Democracy Out Loud #440:Rapid response
Call members of the House of Representatives about the budget.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said after the Senate (50-50 + VP) vote on Trump’s budget bill yesterday: “This place feels to me, today, like a crime scene. Get some of that yellow tape and put it around this chamber. This piece of legislation is corrupt. This piece of legislation is crooked. This piece of legislation is a rotten racket. This bill cooked up in back rooms, dropped at midnight, cloaked in fake numbers with huge handouts to big Republican donors. It loots our country for some of the least deserving people you could imagine. When I first got here, this chamber filled me with awe and wonderment. Today, I feel disgust.”
Now this same bill is in the House. We all have to call US Representatives today, tomorrow, and Friday. This bill is designed to create a dystopian country with vastly more hungry, homeless, sick, imprisoned, and dying people, all for the benefit of the filthy rich. Also, Trump’s concentration camps and plans have given us a focus which is as important as cuts to Medicare and SNAP.
Most of the conversation so far has been about Medicaid cuts, but they won’t kick in for a while. The real reason for the urgency to pass this bill quickly is that the Department of Homeland Security is running out of money. If you haven’t already, read Heather Cox Richardson from today’s Substack. She points out, “Once a new system of detention facilities and ICE agents is established and the idea that a Republican president can legitimately attack his political opponents is accepted, a police state will be in place.”
This bill directs Congress to spend 170.7 billion dollars on immigration reform, including 45 billion dollars for concentration camps, AKA for-profit detention centers. The brutal people in military garb who are snatching people off the street without due process will proliferate if this bill is passed.
I used to wonder why German citizens didn’t blow up the train tracks leading to concentration camps during World War II. Now I know that most of them were too busy living their lives, or they didn’t understand what was going on, or they didn’t care. If you are reading this, you understand and you care, and you might feel helpless, but here is something important you can do:
Call your US Representative, put them on speed dial, and keep calling them. We especially suggest calling Speaker Mike Johnson (202) 225-4000, Representative Chuck Edwards (R-11) (202)225-6401 and Representative Greg Murphy (R-3) (202) 225-3415 and as many more as you can even if they don’t represent you. (I just got a staff person at two of these and they didn’t even ask me where I lived.)
Below, Native American protesters and others outside “Alligator Alcatraz” yesterday (photo by Giorgio Viera via Getty Images). Meanwhile, MAGA sells merchandise.
There are also numerous phone banking opportunities (thanks, Mindy!)
The Service Employees International Union: SEIU, sign up to call at 11 am or 5 pm tomorrow.
The People’s Action sign up to call today from 10 am to 3 pm.
The California Democratic Party, sign up to call today and tomorrow at this link.
Move On, sign up to call today and tomorrow at this link.
Mobilize, sign up to call today from 6 to 8 pm.
The deadly Medicaid cuts are still a focus, but when I call I am going to talk about the concentration camps and the addition of 3.3 billion dollars to the deficit too, all for the sake of tax cuts to the wealthy. The important thing is to urge these Representatives to vote NO on the budget bill and to encourage others to do the same.
Below, some of us took Calile’s tombstones out for a walk to Senator Tillis’s and Senator Budd’s offices in Raleigh this week. (Photo by Marci)
We are living through a really difficult time. I truly believe that this brutality is the dying gasp of systems of violence, and we just have to do what we can to keep fighting back. If you have feelings of deep insecurity, grief, rage, helplessness, sadness, or whatever, you are not alone. Part of what we are feeling is not our own; it is our connection with the collective. Hang on. Be inspired by others who are with us and those we don’t know who are fighting back with all their might. I don’t know how long it will take, but Empire is going down and we just have to assist its demise with our stubborn and fierce faith, hope and love.
with respect and gratitude, Karen
July 2nd Been calling House of Representative Main Switchboard 202-224-3121 on the hour starting 6am Pacific Standard Time: Called voice-mail of My Republican Fascist Rep Kevin Kiley ( District 3CA): Stating facts & figures of the increases wanted for ICE / Concentration camps that the GOP call ICE Detention Centers/ and adding a excerpt from Joyce Vance article on how Hiter changed the Jewish immigration policies to Denaturalization- and asked Kiley- 'Does this sound Familiar? It's what Trump & his DOJ plan to implement.
Told Kiley that he has a choice of keeping our Democracy or destroying all into fascism.
https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/taking-away-your-citizenship?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=z5mva