 Volunteers from Dominican Republic Red Cross carry out evacuations after floods from Tropical Storm Laura, August 2020. Photo: Dominican Republic Red Cross  It’s Getting Real, Folks All my life people have said, “Global warming? It’s decades away. We’ll come up with some clever tech fix by then.” But it’s happening now, and there’s no silver bullet. Vast swaths of California, the Amazon, and Siberia are in flames. Flooding along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, including many areas contaminated with hazardous chemicals, has been extraordinary. The decade from 2010 to 2019 was the hottest on record. The White House keeps calling climate change a hoax. When it comes to the environment, one New Yorker writer noted, “a shrink-wrapped pallet of frozen Ore-Ida French fries would be a vast improvement on the incumbent.” At least the French fries wouldn’t do any harm! Today, the majority of Americans believe climate change is real and something should be done. This election goes beyond a “battle for the soul of our nation.” It’s about physical survival. In two months we’ll have the chance to get the climate deniers out of the White House, and it’s up to each of us to do our bit to make that happen. —Karen McCann   See This Modern World, by Tom Tomorrow at the Daily Kos. Conventional Thinking The Republican National Convention wrapped up a few days ago. It did not seem to be aimed at undecided voters, instead preaching to a rather crabbed and angry choir. In addition, the spectacle of a political convention using both the setting and personnel of the White House was disturbing to a number of observers. Meanwhile, in a universe far, far away, the Convention on Founding Principles reached out to a national audience of Republicans and conservatives dissatisfied with the mainline party's nominee. (Hear the speakers, see the website here.) —Kathy Sherretts • Thanks to the Resisters who helped with the voter registration effort in Rota this week, organized by Madeleine Savit and Democrats Abroad Spain! This Sounds Familiar: The Gist/Slate: Mistrust Your Memory (Podcast, 28 min) Among other behavior/belief/memory topics, a discussion of how hearing a bit of false information repeated often enough causes our brains to register it as true—just in time for political ad season! The Mists of Time: The Atlantic: Remember the Pandemic? by Russell Berman Republicans are referring to COVID-19 in the past tense. Never has verb tense revealed so much about a political party—or seemed so plainly out of touch with reality. Straight to the Source: People: Chris Evans Launches 'A Starting Point' Website to Help Americans Get Real Facts to Inform Their Vote by Kara Warner A Starting Point gives politicians from both parties the opportunity to explain, simply and directly, issues that are important to their voters. (7 min video here) Blame Game: The Guardian: Population panic lets rich people off the hook for the climate crisis they are fuelling by George Monbiot The formula for calculating people’s environmental footprint is simple: Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology. Population growth is mostly concentrated among the world’s poorest people, who have scarcely any A or T to multiply their P.  Help make the election free, fair, accessible, and secure Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues! 
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 In Vacaville, CA a man watches his home go up in flames. The headline reads, “Californians are done with 2020, ‘It’s like a Stephen King movie.’” (Photo by Karl Mondon, Bay Area News Group.)  Feeling Solastalgia and PTSR? You’re Not Alone California is on fire. Nearly a million acres are burning right now, and while I’m lucky enough to be miles from direct danger, the air around me is polluted with smoke and ashes. It’s hard not to feel we’re the canary in the coal mine, living proof the planet is going down in flames. “Psychologists and environmental scholars are creating a whole new vocabulary to describe these feelings of despair,” wrote environmental studies professor Sarah Jaquette Ray, “including solastalgia, climate anxiety, eco-grief, pre-traumatic stress, and psychoterratic illness.” A recent Harvard youth poll suggests young Americans, already riddled with anxiety before covid, are (finally!) connecting the dots between their fears and the political process: “Self-defense, in 2020, is one of the primary motivations for voting.” They favor Joe Biden over the president 51% to 28%. Many kids are turning their solastalgia into activism and so can we. Contact your representative to demand better climate leadership, and encourage everyone, especially youngsters, to register and vote —Karen McCann Contact your representative Register to vote   The Kindness of Strangers As coronavirus rates go up in the US, the news is full of stories of communities coming together to support local businesses, organize food distribution, donate to GoFundMe accounts for neighbors' health care expenses... These stories are intended to be heartwarming, but to me they read as horrifying. If my survival depends on convincing other people of my need or worthiness in order to get through a crisis, what will become of my neighbor in similar circumstances? As Annie Lowrey writes in the Atlantic, no amount of private initiative or donor generosity can or will ever do what the resources of government can. Of course it’s important to give to our communities and step up and support each other; but as citizens and taxpayers we also need to demand that the system work for everyone. Otherwise, we’re all Blanche DuBois. —Kathy Sherretts It’s All on the Ballot: Salon: ‘Vote for me, I'm not a sociopath’ by Amanda Marcotte "Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot," Biden told us, in plain language. "Who we are as a nation. What we stand for. And, most importantly, who we want to be. That's all on the ballot." Watch the speech; read the transcript. Post Haste: • Common Dreams: 'Complete Bombshell': Former Top USPS Official Reveals 'Disturbing' New Details of DeJoy Selection and Mnuchin Sabotage of Mail Service by Jake Johnson • Talking Points Memo: A Rundown Of Election Mail Sabotage Claims DeJoy Will Have To Answer For by Tierney Sneed and Matt Shuham • Portland Press Herald: Chicks shipped by mail are arriving dead, costing Maine farmers thousands of dollars by Scott Thistle OK, that's just gross. Intimidation Tactic: Rolling Stone: Nope, President Trump Can’t Send Troops or Law Enforcement to Your Polling Place by David S. Cohen No troops, no armed federal officials, and no state officials of any sort. Of course, there’s always the possibility that he ignores federal criminal law… Eve of Destruction: The Guardian: 'There's nowhere like it': Alaska's wildlife refuge fears death by drilling by Oliver Milman The US interior department will auction oil and gas leases in the US’s last fully intact ecosystem before the end of the year, making it harder for a new administration to reverse the decision.  Help make the election free, fair, accessible, and secure Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues!   Save the Post Office! I’ve marched to defend a lot of causes I never expected to see under attack: science, truth, the Earth. But now the White House has declared war on the United States Post Office, which has been serving us faithfully since 1775, is the most beloved brand in America, and is the number one employer of US veterans. Why the hostility? It’s all part of the voter suppression plan, a particularly low blow to democracy in this pandemic election year. Are we going to take this lying down? Hell no! So what can we do to help?
 Celebrate 100 years of Women's right to vote! Test your knowledge with the Sufferage Quiz. And use your own voice—register and vote! Help someone else vote! It's a Process 100 years ago Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving American women the right to vote. It's a cause for celebration, if a rather arbitrary date. Women had been fighting for (and winning!) political power since the 19th century, and the struggle continues today. —Kathy Sherretts First Steps: Smithsonian Magazine: What the First Women Voters Experienced When Registering for the 1920 Election by Meilan Solly The 19th Amendment was groundbreaking, but it failed to stipulate who was responsible for ensuring that the new voters could—and would—cast ballots. In some states, women won the right to vote some three months after local registration deadlines had passed. Wild About Harris: ProPublica: Kamala Harris Reading Guide by Mollie Simon Before being chosen as Democratic VP candidate, Harris moved from prosecutor to senator to presidential hopeful. If you are just catching up, here are some highlights of her journey. The Northern Menace: Washington Post: The health care scare by Wendell Potter I sold Americans a lie about Canadian medicine. Now we’re paying the price. Unconventional: New York Magazine: Democratic National Convention Schedule: Who’s Speaking and How to Watch by Margaret Hartmann The big virtual event will run Aug 17-20 from 9-11pm ET, with Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Jill Biden, Barack Obama, and VP candidate Kamala Harris.  Help make the election free, fair, accessible, and secure Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues!   Where Do VP Candidates Stand on Climate? Rumors are running wild about Joe Biden’s choice of running mate. He’s supposed to announce this week — although he’s famous for blowing past deadlines, so who knows? These short videos show what top contenders say about climate change.  Stacey Abrams, Founder, Fair Fight and the Southern Economic Advancement Project. “This election is our chance to be heard and demand bold climate action and environmental justice.” Tammy Baldwin, US Senator, Wisconsin. Climate change “requires bold, urgent, and transformative action.” Lujan Grisham, Governor, New Mexico. “Building a clean energy economy and creating good, reliable, secure jobs is the right fight for our future.” Kamala Harris, US Senator, California. “California is the canary in the coal mine on this issue, and California will be the solution for this nation and this globe.” Susan Rice, former National Security Advisor. “Climate change is what we call a national security threat multiplier.” Elizabeth Warren, US Senator, Massachusetts. “We have a government that works great for the fossil fuel industry, but not for the rest of us.” —Karen McCann   People do not care about what they do not know. Sir David Attenborough, in this 2-minute short from the New Yorker, says that even spiders have distinctive personalities, and that our planet has an amazing ability to heal itself. "If you give the natural world just half a chance, it bounces back in an extraordinary way. That is what gives you optimism." DeJoy Delay My mom back in PA loves Hallmark cards—loves to look through the racks at the drug store for the perfect combination of design and sentiment. (With plenty of hand sanitizer, we hope.) She writes a personal note, she chooses a special stamp. She takes it to the mailbox with lots of time to spare. Mom has been calling every couple of days to see if we got our anniversary card yet. The delay didn’t surprise me; our local Sevilla mail carriers enjoy a somewhat relaxed approach to delivery, and as far as I know have never boxed themselves in with the whole “rain nor snow nor gloom of night” thing. Our card did arrive, five days after our anniversary—and postmarked four days after Mom mailed it. Thank you, Louis DeJoy. —Kathy Sherretts Big New Deal: The Intercept: How Not to Lose the Lockdown Generation by Naomi Klein For months, the White House hasn’t been able to figure out how to roll out free Covid-19 tests, let alone contact tracing, never mind quarantine support. Yet in the 1930s, during a much more desperate economic time, state and federal agencies cooperated to deliver not just free tests but free houses. Active Voice: March for Our Lives: Our Power: Next Time (Video, 2 min) This new political ad, narrated by Parkland shooting survivor Emma González, is a call for the young voters who made an extraordinary showing in the 2018 midterms to turn out again in November. Don’t expect “Dump Trump” slogans or anti-Trump attacks: The Washington Post notes that the campaign aims to reach voters motivated by issues, not candidates. Patient Voting: The Guardian: Doctors and medical students across the US push to register patients to vote (AP/Boston) Prior generations may have viewed voter registration and other nonpartisan election work as too political, but today's medical professionals increasingly see civic engagement as a crucial part of “treating the whole patient.” The American Way: MSNBC: American Capitalism Exploits The Poor To Enrich The Wealthy (Video, 4 min) We’re facing the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression...Yet, somehow, the rich have found a way to get richer. About Face: New Yorker: North Dakota Oil Workers Are Learning to Tend Wind Turbines—and That’s a Big Deal by Bill McKibben People who work in hydrocarbons are going to need new jobs now that the demand for hydrocarbons is dropping.  Help make the election free, fair, accessible, and secure: Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues!  Masks That Protect the Planet Back in the olden times, pre-coronavirus, I was working to eliminate single-use plastics from my life. When COVID-19 made self-protection a matter of life and death, I wore disposable masks and anything else I could find to keep the monster at bay. Now I’m seeking more sustainable solutions, starting with cotton masks. Here’s what the experts advise.  Avoid wearing disposable surgical masks. According to Louise Edge, a senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace, “Over time, single-use plastic masks will break down into tiny microplastic particles that are too small to ever be removed from the ocean or rivers.” Cloth face coverings, with two or preferably three layers of cotton, can be washed and reused practically forever. Make your own mask. Repurposing stuff you have at home is always better than buying new. You can fashion one from a bandana, pieces of an old t-shirt, or (if you’re willing to pick up a needle and thread) scraps of cotton cloth. Here are simple, step-by-step instructions. Wash your masks in cold water (unless you’re at higher risk). Tossing your mask in with other laundry, even set as low as 20C, is fine “for everyday normal use where you know the likelihood of someone having COVID is low,” according to virologist Maitreyi Shivkumar of De Montfort University Leicester. If someone in the household has the virus, you think you’ve been exposed, or you’re a healthcare worker, she recommends washing at 60C. —Karen McCann 
Stand Up: NYT: Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation by John Lewis (Written shortly before his death, to be published the day of his funeral.) “The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.” Oh, Never Mind: Vanity Fair: How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air” by Katherine Eban Jared Kushner set out to solve the crisis, not with public health experts, but with bankers and billionaires. They planned for the federal government to distribute tests to heavily affected areas and oversee a national contact-tracing infrastructure. But the effort ran into concern about the stock market and the president's reelection prospects. “The political folks believed that because [the virus] was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy.” Smelting Point: Grist: Apple’s low-carbon aluminum is a climate game changer by Maria Gallucci While manufacturing laptops proves the new material is viable, researchers are still figuring out how to scale up low-carbon production. If they succeed, they could eliminate a significant chunk of aluminum’s carbon footprint. Just for fun: In Your Face!
  Keep Calm and Mobilize the Expat Vote In close races, the number of overseas voters can determine the winner and the future of our country. I was shocked to learn that Democrats Abroad set their 2020 voter turnout goal at a measly 20% of eligible Americans living overseas— which is double the paltry 10% it’s been in the past. This is NOT a typical election, and we can’t afford to let 5,500,000 eligible expat voters sit this one out.  Want to help mobilize those votes? Work with Vote From Abroad.
Here’s an idea: forward this newsletter to any expat friends who may not be planning to vote.  I think your mother is calling you. Also, the veterans. Moms form a human wall to shield protesters from federal officers in Portland, Oregon. (Photo: Nathan Howard/Rex/Shutterstock)  Fascist and Furious At last—I have something in common with my libertarian-leaning sibs. Now we're ALL alarmed at the images of unidentified paramilitary troops hustling demonstators into unmarked vans! Who are these guys? Where will they turn up next? Relax, everyone! They're just "Trump troops", coming to a Democratic city near you to boost the president's law-and-order bona-fides. —Kathy Sherretts Say YOUR Name: On Point: Unidentified Federal Officers Are Scooping Up Protesters In Portland. Are Other Cities Next? (Podcast, 46 min) “This is a democracy—talk to us, don’t shoot us!” Recycled Content: Salon: "Violent anarchists" are the new "migrant caravans" by Amanda Marcotte Take people who are both peaceful and opposed to violence—refugees fleeing violence, protesters objecting to police brutality—and portray them as a threat to life and limb...and most importantly, to property. Up in flames: AdAge: Der Spiegel asks, Should we be worried about the United States? Just for fun:
  Writing these letters gets more voters to the polls—and helps me work off some of my outrage. Learn about Vote Forward. Are you in the US? Sign up with Vote Forward. Fired Up to Fire Trump? Want to Do Something About It—Now? With so many customary campaign activities curtailed by COVID-19, people are finding creative ways to motivate undecideds to go to the polls. I’m part of Vote Forward, a group working with Indivisible and Swing Left to organize a massive letter-writing campaign (2.6 million so far). Does it work? Yes! In multiple randomized trials, voters who received a letter were significantly more likely to vote. It only boosted turnout by a point or two, but in close contests, that’s enough to matter. If you’re in the US this summer, this is a great way to make an impact. How does it work? They provide the names and addresses of people likely to be on the fence and a template for a letter that you complete with a short, handwritten note. You mail them just before the election, when they’ll do the most good. Can’t wait? Right now there’s a hot primary in Florida, with Vote Forward letters going out in the next few weeks. Whenever I’m enraged over the latest madness from the White House, I pick up a pen and write another letter. As you can imagine, I’m writing a lot of letters these days. —Karen McCann  John Lewis at the annual Bloody Sunday March across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 1, 2020. Lewis made expanding access to the ballot his life’s mission. A bill to restore the Voting Rights Act he championed has been sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk for 225 days. (JOSHUA LOTT/AFP, Getty Images)  Escape from Covidland I finally got back to Spain this week, after 5 months in the US. I will miss aspects of my shutdown life in Pittsburgh—vegetarian dinners with the cuñado, Monster Movie Night, porch-to-porch chats with the neighbors—but it’s good to be home! I hope the folks back there can stay well; let's vote our way out of this leadership catastrophe when November comes. —Kathy Sherretts  Emergency! 99% Invisible: Freedom House Ambulance Service (Podcast + transcript) The world’s first paramedic crews, young Black men from the Hill District of Pittsburgh, were comprehensively-trained first responders at a time when “swoop and scoop” ambulances were manned by police, firefighters, or funeral home workers. Armed and Dangerous: OPB: Research Tentatively Links COVID-19 Gun Sales Spike To Increased Violence by Jason deBruyn Researchers estimate that Americans bought 2.1 million more firearms than normal during the months in which the coronavirus pandemic began to hit hardest in the United States. Firearms violence increased by 8% in that period, including shootings, homicides and suicides. Lost in the Mail: ProPublica: The Postal Service Is Steadily Getting Worse — Can It Handle a National Mail-In Election? by Ryan McCarthy and Maryam Jameel. After years of budget cuts and plant closures, mail delivery has slowed so much that ballot deadlines in many states are no longer realistic. Just for fun: On the Road with Jimmy the Crow
 What I Wish I'd Told That Heckler Karen McCann Several evenings a week, four of us spend an hour standing at a busy California intersection holding up signs that say “Black Lives Matter” and “Honk for Justice.” Most people honk cheerfully, many wave, a few cheer, and some shout encouraging words. Of course, we get our hecklers too, including one who yelled crossly, “Don’t all lives matter?” If he hadn’t driven away so fast, this is what I’d have liked to tell him.  I first saw this meme on the Facebook page of a conservative friend. A hopeful sign!   Exercize your rights In the face of outrages of every kind from the Trump administration, more segments of society than ever before are pushing their members to register and vote. We have seen efforts from environmentalists, LGBTQ groups, health care professionals, communities of color, educators, expats—and now, the buff wellness gurus have their say. —Kathy Sherretts Take a Vote: The New Yorker: Can Our Ballots Be Both Secret and Secure? by Sue Halpern There are more than nine thousand election jurisdictions in the country, each with its own requirements—variable, sometimes onerous, and subject to politics. (Long read) Electoral Oversight: The Root: Mississippi Election Commissioner Complains That 'Blacks' Are Registering to Vote by Ishena Robinson Why the concern at Black people registering to vote? And the implication that there is a distinction between “blacks” and “people in Mississippi”? To Tell the Truth: RawStory: Evangelical minister in Mike Pence’s Indiana prayer group says he’s voting for Biden by Brad Reed ‘Brother Mike, Jesus commands you to love your neighbor, not love your boss,' Pipe Dream: Slate: The Pipeline Setbacks Reveal the Perils of Rushed Agency Approvals by Jayni Hein The legal battles against these efforts are paying off, mainly due to government agencies cutting corners. The laws already on the books are working—and working particularly well in the face of bureaucratic incompetence. Just for fun: Testing, testing...  Voting in a Pandemic Year Help make the 2020 election free, fair, accessible, and secure, from the Brennan Center for Justice Learn More About Candidates and Issues!   Have You Been Purged? Are You Sure? “I checked on my own voter registration,” a reader wrote in response to Registration Nation in last week’s newsletter. “And yes, I'm registered. But I can't remember if I last voted when I was in California, or was it over here. So I'll have to call the elections department in Ventura to find out. That might be a question other people who live over here should check out.” As expats, our lives are more geographically fluid than most. We tend to use more than one address and might be registered at our last US residence, the one before that, or the home of a relative. We might have requested an absentee ballot to be sent by snail mail to one of those addresses instead of email. We could get lost in the shuffle. Or purged, which is part of the voter suppression playbook. Right now, a lot of people are trying to keep you from casting your ballot. “Traditionally it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes,” Trump re-election advisor Justin Clark said in December. “That’s what you’re going to see in 2020. It’s going to be a much bigger program, a much more aggressive program, a much better-funded program.” Don’t let them get away with it! —Karen McCann
 Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York is part of a movement to reclaim Black farmers’ place in US agriculture, training the next generation of Black and brown farmers in modern sustainable agriculture as well as providing food and medicine for the community.
The 'R' Word: Sports Illustrated: Five Potential New Names for Washington’s Football Team by Conor Orr Why not play simply as "Washington" in 2020, while giving the fans a chance to weigh in on options that are meaningful or appealing to them? 'Tis of Thee: NPR: For Some Black Americans, Love Of Country Means Holding It Accountable (Podcast, 5 min) "It's such a tragedy, because I feel kind of entitled to patriotism. Our ancestors built this country. We should be able to be proud of it," says Jonathan Horton of Pasadena CA. For Nerds only: Slate Money: The Deficit Myth (Podcast, 55 min) Turns out it’s not like your household budget after all. The US really could support the economy and subsidize wages for workers idled by the pandemic, as many EU countries have done. Show Me the Money: ProPublica: Why Do People Want to See Donald Trump’s Tax Returns? by Kristen Doerer The Supreme Court is expected to rule on Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP and Trump v. Vance. Separately, the House Ways and Means Committee sued the Treasury Department for Trump’s tax returns, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin defied the committee’s subpoena. (From the series Trump, Inc.) Learn More About Candidates and Issues! 
  Alert Resisters Emily and Lee reminded us this week that it's important to ask: Are you registered? Are you sure? Check your voter registration status HERE. Registration Nation A friend told me that he has put off registering to vote since moving last year. He doesn't want to be on a list that will make him more likely to be called for jury duty. (Mind you, a few well-chosen words on his views on prison reform would likely get him dismissed anyway.) Why don't people register, given the hair-raising consequences of the last presidential election? Some just don’t want to vote. "But many others believe that they can’t or shouldn’t get registered because they’re not allowed, or because their registration could come at a personal cost,” Lelia Sales observed in Lifehacker, where she debunks the myths surrounding the downside of registering to vote. —Kathy Sherretts The Show-Up State: Vote Smart: North Dakota is the only state without voter registration. Here’s the catch—many voters in ND don’t have ID with a residential address, and obtaining one can be time-consuming. A recent agreement will ensure that tribal IDs and tribally designated street addresses are accepted as valid. Generation Gap: Center for Public Integrity: Elderly workers run elections. But COVID-19 will keep many home by Carrie Levine In-person access to the ballot box rests on the vulnerable shoulders of a cohort of steadfast, but elderly, election workers at high risk of illness or death should they contract COVID-19. Anecdata: FiveThirtyEight: New Voter Registrations Have Nosedived During COVID-19 (Podcast, 33 min. Video here.) Voter registration has fallen off during the pandemic, which has also had an impact on Americans’ ability to cast primary ballots. What is ahead for November? Chaos Theory: Vox: Trump’s reality TV presidency is being crushed by reality by Ezra Klein Polling should be taken as information, not as prediction. But the information it offers is real: Trump’s political position is collapsing.
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resist the madness!American Resistance Sevilla is a non-partisan community mobilizing Americans living abroad to take peaceful action defending our lawful rights and freedoms. Learn more Archives
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