Our Update---Not Just a Regular Tuesday Or maybe it is going fowards?

2018---you are next!

 Virginia’s most socially conservative state lawmaker was ousted from office by Danica Roem, who will be one of the nation’s first openly transgender elected officials.

- Andrea Jenkins became the first black transgender woman elected to public office when she won a seat on the Minneapolis City Council with over 70% of the vote.

- Melvin Carter III was elected St. Paul's first mayor of color.

- Jenny Durkan will be the first lesbian mayor of Seattle, and Zachary DeWolf became Seattle's first openly gay school board member.

- Democrat Vi Lyles will become Charlotte, NC's first African American female mayor.

- Hoboken voters chose Ravinder Bhalla, who became the first Sikh mayor to be elected in the state of New Jersey.

- In Manchester, N.H., Joyce Craig became the first woman to win the mayor's office.

- Michelle Kaufusi became the first woman elected mayor in the 157-year history of Provo, the third-largest city in Utah.

- Kathy Tran became the first Asian-American woman to be elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.

- Democrat Justin Fairfax won the lieutenant governor's office, becoming only the second African-American to win a statewide post in Virginia since Reconstruction.

- Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel, who were targeted in racist "Make Edison Great Again" mailers that made national headlines both won three-year terms on the Edison, NJ Township Public Schools board.

- Atlantic County, NJ freeholder Mays Landing (man) was defeated by Ashley Bennett (woman), who was inspired to run after Landing mocked the Women's March. 

- Chris Hurst — whose girlfriend was fatally shot during a live broadcast in 2015 — toppled pro-gun Republican incumbent Joseph Yost.

- The republican mayor of St. Petersberg, FL was defeated after aligning himself with Trump and denying climate change.

- Democrats, many of them unknown first-time candidates, are poised to pick up at least 14 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates.

- Maine voted to expand medicare.

- New Jersey and Virginia elected democratic governors.

Puerto Rico. Update As of Saturday Morning Sept 30

Friends---- this is not a drill. This is real.  At this point the only answer is POTUS is insane.  He gets into pissing matches with everyone including the mayor of San Juan--he is not a real leader.  But individually we are leaders.  Each and everyone of us.

I called Operation USA today and spoke to someone in their warehouse.  I asked what is going on with their relief since the infrastructure is a total loss in PR.   Operation USA has a staff on the ground in PR. And they have doctors.   Some doctors in Pheonix have chartered a plane and they are filling it with medical supplies and tablets to clean water along with other necessary goods. They also have access to some Honeywell employees in PR and they know the difficuties with fuel and trucks but they are on it.  Their plane will leave on Thursday.   They are very measured and thoughtful about their relief and are adding to it bit by bit as they get the system down.

These people are smart.  I have been donating to them for over twenty years.  They have a high bar that they reach and in terms of charitable organizations their overhead is super small.   This is not a group that uses big drama to generate money and then goes to FEMA for reimbursement.  That's NOT Operation USA.   You can check on other groups who does that...not pretty.

Please donate to OPERATION USA .  Let's make sure someone from every state donates so we can cover Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico --We Are Coming!

Stepping up right now---because Americans take care of Americans even if their president is lost in the woods.    There are lots of organizations helping PR.  Find one to donate or you can ...

Donate now to Operation USA ---the money gets there!   #PuertoRicoStrong 

Righteous ACTION - In RESPONSE to Hate

The first amendment protects free speech and it protected Heather Heyer's right to protest white supremacy at a rally Charlottesville.    At her funeral,  Heather's mother asked for people to respond with righteous action.   Here's a suggestion.

The events of Charlottesville and the response by POTUS have activated many people.   For some a Rubicon has been crossed.    There will be many marches where people will show up in peace.   It will be their righteous action.

If a friend invites you to march but you can't do it or if you would like to march but you are scared ---you can still push back on hate and support peace and have major impact.   This will be your righteous action.

When a hate group has a rally or march and others respond with peace why don't you donate to Southern Poverty Law Center?    How powerful will it be when the reports come in that there was a hate march in Berkeley or New Jersey or Ohio and Southern Poverty Law received $250,000 donations that weekend!  

We can do it.

Here's the link to Donate to  Southern Poverty Law Center

   

And if you need inspiration whether this works or not?  Go HERE   

Bad for the Brand. Bad for the Country. Bad for your portfolio.

Exactly why are the CEOs of these companies still on DJTrump's Manufacturing Council?
I sort of have a soft spot for Campbell Soup.  It reminds me of childhood and cozy.  Now it seems like a product perfect for people who Trump loves and protects: white supremacists.
Hmm hmm sad.  

If you have these companies in your portfolio dump them.
If you buy these products..stop

And  AFL-CIO --for god sakes stop the charade.   Slink off with the others.   No one will notice if you head for the exit doors with the others,

Call Now! Could Mitch McConnell be any sneakier?

Natural Gas Compressors & Storage Tanks coming to your neighborhood soon

Feel free to share this anywhere.  
I met with a group of activists yesterday and we went to Kamala Harris' office to please ask the senator to oppose bill S 1460. 

It was hotter than hell but I drove down to her office because it is that important. 

McConnell put this anti enviroment bill in the schedule about a week and half ago, this will get voted on without going to committee---sneaky move. The bill is 600 pages long most likely written by oil lobbyist. It will push us back 20 years. It double down on fossil fuels. It ignores wind and solar energy. This will help build Liquid Natural Gas export terminals which will lead to exanded fracking across the country with more pipelines being built and more compressors. This is taking us WAY in the wrong direction. 

Your help is needed. Please call your Senator today or tomorrow and say vote NO on S1460. Don't be distracted by the Russia stuff, it is wildly important for sure, but there is a lot at stake this week!! They are trying to push all kinds of things through this week.

For More on this bill go HERE.  

Or HERE. 

Naomi Klein. Watch This!

You are busy.   I know.   But watch this.   Take the five minutes.   Go to this LINK.  ( below is just a screen grab)

If you have any trouble with THAT link above...then go to the YouTubeLink 

My Question for Comey

On May 17, 2017 The Washington Post reported on an audio conversation between Congressman Kevin McCarthy and Paul Ryan from June 2016, where McCarthy said:  “ There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.”  Both congressmen denied the conversation took place until they were told there was a recording.  Then they said it was a joke.   Question:  Based on your own intelligence findings could this conversation in deed be based in something real and not a joke?   

Stop Being In Shock. It is Time.

This May Be An Anecdote But It Has Scary Implications.

While we were all busy watching the s-show in the last two weeks: Health Care Bill, A trip to Europe that seemed crazy and more Russian investigations.....something was going on that we may not really have had a complete handle on.    For sure.

Watch this clip from Morning Joe (today) May 31, 2017.

It has scary implications.    ** ETA:  I think a few of you missed this... ---he did not search for shoes on google. He did not search about running.  He only talked about it on the phone.

ETA:  On Wednesday (5/31) I tested it.  I called a friend and had a conversation about Vitamin K. I did not google search Vit. K. I did not type it anywhere.  I only talked about it.  24 hours later I had vitamin ads pop up on my feed.
I have now heard from several people with their own stories.  One told her husband to pick up fast food at a specific place, a place they rarely go to and bam the ads showed up that night on their feed.
Other stories as well.

Test it.

The Dirty Thirty -- Not Worth Our Time.

Back Channels. Don't be duped.

Please Share

Have you checked the Voting Schedule for the next Year?

Today in Los Angeles there is a vote, right..today on  May 16th, 2017.  Such a weird date for a vote but there are important issues that need me to put in my vote.   I will go and I am sure there will be no line to get in.  

The point of me telling you this is the fact that there are a lot of caucuses and elections during the next year and of course 2018.

Have you checked to see the elections coming up in your state?  And how about the state you grew up in?  Do you still have family in those states?

We are all going to need to reach out to one another and make sure people vote including the person in the mirror even in the 'off' years.  There are "off years" any longer.

Go HERE to see which states have elections.

Action: Indivisible

Have you found your local Indivisible Group?


If you are stunned that DJT fired Comey in the middle of an investigation are stunned that DJT invited in a known Russian spy into the oval office the next day and kept US media out.  If you are stunned that DJT shared sensitive Intelligence with the known spy---then take your shock which is covering for your anger and get to your local Indivisble Group.  

This is the only way we are going to get our country out of the hands of this insanity.  

What Candidate Trump Said About Sensitive Intelligence and Hillary. How is that looking now?

This video was put together on The Eleventh Hour.  

It is called FLASHBACK: Candidate Trump Blasted Hillary Over Intelligence

This is how it starts. One small office at a time.

Please read this article.  It was just put up.  It is short but packs a lot of punch.

How to do in your town?  Start musing.  

I've been MIA

Friends,

I have been MIA most of April.  A family vacation and then a series of important deadlines have kept me away from Our Next Move blog.  

I am back.

Thank you

Getting Your Education: Robert Reich Report - March 28, 2017

If you are on FB you can follow Robert Reich Reports.    Periodically I will put up a report that is loaded with info that helps calibrate what is going on.  Not just the side show stuff around DJT tweets but the real policy many of it clandestine by players who are hiding in plain sight.  

This particular report (March 28) is very informative.       And I would like to note Reich does a shout out for Indivisible and Swing Left and Sister District.     Have you joined your local group?    It is time.

Getting Your Attention: Manufacturing in the South --This is NOT right

You'll hear a lot about businesses moving to Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, etc where it is a right to work state, no union, violate OSHA regulations (Occupational Safety Health Admin) for years --and you know what happens?  

This.

Bloomberg is hardly a font of liberal media bias and they went down deep on this topic.   It is not pretty.   And what will this look like with Trump in charge?    Go HERE

Watch This: Rachel Maddow - March 24

Go right now and watch this Video.

This is from Friday March 24 Rachel Maddow Show.

You know some of it but sometimes you need to see the whole picture to feel it.

The Revolution will be Televised: Code Blue on VICE

My favorite group.  
Put on your radar.

PUT ON YOUR RADAR: Yes, There Are Elections in 2017!

This weekend there was a special election in Delaware for State Senator.  It was a huge turn out for a special election which certainly suggests people are paying attention to every race.    What made this race also important is that we are now in Post Trump Era since he took the office last month.    What do elections look like now?   A lot of volunteers and donations from outside Delaware...and it worked, Stephanie Hansen the Democrat in the race won.   Let's here it for a united Democratic front & teamwork!  

Hansen’s campaign received huge support. More than 1,000 volunteers worked during the course of the campaign, and about 500 ― many from nearby states ― showed up Saturday for Election Day. Hansen received more than 14,000 contributions of less than $100 from small donors spread all over the country.

In 2017 there are many elections and in order for a Democrat we will need to volunteer time, energy and money...along with creativity.    

Here is the list of elections for the rest of 2017.   Do you live in these states?  Do you have family in these states?  Do you have friends in these states?   And can you help in these elections?   Let's get this list on our radar and start musing, "What can I do?"   Begin this process immediately!

Our Next Move: It is CT

All eyes are on the Greg Cava race in the state house for CT.   His district is in the northwest corner of CT.   Can you call?   Can you canvas?   Can you ask your friends?

Go HERE for all your information!

Yes, Trump is awful.  Yes, his press conferences are crazy.  Yes, his relationship with Russia appears treasonous.   And we will fight it. But sometimes we will have to get super micro and help a state election.  And this is one of those times.  Let's do all we can to help Cava.

Time To Reach Out

We are about to begin the fourth week of the DJT administration.   For those of us who knew his choices from executive orders to nominees would be awful, well, we were correct.     And there will be more awfulness.     So, here is our reality check.    We will be calling representatives for the next four years.   We will be marching for causes important to us during the next four years.   We will be donating to many organizations.     You have probably already done some of the above.  But there is, beyond all that, something we must ALL do.    We must join a grassroots group.    It is simply impossible to effect change in a real meaningful way without working through grassroots.  

So question....Have you begun your grassroots reach out?

I have posted many groups on this blog but instead of reposting my stuff, let me give you this link to Bill Moyers site that has a great write up.     My experience with Indivisible & Swing Left has been very positive.   I define positive as "organized and informative and action oriented. "  No one wants to waste their time, especially me, so I like groups that mean business.

Along with grassroots, have you gone to your local Democratic Club?  Have you googled to find your local chapter?   I have been going to many meetings.   The only way we are going to effect change in our candidates and in the party is by filling up the local chapters with new blood.    At these meeting be sure to share what you are learning from your grass roots.   Do not be afraid to ask questions.

And a note to those who are shy or "not joiners"....I am afraid politics is no longer a spectator sport.   Please put your shyness in the closet and reach out.  We need you.  

Going Forward: Things to Consider

Let Me Plant A Few Seeds

There is Some Wise Advice Circulating:
1. Don't use his name;
2. Remember this is a regime and he's not acting alone;
3. Do not argue with those who support him--it doesn't work;
4. Focus on his policies, not his orange-ness and mental state;
5. Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow;
6. No more helpless/hopeless talk;
7. Support artists and the arts;
8. Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it;
9. Take care of yourselves; and
10. Resist!

Keep demonstrations peaceful. In the words of John Lennon, "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight! Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor."

When you post or talk about him, don't assign his actions to him, assign them to "The Republican Administration," or "The Republicans." This will have several effects: the Republican legislators will either have to take responsibility for their association with him or stand up for what some of them don't like; he will not get the focus of attention he craves; Republican representatives will become very concerned about their re-elections.

(Copy to paste to your wall - wider than sharing)