Tag: Save This Tool

Self-advocacy 101: Find Your Congressional Representatives
Save These Tools · Uncategorized

Self-advocacy 101: Find Your Congressional Representatives

otycd

FWIW: This is the first-ever post to OTYCD, uploaded on January 7, 2017. Happy Birthday to Us!

 

Before you can start pushing back against Trump, you need to know who represents you in Congress.

 

Find out who your Congressional representatives are by plugging your zip code and your state into this web site:

http://whoismyrepresentative.com/

 

This web site is better for learning who stands for you in the House of Representatives (plug in your zip code and it will narrow the choices to two. The name that seems more familiar to you is probably your House rep):

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

 

Once you have pinned down your two Senators and your House Rep, pull up their web pages. Scroll to the bottom. If their offices aren’t listed there, go to the Contact page and find them.

 

Pick the state office that is closest to you (*NOT the Washington D.C. one).

Find the phone number for that office.

Put it in your phone.

Repeat for your other two representatives.

Done!

 

* You can put the Washington, D.C. numbers in your phone, but call them last. You are far more likely to reach a real person if you call the district offices.

 

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!

Check Out Resistance Near Me
Marches and Protests · Save These Tools

Check Out Resistance Near Me

otycd

Check out Resistance Near Me, a web tool that shows you Resistance-related events near you.

The website works in partnership with the Town Hall Project to find protests, town halls, public meetings, Congressional district office hours, and other events near you where your MoCs will appear. On plugging in your zip code, it will pop up a map with several options.

Resistance Near Me will tell you how many events are within a 75-mile radius of you, and will give you full details on the site of the event and the nature of the event, with options to add it to a calendar, RSVP, and get directions.

 

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

 

Visit the Resistance Near Me webpage:

https://resistancenearme.org/#home

 

 

Set Aside an Afternoon and Plunge Into the Resistance Manual
Community Activism

Set Aside an Afternoon and Plunge Into the Resistance Manual

otycd

Set aside an afternoon or so and dig into the Resistance Manual, a Wiki-like project of Stay Woke.

 

We at OTYCD came across the Resistance Manual while hunting for other stuff and boy, this needs a signal boost.

 

The Resistance Manual will eat an afternoon of your time at least, but it’s worth it. It has tons of information that you want and that you didn’t know you wanted.

 

Start with the bar on the left of the home page and see what catches your attention. It can point you to a page of information about what’s going on in your home state, from elections to voting rights to disability rights to climate change to worker’s rights to civil liberties and a heck of a lot more.

 

It will point you to useful info such as the minimum wage in your state, what percentage of state residents are disabled, how much electricity used by your state comes from renewable sources, how many abortion providers your state has, how much your state spends per public school student, and how many homeless people your state has.

 

That’s just one page.

 

The Resistance Manual also devotes whole sections to the Muslim travel ban, Trumpcare/Obamacare, Immigration, Crisis Resources, and upcoming events.

 

 

See the Resistance Manual website:

https://www.resistancemanual.org/Resistance_Manual_Home

 

 

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 StayWoke, which built and maintains the Resistance Manual:

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/staywoke-1

 

 

See the StayWoke homepage:

https://www.staywoke.org/about/

Support the National Alliance on Mental Illness
Community Activism · Health Care

Support the National Alliance on Mental Illness

otycd

Support the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), which advocates for greater understanding of mental illnesses and helps afflicted Americans improve their lives.

 

Founded in 1979 and based in Arlington, Virginia, the grassroots organization fights the stigma attached to mental illnesses and advocates for better treatment options. It also connects sufferers, their families and their support networks with resources to demystify and treat mental illness.

 

Its topics of concern include anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, and more, as well as related conditions, such as sleep disorders, psychosis, dual diagnoses, and suicide.

 

 

See the NAMI website:

https://www.nami.org

 

 

See its Find Support page:

https://www.nami.org/Find-Support

 

 

See its Learn More page:

https://www.nami.org/Learn-More

 

 

Call the NAMI Helpline, which is staffed between 10 am to 6 pm EST, Monday through Friday:

800.950.NAMI

 

You can also text “NAMI” to 74141.

 

 

Donate to NAMI:

https://ifundraise.nami.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donate.event&eventID=503&referrer=WEBDG&utm_source=HomepageButton&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=DonationTracking

 

 

Like its Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/NAMI

 

 

 

Check out All the President’s Profiting, a Project of OpenSecrets.org at the Center for Responsive Politics
Russian Scandal, Emoluments Clause · Save These Tools · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms

Check out All the President’s Profiting, a Project of OpenSecrets.org at the Center for Responsive Politics

otycd

Visit and bookmark All the President’s Profiting, a truly astonishing project by OpenSecrets.org at the Center for Responsive Politics.

 

The Founding Fathers were pretty damn clear–they didn’t like the idea of the president using the office for personal gain. Most Americans agree. The notion that Trump might be profiting from serving as president rankles anyone who isn’t a fully marinated member of Cult 45.

 

OpenSecrets.org, a website operated by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (CPR), has tracked payment records to assemble a startling picture of how Trump might be reaping personal gains from his rarified position.

 

Titled All the President’s Profiting, it contains 657 entries that detail payments to Trump properties; payments from Trump-related committees; payments from the Republican Party, its candidates, officials, and leadership PACs; and also payments from Democrats.

 

 

See All the President’s Profiting:

https://www.opensecrets.org/trump/trump-properties?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tw-trump-properties-121417

 

 

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 OpenSecrets.org “About” page:

https://www.opensecrets.org/about/

 

 

Donate to the work of OpenSecrets.org and the CPR:

https://www.opensecrets.org/pres16#nav

 

 

Like OpenSecrets.org on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/OpenSecrets/

 

 

Follow it on Twitter:

@OpenSecretsDC

 

 

Learn How Every Member of the House of Representatives Voted on the GOP Tax Bill
Elections · Save These Tools

Learn How Every Member of the House of Representatives Voted on the GOP Tax Bill

otycd

Bookmark this New York Times article, which shows how all 435 members of the House of Representatives voted in November 2017 on the GOP tax bill.

 

We at OTYCD included a link to this article in one of the daily updates we did on the GOP tax bill in the leadup to the vote. We wanted to break it out in a separate post, with a dedicated headline, so you can find it and reference it more easily.

 

The story spotlights the votes of 28 Republican house members who represent districts in states with relatively high state and local taxes (these taxes are sometimes identified with the acronym SALT). Since the article appeared on November 16, 2017, Ed Royce, a California Republican who voted yes on the bill, has decided not to run again. Another California Republican, Darrell Issa, has also declared plans to retire from his seat, but he voted against the bill.

 

If you’re wondering how the Senate voted and why it didn’t get its own article–that body voted in favor on party lines, 51-48. If your senators are Republicans, they voted yes. If yours are Democratic or Independents, they voted no.

 

Only one Republican House Rep changed his position between the November vote and the final approval in December 2017–Republican Tom McClintock, representative of California’s 4th District, went from a No in November to a Yes in December. GOP leadership evidently pressured New Jersey Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen to flip to a yes, but he resisted.

 

See the New York Times piece detailing how every House member voted on the GOP tax bill:

 

Read also about how California House Rep Tom McClintock was the only Republican to change his vote on the GOP tax bill, switching from no to yes. It also mentions the pressure that New Jersey Republican House Rep Rodney Frelinghuysen faced, but resisted:

https://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/house-passes-tax-overhaul-members-change-november-vote

 

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 and Save This Running Tally of Donald Trump’s Conflicts of Interest as President
Russian Scandal, Emoluments Clause · Save These Tools · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms

See and Save This Running Tally of Donald Trump’s Conflicts of Interest as President

otycd

This OTYCD post originally appeared in January 2018.

 

See and save this running tally of Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest as president.

 

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) was sounding the alarm bell about Trump’s potential violations of the Constitution’s Emoluments clause before he took office.

 

They were the ones who brought suit against Trump for violating the clause. (The case was dismissed in October 2017, with the judge essentially saying that CREW did not have standing to sue, and only Congress could decide what an Emoluments violation looks like.)

 

Because Trump refused to divest from his business empire as president, CREW has continued to document potential violations.

 

Trump Inc: A Chronicle of Presidential Conflicts lays out a timeline of problematic actions that date back to January 25, 2017.

 

 

See it here, and please bookmark it for future reference.

https://www.citizensforethics.org/trump-timeline/?timeline-category=1023

 

 

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!

 

 

Here also is the main website for CREW:

https://www.citizensforethics.org

 

 

Donate to CREW’s work:

https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/match?amount=100

 

 

Like CREW on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/citizensforethics

 

 

Follow it on Twitter:

@CREWcrew

 

 

Read about the CREW vs Trump lawsuit:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-alleging-trump-violated-constitution/2017/12/21/31011510-e697-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html?utm_term=.e600d8bc319e

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/10/01/the-emoluments-clauses-litigation-part-5-problems-with-the-complaints-in-crew-v-trump/?utm_term=.f54660353677  (This is an opinion piece)

http://joshblackman.com/blog/2017/10/20/analysis-of-oral-arguments-in-crew-v-trump/ (This is a lawyer analyzing the oral arguments in the case)

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/are-the-emoluments-lawsuits-filed-against-president-trump-dead

 

Check the 2018 Election Countdown
Elections

Check the 2018 Election Countdown

otycd

This OTYCD entry originally posted in January 2018.

Excited about the 2018 midterm elections? This is a landing page for websites that display countdowns to November 6, 2018.

2018 is going to be a busy year. We have to work to elect good Democrats and Republicans (don’t scoff–they do exist), and work to defeat terrible Republicans (they still deserve the modifying adjective, at least for now).

This is a landing page for websites and apps that display a countdown to the 2018 midterms, which will take place on November 6, 2018.

Timeanddate.com has a nice one:

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/election?p0=263&iso=20181106T12&msg=2018%20Midterm%20Elections

… and it has a function that lets you design your own countdown clock:

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/create

 

And hey, if you haven’t chosen your Core Four for 2018, please do:

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

 

Check Out Gallup’s Presidential Job Approval Center
Save These Tools

Check Out Gallup’s Presidential Job Approval Center

otycd

This OTYCD entry originally posted in June 2017.

Check out the Presidential Job Approval Center on Gallup’s web site, which lets you see how popular many 20th and 21st century presidents were on specific weeks of their terms.

The Presidential Job Approval Center is weirdly fascinating and includes everyone from Harry Truman to Donald Trump. But we’re going to direct you to something very specific.

When you visit the site (the URL is posted below), scroll to the bottom. Select “All Presidents,” and select “Richard Nixon.”

Then look to the right, pull up “All Adults,” and select “Republican.”

Now click on the right extreme of the red line.

That will show you how popular Nixon was among Republicans during August 2-5, 1974–the week that he chose resignation over certain impeachment.

Even then, Nixon had the support of 50 percent of Republicans.

Turn that over in your mind for a bit. Even as Nixon was readying to board that helicopter and leave the White House for the last time as president, half of all Republicans still supported the guy. FWIW, Nixon also had the support of 22 percent of Independents and 13 percent of Democrats in his final week as president.

What can we learn from this?

We don’t have to wait for the goddamn Republicans to come around to our levels of distaste for Trump. We can agitate for impeachment while he still remains popular with his party, if it is clear–and it is increasingly so–that the evidence supports impeachment.

This is not to say that we should agitate for impeachment in mid-2017, however. Let Mueller and his team do its work. Let Comey’s testimony sink in. Let the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s lawsuits carry forward.

Stay strong. Stay alert. Keep calling your MoCs, and keep asking your friends to do the same. Keep marching. Keep protesting. Keep writing those postcards. Keep fighting the good fight. It matters.

See the Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center’s interactive tool:

http://www.gallup.com/interactives/185273/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx?g_source=PRESIDENTIAL_JOB_APPROVAL&g_medium=topic&g_campaign=tiles