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12/17/2019 0 Comments

Trump and the Giant (im)Peach: Dec. 1-Dec. 20, 2019

Hi Teen Resisters! It's been a minute. We hope you guys are hanging in amidst the last stretches of this semester and starting to gear up for a wonderful holiday season!
The news has been overwhelming, with the biggest piece of news being that President Trump was impeached on two counts by the House of Representatives. We're gonna jump into that and more.

What Went Down:

Impeachment in the House: Before we jump into this, we're going to link you to our previous impeachment updates in chronological order, just to cover all the background:

The Impeachment Explainer breaks down the process of impeachment, its definition, etc. It also covers how this all started with Trump.
Quid Pro What Now? from Nov. 12th explains Quid Pro Quo, the whistleblower, and all the pre-testimony stuff.
Pumpkins and Primaries from Dec. 1st covers some of the results of the testimonies.

So back to now: The House of Representatives has officially impeached President Trump on two articles of impeachment! The House Judiciary Committee voted last week to send the articles to a floor vote and the vote occurred this Wednesday, December 18th. It happened along party lines, with only a few Democrats voting against it and no Republicans voting for it.
The first article is abuse of power. Trump asked the government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival of Trump’s. Trump threatened to withhold a White House meeting and $391 million of military aid from Ukraine if these investigations were not announced. The article claims that these interactions with Ukraine were detrimental to national security and formal U.S.-Ukraine policy. Since Trump put his own interests above those of the United States, he abused his power for personal and political gain.
The second article is obstruction of Congress. This means that Trump hindered the ability of Congress to exercise their Constitutional power of impeachment. Trump told executive agencies and officials to defy the subpoenas issued to them by House committees. Those that refused to comply with their subpoenas include the Department of State, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense, as well as nine executive bureaucrats including the White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney. According to the article, Trump’s interference in the impeachment process was a violation of his Constitutional responsibilities to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, faithfully execute the office of President, and take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
The Senate will hold a trial in early 2020 to determine whether Trump should be removed from office. Two thirds of the present Senate members would have to vote to convict for him to be removed. Since the Senate is controlled by Republicans, Trump’s political allies, it is more likely that Trump will be acquitted.
The articles of impeachment are available to read here.

What You Can Do:

If you support Trump’s removal from office, call your senator and urge them to vote to convict. However, it's of note that the vote will likely happen along party lines again. While that outcome would be disappointing, it's still highly valuable to be investigating Trump in this way and laying out all of his wrongdoings, especially before an election.
Remember that, even if Trump is removed from office, it is still just as important to vote in the 2020 presidential election.

Image via Mother Jones

British Election: On December 12th, 2019 the British public re-elected conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson in one of the most pivotal elections in United Kingdom’s modern history. Amidst three years of Brexit negotiations and key economic policy shifts, the Conservative party secured 365 out of 650 seats in the House of Parliament, whereas the Labour party-who only secured 203. The roughly 75 seat majority amassed by Conservatives is the most significant electoral gap since the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1987. So what happened?
Overwhelming public consensus seems to cite two main reasons as to the Labour party’s significant collapse in the election, namely: the Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity amongst the public (most polls report his net popularity to have gone down 40% post election), and the uphill battle Labour faced to convince both Remainers and Leavers in the Brexit struggle to shift to a more leftist ideology while Johnson was only tasked with swaying the latter. The reality is a combination of both. Corbyn’s unpopularity through his “wishy-washy” stance on Brexit that both endorsed a second referendum but refused to advocate for a side coupled with his neglecting to address concerns of antisemitism within the Labour were unsuccessful in winning over the usually left-leaning middle class band. However many of the economic policies he spearheaded did, surprisingly, resonate with most voters. Pollster YouGov found that two-thirds of respondents were in favor of raising the tax rate to 50% for citizens with an income above 123,000 pounds, and many of his other proposals also gained traction with voters.
So why did the Labour still fail to win over the blue-collar core it has relied on for so much of its modern history? History indicates that attracting voters to support leftist parties with progressive policies requires a persuasive leader in a favorable political climate. In the case of Brexit and the increasing global stigma surrounding immigration, the geopolitical current was very much stilted to lean conservatively which can partially be attributed to the matter of class. While traditionally educated urban-based professionals have leaned more right in British elections, modern history indicates that those with higher education in the wake of Brexit have shifted left while working classes have sympathized with more conservative ideology. These trends extend far beyond the British election and can be witnessed in the broader world stage.
So what does Johnson’s re-election mean? While a fixture of Johnson’s campaign has been the prospect of “getting Brexit done” by the end of 2020, this is highly unlikely. Not only are there feasible economic concerns regarding his commitment to refuse to extend the Brexit transition period after 2020 but also the matter that multiple trade negotiations with Brussels still need to be organized. The fact, also, the Corbyn has announced his resignation as Labour Party head does not bode well for the systemic strength of the leftist movement in the UK. Anti-immigration legislation is expected as Johnson has championed Islamaphobic and racist views and will most likely continue to proliferate similar legislation in office. However much of the UK’s future is still incalculable as the ramifications of Brexit, both cultural and economical, are unquantifiable in the wake of Johnson’s re-election.

What You Can Do:

There's not much to be done about this, especially from the US. That said, Trump and Johnson have unsurprisingly been in alliance with one another in the past, so it's just all the more reason to get Trump out of office in 2020 and have a president who will stand up to Johnson and his cronies.

Antisemitic Shooting in Jersey City: On Tuesday, December 10, 2019 six people in Jersey City, NJ were shot and killed by an assailant. The assailant first opened fire at Bay View Cemetery, where police officer Detective Joseph Seals was shot and killed. The shooting, according to officials, began when Detective Seals approached one of the gunmen at Bay View and asked about a separate homicide investigation, and was shot dead. From this point the gunmen escaped in their truck and then went to a nearby kosher market, where they then opened fire on both police officers and local residents. A firefight ensued and could be heard throughout the area for most of the next hour, and local schools were put on lockdown. At the kosher market, three bystanders were shot and killed: Mindy Ferencz, who was tending to the store when the assailants entered, Moshe Deutsch, and Miguel Rodriguez. One of the assailants, David N. Anderson, first approached the store and opened fire almost immediately, and was followed by Francine Graham. Both suspects were carrying rifles. A fourth person was shot inside the market but survived and is not being publicly identified. At first, officials thought that the choice to open fire at the kosher market was random, but after investigation, it became clear that the choice to go to a popular Jewish space was not accidental. Four guns were found inside the assailants' U-Haul, two of which were bought in Ohio. A live pipe bomb was also found inside the truck, along with a "brief and rambling" manifesto that tipped off authorities to the antisemitic motivation of the shooting. The shooters were found to have ties to the Black Hebrew Israelites fringe movement, which has been characterized by brash antisemitism but, until now, had not posed a violent threat.
What You Can Do:

Ask your Senator to cosponsor Chris Murphy's Background Check Expansion Act. You can check to see if your Senator is already cosponsoring it here (spoiler alert: a lot aren't!). If your Senator is already cosponsoring, ask them to prioritize it.
Script: Hi, my name is _____, I'm from _____, and I'm calling to ask you to cosponsor/prioritize/support S. 42, the Background Check Expansion Act. The recent shooting in New Jersey was only one example of the epidemic of gun violence in our nation. We need to ensure that guns are not getting into the hands of people who could use them for destruction. I urge you to use your conscience in making this decision. Thank you.
Number: 202-224-3121 and get connected to your Senator.
Stand up against antisemitism. You can look in our Index by the Issue page for all of our work that has covered the topic and all the resources we have about fighting it. It's an ancient hatred that is all too capable of destruction and violence.

Four of the victims of the shooting in Jersey City

2020 Featured Issue: Immigration: President Trump's attacks on immigrants’ livelihoods have been thorough and cruel. As the 2020 Democratic Primaries approach, we need to ask important questions about how each of the candidates plans to protect immigrants and their families. Which candidates are just promising to go back to the pre-Trump status quo? Which candidates want to take this opportunity to radically reshape our historically unjust and inhumane immigration system into one that recognizes the value and the rights of immigrants? And if so, how far will they go and how do they plan to get there?
All of the leading candidates support the rollback of Trump policies on immigration, such as his Muslim ban, his repeal of DACA, his limits on the number of refugees and asylum seekers will consider accepting, and his policy to make asylum seekers “wait in Mexico” as their cases are adjudicated. All of them also support a pathway to citizenship for each of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US.
However, certain issues divide the candidates:

Bernie Sanders is the only candidate to support a full moratorium on deportations.
Many of the candidates (Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigiege, and Julian Castro) want to decriminalize the act of crossing the border without papers, which has been used to justify cruel and excessive immigration enforcement, but Joe Biden does not. Biden also does not call for abolishing or significantly restructuring ICE and CBP, in contrast to his opponents on the left.

Another point of contention is whether aid and protection for immigrants should go alongside -- or be conditioned on -- increased border security or immigration enforcement.

Amy Klobuchar thinks so, but most of the candidates on her left -- Warren and Sanders, for instance -- disagree.

What you can do:

To learn more: Each of the candidates have comprehensive descriptions of their positions on immigration on their websites; check those out. Also look at Indivisible’s Candidate Scorecard for quick evaluation of each of the candidates on immigration and the rest of the issues!
Phonebank for your preferred candidate, if you’ve landed on one! All of the candidates have phone banking tools easily accessible through a Google Search.
To support immigrant rights in general, check out our “Index by Issue” for ongoing actions you can take. Also visit United We Dream’s website -- they’re a great organization to dedicate your time and money to if you can.

We hope you have an absolutely wonderful holiday break! And a happy new year! Lots of love,
Us

Puppy Video

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12/1/2019 0 Comments

Pumpkins and Primaries: Nov. 12th-Dec. 1 2019

Hey Teen Resisters!
We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got the chance to rest, eat, and spend ample time with friends and family--there is so much around us to be grateful for. As always, it's been quite a two weeks. This list covers the latest in the impeachment inquiry, a DACA update, recent school shootings, and 2020 Democratic presidential candidates' positions on climate change (the last being part of a new initiative we're starting to inform TR readers on where the candidates stand on important issues!!). Happy reading and activisting :))
peace & power,
TR

what went down

Impeachment Inquiry Update
Impeachment hearings in the House Intelligence Committee took place over the past three weeks. Notable witnesses have included American ambassador to the UK George Sondland, acting American ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, and foreign affairs expert Fiona Hill, among a host of others.

Here’s what witnesses have said so far:

The U.S. threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless Ukrainian President Zelensky publicly announced an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, the Ukrainian company that Hunter Biden worked for.
There was a phone call on July 26 (one day after the Trump-Zelensky call) between President Trump and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. A staffer called David Holmes overheard the call in a restaurant in Kyiv. Trump asked Sondland about “the investigations,” and Sondland said that “the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.”

Trump refused to meet directly with Ukrainian officials until an investigation was announced.
Many top Trump officials knew about the quid pro quo,* including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary Mike Pompeo, and Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

The next impeachment hearing is scheduled for December 4 in the House Judiciary Committee, titled “Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment,” which will mainly consist of a variety of legal experts speaking on past impeachments and whether Trump’s conduct is impeachable. Trump has tweeted that he would “love” for some of his officials, such as Pompeo and Mulvaney, to testify.

*What is a quid pro quo? It’s when a favor or advantage is granted or expected in return for something. Here’s something interesting to think about—a lot of Americans don’t know the definition of quid pro quo (which makes sense, given that it’s a fairly antiquated Latin phrase), and it doesn’t have an inherently negative connotation without context. Experts have urged major liberal media outlets to use clearer language when discussing Trump’s crimes, like “bribery” or “extortion,” to communicate more directly the fact that Trump has committed a serious crime and to help people understand what that crime is.

What can you do?

Because Democrats hold a majority in the House of Representatives, Trump will likely be impeached. However, it is much less certain that he will be convicted—actually removed from office—by the Senate. If you want the Senate to remove him, call your local senator and urge them to convict Trump for his extortion.

DACA Update
In September of 2017, the Trump Administration moved to end the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program (DACA). The program protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants who arrived in the US as children from deportation, and allows them to get work permits, drivers licenses, and access to higher education.

There has been an extended battle in the courts over the administration’s decision to end DACA. As of now, no new DACA applications are being accepted, but courts have issued injunctions allowing current and past DACA recipients to renew their protected status.

The Trump Administration has appealed these courts’ decisions and brought the case to the Supreme Court. Oral arguments began on November 12th on the question of whether the Trump Administration acted lawfully in rescinding DACA.

A ruling on the case is expected anytime from January to June, 2020. The Supreme Court could rule in a number of ways, each of which would hold different consequences for DREAMers (DACA recipients). If you want to learn more about the legal arguments and possible outcomes, the National Immigrant Law Society has a good explainer.

What can you do?

If you have the means, donate to United We Dream, an immigrant-youth-led advocacy network. They need funds to…
- Spread accurate information to affected communities after DACA ruling so DREAMers and their families know how to respond and what happens next.
- Bolster their Deportation Defense program. In the event that SCOTUS votes in favor of the Trump Administration, UWD’s work fighting against ICE and deportation will become more critical than ever.
Attend protests! On November 12th, UWD led a nationwide walkout to send a message to SCOTUS and show support and solidarity for DREAMers as oral arguments began. UWD and other immigrant advocacy organizations are sure to organize protests to show support for immigrants and to respond to a negative SCOTUS ruling if it comes. Sign up for United We Dream’s emails to stay up to date.
Call your senators, especially if they are Republicans, to encourage them to push for a vote on the Dream and Promise Act (read more about it here) The bill, which was passed in the House in June, issues broad protections for recipients of DACA and TPS and could mitigate the effects of a bad SCOTUS ruling.
- Your script: “Hello, my name is ______ and I’m a constituent of Senator ______’s. I’m calling to ask Senator ________ to advocate for a vote on H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act. With the futures of 700,000 DREAMers hinging on the Supreme Court’s upcoming DACA decision, I believe that it is more important than ever that legislative protections for these young people are passed. DACA recipients have lived in the US for their whole lives. America is their home, and they deserve to live and work here free of the threat of deportation. Thank you.”

School Shootings
On November 16 at 7:30 a.m., a 16-year-old opened fire at Saugus High School, Santa Clarita California, killing two and injuring three others (all the victims were in the range of 14-15 years old). The shooter then turned the gun on himself. Recent investigation by authorities has uncovered that the gun used is a “ghost gun,” meaning that it does not contain a serial number, is unregistered, and is built from parts outside of the store—essentially, it’s untraceable. The numbers of ghost guns found, especially in this area, have proliferated though the past six years.

On November 24, two boys, aged 11 and 14, were shot dead at Searles Elementary School, California while sitting in a van. So far, no arrests have been made and no action except talk.

Police have recently foiled some potentially devastating shootings as well. On November 22, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested a 13-year-old who had seized a high capacity magazine rifle and threatened to shoot his middle school with it. The police later found a map and list of teacher and student names.

Out of all of the issues that our country is facing, gun violence is one of the problems that affects our generation the most directly and the most dangerously. In the past 46 weeks, there have been 45 school shootings. As the number of shootings gets higher and higher, it’s becomes alarmingly easy to forget that behind every single one of those shootings are faces with stories to tell. It’s all of our jobs to make sure the stories of school shooting victims are heard and remembered. We will never be able to tell their stories or understand their agony, but we will do our very best to pay respect to unspeakable tragedies ad continue to pressure action.

On December 2nd, the Supreme Court is going to hear its first major Second Amendment case in nearly a decade. A decision on the hearing is expected to come in July of 2020. In the meantime, we can do our share as well:

What can you do?

Use this script to advocate for the rolling back of silencer safety laws and to oppose the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act: https://everytown.org/call-your-rep-script/
Another three key issues are red flag laws, background checks, and an assault weapons ban. Call your reps to push each.
1. Red flag laws allow courts to issue orders confiscating guns of individuals if they are deemed a risk.
  - 14 states have already implemented them locally
  - Republicans Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham are (unexpectedly) proponents and held a hearing in March, but further action has been taken since then.
2. Assault weapons ban: would ban assault weapons!
  - One that existed from 1994-2004, but it expired; has been validated on the state level by the Supreme Court
  - Introduced in Senate by Sen. Feinstein (D-CA), currently in Senate Judiciary Committee awaiting further action.
3. Background checks: Democrats passed bill in the House in February that would mandate them for online and private sales and extend the waiting period from 3 to 10 days, but hasn’t been voted on in Senate, and Trump vows to veto it.
  - Sponsor: Mike Thompson (D-CA)
Support March for Our Lives and follow their action plan, which includes calling/attending a town hall to address gun violence, creating a community working group to address gun violence, fundraising for violence prevention programs in your area, and pushing voter registration efforts.

NEW: 2020 Featured Issue—Climate Change
It's vital to us that TR readers have as much information as they need to make a decision about which 2020 presidential candidate they want to support. To that end, we've decided to do a featured issue every list from now until the primaries -- we've explained the basics of where each candidate stands on climate change and what they are planning to do to fix it below. We hope that it will be non-overwhelming and helpful in your process of figuring out who you're backing!!

Much of the debate surrounding climate change has focused on the Green New Deal, a radical plan introduced by young liberal firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Booker and Democratic Senator Ed Markley that outlines a 10-year mobilization plan to move the country toward a 100% carbon-free power system and a decarbonized economy.
- Harris, Sanders, Warren, and Klobuchar are all cosponsors of the Green New Deal; Biden, Buttigeg, and Booker support it as well, making it a point of agreement among frontrunners.
  - As seen in the chart to the right (from a study conducted by Yale), there is large bipartisan support for the GND. As of right now, Sanders has the most extensive plan to combat climate change and has been endorsed by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the original sponsor of the GND.

One key issue is reducing carbon emissions. Biden, Harris, Buttigeg, and Yang have supported introducing a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Determining the role of nuclear technology in a fast-changing world is another key topic. Harris and Biden have supported the idea of developing nuclear technologies to fight climate change, while others, including Sanders, support the idea of closing down existing nuclear power reactors because of the environmentally harmful radioactive waste they produce.
And, finally, oil and gas drilling has proved to be a hot-button topic--the U.S. is the world’s largest producer of these types of fuels. Sanders, Warren and Harris have taken the most radical stance--to ban fracking everywhere--where other more moderate candidates, including Biden, Klobuchar, and Buttigeg, have proposed ending new oil and gas leases on federal land, as well as offshore drilling, instead.
The candidates largely agree on rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, which Trump withdrew from.

What can you do?

Green New Deal: Support it here: https://indivisible.org/resource/tell-your-member-congress-support-green-new-deal
Phonebank!! If you have reached a decision on which candidate you're going to support, phonebook for them based on the issue you love their stance on. (just google the candidate's name and "phonebook," and you should find a platform.)

Fiona Hill being a superstar!

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Trump and the Giant (im)Peach: Dec. 1-Dec. 20, 2019

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