Take Action: According to Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda, tackle one issue at a time. The more trouble it takes you to contact your politicians, the more they pay attention. So when you can manage the time and effort, put your body out there. Face-to-face or protest march > calling > faxing if you can’t get through on regular phone > writing letters (because they may arrive too late) > personal email > petition or group email.
But we are in this for the long haul, so pace yourselves. Do whatever level you can do. We will be here once a week with the latest.
To see if your legislator is having a Town Hall meeting: Congress just returned from meeting with constituents, but they return regularly. Check out the Town Hall Project’s list of Town Hall Meetings so that you can meet them face to face if you wish.
If your legislators will not have a Town Hall, have one and invite them: Indivisible Guide: Missing Members of Congress Action Plan: Hold a Constituents' Town Hall
To write your letter then fax it for free: FaxZero: Create and send faxes for free to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada
Easy resource to find your politicians’ phone, email, etc: The AARP has an action site, Advocacy - Legislative Action Center - AARP. I know AARP isn’t perfect, but it has a nifty feature for everyone: Look down to the right, where it says “find your state legislators”. Put in your zip code. It returns federal, state AND local politicians, NOT just legislators. Federal, for example, includes contact information for Trump, Pence, your two Senators, and your Congressional representative. If you need more than phone numbers and email addresses, it has clickable links to their web pages, which should have up-to-date contact information including fax numbers, street addresses, appearance schedule, how to schedule appointments, and constituent services.
Relocate your Money: Divest from Prisons and Pressure Others to Divest: Join the Prison Divestment Movement
If all you have time for is a petition:
MoveOn Petition: Congress: Deny Funding for Private Prisons
Change.org Petition: Congress: Stop Helping Corporations Profit From Crime
Please feel free to share and/or reprint this diary in whole or in part with attribution far and wide, other websites or newspapers, I give it freely. Our aim is for millions to take action.
Each week: The week’s cartoon will post after press time at the TeePublic elenacarlena store if you’d like to pick up a shirt, mug, or other items with any cartoon in the series, to help spread the word and support these efforts. If you want it and don’t see it, just Kosmail me to ask!
Thank you for taking action!
References:
Sessions Reverses Obama Policy on Private Prisons
Back in the Groove Again: Private Prisons: Bad for Prisoners, Guards, Society - Good for Profits
In the prior week, Immigration Deportation Forces are grabbing women from hospitals and shit. Oh, and legal weed is back on the chopping block. And freedom of the press is not, after all, free for all press. And those Muslims from those 7 countries, trying to come or go wrongly...and a new bill has been proposed in Arizona to make protest illegal. Where to put all those folks when they lock them up?
Private Prisons: Here's Why Sessions' Memo Matters
Investigation by The Nation: Dying in Private Prisons
Investigation by The Nation: The 25 Men Whose Lives Ended Under Questionable Circumstances
Memo Restoring Use of Private Prisons is Good News for One Company:
The seeds of Sessions’s evangelism for private prisons, and the future of the industry, were sown back in October, when two of his former Senate aides, David Stewart and Ryan Robichaux, became lobbyists for Geo Group.
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