/01/03/cleveland-civil-rights-group-waffles-on-support-for-coal-nuclear/
Cleveland civil rights group waffles on support for coal, nuclear

Written By Kathiann M. Kowalski January 3, 2018
Photo By Analog Kid / Creative Commons

The environmental justice chair for the Cleveland NAACP said the group's recent comments in support of coal and nuclear power don't reflect its positions "moving forward."

The Cleveland chapter caught activists off guard in October when it filed comments in support of a federal proposal to prop up uneconomic coal and nuclear plants in the name of grid reliability.

"In order to mitigate the risk that such generating units may be deactivated prematurely, the Cleveland NAACP strongly urges FERC to adopt the rule proposed by DOE," its Oct. 20 comments said, citing the jobs and economic opportunities provided by the power plants.

The comments, submitted by the group's economic development committee chair Danielle Sydnor, appear to contradict the national organization's position against coal-fired power plants and other fossil fuel operations, which have a disproportionate impact on communities of color.

Sydnor and branch President James Hardiman did not respond to interview requests. The group's environmental justice chair, Kent Whitley, said he was not involved in preparing the comments, and that they don't reflect his priorities.

"Smoke goes somewhere," Whitley said. "You've got problems with asthma. You've got problems with heart disease. You have a whole bunch of issues that come from a coal plant."

A boon for FirstEnergy

The U.S. Department of Energy proposal follows a directive from Energy Secretary Rick Perry. It asks the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to guarantee full cost and profit recovery for certain coal and nuclear plants with on-site fuel storage.

Among the would-be winners: Ohio's FirstEnergy Corp.

The subsidy is similar to a state proposal that FirstEnergy began lobbying for in 2014 and that consumer advocates and environmentalists have called a "bailout," forcing utilities to buy all electricity from certain baseload power plants regardless of the market. Bills and court proceedings on the most recent subsidy plans continue at the state level.

The Cleveland NAACP supported FirstEnergy's plan in September 2015. Whitley, who was then chair of the group's political action committee, said at the time that "the plan's ability to retain jobs and support local communities makes this endorsement essential."

The Cleveland NAACP's comments in the federal proceedings note that FirstEnergy gives the chapter $25,000 per year.

The same language about premature plant closures affecting skilled employees that appears in the Cleveland NAACP comments also shows up in comments submitted by leaders from the City of Akron, where the company is headquartered, and Summit County, Ohio, and the City of Belmont, West Virginia, where it has power plants. A similar statement also appears in a letter from the Lake County Emergency Management Agency in Ohio.

A FirstEnergy spokeswoman said in an email that the company encouraged the Cleveland NAACP and others to submit comments to FERC.

"While I don't have information on specific meetings or conversations, we speak with a wide variety of officials, groups and organizations about issues impacting the industry as a normal course of business," Jennifer Young said.

Moving forward 

Whitley said his charges "moving forward" as environmental justice chair will be to focus on the issues of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as safe neighborhoods, safe water, food deserts and lead-based paint problems. He hopes FirstEnergy will continue its low-income assistance programs and enhance energy efficiency programs so customers can lower their electric bills and reduce the need for financial help. Solar panels could also help reduce electricity bills, he noted.

Whitley also said he is proud to have played a part in lobbying for the closure of a FirstEnergy coal plant in Cleveland.

Ohio Conference NAACP  President Tom Roberts said he was not in a position to comment on the Cleveland chapter's letter to FERC, but he stressed that environmental justice is a priority for the state organization.

"Access to clean energy is not just an environmental issue for us," said Roberts. "It's a civil rights issue. African American communities disproportionately have their share of all of these costs" associated with pollution from the energy, farming, and other industries.

Nationally, the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program has a mission of "shutting down coal plants and other toxic facilities at the local level." It issued a report in 2013 that identified 75 coal-fired plants that disproportionately harm the health of low-income people and people of color.

Brooks Berndt, environmental justice minister for the United Church of Christ, which has its headquarters in Cleveland, agrees with the national NAACP's assessment.

"Nationwide, people who live in close proximity [to coal plants] are more likely to be from low-income communities and people of color," Berndt said. "They're going to carry the health burden of that more than the rest of society."

 

 

From:
Subject: (1) NYT Today's Headline: Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump's Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation
                (2) As Flow of Foreign Students Wanes, U.S. Universities Feel the Sting

Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump's Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

The special counsel's investigation has uncovered several episodes involving the president that raise questions about whether he obstructed justice.


As Flow of Foreign Students Wanes, U.S. Universities Feel the Sting

This NYT article mentions Wright State University (WSU) at the very beginning and then also in the final six paragraphs.

It correctly reports that a loss of international students is a problem that is hardly particular to WSU. Likewise, WSU is not alone in other challenges it faces. Here are two notable examples:
   

1. Every institution in the US faces the fact that the number of high school graduates in the US is not rising or actually dropping; see for example https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/12/06/high-school-graduates-drop-number-and-be-increasingly-diverse.
2. Every public university in Ohio faces the same paucity of funding from the state government.

 

But, I, Munsup Seoh, a retiree from WSU, would like to mention that other aspects WSU's situation are not at all like that at other institutions. Most notably, the severe fiscal crisis at WSU is essentially unique. Two flyers of Fast Facts: Enrollment and Budget & Administrative Bloat, illustrate two other ways in which the WSU situation is quite different. One shows that enrollments at WSU are relatively stable, with data showing that enrollments at Akron are much worse. The other shows that administrative spending at Wright State is close to the worst in Ohio.

 

 

From: 🔻 ALERT - Progressive Caucus
Subject: Trump threatens NUCLEAR WAR

TELL CONGRESS: REVOKE Trump's Nuclear Authority →

Donald Trump is threatening NUCLEAR WAR on his Twitter account.

So Progressive Caucus members want to REVOKE Trump's access to nuclear weapons!

We need 30,000 signatures by midnight to support their bill.ign your name to demand Congress REVOKE Trump's nuclear authority:
   

SIGN YOUR NAME →

We're terrified.

Donald Trump just threatened nuclear war against North Korea.

This type of erratic behavior puts MILLIONS of lives across the globe at risk.

That's why Progressive Caucus members introduced a bill to strip Trump of his nuclear authority.

We need to pass this bill if we're going to keep our planet safe. But we need 30,000 signatures by midnight, to keep up our momentum.

If you want to REMOVE Donald Trump's access to nuclear weapons, we need you to sign right away
  

SIGN YOUR NAME →

When nuclear weapons were put under the authority of the President, it was assumed that the office holder would be thoughtful and deliberate.

But Trump has proven beyond a doubt that he is neither. His rhetoric and behavior puts our country -- and the entire world -- in grave danger.

We have a responsibility to take action against the danger that he poses to our planet.

So Munsup, we need you to stand with us. Sign your name to demand Congress REVOKE Trump's nuclear authority:

https://go.weareprogressives.org/Nuclear-Authority

PAID FOR BY CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS PAC AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE

 

 

From: Paul Hogarth; Daily Kos
Subject: Sign this: Homeland Security to actively take on voter suppression

Sign the pledge: Fight the Trump Department of Homeland Security's newly renewed war on voting.

Sign the petition

Did you hear the great news? Donald Trump has dissolved the Voter Suppression commission that made outrageous demands on basic voter privacy.

In his executive order, Trump admitted that our activism was the reason he caved.

He complained many states had "refused to provide" the commission with information they had requested. Much of the activism by Daily Kos and allied groups had focused on pressuring states not to cooperate.

We may have won the battle, but the War on Voting goes on.

Trump has already asked the Department of Homeland Security to take over where the commission had left off. We must be vigilant, and fight all voter suppression efforts.

Click here to AUTOMATICALLY sign the pledge: Fight the Department of Homeland Security's War on Voting.

AUTOMATICALLY Sign the petition

By signing this petition you will receive periodic updates on offers and activism opportunities from Daily Kos. You may unsubscribe at any time. Here's our privacy policy.

 

 

From: Ariel Gold and the entire CODEPINK Team
Subject: Facing a significant number of years in prison

The first time I met Ahed Tamimi was when she was 13 years old. I sat in her living room in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh drinking tea with her parents while she and my daughter, then 12, compared dance moves. Now at the tender age of 16, Ahed is sitting in an Israeli detention cell facing a significant number of years in prison. Her crime was that she slapped an armed Israeli soldier with her bare hand.

No teenager should have to live under military occupation or be sentenced to years in prison for a slap. Join me in telling Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu he must release Ahed immediately!

On Monday, after her most recent court appearance, I spoke with her father. "They are trying to make an example of her," he said. "They are trying to break her." The charges against Ahed include such things as assaulting a soldier, throwing stones and incitement. But, her real "crime," is her refusal to capitulate to military occupation.

Ahed was only 10 years old when her father was sent to prison for organizing peaceful protests. She was 11 when Israeli soldiers killed her cousin, and 13 when they killed her uncle and shot her mother in the leg.

Read and share my latest article on how Israel is Victim-Blaming Ahed. Then sign the petition to Netanyahu, demanding Israel release Ahed immediately.

Here are some points for you to use while talking to your friends and family about Ahed's case:
     

• Ahed has lived her entire life under Israeli military occupation. On a regular basis, she and her family endure checkpoints, night raids, settler land theft and violent attacks from Israeli soldiers.
• Ahed and her family want nothing more than freedom and equality for all people.
• Ahed is a child and a civilian. She is facing a military court system with a conviction rate of over 99%.
• Ahed's slap of an Israeli soldier with her bare hand pales in comparison to the state and military violence Israel commits on a regular basis with complete impunity.

Ahed's next court date is Tuesday, January 10. This will be the next opportunity for her to be released on bail pending trial. Israel's goal is to use Ahed's imprisonment to break the will and resistance of the Palestinian people. But the worldwide call for freedom cannot be silenced. Please share the image at the top of this email on Facebook and Twitter and join me in demanding Netanyahu free Ahed.

P.S. New Zealand pop star Lorde cancelled her show in Tel Aviv in support of the BDS movement and the Palestinian people. Send a message to Lorde to thank her for her courage, commitment, and strength!

 

 

From: Erica, Ben, Amy, and the Win Without War team
Subject: Help us stop Trump from starting a war

Donald Trump is at it again. On Tuesday night Trump took to Twitter to threaten North Korea and, by consequence, most likely the rest of the world, with nuclear annihilation:

This rhetoric is extremely dangerous. This is not how the person controlling our nuclear arsenal should speak -- we don't know how the North Koreans or our allies will perceive Trump's reckless tweet, and it undermines the diplomatic efforts being made by our own State Department.

We should all be extremely worried and concerned about what the President will do next. It is time to act.

Urge your Members of Congress to take steps to prevent Trump from launching a nuclear war.

Right now, two members of Congress, Rep. Ted Lieu and Sen. Ed Markey, have introduced legislation to prevent the U.S. president from launching a nuclear war without a declaration of war by Congress. While the President would still be able to defend from an attack against America, he or she could no longer launch the deadliest weapons ever invented just because they wanted to.

We can not overstate the destruction of a nuclear war, and we are closer to that horror today than we have ever been since the Cuban Missile Crisis. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations to take action now to step back from the brink of nuclear war.

No one person - and definitely not someone as erratic and reckless as Donald Trump - should ever be able to single-handedly start such a deadly war. Please sign today.

Thank you for working for peace,

Donate

 

 

From: Nicole Regalado; Campaign Manager, CREDO Action from Working Assets
Subject: Tell the DSCC and DCCC: Defund Democrats who voted to deport Dreamers

Tell DSCC and DCCC: No support for Democrats who voted to deport Dreamers

The petition to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reads:
"Refuse to help elect any congressional Democrat who voted for the year-end spending bill without a clean DREAM Act."

Add your name:

 

In December, 31 congressional Democrats voted to deport nearly 1 million immigrant young people.¹

When Donald Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in September, Democrats promised to use their leverage during the end-of-year budget fight to ensure that permanent protection for DACA recipients was part of the spending bill. Instead, they protected their political futures and turned their backs on Dreamers, their families and their communities.

The 31 Democrats who helped pass Republicans' year-end spending bill without a clean DREAM Act voted to deport Dreamers and advance Trump's white supremacist agenda. They turned their backs on their party's base and their party's values. Democratic party leaders must take a stand, draw a bright line and refuse to support the congressional campaigns of anyone in this Deportation Caucus.

Tell the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC): Do not support any congressional Democrat who voted to deport Dreamers. Click here to sign the petition.

Democrats claim to be the party of the resistance to Trump's racist, anti-immigrant regime, yet fail time and time again to put their words into action. In the months leading up to the budget fight, Democratic leaders tried to stave off pressure from immigrant rights groups and progressive allies by saying that their lack of urgency to pass a clean DREAM Act was in fact a long-term strategy to get it done at the end of the year.² Their promises and posturing came to nothing.

Though House Democrats could not have stopped Republicans from approving the spending bill, they could have drawn a bright line between themselves and Republicans' racism and xenophobia by voting against it. On Dec. 22, 14 House Democrats sided with Republicans and turned their backs on immigrants by advancing the bill. Once it was in the Senate, the year-end spending bill needed 60 votes to move forward, which means that Democrats had the power to demand protection for Dreamers in exchange for their votes. But 17 Senate Democrats refused to use their leverage to stand up for immigrants and helped Republicans approve a spending package that did not include any protections for Dreamers. This is not just a failure by each of those Democrats, but also a massive failure of leadership.

Cowardly Democratic leaders in both houses failed to act. They gave lip service to Dreamers but refused to rally their entire caucus around the leadership of Rep. Gutierrez and Sens. Warren, Sanders, and Harris who promised to force Republicans to shut down the government if they refused to include a clean DREAM Act in the end-of-year spending package. They ignored a massive outpouring of activism – including hunger strikes – from undocumented young people and their allies. They were so afraid of the personal political consequences of forcing Republicans to shut down the government that they refused to stand up for and protect Dreamers.

Instead of leading the resistance to Trump, Democrats keep kicking the can on relief for Dreamers, playing politics with people's lives and allowing Republicans to use Dreamers as bargaining chips to criminalize and deport other immigrants and get funding for Trump's wall. Democrats who refused to push for a clean DREAM Act sent a cruel and racist message to the immigrants in their districts: You are expendable. That's why we're teaming up with our friends at United We Dream and Presente to demand that the DSCC and DCCC take bold action now.

Tell the DSCC and the DCCC: Do not support any congressional Democrat who voted to deport Dreamers. Click here to sign the petition.

More than 14,000 Dreamers have already lost their work permits and protection from deportation.³ Every day that Congress waits to pass the DREAM Act, 122 more lose their legal status. Immigrant young people and their communities are living in fear, but recent reports indicate that Democrats are still not acting with urgency.

Once again, Democratic leaders are saying they will do everything they can to protect Dreamers, but their recent statements stop short of a hard commitment to attach the DREAM Act to the must-pass spending bill that Congress needs to approve by Jan. 19.⁴ That's why we must do everything we can to make clear to Democratic party leaders that another failure on this issue is not an option.

Many of the Democrats who caved on the DREAM Act in December will be running for the same office or, in some cases, higher offices in 2018.⁵ If Democratic party leaders use party resources to support their campaigns, they will be supporting cowards who are enabling Trump's racist, xenophobic agenda. Add your name now to make sure they know the progressive base of the Party demands better.

Tell the DSCC and the DCCC: Do not support any congressional Democrat who voted to deport Dreamers. Click the link below to sign the petition.

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/dscc_dccc_dream?t=8&akid=26572%2E1004336%2EoTsezq

Add your name:

References:

1. CREDO, "Democrats who just voted to deport Dreamers graphic," posted Dec. 21, 2017.
2. Rachel Blade and Heather Caygle, "Congress speeds toward shutdown over Dreamers," POLITICO, Nov. 21, 2017.
3. Tom Jawetz and Nicole Prchal Svajlenka, "Thousands of DACA Recipients Are Already Losing Their Protection From Deportation," Center for American Progress, Nov. 9, 2017.
4. Lisa Mascaro, "Trump aides and congressional leaders set to restart talks on budget and immigration," Los Angeles Times, Jan. 2, 2017.
5. Ed O'Keefe, "Democrats unlikely to force DACA vote this week, probably averting shutdown," The Washington Post, Dec. 19, 2017.

 

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