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STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! by Kathy Sherretts Fake News in the Age of Mark Twain When I am drawn into political discussions these days, I am sometimes presented with facts that seem to have been recently extracted from the lower alimentary canal. “Over half the players in the NFL are convicted felons.” “Most Puerto Ricans live without electricity anyway.” “Crime in the UK is up because of Radical Islamic terror." Wait, what? In Chapter 62 of Roughing It, Mark Twain describes a fellow passenger on a ship to Hawaii who loved pushing political arguments with the aid of dubious sources and invented facts: “The Admiral seldom read newspapers; and when he did he never believed anything they said. He read nothing, and believed in nothing, but "The Old Guard," a secession periodical published in New York…” Read it here, (paragraph starts on page 169) Or listen here (start at 9:14, runs 11 min) I can’t recommend passenger Williams’ approach—fortunately, we have better resources available. Snopes, Media Bias Fact Check and Politifact may not win your argument, but can at least reassure you that you're not going crazy. Kathy Sherretts Podcast: NPR, Fresh Air: Understanding Mike Pence And His Relationship To Trump: 'His Public Role Is Fawning' (48 min) Terry Gross interviews Jane Mayer, whose article "The Danger of President Pence,” runs in the current issue of The New Yorker. She discusses how Mike Pence became an evangelical Christian, a favored candidate of billionaire backers, Trump's running mate, and an influence in White House policy making. Article: The Atlantic: Will DACA Parents Be Forced to Leave Their U.S.-Citizen Children Behind? by Priscilla Alvarez DACA was always supposed to be temporary, but ultimate outcome was meant to be legal status for its recipients, not deportation. A majority of DACA beneficiaries are in their 20s—and some of them have children of their own. Article: New York Times: EPA scrubs climate website of ‘climate change’ by Lisa Friedman The “Energy Resources” website (formerly “Climate and Energy Resources”) is the first site which the E.P.A. has restored since removing its climate science information on April 28. Among the now-missing pages are those detailing the risks of climate change, different approaches states are taking to curb emissions, and examples of states' plans to adapt to weather extremes. 
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My Fellow Resisters, Starting this week, we will change our format and begin each Action Plan post with (STOP, LOOK, LISTEN), which provides suggestions for inspiring reading/watching/listening compiled by our own Kathy Sherretts. This will be followed by some recommended actions given by groups such as PAGE (Progressive Action Global Exchange), Indivisible, and Action Checklist for Americans of Conscience We welcome your comments! In solidarity, Sage STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! by Kathy Sherretts I got my Maine absentee ballot in the mail this week. If it hadn't come directly to my house I might not have been motivated to read up and vote in a local election—but as we now know, that's where politics starts. Does your home state have a special election or ballot referendum? Are you registered to vote in it? What about friends and family back home? I debated whether to concentrate on environmental issues or travel scandals this week. As it turns out, I didn't have to choose. Kathy Sherretts Articles: New York Times: EPA Chief's Calendar: Industry Meetings and Trips Home by Eric Lipton and Lisa Friedman Since February E.P.A. chief Scott Pruitt has held meetings almost daily with top corporate executives and lobbyists from major economic sectors that he regulates — and almost no meetings with environmental groups or consumer or public health advocates. Los Angeles Times: Trump's Interior Chief 'hopping from campaign event to campaign event by Ben LeFebvre and Esther Whieldon Ryan Zinke is under investigation over his use of taxpayer-funded private planes for trips that included GOP fundraisers. Podcast: NPR, Fresh Air: NRA-Backed Gun Laws Have Found Success In State Legislatures Across The U.S (45 min) What are the chances that meaningful gun laws will be enacted? Journalist Mike Spiers says it's all up to the NRA. Graphic: Washington Post: FEMA buried updates on Puerto Rico. Here they are. by Philip Bump The Federal Emergency Management Agency removed information from its website documenting how much of Puerto Rico still lacked power or access to drinking water, providing only positive information on numbers of federal workers and the extent of road clearance. WP provides a tool to track the status of repairs, updated hourly. Bonus Quiz: Slate Magazine, The Vault: Guess whether these headlines came from Breitbart or a 1920s KKK Newspaper  Priority Actions
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My Fellow Resisters, Here are new updates and recommended actions from PAGE (Progressive Action Global Exchange) followed by inspiring reading/watching/listening suggestions from our own Kathy Sherretts (STOP, LOOK, LISTEN). Read on and leave comments! In solidarity, Sage PAGE Update We hope you are ready to kick off October with fighting spirit because we have much work to do. This past week, Trump’s administration released a tax plan, which provides massive tax cuts for the wealthiest. This money will be diverted from the United States’ already lackluster safety net with hardly any benefits for the working class. Some low income brackets will actually see their taxes go up. This week, we also saw Trump come out with yet another version of the Muslim Ban, and cap refugee admissions at the lowest number in decades. This week we will also be taking tax action, and continue to support Puerto Rico. And remember, resisting can be fun too! Here’s a Beyonce remix of J Balvin’s “Mi Gente” song. All proceeds from the album go to Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Caribbean to help them recover from these heartbreaking disasters. Priority Actions
 STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! by Kathy Sherretts In general, since I think it is really important to communicate with our lawmakers about specific issues rather than political personalities, I tried to stay away from Trump himself as a topic. But especially lately, everything comes back to this one guy. Why is that? I think Seth Abramson articulates itvery well. Kathy Sherretts Twitter thread: Seth Abramson on Twitter, Sept. 25, 1-50: This is a thread about Donald Trump. "Have you noticed a change in your mood since January? I mean a change you can't seem to escape? Anxiety, anger, fear, confusion, doubt?... Every institution we like or trust, he's undermined. The media. Government. Unions. Hell—even the NFL...We don't have hope future elections will be fair. We don't have hope our government is working in our interests. We don't have hope we can trust and love our neighbors and they'll trust and love us back. And we don't have hope things will start to make sense again." You can read it as a single document in Seth Abramson's Facebook Or view the original Twitter thread Article: Scotus Blog: Murphy Oil’s law: Solicitor General’s office reverses course in arbitration cases, supports employers by Amy Howe US vs. US: The Solicitor General´s office urges the Supreme Court to affirm a decision that, on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, it had previously asked them to review and overturn. Article: Slate Magazine: The Supreme Court is poised to deal a devastating blow to minimum wage workers by Daniel Hemel To pre-empt the possibility of collective action, more firms are inserting individual arbitration clauses into employee contracts. These clauses require employees to pursue claims before private arbitrators rather than in federal or state court, individually rather than through collective actions. Employers have pushed back against the NLRB’s 2012 ruling against the practice. Article: Politico Magazine: Dan Rather´s Second Coming by Michael KruseThey’ve known each other for decades, and have been publicly at odds before, dating back to 2000… The squabble was one-sided. Trump didn’t like Rather, and Rather didn’t care, because Trump didn’t matter. Now he matters. And a bonus link: This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow |
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