Call to Action courtesy of Desert Progressives

September 3, 2017
As people who value love over hate, our mission together is twofold: to resist the current administration's agenda - and to work to elect people who share our values in the next election.

With that second objective in mind, some of us are meeting on Monday night, 9/4, with a group called CASE which is made up of a dynamic, inspiring and diverse group of young people. Their mission is to register 200,000 new voters by 2018, and we're going to find out how we can help. If you'd like to join us, please just RSVP to Mickey (602-318-5236) or Judy (602-769-5149).

The meeting is at 7 pm on Monday 9/4 at Shadow Rock, 12861 N. 8th Ave, Phoenix. (The same location as our monthly meetings.)
~Judy Schwiebert and Mickey Tucker

Stand up for our Dreamers!
Help resist the latest hateful actions of this administration. This Tuesday there's expected to be an announcement from the Executive Branch that may result in the deportation of our young people brought to the US without documentation as children. Help protect our young people from deportation by Trump.

Join us in calling our MoC's (senators and representatives) to urge them to co-sponsor bipartisan bills to protect our Dreamers and give them a path to citizenship!

Although the DACA program has wide-ranging support from elected officials across the political spectrum—including House Speaker Paul Ryan, and even (at times) from Donald Trump, the Trump White House is now standing idly by as a vocal minority of anti-immigrant state officials threatens to unravel the entire program in the courts

Removing DACA protections from these hundreds of thousands of young people would turn their lives upside down, and harm the communities where they live, work and study.

Congress has the power to remedy this situation. Congress doesn’t have to—and should not—sit on the sidelines. Congress can pass legislation protecting these immigrant youth.

Call Senator McCain (602-952-8702) and Senator Flake ((602-840-1891)  and tell them to co-sponsor the bipartisan Durbin-Graham “DREAM Act” (S. 1615) to create a legislative fix to the predicament of these young Americans, and take their future out of Trump’s hands.

Call your House Representative: Rep Schweikert (480-946-9111)  Rep Franks (623 776-7911) or Rep Sinema ((602-956-2468) - and tell her/him to co-sponsor Rep. Gutierrez’s American Hope Act (H.R. 3591) give those with DACA and others who arrived in the United States as children a path to permanent legal status and eventual citizenship.


Arizona Action
Keep up with Save Our Schools
Save Our Schools continues to fight back against frivolous lawsuits and will continue to push forward in the public relations battles against groups with big, dark money. We can help by continuing to spread the word among friends and colleagues, in person and on FB and Twitter: Defunding public schools is NOT okay with Arizonans.

Call to Action:  If you're on Facebook, be aware that the side against supporting public education has launched a Facebook page called "Save Our Students"  to peddle their lies about vouchers and public education. Will you "like" their page and pop in regularly to comment on threads? 95% families CHOOSE public education. Let's not let them forget it.Please always post respectfully. Your personal stories will be most effective. However, you can also keep up with good information to post at the Save Our Schools Facebook page here.

Also, the following articles are not new, however, they are reminders of reasons why the Expanded Vouchers are so wrong.  Keep up the chatter. We will be facing a lot of pushback and should keep this issue front & center.
EJ Montini on school vouchers
EJ Montini on Gov Ducey & Rep Lesko's dark money sources
Be a Superhero: Donate Toys this month to Help Children in Abusive Situations
Everyone has an opportunity to be a superhero this month — no cape or tights required.
Childhelp — a non-profit organization dedicated to helping victims of neglect, abuse and trauma — is partnering with the Phoenix Police Department for the third annual Superhero September. Donations can be made online at the Childhelp website

Click here for a related story from azcentral.com

National Action
Respond to Hurricane Harvey
From the  Indivisible website: Hurricane Harvey is a national crisis. Our thoughts are with the people of Houston and the other affected communities in Texas and Louisiana.

There are dozens of organizations working around the clock to assist those in need in Texas and Louisiana. The best thing we can do right now to help victims of Hurricane Harvey is to donate to those organizations, including any of these.

We can also demand that Congress respond to Hurricane Harvey by providing funding for recovery.  Ask your MoC's to: quickly supply disaster relief for victims of the hurricane,
fully fund FEMA and other disaster relief programs,
reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program, not privatize it,
and take action on climate change.

Demand that ICE be Accountable for their Actions
Write: The Honorable Elaine C. Duke, Secretary of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C. 20528
Script: According to reports, my tax dollar is funding abuse, harassment, and malnourishment of immigrants and asylum seekers by ICE officers and detention centers. Further, ICE is also destroying records that could hold them accountable for inhumane actions. Immigrants, law-abiding or not, must be treated with basic human decency. Please initiate an effort to reign in this cruel treatment and unchecked power. America is better than this.
Bonus: Send a copy of this note to your 3 MoCs.

Find more meaningful actions you can take at Jen Hoffmann’s Action Checklist for Americans of Conscience
Oppose Efforts to Ram Through Lifetime Judgeships to Biased Nominees
Call: 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to Sens Grassley, then Feinstein this week.
Script: I am calling [name] in his/her role on the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose conducting a single hearing for Barrett, Larsen, and Drieband for lifetime appointments. I am advocating for a thorough review of each nominee. Can you assure me [name] will uphold their responsibility to properly vet these candidates?
Bonus: Call as many other SJC members as you can.

Find more meaningful actions you can take at Jen Hoffmann’s Action Checklist for Americans of Conscience
Good News!
Our friends at PeaceIsLoud.org remind us each week of the good news that we sometimes miss.  This week's edition of Small Victories features victories including that...
In Texas, federal judges temporarily blocked an anti-immigration law targeting sanctuary cities and a new anti-abortion law. The alt-right continues to cancel rallies—this time in San Francisco.  Counter-protesters showed up anyway, prepared with the most creative defense (and held a dance party procession featuring a special guest. #TooLegitToQuitProtesting
Kamala Harris will co-sponsor Bernie Sander’s upcoming Medicare-for-All bill, becoming the latest Democrat to support this legislation
The father whose ICE arrest was taped by his crying daughter Fatima has been reunited with his family and his deportation order was dismissed.

Copyright © 2017 All rights reserved.
Desert Progressives.org