From CNY Solidarity Coalition:
Next Meeting: Sun. Oct. 11, 2020, 3-4 PM, via Zoom. Link to come.
Upcoming Meeting Schedule: 10/25, 11/8,11/22. 12/6, 12/20/20, 1/10/21
Here are three things we can all do for this election:
One: Vote and Be Counted!
Here are four ways to vote, starting with the most secure and reliable:
1. Vote early in person, if you’re comfortable. Your vote will go directly into the system and be counted on election day.
2. Absentee Ballot, Drop off in Person. Reduce the load on the USPS and the risk of late mail. You can also drop off ballots for others.
3. Absentee Ballot, Mail it in. Do it as soon as possible.
NOTE: Absentee ballots, delivered in person or by US Mail (2 0r #3), will all be counted after Election Day.
4. Election Day Voting. Last choice. Try to get it done earlier. (Trump has promised that there will be chaos on Election Day.)
Two: Take the Senate
Help the Democrats take the Senate. Donate to Indivisible’s Payback Project. They have targeted eleven Republican Senators who have to go. You can also sign up for phone and text banking in key states.
For an additional option, consider donations to Dem Senate candidates in states that are also presidential battlegrounds. In theory, any dollars sent their way will help turn out Dem voters in states that could also make a difference in the electoral college. E.g.:
https://markkelly.com/ Mark Kelly in Arizona
https://www.calfornc.com/ Cal Cunningham in North Carolina
https://electjon.com/ Jon Ossoff in Georgia
https://warnockforgeorgia.com/ Raphael Warnock in Georgia
Three: Save the Election
We know that unless there is a Biden landslide, the results will be challenged. Possible scenario: More Biden/Harris supporters vote by mail. Trump supporters turn out in person. Election day totals favor Trump. He claims victory before mail0inballots are counted. Court challenges and street demonstrations begin immediately. We have to be ready. Plans are in the works for support for the legal battles and for large demonstrations. Here are two groups that are preparing. You can support them now. Read their sites, and donate if you can.
· Indivisible’s https://protecttheresults.com is building a coalition of voters ready to mobilize if Trump refuses to accept the election results.
· Choose Democracy is a new effort focused specifically on post-election action. Read this: 10 Things You Need to Know to Stop a Coup
Key Resources:
The Best Way to Vote in Every State Early voting, absentee ballots, registration, checking your status, etc.
Early Voting Information for Six Central New York Counties: Syracuse.com Article Here
VOTE411.org Register to vote, find your polling place, ballot info, and more at the League of Women Voters’ Vote 411 site.
National Association of Secretaries of State. Includes contacts for all states.
Indivisible.org to take action.
New York Board of Elections: contacts for all counties
Onondaga County Board of Elections absentee ballots, early voting info, etc.
Dana Balter for Congress: We need a progressive voice representing us in Congress, instead of someone who endorses Donald Trump for President! https://electdanabalter.com/
Biden/Harris campaign: https://joebiden.com/
Support NYS Senator Rachel May! Two years ago we elected a true progressive and helped change the direction our state. Let’s keep up the momentum. Donate Here
Articles of the Week:
How the Dems in Congress, can delay and potentially derail the Republican efforts to steal another Supreme Court seat:
Barton Gellman’s “The Election that Could Break America” and Jeffrey Toobin’s “The Legal Fight Awaiting us after the Election.”
7 mistakes to avoid so your NY absentee ballot will count. From Syracuse.com. Here
171 Ways to Donate in Support of Black Lives and Communities of Color: From a New York magazine article
EVENTS/ACTIONS CALENDAR
Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network Fall Open Meeting
Tuesday, 9/29 from 5:30-7:30pm
Do you care about immigration justice and want to learn how you can support community members directly affected by our unjust immigration system? Come to our first fall SIRDN meeting!
SIRDN has been very busy during these pandemic times! Please join us for our next meeting to learn about and plug into our ongoing projects, including: solidarity fundraising, ongoing legislative advocacy campaigns, and other efforts to support the work of the Workers Center of Central New York.
For Zoom information, please send us a Facebook message or email us at sirdn315@gmail.com.
Anyone interested in joining is welcome. Spanish translation is provided.
The Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network works for immigration justice in Central New York and beyond through organizing, advocacy, and solidarity support for directly affected individuals and their families. We center the leadership of staff and members of the Workers’ Center of Central New York and strive to show up as allies and accomplices in the fight for human dignity for all people regardless of their citizenship status.
Public Hearings: National Grid Rate Case
Wednesday, September 30th at 1 PM or Wednesday, October 7th at 6 PM
We are inviting everyone in National Grid’s upstate electric and/or gas territory to join one of the Public Hearings being held online Sept 30 – Oct 7. Speak Out against National Grid Rate Increase – Say No to Raised Rates & Climate Destruction!
At a time when millions are losing their jobs due to COVID and people are facing evictions and food insecurity, the last thing we need is an increase in gas and electric rates. But that’s what National Grid, a massively profitable British utility corporation, is proposing.
Making things worse, as California is burning and storms are destroying communities in the Midwest and along our coasts, National Grid wants to spend more of our ratepayer dollars on climate destruction. The funds from this rate increase will be used to expand polluting fossil fuel pipelines for natural gas — despite the fact that New York has passed a landmark climate law!
The Public Service Commission and Governor Cuomo have the power to stop this increase. Give them a piece of your mind and testify at the state’s “Public Statement” hearings. https://actionnetwork.org/events/speak-out-against-national-grid-rate-increase-say-no-to-climate-destruction
When you register at the Action Network from Citizen Action, we will share info to help you prepare your short statement, including a talking points document and virtual events on and on September 29 with Citizen Action New York: https://www.facebook.com/events/3513350512017602/
Robin Wall Kimmerer: What Does the Earth Ask of Us?
Wednesday, September 30
Hosted by Arts Extension Service and Feinberg Series
KEYNOTE LECTURE BY ROBIN WALL KIMMERER – Distinguished Professor and Author of “Braiding Sweetgrass”
REGISTER HERE TO JOIN BY ZOOM: http://bit.ly/kimmererkeynote
WHAT DOES THE EARTH ASK OF US?
We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth and yet we are tied to institutions which relentlessly ask, what more can we take? Drawing upon both scientific and Indigenous knowledges, this talk explores the covenant of reciprocity. How might we use the gifts and the responsibilities of human people in support of mutual thriving in a time of ecological crisis?
Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, writer and Distinguished Professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York and the founding Director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. She is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a student of the plant nations. Her writings include “Gathering Moss” which was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing and the bestselling “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants”. As a writer and a scientist, her interests include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to land.
This event will be live and recorded on Zoom, Facebook and YouTube. Spanish interpretation and closed captioning will be available. Signed copies of “Gathering Moss” and “Braiding Sweetgrass” available at Amherst Books. (The handwritten signature is on a bookplate affixed to the book.) Numerous copies are available to borrow through Libraries in the Woods. See below.
Syracuse Tenant Union Mass Virtual Meeting
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 6 PM
Public · Hosted by Housing Justice for All
Join the Syracuse Tenant Union and Housing Justice for All for a mass virtual meeting to learn about our fight to cancel rent, win a year long eviction moratorium and improve the conditions of our homes! RSVP at http://bit.ly/dontevictSyracuse
How to Beat an Election-Related Power Grab
October 1 and 6, 7:30 PM
George Lakey is a nonviolent direct action analyst and trainer who has led over 1500 workshops on five continents. He and Zein Nakhoda will lead a two-session national workshop called “How to Beat an Election-Related Power Grab” Register for the workshop here. George co-founded and led Training for Change before becoming the Eugene M. Lang Professor for Issues in Social Change at Swarthmore College, and has published ten books on change, including How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning. Zein is a Core Trainer and Director at Training for Change and has trained hundreds of organizers and activists across the country, including around direct action, popular education methods, and organizing skills.
Know Your Rights When Protesting
Thursday, Oct. 1, 6-7:30 PM
Citizen Action of New York – Rochester Chapter, Monroe County Public Defender’s Office and Free The People Roc
Sign up: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IoQxgMMVRUGzhcnA-KtKtw
Virtual Event fundraiser and GOTV with Dana Balter and Dustin Czarny Monday
Oct. 5, 6 PM
Join Indivisible Salt City for their virtual event with NY-24’s Democratic Congressional Candidate, Dana Balter! Register here.
As we continue to practice social distancing it is still so important for us to engage with one another and discuss the issues facing our communities.
Dana is fighting for healthcare for all, a fair economy, and getting big money out of politics. Her seat is a top Red-to-Blue flip opportunity in the House in 2020.
We look forward to “seeing” you on Monday. Register Here.
Virtual Town Hall with Pam Hunter Assembly District 128
Thursday, Oct. 8, 6-7:30 PM
Public · Hosted by Dustin M. Czarny
This week’s Zoom with Czarny we have our candidate town hall with Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter who is running for re-election in AD 128th. We will talk about her term in Albany including dealing with the fallout of the COVID-19. Confirm your reservation to get a live zoom link sent to your email or watch for broadcast on Friday.
Revisiting George Washington’s Assault on the Haudenosaunee
Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 11 AM – 1 PM
Hosted by Syracuse University Humanities Center, Indigenous Values Initiative and Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace
The Sullivan-Clinton campaign, an attack on the Haudenosaunee by General George Washington 240 years ago, was the largest assault on Native nations in US history. Drawing from Indigenous perspectives to challenge settler-colonial narratives, speakers discuss land theft, broken treaties, and attacks on Haudenosaunee sovereignty to show how this historical trauma lives on and informs contemporary xenophobia, racism, and sexism.
Panelists include Alyssa Mt. Pleasant (Historian and Scholar of Native American & Indigenous Studies, University of Buffalo), Andrea Lynn Smith (Professor of Anthropology, Lafayette College, Easton, PA), Jake Haiwhagai’i Edwards (Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan), and Robert Venables (Professor Emeritus, Cornell University). Philip Arnold (Associate Professor and Religion Dept. Chair, Syracuse University) will facilitate the discussion.
The event will be LIVE-streamed on:
• Facebook @SkaNonhCenter, @IndigenousValues
• Twitter @SkaNonhCenter, @IndigenousVI
• YouTube @IndigenousValuesInitiative
ONGOING:
TIM ATSEFF: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS – A Trump Dystopian Heptology
September 3, 2020 to October 4, 2020
ArtRage Gallery ArtRage is now open for visits by reservation.
Tim Atseff has been painting since 1970. He spent his professional career in journalism including several years as an editorial cartoonist exposing hypocrisy and corruption with the stroke of his pen. Enlarge a nose or jowl here and droop an ear-lobe or place tiny hands there. The idea is to take an imperfection and apply a magnifying glass while still capturing the subject’s likeness and exposing them for who they really are.
This exhibition merges Atseff’s painting and cartooning into one hybrid presentation. Reflecting on the reasons for its creation Atseff says, “When I get an itch, I have to scratch it. It makes me feel alive. The darker the work, the more alive I feel. President Trump is my itch. For the last two years, I have felt like I’ve had a bad case of poison ivy. My skin is raw.”
“Trump’s scorched democracy policy and his feckless lemmings have been assaulting objective truth, civility and the free press on a daily, if not a minute-by-minute basis. Destroying and desensitizing the difference between right and wrong. They are complicit, corrupt, immoral and indecent. Trump embodies each sin as narcissistic, full-throated and butt-naked for all to see.”
Central New York Solar Tour – 25th National Solar Tour
Sept. 28th to Oct 4
Climate Change Awareness & Action is taking part in the 25th Annual National Solar tour
The National Solar Tour is the largest grassroots renewable energy event in the nation. Hundreds of people across the nation will show off their solar homes and businesses. During this week, you will have a chance to ask solar owners questions, and participate in a nationwide virtual solar experience. You’ll also hear from national leaders in the solar and electric vehicle fields, solar businesses, solar schools, and from community organizations advocating for solar and energy equity.Whether you own your home or rent, can’t afford to pay for a solar system up front or don’t want to – if you want to reduce your electric bill and help the next generation avoid
catastrophic climate change this event is for you.
Hear from three Central New Yorkers how they are saving money, contributing to the transition away from fossil fuels and addressing climate change. Look for our tour on an interactive map when you RSVP <www.nationalsolartour.org/rsvp2020>.
Our tour will highlight residential and community solar and explain how you can incorporate solar PV with technologies, such as highly efficient electric heat pumps, so
you not only save money and produce your own electricity, but also reduce your natural gas consumption and improve air quality in your home.
Community solar is ideal for individuals who own or rent who can’t afford or don’t want to put any money down up front or don’t have a site suitable for solar.
This “online, virtual tour” will go live Sept. 28th and run through Oct. 4th.
Climate Change Awareness and Action, www.climatechange-action.com is a local organization of 2,000 individuals concerned about climate change.
In Solidarity: Syracuse Protests
Virtual Exhibit from Light Work. Aug. 24 – oct. 15 Link
A group exhibition featuring images made during events at the epicenter of the protest movement in Syracuse, NY. In Solidarity documents forty days of marching, actions, and rallies.
Street Heat – Weekly Protests are back with Physical Distancing!
HANCOCK: our decade-long protests against Hancock’s piloting killer reaper drones over the Islamic oil lands continue. 6000 East Molloy Rd every Tuesday from 4:15 to 5 p.m.
DEWITT: Weekly protest against IDF terrorism, maiming and killing of Palestinians. Fridays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. at Erie Blvd E and E Genesee, Dewitt. Park in the nearby mini-mall parking lot.
REGIONAL FARMERS MARKET: anti-weaponized drones/anti-militarism protest: 9 to 9:45 a.m Saturdays . directly across from the market’s main entrance on Park Street.
For more information: anntiffany6235@gmail.com
FINDING HELP/RESOURCES
Also see COVID19 Info Below
SIRDN Covid19 Warm Line: (315) 552-1670
Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network (SIRDN) Coronavirus-related information for farmworker, immigrant, undocumented, day laborer, and domestic worker communities. English and Spanish-speaking operators. Text and phone.
SIRDN has also created a resource document for COVID-19 information, for immigrants and undocumented folks. English and Spanish Or use these instructions to have Google translate .
COVID-19 INFORMATION:
If you do not have a doctor and have questions, symptoms, or may have been exposed to COVID-19, call Upstate University Hospital’s Triage Line at 315.464.397
Onondaga County Coronaviris Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Information Page
COVID-19 Testing Hotline
Upstate University Hospital Regional Triage (COVID-19) Information Page
NYS Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Page
Johns Hopkins – Coronavirus Disease 2019 vs. the Flu
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) webpage.
New York Attorney General Coronavirus Resources and Warnings
FCC Consumer Warnings and Safety Tips
FTC Coronavirus Scam Information
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Peter McCarthy
pmccar1100@gmail.com