It is heartwarming to see that as of Sunday morning the Facebook fundraiser started by a couple in California to raise money for RAICES, which provides help to immigrants, has raised over $20 million (and still growing) from over half a million people. And that is not the only fundraiser taking place. The news is abuzz with stories of so many individuals, communities, organizations, companies, politicians, and celebrities taking a strong stand against the policy of separating immigrant families that my entire roundup of inspiring actions and accomplishments could cover just that. But like every other White House created crisis that has happened, lots of folks were not fooled into distraction from the fight for many other fair, humane, and healthy causes. I will start with a reminder of some of the positive things done to help immigrants this week and move on to a shortened summer review of others;

🧕🏻STANDING UP FOR IMMIGRANTS AN ABBREVIATED LIST;

• LOCAL OFFICIALS TOOK ACTION: The El Paso County sheriff prohibited his deputies from working off-duty at a temporary shelter housing migrant children. Atlanta Mayor blocked the city jail from accepting any new detainees from ICE.
• GOVERNORS TOOK ACTION: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New York, North Carolina, Colorado, Oregon and Virginia governors announced they will not send, or will recall those already sent, their National Guard from the border. The Gov. of NY, where more than 700 of the separated children were sent, ordered state agencies sheltering or caring for the children to release their names and those of their parents to the state.
• PEOPLE CAME TOGETHER: Round the clock protests at an ICE a regional office in Portland (OR) resulted in the agency temporarily shutting down the office. “Occupy ICE” protesters are now blocking an ICE loading dock in New York, have set up tents in front of an ICE facility in LA and are gathered outside of a detention center in Washington state. Children protested at Capital Hill, others protested at the NYC airport as children were expected to arrive and so many people protested in so many other places across the country. 600 Members of Jeff Sessions’ United Methodist Church filed a formal complaint against him, accusing him of child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination and the dissemination of doctrines contrary to the established standards of the Church.
• CONGRESS DIDN’T MAKE IT WORSE: The Senate voted down the conservative immigration bill.
• NONPROFITS ARE EXPANDING THEIR HELP: RAICES announced they will use the money raised to hire more outreach workers and attorneys, file applications for bonds, pay bonds to get people out of detention, and will launch a new “Post Relief Volunteer Project” to provide people with ongoing legal services and support once they’re released from detention.
• COMPANIES REACT: American, Frontier, United Southwest, Alaska, and Spirit Airlines publicly announced they asked the government to refrain from using them to transport immigrant children away from their parents. A top speaker booking bureau cut ties with Cory Lewandowski after his ‘womp womp’ comment about child with Down Syndrome who was separated from her mother after crossing the border.
• CREATIVITY ABOUNDS: Recording of the traumatized immigrant children crying and being made fun of by border control were blasted by protestors outside the home of the Homeland Security Secretary and at a GOP fundraiser at a Trump Hotel, and by Rep Lieu on the floor of the House. Activists turned a junk company billboard featuring a photo of a surprised child originally reading “We make junk disappear,” to read “We make kids disappear – I.C.E.”
• LAWSUITS PILE UP:  Washington, Oregon, California, Maryland, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota announced they will be jointly suing over the new policies. Some Central American asylum seekers are suing the administration over its “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which forcibly split them apart from their children.
• SOME RESULTS: The child-abuser-in-chief reversed course on the family separation policy crisis he created after massive public outcry.  About 500 of the more than 2,300 children separated from families since May have been reunited.
• RELATED Under U.S. immigration law allow people who have stayed in the U.S. illegally may be allowed to legally remain if they meet certain continuous residency requirements. The Supreme Court ruled the clock does not stop ticking on the accrual of time for those seeking relief from deportation unless their notice of hearing from DHS includes a date, time, and place, of the hearing.
• LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: Nationwide protests against immigrant families being torn apart have been planned for June 30th.

🗳️ ELECTION INFO While technically a nonpartisan election, the democratic supported candidate, Eileen Higgins won a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission and defeated the former commissioner’s wife who resigned to run in a Republican primary. Ballotpedia.org reported that for the states whose data they have analyzed so far a total of 4 U.S. House races do not yet have a Democratic candidate and 41 U.S. House races do not yet have a Republican candidate. In big news for New York state, a court invalidated an agreement that a breakaway group of democrats, the IDC which caucused with the republicans keeping dems from having the full control that they should have, with a fundraising committee helping keep power in republican hands. Continue reading →

Watching the little raccoon fearlessly tackle a 25 story office building in Minnesota served to remind me that while achieving real change may look daunting (and this week was particularly hard for me as a mother and human being) we can climb any mountain we set our minds to.  Each election that passes where we see women, progressives, and establishment knocking candidates win primaries and flip seats, gives me hope for the future. Please don’t let fatigue set in and keep fighting for what is right, register voters, canvass for good candidates, donate if you can, or simply write postcards to voters from home from the comfort of your couch with Postcards to Voters.  The November election is just a few months away.

#BlueWave2018 – ELECTION RESULTS  San Francisco Board of Supervisors elected London Breed (D), the first black woman mayor of the city. Virginia Democratic voters picked women in six of their seven contested primaries in districts that didn’t already have a woman incumbent. Susie Lee (D) won her primary in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District Democrats flipped their 25th Republican-held district since the inauguration with Caleb Frostman winning in a special election for Wisconsin’s 1st Senate District

#IStandWithImmigrants 🧕🏻STANDING UP FOR IMMIGRANTS  A woman in Nevada stood up on a Greyhound bus boarded by ICE and told everyone they were not within 100 miles of a boarder and did not have to comply with their ICE requests and repeated it in Spanish using Google translate. The agents retreated from the bus. That is being an everyday hero standing up for immigrants.  After an undocumented delivery guy was detained and then turned over to ICE after delivering pizza to a N.Y.C, military base, many restaurants and delivery services in the area began a boycott of the base. Austin City Council passed “Freedom City” resolutions by eliminating discretionary arrests for non-violent misdemeanors, issuing citations instead, requires police to prioritize who is sent to federal immigration authorities after an arrest, and ensures officers asking about immigration status inform people of their rights to not answer, as well as complete a report explaining the encounter. After ICE raided a meatpacking plant in Tenn. detaining 97 workers, many of them have won the temporary release while they await trial with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Vanderbilt University Law Clinic, the National Immigration Law Center, and Catholic Charities. Lots of activists showed up in the 102 degree heat in Tucson to stand up for immigrants

#PoorPeoplesCampaign ⚖️ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Activists with the Poor People’s Campaign shut down a major intersection in Boston to bring attention to the need for higher minimum wages and other priorities. A federal judge denied a motion to stay the compliance date of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency’s payday lending rules that protect borrowers. North Carolina became the first state to guarantee a $15 minimum wage to most of its state employees. A federal judge ordered Washington state prisons to provide nighttime meals to Muslim inmates observing Ramadan. A coalition of 13 unions and the Federal Workers Alliance sued the administration challenging three Presidential Executive orders that make it easier to fire federal employees.

#BailReformNeeded 👨🏿‍⚖️SEEKING RACIAL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE  A federal court ruled that the New York City police dept.’s use of a sound cannon against nonviolent protesters is excessive force. Dads were bailed out of jail for Father’s Day by advocacy groups.

#ThereIsNoPlanetB 🌎SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT  NYC will move forward to ban the use of Styrofoam after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the city challenging it. Two federal courts ruled against the EPA finding that the EPA must uphold the Clean Air Act provision requiring they enforce the provision which requires they stop smog emitted in one state from causing harm to another state in cases brought regarding New York, Connecticut, and Maryland. Michigan will require public utilities to replace all lead water service lines. Hawaii Gov. signed bills that for the first time will require corporations to reveal where, what and when they have sprayed of restricted-use pesticides and a ban on pesticides containing chlorpyrifos. Three conservation and public-health groups sued the EPA for failing to ensure Detroit, Indianapolis and other localities have effective plans for cleaning up asthma-causing sulfur dioxide air pollution. The Supreme Court let stand a lower court order that Washington state make billions worth of repairs to damaged state salmon habitats in a big win for salmon and Native American treaty rights. U.S. District Court ordered the Bureau of Land Management to conduct further analysis on environmental impact of the potential drilling. Bloomberg News reported that the U.S. installed more solar energy than any other source of electricity in the first quarter of this year.

👩#MeToo And WOMEN’S RIGHTS CSX Transportation Inc. will pay a $3.2 million settlement in a lawsuit by the EEOC alleging the company administered physical capability tests that prevented women from being hired for certain jobs.

#TakeThemDown 🗽BECAUSE MONUMENTS AND NAMES MATTER Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital is moving the 30 gold-framed portraits of past white, male, department chairs from their prominent placement to more dispersed, less prominent locations, as part of their initiative to improve diversity efforts. A California school board voted to name a new elementary school after Jose Antonio Vargas, a local Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who is also an undocumented immigrant. Jefferson’s Monticello has re-imagined its curation and has added special exhibition to include Sally Hemings, the slave he is reported to have fathered children with, and to eliminate the tour that glossed over his ownership of slaves.

#NeverAgain 🕬 GUN REFORM EFFORTS CONTINUE Local police chiefs in Massachusetts were directed to begin revoking gun permits for hundreds of people previously cleared by the state’s Firearms License Review Board, because the Board was not previously complying with stricter federal rules when approving them. New Jersey Governor signed gun control legislation that requires background checks on private gun sales, a reduction of magazine capacity, a ban on armor-piercing bullets, and keeping “guns out of the wrong hands.” Student survivors of the shooting at MSD High School kicked off their 50 stop March for Our Lives: Road to Change national tour. Little Rock (AK) honors the Pulse shooting victims and survivor. Moms Demand action fill Texas legislative chamber.

#LoveIsLove 🏳️‍🌈LGBTQ PROGRESS At least in Poland, print shop workers must create banners for LGBTQ groups thanks to a recent decision by the Polish Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Trinity Western University cannot create a new evangelical Christian law school that limits admission to LGBTQ students in the name of religious rights. A federal court has denied another attempt by the administration to lift the injunction against implementing it ban on transgender people from serving in the military. Maine will start offering driver’s licenses and IDs with a third, non-binary gender option. The NYC Taxi and Limousine commission and Uber suspended the NYC Uber driver after he forced a lesbian couple out of his car because he was uncomfortable with their kissing. Portland (OR) is naming a major street after the LGBT icon Harvey Milk. The School Committee in Kittery (ME) and Titterton (RI) passed new policy intended to protect transgender students.  Trenton (NJ) elected their first openly gay mayor.  Don’t miss this picture of Seyðisfjörður, a town in Iceland, which has created an adorable rainbow path to show its support for its LGBTQ residents. Google has a feature show your pride month pride with your spreadsheet.

#MyBodyMyChoice 🤰🏽WOMEN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE A group of Texas abortion clinics and nonprofits filed a sweeping lawsuit against the state, challenging dozens of abortion laws, some of which were passed two decades ago.

#Vote 🕫🗳️VOTING RIGHTS Citizens in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana filed lawsuits against their respective states alleging the states are violating the Voting Rights Act through the drawing of congressional districts that dilutes black voting power.  Priorities USA sued Missouri over their new voter I.D. law. Maine supported ranked-choice voting for the second time in two years with the passage of a people’s veto of a republican passed law delaying the implementation of a voter passed ranked choice voting initiative. The IRS revoked the dark money group Americans for Job Security’s tax exempt status, a group that helped the Koch brothers funnel millions into elections.  A U.S. District Judge ruled unconstitutional a Nebraska law limiting independent candidate’s access to the statewide ballot by raising the number of signatures required to win a place on the ballot from 4,000 to about 121,000, about 10% of the state’s registered voters. A federal judge blocked Indiana from implementing a law that would purge voters from the state’s voter rolls if they appeared on a controversial voter tracking system.

#LoveTrumpsHate 💓STOPPING THE SPREAD OF HATE A Missouri waitress who spewed racist hate on social media has reportedly been thrown out of the Air Force.  Chrissy Teigen made four donations of $72,000 to the ACLU in honor of the immigrant-hating-commander-in-chief  72nd b’day and encouraged her followers on Twitter to do the same. From a private Facebook page I am a member of it was reported that after seeing the “Interstate Batteries” sign on a hardware store with a “no gays allowed” sign, the member contacted the battery company and received a response saying they terminated their relationship with that store. Pence was welcomed to Columbus (OH) with a “Big LGBTQ Dance Party.”

👩‍🎓BREAKING BARRIERS Dr. Patrice Harris was elected the first-ever black woman to lead the American Medical Association. The all-female lead “Ocean’s 8” delivered the best opening in the franchise’s history.

🙂 RUSSIA/PORN STAR/DEFAMATION LAWSUIT ROUNDUP A federal judge revoked Paul Manafort’s bail and sent him to a federal prison to await his trial after special counsel Robert Mueller filed new additional charges of alleged attempted witness tampering and obstruction of justice. New York Attorney General charged the liar-in-chief, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric with multiple violations of state law for illegal use of Trump Foundation money for self-gain and election fraud. New York’s highest court ruled for the third time that the defamation lawsuit a former contestant of “The Apprentice” brought against the harasser-in-chief can proceed. A federal judge ruled that Michael Cohen cannot proceed in secrecy as he weighs in on the attorney-client status of the materials seized from him.

This week I am doing an abbreviated roundup of inspiring accomplishments and actions since this blog is mostly a one woman show and I am taking a brief vacation with family. Spending time in Portland (ME) my spirits were rejuvenated by the sight of welcoming to all signs in windows, pride flags, and the outward appearance of the large African immigrant community being accepted and welcomed in this city by the ocean. Next week I will be back with my usual full report and coverage of Pride Month activities. My short list of highlights for this week are;

• #IStandWithImmigrants – A pizza delivery man from Brooklyn, NY, who was detained by ICE after bringing an order to a military base has been granted an emergency stay. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees scolded the U.S. administration and told them to “immediately halt” its policy of separating children from their parents after they cross the U.S. border.
• #FairElections – A federal judge blocked Indiana from implementing a law that would purge voters from the state’s voter rolls if they appear on a voter tracking system. The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to a ballot initiative, and cleared the way for a measure against gerrymandering to go on the November ballot.
• #HousingAndHealthCareIsARight – HUD backed away on from a plan to triple the minimum rent for federally subsidized housing. A Maine court ordered the state to move ahead with Medicaid expansion and submit a plan by June 11tth to the federal govt. for implementation, which was approved by voters last year but blocked by the governor.
• #LoveIsLove – The European Court of Justice ruled that EU countries that have not legalized gay marriage must respect the residency rights of same-sex spouses who want to live together in their territory. New Hampshire Governor signs law banning “gay conversion therapy.” An Arizona appeals court ruled that a calligraphy business cannot refuse service to same-sex couples and upheld the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance. Maplewood (N.J.) unveiled a permanent rainbow striped crosswalk to show LGBT pride doesn’t just happen in June.
• #MeToo –  Voters in Santa Clara County (CA) recalled the judge who sentenced former college student Brock Turner to six months in jail for sexual assault. A judge ruled that the twittler-in-chief must sit for a deposition in the defamation case filed by a former contestant on his reality TV show.
• #CriminalJusticeReform – After public outrage over an Alabama sheriff who was legally allowed to personally profit $750,000 over three years, from government funds intended to feed inmates, the sheriff lost his re-election bid. The Minneapolis Police Department is ending sting operations targeting low-level marijuana sales following a new report that revealed a vast racial disparity in those who were arrested.
• #CollusionIsReal – Paul Manafort and his aid, Konstantin Kilimnik, where hit with federal charges for tampering with and attempted tampering with a witness.
• #BlueWave2018 – In a Missouri special election, Lauren Arthur (D) won a seat in the state Senate, flipping the seat blue. For the first time in history, the Custer City Council will be all female with the win this week by Carrie Moore and Dixie Whittaker. Mariah Parker, who ran as a progressive for Athens-Clarke County Commissioner, won by 13 votes and took her oath of office holding her hand on a copy of “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” From New Jersey to New Mexico, Democratic women did well.  41 of the 92 women running for the House or Senate advanced in their races. Two democratic Iowa women, crushed their respective fields, winning more than enough votes to avoid a state convention. In five states that held primaries, women won the primaries for governor.  Democrats avoided disaster in the California “jungle primary,” that advances the two leading vote-getters regardless of party, and Democrats will be on the ballot in nearly all the state’s 53 districts and the Governor’s race. Voter turnout was up in four states that held primaries.
• #RevolvingDoor – Two of Pruitt’s closest aides at the EPA resigned amid further ethics scandals at the agency.
• #ThereIsNoPlanetB – Bon Appetit is banning plastic straws and stirrers at their more than 1,000 food service locations for universities, museums, and other venues in 33 states. Hawaii Governor signed bills committing to make the state fully carbon neutral by 2045, to use carbon offsets to help fund planting trees, and require new building projects to consider how high sea levels will rise in their engineering decisions.

This week there was a lot of orange for Gun Violence Awareness Day and nationwide protests against the separating of immigrant children from their parents to bring activists together yet again. It is heartwarming to see that so many are still taking to the streets to fight for what is right. We may not know if the North Korean summit is on again or off again, but we do know that a lot of other good happened this week. The highlights are;

• #ConstitutionRules The Supreme Court limited the scope of police searches, ruling that officers must have a warrant to go through a vehicle parked at a home or on its surrounding property.
• #NeverAgain Rhode Island Gov. signed into law a pair of bills banning bump stocks and allowing law enforcement to temporarily confiscate guns from people determined to pose a threat to themselves or others.
• #HumanRightsForAll Connecticut instituted a new policy to legally allow transgender individuals to be housed in prisons that align with their gender identity, the first state to do so.
• #MyBodyMyChoice Federal Judges for cases in Iowa and Kentucky have temporarily blocked restrictive abortion laws from taking effect in those states.
• #LoveTrumpsHate ABC cancels the show “Roseanne” saying Roseanne Barr’s statement on twitter is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with their values. While the Ambien maker clarified that racism is not a side effect of the medication that Roseanne blamed for her tweet.
• #WomanPower The island of Barbados elected its first-ever woman prime minister.

🧕🏻STANDING UP FOR IMMIGRANTS ACCOMPLISHMENTS Homeland Security authorized a portion of the $1.7 billion in grants to “sanctuary cities” that do not enforce federal immigration laws, as required by the court order that prevents the federal government from withholding funding. ACTIONS FOR CHANGE  Protesters gathered in more than two dozen cities across the country to condemn the administration’s practice of separating all immigrant parents and children at the Southern border. A coalition of rights groups submitted a complaint to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asking it to stop the human rights crisis perpetrated by the U.S. by separating families at the border. A group of 21 immigrant rights advocacy organizations initiated the 5th lawsuit challenging the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Continue reading →

Ireland took a big leap forward and voted to legalize abortion, democrats selected the first African-American woman nominee for governor of Georgia and the first openly gay, Latina, candidate for Texas Governor, and the court stopped He-I-Can’t-name from blocking people on Twitter.  While the North Korea/South Korea talks may be on again/off again, someone has stopped threatening to blow them up with nuclear weapons. As you reflect on the meaning behind Memorial Day, let’s not forget to reflect on all the good things happened because we worked for them.

• #RepealedThe8th Ireland votes to legalize abortion in a landslide election.
• #Tweet A Federal Court ruled that twitter is a public forum and that the creepy- tweeter-in-chief cannot block people from his twitter feed or stop people from  replying with differing view because it violates the First Amendment in a case brought by the Knight First Amendment Institute
• #TransRightsAreHumanRights Two different federal courts ruled in favor of transgender rights, one found that a Pennsylvania school district can allow transgender students to use the bathroom/locker room of the sex with which they identify and it was not a violation of other student’s privacy rights and another ruled that the school district who denied transgender student Gavin Grimm the right to use the bathroom of his gender identity violated his constitutional rights.
• #WeAreAllImmigrants California Governor signed a law preventing lawyers from revealing the immigration status of crime victims and witnesses in open court unless a judge rules the information relevant to the case.

🗳️Election There was another round of primary elections, this time in Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas and a number of progressive and women came out ahead;

• Stacey Abrams won her primary to be the first democratic African-American candidate for Governor in Georgia.
• Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot, who upset Mayor Jim Gray of Lexington in a primary in a U.S. House seat in Kentucky.
• Lupe Valdez, won the primary to be democratic nominee for Governor of Texas, and is the first openly gay and Latina candidate for the governorship.
• Other LGBTQ candidates in Texas fared well with Gina Ortiz Jones, a gay Air Force veteran, won her primary in Texas for a congressional seat as did Eric Holguin.
• There is also one republican primary that is significant. A high school math teacher defeated the Kentucky state House majority leader and key player in passing the bad for teacher’s pension bill, in the GOP primary for his seat. A number of far-right Republican candidates were also defeated, including the guy running using his “deportation bus”.

Continue reading →

While this may be another week where good news may be have been drowned out again, there are thousands of activists, elected officials, and everyday people, doing inspiring and positive things. Another round of primaries and elections brought some more good results. The recent wedding may have warmed your heart and so may the good news highlighted below;

•  #BipartisanCanWork In the Senate, Democrats and some Republicans worked together to vote to reinstate the FCC net neutrality rules #SaveNetNeutrality and to block a new farm bill that that included provisions requiring stricter work requirements for food stamp recipients #NoChildHungry.
• #MeToo Uber and Lyft have ended their use of mandatory arbitration to settle sexual harassment or assault claims, allowing victims to pursue public lawsuits.
• #RedForEd More than 20,000 people showed up at the capitol to protest teaching conditions in North Carolina, forcing more than 40 school districts in the state to cancel classes, making it the sixth state to see recent teacher protest for education en masse, following  Arizona, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Colorado.
• #BathroomsForAll Vermont Governor signed a law requiring single-occupancy restrooms be marked gender neutral.
• #FairDistricts The Better Boundaries initiative in Utah collected enough signature to be on the November ballot to create a nonpartisan commission of experts to draw legislative and congressional maps with standards for drawing maps and rules to ensure the commission is independent.

PRIMARIES AND ELECTIONS LOTS OF WOMEN WINNING #BlueWave2018

• In Nebraska’s congressional Democratic primaries, Jane Raybould won for U.S. Senate, and Jessica McClure and Kara Eastman for U.S. House Districts. Kara Eastman, a progressive abortion rights supporter was an upset that defied the wishes of the national party.
• In Pennsylvania, 5 of the state’s 18 districts were won by women: Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, Susan Wild, Bibiana Boerio, and Susan Boser and two women ran uncontested districts. Susan Wild’s pro-choice victory won over the anti-choice candidate John Morganelli. Also in PA, four female candidates for State House races, Summer Lee, Sara Innamorato, Elizabeth Fiedler, and Kristin Seale who were also Democratic Socialists of America candidates won their primaries.
• In Idaho, progressive candidate Native American Paulette Jordan won the Democratic nomination for governor of Idaho over A.J. Balukoff.
• In Oregon’s Democratic gubernatorial primary race, incumbent Kate Brown won.
• Democrats flipped a Pennsylvania House seat with Helen Tai winning the 178th District special election.
• Alford (MA) elected Peggy Rae Hendon-Wilson, the first female to be elected to Alford’s Select Board.

PRIMARY AND ELECTION RESULTS – LOTS OF PROGRESSIVES WINNING

• Bill Blackburn ousted the pro-Trump incumbent Mayor in the rural Texas town of Kerrville by 24 percentage points, and two progressive city council members were also elected by similar margins.
• Six of Seven LGBTQ Victory fund and Human Rights Campaign candidates won their primary races.

🧕🏻STANDING UP FOR IMMIGRANTS  The Gov. of Ohio signed an order creating the Office of Opportunities for New Americans to help legal immigrants find work, learn, and transition into life in Ohio. Hundreds rallied for immigration rights at the California Capitol as part of the 22nd annual Immigrant Day. Thousands of families were able to reunite for a few minutes at a “Hugs not Walls” event on the U.S.-Mexico border, where immigrants from the U.S. side meet  with family members from Mexico on the riverbed of the Rio Grande, with approval and oversight by the U.S. A group of immigrant advocates are walking the 90 miles from Detroit to Lansing to raise awareness of immigrant rights and deportations that are separating families. Continue reading →

There are a lot more mothers home today to celebrate Mother’s Day with their children thanks to national activism to bail out moms and that is something to rejoice in. Along with lots of happy and free mothers it was not hard to find the good this week. A surprising number of states, both conservative and progressive stepped up to protect and help their people and the land that sustains them; Even a few members of Congress, whom you may not have expected, attempted to help immigrants.  Not to mention those fine people in West Virginia decided not to put a convicted criminal on the Republican ballot at the same time a lot of voters selected a number of women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups in primaries and local elections. Now moving on to the highlights;

• #FairDistricts Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to reform the state’s redistricting process, creating a mandate for bipartisanship in the mapping process and to prevent gerrymandering.
• #NoChildBrides Delaware became the first U.S. state to completely ban child marriage when the governor signed a bill setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage.
• #RedForEd Colorado’s first teachers’ strike in 24 years ended after five days with the Pueblo teachers winning a long-sought 2 percent pay hike.
• #BailReform Georgia Gov. signed criminal justice legislation that reforms misdemeanor bail practices, including increased flexibility and transparency, provides judges with more opportunities to utilize community service and educational advancement as alternatives to fines or as part of probation, and signed a bill legalizing the use of medical marijuana for some conditions.
• #ClimateChangeIsReal California became the first state to mandate home solar power use when the California Energy Commission passed rules requiring that most homes built after 2020 have solar panels.
• #B99 The ground-breaking comedy show Brooklyn Nine Nine, whose main cast/ characters includes, two strong Latina actors, two commanding non-stereotyped African-American men, and one gay and one bisexual character, that addresses issues of discrimination in its own unique way was picked up by NBC after social media outcry when it was cancelled by Fox. Why is a TV show a highlight you ask? Well for one, it is a favorite show of mine, and second, TV serves as a great commentary on society and this tackled important ones in a special way.

SOME POSITIVE ELECTION RESULTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

• Twenty-two democratic women candidates won their primary races in Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia, including three black women candidates in North Carolina. Avery Crump was the first woman elected Guilford County (NC) District Attorney. Lori Barnett Dodson was elected Garland (TX) first female mayor in 30 years.
• A high heel wearing, gay, Latino, veteran, was elected mayor of Del Rio, a small Texas border town. 10 LGBTQ Ohioans won primary elections, as did LGBTQ allies Richard Cordray and Betty Sutton.
• Jose Matthews is the first Latino elected to the Red Clay Consolidated School Board (DE). Two African Americans were elected as Sheriff and District Attorney in Mecklenburg Police Department for the first time. Euless (TX) elected the first minority ever to the Euless City Council, Salman Bhojani, a Muslim and a Pakistani immigrant. Andre Sayegh, was elected the first Arab-American mayor of Paterson.
• Satana Deberry won the Democratic primary against the incumbent for Durham County District Attorney (NC), on a platform of significant and rapid criminal -justice reform, and is running unopposed in November.
• We may see even more women win in the future now that the Federal Election Commission has approved a request by a female candidate to use campaign funds for childcare.

Continue reading →

May Day celebrations nationwide brought together workers and immigrants, reminding us that we are all interconnected and that we rise and fall together.  Moms Demand Action groups are flooding state houses and meeting rooms. Teachers came out winners again, this time in Arizona. Primaries and elections are getting closer, so if you haven’t already, get your GOTV sneakers, postcards, and phone lists ready. The highlights and full summary of the inspiring news, actions, and accomplishments are;

• #BlueWave2018 Democrat Javier Fernandez won a Florida’s special election for the 114th House district, a swing district in the Miami-Dade area, even though he was outspent, thanks to robust democratic GOTV efforts.
• #DreamActNow Oregon Governor signed bills allowing the re-issuance of driver’s license to Dreamers and anyone under temporary protected status, even if the federal govt cancels the programs, and allowing students in the DACA program to qualify for in-state tuition.
• #RedForEd Arizona public school teachers ended their walkout after winning a 20 percent raise, $100 million for support staff, including classroom aides and janitors, and new textbooks, upgraded technology and infrastructure.
• #PayItForward The two black men whose arrest last month at a Starbucks led to headlines and allegations of racial bias settled with the city and the company for $1 each and an agreement with the city to work with the duo to fund a $200,000 grant to help Philadelphia high school students develop entrepreneurial skills.
• #LoveIsLove An Illinois court ruled that the non-biological parent in a same-sex marriage has parental rights to the child born during the marriage through artificial insemination.

🧕🏻STANDING UP FOR IMMIGRANTS ARE CHURCHES, CHICAGO AND THE ACLU. Roman Catholic parishes in Texas are providing church-issued identification cards to undocumented immigrants and police officers in Dallas, Carrollton and Farmers Branch have officially been given the discretion to accept them as valid identification and; Chicago began issuing their city ID cards, which undocumented immigrants are eligible for. The ACLU of Colorado lawsuit against the El Paso County Sheriff for detaining suspected undocumented immigrants for ICE past when the law requires them to be released was granted class action status. There were lots of May Day rallies in support of immigrants and workers. Continue reading →

We have James Shaw to prove that a good guy doesn’t need a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun; Teachers showing us that threats of firing and jailing can’t stop them from standing up for the rights of students to have a quality education and educators a living wage; Moms Demand Action groups going to NRA, A+ rated Republican held state houses demanding and getting gun reform passed; and Democratic candidates giving republicans a run for their money and winning seats all over the country. Yes, there are heroes. Who were your heroes this week?

This week’s HIGHLIGHTS of the inspiring news are;

• #BlackLivesMatter The National Memorial for Peace and Justice commemorating 4,400 black people who were slain in lynchings and other racial killings between 1877 and 1950 opened in Alabama.
• #MuellerTime The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller thanks to four Republicans voting for the bill.
• #BlueWave2018 Democrats in New York held on to two State Senate seats and flipped a State house seat that had been held by republicans for more than thirty years, making it the 40th legislative flip since the inauguration.
• #DreamActNow A third federal judge ordered the administration to continue DACA renewals, and is the first judge to also ordered the administration to accept new applications as well.
• #ClimateChangeIsReal A federal appeals court ruled the administration cannot delay a regulation that increased automakers’ fines for cars that violate fuel efficiency standards.
• #JamesShawIsMyHero Not only did James Shaw, an unarmed black man single-highhandedly stop a white man with an assault rifle from killing more black people, but he also helped raised over $165,000 for the victims and their families.

🧕🏻STANDING UP FOR IMMIGRANTS took place in New Mexico, New York, and Connecticut. Albuquerque’s Mayor signed the legislation that prevents immigration officers from using city facilities to detain or question people about their immigration status and prevents city officials from investigating a person’s immigration status. Connecticut passed a law allowing undocumented students without legal status to be eligible for institutional financial aid at state-run colleges. New York’s Gov. sent a cease-and-desist letter to ICE saying their actions in the state are “reckless and unconstitutional enforcement actions.” The ACLU launched a celebrity-filled campaign to help immigrants know their rights in interactions with federal agents, which feature the phone number for rapid response teams to flag immigration raids and help immigrants get legal representation.

Immigrants and their supporters organized a two-day “emancipation march” to the Minnesota State Capitol, protested outside a Dept. of Homeland Security office in Grand Rapids, and when ICE showed up at Staten Island Criminal Court to detain a defendant suspected of entering the country illegally lawyers there staged a protest outside the courthouse.

⚖️ECONOMIC JUSTICE is being fought for by Hundreds of teaching and research assistants at Columbia University who went on strike over the schools refusal to negotiate a contract. The #RedForEd movement in Arizona continued into the second day of state-wide walk out of teachers, with 50,000 protesters at the Arizona Capitol demanding increased education funding and promising to be back next week. Colorado teachers also took to the state house in their quest for better education money/pay. The Western Springs Village Board (IL) reversed its decision and will now opt-in to county regulations raising the minimum wage and requiring paid sick leave to private sector employees. FEMA extended the hotel stays of 1,700 families who evacuated Puerto Rico and relocated to mainland U.S. states after Hurricane Maria that were due to end.

👨🏿‍⚖️CRIMINAL JUSTICE reform was led by New York City this week when they began providing free daily buses for those seeking to visit an inmate at the city’s main jail, which had been difficult and time-consuming for most, in an effort to help inmates stay connected to family and reduce recidivism. NYC also announced the creation of a new bail payment system to reduce jail time by allowing bail to be posted online, by phone or by kiosk rather than the current costly and time-consuming trip to a correctional facility. Activists protested in Chicago for bail reform in response to a lawsuit against the Cook County Sheriff for holding a detainee for 60 hours after bail was posted. Roanoke Jail Solidarity is holding a benefit concert at Dumas Center to raise money to bail out mothers for Mother’s day. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Joplin (MO) alleging the city’s new panhandling ban is unconstitutional. Corinth (MO) is seeking court approval of their settlement with the Southern Poverty Law Center, in which they agree to guarantee arrested individuals see a judge within 48 hours, to release most people without requiring bail, determine if people accused of violent offenses can afford bail, and offer installment plans or perform community service for those who can’t afford fines, instead of jail time.

🌎SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT Michael Bloomberg announced he will pay the $4.5 million to cover this year’s US commitment to the Paris climate agreement. New York City owned buildings will have to be completely powered by green energy by 2050 under a bill passed by the City Council. A Georgia County Superior Court Judge ordered the state Environmental Protection Division not to allow construction of a parking lot on top of a stream. Maryland ordered a hydropower facility to reduce nutrient pollution passing through the dam or pay $172 million a year for someone else to do it.

🌲OTHER COUNTRIES HELPING TO CARE FOR THE PLANET  The European Union is banning the world’s most widely used insecticides from all fields due to the serious danger they pose to bees. More than 40 companies, including Britain’s biggest supermarkets, Coca Cola, Nestle and Procter & Gamble promised to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic packaging in the UK by 2025. Sweden unveiled a new road that charges electric cars while they drive. The world’s first passive plastic collection device is going to be deployed in the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to address the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Even small steps help, Grand Designs Live Expo in London will not sell plastic bottles or straws and will use biodegradable cutlery.

👩#MeToo Bill Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault against Andrea Constand, one of the many brave women who came forward to hold him accountable for his actions. The ACLU sued Chicago on behalf of a mother who was told to use the men’s restroom when she needed to use a breast pump while reporting for jury duty. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) announced he is resigning from Congress effective immediately rather than serve out the remainder of his last term and that he would reimburse the govt for the $39,000 that was paid to a former staffer he sexually harassed. The U.S. EEOC recommended the Michigan Dept. of Corrections improve its sexual harassment training after determining the state department violated a female employee’s civil rights.

🗽BECAUSE MONUMENTS AND NAMES MATTER to those that see them so check out two new murals one in Santa Cruz, “Unify, Decolonize, Thrive” mural and “Justice is Blind” mural now unveiled at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Alabama to reflect diversity and to balance two racist murals that it joins. A statue of the “Oh! Susanna” songwriter with a slave sitting at his feet was removed from a Pittsburgh park.The Austin City Council voted to take the names of Confederate leaders off two roads and rename them after Azie Taylor Morton, the first African-American U.S. treasurer, and William Holland, an African-American Texas state legislator. Boston is renaming Yawkey Way by Fenway Park because it is named for the Red Sox owner who resisted integration of the league. Millicent Fawcett’s statue was finally unveiled in London’s Parliament Square.

🕬  GUN CONTROL AND  ACTIVISM CONTINUES IN FULL SWING The Delaware legislature unanimously passed a “red flag” gun control bill allowing police to temporarily seize firearms from someone deemed a danger to themselves or others by mental health professionals and is awaiting the governor’s signature. Hawaii passed legislation banning bump stocks and the Governor announced he supports it.  While expected, it is nice to see it official that the Maryland Gov. signed the recently passed three new gun regulations into law. Kansas governor signs law limiting abusers access to guns. More than half a dozen governors announced plans to launch an multi-state consortium to study gun violence as a public health issue. Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other tech giants are ditching their handgun emoji and using a water gun in its place.

🏳️‍🌈LGBTQ PROGRESS Hoboken (NJ) ordered all city-owned, single-occupancy restrooms to be gender neutral. A republican candidate for a Texas School Board who claimed that public school preschool programs would make children gay was defeated.

🤰🏽WOMEN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE A third federal judge has now blocked the administration’s early end of grants for some organizations participating in a federal teen pregnancy prevention program.

🕫🗳️VOTING MOBILIZATION AND VOTING RIGHTS A Texas judge dismissed a lawsuit by the GOP to remove more than 80 Democrats from the November general election ballot. Arizona Democrats blocked Republican concocted plans to keep McCain’s seat in republican hands for two years without an election. A federal judge ruled that Marion County Indiana must establish at least two early voting locations ahead of the November midterm elections in a case brought by Common Cause and the NAACP alleging unequal ballot access. A Colorado court blocked incumbent Rep. Doug Lamborn’s (R) from the ballot for signature collection irregularities.

💓STOPPING THE SPREAD OF HATE Syracuse University has permanently expelled a fraternity over a video that was “racist, homophobic, ableist, sexist and anti-semitic. About 60 out of the 200 or so Olympians are choosing not to attend the White House reception in their honor this year. The University of Virginia has banned Jason Kessler, the organizer behind the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, from all university property. NYC bars are a tough place to be for haters… a judge dismissed a lawsuit against one New York City bar for discrimination by a man who was thrown out for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat saying the law doesn’t protect against political discrimination and “supporting Trump is not religion;” and the infamous hater, Milo Yiannopoulos was run out of another bar, with chants of “Nazi scum get out!” Richard Spencer has ended his cancelled his campus tours and dropped his lawsuit against the University of Cincinnati.

👩‍🎓BREAKING BARRIERS Paramount announced that S.J. Clarkson will be the first woman to direct a “Star Trek” film, Star Trek 4. This self-admitted Trekkie could not be happier. More female firsts include newly elected leader of Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats party, general secretary of the top U.S. board of the Assemblies of God, the director of the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center, head of the USC medical school, head of Montana’s Forestry Division, and the Superintendent of the Smithville School District (TX). Two female South African environment activists who helped stop a secret $76 billion dollar nuclear power deal with Russia won the prestigious 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize.

🙂FOR YOUR INFORMATION Michael Cohen asserted his Fifth Amendment rights in the lawsuit against him by Stormy Daniels and the judge placed the case on hold finding that he was likely to face a criminal indictment as a result of the raid. A federal judge tossed out Paul Manafort’s lawsuit challenging the scope of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

🧟ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST The director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs resigned after only six months on the job. Ronny Jackson withdrew as the nominee to lead the Department of Veterans affairs. Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) seat is now vacant. Two NY State Senate Republicans announced they are not running for reelection, giving democrats a chance to really control the State Senate.

Is your head spinning with memos, porn stars, playboy models, who represents who, defamation/libel/collusion/criminal cases, and slime-ball twitter wars? Then it is that time of the week where I try to help refocus you on real accomplishments as well as creative and inspiring actions and remind you of what the progressive movement is working towards. While I admit the drama is griping and fascinating, we have little control over the outcome (other then the call to take to the streets if the dreaded firing happens and to demand Congress protect the investigation).  On the other hand, activists, activist funded organizations, judges, and progressive elected officials, put into office by activists voters, accomplish a whole lot of good every day. The highlights since my 4 day break in the Vermont April snowfall are;

• #StandUpforImmigrants The Supreme Court ruled an immigrant’s conviction on two burglary charges did not constitute a violent crime as the law was too vague as to the definition of a violent crime, and therefore he could not be deported for such a conviction; Justice Neil Gorsuch was the deciding vote WTF?.
• #Vote New Jersey joined 11 other states with automatic voter registration when recently elected democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed the bill into law. See what kind of crazy stuff happens when you elect democrats to govern your state.
• #RespecttheLaw A federal appeals court upheld a nationwide injunction blocking the administration from withholding federal grant money to jurisdictions that refuse to allow federal immigration access to detention facilities and provide 48 hours notice before they release an undocumented immigrant wanted by ICE.
• #TransRights A U.S. District Judge upheld the injunction stopping the ban on transgender members in the military and found that transgender people are a protected class of people because they have been subjected to systemic oppression and attempts to exclude them from the military will be looked at with “strict scrutiny.”

🧕🏻STANDING UP FOR IMMIGRANTS Albuquerque (N.M.) City Council passed a law barring federal immigration officials without a warrant from going into city-operated areas and prohibits city workers from taking information on people’s immigration status. The Colorado Supreme Court upheld a decision that requires the El Paso County Sheriff to release people who are wanted for possible deportation by federal authorities but have paid bond in a case brought by the ACLU. Award winning poet, high school student, and asylum seeker from Maine, Allan Monga, will be allowed to compete in a National Endowment for the Arts national poetry contest after a judge ruled he was eligible, overruling the NEA declaring him ineligible due to his immigration status. Alejandra Pablos, an immigrant rights activist, was released on bond after supporters raised the money needed. The New Jersey legislature passed a bill to extend in-state college financial aid to undocumented students and the Gov. indicated he supports the bill. Looking for even more justice, the Southern Poverty Law Center sued private prison company CoreCare Inc, which houses individuals detained by ICE, for forcing detainees to work for a $1 a day to clean, cook, and maintain the detention center and threatening those who refuse with solitary confinement and the loss of access to basic necessities.

⚖️ECONOMIC JUSTICE means that a pharmacy in West Virginia will pay a $550,000 settlement to resolve a lawsuit brought by the state accusing it of negligence in dispensing nearly 10 million doses of painkillers in 11 years to a county of fewer than 25,000 people; T-Mobile will pay $40 million to settle a complaint with the FCC for failing to fix problems with calls to rural consumers and for providing misleading information about the fix; and Wells Fargo was fined $1 billion by two federal regulators for abuses tied to its mortgage/auto lending businesses.

TEACHERS ARE STILL ROCKING THE STATE HOUSES AND DEMANDING A LIVING WAGE. Hundreds of Colorado teachers forced school closings as they staged a protest at the state Capitol, and in their districts, to demand changes in school funding, higher teacher pay, and a stronger retirement fund. Teachers at about 1,000 Arizona schools held “walk-ins” to demand higher salaries and more school funding as part of the #RedforEd campaign, organized by Arizona Educators United, and Arizona educators and school employees voted in support of a walkout for next week. The Georgia Board of Regents voted not to increase tuition for this year at all public colleges and universities. The New Jersey legislature passed a paid Sick Leave Act requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave, and the governor pledged to sign it. Iowa enacted a law prohibiting school lunch shaming of children who don’t have money to pay for lunches.

5,000 Graduate students working as teaching and research assistants at Harvard University voted to form a union. Not only did grad students organize, but so did JetBlue Flight Attendants, the staff at the New Republic, and nurses at Albany Medical Center (NY). And making sure a union is worth something in New York should the Supreme Court decide in a pending case to weaken them nationally, he signed a law to protects union membership.

A few interesting things out of Kentucky, that bastion of liberal activism, Morehouse State University rescinded its decision to take away unused sick days when calculating pension benefits for retiring staff and froze tuition for next year, and the Attorney General Andy filed a lawsuit against an opioid pharmaceutical maker for contributing to an illicit drug market in the product. Continue reading →