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 meeting, town hall 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 at least once a week with the latest.
To see if your legislator is having a Town Hall meeting:Congress critters theoretically travel home to meet with constituents 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. Don’t be surprised if they are too chicken to meet everyone.
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 (up to five free faxes per day) or GotFreeFax: Send free fax online to the U.S. and Canada (a bit easier to use, but only up to two free faxes per day).
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.
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!
Hat tip (literally) to Jan4Insight for the moss green pussycat hat!
References:
Protests Nationwide Denounce Syria Strikes as US Threatens "To Do More" :
"This is the worst possible way to respond to the indefensible attack at Khan Sheikhun. As well as deepening the tragedy of the Syrian people, this utterly irresponsible act threatens to widen the war and lead the West into military confrontation with Russia," the group [British Stop the War Coalition] stated.
Leslie Salzillo: Americans to Pay Over $70 Million for the Fired Syrian Missiles - Guess Who Profits? :
One very disturbing, but not surprising aspect in all this, is that in 2015, Business Insider reported Donald Trump owned stock in Raytheon. Unless Trump sold his Raytheon shares, he made a nice profit on Friday from his missile attack on Thursday. And given what we’ve seen from Donald Trump, it probably would surprise few if it’s discovered that Trump and/or his sons bought more Raytheon shares on Wednesday in anticipation of the missile attack on Thursday. More will be revealed.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Rand Paul Among Lawmakers Criticizing Trump's Syria Airstrike :
"This escalation is short-sighted and will lead to more dead civilians, more refugees, the strengthening of al-Qaeda and other terrorists, and a possible nuclear war between the United States and Russia," Gabbard said in a statement. "This Administration has acted recklessly without care or consideration of the dire consequences of the United States' attack on Syria without waiting for the collection of evidence from the scene of the chemical poisoning."
Liberal Leaders Call for Challenge to Gabbard over Syria Skepticism : This seems insane to me, but I offer it to provide both sides, as I am not a foreign pawlicy expert. Is it a Dem/Rep divide or a pro/anti war divide? Again from Tulsi:
"Why should we just blindly follow this escalation of a counterproductive regime-change war?"
Other viewpoints on Syria:
Pelosi Demands Immediate Debate on AUMF for Syria
McCain: Congress Should Pass New Military Authorization, Update AUMF
Can We Stop Pretending About Syria? :
Most of the world is upset about Syria’s use of chemical weapons against their own people – and it should be. It was yet another act of evil, and Bashar al-Assad is a monster. The world will be a better place without him.
But let’s not pretend anyone is going to do anything to facilitate that.
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The world likes to be seen denouncing monsters and their inhuman actions, but it doesn’t like actually doing anything about it unless forced.
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We want to be heroes, but we want it to be neat. Like in the movies. But war isn’t neat.
If World War II happened today, the West would be passing resolutions condemning Germany and Japan, the Jews would be eliminated and nation after nation would fall to tyranny.
I am having Internet issues. Please consider this an open thread and discuss! I’ll be here when I can.