Ohio August election, Middle East Ambassadors, Stand Your Ground laws, and more!
Contact all members of Congress:
- By phone: (202) 224-3121
- By email: democracy.io
- By US mail: Representatives / Senators
- By fax: Representatives / Senators
- By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
- OUR EFFORTS IN OHIO WILL MATTER ENORMOUSLYTo kill an attempt in November to enshrine abortion rights in the Ohio state constitution, right-wing Republicans are trying to make it harder to amend the constitution via an election to be held on August 8. Polls show that 58% of Ohioans support the abortion rights amendment, but that Ohioans are evenly split on whether it should be harder to amend the state constitution. This means two things: (1) that if a majority of Ohioans vote in the August 8 election to make it harder to amend the state constitution, the abortion rights amendment will be far less likely to pass in November; and (2) the tight race in the August 8 election means that our actions could make all the difference. The campaign to support is No on Issue 1. Let’s help get out the ”No” vote! We can phonebank, write postcards, and more, and we can write letters to Ohio voters with Vote Forward.
- REPUBLICAN HOLDS LEAVE US WITHOUT MIDDLE EAST AMBASSADORS
On top of Republican holds obstructing nominees for the Justice Department and military promotions, Senators J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Rand Paul (R-OH) are also holding up the confirmation of dozens of President Biden’s nominees to be ambassadors. If not relieved by July 16th, the United States will have no ambassadors in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates or Kuwait. While procedural holds are an informal custom, they are typically honored by Senate leaders as the responses when they are not can eat up significant floor time. Let’s reach out to our senators and let them know we want them to loudly and publicly condemn these foot-dragging tactics and hold these senators accountable for their costs. Let’s also ask them to push for the August recess to be cancelled and be used to move these stalled nominees and judges if these holds are not lifted.
- TOO MUCH MONEY IN POLITICS
Ad Impact Politics reported nearly half-a-billion dollars’ worth of political spending this year, exceeding the 2021 total by 10% and almost doubling where it was in the off-year of 2019. The rising expense of running for office further empowers the wealthy to influence our lawmakers. Let’s contact our members of Congress and remind them that we still want them to pass the crucial campaign finance reforms included in the For The People Act of the 117th Congress: banning dark money, strengthening the Federal Election Commission, tackling foreign spending on elections and empowering small donors.
- GET RID OF STAND YOUR GROUND LAWS
A man in Dunedin, Florida fired 30 rounds of an AR-15 rifle at his pool cleaner, whom he mistook for an intruder early in June, and will not face charges for it. Why? He’s protected by Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law. These laws clearly aren’t making us safer. If we live in one of the 30 states with Stand Your Ground laws, let’s contact our legislators to urge them to ensure they cannot be used to get away with murder.
- REJECT LEGISLATION THAT WOULD EQUATE CRITICISM OF ISRAEL WITH ANTI-SEMITISMMassachusetts is currently considering H.1558, a bill that aims to codify anti-semitism with the language drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. While taking steps to eradicate any kind of hate speech is a good thing, this particular codification, which has already been adopted by several states and is being considered by many others, has been weaponized by the right-wing to silence those advocating for Palestinian rights and Middle East peace. Even Rabbi Kenneth Stern, one of the original drafters of the language, has recognized the problems with the current statement and has been calling for several years for a clarifying rewrite before any codification is adopted. Hundreds of progressive and civil rights organizations, including many in the Jewish community have joined the call to reject this legislation. If we live in Massachusetts, let’s tell our legislators not to vote for H.1558, and if we live in other states, let’s find out if similar legislation might be pending so we can fight against this dangerous initiative.
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