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From Into Action. Download here.

Hi, all, and happy Tuesday.

Hope you had a lovely long weekend!

Thanks to those of you who made calls about Juan Nicolas yesterday—I think it made a difference. He was apparently rushed to the hospital late last night and has been diagnosed with bronchitis. That’s the “good news,” such as it is—he was finally seen by doctors and it’s because of your pressure. The bad news is that he is no longer at the hospital—he was discharged this morning and sent back to Dilley. Unbelievable, right?

Juan is in the medical unit there, so at the very least we have made his captors understand that this baby must receive better care. Still, the fact that he’s back at Dilley is appalling. I am following Lidia Terraza’s feed closely and will let you know what happens next (or follow her yourself!). In the meantime we are going to make more noise to our lawmakers about getting these children and babies out of custody.

Meanwhile, ICE continues to make all of us less safe. They killed another American citizen yesterday, in fact—a beloved school teacher who died Monday morning in Savannah as a driver fleeing ICE officers ran a red light and hit her vehicle. This woman wasn’t a protestor. She wasn’t “Antifa.” She was Linda Davis, a teacher at a local elementary school, and she was simply going about her business when the chaos that surrounds ICE everywhere enveloped and destroyed her.

This isn’t partisan. It is a simple fact: we are in greater danger with ICE in our neighborhoods than without them. We must keep calling Congress and demanding they do something. If you want to learn how better to keep your community safe from ICE, by the way, Red, Wine, and Blue has a training on that tonight.

Finally, an apology: on Friday I posted an electoral spreadsheet that turned out to be fairly rife with errors and omissions. I am so sorry. I should have vetted it better. The good news is that one of the readers who wrote me about it told me about a resoucre that does a similar thing, but with greater accuracy. The resource is provided by Force Multiplier, an independent, all-volunteer, self-funded organization whose goal is “to help you maximize the impact of your political investments of time and money.” I’ve admired Force Multiplier’s work for years and regularly recommend their events, so I can vouch for them and their recommendations. Here is a link to their House Slate page. People can click on the candidate’s name under their picture to see a lot of detail. Take a look at their Senate page too.

Again, sorry I wasn’t more careful. Haste always makes waste, and my case is no exception. I will endeavor to be more careful going forward.

OK, folks. There’s lots more to talk about but we’re not here to talk—we’re here to act! So let’s get to it, knowing that WE are the heroes we’ve been waiting for, and that if anyone is up to stopping this authoritarian takeover it is us, standing together, with love at the center.

So let’s get to work one more time.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I’m a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.

First, I’m calling to demand that ICE release every single child in detention right now—especially 2-month-old Juan Nicolas, who is at Dilley and was hospitalized with bronchitis just last night. These places are not safe for children, not to mention that the Trump administration is violating the Flores Settlement by regularly keeping kids imprisoned in them for longer than 20 days.

[If GOP:] Second, I support everything in Democrats’ list of demands for ICE. They killed another American citizen yesterday, this time in Savannah, GA. They are not making us more safe. They are killing us, racially profiling people, trampling on our Constitutional rights, and turning the US into an authoritarian state. Defund and abolish them now! Or at the very least codify Democrats’ demands. Thanks.

[If Democrat] Second, please stay strong and do not cave until Republicans give you everything you want on ICE. Americans support you. ICE killed another person yesterday. This can’t continue. No DHS funding until ICE is reined in. Thanks.

Finally, I am horrified that CBS and the FCC are attacking free speech again—this time by forbidding Stephen Colbert from airing an episode with James Talarico. Congress must protect our first amendment rights. I expect a strong condemnation of this attack! Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I’m a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

Second, Pam Bondi needs to go. There can be no justice for the Epstein victims while she is the AG, and these women deserve justice. Has the Congressmember called for Bondi’s impeachment yet? [If yes, thank. If not add:] May I ask why not? Does the Congressmember think her atrocious treatment of the victims last week, her lies under oath, her blatant weaponization of the DOJ are acceptable? If not they need to call for her impeachment now. Thanks.

Extra Credit—contact Blackrock and Vanguard ✅

Both Vanguard and Blackrock have Core Civic and GEO Group in their investment portfolios. It may be fruitless, but I still think we should contact them and tell them to divest. So I did. Join me?

Contact Blackrock through their “contact us” form here.

Contact Vanguard at privacy@vanguard.com. This is the only email address I could find—I got it from their operator so I know it’ll get to someone at Vanguard. Let’s use it.

I said (and this isn’t particularly great—feel free to write your own):

I’m writing as someone who has funds invested with you. But more importantly, I’m a human being who cares for other humans. I know your funds are heavily invested in both GEO Group and Core Civic, companies profiting massively off of the construction and running of concentration camps for immigrants. It’s disgusting — this is blood money, pure and simple. I urge you to divest from both companies. It’s not a matter of if—but rather when—such investment becomes economically and reputationally toxic. It is already morally toxic, as I’m sure you know.

Your divestment could make a huge impact in our fight against cruelty, ethnic cleansing, and possible genocide at the hands of the the US government. Your failure to do so will put you on the wrong side of both humanity and history.

Divest, please.

Get Smart! 📚

CAP Action presents: Andy Beshear—Focussing on What Matters.

Thursday, Feb. 19 at 9AM ET

Please join the Center for American Progress for remarks by Gov. Beshear, followed by a conversation with CAP Action CEO Neera Tanden. This event runs in tandem with the ongoing series, “What’s Next: Conversations on the Path Forward” at CAP Action’s sister organization, the Center for American Progress.

Beshear has the highest approval rating of any Democratic governor in the country and he’s in a ruby red state. He’ll be talking about why that is. Should be really interesting.

This event will be in person AND on Zoom. RSVP here.

Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣

Hi folks! Please help with recruitment for the March 28th No Kings National Day of Non-Violent Action. We may think “everyone already knows about it!” but that’s not true. If we want this protest to be as big as we need it to be we need to recruit outside of our usual bubbles. Please use the toolkit below to spread the word everywhere!

Toolkit is here.

Give 💰!

Each Step Home has launched a commissary fund for families in detention. I love this org and know its founder. I totally vouch for them.

From them:

No child belongs in a detention cell. Help us alleviate some of the pain for the children locked away at Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Reports include worms in their food, guards shouting orders and snatching toys from small hands, restless nights under fluorescent lights that never fully go dark, and hours in line for a single pill. Donate today to add funds to families’ commissary accounts. These funds will allow families to buy the most basic items, like clean water or a phone call to lawyers and loved ones.

Donate here.

Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻

[To: all 3 reps] [H/T ] [Text SIGN PVDJHO to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]

(Note that for the most effective RESISTBOT it’s best to personalize this text. More about how to do this here. But if you’re short on time just send it as is using the above code.)

I am writing regarding the House passage of the SAVE America Act and the growing discussion of unilateral executive action to impose national voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements ahead of the midterm elections.Members of Congress should understand clearly: voters are paying attention.It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. Yet the SAVE America Act would impose sweeping documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements and new identification mandates that risk disenfranchising eligible Americans — particularly naturalized citizens, married women whose names differ from birth certificates, military voters, students, and elderly voters without ready access to original documents.At the same time, a recently expanded federal citizenship verification system (SAVE) has demonstrated documented inaccuracies. In multiple states, naturalized citizens were incorrectly flagged as potential noncitizens. Some were temporarily barred from voting or required to provide additional documentation despite having registered lawfully. Publicly reported searches across tens of millions of voters have identified only a minuscule fraction of suspected ineligible registrations — directly undermining claims of widespread fraud.

[Read the rest here.]

OK, you did it again! You’re helping to save democracy! You’re amazing.

Talk soon.

Jess

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Chop Wood, Carry Water 2/17