Tag: Donate

Ready Your Wallets: The FEC Q3 Deadline Is In One Week
Candidates · Elections · Vote with your Dollars

Ready Your Wallets: The FEC Q3 Deadline Is In One Week

otycd

Headsup: The Federal Election Commission’s donation deadline for the third quarter of 2019 is in one week. 

 

If you have money to spare, now is the time to give to sitting Democratic members of Congress, Democrats who have declared their intent to run against Republicans in 2020, and Democratic candidates for president.

 

Fairly or not, quarterly fundraising numbers are considered a sign of a candidate’s strength. Giving money to a candidate or a Congressperson who’s up for re-election in 2020 before a quarterly FEC deadline is a way to cast a vote for that candidate with dollars instead of a ballot.

 

In addition to giving to members of your Congressional delegation who are up in 2020, you can donate to Democrats who are taking heat from Republicans on the regular, to show tangible support for them.

 

It’s equally wise to cast a “vote” for Congressional Democrats who are quietly getting things done but not drawing any media attention.

 

We’re putting this post up one week before the actual deadline, to give you time to sort out your finances and see what you can do. We’ll put up another reminder on the day, and we’ll keep doing quarterly reminders about FEC deadlines in perpetuity.

 

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!

 

Learn About Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership
Common-sense Gun Laws · Community Activism · Uncategorized

Learn About Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership

otycd

This OTYCD post originally went live in February 2018.

 

Learn about Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership (GOFRO), an Oregon-based gun safety group.

 

Paul Kemp, a gun owner who grew up with guns, launched the group after losing a brother-in-law in a December 2012 attack on a Portland, Oregon mall. The 22-year-old shooter used a semi-automatic rifle to kill two people and injure a third.

 

GOFRO supports common-sense gun laws. It asks its members to take the following pledge:

 

“I will practice safe storage.  I will keep my firearms and ammunition locked and separate.

I will support universal background check requirements.  I will not sell or buy a firearm without a background check.

I will support the rights of my fellow citizens to be free from intimidation by the open display of firearms in public.  I will avoid the unnecessary carrying of firearms in public, particularly in places where children are present.

I will always make gun safety a priority in my home, in the field or on the range.”

 

 

 

 

Visit the GOFRO website:

http://www.responsibleownership.org

 

 

Take the GOFRO pledge:

http://www.responsibleownership.org/take_the_pledge

 

 

See its ‘Research/Read More’ page:

http://www.responsibleownership.org/research_read_more

 

 

Donate to Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership:

https://oregongunsafety.nationbuilder.com/donate

 

 

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!

 

 

Volunteer for GOFRO:

http://www.responsibleownership.org/volunteer

 

 

Like its Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/GunOwnersForResponsibleOwnership/

 

 

Read a transcript of a January 2018 PBS Newshour interview with the founder of GOFRO (you can also watch the video, which is above the transcript):

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/gun-owning-group-in-oregon-advocates-for-firearm-safety

 

A Note: OTYCD has devoted several posts to common-sense gun laws and gun safety, and will continue to do so.

 

That does not mean, however, that we want to ban all guns. We don’t, and we never have. We are pro-responsible gun ownership. We support people who fully understand the responsibilities of gun ownership, and who show a healthy respect for guns, and whose actions consistently show that understanding and respect.

 

As of February 2018, it’s obvious to most Americans that its gun culture is horrifically, grievously, and unconscionably borked, and its gun laws need to improve ASAP. Here’s hoping the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas provide the push we need to truly fix things at last.

Support Your Local Library, Always and Forever
Community Activism · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends · Vote with your Dollars

Support Your Local Library, Always and Forever

otycd

This OTYCD post originally appeared in January 2018.

 

Support your local library, always and forever. 

 

Libraries are many things to many people. They’re often the heart of the community, or at least a vital organ that helps it survive and thrive. Its employees respect knowledge and provide the tools to fight back against fake news and attempts to undermine the truth.

 

Librarians are also foot soldiers in the resistance, both the capital-R Resistance going on now and resistance efforts in the past. When Trump declared his Muslim travel ban, librarians pushed back with “Libraries Are for Everyone”–imagery, book displays, and declarations that underline the fact that libraries are, indeed, open to one and all. Several leading library organizations also condemned the ban.

 

You have many options for supporting your local library.

 

The biggest and most effective one is to use it regularly.

 

Don’t have a library card? Get one, and make sure everyone in your family has one.
Go to the library often. Follow it on social media. Attend library events that interest you, and bring friends.

 

Spend liberally at library book sales. Check out books and other media, and bring them back on time.

 

If you don’t use your library you do run the risk of losing it.

 

You can also volunteer, join a “Friends of the Library” group, or donate money. Please stay alert to state and local legislative efforts that might affect library funding and access.

 

As for donating books–first, ask the librarians if they’re accepting book donations and if so, what types of books they’re currently seeking. They may not need what you have; don’t be offended if they turn you down.

 

Also, run the used books’ ISBN numbers through Amazon’s trade-in link to see if they’re actually worth anything (see link below). Don’t donate them unless they are. And don’t be offended if the library ends up selling your donated books.

https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Books/b?node=2205237011

 

 

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!

 

 

Read about how libraries and librarians have been leading the resistance to Trump:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/librarians-protesting-trumps-executive-orders/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/21/us-libraries-join-struggle-to-resist-the-trump-administration

http://mashable.com/2017/02/21/library-donald-trump-resistance/#h2S2kJpDDmqV

Librarians must resist trumpism

 

 

Read this GOOD article on how librarians have historically been in the forefront of resisting Nazis and other enemies of the truth:

https://www.good.is/articles/rogue-librarians-save-history-and-the-truth

 

 

Follow the Libraries Resist account on Twitter:

@LibrariesResist

 

 

Read about ways to help libraries:

http://www.ilovelibraries.org/get-involved

https://mastersreview.com/8-ways-to-support-your-local-library/

https://www.bustle.com/p/7-ways-you-can-support-your-local-library-47363

Start a 2020 Fund
Vote with your Dollars

Start a 2020 Fund

otycd

This OTYCD entry originally posted in January 2017, as ‘Start a 2018 Fund’.

 

Start saving two dollars a week to fund political actions that will shape the 2020 election.

 

It doesn’t have to be two dollars. You can save more if you want. If you’re struggling, find a sum you can comfortably set aside, even if it’s just a quarter.

 

If you start saving two dollars per week now, you should have about one hundred set aside when the 2020 primaries crest the horizon.

 

The point is to develop the habit of squirreling away something every week to support your political efforts. You can define ‘political efforts’ as broadly as you wish. You can draw on your stash to donate to Congressional candidates. You can give to Planned Parenthood, Emily’s List, the Sierra Club, the Southern Poverty Law Center, or dozens of other worthy organizations that matter to you. Or you can use it as seed money for your own run for local office.

 

Budget for politics just as you’d budget for Christmas, or tithes, or a down payment on a house. Think long-term. Put away something every week, no matter how small.

 

 

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!

Help Life After Hate Help People Who Leave the Violent Far-Right
Community Activism · Fighting Bigotry, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia... · Uncategorized

Help Life After Hate Help People Who Leave the Violent Far-Right

otycd

This OTYCD post originally appeared in October 2017.

 

Help Life After Hate help people who leave violent far-right extremist groups.

 

Founded in 2011, the Chicago nonprofit directly helps people who want to deradicalize and leave their old ways behind through its EXITUSA program.

 

It also runs the Against Violent Extremism (AVE) network, a squad of former violent extremists and survivors who combat the groups’ propaganda and help steer vulnerable youths away from them.

 

Note: Since we wrote the original text of this post, Samantha Bee devoted an August 2017 episode of her show to Life After Hate. It also launched a crowdfunding campaign to replace the $400,000 grant that Obama promised, but which Trump took away. Links to stories about the rescinded grant, the crowdfunding campaign, and the Samantha Bee episode have been included below.

 

 

Visit the Life After Hate website:

https://www.lifeafterhate.org

 

 

Read a Guardian story about one of its leaders, Tony McAleer, who once belonged to the White Aryan Resistance:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/04/life-after-hate-groups-neo-fascism-racism

 

 

Like its Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/lifeafterhate

 

 

Follow Life After Hate on Twitter:

@lifeafterhate

 

 

Donate to Life After Hate:

https://www.lifeafterhate.org/donate

 

 

See the page for the crowdfunding campaign started after the Trump administration refused to fulfill the $400,000 grant promised under Obama. As of October 14, 2017, it had raised more than $460,000 and was still accepting donations:

https://publicgood.com/org/life-after-hate-inc/campaign/help-life-after-hate-fight-on

 

 

Read stories about the episode that Samantha Bee did on Life After Hate following the Neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville:

Sam Bee Looks to Aid Reformed Neo-Nazi Group Life After Hate in Wake of Charlottesville

http://time.com/money/4904718/samantha-bee-is-helping-raise-money-for-a-group-that-rehabs-white-supremacists-after-trump-cut-its-funding/

Support Democrat Maxine Waters for Re-Election to A House Seat in California’s 43rd Congressional District (GOOD UPDATE July 2019)
Candidates · Choose Your Core Four · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms

Support Democrat Maxine Waters for Re-Election to A House Seat in California’s 43rd Congressional District (GOOD UPDATE July 2019)

otycd1 Comment

Update July 2019: Okay, you’ve long since figured this out, given her fierce and unrelenting work against Trump, but we at OTYCD feel it’s important to lace the feed with good updates wherever possible.

 

Democrat Maxine Waters won re-election in 2018.

 

She’s more than worthy of inclusion in your 2020 Core Four. Please keep her in mind.

 

Update, June 9, 2018: Waters came first in her district’s top-two primary on June 5, winning more than 71 percent of the vote. We congratulate Waters and encourage you to support her re-election campaign.

 

Support Democrat Maxine Waters, who’s running for re-election to a House of Representatives seat in California’s 43rd Congressional District.

 

Initially, we at OTYCD were not going to devote a post to Maxine Waters and her re-election campaign. We can only write so many posts about 2018 candidates–we could fill the whole queue with ‘support this person’ stories–and for that reason, we tend to favor challengers, not well-established incumbents.

 

What changed our collective minds? Assholes are gunning for Waters, explicitly, openly, and overtly, and they have been for a long while now.

 

A full roster of professionally awful people have teamed up to support an individual Republican aiming to take her down (we won’t dignify him by typing his name). Think of the worst, most repulsive Trumpistas you can, and yep, they’re almost certainly on the anti-Waters bandwagon and actively raising money to defeat her.

 

Nothing annoys a Trumpista more than a powerful black woman, and Waters annoys them all the more because she calls out lousy Republican behavior effectively and successfully, time and time again.

 

But that Republican twerp who we don’t care to name is not the only Republican who will appear in the June 5, 2018 primary. There are four others as well.

 

True, Waters is not facing Democratic opposition, and the Cook Political Report rates California’s 43rd Congressional District as Solid Democrat, but hey, you know the score. Since November 2016, you’ve helped out any number of special elections and state elections that Democratic candidates were not supposed to win.

 

Is she going to be OK? Is she going to win re-election? Yeah, probably. She beat that Republican twerp three to one in 2016. That said, he hadn’t bat-signaled the troll army then. The minute you think Waters will do fine with what she has is the minute when she might need your help.

 

Auntie Maxine needs us. Let’s help her out.

 

 

Visit Maxine Waters’s campaign website:

https://maxinewatersforcongress.com

 

 

Also see her Congressional website:

https://waters.house.gov

 

 

Add Maxine Waters to your Core Four:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/22/choose-your-fabulous-four-for-2018/

 

 

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!

 

 

Donate to Waters’s campaign:

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/maxine-waters-2

 

 

Right around here is the point in the tail-end resources where we’d drop a link to merch if we had one. We’re trying to find an online store that sells ‘Reclaiming My Time’ products with the proceeds funding Waters’s campaign. If you know of one, please go to the About & Subscribe page and email us the info.

 

 

Like Maxine Waters on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MaxineWaters/

 

 

Follow Maxine Waters on Twitter:

@MaxineWaters

 

 

Of course, Maxine Waters is on Luvvie’s list of black women running for elected office in 2018. See our post on this invaluable reference:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2018/01/13/look-over-luvvies-list-of-black-women-who-are-running-for-office-and-support-them/

 

 

Read a November 27, 2017 Los Angeles Times piece that covers how pro-Trump folk are deliberately and explicitly targeting Maxine Waters for defeat in 2018:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-waters-gop-challenger-20171027-story.html

 

 

Read about how Waters’s late July 2017 remark during a Congressional meeting about “reclaiming my time” went viral on the scale of “nevertheless she persisted”:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/08/01/reclaiming-my-time-is-bigger-than-maxine-waters/?utm_term=.b1c676d118e5

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/7/31/16070822/reclaiming-my-time-maxine-waters-mnuchin-meme

 

 

Learn how Maxine Waters became Auntie Maxine, hero of the Resistance:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/darrensands/how-auntie-maxine-became-a-meme-and-the-hero-of-the-anti?utm_term=.ngqeW26L3A#.bj0q7o30aB

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!

 

 

Re-elect Washington, D.C. Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, Because She is Awesome (Good Update July 2019)
Candidates · Choose Your Core Four

Re-elect Washington, D.C. Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, Because She is Awesome (Good Update July 2019)

otycd

Update July 2019: Democrat Norton, the longtime incumbent, won re-election in 2018.

 

She next faces re-election in two years. Please keep her in mind when choosing your Core Four for 2020.

 

Re-elect Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, Congresswoman for the District of Columbia, because she is awesome.

 

Norton is in her fourteenth Congressional term. Because she represents the District of Columbia, she is a non-voting member of the House, which means she cannot join votes on the floor of the House. This does not stop her from being awesome and fierce. She serves on several House committees and can speak on the House floor.

 

She continues to pursue legislation that would give Washington, D.C. a vote in the House of Representatives. She belongs to the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus.

 

 

If you’re thinking, “I know she’s awesome, but I can’t remember how I know that,” let us refresh your memory. You saw her on The Colbert Report back in the day:

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/6quypd/the-colbert-report-better-know-a-district—district-of-columbia—eleanor-holmes-norton

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/zf1m9m/the-colbert-report-d-c–voting-rights—eleanor-holmes-norton

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/ez9npn/the-colbert-report-eleanor-holmes-norton

 

Yeah. Give her support and campaign donations, please.

 

 

See Norton’s Congressional webpage:

https://norton.house.gov

 

 

See Norton’s 2018 campaign website:

http://www.nortonforcongress.org/home.html

 

 

Donate to Norton’s campaign:

http://www.nortonforcongress.org/donation.html

 

 

Choose her for your Core Four:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/

 

 

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!

 

 

Like her on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CongresswomanNorton/?ref=s

 

 

Follow her on Twitter:

@EleanorNorton

 

 

Norton appears on Luvvie’s list of black woman candidates running for office in 2018. See Luvvie’s full list and our post about the list:

http://database.blackwomeninpolitics.com/candidate/custom?q=federal

https://onethingyoucando.com/2018/01/13/look-over-luvvies-list-of-black-women-who-are-running-for-office-and-support-them/

Help Children in Illinois Prisons by Donating to Liberation Library
Community Activism

Help Children in Illinois Prisons by Donating to Liberation Library

otycd

This OTYCD post originally appeared in May 2018.

 

Help children serving sentences in Illinois prisons through Liberation Library, which gives them books.

 

Liberation Library is a volunteer-led group based in Chicago that serves children in prison and juvenile detention centers in Illinois. Its members ask the kids what they’d like to read, and gets those titles.

 

They believe access to books is a right, not a privilege. Twice a month, it hosts “packing days,” in which volunteers prep and mail books to young readers.

 

It also sends birthday cards to incarcerated children year-round, and holiday cards around Christmas.

 

 

See the Liberation Library webpage:

http://www.liberationlib.com

 

 

See its About page:

http://www.liberationlib.com/about.html

 

 

See its FAQ page, which includes advice on how to find a Liberation Library-type organization in your community, or set one up:

http://www.liberationlib.com/faqs.html

 

 

Sign up for its newsletter:

http://liberationlib.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=b3d1719ad4771efe8f1a9b022&id=a7c868d487&orig-lang=1

 

 

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!

 

 

Donate money or gently used books to Liberation Library (please check if the books are on LL’s Amazon Wishlist first):

http://www.liberationlib.com/donate.html

 

 

Donate birthday cards for use by Liberation Library, or purchase blank birthday cards from its Amazon Wishlist:

http://www.liberationlib.com/birthday-cards.html

 

 

If you live in or near Chicago, volunteer for Liberation Library:

http://www.liberationlib.com/volunteer.html

 

 

Like its Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/LiberationLibrary

 

 

Follow it on Twitter:

@liberationlib

Headsup: The FEC Deadline for Q2 is TODAY. Please Donate to Democrats Before Midnight
Candidates · Elections · Vote with your Dollars

Headsup: The FEC Deadline for Q2 is TODAY. Please Donate to Democrats Before Midnight

otycd

Headsup: The Federal Election Commission’s donation deadline for the second quarter of 2019 is TODAY. If you can give to Democratic candidates, please do so before midnight.

 

If you have money to spare, now is the time to give to sitting Democratic members of Congress, Democrats who have declared their intent to run against Republicans in 2020, and Democratic candidates for president.

 

Fairly or not, quarterly fundraising numbers are considered a sign of a candidate’s strength. Giving money to a candidate or a Congressperson who’s up for re-election in 2020 before a quarterly FEC deadline is a way to cast a vote for that candidate with dollars instead of a ballot.

 

In addition to giving to members of your Congressional delegation who are up in 2020, you can donate to Democrats who are taking heat from Republicans on the regular, to show tangible support for them.

 

It’s equally wise to cast a “vote” for Congressional Democrats who are quietly getting things done but not drawing any media attention.

 

Because of their importance to candidates and candidates-to-be, we’ll keep doing quarterly reminders about FEC deadlines in perpetuity.

 

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!