Category: Thank You Actions

Show Your Support for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford By Giving To This GoFundMe (Good Update July 2019)
Social Media · Thank You Actions · Vote with your Dollars

Show Your Support for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford By Giving To This GoFundMe (Good Update July 2019)

otycd

Update, July 12, 2019: The GoFundMe closed with $647,610 in donations, well above its $150,000 goal.

 

Show your support for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford by Giving to this GoFundMe.

 

Dr. Blasey Ford bravely stepped up when she heard that Brett Kavanaugh had made the short list for the Supreme Court of the United States.

 

She was terrified, but determined to do her civic duty.

 

She did the right thing. She suffered for it.

 

You can help her by donating to a GoFundMe set up in her name. It covers the costs involved with safeguarding her and her family during this process.

 

On October 3, 2018, she posted the following update to the page:

 

“I cannot express how grateful I am for the outpouring of support and generosity that we have received through this GoFundMe account. I believed and still believe that it was my civic duty to come forward, but this is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, much harder even than I thought it would be. And not just for me, but for my husband and our sons, for my relatives who still live in the Washington area, and the friends who have stood up on my behalf.

I feel like all of you who have made a contribution are on this journey with me, which is very heartening. And some journey it has been and continues to be. We have already had to move four times, our movements are limited even with security, and the threats are ongoing. Thanks to you, I am able to feel safe, my family can be together, and my children can continue to go to school.

The costs for security, housing, transportation and other related expenses are much higher than we anticipated and they do not show signs of letting up. Funds received via this account will be used to help us pay for these mounting expenses.

Please know how much we appreciate your moral support and your contribution,
Christine

 

As of October 6, 2018, it had far exceeded its $150,000 goal, pulling in more than $570,000.

 

Donate to the Dr Christine Blasey Ford GoFundMe here:

https://www.gofundme.com/help-christine-blasey-ford

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Support The Guardian, the Newspaper That Ben Jacobs Works For
Community Activism · Read, Educate Yourself, Prepare · Thank You Actions · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends · Vote with your Dollars

Support The Guardian, the Newspaper That Ben Jacobs Works For

otycd

This OTYCD entry originally posted in May 2017.

Support The Guardian, the British paper that employs reporter Ben Jacobs. 

 

By now you’ve heard about how Greg Gianforte, Republican candidate for the open house seat representing all of Montana, snapped and attacked Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian. Jacobs is evidently OK and Gianforte has since been charged with a misdemeanor. (Gianforte also won the Congressional race.)

 

While we wish we had a more pleasant prompt, we’re taking it. The Guardian is a good newspaper, and has long been a good newspaper. It deserves your attention and your support.

 

Read the links below, and if you like it, become a supporter of The Guardian:

https://membership.theguardian.com/us/supporter?INTCMP=DOTCOM_HEADER_BECOMEMEMBER_US

 

Here’s Jacobs’s video report on his bizarre encounter with Gianforte:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2017/may/25/guardian-ben-jacobs-body-slam-video-greg-gianforte

 

Here’s the story Jacobs filed with The Guardian shortly before the infamous meeting:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/25/montana-special-election-gianforte-assault-charge-guardian

 

Here’s the story that Jacobs wrote that probably played a role in pissing off Gianforte:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/28/greg-gianforte-republican-candidate-congress-russia-companies

 

And here’s another story by others at The Guardian on the consequences that Gianforte suffered shortly after attacking Jacobs:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/25/newspapers-ditch-us-republican-charged-with-assaulting-guardian-reporter-montana

 

 

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey Is Awesome. Show Her Some Love. (Good Update March 2019)
Ethics · Fighting Bigotry, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia... · Good News · Thank You Actions

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey Is Awesome. Show Her Some Love. (Good Update March 2019)

otycd1 Comment

Update, March 24, 2019: Healey won re-election in 2018 with ease, and with 68.1 percent of the vote. She next faces re-election in 2023, and she is still awesome.

 

This OTYCD entry originally posted in October 2017.

 

Show some love to Maura Healey, the Democratic state attorney general of Massachusetts, who is up for re-election in 2018.

 

Healey is still in her first term, having been elected in 2014, and she is a standout. Previously, she was the Chief of the Civil Rights Division under her predecessor, and she led the state’s challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act.

 

She was a solid state AG already, but since Trump’s election, she has been a tireless defender of laws, norms, and civil rights.

 

She was among the earliest of the AGs to sign on to the lawsuit to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which Trump promised to kill.

 

She has also been in the forefront of suing the Betsy DeVos-led Department of Education to allow Obama-era laws to take effect that would allow students who were cheated by colleges to discharge their federal loan debts.

 

Healey has also announced that she will sue Equifax over its egregious breach that compromised the personal information of roughly 143 million Americans. She is up for re-election in 2018.

 

Regardless, Healey deserves your support on social media at the very least.

 

 

See the Massachusetts Attorney General’s website:

http://www.mass.gov/ago/

 

 

See her own website:

http://www.maurahealey.com

 

 

Like her on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MauraHealeyMA

 

 

Follow her on Twitter:

@maura_healey

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

See her page on the website of the National Association of Attorneys General:

http://www.naag.org/naag/attorneys-general/whos-my-ag/massachusetts/maura-healey.php

 

 

Read various stories about her lawsuits against Equifax and the Department of Education, and the lawsuit in defense of DACA:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/equifax-data-breach-massachusetts-attorney-general-to-sue/

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2017/09/06/massachusetts-suing-daca/

http://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2017/07/06/maura-healey-devos

Support José Andrés, The Chef Who Served Millions of Meals to Puerto Ricans, and Who Stood Up to Trump
Community Activism · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms · Support Immigrants and Refugees · Thank You Actions · Vote with your Dollars

Support José Andrés, The Chef Who Served Millions of Meals to Puerto Ricans, and Who Stood Up to Trump

otycd

This OTYCD post originally appeared in April 2018.

 

Support José Andrés, the chef who cooked and served millions of meals to hurricane-stricken Puerto Ricans and who stood up to Donald Trump.

 

Andrés is a hell of a chef, period, full stop.

As of November 2017, he holds two Michelin stars. In 2011, the James Beard Foundation gave him its Outstanding Chef award; past winners include Tom Colicchio of Craft, Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin, Grant Achatz of Alinea, Lidia Bastianich of Felidia Ristorante, Wolfgang Puck of Spago Beverly Hills, Jean-George Vongerichten of Jean-Georges, and Thomas Keller of The French Laundry. Andrés is also credited with introducing America to the concept of tapas.

 

His nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, came to Puerto Rico on September 25, 2017 to help feed residents in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

 

By mid-October, the team had built a supply network and prepped and delivered more than a million hot meals. Andrés has broadcast his efforts via his Twitter account and through the #chefsforpuertorico hashtag. He had started to curtail WCK’s efforts by late October, but he has continued to shine a light on the realities of post-Maria life in Puerto Rico on his social media accounts.

 

Before he stepped up in such an extraordinary way in Puerto Rico, he stood up to Donald Trump, at great personal cost to himself.

 

When Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015 by claiming that Mexican immigrants were drug dealers and rapists, Andrés withdrew from a deal to create a grand new restaurant in the Trump hotel planned for the old Post Office building in Washington, D.C. (Andrés was born in Spain and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.) Trump sued for breach of contract, and the two parties settled in April 2017.

 

According to the Washington Post, Andrés said at the time of his withdrawal from the Trump Washington D.C. restaurant deal:

“More than half of my team is Hispanic, as are many of our guests,” the chef said in a statement at the time. “And, as a proud Spanish immigrant and recently naturalized American citizen myself, I believe that every human being deserves respect, regardless of immigration status.”

 

We at OTYCD encourage you to support Andrés and his charitable works however you can.

 

Andrés’s empire includes 27 restaurants in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as food trucks and catering services. Are any of them near you? Check the link below and pay a visit, and vote with your dollars:

http://www.joseandres.com/en_us/restaurants

 

 

Follow Andrés on Twitter:

@chefjoseandres

 

 

Like him on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chefjoseandres/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Visit the World Central Kitchen webpage:

https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org

 

 

Donate to World Central Kitchen:

https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org/donate

 

 

Read about World Central Kitchen’s and #chefsforpuertorico’s work on the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/10/20/559113161/celebrity-chef-jose-andres-has-served-nearly-1-5-million-meals-to-puerto-ricans

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/09/29/jose-andres-a-naturalized-u-s-citizen-has-become-the-face-of-american-disaster-relief/?utm_term=.809d93237d83

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/10/18/post-maria-jose-andres-and-his-team-have-served-more-meals-in-puerto-rico-than-the-red-cross/?utm_term=.08529f34dd69

http://time.com/4981655/jose-andres-fema-trump-puerto-rico/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/chef-jose-andres-and-the-trump-administration-are-fighting?utm_term=.nlNBa7E5eg#.oapoLBpy94

https://www.eater.com/2017/10/25/16545754/jose-andres-puerto-rico-world-central-kitchen

Read about how the chef quit his partnership with Trump after he disparaged Mexicans, and read about the settlement of the resulting lawsuit:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2016/04/29/donald-trump-jose-andres-and-the-death-of-a-grand-washington-restaurant/?utm_term=.fc73d4f45799

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/04/07/president-trump-and-chef-jose-andres-reach-settlement-agreement/?utm_term=.ed2172cdc09f

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/donald-trump-and-celebrity-chef-jose-andres-settle-their-lawsuit/2017/04/07/987c5cae-1bbd-11e7-bcc2-7d1a0973e7b2_story.html?utm_term=.3953339addc6

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/07/523004201/trump-organization-settles-lawsuit-with-chef-jos-andr-s

 

Subscribe to Postcards from Kate
Postcard Campaigns · Thank You Actions

Subscribe to Postcards from Kate

otycd

Subscribe to Postcards from Kate, a nonpartisan project devoted to thanking politicians, journalists, and other public figures who do the right thing.

 

We know you love mailing postcards. The organization Postcards from Kate scratches your postcard itch and lets you do good at the same time. From the PFK ‘About’ page (bold is theirs):

 

“Every day or once a week, we’ll email the names and mailing addresses of at least one person deserving of our wholehearted thanks for taking an action which reinforces or supports our progressive values. We believe in equal rights, access to healthcare, just and fair governance, and freedom. We don’t think any party owns American values. And we believe kindness is the best policy.”

 

Postcards from Kate is named for Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote the song America the Beautiful.

 

Subscribe to the Postcards from Kate email list here:

https://www.postcardsfromkate.org

 

 

Read its “About” page:

https://www.postcardsfromkate.org/about-2/

 

 

Check out its free downloadable postcard designs:

https://www.postcardsfromkate.org/get-supplies/

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

Learn How to Help Military Families Thanks to Operation We Are Here
Community Activism · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms · Thank You Actions

Learn How to Help Military Families Thanks to Operation We Are Here

otycd

Learn how to help military families through the Operation We Are Here homepage–a detailed collection of resources for military families and those who want to show support.

 

Operation We Are Here is a gratifyingly broad and comprehensive collection of resources for military families, veterans, and people who want to ease their burden. It includes links and info on programs you’ve heard about and several you haven’t.

 

Its Toolkit page, which is aimed at people who want to help the enlisted, their families, and veterans, provides information about programs such as Free Cakes for Kids, which ensures that low-income military families with children don’t have to choose between spending their limited funds on a birthday cake or a birthday gift.

 

It also mentions Cleaning for Heroes, a nonprofit that provides free house-cleaning services to disabled or elderly veterans; several programs that train service animals for vets and the military; ways for lawyers to donate their legal services; a list of businesses run by veterans and military spouses; programs that help the military community vote; and a metric ton of programs that distribute used items–musical instruments, DVDs, cell phones, clothes, board games and video games, you name it–to military folk.

 

There’s an entire section of the site devoted to books of interest to the military community and its supporters, with subsections on PTSD, marriage, caregiving, veteran employment, and loss and grief.

 

And there’s a sidebar on the right of the webpage with seemingly acres of resources.

 

A note: The Operation We Are Here webpage is the project of a non-denominational Christian ministry, but the individual resources listed may or may not reflect the same Christian beliefs.

 

 

See the Operation We Are Here webpage:

http://www.operationwearehere.com/index.html

 

 

See its ‘About Me’ page, which includes a ‘Statement of Faith’:

http://www.operationwearehere.com/AboutUs.html

 

 

See its ‘Toolkit for Military Supporters’:

http://www.operationwearehere.com/Toolkit.html

 

 

See its ‘Book List for the Military Community and Supporters’:

http://www.operationwearehere.com/BookLists.html

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the blue button on the upper right or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Follow Operation We Are Here on Twitter:

@OpWeAreHere

 

Like it on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/OperationWeAreHere

Take a Break Every Now and Again. It’ll Help You Stop Trump.
Community Activism · Good News · Health Care · Thank You Actions

Take a Break Every Now and Again. It’ll Help You Stop Trump.

otycd1 Comment

This OTYCD entry originally posted in June 2017, but with the mid-terms approaching and the stakes rising, we are reposting past posts that discuss key things you can do to push back against Trump.

 

For your own sanity’s sake, plan periodic breaks from fighting Trump and his ilk.

 

With so much going on, it might be tough to convince yourself to step away and rest. But you must if you want to fight Trump and the Republicans effectively. No, really. You’ve heard people say ‘This is a marathon, not a sprint’? It’s not a bunch of yap-yap. You can’t go the distance if you don’t slow down to grab some water every now and again.

 

You need to sit yourself down and plan these respites, and you need to commit to them. Blocking out one day a week where you disengage from the news and from social media to do something you like–be it hiking, knitting, reading, hanging out with friends, or binge-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer–put it on your calendar and don’t talk yourself out of it.

 

If you’re having trouble giving yourself permission to take one day off a week, then let us at OTYCD tell it to you straight:

 

 

“We, your friends at the One Thing You Can Do blog, are telling you, our faithful reader, to unplug and chill out completely once a week. We are giving you formal permission to do so.”

 

 

Print it out and tape it to your mirror, or your computer monitor, or staple it to your forehead–whatever it takes to get through to you.

 

 

If you won’t listen to OTYCD on this, follow Jen Hofmann on Twitter and subscribe to her Weekly Activism Checklist newsletter. She’s a fire-breathing evangelist for self-care.

 

Follow Jen Hofmann on Twitter:

@inspiredjen

 

 

Sign up for her Weekly Activism Checklist:

https://jenniferhofmann.com/home/weekly-action-checklist-democrats-independents-republicans-conscience/

 

 

Like her on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Jennifer-Hofmann-463228547169366/

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Pre-order Shade by Photographer Pete Souza
First Amendment, Defending a Free Press · Good News · Marches and Protests · Read, Educate Yourself, Prepare · Thank You Actions · Vote with your Dollars

Pre-order Shade by Photographer Pete Souza

otycd

Pre-order Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents, the next book from photographer Pete Souza.

 

A while back, OTYCD recommended that you follow Pete Souza’s Instagram account. Souza had been the photographer for the Obama White House, and since his second term  came to a close, Souza has used his impressive bank of photos to comment on Trump–sometimes wryly, sometimes sharply, and sometimes sharply enough to drop jaws in unison.

 

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, Souza’s deftly chosen historical retorts were worth 10,000 articles, blog posts, and tweets.

 

Was Souza up to something? Yes, he was up to something.

 

In late May, word broke that Souza’s next book would come out in October and bear the name Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents.

 

Yes, it is exactly what you think it is.

 

Yes, we haven’t read it yet and we’re asking you to lay down money, pledging to buy it before it comes out.

 

Why, you ask? Simple. By pre-ordering a book, you show the publisher that there is clear demand for it.

 

If folks are clamoring for a book by a certain person, or on a certain subject, the publisher might contract more books by the same people, and more books on the same topic.

 

We liked Souza’s other recent book on Obama. We’re pretty sure we’re gonna like Shade, having followed Souza’s Instagram account for a while now. Please step up and put your money where your mouth is.

 

Ditto for requesting it from your library. Yes, it’s not available yet, but libraries figure out how many copies to order in part by tallying the requests they get for a title. By asking for it now, ahead of the October 16, 2018 release date, you boost sales of the book and make it more available in your community’s library system.

 

 

Pre-order Shade via Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40201496-shade?from_search=true

 

 

Read articles heralding the coming release of Shade:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2018/05/23/obama-photographer-pete-souza-to-throw-shade-at-trump-in-new-book/?utm_term=.ef1795ecc67d

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/politics/pete-souza-shade-obama-trump/index.html

https://mashable.com/2018/05/23/pete-souza-book-donald-trump-shade/#KGJS5XiRqsqx

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

Thank These Lawyers for Suing Trump
Postcard Campaigns · Russian Scandal, Emoluments Clause · Thank You Actions

Thank These Lawyers for Suing Trump

otycd

This OTYCD entry originally posted in January 2017.

Numerous ethics experts and lawyers warned that Donald Trump’s business entanglements would place him in violation of the Constitution the instant that he took office as president.

On Monday, January 23, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) brought suit against the newly sworn-in president. Please send thank-you postcards to the team that is pursuing the case.

The New York Times story on the suit is below, and the addresses are below the link. Note this intriguing paragraph, which appears deep in the article:

“Mr. Eisen said the legal team intended to use the lawsuit to try to get a copy of Mr. Trump’s federal tax returns, which are needed to properly assess what income or other payments or loans Mr. Trump has received from foreign governments.”

So, this lawsuit might achieve another worthy goal, too–forcing Trump to release his tax returns, which his senior advisor Kellyanne Conway recently said he would not do, despite the fact that almost 600,000 people have signed a whitehouse.gov petition asking him to do so. (If you want to sign the petition, which closes on Feb 19, go here: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/immediately-release-donald-trumps-full-tax-returns-all-information-needed-verify-emoluments-clause-compliance)

 

Please send thank-you postcards to:

 

Erwin Chemerinsky

Norman Eisen

Deepak Gupta

Richard W. Painter

Zephyr Teachout

Laurence H. Tribe

c/o Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)

455 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Sixth Floor

Washington, DC 20001

 

 

 

 

Follow Other Democratic Members of Congress on Social Media
Community Activism · Read, Educate Yourself, Prepare · Thank You Actions · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends · Vote with your Dollars

Follow Other Democratic Members of Congress on Social Media

otycd

This OTYCD entry originally posted in January 2017.

Are you a fan of California Senator Kamala Harris? How about New Jersey Senator Cory Booker? Or Minnesota House rep Keith Ellison?

Trolls target the social media postings of these and other popular Democratic members of Congress online, making nasty comments on their Facebook pages and their tweets.

You already know that you should not call members of Congress who do not represent you. They do not listen to citizens who live outside their legislative area. But you can support Democratic members of Congress you like, but who don’t represent you, by following them on social media. 

Liking and sharing their posts helps get their message out. While you should still pay the most attention to your own reps’ social media accounts, following other Democrats online lets you know what those like-minded folks are saying and doing.

Learning what they are doing readies you to call your own reps and ask them to support what those out-of-state Democrats are doing. You can indirectly help Democrats you like by asking your own Congressional delegation to join forces with them on specific bills and actions that matter to you.