Action Alerts – Week of July 16th – CNY Solidarity Coalition

CNY Solidarity members and supporters:
Please find below the weekly ACTION ALERTS from Indivisible NY24 and our legislative action teams.

Flagging one event well in advance, please mark your calendars for Sunday, September 23, 9:30-12:30, for a joint Indivisible NY-22 and NY-24 Summit at the Cazenovia Hampton Inn. Agenda is still in the works, but plans are to include speeches by national and local candidates and activists, plus hands-on trainings on voter canvassing, poll-watching, and the like. The Westcott Street Cultural Fair is that same day, starting at noon, so it will be a full day for many of us.

And now, on to the action alerts.

Today (July 16)

A phone call today, an organizing meeting at 6pm, and an educational talk at 7pm

Protect the Mueller investigation NOW

On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced new indictments by Special Counsel Robert Mueller of 12 Russian military intelligence agents for interfering in the 2016 election. According to the indictment, the Russian agents used spearphishing emails, including fake Google security notifications, to seek passwords from more than 300 Clinton Campaign, DCCC, and DNC officials. They had access to DCCC and DNC computers from April 2016 forward, including DNC election analytics. In late July, within hours of Trump’s public call for Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s “30,000 missing emails,” they began seeking access to email accounts at a domain used by Clinton’s personal office. They launched a public website at which they posted stolen emails and created multiple fake FB and Twitter accounts to promote the website. They provided stolen emails to an unnamed congressional candidate. And they hacked the website of an unnamed state board of elections and stole identifying information on 500,000 voters. How has Rep. Katko responded to these developments? So far, as usual, #KatkoRemainsSilent. Meanwhile, his Republican allies in the House are reportedly putting the finishing touches on a bill to impeach Deputy AG Rosenstein.

Please call Rep. Katko and urge him to publicly defend the Mueller investigation and denounce these impeachment threats TODAY. As always, Katko’s numbers are 315-423-5657 (Syracuse), 315-253-4068 (Auburn), or 202-225-3701 (DC).

Abolish ICE Now

Organizing meeting for 7/31 #AbolishICE rally, hosted by Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network and others. 6-7pm, 2013 E. Genesee St. in Syracuse.

Also, two related notes:

1) As posted last week, the Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network is seeking additional volunteers to assist with documenting the activities of Border Patrol at the Regional Transportation Center. Click here to sign up.

2) Last week, U.S. Representatives Mark Pocan (WI-02), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) introduced the Establishing a Humane Immigration Enforcement System Act. The legislation would convene a commission of experts to provide a roadmap for Congress to implement a humane immigration enforcement system that upholds the dignity of all individuals, which includes terminating the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) within one year of enactment. More details here. We encourage folks to read up on the bill and consider drafting a letter to the editor or social media post urging fellow Central New Yorkers to give it a look.

Let Yemenis Live: Ending US Complicity in the War Against Yemen

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly of “Voices for Creative Nonviolence” will be speaking on Yemen. Sponsored by Beyond War and Militarism, a committee of CNY Solidarity and the Syracuse Peace Council. 7-9pm, All Saints Church, 1340 Lancaster Ave. More details here.

Tuesday (July 17)

Support Voting Rights Reform in NYS

CNY Solidarity’s State Legislative Action Team (SLAT) has identified voting reform as a priority for the remainder of 2018. The legislature will not be in session again until January, so the focus will be on raising the issue with candidates for state Senate and Assembly. The Democratic and Republican primaries will be on Thursday, September 13.

We can inform ourselves about this issue starting with the Let NY Vote website. It is comprehensive and user friendly. Then please contact David Valesky’s office at 315-478-8745, Rachel May’s campaign via Facebook <@rachelmayforsenate>, Robert Antonacci at his Onondaga County Comptroller office at 315 435-2130, and John Mannion’s campaign via Facebook <@MannionForSenate> to ask their positions on reforming New York’s almost-last-in-the-nation access to voting.

Wednesday (July 18)

Vigil to Confront Corruption/Demand Democracy

8-9pm, Hanley Federal Building in Syracuse. More details here.

Thursday (July 19)

Condemn the Trump Administration’s Assaults on Public Health

From our State Legislative Action Team (SLAT): On July 8, the New York Times reported that at this year’s World Health Organization assembly, Trump’s appointees attempted to scuttle a resolution encouraging breastfeeding babies and discouraging practices that undermine it: “Based on decades of research, the resolution says that mother’s milk is healthiest for children and countries should strive to limit the inaccurate or misleading marketing of breast milk substitutes. . . . Then the United States delegation, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, upended the deliberations.” Due to extortionate threats against about a dozen small, poor countries with interest in introducing the resolution, those nations stepped aside. It was not until Russia came forward that the resolution was ultimately presented and passed. “’What happened was tantamount to blackmail, with the U.S. holding the world hostage and trying to overturn nearly 40 years of consensus on the best way to protect infant and young child health,’ [Patti Rundall, the policy director of the British advocacy group Baby Milk Action] said.”

The Times article goes on (emphasis added): “A 2016 study in The Lancet found that universal breast-feeding would prevent 800,000 child deaths a year across the globe and yield $300 billion in savings from reduced health care costs and improved economic outcomes for those reared on breast milk.”

Trump rejects all knowledge with which he disagrees and his government sees no need for public health. Today, please call the New York State Association of County Health Officials (NYSACHO) at 518-456-7905 to demand that NYSACHO pass a resolution condemning the Trump administration’s actions in the strongest terms. The Trump/Pence/McConnell/Ryan government is prepared to accept 800,000 child deaths annually—worldwide, including in the United States and with some in New York State—in order to plump up the profits of the infant formula industry. For a local contact, you can also call the Onondaga County Commissioner of Health, Dr. Indu Gupta, MD, MPH at 315-435-3252 to ask what she will do to condemn “pro-lifer” Trump’s indifference to the lives of infants.

Friday (July 20) – Sunday (July 22)

No actions this weekend as of now. Our weekly Saturday morning anti-Katko protests in Dewitt are on hiatus until further notice.

Save the date for these upcoming events

Thur., July 26: 28^th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act Celebration and Parade, 9:30-noon, City Hall Commons in Syracuse.

Thur., July 26: Voices of Women CNY is hosting a talk by Tom Keck on Trump and the Constitution; will focus in part on Judge Kavanaugh. 6-7:30pm at the Manlius Library. More details here. (The link only works if you’re a member of Voices of Women CNY FB group, but all are welcome to the talk.)

Sun., July 29: CNY Solidarity meeting. 3-5pm, Northside Learning Center.

July 31: #AbolishICE rally, 11:30am, Hanley Federal Building in Syracuse.

Wed., Aug. 15: CNY Solidarity meeting. 7-8:30pm, location TBD.

Aug. 19: NYS voter registration deadline for state primary.

Sun., Aug. 26: CNY Solidarity meeting. 3-5pm, location TBD.

Mon., Sept. 3: Labor Day Parade @NYS Fair, 10am at State Fairgrounds.

Sept. 6: Deadline to request absentee ballot by mail for state primary.

Thur., Sept. 13: Election day (primaries for state offices). Note the date change; and yes, it’s a Thursday. To put it on your Facebook calendar, click here.

Sun., Sept. 23: Indivisible NY-22 and NY-24 Summit. 9:30-12:30, Cazenovia Hampton Inn.

Sun., Sept. 23, 12:00-7:00pm: Westcott St. Cultural Fair.

Oct. 12: NYS voter registration deadline for general election.

Oct. 30: Deadline to request absentee ballot by mail for general election.

Tue., Nov. 6: Election day (general election for all offices). Click here to add it to your FB calendar.

Today and every day, be sure to follow us online and on social media.

Check out our website: www.cnysolidarity.org

Check us out on Flickr and Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In solidarity,

Tom