The Super Tuesday Edition: Feb. 6-March 3 2020

Hey Teen Resisters!
First of all, happy Super Tuesday (live updates HERE)! Second of all, it's been a long and somewhat scary few weeks--with the primaries in full heat, coronavirus spreading, and craziness in Washington continuing, we wanted to clarify a few key topics.

​Before you dive in, we wanted to bring your attention to an incredibly consequential case that the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Wednesday (tomorrow), June Medical Services LLC v. Russo. The case deals with a state law in Louisiana requiring doctors to have admitting privileges to a nearby hospital to be allowed to perform abortions; if it were found constitutional, all of Louisiana's three abortion clinics would shut down. The ruling has the potential to gut abortion access nationwide while, by name, upholding Roe v. Wade -- empowering conservative states to take away women's right to choose everywhere but preserving liberal complacency on the abortion issue at the same time. Read more about it here, and try to follow the case as it progresses.

Happy activisting!
Peace & power,
​TR

what went down

Primaries Update!!
The most decisive moment in the 2020 primary race has come: today is the long-awaited Super Tuesday, the day when fourteen states and one territory cast their votes in the Democratic presidential primary election. In a rapid twist in the saga yesterday — labeled my many as a last-ditch effort to unify the moderate wing of the party in opposition to the current leader on the more progressive side, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders — South Bend mayor Pete Buttigeg and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar dropped out and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. That means that the only candidates remaining are Senator Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, former VP Biden, billionaire and former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Notably, Biden was also endorsed by Beto O’Rourke. 

Prior to today, Bernie Sanders was the leader of the race in terms of delegates. A brief sketch of the trajectory of the race up to this point: Sanders and Buttigeg came out on top in Iowa and New Hampshire, which also marked the end of the campaign for candidates Andrew Yang and Michael Bennet. The candidates continued on the campaign trail to Nevada for the February 22 caucuses, in which they participated in another debate. For the first time, billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined the stage. Sanders left Vermont with another victory under his belt, while Biden held on to hope with his second place finish. On the other hand, Trump has maintained a strong lead over his few opponents. Nevada and South Carolina have cancelled their Republican caucus and primary, respectively.

However, with results still incoming, Biden has taken the lead (check the chart here for an updated delegate count per candidate as the night continues). Candidates need 1,991 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination; the majority of the remaining delegates will be awarded today. What can you do to involve yourself?

• Find out where the candidates stand on issues that matter to you. A few ways that you can learn more about the candidates' stances on various issues include by checking out their campaign website, watching a debate, or doing additional research.
• If you are of voting age, VOTE. Find your polling place at your secretary of state's website.
• If you feel really passionate about a certain candidate, volunteer with the campaign's local chapter. Information about volunteering in your area is usually available on the campaign's website. As the race narrows more and more, actions like this one become more and more impactful.

MORE LIVE Super Tuesday UPDATES HERE.

Racialization of Coronavirus
As of March 3 2020, there have been over 90,000 cases worldwide of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The global death toll has risen to over 3,000, with sudden spikes in a number of countries (read more here). The U.S. death toll for the virus is currently nine, with a recent outbreak in Washington and more than 120 cases reported nationwide. New York City subways are being sanitized every 72 hours; limits on testing foreign travelers were just lifted; statistics change so frequently that they are not accurate even hour to hour.

Facilitated by misinformation, fear of the coronavirus is being used as an excuse to attack Asian-Americans across the United States. Recently, an Asian woman was viciously attacked at a New York City subway station for wearing a surgical mask. In Indiana, two Asian men were denied a room at a motel because the employee believed falsely believed they were from China and had the virus. Asian community leaders fear that hate-crime and discrimination will increase if the pandemic continues. Small businesses in Asian-American commercial areas, such as New York City Chinatown, are suffering because of the virus. Misunderstanding of the coronavirus has led many people to irrationally fear shopping in Asian stores and restaurants.

In the wake of the recent pandemic, it is important to realize that as long as human ecological disturbances continue to worsen every year, viruses like the latest coronavirus that originate from zoonotic spillovers, or harmful pathogens spreading from animals to humans, will continue to devastate our world. Zoonotic spillovers are not exclusive to China, and can take place anywhere on the globe, including the United States. Therefore, it is imperative that we take the necessary steps of preventing the next pandemic by protecting Earth’s natural environments and keeping human ecological disturbances at check. Just like now, once there is a pandemic, there is very little we can do but hope that scientists will be able to come up with a solution.

What you can do to help:

• Find and support, or create local campaigns similar to “Show Some Love for Chinatown” in New York City that helps small businesses in Asian-American commercial areas that have been affected by the public’s fear of coronavirus

• Report hate-mongering and misleading social media posts, and if you notice a hate crime, be more than a bystander
• Support organizations that protect natural environments from human disturbances, such as the Sierra Club in the United States. Protection of the environment is the best way to reduce chances of future zoonotic pandemics
• Right now, stay safe; listen to what your schools/the CDC is saying, and do everything you can to stay hygienic​

Roger Stone Pardon
In the latest installment of our saga of foreign interference and executive power abuse in the White House, Trump advisor Roger Stone was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for witness tampering and lying to Congress in relation to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s special investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. That’s a mouthful. Here’s the Stone saga, explained:​

• Who is Roger Stone?
  • Stone is a former member of the Libertarian Party who loves to flaunt the tattoo of Richard Nixon enshrined on his back (?!), and who has worked for political leaders from Nixon to Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. Stone first suggested that Trump run for president in 1998.
  • (Fun fact...ish...: Stone looks back fondly at his beginnings in politics in high school, when he directed the ouster of his student govenrment’s president in order to get himself in office.
  • Stone joined the Trump team as a political campaign advisor in 2015. While Stone quit the campaign amid controversy in 2015, he remained an informal advisor and media surrogate to Trump throughout his campaign. During this time, Stone was banned from appearing on CNN and MSNBC due to a series of racist and misogynistic Twitter posts disparaging news personalities.
• What has Stone been accused of doing?
  • During Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in  2016, Stone was accused of and admitted to conspiring with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in order to find and publish damning information from Hillary Clinton’s email records. Senior officials within the Trump administration stated that Stone had communicated directly with them about his WikiLeaks escapades.
  • News and congressional investigations have found connections between Stone and Russian operatives who hacked the Democratic National Committee, Breitbart News affiliates, and the principle promulgator of conspiracy theories over Barack Obama’s American citizenship
  • Text messages between Stone and prosecution witnesses in the Mueller investigation reveal Stone attempting to blackmail witnesses into not testifying
• What’s going on now?
  • In November 2019, Stone was tried and convicted on all counts of indictment: obstruction, making false statements, and witness tampering
    • A judge denied a defense motion for acquittal, saying that the testimonies of senior officials in the Trump administration sufficiently supported allegations that Stone lied to Congress
  • On February 20th, 2020, a D.C. District Court judge sentenced Stone to 40 months in federal prison and a $20,000 fine for his crimes​

And, finally...

PUppy vid